Amending the SA

I know amending the SA doesn't sound nearly as exciting as abolishing it, but hey, this looks like it's actually going to happen.

Student Association Senators Nick Polk, Michael Komo, Michelle Tanney, and Sen.-elect Jamie Baker will soon be introducing a new SA constitution. The principle aim of which is to make the SA less bureacratic. While the Hatchet reports that it will be unveiled on Tuesday, the language of the press release indicates that the new constitution will be presented sometime between 9:30 PM and 12:00 AM this coming Sunday.

Full release below:

The time has come for institutional change in the Student Association.

We believe it is imperative that a substantial reform occur for the benefit of all students at The George Washington University, who have consistently demanded a strong legislative body and proactive executive to represent the interests of students on issues both academic and student life oriented.

Thus, we worked tirelessly to introduce a plan that will ostensibly overhaul the way the Student Association governs and functions. This plan will be unveiled Sunday, April 19 at a time no earlier than 9:30 pm.

By introducing a new constitution (and subsequent bylaws), we seek to make changes both broad and sweeping. These changes we believe are important, necessary and crucial. In an effort to cut down bureaucracy, red tape and to fundamentally improve the way Senate meetings are run, we are proud to introduce these changes not only to our colleagues, but to the student body at-large.

We believe that it was important to bridge the gap between the current Senate and Senate-Elect as a way to continuously look toward the future of the organization, focusing on the betterment of the current system in place. We would like to take this opportunity to thank SA President Vishal Aswani, for his cooperation in this matter.
We look forward to working with you upon introduction of these documents, and answering your questions at that time.

Law Professor's Editorial is Misguided

Monday's Hatchet featured an editorial by GW law professor John Banzhaf, who commented on a story that the Hatchet posted about students trying to change GW's non discrimination policy.

Both the editorial and the original story featured errors about the transgender community as a whole, as well as GW's non-discrimination policy.

The Objective

Trans Education and Advocacy(TEA), a committee of Allied in Pride, is spearheading an initiative to amend GW's non-discrimination policy, not the Student Code of Conduct. TEA is seeking to amend the GW's Non-Discrimination Policy to add "gender identity or expression" to the list of protected classes. Statistically transgender students face more harassment then their peers, and this simple change would protect transgender students discrimination and harassment. For example, this year one transgender student faced harassment, but was not able to take substantial action on the issue since GW's non-discrimination policy did not include gender identity or expression.

Basic Grammar
Transgender, not transgendered is the correct usage. As the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Guide points out:

Only verbs can be transformed into participles by adding "-ed" to the end of the word, and transgender is an adjective, not a verb.

Terminology
In the editorial, Professor Banzhaf asked:

Since discrimination based upon "sexual identity" is already prohibited, why is there a need to add new language to protect against discrimination based upon "gender or identity expression"?

There is a difference between sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. GLAADs media guide can clear up any confusion:

Gender Identity

One's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or a boy or girl.) For transgender people, their birth-assigned sex and their own internal sense of gender identity do not match.

Gender Expression

External manifestation of one's gender identity, usually expressed through "masculine," "feminine" or gender variant behavior, clothing, haircut, voice or body characteristics. Typically, transgender people seek to make their gender expression match their gender identity, rather than their birth-assigned sex.

Sexual Orientation

Describes an individual's enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attraction to another person. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Transgender people may be heterosexual, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. For example, a man who becomes a woman and is attracted to other women would be identified as a lesbian.

Restrooms
Professor Banzhaf also expresses concern over the fact that perverts and degenerates might take advantage of the policy.

In reality, hundreds of universities have implemented this policy and this has never been a problem. Ever.

Over 260 universities have added gender identity or expression to their non-discrimination policies, including American University and Georgetown. TEA is currently lobbying the GW Faculty Senate to support this proposal, so that the amendment can be reviewed by President Knapp and the Board of Trustees.

Full Disclosure: I am the former president of Allied in Pride, GW's largest LGBT organization.

April 16: Buy Yourself Some Shoes, Simultaneously Help Poor Children

That's right, this Thursday, you can buy yourself a new pair of shoes and end up helping a young child half a world away. All you have to do is stop by the GW Students for Sustainability table in University Yard where you can get a pair of TOMS shoes (for approximately $40.00), and TOMS will donate a pair to go to children around the world who are unable to afford shoes. This event is being held on April 16 because it is the One Day Without Shoes. Few people know that there are countless children (and adults) around the world catching infectious diseases because they cannot afford to buy shoes. So be sure to drop by U Yard this Thursday between 11AM and 4PM and replace your torn-up pair of shoes with a brand new pair of TOMS (which you can design and decorate yourself) and help those in need at the same time.

