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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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

Around Campus

HWC evacuated after fire

A fire in a dumpster outside the Health and Wellness Center caused the building to be evacuated Sunday evening.

The Foggy Bottom Fire Department extinguished the dumpster fire at about 5:30 p.m.

Students in the HWC said they could also smell smoke from the dumpster located on G street between the building owned by the International Order of Odd Fellows, a social organization and the HWC

Phillipe Senamaud, member of the Odd Fellows, called the fire department after a pedestrian knocked on the door and told him about the fire.

“We were celebrating a wedding when someone knocked on the door and said, `you have a fire outside,” Senamaud said. He said he thought the fire might have been started by homeless people who sleep next to the dumpster

He said the fire produced flames that extended over the top of the dumpster sending a plume of smoke into the sky visible a block away.

HWC employee Dan Silverman said the HWC was evacuated after smoke detectors in the building activated the fire alarm.

Before the fire department arrived, members of the Odd Fellows poured water from pots and trash cans into the dumpster. The Fire Department responded within ten minutes of the call.

The cause of the fire is unknown. D.C. Fire Department Captain
Robert Mullikin said “a match or a cigarette” could have ignited the trash in the dumpster.

-Joseph Pollak

History Department discusses crisis

Seven GW History Department professors discussed the Sept. 11 attacks and compared them to the events taught in their own classes Friday.

Led by professor Leo Ribuffo, the discussion included professors, Hibba Abugideiri, Murial Atkin, Jim Hershberg, Dina Khoury, Maloney McAllister and Daqing Yang.

Each professor gave a seven-minute summary of what historical event the attack could be compared to, and a possible means of retaliation or justice.

Professor Yang opened the discussion with his concerns about the treatment of Muslims in the United States. Yang said Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans were put in interment camps following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. He expressed his hope the U.S. will not alienate ethnicities that look similar to Muslims.

Hershberg said recent Cold War history provides some understanding of the situation.

Some professors said history shows that invading Afghanistan has never been completed successfully.

“England’s attempt to subdue Afghanistan ended in disaster,” Hershberg said.

Afghanistan defeated England in the first Anglo-Afghan war in 1842 after England tried to restore an exiled religious leader, according to the Encarta Encyclopedia.

Atkin agreed.

“History has proven that attacking Afghanistan is not an easy task,” Atkin said.

The students played a large role in the discussion. After the initial comparisons given by the professors, students were given the opportunity to ask questions.

“The fact that every professor got to give their point of view of historical comparison and what the proper retaliation should be, it made for a very insightful experience,” freshman Danielle Rubin said.

By being able to interact with the panelists, students said questions provided them with a greater insight to historical comparisons and the Muslim culture itself.

McAllister said students and Americans are left with two moral questions, “What does the U.S have the right to do?” and “What is the right thing for the U.S to do?”

-Chris Worthington

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