THE GRADUATION ISSUE
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 100, No. 27, © 2019
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
Looking Back, Moving Forward Read senior artist reflections and get a look at D.C.’s summer art and entertainment offerings.
UNKNOWN ADVENTURES Ann-Kathrin Merz (SFS ’19) recounts the rewards of not following carefully laid plans.
STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS Seniors received Dean’s Awards, Fulbright Awards and the Yenching Scholarship.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A6
Adichie, José Andrés to Speak University Yield Rate Falls Below 50% for Class of 2023 At Commencement Events RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writer
Ten speakers are set to address students and families at the 2019 Georgetown University commencement ceremonies this week, including best-selling author Chimamanda Adichie, former Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama Tina Tchen and celebrity chef José Andrés. The university announced the speakers in a May 3 statement. Commencement ceremonies for the nine main campus undergraduate and graduate schools are set to take place over four days, start-
ing with the senior convocation May 16 and concluding with the Georgetown University Law Center commencement May 19. Andrés will address the McCourt School of Public Policy on May 16, Tchen will address the School of Continuing Studies on May 17 and Adichie will address Georgetown College graduates May 18. The McCourt School is excited to welcome Andrés as commencement speaker following his recent efforts to alleviate hunger around the world, according to Maria Cancian, the school’s dean. “Mr. Andrés and World Central
Kitchen have had an important impact on how we think about and provide disaster relief,” Cancian wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Learning about his journey from chef to humanitarian will be an inspirational capstone for our students as they finish their studies here at Georgetown and move forward with their own careers as change-makers.” Among the speakers for the other main undergraduate schools is Joseph Baratta (GSB ’93), global head of private equity at the asset management company BlackSee SPEAKERS, A6
@GEORGETOWNUNIVERSITY/INSTAGRAM
During the 2019 commencement ceremonies, graduating students will hear from speakers, including Chimamanda Adichie for Georgetown College and José Andrés for the McCourt School of Public Policy.
AMBER GILLETTE Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown University’s admissions yield rate for the Class of 2023 decreased slightly to 49.4% from last year’s 51% after the school’s admissions rate fell to the lowest in university history this year. The admissions yield rate refers to the proportion of individuals who have paid their May 1 enrollment deposit to confirm their enrollment at Georgetown. Of the 3,206 admitted students, 1,585 students have committed to Georgetown as of the May 1 deadline, according to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69). The university plans to increase the number of enrolled students in the Class of 2023 to 1,650 by admitting students from the waitlist between now and September, Deacon said in an interview with The Hoya. “We’re in contact with probably 50 people right now, hopefully of whom maybe 30 or 40 will end up committing,” Deacon said. “Then we’ll put a third group, maybe 100 people or 75, on an extended list, from which we’ll take the remaining people as we need them.” While the College is expected to admit between 40 and 50 students from the waitlist, the School of Foreign Service, the McDonough School of Business and the School of Nursing and Health Studies are each planning to admit five to 10 students from the waitlist in the
DCPS Investigates Verbal Threat
SAMUEL NELSON/THE HOYA
upcoming months, according to Deacon. The expected waitlist admissions mark a change from last year when the College, SFS and MSB all exceeded their target enrollment numbers after the university received a record number of applications. As a result of this overcommitment, students on the waitlist had a lower chance of admission. It is better to keep the number of admitted students conservative in
the first round and admit students from the waitlist to fill in the gap, rather than admit more students than the university has space for and decrease the number of transfer students admitted to remove the discrepancy, according to Deacon. The university cannot exceed its admissions cap because of a 20year agreement between the See YIELD RATE, A6
GU-Q GRADUATES 64 SENIORS
Georgetown professor speaks out after harassment of grandson RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writer
D.C. Public Schools is currently investigating an incident of verbal harassment directed at the 6-year-old grandson of social activist and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, who was verbally threatened at his elementary school, which led the professor to initiate a larger discussion on race relations in the United States. A first grade student initiated a verbal altercation and used racial slurs against Dyson’s grandson, Maxem Dyson, at Horace Mann Elementary School, according to Dyson. The student threatened to acquire a gun from home and shoot Maxem and another classmate, according to a Metropolitan Police Department incident report. “A young white student called my grandson a b---h and then he called him n-----r and then after delivering such vicious epithets, he threatened to go to his home, retrieve his father’s gun and come back to the school and shoot him,” Dyson said in an interview with The Hoya.
FEATURED
Dyson’s son and Maxem’s father, Mwata Dyson, notified professor Dyson about the altercation at approximately 2 p.m after hearing about the incident. Dyson and his wife decided to meet their son at the school to address the incident with Horace Mann Principal Elizabeth Whisnant later that afternoon, according to Dyson.
“The fact that this young man hasn’t been, you know, at least extracted from school and seen by an officer of the law is a reflection of some kind of white privilege.” MICHAEL ERIC DYSON Georgetown University Professor
Whisnant told MPD Officer Cody Coleman that the altercation came after one of the three students involved cut the lunch line, according to the incident report. Dyson is a sociology and affiliate African American stud-
ies professor at Georgetown. Dyson has written 17 books, including multiple publications about racial politics in the United States such as “What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America.” He is also a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, has appeared on television shows like the “Today” show and “Real Time With Bill Maher” and serves as a political analyst for MSNBC. In the meeting with Whisnant, Dyson expressed concerns that white privilege influenced the handling of the altercation by school officials, according to Dyson. “I said, ‘The fact that this young man hasn’t been, you know, at least extracted from school and seen by an officer of the law is a reflection of some kind of white privilege, because if it had been a black kid, threatening to go home and get a gun to kill and to return to kill his classmates, I don’t think he’d be in school right now,” Dyson said. During the 2017-18 school year, 66% of the Horace Mann student body was white and
6% of the student body was economically disadvantaged, according to the DCPS website. Dyson also communicated to Whisnant in an email that racial slurs were used in threats against his grandson, according to the professor. Whisnant, however, said the incident did not include any racial or ethnic slurs, in an April 30 email to the Horace Mann community. “It is true that harmful language was used today in school,” Whisnant wrote in an email obtained by The Hoya. “The incident did not include any language about race or ethnicity.” While Whisnant did not respond to multiple requests for comment, a representative from DCPS confirmed she had received emails from The Hoya and directed us to DCPS for comment. Dyson sent an email with the subject line: “unfortunate email” to Whisnant later that night disputing Wishant’s original message to the university, according to the email obtained by The Hoya. “We even said today in your See DYSON, A6
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY QATAR COMMUNICATIONS
Her Excellency Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani gave the keynote address to GU-Q graduates May 9. Story on A7.
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
Solar Initiative Backlash Community members criticized the university’s solar panel initiative at a May 13 hearing held by Maryland officials. A8
Finding Sources of Strength Hannan Ahmed (SFS ’19) explains how the African studies program and her roommate supported her through Georgetown. A3
Defeated by Rival After capturing the Big East championship, women’s lacrosse fell to Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA championship. A12
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
Equity Office Established The university announced a new office and its leadership to better support firstgeneration and miniority students May 9. A7
Breaking Boundaries As we explore new opportunities on the Hilltop, we should empower others to do the same, says Tala Alrajjal (COL ’19). A4
NCAA Disappointment Men’s lacrosse lost to Yale in the opening round of the NCAA tournament after winning the Big East championship. A12
Published Fridays
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A2
OPINION
THE HOYA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
VIEWPOINT • GALIBA
VIEWPOINT • MERZ
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SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
Choosing Self-Care Despite Stress
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thought shooting stars were a myth. They may be astronomically proven, and relentlessly depicted in popular culture, but one had never streaked across my eye. This skepticism held true until I was laying on the grass at midnight at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in the middle of last April. I was awarded the coveted magic of two shooting stars. I do not know if my wishes counted — it took a second for my shock to wear off to formulate the hopes I wanted to send to the universe. I realized shooting stars are real. I had just never taken the time to stop, look and wait for them to find me. I am so used to writing about what I love about others; maybe it is the Leo in me, but fierce loyalty is etched into my personhood. In short, those people that are in my heart are protected by unwavering friendship and hands to always lift them up. I am so used to showing up for people and things, for work, class, coffee and comfort — compilations of colorful scheduled blocks within my Google calendar. Funneling my energy into obligations towards others is easy. Showing up for myself is not. I have spent college thinking that if I were not working so hard to the point where I could fall asleep getting my haircut, then I was not working hard enough. If an opportunity presented itself to me, I would take it, regardless of my limited bandwidth. Part of why I have worked this way is because I am me. I am a Bangladeshi girl who immigrated to this country when I was four. I was determined to say yes to as many things as I could because I never wanted to miss out on the opportunities my parents worked so hard for me to have. My privilege of growing up in a way that afforded me a Georgetown education does not escape me. That Georgetown education comes with stress, pressure and sometimes warped views
on what it means to be successful. I have come to realize that never wanting to miss out made me miss out on a lot of life. It took me until the end of my junior year to find the time to stare at the sky until I saw shooting stars. Maybe I had not seen one before not because they are in any way extremely rare or unreal, but because I had only been glancing and I had never been watching. Another reason for my constant stream of “yes” is that my Georgetown career was shorter than most — I am a sophomore in a senior’s body, having transferred here from Northeastern University in the fall of my junior year. I felt like I was catching up and that I had to make up for the lost time.
I realized that living anxiously in the moment is not living. I decided halfway through the second semester of my senior year to start choosing fun. Admittedly, the transition was not supposed to be an easy one, pulling my roots from the comfortable Boston soil and attempting to replant them in the Washington, D.C. earth that seemed hard and impenetrable. Loneliness hung heavy over me and regret of leaving my community in Boston stayed seated in the back of my head as I attempted to navigate new surroundings and social structures. There is no sugarcoating it under poetic language — it really, really sucked, and I was really, really sad. There was no magical shift in this story; there was no one moment that changed the lens
through which I saw college and, more specifically, Georgetown. There was no wand waved over my head bringing contentment as it drained the anxiety from my body. I was walking up a hill, legs burning, trying to keep the momentum going because I knew if I stopped, I might not start again. There was no time to watch the stars. There is always going to be something else — something bigger, better, more prestigious, more impressive, more something. I was so tired from my trek up the hill that I had little time or mental capacity to think about how I wanted to be living. But as I neared the end of my undergraduate journey, I was compelled to reflect more intentionally on the guilt I felt for not being able to do everything. I realized that living anxiously in the moment is not living. I decided halfway through the second semester of my senior year to start choosing fun. I stopped letting unnecessary guilt slip in the joyous moments spent with people I cared about. I did not let it disrupt the peaceful scenes spent with myself and a palette of glitter watercolors. I chose fun and I chose to show up for myself. Again, this shift is not a conclusive change wrapped up in a bow in time for the ceremonial stage-crossing at graduation, but rather a daily act of self-care that goes beyond Netflix and facemasks — though I enjoy both of those things very much. I learned that self-care is not always simple and fun. Pursuing it can be tough because sometimes it is easier not to think about how your mindset needs to shift. It costs a substantial amount of energy and emotional capacity but pays off with further clarity. I am still walking up the hill, but I think I am beginning to enjoy the view.
MAYEESHA GALIBA is a senior in the College.
Maya Gandhi, Editor-in-Chief Madeline Charbonneau, Executive Editor Kiera Geraghty, Executive Editor Amber Gillette, Managing Editor Katrina Schmidt, News Editor Cady Stanton, News Editor Henry Mihm, Sports Editor Jake Wexelblatt, Sports Editor Suna Cha, Guide Editor Timothy McNulty, Guide Editor Doris Zhang, Opinion Editor Will Cassou, Features Editor Meena Morar, Features Editor Subul Malik, Photography Editor Samuel Nelson, Design Editor Katherine DeMatteo, Copy Chief Sheel Patel, Social Media Editor Jenna Ryu, Blog Editor Hector Herrera, Multimedia Editor
Editorial Board
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Elizabeth Ash, Matias Burdman, Juliette Leader, Maya Moretta, Rowan Saydlowski, Jenny Xu
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Befriending the Unknown
s I sat on the plane to Malaysia last summer, I felt lost. I had little prepared but a sticky note with the hostel address. I was supposed to conduct research interviews there, but my contacts had all canceled. Malaysia was the eighth country in my ninecountry whirlwind tour around the world for the Circumnavigator Grant, a summer travel research grant, and it seemed like an impending disaster. I like planning. Indeed, the first countries on my journey were filled with tight interview schedules and sightseeing to-do lists. Yet by the time I traveled to Malaysia 10 weeks later, the unforgiving pace of my itinerary caught up to me, giving me neither the time nor the energy to prepare. Little did I know that the best adventures hid in that empty calendar. I made meaningful friendships exploring the Batu Caves with people from my hostel, learned to paint batik and dance traditional joget, as well as hopped on a train to interview Malaysian diplomats in the next city. The fact that the time in my 12-week trip when I was least prepared proved to be the best speaks to the gift of the unknown. Such spontaneity was out of character for me. I preferred to follow carefully laid plans. There is a sense of comfort in doing what you are supposed to, moving from high school to college, from internships to solid jobs. Yet for much of my time at Georgetown, I felt lost. In high school, I focused on getting to college, but once I got there, the right plan became harder to craft. I arrived at Georgetown assuming success means achievement in academics and my career. Through my friends and travels, I realized how narrow that thinking is. I began to see how we construct our own vision of success. For some, success means a high salary that brings financial security.
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
For others, it means meticulous research that pushes the boundaries of human knowledge. And for others, success is found in relationships with family and friends, growing a community. Each vision is valid as it speaks to who we are and what we value. The challenge for me remained figuring out what my vision of success would be. My many passions let me imagine many paths. Creating a plan became an increasingly hopeless exercise. When I returned to Georgetown senior year, I felt ready to embrace the unknown. After experiencing the freedom of traveling without a plan, I understood that the unknown masks endless opportunity. But the senior job search raised the stakes. The question marks felt heavier, as they pertain to every aspect of our lives ranging from where we would live to how we would support ourselves. Under this pressure, my fragile, new mindset began to crack. While my peers applied to jobs, I stayed paralyzed, unsure of what I should strive toward. As I questioned who I wanted to be, other people told me who I should be. Their visions of success clashed with mine, adding to the confusion. I spent several months in this mental cage, weighing myself down with divergent visions of my future, before two realizations set
me free. First, I let go of the idea that I should have my life planned out. While I am impressed with my peers who do, I began to see how an unplanned life allows for the unplanned magic I experienced in Malaysia. My life could take many turns. The fact that I cannot imagine who I will be in 10 years is not a reason to panic but rather to celebrate. I will have the best time figuring it out. Second, I let go of the belief that I needed to have my dream job after graduation. Not only did this belief add incredible pressure, but now the very idea of a dream job seems misleading. A dream job implies a certain destiny, an endpoint in our lives. On the contrary, I hope that my life will never reach this endpoint, but will instead be a constant iteration of growth, excitement and discovery. I hope that I keep changing, causing the nature of my dream job to change too. I expect a planner like myself will never truly be at home in the unknown. Fortunately, though, I have my entire life to become its friend. For the unknown may not just be a good travel companion, but also a loyal friend full of surprise, bringing excitement to the next adventure.
ANN-KATHRIN MERZ is a senior
in the School of Foreign Service.
