The GW
HATCHET
April 20, 2026 Vol. 122
Iss. 26
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
GW confirms FY2027 budget cuts, citing enrollment decline ARUNMOY DAS STAFF WRITER
PARIS ALBRECHT STAFF WRITER
GW’s budget will see cuts for the second fiscal year in a row as the University bears the brunt of enrollment declines and a structural budget deficit, officials said at Friday’s Faculty Senate meeting. Interim Provost John Lach told senators that officials gave deans their “margin targets” for FY2027 and directed them to engage students, staff and faculty, where appropriate, about potential budget cuts ahead of the Board of Trustees’ May approval of the FY2027 budget. He said projections remain a “moving target” and that officials’ January directive to model 5, 10 and 15 percent cuts was only to “get ideas on the table” and did not reflect the final budgets schools would be operating under. The looming cuts follow the 3 percent reductions officials made to the FY2026 budget — which resulted in the University laying off 43 staff members, implementing a hiring freeze and making significant cuts to student services — to address a structural deficit. Lach’s statement marks the first time officials confirmed they would make cuts to the FY2027 budget after officials teased reductions in January by instructing school and unit leaders to craft contingency plans.
RYAN SAENZ
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Interim Provost John Lach at a Faculty Senate meeting Friday.
University President Ellen Granberg said in January that the directive, led jointly by Lach and Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes, would help officials plan ahead if international application rates continued to lag amid President Donald Trump’s travel bans and visa policy changes as GW’s preliminary applicant data indicated. Lach at the Friday meeting said GW is continuing to see the impacts of declining enrollment in “many programs,” and
ERIKA LOPEZ-CEPERO | PHOTOGRAPHER
the trend of the past few years has been “turbulent” as enrollment declines have continued, which required officials to set up contingencies for the upcoming fiscal year so they could make adjustments “late in the game” if they fail to meet revenue targets. GW’s international student population fell by more than 10 percent in 2025 due to Trumpera visa restrictions, travel bans and changes to federal funding eligibility for certain graduate programs, resulting in a decline
in revenue across schools as international students typically pay the full cost of attendance. Granberg in January said the University had received about 50 percent of the total graduate applications officials expect for fall 2026, noting that international applications are down overall for both undergraduate and graduate programs, which she said could impact net tuition revenue in FY2027. See FACULTY Page 5
Sophomore MJ Childs rides outsider wave to claim SGA presidency as voter turnout swells ELIJAH EDWARDS
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Students overwhelmingly elected sophomore and Student Government Association outsider MJ Childs as their next president on Saturday after he campaigned on a platform demanding transparency from administrators about GW’s rising cost of attendance. Childs, a creative writing and marketing major, captured 57.13 percent of the vote in the first round of ranked-choice voting, surpassing SGA Vice President Liz Stoddard’s 31.59 percent and junior Alfred Lewis Jr.’s 7.75 percent of the vote, according to the Joint Elections Commission’s unverified election results. Childs pledged to
Alum sues GW alleging discrimination, defamation after graduation speech
work with officials to make University communications more empathetic amid federal uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s administration, boost campus engagement through new student committees and combat cuts to student services as GW’s cost of attendance nears $100,000. “I want to thank my amazing team,” Childs said. “You guys really pushed us throughout the whole entire way.” Childs is the first SGA outsider to clinch the presidency since students elected Residence Hall Association President Arielle Geismar in 2023. He is the first sophomore to win the presidency since 2024, when then-SGA Senator Ethan
CARSTEN HOLST | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Student Government Association President-elect MJ Childs and Vice President-elect Aicha Sy celebrate their victories on Saturday.
Fitzgerald narrowly won. SGA Sen. Aicha Sy (CCAS-U) prevailed in the vice presidential race,
securing 1,377 votes, or 52.61 percent, defeating her opponent SGA Sen. Cheydon Naleimaile-
Evangelista (CCAS-U) by a 7.72 percent margin, according to the unverified results.
