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Madeleine Morgenstern

mmorgen@gwmail.gwu.edu
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 4:48 p.m.

SA Senate approves constitution bill

by Madeleine Morgenstern

The Student Association senate approved the new SA constitution bill Tuesday night, and the issue will now be turned over to the student body for a vote.

The senate voted 29-2 in favor of the bill, which included running presidential and executive vice presidential candidates together on the same ticket, increasing the number of student court judges from five to seven, and installing a new speaker of the senate to preside over the legislative body instead of the EVP.

Two amendments were made to the bill during debate, including making the four new freshman assembly committee “liaisons” into full nonvoting freshman senators again, after the bill had originally called for total elimination of freshman senators.

Sen. Josh Goldstein, CCAS-U, proposed the amendment, and said that it was important for freshmen to keep their seat at the senate table.

The other amendment, proposed by Sen. Connor Walsh, U-At Large, chair of the Finance Committee, stipulates that the speaker of the senate will be appointed within the senate, instead of elected by the student body.

Sen. Michael Komo, U-At Large, and a member of the constitution task force, said the task force considered it a “friendly amendment.” Sen. Logan Dobson, CCAS-U, who ultimately voted against the bill, said the speaker should come directly from the students and outside of the SA.

Details about the referendum have not been released, but will require a majority vote by the student body to pass.

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Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 8:32 p.m.

Live Blog: The Student Association senate to vote on a new constitution

by Madeleine Morgenstern

Join us for tonight’s Student Association senate live blog. The SA will be voting on a new draft of their constitution tonight, which The Hatchet reported on Monday.

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Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 6:48 p.m.

Student Association members propose new constitution

by Madeleine Morgenstern

Members of the Student Association released a draft of a new constitution Friday night. If approved, the constitution would make significant changes to all three branches of the SA, including electing the president and executive vice president together on the same ticket.

The executive vice president’s role would also been redefined. According to the draft, an elected speaker of the senate would preside over the legislative body, replacing the EVP. The EVP would have “a specific role within the Executive Branch as a partner in achieving the President’s goals,” according to a press release sent by Senate Rules Chair Jamie Baker, CPS-G.

Baker helps lead the Constitution Task Force, which was formed after a different constitution with some similar changes was killed last April.

The new constitution draft weighs in at just 11 pages, down 50 percent from the 22-page constitution currently in use.

Other major changes include increasing the number of justices on the Student Court from five to seven, and allowing all interested freshman to form a caucus within the SA to “become involved in the university policymaking process,” according to the draft.

In the task force press release, Rules Chair Jamie Baker, CPS-G, called the draft “a much clearer document that will refocus the Student Association on its core mission of advocacy.”

Members of the task force will hold a town hall Wednesday afternoon to discuss more of the proposed changes, and will make appointments to meet with students who have suggestions.

The full senate will meet again Nov. 10.

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Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 12:17 p.m.

SA appoints new communications director

by Madeleine Morgenstern

Junior Matt Ingoglia will be the Student Association’s new communications director, SA President Julie Bindelglass announced at Tuesday night’s Senate meeting.

Bindeglass said Ingoglia has been brought on to help with the SA’s “renewed commitment to communications.” Ingoglia previously served as the communications director for the College Democrats. He resigned in September.

Ingoglia, who also writes for The Hatchet’s opinions section, will be responsible for maintaining the SA’s Web site, Twitter account, and the coming Facebook page, Bindelglass said.

Ingoglia said he was excited and encouraged by the SA’s decision to bring him on.

“I believe it demonstrates an attentiveness to students’ concerns and I look forward to crafting a communications strategy we can all be proud of,” Ingoglia said.

Junior Carly Schildhaus, vice president for public affairs, will keep her “entire portfolio of responsibilities” Bindelglass said, which includes all publicity for the SA.

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Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 4:41 p.m.

Knapp opens Facebook fan page

by Madeleine Morgenstern

University President Steven Knapp now has his own Facebook fan page. The first post is three days old and as of Saturday afternoon, Knapp has 31 fans.

The profile picture shows Knapp posing with Big George at last weekend’s Octoberfest event with both of them holding pumpkins.