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OPINION
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
THE HOYA
A3
VIEWPOINT • AHMED
Identify Sources of Strength in Academic Communities, Friendships
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n a lot of ways, I have not grown over the course of four years. I still sleep too much, I do not respond to text messages and I keep losing things — my keys, opportunities, friends, my ability to be productive on the second floor of Lauinger Library and, perhaps most importantly, the 2016 Georgetown Day bulldog. As a way to track my bad habits sophomore year, I started a game with my housemates in which mainly I and my direct roommate participated. We were supposed to record every failure of that week — like missing a work shift, failing surprise quizzes or leaving Lau after five hours with nothing accomplished. All the things we managed to ruin mostly from self-sabotage and poor habits — many of which were embarrassing — would be on display in the living room. The goal was to tally the failures, and whoever had the worst week would get a “pity party”: an excuse to eat ice cream rooted in the desire to uplift each other during our worst moments. However, like most things we tried to plan, we never really got to the celebratory part and the tradition itself petered out. There were, of course, failures that seemed too intimate; writing them down on the wall of a college apartment felt too exposing. At times, I felt isolated and disappointed in myself — college was supposed to be a cultural reawakening when I, as a first-generation Eritrean American, would finally embrace the beauty of my parents’ heritage. I was supposed to put down the frozen chicken nuggets of
my childhood and pick up the “smelly” food my elementary school classmates mocked, or so I was told. In reality, I was concerned being Eritrean had a list of prerequisites that I did not live up to: My Tigrinya is terrible, I do not yearn to eat injera every week, I rarely listen to traditional Habesha music and, even more damning, I am not a good dancer. Still, what my insecurity came down to was my predominately non-African or Eritrean friend group when I believed that surrounding myself by my cultural community was what I needed to validate my identity. I felt like I failed at maintaining my heritage, by practice and by company. Academically, a dark cloud also weighed down on me throughout my sophomore year when pushing through the “sophomore slump” felt like drowning. I was so terrified of not living up to the standards to which I assumed all Georgetown University students should measure themselves. I felt so stupid in discussion sections of School of Foreign Service classes, where I felt like I had nothing valuable to add nor could I really understand most readings. Even if I thought of something worth saying, the anxiety in my stomach would keep my hand down and mouth shut. It was only after leaving Georgetown to study Arabic for a semester in Amman, Jordan, that I feel rejuvenated or, as they say, “study abroad changed me.” I returned to Georgetown in January 2018 and soon attended the second annual Women in Faith retreat, which I helped organize. Being away from George-
town for so long provided me the physical and emotional distance to evaluate what really impacted me on the Hilltop, so when we were asked to write down our sources of strength, I was a little surprised by my answers: my job and my roommate. My job changed the way I understood myself. The African studies program hired me as a student assistant in September 2015. I applied only to provide for myself for the first time, which primarily meant financing my expensive coffee habit. Yet it became more than just a work-study job. In that period of uncertainty, where I doubted the authenticity of my identity as Eritrean, the African studies program was my connection to the continent when I felt I had no other. It led me to new friends, both students and professors, and showed me a way that I could naturally fit into fabric of the Eritrean diaspora. On the days I regretted my decision to come to Georgetown and also the days I could not imagine my life differently, I went to work with people whom I considered family. My coworker is my little sister, and professors are my parents, aunts and uncles. The staff members of the African studies program were the first adults to treat me like a peer and friend, not a child. They taught me that academics, like me, are not perfect, and there is no single path to success. It was a space in which I never felt dumb, and I realized there that I always have something to offer — even if it is just banter, a smile or directions to an office. Slowly, this mindset developed at work helped alleviate the anxiety I felt in class everyday; it made
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
me bold and confident with myself as “enough.” I can trace what growth I’ve had over four years through my job — there was nothing more constant or centering in my life at Georgetown than the African studies program. My roommate changed the way I understood friendship. Nearly every night for a year, we would return home from Lau at 3 a.m. and begin our endless nighttime routine of telling each other about our days. Despite my mistakes, insecurities and shortcom-
VIEWPOINT • LISBON
ings, what I will remember about Georgetown are the silly times with her: When we ate ice cream on the floor of our house with a single spoon or created odd, coming-of-age rituals to which we subjected our friends on all important days. Together we learned there is always a way to recover from a trash mistake if you try, and it would bring me immeasurable joy if we could spend the rest of our lives supporting each other. As I prepare to leave Georgetown, unemployed and ea-
gerly anticipating what is to come, it is all of my previous failures which temper my anxiety. They remind me that nothing is certain, and with each mistake or missed opportunity is a sweeter one, a lesson or at least a funny story. I hope to never forget that my strength at Georgetown could often be found right next to my weaknesses, and my failures next to my favorite memories.
HANNAN AHMED is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.
VIEWPOINT • ROSENSTEEL
Cherish Discoveries on the Hilltop
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SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
Relationships Define GU Experience
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any reflections I have heard during my time at Georgetown University have been the same. They focus on moments of intensity, turning points, specific achievements or failures that mark a rare or momentous occasion. It is easy to turn to these consequential moments as a metaphor for an entire experience. While there is value in that, I find that my reflection best comes from thinking about the things that have been consistent for me at Georgetown. Since I was a freshman, almost every Tuesday and Sunday night from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., I have been in Yates Field House playing basketball. Coming into Georgetown, basketball was something I felt that I needed. Who would I be without a team to rally around? How else would I flex my muscle as a washed up high-school athlete? What stemmed from a desperate attempt to find something familiar in a vastly unfamiliar place grew to be a space that felt like home. Club basketball gave me the confidence I needed to pursue the unknown. Many practices were fun, but, of course, some seemed to drag on for hours. We have had some great games, but definitely more losses than wins. Trying to maintain numbers at practice and keep people engaged for the past two years as president of women’s club basketball has been some of the hardest work I’ve ever done.
Yet basketball has also given me some of the best friends I have made here — people that I would have no other reason to connect with outside of the sport. I will never forget the long bus rides to James Madison University, telling stories of old high school teams and hearing from upperclassmen about what to expect in the next four years. I have even been lucky to find one of my best friends, with whom I have lead the team since junior year. The joy I have gotten out of those relationships and the energy I get from this hilarious group of women have anchored my time at Georgetown in the most endearingly mundane way. Through the drudgery of sending emails, arranging tournaments and inconsistent attendance, basketball has been the high point of my weeks here. Another of the other most consistent things here for me has been the mental space of activism on campus. From my first sit-in as a freshman in University President John J. DeGioia’s (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) office to change the names of Mulledy and McSherry Halls, to working recently on the GU272 referendum, my time at Georgetown has been marked by pushing the university towards racial, class, gender and disability justice. Almost as often as I played basketball, I was disappointed by the lack of action on the part of the university in response to glaringly obvious and merited student
concerns. Instead of the joy I felt at Yates, these moments were marked by placating emails from the university that promised action but excused themselves by saying how slow-moving that action so often is. I had no idea coming to Georgetown that the university that claimed to care for me as a whole person would so consistently fail to address my concerns, leaving me wondering whether I could trust any kind of institution again. Like basketball, the thing that sustained me through these moments was not faith in the Jesuit values or assurance from an email, but the community of beautiful, intelligent, expressive and loving friends I made in the process. We could only look to each other, and I am so glad we did. I mention all these memories to say that what defined Georgetown for me was definitely not the big moments, accomplishments or failures. It was not even necessarily the quotidian activities I committed myself to. When I look back and try to parse out what has changed me the most, it is always my relationships. I want to say thank you to those who I have gotten close to, who loved me, challenged me and saw who I could be before I saw it in myself. I am only grateful to Georgetown because it brought me to you.
y time at Georgetown University has been one of discovery. I have discovered the meaning of friendship, the importance of community, the perks of city life, my passions and, most importantly, myself. My choice to attend Georgetown was an unlikely and difficult one, as a first generation, low-income student. However, as I reflect on my time on the Hilltop, I could not have made a better choice. Even in the face of these obstacles, I was able to find a home on the Hilltop through different communities, and I discovered opportunities to support my changing academic interests. My background is one of the less common ones at Georgetown. I come from a small fishing town in rural eastern North Carolina where the world is smaller and simpler. Life is focused on the weather, not the affairs of the federal government. Only 3.1% of Georgetown students come from the bottom 20% of the income ladder, according to The New York Times. This statistic is one that drives some low-income students away for fear of not being able to fit in with their wealthier peers, for being underprepared for classes and for simply not being able to afford the life that Georgetown culture expects. I was scared out of my mind about coming to a place that I was so out of touch with, which leads me to my first discovery: community. My first week on the Hilltop was not spent doing New Student Orientation, but rather the Preparing to Excel pre-orientation program. PEP was a program run out of the Georgetown Scholars Program that focused on creating an environ-
ment for students much like myself — those whose families or schools may not have adequately prepared them for a place like Georgetown. This program served as a behind-the-scenes look at Georgetown with the support of upperclassmen mentors. These mentors passed along their wisdom to help fast-track the development of the tools necessary to excel at Georgetown for incoming students. It was during this week when I discovered that there is a supportive community of other students like myself. I also discovered a sense of belonging that helped ground me here when I faced failure or feelings of exclusion. Members of the Georgetown community accepted me because they believed I belonged here, and it was through PEP that I discovered this acceptance to be true. Having never lived in a city or rarely even venturing into one, I was also skeptical of Washington, D.C. By choosing to attend Georgetown, I took a shot in the dark and moved into the heart of the de facto capital of the world. One of the reasons I chose Georgetown was because I wanted the opportunity to be connected to a system larger than myself and to get exposure to the federal government and the international community. During my time here, I made it my personal mission to escape Georgetown and explore D.C. every chance I had. I am so glad I did, because it was through these adventures that I discovered the immense opportunities that D.C. has for jobs, education, culture and self-sufficiency. College has so many important components, and the
most important, at least from my perspective, is academics. I entered college as a pre-med biology major with the goal of becoming an orthopedic surgeon one day. I quickly dropped those aspirations and instead pivoted toward research, which turned out to be the best decision of my time at Georgetown. Being surrounded by so many impressive scientists, I quickly discovered that it was possible to “be successful” without becoming a medical doctor, and that there exist many subsections of biology that I found interesting that I previously did not have access to during my education in North Carolina. As a part of my ventures into biological research, I began working in Dr. Shweta Bansal’s lab. This experience has been the defining component of my Georgetown experience. It wasn’t just a job; it has been a journey of academic and professional discovery. I have had the opportunity to craft my own cutting edge research on defining an epidemiological geography of the United States for influenza. Without distinct faculty like Bansal, I never would have discovered my passions and my desire to work at the intersection of infectious disease epidemiology, computer science and national security in the future. If I have learned anything, it is to not let your past identify define your future. Do something that makes you uncomfortable and afraid, just like I did in choosing to come to Georgetown, because throughout the discomfort, you will grow and discover who you are.
GRANT ROSENSTEEL is a senior in the College.
ALLYSA LISBON is a senior in the College.
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
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OPINION
THE HOYA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
VIEWPOINT • ALRAJJAL
VIEWPOINT • DIAZ
Empowering Self and Others
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hen I found out I got into Georgetown University, my mom and I held each other and sobbed our eyes out in my bed. We both felt the weight of a world come off us: her world of constantly trying to prove her worth to an often misogynistic Arab society and my world of proving to her that I am the right custodian for her unfulfilled aspirations. We sat and cried because we knew how special it was for an Arab girl to get into a top-tier American university. My parents lived in Damascus, Syria, for their whole lives, leaving once I was born. Despite systemic problems of underdevelopment, brutality and censorship that plagued the country, what touched my mom the most were issues of sexism within society. Even among the well-educated in Syria, many people believed that women are less valuable investments than men, that they would amount to less than men in life and that their role in society should be restricted to child rearing and housekeeping. Until she was married and moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the place where I spent most of my life, my mom had few opportunities to make something of herself on her own terms. Because of these deeply entrenched norms of gender disparity, it is an exception rather than a rule that Arab women are encouraged to pursue an education and career abroad. Though great strides have been made in empowering Arab women, it was only one gener-
ation ago that my grandfather did not allow my mom to study outside of Syria simply because she was a woman. By coming to Georgetown, I certainly broke a boundary within my family, but also within Arab culture to an extent. I arrived at Georgetown with that perspective firmly etched in my mind and made sure I never lost sight of it. Weighing the value of my own empowerment, I embraced what Georgetown had to teach me about helping others break their boundaries, too.
Weighing the value of my own empowerment, I embraced what Georgetown had to teach me about helping others break their boundaries, too.
The point of being a Hoya, in my mind, is to break boundaries for yourself and to empower others to do so as well. I was drawn to Georgetown for its promise to turn us into men and women in service of others, helping those who are the most marginalized or disadvantaged in our society
to surmount some of the obstacles ahead of them. Many of us, by virtue of coming from underrepresented backgrounds, are breaking ground just by attending and succeeding at Georgetown. All of us, however, are challenged to lift up society by helping the marginalized or oppressed elevate themselves. To be a man or woman for others is to help those struggling to break the barriers impeding them. In the flurry of consulting recruitment or the classic freshman project of applying to every competitive club possible, it is all too easy to forget that Georgetown is meant to foster a larger project of selfdevelopment, challenging us to better ourselves, other individuals and society at large. I played my part in empowering others in different ways during my time on the Hilltop. I tutored low-income elementary school children with D.C. Reads, planned community service fundraisers for my sorority and took humanities classes that pushed me to think about the world around me and how I can serve it. When I walk across the graduation stage in May, it will be for my mom. Moreso, it will be for myself, knowing that I am not the first and certainly not the last Arab woman to achieve this feat. I also know that I will be ready to serve any underprivileged, marginalized or underrepresented group, just as Georgetown taught me to do.
TALA ALRAJJAL is a senior in the College.
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
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Finding a Holistic Education
s a 15-year-old Cuban American who had never set foot outside of the United States, my desire to live and learn in the Middle East seemed odd or incomprehensible to most. I was fascinated by the Arabic language, and it was my goal to attend King’s Academy, a high school in Jordan where I could live with local and international students alike while studying Arabic. I was certain that studying in Jordan was not only the best way to deepen my knowledge of the Arabic language, but also to grow as a whole person. After a year of writing and pleading with hundreds of businesses, I was unable to obtain the remaining financial assistance I needed. With less than a few weeks before classes began, I launched 100 decorated glass bottles into the Atlantic Ocean asking for support. A local newspaper wrote an article about my story, and I was flooded with support the same day. The three years I spent at King’s Academy were characterized by the love, warmth, care and support I received from my classmates and teachers. My school was guided by a mission to ensure an integrated life for its students, an emphasis on global citizenship and diversity, and a responsibility to serve our local community. This environment helped me grow and flourish, and I knew that I wanted the same from my college experience. At Georgetown Univer-
sity, I found just that. Georgetown was guided by similar Jesuit values that above all prized educating the whole person, service and community in diversity. Just as I had in Jordan, I knew that I could flourish in such a space. Georgetown provided a space to balance my identities and interests. I turned to groups with similar passions and continued taking classes on Arabic language and Arab history and culture. I found a home in Arab Society as vice president, and through cultural performances as part of Turathuna, Georgetown’s first ever Dabkeh dance troupe. Throughout my time at Georgetown, I was presented with countless opportunities to give back to the local community. My freshman year, I participated in the Countering Islamophobia alternative break program and for three years served as a tutor for immigrant youth and adults with the D.C. Schools Project. As a daughter of immigrants and having witnessed the Islamophobia within my own community, these opportunities to serve and learn formed a meaningful part of my Georgetown experience. During my junior year, I studied abroad in two distinctly different places: Doha, Qatar, and Jerusalem. The ability to live and learn in these two locations provided me with a more holistic understanding of the Middle East, an opportunity few universities offered.
