Vol-121-Iss-18

HATCHET The GW

Trump’s anti-DEI efforts at schools have unclear fate at GW, experts say

PAWLOSKI

RAINA

REPORTER

RYAN SAENZ

REPORTER

Experts in constitutional law and diversity said they are uncertain about the impact that the Department of Education’s probes into university diversity, equity and inclusion policies could have on GW due to their lack of a clear legal basis and the likelihood of future legal battles.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week that called on the department to identify and carry out up to nine “potential civil compliance investigations” at universities with endowments over $1 billion, which cast a spotlight on 130 schools, including GW. The order tasked the department with examining whether these universities have engaged in discriminatory practices through policies intended to advance DEI, like using race as a criteria in their admissions, hiring or funding decisions.

The order was part of Trump’s larger mission to erase DEI practices and return the country to one that evaluates individuals exclusively based on merit. Legal experts and profes-

sors have conflicting opinions on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order and whether potential future civil suits against universities would hold up in court. No lawsuits have yet been filed concerning the education department’s antiDEI directive as of Sunday, but 13 Democratic attorneys general penned a joint statement condemning all of the president’s recent attempts to eliminate DEI initiatives and policies.

Two of GW’s 12 peer schools — Northeastern University and the University of Miami — preemptively shut down DEI offices and removed all mentions of DEI from their websites since Trump’s executive order. GW has not made any changes to the website of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement as of Sunday.

University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said officials are analyzing and assessing the “multiple, varied and complex” implications of Trump’s executive order but declined to comment on how GW plans to respond if the DOE were to ask the University to terminate its diversity programs. She also declined to say if the University has con-

tingency plans in place to continue supporting underrepresented groups if GW’s DEI offices or programs are terminated but said officials will continue to share information and support as it becomes available.

Gary Orfield, a professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there’s no way to tell which universities the department will investigate. Orfield said potential legal opposition from Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court will check the power of the executive order. He said GW, which he believes will likely not be investigated by the DOE, would also be able to take legal action against the department if needed, since Trump is making claims that universities have broken the law without hinging his argument on a specific federal law.

Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, said if the lawsuits are taken to court, the Trump administration is likely to argue DEI policies are “discriminatory” and violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in programs that receive federal funding.

Rescinded federal funding freeze leaves questions for University researchers

Officials are attempting to guide faculty members through confusion over the future of federal research funding after President Donald Trump’s nowrescinded freeze of federal funds last week.

The Trump administration Monday released a memo ordering temporary funding freezes for more than two thousand federal programs and on Thursday rescinded the move, sparking concerns among researchers over the administration’s policies on federal research grants. Interim Vice Provost for Research Bob Miller said it is “too soon” to know the full impact of these executive actions but that the Office of Research is working with the Division of Development and Alumni Relations and other partners to bolster sources of nonfederal research funding.

“It is critical for any research-intensive academic institution to diversify its funding portfolio beyond federal funders,” Miller said in an email. “The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is providing encouragement and direct

support to faculty who wish to engage with notfor-profit, corporate, philanthropic, or state and local government funders.”

The Trump administration said the freeze intended to allow officials to review which projects aligned with the administration’s values on climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which Trump has called “discrimination programs.” Trump also rolled back numerous policies aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions, including withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords on his first day in office.

The funding freeze followed instructions to federal health agencies to halt all travel and communications, like health advisories, updates on websites and social media communication. The pause in communication caused the National Science Foundation to cancel grant review panels, where experts allocate federal funding to research projects, including those at universities.

The GW Office of Sponsored Projects collaborated with the University this week to launch a webpage listing executive orders

that may affect GW’s research activity. It also links announcements from federal agencies like the NSF. In fiscal year 2024, 82 percent of GW research funding can be attributed to federal sources, Miller said. The University’s federal research expenditures rose from about $161.87 million in FY2022 to about $162.89 million in FY2023, according to the University’s annual research report presented in January.

“It is too soon to know the full extent of any impact on our federally-funded projects, but we recognize that these changes create a sense of uncertainty,” Miller said in an email. “The Office of the Provost is tracking developments closely along with our peer institutions.”

Provost Chris Bracey and Miller told faculty members in an email Tuesday that those with research projects impacted by executive actions should reach out to the Office of Sponsored Projects but that faculty should continue research as normal unless they have been notified their research was affected.

DAYS AFTER CRASH, DC REGION MOURNS FATAL AVIATION DISASTER

An internal ethics complaint filed two years ago argued that Medical Faculty Associates Board Chair Ellen Zane’s business relationship with an MFA contractor is a potential conflict of interest, aligning with faculty concerns raised after The Hatchet’s reporting on the relationship last week.

A December 2022 complaint to GW obtained by The Hatchet argues that Zane’s “material interest” in the financial success of Savista — the MFA’s independent revenue manager that it hired in December 2019 — could influence her ability to make impartial decisions about the medical enterprise. It outlines worries that

Zane’s dual roles as MFA board chair and Savista board director “appear to pose” a direct and material conflict of interest.

The complaint, which was filed by a community member whose name The Hatchet has withheld, was filed through GW’s confidential portal that is used to report unethical conduct and noncompliance by “all members of the University.”

University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said that Zane disclosed her position on Savista’s board of directors and was recused from the MFA board’s vote on whether to retain the company but declined to say when she disclosed her Savista role or was recused.

The University has also twice

said that the MFA — a network of health care providers and faculty affiliated with GW Hospital and the University’s medical school — followed “its policy” for managing conflicts of interest with trustees. But officials have not explicitly explained what the MFA board conflict of interest policy is or how it compares to GW’s Trustee Conflicts of Interest Policy or the MFA’s Conflict of Interest Policy.

The ethics complaint argues that Zane holds a simultaneous interest in Savista’s financial success and responsibility to lead the MFA, which awarded Savista a “substantial contract” for services in 2019.

SAGE RUSSELL | SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

A cyclist speeds past Building YY, which houses the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement.

JENNA LEE ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

THIS WEEK’S EVENTS GEOPOLITICS OF AID: CHINESE, RUSSIAN, AND AMERICAN COVID-19 ASSISTANCE

Monday, Feb. 3 | Noon | Elliott School of International Affairs Join a conversation on foreign aid.

MEASURING WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

Tuesday, Feb. 4 | 11:10 a.m. | Virtual Attend a discussion with the Institute for International Economic Policy.

The number of sororities at GW dropped from 14 to two between 1966 and 1977 due to low enrollment in response to a perception that sororities are "only for rich girls." THIS WEEK IN HISTORY Feb. 3, 1977

SGA executive sessions requested by top officials surge this term

ST. CLAIR

MOLLY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

The Student Government Association Senate has spent nearly three and a half hours in private meetings with officials this year at the University’s request — a contrast from last term when the body never met with officials in executive session. Since the start of the SGA’s 2024-25 term in May, the body has motioned on five occasions to remove members of the public from the room during biweekly public meetings to talk with top University officials, according to SGA meeting agendas. These private conversations, which SGA senators say the University requests, have ranged from 25-minute presentations to hourlong Q&As, marking a shift from previous years when officials met with the SGA during public meeting time and executive sessions were absent from meeting agendas.

The SGA has convened executive sessions during public meetings this term to meet with officials, like Associate Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Jordan West, Dean of Students Colette Coleman, Vice Provost for Enrollment and Student Success Jay Goff and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Scott Mory. During executive sessions, all members of the public in attendance must exit the University Student Center Grand Ballroom. Any information discussed in executive session is confidential, according to SGA bylaws.

The SGA spent about 15 minutes in executive session on three separate occasions in the body’s 2023-24 term, which SGA senators used to deliberate and vote on legislation. Last year, the body moved to a 30-minute executive session to discuss a bill to form a

graduate student assembly within the body, which later failed. The SGA did not disclose these executive sessions in agendas before the meetings but disclosed the sessions in the public minutes published after adjournment.

GW officials like James Tate, the former GW Police Department chief, and Baxter Goodly, the senior associate vice president of facilities planning, construction and management, discussed the cost of arming GWPD officers and upcoming residence hall projects at public SGA Senate meetings in September and November 2023, respectively.

University officials have attended five of the SGA’s 13 senate meetings this term in executive sessions after SGA senators motioned to move into executive session at the officials’ request. Some officials including Mory

and Coleman began their presentations in a public format before moving into an executive session for the remainder of the meeting.

A University spokesperson said closed forums are sometimes “necessary” for conversations between officials and the SGA about confidential information.

A University spokesperson declined to comment on what factors officials consider when deciding whether to request an executive session and what officials are involved in the decision-making process. The spokesperson also declined to comment on the contents of West, Goff and Coleman’s conversations in executive sessions.

“In collaboration with administrators, the SGA decides on the topics and scope of these discussions,” a University spokesperson said in an email.

CRIME LOG

THEFT II/OTHER, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY/VANDALISM

University Yard

1/28/25 – Noon to 4 p.m.

Open Case

A male student reported his scooter stolen. Case open.

THEFT II/OTHER

University Yard

1/28/25 – 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Open Case

A male student reported his scooter stolen. Case open.

THEFT II/OTHER

2000 Block of H Street NW

1/29/25 – 2:15 to 4:50 p.m.

Open Case

A male student reported his scooter stolen. Case open.

DRUG LAW VIOLATION

Thurston Hall

1/30/25 – 8:20 p.m.

Open Case GW Police Department officers responded to a report of the administrator on call having observed marijuana and rolling papers during a room check. The GWPD officers took the contents to the Academic Center for processing.

Referred to Division of Conflict Education & Student Accountability.

