Monday, April 17, 2023 I Vol. 119 Iss. 26
WWW.GWHATCHET.COM
INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904
What’s inside Opinions
The editorial board discusses proposed Title IX participation regulations on transgender student-athletes. Page 6
Culture
Recap Maude Latour’s “chaotic” Spring Fling performance in the University Student Center. Page 7
GWPD to arm supervising officers with handguns by fall ERIKA FILTER
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
GRACE CHINOWSKY ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The Board of Trustees has directed the University to arm GW Police Department officers, according to an email interim University President Mark Wrighton sent to the GW community Thursday. Wrighton said in an interview with The Hatchet that GWPD will arm roughly 20 of about 50 total GWPD officers with 9 mm handguns in response to heightened gun violence in the United States, including recent school shootings at colleges like Michigan State University and the University of Virginia. Wrighton’s email states after more than a year of “careful consideration,” officials will arm “specially trained” GWPD officers who RAPHAEL KELLNER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER can immediately respond to Interim University President Mark Wrighton’s email states after more than a year of “careful consideration,” officials will arm developing emergencies, which “specially trained” GW Police Department officers. they currently defer to armed officers in other departments. Wrighton said police need cational institutions, including GWPD Chief James Tate Wrighton said the Univer- to be prepared to respond to higher education institutions, said the armed officers will sity’s “densely populated set- “huge stressors” in society and very seriously affected.” have a rank of sergeant or highting” creates a need to arm at GW today involving people The shootings at UVA last er, and many in the group are GWPD officers, who are famil- struggling with mental illness. November and MSU in Febru- already certified to carry fireiar with GW’s campus and com“You see in the news, sadly, ary each killed three students arms from when they worked munity. He said arming officers virtually every day, violence and wounded two and five, re- in other police departments would allow the department to that stems from the use of spectively, sparking new calls and agencies before coming to respond to emergencies more guns,” Wrighton said in the in- to address campus violence GWPD. quickly if agencies receive in- terview. “We know that this is across the country and to recreased calls for service. See OFFICERS Page 5 a huge problem. I’ve seen edu- analyze gun control laws.
Faculty senators frustrated with lack of transparency CAITLIN KITSON
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
EÓIGHAN NOONAN
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
Faculty senators responded to the Board of Trustees’ decision to arm GW Police Department officers during the Faculty Senate meeting Friday, a move some senators called “tone-deaf” and a detriment to shared governance principles. Provost Chris Bracey said the Board started considering whether to arm GWPD officers in June 2022 and made the final decision during the February board meeting in response to widespread gun violence across the United States and on college campuses, like the shooting at Michigan State University earlier that month. Senators said the Board’s decision to arm roughly 20 GWPD officers with 9 mm handguns by the fall “reflects poorly” on GW’s commitment to shared governance because trustees only notified the senate’s Executive Committee in February that they were discussing the issue before briefing the committee Tuesday about their final decision. “It was February when the Board was meeting, a significant period of time had passed, there are incidents at other colleges and universities,” Bracey said in an interview following
the Friday senate meeting. “I imagined the Board wanted to make a decision.” Sarah Wagner, a faculty senator and professor of anthropology, said the Board’s direction to arm GWPD officers appears to be a “top-down decision” made by the administration without consulting faculty and students. Interim University President Mark Wrighton said in his email announcing the Board’s decision to the GW community Monday that the University is working with 21CP Solutions, Inc., a law enforcement consulting firm, “to help guide its planning” to arm officers. “There is also an in-house firm that is the faculty and students,” Wagner said at the meeting. “I just question the extent to which we were consulted in this process, a decision that’s been made as we hear and that’s been emailed to us. And now we’re talking about the implementation. We are not talking about the decision itself.” Wagner said she is “alarmed” by the Board’s decision because it increases the number of weapons on campus. D.C. has 547 police officers per 100,000 people, the highest rate of police per capita of any U.S. city with a population over 250,000, according to WUSA9. See FACULTY Page 5
Student groups to protest decision to arm GWPD ERIKA FILTER
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
At least half a dozen student organizations will protest the University’s decision to arm about 20 GW Police Department officers Monday afternoon. Protesters will gather with signs, banners and drums in Kogan Plaza at 1 p.m. Monday and march down F Street to condemn the Board of Trustees’ decision to arm GWPD officers starting this fall. “This is an attack on black and brown students,” the announcement post from all six student organizations reads. “This is an attack on the poor and the working class. This is
an attack on D.C. residents, who will almost certainly be brutalized by an armed GWPD.” Sunrise GW, Students Against Imperialism, Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, GW Black Defiance and GW Dissenters – along with the Districtbased group Shut Down DC, a grassroots social justice organization – have each promoted the protest. Posters promoting the protest appeared on lampposts and electrical boxes throughout campus Friday night. “TELL WRIGHTON AND TRUSTEES: NO GUNS 4 GWPD!” the posters state.
CAROLINE MOORE | PHOTOGRAPHER Interim University President Mark Wrighton announced plans Thursday to equip roughly 20 GWPD officers with 9 mm handguns by the fall semester.
