The Graduate Writing Center may need to cut its staff and reduce its services next year because of looming administrative budget cuts and the failure of a referendum to increase its funding in last week’s graduate student government elections.
The center currently has a $30,000 deficit because of an increase in operational costs and student demand, according to Christine Wilson, director of the Graduate Student Resource Center. The failure of a ballot referendum to increase center revenue in last week’s graduate student government elections, compounded with a $30,000 cut to the center’s funding, could double the deficit.
The center currently holds more than 2,000 one-on-one writing consultant appointments per year with its 17 consultants, multiple writing workshops per week and thesis and dissertation boot camps, Wilson said.
According to Wilson, about 95 percent of the center’s revenue helps support its staff, and the center may have to cut the number of its staff and decrease direct services to graduate students.
Last week in the graduate student government elections, graduate students voted on a ballot referendum to increase quarterly fees by $1.50 to support the center. But when the elections closed, voter turnout fell seven votes short of the 10 percent threshold needed for a referendum to be considered, though the majority of voters supported the fee increase.
Graduate student representatives appealed the election results because of problems with MyUCLA’s server that may have prevented graduate students from voting online during the election.
In the middle of elections, UCLA administrators also announced a decision to cut funding for the writing center by $30,000, citing a violation of the university’s policy concerning “return-to-aid” fees, which are portions of graduate student fees that must be returned to the students in the form of financial aid.
The center already functions at full capacity, so cuts could especially affect the payroll of the center’s graduate writing consultants, who make up the vast majority of the staff, said Nicole Robinson, the Graduate Student Association vice president of academic affairs, who also oversees the Graduate Writing Center Oversight Committee.
Mayuri Panse, a graduate student in bioengineering, said she has worked at the writing center desk for about four months. If the number of writing consultants or appointments diminishes, she said students may be forced to pay for personal writing consultants and struggle to find other costly writing services.
Courtney Cecale, a graduate student in anthropology, said she voted to increase fees because she thinks students may have to pay more for outside writing help otherwise.
“Considering how much we pay in miscellaneous (quarterly) fees, (the center’s funding) is ridiculous,” she said. “We end up having to pay more for (writing) services we need and should already have.”
Panse added she is worried the writing center could lose its ability to provide a diversity of resources to graduate students if downsizing services means fewer appointments or staff.
Since the graduate writing consultants have specific areas of writing expertise, fewer appointment times could harm a student’s ability to meet with the appropriate consultant.
“Graduate students need someone to guide them with their writing,” Panse said. “What do you tell students who are going to lose out on that opportunity?”
Some students said they think low voter turnout for the fee referendum shows a lack of student demand for the center
“The fact that graduate students have voted to not increase funds the last two years for the center is a proxy for demand for the writing center itself,” said Patrick Smith, a graduate student at the UCLA Anderson School of Management who voted against the resolution. “If the demand doesn’t exist I think it’s good they’re scaling down their services.”
Writing center administrators are currently searching for ways to obtain further funding.
The Graduate Writing Center Oversight Committee, composed of graduate student representatives and ex officio UCLA faculty and administrator members, will determine how the center’s resources should be prioritized after next year’s revenue is confirmed in the next few weeks, she said.
Depending on the officialization of election results and further decisions by UCLA administrators, the center’s finances could vary widely, Wilson said.