—Compiled by Ella Mitchell

GW distributes front desk guidance on potential ICE visits: student workers

Front desk supervisors circulated a checklist to front desk staff across campus last week to prepare for potential unannounced visits from immigration enforcement agents in the wake of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport migrants, student employees reported. The checklist instructs front office staff not to let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enter private spaces and outlines GW’s employee protocol if ICE visits campus to enforce immigrationrelated action. The University published the guidance on the Office of the General Counsel’s website in 2017, according to web archives, but students said supervisors distributed a printed checklist to desks

across campus in the last week.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order that allows immigration officials to carry out immigration enforcement in sensitive areas like churches, schools and universities. ICE considers universities to be “sensitive locations,” according to the GW OGC’s website.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” DHS said in a statement Tuesday.

In response to the executive order, about 80 education-related organizations penned a letter on Jan. 20 urging state and local leaders to reject anti-immigrant actions by the Trump administration.

“An attack on immigrants is an attack on us all,” the letter reads. “Immigrants are deeply intertwined in the fabric of our nation and integral to the future of this

country.”

The OGC’s website states that agents may not go beyond GW public spaces into offices, labs, conference rooms, residence halls and classrooms. If ICE agents attempt to enter nonpublic spaces, the site advises employees to state, “I am not authorized to let you enter. I will call our university police department now so they may speak with you.”

University spokesperson Julia Metjian confirmed that guidance for front desk staff and supervisors on immigration-related government visits has been available on the University’s website.

The site states that employees should call the GW Police Department and alert their supervisor if an ICE agent attempts to enter the building. GWPD will not participate in joint enforcement against

individuals based on immigration status unless required by law, like a warrant, according to the OGC’s website.

ICE agents must have a warrant to seize University property or documents or take individuals into custody and should not carry out the warrant until GWPD or OGC has reviewed it, according to the website.

The Hatchet observed printed copies of the guidance at the front desks of the Multicultural Student Services Center and Center for Career Services on Friday.

The website also provides links outlining additional protocols for supervisors and front desk staff. The guidance advises employees to remain calm when talking to the officers and contact their supervisor or GWPD immediately, according to the checklist.

Front desk staff are instructed to request credentials or another type of identification from the agents and make copies, per the checklist. The checklist also informs staff that they are not allowed to give out any information or answer questions about GW employees or students.

Sophia McCoy, a first-year who works at the Campus Living & Residential Education office in Amsterdam Hall, said CLRE officials in the last week shared guidance.

“It’s good that we’re spreading awareness about it. They really shouldn’t be able to just take people from this University just because it’s a presidential executive order,” McCoy said. “I think it’s good that we’re teaching people to protect their rights and knowing what the limitations of the government are.”

First-years shake dust of dormancy off conservative student groups

GRACE CHINOWSKY

EDITOR IN CHIEF

When a professor asked his class of 40 students to vote by a show of hands for which candidate they thought would win the presidential election in the fall, Jipson Chang said he was one of three who raised their hand for Donald Trump.

Polls at the time were predicting a dead heat, but the election broke the way the first-year political science and international affairs student had predicted. A Republican trifecta emerged in the District after Trump swept the swing states and GOP majorities prevailed in both chambers of Congress — a victory that Chang said should stir students to confront the country’s increasingly conservative political reality.

“If supposedly some of the brightest political science majors, some of the brightest international affairs majors in the country were this wrong about an election, is there anything that I or anyone could do to kind of fill this intellectual complacency?” Chang recalled asking himself.

By December, he had reregistered Young Americans for Freedom at GWU, the University’s chapter of the national conservative youth organization Young America’s Foundation.

The YAF chairman is one of several first-years that revived inactive conservative student groups this fall, along with the Foggy Bottom branch of Turning Point USA, a group that promotes limited government, free market economics and free speech.

Both national organizations sit on the advisory board for Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint for the next Republican administration that parallels some of Trump’s first executive actions, despite the president disavowing the plans during his campaign.

Chang said the previous iteration of YAF voluntarily disbanded in 2022 due to internal disagreements within the group’s executive board over “social issues.”

The Student Government Association Senate urged the University to suspend the chapter in April 2022 after it tweeted transphobic remarks earlier that month.

Chang said the incident was part of a larger “culture war” between “traditional values” and policies concerning LGBTQ+ rights and diversity, equity and inclusion.

“They did not communicate it correctly,” Chang said. “They probably did it in a way too, I’d say, insidious manner.”

Chang said YAF doesn’t endorse political candidates or parties but instead aims to introduce conservative

perspectives to a dominantly left-wing campus.

YAF frequently faced backlash for inviting rightwing speakers to campus, including Ben Shapiro, Rick Santorum, Michael Knowles and Phyllis Schafly.

He said he sees potential in GW’s culture shifting to be more accepting of conservatism due to the political acumen of the student body, and he envisions the revived chapter at GW as an umbrella organization where students across the conservative spectrum can come together, from “Trumpist populists” to “Never Trumpers” to the “New Right.”

Chang said he and YAF Vice Chairman Stan Biskupski recently found the posters they plastered advertising their group ripped down or vandalized in at least three campus buildings.

About 30 to 40 students signed a YAF interest form before the group’s first informal meeting last week, Chang said. It plans to hold biweekly meetings in late February or early March, along with a “pro-life timeline project” — a tabling event where members will invite students to indicate when they believe human life begins using sticky notes.

The group will express its views on issues that are “loud enough” on campus through statements posted on Instagram, Chang said,

but YAF’s entire executive board must first approve the comments.

“That doesn’t mean what we’re going to say is never going to be controversial, but I don’t see much benefit in purposely pursuing controversy,” Biskupski said. He added, “I think that was a big mistake by the last organization, but that’s not to say that they didn’t do a lot of good things as well.” Biskupski said Trump’s win of the popular vote proves that there is a nationwide attraction toward con-

servatism, referencing public opinion polls that show a substantive share of the U.S. population holds “at least a few” conservative opinions. The president won the popular vote by 1.5 percentage points in 2024, He said as a result, liberal students should no longer perceive conservatism as “crazy” or “evil” but instead “misguided.” The GOP’s electoral victories have also pushed right-leaning students to more closely examine what they believe in and why, Biskupski added.

Co-founders Carter Zgonina and Sarah Haies, who are both studying political science, said officials rejected their organization’s reregistration application in November due to concerns that the group was too similar to College Republicans and would fail to gauge sufficient interest. Haies said the group’s “targeted approach” in advocating for limited government, free market economics and free speech differentiates it from other right-wing student groups.

SAGE RUSSELL | SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

Young Americans for Freedom at GWU Chairman Jipson Chang and Vice Chairman Stan Biskupski

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

The Grand Ballroom entrance on the third floor of the University Student Center, where the Student Government Association holds its meetings.

Pro-Palestinian activists protest, hold teach-in on NATO at Elliott School

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the Elliott School of International Affairs to protest an event co-hosted by the school and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Thursday.

About 35 protesters gathered on the sidewalk of the 1900 block of E Street to rally against a seminar hosted by the Elliott School about NATO’s agenda on emerging and disruptive technology. The protest was the first event hosted by GW’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine following the organization’s suspension, which concluded in December.

Students gathered outside the school at noon, chanting statements like “We want justice you say how? NATO off our campus now,” and “NATO, NATO, you’re a tyrant, we will never be silent,” before a representative from GW Dissenters spoke about the history of NATO’s formation and military interventions, kicking off four speeches from student organizations.

“GW has historically indoctrinated students into warmongering weapons development industries and continue to do so today,” the representative said.

Students from organizations including Dissenters, Socialist Action Initiative, Arab American Student Association, Arab American Association of Engineers and Architects and SJP spoke to the crowd about how the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic — a NATO organization which provides companies with resources to develop technologies to solve security challenges — funds companies that develop surveillance and defense technology for both military and civilian purposes.

SJP, along with Jewish Voices for Peace, Dissenters, Black Defiance

and SAI, are currently on disciplinary probation for their alleged involvement in campus protests last spring, including the encampments in University Yard and F Street and an April protest at the Elliott School, where the Student Coalition for Palestine at GWU hung a giant Palestinian flag from the roof of 1959 E Street, the residence hall adjacent to the Elliott School.

The representative said NATO has a history in supporting wars and intervening in nonimperial countries like launching a military campaign in Libya with NATO members like the United States, United Kingdom and France, conducting an air and naval strike against Colonel Mu’ammar alGaddafi’s forces — the ruling force of Libya from 1969 to 2011. The representative said DIANA produces

technologies like artificial intelligence that weaken international stability and human security.

A representative from ASA said it’s difficult for Arab students to feel recognized at a university where “explicitly imperialist organizations” like NATO are normalized and accepted in international affairs and political science studies.

“A ceasefire has been our deepest hope for over 400 days and for the people of Gaza to return to their homes,” the speaker said. “We, as they and Palestinians around the world, must push further. We must push for the end of occupation and apartheid, which NATO sanctions in its unequivocal support for the Zionist state.”

An AAAEA representative referenced Anthony Hinton, Canada’s former deputy ambassador to Is-

Safety trainings fail to address past campus incidents: faculty

After a string of events on campus last year tested GW’s emergency preparedness, a majority of faculty members said the University’s new safety training completed last month did not provide new information.

Officials implemented the new training through Cornerstone OnDemand, a human resource software, in September with a window of 60 days to complete the safety awareness modules by Nov. 4 and assigned an additional training on active threats due Jan. 10. While one faculty member reported the trainings provided “clarity” on emergency protocol, other professors said the trainings lacked realistic actions, like de-escalation skills, for faculty to take in the event of an active shooter and that the trainings cannot be the only answer to solving campus safety issues.

A year before the University rolled out the trainings, officials issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place order in response to homicide suspect Christopher Haynes’ escape from police custody at GW Hospital in September 2023. Faculty said unclear policies and inconsistent enforcement caused confusion during the four-hour advisory.

In May 2023, several faculty and staff members reported receiving minimal emergency preparedness training, ranging from no training to some mandatory videos and virtual modules during faculty orientation upon joining the University.

University spokesperson Julia Metjian said the University developed the safety awareness and active threat trainings last year after “community requests” to increase “awareness” and understanding of University safety resources and procedures.

