Students in the College of Medicine announced their decision to leave the Graduate and Professional Student Council last week, the culmination of a semester-long conflict within the organization.
Chandan Kundavaram, student chair of the Medical Student Government, cited several reasons for the secession, including a lack of representation by GPSC and inadequate club funding.
"I don't think we've ever gained anything from being part of GPSC," Kundavaram said.
In a 68-57 vote, medical students chose to "leave GPSC and join ASUA," but members of GPSC called into question the legitimacy of the narrow vote.
Amanda Brobbel, president of GPSC, said the vote query was misleading because the query asked if medical students wanted to "leave GPSC and join ASUA," but medical students are already a part of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, which represents all students on campus.
In search of greener pastures at ASUA, Brobbel said medical students are relinquishing their seat on GPSC, a move which would surrender direct representation.
But Kundavaram said that by joining ASUA, medical students would reap benefits that include access to more club funding and a stronger voice on campus.
ASUA President Alistair Chapman said the College of Medicine's clubs were not eligible for a share of ASUA's more than $80,000 in club appropriations unless 51 percent of their students were undergraduates.
But now, once medical clubs register with the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, they have the opportunity to apply for club funding from ASUA, Chapman said.
Paul Thorn, secretary of GPSC, said clubs within GPSC are granted money on a per capita basis and that the money is distributed fairly.
Thorn, a philosophy graduate student, said that since GPSC is one-fifth the size of ASUA but has one-half the money available for club funding and travel grants, it would make more sense for medical students to remain with GPSC.
But members of the Medical Student Government said they could only apply for an upwards of $6,000 in GPSC, for which they competed with other clubs.
Doug Hartz, a representative for the medical class of 2007, said other initial concerns with GPSC stemmed from vacant seats on the board, which should have been filled by medical students but were not sufficiently advertised. As a result, the seats were filled without consultation with the medical student government.
Thorn argued that the position was thoroughly publicized through coordination with deans and newsletters, which reached 3,500 graduate and professional students.
Still, by making ties closer with ASUA, Hartz said medical students will be aligned with the ASUA president, who is regularly meeting with the Provost George Davis and President Peter Likins.
"When you make an argument (with administrators), it carries a lot more weight with someone who meets with them regularly ... carries a message from a concerned constituency," said Hartz, who was 2002-3 ASUA president. "You are more able to get your point across and compromise; we really needed some representation."
To increase representation in ASUA, Chapman said medical students would now be eligible to run and vote in the ASUA Senate. But Brobbel said GPSC is just as respected and as well known as ASUA, and she also meets with administrators on a regular basis, attending the same committee meetings as the ASUA president.
Mark Zubriski, a second-year medical student also involved in GPSC, said medical students essentially lowered their status at the UA by diminishing the strength of their collective voice by joining a larger organization.
Accusations were also made by both sides that said the move was largely political, such as the allegation of Hartz being biased since he was president of ASUA, or how GPSC is supposedly controlled by only a few students. Members from both sides said they think the other is on a power trip.
All sides also agreed they were tired of petty bickering.
Although medical students pulled out of GPSC, non-medical students within the College of Medicine will still retain their seat within the organization, and all clubs in the College of Medicine are still welcome to apply for club funding.
"I don't want to see the GPSC represent anyone who doesn't want to be represented by GPSC," Brobbel said. "But regardless of the med student vote, the GPSC mission is still to promote the academic, economic and social aims of the graduate and professional students of the University of Arizona."