Four more candidates have entered the race for the Student Association’s two top posts Thursday, all underscoring their lack of experience in the organization as key components of their campaign.
Five men are now contesting for the highest spot – only one with a history in the SA Senate. As of Wednesday, just one student is seeking the executive vice president spot – a position that saw five competitors last spring.
Ashwin Narla, a member of last summer’s Colonial Cabinet, announced Thursday that he will bid for the SA’s highest position. As president, the junior said he would focus on maximizing student space in Foggy Bottom, echoing platforms of nearly every other candidate to date.
He said he wants to make better use of existing campus space, such as academic buildings after hours and outdoor areas that some students avoid because of smokers’ presence, like Gelman Library’s patio. Narla proposes late-night access to more University buildings and designated smoking zones on campus to free up “clean air” space.
Will Thompson
If elected, Narla also said he would prioritize a campus-wide calendar for all events. Unlike past candidates, Narla said his team would jump start their efforts of compiling the calendar over the summer, seeking help from student organizations and University departments with successful calendars to identify a feasible, effective approach.
“You can’t sit on your butt and expect things to happen. I would go to the departments that have this and start talking about how we can get this,” the candidate said, adding that the GW School of Business and the Multicultural Student Services Center could serve as models.
The junior is a member of Sigma Chi, the same fraternity as SA President John Richardson, and has served as an Alternative Breaks participant and leader. If elected, Narla would become the third consecutive Sigma Chi to hold the presidential title, but he brushed off this comparison, saying he does not define himself as a candidate by his fraternity membership.
Jeremy Iloulian, chair of the International Affairs Society, also announced his run for the SA presidency Thursday, with a platform based on student organizations’ needs. The junior said he would aim for speedier reimbursement of student groups’ out-of-pocket expenses and more formalized communication between departments whose functions overlap, such as the student-event coordinators in the Center for Student Engagement, Office of Greek Life, Sodexo Dining Services and the Student Association.
Ashwin Narla
“[The departments] all have something in common. Everything is interconnected,” Iloulian said, emphasizing the need for staff across the University to work together and clarify procedures like funding processes for student organizations.
Managing a student group with more than 300 members, Iloulian said he is constantly interacting with the SA to coordinate programming and funding requests. “I’m at the advantage where I understand how it works, but I’m not part of it, so I can take a step back and look at it and see all the parts, and see what’s wrong with it,” Iloulian said.
If elected, Iloulian said he would fight for more student feedback in the ongoing overhaul of career services, explaining that input is crucial during the project’s earlier stages. Focus groups kicked off the career services review last spring, but Iloulian pointed out that there are still opportunities for students to impact major decisions.
He said he would make sure that the new career center calls for a greater recruiting presence from major companies and organizations. Iloulian also thinks undergraduates would benefit from updated lists of University and national research grants.
Jeremy Iloulian
Junior Benjamin Pincus made his bid for president public Feb. 7, seeking signatures in the Marvin Center. If elected, Pincus said he would “call attention to the lack of transparency” within the SA, particularly within the funding process.
As president, Pincus said he would improve the SA’s abilities as the “broker” between the University funds and student organizations. As a member of the Fourteenth Grade Players’ executive board, Pincus said he has many ideas for how to streamline the annual allocations process.
“I understand that the SA has constraints in its own budget and that not every activity can be funded equally, but that does not mean detailed explanations for allocations cannot be provided,” Pincus said.
The candidate said that although his platform is focused on internal SA policies, he would not “shun” ideas brought to him by members of his cabinet or senators about the larger campus issues.
The junior explained that although he is one of four students claiming to represent “outsider interests,” his candidacy does not center on his lack of SA experience.
“I’m not running because I’m an SA outsider,” he said, explaining that he decided to run because “someone has to step in and try to make a change for student organizations.”
John Bennett
If elected, Pincus said he would work to swiftly adapt to the role, pointing out that all students going into the position before him – whether or not they had experience — faced a tough transition.
