She has the best of intentions, but the Nexus feels Christine Byon could use a few more power plays if she is going to act as a successful external vice president of statewide affairs. Byon knows that rising fees and diversity are huge problems facing the University of California, but she does not know of any new ways to address them. Her predecessor, Bill Shiebler, was very active and vocal during his tenure, perhaps more so than most other EVPSAs before him, but even he could not stop the UC Regents from increasing our fees.

It would also do Byon some good to admit some of the problems facing her office’s lobby efforts. She claims that the EVPSA office is successful in its venture to gather student interest and attendance at UC Regents meetings, yet any Nexus reporter who has actually been to a Regents meeting knows this is an exaggeration. The Regents need a lot more persuasion than a few hundred postcards and protests. Their phone numbers are posted online and they are not as hard to reach as some would imply. Nevertheless, we do not want to discourage Byon. She is highly personable and affable, and if she puts in the effort, we are sure she can do an astounding job.