GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 98, No. 26, © 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE
Christine Fair is under investigation for her Twitter exchanges with a formerTrump-supporting professor.
EDITORIAL The administration should continue to discuss tuition with students.
WEEKEND TRIUMPHS The women’s basketball team won two straight road conference games.
OPINION, A2
SPORTS, A10
NEWS, A5
LEFT: JESUS RODRIGUEZ/THE HOYA, RIGHT: JEFF CIRILLO/THE HOYA
Thousands of attendees witnessed the inauguration of President Donald Trump at Capitol Hill on Friday. One day after his inauguration, demonstrators from across the country gathered on Independence Avenue for the Women’s March on Washington in support of women’s rights, among other social issues.
Trump Arrives Amid Protests, Women’s March Majority of DC lawmakers shun inauguration Students to protest EPA appointee Aly Pachter Hoya Staff Writer
As Robert White, an at-large D.C. councilmember, marched alongside his wife and sixmonth-old daughter on Saturday, he was surrounded by hundreds of thousands who had travelled to the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington. A day previously, White could not bring himself to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump, although his position as a local lawmaker guaranteed him one of the best views in the city to watch the swearing in of the 45th president. White also refused to watch the inaugural parade from what is typically a standing-room only event at city hall. This year, however, things were different. “Donald Trump as a person, during the campaign and after his campaign, showed himself to be so divisive and narcissistic and nasty toward marginalized people that I could not in good conscience attend a celebration of his inauguration,” White said in an interview with The Hoya. Only three of the 13 local lawmakers, as well as Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), attended the event, meaning there were considerably less eyes on Trump when he passed the John A. Wilson Building, which is a block away from the White House on Pennsylvania Ave., during the parade. Beyond the inauguration, Washington, D.C., lawmakers will learn to adapt to their new neighbors in the Trump administration — not only because they have moved into city hall’s backyard, but because the federal government has the ability and motivation to roll back the District’s autonomy. This tension of a deeply Democratic city housing an unapologetically Republican federal government was showcased by varying degrees of support for
featured
two contrasting events in the city this weekend, which could set the tone for four years of a contentious relationship. TAKING TO THE STREETS As protesters navigated through clouds of tear gas, they engaged with officers from the Metropolitan Police Department, clad head-to-toe in riot gear.
“During this inauguration, there is a strong cloud of despair and fear and it’s palpable in the city.” ROBERT WHITE (D-at Large) Member, D.C. Council
It was 1:55 p.m. on Friday, and the inaugural parade for President Donald J. Trump had yet to begin when police surrounded
protesters on 12th and K streets. This scene is a fragment of the chaos witnessed on many of Washington, D.C.’s streets following Trump’s inauguration earlier on Friday. By the end of the day, police had arrested more than 200 protesters. The following morning, hundreds of thousands who had traveled from around the country to attend the Women’s March on Washington put on their own version of riot gear. A sea of pink “pussyhats,” the cat-eared hats that became emblematic of the Women’s March after an online project drew worldwide support, dotted Independence Ave. and spread from the march’s starting point to the National Mall. changing of the guard As clouds gathered and rain drizzled down on Friday morning, the appearance of different guests at the inauguration drew varying responses from the audience. Attendees cheered on the appearance of Trump, Vice President
Will Linde
Hoya Staff Writer
As the Senate vote looms to confirm Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, climate change advocacy group Students for Climate Security is organizing protests to oppose Pruitt’s nomination. Justin McCartney (SFS ’19), director of senate outreach strategy for Students for Climate Security, said Pruitt lacks the qualifications necessary to head the agency.
“Not only does he not believe in climate change, he has had the experience as Attorney General specifically fighting against regulations.” JUSTIN MCCARTNEY (SFS ’19) Director of Senate Outreach Strategy, Students for Climate Security
See MARCH, A6
JESUS RODRIGUEZ/THE HOYA
Demonstrators brought self-made signs to the Women’s March on Washington to display their solidarity with various issues.
“Not only does he not believe in climate change, he has had the experience, the legal experience as Attorney General, specifically fighting against regulations, which is awful,” McCartney said of Pruitt. McCartney also said the group is mobilizing students to contact their senators in opposition to Trump’s nominee. “Getting students to call their senators, send emails, join up with groups like the Sierra Club or 350.org to push that sort of outreach to the senators to make sure that they know we’re not happy with Scott Pruitt or his positions climate change or his ties to the fossil fuel industry,” McCartney said of plans to reorganize. McCartney said further action and protests are planned for once the final date for the senate vote on Pruitt’s confirmation is con-
firmed. The group is also putting together packets with former White House environmental studies and articles highlighting Pruitt’s negative record to send to Senators. Pruitt has declined to say in senate confirmation hearings if he will voluntarily recuse himself from a series of lawsuits he is currently leading against the EPA. Twenty three conservative advocacy group, including the Club for Growth political action committee and lobby group Americans for Tax Reform, have endorsed Pruitt’s nomination. Pruitt’s nomination appears secured, according to Politico. He can lose two Republican votes and still be confirmed. Namratha Sivakumar (SFS ’20), a member of SCS, said Pruitt favors corporate interests over protecting the environment. “He is basically gunning for corporate interests and deregulation, and he wants to use the Environmental Protection Agency as a way to sanction environmental degradation,” Sivakumar said. “That is not what the institution is made to do and I think he’s completely antithetical to the mission of the program.”
“This is not what the institution is made to do and I think he’s completely antithetical to the mission of the program.” NAMRATHA SIVAKUMAR (SFS ’20) Member, Students for Climate Security
SCS has received guidance and support from Government professor Andrew Bennett. Bennett said he strongly opposes Pruitt on the basis of his public record. See EPA, A6
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
Clubs Aim for Diversity Large campus groups have changed their application processes to recruit more diverse hiring classes. A5
A Star-Studded Escape Astronomy provides insights into escaping Georgetown’s hectic campus culture. A3
Red Hot Capitals The Washington Capitals find themselves atop the NHL standings thanks to their surging offense. A8
NEWS Metro Sees Record Turnout
opinion Ivanka Trump’s Fake Feminism
SPORTS Swim Team Swept
Despite enhancements to Metro infrastructure, riders faced long waits amid Saturday’s march. A5
The new first daughter’s feminist brand profits at the expense of women across the nation. A3
Published Tuesdays and Fridays
Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team suffered losses to Drexel this past weekend. A8
Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com
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OPINION
THE HOYA
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
THE VERDICT
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EDITORIALS
Transparency in Tuition Although last Thursday’s announcement of a 3.5 percent tuition hike for the 2017-18 academic year will undoubtedly introduce renewed grumbling from students and families who foot the bill, this communication follows developments that actually warrant celebration. The $1,752 increase actually falls just below the 4 percent increase projected by Gergetown’s financial plan for fiscal years 2017-20. More importantly, however, the tuition hike arrives after University Provost Robert Groves’ office heeded calls for transparency in the decision-making process, providing opportunities for students to participate in the discussion of their tuition. Last August, Georgetown University Student Association President Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Vice President Chris Fisk (COL ’17) penned a viewpoint in The Hoya calling for increased transparency after the university’s board of directors approved a 4 percent tuition increase in February without the prior consultation of students. Specifically, Khan and Fisk demanded a “town hall explaining the actual nuances behind tuition and the need for annual raises that can help alleviate the current tension among the student body.” The administration acquiesced last November and hosted a Hoya Roundtable on tuition transparency led by Groves and University Chief Operating Officer Christopher Augostini, who broke down past and projected university expenses, revenue and net operating costs. However, there remains room for improvement, especially as the university did not publicly release the data presented at the roundtable, as was explicitly promised by Groves and Augostini during the event. Under the current policy, students must schedule an appointment to view the slides in person in the Office of the Provost due to concerns about revealing detailed budget information to Georgetown’s peer institutions. Without releasing this information to families, however, there exists little possibility for members of the Georgetown community to evaluate and reflect on how the university allocates tuition dollars. For instance, with access to the data, perhaps university stakeholders could
better understand why the school lost more than $50 million from depreciation — such as the deterioration of buildings — but spent only about $10 million in repairs, according to 201516 financial statements. Moreover, clarifying the constitution, role and influence of the Student Advisory Committee for the Provost, which the administration touts as central to student participation in the tuition-setting process, is paramount. Currently, little information from the monthly meetings is publicly available, and there appears to be scant opportunities for students outside the committee to inject their views into the conversation. Student inclusion in these discussions is essential as the national issue of college affordability has profound repercussions on the economic diversity on Georgetown’s campus. The New York Times reported Jan. 18 that one in five Georgetown students comes from a family at the top 1 percent of the country’s wealth bracket earning $630,000 annually, placing it sixth in terms of 2013 median parent income and seventh out of 65 elite American universities in terms of student body from the top 1 percent of income. Without student involvement in the process, the trend of mounting tuition rates at Georgetown will continue unabated and this disparity will only exacerbate the problem of a university community that fails to represent the society at large. Overall, the administration should be applauded for its strides toward greater transparency regarding the tuition rate and urge the university to continue hosting tuition roundtables to ask questions and voice concerns directly to key administrators. GUSA should also be commended for its diligence in pushing the administration for these changes and its success in advocating on behalf of the student community. In a time characterized by soaring education costs, this Editorial Board asks the university to provide greater access to information by publicly releasing projected university expenses. If the university anticipates students will pay $51,720 annually in tuition, then the same expectation should be made for Georgetown to include students into conversations about where the money is allocated.
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Founded January 14, 1920
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Saving Face — Apple may replace the iPhone’s Touch ID with a facial recognition biometrics system by the end of the year. Fresh Fruit — U.S. Customs and Border Protection searched a shipment of watermelons Jan. 17 and found 390 painted watermelon-shaped packages of marijuana worth over $600,000. MOTUS — A new species of yellow-haired moth, Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, has been named after the POTUS due to a matching head of hair. Copycake — The baker of Donald Trump’s inaugural cake admitted that he was instructed to copy the cake from Obama’s inauguration. Lost His Marbles — A truck crash in Indiana led to 38,000 marbles spilled over a highway. No one was injured. Rough Day — During strong winds on Jan. 20, two trees in two different cities fell on two cars owned by the same California man. Yuge Crowds — White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Friday’s inauguration had the largest audience of any inauguration, which has been proven false by multiple crowd scientists. Staying Warm — Women near the Indian city of Mathura knit multiple full-animal outfits to save formerly abused elephants at a conservation center from sub-zero temperatures. Blizzard Baby — Six policemen carried a pregnant woman in labor six miles down a mountain to a local hospital in rural India after heavy snow blocked the roads. The hike took three and a half hours. Load of Bull — In a study published in Social Psychology and Personality Science, researchers found a strong correlation between swearing and honesty.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Elinor Walker
Combat GUSA’s Insularity Seven weeks after allegations of electioneering forced an inquiry into the Georgetown University Student Association’s referendum on club funding reform, the GUSA Constitutional Council’s decision Jan. 20 to invalidate the election results brought the saga to a heady conclusion. However, the structural flaws in the organization’s electoral system remain unresolved. Rather than address the charges of illegal polling stations, bribery and undue interference from top GUSA officials during the election, the ruling hinged on a technicality in the bylaws: GUSA failed to publicly release its proposal to abolish and replace the senate with a new assembly a minimum 14 days prior to the vote. Now, Georgetown students will never know the outcome of the senate restructuring referendum, as the Election Commission prohibits presenting the results to the public or anyone outside the commission. This lack of transparency, coupled with the enormous time and effort diverted into first campaigning for reform and then disputing and investigating the election results, has only compounded existing frustrations with GUSA, long perceived as withholding and impenetrable to outsiders. GUSA’s reputational woes belong to a vicious cycle in which the organization is both a victim and an unwitting participant. The sense of GUSA’s insularity — however merited or unmerited — has manifested itself in a low voter turnout that pressured the organization to rack up votes with electioneering. These practices further alienate an already disengaged student body, and its distrust of the organization may generate greater apathy come election season. Despite widespread distrust of the organiztion, the fact remains that GUSA is distinct from any other club on campus because it purports itself as a voice for all students, regardless of official membership or office-holding within the organization. Because of the unique role GUSA occupies in the community, it should strive to bolster participation through different means
than those deployed during the Dec. 1 referendum. One way to accomplish this is by including a GUSA page on Blackboard or Canvas so that students may access information on all the work GUSA is doing on their behalf as easily as checking their grades or inspecting a syllabus. By more prominently embedding GUSA into our academic lives, perhaps more students will approach the responsibility of student government engagement with the seriousness with which they attend to their studies. This would also provide GUSA members the opportunity to mobilize students without needing to resort to electioneering practices to drive turnout. As of now, GUSA largely relies on social media as the means to disseminate information about roundtables, town halls and opportunities to join the organization through elections and policy teams. However, this method only exacerbates pre-existing feelings of GUSA’s insularity, as students who don’t inhabit the same social circles as GUSA’s members are often left in the dark about upcoming events. Of course, this agreement works both ways: GUSA can make itself as available as possible, but there is still a responsibility for students to make an effort to engage if they are feeling left out. In the meantime, no matter how disengaged students feel, they should remain receptive to outreach and be willing to participate because ultimately, GUSA is working for the best interest of the whole student body. As GUSA decides in the next few weeks how to contend with the fallout of the Constitutional Council’s decision and approach potential election reform, this Editorial Board calls for the organization to consider diversifying its general outreach to the community in order to resolve an underlying issue of student engagement which may have prompted electioneering in the first place. Only by fostering a relationship of mutual trust and cooperation can a student government guide Georgetown’s growth as a campus and a community.
