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Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 11:51 a.m.

Professor who spent 41 years at GW loses battle to Alzheimer’s

by Brianna Gurciullo

George Wang, a professor who taught Chinese at the University for more than four decades, died last week at 85 years old.

Wang, who struggled with Alzheimer’s disease, also worked at Yale University before he joined the GW faculty in 1965, The Washington Post reported. He died Jan. 24 at Arden Courts assisted living in Silver Spring, Md., where he was a longtime resident.

The associate professor left GW in 2006, publishing more than 30 articles for professional journals throughout his career.

Wang was born in Shenyang, China and was a member of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in D.C. A 1950 graduate of National Taiwan Normal University, Wang went on to receive a master’s degree from Tokyo University of Education, now University of Tsukuba, five years later.

He is survived by a brother, John Wang of Beltsville, Md., and sister, Mary Hseih, of Southport, Conn.

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Thursday, March 22, 2012 7:50 p.m.

Gray faces federal scrutiny for ‘shadow campaign’

by Priya Anand
Vincent Gray, mayor

Alumnus and Mayor Vincent Gray is under fire for allegedly running a "shadow campaign" operation that was kept under the rug and went unreported in campaign finance records. Hatchet File Photo

Alumnus and Mayor Vincent Gray is in hot water with federal investigators for allegedly running an unreported “shadow campaign” during the 2010 campaign season that included organizing and financing a get-out-the-vote operation that were kept under wraps.

The alleged shadow campaign began to put a little more cash in Gray’s campaign pockets when he was an underdog in the race against former Mayor Adrian Fenty, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The post anonymously cited former campaign staffers. D.C. Office of Campaign Finance guidelines require candidates to report all spending related to city campaigns and candidates.

They claimed former field organizer Vernon E. Hawkins organized that operation.

“Hawkins did not return calls seeking comment, and Gray said it was his understanding that Hawkins was a campaign volunteer. Gray declined to answer specific questions about the campaign allegations, citing the ongoing investigation,” The Post reported.

The story follows a federal investigation into Gray’s campaign irregularities, and a slew of charges surrounding his bid the city’s top executive seat. A federal probe dismissed an allegation by ex-candidate Sulaimon Brown that the alumnus’ staff bribed him to bash Fenty during the race in exchange for a city job.

Gray, who has been slammed with ethical inquiries into his campaign since he took office, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

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Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 1:12 p.m.

Ethics probe dismisses misconduct claims against D.C. mayor

by Sarah Ferris
Vincent Gray, mayor

A federal probe cleared Mayor Vincent Gray of wrongdoing related to allegations of bribery during last year's mayoral election. File photo

A federal investigation of D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray did not find sufficient evidence to support but could not rule out corruption claims.

The Washington Post reported the ethics committee “found no direct evidence’ proving ex-District employee and former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown’s allegations that Gray’s campaign promised him a job if he verbally bash then-incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty in last year’s election.

The criminal probe, launched in March, found indirect evidence pointing to the alleged promise, but was unable to firmly validate the claim, citing Brown’s “poor grasp of the facts”, according to The Washington Post.

In the eight month review, investigators have interviewed Gray’s staff, subpoenaed documents, including cell phone records, e-mails, and text messages between Brown and Gray’s campaign staff.

The report’s results resembled that of the D.C. Council this summer, which confirmed a top official in Gray’s campaign paid Brown to politically attack the former mayor, although Brown overstated the bribe. This probe did not find Gray directly involved with the incident, The Washington Post reported in August.

Gray has said he made no such deal and the Brown was only told he could have a job interview. Gray, an alumnus, has also repeatedly denied Brown’s claim that the Gray administration paid him thousands of dollars to stay in the race last November.

The report did not address the mayor’s campaign finance irregularities currently under federal scrutiny.

Brown was fired from his six-figure city job in March after local news outlets reported on his past legal troubles.

 

 

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Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010 10:45 p.m.

Top Medical School official resigns

by Emily Cahn

Dr. John “Skip” Williams, senior vice provost and vice president for health affairs, will leave the University at the end of the year, after sources said senior officials at the University pushed him out of his position, the Washington Post reported Tuesday night.

Williams said he is leaving GW because the University “no longer wants him in that position,” the Post reported. The Post, who quoted three anonymous sources within the medical school, said Williams “has hired an attorney and is negotiating an agreement.”

Williams is the second high-ranking medical school employee to resign from top positions at the University six months into to a review of the Medical School’s organizational structure. Medical School Dean James Scott announced he would be stepping down from his position just before the Thanksgiving break, but no one would go into detail regarding the move.

According to the Post, Scott was pressured to resign by “top university officials” or else “risk jeopardizing his severance package.”

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Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010 9:28 a.m.

Washington Post endorses incumbent Adrian Fenty in mayoral race

by Priya Anand

The Washington Post endorsed Mayor Adrian Fenty in the Democratic primary for mayor.

The endorsement is a blow to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, a GW alumnus and Fenty’s main opponent in the race.

According to the editorial, the District has made great strides forward as a result of Fenty’s leadership over the past four years, adding that Gray’s campaign is based on mudslinging against Fenty without any substantive ideas to better the city.

“Four years ago, Mr. Fenty laid out a clear and well-thought-out agenda; he then proceeded, to a degree unusual at any level of government, to do precisely what he had said he would do,” said the editorial, citing Gray’s plans as “alarmingly vague.”

