The Hoya: January 16, 2026

GU Invested in Company With Ties to Fossil Fuels Years After Divestment

Ajani Stella and Opal Kendall Senior News Editor and Senior Features Editor

Nearly six years after committing to divest from fossil fuel companies, Georgetown University continues to hold shares in at least one company with close ties to oil and gas extraction. As of September 2025, the university holds over 3.3 million shares, or 6% of its public portfolio, in Granite Ridge Resources, an oil and natural gas production and exploration company, according to November securities flings reviewed by The Hoya. Georgetown has owned Granite Ridge stock since the fourth quarter of 2023 and increased its direct holdings by over 26% in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In February 2020, the university’s board of directors pledged to immediately cease new investments, divest its public holdings in fossil fuel

or extraction” companies within fve years and sell of private investments within ten years and “as soon as it is prudent.”

Granite Ridge appears to ft the criteria, according to multiple investment experts who reviewed The Hoya’s fndings.

In October 2022, two private frms merged to form Granite Ridge, which then entered the public market. Granite Ridge defnes itself as operating in “oil and natural gas development, exploration and production.”

The company owns thousands of wells across six basins, which are operated by third-party partners.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is seeking to divest from Granite Ridge. However, the spokesperson said the university is not in violation of its divestment commitment since the company was a privately held investment until 2022, after the divestment policy passed.

See FOSSIL FUELS, A7

KAYLA NOGUCHI/THE HOYA

Georgetown University remains invested a company with ties to oil and gas years after committing to divest from fossil fuel companies.

Of the 10 departments whose chairs spoke with The Hoya, eight have finalized

range from full suspension in Fall

to

Amid Cuts, Ph.D. Programs Remain in Flux

Ajani Stella Senior News Editor

Georgetown University’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) will cut Ph.D. admissions for Fall 2026 and Fall 2027 as part of university-wide austerity measures, according to a dozen department chairs and faculty members familiar with the matter.

In early December, CAS’s Ofice of the Dean met with department chairs to develop cost-cutting strategies, citing budget constraints and federal cuts to higher education. At administrators’ direction, chairs

Tracking GU’s Budget Actions, Austerity Funding Measures

Jacqueline Gordon Academics Desk Editor

As Georgetown University combats federal funding cuts and drops in graduate enrollment, various austerity measures, such as a hiring freeze and spending reductions, will continue into the Spring 2026 semester.

In early December, the university projected a fnancial loss of between $91 million and $112 million throughout fscal year 2026. To reduce spending, the university downsized Ph.D. admissions, instituted temporary hiring freezes for most positions and limited merit salary increases for faculty and staf beginning in April 2025.

In two Dec. 9 town halls for faculty and staf, Groves said external fnancial challenges are compelling Georgetown’s costsaving measures.

“We are collectively sufering from a set of very powerful forces that are out of our control,” Groves said at the town halls.

“It’s not much solace, but Georgetown is not alone in this.

This doesn’t comfort our families and ourselves; I get this entirely.”

“In my current personal opinion, we don’t see a quick recovery from the actions of the current federal administration,” Groves added.

The budget restrictions have come amid the Trump administration’s reductions in federal higher education funding and its immigration restrictions, leading to a decrease in international student

enrollment. In 2024, federal research funding accounted for $195 million out of the $1.8 billion the university had in that fscal year’s budget, according to Groves.

Groves frst announced university-wide austerity measures in an email to faculty in late April 2025, including the hiring freeze and a pause on most merit salary increases. The April fnancial measures, initially instituted until Dec. 31, sought to cut $100 million from the university’s fscal year 2026 budget.

Compounding the university’s fnances, Georgetown faces a $17 million decline in graduate student tuition revenue as of November, in large part due to a 20% decline in international student enrollment. The international student graduate population dropped to 1,780 students in Fall 2025 from 2,170 the previous year. Despite the drop in international student enrollment, overall graduate student enrollment decreased by only 3% in Fall 2025.

Groves said changes in international graduate student enrollment are due to both immigration policies and tuition costs.

“We have experienced new declines in graduate tuition revenue, although this outcome is not uniform across all graduate programs,” Groves wrote in a Nov. 24 email. “This trend is driven by a combination of new visa and immigration policies and broader economic pressures

facing prospective graduate and international students.”

Groves detailed in the Dec. 9 two town halls that the university was still estimated to face a net loss ranging from $15 million to $36 million.

By extending the austerity measures until the end of the fscal year in June, Groves said the university could face a further $33 million loss or a $9 million surplus if additional budget plans are implemented.

The hiring freeze, which applies across the university, honored outgoing formal employment ofers and timelines for tenure promotions, but halted flling vacancies not considered “mission-critical” positions unless directly cleared with senior administrators, according to a document attached to Groves’ April email.

The university also paused merit pay increases for the frst half of the 2025 fscal year for faculty and staf making more than $50,000 annually and for the entire fscal year for executives and administrators earning more than $200,000 annually. At the Dec. 9 town hall, Groves said merit pay increases could be restored for faculty and staf making up to $75,000 per year in the second half of fscal year 2026.

Sam Halabi, the Georgetown chapter vice president of the faculty union American Association of University

See BUDGET, A7

overseeing doctoral programs proposed various plans to reduce Ph.D. admissions over the next two years, which the College’s dean and vice deans then assessed.

Across the College, faculty members warned that decreasing Ph.D. cohorts could harm the university’s educational mission by eliminating potential researchers, teaching assistants and a future generation of professors.

Throughout December and early January, The Hoya spoke with 10 of the 15 department chairs overseeing CAS doctoral programs and several faculty members to

Judge

understand how departments have begun to implement the College’s directives.

For the Spanish and Portuguese department, this reduction meant cutting admissions for its two graduate programs by 25% after negotiating with CAS administrators. The philosophy department, meanwhile, suspended all Ph.D. admissions for Fall 2026, cancelling students’ applications one week after the deadline. The department of theology and religious studies expects to halve its incoming

cohort, repeating a similar costcutting measure from Fall 2025. David Edelstein, the CAS dean, confrmed the College-wide cuts, which have not been previously reported, and said they were the “regrettable” result of budget constraints and diminishing federal funding.

“There’s nobody who is happy about this situation, and certainly that includes me,” Edelstein told The Hoya. “This is, unfortunately, a situation we found ourselves in because of the See PHD, A7

Rejects Motion to Dismiss Financial Aid Collusion Lawsuit

Aamir Jamil Executive Editor

A federal judge rejected a motion by fve universities, including Georgetown University, to end a fnancial aid collusion lawsuit and ruled that there was suficient evidence to hold a trial in a Jan. 12 ruling.

Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the plaintifs established suficient evidence to bring the antitrust case to trial, rejecting the universities’ claims of immunity under the exemption and the statute of limitations. The lawsuit, fled in 2022 against 17 universities, alleges that the 568 Presidents Group, a group of universities including Georgetown that shared a fnancial aid formula, illegally colluded to use that formula, leading to price fxing and reducing the amount of fnancial aid for students.

Kennelly said the universities in the 568 Group shared a formula, called the “Consensus Approach,” to keep fnancial aid ofers low and avoid a price war.

“In sum, a jury reasonably could fnd that the 568 Group created the Consensus Approach at least in part to avoid bidding wars, that members were expected or required to adhere to the approach, and that they did in fact partially implement it,”

Kennelly wrote in the ruling.

Georgetown is one of fve remaining defendants, along with

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Notre Dame, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, that have not settled.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown would continue to contest the claims and that membership in the 568 Presidents Group was part of an efort to increase fnancial aid.

“Georgetown respectfully disagrees with this decision, and strongly disputes the plaintifs’ claims,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Georgetown’s participation in the 568 Presidents Group was consistent with our ongoing work to ensure that a student’s economic background does not limit their ability to

attend Georgetown. We intend to continue to vigorously defend against plaintifs’ claims.” Ted Normand, one of the colead attorneys for the plaintifs, said Kennelly’s decision supports the plaintifs’ claims. “We appreciate the Court’s analysis of the evidence, which substantiates our claims that for decades the defendants intended to and did beneft themselves at the expense of their students,” Normand wrote to The Hoya According to the plaintifs’ expert witness, universities in the 568 Group charged an average of $1,202 more per student per year due to the shared formula. The

Honor Opinion As Forum For Open Dialogue, Respond to Student Pieces

Each week, members of the Georgetown University community have the opportunity to voice concerns and call for action through this very opinion section of The Hoya.

Contained in each piece is the opportunity to appeal to others, typically calling on the university’s administration to rethink policies ranging from the length of winter break to the guest speakers they invite.

The Editorial Board acknowledges that some calls to action may be less feasible than others and, often, implementing university policy takes time. Yet it does not mean students, faculty and staf should stop making these requests. It certainly should not mean community concerns should rest permanently on the page.

Instead, the Editorial Board strongly urges the university to engage with students’ proposals by using The Hoya’s Opinion section to respond, justify or draw attention to Georgetown community concerns.

The Opinion section of a newspaper is a dialogue and we relish the opportunity to support community members’ voices as they ruminate on campus culture. The issue arises when the conversation stops there.

Last April, Naveen Shah (CAS ’25) and Pratik Jacob (CAS ’25), both of whom had served on the College Academic Council (CAC), expressed their disapproval of moving certain undergraduate programs to the Georgetown University Capitol Campus through a viewpoint in The Hoya. Their primary call to action urged the university to add one student to Georgetown’s board of directors, citing other universities that have done so.

Shah said administrators on every level could have benefted from the opportunity to share their thoughts on the matter.

“Our experiences with the CAC demonstrated the value of hearing not only from university administrators but also lower-profle employees tasked with implementation of specifc processes, like registration,” Shah told The Hoya. “OpEds would provide a unique format for these fgures to share their expertise on a particular issue, working towards a solution.”

Regardless of the feasibility of their initiative, the Editorial Board hoped to receive a direct response to their call, as students invested in this change wanted to understand the administrative perspective.

Asher Maxwell (CAS ’26), whose viewpoint from January 2025 urged the university to end legacy preference in undergraduate admissions, said that the administration would beneft from outlining its explanations for certain decisions.

“When it comes to controversial policies like legacy admissions, where it is easy for students to assume the university’s motivations are corrupt or unsavory, the administration only hurts itself by ofering no clear public rationale,” Maxwell told The Hoya

Importantly, professors and faculty have meaningfully engaged with students through the Opinion section, addressing student institutions such as campus clubs and introducing new initiatives on campus geared towards student health. These diverse calls to action have set a precedent for writing in The Hoya

However, these pieces fundamentally difer from the ones we are encouraging the adminis-

tration to write. Rather than submit stand-alone viewpoints, we urge administrators to continue engaging with student and faculty concerns through The Hoya as a public forum.

University administration often communicates with students through mass emails, which serve an important functional purpose. The Editorial Board is not proposing that administrators replace this channel by writing their viewpoints. Instead, we argue that communicating through the university’s newspaper of record serves a distinct function.

Writing and responding to viewpoints allows administrators to engage directly with our concerns in a shared space — one that prioritizes dialogue and explanation over one-way messaging.

This means of engagement strengthens the university’s relationship with its students by demonstrating that they take students’ voices seriously enough to merit a public response. Students have suggested this course of action before.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is committed to engaging with the student body.

“We will continue to communicate and engage with students and the broader Georgetown community about issues of interest through student media and a wide variety of other existing channels including websites, blogs, newsletters, social media, messages to the community and meetings between students and administrators, including town halls, ofice hours, virtual sessions and informal conversations, as well as engaging with student government and clubs and advisory committees with student representatives,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya

Already, we are beginning to see The Hoya’s Opinion section used as a means for university administrators to respond to students. This week, our section received and published a letter to the editor written by College of Arts & Sciences Dean David M. Edelstein and School of Health Dean Christopher J. King, responding to the portrayal of pre-health advising in a December 2025 article.

This is the perfect example of what the Editorial Board is seeking. Pieces that Georgetown writes, which confront and directly respond to student concerns, will not be perceived as hostile. Rather, students will recognize the university’s eforts to explain the reasoning behind their decisions. By engaging with the student body’s concerns and voices, we can resolve Georgetown’s most pressing issues together. Hoyas of the past, present and future read viewpoints published in The Hoya. Therefore, any response to a concern raised in these pieces would beneft from being made publicly accessible to these readers and the Georgetown community. As a community, we’re constantly debating how best to build a culture of intellectual curiosity. Discussion, discourse and use of the public forum are the most efective ways to encourage the dialogue that is so necessary for all of Georgetown.

The Hoya’s Editorial Board is composed of six students and is haired y the opinion editors. Editorials refe t only the beliefs of a majority of the board and are not representative of The Hoya or any individual member of the board.

The Hoya welcomes letters from our readers. Letters to the editor specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Email opinion@thehoya.com to

To the Editor:

We write together as the deans of the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Health, respectively, in response to “An Apple a Day”, published Dec. 4, 2025.

Pre-health education and advising are vital components of both of our schools. This work is deeply collaborative. Our pre-health students exemplify Georgetown University’s Jesuit values and our shared mission to be people in service of others, and we are frmly committed to their success.

The Pre-Health Advising Offce is housed within the College, but proudly and enthusiastically serves all Georgetown undergraduates, regardless of school afiliation. Pre-health advising is complex, involving careful navigation of curricular requirements alongside sustained mentoring around vocation and career discernment. Georgetown does not “gatekeep” access to pre-health advising. Any student who expresses

interest in a pre-health pathway receives support. As a result, the advising team serves approximately 900 current undergraduate students who self-identify as pre-health, as well as 40 post-baccalaureate pre-medical students and alumni. That team holds over 1,200 advising meetings each year.

Within both the College and the School of Health, students also beneft from extensive mentoring provided through academic departments, faculty advising and co-curricular support structures. This mentoring — focused on intellectual formation, discernment and personal development — complements centralized pre-health advising and refects both schools’ commitment to cura personalis.

The College’s science departments provide the majority of the foundational science coursework required of pre-health students. Faculty are expected to teach and mentor students equitably, independent of school afiliation. The School of Health also ofers science courses that

beneft pre-health students in the College. We are proud of the constellation of science courses, which distinguishes students and makes their medical school applications more competitive.

We share ambitious plans for the future of pre-health at Georgetown. The College’s prehealth advising team is moving into a new physical space that will provide a better place for students to meet with their advisors and to conduct their medical school interviews. The College and the School of Health will continue to collaborate on both advising and curricular issues to the beneft of students in both schools, as well as prehealth students in other schools. Georgetown is strongest when its schools work together. We are — and will remain — partners, united in our commitment to the success and formation of all of our students.

