Melissa Holzberg, a junior majoring in political communication, is The Hatchet’s opinions editor.
In case you missed it, here’s the best news from around campus and the District this week.
Thumbs up:
President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration isn’t the only news surrounding an inauguration in D.C. Colonial Inauguration is in for some big changes for the Class of 2021.
The University announced Monday that CI will no longer feature parent programming and that CI will be held more frequently throughout the summer. In the past, there have been three three-day CI sessions in June and one session in August for international students, transfer students and students who couldn’t attend the earlier summer sessions. Now domestic students will have the option to attend one of six two-day sessions in June.
The changes to CI are promising for students whose families can’t afford to come to D.C. for a long weekend and will hopefully provide more academic advising for undergraduate students. While CI won’t lose its famous cheers and cabinet leaders will surely don silly socks, changes to CI programming are long overdue and the changes are a step in the right direction.
An incoming freshman’s first trip to GW as a student should be exciting and fun, but it should also provide a student with all the information to feel prepared to start college by learning how to go grocery shopping and how to meet with an academic adviser. Hopefully some of the yet-to-be-announced changes to CI will make it more about what students will encounter on a daily basis at college and less about the glitz parents might be impressed by.
CI still has room for improvement – it would be great if we could join nine of our peer schools and hold orientation when freshmen students move in. But, thankfully, officials are moving to change some things and the Class of 2021 will reap the benefits.
Thumbs down:
As campus empties out for winter break, a few spots on campus are just as bare as they were in August: the basement of District House and what used to be J Street.
When GW announced last summer that the University’s only dining hall on the Foggy Bottom campus would close, student fears over a lack of dining options were assuaged by the promise of new eateries opening in the fall. But none of the vendors in District House have decisive opening dates, and students were forced to deal with an entire semester of limited dining options. While many were excited when the University announced the vendors that would one day occupy the barren District House basement, excitement only lasts so long when promises go unmet.
Unfortunately, students will have to hope over winter break that the vendors are able to open their doors once students return for next semester. But with no replacement for J Street, no opening date for a crepe shop in Duques Hall and another empty vendor spot left in the basement of Shenkman Hall, it will be hard for officials to get students energetic for dining changes.
Two of the University’s peer schools, Boston University and New York University, offer meal plans and have several dining halls on their respective campuses. It’s time for GW to create a dining environment that doesn’t leave its students scrambling to find places to eat and freshmen without a traditional dining hall setting to ease their college transition.
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