Sports
Read a profile of graduate student guard Brendan Adams as his basketball career at GW closes. Page 8
ANC chair resigns from post amid scrutiny about criminal history GRACE CHINOWSKY ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
NICK PASION
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
The chair of Foggy Bottom’s local governing body is stepping down from his leadership position after The Hatchet reported last week that he is registered as a sex offender in Florida. Joel Causey, the chair of the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said in an email Friday to local leaders including ANC commissioners and Ward 2 D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto that he decided to resign from his role as chair to avoid being a “distraction” from the work of the ANC. Causey was convicted in 1998 for “lewd and lascivious acts – sexual battery” involving a boy under 16 years old in Jacksonville, Florida between 1995 and 1996, according to Duval County, Florida court documents. Causey’s email does not state he plans to leave the ANC, despite his decision to step back from the chair position. He currently represents single-member district 2A06, which encompasses the northeast corner of the West End, including The Savoy, Call Your Mother Deli and the Ritz-Carlton. “I have decided to step down as the Chair,” Causey said in the email obtained by The Hatchet. “I will continue to work to make a positive impact on the community that I care about so deeply.” Florida court documents from Broward and Duval counties show prosecutors filed at least 27 criminal charges against Causey from 1994 through 1997, including using false checks to obtain property worth less than $150 and a possession of methamphetamines charge, to which he pleaded no contest. He said he has worked to “make amends” for his “serious mistakes” over the past 25 years. Causey has no criminal charges in the District, according to court records. He is not listed on D.C.’s sex offender registry. Causey did not immediately return a request for comment about his decision to step down as chair. In response to the revelation of Causey’s criminal history earlier this month, commissioners Jim Malec and Yannik Omictin called for Causey to resign from his position. As chair, Causey presided over the body representing roughly 18,000 D.C. constituents, which include President Joe Biden. D.C. law states the ANC’s vice chair must fill the chair position in the case of a vacancy. Malec, who has served as the ANC’s vice chair since January, said he plans to resign as chair in the “near future” after he is able to ensure a “smooth transition” of power, according to an email he sent to ANC commissioners and other D.C. officials Friday, which The Hatchet obtained. He addressed the email to Causey as a reply to his announcement to the commission about his plans to step down as chair. Malec said he plans to back out of the chair role because he would “directly benefit” from Causey’s resignation, which he called for earlier this month when he was next in line for the job. “Our constituents must have confidence that we are always acting with integrity on behalf of the community, not on behalf of ourselves,” Malec said in the email.
Arielle Geismar elected SA president as student voter turnout continues descent ERIKA FILTER
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
HANNAH MARR STAFF WRITER
Residence Hall Association President Arielle Geismar was elected president of the Student Association Saturday, concluding a campaign season marked by
ballot disputes and Student Court cases. Joint Elections Commissioner Fatima Konte said Geismar received 60.5 percent of students’ votes after 32 rounds of eliminating candidates through rankedchoice voting. Geismar pledged during her campaign to highlight sexual assault resources on campus,
SAGE RUSSELL | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Geismar pledged to highlight sexual assault resources on campus, push to hire more mental health counselors and facilitate roundtables between administrators and students.
push to hire more mental health counselors and facilitate roundtables between administrators and students. “To the students, thank you so much for your support,” Geismar said in an interview. “I believe this position is a vehicle to uplift student voices, and at the end of the day, that’s what I’ll be doing. My ears are always open. My goal is to uplift the work that students are doing, and I am beyond excited and honored to be able to do that.” Student voter turnout dropped from last year’s near-record low, falling to 2,190 voters in this year’s election – 500 fewer than last year’s total of 2,690 votes, according to the JEC’s unverified election results, which The Hatchet obtained. About 8.5 percent of eligible students voted in this year’s election. SA Senate Chairperson Pro Tempore Demetrius Apostolis defeated SA Trea-
surer Arya Thakur in the vice presidential race, securing 52.17 percent of the vote in the first round of voting. Apostolis said he plans to expand dining options, improve the SA’s financial transparency and make the SA a more welcoming environment. Apostolis said he is looking forward to “being a voice for students” in his new role as vice president. “The one thing I would like to say is we’re just getting started,” Apostolis said. “It’s the time that we’re able to really put our best foot forward. I’m super excited to meet with students from across the campus to make sure that students are supported.” SA Sen. Rami Hanash Jr., GWSB-U, received the second-highest share of votes in the presidential race and reached 39.5 percent of the vote in the final round, according to the election results. Former SA senior
SAGE RUSSELL | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
policy adviser Edy Koenigs and former SA transportation secretary Nathan Orner came in fourth and fifth places in the presidential race, respectively. Hanash said while the results of the SA presidential election were not what he wanted, he feels he gave “100 percent” throughout the campaign process. He said Geismar will be able to bring students together during her
term as president, and he “wishes her the best.” “I’d like to thank everybody who voted for me, who reached out, supported me in any way during this campaign,” Hanash said in an interview. “It means the world, and I couldn’t have done it without each and every single one of those people who supported me.” See CANDIDATES Page 5