Students in the James E. Rogers College of Law announced their decision to secede from the Graduate and Professional Student Council yesterday, just days after students in the College of Medicine voted to also leave.

One hundred and seventy-four students participated in the collegewide election, with 92.5 percent voting to leave GPSC and seek further representation in the Associated Students of the University of Arizona.

Megan Nielsen, student body president of the College of Law, said law students had concerns about club funding and representation within GPSC, as GPSC has a parliamentary structure where students elect representatives from within colleges.

However, since those representatives elect the GPSC president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, the system does not allow for accountability of leaders, Nielsen said.

"To me, that is not direct representation," Nielsen said.

But Amanda Brobbel, president of GPSC, said the parliamentary structure does hold leaders accountable since the GPSC president cannot enact any decision without approval of the council and representatives.

In addition, Brobbel said the parliamentary system is most effective for graduate students, as graduate students identify more strongly with their colleges than undergraduates. By having a representative from each college, the parliamentary system allows for equal representation, Brobbel said.

However, Nielsen said she was also concerned when she saw too much time and effort being spent on GPSC's conflict with ASUA, and not enough on issues which concern law students.

"I saw a lot of energy expended on TA and RA compensations, which is great and wonderful, but for law and med students it has no sort of applicability whatsoever," Nielsen said. "And this preoccupation within GPSC, this power struggle with ASUA."

But Brobbel contested the allegations and said the GPSC meeting minutes reflect that graduate student tuition remission was not a major topic of discussion. While GPSC did discuss the ASUA conflict, Brobbel said it did not dominate conversations and pertained to graduate student interest.

Brobbel added College of Law representatives never expressed concerns about club funding or other law student concerns, although they did discuss dissatisfaction with the parliamentary structure, which the council voted not to change.

Nielsen said medical and law students are still in discussions with ASUA regarding the ASUA Senate. Because of the change, medical and law students will now be able to run and vote for ASUA Senate positions.

"As 92.5 percent of voters chose to leave GPSC, I certainly cannot speak on behalf of all voters," Nielsen said. "I believe all law students had unique concerns regarding this issue."