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Gender disparities re ect sexist incidents in SGA, female students say

At the end of this year’s term, less than a third of the senators in the Student Government Association were female.

Of the 25 students running for a senate seat in this year’s election, nine identify as women. In contrast, almost 62 percent of students at the University identify as female.

And in the SGA’s 115year lifespan, the first woman was elected president just 25 years ago in 1998. Since then, nine presidents have been women.

Women in the SGA said the organization’s members and the public often doubt their leadership capabilities and question their authority — an experience that dissuades women from joining the body and pushes existing female leaders out.

“Being a queer woman in this position for an entire year, I have felt the full brunt of sexism, which has been extremely difficult,” SGA President Arielle Geismar said.

Geismar said she is questioned, interrupted and patronized on a “daily basis” by some of her male colleagues, who she said assume that they are the best person to speak on a matter, despite her position as the head of the institution.

“The amount of times

I have felt belittled, or spoken over or patronized by men in the senate is embarrassing for them,” Geismar said. She said the standard of excellence for people who aren’t men is “impossible” to achieve, which has trickled down to the SGA. Women in SGA leadership, she said, have to work twice as hard as men, and when factoring in other intersectional identities, the

The following isn’t breaking news, but local news is breaking down.

Since 2005, a third of United States newspapers have shut down. Others have been gutted, losing staff members and resources. Now, even local online publications are being eliminated, with the District’s own DCist becoming the latest victim of this trend in February. Even the Washington Post trimmed its local metro section last fall.

There’s a lot of coverage that gets lost in this shuffling — lo-

GW Police Department

Chief James Tate aimed a Glock 17 at the projection of a man waving a knife. Tate stood with one foot forward, arms grasping the firearm as he spoke sternly to the simulation cast on the wall before him.

“Put the knife down,” Tate barked. “Drop the knife. That’s all I need you to do, is drop the knife.”

The man in the pre-recorded video yelled back, “There’s no talking!” But Tate continued to talk, insisting the man drop the knife until the suspect finally obeyed.

In a dark room in the labyrinthine basement of Rome Hall, which houses GWPD’s campus headquarters, Tate practiced shooting a Glock 17 with a modified laser barrel in front of GW’s virtual training simulator — an approximately $50,000 piece of equipment made by military and police training company VirTra.

Captain Ian Greenlee, one of two officers who run the simulator, said the Glock 17 was modified to feel and

burden can triple or quadruple.

Geismar said the entire SGA must educate men who are patronizing toward female members of the governing body instead of siloing the responsibility to female members.

“It’s not the women who have been impacted by their behavior’s job to educate them,” she said.

cal politics, sports and human interest all dissipate without local papers. But what’s also lost is coverage of local culture, writing about the area’s best food to eat, best areas to visit and best bizarre attractions.

Nothing better exemplified this than the “Best Of” guides, a tradition supposedly invented by the San Francisco Bay Guardian in the 1970s. The issues involved a newspaper or magazine, especially alternative weekly papers notable for their spunky arts and culture coverage, rounding up the very best of everything in a city. In D.C., you can see this in Washingtonian and the City Paper, both

The rumbles of protest and discontent have filled Foggy Bottom since October. The effects of the war in Gaza — clashes over campus free speech, incidents of Islamophobia and antisemitism, and the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine at GWU — have defined campus politics since the war’s outbreak.

Yet these issues have been largely absent from

guides we’d recommend.

With The Hatchet’s annual Best of Northwest guide, we have an exceedingly rare chance to look all around the Northwest quadrant and put to writing everything that makes D.C. and GW, well, D.C. and GW — the museum dates, the illegal lizards and the controversial delis.

My mom, who edited New Haven’s alt-weekly, the New Haven Advocate, in the 1990s and 2000s, told me the week she’d work on the “Best Of” guide was the worst week of her year due to the sheer quantity of pieces she’d have to edit. After weeks of stress-induced dreams about empty Google Docs,

weigh about the same as the firearms seven officers currently carry on campus as part of a plan launched by the Board of Trustees nearly a year ago to arm 22 officers with 9 mm handguns. The first phase of the program — which consisted of the arming of Tate and Captain Gabe Mullinax — concluded in September and the second phase began with the arming of five additional officers in February. GWPD firearm training includes two hours of monthly training with the simulator, a requirement

the department announced last May.

In a walk-through with The Hatchet last week, Tate first calibrated the simulator by firing the training gun at animated targets on the screen, then shot a warmup round, knocking down eight black, human-shaped silhouettes against the backdrop of a 3-D animated field. He then demonstrated the mock scenarios that GWPD officers undergo to train before receiving their firearms.

Student Government Association presidential and vice presidential campaigns this year. Platforms posted online rarely acknowledged the tension, often doing so indirectly. As elections approach, candidates find themselves toeing a line between discussing issues they believe are imperative and evading on-campus controversy.

“I don’t think candidates, in their eyes, want to say ‘the wrong thing,’”

I sympathize with her. But for her, the finished product was something really one of a kind, a collection of fun, well-written articles memorializing everything that mattered in the city that year.

Though, these guides don’t really exist anymore. The Bay Guardian still publishes their Best of the Bay roundup, but just as an online poll of readers, without any writing about that year’s winners. The Advocate shut down years ago, and its successor, the New Haven Independent, has never done such a collection of pieces.

Here at The Hatchet, though, the “Best Of” guide is still alive and well, the culmination of the

Student workers for Jumpstart at GW spent up to five months in D.C. preschool classrooms, helping kids read and prep for kindergarten. But last month, for a handful of student volunteers, their work came to an abrupt end.

GW Jumpstart officials said students who exceeded 300 hours and ran out of Federal Work-Study funds would be involuntarily removed from the education outreach program and barred from working in the public schools for the fi nal two months of the D.C. school year. But some students said they were shocked by their sudden removal from the program, saying that in prior years they could continue to work at Jumpstart even if they passed the 300hour threshold. “For those of us who have put in a certain amount of hours, you get to the point where it’s like, you expect to be in the classroom and you get a lot of fun doing it,” said

said SGA Sen. Dan Saleem (CCAS-U), a presidential candidate.

“But I think if someone is running for president, especially at this point, especially at this time and moment, they need to be ready to confront and address and handle situations like this,” he added.

Three of the six top-ofticket candidates — Saleem, presidential candidate Lauren K. Harris and vice presidential candidate Aly McCormick — agreed to participate in interviews about why campaigns have not proactively discussed campus issues related to the war in Gaza. Presidential candidate Ethan Fitzgerald and vice presidential candidate Ethan Lynne answered questions over email. Presidential candidate Nicky Beruashvili did not return a request for an interview. The candidates offered a variety of reasons for not mentioning the tempestuous subjects, ranging from discomfort in or fear of publicly discussing the war to not wanting to further sow division between students for the purposes of a campaign. Multiple candidates said the arrival of a doxxing truck that displayed the names and faces of students supposedly involved in a pro-Palestinian student coalition spurred trepidation in speaking out.

culture section’s work for the year. Each award recipient is tied to GW, be it a story about a student or based off a pitch from a member of the University.

People say journalism is meant to be the first draft of history. The Hatchet’s culture section — where, rather than covering breaking news, we write about oncampus weddings — might not always achieve that lofty status. But through the Best of Northwest guide, we get to write a manuscript for all that has made living in D.C. and attending GW for the past 12 months remarkable.

Thomas Lane, a sophomore who was forced from the program. “So it really kind of sucks that they’re like, ‘Yeah, you just can’t do it anymore.’”

14 of Jumpstart’s 72 student members have exceeded the 300-hour requirement, according to an April 3 spreadsheet of students’ logged hours obtained by The Hatchet.

In a March 22 meeting with team leaders, led by Jumpstart Senior Site Manager Rochelle Yancey, officials said that if a student had run out

of FWS funding but had not reached their 300-hour

Presidential Candidates

mer SGA President Chris-

Dan Saleem wants to take the front door of the Student Government Association office off its hinges.

If elected president, the SGA senator said he wants to implement an “open-door policy” by removing the front door off the SGA office on the fourth floor of the University Student Center so all students feel welcome to enter at any time of the day and express their concerns about the University.

“Enough with the scheduling of meetings like I am an actual president,” Saleem said. “This is a student government and we have to stay grounded.”

Saleem, the first presidential contender to announce their candidacy, said his family — his mother’s side is from the Caribbean and his father’s from Pakistan — had a tough start in the United States. His parents met working blue-collar jobs at a gas station and his mother worked to put herself through nursing school, he said.

Saleem said his parents, who eventually worked their way up to “comfort-

ably living” in New York, inspired him to advocate for the lesser-heard voices in his community, including Mount Vernon Campus residents and commuter and military students. He said as a first-generation American and minority student, he knows how it feels to be underrepresented.

Saleem faced disqualification from the ballot last week after the Joint Elections Commission indicted him for collecting endorsements from the leaders of two student organizations before the official election campaign period commenced. Saleem pled guilty, but since one of the signatures was an “authorized agent” of Saleem, the JEC dismissed one of his charges. Saleem said that if elected, he wants to give commuter students tap access to residence halls to reduce their exposure to safety concerns, like the shelter-inplace in September spurred by a homicide suspect’s escape from custody on campus. He said he constructed a pilot program with Dan Wright, the director of Campus Living & Residential

Education, and Commuter Student Association President James Tan to give firstand second-year commuter students tap access to residence halls in 2025.

Saleem said also he plans to examine the Vern’s accessibility for students with wheelchairs due to the campus’ steep hills by working with the Disability Support Services office, members of the custodial staff and GW Facilities.

“I have gotten reports from students that they don’t feel as if the Vern is accessible and that is something that has to change before we go off and buy more real estate for $14 million as well as a Whole Foods,” Saleem said, referring to GW’s purchase of The Avenue, an apartment building also home to Whole Foods.

Harris, born and raised a Metro ride away from campus in Takoma, said she wants to provide students with the opportunity to love the District as much as she does if elected SGA president. Besides hoping to partner with D.C. cultural organizations like HumanitiesDC, a group providing cross-cultural understanding to Washingtonians, Harris said she wants to premiere a campus go-go festival for students to engage with an aspect of D.C.’s history — which is also Harris’ favorite genre of music. “As a D.C. native, I have an appreciation for D.C. that I haven’t really seen communicated by administration or the student government before,” Harris said. Harris said her “innovative” perspective on leadership as a student entrepreneur also drives her motivation to run for president. Harris founded GW Startup Avenue, an organization she founded that provides resources for students establishing startups, after participating in the School of Business’ annual

Through Startup Avenue, she said she helped organize the flea market pop-ups in Kogan Plaza last semester, an undertaking that would prove imperative in her decision to run for SGA president. She said learning that GW has never elected a Black female SGA president — which she said contradicts the University’s new Revolutionaries moniker — marked the final factor in her decision to run. “That flipped a switch in me,” Harris said. “It’s my time to shine.”

She said she wants to fix the SGA’s track record of not being the most “visible entity” at GW after noticing a general lack of involvement in student government from students. She said she wants to add a regularly updated calendar of SGA events to the association’s website, which currently only has a dead link to the senate’s meeting schedule.

Harris also said she would make SGA senators more accessible for students by having them host more frequent office hours than those they already offer, and in more shared spaces like the seating area on the fourth floor of the University Student Center as op-

posed to the SGA office to foster a more “communal” energy. While not all current senators have office hours, those who do host them once or twice a week.

“I want to make sure that students know that there’s a government that represents them, that’s there for them,” Harris said.

Harris said she plans to embrace her lack of SGA experience with skills she’s learned from previous leadership positions, like Startup Avenue. She said she thinks SGA President Arielle Geismar, who also had no previous SGA experience, was successful in implementing a “culture shift” in the governing body without being an “SGA insider.”

“I respect the accomplishments of my other opponents, however, when it comes to celebrating GW’s culture, there’s no one that can do it better than someone from D.C.,” Harris said.

This

The Columbian College of Arts & Sciences senator’s track record in student government began in middle school, continued to high school and extended into college, starting with his experience as RHA president for Somers Hall in his first year. Fitzgerald hopes to flex his political muscles if elected to the Student Government Association’s top post by advocating for students’ physical, mental and reproductive health as a cornerstone of his administration, alongside an expansion of dining options and hours and the addition of a voting student to the Board of Trustees.

“I could have easily made smaller platform items, but that’s not the kind of president I want to be,” Fitzgerald said. “I think what would set me apart is I want to take on the big challenges.”

As a first-year, Fitzgerald worked as a mental health secretary in for-

Zidouemba’s cabinet, where he identified issues with mental health services on campus and possible solutions with mental health activists. He said if elected, he wants to re-establish peer-to-peer mental health service GW Listens after it paused services during the pandemic because it lost its adviser.

He said he also wants to create reservable private rooms for students to take telehealth appointments and put on a mental health day resource fair before finals season each semester.

Fitzgerald said his own experiences with mental health challenges inspired him to run for SGA president. He said he wants to ensure students experiencing challenges receive the help they need and feel more confident speaking up about their hardships.

“We need to recognize that as students we are living in an extremely challenging time, and we don’t have to ignore that,”

Fitzgerald said.

He said he wants to offer comprehensive reproductive healthcare because it has become a “major is-

sue” that requires attention from campus leaders since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Fitzgerald said he wants to use the president’s executive budget to halve the cost of contraceptives from vending machines on campus from $10 to $5. SGA President Arielle Geismar previously allocated $1,000 of her executive budget to lower the machine’s contraceptive unit cost from $15 to $10.

Fitzgerald also hopes to make beloved dining options on campus like Carvings and GW Deli accept meal swipes as a form of payment and extend the hours of the dining halls in Thurston and Shenkman and The Eatery at Pelham Commons from 9 to 10 p.m. if elected.

elected president of his school of more than 3,300 students.

As New York Mayor Eric Adams once said, “New York is the Port-auPrince of America.” And for Student Government Association presidential candidate Nicky Beruashvili, GW is Queens.

A Brooklyn native, Beruashvili views GW as a reflection of his New York upbringing. Even his presidential platform structures his five main policy points around New York’s five boroughs — Queens represents GW, the Bronx is the environment, Staten Island symbolizes safety, Manhattan mirrors health and Brooklyn, his home, is community.

“Having already the experience of what it is to like experience a diverse body of people, where I come from, I think already sets me ahead of how I can approach people and have this vision and passion of what it’s like to work together with people with diverse backgrounds,” Beruashvili said. “Brooklyn, New York City, that’s what it’s all about.”

