GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 101, No. 1, © 2019
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
The Art of Studying
Discover the study habit that has given students a way to be productive and creative at the same time.
EDITORIAL Georgetown must increase transparency in its search for a Title IX investigator.
MONO DINER THEFT Former Mono Diner employees allege their employer stole up to $7,000 in wages.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A5
Messages in Red Square Fuel Hoya RealTalk Featured Campus Hong Kong Debate Improper Content, OAs Say RILEY ROGERSON
RACHEL FRIEDMAN
Anonymous chalk messages supporting ongoing Hong Kong protests were left in Red Square late last week, leading to a series of back-and-forth notes debating Hong Kong’s relationship with China. A chalk message stating: “Stop police brutality stop political arrests” appeared in Red Square Friday morning leading someone to respond below: “HK belongs to China!!!” In the ensuing week, more messages in Chinese and English joined the conversation, including “Real Chinese support Hong Kong.” Later, posters with the heading “Hong Kong is a part of China” were left in Red Square and defaced, then disappeared. Though many of the messages remain anonymous, one known author, Jeffrey Ngo, a Hong Kong native and second-year candidate for a doctoral degree in history, contributed to the pro-Hong Kong chalkings and graffitied the posters. Ngo is the only author who has been identified. The messages created a discourse and engaged the Georgetown University community in the international protests, according to Ngo. “They might start to read about it. They might start to talk about it and I think that this would help Hong Kong
This article discusses sexual assault on campus. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.
Hoya Staff Writer
Hoya Staff Writer
SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
Chalk messages in Red Square supporting ongoing Hong Kong protests initiated discourse about the region’s relationship with China. in terms of generating international exposure,” Ngo said. “Obviously, again, I don’t want any injuries or anything like that but the fact that what is happening in Hong Kong and what’s happening in China, when we see that playing out at an American university it opens a dialogue.” Months after protests broke out opposing a bill to allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China, tensions and violence in Hong
Kong have risen. Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 after over 150 years of British colonial rule, and currently exists under a “one country, two systems” policy that allows the region a significant level of autonomy. Two of Ngo’s friends, student activist leaders Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, were arrested during demonstrations last week. See HONG KONG, A6
After student complaints about inadequate preparation and inappropriate messaging in this year’s Hoya RealTalk play during New Student Orientation, Health Education Services held a feedback session and the Center for Student Engagement proposed structural changes to the weekend. The Hoya RealTalk play, an annual interactive performance about alcohol, stress culture, sexual assault awareness and some identity-based concerns, is typically shown to orientation advisors and NSO captains ahead of the new student viewing. However, this year’s full OA cohort did not see the show in advance, were unaware of content surrounding sexual misconduct and felt inadequately trained to lead breakout discussions with new students following the skit, according to Captain Emily Jonsson (COL ’20). Jonsson and four other captains in their third year leading NSO — who have completed Bringing in the Bystander trainings, SAPE trainings, I Am Ready facilitations and viewed past Hoya RealTalk performances — received an advance
viewing of the play after they were asked to participate in the show and felt disturbed by the content, according Jonsson. They found that the final scenes of the play downplayed the severity of sexual assault, shifted blame away from the perpetrator and failed to include an explicit sexual assault content warning beforehand. “Several of us left with tears
“Maybe this is the message that Georgetown wants to be sending to its newest students if you are accused of sexual assault, it’s okay! You belong here.” EMILY JONSSON (COL ’20) NSO Captain
in our eyes,” Jonsson wrote in an email to The Hoya. “While there were several problematic aspects of the play, the most significant, and the one that we had specifically asked to be removed 24 hours in advance of new students viewing this play, was the final three scenes of the play.” Those three scenes depicted a sexual assault and its aftermath. After a drunken party
scene that implied a sexual assault occured, a resident assistant casually talks to the victim and suggests on-campus resources she can utilize, according to Jonsson. In the final scene, the perpetrator admits he’s an alcoholic at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The play ends with everyone hugging the perpetrator. Behind them, a message appears on a screen: “You Belong.” Jonsson and the four other captains emailed NSO leadership to request the three scenes be removed ahead of the showing for the entire first-year class, new transfer students and OAs. The captains were told their feedback would be passed along to Health Education Services, but no changes were made to the program’s content, according to Jonsson. Though in past years OAs viewed and provided feedback on Hoya RealTalk before NSO, time constraints limited collaboration this year, according to Carol Day, the director of Health Education Services. However, this year’s play was reviewed by student health and well-being experts, she said. “This year due to a new creative team, a new script, and shorter planning and implementation process time we had limited opportunities for more extensive feedback,” she See HOYA REALTALK, A6
GU Seeks Slavery Study Finds Abnormal Lead Levels Collections Archivist Lead counts in four campus buildings slightly exceed EPA standards DUSTIN HARTUV Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown University has begun searching for candidates to work as the librarian for collections on slavery, memory and reconciliation, a position established to support the university’s engagement with its historical role in the institution of slavery. The librarian will work with individuals and organizations at Georgetown and other institutions to address contemporary issues about the effects of slavery, according to the online job posting. The job position comes several months after 66.1% of students voted “yes” to the GU272 referendum, which called for Georgetown administrators to add a $27.20 semesterly fee to students’ tuition and had a 57.9% turnout. The fee would benefit the descendants of the GU272, the 272 enslaved people sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in 1838 to provide financial support for the university. The early August job posting represents just the beginning of the university’s search for candidates for the position, according to Meg Oakley (LAW ’87), acting associate Georgetown University librarian for scholarly resources and services. “The idea for this position was formed several years ago as the Library was exploring how we could
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best support the initiatives identified in the Report of the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation,” Oakley wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The search is in the early stages, so we are still collecting resumes.” The Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation was formed in fall 2015 by the university to facilitate dialogue in the Georgetown community about the legacies of slavery and to outline recommendations for future university efforts, according to the group’s website. In summer 2016, the working group submitted its report and list of recommendations, including strengthening Georgetown’s library and special collections on genealogical work and racial justice, according to University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95). The university has fulfilled some of the recommendations presented in the report, including issuing a formal apology to the descendants of the GU272, renaming Freedom Hall to Isaac Hawkins Hall and Remembrance Hall to Anne Marie Becraft Hall on campus, and beginning an effort to find an archivist focusing on the Maryland Province of Jesuits. However, the university has not executed other recommendations from the report, such as See LIBRARIAN, A6
JAIME MOORE-CARILLO Hoya Staff Writer
Multiple water sources throughout the university’s main campus tested slightly above Environmental Protection Agency-designated action levels of lead concentrations, according to a study by graduate students at Georgetown University. The study identified several tap and fountain water sources in academic and facilities buildings as having concentrations of lead that neared or exceeded the EPA’s action level of 15 parts per billion. Second-year masters students Julie Oh, Tianze Pan and Misti Persaud in the university’s environmental metrology and policy program, which focuses on measurements science of environmental toxic chemicals resulting policymaking, conducted the study. If more than 10% of tap water samples exceed the lead action level, water systems are required to take additional action, according to the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule. About 75% of the water sources tested, including the tests performed in a residential building, yielded lead concentrations below 1ppb, well below the EPA’s alert level, according to the study. However, several water sources consistently produced lead counts above the action level. Counts in four buildings on
KIKI SCHMALFUSS/THE HOYA
A recent study uncovered that various water sources across campus contained lead concentrations above EPA recommendations. campus reached levels above EPA standards. Taps on the fourth floor of the Reiss Science Building yielded a lead concentration of 6.86ppb. The kitchen sink in the Office of Planning and Facilities Management, which is housed on the lower level of New South Hall, yielded a lead concentration of 13.67ppb, and a sink on the fifth floor of WhiteGravenor Hall yielded a lead concentration of 18.02ppb for sample one and 12.72ppb for sample two. Drinking water with more than 15ppb of lead can cause delays in physical or mental
development, kidney problems and high blood pressure, according to the EPA. Children are especially vulnerable to lead, and even a low exposure level may result in damage to the nervous system and learning disabilities, according to the EPA. The researchers informed facilities workers in New South of the contamination and recommended they avoid drinking water from those sources. While the results are not entirely conclusive, the researchers believe informing the Georgetown community about the contaminants is their responsibility, according to Persaud.
“As scientists, it is our job to investigate the information given to us from the data,” Persaud wrote in an email to The Hoya. “However, as humans we feel obligated to let the student population know that this is a problem and to take steps to avoid possible lead contamination.” The researchers collected two samples of tap and fountain water from 11 buildings on campus: White-Gravenor, Lauinger Library, O’Donovan Hall, the New South facilities office, Reiss, the Intercultural Center, Copley Hall, the Car Barn and Regents Hall. The second set of samples for the study was collected two weeks after the first. Persaud recommended the university replace lead piping on campus and inform students and faculty about possible water contamination. She also encouraged students to use water filters and to get water from other sources. Lead contamination can occur when lead pipes are corroded by the water flowing through them, according to the EPA. Lead pipes were commonly used in homes and buildings built before 1986. Georgetown has not publicly provided information about the composition of pipes in many of its older buildings or in offcampus buildings, including See LEAD, A6
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
Law Students Stop Deportation Georgetown University Law Center students restored permanent residence status for their client facing deportation. A4
Condemn Abusers The university continues to fail survivors by refusing to denounce perpetrators of clerical abuse. A3
High-Powered Hoyas Men’s soccer captures two wins with two goals in each against strong opponents in Syracuse and Temple. A12
NEWS
OPINION The Liberal Bible
SPORTS
Georgetown Masjid A new Muslim prayer space opened in a new Village C location for its first Jum’ah prayer service Aug. 30. A5 Published Fridays
Progressives should correct mischaracterizations of the Bible by the political right and treat the text as an ally. A3
Clean Sheet Women’s soccer shuts out Bucknell after two first-half goals. A12 Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com
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OPINION
THE HOYA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
C Founded January 14, 1920
EDITORIALS
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Clarify Title IX Hiring Process This editorial discusses sexual assault on campus. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and offcampus resources. This fall marks the second consecutive year for which Georgetown University does not have a fully staffed Title IX office at the beginning of the academic year, indicating a lack of urgency in addressing sexual misconduct on campus. In July, the university promoted Samantha Berner, filling the yearlong vacancy for full-time Title IX coordinator but creating a new vacancy for a full-time Title IX investigator. University President John J. Degioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) has said Georgetown is temporarily using an external investigator to investigate Title IX cases but did not provide a timeline for the search. For too long, Georgetown has failed to hold itself accountable for its expressed commitment to urgency and transparency: The university must provide a timeline for hiring and continue to update students throughout the process. A fully staffed Title IX office is essential to combating a climate of sexual misconduct and supporting survivors of sexual assault. The continued personnel vacancies do students a major disservice, especially for freshmen who are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault during this time. The time between a student’s first arrival on campus and Thanksgiving break is the period in which a student is more likely to experience sexual assault than at any other point in their college career, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. An understaffed Title IX office during this time period for two consecutive years means half the current undergraduate population did not have sufficient university support during their most vulnerable time. While Georgetown cannot make up for lost time in filling the Title IX office, the 15 months that have passed since the office was last fully staffed should inspire a sense of urgency in the administration. During the search for a Title IX coordinator, a university spokesperson wrote to The Hoya that the recruitment process can take six to 12 months. At minimum, Georgetown must commit to filling the full-time investigator position in less than a year. Moving forward, Georgetown’s first step should be to release and commit to a tangible, swift timeline for the hiring process of a new full-time investigator. With this step, the university can ensure a level of accountability and transparency that has been sorely lacking in the past year. The release of a timeline is a necessary especially in response to students’ repeated demands for transparency. After a year of obfuscation around the Title IX office, demands for transparency must be met. In the past year, Georgetown has failed to announce several developments in the Title IX office, beginning with the departure of former Title IX Coordinator Laura Cutway in June 2018.
Cutway’s departure was never publicly announced to the university community and the administration did not provide public updates in the search process for her replacement. Since Berner’s promotion to coordinator, Georgetown has yet to publicly announce her appointment. University spokesperson Rachel Pugh said in July that Berner would be introduced to the community after she assumed the role July 1 and after more students arrived on campus. The administration’s silence on this issue has been deafening. Georgetown cannot hide the inadequacy of its actions by refusing to communicate with the student body. Up to this point, Georgetown had yet to announce any timeline for the hiring process. Vice President for Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Rosemary Kilkenny (LAW ’87) has promised to “move quickly” to fill the investigator role, according to a July email to The Hoya. DeGioia said the search team is “giving it their best effort” but declined to give any estimation regarding the timeline in his recent interview with The Hoya. A concrete timeline released to the entire Georgetown community would demonstrate that the university is prioritizing the issue, and not merely using urgency as a buzzword to placate student concerns. Without a timeline, the promise to “move quickly” rings empty. Students must have an explicit commitment from the university and be able to demand more urgency if Georgetown fails to follow its own timeline. In a February editorial, this editorial board called on Georgetown to send campus-wide emails to update students on the hiring process for a Title IX coordinator, a step the university did not take. Once again, this editorial board calls for the administration to provide students updates on the search for a new Title IX investigator. Georgetown cannot remain silent about an office so essential to the safety and wellbeing of students. At the very least, students are owed transparency and accountability from the administration.
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THE VERDICT The New Hamburglar — A Subway near George Washington University was recently robbed by an evidently hungry perpetrator who took nothing but a chicken sandwich that he made himself. The sandwich was valued at $8.49 by the police. Pumpkin Spies — In anticipation of the coming season, the CIA tweeted a photo of two pumpkin spice lattes, claiming the organization is in the business of “anticipating things before they happen.” Some people, believing it was a secret message, said they bought their lattes and were awaiting further instructions. These Researchers are Nuts! — A recent study has found that squirrels can learn the meaning of bird calls in order to recognize when they have been spotted. Researchers spent hours in parks playing audio recordings of specific bird calls but the pragmatic implications of this study are still unknown. American Idling — Washington, D.C. federal workers were disgruntled by “American Idol” auditions at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Auditioners rehearsed in the open atrium, disturbing security guards who were angered by the day-long singing. Ice Fishing — A 4-year-old Wisconsin girl on a fishing trip with her family was filmed reeling in a 33-pound fish with a toy “Frozen”-themed fishing rod. While Josie weighs less at 30-pounds, she makes sure to comment in the video that she is, in fact, taller than her monstrous catch.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Sebastian Bedoya
Resources: On-campus confidential resources include Health Education Services (202-687-8949) and Counseling and Psychiatric Services (202-6876985); additional off-campus resources include the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (202-333-7273) and the D.C. Forensic Nurse Examiner Washington Hospital Center (844-443-5732). If you or anyone you know would like to receive a sexual assault forensic examination or other medical care — including emergency contraception — call the Network for Victim Recovery of D.C. (202742-1727). To report sexual misconduct, you can contact Georgetown’s Title IX coordinator (202-687-9183). Emergency contraception is available at the CVS located at 1403 Wisconsin Ave. NW and through H*yas for Choice. For more
Improve Bookstore Policies The price of a textbook should not cause students stress at the beginning of a semester. Yet this stress is often a reality for students purchasing $100 textbooks at the Barnes & Noble Georgetown University bookstore. The bookstore, the only university-sanctioned textbook provider on campus, is complicit in limiting access to textbooks by setting exorbitant prices relative to other online vendors. To prioritize students, the bookstore should loosen its price match policies and lower book prices over which they have a monopoly. As this editorial board has noted, textbook prices have recently become a significant financial burden for students across the country: 85% of current and former college students report being financially stressed by the prices of textbooks and course material, according to a 2018 study by education provider Cengage. Georgetown students are not immune to this burden; many go to great lengths to avoid the cost. When the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access hosted a free textbook co-op, students began lining up for textbooks at 7 a.m., two hours before the event began, according to the CMEA’s Facebook page. While the bookstore is obviously not the sole culprit behind high textbook prices, professors’ assignment of expensive books plays a major role. However, some of the bookstore’s policies and practices, especially its reluctance to price match competitors, contributes to cost burdens for students. The bookstore’s price match policy is constricting, causing many affordable online vendors to fall outside the criteria for price matching. For a book purchase or rental to be price matched, the same edition and format must be sold and distributed by Amazon or the Barnes & Noble website, according to the bookstore’s website. The bookstore therefore cannot match prices
from third-party vendors who sell through the aforementioned websites. The bookstore also does not price match rentals of new books, meaning a student cannot price match a rental book if the bookstore is sold out of used copies. While students certainly have the option of buying books from vendors that are not eligible for price match, that option carries academic drawbacks. When students need books in the first weeks of class while facing the uncertainty of the add/drop period, waiting for long shipping times of some online vendors is infeasible. In order to complete assignments on time and participate in class discussion, students’ only option at times is the bookstore. In addition to its restrictive price match policies, the bookstore also charges steep prices for books over which they have a monopoly. For example, the intensive beginner Spanish class uses a textbook edition specifically printed for Georgetown. At the bookstore, the text is only available for purchase at $128.80 for a used copy. The generic edition not printed for Georgetown of the same book is rented by Amazon for $12 per semester and is sold for cheaper by some vendors. While it undoubtedly costs the bookstore more to procure and sell Georgetown-specific textbooks, it can, at a minimum, make the book available for rental at a lower price. The bookstore should not continue to exploit its convenience to profit from inaccessible prices. Instead, it should do its part to ensure textbooks are available and affordable. The bookstore should recognize that it is causing steep financial burdens for students and start playing its part in making textbooks accessible by more generously price matching its competitors.
