AGS lobbies the administration on various issues that affect graduate students ranging from financial aid to student services. AGS also contributes to the quality of graduate student life by providing support for the Pub, scheduling special events including cultural performances and literary events. AGS is a student government model. The students serve as an advisory group, but it does not recognize the students in their capacity as an employee of the school. The AGS Council supports the Student Workers Union.
Students feel a certain helplessness when it comes to employment issues.
UCI graduate students are placed in a vulnerable position, both structurally and institutionally. When economic times are ok, the graduate students will be ok. When economics times turn bad, the graduate student community will be the first group to make concessions and sacrifices. He restated that he supports a strong AGS and a strong student workers union, and both will benefit the UCI community. Bill Fitzgerald, Vice President-Internal Affairs, Associated Graduate Students Bill Fitzgerald stated that he has been discussing the union issues with his colleagues in the School of Social Sciences and believes the universities have been under some pressure in the last two decades to establish closer ties with business.