"The University needed a newspaper," Jesse Barrett said, reflecting on his role in founding The Weekly Columbian in 1902. When the Columbian University changed its name to the George Washington University in 1904, the fledgling newspaper followed suit, becoming The University Hatchet.

Influenza epidemic infects GW Hospital

In order to continue operating, the remaining hospital staff recruited medical and nursing students to fill positions, but the superintendent of the Medical Center, Mary Glasscock, recognized that the situation was becoming critical. By Sept. 23, she was desperate. Glasscock wrote a four-page letter to a former GW Hospital doctor, D.L. Borden, that painted a dismal picture of an exhausted staff working around the clock with only one doctor on staff qualified to perform surgeries. The hospital did not have any janitors or orderlies because of the lack of men. With the war still being fought, there was no relief in sight, leading Glasscock to wonder, "What will become of us?"

Student Peace protests

"All of us are for peace. But belligerent and inappropriate action is neither educational or effective," said University President Cloyd Heck Marvin in The Hatchet on January 4, 1938. He was referring to the previous yearıs attempted peace strike by the GW student body.

The Hatchet reports on World War II

³We must decide between a poison or a purge. Either this growing concept abroad will spread like a poison ... making us doubtful of the ability of democracy to function with equal strength as totalitarianism, or it will act as a purge so challenging that it will wipe out all softness and leave only courage and greatness behind.²

Hatchet reaches 50-year mark

Through the beginning of the 1930s, little changed in the pages of The Hatchet. Stories about Greek-letter life, sports and student groups still dominated the news. By the time the paper celebrated its 50th anniversary, however, it had become a powerful medium of debate and investigation, as well as the primary advocate of the GW student body.

Prohibition spawned more than a decade of illegal activity by citizens who never before would have considered toeing the citizen/criminal line. The Volstead Act in 1919, which allowed the enforcement of Prohibition and was passed despite President Woodrow Wilson's veto, marked the beginning of the turbulence. Men made moonshine liquor in stills hidden deep in the woods, and women bought alcohol on the black market for outrageous prices, only to sell it out of upscale apartments known as beer-flats for higher prices.

Women take strides to vote

Since Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the Seneca Falls Convention in July 1848, the push for voting rights became an important issue for women in the United States. The suffrage movement gained momentum throughout the 1800s, with Stanton creating the National American Women Suffrage Association in 1890.

GW reverses racial bias policy

Like many social institutions in the United States, GW remained racially segregated from its founding in 1821 until 1954, when the University officially desegregated. While no regulation officially prohibited the admission of black students, the University reflected the American norm of segregation, by law and by tradition.

Publishing trides mark Hatchet's anniversary

The Hatchet of the conservative post-World War II years was similar in style to earlier decades, dominated by articles about fraternity and sorority life and sports events. This would radically change in coming years, as Greek-letter life and athletics declined and as world events began to influence student life.

After 89 years, The Hatchet receives editorial and financial freedom

Throughout The Hatchet's 100-year history, the newspaper has tracked the progress of an ever-changing University. The staff of student editors, writers and photographers covers the news of GW and its community, and since its founding in 1904, The Hatchet has been the voice of the student population. However, for the first 89 years of The Hatchet, its publisher was the very institution of which paper was often most critical ­ GW.