Toby Hung, Editor-in-Chief Cirillo Paolo Santamaria, Executive Editor Jeffrey Tara Subramaniam Jesus Rodriguez, Managing Editor Christian Paz
Ian Scoville, Campus News Editor Aly Pachter, City News Editor Sean Hoffman, Sports Editor Marina Tian, Guide Editor Lisa Burgoa, Opinion Editor Lauren Seibel, Photography Editor Alyssa Volivar, Design Editor Sarah Wright, Copy Chief Kelly Park, Social Media Editor Alessandra Puccio, Blog Editor Jack Martin, Multimedia Editor
Editorial Board
Lisa Burgoa, Chair CC Borzilleri, Laila Brothers, Daria Etezadi, Ellie Goonetillake, Jack Lynch, Jack Segelstein, Bennett Stehr, Annabelle Timsit
William Zhu Alfredo Carrillo Emily Dalton Dean Hampers Cynthia Karnezis Viviana De Santis Dani Guerrero Meena Raman Maya Gandhi Grace Laria Jacob Witt Elinor Walker Stephanie Yuan Michelle Kelly Esther Kim Peter Shamamian Eleanor Stork Anna Dezenzo Janine Karo Sterling Lykes Catherine Schluth Charlie Fritz
Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy City News Editor Business Editor Deputy Business & News Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Cartoonist Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Blog Editor
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The Rostrum
e all recognize the fact that if any radical social, political and economic changes are to take place in our society, the people, the masses, must bring them about. In the struggle, we must seek more than civil rights; we must work for the community of love, peace and true brotherhood. Our minds, souls and hearts cannot rest until freedom and justice exist for all people. The revolution is a serious one. ... The time will come when we will not confine our marching to Washington. We will march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did. We shall pursue our own scorched earth” policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground — nonviolently. We shall fragment the South into a thousand pieces and put them back together in the image of democracy. We will make the action of the past few months look petty. And I say to you, wake up America!”
John Lewis The March on Washington, 1963
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Kristen Fedor, Chair Daniel Almeida, Jinwoo Chong, Toby Hung, Arnosh Keswani, Selena Parra, Matthew Trunko Letter to the Editor & Viewpoint Policies The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words. Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-700 words. The Hoya retains all rights to all published submissions. Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya.com. Letters and viewpoints are due Sunday at 5 p.m. for Tuesday’s issue and Wednesday at 5 p.m. for Friday’s issue. The Hoya reserves the right to reject letters or viewpoints and edit for length, style, clarity and accuracy. The Hoya further reserves the right to write headlines and select illustrations to accompany letters and viewpoints. Corrections & Clarifications If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Paolo Santamaria at (703) 409-7276 or email executive@thehoya.com. News Tips Campus News Editor Ian Scoville: Call (202) 602-7650 or email campus@thehoya. com. City News Editor Aly Pachter: Call (916) 995-0412 or email city@thehoya.com. Sports Editor Sean Hoffman: Call (703) 300-0267 or email sports@thehoya.com. General Information The Hoya is published twice each week
during the academic year with the exception of holiday and exam periods. Address all correspondence to: The Hoya Georgetown University Box 571065 Washington, D.C. 20057-1065 The writing, articles, pictures, layout and format are the responsibility of The Hoya and do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University. Signed columns and cartoons represent the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Hoya. Unsigned essays that appear on the left side of the editorial page are the opinion of the majority of the editorial board. Georgetown University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression for student editors. The Hoya does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, color, national or ethnic origin. © 1920-2016. The Hoya, Georgetown University twice weekly. No part of this publication may be used without the permission of The Hoya Board of Editors. All rights reserved. The Hoya is available free of charge, one copy per reader, at distribution sites on and around the Georgetown University campus. Editorial: (202) 687-3415 Advertising: (202) 687-3947 Business: (202) 687-3947 Facsimile: (202) 687-2741 Email: editor@thehoya.com Online at www.thehoya.com Circulation: 4,000
OPINION
tuesday, January 24, 2017
VIEWPOINT • SINGER
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THE HOYA
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VIEWPOINT • CARON
The Illusion of Bipartisanship
s audiences await journalist Megyn Kelly’s first appearance on NBC after 12 years at Fox News, ratings predictions dominate the discourse. With Kelly’s status as a ratings juggernaut at Fox, her high-profile conflict with President Donald Trump and her best-selling autobiography “Settle for More”, detailing exFox News CEO Roger Ailes’ alleged workplace harassment, NBC could stand to gain a ratings boost of over 3 percent, based on a Morning Consult poll. However, more telling than the numbers themselves is the political affiliation of this new audience. Republicans, especially Republican men, drove the “less likely to watch” responses, while Democrats, especially Democratic men, accounted for most of her “more likely to watch” audience. The anchor left a $15 million contract with Fox News following an eventful year, during which she alleged sexual harassment claims against Ailes, leading to his resignation. Yet, while her unabashed conservatism might appear to balance the generally liberal programming at NBC News, viewers would be remiss to believe this change will result in a bipartisan media landscape in cable news. When the Morning Consult poll surveyed viewers over whether they were more or less likely to tune in to Kelly’s programming given her move to NBC, 21 percent of overall respondents said they were more likely to watch, while 18 percent said they were less likely to tune in. A predicted 3 percent ratings boost is hardly big news. Kelly might draw comparable numbers at NBC, but she is not bringing her conservative Fox audience with her. More than that, she stands to gain more in Democrat viewership than she loses in Republicans. Kelly’s historically conservative audience is a product not only of dedicated Republicans but of liberals who have refused to tune in. So what has her move to NBC changed? While delivering straight news at NBC, Kelly will appear less threatening to a liberal audience. Stripping away Kelly’s conservative opinions at NBC opens the door to Democrats who seek the satisfaction of hearing out the other side without the threat of actually listening to conser-
vative programming. Republicans who watched her for her biting commentary will turn to other pundits, and Democrats, feeling no longer threatened, will finally see what made her so popular in the first place. In their view, she is a perfect fit for a liberal audience that wants to be lulled into the image of a well-balanced consumption of news. Kelly herself has emerged as a feminist inspiration after escaping Fox’s atmosphere of sexual harassment, conflicting with Trump over women’s issues and negotiating a schedule with NBC that fulfills her career and family goals. However, the woman whom Vanity Fair dubbed, “a newly minted role model for women who sees her gender as irrelevant, and a conservative champion who transcends politics,” now finds herself in political limbo as the liberal darling of conservative media. This dynamic is worrisome, as some audiences do not realize watching Kelly’s hard news program is not a crosscultural exchange. Watching her deliver the facts of the day is not “hearing out the other side,” but rather a sheltered alternative to addressing the legitimate opinions of the right. After the Nov. 8 election, Americans were bombarded by countless opinion pieces lamenting a divided nation, coastal liberal elitism and above all, the dreaded “news bubble.” Brave liberals everywhere grappled with their isolation from conservatives and rural Americans, and for good reason. To stop the influx of fake news which had considerable sway in the election, both sides need to break their clickbait addictions and expand their horizons. However, there is plenty of common ground to be found in mainstream moderate news sources like NBC, which provide more grounded alternatives to the Foxes and BuzzFeeds of the world. By all means, watch her show. As an accomplished anchor, she is sure to do a fine job at NBC. However, if you are a liberal, coastal elite looking for an opportunity to bridge the gap, look elsewhere — find real challenges by seeking out content Kelly would have hosted back at Fox News. ellen singer is a junior in
the College.
The pursuit of astronomy brings something into my life that papers and work do not: a sense of awe and a rewarding shift in perspective, a reminder that so much exists out there.
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Insights Written in the Stars
alking up to the observatory for the first time, I was sure that I was lost. It was dark and as I passed Yates, there did not seem to be a path. I could vaguely make out the sound of trickling water as I got closer, but otherwise, the area was silent. As I wandered up to the door and rang the bell, I debated leaving — there did not seem to be anyone around. But suddenly the door flung open, and I stepped into the world of the observatory. Georgetown’s Heyden Observatory was finished in 1843 and is filled with treasures ranging from a 12inch telescope installed in 1888 to assorted astronomy almanacs dating back to the 1850s. Now, the observatory serves as a secluded haven from the hectic pace of Georgetown’s campus, a step back from the stresses of classes, homework and work. With a view of the garden and the woods nearby, the observatory is more than just a study break: It is a peaceful escape. Humans have always been fascinated by the study of the sky, and today, peering at the planets offers a unique
perspective into the world around us and the universe beyond our atmosphere. The Greek playwright Sophocles once said: “Astronomy — impossible to understand and madness to investigate.” Each time I look into the telescope and see nothing but a simple dot, I think maybe he was right.
My experience at Georgetown thus far has taught me how easily we get caught up in the minutia. At the same time, something draws me back to that dot, back to the telescope fixed on a planet thousands of miles away, back to the contemplation of the universe. My experience at Georgetown thus far has taught me that it is surprisingly easy to get caught up in the minutia, in the minute-to-minute responsibilities that drive my day. The observatory reminds me of how much more is out there.
