Margaret Cho kicks off Winter Hoopla
Comedienne Margaret Cho will host GW Comedy Night Feb. 19 at 10 p.m. in the Smith Center. Comedy Night is part of GW’s Winter Hoopla, sponsored by the Program Board, Student Association and Student Activities Center. Tickets for GW students are on sale at Ticketmaster, Marvin Center ground floor, for $5.

GW students travel to study the Winter Olympic
Thirty-two GW undergraduate and graduate students will travel to Salt Lake City for 10 days to study sport and tourism management at the 2002 Winter Olympic games. Their trip will culminate in an analytical report for the course “2002 Winter Olympic Experience in Salt Lake City, Utah: Behind the Scenes.” The course covers the history and organization of the Olympic Games.
The annual trip started in 1992, led by the school of Business and Public Management’s Lisa Delpy Neirotti, associate professor of tourism and sport management.
Neirotti’s course focuses on teaching what production of the Olympic Games entails. Students will meet with top-level executives of the International and United States Olympic Committees, corporate sponsors such as Visa and Coca-Cola and Olympic athletes. Students will conduct on-site research relating to spectator spending, sponsors and satisfaction.

GW professor honors 54th Massachusetts regiment
GW professor James O. Horton will commemorate Black History Month by honoring the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first northern black regiment of the Civil War, at a Smithsonian lecture and discussion Feb 10.
Horton, an American Civilization and History professor, writes and lectures on 19th century African American social history and regularly participates in specials on the History Channel. He will lecture and sign his new book, “Hope & Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.”
The free event is in the National Gallery of Art East Building Auditorium, from 3-4:30 p.m. Sunday.

ESIA hosts Nixon National Security advisors
The Elliott School of International Affairs’ Cold War group will host Nixon Administration National Security Council staff to discuss Nixon’s 1972 visit to China and its effect on subsequent world affairs. The panel discussion takes place Friday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Stuart Hall 110.
This month marks the 30th anniversary of that visit.
Elliott School Dean Harry Harding will moderate the panel, which features three National Security Council staff members during Nixon’s presidency. They will discuss the channels used for building a new Sino-American relationship between 1969-72, the role the United States played in this rivalry, the Vietnam War, Kissinger’s secret 1971 trip to Beijing and the Nixon visit.
The event is free to the public.

FMLA hosts genital mutilation panel
GW Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance will host a panel on the facts, horrors and activism surrounding female genital mutilation. Monday night from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the Marvin Center amphitheater. The event will teach students about genital mutilation and how to stop it.
The panel is part of GW’s “V-Week,” a worldwide campaign that invites colleges and universities to perform benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” on campuses on or near Valentine’s Day. The proceeds from the events are donated to local organizations that work to stop sexual violence.
GW’s production of “The Vagina Monologues” will be performed Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. each night. Friday and Saturday’s productions will take place in the Marvin Center Betts Theatre, and Sunday’s performance is in Lisner Auditorium. Students can buy tickets for $10 at Ticketmaster.

Hillel seeks players for spring production+
Hillel will audition students for six roles in a play this week. The play, “A Shayna Maidel” by Barbara Lebow, details the reunion of two sisters separated by the Holocaust.
The auditions are held Monday from 6-8 p.m. and Tuesday from 8-10 p.m., both at Hillel at 23rd & H streets. Four female and two male roles are available for an April performance. No experience is necessary, and all students are welcome to audition.
-Amanda Mantone