As the nation mourns for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting, many GW students are struggling to cope with the tragedy that has impacted colleges nationwide. On Monday, an assailant shot and killed more than 30 people in an academic building at Virginia Tech in what is the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
Virginia Tech may be more than 200 miles away from Foggy Bottom, but it felt close to home Tuesday night as students sought comfort in each other at a candlelight vigil.
Comedian, movie star and Tony Award-winning actor Billy Crystal will headline next year's Colonials Weekend, the University announced Wednesday. Crystal will perform October 12 and 13 at 9:30 p.m. at Smith Center for the annual combined parents' and alumni weekend festivities in October, according to a University press release.
University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg will not deliver the keynote address at this year's Commencement ceremony and it is unlikely another keynote speaker will replace him, according to a news release.
Marguerite "Peg" Barratt, an official with the National Institutes of Health, edged out four other candidates and was announced as the next dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Monday. After an almost 10-month-long process, the CCAS Dean Search Committee selected Barratt following a series of interviews and deliberations with University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald Lehman and President-elect Steven Knapp.
Thousands marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol Monday afternoon to protest the District of Columbia's lack of a voting representative in Congress. Despite strong winds and cold rain, protesters of all ages marched holding signs and chanting "Free D.
In response to heightened anxieties about campus safety at GW in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, officials have said the University's emergency management plans are adequate and not in need of an overhaul. After Sept. 11, administrators examined the school's preparedness for catastrophic incidents occurring on or near campus.
While the 2008 U.S. presidential election is more than a year away, some students are already actively mobilizing their peers to support candidates. Three groups supporting Democratic candidates have already been formed including Students for Hillary, Students for Barack Obama and Students for John Edwards.
Students will be able to vote this semester to increase the amount of money they pay each year to the Student Association. The SA, which grants money to the more than 300 student organizations on campus, unanimously approved legislation that creates a referendum on the mandatory student fee before the end of the semester.
Fugitives from justice, disorderly conduct, drug law violations, liquor law violations.
Photo credit: Nick Gingold/assistant photo editor
A calendar for university events, Thursday through Sunday.
About 15 students assembled at the Marvin Center Tuesday night to give input about the search process for a new associate dean of undergraduate programs for the Business School. At the meeting, hosted by Student Association Senator Nathan Brill (SoB-U) and Senator-elect Matt Cohen (SoB-U), students helped compile a list of suggestions for the search committee.
This week the Sigma Chi fraternity had its first annual Derby Days, a 1990s-themed fundraiser, to support the Children's Miracle Network. The organization became the campus' 14th male Greek-letter organization last year after a six-year hiatus from GW. Nationwide, Derby Days raises more than $600,000 for CMN, said Sigma Chi Public Relations Chair Mike Belleville, a freshman, in a news release.
Maureece Rice has never liked interviews. Until this year, he tried to duck media conferences after basketball games with teammate Carl Elliott, scurrying up the stairs to the exit at Smith Center. It was a maturity thing, he said while looking down at his cell phone Tuesday afternoon in the 22nd Street arena.
There is an old adage that soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen. GW's gang of gentlemen, the Colonials rugby team, is in the midst of its best season in more than a decade. A large part of the team's success can be attributed to a recent surge in rugby's popularity in the United States, especially in the Washington area, club president Justin Slotnick said.
Softball The Colonials dropped two games to Maryland Wednesday afternoon at Robert E. Taylor Stadium in College Park, Md. GW lost the first game 8-1 and lost in the second 8-0, which was shortened to five innings. Junior Caroline Howe drove in the only run for the Colonials (18-18), which had five hits between the two games while the Terrapins had 21 hits.
Some students said they feel unsafe because of the effects of a renovation project of GW's largest freshman residence hall. The sidewalk along 19th Street between E and F streets has been closed for months and has forced pedestrians to either walk on the road of a busy one-way street or cross the street to avoid being inches away from passing cars.
Build it and they will come. Hollywood built it and the A-listers are a-comin'. What has been built, you ask? A nation-wide obsession with horror, violence and having one's pants scared off. Films like "The Ring" and "Saw" were some of the first horror flicks to re-whet the nation's appetite for blood-curdling cinematic terror.