It is a constant reminder that the little red dot I see in the telescope is not simply a dot, not simply what my limited perspective can show me. Instead, it is Mars —an entirely different world, a planet hurtling through space at thousands of miles per hour with rovers crawling on its surface, yet untouched by humans. A planet we might one day visit. I have always been fascinated by stargazing — but it was not the stars that fascinated me. Rather, it was the stargazers. Why, I thought, did people have the patience to stare at a sky full of incoherent dots? Through the Astronomy Club, I quickly learned stargazing only seemed strange to me because I did not understand it. Like someone examining a map of a foreign place, I did not know how to read the stars, nor did I understand the stories behind them. Many of the constellations today bear names from Greek mythology and stand as symbols of heroes long past. When I look at the stars, I am reminded of these heroes: of Orion, the greatest hunter on earth, defeated by
a tiny scorpion; of Cassiopeia, destined to spend half her time humiliated, upside down in the sky. I am reminded of the nameless people who recorded these stories, the people who kept track of the stars before Google Sky Map. I think about how the light of any star I am seeing is millions, if not billions, of years old, and has reached through space for all that time, just to find its completion here, bouncing off our retinas. So is astronomy madness, as Sophocles thought? It often seems that way, especially when we have so much here on earth to focus on. “This seems like a waste of time,” I think sometimes, remembering that I have papers to write, notes to study, work to do. But still the pursuit of astronomy brings something into my life that papers and notes and work do not: a sense of awe and a rewarding shift of perspective, a reminder that so much more exists out there than we can see. LAURA CARON is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service.
STILL HERE
FIRESIDE CHATS
Resisting Self-Segregation The Trump Brand of Feminism
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ast semester, as I looked around my dinner table at O’Donovan Hall, I found myself with a group of women who resembled me completely. For the first time, it dawned on me that there was a greater reason that led me, a black woman, to instinctively befriend other black women. This phenomenon is not exclusive to my group of friends: A lot of lunch tables at Georgetown are homogeneous. That’s not necessarily a problem; however, if we truly want to achieve the benefits of diversity in our community, we must ensure diversify in our own individual lives. Arriving on campus, I had anticipated a brochure-like college experience featuring friends from diverse backgrounds. However, that evening at Leo’s, as I juxtaposed the cafeteria tables near me with my own, my idealized vision collapsed. I was left with a startling reality: Would I graduate having never experienced the collegiate promise of diverse, intercultural friendships? In her book, “Why Are the Black Kids Sitting Together in The Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race,” Dr. Beverly Tatum theorizes that we often self-segregate ourselves because of our reluctance to speak on racial issues. To an extent, this claim may play a role in the homogeneity of my own friendships: We befriend others who are of a similar race, gender or sexual orientation because we are afraid to leave our own backyards. Often, these groups serve as a defense mechanism aimed at diffusing social tension — because we fear
judgement, we stay within our comfort zone. While this may be one cause of the racial dynamic at my dinner table, another likely explanation stems from a different sociological phenomenon — the subconscious selection that influenced my friendships as I formed them.
Anu Osibajo and Isatou Bah My closest friends and I, all first-generation American citizens from West Africa who live in the South Bronx, attended public high schools in Manhattan and come from non-traditional households with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. In other words, we inhabit very similar social locations, a sociological term used to group individuals based on their positions in history and society. People often develop friendships due to mutual experiences, which are byproducts of shared social locations influenced by gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, geographic location and more. This concept is unsurprising, as most friendships begin with a simple conversation, often based on a common understanding of the world. Regardless, part of the mantle of reaching out to friends
rests on me; even though I had envisioned my friend group to be a textbook definition of diversity, I had not taken the appropriate measures to achieve it. As a second semester freshman, I realize that my group of friends had been established by the second week of freshman year. Like many others, as our friendships began to crystallize, I stopped actively trying to meet new people. I latched onto the same type of people because I feared vulnerability, and this shortcoming is responsible for creating the homogeneity of our university experience. In a time when students are supposed to be broadening their cultural diversity, sitting with the same people every afternoon offers little new knowledge of the world. Students at Georgetown are from diverse backgrounds — different states, countries, religions and ethnicities. Our student body consists of an array of unique experiences and interests. If we remain static within our group dynamic, we ignore the different dialogues and knowledge that can be gleaned. Simply being surrounded by all these backgrounds is not enough. As the saying goes, “Diversity is being invited to the party and inclusion is being asked to dance.” By insulating ourselves within our personal friend groups, we are missing out on the richness and fulfillment exemplified by an inclusive campus atmosphere.
Anu Osibajo and Bah are freshmen College. Fireside appears every Tuesday.
Isatou in the chats
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his weekend, Washington, D.C., flooded with over 500,000 women and men, championing feminism and marching for women’s rights threatened under Donald Trump. And still, the new administration claims a feminist symbol in the form of first daughter Ivanka Trump, who enjoys a glamorous reputation as a woman who seems to lift up other working women. Yet below the surface, Ivanka’s feminism has a sinister side. It is less of an ideology that champions women’s equality and more of a brand that she leveraged to help get her father, the most anti-women candidate in decades, elected. Donald Trump’s antiwoman comments proliferated during the campaign. He implied Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was on her period when she challenged him during a debate, and he referred to Venezuelan former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeper.” Most egregiously, a leaked recording released in October captured Trump implying his celebrity gave him the right to grope women. Even when one of her father’s offensive comments involved her personally, Ivanka offered no criticism. After the sexual harassment lawsuit that ousted Trump adviser Roger Ailes from Fox News, Trump suggested last August that if Ivanka were sexually harassed at work, he, “would like to think she would find another career or find another company.” Ivanka failed to point out that not all women have the
financial ability to simply walk away from a job after being sexually harassed. Perhaps Ivanka’s particular brand of what she deems feminism does not encompass lower-income women, as suggested by an anecdote from her 2009 memoir in which she recalls being catcalled by construction workers until they realized she was the boss’s daughter. If only that worked for every woman.
Emma Lux Indeed, Ivanka’s ability to “soften” her father’s sexist remarks may have helped his ability to appeal to potential women voters. At the Republican National Convention, Ivanka said that her father is “color blind and gender neutral,” despite documented instance of him calling women everything from “pig” to “slob” to “disgusting animal.” The Trump administration has announced plans to enact paid maternity leave, which sounds like a step toward women’s equality from a distance. However, the plan notably offers only maternity leave, not paternity leave, implying that the job of child care and household duties should fall primarily on women’s shoulders. The president that Ivanka Trump helped usher into office under the guise of feminism has plans to restrict
abortion and access to contraception, place limits on health care, cut funding for victims of domestic violence and halt the fight for equal pay. The fact that Ivanka leveraged her celebrity status to support her father while still claiming to have women’s best interests at heart is particularly abhorrent. She stands to make enormous political and financial gains from Trump’s presidency, while women across the country face huge losses in their health care and reproductive rights. In addition to Ivanka not using her celebrity to denounce anti-woman remarks during her father’s campaign, she did use it to sell her clothes. During the campaign, Ivanka’s company experienced huge success, perhaps most notably demonstrated by selling out of the dress she wore at the RNC the day after the event. The banner of feminism that Ivanka Trump waves differs markedly from the banners waving in the streets this Saturday — the women and men who attended the Women’s March champion women’s equality. Ivanka, on the other hand, is complicit in her father’s trampling of women’s rights, and while women across the country face a significant reduction in their access to health care, equal pay and protection from domestic violence, Ivanka Trump enjoys newfound access to power, influence and prospective financial success.
Emma Lux is a junior in the College. Still Here appears every other Tuesday.
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
PAGE FOUR
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Actress Anna Deavere Smith discussed the power of theater in an event in Gaston Hall on Thursday. Story on A5.
Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.
IN FOCUS GENERATIONS MEET verbatim
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Unless we are born with a trust fund, we all need jobs. And if our employer can lay claim to everything that we do and say 24/7, we no longer have freedom of speech.” Professor Christine Fair. Story on A5.
from our blog
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Lucy Scardino, center, attended the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday with her daughters, one of whom was in her womb when she attended Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech.
GEORGETOWN BUILDINGS AND THE HOYAS YOU FIND IN THEM With the new semester kicking off, 4E details the various students of Georgetown and the campus spots where they dwell. blog.thehoya.com
Q & A: Chatelain Talks Women’s March, Identity JEFF CIRILLO
Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown University associate professor of history and African-American studies Marcia Chatelain shared her thoughts with THE HOYA yesterday about the Women’s March on Washington, intersectionality and what she hopes Georgetown students can take away from the events of the past weekend. What happened at the Women’s March and why? I was not at the march. I made this decision to leave D.C. for the inauguration, because I didn’t want to be in town for it. And then I didn’t attend the march because I had a prior engagement out of the state. This march is like a lot of marches historically. It’s an opportunity for people to gather together to register their concern and their resistance to the new administration, and to voice their concern about the protection of the rights of the most vulnerable in our society. Marches are an opportunity to do a public demonstration of the resistance that people are carrying out on the local level.
“The resistance is an everyday process. We resist every day that we do not marginalize or reduce other people.” MARCIA CHATELAIN Professor, Department of History
It’s also important for people to gather together in community. Sometimes we overstate and overvalue that digital space brings people together. The heart of any movement that is relevant and is strong is the opportunity for people to gather together and do the same thing at the same time in different places around the world. It’s a really powerful gesture of solidarity, and coming together also gives people an opportunity to see the diversity of the community that shares their concerns, and also critique the
lack of diversity that they may see within the movement. I want us to always be really careful to appreciate the coming together of community, but also appreciate the people who can’t do it because of their physical, economic or social mobility, their fear of the police or the fact that they’re incarcerated. While we celebrate the coming together of community in a physical space, we are at our best when we recognize the people who are unable to do that. The problem is when we don’t recognize that we all have a different relationship to struggle and a different proximity to something like a march. For some people, the march was a very comfortable and peaceful gathering because it was an opportunity for them to express themselves. For others, the march is a source of anxiety and tension because of their physical status or their legal status. And for others the march is a really brave act, and for others the march is one of many marches that they do. All of that is to say that everyone is coming to a singular experience from very different places, and it’s always important to keep that in mind. What is intersectionality and what role did it play in the Women’s March? Intersectionality is a theoretical concept that comes from legal scholars who were concerned about the ways the law was unable to fully capture the ways that race and gender informed and shaped the way that African-American women appeared as plaintiffs in the legal system when we think about things like employment discrimination, for instance. That’s kind of the rudimentary idea. The way people interpret intersectionality now is to be very mindful of not choosing or privileging one set of realities that come out of identities over another, but to imagine the ways that oppression and identity intersect and inform the way that people live their lives. Part of the concern about the march is a tension that exists within some groups that try to organize feminist activities, that they may have a limited or constricted view of feminism. What the march
was trying to do is to say “No, no, no, we need to understand that for feminism to be able to fuel a movement, it has to be intersectional at its core.” The march organizers and the march articulation of values was successful in demonstrating that in some ways, what it looks like on the ground outside of leadership, it can be very different. In the face of all those differences it’s important for people to discuss that very issue. It’s not a failure entirely if it fails to consistently live out its values everywhere. It’s a failure if it’s unable to tolerate the critique and the analysis so it can do better next time. Why is it problematic if the Women’s March is not intersectional? If this Women’s March is supposed to surface a series of concerns for American women, if it’s not done with an attention to an intersectional feminist lens, then it doesn’t capture all women. It just can’t. And what it’s in danger of doing is erasing women at the margins. If you have a movement that is intersectional at its core, then you’re not threatened by the presence of trans women. If you have a movement that is intersectional at its core, then you understand the critique of policing that might come out of it. If it is intersectional at its core, then you’re not going to set up a system in which the elderly are not welcome, or in which people with disabilities have no access to your event. What it requires a movement to do is be as expansive in its practices as it is in its vision. And what about the “this is why Trump won” argument, that some people voted for Trump because they were fed up with identity politics? That’s a really dumb argument. Trump won because white supremacy has not been abolished in this country, and that it’s appealing and it is effective. That is why. Every person has the capacity to be compassionate and to be equitable in their belief system and in their process. When people fail to do that, we must try to explain to them why that’s not good. That is all our responsibility is as people. The idea
that we submerge people’s identities, or we suggest that they’re not integral to how they understand and live out politics, is dangerous and it’s insidious. The problem with that argument is that we assume that everyone on the left is white, or that perhaps the most valuable people on the left are white. So in trying to resist the politics of white supremacy, that kind of critique just gives it more power. What anyone on the left has to be committed to is a politics of compassion and a politics of justice. That does not require you to then submerge or degrade anyone’s identity. If there’s a portion of the population of this country that is not committed to that, then you find ways to do acts of justice in that community — not at the expense of others, but in the service of showing them that justice is possible. I don’t see how these two issues have become one and the same. And it’s an example in which a certain kind of politics of anti-blackness and misogyny and anti-immigration, antiqueer sexuality, it becomes currency in this community
that is saying that they believe in justice. Where do people who were supportive of the march go from here? What’s awesome about the march is that it happened within a recent timeline of people being in struggle around a lot of issues. What’s great is that people who participated in the march have a number of places where they can take their energy and make a difference, whether it’s in local elected politics, whether it’s holding people at the federal level accountable, whether it’s supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, whether it’s the purpose of reducing violence against women and transgender individuals, whether it’s better care for the elderly, whether it’s making sure children have safe water to drink, or whether it’s making sure that federal treaties around Native American lands are respected. There are so many places for people to take their energy, because there’s been such an incredible
movement happening in this country over the last few years of people saying enough is enough. Now is an opportunity for people to come even closer to struggles that have been happening over the past few years. It actually fills my heart with a lot of joy to see this happening, and the first step is to reject the cynicism of this day, and reject any notion that we’re stronger when we let go of certain people. Because that’s just not true. The resistance is an everyday process. We resist every day that we do not marginalize or reduce other people. If people are not sure what to do at these times, I recommend that the first step is to treat people with dignity and love regardless of who they are and let that form the way that they act politically, economically and socially. And then we’re fine. But we are in a moment right now when that very basic thing is being questioned. And when we start questioning the fundamental humanity of the people around us, we lose.
