Yesterday, the Georgetown University Student Association met on Copley Lawn to welcome new senators from the recent by-election, to move forward on the Harbin Patio games program, and to institute harsher punishment for frequently absent senators.

Like lambs to the slaughter

On Saturday, the winners of GUSA senate election were announced: Sam Greco (SFS ’15) won the at large election with 304 votes in the third round; Andrew Markel (SFS ’15) won Harbin 2-5 with 45 votes, Galen Weber (SFS ’13) won Nevils with 33 votes, and Vetone Ivezaj (COL ’13) won Village A A-D with 39 votes. The seat for Village A E-H is remaining absent for the rest of the year because there was no serious candidate.

After they took the oath to defend GUSA against all enemies, the senate moved on.

I, (name), do hereby affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution and By-Laws of the Georgetown University Student Association against all enemies, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

It’s all fun and games until the space becomes actually useful

Senator Ben Weiss (COL ’15) is creating a rental program for “stationary games” on Harbin Patio. Weiss explained that the Harbin Patio is currently underutilized, and that he is in the process of creating a creating a rental program for games out of the Village C RHO.

However, the only games allowed on the patio by the university are “standing games,” like cornhole toss, according to Weiss. Because of an incident several years ago, the university doesn’t allow “ball-playing games” on the patio. Although there will need to be a follow-up meeting to find funding for the program, Weiss said that all the appropriate administrators are on board with the program.

If implemented, the program will be reviewed by the senate next spring, and they may consider expanding it to other RHOs and areas of campus.

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At yesterday’s meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association Senate, the most venerable senators approved the third member of the IRC Triumvirate Election Commission, the new chair of the Finance and Appropriations committee, and discussed the future of the GUSA Fund. And there were some long speeches read directly to Vox on unrelated topics, but we’ll save those for another time.

Three’s company

Election Commissioner Adam Giansiracusa (SFS ’12) presented his replacement, who was vetted by the executive and approved by the senate yesterday. Pavan Rajgopal (SFS ’15) was selected because of his basic competency as a person, according to Giansiracusa. Rajgopal was approved by the senate with the expectation (they even asked him about this) that he will serve until he graduates (or is removed by the senate for disqualifying a candidate for illegitimate reasons an hour before the election, as Speaker Adam Talbot (COL ’12) reminded him).

In response to a question about punishing candidates for violations, Rajgopal said that he would be comfortable with it, and he would rather be proactive in preventing violations.

It was also mentioned that Rajgopal is a member of the IRC, like the other two current members of the EC and was outgoing chair AG. ”We’ll not draw too much attention to that now,” Talbot added.

Fynapp

Since two members, including the chair, of the Finance and Appropriations committee moved to the executive, the senate approved Shiela Walsh (COL ’14), the first female finapp member, as chair and then appointed Robert Shepard (COL ’15) and Laura Kresse (SFS ’12) to the committee.

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Yesterday, the Georgetown University Student Association Senate tied up some loose ends from last week’s meeting, including, passing electoral reform laws, the FY13 budget, and the executive cabinet.

One of the few new items at the meeting the briefing by GUSA president Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) who talked about Georgetown Day. Gustafson said the executive has received around 20 applications for the Georgetown Day committee already (they make it look so easy), and they are moving ahead with planning.

The senate also approved the executive cabinet unanimously.

The second new item was the approval of the GUSA fund, which gave $350 to the Georgetown Israel Alliance for their annual Independence Day celebration. The Alliance requested $500, but that was brought down “for reasons of frugality,” according to Nate Tisa (SFS ’14).

From last week, the senate approved the FY13 budget after nearly a month from its initial draft publicaiton before spring break.

Also from last week, the senate passed the Omnibus Electoral Accountability and Regulation Act of 2012, which was virtually the same as last week except that it removed some stipulations to allow the Election Commission to use their best judgement in the exact punishment (instead of specifying it for them).

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At yesterday’s meeting, the Georgetown University Student Association senate passed six bills, some of which were more important than others and some of which took longer to talk about.

Big Budget, Big Budget

First the outgoing chair of the Finance and Appropriations committee, Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), talked about the finalized budget for next year. This round of allocations reflects the last major increase from SAFE reform, so the distribution of money will probably be a template for future years, according to Malkerson.

For the six advisory boards, Finapp allocated 24 percent of the $960,000 pie to Club Sports, 19 to CSJ ABSO, 16 to SAC, 10 to GPB, six to Media Board, and five to PAAC. They only allocated two percent to GUSA.

Deviating from previous years, Finapp allocated money directly to the Lecture Fund instead of indirectly through SAC. Lecture Fund still has Access to Benefits through SAC, but creating a separate allocation frees up SAC’s funds for other organizations.

