Q&A: UCLA Graduate Student Association president discusses agenda

Nicole Robinson is the president of the UCLA Graduate Student Association. Robinson recently talked with Daily Bruin Campus Editor Amanda Schallert about GSA initiatives for the upcoming school year, problems facing graduate students and funding for graduate programs and fellowships.

Daily Bruin: What do you think the most important issues facing graduate students are, and how does GSA plan to address them this year?

Nicole Robinson: Locally on campus, GSA will constantly be working to create a sense of community for graduate students because no matter what department or situation you are in, graduate life can feel lonely for students. (Graduate students) don’t always have the same undergraduate sense of being in a class together.

As far as bigger issues, graduate funding is huge. Job placement at the Career Center and making sure students have good career counseling are also huge. … GSA also has a responsibility to see how the year starts, to see what shakes out and to focus on the issues that students bring to us. It’s difficult to pin down the most important issues because there are so many of them.

DB: Last year, GSA officers voiced opposition to the changes to UCLA’s leave of absence and in absentia policies, but the new policies are still in place. What do you think the obstacles to changing the policies back are and how do you plan to work with administration this year to address the issue?

NR: Changing it back 100 percent is always going to be a difficult path because it would (put the UCLA policy) at odds with the UC-wide policy. …

I don’t think at any point there was a drastic change, but I was pleased that at the end of the year, there had been enough modifications to the (policy’s) wording that we were a lot closer to what the policy had been before.

For the six-quarter limit (for a leave of absence), the definition on the website is much more open now and explains that you have three quarters of leave available and that you can take another three quarters if there are special circumstances. …

The main sticking point is what type of research leaves that students should be allowed to take and because of the in absentia policy as a UC-wide system we need to continue working with the other campuses … to see what we can do to change this.

DB: Last year, representatives from the Anderson School of Management stood in opposition to the some of the initiatives you promoted, such as obtaining more funding for the Graduate Writing Center and pushing back against the leave of absence and in absentia policy changes. How do you plan to work with students from the Anderson School this year?

NR: In a democratic process people disagree, and so I think that even when (students from the Anderson School) disagree and vote against something that ultimately the majority of the forum votes for, we’re still working with them. If there’s a particular issue that the (Anderson) students feel should be given more attention, they have (the same) channels available to them that everyone on the council has to come to cabinet meetings and to make presentations at the forum. Usually the (Anderson) members were vocal members of the council last year. They presented their case and they debated their side.

DB: In the spring elections, each officer ran unopposed in the GSA elections and less than 10 percent of the graduate student population voted when the elections opened the first time. How do you plan to engage graduate students in GSA this year?

NR: We’re starting early at the graduate student orientation, making sure that the incoming students learn about GSA and trying to get a bit of face time with them to make them aware of the services that GSA has. The election had its own frustration because some students were barred from voting, but at the same time we had higher voter turnout than we had in a while, which I think points to the fact that students are aware of issues on campus that they need to be proactive (about) and involved in.

GSA isn’t only what the latest political drama is. There is the Discretionary Fund, the Sustainable Resource Center, the publishing office, Melnitz Movies … We have all these facets of GSA that students are involved in, but that students might not realize (are part of) GSA. We are going to try to make it … ring louder that when you go to a Melnitz movie, it’s a GSA event, or when your student group applies for money from discretionary, GSA is funding your group.

DB: One of your initiatives this year is to work with the administration to improve graduate funding. What graduate projects or programs do you think need more funding and why?

NR: The administration is definitely aware that we need to support graduate students because we are an integral part of the learning process at UCLA, also on the undergraduate level. But it’s not enough to say you’re going to have more TA positions for graduate students because that’s just a 50 percent work appointment. Graduate students in theory want to come to their graduate program, do their research, contribute to the field and then finish their degree so they can move on in their careers and become professors. I think it’s really important to not lose focus. We need to have graduate funding available so students can focus on research without the distraction of other job appointments that make it difficult to multitask and finish their work.