After their sweep in this spring's Graduate Student Association elections, Xun Liu and the GSA executive board will have another year in office together.
Liu won another term as president last Thursday, defeating Jennifer Halfhill in the only contested election. Vice President Shaokang Wang and Treasurer Amol Salunkhe retained their positions by default.
All agreed that having a year of experience will be invaluable as they prepare for next year and the responsibility of controlling GSA's $650,000 budget.
"We know a lot about GSA - we can save a lot of time now," said Liu, a doctoral candidate in political science. "There won't be a transition period."
This year marked the second time voting took place exclusively online for the GSA elections. The first attempt holding elections online two years ago was mired by technical difficulties and a scandal involving voter fraud. GSA officials said this year the online process was much smoother.
"It was great move to institute technology into the election," said Salunkhe, GSA treasurer pursuing a master's degree in the department of industrial engineering. "I know two years ago it was a fiasco, but this year was much better."
Yet, the ease of voting from any computer did not seem to make much impact on the number of UB voters. The total turnout of 431 is about the same number that voted in last year's GSA elections - less than 10 percent of eligible graduate student voters.
"I think the turnout was miserable," said Salunkhe, who said the number of voters was probably hindered by the fact that two of the three candidates ran unopposed, leaving voters very little choice.
"I was expecting a bigger voter turnout, considering we made it easier for grad students this year," said Liu.
Regardless, the votes are final and next year's work will begin right away.
Salunkhe said he hopes to use next year as an opportunity to finish some of the projects the administration started this year.
"We have certain plans in the pipeline that we'll hopefully see to fruition," said Salunkhe.
GSA is funded by a $39 mandatory fee provided by all UB students in a graduate program, not including the schools of law, medicine, dental or master of business administration programs.
"You have to give maximum returns to the students who are paying money now," said Salunkhe.
To accomplish this, the newly re-elected GSA officials said the organization is beefing up its services to graduate students. The association already provides free editing to research papers, and according to members of the e-board, it has increased the amount of money students can receive through conference funding from $250 to $400. It has also added a number of social activities to it agenda.
"We realize that graduate students have plenty of pressure, so we wanted to create more social programs," said Liu, who mentioned beer and wine tastings as examples.
Next year, Liu hopes to provide more professional support to students, including expanding his new professional development series, which he said has received very positive responses.
Liu said he wants to work harder next year to bring UB's six student governments closer together and to be more inclusive of graduate students on South Campus.
"I want to propose a student government council between all the student governments," said Liu.
Also at the top of his to-do list, Liu said he plans to arrange a meeting with President John B. Simpson to discuss his ideas and gain his support.
While Liu is excited about his second term in office, he said it will be his last. He plans to earn his doctoral degree in 2005.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
