SA Senate Addresses Undergraduate Admissions Policy, Student Organization Allocations at Latest Meeting

By McKinley Kant and Joe F. Paolicelli

The GW Student Association Senate met for the third straight week in November in the School of Media and Public Affairs building to hear from Senior Associate Provost for Enrollment Management Laurie Koehler about the university’s “need-aware” admissions practice.

Provost Koehler, who admitted last month that the university had been falsely advertising its undergraduate admissions process as “need-blind” for years even though some applicants’ financial information was taken into account when making a final admission decision, told the Senate that the Office of Admissions has taken steps to accurately communicate its practices.

Koehler said the Office of Admissions has taken steps to include more information on the undergraduate admissions website and hold additional staff training.

“At the request of President Steven Knapp, I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to engage in conversations with our current admissions staff, current administrators, reviewing our admissions print and online materials, to try to gauge what happened,” Koehler said.

“I did, regrettably, identify occasions where we were not as accurate as we should have been.”

In response to a question by Sen. Ryan Counihan (SoB-U) Koehler said the Office of Admissions has not changed the way it admits and denies students and continues to emphasize a holistic approach.

After the conclusion of Koehler’s statement and questions from the senators, the Senate unanimously passed a bill approving fall allocations for approximately 40 new student organizations. Senator Counihan, chair of the finance committee, reported the committee had just under $200,000 remaining in their co-sponsorship fund after approving funding for the Parliamentary Debate Society to host a tournament and the Engineer’s Council to host an app development workshop.

Senator Counihan also reported that funding reviews had determined that catering by Sodexo for student organizations had almost doubled in cost over the course of a year. He gave an example of an event hosted by the College Democrats where, for the same event and food, the cost went from $392 last year to $754 this year, and increase of over 90%.

“It’s something we’re looking into,” Senator Counihan promised the other senators.

The Senate welcomed a new member during the session, electing Vinu Varghese as the graduate senator from the School of Business. In his appeal for support, Varghese said he was interested in increasing networking between student organizations, as well as between undergraduate and graduate students.

The Senate will have its final meeting before the new calendar year on December 2, the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving break.

SA Senate Addresses Student Safety, Board of Trustees Representation

By Joe F. Paolicelli

Blue light phones, student representation on the University Board of Trustees, and confirmations for numerous Student Association positions were some of the many issues the Student Association Senate addressed on Monday evening.

The Senate unanimously passed a resolution, sponsored by Senator Marshall Cohen, calling on the University Police Department to improve the blue light emergency phone beacons located around the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses.

The resolution asks GWPD, which operates the phones, to reactivate a currently disabled phone by the Law School, and to standardize the phones to ensure a consistent blue light is visible.

The Senate also unanimously passed a bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Ryan Counihan and Chris Stillwell, to create an internal research committee to examine the possibility of placing a student representative on the University Board of Trustees.

The committee, composed of five senators, will present a public, researched report to the Senate by February 1. The report will include a recommendation on whether such a position should be created.

Senator Stillwell was elected as the chair of the new committee with 19 votes, defeating Senator Paul Asercion, who garnered four votes. Senator Asercion was approved with unanimous consent as one of the four other members of the committee, along with Sens. Counihan, Shreya Chaturvedi, and Nora Albert.

While the Senate unanimously confirmed multiple research aides and a legislative director, consideration of the confirmation of multiple senator designates was postponed.

Although Senator Daniel Egel-Weiss proposed an amendment to the Senate bylaws that would have allowed the confirmations to take place, the amendment was tabled after questions came up about why the change to the bylaws was necessary and multiple senators expressed doubt that the amendment was the proper way to proceed.

Monday’s meeting was the first of three Senate sessions that will take place in consecutive weeks due to the timing of Thanksgiving break. Executive Vice President Kostas Skordalos asked the senators to be prepared for the November 18 meeting, when Senior Associate Provost for Enrollment Management Laurie Koehler will be answering questions about the recent revelations concerning the admissions department.

SA Senate Calls for Increased Transparency in University’s Admissions Process

BY MCKINLEY KANT

The Student Association Senate met Monday evening in the Grand Ballroom of the Marvin Center to pass a resolution in response to the university’s admission that the Office of Admissions sometimes takes into account applicants’ financial aid statuses when deciding whether or not to admit them.