Even at the end of my time at Georgetown, the diversity of coursework permitted me to explore my interest in other languages apart from Arabic. My senior year, I chose to continue with Arabic, along with a semester of Hindi, and gained proficiency in Italian, constantly finding connections among these seemingly unrelated languages and cultures. Together these experiences permitted me to grow and flourish personally and academically. Georgetown’s commitment to a core set of values echoed what I had most appreciated from my time in Jordan. My experience at Georgetown was not without its difficulties, but through the love and support of my teachers and family, I overcame the doubts, fears and challenges I faced along the way. In Jordan, I valued the time my teachers dedicated to mentor and guide me. Throughout my time at Georgetown, I was fortunate to also find teachers that sometimes took hours of their time to impart wisdom, provide advice and discuss my interests. With the love and unwavering support of my family, I found strength to overcome my fears and continue to thrive at Georgetown. As graduation approaches and I go on to pursue a master’s degree in Arab studies at Georgetown, I am overjoyed to know I will extend my time on the Hilltop for just a little longer.
AVISELLE DIAZ is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.
VIEWPOINT • PANJWANI
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Embrace Personal Identity Through Supportive Communities
ccording to my Campus Housing Roommate Matching System profile, I hoped to find a roommate who was willing to “ignite a spark of energy within me,” talk with me for “hours about the eccentric nature of time” and support my purpose here, which was to “leave a lasting impact through every encounter.” Other requirements included undying love for french vanilla cappuccinos and thai food, wanting to play mind games and, of course, appreciation for my hilarious and punny remarks. Yikes. The fact that I have made any friends at Georgetown University is truly a surprise. In many ways, Georgetown fulfilled these wide-eyed expectations I had for my college years, providing me with energy, community and affirmation. In other ways, it did not. Reflecting on my last four years at Georgetown, I found that every experience taught me something, even if that lesson was not what I wanted. I started my years feeling lonely, unsure of myself and wanting to please others. The spaces I was a part of, though, allowed me to break out of that and more confidently express myself regardless of what others think. The first few weeks of freshman year, I felt extremely lonely. Many of what I thought were inseparable friendships from my pre-orientation program faded away. I slowly realized that relationships I had formed were short-term and temporary, just like the satisfaction of an O’Donovan Hall meal. I spent lots of time anx-
iously waiting for people to respond to text messages to hang out with me. The loneliness was exacerbated by the fact that I felt like I was not pursuing the right academic or extracurricular track, either. A professor told me that my interest in Culture and Politics was not serious enough, and I got rejected from every acappella group I auditioned for. Fortunately, balanced with the long nights of tears and frustration, freshman year was also the start of special relationships that will last beyond my time here. I was able to connect with the Ismaili Muslim community in Falls Church, Virginia, where I made some good friends and started teaching religious classes to sixth graders whom I got to know really well. Being there reminded me of being home and allowed me to sustain my connection to my faith, which defined so much of my life before Georgetown. I was still counting down the days, though, to go back to Texas. These sentiments of loneliness and self-doubt naturally continued throughout the following years, but I found communities and spaces that taught me how to deal with them. The Alternative Breaks Program, ESCAPE Retreat and Campus Ministry were spaces where I could feel what I was feeling and be myself most. They helped me realize that progress was not about getting rid of these feelings and doubts, but rather working through them. Feeling confused about whether or not I was happy at Georgetown was especially hard for me because I went
through high school thinking that I always had to be happy and comfortable. My optimism was often ingenuine. Georgetown gave me spaces to be joyful and feel sad, frustrated, angry and lonely at the same time, recognizing these feelings as important and necessary in order to flourish. I also started taking my frustrations with Georgetown into my own hands. Engaging with organizing on campus gave me the chance to contribute to making this predominantly white institution more welcoming for students of color, advocating to move from preaching diversity to practicing real equity. I challenged curricular and administrative choices that were Islamophobic and Eurocentric, not holding back from raising attention to biases and norms existing inside and outside the classroom. Organizing gave me the confidence to be more fiercely me, unafraid of going against the blue and gray norms of Georgetown to add my own color. Georgetown benefits from students conforming to practices understood as given because changes are difficult and costly to make, but I was grateful to find a community here resisting that. Communities, however, were not always easily made at Georgetown. It upset me that even in small classes I knew the opinions of students on surveillance policies and World War I but knew nothing about them, sometimes not even their names. This semester I sent out an email to both my seminar classes offering dinner at my
house because I felt like we were missing out on valuable relationships. While only five people from a group of 40 actually responded and the dinners did not happen, I did not care what people thought about the email. Being able to assert friendliness in a space where it was discouraged or weird made me feel more like myself. Freshman year me would never have done that. While my postgraduation plans are still unclear, I am
open to new experiences and uncertainty, something I was not so open to before. I am still content, patiently waiting for the next adventure. Why should what I do next in my career matter more than the person that Georgetown helped me become? I’ve decided to embrace my punning abilities, my desire to say hello to strangers in elevators and in class, and my asking unusually deep questions to people I just met, and
that is good enough for now. Georgetown’s pre-professional culture taught me exactly what I didn’t want to be. Georgetown’s campus ministry, social justice-oriented organizations and warm people taught me. Despite its flaws, I “Healy” love the Hilltop, and parting ways is going to be harder than I once thought it would be.
ALY PANJWANI is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
YEAR IN REVIEW
THE HOYA
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Francis, Olvera Triumph in GUSA Executive Race; Turnout Lowest Since 2007 Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Aleida Olvera (COL ’20) were elected Georgetown University Student Association president and vice president Feb. 9 by a narrow margin of 40 votes. The voting was close in all rounds, and runner-up Nicki Gray (NHS ’20) led in the first two rounds of voting. Thirty-two percent of the student body voted in the election, with 2,185 students casting votes, the lowest voter turnout since the 2007 executive election. Students’ apathy toward GUSA could be the cause of low voter turnout, according to former GUSA election commission Co-Chair Grant Castle (COL ’21).
Feb. 9, 2019 FILE PHOTO: AMBER GILLETTE/THE HOYA
Students Demand University Action On Title IX Coordinator Vacancy
Feb. 13, 2019
Laura Cutway vacated her position as Georgetown University Title IX coordinator unexpectedly in June 2018, leading multiple student groups to submit a letter at the beginning of September demanding the university publicly address the vacancy. Title IX Investigator Samantha Berner has been serving as Title IX coordinator in addition to her normal role during the search for Cutway’s replacement. While the university identified four finalists for the coordinator position in January, the administration has not announced a final decision on the candidates.
Sept. 7, 2018 FILE PHOTO: DENNIS KIM/FOR THE HOYA
Sept. 11, 2018
Alumni Square Roof Raises Concerns, GU Relocates Residents The university relocated about 85 students from their top-floor apartments in Alumni Square to the Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center after university administrators informed them about potential structural issues in their apartment roofs in a Feb. 12 email. Students were moved after a structural engineering firm conducted roof inspections because of concerns over moisture buildup and pressure on the roof in the case of snow or strong winds. The Georgetown board of directors later approved a five-year, $75 million maintenance plan to alleviate building issues in a Feb. 14 meeting, with a portion of the funds designated toward renovating all Alumni Square west tower buildings because of the roof problems and issues involving mold.
Nair Resigns GUSA Presidency Following Pressure From Senior GUSA Leadership Former GUSA President Sahil Nair (SFS ’19) resigned from his position Sept. 11 following allegations of sexual misconduct raised against him and resulting pressure from Georgetown University Student Association senior staff. GUSA Vice President Naba Rahman (SFS ’19), Chief of Staff Aaron Bennett (COL ’19) and nine senior executive staffers later resigned Sept. 14 for failing to previously disclose the allegations raised against Nair to the GUSA senate and to other executive members. GUSA established an ethics and oversight committee in October 2018 to improve the internal accountability of the senate and GUSA’s executive branch, though the committee’s creation was said to be independent of the resignations.
Sept. 14, 2018
FILE PHOTO: SHEEL PATEL/THE HOYA
Cooper Returns, Promotes New Film Actor and director Bradley Cooper (COL ’97) attributed his success in film and life to hard work, dedication and authenticity at a discussion with Blair Rich (COL ’97), worldwide director of marketing for Warner Bros., and University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) in Gaston Hall on Sept. 11. Cooper made his directorial debut with his remake of “A Star Is Born,” released Oct. 5. Cooper spent over a year of his four years on the film taking vocal lessons five days per week and learning guitar and piano for the role, he said at the event.
FILE PHOTO: CAROLINE PAPPAS/THE HOYA
FILE PHOTO: KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
March 12, 2019 Georgetown Parents, Former Coach Face Bribery Charges Former Georgetown University tennis coach Gordon Ernst was charged with falsely designating at least 12 students as tennis recruits in Georgetown’s admissions process in exchange for $2.7 million in bribes while in his position from 2006 until December 2017, according to an indictment involving eight U.S. universities. Among those charged, five parents who have or had children at Georgetown between 2013 and 2019 were included in the indictment. A petition was created calling for the university to revoke the degrees and admissions of all current and former students involved.
March 15, 2019
@GEORGETOWNUNIVERSITY/INSTAGRAM
14 Abusive Priests Found in Georgetown’s Past, Present Fourteen Catholic religious leaders associated with the university have been credibly or plausibly accused of sexual abuse, according to a monthslong investigation by The Hoya published March 15. Georgetown confirmed all 14 priests and a nun were at some point affiliated with the university in a March 13 statement to The Hoya. The university has publicly recognized abuse allegations against only four of the individuals named; one priest retained the title of professor emeritus at Georgetown until the week of the investigation’s publication. FILE PHOTO: AMBER GILLETTE/THE HOYA
Oct. 4, 2018
On-Campus Food Pantry Opens in Leavey Center Hoya Hub, an on-campus pantry offering free, nonperishable food items to members of the Georgetown community, opened Oct. 1 in the Leavey Center as part of a Georgetown University Student Association initiative to combat food insecurity. GUSA hopes to obtain data that will show the extent of inaccessibility to food and help explain why hunger exists on Georgetown’s campus as more people use the food pantry. The Hoya Hub recently partnered with Students of Georgetown Inc., commonly known as The Corp, to help students donate their unused flex dollars at the end of this semester to restock the pantry for the summer through the Swipe it Forward Flex Donation Drive. FILE PHOTO: SOPHIA NUNN/THE HOYA
April 12, 2019 Students Endorse Reconciliation Fee In GU272 Referendum Students voted overwhelmingly in favor of a referendum to establish a $27.20 semesterly fee that would go toward a fund to benefit descendants of the GU272, the 272 enslaved people sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in 1838 to financially sustain the university. The referendum had the highest turnout in recorded student government electoral history at 57.9% participation for the April 11 vote. The referendum faced a challenge to its constitutionality in a suit April 14, but GUSA’s constitutional council confirmed the referendum’s validity in a ruling April 28. The university has to approve the policy before the reconciliation fee is put in place. FILE PHOTO: AMBER GILLETTE/THE HOYA
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NEWS
THE HOYA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
10 Speakers Set to Deliver GU Incoming Class Shows High Test Commencement Addresses Scores, Geographic Diversity SPEAKERS, from A1
YIELD RATE, from A1
stone, who will speak at the McDonough School of Business commencement May 17. Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state and Georgetown professor, will address the School of Foreign Service during its ceremonies May 18. Joan Rosenhauer, the executive director of humanitarian organization Jesuit Refugee Service, will address the School of Nursing and Health Studies on May 18. The Georgetown undergraduate and professional schools select their speakers independently, according to university spokesperson Rachel Pugh. “Each program and school is responsible for obtaining its own speaker,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The process for doing this varies across schools, ultimately nominations go to the Deans, who send them to the Board of Directors for approval.” ”Other commencement weekend speakers include Mark Humayun (CAS ’84), a University of Southern California professor of ophthalmology, who will address the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences on May 17. Susan Hingle, the associate dean for human and organizational potential at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, will speak at the School of Medicine commencement May 19. As has occurred in previous years, Georgetown Law graduates will hear from two speakers at their commencement May 19. Barbara Underwood (LAW ’69), the
university and the local community that limits the total number of undergraduate students to 6,675, according to the 2017 University Campus Plan. The yield rate and transfer acceptance rate influence each other every year, and the university prefers to admit a conservative number of students in the first round rather than admit more students than the university has space for and have to adjust, according to Deacon. “These two numbers do work together,” Deacon said. “Last year, when we were over for the first time in maybe 50 years, we ended up having to cut back the number of transfer students to balance it out.” The university has sent out approximately 140 offers of enrollment to potential transfer students, with the expectation that 100 of those students will commit to the university by the June 15 deadline. Spots will be available for 50 more transfer students to start in the spring semester, continuing a practice that began last year. The Class of 2023 is expected to maintain similar numbers of black and Hispanic students enrolled from the previous class, with 10% of students identifying as black and 14% identifying as Hispanic. The rate of Asian American students planning to enroll at Georgetown has significantly increased to 22% of the total incoming class over the last two years, compared to 15% of enrolled students who
GEORGETOWN COLLEGE
Award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will deliver Georgetown College’s commencement speech May 18. solicitor general of New York, and Emmet Sullivan, a district judge for Washington, D.C., will both address students. In addition to the main campus commencement ceremonies, Georgetown’s campus in Doha, Qatar, will also hold its own commencement ceremonies this week. Her Excellency Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, the permanent representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, will address Georgetown University in Qatar graduates May 9. The Georgetown University Facebook page will livestream the commencement ceremonies from
May 16 to 19. The 2019 commencement speakers will provide Georgetown graduates with messages to motivate their future endeavors, according to University President John DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95). “We are honored to welcome an extraordinary group of individuals to campus to share their reflections with our graduating students this May,” DeGioia said in a May 3 news release. “As our students embark on their own paths, seeking to make an impact on our world, we are deeply grateful for the inspiration and powerful example provided by these remarkable individuals.”
originally enrolled in the Class of 2021. The Class of 2023 also features a degree of geographic diversity, with 49 states represented in the incoming cohort. All states had applicants to the university, but Wyoming was the only one that did not have any students accepted to Georgetown. A total of 128 international students have submitted enrollment deposits to Georgetown, marking a slight decrease from last year’s 137 students. The mean SAT math and verbal scores was between 725 and 740 and the average ACT score was 32.9 for the incoming class of 2023. Last year, the mean SAT score for incoming first-years was a 1440 combined math and verbal score.
Rising testing scores have led to a greater weight placed on students’ individual experiences in determining admission, according to Deacon. “It’s actually a good thing, because it means we can stress the personal circumstances, whether it be personality qualities, which it the thing we look most at, or other things, such as geographic diversity or unusual talents,” Deacon said. Still, Deacon acknowledged that in such an admissions pool, students still need to have high test scores to be competitive with their peers. “As the overall scores continue to move up, there’s less to discriminate among them,” Deacon said. “You have to have pretty good scores to be in the running.”
ROCHELLE VAYNTRUB/THE HOYA
The university expects 100 of the 140 transfer students offered admission for fall 2019 to commit by the June 15 deadline.
Students Named Valedictorians, Scholars CADY STANTON Hoya Staff Writer
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON/FACEBOOK
Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson’s grandson was verbally threatened by a classmate at his elementary school April 30.
