The University’s endowment is rebounding after a $200 million decline last spring, trustees said at a meeting Friday.
Board of Trustees Secretary Ave Tucker said that as of Dec. 31, GW’s endowment — a pool of funds and investments gifted to the University, including allocated funds for scholarships and individual schools — had risen to $2.7 billion. Tucker said there has been “uncertainty” in the markets, but GW’s endowment, which is managed by Strategic Investment Group, continued to “outperform” the University’s benchmarks over the last year.
Officials reported in October the University’s endowment had dropped from $2.8 billion in December 2023 to $2.6 billion June 2024, which they said at the time was “entirely due” to a depreciation of the District’s real estate market and previous increases in interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
Tucker said the Board’s Finance and Investments Committee received an update on GW’s fiscal year 2025 budget and its spending projections for the rest of the year in January. He thanked Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes and his team for keeping the University in “good financial health.”
University President Ellen Granberg said officials are “very close” to naming a dean for the School of Business after former Dean Anuj Mehrotra left GW in December 2023 to serve as the dean of Georgia Tech’s business school. Since Mehrotra’s departure, Vice Dean for Strategy Vanessa Perry has served as interim dean.
Granberg said she met with GWSB faculty members last week and could feel their “excitement and anticipation” about the pending announcement.
“I will tell you that no one is more excited than interim Dean Vanessa Perry, who has done a fantastic job of helping us navigate this leadership transition,” Granberg said.
University spokesperson Shannon Mitchell said last month that officials hosted “several” dean candidates on campus to meet with “various groups of stakeholders” at the end of the fall semester. She said officials “look forward” to sharing an update on the national search with the community when they make the decision.
“In the meantime, interim Dean Vanessa Perry will continue to provide support and resources for GWSB’s students, programs, partners and alumni,” Mitchell said in an email.
Granberg also said Provost Chris Bracey charted the search committee for a new dean of the Milken Institute School of Public
Health, adding that the search began last week. The University announced in October that Dean Lynn Goldman was stepping down on June 30, 2025, but Granberg said Friday that Goldman had agreed to stay at GW until officials select a new dean.
Granberg also said during her presidential report that officials are continuing to track President Donald Trump’s “historic number” of executive actions and that the University is assessing the “potential consequences” as officials plan responses. She said officials will keep the GW community informed as they move forward.
Friday’s meeting marked one of Board Chair Grace Speights’ final meetings as the leader of the Board. Speights assumed the role in June 2019 and will pass the torch to the incoming chair this June given that a chair cannot serve more than six years in
GW Law students lose job offers, internships to federal hiring freeze LGBTQ+ students fear suppression under Trump administration
the role.
Tucker, who assumed the role of Board secretary in June 2019, will also step down after serving six years in the position. Officials have yet to announce who will assume Speights’ or Tucker’s positions and whether they will remain on the Board in a different capacity.
Student Government Association President Ethan Fitzgerald said during his report that he met with Goldman for a walkthrough of the Milken building and was “grateful” to learn that officials are reopening study spaces in Milken to the entire student body but didn’t say when. Officials stripped non-public health students of their access to the building last semester, which students said eliminated a popular campus study space.
Third-year GW Law student Andrew Nettels felt relieved when he secured a job through the Department of Justice honors program ahead of graduation — until President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze late last month caused his offer to be revoked.
The Justice Department and other federal agencies rescinded job offers and canceled summer internship programs on Jan. 20 after Trump enacted a 90-day federal hiring freeze, a move that resulted in around 20 law students losing job offers and internships, according to law school officials. Law students said peers, practitioners and the broader national law community have come together to support impacted students by launching support groups and expanding job offerings.
Nettels, who was slated to start the program at the Justice Department in September, said when he heard the news about Trump’s hiring freeze he hoped his position fell within an exception outlined in the joint U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management memorandum. But because his start date did not fall within the parameters of the hiring freeze, the department rescinded his job offer, Nettels said.
Federal agencies revoked offers made and accepted before Jan. 20 with a start date after Feb. 8, according to the memorandum. More than 2,000 federal jobs and summer internships are either canceled or on hold, Reuters reported.
A Foggy Bottom community group will soon receive $175,000 from the District to revitalize neighborhood corridors that have struggled to attract business following the city’s pandemicera shift to virtual work, pending final paperwork approvals from the city.
The grant will fund the Foggy Bottom-West End Main Streets program, a project that the Foggy Bottom Association will launch before October 2025 to support local retail by recruiting businesses to come to the area and infusing cash into existing businesses that haven’t recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. FBA board members said the District approved the FBA’s November grant application in December 2024 and that members filed all necessary paperwork last month, but the group is still waiting to receive the city’s disbursements.
The grant program comes more than a year after a Foggy BottomWest End Main Street study recommended implementing the program in the neighborhood, citing struggling businesses and high numbers of storefront vacancies.
“It really stems from the lack or the loss of local businesses and the increase of vacancies in just the whole neighborhood,” FBA Vice President Will Crane said. “We used to have a bike shop. We used to have a hardware store. There
was a Safeway in the Watergate. And it’s just really sad to see the amount of businesses that are struggling.”
An online tracker of commercial office building occupancy shows that virtual work lingers in Foggy Bottom, as about half of people who worked in person in the area have returned as of 2024. The neighborhood reported a 63 percent vacancy rate in 2023 — higher than other areas, like the Golden Triangle — and shops in the Watergate complex bear the brunt of the neighborhood’s vacancies, with a 60 percent vacancy rate.
The FBA will use the grant to revamp vacant storefronts and streetscapes, boost the area’s image and foot traffic through events and marketing and grant businesses money for renovations and upgrades, FBA board members said at a meeting last month. Members said the FBA will oversee the efforts and team up with the inaugural ex-
ecutive director for the Foggy Bottom-West End Main Street program to allocate the funds.
Grant recipients must use at least $40,000 of the grant for local business support, fewer than $20,000 for events and less than 50 percent of the total fund for administrative expenses, according to the Main Street Application Presentation. The FBA must match at least $15,000 of the funds, per the presentation.
Crane said he hopes that the grant will prioritize local businesses that operate on the ground level and serve residents for renovations or cash infusions from the grant, including dry cleaners, auto shops and bike stores.
“I would hope that the Main Streets is about lifting all businesses that are here, that are actually here, serving the local community versus a business that is strictly office,” Crane said.
Students in the LGBTQ+ community said they fear President Donald Trump’s attacks on transgender and nonbinary people and rollback of federal sexual orientation and gender protections will threaten their identities.
Trump has signed or repealed about half a dozen executive orders in his first month in office targeting the LGBTQ+ community, including restricting gender-affirming care for people under 19, prohibiting transgender women from competing in women’s sports, declaring male and female as the only genders and stripping away Bidenera laws. LGBTQ+ students and organization leaders said they’re concerned the administration’s plans will repress the expression of their gender and sexual identities but that they will continue to carve out space on campus for the LGBTQ+ community to feel safe and represented.
“Even though things will get hard, use this as a chance to learn more about our history and as a way of finding deeper connection with the community to stand up against the Trump administration, and as always, commuting with our roots of resistance as a queer community,” said David Teittinen, a junior from the San Francisco Bay Area, who identifies as nonbinary.
Late last month, the State Department stopped processing passport appli-
cations for people seeking an ‘X’ gender marker and began issuing passports to only male- or femaleidentifying applicants. Teittinen said leading up to the general election, they were “racing” to change their gender and legal name on government documents from those assigned at birth because they knew there was a “very high risk” they would no longer be able to change it once Trump returned to office.
“I got mine just in time, but also now I’m worried that with a new executive order, does that mean that my X gender passport that I legally got last year, is that now going to be invalid?” Teittinen said. Teittinen said they are “pretty confident” California will continue to protect
transgender and nonbinary rights because its voters traditionally support progressive policies, but they are unsure of whether their birth state of Maryland will revert their birth certificate back to their gender assigned at birth.
Teittinen, who is currently studying abroad in the Netherlands, said they try to stay informed on the Trump administration’s actions while also preserving their mental health. They said they are in a “limbo state” because they worry about returning to the United States next spring if national anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments lead to the community’s further marginalization.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back to the U.S., but the Netherlands also isn’t my home,” Teittinen said. “My housing here has an expiration date, and this country is foreign to me, but America isn’t the country that I knew before last November, so it feels like I’ve also been betrayed by my country.”
COLIN WAGNER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Thomas Morningstar poses for a portrait in Kogan Plaza.
ARWEN CLEMANS | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Board of Trustees Secretary Ave Tucker delivered remarks about
SACHINI
JERRY LAI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
shops line the
level of the Watergate Complex.
GSPM stakeholders hope interim leader, director search will spur enrollment, grow community
ELIJAH EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER
TYLER IGLESIAS
NEWS EDITOR
ASSISTANT
Graduate School of Political Management community members are hopeful its interim executive director will stabilize the school as officials work to permanently fill the position after a two-year vacancy.
GSPM, which is housed in the College of Professional Studies, named Angela McMillen Ayres as its interim executive director in November after a yearslong push from stakeholders to fill the position since its last director left in 2022 amid declining enrollment. During her term as interim director, which Ayres said will end in July, she plans to boost the school’s visibility, focus on increasing enrollment and lay the foundation for a permanent director to increase GSPM’s competition with similar programs at other schools.
The school’s enrollment has declined for the last eight-consecutive years, dropping 64 percent between 2017 and 2024 — from 424 to 152 students. GSPM enrollment dropped by nearly 20 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to GW’s enrollment dashboard.
“I hope we get this fabulous executive director who can come in and embody what our stakeholders are looking for and somebody who can work with the administration, work within the framework of the College of Professional Studies and work with our faculty and really get something,” Ayres said. “I mean, it’s already great but just get it hustling again.”
Ayres said that until she was appointed interim director, she sat on the GSPM Board of Advisors — a 17-person team that pays dues to the school and advocates on its behalf to GW and the public but has no decision-making power. The board had advised CPS Dean Liesl Riddle to fill the GSPM executive director role since former director Lara Brown departed in 2022.
