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HATCHET

Candidates weather ‘dark cloud’ of campus free speech

In a year defi ned by campus unrest and mounting federal pressure on universities to stifle protests, Student Government Association presidential and vice presidential candidates’ plans on student speech are splintered.

The campus community is closely watching University leaders, stakeholders and governing bodies for their responses to proPalestinian protests and President Donald Trump’s return to power. As students voice concerns that evolving GW policies and disciplinary processes threaten free speech, the SGA’s unmatched access to officials positions the body to elevate and speak on the issues dominating campus discourse — if its student leaders choose to do so.

The SGA over the last year has tried to balance voicing students’ free speech rights with protecting groups from discrimination and hate by forming working groups, releasing statements and passing resolutions. But they also faced backlash from students who said they didn’t sufficiently advocate for students during the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring.

Criticism of the SGA’s response to topical issues came to a head this campaign season when the current administration pulled out of participating in Friday’s “Hands Off Our Schools” protest, citing allegations that the keynote speaker, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (DNY), historically demonstrated “hateful rhetoric” toward the Jewish community.

Several student governments for universities across the DMV signed

onto the protest as part of the wave of anti-Trump rallies across the country over the weekend. GW’s SGA was the only partnering organization to pull out.

The decision was met with simultaneous support and pushback, as community members flocked to the SGA Instagram’s comments to lambast the “spineless and inexcusable” decision to withdraw, while others applauded the body’s “moral clarity.”

The response highlighted the expectation that some students place on the SGA — that leaders must use the office’s power to advocate for the causes students care deeply about. But these causes are at times at odds with each other, forcing the SGA to face concerns that by supporting one group, they’ll isolate others.

Past SGA leaders weigh presidency’s power, limits

Students this week will elect GW’s 111th Student Government Association president, a role with powers and limitations that former SGA leaders say are largely misunderstood by the student body they serve.

Last year, a survey of nearly 100 GW students revealed a lack of knowledge about the role of the president and the functions of the governing body itself. Former SGA presidents and vice presidents said support from officials often defined their ability to accomplish big-ticket agenda items during their terms, reinforcing a relationship in which student leaders must accept the boundaries of their own power.

Current SGA President Ethan Fitzgerald

said the bulk of the SGA’s success in its advocacy efforts lies within University officials’ acceptance of its suggestions. A concern he has heard from students throughout his term this year deals with tuition, with students routinely coming to him and other SGA leaders with questions about where their tuition dollars go, he said. He said students also came to him upset by the University’s restriction of access to the Milken Institute School of Public Health and accused the SGA of taking part in restricting access themselves. Fitzgerald said the SGA was as “shocked” as students were and worked to restore campus-wide access to the building.

“We can always advocate, but I think there are sometimes decisions that administration make that people think,

GW may have ‘failed’

‘Maybe the SGA was part of this,’” Fitzgerald said. “That’s not necessarily the case.” There is no clause in the SGA’s bylaws that outline a requirement of the administration to respond to or take action on SGA resolutions. Members of student government said last year that a lack of communication from officials on legislation stalled their ability to enact tangible change. Fitzgerald said he has heard “differing” opinions from University officials about whether or not SGA resolutions and legislation carry any binding requirements for the University to act, despite resolutions passed by the body this year that demanded officials to adopt changes to internal policies.

Tens of thousands of protesters crowded around the Washington Monument on Saturday afternoon to rally against President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk’s “authoritarian overreach” in dismantling federal agencies, implementing tariffs and carrying out immigration raids.

The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights identified “concerns” in the University’s response to reports of discrimination and a hostile environment and unfair treatment in the student conduct process, according to a resolution agreement obtained by The Hatchet.

Demonstrators donned Handmaid’s Tale and early 20th century suffragette costumes, carried signs like “Hands off our Constitution” and “There are smarter cabinets at IKEA” and shouted chants like “Where is Congress? Do your job” and “Elon Musk has got to go.” The “Hands Off” D.C. rally was one of more than 1,000 protests across all 50 states on Saturday in mass dissent of the Trump administration’s recent actions, including gutting government agencies, imposing heavy tariffs that have shocked the global economy and Musk’s encroaching presence in the federal government. Protesters flooded the National Mall at noon with signs in support of reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, researchers and scientists. The crowd swelled to a peak at about 1:30 p.m.

“I feel like college students especially have to get out, especially GW, we’re right here, right under the government,” sophomore Madison Bender said.

GW entered a resolution agreement on Jan. 16 with OCR according to the resolution letter, which was obtained via a public records request, concluding nearly two-yearlong investigations into a pair of Title VI complaints alleging anti-Palestinian discrimination and antisemitism at the University. In a resolution letter addressed to University President Ellen Granberg, OCR said GW “appears” to have ineffectively responded to the reports due to inconsistencies in the process for reporting potential acts of discrimination.

The Hatchet obtained the resolution letter and resolution agreement in an “interim response” through the Freedom of Information Act. Jasmine Gibbs, the team leader for the OCR’s D.C. office, sent the letter to Granberg and General Counsel Charles Barber. OCR redacted some information under an exemption that excused the agency from releasing information that could “reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if released.”

Fiona Riley Senior News Editor

Molly St. Clair Assistant News Editor

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

JERRY LAI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Protesters clap during a speech in front of the Washington Monument.

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Street.

Student Government Association

ELECTION GUIDE 2025

Presidential Candidates

Dan Saleem said he wouldn’t have voted for himself last year.

In his 2024 campaign for Student Government Association president, Saleem pledged to dismantle the governing body’s bureaucracy by halving the size of the executive cabinet and work to ensure students feel welcome to express their concerns about GW to the SGA.

But he lost, falling more than 650 votes behind the second-place candidate during the first round of ranked-choice voting. He also faced disqualification last year after the Joint Elections Commission indicted him for collecting endorsements from two student groups before the campaign period commenced.

Saleem said he and his team feel good about his chances of winning this year because he’s running as his “authentic” self. Last year he hid the “genuine Dan” because he was scared students would attack him for his identities, Saleem said.

“I don’t think that I should have run last year,” Saleem said. “I don’t think I had enough experience, but this year, I am unapologetically me. I want to own who I am, and I want to let students know that I won’t be a president that you’re not going to be able to get in contact with. I’m going to be accessible.”

As he eyes the SGA’s top office again, Saleem said he will bring the humility he gained from last year’s loss to the presidency, pledging that he won’t pretend to have all the answers. Instead, he will listen to and learn from students about their concerns, then act, Saleem said.

Saleem said he built a platform that appropriately addresses students’ needs and larger systemic issues but doesn’t focus on niche concerns.

Saleem said he understands the power the SGA holds to advocate for all students on campus, and if elected, will use the office to elevate the diverse voices of students to GW leadership, especially as tensions surrounding the war in Gaza and free speech spill onto

GW’s campus.

He said he sits on a cabinet of student leaders for Dean of Students Colette Coleman and has brought community members, including members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Student Coalition for Palestine, to meetings “more than” twice because he feels conversations surrounding the war in Gaza are necessary to have.

Saleem also said he’s met with members of GW Hillel and other organizations to help ensure he understands how the war is impacting every student.

“I refuse to run for president and not be ready to have those conversations because part of being president is being uncomfortable,” Saleem said.

Hometown: Westchester, New York

Favorite D.C. restaurant: Panda Express

Ideal walk-up song: “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra

of story.”

Up until late October, Ethan Lynne hadn’t planned on running for Student Government Association president.

Lynne said he always thought he was a better fit for the vice presidency’s “operational” role in overseeing the SGA Senate and allocating student organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, instead of the president’s student advocacy role. But he said he changed his mind in October after Student Health Center physicians failed to diagnose his appendicitis, leaving him hours from sepsis days later and requiring a monthslong recovery from surgery — an ordeal that he said “opened [his] eyes” to gaps in campus health care that he wanted to address as SGA president. “I realized pretty quickly that it is very hard to find a student here that has not had a negative experience with the Student Health Center,” Lynne said. “Quite literally, everyone that I’ve talked to has had some sort

Lynne said if elected, he would commission an survey to find patterns in student experiences with the SHC and form a “student advisory board” to provide regular feedback to SHC leadership.

He said he plans to build on his work as SGA vice president, noting that he’s gotten “a lot done,” including pushing the University to recognize Election Day as a GW holiday and creating a mobile option for GWorld cards all issues he campaigned on last spring.

Lynne said he’ll also collaborate with GW’s IT department to create a web page streamlining all links for forms like FixIt requests and reporting a professor’s conduct to the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Risk, to ease the process of voicing and fixing issues.

Lynne pleaded guilty late last month to five counts of violations for campaigning in restricted zones, a violation of Joint Elections Commission regulations. The penalty points will appear next to his name on the ballot.

He centered his vice

presidential campaign last spring on bolstering funding for student organizations after noticing groups struggled to hold events due to funding constraints — a point he has continued this election cycle.

Lynne said he’s met with officials and he sees a resolution for increasing student organization funding in the next year, but still needs approval from trustees and the Division for Student Affairs.

“I worry about whether or not they’d be able to be accomplished if someone that hasn’t been doing the work on them steps into that role,” Lynne said. “That’s part of the reason why I’m running is to really also see through, finally, a lot of these big initiatives and big changes for students.”

Hometown: Ashland, Virginia

Favorite D.C. restaurant: Barcelona Wine Bar

Ideal walk-up song: “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC

Jennifer Igbonoba

Emily-Anne Santiago is no stranger to wrestling with campus politics.

The president of GW College Democrats, Santiago runs one of the largest student organizations on campus, which has given her the leadership skills to take on the SGA’s top position, she said. Santiago said she’s worked with thousands of students and national organizations, like the Democratic National Committee to “push forward narratives” and provide political experiences to students, like canvassing in Pennsylvania ahead of the 2024 election.

“Resilience and the ability to pop back up after hardship is a skill College Dems has reinforced but one I am honored to have,” Santiago said in a message.

Santiago said a “plethora” of motivations, like a lack of representation in the SGA presidential candidate pool and student grievances about grocery story access, pushed her to run as the race’s lone SGA outsider.

Santiago said she’s able to reach and connect more with marginalized campus communities because of her multiple identities as someone who is half-Cuban, halfPuerto Rican, a scholarship recipient and a student who receives Disability Support Services accommodations.

Being part of these communities allows her to understand the experiences that students in these groups endure, equipping her with a “different level” of commitment to advocacy on certain issues, she said.

