Over the course of the past year, the Student Association has emerged from years of squabbling and scandal as a body that is slowly regaining some of its credibility and usefulness. Under President Lamar Thorpe's leadership, the group has kept free from scandal, enacted several tangible initiatives to help students and maintained a focus on advocacy.
The Student Association senate is a strange animal at a unique school. This deliberating body designed to discuss student issues often devolves into a mock U.S. Senate with students stroking their political egos. The situation has improved this year, however, with new direction from the SA's executive branch and senators willing to put ambition and divisiveness aside.
As was the case last year, only two students are running to chair Program Board, an organization that is responsible for organizing major events on campus such as Fall Fest and Spring Fling, as well as some smaller ones. Unlike last year, both candidates have shared fundamental beliefs: that the organization must raise more money to bring big-name acts to campus, focus on organizing fewer programs of better quality and foster a stronger college atmosphere.
GW as a whole consumes an unhealthy amount of pork. No, I'm not talking about the delicious carnitas in Chipotle burritos. I'm talking about the ungodly amount of money spent by the Student Association on frivolous projects that benefit a few at the expense of all.
Fixed tuition is bad news When University officials adopted fixed tuition, with great fanfare, they said it would make GW stand out. Boy, were they right. Two weeks ago, both The New York Times and Washington Post carried the news of GW's tuition and fees exceeding $50,000 for next year's incoming students.
On Thursday, Gelman Starbucks was full of students typing away on their laptops and reading textbooks - at 3:05 a.m. Starbucks began 24-hour operation on Jan. 14, remaining open non-stop from Sunday until Friday at 10 p.m., and closing at 10 p.m. on Saturdays.
The Board of Trustees voted at their Feb. 9 meeting to approve an online Doctorate in Nursing Practice program to start next fall. The program will be the fourth entirely online DNP program in the country, according to Ellen Dawson, the chair of the department of nursing.
In the article "Colonials lose in Philly; Moore out for the season," Sports Information Director Brad Bower was quoted as saying that sophomore Cheyenne Moore is out for the season and will have surgery on his foot. Bower only said that Moore will be out for the season and GW head men's basketball coach Karl Hobbs said that Moore will have surgery.
In the article "Potomac House's Carvings eatery open" (Feb. 12, p. 1), The Hatchet reported that the new eatery Carvings will offer a meat-carving station. A Carvings employee said Monday that the food venue does not have enough room for a carving station by the food bar and will cut turkey in the kitchen.
Tuesday Senior portraits Last chance for seniors to take portraits for the 2007 yearbook. Fifth floor Marvin Center Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Cost: $15 Sponsored by The Cherry Tree Yearbook Black history celebration event In honor of Black History Month, the Gelman Library Diversity Committee hosts University of D.
Old Town Alexandria had the largest celebration for President George Washington's Birthday in the United States this weekend, with about 100,000 people attending the parade Monday afternoon. In preparation for the weekend of events in Alexandria, which included the 218th annual George Washington Birthnight Banquet and Ball Saturday, a Washington impersonator rode through Old Town in a horse-drawn carriage Saturday morning.
Though they consider collegiate honors distinctions, some graduate schools and employers agree graduating with "honors" is not the most important factor when selecting students and new hires. Laura Morsch, a career adviser at the Web site CareerBuilder.com, said honors distinctions do not necessarily matter to employers.
A GW-administered degree program that teaches District citizens to lead positive change in their communities received a $500,000 grant this year to expand its programming. Former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams approved the funds for the decade-old program, D.
Most GW graduates earning a degree in political science are more likely to aspire to take center stage at a debate than to take on the silver screen, yet 1999 alum Shane Morris has transferred his passion for politics into a big-screen career. Morris, who got his big break last summer by writing the prequel to the 2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" movie, started out at GW with a love for politics.
At age 19, Tzvetan Konstantinov entered Sofia's Pancho Vladigerov conservatory with national musical notoriety. The teenager with a gift for pitch had been studying piano since he was five, and by this time had a loyal fan base and sold-out concert tours throughout Bulgaria.
What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the names Lance Armstrong, Tom Green and Scott Hamilton? It might not be testicular cancer, but for prevention's sake, it should be. Armstrong, a Tour de France winning cyclist; Green, a celebrity comedian; and Hamilton, an Olympic medal-winning figure skater, are all survivors of testicular cancer, the most common form of cancer among men ages 15 to 34, according to the non-profit medical practice Web site MayoClinic.
While his parents and siblings were unwrapping Christmas presents halfway across the world, sophomore Jason Mojica woke up to the cry of gunshots ringing out across Ab?ch?, Chad. Minutes later, members of the Sudanese Liberation Movement rebel group, armed with 50-caliber machine guns, arrived at his ramshackle motel room in a pick-up truck caked in mud to safely transport Mojica and his friends to the group's compound.
While most of the campus was sleeping early Friday morning, a contingent of die-hard Student Association want-to-be members was wide awake. Dozens of students gathered in Kogan Plaza and at the stroke of 7 a.m., a mad scramble began across H Street in an effort to grab prime real estate on the Marvin Center's exterior walls in the annual start of the election postering season.
Karl Hobbs should have his players' families come to games more often. In front of his parents, freshman Damian Hollis scored a career-high 15 points on six- -of-seven shooting Saturday against Temple at Smith Center. College basketball games are not unfamiliar to Essie Hollis, Damian's father.
Karl Hobbs said Saturday's 84-72 win over Temple at Smith Center was not a must-win. The win does accomplish a few things, Hobbs said, but he refused to look too far into the future. "First and foremost, it makes us 16-8, 7-5 in the league," he said. "Depending on what the results are today, we're fourth or fifth or sixth - something in there.
