When graduate students hit the online polls for the Graduate
Students Association’s general elections starting Thursday,
they will be hard-pressed to find candidates with much GSA-related
experience ““ a situation that worries some current
officers.
Out of the 11 candidates are running for office, only two have
had direct experience with GSA. Most have other experience that
could help them in their respective positions, but are still far
removed from the governing body’s functioning processes.
“The main problem with not having much GSA experience is
that you have to spend a lot more time learning about GSA and how
the campus operates, even when you have relevant experience from
other activities,” said Marilyn Gray, a Slavic languages and
literature graduate student.
Gray, the current vice president of academic affairs, is one of
the only candidates with direct GSA experience.
Kyle McJunkin, a candidate for next year’s vice president
of academic affairs, currently serves on the undergraduate council
as a graduate student representative on the Academic Senate. He is
one of the two candidates who has the most GSA-relevant
experience.
There are five candidates for vice president of academic affairs
““ an unusually high number in this year’s election.
Originally, only one person was running for the office, and
could not get enough signatures in time to be placed on the ballot.
Then the application deadline was extended and others applied.
Anita Garcia, a candidate for vice president of academic
affairs, said she applied mostly because the deadline was extended
and it looked like more candidates were needed.
In addition to not having direct GSA experience, several
candidates have not closely followed GSA activities throughout
their entire graduate stay at UCLA and have only recently developed
an interest in the council.
Kristina Shagramanova, a candidate for GSA president, was not
aware of GSA when she came to UCLA.
“I’m not going to lie; I wasn’t aware of
it,” Shagramanova said.
And Eric Lai, a candidate for vice president of internal
affairs, said that if there is a GSA newsletter, he has never seen
it.
Though all the candidates seem confident about influencing the
issues that they feel are important, most candidates do not have
specific plans on how to attain their goals.
Gray emphasizes that if candidates start with previous GSA
experience, they can accomplish a lot more, and GSA runs more
smoothly, she said.
“The other people running might do a good job, but we do
not know because the people currently involved in GSA have not
personally worked with these candidates before,” Gray
said.
Without the familiarity on the council’s inner workings,
many candidates may have a difficult time accomplishing many of
their goals for the upcoming year.
Both presidential candidates, Shagramanova and Jared Fox, have
goals of increasing GSA’s visibility and soliciting graduate
student input, but had a difficult time articulating how this goal
““ one that is repeatedly stated every year ““ could be
accomplished.
Fox eventually said he would use e-mail and flyers to accomplish
his goals, while Shagramanova said she is not going to come up with
concrete goals yet because she would like to collaborate with the
rest of council.