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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

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

Letters to the Editor

Alumni e-mail
In the past I used The Hatchet as a vehicle to display my discontent for GW’s administration via political cartoons. Whereas my previous work was more wit and humor than politics, my old age (almost a year removed) has made me mean and bitter. Normally I would just shake my head disapprovingly at the administration’s decisions, shrugging them off since they did not effect me directly. But now, with GW’s decision to cut off alumni e-mail use, I find myself full of hatred and spite. My access to the coveted “@gwu.edu” will be gone forever come June 1, 2003. I see two huge problems with this.

The first is exclusively selfish. I have been using my GW account as my primary e-mail account. Almost all of my online transactions are routed through its server. Bank accounts, eBay accounts, Amazon accounts, porn site accounts … all of them will no longer have my inbox to flood. Also, this is my main artery in keeping in touch with my GW friends, high school friends, relatives and to capitalize on the war, my buddies fighting overseas (it’s always a good, cheap-shot idea to bring the war into any modern day argument). My “@gwu.edu” account is also my contact point for law schools updates. Needless to say, this is going to be a huge headache in thinking of every person/organization I need to inform of this change.

The second problem, which I cannot believe the University overlooked, is alumni relations. Frequent alumni updates sent to my “@gwu.edu” account are my only link to the happenings at GW. Come June 1, when I no longer have access to this account, I will more than likely stop paying attention to what’s going on at GW. My lack of information, like many GW graduates, will turn to apathy and then cutting ties to the University completely. Lost ties equal lost alumni donations (and we all know how GW’s world revolves around dollars).

The University has tried to compensate by allowing us “free” access to a new “@alumni.gwu.edu” account, that only forwards that mail to another, more frequently accessed account. I will never use that account. I would have to track down everyone and anyone I gave the original “@gwu.edu” address to and alert them of the change. I don’t have the time or patience for such a ridiculous endeavor.

I know the major problem is too many users on one system. Can’t the University send a “note” to all alumni users asking if they want to keep their address? That way, the people who rely on and want to keep their addresses can. Cut the users who no longer desire access. I can tell you one thing, like many recent graduates, my “@gwu.edu” is the last little tie I have to the University. Once that is severed, my involvement may very well end.
-Brad Simon, Class of 2002

Fix the program
I’m sure by now GW Housing Services is sick and tired of listening to whiny GW students complain about their smelly roommate, broken elevators, lack of residence hall selections for juniors and seniors next year, the unfair study abroad housing deal and bad housing numbers. I know that while these may seem like horrible situations to most of the GW population, there are worse things that could happen, but GW students still care about them.

In light of all the recent housing selection number glitches, I think it would be wise for the housing department to invest in a better computer program. Current freshman and sophomores were asked to re-select their housing numbers after a “problem with the equation meant to randomize the numbers led instead to some sequential allocation” (“University faces additional problems reissuing ITRs,” April 10, p. 1). In other words, students were able to get better numbers in certain time slots instead of choosing at random.

If housing wants to stop dealing with these minute problems and focus on the more pressing issues at hand (like the disintegrating ceilings in Fullbright or the broken elevators in the International House), they should invest in a computer program that actually works.
-Erika Herman sophomore

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