“While I’m aware of the fact that I’m not as well-networked within the school as most, I believe that once you get the job title, you have to work at it and meet the right people,” Pincus said.
Junior Ben Leighton announced Thursday his campaign to seek the executive vice president position.
Leighton said his experience as chair of the Student Dining Board and member of the Marvin Center Governing Board has prepared him to fight for student space. If elected, Leighton said he would give student voices a microphone for the fifth floor renovation project while recognizing the governing board’s more direct role in day-to-day planning.
“I would give [the Marvin Center Governing Board] the lead,” Leighton said. He explained that the SA needs to play “a supporting role, helping to provide the necessary student input” rather than taking over the project because of the wide range of issues the SA needs to address.
Leighton is in his second year as chair of the organization, which helped plan and oversee massive changes to J Street over the last year.
Benjamin Pincus
“My team and I were able to transform the dining facilities and increase satisfaction 11 percent. That’s a big one-year increase,” Leighton said, citing the results of a Sodexo-sponsored survey last fall.
One role of the executive vice president is official leader of the senate, and Leighton said he would move past this year’s SA leader-senator tension by emphasizing the role each senator plays in making broad strides.
“I don’t believe in saying, ‘This is exactly how you should do it.’ I believe in saying, ‘This is our end game, this is what we want to see,’ ” Leighton said, adding that he would give senators day-to-day flexibility in their personal goals.
Candidates can register until Feb. 10, and elections will be held Feb. 22 and 23.
Sarah Ferris contributed to this report
Except Ashwin is majoring in Criminal Justice…I’m pretty sure Chernak told Jon Stewart that was what stupid people took at GW. Like, I honestly don’t know what’s worse, criminal justice or the business school.
I’m curious what this has to do with his campaign, platform and ideas? Maybe rethink your argument and debate strategy, and then repost?
It means he is stupid
GW Student, you are such an intellectual!
I know what’s worse, a CI member or any one who runs for the SA
Majored in CJ and ended up getting into every top 15 law school I applied to and took a full ride at my first choice. Didn’t know I was supposed to be one of the “stupid people” all along!
Interesting that Iloulian “interacts with the SA constantly” but I’ve never seen him or heard his name mentioned. Ever.
I second you on that, SA Member.
Haven’t seen him around, either…
Same!
Obviously, if the SA is such a bureaucratic hindrance, surely Iloulian’s avoidance and operations within the functioning borders of direct contact between his organizations and the administration is efficient and strategic, not a flaw in any part in his platform or school-wide presence. That’s exactly his point; going through SA is such a hassle for someone as active in orgs that it almost behooves of them to avoid them whenever necessary, though the SA could obviously serve great purpose. He has interacted with them to the greatest of his ability without damaging the great progress he has been seeking in his organizations, specifically International Affairs Society, which has grown spectacularly under his leadership. I think this is better explained through his video, so haters, watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXokUVRZH4E&feature=youtu.be
That video is so pretentious, even by SA standards…
I’ve heard from several people that Iloulian was almost ousted as IAS chair. I was also told (by the same group of people) Iloulian has been hiding membership dues to avoid going through the SAC. This should be checked into…
False!!
Well, there was one member who tried to oust jeremy, but he is no longer apart of that organization. Or any organization for that matter.
Where did you dump his body?
Obviously you’re hearing from a group of people who have a problem with Jeremy, because I’ve never heard any of this and I’m extremely active in IAS. I’ve yet to meet anyone dissatisfied with how Jeremy runs the IAS.
You’ve never heard of anyone dissatisfied because that whole organization makes sure to get rid of anyone who is. The IAS is just an organization run by people who want to be sucked up to.
You want a really interesting story? Look into how Jeremy became IAS President. 15 minutes before the election 30 ZBT boys paid dues and became members, allowing them to vote. They then outnumbered the members who showed up on a regular basis to events. This action was so outlandish, the outgoing E-Board changed the rules as their last action to ensure that it could never happen again. With actions like this, outside of the E-Board, the IAS has lost nearly all its members who are upperclassmen, due to the shear corruption that pervades the institution.
