Graduate seats are rarely contested, leaders say

Jennifer Kistenmacher

The open race for graduate senate representatives on the Government of the Student Body senate is unfortunate but not unusual, GSB representatives said. Three current representatives, Bruce Adami, Carla Rogis and Roy Salcedo, are not running again due to time constraints. Adami said he would be a graduate senator again if he is appointed by the Graduate Student Senate (GSS).Salcedo, graduate in educational leadership and policy studies, said an open race for the GSB graduate senate seats is not unusual. If there are no candidates for the seats, he said the Graduate Student Senate Parliamentarian will appoint three people to fill the positions.Salcedo said the role of the GSB graduate student representatives is to attend both the GSB and GSS meetings, report GSB’s activities or projects and what effect they will have on the students, and represent their constituencies on the GSB senate floor, he said.While GSS representation is important for graduate students, Adami said their voices also need to be heard on a campus-wide basis through GSB.Rogis said graduate students are more willing to get involved with GSS instead of GSB because they feel in GSB, “their voice isn’t as important.””GSS and GSB need to work more together to make grad students see that they are important,” she said.— Jennifer Kistenmacher