School took a break for Presidents' Day weekend, but the GW women's basketball team did not. The No. 9 (AP, ESPN/USA Today) Colonials beat Charlotte and St. Louis to improve to 23-2 on the season and 12-0 in the Atlantic 10. The 64-59 win over Charlotte Thursday broke the 49ers' 22-game home winning streak.
Baseball The baseball team opened its 2007 spring season with three losses at No. 8 Virginia Feb. 17-19. The Colonials dropped 11-0, 11-1 and 15-2 decisions to the Cavaliers. GW's Feb. 13 game against Georgetown was postponed due to snow. M. Tennis The men's tennis team lost to Xavier and Dayton during a two-day Ohio road trip.
Since 1984, one of the world's foremost Islamic scholars has been teaching here at GW. University Professor of Islamic Studies Seyyed Hossein Nasr specializes in Sufism, Islamic philosophy and metaphysics. Nasr teaches "Islamic Philosophy and Theology" at the undergraduate level as well as a graduate course, "Man and Natural Environment" through GW's Department of Religion.
Two political activists from Bahrain described their fight for social justice and called on students to help bring democracy to the Middle East at the Marvin Center Amphitheater Thursday night. The activists were hosted by Students Defending Democracy, a student organization striving to educate Americans about the threat of terrorism and promote democratic ideals.
The Interfraternity Council's spring recruitment ended earlier this month with more people joining a Greek-letter group this year than any year in recorded history. Last academic year, 277 male students joined a Greek-letter organization compared to this year's 290.
GWTV is back on the air with new programming after a fall full of difficulties and a blank screen. Students who tuned into Channel 6 at the beginning of the year saw nothing and for months after that, the only thing airing was the class-produced news magazine show "The Source" on a continuous loop.
The Faculty Senate rejected the University's plan to adopt a four-by-four credit structure two months before their vote was scheduled to take place. At Friday's meeting in the Marvin Center, the body passed a resolution recommending that the schools should not switch at this time from the three-credit, five-class system to the four-class, four-credit plan administrators have proposed.
Two years after the fiery discourse of CNN's "Crossfire" left campus, political debate returned to the Media and Public Affairs Building last week.
Students are adapting well to the new preference-based computer system after rising seniors applied for on-campus housing last week, said Seth Weinshel, assignments director of GW Housing Programs. Whereas students previously chose available rooms during time slots governed by randomly assigned numbers, the new assignment system called iHousing uses a computer program to make assignments based on individual preferences of buildings, room sizes and roommates.
University Police officers posted public safety advisories in Mitchell Hall this week after residents experienced six false fire alarms in one week.
By day, junior Sabrina Patel can be found in the library studying linear programming, network models and queuing theory for her systems analysis major in the engineering school. But by night, her work gets much more scandalous. Patel, often clad in barely-there lingerie, a bikini or S&M apparel, has spent the past year flaunting and photographing her petite 5'4'' frame, and getting herself noticed in the modeling business.
Casey Pond is back for one more shot at the Student Association's top job. Pond, a junior, who finished fifth in a field of seven in last year's SA presidential election, said he will focus the SA's efforts on student advocacy if he is elected. "I want to turn the SA into an organization that proactively advocates on student issues," said Pond, who serves as director of the SA Dining Services Commission.
Although his running mate Che Guevara died over forty years ago, write-in Student Association presidential candidate Dennis Petersen remains confident he will win the SA election this week. His grassroots campaign, which is based mostly on the social networking site Facebook.
Student Association President Lamar Thorpe's proposed changes to the structure and spending of the SA - originally scheduled to appear on the ballots during this week's elections - have been postponed to allow for consideration by the SA. Thorpe's proposals, which he introduced in January, consist of two significant changes.
U-At Large (Two seats available) Richard "Dick" Fowler (Student Union) Kevin Kozlowski (Student Union) Jackson Trugman SEAS-U (One seat available) Elfine Natalia Peterson Tjio (Student Union) CCAS-U (Six seats available) Eugene Beckley (Student Union) Meghan Cassin (Student Union) Will Luton (Student Union) Francis Murray (Independent Voice) OG Oyiborhoro (Student Union) Nina Pedrad (Student Union) Joshua Phillips (Students for Progress) Mohit Shah (Independent Voice) Tim Swenson (Students for Progress) Eric G.
Name: Marc Abanto Year: Junior Hometown: Trumbull, Conn. Major: Political Science Slate: The Student Union Running Mate: Nick D'Addario Clubs/Activities: Member education chair of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, former associate producer of the 14th Grade Players Theater Company, College Democrats, past intern for Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.
Name: Andrew Cooper Year: Sophomore Hometown: Beaufort, S.C. Major: Political Science, economics Slate: None Running Mate: Casey Pond Clubs/Activities: Community resource associate (GWHP), Black Student Union/Multicultural Student Services Center, Colonial Army, Word Up!, GW Democrats, house proctor, critical needs tutor - Ward 7 Platform: Reduce the printing fee, convert CMail to GMail, more funding for student organizations SA Experience: SA staffer (fall 2005-spring 2006), vice president of public affairs (fall 2006) Web site: www.
The George Washington University set a new record Feb. 9 as the first college to break the $50,000 mark in total cost of attendance. The figure approved by the university's Board of Trustees for the Class of 2011 includes tuition of $39,210, a food allowance of $3,400 and housing prices of $8,020, for a total of $50,630.
Vol. 109
An Independent Student Newspaper
Serving The George Washington University Community Since 1904
