Great News from the 4-Ride Front

I have good news for those of us who believe 4-Ride needs to be improved: WRGW News did an interview recently with incoming SA President Jason Lifton, who had this to say about inefficiencies in 4-Ride services:

Lifton also discussed methods for improving campus security, addressing inefficiencies in 4-Ride and general safety concerns around campus.

“I think that the simple solution for long wait time is more 4-Ride vans,” Lifton said in response to many students who have reported waiting upwards of 45 minutes for a 4-Ride van to pick them up. “That said, I’m not sure about the feasibility of that immediately.”

This is good news not only because he agrees that there are efficiency issues with 4-Ride, but also because he offers, coincidentally, a solution also offered on the "Sick of Waiting Around for 4-Ride" Facebook group, one of two campaigns created by GW students who have expressed frustration with the way 4-Ride currently runs.

What he says about the solution's immediate feasability is an important point: vans aren't cheap, and it will take a lot to convince the administration to utilize funds for this purpose.  But change, as we have so often been told, isn't easy: it will take a lot to show the GW administration that there is an overwhelming demand for an expansion of 4-Ride services.

Want to join in the effort?  Sign the petition and join the Facebook group - don't forget to invite all your friends!  We will be presenting the petition to President Knapp once we acquire a sufficient number of signatures.

With your help, we can ensure that future GW students will have an efficient and expansive 4-Ride fleet to keep them safe.

Gelman Library Wasn't a [Major] Campaign Issue

I told myself that I was going to keep quite on all SA related issues for the rest of my time at GW. But, when my friend Ted Costigan asked me to appear on his radio show last night to comment on President-elect Jason Lifton's new promise to make the Gelman Library renovation his top priority, I broke the promise to myself. Wright10 criticized Lifton for this in his blog post, and I too question Lifton's decision to make the library his main initiative.

Having spent the entire month of February researching, brainstorming campaign issues, and prepping Lifton's opponent for the presidential debates, I know that the Gelman Library rennovation was never a major campaign issue. An alcohol amnesty policy was, campus safety was, reducing the rep tape at GW was, but the library wasn't. For that reason alone, I question why it would be his main initiative to this point.

Secondly, the details of how he plans to improve the library are pretty vague. The Hatchet article does mention the following:

Lifton said he plans to work with Ryan Last, founder of the Facebook fan page
"Get Gelman Going," which has gathered 1,163 fans, and the WRLC to explore the
possibility of relocating more books to an off-campus site to make room for more
study space.

However, the article also states that they already ship 20,000 books per year to the off site location. That's nothing new though, and it's not really an improvement that seems worth while.

Lastly, as the article also points out, the main issue with the library rennovation is the lack of funding for the project. It states that only $150,000 of the $5 million needed for the project had been raised in September. The issue is funding. In my opinion, it is not the job of the Student Association President to fundraise.

WRGW News-- a go-to GW news source?

We've discussed The Daily Colonial and The Hatchet, but besides getting critiqued on its election coverage, we haven't really pondered whether or not WRGW News is considered a go-to place for campus news.

Sure, many of us may not be big radio listeners and tune into our campus radio station, but why don't we consider WRGW News like we do The Daily Colonial or The Hatchet?

Their website, in blog form, seems to be updated daily, with maybe the exceptions of weekend posts. (Their last post was this past Friday).

But the real question is: what is WRGW News lacking in its appeal to our need for campus news?

It has almost everything one could ask for: a savvy streamlined website, embedded videos (their latest an interview with Student Association President-Elect Jason Lifton), and a varying range of coverage (latest posts cover everything from metro delays to an opera performance at the Kennedy Center).

So then we must ask why WRGW News hasn't been discussed as a news source; is it because it isn't considered a main player in the game? Or has it just simply been overlooked by this blog's contributors?

A Response: "WRGW 'News' Biased & Speculative Throughout SA Elections"

Let's first get my conflict of interest out of the way: my name is Alexander Laska, and I am an Assistant News Director for WRGW News.

Recently, my fellow Assistant News Director, Dan Keylin, was attacked on this blog by Eric Thibault - who worked for Xochitl's Sanchez's campaign - for injecting analysis into his coverage of the Student Association elections.  Now, Dan's a big boy and he can take it, but not only did Mr. Thibault provide a completely fact-free assault on my fellow AND, he also called all of WRGW News as a whole "biased" (just look at the headline), which is appallingly inaccurate.

Now, he had to provide a media critique for his Internet and Politics class, and I don't blame him for choosing WRGW News to pick on: after all, he has been a staff writer for The Hatchet, and one can hardly expect him to critique his own employer.  But let's delve into his claims and see if there is any truth there.

First, he criticizes Dan for calling Jason Lifton (who went on to win the election) the "overwhelming favorite," saying that he had nothing to back up this claim.  Well, first off, we have done several interviews with SA insiders (you can find these interviews on our News In Depth page), all of whom agreed that the race was Lifton's to lose.  Then there was the straw poll we did which, while not scientific, did have a large sample (yes, Eric, I took SMPA 51, too) and backed up Dan's claim.  Oh, and then Lifton actually won the election.  So was there evidence to support the fact that Lifton was the favorite?  Retrospectively, yes.  In fact, when Dan made that assertion, it would have been pretty difficult to say he wasn't the overwhelming favorite in the race, considering the fact that Lifton announced his candidacy two days before Sanchez, the only other candidate in the presidential race, announced hers.  If Lifton wasn't the favorite at that point, I don't know who was.  Maybe Steve Holt?

Eric next critizes Dan's assertion that Sanchez didn't let him into her Facebook group.  But here's the first thing Sanchez's group says:

Per election rules, this group has to remain a closed group. However, if you would like to join my group I will not turn you away!***

But she did turn Dan away.  So, essentially, she lied on her campaign page.  I would argue that this is something worth noting.  As for Eric's respose...

Who the hell cares? That's not news, that's your egotistical commentary.

Real mature, Eric.

From there, Eric goes on to rant about various other things regarding Dan's coverage of the SA.  I'll respond in order: