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Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 6:37 p.m.

Neighbors, students remember local activist and alumnus

by The GW Hatchet
jack batham memorial

Friends and family of GW alumnus Jack Batham were greeted with a photograph of the late neighborhood activist as they entered the memorial service held in his honor at Hotel Lombardy Saturday afternoon. Sierra Schwartz | Hatchet photographer

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Frankie Kane.

Members of the community gathered Saturday to remember Jack Batham, an alumnus and longtime neighborhood activist in Foggy Bottom and West End. Batham, 89, died in early November.

Every seat was filled at the memorial service at the Hotel Lombardy, with many standing to honor “grandpa Jack.”

Until his death, Batham served as president of the West End Citizens Association, a local neighborhood group, and worked with the Foggy Bottom Feeding Program Foundation, a charity focused on food distribution.

Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans recalled Batham as a constant force in advocating for city improvements.

“Jack’s got to be up there, sitting down saying, ‘Lord, I’ve got an idea for you,’” Evans said, joking.

Sara Maddux, the West End Citizens Association’s current president, described Batham’s strong commitment to improving the city and the life of locals.

“He was always concerned about somebody, calling to see how they are,” Maddux said.

Batham was initiated into Sigma Chi in 1945 and graduated from GW in 1948, former Student Association president and Sigma Chi member Jason Lifton said.

Junior and Sigma Chi member Rhys Seiffe said Batham was “a truly noble soul,” who once returned to a grocery store because he forgot to say hello to a woman there who baked him muffins weekly.

Batham is survived by his three nephews. His oldest nephew, Joseph Brantley IV, said his family unsuccessfully tried to convince Batham to move down to Louisiana, near their home.

“We really never understood why he resisted until we came up here right after he passed away and started delving into what he was involved in” Brantley said.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2011 1:35 p.m.

SA Senate confirms Richardson cabinet

by Sarah Ferris

Senate members, from left, Josh Goldstein, CCAS-U, John Bennett, At Large-U, and Gary Wong, CCAS-G, vote to confirm candidates for President-elect John Richardson's cabinets. Francis Rivera | Assistant Photo Editor

The Student Association Senate-elect approved all 13 of John Richardson’s cabinet nominees Monday night.

Twelve of the president-elect’s cabinet members were approved unanimously, with the vice president for community affairs receiving only one nay.

Senator Manny Iglesias, ESIA-U, refused to vote for Miles Selib as vice president for community affairs because he wasn’t confident in the freshman’s ability to stand up to the Advisory Neighborhood Committee. Selib said he would bring in established student organizations to fight for student interests.

Nupur Moondra, the vice president for financial affairs, will be the only returning cabinet member. Moondra was purposefully kept on, Richardson said, because of the changes to the allocations process. Richardson said he needed someone with experience to guide his cabinet through the process.

Three candidates who could not attend the meeting were also confirmed.

After a failed attempt to postpone the vote to hear from the nominees in person, the senate confirmed Regina Orlando, Rohan Batra, and Anthony Bellmon as vice presidents of public affairs, academic affairs, and undergraduate student policy respectively.

Junior Aria Varasteh, the newly confirmed vice president for student activities, was on the executive board for three student organizations and said his priority is to make sure the SA is strongly advocating for student groups.

Tom Fogarty, a fourth year student in the GW Medical School, will be the vice president for graduate student policy.

Matthew Gripp, another graduate student, was confirmed as the vice president for judicial and legislative affairs. As a graduate of law school, Gripp said he will make sure the senate complies with SA bylaws and charter.

The senate also confirmed the following cabinet members at Monday’s meeting:

Directors

Andrew Goldstein

Representatives to the Joint Committee of Faculty and Students

Dylan Pyne – chair

Kevin Dore

Sam Horowitz

Sen. Gary Wong

Sen. Corey Greaver

SA Representative to the Marvin Center Governing  Board

Aaron Kanarek

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Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 3:29 p.m.

Lifton signs open letter condemning noise ordinance

by Jamie Blynn

Student Association President Jason Lifton signed an open letter to D.C.’s top officials this week, expressing concern over the District’s new noise ordinance that gives police officers the power to jail or fine students being “unreasonably loud” in residential neighborhoods.

The letter, addressed to Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, Acting Attorney General Irvin Nathan and Police Chief Cathy Lanier, asked for a “clarification” of the law’s reach. Students have taken issue with the wording of the ordinance.

“We are in pressing need of further clarification in order to properly disseminate information to our students about the impact it will have on their daily lives. There does not seem to be a specific level of sound deemed ‘unreasonably loud’ or a hard and fast test able to be implemented by police at the scene,” the letter reads.

The ordinance makes it illegal for any person to make an unreasonably loud noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. that is likely to disturb neighbors, but does not explain how police will judge “unreasonably loud” noises.

Lifton signed on after the Student Association Senate voted to condemn the ordinance Feb. 8.

Student leaders from the University of the District of Columbia, American, Catholic, Georgetown  and Howard universities also signed the letter sponsored by DC Student Alliance.

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Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 3:13 p.m.

JEC drops suit against Student Association

by Jamie Blynn

The Joint Elections Committee dropped its lawsuit against Student Association President Jason Lifton, JEC Chair Galen Petruso said Wednesday afternoon.

Last week, the JEC – the independent body that oversees the SA, Program Board, Class Council and Marvin Center Governing Board elections – filed suit against Lifton for signing the charter, which they said was contradictory and unenforceable.

On Tuesday, the SA held a special meeting to amend the charter, allowing JEC members to file violations against election candidates and banning unsolicited campaign communications – two issues that had been at the center of the controversy.

With new changes, the JEC has decided to drop the suit, Petruso said.

“The JEC is pleased with the amendments passed by the SA as it provides us with the necessary tools to conduct fair and transparent elections,” he said.

Lifton noted that he was pleased that the Senate was able to resolve the charter’s issues.

“I’m glad to see that the senate was able to fix the issues that were present in the charter so that the matter could be resolved without having to go to court,” Lifton said.

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Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 11:34 a.m.

Student Association amends JEC charter

by Jamie Blynn

The Student Association Senate amended the Joint Elections Committee charter Tuesday night allowing JEC members to file violations against election candidates and banning unsolicited campaign communications, two issues causing controversy for the Senate.

Last Wednesday, the JEC – the independent body that oversees the SA, Program Board, Class Council and Marvin Center Governing Board elections – filed suit against SA President Jason Lifton for signing the charter, which they said was contradictory and unenforceable.

The following day, Program Board Chair Wesley Callahan sent an e-mail denouncing the charter, disagreeing with the JEC’s inability to file election violations and the provision that all unsolicited electronic campaign material may only be sent by candidates themselves, charging that it would result in unnecessary spam in students’ inboxes.

At the meeting – a special session called by Lifton – the Senate focused solely on amending the charter so that all four organizations could accept it and not risk delaying the election.

After much debate and examination of the rules of quorum, the Senate granted the JEC the ability to file violations against election candidates in a 15-2 vote, with Sens. John Bennett, ESIA-U, and Cory Grever, SoB-U, abstaining. Sens. Charlie Rybak, U-At Large, and Dylan Pyne, CCAS-U, objected to the amendment.

“It’s about making it easier for people who don’t care,” Lifton said. “By signing up to be a candidate you are accepting a higher burden.  At the end of the day, follow the rules and you will not get violations.”

If the Senate did not pass the amendment changes Program Board requested, the charter would be taken to the Student Court for approval, Lifton said.

“I think we got our point across to the JEC that we are displeased with the way [they have filed violations] in the past,” Rules Committee Chair and newly-announced executive vice president candidate Amanda Galonek, CCAS-U said.  “They understand where we were coming from.”

The Senate also approved the amendment prohibiting unsolicited e-mail communications in a 15-2 vote.  Candidates are now allowed to send e-mails over listservs of organizations they belong to, but will not be allowed to send e-mails to personal e-mail addresses.

“The point of this is just not to annoy people,” Lifton said.

The Student Association elections will be held March 9 and 10.

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Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 3:35 p.m.

Lifton calls special Student Association meeting

by Jamie Blynn

The Student Association Senate will hold a special meeting Tuesday night to amend SA election rules, which came under fire in the last week when members of the body that oversee the student elections called the rule book contradictory and unenforceable.