Professor’s Grandson Verbally Attacked By DCPS Classmate DYSON, from A1 office that the “N” word was used — my son, me and his mother all said so,” Dyson’s email to Whisnant’s email said. “Perhaps amidst the hullabaloo you missed that, but we calmly indicated it to you. To state in bold letters that no such incident took place is doubly injurious to Max, and re-victimizes him and us.” After Whisnant’s original email to the community, Instructional Superintendent of Horace Mann Janice Harris sent a separate email to the Horace Mann community May 1. Harris specifically states in the email that it is unclear to Washington, D.C., whether racial language was used in the incident and the exact details are still under investigation by DCPS. “At this time, we cannot affirm with confidence that no racial slur was used, and an investigation has been launched,” Harris wrote in her email to the community. After hearing about the incident, one Horace Mann parent pulled her daughter, who is in Maxem’s class, from school for five days out of concern for her daughter’s safety after the incident. Whisnant indicated she would excuse the absences in a May 1 email obtained by The Hoya. An investigation into the investigation was opened by the D.C. Public Schools Comprehensive Alternative Resolution and Equity Team, an organization responsible for resolving discrimination claims in DCPS. DCPS will work with the Horace Mann community to address the incident and provide resources for affected students, according to DCPS officials.
“DCPS’ Office of Equity is in contact with the school to implement restorative and trauma-informed practices to support the school community in response to the incident,” DCPS officials wrote in an email to The Hoya. Maxem has not been contacted by the school for meetings or counseling since April 30, though he has returned to school after taking a day off after the incident, according to Dyson. “My son says besides meeting the day of the incident with Max, the school has not had any follow up meeting or support or counseling with him,” Dyson said. “Disappointing in the extreme.” After the incident, Dyson posted a series of tweets detailing his side of the interaction with the school in a series of written posts and videos. Dyson wrote that while the incident ended in favor of his grandson, many similar situations have had negative outcomes for families and welcomed stories and concerns from his Twitter followers who experienced similar problems. On social media and in media interviews, Dyson has also argued that the incident speaks to the larger issue of racial oppression in the United States and offered advice to parents and families of students of color navigating problems in school administrations. The young child’s alleged use of a racial slur speaks to a broader environment of bigotry, Dyson said in an interview with FOX 5 D.C. “Unfortunately this represents for us the deep and abiding roots of white supremacy that are set loose in this country,” Dyson said. “How can a 6-year-old kid know to call his classmate the N-word?”
Georgetown University seniors were honored with Dean’s Medals, a Yenching Scholarship and Fulbright Awards this spring in recognition of their achievements at the university throughout the semester. Two of the four undergraduate schools have released the names of the individuals who have earned the highest grade point averages in their class. Eileen Yee (NHS ’19), a human science major, will receive the Dean’s Medal for highest cumulative GPA. at the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ Tropaia ceremony on Friday, according to Senior Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Bill Cessato. The College will have three valedictorians: Russell Wirth (COL ’19), Julie Bevilacqua (COL ’19) and Agnes Donnelly (COL ’19), according to Sue Lorenson, vice dean for undergraduate education for the College. The School of Foreign Service does not announce the name of the Dean’s Medal recipient until Friday’s Tropaia ceremony, and the McDonough School of Business has also not yet released the name of its valedictorian. In addition to academic honors based on grade point average in each of the schools, both junior and senior students have received fellow-
ships and awards throughout the semester in the form of scholarships and grants. Hundreds of students utilize one-on-one advising sessions each year through the Georgetown Office of Fellowships, Awards and Resources, with around 100 students receiving fellowships using the office’s support systems, according to GOFAR Senior Associate Director Lauren Tuckley. The majority of students receiving fellowships are undergraduates. Fifty-one Georgetown students were offered Fulbright Awards to go abroad for the 2019-20 academic year, including 27 graduating seniors, but some students are still deciding whether they will accept the award, according to Tuckley. Fulbright scholars receive federal funding through grants that can be applied to study abroad after graduation, conduct individual research, pursue master’s degrees or teach English in foreign countries. Scholars are chosen based on an affiliation letter from the student’s university and a research project proposal alongside submitted recommendations, transcripts and a personal statement. Mayeesha Galiba (COL ’19), one of this year’s Fulbright recipients who has chosen to accept the scholarship, will be studying in Syria through the grant in the 2019-20
school year, she wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I plan to learn Serbian and hopefully learn to read the Cyrillic alphabet,” Galiba wrote. “I also hope to take the time during my fellowship to shift my focus away from being a student within the structured academia of Georgetown and towards developing a sense of independence and innovation as I work within the parameters of my Fulbright.” Gary Xie (SFS ’19) was selected as a Yenching Scholar in January following an internal nomination process through Georgetown. Xie will be among 125 individuals from 40 countries pursuing a master’s degree in China Studies at Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing, China, this fall through the scholarship. Xie began working on his application for the program in April 2018 and worked with the GOFAR office to create multiple drafts of his application, Xie said. Though he intends to major in economics and management, Xie also hopes to expand his studies into the natural sciences and rural China Studies through the fellowship while at the university, according to Xie. “The Fellowship gives me a lot of flexibility to take almost any course Peking University has to offer. I want to expand my course selection to areas I haven’t really been
taking at Georgetown,” Xie wrote in an email to the Hoya. “I think it’s the perfect program to explore China and its intellectual treasures.” Two students from this year’s junior class, Sinclair Blue (SFS ’20) and Mena Mohamed (SFS ’20), are recipients of the Truman Scholarship. Only 62 undergraduates were selected for the honor, which grants students $30,000 toward up to three years of graduate education leading to a public service career. Blue plans to pursue a dual master’s degree in public health and urban planning and hopes to work for a nonprofit that advance food justice in Washington, D.C., while Mohamed intends to earn a master’s in both international affairs and urban planning, according to the Georgetown website. Mohamed said the application process allowed her a lot of space for self-reflection to consider what the path of public service means to her. Mohamed also looks forward to learning from other scholarship recipients in the program, she wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I am most excited to meet the other Truman Scholars for this year and engage with what others are passionate about,” Mohamed wrote in an email to The Hoya. “It is an honor to be able to share this award with so many interesting and engaged students.”
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Sinclair Blue (SFS ’20), left, and Mena Mohamed (SFS ’20) were both named Truman Scholars this spring. The Truman Scholarship grants students $30,000 toward up to three years of graduate education leading to public service.
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Wisemiller’s Deli Removes GU-Q School of Foreign Service Graduates 11th Cohort Sandwich Name Over Backlash CONNOR THOMAS Hoya Staff Writer
Sixty-four seniors graduated from the School of Foreign Service in Qatar in front of family, friends, faculty, Qatari officials and international diplomats in the campus’s 11th commencement ceremony May 9. GU-Q held the ceremony at its campus in Education City, Doha, Qatar, where graduates received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, the same degree given to School of Foreign Service graduates on the university’s main campus. This year, the graduating class was made up of 49 women and 15 men. Including the class of 2019, 566 students have now graduated from the campus since it opened nine years ago. Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, Her Excellency Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani delivered the commencement speech for graduates and attendees. Al-Thani commended the university for its scholastic achievements and praised the
school’s work with the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to developing educational opportunities in Qatar, in her address. “Today’s GU-Q graduates carry on a legacy of academic excellence, strength through diversity and an unwavering commitment to work for the common good,” Al-Thani said. “Through dedicated scholarship in the field of humanities and social sciences, their academic work has contributed to the development mission of Qatar Foundation, and the ambitions and optimism of tomorrow’s leaders inspire us all to envision a better future.” The Qatar Foundation supports GU-Q in partnership with the main university to offer specialized international affairs courses in Education City, where Georgetown and eight other schools have campuses. Georgetown is one of four U.S. universities in the area just outside of Doha, Qatar’s capital, in addition to campuses from Northwestern University, Cornell University and Texas A&M University.
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY QATAR COMMUNICATIONS
GU-Q Dean Ahmad Dallal introduced the keynote speaker, Her Excellency Ambassador Skeikha bin Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani.
Visiting from Georgetown’s campus in Washington, Provost Robert Groves and SFS Dean Joel Hellman presented the graduates with their degrees. University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) also gave closing remarks in person at the event. When it was first founded in 2005, GU-Q contained only 25 students in its student body, but has since expanded to graduate more than 500 alumni total. The campus graduated two more students in this year’s ceremonies than it did last year. In celebration of the research and academic publications of its community this year, the campus also held “GU-Q 100: A Celebration of Knowledge,” an event celebrating over 100 published volumes by the school’s faculty and staff. The school held a celebratory gala on campus in the spring. GU-Q also gained attention this year when it ranked poorly among other U.S. colleges in terms of free speech. FIRE, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the civil rights of university students and faculty, gave GU-Q the ranking as one of 10 U.S. colleges with the most restrictive censorship practices in the nation. The ranking came after the school canceled an event in October organized by a GU-Q Debating Union called “Pardon the Interruption.” The issue the group planned to debate was whether or not major religions should portray God as a woman. GU-Q Dean Ahmad Dallal introduced Al-Thani and also gave the opening speech. GU-Q graduates have hopeful futures because of the opportunities afforded to them through the university, according to Dallal. “With the guidance and support of our dedicated academic community, they have acquired the critical skills required by our ever changing world, and their stories and diligence will continue to inspire the next generation of students following in their footsteps,” Dallal said.
CASEY FERRANTE Hoya Staff Writer
Wisemiller’s Deli removed the “Blackie’s Favorite” sandwich that has appeared on the menu for at least 20 years from the store’s physical menu as a result of backlash to the racist nature of its name. The sandwich, which contains hot roast beef, grilled onions, muenster cheese and thousand island dressing, is not listed on the official menu inside of the deli but still appears on the store’s online menu. Blackie’s Favorite has historically been one of Wisey’s most popular sandwiches, according to a 1999 Washington Post article on the restaurant. Naming a sandwich Blackie’s Favorite is inappropriate because of the history of the term as a slur again the black community, according to Georgetown Black Student Association Historian Alexandra Mucher (COL ’22). “Blackie is a derogatory term used towards black people that is condescending by nature,” Mucher wrote in an email to Th e Hoy a . “It is a dated term and I don’t hear it being used as much, but the frequency of its usage is irrelevant to the historical weight it carries.” Wisey’s, a popular Georgetown student eatery, has been located on 36th St. NW, about two blocks from Georgetown University’s front gates, for over 60 years. The university, which owns the land on which Wisey’s is located, contacted the restaurant about the name of the sandwich before its removal from the menu, according to university spokesperson Rachel Pugh. “Concerns about the menu item were raised and communicated to Wisemiller’s,” Pugh wrote in an email to Th e Hoy a . Rolando Nauit, manager of Wisey’s sister deli on Wisconsin Avenue, has been working at the store for 13 years but was not involved in the decision to remove the sandwich from the menu. Both Wisey’s locations have experienced lags in updating their online menu, according to Nauit. The sandwich’s name should be changed if it remains on the Wisey’s menu, according to
DORIS ZHANG/THE HOYA
Now removed from the official Wisemiller’s Deli menu, the sandwich “Blackie’s Favorite” faced pushback because of its racist name. Mucher. “Even if it isn’t meaning to come off negatively, they should change the name because I’m sure I’m not the only one who was puzzled by seeing that name,” Mucher wrote. Blackie’s Favorite is not the only contentious sandwich name on the Wisey’s menu. Wisey’s instore menu also offers the “Gangsta Club Sub,” a sandwich which could also reference racial stereotypes, according to Mucher. Wisey’s official menu is hung in the 36th Street store and listed on the website for the Wisconsin Avenue location. The outdated menu, which includes Blackie’s Favorite, is listed on the original location’s website. Wisey’s customer Elisabeth Oki (COL ’20) visits the restaurant at least three times a week and typically orders the “Hot Chick Sandwich.” Continuing to serve the sandwich under the Blackie’s Favorite name is unacceptable, according to Oki. “This name is inherently so racist and outlandish. I’ve never seen something of that nature on a menu before,” Oki wrote in
an email to Th e Hoy a . “It utilizes the derogatory term ‘blackie’ which makes me think its implying that it’s the favorite sandwich of an entire race.” Though sandwich names are not the most pressing problem facing the black community in Washington, D.C., the name is still offensive and upsetting, according to Mucher. “Between gentrification and criminalization, the D.C. black community is being faced with much greater issues than the name of a sandwich,” Mucher wrote. “That being said, seeing what is essentially a racial slur on the menu of a popular eatery near campus isn’t a welcoming sight as a black student at Georgetown.” Wisey’s needs to be much more careful with their language, according to Mucher. “I would hope Wisey’s has enough common sense and racial awareness to recognize that this term should not be used as a marketing gimmick,” Mucher wrote. “Especially as a business, they need to think about how things are perceived in a greater context.”
Student Projects Awarded Georgetown Opens Student GU Sustainability Grants Equity and Inclusion Office SANA RAHMAN Hoya Staff Writer
Eleven projects, including at least two Georgetown student-led initiatives, will receive a total of $300,000 in university grants to aid their work addressing local and global sustainability problems for the upcoming school year. The grants, which are funded by donations, were awarded to the projects in the Georgetown community in a range of $10,000 to $50,000. The Georgetown Office of Sustainability first announced the creation of the Laudato Si’ Fund, named after Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on environmental justice sent to Roman Catholic bishops, to help the Georgetown community collaborate on projects that combat sustainability challenges Jan. 29. While the university had previously collaborated with student groups on similar initiatives before, the fund allows for a formal, centralized process for submitting sustainability-related proposals to be aided by the school. These projects were chosen for grants out of 60 projects total because of their focus on creating a environmentally conscious future through working with various community members, according to Office of Sustainability Director Audrey Stewart. “Awarded proposals additionally demonstrate the potential to catalyze future positive sustainability impact and show strong evidence of collaboration with internal and external partners to increase the reach and impact of their project,” Stewart wrote in an email to The Hoya. Among the grant recipients are Noelle Gignoux (SFS ’22) and Hannah Funk (SFS ’20), who received funding for the Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network’s residential composting pilot program they co-head. The funding will allow the program to partner with Compost Cab, a local com-
post company, to provide 50 townhouses five-gallon buckets for their compost, according to Gignoux. Since the initiative is a pilot program, the project will first focus only on those living in a few areas of campus, including individuals residing in Nevils, Alumni Square, university-owned townhouses and non-university owned townhouses. The residents participating in the program will drop off composting buckets from their housing at a centralized drop-off location for Compost Cab to collect.
“Having this established fund support a really diverse and broad range of projects really helps us to not have to worry about the financial cost.” ELIZABETH NGUYEN (SFS ’21) GRANT RECIPIENT
Gignoux and Funk will test a pilot composting program using the grant in order to discover any initial issues before creating a more established initiative, according to Gignoux. “Hopefully this can turn into a more regular program,” Gignoux said. “We are using this as a pilot to see how it works so we can work out all the kinks, before we get university funding for it.” Elizabeth Nguyen (SFS ’21), the head of Hoya Hive, Georgetown’s beekeeping organization, also received a grant in partnership with professors William Hahn and Cynthia Wei to create a bee campus, a national initiative to make an overall safe environment for pollinators, at Georgetown. They plan to use the funds to expand their bee hives, invest in research and increase campus awareness of the is-
sue through more formal certifications for interested community members. The Laudato Si’ grant provides project members adequate funding to effectively carry out their projects without the background concern of financial need, according to Nguyen. “The Laudato Si’ Fund gives us a lot of flexibility,” Nguyen said. “Having this established fund support a really diverse and broad range of projects really helps us to not have to worry about the financial cost and just focus on the environmental impact we can make on the campus and community.” Laudato Si’ furthers efforts on campus to make Georgetown more environmentally friendly through emphasizing sustainability in academic courses and student-led initiatives. The university aimed to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2020, a goal it achieved six years early in 2014. Francis, the first Jesuit pope, has also recently encouraged Jesuit universities and other Catholic communities to take on the issue of environmentalism. Laudato Si’ calls upon community members to take action against the problems addressed in Francis’s 2015 letter, where he critiqued the degradation of the earth’s resources and urged for unified action against climate change and environmental exploitation. The Office of Sustainability plans to publicize the names and goals of all 11 projects as well as promote their missions in the fall, according to Sustainability Program and Metric Manager Giulia Manno. In the upcoming year, the Office of Sustainability wants to see how each recipient carries out their project, Manno wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We look forward to the recipients implementing their proposals and engaging the campus community in their exciting, tangible sustainability solutions and research,” Manno wrote.
RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writer
The university announced the creation of the Office of Student Equity and Inclusion as well as the appointment of its associate vice president for student equity and inclusion to improve resources for first-generation and minority students on campus. The OSEI will oversee the Georgetown Scholars Program, the Community Scholars Program and the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, each of which seeks to serve students of color and first-generation college students, according to an email sent by Provost Robert Groves to the campus community May 9. Adanna Johnson, currently the senior associate dean of students and director of diversity, equity and student success, will lead the OSEI as associate vice president for student equity and inclusion, as announced in Groves’ email. Although GSP, CSP and CMEA will retain their own identities under the OSEI, the new office will improve GSP students’ college experiences by allowing similar programs to share resources and expand the variety of their programming, according to GSP Program Director Missy Foy. “This is a really positive move for GSP, in my opinion,” Foy wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are already close partners with Community Scholars, for example, so it makes sense for us to sit under the same umbrella. We can minimize redundancies and thereby maximize the resources we can put towards the work.” While many Georgetown University organizations already seek to promote inclusion and equity on campus, the OSEI will unite different sectors of the university to improve the efficiency of funding and increase collaboration across the organizations, according to Johnson. “The hope is that minority students, first generation students and others will have a more enriching college experience,” Johnson wrote in an email to The Hoya. “With stronger alignment across units and departments, there will be more of an opportunity to have awareness of and access to resources that facilitate thriving in college.”
Johnson, who joined the Georgetown community in the summer of 2018, supervised CMEA and convened universitywide councils addressing issues of diversity and student access and success. Johnson came to Georgetown after serving as an associate professor of psychology and the director of the African and African American studies program at Loyola University Maryland. After observing the work of various departments on campus, including Student Affairs, the Office of the Provost, Student Financial Services and the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, Johnson has seen firsthand how the university is especially committed to the initiatives of the OSEI, she wrote. “From the moment I stepped onto campus, I noticed a deep level of commitment to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at Georgetown--a level that I had not seen at other traditionally White institutions,” Johnson wrote. Georgetown has worked toward the creation of the OSEI for several years, according to Groves’ email. The university established an Advisory Board on Access and Affordability in 2017 led by the Executive Director of the Center of Social Justice Dr. Andrea Wisler and GSP Assistant Director Jason
Low, according to Groves’ email. The ABAA initiated a “wholeinstitution approach,” which emphasizes the Georgetown community’s dedication to equity across campus, according to Wisler and Low. “Equity is not a one person or one unit responsibility,” Wisler and Low wrote in an email to the Hoya. “As an institution committed to Jesuit higher education, each member of our community must engage issues of inclusion, access, and affordability across all facets of University life. The ultimate goal of a whole institution approach is for each person to recognize their implicated role in building a more equitable Georgetown.” Minority and first-generation college students are frequently responsible for changing the university culture around equity and inclusion, but this task should fall to the entire Georgetown community, according to Wisler and Low. “So often, low-income and/or first generation college students (especially those of color) are faced with the burden of educating those around them about their experiences,” Wisler and Low wrote. “Change is not a burden for low-income and first generation students to bear, but a responsibility of each individual in our community.”
GEORGETOWN FACES AND PLACES
The university appointed Adanna Johnson as associate vice president for student equity and inclusion to head the new office.
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About 90% of Graduating Seniors Used Career Center MYROSLAV DOBROSHYNSKYI Hoya Staff Writer
The majority of graduating seniors have utilized the career resources on campus to explore their employment options as the university works to diversify and expand job advising services across the undergraduate schools. The Cawley Career Education Center, the primary career resource on campus, provides services like drop-in appointments, meetings to review resumes and cover letters, mock interviews, industry advising and other events such as employer presentations and educational seminars. Approximately 85% to 90% of graduating seniors have engaged with the center during their time at Georgetown University, according to Susan Campbell, Cawley’s director. Cawley works with students to develop a career strategy by leveraging relationships with alumni, employers and graduate schools afforded by the university, according to Campbell. “Cawley seeks to provide career services that are not only truly excellent, but distinctively Georgetown—drawing upon our Jesuit identity to understand career decisions in the context of a student’s innate capacities, developing interests, and purposeful ambitions,” Campbell wrote in an email to The Hoya. While Cawley provides helpful resources to students, individuals interested in specific industries might have to look for guidance outside of the center, according to Luke Butcher (COL ’19), who will go into development after graduation. “I found the resume review helpful, and I ultimately found my job through the fall career fair,” Butcher wrote in an email to The Hoya. “In terms of very specific career advising though, I found my professors most helpful - which is fine! That’s not a critique of the career center - I think it’s just how development (my field of interest) works.” In fall of 2017, students reported mixed experiences with Cawley, after which the center collaborated with the Georgetown University Student Association to address student concerns and increase availability of career resources to all students. To supplement Cawley’s work, the university’s other undergraduate schools have taken steps to introduce students to a broader range of career options. The Mc-
Donough School of Business’s Office of Professional Development was opened September 2014 as an additional career resource for students in the MSB. The Office of Professional Development helps students explore opportunities across in both the business industry and other areas as well as aids them in connecting with students and alumni working in their fields of interest, according to Talia Schatz, director of the Office of Professional Development. “The office works to foster principled, global leaders of the future, across all industries,” Schatz wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Our office offers programming in a multitude of sectors including: marketing, digital strategy, accounting, operations and information management and more.” The office supplements Cawley by offering educational and mentorship programs catered to business students seeking summer internships as well as postgraduation jobs, Schatz said. “It is our hope to interact with all of our students during the course of their time at Georgetown McDonough,” Schatz wrote. While Cawley and the Office of Professional Development offer resources for Georgetown students looking for jobs in all industries, however, some have criticized the dominance of opportunities in finance and consulting as opposed to other industries. One year after graduating from Georgetown, 21.9% of the Class of 2017 was working in the finan-
cial services industry and 18.5% in consulting, according to data published in Cawley’s First Destination Report. Over the past seven years, the financial services and consulting industries have hired more than 40% of fully employed graduates. Other undergraduate schools at Georgetown have also encouraged introducing students to a more diverse set of career options through programs that foster connections between students and professionals working in various industries. School of Foreign Service Dean Joel Hellman led efforts since spring of 2016 to introduce students to public sector and nonprofit opportunities through coffee chats with industry professionals. In the College, Dean Thomas Chiarolanzio worked to establish the Social Responsibility Network, a pilot program dedicated to connecting current students with alumni who work in nonprofit and education sectors. The university is working to develop a campuswide system that supports holistic career development by going beyond career services through the campus centers to include advising in academic programs and cocurricular activities in all undergraduate schools, according to Campbell. “We hope to transform career services from a place on campus to a campus-wide and global ecosystem that permeates both the institutional culture and the student experience,” Campbell wrote.
CATRIONA KENDALL/THE HOYA
Campus career resources have been criticized for favoring the financial industry over others, but the career center hopes to expand services.
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Georgetown’s solar panel initiative has faced backlash from the local indigenous Piscataway people, campus advocacy organizations and environment activists because of its ecologic repurcussions.
GU Evaluates Ongoing Community Criticism of Solar Panel Initiative KATRINA SCHMIDT Hoya Staff Writer
After criticism from environmental and indigenous rights activists over the university’s proposed solar panel initiative, the Maryland Department of the Environment held its second informational hearing about the project May 13. Georgetown University announced its agreement with Origis Energy USA to build a solar panel system September 2017. The proposal entails cutting down 240 acres of forest in Nanjemoy, Md. The installed solar panels on the property would provide half of the university’s electricity needs. Monday marked the second public meeting in response to criticism about the environmental impact of the plan after an initial Feb. 27 hearing required an extension. In addition to written comments, which can be submitted until June 3, the Department of the Environment is holding the hearings as it determines whether or not to grant the project the permit needed to build on wetlands. Because of mounting criticism, Georgetown is employing an outside party to evaluate the proposed project, according to a university spokesperson. “In our role as the project customer, Georgetown has spent the past several months engaged in a thorough internal review of the project,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We have engaged an independent third party expert to review this offsite solar project. We are also engaging with faculty members with expertise in environmental issues and with our broader community.” The area designed for deforestation is located on land that is spiritually significant to the Piscataway
people, a group indigenous to southern Maryland and Washington, D.C., according to Valerie Proctor, a member of the Cedarville band of Piscataway who has tweeted extensively about stopping Georgetown’s planned project. Proctor and others, including Georgetown student groups, are circulating a petition titled “Urge Georgetown University to #ProtectPiscatawayLand” on social media, requesting that the university halt any work on the project and consult with the Piscataway community on site alternatives for the project. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources prohibits this project and other development in the area, according to the petition. While the petitioners appreciate the university’s attempt to develop more sustainable energy sources, they ask that the university identify alternative sites for the project. “We want renewable energy development in Maryland, but not at the expense of indigenous ancestral forestland,” the petition reads. “We believe that there are many options to have both and this is what we are fighting for in this campaign.” Multiple student groups posted the petition to Facebook, including The Georgetown University Native American Student Council, Hoyas for Immigrant Rights and the Asian-Pacific Islander Leadership Forum. “It is our duty to hold Georgetown accountable for recognizing AND respecting the people whose ancestral lands are being impacted by this project!,” NASC’s Facebook post reads. The petition also notes the potential environmental impacts of the project, which have been the center of previous criticism of the initiative.
Although the solar panel proposal is part of Georgetown’s commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2020, the site’s value to the environment outweighs the benefits of the location, according to Mary Pat Dougherty, a Nanjemoy resident. “How does cutting down trees, destroying habitat, disturbing soil, traversing wetlands, traversing streams and potentially polluting them and driving up air temperatures add up as a way to reach local, state, regional and federal renewable energy and climate goals,” Dougherty said at the Feb. 27 hearing. The land is a targeted ecological area, a designation determined its high ecological value and priority for conservation, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The site has also been noted as an important bird area by the Audubon Society, a bird conservation group. Despite the criticism and Georgetown’s stated efforts to further evaluate the project, the university maintains that the solar panel project will ultimately have a net positive effect on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the spokesperson. “While our review indicates that the project results in benefits to climate change associated with net reductions to carbon dioxide emissions, we are closely monitoring the regulatory process being conducted by the Maryland Department of the Environment,” a university spokesperson wrote. “Should MDE approve the project, Georgetown will work with Origis to explore additional voluntary environmental enhancements to make the project even more ecologically beneficial.”
Carefully Selected, Grad Speakers Reflect Georgetown Values GREY ROSENZWEIG Hoya Staff Writer
Each year, the schools of Georgetown University set out to select individuals who embody the values of the institution to deliver the commencement addresses to the graduating class. Though they conclude graduates’ time at Georgetown, these addresses also mark the beginning of their futures as alumni and their entrance into the world beyond the front gates. As graduates prepare to leave Georgetown, commencement addresses encourage the newly minted alumni to look beyond the Hilltop, according to Margaret Chappell (SFS ’19), president of the School of Foreign Service Academic Council. “To me, commencement speakers are the first people to properly welcome you into the ‘real world’ and provide a bit of guidance to get you started,” Chappell wrote in an email to The Hoya. “In a moment when so many things are uncertain, they represent stability in the future and provide comfort by sharing their own, often unexpected career paths.” Ten speakers have been announced to address the commencement ceremonies at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Best selling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will address Georgetown College; Joseph Baratta (GSB ’93), global head of private equity at the asset management company Blackstone, will address the McDonough School of Business; Joan Rosenhauer, executive director of Jesuit Refugee Service, will address the School of Nursing and Health Studies; and Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state and professor in the practice of diplomacy in the School of Foreign Service, will address the SFS. Other notable speakers who will address the graduate schools of Georgetown university include celebrity chef José
Andrés, who will address the McCourt School of Public Policy, and former Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama Tina Tchen, who will address the School of Continuing Studies. These speakers ultimately decide what remarks and advice they will deliver to graduates. Even though Georgetown cannot write the final lesson its graduates will hear on its campus, it nevertheless takes great care to ensure this message will be consistent with the education and values it has instilled into its students over the course of their time on the Hilltop.
SELECTING A SPEAKER
The process of deciding speakers for this week’s ceremonies begins much earlier than many may expect, even before the start of this academic year. Each of Georgetown’s schools employs its own method of selecting the commencement speaker. Some seek student feedback, while others only involve members of the faculty. The College uses a selection committee combined with both students and faculty for its nomination process. The College Executive Council, which includes representatives from the academic departments and programs, the Dean’s Office and the College Academic Council, makes initial nominations for commencement speakers for the College. Nominations are then sent to the Georgetown board of directors for review and approval. The McDonough School of Business, however, only solicits ideas for speakers from the academic leadership, who submit the list to the Office of the Provost. The Office of the President and the Georgetown board of directors must then approve the speaker before inviting them. The SFS similarly does not invite student input from the SFS academic council. Beyond considering individuals who reflect Georgetown’s values, the university also identifies candidates whose actions
make them deserving of the honorary degree granted to all commencement speakers, according to Sue Lorenson, vice dean for undergraduate education for the College. “It’s not enough to be a great public speaker or an accomplished scholar; the speaker should possess a combination of professional achievements and admirable personal qualities,” Lorenson wrote in an email to The Hoya. The MSB seeks speakers who offer real world experience in a continually changing international market, according to Teresa Mannix, senior assistant dean for communications at the MSB. “Each year, we seek global business leaders who represent our Georgetown values and who can address how our students can become leaders in a rapidly changing world,” Mannix wrote in an email to The Hoya. The School of Nursing and Health Studies aims to find speakers who will encourage graduates to follow a path of equality and justice in the health fields — core values of the NHS, according to Patricia Cloonan, outgoing dean of the NHS. “A message that I often share with graduating students involves carrying forth the mission, vision, and values of this great institution, including our own school, as they pursue careers throughout the health fields,” Cloonan wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Our community, regardless of major or program, is one that orients around the promotion of health equity, the common good, and social justice.”
AN EVOLUTION OF VALUES
Commencement speakers have always sought to embody Georgetown’s core values in some form. As these values have evolved over time, however, the commencement speeches and ceremony have also evolved to reflect these changes.
Commencement speakers over time highlight the fluid nature of the university’s values throughout the years, according to Lorenson. “Because universities are living, breathing entities, their values evolve and grow over time, and Commencement speakers can represent that change,” Lorenson wrote. “In 2016, our speaker was (alumna) Alexandra Cousteau, an environmental activist - a reflection of the university’s increased focus on environmental issues.” Early university commencement ceremonies, which date back to the mid-1600s, tended to highlight students’ speeches, demonstrating the oratory skills of the speakers, often by displaying their proficiency in classical languages.
