The GW
HATCHET
April 13, 2026 Vol. 122
Iss. 25
MATHYLDA DULIAN | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
SGA 2026 Election Guide Candidates center advocacy to counter ‘standard of fear’ in Trump era JENNA LEE
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
For candidates vying for the Student Government Association’s top posts, student concerns over President Donald Trump’s influence on higher education have made navigating shifting federal policies part of the job description. Candidates running for SGA president and vice president said their conversations with students this campaign season have been shaped by student concerns over the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement, crackdown on diversity,
equity and inclusion initiatives and deployment of federal troops in and around GW’s campus. They said those conversations informed platform priorities centered on urging officials to champion DEI initiatives and protect international students from immigration enforcement and federal scrutiny — measures they said reflect what they feel is the core of the SGA’s purpose of centering student interests in its advocacy. The candidates praised the current SGA administration’s efforts to speak out for students through resolutions and statements condemning federal policies throughout the second Trump administration. They pointed to the resolutions calling
on officials to formally ban Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents from campus career events and stand by their DEI commitments and SGA President Ethan Lynne’s statements about the “appalling” crackdown on protesters and international students as evidence that the SGA has taken a stand on political issues that matter to students. The candidates said they want to build on what the current SGA has done by urging University officials to be more vocal about political issues impacting students, like Trump’s increased immigration operations and clampdown on international students, and offer resources to students who may be impacted by Trump’s
SGA hopefuls target student exclusion in University decisions ELIJAH EDWARDS
policies. Trump’s pressures on both higher education and D.C. have dominated campus politics over the last year. Since last January, the administration has launched two Department of Justice inquiries into the University — one for not adequately responding to antisemitism and one for alleged DEI hiring practices — deployed National Guard troops and ICE agents to D.C. to ramp up law enforcement operations and cracked down on student visa policies. These moves have generated fear among students — both that they could face federal scrutiny or legal recourse for their immigration status or for speaking out for diversity initiatives and that
ELIJAH EDWARDS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
As officials cut campus services, raise tuition and slash programs in the name of austerity, Student Government Association presidential candidates say students remain excluded from the decision-making process — a trend they are pledging to reverse. The three candidates running for the SGA’s top post said their goal is for officials to better include students in its shared governance — a collaborative leadership model that shares decision-making authority between community members and administrators — after a year in which officials made sweeping decisions without consulting the community, like raising GW’s cost of attendance to nearly $100,000 and cutting campus services. The candidates want greater collaboration between students and GW’s decision makers, including the Board of Trustees, but differ on how to achieve it, with some pledging to prioritize closer partnership with the Faculty Senate and others calling for a student seat on the Board. Officials in May announced plans to slash the University’s fiscal year 2026
In the spring of 1976, GW students voted to give their student government a second chance. Eight-four point eight percent of students voted in favor of a University-wide referendum re-establishing a constitution for the student government in April 1976, and on May 24, the Board of Trustees ratified the thenStudent Association’s char-
expense budget by 3 percent across the board to combat a yearslong structural deficit. Over the academic year, those cuts have affected nearly every aspect of GW — from officials halving the frequency of Mount Vernon Express shuttles to laying off 43 staff, axing weekend dining hall hours and terminating 24-hour security in some residence halls. Students, faculty and staff have raised concerns that officials made cuts to University operations without consulting them, with officials often denying the changes were budget-related. In response to questions about how officials decide on cuts, University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said last September that officials evaluate “fiscal responsibility” and com-
ter — resurrecting a governing body that students voted to abolish just six years prior. This spring marks 50 years since the revival of student government at GW, a milestone as the current Student Government Association continues to grapple with the same foundational questions that prompted its original abolition: how effective student government at GW is and whether students care enough to sustain it. The road back to the 1976 vote was long and contentious.
munity needs before changing resources like dining, transportation and security. But candidates in this week’s SGA elections said they do not buy that narrative. In interviews with The Hatchet, they said officials cutting student services while simultaneously raising GW’s estimated cost of attendance next academic year to over $98,000 for returning students and instituting a three-year on-campus residency requirement for new students reflects the University’s desire to protect its financial health over providing students the services and experiences they paid for. The students aiming to helm the student body said that needs to change. See xx Page 4
See SGA Page 4
50 years later, SGA reckons with tensions that led to its abolition
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
COLLAGE BY MATHYLDA DULIAN Candidate platforms outlined increasing student involvement in University decision-making as a top priority.
the University is not willing to protect them this federal and legal pressure, candidates said. Liz Stoddard, who is running for SGA president, said the SGA is not an inherently partisan institution, but the body’s mission is to weather issues that are impacting students. Over the last year, that’s increasingly meant responding to issues stemming from Trump’s policies. “While the SGA’s mission might not be partisan or political, it is, at its very nature, an advocacy and representative body,” Stoddard said. “It means it has to advocate for students, no matter what the issue is.”
Hatchet archives of the Student Government Association.
At the height of antiVietnam War protests that tore through campus, 69 percent of students voted in a campus-wide referendum in favor of dissolving GW’s student government — the Student Assembly, which was established in 1909. Then-assembly president Neil Portnow ran for re-election, promising to scrap the organization, concluding that student government at GW had been excluded from decision-making at the University as students felt apathy toward the body.
COLLAGE BY MATHYLDA DULIAN