The Student Government Association elected 10 senators to chair Senate committees at their meeting on Monday.
Senators elected SGA Sen. Alison Gendrolis (GWSB-U) as pro tempore of the Senate, the third highest position in the SGA, who will oversee all legislative committees. SGA President Ethan Lynne also said at the meeting he raised concerns about textbook affordability and the quality of first year experience courses to the Board of Trustees last week in his first presidential report to the Senate.
Lynne said he attended his first meeting with the Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee, which the SGA president sits on as an observer. Lynne said he raised “key concerns” about textbook affordability and gaps between first year experience courses between the different schools, issues that Lynne said he pledged to work with the committee on.
Lynne said after speaking to students in Columbian College of Art and Sciences in first-year experience courses, he realized they are not adequately prepared for college and their prospective careers.
“Kids, mainly in CCAS, their first year experience course is not meeting the standards when it comes to college and career readiness like other schools such as business & SEAS are,” Lynne said in a message.
Gendrolis said in her time serving on the Financial Services and Allocations Committee, she has learned how to make “thoughtful and balanced” decisions, which has prepared her for the role of Senate Pro Tempore.
“I will focus on ensuring that vacancies are filled, committee leadership is supported and held to a high standard and that our governing processes remain accessible, inclusive and transparent to all,” Gendrolis said.
The Senate also elected SGA Sen. José Dalmau (CCAS-U) to serve as deputy pro tempore and chair of the newly created Committee on Ethics, which will have the power to investigate allegations of misconduct within the SGA.
SGA Vice President Liz Stoddard sponsored the legislation creating the ethics committee, which the body approved with unanimous consent at the last Senate meeting of the term at the end of April. Dalmau will oversee five other members of the committee made up of students nominated by the president.
Dalmau said he hopes the Senate can recognize their responsibility to make the SGA a “responsible and efficient” service to students by expanding housing availability and strengthening organization funding.
“This includes laying a foundation of work that promotes accountability and fairness in all student government matters,” Dalmau said.
The Senate elected SGA Sen. Sophia Leinenkugel (Elliott-U) to serve as chair of the Financial Services and Allocations Committee. Leninkugel said she was motivated to run for this position because she believes student organizations deserve the continuation of a “fair, supportive and transparent” funding system.
Leinenkugel said she served as vice chair of the finance committee last year and learned the details of the finance system changes that are being implemented this upcoming year.
Last April, the SGA voted to restructure the governing body’s financial allocation process so student organizations can request funding for specific events as opposed to receiving a set amount of money each semester beginning in Fall 2025.
Leinenkugel said this new model could mean more and longer meetings for the finance committee, which she said might make it challenging to keep morale up among committee members. She said last year senators on the finance committee got “tired” due to the length of the meetings, which resulted in the committee not having effective deliberation when addressing funding requests.
Leinenkugel said she plans on releasing meeting agendas to senators well in advance of the meeting to give them significant time to review funding requests prior to the meetings.
“I think really being a motivating figure, really making sure that those decisions are being moderated in a right sense, that’s what leadership requires and that’s what I hope to bring in terms of meetings that might be a little bit more difficult to get through,” Leinenkugel said in a message.
Senators also elected SGA Sen. Sofio Kipiani (Elliott-U) as chair of the Women’s Caucus. Kipiani said she wants the caucus to create policies “for women, by women” to address gender disparities within the SGA and on campus.
Stoddard, the previous chair of the Women’s Caucus, re-launched the caucus in the fall to amplify the voices of the SGA’s female leadership and encourage more women to run for positions.
“I want to expand on the initiatives that we have already discussed in the caucus, such as strict Fix-It time window policy, expanding rideshare options for late at night and Title IX training for GW security and contracted staff,” Kipiani said.
The Senate elected SGA Sen. Justin Liu (CCAS-U) as chair of the Committee on Physical Facilities and Urban Affairs, SGA Sen. Aicha Sy (CCAS-U) as chair of the Committee on Community, Advocacy and Inclusion and SGA Sen. Sophie Munson (CCAS-U) as chair of the Committee on Education Policy.
The Senate also elected SGA Sen. Cheydon Naleimaile-Evangelista (CCAS-U) as chair of the Committee on Student Life, SGA Sen. Sofio Kipiani (Elliott-U) as chair of the Assembly on Mental Health, SGA Sen. Beatriz Schermann Salim (CCAS-U) as chair of the Assembly on Dining and SGA Sen. Levi Todd (CPS-G) as chair of the Graduate Caucus.
The next SGA meeting will be held on June 6 over Zoom.
