In yesterday’s GUSA meeting, the last of the semester, the Senate voted to start a composting program in Southwest Quad, students get a chance to change sign-in rules, and the Senate allocated $200 to a student heading to Ghana.

A referendum that we can all get behind
According to Nate Tisa (SFS ’14), ResLife will agree to allow 24-hour access to all buildings of Southwest Quad for all of residents of the three buildings if the proposal receives enough support on IdeaScale. GUSA’s goal is for the proposal to receive 300 signatures. Vote here if you’re sick of signing-in all of your late-night booty calls.

GUSA starts doing its part to save the Earth
At Sunday’s GUSA meeting, the Senate approved a bill to begin a composting program in Village B. Introduced by Speaker Tisa and Senator Vetone Ivezaj (COL ’13), “An Act to Create a Pilot Program for Composting in Village B” was unanimously passed by the Senate. This bill, a product of the month-old Subcommittee on Sustainability, initiates voluntary composting for residents of Village B, with the intention of expanding to Henle, Village A, and Nevils.

“Residents of Village B will get a bin for their apartment to place food scraps, cardboard, etc. They will dump it out once a week in the central composting bin next to garbage receptacles, where it will then be taken to Leo’s composting. There will be a logbook next to the central bin. Every time you compost, you will receive a raffle ticket for a prize, such as a restaurant gift card. This is to provide incentive and help with publicity,” Tisa said.

According to Ivezaj, the project hasn’t expanded to dorms because they don’t generate a large amount of compostable material. “The Contemplation in Action townhouse began composting last year with much success. The Sustainability Committee seeks to eventually expand composting to all undergraduate apartments on campus. Dorms are not a target, as we are focusing solely on those producing significant amounts of organic waste. Dorm residents mainly go to Leos,” Ivezaj added.

Tisa would also like everyone to know that composting does not smell.

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Yesterday, the Georgetown University Student Association unanimously passed a resolution to finally fix Leo O’Donovan’s Dining Hall. The resolution calls for decreased wait times, increased capacity to accommodate students at peak demand times, increased food options and diversity, increased conservation efforts, increased emphasis on customer service and hospitality, greater cleanliness, and more student input in decisions made by Georgetown Dining.

Although the terms of the resolution are vague, the author of the resolution, Senator Sam Greco (SFS ’15) (Southwest Quad), argues that the lack of detail allows students to take a stand their own behalf, while still maintaining enough flexibility to work with the University and Aramark administrators. Greco explained in debate that despite the lack of a specific plan, the resolution would establish the necessary framework from which students may advocate for their own interests in the dining hall.

In addition to establishing a precedent of pushing for increased student representation in contract negotiations with external companies such as Aramark. The resolution calls for increased access to student feedback gathered from online surveys and comment cards.

As of now, GUSA and other organizations outside Georgetown Dining are unable to access the information gathered in such polls, and the GUSA representatives feel that this is a lack of transparency impedes progress and improvement in the dining hall.

However, as Senator Greco pointed out, the possibility of GUSA gaining access to this information in the foreseeable future is slim, so in order to improve GUSA’s perspective of student concerns, the resolution authorizes GUSA to conduct polls to gather information regarding students’ dining experiences. “Unless we [GUSA] have real, specific things we want, it’s hard to confront them [Georgetown] dining with that,” said Greco.

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On Sunday evening, the GUSA Senate passed a resolution “to Establish Free Movement across Campus Buildings.” Debate on an amendment to the proposed bill grew heated.

Introduced by Speaker Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) and Sen. Nolan DiConti (COL ’15), the resolution seeks to mitigate restrictions on building entry, which hinder both academic and social life at Georgetown. The bill urges the administration to extend GOCard access from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. campus-wide, to create 24-hr GOCard access for interconnected living halls, namely Southwest Quad, and to request the McDonough School of Business and Regents Hall to create entrance parity for undergraduates.

“Say I’m in Kennedy and I want to go to McCarthy or Reynolds to study. I have to be signed in to do that,” DiConti said. “Moreover, 10 p.m. is not late by college standards and we all know social gatherings of a larger capacity do not typically start before 10. Such little things limit the Hoya experience.”

“This resolution is a part of a larger narrative here at Georgetown, and that is an initiative by the administration to promote social life on campus, which is a dimension of the 2012 Campus Plan Agreement,” Tisa added.

Vice Speaker Zach Singer (SFS ’15), a co-sponsor of the bill, proposed to amend the resolution from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. for Friday and Saturday night. “This makes sense in terms of socializing. On Saturday nights, I mean on occasional Saturday nights, you might find yourself wanting to visit someone at 1:30 a.m,” he said.

This comment then opened the floor to a period of debate for the potential amendment.

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At the weekly Sunday meeting with the Georgetown University Student Association, the Senate approved two pieces of legislation pertaining to student life: A Resolution with Regards to ZipCars and An Amendment to the Subcommittee Establishment Act.

The first piece of legislation aims at lowering the age required for renting a ZipCar from 21 to 18.  Georgetown currently has a fleet of five ZipCars, located outside McDonough.  Speaker Nate Tisa (SFS ’13) said, “As less than one fourth of the student body have access to a ZipCar currently, this resolution has the potential to help a great number of students.”

The resolution was introduced by Vice-Speaker Zach Singer (SFS ’16), not present at the meeting.  Senator Ben Weiss (COL ’15) spoke on behalf of the legislation, stating,  “The most striking aspect of the research Senator Singer and I conducted was the fact that our peer universities in the area, George Washington and American, as well as Harvard University and University of Virginia, have an 18+ contract with ZipCar.  It only makes sense that we have equal access.”

Senator Weiss went on to reiterate the nature of a resolution, as it is not binding to the administration, but rather an appeal expressing support.  The Senate unanimously passed the resolution.

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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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