Footage from Burnett’s meeting with the Hatchet Editorial Board
Freshman Raven Burnett might be new to Student Association politics, but she said she is the right choice for SA executive vice president.
Burnett, who has not held any student leadership positions at GW, said her lack of experience is not a disadvantage.
“The fact that I’m a freshman is a really big plus for me,” Burnett said. “I’m a new face. I’m not part of the old SA group and I feel like I would be more accessible. (Students) can relate to me because I would be like them.”
The EVP candidate said she will not have problems learning her responsibilities as chair of the senate, if she is elected as to the second-highest position in student government.
“I will know everything about the SA inside and out,” Burnett said.
The freshman also said she will be able to effectively govern over the senate, which has often been subject to bitter infighting.
“We are all in the same boat and we all care about GW,” Burnett said. “I see myself as a mediator between the different groups and I can bring them together.”
She said she decided to run for EVP because the SA was not helping students in the way it should.
“When I spoke to the students, I felt the SA wasn’t accessible to . students,” Burnett said.
She said that as EVP she would reach out to groups like graduate students and freshmen.
“I would bring the freshmen in to be vocal members of the SA,” Burnett said.
She added, “I know the grad students feel as outsiders as well.”
Burnett said that she would not neglect GW’s other students.
“I would want to talk to a good portion of the student body and see what is important to them,” she said. “I want SA politics to be indicative of what they want.”
The EVP candidate said one of her major initiatives would be to improve campus dining. Burnett said she will work to increase J Street hours and lower mandatory spending limits at the Marvin Center venue.
“I don’t think it is feasible to get rid of (mandatory spending) outright, but we should move in that direction,” she said.
Burnett said she would also expand upon the weekly town halls that the current SA executive has implemented this year. She said she will bring them to the residence halls.
She said, “I want them to feel like the SA is more accessible to them.”
