Student Government Association Sen. Ethan Fitzgerald (CCAS-U) announced his bid for SGA president Sunday.
Fitzgerald, a sophomore majoring in political science and organizational sciences, said if elected, he will work to expand student health resources by further extending Lerner Health and Wellness Center hours and continuing to subsidize the cost of the University’s contraceptive vending machines to $5, down from $15. He said he also plans to continue the push toward adding a voting student to the Board of Trustees, despite trustees rejecting the SGA’s request in November.
He said he has had “preliminary” discussions with Dean of Students Colette Coleman and trustees to discuss the logistics of adding a voting student to the Board but declined to comment on which trustees he’s spoken with. Fitzgerald also sponsored a bill last month that will add a question to this year’s SGA ballot that asks students if they want the Board to include the SGA president and vice president as voting members.
“Electing a president who is focusing on that will show the Board of Trustees that this is an issue that students generally care about,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald, who served as the co-chair of the inaugural Mental Health Assembly, said he plans to renew the assembly next year to allow the SGA to continue working with the Student Health Center staff on making strides to increase mental health resources for students on campus. He said the assembly worked this year with Counseling and Psychological Services to join TimelyCare, a telehealth provider that offers students nine hours of free therapy per school year. Prior to the rollout of TimelyCare, GW offered full-time students unlimited, free visits with AcademicLiveCare, a telehealth provider that offered counseling, urgent medical care, therapy and psychiatry appointments.
He said he built relationships with University administrators, including Laura Finkelstein, Sherry Leung, Kelley Bishop and Elise Greenfield as senator, and he has already spoken with campus stakeholders to make sure his initiatives are feasible. He said relationships with administration are vital to advancing student interests as they “sign off” on many initiatives.
“I have relationships with administration,” Fitzgerald said. “I think if you want to be able to get things done, you have to first of all know what students want, and you have to also know where you can work with administration to make sure that things are getting done effectively.”
Fitzgerald said he plans to leverage his resources as president to sit down with relevant student organizations and their respective administrative offices to encourage yearlong collaboration. He said he has seen the Muslim Students’ Association have difficulty putting together Iftar dinners during Ramadan due to “late-term funding” this semester, which could have been alleviated by earlier conversations with administrators. The SGA partnered with GW Dining earlier this month to publicize pre-packaged Suhoor meals for students observing Ramadan.
“We should have sat down the Muslim Student Association at the start of the year with GW Dining and other campus resources to make sure that we don’t have this problem and that we don’t have all this last minute planning,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said he also believes that members of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention GW and Active Minds GW — a student group dedicated to combating mental health stigma — should meet with leaders of the SHC to encourage more collaborative communication between the organizations. Current SGA President Arielle Geismar campaigned last year to leverage the SGA’s connection to the administration to advocate for the hiring of more mental health counselors to improve students’ mental and physical health on campus. CAPS hired a clinician who specializes in LGBTQ+ student concerns in response to student feedback in September.
He said he met with GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity, leaders from GW Panhellenic Association, GW College Democrats and GW College Republicans to review his platform for president to see if they feel represented. Fitzgerald belongs to GW College Democrats and serves as the chapter vice president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a newly chartered Jewish fraternity, according to his LinkedIn.
Fitzgerald said he will work to reform the University’s academic advising system by recommending the office convert to a peer-to-peer advising system where older students can advise other students considering what they have learned throughout their experience in the major. He said he reached out to the Office of Study Abroad at the end of January to learn about how their advising process works and has proposed the idea to Columbian College of Arts and Sciences academic advisors at the end of February.
Provost Chris Bracey said at the March Faculty Senate meeting that the University is looking into investing in its academic advising programs and has decided GW needs to reduce the ratio of advisors to students to ensure that academic advising becomes “more robust” and “less transactional.”
“I’m making sure that, first of all, are there steps to do this that have already been in the playbook, number one, and number two, how can we implement this moving forward, given that we already have this framework to work with and given that there’s this concern from students?” Fitzgerald said.
SGA Vice President Demetrius Apostolis campaigned last year to institute a program for graduate students to serve as academic advisers for undergraduate students.
Fitzgerald said he has a “good grasp” on working with student organizations after serving as Residence Hall Association president of Somers Hall last year and as director of operations this year.
Fitzgerald said he is running for president because, coming from San Diego, California, he wasn’t sure if GW would be the right fit for him, but he was able to find people who made him feel at home. He said as a Jewish student, he was able to find a community that wasn’t as strong at home and was able to become comfortable with his sexuality, which he said he was not at home.
“Point being GW has truly given me a home and a community, and I want to make sure everyone feels that same sense of home and community,” Fitzgerald said.
Candidate registration for the SGA election closes Tuesday. Fitzgerald 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.
