Ethan Lynne is the president of the Student Government Association, and Kim Fulmer is the president of the Staff Council.
This academic year, the GW community achieved something rare and refreshing: a genuine shared governance partnership between students, staff and faculty. After years of little-to-no collaboration between the Student Government Association, Staff Council and Faculty Senate, all three groups have maintained open lines of communication as they work together to combat challenges, improve communication and move the University forward together. Much of that progress can be traced directly to the leadership of former Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Katrin Schultheiss, whose near-six-month tenure marked the first time in recent memory that such collaboration had truly taken root.
Earlier this year, The Hatchet’s editorial board urged students and faculty to unite in addressing the political and institutional challenges confronting higher education in the wake of the federal government pulling funding and student visas and launching investigations into many of the country’s best schools. That same spirit of partnership defined this year at GW, where collaboration across governance bodies showed the community what shared leadership can achieve, most recently with the positive reactions to the strategic framework, which all three of our respective groups helped finalize.
Many of you reading this may not understand what the Faculty Senate is, and that is understandable. Even in our positions at the helm of the Staff Council and SGA, GW’s bureaucracy continues to confuse us. The SGA and Staff Council represent vital perspectives within the University community as advisory bodies, but the Faculty Senate holds a distinct role — it is GW’s official faculty governance body and a primary partner that officials consult with on key decisions. Established in the University’s bylaws and by virtue of being the representative voice for all faculty, the Faculty Senate thus holds incredible influence over academic policy, curriculum standards and matters affecting faculty welfare. They have direct access to 14 senior officials who serve in various capacities and attend their regular public and private meetings. Their voice carries weight in presidential searches, budgetary priorities, strategic planning and even student-centered concerns like textbook affordability — decisions that affect the entire University. The effectiveness of the Faculty Senate rests on leadership that takes seriously both its formal powers and its responsibility to the broader University community.
Schultheiss led with clarity, compassion and conviction. When she assumed her role, the relationship the SGA and Staff Council had with the Faculty Senate was virtually nonexistent, consisting of emails that went unresponded to and a lack of knowledge on what each respective group was working on. While some limited collaboration had occurred previously — like shared efforts between last year’s Staff Council President Bridget Schwartz and former SGA President Ethan Fitzgerald around student and staff mental health — Schultheiss elevated that to a new level. Rather than accept that divide as inevitable, she reached across it. She invited students onto Faculty Senate committees, always respected and encouraged staff voices in conversations and modeled what shared governance is supposed to look like — not as a procedural formality but as a living commitment to collaboration.
Under her leadership this fall, the SGA, Faculty Senate and members of GW’s administration reestablished the Joint Committee of Faculty and Students — reviving a forum for real dialogue and problem solving between our shared constituencies. She was responsive when either of us reached out, candid when challenges arose and always maintained the belief that our University functions best when every community member has a seat at the table. She presented reports to the Board of Trustees on how faculty were approaching current challenges, convened special meetings to address the University’s financial challenges and demonstrated the kind of transparent, inclusive leadership that all constituent groups respected.
Learning about her resignation from FSEC, which the committee requested for reasons they declined to disclose, was deeply concerning. We respect the FSEC’s right to determine its internal leadership, but we cannot ignore what her departure represents: a step backward at a time when we were finally moving forward together. The fact that whatever circumstances prompted FSEC members to request her resignation remain unknown — as described by members of FSEC — raises important questions about whether the decision-making process reflected the transparency, consultation and fairness that shared governance requires. A lack of clarity from FSEC around decisions of this magnitude leaves faculty, staff and students uncertain about how leadership changes are made and undermines trust in the very systems meant to ensure accountability.
Losing a leader who embodied openness and integrity is a loss not just for faculty but for the entire GW community. When students and staff observe faculty governance operating without clear communication or inclusive dialogue, it risks eroding the confidence in shared governance across the University that the Faculty Senate, SGA and Staff Council worked to build over the past year. The principles Schultheiss championed in working with students and staff deserve to be honored within faculty governance as well.
We write today to express our profound gratitude to Schultheiss and to issue a clear challenge to whoever follows in her footsteps. The next chair of FSEC must build on her legacy not dismantle it. The Faculty Senate’s leadership has responsibilities that extend beyond monthly meetings. It must continue engaging with the full University community to address issues like financial challenges, transparency and student and staff security.
The progress we’ve made this year wasn’t accidental. It came from deliberate partnership, from the belief that shared governance isn’t merely a slogan but a shared responsibility. Our community thrives when we work in unison — when we listen, when we engage and when we act together.
Schultheiss understood that collaboration is not a courtesy but a duty. She showed that transparency and inclusion are the foundation of effective leadership. We call on the next FSEC Chair and the entire Faculty Senate to carry forward that standard — to strengthen, not shrink, the collaboration that has begun. The future of the University depends on it.