Santiago’s “Grow Together” agenda focuses on increasing student voice and representation through the establishment of “resource groups” for students from underrepresented communities and a “graduate student advisory board.” Santiago said she wants to reimplement the fixed tuition policy from 2019, where students paid a fixed rate throughout their GW tenure, and establish an SGA scholarship fund — funded by the executive and the SGA Senate budgets — for any incoming firstyear students with the help of potential matches from

donors and alumni. Santiago also wants to implement a DSS accommodations portal so all information is on a website for students and faculty, seek community input on arming GW Police Department officers and work with officials to “develop a plan” to remove the fences around University Yard through “listening circles.” Santiago said the current SGA doesn’t give students enough autonomy when making decisions, especially those pertaining to student organization policies and wants to gain student input before making decisions. As someone without SGA experience, she said an outside perspective gives “power back” to students.

by The Lumineers

Fact-checking presidential platforms

Sachini Adikari Contributing News Editor

Tyler Iglesias Assistant News Editor

The Student Government Association’s three presidential and two vice presidential candidates have outlined policy proposals aimed at tackling some of the student

body’s largest priorities, including dining options, student organization funding and free speech. But details on the implementation of such campaign promises in candidate platforms were often scarce — a theme in this year’s cycle that represents a contrast from the more substantive plans produced by last year’s contenders — which made it difficult to clearly ascertain their feasibility. Some of candidates’ straightforward, simple pledges failed to factor in existing policies at GW and the limits of the SGA’s power. The Hatchet factchecked candidates’ platforms for misleading, redundant and unclear information to provide additional context as students prepare to vote on April 10 and 11. Here’s what we found:

DAN SALEEM

Platform Point: Saleem wants to manage waste in residence halls and “bring back” Compost Clash, a campus-wide SGA initiative to raise awareness about composting and sustainability.

Check: The SGA held its annual Compost Clash from Feb. 24 to March 7.

EMILY-ANNE SANTIAGO

Platform Point: Santiago wants to increase the number of local businesses and grocery stores that accept dining dollars. She said she will work to bring Whole Foods back to GWorld and add Trader Joe’s, along with local Asian and Latino grocery stores.

Check: Whole Foods stopped accepting GWorld payments in June 2023 after the company decided not to participate in student dining plans across the country, so the University likely cannot add the store back to GWorld. Officials attempted to add Trader Joe’s to the GWorld system in 2007 but the store declined to participate.

ETHAN LYNNE

Platform Point: Lynne said he will “fight” to create a 24/7 on-call Counseling and Psychological Services support line.

Check: The Student Health Center’s Counseling and Psychological Services already offers a 24/7 counseling support line where students can speak with a counselor. The University also provides services through TimelyCare, a virtual health care platform where students can access live or on-demand support at any time.

KRIS PARK | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Emily-Anne Santiago is a junior studying political science and accounting.

News Editor

Hannah Marr News Editor

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Dan Saleem is a junior studying political science and history.

Rory Quealy News Editor

MATHYLDA DULIAN | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Ethan Lynne is a junior studying political communication.

Hometown: Broward County, Florida

Favorite D.C. restaurant: Qui Qui DC

Ideal walk-up song: “Ho Hey”

Vice Presidential Candidates Student Government Association ELECTION GUIDE 2025

resentation of someone like me or people from my community within SGA,” Avalos said.

Sophomore Claire Avalos wants to be the first.

If elected, Avalos said she’d be the Student Government Association’s first Hispanic vice president to her knowledge — diverging from the predominantly white, male governing body.

Last year, nine of the 25 senatorial candidates identified as women. In contrast, almost 62 percent of students at the University identify as female. About 10 percent of students at the University identify as Hispanic.

Avalos served as a College of Columbian Arts & Sciences senator, legislative assistant and chair to several committees, and says she brings a nuanced perspective to the vice presidential role as someone who has a “life” outside of SGA and as a Latina student. She said she’ll channel her experiences on campus, including her involvement in the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute, into her advocacycentric platform that pledges to have conversations with administrators to promote free speech on campus and safeguard funding to multicultural organizations.

Originally “intimidated” by the role, she said she was inspired to run because she does not see many women of color in SGA’s current posts.

“I didn’t really see rep-

She said as a Latina involved in multicultural organizations herself, she knows firsthand the expenses of planning a multicultural student organization event, especially when providing ethnic foods, which may be more costly or sparse in D.C.

Avalos said step one to support multicultural organizations is to reevaluate funding disbursement to organizations to ensure it is being spent “wisely.” She said as a senator, she doesn’t have the knowledge to fully understand where all of the student organization funding goes, but as vice president, she’d have access to this information to further advocate for multicultural organizations.

She said she’d also increase awareness of who is eligible for the UniversityWide Programs Fund, which offers student organizations funding for campus-wide events and traditions, and improve application process transparency through mandatory finance informational sessions.

Avalos said she plans to advocate for “stronger protections” for student organizations, so groups can speak freely and organize without fear of retaliation from officials. Avalos’ platform point comes in the wake of her sponsorship of the Justice for Student Speech Act, which

affirmed SGA’s support for peaceful protests during the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring.

Avalos said she wants to invite student organization leaders to SGA leaders’ meetings with top officials.

“What’s really important right now is making sure student orgs are actually involved in the conversation,” Avalos said.

Avalos said she’d also work to address student safety by advocating for a limit to the quantity of firearms GW Police Department officers carry and involving students in the hiring process for the new police chief through town halls and conversations with officials.

Avalos said by the end of her potential term, she’d like to draft an accountability report to share on Instagram and at a SGA Senate meeting to outline what the SGA was able to accomplish in the term.

“As vice president, I want to make sure students are aware of what me, the president and the full SGA body are doing,” Avalos said.

Hometown: Surprise, Arizona

Favorite D.C. restaurant: Toryumon Japanese House

Ideal walk-up song: “Drive Me Crazy!” by Lil Yachty

Fact-checking vice presidential platforms

Platform Point: Avalos plans to reduce tuition costs and said she will urge officials to adopt initiatives like free tuition for students whose families earn under $100,000 annually.

Clarification: The SGA does not have jurisdiction over tuition and would have to work with the Board of Trustees to implement any tuition-based changes.

Platform Point: Avalos said she will push officials to limit the GW Police Department’s number of firearms for GWPD and advocate for officials to include students in future conversations about officers’ usage of guns on campus.

Clarification: University President Ellen Granberg briefed the Faculty Senate at a March meeting on the findings from a third-party investigation of GWPD’s arming rollout and said officials are reviewing recommendations from the report for potential implementation, like engaging the University community in decision-making processes. Granberg said at the meeting she does not foresee trustees revisiting the decision to arm GWPD.

LIZ STODDARD

Platform Point: Stoddard wants to work with the “dean of academics” to allow students to access aggregated ratings of courses and professors from the Student Feedback survey conducted at the end of every semester. She said she would keep specific written feedback confidential.

Check: Stoddard would have to work with Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment Karen Froslid-Jones and the Provost’s Office to enact this policy since there is no singular “dean of academics” role. The Office of Survey Research and Analysis designs and administers the Student Feedback survey for faculty to consider improvements to their courses and teaching methods. Officials, department chairs and faculty also use the surveys to assess what students are learning, according to its website. Many students use platforms like RateMyProfessors to access ratings of professors and courses.

Platform Point: Stoddard wants to create an annual celebration for graduating seniors similar to First Night, including live music and food, so they can celebrate their time at GW.

Check: The Office of Student Life introduced “Senior Week” last year, which spanned six days and featured 14 events including a cruise of The Wharf, a “Last Night” event, a trivia night and social events at ExPat. The Senior Class Programs page states that officials will announce more information on Senior Week 2025 soon.

Liz Stoddard is tired of the Student Government Association being a “boys’ club.” Stoddard said when she first joined the SGA as a legislative assistant for the Special Committee on Dining as a first-year, she saw “a lot of inequity” in the lack of women and people of color represented in the body and said she wanted to change that by running as a senator. She said because of the lack of female leaders in the SGA, issues that are important to her and other women — like expanding Title IX resources — have been pushed to the sidelines by SGA Senators, which motivated her to seek higher office and focus on these issues in her vice presidential campaign.

“I want to do it not to just fill some data requirements but because I think certain issues are being neglected on campus especially in the Title IX arena,” Stoddard said. “And on actually making the SGA a good place where people want to collaborate and go to instead of this sort of seedy underbelly that had no diversity in it.”

Stoddard said she wanted to run for vice president because she knows students often have a negative perception of the SGA and its “politicking,” but she wants to show students she is focused on getting bills passed

that bring positive results to students and avoiding “needless drama.”

She said if elected as vice president, she will work on expanding dining options on GWorld, making the SGA’s financial decisions for funding student organizations more transparent and streamlining FixIt requests to ensure facilities workers don’t arrive at students’ rooms unannounced, which she said has posed a “huge invasion of privacy” for students. Stoddard said she is “fully equipped” to continue collaborating with University officials as vice president because of her experience as senate pro tempore this year, where she worked with administrators on Title IX issues and sat in on University strategic planning meetings.

“I’ve earned my stripes as someone who’s trying to help students and get it done and put their head down because at the end of the day, I want to run because I want to do something,” Stoddard said. “I want to make some changes. I want to get some reform, and I want it done fast.”

Stoddard said serving as pro tempore of the senate was like being the “regional manager” of the SGA. She said through this role she has passed legislation, like the the Survivors Bill of Rights — which consolidates Title IX resources for sexual assault survivors into one document — and pitched initiatives she cares

about, like relaunching the Women’s Caucus last fall.

“I think I have gained that knowledge, that political, that social and that technical ability to lead this without a training period at all,” Stoddard said. She said if elected as vice president she hopes to continue to prioritize issues affecting women by working with the University to provide discounts for graduate students for childcare services in collaboration with Bright Horizons, a local early education center. She said she also wants to increase awareness of Title IX resources among students through a “Know Your Rights” campaign. Stoddard said her greatest strength as a candidate is her “directness” about what she is advocating for.

“I’ve led debates on senate bills, I’ve approved so many vacancies, I’ve made the senate more diverse and more female through our vacancy process,” Stoddard said. “And I think my confidence comes from the fact that I have done good work.”

SGA pulls endorsement of rally against DOE cuts

Ryan J. Karlin Contributing News Editor

The Student Government Association withdrew its endorsement of a student protest rallying support of the Department of Education one day before the demonstration, citing concerns over a speaker’s comments on the war in Gaza.

In a statement posted to the SGA’s Instagram on Thursday, the governing body said it was pulling out of the coalition of student governments who endorsed

the protest due to student concerns about the headline speaker, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and his “history of hateful rhetoric” toward the Jewish community. Current SGA members said they were discouraged by the last-minute withdrawal, adding that the move was disorganized and showed a lack of commitment to student advocacy. Bowman — who lost a primary for reelection last June and has called for a ceasefire in Gaza — posted about his involvement in the rally on Tuesday when the Georgetown University Stu-

dent Association announced the demonstration. A number of universities, including GW, Howard and Temple universities initially joined the coalition for the “Hands off our Schools” rally to protest the Trump administration’s recent moves to dismantle the Department of Education. GW’s student government was the only body to pull out of the coalition. SGA President Ethan Fitzgerald said the SGA made the decision to withdraw from the rally because of concerns raised from students about Bowman.

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Liz Stoddard is a sophomore studying political science.

Jenna Lee Assistant News Editor

Ella Mitchell Contributing News Editor

ARWEN CLEMANS | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Claire Avalos is a sophomore studying political science.

ADNAN MASRI | PHOTOGRAPHER Students from universities across D.C. hold signs in front of the Department of Education.

CLAIRE AVALOS

Hometown: Delaware County, Pennsylvania Favorite D.C. restaurant: Sixty Vines Ideal walk-up song: “The Giver” by Chappell Roan

Student Government Association ELECTION GUIDE 2025

First-time candidates vie for SGA Senate seats

Ryan Saenz Staff Writer

With incumbents comprising just eight of the 26 total students vying for Student Government Association Senate seats, this year’s SGA election brings a wave of new faces eager to join the body.

