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

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Campus Briefs

Crawford arson forces evacuation

Students in Crawford Hall were sent running through smoke and sprinkler water early Saturday morning after a hallway bulletin board was set on fire.

Bob Ludwig, interim director of Media Relations, said University Police determined that the act was arson but would not disclose further details.

At 5:30 a.m., Crawford’s eighth floor residents awoke to the sound of a fire alarm and found a hallway thick with smoke and water from automatic sprinklers, said sophomore Kathryn Bangs, who lives in a room adjacent to the bulletin board.

Ludwig said the entire building was evacuated and the hall’s sprinklers extinguished the fire. He said residents of nine rooms that suffered water damage were moved from Crawford to other University beds.

Bangs said she joined other residents from Crawford at J Street and waited there for about an hour and a half before UPD allowed students to reenter the hall.

Since then, Bangs said she hasn’t received an update from UPD about the incident. She said that the University’s silence upset her.

“The police officer said it was arson. They’ve made that distinction,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re actually looking into this.”

By Sunday afternoon, the bulletin board was removed and the spot behind it was painted over. The ceiling had remnants of soot and smoke above the board.
David Levine

Bush assistant adresses NSCS

John Bridgeland, assistant to President George W. Bush and director of the USA Freedom Corps, spoke to about 150 students and their families about the importance of community service in the U.S. Thursday

night.

He spoke at the induction of 843 new members to the GW chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, most of whom were not in attendance. NSCS is an honors organization for freshmen and sophomores that encourages members to develop leadership skills through community service.

“The service that people do is really vitally important to strengthening our country,” Bridgeland said.

Bridgeland said the government wants to expand the volunteer force in the nation from the current three or four million volunteers.

“The movement of young people in organizations like the NSCS is vital and important to the country,” he said. “In contrast to a lot of the hell holes that I see around this country, a student making a commitment is a very hopeful thing. I can go home and tell my children that the state of service in America is strong … We serve because we love our country.”
Joanna Stein

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