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Georgetown University associate professor of history and African-American studies Marcia Chatelain said Trump won because white supremacy still exists in America.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
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Professor Under Scrutiny Referendum Vote Invalidated Ian Scoville Hoya Staff Writer
Christine Fair, a professor in the School of Foreign Service, has come under scrutiny after former Georgetown professor Asra Nomani filed a complaint that she had been the subject of Fair’s repeated cyber abuse in light of The Washington Post’s op-ed on Nov. 10 in which Nomani detailed her decision to vote for President Donald Trump. “This is my confession — and explanation: I — a 51-year-old, a Muslim, an immigrant woman ‘of color’ — am one of those silent voters for Donald Trump,” Nomani wrote. “And I’m not a ‘bigot,’ ‘racist,’ ‘chauvinist’ or ‘white supremacist,’ as Trump voters are being called, nor part of some ‘whitelash.’” Nomani was a professor in the practice of journalism from 2007 to 2008 and was the co-director of the Daniel Pearl Project from 2008 to 2011, which profiles the case of Daniel Pearl, a journalist who was kidnapped in 2002. Fair, who is currently on research leave, soon began responding to Nomani’s article, first with a Facebook post and later with a, “flurry of really rude, dehumanizing, and disrespectful” tweets, according to Nomani, on Nov. 22. The exchange has since raised larger questions about the role of freedom of speech in academic environments. “Yes. @AsraNomani I’ve written you off as a human being,” Fair wrote on Twitter. “Your vote helped normalize Nazis in DC. What don’t you understand, you clueless dolt?” Fair and Nomani also exchanged a series of direct messages in which the conflict between the two escalated. After Nomani sent Fair a direct message asking for civility, Fair responded that Nomani should not write pieces if she cannot handle public criticism. “You got a lot of media out of your vote. Can’t stand the heat? Don’t go into the kitchen. Also I have so little regard for you. Go enjoy the hell you’ve helped create,” Fair said. “Also go f---k yourself.” In an exclusive interview with The Hoya, Fair said Nomani’s direct message was unwarranted. “It just struck me as, you break up with someone, they send you one of those emails,
I just want to be friends. Well, I don’t want anything to do with you, and I made it really clear,” Fair said. Nomani initially filed a complaint with SFS professor Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies and the Security Studies Program, on Dec. 2. Nomani asked the university to provide Fair with “training regarding her public interactions” and an apology. She followed up her complaint to the SFS with a Jan. 5 complaint to the Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action organization. Fair claims Nomani’s initial Dec. 2 complaint was not triggered by initial tweets, but rather by a tweet Fair sent claiming Nomani had manipulated evidence of their conversations in a tweet to a professor researching journalists who had been covering Trump. “So once I busted her for just outrageously lying, she begins tagging every potential and possible agency at Georgetown. If she could have tagged dining halls she would have, and it was only after my pointing out to this professor that she just completely mischaracterized this entire exchange that she literally went ballistic,” Fair said. According to Nomani, her complaint was triggered by continued aggression from Fair following her initial tweets in this interaction and a Facebook post following Nomani’s complaint. Fair made an open post on Facebook, telling Nomani to “f---k off and go to hell.” According to Nomani, Fair also sent a private letter saying she was going to file a legal complaint. Fair said she only used crude language with Nomani in private messages. “The only time that I actually use any kind of crude language with her was in our direct message, a private message, in response to her unwanted messaging, all of her other complaints were not sent to her,” Fair said. “So in terms of the particular language, ‘f---k off and go to hell,’ that was actually a Facebook post I made about her and not to her. And in particular it was about her complaining to Georgetown.” Senior Director for Strategic Communications Rachel Pugh said Fair’s tweets do not
reflect the views of Georgetown. “As an academic community we hold dear our commitment to free speech and expression. Being committed to the free and open exchange of ideas does not mean, however, that we approve of or endorse each and every statement made by members of our faculty,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The views of any faculty member are their own and not the views of the university.” Pugh said the complaint is currently being looked into through confidential university processes. Following the exchange, Fair received both harassment on Twitter and threats of violence. According to Fair, she was advised to remove the computer from her office in case it was stolen. “I know how troll armies work,” Fair said. “So she did beset her troll army on me.” Nomani has a history of creating drama to attract attention, according to Fair. “This is her M.O., where she goes and creates these dramas that gives her various hits on Fox News,” Fair said. “Basically she lives, literally, for these dramas.” Fair said the complaint being filed raises larger concerns about academic freedom of speech. “This tactic of appealing to people’s employers is really retrograde. And the left has done it, the right has done it, and I’ve opposed it in both cases,” Fair said. “Because unless we are born with a trust fund, we all need jobs. And if our employer can lay claim to everything that we do and say 24/7, we no longer have freedom of speech.” Nomani said Fair’s conduct online raises concerns about her conduct in the classroom. “When we engage in dialogue we can’t, it’s just as the harassment policy says, we can’t berate, demean, insult and harass another human being for their perspective,” Nomani said in an interview with The Hoya. “That’s what I don’t appreciate, and I think that we need to set some standards because I’m a person who can speak up. But my concern is for students in the classroom for whom this professor or any other professor can create an intimidating environment.”
Constitutional Council rules against GUSA
JEFF CIRILLO
Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown University Student Association Constitutional Council invalidated the results of the Dec. 1 referendum on a constitutional amendment to abolish the GUSA senate and replace it with a new, elected assembly Friday evening. The ruling states that the senate violated GUSA bylaws requiring full details of the referendum be released 14 days prior to voting. The decision also permanently prohibits the GUSA Election Commission from releasing the results of the referendum to the public or to anyone outside the commission. The ruling can be appealed, however, and does not prohibit GUSA from holding another referendum on the same amendment. “This failure to adhere to the timeline provided in GUSA Constitution Article VII Section 4 requires this Council’s Holding of the December 1st Constitutional Referendum Vote as invalid,” the decision reads. “The Constitutional Council hereby declares that the results of the December 1st Constitutional Referendum are null and void.” Allegations of electioneering began Dec. 1, several hours before polls officially closed, when opponents of the referendum filed a complaint with the council regarding the referendum. The council delayed the results pending a public hearing on the complaint. The petitioners alleged that GUSA violated its own bylaws by attempting to influence students to vote in favor of the referendum at polling stations
and by failing to present the referendum to the student body in a timely manner. They cited the prominent display of “yes” campaign posters at polling stations and offers of free food in exchange for votes. GUSA senators Jasmin Ouseph (SFS ’19), Isaac Liu (COL ’20) and Charles Hajjar (MSB ’20), GUSA Free Speech Policy Team chair D.J. Angelini (MSB ’17), GUSA Dining and Auxiliary Services Policy Team chair Mark Camilli (COL ’19) and Dylan Hughes (COL ’19), who is unaffiliated with GUSA, filed the complaint on the evening of Dec. 1. The council extended its enjoinment of the results to Dec. 5. The council’s decision rejects much of the core of the petitioners’ argument, ruling that the GUSA bylaws prohibiting electioneering at polling stations are strictly worded to apply to elections involving candidates instead of referendums. “I’m disappointed that the CC believed the bylaws, as currently written, did not reject electioneering in a referendum,” Camilli said. “However, I am pleased that they agreed with us and have decided that the referendum results should be invalidated, especially considering the timeline that they did not publicly release the content of the amendment within the allotted time frame.” In a non-binding additional holding, the council suggested that the current lack of broader rules governing GUSA elections may run against the spirit of democratic norms, even though the electioneering was allowed under the bylaws as they are currently written. “This Council submits that without the passage of a Stu-
dent Bill of Rights that protects the autonomy of the polling station, as well as other fundamental voting rights, democratic norms of governance are imperiled,” the decision reads. GUSA Election Commissioner Grady Willard (SFS ’18) said the referendum highlighted the need for clearer bylaws. “The referendum shows the need for bylaws reform, especially as it has to do with bylaws governing referendums,” Willard said. “We look forward to working with GUSA to updating the bylaws in the coming months.” Ouseph said she does not share the council’s view that the electioneering was allowed under the bylaws, but said she approves of the decision and intends to pursue election reform going forward. “I’m glad that the Council invalidated the results of the election but I still personally disagree with several of the Council’s holdings regarding our perceived electioneering of the referendum,” Ouseph wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I think my goals moving forward are to work on election reform so issues like this don’t occur in the future.” GUSA Senate Speaker Richie Mullaney (COL ’18) said GUSA is now exploring possible next steps. “We appreciate the Constitutional Council’s thorough examination of the case. We’re currently looking over their ruling in order to determine our next steps and will be able to share more information once we come to a decision,” Mullaney said. “We remain proud of our team and its efforts during the campaign and look forward to making constructive changes moving forward.”
Smith Highlights Role of Theater in Social Change March Demand Tests Metro
TARA SUBRAMANIAM/THE HOYA
About 500,000 people used the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail on Saturday, including demonstrators for the Women’s March on Washington.
