At long last, after a turbulent, controversial and highly publicized beginning, GW F.E.E.D. is becoming an official student organization. The initiative, dedicated to fighting hunger among the District’s homeless and launched last semester by SA Senator O.G. Oyiborhoro, was met with discernible hostility upon its inception.The Hatchet reported in September that the SA Senate approved legislation apportioning a whopping 6,000 dollars to the initiative – funds slated not for food, but for t-shirts, buttons and banners. Student Association President Nicole Capp vetoed that bill, instead appropriating 450 dollars of non-student fee revenue to the cause.
Despite the political ruckus, GW F.E.E.D. managed to collect over 1,500 pounds of food before first semester came to a close in late December and plans to partner with Starbucks on future drives.
But the original funding controversy did not spell the end of negative attention for GW F.E.E.D. Oyiborhoro had been attempting to push through a hotly contested resolution that would have declared the brand new organization the official philanthropy initiative of the Student Life committee, which he has chaired for some time. Attempts to establish an official philanthropic entity were unprecedented and some SA senators had grave concerns. Katie Santo, a senator representing Columbian College and Oyiborhoro’s vice-chair on the Student Life committee actively maintained that taking such a bold legislative step was unfair to committee members and would entail revising the complex bylaws.
The general body agreed with that assessment and the resolution was struck down by a wide margin when the SA convened last Tuesday.
For detailed information on all pending legislation, you can visit the Student Association website at gwstudentassociation.com.
Photograph courtesy of the GW Hatchet.
- Jared Pliner
No comments:
Post a Comment