The number of first-year and newcomer candidates running in this year’s SGA Senate election has increased for a second consecutive year, with 18 fresh candidates running for a senate seat for the first time, up from the 12 last year. More than half of the newcomers are first-year students who currently fill assistant and legislative roles within the body, holding true to a growing trend over the past three years of high firstyear involvement in the SGA.

After a lag in candidacies in 2023, higher participation in elections over the past two years has been primarily driven by first-year students running for the contested races in the undergraduate Columbian College of Arts & Sciences and Elliott School of International Affairs senator races, which have eight

full year on campus. Ubis said the JEC expanded outreach this year by sending an informational email advertising availability of positions in the SGA to all students on March 18 in hopes of expanding the overall candidate pool.

Michael Ubis, who serves

and three seats respectively. This year, eight out of the 10 candidates making bids for the eight open CCAS seats are first-year students, and the other two candidates are incumbents.

as the chair of the Joint Elections Committee, said first-year students arrive at student government “bright-

eyed and bushy-tailed,” with ideas on how they can improve the student governing body after spending almost a

Despite an increase in overall candidate participation over the past two years, 22 of the 40 available seats are set to remain vacant after this year’s election,. There are no candidates running for the four Milken Institute School of Public Health seats or the two School of Nursing seats. Both schools are currently represented by undergraduate senators who are graduating this year. The JEC has verified seven candidates running for graduate seats, an increase from the four candidates who ran last year. Ubis said the SGA Senate consistently sees a high turnover of seats in the annual election, as many incumbent senators do not seek reelection because they believe they accomplished everything they “set out to do” when they ran for their initial position.

JEC cracks down on candidate campaign violations

Natalie Note Staff Writer

Violation hearings and threats of disqualification in the past three student government elections pushed the Joint Elections Commission to adopt a “no mercy” approach to penalizing candidates who violate campaign rules in this year’s race.

One day after Student Government Association presidential candidate Ethan Lynne pleaded guilty to campaigning in a restricted zone, JEC Chair Michael Ubis announced that the regulatory body will investigate every accusation of campaign violations to the “fullest extent.” Ubis said the JEC will now proactively “try and get” evidence to substantiate allegations of candidates’ campaign violations to avoid waiting for the filing of a complaint and risk forgoing the punishment of guilty candidates.

Here is everything you need to know about the JEC ahead of this week’s election:

President

A history of disqualification threats leads to stricter policies

In 2023, the Joint Elections Commission disqualified SGA President Christian Zidouemba from his campaign for a second term due to wrongfully collecting signatures and impersonating other candidates.

In 2024, the JEC almost disqualified SGA presidential candidate Dan Saleem for securing endorsements before the start of the campaign period.

Ahead of the 2025 SGA elections, an authorized agent — an individual registered to act on a candidate’s behalf in conducting campaign activities — for presidential contender Ethan Lynne pleaded guilty to five counts of collecting signatures in an unauthorized zone, one point away from disqualification.

On March 24, the day after Lynne’s hearing for restricted zone violations, the JEC wrote an email to all of this year’s SGA candidates,

acts as ‘peacemaker’:

From Page 1

Members of GW administration always attend the Faculty Senate’s monthly meetings, but senators have criticized administrative decisions and processes they say have violated agreedupon principles from passed senate resolutions, like shared governance.

University spokesperson Shannon Mitchell said the Division for Student Affairs and University leadership meet “regularly” with the SGA to provide updates and “recommendations” to the body’s legislation and resolutions.

Kate Carpenter, who served as SGA — then known as the Student Association — vice president during its 2021-22 term, said the SGA president holds a “vast” amount of power over University decisions because of their access to top officials, like GW’s chief financial officer. Administrators hold “a lot of weight” in the ability of SGA presidents to make progress on their initiatives, she said. She said her time on the SGA showed her the hurdles and long timelines of negotiating with administration to obtain action on SGA initiatives, citing successes of her administration, like

stating their pursuance of a “zerotolerance policy” toward restricted zone violations.

The JEC will now “go further” for every filed complaint to find any evidence to launch an investigation and penalize candidates for violating JEC regulations, he said.

Lynne said he believes the policy crackdown was a result of his campaign violation in March.

A brief history of JEC restructuring

In February, the JEC merged its three committees back into one after Ubis said JEC commissioners struggled to coordinate with each branch under the structure.

Under the three-committee system, campaign violations required three hearings before the JEC was able to make a decision.

The SGA called for a restructure of the JEC in 2023 in response to the disqualification of Zidouemba, when his campaign violations led to JEC commissioners appearing in student court,Ubis said.

SGA alum

the U-Pass program, which she said took years of student advocacy to University officials before successful implementation of the program in 2022. Carpenter, who received a masters in higher education leadership at the University of Texas at Austin and currently works as an education policy advocate, said it was “difficult” at times when student interests conflicted with those of the administration, citing social movements on campus, like student desires for divestment from fossil fuels.

In order to maintain the SGA’s “close relationship” with officials, her administration worked to connect student groups to officials so they could advocate their

needs directly, she said. She said it's “critical” that aspiring SGA presidents have built an “innate trust” with officials before assuming the role because it can be “really difficult” for administration to rely on a student to attend meetings, like the Board of Trustees and maintain professionalism.

Christian Zidouemba, who helmed the body in 2022, said the SGA president has to be a “peacemaker” between officials and the student body to advocate for students while keeping in mind the University’s interests..

He said many students “don’t understand” the timeline of initiatives, asking for immediate action on yearslong projects.

JEC struggles with staffing

The JEC consists of six commis sioners, which the SGA president confirms with “ad-

vice and consent” from existing commissioners, according to JEC bylaws. Ubis said it is an “expectation” that the SGA president confirms any commissioner nominations that the JEC brings forward.

SGA is free speech ‘facilitator,’ Saleem says

From Page 1

In interviews with The Hatchet about the SGA’s role in facilitating campus free speech, presidential and vice presidential candidates made varying promises to protect and uplift students’ expression, with some pledging to remove the fences surrounding University Yard and demand officials consult students on free speech policy changes.

The proposals are a contrast from last year, when the SGA’s top candidates left out or indirectly referenced campus tensions spurred by the war in Gaza.

SGA presidential candidate Dan Saleem said he’d create a student organization liaison position in his cabinet to communicate groups’ free speech concerns to the SGA. He said he’ll also press officials to collaborate with students on the University’s definition of terms, like hate speech, antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism.

“It’s best that the student government stand as a facilitator rather than a stancetaker,” Saleem said.

SGA vice presidential candidate Liz Stoddard said she’d instate a “proactive policy” in which the SGA holds frequent town halls for

all students to communicate directly about issues impacting the community, like free speech and discrimination.

SGA vice presidential contender Claire Avalos said she’d advocate for protections for student organizations that the University is “silencing” for expressing their free speech rights.

Presidential candidate Ethan Lynne said he’d create a “free speech” position on the SGA and ask officials to hire a third-party to conduct an audit of its protocols handling “First Amendment activities” over the last three years.

“There definitely were a lot of wrongs, a lot of lapses in judgment, a lot of missed calls,” Lynne said. Lynne said in an inter-

view he’d also create a committee of organization leaders to review GW’s student organization bylaws. Lynne said he was “pretty upset” when he learned about the allegation, adding that officials should be required to communicate and consult students on any changes to binding documents, which they’re not currently mandated to do. All of the candidates said they hope students press them on their specific plans for addressing free speech because they deserve to know how their future leaders would advocate for them.

“An SGA president and a leader on campus, no matter who you are, cannot be afraid of these issues,” Saleem said.

GRAPHIC BY JOSHUA HONG

DANIEL HEUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Joint Elections Commission Chair Michael Ubis at a meeting in 2024.

KYRA WOOD | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A Student Government Association member holds a gavel.

COLLAGE BY LEXI CRITCHETT

A collection of student speech, from protests to governance.

GW duly reviews external funding sources, task force finds

A task force investigating whether the University should commit to fully disclosing the source of external funding concluded that the step isn’t necessary, as GW currently employs “appropriate measures” when reviewing potential research and gift sources, according to a Thursday release.

The task force — which Provost Chris Bracey created last June, according to the release — probed GW’s policies and procedures surrounding the acceptance and disclosure of research and gift funding from donors, finding that GW utilizes the necessary steps when assessing potential funding sources and whether they could infringe on the University and researchers’ academic freedom. The task force also found that GW’s gift policy “generally aligns” with its 12 peer schools in terms of safeguarding scholars’ academic freedom but suggested that officials could clarify and strengthen their communication about the considerations that go into decision-making surrounding gift acceptance.

The task force comes after student organizations and faculty have for years called on officials to disclose “restricted gift” donations, when the donors decide where gifts that total more than $50,000 will be used.

Community members have raised concerns that external funding can create biased research outcomes that threatens academic freedom.

A coalition of 14 student organiza-

CRIME LOG

tions and 17 professors, who dubbed themselves the Coalition for Ethics and Transparency, sent a letter to University leadership in January 2023 requesting that officials disclose sources of externally funded research and create annual reports on fundraising from corporations.

University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said the task force “fulfilled a commitment” of former interim University President Mark Wrighton but declined to comment on if officials previously publicly shared information with the community about their creation of the task force before they published the findings.

The task force — which was composed of two faculty members and four officials from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and the Division of University Advancement — found more than 80 percent of GW’s sponsored projects are from funders who publicly display their awards and encourage publication of results, like the federal government, per the report of the task force’s findings. It also found that individual funders sponsor less than 2 percent of GW’s funding portfolio as a whole, also noting that less than 0.1 percent of gifts received at GW request for donor anonymity.

The report adds that in the “rare case” a donor requests anonymity, it is important to note that even if a sponsor or donor appears anonymous to the public, they are not anonymous to GW leadership, meaning the University is not “blindly accepting” funds without doing “careful due diligence.”

Nurses’ union files unfair labor charges after settlement with GW Hospital

RORY QUEALY NEWS EDITOR

The GW Hospital nurses’ union filed five unfair labor practice charges over the last two weeks, indicating renewed tensions over union recognition months after the parties reached a settlement in December.

The unfair labor practice charges — alleging that the hospital fired two nurses and disciplined another for posting union materials — follow a December settlement between the hospital and the District of Columbia Nurses Association that requires the hospital to begin bargaining and comply with several union terms, including allowing union literature in nonwork areas, making hospital bulletin boards available for union use and ceasing surveillance and intimidation of union supporters. The recent unfair labor practice charges allege hospital management may have violated the December settlement by disciplining and firing nurses for posting union materials, coinciding with the parties commencing bargaining meetings last month.

“They’re impeding our ability to get into break rooms and visit and talk to employees,”

DCNA Executive Director Ed Smith said.

In July, the National Labor Relations Board summoned GW Hospital to an October court hearing over a trio of instances of unfair labor practices in 2023, including firing a nurse for union activity, privately discouraging union membership and surveilling employees. The NLRB later delayed the hearing to December before the two parties reached the settlement agreement that month.

