Student Senate passes seven pieces of legislation amidst membership changes during session

BY ERICA MUNISAR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

On Feb. 22, a Student Senate session was held where new senators were appointed. This followed former Presidential Advisor Zayd Hamid’s resignation, all while the Senate moved to pass seven pieces of legislation. The legislation included approval for giveaway items and Mason Student Government, or SG, hosted events such as a Kickback and a GIVE BLACK Summit.

President Paul Wyche, who serves as a non-voting Student Representative on the Board of Visitors, thanked members for attending the BOV meeting earlier in the day. Wyche also shared that a Tuition Town Hall was confirmed for March 21 at 10 a.m in the Hub Ballroom.

Former Student Presidential Advisor Zayd Hamid announced his resignation from Student Government after being in the organization since fall 2021. The full speech can be viewed below.

Hamid spoke to the environment of the chamber. “We cannot as a bipartisan organization… be a cohesive partner to the university if we are not cohesive partners to each other… We are here to serve 40,000 students to our fullest extent across organizational and institutional capacities.”

“I worked tirelessly to rebuild student governance [sic] organizational presence and reputation with student groups, administrators and other campus stakeholders… It has been a great honor to do so for the last two and a half years. And with that, I formally submit my resignation from the Student Government at George Mason University…“ Hamid said.

Sen. Gabriel Curtis was elected as Chair of the Administrative and Financial Affairs Committee uncontested and won with 22 votes in affirmation and three abstentions. Curtis shared that he has plans to contribute to a Town Hall, increase transparency on the fee committee and monitor tuition increases.

Additionally, two new senators, Sophomore Ryan Afshar and Sophomore Jack Gibson were appointed by the chamber.

“I would like to be a part of the Student Government here at George Mason because I’d like to work on a few initiatives. Some of those initiatives I am interested in doing are academic support programs, student wellness activities [and] student advocacy campaigns.” Sen. Afshar said.

“I liked the town hall [and] I would like to have more means to be involved… I want to boost your engagement and [have] an opportunity to get more people to join Student Government.” Sen. Gibson said.

The Senate moved to pass seven pieces of legislation.

B. #46 A Resolution to Support the April 11 Farmer’s Market was passed with 25 votes in the affirmation and one abstention. 

B. #30 A Bill to Amend the Code of Student Government (Fee Committee) was sent back to the Administrative and Financial Affairs Committee after 30 minutes of discussion and debate. The Bill originally intended to “To select a Student Representative on the University Fee Committee from among the members of the Administrative and Financial Affairs Committee.”

In the midst of the legislation period, nine senators left the chamber, leaving 21 senators to vote on legislation.

B. #31 A Bill To Amend The Code of Student Government (Code Bills) was passed with 20 votes in the affirmation and one abstention. “At the beginning of the academic year, the Speaker of the Senate shall identify six (6) General Body meetings as Amendment Meetings… The Speaker may change the time of an Amendment Meeting if this change occurs one month prior to the previously selected time.” The new code said.

B. #32 A Bill to Amend the Code of Student Governance (Undersecretary of Government and Community Relations) was passed with 19 votes in the affirmation and two abstentions. The code shared a job description. “The Undersecretary of Government and Community Relations for Business Relations shall be responsible for representing concerns and interests of the student body to private sector officials in the local Fairfax community, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Washington, D.C area…”

B. #33 A Bill to Amend The Rules of the Student Senate (Volunteer Requirement) was passed with 20 votes in the affirmation and one abstention. The Bill would require all organization members to volunteer one hour a month.

B. #34 A Bill to Allocate Funds for the Presidential Discretionary Fund (GIVE BLACK Summit) was passed with 19 votes in the affirmation and one abstention. The Bill allocated funds for giveaway items such as candy, face masks, moisturizer, hair spray, hair scrunchies, PURE AROMA essential oils, sleeping bonnets and one durag among more.

R. #48 A Resolution to Support the Kickback Spring 2024 was passed with 19 votes in the affirmation and one abstention. “This event allows students to learn about the departments within Student Government and their achievements.”

B. #35 A Bill to Allocate Funds for The Kickback Spring 2024 was passed with 18 votes in the affirmation and one abstention. The Bill includes funding for items such as stickers, Dunkin Donuts, s’mores, and Fujifilm Instax Mini Instant Film Value Packs. 