In response, Gray tweeted that he was not surprised by the Post’s endorsement of Fenty.

“Fortunately voters decide elections, not editorial boards. We’ll take our chances,” the tweet said. “But even the Post talked about Fenty’s ‘secrecy,’ ‘pathological unwillingness’ to listen to others and his ‘suspect contracts to friends,’” a following tweet said.

The primary election is scheduled for Sept. 14.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010 10:19 a.m.

Expert to study chronic elevator, escalator outages at Foggy Bottom, other area Metro stations

by Emily Cahn

Those who frequent the Foggy Bottom Metro station almost expect that at least one of the three escalators into the station will not be functional.

And Metro has taken notice.

The Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Association will bring in an outside expert this week to assess the chronic outages that plague the Foggy Bottom – as well as several other – area Metro stations, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The expert will “spend several weeks on the assessment and will specifically look into problems at the Woodley Park, Bethesda, Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom stations,” according to the Post.

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Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 3:44 p.m.

Nearly 70 percent of college-age people do not plan to get flu vaccine, poll finds

by Sarah Scire

In an article that highlights several GW fraternity members, The Washington Post reported:

While college-age young people are among the most susceptible of all age groups to contract swine flu, that distinction is not scaring most into taking precautions, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. Nearly seven out of 10 people in the 18-to-29 age group say they do not plan to heed warnings to get vaccinated, the poll reported. (About 62 percent of those from 30 to 64 years old, as well as 53 percent of those 65 and older, also say they plan to skip the vaccine, the poll found.)

In the article, Post reporter Ian Shapira visited the Sigma Phi Epsilon townhouse and even describes the room of a sick student, after a student made him an offer Shapira couldn’t refuse: “My roommate is sick. Want to see him? He comatosed himself with NyQuil.”

The Post article also notes GW has requested 14,000 swine flu vaccine doses and has been prompting students to prevent the spread of the flu by outfitting residence halls and other places students congregate with bottles of hand sanitizer and prompting students to wash their hands and cover coughs.

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Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 7:05 a.m.

Washington Post investigation into AIDS spending prompts city response

by Sarah Scire

After a damning investigative series published this week by The Washington Post, the city announced an investigation of their own into the alleged abuse and fraud committed by HIV/AIDS programs charged with providing and caring for the city’s sick.

The Post’s 10-month long investigation, titled “Wasting Away: The Squandering of D.C.’s AIDS Dollars,” found that “one in three of D.C.’s AIDS dollars earmarked for small groups went to organizations marked by financial problems and questionable services.” The total amount given to nonprofits and organizations with suspect records totaled more than $25 million from 2004 to 2008.

D.C. is plagued by one of the worst rates of HIV/AIDS in the U.S., and at least 3 percent of residents are infected, according to recent estimates.

A nonprofit targeted by The Washington Post, Miracle Hands, remains “one of the most heavily funded organizations in the city” despite being the subject of complaints from city monitors, former clients, and outside AIDS organizations. The Post investigation found Miracle Hands was awarded $4.5 million over five years despite “a lack of services and supplies, missing records and questionable expenses.”

In a news conference, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty called the fraud and abuse of AIDS dollars “inexcusably wrong.”

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said the city’s investigation would focus on nonprofits currently receiving D.C. dollars, which includes Miracle Hands. Nickles said his office is considering trying “to recoup money from some groups and could potentially pursue criminal charges,” according to The Post.

One of the smaller groups questioned, the Ummah Endowment Fund, was once located near campus at 1015 18th Street, NW.

The Ummah Endowment Fund recieved $150,000, according to The Post. But “the city cannot produce a single document about the grants” and “the group promised to hold lavish fundraisers to assist other AIDS groups, but the beneficiaries say they received little money.” The Ummah Endowment Fund is no longer active.

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009 11:49 a.m.

Former professor cleared of conflict of interest allegations over WASA study

by Emily Cahn

A prominent former professor in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences was acquitted of allegations that he knowingly misled D.C. residents about the safety of the District’s water, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

In February, Tee Guidotti, a former professor and department chairman at SPHHS, was accused of allowing the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority to influence conclusions he published in the National Institutes of Health journal in 2007 regarding lead in the District’s water. In the journal article, Guidotti said the extraordinarily high lead content in the D.C. water supply from 2001 to 2004 was not harmful, a statement later found to be false.

A panel of scientists reviewing the allegations against Guidotti found that his conclusion was included in his journal article by mistake, and said Guidotti should submit an apology and correction for the false information that was published, according to The Washington Post. [Edit, Aug. 21: The Post also reported that Guidotti's work was conducted as part of a contract between WASA and the University, and Guidotti was not a paid consultant of WASA.]

The panel, headed by three federal research experts, reviewed the allegations against Guidotti and said the e-mail correspondence between WASA and GW proved that WASA “did not intend any interference in Dr. Guidotti’s exercise of complete academic freedom,” the Post reported.

The panel said it found “no evidence on the part of the author to deceive or subvert the publication process,” according to the Post. “However, the Panel feels that the author must correct his failure to substitute key statements in the published paper.”

Guidotti said he took early retirement from GW effective July 1, 2008, and is phasing out his GW career over a year, The Hatchet reported in February.

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