Although the increase in funding for most boards was commensurate with the overall funding increase, Club Sports’s allocation decreased by $20,000 compared to last year. According to Finapp member Bridget Power (COL ’12), Club Sports received a mammoth increase at last year’s budget summit, going from $115,000 in 2011 to $250,000 in 2012. This year, Finapp scaled down that increase to make room for other projects.

In other Finapp news, the Senate also allocated another $3500 to the GUSA fund to allow them to finish out the year. According to Malkerson, the current system of funding for the GUSA fund, in which the GUSA fund has to request money from GUSA whenever it needs it, makes it difficult for them to effectively budget.

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At yesterday’s lightly-attended meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association Senate, the senate made some plans for the upcoming inauguration next week and the transition after that. There were no big-ticket issues, so Vox has some miscellany for you.

A few weeks ago, the Finance and Appropriations Committee established the budget for the next financial year. According to Finapp member Bridget Power (COL ’12), there aren’t many surprises in the budget.

“For a number of groups, we gave a 20% increase, which was the funding increase,” she said. “We did have to cut from club sports by a substantial amount from what they got last year.”

For the GUSA Fund, the senate approved allocations for the College Dems to bring the founder of Reddit to campus (co-sponsored by the University and the Lecture Fund), for M.E.Ch.A. to buy a banner for their Caesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning blood drive, and for the step team to have a competition in Lohrfink Auditorium. Speaker Adam Talbot (COL ’12) noted that the GUSA fund was close to emptying their coffers, and Finapp would consider an additional allocation to them in the coming weeks.

Our favorite Daniel “DJ LaMagnz” LaMagna (COL ’13) made a triumphant return last night as the head of a new student life subcommittee in charge of academic affairs. LaMagna helped organize the “Striking the Balance” event last semester and wants to continue looking into Georgetown’s relationship with the Chinese government with this new subcommittee.

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At last night’s meeting, the Georgetown University Student Association senate didn’t pass any laws, but they did pass the torch. The meeting mainly consisted of some affectionate speeches by GUSAphiles on their way out and the certification of the next executive.

“It’s been a phenomenal honor to work with Mike and Greg,” Speaker Adam Talbot (COL ’12) started. “They’re great and their entire administration’s been great. The relationships they’ve built will succeed and outlast them.”

When it was Vice President Greg Laverriere‘s (COL ’12) turn to talk, he first thanked President Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) for the past year. “There are a lot of people who deserve thanks and praise, but in the interest of time, I’m only going to thank one,” Laverriere said, turning to Meaney, “And that’s you.”

“From the late-night arguments to the laughter, to being each others’ plus-ones at every event, I can’t thank you enough for taking a leap of faith a year ago… And with that,” Laverriere continued, starting to tear up, “I can’t thank you enough.”

And Meaney returned the compliment in his address: ”The day before I made my final decision, you approached me and had only a few words of advice. You said, ‘No matter who you pick, know that I’m staying with you ‘till the end.’ Asking you to be my Vice President was the single most important decision I’ve ever made. And it was the single best decision I’ve ever made. You made our success possible, and you will never be able to understand how grateful and how thankful I am for your service.”

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Yesterday’s meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association senate was… peculiar. About 40% of the people in the room were running for GUSA Executive, so it was fun to project subtext onto the bickering of the obviously sleep-deprived senators. On the menu yesterday was the confirmation of some familiar faces to the SIPS steering committee and some debate about how the MSB should fund their own students.

Running a tight SIPS

As part of the implementation of the SIPS fund, the working group (the ones who pitched the fund to the SAFE commission and FinApp) is passing the torch to the steering committee, who will then create a framework for SIPS governance. Yesterday, the senate confirmed three additional appointees to the steering committee: GUSA Senator Bridget Power (COL ’12), GUSA VP Greg Laverriere (COL ’12), and Corp Philanthropist Scott Munro (COL ’12), who were all chosen by the Ways and Means committee.

According to Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13), GUSA exec candidate and member of the original SIPS working group, ”We wanted people who have been involved in different area around campus, so that by the end of the spring semester, we can have by-laws and an executive committee.” Gustafson added that the steering committee will build the constitution and recruit students and alumni to be on the board or the executive committee. “The SIPS steering committee will not be spending any of the money,” Gustafson added.

There were two concerns expressed at this point–which may or may not have been related to the issue at hand.

First Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), also a GUSA exec candidate, expressed concerns about the timeline. He wanted to make sure the constitution wasn’t rushed. All three appointees agreed with him, so that wasn’t an issue.

Second, GUSA exec candidate, Dan LaMagna (COL ’13) asked if there might be a conflict of interest since the steering committee appointees were so invested in the project.