In a meeting with the GSPM board near the end of the pandemic, Provost Chris Bracey recognized the school’s
need for an executive director but said enrollment drops across the University meant that GW’s finances couldn’t permit a hiring at that time, Ayres said. She said Bracey has not spoken with the board about funding for the director search.
Members of the board said in 2024 that since 2022, they have worked to grow the school’s visibility and funding and recruit new faculty to fill gaps left by the lack of a director as plans to hire a replacement remained unclear. Riddle said last April that GSPM plans to hire a new director through “continued strategic efforts and pending increased enrollment.”
Jesse Comart, a member of the board since 2018, said it is “critical” for GSPM to have a director, and that the permanent hire should have an “acumen and stature” similar to Brown’s.
Ayres said Riddle asked her to serve as interim director in November and charged her to oversee the permanent executive director search so the new hire can “hit the ground running.”
Ayres said she completed a stakeholder report for Riddle and Bracey, the product of her meeting with 24 GSPM community members, like faculty, stu-
dents, staff, alumni and board members, to evaluate the future of the school, determine its biggest strengths, challenges and goals and their vision for GSPM’s permanent director.
Ayres said while she is director, she wants to focus on enhancing GSPM’s marketing to find “likely students” through “micro-targeting” efforts, like recruiting congressional staffers through events on Capitol Hill and attending conferences, like the Conservative Political Action Conference, which will take place this month.
Ayres said she is working with CPS Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Tobias Greiff to create a job description for the permanent executive director role, compiling information from stakeholder input on the qualities they want to see in the next executive director.
She said the school will incorporate a job description from the 2011 executive director position description after the 2010 retirement of Christopher Arterton, the founding dean of GSPM, and a job description that Grieff and GSPM Career Services Director Margaret Gottlieb assembled in 2023 but later paused.
CRIME LOG
LIQUOR LAW VIOLATION
Thurston Hall
2/01/25 – 1:29 a.m.
Closed Case
GW Police Department officers and GW Emergency Medical Response Group responded to a report of intoxicated students. Upon arrival, EMeRG conducted a medical evaluation of a female student and transported the woman to GW Hospital’s emergency room. Referred to Division of Conflict Education and Student Accountability.
THEFT II/OTHER
2300 Block of I Street NW 2/4/25 – Between 6:27 a.m. and 3:17 p.m. Open Case
A non-GW affiliated complainant reported their scooter, which was locked up, stolen. Case open.
THEFT II/FROM BUILDING
District House Reported 2/4/25 – Unknown Date and Time Open Case
A female student reported her laundry stolen. Case open.
SIMPLE ASSAULT (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE))
607 22nd Street
2/5/25 – 9:48 p.m.
Case Closed
GWPD officers responded to a report of a male student getting assaulted by another male student at 607 22nd Street. Both students were members of fraternities. The Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene and arrested one of the fraternity brothers. He was transported to the Second District Police Station. Subject arrested.
—Compiled by Ella Mitchell
GW sanctioned student groups for pro-Palestinian encampment, log confirms
The University sanctioned nine organizations in August for their alleged involvement in the twoweeklong pro-Palestinian encampment in May, a recently updated list of student groups with conduct violations confirms.
Conflict Education & Student Accountability suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace at GW through December 2024 and placed the organizations on disciplinary probation through May 2025, according to the online student group conduct violations sheet, which officials updated in December. Officials also placed the GW Student Coalition for Palestine along with six groups — the
Muslim Students Association, GW Dissenters, Black Defiance, Arab Student Association, Asian American Student Association and Socialist Action Initiative — on disciplinary probation, according to the list.
University spokesperson Julia Metjian said federal law and University policies prevent GW from commenting and providing details on specific student conduct cases.
GW found all nine organizations responsible for community disturbance, access without authorization, disorderly conduct, noncompliance and misconduct related to property as a result of hosting an “unapproved” encampment in University Yard, according to the sheet. The University also charged SJP, Dissenters, Black Defiance and SAI with violating
the terms of “prior conduct” decisions that required preapproval for all events, the sheet states.
The sheet states that GW placed Black Defiance, Dissenters and SAI on disciplinary probation after allegedly co-hosting an unapproved demonstration April 11, 2024, where protesters condemned an event hosting the U.S Ambassador to the United Nations at the Elliott School of International Affairs and hung a large Palestinian flag from the roof of 1959 E Street. This charge violated an additional sanction outcome for hosting a protest on December 8, 2023 where attendees delivered a letter with more than 1,000 alumni’s signatures to University President Ellen Granberg demanding officials reinstate GW SJP following their initial suspen-
sion for projecting anti-Israel and GW phrases onto Gelman Library in October 2023.
The coalition claimed in August that the University suspended some student groups who participated in the encampment and placed others on disciplinary probation. The sanctions sheet confirmed that these sanctions commenced on Aug. 6.
Metjian said in an email that officials suspended JVP and SJP for “incidents” that occurred between April 26, 2024 and May 9, 2024.
Metjian said a student conduct panel consisting of students, faculty and staff from the University Integrity and Conduct Council decided the groups’ cases after they evaluated “information available,” provided by the student groups.
Metjian declined to com-
ment on how the University determined which student groups were responsible for the pro-Palestinian encampment and how officials decided to sanction whole student organizations instead of student leaders. She declined to comment on who GW charged within the student coalition since it’s not a registered group but is included in the organization violations.
The Code of Student Conduct states that the nature and impact of the violations, the implications on GW’s community and prior misconduct on the respondents are all taken into account when issuing sanctions. The code also states that any “expression of remorse” from a respondent, protection of the community and provided evidence is also considered.
The code states that students and registered groups on disciplinary probation have limitation of privileges, like use of on-campus venues, participation and leadership roles in student organizations, study abroad, academic honor ceremonies, use of “information technology resources” and travel.
A representative from JVP who requested anonymity due to fear of doxxing and retaliation said representatives from all of the charged organizations presented their cases in front of three different student panelists starting June 18 for their alleged involvement in the encampment and received their sanctions on Aug. 6 during the CESA process.
The JVP representative added that their organization appealed the sanctions in August on the basis of biases from CESA, which they said CESA later declined.
“The university’s choice to suspend the two organizations with the most organizing power and need is indicative of the university’s ongoing viewpoint and content discrimination as well as its ongoing attempts to eliminate the few safe spaces available to Jewish students who are anti and non-zionist,” JVP’s conduct appeal states, which was obtained
by The Hatchet. According to the sheet, JVP will remain on disciplinary probation for the remainder of the spring semester, and the representative said the group is still allowed to host programming, like Shabbats on campus. They added that the group is “under a microscope” as the organization has to meet with Meredith Bielaska, their adviser and the director of student involvement, two weeks prior to each event.
The representative said that last semester, the organization had opportunities to develop relationships with JVP chapters at Georgetown, American, George Mason universities and the University of Maryland, with whom they hosted cross-campus celebrations for Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah and a Sukkot demonstration. They added that GW didn’t allow JVP to table at the annual Multicultural Student Services Center’s Block Party last August, but they continued to table and organize off campus where the representative said JVP received an influx of signups from students last semester.
The representative said officials selected student groups to charge for the encampment after looking at body camera footage from the GW Police Department, U-Yard security cameras and social media posts from students and organizations. At least a dozen MPD and GWPD officers were stationed at the encampment daily monitoring protests.
On day 14 of the demonstration, hundreds of MPD officers swept the encampment, arresting 33 protesters. Last spring, more than 70 registered student organizations released statements on Instagram voicing support for free speech and condemning the alleged suspensions of students protesting at the encampment.
AASA and Black
ance
JERRY LAI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Angela Ayres, the interim executive director of the Graduate School of Political Management, poses for a portrait.
Researchers measure impact of workshop on nurses’ media engagement
GW researchers from the School of Nursing last month published findings from a workshop they piloted in 2021 to help nurses boost their outreach to news media organizations.
Richard Ricciardi, the associate dean of the School of Nursing, partnered with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s public relations team to develop a workshop that equips nurses with the skills they need to reach out to and interact with news organizations. Ricciardi said the program raised chief nursing officers who participated in the workshop’s awareness of the essential role they play in ensuring health care policy is accurately articulated in news media.
“My role is one to help nurses do a better job of advancing the voice of nursing, but it’s also helping media professionals to understand what we do and understand health care better so that their stories can be written from a broader perspective, where they include physicians, they include nurses, they include physical occupational therapists,” Ricciardi said.
Despite being the largest workforce in health care, nurses are only sourced in four percent of health news stories, a statistic unchanged since 1997, according to a study by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nurses.
Fourteen chief nursing officers from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership participated in a two-day virtual workshop in fall 2021 and subsequent monthly sessions throughout spring 2022. Researchers then performed follow-up interviews about the strategies the nurses learned to effectively articulate their role in health care in the
news media and asked nurses how they had implemented them in the workplace. The workshop covered how nurses can build relationships with journalists, communicate their work to reporters and collaborate with organizations’ public relations departments to help with strategic, proactive messaging as opposed to waiting for journalists to contact them. The workshop also advised nurses to have a meeting with the public relations departments in their workplace and educated the PR teams on what issues nurses can provide expert commentary on in the media.
Ricciardi said the researchers and the AONL will continue to host workshops in 2025 and 2026
with more attendees, adding that they are considering conducting the sessions in both a virtual and in-person format.
“They also cared about what we were studying,” Ricciardi said of AONL. “They had a great deal of interest because they really understood that these chief nurse executives, or chief nurses, perhaps didn’t have the skill set or really weren’t putting on what we like to say, the radar screen, or was it on their priority list, the idea of getting nurses out there?”
The workshop also asked chief nursing officers to identify nurses in their workplace that have expertise in certain medical fields and create a “media ready” list, so they have people ready to volunteer when media opportu-
Bill Gates talks new book, Trump administration
RYAN J. KARLIN CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates discussed his new autobiography on his upbringing and early career at Lisner Auditorium on Wednesday.