The Senate passed the Administration Transparency Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Ryan Counihan, Nick Gumas and Ben Pryde, around 40 minutes after the Senate invoked a rare executive session, where they asked members of the public to leave.

“I’m tired of this sentiment of finding out that the university screwed up again and saying there’s nothing we can do about it,”  Counihan said.

Many non-undergraduate senators voted ‘present’ because they felt uncomfortable voting on a resolution pertaining only to the undergraduate admissions office.

Others questioned the reasoning behind the resolution.

“I’m concerned that [the resolution] could be interpreted in a negative light,” Senator Daniel Egel-Weiss said. “I want to commend the university for coming forward and being honest.”

The resolution does commend the university for coming forward, though it firmly states that the Undergraduate Office of Admissions must take clear steps toward better transparency.

SA Senate Seeks to Reduce Hazing and Relocate Student Health Services

By McKinley Kant

The GW Student Association Senate met Monday night in a crowded Marvin Center meeting room to pass multiple bills and hear updates from committees.

The Senate unanimously approved two bills that will express to GW officials the SA’s desire for an active effort to collect data on campus hazing, as well as the relocation and consolidation of student health and counseling services.

The Senate heard from Interfraternity Council SA Delegate Sean Kumnick, who said IFC is on board with the proposed Student Safety Act, which supports better monitoring of organizations on campus about hazing.

“IFC has taken heat for hazing allegations. In the past years we've seen reduced complaints, and we want to increase this climate against hazing on campus,” said Kumnick.

Sen. Nick Gumas, a sponsor of the bill, said the university currently does not actively collect data about the state of hazing on campus. Instead, the school is approaching the topic on a case-by-case basis.

SA President Julia Susuni spoke on the Health and Wellness Resources Act, which endorses the relocation of the Student Health Service to a more central location on campus, as well as its consolidation with the University Counseling Center, one of Susuni’s signature campaign promises.

“The people who are responsible for making this a reality have demonstrated that they want to work with us," Sen. Gumas said. "We are so confident that the student body wants this." 

The Senate also unanimously approved funding for TEDxFoggyBottom, which will take place next February.

$9,000 will be appropriated to co-sponsoring the event, said Chairman of the Finance Committee Ryan Counihan, which will help pay for audio and video equipment. In addition, $5,000 will be loaned to the event to cover the cost of holding the event at Lisner Auditorium, which will be paid back after the event.

Multiple senators couldn’t resist pointing out that the SA Senate seems to be functioning better than the United States Congress, which has yet to reach an agreement on ending the government shutdown entering its second week.

WRGW News Interview with SA President Julia Susuni

WRGW News Director Myles Goldman interview with SA President Julia Susuni.

WRGW News Interview with SA President Julia Susuni by Wrgw_News on Mixcloud

SA Senate Looks to Build off Susuni's Summer Accomplishments

By Myles Goldman

The GW Student Association Senate met for the first time this academic year Monday night in a packed Funger Hall classroom to review summer accomplishments and approve a variety of SA President Julia Susuni's nominations to various SA Cabinet posts, Student boards and student representatives to the Faculty Senate.  

Susuni reported that she and Vice President Kostas Skordalos were able to work with administrators to successfully increase the number of printing kiosks on campus, expand space and staff for the University Counseling Center, and after many years of student leaders advocating, work out the details to have many frequent food trucks on campus  accept GWorld cards as a form of payment.  

The Senate itself spent the majority of the evening approving Susuni's appointments to an open SA Executive Cabinet position, the SA Student Court, and seven Student Representatives to the Faculty Senate.  Susuni said that this is the first time in several years that there will be student representatives attending Faculty Senate committee meetings.  Susuni hopes that this will allow the SA and the Faculty Senate to work together on projects of mutual interest.

"There is a need for students to voice their opinions through as many channels as possible," Susuni said after the meeting.  "Putting students on the Faculty Senate allows us to take advantage of all the resources we have."

