Kiran Bhardwaj, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, views her job not just as a responsibility, but a calling.
Bhardwaj, a graduate student studying philosophy, said her interest in ethics led her to seek office.
“One of the things I very strongly believe is that, if you’re doing ethics, you ought to be putting that into practice,” she said. “Much of the work that I do as president is ethics in practice.”
Bhardwaj’s administration is focused on properly representing the interests of the University’s large graduate and professional student population, which makes up 37 percent of the student body. As with undergraduate Student Body President Christy Lambden, Bhardwaj will serve in her position for one academic year.
She said financial awareness was the central concern of the GPSF because graduate students can face economic challenges.
One of Bhardwaj’s administration’s top priorities has been creating an emergency fund for graduate and professional students who run into tough financial situations.
Dylan Glatt, Bhardwaj’s chief of staff, said financial advocacy is the most important and difficult of the organization’s responsibilities.
He said teaching and research assistants receive a minimum stipend of $15,200, which the Bhardwaj administration is trying to increase.
“If you’re coming in with a family, maybe a spouse or a child, you’re potentially paying health insurance for that person,” he said. “It’s not easy, and it’s something that we’re acutely aware of.”