The newly elected Student Association Senate assigned senators to committees and appointed its staff and committee chairs for the upcoming session in their penultimate meeting Monday.
The SA Senate confirmed eight senators as the chairs for graduate and undergraduate committees next year like the diversity and inclusion committee, the financial services committee and the education policy committee. SA President Christian Zidouemba also announced that the Board of Trustees asked him to serve on the search committee for the University’s new president and promised to represent the student body in discussions with trustees.
“It is a nomination that I do not take for granted,” he said. “I look forward to working with the board of trustees to advocate for our needs and to assure that we elect a new president that will represent our shared values and our diverse University.”
The senate unanimously voted to confirm six of the eight committee chairs, including SA Sen. Cody Ingraham, Law-G, as chair of the graduate student life committee and SA Sen. Henry Deng, CCAS-U, as chair of the diversity and inclusion assembly.
Ingraham said that graduate students compose 75 percent of the GW community, but their experiences are “on a very different schedule” from undergraduates.
“I firmly believe that graduate student life has not been focused on my University administration as well as our campus community,” he said.
The senate voted 18-4 to confirm SA Sen. Daniel Sandoval, GWSB-U, as chair of the finance committee. Sandoval said the financial services chair position consists of maintaining relationships with student organizations while processing allocation requests.
“My ability to communicate effectively and to create a positive environment most likely will brighten your day,” Sandoval said, “And it will certainly be a necessary element to help improve trust of the student body in the SA.”
The senate voted 16-5 to confirm SA Sen. Lydia Miller, ESIA-U, as chair for the Undergraduate Student Life committee. Miller said as a Ukranian-American and member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, she believes she comes from a “very unique” background that will represent diverse voices in the GW community.
Miller was confirmed as one of only two female committee chairs out of the eighth total senators confirmed.
“I’m a Ukrainian-American, which allows me to advocate for international students as they deserve to have the resources they need to have a fulfilling experience,” she said. “I am a Naval ROTC, which allows me to advocate for bettering the relationship between the NROTC and GW veterans.”
Chief Justice Yun-Da Tsai also announced the Student Court’s decision Sunday to strike an SA bylaw that gave the senate finance committee the power to sanction student organizations.
The next senate meeting will be held May 16 at 8:30 p.m. over Zoom.
Erika Filter contributed reporting.
