Year: Junior
Majors: Political Science and International Affairs
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Student organizations/activities: Residence Hall Association, Student Government Association
SGA experience: Executive Secretary for Internal Relations
Favorite vendor on GWorld Dining: Tonic at Quigley’s
Your favorite “Only at GW” moment: Interviewing a White House correspondent for his Intro to News Writing and Reporting class
Favorite class: Intro to Intelligence with Thomas Parker
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
Which actor would play you in a movie of your life: Gary Oldman
Role Model: My mom
Go-to study spot: His dorm or at his job at the law school’s Law Review Department
As New York Mayor Eric Adams once said, “New York is the Port-au-Prince of America.” And for Student Government Association presidential candidate Nicky Beruashvili, GW is Queens.
A Brooklyn native, Beruashvili views GW as a reflection of his New York upbringing. Even his presidential platform structures his five main policy points around New York’s five boroughs — Queens represents GW, the Bronx is the environment, Staten Island symbolizes safety, Manhattan mirrors health and Brooklyn, his home, is community.
“Having already the experience of what it is to like experience a diverse body of people, where I come from, I think already sets me ahead of how I can approach people and have this vision and passion of what it’s like to work together with people with diverse backgrounds,” Beruashvili said. “Brooklyn, New York City, that’s what it’s all about.”
He said he’s been involved in student government since seventh grade. After serving as class representative throughout high school, he was elected president of his school of more than 3,300 students.
“Having the in-charge position and the ability and the opportunity to basically form the student government there and lead that amount of a high school was a great experience to have,” Beruashvili said.
Beruashvili plans to target Manhattan — students’ health — by better advertising the health services on campus, like psychological services and the Office of Advocacy and Support. As a former Vern resident during his first year, Beruashvili said he would like to implement a health clinic set up on the Vern campus, which had existed during the pandemic to facilitate COVID testing, that could offer medical and psychological services on the campus.
Beruashvili’s platform states that he will also work with the GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity organization to demand officials add medication abortion for students in the Student Health Center, a goal that the University has rejected thus far.
Beruashvili previously served on the Residence Hall Association as the communications chair for Somers Hall in 2021 and joined the RHA’s executive board to serve as the director of national affairs and the national communications coordinator the year after. Beruashvili said RHA has given him the tools to advocate to officials for better housing and dining because he has experience working to add water bottle fountains on the Mount Vernon campus.
Beruashvili joined the SGA as the executive secretary of internal relations in SGA President Arielle Geismar’s cabinet in 2023, which he described as a human relations-type position where he assists other cabinet members with issues they may have. He said Geismar has been a “phenomenal” president and that he will look to build on her progress collaborating with officials to create LGBTQ+-friendly housing.
He said he plans to address his goals for Brooklyn — community — by holding town hall-style meetings throughout the year to bring students together and discuss how they can be involved in SGA initiatives without feeling like they are being “talked at.”
Beruashvili said to further his mission of building relationships and bettering communication, he intends to create a “counsel for student organizations” made up of representatives from all “major” student organizations. The counsel will hold meetings with the SGA president and vice president bimonthly and will allow organizations to have a direct line to the executive cabinet and senate to discuss issues and initiatives.
“These meetings will foster an environment of collaboration and advocacy, providing leadership opportunities and a space for students to advocate for the needs of their campus community,” Beruashvili said.
Beruashvili’s platform states that he will address Staten Island — safety — by continuing Geismar’s GW Police Department accountability group, which seeks to reverse the arming of select GWPD officers. It also states that he will implement sexual assault prevention and trauma-informed workshops for athletes.
Beruashvili’s platform states that to better The Bronx — or environment — he will “empower” the RHA by helping them host workshops for students to find off-campus housing and update documents detailing different off-campus housing options.
