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The GW Hatchet, Washington D.C., DC (2025)

06/27/2025

SPORTS | For the first time in more than 40 years, men’s basketball will host the Georgetown University Hoyas this fall, GW Athletics announced Wednesday.

The cross-town Hoyas exhibition game, scheduled at the Smith Center for Oct. 18, will come two weekends before the start of the 2025-26 season, marking an opportunity for a more game-like practice experience for players and a chance for fans to see two of D.C.’s premier teams in action. GW has already started to fill out its nonconference schedule, already scheduling a game against University of South Florida in November and a game against the reigning NCAA champions, University of Florida, on the docket for mid-December.

An opportunity to face off against Georgetown has long been a white whale for GW fans, with the last matchup between the two teams taking place in December of 1981 — a 61-48 GW loss at the Capital Center. Prior to that, the two teams faced off often, with 89 games between the schools dating back to 1907.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Ben Spitalny
Photo by Raphael Kellner

06/25/2025

NEWS | GW is considering consolidating classes, cutting programs and laying off faculty and staff in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, which has faced declining enrollment over the last decade, according to a Monday announcement and emails sent to faculty.

A statement outgoing Provost Chris Bracey shared with the GSEHD community and posted online Monday indicates that non-tenure faculty and staff could see “potential changes” to their job statuses as officials implement “organizational recommendations” to address the school’s declining enrollment. GSEHD has faced years of financial, operational and enrollment struggles, which they have previously tried to fight through a variety of initiatives, including the development of a strategic plan in 2014 aimed at attracting more students and their acceptance of a $2.4 million grant in April aimed at improving civic engagement in public schools.
GSEHD will “evaluate the number of staff” at the school in the context of their “forthcoming administrative adjustments, according to the statement.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Dylan Ebs
Photo by Cooper Tyksinski

06/23/2025

CULTURE | On Juneteenth, the Black Georgetown Foundation gathered visitors at the city’s oldest Black cemeteries to reflect on and preserve the neighborhood’s Black history.

Just beyond Q Street, beside the brick walls of Dumbarton House, lie the Mount Zion and Female Union Band Society Cemeteries —the two oldest Black cemeteries in the District. The foundation held an event at the site on Juneteenth, inviting attendees to walk the grounds and offering a window into the cemetery’s history and ongoing preservation efforts.

Lisa Fager, the executive director of the Black Georgetown Foundation, said through her work at the cemetery, she has learned about the lives of those who were buried there like Reverend Cartwright, the first ordained Black preacher in the D.C. and Baltimore area. She said Cartwright bought his own freedom in the 1820s and raised money throughout his life to free his wife, five children and grandchildren out of slavery.

Fager said there is erosion throughout the cemeteries, and due to Georgetown’s infrastructure, water flows directly into the area. She said as the executive director, she liaises between the National Park Service and D.C. government to manage the land, as some has been taken control of due to eminent domain.

“Most historic cemeteries don’t have an executive director, and I think you literally have to have one, somebody to stay on top of things all day, every day,” Fager said.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Carly Cavanaugh and Diana Anos
Photo by Adnan Marsi

06/21/2025

SPORTS | Almost two decades after the Thunder moved to Oklahoma City, they stand one win away from completing their meteoric rise and winning their first NBA championship with Sunday’s game seven home match-up looming against the Indiana Pacers.

The Thunder’s finals run comes 17 years after the team became Oklahoma City’s first major professional sports franchise, a move that triggered an economic and cultural transformation, and days after city officials extended the team’s lease through 2053, fully entrenching it as a local staple.

Oklahoma City Mayor and GW alum David Holt, the Thunder’s “fan-in-chief” who’s served as mayor since 2018, said he’s honed the city’s development around sports, marked by rallying city voters in December 2023 to overwhelmingly approve a six-year 1 percent sales tax to fund a new $900 million arena that prompted the Thunder to opt to stay in Oklahoma City for another generation, a deal inked on Tuesday.

But Holt said his passion for sports only began after he arrived in Foggy Bottom as a college student in 1997. Despite having no interest in watching sports growing up, he was drawn to The Hatchet’s sport section during his freshman year and the opportunities to cover a nationally-recognized men’s basketball program.

“Sports has ended up being a big part of the way we’ve built our city, and a big part of my tenure as mayor,” Holt said. “And yeah, you could certainly trace a lot of it back to being a political science major who writes sports articles for The GW Hatchet.”

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Ben Spitalny and Rory Quealy
Photos by Lexi Critchett and courtesy of David Holt

06/16/2025

NEWS | Heavy tanks and soldiers paraded through the streets of D.C. on Saturday before tens of thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters and dissenters, commemorating the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

Onlookers donned “Make America Great Again” caps and American flag shirts while a handful of protesters raised signs reading “No Kings” as uniformed soldiers marched down Constitution Avenue and planes soared over the National Mall. The parade, criticized by some Democrats for its high cost and timing on Trump’s 79th birthday, stood in contrast to the “No Kings” protests across the country and a “Refuse Fascism” demonstration decrying Trump’s policies just blocks from the White House.

Most attendees wore patriotic colors, shirts supporting the military or pro-Trump apparel. One person donned a hat that read “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president.” A counterprotester held a sign that read “250 years ago, Congress created the U.S. Army to throw off a king, not kneel to one.”

Click the link in our bio to read the full story.

Story by Gianna Jakubowski and Dylan Ebs
Photo by Nicholas Ware

06/12/2025

Scenes from WorldPride in the nation’s capital.

Click the link in our bio to view the full photo essay.