He said he’s been involved in student government since seventh grade. After serving as class representative throughout high school, he was

“Having the in-charge position and the ability and the opportunity to basically form the student government there and lead that amount of a high school was a great experience to have,” Beruashvili said.

Beruashvili plans to target Manhattan — students’ health — by better advertising the health services on campus, like psychological services and the Office of Advocacy and Support. As a former Vern resident during his first year, Beruashvili said he would like to implement a health clinic set up on the Vern campus, which had existed during the pandemic to facilitate COVID testing, that could offer medical and psychological services on the campus.

Beruashvili’s platform states that he will also work with the GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity organization to demand officials add medication abortion for students in the Student Health Center, a goal that the University has rejected thus far.

Beruashvili previously served on the Residence Hall Association as the communications chair for Somers Hall in 2021 and joined the RHA’s executive board to serve as the director of national affairs and the national communications coordinator the year after. Beruashvili said RHA has given him the tools to advocate to officials for better housing and dining because he has experience working to add water bottle fountains on the Mount Vernon campus. Beruashvili joined the SGA as the executive secretary of internal relations in SGA President Arielle Geismar’s cabinet in 2023, which he described as a human relations-type position where he assists other cabinet members with issues they may have. He said Geismar has been a “phenomenal” president and that he will look to build on her progress collaborating with officials to create LGBTQ+-friendly housing.

Lauren K. Harris has D.C. coursing through her veins.

Pitch George competition during her sophomore year.

BROOKE SHAPIRO STAFF WRITER

RYAN J. KARLIN STAFF WRITER

election isn’t Ethan Fitzgerald’s first rodeo.

tian

Student Government Association

Vice Presidential Candidates

Aly McCormick said the Student Government Association has “lost the plot.”

McCormick said when she transferred to GW from American University in the fall of 2023, she attended a few SGA meetings and noticed that a culture of political infighting among senators shifted the senate’s focus away from students’ needs. She said if elected vice president, she will use her perspective as an SGA “outsider” and experience serving in student government at American to identify and combat instances where political competition trumps the SGA’s commitment to advocating for students’ safety, support and access to resources.

“I think the meetings come across as a little bit of a showdown between senators and a lot of games are played,” McCormick said.

McCormick said she first realized the impact of activism when she served as the director for the New Jersey chapter of March for Our Lives during her senior year of high school, where she called on constituents to support a ban on assault weapons and organized a town hall with Representa-

tive Andy Kim (D-NJ). She said during her sophomore year at American, she served as senate speaker and outlined specific goals for committee meetings to improve efficiency and prevent committee members from fighting over what should be prioritized.

McCormick was the first student to announce a campaign for the vice president position and said if elected she will work to increase sexual assault prevention and awareness and grow transparency between the SGA and students on funding allocation for student organizations. She said she will allow all students to attend financial committee meetings that are currently closed door and make the meeting minutes public so students don’t have to request access to the summaries.

Student groups can present their funding needs to the committee — which is responsible for dividing up funds — and access the minutes that document its discussions and decisions but can’t attend every committee meeting in person, including those where members consider funding requests and finalize allocations. SGA President Arielle Geismar ran on an initia-

tive to host workshops for sharing more information on how the allocation process works, but she has not implemented these workshops.

“It’s not that they’re asking inherently for more money although I’m sure everyone would love to have more money,” McCormick said. “It’s that they want to understand why they can’t get it.”

She said if elected she will implement a Survivors’ Bill of Rights to ensure all students who have experienced sexual assault know their legal rights. She said she talked with a variety of students who felt unsupported by the Title IX Office on campus because the office discouraged them from reporting their cases by saying the individual they would be filing against would likely be found not responsible.

SGA ballot referendum to gauge interest in student trustees

RORY

Students will vote on a referendum in the Student Government Association election this week to weigh in on adding voting student members to the Board of Trustees. The referendum serves only to gauge student opinion on whether the SGA president and vice president should hold full voting positions on the Board, not to approve any legislation or resolutions related to adding SGA leaders as voting Board members. SGA Sen. Ethan Fitzgerald (CCAS-U), who sponsored the referendum, said it would allow SGA leaders to present data to trustees on student body support for adding student members after the Board rejected a November SGA request for student representation. The Board is the highest form of government at the University — consisting of 22 trustees, 18 of whom are alumni — and possesses “full authority” over all University personnel and activities.

During a Student Government Association Financial Service and Allocations Committee meeting last semester, SGA Sen. Ethan Lynne (CCAS-U) decided it was time to “step up.”

Lynne said he became “fed up” with hearing student organizations struggle to secure sufficient funding and meeting spaces. He said if elected as vice president, he will relay funding and meeting space concerns to administrators using connections he built with GW officials and student leaders as an SGA senator and bolster organizations’ budgets by applying the financial literacy skills he gained as the chair of the finance committee.

He said he is running for the “operational” role of vice president because in presiding over the senate, he will serve as the “first point of contact” for student organizations seeking more funding from the University for events and activities. He said he will also advocate to extend GW Dining’s hours of operation so students can access dining halls past 9 p.m. and conduct an audit of all campus spaces to expand available meeting venues for

student organizations.

“I’m gonna get told that some of this stuff is impossible,” Lynne said. “But the point is that I’m still someone who’s gonna have the conversation, not take no for an answer.”

Lynne said when he became the chair of the finance committee this fall, he spoke with student organization leaders who struggled to hold events due to funding constraints. He said if elected, he will meet with University President Ellen Granberg and request officials increase the budget for student organizations by employing the “same methods” they used to collect additional funding for the University-Wide Programs Fund.

In 2023, GW donated 50 cents to the fund for every credit hour a student enrolled in after funding ran out in February 2023.

Lynne said he strengthened his experience in student advocacy during his post as RHA president of Thurston Hall his first year where students turned to him for support on problems ranging from losing their GWorld cards to battling “fatigue” when none of the food in the dining hall was appealing.

“In that role, I gained a

much deeper understanding of student organizations on campus, the challenges that they face, and then overall, just challenges that different people face on campus,” Lynne said. He said students often complained about having to wait outside the door to their residence hall because they forgot their GWorld card or walk down multiple floors to open a door for another student. He said if elected he will work with the GWorld office to update tap access technology so students can upload their GWorld cards to their mobile phone wallets and access buildings without the physical card.

Lynne said he also wants to conduct an audit of campus spaces because spaces like the townhouses on G Street are often left “vacant” while student organizations struggle to find available places to book for meetings.

Fact check: How candidates’ platforms fare with context

SACHINI

TYLER

Platform

The Student Government Association’s four presidential and two vice presidential candidates hope to address issues from reinventing dining conditions and providing more mental and physical health resources for students to improving campus spaces. However, some of their promises fail to factor in current programs and policies at GW or the limits of the SGA’s power. The Hatchet reviewed and fact checked the candidates’ ideas for misleading, inaccurate or incomplete information to provide additional context as students prepare to vote. Here’s what we found:

Candidates for President

The SGA president delivers a report at Board meetings and can serve as a “Board Observer” who attends all Board and committee meetings except for executive sessions. The SGA has polled students twice before on whether the Board should add voting student members.

In response to a 2005 SGA election referendum, 70 percent of students answered “yes” when asked if there should be a student voting member on the Board.

Students again voted overwhelmingly to add student voting positions in a 2020 referendum, with 93.7 percent approval.

Trustees denied the SGA’s request for student voting members in 2017 after trustees formed a task force that considered adding voting student positions. When previously rejecting student trustees in 2005, Board leadership pointed to its bylaws,

The Board decided last year to arm GW Police Department Officers — a move met with widespread derision from students and faculty. Students previously criticized the trustees’ refusal to cut financial ties with weapons manufacturers and its decision to not lower tuition costs while classes were online during the COVID-19 pandemic. GW’s other forms of governance like

which prohibit a student from serving as a trustee. The Board can amend its bylaws with the vote of two-thirds of trustees, but the Board hasn’t amended its bylaws since 1978.

Fitzgerald said he’s having “initial” conversations with trustees and officials about student members. He said there “isn’t full reluctance” among officials for some form of increased student representation at the University.

Fitzgerald has made the push to add student trustees central to his campaign. He said if elected, he would use his connections and the president’s regular sitdowns with administrators to continue conversations about student representation.

He would also use the president’s report at Board meetings to continue calling for student trustees, he said. Should Fitzgerald lose the presidential race, he said he would offer to support the new president in continuing to advocate for voting student trustees.

hold will be placed on their account.

cient technologies like LED lights and “smart energy management systems” in campus buildings.

Check: While Harris did not specify which buildings she wants to alter, GW has 13 LEEDcertified residential and academic buildings and four certified

Platform Point: Fitzgerald wants to make a dining focus group of GW students to hold the administration “accountable” for GW dining facilities.

Check: GW Dining hosts monthly focus groups and meets with a student advisory panel to gauge student opinions about dining.

dations for addressing them. Saleem would need to work with Facilities Planning, Construction and Management, not the Student Health Center, to address ramp and hill issues.

Candidates for Vice President

Platform Point: Lynne wants the University to “standardize” its artificial intelligence policy to

FIONA RILEY ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

SGA Senate sees spike in candidates, lags in graduate student participation

The number of students running for Student Government Association Senate seats in this year’s election has nearly doubled from last year.

This year, the Joint Elections Commission verified 25 senate candidates compared to 14 last year, the lowest number in two decades. But 20 of 40 available senate seats are set to be vacant after no students registered their name on the ballot for the positions, a dip from the 27 seats without candidates during last year’s election.

Of the 20 empty seats, 14 are for graduate student positions. Just four graduate students are in the race, all of whom are incumbents. Law school candidates will also not appear on the ballot this year after the Student Bar Association reformed GW Law seats to be elected at the same time as the SBA Senate in February due to low SGA turnout and higher SBA election turnout.

JEC Deputy Election Commissioner Michael Ubis said the commission performed less “candidate outreach” this year than previous years. He said the JEC was “stumbling along” due to a tight timeline for election preparation after a referendum dissolved the JEC last spring and didn’t begin to work to restructure it until three months before

the election. Ubis said the JEC wanted to publicize graduate seat vacancies to their respective schools, but there was “so much going on” during the commission’s restructuring that it was unable to do so. Ubis said the number of vacant positions will drop after the election because students can run for seats as write-in candidates.

“We would absolutely love to engage more people,” Ubis said.

The race for Columbian College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate seats will likely be the most cutthroat. CCAS is the only school with candidates running for more seats than are available, with 13 students running for eight seats compared to last election’s seven students running for seven seats.

Four schools saw drops in the number of candidates for senate seats compared to last year. One candidate is set to run for School of Engineering and Applied Sciences undergraduate seats, compared to two last year, and no candidates are running for graduate seats in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Elliott School of International Affairs, compared to one candidate per each school last election.

SGA Vice President Demetrius Apostolis, who presides over the senate and won a CCAS seat in 2022, said the school’s seats are typically more competitive than others because CCAS houses public service majors, which

draws students interested in politics to the SGA. He said students this year have been more keen to get involved with the SGA because the organization has faced “less controversy” this year than in previous years, which he thinks previously caused students to have a “negative perception” of the governing body and may have dissuaded some from running for office.

“This year, we focused on fostering a really deep community

Students want better dining, free speech, SGA transparency ahead of elections

JENNA LEE STAFF WRITER

RHOADS STAFF WRITER

How can we improve dining hall food? Who will bring transparency and visibility to our student governing body?

And how should the Student Government Association foster campus community and heal campus tensions stemming from the war in Gaza?

These are the main questions on the minds of almost 100 students as the University nears this year’s SGA elections.

Among the dozens of desires that students expressed for their elected representatives, three issues reigned supreme:

Dining hall food quality, operating hours

In 2023, the University completed its transition to a dining hall-centric campus dining system with the implementation of dining halls in three buildings. Concerns over dining hall hours, food quality and religious and allergy inclusivity have since dominated campus dialogue, shaping the campaign initiatives of five of six presidential and vice presidential candidates — Dan Saleem, Ethan Fitzgerald and Ethan Lynne.

With GW’s dining system in its relative infancy, students think there’s more work to be done. Nearly 40 students said dining is one of the biggest problems that on-campus students face, expressing a desire for

more variety, better quality food and no early dining hall closures before breaks.

First-year Katie Stabile, who lives on the Mount Vernon Campus and dines frequently at the Eatery at Pelham Commons, said there needs to be more variety in the food offered at Pelham, as there tends to be the same options “over and over again.”

First-year Maya Kilani said she knows “so many” people who have gotten food poisoning from the dining halls and wants the SGA to address these concerns by raising them to the administration.

Advocate for students’ rights surrounding campus discord

Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October, GW and District-wide groups organized protests, vigils and walkouts. The demonstrations have sparked questions about the limitations of free speech from faculty, officials and students, as well as nationwide. More than a dozen students said they want the SGA to use their platform to push officials to afford students the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint.

First-year Sophia Dalal said she wants the SGA to show students that it is acceptable to use their free speech on campus and speak out about issues they are passionate about. She said they can do this through social media advertisements

of students protesting or demonstrating for different causes.

“If the SGA shows videos of other people speaking and showing their free speech and just making sure that people know that it’s okay to talk and it’s okay to mention what they think is important, would be very helpful,” Dalal said. “Just so that people know that they’re not alone when speaking out.”

None of the candidates for vice president or president included initiatives to improve campus community following discord after the breakout of the war in their platforms.

Students are unaware of what the SGA does and want more transparency

Last year’s SGA elections saw the lowest voter turnout in at least a decade, with only about 8.5 percent of eligible students casting a vote — in line with a steady decline in voter turnout since 2019. This year, more than 15 students reported that potential candidates asked them to sign their petitions to get their name on the ballot, but students reported not knowing anything about the functions of the governing body or their initiatives.

Junior Reva Patel said she could not name any major SGA projects because they were not communicated effectively, contributing to a lack of awareness about upcoming elections and the candidates running.

involvement with our student body, putting on large events, being welcoming, having a dooropen policy where people could always come into the office and speak and not having any giant controversies that have disrupted the year,” Apostolis said.

Senate candidates said they attribute the lack of senatorial candidates from non-CCAS schools to the demand and perceived inefficacy of serving in the SGA.

