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Tuesday, May 15, 2012 5:55 p.m.

GW Museum receives approval from zoning commission

by Matthew Kwiecinski

A digital rendering of the four-story GW Museum that will be located at 21st and G streets. Courtesy of the GW Office of Community Relations

Correction appended

The University received a green light Monday to go forward with plans to build the GW Museum.

The D.C. Zoning Commission voted unanimously to support construction of the GW Museum in a 5-0 vote, Jennifer Jenkins, public information officer for the commission, said.

Construction on the $22 million project transforming the Woodhull House into a home for the Textile Museum and D.C. artifacts will begin this summer, following the University Police Department’s move to the Academic Center.

Alicia Knight, senior associate vice president for operations, said the University was “pleased” with the vote in favor of the museum.

“With the positive input received from DC agencies and GW’s neighbors, this process was inclusive and collaborative and will provide a terrific resource for the GW community, the Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods and DC as a whole to study and appreciate the art, history and culture the GW Museum will offer,” Knight said in an email.

The project must still earn the go-ahead from the National Capital Planning Commission. GW first made its case for the museum to the zoning commission on April 5, but the body held off on a decision citing traffic concerns surrounding the site.

The new building – constructed out of limestone similar to Lisner Auditorium and the Hall of Government – will offer a main entrance on 21st Street and a second entry on G Street. It will also feature a gift shop.

This post was updated May 16, 2012 to reflect the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly reported that the GW Museum will be constructed out of a limestone similar to that of Lisner Hall. In fact, the limestone will be similar to the material used for Lisner Auditorium.

 

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Friday, April 20, 2012 3:37 p.m.

Student robbed, sexually assaulted on way home from bar

by Cory Weinberg

Updated April 20, 6:21 p.m.

A male student was robbed and sexually assaulted on his way home from a bar near Dupont Circle early Friday morning, according to a Crime Alert sent by the University Police Department.

The suspect, described in the Crime Alert as a black man with dreadlocks wearing red shorts, allegedly threatened the student with a knife and demanded the student’s belongings.

The student first contacted UPD and was “transported via EMeRG to [a] local hospital with non-life threatening injuries,” UPD Chief Kevin Hay said in an e-mail. UPD and Metropolitan Police Department officers searched the area but did not find the suspect.

The student was walking alone back from a bar on the 1200 block of 18th Street, near Connecticut Avenue and Dupont Circle.

Hay said the exact time and place of the sexual assault and robbery is unknown because “the victim was very traumatized.”

The investigation is ongoing, according to the Crime Alert, which was sent via e-mail and text message at 5:32 a.m. Friday morning.

A Metropolitan Police Department public information officer said MPD was still processing its report.

MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit is heading up the investigation, Hay said, with UPD acting as support.

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Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012 1:02 p.m.

University, UPD union reach agreement

by Priya Anand
UPD, university police

A majority of voting officers must approve the proposal reached by the University and union leaders. Hatchet File Photo.

Updated Feb. 18, 7:24 p.m.

The University and union leaders reached a contract agreement for unionized University Police officers Friday, following weeks of strained negotiations.

The deal comes about two weeks after officers in the International Union, Security, Police, Fire Professionals of America nixed a proposed contract in a 45-9 vote, citing frustrations over a lack of nighttime shift pay raises and a policy that would allow supervisors to cancel an officer’s previously approved leave in emergency cases.

The new agreement boosts the wage for night differentials – pay for work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. – from 75 cents per hour to 85 cents per hour for the first year of the three-year contract. It also includes a provision for supervisors to be drafted first in emergency cases, rather than canceling officers’ approved leave.

“We are pleased to have again reached agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement with the UPD negotiating team,” the union and University said in a joint statement provided by the Office of Media Relations. “We look forward to prompt ratification of the agreement by the bargaining unit.”

The proposal must still receive approval from a majority of voting officers by Monday.

“We sincerely hope itll be accepted by the members,” Guy Thomas, one of the union’s national directors, said. “It’s a good contract and we hope it’s ratified.”

Officers planned to picket outside their headquarters at the Woodhull House – still working scheduled shifts but forming a line and handing out literature during personal time – if the most recent round of talks failed.

The deal that faltered two weeks ago lacked a wage increase for night differentials – pay for work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. It also offered a 3-percent wage hike for the first year of a three-year contract but opened up pay negotiations for the later two years.

Darrin Carter, leader of the Local 294 branch of the union UPD officers fall under, confirmed that the two sides reached a deal but did not return a request for comment on the agreement.

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Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 10:28 p.m.

UPD union votes down proposed agreement

by Priya Anand
UPD, university police officers, Potomac Hall, sign in

A University Police officer mans the front desk of Potomac Hall as residents enter the building. Hatchet File Photo.

Updated Feb. 7, 12:58 p.m.

A majority of unionized University Police officers shot down Monday a proposed contract with GW, bringing members one step closer to picketing unless a last-minute agreement is reached.

