GSA recap – April 15

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. and are open to all students. Spring quarter forum meetings will take place virtually on Zoom.

Agenda:

• The association allocated a total of $33,172.33 from Cabinet Discretionary, Forum Discretionary, Travel, Presidential Discretionary, Sustainable Resource Center and Graduate Student Events Discretionary to the GSA Hardship Fund. The GSA Hardship Fund awards up to $700 to graduate students in emergency situations, including hardships due to the coronavirus outbreak.

• About $25,000 has been approved for GSA Hardship Fund awards, said Eddie Delgadillo, a representative for the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Delgadillo sits on the GSA committee that evaluates applications for the fund.

• Elections Board Director Arpita Iddya announced the results of the spring GSA election which ended on April 13. Jean Paul Santos will be president, Musibau Francis Jimoh will be vice president of internal affairs, Neda Ashtari will be the vice president of external affairs and Letty Trevino will be the vice president of academic affairs. The candidate-elects will take the oath of office at the next forum meeting, Iddya said. Iddya also said that the BruinGo Universal Access Transit Pass Referendum passed. The referendum will increase graduate student fees by $25.04 per quarter and give graduate students access to seven local transit systems, including Los Angeles Metro, Culver City Bus, Big Blue Bus, Long Beach Transit, Antelope Valley Transit Authority, Torrance Transit and Los Angeles Department of Transportation Commuter Express.

• GSA Student Interest Board member Letty Trevino said that graduate students who were formally offered a position as a teaching assistant have union contract protections even if their class is canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Graduate students may be guaranteed the position or receive an equal stipend in such cases.

Officer Reports:

• President Zak Fisher said his office discussed the possibility of a spring quarter tuition refund with Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck. Beck said there will not be a tuition refund due to increased costs in computers and microphones for online learning, Fisher said. Fisher added that he thinks student service fee and other fees should be refunded because they cannot be used for their original purpose on campus.

• Vice President of External Affairs Jean Paul Santos said his office will meet with UCLA Housing officials to discuss university housing options for graduate students in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Santos also said his office will meet with UCLA administration to discuss graduate student academic problems. Santos added that his office will work with the candidate-elect Neda Ashtari to lobby to the University of California Board of Regents for a tuition refund.

• Vice President of Academic Affairs Shrinidhi Balasubramanian said her office is collecting information about academic disputes between graduate students and professors.