The December settlement provided front and back pay for Angelo Estrellas, a former registered nurse who GW Hospital suspended and then fired in 2023, which DCNA has said was a result of his involvement in union organization.

Smith said Estrellas received “substantial” compensation but declined to specify

the exact amount. Smith said he’s worked as a union representative for more than 35 years, and Estrellas received the largest settlement for one person that he’s seen in his career.

GW Hospital did not recognize DCNA, the union that represents the nurses, for nearly a year after the union vote, and DCNA filed at least nine unfair labor practice charges since nurses announced their intent to unionize, alleging hospital management tried to block the union’s certification — including through actions as recent as this month.

Smith said the December settlement agreement required GW Hospital to post notice of its terms, adding that DCNA has to “push” the hospital’s compliance officer to increase the number of locations where hospital officials posted the settlement information since December.

Despite the settlement requiring management to restore the union’s access to the hospital’s bulletin boards, DCNA still has “trouble” accessing them, he said.

Smith said DCNA also filed two unfair labor practice charges after management “unilaterally” changed hospital scheduling — one after management reduced the posted schedule from six to eight weeks in advance and one due to scheduling changes in the labor and delivery unit.

GW Hospital did not im-

mediately return a request for comment on the settlement, unfair labor practice charges and bargaining meetings. In the last month, GW Hospital fired two nurses, Elizabeth Grosh and Trevor GossPackard, and issued a final written warning to another, Mary Kelley, Smith said. Grosh said that on March 7, a manager told her she was under investigation for bringing an unauthorized person into the hospital, and on March 31, the manager told her she would be terminated.

Grosh said she brought a DCNA representative to the hospital to put up union material in a breakroom on Jan. 27. Before the DCNA representative entered, he presented his ID and DCNA business card to a security guard who “didn’t bat an eyelid” and gave the representative a visitor’s wristband, she said.

Smith said GW Hospital management attributed GossPackard’s firing to him using his badge to allow a DCNA staffer and Grosh to enter an ICU. Goss-Packard entered the ICU alone while she and the DCNA staffer went to the break rooms, Grosh said. Smith said management investigated Kelley for an incident on Jan. 12, when she used her badge to enter a locked unit while distributing union materials. But he said Kelley, as a union leader, had “every right” to enter units and break rooms to distribute literature.

Biology department struggles under new position review policy, employees report

A month after officials implemented a position review program aimed at protecting GW’s “limited” resources, biology department faculty and staff say officials declined their request to hire an additional staff member, leaving existing employees stretched thin.

being the victim of harassment by another GW student. Referred to Title IX.

GW Police Department officers responded to the report of vandalism on signs. Case open.

Officials in late February announced they were instating a “position management review process” to add an extra level of review during hiring and ensure GW stays within its budget in response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive actions targeted at higher education. Biology staff and faculty said officials denied their request to replace an administrative staff member who departed the University in late February, forcing existing staff and faculty, as well as staff from other departments, to assume additional responsibilities to cover the vacancy.

Guillermo Orti, the chair of the biological sciences department, said the University denied his request in the last month to hire an administrative staff member for the biology department after one of the department’s two staff members left the University in late February. He said he “immediately” asked the University to backfill the position as they worked to hire a new staff member because the role is “critical” for the department’s success. But he said a few weeks later, University leadership denied his request until the end of the fiscal year because the position was “redundant.”

“The positions were always assigned to the department, and the need was always there for those positions,” Orti said. “These people are not spinning their wheels in their chairs. They’re performing an important function.”

He said officials likely believe they will be able to save money for the University by downgrading to fewer staff, but the divestment from staff could actually “hurt” the University’s revenue because the sparse employees become overburdened.

He said the former administrative staff member was in charge of scheduling, so he assumed the responsibility for the upcoming summer and fall semesters. He said the vacancy makes his department “less efficient” when scheduling classes, which could potentially in

turn drive away some of the revenue that biology brings into the school.

University spokesperson Kathy Fackelmann said although GW has “deferred approval” of some requested positions across the University to the next fiscal year, GW leadership has approved the “majority” of requests from departments. She said officials understand community concerns about workloads and hiring timelines, but the University is committed to recruiting and retaining top talent with “minimum disruptions.”

She declined to comment on what steps officials are taking to ensure that employees are not regularly forced to take on tasks outside their job descriptions due to staffing gaps. Biology department Supervisor Emily Lewis, who

works as the department’s other administrative staff member, said many of the responsibilities that aren’t getting done due to the vacancy have fallen on her lap, even though she doesn’t have experience doing that work or the access in many of GW’s back systems — which are necessary to complete the tasks — because the University previously declined her access request. She said the department struggled with scheduling classes for the upcoming semester after the former staff member left, and given she has no experience working on schedules, she’s had to call the former staff member “several” of times to ask for help. “I feel awful doing that because he doesn’t work here anymore,” Lewis said. “This isn’t his job anymore.”

HANNAH

RAPHAEL KELLNER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Provost Chris Bracey walks into 1922 F Street in September.

SAGE RUSSELL | SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

A pedestrian walks by GW Hospital.

Local eateries struggle to hit pre-COVID sales as foot traffic falls, costs spike

KHANH

MICHAELA

Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic halted restaurant operations across the country, eateries in Foggy Bottom and across D.C. are still trying to hit pre-pandemic sales amid federal cuts and rising operating costs.

The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington reported on March 18 that 71 percent of D.C. restaurants have reduced their workforces in 2024, citing simultaneously falling sales and escalating food costs. Foggy Bottom restaurant owners said foot traffic slowdowns, rising food costs, federal layoffs and higher tipped wages have contributed to lagging business, causing some to cut hours and staff.

We try to cut labor as much as we can without sacrificing service,” said Leo Padla, the general manager of Circa in Foggy Bottom.

The RAMW report surveyed 217 independently owned, full-service restaurants in D.C. between Jan. 24 and Feb. 11, stating that President Donald Trump’s first 100 days worsened challenges for District businesses. The report states 82 percent of D.C. restaurants fear tariffs will raise costs and 73 per-

cent expect to be impacted negatively by the federal layoffs.

The hit to local restaurants also follows D.C. Council’s passing of Initiative 82 in January 2023. I-82 gradually raised the minimum wage for tipped workers to match the universal minimum wage in D.C., boosting wages from $6 to $8 in July 2023, which some Foggy Bottom business owners said increased their operating costs.

Padla said sales in the first three months of 2025 declined by about 10 percent compared to the same period in 2024, which he attributed to the rising cost of living that discourages people from eating out.

Padla said mass layoffs of probationary federal employees is also impacting Circa’s restaurant sales, especially during happy hour and lunch hours when federal employees typically flock to the Foggy Bottom restaurant. But he said workers returning to in-person work evens out the fluctuations in business.

Padla said despite the rising operational costs and reduced hours for staff, the restaurant broke its sales record late last month due to the influx of tourists attending the Cherry Blossom festival.

He added that Circa’s oncampus location also helps support a constant business

GSEHD faculty salaries undersell discipline, show financial limits: professors

Graduate School of Education and Human Development faculty have ranked among the lowest-paid professors at GW since 2020, which faculty say underscores the University’s salary inequity and GSEHD’s financial limitations.

GSEHD assistant professors on average were the lowestpaid faculty members among nine of GW’s schools and colleges for the last four academic years, while GSEHD professors were the lowest paid for the last three years, according to the University’s annual core indicator reports from the past four years. Faculty in the school said their salary does not reflect the credentials and value they bring to the University and are reflective of the school’s financial limitations, like market conditions, tuition dependence and budget model restrictions.

GSEHD assistant professors made an average of $93,186 during the 2023-24 academic year, 15 percent less than the University-wide average for assistant professors of $109,437, according to the 2025 report. Full professors in the school made an average of $142,784 last academic year — the lowest average for the position within GSEHD since the 2020-21 academic year — and falling over $50,000 short of the Universitywide average during the 202324 academic year of $193,261.

During the 2022-23 academic year, the role at GSEHD reached an average salary of $150,612, the highest average salary for the post in the last four years, according to last year’s report.

Michael Feuer, the dean of GSEHD and a professor of education policy, said the school “greatly values” the work of its faculty and their commitment to the University’s educational and research mission. GSEHD has worked over the past several years to increase faculty salaries and has “made progress” on salary equity, he said.

“We are constantly evaluating the needs of our faculty and assessing feedback to ensure

flow from students and families.

Michael Carroll, the manager of Indian restaurant Bindaas in Foggy Bottom, said Bindaas let go about 40 percent of its employees since 2020. Carroll said the restaurant has also seen a drop in sales following the pandem-

ic, which Carroll attributed to the rising cost of living.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index increased by 3 percent from January 2024 to January 2025. Food prices increased by 2.5 percent from 2024, according to the report.

all faculty feel supported and properly compensated,”

Feuer said in an email.

Shaista Khilji, the chair of GSEHD’s Department of Human and Organizational Learning and a department professor, said GSEHD faculty are “acutely aware” of the inequity of their pay and feel that their compensation does not reflect their contributions to the University.

Khilji said she responded to The Hatchet’s questions after conversations with several other GSEHD faculty members, including Brian Casemore, an associate professor of curriculum and pedagogy.

Khilji said officials have told faculty that salaries correspond to each discipline, but some faculty believe that the argument “downplays” the importance of education as a field of study.

GW Law, the School of Business and the School of Engineering & Applied Science were the three highest-compensated schools last year, according to the 2025 report.

Khilji said GSEHD faculty would like the University to work with GSEHD’s leadership to identify faculty who fall below GW’s average salary, market basket universities and the American Association of University Professors’ 60th percentile and develop a threeyear, transparent plan to close salary gaps.

She said despite officials’ efforts over the past five or six years to address salary equity among “selective” faculty through the salary equity review process, most faculty members in GSEHD have salaries lower than the AAUP 60th percentile benchmark and average salaries at the University.

She said pay disparity and inequity at GSEHD has been a “chronic” and decades-old problem, which faculty have raised to administration over the last 20 years.

Feuer said in 2019 that the school has looked closely at salary equity and increased the percentage of faculty earning compensation that is “respectable” compared to peer institutions.

Carroll said I-82, which boosted wages of tipped workers, has further heightened operating expenses for the restaurant. He said Bindaas also raised the price on their service last summer by implementing an automatic 20 percent gratuity fee on their menu.

“I believe it was good for the back of the house because they’re actually making a minimum wage now,” Carroll said of I-82. “But for my alley employees, I can’t afford more than eight because I can’t keep paying them minimum wage and also tipping them out.”

GW to host 10th-annual Diversity Summit in fall 2025,

breaking from recent precedent

Officials will hold the 10th-annual Diversity Summit next fall after hosting the event in the spring the past three years.

With the exception of this year, GW has held a diversity summit every academic year since 2015, and University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said officials slated the next summit for fall 2025. But past summit participants and a higher education expert said officials not holding the event this academic year could signal that the University is backing down from celebrating diversity-related efforts.

McClendon said over the course of the past 10 years, officials “historically” hosted the summit in the fall semester and that the University will host the 10th summit in fall 2025. Officials hosted the summit in the spring in 2017, 2023 and 2024 and in the fall semester from 2018 to 2021.