Jeanine Santucci Hoya Staff Writer
The power of theater to raise awareness for issues affecting underrepresented populations is especially important following the election of President Donald Trump, as highlighted in a Gaston Hall event featuring actress Anna Deavere Smith hosted by the Office of the President on Jan. 19. Smith discussed her Pipeline Project, which uses theater to highlight issues within the school-to-prison pipeline. The event Doing Time in Education: The School-to-Prison Pipeline was a lecture and performance followed by a question-and-answer session, with Smith moderated by University President John J. DeGioia. A professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and artist-in-residence at the think tank Center for American Progress, Smith performs using a method of theater of her own invention, in which she takes on the persona of people whom she has personally interviewed. Smith has interviewed 253 people for her performances. Smith performs the conversations as authentically as she can, including the specific body language, tics and speech patterns of her subjects. With this technique, according to Smith, she is able to emphasize a diverse range of voices. Smith performed excerpts from her show “Notes From the Field: Doing Time in Education” at the event. The show features interviews she conducted across the country concerning the link between education in low-income communities of color and high incarceration rates, a civil rights issue commonly called the school-to-prison pipeline. Smith said the purpose of her work is to honor a message her grandfather imparted on
her that “if you say a word often enough, it becomes you.” “I have spent my career of more years than I’d like to say going around America trying to become America word for word,” Smith said. Niya Kenny was among the interviews Smith chose to highlight Thursday. Kenny was arrested after she stood up for a black female classmate who was thrown to the ground by a school officer in October 2015. The video quickly went viral online alongside complaints of police brutality. In her portrayal of Kenny, Smith used the nervousness and persistence of the teenager to examine the way she fought against the assault on her classmate. “But he just threw a whole girl across the classroom. How can you mind your business?” Smith quoted Kenny in response to criticism that she should not have gotten involved. “That’s something you need to make your business.” Though the term “school-toprison pipeline,” an implicative term that refers to a phenomenon where students in communities of color are more likely to end up in prison than finish high school, is present in today’s educational discourse, Smith said the overall problem is much larger. “I have a problem with it being called the school-to-prison pipeline — and that’s just what it’s called, I didn’t name it that — because I feel that the sentence itself blames schools and teachers for something that’s much, much more complicated than that, and that something is poverty,” Smith said. Performing as Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Smith expressed that the election of Trump is pivotal for people to become politically engaged. “There’s a lot of heaviness in the country at the moment, a
lot of pain,” Smith said, portraying Ifill. “In this moment is a space where change can happen. The only one. Particularly in a country that’s entrenched in issues of race. A moment when we move is a moment when we have to confront ourselves. This is it.” At the event, DeGioia said Smith’s method acting helps foster empathy towards issues affecting underrepresented populations. “You mentioned when we spoke earlier today about ‘moral imagination.’ It is not traditional for universities to place a disproportionate emphasis on imagination. We’re places for reason and rationality and reasonableness and the pursuit of truth,” DeGioia said. “But what you captured earlier in your presentation is just how important it is to be able to take on the identity and persona of the other, to be able to imagine what it’s like to be that other person.” According to theater professor Derek Goldman, co-director of Georgetown’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, which uses theater to humanize global politics, and artistic director of the Davis Center of Performing Arts, the type of activism that Smith has accomplished through her immersion in the arts is representative of the spirit of Georgetown’s own theater program. “The role of Georgetown’s theater on campus is so much in the spirit of what she’s been a leader in. It’s at the intersection of social change, social justice, new work, listening, global work across disciplines,” Goldman said in an interview with The Hoya. “She epitomizes that through solo work that’s in dialogue with so many voices, which I think is such a beautiful, inspiring model for what an individual can do in the world as a listener and as a change agent.”
Jesus Rodriguez Hoya Staff Writer
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority users faced long lines and extended wait times Saturday with around 500,000 people using the service, including many demonstrators from across the country who poured into the city for the Women’s March on Washington. In an internal email provided to The Hoya, WMATA General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld said the Metro system saw elevated ridership numbers over the weekend. Between Friday and Saturday, Metro transit, which include trains, buses and paratransit, saw over 2 million passenger trips, according to Wiedefeld. He also told employees that Saturday marked the secondbusiest day in Metro’s history with over 1,001,613 entries into the rail system. The all-time record for singleday Metro ridership is held by 2009’s Inauguration Day — the first inauguration of former President Barack Obama — when entries surpassed 1.1 million. The statistic WMATA provided for this Saturday’s ridership recorded the total number of SmarTrip card swipes in one day. If each Metro passenger used the system both to travel to and from an event, the number of passengers who used the system is closer to 500,000. Another measure of traffic is the availability of spots at Metro parking lots and garages. At about 10:30 a.m. Friday, only two parking stations were above 60 percent capacity. By comparison, at 10 a.m. Saturday, 20 stations were at or above capacity, per the WMATA Twitter account. Despite adding more than a dozen trains on the Red and Orange Lines and advancing opening times by two hours,
Metro infrastructure experienced a considerable uptick in traffic, leaving riders waiting several hours for trains around the march’s perimeter. In light of several challenges the Metro system has faced in recent years, including derailments at the East Falls Church and Metro Center stations in August 2015 and July 2016, Wiedefeld highlighted his pride in Metro use over the weekend. “This success is especially impressive given the monumental challenge of sustaining such an operation over backto-back days, along with the logistical challenges that come from national special security events,” Wiedefeld wrote in the email. James Zhang (MSB ’19), who rode the Metro for both the inauguration and Women’s March, said there was a noticeable difference in traffic between Friday and Saturday. “During inauguration, we left campus around 6 a.m. because I assumed that the Metro and the streets would be packed with people either protesting or going to inauguration,” Zhang said. “When we got to the Dupont station, a pretty empty subway train rolled up to the platform. If I recall correctly, there were probably about four other people in our car.” Compared to Friday, Zhang said the heightened attendance at Saturday’s march made riding Metro “nearly impossible” Saturday. “When we left campus at 10:30 [a.m.], there were already groups of people walking into D.C. from across the Key Bridge,” Zhang said. “When we got to the platform, we waited for about an hour for a train that could squeeze in four people.” Although WMATA did not provide an official figure for Friday’s traffic, the bureau gave
an 11 a.m. update on its official Twitter account, saying that 275,000 trips had been taken, compared to 193,000 trips at the same time the previous day. Mitali Mathur (SFS ’19), who attended the protest using Metro Saturday, said the enhanced schedule and service was not sufficient for the high influx of riders attending the protest, but that the atmosphere was amenable. “It was quite crowded, we were at Rosslyn and the first five trains that passed were completely packed, so we decided that if the next cars were completely packed we would walk because we figured it would only get more crowded,” Mathur said. “But the atmosphere was quite nice, everyone was very supportive and they welcomed us.” Other transportation modes were similarly affected by the high demand caused by the protest. Kristin Davis (COL ’19), who used the ride-hailing service Uber both days, expressed shock at the Saturday fare surcharge. “For the Women’s March, there was a considerable price surge and I had to run to a different location to meet the Uber driver to be picked up,” Davis said. “It was really difficult to get an Uber back.” In recent days, attempts to estimate crowd sizes at the inauguration and the Women’s March generated debate and tension between the White House and media outlets. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer challenged crowd estimates in a press conference Saturday. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe,” Spicer said. This claim, which WMATA figures disprove, has been debunked by multiple media outlets.
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Students for Climate Security Plans Pruitt Protests EPA, from A1 “Of all the cabinet-level nominees who are antithetical to the missions of the departments or agencies to which they have been nominated, Pruitt is in my view the least suited to public service,” Bennett wrote in an email to The Hoya. “As Attorney General of Oklahoma, he sent letters drafted by fossil fuel lobbyists to the EPA, President Obama, and other federal officials under his own signature, without identifying their true authors.” Sivakumar said the group originally formed in response to anxiety over the incoming Trump administration. Its first protest was a march from Red Square to Myron Ebell’s office on L Street on Nov. 18 to protest Ebell’s appointment to head the EPA transition committee.
McCartney said climate change deniers cannot be in government. “Climate change isn’t something you can put off. It’s something that has to be taken seriously,” McCartney said. “It’s something that you can’t overlook in favor of fossil fuel industry benefits.”
“Climate change isn’t something you can put off. It’s something that has to be taken seriously.” Justin mccartney (sfs ’19), Director of Senate Outreach Strategy, Students for Climate
Students for Climate Security has received support from students in a
wide array of states in an effort to reach out to the Senators who will vote on Pruitt’s confirmation, according to Sivakumar. “We have students from swing states and students from Republican-controlled states that are really making efforts to talk to their senators, talk to their representatives, to make sure we have people in Congress fighting the appointments of those who work against the environment,” Sivakumar said. Bennett said he is proud of the students’ work. “I have never been prouder of Georgetown students,” Bennett wrote. “Beyond the immediate focus on Pruitt and environmental issues, the students in our group are learning a lot about how to organize to influence policies.”
students FOR CLIMATE SECURITY
Students marched from Red Square to EPA transition committee chairman Myron Ebell’s L St. office in a demonstration organized by Students for Climate Security.
Inauguration Weekend Draws Celebration, Protests MARCH, from A1 Mike Pence and their families. Meanwhile, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took the stage to address the audience, boos from the crowd almost drowned his remarks. Amy Swank, who attended the inauguration to silently protest Trump, knew she would be on the receiving end of negativity going into the inauguration. She said she was startled by the extent to which she was targeted. “We definitely heard some ‘Lock her up’ chants still and some Trump chants and USA chants at some point,” Swank said. “It was a little unsettling. It kind of got hostile especially there towards the end when they were swearing him in. A few people started to get a lot more unfriendly at that point.” Although he did not support Trump, Aakash Panjabi (MSB ’19) attended the ceremony because he wanted to witness history and did not know whether he would ever get the chance to attend a presidential inauguration again. As he left, part of him regretted going. “It was kind of scary, I felt really uncomfortable, actually, being here. I figured I might never be able to go to an inauguration so I came,” Panjabi said. “I wasn’t scared coming into it. I think when I got here and I saw everyone around me, it kind of freaked me out.”
a diversity of ideas Chants in support of various causes filled the air: “Black lives matter,” “Feet on the ground, not backing down,” “Tell me what democracy looks like; this is what democracy looks like,” “Women’s rights are human rights.” The city’s security exhaled Saturday as MPD made zero arrests; demonstrators chanted, sang and marched for hours until weary demonstrators finally left the White House.
“I wasn’t scared coming into it. I think when I got here and I saw everyone around me, it kind of freaked me out.” aakash panjabi (MSB ’19)
Marching alongside White were thousands of participants who voiced their support for women’s rights — among other social issues. “The Women’s March seemed almost deliberately to have an open agenda, so that people of every gender could march for the democratic issues that they believed in. There was a real diversity of issues ref lected in this march,” White said. “It was a beautiful atmosphere. Many women and some men dedicated to making their voices heard on a diverse number of issues. I felt very positive energy there.”
