ABP Overcharged GWorld... Surprised?

This week, The Hatchet reported that the Au Bon Pain in the Shops at 2000 Penn overcharged students by more than $7,000 dollars on their GWorld cards.

The story said that the overcharges occured between January 2 and March 15, and that GW University officials believe it was unintentional.

According to the article,

Ed Frechette, senior vice president of marketing for Au Bon Pain, said earlier this month that the overcharging was the result of an interface issue with BbOne, the system provider for GWorld cards.

"The problem was that GWorld card swipes resulted in erroneous 'transmission failed' notices," Frechette said. Cashiers at the franchise swiped the cards a second time after seeing this notice, only to later find "the first swipe did, in fact, go through, thus the duplicative charges," he said.

Do students really take the responsibility of looking at the totals being charged to their cards? Or do they just swipe and go? We must learn financial responsibility. Kudos to those students who filed reports with the university police about the overcharging.

Board of Trustees Get it Right With Tuition Increase

Unlike my last post which was critical of University policy, I am going to give credit where credit is due. The Hatchet reported that the Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition by 3% on Friday. While just about everyone complains about the enormous price tag to attend this University, it's important to know that University officials are taking steps to address these concerns. According to the Hatchet article, the increase was significantly below the national average (4.3%) for private institutions for the second year in a row. Kudos to President Knapp for delivering on what he promised to make one of his top issues.

We are however continuously branded wit the title of "one of the most expensive schools in the country." We did drop to third most expensive last year, but what most people don't know it that there are nearly 60 schools that also have a price tag of $50,000 or more. In other words, as we continue to raise tuition at a rate much lower than the national average, we could plummet down that dreaded list. On the flip side, and often an ignored point in the price tag argument, is that the University continues to be at the top of list in regards to financial aid. Nearly two is three students at GW receive some form of financial aid.

The thing that most people here don't know is what drives the price of the University up. If you ask anyone why they chose GW, one of the top answers will probably be the location. Well, that location comes with a price. Real estate in Foggy Bottom is some of the most expensive in the country. GW's price tag would be considerably lower if we were in the middle of say...Idaho. But then again, I suspect enrollment numbers might be a lot lower... With all that though, I think it's great that GW is taking progressive measures to address the affordability issue.

Texts From Last Night (GW Style)

If you're a college student with a pulse and at least some sense of humor, chances are you've heard of the irreverent, hilarious, and often awkward blog Texts From Last Night. The site is a collection of the best, worst, funniest, and most sexual submissions of alleged texts people have sent or received, with a focus on inappropriate and revealing messages "from last night". The appeal of the website is 1) We all like to hear hilarious stories about other people, and 2) We wish our lives were this exciting every night.

In December, a GWU student started the Facebook group Texts From Last Night-GWU Edition. The GWU was recently replaced with Foggy Bottom after the GW Hatchet ran a few stories about the site. Since then, the group has attracted over 2,500 members and more than 400 posts. Many of the submissions are "so GW", including one of my favorites:"(817) I'm getting hangover cures from the Huffington Post. I am SUCH a poli sci major." I myself have posted some text conversations with my friends I thought I other people would find funny, including this one:
Some are concerned that the group gives the impression that the University is filled with alcoholic, drug abusing, sex-addicted hooligans. Whether that's true or not, take a look at some of the most recent postings to the group's wall and it might seem that way. GWU's new and improved public relations arm has apparently been monitoring the site and any attention it has gotten, hence the change of the group's name.

Meghan and Cindy McCain: Redefining Republican

Many are probably familiar with the NoH8 campaign created in opposition to California's Proposition 8, which was passed by CA voters in 2008 and overturned California's marriage equality law. Well, Cindy McCain - wife of Republican Senator and former Presidential candidate John McCain, and mother of Republican and gay marriage advocate Meghan McCain - has joined the cause.

From NoH8's website:

In the year since we've started the NOH8 Campaign, we've often been surprised at some of the different individuals who have approached us showing their support. Few, though, have surprised us more than Cindy McCain - the wife of Senator John McCain and mother to vocal marriage equality advocate Meghan McCain. The McCains are one of the most well-known Republican families in recent history, and for Mrs. McCain to have reached out to us to offer her support truly means a lot.

Aligning yourself with the platform of gay marriage as a Republican still tends to be very stigmatic, but Cindy McCain wanted to participate in the campaign to show people that party doesn't matter - marriage equality isn't a Republican issue any more than it is a Democratic issue. It's about human rights, and everybody being treated equally in the eyes of the law that runs and protects this country.

