By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The polls are open and just a click away. Today kicks off the
Graduate Students Association election among three unopposed
candidates. Incumbents Charles Harless and Dorothy Kim are up for
re-election as president and vice president internal affairs,
respectively.
Newcomer vice president external affairs candidate, Hanish
Rathod, will still be learning the ropes and Regents, as votes are
cast.
As Harless and Kim tout goals of continuing efforts
they’ve worked on the last few years, such as Grad Bar and
Bruin Go!, Rathod is still working to find out there’s more
to his job than letting alumni know that “UCLA is a leading
research institution.”
“I have fuzzy goals. Most people like solid goals,”
Rathod said. “I like fuzzy goals.”
Speaking more concretely, the ballot will feature three
referenda.
The most heated proposal among GSA members is the one that lumps
six student interest groups onto a single Student Interest Board.
The groups would lose individual voting power and assume
representation under two collectives votes on the board.
Another would allow for a vice president of academic affairs, a
position to be integrated in the 2003 elections, who will be the
GSA representative on the Academic Senate, a body of faculty and
student representatives that approves policies and serves an
advisory function on campus.
Lastly, a referendum to increase current GSA membership fees
from $7 to $10 per quarter will make its way on the ballot. The fee
will then continue to increase by $1 per year, beginning 2003-04,
bringing the membership fee to $13 a quarter in 2005.
The increased revenue would be used for increased publicity and
activities, with a portion of the fees distributed to departmental
bodies.
The elections will run from April 16-22, during which students
vote on My.UCLA.edu.
Poll questions will also be included to help next year’s
members determine campus sentiment.