I completely agree with Nolan Cabrera that the Graduate Students
Association should serve and support graduate student groups,
especially GSA student-interest groups (“GSA president should
value student groups,” Viewpoint, Oct. 27). I would like to
discuss how I have worked on behalf of graduate student groups and
how I continue to do so.
I appreciate Cabrera’s concerns and welcome suggestions
about how we can further support graduate student groups. I
continue to invite these groups to speak with me about any issues
that arise. My deepest hope is that we can address the underlying
misunderstandings that prompted the original letter.
Graduate student groups are a vital part of the graduate student
community. GSA is so cognizant of this fact that we give student
groups voting representation at Forum, our legislative body,
through the Student Interest Board. None of the GSA officers
(including myself) have a vote, but student-interest groups do.
Earlier this year, I allocated an unprecedented amount (to my
knowledge) of GSA’s money to support student-group activities
““ a 150 percent increase from last year’s funds. These
assets will be used by dozens of graduate student groups across
campus to conduct a wide range of programs.
For example, GSA recently funded the Black GSA’s
Accelerating Scholars program, which was designed to recruit
African-American graduate students to UCLA. GSA also funded Raza
GSA’s seminar this quarter titled “Guatemala: Past and
Present.”
In the past year, I devoted a great deal of time working to get
office space for graduate student groups, and the effort paid off
last month. The new 813 square-foot area of office suite space was
a long-awaited addition. As soon as we finish renovating and
furnishing the space with desks, phones, computers, printers,
couches, chairs, tables, lockable storage, etc. (at GSA’s
expense), the graduate student groups (including Raza) will have a
place to call home. GSA will also pay the annual $7,000 in
maintenance, custodial and utility charges for this student group
area.
In addition to voting representation at Forum, the increase in
funding for events and the provision of office space, GSA is
working on other ways to serve student groups. For specific
examples, please refer to recent Daily Bruin articles about GSA
efforts.
Fox is the president of GSA.