I think it's terrific that two well-known Republicans are coming out in support of a civil right that is being denied to a minority group. Of course, the GW College Republicans have a slightly different take on the matter: Meghan McCain was invited to GW to speak at National Equality Week, and the CR's are up in arms because, well, she's theirs. From The Hatchet:

"Our executive board was told that Meghan McCain's primary focus would be her opinion on what it means to be a Republican," Rob Noel, CR public relations director, said. "We later discovered through her Twitter and subsequent conversations with the SA and [the Graduate School of Political Management] that she would be giving the keynote address for Marriage Equality Week."

Apparently there was some misunderstanding as to why she was speaking at GW, and the CR's felt misled by Allied-in-Pride President Michael Komo. But here's what concerns me a whole lot more: it seems as though, according to the CR's, being a Republican and supporting marriage equality are two mutually-exclusive, irreconcilable things. But the rest of us know better: I know a lot of Republicans who openly and proudly support marriage equality. A lot of them go to GW. Two of them are my parents.

And as for what Ms. McCain thinks of all this:

Yes, I am the keynote speaker at George Washington University's "Marriage Equality Week" next month. Can't wait, very honored to be asked!

And we're very honored to have you.

Hippo CONTROVERSY!

There's been talk in the U.S. presidential race about "phony outrage." I'm curious, does today's Hatchet editorial calling the University "heavy-handed" for phasing out the hippo resonate as a real controversy for folks?

Some specific parts that caught my eye:

The University's eventual removal of the hippo, a mascot students love and embrace, is a heavy-handed, unilateral and poorly defended move that should be seriously reconsidered.

Do you actually love the hippo?

Students have embraced the hippo as representative of the more whimsical side of the University. On a campus populated with BlackBerrys and suits, the hippo grounds us and keeps our college image lighthearted.

Is there really a whimsical side and non-whimsical side of GW? (And if anything represented pure whim, is the hippo a better example than, say, random Greco-Roman structures near the Gelman library?)

What the administration should realize is that the hippo is GW's most distinctive brand.

Seriously?!?

When I think about Georgetown, I don't think about the Hoya--I think about a good school, the one that Bill Clinton went to. If I was neutral in this "controversy," learning that the hippo is GW's most distinctive brand might actually be the strongest argument for ditching it.

Round-Up & Open Thread

Interesting article at the Daily Colonial about good attire for interviews. (Fun excerpt: "J. Crew's Cha Cha Dot Pencil Skirt is preppy yet sophisticated.") The Hatchet's Jake Sherman won a slot in UWire's Top 100 college journalists - as did Emma Zayer from the Daily Colonial (congrats both). GWBlogspot's poll this past week indicates that commencement was pretty awesome.

Open Thread - what's on your mind?



















Update: Thanks to reader "anonymous" for pointing out that a previously highlighted story at the Daily Colonial was three years old. (doi!)

Blog verdict is in...

This past week, we had a poll up that asked, "What's the coolest GW blog?" The Colonialist won, so obviously it wasn't rigged by us. (Congrats, guys.)

But look who just happened to be rated cooler than the Hatchet. I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just sayin'...

;)

Hatchet Crime Log: Underappreciated

We here at GW blogspot endeavor to keep the mainstream campus press (i.e. The Hatchet) in check, but we also give credit where credit is due.

I want to take a moment to say how much I love your crime log. Its awesome.... the first thing (sometimes the only thing) I read each week.

Its actually trashy gossip in a sense, but if there anything we've learned from the media at large lately, its that trash sells (and I for one am buying). While going through it weekly I do my best to put names, places and rumors together in hopes of figuring out if I know the guys who were throwing water balloons out their dorm window, the UPD officers that worked the Tonic champaign caper, or what couple was charged with lewd acts in a car on campus...

But its always such a bummer to get to the last line and read "The subjects were not affiliated with the University" (as was the case with the backseat romantics).

Kudos Amy D'Onofrio. Thanks for keeping us all informed about the often comedic actions of UPD, homeless folks, those pesky "unaffiliated" individuals and of course my friends and neighbors. Can you add a few more details in the future? Perhaps some pictures? Names? just kidding about the last one... well, kinda...

Suggestion: do an end of year 'best of the crime log' article. If you don't I just may.

DISCLAIMER: I realize the crime log also serves as an important public service and also don't mean to diminish any of the serious incidents that are reported.

