One month and 18 days after I was told that the current freshman class would be required to live on campus next year, the questions still remain. Why haven’t freshmen officially been informed by GW? Or has The Hatchet become the new official communication method?

In the Jan. 22 edition of The Hatchet, Associate Dean of Students Jan-Mitchell Sherrill was quoted as saying he knew this policy would be implemented for the current freshmen as early as September 2001. He also said that he would inform students of this change just as soon as he knew, although we do understand the month of September was hectic for more than one reason.

The sophomore housing requirement stems from the larger Campus Plan. Dean of Students Linda Donnels has been privy to official University housing policy in regard to the Campus Plan, and she informed the Resident Hall Association of the sophomore housing requirement going into effect for the 2002-03 school year as soon as she got wind of it in December.

The only reason students are currently aware of this change is that the RHA informed The Hatchet as soon as we received this information. The RHA is a watchdog student organization for all on-campus residents. However, we certainly do not feel we should be the only ones informing students of changes in the official University housing policy. Isn’t that what University officials are paid to do?

However, the fact still remains that nearly 2,500 freshman whose lives are affected by this change in policy have yet to receive official notification, and the housing selection process starts in about a week. Internal communication problems at GW have plagued us for years – this being the worst example in recent history.

-The writer, a senior majoring in political communication, is RHA president.