Voting for 2014-2015 GSA officers to begin Tuesday
By Margaux Moores-Tanvier
April 8, 2014 1:17 a.m.
Graduate students can start voting for next year’s graduate student government officers starting Tuesday at noon.
The Graduate Students Association, the governing organization for UCLA’s graduate and professional schools, is holding its elections throughout this week and until noon on Monday.
All current graduate and professional students will be able to cast their votes online through their MyUCLA accounts.
The election will decide which graduate students take over the four GSA officers for the next academic year. The positions are president, vice president of internal affairs, vice president of external affairs and vice president of academic affairs.
Elected officials are responsible for a variety of tasks, such as allocating GSA funds and advocating on behalf of graduate students in the Academic Senate.
Two of the four positions are contested, making the elections more competitive than they have been in several years.
Michael Hirshman of the Moving Forward slate and current GSA president Nicole Robinson of the Diversity in Action slate are competing for president.
If he wins the election, Hirshman hopes to increase social and professional interaction between schools, reduce class sizes to benefit teaching assistants and ensure more benefits to graduate researchers, among other goals.
Robinson said she aims to serve as a liaison between graduate students, administrators and different organizations across the University of California, as well as increase financial and programmatic support for graduate students.
The two candidates competing for the vice president of external affairs position are Andrés Schneider of the Moving Forward slate and doctoral candidate Vaheh Shirvanian, a member of the Diversity in Action slate.
GSA’s current vice president of external affairs, Hope McCoy, is running for vice president of internal affairs as a member of the Diversity in Action slate. And Ivy Onyeador, also on the Diversity in Action slate, is the only candidate for vice president of academic affairs.
GSA will hold an Elections Grad Bar on Thursday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Election information tables will also be on campus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, where voters can ask for more information about the election.
Read here for more information about the candidates.
Compiled by Margaux Moores-Tanvier, Bruin contributor.