Metjian said University “safety teams” and “industry experts” developed the trainings to meet the needs of the GW community. She declined to comment on whether the trainings were implemented in response to the hospital escapee incident in fall 2023 or subse-

contracts and that Israel can “punish” Palestinians for resisting imperialism with the support of NATO.

“According to NATO, they are interested in having a foothold in the Mediterranean as it connects all of the world’s political, economic, and energy hubs,” the presentation reads.

An SJP protester, who requested anonymity due to fear of doxxing and retaliation, said SJP incorporated a lesson about the history of NATO into Thursday’s demonstration to emphasize different ways the University contributes to the war in Gaza in addition to investing in Lockheed Martin and other military industrial companies. They added that NATO is a “key element” that drives imperialist efforts globally and that NATO works to subdue socialist and revolutionary movements.

The protester said through SJP and the Student Coalition for Palestine at GWU, they have been able to learn about the broader struggles of community groups like the Palestinian Youth Movement and African People’s Revolutionary Party.

rael, as one of the speakers at the seminar, who the representative said honored Israeli Defense Force soldiers during his tenure.

After about an hour of chanting and speeches from student representatives, organizers began a teach-in of the history of NATO. Protesters followed along the teachin on their phones through a Google Slides presentation distributed by a QR code.

The presentation stated NATO acts as an “armed wing” of U.S. imperialism by imposing sanctions, cyber-warfare, mass surveillance and lobbying for increased military spending. The presentation also stated that Israel is a “major nonNATO ally” that receives benefits from NATO like joint exercises, counter-terror operations and access to the Department of Defense

quent faculty reports of lack of direction and confusion during the shelter-in-place order.

“GW continues to strive to offer training that is relevant and valuable to our faculty, students, and staff,” Metjian said in an email. “We value feedback and understand that these trainings may be received differently based on individual perspectives and experiences.”

The Office of Emergency Management released an after-action review in December 2023 following the shelter-in-place in September 2023, with feedback from more than 150 staff, faculty and students from 30 academic departments.

The report included 111 recommendations, like providing physical security and keeping GW academic departments updated on safety protocols.

Dwayne Wright, an assistant professor of higher education administration, said he took GW’s active threat training twice this academic year, once through his capacity as a professor and a second time as a master’s student. The Division of Safety and Operations expanded the mandatory training to include students and staff members in an email sent to students last month.

Wright said the training was the “exact same” both times he took it.

“I didn’t learn anything new,” Wright said. “I just learned how GW was adopting certain concepts that I had already been exposed to at other universities.”

Wright, who is a member of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, said the committee did not assist the administration in creating the active threat training

and that members did not have an “advanced screening” of the training before it was assigned. He said the committee has not met since the training went live in January.

Wright said while he is happy the University provided “something” after the incidents last year, the training was “surface level” and not a “comprehensive answer” to the lack of guidance provided during the manhunt in 2023. He said in the future the training might need to be updated to include new technology or active drills.

Eli McCarthy, a professor of peace studies, said the University’s push to provide safety guidance may be driven by “deeper fears” from officials and a tendency to copy what other institutions or universities “do right” in relation to safety and security.

“I just hope as a University, where we’re working on critical thinking and broadening our imagination and being innovative and so forth, that we take this as an opportunity to broaden the scope of how we think about and practice safety in our community because it can be a model for other universities and other parts of our country,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy, who is also a member of the CSAC, said the committee is currently discussing the idea of deescalation training, like using distraction or dialogue that can help shift energy away from the situation. He said the training would start with “sectors,” like residence hall community coordinators, to create a “civilian-based community” on campus tasked with responding to “conflicts” in residence halls or the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

“Something really beautiful about the coalition and the SJP space is that there’s so much that I can learn from other people who know about their struggles back in their homelands,” the protester said.

Former President Joe Biden announced earlier this month that Israel and Hamas entered a threephase ceasefire deal in which Hamas will release the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. The protester said despite Israel and Hamas entering the first stage of the ceasefire, community members are uncertain the agreement will be upheld into the remaining phases.

“We have to continue to apply pressure, let the whole world know that eyes are all still on Palestine, and there’s still massive support for the Palestinian people,” the protester said.

Neighborhood leaders praise end to legal attempts to

ELLA MITCHELL CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR RORY QUEALY NEWS EDITOR

Local representatives said the end of a yearlong legal battle that attempted to thwart the opening of an unhoused shelter near campus signals a bright future for the facility.

The West End D.C. Community Association earlier this month withdrew its lawsuit and appeal to the Board of Zoning Adjustment, which argued the operations of The Aston, a bridge housing facility on New Hampshire Avenue that opened in November, violated District zoning laws. Neighborhood leaders said WEDCCA’s decision to withdraw — which canceled the Jan. 29 BZA hearing and Feb. 7 D.C. Superior Court hearing to decide whether The Aston could continue operations — suggests concerns about The Aston were untrue and allows the shelter to continue serving the unhoused population in Foggy Bottom.

The lawyers representing WEDCCA did not return a request for comment on why the group withdrew the lawsuit and appeal. The D.C. Department of Buildings and Department of Human Services did not return requests for comment.

The Aston conversion faced scrutiny from com-

foil Aston opening

munity members since the District pitched the plan for converting the building in June 2023 for potentially lowering property value in the area. D.C. officials delayed the shelter’s opening five times. During the yearlong period of delays, community members expressed frustrations to officials about the series of issues, and community members in September 2024 probed District officials about the shelter’s incoming tenants.

“I’m pleased that they made what I consider the right decision and decided to stop wasting everyone’s time and money on something that wasn’t beneficial to the community,” Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Jim Malec said.

WEDCCA filed the lawsuit in November 2023, alleging that District officials could not open The Aston because D.C. zoning law prohibits the bridge housing facility from providing medical services and temporary housing, which would have required the District to secure a special exception from the BZA.

The zoning appeal, which the group filed in October, mirrors the lawsuit and states that the Department of Buildings violated the same zoning rules by issuing The Aston a building permit in August.

Division Director of The Aston Jeremy Jones said in

December that the bridge housing facility, which is the first of its kind in the District, admitted 39 tenants in its first month, and member of the Community Advisory Team, the group overseeing The Aston said earlier this month that the noncongregate, or private, shelter reached 50 residents.

Both Jones and Cooperman reported smooth operations and a lack of community concerns about the facility in its first few months, and District officials said they received no formal complaints.

D.C. Department of Human Services Deputy Administrator Anthony Newman said earlier this week that 10 residents exited The Aston program in the first month. He said one tenant moved into permanent supportive housing and the other nine tenants’ departure was “unexplained.” The CAT voted unanimously Monday to raise the number of unhoused people residing in the facility from 50 to 100 as part of the phased move-in system officials announced in September. In each complaint, WEDCCA argued that The Aston should be identified as an “emergency shelter” as opposed to an apartment house under D.C. zoning regulations because it provides services to medically vulnerable individuals and temporarily houses unhoused people.

CHUCKIE COPELAND | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

TALAN MASKIVISH | STAFF

RACHEL KURLANDSKY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Students protest outside of the Elliott School of International Affairs.

Write-in candidate files lawsuit to halt ANC special election

ELLA

A write-in candidate who was denied a seat on the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission in November’s election filed a lawsuit against the D.C. Board of Elections and the governing body last month seeking to stymie this month’s special election.

Two weeks after the D.C. Court of Appeals struck down write-in candidate Dennis Sobin’s petition to gain a seat on ANC 2A because unregistered nominees received more votes, Sobin filed a lawsuit claiming that the D.C. Board of Elections and the governing body violated the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Sobin aims to delay the ANC’s special election after two new candidates launched bids to fill the body’s vacancies, arguing that people with disabilities could struggle to secure the 25 signatures every candidate must collect to run, according to the suit.

Candidates Keaton Dicapo and Sean Youngstone launched bids Jan. 13 for seats 2A01, representing the area encompassing Mitchell and Thurston halls, and 2A09, the seat Sobin lost, representing Amsterdam, Madison, Fulbright and JBKO halls and GW Hospital, respectively.

The D.C. Board of Elections declined to comment on how, if at all, the lawsuit would impact ANC 2A’s special election.

The D.C. Board of Elections said in December that Sobin did not earn the seat because unregistered nominees received more votes. Sobin disagreed with the decision and filed a case with the D.C. Court of Appeals seeking to reverse the decision, which the court rejected in December.

Sobin said in an interview that he felt like the judge “rubber stamped” the case without considering it. Sobin, 81, states in the recent filing that the special election process violates ADA guidelines because there are “no provisions” to allow elderly or disabled individuals to run. The suit states there’s few options for candidates with limited mobility to run as write-ins or participate in absentee voting since the D.C. Board of Elections requires candidates to collect at least 25 signatures between Jan. 13 and Feb. 3 to run in the election.

Write-in candidates in the general election do not have collect the 25 sig-

natures and are only required to submit a Declaration of Candidacy form up to seven days after voting, according to the D.C. Board of Elections. The D.C. Board of Elections does not outline a write-in process for special elections, and it is unclear if there’s a protocol for candidates to gather signatures electronically or via proxy. D.C. Code passed an amendment in 2022 allowing for the electronic circulation of petition sheets for ANC candidates running in single-member districts that include the Central Detention Facility and Correctional Treatment Facility.

“Since the election requires signature gathering for petitions to run (there is no provision for a candidate to run as a write which candidate must do because of his limited mobility) and no absentee voting, he is excluded from the election as both a candidate and a voter,” states Sobin’s filing, which was obtained by The Hatchet.

The suit states that Sobin is seeking to stop the election pending a decision on his complaint because there is “no easy recourse” to void the special election after it occurs.

