 Fraternities given more leeway for rush events
by The GW HatchetSep 13, 2012“The University’s fraternity council is loosening rush restrictions this fall to give an edge to smaller chapters.
Fraternities will be able to hold unofficial events for potential new members recruitment and offer bids after rush ends, moves that smaller chapters say will attract more members.
Colin O’Brien, president of Beta Theta Pi, said in past years, potential new members have sought out larger chapters, like those with more than 100 members, because the chapters have more name recognition on campus.
“Open rush has always been a brand competition,” O’Brien said in an email, “It’s then really hard for the smaller chapters to pull people to their events when all they’ve been able to distribute, in terms of promotion, is a palm card.”
Daniel Gil, president of the Interfraternity Council, said the group decided to scrap the policy because he wanted to give smaller chapters, which are not able to fund large-scale events during official rush, a chance to attract new members in a smaller setting.
The other half of the change, allowing open bidding, gives chapters the chance to offer bids after rush has officially ended. Men who received bids outside of rush would either be included in the current initiation process or join next semester’s.
Gil said his president’s council decided last spring to allow chapters to open their doors to potential rushees.
O’Brien said his chapter is taking advantage of the changes by holding events. The Saturday before rush begins, his chapter will hold a football game and entice new members with a freshman scholarship advertised each Thursday at a table in J Street.
O’Brien said the changes will also give men the chance to rush even if they wouldn’t normally go to the formal rush events and prefer a more casual setting.
Last year saw growth for GW’s smallest fraternities. Kappa Sigma nearly doubled its size, swelling from 39 members at the beginning of the year to 70 after fall rush. Sigma Phi Epsilon added 29 new members last fall, totaling 77 men by the end of the process.
Greek life leadership has historically not allowed chapters to organize events before the rush process to dissuade chapter from handing out unofficial bids that discourage potential new members to look seriously at other chapters.
Benjamin Winneg, president of Pi Kappa Alpha, said he doesn’t agree with the stigma that any communication with incoming students is an attempt to game the system.
“There is…a gentlemen’s agreement amongst IFC presidents recommending that no bids be extended to new students prior to the conclusion of Rush. I would be extremely surprised if any chapter extended a bid to a new student before September 6th,” Winneg said in an email.
Jeffrey Allen, president of Tau Kappa Epsilon, said he doesn’t think unofficial events will draw significantly larger crowds than past years because the feel of rush isn’t changing to make it more appealing to a wider range of people. He said smaller chapters could see more interest, but warned that there are pros and cons to large amounts of growth.
Allen his chapter will likely not take advantage of open bidding this semester.
“I think it’s commendable the IFC is looking to give chapters the opportunity to expand at any time, but I believe that it takes away from the significance of receiving an official bid with the rest of your pledge class and from the excitement of rush,” Allen said.
O’Brien said he wasn’t worried about this semester with open bidding because chapters wouldn’t be able to get to know new students well enough to offer them a bid.
This year, O’Brien said Beta Theta Pi won’t “force [the changes] on the chapter too quickly.” He said he plans to test out open-bidding by offering about five bids outside of formal rush, and if those members gel well he would consider taking more stock in the laxer process.
Fraternities, unlike sororities, are not limited in the numbers of new members they can take on each year. Sororities have strict deadlines regarding when bids are handed out and accepted.
Sororities can host events before recruitment starts on October 4, but are not allowed to give any gifts or presents to potential new members, Marta Cofone, president of the PanHellenic council said. She said the organization had not had issues with chapters handing out unofficial bids before.”
Doug Cohen: Students are responsible for campus community
by The GW HatchetSep 13, 2012“With the opening of the college football season a couple of weeks ago, I’m sure many students thought that if only GW had a 100,000 seat football stadium, then we would truly have Colonial pride.
But we shouldn’t use our lack of a football team as an excuse to avoid addressing the lacking sense of spirit.
If we want a greater sense of attachment and pride to our university, we must celebrate the community that we already have. It’s up to the student body to put an end to this persistent problem.
In response to the perennial complaints about community, the Student Association plans to host a “GW Day” to boost Colonial pride by adding a new campus tradition.
We are not a small liberal arts school with a traditional campus quad and a tight-knit community. And we’re not a large state school with tremendous school spirit. Since GW is a medium-sized research university, students here are forced to associate with smaller, fragmented communities that are often disconnected from the larger school.
