The GW
HATCHET
September 9 2024 Vol. 121 Iss. 5
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
Pro-Palestinian student groups, officials resume talks on financial disclosure, divestment FIONA RILEY
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
RORY QUEALY NEWS EDITOR
GW’s Student Coalition for Palestine on Friday resumed live streamed talks with officials on financial disclosure and divestment from Israel in a meeting marked by a mutual unwillingness to shift position. Coalition representatives met with two officials from the Office of the Provost to discuss the group’s policy suggestions document, which outlines potential next steps for GW to disclose investments, divest from companies with ties to Israel and increase student involvement in GW’s financial meetings and decision making. When representatives pressed for a status update on GW’s consideration of their financial demands after meeting in May, officials responded by reiterating that GW would not commit to divestment and didn’t provide specifics about disclosure plans. “Divestment is off the table,” said Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs Teresa Murphy, one of the two officials present at the meeting. She added that investment decisions don’t get decided quickly and she’s only been involved in discussions about the coalition’s demands “for a few days.” University President Ellen Granberg said at a May meeting with representatives that officials would not commit to divesting from companies selling weapons to Israel or disclose University finances. GW’s Socialist Action Initiative, a mem-
GW to launch financial documents site in coming weeks HANNAH MARR NEWS EDITOR
“We want to know where that money is being invested in, but we also want to know where that money is coming from,” the representative said. Murphy said she would relay the coalition’s request to officials, noting that Fernandes and his team are putting together a website on University investments — an apparent reference to a website Granberg announced in May to display publicly available financial documents that she said officials would develop over the summer. In response, Feldman asked whether the website will include information on donations totaling more than $20,000, as the coalition requested.
The University expects to unveil a website displaying GW’s publicly available financial documents in a few weeks as students press officials for transparency on its financial assets. Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes said the website is in progress but declined to provide an anticipated launch date. University President Ellen Granberg said at a May Board of Trustees meeting that the website was planned to launch in the late summer and will mark a step toward providing the community with “greater clarity” on GW’s investments and funding. She said at the meeting that GW finance officials will be available to answer questions about the website’s contents following its launch. GW is required to file and publicly disclose their Form 990 annually as a nonprofit organization, where they report the University’s financial details including revenues, expenses, executive compensation and investment income. The form does not disclose investment sources. The Finance Division also publicizes the University’s audited financial statements, rating agency reviews and bond offerings, but they do not release interim or unaudited financial statements, according to their website. “Work on the financial website is still in progress, and we expect to launch the site in the next few weeks,” Fernandes said in an email. Fernandes declined to say which University officials have been involved in the website’s development and if officials consulted outside actors while compiling the site. He also declined to say if the site will include any other information besides the University’s publicly available documents. Pro-Palestinian students pushed Granberg to publicize GW’s investments in October. The Student Coalition for Palestine set up an encampment in University Yard last spring with demands that officials disclose investments and divest from companies supplying arms to Israel.
See OFFICIALS Page 5
See DOCUMENTS Page 5
SAGE RUSSELL | SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR A member of the Student Coalition for Palestinew speaks into a megaphone in front of University President Ellen Granberg’s F Street House.
ber student organization of the coalition, live streamed the meeting, which was the first time University officials have sat down with the coalition since May to discuss students’ demands and the third meeting the coalition has publicized. “What is really being said here is that divestment for Palestinians in this ongoing genocide is not doable,” a coalition representative said. Murphy and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Special Programs Jeffrey Brand said they will ask officials for more information on the University’s progress toward financial disclosure for the next meeting, which participants scheduled for Sept. 13 from 12 to 2 p.m., but they are not prepared to discuss di-
vestment. “I thought we were just talking about disclosure,” Brand said. Coalition representatives met in person in May with Granberg, Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes and Dean of Students Colette Coleman. On Friday, Murphy and Brand instead met with the coalition’s negotiations team, with one representative joining via video conference because she is barred from campus. Ilana Feldman, a professor of anthropology who has previously vocalized support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, also attended the Friday meeting alongside the coalition representatives. Coalition representatives during the meeting requested that the University disclose any
donations and academic department funding that totals more than $20,000, including money sent to institutes and centers. The representative said the sum of multiple donations from the same source should count toward the total if the sum exceeds $20,000. The representative asked that officials also disclose all externally funded research and investments that are processed through Strategic Investment Group — which they said handles a “vast majority” of GW’s pooled endowment. The endowment serves as the University’s financial base comprised of investments in stocks, real estate and other assets that officials dole out to fund scholarships, professorships, construction and additional GW projects.
