The Georgetown University Student Association senate passed several resolutions on Sunday, including the establishment of a student advocacy commission, the allocation of funding to the Justice and Diversity Living and Learning Community, and the extension of funding for town hall meetings until February.
The first act, introduced by Sen. Josh Mogil (SFS ’11), creates a student advisory board on campus advocacy that will assess ways to advise students who face Code of Student Conduct violations.
The board will also be in charge of creating a student advocacy system. The act suggests an e-mail address, Web site and office hours as methods of communication for the board.
Any student who wishes to get involved in the student advocacy board will be able to join. A GUSA senator, who will report to the senate on the progress of the board, will serve as its chair.
ogil said that many universities have established student advocacy organizations. Mogil decided to draft the bill at the suggestion of Sen. Nick Troiano (COL ’11), who served on a similar board at American University.
“Our system was inspired by the American University model and [those at] hundreds of other campuses around the country [that] already have such a tool for students in place. This body will be able to answer students’ questions about things ranging from alcohol write-ups, violations of the Code of Student Conduct, housing matters and other areas students may have questions or concerns about,” Mogil said.
The bill was passed unanimously.
The second act allocated $500 to the Justice and Diversity in Action Living and Learning Committee for a fundraising dinner held last Saturday that raised awareness of AIDS on the local, national and international levels.
Sen. Nicholaus Nelson-Goedert (COL ’10) said that it was important for GUSA to provide the money for the event because Interhall was unable to provide the LLC with any funding this year.
GUSA has funded the LLC’s fundraising dinner in the past.
The senate passed the measure despite some objections; some senators said that in the future, funding bills should be introduced before the event in question takes place.
The third bill that was passed extends the eligibility period for funding to be used for town hall meetings to the end of February, before money is returned to the GUSA general fund. The senate allocated the money in September, but so far only three senators have held town hall meetings.
Sen. Colton Malkerson (COL ’13) also requested that senate committees produce meeting minutes and that the senate secretary create an attendance report for the final GUSA senate meeting of the fall semester, which will take place next Sunday, Dec. 13.
“If we’re asking advisory boards to follow these processes of transparency, then we need to go above and beyond,” Malkerson said.
At the meeting, Troiano also responded to an editorial published by the Georgetown Voice last week that criticized GUSA’s attempted reform of student club funding processes.
He said that the editorial, which said that the attempted reform by GUSA was one of “the most significant – and most potentially damaging – changes in years,” contradicted past editorials by the Voice, which called for further regulation.
Troiano said that GUSA is responding to student concerns; 10 years ago, students voted for GUSA to collect student activity fees, and in 2006 students voted for the senate to collect all the funds from the student activities fee.
“Giving us exclusive control over student funds is exactly what students voted for, twice,” Troiano said.
Troiano also criticized the editorial for insinuating that club sports teams would receive reduced funding and would be forced to request funds from GUSA senators, having lost their votes on the allocation of the student activities fee.
“To say that funding activities is [in] jeopardy doesn’t add up,” Troiano said. “Responsible reporting is necessary, and the Voice should amend their editorial in the next edition.” “
