As students gear up for tricks and treats on Halloween, the University is taking special proactive measures – the holiday is a peak time for student misconduct, the director of Student Judicial Services said.
Tara Pereira, assistant dean of students and the head of SJS, said that her office can identify certain peak times when students misbehave by tracking calls to the Community Concern Hotline, and that the University has prepared countermeasures for unruly students on Saturday.
“The George Washington University has once again engaged in proactive planning to address the upcoming events of Halloween. Especially with the holiday falling on a Saturday this year, we have redoubled our efforts,” Pereira said.
Pereira said the University is coordinating with the Metropolitan Police Department, and “just a few of the steps being taken to curb inappropriate behavior,” include an additional University Police Department presence and Neighborhood Action Team patrols. The University will also provide alternative activities on campus and has educated students and housing staff, Pereira said.
Michael Akin, executive director of international, government and community affairs, said that the holiday draws increased occurrences of misconduct.
“Halloween is a time when we expect increased activity,” Akin said. “Each year we undertake a number of efforts to proactively address these issues.”
Pereira said neighbors have also been encouraged to report any misconduct to the hotline.
5:21 p.m. The Metropolitan Police Department closed 23rd Street for two hours Tuesday due to a report of a suspicious package near Fulbright Hall.
The package was a “brown luggage bag,” left on a bench outside the residence hall, said David Sanchez, a construction worker who was on campus working at The School Without Walls. He said he went to the benches at 23rd and H streets for lunch and saw the bag, which had a “folded-up letter” attached to it. Sanchez said a University Police Department officer asked him if the bag was his or if he had seen who left it there, and when he said no, asked him to leave the scene.
The bag was discovered at 1:30 p.m. and MPD was immediately notified, said University Spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard.
Fulbright Hall and Building K were evacuated, Sherrard said, and several buildings around the scene – including Amsterdam Hall and Funger Hall – were blocked off. The Foggy Bottom Metro station was also closed with yellow caution tape, and Metro Transit police helped guard the borders of the street closures.
“There may have been minimal interruption to classes,” Sherrard said. “There may have been access issues in surrounding areas.”
Though there were students in class in Funger Hall, a UPD officer stood outside and blocked additional students from entering. Students reported similar activity at Amsterdam Hall.
“Obviously we’re all flexible, but I’m encouraged by the University making sure that student safety is first,” said Mike Zeliff, a professor of international business. “Ultimately if they are over-reacting, it’s on behalf of safety. I can wait a few minutes for that.”
Street closures included 23rd Street between G and I streets, as well as I Street between 21st and 23rd streets and H Street from 22nd to 24th streets. Access to Washington Circle was also suspended.
Trains were still passing through but not stopping at the Metro station while it was closed, according to a Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority news release. Kenny Bryson, a spokesman for MPD, said that he didn’t think the package was related to the Metro, but that if a station is “in close proximity, for safety concerns they will sometimes block it off.”
University Police Chief Dolores Stafford declined to answer questions about the incident.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Services, the MPD bomb squad and the MPD K-9 squad were also on-scene.
A Metro bus was parked on the side of the road within the police barricades. The driver said that he had been headed towards Friendship Heights, when an MPD officer told him to pull over and “secure the bus,” due to a bomb scare. The driver, who said he had “never seen anything like this before,” had to wait outside the barricades for the investigation to end.
G Street between 22nd and 23rd Streets was briefly closed after an unattended messenger bag was left outside of the Smith Center, but the bag was claimed by a Smith Center employee and the street was reopened.
At The School Without Walls, two buses were held.
“We were going to the metro and they said ‘Everybody get out, run,’” said Kenneth James, a SWW student. “I was like ‘woah what’s going on?’ ”
The scene was cleared around 3:38 p.m. with no hazardous materials found, MPD officer Quintin Peterson said.
The package outside of Fulbright was the second suspicious package investigated in downtown D.C. on Tuesday. Pennsylvania Avenue between 9th Street and Constitution Avenue was closed after someone deposited Petri dishes in the night deposit at a Wachovia Bank on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Matt Rist and Lauren French contributed to this report.
Robberies are up on Pennsylvania Avenue between 21st and 24th streets over the last 60 days, a Metropolitan Police Department official said Wednesday at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A meeting.
Sgt. Dustin Nevel, an evening patrol sergeant, said officers are focusing on the area. Nevel said one reason crime may be up in that area is because of its proximity to the Foggy Bottom Metro station.
“Suspects are most likely fleeing on the Metro,” Nevel said. “We’re going to be pulling video.”
Most of the robberies have occurred between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., the evening rush hour, Nevel said. Ten officers have been assigned to patrol the area during the evening shift and 10 to the midnight shift, while the number of officers in the day have been reduced.
There have been 16 violent crimes in the entire ANC 2A area since May 15, according to data from the MPD crime map Web site. Seven of those crimes occurred on Pennsylvania Avenue, and there were also several thefts reported in the area. According to the map, total violent crime in ANC 2A is up 60 percent from the same time period last year.
Most of that increase came between May 15 and June 15. Since June 15, there have been five violent crimes in the area, compared to four from the same time last year.
An earlier effort to curb theft from cars in the area has seen success. Eleven thefts from cars between May 15 and June 15 was reduced to seven thefts between June 15 and July 15, according to the crime map.
Despite the jump in robberies, the Police Service Area 207, where GW is located, was given an award in June for the highest reduction in crime of all seven police districts, Nevel said.