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 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
Doris Zhang, Chair
Elizabeth Ash, Matias Burdman, Juliette Leader, Maya Moretta, Rowan Saydlowski, Jenny Xu
Myroslav Dobroshynskyi Academics Desk Editor Amy Li Graduate Desk Editor Sana Rahman Campus Life Desk Editor Riley Rogerson Campus Life Desk Editor Connor Thomas City Desk Editor Joanna LaCoppola Deputy Sports Editor Steven Botsoe Deputy Guide Editor Michelle Brown Deputy Guide Editor Allan Navarro Deputy Guide Editor Zain Sandhu Deputy Guide Editor Max Hamid Deputy Opinion Editor Rebecca Stekol Deputy Opinion Editor Afua Nyantakyi Deputy Features Editor Yolanda Spura Deputy Features Editor Julia Alvey Deputy Photography Editor Margaret Fouberg Deputy Photography Editor Natalie Isé Deputy Photography Editor Kiki Schmalfuss Deputy Photography Editor Tarika Kumar Deputy Design Editor Mina Lee Deputy Design Editor Eloise Owen Deputy Design Editor Janis Park Deputy Design Editor Madeline Broderick King Deputy Copy Editor Chau Le Deputy Copy Editor Victoria Lei Deputy Copy Editor Nora Ma Deputy Copy Editor Grace Jaworski Deputy Social Media Editor Alexandra Matthews Deputy Social Media Editor Isabel Roemer Deputy Blog Editor
HOYA HISTORY: September 8, 1972
Students Displaced by Room Shortage The housing office has decided that 40 of the 70 freshman who were displaced by this week’s room shortage will remain housed in their “temporary” accommodations. The 70 students were assigned temporary beds Sunday after a communications snag between the housing and admissions offices led the housing staff to believe that freshman enrollments would be lower than the actual size of the incoming class. Many of the freshman had received permanent room assignments by Thursday afternoon. However, the housing office announced that freshman lodged in large triple rooms in Loyola, Ryan and New North dormitories may stay there indefinitely.
Students who were placed in doubles on 3rd Old North also will remain in their temporary rooms. The Old North rooms each housed only one student last year. Bunk beds rented from American University are being moved into the new double and triple rooms. The housing office said that extra bureaus and furniture have been ordered for the rooms where extra students are housed. Although Director of Housing Suzanne Forsyth said last week that freshmen displaced by the housing shortage should have been placed in “one or two weeks,” one source on the housing staff revealed Wednesday that “it looks like a lot of people aren’t going to get out in a couple of weeks.”
“The rooms in Ryan, Loyola and 4th New North will be the last to be untripled,” Forsyth said Thursday. The confusion is the result of distinction made by housing officials between two categories of displaced freshmen. One category, which totaled about 30 students, included freshmen who were placed temporarily in rooms too small for extra residents. The second category was assigned to rooms large enough for additional occupants, the housing office said. The 40 students included in this group are housed on 3rd Old North, Loyola, Ryan and 4th New North.
Andy Lang Hoya Staff Writer
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OPINION
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
A HOYA LOOKS BACK
THE HOYA
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BETWEEN THE LINES
Raymond W. Dillon
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Accept Ambiguity
he year I was an undergraduate at Georgetown University, the Supreme Court rendered its decision on Roe v. Wade. Decades later, the basic questions remain of how religion and religious freedom play out in an increasingly diverse society. How do those of us who try to practice the principles of Georgetown’s Jesuit traditions navigate the intersection of the secular and spiritual worlds? Roe provides a window into that broader topic. Many readers will already have determined their positions, which may color their reading of this piece. Moreover, the mere citation of that landmark case can be enough to incite heated exchanges. I am an old, straight, Christian, white male. Accordingly, some will be outraged that I dare opine and others dismayed that I do not share their certitude. I hope to disappoint and annoy those with intractable positions on the extremes by suggesting thoughtfulness on something I suspect many beyond myself find not reducible to simple answers. Many claim that their objections to abortion flow from religious beliefs protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion. However, the amendment was ratified at a time when the enfranchised population was overwhelmingly white, male and Christian. Balancing the doctrines of a variety of religious teachings in a multicultural nation was not on the agenda and those who drafted the amendment could not have anticipated the moral issues created by advances in medicine. A world not envisioned by the framers of the Constitution has emerged with a paradigm shift in the mid-20th century evinced by the civil rights movement. School prayer was banned and the old blue laws prohibiting commercial activities on Sundays — statemandated “resting on the Lord’s day” — were overturned. Perceptions of the role of women have also evolved. Coverture, the legal principle that the rights of women were subsumed by their husbands, had begun to be abolished beginning in the 19th century. The suffragist and feminist
movements furthered the emancipation of women in the political and economic spheres. Roe was decided in a cultural atmosphere that sought to expand individual freedom at the expense of traditional cultural norms. Women were granted control over their bodies. A backlash began almost immediately after Roe, including from those who genuinely felt that this decision was state-sanctioned murder. Years later, the fight continues over what is private and what demands society’s condemnation. The ramifications for those who genuinely find certain behaviors abhorrent encompass many issues in public policy, not just abortion. If U.S. statutes only conform to Judeo-Christian orthodoxy, though, that renders this country a theocracy. Conversely, there are norms of morality that transcend religion that can and must be codified. The question then becomes who decides which norms and what happens when one faith’s religious beliefs clash with those of another. Anyone who is not, at times, conflicted regarding their beliefs is not a member of the faithful — they are a cultist. Anyone who does not examine their political positions is an ideologue. Unfortunately, the conversation has been captured by the cultists and ideologues, leaving no room for those of us who are sincerely troubled and uncertain. We must regain our voices. Those who strive to be people of conscience should not feel obliged to accept false choices foisted on us by absolutists. The issue of abortion is a multifaceted problem laden with costs, irrespective of how we choose. Before reaching a conclusion, we must pause, reflect, and recognize that there may never be clear answers. I don’t pretend to have a resolution to the abortion issue; I can only offer an observation. It’s complicated. Raymond W. Dillon graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1977. A HOYA LOOKS BACK appears online every other Tuesday.
But much like the aspects of human life that the Bible reckons with, the text contains a level of complexity that deserves more nuanced analysis than either side of the political spectrum typically affords it.
Reinterpreting Gender in Genesis
Haley Talati
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s a freshman at Georgetown University, it took me several months to come to grips with my unexpected desire to study theology — mostly because I’m an atheist. When I first told my family about my new plan to double major and concentrate in biblical studies, they thought I was joking. At first, I justified my approach to biblical studies with a reluctant acceptance that the Bible is politically relevant and a strong conviction that it shouldn’t be. I found myself searching for the very worst parts of the Bible in an effort to discredit it entirely, which naturally reaffirmed my belief that it had no place in our political system — and made it too easy to overlook the parts of the biblical text that would later complicate my opinions. After a few semesters of this rather ungenerous approach, I came to recognize that a book central to the lives of so many people deserves more thoughtful and honest engagement. A closer, more open-minded look at certain
portions of the text revealed something I had previously been hesitant to acknowledge: Many elements of the Bible that have traditionally been misrepresented by the political right, such as portrayals of women in the text, can and should be reinterpreted to advocate for progressive politics. One of the first places I began to see the potential for such a rereading was in one of the Bible’s best-known stories. A common but incorrect interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve in chapters two and three of Genesis has played a long-lasting role in societal views of female inferiority. In this story, God creates the first two humans in the Garden of Eden and instructs them to nurture their surrounding environment. God also forbids them from eating the fruit of a particular tree, and when they disregard this command, they are expelled from the sanctuary. Traditional interpretations of this story often cast the blame for the whole incident on Eve by suggesting that she tricked Adam into eating the forbidden fruit. Many artistic renderings of the scene portray Eve as a malevolent seductress whose actions quite literally cause the downfall of humankind. Adam, meanwhile, is a helpless bystander, an innocent victim of the first woman’s evil inclinations.
Yet the actual words of the text’s New Revised Standard Version English translation read simply: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.” No textual basis for the vilification of Eve alone seems to exist; Adam appears to be a willing participant in the pair’s disobedience. Dishonest alternative characterizations of texts like this one create the opportunity for the right to selectively use the Bible to defend intolerance. The exploitation of biblical texts for conservative political ends — for instance, denigrating and sexualizing the first biblical woman to justify controlling the modern female body — must be prevented by correcting such interpretations. The Bible holds far more potential for progressive advocacy, however, than what a clearer reading of one simple story can realistically produce. Finding that potential generally takes more than correcting misconceptions about what the text literally says. Reinterpreting the so-called patience of Job as a means of addressing gun violence, for example, will involve reading more closely between the lines to find the story’s implicit commentary on power dynamics and human agency — the very types of qualities that have ensured the Bible’s enduring and profound emotional impact on its readers. One of my professors frequently describes the Bible
as an exploration of what it means to be human, and after years of resisting the idea of its existential significance, I’m finally convinced that he’s right. I certainly do not intend to argue that everything in the Bible is wholly good — I still take issue with many of its stories and their implications. But much like the aspects of human life that the Bible reckons with, the text contains a level of complexity that deserves more nuanced analysis than either side of the political spectrum typically affords it. Correcting the narrative surrounding Genesis chapters two and three redeems Eve in a way that allows us to read her story as an affirmation of gender equality rather than a challenge to it. But reinterpreting biblical texts should also come with a new understanding that religion is not a necessary opponent of progressive politics. Ultimately, the value of progressive biblical interpretation lies in the recognition that the secular left has largely missed the opportunity to see religion as an ally — and given the inescapable fact that the Bible’s role in politics isn’t likely to fade anytime soon, that’s not an opportunity I plan to ignore any longer. Haley Talati is a senior in the College. BETWEEN THE LINES appears online every other Thursday.
SACRED SPACE
VIEWPOINT • ABUSOUD
Denounce Abusive Clergy
Finding Political Resolve
Yumna Naqvi Five months ago, The Hoya published an investigation identifying 14 former Georgetown University religious leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse — including two associate deans, three chaplains in residence and seven professors. The university’s only response was to add two brief paragraphs on its website reaffirming that none of the abuse had occurred on campus. In December 2018, shortly after theMarylandProvinceoftheSociety of Jesus released a list of abusive priests in its history, University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) sent a campus-wide email naming four men from the list who had worked at Georgetown. The Hoya’s investigation identified 10 additional clergy members with credible accusations of abuse, none of whom the university has condemned, despite demands to do so. Georgetown must publicly condemn the 14 abusive religious leaders and organize universitywide dialogue on its historical connection to clerical abuse. Now, with no scandal to hide behind, the continued inaction renders hollow every university platitude that decries sexual assault. In fact, Georgetown’s failure to condemn the 14 abusive religious leaders is not a rare oversight, but part of a disturbing trend of university inaction in responding to clerical abuse.
Georgetown honorary degree recipients Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Cardinal Donald Wuerl were named in the August 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report, McCarrick as a perpetrator of sexual abuse and Wuerl as a protector of abusers. Instead of taking a definitive stand against abuse, Georgetown has merely followed the Vatican’s lead, revoking McCarrick’s honorary degree only right after the Vatican laicized him in February. However, Wuerl — a man complicit in abuse — still boasts the highest honor from this institution due to the university’s refusal to condemn sexual predators without the Vatican’s approval. In stark contrast, six Catholic universities revoked honorary degrees previously awarded to McCarrick within days of the release of the grand jury report, while Georgetown waited seven months. If other Catholic universities can act responsibly when provided the same information, Georgetown’s willful ignorance to universityconnected abusers is not a reflection of its Catholic identity, but points to this administration’s alarming indifference. Additionally, though both Fordham and Georgetown were informed about credible allegations of abuse against Fr. Daniel O’Connell, S.J. in 2009, only Fordham acted, banning O’Connell from its campus. Georgetown, however, continued to confer on him professor emeritus status, until The Hoya reached out for comment last March. By refusing to condemn both Wuerl and the 14 abusive priests, Georgetown has established itself as part of the system that protects predators and silences survivors. Though DeGioia’s December
email naming four universityconnected abusive priests seemed sincere in responding to universityconnected clerical abuse, DeGioia’s carefully worded email fails to remotely condemn the four abusive priests he identified. Taking such a weak stance on university-connected priests credibly accused of abuse and merely repeating that the abuse did not occur on campus dismisses responsibility. Only by strongly condemning Georgetown-affiliated abusers and organizing candid campuswide dialogue can the university provide a clear moral distinction from institutions that suppressed allegations of clerical abuse for decades. Such dialogue must frankly discusstheinstitution’sconnection to the clergy sexual abuse crisis and address Georgetown’s failure to immediatley act on credible allegations. Only by organizing dialogue centered on critical selfexamination — rather than the university’s previous feeble community reflections on the Catholic Church — can Georgetown allow for reconciliation and healing. Honest dialogue could also allow for survivors of abuse by Georgetown-connected priests to feel safe enough to come forward; the university’s current silence and denial of abuse occurring on campus does an injustice to survivors who have already come forward and holds the dangerous potential of stifling the voices of any survivors who were abused at Georgetown.
YUMNA NAQVI is a junior in
the School of Foreign Service. SACRED SPACE appears online every other Wednesday.
Whenever I write anything that supports Palestinian self-determination, I sit down before publishing it to estimate the consequences that may arise if the piece sees the light of day. I edit my grammar and fix my punctuation, then I look at the possible ways a person may interpret my cristicims of Israel as antisemitic. It’s almost like imagining the steps ahead while playing chess. I think about the possible arguments I may have, the confrontations I may encounter and the friendships I may lose, and most times I seriously consider dropping my writing all together. I feel sad that, as a Palestinian who has the privilege to be at Georgetown University, I can still feel the effect of the powerful voices outside of campus that can silence mine. This fear of mine arose when I became a student at Georgetown. I quickly became aware of the heavy influence pro-Israeli lobby groups have on silencing the voices inside the U.S. government and the students here on campus. As a freshman, I found that the more I got attached to my new life, the quieter my voice got when I talked about Palestine. I was scared that speaking up would make me lose my education at Georgetown and my future career. I was scared of speaking up as I constantly saw congresswomen like Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) being dragged for her outspokenness about boycotting Israel when she
is of Palestinian origin. My loud voice in the halls of Harbin fell silent when we talked about Palestine as I saw congresswomen like Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) labeled as antisemitic for criticizing Israel’s government. But the more I compared myself to these congresswomen, the more I realized how small I am and how easy it is to have my entire career end before it starts. I realized I was not the only one who experienced fear of speaking up. In my first months as a freshman, I was surprised by the amount of people that would approach me and whisper to me their undeniable support for Palestine. I could always see the guilt in their eyes for suppressing their voice into a mere whisper. I have had to accept it when some of my friends told me that they do support Palestine but could not afford to lose their career over such a controversial topic because they wanted to be active in other issues to which they have dedicated their career. For a while, I hated them for it, as I watched Students for Justice in Palestine struggle to find support in the student body, but now I understand why. Sometimes it is easier to remain quiet just to remain standing until the end. I grew up hearing all about the First Amendment and I was excited to come to the United States and practice some of the rights of speaking up without being scared like I used to be in Israel, but I have
found myself more scared than ever to speak up. When I was in middle school, my teachers told me that making the international community aware of what’s happening is the way to improve the situation in Palestine. I came to the United States excited to tell my story as a Palestinian, only to be shocked to find that students already knew it. Despite knowing the risks of speaking out, I have come to realize that our time here is worth nothing if we do not speak up about the issues in which we believe, and that includes every conflict in the world. Underprivileged communities all around the world rely on our voices as future leaders to make change. It is very scary to speak up sometimes. Believe me, I was so scared I started ignoring who I am as a Palestinian, but as the future advocates, lawyers and politicians of the world, students should realize that standing up for what we believe in and acting with integrity is more important than any position that we will ever achieve in our careers. Go out and join clubs you are interested in, protest and do not worry about the lobbies on Capitol Hill, and argue with your friends about what you believe in so that one day you do not become one of the voices that oppresses others.
