Officials relaunch course audit program after pandemic pause

IANNE SALVOSA NEWS EDITOR

Alumni and community members can further their education at GW this fall after officials opened registration for the revival of the Course Audit Program last week.

Alumni and residents of Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon may register for a select list of over 300 in-person courses, spanning from Biology of Cancer to Space Law, on a not-for-credit basis and discounted rate. Officials previously allowed alumni and campus neighbors to audit courses prior to the pandemic but placed the program on hold in March 2020 after campus shut down due to the spread of COVID-19.

“GW is proud to offer a variety of educational opportunities to foster a community of lifelong learners,” the course audit website states.

Prospective course auditors must be an alumnus, a Foggy Bottom resident in the 20037 or 20006 zip codes who is at least 60 years old or a resident in the area surrounding the Mount Vernon campus who is at least 60 years old, according to the course audit website.

The course audit website states that auditors must pay $100 per course and associated fees for labs, music and art courses. Alumni must purchase

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Milken researcher links childhood lead exposure to future criminal behavior

ANNA ZELL REPORTER

Lead exposure in utero and during childhood can lead to an increased risk of criminal behavior in adulthood, according to a Milken Institute School of Public Health study released earlier this month.

children have lead poisoning and that countries with a heightened risk of lead exposure, like India and Mexico, have fewer regulations or enforcement for products containing lead compared to the U.S.

worked incredibly hard to have our bylaws approved so that we could move forward.”

Kim Fulmer, the vice president of the Staff Council and a member of the council’s organizing committee, said in April that former interim University President Mark Wrighton tasked Minor to help a 10-person organizing committee establish the Staff Council. Prior to the Wrighton administration, staff members attempted to establish a staff governing body but were unsuccessful due to a lack of support from former University Presidents Steven Knapp and Thomas LeBlanc.

School representatives on the Staff Council said they joined the governing body to amplify staff concerns like staff recognition from administrators.

Tara Davis, the representative for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the director of research operations and finance for the SMHS, said the Staff Council is necessary in order to help give the staff a voice in making change at the University.

She said that as GW continues to grow, more “administrative infrastructure” is necessary to ensure staff are represented in University-wide decisions.

Officials formed a shared governance task force in 2022 consisting of trustees, executive-level staff and faculty to improve a GWorld alumni card for $10, which allows access into campus buildings and the GW Libraries available to them when they were a student, and community members must purchase a Friends of GW GWorld card for $15, which allows access into campus buildings, Gelman or Eckles libraries, the Vern Express and brunch at Pelham Commons. trust between administrators and the rest of the GW community, which did not include staff members ranked lower than administration level.

GW courses cost $2,080 per credit hour for part-time undergraduate students, ringing in at $6,240 for a three-credit course — $6,140 more than the audited cost.

Officials suspended campus access to Friends of GW cardholders at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 and reactivated access in January but did not reinstate the Course Audit Program alongside other community benefits like access to Gelman and Eckles libraries.

Officials said in January that they want to ensure that campus neighbors receive benefits for living near a “prestigious” University.

Alumni under 60 years old could audit courses at $125 per course while alumni at least 60 years old paid $65 to audit courses in the 2009-10 academic year, which enrolled 216 course auditors. Course auditors said in 2010 that they continued their education at GW post-graduation to keep improving their writing skills and “reinvent” themselves.

The Presidential Search Committee that selected University President Ellen Granberg consisted of five faculty, eight trustees, a trustee emerita, former Student Association President Christian Zidouemba, former Alumni Association President Will Alexander and Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Caroline Laguerre-Brown. The committee did not include nonadministration staff members.

“There’s so many times, especially in the academic environment, [where] of course students are recognized, faculty are recognized, but sometimes staff members, we feel like we’re left out sometimes,” Davis said. “We just want to make sure that everyone, all issues are addressed, and there are professional opportunities and the workplace concerns are addressed.”

Shawn Bayrd, the representative for the School of Nursing and the College of Professional Studies and a program associate at the Office of Community Engagement for the School of Nursing, said the Staff Council is an “exciting” platform through which staff can help shape the operations of the school.

The study — led by Milken graduate student and environmental health doctoral candidate Maria Jose Talayero Schettino — reviewed previous research that correlated lead exposure to increased crime and determined childhood lead exposure is linked to an uptick in criminal behavior. Talayero Schettino said policies to regulate products containing lead, like ceramic pottery, are vital in middleincome countries where lead exposure is more common, like Mexico and India.

Children, especially those under age six, are most vulnerable to lead exposure because they absorb lead more easily compared to adults since their nervous systems are still developing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Average lead blood levels have decreased by more than 80 percent in the United States since the 1970s due to regulations on the presence of lead in water and paint like the Lead Contamination Control Act, according to the CDC.

Talayero Schettino said lead is most often found in clay or ceramic pottery used to store food and drinks in middle-income countries. She said in Mexico, where she was born, 20 percent of

“Even though countries such as the U.S. have very strong policies to prevent lead exposure, in low- and middle-income countries, we’re not doing enough,” Talayero Schettino said. “So we need to go to the sources. We need to really pay attention to this problem and start implementing political action so that we’re not getting exposed to this.” She said lead exposure can have neurological effects, like a lower IQ and attention and behavior disorders, as well as negative health effects like cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and reproductive problems. Talayero Schettino said behavioral disorders caused by lead exposure are associated with violence and aggression, which may result in criminal behavior.

Talayero Schettino said other researchers have determined a correlation between lead exposure and violent behavior at the population level — like research where city-wide crime dropped after officials banned lead from gasoline — but her study is the first to examine the relationship among individuals with lead exposure using previous research. She said individual-level examination allows for less biased results because the study accounts for external factors like socioeconomic status and geographical location.