GW Hatchet Blogs - blogs.gwhatchet.com

The unidentified male paces on a GW Hospital ledge. An hour and a half later, he fell and sustained serious injuries. The man, whose name and condition is not available, was on the ledge for more than four hours. Andrew Nacin/Hatchet photographer

The Hatchet has published an article with more information.

Update, 4:48 p.m. Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant Jimmie Riley said the man partially hit the ground when falling and was breathing when they took him inside the hospital with serious injuries. The man had been hanging off the ledge, and officers set up the mat while trying to negotiate with him.

Emergency personnel stationed on the roof prepare to rappel down to rescue the potential jumper. Andrew Nacin/Hatchet photographer

Riley said the man, a black male whose name is not yet available, checked in yesterday after being injured in a car accident.

Update, 4:08 p.m. The male jumped fell onto an inflatable mat. There is no status on his condition.

End Update.

A man exited a GW Hospital window around noon today and is threatening to jump from a ledge overlooking New Hampshire Avenue.

He is wearing boxer shorts and his arms are bandaged. More than 30 D.C. police and fire department vehicles are on the scene blocking off many of the streets surrounding the hospital. Stay with The Hatchet for more news as it develops.

Hadas Gold contributed to this report.

Aerospace engineer David S. Dolling will become the next dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in September, University officials announced today.

Dolling, an associate dean at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, will replace SEAS Dean Timothy Tong who is departing GW to become the president of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

“Dr. Dolling was selected after an extensive national search. His expertise in high-level research in aerodynamics, as well as in faculty recruitment and mentoring, will greatly help GW advance its science and engineering programs,” said Donald R. Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs, in a news release.

Stay with GWHatchet.com this weekend for more details on the new SEAS dean.

Tonic restaurant began to serve mixed drinks with hard liquor today after reaching an agreement with the University.

Patrons at Tonic can now enjoy hard liquor. Andrew Nacin/Hatchet photographer

Although Tonic’s liquor license permitted the pub to sell hard liquor, beer and wine, a special arrangement with the University allowed the bar to serve hard liquor only during weekend brunches.

Under the new arrangement, more than a dozen varieties of liquor and 14 mixed drinks including the “Washington Apple” and “Youngy’s Espresso Martini” are available to patrons daily during normal business hours. These unique concoctions range in price from $8.50 to $9.50.

“This makes us a full service restaurant and this what we wanted to do,” said Jeremy Pollok, Tonic co-owner.

However, there are some restrictions that Tonic must still follow under the University agreement. The pub cannot serve shots of hard liquor because they are more likely to lead to alcohol poisoning, Pollok said.

Tonic officials will continue to have regular meetings with the University regarding the impact of a full service restaurant in Foggy Bottom, Pollok said.

“We are mindful we are on a college campus and minding our ‘p’s and q’s’,” he said.

Photo: Andrew Nacin/Hatchet photographer

University President Steven Knapp is looking for an executive chef and house assistant for his new residence at 1925 F Street, according to the University’s career Web site.

The chef must have a degree from an accredited culinary program and five years of “appropriate experience,” according to the chef job posting. The position is part-time and does not have a listed salary.

In keeping with Knapp’s push for sustainability at GW, the chef is required to have an “excellent knowledge of current culinary trends with respect to organic, local and sustainable food products.”

The house assistant will be paid between $11.43 and $17.71 per hour. The posting states that they will be expected to clean, cook, greet guests, arrange flowers, act as a sous-chef and take care of the family pets.

Both job postings warn that some “work may be performed in a standing position for long periods of time.”

Knapp and his family are slated to move into their new residence by the end of July.

This post was written by staff writer Samantha Honig.

Since Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, Washington has been full of rumblings about who will join him on the ticket as vice president and GW alumnus Mark Warner was among those being discussed. However, Warner, the former governor of Virginia, removed himself from the running when he accepted the Virginia Democratic Convention’s nomination for the 2008 U.S. Senate race on Saturday.

“I have been working very hard these last few months to ask the people of Virginia to give me the honor of being their United States senator. I will not seek, and I will not accept, any other opportunity,” Warner said in his speech according to The Washington Post.

Many Washington insiders said Warner’s name on the ticket would help the Democrats win the state of Virginia in the presidential election. Virginia has consistently voted Republican since 1968.

Hatchet file photo.

Comedian Robin Williams will be the featured entertainer at this year’s Colonials Weekend, University officials announced today.