MALAK
ABUSOUD is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service.
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PAGE FOUR
INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Intercultural Center recieved new couches, tables and other updated furniture as a result of a campaign by the SFS Academic Council. Story on A8.
Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.
IN FOCUS NEW JACK THE BULLDOG
verbatim
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I always felt from the time I arrived here on campus that the Galleria was very underutilized as a space.” SFS Dean Joel Hellman on the new furniture in the Intercultural Center Galleria. Story on A8.
from our blog
CHEW ON LAST YEAR’S STALE MEMES Georgetown recycles, and so do we. We’ve republished memes for you non-conforming Jesuit teens from the meme page. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
The new Jack the Bulldog will gradually take on Jack Senior’s responsibilities over the next few months, entertaining at Hoya basketball games and greeting new students. Baby Jack has a softer disposition and is slightly less willful.
blog.thehoya.com
GU Law Students Prevent Deportation for Client AFUA NYANTAKYI Hoya Staff Writer
Months of preparation, hours of phone calls and hundreds of written documents all led to the moment Teresa Rubinger (LAW ’19) found herself standing at the center of a historic Richmond courtroom before a panel of circuit judges. They would be deciding whether her client, Melvin Josue Rodriguez Cabrera, would be able to remain in the United States and keep his permanent residence status or forced to leave his home. Rodriguez Cabrera was initially charged with crimes of assault, battery and involvement with a criminal street gang. It was this history of gang activity that upgraded his charge to one of moral turpitude — a categorization of crime heinous enough to grant immigration officials the ability to deport an immigrant previously granted permanent residence. Rubinger found the opportunity to take on Rodriguez Cabrera’s case through the Appellate Litigation Program at the Georgetown University Law Center. Alongside classmate Elijah Staggers (GRD ’16, LAW ’19), she was able to explore the world of appeals court through the lens of a real case argued before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether their client would face deportation from the United States in light of a 2017 criminal charge not directly related to his immigration status.
REWRITING THE STORY
In 2017, the Department of
Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against Rodriguez Cabrera under Virginia Code 18.2-46.2 for participation in a criminal street gang, according to the July 19 decision. Rodriguez Cabrera was initially arrested on charges of assault and battery. The immigration judge determined that the charges did not constitute a crime of moral turpitude, and therefore should not result in deportation. However, Rodriguez Cabrera had also pleaded guilty to participating in gang activity, which is illegal in Virginia. The DHS then argued that Rodriguez Cabrera’s affiliation with a street gang counted as an act of moral turpitude. The Board of Immigration Appeals agreed, leading to the revocation of his status as a protected permanent legal resident of the United States. In other words, with the previous interpretation of the law, essentially any law associated with a gang would be looked at through a “moral lens,” according to Staggers. “Whatever the crime is, it doesn’t matter what the underlying crime is, if an individual commits a crime in association with a gang, it will automatically transform that conduct into an immoral crime, or into a crime involving moral turpitude,” Staggers said. “The government’s argument was essentially reduced to: it doesn’t matter if the crime is simple assault or trespassing. If a noncitizen does that, they can be deported.” Once the charge had been
interpreted as one regarding morality, the Immigration and Nationality Act authorized deportation. The law allows for the removal of “an alien who has been convicted for a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years of admission and for which at term of imprisonment of one year or longer could be imposed,” according to the July 19 decision. In order to avoid removal proceedings, Staggers and Rubinger’s approach was to target the underlying crime Rodriguez Cabrera had committed — assault and battery. The pair argued that their client’s mere affiliation to a gang did not violate this statute, given that moral turpitude only applies to gang membership when discovered in connection to a heinous crime. Rubinger and Staggers specifically presented the hypothetical example of trespassing to attend a simple meeting of gang members as an example of misdemeanors that would incorrectly constitute moral turpitude under the DHS’s interpretation of the code. “No one can seriously contend that two gang participants trespassing on church property to get from Point A to Point B is ‘inherently base, vile or depraved and contrary to accepted rules of morality and the duties owed between persons or to society in general,’” the July 19 decision read. Upon hearing Rubinger’s arguments, the Board of Immigration Appeals decided that his affiliation with a gang was not itself an act of moral
turpitude in their July 19 decision. As a result, the Virginia court set a precedent that all offenses involving criminal street gang activity should no longer be categorized as a crime involving moral turpitude. The court then granted Rodriguez Cabrera’s petition for review, thus vacating the order of his removal.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Each year, 16 Law Center students are selected to be in the Appellate Litigation Program, an in-house clinic at the Law Center directed by professor Erica Hashimoto (LAW ’97). The yearlong clinic for thirdyear students, established over 40 years ago, allows law students to experience the environment of a small appeals law firm as they review a variety of cases obtained from local attorney referrals and cases received from the court of appeals itself. Students are responsible to carry out several procedures over the course of the case, such as spotting legal issues relevant to the appeal, researching them and drafting memos to supervising attorneys, drafting 10 to 15 drafts of a brief. The clinic is one of Georgetown’s 17 clinics that specialize in legal work ranging from appellate and trial courts to advocacy work for local nonprofits. Other clinics include focuses on juvenile justice, environmental justice, health justice, domestic abuse, civil rights and criminal justice, among others, according to the Law Center website. The Appellate Litigation clinic typically receives cases
offered from federal courts, which represent the majority of what is in the court’s docket. As a result, the program receives cases ranging from immigration to habeas corpus, as well as cases from those being held in federal prison. Law schools often provide pro bono cases to clients who would not otherwise have access to high quality legal representation. At the Law Center, students must pledge to complete at least 50 hours of volunteer work, according to the Law Center website. Representation for migrants in deportation hearings remains an obstacle for many seeking to remain in the country since migrants are not legally guaranteed counsel, according to a 2016 American Immigration Council report. The AIC found that, nationally, only 37% of migrants were able to obtain representation in their deportation hearings. In civil proceedings, appellants may not have access to any counsel at all, severely impacting their ability to advocate for their legal rights. Because of appellate clinic, Rodriguez Cabrera was able to secure representation he may not have otherwise been able to, according to Staggers. “If the clinic wasn’t able to take on Mr. Cabrera’s appeal, there’s a good chance that the government would have continued deporting noncitizens for being convicted under the statue, even though that’s not what the law allowed them to do,” Staggers said. Supervising the clinic annually proves a rewarding experience because of the transformation students undergo each year as they become forceful proponents for their clients, Hashimoto said. “I love watching students grow over the course of the year,” Hashimoto said. “I watch them become much more confident on their feet as oral advocates. By the time we get to oral argument for instance, the student has been so well prepared, they’ve pretty much heard and figured out how to answer just about every question they might get.”
IMPACT ON IMMIGRATION LAW
FILE PHOTO: RYAN BAE/THE HOYA
Every year, 16 Georgetown University Law Center students are selected for the Appellate Litigation Program, an in-house clinic directed by professor Erica Hashimoto (LAW ’97). The program allows students to experience the environment of a small appeals law firm.
The decision that gang-related activity does not constitute moral turpitude will go on to serve as precedent for future immigration cases and prevent future defendants from losing their permanent resident status for gang-related activity.
The verdict displays a possibility for change in the future of immigration law as part of an ongoing effort amongst law professionals to establish greater clarity within the realm of immigration, according to Staggers. “This appeal was so timely and so impactful given the way that immigration policy has developed in the last couple of years,” Staggers said. “We’ve seen the executive branch in a vastly different trajectory than in the past.” Since entering office, President Donald Trump has attempted to limit access to asylum by refusing grants to any migrants seeking to enter the United States through the southern border who did not seek asylum in any countries they traveled through other than their own, punished sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration officials by barring them from receiving federal grants and reversed the common “catch and release” practice in which undocumented migrants awaiting their trial hearing are permitted to remain in the United States outside of a detention facility. This reversal led to the widely condemned practice of separating parents from children. Particularly, fear of gang violence and violent crime has characterized Trump’s rhetoric on immigration. For example, he has portrayed migrants from Latin America as violent and dangerous in recent years, as well as directly linked violence from MS-13, a Salvadoran gang, to failures of the immigration system to stoke fears of undocumented migrants. However, even as Trump just last month promised to expedite deportations for undocumented migrants who cannot prove they have resided in the United States for more than two years, the ruling on the Rodriguez Cabrera provides hope that the legal system will still protect migrants from the president’s hardline stances on immigration. The impact a program like the appellate litigation clinic can have, both for students and future cases, can only be felt if students have the initiative, according to Staggers. “Regardless of what your position is, or how much experience you have — you can still have an impact,” Staggers said. “As long as you make that initiative to fill your obligations as an attorney — you can have an impact.”
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
THE HOYA
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Muslim Prayer Room Moved Georgetown Hosts First-Ever To New, Expanded Location Nighttime Farmers’ Market SANA RAHMAN Hoya Staff Writer
The Muslim prayer space, the Georgetown University Masjid, opened to the university community in its new location in the Village C complex for its first Jum’ah prayer service Aug. 30. The Muslim Prayer Room had previously been located in the Copley Hall basement since 1987. The masjid, located in what was previously known as Alumni Lounge, will now be able to accomodate the around 100 people who typically attend Jum’ah services, as well as even more people for programming events, said Director for Muslim Life Imam Yahya Hendi. The masjid will be a multipurpose area where Muslim students can not only receive Islamic information and education, but also interact and talk with other community members, according to Hendi. “I believe and hope that this masjid would become a place where students can receive Islamic information, Islamic education, where the Muslim community will be able to find a place where they can engage with their fellow Muslims, but also their fellow sisters and brothers of humanity,” Hendi said in an interview with The Hoya. New additions to the masjid that were not present in the Muslim Prayer Room in Copley include a halal kitchen, where students can cook and eat halal food, separate office space for spiritual and religious counseling, and an area for general community gatherings. These additions will allow for Muslim Life to diversify their programming and reimagine the role it plays on campus, according to Hendi. The new space will also open doors to opportunities
for reflecting on the role of Islam in the lives of students, according to Hendi. “I’m trying to find a way
“I also hope that this will become a place for unity where Muslims from all walks of life will feel welcome.” IMAM YAHYA HENDI Director for Muslim Life
to reimagine the Muslim community at Georgetown in light of this. Reimagine the Muslim community, reimagine the role of Islam on campus and in the lives of our students,” Hendi said. “Hence, I want to create programs that will make that happen and create a space that will foster those ideas.” The idea for the masjid was first suggested around seven years ago, but it wasn’t until 2017 that finding a location and gathering funds for the space became a priority, according to Director of Campus Ministry Fr. Gregory Schenden. Fundraising and coordinating was led by the Office of Mission and Ministry, the Development Office, the Office of the President, students and alumni. Adding the masjid to campus emphasizes the importance of having a space designated for Muslims at Georgetown in light of increasing anti-Muslim sentiment across the nation, according to Muslim Student Association Vice President Kumail Aslam (COL ’20). “In recent years it’s been tough with anti-Muslim bias and all that in the news and
in the country, so I think this shows that Georgetown is dedicated to having a space for Muslims which I think is important,” Aslam said. The prayer space will be used for students in the broader Georgetown community to engage in conversations about various societal issues, according to Hendi. “I hope this will become a place that will engage members of the larger community on issues of humanity as in social justice, environmental justice, healthcare justice, black lives matter, issues of race, war and peace,” Hendi said. “I really hope this becomes a place where people go and intentionally discuss these issues.” The masjid will be an open space where all types of Muslims and students can come and feel welcomed, according to Hendi. “I also hope that this will become a place for unity where Muslims from all walks of life will feel welcome,” Hendi said. “I want this to be a woman-friendly masjid, a youth-friendly masjid, a questioning-friendly masjid, where our students will be able to find the time to discover their purpose in life.” The masjid will continue to host five daily prayers, weekly halaqah, or religious gatherings, and Friday Jum’ah services. With the larger space, Muslim Life hopes to be able to bring more guest speakers to come and talk about various topics. The masjid adds to the university’s mission of creating a campus environment where all students feel welcomed, according to Schenden. “The inauguration of the Georgetown Masjid, in keeping with the Ignatian value of the magis, furthers the deepening of the sense of belonging and welcome in its capacity to allow our Muslim community to live more fully lives of greater meaning,” Schenden wrote in an email to The Hoya.
GUSA Senator Impeached But Set To Remain in Senate ASHLEY ZHAO Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown University Student Association voted to impeach but did not remove Senator Peter Hamilton (COL ’20) in a series of August senate meetings after he accrued a series of unexcused absences throughout the spring and summer. Senator Leo Teixeira (COL ’21), who serves as the senate ethics and oversight transition chair, introduced the official resolution to introduce articles of impeachment against Senator Hamilton in the Aug. 12 meeting. Hamilton’s several absences served as grounds for impeachment, according to the GUSA senate bylaws. Hamilton was impeached in an 11-2 vote later that meeting, according to the resolution. As impeachment does not inherently merit removal from the senate, a separate vote failed 10-6 to remove Hamilton from his seat Aug. 26, as expulsion votes require a two-thirds majority instead of the simple majority necessary for impeachment, according to the GUSA bylaws. Teixeira contacted Hamilton on June 14 notifying him that he had accumulated two unexcused summer absences and a third would constitute grounds for removal, according to the resolution.. Teixeira told Hamilton he could avoid more unexcused absences by submitting an excused-absence request form but Hamilton was slow to respond, Teixeira said. Teixeira again contacted Hamilton conveying that he had accumulated at least three unexcused absences, according to the resolution July 12. Hamilton responded July 26 and scheduled a meeting with Teixeira. Hamilton’s impeachment comes directly from his violation of GUSA bylaws, according to Texeira. “Under the bylaws, it’s explicitly stated that three or more unexcused absences are grounds for impeachment,” Teixeira said in an interview with The Hoya. “Simply put, what Peter did was in violation of those rules.” Hamilton was caught off guard by the impeachment proceedings, as the resolution
was not listed on the senate meeting agenda and he was abroad at the time, Hamilton said. “I was not aware that articles would be introduced at the August 12th meeting,” Hamilton wrote in an email to The Hoya. Hamilton will continue to work on several GUSA projects and remains optimistic about the upcoming year and his work for GUSA in spite of his impeachment, he said. “I’m excited to get to work focusing on helping GUSA be a body that spends its time advocating for students and student organizations, not debating bylaws,” Hamilton said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “I’m optimistic going forward that we can do great work together as a student advocacy organization.” Amid some confusion regarding the impeachment process, the existing GUSA bylaws require reform, according to Senate Transition Chair Juan Martinez. “While I believe the Ethics and Oversight Committee should be radically transformed from its current form, the Bylaws lay out that accruing three unexcused absences is grounds for removal,” Martinez wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The Senate should use what is already in place to uphold the Bylaws and ensure we are an efficient and accountable body.” Following Hamilton’s impeachment, Senator and Transition Finance
and Appropriations Chair Matthew Buckwald (COL ’20) unrelatedly resigned from his position in the senate, according to a GUSA senate email sent to The Hoya on Aug. 30. While Buckwald did not respond to requests for comment, both Teixeira and Martinez noted that Buckwald had also accumulated three unexcused absences. “I have not spoken to Matt and therefore cannot say for certain that his resignation was a result of him accruing three unexcused absences,” Martinez wrote. “However, I imagine it was definitely a factor to consider in his decision.” Senate absences have long been an issue for GUSA. Last year, unexcused senate absences more than quadrupled from the previous year’s legislative season although a committee was introduced fall 2018 to to track attendance records. Teixeira raised concerns about the overall senate dynamic. With senators publicly voting to remove Hamilton from senate, some tension may arise, he said. “Hopefully, everyone doesn’t carry grudges over this because again, none of it was personal. It was all just trying to do what we thought was the right thing,” Teixeira said. “If Peter or some other senators or anyone holds a grudge over this, it would be unfortunate, but it would also be human.
