Graduate Student Association

Call for Candidates

On April 12 – 15, 2021 the following offices will be filled through a general election of graduate students at UB:

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

TREASURER

The stipends for each of these positions is currently $14,500, but this amount may be increased as part of the GSA Board of Directors’ approved budget for 2021-2022 (which will be voted on at the April 7^th Board of Directors meeting).  Elected officers must be present and available to serve in the duties of their office from June 1, 2021 until May 31, 2022.

Any student enrolled in a department that is currently represented by GSA, who is in good academic standing, and has attended one Board of Directors meeting in the past twelve months prior to becoming a candidate and attends the February 3^rd and March 3^rd Board meetings shall be eligible to run for office.

*Please note that international students holding an assistantship or any other employment will be restricted by federal work regulations and may not be eligible to run for office under United States Law.*

Petition packets for candidacy are now available by email request and are due back to the Election Committee Chair by Friday, February 26, 2021 at 4:30pm.  Absolutely NO late submissions will be accepted.

All prospective candidates must attend a mandatory meeting with members of the Election Committee where the Election Rules and Regulations will be handed out and reviewed.  Meetings will be arranged between prospective candidates and the Election Committee to occur between Thursday, March 4, 2021 and Thursday, March 11, 2021.

Please contact the Election Committee Chair, Daniel Duran (dduran@buffalo.edu) to request a petition packet, or to inquire about the details of the application procedure and formalities.

The GSA Winter Break Schedule will be as follows:

• GSA open remotely through Monday, December 14^th
• GSA closed Tuesday, December 15^th – Monday, January 4^th
• GSA on Summer Hours Monday, January 4^th – Friday, January 29^th
  • Open remotely Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 4:00pm, closed on Fridays
• GSA closed Monday, January 18^th for MLK Jr. Day (University Closed)
• Regular Business Hours resume Monday, February 1^st with the start of the Spring semester

The MyUB Development Team is looking for current UB students to share feedback on a new platform: MyUB Beta. 

They are hoping to gather real student feedback to optimize the experience for all students using MyUB. Their feedback will be used to help improve the new platform before it’s released to all students. Would you be willing to share this information with the graduate students?

To participate in this limited pilot project, they should be:

• • A currently enrolled UB student that uses or has used MyUB
  • Willing to use the MyUB Beta (for the balance of the semester)
  • Willing to share their feedback on the new MyUB Beta

A limited number of students will be selected for this pilot. To register, please go to: https://buffalo.edu/ubit/myub-beta

Good fellow student leaders,

SUNY Board of Trustees will be holding a virtual public hearing to discuss  “University Issues”. There has not been a more important time than now to shake the table, hold SUNY and the BOT accountable to the students. We need your voices at the table, now more than ever. Here are some important information for you all about the hearing:

WHY IS THIS HEARING IMPORTANT:

During this pandemic when students are facing financial hardships, the Board of Trustees is looking to raise tuition, which may be up to $1,000. SUNY should not be unjustly placing the financial struggles of the institution on students’ backs and must seek state support instead, as a public university system.

This hearing is an opportunity for students to hold the Board of Trustees accountable to the students, and raise the alarm on the insurmountable hardships we have been facing: mental health, international student concerns racial justice, accessibility services, and difficulties encountered with online learning.

They are only giving each student 3 minutes to speak, but that 3 minutes can turn into 300 minutes with a massive student movement of diverse voices that will shake the table. Our time is NOW. 

This is THE MOST IMPORTANT opportunity to stop tuition increase and make our voices heard. This is our moment to make sure SUNY places students, first!

Hearing Date:

November 17, 3PM via zoom.

Due Date to Submit Registration to SUNY SA:

Monday, November 9, by 9PM. Via this >>>LINK<<<

Due Date to Submit Registration to Board of Trustees:

Tuesday, November 10, by 3PM

IMPORTANT: Each student that will be at the hearing, must email the Board of Trustees from their own email to “request” to be at the hearing. SUNY SA will send all students who have registered with us (by MON 9PM) a “template email”, to send to the Board of Trustees to confirm their attendance (before TUE 3PM), as well as the email address, this is why it’s important to register with us ASAP.