But just because we cannot emulate what happens on other campuses doesn’t mean that students should feel totally detached from the University. There’s nothing wrong with students who look to find a sense of belonging in smaller groups of friends.
In February, The Hatchet reported that the various religious groups on campus were failing to spark interfaith talks. This is an example of a time when students were broken into groups and struggled to unite.
Students must work harder to promote stronger relationships between religious groups to create a greater sense of belonging – not just to a specific club or group, but to a larger religious community.
Students will feel a sense of community when they are able to unite under a single, overarching identity.
And while it’s a noble goal for the Student Association to start initiatives like the GW Day, in the end, students have to take an active role in changing their outlook on the University. It’s our obligation to build that community we complain we don’t have.
–The writer, a senior majoring in political science, is a Hatchet senior columnist and former contributing opinions editor.”
App launches to report sexual assault
by The GW HatchetSep 13, 2012“A District organization with ties to GW helped launch a smartphone application this week that allows victims to report sexual assault and seek help in the city or on campus.
Through the app, which went live Sept. 10, victims can dial the police, locate the nearest medical center with rape kits, call support hotlines or request taxi services. It includes contact information for support centers at eight universities, including GW.
Men Can Stop Rape, a national sexual assault prevention group with a branch at GW, worked with the D.C. Office of Victim Services to create the app, which Mayor Vincent Gray will officially launch Friday. Neither the GW Hospital nor Student Health Service has rape kits on hand. The only location citywide to receive a rape kit is cross-town at Washington Hospital Center.
Matt Scott, co-president of the GW chapter of Men of Strength, said he hopes more victims will report abuses if they can easily find contact information for university police or campus offices, like GW’s Student Rights and Responsibilities.
“It’s a lot less intimidating than going to a police department or even a friend, in certain cases,” said Scott. He added, “When you have the personal names and personal touch, it makes it a lot easier to say, ‘Yeah, maybe I will go to Tara [Pereira] and talk to her about what happened,’ ” referring to the University’s point person for sexual assault.
The national group has tallied about 300 iPhone downloads and 60 Android downloads as of Sept. 11, Jared Watkins, development coordinator of Men Can Stop Rape, said. GW’s Men of Strength is working with the Students Against Sexual Assault group to raise awareness of the app through postering and word of mouth. The organization, which launched at GW last year, stresses bystander intervention among college males.
“We created the app, because in the moments after an assault, a survivor – victim – should not have to search and track down information on receiving crisis or follow-up care,” Watkins said. He said the app is not only a resource, but also “a conversation starter” for students in D.C.
Deputy Title IX Coordinator and Director of Campus Inclusion Initiatives Tara Periera said the app falls in line with GW’s efforts to amp up awareness of sexual assaults, which she calls one of the nation’s most under-reported crimes.
She said the app will be a “concise one-stop shop for answering questions,” adding that it will be most effective in conjunction with GW’s prevention campaigns that are still in the works. She said she hopes the app can be “one of the ingredients that makes these resources and services more accessible to students.”
In the first two weeks of the semester, three students reported four sexual abuses on or near campus.
One in every six American women, 80 percent of whom are under the age of 30, are victims of rape or attempted rape, according to statistics from the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
Kostantinos Skordalos, co-president of Men of Strength, said he hopes more victims will report cases, adding “the societal pressures and stigma are still present.”
“Honestly, my wish is that all members of the GW community, regardless of age, gender identity or sexual orientation, will download this app, not only for themselves, but also as a resource to help their friends.”
Dean charts final year amid tension
by The GW HatchetSep 13, 2012“As the leader of the University’s largest college nears the end of a deanship that added full-time faculty and research funding, she will work against a groundswell of faculty disapproval that multiple professors and department heads say could stall progress for the school.
A half-dozen current or former department chairs in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences said disapproval could hang over Peg Barratt’s head this year, as she works with faculty who know she has just eight months left in her term.
“When a leader is a lame duck, it just is harder,” one department chair said. “It’s really tough when people know your time is limited. She’s been a controversial figure to some.”
Richard Robin, director of the Russian Language program, predicted the school would be “in standstill mode” as Barratt works around faculty whose support she has lost. Faculty criticized Barratt in a survey last spring, saying she was out of touch and lacked a clear vision for the school.
