Name: Atif Qarni
Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
Major: Sociology
Year: Junior
Credentials: Student Association Outreach Committee, SA Undergraduate Policy Committee, president of Pakistani Student Association, vice president of the International Student Society, volunteer coordinator for Miriam’s Kitchen, corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.
Web site: http://gwu.edu/~atif
Junior Atif Qarni’s campaign for the Student Association presidency is not just talk, but doing, he said.
To prove his promises for SA reform are backed with action, Qarni took his campaign to Miriam’s Kitchen, Thurston Hall, the Mount Vernon campus, graduate student homes, fraternity houses, the Hippodrome and anywhere else his message can be heard.
Everyone talks about having good ideas, but it’s what I can do to accomplish these things, Qarni said.
Qarni’s idea to prove there is action behind his words – create a new theme every week focusing on a different sector of campus life. The result – six events with six different populations of GW students in four weeks.
Our campaign is about bringing people together, he said.
At each event he says he preaches the three `A’s he believes the SA has failed to deliver students: advocacy, accessibility and action. When it comes to action, Qarni said he would like to change student perception of the SA as good for only one thing.
(The SA) is not just about student group funding, he said. It’s an advocate.
Qarni said he fits the bill for a good SA president. He said he has SA experience, dedication and the ability to organize and lead. It is the third qualification that will set him apart from the pack, he said.
He said he has experience addressing student problems. After a difficult experience with financial aid his freshman year, Qarni said he joined the SA and later worked on financial aid reform in the SA Undergraduate Policy Committee to change things for future students.
Qarni said his campaign is backed with another big promise.
We have the potential to do these things, and it’s just a taste of what will come.
