u/2CRedHopper

Hi r/gwu,

In an effort to support the organization of the subreddit, we're going to be making flairs mandatory on all posts.

Many large communities on reddit have mandatory post flairs. Benefits include making content more easily searchable by category, reducing spam, and providing some quick visual context on a post beyond the title.

I have also added new flairs, removed some old flairs, and retooled some existing flairs to both better capture the discussions I see on the subreddit and perhaps better convey the types of discussions and posts that are appropriate for the subreddit.

I have also adjusted the color schema of the flairs to have a more consistent visual appearance.

Anyone who has any feedback is encouraged to send in a modmail, especially ideas for flairs that I may not have considered or for flairs that may not suit a post you're seeking to make.

Thanks,

-2C

View only, but still. For planning purposes we can see what's being offered.

As anyone who was attending last year will recall, last year, GW quietly reopened Gelman Library from its summer closure without 24-hour access-- and made no announcement or even acknowledgement of such a change until there had been a great deal of backlash. The University did not relent and restore 24-hour access until nearly halfway through the fall 2025 semester, by which point many students (including myself) had already taken some of their midterm examinations.

It would appear that, once again, the University is attempting to quietly roll back 24-hour Gelman Library access as we enter the 2026-2027 academic year.

Library Hours: https://library.gwu.edu/hours (archived page as of 08/23/2026: link)

GW has tried to roll back 24-hour library access in the past. Each time it has been met with significant backlash and administration has walked back the change. Somehow, it keeps coming up again.

To highlight the absurdity of this, consider that the following other colleges and universities in our region offer 24-hour library access:

1. American University: link
2. Georgetown University: link
3. University of Maryland: link

24-hour library access is vital to student success and is regularly offered by colleges and universities of varying means and student populations. The GW community has consistently made it clear that 24-hour library access is a priority and that they expect the University to provide it, and yet our administration continues to attempt to quietly eliminate it.

Please consider contacting your student government association representatives, the GW Hatchet, and Gelman Library administrators to express your unhappiness with the latest attempt to take away 24-hour library access.

Can’t believe this is where we’re at, but here we are.

Yes, I mean the little bubble machines like they have at kids’ parties.

No, this is not satire.

Bad accident evidently. We’ve been here for over half an hour.

Hello r/gwu,

In the past, this subreddit has seen many posts seeking to buy or sell UPasses. Buying or selling a UPass is against both WMATA and GWU policies.

Misuse of a UPass, including by anyone who is not the registered owner of a UPass, is also considered fare evasion by WMATA. Fare evasion is a civil offense in the District of Columbia, and a criminal offense in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland.

In keeping with observed trends of years past, we are anticipating an increase in the number of UPass solicitation posts as we get closer to and after the beginning of the fall semester when UPasses are distributed. To combat the facilitation of fare evasion and UPass fraud on r/gwu, the following measures have been taken:

1. Rule 2 has been updated to specifically address UPass fraud. Rule 2 has always applied to posts about the buying and selling of UPasses, but the verbiage of the rule has been updated to make that clear. Offenders may be banned.

2. Any submission about UPasses must now receive moderator approval before it will be made available to general users. I make every effort to be highly available to r/gwu notifications, my Reddit DMs, and Modmail, and thus I hope that between my moderator colleagues and I, this will not present a significant obstacle to those posts which are not in violation of this policy.

Anyone who has any questions about these policy changes is encouraged to contact the moderator team via Modmail.

Thank you :)

Let's talk about rule 4, all things housing, and the moderators.

--

There is clearly some appetite among patrons of r/gwu to post about all things housing. Throughout the year, this subreddit sees posts for:

1. University students seeking to swap rooms with other university students.
2. University students seeking roommates for off-campus housing.
3. University students seeking information about on-campus housing.
4. Individuals unaffiliated with the university seeking housing in the area.
5. Individuals unaffiliated with the university advertising housing in the area.

...and more, I'm sure.

There are some problems with the existing setup right now.

Rule 4 states "no room swap posts: please use the master thread when making room swap posts. Failure to do so will result in the removal of your post." However, as many individuals have observed and pointed out, such a master thread does not exist. This serves as a little bit of a point of confusion, but more than anything else renders rule 4 toothless: university students seeking a room swap simply... ignore it and post anyways!

One could argue that all of this is relatively harmless; after all, r/gwu is dedicated to discussing all things related to The George Washington University by and for any member of the university community. The problem, however, is that these threads are numerous, 'clog' up the subreddit, and bury more productive threads. Importantly, none of any of these threads ever get any significant engagement; despite all of the appetite for posting about seeking roommates or room swaps or advertising off-campus housing, there's no evidence that there's anyone 'buying' what any of the people posting are 'selling.' To that effect, rule 4 is highly necessary as a means of mitigation against these fruitless posts.

It's important for me to note that I view r/gwu as more than just somewhere for people to make posts asking questions or having discussions about all things related to the university. To me, one of the most important functions of reddit (and r/gwu by extension) is to act as a repository for information. How many of you have had a question about something, related to the university or otherwise, and consulted some reddit thread that someone else posted asking your same question? I know I have. This is part of why I'm so active on the subreddit and make such an effort to share what knowledge I have in response to people sharing their problems or questions: I'm confident that someday, somebody else will have the same problem or question and that person is not unlikely to check our subreddit as a source. Similarly, I believe it's important that 'productive' threads remain visible on the subreddit's front page and not be buried by housing-related posts that get no engagement and, at best, will only serve to help OP.