David M. Edelstein is the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Christopher J. King is the dean of the School of Health.

As a community, we’re constantly debating how best to build a culture of intellectual curiosity. Discussion, discourse and use of the public forum are the most effective ways to encourage the dialogue that is so necessary for all of Georgetown.

The Editorial Board Honor Opinion As Forum For Open Dialogue, Respond to Student Pieces” thehoya.com

This week, the Editorial Board encouraged university administrators to publish pieces in The Hoya’s Opinion section in order to engage with students’ concerns meaningfully.

To gauge student opinion, students were asked to rank the university’s response to stu -

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Alan Chen

Maren Fagan, Editor in Chief

Ruth Abramovitz, Aamir Jamil and Nora Toscano, Executive Editors

Nico Abreu, News Editor

Ajani Stella, News Editor

Paulina Inglima, Managing Editor

Opal Kendall, Features Editor

Saroja Ramchandren, Features Editor

Annikah Mishra, Opinion Editor

Ella O’Connor, Opinion Editor

Isabelle Cialone, Guide Editor

Tanvi Gorripati, Guide Editor

Nate Seidenstein, Sports Editor

Madeline Wang, Sports Editor

Angela Lekan, Science Editor

Eva Siminiceanu, Science Editor

Avelyn Bailey, Design Editor

Lucy Jung, Design Editor

Grace Bauer, Copy Chief

Jackson Roberts, Copy Chief

Shira Oz, Blog Editor

Fallon Wolfley, Blog Editor

Kate Hwang, Multimedia Editor

Michael Scime, Multimedia Editor

Matthew Gassoso, Photo Editor

Caroline Woodward, Audience Editor

Board of Directors

Patrick Clapsaddle, Chair

Bethe Bogrette, Julia Butler, Amber Cherry, Madeline

Grabow, Mia Streitberger

Olivia Zhang, Director of Business Operations

Include New Students at GU

Iwill never forget my first day at Georgetown University. As a junior at Sydney University, I came to Georgetown in Fall 2025 as an exchange student. It was move-in day, and I was chatting with a Georgetown mum in the queue at the Leavey Center bookstore.

I mentioned I had just moved in by myself and that I was a study abroad student from Australia. She insisted I join their family trip to the Arlington, Va., Target to get everything I need to move into my new home, and I very gratefully accepted.

We went around Target with a shopping trolley, and she helped me fnd everything I needed for my apartment. I felt like I was in a Hollywood movie –– this would never happen in Sydney. I can’t even remember the last time a stranger was this kind to me.

I don’t know if that family even remembers this, but I will never forget their generosity. The whole of my frst day was transformative because from then on, I viewed people at Georgetown as such kind and welcoming people. It gave me confdence I would have an awesome time here.

I want you to know how much your kindness and inclusion means to an exchange student. Invite that stranger to your party even if you don’t really know them. Introduce them to your circle of friends. It is zero efort for you, but it could mean the world to them. And we are more grateful than you know.

Studying abroad means leaving your family, your friends and your familiar daily life behind for a few months. It requires signifcant fnancial and emotional investment, and for many students the experience can be more isolating than transformative. Many of us apply to our host universities based on their reputation, student life and location, without ever having visited the place we are signing up to live in. I originally applied to study at Georgetown because of its renowned international reputation and its location as the heart of the American government. I was also keen to experience the American “college experience”: the frat parties, the football games, college sports and exploring Washington, D.C., with my new friends.

But what makes or breaks a study abroad experience is neither the prestige nor the location of the host university. Rather, it is the willingness of the community to actively include those who arrive without social ties. Georgetown as an institution was highly impressive, absolutely. Yet what I value the most about my experience here is my new friends and the memories I made with them.

After my frst day at Georgetown, my fears disappeared. I knew I picked a great place to study abroad thanks to the kindness I experienced. In the late summer evening, I was enjoying the view on the balcony of my Village A apartment and spotted another student doing the same thing, on the balcony across from me. We met up, and I discovered he grew up in Sydney too, showing what a global community Georgetown had. I loved how open everyone was to making a new friend.

The next night, my neighbor who I had known for all of two minutes invited me to a party she was heading to. My life felt like a Hollywood movie in my frst month at Georgetown. It was unreal. I made friends in class, in the Yates gym (and sauna), in rugby and running club, at parties. I hope you Hoyas know how special that is ––- Sydney isn’t like that. I wish our community at Sydney University was half as open and friendly as yours. It feels inadequate to not include all of the amazing memories I made at Georgetown, but I am so happy to be able to leave a message here. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to study on the Hilltop and I hope you Hoyas realize how lucky you are. Above all, I hope you cherish the wonderful community you are a part of, and continue to build it up. It truly is special. If you can study abroad in a foreign country, sign up without hesitation. When you arrive, go all-in on your new life. Thanks to the Georgetown community, I don’t regret it for one second.

Jack Lockhart is a junior at Sydney University in Australia. He studied abroad at Georgetown during Fall 2025.

THE STORIES THAT CULTURES TELL

Protect Technology Programs at Universities

Across the country, universities are scrambling to adjust to massive funding shortfalls. Federal research support has collapsed with more than 4,000 grants terminated and nearly $4 billion cut in 2025 alone. The immediate damage is visible in layoffs and benefit cuts, but a quieter harm is unfolding: the erosion of academic programs focused on technology governance and policy.

Tech and public policy programs have become essential to public institutions, building research evidence for policymaking, training legislators in emerging technologies and offering neutral grounds where government, industry and civil society can debate societal impacts. In fact, universities may be the only “third space” remaining. Unlike think tanks or industry labs, they provide long-arc forums capable of addressing delicate public interest issues like algorithmic transparency and data rights without commercial or partisan bias. But, as federal money dries up, universities are eyeing restricted gifts and research funds as a way to plug widening budget holes. Financial redirection should not be at the expense of tech and society programs; when institutional integrity collapses under financial pressure, that crucial neutral authority disappears.

Georgetown must institute robust safeguards for donor restricted funds to protect its academic integrity and credibility, as well as tech and public policy programs. It must ensure that these programs are shielded from financial pressure and recognized for their critical voice in tech governance.

Across campuses, the undervaluing of mission-driven programs began even before recent cuts. In 2024, the Stanford Internet Observatory,

Recognize Diversity of Asian Experience

Last semester, I befriended a group of international Asian students. I couldn’t be more grateful for how welcoming they were: They invited me to meals and study groups, taught me their languages and even jokingly named me an “honorary international student.” As a Chinese Vietnamese American, I appreciated how they helped me feel more connected to my Asian roots. However, I noticed a pattern in how they discussed Americans and American-born Asians, exposing a logic that I’ve often heard in the Asian community.

In these discussions, my friends often described Americans as superfcial, shallow and overly concerned with appearances. American-born Chinese people, or ABCs, were generalized as out of touch with Asian culture. These comments weren’t delivered with hostility; they were said casually, as if these caricaturized stereotypes of Americans were common knowledge. Ironically, these remarks were made by students in the School of Foreign Service (SFS), an institution dedicated to engaging diverse perspectives.

While my experience does not refect the attitudes of all international Asian students, it highlights the broader issue of stereotyping and exclusion within the Asian diaspora. As students at a globally oriented institution, we must dismantle hierarchies within ethnic diasporas, not reinforce them. At frst, I didn’t fully understand the group’s beliefs. The moment that crystallized everything for me happened during a conversation where one of my friends explained to me that there are “good ABCs” and “bad ABCs.” According to him, the bad ones were the “bananas”: Asian on the outside, white on the inside. “Bananas” were people who were overly Westernized and engaged in certain behaviors like

smoking and drinking. When I turned visibly uncomfortable, he reassured me, saying, “Don’t worry; you are a good ABC.”

What struck me about this comment was the deeper implications hidden behind his casual tone. Following the logic of his remark, identity isn’t something you are born with; it’s something you have to earn. Asian-ness is measured by how well you align with a narrow ideal of Asian identity that emphasizes perfect adherence to continental Asian practices and values. That was when I realized that being a “good ABC” was not an honor but a title contingent on how “well” I behaved. He didn’t accept me as I was — rather, I was “the exception.”

This label employs the same logic behind the commonly heard phrase, “You’re pretty for an Asian.” It’s supposed to be a compliment, but it only works by knocking other Asians down. “You’re one of the good ABCs” operates the same way: It reassures you individually while reinforcing the idea that the broader group you are part of is somehow inferior.

Though this friend group criticizes Americans for being superfcial, they fail to realize that they are practicing that same superfciality themselves by condemning those who don’t align with their cultural ideals and grouping them into one negative stereotype. There is no singular way to be Asian. An Asian person raised in Taipei, Taiwan is unlikely to experience identity the same way as an Asian raised in Washington, D.C., or London will. Language fuency, cultural infuences and social behaviors difer not because one group cares less about their heritage but because diferent groups are shaped by their specifc contexts. Throughout history, Asians have migrated around the world.

To dismiss diaspora Asians as inauthentic is to erase that fundamental part of Asian

history and reduce the richness of Asian culture to a narrow and arbitrary standard.

These dynamics are especially important to examine at a place like Georgetown University. With the university’s location in D.C., several courses that require crosscultural understanding and the fact that the SFS ranks number one in the world for foreign policy, Georgetown is known for its exceptional global education.

Many students, including the international students I met, come here for that cosmopolitan experience. But global education isn’t just about sitting in an “International Relations” lecture or studying abroad; it’s also about challenging preconceived notions. You cannot claim to want a global education while devaluing people who don’t align with your conception of cultural authenticity. Curiosity that stops at nationality is not curiosity at all. I remain grateful for the kindness I received from this group of students. I realize that people can be welcoming and still hold narrow views, and that inclusion and exclusion can coexist in subtle ways. Being told I was “one of the good ABCs” forced me to confront the dificult truth that inclusion, which depends on exception, is not inclusion; it’s conditional acceptance.

The beauty of the Asian diaspora is its diversity. If Georgetown students are serious about global citizenship, this diversity needs to be treated as an instrument, not a threat to the survival of Asian culture. Otherwise, we risk rebranding old hierarchies as open-mindedness.

Julia Nguyen is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. This is the second installment of her new column, “The Stories That Cultures Tell.”

once a premier hub for studying AIdriven disinformation, was effectively dismantled. While Stanford cited expiring federal grants, reporting revealed a deeper truth: When programs become too politically or financially “expensive,” universities often choose to sunset them.

I witnessed the fragility of mission-driven programs firsthand at the McCourt. From 2022 to 2025, I directed the Tech & Public Policy (TPP) program, which operated with a $2.5 million annual budget over 10 years, deriving from specific provisions in a $100 million gift. By 2024, TPP grew into a recognized hub for technology governance. From initiatives like the AI Policy Lab and Ideathon to growing faculty tech policy capacity, the program was thriving.

Despite this success, and an excellent performance review, I was informed in June 2025 that my contract would not be renewed. The interim dean acknowledged the reason was not performance but financial flexibility: The school wanted to take full advantage of TPP’s funding, which leadership described as the largest piece of discretionary money at McCourt.

The problem is that TPP’s funds are not discretionary. Rather, they are legally restricted to “advancing democratic values through technology governance.” Under the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA), institutions are legally bound to honor donors. Over nine months, I had resisted requests to redirect TPP funds to other school expenses. When I raised concerns about donor intent and compliance, Georgetown leadership stonewalled me. My work was subsequently subjected to interference. For example,

despite being granted academic freedom by McCourt faculty vote, senior executives stopped the publication of two pieces I had written for the TPP newsletter, and meetings and fundraising trips were abruptly canceled without explanation.

It became clear that pressure was the point; it was aimed at silencing my objections and paving the way for unrestricted access to the funds.

When I sought help from HR, I received the non-renewal notice days later. Since my departure, TPP has effectively gone dark. The website no longer showcases all of the initiatives we built, nor any new events or programming. Important public interest projects, such as the acquisition of TrueMedia.org by TPP and the Massive Data Institute, were killed. TPP appears dormant, as does the vibrant multidisciplinary community it formed.

Universities, squeezed by political headwinds and declining federal support, often rely on restricted philanthropic gifts to sustain complex programs. But when financial pressures incentivize leaders to “reinterpret” or ignore binding restrictions, they compromise both their legal duties and their academic independence. To restore credibility and protect independent research, Georgetown and other universities should adopt three safeguards.

First, universities must be financially transparent. Restricted gifts must remain fully traceable with mandated annual public reporting detailing how funds were received, spent and whether any reallocations occurred. Schools should provide internal summaries of major gift agreements and create independent channels for donors to raise concerns.

Second, they must ensure workers are protected. Faculty and staff who question uses of restricted funds must be shielded from retaliation through independent oversight and whistleblower protections. Any adverse employment action should be reviewed by an independent body. Finally, universities must institute robust oversight through shared governance. Governing boards should be required to review any reclassification of restricted funds above a certain threshold. Before “mothballing” mission-driven programs, require independent impact reviews, with faculty, staff and outside experts, examining compliance with donor intent and alternative cost-saving options. These are minimal conditions for trust, not radical reforms. If institutions, including our own, cannot honor their own commitments, they cannot credibly guide society through the complex governance challenges of AI and other emerging technologies. If adherence to ethical and legal principles becomes negotiable, the foundation of evidence-based policymaking collapses. Because integrity is not discretionary.

Michelle De Mooy served as director of tech & public policy at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy from 2022 to 2025. She has more than two decades of crosssector experience in technology policy. Her latest research, “The AI Archipelago,” examines artificial intelligence (AI) evolution as a collective and the consequences for governance.

Create QuestBridge Partnership at GU

In 2025, the Trump administration cut nearly half the Department of Education’s workforce. Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for staffing and policy across the executive branch, pushes education toward “no-strings-attached” block grants and weaker federal guarantees. The plan also calls for phasing out Title I, over 10 years, leaving states to decide how to continue the federal government’s K-12 anti-poverty funding stream. Loosen the guardrails, and students with the least leverage will fall first.

This is the moment Georgetown University should pick a lane. Staying on the sidelines is not a strategy. Georgetown should become a QuestBridge partner and build the infrastructure to make socioeconomic mobility real on this campus.