Darin Razeghi, a fi rst-year who works as an SGA research assistant in alumni relations and is running for a CCAS undergraduate senate seat, said many senators act like they are serving in “higher” positions than being student representatives. He said because of this, students decide not to run.

“We are the students’ representatives,” Razeghi said. “We’re not a U.S. senator, we’re not the president.”

Male colleagues ‘let off the hook,’ female SGA members say

A current SGA senator — who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation from SGA members — said that as soon as she joined the senate and senators elected her to a position of power last May, she heard some of her male colleagues say that the only reason she had gotten the spot was because she was “sleeping with” the sponsor of the bill that created her position.

The senator said she reported the incidents to SGA leadership throughout the year who promised to speak with the perpetrators, but nothing has ever come from her conversations.

“All of these incidents have been reported to SGA leadership and to SGA advisers, and it’s just sort of wiped off,” the senator said. “I’m told that they’ll talk to whoever did it, however, there’s been no end to this occurring.”

SGA Senate Pro Tempo-

re Amy Cowley (ESIA-G), who has served as a senator for two terms, spearheaded the launch last summer of the gender equity resource group, one of the Community, Advocacy and Inclusion Committee’s four resource groups. She said she felt compelled to create the group because of a consistent lack of women in the senate and the lack of inclusivity for nonmen in the SGA.

She said the lack of gender inclusivity in the senate explains the rift between the predominantly female nature of the University and the overrepresentation of men in the senate.

“There’s a reason they’re

not running,” Cowley said. “It speaks to the larger issue of we’re doing something wrong in the senate that is creating a less inclusive atmosphere for those voices.”

Former SGA Sen. Emmy Ly (GWSB-U) said she resigned from the senate in late December because she felt unwelcome as a woman. Moving forward, she said the SGA needs to implement private diversity training led by SGA faculty advisers to educate perpetrators on the harm caused by their microaggressions.

Ly said since perpetrators keep being “let off the hook,” there is no incentive for them to change their behavior.

As elections heat up, SGA candidates grapple with effects of war in Gaza

with ties to Israel in late March.

“I think the reason that a lot of candidates haven’t put this on their policy plank or haven’t displayed this as something that they’re running on is because there’s a lot of fear surrounding the situation,” Saleem said. “This is a really sensitive situation.”

“As someone who neither has family in Israel or Palestine, I cannot begin to fathom the pain these students are experiencing and my heart goes out to all those impacted,” Fitzgerald, an SGA senator, said in an email. “I believe it would be deeply inappropriate to use this grief to fuel a campus presidential campaign.”

Some staunchly pro-Palestinian campaigns at other universities have found success with students: The winners of the University of Michigan’s student elections promised to halt all student government activity until university officials divested from companies allegedly profiting from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Vanderbilt University blocked voting on a referendum asking students about the use of student government funds on businesses

GW’s candidates, fearful of angering any segment of the student body while acknowledging a duty to discuss the issues with University officials, are instead pivoting to sometimes nebulous promises to amplify student voices.

Fitzgerald said students should have a “seat at the table” as GW reviews its free speech policies to cultivate “productive” conversations.

University officials suspended SJP in November after members from the group projected anti-Israel statements on the facade of Gelman Library. SJP did not return a request for comment. “I don’t think that I’m necessarily the best person to speak on what the community is feeling, but I do think I can best host a productive conversation between both sides,” Harris said.

“Who wants to be heard?” McCormick said.

“I think starting there and having those tough conversations where people might not always like the answer or people might not always love what they’re hearing, both administration and students, having this con-

versation is the first place to start.”

For some GW candidates, the lack of discussion isn’t due to a lack of opinions. Saleem criticized GW’s suspension of SJP, which came about a month after the October Gelman projections, arguing that officials unjustly suspended a student organization for the actions of individuals.

“I think there should be more students consulted and listened to before making such an impactful decision like that,” Saleem said.

But some have shied away from offering their personal feelings on the suspension of SJP, instead deferring to students and officials.

“I believe turning this conversation away from administrators would be irresponsible,” Fitzgerald wrote in response to a question of whether he thought SJP should have been suspended. “It would be disingenuous for me to tell students that the SGA president has any control over suspension of student organizations. The focus of accountability and the weight of the decision to suspend SJP is on administration. I want everyone on campus to feel seen, heard, and respected.”

MAGGIE

DANIEL HEUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

First-year psychology student Sophia Dalal in an interview with Hatchet sta writer Brooke Forgette

Granberg looks to build DC connections amid city labor, safety shortfalls

D.C. government and nonprofit leaders said University President Ellen Granberg has a distinct opportunity to strengthen workforce pipelines and rapport with residents during her tenure, as the District struggles with employee retention and safety.

City stakeholders said Granberg has advanced GW’s role on nonprofit and government boards that formed during previous administrations, which provide employment opportunities and business growth for residents in the greater D.C. area. Granberg said she has met with city government and nonprofit leaders throughout her first nine months as president to ensure the University contributes to the District community.

She said GW’s urban campus prompts the formation of many external partnerships to address issues like food and health disparities in the District and beyond.

“These are not just transactional relationships born out of proximity, but strong partnerships that are built on a foundation of collaboration, trust, mutual goals, and values,” Granberg said in an email.

When Granberg took the helm of GW in July, she continued academic partnerships like the Global Food Institute and launched a revitalized agreement between the Corcoran College of the Arts & Design and the National Gallery of Art. The efforts will set up external partnerships to further policy initiatives on equitable food distribution and connect students with NGA staff, respectively.

She also maintains an in-person presence at District organizational meetings like the Greater Washington Partnership and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. She’s also welcomed D.C. business leaders like Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Agency General Man-

ager Randy Clarke at the Revolutionaries’ basketball games. Granberg said in an October interview that she plans to collaborate with other universities’ satellite campuses in D.C. for academic opportunities. Granberg declined to comment on the progress of this goal.

“There’s a lot of people moving into D.C., a lot of universities opening up and they’re going to bring students here,” Granberg said in October. “But what they can’t replicate, are the connections between our faculty and city organizations, our University and city organizations that we can bring to bear on behalf of our students.”

Steven Knapp, GW’s president from 2007 to 2017, said his service on community boards like the Consortium of the Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area and the Greater Washington Board of Trade helped D.C. taxpayers understand GW’s value to the District.

GW has not been listed in D.C.’s top 10 property taxpayers, despite owning $4.4 billion worth of educational and commercial buildings. Knapp said the University cannot prove its value through paying taxes because it is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

“We got a reputation for being very collaborative with other institutions, whether they were government institutions, private institutions or our fellow universities,” Knapp said. “If you’re recognized as a good citizen, then you know, people reach out to you when there’s something important that needs to be addressed.”

He said he developed a relationship with then-Mayor Vincent Gray, a GW alum, from 2011 to 2015, when Gray would attend University events and basketball games. Knapp said his leadership on a city task force designated to make D.C. an elderly friendly city — which he started in Gray’s term and con-

tinued into Mayor Muriel Bowser’s term — afforded students the option to participate, including by conducting a sidewalk safety survey. He said Granberg’s continuation of interaction with the District will improve the recruitment and retention of students and faculty at GW. He said D.C. is still in the process of revitalizing itself after the pandemic, which the University can take advantage of using faculty expertise in areas like sustainability and the creation of walkable neighborhoods.

“As it comes back, I’m sure that will open other opportunities for the University to be involved in the ongoing revitalization of the city and the advancements,” Knapp said.

Annual Giving Day rakes in recordhigh donations despite boycotts

Donors raised $1.7 million for the University’s annual Giving Day between Wednesday and Thursday, the highest amount raised for the event in its fouryear history, despite activist campaigns to boycott donations.

Officials raised $1,716,124 for Giving Day, a 24-hour fundraising period, topping $1 million in donations for the third year in a row. The Columbian College of Arts & Sciences earned $738,539 from 335 donors, the largest donation to any one of the funding options for the second year in a row. This year’s Giving Day, which ran from April 3 at noon to April 4 at 3 p.m. — extending three more hours for a “Scholarship Sprint” — also marks the second year that the fundraising event encompassed two days to attract more donors.

Officials received donations from 3,487 donors, the largest number of contributors to Giving Day in its history, and surpassed their 3,000 donor goal, trumping the 3,193 donors last year.

GW Alumni for Palestine created a petition urg-

ing alumni to cease donations to the University and donate to Gaza aid efforts.

The petition calls on the University to reverse Students for Justice in Palestine’s suspension, protect Palestinian students from harassment and hate and divest from GW’s alleged ties to Israel. By the end of Giving Day, the petition received 284 signatures out of its 1,000 signature goal. “As alumni of this University, we steadfastly pledge to withhold all donations to George Washington University and its affiliates and encourage our peers and families to do the same; GWU has a low alumni donation rate and we intend to sink it further until our demands are met,” GW Alumni for Palestine’s petition states.

GW had the lowest alumni giving rate amongst its 12 peer schools in 2019.

SJP is not listed as a funding option on the Giving Day 2024 website, despite its previous listing on last year’s Giving Day website. Officials in November suspended the group from organizing on-campus activities until March 8 and banned the group from posting communications on campus until May 20

after four of its members projected anti-Israel messages on Gelman Library in October.

GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity also created a petition calling on community members to withhold donations to the University and donate to the D.C. Abortion Fund until GW commits to providing medication abortion. The Student Government Association Senate unanimously passed a bill in February urging officials to offer abortion pills in the Student Health Center. Dean of Student Colette Coleman declined to comment on whether the health center plans to implement the request.

“GW has had countless opportunities to respond to student demands and GW RAGE and our allies have tried to engage the university in a variety of forums, yet GW continues to be beholden to their imagined anti-choice donors,” RAGE’s petition states.

The Division of Development and Alumni Relations hired a team of 10 student marketing and communications specialists last spring to contact alumni and create videos to solicit donations.

Gray, now a D.C. councilmember for Ward 7, said the District and GW “enhance” each other. He said the University creates a pool of talented potential recruits for the District’s employers.

“Some students come from out of town, others come from the District, but all of them are integral to the culture of our city while they’re here,” Gray said in an email. “Being involved with the city enriches young minds and can lead to insights that a person might not otherwise experience.”

Gregory Proctor — who chairs the Board of directors for the GWBT and serves as the president and CEO of lobbying firm G.S. Proctor & Associates, Inc. — said Granberg had emerged immediately as a “dynamic” leader as a member of the

Board.

“Quite often people will come to a meeting and kind of sit back and see how it’s gonna play out,” Proctor said. “She came in, jumped right in, became a partner, became active and really engaged.”

He said many employers in D.C., Maryland and Virginia are struggling to recruit and retain employees, which local higher education leaders like Granberg can help improve by providing insight on what she is noticing with the University’s recruitment and retention. He said the Greater Washington Board of Trade provided input for Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto’s crime bill, a large piece of safety legislation that would change punishments for certain crimes and police reforms.

Pair of sororities to leave Strong Hall, relocate to other residence halls

Two sororities in the Panhellenic Association will move out of Strong Hall next fall after the University decided to relocate them to other campus residence halls.

Brian Joyce, the assistant dean of student life, said the Division for Student Affairs performs a “space needs” assessment of the campus each academic year, and this August will move Kappa Alpha Theta and Chi Omega into Building JJ and Townhouse A, respectively. Members of Kappa Alpha Theta said they asked the University to move them out of Strong Hall due to concerns with mold, pests and cramped living quarters for sorority members. Leaders in Chi Omega did not return multiple requests for comment.

Joyce said Pi Beta Phi, the third Panhellenic chapter residing in Strong Hall, will continue to live in the hall next year. Pi Beta Phi did not return a request for comment. “The teams will evaluate and determine the best future use for Strong Hall in the years to come,”

Joyce said in an email. Joyce declined to comment on who will reside in Strong Hall next academic year in addition to Pi Beta Phi. Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi moved into Strong Hall in fall 2010 after officials renovated the community kitchens and the building’s entrance and added a “backyard plaza” — now known as Square 80 — for the sororities to host social events. Kappa Alpha Theta moved into Strong Hall in fall 2019 after members of Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi expressed concerns to the University about “filling beds.” Before housing Panhellenic chapters, Strong Hall was a women’s residence hall open to all undergraduate students before officials announced it would house sororities in November 2009.

Carrie-Anne Olson, the house manager for Kappa Alpha Theta, said she initially wanted the sorority to move into Townhouse A on Townhouse Row because it has been vacant this year, previously serving as a residence hall for first-year students last academic year after hous -

ing fraternity Sigma Chi until the end of the spring semester 2022. Olson said she pushed for the chapter to vacate Strong Hall this year because Kappa Alpha Theta has the “worst living arrangements” out of the three chapters in the residence hall.

Members of Kappa Alpha Theta live on the second level of Strong Hall and use a common room on the basement level, where Olson said there are often cockroaches and mold in the air conditioning units, which she said caused chapter members to develop coughs. Olson said Kappa Alpha Theta’s second-floor rooms are smaller than those of Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi members, who reside on the upper floors and penthouse of Strong Hall. She added that the sorority has to hold its weekly chapter meetings in the University Student Center because the basement in Strong Hall is too small to accommodate all of their members.

“There’s not going to be roaches on the penthouse, and we have the smallest space and the dingiest,” Olson said.

BROOKE FORGETTE STAFF WRITER

Students praise new Western Market sports bar for prices, party games

After about a month of business, students are buzzing about ExPat, a sports bar in Western Market.

By day, ExPat takes on the look of a restaurant for families and workers from around Foggy Bottom to relax. But by night, customers can descend the ExPat staircase into a dimly lit, underground bar mimicking the environment of a college party, with sports on the TV, loud music, yard games and cans upon cans of beer.

ExPat opened in early March after about a yearlong delay due to a lack of funds and permits to open the bar. The establishment offers canned beers ranging from $7 to $10, $11 wine, $14 cocktails and a variety of Southern barbecue meals. The bar is open Sunday through Thursday from 11:30 to 2 a.m. and Friday through Saturday from 11:30 to 3 a.m.

ExPat owner Ben Sislen said he enlisted 10 to 15 student ambassadors, some from GW, to spread the word about ExPat to other college students in exchange for discounts. He said events also help alert students to the bar, including a raffle for 1,000 free beers last Thursday with more than 500 interactions.

“It just showed such a demand for people to come out and have fun,” Sislen said.

There has been a lack of bars geared toward GW students in Foggy Bottom since McFadden’s, a popular bar on the 2400 Block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW, closed in January 2015 after a stabbing incident there left five people seriously injured.

