When the GW administration announced the closing of the campus last week, the restrictions seemed clear: access to the Marvin Center will be limited to those carrying GWorld cards. And yet, when I looked around J Street Monday afternoon, I counted at least 50 individuals eating at tables who had no such identification. They were wearing blue shirts, black rain slickers and silver badges. They were D.C. cops.

Why were the cops allowed in when the demonstrators were not? Obviously, if any law-enforcement official needed to enter the Marvin Center on official business, no one would object. But these cops were simply on their lunch break, taking shelter from protecting the International Monetary Fund/World Bank on a cold and rainy day outside. I’m sure the demonstrators would have appreciated the same sort of hospitality from our University, but GW was not about to bend its rigid rules for them. Instead, the demonstrators were even banned from staying with friends in our residence halls thanks to the sudden and excessive suspension of the overnight guest policy.

Admittedly, I was never expecting the GW administration to favor those protesters seeking to disrupt the status quo, but I was nevertheless surprised to see how GW’s support of the establishment was so blatantly and brazenly displayed in J Street this week.

-Jim Deutschpart-time faculty