“She took away enough from enough programs to get enough people mad at her,” said Robin.
But Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Planning Forrest Maltzman said he thought Barratt would continue to launch programs, make hiring decisions and successfully fundraise in her last year.
“In the United States presidency, you have a ‘lame duck’ period. I don’t think a deanship is like that. We’ve seen a lot of deans accomplish things up to their last minute in office,” Maltzman, a political scientist, said. “You know, Dean Barratt has lots of goals, and I have no doubts that she’ll accomplish them this year.”
Barratt said she will “stay the course” for the remainder of her tenure, working with the school’s wide range of disciplines, building up an arts initiative that will bring more outside artists to GW and improving the college’s English as a second language programs. Barratt, like other deans at GW, also spends 40 percent of her time courting donors to increase fundraising.
But one major initiative could help focus the snapshot of her up-and-down five-year tenure. Barratt will lay the groundwork this year for an undergraduate economics program, where 50 students will spend two years in D.C. and one year each in France and China, by fall 2014.
She said she will travel this fall to hammer out the details with the University’s partner schools in the global degree program – Sciences Po in France and Renmin University in Suzhou, China this fall.
The program will likely include 30 to 50 students, and recruitment will begin in the spring, Barratt said.
“This will bootstrap us to be playing with the big players in each of these other countries. That’s what [Columbian College] has been leading, but the University as a whole is doing it too,” she said.
Barratt, hired away from the National Institutes of Health by former University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg in 2007, has made strides for the college since her arrival. The number of full-time faculty has risen 8.5 percent, and external research dollars have increased 9 percent since her second year as dean.
Professors, though, called out Barratt in a survey last April. They said she failed to offer a clear vision for the college or work with faculty to solve problems.
“I think she was just out of touch with the chairs. She was making decisions not related to what the actual chairs wanted,” one department chair, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
Edward Berkowitz, a professor of history who used to chair that department, said he applauded Barratt’s leadership, but added that last spring’s negative survey revealed a dean who had lost support.
“That was extremely unfortunate, because people didn’t realize that if you take a survey – ‘How you feel about your boss?’ – they’re going to say they’re not going to like the boss. It’s impossible to satisfy everyone,” he said. “That undercut her support and made it difficult for her to continue.”
Now, one of the most important tasks Barratt should take on, some professors said, is ensuring a smooth transition to the next Columbian College dean.
An elected group of Columbian College faculty will form to begin a search for Barratt’s replacement later this month – a switch that brings excitement and headaches into faculty members’ lives, Berkowitz said.
Barratt will not be part of the search committee. She will have “almost nothing” to do with the selection of the next dean, she said.
Former deans Lester Lefton and William Frawley left in 2000 and 2006, respectively, to take on administrative roles at other universities.
“Many of us feel that we’ve had too many deans over the course of the last 10 years,” Berkowitz said. “It’s similar to a pro football team who gets a defensive coordinator. They have to learn a whole new playbook because the defensive coordinator creates his own scheme.”
Faculty discontent surrounding Barratt’s deanship started with a controversial 2010 plan to cut the number of general course requirement credits from 42 to 24, inciting some faculty to believe they were “getting the shaft,” said chemistry professor Houston Miller, who said he approved of Barratt’s deanship.
The next spring, outrage over a proposed move to relocate the philosophy department to the Mount Vernon Campus drew more than 100 faculty names to an online petition against Barratt’s decision. She reversed course a month later.
Faculty tussles over research laboratory space in the Science and Engineering Hall also brought Barratt into the fray.
“Each of my departments has their view of the world, and it’s not until you get into the dean’s office that we’re in a position of weighing and balancing all of those pieces,” Barratt said. “When I arrived, I promised all the chairs that I would work with them to move each of their programs to the cutting edge, and I have done so, and I will continue to do so for this last year.””