There is your attack ad on Jeremy
I’m in ZBT with Jeremy Iloulian and know that he gets that student organizations truly are what make this university great. We have had enough SA candidates talking about the same old issues. I’m glad that we have someone in the race advocating for what really matters.
Spoken like a true campaign manager (Josh=Josh Brown) who is also an IAS board member. Get a life…
You want Josh to get a life? Your name is bragging that you are on the SA Finance Committee. You spent hundreds of your parents dollars so you could win a resume line and pretend you had real influence in the school. At least Josh’s masturbatory exercises in the IAS can pretend they are teaching students something, rather than being pure BS Resume-ing
People, Josh isn’t even the candidate. There’s no need to stoop there. And as a member of IAS and someone who has learned more from Josh and Jeremy than from classes, the hostility is not accurate, necessary, or appreciated, unless you, too, have made the same efforts to learn from them and failed for those reasons (doubtful).
Spoken like a true Finance Committee member who works under Bennett…
There is good reason why the SA has been talking about the same issues over and over, because they cannot change anything. It doesn’t matter how great any of these candidates are, the SA is an incompetent institution that quite frankly needs some form of military coup for a year to just ram through fixes to make it valid, and see if they can get the trains to run on time
Spoken like a true ZBT smuck
And your branch of Greek Inc. is any better?
Hey Sigma Chi 4 Life, I have some advice for you: Don’t bring the yiddish unless you know it. What you meant to say was this “Spoken like a true ZBT schmuck.” You have to get the “ch” sound in there to be truly a Jew. I have a boot on my head and even I know that.
Also, you are all putzes. Vote Bennett.
regardless if I supported bennett or not, many of the candidates, not to mention the current president, are involved in greek life. how does that damage their platform, again? are we really going to judge the candidates based upon their perceived personality flaws or benefits by being involved in greek life? if anything, that adds dynamism to their platform and student opinion base. as a non-greek, i couldn’t give any less of a care as to whether the SA president is in one frat or another, or not greek at all
The SA is entirely bunk. It’s an organization that is set up to favor GW’s wealthiest students over and over again. The article states straight up that the last presidents have all been from the same frat, the one before that a sorority, and the one before that everyone made a BIG deal that he was unaffiliated. How many hundreds of dollars does someone need to drop to be in Greek Inc.? From my ‘limited’ knowledge its minimum $200 a semester, times 2 semesters a year, times 3 years before all the Juniors run for SA = $600 investment minimum to get a locked in voting base.
Now add in the fact that the campaign can run $1,000 if candidates follow the rules. As a student who relies heavily on scholarship money to even attend this school, it is outrageous that it is functionally mandatory to spend over a semester’s worth of food to have any influence in how the school is run.
Beyond that, really what has the SA done? They nearly pissed themselves with joy for knocking down printing costs by $.02. That means students will save a whopping $1.00 if they print off a 50 page paper. This victory is negligible. And in the meantime, they have allowed the school to gut any areas on campus that had a semblance of community feeling to them, like the entire fifth floor of the Marvin Center. If the SA has no influence in these situations, then really what purpose do they serve? Occasionally reminding the school to tone down their digging into student’s pockets?
So really, the system is broken, which (spoiler alert) is why everyone always campaigns as being an outsider from it. If everyone trying to run the system wants to have no real connections to it, because it’s bad press or whatever, isn’t it at least slightly likely that the whole thing needs to be rebuilt?
stop talking.
Why? If there are flaws in my logic say so, otherwise everything I say stands.
Yes the system is broken and does support the wealthy, but I fail to see what that has to do with greek life. A few hundred in dues per semester surely pale to the $50,000 in tuition that many kids families can easily pay…
@Deez
Do you understand how scholarship money works? Students who cannot afford to throw away a couple hundred dollars get money from the school to not pay 50k.
