SERVING THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1904VOL. 98 NO. 29AN IN D E P E N D E N T ST U D E N T NE W S PA P E R • W W W.G W H AT C H E T.C O M

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2001

HatchetThe GW

INSIDE

4 6 7 10OPINIONSCommissioner respondsto Wellness Center complaint

NEWSFormer Israeli ambassador sites threeproblematic solutions

FEATURESSPAM! Student e-mailboxes are filled with it

ARTSOff to see the wizard

Feescoverstudent servicesby Drew WisemanSenior Staff Writer

University fee: $1,000. Schoolof Media and Public Affairs fee:$1,000. Health and WellnessCenter: $225. Voluntary librarygift: $50. GW tacks these andother fees onto student bills inaddition to tuition every year,leaving students and parentswondering where the moneygoes.

Don Boselovic, associate vicepresident for finance, said thefees are put to good use.

He said the Health andWellness Center fee of $7.50 acredit hour, or $112 for 15 creditseach semester, pays for operatingcosts of the new workout facility,plus paying off construction.

A $100 graduation fee helpspay for staff, set-up, rental spaceand other expenditures, he said.He did not know if the fee coversgraduation speakers.

The University fee of $34.50 acredit hour – adding up to amaximum $517.50 a semester – isa combination of other fees forthe Marvin Center, registrationand computer labs. With about8,000 students, the total adds upto a maximum of about $8.3 mil-lion a year.

See FEES, p. 9

City Hall lacks basic servicesby Trevor MartinSenior Staff Writer

City Hall residents say theyare dissatisfied by poor service ina building they say is still notproperly prepped for student use.While their three-month wait forethernet connections ended thisweek, they still await adequatelaundry facilities.

The building’s 540 residentsshare four washers and four dry-ers, which is equivalent to 136people for each set.

In contrast, 440 New Hall resi-dents – who are also mostly

upperclassmen – share 14 washersand 16 dryers, according toCommunity Director Jed Frei.That makes one machine for every32 residents.

Students were told new laun-dry facilities would be availableOct. 30, but that deadline has beenpushed back because of engineer-ing problems, said CourtneyFlaherty, associate director of GWProperty Management.

“They said they would dosomething about the laundry.Right now there are just too manypeople for those machines,” resi-dent senior Matt Blasi said.

Junior Dave Dillehay said withso many people living in thebuilding, four washers and dryers“just don’t work.”

The University is building anew laundry room with ninewashers and 10 dryers in the base-ment on the same level as the cur-rent room, Flaherty said.

She said the new completiondate is Nov. 30, but it is subjectto change if there are furtherdelays.

Michael Peller, managingdirector for Business Services, saidthe laundry services are a legiti-mate concern but sometimes

delays cannot be avoided.“We had to deal with getting

certification from the owners ofthe property, electrical and plumb-ing issues,” Peller said.

He said the equipment is onlocation, and workers are waitingfor approval to install themachines.

Residents said the Universityalso broke promises about theirinternet connection. They saidthey expected ethernet by thebeginning of the month.

Until this week, residents used

See RESNET, p. 12

Experts tell the truths of holy warby Joseph GidjunisHatchet Staff Writer

Leaders from four major reli-gions agreed that modern-day ref-erences to jihad or holy war are offtarget Monday night in theMarvin Center.

Representatives of Hinduism,Islam, Christianity and Judaismtold an audience of about 40 peo-ple that war is only permissible indefense from an aggressor.

The event kicked off ReligionWeek.

“There is no holy war in theprecepts of Islam. The taking of alife is never holy,” said MahdiBray, member of the NationalMuslim Public Affairs Council. “Ifyou take a life, you kill all life. Ifyou save a life, you save all life.”

Bray explained that war isonly permissible by necessity inIslam.

“There is a justification to

engage in war for defense,” Braysaid. “It is a duty to defend thereligion.”

Panel members comparedJewish law to Islamic law regard-ing warfare.

“The only type of war per-mitted by Judaism today is adefensive war,” saidGeorgetown UniversityProfessor and Rabbi BarryFreundel. He said war is onlyjustifiable when someone

attacks or is planning to attack.Freundel explained some

rules of Jewish warfare.“You can do whatever you

need to do to weaken their mili-tary,” he said. “However, you can-not massacre people, harm theenvironment or surround a cityand not give your enemy a routeto escape.”

Hinduism, in contrast, focuses

See PANEL, p. 6

Sikhssharefaithby Julie GordonHatchet Reporter

Sikh students hosted a dinnerand discussion to educate the GWcommunity about their religion.About half of the 100 studentsattended the Marvin CenterTuesday night event were non-Sikh, organizers said.

Sikhism, which draws aspectsfrom Hinduism and Islam, is amonotheistic, nonviolent religionthat accepts all faiths. Backlashagainst Sikhs has been reportedafter Sept. 11, often because theyare mistaken for Arabs.

Followers of the Sikh religionkeep five articles of faith, includ-ing the Kesh (uncut hair), which iscovered by a turban.

“Because Osama bin Ladenwas shown with a turban andlong beard, our community wasimmediately targeted,” saidAmrith Kaur Mago, co-presidentof the Sikh Student Association.Though Mago has not personallyfelt persecuted, she has “definitelyfelt some paranoia” after theattacks, she said.

Most Sikh students inter-viewed said they do not feel prej-udice that has been reportedacross the nation, most likelybecause GW’s student body is sodiverse. But, Amandeep S. Sidhuof the Federal Defense Group inAlexandria, Va., said, “Sikh menhave clearly faced profiling.”

Last week, Sidhu was pulledoff a plane after passing throughsecurity checkpoints for a secondtime.

“The guard admitted that itwas profiling,” Sidhu said.

Before the free dinner, whichconsisted of modern Indianfood, Mago spoke about herefforts with the Sikh communityto educate non-Sikhs and to helpprotect Sikhs being victimized.Mago began a grassroots effortwith 11 other students to createbriefing packets that were dis-tributed in Sikh temples. Thesepackets have information for

Sikhs describing what to do iftheir rights are violated.

Sikh Student Association co-president Jaspal Singh said onlyabout 40 percent of the studentswho attended the discussion anddinner this year were Indian, com-pared to about 90 percent last year.

Jamie Daggon, a sophomoreProgram Board member, praisedthe event.

“One of my closest friends isSikh, and I wanted to learn a littleabout the religion,” she said. “It’sgreat that the Sikh community istaking positive action.”

Gitika Sharda said she would

have attended the event even ifshe did not have Sikh friendsbecause the discrimination somehave faced is “a crime againsthumanity.”

The SSA taught students thatSikhism is about peace, faith anddevotion to God.

After the dinner, studentswatched an interfaith celebrationin the Marvin Center Ballroom,where groups from various cul-tures danced, performed a wed-ding and read prayers and poetry.

top and right photos by Michael Itti/photo editorStudents celebrate religion week at a“Discover Sikhism”dinner (top l.), an interfaith panel (top r.) and a Filipine cultural celebration.

Send commentsto news@gwhatchet.comsource: Don Boselovic, associate vice

president of finance

University Fee: $1,035

HWC fee: $225Staffing and maintenance

of HWC

SA fee: $30SA entire budget

SMPA fee: $1,000Updating equipment(SMPA majors only)

Voluntary library gift: $50New computers, furniture

RegistrationExpenses

Academictechnology

Generalexpenses

31%Marvin Center

Operations

12%9%

48%

FEE FUNDAMENTALSFEE FUNDAMENTALSJoe Gidjunis/Hatchet staffphotographer