Sobin initially launched a writein bid for single-member district 2A09 in the November election and received backlash from commissioner-elects on the body after his presumed win because of his status as a registered sex offender. A Florida jury in 2005 convicted Sobin on seven felony counts involving child pornography and racketeering after he faced arrest in 1991 for taking nude video footage of two children at a nudist campground.

The D.C. Court of Appeals’ December ruling rendered ANC 2A unable to conduct business and make formal recommendations to the D.C. government because less than 50 percent of the seats are filled.

Sobin has not filed Declaration of Candidacy form and, as of Jan. 30, Dicapo and Youngstone are running unopposed, according to the D.C. Board of Elections. The D.C. Board of Elections will publish candidates’ petitions for “public inspection”in early February, at which point it will certify candidates who qualify for appointment.

If Sobin decides not to face off against Youngstone for single-member district 2A09, the Board of Elections will certify Youngstone, the only qualified candidate, and the seat will be deemed filled. If Sobin decides to run, the ANC gives notice at a meeting that an open vote will take place at a subsequent meeting, according to D.C. Board of Elections.

Education equality

researcher, steadfast thesis adviser dies at 91

SACHINI ADIKARI CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR

Iris Rotberg, a research pro-

fessor of education policy at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, died Jan. 1. She was 91.

Rotberg served as a thesis adviser at the time of her death but joined the University as a research professor of education in 1996, where she researched issues of school reform, increasing in segregation from charter schools, the education of low-income students, test-based accountability, international test-score comparisons, welfare reform and federal policy in financing education. Her colleagues at GSEHD remember her as a strong-willed but supportive contrarian in a male-dominated field.

Rotberg was born in 1932 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Samuel Comens and Golda “Shuman” Comens. As a child, Rotberg went to school with the children of steel executives while her father treated families as a doctor at $5 a house call, which developed her perceptions of class, racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, according to her obituary.

Jim Williams, a professor of international education and international affairs, said Rotberg worked for a more equitable world, where collective decisionmaking is informed by evidence and “good thinking.” Williams said she believed education could improve all individuals and societies.

“She believed that humans and individuals were capable of good, she believed that collectively, we’re capable of good but also harm,” Williams said. “She believed that there needed to be institutional ways to support the good and keep the evil at bay.”

Rotberg received her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband Eugene Rotberg. She earned her doctorate in experimental psychology from Johns Hopkins University at age 24 and is the second woman to have received that degree in 50 years, according to her obituary.

Before joining GW, Rotberg held positions at the National Science Foundation, RAND, the Technology Policy Task Force of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology and the National Institute of Education.

She also held research positions within the Office of Economic Opportunity, a government agency responsible for administrating most of the War on Poverty programs in 1964, the President’s Commission on Income Maintenance Programs under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Human Resources Research Office and Johns Hopkins, where she researched psycholinguistics and learning, according to her faculty profile.

Williams said he fondly remembers co-teaching Comparative Solutions to Common Educational Problems with Rotberg for several years. He said Rotberg taught the class without pay because GW would not pay both

of them for teaching the course together.

He said Rotberg was a firm opponent of international educational comparison and large scale international education systems like Programme for International Student Assessment, a global survey that evaluates education systems by assessing the skills of 15-year-old students because she believed they looked at the U.S. education system through a very narrow lens.

“She believed in and supported the decentralized complexity of the U.S. system and the ways in which it supported innovation, the ways it supported excellence, the ways it supported second chances and its goals of equity,” Williams said.

Yas Nakib, an associate professor of education policy, said Rotberg ensured students would not fall for “fashionable” policies or quick fixes in the realm of education policy. Nakib said despite Rotberg’s declining health in the last year, she continued to advise doctoral candidates and provide analysis of the latest education fad.

He said Rotberg’s favorite pastime at GW was interacting with international students and learning about their educational experiences and backgrounds from their home countries.

“Iris cherished her faculty role,” Nakib said in an email. “To her, working with students was the highlight of her life mission to instill rigor of argument and salience of policies.”

Rotberg wrote articles and provided commentaries on school reform, international education and the effects of higher education on low-income stu-

dents, which were published in numerous journals. She was also the editor of “Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform,” a book that brings together examples of current education reforms in 16 countries, according to her obituary.

Nakib said Rotberg held her views very strongly and was unafraid to express her opinions.

“Iris could not stand researchers and policymakers who scapegoat income inequality with ‘straw man’ tactics,” Nakib said. “She was never impartial to express and publish her views on the downsides of international assessments, charter schools, and school accountability.”

Joshua Glazer, an associate professor of education policy, said Rotberg was a “tireless” supporter, researcher, critic and advocate for public education.

Glazer said her teaching style was a mix of “methodological” training in education policy with an “acute” sense of social justice and educational equity.

“As a woman who worked in many male-dominated contexts, she developed formidable powers of persuasion and argumentation,” Glazer said in an email. “Anyone who thought to disagree with her was well-advised to hone their points ahead of time.”

The school plans to dedicate a seminar to Rotberg, according to a tribute from the school.

Rotberg’s funeral service was held Jan. 6 at the Emanuel Cemetery within Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. She is survived by her husband, Eugene, two daughters, two sons-in-law, eight grandchildren and a greatgrandson, her obituary states.

Graduate business students form body to bolster programming, funding

SAMUEL PEREZ REPORTER

Graduate student business groups and School of Business officials are finalizing an umbrella organization for managing funds and events this semester.

Student leaders said the Graduate Business Association intends to bolster programming and efficiently disperse money to GWSB’s 13 graduate student organizations. Janiece Morton, the assistant program director for graduate programs at GWSB, said Vice Dean of Graduate Programs Shivraj Kanungo kickstarted the organization in fall 2022 to be more inclusive of the school’s programs by distributing funding to all graduate organizations, which previously had funding distributed to them through the Student Government Association.

Morton said the MBA Association served as the previous umbrella organization for GWSB graduate organizations and was originally formed to serve the MBA population. But, she said the school added more specialized graduate programs over time, and officials wanted an organization to include non-MBA graduate students. Morton

said Kanungo saw the success of the Undergraduate Business Association in uniting undergraduate organizations and wanted a similar structure for graduate students.

“We wanted both sides of the population to mix and mingle and get to know each other as well,” Morton said. “We realized that the umbrella student organization was a very pivotal part of the integration of all of the graduate programs at the School of Business, and we wanted to figure out how we can kind of support that transition from the top down.”

Student organizations in the GBA include the MBAA, Black MBA Association, GW Consulting Club, Graduate Finance Society, Forté Organization at GW, Graduate Marketing Club and GW MBA Business Analytics Club. The National Association of Asian MBAs, GW Net Impact, Out for Business, Prospanica, Real Estate Investment & Development Organization and Women’s MBA Association are also included in GBA.

Morton said Kanungo tasked her with developing the new parent organization when she began her role at GW in fall 2022. GWSB officials worked with the Office

of Student Life and the SGA to change the umbrella organization’s policies to expand its jurisdiction over all graduate GWSB organizations instead of just organizations for MBAs, she said.

In October 2023, the SGA passed a bill to make it easier for graduate students to form governing bodies under the SGA, aiming to bolster graduate student involvement and give student organizations greater control of allocation funding.

The bill’s sponsor, thenSGA Senate Chairperson Pro Tempore Amy Cowley, said in 2023 that she created the bill after hearing the MBAA tried to expand its representation for all GWSB graduate organizations in 2022, but it lacked the authority to change its structure.

Morton said last fall was a “transitional period” for GBA in which the organization elected new executive board members and hosted events but maintained the MBAA title on Engage. She said when GBA was formally established at the start of the fall semester, their Engage page changed titles and the organization received funds from graduate business students through the SGA fee to then distribute to its subsidiary organizations.

She said she also worked with the previous MBAA executive board to refine their organization’s constitution to establish new language that included all graduate students in GWSB. Claire Martin, the executive vice president of the GBA, said the organization is in the final steps of allocating funds to all of its student organizations and reviewing the draft constitution be-

fore the end of February. She said the establishment of GBA is not a rebranding of the MBAA, despite some of its members helping start the new organization.

“They were just nice enough to be the ones to help sort of launch it and work with the staff. It’s more that GBA is completely new, versus MBAA changing,” Martin said.

The GBA hosted its second graduate networking social Thursday, which the MBAA previously hosted once a semester, according to Engage. “That’s for all graduate business students to come together and learn about organizations that they can be part of but also what’s happening as a whole and also meet one another,” Martin said.

NICHOLAS WARE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Graduate Business Association Executive Vice President Claire Martin speaks to the crowd.

COURTESY OF YAS NAKIB

Iris Rotberg smiles for a photo.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BELLA FOURNIER

Dennis Sobin's printed lawsuit.

SCOTUS justice hears legal arguments in GW Moot Court finals

“So let’s now sit back and transition from Lisner Auditorium to a courtroom,” Matthew said.

Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson presided over GW Law’s moot court competition finals Thursday in Lisner Auditorium.

Jackson served as the chief justice of the court for the 75th Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition Finals last week, alongside First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David J. Barron and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Roopali H. Desai. During the legal face-off, four third-year GW Law students put their education to the test as they made arguments on a hypothetical case created by the American Moot Court Association in pursuit of victory in a competition that originally included over 100 contestants.

In the Constitutional Law Moot Court, teams of students appeal mock legal disputes to a higher court of guest judges, allowing law students to practice their legal argument and advocacy skills by researching legal precedent, drafting legal briefs and presenting oral arguments, according to the American Moot Court Association. In her introductory remarks, GW Law Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew said the multiround competition began in September with 124 upper-level law students at GW, the largest number in the history of the competition at the University. She said the final round, which included four students, platformed the “best of the best” of GW’s law students.

Jordan Marcum and William Schubert represented the petitioners, while Claire Housley and Emma Stinson represented the respondents as they argued their respective cases seeking to win the title of best overall team.

