Jimmy Fallon to Headline Colonials Weekend

Jimmy Fallon, an alumnus of Saturday Night Live and host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, will give two performances Saturday, Oct. 6, as part of this coming year's Colonials Weekend, a celebration for GW students and their families.

According to an email sent by GW Today, tickets will go on sale Monday, Aug. 9, and ticket prices range from $35 to $75. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 202-994-7411. Students can also purchase tickets at GW Ticketmaster, which is located on the lower level of the Marvin Center. A photo ID is required to pick up tickets.

"Jimmy Fallon is one of the most creative emerging talents in the entertainment industry. Every night his fans see him host a comedy-variety-talk show that has become the launching pad for comedy, music and A-list talent,” said Robert Chernak, senior vice president for student and academic support services. “His comedic style, creativity, and energy are a great match to what we believe is of interests to students and parents in the GW community.”


Click here for more information on Colonials Weekend.

Adam Green: Progressive Agenda is Mainstream Agenda

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and a graduate of the School of Media and Public Affairs, spoke to the College Democrats Thursday night to give them words of encouragement going into the 2010 elections.

Green, who previously worked for MoveOn.org and several campaigns such as that of Tim Johnson of South Dakota, said that PCCC was founded to provide Democrat activists with an alternative to institutions such as the Democratic National Committee.

“A lot of candidates who went on to vote against Obama’s health care agenda, Obama’s environmental bill, received the most money from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,” said Green. “We want to give people the opportunity to vote with their dollars and volunteer hours, and force the DCCC to compete and become more progressive.”

Green said that the conventional wisdom about candidates needing to pander to the center on issues is “wrong.”

“What genius came up with the idea that because something is in the ideological center of our country, that’s in the center of the bell curve?” He asked, referring to the widely-accepted bell curve showing that the majority of Americans are in the political center, with fewer voters leaning to the left or right of the political spectrum. “We have a lot of ignorance in the media about the center of our ideology being in the center of the bell curve, and a lot of it comes from pundits we’re taught to respect.”

“A progressive agenda is a mainstream agenda,” he added. “The center of our country is progressive.”

Green cited polls showing that, before the health care reform vote, over 70 percent of Americans wanted a public option, and yet many Congressional Democrats said they would only support health care reform legislation if it did not include a public option.

“The problem with Democrats is that they aren’t representing their districts,” Green said.

One of these Democrats, Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., is now facing a primary challenge from Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, who is catching up with Lincoln in recent polls. The PCCC and other organizations helped Halter bring in $1.5 million in grassroots donations.

Green assured the College Democrats that giving conservative Democrats such as Lincoln primary challenges by more progressive candidates would not threaten their majorities in both houses of Congress.

“There is room in the Democrat party for new ideas. It’s okay to question authority, to question conventional wisdom, to question the norms,” he said. “The book is constantly being re-written.”

Photos from the WRGW News-Student Association Debate

Candidates for the Student Association Presidency and Executive Vice Presidency met in the Marvin Center Ampitheater Friday evening for the first ever WRGW News-Student Association Debate.  Discussion topics ranged from campus dining to sustainability to alcohol amnesty to gender-neutral housing. Below are photos from the debate.  You will soon be able to see many more photos from the debate on our Flickr account.

Photos by Tylar Greene

EVP candidates Rob Maxim, Logan Dobson, Josh Goldstein and Jon Binetti

Make-Up Days Announced

GW has announced how it will make up for the days of classes missed due to the snow storms.  From GW Infomail:

Monday, Feb. 8, canceled classes to be held on Tuesday, April 27 (Regular Makeup Day);

Tuesday, Feb. 9, canceled classes to be held on Thursday, April 29 (Reading Day 1);

Wednesday, Feb. 10, canceled classes to be held on Friday, April 30 (Reading Day 2);

Thursday, Feb. 11, canceled classes to be held on Saturday, May 1.

TKE House Evacuated

The snow storms are affecting more than just classes.

The Tau Kappa Epsilon town house has been evacuated after firefighters determined this afternoon that the roof was showing signs of a possible collapse.

According to DC Fire Department Spokesman Pete Piringer, approximately seven residents of the house have left the building and are being housed elsewhere on campus.

WRGW News will have updates on the situation as they are made available.

