The GW
HATCHET
January 12, 2026 Vol. 122 Iss. 16
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
GW appears to emerge unscathed from early impacts of demographic cliff: data GIANNA JAKUBOWSKI ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Preliminary University data suggests that GW has effectively expanded student outreach and recruitment efforts to mitigate the early impacts of a national enrollment decline that has forced dozens of schools across the country to shutter and put droves more at risk. Ahead of a demographic cliff that the higher education sector broadly understood would begin in 2025, officials since 2020 have implemented national outreach measures
and increased recruitment efforts in 14 states, while maintaining efforts in its top recruitment states, like New York, New Jersey and California, Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success Jay Goff said — a move that has kept the GW’s number of early domestic undergraduate applicants on track with previous years. Experts in higher education enrollment said GW’s tactics have safeguarded the University from feeling the financial effects of the demographic cliff by helping preserve tuition revenue, also
adding that GW’s strong student interest and reputation have provided an additional level of financial padding. “Our post-pandemic approach to domestic student recruitment built on GW’s strong academic reputation combined with interestbased national outreach efforts, and careful attention to potential student fit,” Goff said in an email. “That balance has helped the University remain very competitive while continuing to attract a more highly engaged undergraduate population from throughout the country.”
Nine out of 10 of the states that saw the largest growth in undergraduate enrollment since fall 2020 were states in which officials over the last five years purposefully increased recruitment efforts to offset the demographic cliff, including Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, North Carolina, Minnesota and Connecticut. Of the nine states, Virginia, Maryland and Illinois’ enrollment increased the largest at 520, 212 and 54 students, respectively. See EXPERTS Page 3
NICHOLAS WARE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success Jay Goff at a Faculty Senate meeting last month.
MPD investigating student death in 1959 E Street JENNA LEE
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Editor’s note: This post contains references to a student death. If you or someone you know is in need of support, resources are available through GW’s Counseling and Psychological Services, TimelyCare and the Employee Assistance Program. If you have any additional information or questions about the reporting behind the story, please contact eic@gwhatchet.com.
MATHYLDA DULIAN | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
A Metropolitan Police Department officer on campus during a bomb threat in October.
Foggy Bottom crime slumped in 2025 amid federal probe into MPD statistics BRYSON KLOESEL
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
Reported crime in Foggy Bottom and the West End fell 24.4 percent in 2025, a year marked by federal probes into D.C.’s crime data and President Donald Trump taking command of the city’s police, sending in the National Guard and claiming he eliminated crime. Metropolitan Police Department data for 2024 and 2025 show declining property crime incidents within the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission boundaries accounted for most of the overall decrease, even as violent crime — including homicide, robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and sex abuse — rose from 10 to 22 incidents in
the neighborhood, in contrast to a 28.5 percent drop in violent crime across Ward 2. The decline comes as federal lawmakers investigate MPD officials for allegedly manipulating crime statistics and six months after Trump federalized MPD for 30 days and deployed over 2,000 National Guard troops across the District, citing “out of control crime” in the city. Crime in Ward 2 dropped by 503 incidents, or 10.6 percent, from 2024 to 2025, falling from 4,726 to 4,223 reports. In Foggy Bottom, the number of crime incidents fell by 107, from 438 to 331 incidents. MPD crime statistics are subject to revision due to continuing investigations, and numbers from past years may change as incidents are reclassified or updated, according
to MPD’s Daily Crime Report. House Republicans and President Donald Trump have put D.C. crime statistics under a federal microscope since August, when Trump stated his suspicion and intent to investigate whether MPD leaders pressed officers to manipulate data by reclassifying crimes like assault with a dangerous weapon to a lesser offense, like endangerment with a firearm, which would not appear on the public-facing Daily Crime Report. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform in late August launched an investigation into MPD’s efforts to manipulate and lower crime statistics, requesting a bevy of MPD documents and interviews with all seven commanders of the District’s police force. The committee’s Republican
majority released an interim report last month alleging MPD leadership pressured commanders to classify incidents into “intermediate” categories that don’t appear in the Daily Crime Report, while the Democrats on the committee said ongoing investigations and the report’s preliminary nature caused the changes, releasing their own report in opposition. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser briefly mentioned the overall decline in crime during a press conference in December between questions about the Republican House Oversight Committee report, which they released the day prior. “People are very clear about the precipitous decline in crime in the District — from murder, shootings, homicides, you name it,” Bowser said.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the death of a male student at 1959 E Street after D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services pronounced him dead in a residence room Friday morning. MPD, FEMS and the GW Police Department responded to a report of an adult male “unconscious and not breathing” at the 1959 E Street residence hall at approximately 9:46 a.m. Friday. Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Colette Coleman confirmed in an email to the GW community Saturday afternoon that the individual — whom FEMS pronounced dead after finding him unconscious and unresponsive — was a student. An MPD spokesperson said the department does not suspect foul play and has classified the case as a death investigation. MPD declined to comment on the cause of the medical issue, and Coleman did not disclose that information in her email. The email also did not specify the location of the death. “The loss of one of our own will be felt by many across our GW community,” Coleman wrote in the email. “In addition to the University’s resources, in this difficult time, I want to emphasize the importance of each of us supporting one another and extending care to those who need it.” Cheryl Crawley, GWPD’s interim captain of operations, said in a statement to The Hatchet Friday afternoon that the 1959 E Street area is safe for normal business, and there is no threat to the community.
Hundreds protest outside White House over fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis GIANNA JAKUBOWSKI ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Saturday to condemn President Donald Trump’s expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations after an agent in Minneapolis fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three. The protest, organized by Refuse Fascism as part of the nationwide “ICE Out for Good Weekend of Action,” began at 1 p.m. on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House before demonstrators marched along Constitution Avenue to the south side of the complex. Speakers and chanting protesters called for the abolition of ICE and the removal of Trump from WHAT’S
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office, with demonstrators denouncing the agency as the “new Gestapo” and the administration as a “fascist regime” in the wake of the fatal shooting of Good by an ICE officer during the Trump administration’s latest immigration enforcement operation. “In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America,” protesters chanted. “Trump must go now. ICE must go now.” Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Wednesday during an encounter in South Minneapolis, which federal officials have characterized as self-defense. Video footage of the incident shows Good in her car speaking with Ross before she started driving away and turned her steering
NEWS Ward 2 came up short of D.C.’s 2025 affordable housing targets, which local leaders warn reflects uneven distribution. Page 3
wheel to the right, at which point the agent fired his gun and killed her. The opening rally before the march began at 1 p.m. with a series of speeches from organizers and D.C. lawmakers who condemned the Trump administration for ICE’s increased immigration enforcement. Kelly Mikel Williams, chairperson for Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8E who’s running for Congress, called the protesters at the event “true patriots” who refuse to allow an “authoritarian, tyrannical, fascist regime” to hurt American democracy. “We are the people, and we will not bow down to an ignorant ideology that puts white supremacy against our morals, our values and our Constitution,” Williams said.
JERRY LAI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Demonstrators hold up anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement signs during Saturday’s protest.
OPINIONS The editorial board urges the GW community to strengthen campus connections during a time of uncertainty. Page 4
CULTURE Two Washington National Opera musicians who also teach at GW supported the opera’s decision to leave the Kennedy Center. Page 5
SPORTS Men’s basketball surged past Loyola Chicago on Saturday, rebounding from a tough loss to Dayton. Page 6