The Academy Award-winning actor will take the stage of the Smith Center Friday, Oct. 17 and Saturday Oct. 18 at 9:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. July 8, and cost between $57 and $150, according to a news release

“We are excited to welcome one of America’s most versatile talents to campus for Colonials Weekend 2008,” said Robert A. Chernak, senior vice president for student and academic support services, in the release. “In addition to being a Hollywood humorist, Robin Williams also is an exceptional humanitarian, having performed in USO shows around the world, as well for numerous charity benefits at home, including Comic Relief, which he helped found over two decades ago. We look forward to a frantic, fast-paced evening of the hysterical humor that marks his unique style on stage.”

Peter Konwerski, assistant vice president for SASS, said Williams was the “first and top choice” for Colonials Weekend and the University has worked for the past several weeks to bring the comic to campus this fall.

“We always have a short list and we keep going back to the list to confirm and verify the interest among students and parents, but as we did that this year, from everyone we spoke to, Robin Williams was the name that kept coming up over and over again,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Konwerski said he thinks that William’s upcoming show is the first performance the comedian has done at GW.

Williams is famous for his roles in “Aladdin,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Good Morning Vietnam,” “Mork and Mindy” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

-Sarah Scire contributed to this report.

Update | 3:06 p.m. Metro has posted a press release on their Web site regarding this morning’s service interruptions. They also issued an advisory stating that any customers who left the system unprocessed will be able to use their farecards during the evening rush hour.

Update | 10:54 a.m. Power returned to the downtown area after the city restored the electrical substation in Chinatown, according to an e-mail sent from the D.C. alert system.

An electrical substation in Chinatown failed this morning resulting in power outages throughout downtown D.C., according to an e-mail from the District’s alert system.

The Dupont Circle, Shaw-Howard U, Farragut North, Farragut West and McPherson Square Metro stations are running on emergency power, which a Metro spokesperson said could make elevators, escalators and fare card vending machines inoperable, according to The Washington Post. However, the stations remain open, The Post said.

City officials do not know when power will be resumed, according the alert system e-mail.

Metrorail service is also affected this morning because of a fire on the Red Line, according to a later e-mail sent from the District’s alert system. Although the fire has been extinguished, delays exceeding an hour remain for commuters using the Red Line, the e-mail said.

University President Steven Knapp and his family will begin living in his Foggy Bottom house by the end of next month, said Alicia O’Neil, director of real estate planning and development, during a tour of the Knapp’s1925 F St. residence this week.

The historic building, which housed the famed F Street Club and most recently the GW alumni association offices, has three floors and a basement. The ground floor will be used for entertaining and will include a parlor, conservatory, library, dining room, two handicap-accessible bathrooms and a large kitchen for catering. The second and third floors will be the Knapp’s personal living quarters and will include a small kitchen and bedrooms among other rooms, O’Neil said. The basement will be used for storage, she said.

Despite a significant amount of construction still occurring on the house this week, O’Neil said the renovations are going according to plan.

“With a historic building, we found a few (structural problems), but it has been a smooth renovation process,” O’Neil said.

When Knapp moves into the house, a security system that is “comparable to a residential security system” will be in place, she said. O’Neil would not comment specifically on what kind of security features Knapp’s house would have, but said the University Police Department was consulted on security for the residence.

However, not all planned features for the property will be completed by the time of Knapp’s arrival. The University will turn the off-street parking for the house into an enclosed garage and will begin the permit process for that structure in late summer or early fall, O’Neil said.

All Schenley Hall residents may return to their rooms tonight except for the sophomores living in the second floor room where the fire began Friday night, according to University officials.

GW Facilities continues to repair the damage caused by the fire and the residence hall has not returned to “full operational status,” according to a GW Housing letter sent to Schenley residents tonight.

University and D.C. Fire Department officials have not released the official cause of the fire.

Schenley residents are still not allowed into the building and are being instructed to find alternative lodging for the night, a senior official said.

“We’ve contacted all the students whose rooms were affected and they are going to stay elsewhere, mostly with friends,” said Mark Levine, senior assistant dean of students.

Students who are not able to find alternative housing will be placed in vacant rooms on campus, said Johanna Easley, campus community director. As of now, no one is currently allowed back in the building.

Residents of the first three floors were instructed to check with the concierge desk at the Marvin Center and let administrators know where they were sleeping. If students did not show up, housing officials called their cell phones.

Levine said that residents of floors four through eight will be allowed in the building in the next few hours.

“For any students whose rooms were not affected, they are going to get some stuff and stay somewhere else,” he said. “They will escorted by the staff.”

- Danielle Meister