Hoya Staff Writer Riley Rogerson contributed to this reporting.
JULIA ALVEY/THE HOYA
Two Georgetown University Student Association senators faced problems with attendance in the past few months.
CASEY FERRANTE Hoya Staff Writer
Taste of the Hilltop, the first Georgetown University Farmers’ Market event held at night, introduced new vendors and student performances Aug. 30. Georgetown Weeks of Welcome, Georgetown Program Board and Georgetown University Farmers’ Market hosted the event featuring four new vendors, Manos de Maiz, Hot Lola’s, Hilana Falafel and Z&Z. Campus a cappella groups, the Georgetown Saxatones and Georgetown GraceNotes, performed in Red Square. After the market closed at 9 p.m., Weeks of Welcome showed “Aladdin” on Copley Lawn. The farmers’ market is a popular on-campus dining destination offered to the Georgetown community on Wednesday afternoons in the fall and spring. Introducing nighttime events to the market will give it a fresh, more upbeat vibe, while maintaining notable returning vendors, like Bun’d Up, Swizzler, Timber Pizza Co. and Georgetown Bubble, according to Khai Nguyen (SFS ’22), a member of the board. “I feel like the farmers’ market can get quite limited in terms of how many vendors we can attract, so having an additional event allows us
to introduce so many new vendors,” Nguyen said. The nighttime market idea was reminiscent of evening food festivals that Nguyen attended in his hometown, he said. “I came from New Zealand before I was at Georgetown and I went to a lot of nighttime food festivals, which was kind of my jam,” Nguyen said. “I was like, ‘Why don’t we have something similar here in Georgetown?’” Manal Hilana, owner of new vendor Hilana Falafel, serves Palestinian falafel made with locally grown chickpeas at six different local farmers’ markets. Being a part of Taste of the Hilltop gives Hilana an opportunity to share her cultural heritage with the Georgetown community, which she herself is a part of, she said. Taste of the Hilltop not only supported local vendors and generated excitement about future markets, but it also gave performing arts groups like GraceNotes the opportunity to share information about upcoming auditions and shows, according to GraceNotes President Olivia Giacomo (COL ’21). “The GraceNotes performed at Taste of the Hilltop because we were eager to share songs with the Georgetown community, and especially with new students,” Giacomo
wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The event provided a welcoming and uplifting atmosphere to spread the word about our group.” The evening markets could continue on a biweekly, triweekly or monthly basis, but the frequency will depend on student feedback, according to Nguyen. The Georgetown University Farmers’ Market is open to hearing students’ input on Taste of the Hilltop and how often they would like to see future events. “This is kind of a trial run. If this hits the ground really well, then the sky’s the limit,” Nguyen said. The nighttime market would ideally bring members of the Georgetown neighborhood to campus and give them a chance to interact with the local vendors and the university community, according to Nguyen. “I feel like when you have a market on Wednesday morning you don’t really have time to swoop by, but this is a Friday night,” Nguyen said. “If we attract a lot of non-GU people, then we have a way to create a high-traffic event that benefits not only the vendors but also us getting our name out there — not only as a school, but as a marketplace.”
Hoya Staff Rogerson reporting.
Writer Riley contributed
GU FARMERS MARKET/FACEBOOK
The frequency of future nighttime farmers’ markets will be determined by community feedback. The evening farmers’ markets could continue on a biweekly, triweekly or monthly basis.
Mono Diner Closes Amid Multiple Allegations of Wage Theft ANABEL GETZ Hoya Staff Writer
Former employees of Mono Diner on Wisconsin Avenue, which permanently closed Aug. 11, allege their employer committed up to $7,000 in wage theft. The employees have teamed up with D.C. Industrial Workers of the World, an international member-run workers union, in an attempt to get paid for their completed hours. After facing challenges when filing a case with D.C. law enforcement, a former employee, Chase Cabot, approached the Washington, D.C. branch of the IWW. IWW then helped Cabot by starting a GoFundMe page as well as a “March on the Boss,” in which members of the union accompanied Cabot to meet with Mono Diner owner Mohammad Esfahani, who wrote him a check for $800 July 23, according to Cabot. Cabot was one of multiple former Mono Diner employees who approached the organization for a consultation on how to receive their earned wages, according to IWW Organizer Lou Castro. “They had come to us saying they had not been paid upwards of $700 and they had moved on and still never got their last paycheck,” Castro said in an interview with The Hoya. “What we uncovered was that there were several other workers at Mono Diner who were owed upwards of $7,000.” There are still as many as eight workers who have not been compensated, according to Castro. Cabot had previously worked at the Esfahani brothers’ burger franchise, All About Burger. “Within about a week I was basically doing everything in the restaurant, I would
be making fries, making milkshakes, running out orders to customers, for minimum wage,” Cabot said. “I felt pretty exploited. I felt like I was doing a lot more than I was told I would be doing for the same pay.” Esfahani opened the restaurant March 4 to attract late-night customers and Georgetown students. Before opening the diner, Esfahani had previously been involved in past cases of property mishandling, lawsuits and corporate conflicts related to past failed restaurant
“I am still owed over $3,000, money that was supposed to be for rent and college courses this semester.” ALIYAH WASHINGTON Former Mono Diner Server
ventures, according to The Washington Post. Many more of the diner’s workers say they lost similarly large amounts of money. The former manager of the restaurant, Charles Ordoqui, said Esfahani instructed him to withhold paychecks from employees on multiple occasions. “The owner asked me to not hand out paychecks on payday,” Ordoqui said in an interview with The Hoya. “The first time, he asked me to wait until Monday to hand them out because then there would be money in the account.” Ordoqui also said that the restaurant did not compensate him for extreme overtime hours he worked, leading to serious financial problems. “I was working at least 75
hours a week. There were nights where I slept there,” Ordoqui said. “They refused to pay me more than $2,500 in overtime pay. I lost my car and residence.” Ordoqui said he had no choice but to continue working at the diner in order to pay bills and support his family. He claims he is still owed $5,200. IWW posted the former workers’ allegations to Instagram, including one post featuring former server Aliyah Washington. E s f a h a n i ’ s mismanagement of the diner had serious repercussions for the financial well-being of his employees, according to Washington. “I am still owed over $3,000, money that was supposed to be for rent and college courses this semester,” Washington wrote in the post. “Now I had to move back home and reset my entire life’s plan.” Esfahani’s brother and business partner Ebrahim Esfahani said he did not oversee the restaurant but defended that all employees of the diner were properly paid. “Mono Diner is closed. All the employees were paid. Everyone got paid,” Ebrahim Esfahani said in a phone interview with The Hoya. Mohammad Esfahani did not respond to a request for comment. Castro pointed out the prominence of wage theft in the United States, citing an FBI study that wage theft accounts for the vast majority of property-related crimes. Wage theft is a crime that disproportionately affects those who are already vulnerable, Castro said. “Right now, the majority of people getting arrested for theft are poor and workingclass,” Castro said. “But the business owners, people with money and power, get away with it scot-free.”
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“HK Belongs to China” Chalked in Red Square HES Holds Feedback Meeting on Freshman Orientation Play
HONG KONG, from A1
Though the extradition bill was officially dropped Wednesday, the protests that began in June embody a broader call for democratization and an end to police brutality, Ngo said. “I think we have shaken the foundations of Beijing’s seemingly impenetrable rule over its subjects and I think, you know, it feels emotional to have left,” Ngo said. “Everybody is talking about police brutality, democratization, people want structural change in Hong Kong and that is going to be a long fight. So that fight is far from over.” The monthslong protests have turned international attention toward Hong Kong. The global and local conversations in Red Square open a productive conversation, according to Georgetown’s Hong Kong Student Association. “We do welcome the attention and dialogue our city has attracted these past few months, both in Georgetown and around the world,” a representative from HKSA wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “We hope that this dialogue continues to be respectful, mature, and constructive.” Georgetown history professor James Millward has chronicled the Red Square messages on Twitter. Millward, who specializes in Chinese history, shared pictures of the chalkings to point out the relationship between the “stop police brutality” comment and the “Hong Kong is a part of China” response. “My intent really was to point out that non-sequitur and to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, listen to yourselves,’” Millward said. “I’m not unsympathetic with the concerns of [People’s Republic
HOYA REALTALK, from A1
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Activists chalked opposing messages in Red Square regarding the ongoing Hong Kong student demonstrations protesting Chinese influence in the city throughout the summer. of China] students at all, but I think that particularly Georgetown students are capable of thinking about it in multiple ways.” Ngo has long been active in Hong Kong activism and spearheaded student protests in Washington, D.C., that addressed the former Hong Kong chief executive’s resignation and democratic electoral reform. The activism in Washington and on campus could have a far-reaching impact, according to Ngo. “This is the capital city of the U.S. This is also where think tanks are, policy makers are, reporters are and this institution produces a lot of people who will be in those positions in the near future,” Ngo said. “The additional meaning of having this play out at Georgetown is that it is going to leave a mark on
American political discourse in the years to come.” Georgetown’s Chinese Student Alliance, a cultural club, declined to comment for this story. The Chinese Students and Scholars Association, a graduate student group that previously received funds from the Chinese government, could not be reached for comment. The Georgetown University Student Association executive branch is preparing an official statement in support of the Hong Kong activists demonstrating for autonomy and civil liberties with peer institutions, according to GUSA Press Secretary Harper Thomas (SFS ’22). “As democratically elected representatives of the Georgetown University student body, and supporters of a free and democratic
society, we believe GUSA has a duty to support the student unions and activists in Hong Kong in their struggle for democracy and freedom from authoritarianism,” Thomas wrote in an email to The Hoya. The protests encapsulate diverse perspectives within the Hong Kong community, opening both an international conversation and one among Hong Kongers, according to HKSA. “The protests happening now reflect a wide range of sentiments Hong Kongers have on their history, future, and place in the world,” HKSA wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “HKSA is open to anyone who feels connected to Hong Kong, and thus is not interested in taking an institutional stance that would risk alienating people in our community.”
wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Next year and in future years adjustments to the rehearsal schedule will provide more than one opportunity to preview the play so that NSO leaders and others can review and provide input in the pre-production phase.” Problems with the play’s inappropriate content were compounded by a professionally understaffed opt-out room for students who did not want to see the play or engage in the discussions, according to Jonsson. The scenes sent a troubling message to students that left NSO coordinators and OAs concerned about the impact on new students’ well-being. “Maybe this is the message that Georgetown wants to be sending to its newest students - if you are accused of sexual assault, it’s okay! You belong here,” Jonsson wrote. Matthew Barnes, the director of orientation, transition and family engagement at the Center for Student Engagement, and CSE Director Aysha Dos apologized that OA’s did not feel prepared in an email obtained by The Hoya that was sent to OAs at 2:08 a.m. Aug. 26, the morning after the play. “We fully hear the feedback that the messages received today were painful, triggering, and misaligned with our goals of teaching students about consent, bystander intervention, and sexual misconduct,” the email said. “We are so sorry for the burden you carried supporting your students and each other as you processed what happened. We are also sorry that you did not feel supported or prepared to engage in these difficult conversations.” Administrators have taken other steps to address the Hoya RealTalk play, including inviting
OAs to a feedback session Thursday night. The CSE is also working with Health Education Services to communicate directly with new students to correct misinformation in the play and inform students about resources. The offices are also considering potential adjustments to NSO to explicitly address sexual assault prevention and continuing conversations with Health Education Services to ensure OA feedback is properly communicated, Barnes and Dos wrote in an email to OAs. “In the future, NSO and HES are committed to making sure the NSO staff knows what to expect from Hoya RealTalk and is clear about their roles with regard to discussing their material,” Barnes wrote in an email to The Hoya.
Resources: On-campus confidential resources include Health Education Services (202-687-8949) and Counseling and Psychiatric Services (202687-6985); additional offcampus resources include the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (202-333-7273) and the D.C. Forensic Nurse Examiner Washington Hospital Center (844-443-5732). If you or anyone you know would like to receive a sexual assault forensic examination or other medical care — including emergency contraception — call the Network for Victim Recovery of D.C. (202-742-1727). To report sexual misconduct, you can contact Georgetown’s Title IX coordinator (202-687-9183). Emergency contraception is available at the CVS located at 1403 Wisconsin Ave. NW and through H*yas for Choice. For more information, visit sexualassault.georgetown. edu.
Lead Found in White-Gravenor, Reiss Tap Water Sources LEAD, from A1 the Walsh Building, Alumni Square and LXR Hall, according to the study. The university plans to investigate the results of the study to ensure the school is meeting safety standards, a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The safety and quality of our drinking water is one of our highest priorities,” the university spokesperson wrote. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are conducting follow-up testing in areas where the student results indicated that there may be elevated levels. Based on the results of these tests, we will take appropriate action.” Georgetown’s Environmental Health & Safety team regularly
tests for lead in areas where children under six may be present on campus. Earlier this year, EHS performed environmental assessments and tested drinking water samples in 18 locations across campus and all results were below detection limits, according to the university spokesperson. High levels of lead contaminated Washington, D.C.’s water supply in the early 2000s after the city began using a treatment chemical that corroded the city’s aging pipe systems, according to The Washington Post. Today, lead levels in D.C. water hover at around 2ppb, according to the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority. The researchers trust that the university will act in response to the results of the study, Oh
wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Once Georgetown is notified of this issue, I strongly believe Georgetown will act with diligence accordingly to benefit every member of the community and take the issue very seriously,” Oh wrote. “Our group would be open to working with the school’s administration to help resolve this issue anytime.” The university has a responsibility to be transparent about the risks and realities of lead exposure on campus, according to Persaud. “Washington D.C. is a city that is old and the pipes are mostly made of lead,” Persaud wrote. “DC does have a lead problem however one of the things that the University has neglected to do is to inform the student population of this problem.”
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The university posted the job listing for the librarian as part of a response to the recommendations from the school’s Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation published in a 2016 report.
Search Begins for Librarian on Slavery Special Collections LIBRARIAN, from A1 commissioning an oral history project with descendant communities and associating the names of the enslaved people with scholarships dedicated to correcting the legacy of racial injustice. The search for the librarian also demonstrates the university’s aim to solidify its commitment to descendants of the GU272, according to Elsa Barraza Mendoza, assistant curator of the Georgetown Slavery Archive and sixth-year doctoral student. “I think this hire shows the university’s intention to institutionalize its work on slavery and racial justice,” Mendoza wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Hopefully, once the college hires someone, they will introduce them to students, the GU272 descendant community, and faculty. Collaboration is essential for this job.” The job posting for the librarian underscores the importance of outreach between the librarian and Georgetown students, faculty and possible descendants of the GU272. “The incumbent also
collaborates with individuals, departments, and centers to address contemporary issues related to the legacies of slavery, such as our nation’s system of mass incarceration, unlawful discrimination, unfair housing, unemployment, workers’ rights, and health disparities,” the job posting said. The librairan will support current initiatives as well as develop new programs to assist the university’s acknowledgement of Georgetown’s historic ties to slavery, according to Oakley. “The Librarian will also work with others to expand our collections, foster relationships and collaborate with the wider community of universities, libraries, and archives that support the study of slavery,” Oakley wrote. Qualified candidates for the position must have a master’s degree in library science from an institution accredited by the American Library Association and be knowledgeable about African American history, according to the posting. The university’s board of directors also discussed the
results of the referendum earlier this summer. At its June meeting, the board of directors demonstrated a willingness to discuss the referendum’s results but did not hold a vote on whether to implement the fee that was proposed in the referendum. Students for GU272 also released a Facebook statement in August detailing the questions raised by the university’s board of directors. During summer 2019, the GU272 advocacy team met with Georgetown administrators to discuss the referendum’s results and consider its implementation, according to an Aug. 25 Facebook post. “While university administrators have repeatedly articulated their commitment to continued dialogue, they have failed to clarify tangible steps forward,” the GU272 advocacy team wrote in the post. “This measure was democratically voted on and approved by the student body, and we as students must continue to hold the administration responsible for implementing the referendum in a timely manner.”