 Colonials Weekend: Schedule
by The GW HatchetOct 13, 2011“October 14
Lewis Cotlow Student Research Conference 2 to 5 p.m. Join the department of anthropology as it holds its annual Lewis N. Cotlow Anthropology Student Research Conference to tout undergraduate and graduate students who received grants for their first-hand field research during summer 2011. A reception will immediately follow the conference. 1957 E St., Room TBD
Eckles Prize Award Reception 3 p.m. Come celebrate with the winners and finalists of the 2011 Eckles Prize for Freshman Research Excellence. Enjoy light refreshments as you watch and discuss the winning research projects. Mount Vernon Campus, Eckles Library
Women’s soccer vs. Dayton 4 p.m. Take in the charming scenes of D.C. as the Vern Express transports you to the Mount Vernon Campus to cheer on our women’s soccer team as the Colonials play Dayton. All games are free, and buff and blue attire is appreciated. Mount Vernon Athletic Complex
Eye Street Massage Therapy 3 to 7 p.m. Looking to de-stress? Relax with a 15-minute seated massage, which combines Swedish, deep tissue and pressure point techniques to help make your weekend even more enjoyable. Marvin Center, 3rd floor
Selections of classes from “GW’s Best” 4 to 4:50 p.m. Julie Ryan: Secrets and spice Professor Julie Ryan will explain the history and foundations of cryptography, the art and study of writing or solving codes and describe how it is used and misused in e-commerce.
Marvin Center, Room 307
Jo Spear: The arms trade in the 21st century Come learn about the relationship between the state and defense firms in a globalized international arms market, and see how things have changed since the Cold War. Marvin Center, Room 308
GW Volleyball vs. Fordham and Colonials Invasion 6 p.m. See the newly renovated Smith Center while supporting the volleyball team free of charge as it battles Fordham. Don’t leave after the game, because Colonials Invasion, a stimulating spirit event to kick off the season, will be starting immediately afterward. So stay a while, and meet the GW men’s and women’s basketball teams, listen to live music and enjoy giveaways. Box Office opens at 5:00 p.m. Charles E. Smith Center
Acapellapalooza 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. and 9 to 11 p.m. Come enjoy the voices of GW’s a cappella groups in the annual charity concert sponsored by the GW Troubadors. Proceeds will help benefit Miriam’s Kitchen, which provides free, homemade meal support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women each year. Marvin Center Continental Ballroom and Marvin Center Amphitheatre
October 15
Dean’s Breakfasts
8:30 to 9:45 a.m.
Meet the dean and invited faculty members of your child’s school.
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences:
Marvin Center Columbian Square
Elliott School of International Affairs:
1957 E St., 2nd Floor Atrium
School of Business:
Duques Hall, 1st Floor
School of Engineering and Applied Science:
Tompkins Hall
School of Public Health and Health Services:
Marvin Center, Room 310
Walking the spirit of black Foggy Bottom
Noon to 2 p.m.
Embark on a one-mile-long tour to see the best of African American history in D.C. Visit 33 sites in and around the Foggy Bottom Campus. Led by Assistant Vice President for D.C. Relations, Bernard Demczuk, you can learn about the impact and significance of African Americans in the capital. RSVP by calling 202-994-5465.
Departing from the Marvin Center GW Bookstore, ground floor
2011 Colonials Weekend
Keepsake Photo
Noon to 4 p.m.
Stop by to take computer portraits and a digital video with your family, so you can all remember Colonials Weekend 2011.
Marvin Center, 1st Floor Lobby
October 16
Colonials Weekend jazz brunch
9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Experience the wonderful duo of food and live jazz music, hosted by GW’s radio station WRGW. Cost: Adults – $25, Children 12 years and under – $12.95
Marvin Center
Sunday brunch at the Mount Vernon Campus
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
You better be hungry on Sunday morning, because the Mount Vernon Campus is continuing the tradition of an all-you-can-eat buffet, including assorted beverages, scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, breakfast potatoes, lunch entrees, breakfast meats, pizza, a salad bar and omelets. Cost: $7.25 per person, and an additional $1.50 for made-to-order omelets
Mount Vernon Campus Pelham Commons, West Hall
9th annual Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhood block party
1 to 4 p.m.
Join FRIENDS, a community group whose purpose is to promote positive dialogue between GW and its neighbors, and over 100 booths from local D.C. businesses, restaurants, groups and institutions for a fun-filled afternoon.
Eye Street Mall”
A pitcher’s field of dreams beyond baseball
by The GW HatchetOct 13, 2011“Baseball is not life and death for Bobby Lucas, Jr.