Gates — who talked about Source Code, his book released last week that chronicles his early years before he founded Microsoft in 1975 — spoke about his childhood, the early years of Microsoft and his reaction to the Trump administration’s recent actions to freeze foreign aid. Gates and NBC News Today host Savannah Guthrie spoke before a sold-out auditorium for an event, which was interrupted by climate protesters for at least two-and-a-half minutes, co-sponsored by the University and local bookstore Politics and Prose.
Guthrie began the conversation by showing a video compilation of Gates’ television interviews dating back to when he was a young entrepreneur. As the video ended and the duo began talking about his “nerdy” younger years, nine protesters walked through the auditorium and sat on the edge of the stage in front of Gates and Guthrie.
The protesters held up a sign that read “Billionaires are a Climate Disaster” and yelled as the crowd booed and called for them to be removed.
“Bill Gates is not a climate hero,” one protester said.
GW Police Department officers approached and appeared to speak with the protesters as they chanted over the crowd’s calls of disapproval.
“Tax the rich, tax the motherf*cking rich,” the protesters chanted.
After over two-anda-half minutes, Bradley Graham, the owner of Politics and Prose, walked up to a microphone on stage and asked the protesters to leave, asserting that GWPD would escort them out if they refused. Chanting continued and GWPD escorted the protesters out of the auditorium, prompting cheers from the crowd. As the last protester exited the room, Guthrie chalked the interruption up to the nature of “college campus-
previously not been given the resources and instruction needed to do so. He said researchers found from the follow-up interviews that once nurses gained practical interview skills, they were able to lead communications at their workplace.
“They really were good,” Ricciardi said. “Once we gave them the time and worked with them to develop the communication strategy, they just went into their gear as leaders. They know how to do that.”
Beverly Hancock, an assistant professor at the Rush University School of Nursing and former AONL employee, helped recruit people for the workshop and said the published results focus on the pilot Zoom workshops conducted with chief nursing officers, most of which already had some media training but still felt they needed to learn more about strategic messaging.
nities arise.
The results compiled main themes from the interviews conducted with the nursing officials after the workshops and identified that the officials felt they had more awareness of the responsibility they have as leaders in their sector to ensure nurse’s voices are centered in health care policy news.
“The program forced me to think intentionally about preparing nurses for media encounters, and not just waiting for [PR] to come to you, but identifying when you should go to them,” one participant said in the article.
Ricciardi said the nursing officers always had the capacity to engage with the media but had
es” and redirected the conversation to Gates’ book.
Gates said although he is normally focused on the future and rarely reminisces about the past, he is nearing 70 years old, which has caused him to “look back” and share the story of his early life.
“I really wanted to show how amazing my parents were, how amazing my education was, how the luck when I was born, the things I got exposed to really put me in an incredible position,” Gates said.
Gates said he was fascinated by computers since he was first introduced to the technology at school when he was 13 years old. He said he and his friends used to sift through dumpsters outside computer labs to find discarded documents that could help them understand how the computers functioned.
“We were mystified about, ‘Okay, what was the code there?’ And at first we didn’t know much, but slowly but surely, we learned a lot,” Gates said. “And part of it was that we had taken the source code listings out of those garbage cans and sort of figured out, ‘Okay, it’s actually how does the system work.”
Gates said just hours before the event, he had met with Trump and White House Chief of Staff Suzie Wiles at the White House, in which he advocated for the continuation of the U.S. Agency for International Development, after Trump recently froze its funding. He said throughout this presidential “transition,” what the Trump administration will keep and what they will attempt to end is “kind of up in the air.” Gates said he spoke to Trump and Wiles about
progress that could be made in fighting HIV, polio and “American energy.” When asked whether the president and chief of staff were receptive to his suggestions, Gates said he hoped so.
“So there’ll be some push and tug right now in terms of USAID,” Gates said. “He’s getting different inputs from different people.”
Guthrie asked Gates about Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, who Gates said the Senate will likely confirm. Gates said Kennedy has said “different things” about vaccines, referring to Kennedy’s statement that he supports vaccines while having previously worked advocating against them.
Gates, who has worked for years through The Gates Foundation to help slow the spread of diseases like polio and measles, said he hopes to have a good working relationship with Kennedy’s team — although he expressed skepticism, citing that Kennedy wrote a book claiming Gates “killed millions of children,” with the COVID vaccine.
Pulling from an audience-provided question, Guthrie asked Gates how he stays optimistic in the face of global threats. Gates said people have a habit of paying attention to the problems and things they think are “going backwards,” and that although there have been some issues, the world is still moving forward toward a more educated and equal society.
“It’s more up than down,” Gates said. “And so this is the greatest time to be alive.”
“We kind of hand selected the people to be in it because we wanted to learn from them as well, like what was meaningful,” Hancock said. “So these were all, you know, people that were, they were all in executive leadership, meaning, they were the chief nurse of a hospital.”
Hancock said the workshop provided an intentional space for nurse executives to focus on something new and different, coming out of the workshop with a strategic plan to engage with the media.
“The nurses were going in, caring for the patient, gathering the information and conveying it to the rest of the team. And yet, nurses were not the ones who were speaking to the media because the PR departments didn’t, or the journalists didn’t go to nurses. So that was really a lot of the workshop time was talking about, ‘What are those ways?’” she said.
Student group to whip up sugary confections for local nonprofits
RAINA PAWLOSKI REPORTER
A new student organization is indulging Foggy Bottom’s sweet tooth this semester.
Baking for Better at GW, which GW approved in early December, aims to foster a stress-free environment for students to whip up baked goods for local nonprofits like Cakes4Kids. Organization leaders said the group will blend community involvement with recipemaking, a dual purpose that members launched last semester because of their personal passions for baking.
Junior Serena Finger, the organization’s secretary, said she grew up eating her grandmother’s cousin’s rich lemon cakes during Jewish holidays, who later passed the recipe to her before she died. Finger said it is a “cherished recipe” and her favorite thing to make.
Finger said she wanted to start the group to connect with other students and provide food to those in need in the local Foggy Bottom community. She said Baking for Better hopes to partner with the nonprofit organization Cakes4Kids, the main inspiration behind the organization, where members will help bake and decorate birthday cakes for D.C.-area kids who otherwise wouldn’t have access to one. After Finger applied to launch her service-based organization, OrgHelp connected her with two firstyear students via email, who were also looking to start a baking group with a
focus on offsetting the stress many college students face while transitioning into adulthood.
“We all agreed that we wanted to create a place where GW students could share their recipes and bake things that were comforting to them and then be able to bring that to our D.C. community as well,” Finger said.
Finger said while the organization temporarily plans on using kitchens in residence halls like Thurston and Lafayette to make their goods, they hope to use the Teaching Kitchen at the Culinary Medicine Program at GW for future baking classes. Finger added that members will be able to start working with Cakes4Kids once organization leaders complete an online training.
Finger said at GW she missed the “action of baking,” as cooking in residence halls can be difficult with insufficient fridge space and kitchen materials. Finger said she lived on the Mount Vernon Campus her first year and would often store the limited ingredients like butter, flour and sugar that she could fit in her dorm fridge to bake recipes like chocolate chip cookies and lemon cake in her residence hall’s communal kitchen.
“People would pass by all the time, and I met a lot of people and chatted with everyone when I was in that kitchen,” Finger said. “So I felt like even though I wasn’t making any detailed intense baking projects, it just still brought the feeling of community.”
Josh Lipman, a first-year student and the finance chair of the organization, said officials approved the organization in early December, and the executive board plans to hold a bake sale Feb. 25 in Kogan Plaza, where members will sell treats like shortbread cookies.
Lipman said they plan to use the money raised at the sale for baking materials, equipment and kitchen expenses, since they currently do not have Student Government Association funding.
Lipman said Baking for Better plans to have meetings that will offer baking tutorials for students on global recipes, partnering with cultural organizations to help teach. They plan to have both baking sessions and meetings where students will bake goods for their charitable partner organizations.
First-year Ari Ellerbroek, the president of Baking For Better at GW, said she wants the group to promote “relaxation” and help both experienced and novice bakers learn, have fun and serve the D.C community.
Ellerbroek said the group has garnered “a lot of interest” by word of mouth, postering in residence halls and launching an Instagram page. Ellerbroek said without another baking group at GW, she is hoping that this attracts people who are looking for an organization that is calming, while also allowing them to create something they are proud of.
GIANNA JAKUBOWSKI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Bill Gates speaks at Lisner Auditorium about his new autobiography "Source Code."
L.K. MATA CUEVAS | PHOTOGRAPHER
NICHOLAS WARE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A nursing student takes questions from a Hatchet reporter in November.
Trump vows to fire Kennedy Center board chair, assume chairman position
President Donald Trump on Friday announced he would appoint himself chairman of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees and terminate its sitting chair while chastising the Foggy Bottom cultural center for hosting drag-style performances.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would fire Kennedy Center Board Chair David Rubenstein and “multiple individuals” on the board because they don’t “share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” pointing to the venue’s drag performances that he said are “specifically targeting our youth.” A statement on the Kennedy Center’s website posted hours later states that the institution has a bipartisan history and that while the Center itself has not received official communications from Trump, his administration has issued termination notices to some board members.
“The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation,”
Trump wrote on Truth Social. “For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
Trump specifically criticized drag shows, which the Center hosts frequently. For example,
“BERTHA: Grateful Drag,” an age-appropriate drag band, performed on the Terrace on Dec. 4.
The Center also hosts a monthly “Broadway Drag Brunch” and events for queer youth as part of its “Social Impact” series.
Trump followed up with another post the same day featuring an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself appearing to conduct an orchestra captioned “Welcome to the New Kennedy Center.”
Rubenstein’s term ends in September 2026, though he announced and then reneged his early retirement in January 2024.
Rubenstein is the chief executive officer of the Carlyle global investment firm and chairman of several D.C.-based boards of trustees, including the National Gallery of Art. Former President Joe Biden awarded Rubenstein the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January for leadership in business, arts and culture.
Law community joins together to offer career support
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“I prepared for that interview like I’ve never prepared for any interview before in my entire life,” Nettels said.
Nettels said that after losing his job offer with the honors program — which accepted about 100 students this year — he wanted to create a “support network” for law students and graduates who had lost job opportunities within the honors program.
