GSA candidates hope to increase services, unity

By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Getting graduate students together is like playing 52-card
pickup in the dark.

The task can be near impossible: graduate students are often
isolated in their respective departments, most use e-mail as their
preferred mode of communication, and the majority commute.

The decentralized nature of the graduate student population is
largely linked to the lack of services provided across
departments.

Though Grad Bar, a monthly social gathering, is nearing its
first full year in existence, the Graduate Students Association
candidates are trying to expand on such get-togethers to tighten
the campus community.

“I don’t think Grad Bar is the only solution,”
said GSA President Charles Harless.

“If students feel they have an emotional tie to the
university, we can reach them,” he said.

An idea that has been floating around for a few years is the
addition of a campus pub.

Graduate student representatives on the Associated Students of
UCLA Board of Directors have brought up the idea repeatedly.

“It could help open up doors to social events and with the
university community,” Harless said. “Typically, the
atmosphere surrounding a pub tends to do that and has proven
successful at other universities, such as UC Irvine.”

Harless, who is running for re-election with a goal to improve
the “quality of life” for graduate students, said he
wants to increase services, though much of that “hasn’t
been flushed out yet.”

“I want to know what graduate students want out of
us,” he said.

Reaching out is the hard part because of communication
difficulties, Harless said.

GSA often acts as a liaison to outside entities, such as alumni
and student health services, but the problem remains.

“They’d love to be able to reach out to grad
students but the problem is there’s not a way to contact
them,” Harless said.

Apathy may be up against the candidates as well.

Hanish Rathod, who has been speaking to graduate students over
the last few days said: “A lot of them don’t really
care. I think a lot of it has to do with them not knowing what
services are out there.”

Then again, Rathod is somewhat off to a late start.

With elections starting Tuesday, he’s stuck largely to his
circle of fellow engineers to determine “what graduate
students want.”

“So far I haven’t had a reason to go to North
Campus,” he said.

Vice President Internal Affairs Dorothy Kim, also up for
re-election, is looking to aid the situation by improving the GSA
Web site.

The Web site recently underwent a facelift, but Kim wants to
lobby for more space.

The site would ideally include links to nearby restaurants, car
service locations and other highlights to make it a quick reference
guide for students, especially those new to UCLA.

“It’s up to GSA to reach out, mostly through the
Web, and also in boxes,” she said.

The crux of their goals is dependent on increased funding.

Although the administration provides funds for Grad Bar, Harless
plans to lobby for money from the university to make other services
more feasible.

“GSA is heavily underfunded. We also provide more services
than almost any other GSA,” he said. “We want to expand
our services (and) all of it takes money but the university
isn’t going to give it to us on an annual basis.”

Candidates are counting on a referendum to increase students
fees.

The referendum proposes to raise the current fee of seven
dollars to $10 next year, raising it one dollar each year
thereafter to bring the fee to $13 by 2005.

The referendum can only pass by majority with at least a 10
percent voter turnout.

Harless said the raise would account for inflation.

Last year, GSA raised the fee by one dollar and 50 cents, the
first time in 12 years.

Even with the raise, the budget has been “pretty
strapped” this year.

According to Dorothy Kim, the discretionary funds are empty.

Not that it makes the situation any better, but running out of
money two-thirds of the way through the year is typical.

Kim recited a laundry list of things to be repaired.

Among many things: “Our copy machine is kaput,” Kim
said.