Five links have been posted: two press releases from the official GW Web site, one interview with Knapp on YouTube, a post from the GW English Department’s blog about Knapp, and a link to a recent Hatchet photo of Knapp playing the drums at Colonials Invasion.

Part of Knapp’s schedule for the upcoming week is listed under the “Notes” tab. On Friday, October 30 he will be having a “Student Lunch” in J Street at 12:00 p.m.

Five photo albums have also been uploaded. One is titled, “Ruffles, the Knapp family dog!” and the rest are collections of pictures from Knapp’s time at GW over the last two years. Knapp lists his “personal interests” as: “Buff and Blue, Sustainability, Public Service, Colonials, 18th- and 19th-century English literature, Percussion, Sheep Farming, Learning, Research, Affordability of Higher Education.”

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Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009 2:54 p.m.

Student Association to investigate conflict of interest of Student Court judge

by Madeleine Morgenstern

A Student Association investigation has been launched to determine how much members of the executive and senate leadership knew about an alleged violation of the SA Constitution by the Student Court’s chief judge, according to a formal investigation request obtained by The Hatchet.

Executive branch Chief of Staff Dan Curran said in an e-mail to The Hatchet on Tuesday that Student Court Chief Judge Jen Goldstein resigned from her Program Board position “out of an abundance of caution.” Goldstein had been the political affairs chair for PB, and the SA constitution outlaws serving on the court and on the executive board of any other student organization.

“The matter was handled quickly and amicably, and Jen Goldstein remains the Chief Judge of the SA Student Court,” said Curran, a senior.

Senior Jordan Chapman, the SA vice president for judicial and legislative affairs, announced the appointment of junior James Bonneau as a special investigator in the case, in an e-mail sent to SA President Julie Bindelglass and Curran Monday night.

Chapman emphasized that the investigation was not about Goldstein’s conflict of interest.

“It’s apparent that the rules were broken, whether on purpose or inadvertently,” Chapman said. “The request alleges that the leadership basically swept this under the rug, we’re trying to see if this is true.”

Bonneau was a special investigator for the Joint Elections Committee and represented them in last year’s case “Boyer vs. JEC.”

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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 2:50 p.m.

Suspended SA senator files lawsuit to postpone allocations meeting

by Madeleine Morgenstern

On the eve of the initial allocations meeting, Student Association Sen. Anthony Marenna, CCAS-U,  filed a lawsuit in Student Court challenging his senate suspension and demanding that Tuesday night’s allocations meeting be put on hold until the Court could hear his case.

Executive Vice President Jason Lifton and Sen. Erik Ashida, the named defendants, announced Tuesday that they will plead no contest to Marenna’s complaint, and allow Marenna to participate in the allocations meeting in order to ensure that student organizations receive their operating budgets as scheduled.

Marenna –  who was suspended Friday along with Sen. Brandon Feldman, SoB-U, after they missed three consecutive Academic Affairs Committee meetings – alleges that Ashida, CCAS-U, held an unconstitutional committee-elect meeting on April 21, 2009. The complaint also alleges that Ashida failed to give proper three-day notification of another missed meeting.

The complaint included a request for an emergency injunction from the court to prevent Tuesday’s allocations meeting from taking place.

Lifton said he believes that Marenna should remain suspended, but said that one student’s behavior should not keep the entire student body from receiving funding from the SA.

“Delaying allocations is not an option in my mind, so in the interest of every member of the student body, I will not let him hold up allocating money,” Lifton said.

Ashida echoed Lifton’s sentiments, and said he stands by his original decision to suspend Marenna.

“Participation is essential in an advocacy committee like Academic Affairs. In his complaint, he’s not protesting the fact that he was not present at those meetings. He is alleging that I called those meetings improperly,” Ashida said.

Marenna said that he would accept a no contest plea.

“I welcome this opportunity for the senate to move on and to put our full focus on the allocations meeting, which is exactly what the student body deserves,” Marenna said.

The SA allocations meeting is scheduled for tonight at 9 p.m. in the Elliott School’s “State Room” in 1957 E Street.

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