I am an athlete here at GW who does everything he can to advance the name of the University, but I get no respect from the institution I am trying to promote. I was one of a group of students that had to stay on campus because I had to practice in preparation for our upcoming season. I never expected that the University would sink to the level that it did to save a buck.
During the week the temperatures were hovering around 45 degrees, not to mention wind chill and rain. The wonderful University that I pay a great deal of money to attend decided that this would be the prefect time to turn the heat off. Not only was the heat turned off during the break, but the water service was turned off for hours at a time. So now it’s cold, I can’t take a shower, and I am asphyxiating because there are fumes from paint used to touch up the hallway.
All of this might not have been bad, but there was no food, too. The already horrible food with horrible service was not available during the first weekend and on a limited basis the rest of the week. I therefore had to spend the little money that the University hasn’t yet taken from me to buy food so I could eat after 4 p.m. I understand that it was open, but I guess I was not expected to get hungry after 4 p.m. The only people I know that don’t eat after four are my grandparents!
I may be crazy here, but I read the polls about how students are unsatisfied with GW and how people are always transferring out, and I realize more and more why each day. I really liked GW, and I don’t mind being cheated out of my money as long as the University does it in style.
The problem, I think, is that we have an administration that has its own agenda and it rarely involves us students. I know we have an advocate in the SA, but all they can do is make recommendations, and the only ones who can make actual change are the members of the administration. What needs to be done is to have students be part of the decision-making process and not just for consultation, but that is not likely, because who wants to give up power?
I walk around seeing prospective students going on tours and trying to decide whether they want to attend GW, and all I can think of is the GW slogan with a little bit of reality attached…greed: at the center of it all.
-Dave Espinoza
sophomore
