GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 95, No. 38, © 2014
tuesday, march 4, 2014
SENIOR DAY
The Hoyas will honor five seniors tonight when they take on Creighton.
EDITORIAL Georgetown students were sadly lacking in fervor during Dissent XL.
SPORTS, A10
OPINION, A2
CASH FOR VETS GU partnered with the Tillman Foundation to offer veterans scholarships.
RED TAPE Bureaucracy at Georgetown grew more slowly than that of peers.
NEWS, A5
NEWS, A4
Students Protest XL Pipeline Though march began on campus, few from GU join national movement TM Gibbons-Neff Hoya Staff Writer
KRISTEN SKILLMAN/THE HOYA
Students from 100 colleges nationwide travelled to Georgetown to march from Red Square to the White House, where they chained themselves to the fence and lay down on a fake oil spill to protest construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. More than 300 protesters were arrested.
To chants of “climate change now,” more than 1,000 people, most of whom were college students, marched from Georgetown University’s Red Square to the White House on Sunday, protesting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Students from more than 100 universities participated in the protest, according to the event’s organizers. Eckerd College, located in St. Petersburg, Fla., sent the most students, at 40, while 10 Georgetown students participated. The protest march started in Red Square at 10 a.m. and by 3 p.m., over 300 protestors had zip-tied themselves to the White House’s North Lawn fence, while 60 other protesters lay on a mock plastic oil-spill, awaiting arrest by Park Police and the Secret Service. The protestors spent the afternoon demanding the government’s abandonment of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline, if built, would begin in Canada, running 1,200 miles from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb., See KEYSTONE, A6
#DBKGU Continues DC Assault Bill Spurs Activism Conversation on Race Suzanne Monyak Hoya Staff Writer
Kit Clemente
music. “It just dawned on me, that’s how society perceives black people: as beToward the end of February, flyers ing dangerous,” Corbin-Johnson said. featuring the hashtag #dbkgu began “The message I was trying to get across to appear around campus. On Monday, is, whether you are really dressed up, the group responsible for the flyers re- or whether you are casual, and regardvealed the phrase’s meaning through less of your accolades, because of laws the social media advocacy movement like Florida’s Stand Your Ground, a lot Dangerous Black Kids of Georgetown of society is only going to perceive you University. as a #dangerousblackkid, when in reThe Facebook page and accompany- ality you do so much for society, and ing Tumblr and Instagram featured you’re not a threat to society at all, but photographs of black students on cam- it’s just because of the color of your pus alongside their accomplishments skin that people have a certain percepand accolades. tion about you already.” For participants, the page creates a The focus on the contributions black forum to present students have their identity withmade to Georgeout societal filters. town emphasized “I’m 6-foot-2, I the disconnect bewas a football playtween the phrase er in high school, #dangerousblackI’ve always been kids, which recentreally big, and I ly trended on Twitlook kind of scary ter, and reality. to some people, “Mainly it was so the campaign just to show peoshavonnia corbin-johnson (SFS ’14) was interesting beple the positives #DBKGU Organizer cause that’s been a and the accombig part of my life — trying to go past plishments that we’ve made because looking like a thug all the time, no there’s so many negative stigmas and matter what I’m wearing,” Itua Udue- stereotypes that are forced upon Afribo (SFS ’17) said. can-Americans,” participant Courtney Next to Uduebo’s photos — one in Maduike (SFS ’17) said. “The entire goal a suit and one in jeans, a hat and a of the movement was to recognize all hooded jacket — a short bio lists his of the black people that are doing accomplishments: high school var- good here at Georgetown and doing sity football captain, co-moderator of good in society — they don’t have to be his high school’s diversity alliance, seen as dangerous or as delinquents, National Achievement Scholarship all these negative things they think semifinalist, AP Scholar with Honors about us. It’s just to showcase the posiand member of the International Re- tives.” lations Club, Club Rugby, UNICEF and Currently, the Facebook page has Georgetown Scholarship Program at more than 600 likes, and many stuGeorgetown. Similar photos and bios dents shared photos of participants in accompany posts for over 100 other support of their accomplishments. students. “I didn’t want to share all my acShavonnia Corbin-Johnson (SFS ’14) complishments onto my page because thought of the campaign after viewing I didn’t want it to seem like snobby or a Huffington Post article that featured arrogant, like, ‘Look at all she’s done, a photo of a child hugging his father’s she just wants people to brag about neck with the hashtag #dangerous- her,’ but I realized, it’s not about me,” blackkids. The campaign is meant to said Maduike, whose bio lists her exdemonstrate how society wrongly per- perience as her high school’s student ceives members of the black commu- body vice president and varsity basketnity as dangerous, especially in light ball team captain and her memberof killings of black young people such ship in the IRC and Delta Phi Epsilon as Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, who was killed in a dispute over loud See #DBKGU, A6 Hoya Staff Writer
“It just dawned on me, that’s how society perceives black people: as dangerous.”