QuestBridge is a national program that connects highachieving students from low-income backgrounds with selective colleges committed to meeting their financial needs. It is an admissions on-ramp for students who might not have Georgetown on their map or assume a school like this is financially out of reach. Through QuestBridge’s National College Match, students apply once to QuestBridge, and some are named finalists. Finalists rank up to 15 partner colleges for early review. A “match” is binding early admission with a four-year scholarship, no loans and no parental contribution. If they don’t match, they can still apply to partner colleges in Regular Decision using the same application.

I felt the impacts of this on-ramp before I ever had a Georgetown ID. I started at Georgetown last fall as a graduate student, and QuestBridge was a big part of the path that brought me here. As a high school junior, QuestBridge flew me to Rice University to meet representatives from schools with real pathways for first-generation, low-income students. Georgetown was not in that room. QuestBridge matched me to Columbia University’s undergraduate

program. Back home in Kentucky, I had to explain what Columbia was to my peers. I do the same when I say I’m now at Georgetown, as people assume I mean Georgetown College in Kentucky. I have seen firsthand that the first barrier to entry is rarely capability — it’s exposure and a path that makes elite institutions attainable for low-income students. This is not a niche campus issue. Georgetown is a pipeline into Washington, D.C. It trains people who will staff committees, draft legislation, run agencies. If that pipeline skews affluent, democracy loses representation for working-class and rural communities, and it loses accountability because decisionmakers will share the same social world and blind spots. At Georgetown, education is power mobility. Admissions and student support are democratic infrastructure.

Students have expressed support for joining QuestBridge, even before the national moment raised the stakes. In 2024, the Georgetown University Student Association passed a resolution urging Georgetown to join QuestBridge, which the university did not implement. If Georgetown wants to teach democratic legitimacy, it should start by responding to its own representative institution with more than polite acknowledgment. A democracy-focused institution that ignores its own student government teaches the opposite lesson. If leadership will not act when the students’ demand is concrete, the Democracy Initiative is branding, not accountability in practice.

Pell-eligible students made up about 15% of Georgetown’s undergraduate Class of 2028, and the university runs programs like the Georgetown Scholars Program and the Community Scholars Program for first-generation, low-income students. These are small, but real, steps. Moving forward, Georgetown needs to build support at scale, so low-income students aren’t just admitted, but equipped to thrive.

Joining QuestBridge forces Georgetown to build systems. If Georgetown joins QuestBridge, it cannot treat the partnership lightly. It should publish a plan that assigns responsibility across admissions, financial aid, advising and student affairs, with staffed support that students can reliably reach. It should reduce hidden-cost churn, including housing deposits and internship travel that push low-income students into survival mode. It should treat belonging as an institutional duty, not a private burden. Some may say Georgetown already provides fnancial aid and access programs, and that adding QuestBridge creates an burden. That critique has merit. Implementation is hard, and a half-built on-ramp would cause frustration. But that is exactly why the right move is not to shy away from supporting students who need it most. It is to commit in concrete, institutional ways and keep refining the support until it works. In a political climate where the safest definition of “merit” will always track wealth, Georgetown needs an onramp that students can see and trust, one that leads not just to studying in D.C., but to participating in its civic life. Interim President Robert Groves and President-Elect Eduardo Peñalver, who takes office July 1, 2026, should use this leadership transition to decide whether Georgetown will join QuestBridge. Decide publicly, and put a date on it. If the answer is yes, publish the support plan that makes the answer real. QuestBridge is the lowest-drama, highest-clarity test of whether Georgetown believes in class mobility as more than a slogan. An on-ramp is only real if it gets you onto the road. Georgetown can keep talking about democracy, or it can build a wider entrance into it and make it hold.

Cody Baynori is a graduate student in the Democracy and Governance program.

Amid Political Opposition, LGBTQ+ Students Struggle to Rebuild Past Advocacy Networks

While LGBTQ+ activists have historically formed strong student coalitions while calling for formal recognition and university support, modern groups face greater disconnect.

Saroja Ramchandren Senior Features Editor

Content warning: This article references homophobia. Please refer to the end of the article for resources.

Until Fall 1978, Jimmy Yellen (GSB ’82) had never told anyone he was gay. When Yellen arrived at Georgetown, however, he joined the Gay People of Georgetown University (GPGU), an unrecognized afinity group for LGBTQ+ students.

Yellen said it was the first time he could publicly express his identity.

“I came out to myself very early, but I didn’t come out to the world until I went to this meeting for the first time,” Yellen told The Hoya. “This was the first time I had ever said to anybody other than myself that ‘I believe I’m gay and I need some guidance on how to run forward with this, because I don’t know what to do.’”

The following semester, Georgetown denied GPGU access to university benefts, citing Catholic doctrine against homosexuality.

Yellen said GPGU had to fight for its right to exist, drawing on support from other affinity and activism groups, like the Women’s Caucus — a student group that organized professional development opportunities for women — and other progressive student organizations to form a powerful coalition.

“We were very militant in the way we approached gay and lesbian rights,” Yellen said. “It was a time when we had to fght for it, where we picked any crumb that we could get.”

GPGU sued the university for official recognition, and after eight years of litigation, the students won a civil rights lawsuit at the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals. In 1988, Georgetown permanently recognized the group, which later became GU Pride.

In 2007, following a series of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes that went unacknowledged by the university, students launched the OUT for Change campaign, which urged Georgetown to expand support for LGBTQ+ students. In response, the university established the LGBTQ Resource Center and reformed its procedure for investigating bias incidents.

Nick Sementelli (SFS ’09), the former president of GU Pride, said student activists were familiar with the advocacy process — similar to the 1970s and ’80s, they needed a strong coalition to force concessions from the university.

“I don’t want to give them as a long-term, multi-generational institution so much credit, because they had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into that place to start with,” Sementelli told The Hoya

A university spokesperson said Georgetown supports students of all identities and backgrounds.

“Georgetown is committed to fostering an inclusive community that welcomes people of all faiths, races, ethnicities, sexualities, gender identities, abilities and backgrounds,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya “At Georgetown, we are deeply proud of our religious tradition and recognize the inherent human dignity of every member of our community.

As the Catholic Church and the university became more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, the energy of student activists stalled. Activists say this leaves student groups disconnected amid increasing anti-LGBTQ+ extremism in the United States.

Jackie Early (CAS ’26), the co-president of GU Pride, said learning from past advocates is important to rebuilding relationships between clubs today.

“We are at a weird infection point of reassessing the strategies that we’ve used in the past,” Early told The Hoya. “I don’t necessarily know what that means. We’re not going to be doing exactly the things that we did in the past, but I certainly think that what we are doing now is not working.”

Ines Molina (CAS ’25), who came out as transgender in her senior year, said Georgetown’s lack of inter-club advocacy is particularly frightening in this political moment.

“If there are real lasting coalitions built between diferent student movements, I will have a lot of hope for the future of Georgetown, for the future of student movements in general,” Molina told The Hoya

“Now, I’m just not optimistic,” Molina added.

Faith That Does Justice

In addition to legal and cultural battles, LGBTQ+ students fought personal battles, reconciling faith — both the university’s and their own — with their identity.

Yellen, who is Catholic, said Georgetown’s treatment of LGBTQ+ students made him question his relationship with the Church.

“We were saddled with this horrible thought that our university will not recognize us the way it recognizes other groups,” Yellen said.

“It’s been a constant struggle for me to reconcile being raised a Catholic with being gay,” Yellen added. “When I went to Georgetown, I would go to Mass every Sunday. I was actually quite religious. When I started seeing what the Catholic Church did at Georgetown, it hit me very hard, and it really questioned my religious foundations, which still stays with me today.”

In 1979, GPGU successfully applied for oficial recognition under the Student Activities Commission (SAC), an advisory board for student organizations, and the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA). However, the university revoked GPGU’s charter, claiming recognition would be inappropriate for a Catholic university. In March 1988, GPGU won its lawsuit and was oficially recognized by the university.

However, after over a decade of recognition, student activists said the campus climate was still not entirely friendly to LGBTQ+ students.

Shamisa Zvoma (MSB ’08), a former president of GU Pride, said the university’s refusal to establish an LGBTQ Resource Center in the early 2000s refected the ongoing tension between its religious identity and acceptance of LGBTQ+ students.

“What we were told at the time by the administration was: Look, this is

never going to happen at Georgetown,” Zvoma told The Hoya. “It’s a Jesuit university, so just deal with it — just be happy that you have your group.”

Joseph Graumann (SFS ’11), a former co-chair of GU Pride, said Georgetown fosters conversation around identity but holds many of its Jesuit values in tension.

“The dignity of every single human being is non-negotiable,” Graumann told The Hoya. “Georgetown’s responsibilities to the wider Roman Catholic Church can sometimes create obstacles to a broader Christian understanding of the dignity of each person.”

“We will remind the university and each other that human dignity needs to win the day over other responsibilities,” Graumann added.

Siva Subbaraman, the frst director of the LGBTQ Resource Center, said many LGBTQ+ graduates did not interact with the center, despite this progress.

“Their experiences at Georgetown were so negative and so deeply hurtful, so deeply traumatizing, that most gay alums wanted to have nothing to do with us,” Subbaraman told The Hoya Georgetown has pioneered itself as the foremost Catholic university on LGBTQ+ issues. In Fall 2025, the LGBTQ Resource Center hired a Jesuit pastoral associate to support students and develop programming and research on LGBTQ+ Catholics.

Though she recognized the university’s progress, Molina said Georgetown should not be graded on account of its religious identity.

“I think the comparison with other Catholic or Jesuit schools is frustrating because Georgetown’s work should not be seen as good or not good compared to its peers,” Molina said. “It should be compared to the work that it says it’s going to do, to the values it says it has.”

“I think it’s less relevant to look at peer institutions than it is to examine what it means to live by our values at all,” Molina added.

Despite increased recognition and acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals within the Catholic Church, Subbaraman said students still struggle to reconcile faith and identity.

“Just because the Pope is saying ‘I don’t have issues with this,’ doesn’t mean that individual students and families are still not struggling with it,” said Subbaraman. “There are lots of parishes where people are still standing up and telling people ‘you are a sin,’ that ‘what you are is disordered.’”

Yellen said Georgetown’s religious landscape continues to isolate the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think siloing comes from the atmosphere, or the climate that exists in Catholic universities such as Georgetown,” Yellen said. “They got acceptance. They’ve got an ofice and everything, and that’s great. The next challenge is to become an inherent part of the fabric of Georgetown University.”

Community in Diversity

In 1979, GPGU, alongside the Gay Rights Coalition (GRC), a similar affnity group at the Law Center, sued

Georgetown, alleging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which was prohibited under Washington, D.C.’s Human Rights Code.

In addition to tangible benefts, Yellen said the lawsuit was a larger quest for social acceptance.

“Support meant an ofice, support meant recognition, it meant funding, it meant a telephone, it meant copying services. That’s what it meant in the practical sense,” Yellen said. “In the philosophical sense, it meant Georgetown said, ‘You guys are valid. You guys have a purpose. You guys have a meaning. You guys do something good for the community, and we support you in that.’”

Lorri Jean (LAW ’82), GRC’s founder and the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, said support from progressive student organizations, both on the undergraduate and law campuses, helped push the university toward cultural change.

“The National Lawyers Guild, the Black Law Students Association, the Women’s Rights Collective, they were all completely supporting us,” Jean told The Hoya. “I always believed that most students supported us.”

Jean said many of the original petitioners did not get to see their eventual victory in the mid-1980’s.

“It was great cause for celebration,” Jean said. “But by then, the lead plaintif from the undergraduate campus died of AIDS. We started the lawsuit before the AIDS epidemic hit and then everybody started to get impacted by that. So many people didn’t live to see the victory.”

While the lawsuit granted GPGU university recognition, Zvoma said many LGBTQ+ students still felt vulnerable and unsupported by the university when the hate crimes occurred in 2007.

“A lot of people in the community honestly didn’t feel safe on campus, didn’t feel safe walking around,” said Zvoma. “Even just going from one dorm to another, it was like ‘am I going to be under attack?’”

Sementelli said the university’s lack of acknowledgement was upsetting.

“What the fuck is happening here?” Sementelli said. “And why is there not a strong institutional response?”

In response to student fears, GU Pride spearheaded the OUT for Change Campaign. By the end of the campaign, 1,600 students had signed the campaign’s petition, and the group’s resolutions were endorsed by over half a dozen academic departments.

Zvoma said coalition-building eforts across student organizations were central to the campaign’s success.

“We had a lot of involvement from various student organizations, various allies, and had people give diferent speeches and talks about their experiences as an LGBTQ Hoya and why things needed to change, and why this was the right time for change,” Zvoma said. “We had a lot of support across campus.”

After the establishment of the LGBTQ Resource Center, queer

spaces on Georgetown’s campus shifted their focus from advocacy eforts to community building.

Allie Gaudion (CAS ’26), director of advocacy for GU Pride, said the current political climate demands greater focus on organizing.

“I hadn’t seen GU Pride or any of the groups really engaging in a lot of advocacy directly,” Gaudion told The Hoya. “I had done my own research on the original organizers and people who created OUT for Change and got the resource center developed, and I was like, ‘Why is that not still the attitude we’re going into the current moment with?’”

Contemplation in Action

LGBTQ+ student groups at Georgetown like Queer People of Color (QPOC), another afinity group on campus, and GU Pride are housed under the LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Other afinity groups, like Out@MSB — an affnity group for business students — provide a pre-professional space for LGBTQ+ students.

Mrudula Chodavarapu (MSB ’26), QPOC’s treasurer and a former board member of Out@MSB, said queer student organizations do little coalition building and are less unifed than in years past.

“In the past, they’ve been more community-oriented,” Chodavarapu told The Hoya. “Pride was intended to be more of a generalist space for queer people and allies of all diferent backgrounds, whereas places like Out@MSB were for people who are interested in navigating the professional side of being queer.”

The LGBTQ Resource Center has had four diferent directors in the last four years, and currently has two full-time staf members.

Gaudion said retention problems at the LGBTQ Center hamper GU Pride’s work.

“You have to reexplain and have someone else get readjusted to Georgetown, when the needs are still the same,” Gaudion said.

Molina said the center was a positive step but felt outreach was lacking.

“I appreciate that they exist,” Molina said. “I think it’s great that money is going toward the queer community, but I wish I didn’t have to go looking for it as hard as I did, let alone come up empty-handed.”

Early said GU Pride faces persistent issues with mobilizing across interest groups and rarely partners with other clubs for LGBTQ+ advocacy work.

