Correction appended
In the submission “GSA president should value
student groups” (Viewpoint, Oct. 27), the author indicated
that the Graduate Student Association was using the Graduate
Student Resource Center during the Raza Graduate Student
Association’s time slot. In actuality, RGSA’s
reservation was moved by the resource center to another conference
room that was accidentally double-booked.
The Raza Graduate Student Association has a regularly scheduled
meeting in the Graduate Student Resource Center every Tuesday at 7
p.m., but on Oct. 18 we found out the room was double-booked.
Graduate Student Association President Jared Fox and the
appointments board were conducting interviews to appoint members
for student committees.
RGSA does not have a designated office space. The GSA president
could have used his office, could have changed rooms, or we could
have started our meeting a half-hour later at 7:30.
But, claiming that GSA had privilege to use the room, Fox
refused to move his interviews and repeatedly closed the door on
us. Fox made sure that if anybody was going to be inconvenienced by
this miscommunication, it was going to be our group and not his
administration.
He said interviewees would get lost if he moved his meeting, yet
he apparently didn’t take into account how that same
confusion could apply to our members, especially new ones.
He disregarded the fact that at this meeting we planned to set
the group’s agenda for the entire year. This is obviously a
very important time for all members to be present and heard, yet he
displayed a disregard for our needs.
Through all the rationale, one clear message came through to me
““ “I am more important than you.”
This not only implies a lack of concern for student groups, but
also an abuse of power and contempt for our group.
Thankfully, MEChA Calmecac, a student-retention program, was
willing to share their room with us, even though it significantly
cut their tutoring space in half. We greatly appreciated their
willingness to work with us to find a mutually beneficial solution.
They acted maturely and did not close doors or hide behind
privilege.
It is already difficult to create social-support networks on
campus. The position of GSA president exists to be a voice for the
student body, and this letter is meant to remind Fox that we, the
members of RGSA, are part of that student body.
Cabrera is a member of RGSA and a doctorate student in the
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.