One surprise at the meeting was an announcement Senator Chris Stillwell (ESIA Undergrad) made.  Stillwell announced that a Greek Life Caucus was being formed in the Senate in response to the discussions regarding Greek Life housing policies that took place this summer between GW student leaders, administrators, and neighbors in Foggy Bottom.  Senator Nick Gumas (CCAS Undergrad) questioned the proposal arguing that there is a perception that the Senate already overly focuses heavily on Greek life because many Senators are themselves in fraternities and sororities.  

Following the meeting Senator Daniel Egel-Weiss, (Undergrad At Large) who has agreed to become a member of the Caucus, said that the Caucus already had a half-dozen Senators agree to join and that more are interested in signing-up.  

"Many members of the SA called for this Caucus," Egel-Weiss explained.  "Any senator may sit in on the Caucus' meetings and there is no official capacity in which the caucus operates." 

SA Senate Passes "11th Hour" Bills in Final Session

By Kyle Menyhert

The Student Association introduced substantial legislation at the final legislative session for the 2012-2013 Senate.  The SA passed a  resolution encouraging GW to “take a set of proactive measures to stop sexual assaults and launch an awareness campaign against sexual assaults”. 

Senator Omeed Firouzi also proposed a bill to extend the grace period for returning a substitute dorm room key. Today, if you fail to return a substitute key within 24 hours to the key depot, you are charged $150 for replacing the lock.  Firouzi proposed that the administration write a formal explanation  for the $150 penalty and extend the period from 24 hours to 72 hours. 

Finally, the SA finalized  financial allocations for student organizations  for the Academic Year 2013/2014. 

SA President-Elect Julia Susuni and the new Senate will take office on May 3rd.  

SA Senate Meeting Brings Little Fanfare but Plenty of Progress

by Sam Michel

For those who thought the Student Association Senate would accomplish little now that SA election season was over, last night’s meeting would have been a surprise. In one of the final SA Senate meetings of the 2012-2013 academic year, the Senate passed a number of resolutions and made significant progress on lesser-known initiatives nonetheless considered important to the student body.

Outgoing Executive Vice President Abby Bergren presided over the meeting in which several SA Senators were not present and as such were represented by proxies. Still having enough senators present for a quorum, the Senate quickly passed a number of resolutions. One resolution, sponsored by Senator Nick Gumas, asks future GW applicants to specify on their application whether they were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Although the question would be optional and would have no effect on an applicant’s prospects of admission, Gumas argued that if GW can gather statistics on an incoming class’ religion, geographic background or race, then sexual orientation should be included in that category. The resolution passed with unanimous support.  Gumas said he would be bringing the issue up to the incoming Director of Admissions at the earliest convenience.

Dr. Bernard Demczuk, Assistant Vice President for DC Relations, addressed the Senate to promote increased communication between the GW community and the DC city government. An Aid to former DC Mayor Marion Barry, Demczuk described his job as helping GW students get a better understanding on how the DC government works, both in the city council and the mayor’s office. 

In his update to the Senate, a proxy for Student Association President Ashwin Narla informed the body of progress that had been made to allow food trucks to begin accepting GWorld cards as a payment option. He stressed however that while the negotiations were still ongoing, there was optimism that food trucks could begin accepting GWorld cards before the end of the school year.

In recognition of April Fools Day, Bergren temporarily resigned her position and allowed Hugo Scheckter, who ran an unsuccessful satirical campaign for SA President, to preside over the conclusion of the meeting. In his remarks, temporary-EVP Scheckter, dressed in his full royal attire, complimented the Senate on passing updated bylaws to the Senate Constitution “which the GW student community was really begging for.”

WRGW News at 6: Monday March 18, 2013

WRGW News at 6: Monday March 18, 2013 by Wrgw_News on Mixcloud

Featuring interviews with SA presidential candidate Hugo Scheckter and SA vice presidential candidate Mike Adam.

Candidate for SA VP Looks to Revitalize Student Space

By Sam Michel

In announcing his campaign for Student Association Executive Vice President, Mike Adam knew how much voters had been hearing about the use of student space on campus. But the sophomore, double majoring in Political Science and Music, believes his proposal on student space will bring a fresh perspective to an issue that seems to have stalled amongst University officials. 