I've already pointed out that rule 4 is effectively useless considering the lack of this 'master thread' that the rule says people should be posting on. However, the problem is larger than that. I opened this post listing the five main categories of housing-related posts that seem to plague the subreddit, but rule 4, as it stands, only addresses room swaps. That's a glaring blind spot, and rule 4 should be amended to restrict the other four categories I described as well. More importantly, though, a bigger problem looms: the moderators of r/gwu.

Some of you may have noticed that the moderators of r/gwu are quiet, to say the least. I believe I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen any activity from a moderator's account or any instances of moderator powers being actively used on the subreddit. In fact, around three days ago u/Jonahdog posted this thread drawing attention to the unclear guidance posed by the current incarnation of rule 4. The lack of any kind of response by or guidance from a moderator is a deafening silence. I, myself, have at times messaged the general r/gwu moderator inbox and never received any signs of life in response. Many of these accounts have not interacted with r/gwu in years. Some of these moderator accounts have had no activity anywhere on reddit in years.

I do not know whether or not the moderators are monitoring this subreddit anymore. That being said, the lack of any action on housing posts that violate rule 4 (unclear though it may be), the lack of any guidance in response to multiple people expressing being confused by rule 4, the lack of response to messages to the moderator inbox, and the lack of activity not just on this subreddit but across reddit as a whole by many of the moderators, altogether, do not inspire confidence.

I believe we need to see:

1. "Rule 4" reform.
2. More visible moderators.
3. More active management of the subreddit.

... so that's my manifesto.

--

I am making this post because I want us to talk about all of these things as a subreddit community. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on any of these points that I have raised and any suggestions anyone has on how to tackle these issues and move forward. Any input?

Thanks,

Been stuck here for a whole. Really curious what’s going on.

I know better than to post complaining about traffic, but I am curious what’s going on that’s caused such a spectacular shitshow of a backup on both I-95 S and US-1 S (I assume everyone else, like me, is trying to bypass the mess on I-95 S)

Wanted to ask because I have a third six-weeks summer class at Annandale and am not willing to pay the $90 for a parking permit.

I've been taking the bus to the Alexandria campus for the first six-weeks (~15min from me), but for Annandale it will be over an hour each way by bus or 15 minutes by car.

The most recent threads I could find about this were a couple years old, figured there might be more up-to-date advice out there.

It’s ridiculous how much money I’ve spent over the past year and a half since moving to DC on Ubers/Lyfts/Empower (RIP) exclusively because WMATA Metrobus has shat the bed.

This morning, I wake up. Check the A76. No metro alerts, real time feed says that one should be coming in about half an hour. Then.. it just disappears! I wait and wait for it to come back but it just never does. Once I can’t wait anymore I have to just order a rideshare. This morning it was $19. Last week it was $15.

Amusingly, the most efficient route between Point A and Point B in this scenario is a near carbon copy of the bus route itself. So I’m paying $15-$20 to get in a stranger’s car and have them drive me alone the exact same route as Metrobus.

I’m just going to start sending WMATA an invoice to reimburse me for what I spend on Ubers and Lyfts and whathaveyou. I mean it really is ridiculous.

It’s just exhausting and it’s always something with Metrobus. I filled out a customer contact form, for what it’s worth. Customer service is useless too. Going to go back to driving first chance I get, this is ridiculous.

It seems as though whenever I need to work with any staff members everything is always a Zoom conference, even when they're sitting on campus.

Multiple times I've made academic advising appointments specifically for in-person only for them to be moved to Zoom at the very last minute. Back when I was having to meet with people in financial aid and I needed anything beyond a 'front lines' worker who had to escalate my case, those meetings were always over Zoom even though the directory showed they had an office in Foggy Bottom. I've had professors that insist on only holding office hours over Zoom, or professors that move class to Zoom over every minor inconvenience...

I wanted to make an appointment with the Center for Career Services, and... all of the appointments are over Zoom!

Some of you may not mind, but I absolutely despise Zoom, and I find it a little silly that there's no option to meet in person when they're in their offices and I'm willing to go to them. I just find Zoom so draining. I've never encountered so much Zoom-ing in my life.

That's my vent. Thanks for listening.

Equal parts genuinely asking and just kind of ranting.

I left my keys on the bus on Saturday, I guess they fell out of my pocket. I had an Airtag on them so I can see that they’re at the Four Mile Run bus division.

I’ve called and asked about retrieving them and been told I need to wait up to seven business days (!?) for them to get to New Carrollton so I can retrieve them. That seems like an outrageously long time to have to wait. Why on earth can’t this be done any faster? It just shocks me that a metro system with hundreds of thousands of riders can’t move any quicker.

When I call and ask if I can just go get them from Four Mile Run, even if I can’t go on the property just meet someone at the gate, even that gets cagey responses.

I just want my keys, man. Considering I know where they are and I’m offering to go get them I don’t feel like I’m asking for too much.

Yes I’ve filed a lost item report.

Just shocked such a simple task can take so long.