The GW
HATCHET
February 9, 2026 Vol. 122 Iss. 19
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
Cedar Hill staffing crisis linked to GWUHS MFA negotiations: DC leaders
Elliott School quietly scrubs online diversity references
FIONA RILEY
ARJUN SRINIVAS
HANNAH MARR
DYLAN EBS
D.C. leaders say severe staffing shortages at Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health are tied to ongoing negotiations between GW and Universal Health Services over the debt-ridden Medical Faculty Associates. Just under a year after the city opened Cedar Hill — a $434-million facility in Ward 8 staffed by MFA physicians and operated by UHS, which also runs GW Hospital — union and city leaders say it has yet to deliver on its promise of highquality care for a historically underserved Black community. Ward 7 and 8 residents say long wait times, diverted care and subpar patient experi-
The Elliott School of International Affairs over the last three months quietly took down the webpage for its annual diversity action plan, renamed a scholarship for underrepresented students and edited student testimonials to remove references to diversity and equity. The diversity plan’s webpage, which officials launched in 2019 to outline the school’s goals and strategies for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, now says it “cannot be accessed,” and University spokesperson Julia Garbitt confirmed officials deactivated the page. The school also renamed the Elliott Equity Fund — a scholarship officials established in 2022
EDITOR IN CHIEF
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
MANAGING EDITOR
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
MATHEW REIS | PHOTOGRAPHER The Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health.
ences have plagued the hospital since its opening, which leaders linked to uncertainty over the future of negotiations between GW, UHS and the MFA — the arms responsible for staffing the hospital. Those concerns come amid reports that Cedar Hill is short almost 500 employees, a deficiency
they say compromises the purpose of the new facility to provide critical healthcare — including trauma care and obstetrics — to a predominantly Black community that has long experienced poorer health outcomes and limited local care options. See DC Page 5
to support students from historically underrepresented groups — the Elliott Student Opportunities Fund and revised and deleted student testimonials to remove references to diversity and equity. Garbitt declined to comment on when officials implemented the changes, but web archives show the Elliott School lifted the diversity plan from its website sometime after Jan. 5. Officials changed the name of the scholarship online between Nov. 14 and Dec. 8, according to website archives. Officials edited or removed three alumni testimonials from the Elliott Student Opportunities Fund webpage to take out mentions of the scholarship’s former name and direct references to diversity and equity or the school’s Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion Council. The changes mark another instance of GW scaling back its use of terms like “diversity” and “equity” in public documents and events, coming off the heels of GW’s decision to rename the annual Diversity Summit the OneGW Community Summit. Students over the last few months have pointed to recent actions, like officials’ decision to leave the University’s top DEI post vacant and remove GW Law’s DEI page, signal an institutional rollback as evidence that the University is backing down on its commitment to DEI policies. The Department of Justice last month opened an investigation into GW related to DEI practices in its admissions and “related matters.” See OFFICIALS Page 5
Late-game lapses send men’s basketball down A-10 standings BEN SPITALNY
MANAGING DIRECTOR
When the clock hit zero Saturday at Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, the crowd rose to its feet as junior guard Trey Autry’s buzzer-beating 3-point attempt hung in the air, then rattled off the rim, sealing the Revolutionaries’ heartbreaking 88-86 loss. It was a valiant effort from Autry and the Revs, who raced the ball down the floor and generated a clean look with just 2.5 seconds remaining. But the fact that the night came down to a miracle throw was no coincidence and instead was the latest symptom of a season-long flaw that has plagued the team: their inability to execute and close out games when the margin is razor thin. Late-game lapses that force GW into last-second heroics have become the norm. The Revs have now lost six conference games by single digits, a trend underscored by the fact that the team has yet to win a game when
trailing at halftime and hasn’t secured a single victory since early November. That pattern is reflected in KenPom’s “Luck” rating, which measures the gap between a team’s record and its expected winning percentage and ranks GW dead last among 365 Division I programs. In other words, for a team as talented as the Revs, they should have a much, much better record than 13-11. While the injury to star forward Rafael Castro, the team’s leading scorer, has hampered the Revs over the past three games, the issue runs deeper than his absence. As was the case against Duquesne, prolonged scoreless stretches in the final minutes of games have plagued GW all season. In the team’s Jan. 19 loss to George Mason, the two squads were knotted at 60 with just four minutes left, but the Revs only scored 4 more points to close the game as the Patriots closed out a 69-64 win. See BASKETBALL Page 5
ARWEN CLEMANS | SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR Junior guard Jean Aranguren watches from the bench during a game against George Mason in January.
