Editorials

A very vital part of the ongoing battle about Berkeley City Council district boundaries has been the 32,000 students at UC Berkeley, and that’s just the way the Associated Students of the University of California want it, says Vice President of External Affairs Josh Fryday.  

“It’s almost impossible for students to get elected,” said the 20-year-old political science student. “The fact that students represent 22 percent of the Berkeley population demands that we have a chance to participate in Berkeley politics.” 

The ASUC’s push for a student district is part of a larger effort to increase UC Berkeley student involvement in city politics, said Andy Katz, the most recent student appointed to Berkeley’s powerful Zoning Advisory Board.  

“What we try to do is show students they have a stake in the community and are part of the city,” said Katz, who also serves as the ASUC’s director of city affairs lobby. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he appointed 15 students who are currently serving on city boards and commissions. During his five year tenure, he has appointed 30 students to different boards.  

“This has nothing to do with political correctness,” he said. “It has to do with fairness. It’s part of a broader effort to get diversity in city government.”  

City boards and commissions are often the training grounds for future city council members, he added.  

“People under 40 never get appointed to city boards,” he said. “That’s denying young people what they need to serve in city government.”  

Students have unique needs and perspectives they should be allowed to represent, said Devra Bachrach, the 24-year-old UC Berkeley graduate student who chairs the Energy Commission.  

“I definitely bring the student perspective,” said Bachrach, a student in the Energy and Resources Group. “Most students are renters and face different circumstances.”  

Popular programs, like rebates for buying energy efficient appliances, don’t allow students to control their energy use, Bachrach said. Students need energy-efficient light bulbs and alternative sources of energy, which Bachrach says are two of the commission’s main focuses.  

Fryday lauds the City Council’s appointment of students to boards and commissions, but insists students need student representation on the city council.  

“The major issue here is that students have been excluded from Berkeley,” he said.  

But Susan Wengraf, Councilmember Betty Olds’ legislative aide, disagreed.  

“Don’t the students feel represented now by councilmember Worthington?” she said.  

According to Fryday the answer to that question is no. Instead, many are calling for their own district that would give them a 71 percent voting majority.  

Last October, the city scrapped a redistricting plan that would have given students a slight majority in District 8, which is represented by Councilmember Polly Armstrong, a moderate. Under pressure from moderates the city agreed to redo the plan.  

The ASUC is hoping to capitalize on the delay by working to draft an amendment to the city charter, which will allow the city to create a district that is 71 percent students. With this majority, Berkeley is likely to elect a student to the City Council for the first time in 17 years, Fryday said. 

The City Council has agreed to set up a committee to work with the students on such an amendment, but in the meantime it is also moving ahead with its redistricting plan. Any new amendment to the charter is unlikely to have an impact on student representation until 2004.  

Councilmember Olds, a moderate, might support the ASUC’s push to for a student district, Wengraf said.  

“I don’t think she’s flat out against it,” Wengraf said. But she asked, “What isn’t Councilmember Worthington doing that they want him to do?” 

Fryday disagreed and said the issue is not about Worthington’s performance on council at all. He said the ASUC is concerned with issues like affordable housing, safer streets and better public transportation and they need a student on Council to be heard.  

“Kriss Worthington is not a student and our feeling is that unless you have a student sitting on city council you can’t fully understand what it’s like,” Fryday said. “Worthington has other constituencies he’s accountable to, including homeowners and others who don’t support student interests.”