Graduate engineers are seeking greater representation in University politics, but some undergraduates fear that a new proposal to address this desire may only decrease collaboration.
A recent proposal penned by the Engineering Graduate Student Council seeks to split the two student engineering University Senate seats—both of which are currently open to graduate and undergraduate candidates—between the undergraduate and graduate populations, a move which has been met with serious concern by the Engineering Student Council, which represents undergraduates.
Currently, the USenate has two seats for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which encompass both graduate and undergraduate populations. The seats are up for grabs by both undergraduates and graduates, and are currently occupied by two undergrads. The new proposal from EGSC would split the seats definitively between the two schools, so that one seat would be for an undergraduate senator only and the other seat would be reserved for a graduate student.
Student senators on the Student Affairs Caucus represent their school in the USenate—the University-wide legislature which meets monthly and makes policies on a range of issues that extend beyond a single school.
Timur Dykhne, EGSC president and one of the council members to pen the proposal, said the proposal was motivated by the fact that the graduate student population of SEAS has about 2000 students, while the undergraduate population of SEAS is about 1400 students.
Council members recently brought the proposal to the Senate Elections Commission for deliberation.
“Given our large student population ... and given the fact that graduate students are fundamentally different from undergraduates, they have different expectations and are concerned about different issues on campus. ... We feel like the most equitable situation would be to be guaranteed a seat for the graduate population.”
But members of the ESC, which represents the undergraduate students of SEAS, have expressed some hesitation. According to ESC president Whitney Green, SEAS ’10, senators are supposed to represent the entire body of SEAS, not just an undergraduate or graduate population. “According to the senate definition we are one school with one dean, one faculty, one constituency. We have undergrads, grads, masters, Ph.D. students, but we are all under one engineering school,” she said.
Another concern, voiced on both sides, has to do with collaboration between the graduate and undergraduate student councils. According to Green, splitting the seats may decrease collaboration between the two bodies. “ESC has been very much in the direction of trying to bridge that gap and have more collaboration. ... If we split the seats, does that mean that we sever that tie because there’s no need for us to work together anymore?” Green said.
Dykhne, though, responded to these concerns, saying, “It’s not a power grab or any sort of struggle. ... We would love for the undergraduate senator to sit on our council and for our senator to sit on ESC to represent the entire student population, but from the different perspectives that come from being part of different student bodies,” he said.
Both councils say they are also taking timing into consideration. According to Dykhne, “There’s a golden opportunity—in the sense that both senators are graduating this year and the election will be in the fall—and we feel that if we were to do the split right now, in some sense everything would work as its always worked.”
But Green said it’s late in the year to effectively solicit feedback from SEAS students about this proposed change—and the Senate Elections Commission, which received the proposal, asked that a referendum be issued to SEAS students about the issue.
Ultimately, though, Dykhne argued, “This is not a unique thing. The College [CC] and GSAS [Graduate School of Arts and Science] have different senators—independent senators—that’s been around for 40 years and it’s worked, and we feel that that would work for the engineering school.”
But current undergraduate University Senator from ESC Rajat Roy, SEAS ’10, said that the definitive split is unnecessary. “Students care whether a candidate is qualified, not whether they’re an undergraduate or a graduate. Experience matters more than age.”
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