Georgetown's Confederacy of Dunces

Another election year, another scandal. When I came to visit Georgetown in the spring before my freshman year, I was struck by two things. The first one was our basketball team, which, despite a drought in the last games, continues to create a sense of school belonging and spirit of which I feel blessed to be a part. The second one was the Georgetown University Student Association.

Coming from a school where elections were a popularity contest, Georgetown seemed to be a place where students finally had a true voice and true representatives. This was just a façade, however, and if I had any faith left in our supposedly “democratic” system, Tuesday proved me wrong for good.

All was well until the night before, when two tickets were disqualified hours before the election for not heeding a previous warning for misplaced flyers and signs. Whether this was a just decision is not for me to say and frankly, that’s not the point. The disqualification was confirmed and election night began, minus two tickets.

I was approached by the remaining candidates several times and they struck me with their motivation and ambition. It was D-Day for GUSA elections and there was no going back. The next morning the buzz continued — tickets were calling, e-mailing and approaching everyone they knew.

And then, a shock. An announcement was made that election was suspended. And that’s where my problem begins. The GUSA Senate called a meeting in order to figure out how to address the disqualifications and resolve the crisis.

I won’t get into the sad show that the meeting proved to be, exemplified by Jeffrey Lamb (MSB ’10) — a possible president and part of the two disqualified tickets — nearly getting into a fight with another candidate.

It is mind-boggling to me how an election that had already taken in votes and was nearing a conclusion could be halted so suddenly. What have we done to the principles of democracy our school prides itself on?

What should we tell the other candidates, who have put so much effort into campaigning without being disqualified? What should we tell the student body, which logged on to vote? Finally, what image of Georgetown does this project? In the two years that I have been here, we have been unable to hold an election without the tentacles of the authorities intervening.

­Charaf El Mansouri (MSB ’11) Feb. 25, 2009

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