J Street

Students used to buy a wartime stock of overpriced soda and chips at J Street to get rid of their dining dollars. But now, J Street has been transformed into a desirable place for students to dine and gather. The staircase has been moved, allowing more space for food options. Brand new venues with rotating food choices have been added, and healthy eating options, which were previously scarce, have been greatly expanded. Most of the venues now have late night hours and are open on weekends. Who ever would have thought upperclassmen would be bemoaning the fact that they didn’t have any dining dollars left?

Toni Morrison

Campus was abuzz with excitement over author Toni Morrison’s appearance at Lisner Auditorium last week. It was refreshing to see a school that often focuses on high-profile political speakers provide the community an opportunity to interact with a unique figure. It is important that the University ensures that the events on campus appeal to a wide range of students, and not just a concentrated subset of the community. The University should look to promote more events that allow students to hear from important figures who haven’t only worked on Capitol Hill.

Freshman Day of Service

It was encouraging to see a record 2,300 freshmen volunteering at this year’s Freshman Day of Service. Students were sent all over the city to paint murals at schools and clean parks, and were even afforded the unique opportunity to hear and work alongside important political figures such as Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Yet the day was still plagued by complaints of poor worksite planning and lack of coordination amongst some of the leaders. The student volunteer experience must continue to be enhanced to make this important day as meaningful as possible.

Free condoms

Earlier this week, the Student Association passed non-binding legislation to install free condom dispensers in every residence hall. Often times, students feel uncomfortable buying condoms at local stores, asking their house proctor or going to Student Health Services. Allowing for the placement of condom dispensers in discrete places like bathrooms or laundry rooms would provide all students appropriate access to them. The University must do all it can to promote safe sex.

Collegiate Readership Program

We still want our newspapers. With the elimination of the Collegiate Readership Program, students have been deprived of one of the most important ways to access the news. While students still have a variety of ways to view content online, subscribing to the Collegiate Readership program was extremely symbolic for GW. It represented a student body that is engaged and knowledgeable with the surrounding world, and an administration that fully supported students’ pursuit of knowledge.

Metro escalators

It is a question that everyone asks all the time: Why can’t the Metro get their act together and fix their escalators? As if the morning commute weren’t bad enough, we now have to shuffle through a crowded mess of people at the top of the Foggy Bottom station. The escalators are often fixed for a few brief, glorious moments, but then they inevitably stop while full of riders. One can only assume that the reason they haven’t been fixed is that mechanics are busy working on every other escalator in the system.