Every year, students vote on who will represent them in the Student Association – and every year, the editorial board endorses a candidate for president and vice president. The candidates we endorse generally have a lot of relevant experience – not just in student advocacy but lived experience too. They also tend to have big ideas and specific plans to make those ideas a reality.

Before each year’s election, we invite each of the candidates to sit down with the editorial board to discuss their platforms, experiences and thoughts on what issues are most important to the GW community. We use those conversations as a basis for whom we urge students to vote for. We also rely on our collective thoughts as a board, based on our engagement with the policies, issues and current events affecting the GW community throughout the year.

Our endorsements also serve as a point of reference for holding GW’s elected leaders accountable. It is an understatement to say that the SA is experiencing a crisis of confidence right now. Existing misgivings about transparency and efficacy have only been exacerbated by the recent resignation of former SA President Howard Brookins amid sexual misconduct allegations. As the SA works to regain the community’s trust, the platforms and commitments made by the candidates we endorsed will serve as an effective scorecard down the line for assessing whether or not progress happens. That is an assessment we look forward to making.

We do not expect, nor do we hope, that anyone will make their decision solely based on our endorsement. What we do aim to do with our endorsement is the same thing we strive for with every piece our editorial board publishes: to present a cogent argument for readers to consider. We believe the candidates we endorsed have demonstrated the most vision and capability when it comes to making GW a better place for all students, and we hope students will take our stance into account as they figure out how they plan to vote.

The editorial board is composed of Hatchet staff members and operates separately from the newsroom. This year’s endorsements were written by opinions editor Hannah Thacker and contributing opinions editor Andrew Sugrue, based on discussions with managing director Kiran Hoeffner-Shah, managing editor Parth Kotak, sports editor Emily Maise, culture editor Anna Boone and design editor Olivia Columbus, and interviews with the candidates.