“The speaker should possess a combination of professional achievements and admirable personal qualities.” SUE LORENSON Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education
The 1894 Georgetown commencement ceremony included a class poem, bachelor’s oration, master’s oration and valedictory, all given by student speakers. The bachelor’s oration was delivered by Condé Nast, who would go on to found the self-named mass media company that counts Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker among its many prominent publications. As universities deemphasized oratory skills in their curricula, student speeches were featured less centrally in ceremonies, which were instead built around the addresses of principal speakers.
Between 1930 and 1936, Georgetown commencement speakers included a professor from The Catholic University of America, a vice president and a regent of the university, as well as a judge of the D.C. Supreme Court. Even as late as 1966, the president of Georgetown delivered the commencement address to graduates. By the end of the millenium, however, universities regularly invited celebrities such as actors, filmmakers and writers, as well as business executives to their graduation ceremonies. Humorist Art Buchwald addressed graduates of the college in 1979, and since then, filmmaker Ken Burns, basketball player Dikembe Mutombo (SLL ’91) and former moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” Tim Russert have all spoken at Georgetown graduation ceremonies. The shift in commencement speakers chosen also witnessed a shift in the style of the speeches. When speeches were were given by students, they more often featured arguments and posed questions. Speakers now often seek to offer insights or advice based on their own lived experiences.
A MULTICULTURAL FOCUS
In addition to the speakers invited for graduation exercises, commencement week also features specialized ceremonies for different minority communities on campus. The LGBTQ Resource Center annually hosts Lavender Graduation, a ceremony that honors members and allies of the LGBTQ community for their accomplishments while at Georgetown. Joshua Javier Guzmán (SFS ’10), assistant professor in the department of gender studies at UCLA, was the keynote speaker at this year’s graduation ceremony, held April 25. The Center for Multicultural Equity and Access hosts multicultural graduation ceremo-
nies like Despedida, Harambee and Asian Heritage that aim to celebrate students through their respective cultures. These ceremonies will all take place May 16. The university first recognized these multicultural graduation ceremonies as official university ceremonies in 2013, when the Office of the Provost provided additional resources to the graduation ceremonies and named CMEA as responsible for offering administrative support. Before the university recognition, however, these cultural celebrations were still happening on a smaller scale with fewer resources, according to CMEA Director Charlene Brown-McKenzie. Unlike the main undergraduate commencement services, speakers for the multicultural graduation ceremonies are chosen directly by students and advisors, who make their selection from a list of prominent alumni that identify with their community, according to Brown-McKenzie. These ceremonies not only seek student input in the selection of the speakers, but are also led by students, including speeches from many key student leaders identified on their personal journeys, Brown-McKenzie wrote in an email to The Hoya. The multicultural graduation ceremonies seek to provide a more diverse celebration than the main commencement services. The alumni speakers are meant to be representatives to the crowd they are addressing, according to Brown-McKenzie. “We hope each distinguished alumni speaker will inspire and engage the Senior Class of 2019 whose lived experiences emerge from the African Diaspora, Latinx and Asian American Pacific Islander backgrounds,” Brown-McKenzie wrote. “Speakers are invited to share their wisdom with the graduating class as they embark on becoming global citizens.”
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
THE HOYA
A9
Medical Students Launch GU Seniors Recognized Workshop Fundraiser At Lavender Graduation AMY LI
Hoya Staff Writer
Student petitioners with the unrecognized group Medical Students for Choice have started a fundraiser to raise money for an offcampus medical workshop after meeting with Georgetown University School of Medicine administrators about an April 26 petition. MSC, a group made up of GUSOM students, created a petition after GUSOM administrators stopped the group from hosting their annual “Papaya Workshop” on university grounds. After the creation of the petition, GUSOM administrators met with MSC members April 27. GUSOM agreed at the meeting to help the group arrange a location to host the “Papaya Workshop” at a medical training facility that is off-campus and not affiliated with Georgetown University, according to an update on the petition’s website. The workshop, which the group put on to teach Georgetown medical students about first trimester abortion and miscarriage management using papayas, had been facilitated on campus premises the past two years. The location, agreed upon in the meeting because it is off-campus, will provide MSC with all equipment necessary for a full-spectrum abortion training. The group has also arranged for medical students to be granted access to the space for future trainings, according to the update. MSC created the fundraiser after the meeting with administrators and hopes to collect money to cover student transportation to and from the workshop location which GUSOM will not cover for students. Since its creation, the fundraiser has collected $690 at the time of print, $190 more than its initial goal, and has been shared on Facebook 22 times. For a medical student to receive abortion training currently, they must get placed at a separate hospital by a lottery system, according to fourth year candidate for a doctorate in medicine and philosophy and petition author Allison O’Connell. The university’s initial choice to
stop the event was unacceptable given that MSC had planned the workshop in accordance with university rules, O’Connell wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The administration’s initial response to this event was to force it off-campus, without providing any assistance, guidance or explanation to group leaders mere days before the event was set to happen despite it having been planned in accordance with institutional policy weeks in advance,” O’Connell wrote. “These actions went beyond not providing abortion training and entered a realm were the administration was actively preventing students self-organized medical education.”
“It is not excusable for the school administration to stand in the way of training because of the institution’s beliefs.” EMORY BUCK, 4TH-YEAR GUSOM STUDENT AND PETITION SIGNATORY
Unofficial clubs which do not align with Jesuit values can still reserve space on campus, according to the university’s Access to Benefits policy and the GUSOM Student Handbook. The lack of abortion and miscarriage education contradicts the GUSOM mission statement, which supports the education of students to become knowledgeable, ethical, skillful and compassionate physicians, according to the petition. “Actively denying students the opportunity to learn about a legal and safe medical procedure while in training at Georgetown is a disservice to students’ education and career preparation and is in direct opposition with the GUSOM mission,” the petition reads. The petition has garnered 1,730 signatures as of press time and has
been shared with the GUSOM Office of Medical Education and the Office of Student Affairs. The petition argues that MSC followed all policies set forth by the administration, including not posting the event on the official school event calendars and not using school email listservs to advertise this event. Abortion is not permitted in Catholic hospitals, including the Georgetown University Medical Center, in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. The GUSOM curriculum currently does not offer abortion training. Medical professionals need to have abortion training, since abortion is an extremely commonplace medical procedure in the medical world, according to fourth year GUSOM student and petition signatory Emory Buck. “Regardless of one’s thoughts on abortion, medical providers need to be trained in order to do their jobs,” Buck wrote. “If medical students prefer not to be trained on the basis of personal religious beliefs, that is acceptable. However, it is not excusable for the school administration to stand in the way of training because of the institution’s beliefs.” In an effort for a more permanent solution, the students discussed in the meeting the possibility of creating an optional rotation for GUSOM students to learn about abortion at a religiously unaffiliated hospital, according to the petition update. Since familiarity with basic medical care is required of Georgetown medical students, the Georgetown community should support the creation of both abortion and miscarriage training, according to O’Connell. “It is important to understand that this medical procedure is used not only for abortions, but also miscarriages, which are as frequent as 25% of all known pregnancies,” O’Connell wrote. “It is my hope that MSFC will continue to be supported by Georgetown students and faculty as they try to provide opportunities to facilitate student learning.”
RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writers
Students and professors were honored through the university’s Lavender Graduation awards for their contributions to the LGBTQ community, including expanding LGBTQ programming for military and Catholic communities and advocating for the LGBTQ community both on and off campus. An awards committee of six students selected the three undergraduate and two professional award winners from a pool of individuals nominated by members of the Georgetown community. Nominators submitted a description of the nominee’s contributions in a Google form open from January to March 2019, according to awards committee member Matthew Buckwald (COL ’20). Diego Tum-Monge (COL ’19) received the Outstanding Champion for the LGBTQ Community award, Harry Clow (MSB ’19) received the Bridge Builder award for commitment to building connections between LGBTQ communities and broader student life at Georgetown, and Angela Maske (NHS ’19, GRD ’20) won the Beyond the Gates award for excellence in service to the LGBTQ communities beyond Georgetown University. Associate English professor Christine So received the award for Faculty Commitment to the LGBTQ Community and Assistant Director for Residential Education Eileen Rodriguez was given the Staff Commitment to the LGBTQ Community award. Tum-Monge, Clow, Maske, So and Rodriguez were selected unanimously by the committee, according to Buckwald. “We went award by award from the people who were nominated solely based on nominators’ narrative of that person who best fit the criteria,” Buckwald said in an interview with The Hoya. “No one person decided; it was a very democratic process.” Clow, a Navy ROTC midshipman and an active member of the Georgetown Catholic community, has worked to expand LGBTQ pro-
gramming to both of those groups. Clow promoted a trip in the Catholic community to the 2019 IgnatianQ conference hosted at the College of the Holy Cross, which includes events that discuss the LGBTQ identity within the context of Jesuit education. After graduation, he will be stationed at the USS Fitzgerald outside of San Diego. Among other LGBTQ advocacy, Maske served as the president of H*yas For Choice, a pro-reproductive rights student group not recognized by the university, and worked to provide access to contraception to students through the position, according to Maske. “This year, I served as the President of H*yas for Choice, and along with my team made emergency contraception available for free to Georgetown students for the first time in the University’s history (to my knowledge),” Maske wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We also continued the critical work of providing safer sex supplies such as condoms, personal lubricant, and dental dams to the Georgetown community.” Two graduate students also won Lavender Graduation awards; however, they were selected by their respective schools. Johan Clarke (COL ’15, MED ’19) won the Hoya MedAlliance Leadership Award and Lindsey Dennis (GRD ’19) won the the Lorri L. Jean Student Award for Excellence in LGBTQIA Leadership and Advocacy award, according to Campbell. Clarke plans to complete his residency at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. While studying at the Georgetown School of Medicine, he worked with the Teen Promise Project, an organization seeking to empower young girls with comprehensive education about reproductive health. About 30% of LGBTQ medical students do not disclose their sexual and gender identity, for fear of discrimination, according to a Stanford University 2015 study. Georgetown could address this national trend by improving LGBTQ visibility in medical schools, according to Clarke. “I think one of the first things to do is trying to get more queer
MARGARET FOUBERG/THE HOYA
President DeGioia speaks at this year’s Lavender Graduation. students to apply to med schools and to accept more queer people,” Clarke said in an interview with The Hoya. “And then once we have that, getting more of them on the medical school administration and seeing more leadership.” On-campus discrimination against LGBTQ students has existed at Georgetown for many years. After a series of hate crimes against LGBTQ students in 2007 that were not publicly addressed by the university, students petitioned the administration for change through demonstrations and sit-ins. The actions eventually led to the establishment of the LGBTQ Resource Center in 2008. The Lavender Graduation celebration, hosted in the Healey Family Student Center Great Room, hosted 145 students and allies, which stands at approximately 115 more than the first Lavender Graduation in 2009, according to LGBTQ Resource Center Director Shiva Subbaraman. Clow praised the Lavender Graduation as a valuable appreciation of the work done by and for LGBTQ individuals on campus. “I think it is a great event,” Clow said in an interview with The Hoya. “It is a great celebration of community and honoring the experience that members of Georgetown students, both graduate and undergraduate, have as members of the LGBT community and so that was really cool.”
Former Georgetown Jesuit, Refugee Activist Dies at 74 CONNOR THOMAS Hoya Staff Writer
Fr. Richard J. Ryscavage, S.J., a scholar of migration issues and Georgetown University professor since 2017, died April 26 at the age of 74. A Jesuit priest for over 40 years, Ryscavage focused his work in higher education, politics and nonprofits on the rights of migrants and refugees. His funeral was held in Wernersville, Pa. on May 1. Ryscavage was born in St. Clair, Pa., in 1945, and he attended Nativity High School in Pottsville, Pa. After high school, he received a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs from Assumption College, which later gave him an honorary doctorate. He entered the Society of Jesus in Wernersville in 1967 and was ordained a priest in 1977. Superior of the Georgetown Jesuit Community Rev. Ron Anton, S.J., informed the campus community of Ryscavage’s passing in an April 29 email. “He will be dearly missed at the university and throughout the Jesuit community,” Anton wrote. Returning to the District in 2016, Ryscavage spent a year teaching economics at The Catholic University of America before rejoining the faculty at Georgetown. Since 2017, he taught with Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, directed the Jesuit Refugee Service and worked with the humanitarian relief coalition InterAction. Susan Martin, who worked with Ryscavage at Fairfield University and Georgetown University, met Ryscavage while he was working with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Ryscavage should be remembered for his immigration and refugee philanthropy throughout his time as a professor and leader in various organizations, according to Martin. “He had great compassion for the refugees and administrative skills that ensured that the Catholic dioceses throughout the country were able to step up to the challenge and help refugees with their new lives,” Martin wrote in an email to The
JESUITS MARYLAND PROVINCE
Fr. Richard J. Ryscavage, S.J., who had taught “Global Child Migration” at Georgetown since 2017, died April 26 at 74. Hoya. A lifelong student, Ryscavage earned a doctorate in law and diplomacy from Tufts University and earned master’s degrees in political philosophy from Boston College, in divinity from the Weston School of Theology and in international administration from the School for International Training. Ryscavage came to Washington, D.C., in 1987 to work at the USCCB and began teaching at Georgetown in 2017 until his death. He worked as the deputy director of migration and refugee services at the USCCB for two years and then as the executive director for four. He also served as the president of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network at the beginning of its history. Ryscavage left the United States in 1994 to teach at Oxford University for three years, heading the Pedro Arrupe Tutorship in Refugee Studies. After departing from Oxford, Ryscavage joined the faculty of Fairfield University, where he founded the Center for Faith and Public Life, which studies the intersection of religion and politics.
During his 12 years at Fairfield, he worked closely with the Vatican and the U.S. government on immigration issues. Ryscavage was named official adviser to the delegation of the Holy See to the 61st United Nations General Assembly in 2006 and represented the Vatican with the United Nations Secretary General’s “High Level Dialogue on Migration.” Rev. James Martin, S.J., a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, tweeted a link to an obituary for Ryscavage, calling him a “a wonderful Jesuit and friend.” Ryscavage firmly believed Jesuit schools and their students could be leaders in immigration reform and justice, according to Martin. “He brought this sensibility to every issue in which he engaged,” she wrote. “He saw his own Jesuit identity as fundamental to his work with migrants and refugees and pushed others involved in Jesuit institutions to be models that could embolden others to take a more humane approach to some of the most vulnerable and give them the tools that will allow them to live better lives.”
