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

Staff Editorial: City Hall vandalism and its aftermath

Some students still insist on acting like children. Over the past few months, residents in City Hall have been flinging beer and alcohol bottles over balconies, damaging neighboring apartments and in some cases just barely missing the neighbors. The University took the right step to install cameras positioned to watch the balconies and hopefully now the people who have committed these idiotic actions will be caught – or at least deterred.

Yet the University’s response to the incidents at City Hall was unprofessional, too. Facilities Management posted signs on residents’ balconies stating that opening their terrace door would result in a housing cancellation. A second sign was then added just hours later, telling students they could in fact enter their balconies if they refrained from throwing objects.

Beyond the signs, the University never officially stated residents would lose their housing if they went on their balconies, as officials only sent an e-mail warning students that if the throwing of objects continued, their housing could potentially be terminated. This mixed message caused confusions among residents that wasn’t fully addressed for hours.

It is unclear whether or not facilities acted alone or with another branch of the University. But the initial threat to remove any balcony-entering student from City Hall housing is ludicrous and the University’s hasty repudiation of it was comical.

A single, unified response to these sorts of situations is necessary; otherwise, the focus becomes the University’s poor response to the incidents, not the actions of a few students who can’t seem to grow up.

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