Friday, February 16, 2007
Another actual proposal
In yet another departure from Beetle Beat tradition, I'm going to make a real proposal that I think the ASUC and GA should consider (more accurately, that the ASUC should consider and force the GA to do the same). That proposal is:
GA Elections.
The Graduate Assembly is supposed to represent graduate students. However, it doesn't. It represents delegates. The delegates are generally unelected, and are usually the one guy in the department who knows what the GA is. Josh Daniels made this case to me, too.
GA elections would finally bring representation to graduate students. Currently, delegates are highly insular and think they can do what they want with their money. This is why the GA spends money on food for itself, rather than on helping the student body in general. But elections would force folks to go out and talk to graduate students, and give those students a means to hold the GA accountable. It will also serve to inform graduate students about their student government.
The ASUC represents all students, so I think the Senate needs to take the lead here and demand that the GA work with it and develop elections. The Senate can take an amazing step to bring representation to graduate students, who are not represented in the GA, and who the GA discourages from seeking representation in the Senate (via things like the fact that all graduate student fees go to the GA, or that the election costs are dependent on the proportion of graduate students voting, rewarding apathy). This is also a perfect opportunity for several reasons:
It's cheap! The cost of printing up and distributing different ballots for every graduate department would be high. However, with the advent of computerized elections, the infrastructure is all already there. All we need is to get SIS to find a way to provide different ballots depending on which department the student is from, which should be possible. The GA and ASUC could hold joint elections, at almost no additional cost. (The big one would be voter guides, but I think they should be able to figure it out)
The ASUC has leverage. Josh Daniels is demanding that the ASUC open up more polling locations for graduate students. If the Senate requires, as a condition of doing so, that the GA take steps towards establishing elections, this would be an amazing step forward which Daniels has at least said he is interested in.
Beetle's plan for bringing elections to the GA: But for this to happen, the ASUC needs to take aggressive steps and for once agree not to be the GA's sounding board. The ASUC has to propose a joint ASUC-GA committee to create GA elections by 2008. They should also propose a charter amendment for the GA to allow computerized elections, which would need to be approved by both parties. The easiest way to do this is to amend the Memorandum of Understanding, which the Senate and GA can do.
The Senate has to put its foot down if the GA is not on board. It needs to deny the GA's requests for additional voting polls, representation, and money until it agrees. The Senate cannot allow the GA to continue its hypocritical approach of "power, but no cost." It's the job of the ASUC to look out for graduate student interests, and if the GA won't do it, it's up to the Senate.
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