Student Government Association Senate Pro Tempore Liz Stoddard announced her candidacy for the body’s vice president Sunday.
Stoddard, a sophomore studying political science and religion, said if elected she will increase the number of annual student organization fairs, require GW staff to provide a specific time they will address FixIt requests and expand the number and type of food vendors that accept GWorld payment. Stoddard said her experience as the SGA Senate pro tempore, the third-highest ranking member in the SGA, has prepared her for the technical, administrative and collaborative responsibilities demanded of the SGA vice president.
Stoddard said she was initially hesitant to run for SGA vice president because of the “grueling” campaigning process female candidates have historically endured. She said female candidates are typically subject to sexist and misogynistic comments from the student body and internally in the SGA, but she ultimately decided to run because she wants to drive change both within the governing body and for the broader GW community.
“Judgment is always going to happen, but it’s about how you handle it,” Stoddard said. “And I think for me, I care about what’s happening here, and I care about the school, and there’s a lot of things that I feel like people aren’t standing up for that I think, at the end of the day, it’s worth it.”
Stoddard said she wants to expand transparency to student organizations about the SGA allocations process by compiling and presenting a report to student organizations that explains why the SGA cut or denied funding for each individual organization.
Stoddard said she wants to create a presentation for student organizations about what is important to include in their finance presentations to the SGA Senate Finance Committee so they can receive the funding necessary to their organization. She said a lack of SGA transparency about the funding process leaves many organizations unaware of what SGA senators are looking for in budget requests.
“I think doing a little course on that is exponentially important, especially for orgs who feel really defeated by the process because they’re going time and time again, and they’re not getting or hitting the key points,” Stoddard said.
If elected, Stoddard said she would ensure that the Title IX office is accurately promoting services they offer because students are currently unaware of resources, like free transportation to Washington Hospital Center for victims of rape. She said she wants to launch a “Know Your Rights” campaign to further advertise Title IX resources to the student body so that students don’t have to go through Title IX reporting processes to access support resources.
“I know it can be quite scary for those who choose not to report to Title IX, but that shouldn’t stop them from receiving resources and benefits to solve it how they choose to, and I think that’s up to Title IX to advertise that better,” Stoddard said.
Stoddard sponsored the Survivors Bill of Rights, which the SGA Senate unanimously passed in November. The bill consolidated information about mental health and medical services available to victims of sexual assault into a single document and urged the Title IX office to distribute the legislation in emails to students who have filed cases.
“A lot of students don’t know that there’s a hotline you can call to get a free Uber to the MedStar Washington Hospital Center if you have been raped. They don’t know that that’s accessible,” Stoddard said. “We just got them to put it on their website, I want them to make it as loud as possible.”
Stoddard said she wants to require that all professors use Blackboard for submissions and class assignments. She said classes that don’t have a Blackboard are disproportionately challenging for Disability Support Services students who rely on Blackboard Ally, an extension of the platform, which makes navigating courses on the platform more accessible for disabled, blind and deaf students.
“That is the software for which we have accommodations for and that should be the standard across the board, especially for academics,” Stoddard said.
If elected, Stoddard said she would create a graduate student caucus where students can meet to talk about their ideas with representatives from the SGA outside of the biweekly SGA Senate meetings. She said the caucus would expand opportunities for graduate students to be involved in SGA who often have a hard time participating due to class scheduling.
Stoddard said she also wants to provide child care resources for graduate students by working with Bright Horizons — an early education center located in D.C. — to receive a discount for students who need care for their children during class times. Stoddard said GW provides family care benefits through Bright Horizons for GW faculty and wants to see the resource expanded for graduate students.
“Right now there’s no help for grad students who have children and a lot of grad students have families and it’s really, can be, very unfair for them,” Stoddard said.
Stoddard has collected the needed 379 signatures and been verified by the Joint Elections Committee to appear on the official SGA election ballot on April 10 and 11.
