Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Vote Gives Glimmer of Hope

It is open to debate whether or not this GUSA administration is better equipped to get results than its predecessors. But it clearly thinks it is.

And for the Student Association, that’s an important first step.

That GUSA’s Accountability and Reform constitutional amendment won at the polls last week is in its own right an achievement unmatched in recent history. A parade of similar attempts over the past five years died quickly, either at the hands of the GUSA Assembly or an apathetic student body. But with seeming ease, the administration won unanimous Assembly approval and got 55 percent of students to turn out and vote overwhelmingly in favor of its proposal.

Admittedly, GUSA wasn’t above a bit of political gamesmanship, cleverly coupling the amendment with a non-binding poll on the keg ban unlikely to sway the administration’s opinion.

And yet, for one day last week, campus was buzzing with talk about GUSA not related to election scandal, and students saw an organization with clear goals and a consistent message.

GUSA isn’t out of the woods yet. In less than three weeks, it must successfully pull off an election unprecedented in its scope – 23 separate contests in which students vote in small geographic districts of around 200 members.

This will mean finding interested candidates in every district – which may be complicated in areas of mostly juniors and seniors – and publicizing the elections well enough that students are familiar with the candidates and the issues in time for election day. As Martha Swanson, the director of student programs, has pointed out, geographic voting districts may result in some classes being more represented than others. No election formula can claim to accurately distill the interests of the entire student body into a 35-member cabal.

Organizing the election itself presents significant logistical challenges since new ballots will require students to identify where they live. Their responses will need to be verified and sorted.

The new Senate will pioneer operating procedures but, as has so frequently been the case throughout GUSA’s history, the people will probably matter more than the rules.

It remains to be seen if student interest will again fall victim to personal ambition.

That said, there are signs that GUSA is taking a more pragmatic approach to running its elections than in the past. The amendment also contained new, simplified bylaws for legislative elections that will reduce confusion for candidates and unnecessary disqualifications.

Once the new Senate is seated, its first major test with come in February, when the new Finance and Appropriations Committee appropriates the Student Activities Fee for the following academic year. With six Senators on that committee, GUSA will exercise more power over that process – which entails the distribution of nearly $300,000 each year – than it has since the creation of the GUSA Funding Board in 2001.

The new committee will also give students elected representation in a process where they used to have none, save the GUSA President, who was not closely involved in the process.

Still, Swanson said that because the old funding boards will still be represented on the new committee, the shift may not be as pronounced as expected.

“It shouldn’t change tremendously,” she said.

And it is indeed possible that GUSA itself hasn’t changed all that much, either – particularly when one considers how seriously they’ve taken such cosmetic changes as its new self-proclaimed name and an internally-appointed hierarchy.

But even if the only improvement to GUSA this year is an increase in confidence, that may turn enough heads to finally usher in a campus institution that may previously have seemed impossible – a relevant GUSA.

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