Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) President Nile Blass (COL ’22) and Vice President Nicole Sanchez (SFS ’22) assumed office in a year characterized by crises and challenges. Georgetown students have long complained GUSA is ineffectual, but the Blass-Sanchez administration has proved skeptics wrong.
Planned Policies
The Blass-Sanchez administration has done impressive work implementing policies that directly benefit the student body, particularly low-income students. In an interview with The Hoya, Blass and Sanchez said implementing the CARES Act was one of their proudest achievements. According to Sanchez, the executives helped the university determine which students received financial aid from the CARES Act and met with the Georgetown administration to distribute aid to students with demonstrated financial need.
The executives also met with the Office of Student Financial Services to make the office more effective at addressing student needs. In an interview with The Hoya, Blass and Sanchez also discussed their involvement in Fix it or Audit, a campaign that called for the university to recalculate financial aid packages and effective family contributions to as part of a larger effort to make Georgetown more affordable after the university cut financial aid awards in late 2020. Once again, the Blass-Sanchez administration was able to take real action to respond to students’ concerns.
Overall, Blass and Sanchez were able to effectively implement and execute policies that directly benefited students.
Addressing Crises
The Editorial Board also commends the Blass-Sanchez administration’s leadership in times of crisis. In the face of unpredictable situations like the Georgetown Scholars Program’s (GSP) relocation, new meal plan requirements and the intruder situation at New South Hall, their administration provided important public communications and persistent advocacy in a timely manner.
The Blass-Sanchez administration also successfully met with university administrators to develop and launch a meal plan assistance program in which students can apply for financial assistance to make the meal plan more affordable. This program reflects the executives’ demonstrated commitment to responding to student needs, as the new requirement for all on-campus students to purchase a meal plan elicited outrage from students and created food insecurity on campus. In this instance, Blass and Sanchez identified a problem, listened to students’ concerns, and were able to collaborate with the university administration to implement a concrete solution.
In addition to meal plan aid, GUSA has held teach-ins to educate students about solutions to minimize future dining concerns like the norovirus outbreak. These teach-ins have provided valuable clarifications to pressing issues and assured students their student representatives were aware of their concerns.
Further, after the university attempted to relocate the GSP office, GUSA executive amplified GSP students’ advocacy by releasing additional statements to the student body and planning sit-ins to oppose the move. Supporting GSP students and graduates in their advocacy efforts has effectively changed the university’s plans regarding the relocation. This achievement reflects GUSA’s commitment to first-generation and low-income students and shows its ability to make the general student body, even those who are personally unaffected, aware of what the problem is.
Although the Blass-Sanchez administration has effectively handled unpredictable situations, these emergencies distracted them from filling open staff positions efficiently. In an interview with The Hoya, Blass and Sanchez disclosed that all senior staff positions would be filled by the end of November. This leaves less than three months for a fully staffed administration to get to work before the newly elected executives take over.
Staffing shortages may have prevented the administration from reaching its full potential, and these vacancies are especially concerning given staffers need time to get acquainted with their roles and responsibilities. With so little time left in the current term, GUSA’s senior staffers are running out of time to implement their work before leaving office.
Looking Forward
On Nov. 4, the Restructure Referendum, a proposal to decrease hierarchical barriers in GUSA by abolishing the senate, presidency, vice presidency and constitutional council, will be on the election ballot for the student body to vote on.
Citing unnecessary administrative difficulties and overlapping duties between the executive branch and the senate, the referendum aims to decrease inefficiencies by streamlining GUSA’s organizational structure. Sanchez, who endorses the proposal, said restructuring GUSA will improve its ability to implement legislation. While the Editorial Board commends GUSA’s attempt to decrease structural inefficiencies, the referendum’s promises may fall flat in the eyes of the student body. Most students don’t know enough about GUSA in the first place to have an opinion on whether the referendum is necessary.
For these reasons, the Editorial Board urges the Blass-Sanchez administration to focus on clarifying communication to the student body at large in order to improve the relationship between students and their GUSA representatives.
The Hoya’s Editorial Board is composed of six students and is chaired by the Opinion editors. Editorials reflect only the beliefs of a majority of the board and are not representative of The Hoya or any individual member of the board.