Three years ago, the United States was not quite ready for Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost. Now, the merry jesters who unleashed 2004's zombie genre romp "Shaun of the Dead" have established themselves as darlings on the international cinematic scene - the geeks have become the stars.
With questions about the emergency response system at Virginia Tech still looming in light of Monday's tragic events, campuses across the country are scrambling to review and reform their public safety policies. Arguably, GW is ahead of the higher education curve for public safety.
Figure skating is a lot like leap year - many only acknowledge its existence once every four years. When the great athlete/celebrities like Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski fade from the limelight, the interest and prominence of the sport dwindle. After seeing Champions on Ice at the Verizon Center last Saturday, it is hard to imagine how America could forget the tradition, which is arguably one of the most competitive on Earth.
I'm no stranger to the faux-Irish. For an entire semester, my friends called me "Seamus" behind my back before it came to light that I don't have a drop of Irish in me. And while I'd much rather drink an American-style light lager than a hard cider, I've fallen into my share of delightfully fake - and cheap - Irish pubs.
Certainly to the delight of many angry students, University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is no longer the keynote speaker at Commencement. As he steps down from the graduation spotlight, however, no one individual will step up to replace him. The decision to relegate Trachtenberg to his normal function at Commencement - the charge to the students - is an improvement over the original plan to have him deliver the keynote address.
If you have $5 Get one more and go to Sixth and I Historic Synagogue at 600 I St., N.W. tonight at 7 p.m. to see Franklin Foer interview Thomas Friedman. Friedman is a New York Times columnist and author, and Foer is the editor of The New Republic and the author of How Soccer Explains the World, so the conversation should be interesting, whether you agree with them or not.
"Year of the Dog" by Andrew Siddons In Chinese astrology, those born in the Year of the Dog possess certain traits often affiliated with man's best friend: loyal, dependable and well meaning, to name a few. Such is Peggy (Molly Shannon), an unassuming secretary approaching early middle age and the main character of "Year of the Dog," written and directed by Mike White (screenwriter of "School of Rock" and "Orange County," among others).
I am really looking forward to that happy time when I get to start dealing with embassies, consulates and the federal government to get my student visa to study abroad. Obscure regulations, paperwork and countless phone calls to confusing departments? Don't worry, I'm a pro now, and at least the embassies aren't charging me more than $18,000 for the pleasure of dealing with their red tape.
A confused, hurt and self-destructive teddy bear is how Carter Webb (Adam Brody) sums up his life for his mentally unstable grandmother in the film "In The Land Of Women." The story surrounds the emigration of a hack movie writer back to his family's roots in Michigan to escape from the pain he feels after being dumped by a high-profile starlet.
"Did you bring your mom?" Kyle Renner asked earnestly when I arrived at the Georgetown Levi's store Friday night. My friend had been planning to take her mother along, but it hadn't worked out. "Okay," he said. "I just wanted to make her comfortable, if she came, let her know she's totally welcome.
It's rare, in our modern day and age, to come across the true bohemian artist, traveling the land, living on the bare essentials, and not knowing where they'll end up tomorrow. It's a very romantic lifestyle, but one that requires a great deal of willpower and fortitude.
Ashton Kutcher has made a career out of playing practical jokes. "A lot of times people look at me and don't know if I'm serious or I'm joking. I've been known to put some saran wrap on some toilets from time to time," he told The Hatchet. But only one man has ever successfully pulled a practical joke on him - presidential hopeful John Edwards.
Let Trachtenberg speak I read with concern your editorial and related coverage regarding the choice of President Trachtenberg for GW's Commencement 2007 keynote speaker ("Shame on you, GW administrators," Apr. 12, p. 4). It is my belief that the negative reaction by some graduating seniors to SJT headlining Commencement is totally misplaced, but I know where it is coming from.
A group of students that believe in raising awareness of global organ trafficking have set out to create a national non-profit organization committed to addressing this issue. IGOT, the Initiative on Global Organ Trafficking, was formed in February by GW students Charles Channon, Geoffrey Cain, Kevin Weingold, and Joseph McCullagh.
GW's Jewish community remembered the Holocaust Monday night and made connections to current tragedies including the shootings at Virginia Tech and genocide in Darfur. Students commemorated the Holocaust in the Marvin Center by listening to a survivor and creating a long, symbolic paper chain, the links of which represent the names of those who have died.
Vol. 109
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