He said he created a group chat for these students two weeks ago but received messages from students from other parts of government and government agencies, so he opened the chat to any student affected by the hiring freeze, including those at other schools.
Nettels said there are at least 25 GW students in the group chat, with three or four also having lost job offers with the Justice Department’s honors program. There are more than 70 students from across the country in the chat, and the group circulates a document with shared resources and job opportunities, he said.
He said professionals in the private sector have reached out to him since the hiring freeze about potential job opportunities, which he then shares with the group chat. He said he plans to continue supporting affected students until everyone in the chat has a job.
“We’ve been receiving a lot of support from practitioners that are opening up positions that otherwise would not have been available, so it’s been really good to see that and moreover just to have people that are in a similar situation to talk about this,” Nettels said.
He said losing his job offer was a “detour” and that he does not have any other opportunities lined up, but he remains hopeful for the future of the job market once the 90-day hiring freeze ends. His ultimate goal is becoming a civil servant within the U.S. government and working for the Justice Department, Nettels said.
But he said it is arguably more difficult to secure opportunities after the hiring freeze for first-and second-year law students who do not have any legal experience on their resumes because it’s harder to find an internship while in law school than a job postgraduation.
“My heart bleeds for these students right now, they’ve been deprived of these opportunities,” Nettels said. “It’s really a focus of mine and of others in the group to try and find these, these students, these nongraduating students, these 1Ls and 2Ls internship opportunities.”
Nettels said the law school’s Career Development Office has worked “nonstop” to provide affected students with job oppor-
Other members of the Kennedy Center’s board include U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Lee Greenwood and Jon Voight, all of whom were appointed by Trump.
Though U.S. law defines a term of six years for all presidentiallyappointed trustees, the center said in the statement that there’s nothing outlined in the center’s statute to prevent Trump from replacing board members.
The Kennedy Center’s statement did not specify who received termination notices. The board also said in the statement they have the legal duty to elect a chair, apparently challenging Trump’s assertion that he could helm the board.
President of the board Deborah F. Rutter in January announced her intention to step down at the end of her contract in August, according to the New York Times. In an interview with the Times, Rutter said the move was not related to the incoming administration and that the board was “looking forward” to working with Trump.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1958 establishing a commission for a National Cultural Center, which
was subsequently renamed in 1964 to honor President John F. Kennedy.
The Kennedy Center opened on Sept. 8, 1971, to a premiere performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS.
The Kennedy Center hosts hundreds of free events each year and rents out space for performances, receptions and meetings, according to its website. The
tunities, like at private firms. He said the office reached out to the law school alumni network for job openings and offered career counseling services for students since the freeze.
The law school’s Government Procurement Law Program took to LinkedIn, Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday to ask organizations actively hiring government procurement law students and alumni to join its career listserv.
“The law school and the professors, we’ve really rallied together in this tough time, and they’re trying to help us as best they can,” Nettels said.
GW Law Associate Dean for Professional Development and Career Strategy Suzanne Hard said the school is advising affected students individually and building customized job searches for each student.
She said the law school has planned programs since the hiring freeze with recruiters at companies who are actively hiring, created a faculty “care group” and are hosting informational webinars to communicate resources to students.
“We have an outstanding bench of career counselors with combined decades of legal experience, in every type of practice,” Hard said in an email. “We have been working to identify opportunities in state courts and state agencies, along with strengthening our ties in the private sector.”
Hard said about 20 law school students reported losing summer internships or postgraduate job offers at federal agencies. She said students lost opportunities at agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Hard said experiences outside of the classroom are essential to creating the “best lawyers” and that the loss of summer internship opportunities presents a “challenge” to building a complete legal resume.
“Ensuring that we have a population of practitioners with legal training is critical to sustaining democracy, and also to the many institutions that enable the function of our large and complex society,” Hard said. “Everything from the justice system to banks to technology companies to schools, and more.”
Hard said there are “many other ways” for students to receive legal work experience in the private and public sectors and encouraged students to continue to apply for jobs.
“Our students are a resilient and resourceful group, and they are quickly pivoting to other pathways to launch their legal careers,” Hard said.
Trump has not attended the annual Kennedy Center Honors, awards for individuals with lifelong contributions to American culture, since he arrived in Washington in 2017, unlike all other presidents who have since the awards began in 1978.
Researchers from the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences published a study assessing the viability of an alternative lithium extraction method that releases fewer chemicals last month.
Lead researcher Xitong Liu, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, detailed a new technique to extract lithium — the alkali metal used in rechargeable batteries and electric vehicles — from lithium ions of geothermal brine, building on an initial design he proposed in 2023 for a Department of Energy contest. Liu said his team determined that his method is economically viable, and he said he hopes the concept of isolating lithium ions in extraction will mitigate the environmental cost of current lithium extraction methods by lowering carbon emissions.
“Our study demonstrates a sustainable and efficient alternative to conventional lithium extraction methods,” Liu said in an email. “By leveraging geothermal brine, we can reduce environmental impacts, lower carbon emissions, and provide a reliable lithium supply for the growing battery industry.”
Liu and other researchers won $50,000 from the AmericanMade DOE Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize for this alternative method in December 2023.
The International Energy Agency predicts total lithium demand will triple by 2030, which Liu attributed to the heightened prevalence of electric vehicles. Liu said the increased demand poses concerns for the environment because conventional, energy-intensive extraction methods release carbon dioxide into the air, while his new method reduces emissions.
“Current research is advancing, but more information is needed to meet future demand sustainability,” Liu said. “Efforts are focused on improving extraction efficiency, reducing environmental impacts, and exploring alternative sources like geothermal thine and oil/gas produced water.”
The hike in demand has caused geothermal brine, historically a waste product brought up by geothermal energy production that scientists
reinject into the ground after extracting, to emerge as an alternative source of lithium due to the high concentration of lithium within the fluid.
According to Berkeley Lab, companies typically extract lithium from geothermal brine by separating it using adsorption, a phenomenon in which ions from a fluid adhere to a solid surface. The lithium is captured via an injection well, converted into lithium chloride and then into lithium hydroxide, the form of lithium used by electric vehicle manufacturers.
Liu said the extraction method his team developed expands on the conventional methods by selectively extracting lithium ions from the brine to avoid capturing unnecessary chemicals and minerals including sodium and calcium, thereby reducing the amount of chemicals released in the process.
“We developed a novel electrochemical process using selective lithium-ion capturing electrodes,” Liu said. “These electrodes are designed to preferentially bind lithium ions from the complex mixture of minerals in geothermal brine.”
Liu said while the research outlines the method’s success, companies will still face challenges scaling-up production to the levels needed to meet growing lithium demand. He said further research is needed to see how this method can be accommodated for larger scales.
“This method has the potential for scalability,” Liu said “It can be integrated into existing geothermal power plants, leveraging their infrastructure and energy supply. However, further optimization and pilotscale testing are needed to ensure economic viability and efficiency at larger scales.”
Geologists and engineers said Liu’s team’s new method of geothermal extraction could have a positive environmental impact in the sector because extraction from geothermal brine has a reduced ecological footprint since it eliminates the need for drilling and blasting into the Earth.
Traditional lithium extraction techniques, like hard-rock mining from salt flats, have historically had a detrimental environmental impact, with lithium hard-rock mining producing 15 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of lithium mined, according to a
2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study.
Michael McKibben, a professor of geology at the University of California, Riverside, said compared to hard-rock mining, geothermal extraction streamlines the process by utilizing the geothermal brine to process the lithium ions rather than having it be a waste product that has to be reinjected into the ground.
“Pulling lithium out of brines, like geothermal brines or oil filled brines, is comparatively more straightforward and less environmentally damaging because you’re already bringing the brine to the surface anyway, as part of the geothermal power cycle or as part of the oil field operations,” McKibben said. “So you’re just taking what normally is considered a waste material and processing it for lithium.”
McKibben said while the method developed by Liu’s team presents a more environmentally friendly approach to geothermal lithium extraction, its financial and practical viability is uncertain because engineers need equipment that is able to handle the volume of brine needed to extract the lithium, which could be costly. McKibben said though Liu’s study may have worked in a smaller-scale lab setting, the effectiveness of the method may change with larger volumes of brine.
“They produce out of the geothermal field at the Salton Sea, 50,000 gallons of brine per minute. So you have to be able to have an absorbent that will process that much brine that quickly, at very high temperature and very high salinity,” McKibben said. “And so the question is, has the GW lab experiment been shown to work under those conditions?”
Sandeep Kumar, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Old Dominion University, said investing in domestic infrastructure for geothermal lithium extraction could reduce American dependency on global lithium suppliers.
“You can see the exponential growth in electric vehicles coming up. Batteries are being tested every most of the applications,” Kumar said. “So electrification is going on. So with that, lithium demand is going to be huge. And one of the strategic needs of the United States is having your own resources at home.”
REACH, a grassy annex located between the Center and on-ramps to the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge, opened in 2019.
ANN DUAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The GW Law Center for Professional Development and Career Strategy front desk
AIDAN FARRELL REPORTER
TALAN MASKIVISH | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Rowers glide across the Potomac River with the Kennedy Center on the horizon.
SGA president asks Board to dismantle University Yard fences
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Fitzgerald also asked officials to take down the permanent fencing surrounding University Yard — which officials installed in response to the proPalestinian encampment last spring — to help create a more “open” and “inviting space” for community members to gather. He said he’s heard from students that U-Yard was the only space on campus that felt like a community.
Officials installed temporary fences after the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring and replaced them with permanent fencing late in the fall semester. More than 35 students in October said the fencing felt unnecessary and off-putting — a concern that was repeated by some faculty members who said the barricades send an “unflattering” message of the University.
“I ask that you help me make this happen,” Fitzgerald said.
Staff Council President Kim Fulmer, who assumed the council’s presidency in January, said during her update that she has four key goals for her tenure, including reducing transportation costs for staff by pushing for lower parking garage fees and a stipend and increasing staff participation on University committees.
counts of GW’s handling of disciplinary procedures provided by arrested students and officials, including between General Counsel Charles Barber’s statement that GW did not “have a position” on the stay-away agreements issued to students and students’ claim that the federal attorney’s office said the University requested the orders.
