Ramadan 'Comes Clean' After Denying Secret Society Membership
Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 19:02
On the eve of the GUSA executive election, vice presidential candidate Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14) has confirmed his membership in a private society unaffiliated with the Second Society of Stewards after denying his membership in a secret society the previous night.
After the story broke that rival candidate Jack Appelbaum (COL ’14) is a member of the Stewards, numerous people alleged that Ramadan was also in a secret society. Although he and his running mate Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) had denied Ramadan’s involvement in such groups when asked to comment about Appelbaum, Ramadan said disclosure of his own membership was prompted by reflection and the reaction to the Stewards story.
“What I think it comes down to is that if anybody is a part of a group like this, it’s at their discretion if and when to expose that information,” Ramadan said. “When I thought about it more and saw the way it unraveled today, I wanted full disclosure.”
Tisa said Wednesday that he was unaware of Ramadan’s membership until the campaign season had started and that he did not discuss it extensively.
“We never really got into it,” Tisa said. “It’s never really been an important part of our campaign.”
Ramadan apologized for having questioned the motivation of Jake Sticka (COL ’13), who was also listed as a Steward, for supporting Appelbaum’s campaign.
“I do not believe Jack’s — or anyone else’s — involvement in a private organization affects his ability to lead GUSA,” Ramadan wrote in a statement. “I regret questioning Jake’s motives for supporting Jack’s campaign; both have proven themselves able leaders at Georgetown and, like all Georgetown students, are entitled to their own opinions, not least of all during this GUSA campaign season.”
Appelbaum declined to comment on Ramadan’s statement.
According to Tisa, neither he nor Ramadan realized the extent of the similarity between Ramadan and Appelbaum’s memberships.
“We had a discussion today — I didn’t really realize the scope of what was going on,” Tisa said. “Once parallels emerged, we talked about it and tried to come clean with it.”
Ramadan emphasized that his society membership has not influenced his GUSA platform or campaign.
“I apologize for the nature of the secrecy behind it, but the issues are ultimately what matters. I don’t want this to be a distraction from what our campaign has done so far,” Ramadan said.
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