In a 45-9 vote, officers in the International Union, Security, Police, Fire Professionals of America rejected a deal negotiated late last week with the University, Darrin Carter, head of the Local 294 branch the UPD officers fall under, said. While their contract expired Dec. 31 and talks on wage hikes and leave policies have been strained, he said picketing will not begin immediately to give each side’s attorneys time to confer and hash out another deal.

“[Members] think it’s a contract that just doesn’t respect the officers,” Carter said. “We want to give one last opportunity to talk to see if we can fix our differences. If we can fix our differences, this goes away.”

Voting on the failed agreement began Saturday and only about 75 percent of the unionized officers have been part of the group for long enough to be eligible to cast a ballot, Carter said. But even if all the non-eligible members voted yes, numbers show the agreement would have been turned down.

“We are disappointed that the members of the GWPD bargaining unit did not ratify the agreement negotiated for them by their union representatives,” a University statement provided by the Office of Media Relations read. “We look forward to meeting with the negotiating team soon and hope to reach an agreement that will be approved by the bargaining unit.”

The rejected deal offered a 3 percent pay increase for the first year of a three-year contract, but would have reopened wage negotiations for the second and third years, according to a proposal obtained by The Hatchet. It did not include a pay raise for night differentials, or wages for work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., which union leaders said has remained at a 75-cent-per-hour standstill for more than 15 years.

Security patrol officers at GW earn about $42,000 annually, compared to the national average of about $46,560 annually for police patrol officers at colleges and universities, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published in May 2010. The 3-percent raise would boost wages for GW’s officers from $21.41 to $22.05 – 34 cents lower than the national hourly pay.

Officers also disapproved of a provision that would allow supervisors to cancel an officer’s leave in emergency cases, Carter said. The policy would require officers with previously granted time off to show up at work if they could not present a receipt declaring a $100 or higher vacation cost.

Carter said the union would not wait longer than a week to reach another deal and will otherwise picket.

“Everyone has spoken for themselves,” he said.

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Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 11:16 a.m.

Freshman punches UPD officer during marijuana arrest

by Priya Anand

A freshman student was arrested Tuesday after a chase by University Police officers, who caught him with more than an ounce of pot in Thurston Hall.

A UPD officer received a radio call for suspected marijuana at about 1 a.m., according to Metropolitan Police documents, and Matthew Strauss attempted to flee the scene. He then punched a security officer in the face “to make good his escape,” UPD Chief Kevin Hay said.

An officer chased him toward Mitchell Hall, where Strauss tossed his bag down a window well at the U.S. General Services Administration building across the street. UPD officers arrested him for possession of marijuana and a simple assault, according to the documents.

Officers found the marijuana, a black scale and about $158 in his bag.

The subject was transported to the Second District Metropolitan Police Department station.

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Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 7:04 p.m.

Court sentences campus burglar to eight years in prison

by Priya Anand

D.C. Superior Court sentenced a 49-year-old District resident to eight years behind bars Friday for a handful of burglaries across the city over the last two years.

Christopher Sebastian King – who pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree burglary and one count of first-degree theft in October – routinely disguised himself as a worker to access hospital and university buildings and steal property, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

He was suspected of stealing from GW up to four times, University Police Chief Kevin Hay said.

King was found with a stolen radio, the property of GW’s Facilities Services, while searching Marvin Center offices for unattended electronics and other items the morning of May 31. He used the radio “as a prop to look official,” Hay said. King attempted to steal a green pocketbook from an office that day and was potentially responsible for two other campus thefts.

UPD shared lookout information for King with the Metropolitan Police Department and Georgetown University’s police department. Georgetown University Police caught King in mid-August, after he snatched a briefcase from under a chair and fled the scene.

Disguised as a construction worker wearing a hard hat, King stole a doctor’s laptop at Children’s National Medical Center in July 2010, according to the release. On Christmas Day that year, he took a visitor’s book bag, carrying an iPod and credit card, while holding a gift package and pretending to visit a patient.

Hay credited UPD investigators Jason Engel and Matthew Robinson for their work on the case.

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Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 3:46 p.m.

Female employee waits hours to report man with gun at Medical Faculty Associates

by Priya Anand
MFA, medical faculty associates

The entrance to the Medical Faculty Associates building is located at 2150 Pennsylvania Ave. File photo

A man entered the Medical Faculty Associates building at about 9 a.m. this morning and allegedly pointed a gun at a female employee.

At about 11:47 a.m., the employee notified MFA officials who contacted law enforcement at about 12:30 p.m., according to a statement from the MFA. The the 32-year-old suspect, Tebarek Waktola, is believed to have left campus at about 10:15 a.m., according to a GW Alert. Waktola and the female employee were connected through the MFA, a statement from program said.

The employee said the 5-foot-7-inch black man she spoke with appeared to display a handgun, according to the MFA statement, and was later seen at the Foggy Bottom Metro station.

A GW Alert went out to the campus community shortly after 1 p.m., after the University Police Department received word at 12:30 p.m.

The Metropolitan Police Department received a call that a subject pulled out a gun at the MFA at about 12:42 p.m., public information officer Hugh Carew said.

