GSA focuses on making campus friendly to grads

By Marcelle Richards

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Graduate students may be losing the numbers game to an
ever-growing crowd of younger Bruins.

With three undergraduates to every graduate, the campus and its
services are shifting to accommodate the majority, said associate
vice chancellor of the graduate division, Jim Turner.

“Just the sheer numbers to a certain degree impact the
allocation of resources and where attention is given,” he
said. “It’s my personal belief we have not given enough
attention to issues that are unique to graduate
students.”

The trend is one that has piqued the interest and concern of
Graduate Students Association President Charles Harless.

Harless, who is running unopposed for re-election, spent much of
this year lobbying the administration to recognize graduate
students as a “unique population,” or separate from
undergraduates.

Limited hours at the Wooden Center, Ashe clinics and many campus
eateries are not conducive to graduate students’ late night
schedules, he said.

Additionally, there are several services the administration
makes available to all students that are of no use to graduate
students, an example being writing assistants offered by some
departments, Harless said.

Student records, My.UCLA.edu and most computer systems are
biased toward the undergraduate sector, Turner said, though more
graduate information is being made available and accessible through
those sites.

“I’ve asked point blank, “˜What do you
specifically provide for graduate students?'” Harless
said of the administration. “Half the time they can’t
answer it. They should learn how to target us and they should use
GSA as a means to do this.”

Harless personally wants to make the Community Housing Office,
located in the midst of undergraduate residence halls, more
accessible to graduate students, who commute from off campus.

Ideally, he and the vice president of internal affairs would
like to see health clinics and other services extend their hours,
but they have been told budget limitations will keep that from
happening.

The addition of a Vice President of Academic Affairs, if the
referendum is approved, will create another venue for GSA to deal
with the administration and Academic Senate.

As of now, Harless does most of the campus networking with the
Graduate Division and related administrators.

The new position would help GSA take part in discussing and
approving policies at the advisory board level to help push for
more graduate-centered services, Harless said.