The Student Association Senate confirmed seven applicants to become senators Monday after 27 seats were left vacant during the SA election in April.
Senators filled vacancies in one undergraduate School of Nursing seat, two graduate seats for the Columbian School of Arts and Science, two graduate seats for the Milken Institute School of Public Health and one graduate seat for the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Education and Human Development. After this week’s confirmations, the senate has four remaining vacancies.
In previous years, the senate has had a handful of vacancies during the summer, which members typically work to fill before returning to school in the fall.
Senators confirmed Candice Bailey to fill the nursing school’s undergraduate seat. Bailey pledged to bring more services to students at the Virginia Science & Technology Campus like opening the gym to students and providing options such as hot coffee and fresh food because she said the University does not currently offer these amenities. She said these services will help nursing students “thrive academically.”
Senators voted to confirm Leroy Ellis and Chenkai Xia to fill the CCAS graduate seats. Ellis said he will work to create a career center survey to ask students how often the SA should have career day. Xia said he understands it can be difficult to assimilate to a new school and culture as an international student, and he will use his experience to help students having difficulty settling into their time at GW.
The senate confirmed Grace Lee and Hong-Lun Tiunn to fill the public health school’s graduate seats. Lee said she will use her experience as the chief of correspondence for the Public Health Student Association to represent the needs of Milken students. Tiunn said he has seen that the University offers a large amount of resources to doctoral candidates and that he plans on making the resources that aren’t currently available to undergraduates accessible for all students.
Senators voted to confirm Michael Rossetti to fill the SEAS graduate seat. Rossetti said he will use his experience as a student and adjunct professor of information systems technology and database development at GW to advocate for student concerns. He said he will also use his background in technology to create a professor rating system and to help build solutions that address “pain points” surrounding the class registration process.
Senators voted to confirm Jennifer Usis to fill the GSEHD graduate seat. Usis said she has devoted her career to higher education and is passionate about working to make higher education accessible for all students.
Senators also unanimously confirmed Aidan Young as Legislative Advisor to the Committee on Community, Advocacy and Inclusion.
SA Sen. Dan Saleem (CCAS-U) said a senator introduced a special resolution last week that would “dissolve” the Committee on Sustainability, which he chairs. He said the bill was “blackmail” and “undemocratic” and he believed the creators and supporters of the bill were spreading misinformation to the public that he is a “far-right environmental hating chair” by involving his personal life. Saleem said some of the contributors of the bill were going to “publicly defame” him if he tried to stand in the way of the bill, however he said the bill’s sponsor did not threaten to defame him.
“Those who supported this bill, your merit based reasons are heard by me, and I’m willing to work with you to find a compromise,” Saleem said. “However, this can’t be done without proper communication and mutual respect.”
SA Sen. Andrew An (ESIA-U) said he sponsored the bill because “several” members of the public, including two former SA senators, approached him because he said they were concerned that the previous senate “failed to adequately debate” the merits of the bill that converted the Sustainability Subcommittee into a Committee. He said he was also motivated to write the bill after two individuals not affiliated with the SA also reached out to him as they were unaware of the SA’s sustainability initiatives or leadership and expressed interest in participating without the time commitment of a full senatorial role.
An said after receiving feedback from other senators, he decided not to move forward with the bill. An said his intention was not to dissolve the committee but rather to “elevate on-campus sustainability” by allowing public members to become voting participants. An claims to have received an anonymous phone call last Friday evening in which someone said “you will regret this” before hanging up.
“Part of the reason why I didn’t go through with this bill is because of all those threats such as that,” An said. “So I want to reiterate to everyone that I started drafting this bill because my constituents approached me, members of the public approached me, and not due to some political agenda.”
Saleem said he believes reverting the committee into an assembly would “undermine” the committee’s progress.
“The fact that we have a global warming crisis going on in this country, and in this world, constitutes sustainability’s importance to stand as a committee,” Saleem said.
SA President Arielle Geismar said she and SA Vice President Demetrius Apostolis have been working together to plan events during orientation week to work to welcome the incoming Class of 2027, as well as training her executive team on the “larger Student Association structure.”
Apostolis said he had a meeting with Caroline Laguerre-Brown, the vice provost for diversity, equity and community engagement, to discuss different ways the SA can volunteer with them on activities like the Diversity Summit in October. He said he and SA Sen. Emmy Ly (GWSB-U) are meeting again with dining hall leadership and dining hall providers next week to discuss expanding kosher options in the dining halls.