GWPD concludes controversial arming rollout RYAN J. KARLIN
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
The University concluded its plan Friday to arm a portion of GW Police Department officers with 9 mm handguns, according to University release Friday. The release states that once all supervisor positions are filled, 22 officers will carry guns and that all GWPD officers are trained in handling firearms and de-escalation. The announcement comes after trustees directed the University in April 2023 to arm about 20 “specially trained” GWPD officers in response to school shootings and heightened national gun violence, a decision met with pushback from students and faculty through letters and campus protests. The release specifies that there will be 22 armed officers once vacancies are filled, but the department does not currently list any job postings on their website. The 22 officers will make up about a third of the department’s total force, according to the release. The plan to arm GWPD officers was divided into three phases, to arm the top two officers, to arm five more and finally to arm all supervising officers on the force. The University solicited feedback from community members on campus safety in May 2023 through the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, the release states. GWPD originally planned to complete the arming in April but postponed the rollout until CSAC was able to hold their first meeting. The University also solicited community feedback through the GWPD website and said in a release that they used community input to revise the original firearm implementation plan but did not state what input was used.
KAIDEN J. YU | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR The Eatery at Pelham Commons in April before renovations.
DANIEL HEUER | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR The Eatery at Pelham Commons after renovations in the summer.
Students report new food options, ‘sterile’ ambiance after Pelham dining hall revamp JACKSON RICKERT STAFF WRITER
MAGGIE RHOADS STAFF WRITER
Officials remodeled The Eatery at Pelham Commons this summer, which students said made the space more uniform with Foggy Bottom dining halls but less welcoming. The summer renovations, which officials announced in April, included a fresh paint job and new flooring, seating options and food stations, which officials placed in a circular formation around the hall’s perimeter. Dining staff said the renovations to Pelham, the dining hall on the Mount Vernon Campus, increased the variety of food options and expanded the space, while students reported more dining stations but a less intimate atmosphere due to the reconfiguration of seating. Senior Executive Chef Matenziion D’Astrii said officials renovated the space to give Pelham “a fresh new start” by updating the previous “old”
and “outdated” dining hall. D’Astrii said officials replaced carpeting with tile, removed booths to create an open concept seating layout and added new paint and cabinets with a blue and yellow color scheme. He said the upgrades to Pelham were intended to match the layouts of the two Foggy Bottom dining halls located in Thurston and Shenkman, which opened in fall 2022 and spring 2023, respectively, following GW’s transition from a Dining Dollars program to a meal swipe program in spring 2023. Officials last renovated the Pelham dining hall in summer 2018 when officials transitioned the space into an allyou-care-to-eat venue. “Everything downtown in Foggy Bottom was new, of course,” D’Astrii said. “So just bringing everything up with the times and so that everybody didn’t feel left out.” Officials also plan to open a “Just-Walk-Out Market” that allows students to access food during all hours and days of the week using self-checkout kiosks.
He said officials also added smoothies, ice cream and additional dairy milk alternatives, all of which are available at Shenkman and Thurston dining halls. Pelham now offers hot entrees at Innovation, international foods at Crave Global and pizza at 500 Degrees. The eatery also offers fried foods at Flame, allergen-free dishes at Pure Eats, sandwiches at Wrapped, desserts at Sweet Shoppe and salads at Chopp’d + Wrapp’d. “There’s a whole bunch of different things that are available now, the ice cream, the different kinds of milk, things like that,” D’Astrii said. University spokesperson Julia Metjian said in April that the renovations aimed to expand food offerings available to students. “The servery in Pelham will be refreshed to allow for more stations and more options for students to better align with the offerings of Thurston and Shenkman,” Metjian said in an April email. Students reported in April that limited food options on
the Vern forced them to travel to Foggy Bottom for meals. D.C. Health Department officials in March 2023 reported mice droppings in the dining hall’s dry storage area, opened food products, improper dating and labeling and improper temperatures for cold food. A report from later that month showed dining officials corrected the violations, and a University spokesperson said officials made all “necessary resolutions” after implementing a “corrective action plan.” “There was a big push by the end of last semester to really fix the Pelham situation,” said sophomore Donald Webster, an international affairs student who lived on the Vern last year. “Because I feel like at fall 2023 food was not very good, but by the end of spring 2024 semester, they had made great strides in fixing the food. And then when I went there last week, it was very good, I would say the food is honestly better than what I’ve had since coming back at Thurston or at Shenkman.” See PELHAM Page 5