In January, dozens of new members joined D.C.’s local government, including two Georgetown sophomores who were sworn into Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2E, which represents the Georgetown, Burleith, and Hillandale neighborhoods.
D.C.’s 46 ANCs are non-partisan, independent bodies that present a forum for neighborhood conversation and serve as an intermediary between residential communities and city government.
The Voice spoke with both newly-elected commissioners who will be representing Georgetown and its students for the next two years: Knox Graham (SFS ’27) and Peter Sloniewsky (CAS ’27).
Knox Graham (SFS ’27)
Graham, a native of Springdale, Arkansas, has made a point of getting involved in the community since coming to Georgetown. He serves as the Vice President of Georgetown’s Undergraduate Federalist Society; Director of Political Affairs for GU College Republicans; and Clerk, or membership manager, of the Philonomosian Society.
Graham decided to run for commissioner at the encouragement of his friend and predecessor, Joe Massaua (SFS ’25), who served on ANC 2E with fellow Hoya John DiPierri (SFS ’25) from 2023 to 2025.
“[Massaua] had a tremendous experience working with the ANC. He expressed to me that it was an opportunity to do a lot of good, and I’ve discovered that it is,” Graham said.
Graham’s passion for government, specifically local government, is what ultimately convinced him to run for commissioner.
“I care about the opportunity to represent students before the rest of the neighborhood,” Graham said. “I figured, ‘You know what? I’ve got nothing else really to do on my schedule Monday nights this coming semester.’ So I figured I’d run, and then I did, and then I won.”
ANC 2E meets on the first Monday of every month.
Despite being sworn in only one month ago, Graham is already actively working on several projects. Like his predecessors, he is fighting to “Save the Trestle”—an old trolley path that runs along Canal Road from 37th and Prospect Street to the Palisades Playground that some community members hope will become part of a larger multi-use walking and biking trail.
Another of Graham’s priorities is establishing another access point for users of Capital Bikeshare, an app that allows students to rent bikes for short periods of time. He highlighted the importance of increasing the availability of a variety of affordable transportation options in a neighborhood with increasingly limited access to public transportation.
“Hopefully we’re going to get a couple more Bikeshare access points around the Georgetown neighborhood so that there will be a little more accessibility to it,” Graham said. “It really is hugely beneficial, especially in a neighborhood where we’ve just cut the Circulator.”
As construction of Henley Hall, a new student dormitory, draws to a close, Graham is looking forward to working with Georgetown University’s administration on any projects or redevelopments that are next on the university’s list.
“If they [Georgetown administration] move ahead with redeveloping other residential projects, I’m hopeful that—and I anticipate that—they will be really receptive to what Peter and I and other members of GUSA, or just other students in general, might have to say about what students might want,” Graham said.
As both a commissioner and a Georgetown student, Graham hopes to encourage students to become vested members of the community rather than just short-term residents.
“In the past, they’ve seen students as less formal members of our community,” Graham said of many Georgetown residents. “I think that now it’s a much better, more cooperative relationship and more collaborative relationship.”
Graham also spoke on the importance of broader student involvement with local organizations, including the ANC, to continue fostering community involvement. Graham cited neighborhood controversies like the potential closing of Call Your Mother as reasons for students to pay attention to and be vocal about issues of local governance.
“You want a life that has vitality and that has a lot of color to it in your neighborhood? That can’t happen unless your interests and your needs are respected by the residents who do make up the actual local governance here,” Graham said. “If you care about those sorts of things, and if you care about the quality of life in your neighborhood, you absolutely should get involved in stuff like the ANC.”
Peter Sloniewsky (CAS ’27)
Sloniewsky, a Long Island native, is also engaged in the Georgetown community: he’s a member of the Philonomosian Society, on the club rugby team, and the general manager of the Hoya.
Like Graham, Sloniewsky cited Massaua as one of the primary influences in his decision to run for office.
“[Massaua] tried to sell it to me as this opportunity to serve the Georgetown community, serve the neighbors. And you know, to be honest with you, it was a really good resume item,” Sloniewsky said.
But Sloniewsky ultimately decided to run to give back to the local community.
“After a few months of consideration, the opportunity to serve my community and to explore the balance between personal and community priorities was my reason to run,” Sloniewsky wrote in a later email to the Voice.
Sloniewsky added that running for ANC also gave him the rare chance to work closely with the university’s administration.
“I think what convinced me is this thought of the opportunity to work with administration, from the perspective of the neighbors, for the benefit of the students,” Sloniewsky said. “I really wanted to seize the opportunity that it presents to be able to articulate student concerns directly to administration through the Georgetown community partnership.”
As a commissioner, Sloniewsky is hopeful about working with Georgetown’s administration on several campus-related projects, like health code concerns at the Corp and other university dining locations, he said.
In discussing how commissioners can reach students to understand their concerns and perspectives, Sloniewsky highlighted his and Graham’s partnership with several members of GUSA.
“The other side of it is establishing a little bit more of a precedent to work directly with the GUSA executives,” Slowiensky said. “We’ve been really trying to loop them in as much as possible, keep them on the same page, and work on as unified of a platform as we can.”
Sloniewsky said that the new commissioners are collaborating with GUSA president Ethan Henshaw (CAS ’26) on revisions to the university’s Student Neighborhood Assistance Program (SNAP), a service designed to foster safety for students by responding to neighborhood residents’ quality of life concerns.
“I know Ethan is set on working on SNAP’s policy, and while Knox and I are less than encouraged by the possibility of really moving the administration on the necessity of the authority of SNAP, we’re definitely looking to come to the table and discuss what its future looks like,” Sloniewsky said.
It’s issues like these that reinforce the ANC’s possible impact on the lives of students, according to Sloniewsky.
“I think it’s important for students to stay connected to a body like that,” Sloniewsky said. “Even if it doesn’t feel as directly imposing as the university administration or even the D.C. or federal governments, it’s really the level of government that is most attuned to respond to student and constituent concerns.”
Sloniewsky hopes that serving on ANC will help raise awareness among students about the role of the commission.
“I really do want to make sure that the student body has the opportunity, at least, to hear about what the ANC is doing when it is with respect to them, when it affects their lives. And we’re going to do our best to make sure that that can happen.”