You can also purchase other merchandise sold by GW Students for Sustainability, including necklaces, bracelets, and belts for only a few dollars. Students for Sustainability, which defines itself as a "social business," purchases these products from rural Guatemalan communities and re-invests all of the proceeds to expand and give micro-loans to small scale entrepreneurs all over the world trying to start their own businesses. If you are interested in joining their cause, you can get in touch with them through here.

Two Years Later - The Virginia Tech Tragedy

This Thursday, April 16th, marks the two year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech University. On that Thursday morning, graduate student Seung-Hui Cho gunned down 32 individuals and wounded many more in what was the deadliest single gunman massacre in United States history.

Two years following the tragedy, many victim's families are still learning to cope with their loss. A recent AP article, picked up by The Washington Times, reported

"Two years later, victim's families and survivors are still trying ot make sense of what happened. Classes will be canceled on the anniversary Thursday, and events will include an open house at the peace center, a candlelight vigil and a memorial ceremony."

On the GW campus, the SA is hosting its own candlelight vigil on the 16th at 8 p.m. in Kogan Plaza. Names of victims will be read and GW community members will be invited to light memorial candles in rememberence. Also, anyone present at the event who wishes to say a few words will be welcomed to do so.

Dept. of Waning Patience

When will the SA Student Court release its opinion detailing the exact rationale behind the decision in Boyer v. JEC?

Who knows.

This is certainly by no means a hot topic anymore, at least in most quarters, but I was looking forward to reading an opinion that had the potential to lay to rest much of the ambiguity surrounding SA elections, standards for future candidates, courts, and JECs, and many other things. Oh well. It's bound to come eventually.

Smithsonian Selects African-American History Museum Building Design

As Lucy mentioned a few days ago, the selection committee representing the Smithsonian has been considering design proposals from a handful of architects for the planned Museum of African-American History, which will be sited near the Washington Monument on the Mall. Yesterday morning, they announced their unanimous choice: the two-tiered, trapezoidal structure proposed by David Adjaye of Freelon Adjaye Bond.

I think this was the best choice, given that each of the other designs were evocative of, in no particular order:

• What you'd get if you made a six-year-old drop acid and the asked them to design a spaceship.
  
• An architect aiming for "long, storied, rich history" and instead ending up with "nightmarish futuristic dystopia"
• Hirshhorn redux
• As the Washington Post so delicately noted, "great glass and concrete buttocks."
• I.M. Pei really meant to get to designing this sooner, he really did, it's just he had this thing, and then he was really tired, and he had to do the whole thing start to finish yesterday at 1 AM.

More thorough coverage here and here, and video of the press conference here.

The Hatchet Needs an Ombudsman!

In a 2006 staff editorial, The Hatchet called for the creation of a George Washington University ombudsman to act as a liaison between the students and the school in order to better streamline the way students navigate the GW bureaucracy.

However, given recent criticisms of the way The Hatchet decides what is newsworthy on campus, the claim being that it favors coverage pushed by the University rather than what matters to readers (aka students), maybe the school's "independent" paper should take a look at the three fingers pointing back at them when they accuse the school of not catering to students' needs (not to say that GW as a whole does a good job of that, by any means, but that's another debate).

It isn't a new idea. GW Alum Arron Connelly proposed the idea of having a Hatchet Ombudsman or Public Editor in a 2005 editorial.

The time has come to stop talking and take action. Join the facebook group, and sign the petition today. To get more involved, email HatchetNeedsOmbudsman@gmail.com.

For those of you unfamiliar with what an ombudsman is, here is a wonderfully succinct definition from Wikipedia:

An ombudsman...is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some external constituency while representing the broad scope of constituent interests.

The position is used by government and private entities for several purposes, chiefly representing the interests of those who the body serves to the internal mechanisms of the entity. However, most Americans have encountered the word on the pages of America's most prominent newspapers.

The New York Times calls the position it's Public Editor. The Washington Post has - gasp - an Ombudsman. It is their job to listen to reader imput, to take it to the editorial board, and write a column explaining how things will change at the paper based on reader input, or explaining why things will stay the same.

The ombudsman is a vital position that gives those papers of record greater accountability to its readers.

It's time for The Hatchet to hold itself accountable to the people who consume their product.

Join the Facebook group and sign the petition! Send a message to The Hatchet that it needs an ombudsman so that readers have a say in what content the paper produces.

For more information on how to get involved, email HatchetNeedsOmbudsman@gmail.com.