“GU Pride has not historically, and I think continues to not necessarily have the most inclusive group or atmosphere,” Early said.

“That’s something I really hope we can change. The people who programming has typically been directed to are white gay men. Even as a trans person, I don’t necessarily always feel accommodated or, frankly, comfortable in some pride spaces.”

“We don’t necessarily have a very cohesive, unified group that can really push for a lot of change with a lot of

momentum,” Early added. Gaudion said the organization occasionally collaborates with QPOC but prioritizes social support over political mobilization.

“We need to reemphasize advocacy, not to the detriment of community building,” Gaudion said. “These two things can coexist, but I think it’s important that the administration continues to hear queer voices.”

Students say activism is more important than in years past.

Since the beginning of his tenure, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders that target LGBTQ+ people in the United States, including cutting funding for gender-afirming care, reducing programs related to LGBTQ+ health and AIDS research, and erasing information about trans people from government websites. The Supreme Court also appears poised to allow states to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports teams after hearing oral arguments Jan. 13. As opposed to the more immediate impacts at the university, such as recognition and the creation of the LGBTQ Center, Gaudion said incremental backsliding in national protections, like threats to defund universities over pro-LGBTQ+ policies, do not naturally lead to student mobilization.

“It’s certainly easier to rally around a catalyzing event,” Gaudion said. “There have been issues about university funding, but we don’t know when that’s going to happen. I think it’s more of a slow burn.” Molina said these political developments should have already prompted renewed student organizing.

“They are not the canary in the coal mine,” Molina said. “They are everyone dead. The canaries were so long ago. As this country steamrolls toward criminalizing transness and promoting violence against trans people, queer people in general, the catalyst should have come and gone.”

“Queer people alone will be facing a Sisyphean task if their goal is to defend ourselves and our communities alone,” Molina added. “Queer folks, just like any other marginalized group at Georgetown, be it people of color, immigrants have to work together. Yellen also said campus organizers must recognize national anti-LGBTQ+ activism as an imminent threat.

“We worked hard at showing the world that we have a right to exist,” Yellen said. “I think that today we take for granted the fact that we can’t be fired from our job, that we won’t be discriminated against in housing, and I think that that makes gay people a little complacent.”

“Don’t assume that you’ve got rights,” Yellen added. “Go into everything with a fighting spirit, because you never know who is around the next corner ready to knock you down.”

Resources: On-campus resources include the LGBTQ Resource Center (lgbtq@ georgetown.edu)andCounselingandPsychiatric Services (202-687-6985).

Flu Season Appears Severe, Re ecting Viral Drift

Jaya

Alenghat Deputy Science Editor

While coughing and snifling students are not an abnormal sight on Georgetown University’s campus during the winter, this year’s fu season has drawn national attention. Nationwide, doctor visits for infuenza among children have reached their highest level in a decade, sparking questions about whether this year’s outbreak is unusually severe. Much of the early concern stemmed from public health surveillance data and reporting from health agencies, which indicated that the influenza virus had continued to mutate after this season’s vaccine was selected. Each year, flu vaccines are selected months in advance based on global surveillance data to allow time for manufacturing. Because influenza viruses continue to mutate, the strains circulating during flu season can differ from those included in the vaccine.

Dr. Juan Gea-Banacloche, an infectious disease specialist at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, said that this year’s fu season likely appears worse due to routine changes in circulating virus strains.

“From time to time, what happens is that there is variation in the virus between the moment you choose the strains for the vaccine and the moment the season begins, and that has happened this year,” Gea-Banacloche told The Hoya Gea-Banacloche also said such changes are a known feature of infuenza biology.

“There has been drift in the infuenza virus,” Gea-Banacloche said. “It has acquired a number of mutations, making it signifcantly diferent from the virus that was included in the vaccine.”

Still, Gea-Banacloche said this year’s vaccine still ofers meaningful protection, particularly against severe outcomes, according to data from the United Kingdom.

“The data from the U.K. show the vaccine is a little bit worse than other years at preventing hospitalization and severe disease, but not incredibly so,” Gea-Banacloche said. “The protection against severe disease and hospitalization is between 40 and 60 percent higher in children than in adults, which is pretty good.”

In the United States, surveillance data tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classify this season as “moderately severe,”

based on indicators such as outpatient visits, hospitalizations and geographic spread.

One aspect of this season that has stood out is the unusually high number of fu cases in children. Infuenza complications typically pose the greatest risk to older adults, making the increase in younger people notable.

On Georgetown’s campus, students have noticed more illness circulating this winter.

Evana Moses (CAS ’29), a neurobiology major, said the increase aligns with her sense that this year’s vaccine may not match the dominant strain.

“I defnitely think this is one of those years where the fu shot just predicted the strain wrong,” Moses told The Hoya. “The strain that’s going around isn’t one that’s included in the vaccine, so that might be why people are getting more sick.”

Moses said that belief infuenced her personal decision not to receive the fu shot this season.

“I did not consider getting the fu shot, and it’s because they kind of predict the strain of the fu every year,” Moses said. “Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don’t, so more often than not, even if you get the fu shot, you can still get the fu that’s going around. So I didn’t see the point.”

However, Moses added that her decision does not refect opposition to vaccines more broadly.

“I literally have like every other vaccine you can think of,” Moses said. “Sometimes some years I get it, some years I don’t.”

Other students said the vaccine’s imperfect match did not outweigh its potential benefts.

Ryan Nero (CAS ’29), a biology major, said he typically gets the fu shot because he sees little downside to taking the precaution.

“For me, getting the fu shot isn’t that big of a deal because I haven’t had to deal with any side efects,” Nero wrote to The Hoya. “If I can help decrease my chances of getting one of the strains of the fu, that’s better than being vulnerable to it and makes it worth the time to go get the shot.”

Gea-Banacloche said that declining vaccination rates nationally may help explain this season’s trends, particularly among children. Recent analyses indicate that fu vaccination coverage has fallen compared with past seasons.

“If that decline is more pronounced among children, that may explain what we’re seeing,”

Gea-Banacloche said.

of other people.” Despite heightened attention, Gea-Banacloche said the current data does not suggest a historic shift.

DC Medicaid Cuts Leave Residents Facing Higher Costs

Kaitlyn Lee Deputy Science Editor

Thousands of Washington, D.C. residents lost full Medicaid coverage Jan. 1 due to new income limits introduced in a 2025 budget act, shifting 14,490 people to the more limited Healthy D.C. Plan and moving others into the Afordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace with higher premiums. These changes to health care coverage are part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act of 2025 and have been exacerbated by federal cuts. The legislation was enacted in part due to D.C.’s unusually strenuous budget in 2025, and it is estimated to save approximately $1.2 billion over the next four years.

In particular, the income limit in D.C. has dropped from 221% and 215% of the federal poverty level (FPL) for adult caregivers and childless adults, respectively, to 138% of the FPL. Individuals whose income now exceeds the new Medicaid limit are eligible to be transferred to the Healthy D.C. Plan.

The Healthy D.C. Plan is a new, cost-free plan that covers essential healthcare services, but lacks dental and vision coverage, which Medicaid covers. However, over 1,000 former D.C. Medicaid members make too much to qualify for Healthy DC (with incomes higher than 200% above FPL) and now must pay monthly premiums on D.C.’s ACA marketplace.

ACA premiums have also increased, primarily due to the expiration of premium tax credits in 2025 that previously helped over 20 million people aford health coverage in the ACA marketplace.

Jefrey Spike, a clinical ethicist and philosophy professor at Georgetown University, said rising ACA premiums may lead to an increased number of middle-class people unable to pay for insurance.

“If the ACA premiums rise, then there will also be more middle-class people who will be forced to go without insurance,” Spike wrote to The Hoya. “The number of people afected will be in the millions, somewhere between 8-24 million according to reliable models.”

Beyond individual residents, Spike said hospitals will also sufer from Medicaid cuts, with revenue loss being particularly detrimental in rural hospitals and hospitals located in D.C.’s Wards 7 and 8, where people have very limited or no access to healthcare services.

“Almost every hospital in the U.S. will be negatively afected,” Spike wrote. “The higher the percentage of patients who are on Medicaid, the more the hospital will be harmed. Rural hospitals will be the worst afected, but urban hospitals will also be affected, especially ones in medical deserts like the seventh and eighth wards.”

The Medicaid cuts will also leave thousands of undocumented people in D.C. with fewer healthcare options. In particular, the lower income limit for Medicaid will reduce access to Emergency Medicaid, which provides medical coverage to uninsured individuals who do not qualify for Medicaid due to citizenship or immigration status.

Brandon Hu (SOH ’28), a pre-medical student at Georgetown, said that with the reduction in Emergency Medicaid,

he has grown concerned for individuals who may face overwhelming medical debt and hospitals that may have to provide care without reimbursement.

“If someone doesn’t qualify for Emergency Medicaid and then has a medical emergency, the most obvious issue is going to be the large sum of medical bills the individual is left with,” Hu told The Hoya. “However, I imagine it would also put a lot of fnancial strain on hospitals

because they will end up having to cover the costs themselves when patients can’t pay.”

Spike ultimately said that these cuts leave both people and institutions worse of, especially since decisions about healthcare should be based on ethical considerations, not political motivations.

“The big picture conclusion is that we do a lot of harm when we politicize what should be ethical questions, and that is what is happening,” Spike wrote.

USDA, HHS Announce New Dietary Guidelines

Madeline Williams Science Deputy Editor

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released new dietary guidelines for Americans in the form of an upside-down food pyramid Jan. 7. The new inverted food pyramid places protein, dairy and health fats at the top alongside fruits and vegetables to emphasize prioritizing protein at every meal, consuming full-fat dairy with no added sugars and eating whole fruits and vegetables. Whole grains are at the bottom of the pyramid to encourage reduction in consumption of highly refned carbohydrates. The overall goal is to combat skyrocketing chronic disease rates, moving away from the former MyPlate visual, which emphasized grains and vegetables over protein, fruit and dairy.

The dietary guidelines updated by the Trump administration will be efective from 2025 to 2030 and are the foundation for federally-funded feeding programs in U.S. schools. The guidelines are meant to encourage Americans to make smarter decisions about their diet in an efort to combat the standard

American diet, high in processed foods alongside a sedentary lifestyle, by emphasizing the consumption of whole foods.

Ellen Moscoe, director of experiential learning and assistant teaching professor in the department of global health, said it is important to remember key features of successful public health communications.

“Guidance should be clear and major changes should be explained so that people understand why they are occurring,” Moscoe wrote to The Hoya. “The goal of moving away from the pyramid to MyPlate was to help people visualize the guidelines in a simpler, clearer way.” Moscoe also said it is important to focus on how new policies will impact children’s nutrition.

“There is a long history of nutrition-related behavior change interventions that presume changing knowledge or guidelines is suficient, without addressing the many socio-economic barriers that directly impact our food choices,” Moscoe said. “In order for the recommendations to translate to improved nutrition for kids, we need accompanying policies that address the most important barriers school districts face, such as adequate equipment, personnel, and budgets.”

Ally Lightburn (MSB ’27) said she is skeptical that the guidelines will change her habits at school where convenience is priority and dining halls play a big role.

“I am on the meal plan and tend to eat most meals in the cafeteria,” Lightburn wrote to The Hoya. “I do not feel like the new recommendations will afect my day to day eating habits unless the school uses the new guidance to change what foods they ofer on a regular basis.”

The emphasis on protein and fullfat dairy products has raised concerns from organizations like the American Heart Association (AHA), who issued a statement saying that recommendations for increased red meat consumption may drive rates of sodium and saturated fat consumption which increase heart disease risk. According to the AHA, low-fat or fat-free dairy products are more heart healthy options.

Katherine Brady (SFS ’27) said she tries to prioritize eating minimally processed foods and protein at most meals but admits that dining halls and quicker options available on campus are challenges.

“I already try to eat a lot of protein at most meals, but making it a top priority could push students towards less healthy, high-sodium

or high-fat options,” Brady wrote to The Hoya. “On campus, protein often comes from processed or fried foods, so this guideline might unintentionally direct choices to less heart-healthy options.”

The guidelines no longer have daily limits for alcohol consumption and instead simply advise less alcohol consumption. At the news conference for the release of the new guidelines, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, called alcohol a “social lubricant.”

Brady, an EMT with Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS), said this language can be problematic on a college campus where drinking is heavily normalized.

“That kind of messaging can minimize the real health and safety risks of alcohol and may reinforce binge-drinking behaviors I see frsthand through alcohol-related medical calls,” Brady wrote to The Hoya Brady said she is concerned such messaging can minimize the consequences of drinking and lead to preventable crises.

“It risks shaping campus culture in a way that downplays consequences and increases preventable emergencies,” Brady said.

“I think it’s important to not be embarrassed to wear a mask, even though it’s not COVID anymore,” Moses said.

“If you’re sick, just stick to your dorm as much as you can and try your best and be respectful

With college students living in close quarters, prevention strategies remain especially important, experts say. Moses said minimizing spread in shared spaces is important.

“In all honesty, to my eye, it doesn’t even seem like an outlier,” he said. “With the information we have right now, this looks like just the usual flu, maybe a little bit worse.”

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

In the newest installment of her column, Keerthana Ramanathan (SOH ‘26) examines factors that contribute to the decline in primary care vists.

THE INTERSECTION

e Primary Care Crisis Exhibits Campus E ects

Keerthana Ramanathan Science Columnist

While talking to one of my friends, I learned that she had not gotten her blood drawn in over three years. I asked a couple of others and, in fact, most of them had not seen their doctor in years — the majority not since high school.

This problem is not exclusive to Georgetown University students or college students writ large. Primary care is in a state of crisis, and young adults are falling through the cracks at an alarming rate.

It is estimated that 15% of 26-yearolds are uninsured, a rate that surpasses that of any other age group in the United States. More than 30% of U.S. adults lack a regular source of primary care, and that number continues to climb as insurance coverage rates have reached record highs. The paradox is striking: We have more insured people who somehow have less access to continuous, preventative care through primary care physicians.

