The GW
HATCHET
September 14, 2026 Vol. 123
Iss. 6
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
Students report economic anxiety amid delays, reductions in financial aid packages ARUNMOY DAS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
ZACHARY CRYSTAL REPORTER
Students say their financial aid packages for this academic year fail to meet their economic needs, and officials have not clearly communicated reasons for reductions, delays and appeals decisions as GW’s total cost of attendance climbs. Of the 30 students The Hatchet interviewed, 25 said they felt frustrated after the Office of Student Financial Assistance sent their aid packages later than the previous academic year, decreased their need-based aid or communicated unclearly regarding the status of their aid appeals. The financial stresses come as GW’s total cost of attendance nears $100,000 per year and after President Donald Trump overhauled the federal financial aid ecosystem, and several students said they have now had to take out additional loans or consider transferring to a more affordable university. About 15 students said the financial aid office provided them with vague answers when they asked questions about reductions to their needbased aid, like the reasoning behind cuts to their Federal Work Study and University and Alumni Award — which provides need-based aid to students who demonstrate financial need. The students
CCAS faculty struggle to hire teaching assistants PARIS ALBRECHT
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
factors like unemployment for 10 weeks or longer, reduction in salary or recent change in marital status, according to the Office of Student Financial Assistance’s website. Students must submit an appeal form, signed copies of their parents’ 2024 and 2025 Federal Tax Return forms, W2 statements and specific documentation related to the student’s appeal circumstances.
Two departments in the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences are reporting difficulty in finding teaching assistants for the fall semester, which they attribute to receiving fewer fully funded Ph.D. packages over the past few years. Faculty and staff who manage graduate student hiring in the economics and biology departments said CCAS gave their departments fewer fully funded graduate teaching assistant packages in the past two years than in previous ones, leaving both departments to request more salaryonly graduate instructional assistant packages from CCAS for the fall semester. Both departments said because of the decline in packages, they had difficulties finding qualified Ph.D. candidates and master’s students to fulfill various classes’ and labs’ support needs for the fall semester. “We’re being handicapped because we don’t have the human resources to tap into, to populate these labs, to make them really exciting and to put the best person in the lab to teach,” Biology Department Chair Guillermo Orti said. Nico MacDougall, a laboratory associate in the biology department, said the department typically has between eight and 10 doctoral students in TA positions across different cohorts in a given semester.
See OFFICIALS Page 5
See DEPARTMENTS Page 5
KRIS PARK | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
A student walks past Phillips Hall.
said they expected more compassion from the financial aid office’s staff, given how stressful these aid changes can be for them and their families. Mathew Reis, a sophomore studying political science, said officials “significantly reduced” his financial aid package this academic year, despite his family only making around $5,000 more than in 2023. Reis said he appealed within the same week of receiving his package in early August since
his current cost of attendance amounts to almost a quarter of his family’s income, forcing him to consider transferring in the future. “We have three people going to college this year,” Reis said. “That’s not something that my family is able to pay.” Continuing undergraduate students can apply for an appeal to their financial aid package if their family experiences an “unexpected” change in household income due to
RAs describe cuts in financial aid, unexpected workloads SHIVU SATHE
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Residential advisors are claiming GW lowered their financial aid packages for this academic year because the University considered the stipend they received for their work as lowering their financial need. After Campus Living & Residential Education revived the RA program this fall for the first time in five years, RAs said they have spent the first weeks of the semester advocating for a better compensation package and clearer guidance on their responsibilities following unexpected reductions to their financial aid offers. RAs said they felt “blindsided” by the increased responsibilities, which could lead to working more hours than there are in their contract, and reduced aid, which they said the University told them was a result of officials factoring the stipend they received for their RA work into calculations of their financial need, and that they wish the University was more transparent about the changes prior to signing on to being an RA. A University spokesperson said the Division for Student Affairs has been in contact with RAs regarding concerns they
have raised about their financial aid packages. They said during the RA selection process, all candidates were required to attend a CLRE information session where officials detailed RA compensation and potential financial aid impacts for accepting the position. The spokesperson said RA compensation is considered as part of a student’s financial aid and cost of attendance calculation, which can affect individuals’ aid packages differently depending on a “student’s individual need and personal circumstances.” RAs receive compensated housing, meal plans and a $2,520 stipend per academic year for about 340 hours of work per semester, which the University values at $22,186 per year, according to a job posting for the position. Seven RAs told The Hatchet they felt the University did not adequately inform them of the added responsibilities that were not outlined in their original contract and the potential for financial aid reductions. Twenty four other RAs, in an anonymous survey sent by Luca Lazzarini, a sophomore RA for West Hall, said they felt that the University needs to be more transparent in their expectations for RAs.
CARSTEN HOLST | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Junior resident advisor Sadie Callaghan adjusts a door tag.
WHAT’S
INSIDE
NEWS The Resident Hall Association held elections after officials consolidated the total number of available positions. Page 3
KAIDEN YU | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Attendees hold lit candles during a vigil for Charlie Kirk at the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday evening.
KAIDEN YU | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Attendees of the Charlie Kirk vigil walk toward the Washington Monument Thursday.
One year later, students split on how Charlie Kirk’s assassination impacted campus political discourse ADELAIDE PETRAS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
A year after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination united students in denouncing political violence, some students say his death facilitated rising acceptance of conservatism on campus and increased civility, while others say it degraded campus discourse and boosted partisan divides. The fatal shooting of Kirk — who founded Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that promotes right-leaning political values on high school and college campuses — at Utah Valley University last September sent ripples through GW’s campus, immediately sparking discourse about gun violence and
Kirk’s controversial political views, and eventually leading to the rise of conservative student groups and causing security concerns for political speaker events on campus. One year later, students say they are conflicted on how Kirk’s death has left its mark on GW, with some saying in the aftermath students felt more comfortable expressing and engaging with conservative viewpoints on campus and others saying it only heightened existing polarization and incited insensitive commentary regarding his death from students who disagreed with Kirk’s political views. The Hatchet spoke to 20 students, who appeared split on how Kirk’s death altered polarization and oncampus discussions about
OPINIONS The Editorial Board urges the University to prioritize international student safety and recruitment. Page 6
political violence amid an apparent surge in conservative political expression. Ryan Van Slingerland — the president of TPUSA at GW, which returned to campus in the wake of Kirk’s assassination — said he feels students have become less polarized since Kirk’s death and are more willing to engage with political perspectives they disagree with. He said he gets less “dirty looks” when wearing TPUSA merchandise on campus than he did prior to Kirk’s assassination, showing students are more open to the organization’s viewpoints. “That’s the great thing about living in this country,” Van Slingerland said. “You’re allowed to have a different opinion and still live peacefully with oth-
CULTURE Meet Moriah, the fluffy, black-and-white Akita with her very own Foggy Bottom fan club. Page 7
ers.” Ciara Mullane, a junior studying biological anthropology, said she had previously rarely seen conservatives on campus, and they seemed to suddenly become active after Kirk’s assassination. She said that made campus political discourse more balanced, though liberal students may feel outnumbered now because they are not used to interacting with conservatives. “In the grand scheme of things, it probably makes the amount of discourse more balanced,” Mullane said. “However, I think the rhetoric and the imagery that they tend to use in their messaging and the things that they say is maybe more harmful or more uncomfortable for people on campus.”
SPORTS Former Rev Robbie Lavey is climbing the minor league ranks after his fourth-round selection by the San Diego Padres in July. Page 8
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THE GW HATCHET
NEWS
September 14, 2026 • Page 3
CRIME LOG FRAUD 2D/ FRAUD ROBBERY – ARMEDFSK Hall
Public Property on Campus (2100 Block of G Street) 8/30/2026 – 11:50 p.m. Closed Case A male GW student reported being robbed at gunpoint at the intersection of 21st and G streets. The subject stole credit cards belonging to the GW student, who reported multiple fraudulent credit card purchases after the incident.
Case closed. Referred to Metropolitan Police Department.
HARASSMENT: EMAIL AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA, THREATS TO DO BODILY HARM
Off Campus 9/1/2026 – 1:33 a.m. Closed Case A female GW student reported receiving a harassing text message containing threats of bodily harm from a nonGW affiliated former acquaintance.
Case closed. Off campus incident.
LIQUOR LAW VIOLATION
1959 E Street 9/1/2026 – 9:20 p.m. Closed Case GW Police Department officers responded to assist students exiting the rooftop and observed alcoholic beverages in plain view.
Case closed. Referred to Conflict Education & Student Accountability.
FRAUD 1D/FRAUD
Somers Hall 9/2/2026 – 12:49 p.m. Open Case A female GW student reported being the victim of fraud after purchasing concert tickets from an unknown seller via a group chat.
Case open.
