Tuesday, April 28, 1998
Community Briefs
Union measure will be placed on GSA ballot
Despite the opposition from SAGE, a referendum on whether
graduate students should unionize will be on the ballot in May.
After the graduate students’ association (GSA) took the measure off
the ballot last Thursday, the Election Commission received a
petition with 200 signatures to place it back on the ballot.
SAGE, the graduate students’ union, has opposed the measure
because it might damage their efforts to unionize, as an estimated
6-8 percent of graduate students usually vote in GSA elections.
Although GSA sponsored a similar vote five years ago where SAGE
won 61 percent of voter support, SAGE officer Mike Miller says that
such polls are illegal before the university recognizes the
union.
In addition, SAGE challenges that the means of getting the
measure back on the ballot might have been "extraconstitutional,"
according to Miller. He contends that bylaws contain no provision
for such a petition. SAGE has also charged that the measure is
backed by the administration, which has been fighting SAGE’s
efforts to unionize at several UC campuses. GSA officers vehemently
deny such accusations.
GSA voting will take place from May 2 to May 8. The measure is
an opinion survey and is non-binding.
Remaining candidates for USAC announced
Candidates for the Facilities Commissioner and the Financial
Supports Commissioner were announced Monday. Candidates for the
Facilities Commissioner include Trinh Huynh, Ryan Ozimek and Telly
Tse.
Tram Linh Ho, Shayla Kasel, and Douglas Antonio Novoa and Marc
Olson have applied for the Financial Supports Commissioner.
The deadlines for these positions were extended to 5 p.m.
Friday, because no applications were received by the earlier
deadline.
Free testing for rare genetic disorder
The UCLA community is invited for free testing an inherited
genetic disorder of infancy, Tay-Sachs, April 28 through April
30.
Although the disease is rare, it is completely preventable if
people know they are genetic carriers.
Children born with Tay-Sachs incur a breakdown of the nervous
system, become severly retarded and die at an early age.
The testing is not offered as a part of the blood test required
before marriage and is not widely available.
Historically, Tay-Sachs disease is common in descendents of
Eastern Orthodox Jews. However, the carrier rate in the general
population is 1 in 150.
The testing will be given by the California Tay Sachs Disease
Prevention Program (CTDPP)
Pamela Munro, a UCLA professor whose son died of Tay Sachs,
urges students to find out their carrier status.
"If you find out (through testing), then you are lucky. You
won’t have to go through what I went through," Munro said.
A child can only be born with Tay-Sachs if both parents are
carriers of the recessive gene.
With the extraction of a little blood, people can find out
something very important, said Gilardi Samantha, Student Welfare
Commissioner.
"It is much less traumatic than giving blood," she said. "Now is
the time to get over fear of needles. It won’t even hurt an itsy
bitsy bit."
The testing will take place on April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
in Ackerman 2408 and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Reiber Hall.
On April 29 and April 30, the testing will be held from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. in Ackerman 2408.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.