As a graduate in 2008, majoring in Criminal Justice, and currently a practicing Attorney in Miami-Dade, Florida, I find your knock on Ashwin for majoring in Criminal Justice downright foolish. Thanks. On a side note, after APES was disbanded, the rest of the herb fraternities took over. APES.
Morgan
Dishonestly, I like completely agree with your comment about criminal justice majors and think you should pursue a career in persuasive writing.
That’s a response to comment #1 not #7.
Where are all the women? I would have hoped some GW women would run.
WORD.
(no women want to job, i suppose. i don’t.)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO THE PRESS:
Yes, I am running for President. Surprise, Surprise that another Sigma Chi is running for President.
My campaign slogan will be just like JR’s…so instead of JR for GW, it will be Ashwin for GW! Just like the last two Sigma Chi’s who were SA presidents, I will not being doing anything at all to help the school, mostly will just use my win (yes I am calling it now) to help Sigma Chi’s image at the school.
As for my strategy for endorsement, I will be promising the same thing JR did, better on-campus recruitment and everything else that he made to get endorsements from all the student groups that are part of the Jason Lifton machine.
Anyways, thank you Hatchet for announcing my candidacy and I hope to be working with you all soon once I win.
Ashwin Narla
From the office of the Press Secretary for Ashwin for GW!
Cool story bro. Apparently you have no idea who Ashwin is.
Press Secretary,
How about we make this election about Ashwin as a person? Who cares what fraternity he is in? Who cares if someone is a Beta, Pike, Sigma Chi, Phi Psi, ZBT, etc. At the end of the day, Ashwin shouldn’t be defined by the fraternity he is in. He should be defined by his ideas.
Personally, I’d vote for any candidate regardless of their greek affiliation, even if I didn’t like that fraternity. If the candidate had good ideas and I thought he would do a good job, that’s good enough for me.
To Greek:
We can make the election about the person, however my candidate is running basically on the same platform that Jason and JR ran on, meaning we are the same type of candidate, just different in age. (oh and Ashwin is a smart or else he would not have been handpicked to run ;-) )
To Broseph:
I won’t waste my breath on someone who currently works for the campaign. I will see you at the planning meeting later this week.
Press Secretary for ASHWIN FOR GW!!
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!!
To Press Secretary: Let’s assume your comments about Ashwin are true, which they aren’t. How would Sigma Chi’s image be bettered by a president that fails to accomplish anything? For me, that would taint the organization’s image and do the exact opposite.
Look at Press Secretary, basking in his own glory, trying to pop jokes using his cunning wit and linguistic skills. Get a life.
I love Ashwin. He’s a good guy, but the two SA presidents from Sigma Chi haven’t done what they said they would do. We need a change up in the SA. He’s not an outsider, if he’s the same as the other 2 candidates. Let’s get a real outsider.
Based on your argument, we shouldn’t choose a candidate who is a student, a member of the GW community, or of the same gender. Just because they all have something in common, does not mean that the commonality is the cause of their failures. That is a false argument.
One could say that Nicole Capp, formerly of Phi Sig Sig, and Julie Bindleglass, of Chi O, accomplished “nothing” during their terms as SA President.. based on these “observations” Jason Lifton and John Richardson were just as accomplished. However, Nicole’s administration convinced Safeway to accept GWorld and also brought the GW Reads program back into existence, just as JR and Ted’s SA have this past year. Julie triumphed the cause of the Marvin Center for student use only, while her EVP, Lifton, was able to consolidate and reconcile several inconsistent bylaws that proved the SA to be inefficient under the Aswani/Boyer term. Lifton, was a champion of SJS reform, working with Tara Pereira, to create a more transparent and more contextual repercussions of students’ convictions. This past year, JR, like Capp, reintroduced GW Reads back onto campus and promoted an issue advocacy program among current SA Senators.
Whether you feel that the past SA presidents have failed at their jobs and fallen back from their promises is little more than just that, your opinion. Look at what these individuals have accomplished in their short time in office. When you get down to the basis of it all, why does no one question the actual administration itself? The SA is a student lobbying committee, that’s all. GW administrators can listen to them if they want, but at the end of the day make the final decisions. Student fees? If parents aren’t complaining and enrollment rates aren’t falling, why bother changing them?