She said the EPT Committee also raised concerns about the University’s need to address the impacts of artificial intelligence in a “comprehensive and urgent” manner, given that the technology “challenges” teaching and critical thinking.
Alumni Association President Max Gocala-Nguyen said the association is focused on growing its volunteer base, expanding the alumni association leadership team and working to foster a “greater sense” of “GW pride.”
She also said she hopes to expand the Staff Council’s membership and advocate for the continuation of the University’s 4.5 percent merit pool — the total amount of money GW has to distribute for pay raises during the year.
ployees, which outpaces the increase in the merit pool staff received last year which brought the pool to 4.5 percent, she said.
She said the Staff Council’s 2024 survey of staff members found that the average annual transportation cost for staff is about $2,000. Combined with the cost of mandatory child care — which adds about $1,000 per month — these expenses place a financial burden on em -
“We continue to advocate for increased transparency from the administration and keep our community safe and informed,” Fulmer said.
Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Ilana Feldman said the senate heard annual updates from four officials in the fall and received reports from the senate Educational Policy and Technology Committee, which included a brief on undergraduate education related to the strategic framework process and a report from a working group in response to last spring’s pro-Palestinian encampment and the resulting stet agreements. The committee’s report found discrepancies in ac -
He said he plans to bring back the association’s “revolutionary roundtables” — conversations he launched last fall with targeted alumni groups of different generations or those with multiple GW degrees — about maintaining and bolstering the University’s engagement with each class.
“As an executive committee, we are looking to support our alumni in new and meaningful ways,” Gocala-Nguyen said. “We will be continuing this program because we believe it is valuable in hearing insight from the community at large.”
Local business owners look to fund marketing, renovations with grant
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He said the neighborhood needs the program in part because landlords who lease properties haven’t invested in maintaining infrastructure in commercial areas, like the Watergate retail area, which he said is owned by a single individual who has let the plaza fall into disrepair. A Northern Virginian retired doctor bought all the Watergate retail spaces for $15.4 million in 2017, the Washington Business Journal reported.
Crane said vacancies give passersby a poor impression of the neighborhood because Foggy Bottom is close to the State Department and Georgetown neighborhood and has a large residential population of more than 12,000 people, yet has such a “low vitality” at the ground level.
“It has so much promise for businesses to come in,
but yet a single individual is making the decision not to make investment in this property,” Crane said.
Ben Sislen, the executive director of Foggy Bottom’s Main Street program and the owner of Western Market sports bar ExPat, said final communications between the program and the Department of Small and Local Business Development, the agency in charge of the grant, are still ongoing.
FBA President John George said the group is waiting for the D.C. government to confirm that the FBA is registered as the entity to receive the funds and for the FBA’s insurance to add D.C. to its policy. The FBA must use the grant by the end of the fiscal year 2025 or by Sept. 30, according to DSLBD, but Sislen said he isn’t concerned about the status of the funding.
DSLBD didn’t return a
request for comment.
“The funding will come,” Sislen said. “You’d love to snap your fingers and have it, but it’s probably for the best. It’s a process and a bureaucratic one.”
The lack of grant installments so far hasn’t slowed down the program’s work because members have been busy with necessary preparations before the money arrives, Sislen said. He said over the past month he and FBA members have conducted an inventory of all the 226 businesses in the program’s corridor and are trying to get in touch with owners to discuss their businesses’ needs.
“The job is so big, and I’m just excited about it,” Sislen said.
Local business owners in the Foggy Bottom area, though initially unaware of the grant, said they are still experiencing the ramifications of the pandemic and hope the program will
boost spending in the community. Devon Greene, the owner of Stephen the Tailor in Western Market, said the pandemic hurt his business because many companies decided that remote work was more effective and didn’t return in person. He said when people work remotely, they don’t need their clothes tailored as often, especially because employees often opt out of formal wear.
“Because of that, we’ve seen a drastic, drastic reduction in terms of customers, and so we’ve thankfully been able to hang on, but we’re nowhere near the numbers that we were doing pre-pandemic,” Greene said.
Greene said he would use a cash infusion from the grant to invest in marketing efforts to promote the business in the area, hire more staff like a front-of-house employee and upgrade the
store’s equipment.
Jeremy Pollok, the owner of Tonic at Quigley’s, said business “dramatically” declined during the pandemic due to reduced foot traffic and that the restaurant would not have survived during COVID-19 if it weren’t for the D.C. government’s relief funds. Pollok said Tonic’s sales numbers haven’t returned to prepandemic levels yet, which he attributes to people working from home.
President Donald Trump penned an executive order on his first day in office instructing federal workers to begin transitioning to fully in-person work as soon as is practicable, which will likely spur a larger in-person worker presence in downtown D.C. Pollok said he expects a potential increase in foot traffic as a result, especially during lunch.
“You hate to see businesses closed because of the pandemic or because of the
after-effects of the pandemic,” Pollok said. “I hope all sorts of businesses reopen or new things come in.”
Hector Gaona, the owner of Watergate Cuts, a barbershop open in the Watergate since 1966, said the barbershop is “not the same” as it was before the pandemic because the lack of local in-person workers has reduced foot traffic, prompting businesses to shut down and leave behind vacant storefronts in the Watergate complex. Watergate Pastries, which was located across from the barbershop, closed two months ago, he said.
Gaona said the barbershop’s location one floor below street level makes it difficult for residents to know the shop exists, so Watergate Cuts uses social media platforms like Instagram to promote its services. “It’s not like it used to be,” Gaona said. “This used to be a great place.”
Students worry anti-LGBTQ+ legislation will heighten identity-based hate
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Sophomore Vanessa Harris — the president of Kehila GW, an organization for LGBTQ+ Jewish students — said she worries about people living in conservative states whose governments and communities may not accept their identity under the current presidential administration.
“I am really concerned for people who live in red states or have families who don’t offer the support that they would need,” Harris said. Harris said she feels she must be vocal about these issues in light of Trump’s attacks on LGBTQ+ rights and that Kehila GW will continue to provide a space for LGBTQ+ students to talk and discuss their shared anxieties.
“You’re not alone,” Harris said. “It might be hard, and it probably will be I’m not gonna lie, but I do think it’ll be okay in the end. You just have to keep fighting and keep speaking out.”
Transgender and Nonbinary Students of GW President Thomas Morningstar said they are concerned gender-affirming care may become inaccessible in the District under the Republican-controlled Congress as some lawmakers have proposed repealing the District’s home rule.
“GW is part of D.C.,” Morningstar said. “There’s no protection from any state government, and so those things will directly impact certain care and services here on campus, and so we have to understand that these will directly impact students.”
Morningstar said their group is in the early stages of planning its annual GW programming for Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31. They said the programming will unpack how the trans-
gender and nonbinary community can continue to support each other, along with other “political elements.”
“Understanding that we are living in this world is very important,” Morningstar said.
The organization released a statement two days after Trump declared male and female the only two genders, calling on allies to stand with the LGBTQ+ community against the attacks and reminding transgender and nonbinary students that they matter.
“It was hit out to the people we wanted to hit. It hit especially some of our trans and nonbinary community. We know we got some traction on it, but specifically hitting communities we’re serving,” Morningstar said. “Our purpose of our mission is to serve the trans and nonbinary community of GW.”
Morningstar said many students in the LGBTQ+ community were scared upon Trump’s election, adding that the organization is increasing the frequency of programming to support the transgender and nonbinary community.
“We made it through the AIDS crisis, we made it through many of these crises. We are still actively dealing with these crises,” Morningstar said. “We still must first be sad, scared, angry but then we need to move into action.”
Tye DuSold-O’Connor, an executive board member for TNBS who identifies as transgender, said they are unsure if they can now get a passport that reflects their gender identity due to the new State Department policy, and they may have to “frantically” find ways to access health care under the new administration.
“I fear that now, for the next four years, I’m just going to be on survival and preservation mode, not just for me, but for pretty much any
queer and specifically trans person I know,” DuSold-O’Connor said.
DuSold-O’Connor said they hope GW follows through on its commitment to equity and inclusion as stated in the University’s diversity mission and reject any discriminatory policies waged against the LGBTQ+ community.
“I would really hope that they would actually take a stand and maybe show that we deserve to live our full lives in general and specifically at GW,” DuSold-O’Connor said.
Chloe Thompson, a first-year from Texas who identifies as bisexual, said she has noticed Trump’s actions have empowered some peo-
ple in her home state to target the LGBTQ+ community by slashing tires or placing homophobic stickers on cars of people they believe to be a part of the community. Thompson said Texas has a “strong undercurrent of silencing” toward LGBTQ+ culture, and she avoids publicly displaying affection to her girlfriend to avoid potential threats of violence.
“Thankfully, I don’t live there anymore, but when I go home for the summer, I can just see myself shrinking, or at least feeling extreme pressure to shrink within myself, and most likely, I won’t speak about it,” Thompson said. In January, Idaho’s House of
Representatives passed a resolution asking the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 precedent for federal protections on same-sex marriage. Thompson said the potential overturning of Obergefell was “terrifying,” especially if it reenters a new Supreme Court with a conservative majority.
“What’s happening right now is out of the ordinary, and it’s not the future,” Thompson said. “This is the past clinging, and this is the last people who have lost their control over what they want society to be. This is their last grasp onto power, and they will die, and they will fall out of power, and this is not the end, and this will not be our lives.”
COLIN WAGNER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Vanessa Harris poses for a portrait in Kogan Plaza.
From
ARWEN CLEMANS | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Board of Trustees Chair Grace Speights at the meeting on Friday
From
OPINIONS
How
Capitalize on GW’s existing resources to cut textbook costs
Last month, the Student Government Association requested the University launch a website for students to sell their textbooks to peers at an affordable price, referencing a student study where nearly two-thirds of respondents reported paying between $200 and $700 per semester on books. For nearly a decade, students have advocated for cheaper textbooks, and concerns over their affordability haven’t diminished on campus despite several initiatives by students, faculty and the University.