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A petition from the D.C. Justice for Survivors Campaign circulating throughout the District in support of the passage of the Sexual Assault Victims’ Rights Amendment Act of 2013 is making waves among student activists on Georgetown’s campus. Originally proposed in June 2013 by D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), SAVRAA would provide more oversight of MPD in sexual assault cases via the Office of Police Complaints, ensure that sexual assault survivors have an advocate present on their behalf at medical examinations and interviews with law enforcement and that communications between the two parties are confidential, require the Metropolitan Police Department to process rape kits more quickly and specify that
sexual assault survivors are not to be charged for rape kits. The bill is scheduled to come before the D.C. Council in spring 2014. The introduction of SAVRAA partially stemmed from a January 2013 Human Rights Watch report that alleged that the Metropolitan Police Department had been mishandling and incorrectly documenting sexual assault cases in D.C. According to the 196-page report, titled “Capitol Offense: Police Mishandling on Sexual Assault Cases in the District of Columbia,” MPD had been misclassifying sexual assault cases as lesser offenses and failing to properly investigate the cases, leaving the prosecution no choice but to throw the cases out. MPD, however, objects to some of the Human Rights Watch report’s allegations and subsequent conclusions drawn from it. “A lot of what they said in their
report was inaccurate,” MPD Commander George Kucik said of the report. DCJSC has proposed three amendments to SAVRAA: the elimination of a current exception to the victim’s right to have an advocate present for cases where the advocate would be detrimental to the purpose of the exam or interview, the requirement of regular case review by a Sexual Assault Response Team or an expert and the establishment of an external consult to aid MPD with sexual assault investigations. With nearly half of its members sexual assault survivors themselves, DCJSC wrote these amendments based on the experiences of sexual assault survivors as well as sexual assault experts who work in the legal system. The advocacy group includes members of the D.C. chapter of the National See ASSAULT, A6
With ‘GUPD,’ New Path for DPS Suzanne Monyak & Joy Ma
Hoya Staff Writer & Special to The Hoya
Since the consolidation of positions within the department and the hiring of Jay Gruber as chief of police in July 2012, the Georgetown University Police Department — known colloquially as the Department of Public Safety — has changed in students’ eyes from mainly a “party crasher” to a valuable source of support for student safety. In the year and a half since these changes took effect, GUPD has increased its presence on campus and in the Georgetown neighborhood while at the same time a notable drop in on-campus alcohol violations has been seen. Under Gruber’s leadership, DPS changed its name to GUPD in spring 2013, symbolizing its increased emphasis on its role as a police force. “DPS encompasses several meanings including values related to management and environmental safety,” Gruber said. “We wanted to focus on our core mission as community police officers in providing See DPS, A5 Published Tuesdays and Fridays
NATASHA THOMSON/THE HOYA
DPS officers Roy Eddy, left, and Victor Johnson monitor activity on campus in the department’s Village C West office. Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com