FILE PHOTO: ROCHELLE VAYNTRUB FOR THE HOYA
Three graduate researchers in the environmental metrology and policy program discovered traces of lead in the tap water of four campus buildiings including White-Gravenor Hall and Reiss Science Building.
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NHS Appoints Interim Dean MYROSLAV DOBROSHYNSKYI Hoya Staff Writer
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Aramark, which faced worker protests at the university last spring, has taken over management of on-campus dining locations Epicurean and Company and Bulldog Tavern this summer.
Aramark Begins Managing Epi MOIRA RITTER Hoya Staff Writer
Aramark, Georgetown University’s food service provider, initiated management of on-campus dining locations Epicurean and Company and Bulldog Tavern beginning Aug. 23. The transition comes months after about 30 Georgetown food service employees protested and striked Feb. 27 and April 4 after their contract with Aramark expired in December 2018. As negotiations began for a new contract, workers complained of low wages, unfair break times and disrespectful management. Aramark and UNITE HERE Local 23, the labor union representing Aramark employees, reached a temporary contract negotiation April 15, quelling the protests. Georgetown consulted with the Advisory Committee on Business Practices and reviewed the university’s Just Employment Policy during the management transition at the two locations. “We look forward to continuing to provide a high-quality dining experience across our on-campus dining locations,” university spokesperson Rachel Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya. Although the university owns all dining property, Aramark also manages O’Donovan Hall, Leo’s Market, the Chick-fil-A in the Leavey Center, Crop Chop, Royal Jacket and the Einstein Bros. Bagels in Car Barn. Bulldog Tavern was previously under the management of Aramark until Epicurean took over in August 2018. The menu at Epicurean will also be reviewed this fall pending potential alterations, according to Karen Cutler, Aramark’s vice president of communications
and public affairs. “The menu and program for Epicurean and Company restaurant will be evaluated over the fall semester and we will be soliciting feedback from the community to help determine any future changes,” Cutler wrote in an email to The Hoya. Temporarily shortened hours at Epicurean, long known as Georgetown’s only 24-hour dining location, upset several returning students this fall, according to Epicurean regular Olivia Blumberg (COL ’22). “My friends and I have a habit of going to Epi’s on the weekends and taking advantage of their late hours,” Blumberg said in an interview with the Hoya. “It was really disappointing to come back to school and find it was closed on the weekends.” Despite some initial confusion among the Georgetown community about 11 p.m. closures, Epicurean will resume 24-hour service Thursday through Saturday on Sept. 5, according to the restaurant. This most recent management transition marks the second time Aramark has owned Bulldog Tavern. The Healey Family Student Center restaurant was previously managed by Aramark from May 2017 until July 27, 2018, when the contract switched to Epicurean. UNITE HERE Local 23 filed a lawsuit Aug. 20 alongside two former Bulldog Tavern Aramark employees against Epicurean for alleged workers’ rights violations. The 2018 lawsuit was one in a series of lawsuits against Epicurean, including instances in 2015 and 2012. During the summer management transition period, Epicurean and Bulldog Tavern workers could elect to keep their current job, according to
Cutler. Aramark also worked with UNITE HERE Local 23 to create a collective bargaining agreement. “All Epicurean and Bulldog Tavern employees were offered to continue their employment, if they wished to continue working on campus,” Cutler wrote. “Aramark employees working on campus are represented a union (UNITE HERE) collective bargaining agreement that covers all of the terms and conditions of their employment.” Although UNITE HERE Local 23 launched several strikes against Aramark over the summer, none were on Georgetown’s campus, according to Sarah Jacobson, the Aramark director for the Washington, D.C. food service district. The off-campus Aramark strikes pertaining to other universities gained attention this summer when 295 workers unionized with UNITE HERE Local 23 striked at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, according to the DCist. Aramark took over management at the center in April and since then workers have called for raises to meet the D.C. cost of living, health insurance protections, scheduling changes to prevent outsourcing and conversations around the increasing role of technology in the workplace. Other anti-Aramark student and worker protests have sparked at colleges including New York University and American University. Officials at American investigated alternative food providers in response to student meal price increases. NYU chose not to renew Aramark’s contract following a series of protests around Aramark’s role as a food service provider to the private prison industry.
GU To Host 2020 Democrats MEREDITH MILLER Hoya Staff Writer
Eleven presidential candidates will examine climate change issues in a town hall-style forum hosted by Georgetown and major media outlets on Sept. 19 and 20. The series of one-hour events, open only to select university students, is a collaboration between the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, Our Daily Planet, MSNBC and New York Magazine and will be hosted by MSNBC hosts Chris Hayes and Ali Velshi. The two hosts’ respective MSNBC shows will dedicate two nights of special coverage to the forum. Tickets for the Gaston Hall event will be available to students at Georgetown University, other D.C.-area universities and universities in early and primary states. Specific information regarding tickets and timing for each candidate are not yet published. All declared 2020 candidates from both major political parties were invited and 11 candidates have confirmed their attendance: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Gov. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.), South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (D), former Rep. John Delaney (DMd.), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), billionaire and philanthropist
Tom Steyer, former Gov. Bill Weld (R-Mass.) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang (D). Over two days, each candidate will appear separately for one hour at Gaston Hall to present their ideas and engage in conversations surrounding climate change. The first 30 minutes will be for the candidate to explain their climate change policy. In the second half, the candidate will take questions from attendees. One of the forum’s goals is to engage young voters by discussing climate change, an important topic to many young people, GU Politics Executive Director Mo Elleithee (SFS ’94) said in an interview with The Hoya. “Part of our mission is to make politics more accessible to young people; pull back the curtain and give them a chance to better engage in the political process, in part by engaging people who are in the process,” Elleithee said. “Being able to bring multiple candidates to talk about an issue that is important to young voters — it’s a no brainer for us.” Our Daily Planet approached GU Politics with the climate forum concept, according to cofounders and publishers of Our Daily Planet Monica Medina (CAS ’83) and Miro Korenha. Having the event include student voices and concerns about climate change is crucial in bringing awareness to the issue, according to Medina and
Korenho. “We’re thrilled that our event is centered around students and the critical role they’re playing in elevating climate change to a top-tier issue,” Medina and Korenha wrote in an email to The Hoya. Televising the climate change forum will allow for conversation about each candidate’s climate change plan in a way that was previously not possible, according to Medina and Korenha. “If ten years ago someone would have predicted that there would be a climate change forum televised on a major network like MSNBC, hardly anyone would have believed you,” Medina and Korenha wrote. “We can’t wait to take a deeper dive into each candidate’s climate action plan in a forum format that will give us the chance to have a really substantive conversation.” Candidate policies on sustainability are relevant to student life, considering these same issues exist on campus, Georgetown University Student Association Director of University Affairs Nicolo Ferretti (SFS ’21) wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Seeing candidates discuss issues like switching to sustainable sources of electricity, handling waste efficiently, and using land sustainably will be especially interesting because these are also issues that we deal with here at Georgetown,” Ferretti wrote.
The School of Nursing and Health Studies appointed Carole Roan Gresenz as interim dean while the university begins its search for a permanent dean of the NHS. University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) announced that Gresenz began as interim dean at the start of September in an email to the Georgetown University community Tuesday. DeGioia praised Gresenz’s distinguished career and commitment to the university’s values as an NHS professor and senior associate dean. “Throughout her time with our University, Carole has demonstrated an exemplary level of commitment and care on behalf of our Georgetown community,” DeGioia wrote in the email. “I am deeply grateful to Carole for assuming this important role as we begin our process to identify permanent leadership for the School of Nursing and Health Studies.” For the upcoming academic year, Gresenz has three primary goals for advancing the NHS: supporting educational programs, strengthening research opportunities for faculty and students, and taking part in the university’s Health Sciences Strategy Initiative, she said in a university news release. “What I’m most looking forward to is strategizing about the
ways that Georgetown, in general, and NHS, in particular, can increasingly contribute to the complex and important issues surrounding health and health care in the U.S and globally, both through the education of our students and the work of our faculty,” Gresenz wrote in an email to The Hoya. Gresenz, who began her interim term at the start of September, is a tenured full professor in the school’s department of health systems administration. She joined Georgetown’s faculty for the first time in 2012, holding the Bette Jacobs Endowed Professorship and became a senior associate dean in 2018. Before Gresenz began working at Georgetown, she was a researcher at a public policy think tank. Research is critical for students and faculty in the NHS and advancing those opportunities is one of her aims as interim dean, she wrote. “What I love about research is simple—it is the idea of asking questions about the world—and in my case, about health and health care primarily; identifying ways to answer those questions; and then working on disseminating findings appropriately so that the knowledge can be used to improve peoples’ lives,” Gresenz wrote. Gresenz succeeds Patricia Cloonan, who stepped down after serving as dean for five years. Cloonan was appointed as dean of the NHS in September 2016 after acting as interim dean from 2014 onward.
The university intends to initiate its search for a permanent dean this fall and make a selection in time for the 2020-21 academic year, Gresenz wrote. Cloonan strengthened the undergraduate and graduate programs in the NHS and advanced the university’s commitment to academic excellence, according to DeGioia. “I wish to again express my deepest gratitude to our colleague, Patricia Cloonan, Ph.D., RN, for her service as Dean and steadfast leadership of NHS over the past five years, and for her continued contributions to our community,” Degioia wrote. To supplement the NHS’ leadership team, professor Pablo Irusta will also become associate dean of the NHS in addition to his role as chair of the department of human science, according to the news release. Patricia Grady (NHS ’67), director emerita of the National Institute of Nursing Research, will join as a senior advisor for nursing in the office of the dean, supporting the department chairs and helping supervise programs in the NHS. Leading the NHS is an exciting opportunity that requires a commitment to collaboration across areas of study, Gresenz wrote. “We are uniquely positioned to contribute to the interdisciplinary education of students and to interdisciplinary research in health sciences,” Gresenz wrote. “NHS is a gem of Georgetown.”
Panel Calls Out Antisemitism AMY LI
Hoya Staff Writer
The polarization of political discourse is a concerning trend at a time where there are growing antisemitic sentiments in the United States, panelists said at a dialogue about American Jews in the era of the President Donald Trump administration Sept. 3. The event titled “Loyal/ Disloyal? American Judaism in the Era of the Trump Presidency,” which was sponsored by Georgetown University’s Center for Jewish Civilization, featured notable experts who remarked on Trump’s evocation of the antisemetic trope of “dual loyalty” of American Jews between the United States and Israel. At a press conference with the president of Romania on Aug. 21, Trump stated American Jews would be disloyal to Jewish people and Israel if they voted for a Democrat in the upcoming election, according to The New York Times. His remark was criticized for evoking an antisemitic trope that the American Jewish community have a dual loyalty and are more faithful to Israel than their own country. While no panelist drew an explicit connection between Trump’s statements and the rise in antisemitic hate crimes addressed at the event, they agreed there has been a recent shift in how people approach current political discourse reflected in the rhetoric of political leaders. Unclear and careless rhetoric makes room for antisemitism and stops individuals from criticizing like-minded peers, according to Senior Fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings Institution
Tamara Cofman Wittes. “I think that our broader political discourse and the way it has degraded has created a permissive environment,” Wittes said. “The permissive environment not only may deter people from calling out those in their own camp, but it also makes it easier for the real haters to insinuate this content into the political discourse in ways that other people may be uneducated enough to fall prey to.” Other panelists included Director of the CJC at the School of Foreign Service Jacques Berlinerblau, visiting professor of contemporary antisemitism and CJC Senior Fellow Ira Forman and Senior Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute Danielle Pletka. The number of hate crime incidents targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in the United States rose 37% in the year following Trump’s inauguration, according to data released by the FBI. The number of hate crimes on Georgetown’s campus surged 275% in 2017. Antisemitic graffiti was found in restrooms outside Makóm, the Jewish prayer space, in May 2017, and swastikas were found spraypainted in bathrooms in LXR Hall during Rosh Hashanah the same year. The recent rise in antisemitic hate crimes in the United States corresponds with a growing partisan divide in the country, Wittes told Tuesday’s audience. “If we’re talking about the situation of American Jews, what has changed is the well documented rise in antisemitic hate crimes, both violent and nonviolent,” Wittes said. “I would say that is part of a context in our American
political discourse that has become more polarized, coarser, unrestrained and corrosive of some of the bonds that hold us together as a country.” “Antisemitism is a scourge, and the politicization of it and the politicization of everything is to our detriment,” Pletka said. “We need to be able to have a conversation and a dialogue across different ideologies and across different political persuasions and religious persuasions. The more that we try to use it as a tool that we can hang around the necks of our political adversaries, the more that it becomes a problem that we neither talk about in an intelligent way nor seek solutions to.” Politicizing topics such as antisemitism impedes effective discourse between those with varying political beliefs, Pletka said. The Muslim and Jewish communities on Georgetown’s campus have supported each other in response to antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks. After the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018, the Muslim Student Association delivered handwritten letters of support to Jewish students and faculty. Members of the Jewish community responded in solidarity by chalking positive messages in Red Square. Citizens have a duty to stand up against those who put forward antisemitic, racist and sexist sentiments, according to Pletka. “The worst of the worst are in a category of their own,” Pletka said. “It is those who excuse them, those who create room for them in society, those that tolerate them, are the ones that enable this to spread.”
@CJC_INFO/TWITTER Panelists agreed that President Donald Trump’s recent aside regarding “loyal” and “disloyal” Jews evoked a harmful antisemitic trope at an event in Copley Formal Lounge on Sept. 3.
