GSA Meeting Roundup – Feb. 13

The graduate student body government approved a resolution on Wednesday, calling on university administrators to reverse changes to the recently revised leave of absence policy for graduate students.

Agenda:

  • The forum approved the GSA 2013 election calendar and passed a resolution regarding GSA’s stance on the recent change to the leave of absence policy. GSA called on administration to change the length of time a graduate student could take off from three quarters back to six and also requested that UCLA administrators to work with graduate students to revise the policy.

Officer Reports:

  • Vanessa Thulsiraj, GSA vice president of internal affairs, reported that the Kinross Recreation Center’s seating area and store is being underutilized by graduate students. She also informed the council that vacancies on the graduate survey committee have been filled.
  • GSA Vice President of Academic Affairs Nicole Robinson reported that the Graduate Writing Center wants to create a new mission statement. Robinson also attended the Graduate Student Support Conference, where she presented information about GSA to faculty and student affairs officers. She asked for input from members regarding the different policies for graduate students with incomplete coursework.
  • Dani Molina, GSA vice president of external affairs, distributed a newsletter describing actions taken at the last Student Advocates for Graduate Education council and their future goals.

Special Presentations:

  • Representatives from the Student Health Advisory Committee informed the forum about the current status of the UC SHIP health care plan. The plan, which was created in 2010 and UCLA joined in 2011, is currently running a deficit that is estimated to be 65 million by the end of the academic year.  While UCLA is only responsible for roughly 4 million of the debt, the presenters laid out several options UCLA could take and asked for graduate student feedback regarding the issue.

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