This post was written by Hatchet Staff Writer Amy D’onofrio.
The Advisory Neighborhood Commission serving Foggy Bottom and West End voted unanimously Thursday to give Marshall’s Bar and Grille and Shadow Room nightclub waivers from their voluntary agreements, allowing them to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. from Jan. 17 to Jan. 21.
A motion made by Commissioner Armando Irizarry (2A04) to extend McFadden’s hours from the usual 2 a.m. close to 3 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Tuesday was not seconded, so no vote took place.
ANC 2A Chairman Asher Corson announced at the start of the meeting that the GW Inn, the fourth establishment on the agenda, had withdrawn its application for an extension. Corson said he had no idea why the Inn, which has the Italian restaurant Notti Bianche, had done so.
Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration Interim Director Fred Moosally was in attendance and letters allowing the establishments to extend their hours were given to him by the ANC.
Representatives from the three establishments considered by the ANC all spoke at the meeting.
The owner of Marshall’s, Tarek Moukalled, told the Commission he would keep the restaurant’s kitchen open late with extended hours, and Moosally clarified for the Commission that establishments staying open until 4 a.m. have to serve food until at least 2 a.m. After a few positive comments from commissioners about Marshall’s, the vote was made giving it permission to extend its hours.
Swaptak Das, the owner of Shadow Room nightclub, told the Commission that he wanted to extend hours each night from Friday to Tuesday, with an event closed to the public on Monday night for a nonprofit organization. He said Sunday night that a number of big-name celebrities were confirmed to be in attendance.
Irizarry said strong opposition to Shadow Room extending its hours came from Commissioner Florence Harmon, who could not be in attendance at the meeting. Irizarry said there was concern about peace and quiet in the neighborhood after patrons leave the club. Das said he did not want to upset Harmon, whose constituents live near Shadow Room.
“We’ve applied for police detail every single night. We don’t expect a rowdy crowd due to our price points,” Das said.
Corson said it was very unique to have an establishment like Shadow Room open to negotiation with the ANC, and he made the motion for the extension of Shadow Room’s hours.
McFadden’s General Manager Jason Lawrence told the Commission that the restaurant and bar wanted to gain as much positive exposure as possible in an extension of its hours.
Commissioner Rebecca Coder (2A02) voiced her concern about past behavior from the establishment and that McFadden’s Web site promoted an inauguration kick-off party called “Inaugural Insanity.”
Lawrence has been the general manager of McFadden’s since August and said his priority is to add tastefulness to the restaurant, trying to attract a 25 and older crowd rather than just 21 to 23-year-olds.
He brought a letter of recommendation from George James, who he said was the owner of 2400 Pennsylvania Ave., a building across the street from McFadden’s. Lawrence read the letter giving the restaurant permission from James to stay open until 3 a.m. The original letter was submitted to ABRA with McFadden’s application.
Lawrence declined to comment immediately after the meeting.
1:56 p.m. — A valve on a 30-inch water main was turned off at 17th and M streets N.W., according to Alert DC at about 1:30 p.m., so the water authority can repair a six-inch water main break on 12th Street between O and P streets.
Students in Foggy Bottom may have difficulty taking a shower or washing their dishes this afternoon.
The advisory, posted at 12:15 p.m., said the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is working to resolve the issue. A Hatchet reporter in Ivory Tower says water pressure has returned to the building.
Escalator outages persisted at the Foggy Bottom Metro station today, forming a line to enter the station that snaked around the neighboring hospital during this afternoon’s rush hour. The station has been experiencing escalator outages for the past few weeks, caused by intermittent repairs, unexpected outages and even a passenger’s shoelace getting caught.
Two of the station’s escalators are currently under repairs scheduled to continue into September and the third unexpectedly stopped working earlier today. For the second time in three weeks, all three escalators were out of service with only one to serve as a stairway for the station’s commuters, causing the backup.
Foggy Bottom is not the only station with escalator problems, Metro’s web site shows that 38 stations are currently experiencing outages.
Traffic on the corner of 23 and F streets is now running in both directions after a two-car accident closed the northbound lane for over an hour Thursday evening. There were no injuries to either of the drivers or passenger in the striking vehicle, a red Honda.
The Office of Community Service hosted its annual Hunger Banquet Wednesday night, attracting approximately 70 guests on the premise of free food and a night free from J Street.
The pedestrian passageway that runs under Guthridge Hall will close Monday, Nov. 23 and remain out of service until Spring 2010, according to an e-mail Thursday from Residential Property Management.
Freshman Joseph Song woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Monday so he could be one of the first students of the day to register for classes. But like many students, Song ran into technical problems with the GWeb registration system that keep him from getting the classes he wanted.
Two students are facing drug charges after police seized marijuana, cocaine and drug paraphernalia from a Foggy Bottom townhouse last month in a raid that yielded five student arrests.
BOSTON - With the game clock nearing expiration in Tuesday's first half, freshman Lasan Kromah officially announced his presence on this Colonials team. He did not say it with words, but instead etched it with a dagger, connecting from downtown on a pass from classmate Bryan Bynes and sending GW into the break with a six-point advantage and a crowd-kill
The Student Association's Dining Services Commission has met only once this semester and has made almost no progress on the changes to dining for which students have asked. Last year, the DSC pushed for lower prices, prompting Executive Vice President and Treasurer Lou Katz to ask Sodexo, the food service provider in the Marvin Center, to reconsider its