UNLAWFUL ENTRY
University Student Center 9/3/2026 – 6:50 a.m. Closed Case GWPD responded to a report of a non-GW affiliated male subject in the building before opening hours. Upon arrival, officers made contact with the subject and determined that the subject was previously barred from GW property. Officers reissued the subject a bar notice and escorted him off the property.
CASE CLOSED. SUBJECT BARRED.
LIQUOR LAW VIOLATION
Support Building 9/3/2026 – 10:46 p.m. Closed Case GWPD and the GW Emergency Medical Response Group responded to a report of an intoxicated GW student. Upon arrival, EMeRG conducted a medical evaluation and transported the student to the GW Hospital for further medical treatment.
Case closed. Referred to CESA.
—Compiled by Isaac Harte
RHA elections close with nearly no vacancies amid consolidation of positions SHIVU SATHE
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
BRYSON KLOESEL SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Residence Hall Association filled nearly all available positions in this week’s hall and area council elections after officials consolidated the total number of available elected positions from 96 to 85. A total of 129 students ran for positions across 20 residence halls and areas, down from 160 candidates last year after Campus Living & Residential Education moved to combine the councils — excluding the presidency — for four Mount Vernon Campus halls and six dorms on the Foggy Bottom Campus. RHA President Will O’Donnell said despite the decrease in available positions, the group saw record-high voter turnout in “recent years” and nearly zero vacancies postelection, a welcome drop after last year’s elections left 11 seats vacant. RHA leadership announced in late August plans to consolidate 10 residence halls together into five area hall councils: Cole and Clark Halls, Hensley and Merriweather Halls, Potomac and Strong Halls, International House and 2109 F Street and Dakota Hall and 1959 E Street, with each pair sharing one communications, programming and finance chair while still electing presidents independent of each other. Under the new “blended” model, 11 positions were eliminated across the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses. O’Donnell said CLRE officials imposed the changes, telling RHA leadership they were made to ensure hall councils can be properly supported by administrators. He said there had been instances in the past where community coordinators — now called area coordinators under the new CLRE resident advisor model — wouldn’t show up to scheduled meetings with their hall’s council. “I was very resistant to the idea because I didn’t want to be taking away leadership positions,” O’Donnell said. The consolidation comes three years after RHA eliminated the vice president position across all hall councils to avoid redundancy and give to other members of the council more responsibility. This year’s elections mark the fifth year in a row that available RHA positions have declined because of the elimination of vice president positions, the temporary closure of Mitchell Hall last academic year, and the con-
QUINN VAN MOURIK-RUDNICK | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Residence Hall Asoociation candidate posters hanging in West Hall.
version of The Aston into a bridge housing shelter. Candidates vied for 85 positions this year, compared to 96 last year, 100 open spots in 2024, 104 in 2023 and 130 in 2022. The voting period started Tuesday at noon and closed at midnight on Thursday after a 12-hour extension, which O’Donnell said was to give students a “last push” and a reminder to vote. He said the RHA was more persistent about sending emails, holding public recruitment events and tabling sessions to encourage more students to get involved because of vacancies in prior years. “I’ve been really encouraged by just how many people voted this year,” O’Donnell said. “I hope that that translates into good turnout at a lot of our campus-wide events.” He said that before the elections, 24 positions had no candidates, but they were all filled through write-in candidates and by shifting candidates who lost their main races into other positions. O’Donnell said nearly 25 percent of all eligible oncampus students voted in the RHA election, a 13 percent increase in overall votes since last year. He said there were some issues with using RevConnect, which the University switched to this year after discontinuing GW Engage, because non-first year students had to set up accounts to vote and there was very little education about how to set up and use the platform. “We’ve done our outreach push, definitely helped to contribute to the voter turnout,” O’Donnell said. “There’s just a lot of growing pains with the RevConnect change, and with this new system, and I’m hoping to see a bounce back next year.” O’Donnell said the RHA
has multiple goals for the upcoming year, including bringing more students into the conversation by hosting regular town hall discussions with “key stakeholders,” like GWPD, to ensure student safety in residence halls, engaging the RHA’s alumni network and advocating for housing issues like streamlining Fix-It, finding more ways to make housing affordable and redistributing laundry credits from in-unit laundry to the rest of the oncampus population. “I’m very optimistic about this year, and I’m really excited to see how it all goes because I think RHA is really well known for its programming and advocacy,” O’Donnell said. Scott Seamon, a sophomore who ran uncontested for the programming chair position for South Hall, said he chose to run for RHA this year after not being involved his first year because he was encouraged by friends in RHA and wanted to make the upperclassman dorm more connected and engaged. He said upperclassmen can feel disconnected from their halls because they already have established friends and campus organization communities by the time they live there. He said he wants the hall council to proactively reach out to housing officials about any problems they hear about, whether directly from residents or from the resident advisers. “I know that these upperclassmen dorms can tend to be disconnected, with everyone focusing more on their next two years, focusing on internships and their organizations,” Seamon said. “But I also want people to be connected with their neighbors.” Darby Haddock, who won the Merriweather Hall
presidential election, said she wants to focus on community building because the hall can be divided, as Merriweather has two living-learning communities, which she hopes to address by hosting events that include the entire hall. “I am really passionate about using the space that we have in a more efficient manner,” Haddock said in an email. “Merriweather provides a lot of opportunities for events such as movie nights, cookouts, potlucks, etc.” She said she also wants to find solutions for the lack of air conditioning on the second floor, pest management issues in the basement and first floor and ensuring the TV is functional. She said she hopes to advocate for many of the events and issues as president and work alongside her other council members. “I absolutely love where I live and the location I’m in, therefore I want to give others opportunities to find what they love about the hall and maybe what they love about GWU as a whole,” Haddock said. Luana Sharif, a first-year student who ran uncontested for the finance chair position at Francis Scott Key Hall, said she wants to advocate for student issues and ensure officials address them. She said she hopes to leverage her experience as a business student to create a budget that allocates resources to planning multiple events throughout the year that students will want to attend. “I realized that by joining the RHA, I could actually get to know the people in my building, engage in the closeknit community that I have at FSK and also give back to it and help foster a sense of community there with more events,” Sharif said.
CCAS to offer new master’s program in migration, diaspora studies next fall SARAH GROSS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
ZOOMEL GHAURI REPORTER
The Columbian College of Arts & Sciences is launching a new master’s program in migration and diaspora studies, with the first cohort of students slated to start next fall. The 30-credit, two-year program aims to teach students about U.S. immigration politics and global diaspora studies from a global context, focusing on migration and diaspora dynamics across the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and aims to prepare students for careers in government service, advocacy or refugee settlement and integration, according to the program website. Faculty members involved in the program said its goal is to train students to understand and analyze how migration shapes societies both in the U.S. and internationally through small-group seminars, research and partnerships with D.C. based organizations. The program builds on CCAS’s nine-credit micro-minor in Immigration and Migration Studies, launched in 2021 to allow students to take courses in approaches to immigration and global migration, migration and immigration cultures and U.S. immigration experiences and narratives. Students in the seminar-based program will be required to complete three core courses, selecting one course from each of three areas including the sociology, geography and anthropology of migration. The program also requires the completion of at least two research meth-
The Columbian College of Arts & Sciences Graduate Studies Center in Smith Hall.
ods courses, four elective courses, including U.S. immigration histories, the Black Atlantic, postcolonialism, nationalism and nation building and the African diaspora, as well as a capstone course, according to its website. The program positions graduates for doctoral research or careers in policy analysis, research, advocacy and “frontline” refugee settlement and immigration work, according to its website. Prospective students for fall 2027 must submit an unofficial transcript, two letters of recommendation and a state-
ment of purpose by February 1 for priority consideration or April 1 for regular decision, according to the website. Kavita Daiya, the program’s director and a professor of English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said she began developing the program in spring 2024, when CCAS Dean Paul Wahlbeck asked her to implement programs that would position CCAS at the “front edge of the wave of innovation” in academic programs by creating new programs rather than ones other universities have already begun
KRIS PARK | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
offering. She said they chose to focus on immigration and migration studies because she and many of her colleagues are researching and teaching similar subjects, and some faculty members already taught courses in the immigration and migration studies micro-minor, allowing the program to come together “really organically.” “Taking an intersectional approach was important to how we design the learning around migration and immigration, and that kind of spirit will continue to animate the courses that we will offer,
so we wanted students to be invested in understanding how questions of race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, class and caste shape displacement and human mobility,” Daiya said. Daiya said the program works to fill a gap in higher education since Georgetown University, The City University of New York Graduate Center and the University of San Francisco are the only schools in the United States to also offer master’s degrees in migration studies, while comparable programs exist at some European universities. She said UK and European programs tend to focus more on global migration, either in Global South or European contexts, while the GW program will focus on both U.S. domestic immigration policy and global migration. “Because we’re in the U.S. and we have scholars and faculty working on U.S. immigration as well as global mobility, our program is synthesizing both, and I think that that makes it unique,” Daiya said. Daiya said the program is geared toward people who are interested in immigration advocacy in D.C. but may not necessarily know how to get involved. She said the program’s goal is to train students to engage with and make “meaningful” contributions to ongoing government policy and advocacy work because some of the “most consequential” policy, data and research conversations surrounding immigration issues are happening at the State Department and within international organizations in D.C. “It’s a really timely political moment to be launching this program and stepping up and participating in the debates out there and making a change for the better,” Daiya said.
