The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate passed six resolutions aiming to improve GUSA procedures and calling on the university to increase communications between the Planning and Facilities Management department and students at its Sept. 22 meeting.
Among the nonbinding resolutions was a bill that requests the university notify students about space availability, a resolution that would address printing issues such as empty paper trays and low ink, and a bill that would require the Planning and Facilities Management department to give more notice on service disruptions. The senate passed three additional pieces of legislation related to its bylaws, including resolutions to require GUSA candidates to flyer in residence halls prior to elections, create a GUSA senate newsletter, and approve the Diversity Fund Committee Guide; it also confirmed an appointment to the GUSA Election Commission, which facilitates GUSA elections and ensures candidates’ adherence to the GUSA constitution and bylaws.
Senator Sahil Sud (SFS ’27), who introduced a bill that would urge the university to increase transparency regarding student room reservations, said he has heard numerous complaints from students who were unable to use typically available rooms due to unannounced events occuring in them.
“When there are closures or bookings of rooms, there’s often not requisite communication about these things,” Sud said at the meeting. “So, essentially, just ask the university to improve the speed and increase the methods by which it communicates things.”
Senator Sienna Lipton (CAS ’27), who introduced a bill that would require facilities to communicate hot water supply disruptions more than 24 hours before the shutoff, said insufficient notice about service disruptions leaves students without access to showers.
“I was going to take a hot shower when there was no hot water in my apartment,” Lipton said at the meeting. “Sometimes you go a day without checking your email, and I don’t want to get to the shower and not know that there’s going to be no hot water.”
Another senate bill would require the university to regularly check printers throughout campus and address missing ink, empty paper trays and additional mechanical issues.
Speaker of the Senate Meriam Ahmad (SFS ’26) said the bill reaffirms GUSA’s commitment to solving issues with printing, despite the lack of university action in response to a similar bill passed in the Fall 2023 semester.
“The agreement that we have with the administration is that they continue to monitor the situation on printers, and clearly that hasn’t been the case,” Ahmad said at the meeting. “So this is an expression of the community desire to renew them monitoring the printers.”
Another senate bill requires the Election Commission to post at least 50 flyers about GUSA voting in key places on campus, including student dorms, Red Square and the Leavey Center. These flyers would include a QR code linked to the voting form, a feature which individual GUSA candidates’ posters cannot include.
Senator Sam Lovell (CAS ’25), who cosponsored the flyering legislation, said this bill would provide a simple way to encourage students to vote in GUSA elections.
“This is a sensible piece of legislation, particularly considering that we don’t want candidates including direct links or QR codes on their flyers to voting, and considering sometimes the — for lack of a better word — dismal participation we get in GUSA Senate elections,” Lovell said at the meeting. “I think that anything we can do that mandates increased access is something that we consider.”
The senate’s bill notes, though, that the Election Commission’s potential failure to fulfill the flyering requirement would not invalidate any election.
In addition, the senate confirmed the nomination of Rai Hasen Masoud (SFS ’27) to the Election Commission (SFS ’27).
Masoud said he has met with members of the Election Commission and discussed plans to make the elections more transparent, hoping to make GUSA increasingly accessible and responsive to the student body. “I hope you guys trust in the Election Commission, and especially me, to carry on the mission that I came to serve,” Masoud said at the meeting. “You know, make our campus more inclusive and represent the Georgetown University Student Association.”
