The Student Association Senate confirmed Catherine Morris, the senate’s chief policy adviser, as executive vice president in a special senate meeting Sunday.

SA President Brandon Hill presented SA Sen. Kate Carpenter, U-at-Large and a Hatchet photographer, last week as his pick for executive vice president after he ascended to the presidency and left the EVP spot open, but the senate rejected his nomination. Morris said she learned “what is possible in the SA,” like advising on legislation and facilitating meetings with administrators, while working under the “phenomenal leadership” of Hill and former SA EVP Amy Martin, who held the position in the 2019-20 school year.

“They push me to be a better advocate and a better student leader,” she said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps of leadership.”

Morris previously served as an undergraduate Columbian College of Arts and Sciences senator, a finance committee aid and as the vice chair of the finance committee. She said she is looking forward to continue advocating for students during the remainder of the term, “in a time when students need it the most.”

“This is a time we recommit to student advocacy,” Morris said. “This is when we decide the future of this organization. This is our time to lead, to be truthful and to be transparent. I believe we can do it together.”

Hill, the SA president, said Morris has been a “lifesaver on the senate staff” as a senior policy advisor this year and had an “instrumental role” in facilitating the GW’s community’s access to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times. He said Morris’ values like integrity, honesty and professionalism are of “dire” need to the SA and the University.

“As a friend, a colleague and a fellow [School of Media and Public Affairs] student, I have full faith in Morris’ abilities to serve over a divided body of students,” Hill said. “Morris knows that we get nowhere from wishing each other the worst and making backdoor deals.”

Hill said at last week’s senate meeting that he was “disgusted” by the “backdoor deals” some senators had been making in an attempt to deny Carpenter, his previous pick, the position.

Senators also unanimously approved a piece of legislation endorsing a faculty petition that calls on the University to “commit itself” to diversity, equity and inclusion through hiring “a cluster” of faculty of color. An informal group of faculty is circulating a petition to administrators to hire 18 minority faculty members, primarily in CCAS.