GSA recap – April 18

Agenda:

• UCPD Lt. Kevin Kilgore said that UCPD has reached out to Graduate Students Association, Undergraduate Students Association Council, international student leaders and UCLA administration to ensure that protests on campus operate within UCPD guidelines and result in no arrests. Kilgore said officers are also enforcing electric scooter regulations, such as using helmets and riding in pedestrian-free areas.

• Annie Maxfield, associate director of graduate student relations and services, said UCLA Career Center’s graduate student services has moved to the online platform, Handshake, because it is more user-friendly. Handshake has signed up 550 employers and will be available to students starting May 15.

• Maxfield added this system will increase the number of recruiters, and that UCLA Career Center has expanded to provide graduate students career counselling for an additional quarter after they graduate. Maxfield also said students will have access to Handshake for a year after graduation.

• GSA unanimously passed a resolution to create new positions including the director of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement, which will work to better serve underrepresented graduate student groups, and director of administrative affairs, which is responsible for organizing graduate committee appointments.

• The association also unanimously passed a resolution to transfer a $8,000 surplus from the GSA publications fund to the GSA discretionary fund to provide additional resources for student organizations.

• GSA Elections Commissioner Justin Gelzhiser announced the GSA election results, which were then confirmed by the GSA cabinet.

Officer Reports

• GSA President Michael Skiles said the election date for Westwood Forward’s proposal to create a new Westwood Neighborhood Council will be May 22, and that students will be able to vote at a polling place on campus. Skiles added that anyone in the Westwood community can vote in the election, including international students.

• Skiles also said the Westwood Neighborhood Council voted 8-7 to allow Tocaya Organica to open a location in Westwood in a few weeks, which he said was a response to Westwood Forward’s efforts.

• GSA Internal Vice President Alexander Fung said he met with the UCLA International Student Leadership Coalition President Ashraf Beshay and Associated Students UC Irvine Internal Vice President-elect Sanjanna Ellur to draft a resolution for the University of California Student Association to strengthen UC-wide international student advocacy efforts. The resolution, which also created the international student affairs position for UCSA, was unanimously passed at a UCSA board meeting on Sunday.

• Fung added his office is partnering with Monday Night Mission, a Los Angeles nonprofit organization that provides food and clothing for homeless people, to create a graduate student initiative. He added the initiative will begin sending 10 graduate students every Wednesday to Skid Row, Los Angeles, to pass out food and clothing.

• GSA Vice President of Academic Affairs Rebecca Katz said her office has been working with the Academic Senate Committee to reinstate College Academic Mentors’ work and health benefits. The mentors are graduate students who provide academic counseling services to first- and second- year undergraduate students, and were told last month that starting next year they would no longer receive the fee remission and health care coverage they currently receive.

• Vice President of External Affairs Parshan Khosravi said he attended the UC Office of the President’s budget consultations last week and added his office’s lobbying efforts secured more than 40 State Assembly Members’ letters of support for UC budget initiatives.