Although university officials eventually did the right thing
by granting the Food Co-op full rent abatement last week, their decision is
nothing more than a weakly veiled public-relations move. Clearly wanting to
prevent a larger student backlash, administrators agreed to honor the co-op’s
master space agreement only after members brought the issue in person before
the A.S. Council. University Centers Director Paul Terzino said that because
the amount in question was relatively low — just over $1,000 — campus
administrators felt it best not to use up everyone’s time by allowing the
council to form a committee to investigate and mediate the issue.
But if time was really the concern, why did officials waste
the last year refusing to honor the MSA?
Administrators need to get their act together and start
advocating student rights, instead of working against them. The Food Co-op is
student-run and nonprofit, and its laidback anticommercial atmosphere provides
one of the last sanctuaries for those at UCSD seeking relief from overcrowded
construction has hampered sales, and near-extortion from officials has only
further hurt the co-op over this past year.
But what stings the most about the entire debacle is that
the University Centers Advisory Board — which, rather than the A.S. Council, is
charged with mediating co-op issues should they arise — failed to come to the
co-op’s aid. Instead, Meghan Clair, all-campus senator and student UCAB
representative, spoke out against the Food Co-op at the council’s Jan. 23
meeting. Who, if not our student representatives, will rally for student
organizations against administrative bullying?
At least students can be thankful for representatives like
Vice President of Student Life Donna Bean and Vice President of External
Affairs Dorothy Young, who both spoke out in favor of the co-ops when the issue
was brought to their attention.
Seeing the council form a committee to address the
situation, officials must have felt a fire brewing and decided to put it out
fast by finally granting rent abatement. But Terzino and his gang should have
followed the MSA from the start, rather than playing unfair — and totally
inappropriate — power games. The co-op should have been granted full rent
abatement immediately, not after a year of struggle that forced its members to
visit the A.S. Council.
And while it is good to see justice finally served, the
amount of arguing and effort it took to get the university to abide by its own
agreement is alarming. Officials should be driven by more than the threat of
bad publicity; let’s hope in the future they start acting for, rather than
against, the students they’re supposed to be serving.
