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Monday, September 25, 2023 I Vol. 120 Iss. 6 INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904
What’s inside Opinions
The editorial board argues GW’s dining system is complicated and needs a clear vision. Page 6
Culture
Teashi finds a new home after being ousted from Shenkman Hall. Page 7
Sports
Men’s club ice hockey fell 0-3 to Georgetown Sunday. Page 8
Graduation gap between Pell and non-Pell students closes
Lack of prehealth advisers leaves students feeling lost
IANNE SALVOSA
RACHEL MOON
NEWS EDITOR
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
Students who entered GW in 2016 and received Pell Grants graduated at the same rate as those who did not, according to new institutional data. Students who entered the University in 2016 had a six-year graduation rate of 84.8 percent, closing the gap in graduation rates between students eligible and ineligible for the Pell Grant, according to the Department of Education. DOE data shows the lack of a gap between Pell-eligible and nonPell-eligible students is an improvement from students who entered GW in 2013, which showed students were 7 percent more likely to graduate if they were not eligible for the grants. Pell Grants are federal aid awards given to students with high financial need, which is calculated from their expected family contribution toward tuition and a university’s cost of attendance. The six-year graduation date is a common measurement point for academic metrics since it’s the average time taken to earn a bachelor’s degree. The graduation rate gap between Pell-eligible and non-Pell-eligible students at GW shrunk to 2.6 percent for students who entered in 2014 — when 85.5 percent of non-Pell students graduated, compared to Pell students’ 82.9 percent graduation rate — and swelled to 6.9 percent for 2015’s entrants. University spokesperson Julia Metjian said GW supports Pell students through programs like a new summer recovery academy for students who were not meeting their “academic progress goals” and “success coaches” for students who are struggling academically.
The University no longer employs an adviser assigned to students preparing for graduate and professional education in health care, leaving prehealth students feeling lost while developing course schedules and seeking career opportunities. University spokesperson Julia Metjian said GW is working to “expedite” its search for an adviser after employing two last semester. In the meantime, the shortage has reduced the availability of advising appointments and pre-health information sessions, causing students to worry they will miss out on crucial guidance when preparing to apply to medical school. Metjian said the director of undergraduate advising is currently working as an interim pre-health adviser. Students can schedule a “general” appointment with an unnamed adviser through the pre-health advising website after it previously offered one-on-one virtual and in-person appointments with individual advisers last semester. The website, which encourages students to meet with pre-health advisers to prepare to apply for postgraduation health programs and plan their undergraduate coursework, does not have any appointments available through October. Pre-health students said there is limited availability for advising appointments this fall and that there has been a lack of timely responses to emails they send to the pre-health advising office. Students reported feeling worried that the lack of pre-health advising could hurt their chances of getting into medical school post graduation.
See PELL-ELIGIBLE Page 4
JENNIFER IGBONOBA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Students toed soccer balls across the bricks of Kogan Plaza last week during the Organization of Latin American Student’s kick-off for Hispanic Heritage Month.
Student organizations celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month FIONA BORK
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
LIZZIE JENSEN STAFF WRITER
Latin American and Hispanic student organizations said they plan to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month this year through events celebrating their culture’s music, food and traditions aimed at bringing community members together. The annual monthlong celebration, which began Sept. 15 — the day several Latin American countries won their independence
Officials close Public Health Lab after COVID national emergency ends RORY QUEALY
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Officials shut down GW’s Public Health Lab in June, ending on-campus COVID testing operations and halting the development of at-home sexually transmitted infection test kits. University spokesperson Julia Metjian said officials closed the lab following the cancellation of on-campus COVID testing and contact tracing protocols, which were wound down in May in response to the federal government ending the national COVID public health emergency. The lab’s closure puts a potential end to a project of developing free at-home STI kits, which the lab was fundraising for earlier this year. Metjian said the Milken Institute School of Public Health incorporated the lab’s remaining equipment into its facilities. In March 2021, officials used $9.2 million in federal stimulus funds to offset the cost of GW’s COVID testing apparatus. “Equipment has been absorbed into the SPH Labs shared infrastructure,” Metjian said in an email. “It will be used in support of ongoing projects, and
will be accessible to researchers at GW that may wish to use it.” The Public Health Lab opened in August 2020 to process GW community members’ required regular COVID tests, but as time passed, officials began dialing back COVID-related restrictions on campus, including required testing. In May, the lab was fundraising to develop free at-home STI tests as the number of COVID tests the lab processed dropped from 3,000 per day in the 2021-2022 academic year to 300 per week last academic year, according to former lab staff. Metjian didn’t specify what will happen to the STI kits after the facility’s closure. The Hatchet scheduled an interview with former Public Health Lab manager Jack Villani to discuss the lab’s closure, but Milken officials postponed the interview due to internal media procedures. When asked to comment further, Villani said Metjian’s statement to The Hatchet reflected any information he would’ve shared in an interview. Metjian did not specify why the lab closed and declined to comment on what happened to the lab’s staff members after its closure.
