Involvement in local politics is a reality
Kudos to Sam Salkin’s column encouraging students to focus more on D.C. issues close to home (“Cast your political net closer to home,” Feb. 8, p. 4). The D.C. Federation of College Republicans has been working this year to strengthen our ties with the community and reach out with the D.C. Republican Party to D.C. voters.
Led by American University students, the “D.C. Fed” worked on the campaign of Tony Williams to become the councilman for Ward 6. We spent our Saturdays in the fall canvassing in Northeast to support Tony’s pro-growth and pro-citizen platform.
The work of D.C. College Republicans chapters in the District has been some of our proudest this semester, and we encourage our fellow D.C. student political groups to do the same.
-Michael Keough, Junior Chairman, D.C. Federation of College Republicans
D.C. issues not lost on College Democrats
In a recent column in The Hatchet, columnist Sam Salkin argued that the College Democrats should give more attention to D.C. government. While it is true that we focus most of our efforts towards national political issues, the College Democrats fully support a voting representative in Congress for the District of Columbia.
In fact, the day after the November elections, we hosted D.C. Councilman Kwame Brown, a leading advocate in this important fight. The College Democrats will continue to do our part in this struggle for equal rights for D.C.
-Michael Weil, Junior Communications Director, GW College Democrats
HPV vaccine awareness, not mandate, is the goal
This is a note of clarification regarding the Jan. 29 web extra, “Public health professors urge legislators to mandate HPV vaccine.”
The Rapid Public Health Policy Response Project is a source of objective and neutral information intended to educate public health practitioners and policymakers, so they can make informed decisions about important topics that affect the public’s health. The article suggests that I am using this project to advocate for the inclusion of HPV vaccine in state school mandates.
This is incorrect. While our research shows that school mandates are the most effective method to increase access to recommended vaccines, I have not indicated that I wish to influence legislators to require the inclusion of HPV vaccine in mandates. My obligation is to inform and educate only.
-Alexandra Stewart, SPHHS assistant research professor
GW should change cannabis policy
Last week, the Student Association Senate passed a resolution that recommends that minimum sanctions for marijuana possession should be reduced to a level no greater than those for alcohol violations.
GW’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which drafted the SA resolution, believes that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, a fact many agree with. The opposition to our legislation can only make claims that this drug is illegal.
GW NORML would like to remind students, faculty and administrators that underage drinking is also illegal. According to D.C. law, possession of up to 8 ounces of marijuana is a misdemeanor offense, as is possession of alcohol by a minor. Since both are treated as misdemeanor crimes, why does GW’s Code of Conduct allow for underage drinking offenses without housing loss while forcing students out for a first-time marijuana offense?
Tara Woolfson, director of Student Judicial Services, said that marijuana violations are judged on a “case-by-case basis,” (“SA Senate passes marijana reform resolution,” Feb. 8, p. 4) meaning there is no minimum sanction whatsoever. It is absolutely necessary to reform the code of conduct so that minimum sanctions for first- time offenders can be the norm.
GW NORML is not seeking to strengthen zero-tolerance policies on campus. Rather, we support decreasing the penalties for responsible marijuana consumption. We hope that University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, who remarked last October that the University probably will not change its drug policies, will change his opinion on this important issue.
-Greg Hersh, President, GW NORML
