Fire evacuates Dakota

A fire in a dumpster next to the Dakota caused evacuation of the junior residence hall Sunday evening.

Matt Lindsay, assistant director of Media Relations, said there was some limited water damage to the stairwell and common areas on the first floor, but that no rooms were affected. He said that students were permitted to reenter the residence hall at about 7:30 p.m.

Laurie Snyder, a mother of a student, called 911 at 5:30 p.m. after witnessing the fire spark in a trash receptacle adjacent to the Dakota on 21st and F streets. She said the D.C. Fire Department arrived four minutes later. At about 5:45 p.m. University Police pulled the Dakota’s fire alarm, prompting the building’s evacuation.

“I heard four pops. They weren’t too loud. Then I saw smoke and flames coming up (from the dumpster),” Snyder said. “It was pretty noxious.”

University officials were unsure what sparked the flame, and D.C. fire officials weren’t immediately available for comment.

Claire Low, a sophomore living in the Dakota, said the flames started as a small smoldering in the trash, then grew into a larger fire producing thick smoke.

Another incidence of smoke was also reported this weekend. On Saturday night, the Fire Department came to campus after a person called 911 reporting smoke in the Smith Center.

Three fire engines and a battalion chief responded at about 9:30 p.m. to find steam coming out of a chimney on top of the school’s gymnasium. Firefighters said the large volume of water vapor is common at the start of the school year when building staff first turns on the boilers after periods of inactivity during the summer.

Fire officials said that the unusually cooler weather also contributed to the thick discharge of steam.

-Brandon Butler and David Ceasar

GW Medical School alum victim of homicide

Police are investigating the homicide of a medical school alumnus who was killed in his Bethesda, Md., home Sunday afternoon, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

Wayne Fenton, 53, worked as an associate director of the National Institute of Mental Health. The Post reported that Fenton also saw patients at a private practice in his Bethesda home.

Montgomery County Police charged one of Fenton’s patients, Vitali A. Davydov, with his murder. Police reported that witnesses saw Davydov exit Fenton’s home after their scheduled appointment Sunday “acting strangely and with blood on his pants and shirt.”

Davydov is being held in jail without bond. Police do not expect any additional suspects.

Fenton was highly regarded in psychiatric circles for his research on mental illness.

-Kaitlyn Jahrling

Board welcomes five new trustees

Five new members were elected to GW’s highest governing body in June and assumed their positions on the Board of Trustees July 1.

The three new charter trustees are: James F. Humphreys, (J.D. ’78), Robert K. Tanenbaum, (J.D. ’82), and Cynthia Steele Vance, (B.A. ’79). Steven S. Ross, (B.B.A. ’81) is the new alumni trustee and Julie Zoe Beckerman, (J.D. ’05), graduate certificate in Health Policy was voted as the young alumni trustee and will serve one four-year term. Both charter and alumni trustees serve four-year terms, but with a limit of three consecutive terms for charter trustees and two for alumni trustees.

The Board of Trustees is the University’s ultimate decision-making body. It sets the tuition and enrollment figures and is in the process of searching for a new University President to replace Stephen Joel Trachtenberg when he steps down in July 2007.

-Lizzie Wozobski