PRESIDENT
Nicole Robinson
Both presidential candidates for next year’s Graduate Students Association expressed ambitious goals for the organization, including an expansion of financial support for graduate students and measures to increase diversity and inclusion.
This board endorses current GSA President Nicole Robinson for re-election because her combination of experience and vision makes her the most qualified to accomplish these goals.
Robinson is a long-standing member of the graduate student government, having served as vice president of academic affairs before her current post as president. During this time, she helped better the terms of a new leave of absence policy and successfully lobbied graduate students for more funding for the Graduate Writing Center.
Both accomplishments demonstrate her ability to navigate the multifaceted UCLA institution to secure her constituents’ best interests.
The adage “don’t change horses in midstream” comes to mind when considering this year’s presidential race. Robinson’s opponent, Michael Hirshman, shows promise as a leader and has a strong set of organizational skills that come from professional experience. But ultimately, Robinson is better equipped to maneuver the organization into a position of increased prominence and to lobby for graduate student issues.
In her interview with the editorial board, Robinson displayed a keen understanding of the bodies that GSA must work with to accomplish its foundational goals. Her platforms of increasing financial support for graduate students and consolidating and expanding career development programs are bolstered by contacts she already has within the Graduate Division, the Career Center and the Graduate Student Resource Center.
In addition, Robinson’s network of political connections include members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council. Besides contributing $5,000 of GSA funds to a mobile safety application being established by the USAC internal vice president, Robinson signed on to important undergraduate initiatives such as 7,000 in Solidarity and the Invest in Graduation Not Incarceration, Transform Education campaign.
In endorsing Robinson, we encourage her to continue to leverage the enthusiasm of undergraduate students in furthering the interests they share with graduate students. Perhaps Robinson can add the goal of reducing class sizes to these shared initiatives.
The one segment of campus to which Robinson must devote her attention in a second term is professional students, who, though a voting sector of GSA, often feel disenfranchised from the organization. In particular, many professional students opposed Robinson’s push for a referendum to fund the Graduate Student Writing Center.
Robinson can bring into the fold students from the UCLA School of Law and the Anderson School of Management, among others, by engaging her opponent, an Anderson student, in effective outreach methods to students at professional schools. Beyond that, she must make an effort to be attentive to the needs of professional students and make GSA work for their best interests.
Another year with Robinson in GSA’s top spot would be sure to serve the UCLA graduate community well and would allow her to carry valuable momentum from this year to next year.
Michael Hirshman ready to be placed/copy
The role of Graduate Students Association president requires reliable connections and vast knowledge of the organization’s procedures – experience that candidate Michael Hirshman lacks.
The Anderson School of Management student showed admirable enthusiasm about expanding GSA’s reach on campus and increasing interaction among the different graduate schools. But without a more expansive background with student government, this board believes that Hirshman would struggle to realize his goals.
When asked about his experience, Hirshman pointed to previous management positions at venture capital and investment companies as well as his active involvement in undergraduate student government at UCSD. Such experience, while valuable, does not indicate knowledge of the inner workings of GSA, knowledge critical for the association’s president.
Hirshman’s opponent, current GSA President Nicole Robinson, has spent multiple years with the organization and showed the ability to bring her goals to fruition. Robinson, who served as vice president for academic affairs before her current position, showed a greater effort to educate herself about the organization before running for its top position.
In an interview with the editorial board, Hirshman spoke at length about many admirable goals, such as incentivizing professors to prioritize teaching over research and providing better workers’ compensation for graduate student researchers, but left out concrete plans about how to make them happen.
Hirshman said that he thought his presence on GSA as a student from a professional school would add some much-needed diversity to the organization and he hopes to do more outreach to all types of graduate students. In this area, we believe Hirshman draws much-needed attention to the fractured, or “siloed,” nature of the graduate student body, which by nature of its role in academic life tend toward focusing intently on its departments and laboratories.
Hirshman’s ambitions are important and worthwhile for GSA, which seems to be losing relevance on campus, but they can be accomplished outside of the president’s office.
This board applauds Hirshman’s enthusiasm and, whether elected or not, we hope he will bring his ideas to GSA next year.
VICE PRESIDENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
Hope McCoy
We endorse Hope McCoy for vice president of internal affairs because she has a firm grasp of the most pressing issues facing graduate students and understands the difficulties of increasing engagement between the graduate population and its student government.
Most of all, McCoy has the experience to create change on both fronts.
McCoy’s previous involvement in GSA will allow her to bring valuable insight into the office she is seeking. The current vice president of external affairs, McCoy also served as the director of communications for GSA and as a graduate representative on the Campus Programs Committee.
Graduate student engagement with GSA has been historically poor – especially during elections – but McCoy has concrete plans to address the problem.
Aside from commonly suggested remedies such as marketing and branding, McCoy said she plans to move forum meetings later in the evening to get better participation from graduate students who are tied up with other responsibilities in the afternoon. She also plans to reach out specifically to the population of UCLA students who are also parents to better understand how to engage them in student government.
This year, McCoy helped pass a resolution calling for a diversity-related general education requirement, diversity training for teaching assistants and other diversity initiatives at UCLA.
The board believes McCoy will be able to work very well with fellow candidates Nicole Robinson and Ivy Onyeador, if elected, as they have similar goals, such as increasing the involvement of smaller graduate student communities in the body.
Also, as several candidates are running without previous GSA officer experience, McCoy should make sure to ease the learning curve for the new officers in her role as vice president of internal affairs.
