City Shuts Down Ivory Elevators
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An independent student newspaper • Serving the GW community since 1904 Thursday The GW January 17, 2013 WWW.GWHATCHET.COM Vol. 109 • Iss. 34 Hatchet INAUGURATIONAct GUIDE 2013 l IIPAGES 6 TO 9 photo IllustratIon by jordan emont | photo edItor City shuts down Ivory elevators which will reinspect the facilities said the elevators will be back in GW disputes fine over the next week. service after the regulatory agency The violations come on the heels processes the permits. GW is ap- for illegal repairs of dozens of student complaints pealing the Ivory Tower fine. about building elevators. Students “Following notification of this by chloé sorVIno said they have been trapped in request from DCRA, the univer- Assistant News Editor elevators in buildings including sity's contractor took all steps nec- Schenley, Strong, City and Ivory essary to have the requested permit The city has forced two of Ivo- halls, with others reporting eleva- issued and inspection conducted ry Tower's four elevators to close tors that suddenly dropped several and is currently awaiting action by until they are brought up to code floors and temporarily trapped stu- DCRA,” he said in an email. and reinspected, after the Univer- dents. Sororities in Strong Hall told With two elevators out of ser- sity illegally installed new parts members to avoid the elevators last vice, Ivory Tower residents have without a permit. December, after one dropped sev- been frustrated by long lines in the GW was hit with a $2,000 fine eral floors on the way down. 10-floor building’s lobby, particu- and two violations from the Depart- The elevator contractor was larly during move-in last weekend. ment of Consumer and Regulatory conducting maintenance when he Some students have also said they Affairs over winter break, including “was informed that [GW] would don’t feel safe taking the elevators one for a disabled smoke system, be required to apply for and re- that are running, instead choosing agency spokesman Helder Gil said. ceive a permit, which was not the to take the stairs. Students are barred from using the understanding of the contractor Ninth-floor Ivory resident Jordan Columbian sees boom two out-of-service elevators – con- given past experience with this Halevy said he has been caught in one gesting the two working elevators type of work," Senior Associate of the building’s elevators before. – until GW provides proper docu- Vice President of Operations Ad- in math, science majors mentation to the regulatory body, ministration John Ralls said. He See ELEVATORS: Page 3 by mary ellen mcIntIre gains in larger programs like biol- Hatchet Staff Writer ogy and physics. The data does not count double majors in its total. The number of undergradu- To keep up with the demand, ate science and math majors in the the Columbian College has added Columbian College of Arts and Sci- about 10 new faculty positions in ences shot up 25 percent in the last science and math fields over the four years, according to newly re- past three years. leased data. Reza Modarres, head of the The surge shows that students statistics department, said it has are buying into the University’s hired two new faculty members rapid build-up in technical fields, and is looking to bring on four as it invests $275 million in the more this year. Likewise, Yongwu Science and Engineering Hall and Rong, head of the math depart- millions more into new science fac- ment, said his department has ulty and research money to join the hired adjunct faculty to cover ad- ranks of top research institutions. ditional teaching needs. “The growth in [science, tech- Both Modarres and Rong said nology, engineering and math] class sizes have increased over the majors is consistent with the Uni- past few years, an issue they said versity’s goal – and the push at the they've done their best to keep un- national level for greater emphasis der control. on STEM education – to build the “We have been stretched science and engineering enter- quite a bit,” Modarres said. “We prise,” Columbian College dean hope it continues – but at a rate Peg Barratt said. that we can handle.” Some departments have ex- Barratt said the economy and panded after being some of the col- workforce demands may also influ- lege’s smallest four years ago. For ence students’ majors. The college example, the number of biological has also doubled the number of anthropology majors grew from 12 Chinese students since 2008, with jordan emont | photo edItor to 34, and math majors have shot Students crowd the Ivory Tower lobby Wednesday, waiting for the only working elevator in the 700-student building. Two elevators were up from 10 to 28, along with smaller See CCAS: Page 3 shut down