The AMCA presented competitors with a case involving a child born to a white mother and Native American father, who is a member of the Okowobee tribe, who was placed in the foster care of Spencer and Tarra Addison, following the death of the father in a car accident and the mother’s struggle to support the child.

Upon the Addisons’ petition to adopt the child, the New Columbia Department of Children and Families advised the foster family that the child was protected under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, which sets a minimum age for Native children to be placed in foster care, and by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who sought to preserve the “best interests” of Native children, determining that the child couldn’t be adopted. The child’s mother then informed the department that the child’s biological aunt would be willing to adopt him instead.

The petitioners and respondents’ task was to argue based on precedent and constitutional law whether the aunt was allowed to bypass the normal adoption process due to the “good cause” exception, a substantial reason or excuse presented to a judge for ruling, according to Cornell Law School.

Petitioners Jordan Marcum and William Schubert, both third-year law students, argued against the Indian Child Welfare Act preferences and said the aunt couldn’t adopt the child because there is “good cause” to set aside the precedence set by the act and that the law was unconstitutional under the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment due process clause. Respondents Claire Housley and Emma Stinson made their case

arguing that the child’s aunt could adopt her nephew because the Supreme Court held the good cause exception, and Congress did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Jackson complimented each participant’s performance, saying Marcum was consistently focused on the message, Schubert made her “want to smile” and Housley and Stinson’s written brief was “better than many” she has seen in her career at the different court levels. Jackson said she hopes the competitors continue in appellate advocacy, and she added that their performance in the competition was “extraordinary.”

“As Chief Judge Barron pointed out to the faculty and the administrator, the Dean, this we were all saying was one of our best Moot Court competitions that many of us has had the privilege to participate in, and we will, of course, think very highly of GW as a result,” Jack-

Funding freeze could jeopardize careers of graduate students, junior faculty: experts

From Page 1

“If you are preparing federal proposals or reports, please continue to adhere to all previously announced deadlines,” the email stated. “Principal investigators with active awards should continue with planned activities, and should immediately forward any relevant notice from their sponsor to the Office of Sponsored Projects at osr@gwu.edu.”

Miller said there was “trepidation” among faculty members regarding federal research funds due to the incoming Trump administration at the Faculty Senate’s January meeting. He said the University’s research administrators must be ready to respond to “changes in the opportunities” that come from GW’s external funders.

Tony Yang, a professor of health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, said he has four active federally funded research projects studying COVID-19 vaccine uptake, tobacco use and cannabis policy, for which continued funding is “essential” to continue.

Yang said that despite

Trump reversing the funding freeze, there still may be certain areas of research that continue to face obstacles, like his study of vaccines, as Trump has expressed doubts in their effectiveness and falsely linked vaccines to autism in December. Projects involving DEI are also particularly at risk, Yang said.

“While the order has been rescinded, the longterm outlook remains unclear — particularly for research related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as vaccine hesitancy and climate changes,” Yang said in an email. “These areas are likely to face heightened scrutiny, and funding for such projects may be at serious risk. Researchers are closely monitoring the situation to assess how policy shifts may impact their work.”

Yang said he has kept in close contact with his funding partners like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. He said universities need to advocate for continued federal funding for research on behalf of their faculty and researchers.

“There is certainly concern among faculty regarding the stability of research

funding under the new administration,” Yang said.

“To ensure continued support, faculty must remain committed to producing high-impact research, explore alternative funding sources — including private foundations and industry partnerships — and stay engaged with federal agencies to navigate potential policy shifts.”

Romi Burks, a professor of biology at Southwestern University, said she was slated to serve on one of NSF’s grant review panels last week. She said she was “frustrated” when the freeze canceled the panel because of the time she had put into reviewing the projects requesting grants and the delay in funding that she said will follow the panels’ cancellation.

“The decisions need to be made,” Burks said. “Perhaps in some cases, those grants include salary, either for the scientists themselves, or, more likely, for their students or postdocs. All of that would be delayed, and so it’s both angry and very frustrating to see that without what I would identify as due cause, that an administration’s overreach is penetrating down to the level of an agency review.”

son said.

Jackson said she was “impressed” by the performance of both sides because of how difficult the case was. She said dealing with recent and difficult Supreme Court case law is an important skill set to have, and this competition gave them a “good opportunity” to work on those skills.

Jackson announced awards for best oral presentation, best brief and best overall team. Marcum was awarded best oral presentation, Housley was awarded best brief and Housley and Stinson won the case, taking home the title of best overall team.

“I think the thing that I was most impressed with was how both sides dealt with very recent Supreme Court case law that sort of changed a lot in ways in which we think about certain established principles of law and apply them to this new area,” Jackson said to the audience.

Stephen Crystal, the director of the Center for Health Services Research at Rutgers University, said postdoctoral students and junior faculty who lack tenure and financial security are most harmed by a loss in federal funds. Crystal said he has spent the last few days speaking with graduate students and researchers who are scared about their futures.

At many institutions, junior faculty who do not succeed in their first grant applications won’t get tenure, and they will have to leave the field, he said.

“They’re collateral damage in a bigger war,” Crystal said. “And the bigger war is taking the whole federal investment in public health research, in a sense, hostage for political purposes.”

Crystal said these executive actions are indicative of the administration’s “hostility” toward higher education and that researchers will have to continue to navigate funding attacks for the duration of Trump’s term.

“This is kind of the tragic part, is that they can succeed in breaking the system,” Crystal said. “There is not an alternative funding source.”

Stinson said she and Housley practiced every day for weeks to prepare for the final competition. Housley said she was “a little surprised” when Jackson announced them as the winners because the competition was so close.

“The petitioners did an amazing job,” Housley said in an interview after the event. “It was a tough competition.”

University President Ellen Granberg made a speech to conclude the event, where she congratulated the winning team and thanked the judges and audience for attending. She said no matter the result of the competition, interpreting the Constitution and preparing to uphold civil rights and law is an important practice.

Granberg said this was the first moot court competition she has seen and will “be back every year” because the presentations were “utterly fascinating.”

Zane’s dual relationship could influence MFA decisions, faculty say

From Page 1

It states that GW’s decision to forgive the MFA’s $20 million debt to the University in October 2019 — which occurred when Zane was vice chair of the GW Board of Trustees and chaired its Finance Committee — amplifies the appearance of Zane’s conflict of interest, given the MFA’s decision two months later to award a contract to a company she has an “interest in.” The Office of Ethics, Compliance, and Risk responded to the complaint two days later, saying that the University “is aware” of Zane’s dual relationship and that officials have a “management plan” in place, according to the office’s response on the portal, which was obtained by The Hatchet.

McClendon declined to comment on how many ethical complaints the University has received about Zane’s relationship with Savista and how the University responded to them.

She declined to say how Zane’s dual roles may have affected the MFA board’s ability to impartially lead the MFA through persistent and mounting financial losses. The medical enterprise has accrued more than $272 million in debt to GW and $120 million to other entities since GW acquired the organization in 2018, a year before the MFA hired Savista.

The organization lost more than $107 million in fiscal year 2024, more than doubling officials’ projected deficit and marking the medical enterprise’s greatest annual loss since GW assumed control.

She declined to comment on how the University, MFA and Zane have monitored or addressed the appearance of a conflict of interest to ensure ethical decision-making surrounding Savista’s hiring, including third-party audits or investigations.

Remaining uncertainties regarding Zane’s Savista-MFA relationship reflect concerns recently raised by community members close to the Faculty Senate, as well as an expert in

conflicts of interest. Zane’s dual relationships could implicitly influence MFA decision-making processes because trustees may feel pressure to align their votes with policies favorable to her, they said.

“Non-answers surrounding Ellen Zane’s relationships with Savista by the administration or by the Board of Trustees are discouraging,” said a Faculty Senate committee member, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from the University. The board should disclose what they knew about Zane’s relationship with Savista and when they became aware, the committee member said.

Faculty senators have for years requested details on the MFA’s operations amid mounting financial losses.

Phil Wirtz, a faculty senator who has repeatedly publicly pressed officials on the MFA’s financial status, said Zane’s relationship with Savista is a “pretty obvious” appearance of a conflict of interest, given her role on the MFA board that selected Savista.

He said he isn’t sure if Zane’s dual relationships exceed an appearance of a conflict of interest, but he’s “got to wonder” how Savista and the MFA are related and which organization Zane is operating in the best interest of. There is “potential” that Zane could have indirectly influenced the board’s decision to hire Savista, Wirtz said. Eric Campbell, who studies conflicts of interest and medical professionalism at the University of Colorado’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities, said recusal is the “common response” to a conflict of interest, but there's no evidence it works in practice.

He said even if someone in Zane’s position leaves the room to allow trustees to vote on a given proposal, trustees may feel pressure to conform to policies that are favorable to the individual just by knowing that the person has the relationship.

“Does that create a problem? My sense is it probably does. That’s something that can’t be avoided,” Campbell said.

RAPHAEL KELLNER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

KAIDEN J. YU | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Lisner Auditorium on a sunny day in October 2023.

GIANNA JAKUBOWSKI STAFF WRITER

OPINIONS

The factors officials consider when deciding to request executive sessions in Student Government Association meetings. p.2

To combat the loneliness epidemic, let’s connect offline

GW has a reputation for being a university full of careerists, where students have a seemingly maniacal focus on adding to their lists of LinkedIn connections at the expense of real-life bonding. This competitiveness isolates students — one aspect of the broader loneliness epidemic plaguing the country. But if we all feel lonely and hate the “grindset” of GW, then we should realize the opportunities for connection that lay at our fingertips in college. To combat loneliness in our own lives and generation, we need to take advantage of those chances.

Public health officials warn that the loneliness epidemic is the next major health crisis. People are spending their time in selfimposed isolation — people taking otherwise social activities, like going out to dinner or taking a walk with someone, and opting instead to enjoy takeout alone or scroll on social media. These actions are perfectly healthy to do every so often but not at the degree to which they’re replacing typical arenas of association.

