Year: Junior
Hometown: Sumter, South Carolina
Major: Political science
Student organizations/activities: Academic Integrity panelist in the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, First Gen United
SA experience: Secretary of transportation
Favorite restaurant in the District: GW Deli
Favorite “Only at GW” moment: Seeing the presidential motorcade outside the window of his room in 1959 E Street last year
Favorite class: State and Urban Politics with Robert Betz
Go-to study spot: University Student Center upper floors
Role model: My grandfather
Moniker choice: Revolutionaries
Deli order: Sausage, egg and cheese on an everything bagel
Nathan Orner won’t let love get in the way.
The junior political science major and former SA secretary of transportation announced his campaign for Student Association president the same day as his significant other, former SA Senior Policy Adviser Edy Koenigs. Despite differences in their respective diversity- and safety-focused platforms, he said the two each think the other would advocate for the student body as effective leaders of the governing body.
“It’s interesting,” Orner said. “We do support each other 100 percent in each other running for SA president.”
Orner said if elected, he would improve pedestrian safety on campus, help sexual assault survivors self-advocate and improve funding for student organizations. He said he chose to run for the SA’s presidency after experiencing University-wide issues – like struggling to cross busy streets and hearing of prevalent sexual assault on campus.
He served as the assistant secretary of transportation under former SA President Brandon Hill, and he left the SA at the end of his term in 2022. He said his year off from the SA gave him the distance from politics necessary to understand which problems affect students the most, and all students face issues like traffic safety on a daily basis.
“Whether it be through pedestrian safety or through any of the policies that I’ve mentioned, you see direct impacts on people, which might be lost on people who are currently in the SA,” he said.
If elected, Orner said he will create an anonymous form for students to submit reports to the SA about potential instances of Title IX Office failing to seriously address sexual assault reports or process cases “in a timely manner.” He said the form would include the date students submitted the Title IX report to the office so officials can review the claim.
“I’m sure that most people know someone who said this has happened to them,” he said. “And survivors of sexual assault are not being taken seriously.”
Koenigs also advocates for a reporting form for sexual assault cases, saying students can use the form to report any potential violations of the Clery Act, which requires universities to support victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and dating violence.
Orner said he also wants the SA to restructure its budget so each student organization receives at least $200. That initiative would cost at least $59,200 if last semester’s 296 student organizations that requested general allocations from the SA did so again. The SA designated $531,750 for student organizations as part of its approved $1.31 million budget for the next academic year.
The SA granted the most funding to EMeRG and GWU Esports in last semester’s general allocations process with respective totals of $8,455.55 and $8,131.35.
If elected, one of Orner’s long-term goals is to implement crosswalks between University Yard and Western Market, between Kogan Plaza and Corcoran Hall and between District House and 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, where the campus store is opening next year.
“I would like that every place people have to cross regularly to have a crosswalk,” he said. “I think it would be a substantial safety increase.”
Despite Orner’s familiarity with the SA from his past experience, he said he will remain focused on his policy goals instead of on the internal workings of the SA.
“Along the lines, the sight of what the Student Association presidency position is kind of gets lost,” said Orner. “The SA presidency is above all a position of advocacy for students, and it should not be used for anything other than that.”
Tara Suter and Nora Fitzgerald contributed reporting.