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ICC Debuts New Furniture; Further Updates Anticipated
GUPolitics Announces Fall Cohort, Including 4 Alumni
KATRINA SCHMIDT
CONNOR THOMAS
Hoya Staff Writer
Walking into the Intercultural Center Galleria just a week ago, heavy wooden tables and coffeestained couches greeted visitors to the central space of the home of the School of Foreign Service and several academic departments. Beginning Tuesday, brightly printed couches and sleek white tables replaced the outdated furniture in the first stage of refreshes to the space. The updates are the result of a campaign by the SFS Academic Council to change easily mutable elements of the galleria now rather than wait for potential future renovations to the ICC, Siddharth Muchhal (SFS ’21) said. “Academic council is just really happy that we were able to get this sort of project moving forward,” Muchhal said. Refurbishing the long-maligned galleria has been the subject of discussion among the SFS Office of the Dean, faculty and students since at least the spring of 2018, when SFS Dean Joel Hellman presented three proposals for the ICC at a public event. Students in attendance at the time raised questions about the lack of a simple option addressing current concerns, asking why the student body must wait years for potential renovations rather than immediate fixes like adjusting lighting and furniture. “I always felt from the time I
arrived here on campus that the Galleria was very underutilized as a space,” Hellman said in an interview with The Hoya. “It wasn’t an inviting space, it didn’t have furnishings or groupings of furnishings that would lead people to talk and engage.” In response to these and similar conversations, the academic council created and shared a Google Forms survey with students and faculty that asked open-ended questions such as “What are your main concerns with the ICC Galleria (Atrium)? How can it be improved?” The survey was open from April 11, 2019, to April 23, 2019. Seventeen faculty members and 267 students responded to the survey, naming the lack of seating, poor lighting and excessive noise as some of their key concerns, among others. The survey was used to develop the plans for the cosmetic updates implemented this week. The galleria previously had 56 maximum available seats. The new seating arrangement has 61 seats, and the layout is intended to make the space more flexible for a range of uses. In addition to increased seating and a variety of tabletops, a rug was added underneath the entire space to control sound in the brick atrium with soaring ceilings that was previously at a constant din, according to Chief of Staff to the SFS Dean Emily Zenick. “The whole idea is to have a
@JOELHELLMAN_SFS/TWITTER
The new furniture in the ICC Galleria includes an increased number of seats for students to use for studying and collaboration.
community space,” Zenick said in an interview with The Hoya. “We purposely designed it so that people can move around the chairs and there’s some alone space.” As the central space in the seven-story ICC, one of the largest academic buildings on campus, the galleria is crucial as a workspace for students both in the SFS and other schools, Mucchal said. “The furniture layout is obviously much more modern, much more new, much easier to work with, much more inviting for students to sit, study, collaborate with other students — which I think really is the goal of the Galleria as a space, as the heart for the SFS,” Mucchal said. Although reactions to the new furniture have been mostly positive, according to Mucchal and Zenick, not all students feel that the space is utilized as well as it could be. Claire Hazbun (SFS ’20), who replied to Hellman’s tweet announcing the changes, said in an interview with The Hoya that the layout is ineffective. “I think the main priority is to be able to accommodate as many people as possible,” Hazbun said. “The way that they’ve chosen to kind of have individual small seats, or smaller tables, the bar height tables — I just don’t think it’s very efficient.” Hazbun wishes the update had attempted to simply maximize the space, rather than diversify the types of seating. “I would say if they were to completely redo it, they should just make a bunch of communal tables that seat four people,” she said. “A couple of couches are fine, but I just don’t think those are functional for most students who often go there to be on their laptops or read or take notes or do homework in between classes,” Hazbun said. In addition to the galleria, areas in front of the first and second floor elevators received new seating on Thursday that will be installed in the upcoming days. Even more renovations are coming, and artificial lighting will be installed over winter break to improve the lighting in the space, according to Zenick. “Even on the bottom floors, which are still the most problematic in the ICC, we’re trying to try and create better common spaces in the hallways so that students can use them more effectively,” Hellman said. “There’s still a long way to go in the ICC, and in order to get this building to be truly accommodating and truly welcoming I think this is a good step, and I can say in the first few days I’ve noticed a kind of new energy.”
SFS Introduces 4 New Centennial Fellows for 2019 CADY STANTON Hoya Staff Writer
Journalism, government and public policy professionals, including two Georgetown University alumni, are among this year’s cohort of School of Foreign Service Centennial Fellows for the 2019-20 school year. This cohort marks the third year that the SFS has hosted a class of Centennial Fellows. All fellows are first nominated by faculty members, then reviewed by a Centennial Fellows Committee consisting of two faculty members and two students, according to Former Senior Associate Dean for Graduate and Faculty Affairs and professor Anthony Arend. SFS Dean Joel Hellman made the final decisions on candidates. The fellows will work closely with a group of SFS undergraduate students who are chosen as Junior Fellows based on consultations with the fellows and the dean’s office. The Junior Fellows, who will be announced by the dean’s office by Sept. 13, will work directly with the Centennial Fellows on specific projects relevant to each Centennial Fellow’s background, including organizing panels, preparing for media appearances and developing op-eds, according to Arend. The Junior Fellows program fosters strong mentorship relationships between students and Centennial Fellows, according to Dean Hellman. “What I’ve seen happen over the course of this Centennial Fellows program is that the students often build very deep relationships with the Centennial Fellows, and that
has a mentoring dimension, that has a personal inspiration dimension,” Hellman said. “You can just see the depth and the warmth of the relationship that develops across these Centennial Fellows and Junior Fellows.” E. William Priestap concluded his 21-year career with the FBI earlier this year after serving as assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division from December 2015 to December 2018. The Centennial Fellows program allows for mutual learning between students and career professionals, according to Priestap. “I most look forward to learning from GU students, faculty, and the other fellows. I’m sure many of them view the world very differently than me, and I can’t wait to hear their perspectives,” Priestap wrote in an email to The Hoya. In addition to Priestap, the cohort includes Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Jill Dougherty (GRD ’13), Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development W. Gyude Moore (GRD ’09) and CARE USA’s Vice President for Humanitarian Policy and Practice Bathsheba Crocker. The fellows will hold office hours with undergraduate students, work with courses in the SFS and participate in events on campus throughout the year. Moore, who previously served as Minister for Public Works of Liberia, has worked in a multitude of positions within the Liberian government, including as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Having served in his role
during a period when Liberia suffered the effects of the West African Ebola outbreak, Moore hopes to share the lessons he learned in a leadership position in a post-conflict, low income country. “Very few people have the experience of crisis management with stakes that high,” Moore wrote. “I had to make decisions on the deployment of very limited resources over a significant infrastructure gap, amidst political considerations. I think the leadership lessons from those experiences will be useful for our students.” The fellowship position serves as a chance for him to pass on the lessons he has learned to interested students, according to Moore. “It was an opportunity to give back to a university and community that have given so much to me,” Moore wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Many of the students here will go on to assume leadership positions across different disciplines – it makes sense to share what I’ve learned before they head out.” The SFS hopes that students take advantage of the access to the fellows’ expertise to make steps forward in their career and personal development, according to Hellman. “Every year we’re always so fortunate to get a group of people who are experienced in different fields who have a lot to offer students in terms of mentoring, support, guidance and have a really diverse set of experiences,” Hellman said. “It creates an opportunity for a range of our students who are interested in different career paths to get to engage with them.”
Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service announced its fall-semester class of five fellows, including four Georgetown alumni, with backgrounds in fields ranging from journalism to increasing minority representation in politics. The Georgetown University Politics fellows, who serve for one academic semester and were announced by the institute Aug. 21, will work directly with students, holding discussion groups and office hours at the GUPolitics Office to share their industry experience with Georgetown undergraduates. The institute is held an open house with the fellows Sept. 5. The fall 2019 class includes four Georgetown alumi: Republican policy and political advisor Jonathan Burks (SFS ’99), former Republican Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer (CAS ’81), Senior Advisor to the Human Rights Campaign Olivia Alair Dalton (COL ’06), and ABC News reporter Karen Travers (COL ’00, GRD ’03). The fifth fellow for the semester is EquisLabs cofounder Stephanie Valencia. GUPolitics purposefully selected fellows from across the political spectrum in this year’s cohort, according to Executive Director Mo Elleithee (SFS ’94). “We seek out Fellows from a variety of professional backgrounds and political ideologies, who we know can bring diverse perspectives and help enrich the Georgetown student experience,” Elleithee wrote in an email to The Hoya. “As with every year, this year’s process was competitive, and we came out with a dynamic group.” This new class of fellows
brings an abundance of realworld experience in public policy, journalism and politics. Burks currently works in the private sector, advising clients on national policy with his firm JWB Advisors. Colyer served as governor of Kansas from 2018 to 2019, is a board-certified craniofacial and pediatric plastic surgeon, and has a special interest in with implementing foreign aid to solve major international disasters and humanitarian crises. For eight weeks this semester, each fellow will hold a 90-minute discussion group in the evenings open to the whole Georgetown community on a topic relevant to their industry. Elleithee stressed the accessibility of the fellows in these discussions. “There are no required readings and no homework, just lively discussions open to the entire university community,” he wrote. “This semester’s discussion topics range from the 2020 presidential election, to White House reporting, to strategies for success in public service, and more.” Bringing a policy background to the cohort, Dalton is currently the senior advisor to the Human Rights Campaign and founder of Dalton Strategies, and she formerly served as First Lady Michelle Obama’s press secretary. She is known for her active commitment to LGBTQ rights and policy. Valencia is the co-founder of EquisLabs, which works to empower the Latinx electorate to make their voices heard in American politics. She also advised former President Barack Obama during his campaigns and both his terms in office, serving in the White House Office of Public Engagement. In the journalism industry, Travers is a Washington,
D.C.-based White House correspondent at ABC News, where she began working in 2000. She has covered the President Donald Trump administration, the Russia probe and Trump’s international trips and summits with world leaders. Any currently enrolled students can visit the fellows during their office hours at the GUPolitics Office in Healy Hall, and the institute encourages all students to take advantage of the program, according to Elleithee. Student engagement with the fellows helps the program reach its full potential, according to Jennie Fay, director of fellows and career programming. “The students’ enthusiasm is really what makes this program so successful: from volunteering their time to assist with our Open House and special events, to working on student strategy teams, to attending regular discussion groups, Georgetown students bring immense value to our Fellows program,” Fay wrote in an email to The Hoya. “They are why the Fellows are here, and so it’s exciting to see so much interest in this program every semester.” Elleithee said he was excited to see so many alumni were interested in coming back to Georgetown and working with current Hoyas. “We’re especially psyched about this class of fellows, which includes folks who have reached the top of their fields in politics, government, advocacy and media. And it’s extra special that four of the five are Hoyas themselves,” Elleithee wrote. “Each semester, the GU Politics fellows help pull back the curtain on politics, helping to shed light on how it really works, and exploring with students how to make it work better.”
New Social Justice, Advocacy Clubs To Table at CAB Fair HARRISON MCBRIDE Hoya Staff Writer
A variety of new clubs, including a climate lobbying club and an anti-gun violence organization, are set to table at the 2019 Fall Council of Advisory Boards Fair this Saturday. CAB fair, the semesterly event that highlights student organizations on campus, will run from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. September 7 on Copley Lawn. The fair highlights over 300 clubs and will feature the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and March for Our Lives, among other new student groups. The CCL, an international advocacy organization, will table at CAB fair for the first time Saturday, according to President Laura Rockefeller (SFS ’22). The primary goal of the Georgetown University chapter of the organization will be to lobby Congressional representatives to sponsor the Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal in support of imposing a price on carbon-emitting fuels, Rockefeller said. “We want to make an impact and have a ton of fun doing it,” Rockefeller wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The Georgetown chapter of CCL will work with the environmental community here on campus, but our larger goal is Congressional action.” Bringing a chapter of CCL to Georgetown will add to campus environmental
initiatives and allow the club to build relationships within the community and advocate for the national organization’s focus on climate policies, according to Rockefeller. “After learning more about the organization and getting involved with it as a whole, I realized I wanted to bring a formal university chapter to our school,” Rockefeller wrote. “The existing environmental community at Georgetown is fantastic, and I’m so excited for CCL to continue building those relationships while we work to promote the national branch’s goals.” Undergraduates can start a new student organization through a semester-long New Club Development process, according to the university website. The listed procedure and related documentation are required for new organizations to be fully recognized, to receive Access to Benefits status and to access space reservation services. Students interested in developing a new club could start the process last week in two of the three information sessions Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m. and Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in the Leavey Center to gain an extensive overview of the process, according to CAB Chair Josh Sirois (SFS ’20). If students missed the meetings, they are still encouraged to table with their groups in on-campus public areas like Red Square or
the Healey Family Student Center, hold meetings in classrooms reserved through the registrar and advertise around campus, as long as signage does not use Georgetown’s name, logo and trademarks, according to the website. New clubs add to the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives on campus by providing more opportunities for community, according to Sirois. “Georgetown brings together students with immense variety of backgrounds and lived experiences — all of whom have different interests and activities that they enjoy,” Sirois wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “Our opportunities for involvement must be just as diverse in order to create spaces for and build communities with all Hoyas on the Hilltop.” The Georgetown chapter of March for Our Lives, a national anti-gun violence organization, will also attend their first Fall CAB fair this Saturday. The chapter will not only focus on the annual march against gun violence but also support gun violence preventative measures, according to Communications Director Kira Pomeranz (COL ’22). “Many people think of the literal march on March 24th, 2018 when they hear our organization, and typically people ask us when the march will be this year,” Pomeranz wrote in an email to The Hoya. “However, this club is the Georgetown University branch of students who support gun violence prevention run through the organization behind the literal march.” The initial march to protest gun violence happened in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2018, following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Feb. 14, 2018. Students at Georgetown had a 17-minute walkout one month after the shooting to commemorate each person killed and to advocate for policy change. The Georgetown chapter of March for Our Lives is fit for students who want to talk about gun sense legislation and important, difficult topics during club meetings, according to Pomeranz. “I would suggest this club to anyone who agrees with gun sense legislation—regardless of political affiliation,” Pomeranz wrote. “If you come to a meeting you’ll have to think about subjects that make you uncomfortable, but it’s an experience that is so important.”
CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE/FACEBOOK
This year’s CAB fair will include representatiion from at least two new student groups, including a Georgetown chapter of March for Our Lives.
Sana Rahman and Riley Rogerson contributed to this reporting.
NEWS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
THE HOYA
A9
Bagel Deli Call Your Mother Set to Open in Georgetown CONNOR THOMAS Hoya Staff Writer
Popular bagel deli Call Your Mother will open its second location late this fall in the bright pink and green building at the corner of 35th and O streets, formerly GreenWorks Florist. Call Your Mother’s first location opened in October 2018 in Park View to long lines and critical acclaim. Eater’s website named it one of the 16 best new restaurants in America earlier this year. The new location, at 3428 O St. NW, is set to open near the end of October. The deli’s founder and selfappointed “Chief Dough Boy” Andrew Dana also co-owns the popular Timber Pizza Co. in Petworth, a regular vendor at the Georgetown University Farmers’ Market, with his friend Chris Brady. Dana partnered with another Washington, D.C. native, Jeff Zients, to develop the Call Your Mother deli concept, which ultimately proved to be wildly popular. The Park View location saw about four times more customers than projected and had to streamline its menu to accommodate demand, Dana said. “Clearly D.C. was very ready for a new bagel shop,” he said in an interview with The Hoya. “We
basically can’t service everyone we want to on the weekends, so we thought, let’s open a new joint.” The deli does not yet have an opening date, however, as it still needs to secure a building permit from the Old Georgetown Board, an advisory board of three architects that reviews proposed building projects in the neighborhood. The bagel shop hopes to open eight to 10 weeks after the permit is secured, Dana said, and the restaurant’s interior post-renovation will be about 1,100 square feet, according to Washington Business Journal. “It’s gonna obviously have the same color scheme and be similar to the Park View location, but we’re moving over to Georgetown so we felt it had to be a little more refined for you refined kids,” he said. “We are hopeful for a mid to late October opening, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.” The team reached out to GreenWorks when the space was not on the market and signed a deal to rent it from the floral company, Dana said. “I grew up in D.C., and I’ve always loved that building,” he said. “It was sort of a serendipitous exchange where I reached out at the exact right time and we struck
CALL YOUR MOTHER DELI/INSTAGRAM
Call Your Mother is looking into allowing Georgetown University students to pay with their GOCards at their new location on 35th and O streets.
a deal pretty quickly.” It will not be your average deli, though. Call Your Mother tries to put a twist on the typical Jewishstyle deli fare, Dana said. Dana himself is half-Jewish and the menu includes funky takes on simple bagel-and-spread combos, with dishes like a zaatar-seasoned bagel with candied salmon cream cheese and a pizza bagel. “We call ourselves a ‘Jew-ish Deli,’ so there’s definitely an ode to some Jewish classics, but we’re certainly not doing anything super classical,” he said. “So you won’t find a Reuben on our menu, but you’ll find a ‘cheesesteak’ made with brisket and pastrami on a challah sub roll.” Dana is looking into allowing students to pay with their GOCards, either through debit or Flex dollars, and they may even expand hours into dinnertime. However, many of these details are still in the works, he said. Call Your Mother will have a table at the Georgetown University Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays this semester, with other surprise features to come. “There will definitely be a couple items that are unique to the Georgetown location that you can’t get at the Park View location, but I can’t tell you what those are yet,” Dana said. GreenWorks, which still owns the building, closed in late May, according to The Georgetowner. The floral company consolidated its inventory in its other locations in the West End and Willard Hotel, according to a company spokesperson. “It was more of a boutique location, more for novelty items, home furnishing, and more of a gift shop and a takeaway arrangement shop rather than a larger scale full design shop,” the spokesperson said. GreenWorks will still deliver to Georgetown and within a 25mile radius of D.C., leaving its business operations unaffected.