However, even at the Women’s March, the cascading pink was not ubiquitous. As he walked toward Independence Ave., Myrom Croel, clad in his red “Make America Great Again” hat, a white polo Trump shirt and even Trump underwear, found himself in the midst of bulging crowds. A Trump supporter who flew in from California for the inauguration, Croel was one of numerous attendees who were older than 60, a contrast to many of the young women marching. Croel said he did not understand the reason why women were marching, although he said he respected their right to do so. He believed women had better lives before entering the workforce. “I actually don’t know what they’re marching about. We recognize women, and if they need to be more recognized that’s fine, I don’t see where women are trod on or beaten down, or anything else. I think they’ve pretty well got equal rights now,” Croel said. “A lot of them used to be princesses, and now they’re our level.” the precipice of change As for this year’s inauguration, White, who has been in local politics for nearly a decade, forebode drastic change, with the country standing at a possible precipice. “There was a hope and an optimism that was particularly bright during the previous two inaugurations for Barack Obama that was not only absent in D.C. during this inaugura-
tion, but there is a strong cloud of despair and fear and it’s palpable in the city,” White said. “The fear is very justified based on the divisive style of politics that we’re seeing in the new administration.” Local lawmakers expressed fear that the District’s fight for statehood might be stalled by Trump’s administration. Republican senators have also begun an aggressive push to gut other pieces of progressive legislation, such as D.C.’s proposed measures on gun-control, physician-assisted suicide and abortion funding for low-income women through tax dollars. A referendum for statehood gained approval from 80 percent of D.C. residents in the Nov. 8 election; however, like all legislation passed by local lawmakers, Congress and the president must approve the measure, which is highly unlikely given that if D.C. ends up becoming the 51st state, there would likely be two new Democratic senators as well as one new Democratic representative in the House. While thousands poured into the nation’s capital from across the country, the Women’s March held special significance for those within the city who predict they will be directly affected by Trump’s administration. At the rally preceding the Women’s March, Bowser ignited a “Leave us alone” chant during her speech. “I’m here to speak for all the women elected officials. We are more harshly criticized, we are more wrongly criticized at every single level, when we speak up
for women,” Bowser said. “We need every man and every woman to speak up for us, too. The best thing for Congress to do is leave us alone.” A united Resistance On the parade viewing stand at the Wilson building, Bowser taped up a large photo of D.C. abolitionist Frederick Douglass alongside the quotation, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.” In December, Bowser met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York to discuss local Washington politics. During Bowser’s 2014 run for mayor, Trump’s children Ivanka and Eric donated a total of $4,000 to Bowser’s mayoral campaign. After she won, Trump himself donated $5,000 to Bowser’s D.C. Proud Inaugural Committee.
“I don’t see where women are trod on or beaten down, or anything else. I think they’ve pretty well got equal rights now.” myrom croel Donald Trump Supporter
Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) also took advantage of city hall’s prominent parade viewing position by using the large windows on the third floor of the Wilson building. Grosso taped up a sign proclaiming “D.C. Protects Human Rights” with
rainbow lettering to profess his support of LGBTQ rights. His fellow law-maker Councilman Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4) was one of the three councilmembers who attended the inauguration. Todd’s Communication Specialist Joshua Fleitman wrote in an email to The Hoya that the councilmember attended to celebrate the peaceful transition of power, though his attendance was not an endorsement of any of the views of the new administration. “Although the councilmember shares many of the concerns of his constituents regarding the policy proposals and initial actions of the new administration, it is of the utmost importance that District leadership cultivate a working relationship with the Trump administration,” Fleitman wrote. Fleitman’s optimism about working with the new administration has not rubbed off on his coworker White, who is uncertain about what the future of politics in D.C. will look like. “I’ve been looking for months for a reason to be optimistic or hopeful about Trump’s presidency,” White said. “But I have not been able to find any hope for those of us that worry about losing the civil rights gains and for the District of Columbia, the autonomy gains we have worked for over the past eight years.”
Hoya Staff Writers Tara Subramaniam and Christian Paz contributed reporting.
erick castro/The hoya, jesus rodriguez/the hoya
In Washington, D.C., hundreds of thousands gathered from across the country to either witness the swearing-in of President Donald Trump or demonstrate in the Women’s March on Washington or in some cases, do both. Myrom Croel (right) said he did not understand the march seeing as he thought women already had equal rights.
NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
THE HOYA
A7
ELEANOR STORK/THE HOYA
Italian Undersecretary for European Affairs called for Europe to develop stronger migration and security policies in a talk in the Bioethics Research Library on Wednesday. ELEANOR STORK/THE HOYA
Georgetown ranked 12th on a New York Times study detailing income inequality at universities, with 20.8 percent of students coming from the top 1 percent, defined as families with an annual income higher than $630,000, and 12.5 percent of students coming from the bottom 60 percent, defined as having an income less than $65,000.
Georgetown Ranks 12th in Study Detailing Income Inequality TARA SUBRAMANIAM Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown ranked 12th out of a list of 38 schools with more students from the top 1 percent of the income scale than from the bottom 60 percent, according to a New York Times study based on anonymous tax records published Jan. 18. The median income for a parent of Georgetown’s class of 2013 was $229,100, the 8th highest of the 2,395 colleges surveyed. Twenty-one percent of Georgetown’s approximately 6,700 undergraduates are from the top 1 percent, which is among the highest amounts for the 10 schools in the Big East Conference. The rankings are based on incomes calculated using records of 30 million students who graduated between 2002 and 2013 from more than 2,000 American colleges. According to The New York Times, students whose families make $630,000 or more per year are considered part of the 1 percent. Students whose families
make less than $65,000 annually are classified as part of the bottom 60 percent, which accounts for 13.5 percent of undergraduate students.
“I would like to see more donations to current use or the endowment.” MISSY FOY Director, Georgetown Scholarship Program
While the data in The New York Times study spans students born between 1980 and 1991, the amount of students from the bottom 60 percent and top 1 percent remained consistent for every year. Seventy-four percent of Georgetown’s undergraduate student body come from the top 20th percentile, with the average Georgetown student in the 85th income percentile. After graduation, 1.9 percent of graduates between
2002 and 2013 moved from the bottom to top income quintile and 11 percent of students moved up at least two income quintiles. While 3.1 percent of Georgetown students are from the bottom 20 percent, a student from the bottom fifth of incomes has a 61 percent chance of moving up to the top 20 percent of incomes after graduation, according to the study. Sixty-nine percent of Georgetown alumni end up in the top 20 percent after graduation. Specifically, the median individual income for Georgetown alumni by the time they are 34 years old is $84,400. Compared to other schools in Washington, D.C., Georgetown has among the lowest amount of students who end up in bottom 20 percent after graduation, with only 8 percent of its undergraduates falling in that income bracket. In The New York Times’ mobility index, which incorporates both access and outcomes to illustrate the likelihood of a student moving up two or more income quintiles, George-
town is ranked 1985th out of 2137 colleges. However, mobility at Georgetown is on par with or better than other elite schools. Princeton is ranked 2096th, while Duke is 2014th. While acknowledging that Georgetown is a wealthy school, Georgetown Scholarship Program Director Missy Foy said that the university’s efforts are commendable given the size of its endowment compared with other schools it competes with for applicants. “We certainly are very wealthy. You have a lot of students coming in from that top 1 percent, perhaps more so than peer institutions, but other than that we are not out of line from our peer schools, and we have a fraction of the endowment,” Foy said. “Even schools that have a huge endowment are struggling to get students from the bottom fifth to apply and enroll.” Foy said she believes the main issue causing Georgetown’s lack of socioeconomic diversity is a lack of sufficient scholarship funds. “Where we are truly struggling is in terms of
Why I Left White Nationalism Derek Black in conversation with Dr. Marcia Chatelain. Thursday, 1/26 Copley Formal 7:30 pm Q&A will follow
co-sponsored by:
money,” Foy said. “I would like to see more donations to current use or the endowment so we can enhance our scholarship packages and bring in a more diverse population.”
“I commend President DeGioia to stay firm on our committment to meet full financial need that costs the university $100 million a year.” MISSY FOY Director, Georgetown Scholarship Program
According to Foy, the percentage of students on financial aid is a more detailed indication of a school’s socioeconomic landscape than the income percentiles and quin-
tiles used by The New York Times. “From what we’re seeing, 10 percent of students can identify with a low-income experience. Forty-five percent of Georgetown students are receiving some form of financial aid,” Foy said. “Financial aid is a bit more nuanced than income quintile.” Foy said donations to the university’s endowment are crucial to maintaining and then increasing the amount of scholarships Georgetown can provide, which decreases the financial burden on low-income students and increases their odds of attending. “I commend President DeGioia to stay firm on our commitment to meet full financial need that costs the university $100 million a year. I consider that an investment, not a cost,” Foy said. “But every year you better believe the board of directors has to look at that budget item and say is this something we can keep on doing. Every year the university has to find out where are we going to come up with that money.”
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sports
THE HOYA
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
SWimming & Diving
Hoyas Struggle Against Dragons Cameron Perales Hoya Staff Writer
On Drexel’s senior day, Georgetown was unable to keep up with its opponent, as the Dragons used that emotion to break six pool records at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center and earn a victory over the Hoyas. Georgetown had the tall task of waking up early in the morning, heading to Philadelphia via bus to compete and returning to campus all in a single day. While this obstacle was nothing new for the Blue and Gray, the task did prove to be formidable. The Hoyas struggled to establish their presence throughout the meet, with the men’s team dropping the meet 160-113, and the women’s team also losing with a score of 166126. Despite the losses, the women’s team featured
an impressive individual effort by one of its youngest swimmers. Freshman distance swimmer Cristina Barrett led the Hoyas with two individual wins in the 500-- and 1000-yard freestyles. Barrett earned her first-place finishes with times of 5:06.13 and 10:30.23 on the 500-- and 1000-yard freestyles, respectively. With the Big East Championship just a month away, Barrett has found her stride at an integral point in the season. While Barrett’s strong showing was the most notable finish on the team, senior Katie Duncalf brought home a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.21. Freshman diver Margaret Barnhorst also showed a glimpse of a strong future for the Hoyas, collecting a first-place finish on the 1-meter dive with a score of 273.98 and a second-place
finish on the 3-meter dive, tallying a 237.68.
Despite Drexel’s record-setting day, Georgetown’s Gibson took first in the 50-yard freestyle. On the Georgetown men’s side, great individual performances from sophomore Jesse Gibson and senior Martin Vanin went toe-to-toe with a Drexel team that broke two pool records that day, including a record in the 400-yard individual medley, previously unbroken since 1986. Despite Drexel’s recordsetting day, Georgetown’s
Gibson took first in the 50yard freestyle with a time of 22.32, outpacing freshman teammate Emmanuel Emovon, who took second in the race, touching the wall at 23.87. Vanin placed first in the 100-yard butterfly marking a time of 52.20, barely outstretching his teammate sophomore Justin Summers, who posted 52.28 and took second in the event. In addition to the top finishes in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, sophomore Ryan Blom took a firstplace medal in the 1-meter dive with a score of 287.70 and a third-place finish in the 3-meter dive with a score of 251.18, finishing behind teammate Jared Cooper-Vespa who scored 294.30 for second place. Georgetown now looks ahead to one last tuneup at Providence on Feb. 11 before the crucial Big East Championships February 22-25 in Long Island, N.Y.
CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA
The Georgetown men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both lost to the Drexel Dragons this past weekend. The Hoyas’ next contest is against their Big East rival, the Providence Friars.