NEWS
September 14, 2026 • Page 4
THE GW HATCHET
New student group aims to cultivate friendships across generations
Students celebrate Ethiopian, Eritrean community during new year
ADELAIDE PETRAS
ADELAIDE PETRAS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Students established a GW chapter of a national group that seeks to foster intergenerational relationships through pairing students with older adults. Perfect Pair is a national organization that facilitates conversations and activities between college students and older adults who share similar interests, personalities and backgrounds, aiming to combat loneliness among elders and improve wellbeing among all of its participants. Members of the GW chapter, which formed last spring, said they joined the group to connect with the local D.C. community and build relationships with older adults while earning volunteer hours. The national Perfect Pair organization, founded in 2020 by a University of Michigan alum, works with at least 35 chapters at universities across the nation to offer individualized programs that allow members from both younger and older generations to “re-engage with their passions.” The group grounds its work in five pillars — reducing ageism, combating loneliness, engaging communities, enriching lives across generations and supporting career development. Trina Wadle, a senior studying neuroscience and one of Perfect Pair’s copresidents at GW, said she founded the chapter because she wanted to build bonds with older adults in the Foggy Bottom area — similar to how medical professionals connect with their patients — while earning volunteer hours needed for medical school applications. She said liked the concept of Perfect Pair compared to other health-related service opportunities because it encourages participants to build genuine relationships that last over time. “I feel like throughout my time at GW, a lot of the clubs that I was kind of interested in that had volunteer hours felt more like a transaction,” Wadle said. “It felt much more like ‘Here’s a service that I’m providing for you, and what I get in return is a volunteer hour.’” Wadle said the national organization reached out last year to members of another health-related GW student organization she is part of — Hearts for the Homeless, which aims to improve heart health among unhoused populations —
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
CARSTEN HOLST | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Perfect Pair GW chapter co-founders and seniors Trina Wadle and Asra Channa pose for a portrait in University Yard.
asked them to help establish a GW chapter of Perfect Pair. She said she and fellow senior Asra Channa decided to meet with the national organization to bring Perfect Pair to GW last spring, marking the first chapter in the DMV. She said Perfect Pair has not paired students with their older adult matches yet and the group is still in the process of solidifying its partnership with Saint Mary’s Court, a retirement home located in Foggy Bottom. In the meantime, Wadle said, the group plans to host general body meetings at the end of the semester so student volunteers can get to know each other before meeting their older adult matches. Wadle said Perfect Pair garnered strong student interest at First Night x Org Fair last month, and many students approached her at the event who were “eager” to join and had already researched the national organization. She said the group recruited most of its 20 currently registered members through the Org Fair and also advertised through social media and word of mouth last semester. “I think it reminded a lot of people of the buddy system that a lot of high schoolers and elementary schools do, where you’re paired with either like a high schooler while you’re in elementary school or the opposite,” Wadle said. Ruth Campos, a senior and the group’s copresident, said growing up in the DMV taught her to value community outreach within the District, and she liked the concept of how Perfect Pair allows members to engage with older adults in their local community. She said Perfect Pair plans to focus its outreach efforts to facilities in the District because they are the only chapter located within D.C.,
but the group may look to expand to other assisted living facilities in Virginia and Maryland in future years, if they successfully connect with older adults across the District in the next few months. Campos said each pair’s one-on-one sessions will look different because meetings are tailored to the pair’s interests and are intended to be accessible to each individual’s capabilities. She said she knows of pairs in other chapters who spend time reading and writing together, playing board games or exploring the outdoors. “It looks different for every pair,” Campos said. “We don’t really have any specific constraints on that. If anything, we want to create the space to allow them to explore and be able to have those opportunities.” She said while Perfect Pair has not applied for funding from the University, they plan to primarily use future funds to provide supplies for the pairs’ meetings. She said the group may hold fundraisers later on in the semester so they can host bigger events for all members to come together, like Halloween or Christmas celebrations. “We haven’t really needed much, but we will be doing our best to try and facilitate so they can make sure they meet our needs,” Campos said. Channa, the group’s vice president of operations, said she became a founding member of Perfect Pair because she was never able to build relationships with older adults since all her grandparents live in another country, and she saw the organization as an opportunity to do so. “I almost never get to see them, so I don’t really have that kind of role in my life,” Channa said. “So I definitely thought this would be beneficial.”
Students gathered Friday to ring in the Ethiopian and Eritrean New Year with an annual celebration hosted by the EthiopianEritrean Students Association, aiming to unite the communities at their first event of the year. More than 50 students gathered in Monroe Hall to celebrate the new year, known as Enkutatash, and the start of 2019 on the Ethiopian calendar with games and traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean food and music. EESA leaders and members in attendance said the Enkutatash festivities help connect Ethiopian and Eritrean students on campus, give students who can’t be home for the holiday a space to celebrate and promote cultural awareness among students not familiar with the countries’ cultures. On the Ethiopian calendar, derived from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a year lasts 13 months and is roughly eight years behind the Western calendar, making this year 2019. The Ethiopian and Eritrean New Year falls on Sept. 11, or Sept. 12 during leap years. Ethiopian and Eritrean flags hung on the walls of the Monroe classroom as attendees sat at tables adorned with green ribbons, representing the green on the two countries’ flags. Each table featured a centerpiece of yellowcolored flowers called adey abeba, which represents good fortune, renewal and peace during Enkutatash. Nigsti Asmerom, a
sophomore and annual event chair for EESA who is both Ethiopian and Eritrean, said being part of the group’s executive board and helping host Enkutatash is meaningful because she attended one of the organization’s events as a first-year and hopes to help other students feel as welcome as she did. She said she’s enjoyed finding a new community at GW of students who share her culture, especially since her hometown of Silver Spring, Maryland, has a large Ethiopian population. “Being a part of the eboard now and being able to create it, see the behind the scenes and help other students when they come in,” Asmerom said. “I feel like this is such a welcoming environment.” Asmerom said EESA uses Enkutatash to show students the people behind the group and what they do, since it’s the first event of the year. The executive board gave a presentation at the event introducing the organization and promoting future events, like their annual Melse Gala, a mock traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean wedding. She said bringing people together is a main part of Ethiopian culture, including students who are not Ethiopian or Eritrean, so the group invited students from organizations like the African Student Association and Black Student Union. She said events like Enkutatash showcase Ethiopian and Eritrean culture to students outside the culture by providing tradi-
tional food and music. “Bringing people together, I think, is the main thing, a part of Ethiopian culture,” Asmerom said. “Even our plate is shareable. We always eat together.” The event featured traditional Ethiopian food — including kitfo, marinated and spiced raw ground beef, and tibs, made with sauteed meat and vegetables — which students ate as Ethiopian pop music played in the background. Fiona Mesfin, a senior and one of the co-presidents of EESA, said the group hosts events like Enkutatash to build community among Ethiopian and Eritrean students and give them a space to celebrate their culture, especially for those who didn’t go home to celebrate the holiday with their families. “We want to tell them that they can find their people here, and we’re always welcome here to celebrate the culture,” Mesfin said. She said EESA and the Enkutatash garnered interest at the First Night x Org Fair event last month, especially from first-years who wanted to find other students who share their culture and history. Mesfin, who is Ethiopian, said she met many of her friends through EESA and encourages her non-Ethiopian friends to attend events like Enkutatash to learn about her culture. “It’s a cool way to kind of actually showcase to them what we do, what we eat, what’s part of the community,” Mesfin said.
AINSLEY SULLIVAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Students socialize during the Enkutatash celebration hosted by the Ethiopian-Eritrean Students Association.
