The Service Employees International Union of the D.C. metro area filed for an election to the National Labor Relations Board in an ongoing effort to form a union of adjunct professors on the hilltop. This motion marks significant progress since Georgetown’s Provost Robert Groves reaffirmed the University’s endorsement of unionization rights of its employees.

Now that SEIU has officially filed for election, the National Labor Relations Board will take control of the process in conjunction with Georgetown administration and SEIU to agree on a date for an election—likely mid-April. Adjunct instructors of the University will vote on a secret ballot, and a union will form if a majority votes “yes.” According to Anne McLeer, SEIU’s Director of Research and Strategic Planning, Georgetown has pledged neutrality in upcoming process.

In an email to faculty yesterday evening, Groves encouraged all eligible professors to vote, regardless of their views on unionization. “The NLRB election process is governed by majority rule, but the election will be determined by a majority of those who actually vote,” Groves wrote (italics his). “Therefore, Georgetown encourages eligible faculty members to participate in the election, whatever their views might be.  The results of the election will affect all faculty members who are covered by the election petition, whether or not those faculty members participate in the election.

Last Thursday evening, in White Gravenor, students and part-time faculty members at Georgetown joined leading adjunct activists to share their experiences and to address their proceeding endeavors for adjunct activism.

“For adjuncts across the country, average full time equivalent salary is $21,000 per year with usually no health insurance, no benefits, no retirement plans, no access to professional development unless people happen to be in unions,” Maria Maisto, Georgetown Alum and president of the New Faculty Majority, said in her opening remarks.

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On Sunday at 4:00 p.m., the Senate of the Georgetown University Student Association assembled for its weekly meeting. During the executive briefing, GUSA President Mike Meaney (SFS’12) updated that the Student Bill of Rights is being formally codified as part of a larger push to reform the Student Code of Conduct. The Student Bill of Rights is among several provisional recommendations, and will better articulate already-existing student rights that are stated ambiguously in the current Code of Conduct. The Executives are in the process of drafting the language of the Code of Conduct reform, and are trying to get as much input as possible in the coming weeks.

Additionally, Meaney remarked on the SafeRides Initiative that was launched this past weekend. GUSA Vice President Greg Laverriere (COL’12) and Secretary of Information and Technology Michael Crouch (MSB’13) drove the SafeRides van on Friday evening.

The Executive Department Establishment Act and the Senate District Reconciliation Act, both of which the Senate passed last Sunday, are still being considered. With a couple of days remaining before the bills are automatically enacted, the Executive board is deliberating over the constitutionality of certain aspects. When questioned about a veto, Meaney answered, “all of them are certainly still on the table.”

Following the introductory briefings, Vice Chair of the Endowment Commission Colton Malkerson (COL’13) conducted supplementary briefing on the Student Activities Fee and Endowment Reform.

To begin, Malkerson addressed the major problems that SAFE Reform was meant to deal with, including inefficient funding structure and lack of available money for student life. SAFE Reform tackled these issues by enacting Funding Board reform and increasing the Student Activities Fee. Currently, the discussion rests on endowment allocation.

To attend to the major flaws of the Funding Board, which previously allocated funding, the Senate amended the by-laws to establish FinApp—the committee is responsible for the funding process, and the Senate will deliberate over the committee’s final budget. Malkerson noted that under the new system, elected representatives hold total authority, thereby largely removing the issue of conflicting interests of diverse advisory board lacking in expertise. Additionally, the budget writing process will become more efficient with weekly FinApp meetings.

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On Sunday, October 23, the Georgetown University Student Association held its fourth general senate meeting. The meeting dealt with last bits of administrative tasks left for the beginning of the year, and legislative business handling several bylaws.

GUSA Speaker Adam Talbot (COL’12) brought to attention a few campus issues, including the Ann Coulter’s controversial appearance last week and the upcoming public phase of the Capital Campaign, a fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $1.5 billion, which is suspected to be a big deal on campus this coming weekend.

The senate also congratulated Jack Appelbaum (COL ’14) on being elected SAC chair.

The administrative duties on the agenda were the elections of the new Secretary and Director of Technology. Abby Greene (COL ’14) and Joe Fiorica (COL ’14) were elected, respectively.

As for legislative business, the Senators embarked on a series of rigorous debates on a couple of revisions to the group’s bylaws. After a heated discussion that lasted almost two hours, the senate approved the charter of the GUSA Fund, a council under the authority of the senate, which provides resources for Georgetown undergraduates who request funding or institutional assistance for events. In addition to providing funding, the charter will provide co-sponsorship status for events that student groups organize.

