Gustafson and Kohnert-Yount sworn in as the new GUSA Executive
Posted by: Ryan Bellmore in News, Vox Populi, tags: 2012 GUSA Presidential Election, clara and vail, David Foster Wallace
On Saturday, the Georgetown University Student Association swore in the new President and Vice President, Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) and Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13). The inauguration was a small affair, with Vail being sworn in on a copy of Infinite Jest because, “This is the closest thing I had to a religious text.”
Gustafson also gave an impromptu address:
I’m going to take a few minutes of your time to say, thank you all for coming out today and happy St. Paddy’s Day. I am so very excited and honored to stand before you today to be sworn in as the GUSA president. GUSA have accomplished many incredible things the past three years, and I’ve learned a lot from my experience. Vail and I are in a great position to finish a lot of those initiatives that were started, especially SAFE reform, and to establish GUSA as an organization for and by all students and expand its reach into focus areas that haven’t been exercised in the past by GUSA. That said, I would like to thank Mike and Greg for their incredible hard work and dedication over the past year to the students and this university. You guys have left some incredibly large shoes to fill, and we hope we do you proud.
Vail and I have already begun work on some of the initiative we proposed in our platform, such as planning a research symposium, an LGTBQ-friendly checkbox on CHARMS, and the Student Life Report—and how to implement the recommendations that were given in that. We have also been working on a pretty fantastic cabinet to help execute a lot of these and other important initiatives. Vail and I have been given an incredible opportunity, and … we hope that we will serve all of you well in the next year, and know that our door is always open. Thank you very much.
For her cabinet, Gustafson explained some of the changes she made from previous years at the GUSA meeting on Sunday. First, she moved some positions, like the respective directors of Information Technology and Career Services, to her staff, and then she created secretaries of Academic Affairs, Mission and Ministry, and Social Justice. Finally, she eliminated the Secretary of Strategic Development because, in her words, “I don’t know what that person did last year.”
Descriptions of each cabinet position are on the application, and decisions for cabinet members should be made by the end of the week.
Photo: Patricia Cipollitti
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Healyologists will notice a major break with tradition, as the last several GUSA elects were sworn in on a stack of printed out pages from brobible.com.
As Clara was sworn in on my copy of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, it was quite a radical departure from that tradition.
Guy on the left forgot to comb his hair… or was this swearing in very late on St. Patty’s so he’s already just hammered?
AVK as the hidden acronym for Alexandra Kohnert-Yount – WHAT A VAIL TO HIDE BEHIND!
Respect both P and VP. I know they will be effective and hard working leaders. I hope though, that their progressive ideology doesn’t get in the way.
LGBT-friendly box on CHARMS sounds like an awful idea. As a gay guy, I can say with certainty that my freshman roommate would not have checked that box, but four years later we are still good friends. Also, it makes it so that those who check the box will feel cheated if they end up with a gay roommate. ALSO! Let us not forget that most of the openly gay people at Gtown come out right around freshman year, so most of them will not indicate that they are gay on their CHARMS forms. It just seems like a recipe for disaster.
*those who do not check the box. My bad.
Finally, she eliminated the Secretary of Strategic Development because, in her words, “I don’t know what that person did last year.”
-I don’t know what GUSA has done any of these years…can we eliminate that too?
can we now get back to not caring about GUSA again?
@Hoya – Please take the time and think hard about your statements made about members of our shared LBTQ community on the hilltop. An LGBTQ – friendly (!!!) checkbox does not mean and will not mean that you 1) must check that box if you identity as LGBTQ and 2) that only incoming LGBTQ students will check that box.
The initiative about such a checkbox was started after several incoming students were physically and verbally harassed by their roommates, whereas others stated that prospective roommates would just stop talking to them on CHARMS. It is also not a visible checkbox, but people will be able to search for those who check the box and thereby indicate that they are LGBTQ-friendly minded and won’t beat up on a roommate if said roommate identifies as LGBTQ.