Graduate Student Association

Serving the Needs of Graduate and Professional Students at UCR

Advocacy

Who We Are:

The External Affairs Office serves as the advocacy arm of the UCR Graduate Student Association (GSA). We are the voice and force connecting graduate and professional students with university systemside leadership, policymakers, and other public institutions. Our mission is to amplify student concerns, ensure equitable policies, and secure resources so that graduate life is sustainable, inclusive, and empowering. 

We advocate across multiple levels of engagement: 

  • Local/Municipal: Building partnerships throughout the Inland Empire (IE) to make it a place where graduate students can live, work, study, and play. 
  • US System: Collaborating with graduate and professional students associations across the UC campuses -- and through University of California Graduate and Professional Council (UCGPC) -- to influence systemwide policies and initiatives. 
  • State: Engaging with California Legislators and agencies to advance the interest of graduate education and student well-being. 
  • Federal: Representing UCR graduate students in national discussions on higher education, research, and equity. 

Meet the Team:

  1.  B. Hutchins, M.A.  

    1. Title: Vice-President of External Affairs; Vice-Chair of the Graduate Student Council; Board Member of UCGPC
    2. Bio: Gregory Hutchins serves as the Vice-President of External Affairs (VPEA) for GSA (2025-2026), bringing significant advocacy experience to the role. In the 2024-2025 academic year, Greg held the position of UC Advocacy Office, where he assisted with systemwide initiatives to represent graduate student interest across University of California campuses. He is a dedicated union member (UAW 4811), active as a rank-and-file member and a delegate to the Inland Empire Labor Council, and plays a leadership role in the Pick Group of Young Professionals, where he helps connect graduate students with civic engagement in Riverside. Beyond campus, Greg also serves as Commissioner on the Riverside City Budget Engagement Commission , deepening his commitment to ensuring that the Inland Empire is a place where students can live, work, and thrive. 
  2. Ramiro Rodriguez Sanchez, B.A.

    1. Title: UC Advocacy Officer
    2. Bio: Ramiro Rodriguez Sanchez serves as the UC Advocacy officer in the office of External Affairs for GSA for the 2025-2026 academic year. From 2022-2024 Ramiro served as a Mental Health Peer Advocate for undergraduate students at the Student Psychological Services in California State University, Dominguez Hills.
    3.  
  3. Pamela Romero B.A.

       

  4. Title: Legislative Advocacy Officer
  5. Bio: Pamela Romero serves as the Legislative Advocacy officer in the office of External Affairs for the Graduate Student Association. As well as the Counseling and Psychological Services Liaison for the Graduate Student Association.
UC System Advocacy
California State Advocacy
US Government Advocacy

UC System Advocacy

[COMING SOON!]

California State Advocacy

[COMING SOON!]

US Federal Government Advocacy

2023 Advocacy

Advocacy-Committee-2
Advocacy-Committee-1

On March 28th-29th a UCRGSA Delegation traveled to Washington D.C. to conduct advocacy meetings with legislators. The delegation was composed by Ivett Gabriella, GSA President, Dulce Alarcón Payan, GSA Legislative Advocacy Officer, Zaira Vidal Cortes, GSA PhD student and DACA holder, and Fernando D. Márquez Duarte, GSA VP of External Affairs.

We held meetings four in-person meetings in D.C.:

  • Met with Julian Garcia, Education Policy team of Senator Alex Padilla and another staff member.
  • Met with Taylor DuBard, Legislative Correspondent on immigration to Senator Dianne Feinstein
  • Met with Congressman Mark Takano and his policy analyst Adrienne Castro.
  • Met with Adriana Bankston, Legislative Analyst and the staff of the UC Office of Federal Government Relations.

The topics that were addressed in these meetings were:

  1. Disability rights
  2. Immigration/DACA
  3. Housing

We made white papers on Disability rights, and Immigration/DACA and delivered a copy in each meeting. Our white papers and asks were very well received by all legislators. One of the staff members of Alex Padilla that we talked to in the meeting is DACA herself, so she was specially interested and willing to work on our asks on the topic so Senator Padilla can support UCR international and DACA graduate students.

Senator Feinstein’s staffer told us that Senator Feinstein will be supporting our asks and told us that the Senator is working on a bill proposal to improve housing situation for students, which was very interesting. Finally Rep. Takano was very supportive of our asks and very knowledgeable about the situation for the Dream Act vote in Congress, as well as offered us specific and very useful tips to make UCR admins respect rights of students with disabilities.

The meeting with the OC Office of Federal Government Relations was also useful because they heard our situation as grad students first-hand and we told them what are the areas where UCR has to improve to better serve us as graduate students.

DACA Whitepaper

This whitepaper, written by Zaira Vidal Cortes, emphasizes the need for reform in U.S. immigration laws to address the challenges and inequalities faced by UCR graduates and undergraduate students, who arrived as children and struggle with unstable immigration status, impacting their educational, financial, and personal opportunities.

Disability Justice for Graduate Students

This whitepaper, written by Dulce Alarcón Payan, examines the extremely important issue that over 400,000 U.S. graduate and professional students live with disabilities, facing significant barriers despite ADA legislation, with less than 7% at UC receiving accommodations, leading to a preference for online learning which still lacks adequate accessibility and support.