The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate elected senators to four committee positions during its Nov. 17 meeting.
The senate filled the vice chair positions for different committees, electing Senator Sienna Lipton (CAS ’27) as Policy and Advocacy Committee (PAC) vice chair, Senator Han Li (CAS ’27) as Finance and Appropriations (FinApp) Committee vice chair and Senator Nico Santiago (CAS ’27) as Ethics and Oversight (E&O) Committee vice chair. Senator Keatyn Wede (CAS ’27) was elected as vice chair of resources, accessibility and inclusion (RAI), a new nonvoting position within the E&O committee responsible for providing anti-discrimination resources, liaising with the Title IX office and similar offices on campus and mediating between senators.
Lipton, the newly elected PAC vice chair, said her policy agenda includes reviewing the design of buildings in new construction projects.
“I’m in a class on relationship violence and sexual assault, and it has a book on sexual geographies, which is ways you can build buildings to make them less susceptible to sexual assault,” Lipton said at the meeting. “Seeing as we’re building a lot of new buildings, I would be very interested in passing that legislation.”
Li, the new FinApp vice chair, said he wants to cut funding for organizations, including the Georgetown Program Board (GPB), a student organization which provides recreation activities for all students, that reallocate their funds to other groups while increasing funding for the Student Activities Commission (SAC).
“We made quite a few cuts last time around, including cuts twice to GPB and to the GU Lecture Fund,” Li said. “I think this time around, we need to continue looking at whether or not those groups have been serving as banks to other groups, and if that’s the case, continue taking money away.”
For the 2024-25 academic year, GUSA reduced funding for the Media Board — the student advisory board that allocates funding to student media groups, including The Hoya and The Georgetown Voice — by 6.76%.
Li said that he did not yet have an opinion on whether GUSA should maintain the current appropriations level for the Media Board.
“I don’t want to go into this process thinking definitively I’m going to make a decision, or we’re going to make a decision to cut or not cut,” Li said at the meeting.
“We did start making progress with this budget cut last semester. I want to see how they respond to that and whether that’s been well received,” Li said.
At its Nov 3. meeting, the senate rejected a bill that would have barred students with conduct violations from running for GUSA and would have explored applying this prerequisite to other interested clubs.
Santiago, who was elected after the bill was considered, said he supports the proposal because it will improve GUSA’s reputation among the student body.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that public approval for GUSA hasn’t always been the greatest,” Santiago said at the meeting. “I think that upholding bylaws to hold senators accountable and make sure there isn’t any kind of outside negative interests affecting the senators that we have in GUSA could affect our perceived ability.”
Wede said she is looking forward to shaping the new position of RAI chair and making GUSA more inclusive.
“To me, this role isn’t so much protecting the constitution as it is protecting the people in this room and making sure that you guys feel like GUSA is a place where you are heard, you are seen and you feel important and empowered,” Wede said at the meeting.
The senate unanimously appointed one student, Yeabsara Fitsum (CAS ’26) to the GUSA constitutional council, the body which rules on cases of GUSA constitutional violations.
The senate also elected 11 students as liaisons for the FinApp committee, including George LeMieux (CAS ’25), Chijioke Achebe (SFS ’25), John DiPierri (SFS ’25), Ahmad Abuirshid (CAS ’26), Tina Solki (MSB, SFS ’26), Amelia Snyder (SOH ’28), Paul Nassar (SFS ’28), Tyler Chase (SFS ’28), Zadie Weaver (CAS ’28), Nikki Jiang (SOH ’28), Olivia Mason (CAS ’26) and Saahil Rao (SFS ’27). The FinApp liaisons sit on the committee, and each liaison is responsible for oversight of a particular area of campus life that receives appropriations.
The senate adjourned its meeting without considering the four pieces of legislation on its agenda, including legislation to restructure the GUSA executive and adjust committee positions.