FILE PHOTO BY DANIELLE TOWERS | SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER The Public Health Lab opened in August 2020 to process community members’ required COVID tests.
— honors the community’s achievements and contributions within the United States. Student organizations said they will celebrate the month with programming that embrace the Multicultural Student Services Center’s theme, Ritmos y Raíces — rhythms and roots — by highlighting music in Hispanic culture. The MSSC is hosting Latin Heritage Celebration events to include all people from Latin American countries in programming in addition to Hispanic people, who are from Spanishspeaking countries.
Executive board members of the GW Organization of Latin American Students said celebrating the month each year provides a chance for the Latino community to come together and celebrate accomplishments in the U.S. “We’re part of this community in the United States that we’ve contributed so much in through our accomplishments, our culture as well as our pride in being Latino,” said sophomore Axcel Sanchez, the director of event programming for OLAS. See LATINO Page 4
See PRE-HEALTH Page 5
GW ‘monitoring’ impact of potential government shutdown HANNAH MARR
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
GW will “operate normally” if the government shuts down, officials said Friday. Officials said in an email to community members that they are monitoring a federal spending bill that if not passed by Sept. 30, will trigger a partial shutdown of the federal government. The email states that the shutdown will not affect students’ financial aid but may delay “military-affiliated” students’ education and tuition assistance packages, which are offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. In response to hiccups related to the shutdown, GW’s Office of Military and Veteran Services will contact students and can provide “emergency funding,” the email states. “In the event of a government shutdown, other impacts to the University community would vary depending on the length of a shutdown,” the email states. “The University will monitor and continue to provide updates in the coming days.” The government will continue
FILE PHOTO BY ALLISON ROBBERT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER The government will continue “essential” services in the case of a shutdown, including the postal service, some Social Security benefits and the IRS.
“essential” services in the case of a shutdown, including the postal service, some Social Security benefits and the IRS. Government employees considered essential would also keep working but would not be paid during the shutdown. Employees considered “non-essential” could be furloughed and would not work or be paid. During the 2018-19 shutdown,
which lasted 35 days, students reported they were out of work at their government internships. A shutdown would also cause the closure of federal museums in the D.C. area. A near-shutdown in 2021 nearly disrupted the fall Commencement meant to honor the Classes of 2020 and 2021, but lawmakers reached a funding deal in time to prevent a shutdown.
Officials to discontinue two Elliott master’s programs amid low enrollment, hiring difficulties FIONA RILEY
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The Elliott School of International Affairs will eliminate a pair of stand-alone master’s degree programs. Officials will phase out the European and Eurasian Studies and Latin American and Hemispheric Studies programs over the next two academic years and will stop accepting new applicants this fall, according to emails from Elliott School Dean Alyssa Ayres that were obtained by The Hatchet. An email states that officials are discontinuing the programs due to low enrollment, narrow financial viability and difficulty retaining full-time faculty. “The direct and indirect costs of such expansive service obligations,
as well as the fact it disproportionately falls upon our contract faculty colleagues raising issues of equity and fairness, has to be weighed against the large number of programs we administer,” Ayres said in an Aug. 18 email to faculty that was obtained by The Hatchet. Students currently enrolled in the programs may complete the remainder of their degrees or transfer into a master of arts in international affairs, or MAIA, where they can concentrate on specific regions, including Latin America or Europe, Eurasia and Russia, according to the email. After the programs phase out, new students will no longer be able to earn region-specific degrees. Instead, they will have to earn the umbrella MAIA degree with concentrations in their preferred region.
Students pursuing the MAIA degree must complete a 12 credit concentration with either a thematic specialization — like democratic studies and global health — or a region-specific focus, including Latin America; Europe, Eurasia and Russia; the Middle East; Africa; and Asia. The former stand-alone programs required 40 credits that largely had a region-specific focus. “This shift in our administration of these specializations will not lead to personnel changes nor will it degrade our teaching in these areas,” Ayres said in the email. “We will continue to offer our students the opportunity to study these regions in depth through our MAIA program, led by our world-class faculty.” See FACULTY Page 5