“The university will host the 10th Anniversary of the Diversity Summit in fall 2025, with details forthcoming,” McClendon said in an email.

Officials asked the GW community for proposals of presentations

and workshops for the ninth-annual summit on Nov. 15, 2023, about three months ahead of the summit that occurred from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22, 2024, themed “Defining Revolutionary: A Call for Justice, Liberation, and Empathy.”

The community has not received a call for proposals from officials on the 10th-annual summit, as of April.

The Office for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement hosts the summit and has not yet posted anything on its social media or websites about the summit and its scheduling. Past summit participants said the office has not communicated the annual event’s programming or planning yet.

The University planned to host the ninth-annual summit in two parts during the fall and spring semester, but officials opted to consolidate the programming to the spring, citing the “campus climate” after Students for Justice in Palestine members projected messages onto the side of Gelman Library criticizing Israel, GW and University President Ellen Granberg.

McClendon declined to comment on why ODECE is not hosting the summit this academic year. She also declined to say whether the absence of an ODECE vice provost hin-

dered the office’s ability to host the summit this academic year.

Caroline Laguerre-Brown left her post as vice provost of ODECE on July 1, 2024, after eight years in the role, and officials have yet to fill the role.

Miki Nishida Goerdt, an adjunct faculty member in the art therapy graduate program, presented an exhibit with her students at last year’s Diversity Summit about navigating different cultural aspects of their environment and themselves as international students.

“It’s actually more important this year, right now, to do this than ever. I think we have to understand the cost of nonaction. We think that if we don’t say something, we are safer,” Goerdt said. “It’s actually the opposite when we don’t say what we need to say, when we don’t make space for something that’s important for us, the cost is higher.” Universities are facing federal funding threats amid political pressure as the Department of Education gave higher education institutions two weeks to dismantle diversity initiatives in their admissions, hiring, activities and other practices or risk losing federal funding, according to a department press release late February.

New international student enrollment drops for first time since pandemic

The University saw a nearly 15 percent decrease in new international enrollment in 2024, according to a report at a Faculty Senate meeting last month.

New international student enrollment dropped from 1,593 in fall 2023 to 1,356 in fall 2024, ending a three-year period of recovery after a significant drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Provost Chris Bracey said at a Faculty Senate meeting that GW has recovered to prepandemic international enrollment levels this year despite a continued decrease in new Chinese student enrollment due to “lingering” travel and visa restrictions on students.

A sharp drop in Chinese student enrollment since 2020 largely drove the decline in new enrollments, with 827 Chinese students enrolled in fall 2024 and 1,555 in fall 2020, according to data provided by University spokesperson Julia Garbitt.

The State Department issued about 20,000 fewer visas to Chinese students in 2024 than in 2019, and the refusal rate of Chinese student visas — the number of visas rose from 25 percent in 2019 to 36 per-

cent in 2024, according to State Department visa statistics.

“Students from China represent the majority of the decline in our international student population, and although we hope to regain much of this student population in the future, it’s still difficult,” Bracey said at the meeting.

Overall international enrollment remained stable, only decreasing by eight students from fall 2023 to fall 2024— according to the enrollment dashboard.

Chinese students re-

main the largest demographic of international enrollment at GW in 2024, with 833 students from China enrolled compared to 813 from India, the second largest demographic of international enrollment at GW. India became the leading source of international students in the United States during the 2023-24 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education. Garbitt said the University was “anticipating” a drop in Chinese student enrollment after the pan-

demic and launched recruitment efforts in 2021 aimed at international student “market diversification.” She said GW's overall total international enrollment has grown by over 558 students since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, largely from graduate students. Garbitt said the University is now seeing application growth from central and southern Africa and South America, along with other countries where GW has “traditionally” attracted international students.

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

The Tonic At Quigley's sign hangs above the 21st Street entrance.

COOPER TYKSINSKI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The entrance to the Graduate School of Education and Human Development building on G Street.

CRISTINA STASSIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ELIJAH EDWARDS STAFF WRITER

TYLER IGLESIAS

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

TOM RATH | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Multilingual greetings pasted on the second floor windows of the University Student Center.

Giving Day rakes in $2 million of donations from community

MARTINA XING REPORTER

GW’s fifth annual Giving Day amassed more than $2 million, racking up the highest sum of donations since the fundraiser’s launch in 2020.

The University received $2,023,869 in donations between Wednesday and Thursday during its annual Giving Day, raising $200,000 more than last year and setting a record for highest amount of donations received since the program’s onset. Nearly 3,600 donors gave a monetary gift to GW this year — roughly 100 more than last year, when 3,498 people donated and 2,755 donated in 2023.

This year’s Giving Day, which ran from April 2 at noon to April 3 at 3 p.m., extended for three more hours for a “final push.” It marked the third year the fundraising event encompassed two days within a 24 hours period to attract more donors.

GW Alumni Association President Maxwell Gocala-Nguyen said during a February Board of Trustees meeting that officials were focusing on increasing the number of donors participat-

ing in the fundraiser rather than the amount of money raised. He said at the meeting that officials planned on “exceeding” previous records for number of donors.

The Wolcott Foundation, a nonprofit supported by an organization of Master Masons who aims to spread more Masonic ideals into the government, donated $500,000 to the University, which will serve as tuition assistance for master’s students seeking a career in government service. The Wolcott Foundation has supported over 500 GW students since 1953, according to a University announcement.

The Wolcott Foundation Fellowship also saw donations from eight other donors, bringing in an additional $991. The fellowship was not a funding option last year, per last year’s website.

GW Student Affairs earned the highest amount of funding of GW’s 14 projects listed online, bringing in over $267,000, which will go toward supporting wellness initiatives, student support, cultural events and student organizations, per the website.

The Elliott School of International Affairs re -

ceived the highest total donation of 11 of GW’s schools and colleges, racking in $246,005 from 119 donors — a $90,000 increase from last year — which will help support student and faculty research, scholarships and fellowships, according to their website.

GW Law secured $240,165 in donations from 350 donors, doubling its goal of 175 donors, and making it the second-highest funded school during the Giving Day, according to the campaign website. The website states that the donations will support law students’ financial aid and faculty research.

The Columbian College of Arts & Sciences earned $185,461, a drop from the $738,539 they earned in 2024.

The highest percentage of donations came from alumni, accounting for 36 percent of all donations, followed by 18 percent from faculty and 13 percent from parents. Gocala-Nguyen said last year he hoped to engage alumni who have not previously engaged with the Alumni Association through formal discussions to bolster engagement in alumni events during his presidency.

Data science minor admissions paused amid surging demand, limited resources

VICTORIA SMAJLAJ REPORTER

The data science program paused the admission of new students to the program last fall amid high student demand and a lack of program resources.

Ryan Engstrom, the director of the program and a professor of geography, said officials closed new enrollment into the academic minor at the beginning of the academic year because of “overwhelming” interest in the program from undergraduates this year compared to the number of faculty available to advise and teach them. He said the program recently hired three new faculty members who will begin working this fall, including a director of undergraduate studies, in response to the program’s limited faculty resources.

He said when the undergraduate program exceeded 200 students, the program did not have the faculty necessary to support the influx of students. Engstrom said the data science undergraduate program currently has 240 students, with 171 majors and 69 minors and four full time faculty members in the program.

Columbian College of Arts & Sciences Vice Dean for Programs and Operations Kim Gross said the minor stopped accepting new students to ensure the program could meet the needs of current data science majors amid “strong interest and rapid increase” in the program.

She said the program has also made it easier for students to take on a second major in data science with the addition of the new faculty members, and officials plan to reevaluate accepting more applications after the faculty join the program.

“We have also provided for additional staff support in the program to help serve students at the graduate and undergraduate level,” Gross said in an email.

Engstrom said he is unsure whether the minor will reopen to new students as it has been a struggle to support the program’s 500 un-

dergraduate and master’s students with four full-time faculty before the additional hires to guide students and teach courses. He said the data science program recently received support from officials by hiring a new staff member in addition to the three new faculty members for the program.

The program has not had a director of undergraduate studies since Edwin Lo, a former professor of data science, left in August. Engstrom said Lo’s departure left the program’s faculty and staff “scrambling” to cover courses and student advising.

He said the data science minor was paused only for students trying to join the program, and those already registered as data science minors can still complete their minor coursework.

“We didn’t have the capacity to accommodate that many students that were interested in the minor,” Engstrom said. “So we just wanted to limit it to students that were interested in the major.”

Engstrom said the data science program, which officials launched in August 2021, grew too quickly for faculty to handle its “speed” and offer new courses to accommodate the influx of students. He said the data science program is not receiving all the support it needs from GW. He said CCAS does a “large amount” of teaching for data science across the University, but public investments into artificial intelligence and data research

go to a variety of programs.

Engstrom said the rise in the program’s demand caused it to turn to faculty from other parts of CCAS to teach data science since demand increased. He added that the program has been asking officials for additional faculty for years due to the growing demand.

Engstrom said he thinks the growing demand to study data science is driven by the subject being the most “cutting edge” technical skill that students can learn. Engstrom said students should major in data science instead of pursuing a minor in the department if they are interested in the subject as the major remains open to applicants.

“It allows you to be able to do that pretty easily, and so if you don’t do the minor, you can just do the major, and that’s what a lot of students do,” Engstrom said.

Bharat Khandelwal, a master’s student studying data science, said the field of data science is “booming at another level” and that there is a “big gap” in the student-faculty ratio throughout the data science program.

He said there are many areas to explore within data science and by adding more faculty, the program can offer more courses to cover these topics.

“First of all, the programs that are available, the courses that are available, there can be more, not just limited to what they are right now,” Khandelwal said. “Of course, that will need more faculty at the end.”

Kennedy Center dismantles Social Impact initiative after Trump takes control

BRYSON KLOESEL STAFF WRITER

Kennedy Center leadership began dissolving the Center’s Social Impact initiative, which invited diverse artists to host events at the Center, late last month on the heels of President Donald Trump’s takeover of its board in February.

Seven of the initiative’s employees received letters informing them of their termination last month signed by Kennedy Center Vice President of Human Resources LaTa’Sha Bowens, while three of the team’s employees whose roles were not equity-focused remained, NPR reported. Multiple artists and partners linked with Social Impact’s equity programming said they didn’t receive warning from Kennedy Center officials ahead of the elimination of the Social Impact division, leaving artists and collaborators of the initiative’s programs unsure of the future of their projects at the Center.

From Page 1

StandWithUs — a Jewish and proIsrael advocacy organization — filed a Title VI complaint against GW in January 2023, accusing a former assistant professor of clinical psychology of creating a “hostile environment” for Jewish and Israeli students during a course in fall 2022.

In a February 2023 Title VI complaint, Palestine Legal accused GW of discriminating against Palestinian students by denying them access to mental health services in 2021 and falsely accusing Students for Justice in Palestine and its president of committing conduct violations in 2022, despite other students claiming responsibility.

GW entered the agreement before OCR reached a determination on whether the University had violated Title VI in the two cases. The resolution agreement mandates that the University clarify and

The Kennedy Center created the Social Impact program in July 2020 to support anti-racism at the Center through “organizational self-evaluation,” increased engagement with Black artists and communities, offering meeting spaces for artists and diversifying events. Just months prior, Officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, sparking off a series of racial justice protests across the country.