After legislation, Wyche gave a presentation about his GIVE BLACK initiative.: “The ‘GIVE BLACK’ initiative is a collaborative effort between GMU Student Government and various student organizations representing Black, African-Heritage, and Caribbean communities. Together, we are dedicated to uplifting individuals within these communities and fostering a collective commitment to teach others the importance of giving back, both locally and globally.” The mission statement said.

The session lasted for a total of two hours and 33 minutes, beginning at 4:43 p.m and ending at 7:16 p.m. Of the 30 senators who were present during the session, 19 senators remained and continued to vote on legislation until Wyche’s presentation. Four senators were absent for the session.

RESIGNATION SPEECH: FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR ZAYD HAMID

The full speech of former Presidential Advisor Zayd Hamid’s resignation from Mason Student Government on Feb. 22

BY ZAYD HAMID, CONTRIBUTOR

Members of the Student Senate,

I recall with great frustration that qualms were raised when the last member of LEAD resigned without giving a public statement. Allow me to ensure that no such qualms are raised today as I deliver this final speech as a servant leader and member of the organization’s leadership team.

For the past two and a half years, it has been my great honor to serve within George Mason University’s Student Government. It has been a formative experience for me, a story of great triumph and, yes, great shortcomings and loss. Allow me to, at this time, share with you elements of my journey so that my hard-earned wisdom may be learned from by this organization’s proven leaders and those emerging into leadership roles now. 

Shortly after joining this organization in fall of 2021 as an elected freshman senator, I became this organization’s first-ever outreach liaison. And I carried that distinction with honor, working tirelessly to rebuild student government’s organizational presence and reputation with student groups and administrators. Many of you, particularly our younger senators, are too new to this university to remember the campus environment during the height of the pandemic. To rebuild relationships and, more importantly, build trust is an essential part of your work as senators. To represent students, you must reach them where they are; visiting student groups, yes, but also engaging in gestures as simple as having coffee with a stranger and hearing them out. 

Too often in our work, particularly as it relates to administrator relations and the sheer amount of procedure we find ourselves engrossed in, senators may become vulnerable to losing sight of the average student experience outside of this organization. A hard but necessary line is to walk between student and government; I’ve always said we, as members of student government, should be students to each other and our peers and government to administrators.

We must be agents in shared governance, yes, but we cannot forget that we are students too. We have coursework to finish, classes to attend, jobs and internships to experience and pay our bills through, and, ultimately, a degree to achieve in a timely manner. All these considerations necessitate upon us an organizational norm of grace, empathy, and camaraderie that burgeons to be cultivated. And, yes, that type of culture requires a commitment to being socialized accordingly and developing behaviors that support the perpetuation of those norms. ​

Student Government being students to each other covered, I move to the matter of shared governance. Speaking administratively, we cannot as a bipartisan organization construed with present dynamics effectively be a cohesive partner to the university if we are not cohesive partners with each other. That extends to the relationship between senators internally, yes, but it also manifests as a matter of senatorial relations to the Executive Cabinet both institutionally and interpersonally. And I can speak from experience there, having served as a leader of both branches. 

And I could choose to continue this speech by enumerating the accomplishments of that leadership; co-planning Mason Lobbies for three years, facilitating passage of over two dozen courses and two curricular framework changes as student representative on the organizing two tuition town halls, creating a formal mentorship program, etc. But I will not spend any more time on that. Instead, I will use the remainder of my time to impart the wisdom I have learned in these two and a half years of servant leadership. 

Accomplishment is derived from merit. To be in the meeting rooms you want to be in requires the continual, steadfast accumulation of merit in the eyes of changemakers. It is not enough to simply demand representation; you must strive to make the benefits of student representation so self-evident that it cannot be denied. And that is done through the skillful art of strategic diplomacy; know when you must be the carrot and know when you must be the stick. Know when you must work with administration and with the system and know when you must work with students and without the system. And, most of all, know this: you can learn from everyone, but you must be selective and cautious with whom you choose to be guided by. Keep your head clear and your resolve strong and the rest will come. 

We are here to serve 40,000 students to our fullest extent across organizational and institutional capacities. It has been an honor to do so for the last two-and-a-half years. And, with that, I formally submit my resignation from the Student Government of George Mason University effective at the end of today’s Cabinet.