On Tuesday night the Graduate Students Association held an orientation meeting for candidates running in the upcoming election for the 2008-2009 school year.
The meeting covered the rules and regulations of the election process while helping to introduce the candidates to one another.
This year the number of applicants increased to eight from last year’s five. Of those, only one candidate has prior GSA experience.
Cynthia Pineda-Scott, the director of elections for the GSA, said the Elections Board worked to raise interest and find candidates through persistent and early advertising.
“We’ve been hitting up every list-serv possible,” said Pineda-Scott, who is serving her first year as director.
“I want to make sure everyone can run, that more people were not only aware but encouraged to apply,” she said.
She said her relative lack of experience has been an asset this year because it has enabled her to produce fresher ideas.
“The fact that I’ve never been involved with GSA helped me,” Pineda-Scott said. “I’ve been doing this whole process from an outsider’s perspective.”
The meeting covered some of the changes in the election code, one of which eliminated official endorsements in the campaign. Candidates can now only receive unlimited unofficial endorsements, which Pineda-Scott said she hopes will open the door for more endorsements.
This year both presidential candidates are running for office for the first time.
Michelle Hashemi, a public health graduate student running for president, said that if elected, she hopes to place a focus on environmental issues because of their current prevalence in the student and local community.
“We’ll be the leaders of LA community,” she said.
Hashemi added that strengthening communication between organizations on campus is another major goal of her campaign.
Also running for president is Jamal Madni, a graduate student in electrical engineering and the chairman of the ASUCLA Communications Board. He stressed the importance of better communication between different departments as well as university officials and graduate organizations at other UC campuses.
“Everyone’s isolated in their department,” Madni said. “I want to knock down the boundaries between the traditional subjects, not just for research perspectives but for social and networking perspectives.”
Low voter turnout has been a problem in prior elections, but Madni said he hopes to increase participation through the creation of a slate called GSA Commitment, which he said would bring experience and build community among graduate students across disciplines.
Also included in this slate are Argus Sun, a candidate for vice president of academic affairs, Ryan Roberts, the vice president of internal affairs candidate, and Monica Sanchez as candidate for vice president of external affairs.
Of these three, Sanchez is the only candidate with prior experience as a GSA officer.
Sanchez’s opponent, DeAnnah Byrd, a graduate student in community health sciences, said she wants to focus her campaign on the issue of student fees.
“Funding is my bread and butter,” Byrd said. “I want affordable education. I want it to be accessible.”
Ultimately, Pineda-Scott said she is excited for the campaign to begin, especially with the new batch of candidates.
“Sometimes new blood is a good thing,” she said.