Student Bar Association senators at a meeting Tuesday claimed that GW Law Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew refused to sign onto a joint statement denouncing President Donald Trump’s sanctions on law firms and lawyers that represent his political opponents.

In her first speech as SBA president, Amanda Hichez said she and two other members of the SBA drafted a letter to Matthew last week urging her to consider joining the 79 other law school deans that have signed onto the statement. Hichez said Matthews declined to sign onto the statement but reaffirmed her “commitment” to advocating for GW Law students.

“All this to say, my team is ready,” Hichez said. “We’re not shy, we’re not afraid to ask hard questions and demand what we think is right. We’re here to show up, advocate and get things done.”

Trump since taking office has signed numerous executive orders targeting top law firms that represent or employ his political opponents, including Perkins Coie, Covington & Burling, Paul Weiss and Jenner & Block. The sanctions include banning lawyers of those firms from government buildings and barring companies with federal contracts from employing the firms.

In the statement, the deans reaffirmed that the government should not punish lawyers or law firms for the clients they represent, as doing so violates their First Amendment rights and undermines the Sixth Amendment. Deans from three D.C.-area law schools — Georgetown University, Howard University and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law — signed onto the statement.

“We thus speak as legal educators, responsible for training the next generation of lawyers, in condemning any government efforts to punish lawyers or their firms based on the identity of their clients or for their zealous lawful and ethical advocacy,” the letter states.

The statement clarified that the deans signed the letter to express their personal views, not to advocate on behalf of their respective schools.

SBA Sen. Elan Reisner said the food insecurity subcommittee conducted a survey and drafted questions to assess the prevalence of food scarcity among law students. He said out of the 65 survey respondents, around 50 percent responded that they skipped eating during at least one month of the year due to financial constraints.

“On a personal note, my grandfather was food insecure, and I just thought that we as a school should collectively try to address this issue,” Reisner said. “It impacts a lot of people.”

Reisner said he had a discussion with multiple deans to discuss making a four-step plan to combat food insecurity, including the use of student assistance funds, an early-stages access food plan for law students to use GWID cards at GW dining halls, free food resources from the Nota Bene and budget efficiency.

Officials in a Monday email to community members announced that Gelman Library will close over the summer for heating, ventilation and cooling system renovations. SBA Sen. Rohin Balkundi said there “is a concern” that the law school will grant undergraduate students access to study in the Jacob Burns Law Library over the summer, which is when recently graduated students will be studying for the bar exam as the library permits all law school alumni building access.

Balkundi said graduate students are no longer able to access graduate student reading rooms in Gelman, and library officials told them they haven’t identified the root of the problem. He urged next year’s senators to dig into the issue.

Reisner moved to approve the chess club, who he said were seeking a locker and school recognition to foster a sense of community among students.

SBA Sen. Juliana Fernandez motioned to approve the Criminal Law Society, a student organization that would inform students about criminal law and available job opportunities relating to criminal law.

SBA senators approved the Criminal Law Society and the Chess Club unanimously.

Hichez, who formerly served as the executive vice president of finance, said student organizations spent a cumulative amount of $69,255 and fundraised $25,362 this year. She said net expenses are $67,600 and $1,400 in the joint SBA account not accounting for “various proceeds.”

SBA Vice President Quinn Biever swore in the newly elected senators at the end of the meeting.