A shared passion for public service guided Nicolo Ferretti (SFS ’21) and Bryce Badger (MSB ’21) to the Georgetown University Student Association, where the two bonded over advocating for student interests. Ferretti and Badger accumulated considerable experience and hope to employ their knowledge as GUSA executives. 

Ferretti and Badger, currently members of the administration of GUSA President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20), hope to use their GUSA experience to launch new initiatives surrounding sustainability, sexual assault and misconduct, facilities and inclusivity. 

In pursuit of their policy goals, Ferretti and Badger have oriented their campaign around several guiding principles, according to Badger.

“Our campaign is built on three core values: being realistic and be proactive, to recognize and embrace intersectionality, and also to own who we are and what we stand by,” Badger said in an interview with The Hoya.

Ferretti currently serves as the GUSA Executive’s director of university affairs. As executive director, Ferretti worked with the university to coordinate a Georgetown University partnership with the Capital Bikeshare University Program, as well as to update the school webpage. He previously worked as a GUSA senator until he resigned to join the executive branch in spring 2018. 

Within GUSA, Badger works as the chief of staff for the Francis-Olvera administration and supervises senior staff, coordinates with advocacy committees and attends meetings with members of the Georgetown administration. Previously, he worked as the GUSA executive treasurer and served as a GUSA senator during his freshman year.

In 2018, Badger also worked as student engagement director for former GUSA President Sahil Nair (SFS ’19) and Vice President Naba Rahman (SFS ’19). In fall 2018, Badger, alongside Rahman and nine other executive cabinet members, resigned to put pressure on Nair to resign amid sexual assault allegations against him. 

Ferretti’s and Badger’s GUSA experiences will inform how they operate their administration if they win the election, Badger said. 

“I’ve been in a lot of different roles throughout my years, and I think one thing that is really great about that is that Nico and I bring a lot of different experiences to GUSA and a lot of different perspectives from seeing it in different capacities and seeing how the holistic of the organization can implement things to be effective and advocate for students,” Badger said. 

If elected, Ferretti and Badger’s first priority would be to address sexual assault on campus, according to Badger. They plan to work with the Office of Title IX Compliance for survivor protection, particularly in light of the 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct, in which 31.6% of undergraduate women reported experiencing nonconsenual sexual contact. 

“I was very disconcerted by the sexaul assault climate survey from last year, and I think that really has to be where our efforts are right from the beginning,” Ferretti said. 

Ferretti and Badger would also advocate to move bystander training for first-year students to earlier in the academic year in hopes of lowering sexual assault rates. 

When addressing student facilities concerns on campus, Ferretti and Badger would push the administration to use a $75 million deferred maintenance fund for housing renovations and improved accessibility, Ferretti said. 

To improve inclusivity, Badger proposed working with the administration to allow queer and low-income students who have hesitations about going home to stay on campus during breaks. The Ferretti-Badger administration would also seek expanded resources for queer students and people of color in Counseling and Psychiatric Services. They would also encourage the university to hire more diverse faculty, CAPS staff and staff in the Office of Title IX Compliance, as well as advocate for implicit bias training for selection committees.

The ticket has also set a goal for Georgetown to get 50% of its energy from renewable sources. To reach that goal, they want the university to use greener vehicles, improve access to green transportation like bicycles, build a solar farm and hire a recycling manager, among other initiatives, according to their campaign website. 

Although the 2019 GUSA Executive elections saw the lowest voter turnout since 2007 and 2% of students polled ahead of the election reported strong trust in GUSA, Ferretti and Badger hope to reengage the student body through tangible, visible accomplishments from the beginning of their term. 

“The way that you get people to engage with your projects and engage with you is by having results and making sure you are effective in your advocacy,” Badger said. 

To execute their policy goals, Ferretti and Badger will seek to lower costs and highlight student needs for the administration, Ferretti said. 

“Present these projects as a need for the university,” Ferretti said. “This isn’t like ‘oh, this would be cool.’ This is a need of the students. Students need this now and the second thing is making sure projects are as budget neutral as possible.”

Although Ferretti and Badger have been involved with GUSA since their freshman years, they are both involved with other campus organizations. Ferretti is a science, technology and international affairs major who has participated in the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service’s D.C. Schools Project, school spirit organization Hoya Blue and dance performances Rangila and Reventón Latino. 

Badger, who is majoring in marketing and global business, serves as the director of communications of the Georgetown Aspiring Minority Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs and coordinator for the Business Undergraduates Invested in Leadership Development preorientation program and worked on The Blaxa, an on-campus media group. Badger is also president of the Asian American Student Association. 

As a queer person of color who identifies as Black and Asian and has dyslexia, Badger has felt the need to hide or neglect elements of his identity, he said. Badger is running for the GUSA Executive to advocate for those people who feel like they do not fit into the university community. 

“I’ve always felt like I’ve had to contort myself to fit Georgetown’s mold and not necessarily have Georgetown be accessible to me or work with me. I’ve always felt like I’ve had to fight for my spot in a room,” Badger said. “I’ve always wanted to push for making things more accessible to people like me and people who aren’t like me, so that’s kind of my personal reason of why I am running for GUSA.”