Seven candidates to run in GSA election with three contested positions
Seven candidates are running for four positions in the 2016 GSA elections.
By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
April 4, 2016 3:18 p.m.
This post was updated on April 4 at 5:26 p.m.
Seven candidates, including one who is uncontested, will run for graduate student government officer positions, the Graduate Students Association election commissioner said Monday.
Candidates will be running under two new student-run political groups, or slates, said Sabine Jean, GSA election commissioner.
The Moving Forward slate includes several current officers and forum members in the graduate student government, including Michael Skiles, who will run for president, and Andres Schneider, who will run for vice president of external affairs, Jean said. Schneider has held the vice president of external affairs seat for two years.
The second slate, which includes two members, will be named Working for Graduate Students said Ian Coley, a current forum member, in an email.
Information about slates’ platforms will be posted on the GSA website later this week, Jean said.
One student will run as an independent candidate, and the external vice president position is uncontested, Jean said. In past GSA elections, most candidates ran uncontested. In 2012, 2013 and 2015, only one seat total was contested.
In 2015, 8.2 percent of graduate students voted in the spring GSA election. This year, the election board will offer gift cards to every 100th voter to encourage students to vote. Jean said the board hopes there will be higher turnout because there are more contested candidates this year than in the past.
The election board will hold a social event called Grad Bar at the Wolfgang Puck Terrace on April 14 at 5 p.m. to inform students about the election, she added. Candidates will be allowed to give one-minute presentations at the event.
Voting will be open on MyUCLA from April 14 to April 20. A complete roster of candidates is listed below.
GSA president
Michael Skiles (Moving Forward)
Jonathan Koch (Working for Graduate Students)
Vice president of internal affairs
Ian Coley (Working for Graduate Students)
Ioan Istrate (Moving Forward)
Vice president of external affairs
Andres Schneider (Moving Forward)
Vice president of academic affairs
Tess Armstrong (Moving Forward)
Alexandra Latshaw (Independent)
