Graduate students in the School of Life Sciences started a petition to recall the executive officers of the Graduate Student Government.
SOLS E-Board posted a petition on their Instagram on Aug. 14, calling out GSG President Ravi Chopparapu, a PhD student at the Water and Environmental Technology Center, and his vice presidents.
"(They) have repetitively obstructed and disrupted the essential services of GSG," the Instagram post from the SOLS E-Board reads. "(Chopparapu) continues to dismiss, disregard, and attempt to delegitimize the GSG Assembly and GSG Supreme Court despite being formally censured for his actions by a majority of the Assembly."
SOLS posted a document in the caption of one of their posts that explained their petition and its language. A concern stated in the document is that the president "insulted, belittled, and retaliated against Assembly Members who refused to conform to his demands."
"Ravi has communicated with me maybe two or three times all in June, and aside from that, it has been a complete cutoff of communication," Michael Kintscher, a graduate student in computer science and the GSG assembly president, said. "Despite me reaching out many times, even asking benign questions."
Chopparapu has not responded to requests for comment.
Kintscher described Chopparapu and his time in office as "complete and absolute silence." Kintscher said Chopparapu will not respond to emails from members and has been absent from a meeting.
Chopparapu was also uninvolved in the GSG before his first attempt to run for the presidency in 2023. He was disqualified during his first run at the presidency, and he did not hold a position in the club until the next Spring election when he won the office.
In the 2024 Spring election, Chopparapu did not receive the popular vote. Instead, the candidate Kelly Bauer received the highest number of votes with him coming in second. Chopparapu only acquired the title after Bauer's disqualification, according to Mehreen Tahir, a PhD student in the Environmental Life Science program and the assembly chief manager of GSG.
Tahir recalls a story where Chopparapu showed unprofessionalism to her in a mediation session, normally used to help two sides negotiate a dispute.
"He tried to copy my voice...he mocked me," Tahir said. "Then in that specific meeting, a lot of people started saying 'Did the GSG president just mock Mehreen?' We have a president who cannot respect his colleagues. He's mocking them, even in a mediation session."
Tahir said she, on behalf of the treasury committee for GSG, asked Ravi to share the budgetary number, so they would be able to "allocate appropriately."
After Chopparapu did not attend meetings or respond to their email regarding the budget, the committee confronted him about the numbers, and he said he didn't have the budget data they requested, according to Tahir. This reportedly came as a shock for the committee, as Kintscher previously contacted the GSG advisor, Jennifer O'Brien, who said Chopparapu was provided with the data.
"We know for the graduate student organizations, they are very close to running out," Kintscher said. "I think there's somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000 left in that allocation."
Since the information was withheld, the Assembly was forced to pass a budget of a symbolic $1. They then allocated it for research, and are now waiting for the numbers that have not yet been shared.
Nikki Fordey, a graduate student studying law and the assembly president pro tempore, chairs the Graduate Student Organization Funding and Outreaching Committee, where Fordey reviews applications for events and operations funding.
According to Fordey, the committee can only "allocate the funds that are appropriated through the budgeting process." Fordey also explained that "$20,000 was appropriated for GSO funding at the June 21 special session of the GSG Assembly and budget requests for funding on SunDevilSync opened for GSO on July 1."
Vice President Aditya Raj declined to comment and vice presidents Nirav Shah and Sahithi Bobbu did not respond to requests for comment.
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Ramirez and Natalia Jarrett.
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Emma is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication and political science, with a minor in business. This is her second semester with The State Press.