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On the evening of Monday, October 3rd, a forum about the New South Student Center took place in the Leavey Programming Room. The forum, which primarily featured a presentation by SmithGroup architect Bill Ash, focused on the “feasibility study” of the NSSC, rather than specific design and details, which remain works-in-progress.

Ash noted that the skeleton of the space’s architecture is in a pretty good state, although there will be miscellaneous necessary repairs over the next few years.. There will be quite a bit of demolition involved as well, as the majority of the interior of the ground floor is old and abandoned, and some of the finishes from the old dining hall are still there. The goal is to re-imagine New South by making full use of the enormous amount of space available on the ground level, and to restructure it to better make use of all of its space. As proposed, the NSSC will be accessible all the time.

The scope of the program, which consists of three plans, was presented in the forum. The lower level’s existing conference room will be converted into a loading dock, along with a storage area that will contain a variety of flexible furniture for student use. The over 3,000 square feet of ground level will house a sizable food-service venue, which will differ from places like Hoya Court and Epicurean in that it will be a club-like setting, which will conduce to students’ exiting after having a brief meal. The details as to whether the area will consist of a restaurant, a student-run venue, a pub, or a bar are, for the most part, undecided.

“A lot of that is still being defined, but the administration is seriously interested in pursuing serving alcohol in that space,” Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said at the forum. “I don’t want it to be a place just about maximizing profit and pouring hard liquor day and night. There is serious interest on exploring a venue that serves alcohol, but also that not being the one single overarching goal of it.”

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On the evening of Thursday, September 29, the Student Activities Commission assembled its board members and the leaders of several student organizations to a forum in which to deliberate SAC’s financial allocation process. This followed up a forum held about the same issue last Wednesday. Although only a handful of student leaders attended the evening’s event, SAC board members presented the framework, without details, of modifications to the current funding system.

After presenting the current funding system, SAC outlined two proposed alternatives. Currently, SAC’s programming is an arc-based, bulk allocation system, where student leaders state their agendas and SAC allocates a set amount of funds for each type of event. Many members of the community have repeatedly raised the need for a better funding system, as SAC Chair Andy Koenig (COL ’12) acknowledged, saying that the “current arc-based programming has underachieved in a lot of ways.”

The first of the two proposed alternatives was a comprehensive budget system, whereby each student organization would submit a detailed budget for their upcoming events, along with statements of funding requests, to SAC. SAC would then review the submitted budgets based on several criteria, including the amount of available funds, reasonableness of requests, and data of previous utilization of SAC funds. Student organizations would be funded based on their proposed budget after SAC reviewed their requests.

Second is the criteria-based system with bulk allocation, whereby SAC would determine allocation of funds at the beginning of each semester, and student organizations would then be free to spend their allocation as they please. SAC would divide total funds that are available, 45% for the Fall and 55% for the Spring, based on various metrics that have not been entirely hammered out just yet, but possibly include group sizes, amount and scope of programming, travel plans, previous spending, fund management, and large-scale events. These group metrics would be assigned a dollar value, and student organizations would receive funds based on which of the metrics they fulfilled.

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If you happen to notice a hoards of people walking in groups through Georgetown this weekend, don’t be alarmed—you’re witnessing one of D.C.’s biggest fitness-friendly annual events, the cleverly-titled WalkingTown D.C., and slightly less clever BikingTown D.C. Hosted by Cultural Tourism D.C., a non-profit organization that offers these tours for free, the Fall 2011 edition of Walking Town  is scheduled to, for the first time in the event’s history, take place for a total of 10 days, starting tomorrow, September 23, and ending October 2.

This annual event, composed of more than 175 tours through the district, is designed to celebrate the diverse culture, arts, and history of the District. Arranged by D.C.’s wards and guided by historians, tour guides, artists and community leaders of expertise, participants can either choose one ward to explore, or lace up their best sneakers to try and hit all eight. Participants can stroll through different neighborhoods throughout the city, including Georgetown. Highlights from our neck of the woods include a “Spies of Georgetown Walking Tour” on September 23 and October 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., which takes participants to the houses of the espionage specialists that have lived in the neighborhood, including that of “the auburn-haired American beauty who ‘used her charm’ during World War II.”

Although there is no need to pay for any of the events, some tours require prior reservations. The event is also on the lookout for potential volunteers, so if you’re interested in giving some time, you can consider signing up to be a Cultural Tourism D.C. ambassador or a tour guide.

And if you decide not to participate, at least try to stay out of the way of the walkers and bikers. Odds are they’re so pumped to enjoy the Georgetown scenery and architecture that trampling you will only be a minor inconvenience.

H/T Georgetown Metropolitan.