Miguel Lopez, the uncontested candidate for vice president of external affairs of the Graduate Students Association, said he hopes to represent graduate students on UC system-wide and state levels.
Lopez, a third-year UCLA doctoral student in Higher Education and Organizational Change, said the position would allow him to put his theoretical work about diversity in higher education and organizational change into practice.
Lopez and Netta Avineri, the candidate for vice president of academic affairs, are the GSA Progress slate’s two non-incumbent candidates.
They are running with slate members and incumbents Jamal Madni, GSA presidential candidate, and Ryan Roberts, vice president of internal affairs candidate.
“It’s a positive thing that he’s new to the position,” said Monica Sanchez, GSA’s current vice president of external affairs. “Even though he hasn’t formally served as vice president, he has a good idea of what he is going to be doing.”
Sanchez will not be running for a third term in order to focus on graduating and endorses Lopez’s candidacy.
Officially, Lopez said he will serve as GSA’s liaison for all external entities.
This includes acting as GSA’s representative to the University of California Student Association, the UCLA Alumni Association and the system-wide Academic Senate, Sanchez said.
When elected, Lopez said he plans to coordinate lobbying efforts for state legislature with the system-wide Academic Senate on behalf of the graduate student community, especially concerning the rise of student fees.
Lopez also said he plans to work with undergraduates and the community to build a coalition of student organizations to mobilize around action items.
Lopez’s previous advocacy experience includes serving as president and GSA Forum representative of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies two years ago. He also served as Associated Students UC Santa Barbara president as an undergraduate.
“Miguel is experienced from other realms at UCLA,” said Ryan Roberts. “He is especially well-suited for the office of external vice president from his experience as vice chair of the Student Fee Advisory Committee.”
As vice chair of the committee, Lopez said he worked to advise the chancellor on the allocation of registration fee funds and other issues related to student fees.
Because all GSA candidates are running unopposed, the focus of this year’s election is on the Housing Advocacy and Progress for Students Referendum.
This referendum will strengthen the advocacy of the Weyburn Terrace Residents Association and the University Apartments South Residents Association by amending GSA’s constitution and adding voting representatives for the associations to the GSA Forum.
“I support any means by which graduate students are given more advocacy,” Lopez said about the referendum.
Voting via MyUCLA will end April 21 at noon.