GUSA representatives approved a resolution Tuesday opposing conditions set forth by the Board of Zoning Adjustment which supporters said violate students’ rights and complicate funding of the 10-Year Campus Plan.
The proposal, co-sponsored by Sophomore Class Representative arty LaFalce (COL ’03), President Ryan DuBose (COL ’02) and Vice President Brian Walsh (COL ’02) passed with only one abstaining vote cast by Steve Glickman (COL ’02).
The conditions issued March 29 modified the district’s partial approval last November of the 10-Year Campus Plan, when a decision on the university’s request for a 389-student increase in undergraduate enrollment was postponed. The resolution is to act as an official statement of GUSA’s opposition to several of the BZA’s conditions.
Supporters of the proposal said the conditions cast the university’s administration in an inappropriate role. The resolution opposes conditions which call off-campus housing a privilege rather than a right and make the report of student violations to D.C. regulatory agencies mandatory.
“The BZA has no right to ask our university to monitor the actions of its students as though it were a D.C. regulatory body. That is a D.C. regulatory body’s purpose. The university’s first priority must be that of an educational institution,” LaFalce said.
The rulings imposition of an enrollment cap 5,637 full-time undergraduate students will setback the university’s plans to fund the 10-Year Plan, which relies heavily on the new tuition dollars from increased enrollment. Georgetown’s full-time undergraduate enrollment is currently 6,085 students.
The resolution also takes issue with conditions seen by proponents as discriminatory to students, including making complaints regarding student misconduct available to the public, reporting violations of Georgetown’s Code of Conduct to students’ parents and making a record of student license plate numbers.
“We hope to make it very clear that we will not accept a number of the conditions as they currently stand, grossly violating students’ rights as citizens,” LaFalce said.
Walsh said a primary goal of the resolution is to clarify GUSA’s position and gain support for plans to continue taking action in the summer months.
“We wanted to make clear that the administration and the BZA were aware of the student position regarding the BZA ruling. Ryan [DuBose] and I wanted the support of the GUSA Assembly to then work on the 10-Year Campus Plan issue throughout the summer,” Walsh said.
GUSA is considering seeking pro bono legal counsel and appealing for party status with the BZA, meaning that GUSA would be informed of all BZA proceedings, given access to BZA documents and able to make an appeal to the district.
Representatives debated whether the resolution should remain open-ended.
Glickman said he agreed with the proposal as a symbol of GUSA’s opposition, but wanted stronger wording to “encourage more administrative action.”
“I wanted GUSA to achieve a working cooperation with the administration,” he said.
Glickman said communication between GUSA and the administration would strengthen the voice of both parties.
In the resolution, GUSA “urges Georgetown’s administration to join it in opposing the BZA conditions and in advocating the BZA reconsider its decision.”
Walsh said GUSA representatives hope to meet with administration officials in the next week to discuss the possibility of cooperation.
LaFalce said the administration and GUSA can find common ground, despite different priorities.
“While we want get the 10-Year Campus Plan approved, our first priority is to ensure that students are not discriminated against. I’m very confident that the university has the student interests at heart, however, their first priority is passage of the 10-Year Plan,” he said.
The BZA will reconsider the conditions on June 5. LaFalce was uncertain as to whether GUSA would send a representative.
“We still need to determine if that is the most appropriate legal action,” he said.
Justin Wagner (COL ’03), 2E05 Advisory Neighborhood Council Commissioner, said last month he thought the BZA’s decision was “grossly unfair.”
“It’s a major setback for campus planning because it cuts off Georgetown’s funding lifeline,” he said. “With an increase of 780 more beds on campus … a less than 400-student increase is totally reasonable.”
Following an ultimatum issued by the district earlier this year, The George Washington University filed suit in Federal District Court April 25 in an attempt to block the district government from restricting its planned expansion.
Representatives said GUSA will establish contact with the student government at the George Washington University discuss collaboration on the issue.
Included in Georgetown’s 10-Year Plan are renovations to St. Mary’s Hall, Lauinger Library, Walsh and the conversion of the Ryan Administration Building into the MBNA Performing Arts Center.
