Student Government Association President Ethan Fitzgerald formed a trio of student and alumni working groups this fall to develop policy recommendations for officials that address concerns about free speech, financial transparency and inclusion on campus.

Fitzgerald said the SGA executive branch will recruit five to 10 undergraduate or graduate students for each group, a student co-chair appointed by Fitzgerald, a co-chair for each committee from GW’s administration appointed by the Division of Student Affairs and a GW alum appointed by the GW Alumni Association. He said each group’s student members will have biweekly conversations with the alumni and GW administration co-chairs at meetings, garner input from the student body on their current issues with free speech, financial transparency and inclusion on campus and draft written reports to present to officials.

“We are the ones that are being impacted, that are being held accountable by these policies, and I think a good university makes sure that the stakeholder groups that are impacted are part of those conversations,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said the groups will host biweekly meetings to form “policy recommendations” that address issues students raise about their voices not being accurately represented in University decisions. Fitzgerald said the groups will need to reach a two-thirds consensus to make a recommendation to officials. He said he has had conversations with the the Board of Trustees, University President Ellen Granberg and Dean of Students Colette Coleman, who have said they will take the groups’ recommendations “seriously.”

He said the administration has not appointed co-chairs for the groups but will look for faculty members who are “passionate” about the issues and have “subject matter experience.” 

Fitzgerald said he wanted to give students a chance to come together and make “tangible policy change” through discussions with officials to fulfill his “job” of giving students a voice. He said he began developing proposals for the groups over the summer, so students could begin work during the fall semester.

“Conversations around free speech and campus inclusion have popped up, not that they’re new, but they’ve become more prevalent conversations on campus,” Fitzgerald said. “We saw those as important issues that a lot of students across the spectrum thought were important.”

Fitzgerald said he wants to be as “hands-off as possible,” and once the groups are formed, they will operate “independently” and without SGA moderation. He said SGA members were still permitted to apply, but he wanted the groups to remain separate from student government “politics.” He said they looked to recruit students who have “experience” advocating for the respective topics.

He said the working groups are separate from the two councils former SGA President Arielle Geismar launched last year to advocate for Jewish and Muslim students, which struggled to meet because of a lack of interest in joining the councils from the student body and SGA members. He said the new groups will be “more effective” because they will have an administrative co-chair, which he said will ensure University administration awareness about concerns students bring up at meetings. The executive order for the councils, sponsored by Geismar and Fitzgerald last December, stated that the groups would meet with officials, but Geismar said the councils never planned the meetings or appointed both commissioners to lead the councils.

“I think what was wrong with those groups was that there wasn’t that buy-in, there wasn’t that stakeholder input,” Fitzgerald said.

The SGA closed applications last Monday, and Fitzgerald said the SGA executive branch began conducting interviews last week. Fitzgerald said he received 30 applications from students and hopes to have the groups begin their biweekly meetings by the end of the month.

Fitzgerald said the group on free speech will collect student input on GW’s existing free speech policies and propose changes. The application outlines the initiative’s goal to have a “consensus-focused approach” to free speech by recruiting students from diverse backgrounds who will share their life experiences and unique perspectives to best represent the greater GW community.

The working groups come after months of pro-Palestinian student protests and discussions with administrators about their demands for financial disclosure and divestment from companies supplying arms to Israel. GW’s Strengthening our Community website, which officials launched in January, outlines the University’s mission to foster productive dialogue within the GW community, strengthen support for community members and increase safety and security through faculty working groups, but students have requested student representation on the Board of Trustees’ Committee on Finance and Investments to allow for further input on GW’s financial handlings.

GW’s Student Coalition for Palestine met with officials from the Office of the Provost last month, where student representatives urged officials to adopt their policy suggestions document, and officials reiterated GW’s refusal to divest.

The application for the initiative on campus inclusion states the group’s goal is to give students a platform to discuss their experiences with discrimination on campus. The group will make recommendations for how GW can “combat hate” on campus, according to the application.

SGA Deputy Chief of Staff Deepthi Sathyanarayana will serve as the co-chair of the group on campus inclusion. She said the campus inclusion working group will reach out to cultural student organizations on campus like the Muslim Student Association for input.

She said she heard that student organizations during the pro-Palestinian encampment in University Yard last spring wanted to approach the SGA and administrators about their concerns with representation on campus but did not have a “direct line of communication” with the bodies, and she hopes the group can serve as a platform for students to amplify their concerns to University officials.

“The SGA’s entire point is trying to bridge the students to the administration and make sure the administration knows that the student has a valid voice that they should be using,” Sathyanarayana said.

Sophomore Zaina Qureshi, the head of diversity, equity and inclusion for the SGA Executive Branch, will serve as the co-chair for the group on free speech. She said having a diverse array of socially active students on campus can make it hard for students to separate personal and political issues. She said she hopes the working group’s ability to connect students with University officials and alumni will help GW make tangible change on campus.

“We’re a very politically engaged school, which is a great thing, but when it comes to issues that are more sensitive for our community due to those different backgrounds that people come from, it’s oftentimes very difficult to separate issues,” Qureshi said.

Qureshi said she wants to take a “backseat” as co-chair of the group to allow students to deliberate on their own about what they want included in the written recommendations to officials.

“I believe that if this is our University experience, they have every right to be able to have a seat at the table when it comes to making permanent decisions for their educational experience,” Qureshi said.

The application for the group on financial transparency outlines the group’s goals to offer students opportunities to create recommendations for how GW can be more “socially conscious” with their investments. The application says the initiative will help students “better understand” the University’s financial decisions and investments through conversations with officials.

Fitzgerald said Aryan Mirchandani, the Executive Treasurer of the SGA, will serve as co-chair of the group on financial transparency. Mirchandani did not return requests for comment on his position.

GW Finance Division officials launched a website last month outlining the University’s publicly available financial documents for fiscal year 2023. The website also includes documents already available through GW websites, such as endowment activity and audit reports.

Molly St. Clair contributed reporting.