Winners of the Graduate Student Association election ““
Marilyn Gray, Victoria Irigoyen, Hanish Rathod, and Laura Sanchez
““ said they are prepared to hit the ground running on
graduate student issues come the next academic year.
The results of the election, including referenda voting, were
made available Tuesday night after certification by the Elections
Board.
Rathod, who ran uncontested for president, said he looks forward
to working with incoming officers, and that he plans to meet with
them in the coming weeks to discuss each officer’s personal
goals, as well as develop an overarching goal for them all to work
toward next year.
Rathod, current GSA external vice president and a student in
electrical engineering, added he will start working on selecting
candidates for stipended and non-stipended appointments, a process
which will occur mid-May.
Newly elected External Vice President Laura Sanchez, a law
student, said she was honored to have received over half of the
vote.
Sanchez said her immediate plan is to go to different academic
councils and learn about their concerns, and to develop close
working relationships with other elected officers.
Duarte, who also ran for the position, said he was a bit
disappointed by the results.
“At the same time, I’m happy for (Sanchez) because I
know she will do a good job,” he said.
Duarte said he had no regrets about running in the election, and
that he is also considering getting involved in GSA through other
means.
Haig Hovsepian, a student in the neuroscience program and
another candidate for the position, said he was disappointed with
voter turnout, and that he had hoped it would be higher since there
were more candidates this year.
Gray, who was elected as academic affairs vice president and is
a student in Slavic languages and literature, said she is looking
forward to following through on the work on graduate student
academic rights that Harless has been working on this year.
Academic rights has been an issue of concern for many graduate
students for a long time, she said, and she considered the issue a
priority for incoming officers to work on.
Dennis Tyler, a student in the English department who re-ran for
the position, said he was happy for Gray and planned to stay
involved with GSA in some capacity.
Victoria Irigoyen, elected internal vice president, said she is
very excited to start working on her platform issues. She is going
to Sacramento today to work with California’s Child Care
Development Program to fight against the elimination of state
grants for child care.
She said she looks forward to working with other officers and
working on increasing graduate student access.
John Pipan, a computer science student who ran for the position,
has filed a complaint to the Elections Board on the
percentage-oriented display of the results.
Director of Elections Melanie Ho said the board had decided not
to include the numerical results because it would not make a
difference. She said she will call a meeting within two days to
consider the complaint.
Ho said it is unfortunate that voter turnout for GSA elections
has been historically low, but that having three of the positions
contested is a “definite improvement and shows an increased
awareness among graduate students.”