Thursday, February 18, 1999
GSA attempts to beef up participation
CAMPAIGN: Committees fight apathy with different approach to
getting input
By Timothy Kudo
Daily Bruin Contributor
Last year, Joanna Brooks ran for president of the Graduate
Students Association (GSA) on a platform advocating more money for
graduate student programs and increased awareness for the
organization.
Brooks and the rest of GSA have continued to represent graduate
students on committees, to fund graduate student research and
publications, and to face new problems that have arisen throughout
the past year.
"The best thing we do is give out money," Brooks said.
However, a major issue and one that Brooks ran her election
campaign around concern the use of GSA fees that go to the "central
office."
Graduate students pay $5.50 in fees per quarter, $3 of which
goes to GSA’s administrative "central office."
In her campaign statement made last April, Brooks said, "It’s
time to take a hard look at GSA’s fiscal accountability: downsize
the bloated ‘Central Office’ bureaucracy."
But in the past year, GSA has not been able to reduce that $3 by
any significant amount.
"There isn’t a lot of give in the budget," Brooks said.
She added that GSA would not attempt to raise fees, but might
cut down on cabinet positions.
In past years, representation by graduate students on committees
throughout campus, such as the academic senate’s graduate council,
has declined because of the lagging attendance by GSA-appointed
representatives.
This year, however, Brooks has filled positions on most
committees, and the attendance of those appointees has
increased.
"In my experience, attendance has been terrible in the past
years, but this year has been great," said Jim Turner, assistant
vice chancellor of the graduate division. "That’s a real change to
the credit of Joanna and GSA."
In the past, the association has suffered low levels of
participation. Voter turnout in annual elections has consistently
lingered at around 10 percent.
In an attempt to spur participation and create more awareness,
GSA held orientations at various departments, where cabinet members
talked about the association and handed out about 1,000 folders
containing information about the graduate student government.
But GSA must deal with apathy, as many graduate students pay
little attention to their student government.
When asked what he thought of GSA, Louis deRosset, a first-year
graduate student in philosophy, said, "I have no idea, I don’t even
know who they are."
A problem that GSA dealt with early last quarter involved
questionnaires asking for feedback from graduate students about
their department’s programs.
Currently, the graduate council conducts these reviews by having
administrators send the questionnaires to graduate students by
mail.
But response rates under that system have been between 10 to 25
percent, creating questions as to the accuracy of the results.
"The response rate was so low they were concerned about how
representative it was," Turner said.
In response to this, the graduate council wanted the
questionnaires distributed through GSA. Because of
misunderstandings between the parties involved, Brooks decided to
withhold GSA’s participation.
"We received mixed messages from graduate council and graduate
division," Brooks said. "Rather than proceed in uncertain terms in
this important process, we decided to wait until there was a clear
opportunity to give input."
GSA is now helping with the survey by receiving input from
graduate students regarding the format of the survey.
Following an agenda set out last summer, GSA also continues to
charter task forces, hoping to improve the quality of life for all
students.
GSA has task forces reviewing the effects of Proposition 209 on
graduate students, as well as committees focusing on sexual
harassment, non-resident tuition and the performance of Student
Health Services.
The task forces are chartered to research important areas that
affect graduate students and the specific interests of the GSA
cabinet, Brooks said.
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