Aftershocks from international conflict, national politics, campus polarization and administrative turmoil reverberated across Foggy Bottom in 2024.
Our reporters began the year covering student demonstrations over the war in Gaza, subsequent disciplinary actions and the University’s attempts to cool campus tensions. When student activism crested in the spring with pro-Palestinian students’ Gaza solidarity encampment, we reported live on everything we heard echoing through our campus for the 14-day protest — a cacophony of colliding chants, speeches, prayers, sirens and statements.
When national news again reached our doorstep in November with the general election, we felt the community’s anxiety and anticipation build and burst into joy and anguish as results were called.
We documented turnover and transition within GW’s ranks, with notable leadership exits and shifts within the Multicultural Student Services Center, Medical Faculty Associates and GW Police Department. We followed burgeoning unionization efforts among graduate students, museum employees, nurses and medical residents and fellows. We covered start-to-finish the city’s journey to convert a former GW residence hall into a shelter for the unhoused.
“Writers who construct meaning in the face of chaos must be nurtured [and] protected,” Toni Morrison once wrote. “Deciphering chaos” feels like a fair summary of the last year for us at The Hatchet.
We are compelled to rise to the occasion. Over the past year, our team was honored to receive incredible support from neighbors, professors, peers, alumni and leaders, all who looked to our paper for clarity amid rapidly changing events. Our work has appeared or been referenced by major professional newsrooms, including The New York Times, Washington Post and TIME Magazine. We were challenged and forced to grow by insightful reader feedback about how to better a story or pursue a new one.
To everyone who has weighed in and helped uplift our journalism in 2024, we extend deep thanks, from all of us at The Hatchet.
We don’t know yet what news 2025 will bring, but we must stand ready for whatever comes. Morrison warned of the danger of “unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard by the wrong people, and essayists’ questions challenging authority never being posed.” As we enter the new year, we must be fearless in our coverage. We need your help.
Like many newspapers across the country, our mission of independent student journalism is endangered by financial hardship. As a student-run nonprofit juggling expenses like rent payments, printing costs and multimedia equipment, we rely on donations from readers like you to continue delivering our work to the community. I hope you’ll consider making a tax-deductible donation to The Hatchet to power our next year of news.
And keep in touch. Our mission starts and ends with our community. Submit opinions, letters, pitches and feedback — we want to hear from you.
Thank you again for reading this year. We’ll see you in 2025.
