Scip Barnhart’s eighth floor corner room is filled with paintings, sculptures and drawings from all over the world. Hundreds of books, some of them first-generation and in different languages, line his shelves, alongside decades-old vinyl records, pressed together in worn-down covers.
The art teacher, 66, will soon have to start boxing up the one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in The West End that he has called home since 1981.
GW is suing him to leave.
“My room is my studio, I work here,” Barnhart said, glancing at the drawing table and filing drawers that dominate nearly half of his living room. “In general, it has been wonderful to be here.”
Barnhart is one of 15 non-students who live in University housing – tenants who were grandfathered in after GW purchased old apartment complexes to turn into residence halls. He was asked to vacate West End, which GW bought in 1999, as it prepares to build the massive residence hall commonly called the “superdorm.”
The Board of Trustees has allocated $2.5 million to design the project, which will merge West End, Schenley and Crawford halls.
About a year ago, Barnhart said, the University offered to shift him into another on-campus residence hall but keep his $709-a-month fixed rent. Unsatisfied with the idea of moving into a JBKO double – a much smaller than his West End room – and unsure why he was being asked to move, Barnhart decided to stay put.
He said he has been distrustful of the University since 2006, when his 27-year career as an adjunct professor ended after his division in the art department dissolved. Barnhart was vague about the dismissal, but said he was the only employee let go in the process.
On June 28, he found an eviction letter tacked to his front door.
GW will take Barnhart to court Sept. 5 to justify handing him a removal notice that did not disclose a reason.
Last year, the University earned an exemption from city rules that require landlords to give tenants a reason for eviction in The West End, because the building mainly houses students.
“All I’m doing is evoking my rights as a citizen. I have a right to contest,” Barnhart said, adding that he will also fight the fairness of the exemption.
The eviction notice stated that his “month to month lease is terminable on 30-day’s notice from the Landlord,” according to court documents.
“Because they are so powerful in the city, I believe, they can do what they want, so now I don’t have quite the bargaining power that I had as a tenant before,” Barnhart said, adding that he learned of the plan to build the new residence hall through a Hatchet article – not GW.
He is now pushing for the University to relocate him to a room at Columbia Plaza, the 2440 Virginia Ave. apartment complex that houses some graduate and law students. He called the potential room at JBKO a “dump.”
Barnhart enjoyed living with students for the last three decades, but said he is worried his belongings would get damaged if students accidentally tripped a residence hall's sprinkler system.
“I’m around students all the time, and I don’t mind it at all. For the most part, students have been wonderful,” the part-time professor at Georgetown and American universities said. “One of my concerns is the value of everything that’s here, and I want to protect it."
When asked about Barnhart's claims that he was not told about the construction project, University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard declined to comment, citing the University’s policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
Sherrard also declined to comment on the total number of tenants who were relocated in preparation for impending construction. Barnhart said he knew at least two other non-student residents who chose to relocate from The West End to JBKO when offered the option last year.
Dennis Taylor, general counsel in D.C.'s Office of the Tenant Advocate, said a judge would consider whether or not GW can legally remove Barnhart from his apartment.
“The Court will be looking for the legal sufficiency of that Notice,” Taylor said in an email, meaning the University will have to prove it has the authority to kick him out of his room. “If legal sufficiency is not found, no eviction will take place.”
Barnhart knows he will have to move from his home of 31 years. The only questions remaining are: to where and when?
"I’m an adjunct professor, I’m on social security and I don’t make a lot of money. Sometimes I make money printing for artists and sometimes I don’t," he said. "That’s a very iffy market, so my finances are limited."
are we supposed to feel sorry for him?
after he was let go hes been allowed to live in student housing for dirt cheap?
how long is this gravy train supposed to last?
It wasn’t student housing when he was hired. He just happened to live there, from what I gather. I don’t see why he should have to leave… Plus, having older neighbors brings some civility to college housing, which I know because I lived next to one in JBKO last year.