A 2025 alum filed a lawsuit against GW, several of its senior officials and her former employer Wednesday, alleging retaliation and discrimination after she used her graduation speech to urge the University to divest from companies tied to Israel. Cecilia Culver, who officials barred from all GW campuses and Universitysponsored events last May after she deviatedfrom her preprepared graduation speech at one of the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate ceremonies, is suing the University, her former employer Ernst & Young and a dozen GW and EY officials in the D.C. District Court for defamation and violating her civil rights. Culver alleges that GW and EY violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the D.C. Human Rights Act and D.C. common law, claiming University officials disseminated false statements about her following her speech and that EY terminated her employment over her association with and advocacy for Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. Culver is seeking financial compensation for the economic and emotional harm she has experienced over the last year, acknowledgment from the University and EY that they violated the law and an end to her ongoing ban from campus. She is also seeking restoration of her CCAS Distinguished Scholar status, from which she says she lost the unspecified “full benefit of” as a result of the University’s response, termination of the University’s alleged ongoing investigation into her conduct at the ceremony and punitive damages against GW and three officials. Culver filed the 167-page suit, which details 19 charges for instances of racial discrimination, civil rights conspiracy, breach of contract, breach of confidential relationship and defamation, in the U.S. District Court for D.C. on April 15. In addition to GW and EY, she is also suing University officials in their individual capacities, including University President Granberg, Board of Trustees Chair Grace Speights, former Provost Chris Bracey and CCAS Dean Paul Wahlbeck. The suit also names CCAS Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Rachel Riedner, Vice Dean for Programs & Operations Kim Gross and University spokesperson Kathy Fackelmann. Culver also named Jason Morrissey, Andrew Phillips, Andrea Stempel, Anthony Jordan and Robert Carroll, all employees at EY, as defendants in the suit. A University spokesperson declined to comment. None of the named GW or EY officials, nor EY’s press contact, returned a request for comment. See RESPONSE Page 5
GSEHD declines to renew GWTeach faculty, casting uncertainty over program
GW moves previously public documents behind login walls
PARIS ALBRECHT
TYLER IGLESIAS
Faculty and students said GW’s undergraduate GWTeach program is in limbo after three of four program leaders received imminent termination notices amid the school’s restructuring, leaving the program with one remaining tenured program director. Graduate School of Education and Human Development’s Interim Dean Lionel Howard notified GWTeach’s three contract faculty — master teachers SuJin Choi, Meghan Hollibaugh Baker and co-director Jonathon Grooms — in a January email obtained by The Hatchet that said GSEHD would not be renewing their contracts due to “financial barriers” at the end of the spring semester. Five GWTeach students and two faculty members said administrators have not communicated any information about the program’s future besides the email, adding that the faculty departures could signal the program’s end. A University spokesperson declined to confirm officials’ non-renewals of the three individuals’ contracts and said GW
GW has moved several types of previously public documents behind login walls over the last few weeks, restricting access to materials on enrollment, faculty compensation and student conduct. The University in recent weeks has moved certain public files containing data about enrollment, faculty compensation and student conduct — like its Core Indicators report, Faculty Senate agendas and the Student Organization and Hazing Transparency report — from publicly accessible PDF links to Boxprotected files, requiring viewers to sign into their GW accounts before accessing the information. University spokesperson Julia Garbitt said officials moved certain materials to Box as part of a routine review of how they store and share institutional data and documents based on their sensitivity, purpose and intended audience. Box is the University’s main filesharing and cloud-storage service, available for free to all faculty, staff and students. The University’s datagovernance and data-classification guidance encourages community members to share regulated and restricted data through Box sharing.
STAFF WRITER
WHAT’S
INSIDE
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
A GW logo.
NICHOLAS WARE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
has not made a final decision on the future of the program. The spokesperson said officials are focused on continuing instruction and student support as GWTeach undergoes a “period of change.” “Any adjustments will be made with careful attention to academic quality and student progress, and will be communicated as decisions are finalized,” the spokesperson said in an email. They said the University is
NEWS Meet Rob Gifford, the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission’s newest representative. Page 2
“continuing to work” with GWTeach leadership by holding discussions with faculty, staff and students. Howard’s notification comes after GSEHD officials sent possible termination notices to 25 percent of the school’s contract faculty in June as part of restructuring.GSEHD Interim Academic Dean Jennifer Clayton sent out an email in March to the contract faculty detailing two attachments with information to leave. See GWTEACH Page 5
OPINIONS The editorial board argues GW is building trust by making a clear effort to meet the community’s requests for more clarity. Page 6
CULTURE Students and alumni alike are taking in one last brew before Peet’s Coffee grounds itself for good next month. Page 7
The guidance defines regulated data as information protected by local, national or international law and that could pose a severe risk to the University if inappropriately accessed, like student academic records, individuals. Restricted data is deemed confidential due to University policies but may be accessed by appropriate faculty, staff, students or other users, including payroll and tax information, legal contracts and facilities records, per the guidelines. Garbitt declined to comment on why officials began using Box to store the Core Indicators report, Faculty Senate agendas and the Student Organization and Hazing Transparency Report and what other University documents officials have put under Box protection. Garbitt said sharing files through Box allows the University to ensure information remains current and accurate, provide access to documents based on the data that’s involved, reduce reliance on outdated or duplicated copies of documents and support appropriate use by audiences. “The University remains committed to transparency and continues to make a wide range of information publicly available, while also using tools like Box to help maintain accuracy and appropriate access,” Garbitt said.
SPORTS Women’s basketball Head Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan transformed the team in her first season. She says she’s just getting started. Page 8