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GW will install solar panels on about 11 buildings, including the University Student Center, in the next year, officials announced at a Campus Plan Advisory Committee meeting Monday.
Assistant Vice President for Campus Development Adam Aaronson said officials will install the USC solar panels later this spring, and hope to complete the other installations by the end of the calendar year. Aaronson said officials will announce the specific timing for the solar panels’ installation once they complete the permitting process, adding they have yet to determine which other buildings they will install panels on.
At least 17 University buildings currently have solar panels installed, including Francis Scott Key, Lerner, Guthridge, South, Stockton, Science and Engineering and Rome halls and Gelman, Himmelfarb and Jacob Burns Law libraries. Director of the Office of Sustainability Josh Lasky told The Hatchet in September 2024 GW approved the installation of solar panels on more than a dozen rooftops on the Foggy Bottom Campus. Officials also installed solar panels in May 2020 on five other campus buildings.
The additional installation plans come as officials in December provided an update on GW’s 2020 sustainability commitments, which officials made after years of student protests, including divesting from fossil fuel companies by 2025, achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 instead of the initial 2040 target and earning STARS Platinum sustainability distinction by 2025 — a goal they met in September.
GW cut emissions to 81,806 metric tons by fiscal year 2025 — a 36 percent drop from its 2008 baseline — according to the December release, which officials attributed to increased renewable energy use, upgraded energy-efficient buildings and energy conservation measures.
Aaronson at the meeting also said officials are planning “robust” community engagement by presenting a framework of the campus plan — which includes three pillars of enrollment, housing and campus development — to the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, the Foggy Bottom Association and the West End Citizens Association this summer before submitting the plan to the D.C. Zoning Commission by the end of the year for approval. The 2027 campus plan is GW’s long-range blueprint for the growth, development and expansion of the Foggy Bottom campus over the next 20 years.
Aaronson said enrollment, student housing and opportunities for further property development were the three main “facets” of the campus plan framework, which officials began developing in the fall of last year. D.C. universities are required by law to submit a campus plan outlining their plans for development to the D.C. Zoning Commission at least every 20 years – GW is currently governed by its 2007 campus plan.
Aaronson said the University will continue to provide “engagement opportunities” for community members to provide feedback on the direction of the campus plan over the next several months. Officials sought input from community members last year as they worked to shape the plan with presentations to community groups, on-campus tabling and public town halls to solicit community, and they held a virtual town hall to share potential campus plan designs with students.
Aaronson said the University is still aiming to submit the plan to the D.C. Zoning Commission by the end of 2026. He said the plan is currently in the “framework development” phase and officials will seek increased input from members of the GW community and residents of Foggy Bottom after they present a framework of the plan in June.
“By no means is what we’re presenting in June considered final,” Aaronson said. “It’s just something that has been approved by our leadership, and we’re going to start gathering feedback from the community as a whole.”
Aaronson also updated meeting participants on various maintenance projects, including that officials expect the renovation of Mitchell Hall to be complete in time for students to move into the building at the start of the fall semester. He said officials will also place generators in Kogan Plaza to provide power to Gelman Library as the University upgrades electrical and HVAC systems within the building, which will be closed over the summer.
GW Police Department Chief of Police Victor Brito said at the meeting GWPD is “almost” fully staffed, but did not provide specific details about the number of officers the department currently employs. The department has struggled with turnover in recent years amid leadership vacancies and safety violations stemming from the department’s 2023 initiative to arm supervisory officers, but staffing levels surged since August.
“If you have followed law enforcement in the last few years, in particular, recruiting and hiring and retention are probably one of the most significant administrative issues facing chiefs and police sheriffs throughout this nation,” Brito said. “We have done exceptionally well with our campus safety team and our human resources department to ensure that we have the right people here on the PD.”
Executive Director of Government and Community Relations Kevin Days said at the meeting the D.C. Zoning Commission will hold a hearing on June 8 for community input on the University’s planned unit development modification for 2001 Pennsylvania Ave., which the University acquired in 2024 and announced plans to relocate administrative offices to earlier this year. A planned unit development modification is a process that gives developers greater flexibility in zoning objectives, like rules on occupancy and use, in exchange for providing additional benefits to the public, like retail space.
Officials said GW’s move into the 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. property would turn the building, which they said was “partially vacant,” into a “vibrant corner” that would help “sustain” nearby retail, according to the University’s application for a planned unit development modification.
Days said officials are in talks with the Arts Club of Washington — which is located immediately next to the 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. property — and the ANC. He said GW is offering both groups a “compromise,” but did not provide further details.
The Arts Club filed a letter of opposition late last year in response to GW’s plans to relocate administrative offices to the building. In the letter, the club said it had the right to approve or deny any changes in the building because their building is within the area affected by GW’s application for a planned unit development, and said GW did not consult them when submitting its current application for a planned unit development modification.
Conflict Education and Student Accountability Associate Director Rhonna Bollig said the University has received reports recently about “student behavior” near the intersection of F and 22nd streets, where several fraternities and sororities have their townhouses. She said student behavior is “starting to impact” residents of the Wray apartment building.
Bollig said officials have also fielded similar complaints about student behavior from residents who live in Hughes Mews, an area between 25th and 26th streets.
“We are working to connect with those students and remind them of what it means to live in community in this area of D.C.,” Bollig said.
She said the new Code of Student Conduct, which officials are still in the process of drafting, will contain the same set of off-campus expectations for student behavior as the current iteration of the code.
The next Campus Planning Advisory Committee meeting is set for June 15, though officials said the date is tentative.
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