House Democrat talks threats to free speech under Trump administration KAYLEY TEAGLE REPORTER
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) discussed threats he sees to the First Amendment under President Donald Trump’s administration and called on young people to get involved in politics during an event at the Elliott School of International Affairs Wednesday. Raskin, a former constitutional law professor and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, drew on examples from American history to describe how Trump and officials in his administration are targeting the free speech rights of his political opponents and those who disagree with him. The GW College Democrats, Democracy Matters and Swing Left jointly hosted Raskin, with College Democrats President Eric Gitson and Jayson Bustos, the president of the GW chapter of Democracy Matters, moderating the discussion. Raskin said Americans are divided in the current political environment over issues like immigration and election security, drawing allusions to 1776 when the U.S. was weighing whether to become independent from Great Britain. He said many Americans then were divided over whether independence was even possible at that time. Raskin said many people around the world lived under monarchical rule or dictatorial regimes during the pre-revolutionary period, leading some Americans to think it was possible to keep church and state separate and to allow for freedom of speech and religion. He said that in today’s politics, Ameri-
ADNAN MASRI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks at the podium in the Elliott School of International Affairs Wednesday.
cans are divided on whether and how to stand up to Trump and his administration’s actions, but citizens should follow history’s examples in ultimately deciding to stand up to Trump’s actions. “For all of time, people had lived under people like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán and Kim Jong Un,” Raskin said. “That was the fate of humanity. But America said we’re going to try to do something different.” Raskin said freedom of speech is under assault “every day” by the Trump administration, citing the killings of Renée
Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom were killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while protesting the agency’s actions in Minnesota earlier this year. “They were exercising their First Amendment rights: freedom of speech, the right to assemble, the right to petition government for redress of grievances,” Raskin said. “The same people who were whining about the freedom of speech all these years just abandon it and go with an authoritarian program of a paramilitary squad.” Raskin said ICE agents, who routinely conduct their duties
while wearing masks, have become like a “personal army” for the president. “How come our state police, our county police, how come the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, they’re not masked, but ICE is masked?” Raskin said. “That’s a paramilitary force somewhere between a police and a personal army to the president.” Raskin said he has been traveling to different areas of the country to campaign for Democratic candidates ahead of November’s midterm elections and said he has witnessed substantial enthusiasm for Democrats.
He said he did not see Republicans actively campaigning in states he visited like Michigan and Iowa, which he interprets to mean Republicans are planning to put their energy into voter suppression and tampering with election systems, looking to repeat what Trump attempted to do in the weeks after his loss in the 2020 election — like asking Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” enough votes to reverse his loss there. “They’re planning to put everything they’ve got into voter suppression and then strategic election mischief and theft, basically what Trump tried to do last time,” Raskin said. Raskin called on the students in the audience to become more involved in politics in order to bring younger voices into the Democratic Party, even with challenges like climate change, the development of artificial intelligence and the rising cost of living making it an “intense” time for young people to enter politics. “This is your Democratic Party, and it’s going to be yours more and more as you get more deeply into it,” Raskin said. “And so we want to put you guys in the driver’s seat as quickly as possible.” Raskin said winning an election can often seem impossible or out of reach for young people before it happens, but it is possible, citing his successful run for the Maryland State Senate in 2006, when he defeated a 20year incumbent. “Nothing’s inevitable,” Raskin said. “Things are only possible through the democratic arts of education, organizing, and mobilizing people for change.”
NEWS
September 14, 2026 • Page 5
THE GW HATCHET
SGA first years see body as effective avenue to bolster advocacy initiatives AMELIA NELSON
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
NIKHITA THAKURIA REPORTER
First years serving in the Student Government Association this year said they hope to continue advocating for increased student services amid ongoing Universitywide budget cuts, citing the SGA’s social media presence as their inspiration to join the body. First-years who joined the body as executive and legislative assistants said they are optimistic the SGA will successfully advocate for change this year given its vast connections with students and staff and hope to increase school spirit through events engaging large portions of the student body. Several new members said SGA President MJ Childs’ TikTok from his campaign for president, which has received over 74,000 likes since April, introduced them to the body before committing to GW and said the SGA’s Instagram presence exhibiting past accomplishments made them want to join what they perceived as an effective governing body. 85 students filled out the SGA’s application form, open from Aug. 16-23, to fill 50 entry-level positions designated for current first years and new transfer students across the executive and legislative branches, ac-
cording to Childs and SGA Vice President Aicha Sy. Sy said the SGA chose to market the first-year positions through Instagram videos, including reels and “story takeovers” — days when she would post content about her own SGA duties and answer student’s questions via the account’s Instagram story — in an effort to make the body appear welcoming by helping students meet SGA leadership and “match a name to face.” Childs said the SGA will continue to advertise opportunities for first years to join initiatives, assemblies and the Student Health Advisory Council throughout the year and executive policy directors may also request additional first-year assistants as the term continues. Victoria Ptaszek, a firstyear studying finance and international business and assistant in the SGA Senate’s Committee on Governance and Nominations, said she learned about the SGA through the viral Tiktok video Childs posted during his presidential campaign in April where he repeatedly asked “Where is my $100k?” — referencing GW’s rising cost of attendance and decreased student services. “MJ was a really big factor because I was like, ‘Dang, if this student is so involved and cares and stuff like that, that means the majority of students are like that too,” Ptaszek said.
JOSH STEINBERG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER First-year Student Government Association members Taylor Malec, Carmen Jansons and Jessica Park pose for a portrait in Kogan Plaza.
Jessica Park, a first-year studying international affairs and one of three firstyear student life assistants in the SGA’s executive branch, said she feels optimistic that events she will help plan this year will increase students’ engagement in the SGA and rally student support to help the body advocate for increases in the University’s student services. She said
the SGA’s posts about the Revolutionary Promise — the University’s initiative to cover the full cost of tuition for students with household incomes less than $100,000 starting with the class of 2030 — and expanded dining services this year demonstrated the SGA’s effectiveness, inspiring her to join. “Before I even applied, I
looked at what the SGA has done with tuition, even dining hall operation schedules, and I can already see the difference and I’m excited to see where that goes,” Park said. Sy said she hopes to involve additional first years this semester through a new assembly — a body which would consist of first-year co-chairs from the executive and legislative branches
who can appoint SGA and non-SGA affiliated first years — where first-year assistants across branches could jointly plan events for the entire first-year student body. “We want to give first years a chance to plan events amongst each other, and collaborate with more people outside of their departments,” Sy said in an email.
Officials say Trump legislation caused delays in financial aid processing From Page 1 Reis said it has been over 40 days since his appeal, and the financial aid office has not responded. Appeals to financial aid packages take up to 45 business days to process, according to the Office of Student Financial Assistance’s website. He said his family will be forced to seek private loans if the office rejects his appeal, and the office’s lack of communication — like lack of updates about his appeal status when talking to them over email or on the phone — has amplified his stress. “It’s hard to focus on your academics when you don’t know if you’re going to be able to continue your academics purely because of financial reasons,” Reis said. “Then when you try to reach out and get some sort of consolation from their office, even just a timeline, they reply with absolutely nothing.” The decreases and delays in financial packages come as universities nationwide grapple with cuts to federal aid options, like the Pell Grant, and new federal aid regulations under the One Big
Beautiful Bill Act, which went into effect July 1. The OBBBA, which Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, enacted stricter graduate and Parent PLUS loan limits and requirements and phased out the Grad PLUS loan program. A University spokesperson said GW navigated “unanticipated impacts” in financial aid processing in June and July as the federal government implemented new student aid regulations under the OBBBA. The Office of Student Financial Assistance’s website states GW, along with many schools nationally, is facing delays in loan processing and disbursements due to changes in the OBBA, but students’ whose applications are delayed will not be unenrolled in classes or responsible for late fees. University Spokesperson Shannon McClendon said GW’s financial aid office is fully staffed and works with students and their families to navigate the financial aid process, understand their individual circumstances and identify available support. McClendon said the University works to complete financial aid appeals as efficiently as possible and “communicates directly”
with students about any more information or steps needed to resolve outstanding issues. McClendon said a student’s Student Aid Index — which the federal government calculates using the student and their family’s tax forms to quantify a student’s demonstrated need — may change based on updated information the federal government receives through the federal financial aid process, and GW reviews updated information in accordance with its financial aid procedures. She said the timing of an individual student’s package depends on factors like completion of required documentation, whether the office selects the student’s FAFSA data for verification and satisfactory academic progress reviews. McClendon said officials have not identified a systemic issue regarding the use of outdated SAI information this academic year, and students receiving needbased aid who had no significant changes to their financial circumstances “generally” saw their packages remain stable or increase. McClendon said the composition of a student’s financial aid package may change
— including adjustments to previously awarded institutional aid — when the University adds new scholarship or other aid resources. Gracie Dillon, who was a firstyear studying international affairs last academic year, said she had to transfer to her local community college through continuous enrollment — where students can leave GW for an academic year to temporarily enroll at another institution — since her cost of attendance rose from about $36,000 to $50,000 this academic year due to cuts to her need-based aid. Dillion said the situation caused her emotional stress since she had to abandon her academic and personal plans for the new academic year. “I was very excited to just get my sophomore year going and everything,” Dillon said. “When the financial aid dropped and I saw that number, it was very difficult for me.” Student frustration over financial aid also comes after officials launched the Revolutionary Promise in April — an undergraduate affordability initiative which fully covers the cost of tuition for students whose
families make $100,000 or less a year starting with the Class of 2030 — which students said felt unfair for current students, since it placed financial burdens disproportionately on returning students. Vice President and Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success Jay Goff said in April the Revolutionary Promise does not change GW’s commitment to supporting current students and GW has expanded its investment in financial aid by more than $80 million since 2020. Sage Kushner, a junior studying marketing and music, said the financial aid office cut her aid by half this academic year, despite officials doubling the amount her sophomore year. Kushner said the office increased her aid last year after she successfully appealed her package — given her family experienced a decrease in income — but has received no response about her current appeal, which she submitted in early July. “I would say they’re responsive,” Kushner said. “But it’s unclear, muddy-water, what the next step is going to be, or they don’t really tell you if they’re planning on fixing your aid.”
