University of California, Los AngelesGraduate Student Association Elections Council Meeting #1, Winter Quarter

Thursday, February 7, 2019, 5:30pmMeeting minutes taken by Gabriela Lazalde, Public Health Student Association

CALL TO ORDER – 5:40pm

Attendee Introductions (5:40-5:45pm)

Overview of GSA Elections (5:45-6pm)Richard Tran, GSA Elections Commissioner

Richard presented information about GSA’s structure and the importance of the election for 4 leadership roles

Council roles: each council should have a representative at these election council meetings

o GSA unable to reach nursing student council, Education council missing. Historically, voting (through my.ucla) has had limited turnout

o Should be closer to 20% but has only been about 10-15% o Key factors in low turnout:

Busy student body Limited number of candidates (& representation of different schools) Michael Skiles got 1400 votes last year compared w/ 900 previous year Limited international student involvement

GradBar: a GSA event held during elections to promote voter turnout & allow candidates to meet and talk to constituents.

o Always organized during 2nd day of electiono Limited awareness among election council members that this GradBar is

connected with election.

Agenda Overview (6:00-6:05pm)Richard Tran, GSA Elections Commissioner

A review of the general timeline for Elections Council meetings, tasks, events No objections to current timeline but moving some discussion about campaign

requirements to later in the meeting.

Discuss of Election ScheduleAndrew Park

SBA has concerns about grad bar conflict with law school eventAllison Ariniello

Med school has concerns about scheduling and time commitment generally involved in GSA activities

Aysan Rangchian Engineering has concerns surrounding difficulty recruiting students for ESA, let alone

additional GSA responsibilities. This may have to do with high percentage of international students with limited awareness/understanding of GSA matters

Jordan Cantwell Anderson students not aware of GradBar event and Anderson’s place in it; could be due

to volume of emails from school, Anderson student groups, outside recruitment/networking events, etc.

Richard Tran Statement: we have general support for the proposed timeline (Wed 4/10-Tue 4/16 at

noon) Question: When do candidates carry out campaign?

o Response: candidates typically campaign the week before elections and during the week of elections

Call for vote. 11 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstains. o Vote: APPROVED.

Discussion of Candidate Application TimelineRichard Tran Current proposal: applications available for potential candidates from Winter Quarter late

Week 7 through week 10. Question: Is this enough time?Jessica Logan & Arushi Singh

Not necessarily enough time for students who are in smaller departments, or departments where there isn’t a lot of contact across programs

Different schools have different student body sizes, may be difficult to spread awareness, gather materials needed in that amount of time.

Call for vote to move application timeline to open Thursday of Week 6 and have a closing time of Thursday of 10th week, 5pm -- 11 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstain.

o Vote: APPROVED.

Staffing Elections Council Committees (6:31- 6:42pm)Richard Tran

Goal of committees is to meet to discuss specific aspects of elections process and events. The goal is to have about 3 people on each committee. People can still contribute to other committees.

Applicant Recruitment Committee: promotes recruitment of applicants from within GSA and beyond.

o Volunteers: Jessica Logan, Andrew Park, Arushi Singh. Voter Turnout Improvement Committee: Getting more people to vote

o Volunteers: Joe Tundo, Jordan Cantwell Gradbar Committee – choosing time, location, and organizing the logistics for the event

o Volunteers: Aysan Rangchian, Elizabeth McKenzie Statement: to clarify, the goal for each committee is to come up with suggestions for

these areas to be implemented in a timely matter and/or brought up at next meetingo Members should coordinate via email and potentially meet outside these

meetings to plan for their specific suggestions to bring up at next meeting.

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o Next meeting: Thursday, Week 8 5:30-7pm

Other discussions (6:42-7:05pm)Richard Tran

Elections budget: $6000Ideas to expand number of and diversity in candidates:

Adding a brief video (e.g. one-minute video introducing their platform. Candidates can make their own)

o Using a social media campaign posting videos on each council’s social media pages

o Requirements for video sharing – minimal, can use disclaimer as necessaryo If video submitted, can reduce signature requirement from 50 to 30?

An idea Richard will explore further. Altering signature requirements

o Unclear if this would be feasible to change now.o Further discussion tabled for next meeting

ADJOURNMENT: 7:06pm

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Sign in sheet (above)Attendees:

Name CouncilArushi Singh School of Arts and ArchitectureMark Veazie School of DentistryElizabeth McKenzie Biological Sciences CouncilJordan Cantwell Anderson School of ManagementJoseph Tundo Dept. of ItalianAndrew Park LawJessica Logan Math and Physical SciencesGabriela Lazalde Public Health Student AssociationAllison Ariniello Medical SchoolAysan Rangchian Engineering

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