GSA recap – Jan. 26

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

• The GSA cabinet members voted to hold winter and spring forum meetings on Jan. 25, Feb. 15, Mar. 8, April 19, May 10 and May 31.

• Danny Siegel, president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, spoke to the forum and said he thinks the collaborative work between GSA and USAC is important when representing student interests to decision makers on campus.

• Anna Blackstock, GSA election commissioner, asked the 13 councils to appoint one member to the election board, which is responsible for enforcing the Election Code and planning and executing final election procedures. Blackstock said the appointed members will be required to attend meetings throughout winter and spring quarter, and the first meeting will occur in the next few weeks.

• Emma Drysdale, co-president of Challenge for Charity, announced that their charitable organization will hold its biggest social fundraising event, Casino Night, on Feb. 3.

Officer reports

• Michael Skiles, GSA president, said he worked with USAC to finalize a mobile app for the Community Service Officer’s evening van service. Students will be able to track the vans in real time and request a ride at “blue” stops without having to call CSO, starting spring quarter. Administration pledged to increase the number and size of the vehicles and extend operating hours to midnight, Skiles added.

• Skiles said he attended a meeting Jan.17 with administration to discuss ways to improve parking for graduate students. Administration committed to conducting a lottery this summer for about 30 spaces in Lot 2 and Lot 9 to be given to graduate students who work late at night, Skiles said. Parking Services will also look into urging departments to encourage staff to hand over parking allocations to grad students, he added. Skiles said he is also working on a proposal with Parking Services to give more incentives to grad students to use alternative transportation methods.

• Ioan Istrate, vice president of internal affairs, gave an overview of the work he has done since last quarter. He said his plans for this quarter are to facilitate the upcoming election and make sure self-evaluations and officer reports of all officers and stipend committees are available to everyone.

• The cabinet discussed the missing minutes that have not been uploaded on the GSA website and the need to create an updated GSA logo.

• Skiles said about 1800 graduate students have taken advantage of the free LA Fitness memberships, and he has heard positive reactions so far.

• Skiles said the current GSA budget report only makes sense to those who are familiar with GSA accounting and budget processes, and suggested that the internal vice president and communications director post a more user-friendly and legible version of the budget report online.

Budget

• The forum voted to approve the allocation of $2,000 from the forum’s discretionary fund to food costs for future forum meetings.