Last Wednesday, the Joint Elections Committee – the independent body that oversees SA, Program Board, Class Council and Marvin Center Governing Board elections – filed suit against SA President Jason Lifton for signing the JEC charter, which they argued was contradictory and hampered their ability to enforce election rules.

One day later, Program Board Chair Wesley Callahan circulated an e-mail denouncing the charter, citing several factors including not allowing JEC members to file election violations and a change stipulating all unsolicited electronic campaign material may only be sent by the candidates themselves.

In calling the special Senate meeting, Lifton said the agenda would be limited to discussing the charter, and that an amendments package would be sent out beforehand.

“There is currently a fair amount of disagreement in a handful of the points raised in the charter that the Senate passed last week,” Lifton said. “It is vital that the charter be agreed upon for the election process to continue successfully.”

The Senate first approved the JEC’s charter Dec. 7 and amended it Feb. 3 to effectively strip the JEC of some of its powers.

Student Activities Center Director and JEC adviser Tim Miller addressed the Senate last week instructing them to amend the charter to fit the provisions requested by the JEC, but the senators did not. Miller then sent an e-mail to SA and Program Board leaders Sunday night saying he would force the JEC to delay the election if the charter is not fixed this week.

The Senate will meet in room 301 in the Marvin Center at 9:30 p.m.

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Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011 9:47 p.m.

Program Board chair denounces JEC charter in e-mail

by Jamie Blynn

The head of Program Board has come out against the Joint Elections Committee charter, a document currently at the center of a lawsuit the JEC has filed against Student Association President Jason Lifton.

Program Board Chair Wesley Callahan circulated an e-mail Thursday night to various student leaders stating that his organization disapproves of certain changes made to the charter – which lays out the ground rules for SA, Program Board, Class Council and Marvin Center Governing Board elections – at the SA Senate meeting Feb. 2.

In the e-mail, Callahan said Program Board objects to the amendment stipulating that JEC officers may not file campaign violations against candidates, a change from previous years.

“[I]it effectively takes the teeth away from the JEC, and reduces the probability that a candidate who violates the election rules will be caught,” Callahan said. “This will result in more violations, and more going unnoticed. The end effect is that more candidates will break the rules, which will only continue to muddy the reputation of the orginizations and positions involved.”

Callahan also objected to the change stating that unsolicited electronic communications promoting a candidate’s campaign may only be sent from that candidate’s personal account, as opposed to authorized agents on behalf of the candidate.

“Changes to this rules [sic] will result in the spamming of student and administration e-mail address [sic],” he said. “This will result in hundreds of necessary [sic] e-mails filling the inbox’s [sic] of students, who do not need to received [sic] campaign updates for a CCAS senator.”

In the e-mail, Callahan urged the JEC to remove both sections. Any changes to the JEC charter must be made by the SA Senate and signed by the SA president.

After the JEC filed suit against Lifton last night – alleging he signed the contradictory and unenforceable charter into law – SA Sen. Ted Costigan, CCAS-U, circulated an e-mail to his fellow senators this afternoon, asking them to support Lifton in pleading no contest and arguing that “dealing with internal court cases lawsuit is not in the best interest of any students.”

“Doing this will end this lawsuit and stop this whole unnecessary issue,” Costigan said. “[Lifton] is uncomfortable doing this without the consent of the Senate given that the bill was passed by our body.”

Costigan requested that any senators with objections to a no contest plea contact him within 24 hours so he can advise Lifton of the Senate’s opinion.

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Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 11:19 p.m.

JEC files suit against Student Association president

by Jamie Blynn

Updated 12:45 a.m.

The Joint Elections Committee filed a lawsuit against Student Association President Jason Lifton, alleging that he signed a contradictory and unenforceable election rule charter into law.

The Senate approved the JEC’s charter Dec. 7 – the document that lays out the ground rules for SA elections. However, the charter stripped the JEC – the body that oversees the SA elections for fairness – of their power to file campaign violations against candidates.

The lawsuit – filed with the Student Court late Wednesday night – says this provision is problematic because the JEC members are the only people allowed to see candidate expenditures, and are unable file a violation when a candidate exceeds the spending limit. The JEC is filing suit to strike the parts of the provisions that do not allow the investigative staff of the JEC to file complaints.

