Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Hatchet Finally Gets It Right

Thursday's edition of the GW Hatchet featured an article in the opinion section. Written by Kelsey Rohwer, the article points to the little things as being most important to change in order to better GW. With the numerous activism campaigns ongoing, or failing, at the moment, it is time to readjust our focus on what is realistic and what isn't.


No amount of students joining a Facebook group is going to force the university to make changes. As a matter of fact, no amount of support for any major change is going to work. It's the small stuff that needs to be looked at:

Take, for example, the University Yard "ocean." Every time it rains, no matter the amount, pools of water form barricades on the already uneven brick pathway and flood the grass. Navigating through these swampy trenches is terribly inconvenient, especially at a school where walking is the main mode of transportation. The yard is frequently used to cut through the area and therefore demands attention. By rebuilding the pathways to flatten them out, traffic through U-Yard would flow easily, rain or shine.
We're never going to get wholesale change through student activism. I'll admit even my ideas were too big, too ambitious. If you really want success and want to make a change, no matter how small the change, look at the small things that tend to annoy GW students every day. Fixing the paths in the University Yard would be a good first step.

1 comment:

Alexander Laska said...

Now wait just a darn minute. You honestly think redesigning University Yard is easier than getting K Street Bagel on GWorld, or commissioning another 4Ride vehicle, or getting wireless in City Hall? Incredible. Absolutely incredible.