This year’s graduate student government elections has only one contested seat and no incumbents, and is set to be much quieter than last year’s competitive race.
All of the candidates are part of the Quality and Commitment slate except for Nicole Robinson, doctoral student in Italian. Robinson is running for vice president of academic affairs against slate candidate Doris Melkonian, an education doctoral student. Slates are groups of students who pool their resources and run together, much like political parties.
The Quality and Commitment slate will focus on creating a greater sense of community for graduate students, said presidential candidate Michael Weismeyer, a history doctoral student. One of his goals is to enhance career services.
One reason for the small candidate turnout was the election timeline, said Elvira Rodriguez, the 2011 director of elections. Rodriguez was appointed in mid-January ““ later in the year than most of her predecessors. This shortened the candidate application period and pushed elections to after spring break.
The Graduate Students Association is comprised of a senate and four publicly elected officers ““ president, internal vice president, external vice president and vice president of academic affairs. The senate is comprised of representatives from 13 academic councils; these representatives are elected internally, so their elections will not necessarily coincide with GSA’s and are not under Rodriguez’s jurisdiction.
Officers are responsible for an almost $1 million budget, student appointments and running senate meetings. In these meetings, council members create, discuss and vote on proposals and resolutions.
President Lincoln Ellis said one of the current council’s greatest achievements is the University of California Student Health Insurance Plan, which will be implemented for all graduates and undergraduates on July 1.
Initially, GSA was against the plan’s adoption. UCLA was one of the last schools to join the UC-wide agreement.
Ellis said students would lose their voice if the plan became UC-wide, and he was worried that issues like mental health would no longer be covered.
After meeting with administrators, Ellis and the council succeeded in increasing student representation within the insurance debate and ensuring that current benefits would be included in the new policy.
Ellis said he was disappointed the election will not be as competitive as in previous years, but as a graduating law student, he can’t run again.
Rodriguez and her election board are using incentives to increase the number of voters, which was a little more than 10 percent of the graduate student population last year. Voters will be randomly selected to receive meal vouchers to Associated Students UCLA campus eateries, and departments with the highest voter turnout for their internal elections will receive a monetary prize.
Additionally, most of this year’s campaigning is conducted online. While the election board doesn’t require it, Luis Limon, the internal vice president, said two of the reasons are sustainability and practicality.
“We want (candidates) to use resources that don’t use paper,” he said. “And every student carries their phone around or goes online.”
Campaigns for graduate students are underway. Voting begins April 28 and runs until May 2. Winners will be formally announced on May 4, after the GSA elections board approves the results.