But the successful results of some of these initiatives are essentially buried by a lack of advertising and promotion by students, professors and officials. And if students repeatedly argue that past strides to cut textbook costs are not enough, our community must collaborate on strategies to expand these initiatives.
Textbook affordability isn’t an issue singular to our institution. A February 2024 survey of faculty members at American and Canadian universities reported that about two-thirds of respondents viewed textbook affordability as one of their institution’s top concerns. In the same study, only 39 percent of surveyed professors reported using open educational resources, though 92 percent of faculty were aware of them. Over the past 35 years, textbook prices have risen by 812 percent, and, since 2006, at a growth rate four times faster than the national rate of inflation. GW projects the annual cost of textbooks for students as about $1,400, though it can sometimes be higher for STEM students where textbooks are more often required.
In the past decade, several pushes — mostly by GW’s student government and the University’s
ISTAFF EDITORIAL
libraries — have tried to lessen the amount of money that students have to spend each semester on their textbooks. GW Libraries started a campaign five years ago to collect student testimonials about struggles with affording textbooks, and the SGA and GW Libraries joined together to loan one to two copies of required textbooks, often expensive ones, for courses with high enrollment for a few hours in 2017. The University also offers a grant between $500 and $1,000 for faculty who use free course mate-
ABBY TURNER | CARTOONIST
rials. There is also the current buyback program with GW Campus Stores.
Students, professors and GW itself as an institution should promote, amplify and use these resources. If students don’t jump on these offerings — or, conversely, develop an evidence-based argument of why these current initiatives are insufficient in substantively cutting costs — then they don’t end up helping anyone.
If professors assign expensive textbooks in their syllabi, they
Situationships have paved the way for Galentine’s Day
n January 2024, the famous Valentine’s Day candy company Sweethearts designed three new ambiguous messages for its tiny, heart-shaped treats. “Not sure if this is love or not, but it’s sweet either way,” read one. “Do you know how much you mean to me? Because I don’t,” read another.
Ava Hurwitz Opinions Writer
The company wanted the memos to be as blurry as the boundaries of a situationship, which have played a key role in modern dating by highlighting the unreliability of young relationships. If you or a loved one have been impacted by this phenomenon, perhaps gifting a box of these candies will clarify your cloudy relationship status. In a way, the no-strings-attached style has caused a broader social shift toward friendship as the primary source of emotional fulfillment, increasing the popularity of Galentine’s Day, a holiday filled with heart-shaped plushies, pink and red outfits and endless laughter with your closest friends. As relationships evolve, so do the ways in which we should honor them. Friendship is just as worthy of a holiday as any love story. Even though situationships may come and go, friendship always prevails. For example, at GW situationships can be spotted
around every corner. Just look for the girl with her head in her phone, consulting her friend on how to respond to a “what’s up” text at 2 a.m. Should she keep things casual, or does it mean something more? The uncertainty is always palpable but so is the allure of the undefined. But notice who is always there for her: the friend, helping her draft a response or reassuring her that she’s too good for a midnight text. Shifting the focus from the romantic limbo of situationships to the firm steadiness of deep friendship is a recipe for a Valentine’s Day that feels fulfilling — a Galentine’s Day.
Galentine’s Day has blossomed into a holiday that is deeply meaningful in a society where friendships are often viewed as “less than” relationships. What started as a humorous sitcom bit has become a meaningful tradition for people all over the world.
Just like many things in our generation, Generation Z’s love life contains multitudes. From the talking stage to promise rings, the wide spectrum of modern romance refuses to settle in a singular spot. Situationships challenge the traditional trajectory of love. Often they can quickly turn into a web of utter confusion. In theory, they’re supposed to be light and spontaneous. In practice, someone usually gets their heart broken. The ambiguity leads to feelings of uncertainty and a lack of communication between the two parties.
Friendships, on the other hand, are created on the basis of trust and mutual appreciation. Thus, the foundational reason why Galentine’s Day is so reassuring is that it offers a sense of stability and emotional security that situationships lack. Friendships have the potential to develop with individuals. In this manner, Galentine’s Day is a refreshing antidote to the sickness of a situationship.
Valentine’s Day for the longest time had been a holiday that couples loved but was resented or ignored by those not in a committed relationship. It was the kind of holiday that if you didn’t have a significant other, you would usually sit alone staring out your window at all the loving couples passing by or rewatching The Notebook for the 10th time. But in recent years, this attitude has shifted. Instead of being depressed on a holiday that once was primarily about romantic relationships, why not rebrand it for yourself as a celebration of friendship?
The next time you complain about dry texting, lack of planning or the constant state of confusion, remind yourself — a true friend would never treat you like this. Instead of wasting energy on someone who can’t even commit to responding to a TikTok, celebrate the holiday of love with people who will always show up for you. Don’t worry — the “wyd?” message will still be there on Feb. 15.
—Ava Hurwitz, a firstyear majoring in international affairs, is an opinions writer.
Amust also budget the time to ex-
plain why cheaper literature alternatives aren’t appropriate for the curriculum or meaningfully converse with students about how to avoid high costs by using existing tools, like the library’s borrowing program or through an interlibrary loan. Faculty members should be transparent in answering questions about their textbook requirements: for example, why students really do need to buy that specific Norton Critical Edition of a classic text that is free and easily accessi-
ble online or through the library or why they require students to buy a textbook if they only assign the first few chapters.
But students and professors — some of the community members who have the most limited time and budgets — shouldn’t have to plug these offerings alone. The University’s messaging, from its student life teams to school-specific departments and programs, should shamelessly promote the measures GW has already taken to solve these problems, using social media, emails, signage and more. We worry that the persistent student demand for textbook affordability is in part linked to a lack of awareness about what’s already out there.
But we also hope that GW, which ultimately has the purse strings, may pursue more radical efforts to tackle this continued issue. Officials could, for example, expand GW Libraries’ “Top Textbooks” program to allow longer check-out times or add more free texts. The University could develop more expansive agreements with publishers that grow students’ access to free e-books on certain materials, building off existing partnerships, like GW’s deal with Wiley publishing. Officials could also increase the dollar reward for faculty grants or relax the process of applying to incentivize participation.
The fight for more affordable textbooks feels never-ending, and the battle is frequently siloed to student government campaign season or community members that are most closely acquainted with the GW Libraries. For clear change, the community must rally around resources we already pay for in order to defend arguments about what more is needed.
Students need single rooms to experience independence
boatload of students come to college excited to be on their own for the first time and expect to bask in independence. Then they quickly realize they have a roommate. As much as colleges and universities are supposed to be spots where students socialize and create memories together, privacy is equally important. Therefore, GW should offer more single rooms to foster the independent environment that so many students yearn for in college.
Bryant Li Opinions Writer
By and large, many students hope that universities will prepare them for adulthood. After all, right after university, we are meant to go into the workforce and into a life we will likely lead by ourselves. Not to mention that many GW students are hyperindependent and extremely career-focused, hoping that universities will prepare them to work at Capitol Hill or the White House.
I have lived with my parents since primary school, and I moved out at 15 years old to attend boarding school. I was looking forward to having my own personal space at GW since I had roommates at boarding school. Part of the college experience is learning to grow up and have frequent self-reflection and having a personal space can indeed
help tremendously with those goals.
The options of single rooms are rather limited for upperclassmen like myself. Residential halls that offer single rooms are International House, with single dorms making up of 6 percent of rooms, JBKO Hall with 3 percent of rooms being singles, Mitchell Hall with 83 percent — 1959 E St with 5 percent, the Dakota with 9 percent and all of South Hall has single rooms. There are about 11,000 undergraduate students at GW, and single room options are particularly important since many want to be more independent and productive. Students can focus on their schoolwork without facing any interruptions or distractions. With the scant amount of resources available, offering single rooms seems to be much more urgent.
Universities are supposed to teach students a range of subjects and skills. While socialization and collaboration are crucial life skills, the limited number of single rooms end up forcing a good chunk of students to fall behind in independent life skills. For instance, if you intend to save money and prefer cooking on your own and your roommate is a splendid cook, you might heavily depend on them to cook for you. Hence, you might lose a great opportunity to learn to cook on your own. The tuition fees for private universities in America are scandalously exorbitant compared to
universities in countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany, where some public universities are free or mostly free. The majority of, if not all, are funded by the central government, some of which offer single rooms as standard for their students. In sharp contrast, students pay around $80,000 to attend GW, yet we have significantly less opportunities to have our own spaces. We spend so much money to attend this university to have such limited options to develop our desired life skills before we are thrown out into the world. With such costly fees, GW should indeed offer more single rooms for students . In no way am I saying that GW should never offer shared dorms or suites. Living in a three-, four-, five- or six-person room can sometimes be quite enjoyable and beneficial if you and your roommates share similar interests and get along well with each other. I have had roommates before, and I unquestionably spent some fun moments with them. But as a senior who is about to graduate soon, I hope that I am able to make our school a better place for the next generation. And as far as I am concerned, it is indisputable that offering single rooms should be readily available for students who want it.
—Bryant Li, a senior majoring in international affairs and political science, is an opinions writer.
THE SCENE CULTURE
Meet the undergraduate couples engaged before graduation
GW senior Dre Pedemonte and Georgetown University graduate Michele Giunti are both married to the enemy.
Pedemonte, an English and journalism and mass communication major from Northern Virginia, and Giunti, a then-Georgetown public policy master’s student from Rome, first met in summer 2022 at the restaurant, where she was a hostess and he was a server, exchanging quick pleasantries over a busy dinner rush.
Pedemonte said she had been working at the Balkan staple for two years before Giunti caught her eye. She said she knew almost everyone in the restaurant, so she couldn’t help but notice when a new “so cute” face joined the staff.
Pedemonte said she knew there was romance between the two in December 2022 when Giunti brought her perfume from Rome as a Christmas gift.
After receiving the gift, Pedemonte and Giunti both confessed their feelings for each other and made their relationship official in January 2023, right around the New Year.
Pedemonte said their friendsto-lovers arc was “organic” because the relationship began with a strong platonic foundation.