It takes years for a university who has abysmal alumni retention rates to raise funds outside of its endowments, so why do you expect that Gelman would be renovated within the four years that you attended.. the 5-year plan is more like a 20-year plan these days. It’s not like its more beneficial for students, but the past few administrations have worked their hardest to see that the issue is at least discussed in BoTrustee meetings.
The same thing occurs with student dining. Why would GW opt out of a contract with Sodexho and provide a more student oriented meal system like American and Georgetown, when they can charge dollars per ounce of food and make a profit.
When you go into this year’s election cycle, think on this…
It’s not the group and affiliations that make a man/woman, but the thoughts, words and deeds they express that they are to be evaluated on. Whether it be Ashwin, Jeremy or some other SA inside/outsider, know that no one of these candidates can deliver on the entirety of their promises. Whether you choose to believe it or not, the student body may vote for SA candidates, and said candidates may lobby for the rights and needs of their constituency, but in the end, the University has all right to do as it pleases.
In the end, the SA really is a joke for those who want to take a crack at “politics” and spend their own money or maybe add some poofy leadership position to their resume in hopes of getting a hill job or a subpar analyst position at Goldman or KPMG. My advice, even though most of you won’t take it… DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE WITH YOUR COLLEGE CAREER and STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE SA!
kthxbye
If GW students put in half the energy to the role that they put into campaigning for it, then GW would be a much better place.
After spending time in the SA, I can say without hesitation that campaigning is the most work that any SA member does outside of the President and the EVP. In order to succeed, you need a Pres/EVP that will actively motivate other student leaders to get in the game. Hasn’t happened this year or any other year that I’ve been here.
That being said, in order to be an effective SA President (a la Lifton), you need experience with the org and need a baseline of relationships with admins. John Bennett is the only person in the race that has that and is the only one with even a decent chance of being able to deliver any effective progress for students.
I’m a member of Capital Funk and I support Jeremy Illoulian!
Why should any of us care what you think?
So we have a bunch of tools running as “outsiders” at GW. Nothing new here!
I’m a member of PLSA, GWU Paintball and GW Democrats and I support Jeremy Illoulian!
You are unwilling to put up your name, but expect people to care who you are supporting in this meaningless election?
I’m a brother of ZBT and I support Jeremy Illoulian!
Wow, he’s getting support from people in his own Frat…. he must be popular
I’m a GW Republican who has been on Alt Break and I support Jeremy for President! Bi-partisan support!
D. Tom Gadsden: great troll or greatest troll?
I just call it as I see it. A is A. The SA is incompetent, these guys are all saying the same BS. They cannot make any real change, but spend thousands to fight for the right to do so.
Is it trolling to mock how ludicrous the system is?
I’m a member of Satyam, the Hindu Awareness Org, and I support Jeremy Illoulian!
Ooooo you are helping highlight the diversity of the people who like to announce their unimportant endorsing of Jeremy… WHY DO WE CARE?¿
Honestly, all I want is the Buff & Blue Block Party, something that actually brings everyone at GW together
Honestly, all I want is the buff & blue block party, something that actually brings people together
Note to SA Candidates, bring the buff and blue block party!
Fun question… why has Jeremy bussed in people to comment on this article to ‘show’ his ‘widespread’ support? All of those comments could quite easily just be Josh changing his name each time, and if not then why are these minions so excited to announce who they are supporting for a meaningless position of a meaningless body?
I really, really can not believe people care this much about a position that means nothing. NOTHING, except to bolster egos. Wait, you all are looking for jobs with the university after you graduate? Oh, then go right ahead.
Sorry hatchet people, can you delete this comment up here, I accidentally posted it as a response to these guys instead of at the bottom of the page. Thanks.
I’m with you man. SA sux
Delete this comment please. Thank you