Roosevelt Institute Aims to Help Haiti

In the wake of the earthquake that rocked Port-Au-Prince last month, The Roosevelt Institute is working on short- and long-term solutions to raise Haiti up out of the rubble.

DC-International Regional Coordinator Rory Silver says the progressive student policy think-tank is working on developing a self-sustainable micro-community in Haiti.

“The community, inspired by the kibbutzim that were successful in developing Israel, would be an immediate and long-term solution not only to the earthquake, but to the tattered infrastructure and eroded land that has plagued Haiti for years,” said Silver. “The land would be reforested, the community would be made of pre-fabricated housing with a 0 carbon footprint, and a shade-grown coffee industry would develop out of the model.”

Silver says the Institute has already been in contact with the kibbutzim manufacturers, as well as officials from the Haitian and French embassies.

Established in 2006, the GW chapter of the Roosevelt Institute was one of the first of 90 chapters across the country. Some of its recent accomplishments include GW’s annual “Green Move-Out,” a health policy conference held in conjunction with the GW administration and White House officials who tackled youth interests in the health care debate, and last semester’s Mid-Atlantic Regional conference, where students from chapters across the Mid-Atlantic came to GW to discuss ideas, listen to experts in various fields, and attend policy trainings. Members of the GW chapter have also been featured in Roosevelt’s national journals, The Roosevelt Review and the 10 Ideas series.

For more information on the GW chapter of the Roosevelt Institute, click here.

Coming Up on News in Depth: CDs/CRs Face Off on State of the Union

Communications directors Michael Garber of the College Democrats and Rob Noel of the College Republicans will join WRGW News' Jared Pliner and guest-anchor Alex Laska THIS SUNDAY on News in Depth from 12 to 12:40 p.m.

Garber and Noel will respond to President Obama's State of the Union message, the very latest happenings on Capitol Hill, and the general direction of the nation.

You don't want to miss this edition of News in Depth...live from Washington D.C.!

Watch SOTU Address TONIGHT

President Obama will address both houses of Congress tonight at 9pm; be sure to tune in to hear what he has to say, as a president's State of the Union address is often a good indicator of what his agenda will be in the year ahead.

The GW College Democrats will be hosting a watch party at 8:30pm in the South Hall community room.

The GW College Republicans will be having their watch party at 9pm in Marvin Center room 403.

All of the major television networks will be broadcasting the speech live; you can also watch the address online at whitehouse.gov.

And don't forget to join us live this Sunday, January 31, at noon for analysis of President Obama's first official SOTU address.

BREAKING: SA Senate Passes LGBT Bills

SA Senator and potential Presidential Candidate Michael Komo received two pieces of good news Tuesday night, as the Senate voted to pass the two LGBT bills he had been championing.

The Senate first passed the 2010 Expanding Academic Opportunities Act, which endorses the creation of an LGBT Studies Minor within CCAS, by a roll-call vote of 23-7.

The Senate later passed the 2010 Equal Housing Opportunity Act, which endorses gender-neutral housing, allowing students to apply for housing with students of the opposite gender if they request one another, by a roll-call vote of 19-11.  The bill had been tabled at last week's meeting.

"I am absolutely elated!  We have been working for months on these initiatives," said Komo after final passage of both bills.  "Our hard was rewarded tonight with the passage of both pieces of legislation. I am beyond happy that we have addressed the concerns of students and have offered positive solutions. The point of the Student Association is to help students in need. We have successfully done that this evening. I am very proud. I look forward to addressing more concerns of the student body at future Senate meetings."

Komo had added an amendment to EHOA during a recess to change the endorsement to a less "widespread" version of gender-neutral housing consisting of a one-year pilot program, with the university deciding at the end of the year whether to keep the program.

Senator Erik Ashida told WRGW News before the meeting that he will be retiring from the SA at the end of the year.  During the thirty-minute debate session before the vote, Ashida said that "the concept [of gender-neutral housing] itself is fundamentally sound," calling it "a sound policy we should endorse."

But Senator Giovanni Tomassi, who voiced opposition to both bills, said EHOA was "too broad" and "has too many flaws."

One of the lighter moments of the debate came when Senator Logan Dobson, talking about the potential costs of instituting campus-wide gender-neutral housing, said that "as a member of housing staff I don't charge by the roommate conflict," eliciting applause from some of his fellow Senators.

