Submission: Five-point platform distinguishes GSA presidential candidate

It’s been three years since UCLA graduate students had a
chance to vote in a competitive election. Since a single contested race in
2011, Graduate Students Association leaders have all run uncontested, leaving
voters with no choice among candidates. Last year, just 11 percent of us voted.

I believe that UCLA graduate students are ready for a new kind of inclusive leadership. I believe that GSA – and most importantly, its president – needs to engage the UCLA graduate student community. We have enormous talent, leadership and ability within our ranks.

Why can’t we have a student government that leverages that?

Together with Andrés Schneider, my running mate, I’ve developed a five-point platform. I’ll discuss these priorities and then explain what differentiates us from our opponents:

Reducing class sizes to benefit teaching assistants – Last week’s strike by graduate student workers underscores the concern about having to teach inflated class sizes and other working conditions. In the Daily Bruin last week, a University of California spokesperson asserted the strike “only hurts other students and their ability to get their education.” However, we believe bloated class sizes are what really hurt the education of our classmates. Andrés and I are strong advocates for reduced class sizes.

Benefits for graduate student researchers – Several student leaders have identified possible gaps in workers’ compensation insurance coverage for those who receive fellowship or research support from extramural sources or department sources external to UCLA payroll. Given my background running the workers’ compensation program for a large staffing firm, I would work with these student leaders advocating for the resolution of any gaps in workplace protection.

Increase interaction between UCLA graduate programs – On the campaign trail, we’ve found few topics have greater resonance than identifying more synergies between departments. A great example highlighted in these pages last Friday was the UCLA entrepreneur resource website recently launched by collaboration between 14 entrepreneurship organizations across campus. Andrés and I would look to support such efforts and also to increase mixers between departments.

Increase weight in faculty reviews given to teaching and mentoring graduate students – We believe faculty who take on graduate students have a fiduciary responsibility to support their students’ advancement. While many do, some professors invest little effort in teaching or mentoring graduate students, undermining their experience and career prospects. We would approach the UCLA Academic Senate about giving the issue greater weight in faculty hiring and promotion.

Reestablish ties between GSA and the UC Student Association – A top priority for Andrés and me has been to reintegrate GSA back into the UC Student Association. UCSA is a coalition of student governments throughout the University of California that has led the fight for diversity, access, quality and affordability in the UC system. Over the last year, the current GSA made little effort to resolve our estrangement from UCSA.

I was surprised to read in last Wednesday’s Daily Bruin that my opponent now wants to rejoin UCSA on an interim basis. To pay UCSA costs on a more permanent basis, she says student fees should be raised. Our position is that the amount needed – a small fraction of the GSA’s roughly $700,000 budget – can be sourced without serious impact to other GSA priorities. It’s worth noting that graduate students already saw GSA-related fees increase with last year’s election.

While Andrés and I are passionate about our platform, we believe our leadership style as much as our ideas distinguish us in our respective races. We know we’d work well with Hope McCoy and Ivy Onyeador, next year’s presumptive vice president of internal affairs and vice president of academic affairs, respectively, and we look forward to a strong cabinet and forum.

I bring a long track record of involvement at the UC, where I’ve been active since 2005. I’ve led student organizations, served on campus-wide committees, participated in alumni organizing and led a campus-wide campaign. Here at UCLA, I helped relaunch The Anderson Exchange, the business school’s 40-year-old publication. I’ve developed a reputation as someone who can bring together a team, return correspondence quickly and work with the administration to get things done. Given this experience, we’ll make GSA’s budgeting process far more transparent and participatory from day one.

To do so, we need to be a GSA that is in close touch with the Student Interest Board, academic councils and housing associations. We need the more than 13,000 graduate students at UCLA to know we serve to support them. To all of us, UCLA is a special place to which we owe our education, friendships and so much more.

Many students we’ve spoken to during the campaign have never voted in a GSA election before. With Hershey and Andrés on the ballot, we hope to give them reason to do so.

Hirshman is a graduate student at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a candidate for GSA president.