So far, ExPat organized showings of March Madness games, an opening day event for the Washington Nationals and an event with F1 racing simulators, according to the bar’s Instagram. When first announced, the bar promised a sports gambling option, but Sislen said in February the establishment would open without a gambling component. He said he may

introduce the option in the future if there’s enough customer demand. Sislen said students have told him they love the bar for including games like cup pong and cornhole because “a lot” of other bars don’t offer the games. He said he expects more traffic into ExPat when students are able to use their GWorld cards at the bar, which he said Friday would be introduced within the next 48 hours or week.

He added that ExPat sells all beers in cans except for Modelo because this gives the bar the freedom to switch up its alcohol options.

“It might be the next week depending on if there’s funky stuff, any backend issues, technical issues,” Sislen said.

More than a dozen students said they appreciate the arrival of the bar and the fun it provides to the Foggy Bottom community due to its “cheap” prices, proximity to campus and beloved college party games.

Christian Zidouemba, a former SGA president and an ambassador for ExPat, said he connected clubs like GWUEsports to Sislen for feedback on the bar before its opening. He said ExPat provides a “fun” community space for GW students because of its game options like cornhole and cup pong

and is safe for students to walk to because of its proximity to campus.

“Everything is targeted to GW students,” Zidouemba said.

Maggie Cerrone, who graduated from GW in the fall and now lives nearby, said she visited ExPat and would have loved for the bar to open up earlier on campus when she was an undergraduate. She said she could imagine the bar getting a little “rowdy,” but its underground location will prevent the noise from disrupting the rest of Western Market and the surrounding area.

“It’s nothing that no one can handle,” Cerrone said.

Lauren Klinger, a senior majoring in political science, said she appreciates that ExPat is open late during the week when other bars tend to close early. She said she would like to see more beer-on-tap options.

“I do like a good draft beer,” Klinger said.

Jack Klein, a senior majoring in economics, said the games the bar offers, like cornhole and cup pong, are “great” for patrons who don’t drink alcohol.

“It gives options to people who aren’t just strictly drinking,” Klein said.

Officials install taller, stronger faregates in Foggy Bottom Metro station

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials installed faregates aimed at deterring fare evasion at the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro station late last month.

A WMATA spokesperson said officials installed faregates at the Foggy Bottom Station about two weeks ago that are 55 inches taller than the old faregates at Metro stations and twice as strong. They said the installation is part of a systemwide faregate upgrade effort to minimize fare evasion, which costs officials $40 million annually. Officials began installing the new faregate model in July. Last month, officials also began fining and arresting fare evaders at Metro stations. The spokesperson said officials have upgraded faregates at about 33 of 98 stations in the Metro system as of Friday. They said there has been an almost 80 percent reduction in fare evasion at the stations with upgraded faregates. This year, Foggy Bottom Station, which is the most popular station in the Metro system, has seen an average of about 681 daily unpaid entries and 11,715 daily paid entries, according to Metro data.

SEAS initiative adds research opportunities to course curricula

A multi-university initiative that includes the School of Engineering and Applied Science added research opportunities for undergraduates into course curriculums last year.

The Research for All program — which two SEAS professors founded in 2022 — is in its second year of a three-year, $2 million Kern Family Foundation grant program focused on helping students find research projects. Jason Zara, one of the founders, said in the past two years one professor in each of SEAS’ six departments has implemented course-based undergraduate research experiences, or CUREs, into their classes to give undergraduate students, who often lack formal research opportunities, a chance to gain experience in research.

“The goal of the project is not actually the conduct of the research,” Zara said. “It is helping to build an infrastructure to facilitate better interactions between undergraduates and research laboratories and more equitable access to those opportunities.”

Zara, the associate dean for undergraduate studies in SEAS, said mechanical engineering students in the Anatomy and Physiology for Engineers course use ultrasound technology to monitor hormone releases in the body as a CURE. He said students taking the biomedical engineering department’s Thermodynamics course test the vulnerability of the District’s infrastructure to extreme weather events.

He said students in the past two years filled out surveys about the research after completing the research curriculum in their classes and that once the data is processed, officials will use the responses to guide them in the implementation of CUREs into curriculums for more SEAS courses next year.

“These are meant to be kind of the gateways so that we can hopefully, after year three, be able to say any student who comes through the School of Engineering and Applied Science will get an exposure to undergraduate research through their coursework,” Zara said.

Zara said the “Research for All” program is made up of three groups — URCurious, URConnected and URSkilled — each containing three participating universities. GW, along with George Fox University and the University of Washington, Tacoma, concentrated its research within the URCurious aspect, which aims to increase undergraduate students’ interest in research opportunities through initiatives like CUREs.

Zara said students participating in the program have understood how their course concepts apply to research better through the CUREs program compared to solely class lectures. He said students can connect information they learn from lectures to practical uses through hands-on experimentation they would conduct in a laboratory environment.

“They all report a better understanding of research and what research really is, what happens in research projects,” Zara said.

A doctoral candidate launched an organization shortly after the onset of the Israel-Hamas war to help pregnant and postpartum Palestinian women from afar.

In October, anthropology doctoral candidate Ferhan Güloğlu founded the Safe Birth in Palestine Project — a group of childbirth professionals, including doctors and midwives, working across the globe to offer virtual medical assistance and deliver aid to expecting and new mothers in Gaza after the start of the war. Güloğlu said the project’s strategies to reach pregnant and postpartum women in Gaza with supplies like food and medicine are constantly shifting as the Israeli military has blocked the entrance of aid to Gaza and killed aid workers in airstrikes, limiting Gaza’s access to humanitarian assistance.

In Gaza, 40 percent of pregnancies are high-risk, prenatal care is almost nonexistent and women are often forced to give birth outside of medical facilities. Doctors and aid workers have said miscarriages and stillbirths have spiked since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in October.

“The situation is so dire that I felt compelled that we need to undertake some work,” Güloğlu said.

Many Palestinian women have considered fertility as part of their resistance efforts against Israel, which Güloğlu said prompted her to work to safeguard pregnant women in Gaza. Güloğlu said in the days following the onset of the war, she initially worked to send OB-GYNs and midwives from the U.S. into safe zones in Gaza but quickly realized there were no safe zones and that the entry of childbirth personnel was impossible.

“It’s horrific beyond words,” Güloğlu said.

She said she then contacted her academic networks and connected with maternal health organizations

in Turkey, where she’s originally from, like the Turkish Maternal Mental Health Awareness Alliance. She said the Turkish organizations have teams headquartered in Gaza, allowing her to create the Safe Birth in Palestine Project and begin sending medical supplies like insulin into Gaza.

At the start of the war, the United Nations estimated that there were 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with more than 180 women giving birth every day. Nearly 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and lack of proper health care, according to the Gazan Health Ministry and UNICEF estimates that 20,000 infants in Gaza need formula.

She said the group first put together a document in Arabic with instructions for Palestinians to conduct emergency unassisted childbirth, connected with Palestinian doctors to produce videos delivering the instructions and dispersed the videos via WhatsApp lines. She said the WhatsApp communities also allow Palestinian women to reach doctors who can provide medical advice via telehealth. Since October, roughly 190 women have used the group’s services, she said.

Güloğlu said the project fundraises via GoFundMe campaigns spread on social media and events like fundraiser dinners to send medical supplies into Gaza through its border with Egypt. But sending aid to Gaza has become increasingly challenging as the war progresses, she said.

Intricate Israeli military inspections force aid trucks to sit in mileslong lines. United Nations officials said Israeli authorities have rejected critical medical supplies like water filters and scissors because they said they could be used for military purposes.

Israel has attacked Palestinian officers delivering aid since the start of the war. Last week, humanitarian aid organizations suspended operations in Gaza after Israeli

airstrikes killed seven World Central Kitchen workers.

She said the Safe Birth in Palestine Project has accordingly changed how they shepherd supplies through the border, as long inspections led to food and medicine like insulin perishing and becoming unusable. She said volunteers in their organization are currently traveling to the region with supplies in their luggage to avoid the inspection lines.

“It’s been really challenging, but every second it gets worse,” Güloğlu said. “In any moment when I say this can’t get any worse, it did.”

Güloğlu said she’s had to tell some women that the project doesn’t have the means to help them, like one woman she spoke to last week living in northern Gaza, where the majority of Israel’s

bombardment takes place, who required a cesarean section. She said the group did not have the means to transport her to the south of Gaza for medical care, meaning she is susceptible to a uterine rupture, putting the mother at risk for severe blood loss and the baby at risk for brain damage or suffocation.

“It’s not a story of success, but an epic failure and disappointment,” Güloğlu said. Güloğlu said women have given birth safely due to the program and their babies have since been killed in the violence. She said her work with the Safe Birth in Palestine Project has been emotionally and mentally draining.

Despite the grave circumstances, she said she’s gained a new resilience from speaking with Palestinian women and hearing their

success stories of safe births.

“You hear about a successful childbirth, a healthy baby, a woman who just got food or a shot that she needed, formula. Through all these telehealth processes she’s able to breastfeed successfully, like it’s all worth it,” Güloğlu said.

Ribka Amsalu, a research fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, said during conflicts, pregnant women lack access to information, so helping from afar is effective in establishing networks of communication for women to access health care advice and to ask questions to medical professionals. She said in Gaza, health care facilities that still exist have to prioritize caring for those injured in the war.

“This diversion of resources should be taken into account when caring for a pregnant woman,” Amsalu said.

KAIDEN YU | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ExPat in Western Market

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAGE RUSSELL | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

SMPA adds sports reporting class after years of student demand

The School of Media & Public Affairs unveiled plans for a sports writing and reporting class next fall after a high volume of demands from students for the addition of the course.

D.C. sports journalist and SMPA lecturer Kelsey Nelson will debut the pilot Sports Writing and Reporting course next semester, mentoring students on key aspects of covering sports like crafting feature stories, live game coverage and multimedia content while navigating the culture of sports reporting. Officials added the class to the schedule after years of requests to SMPA administrators from students, who said their classes have historically focused on political coverage and hard news reporting.

Nelson, who will teach the inaugural class, said she has worked in sports journalism for over a decade and has deep connections as a local sports reporter who was born and raised in the D.C. region that will allow her students a look into the area’s sports landscape. She said she hopes to impart the culture of covering D.C. sports to her students as well as the value of building connections in journalism and using social media as a tool for reporting.

“I really want students to take away it’s not just reporting on games, it’s not just analytics, you have to really know the culture of who you’re reporting for and who you’re writing for and know your audience,” Nelson said.

Nelson said she will bring guest speakers into class as a way for students to “get their foot in the door” within the world of journalism and possibly gain a mentor or an advocate for future job opportunities.

“It really is who you know, and who knows you,” Nelson said. “And who can advocate for you in rooms that you’re not in.”

Nelson said she plans to reach out to GW’s Department of Athletics to form a partnership so her students can cover live games on campus. She said she hopes to require attendance at se-

lect GW games as an aspect of the course while also being cognizant of students’ schedules.

“This class is much different than the news writing class,” Nelson said. “We’ll go a lot more out there in the scenes, in the weeds, learning next to real reporters who are actually doing this for business and learning on the job.”

Nelson said she also plans to integrate social media and live tweeting into the course as essential skills in sports reporting. She said she has secured job opportunities in the past because of her sports reporting on social media platforms.

Jesse Holland Jr., the associate director of SMPA and an assistant professor of media and public affairs, said he has had more students ask him to add a sports reporting class to the curriculum than any other class over his four years at the school. He said he had been in talks with Nelson about the class for about a year before putting it on the schedule of classes.

“We’re always looking to ensure that we’re teaching what our students need to know to help them in the industries in which they choose,” Holland said. “Students came to us and said they were interested in a sports journalism class.”

Holland said he will wait to see the success of the

class before determining how often it will be taught in the future.

All 20 seats in the class are currently listed as full in the GWeb registration portal. “If it’s popular, maybe we’ll add more,” Holland said. “But the proof is always in the pudding, so we’ll see how the first semester goes.”

Ashley Robinson, a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication, said she is excited to take an SMPA class that “zeroes in” on sports reporting since most classes focus on political reporting and general news writing. Robinson said while she was not able to fit the class into her schedule next year, she hopes to take it as soon as she can.

“Actually being able to learn about sports reporting in the classroom is a great opportunity to develop my skills and get more formal education on what sports reporting is like,” Robinson said.

Robinson said she has seen a lot of interest for a sports reporting class from SMPA students, especially the people she is involved with in GW-TV. She added that she grew up visiting a TV studio alongside her father, a sports broadcast reporter, and said she would want to see SMPA add a sports broadcasting class

Student workers describe exit from Jumpstart volunteer program

From Page 1

The March 22 minutes state that despite some students surpassing 300 hours, they continued to clock in and receive paychecks that came out of Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service’s budget.

Amy Cohen, the executive director of the Nashman Center, which houses Jumpstart at GW, said students who complete 300 hours would be exited from the program, conflicting with what students said occurred in the past — when they could work more than 300 hours and continue being paid.

“The Nashman Center is committed to offering students robust and engaging extracurricular work within the D.C. community,” Cohen said in an email. “GW Jumpstart is one such example, where students have the opportunity to serve preschools in low-income neighborhoods for an academic year.” Cohen declined to say how many students had to stop serving with Jumpstart.

The Jumpstart program, an AmeriCorps initiative, debuted at GW in 1995 and trains and places college students in schools located in underserved areas to improve kindergarten readiness through small-group instruction each academic year. With their presence in classrooms, the student-teacher ratio is lowered to 3-to-1, which Jumpstart’s website states helps students receive an individualized education.

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Public Property on Campus (2100 Block of G Street NW) 3/29/2024 – 8:40 p.m.

Open Case

A female student reported being the victim of sexual assault by a male subject. Referred to the Metropolitan Police Department.

DRUG LAW VIOLATION, LIQUOR LAW VIOLATION

West Hall 3/30/2024 – 12:30 a.m.

Closed Case

GW Police Department officers responded to a report of a female student’s sick male guest. Upon arrival, officers made contact with the student who said her guest ingested marijuana edibles that another student had given him. The administrator on call arrived to search the area, which led to the discovery and disposal of a male student’s alcohol. Referred to the Division for Student Affairs.

