Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

Remember when GUSA Vice President James Kelly made some unpleasant remarks about gay students? Or when President Pat Dowd taught us all about larceny? Those were embarrassing, but they’re also the kind of problems Vishal Aswani, President of GW’s Student Association, would kill to have.

Instead, his Chief of Staff just resigned, and people are talking about his impeachment like it’s a realistic option. Last semester, his media relations VP resigned, complaining about his Nixonian paranoia. Even his second in command might be eying his position.

Here’s what has earned Aswani this ignominy, according to a Hatchet columnist:

• He blew a bunch of money on a student-wide ball.
• He made them an ugly inaugural float. The inaugural float was estimated to cost almost $90,000, was GW’s big promenade on the national stage…and the best Aswani could manage was a giant globe?
• He’s a jerk. From his Chief of Staff’s resignation letter:  “He is malicious in the way he pits the staff against each other, he lies to further himself”.

And that’s really about it. His crimes don’t seem that terrible, but it’s easiest to just let things in Foggy Bottom run their course.

Photo by GW Hatchet

Aswani celebrates his victory over Hubert Humphrey

Ruthless as the GUSA-SAC battle for power may be, members of George Washington’s Student Association continue to out-politic—and out-paranoid—both organizations. On Friday, after VP of Public Affairs Tabisa Walwema left the SA, GW Hatchet reporter Emily Cahn revealed that it was Walwema’s disgust with SA President Vishal Aswan’s Nixon-eqsue paranoia that prompted her resignation.

Walwema said she could not tolerate Aswani’s fear of campus media and being scolded for trying to do her job – which is to publicize the SA’s achievements and events.

Read the rest of this entry »

In August, the Executive Cabinet of GW’s Student Assocation went to a Nationals game together as part of a cabinet retreat. The GW Hatchet, fearless newspaper that it is, started poking around to see how the tickets were paid for, prompting this gem of an email to be sent to the entire cabinet (emphasis mine):

Guys,

Emily Cahn from the Hatchet is calling around looking to find out how retreat was paid for. You are to tell her the following and ONLY THE FOLLOWING:

You paid for your own food and tickets to all events. This includes Nationals, Redskins, Nooshi, Froggys, etc. Then try and throw in something about how you had to stop Vishal from paying himself and you insisted on paying.

This is very IMPORTANT and this email must remain CONFIDENTIAL. Anyone found leaking this email will have appropriate action pursued against them. Do not seek her out, but if she contacts you the above is what you are to say.

–
Greta Twombly
SA President Chief of Staff

Rule no. 1, Greta: you have to be a little more specific in your threats if you expect them to have any effect. Does “appropriate action” mean the leak won’t be allowed to sit at the SA Executive Cabinet lunch table for a week or are we talking death by public stoning?

Read the rest of this entry »