TAIM FALAFEL/INSTAGRAM
Taïm Falafel’s menu features different bases, such as falafel and cauliflower shawarma, which can be eaten in a pita, salad or platter. The restaurant aims to appeal to Georgetown students looking for healthier eating options.
New Falafel Restaurant Draws Crowd in First Week DUSTIN HARTUV Hoya Staff Writer
Highly anticipated New York City falafel chain Taïm Falafel opened its first Washington, D.C. location on Wisconsin Avenue on Aug. 31. Israeli chefs Einat Admony and Stéfan Nafziger founded the first Taïm Falafel in Manhattan 14 years ago, but the Georgetown spot is the first location outside of New York, according to Washingtonian. The popular restaurant, which gets its name from the Hebrew word for “tasty,” hopes to open three more D.C. locations next year. The Georgetown location, at 1065 Wisconsin Ave. NW, has already drawn a crowd, according to Taïm Falafel CEO Phil Petrilli. “What excites me most about the new restaurant is actually the thousands now (in just the first week) of people who have tried Taïm for the first time and been so blown away by the food and the service in the restaurant,” Petrilli wrote in an email to The Hoya. Taïm wants to foster longterm positive relationships with its new customers, according to COO Bethany Strong. “The restaurant has been exceeding our expectations and we have established some terrific relationships with customers who have already become regulars!,” Strong
wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We have started to receive catering orders and have seen a daily increase in downloads of our app and online orders.” Chef Admony chose to expand to D.C. because of its close proximity to New York and its vibrant food culture, according to Eater. Moving to D.C. was an easy decision to grow the chain, Petrilli said. “DC made a lot of sense given how close it is to NYC (lots of people here already know us from their travels in NYC), the incredible diversity in this city and the relative void here for really high quality yet super affordable vegetarian focused dining options,” Petrilli wrote. “It really was an obvious next step for us as we expand outside of NYC.” While the new menu stays close to its established New York restaurants, Admony regularly changes items on the list, according to Washingtonian. The menu currently features different bases like falafel and cauliflower shawarma, which can be eaten in a pita, salad or platter, as well as a variety of sides. The majority of entree dishes are around $10. Though this is Taïm’s first location in the District, it is not the first falafel restaurant in Georgetown. Competitors such as Falafel Inc. on Potomac Street also attract students from the university. One student, Sarah Alberts (NHS
‘21), described the differences between the two falafel hotspots while having lunch at Taïm. “It is a little bit more expensive than Falafel [Inc.], but I would say Falafel [Inc.] is a little more of a lunch place whereas you could get more of a dinner sized meal here,” she said. “So, if you want to eat something more substantial you could come here.” Alberts enjoyed Taïm’s variety, but she was not ready to say it tastes better than the Potomac Street mainstay. “Flavor-wise, this has more sides to add to your meal. Falafel [Inc.] is a little more basic,” she said. “I think the falafel itself at Falafel [Inc.] tastes better, but the sides here counteract that.” The management of Taïm Falafel hopes to appeal to Georgetown students in particular, emphasizing its vegetarian and vegan options. “What we create every day is really aligned with the way today’s Georgetown student thinks about and eats food. First and foremost— we are real and we are authentic,” Petrilli wrote. “People today recognize the beautiful diversity in flavors, colors, and textures that come with plant based eating and especially the young adults of our communities are simply looking to incorporate healthier eating options into their diets.”
Skip Scooters Return to DC After Battery Fire Incident HARRISON MCBRIDE Hoya Staff Writer
Skip dockless scooters resumed regular operations in Washington, D.C., Arlington and Alexandria on Aug. 31 after a Skip warehouse fire led the District Department of Transportation to suspend the company’s permit in June. Arlington and Alexandria also discontinued Skip’s operations in their cities shortly after, according to The Washington Post. Reports of the warehouse fire came days after a separate scooter fire was reported and linked to the San Franciscobased scooter company in late May 2019. At the time of the fire in June, a DDOT investigation also revealed two undisclosed Skip scooter fires in September and November 2018. Ultimately, Skip claimed in a series of tweets that the June fire was due to batteries that had been removed from scooters and was not linked to a charging problem or the scooters themselves. The company showed that it took the appropriate measures to correct the issues that led to the fires, according to DDOT Director Jeff Marootian. “Skip has submitted documentation demonstrating the clear steps they have taken to ensure that best battery safety practices are followed by all staff and facilities,” Marootian wrote in an email to The Hoya. “After reviewing the revised procedures and finding there will be increased oversight to operation practices, DDOT believes that
Skip will be able to operate safely in public space.” Skip published a news release Aug. 9 announcing its return to the District and the specific safety measures the company took during its suspension. “Over the last six weeks, we committed ourselves to completely revamping our safety approach,” the company wrote in the news release. “It started with consulting battery experts and OSHA compliance firms to implement new operations and audit procedures for handling and disposing of damaged or vandalized equipment in the field and at our warehouses.” Those procedures include using diagnostics to provide real-time monitoring of scooters and their batteries so unsafe units can be removed from the streets. Skip will also make safety certifications mandatory for warehouse employees and focus on comprehensively reporting scooter issues to DDOT. After the audit and Skip’s promise to implement these safety measures, DDOT approved the company to resume operations in D.C., and Arlington and Alexandria followed suit. Now that the scooters are available again, Skip will focus its efforts on making sure they are available in college neighborhoods, according to Rob McPherson, Skip Scooters’ D.C. general manager. “Skip is thrilled to be back serving the DC community,” he wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are particularly focused on serving the areas
of Georgetown and Foggy Bottom where students want a low cost, readily available transportation option.” This is not the first time that dockless vehicles in D.C. have faced problems. Capital Bikeshare, which is owned by Lyft, recalled its electric pedal assist bikes in April following reports of injuries sustained by riders due to faulty brakes. The e-bikes are expected to return sometime this fall, according to WTOP, but Capital Bikeshare has not named a specific date. Skip’s competitor Lime recalled thousands of scooters last year, announcing in an October 2018 statement that it learned a manufacturing defect put its scooters’ batteries at risk of smoldering or catching fire, according to The Washington Post. In November 2018, DDOT implemented new requirements for dockless vehicle companies including a higher operating fee in the city and a reduced maximum scooter speed. Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh pushed for the guidelines after the death of one man on a scooter and another on a bike in September 2018. These rules were initially met with some opposition by several other scooter companies in the District, but Skip reportedly complied after the requirements were enacted. Skip stated it would be offering free rides to returning customers once operations fully resumed. Details about this program, however, have not yet been released by the company.
A10
SPORTS
THE HOYA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
FIELD HOCKEY
VOLLEYBALL
Hoyas Capture Definitive Victory Over Davidson RACHEL GAUDREAU Hoya Staff Writer
GUHOYAS
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Brennan Wilhite leads her fellow Hoyas in a strong celebration during one of the Hoyas' four matches last weekend.
Georgetown Volleyball Captures 3 Wins at Home HENRY DAI Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown women’s volleyball team was back in action for the fall season last weekend at the 2019 Georgetown Classic in Washington, D.C., where they finished with a 3-1 record. Georgetown won its first three matchups of the weekend against Rider University, Sacred Heart University, Central Connecticut State University and the University of Central Arkansas before falling in a difficult match against the University of Central Arkansas. The Hoyas first faced the Broncs, winning in three sets. Senior outside hitter Iva Vujosevic led Georgetown with 13 kills, while freshman setter Emma Plutnicki recorded 28 assists to lead the way on that front. On the opponent’s side, freshman right side Morgan Romano had 15 kills, and senior libero Rachelle Runyon added 13 digs.
Georgetown would keep its early momentum going into its second game Friday against Sacred Heart. Even though SHU led Georgetown by a significant 94-72 margin in digs, the Hoyas were steady and resilient, staying close in the kills and assists columns. They went on to win 3-2 in a nailbiting final fifth set to continue the successful start to the season. On Saturday, Georgetown started out by playing CCSU. Two outside hitters, sophomore Elissa Barbosa and junior Riley Wertzberger, led the Hoyas with seven kills each, and junior Margo Pivonka contributed 26 assists — far more than anyone else on either side. The Blue Devils boasted strong performances from junior outside hitter Samantha McCreath and junior setter Erin McDermott. In the end, however, the Hoyas would win the first two sets in close fashion, each by a score of 25-22, before a less competitive
third set to finish the match 3-0. The Hoyas, after a 3-0 start, played their last game of the classic against the Sugar Bears. Georgetown was led by Vujosevic and Plutnicki, who earned nine kills and 17 assists respectively. UCA showed a strong performance from senior outside hitter Abbie Harry, who had 11 kills, and junior setter Bailey Waddington, who had 16 assists. UCA went on to win in three sets (2516, 25-15, 25-19). Having officially started play, the Hoyas are ready to tackle another season. With several key players returning from last year, the Hoyas hope to improve upon their previous record of 17-13. Vujosevic is looking to once again dominate in the kills and aces columns. Pivonka, who made more than 1,000 assists last season, is returning as setter. There are also eight freshmen on the team this year who will add new talent to the team.
The Georgetown field hockey team (1-1) opened its season Aug. 30 with a solid victory against Davidson (0-2), marking the Hoyas’ fourth consecutive victory over the Wildcats. The next game, however, Georgetown ended its opening homestand in disappointment with a loss to Appalachian State (2-0). Georgetown field hockey returned to action against Davidson on Aug. 30 at Cooper Field. Having defeated the Wildcats in their previous three matchups, the Hoyas headed into the season opener with hopes of a fourth consecutive victory. From the whistle, the Blue and Gray dominated offensively, tallying three shots and three penalty corners in the first quarter to Davidson’s zero shots and zero penalty corners. While the Hoyas could not find the back of the cage in the first quarter, they quickly put away a goal in the second to go up 1-0. Freshman midfielder Ellie Maransky opened up the scoring, finding the right side of the cage in the 23rd minute. The goal propelled the Hoyas’ offensive momentum, leading to their 10 shots in the second quarter to the Wildcats’ zero. Senior forward Lindsey Getz added to the Blue and Gray lead with a goal of her own in the 28th minute of the match.
Maransky recorded her second collegiate goal and second of the game shortly into the third quarter during the 42nd minute to put the Blue and Gray up 3-0. In the 53rd minute, senior midfielder Michela Bruno slotted the ball past the goalkeeper on a breakaway after receiving an assist from Maransky, extending the Hoyas’ lead to four in the process. Getz finished off the team’s offensive efforts by capitalizing off of a pass from sophomore midfielder Halle Gill, eventually dribbling the ball past the Davidson keeper to score the Hoyas’ fifth goal in the 54th minute. Despite two goals scored by the Wildcats’ offense late in the fourth quarter, the Hoyas secured a 5-2 victory to open their season. After defeating Davidson by one in a nailbiter last season, Georgetown emerged from Friday’s matchup with a much greater margin of victory, recording five goals and 22 shots on the day. Head Coach Christy Longacre was obviously pleased with the Hoyas’ opening performance. "Today was a great start for us," Longacre said in an interview with GUHoyas. "Davidson was a tough team and put a lot of pressure on us, but I was happy with how our team adjusted and made it work." Coming off of a promising first victory, Georgetown faced
off against Appalachian State in the second game of their two-game homestand. Both teams began the game evenly matched, holding one another to zero goals through the first two quarters. The tie was broken in the 33rd minute of the match when sophomore goalkeeper Ciara Weets came out of the cage in an attempt to shut down a breakaway by the Mountaineers. Despite Weets’ efforts, the Appalachian State offense found the inside of the cage to go up by one early in the third quarter. The Hoyas responded to the goal with several offensive opportunities in an effort to even the score. Getz let off a shot in the play following the goal, just missing high. Junior back Ali Cronin followed up with a pair of shots of her own that were both saved by the Mountaineer goalkeeper. Appalachian State would go on to close out the game, winning 1-0 and handing Georgetown its first loss of the 2019 season. Appalachian State tallied 11 shots with six on goal to Georgetown’s 10 shots, seven being on goal. Both teams emerged with eight penalty corners in the match. The Mountaineers improved to 2-0 on the year while Georgetown fell to 1-1. The Hoyas next face Longwood in Farmville, Va., on Friday at 2 p.m. as part of a four-game road trip before opening Big East play.
CROSS COUNTRY
GU Men and Women Thrive At Mount St. Mary’s Duels JOANNA LACOPPOLA Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their fall seasons last Friday at the Mount St. Mary’s 5K Duals in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The men’s team finished in second place out of seven teams, while the women’s team earned second place out of eight teams. The Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays secured the victories in each race. Going into this race, the men’s team was ranked third in the Mid-Atlantic region of the 2019 D1 NCAA Men’s Cross Country Regional Rankings preseason poll, and the women were ranked seventh in the women’s rankings. Leading up to Friday’s race, Head Coach Brandon Bonsey of the men’s team told GUHOYAS of the team’s excitement to compete. “Friday will be a great opportunity to get the competitive juices flowing again,” Bonsey said. Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Julie Culley also told GUHOYAS about the
women’s team’s mindset going into last Friday’s race. Coach Culley shared her confidence with us having seen all of the hard work her runners put in over the course of the long summer. “We are looking forward to opening this weekend and getting a soft start to what will be a great season for our women,” Culley said. The men’s team went into this race as the reigning Big East champions. They competed strongly under the shadow of Division III powerhouse Johns Hopkins, which earned 11 of the top 20 spots in a dominant showing. The Hoyas had a small group of just seven runners competing. Senior Joshua Bell was the first Hoya to finish, earning 20th place with a time of 16:06.1. Following close behind him was fellow senior Eion Nohilly and junior Ty Brownlow finishing simultaneously with a time of 16:06.3. Graduate student Reilly Bloomer claimed the next spot, finishing in 16:06.4. Sophomores Price Owens and Quinn Nicholson had strong collegiate debuts this past weekend, showing the potential
for each of them to have a firm position in the Hoyas’ lineup after sitting out all of their freshmen campaigns. Earning 25th, Owens finished in 16:06.9, followed by Nicholson in 26th place with a time of 16:07.9. Last year’s women’s team had a strong season as well, having finished second out of 10 in the Big East championship meet held in Indianapolis, before placing seventh out of 30 in the NCAA regional meet in University Park, Pa. On the women’s side, the Hoyas had five of their 14 runners finish in the top 10. Sophomore Rachel Sessa was the first to finish for the Hoyas, earning 5th place with a time of 18:21.92. Freshman Maggie Donahue finished with a time of 18:29.25, gaining seventh place overall. Tying for eighth place was graduate student Madeline Perez and sophomore Sami Corman with a time of 18:30.1, followed closely by sophomore Alyssa Aldridge in 10th place. The teams will return to action next Friday, Sept. 13, at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational.
GUHOYAS
The Hoyas pushed forward from the starting line, keeping close as a pack as they did for the entire race, with the first five finishers for Georgetown taking five of the spots between 20 and 26.
GUHOYAS
The Georgetown field hockey team was unable to develop a sustained offense in the game against Appalachian State this week, putting three shots on net during regulation.
FROM THE SPOT
UEFA Reigns Supreme. Should That Be the Case?