“When you lose someone in the classroom, things just become a little more chaotic,” said Lane, the student exited from Jumpstart. “There’s just one less person to communicate with the kids and see what’s going on. And if there are times where individual children need individual help, it’s that much harder to give them the help that they need.” Lane said the classroom component of Jumpstart consisted of reading books to students and creating lesson plans and activities based on the books they read. In one example, Lane said he read a book about thunderstorms to the kids.

Lane said the March 22 meeting was a response to some students clocking in for work despite already reaching the maximum amount of money allowed under their financial aid package.

All students participating in Jumpstart are eligible for more than $1,500 from AmeriCorps if they complete 300 hours. Students who aren’t eligible for the FWS program can participate as volunteers and be qualified for the award. The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits employees from volunteering or providing their unpaid services to for-profit employers.

Congress amended the act in 1985 to clarify people could volunteer their services to public agencies, which AmeriCorps is one of.

Cohen declined to say if students who were exited from the program were permitted to return as volunteers.

Sophomore Sahana Withanachchi, a team

member for the program who ran out of FWS money and completed 300 hours, said her team leader announced that she would leave the program in the team’s group chat after the March 22 meeting because she reached her required hours and ran out of her FWS money. Withanachchi said she learned she would also have to leave the program herself after talking to a different team leader the next day, who explained that anyone who reached 300 hours had to leave.

“There’s nothing super formal about this which is really confusing to me because there was never a statement, like released or something,” Withanachchi said.

Withanachchi said she formerly taught in a special education class every Tuesday and Thursday at Garrison Elementary in Shaw, which she began in the fall. She said she felt bad leaving her classroom before the D.C. school year ended and would have wanted to continue participating as a volunteer.

“I had already formed a connection with these kids, and the kids were familiar with me because I was there so often,” Withanachchi said. Withanachchi also said that after the meeting in late March, she had to tell her classroom that she would be leaving. She said the teachers understood the decision was out of her control, but she worried about the impact of leaving the class before the school year ended because one of her responsibilities included filling in as an assistant teacher if substitutes weren’t available.

in the future, in addition to sports writing and reporting.

“A lot of my professors at SMPA have been adjunct professors who have great experience in their fields,” Robinson said. “And it’s really important to learn from people who have actually been out there doing the reporting themselves.”

Junior Abe Rothstein, a sports reporter for WRGW, said he registered for the course and has wanted to take a sports reporting course at SMPA for the last two years. He said he wants to learn the writing style required for sports journalism and how to ask questions during press conferences.

“Stylistically, it’s a bit of a different style,” Rothstein said. “So learning when’s the proper time to put your own voice in your writing, when is the proper time to be a little more proper.”

Junior Scott Greaney said he was surprised when he first learned that SMPA had not already offered a sports reporting course. Greaney, who is enrolled in the course, said he looks forward to learning more about writing sports feature stories that focus on a coach or a player rather than game write-ups.

“Those, for a larger audience, would be a much more fun read,” Greaney said.

BLACKMAIL, HARASSMENT: EMAIL AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Shenkman Hall Reported 3/31/2024 – Unknown Date

and Time

Open Case

A female student reported being blackmailed and harassed by a non-GW affiliated male subject via text message.

Case open.

LIQUOR LAW VIOLATION

South Hall 4/5/2024 – 12:13 a.m.

Closed Case

GWPD officers responded to a report of an intoxicated female student. Emergency Medical Response Group officials arrived on scene and after medical evaluation transported the student to the GW Hospital emergency room for further treatment. Referred to DSA.

LIQUOR LAW VIOLATION

Thurston Hall 4/5/2024 – 12:46 a.m.

Closed Case GWPD officers responded to a report of an intoxicated female student. D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services responders arrived on scene and after medical evaluation transported the student to the D.C. Stabilization Center for further treatment. Referred to DSA.

—Compiled by Max Porter

GWPD chief discusses training of armed officers, community response

In the final scenario, a man in a hoodie entered a nondescript shop and approached the counter. After speaking briefly with the clerk, the man shot the clerk before firing at Tate.

“Drop the gun, drop it, drop it now,” Tate shouted. Tate pulled his handgun from the holster but did not return fire. He said it may be “a little bit tough for students” to watch officers fire a weapon, even in a training scenario.

“The purpose was to show in that moment, if we had to discharge, I would have discharged,” Tate said. “We talked it over with comms. What we really didn’t want to do was go through where you’re actually seeing me or the officer firing a weapon and discharging it at a bad actor.”

Officials stated in September that the University would complete the second phase of arming — equipping four additional officers with handguns, on top of Tate and Mullinax — by the end of that month. But Tate said he paused between the first and second phases of the plan because the police department “didn’t want to rush things,” especially as students began regular campus demonstrations in the fall in reaction to the Israel-Hamas war.

“We didn’t want to rush,” Tate said. “If you remember, last semester, we had a lot of activity on campus, First Amendment activity that we were focused on.”

The Faculty Senate also passed a resolution in October calling on officials to pause the second phase of

arming until officials released the full community feedback on the decision to arm officers, along with any changes to liability insurance and GWPD operational costs. Tate said the resolution “certainly wasn’t a factor” for him in pausing implementation.

“No need to rush, we want to get it right,” Tate said.

Tate said phase two of the program will end in the coming days or weeks. Officials selected members of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, a group announced alongside the arming announcement consisting of students, faculty, staff and neighborhood residents, on Friday.

Tate said he believes implementation is “going well.” GWPD will post an additional “minor revision” to its use of force policy based on suggestions from faculty in about a week, Tate said.

Students protested the arming decision in the weeks following the arming announcement last spring, and hundreds of faculty signed a letter in May calling for the decision’s reversal. Student Government

Association President Arielle Geismar announced last week the launch of the GWPD Accountability Working Group, which plans to advocate to reverse the arming of GWPD supervisors.

“We still understand that people are still uncomfortable, to some degree, with where we are,” Tate said. “I get that. We’re sensitive to that.” Tate said he has not received any complaints regarding armed officers’ presence at student demonstrations on campus this year. While Tate has been absent from most student demonstrations, he observed a February pro-Palestinian demonstration in University Yard, and Mullinax has been present for at least two demonstrations. Tate finished his meeting with The Hatchet by distributing “challenge coins,” which the chief hands out to groups he works with. One side of the coin displays GW’s seal and the other depicts the GWPD chief badge, emblazoned with the words “Trust,” “Transparency” and “Accountability.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RAPHAEL KELLNER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER First-year Zach Brody interviews ultimate frisbee team member Daniel Davis outside of the School of Media & Public Affairs.

DANIEL HEUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER GW Police Department Chief James Tate

Opinions

Lauren K. Harris for president

One candidate stands out from the crowd in the fourway race for Student Government Association president: Lauren K. Harris.

We believe this week, students should vote for Harris, an outsider to the SGA but a leader of GW’s community. Her perspective and platform may be just what the body needs to better represent students and go in a bold, new direction.

The succinct platform Harris shared with the editorial board addresses six objectives that range from the SGA to GW as a whole. Harris said she’d organize town halls and forums to demystify student government. And she said she’d take advantage of social media — and the youthful spirit of Generation Z — to better advertise what the SGA’s up to.

Regarding GW, Harris said she would bridge the gap between Foggy Bottom and D.C. through activities and events both on and off campus; create task forces focused on enhancing students’ access to Title IX resources; provide students with drink covers and panic buzzers; reduce GW’s environmental impact by working with GW Dining to eliminate the distribution of single-use plastics; and strengthen inclusivity on campus through organizations like the Multicultural Student Services Center.

Harris wasn’t the only candidate whose plans touched on these issues. In fact, her platform could have more thoroughly dis-

cussed students’ demands for affordable Plan B and medication abortion on campus — and how she’d use the SGA to turn those demands into action.

But what struck us most in our discussion was Harris’ understanding of GW’s community. She felt less like someone courting a few influential student organizations than a student wanting to bring all of her peers together. And while her ideas to arrange tours of different D.C. neighborhoods or hold a go-go music festival require further fleshing out, they demonstrate Harris’ interest in using the SGA to build connections on campus and beyond it.

Harris also spoke about the resentment students can feel toward the SGA. While student organizations may feel cheated out of funding, other students might have no idea how the governing body works, or who’s even in charge. Harris said she wanted the SGA to be more accessible to students, and we agree.

The editorial board also met with the three other candidates running for president: Nicky Beruashvili, the SGA’s executive secretary for internal relations, and SGA Senators Ethan Fitzgerald and Dan Saleem. As a member of SGA President Arielle Geismar’s cabinet, Beruashvili’s enthusiasm for the SGA was evident throughout our interview. Yet among his plans to address community, environment, safety and health at GW, we found

some of his points — like maintaining, if not expanding, a 60-member executive cabinet — to be concerning.

Fitzgerald put together an extensive plan that addressed seemingly every issue students face on campus: mental, physical and reproductive health, food quality in the dining halls, grade forgiveness, increasing laundry credits and much, much more. He told us why he’d included more than 40 individual initiatives in his platform and what he hoped to accomplish. But we hoped for more of an explanation as to how Fitzgerald would actually achieve these goals, not just talk about them.

Saleem’s “DAN Plan” on dining, advocacy for students and new standards for the SGA caught our attention, and not just because of its catchy name. Saleem is right that the SGA needs reform, from trimming the size of the cabinet to more student outreach. But it doesn’t take an insider to know that — or to make it happen.

Harris is an outsider to the SGA, and that status comes with pros and cons of its own. While she has experience as the vice president and finance chair for GW Startup Avenue, Harris will likely have to spend the beginning of her term learning on the job. As she acknowledged in our interview, she might not have the most expertise of all the candidates running, but she thinks she can improve the SGA. So do we.

Between working alongside the Student Government Association president, tangling with senators and advancing their own initiatives, being the SGA vice president isn’t easy. With her combination of experience and perspective, junior Aly McCormick has what it takes to succeed. She deserves students’ votes for vice president.

During our discussion, McCormick told us the lessons she’d learned as the speaker of American University’s Undergraduate Senate: Don’t let drama fester and communicate with your colleagues. If McCormick can apply those lessons to the SGA Senate, we think it could put aside politics and personal feuds for students’ sake.

Beyond adjusting its attitude, McCormick has plans to make the SGA more transparent. She said she’d publish meeting minutes online and ensure the body’s documents are unlocked for the public to access. And McCormick said she would extend that openness to the SGA’s financial allocations process, allowing members of student organizations to attend the committee meetings that determine the funding they receive.

Giving students more scrutiny over their representatives is a plus in our book. These administrative reforms are also likely the easiest parts of her agenda to implement, and they’re well within the realm of what’s possible for the SGA to accomplish in a single year.

The initiatives

McCormick said she could achieve in office would change GW for the better, and not just those pertaining to the SGA. To prevent sexual violence on campus, McCormick said she would shift Title IX training to occur yearly for students and faculty and compile information and resources regarding sexual violence into a “survivors’ bill of rights.” These initiatives would better support members of this campus — and send a clear message about what the University’s values are.

Though McCormick transferred to GW in the fall, we feel as though she’s grasped the problems facing students here in just a few months. Whether through her own experience or discussions with her new peers, McCormick’s platform — though short and simple compared to fellow vice presidential candidate and SGA Senator Ethan Lynne — ticks the issues we’d expected to see. The platform Lynne provided us included topics ranging from artificial intelligence in the classroom to course registration to campus spaces. Where Lynne and McCormick address similar points, like the hours of Lerner Health and Wellness Center, tap access to residence halls for off-campus and commuter students or GW Dining, they tend to land on the same side of the issue. With the candidates’ policies in sync, the vice presidential race is a question of quantity versus quality. We appreciated Lynne’s

ambition and his plans to address the concerns of various members of GW’s student body. But we viewed McCormick’s platform as the better choice — its brevity is a strength, not a weakness. There’s only so much any candidate can do once elected, and students have a right to expect them to deliver on their platforms. Lynne has experience in the senate, and he discussed how his connections with student organizations and officials will turn his plans into reality. But we felt some of his proposals relied too much on the University to be feasible. Passing a resolution hardly guarantees officials will take action, and even the most effective of vice presidents have only the time and capital for a handful of initiatives before the next election.

Despite our endorsement, we suspect some of McCormick’s plans would take years to come to fruition, if at all. Getting a Foggy Bottom-area grocery store to once again accept GWorld will be an uphill battle. But to her credit, McCormick acknowledged the long-term nature of that particular plan, and she said platforms that overpromise and underdeliver leave voters feeling disillusioned. The SGA can’t do everything, but it can advocate. And when we asked McCormick how she’d like to be remembered after her time in office, she said as someone who actually advocated for students. We believe McCormick can use the vice presidency to do just that.

Students should vote yes on this year’s

A referendum this year asks students whether they support granting the Student Government Association president and vice president a vote on the Board of Trustees.

We believe students should vote yes on this referendum. But first, they should understand what they’re voting for. The referendum doesn’t guarantee students will sit alongside the trustees who shape GW’s future. It’s a poll: Yes or no, do you think students should have voting power on the Board?

To put it simply: The Board matters a lot. For as much focus (or flak) officials like University President Ellen Granberg, Prov-

ost Chris Bracey or Dean of Students Colette Coleman receive on a day-to-day basis, it’s the Board that sets the overarching agenda. In whole or in part, the Board has had a role in retiring GW’s previous “Colonials” moniker, selecting Granberg to lead the University and arming GW Police Department officers. And all of that took place in just the past two years. Giving students a literal seat at the table could change the outcome of future decisions. While students don’t currently have voting power on the Board, they do participate in it. SGA President Arielle Geismar briefs trustees and sits on the Board’s

Committee on Academic Affairs, albeit as a nonvoting member. And last week, she said she was in the process of creating a student council that would meet with trustees.

But student lobbying can only sway the Board so much. The decision to discard the “Colonials” moniker came after years of student pushes, but similar victories are few and far between. That’s through no fault of student leaders themselves — sometimes what students need and administration want are simply misaligned.

But while student voices can be easily ignored, a “yea” or “nay” from a student member

referendum

of the Board can never be fully disregarded. At the same time, the tangible inclusion of student representatives in every major decision is exactly why the plan is unlikely to come to fruition.

Assuming the referendum passes, the very Board that students want to change will have the final say over creating new, voting members. If trustees say anything at all, we suspect they’ll say “no.” In November, a University spokesperson told The Hatchet the Board wouldn’t consider a SGA resolution that requested it add voting members to the Board. The failure of that resolution led to this year’s referendum,

which we admit raises more questions than it answers. For instance, how can the SGA president and vice president really claim to represent the whole student body when so few students vote for them?

