Be mindful of being good neighbors

Dear Students,

One of the great benefits of attending The George Washington University is its location in the Foggy Bottom/West End and Foxhall communities. We enjoy numerous cultural activities as well as excellent shopping, restaurants and entertainment opportunities. The George Washington University is committed to being a good neighbor in our community. The University Police Department, the Office of DC and Foggy Bottom/West End Affairs and the Office of Off-Campus Student Affairs demonstrate this commitment and work in partnership with students and neighbors to address concerns and make a better community for all of us.

We often hear concerns from our neighbors about noise. Our neighborhoods are filled with working professionals, senior citizens and families with young children. The lifestyle of students can be very different from the lifestyle of our neighbors. You may be walking with a group of friends for a fun night out at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, just when parents are putting their children to bed. Or, you may be returning at 1 a.m. from enjoying a night on the town and families are sound asleep.

To help us all be better members of our community we are continuing the Quiet Zone initiative for the Fall 2007 semester. As a reminder to students leaving their residence halls, Quiet Zone posters will be placed on building doors. We encourage everyone to keep these tips in mind:

• When walking in a group, please keep your talking and laughing to a moderate level, particularly during late night hours.
• Pay special attention to residential buildings.
• D.C. laws make it illegal to shout or make a disturbance outside a building at night.
• Try not to congregate beneath windows of a residential building.
• Keep your mobile phone conversations to a reasonable volume.

We encourage you to follow these tips, and your own common sense, in our neighborhoods. Courtesy can reap tremendous benefits for our communities. Please help us all to be better neighbors and encourage others to take part in the Quiet Zone.

Michael P. Akin, Director Community Relations
Brian F. Hamluk, Director, Office of Off-Campus Student Affairs
Dolores A. Stafford, Chief, University Police Department

A call for SA and University responsibility

As I sit here, three months after graduation, I am deeply saddened to see another incident of abusive behavior on the part of a Student Association president go unpunished (See pg. 6).

Last time I watched this situation play itself out in the case of Audai Shakour, I was an “insider,” and I was appalled as the University circled the wagons and protected its own skin. Reading the story as The Hatchet tells it, it seems that Student Judicial Services made the right call here, unlike before. So this is a welcome change. Instead of rigging the system, SJS let justice be done. Good for them.

Also, the Presidential Administrative Fellow program of which former president Lamar Thorpe is a participant in, is the greatest honor the University can bestow upon a student. Any student who has been convicted by the University’s own disciplinary system for such a serious offense, that is, for the “orchestration” of unwanted sexual contact, is unfit to be a PAF. It is unconscionable that the University administration could allow him to retain his Fellowship. More to the point, the blas? attitude of senior Student and Academic Support Services leadership is particularly outrageous.

I am indebted to the University for the education it gave me, even at the cost. At the time I felt the money was worth it. But let it be known: under absolutely no circumstances will George Washington receive a single dime from me until I am satisfied that the standards of one of its most prestigious (and expensive) programs is protected. I will not be responsible for paying for a Masters candidate in Women’s Studies who has demonstrated such a complete lack of respect for women. And I will not pay the checks for the administrators who allow him to continue his educational and professional career at my alma mater.

Will Donovan, Alumnus

No need for Colonial Central

Can someone please explain to me how Colonial Central actually improves student life? They have essentially moved three offices that were all on the same floor in Rice Hall across the street. Outside of providing shining new office space to save people an extra two minutes of walking, I can’t see how the general student body benefits in this investment into all-important space in the Marvin Center.

With the loss of the Hippodrome last year to a poorly-trafficked wings bar, and now this setback, any performing arts group who wanted a theater space, any student organization who wanted more general meeting or office space and any student who just wanted an alternative to Gelman to study lost yet another share of their own student union.

I’m glad that giving up District Market went to good use.

Kim Vu, Junior