A junior launched a write-in campaign for the Student Government Association presidency days before Thursday and Friday’s election.
Abdalla Hassan, a Middle East studies major, launched his write-in campaign on Instagram Sunday after he failed to receive Joint Elections Commission verification to appear on the official SGA election ballot because he had invalid signatures and campaigned in restricted zones. In a website he launched Sunday, Hassan said if elected he’d expand tutoring hours in Gelman Library and create SGA financial transparency and campus free expression working groups to help students communicate their concerns directly to University officials.
Hassan submitted petition signatures to the JEC on March 25, according to a petition receipt confirmation email from the JEC, but he did not receive the commission’s confirmation to appear on the ballot because of his signature and campaigning violations. Hassan filed a case with the Student Court Monday, asking them to verify the validity of the JEC’s decision to disqualify him from the race.
Hassan said he suspected his mention of free speech and financial transparency in his platform is why the JEC dismissed his case. But email communication from the regulatory body that was obtained by The Hatchet cited “numerous” missing signatures and missing information like class years and schools in Hassan’s submitted petitions.
All four of the remaining verified candidates running for SGA president or vice president mention expanding financial transparency and ensuring student’s right to freedom of expression in their campaign platforms.
“The actions of the JEC appear arbitrary, unsupported by clear documentation and procedurally flawed,” Hassan said in a written statement to the student court.
This year, the JEC said they would be investigating all campaign violations of the restricted zone rule to the “fullest extent” in an effort to crack down on an influx of disqualification threats over the past three SGA elections.
This year, presidential contender Ethan Lynne pled guilty to five penalty points when an authorized agent collected signatures in a restricted zone.
The student court dismissed Hassan’s case by unanimous consent Tuesday night after reviewing the JEC bylaws and finding no violation of election law or JEC procedure in the JEC’s disqualification of Hassan.
Hassan said he decided to run for SGA president because he was “disenchanted” with the previous SGA administration’s response to free speech issues on campus. He said “many” of their responses and statements in reaction to free speech activity on campus have been “belated.”
Some students have criticized the SGA’s response to free speech issues on campus, with some filing a court case against the body arguing that the SGA didn’t sufficiently advocate for students during the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring.
As SGA president, Hassan said he wants to create a SGA working group on campus expression that “closely” monitors and attends campus protests to “promptly” deliver recommendations and public statements to University officials. Hassan said he started the Muslim Voice — a student organization that aims to spread “basic knowledge” and foster campus dialogue about Islam — last year and has since engaged in conversation with Jewish student organization leaders at GW who said they support his presidential campaign.
“Campus is a place of unity, a place of dialogue, a place where ideas are, you know, reviewed and presented and tested and reshaped, and so it shouldn’t feel like a conflict zone,” Hassan said.
This year, SGA President Ethan Fitzgerald launched three SGA working groups on free speech, financial transparency and inclusion on campus. Hassan said he joined the group on financial transparency last semester, but the SGA dissolved the group within two months of its formation.
Hassan said though he will not appear on the official election ballot, he is “optimistic” that students will write in his name and win the election.
“Our student population isn’t about just the people that appear during the debates, it isn’t about the couple of thousand people who vote every year,” Hassan said. “Our student population is much broader than that, and I believe my campaign speaks to the issues that these people care about.”
