Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

NEWSLETTER
Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter!

Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Staff Editorial: Delay meeting, protests

We cannot allow terrorism to alter our regular lives. We cannot cower and cannot be afraid to go about our normal routines – to go to class, fly home on breaks or continue to experience all D.C. has to offer. But we must act prudently when challenged by violence. The nation’s attention and emergency resources remain focused on events in lower Manhattan and across the Potomac at the Pentagon. As a result, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings should be postponed until public safety officials in the District and the surrounding region are confident of their ability to provide a safe forum for the delegates, expected protesters and District residents.

The IMF/World Bank meetings and the accompanying protests are not routine for D.C. Just last week GW canceled classes and ordered residence halls evacuated during the expected protests. Administrators, wary of past violence at similar gatherings, urged students to leave town. The Metropolitan Police Department and Secret Service planned to erect a nine-foot high barrier to protect a vast area of downtown. And security officials requested as many as 3,600 additional police officers to help protect the city.

Now, all of those extraordinary preparations and the agencies enacting them are preoccupied with protecting the District and surrounding vital facilities from further terrorist violence, providing D.C. residents with the basic emergency services vital to sustaining a large city and investigating the attacks that occurred Tuesday. To ask those agencies to stretch their already depleted resources would be unrealistic, unfair and dangerous.

Once the region’s public safety apparatus is able to handle the IMF/World Bank meetings, the District should welcome delegates and protesters to engage in lawful, peaceful activities. And police should display no tolerance for violence.

GW and its students will doubtlessly be affected by whatever decision is made regarding the IMF/World Bank meetings. But if the meetings are postponed, the University should allow residence halls to remain open but should not attempt to reinstate a regular class schedule. Students have already arranged for travel outside the city – some a great personal expense – for the dates of the scheduled meeting. Requiring them to alter their plans once again could be enormously expensive and is entirely unreasonable.

More to Discover
Donate to The GW Hatchet