Doing the split

From the Bruin:

Graduate student associations in University of California campuses are no longer part of the UC Student Association, following a vote by graduate student leaders Thursday.

The UC Graduate-Professional Coalition, which consists of graduate student representatives from 10 UC campuses, voted to leave UCSA in a conference call Thursday night. Several graduate student leaders said they think UCSA does not focus enough on graduate student needs. UCGPC also passed a motion that allows it to consider rejoining UCSA after two years.

UCSA is an advocacy organization that represents UC students and works with UC administrators and lawmakers at the state and federal level. Graduate student leaders created UCGPC in July to better advocate for graduate student interests.

During the conference call, graduate student leaders from various campuses debated the proposal to leave UCSA. Some argued graduate students should have more independence to advocate for their specific needs, while others argued graduate students can benefit from UCSA’s large funding and advocacy experience.

Kim McCabe, vice president of external affairs for UC San Diego’s Graduate Student Association, said she thinks UCSA is an inefficient advocacy group.

“Every (graduate student) group every year has conversations about leaving UCSA. I’ve felt really frustrated by the lack of professionalism … at the UCSA space,” she said. “I believe we can be better advocates for our (graduate students) outside UCSA.”

Michael Skiles, president of UCLA’s Graduate Students Association and chair of the Graduate and Professional Summit that founded UCGPC, said he thinks undergraduate students do not fully understand the challenges graduate students face.

For example, Skiles said undergraduate students may not be familiar with graduate student issues like dissertations or the number of quarters a graduate student can be a teaching assistant.

He added that because UCSA usually elects undergraduate students to senior leadership positions, many graduate students feel they are not represented well.

“The concern is, UCSA tends to spend almost all of its time working on a lowest common denominator issues that (graduate students) and (undergraduate students) agree on – things like lowering tuition, housing affordability,” he said...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2017/09/29/uc-graduate-student-associations-vote-to-leave-ucsa-in-conference-call/