He lived there for 20 years before it was student housing so it’s more his home than ours. If GW is going to kick him out, then at least give him equal or better housing.
it says right in the article that he has been offered housing
it says right in the comment “equal or better housing.”
“It’s more his home than ours.”
You need to learn the difference between leasing and owning. He’s leasing the space from GW (at an absurdly low rate). GW is the landlord.
Scip is a gifted artist and printer. I wish GWU hadn’t eliminated the printmaking department. What a tragic waste. DC being prohibitively expensive for artists is driving them away. GWU is part of the problem.
While it may tug on the heart strings of many students in the community, the university is in the right here. Face the facts.
The university owns the building, that’s that. He does not own anything – he’s a tenant who pays rent (and mind-blowingly cheap rent, for that matter). The university offering him a spot in JBKO was more than fair. They lose money having him live in student housing already, and the rent of an apartment in Columbia Plaza is extremely more expensive than that of what he is paying in the West End. Rent per month in a one bedroom in Columbia Plaza is currently marked between $2,400-$2,700. Furthermore, those apartments are much newer and have more amenities than the units in the West End – Columbia Plaza is a “luxury apartment” complex and is therefore not comparable to the units in the West End or JBKO. It’s not the university’s job to subsidize this person’s living costs, as sad as his situation may be.
I honestly wish this man the best in finding a place to live, but it’s not the university’s fault that he declined their initial offer to help him. The university isn’t trying to be this big bad monster that’s out to stop the little guy, it just has plans for the building he’s living in.
Professor Barnhart has been living there since 1981, according to the article. It’s sad to see how badly this person is being treated by such a large and powerful neighbor.
What part about paying below-market rates for years on end while an adult non-student is shabby treatment?
“JBKO is a dump”? Compared to West End I think they are equally dumpy.
HE ONLY PAYS 700 A MONTH IN RENT!! JEEZ – I want that rate anywhere in DC!
Right or wrong GW will persist.
Like other adult non-students, he should find a place in the open market at public rates like the rest of us. Oh, and didn’t his parents teach him about 50 years ago to instead thank others, in this case for having ridden the below-market gravy train for all these years?
Clearly you haven’t hear of something called rent control. Most places in DC institute this practice, and if GW wasn’t tearing down the building, Barnhart would be able to keep his rent. Instead, according to this article, GW wants to move him to a room half the size and call it even, when he has been in that building long before GW took it over? It’s not a gravy train. It’s rent control, and it’s the law. If it wasn’t for that, thousands of more people would be on the street and below the poverty level. While you parents, Afar, probably pay for your $50,000 education and rent (assuming you are still a student or once were), some people aren’t that fortunate.
Actually, rent stabilization programs in every major city drive up housing costs. Think of it this way, say the market rate is $2,000 for an apartment in a given building, but one resident gets a stabilized rent of $1,000. That means the landlord has to equalize the amount by making the other apartment $3,000. Imagine this happening at greater distortion and you end up with much of urban America. We could greatly lower the cost of renting in cities by eliminating these programs, despite the counter-intuitive nature of getting rid of rent stabilization.
so sorry to here about this….I have been dealing with storage for the “leftover” art supplies from my shop “Artistic License” when I had to close….most of the stuff is in a trailer on my property that is beginning to leak when it rains….not good for paper, board and all. Hope that you can get re-located in an acceptable
place
As a parent of a gdub student i think this is unfair to the tenant gdub is wrong. Also JBKO and Thurston are dumps! For a very expensive school the dorms should be quite a bit better. I hope this guy wins his case. Hey steve knapp why dont u live in one of the dorms!
Sorry to hear this is happening, but I think that Mr Barnhart is partly to blame for this situation. GW did offer him another apartment for the same rent. It is smaller, but thats all there is. Mr Barnhart should understand that and accept it. I hope that he will accept this and that the university will give him a chance to live here. I’m a long term resident here at GW too and I think that the university is a great landlord. They have always treated me well.