Departments say CCAS gave them less teaching assistant packages this fall From Page 1 He added most cohorts have between four and five fully-funded Ph.D. students with graduate teaching assistant packages — with other Ph.D. students receiving non-teaching faculty grants or projects — but this year, CCAS officials gave the department only one fully-funded graduate teaching assistant package for the incoming cohort. Fully-funded GTA packages include tuition coverage, a monthly salary, a stipend and a healthcare subsidy in exchange for a teaching assistant role in lectures, discussion sections or labs. CCAS cut Ph.D. packages by 7 percent this academic year, leaving some programs with no choice but to pause admissions because available funding packages for incoming students were smaller than average. The cuts came after CCAS Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Antonio López and CCAS Vice Dean of Programs & Operations Kimberly Gross said in a December email that officials formed an advisory group in August to assess the future of doctoral program enrollment and funding. CCAS’ cuts to Ph.D. packages follow a nationwide trend of universities that, over the last two years, have announced plans to cut or suspend doctoral admissions in upcoming cycles, citing financial pressures and uncertainty with research funding under President Donald Trump’s administration. GW faculty last year
MATHYLDA DULIAN | SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success Jay Goff at a Faculty Senate meeting in February.
also pointed to ongoing negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement with GWU Graduate Workers United as one reason officials cut Ph.D. funding packages, because expected increases in pay and benefits would limit the number of fully funded GTA packages the University could provide. López said in an email when programs need more TAs to cover positions, they request CCAS authorization for salary-only GIA hires, which the college reviews
based on course enrollment. He said the GIA hiring process occurs annually, and CCAS is addressing the departmental needs based on fluctuations in admissions, enrollment and fundedstudent availability. He declined to comment on how the reduction in doctoral packages this academic year contributed to the lack of TAs this semester or whether departments plan to implement further cuts in Ph.D. funding for a second year.
López declined to comment on the solutions CCAS plans to use in future semesters to alleviate low TA numbers. MacDougall said the biology department typically applies for the largest number of salary-only GIA packages in CCAS every year to hire master’s students since they don’t have enough Ph.D. students to fill nearly 37 labs and a number of introductory lectures that serve over 870 students per semester. Despite this, MacDou-
gall said fewer fully funded GTA packages make it harder to find quality instructors because Ph.D. students know the biology department’s courses best. “My personal biggest concern is the reduced size of the Ph.D. cohorts, because, as I said, those are generally speaking going to be our people with the most knowledge about our courses,” MacDougall said. Roberto Samaniego, director of graduate studies for the economics department, said the department had only one fullyfunded Ph.D. student in the fall 2025 cohort, leaving department leadership with fewer Ph.D. students than usual to fill discussion sections and lecture support positions. He added that before 2024, most Ph.D. cohorts had 10 to 11 students, with six of those being fully-funded GTAs. Samaniego said although the economics department now has three fully-funded Ph.D. students in the 2026-27 cohort, up from one in 2025, the department had to tap first-year Ph.D. students this year to fill the gaps in TA staffing. Samaniego said CCAS fulfilled the department’s request for about 14 GIA positions — more than the department typically receives — a week before the semester started, leaving the department just days before classes began to hire GIAs. He said he had trouble finding “suitable” candidates because many non-funded Ph.D. students initially said no, leaving the department to utilize firstyear Ph.D. students and master’s students.
THE GW HATCHET
OPINIONS
September 14, 2026 • Page 6
OPINIONS
WHAT THE UNIVERSITY WON’T TALK ABOUT THIS WEEK
Why the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences gave the biology and economic departments less graduate teaching assistant packages this fall. p.1
GW needs to get serious about supporting international students STAFF EDITORIAL Earlier this month, GW paused approvals for an international student internship program for all requests not required by a student’s degree program in response to federal guidance tightening restrictions on the program. The move serves as the latest hurdle international students now have to overcome when studying in the United States. In the midst of GW’s structural budget deficit, GW officials have cited the decline in the enrollment of international students as one of the factors affecting their revenue and finances. Vice Provost for Enrollment and Student Success Jay Goff has said the decline in international student enrollment — which he said is caused in large part by President Donald Trump’s policies restricting visas and travel from overseas — could cost the University $10 million in revenue. But while officials have been quick to cite this issue as a main cause of our financial situation, they have been less forthcoming about the proactive strategies they are taking to support GW’s international students and to attract more to enroll. Trump’s changes have made the United States a less attractive candidate for international students to study in. Throughout these challenges, GW has mostly stayed silent and given very limited updates and guidance to our own international students. But when the international student community is so vital to our University, contributing to our fiscal health and intellectual diversity, we need GW to ensure that our current international students are well-supported and are offered the guidance that they deserve to feel safe and succeed in the University. GW needs to get serious about prioritizing the safety of existing international students and continuing recruitment
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CAROLINE MORRELLI | STAFF CARTOONIST
of more. In the hostile environment international students are facing, the current strategy is not enough. While officials have responded to these policies individually — like allowing students facing travel delays to start asynchronously and submitting public comments opposing visa restrictions — the University’s comprehensive strategy for maintaining its international student population remains unclear. If GW is so highly dependent on the enrollment of international students, then we should be seeing some action from officials to assuage the concerns of international students who may be weary of
studying here. GW has put out some statements on specific policies, like when the DHS proposed capping student visas for four years and GW wrote to them urging them to reconsider. However, the fact that GW’s communications strategy regarding international students remains a black box for most of the University community is concerning in itself. When Trump enacted a travel ban for seven countries in his first term, then-University President Thomas LeBlanc issued a community message emphasizing officials’ support for international students, saying “we stand
As GW continues the OneGW Summit, it sacrifices diversity
W emphasizes and prides itself on producing global change-makers as well as fostering a politically active and inclusive campus climate. However, in the past year, GW appears to have softened its public-facing messaging when speaking about diversity. Two notable examples include While then-Interim Provost John Lach reaffirmed GW’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in an email to community members in April, other University actions still indicate that officials may be shying away from public messaging regarding diversity.W might think that its student body is well versed in diversity and inclusion, eliminating the need for public-facing offices and events dedicated to DEI. However, for many students, campus life narrates a different story — one where microaggressions, cultural misunderstandings and quiet exclusion are normalized, regardless of students being reminded and taught repeatedly about discrimination and its harms. GW stepping away from the word diversity has real consequences for the student culture and will only exacerbate these issues rather than resolve them.
Minahil Umar Opinions Writer GW’s rebranding of the Diversity Summit to the OneGW summit reflects a broader pattern of other The GW
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universities across the United States where diversity is slowly being muted and replaced with more broad, community-centered language. It is easy to underestimate the harm this slight change of language can do. After all, unity and community are universally seen as good values for universities to tout, making these changes on the surface seem inconsequential. The shift in institutional language from diversity to community ignores individual struggles students face and assumes a shared identity, while the word diversity forces us to acknowledge our different histories and experiences. And this is something that we can see in our very own campus. My experiences have shown me that diversity cannot be something that is taken for granted and constantly needs to be reaffirmed. One of the most common microaggressions I’ve experienced at GW happens almost every time I introduce myself in a class. When I tell people that I am Pakistani, a common response is, “I never would’ve guessed that, even if I had multiple tries.” Moments like these seem small, but their effects add up. There are real and tangible consequences of microaggressions that people underestimate, like feelings of isolation, exhaustion or poorer performance in campus life, whether that be academically or socially. Significantly, these incidents expose cultural blind spots that diversity initiatives are designed to address.