The former Colonials southpaw breezed through his first season as a relief pitcher on the Washington Nationals’ rookie league team this summer, nabbing the team’s top pitching award and racking up statistics that raised scouts’ eyebrows.
But after a six-week peek into life as a minor leaguer on the sun-soaked baseball diamonds of Viera, Fla., Lucas’ offseason is unlike that of most major league prospects.
Instead of spending autumn and winter in professional instructional leagues or prestigious workout facilities, Lucas is back at GW.
“I don’t think that my entire life is riding on one pitch,” Lucas said. “I knew I was coming back to school, and that I was finishing a master’s. I knew that my life without baseball was still progressing.”
He is working toward his master’s degree in human and organizational learning, an anomaly in a sport where most players jump into the professional ranks before finishing any kind of degree. But Lucas’ decision to pad his credentials outside of baseball is actually bolstering his confidence on the mound, he said.
Knowing he wants to break into consulting if his baseball career fizzles allows Lucas to throw his knee-buckling slider without fear, he said.
“For a lot of guys who are in the minor leagues, this is it. But I feel like I have a pretty solid plan B,” he said.
In Florida’s Gulf Coast League – the bottom level of teams’ minor leagues systems – Lucas came into his own.
As a Colonial last spring, he racked up strikeouts, but wasn’t always able to solve Atlantic 10 hitters. After signing with the Nationals as their 27th round draft pick in June, he harnessed his pitch command and saw results.
“There’s a lot of confidence that comes along with [being drafted], and it translates on the mound and in practice. You walk with a little different swagger,” Lucas said. “You have that confidence to throw the ball in the zone, and to throw any pitch in any count.”
Colonials head coach Steve Mrowka said Lucas’ demeanor and performance blossomed midway through last season, the year after he came off of elbow surgery.
“He was getting fully healthy and reaching his full potential, and he was getting in great shape. He got confidence and was locating his pitches better,” Mrowka said.
Under the microscope of professional baseball, where Lucas said coaches, scouts and team coordinators jot down every errant throw and attitude outburst, making a good impression is crucial.
But Lucas’ impressive performance, where he compiled a 1.69 earned run average and fired 29 strikeouts in 21 innings, helped him earn the Nationals’ faith, which he plans on working hard to maintain.
“I try to look at my season as if I got lucky. It keeps me sane and humble that I need to keep working,” he said.
He cut his summer season short by two weeks in order to return to Foggy Bottom to train for his two on-campus jobs – mentoring juniors and seniors as a graduate fellow in Ivory Tower and working for the baseball team as an athletic department administrator.
And he will not fly to Florida for spring training until late April, two weeks after the minor league teams have already begun their seasons.
“It definitely isn’t ideal, but the Nationals were very understanding in letting me do it. They didn’t make me feel uncomfortable about it or give me an ultimatum,” Lucas said. “They said they understand, and it helped at the time that I was pitching well. Doing this was a lot easier than if I had a 10.00 ERA.”
Lucas will likely pitch for one of the Nationals’ Single A teams next season in Auburn, N.Y. or Hagerstown, Md. Nationals coaches and team coordinators did not respond to requests for comment.
Although he pitched under no bright lights or majestic stadiums during his minor league summer, he still got a glimpse of the major leagues.
He rubbed elbows – both of which were now healthy after undergoing surgery in his undergraduate career – with Washington’s big-league star Stephen Strasburg, who sat only a few lockers down from Lucas while the right-handed fireballer was rehabbing from reconstructive elbow surgery.
“I’m not saying that we’re the same pitcher at all but it gave me a sense that I could make it if I worked hard enough and if things work out,” Lucas said. “He’s normal. I saw him out at WalMart one day.”
Lucas hopes to eventually share a spot on the Nationals pitching staff with Strasburg and pitch alongside fellow GW alumni – relievers Pat Lehman and Josh Wilkie – who are surging through Washington’s minor league system.
“This could change my life in a very positive way if it all works out. But if it doesn’t, I’ll fall on my feet and I’ll be fine,” Lucas said. “I think I have the talent and the potential to be in the big leagues. Will I? To be determined.””
Department of Education calls for stricter teacher evaluation
by The GW HatchetOct 13, 2011“The Department of Education is proposing a crack down on the quality of teacher education programs through a series of proposed changes that would allow more federal oversight in the evaluation of college programs that prepare educators.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan outlined several potential reforms Sept. 30, which include requiring teacher-training programs to thoroughly report on the performance and job placement of their graduates as well as the retention rate of their graduates’ students.