Loneliness and isolation are at their worst among our generation — young people who, in theory, should have the greatest shot to form real bonds with each other, especially with social media apps keeping us incessantly “connected.” Social media romanticizes isolation, especially among the particularly loneliness-afflicted young men. This perpetuated solitude harms youth mental health and promotes an oft-virulent brand of masculinity that’s seeped its way into our relationships and politics. There’s never going to be a time in our lives when we’re surrounded by so many people our age, equally

STAFF EDITORIAL

eager to forge friendships. There’s only so much a university can do to force us to forge that fellowship — we have to be the ones to actually take the necessary steps. In previous editorials, we’ve advocated for students and officials alike to “lean in” and attend more GW events, but going to a basketball game or a community coordinator-led dinner isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. That’s okay. The lovely thing about college is that almost every second of every day offers a chance to form an affinity with

someone. Instead of rushing to check your phone while scurrying out of class, make small talk with someone you were sitting next to. Give “The Bill Simmons Podcast” or the new Clairo album a break and remove your AirPods in the elevator to joke with a neighbor about the condition of your residence hall. Research indicates that we all think such interactions are going to be hard, but everyone comes away from them feeling happier. Talking to someone after class might seem intimidating if you

GW should declare itself a sanctuary campus

Following last month’s inauguration, President Donald Trump has pushed out a torrent of executive orders in the following weeks, with several orders aimed at carrying out mass deportation raids. In response to these orders, GW must declare itself a “sanctuary campus” as a commitment to fostering a safe environment where its students can learn without fear of being arrested, regardless of immigration status.

Cecilia Palumbo Opinions Writer

Since last week the Trump administration has initiated raids in major metropolitan areas, with reports of D.C. being next on the list. The administration has made more than 2,600 arrests nationwide. Trump also overhauled a policy previously prohibiting the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting arrests in “sensitive areas,” like schools, churches and hospitals that would usually provide safety, resources. After all of Trump’s actions, fear has pushed the immigrant community to reconsider even attending school or work.

This stirs up questions over the need for sanctuary areas, a term that refers to states, cities or campuses that put limits on their cooperation with federal efforts. This would mean the local jurisdiction would provide

support for undocumented migrants by adopting policies aimed at limiting cooperation with ICE as much as legally possible.

In 2017, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed D.C.’s status as a sanctuary city, awarding grants to nonprofits and lawyers representing immigrants in the city who were facing deportation. Just as D.C. has enacted policies to protect vulnerable populations from federal immigration enforcement, GW should similarly create policies that foster a sense of security for its diverse student bodies.

GW’s campus is home to over 27,000 students with 47 percent identifying as people of color. The University also has 13 percent of its student population coming from overseas. This diverse community makes GW especially vulnerable. In the past, GW students protested in response to Trump’s first term, advocating for the University to declare itself a sanctuary campus. This time around GW can actually act.

GW has made efforts to inform students about the risk posed to immigrants in the past few weeks. A page on the GW Office of Vice President and General Counsel’s website outlines what students should do in the event of unannounced visits from federal agents.

University President Ellen Granberg also sent out an email last week stating that GW is bracing for the “significant implications” of the Trump presidency. These statements and re-

sources should be followed by a call to action, a plan on how the University specifically intends to manage the inevitable domino effect of Trump’s orders. Informing the student body of their rights is important, but information goes unnoticed or unenforced without any substantial effort to fortify it during these uncertain times.

By declaring itself a sanctuary campus, however, the University would send a clear, active message of solidarity, guaranteeing officials will enforce safeguards set in place for students. The University is capable of taking practical steps to guarantee that it remains compliant with the law while still providing critical protections. GW should make a public statement affirming they will require agents to have a warrant before making arrests on school property and prohibit law enforcement from detaining or questioning students without proper authorization. Students deserve to pursue higher education on their campus without fear of facing arrest or scrutiny.

GW must stay true to its commitment to fostering an environment where all students feel safe to learn and take the opportunity to take a stand on a national stage. Declaring itself a sanctuary campus would be a powerful statement of the University’s commitment to justice in the face of political instability.

—Cecilia Palumbo, a junior majoring in political science, is an opinions writer.

think that everyone at GW is focused on growing their network as a means to higher net worth, not their neighborliness. But here, we’re joined by just under 20,000 other undergraduates at various times. The ideal number of LinkedIn connections for people who fit that careerist mantra is 500. That leaves thousands upon thousands of other people — including our entire editorial board — probably feeling a lot of the same downtrodden lonely feelings we’ve all felt. We aren’t saying that you have

to talk to strangers every second. That’s an exhausting expectation on top of the heaps of readings and other stresses a college student carries daily. And as you go through college and acquire more responsibilities, it gets a lot harder to devote the necessary time to maintain and “water” real meaningful friendships.

But the solution to those problems isn’t isolation — it’s taking the time we do have and using it to cohere with others. We must take advantage of those opportunities after class and in other down moments to unite with people more, and give both ourselves and others a much-needed kindred boost. The hardest step is just acknowledging that you feel lonely and talking to someone to alleviate that feeling because so many of us feel that. Once that’s done, the rest will fall into place.

As Derek Thompson wrote in the Atlantic about the loneliness epidemic, when we talk to others we still “marginally improve the experience of one 15-minute block of time. But life is just a long set of 15-minute blocks, one after another. The way we spend our minutes is the way we spend our decades.” That held true for our editorial board. To expand the voices present on a personal topic like loneliness, an additional four members of The Hatchet were invited to participate in this week’s editorial board discussion. At the start of the meeting, all 11 people raised their hands to say they thought we were in some sort of loneliness epidemic. After an hour of talking with each other about our experiences and sentiments, 11 people raised their hands to say they felt more connected. It’s up to all of us to form those nexuses before we leave GW.

It’s time to end political intolerance on campus

Donald Trump’s inauguration last month attracted a swarm of Make America Great Again, supporters to Foggy Bottom’s campus. As a predominantly liberal campus in an overwhelmingly liberal city, it was no surprise that Trump supporters weren’t welcomed to the area with open arms. But my attention was focused on my peers’ reactions to the District’s proTrump visitors. Where GW community members claim to support and cherish our campus’ differing political perspectives, I found an environment of anger and intolerance online.

Madie Turley Opinions Writer

Last weekend, I opted to watch the inauguration from my room because who needs to attend the event when students have live commentary on Fizz? But instead of comical political jests, students criticized the individuals supporting the Republican Party. One GW community member posted “whoever is walking around wearing a MAGA hat on campus deserves to get their balls kicked,” while others reportedly recommended misdirecting Trump supporters.

There’s a certain irony in defending one’s identity by attacking the identity of others. What we need is to be able to move past ad hominem attacks and toward

constructive discourse. Many of Trump’s policies are worth denunciation, but there is a difference between critiquing MAGA policies and MAGA people — the latter achieves nothing but disdain and division. The District is overpoweringly liberal. But being surrounded by like-minded opinions can often obscure the fact that the Republican Party isn’t a fringe group. The District’s, and GW’s, reaction reveals how we are not as openminded as we may think.

If you have never actually had a conversation with someone with sharply differing views, I suggest putting it to the test — you may just learn something.

Michael Spence, the president and provost of University College London, describes that purposeful academia, at its core, is about “disagree[ing] well.” Truly, without any variety in thought, we would all be, for lack of a better term, boring people.

I’ve repeatedly seen my peers turn on friends at the mention of their right-leaning politics. Some students are praised for participating in groups like College Democrats, but others are condemned for joining College Republicans. I wonder, when did anger become a substitute for engagement?

In democracy, openmindedness, and above all else, basic human decency, is key. But to enjoy the benefits of democracy, we must remember free speech is a two-way street.

We’re not always going to agree with one another — for some of us, maybe never — but we can approach these divisions without anger, bigotry or hatred. As GW students, we have the privilege of living in one of the most politically driven cities. Let’s use that honor to show we can approach our differences with maturity. Without dissension among us, we would have no thought-provoking discourse, no individuality or uniqueness. While we are all entitled to our opinions — no one deserves to be physically threatened on account of their words and beliefs.

The signs of intolerance are very simple: If your idea of engaging people with opposing views is to insult them, you’re part of the problem. If you attack people because they are part of a movement or find yourself enjoying a diatribe rather than a dialogue, it may be time to question if you’re contributing to a culture of intolerance.

As the next generation of leaders, I would hope we share a similar dream of advancing our society — through innovation, thought and creativity. If that sounds alluring, we must recommit ourselves to supporting a vibrant democracy by placing it at the heart of our education — a democracy where open discussion and the exchange of ideas are encouraged, not extinguished.

—Madie Turley, a sophomore majoring in English, is an opinions writer.

CAROLINE MORRELLI | CARTOONIST

CULTURE

Viral online series spotlights Foggy Bottom’s uncensored kitchens

Bottles of mead, tins of sardines and pouches of Zyn fill the kitchens of broke college students and Foggy Bottom residents alike as featured on Fridge Files, a viral social media show featuring the untamed kitchens of the D.C. region.

Seniors Alexa Asgharzadeh and Max Katz launched Fridge Files in September, a viral Instagram and TikTok series with over 19 thousand followers across both platforms, where guests welcome viewers into their kitchens to discuss their unappealing and sometimes strange diets. Asgharzadeh, a finance and marketing analytics major, said the duo had the idea for Fridge Files because chats about food and diets designed to break down nutrition while also providing humor are topics college students can relate to and laugh about.

“I’ve always had a really strong passion for food and nutrition, and it’s just been something I’ve independently looked into for most of my life and watched videos on,” Asgharzadeh said. “I always knew that if I were ever to make some sort of video, it’d be on this topic.”