The Social Initiatives was the home of several equity-based projects, including The Cartography Project, a multiyear initiative that compiles works from composers and artists of color representing American communities grieving the aftermath of race-based violence.

The move to dismantle the initiative follows Trump’s decision to assume control of the Kennedy Center in February, prompting interim leadership to order staff terminations and leaving participating artists and organizations without

revise its policies related to Title VI and discrimination, maintain and track records of harassment, institute additional trainings on nondiscrimination for community members and clarify the reporting procedures for potential acts of discrimination.

OCR’s letter states that the information provided by GW “did not show” whether the University determined through its own conduct processes if the alleged conduct created a hostile environment for the individuals involved.

Policy inconsistencies

In the resolution letter, OCR determined the University’s policies and procedures did not clearly describe the difference between complaints of discrimination versus complaints of bias.

OCR also found GW’s website provided “inconsistent information” on whether complaints of discrimination could or should

formal communication about their futures at the Center.

The Social Impact division’s programs drew over 65,000 attendees in 2023, according to a 2024 report. In 2023, 18 percent of the Social Impact’s audience earned under $50,000 compared to about 12 percent of low-income ticket holders attending non-Social Impact events.

About 40 percent of attendees of Kennedy Center Social Impact events were people of color, compared to about 30 percent at non-Social Impact shows, the report states.

Last month, Interim Executive Director Richard Grenell, who Trump appointed in February, called the Kennedy Center’s spending on the Social Impact initiative a “criminal” mismanagement of funds before Trump took over the Center. The Center reported a $6 million overall profit in 2023.

Grenell said late last month that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs were among “common sense” cuts he’d make at the

also go through the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement.

The letter said that at least one University web page explicitly stated that complaints of discrimination should go to ODECE, despite the fact that ODECE only handled bias reports.

ODECE Associate Vice Provost Jordan West “informed OCR” that the office aims to provide support services to people who experienced bias and refers students to other University offices if they’d like a formal investigation, Gibbs said in the letter. West also confirmed that ODECE doesn’t share information regarding bias complaints to other University offices.

Regarding the StandWithUs complaint, OCR determined that the Professional Psychology Program may have retaliated against students but also found “insufficient evidence” to support that the University may have retaliated against a student.

Kennedy Center. Trump signed an executive order aiming to end DEI practices in the federal government last month.

Grenell did not respond to requests to comment on what programs have been cut and how many people have been fired. The Kennedy Center did not return multiple requests for comment.

Kristina Wong, a comedian and actor who said she was in the middle of a three-year Social Practice Residency — a flagship program under the Center’s Social Impact initiative — said while the Kennedy Center laid off Social Impact staff, they haven’t formally terminated her temporary contract.

The Culture Caucus, which works with the Social Impact team to host events, partnered with Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop to showcase works by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists for the period of 2024-26. Their March 21 event at the REACH, “Poetry and Art as Liberation,” fea-

Regarding the Palestine Legal complaint, the investigation also suggests “a possible concern” that the University may have treated a student differently on the basis of shared ancestry during the student conduct process.

Resolution agreement terms

Officials entered the resolution agreement in January 2025 which, when fully implemented, will “address the evidence obtained and all of the allegations investigated,” according to the agreement.

The agreement states that the University will review and revise its policies and procedures applicable to discrimination, including harassment, under Title VI to better ensure that the University “adequately addresses the Title VI prohibition on discrimination based on national origin, including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, in the University’s pro-

tured pieces of writing and visual art by incarcerated artists.

Mascioli said incarcerated writers who were unable to attend the March 21 event were “very excited to be included” and share their work with local audiences.

The event took place six days before Kennedy Center leadership dissolved Social Impact, and as a result, canceled the rest of the Free Minds workshops. Free Minds learned of the program’s cancellation through the March 26 NPR report and later received informal confirmation from a staffer for the Center, Mascioli said.

She said before the Kennedy Center canceled the event, she was looking forward to increasing the visibility of the group’s work through the Center’s audiences and media attention.

“There were a lot of benefits we were looking forward to that didn’t necessarily come to cash because the program was cut short,” Mascioli said.

grams and activities.”

The University will also adopt and disseminate the revised policies and procedures to all University employees and students. The dissemination will include a web link to the revised policies and procedures or a single centralized web page that will include a link to all of the policies and procedures in one location with a summary of which policy applies to which office.

Officials are seeking feedback on proposed changes to four policies as part of the agreement.

The agreement states GW will submit a copy of the drafted revised policies to OCR within 120 calendar days of signing the agreement or May 16. Within 30 calendar days of OCR’s approval of the draft policies, the University will provide documentation to the agency showing it adopted the changes and disseminated the information to students, employees and third parties through its website.

TALAN MASKIVISH | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A representative of the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences offers pens to students during Giving Day celebrations in Kogan Plaza.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KYRA WOOD

A student codes.

OPINIONS

STAFF EDITORIAL

Ethan Lynne for president

The Student Government Association president can’t do everything. But the role’s most critical function is to connect students and administrators. The SGA president gets face time with the top officials and trustees of GW in a way that most of the student body doesn’t. Of the three candidates running for the SGA’s top post this year, we believe Ethan Lynne knows best to seize that opportunity.

Lynne, who served as SGA vice president this past term, told The Hatchet’s editorial board that he spent the past year learning to which leaders he should take student issues and what’s feasible for a SGA president to accomplish. We urge students to cast their ballots for him in this year’s SGA presidential contest. Though Lynne’s platform is somewhat sparse, the ideas he laid out when we spoke with him were the best blend of realistic but meaningful policies. He said he thought his platform for vice president last year was overambitious. This year, his grounded view is a promising sign of his ability to deliver on his goals next year.

Similarly, the editorial board deems Lynne’s stance on the arming of

WABBY TURNER | CARTOONIST

GW Police Department as the right idea with feasible solutions. He wants to halt the arming process and ensure students made up “the majority” of the search committee for a new GWPD chief. Our editorial board is glad Lynne sees the issue the same way.

Lynne said his initial response to the encampment — where students accused him and Fitzgerald of inaction before he condemned the use of police force a week later — wasn’t on the ball. He explained that he viewed those restrictions as antithetical. He wants to create an SGA cabinet position focused on free speech and to remove the U-Yard fences. The editorial board has less confidence than Lynne that the University will remove the fences anytime soon, but we commend that he acknowledges past mistakes on the thorny issues and has charted a better path forward.

Lynne faced charges from the Joint Elections Commission for campaigning in restricted areas. He explained that those violations came from a first-time campaign staffer who was unclear on the exact rules. We deemed the infraction was minor, and his forthright response assuaged any of our linger-

ing ethics concerns.

We admired former SGA senator and thirdplace finisher in last year’s presidential election Dan Saleem for his outspoken defense of free speech. But we felt Saleem’s nearly 30page platform was overstuffed. We believe it’s better for a SGA president to focus on achieving tailored victories than risk biting off more than they can chew.

As the only SGA outsider in the presidential race, GW College Democrats President Emily-Anne Santiago had the right focus in her conversation with us: students. But some of Santiago’s proposals, like a fixed-tuition program, were outside the scope of what an SGA president can do.

We aren’t quite as hopeful as Lynne that everything in his platform can get done in the next 12 months. We have a hard time seeing how he’d create 24/7 facilities in Lerner or the dining halls. Plus, as great as promising more money for student organizations is, we’re not sure that’s a realistic proposal with higher education funding in free fall.

But Lynne said he knows better than anyone how to get things done for GW students. We agree.

Why

aren’t

Liz Stoddard for vice president

It is the Student Government Association’s vice president who serves as the binding force between senators, the SGA president and students. But to speak for the student body, its leader must understand its students and the governing body. With her experience as SGA Senate pro tempore, we believe sophomore Liz Stoddard — one of the two candidates running for the position — is the right person for the job.

Stoddard’s SGA experience makes her fit for the role. She helped implement a women’s caucus and revised the ways that Title IX advertised its resources, ensuring students understand what the University can do for them.

Experience is great, but success also stems from growth and accountability. Stoddard admitted that at times she might have yielded too much under the pressure from the vice president. But she said she has found her voice: someone who puts her foot down for students, with compassion and honesty.

If elected, Stoddard’s primary focus is to unify GW’s community by turning events, like her proposed “Last

ABBY TURNER | CARTOONIST

Night for Seniors” into tradition. The lack of a unified GW culture is no surprise to students, but Stoddard was the sole vice presidential candidate to raise the issue and offer a solution. Our editorial board has raised concerns about how isolated GW students can be, and we want leadership who sees that too.

Stoddard’s platform also included everyday fixes that would make GW students’ lives run more smoothly. Those included her “Fix-It knock” policy, where maintenance staff would notify students of scheduled visits to avoid surprises upon arrival, and make more late-night food options on GWorld. The SGA has been able to extend hours of University facilities in the past, so we feel this is within reach of what the SGA can do.

Free speech was missing in Stoddard’s platform but she explained that she perceives it as part of a “value system,” where students can state their beliefs as long as they don’t include fighting words, threats or harassment — a stance she has advocated for over the past year. We appreciated that instead of committing to an overhaul of campus speech policies, she worked in ideas to

represent student voices across her platform. When it came to the topic of GW Police Department arming, she explained that she believes officers should give up their guns before moving forward with the program and that officials should ask the community for their thoughts on the process. Our editorial board agrees. We appreciated the ambition evident in the platform of Claire Avalos, Stoddard’s opponent and a second-year student and senator. But her proposal to cap tuition costs for lower-income students doesn’t seem within reach of the SGA. Some of Stoddard’s platform points were likewise lofty, like adding a designated space for women at the gym or adding meal swipes to nearby restaurants. But Stoddard appears to have a broader overall understanding of the student body, and the processes necessary to get stuff done. Before Stoddard left the meeting, she said she wants every student to feel at least one change to their day-to-day life due to her actions as vice president. We believe she has the bob for that job.

The themes of ‘The White Lotus’ aren’t just on TV, they’re on campus

hile watching the latest season of the hit HBO drama “The White Lotus,” it’s easy to make light of the personifications of privilege spotlighted on the fictional Thailand resort. But the societal concepts enshrined in the hotel series also ring true on the streets of Foggy Bottom.

Ava Hurwitz Opinions Writer

I first began to notice uncanny parallels between the show and my GW experience while binge-watching the third season with my roommates. The White Lotus hotel, as the height of luxury, attracts guests from all over the world who indulge in its lavish amenities while navigating personal conflicts, unspoken hierarchies and transactional friendships — sound familiar?

The satirical drama explores a different international branch of the White Lotus hotel chain each season, revolving around the lives of the often-privileged and out-oftouch guests who vacation at the

hotel and later become suspects in the buildup to a mysterious death.

In the latest season set in Thailand, the show features a trio of female friends with a relationship that, for many, is close to reality. They’ve been together since childhood, but their friendship remains superficial, as it appears that the glue of their bond is their affluence.

GW is no stranger to the realities of transactional friendships, just like Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate — the trio on the show. I’ve witnessed a friend group similar to this at GW who are obsessed with professional connections, chasing the approval of a student because her parents worked for the State Department. The group valued her status and the networking opportunities she offered over her actual character.