The Zone
Between the Pipes
Kyle Parisi
Depth Scoring Ignites Capitals W
ith the All-Star break quickly approaching, the NHL has hit the point of the season where teams that found early season success — like the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Montreal Canadians — are cooling off a bit. On the flip side, fringe teams such as the Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs are doing everything they can to make things click and gain ground in the Eastern Conference wild-card race. The Washington Capitals have overcome their early season woes and quickly risen to the No. 1 spot in the NHL over the past month. The Caps entered the New Year as the NHL’s most dominant team. It would be easy to say there is a singular reason for their success. But simply put, the entire team has come together. The Caps have scored 58 goals in their last 12 games — including five or more goals in eight of those games. The offensive output has largely been due to the fact that everyone is contributing for the Caps, not just their star players. Role players who are not necessarily getting paid the most on the team have been producing more than expected. After a rocky start to the season, Andre Burakovsky has finally broken out. He has notched seven goals and 12 points in 16 games since getting scratched by Head Coach Barry Trotz for three games in a row. Burakovsky’s offensive efforts often ignite the entire team, as five of those seven goals have been the first of the game. The Caps are no longer chasing teams, and Burakovsky has been the catalyst. At age 35, Justin Williams is the leading scorer for the Caps since their hot streak began. In fact, with seven goals since the New Year began, he leads the entire NHL in the calendar year. Since hitting his stride, Williams has been a point-per-
game player, producing well above the expected margin of a 35-year old second liner with a two-year contract. Fourth-liner Brett Connolly added five of his own goals over the 12-game span. For a bottomsix forward with a one-year contract who spent the early part of the season trading places with minor league call-ups like Jakub Vrana and Zach Sanford, this is a phenomenal feat. Connolly continues to prove that he deserves a place on this team in spectacular fashion, and can expect a pay increase with his next contract. It is obvious the Caps are experiencing no issues scoring goals. With arguably the best depth of any team in the NHL — owing much of its success to its third and fourth lines — the only fear of the team is that it may be peaking too soon. A hot streak like this is simply unsustainable, and with the playoffs months away, fans are starting to wonder if this spells bad news for their postseason chances. The only way to combat this fear is by not getting complacent. This month has been an incredible confidence boost for the Caps, revealing to the league and themselves the team’s potential when everything jives. The Caps are building a strong foundation for themselves, and after tinkering with lines and testing out new players during the first half of the season, they seem to have finally settled on a core that works. Confidence and depth wins Cups, whereas waiting on sporadic hot streaks rarely does. The results are impressive, but it is the team behind the success that counts, and in my opinion this stretch has produced a stronger, more efficient, playoff-ready team.
Kyle Parisi is a sophomore in the College. Between the pipes appears every Tuesday.
Three-point shootout
Hill Overcomes Challenges Arizona, Oregon Surging “I
t’s a mess.” That is how Rich Hill described his life over the past 12 years. However, mess is not quite the word that comes to mind to those who watched Hill pitch Oct. 18 against the now-World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the 2016 National League Champion Series. A word like “excellent” is more fitting. Hill’s journey had brought him from high praise both in high school and college to a crash in his early big-league career. Control issues plagued his draft stock and he dropped to the fourth round of the 2002 draft. He slowly worked his way up through the Cubs organization, riding on the potential of his curveball, which scouts agreed was the best of all Cubs prospects. Upon reaching the Major Leagues, his career sputtered. From 2005-2010, he bounced between AAA and MLB ball, and was traded, waived and signed by a series of clubs. Injuries piled up, and on June 9, 2011, Hill underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his pitching elbow. At this point, nobody was talking about the lefty starter with the unhittable curve. Instead, Hill’s career was a story of disappointment. He is a fighter, though, and completely changed his delivery for his comeback, heading to the bullpen for what seemed like a few more unimpressive years. This is largely what happened until the road looked to be ending in 2015, when he received no more offers. Nevertheless, Hill was not done with baseball. As his
strength increased, he began throwing over the top again. He signed with an independent league, this time
Hugh Ramlow reclaiming his starting spot. Feeling his best, Hill dominated and received looks from Major League clubs. In late 2015, the Red Sox brought him back to the MLB and he was once again starting games at the highest level. In 2016 he signed with the Oakland Athletics, but was traded midseason to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he ended his season with the NLCS victory against the Cubs. This win capped a season where the career 4.10 ERA pitcher sported an impressive 2.12 ERA. He posted career bests or near-career bests in wins, strikeouts, WAR, K/9 ratio, K/BB ratio and WHIP — all while being 36 years old, after extensive surgery. His remarkable career is a testament to the oddness and unpredictability of sports, and the power of determination that can never be reflected in statistics. But there is a side to this story that I have yet to tell you. When we look at the arc of Hill’s career, we are left wondering what keeps him going. Certainly many ballplayers hang up their hats sooner. The answer lies not in financial incentives
or an obsession with the game, the two primary motivators for many athletes. Instead, it is in a desire for excellence that was built up by a truthful perspective. In early 2014, following a season in which he posted an ERA of 6.28, Hill and his wife Caitlin lost their infant son Brooks to multiple health issues. His loss was the most difficult challenge of his life, and has shaped his career immeasurably. It has brought him a unique perspective on life, and it drives him to pursue excellence. “Life keeps moving forward; it doesn’t matter. People die, daily life continues, but with a different view on life, an understanding of time and how precious life is. We live for our son Brooks and with his memory on an everyday basis,” Hill said in an interview earlier this month with WBUR 90.9. His comeback to baseball is linked to his physical health, but perhaps more importantly, to his family’s healing process following their loss. We often find ourselves outmatched and overwhelmed by the giants in our daily lives. Finding the perspective to see both the big picture and the beautiful details is difficult. Hill’s mess reminds us of the important parts of life, the elements of the human experience which make sports exciting and inspiring and also lead us to love deeply. I do not know about you, but I will be rooting for Rich Hill in 2017.
Hugh Ramlow is a junior in the College. The zone appears every other
The Mighty Ducks After a disappointing 2-2 start to the season, which included a close loss to Georgetown at the Maui Invitational, No. 10 Oregon has won 16 games in a row — shattering a 104-year-old school record — to propel the team back to the preseason Final Four contender it was projected to be. Currently tied for first place in the Pac-12 with the Arizona Wildcats (18-2, 7-0 Pac-12), the Ducks (182, 7-0 Pac-12) look to continue their success against the Utah Utes (14-5, 5-2 Pac-12) and the Colorado Buffaloes (10-10, 0-7 Pac-12) this week, albeit without All-American forward Dillon Brooks, who sat out their last win against Stanford (11-9, 3-5 Pac-12) with a sprained foot. Brooks has no timetable for an immediate return, so the Ducks turn to their strong guard depth and recent emergence of center Chris Boucher — who averages 13 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game — to continue to climb in the rankings. The coming weeks offer the team an opportunity to build further chemistry and confidence on the court so that when Brooks returns, they are even more dangerous. Trier’s Triumphant Return Fresh off his suspension from a failed offseason drug test, Arizona sophomore guard Alonzo Trier made his long-awaited season debut Saturday against No. 8 UCLA. Coming off the bench to contribute 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes,
Trier helped No. 7 Arizona stun the Bruins at home, 96-85.
Carter Owen Although the Wildcats were by no means struggling without Trier, he was a big part of their team last year, averaging 14.8 points per game and shouldering a large burden of offensive attention. Now, with the versatile all-around star available to pair with promising freshmen forward Lauri Markkanen and guard Kobi Simmons, the Wildcats deserve to be considered a legitimate Final Four contender and perhaps even the team to beat.
Wildcats deserve to be considered a legitimate Final Four contender. A win over a UCLA team (19-2, 6-2 Pac-12) that had been averaging a leaguebest 93.3 points and beating opponents by an average of 17.8 points per game goes a long way in bolstering that case. The team looks to focus on improving its chemistry as it enters the rest of the season at full strength, and although one game hardly ensures anything, Arizona has a lot of positives to take into its
upcoming games against Washington (9-10, 2-5 Pac12) and Washington State (10-9, 3-4 Pac-12). West Virginia’s Turnover Problem Known for their ability to turn over their opponents with their notorious full-court press, the No. 18 West Virginia Mountaineers have been given a sour taste of their own medicine over the past two games. Back-to-back close losses to unranked Oklahoma (810, 3-4 Big 12) and Kansas State (15-4, 4-3 Big 12) has Bob Huggins’ squad on its first losing streak of the year, and West Virginia’s (15-4, 4-3 Big 12) inability to protect the ball is a big part of it. Despite averaging just about 11 giveaways per game and having a reputation for being careful with the ball, the Mountaineers have coughed up the ball 36 times in their past two games. An upcoming date with No. 2 Kansas (18-1, 7-0 Big 12) at home on Tuesday may be the strongest indicator of just how much of a threat this team is in the Big 12 behind the Jayhawks and No. 5 Baylor Bears (18-1, 6-1). The Mountaineers continue to lean on a balanced attack led by senior forward Nathan Adrian and junior guard Jevon Carter — who average a combined 22.4 points per game — and hope that they can limit their mental mistakes in time to salvage their top-10 ranking.
Carter Owen is a freshman in the McDonough School of Business. Three-point Shootout appears every Tuesday.
SPORTS
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
THE HOYA
Men’s Basketball
track & field
GU Hosts Big East Rival Creighton CREIGHTON, from A10
COURTESY GUHOYAS
Junior Jody-Ann Knight captured first place in the 200-meter dash, setting a new personal best with a time of 24.75. The Hoyas’ next competition is the Penn State National Open this weekend.
Individual Efforts Propel Squads TRACK, from A10
Despite not achieving his personal record, Armstrong improved upon his performance from earlier in the season, jumping 6.31 meters — 0.13m longer than his Nittany Lion Challenge finish. “Sprinters and jumpers need competitiveness,” McKenzie said of getting his jumpers and sprinters more opportunities to compete. “They need to jump. They need to sprint to get race-sharp and get
[their] technique down correctly.” Wilson’s 10th-place finish marked a new personal best time in the 400m dash, cutting 0.01 seconds off his previous personal best, which was set at the Nittany Lion Challenge. “Quincey Wilson, who’s a freshman, hasn’t run a lot indoors — he’s from Atlanta — so he had a chance to be on that track for the first time, get familiar with it,” McKenzie said . “He ran well, also. I think that bodes well for
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when he goes back there because he is getting his feet wet as well.” The location of the meet had some added significance for the Hoyas, as the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Center is the site for this year’s Big East Championship meet at the end of February. “We compete in that facility for the Big East Championship, so we also get familiar with the facility for some of the newcomers. We are going to jump into the deep
end soon; Penn State [is] coming up and the Big East is a month away,” McKenzie said. “It’s a matter of getting racesharp. Sprinters need races to ensure they are doing what they need to do to execute their race plan.” The men’s and women’s teams look to improve upon their performances when they return to action this weekend in State College, Pa., for the Penn State National Open.
for the Blue Jays and scored a career-high 17 points against the Golden Eagles while leading scorer Marcus Foster finished with a season-high 30 points. Georgetown’s defense needs to keep the ball out of Foster’s hands and make Creighton run its offense through its less experienced players. To establish an offensive rhythm, Georgetown — especially the starters — must limit its fouls early. Against Xavier, three of Georgetown’s starters played 15 minutes or fewer due to foul trouble. All Hoya starters finished the first half with two fouls, limiting the team’s ability to develop offensive momentum. Sophomore forward Marcus Derrickson fouled out with 5:53 remaining against Xavier and played a total of 12 minutes — well below his season average of 23.6 minutes per game. Derrickson was Georgetown’s most efficient scorer of the game during the time he was on the court, shooting 3-of-3 from the floor. Derrickson must avoid fouling early as he remains an integral part of the Hoyas’ offense. Georgetown seems to still be searching for its identity during conference play. In the Hoyas’ first four conference losses of the season, the average deficit was 7.5 points and Georgetown
always fought until the game’s final minutes. Comparably, the Hoyas have lost by an average of 14.5 points in their last two conference games. Against the Musketeers, the Hoyas were in position to turn the game around, as they were down by seven points with just under five minutes remaining. However, turnovers prevented Georgetown from gaining any ground and allowed Xavier to run away with the game. The Hoyas turned the ball over five times in the final five minutes, including four in the final two minutes of regulation. Creighton currently ranks second in the Big East in turnover margin, sporting an impressive +2.6 margin. On the flip side, Georgetown ranks second to last in the conference with a -0.65 turnover margin. The Hoyas have turned the ball over 15 times in four straight conference games and must lower this number if they want to compete with the defensively aggressive Blue Jays, who average 6.8 steals per game. Fouls and turnovers continue to plague the Hoyas in conference games, and if the team expects to turn this season around, it must first focus on addressing these issues. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday night at the Verizon Center.
