Calstuff has obtained a copy of the Asian American Association's new policy regarding elections. Interesting stuff between the lines.

AAA has traditionally been a Student Action stronghold, based on the success of former AAA President Teddy Liaw in winning the ASUC Presidency. President Wally attends their events with regularity, and proudly wears his AAA t-shirt from time to time. Plus AAA funnels interns directly into his office.

But there was a mini-scandal earlier this year when Teddy abused his authority to pick up women, and Wally tends to grate. It's possible this letter marks AAA's withdrawal from politics and abandonment of SA. Of course, it could also mean Han Hong and co. don't want APPLE trying to pick up votes from their preserve, assuming they have it locked up. But I think it's the first one, especially with the severity of the efforts to keep campaigners out. Any AAA insiders out there who can clue me in?

Italics are mine.

AAA has always done its best to maintain status as one of the leading organizations of the Asian American population on campus. Last week's cabinet meeting in particular tackled many difficult questions facing this semester's elections. In particular, there has always been a strong debate as to whether AAA should take a leadership role concerning elections and educate its members about some of the candidates that are running. Where's the dividing line between neutrality and passivity?

In the end, we have decided that we must treat ASUC elections similarly to how we treat other student groups on campus. Our email lists, club events, and meetings will be reserved solely for AAA's internal member purposes. We've realized that we cannot support any one person, platform, or organization without harming another. No promotions for candidates will be permitted at our events, even if done on just a person-to-person basis. Our members come to our events just to have fun, develop our community, and enjoy themselves.

This is not to say that we do not encourage student activism in politics. We have made it a focus last week to encourage all of our members to learn and voice their issues and to go out and vote when the time comes. After explaining our above policy on neutrality, we also made it clear that all people of all other clubs, ethnicities, and political parties are very, very welcome at all of our events.

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