due to illegal repairs by GW, and another elevator was out of order. The elevators will reopen after an inspection next week. Sarah Ferris | Senior News Editor | [email protected] Brianna Gurciullo | Assistant News Editor | [email protected] January 17, 2013 Cory Weinberg | Campus News Editor | [email protected] Jeremy Diamond | Contributing News Editor | [email protected] Chloe Sorvino | Assistant News Editor | [email protected] H News Snapshot IN BRIEF University may cut down free HIV testing program Student Health Service may scale back its free HIV testing clinics next year if it doesn’t see an increase in visitors, Student Association president Ashwin Narla said. The free weekly clinic opened in No- vember, after SA leaders lobbied to nix a $25 appointment fee they said deterred students from getting tested. About 120 students took the free tests in November and December – just 17 more than the same time last year when the fee was in place. To draw more students, SHS is tap- ping student organizations like Allied in Pride and the GW Student Global AIDS Campaign to help with a marketing push. But if it fails, Narla said the clinics could be scaled down to two or three times per semester. Chapter Leader for the GW Stu- dent Global AIDS Campaign Katherine Wynne said that the organization is “go- ing to fight like heck” to preserve the free HIV clinics. “Other campuses have free testing. GW should not be an excep- tion,” Wynne said. SHS provided 528 HIV tests last year, a 200-test drop from the year before. Narla said he was hopeful for the clin- ics’ success after more than 30 students BECKY CROWDER | SEnioR STAFF PhoTOGRAPHER came to the first session. But he said par- Maryland residents Josh Speiser and Amy Buck hold candles on the one-month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. ticipation waned after midterms. Speiser helped organize the vigil in Dupont Circle for the Project to End Gun Violence, which will also march in a gun control rally Jan. 26. “Hopefully we can raise the numbers up a little bit, but if they continue to de- cline, I’ll be the first person to say we tried www.gwhatchet.com this program. But we didn’t see as much ON THE WEB involvement as we would like, so we’ll take the next step forward and see what INAUGURATION 2013 AUDIO SLIDESHOW we can do differently,” Narla said. Associate Director of Student Health Check out The Hatchet’s inauguration Men’s Basketball vs. Temple Service Susan Haney said some students coverage, from the swearing-in ceremony to the have found other avenues to get tested, such as routine office visits and through University’s ball agencies like the D.C. Department of Health. The GW Hospital has also offered Go online for the latest stories, photos and videos free walk-in testing since 2006. CVS also throughout inauguration weekend. The Colonials suffered a close loss against Owls on Wednesday. sells over-the-counter tests. Haney added that the SHS did not have “any expectation of the numbers we would serve” and that she was pleased students were coming in. JanuaRY –Adam Silverman and Chloe Sorvino Thursday 17 Friday 18Saturday 19 Sunday 20 America & Poverty Supreme Court Justice MLK Day of Service Pre-Inaugural Dance Lesson Watch Princeton University professor Cornel Listen to Associate Justice Sonia Volunteer with local service organizations Brush up on your swing and salsa dance West and former House Speaker Newt Sotomayor chronicle her climb from and help pack 100,000 care packages moves with GW Ballroom before heading out Gingrich tape a televised discussion on the the Bronx to the nation’s highest for deployed U.S. service members, to the Inaugural Ball. future of poverty in America. court. veterans and first responders. Marvin Center Grand Ballroom Lisner Auditorium • 6:30 p.m. Lisner Auditorium • 7 p.m. D.C. Armory • 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. • 1 to 3 p.m. THE GW HATCHET NEWS January 17, 2013 w Page 3 Local eateries to move blocks away by BRIANNA GURCIULLO block north of campus, has Assistant News Editor delayed its move from Penn- sylvania Avenue to K Street. Three restaurants that The 26-year-old bar and GW will bulldoze in early restaurant initially planned 2014 to clear way for an of- to move over winter break fice building will reopen and reopen by Feb. 1. Owner near campus. Hien Bui declined to com- Thai Place will move around ment on the moving delay or the block to 2102 L St., across when Froggy will reopen at from Bruegger’s and Bourbon its new location at 2021 K St. Coffee, likely in September. The The fate of the iconic Indian and Pakistani restaurant pub, known for its Monday Mehran plans to remain in Fog- special of half-priced pizza gy Bottom but has not yet deter- and beer, became uncertain mined a location.