With the president and vice presidents positions uncontested, the focus of the ballot for the 2009-2010 Graduate Student Association election is on the Housing Association Referendum.
The Housing Association Referendum proposes to add one voting delegate from the two graduate housing associations ““ University Apartments South Residents Association and Weyburn Terrace Residents Association ““ to Forum, said Ryan Roberts, the incumbent candidate for vice president of internal affairs.
Forum is the executive committee of GSA comprised of representatives from 13 graduate student academic councils who serve as voting members. Forum meets on the Wednesdays of third, sixth and ninth week in order to relay information to and from the councils and GSA. The number of representatives each council has in Forum is proportional to the number of graduate students in the academic department.
The housing associations’ involvement in Forum will allow the housing associations to formally voice their concerns to GSA, Roberts said.
“The housing associations comprise approximately one-third of the graduate student body. Therefore, this referendum will help strengthen the housing associations by providing more advocacy for them,” Roberts said.
The GSA cabinet, the Forum and both graduate housing associations endorse the referendum, but in order to be enacted at least 10 percent of the graduate student body must vote on the referendum.
Then, with a simple majority of the 10 percent, the referendum can be put into action.
“We are working diligently to get the word out that every vote counts,” Roberts said.
In an effort to get the word out, GSA hosted a Rock the Vote Karaoke Night Thurday, said Netta Avineri, the candidate for vice president of academic affairs.
The event allowed people to personally ask the candidates about the referendum and the election in an informal setting, Avineri said.
The GSA Progress slate includes candidate for president, Jamal Madni; vice president of internal affairs, Ryan Roberts; vice president of academic affairs, Netta Avineri; and vice president of external affairs, Miguel Lopez.
Madni and Roberts are incumbents and Avineri and Lopez are new candidates with a lot of experience working with the graduate student population, Scott said.
“We’ve done a lot of positive work, and it’s important to have continuity in a positive direction,” Madni said. “This year there is a nice mix between incumbents and new enthusiastic candidates.”
The annual elections for 2009-2010 Graduate Student Association officers will begin April 14 at noon via MyUCLA and end April 21 at noon.
On April 22, the GSA Elections Board will count the ballots and announce the winners, and on May 6, Forum will meet in order to approve and certify the results.