Editorial: GSA elections, contested positions call for bigger turnout
By Editorial Board
April 10, 2014 12:00 a.m.
In last year’s Graduate Students Association election, less than 10 percent of eligible graduate students turned out to vote. Only after the voting period was extended did turnout reach the 10 percent margin required to pass a ballot referendum.
This startlingly low number is part of a larger trend of non-participation in the graduate student elections over the past several years, one that hampers the reach and effectiveness of the association and the benefits it can have for graduate students.
This year, for the first time since 2011, several positions in the GSA are contested, including the positions for president and vice president of external affairs.
In particular, the race for president contains two distinctly different candidates that could set completely different tones for the upcoming year.
Michael Hirshman of the Moving Forward slate, is a professional student in the UCLA Anderson School of Management that represents a set of interests and perspectives that does not often come across in graduate student government.
In contrast, Diversity in Action offers a familiar face in Nicole Robinson, who currently holds the position.
Given the potential for progress and innovation that this kind of competition engenders, it’s even more important than in previous years for graduate students to give attention to their student government elections and turn out to vote for those candidates they feel can best represent their interests.
A strong voter turnout in a contested year would give the winning candidates a mandate to carry out the ambitions of the platforms each contestant has promised.
The diverse set of candidates running means that graduate students are more likely to see their own interests and perspectives represented as election season gets underway. There is great incentive this year, then, for graduate students to get involved in their student government elections.
Still, many graduate students may not feel compelled to take part in the association. The insular and personal nature of graduate study breeds more disparate communities than the more cohesive undergraduate student body. But, in fact, graduate students can leverage their expertise in topical issues to form a coalition even more potent than that of undergraduates.
Yet graduate students can take a note from the Undergraduate Students Association Council, which regularly receives voter turnout rates of more than 30 percent.
Ultimately, while it is certainly the responsibility of the graduate student government to give its constituents a reason to care about it, and to maintain relevance among the students in all of the graduate schools, graduate students also have a responsibility to involve themselves in their own student government.
