The GW
HATCHET
April 21, 2025 Vol. 121 Iss. 26
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
Student groups call on officials to declare GW ‘sanctuary campus’ KHANH DANG STAFF WRITER
RYAN SAENZ STAFF WRITER
NICHOLAS WARE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER A student speaks to pro-Palestinian protesters on H Street by University Yard during Sunday’s protest.
JVP chapters rally against Trump’s moves to quell pro-Palestinian speech JENNA LEE
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
RORY QUEALY NEWS EDITOR
Members of Jewish Voice for Peace chapters across the D.C. region rallied in front of University Yard before marching to the F Street House on Sunday night to decry the Trump administration’s targeting of proPalestinian students and commemorate Passover. Organizers from six JVP chapters around the DMV area held a “Freedom Seder” potluck at 6:30 p.m. at a “community space” in Foggy Bottom to celebrate Passover, then gathered on H Street outside U-Yard to condemn President Donald Trump’s “fascist” regime and the ongoing war in Gaza. Speakers pointed to
the revocation of international students’ visas, “repression” of pro-Palestinian student organizing by universities and Israel’s continued bombing campaigns in Gaza as reasons for continued “resistance” across the country. Chapters of JVP — a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization that advocates for Palestinian liberation — from GW, American and George Mason universities hosted the protest as well as the University of Maryland and JVP’s D.C. metro branch. Passover — which this year lasted from April 12 to 20 — commemorates the Jewish people’s liberation from enslavement in Egypt and observers of the holiday often recount the story over a meal, called Seder. During the rally, multiple speakers criticized “modern
pharaohs” like Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a reference to the Egyptian pharaoh that enslaved Jewish people in the historical story of Passover. About 100 demonstrators gathered on H Street between 20th and 21st streets at about 8:30 p.m. after the Seder, some wearing T-shirts reading “Not in our name” and keffiyehs or holding signs saying “Liberation now” and “Never again means now.” The crowd broke into chants of “In the face of state violence, we will never be silent” between about five speeches as two organizers unraveled a banner reading “Liberation now” and “DMV Anti Zionist Jewish Students” in front of the closed gates blocking off UYard.
A group of student organizations launched a petition on Tuesday with six demands for the University to protect international students, including barring immigration and law enforcement agents from campus and protecting free speech and academic freedom. The Socialist Action Initiative, Student Coalition for Palestine, Immigrant Liberation, Jewish Voice for Peace and GW Dissenters led an online petition calling on officials to designate GW a “sanctuary campus,” which would require GW to instate policies aimed at limiting the University’s
cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The petition — which also stipulates that GW should refuse to “surveil” and report the status of international community members to immigration enforcement — came after federal agencies revoked a “small number” of international students’ visas earlier this month. Sanctuary campuses follow the model of sanctuary cities, a term coined by cities in American southwest in the 1980s that declared themselves “sanctuaries” for Central American immigrants. Sanctuary cities are characterized by policies that define the extent to which a city’s government and law enforcement will cooperate with federal immigration law officers.
The petition asks signees to indicate whether they are signing on behalf of themselves or a campus group. It is unclear how many organizations and students have signed the petition because the website does not publicly display the number of signees. A University spokesperson said GW is “aware of” the post and petition. The organizations hosted a “Sanctuary Campus Town Hall” on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Elliott School of International Affairs, where student representatives from the Socialist Action Initiative, Immigrant Liberation and the Student Coalition for Palestine led a panel discussion on Trump’s attacks on student protesters. See ORGANIZATIONS Page 5
KYRA WOOD | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Members of the Student Coalition for Palestine and the Socialist Action Initiative speak at a town hall Thursday.
