GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY EVICTS STUDENTS FOR WB-IMF MEETING
George Washington University has announced that all students must leave its Foggy Bottom campus for a whole week surrounding the World Bank-IMF conference. The unprecedented eviction begins on September 27 and ends October 2. According to the university, "Residence halls in Foggy Bottom will re-open at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 2 and classes will resume at 4:00 p.m. that day. The University expects all students to leave the Foggy Bottom Campus area during this time period. Students will not be permitted to remain in the residence halls after closing. In those situations where this presents extreme difficulties, University officials will work with students who live in our Foggy Bottom residence halls to find alternate accommodations . . . Students who have extenuating circumstances that hinder their departure or students who need special assistance should advise their community facilitator or, in upper division halls, their community director, promptly. Letters to parents of undergraduates are now in the mail outlining this plan. Parents are also being encouraged to host friends of their sons and daughters who might otherwise have difficulty going home. All students should alert family members of their plans for the period of time from September 27 to October 2. Parents and others will want to know how to reach their students."
Parents and students, we assume, will also be contacting lawyers for possible legal action against the university for its extraordinary action. GWU President Stephen Trachtenberg, appended this piece of post-modern sincerity to his announcement: "These decisions have not been taken lightly.
We would not proceed in this way if we believed our community could benefit from this experience in a conventional environment. Our mission is to educate, but it is also our responsibility to protect the welfare of our community. The university respects the rights of all involved. However, the history of recent protests demonstrates that we face a potentially serious situation with risks for our students, faculty and staff."