And yet, we still think the referendum deserves your support.

If you’re unhappy with how the University’s being run, use this vote to tell trustees how they’ve handled the past year or so. Remind them that you chose GW for a reason — and now you want to leave it better than you found it. Whatever your vision entails, it runs through the Board of Trustees.

Rowing takes on Ivy League and A-10 teams at Saint Joseph’s Invitational

Rowing competed against Atlantic 10 competitors Massachusetts and Rhode Island at the Saint Joseph’s Invitational with several boats finishing first amid strong winds of Leonia, New Jersey, on Saturday.

In addition to the two A-10 squads, the Revolutionaries varsity eight beat Marist and UConn en route to their victory. The Revs look to continue their championship streak after winning their first conference championship last season and taking home gold at the annual George’s Cup on March 24 against George Mason and Georgetown in their spring season opener. “The season is off to a great start. I think we set a lot of good foundational, technical and fitness improvements in the fall and now we’re ready to continue to execute that in the spring season,” Head Coach Paul Allbright said.

In the first heat of the regatta, the varsity eight finished first out of nine boats, with a final time of 7:33.34 minutes. During their heat, the team competed against Rhode Island and UMass and secured gold with a three-second margin overall over Columbia. The varsity eight boat also placed first in the second heat against Marist and UConn with a time of 7:50.37 minutes.

Sophomores Anna Golbus, Kendall Dorn and Brianne Wieczorek; juniors Mary Grace Konopka and Eliza Price; senior Flannery Dunn; and graduate students Ezi Emenike and Alexa Nealy manned the boat and junior

Caroline Crutsinger-Perry coxed the boat.

“Getting to race A-10 teams and seeing where you stack up with the people you’re going to race later on for a championship is very exciting and nerve-wracking,” Konopka said. “But also very much to look forward to because then you get a real check for your speed.”

The second varsity eight boat finished last against Rhode Island and UMass in their heat with a final time of 8:33.93 minutes. In a second wave, the boat beat their original heat time by 16 seconds, securing an end time of 8:18.53 minutes against Marist and UConn. The Revolutionaries earned sixth out of the nine competing boats.

The varsity four boat competed against Rhode Island and UMass in the first heat, finishing second with a time of 9:03.55 minutes, and placed second in the second heat against Marist and UConn with a time of 8:59.38 minutes.

“There’s a possibility of not beating [A-10 teams], or it’s a very close race, a lot closer than we thought it would be, where people begin to question everything that they’re putting in so far,” Konopka said. “You almost start to rethink and doubt yourself a little bit because you’re like, ‘Oh, we were supposed to be winning or like we’ve beat them before.’”

The third varsity eight boat placed last against Columbia, Bucknell and Navy during their first heat, finishing with a final time of 9:08.31 minutes, 15 seconds slower than third place Navy. The boat later earned third in a later heat with a time of 8:18.96 minutes when racing against Buckell, Rhode

Island and UConn, cutting almost 45 seconds off their previous time. The second varsity four boat placed last in both the first and last heat against Rhode Island and Columbia and against Columbia and Navy, respectively. The Revs finished with a final time of 10:10.70 minutes and 9:50.00, respectively.

Sophomores Annika Salwiczek, Tess Romine, Addisen Westphalen and Lia Nicodemo manned the boat, coxed by senior Emma Reese. The Revs will be hosting their

Women’s lacrosse wins first A-10 game, beats VCU in overtime

of it.”

Women’s lacrosse (410, 1-5 A-10) won their first conference game of the season, beating Virginia Commonwealth (4-9, 3-2 A-10) 15-14 in overtime

Saturday. The overtime win broke a three-game slide for the Revolutionaries after they fell to Davidson, Youngstown State and Saint Joseph’s through March. Graduate student attacker Emma Nowakowski scored eight goals during the game, breaking the program record previously held by Rachel Mia who held it previously in 2015 and Laura Hostetler who has maintained the record since 2005. Nowakowski’s recordbreaking eight total goals also shattered her previous career high of two goals during her time as an attacker for High Point University. Nowakowski, who is nicknamed “Ski” by her teammates, is a first-year law student. “I think it was a team win,” Nowakowski said. “We finally put four quarters together, and it was a great feeling at the end of it.”

Nowakowski, senior attacker Katie Lederman, senior midfielder Phoebe Mullarkey and graduate student attacker Desiree

Kleberg all scored goals throughout the first quarter, placing the Revs in the lead 6-4 after the first 15 minutes.

GW started the second quarter outscoring the Rams by four goals as VCU struggled to maintain possession of the ball in the first few minutes. Entering the second quarter, graduate student attack Kleberg nailed a shot 31 seconds into the quarter, bringing the score to 7-4 and widening the lead to 3. Less than a minute later, Kleberg landed another shot in the goal, widening the Revolutionaries’ lead to four goals.

Multiple free position attempts helped VCU close the gap as the teams ended the half tied 8-8. VCU launched a successful goal after obtaining a free position attempt, bringing the score to 5-8. Within a span of a minute and half, VCU managed to clinch three more goals, tying the quarter 8-8.

Nowakowski scored three goals in the third quarter, two of which were free position shots, giving the Revs a narrow 11-10 lead. “We didn’t want to look at the score, we just wanted to do our thing,” Nowakowski said. “The ties, the goals, it’s all a momentum game and we just had to take advantage

Mullarkey scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, giving GW a twogoal lead within the first four minutes. However, turnovers and repeated fouls allowed the Rams back into the game, which finished with the score knotted at 14-14. With a three-minute overtime, Nowakowski sealed GW’s win in less than 50 seconds. Nowakowksi obtained possession of the ball, launching a successful shot at the net.

Head Coach Colleen McCaffrey said the win was “much needed” and was the result of focusing on a combination of teamwork, culture, discipline and accountability on and off the field. The win comes after a four-game losing streak for the team and losses to conference opponents.

“Essentially doing your job on the field and then being respectful off the field, I think the team bought into that,” McCaffrey said. “They showed up today in every quarter, not just the first quarter, not just the fourth quarter. I think that was the consistency piece that we’ve been missing, which they stepped up today.”

The Revs will travel to Richmond, Virginia, to take on Richmond this Saturday at 1 p.m.

first home invitational since the 2018-19 season next weekend and the team is looking forward to family, friends and supporters bringing the energy to this invite, Park said. The team has not competed on the Potomac River since October 2022, with regattas this season taking place in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. Park said she is excited to have local support with friends and family planning to watch her row

at the meet.

“I feel like people don’t see what we do all too often, so I’m excited to have other people see what we do,” Konopka said. “My friends can’t wait to see me race because they never get to do that and I also just think there’s something so nice about racing on water that you’re used to every single day.” Rowing will host the GW Invite this Friday and Saturday on the Potomac River for the first time since April 2019.

Club sailing works to stay afloat

CARRIE MCGUINNESS STAFF WRITER

Navigating the winds and waves of the Potomac River, club sailing has continued to find success on the water despite University officials removing the team’s varsity status in 2021.

The University established a varsity sailing program with both women’s and co-ed teams in 2012 after a multiyear push to prove it could find success on the national level. But less than 10 years later, officials cut the program due to COVID-19 headwinds, forcing the student-athletes to run the team themselves.

In April of 2019, the women’s team, ranked among the top 10 in the country, competed in their fifth-consecutive ICSA national championship to cap off half a decade as one of the University’s winningest programs.

During the 2019-20 season, the team’s last with varsity status, the Revolutionaries opened the year with several medalists at the Laser South and Navy Women’s regattas hosted by Navy. A week later, the team clinched gold at the Riley Cup hosted by Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia, beating out 18 other teams. They closed their season finishing eighth out of 10 in the St. Mary’s Team Race in early March.

Nearly six months after the season concluded, officials cut the sailing

program along with six other varsity sports, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason to reduce costs.

Officials said there were nine criteria they considered in their review of which sports to cut, including history of the sport at GW and NCAA Division I sponsorship. Sailing does not hold NCAA status but rather is governed by the ICSA.

During the squad’s first season as a club program in the fall of 2022, sailing emerged as the top-ranked club team in the ICSA rankings and earned an invitation to the national championships. Yet, in the following years, the team of 20 has struggled to stay at the top while competing without school funding and without a head coach.

Despite occasional successes, the team has fallen in national rankings and consistently places near the bottom at meets.

In the ICSA rankings this spring, the women’s team has bounced between No. 19 and 20, while the coed team fell from No. 9 on the Feb. 15 rankings to No. 20 on March 6.

The coed team placed last in two meets in March, finishing ninth out of nine teams in the Aaron Szambecki Team Race and fifth out of five in the D.C. Team Race, competing against four varsity teams in the latter and seven in the former.

Senior skipper Oscar

MacGillivray said he worries about the team’s future due to low fundraising returns.

“It’s crazy because we’ve had a lot of good moments this semester, last semester where we’re beating all these varsity teams,” MacGillivray said. “But when it comes down to certain things and certain events, the coaching and the lack of funding shows.” Club Sailing requested a budget of $49,173 from the Student Government Association in hopes of securing enough funds to pay a coach’s salary, according to SGA allocation documents, but ultimately received $8,460 from the University for their current year. Rowers pay dues of $650 each semester, with a full-year membership costing $1,300. Annual marina rental expenses amount to approximately $26,000 to $27,000.

“It’s a pretty high buyin rate, but we do the best we can to minimize costs,” junior and club President Lexa Lee said. “We do that by taking care of our boats to make sure that things don’t break and minor problems don’t become major problems.”

Lee said that being on the team with athletes who were recruited to the varsity program has helped motivate her to reach a higher level and take a leadership role within the club. “It made me want to work harder,” Lee said.

KRISTI WIDJAJA STAFF WRITER

The BEST of NORTHWEST campus life

campus life

When seeking a comforting, supportive pet, most college students would adopt a cat or a cuddly hamster.

Lexi Carmine, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering, opted for a spiny, scaled bearded dragon named Mango who proudly wears a grasshopper costume in addition to holiday-specific outfits.

“She has probably more clothes than I do,” Carmine said.

What started as a COVID-19 companion purchased from a reptile expo has now blossomed into a therapeutic and expensive responsibility. After Carmine’s previous “roach dealer” got too expensive for a college budget — $200 a month — Carmine began breeding her own cockroaches to feed the 3-yearold bearded dragon.

“I was spending so much money on insects so I actually now have like a Tupperware full of roaches,” Carmine said. Carmine said next to roaches, Mango’s favorite snack is blueberries, a supplement for her insect diet.

Mango has lived in three places in her three years with Carmine. The summer after Carmine’s first year, Mango lived the suite life in a hotel, in sophomore year it was Bell Hall and during junior and senior year Mango was approved to live in South

Hall in a glass enclosure. Carmine said Mango has an active social life on campus, often visiting bio labs, making guest appearances at parties and, of course, Mango’s own birthday party which Carmine invited a lot of people in her major to.

Mango’s popularity helped Carmine secure over $1,000 in donations for the bearded dragon’s surgery in February after she began bleeding internally because she couldn’t pass her eggs, which Carmine said was a major cause of infection among female bearded dragons. Carmine said she didn’t know if Mango would make it out of the exotic vet’s office in Virginia alive, but she survived both an egg removal surgery, being spayed and spent two weeks at the vet recovering.

Carmine said Mango loves to wander and even resorts to headbutting a

Readers’ choice: Alley between Textile Museum and University Yard

Despite her mischief, Carmine said Mango will give her open-mouthed smiles that brighten her day while she’s getting ready or doing work.

“I would say Mango is my biggest supporter,” Carmine said. “Whenever I’m doing anything like getting ready or just doing homework, she’s just staring at me, which is weird, but whenever I look over she’s just always there and she gives me these happy faces.”

No matter how close you may be with your roommates, there is nothing more humbling than being walked in on midcry session. Of all the not-so-luxurious aspects of dorm living, the lack of privacy to wallow in your homesickness or shed a tear over an exam is one of the hardest circumstances to prepare for. So, if you are looking for a private spot on campus to let out a good wail, look no further than the squash courts in the Lerner Health and Wellness Center. Since athletics officials cut GW’s men’s and women’s squash teams in

2021, Lerner’s third- and fourth-floor courts are relatively desolate, save for the occasional use by the club squash and archery teams, whose schedules are posted on Campus Recreation’s website.

You can reserve a time slot to access one of the six courts or take advantage of the entrance and observation area outside the actual courts, which are open during Lerner’s operating hours. To avoid the risk of running into the gym bro ex you’re still torn up about when walking through the gym to get to the squash area, Staircase 3 provides direct access to the courts on the third and fourth floors.

Once in the secluded squash area on either floor, there are a plethora of seating options to begin your sob session. While the discomfort of

the mini metal bleachers may enhance your negative emotions and help you get the most out of your cry, the black chairs by the windows overlooking the parking lot of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and Amsterdam Hall are a more supportive option with a better view. The chairs sit in alcoves between walls, free from the view of the basketball court next door. There are also more nooks and crannies by the windows and corners to hunker down in if a huddled cry is more your speed.

Best student comedian: Margaret Korinek

Best spot to smoke on campus: Square 80 alcove

GW’s grounds are home to numerous roofs and outdoor spaces with secluded swinging benches — while we’re not saying that these are good smoke spots, if they were, the alcove in Square 80 would be the best.

Tucked between 2109 F Street and Guthridge halls, a path from Square 80 paves the way to a small courtyard with a table and chairs. The alcove is pushed back far enough from Square 80’s main drag to conceal it from

passersby, but smokers can still people-watch from the spot’s vantage point, especially on a warm day when students are enjoying the green space. The alcove’s low profile is just the first in its list of perks. The walls on three sides of the alcove block the wind — no more fighting to light your green and keep it burning.

Flower beds and a small rock garden line the pathway to the alcove, evoking a calm and down-to-earth energy. If students are craving excitement, they can look up to a particular pair of opposing windows in 2109 F Street and Guthridge halls, where a pair of students have hung dueling

MAGA and pride flags out of neighboring windows. For the wandering minds of any stoner, conflict is the ideal daydreaming fuel.

As a beloved campus smoke spot, it’s common to see familiar faces while sparking up at the nook. The alcove has plenty of chairs to welcome any other sesh attendees.

