Wednesday, March 11, 1998
GSA to address dissolving ineffective Assembly
ASSEMBLY: Members rarely meet, use power to override Forum
decisions
By Ann Hawkey
Daily Bruin Contributor
Tonight the future of the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA)
Assembly will come into question.
The Assembly, the main governing body of GSA, has recently been
scrutinized and had its effectiveness questioned. The GSA Forum
will discuss whether a proposal to eliminate the Assembly should be
placed on this spring’s ballot.
The Assembly, which in the past held full authority over GSA
affairs, has since lost most of its responsibilities; much of its
power has been assimilated into other GSA organizations.
"The Assembly is kind of like a defunct organization that’s been
around for years," said Jason Ong, external vice-president of
GSA.
The Assembly consists of 11 councils each with representatives
from the various academic departments. The number of seats allotted
to each department depends on the number of students enrolled. This
year, the Assembly has 140 available seats with 96 of these
positions filled.
"Over the years, power has slowly been moved to the Forum," said
Lance Menthe, GSA’s internal vice-president.
"Now the only role it has is special elections, though
technically it could override any decision made by the Forum," he
continued.
The Forum is GSA’s main legislative organization. The 11
councils are represented by a total of 22 delegates this year and
an additional five delegates from special interest groups.
Much of the Assembly’s power remains in its ability to overturn
Forum decisions. Although this power has rarely been used, some
feel it is still necessary.
"It’s important to have something there … so that we could all
come together at one time and have people who we know are going to
be responsible," said Pedro Sanchez, vice-president of the Health
Professionals Council.
This role as a check to the power of the Forum is where the
Assembly’s greatest power lies, but its main function over the past
decade has been special elections.
Since 1995, the Assembly has held two such elections.
Due to its large size, the group conducts its votes by mail
ballot and rarely meets. The last full meeting of the Assembly was
in 1989.
"It’s there on paper, but it’s not really there in bodies," said
Andrew Westall, GSA president. "It’s kind of like a theoretical
body of GSA. It doesn’t really meet unless it has to."
This ineffectiveness is why GSA will consider getting rid of the
Assembly.
"It’s a really good idea to disband the Assembly," said Ong. "In
the past it has served very good purposes, but now it’s not really
useful with the way GSA is set up."
GSA will discuss putting a proposal on this spring’s ballot to
dissolve the Assembly. The same proposal was passed by a large
margin last spring, but low voter turnout prevented it from taking
effect.
This lack of participation in the election reflects a
disinterest in student government shown by many graduate and
professional students.
"At the graduate level, a lot of people have been in the work
force; they’re a lot more career oriented," said Ong. "When you
look at it from that perspective, it’s a lot harder to get them
involved in campus life or to take a more proactive role."
"There’s no real benefit to taking part in student government,"
said Gregg Gold, who represents the Biological Sciences Council to
the Assembly and the Forum.
"By the time people get to grad school, they no longer need to
have student government experience," he continued.
Some have differing views on why graduate student involvement is
so low.
"First, we’ve just had an organizational problem," said Menthe.
"Most people don’t know what GSA does."
After only 8 percent of graduate students voted in the last
election, GSA hopes to remedy the low voter turnout this year with
greater publicity.
"The main thing we’re going to do is publicize it and do it
electronically," said Menthe. "We have a newsletter that will be
distributed electronically."
"The key to it is letting them know exactly what GSA can do for
them," said Ong.