Seven of the Student Government Association’s 19 graduate student senators have missed at least half of the body’s 10 meetings this year, absences they attributed to conflicting night classes, family commitments and professional responsibilities.
The SGA has 19 graduate student senators — nine of whom the Senate appointed in the last month to fill vacancies — and seven have missed at least five meetings before the term’s midway point on Monday, with the SGA’s vice president removing two others earlier this year for accumulating too many absences. The pattern underscores long-running concerns about limited graduate participation and representation in the SGA, a recurring issue dating back more than 25 years, as graduate students juggle academic, professional and family demands that often conflict with the responsibilities of serving in the SGA.
The SGA’s bylaws allow senators only three unexcused absences from full senate meetings before they are considered in violation of the SGA Senate’s constitution. The bylaws also allow senators only six proxies — when an absent senator designates another to vote on their behalf — for the entire year before they are considered absent.
Only three of the seven senators who amassed four or more absences throughout the entirety of last academic year were graduate students, according to SGA Senate attendance records.
Several graduate senators have also shirked attendance at committee meetings this year, attendance records show. SGA Sen. Levi Todd (CPS-G) has been represented by proxy in all 10 of the Finance Committee’s meetings this year, while SGA Sen. Denise Ssettimba (Law-G) has been present for only one of seven Committee on Physical Facilities and Urban Affairs meetings and SGA Sen. Hari Prasannaa Thangavel Ravi (CCAS-G) has been absent from all seven PFUA meetings.
SGA Sen. Sneha Vijayakumar (SEAS-G) has also missed all but one PFUA committee meeting and attended only one Committee on Student Life meeting this year, according to the committees’ attendance trackers.
Todd, Thangavel Ravi and Vijayakumar did not return multiple requests for comment about their absences. Ssettimba said she was unable to comment due to her limited availability.
SGA Sen. Zuleirys Santana Rodriguez (GWSB-G) — who has been absent for six of 10 Senate meetings and virtually present for one — said a majority of graduate classes take place from 4:30 to 7:10 p.m. or 7:10 to 9:40 p.m., which contributes to absences among graduate senators as SGA Senate meetings are held weeknights at 7 p.m. Rodriguez said her responsibilities as a married student and small business owner conflict with in-person meeting times, so she has relied on the option to attend virtually — a feature she said her fellow graduate student senators also use.
Six of 19 graduate student senators attended virtually at the last SGA senate meeting held Oct. 27, while another seven were absent and three proxied, leaving only four graduates physically present at the meeting.
“I’m managing not only my class workload, that is mostly at night, but also my business, but also being there for the SGA, for my students,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very important to know that there’s certain aspects of life as you age, as you grow older, that start adding additional responsibilities.”
SGA Sen. Chenai Catherine Muswerakuenda (GWSB-G) said she has to frequently join meetings virtually because she doesn’t live on campus but added she feels the SGA properly accommodates her attendance through virtual options, and she’s able to share her perspectives during meetings. Muswerakuenda, who is currently serving in her second year as an SGA senator, said this year has been harder for her to maintain attendance and participation at meetings because she has a job outside of school now.
“Sometimes I have class, and now I can’t be there in person, so I join online,” Muswerakuenda said. “But for me, when you’re online, it’s just like, ‘Oh, I’m not really there,’ those are the realities of being a graduate student and trying to be in SGA.”
SGA Vice President Liz Stoddard said SGA senator absences are only a problem when senators do not inform SGA leadership or their fellow senators of their absence in advance, an issue she said occurs each year, with this year being no exception. She said as long as senators designate a proxy or provide reasons like a class or work conflict for their absence, she has been largely understanding of senators having to miss meetings this year.
“I think that’s really unfair to say if you’re not completely devoted to SGA, you can’t be here,” Stoddard said. “I think that creates such a toxic bubble of SGA ever-growing, ever-inflating egos.”
Stoddard said there have been two instances this year where she has had to remove graduate students from their positions as SGA senators because of a lack of attendance at senate meetings. The two removals are part of the total four senators who have left the body this term, three of whom were graduate students. She said the removal process allows new students to apply to fill the vacancies, adding that she thinks there has been more student interest in filling mid-year vacancies this year than in previous years.
Stoddard said she and other members of her staff will contact senators via email when they have accumulated two unexcused absences for a conversation about their nonattendance, which applies to both graduate and undergraduate senators. She said if they don’t respond to the initial message, she will send a final email before removing them from the Senate.
“You haven’t shown up, you haven’t been active, you haven’t been doing your job, you know, let’s just go and find somebody through our vacancy process who will show up for their constituency,” Stoddard said.
She said she is more lenient with allowing graduate student senators absences because of their busy personal lives — often shaped by night classes, families and off-campus living — that differ greatly from those of an undergraduate senator. But she said she still has had to confront senators when their absence from full body meetings starts to disrupt their ability to represent their student constituency.
“Sometimes for grad students, it’s simply like, ‘Hey, I’ve just gotten so busy,’ or ‘Hey, there’s been something going on with me, or ‘Hey, I just don’t have the time anymore,’” Stoddard said. “And I think we try to be as empathetic as possible to that, but we also want to nip it in the bud as soon as possible.”
John Wainwright, a GW medical student who served as SGA senator last year, said he decided not to run for reelection because he knew he would not be able to commit to the responsibility as his academic and work responsibilities increased in his final year of medical school. He said the evening time of meetings worked well for him last year, but the growing complexity of his schedule — which requires him to work shifts in hospitals across the DMV — made him realize he would be unable to fit SGA meetings and senator responsibilities into his schedule with other weekly commitments.
“Even during my term, I had to miss a couple of meetings because I had to do a rotation out in West Virginia,” Wainwright said. “And so I was not going to drive back just for the meeting.”
Wainwright said despite his busy schedule last year he tried to always attend meetings in person, adding that any time he had to join via Zoom the sound quality made it hard to participate in conversations.
“It’s definitely like things are always more efficient and more productive, everybody’s more engaged when you’re physically there,” Wainwright said.