Click here to read the liveblog of the meeting.

Educate Lanka Foundation Seeks to Raise Funds

The country of Sri Lanka has undergone many changes over the past decade, including a tsunami in 2004 and a thirty-year Civil War that ended last May. The Educate Lanka Foundation (ELF) is hoping to raise money to help students whose lives have been affected by these events.

ELF is a 501 C 3 charity based in the Greater Washington Area. According to Chamari De Silva, the organization "gives scholarships to underprivileged, yet deserving students in Sri Lanka, my home country."

"As time goes on, many people are quick to forget that there are people still struggling and trying to make ends meet," said De Silva.

ELF is made up of about 50 volunteers who spend their nights and weekends dedicating their efforts to the cause, which De Silva said is "near and dear to our hearts."

"Chase Bank is donating $1 million to the charity that gets the most votes on Facebook by this Friday, January 22, at midnight. If we can get in the top 5, then we can get $100,000," said De Silva. "Currently we are number 27 and have a long way to go but we are determined and optimistic!"

WRGW News hosted an interview with ELF on Thursday night's News at Six.

For more information, visit EducateLanka.org.

DEVELOPING: SA Student Life Committee Passes Key LGBT Legislation

On Tuesday night, the Student Association Senate Committee on Student Life, led by Chairman Michael Komo, voted in favor of two LGBT-related bills: the first, the 2010 Equal Housing Opportunity Act (EHOA), allows students to apply for gender-neutral housing, and the second, the 2010 Expanding Academic Opportunities Act (EAOA), calls for the creation of an LGBT Studies Minor in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

Both bills were passed 7-1.

“I am absolutely elated that the Student Life Committee has passed both pieces of legislation,” said Komo, who is also the President of Allied in Pride, after the vote.  “Various student groups and organizations at GW have been working vigorously on these initiatives all year.  I think the enthusiasm from the student body has carried over to the Student Life Committee.”

The two bills will now go before the full Senate, where they will be voted on this coming Tuesday at 9pm in Marvin Center room 405.

Asked if he thinks the bills will pass the Senate, Komo said he is “anticipating a positive reaction from the Senate as a whole.”

“The Senate has been receiving updates on these initiatives since the beginning of last fall and has been receptive to the ideas,” he said.  “I am optimistic that the Senate will vote in favor of equality and will pass these two pieces of legislation next Tuesday.”

Student Health Services to Offer Free Flu and H1N1 Vaccines

The GW Health Service, as part of National Influenza Vaccination Week, will be offering free seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines from Monday, January 11 through Friday January 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The vaccines will be available in nasal mist and shot forms.  Supplies are limited and will be available to all student, faculty, and staff with a GWorld on a first-come first-serve basis.

SHS is located at 2141 K St, NW, Suite 501.

SA Senator Komo Pushes for Gender-Neutral Housing

Michael Komo, President of Allied and Pride and Undergraduate-At-Large Senator in the GW Student Association, is on a mission to bring gender-neutral housing to GW through his new organization, Colonials for Gender-Neutral Housing. “We have two problems with housing,” said Komo, who is Chairman of the SA Senate Student Life Committee, when asked why he supports gender-neutral housing for GW. “First, transgender students do not have proper housing. There are only ‘male’ and ‘female’ boxes on the housing application, and transgender students are not recognized or placed properly in housing. Second, several students would feel more comfortable living with the opposite sex. Our current housing program does not address the needs of students who are not comfortable living with members of the same sex. [Gender-neutral housing] would alleviate those problems and would make our housing as close to perfection as possible.” With gender-neutral housing, male and female students would be able to request living with one another, though Komo said it “would never be random.” “Gender-neutral housing would be a completely voluntary program that would be another option in housing,” said Komo. “Men would not be able to randomly request to live with women. The same is for women. Students would have to specifically request to live with one another. They would be mixed in with the rest of the students on campus. For example, Ivory 201 would be men, Ivory 202 would be women, Ivory 203 would be gender-neutral.”


Komo’s Living and Learning Cohort, “Escaping Gender,” is a test-run for gender-neutral housing on the GW campus; now in its second year, the LLC includes men, women, and transgendered students participating in gender-neutral housing. Komo says the LLC “has been extremely successful. Now, we want to implement gender-neutral housing on a larger basis.” The LLC will be publishing a “comprehensive report detailing what colleges participate in this program and how they did it,” said Komo. “It will also include why GW needs it, and a plan to implement it.” This report is set to be published the week of January 10. The SA is expected to vote on the gender-neutral housing bill the following week.