We as a University need to understand that the absence of overt exclusion does not necessarily mean that the world is an entirely inclusive space. Understanding this issue and reexamining, as well as challenging our own hidden assumptions and biases, is the first step we can take to counteract this issue. A diversity summit would have been — and historically has been — the perfect place to do that and to talk about these issues. But in last year’s OneGW Summit, the focus was on social change and student mental health — important topics but ones that did not address the issues or topics that students of different backgrounds face in their everyday lives. Students must understand that change-making is not simply about academic excellence — it requires cultural literacy, empathy and the ability to navigate differences respectfully. Institutions that emphasize change cannot remain silent when campus culture indicates such biases — or step back from intentional efforts to address these issues — as this will only allow harm to persist in quieter, more normalized ways. Progress can never be achieved through practicing neutrality or rebranding. If GW truly aims to prepare future change makers, it must lead by example, recognizing that inclusion is not an accessory to education but its very foundation. —Minahil Umar, a junior studying economics and business, is an opinions writer.
ready” to protect our community of international students. University President Ellen Granberg — or any top-ranking official — has not any similar statements. If GW wants to create a University that is appealing to international students, then they should focus on the students attending the University and ensure that they feel comfortable and supported. Right now, the United States is a very scary place and they need to advertise their support and resources. The most meaningful and attractive thing they can do is show that those who attend GW will be offered guidance and resources during Trump-era policies.
This means taking more actionable steps. Right now, the ISO has no available appointments this month, even though we are just halfway through the month and the following month also has no available appointments, with each appointment being 15 minutes long. And dropin advising hours, meant for quick questions, are only on Tuesdays for two hours. One of the main resources for international students and a chance to get in-person guidance and discuss more complex issues, is extremely limited. GW needs to increase the resources and communications available for international students and ensure that there are always adults or experts available to help them navigate any issues when there is a change. While officials have cited Trump’s policies as the reason for international enrollment decline, they have offered no comprehensive strategies for how to combat this ongoing problem. GW needs to invest its time and energy into a long-term strategy for retaining its current international students and assuring students from abroad that they will receive adequate support from the University. But beyond that, international students are an essential presence for our campus community. International students are an integral part of our community. They add different perspectives and knowledge; they enrich our learning, expand our views and bring intellectual diversity into our classes. For a University that prides itself as being a global hub for innovation and leadership, international students provide critical perspectives to our campus conversations and culture. GW needs international students, meaning officials need to get serious about protecting them.
GW must stand behind organized labor as unions come under attack
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W Hospital announced earlier this month that it had withdrawn recognition of the District of Columbia Nurses Association as the representative union for the hospital’s registered nurses, which has represented them for the past three years. For hospital staff, this came as no surprise. Universal Health Services — the owner and operator of GW Hospital — has an extensive record of anti-union activity, including surveilling employees, intimidating union members and bargaining in bad faith. UHS has continuously attempted to bust the nurses’ union over the past few years, purposefully slowing down the collective bargaining process. Suffice to say, unions representing employees of the University have a long road ahead to secure their demands after years of setbacks and successes in which GW has rejected graduate students’ wage demands while also giving adjunct faculty pay increases in the past. GW has had a mixed relationship with on-campus organized labor, and officials have a clear responsibility to better meet the current needs of its staffers and educators.
Ethan Vargas Contributing Opinions Editor When graduate student workers at GW voted nearunanimously to unionize almost two years ago, they were following a precedent of organized labor at D.C.
universities demanding higher wages due to increased cost of living. Now that union efforts are underway, GW has done little to bargain in good faith with the graduate students. In March, officials sent the GW Police Department to clear a staged sit-in by the union. The University’s response to the graduate student union in these instances shows a lack of energy on the part of University officials to productively engage in the bargaining process. TAs cannot survive on the promise of higher pay and job security once they complete their Ph.D. as they struggle to afford living in D.C. right now — the fourth most expensive city in the United States. It is not to say that GW has ignored the union in its entirety. This summer, graduate students and University officials reached a tentative agreement on non-discrimination protections, which have come under fire recently partly due to pressures by President Donald Trump’s administration. While the agreement is lacking in specifics, it still demonstrates the University’s ability and willingness to bargain in good faith. Nevertheless, the major negotiations for pay and employee benefits remain in the balance, and GW has yet to show its commitment to providing competitive compensation for teaching assistants. At GW Hospital, UHS has continued to harass the nurses union as part of its
union-busting policy. For the past few years, nurses have been bargaining for increased pay and retirement benefits with a reluctant employer. The union has claimed that UHS has even engaged in illegal practices, such as disciplining nurses who distributed literature about the union and intimidating members. Whatever the case might be, there is a clear reason for concern over the labor practices at GW Hospital. The UHS staunch anti-union stance is troubling. GW does not exclusively bargain in bad faith with its unions, as shown by efforts on the part of the adjunct faculty union securing a 4.5 percent minimum pay increase in their last contract. Salaries for adjuncts at GW fall behind those at peer institutions such as Georgetown and American universities, while the union demands that GW’s pay remain competitive. GW cannot ignore the looming threats facing existing unions as it sells off assets to hostile corporations, nor can the University stand in the way of unions on campus. GW must negotiate in good faith and meet the demands of these movements where it can. Labor is the backbone of capital, and GW cannot cast aside the struggles of the workers who make the University’s operations possible. —Ethan Vargas, a sophomore majoring in political science, is the contributing opinions editor.
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THE GW HATCHET
CULTURE
September 14, 2026 • Page 7
CULTURE
THE
SCENE RELEASED
THIS WEEK:
HOMELANDS Monday, Sept. 14 | National Gallery of Art | Free
TOMORROW THE SUN WILL RISE Thursday, Sept. 17 | The Phillips Collection | Free
NEW SONG: “CRANK 2” BY SLAYYYTER
Meet Moriah, the canine creating community in Foggy Bottom
GW alum hits the road in new book, Revolutionary Road Trip
DIANA ANOS
JESSICA ROWE
Every time Alan Alper walks his dog Moriah around the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, her local fan club grows. Moriah is a six-year-old fluffy black and white American Akita who wears a smile on her face while strutting around the neighborhood, being stopped every few feet by passersby asking to pet her and say hello. Her owner, Alan Alper, who has lived in Foggy Bottom since 1998, started a Moriah “fan club,” made up of GW students and community members who pitch in to walk her when he and his wife can’t — creating a community and bond between the younger and older generations of the neighborhood. Alper said he adopted Moriah in 2024, after his previous dog passed away. He said he had the idea for the fan club later that same year after he and his wife developed medical issues that prevented them from walking Moriah in icy or humid weather. He said Moriah is also a reason for him to get out in his neighborhood and meet new people at his age of 73 and stay connected with his community, as he said she is a very “curious and sociable” dog. Alper said he characterizes Moriah as a “community therapy dog,” as she is there for anyone who wants to spend time with her. Though the fan club was initially just meant to help Alper and his wife with walking Moriah, he said he realized it also fulfills a social need for him through meeting people while out on walks with her, especially GW students, who he ends up having conversations with. He said Moriah is a means of finding common ground with others and connecting with his community. He said he texts a few members of the fan club when he needs the help, and whenever someone responds, they pick Moriah up and take her for a walk around the neighborhood. Madeline Kaller, a firstyear masters student studying philosophy and social policy who moved to Foggy Bottom about a month ago, said she ran into Alper on her second day in the neighborhood while pruning bushes in front of her house. She said Alper was on a walk and
Through her experiences exploring the 13 original colonies and venturing along Route 66, GW alum Darley Newman is paving a road through American history in her new book “Revolutionary Road Trip.” Newman, host of the PBS television show “Travels with Darley,” visited GW last Wednesday for a book signing event in the University bookstore and author talk guided by Department Chair of Early American Republic and British Atlantic World Denver Brusman about her new book documenting her travels through the first 13 states. Newman said returning to GW after 25 years as an alum was “really special” and detailed how her time studying media helped shape her career as an Emmy-award-winning travel journalist. Graduating from GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs in 2001 with a degree in electronic media and a minor in international business, Newman said throughout her time at GW she was involved in GW radio and a student opera organization. Newman said her passion for travel journalism started after she traveled across Europe in high school and later studied abroad in Florence while attending GW. The program featured travel destinations all over the world like Ireland and Turkey and showcased their accessibility via horseback. She hosted her first show “Equitrekking” up until 2012, and created her current
CULTURE EDITOR
CONTRIBUTING CULTURE EDITOR
NICHOLAS WARE | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Alan Alper, his wife Marina Streznewski and Moriah pose for a portrait outside Ross Hall Tuesday.
approached her, asked if she’d like to pet Moriah and gave her his pitch to join the fan club. After living in the Foggy Bottom community for a little over a month now, Kaller said she’s been on walks with Moriah around four times and speaks with Alper on the phone almost daily. First year medical student and fan club member Olivia Cooper said Moriah is a “social butterfly,” stopping to greet community members when she takes her for walks. Since joining the club, she said she has walked Moriah around four times so far, and as a medical student, the walks are a nice break from her studies. Junior Abby Teich, who studies creative writing and English, said she met Alper at the end of her first year at GW, and has been walking Moriah
ever since. She said Moriah has become a “fixture” in her life at college, encouraging her to explore parts of historic Foggy Bottom she hadn’t seen before. Senior Charlotte Parry, who studies political science and business, said Moriah has become her “dog away from home,” after starting to walk her last spring semester. Parry said her camera roll has become full of photos of her introducing Moriah to people around campus, and she can barely make it a few feet without someone stopping her and asking to pet the dog. “Moriah has the best parents, and they love so much that Moriah has become a community pet,” Parry said. “And if anything, they enjoy it as much as me and anyone else in the fan club and Moriah. We all love it so much, I mean, it’s like having a separate family.”