A10
SPORTS
THE HOYA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
SOFTBALL
CLUB LACROSSE
Club Lacrosse Rises To Unexpected Success BRENDAN DOLAN Hoya Staff Writer
Entering this season ranked fifth in the nation, the Georgetown men’s club lacrosse team had already reached heights it did not think were possible just a few years ago. But the team surmounted expectations again this year, as the Hoyas took a leap forward with their appearance in the Chesapeake Conference tournament at the end of April. While the Hoyas ultimately fell to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the tournament semifinals, this setback does not reflect the program’s journey. The story of club lacrosse’s rise to become one of the country’s top club teams, despite the relative anonymity, will certainly make it a program worth watching on campus in the future. Before fall 2017, Georgetown’s club lacrosse program consisted of just a few sporadic intersquad games and practices throughout the year. The team occasionally hosted nearby schools for scrimmages but seldom traveled off campus for games. But after the Hoyas finished up their spring 2017 season, a few players were determined to take the program to the next level by gaining National College Lacrosse League recognition to compete formally against programs from across the country. Much of this effort was spearheaded by current two-time captain and graduating senior Patrick Foley, who recognized that attaining national recognition would help the team recruit more players. Foley was well aware that such substantial growth would be slow but was willing to face the challenges in building the program to its current status. Before formal competition began in spring 2018, the club lacrosse team spent much of fall 2017 recruiting and incorporating new players into the program. By the time they played their first game in the spring, the team hit the ground running. Their time and hard work
paid off, as the Hoyas beat UMBC 19-3 in their first game as an officially recognized program. The team finished its 2018 schedule with a 5-4 record and earned an at-large bid to the Chesapeake Conference tournament. Foley could not believe they had received a bid in just their first year — undoubtedly a significant achievement in the team’s debut season of recognition. “After years of not being recognized by the league, I could not be more proud of the team and every one of the guys on the field alongside me,” Foley said in an interview with The Hoya. “Last year, our first year back in the league after close to half a decade, we got a bid to the conference tournament. That really speaks to the passion and commitment of everyone involved, from the captains to the freshmen.” Yet the team had to decline the invitation last year, as it still did not have enough players to commit to a meaningful tournament appearance. In the 2018-19 season, the Hoyas continued to attract attention, as their roster doubled from a squad of 20 men to a fully-formed team of 40. Many of the new players were underclassmen, eager to join because of the previous season’s success. With the uptick in recruits came better results on the field: The team went 8-3 and rattled off a number of wins against top competition including Loyola Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, all of whom were ranked in the NCLL top 10. The only regular season blemishes on the Hoyas’ resume were losses to three of the top-five ranked teams in the country: Navy, Delaware and Maryland. Georgetown’s most impressive performance undoubtedly came when the team traveled to Charlottesville, Va., to take on the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers to start the season February 9. The task ahead of the Hoyas was certainly daunting: Several of Virginia’s players had spent time with the varsity team. Facing raucous crowds,
Georgetown weathered the storm throughout the first three quarters and remained within striking distance. Trailing heading into the fourth, the Hoyas overtook the Cavaliers and walked away with a 7-6 victory. This win not only gave the team its best win of the season, but also signaled a breakthrough in the process towards a better program and solidified the team among the country’s most formidable programs. This added momentum propelled the team to its first NCLL Chesapeake Conference tournament in May, a feat that seemed so distant just a few years ago. While many of the leaders of this year’s club lacrosse team will graduate, the team undoubtedly has a promising future. The influx of talent from the freshman and sophomore classes shows the future of the program is in good hands. Rising senior Joseph Carney, as well as juniors Jack Mahoney, Cameron Hartman and Patrick Alberts, will take the reins from Foley as team captains and will look to continue the Hoyas’ success. While the results on the field are unquestionably important, the opportunity club lacrosse has provided for this group of guys is the primary takeaway. Reflecting on his career and the growth of the program, Foley said the team provided “a great opportunity for guys looking to continue their lacrosse careers.” The program also gave incoming students an opportunity the Hilltop had lacked when he first arrived. Foley was also proud the program allowed its students to not simply “sit on the sidelines anymore,” as it gave many players the chance to once again competitively enjoy the game they love and had grown up with. Club lacrosse’s ascendence to the apex of club lacrosse perfectly exemplifies collective determination in pursuit of passion. The role next year’s seniors will have in the program’s growth is noteworthy, as the team looks to take over from Foley and the other current seniors to sustain the program’s success.
BASEBALL
Hoyas Suffer Big East Losses Before Tournament
GUHOYAS
Sophomore infielder Savannah Jones, left, launches a ball next to senior infielder Olivia Russ. Despite securing initia wins, the softball team delivered inconsistent results over the weekend.
Georgetown Softball Struggles To Find Consistent Footing GUEINAH BLAISE Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown softball team finished its season with a three-game series against Providence College last weekend. Despite starting the weekend with a win, the Hoyas dropped their final two matchups, ending the season on a low note. The weekend began with a promising 3-1 win over the Friars (30-22, 11-9 Big East) on Saturday, May 4, in the first half of their doubleheader. The Hoyas (14-35, 6-13 Big East) built their lead early with a run in each of the first three innings. Sophomore infielder Savannah Jones hit a homer in the first inning, junior first baseman Noelle Holiday hit a homer in the third and freshman infielder Kiki Besnard scored on a senior infielder Olivia Russ single in the second inning. Georgetown failed, however, to find another win last weekend. In its second matchup of the day, they fell to Providence 5-2. Defensively, they struggled, giving up 10 hits to Providence, half of which resulted in runs. Georgetown also struggled
College Basketball Recruits Fail to Fulfill Expectations
Special to The Hoya
Shane Gilligan
GUHOYAS
Junior outfielder AJ Lotsis delivered standout performances despite a series of losses over the past 10 games. In game three of its series against Creighton, Georgetown fell behind in the early innings again at 5-0, failing for the rest of the game to string together enough hits to lead a comeback effort. Lotsis had another strong game, homering for the second time in the series and adding a double and a single to a three-hit performance in the 7-4 loss. Georgetown’s starting pitchers surrendered 18 earned runs for the series, and the Hoyas played 20 of 27 innings from behind. The Georgetown squad managed to shake off the rust from the previous series when they hosted UMES for a double header the following week. The Hoyas’ bats came alive in the first tilt, with four different Hoyas recording multi-hit games in a balanced offensive effort to win 13-5 over a struggling Hawks (10-44) team. In the second game against UMES, the pitching sealed the deal for the Hoyas. Freshmen Carter Bosch and Jack Weeks combined for six scoreless innings, not allowing a hit until the fifth inning. In the sixth inning, the Hoyas manufactured two runs through singles and a bunt and finished the day with a second win of 4-2. The Hoyas were swept days later, though, by the Seton Hall Pirates (25-23, 9-6 Big East) at Jack Kaiser Stadium, St. John’s home field in Queens, NY. Georgetown struggles in the
first of the three-game series, losing 6-5 on a two-out walk off single in extra innings. After that loss, the Hoyas never got the bats going again, only mustering three runs across the next two contests, losing 7-1 and 6-2. Graduate transfer outfielder Kyle Ruedisili put together a strong series with four hits and a homerun for the otherwise struggling Hoya offense. The consecutive Big East sweeps to Creighton and Seton Hall hurt the Hoyas’ seeding prospects for the upcoming Big East tournament, since Georgetown fell to 5-10 on the season in conference play, placing them sixth out of seven teams. In a Tuesday nonconference home game against UMBC, the Hoyas won 4-3 against the Retrievers, repeating their success from a few weeks earlier. The game started slow, until UMBC got on the board in the fourth inning with a run from Raven Beeman. The Retrievers scored twice more in the fifth inning, but the Hoyas earned three to tie the game, with a home run from Ruedisili, as well as runs from senior infielder Ryan Weisenberg and freshman infielder Alex Rosen. Lotsis got another home run in the eighth inning for the win. The upcoming three-game series against Butler will be Georgetown’s last chance to right the ship before the postseason.
With a 14-35 overall record anda 6-13 conference record, this season, including this most recent series, proved itself to be a nearly identical repeat of the previous two years. The Hoyas finished those seasons with only 11 and 16 games won. Georgetown’s defensive woes continued to be the team’s Achilles’ heel, paired with a lack of consistency across the team, both on the mound and at the plate. While much of this inconsistency can be attributed to the team’s lack of experience with a mere three seniors on the 18-player roster, larger issues are likely causing these enduring struggles. The issues are with offense and defense, as evidenced by Georgetown’s collective batting average of .248, with only one player above .300, while the Hoyas’ pitching staff has surrendered a batting average of .334. With the offseason now here, Head Coach Pat Conlan will have time to work with Georgetown’s softball team to tighten up its defense and strengthen its offense in preparation for next year.
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONING
NATE KRAL
After managing a three-game sweep against St. John’s a few weeks ago, the Hoyas struggled — as they have for the larger part of the season — dropping six of their next 10 contests against Creighton, Seton Hall, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In the first game of the ninegame stretch, Georgetown (19-33, 5-10 Big East) traveled to Catonsville, Md., to square off with the UMBC (21-29). The Retrievers, who entered the game on a threegame losing streak, found no relief against a strong group effort from the Hoyas’ pitching staff. Four different pitchers for Georgetown combined to hold UMBC’s hitters to only one unearned run on six hits. Junior first baseman Freddy Achedar III was a standout offensively for the Hoyas, reaching base in three of his four at bats, scoring all three times with Georgetown going on to win the contest 6-1. The team then returned home to Shirley Povich Field for a threegame conference series against Big East rival Creighton University. In the first game of the series, the Hoyas jumped out to an early 3-1 lead over the Blue Jays (31-11, 11-4 Big East) in the bottom of the first inning, with sophomores Eddie McCabe and Kai Nelson both driving in runs. That run would be Georgetown’s last of the game, as Creighton rallied back to tie it in the seventh inning and then score four runs in the top of the ninth to seal off its comeback victory 7-3. By the fourth inning of game two, Creighton had jumped out to a 9-0 lead when the game was suspended until the next day because of inclement weather. When play resumed, the Blue Jays saw more of the same, scoring in all but two of nine innings. The Hoyas’ one highlight was a two-run home run over the right field fence off the bat of junior outfielder AJ Lotsis in an otherwise quiet 14-2 loss.
offensively. While it was first to score, that momentum died down after the second inning, with the team only managing three hits. In the second inning, freshman pitcher Cassie Henning singled to the pitcher, allowing freshman infielder Mae Forshey to score on the play, but the next score was an unearned run from Besnard following a fielding error. While the Hoyas were able to keep the gap close in its first loss to the Friars, they struggled to find any success in the final matchup Sunday, May 5. Georgetown’s defense was virtually nonexistent behind equally disappointing pitching, as the team gave up 13 runs and 12 hits. After letting up two runs in the first inning, the Hoyas gave up another nine in the second inning, ensuring that the game was essentially over after two innings. The team’s batting mirrored its defensive woes, as Georgetown only managed to get two hits and one run the entire game. The sole score came courtesy of junior outfielder Alexa Dolby, who had 26 hits and 26 runs altogether on the season.
Top players at the high school level will often link up at one university to attempt to win the March Madness tournament before declaring for the draft. Often times, however, multiple top players going to one school can be harmful. Repeatedly in college basketball, multiple teams have underperformed as a result of having too much talent. Exceptions obviously exist. The 2011-12 University of Kentucky team had four of the best recruits in the country — Anthony Davis, Michael KiddGilchrist, Marquis Teague and Kyle Wiltjer — and this team won the SEC and NCAA tournament. Besides teams like that legendary Kentucky squad, though, the landing of multiple five-star recruits can be disadvantageous. We saw a prime example of this occurrence during last season. Duke University had one of the best college recruiting classes in history. It recruited the best three players in the country: Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. Along with this big three, it also scooped up Tre Jones, the 17th best overall player coming out of high school. The incredible athleticism of Williamson and Barrett, coupled with the premier three-point shooting and defense from Reddish, had this team prepped to be legendary. While the team produced epic highlights throughout the season and won the ACC tournament, it was barely scraping together wins in the NCAA tournament. Duke sneaked by the University of Central Florida and Virginia Tech in the second and third rounds, winning by margins of one and
two points. When the team got to the Elite Eight, however, it was overpowered by Michigan State University. Though Duke was better than Michigan State on paper, the Spartans played better as a team throughout the game, relying heavily on their tournament experience. Even though this Duke team seemed destined for greatness in March Madness, the squad ultimately underperformed relative to its immense hype. This trend of college teams with multiple stars ultimately falling short in the NCAA tournament goes back way further than this year’s Duke team.
Although the team was built for NCAA success, it could not live up to the high expectations in the NCAA tournament. For years, college basketball teams like this year’s Duke squad have seemed to be destined for success. Yet when the brightest lights were on the teams, it ultimately failed. Teams like these ones did not know who to run their offense through because all of the top players thought they should have the ball in their hands, letting their egos get in the way of getting the job done. The 2009-10 Kentucky basketball team was another team that should have accomplished far more than it did. Before the season, Kentucky hauled in a stellar recruiting class, including the likes of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe. These three players were some of the most exciting prospects in the country. All three of them have gone on to have incredibly successful NBA careers. In the regular season, these players lived up to the hype: Kentucky only lost two regular season games and cruised
through the SEC tournament. Through the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament, the team seemed like it would comfortably win and become known as one of the greatest teams in history. In the Elite Eight, however, they fell to an inferior West Virginia team. Kentucky missed 20 straight three-point field goals that night and could not find a spark offensively. Although the team was built for NCAA success, it could not live up to the high expectations in the NCAA tournament. Kentucky also had a strong 2014-15 recruiting class, including Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Tyler Ulis and Trey Lyles, who have all made a name for themselves in the NBA, yet this team also ultimately fell short. This collection of five-star recruits allowed Kentucky to have one of the best college seasons in recent history. Kentucky went undefeated throughout the regular season and easily won the SEC tournament. The team was dismantling teams in the early rounds of the NCAA tournament, including a 78-39 win over West Virginia. Iteventually made the Final Four and were matched up against Sam Dekker’s University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although the game was close until the end, Wisconsin dominated on the offensive and won by out-working them. Kentucky was handed its first loss that year and had their amazing season story cut short. Once again, this Kentucky team showed that too much hype can be a curse. College basketball teams succeed when everyone knows their role and offenses make sure all players touch the ball. These three teams will still go down as some of the most exciting and talented teams to play, but none of them will be able to say that they were NCAA champions. Shane Gilligan is a sophomore in the College. This is the final installment of PROFESSIONAL POSITIONING.
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
THE HOYA
A11
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
TRACK AND FIELD
Georgetown Defeats Penn, Falls to Syracuse WOMEN’S LACROSSE, from A12
Whitehurst and Gebhardt all tallied goals, as did junior attack Michaela Bruno. The Hoyas defense then shut out the Pioneers for the entirety of the second half, sending the game into overtime. After a scoreless first overtime period for the Hoyas, Whitehurst scored on a manup play in the second overtime period with a pinpoint shot to the top right corner of the cage. The goal gave the Hoyas both the Big East championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Whitehurst, who led the Hoyas with her eight goals and two assists over the two games, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Whitehurst was named to the all-Tournament team along with Gebhart, Chomo, Bruno and sophomore defense Mollie Miller. The Hoyas faced off against the University of Pennsylvania on Friday in Syracuse, N.Y., where they were able to avenge their March 9 loss with a double overtime 13-
12 victory thanks to a gamewinning goal in the second overtime from Gebhardt. The goal came following a welldesigned timeout play and marked Gebhardt’s seventh goal of the afternoon. In the second round, George-
town also played in Syracuse against the hosting Syracuse Orange. Ryan’s hat trick was not enough for the Hoyas’ offense to keep pace with that of the Orange as they fell by a final score of 14-8 to end the season.
The Big East championship, followed by advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament, marked a successful final stretch of the season for the Blue and Gray as it finished with a final record of 12-9.
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
After winning the Big East with a victory over Marquette, Georgetown upset Penn in the first round of the NCAA tournament before facing defeat at the hands of Syracuse.
GUHOYAS
Junior Christian Liddell took top honors in the steeplechase with a personal best time of 8:46.09 at the Big East finals.
