Peter Konwerski is the senior associate provost and dean of student affairs, and Renee McPhatteris the assistant vice president for government and community relations.
GW has been an integral member of the D.C. community for more than 180 years and we value our relationship with our Foggy Bottom-West End neighbors. In light of recent questions raised by some of our students and neighbors regarding various housing policies – including address collections of off-campus residents as referenced in a Sept. 9 Hatchet article – we’d like to take a moment to address their concerns.
Foggy Bottom-West End residents are a mix of your classmates, retired seniors, working professionals, families with children, professors and others who make the neighborhood their permanent home. When neighborhood noise and disruptive behavior occur, a wide range of residents are negatively impacted.
The University has an interest in seeing that our students not only comply with GW policies and D.C. laws, but that they conduct themselves in ways that respect the rights of others. As a reminder, the GW Code of Student Conduct governs our students and their behavior on and off campus, even when they are not living in GW-owned or -managed facilities.
The address collections are designed to supplement existing policies and procedures, provide clarity and transparency of our student conduct methods and mitigate the impact various disruptive behaviors have on our community.
They were enumerated in response to community concerns regarding student behavior, while others were suggestions received directly from students to ensure we continue to be a good neighbor.
For several years, GW has been providing educational resources to help guide students’ behavior, including the Guide to Living Off Campus. We’re also revising our written communication regarding reported student behavior to provide more clarity around expectations of civility and responsibility, both to our students and to those in the neighborhood who might want to report a concern to GW.
The university strives to be responsive to neighbor concerns regarding student behavior however we do not simply enact policies at the behest of the community. We are eager to engage with students and continue to tap into feedback from student leaders as we shape our approach. We, along with student leaders, expect our students to be good neighbors.