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Graduate students protest at council meeting

By Amanda Schallert

May 13, 2013 12:15 a.m.

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.

About a dozen graduate students interrupted a UCLA Graduate Council meeting on Friday to demand UCLA administrators vote to reverse the changes made to UCLA’s leave of absence policy a year ago.

The UCLA Graduate Division reformed the policy last spring to conform to the University of California-wide in absentia policy. UCLA cut the maximum number of quarters a graduate student can take a leave of absence for family, military, emergency or medical reasons from six to three quarters. UCLA also stopped allowing graduate students to take leaves of absences to write dissertations.

The changes, which were implemented in the fall, aimed to encourage students to stay enrolled and to increase interaction between faculty and graduate students.

Graduate students have expressed concerns regarding the changes since their implementation.

Reversing the changes would require a vote from the Graduate Council, which sets academic policies and standards for graduate students.

Friday’s protest was organized by the University of California Student-Workers Union. During the protest, students stood outside the doors of Murphy 2121 and tried to enter a Graduate Council meeting that was already underway. The students had not made an appointment to present at the meeting, which was closed to the public.

The protest was held to encourage the council to take action against the policy changes after months of discussing the issue, said Cody Trojan, the recording secretary for the UC Student-Workers Union and incoming GSA vice president of academic affairs, who was part of the protest.

“We were there to demand a vote to reverse the policy,” he said. “We want to bring the debate to a close.”

A few minutes after the protesters called for the council to let them in, Joseph Nagy, the council’s chair, stood in front of the doors of the meeting room and said the students could not enter.

Nagy said the protesters should either wait for the meeting to adjourn and talk to administrators then or email the Graduate Council and ask to be invited to their next meeting.

Nagy told the graduate students that he was trying to help them and that he was not against their cause.

“We’re all on the same side,” he said.

Nagy could not be reached for comment after the protest.

Trojan said the protesters did not make a formal request to be present at the meeting prior to the protest because he and other graduate students have already spoken with UCLA administrators and want the council to take action.

UCLA spokeswoman Alison Hewitt said UCLA did not have any comments on the protest or the policy changes.

Nicole Robinson, vice president of academic affairs of the Graduate Students Association and GSA president-elect, is one of four graduate students who sit on the Graduate Council.

Robinson, who disapproves of the revised policy, said the council has discussed graduate student concerns about the changes since September.

“The students who showed up at Murphy Hall have been dealing with a lot of frustration as things have been going too slowly and the students have been affected the entire year,” she said. “I don’t think there is a best approach with how to deal with this.”

Earlier this year, Trojan, Robinson and GSA President David Zeke presented to the Graduate Council about the policy’s negative effects on graduate student quality of life.

During the recent graduate student government elections last month, graduate students voted on an advisory referendum that asked for their opinions on the changes to the leave of absence policy. About 70 percent of the students who cast ballots voted in disapproval of the policy changes.

Matthew Sandoval, a graduate student in the world arts and culture/dance department, participated in Friday’s protest. Sandoval said he plans to take a leave of absence in the future and thinks the policy changes do not benefit him.

“I felt let down by my faculty, the people who are supposed to help me with my research and help me get through,” Sandoval said.

After insisting they enter the room immediately for about 15 minutes, the graduate students requested to be placed on the agenda for the next Graduate Council meeting on May 24.

The protesters left Murphy Hall singing “We’re gonna roll, we’re gonna roll, we’re gonna roll the union on” while banging on drums and tambourines.

The protesters plan to return to the council’s next meeting on May 24. In the meantine, the students will continue gathering faculty and graduate student support for the reversal of the policy changes, said Courtney Cecale, the head steward of the UC Student-Workers Union, who was part of the protest.

Contributing reports by Stephen Stewart, Bruin senior staff.

Correction: The UCLA Graduate Division reformed the policy last spring to conform to the University of California-wide in absentia policy.

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