D.C.’s food truck craze is in full swing. At George Washington University several food trucks line up on H Street every day to serve paninis, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and kabobs to students and passersby alike. The Hatchet reported this week that GW students will soon be able to use their GWorld cards (GOCard equivalents) at food trucks that frequent the Foggy Bottom campus.

GW doesn’t offer a traditional meal plan. Instead, students buy a certain amount of “colonial cash,” an amount of which is available to use at nearby partner restaurants. Students will soon be able to use this portion of their meal plans at the various food trucks. The Hatchet reports:

Senior Associate Vice President for Administration Ed Schonfeld said the move was in response to a letter submitted by the Student Association this week. [...]

Steve Nichols, deputy director of the GWorld card program, said administrators expected the move would cause food trucks to “blow up” in popularity even more.

“Once they take the card, they’re going to be pretty successful,” he said. “We’re anticipating they’re going to be really popular.”

Georgetown doesn’t share the rest of the district’s fascination with food trucks. While Georgetown students may demand more variety with their meal plans in general, food trucks rank decidedly lower in their priorities. Even though 2012′s campus plan resolution brought late-night food trucks on campus on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, students continue to go off-campus for late-night food and socializing. After all, the food trucks were only a short-term solution to growing on-campus student life. In all likelihood, the Snack Shack won’t start accepting flex dollars any time soon.

Photo: Edsel Little via Flickr

On Monday, the GW Hatchet announced that the University will launch a new website called “HAVEN” next spring with a breakdown of the new sexual harassment policy as well as any relevant information or resources for students.

The new sexual assault policy changes:

• allow accusers to maintain confidentiality throughout legal proceedings

•  provide the victim a 180-day window to file a report of sexual abuse

• give both parties the right to appeal the court’s verdict

• state that victim-violator mediation is not an option

• enact more stringent anti-retaliation policies

According to the GW Interim Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Policy and Procedures, “Complainants” may request to be confidential during the review stage “as long as it does not prevent the university from responding effectively to the incident and protecting other members of the campus community.” The policy also states that if the “Respondent” is a member of GW faculty or staff, the “Complainant” must reveal information on that person to begin the hearing procedure.

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George Washington University finally beat Georgetown. At getting infested with bedbugs.

Five residence halls on GW’s campus have reported infestations this semester, resulting in six confirmed cases of an infestation. According to the GW Hatchet, four of these cases have been fully treated, with the remaining two will be treated within the next week. At least two dozen bed bug infestations have been reported at GW in the last three years.

In September, a Georgetown University-owned townhouse was treated for a bedbug infestation. So, maybe it took us three years to finally catch on to the trend. We had no idea our neighbor school was such a trailblazer!

What’s next, GW? Norovirus? Beat ya.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

h/t GW Hatchet

Our friends in Foggy Bottom aren’t too happy about the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest next month. While one student group has already organized a counter-protest, GW freshman Daniel Wein and junior Daniel Reade decided to act differently.

Wein and Reade created Transcend Hate, a group that aims to raise money for those targeted by the WBC, according to the GW Hatchet.

“We didn’t like the idea of responding to noise with more noise, responding to yelling with yelling,” Wein told the Hatchet. “We didn’t really feel like that was a positive way to confront them even if you have silly signs.”

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To Georgetown students, George Washington University is a neighboring university and an opponent on the winter battlefield.

To the members of the Westboro Baptist Church—a Kansas-based hate mongering extremist group run by Fred Phelps—however, GW brings to mind the phrase “God-hating heathens.”

According to the group’s website, the WBC will be in Foggy Bottom on the morning of November 11th—Veteran’s Day—to “remind this nation that this next generation of young people have been raised for the devil himself.” Afterward, the group plans to protest at Arlington National Cemetery.

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The George Washington University is cracking down on large parties.

After a number Greek-life groups held unregistered parties on campus, the University began to place heavy sanctions on non-compliant organizations.

According to the GW Hatchet, the requirement was spawned by Student Activities Center Director Tim Miller after he drove past a number of very large, very unregistered parties last August.

Although not cited as one of the reasons for the heightened enforcement, the death of sophomore Taylor Hubbard, who fell out of a dormitory window last May, may also factor into the decision. (A medical examiner was unable to determine the manner of Hubbard’s death and is not allowed to release any information regarding his blood alcohol content at the time of the fall.)

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For incoming George Washington University freshmen, justifying the decision to choose GW got a little bit harder.

University officials announced that freshmen will no longer enjoy housekeeping services—ranging from vacuuming to bathroom cleaning—in their residence halls. The director of Housing Programs, Seth Weinshel, told the GW Hatchet that, “after careful consideration and analysis,” the service was cut to keep housing rates from rising.

Weinshel also pointed out that room cleaning is often impossible due to the fact that the rooms are too messy and the maids—er, housekeeping services—cannot move anything in the room to get to the floor.

So, GW’s Class of 2014 responding by throwing a big, ole temper tantrum. Shivali Haribhakt, an incoming freshman, circulated a petition on Facebook to oppose the change.

Ken Truong, another GW freshman, told the Hatchet, “My parents are paying around $10,000 for dorms which they always brag are among ‘the best in the nation.’ I should get housekeeping.”

Yet another student, Meghna Marathe, said, “I wonder if I would still have chosen GW if I had known that we would have to clean our own bathrooms.”

But take heart, GW freshmen. Basic amenities such as toilet paper and trash cans will still be provided free of charge. (Plus, your dorms aren’t filled with asbestos.) And if you really get tired of cleaning up after yourself—which we suspect will happen, since many of you obviously have not been doing that for the last 18 years—we know a rising junior at Georgetown who could recommend a good personal assistant.