For college students and young adults, this crisis manifests in a uniquely challenging way. The Affordable Care Act allows young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26, a provision that has helped millions. But when that birthday arrives, many face what experts call an “insurance cliff.” Those without jobs offering coverage must navigate a complex marketplace of plans with high deductibles, limited networks and rising premiums. Scared off by complexity and price tags, many simply go without insurance in a health system where an emergency room visit can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The primary care crisis did not happen overnight — it is the result of decades of undervaluing primary care in our healthcare system. Primary care receives less than 5% of U.S. health care dollars as of 2022, despite being responsible for 35% of visits. Meanwhile, primary care physicians face crushing administrative burdens like prior authorizations, insurance denials and billing requirements that leave them spending more time as “data-entry clerks” than doctors.

The results are predictable: Fewer medical school graduates are choosing primary care, with the percentage dropping from one in three in 2010 to just one in fve by 2020. Many established physicians are leaving traditional practices entirely, driven out by burnout, loss of autonomy and the inability to form meaningful relationships with patients when seeing multiple people per day in brief appointments.

Corporate consolidation has only made matters worse. Large hospital systems buy up primary care practices not because they are profitable, but because they generate referrals to lucrative specialty services. As one physician observed, primary care has become “the referral base,” serving primarily to funnel patients into the profitable specialty services that sustain the medical-industrial complex. For college students, the consequences are deeply personal. That chest infection that lingers for weeks? Without a primary care doctor, this means waiting three to four weeks for an appointment or heading to an urgent care clinic where no one knows your medical history. Mental health concerns, chronic conditions and preventative screenings all become harder to address without a physician who knows you and can coordinate your care over time. The system we are left with increasingly treats health care as a commodity rather than a relationship. Students turn to retail clinics for acute problems, online platforms for prescriptions and the internet for everything else. Some even turn to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for medical advice, though experts warn these tools cannot replace the expertise and relationships that primary care physicians provide. These fragmented approaches cannot replace what primary care is meant to provide: integrated, accessible health care from clinicians who develop sustained partnerships with patients. What can students do? First, prioritize finding a primary care physician before you age out of your parents’ insurance. If you are approaching 26, explore your options early — look into employer-sponsored plans, marketplace coverage, or Medicaid eligibility. Many universities offer “navigator” programs that can help you understand your options, though few students know these exist. Second, advocate for change. The primary care crisis is not inevitable; it is the result of policy choices that undervalue the foundational work of keeping people healthy. Supporting legislation that increases funding for primary care reduces administrative burdens on physicians, and ensures affordable insurance options for young adults can make a difference. Primary care has been called an essential infrastructure for a healthy society. But without urgent action, we risk losing it entirely, leaving a generation to navigate their health needs alone in an increasingly fragmented system. The question is not whether we can afford to fix primary care, but whether we can afford not to.

IN FOCUS

Federal government actions, the detainment of a postdoctoral researcher, the interim university

before Congress, the naming of a new university president and campus labor

Muslim-Christian Research Center

Launches Student Research Initiative

Jacqueline Gordon Academics Desk Editor

Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), which aims to enhance understanding of relations between the Muslim world and the West, launched a new research initiative Jan. 15 that includes a $3,000 global afairs research grant for 10 Georgetown students.

The new John W. Kiser Research Initiative honors the legacy of Emir Abd El-Kader, a 19th-century Algerian leader who resisted colonization and inspired modern ideologies of humanitarian law and humane treatment of prisoners of war. The grant competition is funded by a donation from the William and Mary Greve Foundation, which supports initiatives in the arts, education and culture, to fund research that aligns with El-Kader’s notions of global peace and human rights.

Nader Hashemi, the ACMCU director, said the initiative’s goal is to raise awareness of El-Kader, who is not well known despite his contributions to international law.

“He’s a fascinating fgure because he sort of prefgured a lot of the modern understanding that we have on international human rights law,” Hashemi told The Hoya. “Specifcally, the question of the rights of political prisoners, rules of war and also questions of minority rights.”

“The whole idea of this project is to talk about not just who this per-

son was historically, but the legacy and relevance of his ideas to the contemporary world,” Hashemi added. “Focusing on themes that most people can relate to: the question of anti-colonial struggle, the question of human rights, diplomacy, the rights of minorities.”

Hashemi said the initiative and grant competition, which could feature a range of topics falling under global affairs and human rights, aligns closely with the ACMCU’s mission.

“In many ways it’s a dream come true for a center like ours, because we focus on Islam-West relations and there’s this figure who has a fascinating story that most people don’t know about,” Hashemi said. “We strongly believe that the values that he upheld still have contemporary relevance.”

At the initiative launch event, John W. Kiser, who wrote an autobiography on the life and legacy of El-Kader, said his work on El-Kader came near the end of his career, with few of his colleagues taking interest in the topic.

“The Abd El-Kader story, it actually was the last stage of — I wouldn’t call it a spiritual progress, it was an occupation that had to do with probing into things that people in my world didn’t get interested in,” Kiser said.

The event featured a video in which the great-great-grandson of El-Kader, Sa’ad Khaldi, spoke to prospective grant recipients and those attending the initiative launch.

Sa’ad Khaldi said he was happy that Georgetown is honoring El-Kader through the initiative and research.

“I’m happy to learn that Georgetown University is pursuing a research initiative into the legacy of Emir Abd El-Kader,” Khaldi said in a video shown at the event.

The ACMCU hopes to continue the El-Kader grant next year, according to Hashemi.

Hashemi said the research initiative is especially important in the current political climate, when human rights issues and global peace have become pressing issues.

“I would say that this gift agreement, announcement and research initiative is coming at a unique time in international relations where there’s intense polarization,” Hashemi said. “There’s rising authoritarianism, there’s a lot of deeply antagonistic and toxic views that have created deep polarization between many people in the West and the Islamic world. Over hotspot issues, the Gaza genocide being one of them, the Trump administration and the craziness that we see coming out of Washington, D.C., that is targeted against minorities, not just from Latin America, but critically Muslims.”

Hashemi added that he is proud of the support from the Georgetown community.

“We’re glad that we have a supportive university environment and support of colleagues and a center here that can promote what we think is a better worldview, that is more inclusive, is rooted in international law and is geared towards supporting students’ creative initiatives at a school like Georgetown,” Hashemi said.

Ethan Herweck City Desk Editor

WHAT’S NEW IN BLOG?

A (Not So) Winter Break in Portugal

Check out blog as Shira Oz, one of The Hoya’s

blog editors, recounts her trip to Portugal with her family over winter break. She documents her family’s travels to Lisbon, Evora, Porto and Vila

All blog articles are available on thehoya.com.

The Hilltop Tap Room, a bar and restaurant in Georgetown University’s Healey Family Student Center (HFSC), closed suddenly over Georgetown’s winter break, a university spokesperson confirmed to The Hoya on Jan. 15. Tap Room, which first opened in August 2023, was operated by Hilltop Tap Room, LLC, an independent company that leased the space from the university. The closure came about seven months after the company lost its liquor license in May 2025, revoking its legal ability to sell alcohol.

Tap Room still did not possess a license as of January 2026. In the months since Tap Room lost its license, the restaurant continued to serve alcohol, according to a former employee and several Instagram posts reviewed by The Hoya where the restaurant advertised alcohol deals.

Ben Sislen (LAW ’10), the owner and founder of Tap Room, did not respond to questions about the restaurant’s liquor license but said Tap Room closed due to rising costs and fnancial struggles.

“We at Hilltop are deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served the Georgetown community,” Sislen wrote to The Hoya. “Like many small businesses in today’s economic climate, Hilltop faced rising costs and declining demand, and ultimately we were unable to sustain the business.”

In a Jan. 1 text message to staf members that was reviewed by The Hoya, manager Mariah Rosen-

GU Cuts Ties With A liated Migration Scholar

Nico Abreu Senior News Editor

Georgetown University separated with an afiliated scholar currently serving as a United Nations special rapporteur, citing U.S. sanctions placed against the individual.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, was removed from Georgetown’s website and later confrmed to no longer be an afiliated scholar with the university’s Institute for the Study of International Migration. The severing of ties follows the U.S. sanctions placed on Albanese by the Trump administration, claiming that she purports antisemitic rhetoric as an international fgure.

In a Dec. 28 post on X, Albanese said that the end of her afiliation with Georgetown was ultimately a result of the sanctions placed on her by the federal government.

“Georgetown’s decision to end my 10-year old afiliation is yet another fallout of the sanctions the US imposed on me last July for exposing Israel’s genocide and the complicity of US businesses,” Albanese wrote in the post. “Any other explanation is the usual laughable propaganda of the pro-genocide minions.” Nader Hashemi, the director of Georgetown’s Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), said it is not uncommon for universities to afiliate with a multitude of scholars such as Albanese.

“I believe it was a long-standing afiliation based on her expertise

in international law and questions of refugees and migration. So it was an obvious relationship for them to have with someone who has specialization in that area,” Hashemi told The Hoya. “But it’s not like she was a frequent visitor here. Academic centers in Georgetown and many other universities have these types of afiliations, where they’re often loose afiliations.”

On July 9, 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that sanctions would be imposed on Albanese, citing her engagement with attempts to prosecute citizens of the United States and Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) as illegitimate attempts to arrest and investigate nationals from both countries.

“Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West,” the press statement reads. “That bias has been apparent across the span of her career, including recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.”

Although Georgetown began an initiative in 2025 to remove inactive afiliate listings on its website, archived webpages indicate that Albanese’s online profle was active at the time of Aug. 3. Hashemi said external pressure on Georgetown to end its afiliation with Albanese only began once she was appointed special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories.

“No one really cared anywhere that Francesca had a relationship

with Georgetown University until she was appointed the special rapporteur for human rights in Palestine and the Israeli-occupied territories,” Hashemi said.

“When that was announced, she had an oficial UN mandate to investigate human rights, and then the pro-Netanyahu crowd discovered that part of her biography listed Georgetown University. Then there was an intense, and I would argue, extreme, ideologically motivated lobbying campaign to get Georgetown to break that relationship.”

A university spokesperson said federal law prohibits institutions from maintaining afiliations with sanctioned individuals.

“Ms. Albanese has no oficial afiliation with Georgetown and was never a member of our faculty or staf,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Institutions are prohibited by federal law from afiliating with individuals subject to U.S. sanctions.”

Elizabeth Ferris, the former director of Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, said the university would often be lobbied to remove its afiliation with Albanese, especially when she was physically present on campus, such as at an event Oct. 28, 2024.

“I got a lot of emails really questioning her afiliation with us, but you know, it was an academic institution. We believe in academic freedom,” Ferris told The Hoya. “She’s free to speak her mind, and you know she certainly did. So last year we organized together with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies a talk for her here at Georgetown.”

Elliott Colla, a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies, said the lack of transparency from the university on this decision contradicts its defense of faculty from the federal government.

“If the university wants to handle this in a non-transparent way, that is a decision that they’ve made so far, that leads people to wonder, for instance, to what extent are the rights of faculty or faculty affiliates going to be defended?” Colla told The Hoya. “Is there going to be a process if we get new kinds of laws coming down and other people are targeted, will they be removed? Will there be a process for dealing with these kinds of problems, or will we just have to trust them to do the right thing?”

Hashemi said the results of the next presidential election will likely decide whether Albanese remains sanctioned.

“I’m hoping, if it’s the opposition party in this country, that they will do the right thing and remove the sanctions against her, because they’re just so egregious,” Hashemi said. “It’s embarrassing that a country like the United States, that claims to stand up for a rules-based order, is sanctioning someone who’s trying to uphold international law.”

Ferris said Albanese will continue to be a prominent international fgure despite the sanctions.

“I think this decision is set; it probably won’t be overturned during the Trump administration,” Ferris said. “But Francesca continues to be very active and outspoken. She has a lot of support in Europe, and certainly in most of the Global South, for her outspoken advocacy on behalf of Palestinians. So she’ll continue her work, I’m sure.”

garten said Tap Room had lost investors and the Washington, D.C. restaurateur Tim Ma, whose company provided the culinary services, had been covering paychecks.

“Unfortunately everyone involved including investors, left Tim by himself to fund Hilltop and Tim no longer can support it on his own,” Rosengarten wrote in the text. “He has already paid two payrolls under his other companies. That being said, paychecks are unknown.”

Rosengarten declined to comment.

A university spokesperson said the decision to close came from the company and the university would repurpose the space.

“Earlier this week, the company that operated Hilltop Tap Room, Hilltop Tap Room, LLC, informed the university it has decided to close the location, effective immediately,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “The university will work to envision a new use for the space in order to benefit the Georgetown community. In the near term, the previous Hilltop Tap Room space will be used for catered events.”

Duke Campbell (SOH ’26), a former Tap Room employee, said he enjoyed working at Tap Room and management made the job easier.

“The work environment was wonderful,” Campbell told The Hoya. “All the staf was wonderful. Management was really good, no complaints. Management was always very receptive, and always worked to make you know your job easier, trying to make you money, which was nice.”

Katie

Parrish (CAS, McCourt ’27), who hosted an event at Tap Room in November through a student organization, said the restaurant was a great on-campus venue.

“It was just super fun,” Parrish told The Hoya. “We took up every chair in the place and were there for a couple hours, just doing trivia.”

“Tap Room was the perfect venue,” Parrish added.

Parrish said Tap Room served the purpose of a non-academic social hub on campus that built community.

“Tap Room was a cool opportunity to have — I never saw anyone doing homework there with laptops open,” Parrish said. “There was always groups of friends going in and getting food or drinks or whatever, and just chatting. And so I think having an accessible spot on campus for explicit community building is so important.”

Campbell said the closure was unexpected despite him being aware of the owners’ struggle.

“Honestly, it felt pretty out of the blue,” Campbell said. “We knew the owners were always struggling, but we didn’t really know how that would come.” Sislen said he will ensure staff receive pay for their hours worked.

“I will be personally ensuring that each of our staff members is paid in full, and I am sincerely thankful for their dedication and service,” Sislen wrote. “We extend our heartfelt thanks to our customers, our team, and everyone who helped make Hilltop the special place it was.”

Years After

Fossil

Fuel

Divestment,

GU Retains Ties With Oil, Gas Company

FOSSIL FUELS, from A1

“Prior to 2020, Georgetown invested in several private equity funds, the general partner of which facilitated the creation of Granite Ridge through swapping the underlying fund assets for shares in the newly created Granite Ridge,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya “Since 2022, these private equity funds have subsequently made periodic distributions of Granite Ridge shares to Georgetown.”

“The endowment will liquidate these shares by February 2030, which is the tenyear timeline for divestment from private investments set forth in the fossil fuel divestment policy,” the spokesperson added. “The investment team is actively considering several pathways for divestment.” However, Dan Apfel — the former executive director for Responsible Endowments Coalition, which advocates for ethical investing in higher education — said the university’s Granite Ridge holdings appear to violate its divestment commitment.

