Joseph Smith, DPS’ Crime and Prevention Coordinator, brought the night’s first significant issue before the Senate. Smith wants to jumpstart the RAD program at Georgetown—which DPS got us excited for at the beginning of the school year but has yet to come through on—in response to the “problem” (I’ll say) of sexual assaults on Georgetown students.

Smith says the holdup is money for equipment. His sales pitch appealed to the senate’s legacy, or their egos: if they funded RAD, he said, they could say,  “’We voted on it, we did the right thing here.’” Make good choices!

The meeting’s other highlight was a ten-minute show-and-tell by an impatient Brian Kesten (COL `10). He’s proposing some initiatives based on the long-awaited SCUnity report that is slated to be unveiled on Jan 27.

When senators questioned Kesten’s decision to go ahead with the presentation before obtaining GUSA approval, he responded, “As far as publicity, there’s no way to stop this from moving forward at this point.” Tempers flared, but as angry senators vied for the floor, Kesten took a moment to answer his cell phone, prompting an angry scolding by senator Tyler Stone (COL ’09), who told the always-controversial Kesten he would “like to see greater respect for GUSA in the future.”

Any senators who wish to pre-view the report may do so, as long as they sign a nondisclosure form, a measure that raised a few eyebrows.

Lastly, Matt Wagner (SFS ’11) gave the senate an update on the Student Funding Board meeting scheduled for Feb 11. Wagner reminded us that that “SAC is going to change this year in terms of the way they elect their leadership.” The new process will include an election committee containing two GUSA members.