Washington Post’s ‘bloodbath’ layoffs hit GW alumni across publication ELIJAH EDWARDS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
GW alumni laid off by the Washington Post on Wednesday said they fear the cuts will weaken coverage built on close source relationships they forged over decades, leaving gaps in accountability reporting and community trust. The Post laid off over 300 employees — about a third of its staff — Wednesday, eliminating its sports, photo and books sections and significantly scaling back its local and international coverage in a move Post executive editor Matt Murray deemed a “painful” but necessary step as the paper bleeds money and subscribers. Alumni and professors with ties to The Washington Post said the layoffs signal a steep decline for one of the nation’s most prestigious newsrooms, warning that remaining staff may be stretched too thin to hold officials accountable, maintain reader trust or retain subscribers. “It’s such a huge loss for our city, for our society, for our democracy, and I’m just absolutely devastated for everybody and for all the people who WHAT’S
INSIDE
put their lives into building this thing, to have it kind of taken apart this way,” said Chris Richards, a 1999 visual arts graduate who served as the Post’s pop music critic for the last 17 years until the paper laid him off Wednesday. Before Wednesday’s layoffs, the Post employed at least 46 GW alumni, making the University fourth in alumni representation at the paper, behind the University of Maryland, Northwestern University and Columbia University, according to LinkedIn. The Post laid off at least five GW alumni on Wednesday, according to an analysis of LinkedIn profiles. Billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’ early stewardship of the Post after his 2013 purchase helped expand its digital reach and boost profits during major political news cycles, like the 2016 election. But in recent years, the paper has struggled financially, reportedly losing around $100 million in 2024 as traditional advertising revenue and subscriptions continued to decline. Richards, who worked at the Post from 2001 until Wednesday, said the “writing has been on the
GW Hospital diverts emergency medical care after severe flooding NATALIE NOTE
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
NICHOLAS WARE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Protesters outside the Washington Post Headquarters Thursday.
wall” for months with speculations about layoffs coming from managers, staff and The Washington Post Guild — the paper’s employees union, but the “sweeping massacre” of staff took everyone by surprise. Richards said he received the email Wednesday telling him the Post was eliminating his position as he was driving his kids to school. “I found this to be an incredibly inhumane way to treat people who have given their lives to this place, so impersonal and just deeply, deeply upsetting,” Richards said. He said the staff cuts have “almost completely” destroyed arts coverage, with only two arts critics remaining out of what used to be a team of at
NEWS The SGA’s advocacy office warned officials’ proposed Student Code of Conduct changes would curb student rights. Page 2
least 12. He said the paper’s management “leveled” arts coverage just as they did to the sports, metro and international sections. Rachel Weiner, a 2007 GW graduate who spent 16 years as a local transportation reporter at The Washington Post before they laid her off Wednesday, described the cuts as deeply hurtful to her and her colleagues, who worked to cover consequential local stories and hold officials accountable. She said the Post slashed the metro desk, where she had worked since 2014, from 32 reporters and five editors to just 11 reporters and two editors, effectively gutting the newsroom’s capacity to cover the region.
OPINIONS The Editorial Board urges GW to provide resources to its community amid heightened federal immigration enforcement. Page 6
Freezing temperatures and plumbing issues at GW Hospital caused major flooding in the last two weeks, forcing the hospital to divert emergency medical services until further notice. Multiple pipes burst across the hospital beginning on Jan. 26, flooding the intensive care unit, operating rooms and the emergency department, Executive Director of the District of Columbia Nurses Association Edward Smith said. Smith said flooding has forced the hospital to close 24 percent of its beds, affecting every unit. Smith said the first major leak flooded a stairwell, following a snowstorm that brought seven inches of snow and four inches of sleet to the District. That was exasperated by a sprinkler pipe burst on Monday, which Smith said primarily impacted the operating rooms. A GW Hospital spokesperson did not return multiple requests for comment about the flooding and its impact on the hospital’s operations. A D.C. Health spokesperson said the agency is on EMS diversion, meaning they are requesting ambulances take emergency patients to other facilities. “The Department is in close
CULTURE Take a look at University President Ellen Granberg’s time helming her college’s student newspaper. Page 7
contact with hospital leadership and tracking impacts to patients and staff,” D.C. Health said in an email. “To ensure patient safety and expand capacity for remediation, the facility has been placed on EMS diversion until further notice.” Smith said GW Hospital experienced heating issues since early November, which the persistent below-freezing temperatures in the District have exacerbated. He said many hospital staff have had to wear layers under their scrubs, hats, gloves, scarves and outdoor jackets while working to stay warm. He said hospital management has been aware of the cold temperatures inside the hospital since the issues began but only took action when a patient complained about the temperature. Social media posts show videos of brown water flooding stairwells of the hospital, with some employees posting pictures of thermostats in the hospital with temperatures as low as 46 degrees. Smith said D.C. Health officials confiscated space heaters hospital management had installed after health officials and the fire marshal deemed them “unsafe.” GW Hospital must pay a $2,000 fine if D.C. Health officials find any more space heaters in the hospital, he said.
SPORTS Men’s basketball extended its losing streak to four after a 88-86 heartbreaker to Duquesne on Saturday. Page 8