All things considered, GW’s campus has plenty of great potential smoke spots, from the benches in Kogan, to behind West Hall on the Vern. But the little alcove in Square 80 has it all. From privacy to peacefulness, the sesh venue rightfully earns its title as the best not-exactly-allowed smoke spot in the Northwest.

Best female athlete: Mayowa Taiwo

On Nov. 6, 2019, eight minutes and 40 seconds into the season opener against Villanova, forward Mayowa Taiwo checked into her first collegiate game.

While she managed only a small contribution in that game, 4 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes, her debut proved to be a key moment in GW women’s basketball history.

135 games later, Taiwo has appeared in more contests than anyone in program history, providing dominant defense and tenacious rebounding in all five of her years in the Buff and Blue. Taiwo said she’s proud of her record, although it wasn’t something she was paying attention to while playing, especially as player transfer rates have increased.

Readers’ choice: Will Roberts

Margaret Korinek has a thing for mocking men on scooters, a regular bit in one of her frequent stand-up comedy performances.

Korinek, a senior majoring in political communication, has been a fixture of GW’s comedy scene since her first year through GWTV, Comedy Nights and her headliner shows at Tonic alongside fellow student comedian Will Roberts and magician and GW alum Max Davidson.

Korinek said she got her start in comedy when she was 15 in her hometown of Chicago, participating in workshops and improv classes through The Second City, a comedy group. She said as a teenager she had to put comedy on the “backburner” as many clubs did not allow performers under the age of 21.

“It was something that I couldn’t pursue when I was a teenager,” she said. “But it was always something that I liked and that I thought, ‘Maybe one day.’”

She said when she came

SANDRA KORETZ SPORTS EDITOR

Readers’ choice: James Bishop IV

to GW, her academic interest in broadcast journalism and communication inspired her to join GW-TV and its sketch comedy show, District Debrief. She said through Debrief, she participated in informal open mic events hosted by members which reignited her passion for stand-up comedy.

In the fall of 2022, Korinek launched Comedy Nights, a student group that holds regular stand-up performances on campus. Korinek said before the group’s creation, there was not a formal place on campus for students to perform standup comedy or connect with other comedians at GW. Korinek said she designed Comedy Nights for students with all levels of experience because she wanted to allow them to try “something new.” She said students without comedy experience can start by participating in open mic performances hosted by the organization and work their way up to recurring semester act status, seasoned comedians who feature at major showcases. As executive director, Korinek said she coaches new comedians as they prepare for their first performances.

Best male athlete: Djurdje Matic

After leaving Belgrade, Serbia, at 19 to pursue his collegiate education in the U.S., redshirt senior Djurdje Matic has cannonballed into the swimming record books for the Revolutionaries and Atlantic 10.

“I think it’s just a testament to loving GW, staying at GW,” Taiwo said. “Not everybody stays at one university for all their years of eligibility, and I’m really proud that I did that.”

Now an official student organization, as of fall 2023, the group hosts three open mics and two showcases per semester, attracting audiences of nearly 200 students and filling spaces like Lisner Downstage and Betts Theater. Korinek said through the laughs of her comedy shows, she’s also battled more than her fair share of sexist comments and “discrimination” from fellow comedians and audience members. She said with support from her friends and the Comedy Nights community, she learned to shift her mindset away from the negativity and approach comedy from a more “healthy” place. “My comedy can be vulnerable and where I’m talking about some of the hardest parts that I’ve gone through,” Korinek said. “I want people to know that I’m doing well and I feel like I’m getting my flowers now.”

her over 1,000 career board, third-most in program history. As for on-court memories, Taiwo said that she couldn’t narrow down to just one specific moment but highlighted last-minute GW wins and close A-10 matchups. With her extensive college career now over, Taiwo, who studied engineering, said she is unsure what’s next for her.

The women’s basketball team struggled through much of the 2023-24 sea-

son, finishing 11th in the Atlantic 10 and losing nine of 10 games to start conference play. Taiwo herself struggled, too: The graduate student went through a seven-game stretch from December to January where she failed to reach doubledigit scoring, shooting under 50 percent from the field in each contest. But Taiwo said she didn’t let this rough patch discourage her during her final season as a Revolutionary. She ended the season with seven-straight doubledigit rebound games, including a career-high 20 in a win against Massachussetts in February, which put

“I don’t know if there’s basketball in my future,” Taiwo said. “It would be great to see it in my future, but for now I’m just trying to navigate what that looks like.”

Matic represented Serbia in the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, in mid-February, and several weeks later broke records in two events in the A-10 Championships, helping the Revs secure its fourth-straight conference victory. Matic is set to race in the European Aquatics Championships starting June 10 in his home country, while attempting to secure qualifying times to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “It was a very fun experience, swimming at a big meet like that,” Matic said in an interview after his A-10 wins in March.

Growing up in Serbia, Matic said he enjoyed woodworking and crafting out of metal. He said upon moving to the U.S., he converted his creation skills into baking.

While representing Serbia in February at the World Aquatics Championship, Matic earned 22nd place in the 100-yard freestyle.

Matic has made his mark on the Revolutionaries’ Swimming and Diving program, securing gold medals for the 100-yard butterfly in each of his three performances at the A-10 Championships on Feb. 23.

Matic broke the A-10 and program record for the 100yard freestyle with a 43.01 preliminary round performance before earning gold with a 42.71 performance, a personal record.

Matic earned 14th place in the 100-yard butterfly at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, two weeks ago, securing his All-American title in his last race for the Revolutionaries. But even with those accomplishments in tow, Matic said the “most memora-

ble” moments for him came during races he swam with the rest of the GW team. He said the A-10 4×100-meter relay this past February stood out for how the team came together to win. “I wasn’t sure how I would swim because my 100 free individual race before that wasn’t the best,” Matic said over text. “But at the end, with the whole team supporting us, we managed to win that last relay and become the only team to win all five relays for both men and women.”

closed door to explore and find dark corners where she can nap or sprint down a hallway.

SOPHIA GOEDERT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

SOPHIA GOEDERT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Senior Lexi Carmine poses with her pet bearded dragon Mango.

BROOKE SHAPIRO STAFF WRITER

ANNA FATTIZZO STAFF WRITER

ANNELEISE PERSAUD | DESIGNER

Best restaurant to hate on: Call Your Mother

spot — but only if you’re willing to look past a constant mob of patrons and an overpriced menu for a lackluster sandwich.

Dense bagels, a gaudy pink decor and bizarre menu creations characterize an ordinary visit to the D.C. deli, solidifying the bagels as nothing to write home about, let alone call your mother.

Best bar meal: Madhatter’s Beef Brisket Sandwich

Readers’ choice: Barcelona Wine Bar’s Eggplant caponata

In “Alice in Wonderland,” the Cheshire Cat proudly declares to Alice “We’re all mad here” — my exact sentiment the first time my friend and I ordered beef brisket sandwiches from Madhatter DC.

hits while sipping blue watermelon rum punch out of life-size glass top hats ($40).

clubbing. Let me set the record straight: Even after gulping down one tangy mango margarita, I was relatively sober each time. I didn’t dream up the sandwich, though I fantasized about it for months after my first taste of wonder.

And to those naysayers who choose to pigeonhole Madhatter as a sloppy college bar and doubt their chefs could cook up this delectable comfort meal, I say: “Off with your heads!”

Inside, the deli is less than picture-perfect, with legions of patrons often winding out the door, reminiscent of either the line to a Taylor Swift concert or the waiting room of the Adams Morgan MedStar urgent care. When I am forced to resort to satisfying my bagel cravings at Call Your Mother, I’ve often had to order my bagels at least 30 minutes in advance through their website before making the trek to the West End location with friends. After spending up to half an hour slowly inching into the building to order, allowing your hunger to escalate to starvation, you’re faced with a wide spread of bagel options with each signature sandwich costing at least $7. For the GW students who check their GWorld balance on the regular, Call Your Mother doesn’t accept GWorld, and its menu will hurt your pockets.

Upon receiving your bagel, the results are often disappointing. Call Your Mother serves a small, dense bagel that makes the whole sandwich taste dry. You’ll find yourself reminiscing about the large, pillowy bagels from Bethesda Bagels or the chewy, buttery bagels from Bullfrog Bagels.

We have since gone back three times specifically for this mind-boggling sandwich ($14).

The brisket sandwich, my personal favorite menu item, is simply scrumptious, incorporating a barbecue sauce that goes heavier on the brown sugar than the vinegar and topped with crunchy, fried onion rings and creamy coleslaw. The meal comes with a large helping of crispy fries, an ideal vehicle for scooping up any brisket meat that escapes the toasted bun.

Since the “Alice In Wonderland”-themed bar is known among college students for only their strong drinks, I’m often met with mockery when I try to spread the gospel of the sweet and juicy, medium-cooked meat. “How hammered were you?”

The next time bagel connoisseurs think about indulging in Call Your Mother’s eccentric menu items and vibrant scenery, they should consider the diverse bagel vendors spread across the District instead of falling for a tourist-trap deli with bagels that make any foodie want to hang up on their mother.

Nestled in the crowded suite of nightclubs along Connecticut Avenue in Dupont Circle, Madhatter serves casual American pub food in their formal dining room complete with white-clothed tables and oak wood paneling until 9 p.m. Monday through Sunday. After dusk, the restaurant slips down a rabbit hole to transform into a nightclub where patrons mosh to 2000s pop

“Did you even remember who the president was when you tried it?” and “Are you sure it wasn’t all a dream?” people dubiously inquire after I suggest a trip to the restaurant to fuel up for a long night of

Best meal deal: Sushi Do’s Chicken Teriyaki Bowl

Readers’ chioce: Halal Shack’s Rice Bowl

The best meal deals thrive at the intersection of convenience and quality, and Sushi Do’s Chicken Teriyaki Bowl not only meets but excels at both requirements.

The bowl, which features the standard teriyaki chicken, cucumber, white rice and a choice of spicy mayo, teriyaki or mixed sauces and a canned beverage of choice, is one of the East Asian concept’s premier offerings. The vendor, located on the ground floor of Shenkman Hall, lets students fill their stomachs with ramen, sushi and

Bento boxes while avoiding the chaos of a dining hall.

Many don’t go to GW dining vendors with high expectations, given their less-than-stellar reputation on campus. But the “Chicken Teriyaki Bowl” nails the mix of tangy, sweet and savory flavors you’d expect from a bowl from an offcampus restaurant.

While the ingredients aren’t necessarily innovative, composed of what you’d find at any Asian-inspired bowl joint, the simplicity works to the meal’s advantage. Everything within the bowl is expected, so the offering appeals to lifelong fans of teriyaki and bowl newcomers looking for a new lunch spot.

Sushi Do’s location is ideal, especially for students living in Shenkman, gym bros looking for a post-workout meal and Vernies seeking an easyto-transport option before hopping on the Vex. As peak meal hours often see

Shenkman dining hall lines reach the doors of the building, Sushi Do stands as a quick and straightforward alternative for those with busier schedules.

The deal is among the most valuable within GW’s meal swipe program, as other options tend to be lighter on the quantity of food. The bowl contains just the right amount of food to either be eaten in one sitting or saved for a later meal depending on your mood, a necessary option as GWorld balances dwindle toward the end of the school year. Not every meal swipe option is a home run, but Sushi Do’s “Chicken Teriyaki Bowl” provides the value, quality and convenience you’d want from a top-tier deal. If you’re up for enduring the perilous crossing of 23rd street as consultants drive by to their fancy lunches, one of the hidden gems of GW’s dining gallery rogues awaits.

If it were up to me, the entire food pyramid would consist of cheese. It makes everything better — burgers, pasta, dip, hot dogs. Restaurants have realized that, fully cutting out the middleman and performing a genuine public service: serving us cheese straight off the rind.

sheep milk. The cheese’s abnormally high melting point allows it to be grilled or fried, an ideal condition that lets chefs work their magic as they would with a steak or other entrees.

Reader’s choice: Tonic’s Totchos

No dinner with friends is complete without a table’s worth of bites before the entrées are served.

To get a taste of Havana with a group of friends, make the short walk to Casta’s Rum Bar, located only three blocks from campus. Housed underground in a cave-like venue, this restaurant and bar transports you to Cuba through their vibrant tropical atmosphere featuring palm-tree murals and colorful barstools.

The “Taste of Casta’s” sampler plate ($56) is fit for a group of two to four to fill their stomachs with a variety of delicious Cuban appetizers. Served on a slab of wood covered with a sheet of newspaper, this platter comes with a pleth-

ora of fried, grilled and roasted delicacies, including empanadas, skewers, tostones, sliders and fries.

The empanadas come in a flaky crust filled with minced beef and chicken. Served piping hot, these pockets of sautéed onions and chopped up proteins provide a sense of comfort through their simplicity around other, bolder food options.

Best cheese: Urban Roast’s Glazed Halloumi Cheese

it’s no wonder the next season of “Love is Blind” was spotted filming at Urban Roast. Urban Roast, located near Gallery Place, offers a selection of meals and drinks beyond this brilliant cheese too. The seasonally decorated restaurant (rows of pink cherry blossoms dangle from the ceiling today) also crafts up some excellent charcuterie, an everrotating cast of cocktails and even s’mores.

D.C. isn’t known as a cheese city. I yearn for the cheese bars of Amsterdam, where conveyor belts deliver the finest dairy straight to your plate. But if you’re looking for a tasty night out in D.C. with a dairy loved one, try Urban Roast’s “glazed halloumi cheese” ($14).

Halloumi originates from the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, usually comprising a mixture of goat and

Urban Roast’s halloumi arrives at the table in four small slabs, each atop a pita. The cheese itself, of course, is delectable. Besides being warm and chewy from an effective grilling, the cooks devised a perfect glaze for the dish, a mixture of sweet honey and sesame seeds that contrast the milder umami of the halloumi.

The slightly singed cheese is firm and squeaky, making the texture as much of an adventure as the flavor. And the softness of the pita complements the mouthwatering succulence of the halloumi in a way that will leave you satisfied and asking for more.

The quartet of halloumi slices is perfect to share with a partner —

But sometimes, you’re just in the mood for cheese, and it’s okay to admit that. Hop over to Gallery Place, ask the server for three orders of halloumi, relax and take it cheesy.

Best shareable appetizer: Casta’s Rum Bar’s Taste of Casta’s

piping hot yuca fries provide a starchy treat that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside to complete the board.