Departing Milken dean leaves legacy of school expansion
Students, faculty hope new GWPD chief boosts communication, officer training
TYLER IGLESIAS
BRYSON KLOESEL
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
When Lynn Goldman became dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health in 2010, she found the school’s faculty “beleaguered” by a lack of infrastructure to support their teaching, research and day-to-day lives. She said she made it her goal to assemble the school’s leadership and determine its “issues” and ways that officials can create a strategic plan for the school’s future. Now, as Goldman prepares to depart her role on July 1 and join the school’s faculty after 15 years at the helm, she said she has been “lucky” to lead Milken during a period of growth as it fully established itself as a stand-alone school in 2011 and navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. “When I arrived here, I could see it had the potential for that, right?” Goldman said. “And so to some extent, that’s a matter of luck and serendipity.” A professor of environmental and community health, Goldman joined the University from her previous posts as a professor at Johns Hopkins University and an assistant administrator for the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. During her time as Milken dean, Goldman oversaw the school’s opening of its own building and its separation from School of Medicine & Health Sciences’ shared resources, like offices of development, research and public relations. Under her leadership, the school’s enrollment has nearly doubled, growing from 1,428 students in 2014 to 2,395 students in 2024, according to the enrollment dashboard. She also initiated a wave of new faculty recruitment, including hiring new department chairs and adding nine new full-time faculty members since 2015, according to the University’s 2025 core indicators report. Goldman said she noticed Milken was “resource-poor” when she first arrived, which hindered faculty from acting upon their ideas for the school and their research. At the beginning of her tenure, “a lot” of the school’s research funding came from private donors and foundations, Goldman said, which did not provide enough money for “F&A” or facilities and administrative costs of projects. See FACULTY Page 5
KRIS PARK | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Dean Lynn Goldman poses for a portrait in the Milken Institute School of Public Health. WHAT’S
INSIDE
NEWS Meet the GW alum who’s launched a bid to unseat a veteran Democratic representative in Illinois’ 9th congressional district. Page 3
STAFF WRITER
NATALIE NOTE STAFF WRITER
A month after the University initiated a nationwide search for the next GW Police Department chief, students and faculty say they want the force’s next leader to bolster transparency and communication following reports of departmental disarray. Officials on Wednesday announced the hiring of Public Sector Search & Consulting, a police executive search firm, which has assisted with gathering “broad input” from community members on GWPD’s next permanent leader over the past few weeks after former Chief James Tate’s resignation in October. Student leaders and faculty said they want the next chief to rebuild campus trust by meeting consistently with students and faculty and bolstering officer training — efforts that they hope will mitigate the gun safety lapses, staff turnover and lack of community engagement confirmed in a third-party GWPD review last month. Officials anticipate interviewing candidates in the coming weeks, and a description of the chief position is “forthcoming,” according to the Wednesday release. Candidates for chief will meet with University leadership, a union representing GWPD officers, members of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, the Campus Safety’s Student Advisory Board and the GW Emergency Medical Response Group during the interview process, the release states. “By collaborating with our many campus stakeholders in this search, we are prioritiz-
OPINIONS The editorial board urges GW to mirror its peers in providing specifics on the Trump administration’s recent visa revocations. Page 6
KAIDEN J. YU | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR GW Police Department officers stand outside University Yard in October.
ing greater transparency and partnership on campus safety,” interim Associate Vice President for Campus Safety Katie McDonald said in the release. McDonald’s office sent an email on March 19 — which was obtained by The Hatchet — that asked 17 “engaged stakeholders” to meet individually with representatives from the Public Sector Search & Consulting search firm to inform a “recruitment brochure” to attract candidates for chief. Invitees included Dean of Students Colette Coleman, interim Title IX Director Asha Reynolds, Director of Conflict Education and Student Accountability Christy Anthony, Associate Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Jordan West, Chief of Staff Scott Mory and Director of the Office of Advocacy and Support Elisa Davoodi. McDonald also invited Student Government Association President Ethan Fitzgerald, GWPD’s Union President Ilia Chakiashvili, three faculty members and GWPD’s top six officers.
CULTURE Learn how a faux rodent scurried its way into the Student Government Association’s elections. Page 7
University spokesperson Julia Garbitt deferred comment on the GWPD chief search to the University’s Wednesday release. She declined to comment on who is part of the GWPD Chief Search Committee and how the third-party review of the Board of Trustees’ decision to arm GWPD officers will inform the committee’s search. Dwayne Kwaysee Wright, a member of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee and professor of higher education administration, said he was one of the three faculty members the GWPD search committee reached out to last month. Wright said he spoke with representatives from Public Sector Search & Consulting about the skills, experience and “temperament” that he thinks the next chief would need to helm GWPD. Officials should look for a candidate who has previously helmed a campus police force and can navigate “various complexities” that President Donald Trump’s administration has “infected higher education with,” he said. See CHIEF Page 5
SPORTS After battling a torn ACL and undergoing chemotherapy, Garrett Johnson eyes his second comeback next season. Page 8