Editor, Daily Nexus,

I was shocked and appalled by your article “A.S. Debates I.V. Rep, Cash Flow,” (Daily Nexus, April 17).

I would first like to make it clear that I never once offered my resignation from the IVPAC, nor was I an “eleventh-hour” appointment to this committee last year. After extensive interviews by last year’s A.S. president I was appointed to serve on this committee and have been doing so dutifully for more than 13 months now.

The IVPAC actually addresses many more issues than just the community center mentioned in the article, including housing, transportation, parking, the I.V./UCSB interface and many others. These issues are tackled through urban design and planning, including complicated housing zoning changes, parking permit programs and street redesign. I have attended every meeting of this board and worked toward the betterment of Isla Vista, with my voting records and actions being publicly available in the minutes published after every meeting. Yet somehow, Deanna Kavanaugh-Jones, our current VP for local affairs, feels that I have not been doing my job.

The truth is it is she who rarely, if ever, shows up to said meetings. I consistently debrief her after all of the meetings because if she somehow does manage to show up she either leaves early on or nods off partway through. Less can be said about Chrystine Lawson. Changing the representative on the PAC this late in the game loses the credibility of the student voice and removes any positive rapport I have established with the other voting members.

I honestly feel sorry for the students that a knowledgeable and dedicated representative will be replaced on the PAC by someone who not only has limited experience with PAC affairs but who has also proclaimed many of the other members of the board her “enemies.” After over a year on the board I feel as if I have discovered how to effectively communicate with the other board members, not only in getting them to understand the perspective of the UCSB student, but in some cases garnering support for ideas that I feel have been beneficial to our student community as a whole. All this will be lost with the appointment of a new representative. And while it is a shame to see the current SAC administration mindlessly throw away a dedicated and informed representative, I am perhaps even more upset about the repercussions pertaining to the voice of the students.

How does this decision benefit the students in achieving a stronger representative relationship with the other IVPAC board members? How is this decision even logical at all? One can only wonder what political motivations are masked behind this action.

Print