The Student Association Senate unanimously passed an act Monday to distribute a survey to student organizations aimed at improving the SA’s general allocations and co-sponsorship processes.
The Finance Feedback Act allows the finance committee to collect feedback on how comprehensible the finance request process is and whether the process should occur over a semester-long window or an academic year-long window. SA Sen. Simon Patmore-Zarcone, Law-G, who introduced the resolution, said he believes the act will increase accessibility, transparency and accountability within the finance committee.
“Because the survey will encourage respondents to rate the SA finance committee’s performance, the survey will provide accountability for the committee,” he said.
The senate also unanimously passed the Sustainability Standing Committee Act, promoting the sustainability committee from a subcommittee under the Physical Facilities and Urban Affairs Committee to a full, independent standing committee. The act adds two senators and a chairperson to govern the full committee.
SA Sen. Brita Ostermeier, CCAS-G, the chair of the Sustainability Committee and co-sponsor of the bill, said the University’s increasing commitment to sustainability through the expansion of the Office of Sustainability shows the sustainability committee deserves to hold the power and responsibilities of a full standing committee.
“If we are successful in becoming our own committee, we will be able to be more effective and directly interact with leadership across GW to accomplish our goals,” she said.
Senators unanimously passed the DIA Participation Reform Amendment Act, which removes the requirement for members of the Diversity and Inclusion Assembly to be leaders of student organizations. SA Sen. Henry Deng, CCAS-U, the chair of the assembly and sponsor of the bill, said in the most recent round of applications for assembly members, the assembly only received three applications.
“I believe there’s plenty of people on campus who have the necessary background of ideas to thrive in working in the DIA but may be barred by this restriction,” he said.
The senate unanimously confirmed two members – graduate student Marie Falcone and junior Oliver Plavin – to the Joint Elections Commission, which will facilitate the upcoming spring SA elections. The addition of the two members means the Joint Elections Commission has reached the five members required under the SA Constitution.
Plavin said JEC elections should be unbiased and fair for both candidates and voters.
“The opinions of the student body should be reflected appropriately and their Student Association representatives and the JEC should act as an intermediary between candidates and voters to effectively certify this,” he said.
SA President Christian Zidouemba said the student organization GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity reached out to him in efforts to make the recently installed contraceptive vending machine more accessible to students on campus by reducing the cost and looking into ways to improve access from the hours of midnight to 7 a.m., when the University Student Center is closed.
The next senate meeting will be held on Feb. 27 at 8:30 p.m. in the student center’s Continental Ballroom.
