A Student Government Association cabinet secretary and Residence Hall Association board member announced his bid for the SGA presidency Tuesday.
Nicky Beruashvili, the SGA’s executive secretary for internal relations and RHA director of national affairs and national communications coordinator, said he plans to strengthen the SGA’s relationship with student organizations, improve sustainability on campus and advocate for increased funding for Counseling & Psychological Services and the Office of Advocacy and Support. Beruashvili said his three years of experience on the RHA and position on the executive cabinet have prepared him for the presidency because he brings a familiarity with SGA organizational procedures but a new perspective on policy.
Beruashvili, a junior majoring in international affairs and political science, said he wants to improve the SGA’s communication through town halls and newsletters with students and officials to address health and safety concerns, like campus dining, mental health and sexual assault.
He said the SGA tries to fix problems internally without consulting student organizations and administration, and he wants to include student organizations in more senate committee meetings and hear their feedback on SGA initiatives.
Beruashvili added that he plans to improve relationships with organizations like GW RAGE and GW Students Against Sexual Assault and work with them on goals like abortion pill access through the Student Health Center.
“I know communication is a big thing that we might be lagging and people will say that and that is one thing that I want to tackle,” Beruashvili said.
Beruashvili said his experience in RHA, which he represented at national conferences and alongside other university chapters, will help him promote the SGA on campus and connect with students. He said in his SGA position he handles human resources, which will help him cultivate personal relationships with Greek life and club sport organizations to ensure they aren’t isolated from the community, as well as between the executive cabinet and senate.
“It has prepared me to get to know people, communicate, set events and invite advocacy initiatives, as well as interact with regional partners outside of our school,” Beruashvili said.
Beruashvili said he wants to improve cooperation between the RHA and the SGA on issues like dining and sustainability. He said he wants to see the RHA included within the senate committee on dining and aims to assign an SGA ambassador to visit dining halls weekly to collect feedback from students.
The senate launched the Special Committee on Dining last year to work to investigate student concerns with the safety and quality of dining options on campus.
Beruashvili said he wants the SGA and the GW Office of Sustainability to work with the RHA to host workshops on environmentally friendly practices to educate students and highlight that environmental protection is a priority for GW. He said he worked on sustainability issues for RHA, advocating for water bottle fillers on the Vern and better advertising for composting opportunities.
Beruashvili said he wants to increase composting options in dining halls. He said there is a designated location where students can place their trays for composting at The Eatery at Pelham Commons on the Mount Vernon Campus, and he would like to see the system implemented in the Shenkman dining hall.
Fellow presidential contender SGA Sen. Dan Saleem (CCAS-U) is also running on sustainability, focusing on his accomplishments as the senate Sustainability Committee chair like introducing a composting competition in residence halls. In January, Undergraduate Sustainability Research Fellows helped install a compost bin in the District House basement, which displays sample items to guide students on what can be composted.
Beruashvili said he plans to partner with student organizations to increase their presence on the Vern. He wants to host events with the GW Interfraternity Council and GW Panhellenic Association on the campus to encourage more outreach to freshmen and work with club sports to create a formal reservation system for the Vern’s athletic space to schedule practices. Current GW students can access the Vern’s facilities when there are no scheduled activities on the fields, according to GW Athletics, but there is no reservation system online.
“I would like to empower some organizations and SGA to have better communication towards how we can tackle common problems,” Beruashvili said.
Beruashvili said he wants to make CAPS more accessible for students living on the Vern and add a permanent mental health clinic to the campus in an effort to address mental health concerns so students do not have to rely on services in Foggy Bottom.
He said he wants to expand the CAPS hours of operations on both campuses to stay open later in the evening to accommodate students’ schedules. He said CAPS visits the Vern once a week, but these sessions are sparsely attended.
CAPS holds walk-in hours on the Vern on Tuesdays from noon to 4 p.m. in Merriweather Hall and on Foggy Bottom from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the Student Health Center.
Beruashvili also said he plans to advocate for designated therapy spaces on campus, reserved for students who have virtual appointments with clinicians.
Beruashvili, who currently serves on the University’s student advisory board for safety and security, said he wants the SGA to amplify their promotion of CAPS and OAS resources to students. He also said the SGA should request the University administration for increased funding for these departments to hire additional personnel, like a multicultural clinician for CAPS, to address the needs of students from diverse backgrounds.
SGA President Arielle Geismar campaigned on hiring additional mental health counselors to support LGBTQ+ students and promoting CAPS and OAS resources to students in her run last year. CAPS recruited a clinician with expertise in addressing LGBTQ+ student issues following input from students in September.
Beruashvili said he wants to create childcare services on campus through the Student Health Center to support graduate and parenting students. GW has a graduate population of 14,088 students compared to 10,848 undergraduates.
Candidate registration for the SGA election closes Tuesday. Beruashvili must collect at least 379 signatures from students, which will then be verified by the Joint Elections Commission, before he will officially be on the ballot. The commission will hold the election April 11 and 12.