Asgharzadeh said when creating Fridge Files, she and Katz workshopped how to make a videos on people’s diets entertaining and funny while still being informative and offering a “social commentary” on D.C. residents’ everyday nutrition, or a lack thereof. She said the pair look for people — a mix of self-submissions and those sought out by Asgharzadeh and Katz — who have a strong charac-

ter or specific lifestyle, like one subject whose excessive sports gambling dictated his food expenses for the week or another whose nicotine addiction meant coffee and Zyn for breakfast every day.

Asgharzadeh said dream guests she hopes to have on the show include local yuppie, corporate influencer Tony P. and RFK Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary, to go “super viral.” Katz, studying economics and political communication, said Fridge Files is produced through Left Middle Right, a media com-

Commuter students share traffic mishaps from schleps to campus

SAMUEL

For sophomore transfer student Alliey Laughy, rushing through Funger Hall to her 9:35 Abnormal Psychology lecture means leaving at 7:30 a.m., braving the rush hour traffic on Interstate 95 and leaving her two young children for the day.

Commuters like Laughy, a 26-year-old psychological and brain sciences major, make up the portion of GW students who rely on local transportation or brave the busy highways of the D.C. region and accident-prone streets of the District to get to campus. The commuting crew said they power through traffic accidents and culinary capers to make it to their lectures on time.

As the mom of a 5- and 7-year-old in Woodbridge, Virginia, Laughy said she in part chose GW when deciding to go back to school because it was one of the only universities she applied to that allowed exemptions from living in University housing. This arrangement meant both her kids could get their own rooms in an off-campus house, which she couldn’t do in a cramped residence hall, she said.

“They’re great roommates,” Laughy said. “But at the end of the day, I have nowhere that my kids could

go.”

Laughy moved with her partner and children to Woodbridge two months before her first semester after deciding that living in the District was too expensive. With traffic, she said the 45-minute drive down I-95 to Foggy Bottom sometimes makes her a couple minutes late to class. On days when she has 8 a.m. classes, Laughy said she leaves by 6:15 a.m.

She said she usually drives about 30 minutes to the Van Dorn Metro station and takes the Blue Line to Foggy Bottom — which takes another half hour barring delays — in order to avoid paying the hourly price of $2.30 for limited street parking in the city.

The added commute and staying on campus all day to attend later classes means sacrificing extra time where she could “cuddle” and share snacks with her kids, Laughy said.

Driving saves time compared to the stop-and-go Metro, she said, but navigating the streets of Foggy Bottom is a “nightmare,” pointing to the time she got rear-ended while trying to park outside the Elliott School.

Laughy said she feels lucky that her professors have been sympathetic to the circumstances that come with being a mother and commuter, like her occasional tardiness and class

pany that creates videos intended to encourage dialogue with people across the political spectrum that he helped start. Katz, who makes man-on-the-street style interview videos for the company, said he worked with 2023 GW alum Farid Adibi, the company’s founder, to launch the media company his first year at GW. Katz said he and Adibi brainstormed “vertical series” ideas for Instagram, TikTok and Youtube Reels and wanted to involve Asgharzadeh in the series, for her knowledge about nutrition which

visits by her kids on rare occasions when their school was out for the day.

First-year computer science major Ahn Henry said she and her brother, a junior at American University, moved to an apartment in Rockville from Haiti to attend high school in 2022 and stayed in the same unit when they later both went to college in the DMV. She said commuting to their respective campuses was the financially reasonable choice to make, considering that they already have an apartment that lets them be both close to class and one another.

Between the 10-minute walk from her apartment to the Rockville Metro station, transferring from the Red Line to either the Silver, Orange or Blue lines and walking to classes, Henry’s daily hourlong commute populates all colors of the WMATA rainbow.

She said she runs into “pretty frequent” public transit delays. She said she recently was stuck on the platform of Farragut North for about an hour on her way home due to a signaling problem from another station, and when she was finally able to squeeze onto a crowded train, it then stopped moving for about 20 minutes.

“It can get frustrating, especially if I’m going to school, so I’m most likely going to be late,” Henry said.

is how Fridge Files was created.

Keegan Harvey, a senior and a forward on the men’s basketball team, sat down with two protein shakes and a takeout box full of carbs to discuss his daily 4,000 to 5,000 calorie intake featured on his Fridge Files episode, which aired in early December. He said he has lived in South Hall since 2022 which has allowed him to create a “lived-in” vibe in his space and accumulate an array of odd food items like the core power protein bars he brings to the bar in his kitchen. One shot in the

video showed a cabinet complete with at least four tins of sardines, which Harvey said was his go to snack growing up in the Down Under.

Peter Liebman, a sophomore and self-proclaimed “gym bro” was featured on a November episode, where he broke down the allure of nicotine. He said Katz approached him about filming an episode on his fitness-focused diet and spotlight a gym junkie on the series.

Liebman’s episode starts off with a bang as he tells Alexa about his pre-workout ritual of taking a shot of “Lehenny,” LeBron James’ brand of Hennessy cognac. He later admitted that he does not show up to daily gym sessions at Lerner Health and Wellness Center with a buzz, and this part was staged.

Arnav Patel, a senior at GW studying finance and marketing according to his LinkedIn, is an avid sports better and has the most popular Fridge Files episode.. In his video, Patel says his meals are decided by his sports betting results that week and that a good week would mean more money for food and gambling.

Comments on Patel’s video range from poking fun at his diet like “‘we eat a little better if the sports are good,’ bro is talking like a medieval peasant,” to concern towards Patel’s apparent gambling addiction, “poor guy :( this is actually so sad.” Patel said while his diet is not as bad as the video made it seem, he would not recommend it to other people.

“There’s definitely a correlation between what’s in the fridge and what I’m eating to gambling success,” Patel said. “But I wouldn’t say I necessarily have a problem.”

Peruse DC public libraries to romanticize your day-to-day

CAITLIN KITSON

CONTRIBUTING CULTURE EDITOR

LINDSAY LARSON STAFF WRITER

Books bound in leather and dust sprinkled on shelves decorate some of cinema’s greatest scenes.

From Harry Potter sneaking into the Hogwarts Library under his invisibility cloak to Paul professing his love for Holly as she reads in the library during “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” mystery and romance sparks in libraries across the silver screen. Luckily for Revolutionaries and other Washingtonians, there are 26 locations in the DC Public Library system available for you to stage your own cinematic-inspired moments.

Whether you’re itching to comb through archives full of local artifacts or trying to impress a date on a stroll through an idyllic library, DCPL supplies environments apt for romanticizing your everyday life.

Best library to dig into D.C. history: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

Thanks to the District’s standing as the nation’s capital, and the enduring influence of the 2004 actionadventure film “National Treasure,” U.S. history too often hogs the spotlight across the city. But D.C. is far more than the bedrock of the federal government, and local history deserves our undivided attention.

Luckily, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library between the Chinatown and Penn Quarter neighborhoods provides an abundance of opportunities to immerse yourself in our city’s rich cultural history. The library — which is the central location in the DCPL system — reopened in 2020 after undergoing major renovations for three and a half years, so be sure to savor the updated architecture, like the softly lit spiral staircases lined with wooden accents.

Begin by heading up to the fourth floor to visit the People’s Archive — a collection of photographs, documents and oral histories that paint a picture of life in the District through Washing-

tonians’ eyes. Sprawling shelves of reference material await you, and librarians can point you toward specific materials if you come in with a specific research question for a class.

Wander through the fourth floor’s permanent exhibit, “Up From the People: Protest and Change in D.C.,” and dig into different parts of D.C.’s history and culture dating back to the mid-20th century. Learn more about home rule, which gave D.C. the ability to elect their own mayor and city council in 1973 or the historic go-go music scene in the District, which Mayor Muriel Bowser designated the official sound of D.C. in 2020.

Once you’ve cultured yourself enough, settle into Marianne’s by DC Central Kitchen, the cafe on the main level that supports residents facing barriers to employment, for a coffee or a pastry.

Best library for a first date: Georgetown Library

Libraries are sexy. You can’t deny that those hushed, hallowed halls overflowing with stories of romance, drama and intrigue produce a seductive ambiance. It really is no surprise that a library was the setting for one of the hottest moments in cinematic history: the clandestine meeting in the 2007 drama “Atonement,” where Keira Knightley dons a green dress so iconic that it deserves its own Wikipedia page. While an “Atonement” moment is ambitious for a first date — and prohibited in the public library — that level of romantic angst could inspire you to stage

an appropriate rendezvous with your crush at a DCPL branch. For this objective, Georgetown Library is the ideal location. Georgetown Library is housed in a stately brick building that blends in with the surrounding cobblestone streets and row houses of the neighborhood. Tchotchkes, landscape paintings and leather arm chairs give the library’s interior a lived-in quality. But the greatest draw of this library is the lush greenery visible through the large windows, as Book Hill Park and The Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks — which looks like an English countryside estate from “Pride and Prejudice” — are just a stone’s throw away.

Best library for making friends: Mt. Pleasant Library In the classic comingof-age film “The Breakfast Club,” five teenagers bond within the confines of their high school’s library during Saturday detention. Through tense arguments, dances atop bookshelves and a few blunt rotations, the characters let loose and open up to one another over the course of the film’s 97-minute runtime. All of this is to say, if you’re unsatisfied with the current state of your GW social circle, maybe a library is your next best bet. For meeting new people and forging friendships, Mt. Pleasant Library is the branch for you. With its interior blend of vintage and modern architecture, Mt. Pleasant is a model for how to honor a library’s history while breathing new life into it.

NEW SONG: “SYLVIA” BY JULIEN BAKER AND TORRES

JERRY LAI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Library patrons study inside of the Georgetown Public Library.

TANNER NALLEY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Niha Ramesh waits for her train while commuting back to Chinatown.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RAPHAEL KELLNER

Co-founder of “Fridge Files” Alexa Asgharzadeh looks into her refrigerator.

