On Tuesday, October 22, the Student Bar Association (SBA) Senate voted on and passed the Fundraising Act of 2024.
Ad Hoc Bill 1: Kathryn Chavez was voted on and passed in the last meeting but was vetoed by President Cherissa Lindsay.
Kathryn Chavez requested $500 for a $1,900 fashion law event in New York City. President Lindsay vetoed this bill after meeting with Dean of Students Jason Belk. Dean Belk reportedly acknowledged that the Dean of Students Office would not be happy to fund a student’s trip who could already contribute $1,500 of their own money to attend such an event. One major factor in this decision was that this funding would benefit only one student. Dean Belk also reportedly told President Lindsay that approving such a bill could make it more difficult for the SBA to receive a $10,000 grant from the Professional Development Fund.
Many Senators spoke up about how this student attending this fashion law event could bring other fashion law opportunities to the school. Sen. Omer Turkomer (2L-Jackson), the Senate Finance Committee Chair, supported the veto, noting that the SBA should not want to risk not getting funding from the Professional Development Fund. The Senate eventually approved the President’s veto.
Ad Hoc Bill 2: Tanya Agarwal & Saksham Sabarwa was voted on and passed in the last meeting. There was no issue brought up for this meeting.
Two students at the law school, Agarwal and Sabarwa, want to attend an international law event in New York City, which would cost $650 for the two students to attend. They requested $500. While discussion of this Bill was on the agenda, there was not much debate.
SBA is encouraging students to fill out the Food Security Program survey. This program could help GW Law students potentially qualify for SNAP benefits.
The Lawloween budget was approved by the Finance Department and will cost roughly $20,000. As of an hour before the meeting, the SBA raised approximately $19,000 from ticket sales. As of now, there are only two sober monitors, but officially, the event needs 12. Some Senators asked whether the tickets could be free for the sober monitors as an incentive for volunteering.
A lack of free or reduced price event tickets sparked a conversation about the Dean of Students, since there were numerous issues with the need-based tickets for this past spring’s Barrister’s Ball. Some individuals were unhappy with who got the need-based tickets and who didn’t, leading to numerous angry emails sent to Dean Belk, the Dean of Students, and the SBA overall.
However, it is interesting that the Dean of Students is more or less punishing some students (especially 1Ls and new LLM students) for issues that they were not a part of.