Updated: fixed typo in title...

I dare the Colonialist -- put questions to the Hatchet

The Colonialist, a welcome and healthy part of the GW blog infrastructure, has been paying good attention to GWblogspot recently. They rightly pointed out James's catch:

GWBlogspot noticed something quite interesting about the most recent GWeekly email. Read their amazing catch, “John Ritter To Be Raised From The Dead, Perform At Fountain Day.”

And, of course, they gave themselves a pat on the back for leading (so far) in our poll on the left side of this blog. (Ahem, people, c'mon now...)

But aside from admiring themselves and chuckling at rather amusing event promo mess-ups, will they put their bully pulpit to work for the cause of transparency and accountability in the media, by helping us develop really good questions for our YouTube interview with Hatchet editor Jake Sherman? Colonialist readers, we welcome your questions. Just click here and put your questions in the comment section.

Props to Nicole Capp

I just want to take a moment to give props to Nicole Capp from the Student Association.

Nicole recognized the great opportunity students have to get answers to questions about GW Housing -- when GWblogspot.com conducts a first-of-its-kind YouTube interview with GW Housing Director Seth Weinshel. She (with the help of
"Jaime") put GWblogspot.com on the front page of the SA website -- encouraging students to go to our site and type the questions they want asked to Seth.

After a long (and from what I can tell, successful) year as SA President, with SA transition less than 3 weeks away, it would be forgivable if an SA President were busy packing up boxes and writing up exit memos to her successor -- to the detriment of hyper-responsiveness. But that didn't happen.

On this blog, we've seen that opinions of the SA can be mixed -- and there's indeed plenty to critique with many GW institutions (EMeRG, The Hatchet, iHousing, The Hatchet, study abroad, The Hatchet - to name a few). And frankly, it can be a lot more fun to vent than to praise. But I did want to take a moment to say kudos for a job well done.

(Oh, and Rob Lockwood - we're watching you! You better live up to the high hopes that the bloggers of GWblogspot.com have in you to do good things in office!)

Where is the balance?

The Hatchet ran a story on Monday on the controversy that has erupted on campus over the selection of Julian Bond as Commencement Speaker. Frankly, I believe that the Hatchet has greatly overstated the concern over the selection of Mr. Bond, but that is the topic of a different blog post.

What struck me about the story is the lack of balance. The Hatchet devotes ample space to the efforts of a single student to organize a petition opposing Mr. Bond’s Commencement Address. The Hatchet gives even more space to quote Sergio Gor – a well know right wing extremist on campus – who encouraged students at the recent Karl Rove address to consider that their commencement address.

But, no where in the article do they offer any sort of counter position to these campus conservatives. They did not ask the College Democrats to comment, and to the best of my knowledge, did not ask any other progressive group on campus for their take. More strikingly, they do not even acknowledge that in their previous edition, the College Democrats expressly disagreed with the protests of campus conservatives, writing:

First, let us firmly state the position of our organization: We do not, and will
not ever, consider a few blunt quotes sufficient to outweigh the lifetime of
service Bond has given to his country and to the American people. We are proud
that our University will be giving Bond an honorary degree and our graduating
seniors believe Bond's consistent stand for justice is at the very heart of what
their time here at GW has taught them and what they will take out into the
world.

What’s more? The College Democrats were asked by Alex Haimann, the senior with the petition opposing Bond, to join in his effort, but declined to do so because rather than opposing Bond’s invitation to commencement, we welcome it. (I say we because I am the Vice President of the College Democrats.)

Finally, I would not the irony of some of Gor’s holier than thou statements to the Hatchet. Gor told the student newspaper, “The University has labeled this event as the anniversary of MLK's speech, but Julian Bond is no MLK," Gor said. The hatred that he preaches is not accepting like MLK. It's utterly unacceptable." This comes at the same time that his organization circulates a petition (different from the Bond one) that attacks Islam and encourages Muslim Students groups to denounce parts of the Koran!

The Hatchet has a responsibility to report both sides of the story – not just the half that is thrown in their faces by campus reactionaries. That is the point of journalism: to dig deeper and uncover the underlying truth.

Write to the Hatchet at letters@gwhatchet.com. Tell them that they should present both sides of every story!

Owning It.

Two teams. One destiny. GW Hatchet - playing the game for 104 years. GWBlogspot.com - playing the game for 2 and a half months. And guess who held even with the Hatchet in the tourney, baby! Heck yeah - we're owning it!