Candidacy processes kick off USAC, GSA 2022 election seasons
The Undergraduate Students Association Council is housed in Kerckhoff Hall. Elections for the undergraduate and graduate student governments in progress. (Ashley Kenney/Photo editor)
By Alexandra Kaiser
March 11, 2022 3:47 p.m.
This post was updated March 14 at 8:45 p.m.
Undergraduate and graduate student government elections are underway.
Undergraduate students may submit an application to run for a position on the Undergraduate Students Association Council by the end of March 18. Graduate Student Association candidate applications were due Thursday. Both election processes also include submission of forms to consider referenda on the ballot.
USAC has 15 offices up for election, including president, two vice president positions, three general representatives, two other representatives and seven commissioners. GSA has four offices up for election, including president and three vice president positions. Other GSA forum delegates are selected through their respective graduate schools.
The candidacy process requires prospective candidates to collect signatures; USAC requires 100 signatures and GSA requires 25.
In order to be eligible to run for USAC, students must have at least a 2.0 GPA and no disciplinary holds, said Palmer Turnbull, the USA Elections Board chair. Students running for president must have completed 96 units and students running for internal vice president must have completed 72, added Turnbull, a fourth-year political science and statistics student.
The needs of graduate students often differ from the needs of undergraduate students, which is why a separate graduate student council is needed, said Akash Deep Singh, the GSA elections commissioner.
“We have some common problems with the undergraduate population, but we also have some unique problems that are based off of the nature of graduate school,” said Singh, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student.
Students should care about these elections because it is their opportunity to change the problems they see at UCLA, said Seher Alvi, the director of external relations for the undergraduate elections board and a second-year global studies and statistics student.
“If you’re uncomfortable or you’re not happy with how something is, one of the best things you can do is either run for office or vote,” Alvi said.
