George Washington University has pulled up its grade in a national environmental group's annual college ranking. Then again, there really was no place to go but up after last year, when the Sierra Club named G.W. one of the five least sustainable universities in the country, the student-run GW Hatchet, pointed out in its front page coverage today.

Even though the school's environmental record doesn't suck quite as much this year, it hasn't exactly entered the “ivy league,” so to speak, of eco-friendly campuses. It is now ranked 81 out 135 universities around the country; hardly a passing score even with grade inflation so common at colleges these day.

Still, the Sierra Club’s third annual Cool Schools report didn’t even consider other D.C. colleges such as Georgetown University, American University and the University of the District of Columbia. So, there is no way to establish the true pecking order, environmentally-speaking, of D.C.  higher-learning institutions. The only other area schools included in the ranking also received uninspiring grades: The University of Maryland beat G.W. with a 67, while George Mason University brought up the rear with an 89.

Georgetown University has two major campus newspapers, The Hoya, published twice weekly, and The Voice, published weekly. As an undergraduate some years back, I spent much of my college career, to the detriment of my college career, working at the Voice.

Like any two institutions in close competition and proximity (they occupy adjacent offices in the student center), The Hoya and The Voice have developed a relationship, rivalry even, that ranges from the insouciant to the deathly serious. Hoya staffers seethe over how their ad revenues subsidize Voice operations, while Voice staffers stew over The Hoya's massive sense of self-importance.

Read More "The Hoya: Still No Sense of Humor" »

The University of the District of Columbia's board of trustees has voted to approve a controversial tuition hike, one that would nearly double tuition over the course of two years.

Of the board's 14 members, 10 voted in favor. Three members---Verizon exec Joseph Askew, alumni representative Eugene Dewitt Kinlow, and student representative Dale Lyons---voted against. One member was absent.

UDC President Allen Sessoms said afterward he is gratified by the vote and by the discussion and debate that accompanied it: "UDC has not had a truthful, in-depth discussion of where this university is going."

The next step, he says, is moving forward with measures to expand the university's autonomy from the District government, allowing it greater freedom to manage its own affairs. "We want to be accountable," he says. "We don't have accountability right now."

Board chair Jim Dyke says that lessons were learned from the uproar that accompanied the tuition-hike proposal. A task force on communications, he says, has been established to combat what he calls the "misinformation" that went out to students about the tuition hike.

Despite all that, he says, "I think the students conducted themselves very well."

Yesterday, students at the University of the District of Columbia marched and camped in at the school's Van Ness campus to protest steep hikes in the school's tuition. Today the Board of Trustees for the University of the District of Columbia is voting on that plan, which would raise tuition for students in four-year programs from about $3,800 to $7,000 yearly.

Sounds shocking, but a few things don't get mentioned, or get mentioned very briefly, in most press accounts.

Read More "UDC Tuition Hikes: Get Over It" »