What can you do:

1) Push members of your cabinet and senate to attend, as student representatives this is their opportunity to represent their constituents at the most important table of SUNY

2) Gather coalitions from student organization presidents at multicultural organizations

3) REMEMBER: register with SUNY SA by Mon, 9PM, and keep an eye out for SA’s. email to register with the Board of Trustees by Tuesday 3PM.

NOTE:

We will meet as a group before Nov 17 hearing to discuss the testimonials.

From the bottom of my heart thank you all for being willing to fight this fight with us. Only together, we can.

Yours in advocacy and solidarity,

Eusebio Omar van Reenen
Vice President
He/Him
Student Assembly of the State University of New York
State University Plaza – Albany, NY 12246
Your Voice. Your Student Assembly.

The UBIT Student Experience Survey is now live at buffalo.edu/ubit/survey

There are also still some spots left in our Student Input Sessions this week as well, students can click the following links to register via Zoom:

• Register: 10/20, 3-4 p.m.
• Register: 10/21, 1-2 p.m.
• Register: 10/21, 5-6 p.m.

While the physical GSA office will remain closed until further notice, graduate students are still eligible for all of the funding and support services we provide.  For example, conference funding is still being awarded on a monthly basis to students who are attending or presenting at virtual events; MDRF grants are still available to support expenses related to final project, thesis and dissertation research, and the GSA Editorial Services are still offering copy editing services via online submissions.  Check out the GSA website for more information about these and all of our other opportunities!

Furthermore, Departmental clubs are able to provide conference and research support to their students, so make sure to inquire with your club officers about additional financial support.

All funding provided through your mandatory student activity fee.

The GSA Election Committee is pleased to announce the results of the 2020-2021 GSA Officer Elections and Referendum vote:

President:

J Coley: 468
(110 abstentions)

Vice President:

Connor Walters: 472
(106 abstentions)

Treasurer:

Joshua Joseph: 475
(103 abstentions)

These elected candidates will officially take office immediately.

Referendum:

That the student activity fee be MANDATORY for all graduate students: 329

That the student activity fee be VOLUNTARY for all graduate students: 249

Thank you to all of the graduate students who participated in these votes!

Sincerely,

GSA Election Committee

Tania Islam (EC Chair)
Xingyu Chen (EC)
Sadat Khan  (EC)
Olabowale Olola (EC)
Amber Rivera (EC)

Every two years the SUNY Board of Trustees mandates that all student governments must put their student activity fee up for a referendum vote.  GSA’s fee will be voted on this Fall from September 14th to 17th.  Without a mandatory student activity fee, GSA will not have the revenues to provide all of our funding and services to clubs and graduate students.

On Monday, July 6th, 2020, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that international students in the U.S. whose schools switch to online classes for the fall semester will have to leave the country or risk violating their visa status. The decision would prohibit any student on an F-1 visa from remaining in the country under the aforementioned circumstance.

The University at Buffalo Graduate Student Association condemns this decision in the strongest possible terms. On July 14th, 2020, the Trump administration rescinded the policy that would have deported international students not taking in-person classes. While we are grateful for this rescission, we are still concerned for international students under the current administration.

The UB Graduate Student Association E-board urges President Tripathi and Vice President Weber to be proactive in protecting all international students from instances like this in the future. UB Administration should develop a concrete plan to protect international students in case something like this happens again. International students should not have to live in fear of being deported. They need to know that UB administration will fight for them against the xenophobic and overzealous Trump administration.

The University at Buffalo prides itself in being a top destination school for international students. Now is the time for UB administration to show up for international students in a big way. The UB GSA stands in solidarity with international students at UB and everywhere. We encourage UB administrators to show they do as well.

J. Coley, GSA President
Connor Walters, GSA Vice President
Joshua Joseph, GSA Treasurer