From weak student courts to overbearing sanctions to counterproductive alcohol policies, it often appears that students are under attack from all sides. Yet despite these lingering problems, there is hope on the horizon. There are many bright and motivated students working to correct what little they can in order to foster needed changes in the community. While there are numerous groups on campus worthy of praise, there are three  student organizations that I would like to draw attention to, organizations whose efforts merit recognition and whose missions are of interest to all students.

The first and most established group in this category is surely DC Students Speak. It is an independent student organization with branches at universities across the District, most prominently at Georgetown and American University. Their mission is simple: To ensure that students living in the District have the full human and political rights to which they are entitled. Students at District universities are no different from any other local residents; we support local businesses, we pay rent on apartments and townhouses and we contribute taxes on the goods and services we consume.

Yet in many ways students are still treated like second-class citizens. Campus plans at Georgetown and American have been stalled because local governments want quotas on students living in their neighborhoods. Students are the only group explicitly obstructed from obtaining street parking permits in the Georgetown neighborhoods — even while they pay rent and live in the area.

Perhaps most disturbingly, many local residents have resorted to fear tactics and frivolous lawsuits to try to prevent students from using their most important political tool: their votes. For all our strength in numbers, there are only two students serving in elected positions on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in Washington, D.C. Therefore, when angry neighbors try to force yet more Draconian measures on hapless students, we often find ourselves without a voice to stand up for our rights.

This is where DC Students Speak comes in. As a multi-university organization focused around a political agenda, DC Students Speak is in a unique position to gain some real power in the outside community to improve conditions for students everywhere. In the coming months, I would urge students to follow the group and stay up to date on the issues facing their peers District-wide. I would also urge students to register to vote in D.C. I know for many students, especially for those with hometowns in swing states, this will be a tough decision. Yet students are residents of the District for at least nine months out of the year and local laws passed by the ANC will have a large effect on their time at Georgetown.

Perhaps the past year’s most jarring reminder that students’ voices have not been heard — at least not in the democratic sense — was the implementation of the new noise ordinance. In the wake of this legislation, a new group called Stop Crimes Not Parties stepped forward to help ensure that students would not be unreasonably punished for such trivial matters as making a bit of noise on a weekend night.

By creating a forum in which students can report instances of police abuses or make suggestions for truly improving safety within Georgetown, Stop Crimes Not Parties is demanding accountability and responsibility from the ever-growing list of police organizations that students must deal with. Whether a student is engaged with the Department of Public Safety, Student Neighborhood Assistant Program or the Metropolitan Police Department, he or she can go to the Stop Crimes website and file a complaint. In theory the organization can then compile reports and verify that no university official or employee has been abusing his or her power.

Lastly, I feel compelled to make a shameless plug for an organisation that I myself founded. Its work has just begun and will come into full effect at the beginning of next year. The Georgetown University Student Rights Initiative is a new organization working to advocate for student rights within Georgetown and to help students understand those rights, as well as their responsibilities, under the Student Code of Conduct.

GUSRI has three functions: first, as an educational organization with information on the code and local laws and statutes; second, as an organization that can channel students’ wishes and suggestions to the administration in order to aid in useful policy formation; and third, as an aid to students working to appeal disciplinary charges.

This last mission is especially unique and I hope will become quite useful to students hoping to avoid unjust sanctions. By educating students about their rights and aiding them with their on and off-campus legal needs, GUSRI hopes to help promote students’ rights and avoid the criminalization of students’ lifestyles.

In all, these groups and many others like them create some hope for students living in what can be an otherwise frustrating environment. I hope that students will consult all of these groups and use their resources to improve the university and the lives of all members of the Georgetown community.

James Butler is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.  The Street Lawyer appears every other Friday.

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