University dedicates MC ballroom

About 100 administrators and city officials snacked on cheese, crackers and desserts for a Wednesday morning reception to dedicate the third floor Marvin Center Grand Ballroom the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Conference Center.

University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said he was “resisting the temptation to kiss” foundation president Calvin Cafritz for his $1 million donation toward the Marvin Center renovations.

“It’s a one of a kind conference center in the heart of Washington D.C.,” Marvin Center Director Peter Konwerski said.

The Cafritz Foundation has donated more than $2.3 million to GW since 1969, Cafritz said.

The foundation has given money to dozens of community service and education programs including the GW student-run Neighbors Project.
-Mosheh Oinounou

SMPA professor to run politics and youth project

School of Media and Public Affairs assistant professor Sean Aday received a $289,000 grant to start the Washington, D.C. Student Voices Project, which engages students in local politics by bringing the study of a local political campaign to the classroom.

The program will study the D.C. mayoral race.

The program includes classroom and community involvement. Students will learn about local political history and leadership, with visits from and online chats with political leaders. Participants will also have the chance to work with younger students in the community.

Aday received the grant from the Annenberg Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts

Part of a nationwide civics education program, Student Voices will work with about 600 high school students in 21 D.C. public and private schools.

Creative Writing Dept. to hold workshop

The Creative Writing Department will hold a poetry reading and writing workshop Friday with poet Lloyd Schwartz. The event will be at 2 p.m. in the Hall of Government room 101.

Schwartz read poetry for another GW series two years ago.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic, Schwartz recently wrote “Cairo
Traffic,” a book of poems. He is also a creative writing professor at the University of Massachusetts.

FMLA hosts take back the night

GW’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance will sponsor its annual Take Back The Night rally Thursday to raise awareness about violence against women and to unite in the struggle to end it. The event will focus on sexual assault and rape.

The event will start at 5:30 p.m. with various workshops, continue with a rally at 9 p.m. and end with a march through campus and a candlelight vigil to acknowledge survivors and remember victims.

Crafts, a self-defense workshop, musical performances and stories from survivors telling will mark the event. The audience will also have the chance to speak or share experiences during an open mic session.

Theater and Dance Dept. shows first play

The Department of Theatre and Dance will host its first play of the semester, “Learning Curves” by Allyson Currin.

The performances will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. All performances will be held in the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre.

The show is about a doctoral student caught in a love triangle between a faculty member and a young college student, and is directed by Morgan Duncan.

Students can pick up tickets at Ticketmaster for $8. Email [email protected] for more information.

-Blake A. Ehrlich