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

NEWSLETTER
Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter!

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

Letters to the Editor

Poor standards

The Snapshot entitled “Ashes to Ashes” in the March 2 issue of the GW Hatchet (p. 2) was indicative of the slipshod journalistic standards that The Hatchet holds itself to. For a publication that often derides the mistakes of other organizations or the administration, one expects more from it.

In a caption of fewer than 50 words, the Hatchet made several mistakes. First of all, there was a typographical error in the sentence that read, “… acknowledge the the start of Lent.” That mistake would be forgivable if not for the other more glaring errors.

Next, the person who wrote the blurb should know that Lenten is spelt with an e and not an o. Any paper should check its spelling before going to print, considering how important Lent is to Christianity.

Finally, and more glaringly would be the factual error. It was Moses who spent 40 years in the desert with the Israelites, a time that is known as the Exodus. However, this is not the reason why Lent is celebrated.

The Season of Lent, which is the 40 days before Good Friday, is marked by most Christians (not just Catholics) to remember the 40 days and nights that Jesus spent alone (not with his disciples) in the wilderness fasting in preparation for his ministry. At the end of these 40 days, scripture tells us that he was tempted by the devil and resisted it.

In a university as diverse and global as this, one would expect such simple facts to be checked with authoritative sources before going to print. The Season of Lent is an important time of reflection for all Christians, about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It prepares them spiritually for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Being an independent student newspaper, The Hatchet needs to exercise greater editorial standards to ensure that the product that goes to press is print-worthy. If such a small caption such as this has that many errors, what are readers to expect from full articles?

-Ravi Alfreds, senior

Editorial misjudgement

I’ve enjoyed The Hatchet and its coverage of the GW community for a number of years. However, I really have to question the editorial judgment made in the March 2 edition of The Hatchet to place an article on the murder of a GW graduate below the fold on the front page, instead featuring an Olympic gold medalist’s girlfriend in the most prominent spot in the newspaper.

Yes, we do live in a celebrity- (and pseudo-celebrity-) obsessed culture. But The Hatchet’s editorial staff needs to decide whether they want to be editing a student version of Us Weekly or a student version of a more respectable newspaper.

-Dan Nadel, law student

Hooray for Cheh

For those of you in the GW community who haven’t met professor Mary Cheh, let me introduce you to this incredible woman. She is an amazing person who deserves the full support of the GW community in her run for Ward 3 city councilmember (“Law professor running for City Council,” March 2, p. 3).

I faced a challenging transition when I returned from 15 months’ Army service in Iraq to reenroll at GW Law School. Mary Cheh, my dedicated and caring constitutional law professor, is, without a doubt, the reason I didn’t drop out.

She is warm, caring, hilariously funny, a true believer in American democracy … and she’s absolutely brilliant. She’s also uncompromisingly ethical, and she is serious about promoting the best public policy.

She would be a brilliant representative for Ward 3 and bring great credit upon George Washington University.

If you don’t know her, you should get to know her. She’s amazing. Let’s get behind one of GW’s best assets, Professor Mary Cheh.

-Richard Murphy, law student , former Hatchet editor in chief

More to Discover
Donate to The GW Hatchet