Vikram Sud The Union of European Football Associations Champions League is the unquestioned pinnacle of each club soccer season, and for good reason: not only is it the only competition that combines all of the top European teams from across leagues, but it also has the most volatility and unpredictability, leaving its fans on the edge of their seats from start to finish. The knockout format creates drama, in which every result carries greater consequence than it would in 38-match domestic league campaigns. In addition, the participation of all the top teams creates a competition in which five to 10 teams legitimately can win the trophy each season. Also, smaller teams have enjoyed deep runs when compared to the champions of major domestic leagues, with Ajax and Tottenham having success last season. For these reasons, in recent years more than ever, the Champions League has become the defining event not only for fans, but also for the legacy of players and managers. Although the Champions League is clearly the most exciting competition to watch, there is now too much of an emphasis placed on the results of the Champions League when it comes to judging players and coaches. The last Champions League
campaign exemplified this perfectly. Both Barcelona and Manchester City displayed dominant form in their league and impressively won their league titles, with Manchester City winning their final 14 league matches to top Champions League winners Liverpool for the Premier League title. Both teams came up short by miniscule margins in their Champions League efforts, with Manchester City losing on away goals to Tottenham after a stoppage time Raheem Sterling goal, which was ruled off after VAR determined he was fractionally offside. Meanwhile, Barcelona was unable to hold onto a 3-0 first leg lead, losing the second leg 4-0 in the semifinals to Liverpool, despite star Lionel Messi creating a plethora of chances for his teammates. As a result of their defeat, Manchester City Coach Pep Guardiola faced a ton of criticism and backlash in continuing a trend of Champions League failure. Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde’s job is also under immense pressure, despite winning La Liga in his first two seasons. Messi was also snubbed for the UEFA Player of the Year award, despite being the top goal scorer in all European leagues and the top scorer in the Champions League, losing the award to Virgil van Dijk, despite Messi scoring two goals against the Liverpool defender in their Champions League matchup. The last five Ballon d’Or winners have also come from teams who have won the Champions League. The Champions League should matter when it comes to judging players, as it is the premier club competition in Europe and every team’s goal, but we as fans should also understand these 180-minute ties are decided by
such small margins that they should not be what defines how we judge the club season. However, two teams’ ultimate standing relative to one another being determined by a mere two matches lets randomness and volatility take over, brewing the suspense even further. While this may not be as exciting for fans, league campaigns should perhaps still be the most important criteria we use when it comes to defining players and teams. League campaigns span over the whole season, while Champions League knockout rounds only span a few months. While it may be less exciting to watch Messi and Barcelona square off against a team like Sevilla than Liverpool, the match still happens, and it should receive the emphasis and respect from fans and pundits that it deserves. External factors, such as draws, refereeing decisions, suspensions and injuries can play a massive factor in determining who goes through in a Champions League tie, but in a 38-match league, the best and most consistent team almost always wins. However, in recent years, league success has become almost a footnote, even in leagues such as the Premier League and La Liga, in which multiple great teams have legitimate chances of winning. Ultimately, while we all should and will continue to enjoy the Champions League, we should do more to take into account the volatile nature and the elements of randomness that make the competition so much fun to watch when it comes to judging the seasons of players, managers and teams. Vikram Sud is a junior in the College. FROM THE SPOT appears every other Friday.
SPORTS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
FOOTBALL
THE HOYA
A11
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Strong First Half Fuels Latest GU Win BUCKNELL, from A12
Georgetown victory. The shutout would be the first of Navarrete’s career. The Hoyas dominated the Bison in all statistical categories. Georgetown posted 27 shots and took 13 corner kicks, compared to to Bucknell’s three shots and five corners. While Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan was pleased with the result, he feels that the squad, which is vying for its fourth straight Big East championship, is playing below its potential, particularly after some lackluster passing and defending in the second half.. “I thought in the first half we were pretty good,” Nolan said in an interview with GUHOYAS. “I challenged the kids at halftime and said we need to be a performance team and not a results team, but I was a bit disappointed in the second half.” The Hoyas will have a much
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
Graduate student forward and captain Amanda Carolan leads the starting lineup in their last time to coordinate before the match against Bucknell, which the Hoyas went on to win. lower margin for error in their next matchup against some of the stiffest competition they will see all season, as they travel to play No. 5 Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Klockner Stadium.
This matchup against the perennial powerhouse Cavaliers will prepare the Hoyas for the serious competition which they will face within conference play. With only five games left before the start of Big East competition,
it is essential for the Hoyas to learn how not to shrink against serious competition, as well as to determine what lineups and schemes make the most sense for this year’s iteration of the Hoyas.
MEN’S SOCCER
Hoyas’ Offense Powers Definitive Wins GUHOYAS
Junior outside linebacker Owen Kessler prepares to jump across the line of scrimmage in the Hoyas’ loss at Davidson.
Furious Comeback Attempt Falls Short Against Davidson DAVIDSON, from A12
Looking to tie the game yet again, Georgetown took over at its own 29. The Hoyas ultimately made it midfield before the Wildcats stuffed a fourth down attempt. Davidson then ran out the remaining three minutes and 22 seconds and secured the win. Standout performances for the Hoyas include Johnson, who threw for two touchdowns, and Dereus, who caught both of them. Thomas posted 64 reception yards, 16 rushing yards and 77 yards on special teams. On defense, Kessler recorded 13 tackles and a fumble recover, while junior defensive back Cameron Deen and junior linebacker Xavier Reddick added 13 and 11. After the loss, the Hoyas look to score their first win of the 2019 campaign in the home opener against Marist on Sept. 7.
possession, the Hoya defense did its job yet again, forcing another fumble well within the opponents territory. Junior linebacker George Ikott managed to pick up the live ball at the 33-yard line and bring it all the way down to the Davidson 5. With the chance to tie the game, Johnson once again hit Dereus for the 1-yard score. As the clock ran out to end the third quarter, the score remained even at 20 apiece. After both teams failed to find the end zone on their next possessions, Davidson took over with 10 minutes to go at its own 20. Over the course of 11 plays, the Wildcats rekindled the offensive success they had in the second quarter, finding the end zone to take a sevenpoint lead with under five minutes to play.
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against Temple was a dominant victory, with Georgetown generating a number of opportunities to score and landing two goals in the first half. Sophomore midfielder Sean Zawadzki got into great position to score on a cross from Rothrock in the 25th minute, an opportunity which he converted. In the 39th
minute, Rothrock was able to tally another assist as he sent in a corner to senior captain and midfielder Dylan Nealis who headed it home. Like the game against Syracuse, Polvara sealed the victory again — he rocketed a shot from outside the box off a one-two pass combination with Dodson. While celebrating a 2-0 start to the season, unlike last campaign, which saw the
Hoyas lose to Coastal Carolina in the season’s second match, Rothrock heaped praise on his teammates in an interview with GUHOYAS. “I’m lucky because all three assists have had nice finishes so I haven’t been doing that much. This team is easy and fun to play with, we’re enjoying ourselves out there and I think it shows and the confidence level shows as well,” Rothrock, who leads
the team with three assists in just two games, said. This weekend, No. 21 Hoyas, according to RPI rankings, will hit the road as they play two away games in California, hoping to extend their undefeated start to the season. They face No. 18 UC Irvine Friday and No. 41 UCLA Monday. Georgetown will return home next Saturday for their matchup against the University of Connecticut.
COMMENTARY
Widespread Home Run Spike Is Just Fine
Last issue’s solutions
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Freshman midfielder Dante Polvara dribbles acoss the midfield stripe, scanning the opposition as he plans his next move. In the match against Temple, Polvara scored his first goal of the season and recorded 57 minutes of playing time.
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home run threshold. This total has risen significantly over the past 100 years, as in 1919 only three players crossed the 20 home run threshold — Babe Ruth, Gavvy Cravath and Frank “Wildfire” Schulte — which demonstrates just how widespread the MLB’s latest power surge has become. The home run spike has hit the whole league, not just one team or player. So far this season 1.40 home runs have been hit per team per game, easily on pace to beat the 2017 record of 1.26 and the similar totals from 2016, 2018 and 2000, all of which featured either modified baseballs or performanceenhancing drugs. That last figure of 1.40 stands especially tall next to 2014, the last year before juiced balls, where teams
sent 0.86 balls into the outfield bleachers or beyond. This home run trend is actually enjoyable as a fan, knowing that nearly any player can hit a home run in a given at-bat. The gap of 8.1 percentage points from the shares of home runs by the most and least productive spots in the batting order is a far cry from the at least 13% it was from 1925 to 2007. The MLB has altered the baseball itself to the point where home runs are being launched more frequently than ever by players of all calibers, leaving more power hitters on each team than before. Home runs are being hit more than ever, yet the single season home run records for an individual player are not receiving even the slightest threat from Christian Yelich, Pete Alonso, Mike Trout
and the rest of this era’s sluggers.
Home runs are being launched more frequently than ever before by players of all calibers, leaving more power hitters on each team than before. The game is now seeing its most iconic outcomes from the at-bat, strike out and home run, at a higher rate than ever before. In a sport that has changed constantly for hundreds of years with the developments of relief pitching, designated hitters and defensive shifts, among others, this change is simply par for the
course. While other sports change with rules, baseball’s evolution has always been more subtle for more than a century, so we should let this happen and experience it until the game is no longer enjoyable to watch. Many fans are against the baseballs being juiced, with many of the game’s best pitchers being three outcome pitchers. This reality makes most atbats home runs, which bring excitement, or walks and strikeouts, which are far less entertaining or interesting in the eyes of the casual fan. The rise in home runs is fun for fans and most players, and there are few plays in the sport as beautiful or electrifying as a home run with an explosive bat flip to match, making this trend far from a problem.
Sports
Women’s Soccer Georgetown (2-1-1) vs. Lafayette (1-2-1) Sunday, Sept. 8, 1 p.m. Shaw Field
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
NUMBERS GAME
TALKING POINTS
FIELD HOCKEY Hoyas’ offense, led by freshman Ellie Maransky, overwhelms Davidson in season opener at home.
See A10
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It was great to see a lot of guys get on and contribute today.”
Head Men’s Soccer Coach Brian Weise
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Spread (seconds) of the Hoya men’s top five finishers this weekend.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
MEN’S SOCCER
Georgetown Shuts Out Bucknell at Home HENRY MIHM
Hoya Staff Writer
The No. 15 Georgetown women’s soccer team returned to their winning ways Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Bucknell on Shaw Field. Despite a loss and a tie in the team’s previous two contests, the Hoyas (2-1-1) got off to a hot start against Bucknell(1-3) .
Senior forward Paula GerminoWatnick managed to score a goal just four minutes into the game, giving Georgetown an early 1-0 advantage. Following GerminoWatnick’s goal, the Hoya defense ensured that the opponents had little chance to even the score, preventing the Bison from taking a shot for the entire first half. Bucknell would
only manage three shots in the entire match. As the first half came to a close, freshman forward Gia Vicari put a shot on net from the left side of the box. As the Bison goalkeeper stepped out to make the save, sophomore forward Caitlin Moon intercepted the ball and put it in the back of the cage. This goal, the first of Moon’s career, gave the Hoyas
a 2-0 lead going into the break. Despite managing to produce some offense in the second half, including a close call in the 72nd minute, Bucknell was simply unable to gain any momentum. A solid performance in goal from junior goalkeeper Alyssa Navarrete ensured that the match would end as a 2-0 See BUCKNELL, A11
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
Junior defenseman Rio Hope-Gund lines up a ball in midair as he looks to clear the danger and start an attack against Syracuse.
GU Tops Syracuse, Dominates Temple KELTON MILLER
Special to The Hoya
The Georgetown men’s soccer team got off to a strong start with a 3-1 victory over rival Syracuse in the season opener Aug. 30, followed by a 3-0 win over Temple on Sept. 2. The Syracuse game got off to a slow start, without a single goal before halftime. The action picked up immediately into the second half, however, with junior forward Derek Dodson scoring off of a perfect setup from junior midfielder Paul Rothrock. The Orange were able to quickly equalize the score with a timely penalty kick in the 50th minute. The game remained tied 1-1 until the 74th minute when senior midfielder JB Fischer netted a goal off a corner kick from sophomore
midfielder Zach Riviere. Georgetown secured the win just one minute later with a goal from freshman midfielder Dante Polvara, playing his first game at the collegiate level. Following the win, in an interview with GUHOYAS, Head Coach Brian Weise declared his pride and high expectations for the team, particularly the freshmen. “We have a really unique team this year in that we have a really great group of freshmen and we don’t need any of them to be playing so they can be injected as needed when they’re ready. It was great to see a lot of guys get on and contribute today,” Weise said. Lacking the initial intensity or furious comeback seen in the Syracuse game, the game See SYRACUSE, A11
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
Senior Forward Paula Germino-Watnick, center escapes a trio of Bucknell defenders as she turns upfield in the Hoyas’ 2-0 victory. This move was part of her best performance so far this season, recording three shots on goal, one of which made its way past the opposing goalie.
FOOTBALL
Hoyas’ Comeback Falls Short at Davidson BRENDAN DOLAN Hoya Staff Writer
After a nine-month hiatus and an intense training camp, the Georgetown football squad took the field to face off against the Davidson Wildcats. While Georgetown managed to keep Davidson in check offensively, the Hoyas ultimately fell 27-20 after a late comeback came up short. This nonconference battle provided a solid early season test for the Hoyas, as Davidson’s prolific offense scored an average of nearly 45 points a game last year. Davidson took control of the game right away after receiving the opening kickoff. The Hoyas appeared to have the Wildcats stopped on their opening possession, preventing Davidson from converting a
third and one on the ground, but Davidson elected to go for it. On fourth down, Davidson slot receiver William Wicks took the handoff 25 yards down to the Georgetown 1-yard line before being knocked out of bounds. Just a play later, the Wildcats punched it in to jump out ahead 7-0, capping a 14play, 87-yard drive. Georgetown fought back, however, with a drive of its own. The Hoya offense found itself with a first and goal from the Davidson 9-yard line late in the opening quarter, but it was unable to capitalize on this opportunity due to a failed fourth down conversion attempt. Davidson again went the length of the field to score, but missed the extra point, leaving the Hoya deficit at 13. On the next series, Georgetown
failed to get anything going and went three and out. To flip field position, Georgetown senior punter Brad Hurst marked a school record by booting a 76-yard punt, pinning the opposition at the 1-yard line. With nearly 10 minutes remaining in the half, Davidson embarked on another long drive. The Wildcats methodically moved down the field on a drive that spanned 19 plays and nine minutes, capping it with another touchdown. Heading into the break, the Hoyas found themselves in a 20-0 hole. Opening the second half with the ball, Georgetown responded with an impressive drive. Senior quarterback Gunther Johnson took the Hoyas into Wildcat territory with a 51yard completion to sophomore wideout Joshua Tomas. A few
plays later, the Hoyas cut the Wildcat lead down to two scores after sophomore running back Herman Moultrie III forced his way across the goal line from 5 yards out. Both teams exchanged punts on the next few series, and the Wildcats regained possession after the sequence was complete. Georgetown would force the game’s first turnover, though, on this series as junior linebacker Owen Kessler recovered a fumble at the Davidson 32. Just a few plays later, Johnson found senior wide receiver Michael Dereus for the 12-yard touchdown that cut the Davidson lead to just a single score. On Davidson’s next See DAVIDSON, A11
GUHOYAS
Senior offensive lineman Ryan Jelinek scans the heart of Davidson’s defense, deciding who to block in order to maintain a clean pocket for fellow senior quarterback Gunther Johnson, who finished the game with 134 passing yards and two touchdowns. Visit us online at thehoya.com/category/sports
COMMENTARY
Jake Wexelblatt
MLB’s Baseball Adjustments Are Not a Problem Major League Baseball is in the midst of a juicing epidemic far different from the performanceenhancing drug usage in the 1990s, and this one is actually not a problem for the game at all. The set of 10 MLB seasons spanning from 1993 to 2002 has long stood as a taint among baseball’s beautiful history, with the biggest stories involving the race for home run titles and records by the same few players who were fueled by performance-enhancing drugs in their quest to take down records, which had stood for more than a generation. These players who juiced consistently like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds are still causing intense debate today among the baseball writing community, as they are currently eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. While those debates have become stale, though, the baseball world can turn its attention to a less predictable juicing epidemic — one which makes less sense and is more difficult to analyze. Over the course of each MLB season since 2015, the MLB has
used a slightly different baseball than the season before, trying to perfect the art of ball design without any officially declared or predictable endgame to this science experiment. Home run numbers have also skyrocketed in the past few years, but not for the same reasons as the last juicing epidemic. These past few years of baseball juicing, or the materials of the physical baseball being altered with the goal of the ball being more aerodynamic and flying further, have seen countless home run records fall, with others on pace to do the same by the end of the season. With another month still left in the season, the Minnesota Twins have already set the record for most home runs by a team in a season with 268 after hitting six home runs in a loss Saturday. This game edged the Twins past the record of 267 from last year’s Bronx Bombers, who are on pace to break their own record this year. While there is still about one month remaining in the season, a whopping 101 players have already crossed the 20 See WEXELBLATT, A11