By Azadeh Mirbod
Daily Bruin Contributor
Having a diversity requirement won’t directly affect
graduate students, but they work closely with faculty and can
influence them to add the requirement to the list of general
education classes, Undergraduate Students Association Council
members say.
But when USAC representatives brought the requirement issue to
the Graduate Students Association Forum on Wednesday, hoping to
earn favor, the forum made no motion to call for action.
Because USAC representatives did not have enough time during the
meeting to fully explain the diversity requirement, GSA Forum
members had questions left unanswered, and thus, no one made a
motion to take action.
“More time and discussion of the topic is needed in order
for GSA to raise a motion and address the issue in a
resolution,” said GSA vice president-internal Dorothy
Kim.
“This is an important topic, and maybe it will be brought
up again in the January meeting,” she said.
USAC wanted to present to GSA before next Wednesday ““ the
deadline for the faculty to vote on GE changes ““ so that
graduate students could talk to faculty about revising the GE
requirement list.
The current proposal for the GE requirement list does not
include a diversity requirement, but amendments can be made and
voted on by committees in the Academic Senate.
For the Academic Senate GE Governance Committee to consider a
diversity requirement, faculty members must vote down the current
proposal on the ballot and call for changes to the GE requirement
list.
Forum members asked Karren Lane and USAC Academic Affairs
Commissioner Bryant Tan how the new requirement would be funded and
taught under a limited budget and an increasing number of
undergraduate students.
The requirement would not add new classes, but it can be
fulfilled by a range of classes already being offered, Lane
said.
“It seems like our questions were helpful for (USAC) to
clarify some points and make them think of issues that they
didn’t think to address. Hopefully this will help them to be
organized in presenting their proposal,” Kim said.
A diversity requirement would educate students on the social
constructions of race, class, gender, religion and sexuality that
exist in institutions, Lane said.
UCLA is the only campus in the UC system without a diversity
requirement.
“The GE requirements haven’t changed for the last 16
years, and students were not part of changing them in the first
place,” said USAC External Vice President Evan Okamura.