Tuesday, 4/22/97 GSA elections Candidate for president: Mark
Quigley for internal vice president: David Kamper
David Kamper (American Indian studies) Candidate for internal
vice president Mark Quigley (English) Candidate for president Based
on our experience as graduate students at UCLA, we feel that GSA
offers a great deal of resources that can continue to be utilized
in more innovative and aggressive ways to advocate for graduate and
professional student concerns at UCLA. Such aggressive advocacy is
of particular importance now as a number of important changes
threaten to make graduate and professional education less
accessible than before. We feel that GSA has a responsibility to
make sure graduate and professional education is accessible and
affordable to the students currently at UCLA. In addition, though,
GSA and other student advocacy groups also bear a responsibility in
protecting access and quality for future graduate and professional
students. Access to graduate and professional studies is seriously
threatened for many in California because of the dizzying
proliferation of fees at the UCs, the Regents’ decision to end
affirmative action, and the continued refusal of the UC Chancellors
to recognize and consider the collective bargaining rights of the
thousands of Academic Student Employees (ASEs). With the arrival of
Chancellor Carnesale this summer, graduate and professional
students are presented with a challenging but exciting opportunity.
We need to present a strong, unified voice to the new chancellor so
that he will know from the outset the students intend to vigorously
address issues around access, affordability, collective bargaining
rights, and greater accountability in UC spending. Such an approach
offers the greatest likelihood of making some real progress on
these issues. We have been very concerned by the increased
surcharges that have been applied to professional students over the
past few years. Along with the current crop of fees to pay for
gentrification of the student union and "access" to technology,
such an approach to funding seriously compromises the mandate of
the UC as a public institution to provide affordable quality
education. Despite the buyout of the technology fee this year by
Gov. Pete Wilson and the recent introduction of Assembly
legislation to block the fee, the propensity of the UC to levy such
fees is extremely disturbing and needs to be challenged. While the
UCs spend millions of dollars on the new headquarters for the UC
president’s office and further millions of dollars fighting the
basic rights of ASEs, they expect students to pay more and more. In
general, students don’t have the money, and their only option is to
sink further and further into debt through student loans. That
simply isn’t right. We decided to run for GSA not only because
there are serious problems that need to be addressed but because we
feel we have the leadership qualities and activist experience to
get graduate and professional students active on these issues. Our
Progressive Activist slate combines important strengths in this
regard. Grace Chee brings a great deal of experience to the job
with the inner-workings of GSA, the UC Students’ Association and
the U.S. Students’ Association. She can continue making use of her
strong ties in these organizations to build coalitions behind GSA
endeavors. Dave Kamper brings experience as an activist in the L.A.
progressive community and his experience as a member of the SAGE
Executive Board. In addition, as a first-year graduate student,
Dave brings a fresh perspective to the situation faced by graduate
and professional students at UCLA. Mark Quigley offers a great deal
of experience with SAGE and collective bargaining issues as a
member of the SAGE Executive Board and a member of the Walkout
Committee during the 1995 walkout. In these capacities, Mark has
had great opportunity to become intimately familiar with the SAGE
legal case and has had a number of discussions with campus
administrators on the subject. In addition, Mark has had a taste of
GSA as the internal vice president of the English Graduate Union
and participation in the Humanities Council. We have seen how
powerful a role graduate students can play in effecting change. The
experience of working on election initiatives last November with
the UCLA Affirmative Action Coalition and the Metropolitan Alliance
proved to us the need for a strong activist role in the Los Angeles
community. The next year is going to provide some serious
challenges and will likely shape the face of graduate and
professional education at UCLA for years to come. We feel that
graduate students have a great deal to offer in making this change
positive and more just. We will strongly support SAGE’s
articulation of ASE collective bargaining rights and work to bring
labor peace at UCLA. We will aggressively address issues of
spending accountability in the UCs and the unjust shifting of costs
onto the backs of students. We will be bringing to the job a range
of campus contacts and connections with local and national
progressive and student advocacy groups. The body of graduate and
professional students at UCLA contains an enormous amount of
talent, strength and vitality. We ask for your ongoing support in
helping transform this potential into just and meaningful change.
While the UCs spend millions of dollars … they expect students to
pay more and more.