Student Association Presidential candidate Caitlin Bevin Doherty has dropped out of the SA Presidential race and is advocating for the installation of a new student representative body to replace the SA Senate.

On Tuesday night Doherty and SA Senator Elliot Gillerman (ESIA-U) announced their proposed plan to create a new representative body made up of members from various student organizations.

Gillerman, a sophomore, said the plan is, “to permanently once and for all create an effective and efficient student government at GW.”

Doherty announced she will be dropping out of the SA Presidential race and instead support the new representative body’s creation.

“I will not be pursuing the SA Presidency anymore,” Doherty told The Hatchet Tuesday night.

“Students do not view the SA as a viable representative body,” Doherty said, “That is a problem and people in the SA don’t realize it.”

“The reason I was running was to have a better student government and a better University, I don’t need a title to do that,” Doherty said.

Gillerman said their initial plan is to meet with student organization presidents garner signatures via a petition. They will eventually appeal to University administration and ultimately the University’s Board of Trustees to revoke the SA’s ability to allocate student finances. Gillerman said he hopes to have the organization set up by the end of the semester.

Upon installing a new organization to advocate for students made up of student organization representatives, Gillerman said the plan calls for installing another independent University-appointed financial allocations organization to give money to student organizations on campus.

Gillerman said the plan is to install an organization that is not a legislative body, like the SA Senate, and instead one focused on student advocacy free from legislative bickering. The plan will keep in place the SA Executive and student court.

Stay tuned to the SA Blog for more information.