On Feb. 1, Chief JEC Investigator Willard Applefeld informed the SA Senate of the charter’s inconsistencies. The Senate voted not to change the JEC’s charter, noting that in the past the JEC has overstepped its boundaries.

The following week, Student Acitivies Center Director and adviser to the committee Tim Miller addressed the Senate reiterating the inconsistencies, yet the Senate refused to budge.

Candidate registration begins Monday and, according to the JEC, “it needs to be determined by then whether or not the investigative staff will be allowed to file complaints.”

In a statement Wednesday night, Lifton said he had not yet been sent the complaint and is unsure of what the JEC’s grounds for filing are.

“Ultimately this is a bill that has been passed out of the Rules Committee, and the senators on that committee have deemed it constitutional,” Lifton said.

JEC Chair Galen Petruso reiterated in a statement that the charter prevents the JEC from properly investigating and enforcing campaign rules.

“It is the duty of the JEC to preserve the integrity of elections and to ensure that they are fair and free from corruption.” Petruso said. “Because President Lifton and the SA passed through this new charter even after ignoring our legitimate grievances and concerns, we felt the only option we had left was to initiate judicial proceedings against the SA in order to rectify these unconstitutional actions by the SA.”

Student Court Chief Judge Jen Goldstein did not immediately return request for comment.

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Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 12:57 a.m.

Student Judicial Services director talks reforms at SA meeting

by Jamie Blynn

Assistant Dean of Students and Student Judicial Services Director Tara Pereira said the University is taking steps to reconstruct SJS at the Student Association Senate meeting Tuesday night.

A student found with one gram of marijuana in their room should not be punished in the same way a student convicted of sexual assault would be–a much harsher crime in the University’s eyes, Pereira said.

“If students admit to it and recognize that they made a bad decision, do they need a judicial record?” Pereira said. “After their rooms have been searched and telling their parents, we have already driven home the same message that we want you to leave with. We want students to learn from their actions, not be overly punished.”

Pereira acknowledged SJS has had issues with transparency, saying they have been working on being more open about the context of their decisions.

“[It] seems like we’re doing shady things that we are not doing,” Pereira said.

Pereira said the University is creating alternative punishments for “college-like behavior.”

“Having a party in your room with underage drinkers should not block you from holding a leadership position on campus,” she said.

About 80 percent of college students chose to make alcohol apart of their college experience, Pereira said, adding that she understands that an alcohol abstinence campaign in ineffective.

“Underage drinking is illegal, however a majority of you still decide to make the choice to drink. Despite knowing the ramifications, if you choose to consume alcohol, we want you to do it safely.  Do no put yourself or friends in difficult situations,” she said.

SA President Jason Lifton and Executive Vice President Rob Maxim have been working with Pereira since the summer, and both credited her with helping to transform SJS policy.

“It’s amazing seeing her take over SJS and craft it in such a way.  She has a full vision and a way to implement everything,” Maxim said. “I’ve never seen an administrator in an administrative office so responsive to individual student feedback.”

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Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 11:33 a.m.

Mike Bloomberg to be Commencement speaker

by Lauren French

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg will be the University-wide Commencement speaker this May.

Bloomberg, an independent, was named by Forbes magazine the 10th richest person in the United States in 2010. Besides his role as mayor, Bloomberg is noted for his extensive philanthropy. Through the Bloomberg Family Foundation, he donated or pledged almost $700 million to charities before 2007, according to the Chronicle of Education.

He has served as mayor of New York City for the last nine years.

The announcement was made by University President Steven Knapp during the GW Global Forum in New York City Friday.

“Michael Bloomberg has an extraordinary record of achievement as a public servant, philanthropist and business leader,” Knapp said in a statement. “He is also an inspiring speaker, and we are honored that he has accepted our invitation to address the class of 2011.”

Mayor Bloomberg will speak to about 25,000 graduates and guests and receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service on May 15.

“I think that his success in business and politics will really speak to GW students,” Jason Lifton, Student Association President said. “We’re excited to have him here.”

First lady Michelle Obama was the Commencement speaker for the Class of 2010′s ceremony. She stressed public service in her address to graduates. Previous Commencement speakers also include Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama; former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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