Pedemonte said she and Giunti got engaged in March 2023 over sushi in their apartment after she had gotten back from a long, grueling shift at Ambar. She walked into their “dinky little apartment” and
saw Giunti standing by the table in a nice shirt and slacks. She said she knew “something was a bit fishy,” and it wasn’t just the sushi. During dinner, she noticed a small black ring box sitting on the table. Pedemonte opened it herself, skipping the traditional “down on one knee” moment, and found a band adorned with a pink Gerber daisy.
A little over a year later, on May 1, 2024, they exchanged vows at an Arlington, Virginia, courthouse, surrounded by close friends and Pedemonte’s family, with Giunti’s
relatives from Italy joining in via FaceTime. Middle school sweethearts Declan McGrath, who graduated last semester with a public health degree, and Avery McEachern, who graduated last semester from Goucher College in Maryland, had their first date in eighth grade, with their parents driving them to see “Beauty and the Beast.”
Eight years later, the couple was embarking on biweekly trips via the Maryland commuter rail between their colleges and will walk down the aisle in their hometown
Worst date woes: Hatchet staff talk trysts gone wrong
Sometimes, it’s good to not end up with “the one that got away.”
There are many ex-flings to wistfully reflect on each Valentine’s Day, but there’s just as many potential pairings that were doomed from the start. Be it because of marriage, murder suspects or a distinct lack of hygiene, here are The Hatchet staff’s worst first dates.
Annie O’Brien | Sta Writer
I went on more first dates during my first year at GW than I care to admit. I was desperate for a boyfriend and tried to lock one down through any means necessary. At the start of my second semester, I thought I had found a Shakespearean sweetheart in my playwriting class. When he eventually asked me to go to the movies, I was elated. I chose “Belfast,” a black-and-white Kenneth Branagh film story set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, an uberviolent and dreary period of Ireland’s history. I set a mood — just not for romance. We watched the nearly three-hour long movie in puritanical silence, our hands frozen to our individual laps and lips pursed as bombs exploded and middle-aged actors fought in an accent nearly indiscernible to our American
ears. He paid for an Uber back to campus, opting for a five-minute drive instead of a 15-minute walk to avoid debriefing the dread we’d just witnessed.
Rachel Moon | Senior News Editor
After people leaning in close all night to scream in my ear over the booming speakers at a fraternity party — the venue of a first date I was taken on last month — all I could think about was soap. My party companion was telling me that he didn’t believe in using it. He was a sweet guy, and it had been an okay evening, but I couldn’t stop the musk reminiscent of a high school football team locker room from wafting down my nasal passages. If he smells bad, he just puts on deodorant, my date said. I said to myself that maybe I was too old to be going on first dates. Maybe I should have just settled for the first fish that leapt out of GW’s shallow dating pool.
I started to explain that soap picks up dirt particles then shrugged it off. I wasn’t his mom. He got up and went to the bathroom. I just hoped he used hand soap.
Faith Wardwell | Managing Editor
In a moment of weakness during the winter of my junior year, I tossed a line into the sea of dating
apps, hoping to reel in my Mr. Right. I soon matched with a Georgetown University student, and — much to my friends’ surprise and even my own — I agreed to meet him for a drink for what would be my first and last Hinge date ever.
We got to talking about our majors, which, in classic D.C. fashion, led to discussions of our past internship experiences, as he shared he had spent the previous summer interning in Las Vegas.
“Vegas was awesome,” I remember him saying. “That’s where I met my wife.”
I nearly choked on my tequila soda, frozen in my seat. He looked back at me, a slight smile and glint in his eye, as if he had been dying to let me in on his secret.
“Your what?” I responded.
Very nonchalantly, almost giggling at my panic, he attempted to assure me that his marriage was “nothing serious” and that his decision to get hitched on a random Saturday night was simply a drunken mistake made in Sin City — despite the key fact that neither of them had yet made an effort to annul the union.
I may have been sad and single, but I was no homewrecker. With the wise words of “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” echoing through my mind, I departed from the date that night and retired from Hinge.
Cincinnati, Ohio, this summer.
After meeting in seventh grade, McGrath said the middle school sweethearts became official in eighth grade and, besides their 11-month break freshman year of high school before rekindling their bond in sophomore year chemistry class, have been together since.
Though McGrath said their relationship did not influence their decision to attend college in neighboring states, he said the couple traded their daily walks through the hallways of their high school for hourlong train rides every few
DC landmarks to
weeks. McGrath said the prospect of marriage became “real” for them during the “medium distance” era of their relationship, as their dreams of a life together manifested into real conversations about making it happen.
McGrath said he wanted to get married right out of college partly because he didn’t want to have that sort of distance between him and McEachern. He said she studied abroad in Australia last spring, and the couple didn’t see each other for four months. McGrath said the moment he hugged her in the airport reaffirmed his desire to be with his partner forever.
After the couple discussed this increasingly viable possibility and perused jewelers for ring options, McGrath popped the question last summer in Cincinnati. McGrath said in July he crafted collages of pictures that captured each year they had been together and hung them in McEachern’s home to greet her when she came home from teaching at the high school they went to.
McGrath said he and McEachern will be surrounded by loved ones at their garden-enclosed venue in Cincinnati, which they fell in love with immediately after touring. He said they were not very concerned about objections from their families because they both have family members who married young. But they were anxious about what their friends without those backgrounds would think, though everyone they know has been supportive.
“We were kind of shocked at how many people told us ‘congratulations’ when we hard launched it on Instagram,” McGrath said. “We felt very loved.”
backdrop your Valentine’s Day epiphanies
CAITLIN KITSON CONTRIBUTING CULTURE EDITOR
Despite its monumental charm, D.C. is not “The City of Love.”
Paris rightfully holds that prized title with its winding cobblestone streets, cafes haunted by famed writers and museums full of the world’s greatest works of art. But, believe it or not, a Parisian designed the District’s cityscapes with the architecture of “The City of Love” in mind.
Pierre L’Enfant, who sailed to America from France to fight in the Revolutionary War, was the architect selected by George Washington to design the plan for the nation’s capital. His vision for D.C. was grand, scored by wide boulevards, à la the Champs-Élysées. Eventually, L’Enfant’s clashes with city commissioners led to Washington giving him the boot, but his plan lived on as the blueprint for the city’s development through the 20th century.
This Valentine’s Day, walk through D.C. with L’Enfant’s vision in mind. While the District can’t hold a candle to “The City of Love,” there is romantic enlightenment to be found across its landscape. Whether you are head over heels or looking for a sign to dump your situationship, here are some architectural landmarks that can offer a backdrop for your romancefilled Friday.
If you are head over heels
In the final scene of the 1998 romantic comedy “You’ve Got Mail,” Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan finally get together in Manhattan’s Riverside Park, surrounded by a garden of lush flowers. What better place to commemorate newfound love than in a field of blossoms during springtime?
Unfortunately, Potomac Phil predicted another six weeks of winter. And if the wintery mix blowing through the District this week is any indication, the all-knowing, mystical groundhog may be onto
something. But if you’re looking for a floral rendezvous that puts Hanks and Ryan to shame this Friday, do not fret. The U.S. Botanic Garden — established by Congress in 1820 as one of the oldest botanical gardens in North America — provides a free respite from the District’s sleet and slush. Enclosed in panes of glass just a stone’s throw away from the U.S. Capitol, the garden’s conservatory is an ideal location for taking a stroll with your new beau.
If you are ready to get back on the horse When it comes to romantic disappointment in college, the body keeps the score. The ping of a Hinge notification fills you with dread. A drunken and ultimately regrettable rendezvous triggers a next-day hangxiety spiral. A glimpse of a former flame in Gelman Library makes your stomach churn. Eventually, you consider ditching GW for a convent or a monastery. But then, something shifts. Maybe it’s the sight of someone buying a bouquet for their significant other in Trader Joe’s. Suddenly, flinging yourself back into the throes of the District’s dating scene feels worth the prospect of finding love. If you’re ready to get back on the horse of romance, D.C. has just the inspiration you need: the countless manon-horse statues sprinkled across the city.
It’s often difficult to distinguish one equestrian sculpture from another, leaving you wondering, “Is that George Washington or just some other guy who
rocked a ponytail and a tricorn hat?” But in the case of Washington Circle, the man on the horse is indeed GW’s namesake. While riding into the Battle of Princeton is not the most relatable situation for college students, determination in the face of adversity is universal. Just like the Continental Army in Princeton, New Jersey, your romantic victory could be just around the corner.
If you are in the depths of a situationship
This February, situationships should be dead on arrival. A term so overused in recent years, a situationship is an entanglement that lies in the purgatory between friends with benefits and a serious relationship. Some out there may enjoy relating to the lyrics of Chappell Roan’s “Casual,” but situationships often blow up in flames when one person craves the commitment and vulnerability that their partner is unable to give them. If you’re in the abyss of romantic turmoil, like Orpheus searching for Eurydice in the Underworld, a sign from a higher power may be what you need this Valentine’s Day. Just a 30-minute jaunt away from campus, the Oak Hill Cemetery is home to the graves of notable individuals in D.C. history — from Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham to plagiarizer John A. Joyce. By spending an hour wandering the tombstones, your communion with the spirits may help you decide your situationship is best left buried in the remains or even inspire you to resurrect an old flame.
HATCHET FILE PHOTO
The U.S. Botanic Gardens on Independence and Maryland avenues.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KRIS PARK
Two students have an awkward date at Tatte on I Street.
COURTESY OF DECLAN MCGRATH
Avery McEachern and Declan McGrath pose for an engagement photo.
BROOKE
GW HATCHET STAFF
GAMES SPORTS
Men’s basketball downs St. Bonaventure, besting win record
ETHAN TSAI REPORTER
Men’s basketball (16-8, 5-6 Atlantic 10) defeated St. Bonaventure (17-8, 5-7 A-10) 62-52 on Sunday, with a 10-point run in the second half decisively turning the tide in the Revolutionaries’ favor.
