Eleven students, including one incumbent senator and one former senator, won elections for the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate, the GUSA Election Commission announced Oct. 25.
The Class of 2029 elected seven senators to serve until April: Dima Al-Quzwini (SFS ʼ29), Constantine Filippatos (SFS ʼ29), Iris Cho (SOH ʼ29), Sam Baghdadchi (CAS ʼ29), Angelina Kou (CAS ʼ29), Ishaan Jordan (CAS ʼ29) and Simon Maxwell (CAS ʼ29).
Sophomores, juniors and seniors elected four at-large senators, including one former senator and one incumbent senator, for a full-year term: Kat Scarborough (CAS ʼ26), Evan Cornell (CAS ’27), Luke Schneeman (CAS ʼ28) and Youngsung Sim (SFS ʼ27).
Al-Quzwini said she is grateful for her fellow students’ votes.
“I feel incredibly privileged and honored to be in this position, and cannot believe the astounding love and support I’ve been shown,” Al-Quzwini wrote to The Hoya. “If anything, this campaign reinforced my belief that Georgetown works best when it listens to its students. I’m excited to bring that mindset into the senate and work toward real, tangible improvements in student life, from dining hours to dormitory life to preserving our shared spaces.”
Filippatos, who campaigned on doubling students’ laundry balance, said while GUSA’s powers may be limited, he will try to use their resources to the fullest extent in order to carry out his campaign promises.
“It’s common for students to feel that GUSA’s powers are limited — and in many ways they’re right,” Filippatos wrote to The Hoya. “But that doesn’t make me any less grateful for the fact that so many people placed their trust in me to represent the class of 2029. I look forward to using every resource at our disposal to deliver the policies I ran on.”
Maxwell, who is joining GUSA’s Financial Accessibility & Equity Committee and Campus Beautification Committee, said he wants to focus on presenting clear legislation and plans in order to deliver on the promises he made during his campaign.
“I made a lot of promises during my campaign,” Maxwell wrote to The Hoya. “To upgrade our dining experience, clean up our campus, increase academic accessibility and attendance policies, and fix our broken laundry and printing systems. These have been the concerns of Hoyas year after year, and likewise the promises of countless senate candidates, but these issues still persist on the Hilltop.”
Jordan said he is excited to work with the other first-year senators and is grateful for the students who supported him during the election through engaging with his social media platforms, upvoting his Fizz posts and helping with fliers.
“I am going to do everything in my power to fight for the best Georgetown experience for our student body,” Jordan wrote to The Hoya. “We have an absolutely amazing team of senators this year and I have no doubts that we will be able to serve the students and make some real change on this campus.”
Twenty-six candidates participated in the race for first-year senator, with most campaigns centered on issues with dining, housing, laundry and access to printing.
Cornell, a former senator, said he plans to advocate for increased transparency in the housing process for students returning from study abroad programs.
“As for what I hope to accomplish, first and foremost I am looking to solve many issues with housing at Georgetown,” Cornell wrote to The Hoya. “Students will be returning from abroad in January, the majority of whom have no idea where they are going to live. Some may be forced into triples or denied their accommodations. Living comfortably is something every Hoya should expect as we are required to live on campus.”
Scarborough, former co-president of H*yas for Choice, said she hopes to reduce barriers to club accessibility and advocate for reproductive justice.
“I am incredibly honored and grateful to represent the very students that have made my Georgetown experience irreplaceable,” Scarborough wrote to The Hoya. “I am equally as thrilled to advocate for issues that my peers deserve to be heard on — including ridding our campus of barriers to extracurricular involvement, as well as fighting for reproductive justice and access to healthcare in our community.”
Nine candidates ran for an at-large senator position. The main issues candidates sought to address in their campaigns were club culture, preservation of campus spaces and housing reform.
Cornell said he is honored to be elected to the GUSA Senate and acknowledges the responsibility before him.
“I am humbled that more than 225 people across three classes ranked me as their first choice to represent them,” Cornell wrote. “Knowing that so many people have put their trust in my ability to advocate on their behalf in the senate, with our exec, GUSA as a whole, and our administration, I feel deeply honored. I know that with being elected to represent three classes on our campus there comes a great responsibility and duty to deliver on what matters most.”