Hoyas Perform At Big East Championship TRACK, from A12
GU Ties Program Record With 13 Wins MEN’S LACROSSE, from A12
event, junior Jack Van Scoter claimed second place in the 10,000m run to score eight points. Fellow junior Dylan Scarsone finished in fifth place in the event to add four more points. Junior Christian Liddell recorded a personal best in the 3000m steeplechase event, taking first place with a time of 8:46.09 and giving the Hoyas 10 points. Freshman Price Owens received an additional four points with his fifth-place win. Laney scored another point for the men’s team in the long jump by marking 6.44m, giving the men’s team a total of 27 points. The men and women each finished in fifth place in the Big East championship, scoring 92 and 76 points, respectively. These scores were led by the Hoyas collectively capturing five event victories and 14 top-three finishes in what was ultimately a successful season.
The Hoya men had three runners finish in the topfive in the 800m run. Sophomore Ruach Padhal placed first with a time of 1:49.19, while freshman Ian Delgado finished in second place and fifth-year Brennan Munley came in fourth. On the field, sophomore Josiah Laney placed second in the triple jump with a score of 13.56m. In the Big East championships, Graduate student Madeline Perez kicked off the events in the first finals event by racing to second place in the 10,000m run, giving the Georgetown women eight points. Dammer came in fifth place and freshman Katherine Modrall came in sixth in the 3000m steeplechase event. The duo totaled seven points together, and the women’s team ended the day with 15 points. In the first men’s finals
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sophomore goalie Owen McElroy, who had started the entire season, for freshman goalie Chris Brandau. After the half, the Hoyas were able to take their first lead since the first quarter with another three-goal run. The Friars responded, however, with three unanswered in the final seven minutes of the frame, giving them a three-point lead as they entered the final quarter. The Hoyas wasted no time erasing this deficit, tying the game with three consecutive goals in the first six minutes of the quarter. Roughly two minutes later, freshman midfielder Declan McDermott found the back of the net for the Hoyas, scoring what would be the game-winning goal. After shutting out Providence for the entire fourth quarter, Georgetown secured a 13-12 victory. Wittenberg had a stellar performance in the first round, scoring a single goal but also adding eight assists, a record for Denver’s Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Carraway added a hat trick, while McDermott had two assists along with his game-winner. Brandau finished with six saves and the win in cage, while senior midfielder Patrick Aslanian and sophomore defender Joe LiCalzi each caused three turnovers. The Hoyas faced off against the Denver Pioneers two days later in the championship game of the Big East tournament. After trading goals to start the first quarter, the Hoyas took command of the game and netted five consecutive
goals. Denver managed to get a final goal in before the period ended with a score of 6-2 in favor of Georgetown. The high-scoring first quarter was followed by a defensive struggle in the second quarter: Denver scored five minutes in to pull within three goals, but a response from Wittenberg gave Georgetown a 7-3 lead, which it would take into halftime. Denver made its run at the start of the third, scoring three unanswered to come within one. This effort was, however, the closest the Pioneers would come to catching the Hoyas. Georgetown put together a three-goal run to make the score 10-6 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the teams traded goals after that. When the final buzzer sounded, the Hoyas had a 12-9 victory and another Big East championship. Senior attack Dan Bucaro led the Hoya offense with four goals and an assist, while Carraway added two scores and two helpers. Both attacks were named to the all-tournament team, along with Brandau, who had 15 saves in the final, and sophomore defender Gibson Smith. Wittenberg also had two goals and two assists. For this performance, along with his recordbreaking semifinal game against Providence, the senior was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. With this win, Hoyas have tied the program’s record for wins, with 13. Following the Big East championship, Georgetown entered the first round of the NCAA tour-
nament, where it drew a tough matchup against Yale, the defending champion. The Hoyas got off to a rocky start, falling behind 7-0 in the game’s first seven minutes. A goal from freshman attack Dylan Watson and another two from Bucaro helped Georgetown stay competitive, but Yale ended the quarter with a 9-3 lead. In the second quarter, the Hoyas were able to prevent a repeat of the tough previous frame, but they did little to better their situation. Bucaro found the back of the net twice, and Carraway scored his first of the game, but Yale’s three goals in the quarter maintained its six-goal lead entering halftime. The Hoyas ripped off three unanswered goals at the start of the third, led by a pair from Carraway. Yale scored two more, but Bucaro and Carraway each found the net once before the end of the quarter. Georgetown entered the fourth quarter down 14-11. At the start of the fourth quarter, Yale appeared to put the game away, scoring five unanswered goals in as many minutes. Just a minute later, however, Bucaro scored his sixth of the day, starting what looked to be a potential comeback. McDonald scored minutes later, and Clark after him, pulling Georgetown back within five. Bucaro added two more in the game’s final two minutes, but the Hoyas ran out of time. Despite ending the quarter with five consecutive goals, Georgetown fell 19-6, and Yale advanced. Bucaro ended his illustrious career on the Hilltop with an
impressive performance, scoring eight goals and adding a helper. His season total of 61 goals is a program record. Carraway, the other half of the twin engines that have driven the Georgetown offense all season, posted four scores and an assist, while Clark also added two goals. Defensively, Smith collected 10 ground balls and caused five turnovers. With 106 total ground balls on the season, he now holds the Georgetown record for ground balls by a non-faceoff specialist. Last season, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team won the Big East championship and made it to the NCAA tournament, both for the first time in over a decade. Despite losing some key pieces, the squad found the exact same result this year with an even better record. This senior class turned a twowin team their freshman year into a repeat conference champion. This year marks the last year for Bucaro, who will undoubtedly be remembered as an all-time Hoya great. Wittenberg, the team’s third leading scorer this year, and Aslanian, one of the country’s premier short-stick defensive midfielders, will also graduate, along with nine other seniors. Despite these losses, the Hoyas’ star still may be rising. The squad will return seven of its 10 starters, including Carraway, this season’s top scorer, and the entire defensive lineup, who could lead the charge for a conference championship three-peat and another NCAA tournament run next spring.
IN TRANSITION
Leonard Deserves Top NBA Consideration SUD, from A12
ered one of the best defenders in the NBA. Nicknamed “The Klaw” for his defensive prowess and freakishly large hands, Leonard has made first team AllDefensive twice, and won Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. It is extremely rare in today’s NBA for a player to be as dominant on both ends of the floor as Leonard, since many current star players elect to conserve their energy for offense. Despite Leonard’s impressive season, he is not widely considered as the best player in the NBA. While this title is the subject of common debate, Durant would likely be the most popular choice among the media and fans. Durant’s claim is based on his scoring dominance, having won four scoring titles in the 2010, 2011, 2012,and 2014 seasons and currently leading the league in scoring this postseason with an impressive average 34.2 points per game. Durant, however, plays on the Golden State Warriors, the most talented team in the league, boasting five 2017-18 allstars, which provides him with the luxury of rarely facing the double-teams and the defensive scrutiny Leonard and most other stars do; double-teaming Durant would likely be punished by a good shot from stars Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, who are perhaps the two cur-
@KAWHIELITE/INSTAGRAM
Though he is not thought of as often as players like LeBron James or Kevin Durant, the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard should be more seriously considered as the best player in the NBA. rent best shooters and among the deadliest three-point shooters of all time. Given the discrepancy in their supporting casts, what Leonard has done offensively this playoff season has been more impressive than Durant’s performance. Similarly, despite having marked improvement on defense the past few years, Durant is not the defender Leonard is, having never been named on two first NBA All-Defensive teams. The other name floating around is Antetokounmpo, the
new popular favorite for the title of the NBA’s best player. Antetokounmpo has led the Bucks to the best record in the NBA and a dominant 4-1 series win over a talented but largely dysfunctional Boston Celtics team that is suffering from internal discourse. While Antetokounmpo has certainly done well, he does not have Leonard’s shooting prowess. Additionally, Giannis is far less proven in the playoffs than either Durant or Leonard, with this season being his first time getting past the first round of the playoffs in his career.
Leonard’s Raptors will play Antetokounmpo’s Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals, though, giving Antetokounmpo a golden opportunity to stake his claim for being the best player in the league. As of now, though, Leonard slightly edges out Antetokounmpo and Durant, for this title, something that will hopefully soon be a more commonly held opinion. Vikram Sud is a sophomore in the College. This is the final installment of IN TRANSITION.
Sports
Baseball Georgetown (20-33) vs. Butler (25-24) Thursday, May 16 at 6 p.m. Shirley Povich Field
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
Georgetown dropped six of their last 10 games, with losses against Seton Hall and Creighton.
See A10
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Hoya Staff Writer
MARGARET FOUBERG/THE HOYA
The Georgetown men’s lacrosse tied the program’s record for wins with 13 this season and went on to win the Big East tournament.
Georgetown Tops Big East Before Loss to Yale For the second consecutive season, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team has won the Big East tournament. Following a 13-12 first-round victory over Providence, Georgetown upset top-seeded Denver 12-9 in a rematch of last year’s conference championship game. The win gave the Hoyas an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, where they fell 19-16 to No. 5 Yale in the opening round last weekend. The Providence Friars (7-9, 3-2 Big East) proved to be a tough opponent in the Hoyas’ (13-5, 3-2 Big East) first game of the Big East tournament. Georgetown jumped out to a quick
Senior Patrick Foley From Club Lacrosse
two-goal lead in the first four minutes, but Providence responded with five consecutive goals of its own. Junior attack Jake Carraway scored the final goal of the quarter, however, pulling the Hoyas within two at the end of the first. Providence extended its lead to four over Georgetown by the start of the second, but a string of goals from Carraway, senior midfielder Lucas Wittenberg and senior attack Austin McDonald pulled Georgetown within one. After a Providence man-up goal, though, the scoreboard read 8-6 in favor of the Friars entering halftime. At halftime, Head Coach Kevin Warne opted to switch out See MEN’S LACROSSE, A11
The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team lost to the Syracuse Orange 14-8 in the second round of the NCAA tournament after upsetting the University of Pennsylvania 13-12 in double overtime in the first round. The Hoyas entered the NCAA tournament following an impressive Big East tournament victory as the third seed after defeating the Marquette Golden Eagles on Thursday and top-seeded Denver on Sunday. This constituted the Hoyas’ first Big East tournament championship in nearly a decade. The Hoyas entered their first contest looking for redemption, as they had lost to the Golden Eagles in Milwaukee 12-14 on April 27. Senior attack Taylor Gebhardt started the scoring three minutes into the half, which gave Georgetown the early lead. After a response from the Golden Eagles, the Hoyas took advantage of two straight Marquette penalties to further their lead to 3-1 with 24 minutes to play in the half. After a Marquette response, Georgetown ran away with the game, closing out the half with a 9-2 scoring run. Leading the way were Gebhardt and senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst, who each came out of the first frame with a hat trick. The 12-4 lead at the half would prove insurmountable for the Golden Eagles, and the Hoyas followed through to a 17-10 victory. The senior leadership on the team spearheaded the vic-
tory, with Whitehurst tallying six goals and two assists, Gebhardt scoring four goals and one assist and senior attack Morgan Ryan posting a hat trick. Senior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo also had a strong performance in net with seven saves. The Hoyas returned to the same field Saturday in another redemption game against the top-seeded Denver Pioneers, who defeated them earlier in the season. In the first
The Georgetown track and field teams closed out their regular seasons May 3 at the Jim Kehoe Twilight meet hosted by the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. The following weekend, the teams traveled to Randall’s Island, N.Y., on May 10 for the Big East Outdoor Track and Field championship, which saw the teams capture multiple victo-
ries in a strong weekend performance. The men and women each had very strong seasons, seeing heavy contributions from all four classes with victories at different distances and field events. The Hoya women produced a multitude of top-five finishes in the sprint events at the Jim Kehoe Twilight meet. Freshman Tamiya Roberts and sophomore Cassidy Palmer started the team off
by placing third and fifth respectively in the 100-meter dash. Sophomore Olivia Arizin subsequently gave the women yet another top-three finish in the 400m dash. In the middle-distance events, freshman Cathilyn McIntosh nabbed second place in the 800m run with a time of 2:11.25. Freshman Sami Corman took first place in the 1500m run, and fellow freshman Katie Dammer finished less than five seconds
scoreboard read 8-4 in favor of the Pioneers at the half. Beginning in the second half, Georgetown’s veteran leadership took over, sparking a great comeback revolving around a newfound offensive spark. The Blue and Gray chipped away at the Pioneers’ lead, scoring four unanswered goals in the opening 20 minutes of the second half to tie the game up 8-8. Seniors Ryan, See WOMEN’S LACROSSE, A11
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
Hoyas Clinch Wins in Big East Final Hoya Staff Writer
half, Denver took control of the game, grabbing a 6-0 lead over Georgetown less than halfway into the frame. Despite this rocky start, the Blue and Gray was soon able to jumpstart a comeback with the help of its younger players. Freshman attack Ali Diamond scored the Hoyas’ first goal, and sophomore midfielder Mary Pagano followed with a goal of her own less than a minute later. After each team scored two more goals, the
Junior attack Michaela Bruno scored three goals in the team’s win over Penn in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Bruno also netted one in the women’s loss to Syracuse.
TRACK AND FIELD
SIDNEY LEE
15
Saves by freshman goalie Chris Brandau in the men’s lacrosse Big East final against Denver
GU Falls to Syracuse After 1st-Round Win BEN GAVER
Hoya Staff Writer
I could not be more proud of the team.”
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
MEN’S LACROSSE
HENRY MIHM
NUMBERS GAME
TALKING POINTS
BASEBALL
after to place fourth. Rounding out the women’s track events, sophomore Vickie Milledge finished in third place with a time of 15.14 in the 100m hurdles. On the men’s side, freshman D’Andre Barriffe placed third in the 100m dash for the first men’s event of the day. Barriffe followed up with another third-place finish in the 200m dash. See TRACK, A11
GUHOYAS
Graduate student Josette Norris captured victory in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:34.54 at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend. Norris also earned a spot on the 2019 All-Big East Outdoor Track and Field squad. Visit us online at thehoya.com/category/sports
IN TRANSITION
Vikram Sud
Kawhi Leonard: An Underrecognized Leader in the NBA LeBron James has largely been considered the best player in the NBA for the better part of the last decade. With James’ Los Angeles Lakers unable to make the playoffs, however, the title for the best player in the NBA is up for debate, primarily among three players: Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard, who perhaps has the strongest claim. Before this season, Leonard’s claim to the title of best player in the NBA would have seemed far-fetched, since the debate was regularly centered around Durant and James. Leonard has proven himself, however, to be more than just a product of Gregg Popovich’s Spurs system, which turns average athletes like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker into legends, by consistently making the playoffs, as he averaged a career high through eight seasons in scoring and efficiency on a Toronto Raptors team led by an inexperienced coach, Nick Nurse. These first two rounds of the playoffs, though, are where Leonard has distinguished himself from the
pack, despite consistently strong performance from Antetokounmpo and Durant as well. Leonard’s scoring average has increased by more than three points per game, and his efficiency from the field and the three-point line has also improved. Leonard’s uptick in efficiency is especially impressive considering his minutes and shot attempts increased even while he faced more locked-in defenses come playoff time. Leonard has also made these improvements while picking up the slack of point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry is struggling in the playoffs through two rounds, continuing what has been a career-long trend for him. In addition to his superiority in their regular blowouts, Leonard has been especially strong in the clutch, hitting a massive shot in Game Four against the Sixers, and then a series-winning buzzer beater in the decisive Game Seven. Leonard’s claim for the best player title goes beyond just his scoring; he is also considSee SUD, A11