My favorite part of the board is the crispy, baconwrapped plantains, which steal the show with their combination of sweet and savory flavor and crispy and soft texture.

The majority of the appetizers served on the platter are covered in a tangy, chipotle-flavored sofrito mayo sauce that provides a smokiness missing elsewhere on the board.

For groups looking to enjoy a refreshing beverage with their food, try a pitcher of mojitos ($55), a classic drink consisting of rum, fresh mint, lime and soda with enough to serve four. The bar also offers a lengthy rum list with varieties from around the world, including Trinidad, Jamaica, France and Australia.

Best out-of-the-box co ee: Elle’s

Reader’s choice:

An iced vanilla latte is a classic way to get a dose of caffeine with a hint of sweetness, but as a predictable menu option at every cafe, the drink can get a bit boring.

But such dullness is nowhere to be found at Elle, a homey, wood-paneled cafe and restaurant in Mount Pleasant. The coffee bar serves up pastries, breakfast and lunch during the day and offers a dinner and drink menu in the evening.

The cafe’s signature “hibiscus cinnamon fizz” ($6.50) combines espresso with tonic water and grapefruit juice. Other unconventional options include the “cardamom rose latte” ($6.50) with honey, cardamom and rose water and the “espresso tonic” ($6.50) with two shots of espresso, tonic water and a lemon twist.

The skewers include chunks of juicy grilled chicken and steak. While not the star of the board, these skewers provide bitesize pieces of meat separated by pieces of grilled onion, great for snacking on throughout a meal. The crispy tostones, or fried green plantains, provide a taste of sweet banana to the variety of savory options. The Cubano sliders are served on crunchy white bread and come with roasted pork, glazed ham, melted Swiss cheese, yellow mustard and pickles. While they look like standard sliders, they are anything but: With the variety of flavors from tangy mustard to sweet ham, each small bite is it’s own sampler platter of tastes. The

quality.

Although it was an unusual combination of ingredients for me, the chocolate hints of the espresso mixed with the fruity flavors created a familiar and enjoyable brew. Since I’m used to consuming espresso in a latte form, the in-your-face caffeinated presence was something fresh but enjoyable.

The sociality of Casta’s, through its massive sampler platter and dancing lessons, makes it a lively spot to experience another culture’s food, drinks and nightlife with your closest friends.

I settled on the “hibiscus cinnamon fizz” because of its bizarre but intriguing blend of flavors. The waiter approached me with the drink, calling it “the fizz thing,” and placing the brown and red gradient drink on the table. Served in a small glass with plenty of crunchy ice, I mixed the drink with my straw, creating a burgundy color.

The espresso was rich, strong and bitter, contrasting the sweet, tart, fruity concoction of grapefruit and hibiscus. With the addition of the tonic, the drink took on a fizzy, soda

While the promise of warmer weather might seem like a pipe dream amidst an onslaught of rain and gloom, seasonal fruit flavors and chilled espresso make Elle’s “hibiscus cinnamon fizz” an option off the beaten path to embrace spring — warm weather or not.

Colada Shop’s Churro Cafe Con Leche

The BEST of NORTHWEST

d.c. life

Best museum to go on a date: National Museum of American History

Readers’ choice: National Gallery of Art

The National Museum of American History isn’t just for history lovers. If you’re looking for dateworthy museums, mosey on down to the National Mall with your Smithsonian sweetheart.

From ruby slippers to low riders and first ladies to food, there’s plenty to see once inside. You and your (potential) paramour can each pick where you want to go, making small talk, sharing your interests or detecting red flags along the way. Are they a little too interested in that buff George Washington sculpture?

Readers’ choice: Woodrow Wilson

Cemeteries are so lifeless.

Sorry to all the graveyard fanatics out there, but as a former cemetery tour guide, I think I have the right to judge this deadly serious matter. There can only be so much interest in walking poorly paved paths and looking at a bunch of slabs of stone that look almost exactly the same.

Best grave: John A. Joyce

cog in the machinery of the Whiskey Ring, a moneylaundering arrangement between government officials and whiskey distillers.

Rejoice he did, after President Rutherford Hayes pardoned him and he returned to the District the next year, hence his burial in Oak Hill.

istics into question, though. Carved into the marble base below are quotes from some of his most famous poems, including in the front: “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.”

For people who need to know the politics of the person they’re dating, you’ve come to the right place. You can bond over whether American democracy has failed or fulfilled its promises. No awkward questions here, just stand back and watch as hot takes like “Reconstruction wasn’t radical enough” rise to the surface.

If sparks start flying between you and your museum match, go ahead and take advantage of the darkened Star-Spangled Banner

exhibit in the atrium. While all eyes are on the flag, you can get freaky. Much like the country whose story it tells, the National Museum of American History is far from perfect. Are there better museums? Definitely. But on a campus where dating can feel as bloody as the Revolutionary War, this museum has something for everyone. When swiping right turns to swapping rings, you’ll always remember your first date.

Best little free library: Watergate Little Library

At first glance, the free little library near the Watergate looked empty. Upon further inspection, it mostly was.

The only book left in the wooden enclosure one overcast spring afternoon was “Fool’s Fate” by Robin Hobb, the third part of her heralded fantasy trilogy. The novel being the sole remaining book in the library is likely indicative of what made this little library the most popular one on campus.

donate just as much as we take. On one occasion, my friend left a comparative politics textbook. On another, my friend nabbed a 200page guide to sex positions. That book was the staple of her coffee table for the next two years. That’s what makes free little libraries so alluring — they’re a window into the worlds of our neighbors. Sex positions and all.

What is fascinating is the scandal, plagiarism and lies that someone literally brings to the grave with them. That’s what the gravestone for John A. Joyce in Georgetown’s Oak Hill Cemetery contains.

Joyce was an IrishAmerican poet. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Joyce settled in D.C. after the war and then got sent to St. Louis, Missouri, when he joined the Internal Revenue Service. There, he was arrested for being a key

side with a sharpie. It’s anarchist — a real community effort.

Joyce’s grave is at the bottom of a series of winding cobblestone and pavement roads in the cemetery. All around him are typical gravestones. But Joyce’s marker is anything but typical. It catches the eye due to the giant corroding metal bust of his head that sits atop it, complete with a billowing mustache straight out of the 1800s. The marker is so grandiose that Joyce had to raise funds from fellow Washingtonians to have it erected in the years before his passing. Behind his head are four words that supposedly describe the tax-collecting, embezzling poet: “Truth,” “Justice,” “Nature” and “Science.”

Looking just under his head calls those character-

Only Joyce didn’t write that line. The stanza comes from author Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s “Solitude.” Joyce just took the poem, changed a few words and put it at the end of his 1885 memoir. In a book he wrote 10 years later, Joyce claimed to have come up with the poem on the spot when a friend challenged him to write after a few drinks.

Let Joyce be a grave lesson, dear reader. Plagiarize, and a college newspaper will write a story about your gravestone 150 years later. Originate, and you originate alone.

Best workout class: SoulCycle’s Taylor Swi Saturdays

At the intersection of 25th Street, New Hampshire Avenue and H Street, the library sits on a welltrodden pathway between the Georgetown Waterfront and Foggy Bottom. Like many other students, my friends and I often inspect its offerings on the way to the movies or on long walks around campus. Normally the library is brimming with books ranging from canon classics and poetry to historical nonfiction and fantasies.

Some of us have tried to

Many of the little free libraries around the world are associated with the Minnesota-based nonprofit of the same name. The organization encourages people to register their libraries and buy build-your-own library kits, which cost $250 a box and $50 for registration. The scheme rakes in about $3 million a year in revenue. The other little library on campus, a pink box on F Street, is registered under the umbrella group. Notably, the Watergate library is not part of the national organization. It’s made of old, weathered wood, and its only defining characteristic is that someone wrote “Ireland” on the

Now at the library’s intersection stands a sign from the National Park Service announcing turf rehabilitation on the median. So, in the future, the little library could be temporarily closed off. Or worse, torn down. An NPS spokesperson did not immediately return my call asking what would happen to the library. By the time I finished reporting this story, I felt so guilty about the lack of books in the library that I donated some old ones rotting on my shelf. If you see something by Hannah Arendt and Noam Chomsky, relics of my unbearably political high school self, scoop them up.

SoulCycle’s Georgetown location puts a sweaty spin on the Eras Tour, and Swifties are ready for it. The studio’s take on the Taylor Swift phenomenon, led by SoulCycle Instructor Christopher, is its signature 45-minute cycling class accompanied by jamming Taylor Swift songs ($24 for students). The weekly 11:45 a.m. Saturday class provides an opportunity for Swifties to exercise and embrace their beloved songstress.

left from exercising — perhaps more eager to listen to Taylor than bike.

them up.

Best jazz club: Jojo Restaurant and Bar

lit and illuminated by a sultry, crimson glow. It was romantic in a 1920s Jazz Age way. Only a couple feet from the tables, the band performed, their bass guitar, drums, saxophone and keyboard melding into the energetic sound of jazz. As the music played, some people sang, others danced, while many couples held hands — moments of romance you’d expect to see flicker across the screen at a showing of “La La Land.”

The band played a blend of high-energy drums and low-key saxophone-centered tunes, letting patrons dance like it was the roaring ’20s or cry over a lost love into their cocktail. The instrument-only performance let me focus on the rhythms of the different instruments, appreciating

each deep bass pluck and keyboard riff. I approached the bar in awe of its menagerie of spirits — everything from a bottle of Jack to a bougie bottle of Macallan. Deciding that I should feel as loose as the music around me, I ordered two drinks.

The first drink was $13 and called “La Vie En Rose” — inspired by the 1940s song of the same name by French singer Édith Piaf — it was crafted from Tito’s vodka, raspberry syrup, rose petal and lemon. The drink was slightly sour but had sweet, floral undertones. The second drink was called “The Ellington” —

adopting the name of the legendary jazz composer and D.C. native Duke Ellington — and consisted of Bulleit rye, apricot syrup, lemon, egg whites and angostura. The slightly pricier $15 drink was very sweet, making the “La Vie En Rose” seem like a strong and sour contrast. It was served in a whimsical glass with a twisty stem that looked like it could be a prop from the musical “Wicked.”

As the saxophone’s staccato melodies punctuated the background, the musicians ended their night by meandering over to the bar after the show to mingle with the audience.

SoulCycle’s workout is like “driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street.” Except instead of a Maserati, it’s a black stationary bike. Instead of driving, it’s sprinting and stomping away as the resistance ramps up to mimic a hill. By the end of the class, you’re burning red.

The beat guides the movements and speed, giving you the opportunity for cathartic release as you sprint across an invisible finish line to the upbeat pop hit “Cruel Summer.” Class participants sing along with whatever breath they have

Christopher intersperses choreography — like using the handlebars for crunches or pulling your hips back — throughout the class. While it may be difficult to keep up with at first, you pick up on it quickly. The combination of movements helps make the class feel over soon after it begins. Sometimes, the class’s playlist has a specific Taylor Swift theme, like requests from regular attendees or breakup anthems. Most of the time, however, it’s just any Taylor Swift the instructor wants to hear that day. With a discography spanning nearly 250 songs, each class remains a fresh musical experience. The room is dark and loud with tunes blasting — so no one can hear you belting “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)” as you battle heavy resistance. Christopher consistently leads Saturday’s Taylor Swift ride. He keeps the room motivated with his feel-good energy and hilarious commentary about everything from the television series “Survivor” to Fountain Diet Coke. His enthusiasm for Taylor and her budding relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce enhances the class experience,

motivating you to work out even if you’re nursing a terrible hangover from the night before. SoulCycle has a reputation for being a little bit culty — but if we’re talking reputations or cults, it’s hard to not mention Taylor. After experiencing the interspersed choreography, dim lighting and quotes on the wall like “inhale intention and exhale expectation,” it’s easy to see how the company earned this label.

But if it’s a culty experience contained in 45 minutes that allows you to get endorphins both from exercise and from listening to a megastar, it’s not the worst exclusive club to take part in.

Best independent movie theater: Suns Cinema

Readers’ choice: Landmark E Street Cinema

Nestled in D.C.’s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood is Suns Cinema, an intimate movie theater known for its cinema-themed cocktails and diverse lineup of film screenings. Upon entering the small two-floor cinema, which opened in 2016, moviegoers are greeted by chatting cinephiles in the quaint bar area on the first floor. The walls are adorned with retro Godzilla posters, and a rotating selection of movies plays on mute on a small projector screen.

At the bar, patrons can get the standard array of popcorn and candy, but it’s

restroom, refill on concessions or chat with their fellow moviegoers. Suns constructs its lineups by month, with the owners leaning on themes like directors, countries and holidays to define their selections. Regardless of the month, viewers can expect to see a mix of modern blockbusters, Hollywood classics and foreign films from all eras.

the drinks that are sure to impress film buffs and casual watchers alike. Suns offers $15 cocktails like the “Pineapple Express,” a reference to the 2008 Seth Rogen comedy, with gin, Suze, pineapple, cinnamon and lemon. Another highlight is “Blood and Black Lace,” which shares its name with a 1964 Italian horror classic, with scotch, beet, ginger, honey and lemon. The bar also offers beer, wine and herbal liqueur for prices ranging from $5 to $15 for those not in the mood for a cinematic cocktail. The theater’s one and only screen is on the second floor and seats about 30 people. Though smaller than the rooms in big chains like AMC and Regal, the lower capacity allows for both a communal and personal movie-watching experience, more akin to a charming living room than a cavernous auditorium. Each film, regardless of its length, sports an intermission that allows audiences to use the

April, themed as “Whimsical Wonders & Wim Wenders,” saw new releases like “Poor Things” and “Perfect Days” run alongside classics like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Paris, Texas.” Tickets for popular movies sell out quickly, so be sure to regularly check the Instagram for monthly lineups. What Suns Cinemas lacks in capacity and Nicole Kidman pre-show trailers, it makes up for in a calm and comfortable moviegoing experience sure to appeal to everyone, even if you don’t own a Letterboxd account.

JACKSON LANZER STAFF WRITER

HENRY HUVOS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ANNIE O’BRIEN STAFF WRITER

NICK PASION MANAGING EDITOR

JACKSON LANZER | PHOTOGRAPHER

The lively jazz scene at Jojo Restaurant and Bar on U Street.

DANIEL HEUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Two Smithsonian lovers soak in an exhibit.