Student Government Senator Ethan Fitzgerald (CCAS-U) announced his candidacy for SGA president on Sunday.
If elected, Fitzgerald, a sophomore majoring in political science and organizational science, would further extend the hours of the Lerner Health and Wellness Center and reduce the cost of the university's contraceptive vending machines. He said he would work to expand medical resources for students by continuing to subsidize the low cost of $5. $15. He also said he intends to continue efforts to add voting students to the board, despite the board denying SGA's request in November.
He said he had “preliminary” discussions with Dean of Students Colette Coleman and board members to discuss the logistics of adding voting students to the board, but did not discuss which board members. declined to comment. Fitzgerald also proposed a bill last month that would add a question to this year's SGA ballot asking students if they would like the board to include the SGA president and vice president as voting members.
“Electing a president who is focused on that will demonstrate to the board that this is an issue that students generally care about,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald, who co-chaired the first Mental Health General Assembly, will renew the general meeting next year so that SGA can continue to work with Student Health Center staff to increase mental health resources for students on campus. He said it was planned. . He said the Legislature this year partnered with Counseling and Psychological Services to join Timely Care, a telehealth provider that provides students with nine hours of free therapy per academic year. Prior to the rollout of TimelyCare, GW offered full-time students unlimited free visits to AcademicLiveCare, a telehealth provider that offers counseling, urgent care, therapy and psychiatric appointments.
He has built relationships with university administrators, including Laura Finkelstein, Shelley Leung, Kelly Bishop, and Sen. Elise Greenfield, who believe his efforts are possible. He said he is already talking to campus officials to confirm this. He said relationships with the administration are essential to increasing student interest as students “endorse” many initiatives.
“I have a connection to government,” Fitzgerald said. “I think if you want to get things done, you first have to know what the students want, and you also have to know where you can work with administration to make sure things work effectively. ”
Fitzgerald said he will use his resources as president to consult with relevant student organizations and their respective offices to foster year-round collaboration. He said he has seen it difficult for the Muslim Student Association to organize iftar dinners during Ramadan due to this semester's “late funding,” but he said he has not discussed this with administrators in advance. He said the situation could have been alleviated if the situation had been better. Earlier this month, SGA partnered with GW Dining to promote pre-packaged suhoor meals for students during Ramadan.
“We should have sat down with the Muslim Student Association and GW Dining and other campus resources earlier this year to ensure that this issue did not occur and that we were not making last-minute plans,” Fitzgerald said. Ta. .
Fitzgerald also said that members of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention GW and Active Minds GW, a student organization that combats mental health stigma, should meet with SHC leadership to foster more collaborative communication between the organizations. He said he thought so. Current SGA President Ariel Geismar used SGA's connections with the administration last year to launch a campaign advocating for more mental health counselors to improve the physical and mental health of students on campus. In response to student feedback, CAPS hired a clinician specializing in LGBTQ+ student concerns in September.
He said he met with leaders of GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equality, GW Panhellenic Association, GW University Democrats, and GW University Republicans to review his platform as president and see if they felt represented. Ta. According to his LinkedIn, Mr. Fitzgerald is affiliated with the GW College Democrats and serves as vice president of the chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a newly formed Jewish fraternity.
Professor Fitzgerald said he would work to reform the university's academic advising system, recommending that the office be converted to a peer-to-peer advising system, and recommending that senior students take into account what they have learned through their experience in the major and He said he would be able to give advice to students. He said he contacted the Office of Study Abroad in late January to find out how the advising process would work, and pitched the idea to his advisor at Columbia College of Arts and Sciences in late February.
Provost Chris Bracey said at a Faculty Senate meeting in March that the university is considering investing in its academic advising program, and that GW is looking to make academic advising “more robust” and “less transactional.” said it determined it was necessary to reduce the ratio of advisors to students. ”
“First of all, we’re looking to see if there are already steps in the first and second strategy to do this. Given that we already have this framework in place, we’re looking at ways to implement this going forward. Given these concerns from students about how this can be implemented,” Fitzgerald said.
SGA Vice President Demetrius Apostolis campaigned last year to create a program in which graduate students serve as academic advisors to undergraduate students.
Fitzgerald said he has a “good understanding” of working with student organizations, having served as president of the Somers Hall Residence Hall Association last year and director of operations this year.
Fitzgerald, a native of San Diego, Calif., said he wasn't sure if GW was the right fit for him, but he was running for president because he was able to find people who made him feel at home. He said that as a Jewish student, he was able to find a community that was not as strong at home and was able to become comfortable with his sexuality, which was not the case at home.
“GW really gave me a home and a community, and I want everyone to feel that same sense of home and community,” Fitzgerald said.
Candidate registration for the SGA election closes on Tuesday. Mr. Fitzgerald will need to collect at least 379 signatures from students, which will be verified by the Joint Elections Committee before officially appearing on the ballot. The commission will hold elections on April 11th and 12th.