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Yesterday’s meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association Senate closed a lot of loose ends from last week’s meeting, including a look into removing the university’s ban on student businesses, membership in the student group union, and that danged textbook resolution.

How to succeed in business without violating university rules

The senate unanimously passed a resolution to look into overturning the university’s ban on student businesses that has been on the books for a while. Basically, the bill allows the student life committee to research the impetus for the ban and to lobby the administration for its removal.

The bill came out of a conversation with the Buyback Brothers, the used textbook resellers who were evicted from Red Square by DPS and the administration, according to Vice Speaker Nate Tisa (SFS ’14). Tisa also wants the university to replace the ban with more common-sense procedures like a ban on fronting.

Speaker Adam Talbot (COL ’12) also brought up that the rule seems to be selectively enforced. The Buyback Brothers were evicted from campus when they compete with the bookstore, while other businesses, like H2Bro, can operate undisturbed.

Solidarity of a different sort

The senate also passed a bill designating the GUSA president to represent the Student Association in front of the Student Group Union. For a brief overview, the SGU is a campus organizaiton composed of and meant to represent student groups on campus. The union has a general body comprised of representatives from the constituent clubs, and they elect an eleven-member executive committee to facilitate coordination among the groups . This bill officially delegated the role of SGU liaison to the GUSA president.

Although the executive would ostensibly be speaking for all of GUSA in front of the SGU, the senate would have the power to opt out of any SGU initiatives, thus making the senate’s relationship with SGU only as close at the senate wants.

But Daniel LaMagna (COL ’13) thought the bill didn’t go far enough. According to him, the GUSA president should have a guaranteed spot on the SGU executive committee.

“It seems it would be odd that the president of the student body would be a rank-and-file member of the SGU,” LaMagna said.

To which the bill’s sponsor and SGU Steering Committee Member Eitan Paul (SFS ’12) responded, “We don’t want [the SGU] to be led by the typical voices that are always invovled in this system… [a guaranteed spot on the executive committee] would give a disproportionate voice to student government.”

However, Paul added, “Someone associated with GUSA could conceivably run for executive.”

The act was authorized under a clause in the GUSA by-laws that effectively allows GUSA to enter into treaties with other organizations.

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Yesterday’s lively and long meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association Senate saw the passage of one bill for financial aid for GUSA elections and the tabling of another that said something about ebooks.

If at first you don’t succeed, try again next week

Ziad Jawadi (COL ’15) and Daniel “DJ LaMagnz” LaMagna (COL ’13) introduced a bill that would urge the university to discuss using electronic textbooks at Georgetown (fun fact: the bill’s title is 96 words long). The impetus for the bill came from Jawadi’s classroom experience: he saved almost $200 on a textbook by renting a digital version from Amazon, but his professor would not allow him to bring his iPad to class. So Jawadi and LaMagna wanted the senate to ask the university to look at its policies about electronic textbooks. At least, that’s how the senators explained it; the bill, on the other hand, said this:

[GUSA] Urges the Georgetown University Administration to begin formally planning how the University will utilize technological innovations to make course materials more cost-efficient, accessible and engaging for students and faculty by the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year.

As a whole, the senate was confused by what the bill would actually do. As Vice Speaker Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) put it, “I don’t know what it does… I don’t understand what is being proposed here, neither will the university, nor the media, nor the students.”

Other senators expressed their confusion too. For instance Robert Shepard (COL ’15) said, “I don’t really see the point in this,” and Zach Singer (SFS ’15) asked, “Who is James O’Donnell?” Even the parliamentarian thought they should reword the bill.

So they did. Jawadi and LaMagna took the toothless bill off the table but promised to give it some dental work and come back next week.

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Yesterday’s weekly meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association was short and sweet.

One topic of discussion was the approval of the GUSA Fund’s allocation package, including a few requests by the Philodemic society. Every semester, Philodemic doesn’t receive enough money from SAC to rent the fancy chairs that the Office of Special Events makes them rent for their weekly debates. So every semester, Philodemic asks the GUSA Fund to make up the difference.

Well, this semester, Vice Speaker Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) would have none of this. From his point of view, SAC should give them enough money to rent their chairs–or better yet just buy them chairs and be done with it. So in addition to giving them the money, the GUSA Fund vowed to get to the bottom of this.

The other major part of the meeting was an address by Finapp chair Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), who announced that the university had agreed to put on paper their agreement to use the SAFE funds appropriately.

“This is a good step forward for GUSA and university relations,” Malkerson said. “[One of the reasons] why we’re in this is because a $3 million promise by the university was never fulfilled.” From now on, Malkerson continued, all agreements with the university will be put on paper and signed. Vox will have another post about the upcoming SAFE referendum later this afternoon.