Letters to the Editor

Graduate Student Government is racially diverse and gender-balanced

In response to the April 25 article "Diversity Deficiency" on the lack of diversity among undergraduate U-Councilors, I am happy to report that graduate students just elected a very diverse group of graduate U-Councilors at Tuesday night's Graduate Student Government meeting.

For the first time, graduate students directly voted for their U-Councilor representatives. In previous years, Associate Dean of the Graduate School F. Joy Montero appointed people to the U-Council. The GSG requested a change in the Charter of the U-Council this year to allow graduate students to vote directly. This amendment passed unanimously earlier this year. Tuesday was this year's first graduate U-Council election.

Among the five general U-Councilor positions elected, there were three women, several people of color and people from different departments — in sum, great diversity. The newly elected members of the U-Council committees also reflect similar diversity. The high percentage of women is especially notable given that women are far outnumbered by men in the total population of graduate students. We hope the University community will see these election results as a sign of serious dedication on the part of the GSG to being an active, important and representative part of this community. Eszter Hargittai GS Chair, Graduate Student Government