Photos by Lexi Critchett, Nicholas Ware, Jerry Lai and Adnan Masri

06/06/2025

NEWS | At least three senior officials from the Division for Student Affairs have left the University in the past two weeks, according to web archives.

Assistant Director of Student Involvement and Leadership David Bonilla-Ciferri and Director of Student Involvement Meredith Bielaska announced their departures from GW on LinkedIn, and Assistant Dean of Student Life Brian Joyce is no longer listed in the directory. The departures — which brought the office from 11 to 8 people, according to web archives — come amid growing staff concerns over a University-wide pause to merit-based salary increases, reported delays filling vacant positions and a potential return-to-office mandate.

Bonilla-Ciferri cited low salaries and insufficient career advancement opportunities as reasons for leaving the University in an email to The Hatchet, and Bielaska said on LinkedIn that “its okay” to recognize when your workplace “isn’t aligned with who you want to be.” Joyce did not immediately return a request for comment and has not announced his departure on LinkedIn.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Ryan Saenz
Photo by Lexi Critchett

06/04/2025

NEWS | Provost Chris Bracey will step down as the University’s chief academic officer on June 30 after serving four years in the role, officials announced Wednesday.

Bracey, who assumed the position in 2021 and has served under three University presidents, will be succeeded on an interim basis by School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean John Lach as officials conduct a national search for a permanent provost. Bracey will take a year-long sabbatical and return as a GW Law faculty member, according to University President Ellen Granberg’s Wednesday announcement to community members.

Bracey oversaw GW’s academic enterprise as it emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to Granberg’s leadership and the development of the University’s strategic framework. He also served as a leading official as the University hired three new academic deans and joined the Association of American Universities.

“Serving as provost has been one of the greatest honors of my career,” Bracey said in a University release. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together—from joining the AAU to establishing institutes that will drive innovation and positive change for decades to come.”

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Tyler Iglesias
Photo by Arwen Clemans

05/24/2025

NEWS | A group of current and former students filed a lawsuit against the University Thursday, accusing officials and the Board of Trustees of allowing “pervasive and severe” harassment of Jewish and Israeli students to escalate since the onset of the war in Gaza.

The 176-page lawsuit, filed in the D.C. District Court by two alumni and an anonymous group of community members, alleges that a pattern of on-campus incidents dating back to 2019 reflects GW’s “shameful complicity” in permitting “unchecked” antisemitism, which intensified in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The plaintiffs claim that officials and the Board violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the D.C. Human Rights Act by allowing “hostile acts” against Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian protests and maintaining academic partnerships with organizations allegedly tied to antisemitic movements.

Alumni Sabrina Soffer and Ari Shapiro and an anonymous group of students, alumni and other stakeholders known as “Compliance, Accountability, Policy, Ethics – Ed,” or CAPE-Ed, filed the lawsuit, claiming that the University’s failure to mitigate antisemitic acts deprived Jewish and Israeli students of their educational experience on the basis of their national origin, ethnicity and ancestry.

“The years-long failure of GWU to respond to pervasive antisemitic discrimination — among both the students and the faculty — has emboldened its perpetrators and continues to jeopardize the safety, well-being and educational opportunities of Jewish and Israeli students,” the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs allege in the filing that the University committed a “breach of contract” with Jewish students by applying a “double standard” in its enforcement of the Code of Student Conduct, arguing that it has investigated and punished instances of hate directed at all groups except Jewish and Israeli students.

Story by Elijah Edwards and Bryson Kloesel
Photo by Jordan Tovin

05/23/2025

SPORTS | In a season marked by explosive offense, tough losses and moments of promise, baseball (27-27, 14-16 Atlantic 10) concluded their season Saturday — falling just one game short of qualifying for the conference tournament.

While the team showed flashes of dominance — including a 26-7 trouncing of the University of Maine and an 18-4 rout of the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, both in March — the Revolutionaries struggled to maintain momentum against conference opponents. With a .289 team batting average, good for sixth in the A-10, and 373 runs scored, the team’s offense often delivered but inconsistency on the mound and in the field proved too much to overcome this season.

After dropping all three games of the opening series in mid-February to the University of Southern California on the road, the team bounced back in impressive fashion, winning five straight games in late February and early March against Maine, Georgetown University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Their 26-7 victory over Maine included 19 hits and 20 RBIs — a performance that set the tone for the offensive strength the team leaned on throughout the spring.

Still, the team wavered throughout the season. While they secured key wins — including a 12-7 victory over Massachusetts in late April and 13-8 away win against Davidson in early May — those moments were offset by lopsided losses, like their 22-10 fall to Dayton in mid-April and their 11-1 stumble against George Mason in late March.

Read the full story at the link in our bio.

Story by Hannah Marr

05/22/2025

OPINIONS | The editorial board argues that without clear, concrete details on how officials will enact the goals in the draft framework, the community cannot judge the plan in any meaningful way.

“After officials suspended the previous strategic plan amid the COVID-19 pandemic and backlash over a controversial enrollment proposal, the community has waited five years for a new vision that reflects its evolving priorities. But the draft framework officials released last month offers little more than vague aspirations, lacking the clarity and specificity needed to assure community members that the framework will genuinely address their concerns and goals.”

Read the full staff editorial at the link in our bio.

The editorial board consists of Hatchet staff members and operates separately from the newsroom. This week’s staff editorial was written by Opinions Editor Andrea Mendoza-Melchor, based on discussions with Contributing Opinions Editor Madie Turley, Contributing Culture Editor Carly Cavanaugh, Sports Columnist Sydney Heise and Contributing Sports Editor Grant Pacernick.

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