With past experience as both a GSA officer and as a higher education administrator at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, McCoy is poised to be a successful vice president of internal affairs.
VICE PRESIDENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Andrés Schneider
This board endorses Andrés Schneider for vice president of external affairs because of his great enthusiasm for service and plans to involve a greater number of his peers in student government.
Schneider, a graduate student in economics, previously worked as the Graduate Students Association’s discretionary funding director – experience we believe will equip him to succeed in opening up GSA funds to a greater number of student groups.
The board was impressed by Schneider’s emphasis on improving the association’s transparency by presenting the institution’s budgets and available funds online. If elected, Schneider would do well to forge ahead with this platform over the summer and engage other GSA leaders in identifying projects of even greater scale to improve the group’s presentation of information to its community.
Schneider also emphasized outreach to a range of communities on campus.
In particular, Schneider discussed increasing communication between GSA and its undergraduate counterpart, the Undergraduate Students Association Council. We hope Schneider is able to realize this platform, and if he secures office, we strongly encourage him to set up a method of regular communication between student governments as soon as the new USAC council is elected.
Consistency will be the most difficult aspect of establishing a link with undergraduates, but one that could yield great results for both bodies.
Communication with USAC is particularly important because, during his interview, Schneider said he “understands perfectly” the problems and realities of undergraduates, an assertion that needs to be backed up with action and visible collaboration. While Schneider’s experience as a teaching assistant has surely exposed him to undergraduates in an academic setting, comprehending the issues of undergraduates must be an ongoing process.
Another group Schneider can make inroads with is the sizable international student population, of which he is a member.
In his time at UCLA, Schneider acted as a student ambassador for Argentina with the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars. We believe Schneider’s experience as a student leader with the Dashew Center and understanding of the diversity of the international student experience will be an asset to the body.
Finally, Schneider spoke of the importance of renewing GSA’s affiliation with the UC Student Association, a UC-wide advocacy organization. While many candidates presented joining UCSA as a platform, Schneider promised to make sure that UCLA’s graduate student government will play a big part in the organization’s conversation despite its new membership.
We are confident Schneider will be a productive and charismatic member of the GSA council and encourage him to make good on his promises of improving the organization’s transparency and engaging communities across campus.
Vaheh Shirvanian ready to be placed/copy
Perhaps the most pressing task of the Graduate Students Association vice president of external affairs is understanding the concerns of the organization’s constituents and communicating them to audiences both internal and external.
Vaheh Shirvanian, a candidate for GSA’s external affairs position, lacks the necessary knowledge to adequately advocate for the concerns of graduate students on campus.
When asked about outreach to different groups on campus and about the complex set of graduate student issues an external vice president must communicate, Shirvanian expressed confusion on most of the matters concerning the office.
For example, Shirvanian could not name any groups he would like to reach out to as vice president of external affairs.
He also did not seem to have a clear grasp of his slate’s platforms, aside from the general notion of joining the UC Student Association.
He offered fossil fuel divestment as part of his platform for cooperation and collaboration with the undergraduate student government, but seemed unaware of administrative opposition within the University of California that has in the past stymied efforts to use the system’s investment for political purposes.
Shirvanian did express a deep commitment to learning what he did not know, and his forthrightness about his lack of expertise was commendable. But when being considered for office, a background of experience and intricate knowledge of graduate students must take precedence over a dose of honesty and enthusiasm.
As a first-year graduate student, Shirvanian has plenty of time ahead of him to better acquaint himself with GSA. Shirvanian is smart and well-spoken, and he displays initiative. With a year of experience under his belt, he could be a strong contender for a GSA position.
VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
IVY ONYEADOR
This board endorses Ivy Onyeador for vice president of academic affairs for her comprehensive vision to foster a sense of community among graduate students and her enthusiastic approach to securing more funding resources to support graduate students.
One of Onyeador’s most crucial platforms for next year is fostering the growth of diverse communities and bringing them into closer cooperation with the Graduate Students Association – in the process improving the academic experience of underrepresented students at UCLA. This board believes that with her past experience, she can make great strides toward that goal.
Onyeador’s work with identity-based groups – such as the Black Graduate Students Association and the La Raza Law Students Association – places her in a position to help bridge the gap between GSA and student organizations. By creating what she called “smaller communities” within the large and disparate system of UCLA graduate schools, Onyeador will be able to promote academic success through social connections and networking.
As Onyeador stressed, comfort and inclusion are necessary conditions for graduate students to excel in their scholarship. The goal of community-building in the graduate school cannot be overstated and is particularly important given charged incidents in multiple graduate departments that demonstrated feelings of disenfranchisement among some underrepresented communities.
While we strongly believe she is capable of building student networks around identities rather than departments – thus tackling the problem of students’ being secluded within their academic fields – Onyeador’s conception of her office leaves a bit to be desired.
In order to ensure she makes progress during her time as vice president of academic affairs next year, Onyeador needs to learn more about her role in the Graduate Council and more generally as a voice in the UCLA Academic Senate.
She aims to increase funding for graduate students through better fellowship opportunities and teaching assistant positions, a rather ambitious but important goal for the office she seeks. In addition, as vice president she will be responsible for coordinating graduate student support for a diversity-related undergraduate general education requirement.
Right now she lacks a comprehensive knowledge of curriculum formation and faculty governance at UCLA, which is critical know-how to fully realize these goals.
Still, Onyeador showed initiative and potential to do realistic work toward better financial support. We believe that Onyeador can learn quickly what it takes to be an influential voice in the Academic Senate.