GSA recap – Feb. 11
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 12, 2015 3:51 p.m.
The Graduate Students Association is the voice of graduate students on campus. The association meets for forum every three weeks and takes positions on current issues affecting graduate students. Forum meetings are at 5:30 p.m. in the Ackerman Viewpoint Lounge.
Agenda
• In a presentation on transportation, Dave Karwaski, UCLA transportation senior associate director, urged students and faculty members to lobby for more bike lanes near Westwood Boulevard and Westwood Village because of resistance from the city council and local communities to additional bike lanes due to safety and practicality reasons. Karwaski also said the Big Blue Bus Rapid 12 will have more frequent runs. He added the Big Blue Bus Route 17 will possibly compensate for the route change of Bus 12, which will no longer pass through some university apartments.
• Alison Bailey and Joseph B. Watson, co-chairs of the Doctoral Committee Constitution Workgroup, proposed changes to the graduate dissertation committee. They said it is important that the structure of the committee be made more flexible by defining members of the committee according to their roles instead of their department. They added students should have the right to know that their dissertations undergo a fair viewing process.
• Marcy Straw, University of California Student Association executive director, and Toni Gomez, UCSA graduate and professional student advocacy director, introduced the mission, leadership, history, on-going campaigns and conferences and advocacy of UCSA to GSA forum members. They said GSA and UCSA should both invest in providing a comprehensive representation of graduate students, and welcomed GSA members to join UCSA.
Officer reports
• Mike Hirshman, GSA president, said that he shared the tuition resolution GSA forum members unanimously passed last week with the student regents. He also said he believed the Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 1, which would allow the California Legislature to supervise all necessary UC Board of Regents’ decisions, is not good for the University. He also said that UC health insurance for students’ children should cover a longer period after childbirth, after hearing a doctorate candidate’s newborn child was soon cut off from insurance.
• Milan Chatterjee, GSA vice president of internal affairs, said a new online funding application, which would be implemented at the start of spring quarter, would allow graduate students to apply for academic funds more efficiently. He also said that GSA should seek help from the Department of Computer Science and the student body to make sure the GSA website is up-to-date and sustainable.
• Ivy Onyeador, GSA vice president of academic affairs, said she welcomes feedback from students on the meeting with the candidate for the vice chancellor of diversity, equity and inclusion position.
Compiled by Pei Ni, Bruin contributor.