SPORTS

Saint Joseph’s hands women’s basketball eighth-straight loss

MAYA ROSADO REPORTER

Women’s basketball (813, 1-9 Atlantic-10) suffered its eighth consecutive loss on Saturday, falling 57-42 to Saint Joseph’s (18-4, 9-2 A-10) at the Smith Center.

Graduate student guard Makayla Andrews played nearly the entire game, leading GW with 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting in 39 minutes of action. Despite her steady performance, the Revolutionaries managed only 42 points — their second-lowest scoring output of the season — while Saint Joseph’s forward Laura Ziegler dominated with 20 points and 9 rebounds.

“I definitely have more opportunities with being on the court,” Andrews said. “Our focus is really just on team basketball right now and getting everyone on the same page. I think we took a step in the right direction today.”

The Revs showed promise early, taking a 13-7 lead in the first quarter behind strong defensive play and rebounding. Graduate forward Paige Mott led all GW players with eight rebounds, as the Revs went nearly even with the Hawks on the glass in a 33-32 margin.

However, Saint Joseph’s quickly erased the deficit in the second quarter, outscoring the Revs 22-9 behind more consistent shooting from beyond the arc. The Hawks connected on four of nine 3-pointers in

the period, with guard Aleah Snead leading the charge. Snead finished with 16 points on efficient 7-of-12 shooting, while the Hawks’ defense forced 17 GW turnovers in the game.

Head Coach Caroline McCombs said postgame that the Hawks have a lot of individual talent on the roster.

Saint Joseph’s balanced attack featured three players scoring in double figures.

The Hawks’ efficiency was evident in their 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 16 assists on 24 made baskets.

“Ziegler is special, right? She’s one of the top kids in the league,” McCombs said.

“And Snead has just started to get unleashed right now. She made two threes on us when we were trying to play off, and those were daggers in that second quarter.”

The game slipped away from the Revs in the third quarter when Saint Joseph’s mounted a decisive run.

After GW called a timeout trailing by 10, the Hawks continued to build their lead, eventually stretching it to 20 points in the fourth quarter at 54-35.

The Revs offensive struggles were particularly evident in their four assists, compared to Saint Joseph’s 16.

“I think we share the ball and maybe that doesn’t end up leading to assists,” McCombs said. “I think we struggled with getting the ball in the basket sometimes, and 3-point percentage hasn’t been our strong suit.

So it’s hard to get some of those assists even if we are passing the ball.”

Despite facing their largest deficit of the game, the Revs showed resilience in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Hawks 11-9.

As the losing streak has mounted, senior forward Maxine Engel said team veterans are taking on a larger leadership role.

“I think it’s definitely a difficult time, as you can imagine,” Engel said. “But at the end of the day, we’re all in this together. No one else knows what we’re going through besides us. We have to uplift each other, show up every day with the right mindset and just continue to work.”

The loss extends the Revs’ longest losing streak of the season to eight games, though the team is staying resilient despite the mounting challenges as the team is now tied with St. Bonaventure for the worst conference record this season. McCombs and her squad remain focused on improvement, particularly after showing flashes of strong play throughout this contest.

“We were right there with them at the end, so I think it’s just coming back for revenge,” Engel said. “We have nothing to lose, playing our hearts out, and it’s on our home court.”

The Revs will look to snap their eight-game skid when they host Fordham (12-8, 6-3 A-10) at the Smith Center on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Men’s basketball loses late to La Salle, drops to ninth in A-10

Men’s basketball (15-6, 4-5 Atlantic-10) fell to La Salle (1210, 4-5 A-10) 73-67 in Philadelphia Saturday afternoon, handing the Revolutionaries their third-straight loss on the road.

The Revs managed to make some noise within the conference, having won two straight against Saint Louis and Richmond but still struggling to get over the .500 mark in conference play. Graduate student guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr. led all scorers with 19 points, 13 of which came before halftime, going four of 11 from three. Another 11 points came from fellow graduate student forward Sean Hansen. The Revs continue to shoot poorly from behind the arc, going 8-26 and La Salle also struggled from three, going 6-20. The Explorers dominated the boards, outrebounding the Revs 41-31.

GW led with under three minutes to go, but La Salle managed to pull away thanks to a timely 3-pointer from graduate student guard Corey McKeithan. The Explorers got another 19 from freshman guard Deuce Jones, which GW could not recover from.

The Revs got out to

a quick 14-6 lead before the Explorers went on a 9-0 run on the back of McKeithan. GW answered with an 8-0 run of their own starting with sophomore guard Trey Autry’s 3-pointer, breaking a three-minute streak without a bucket and giving the Revs some momentum down the stretch of the first half.

Buckets from McKeithan and graduate student guard and forward Jahlil White brought the Explorers back to even with the first half ending all knotted up at 35-35. Hansen kicked off the scoring in the second half with his fourthstraight field goal to put the Revs up 37-35. Back-to-back dunks from redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro and a three from redshirt junior guard Trey Moss, breaking a streak of over 11 minutes without a 3-pointer, put the Revs up 53-49 with 11:46 remaining in the half.

GW tried to pull away but couldn’t shake the Explorers, as a three from McKeithan and a four-point play from Jones kept them within two points of the Revolutionary lead with 6:19 left in the frame.

Drumgoole converted a 3-point-play with 4:01 left, cutting into La Salle’s 19-5 run that they ended the

Women’s tennis enters spring season swinging with 3-1 record

SANDRA

Women’s tennis sustained a strong start to their spring season after clinching a pair of wins this weekend, going 3-1 for the season.

The Revolutionaries competed in three matchups this weekend, beating Mount St. Mary’s 4-0 on Friday and losing to DePaul in a tight 3-4 finish Saturday before ending their weekend on a 5-2 win against Navy on Sunday. Senior Alejandra Ramirez was key for the Revs in the weekend stint, and sophomores Madison Lee and Victoria Sasinka secured big victories for the Revs in their doubles sets.

game on, but redshirt freshman guard Christian Jones’ layup with 2:33 left was the last time the Revs had a lead.

Clutch free throws from senior guard Daeshawn Shepard and a dagger three from McKeithan with 1:30 left put La Salle up by four points. It was another quiet night for redshirt sophomore forward Darren Buchanan Jr., who, in 28 minutes, was four of six from the field for eight points. The Washington, D.C. native came off the bench for the sixth-straight game since returning from injury, with his most recent start coming in the Revs’ loss 66-61 to Richmond in the first game of A-10 play. The Revolutionaries continue to struggle to close out games throughout conference play, having held the lead for most of the second half but unable to maintain it. With this loss, they drop to 15-7 overall but 4-5 in A-10 play, putting them in ninth place at the beginning of the toughest stretch of their schedule.

Men’s basketball looks to bounce back at home against A-10 leaders George Mason (17-5, 8-1) at the Charles E. Smith Center on Wednesday, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.

delivering 6-1, 6-0. The remaining singles matches were unfinished as the Revs held onto their lead, but the sets demonstrated the Revs’ strength on the court. Matuseviciute and Lee both held strong with respective scores of 6-3, 4-4 and 4-6, 1-2. Skeene dominated in singles play winning 6-0, 5-2 in both of her matches.

The Revs hosted DePaul on Saturday, ultimately falling in a slim 3-4 finish.

Verduzco and Matuseviciute remained the only victorious doubles pair, winning 6-3. Yet pairs Ramirez and Skeene and Sasinka and Lee fell 6-2 and 7-5 respectively. During singles play, Verduzco, Skeene and Ramirez all commanded the court, with Verduzco going 6-3, 6-3, Skeene 6-4, 6-0 and Ramirez 6-1, 6-0.

After opening their spring season with a 7-0 sweep against George Mason in January, the Revs plan to compete in about a dozen matches throughout the spring before facing six conference rivals and wrapping up their season at the Atlantic 10 Championship in Orlando in late April. In their triumph against George Mason, the Revs took home a full sweep after winning all nine of their matches. Freshmen Karen Verduzco and Vaida Matuseviciute and Lee and Sasinka all powered through their doubles sets, winning 6-3 and 6-0, respectively. Sophomore Solange Skeene and senior Alejandra Ramirez also clinched a doubles victory, winning 7-7 (6-4). During singles play, the team

the Patriots, pulling off wins in all six sets. Ramirez and Skeene secured the sweep for the Revs with two convincing singles wins. Collecting their second win of the season, the Revs dominated in doubles action against Mount St. Mary’s in their first match of the

weekend stint at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in D.C. The Buff and Blue started comfortably by clinching double points. Verduzco and Vaida returned to doubles play, putting up a fight but ultimately falling in the opening match 7-5. In the second doubles pairing, Lee and Sasinka blanked 0-6 to even the score. The deciding third

doubles came down to Ramirez and Skeene, who sealed the deal with a 6-2 win.

Moving into singles action, the Revs maintained their momentum as Sasinka won both matches 6-1. Verduzco followed suit in the fourth singles match and notched a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Ramirez secured victory for the Revs in the sixth singles,

Before ending the weekend, the Revs travelled to Annapolis, Maryland, to shut out Navy 5-2 on Sunday. Unlike the day before, Verduzco and Matuseviciute fell 6-0 to Navy, and Skeene and Ramirez also lost 6-2 in their doubles set. Sasinka and Lee were the only victorious doubles pair from the Revs, winning 6-4. The Revs won all but one of their six singles matches, with Matuseviciute, Lee, Verduzco, Skeene and Ramirez all notching wins.

The Revs will face off against Delaware State on home territory at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 11:00 a.m. at 11:00 a.m.

trounced

ARWEN CLEMANS | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Freshman Karen Verduzco hits the ball during a match against Navy.

JACK BYRNE REPORTER

LUKE JOHNSON | PHOTOGRAPHER

Sophomore guard Trey Autry, graduate guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr. and graduate forward Sean Hansen sit on the benches before last Wednesday’s game against Richmond.

COOPER TYKSINSKI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Graduate guard Makayla Andrews drives the ball down the court during the game against Saint Joseph’s.