Police officers sweeped the building following the reports, the practice’s director of marketing Kathryn Kennedy McGriff said. She added that the building has round-the-clock security and is equipped with surveillance cameras that also monitor all checkpoints and entrances.

UPD released a photo of Waktola, asking individuals to call the department if they see him.

The MFA building is at 2150 Pennsylvania Ave.

Lauren French contributed to this report.

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Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 11:09 p.m.

Elderly man barred from campus for watching pornography in Gelman Library

by Priya Anand

Updated, Dec. 7, 12:30 p.m.

The University Police Department is investigating an an elderly who was caught watching pornography in Gelman Library, the unit’s leader said Tuesday night.

“Students called in a complaint of a man viewing pornography, possibly of children,” UPD Chief Kevin Hay said. Officers barred the man, in his late 60s, from campus.

Metropolitan Police also responded to the scene to assist UPD, Hay said, but the man was not arrested.

Hay said evidence for the case is “not conclusive” based on materials “recovered and observed thus far” and the investigation is continuing.

Officers originally thought the man was an alumnus but later discovered he was not.

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Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 4:15 p.m.

UPD investigates man using camera to film up females’ skirts

by Priya Anand

The University Police Department is attempting to identify a man who was allegedly filming up females’ skirts at 24th and I streets Wednesday afternoon.

A student and a witness unaffiliated with GW reported that a 5-foot-6-inch Asian male “was carrying a plaid bag and had affixed a camera in the bag such that he could film images up and under the skirts of young ladies,” UPD Chief Kevin Hay said.

Hay said when the student and witness confronted the suspect, he ran away.

UPD captured images of the suspect through surveillance cameras and is sharing lookout information on the suspect – who has black hair and is about 110 pounds – with the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police.

The crime, called “up-skirting,” is a recent trend typically noted in areas that are tourist hotspots, Hay said.

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Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 11:42 p.m.

Safety and security forum speaks to student concerns

by The GW Hatchet

Senior Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Darrell Darnell responded to recent concerns from the campus community about GW's reaction to emergencies in a forum at the Jack Morton Auditorium Thursday night. Avra Bossov | Hatchet Photographer

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Nadav Gavrielov.

The University’s top safety and security official sought to address recent concerns about GW’s response toward on- and off-campus emergencies in a forum at the Jack Morton Auditorium Thursday night.

The forum, led by Senior Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Darrell Darnell, included a question and answer format that allowed members of the GW community to voice their inquiries in-person and online as a way to better understand how the University’s emergency management team operates.

“What I’d like to do is talk about a few things that have come up as I have talked with students going around campus, students have emailed me, things we’ve heard over the last week or so quite frankly to really give you, I hope, a better understanding or a clearer understanding of why we do some of the things we do,” Darnell, who helped found the Center for Homeland Defense and Security before joining GW last year, said.

Beginning with an overview of safety and security at the University, Darnell outlined crucial programs like the emergency notification process, residence hall security, the threat assessment team, the 4-RIDE van service and the “see something say something” policy that encourages community members to report incidents to police.

In response to a question about the perceived overreaction among students to a shooting that occurred in Georgetown Halloween night, Darnell said he felt students reacted in a “natural” way “because we weren’t getting enough information out as quickly as we would have liked to.”

GW was slammed with criticism for waiting to send an alert out to the community after the shooting and the arrest of two armed suspects near campus. No suspects have been linked to the shooting that left a 17-year-old boy dead pending an ongoing investigation.

The first campus notification was sent more than an hour after the initial shots in Georgetown and a Crime Alert hit inboxes shortly after 1:30 a.m. University administrators said a technological glitch prevented the message from sending properly that night.

In the days following the shooting, GW launched a new alert system to send text messages directly to students, staff and faculty if there is an ongoing threat to campus.

“I think we have a system that’s more reliable, we think it’s faster,” Darnell said.

Besides the text message alert system, Darnell pointed out other methods of campus contact with the community, including desktop notifications, campus advisories and social networking.

He highlighted the use of Twitter as a means of disseminating information faster, adding that the University “can’t react sometimes as quickly as you can react on Twitter.”

“It’s usually a one-on-one transaction when you all are on Twitter. We’re trying to put out information to 25,000 people and with that comes a responsibility to not only put that information out in a timely manner but also make sure that that information is as accurate as it possibly can be,” he said.

Darnell was joined onstage by University Police Department Chief Kevin Hay, Director of the Office of Emergency Management George Nuñez, Director of the Office of Health and Safety William Flint and Dean of Students Peter Konwerski.

Hay touched on efforts to curb piggybacking at building entrances and the possibility of upgrading several blue lights on campus.

Throughout the forum, the group continually stressed the importance of community involvement in keeping the University safe.

“I have never been a part of any safety and security endeavor that’s been successful if the community wasn’t a part of that as well,” Darnell said. “And that’s really what tonight is about, is to solicit your feedback, to make you a part of this, to get your ideas, to get your suggestions because at the end of the day we’re only as safe and secure as all of us are being a part of this effort.”

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