In discussing the issue of student space with WRGW News, Adam noted that the initiative, long championed by the current SA administration, has failed to gain the recognition it properly deserves.  Adam believes his leadership experience as a greek housing manager and as a member of the Residence Hall Association has helped him build relationships with University officials that would continue if he ere elected to serve as one of the student body’s chief lobbyists to the University. Adam has also proposed creating student spaces in all residential dorms, tailored to the needs of individual resident communities.  He does recognize how ambitious his plan is. 

“I believe that by proposing a small capital investment in improved residence hall community space—rather than plans for long-term university expenditures—the administration will be more amiable to working with student leaders,” Adam said. 

Adam’s platform also focuses on traditional SA campaign policy points such as increasing the student government’s accountability and transparency, seeking alternative funding sources for the 400+ student organizations, and providing more on-campus housing options for fraternities and sororities. 

Adam did comment on the campaign by former U-at-Large Senator Hugo Scheckter, currently seeking the SA Presidency, which mocks the lack of accountability by the school administration towards the student body. 

“I do have to agree with King Hugo when he speaks about university officials being less than stellar in terms of their response to student issues,” Adam commented. 

With that in mind, Adam says he would push for greater student representation in the university by advocating that there be a student spot on the Board of Trustees. 

Adam is a sophomore from Long Island.  He is running against Will Ellingson and Kostas Skordalos for SA Executive Vice President. The Election will be held on Wednesday, March 20^th through Thursday, March 21st. 

Student Association Passes Four Bills at Recent Meeting

By Myles Goldman

Last Monday night the Student Association Senate passed a flurry of four bills at its meeting as it looks to accomplish its many initiatives before the legislative session ends in mid-April.

The Senate passed unanimously a resolution supporting a trial-program that extends the hours Eckles Library on the Mount Vernon campus is open on Friday and Saturdays.  Eckles normally stays open until 8pm on Friday and Saturday but under the trial program will stay open until 10pm for the remainder of the semester.

The Senate also passed a resolution that suggests ways the University can reduce the amount of students print to protect the environment.  Specifically, the bill called for reducing the price students pay through University printing for double-sided copies from fourteen cents to twelve cents as well as encouraging faculty members to accept electronic submissions and changing page requirements to word count requirements on assignments.   

The Senate passed a Health Services and Insurance Act that attempts to ensure that students have a greater say in student health insurance plans the University offers.  The bill establishes an ad-hoc committee comprised of students that will work with Student Health University officials to negotiate student health insurance rates with the insurance company the University works with.  

The bill also asks the University ensure that there are staff dedicated to answering student questions about the student health care coverage and health care waivers.  

The bill addresses a major concern of international students who many times found that they were forced to pay for the University health insurance plan for an entire year. According to Shashwat Gautam (SOB-Graduate), the bill's sponsor, these were some of the students he was thinking about when proposing the bill.

"Many students would graduate in May but still be libel to pay [their insurance]," Gupta said. "The University has been thinking like a health insurance company instead of thinking about students."

SA Cabinet Member Running for SA President

By Myles Goldman

The race for Student Association President is on as a second candidate announced Thursday she is running for the SA's top position.  Julia Susuni announced Thursday with the launch of her website: www.juliaforgw.com.  

Susuni, a Junior, is currently a member of SA President Ashwin Narla's Cabinet, serving as the Vice President for Public Affairs.  In addition, Susuni serves as the Vice President for Corporate Relations for GW Women in Business and is a sister in Alpha Delta Pi.  

Susuni's platform ranges from moving student health services to a location on campus, to continuing to advocate for the Student Association's student space plan that centers around renovating the Marvin Center Third Floor terrace.  Additionally, Susuni will look to add Trader Joe's to the GWorld card system and work with the Career Center to improve connections between alums and current students.  

"I am running on a platform of always putting students first, and as President I will focus on increasing the resources and opportunities available to students throughout the community," Susuni told WRGW news.  

Susuni becomes the second candidate to announce for Student Association President after current Elliot School Senator Michael Morgan announced he was running last week.  

Susuni is majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Europe and Eurasia and minoring in Russian.

The election is March 20th and 21st.