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
Four English Premier League Teams Advance CRAIGE, from A10
This pairing lends credit to many fans’ conspiracy theory that the draws for the Round of 16 are rigged, but Arsène Wenger and his team expect to do their best given the circumstances. It would be easy to write Arsenal off, considering that history is not on the English team’s side, but this year’s squad has the potential to do the unthinkable. A large reason for this is due to the stellar play of midfielder Mesut Özil. Özil has often faced heavy criticism throughout his Arsenal career, and it is
rumored that the German will be leaving in the summer, but for now, Özil is Arsenal’s best player and is boasting an incredible year. As for Bayern, Carlo Ancelotti and his team have looked shaky at times. It seems that the fluid team movement that defined Bayern in the past has transformed into a heavy dependence on certain players. A second-place finish in the group stage indicates that this strategy has not paid off. If Arsenal can take advantage of Bayern Munich’s identity crisis, the Gunners have the potential to break the curse of the
last few years and advance past the Round of 16.
If Monaco applies pressure to Bravo, it is very likely that City will be left in the dust. On paper, it looks as though Manchester City has benefitted from the luck of the draw, especially compared to Leicester and Arsenal. Pep Guardiola’s City will come
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This year’s Arsenal squad has the potential to do the unthinkable and advance. There appear to be several confidence issues, with Guardiola himself
admitting that perhaps the problem lies with him. One thing is certainly clear: Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who was brought in as a replacement for Joe Hart, has been absolutely abysmal. If Monaco applies pressure to Bravo, it is very likely that City will be left in the dust. With three weeks until the Round of 16 begins, the teams have ample time to prepare against their respective opponents and attempt to get one step closer to a Champions League title.
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adding four assists. Senior forward Faith Woodward contributed 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds to go along with three blocks. “Well, always your goal is to get the win, and I felt like yes we did being that it was 2-0. But, you saw different contributions from each member of the team,” Adair said.
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Hoyas Win Third Straight Game XAVIER, from A10
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start to the season, Manchester City has slowed down quite a bit. The team finds itself all the way back in fifth, far behind league leader Chelsea.
Women’s Basketball
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up against Leonardo Jardim’s AS Monaco. It would be easy to assume that City will pummel the tiny Monegasque side, but this could be one of the most competitive series in the entire Round of 16. Monaco is currently challenging Paris Saint Germain for the top spot over in Ligue One, largely thanks to Radamel Falcao’s return to form. Falcao encountered dismal spells at both Manchester United and Chelsea, but fortunately for the Colombian, it looks as though those horrific days are over. After a lightning-fast
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“I challenged them going into the fourth and I felt like we had key stops and made some big shots.” Natasha Adair Head Coach
In addition to the improved offensive performance, Georgetown was able to hold Xavier shooting at just 37 percent from the floor in the second half. Going into the weekend, the Hoyas aimed to keep a defensive focus and to capitalize on defensive plays. Xavier had 22 turnovers — including 14 from steals by Georgetown players — leading to 14 points from turnovers for the Hoyas. Against Butler (5-15, 2-7 Big East), Georgetown pulled out another close victory, winning 58-52. The Hoya defense forced 24 Bulldog turnovers over the course of the game, while the
FILE PHOTO: KARLA LEYJA/THE HOYA
Sophomore guard Dionna White scored a game-high 29 points in Georgetown’s victory over Butler on Sunday. White leads the team with 15.9 points per game. Hoyas committed 13 turnovers in comparison. The Hoyas held strong on the offensive boards as well, having 12 offensive rebounds to Butler’s six. “I challenged them going into the fourth and I felt like we had key stops and made some big shots,” Adair said. “I felt like Dionna White put this team on her back today. So it was another great win, and we walked out of here 2-0 always feels good.” At the end of the first half, Georgetown was up 28-21, but Butler scored 17 points in the third quarter to cut into
Georgetown’s lead. The Bulldogs attacked the Hoyas’ interior, scoring 12 points in the paint in the third quarter. The Hoyas regained the lead with 5:32 remaining in the fourth quarter when White hit a three-pointer off an assist by Woodward. A huge part of the Hoyas’ success as a team was the aggressive nature of their defense against the Bulldogs. The Hoyas finished the game with 14 steals including five by White, who followed up her 12 point, eight rebound performance with a team-high 29 points against
the Bulldogs. “We held Butler to their average. We’re going to keep holding onto that defensive focus and defensive mindset with the group,” Adair said. “As a team, you want to keep getting better and do whatever you have to do to win. We did it twice this weekend. Now we head home, we rest. Then we regroup and get ready for next weekend.” The Hoyas have the week off and will return to play Saturday in McDonough Arena against conference rival Villanova (11-9, 6-3 Big East).
SPORTS
Men’s Basketball Georgetown (10-10) vs. Creighton (18-2) Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. Verizon Center
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
TALKING POINTS
SWIMMING & DIVING Georgetown men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were swept by Drexel on Saturday. See A8
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TRACK & FIELD
Hoya Staff Writer
Two athletes finished in the top-10 of their events and headlined a multitude of strong individual performances from members of the Georgetown men’s and women’s track and field teams this past weekend at the Gotham Cup in Staten Island, N.Y.
“We need races, and we need to get racesharp. In track and field you don’t get rewarded unless you put the work in.” ALTON MCKENZIE Associate Head Coach
Junior Jody-Ann Knight won the women’s 200-meter dash with a personal record of 24.75, while freshman Quincey Wilson finished 10th in the men’s 400m dash, crossing the line at 49.57. Knight’s new personal best was 0.34 of a second faster than her outdoor best and 0.43 of a second faster than her previous indoor best. This race marks the first time Knight has finished with an under-25-second time. Associate Head Coach for track & field Alton McKenzie credited
Knight’s personal best performance to her dedication and hard work. “She’s been training consistently; she’s put the work in,” McKenzie said. “It’s just a reflection of the work that she’s put in; now she’s getting rewarded for it. She’s embraced the process of what we are trying to get her to do to run faster.” On the men’s side, Georgetown sent its sprinters to the meet in order to gain more racing experience. Freshmen Stephen Menzia and Raehaan Poonja represented the Hoyas in the 60m dash, along with senior Kenneth Armstrong. While Menzia shaved off 0.03 seconds from his 7.31 finish he had two weekends ago in the Nittany Lion Challenge, he did not meet his personal best record of 7.18 seconds. “We’ve used these meets to get quicker,” McKenzie said. “We need races, and we need to get race-sharp. In track and field you don’t get rewarded unless you put the work in, so for us it’s not just finding one thing specifically. It’s a body of work.” In addition to the 60m and 200m dash, Armstrong competed in the long jump, finishing 22nd out of 55 total jumpers. See TRACK, A9
I felt like Dionna White put the team on her back today.” HEAD COACH NATASHA ADAIR
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The number of Hoyas who placed in the top 10 of their events at the Gotham Cup.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Training Pays Off For Track Team DAN CROSSON
NUMBERS GAME
FILE PHOTO: DERRICK ARTHUR/THE HOYA
Junior guard Tre Campbell scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor in Sunday’s loss to Xavier. Georgetown has now lost two consecutive conference games, dropping its conference record to 1-6.
Hoyas Look to Resurrect Season SEAN HOFFMAN Hoya Staff Writer
With one conference win under its belt, the Georgetown men’s basketball team will host the No. 7 Creighton Blue Jays on Wednesday night as the Hoyas attempt to gain ground in the contested Big East Conference standings. Georgetown (10-10, 1-6 Big East) remains tied with DePaul (8-12, 1-6 Big East) in the bottom of the
standings after losing its second consecutive conference game, falling to Xavier (14-5, 4-3 Big East) for the second time this season Sunday by a score of 86-75. Meanwhile, Creighton (18-2, 5-2 Big East) sits at third in the conference, but lost its first game without senior guard and offensive catalyst Maurice Watson Jr., who tore his ACL last week, falling to Marquette (13-6, 4-3 Big East) over the past week-
end. Watson leads the team in assists, averaging an astonishing 8.5 assists per game. However, it was the defensive side of the court that suffered the most from his absence. The Blue Jays allowed a season-high 102 points against the Golden Eagles, who shot 50 percent from beyond the arc. The Hoyas must use Watson’s absence to their advantage and create mismatches along the perimeter to
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
free up opportunities for their shooters in order to establish their offensive presence early on. While many believed that Creighton’s offense would struggle without Watson, the Blue Jays’ bench players stepped up and helped maintain Creighton’s high-scoring offense, which ranks first in the Big East, scoring 87.1 points per game. Freshman guard Davion Mintz came off the bench See CREIGHTON, A9
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
Vanessa Craige
Europe to Resume Top Competition
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ANNA KOVACEVICH/THE HOYA
Junior guard Dorothy Adomako finished with a team-high 18 points in Georgetown’s victory over Xavier last Friday. Adomako averages 14.7 points per game, while grabbing 7.2 rebounds per game.
GU Secures Two Key Road Victories ALLIE BABYAK Hoya Staff Writer
After two wins in a row, the Hoyas are now on a three-game winning streak and have moved up to fourth place in the conference standings. Playing two conference games in the span of three days, the Georgetown women’s basketball team closed out the first half of conference play with two key road victories, defeat-
ing Xavier on Friday and Butler on Sunday. Going into the weekend, the Hoyas (12-7, 4-5 Big East) were coming off a 77-58 win against Seton Hall (9-11, 2-7 Big East) at home. Georgetown secured another win in the Big East by defeating Xavier (10-10, 2-7 Big East) 6964 in overtime, giving the Hoyas their first overtime win of the season. “We were dialed in,” Georgetown Head Coach
Natasha Adair said of her team’s effort over the weekend. “We had been confronted with overtime earlier this season against Creighton. But you saw a different mindset with the group. You saw a different determination.” In overtime, senior guard Mykia Jones secured the Hoyas’ win by making free throws with 26 seconds and nine seconds remaining in the game.
The Hoyas struggled in the first half, however, shooting 24.3 percent from the floor while the Musketeers shot 50 percent. The Blue and Gray came out strong in the second half, staging a 2210 run in the third quarter. Four Hoyas scored in double figures in the win, with junior guard Dorothy Adomako recording a team-high 18 points, See XAVIER, A9
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fter a frenzied month of exciting soccer, the Champions League Round of 16 is nearly finalized. This is the really intriguing stage of Champions League, especially this year, as Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester City have all advanced to the knockout stages. Tottenham, however, was not as lucky as it is the sole English team that failed to advance. While Leicester is having a dismal Premier League title defense, the Foxes could be in for a stunning Champions League campaign. In fairness, Leicester benefitted from a ridiculously easy group stage and faces a challenging opponent in the next round in Sevilla, the winner of the Europa League. Fortunately, Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has returned from a hand injury, bolstering an often shaky defense. If forwards Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez continue to perform relatively well, there is a slim chance that the Leicester City dream could continue. Sevilla has continued to dominate both European
competitions and the domestic leagues. In fact, Sevilla has carved a place for itself in the top three of La Liga and managed to snap Real Madrid’s historic 40game winning streak.
Though Leicester is struggling in the EPL, Champions League glory remains on the table. As much as I would like to see Leicester defy the odds, I find it very difficult to see the Foxes getting through an in-form Sevilla. As is usually the case with Arsenal, the Gunners face an incredibly difficult matchup in the Round of 16. In the past couple of years, Arsenal has faced FC Barcelona, AS Monaco and Bayern Munich immediately after the group stages. This year Arsenal faces Bayern Munich, despite the Gunners finishing as the top team in its group. See CRAIGE, A9