“Its primary business is the ownership of fossil fuels, which get produced and sold,” Apfel told The Hoya. “That’s how they make money. In my opinion, that is a primary violation of ‘the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels.’”

“If they want to read it not as a violation of the language, they’re being very cynical,” Apfel added. Multiple experts said that Georgetown’s holdings in Granite Ridge should be classed as public securities, despite the university’s claim that they should remain as private investments.

Apfel said the divestment policy should apply to the current status of holdings, regardless of whether they were public or private in the university’s portfolio at the time of its passage.

“The policy does not state, ‘Take a snapshot of the date of the policy, and then things will be traded as they are in that moment for every date in the future,’” Apfel said. “The logical, the simplest reading of it is that shares that have become public are then public.”

“I would normally be quite willing to give someone some grace in terms of their plan to sell them, but saying they’re going to do it in the private company timeline seems silly,” Apfel added. Todd Ely, a public administration professor at the University of Colorado Denver, said the university chose a specifc interpretation of its policy that neglects the divestment commitment’s spirit.

“The policy intent is quite clear: These direct holdings should divest from oil and gas production,” Ely told The Hoya “And the reality is that that’s exactly what this investment is. It’s a direct holding of a publicly traded security that is involved in oil and gas production.”

“It hadn’t been a public security until it converted, but defnitely at this point it’s part of their direct holdings,” Ely added.

The university spokesperson said Georgetown “remains committed” to its investment plan.

The decision to divest followed an eight-year campaign by GU Fossil Free (GUFF), an undergraduate group that advocated environmentally

responsible investing, and a student referendum supporting the cause.

Caroline DeLoach (COL ’16), GUFF’s founder, said Georgetown’s continued holdings disappoint her.

“I really can’t think of a defensible reason why this investment wouldn’t constitute a breach of the divestment promises that have been made,” DeLoach told The Hoya

Student environmental advocates have previously raised concerns over the opacity of the university’s divestment process and called on the Investment Ofice, which manages the endowment, to provide regular updates on their progress.

Theo Montgomery (SFS ’18), another GUFF member, said the university owes the public greater transparency into these commitments.

“My sincere hope is that this is an oversight, a miscommunication or falls within the policy and is in the process of being divested for some reason or another,” Montgomery told The Hoya “If that’s not the case, it does raise really serious questions about the transparency of the endowment ofice. Is their action as good as their word?”

DeLoach said Georgetown’s continued holdings have diminished her faith in the university.

“I think we all want to be able to trust Georgetown and give it the beneft of the doubt that divestment has occurred as promised, but I think that this is a reason to think that it hasn’t — that some trust has been broken here,” Deloach said.

GU Is Continuing Budget Cuts, Austerity Measures in New Year

BUDGET, from A1

Professors (AAUP), said the cost-saving measures seemed unnecessarily proactive.

“I think what the AAUP membership was concerned about was that there was very little transparency about the financial measures announced by the university from the beginning, April 2025,” Halabi told The Hoya. “They were phrased in terms of being anticipatory; they were prophylactic.”

“We understand choices need to be made, there was just very little transparency,” Halabi added.

In response to the university’s hiring freeze and budget constraints, 179 Georgetown University faculty, staf, students and community members signed an open letter to administrators late December, petitioning the university to stop targeting staf members’ salaries and restore benefts lost through budget cuts, such as staf personal time of (PTO). In December, Groves announced an initiative that would allow staf and faculty to submit suggestions directly to the Ofice of the President.

Kavin Sakthivel (GRD ’26), president of the Georgetown Graduate Student

Government, said graduate students are responding pragmatically to the cost-saving measures, understanding the reasons for the budget cuts but also requesting greater transparency in decision-making.

“There is an understanding that fnancial pressures are not unique to Georgetown, but students are seeking clearer communication and more consistent engagement as decisions are made,” Sakthivel wrote to The Hoya. “Many graduate students would like the University to continue prioritizing funding that directly supports academic progress and degree completion, and to ensure that graduate student perspectives are considered when fnancial plans are developed.”

In early December, the College of Arts & Sciences also directed departments with doctoral programs to reduce Ph.D. admissions for Fall 2026 and Fall 2027 as a cost-cutting measure, which administrators have warned could afect the university’s Research 1 status, a prestigious designation tied to research funding and doctoral programs. In a bid to restore funding, Georgetown aims to launch new international programs to attract international students who fear

attending school in the United States. The university also announced in March 2025 a 10% reduction in graduate program tuition for current students, recent graduates and displaced federal workers.

Sakthivel said the university’s next steps in managing its fnancial situation will impact the future of graduate programs, citing concerns about the long-term outcomes of the university’s fnancial plans.

“Long-term, the university’s financial position will influence affordability, access and the overall graduate student experience,” Sakthivel wrote. “If financial constraints persist, it will be important to balance fiscal responsibility with continued investment in graduate education to maintain program quality and competitiveness.”

Groves said the April 2025 restrictions will be necessary through the remainder of fiscal year 2026.

“We help train and educate the next leaders of our world, our students, but we’re going to have to do this revenue growth, admitting that it has to be done in an environment of real cost constraints,” Groves said at the Dec. 9 town hall. “It’s going to be part of our environment for the foreseeable future.”

Ph.D.

Cohorts to Reduce Numbers

PHD, from A1 current higher education environment that Georgetown is a part of.”

Downsizing Programs

As of Jan. 14, eight of the 10 departments whose chairs spoke with The Hoya have finalized their admissions reduction plans, which range from partial reductions each year to full suspensions for one year.

Mark Murphy, the philosophy department chair, said the temporary cuts are unfortunate but necessary.

“Georgetown has, for many years, had a very serious mission in graduate education — has had a successful Ph.D. program for philosophy — and it is true that right now we’re wondering how far we’re going to be able to continue that project, and under what constraints,” Murphy told The Hoya “It’s a time of uncertainty mode right now, but we’re trying to make plans so that we continue to do the job that we’ve been doing well for so long.”

The Arabic and Islamic studies department, which typically admits four doctoral students, will follow the philosophy department in suspending admissions for Fall 2026 and aiming for full admissions in Fall 2027.

Felicitas Opwis, the Arabic and Islamic studies department chair, said her department is losing strong applicants.

“There was, just recently, one person totally up my alley, where I would say, ‘I’d love to work with her — can’t admit her,’” Opwis told The Hoya. “I encouraged her to apply next year, but I don’t know whether she, in the meantime, will have something.”

Other departments will reduce Ph.D. admissions without a fullyear suspension.

The chemistry department finalized a 25% cut, while the biology department plans to admit seven students for Fall 2026, over 20% fewer than typical. The history department also faces an over 25% admissions cut, planning to admit fewer than six students solely using university funds rather than the typical eight. The computer science department will decrease its cohort across both years, though the chair declined to specify the exact number.

The government, linguistics, psychology, German and physics department chairs did not respond to requests for comment. The department of economics and department of mathematics and statistics remain unsure of their plans for doctoral admissions, according to their respective chairs.

With each department developing distinct plans, Edelstein said this individualized strategy was central to his approach, which he hopes distinguishes Georgetown from other universities that have issued broad cuts to doctoral programs.

“There are a number of our peers that have adopted ‘one size fts all’ solutions to this — a general pause on Ph.D. admissions,” Edelstein said. “What I wanted to try and do, and what we’ve been doing, was to say to departments and programs, ‘Let’s have a conversation about what makes the most sense within the context of your program.’”

Ronda Rolfes, the biology department chair, said she appreciated the College’s eforts to tailor admissions reduction plans to each department.

“The idea that not every department is going to be responding in the same way was, I think, a very positive

GU Could Face Trial in Financial Aid Lawsuit

After Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Case

LAWSUIT, from A1

expert also alleged that the 568 Group controlled between 77% and 79% of the market for undergraduate, private education. All schools denied conspiring to artifcially infate enrollment costs by reducing fnancial aid ofers. Still, 12 of those schools settled for almost $320 million total. The remaining fve schools could still go to trial, where the plaintifs could seek additional damages; they claimed over $685 million in earlier flings. The settlement would provide fnancial restitution to an estimated 200,000 afected students.

Roan Bedoian (CAS ’28), the chair of the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA)’s financial accessibility and equity committee, said the lawsuit will have implications for the relationship between students on financial aid and the university.

“I think that this lawsuit is really important when it comes to the trust that exists between the university and its students because students will look at the outcome of this lawsuit, and frankly already are looking

at the fact that this lawsuit is happening at all,” Bedoian told The Hoya

“It does break down trust between the students who are receiving financial aid — the students who are relying on Georgetown to be honest and provide them the best aid that they possibly can in order to afford their education — and the university.”

Universities founded the 568 Group in 1998, four years after Congress passed an antitrust exemption called the 568 exemption, which allowed for financial aid agreements between schools if they were need-blind. Lawyers for Georgetown, along with Cornell, MIT and UPenn, argued the university was immune because of this exemption, which expired in 2022. Kennelly said in the ruling that universities in the 568 Group were not need-blind specifically because they favored wealthier students, meaning they do not fall under the exemption.

“The students have produced sufficient evidence for a jury reasonably to find that each of the universities claiming the exemption favored wealthier applicants and therefore did not admit all students ‘on a need-blind basis,’” Kennelly wrote. “The universi-

ties resist this conclusion by arguing that a school is still need-blind even if it engages in wealth favoritism. In their view, ‘need-blind’ merely means that the school does not disadvantage applicants ‘because of their decision to seek financial aid or information in their financial aid application.’”

“A school that provides preferential treatment to an applicant with a wealthy background is plainly not admitting all students ‘without regard to the financial circumstances of the student involved or the student’s family.”

In a Dec. 16, 2024, filing, plaintiffs alleged financial favoritism by Georgetown, claiming President Emeritus John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95), who chaired the 568 Presidents Group, engaged in actions that were not need-blind. DeGioia allegedly created an annual “president’s list” of 80 students after reviewing each student’s financial background and donation capacity, and the admissions rate of the “president’s list” ranged between 83% and 100%.

Though a trial date has not been set, Eric Cramer, another co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the plaintiffs look forward to a trial.

message from the dean, because every department has a different philosophy and a different way of engaging grad students,” Rolfes told The Hoya

These cuts followed departments in the College making more limited reductions to Ph.D. admissions in Spring 2025 for the cohorts that enrolled in Fall 2025.

In the Spring 2025 admissions cycle, the history department enrolled six instead of eight students, and the chemistry department also decreased its enrollment, according to department chairs. The biology department also cut its cohort by approximately 10% while the theology and religious studies department halved its incoming class.

Ariel Glucklich, the theology and religious studies department chair, said consecutive years of cuts could harm the program’s community.

“A course with eight is much more productive than a course with four, and the community of graduate students is shrinking little by little,” Glucklich told The Hoya. “It stops being really a community.”

Federal Cuts Infuence

The Ph.D. program cuts come as higher education institutions grapple with revenue loss amid declining federal funding and restrictive immigration policies that may discourage international students.

The university lost $17 million in international student tuition as of November, and is forecasted to lose $35 million in federal research funding.

While the university has looked to increase graduate admissions for master’s students to generate tuition revenue, Ph.D. students’ programs are generally fully funded, posing a significant cost to the university.

Edelstein said the university’s goal of minimizing layoffs has guided its financial approach, distinguishing it from other institutions but limiting the scope of cost-cutting measures.

“The university has taken a position of avoiding widescale layofs, as we’ve seen in lots of other institutions,” Edelstein said. “So if you recognize that the vast majority of the College’s budget are those types of compensation expenses, then that leaves a relatively small number of things that we can look at to make additional cuts within those non-compensation expenses. And one of those things is how we think about our Ph.D. programs.”

Universities across the United States have reduced Ph.D. enrollment for many of the same reasons. The University of Chicago, one of Georgetown’s peer institutions, suspended Fall 2026 Ph.D. admissions for 19 of its 59 programs, including classics, linguistics and public policy, in August and October.

Adam Rothman, who was interim chair of the history department until early January, said that while the cuts are painful, they are the unavoidable result of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce research funding.

“This is just one of many ripple efects or consequences of the war on higher education that’s being waged by the Trump administration,” Rothman told The Hoya. “I’m sad and angry about that.

I think it’s wrong headed, it’s unfair, it’s shortsighted. It’s bad in a lot of ways, and it’s only one dimension of a multidimensional crisis.”

“I really feel that we are about to kill the goose that lays the golden egg of knowledge in the world,” Rothman added.

Edelstein, who won the university’s Gerald Mara Graduate

Student Mentorship Award in 2013 for his work with Ph.D. students in the government department, said having to downsize doctoral programs is particularly agonizing.

“It’s such a deep part of my identity as a faculty member at Georgetown to be supporting doctoral students and to see them thrive and develop these really interesting dissertations and then go of and do wonderful things in the world when they leave here,” Edelstein said. “So for me personally, and I think for a lot of the faculty in the room, there’s real sadness that we’re at this point where we need to have this conversation.”

Edelstein said he is operating on three principles when evaluating cost-cutting measures: shared sacrifce, recognizing diferences between programs and protecting the university’s research mission.

“Even while we’re doing this, we’re going to do it in a way that doesn’t fundamentally undermine our identity as a research university and make sure that we sustain that capacity, we sustain that mission and we sustain the ability so — when, hopefully, our current challenges relent — that we can build back,” Edelstein said.

Faculty Stress Changes Amid these changes to Ph.D. programs, faculty members reaffirmed the importance of doctoral students as researchers and educators, warning of threats to the university’s educational mission while recognizing the university’s difficult position.

Glucklich said downsizing Ph.D. programs threatens the essential roles that doctoral teaching assistants serve in the theology and religious studies department.

“We lose that,” Glucklich said. “As they become more advanced, they teach their own courses, and so we lose instructors as well.” Rothman said without Ph.D. students to serve as teaching assistants and instructors, the history department will have to reimagine undergraduate learning.

“It causes stress. It makes it harder to plan for the long term,” Rothman said. “We have a system and a structure in place for planning classes, but if all of a sudden we have fewer teaching assistants to support us in those classes, we have to rethink the structure of the undergraduate curriculum.”

Arik Levinson, vice chair of the economics department, said cutting Ph.D. programs removes an essential part of the university.