show, “Travels with Darley,” in 2016. Newman said Travels with Darley focuses on her own travels, finding “hidden gems” in different parts of the world. Currently filming the 100th season, which will debut in January, Newman said the milestone season features Route 66 in the U.S., coinciding with the route’s 100th anniversary. Newman said she first wanted to write “Revolutionary Road Trip” in 2024 after traveling through the original 13 colonies for a series featured on “Travels with Darley” and meeting historians and local experts along the way. While “Travels with Darley” features global destinations, she said the book focuses in on the U.S., covering her journey across sites throughout the original 13 colonies connected to the American Revolution. Newman said she wanted to find communities in the first original colonies in the United States who do not have their stories told in history books and media. Newman said she wanted to include GW as a stop on her book tour because of the University’s connection to George Washington and the relevance the founding father has in her book. She said the event also gave her an opportunity to pair her travel perspectives with Brunsman’s expertise in early American history. “He brings a different side of the history to the table, and I can mix some of the history with more of the travel aspects to make it fun for people who are attending to not only learn about history but to learn about some of the places that they can actually go,” Newman said.
JOSH STEINBERG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Darley Newman’s Revolutionary Road Trip is displayed at The George Washington University Campus Store.
Foggy Bottom celebrates local artists at first Art All Night event LOUISA HANNOUCENE STAFF WRITER
MARLENE ORANTES STAFF WRITER
Local artisans and shop owners took over four locations across Foggy Bottom Saturday night for the neighborhood’s first Art All Night event. The Foggy Bottom Association, Foggy Bottom West End Main Street and GW partnered up to host a four-site event this weekend, showcasing the work of local artists and vendors from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday night. Marking the inaugural year for the Foggy Bottom branch of the annual Districtwide event, local vendors said they were able to sell their products and get the word out about their small businesses to GW students and surrounding residents. Art All Night is an annual art showcase that takes place across the District’s eight wards to celebrate local businesses, artists and vendors, transforming each participating neighborhood into an after-hours event. John George, the president of the Foggy Bottom Association and co-chair of Foggy Bottom West End Main Street, said the planning for the event started in July to strategize which local Foggy Bottom venues would be best suited to host the event. Ultimately, he said the planning committee settled on Potomac Square as a spot for a DJ set, Western Market, The George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum and Tonic at Quigley’s for an outdoor beer garden. He said Foggy Bottom’s
A shopper browses jewelry at Western Market, open late for Art All Night Foggy Bottom Saturday.
Art All Night was smaller in comparison to the events hosted in participating neighborhoods like Georgetown and Shaw that featured more stores and galleries open for attendees throughout the evening and have hosted the event in the past. Ben Sislen, the executive director of Foggy Bottom West End Main Street said he saw Art All Night as an opportunity to bolster local small businesses in Foggy Bottom, particularly highlighting establishments that have had a difficult time staying afloat post-
COVID and have garnered less willingness from community members to go out and shop, instead opting to shop online. Sislen said GW was a “natural partner” for Foggy Bottom West End Main Street in hosting the event and the University provided access to Potomac Square, where a DJ played music for attendees, as well as security and assistance in clearing the space for the event. He said in partnering with Western Market, they were able to convert the space’s monthly pop up of “What’s Happening DMV!”
ABBY BROWN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
into an indoor night market for attendees to peruse stalls of art and gifts. Aiko Suliman, owner of the crochet business Aiko Aiko Aiko, said they started their business less than a year ago and has participated in markets around the D.C. area since founding the company. Suliman said they “jumped on the opportunity” to participate when they heard the event was happening through What’s Happening DMV! on Instagram. They said they signed up for the event in June of this year when
the account reached out to them asking if they wanted to participate. Throughout the night, Suliman said most customers passing through her stand, located in front of Gigi’s Pasta, were GW students. Selling crochet plushies of objects like tomatoes, chicks and cats, Suliman said some customers told her they were excited to use the crocheted goods as keychains for their school bags. Aderinola Karunwi, owner of the handmade and ethically-sourced jewelry business Ountodun Concept, said she signed up for the
event two weeks ago. At her booth, located outside of Duke’s Grocery, she sold gold rings of varying shapes and sizes adorned with brightly colored stones. Terkeyshia Thomas, the owner of a crochet shop called Loopswithluv, said she has participated as a vendor at Art All Night for three years in other neighborhoods around the District. She said she is typically based in Georgetown but decided to stay at Western Market after having previously partnered with the What’s Happening DMV pop-up. The Textile Museum stayed open until 10 p.m., five hours past when they typically close, allowing attendees to explore the museum and participate in activities catered toward the exhibits on display. One scavenger hunt, featuring the new Weaving an Empire: Textiles of the Inka World exhibit, tasked visitors with identifying animals in the garments and tapestries displayed in the galleries on the second and third floors. Participants were asked to explore the museum and write down the animal they thought was depicted in the image. Joise Seger, a first-year graduate student studying crime scene investigation, said she visited the museum with her two roommates after receiving a flyer at the Foggy Bottom Metro station advertising the night’s events. “I think we were all just like ‘Let’s go do something and not be in the house and do bonding activities’,” Seger said. “We all like art, so I feel like it makes sense for our interests to go check out.”
SPORTS
September 14, 2026 • Page 8
SPORTS
Former Rev Robbie Lavey swings for the fences in first months of pro ball MILO ROSENZWEIG SPORTS EDITOR
Since the San Diego Padres selected catcher Robbie Lavey in the MLB Draft in July, the former Revolutionary has already begun climbing the ranks in the minor leagues. Lavey, who was selected in the fourth round of the draft as the No. 124 pick — the highest spot a Rev has been chosen in program history — on July 11, was assigned to the Padres’ affiliate in the Arizona Complex League of the Rookie Leagues on July 27. But nearly two weeks after being activated by the ACL Padres, on Aug. 11, Lavey was promoted to the Fort Wayne TinCaps, the team’s High-A affiliate, skipping over the Single-A level altogether. Just two months into his professional career, Lavey has had to reckon with the leap in intensity from collegiate play to professional baseball. “It requires you to be more consistent with your approach, with your plan, with just everything,” Lavey said. “Mentally, you have to be very focused, and if you’re not, you’re going to get exposed.” Lavey was activated by the ACL Padres on July 29 and said he headed to Peoria, Arizona, to join the team for “bridge camp,” a training session that allows recent draft selections to face off against one another. But after two weeks, Lavey said he received the news that he was being sent to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to play with the Padres’ High-A affiliate. “I’m just kind of along for the ride and trying to do everything I can to put myself in the best situation to play in the big leagues,” Lavey said. And in the stretch that followed, culminating in the end of the minor league season on Sept. 6, Lavey’s impact and development were noticeable. In 63 plate appearances over 16 games, playing both behind the dish and as the designated hitter, Lavey recorded 14 hits, homering twice, notching five doubles and driving in 12 runs. He finished the season with a .241 batting average, .302 on-base
percentage and .733 OPS. In Lavey’s second game with the TinCaps, on Aug. 14 against the Quad Cities River Bandits, the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, he stepped up to the plate against lefthanded pitcher Mason Miller, the TinCaps ahead 3-2. Behind in a 1-2 count, Lavey laced a liner over the right-field fence, giving the then-20year-old his first professional hit and home run in the same swing. The first evening of September saw the TinCaps’ begin their final series of the year against the Lansing Lugnuts, the High-A affiliate of MLB’s Athletics. Tied 4-4 in the top of the 11th inning, Lavey hammered a shot to right-center, bringing two runners around to score. Lavey said the adjustment to High-A professional baseball forced him to reckon with more physical and mental intensity as competition improved and stadium attendance rose. “There’s just a lot more eyes on you,” Lavey said. “We were playing in Fort Wayne, and there’s around 6,000 to 8,000 people at every home game. It’s all the same game, but it’s just everything is a little bit faster.” Lavey added that offensive woes in his second week in Fort Wayne, when he struck out 11 times in five games, showed him firsthand the heightened preparation minor league baseball demands. GW baseball’s Head Coach Gregg Ritchie praised Lavey’s mental fortitude, saying that Lavey would bring the same “winning mentality” to the Padres. “GW Baseball and the San Diego Padres have a person that is talented, loyal and loves his organization,” Ritchie said in an email. Lavey said Ritchie has been there to encourage him and has emphasized the importance of marrying competition with enjoyment. “I think that’s the biggest thing that he harps on for me is just making sure that I’m enjoying the process, just as much as you know, just going, trying to get it,” Lavey said.
LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Former catcher and first baseman Robbie Lavey watches from the dugout during a game against Georgetown in April.
THE GW HATCHET
GAMES CRUNCH
vs. La Salle on Sept. 19 | 2:00 p.m.
vs. Georgetown on Sept. 16 | 7:00 p.m.
OF THE WEEK
NUMBER
MEN’S SOCCER
WOMEN’S SOCCER
2.74
Volleyball’s junior outside hitter Cayla Cogan’s average kills per set.
Lacrosse enters fall ball exhibition slate set to sharpen young core, integrate new recruits MATTHEW CINQUE STAFF WRITER
SOPHIA CAPUTO
CONTRIBUTING SPORTS EDITOR
Coming off their best conference finish in three years, lacrosse is using its fall exhibition matches to find its footing after losing a historic group of graduated seniors and integrating a large newcomer class into its young core. After graduating nine seniors, including all-time draw control leader Stella Ray and single-season scoring record holder Grace Curry, Head Coach Colleen McCaffrey has brought in eight freshmen and three transfer students and eyed a slate of step-up sophomores with hopes to keep climbing up Atlantic 10 rankings. With a younger core, the Revolutionaries are using their fall ball exhibition slate, including their win on Saturday against the Italian National Team, to establish new gameplan tactics and find new leaders on the field. Last season, the Revs surpassed pre-season expectations by finishing two spots higher than the A-10 preseason poll predicted, carrying a 9-7 overall record and a 4-5 mark in conference play into the A-10 Championship playoffs as the No. 6 seed. Although their playoff run ended with a 10-7 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 seed St. Bonaventure, six players made the All-Conference list. Now, lacrosse is tasked with sustaining that forward trajectory despite the graduating core of that playoff roster. Like last season, a large number of new players have joined the Revs, including eight freshmen and three transfer students. “This class has already proven that athletically and fitness-wise, they are kind of setting the standard, if not increasing it,” McCaffrey said. One area where McCaffrey is seeking freshmen contributions is the draw circle, a phase of play she sought to improve upon last season. McCaffrey pointed to freshman Megan Metty and returning sophomore Natalie Vernona as players who can help the Revs with draw controls. Last season, the team struggled with draw controls, recording 165 total, compared to their A-10 opponents’ average of 207. Ray took a step back last season to mentor newer players on the face-off, recording 43 draw controls, down from 79 the previous season. “It will still be an area of focus, absolutely, because without possession, we can’t control the face of the game,” McCaffrey said. “But I was very happy with how we improved
KRIS PARK | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Junior midfielder Ava St. Jeanos fends off an opponent for the ball during Saturday’s game against the Italian National Team.
throughout last spring, and I just hope to continue to improve there.” McCaffrey also expects several returning players to make individual leaps in their respective roles, including sophomore attacker Mia Milkowski and sophomore midfielders Daisen Iwan and Maggie Pond. McCaffrey pointed to Milkowski, the first lacrosse freshman to be named A-10 Rookie of the Year since 2009, as stepping up as a mentor and goal-scorer. Milkowski’s impressive freshman campaign was highlighted by 36 goals, a team-high 30 assists and being named A-10 Rookie of the Week on four occasions, the most of any rookie in the conference last season. “She already was the rookie of the year last year, but she is a leader and quarterback of the offense,” McCaffrey said. “She will step into a new role this season as even more of a prolific goal scorer.” Alongside Milkowski’s growing presence on the attack, McCaffrey noted that Pond is primed for a breakout year as a physical anchor in the midfield, as she’s shown very promising results since returning to Foggy Bottom this fall. McCaffrey said Pond, who scored a hat-trick against St. Bonaventure in the A-10 quarterfinals, was a reliable player for the Revs last season in a utility role, doing whatever the team needed her to. Another player who is expected to take a larger role this season is Iwan, who joined her teammate Milkowski on the A-10 All-Rookie Team last season and appeared in all 17 matches as a starting midfielder. Iwan finished her breakout season with 21 goals, 53 draw controls and 26 ground balls. As younger players step into the spotlight, the coaching staff is also leaning on established upperclassmen like junior Mimi Walters to help carry the
offensive load left behind by graduating seniors. Walters finished last season with 9 total points on 6 goals and 3 assists, highlighted by a score in the A-10 Quarterfinals against St. Bonaventure. Defensively, she contributed 11 ground balls, four caused turnovers and three draw controls. As McCaffrey’s squad opened its fall ball slate on Saturday, they faced an international opponent in the U20 Italian National Team. The Revs narrowly defeated Italy 13-12 in a back-and-forth battle, with goals from Iwan and Milkowski and a focus on transitional attacks in the third and fourth quarters helping put Italy away. It took some time for the Revs to adjust to the game’s Olympic-style format, compared to normal NCAA rules, as the first two quarters were closely battled. The Revs found some rhythm in the second quarter with Iwan’s goal as a highlight as she brushed past Italian defenders before rifling the ball into the left-hand netting. Despite Italy ending the third quarter only down 8-10 and outscoring the Revs in the fourth quarter 4-3, GW’s athleticism would help them preserve the lead, as they pressed Italy high up the field, disrupting the opposing attack and seeing out the game 13-12. The team will face tough competition in the rest of the fall ball matches, including a matchup against Georgetown University on Sep. 27. In October, the Revs are scheduled to play two separate doubleheaders. During the team’s first doubleheader, the Revs will play Division III powerhouse Gettysburg College and East Stroudsburg University, a strong Division II program that went 20-2 last season. Their schedule also features two Patriot League opponents, Bucknell University and Lafayette College.
Returning stars, fresh faces propel cross country through September meets ETHAN TSAI STAFF WRITER
Men’s and women’s cross country started their seasons strong with a sweep in their opening meet on Sept. 4 before battling hard for first place in the varsity races on Saturday, but falling to second place in 3 of 4 races. Both teams placed first overall at the Piper Cross Country Challenge in Shippensburg, Pa. on Sept. 4, topping a crowded field of regional programs including Messiah University, Dickinson College, Elizabethtown College and host Shippensburg
University. A week later, at the Cantello Invitational in Annapolis, Md., the Revolutionaries faced a tougher Division I field that included the U.S. Naval Academy, Georgetown University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Loyola Maryland on Saturday and placed second overall. GW came in first for the men’s 6K in Shippensburg last weekend on the backs of a 18:45.2 time from Charles Mwangi and a 19:01.7 time from senior Brayden Bayek. Freshman Diego Eseverri distinguished himself in the opening meet in
LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Junior middle distance and distance runner Hadley Mahoney crosses the finish line in the women’s 6k race.
Shippensburg, crossing the line to finish sixth at 19:20.8, just five seconds behind Revs sophomore and fourthplace runner Otto Erhart, who is coming off a breakout freshman season. The women’s team also pulled off a victory in their 4K in Shippensburg, led by Hadley Mahoney with a second-place time of 14:16.7 and all-conference junior Bohan with a 14:35.9 time, good for third. Graduate student Alexandra Otto showed the roster’s depth on the women’s side by taking fourth in the women’s 4K in Shippensburg with a
time of 14:42.9. She finished close behind 2025 AllConference junior Claire Bohan and ahead of senior Lola Dinneen, carving a spot for herself in the Revs’ main lineup. On Saturday in Annapolis, Mwangi also led the charge in the men’s varsity 4.9 mile with a winning time at 24:05.0, but the Revs were bested by Navy, who had three runners sandwiched between him and Bayek, who placed fifth. Freshman Declan Mansbridge led the Revs in the men’s open 5K in Annapolis with a time of 16:15.1, good for second
LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Competitors begin the women’s 6k race at Saturday’s Cantello Invitational hosted by the Naval Academy.
place. Eseverri continued to impress in the 5K with a third-place time of 16:18.9. Mahoney helped the Revs get their only win in Annapolis in the women’s varsity 6K with a first place time of 21:39.8. In the women’s open 5K, freshman Emma Ward took second with a time of 19:12.4, just ahead of veteran junior Deirdre Kenny at a time of 19:24.9. Last season, women’s cross country exceeded expectations in the A-10, initially ranked No. 5 in the preseason coaches poll before a breakout season by Mahoney and top 15 placements by graduated
runner Mitchell, senior Dinneen and junior Bohan in the A-10 championship. Conference coaches seemed to have taken note this preseason, ranking the women’s team second in the conference only behind four-time champions Loyola Chicago. Men’s cross country finished No. 6 in the championship meet last season, and has accordingly been ranked at No. 6 in this preseason’s coach’s poll. The Revs will next travel to A-10 opponent Richmond to compete in the Richmond Invitational nearly three weeks away on Oct. 2.
LEXI CRITCHETT | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Members of the GW cross country team take an early lead in the men’s 8k race at Saturday’s Cantello Invitational hosted by the Naval Academy.