In their first session of the spring semester, the GUSA senate reflected on their fall semester and discussed areas for possible reform moving forward. Speaker Eliza Lafferty (COL ’21) and Vice Speaker Patrick Walsh (SFS ’21) led a discussion on internal feedback collected from senators about what could be improved. Major issues included the transition…
On Thanksgiving Day, the roads to Gaby Walton’s (COL ’20) home in Malibu, California, were closed. Walton does not normally return home for Thanksgiving due to the distance, however this year, she didn’t have a choice. Her home was safe, but the city around it had burned in the Woolsey wildfire. Every day of November…
The GUSA Senate unanimously passed an Act to Amend the Bylaws to Reform the Election Commission at their Dec. 2 meeting. The act provided for changes to the GUSA election process, including requiring the communication of campaigning dates by the Election Commission 30 days prior to the election and allowing the commission to create platforms for…
The GUSA senate unanimously passed a resolution to support Students Taking Action against Interpersonal Violence (STAIV) in advocating for survivors of sexual assault at their Nov. 18 meeting. The resolution was created as a response to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos’s proposed changes to Title IX policy. The resolution calls on University President John…
The university announced that it would begin offering one semester paid, new parent leave to Full Time Non-tenure Line Faculty members (FTNTL) the afternoon of Nov. 15. This will make the leave policies the same for FTNTL faculty and tenured faculty members. Robert Groves, university provost, sent an email to faculty announcing the new policy….
The GUSA senate unanimously passed a resolution urging Georgetown to create a memorial to the 272 enslaved people sold by the university in 1838 at its Nov. 11 meeting. The resolution also asked all administrators, faculty, and students to read the 2016 report authored by the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation. The resolution…
The GUSA senate unanimously passed resolutions in support of Georgetown’s Jewish community and the extension of paid family leave to full-time, non-tenure-line faculty at their meeting on Nov 4. The first resolution affirmed a GUSA executive statement of solidarity with the university’s Jewish community and supported education surrounding antisemitism in the wake of the shootings…
The GUSA senate unanimously approved a resolution urging the university to revoke the honorary degrees of Cardinals Theodore McCarrick and Donald Wuerl during its Oct. 28 meeting. The resolution concerned the two former archbishops of Washington, D.C., who have been implicated in the clerical sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. Both have resigned from…
Notable increases in reported hate crimes, as well as campus disciplinary referrals for drugs and alcohol, were the main findings in this year’s Annual Security Report. The report, which GUPD publishes in the fall of each academic year, alongside the Annual Fire and Safety Report, gives a comprehensive look at criminal activity on campus. It…
The GUSA senate unanimously passed a resolution supporting GUTS bus driver Larry Calloway during its Oct. 21 meeting. Calloway is known for singing and giving short speeches on his bus rides. These expressions can be religious in nature, and were reported to the Office of Transportation Management as offensive. The office has asked Calloway to…