“It makes me less enthusiastic about the mission of the university,” Levinson wrote. “And it will make it more dificult for Georgetown to hire high-quality faculty in the future. My colleagues and I fnd Georgetown attractive because we get to teach smart, curious undergrads and train the next generation of Ph.D. economists.”

Rolfes said the biology department is prepared to make some sacrifices alongside other departments, though they may be painful for its program.

“Belt tightening is never fun, but if we can do it strategically, and make it so that the impact is handled as best as we can, shielding our most junior faculty members, allowing faculty who are being productive to remain productive — if we can be strategic in how that belt tightening is hitting our department, then I think that’s the best thing that we can do,” Rolfes said.

“The students are pleased that the Court foiled yet another attempt by the five remaining university defendants to block a jury trial in this case,” Cramer wrote to The Hoya. “We are eager to present the compelling evidence to a Chicago jury demonstrating that these elite schools allegedly perpetrated a twenty-year conspiracy to harm their own students through an agreement amongst themselves to suppress competition over price and financial aid.”

Bedoian said Georgetown’s more limited interpretation of need-blind status refects its overall admissions approach.

“This is indicative, not only of Georgetown’s fnancial aid processes, but also our admissions processes, and I think that it’s really important to remember that the admissions ofice has a huge role to play in this as well,” Bedoian said.

“The fact that Georgetown continues to admit students who are more likely to be legacy students therefore, more likely to be wealthy or more likely to be white, etc., is really important because it impacts the culture on our campus,” Bedoian added.

GU Students Support Transgender Athletes Outside Supreme Court Hearing

Brendan Fijol Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown University students joined protesters outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 to support the rights of transgender student athletes.

The protest came as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the rights of transgender girls and women to participate on school athletic teams that align with their gender identity. The court considered two lower court decisions in Idaho and West Virginia, where justices ruled that bans on transgender athletes playing on the team aligning with their gender identity violated the 14th Amendment and Title IX.

Organized by various branches of the legal nonproft American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the protest featured speakers including Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

Sara Holler (CAS ’28), a student who attended the protest, said the event centered on messages of inclusion, representation and the importance of sports in social and emotional development.

“I attended because I have seen frsthand the efects of trans people being excluded from workplaces and schools,” Holler told The Hoya “My cousin is trans, and she has faced discrimination from schools and workplaces, and she is just trying to live a normal life and to have friends and be in society.”

“Sports and education and just showing up in the classroom every day and showing up on the feld shouldn’t be this major political issue,” Holler added. During the case’s oral arguments, a majority of justices indicated they

would likely support the original state laws that barred transgender students’ participation. These laws, closely mirroring each other, prohibited transgender women from participating on women’s K-12 and collegiate athletic teams and were blocked by circuit and appeals courts in Idaho and West Virginia in 2020 and 2024, respectively.

Rémi Jacques (CAS ’28), who also attended the protest, said personal ties to those implicated by transgender legislation drove him to participate in the protest.

“I’ve grown up my entire life with very close friends and family who are transgender,” Jacques told The Hoya

“You need that community of solidarity to exist, to support each other, and maybe, if the political winds change soon, you have energy to try and roll back all of the restrictive laws which have been put in place recently.”

A counterprotest took place concurrently outside of the Supreme Court building in support of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, featuring speeches from U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), both prominent opponents of transgender rights.

Jacques said the counterprotesters used loudspeakers in an attempt to interrupt the ACLU-led demonstrators’ speakers and music.

“That was a really hard part of the protest, that there was such a loud and not even a respectful political discourse, very much a direct attack on people’s humanity, very close by,” Jacques said.

Holler said the counterprotesters did not detract from the reassuring environment of the ACLU-led event.

“The environment was hopeful, and it was energetic, and people were excited to be there and excited to talk with one another and build

Washington National Opera Leaves Kennedy Center After Renaming

Chloe Taft Grad Desk Editor

The Washington National Opera (WNO) will leave the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed since 1971, the opera announced Jan. 10. In a statement to supporters, the WNO cited fnancial pressures following recent changes to its funding requirements. The departure was announced less than one month after the center’s board of trustees unanimously voted to rename the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump, which now faces a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The WNO said the opera is committed to continuing its 70th season independent from the center.

“This parting gives both organizations maximum flexibility to pursue our respective goals,” four representatives from the group wrote in the statement. “WNO is committed to continuing our work and celebrating our 70th anniversary as a fully independent, non-profit producing entity, separate from the Kennedy Center.” Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell said in a post on X that it was the center’s decision to end their 14-year formalized affliation with the opera.

Maya Roth, director of Georgetown’s theater program, who has both attended and performed in shows at the Kennedy Center, said the center has historically been an important cultural space for the country.

“The Kennedy Center is — no, was — a living memorial, in the spirit of John F. Kennedy, so it was for the nation,” Roth told The Hoya “The mission of the living memorial has been rerouted in the last year. That is what I would say has happened to forward the taste and ego of a particular leader.”

In February 2025, Trump overhauled the Kennedy Center’s leadership, installed Grenell as the new executive director and was elected chairman of the board, which led to a slew of artists’ exits from the center.

Roth, who took two of her classes to the center for the last time in January 2025, said she was grateful to see the WNO perform at the venue shortly before the center’s leadership changed.

“I know that for the classes that I took to the Washington National Opera, the commissions, the short teasers, it was really good learning,” Roth said.

“Students were surprised to discover that opera was the space of

community and just build reassurance that this community will always exist, no matter what the outcome of the cases are,” Holler said.

Scout Cardillo (CAS, McCourt ’27) — the executive director of Bulletproof Pride, an advocacy organization that addresses gun violence and intersectional issues facing the LGBTQ+ community — said they worked in tandem with the protest organizers to support the attendees.

“With the increased threats to trans political organizers, we wanted to make sure that the trans youth who were attending the rally also had a healthy escape from the overwhelming sense of fear the community is facing right now,” Cardillo wrote to The Hoya. “The night before the rally, we had a small game night to help people stay of social media and reground ourselves ahead of the rally yesterday.”

Holler said the role of students in acts of civic engagement is to build a foundation for future leadership.

“It’s like a form of studying,” Holler said. “It teaches you about how to form relationships and build community, and what it is to have passion for something and to care for something and fght for something. I think that those are all extremely important skills for life and for the future of our political and social community.”

Holler said despite the counterprotesting and the risk of the Supreme Court overturning the two lower court decisions, she was heartened by the protest’s unifying nature.

“If we all stand together, it creates a powerful message that this type of exclusion won’t be tolerated in our society — no matter what higher-up government oficials think, that they can’t pressure people into believing,” Holler said.

GU Student A airs Dean to Receive Award from Black Alumni Council Honoring Service to Black Community

Noah De Haan Student Life Desk Editor

doing things differently,” Roth added.

“I think that’s what’s the challenge in new funding moments, and that’s what they protect by going elsewhere, is that they can actually have some artistic agency over what they produce.”

Chiara Volpi (SFS ’28), who saw the musical “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center last year, said the center’s new leadership has betrayed its mission, citing Trump’s immigration and deportation policies.

“The initial decision to rename the Kennedy Center as the Trump-Kennedy Center was deeply disheartening,” Volpi wrote to The Hoya. “President Kennedy himself championed the arts as a space for ‘creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color.’ To attach the name of a president who has repeatedly dehumanized immigrants felt like a betrayal of the institution’s founding purpose.”

Lainey Lyle (SFS ’27) — the associate producer of Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society, a Georgetown student theater group — said that while she has enjoyed taking advantage of access to the Kennedy Center while studying at Georgetown, she has decided not to attend productions at the center in the last year.

“I decided not to go because of the politics of it,” Lyle told The Hoya. “Down the line, my guess is I will probably not necessarily be making the active choice not to support but that most of the artists that I’m interested in might not even be afiliated with the center or might not be invited to come perform at the center.”

Lyle said she believes renaming the center sets a dangerous precedent.

“Art is inherently political, and art is always political,” Lyle said.

“So this move to rename the Kennedy Center, while a political move, is not necessarily the antithesis of art. What’s more dangerous about this, I think, is the idea that renaming after a sitting president sparks a political idea that all of the art that is currently going to be showing should be in agreement with him and his politics.”

Lyle said that despite the ongoing political discussion surrounding the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., she thinks the WNO will survive.

“I think D.C. will react in the way that D.C. always reacts, which is to push back against politics that it doesn’t agree with and push back against movements it doesn’t agree with,” Lyle said.

“And I am sure that many artists in the city will continue to thrive, as they always have done.”

A Georgetown University dean will receive the 2026 Distinguished Leader Award from the Georgetown University Alumni Association (GUAA) Black Alumni Council, a GUAA afinity group for Black Georgetown University graduates, the council announced Jan. 7. Charlene Brown-McKenzie (COL ’95, GRD ’23), the senior associate dean of students and executive director of student access and success, will receive the award, which is given annually to a member of the university community dedicated to improving the experience of Black community members. Brown-McKenzie currently serves as the director of Georgetown’s Center for Multicultural Equity and Access (CMEA), a campus organization that supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Nigel Scott (COL ’95), Black Alumni Council chair, said Brown-McKenzie’s work at the CMEA facilitates the goals of the council by advocating for marginalized students.

“I think specifcally, in her role as director of the CMEA, her role and her advocacy aligns 100% with the mission of the Black Alumni Council,” Scott told The Hoya. “It actually goes beyond the mission of the Black

Alumni Council, because in that role she’s not just advocating for Black students, but she’s advocating for all students who come from backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented at the university.”

Brown-McKenzie said the award was unexpected, adding that she bases her work on an intrinsic desire to support disadvantaged communities.

“I was completely surprised that I was the awardee this year,” Brown-McKenzie told The Hoya “Nobody goes to social work school, thinking they’re going to be award winners. I was really drawn to service, deep engagement with communities whose voices and experiences have been marginalized and how to create safe, beautiful, meaningful, connected work. This feels tremendous to have been recognized by my own community.”

Zion Bryan (MSB ’29) — who participates in the Community Scholars Program (CSP), an initiative for frst-generation college students created by the CMEA — said seeing Brown-McKenzie, a former CSP participant, be recognized is fulflling.

“I’m incredibly proud because I feel like, especially on a primarily white campus, there’s not a lot of opportunities where we’re able to see such strength and triumph,” Bryan told The Hoya. “The fact that she’s

come from the same background as us and she’s able to achieve so much is really impactful.”

Bryan said having representation is especially crucial in the current political climate.

“Seeing that representation is extremely important,” Bryan said. “I feel that especially within our political climate right now, we’re not seeing how education and diversity are being impacted, and ensuring that our stories are being shown and seeing leaders who come from the same background is very important.”

Brown-McKenzie also said working at a university that assists disadvantaged communities and works towards justice is signifcant.

“I think when there have been tensions, dissonance or disconnect, one of the things I have valued is being at a university where we are grounded in a social justice context,” Brown-McKenzie said. “This university is built on serving those who are underserved and working with individuals at the margins, whether that be in D.C. or across the globe.”

“Our students are so deeply active and passionate about what it means to do justice, and that has been a piece of what I think Black students and students from all other backgrounds continue to bring to the university,” Brown-McKenzie added.

Scott said Brown-McKenzie embodies the university’s Jesuit values, highlighting the value of “people for others.”

“She fully incorporates everything that Georgetown expects out of not just its faculty, but also its students and alumni as well,” Scott said. “She defnitely embodies that notion of a ‘woman for others.’” Bryan said Brown-McKenzie welcomed him to the university and created a safe environment for incoming CSP students.

“She is honestly one of the sweetest and kindest people I’ve ever met,” Bryan said. “When I first moved into CSP, she helped me move in, and she even helped me choose which side of the room that I wanted to sleep in. She has a smile on her face, and she is always making sure that you feel welcome.” Brown-McKenzie said being recognized by the university as a graduate carries deep meaning for her.

“It’s been both an honor and privilege to serve in my capacity at Georgetown,” Brown-McKenzie said. “It’s even more special because I am a double alumna. Never would I have imagined that my work would take me back to the Hilltop. This feels deeply meaningful to receive this award and to continue to serve an institution that has been such a large part of my own formation.”

GU Law Graduate Steny Hoyer to Retire from Congress

Andrew Jiang Hoya Staff

Writer

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) (LAW ’66) announced Jan. 7 he will not seek re-election in 2026 after serving over four decades in Congress. Georgetown University community members responded to the decision with gratitude for his political career.

First elected in 1981, Hoyer rose to become the second-highest ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as House Majority Leader between 2007 and 2011 and 2019 and 2023. His departure follows a series of retirements from bipartisan politicians of both parties known for their bipartisan support.

As the House Majority Leader, Hoyer played a key role in fundraising, campaigning and the passage of legislation such as the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Infation Reduction Act of 2022.

During his speech announcing his retirement on the House floor, Hoyer said politicians must return to civility.

“I fear that America is heading not towards greatness but smallness, pettiness, divisiveness and disdainfulness,” Hoyer said in the speech. “We must remember we are not great or unique because we say we are great, but because we are just, generous and fair.”

Thomas O’Donnell, an adjunct professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, lobbied in 2015 for the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, a branch of the government that finances U.S. exports. O’Donnell said Hoyer was essential in garnering bipartisan support for the bill.

“He was sort of the key person in the House who helped us, and he worked very, very close with the Republicans to get that done,” O’Donnell told The Hoya. “And that was just an example I saw frsthand, but he certainly had a reputation as an honest broker and could work with the other side of the aisle.”

Pundits credit Hoyer for his ability to garner votes and negotiate with Republicans, including on budget agreements and major legislation.

Joshua Huder, a senior fellow at McCourt’s Government Affairs Institute, said Congress must follow in Hoyer’s example to remain bipartisan.

“Congress still legislates on a bipartisan basis even now,” Huder told The Hoya. “And so to the extent that we have a deliberative body, that’s less deliberative because they can’t be cordial or can’t see one another’s humanity, then it’s a problem.”

Fred Bao (SFS ’29), a Maryland resident, said Hoyer’s eforts to bring funds back to Maryland’s ffth con-

gressional district translated into successful projects that improved the quality of life for locals.

“From securing funding to improve transportation infrastructure in Maryland to funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup and other local initiatives, these eforts that have a disproportionate impact on all Marylanders are also noticed by the voters,” Bao wrote to The Hoya Max Choi (CAS ’27), another Maryland resident, credited Hoyer with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAA), which codified additional protections, saying he helped usher in a new era of disability rights.