GW’s campus is home to a swath of aspiring politicians with competitive mindsets extending beyond academics and seeping into personal relationships. LinkedIn connections are collected like trophies, and students engage in a constant game of comparison regarding the network of influential professionals that they’ve amassed. In this manner, the dynamic of the three gal

pals on “The White Lotus” mirrors GW’s social hierarchy through their friendship’s emphasis on wealth and power.

In the fourth episode, Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate brave the streets of Thailand, venturing outside of the luxury resort, and they appear horrified by the reality outside of the hotel’s walls. The White Lotus is reserved for the top 1 percent of society, but at the neighboring pool that they visit, they’re surrounded by older, middle-class guests, and they choose to leave immediately.

Take GW’s Foggy Bottom bubble as a case study of this dynamic. For many, there’s no real need to venture outside the boundaries of campus because it functions similarly to the White Lotus itself — a comfortable neighborhood that offers all the amenities and entertainment that students will ever need, so they’ll never be confronted with the reality of the city. Even when venturing out of the bounds of campus, some students stick to the major neighboring attractions, like the national monuments, and then tell themselves that they’ve seen all the city has to offer. But really, they’re just scratching the surface and placing more distance

between themselves and the culture at the core of the city they call home, whether it’s learning about D.C.’s historic U Street or getting a taste for go-go music, the official music of the District.

And to the nepo babies of GW, don’t worry, there’s a place for you in “The White Lotus” as well. The show features Saxon, the son of a business conglomerate owner, who’s been trained since birth to take over his father’s job. For him, this prophecy was written in stone, despite the fact that there are plenty of individuals out there who could likely handle the job better. This too rings true for students at GW who expect to let their last name carry the most weight on a job application. I’ve even overheard students in pre-professional fraternities discussing how they might secure an internship by utilizing their parents’ contacts and making fun of others who have to go through the application process. This environment can create moments of casual obliviousness, and while it can be chalked up to pure ignorance, those offhand comments still sting.

Of course, it is important to acknowledge that the students of GW are not a monolith. In 2022, 44 percent of the student body received need-based financial aid. Yet 70 percent of students come from families that are in the top 20 percent of average income, as opposed to the mere 2.5 percent that come from the bottom 20 percent, indicating that GW’s general population is more affluent than the national average. The general student body must step out of their comfort zone and connect with individuals from diverse backgrounds while also acknowledging the privilege that shapes their experiences. By doing so, they can avoid the same pitfalls that “The White Lotus” characters create for themselves due to their societal ignorance. In the end, it’s up to the individual to decide whether to embrace their privilege or challenge the system that upholds it — but perhaps don’t follow the example set by “The White Lotus.” —Ava Hurwitz, a first-year majoring in international affairs, is an opinions writer.

SCENE CULTURE

Failed coups, famed actors color nearly 50 years of SGA scandals

Culture Editor

From a famed actor’s presidential campaign loss to an infamous coup, here are our picks for the most noteworthy Student Government Association scandals since its establishment.

The story behind Alec Baldwin’s name Actor Alec Baldwin, best known for his role as Jack Donaghy in the sitcom “30 Rock” and his stint impersonating President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” sits at the center of venerated GW lore passed down through generations of students. Half the school has heard the story of the celebrity alum who ran for president of the SGA — then the GW Undergraduate Student Association — in 1979, lost and then transferred to New York University all in the same semester.

That story isn’t quite true. Alec Baldwin never went to GW — back when he was a student here, he went by Alex Baldwin, only changing his name after transferring to NYU. Whether or not the shame of his SGA presidential loss sparked the name change remains to be seen.

In the 1979 SGA race, Baldwin branded himself a reform candidate, writing in his platform that “the administration is deliberately striving to keep its student body in the dark about what they are doing with our money and our education,” according to a Feb. 25, 2002, Hatchet article.

Baldwin finished the race in third place, just below the cutoff for the top-two runoff by a single vote.

Decades after the loss, the actor seemingly harbored lingering resentments for GW. He told the Washington Post in 2010 that “People went there for two years because they didn’t get into the Ivy League school that was their first choice. Then you’d transfer to the school you really wanted to go to.”

One person who didn’t want Baldwin to hold any ill will toward his alma mater was former President Richard Nixon. Mark Weinberg, a mutual friend, told Nixon about Baldwin’s loss, and Nixon — no stranger to presidential crash-

outs himself — wrote Baldwin a letter.

“The important thing is that you cared enough to enter the arena, and I urge you to look upon the contest as a learning experience which will serve you well in the future,” Nixon wrote.

Running late to almost not running at all

The impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton wasn’t the only political controversy shaking up the District in 1999. Team Meisner-Sadler, an alliance of SGA presidential candidate Phil Meisner, executive vice presidential candidate Cat Sadler and 12 SGA Senate candidates, ran a coalition campaign under the tagline “When Lightning Strikes.” But the Joint Elections Committee killed Team Meisner-Sadler’s spark when they removed six of their candidates, including Meisner and Sadler, from the ballot.

The removal came after Meisner arrived 15 minutes late to a mandatory JEC meeting, where he was supposed to represent himself, Sadler and four of the SGA senate candidates in their coalition. At the time, JEC rules stated that they would remove any candidate who showed up more than 15 minutes late to a mandatory meeting from the ballot.

On Saturday, as a Segway tour guide snapped a photo of his seven guests outside the White House, he cautioned them: Their ride to the Washington Monument was going to be more congested than usual.

The traffic on the National Mall came from a sea of thousands of protesters holding signs with messages, like “2025 to 1933 in One Election,” cars honking in support of the crowds and chants of “Where is Congress, do your job.” The throngs of marchers were gathered as part of the “Hands Off” D.C. rally, one arm of a nationwide protest against President Donald Trump and his administration.

One man clad in an American flag suit stood in front of the Washington Monument, carrying a sign that read: “Democracy not Trumpocracy.” Others hoist-

ed and waved American flags, and one protester carried a poster depicting the Statue of Liberty in tears.

Below a flag at the Washington Monument where a shark-shaped kite was stuck — debris left behind from the previous weekend’s kite festival — as a man in a pink hat led chants of “Donald Trump has got to go” echoed from the masses, three GW graduate students stood in masks waving miniature American flags. One of the students, who requested to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation from rightwing watchdog groups, said they were waving the stars and stripes to reassert America’s foundational ideas of democracy — the “most American thing you can do.”

“Now is the time to remember that this flag is about supporting that constitution and saying no to fascists,” they said.

One of their compatriots, who requested anonymity for the same reason, said they saw their message resonating across the rally, where people with upside

The JEC scheduled a hearing to review the situation later that week, but Meisner seemingly hadn’t learned his lesson and showed up 30 minutes late to that meeting as well. While Meisner was not present, the JEC decided to remove him and his team’s five other candidates from the ballot. Meisner and Sadler filed an appeal immediately after the decision, and the JEC scheduled an appeals hearing for that night at 7 p.m.

But Meisner and JEC Chair Kevin Burkett had different understandings of whether or not Meisner was supposed to attend the appeals hearing. While Meisner believed he did not have to attend, Burkett said it was clear that Meisner needed to be at the hearing to present “new evidence” in the case. Meisner arrived an hour late to the hearing and opted to file another appeal with Sadler that weekend.

The six Team Meisner-Sadler candidates axed from the ballot ran a write-in campaign for the rest of the election cycle, and Meisner secured the SGA presidency after a runoff against opponent Alexis Rice.

But just like Clinton before him, Meisner’s presidency was shrouded by an impeachment — except instead of charges of perjury and obstruction of justice it was over the misuse of SGA funds. Clinton got

off scot free, but Meisner wasn’t as lucky and was removed from office in November 1999.

The plots of Justin Neidig

If anyone ever cared about the sanctity of postering day, it was 2005 JEC chair Justin Neidig. Neidig brought charges against one candidate vying for the SGA presidency that year, Ben Traverse, who supposedly “made use of internet campaigning” too early rather than starting by putting posters up around campus, according to a Feb. 24, 2005, editorial. Hatchet columnist L. Asher Corson claimed Neidig had other motives: Neidig and Traverse had long-running beef, and Corson was convinced that Neidig wanted to see his nemesis go down. Neidig hit Traverse with four of the seven violations needed to get kicked off the ballot and tried to remove the one dissenter from the JEC vote, Christopher Jenkins, for supporting Traverse. Jenkins stayed on the commission, but Traverse wasn’t out of the woods yet. He finished in first place in the election but fell short of 50% of the vote, sending him into a runoff against fellow candidate Audai Shakour. Traverse again faced JEC charges, with Neidig accusing the candidate of failing to list palm

down flags, blacked out flags and other iterations of the flag turned the area around the Washington Monument into a gaggle of banners, using the iconically American symbol to point out contradictions in the country’s present versus its promises.

“We’re here to reclaim the symbol of the American flag,” they said.

Below the Washington Monument, amid a beach ball surfing its way across the crowd and a “Free Luigi” sign, Gretchen, a retiree from southern New Jersey who declined to give her last name due to fear of surveillance, held a sign with pictures of Benjamin Franklin and his friend, the Philadelphia socialite Elizabeth Powel. On the sign, Powel was pictured asking Franklin “What have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Gretchen said she thought the nearly 250-year-old warning rang true to the present “creep towards authoritarianism.”

Protesters marched

cards they bought on a campaign finance report and of holding a rally at a Thai restaurant, a violation of JEC standards which would’ve disqualified Traverse from the runoff. Traverse was acquitted, but it didn’t matter. He lost in the runoff. The attempted coup of 2022

In July 2022, when members of the SGA could have been lounging on a beach or even interning on the Hill, they instead attempted to dethrone the sitting SGA president. Just over three months after his election, Christian Zidouemba’s presidency hung in the balance as five members of his own executive cabinet attempted to remove him from office.

The power struggle unfolded after the cabinet members said he initially threatened to fire members who listed their formal SGA titles in an open letter calling on officials to remove Justice Clarence Thomas from his GW Law teaching position in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Zidouemba later allowed members to write their titles in the letter and said he “never intended to fire anybody” in his cabinet.

On the evening of July 1, five executive cabinet members unanimously voted to remove Zidouemba under Article 15 of the SGA Constitution, which at the time allowed the executive cabinet to permanently remove the president through a unanimous vote, calling him “erratic” and unfit to lead the SGA. Less than 15 minutes later, Zidouemba fired two of the executive members who voted to remove him “for failure to properly execute their duties,” before he even learned of the vote to remove him.

“I’m still the president of the SA!” Zidouemba wrote in the caption of a video posted to Instagram that he filmed while working at CVS. “A power hungry cabinet is attempting to misuse Article 15 to remove me from power while I’m at work and can’t respond.”

The next day, two executive cabinet members withdrew their votes to remove Zidouemba, saying they “misunderstood” Article 15, while at least seven members of the executive branch resigned in the aftermath of the incident. Zidouemba continued to serve as the confusion lasted through October 2022, when the Student Court unanimously ruled that he was the legitimate president and could remain in his position after a monthlong judicial process.

around the Washington Monument and their chants melded with guitar riffs. Steven Wilhelm — a Marxist from Kentucky who drove to D.C. the night before — strummed his mahogany red guitar as he faced the monument.

