Now that the results of the Graduate Student Association
elections are finalized, the newly elected officers are ready to
plan for the future.
Election results were released Thursday night and welcomed
President Jared Fox, Vice President of Internal Affairs Marilyn
Gray, Vice President of External Affairs Amanda Moussa and Vice
President of Academic Affairs Michelle Sugi into office.
Though Gray, who is the current vice president of academic
affairs, is the only returning GSA member, the elected officers and
current officers are excited to begin the transition process.
Current GSA members are pleased to not only see Gray return to
GSA but also to take the office of vice president internal affairs
““ a vital position in GSA.
“I was really happy to see Marilyn win. … It provides a
sense of consistency,” Rathod said, adding that Gray can help
implement the initiatives of this year’s office.
Gray, who felt she was the best qualified candidate for this
position because of her experience and organization, is ready to
continue to fight for funding for graduate students at UCLA.
Gray also wants to make sure there is adequate graduate student
representation on faculty executive committees, a project she
started working on this year.
Fox, who won the presidency by 24 percent, plans on spending a
lot of time with Rathod this month working on the coordinated
letter-writing campaign which addresses the governor and the
Legislature, protesting fee increases and budget cuts.
Fox said he hopes a lot of students get involved in the
letter-writing campaign. His goal is to reach one-fifth of the
student population on both University of California and California
State University campuses.
Though Fox has significantly less experience than Rathod had
when he began his presidency, Rathod is confident Fox will be
prepared.
“I’m hoping to work with Jared for the next month or
so to get him up to speed in the position. … I have confidence
that he’ll be ready to go,” Rathod said.
Uncontested candidate Amanda Moussa, new to GSA’s
structure, is first focusing on learning the fundamentals of the
organization.
Sugi, who won in a close race against four other candidates, is
looking forward to working with next year’s officers and is
grateful for Gray’s return to office.
Utilizing the council representatives and holding them
accountable for reaching the bodies they represent, and general
promotion of GSA through e-mails, fliers and online newsletters are
a few of Sugi’s immediate plans for next year.
“I have an advantage because one of the officers is a
current officer now and that will help in the transition
process,” Sugi added.
This year’s election marked a few firsts in recent GSA
history.
Among having the most candidates running in this year’s
election compared to previous years, GSA broke its peak
voter-turnout of 15.5 percent, managing to get 17 percent of the
student body to vote.
The success of this year’s election could be a result of
turning to the online voting system where students can log onto
MyUCLA to cast their votes. GSA started using this method in 2001
and observed a significant rise in voter turnout.
While the newly elected officers focus on the transition process
that will go well into the summer, they are all determined to
increase GSA’s visibility among the students.
With reports from Menaka Fernando, Bruin senior
staff.