Bouncing back from a home loss to George Mason on Wednesday, the Revs offense focused their efforts on driving to the basket and playing physical, cutting back on 3-pointers in the process. The Revs’s victory clinches a winning record in the regular season, the first in two years, and tops last year’s win total, which was 15.
GW’s leading scorer was redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro, who recorded 15 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, working close to the basket with redshirt sophomore forward Darren Buchanan Jr., who added 12 points, with eight rebounds and three assists. Supporting Castro and Buchanan’s close-quarter plays was sophomore guard Trey Autry, who notched 15 points and seven rebounds, the majority of his points coming from 3-pointers.
An early 3-point jumper by Autry earned the team an early lead, which GW maintained all the way through the end of the first half. St. Bonaventure made efforts to recover this difference, but GW’s high free throw scoring rate stymied the Bonnies, which made sure the gap only increased from there.
The Revs were able to pull down several rebounds, often leading to multiple opportunities to score per play, straining the Bonnies’ defense. On the other hand, St. Bonaventure had trouble recovering the ball due to their reliance on 3-pointers. The end of the first half saw a back-andforth struggle for the ball, with rapid turnovers that gave neither team room to score, ending with GW in the lead, 28-24.
The second half opened with the Bonnies seizing the lead with two jumpers, exchanging it several more times before settling at 39-35, with St. Bonaventure in the lead. GW went on a 10-point run, with Castro proving valuable with a layup, a jumper and a dunk in less than five minutes.
St. Bonaventure attempted to retake the initiative, but with a strong blocking defense from GW and two 3-point jumpers from Autry, the Revs held a 56-47 lead with less than two minutes on the clock.
Attempts to close the gap in the last few minutes resulted in six free throws for the Revolutionaries, all of which were on point. With a few lastminute points from St. Bonaventure proving too little to make significant headway, the game ended with a score of 62-52 and a much-needed win for the Revolutionaries.
The Revs are set to host Virginia Commonwealth (19-5, 9-2 A-10) at the Charles E. Smith Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Women’s basketball
notches secondstraight win, downs St. Bonaventure 58-49
WIDJAJA STAFF WRITER
Women’s basketball (10–13, 3-9 Atlantic 10) picked up their third conference win with a 58-49 victory over St. Bonaventure (5-19, 1-12 A-10) Saturday afternoon. The Revolutionaries outscored the Bonnies 21-5 in the second quarter after they went on a 17-0 run in the first half of the quarter. The Revs also dominated the Bonnies on the glass, bringing down 47 rebounds, 15 offensive and 32 defensive, compared to the Bonnies’ five offensive and 21 defensive rebounds.
Graduate student guard Makayla Andrews led the team with 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Graduate student forward Paige Mott added 12 points and shot six of seven from the field, alongside eight rebounds and two steals. Freshman guard Gabby Reynolds recorded 10 points, four rebounds and three
How GW works to fill empty Smith Center seats
BEN SPITALNY SPORTS EDITOR
It’s not the competition or the Revolutionaries’ Atlantic 10 standings that draws some GW basketball game attendees to the Smith Center — it’s the free souvenir license plates and Chick-fil-A.
GW Athletics works alongside student spirit organization George’s Army to host different promotions, giveaways and halftime events in hopes of making the center a destination for students and improve attendance from its usual largely empty crowds. Average attendance for both men’s and women’s basketball this season ranks No. 13 out of 15 A-10 teams — a turnout that falls short of competing schools, like St. Bonaventure, which has roughly one tenth of GW’s total student population.
In the 5,000-seat capacity Smith Center, the women’s team averages 479 attendees per home game, while men’s basketball averages 1,869.
Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations Andy Ruge, who helps oversee fan engagement, said he works to evolve promotions to keep things exciting for students and fans. This includes halftime entertainment, where GW often welcomes outside performers to try to keep fans enthused during the break.
“Each halftime is designed around one of three key pillars,” Ruge said in an email. “Celebrating the GW community, providing fun and dynamic entertainment or showcasing unique fan engagement opportunities.”
Ruge said some of the “fan favorite” halftimes include a corgi race for men’s basketball’s Jan. 24 win over Saint Louis and Simon Sez,
an entertainer that has emerged as a “staple over the past few years” and runs large-scale “Simon Says” games on the court with fans. He said attendance has been steadily rising since COVID-19, seeing a 12 percent increase each year.
He also said the teams’ success has “played a significant role” in attendance. Last year, when the men’s basketball team finished last in the A-10 standings, they also finished last in conference with attendance, at 1,628 fans per game.
Ruge said Director of Athletics Michael Lipitz challenged the marketing team to “think bigger and go beyond traditional items,” which is part of the basis for giveaways introduced this season, like “Scoot to Smith” in which students win electric scooters for winning raffles or shooting contests. The team has also offered largerscale giveaways, like 400 floral bucket hats and 300 tri-cornered hats. At the most recent men’s home game, a Feb. 5 loss to George Mason, officials gave out free Chick-fil-A to the first 100 students after a George’s Army tailgate. The first 500 fans at the team’s Jan. 15 game against Duquesne received faux D.C. license plates.
Ruge said these fan promotions help to drive attendance by students who wouldn’t typically attend basketball games, which, in turn, help the basketball teams win by strengthening their home-court advantage. Combined, the men’s and women’s teams are 17-8 at the Smith Center this season, compared to 6-11 away.
“By offering highimpact prizes and creating interactive experiences
around them, we’ve generated buzz both on campus and in the arena, reinforcing that attending games isn’t just about watching basketball — it’s about being part of something fun and memorable,” Ruge said.
George’s Army, the official student section for GW sports, has a persistent presence at basketball games, with their members providing energy and cheers even in tough games. Yet, as both teams have struggled over the past few years, attendance on the student side of the Smith Center has been spotty.
George’s Army
President Rami Hanash Jr., a senior, said success getting students to come to games “very much depends” on the team’s success. He said GW’s culture as an academicsoriented school often makes students choose school work or studying over attending games, especially on weeknights, when half of the teams’ games take place.
“It’s a very academic environment,” Hanash said. “So trying to get those types of students to go to basketball, you gotta be a little creative.”
Hanash said through his role with George’s Army, he attends every men’s and women’s home game in the front row of the student section and meets once a week with members of GW Athletics to brainstorm halftimes and different promotions.
One of his most successful ideas, he said, was a “Super Hero Day” for the men’s basketball’s game against Saint Louis on Jan. 25, where the University distributed posters showing several players posing around Captain America’s shield for fans and gave superhero costumes to
blocks. The Revs’ bench assisted the team with 22 points while the Bonnies only had 4 bench points. The Bonnies led in the first quarter 12-11, the only time the Bonnies had the lead in the game. With 1:38 minutes remaining in the quarter, sophomore guard Kamari Sims connected on a 3-pointer to tie the game 9-9. The Revs gained offensive momentum in the second quarter with a 17-0 run. During the run, the Revs shot seven of 11 from the field. Reynolds and Andrews scored 7 and 5 points, respectively. The Bonnies’ junior guard Aurore Eyango made the team’s first point of the quarter, with her team trailing 28-14 with 3:43 minutes remaining. The first half ended with the Revs up 32-17. In the third quarter, the Bonnies fought back, outscoring the Revs 1511, but it was not enough
after GW’s double-digit run last quarter. Both teams struggled with shooting behind the arc, with the Revs going one of the five and the Bonnies shooting one of six. Freshman forward Miriam Diala secured the 11-point lead to end the quarter with a layup, with the score of 4332.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Revs continue to hold onto the doubledigit lead, with Andrews connecting both free throws in the first minute of the quarter. Mott made a layup with 1:28 minutes remaining to keep the 11-point lead, but a Bonnies’ 3-pointer cut the lead to eight, making the score 54-46. Andrews hit another pair of free throws to end the game 58-49. The Revs will travel to Loyola Chicago to play against the Ramblers, who are currently on a four-game losing streak and stand at 12th in the A-10, on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.
members of the George’s Army executive board.
“They got us random superhero masks and capes,” Hanash said. “And they got e-board specifically actual outfits, so I was Batman, and we had another person in an Aquaman suit. And it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous, but it was funny.”
Attendance for the Saturday game was 2,557, exceeding the team’s 1,869-attendee average and filling more than 50 percent of Smith Center’s seats.
With the men’s team hovering around A-10 contention this season, just one win out of a doublebye spot, Hanash said it’s not as hard to promote games compared to efforts during the team’s 12-game losing streak last year. With the women’s team recently breaking an eightgame losing streak of its own, Hanash said it’s been difficult to draw fans when the University’s women’s
team hasn’t been winning. Hanash said people who start going to games early in their college tenures are the ones who return and that if upperclassmen haven’t attended games before, they’re unlikely to start. To reverse this phenomenon, he said George’s Army is trying to capture a “21+” crowd by incorporating drinking and postgame elements into the fan experience.
For the upcoming men’s basketball’s game against Massachusetts on Feb. 22, George’s Army is hosting a Power Hour at sports bar ExPat in Western Market immediately following the game.
“Once you’re a junior or senior, if you’re not really going to basketball games, you’re not going to basketball games,” Hanash said. “And so with this power hour, I wanted to capture a different crowd, and so we’ll see if it works. I’ve never done it before,
but I assume it’ll do well. Fifteen bucks for unlimited drinks for a night. I would do that.”
Both George’s Army and the athletics department have been working on increasing overall awareness of GW’s basketball teams campuswide with signs, fliers and social media working to get more people informed of games and events. Hanash said there are students who don’t realize GW’s games are free for all students and don’t go to games because they don’t want to spend money. “General awareness of when the games are, who’s playing, why is it important?” Hanash said. “I don’t think people have a sort of channel or stream to get to that. And if you’re not following George’s Army on Instagram, or if you’re not following those accounts on social media, then, where are you going to hear it from?”
LUKE JOHNSON | PHOTOGRAPHER
GW students and fans cheer in the crowd during a men’s basketball game last week.
KRISTI
BRAD ZHAO | PHOTOGRAPHER
Graduate guard Makayla Andrews shoots a basket during last week’s game against Fordham.
LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro drives the ball up the court during last week’s game