“I think that music, even though it can’t always convey a specific idea, it moves people,” Wilhelm said. A few feet away, protesters sang Wilhelm’s vision into reality. A group holding large red signs that said “Socialism Defeats Fascism”

Alec Baldwin’s portrait from the Feb. 22, 1979, edition of The Hatchet.

An ad for poll watching during Baldwin’s election.

DANIELLE TOWERS

The bars behind the bats of GW baseball

FIONA RILEY

RYAN JAINCHILL

Walk-up songs are a staple of America’s favorite pastime. Whether intended to intimidate the opposing team, rouse the crowd or allow the player to focus on their at-bat, walk-up songs can set the tone for the at-bat or pitching appearance. The concept of walk-up songs first emerged in 1970, when Nancy Faust convinced the White Sox to hire her to play the organ and her playing attracted attention on the radio and from stadium attendees, prompting her to start playing specific songs for players.

In the 1990s, stadiums started allowing players to select recorded music, kicking off the trend in the MLB. To the GW baseball team, selecting walk-up songs is a tradition they take pride in, especially during its lengthy 55-game seasons.

Some players find songs that prepare them to attack, but others, like junior outfielder Greg Marmo, use songs that go back to their roots while poking a little fun at themselves. Marmo, an entrepreneurship and innovation student, taps into his country upbringing by walking out to “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver.

Except he wasn’t raised in the South — he grew up in California and moved to South Carolina as a senior in high school.

“I’ve always liked riding horses and doing that kind of thing, but everybody says ‘You’re from California, you can’t be a country boy,’ so that’s why I have it,” Marmo said.

Marmo said the song helps him loosen up at the plate and make a joke at himself. He said he doesn’t know any players who also use the song but attends Baltimore Orioles games and said the stadium usually plays the song in the eighth or

ninth inning. “I’m not a serious guy, so I like to be smiling, having fun, being loose up to bat, so that’s kind of why I picked it,” he said. The John Denver tune is not a

fan favorite among his teammates. In interviews, three of his teammates said Marmo has the worst walk-up song, arguing that the musical choice implies he’s Southern, when he grew up on the West

Coast.

“Marmo is like a country boy when he’s not a country boy, he’s from California,” senior outfielder Sam Gates said. Gates walks out to “White

Horse” by Chris Stapleton, a song with upbeat, country lyrics that he said help him focus on the pitcher when stepping up to bat. He said he’d been thinking about using the song since last year but didn’t want to switch out “Spin You Around” by Morgan Wallen, his walk-up song last season.

He said he used a Kanye West song as a sophomore and a Soulja Boy song in high school.

Seven MLB players use “White Horse,” including Clay Holmes from the New York Mets and Reid Detmers from the Los Angeles Angels.

“It’s just a really good upbeat song, a little country, kind of rock, and it gets ‘go, go go’ and gets the crowd going a little bit,” Gates said.

Sophomore pitcher Andrew Cutler said he walks out to “GBP” by 21 Savage and Central Cee — a pick Marmo dubbed the team’s best. Cutler said he doesn’t listen to much rap but decided to pick something from the album after using “can’t leave without it,” another 21 Savage song, last year. Cutler said the song helps him “not only think about the game” because the crowd often sings along, which “loosens the mood.”

“Teammates seem to like it, everyone kind of sings along when I’m pitching,” Cutler said.

Ayden Alexander, a left-handed pitcher from Hamburg, New Jersey, uses “Search & Rescue” by Drake. He said the song gets him in a mindset as a pitcher to go out to the mound and throw.

During Alexander’s high school career and freshman season at GW, he used “PSA” by Kay Flock but wanted to change it up for the 2025 season, he said. He said that the Kay Flock song involved screaming and that he wanted a calmer song to get him ready to pitch.

“It gets me locked in,” Alexander said. “The piano in the background is a good tempo. It just brings me a good mood.”

Column: Postseason dreams to offseason schemes, men’s basketball could soar

SYD HEISE SPORTS COLUMNIST

Men’s basketball’s 2024-25 season was one of great progress, but this offseason could set the team up for serious success.

The Revs closed out their regular season campaign with a 21-12 record, GW’s most victorious season since the 2015-16 team finished 2810 and National Invitation Tournament champions. GW also made their first postseason appearance since 2017 in the newly formed College Basketball Crown Tournament, although Boise State booted them out in a 30-point loss.

With the transfer portal shuffling rosters every year like a deck of cards, GW has come out mostly spared since the portal opened on March 25. This spring, over 1,000 players entered the portal in the first 48 hours of its opening. Transfers have become a sign of the times for college basketball, and GW is no stranger to the concept, losing key players in past seasons like former Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Maximus Edwards, who is now a conference rival at Duquesne.

Among the Revs leaving Foggy Bottom this year

is redshirt sophomore forward Darren Buchanan Jr., the sometimes-dominant forward who averaged 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game and earned A-10 AllRookie honors a season ago. Although Buchanan’s play took a step back this year, he was still a major contributor and his departure leaves big Adidas shoes to fill. Sophomore guard Jacoi Hutchinson’s departure also pokes holes in GW’s lineup. Despite minor inconsistencies this year, Hutchinson contributed 6.7 points per game on only 33.7 percent shooting from the field.

These two, along with freshman forward Dayan Nessah, senior forward Keegan Harvey and sophomore forward Zamoku Weluche-Ume, make up the team’s entrants to the portal. While half a decade ago, five players transferring might’ve felt disastrous for the team this is a major win for Head Coach Chris Caputo in today’s volatile college basketball climate.

That’s largely because of junior forward Rafael Castro, who led the team in points and rebounds per game on an unbelievably efficient 66 percent shooting. Despite statistics that would have

any power-conference team wanting him, he opted to return to Foggy Bottom for his second year here, citing “loyalty over royalty” in his decision. After the relief his announcement brought, I’m willing to let that backhanded compliment slide.

With the A-10’s top finishers — George Mason, Dayton and champion Virginia Commonwealth — all losing multiple major contributors, the 2026 title race looks to be wide open, and Castro has all the right ingredients to chef up a conference player-ofthe-year title, something GW hasn’t achieved since Shawnta Rogers’ 1999 campaign. Before I get too ahead of myself, there are some glaring roster holes to fill. GW needs to consider the consistent supporting roles of graduating guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who contributed as an outside shooter, and glue-guy forward Sean Hansen, a smart distributor with good court vision. On the bright side, out of nine players averaging at least 10 minutes per game, this pair was the only two in their last year of eligibility — leaving lots of potential returners, especially guards.

With a name tailor-made for his role, sophomore guard

Trey Autry emerged as the team’s go-to 3-point shooter during his breakout season. Autry shot at a .386 clip from beyond the arc, the highest among players averaging more than zero minutes. Redshirt freshman guard Christian Jones had a promising freshman year and will continue to flourish if he tightens up his ball handling and decision-making. Garrett Johnson, a powerhouse guard and forward who suffered an ACL tear last summer, is positioned to return to the court next season. Johnson added 13.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in the 23 games he played and started in, adding a relieving buffer for a team that often struggles from deep.

In the press conference following the team’s March 1 win against La Salle, Caputo highlighted just how much the team missed Johnson this year, saying he was “probably our best player going into the season.”

Building on this foundation, incoming freshman recruits include three-star shooting guard Jalen Rougier-Roane, a D.C. local and U18 AmeriCup Team Canada member. Also joining the Revs is small forward Vinny Chaudhri, ranked 247th na-

tionally, who can provide aid to Castro as an alternative forward for GW. With more than a few roster holes to fill this summer, Caputo and his staff must focus on several remaining points of weakness. First, the team needs a true point guard. Jones impressed in the role this year, but his struggles to distribute and handle the ball paint him as a shooting guard. Second, the team needs a power forward like Buchanan Jr. to complement Castro in the frontcourt and bring down rebounds. Generally, the team needs stronger free-throw shooters after this season’s .694 shooting average and smart players who understand off-ball movement.

NIL and the impending House settlement, which will likely result in revenue sharing with NCAA studentathletes, introduce financial guidelines that make it difficult for mid-major teams like GW to recruit and retain top players. But Caputo said following the team’s conference tournament loss to George Mason that he is confident in the school’s “institutional commitment” to the program.

“We have President Ellen Granberg, a Board of

Lacrosse takes down Youngstown State for second-consecutive win

Lacrosse defeated Youngstown State University 15-11 at home Friday, marking their second-consecutive win and bringing their season record to 7-6.

After trailing 5-1 in the first period, GW took off on a 9-1 run and didn’t let up for the rest of the game.

Graduate student attack Katie Fullowan and senior attack Everly Kessler led the team in the match with four goals each.

After finishing last year with a Junior attack Emma Curry started the scoring less than 45 seconds into the game to put the Revs on the board. The Penguins hammered back, notching five goals in less than 10 minutes to build an early

lead. With just three seconds left in the quarter, Curry got GW in the scoring column once again to bring the deficit to 5-2. Following two more GW goals to start the second, Youngstown State scored once more, bringing the score to 6-4. Fullowan netted another GW goal before halftime, and the team entered the break down 6-5. Immediately out of halftime, GW embarked on a scoring rampage, scoring five straight goals to build a 10-6 lead. Fullowan led the way during this run with two goals of her own, while Kessler contributed a goal and an assist. Fullowan and Kessler stand as the team’s top two goal scorers, with 32 and 24 on the year, respectively. This puts them just behind Curry,

who leads the team with 35 goals this season.

The Penguins managed one goal near the end of the quarter, but Kessler and Fullowan both answered back to start the fourth, adding one goal apiece. GW responded again to a Youngstown State goal with three of their own, bringing the score to 15-8.

While Youngstown State closed out the game with three unanswered goals, they were unable to touch the Revs, who came out victorious with a final 15-11. The victory marked the start of their first winning streak since their four-win run to open the season in February. The Revs will travel down to Virginia to take on the Richmond Spiders for their next game on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.

Trustees, people in our upper administration, our athletic director who would just understand, here’s the gaps in where we need to be, and we’re trying to fill those gaps,” Caputo said. Every NCAA tournament team this year above a 10 seed spends at least $6 million annually on its basketball programs. Per the last available Department of Education data, GW spends $4,916,917 annually on the team. It’s apparent that smaller programs just can’t keep up. Only time will tell if GW has the ability to put its money where its mouth is.

Men’s basketball’s 9-9 conference record and a 30-point loss to Boise State, far and away their best nonconference opponent, cautions my optimism. GW has the tools and the starting point to build a legitimately good roster, something that can feel impossible for a smaller program in this day and age.

For now, GW’s “One Shining Moment” is their best season in nearly a decade, offering a glimpse of what’s to come with the right additions. Caputo’s offseason choreography could lead the Revs to Big Dance come next March.

KYRA WOOD | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The baseball team sound crew and announcers play the baseball players’ walk-up songs from the announcers booth.

LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

An overview of the GW Lacrosse field during a game in 2024.

KYRA WOOD | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Freshman infielder Charlie Walsh walks up to bat during a game.

KYRA WOOD | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The announcers adjust the dials on sound controls.