If the reforms are passed, the government will look toward students’ performances on standardized tests as another way to evaluate the quality of their teachers.
The plan also targets an increase in teacher diversity, allotting $40 million from the Department of Education to teacher-preparation programs focusing on minority students.
Sarah Gast, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, said the teacher education reforms are “very comprehensive in providing both spending and structural reforms in making teacher programs more accountable. Ultimately, the reforms aim to provide students with the best education possible.”
Certain aspects of the reform plan are still up for debate, with teachers’ unions questioning the reliance on students’ standardized test scores as a means of educator evaluation.
Though Graduate School of Education and Human Development Dean Michael Feuer thinks the federal plan “sets in motion a renewed focus on teacher preparation,” he said it is still too early to tell how the proposed changes might affect GW and other teacher education programs across the nation.
“It is certainly important for schools of education to continue to focus on improvement and innovation in the preparation and professional development of teachers,” Feuer said.
The graduate school of education, ranked No. 35 nationally for schools of education by U.S. News and World Report, currently prepares its graduates for going into classrooms by focusing on measures needed for a teaching license, Feuer said.
“Each program that leads to teacher licensure incorporates key performance-based assessments which are integral to meeting the licensure requirements and provide solid evidence of our candidates’ abilities to effectively implement student-centered teaching practices,” Feuer said.
The dean did not provide details of the school’s assessment practices.
“We have been working to create more formal methods to track the success of our graduates,” he explained.
GSEHD graduate Matthew Tosiello, who was named 2011 Teacher of the Year by Arlington County Public Schools, said the proposed changes show “we are at a crossroads in public education.”
“It is clear that graduate education for teachers needs to be improved,” the 2008 graduate said. “Today’s teachers face a very different environment compared with even 10 or 20 years ago.”
Tosiello added, however, that increased federal regulation “may not yield the most effective results,” instead favoring a solution that comes from inside schools.
“I believe that now is the time for schools and accreditation agencies to look inward, create a plan, seek public input and lead the discussion on teacher preparation rather than react to a federal statute or proposal,” Tosiello said.
As part of the reforms, the TEACH Grant program, which provided $110 million in financial aid to 37,000 students in need at teachers’ colleges last year, would be eliminated to make room for a scholarship program dedicated to ensuring higher standards for teacher training and licenses.
In its place, a $185-million Presidential Teaching Fellows program would grant scholarships to high-performing students in their last year of study at top teacher training programs.
The University received $97,378 from the TEACH Grant program for the 2010-2011 academic year. The Department of Education will work with Congress to introduce and pass the bill in the coming months, Gast said.”
Patrick Rochelle: Make D.C. your study abroad destination
by The GW HatchetOct 13, 2011“It’s already October. And while that means for most students it’s time to start preparing for midterms, for others it means the deadline for spring semester study abroad applications is fast approaching.
But, as a campus four blocks from the White House, steps from the National Mall and a Metro ride away from both the Library of Congress and the Folger Shakespeare Library, I can’t help but think about how GW is a destination in and of itself.
Study abroad is not as necessary as the University and campus culture makes it seem; there is enough to do at GW and in D.C. to easily fill four years.
Students at GW live in one of the political and cultural capitals of the world, and yet nearly half of all undergraduates leave at some point during their college careers to study abroad.
One reason going abroad is so popular at GW is due to the University’s strong message that it is part of a student’s college experience.
But that hasn’t always been the case.
In 1997, only 324 students went abroad, but 10 years later that figure jumped to 1,651, according to the Office of Study Abroad.
But why does this institution place so much emphasis on its abroad programs when this city – and by extension, this campus – is already a playground of opportunities?
For many students from other colleges and universities, D.C. is the place they come to spend their semester abroad. And who could blame them when there is so much to do and take advantage of right here in the District?
A lot of students go abroad thinking it is their last chance in life to travel and explore the world. But this assumption is both naïve and untrue. If anything, you’ll find more time – and dare I say money – at your disposal to travel later in life.
