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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Appel Exits GUSA Senate, Drops Exec Bid; Gray to Run Alone

Sam Appel (COL ’20) resigned from the Georgetown University Student Association senate and stepped down from his bid for GUSA vice president on a ticket with Nicki Gray (NHS ’20) on Monday evening. Gray plans to continue her run for GUSA president without a running mate.

Gray is permitted to continue her campaign for president alone, according to GUSA Election Commissioner Minji Doh (SFS ’19). If elected, Gray would appoint a vice president once in office.

In GUSA’s electoral records, which span the last 20 years of GUSA’s 35-year history, a solo candidate has never run in a student government presidential race, according to GUSA Historian Henry Westerman (SFS ’21).

After meeting on Monday evening, Gray and Appel reached the conclusion that Appel would remove his name from the ballot and resign from the GUSA senate immediately. At this time, Gray has agreed to keep the reasoning for Appel’s departure private because of a third-party request, according to campaign manager Marc Pitrois (SFS ’20).

AMBER GILLETTE/THE HOYA | Sam Appel (COL ’20) resigned from the GUSA senate and stepped down from the GUSA executive race Monday night. His former running mate, Nicki Gray (NHS ’20), is set to run as a solo candidate for the role of president.

Appel submitted his resignation from the senate at 8:43 p.m. following Monday’s meeting with Gray.

GUSA senate speaker Eliza Lafferty (COL ’21) and vice speaker Patrick Walsh (SFS ’21) accepted Appel’s decision to leave the senate. The pair declined to comment on anything further about Appel’s resignation.

“Senator Appel submitted his request for resignation, and we accepted that request. We will be moving forward with the work of the Senate,” Lafferty and Walsh wrote in a statement to The Hoya.

At 9:42 p.m. Monday, Appel asked to remove his name from the executive ballot in a letter emailed to the election commission, according to Castle. Neither of Appel’s letters disclosed why he chose to exit the race or resign as senator.

Appel confirmed his resignations in a Tuesday morning call with The Hoya, but declined to comment on the reasons behind his exit.

Campaign staffers were notified in an email by Gray at approximately 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning about Appel’s exit from the ticket.

Last night, Sam Appel and I made the choice that he will no longer run for Vice President,” Gray wrote in a staffwide email obtained by The Hoya. Staffers were not made aware of specific reasons behind Appel’s departure from the campaign.

While Gray thanked her team for their efforts, she gave volunteers the opportunity to leave the campaign should she decide to stay in the race.

“Please let me know if you would like to continue receiving emails/supporting me if I do choose to pursue my candidacy as well as if you would prefer to be removed from this campaign team entirely,” Gray wrote. “I understand and will not be offended either way.”

A resignation during the executive election race has not occurred in recent years and thus the election commission bylaws are not explicit on how to proceed, according to GUSA Election Commissioner Grant Castle (SFS ’21). Typically, election rules stipulate that candidates have 72 hours to appear on the ballot once campaigning officially begins, a deadline that expired Monday at midnight.

In this special circumstance, when the election commission — an independent body of undergraduate students who administer all GUSA races — discussed the option for Gray to select a new running mate, she preferred to run alone, Castle said.

Gray announced her intent to run without a running mate on her campaign’s Facebook page Tuesday evening. She is unlikely to send a representative to the upcoming vice presidential debate Thursday, according to Pitrois.

The GUSA senate is expected to fill Appel’s position in the finance and appropriations committee during its next meeting, per GUSA bylaws. Additionally, the bylaws require GUSA President Juan Martinez (SFS ’20) to hold a special election to fill Appel’s senate seat.

Appel’s resignation is one of many GUSA has experienced in recent months. The ex-senator’s departure comes after the Sept. 11 resignations of former GUSA vice president Naba Rahman (SFS ’19) and 10 other executive cabinet members. The resignations, effective Sept. 14, were part of a push to force then-GUSA president Sahil Nair (SFS’19) out of office. Nair resigned later that morning.

GUSA senators demanded those resignations go into effect after an emergency session of the senate was held that night. Rahman and the remaining cabinet members officially resigned Sept. 13. Former senator Chad Gasman (COL ’20) also resigned following the executive resignations.

Earlier this month, Appel introduced a GUSA resolution originating from the work of the GU272 Advocacy Team, a group of students who push for Georgetown’s support of the descendants of the 272 slaves who were sold by the Maryland Society of Jesus in 1838 to financially sustain Georgetown, commonly known as the GU272.

The resolution would call for a referendum in which students can vote on whether to establish a reconciliation contribution, a fee included in student tuition that would collect money for a charitable fund to benefit descendants of the GU272.

Titled the “Act of Referendum to Establish a New GU272 Legacy and Create the Reconciliation Contribution,” the resolution passed the GUSA senate ways and means committee Jan. 23 and awaits a vote in the full senate.

Appel was removed from the GU272 Advocacy Team on Monday night.

In addition to Gray, three other tickets remain in the running for the executive election: Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Aleida Olvera (COL ’20); Sina Nemazi (COL ’21) and Roya Wolfe (SFS ’21); and Ryan Zuccala (MSB ’20) and John Dolan (MSB ’20). The election is set for Feb. 8.

Hoya staff writer Maya Gandhi contributed reporting.

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