The GSA Election Committee is pleased to announce the results of the 2018-2019 GSA Officer Elections and Referendum vote:
President:
Jessica Coley: 676
(276 abstentions)
Vice President:
Connor Walters: 634
(318 abstentions)
Treasurer:
Joshua Joseph: 655
(297 abstentions)
These elected candidates will officially take office as of June 1, 2018.
Referendum:
That the student activity fee (Graduate Student Association fee) be MANDATORY for all Graduate Student Association students: 671
That the student activity fee (Graduate Student Association fee) be VOLUNTARY for all Graduate Student Association students: 281
I support raising the student activity fee (Graduate Student Association fee) for Graduate Student Association students $21.00 from $64.00 to $85.00: 655
I DO NOT support raising the student activity fee (Graduate Student Association fee) for Graduate Student Association students $21.00 from $64.00 to $85.00: 297
Thank you to all of the graduate students who participated in these votes!
Sincerely,
GSA Election Committee
Ariel Noffke (EC Chair)
Genevieve Franck (EC)
Cory Holzerland (EC)
Aya Ali (EC)
Misol Kwan (EC)
The Candidates
For President
Jessy Coley
“Jessy for President: Fighting for Living Wages, Transparency, Respect, and a Better UB for All.”
At a time when the President of UB is making over half a million dollars yearly, while graduate TA stipends are as low as $10,500, it is time for a change in the way UB treats their graduate students. All too often we hear about proposed fee increases, without being given a clear explanation as to why they are needed or seeing improvements in services. UB graduate students are tired of having unjust fee increases placed on them every semester and not seeing tangible results. We want the university administration to stop pretending they know what’s best for us, be transparent, and start listening to the actual needs of the students.
For many of us, the decision to attend graduate school was a complicated one. Many of us are forced to work multiple jobs, on and off campus so that we can get through graduate school. Like many other graduate students, I began graduate school with no funding when I started in Fall 2015. I took out multiple loans and worked on campus, all while taking twelve credits each semester and serving as an Alternate Senator for the Sociology Graduate Student Association (SGSA). After two years of taking out the max amount of loans, I was offered a TA opportunity. While I am grateful for the opportunity to be a TA, I realize that I and other TAs are grossly underpaid for the work that we do. Many of us are given semester-by-semester appointment and are left feeling unsure about whether we will be able to get by financially in the future. President Tripathi believes graduate students should view the experience of being a TA as enough payment and see the stipends we receive as a bonus. We graduate students know all too well that experience does not pay the bills, while in graduate school, what we actually need is a living wage.
As your GSA President, I will fight for the rights of all graduate students. I believe my background in community organizing for marginalized groups in Buffalo qualifies me to be the kind of leader that the graduate population at UB needs. I will be the biggest advocate for the most marginalized groups within the graduate population. The international students that have limits placed on how much they can work, students that are funding their education themselves, parenting students who are forced to juggle school, work, and family life, and racial minority graduate students who do not see themselves represented in teachers, students, or in the UB administration. It is time for the lack of respect and lack of transparency shown to us by UB administration to end. Without us, the university could not function, but when we ask to meet with university administration, we are met with locked office doors and gun totting campus police officers. As your President, I will advocate on the behalf of all students and I will not stop until we get what we deserve.
For Vice President
For Treasurer
Be sure to vote!
Sincerely,
GSA Election Committee
Ariel Noffke (Chair)- Anthropology
Aya Ali– Biomaterials
Genevieve Franck– Linguistics
Cory Holzerland– Urban Planning
Misol Kwan– Nursing
Details concerning election procedure can be found in the 2018 Election Code.