Shapley garners GSA presidency
Less than 10 percent of grads turn out in polls
By Betty Song
Daily Bruin Staff
John Shapley defeated incumbent Tim Beasley for the Graduate
Student Association (GSA) presidency yesterday while Loc Nguyen and
Jim Rowe captured the internal vice president and external vice
president positions, respectively.
Shapley cited his grassroots campaign and the desire for change
as a major reason for his victory.
"I had a lot of support from progressive people and
organizations like the Student Association of Graduate Employees
(SAGE), the African Activists Associations, and the Black Graduate
Students Association," said Shapley, a first-year African Area
Studies student. "It was a true coalition of progressive
people.
"I think it had a strong effect on the results. People wanted a
change. My intent was to run on a platform of inclusiveness, and
open up the process so that graduate students (can) serve as power
tools of the organization." Shapley added.
Forming an outreach group to contact each graduate student
organization for feedback on what GSA has to offer is one of his
first priorities, Shapley said.
This year, graduates cast only 815 ballots, constituting 8.65
percent of the total graduate student population of 9,419. Like
last year, less than 10 percent of students found their way to the
ballot box.
Jim Rowe, a former GSA president, beat out Scott Kugler for the
position of vice president external. In light of his involvement in
the grad association, the elections results didn’t come as a
surprise, Rowe said.
"People know me (because) I’ve been with GSA since 1990 in some
position or another," Rowe said.
Vice president-elect internal Nguyen ran for the position
uncontested. Nguyen, who ran with Beasley and Kugler, praised his
running mates, but said he does not foresee any problems working
with Shapley and Rowe.
"Obviously the reason I picked a slate is because I felt our
slate would have done the best job in representing graduate
students," Nguyen said. "I’ve worked with Jim before so I have no
problems with him, or with John. I’ll work with whoever is
elected."
In addition to the cabinet positions, graduate students voted on
three ballot initiatives.
A GSA membership fee increase and a change in the number of GSA
councils passed but cannot be implemented because less than 10
percent of all eligible grads turned up at the polls. According to
the GSA constitution, 10 percent of eligible voters must vote for a
majority decision to be effective.
The third initiative, however, was a voluntary fee to support
the California Public Interest Research Groups (CALPIRG) at UCLA.
Unlike the other two referenda, the CALPIRG initiative passed due
to UCLA Activity Policy Guidelines, which requires that 55 percent
of voters in favor with a 10 percent turnout.
With more than 77 percent of the votes, CALPIRG surpassed the 55
percent requirement, and would have done so even if 10 percent of
the grad population voted. By meeting policy guidelines, the
university will consider the measure passed, said Lyle Timmerman,
assistant vice chancellor of student affairs.
Although the environmental measure passed on the undergraduate
ballot last year, the grads voted the initiative down. This year,
members of the public interest group mobilized before and during
the election outreaching to thousands of people through posters and
personal interaction, said Faye Park, a CALPIRG campus
organizer.
Applications for stipended cabinet and noncabinet positions are
available in the GSA office at 301 Kerckhoff Hall, due May 15.