The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) elected students to leadership positions for the 21st GUSA Senate at a Nov. 2 meeting.
The senate appointed Tyler Chase (SFS ʼ28) as vice chair of the Finance and Appropriations committee (FinApp), which distributes funds to student organizations. Senators also appointed Roan Bedoian (CAS ʼ28) as vice chair of the Policy and Advocacy Committee (PAC), the committee that reviews proposed legislation before it goes to the full senate.
Sienna Lipton (CAS ʼ27) became the vice chair of the Ethics and Oversight committee, which oversees GUSA’s internal operations and upholds accountability among GUSA members. The senate unanimously appointed Asha Gudipaty (CAS, McCourt ʼ27) as the Resources, Accessibility and Inclusion chair, who works with the administration and the Title IX office on equity and supports collaboration between senators.
Chase, who served as the FinApp vice chair during the previous GUSA session, said his priority as vice chair will be collaboration between FinApp and student organizations.
“I’m a big believer in making sure that every dollar goes towards the best use possible,” Chase said at the meeting. “I’m also a big believer in making sure that everybody on the FinApp committee is able to work with their board, is able to stay in contact with their board continuously throughout the entire process.”
The senate unanimously approved the appointments of senators James Beit (MSB ʼ26), Lecholas Njomin (SFS ʼ27), Eli Amos (CAS ’27), Dima Al-Quzwini (SFS ʼ29), Sam Baghdadchi (CAS ʼ29), Iris Cho (SOH ʼ29), Nikki Jiang (SOH ʼ28), Simon Maxwell (CAS ʼ29), Luke Schneeman (CAS ʼ28), Christian Spadini (CAS ʼ26) and Kat Scarborough (CAS ʼ26) to serve as FinApp liaisons.
The senate previously appointed Zadie Weaver (CAS ʼ28) as the PAC chair, Han Li (CAS, McCourt ʼ27) as the chair of FinApp and Youngsung Kim (SFS ʼ27) as the Ethics and Oversight committee chair at a senate meeting Oct. 26. At the same meeting, senators elected Cameron Lane (CAS ’28) and Jacob Intrator (CAS ’27) as speaker and vice speaker, respectively.
Chase said he looks forward to helping Li improve communication between the committee and student clubs.
“I’m really looking to assist the chair and all the liaisons themselves and to do our best to make sure that we’re communicating well,” Chase said.
Lipton said that as Ethics and Oversight vice chair, she will review GUSA’s bylaws to ensure the senate runs smoothly.
“In reviewing the bylaws, I realized there’s a lot of points where there’s discrepancies where the bylaws want us to be doing things and learning from them,” Lipton said at the meeting. “I think those are things that obviously need to be brought up before they become pointed, thematic issues for the senate.”
The Ethics and Oversight committee is responsible for determining attendance policies. Current bylaws allow senators to have three unexcused absences before the senate may vote to remove them and permit senators to send a proxy if they cannot attend a meeting.
Lipton said she hopes to review the senate’s attendance policies.
“I think we haven’t enforced a strict attendance policy in any meaningful way in the past, so I think for me, I would be very interested in that role,” Lipton added.
The senate also appointed former senator Saahil Rao (SFS ʼ27) to serve as GUSA’s representative on the Village A committee, an administrative group that will provide input on the redevelopment of Vil A.
Bedoian said that as PAC vice chair, she will work alongside senators to develop legislation that encourages collaboration with the university administration.
“I’ve been pretty involved in PAC over the last semester,” Bedoian said at the meeting. “Though I didn’t necessarily finish a lot of my legislation, I helped a lot of other senators with refining theirs and trying to make language that’s amenable to the administration and focusing on how we phrase things so that admin wants to work with us.”