Aside from the fact that students who decide to stay in D.C. benefit from the seemingly endless possibilities of internships, let’s not forget that students who go abroad miss out on the vibrant campus life GW offers. In the past few years, there have been all sorts of wonderful surprises, like Girl Talk at this year’s Fall Fest, a week long apocalyptic snowstorm, annual cherry blossoms in the spring and the frequent storming of the White House and National Mall for rallies and speeches.
These are aspects of campus life that other colleges and universities – as well as study abroad programs, for that matter – can’t offer their students.
Coincidentally, many students return to GW thinking they are on track to graduate when in reality they’re not. Students sometimes return to campus to find that the courses they took abroad do not count towards their graduation requirements or did not adequately prepare them for the upper-level courses the take upon returning.
Study abroad often doesn’t offer the courses GW does. Students in the School of Media and Public Affairs and the School of Engineering and Applied Science also have trouble going abroad, as those kinds of specialized courses are difficult to transfer credits for.
Now, I’m not saying don’t study abroad. But the truth is, there is much this city has to offer for college students.
A big reason we came to GW is to be in D.C. And this city has a wealth of opportunities that can’t be found anywhere else.
Be careful not to waste it.
Patrick Rochelle is a junior majoring in English.”
Silver Line completion delayed
by The GW HatchetOct 12, 2011“Phase one of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project is six months behind schedule, according to a progress report, but officials supervising the project say they can make up for lost time.
The nearly $7 billion project is now 188 days behind schedule, according to a report by the Fairfax County Office of Financial and Program Audit, shifting the completion date from December 2013 to potentially June 2014.
The two-phase plan will construct the 23-mile Silver Line, an extension of the existing Metro system to Dulles International Airport and Tyson’s Corner in Virginia. The first phase includes building an off-shoot of the Orange Line at East Falls Church to the Wiehle Avenue Station in Reston, Va., while the second portion will add a line reaching Loudon County, Va. and Dulles International Airport.
A spokeswoman for the Dulles Transit Partners, the main contractor for the line, pushed back against the report.
“The project is not behind schedule,” Dulles Transit Partners spokeswoman Leslie Pereira said. “Reports are based on forecasts, projections and possibilities that we are working with airport authorities to mitigate,” Pereira said.
She said the group expects to “put the project back on track” for completion in August 2013 and to be in service by December of that year.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman Robert Yingling also said the line is projected for completion by August 2013 – shortly after the original estimate of July of that year.
“They had to relocate 21 different utilities within the first phase,” Yingling said, explaining that delays resulted from removing wiring and piping from beneath buildings for the rail. “This requires a lot of coordination with the companies that own the lines.”
He added that the first phase of the project is more than 50 percent complete.
Pereira and Yingling both declined to comment on an estimated completion date for phase two, saying plans are not yet finalized. Construction for phase one began in 2009.
The Dulles Airport’s Authority Board of Directors approved an underground stop for the Silver Line Metro in April. The airport is currently inaccessible via Metro.
The project has exhausted a large portion of its more than $300 million contingency fund. Yingling said about $84 million remain.”
 Sports in Brief: Women’s tennis heads to George Mason Invitational
by The GW HatchetOct 10, 2011“The women’s tennis team headed to the George Mason Invitational over the weekend, tallying 11 singles victories and six doubles wins.
Play opened Friday, with senior Jacqueline Corba, junior Lorena Valente, senior Meg Tyner, sophomore Isabella Escobar and senior Zoe Krohn all picking up singles victories. Corba and Tyner fell 8-6 in their first doubles match, but later posted an 8-1 victory in their second match before dropping their third 8-1. Sophomore Leah Pascarella and junior Dorota Lysienia fell in their doubles match, but Krohn and junior Mimi Hamling teamed up to earn a final doubles victory.
Saturday, sophomore Julia Blakeley, Pascarella and Valente picked up two singles victories each, and Corba and Escobar added one of their own. The Colonials then swept doubles action. Pascarella and Escobar posted an 8-2 victory, while Hamling and Krohn won their game 8-1. Corba and Lysienia rounded out doubles action with an 8-5 win.
GW finishes its fall season at the ITA Regionals Oct. 21 through Oct. 26 in Norfolk, Va.
Number Crunch: 1
GW’s spot in Atlantic 10 rankings, tied with Fordham, after opening league play with back-to-back shutouts.” | News Topics
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