Lady Gaga’s “Fame Monster” Leaves Us “Speechless”

A Track-by-Track of Gaga’s Newest Album

Lady Gaga’s new album, “The Fame Monster,” has the pop icon delving into her inner “monsters:” that which she fears the most, and that which she has discovered about herself while travelling across Eastern Europe after the release of her breakout album, “The Fame.” An anemic eight tracks in length, Gaga’s sophomore effort, which has already sold over 350,000 copies since its debut last week, pulls no punches, giving us some creative, catchy, and occasionally creepy tunes. With roots in electronic dance music akin to what you would hear in nightclubs across the pond, “The Fame Monster” gives us a fiery and fascinating blend of tracks that are as vibrant as they are vicious. Let’s dissect this monster:

Rep. Steve Israel Paints Vivid Portrait of Future

Representative Steve Israel, a Democrat who represents New York’s second district and sits on the House Appropriations Committee, spoke to GW students Wednesday night about the future of energy, the middle east, and politics.

“We have a commonality in what happens in the future,” he said. “We have been given an opportunity to do more for this planet than any other generation in history. The fact that you’re here tonight gives me a lot of hope for the future.”

According to Israel, this future requires a transformation of the way America produces and consumes energy, not only because it would “unleash a whole new generation of jobs,” but also because America’s dependence on foreign oil is a national security risk.

“We borrow money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to fuel our tanks and planes and boats to protect us against China and the Persian Gulf,” he said. “That doesn’t make much sense.”

America’s dependence on foreign oil is also a threat because Israel considers Iran, the fourth largest exporter of crude oil, to be “the single greatest threat in the Middle East.” Israel said that the US needs to rid itself of foreign oil because if Iran were to stop crude oil flow out of its borders, “the price of gas would hit $14 overnight.”

Israel expressed optimism about the December UN environmental conference in Copenhagen on the grounds that “China and India have both realized that the current paradigm has not been working for them.”

Turning to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel asserted that the problem was “generational,” because Palestinian children are being educated in an anti-Israeli way.

“We believe that negotiating at high-altitude diplomatic positions will make a difference, but if we don’t reform the curricular and education for Palestinian children, all the peace treaties in the world won’t make a difference,” he said.

Speaking of the previous day’s elections, Israel – who was allegedly a key player in getting Republican dropout Dede Scozzafava to endorse Democrat Bill Owens over conservative candidate Doug Hoffman – said that “in a challenging environment, we actually added a Democrat to the House of Representatives… In the one federal election that mattered, we won.”

Saying that he “loves moderate Republicans, all two of them,” Israel noted that “the tea party has taken over the Republican party… they have hijacked the party to the right; they will not be able to sustain themselves in most future elections.”

Peace Jam Raises Money for 'Invisible Children'

Students rocked out Saturday night while simultaneously raising money for a good cause.

Peace Jam, a concert whose proceeds will directly help 14 children in Africa who have been child soldiers or prisoners of war, had raised over $20,000 for this cause by the end of the night through ticket sales, which were $15 per person.

The concert featured performances by Cause, Vizion dance team from Howard University, the Flowers High School step team, UPenn a capella group Penn Masala, Lucky Dubb and Family Portrait. Slam Poets Messiah and Jonathan Walton hosted the event.

Henna Sharma, who was Promotion Chair for Peace Jam and a group liaison for the Flowers High School step team, said “the program was a success,” and that the money raised will help these children gain scholarships to come to universities in the US next year.

Peace Jam was a part of Africa Week 2009, a series of events held on the GW campus aimed at raising awareness about the history, culture, and current events of Africa. Other events included a lecture on child labor in the cocoa industry, a discussion with State Department Foreign Affairs Officers Simone Joseph and Stuart Cramptom, Dodgeball for Darfur and the Third Annual International Festival, which featured international entertainment and cuisine and raised money for GW-UNICEF.

Africa Week 2009 was co-sponsored by several GW organizations, including GW Books for Africa, GW Students for Fair Trade, GW Warchild, and GW Ahimsa.