So: interviewed Executive Vice-President Han Hong.

It's amazing how many people expect Han to fail, miserably. I hear it from Daily Cal people. I hear it from ASUC people. I hear it from Bloggers most especially, because they would love nothing better then to tear someone to shreds. I hear 'Drama Queen' and 'Can't handle the Senate.'

But this perception appears to be spun from nowhere in particular, an invention based on rumor and whispers. Except for one source: Han's website, an online journal. It's somewhere to get feelings out, think about the day, etc. But Ms. Hong horrified her fellow Executives by posting an extremely personal message on it, one she ended up removing. She also posted, in what seemed meanspirited to many, her reasons for not hiring a friend as her Chief of Staff.

The website needs to go. Someone will use it to hurt her. A former Daily Cal person urged me to repost her private musings and mock them. A fellow blogger groaned about missing his chance to. The Daily Cal and her political opponents read it, and they will use what she writes, without regret, to tear her apart. So Jesus, don't give them the chance.

The interview:

Went well. Ms. Hong has sensible plans, realistic ones, plans that are well-organized and eminently achievable. The ASUC Monthly will move online after the first issue, effectively ending the money-draining problem of that troubled publication. Ms. Hong will build on the framework of what Justin built with asuc.org, making the webmaster more accessible to the other offices and improving the speed of updating. A novel approach there: Han moved Bill-tracking from the EVP office to the Secretariat, a clever move.

Eshleman space allocation will be finished, probably, by the week before Welcome Week. The delays have been caused by trying to move BRIDGES, the minority recruitment group, into Eshleman Hall. Additional space will be created in a couple of ways. First, more storage space will be opened up in the basement of Eshleman, so groups who merely need a place to put stuff can be safely eased out of an actual office. (BCR/Patriot comes to mind.) Second, the seventh floor of Eshleman will be partitioned into three rooms: the banquet room, a lounge, and a conference room.

Speaking of lounges, the bottom floor of MLK should be renovated relatively soon into a lounge. Longer term space allocation plans: by 2003-2004 creating a 24 hour lounge on Northside and a 24 hour cafe for Finals week. Pressed her on plans for the Daily Cal's floor, but she didn't want to talk in advance of the August 4th meeting.

The Department of Student Group Services, Justin's Outreach initiative, is to be entirely revamped. Group outreach will be placed back onto the Senators, where it's supposed to be. Instead, DSGS will move into advocacy. First priority will be to revise the University Reservations system, a painful and costly experience for groups; renting Zellerbach or Pauley is extremely costly. Beyond that, perhaps a repeat of the successful student leader/faculty dinner, as well as helping the Greek community's outreach and philanthropy and creating an Interactive introduction to the ASUC on CD.

But then we start talking about the Senate, and my Warning bells are going off like little fireworks. Han is basing her plans on the expectation that partisanship will be low or nonexistant. Her reasoning: Independents are strong in this Senate, and they tend to avoid outright partisanship. Also, she intends to promote a interest/community-based approach that will favor helping groups over conflict-prone issues like ASUC reform and symbolic bills. With that in mind, Ms. Hong will try a 'tight-ship' approach, keeping close tabs on Senate projects and enforcing Parlimentary rules closely so as to speed up meetings. She'll also hold Senators to their mandated Student Group outreach and improve contacts between Senators outside of the Senate. She also promises Committee appointments based on merit and application strength.

My alarm bells are going off at this point because Partisanship is always high in the Senate. And this year there's five Cal-SERVE Senators, who have everything to gain by taking practical control of the Senate floor. Han is representing a hated party with little power on the floor, surrounded by 17 ambitious Senators with little to gain from sticking to their appointed groups. Not a huge problem if an angry floor is expected, but a larger one if it catches you by surprise.

Next: Jesse




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