Since taking office as GUSA president last March, Pat Dowd (SFS ‘09) has handily accomplished what he promised to do in his campaign, creating a Summer Fellows Program, revising Georgetown’s alcohol policy, and starting a take-your-professors-to-lunch program. Whether or not you believe these initiatives were campus priorities, it’s hard to argue with the results. However, Dowd’s tendency to only tackle issues of personal importance, as well as his failure to mend the strained relationship between GUSA and the Student Commission for Unity, have left his GUSA president legacy as something of a mixed bag.
As president of GUSA, Dowd played to his strengths: fundraising and an ability to initiate programs in which he was personally invested. This personal commitment allowed him to work with (and sometimes around) administrators in starting the Summer Fellows Program and in funding a Hindi language program at Georgetown. However, emphasizing these personal projects also caused him to lose focus on issues of greater importance to the campus community. Sadly, it was not until his friend was sexually assaulted that Dowd focused his efforts on improving campus security.
The last few months of Dowd’s term have been marked by a series of internal rifts within the Student Association itself. The Student Commission for Unity decided to sever ties with GUSA last month following the GUSA Senate’s decision to adopt only six of its eight diversity recommendations. Dowd missed an opportunity to mediate a compromise between SCU and the Senate, instead focusing on who would retain intellectual property rights to SCU’s research and on whether a parallel organization could be formed within GUSA following the split.
During the most recent election crisis, in which the Election Commission voted to illegally disqualify two presidential tickets, Dowd acted with a purposeful resolve to swiftly control the situation and act in the best interest of Georgetown students. The election of next year’s GUSA president and vice-president will be largely thanks to the tireless efforts of both the GUSA Senate and Dowd.
The next GUSA president must work with Dowd to navigate a successful transition into office, working with his former rivals to build a team of students who are personally committed to improving Georgetown. Whomever is chosen by the student body should build on the successful programs Dowd has initiated while learning from the former president’s mistakes. Above all, the next president should listen to Georgetown students to prioritize issues that are important to the campus as a whole before pushing through initiatives that are tied to his personal interests.
