The Student Bar Association Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning the riot at the U.S. Capitol last week during its first meeting of the spring semester Tuesday.
SBA Sen. Jacob Linker and SBA Senate Secretary Yun-Da Tsai co-sponsored a resolution that the body “unequivocally condemns” the attack on the Capitol and recognizes the damage caused to the “integrity” of the U.S. democratic election. The senate also tabled a resolution that would form a committee to investigate GW Law’s grade release policy and call on officials to expedite the length of time for grades to be released.
Tsai said the Capitol riot resolution is largely “symbolic,” but the events at the Capitol intensify the need for the resolution. He said the body is also calling on the support of law school officials in condemning the riot.
“The value here is demonstrating your SBA’s awareness of the events, the threat to some of the fundamental values of our common profession and expression of hopefully universal sentiments of what happened last Wednesday,” Tsai said.
Linker said the purpose of the resolution is for the SBA to formally condemn the riot on the Capitol.
“The first modern democracy faced an onslaught against our traditions as a mad president invoked a riot against the electoral process and the whole world watched in horror,” Linker said.
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SBA President Jackie Fisher said the SBA executive branch condemns the violence and said she will reach out to law school administrators to communicate a GW safety plan in the event of another “attack.”
“I would like to acknowledge the trauma of last week’s event,” Fisher said. “As I said in my newsletter, these were disruptive displays of violence and in particular to members of the Black and Jewish communities here at GW Law.”
Fisher also outlined her goals for the upcoming semester, stating they include assisting students with “getting jobs” and allocating money into an accessible fund for law students for any financial support they may need.
“I think last semester we spent a lot of time dealing with emergencies and constantly putting out fires,” Fisher said. “I want to make sure we are not rejecting our obligation to build a community.”
The senate tabled a resolution, which Linker introduced, that would have an appointed committee investigate a “delayed” timeline that law students have faced when receiving grades. Grades for the law school during the fall semester have “historically” been released “well into” January, according to the resolution.
“This puts the University on notice that we are going to be working on it and we are going to be asking questions, and it tells all of our constituents that we are working,” Linker said.