“I have personally worked across different sectors of the government, and it’s surreal how much care goes into accommodating individuals with disabilities, all because of the ADAA,” Choi wrote to The Hoya. “Seeing Hoyer as one of the lead sponsors of such a historic act makes me view him with a great deal of respect.” Choi said he was uncomfortable with Hoyer’s long tenure in elected ofice.

“I am generally against politicians who serve such long periods of time,” Choi wrote. “At some point, I believe there needs to be term limits so that the same people are not in office for

such a long time, and so that changing demographics in the population can be better reflected. Despite this, I still think Hoyer has done a lot of good throughout his tenure.” Huder said Hoyer served alongside powerful House Democrats such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and commanded the respect of members from both parties.

“His colleagues had a lot of respect among that leadership team, generally speaking — Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn were a very solid three that were on top of the party for 18, 19 or 20 years,” Huder said. “So widely respected on both sides of the aisle.” Bao said that despite criticism of Hoyer’s long career, he will be remembered for his accomplishments as an efective party leader.

“I think the criticism Representative Hoyer faces is one that all the establishment Democrats are facing as the Democratic Party debates on what the future of the party should look like,” Bao wrote. “However, I think what all Democrats can agree on is that Representative Hoyer has not only played a significant role in the progress the Democratic Party has made in the last couple of decades, but his choice to step away now is also very commendable.”

GU Medical Professors Publish New Research on Brain Cancer Treatment

Liv Sanchez Hoya Staff Writer

Two Georgetown University Medical Center oncology professors published a new method for treating a lethal brain tumor in a Jan. 7 paper.

Dr. Nagi G. Ayad and Dr. Robert K. Suter led a team of 26 other researchers at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center studying cancerous cells in glioblastoma tumors, the most aggressive and common form of brain cancer. The researchers developed a software application that analyzes the efects of pharmaceuticals on brain cancer cells and aims to facilitate the production of new drugs to cure glioblastoma.

Suter said the research aims to develop software that directly targets the growth of cancerous cells in glioblastoma tumors.

“The paper focuses on a piece of software that we developed called SC Focal that takes drug signatures, how a cell responds to a drug, and then maps that onto single-cell data,” Suter told The Hoya Suter said the current treatment options for glioblastoma, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, are only temporary solutions.

“The tumors almost always reoccur after that treatment,” Suter said.

Ayad and Suter’s findings allow researchers to begin formulating drugs that will efficiently target and cure glioblastomas by eradicating individual cancer cells. Their research analyzes thousands of singular cells within tumors, which differ from person to person, to help scientists develop responsive and effective drugs.

Ayad said the team’s research could support the development of effective pharmaceuticals to treat glioblastomas on a case-by-case basis.

“What this particular article shows is that we may need different combinations for different people,” Ayad told The Hoya “It won’t be just one molecule or one genetic therapy. In this case, we would need combinations that are individualized.”

Ayad said their team uses single-cell sequencing, which allows researchers to analyze thousands of cells in a tumor individually and develop drugs to treat the tumor as a whole.

“Around seven years ago, single-cell sequencing became more commonplace — that’s where you can sequence and note the identity of each cell within a tumor,” Ayad said. “We knew at the time that we really needed to use this new technology to understand glioblastoma and make predictions about drugs.”

Multiple institutions, including the Lombardi Center, the cancer research fundraiser Bellringer and federal agencies, funded the research, according to Ayad. Georgetown published the study in collaboration with the University of Miami, the nonprofit health group Mayo Clinic and biotechnology company Curtana.

Rithvik Veeramachaneni (CAS ’25, MED ’29), a medical student who worked in Ayad and Suter’s lab, said making the discoveries accessible to other researchers was important.

“Over the course of a summer, I figured out how we could make the product of our research, which was an application, accessible to other researchers to

use that algorithm that we had put together,” Veeramachaneni told The Hoya . “The purpose of that algorithm was mainly to allow for a level of analysis of tumors based on RNA instead of DNA, which is considered to be an up-and-coming field.”

Grace Baker (CAS ’23), another undergraduate researcher in the lab, said she appreciated being able to follow her interests in the lab.

“I was one of the first undergraduates in the lab,” Baker told The Hoya . “Dr. Ayad was very good at getting you to do things that you actually wanted to do. I did a lot of computational work. I did a lot of coding in the R language.”

Ayad said he was proud that the team of researchers included clinicians, biologists and undergraduate students.

“I’m actually proud that a lot of Georgetown undergrads were part of this project and are part of the publication as well,” Ayad said. “They did a lot of computational work, so it’s a diverse group.”

Pravallika Palawi (SOH ’26), another undergraduate researcher, said Suter was an inspiring mentor.

“I didn’t have much experience in programming or coding before I joined the lab, and my mentor has been really helpful in providing me with resources so I could learn,” Palawi told The Hoya Suter said this research may hold implications outside of glioblastomas, such as the treatment of spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

“This is not just a cancer tool, but a general biological, biomedical drug discovery tool,” Suter said.

SFS Professor Launches Book on Failing Chronic Illness, Disability Treatments

Ella Farahnakian

Special to The Hoya

A Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (SFS) professor argued that traditional medical treatment has historically neglected those with chronic illness at a Georgetown University event Jan. 12.

Emily Mendenhall, the director of Georgetown’s science, technology and international afairs (STIA) program, launched her book “Invisible Illness: A History from Hysteria to Long Covid,” which explains how the U.S. medical system supports individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities. At the event — hosted at the Mortara Center for International Studies by the Medical Humanities Initiative, the STIA program, the Disability Cultural Center and the disability studies program — Mendenhall outlined the shortcomings in the U.S. medical system, its relationship with disability and societal perceptions of individuals with chronic conditions. Mendenhall said her research highlights how the health care system has forgotten people with chronic and poorly understood illnesses.

“Most people, disabled from an unverifable illness, must advocate for themselves, feeling abandoned by the state, ignored by clinical medicine and adrift fnancially, socially and emotionally,” Mendenhall said at the event. “In addition to losing our health and our ability to support ourselves, we have been disbelieved, gaslit and not even acknowledged by our leaders that our illness is signifcant, and a signifcant threat to others.”

Mendenhall said this lack of recognition is a result of the historical treatment of women, people of color and other marginalized groups in medicine.

“These unverifable health conditions are interpreted with trepidation,” Mendenhall said. “In many cases throughout history, such conditions have been considered unreal or imagined among medical professionals, or a cry to help from a hysterical woman.”

Dr. Lakshmi Krishnan, the director of Georgetown’s Medical Humanities Initiative and a panelist at the event, said chronic illnesses are sidelined in biomedical training.

“In biomedicine, we have a structural bias towards acuity,” Krishnan said at the event. “We have a medical system that’s built around the conditions that threaten to kill you immediately. That is what we are taught and prioritized in medical school.”

Amy Kenny — the inaugural director of the Disability Cultural Center at Georgetown, a university group that promotes accessibility in the sciences, arts and broader Georgetown community — said Mendenhall’s book helps readers reconsider prominent disability narratives that are often oversimplifed.

“I think it’s important to name that disability is an identity, an experience, a community and a culture,” Kenny said. “And so often, disability and disability narratives are relegated to just one of those. And we create these binaries that I think the book is really inviting us to reconsider and, I hope, dismantle.”

Krishnan said Mendenhall’s book captures how medical bias often leaves patients with chronic illness underserved.

“Chronic illnesses, particularly those without a single defnitive test result or biomarker, are too often treated as background noise, or in the worst cases, less real, less serious, less deserving of resources, even when they are reorganizing entire lives,” Krishnan said. “The encouraging thing, and something that the book captures well, is how this is changing in the extraordinary work that has happened over decades.”

Yasmin Afaki (MED ’29), who attended the event, said it brought attention to the gap in medical education surrounding chronic illness.

“As a frst-year medical student, what really struck me being at this talk was the discussion surrounding chronic illness that was touched upon,” Afaki told The Hoya. “It is not something we have really learned yet as medical students. I’ve never heard of the term ‘long COVID’ before. So I think a lot of work needs to be done in medical education.”

Mendenhall said students must confront the structures that have excluded certain voices in the medical feld.

“You need to use your voices and your feet,” Mendenhall said. “I feel joyful thinking about teaching all of you young people because you have power and you are armed with knowledge. Medicine, society and politics, these spaces, you can do good by being thoughtful and knowing the history, and using that voice to be a force of good.”

Animal Conservation Awareness

Birth of Sloth Bears at Smithsonian Zoo Promotes

Ethan Herweck City Desk Editor

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) announced Jan. 6 that two sloth bear cubs were born in their care Dec. 7 and will debut in an exhibit this spring.

The National Zoo has not had a sloth bear birth since 2013, which has contributed to the animal’s classifcation as vulnerable. The cubs are a development for zoos nationwide, as the National Zoo is one of only 15 institutions in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the largest zoo organization in the country, to house sloth bears and the frst to host births in almost a year.

The National Zoo said its work with the cubs, which will remain blind for at least a month and will begin walking at around 45 days old, contributes to the species’ conservation within the AZA’s program Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE).

“The species faces threats in the wild, including habitat loss and deadly confict with humans. NZCBI contributes to sloth bear conservation in Asia through the AZA’s SAFE Sloth Bear program, participating in wildlife surveys and monitoring eforts across the species’ range,” the National Zoo wrote in its oficial announcement.

The vulnerable species only has around 20,000 remaining, with the number signifcantly declining recently. In the past 30 years, up to half the population

of sloth bears has disappeared due to habitat loss and hunting.

Daniel Noonan (CAS ’29), a pre-medical student with an interest in ecological diversity, said the National Zoo keepers’ success in breeding sloth bears in captivity is a good sign for protecting populations in an otherwise fragile environment.

“It’s good to know that we can have sloth bears in captivity, just in case,” Noonan told The Hoya. “We inevitably will destroy their environment. And like good to know that we can, you know, at least, try to revive their population. It’s good to know that we’re still making a little bit of progress.”

Hudson Witte (CAS ’28), a self-described animal enthusiast, said the sloth bears represent a unique bear species because they originate from the Indian subcontinent and, despite the name, are not sloths but a genus of bears.

“I have very fond memories watching nature documentaries as a child, and sloth bears would come up,” Witte told The Hoya. “And I think they’re interesting creatures, especially because I think you don’t associate bears normally with the Indian subcontinent. That’s normally not where you think of bears, especially hailing from the North American context.”

Noonan said all animals contribute to their ecosystem and that sloth bears are no exception.

“Pretty cool to have microecological diversity. Usually bad when we lose that, because we destroy the natural environment,” Noonan

said. “We can’t ever get that back, because they’re the product of millions of years of evolution. So I like fufy creatures. They play critical roles in our environment. With sloth bears, I’m sure they contribute something worthwhile to their environments.”

The National Zoo takes part in a multitude of conservation initiatives, including eforts to save giant pandas and Asian elephants. Witte said he was heartened by the National Zoo’s conservation eforts and he hopes they can continue.

“I think it’s incredible to have sloth bears in the U.S.,” Witte said. “To have a zoo that is able to take on these conservation eforts, I think it’s just incredible. I think these are great animals, and I’d love to see them last in the United States. I think that’s beautiful.” Witte added he hopes the sloth bears will drive up National Zoo attendance by attracting new visitors.

“You like going to see the animals,” Witte said. “You like seeing the cute animals. And what’s cuter than a baby bear, a little cub?” Noonan said he thinks the sloth bear cubs’ births will encourage more students to visit the National Zoo.

“Baby animals are cuter versions of the big ones,” Noonan said. “The main reason you go to a zoo is to see, you know, cute animals. It’s nothing but baby, soft bears. They’re rare, so you can’t see it anywhere else. People are gonna want to go see that.”

Undergraduate Journal to Publish New International Politics Research

Noah De Haan

A new undergraduate academic journal afiliated with Georgetown University’s Mortara Center for International Studies will begin publishing undergraduate research in international politics.

The Georgetown Undergraduate Journal of International Politics (GUJIP) intends to publish its frst edition at the end of the Spring 2026 semester. The Mortara Center, an academic group associated with the School of Foreign Service (SFS) that promotes student and faculty research in international afairs, will house the journal.

Bennett Hylen (SFS ’28), one of GUJIP’s editors-in-chief, said he came up with the idea for the publication after he found no outlet on campus for undergraduate research in international afairs, as the Georgetown Journal of International Afairs (GJIA) only publishes academic research.

“I was looking at opportunities to get published, and initially as I came into Georgetown I learned about GJIA and I had wanted to do research in college,” Hylen told The Hoya. “I was kind of surprised, because I thought they published undergraduate research, but it turns out that Georgetown actually had no place for undergraduate research in international relations to be published.”

GJIA allows undergraduate students to serve on their staf, but does not publish articles authored by undergraduates.

Hylen said he founded GUJIP to close the gap on campus publications for undergraduate research in international politics.

“The diference between us and other organizations on campus is especially salient when you think about how SFS is the number one school for international afairs and somehow doesn’t have an outlet like this for undergraduate students,” Hylen said. “So it closes the loop.”

Kate Heslin (SOH ’28), GUJIP’s director of publication, said working with the journal allows her to interact with global politics on campus.

“I feel really honored and lucky to be one of the inaugural staf members of this type of publication,” Heslin told The Hoya. “I’m not necessarily directly involved with international politics, and I think it’s a super great opportunity to interact with the more government, international affairs side of Georgetown that the school is really famous for.”

The journal is afiliated with the Mortara Center for funding purposes and aims to feature papers on often-overlooked topics in international afairs.

Brooke Duncan (SFS ’28), the other editor-in-chief, said the journal wanted to partner with the Mortara Center to connect with the university.

“The frst thing we would do is sit down and look at the scope of what we wanted to do, who we wanted to publish and how big could we feasibly scale it,” Duncan told The Hoya

“The next steps were looking at establishing it as a journal afiliated with the university,” Duncan added. “There are many diferent ways you can do so, and we chose to get in contact with the Mortara Center.”

Hylen said the Mortara Center is foundational to foreign afairs research at Georgetown, adding that associating with the center will be benefcial for the journal.

“If you were to pick out one hub for research in international affairs on campus, it would be the Mortara Center,” Hylen said. “So it kind of seems like a natural partner, just because they have a lot of institutional connections between Georgetown, the research community and other universities.” Duncan said GUJIP is reviewing potential research papers for its frst edition and will collaborate with others at the university to make its selections.

“We are working with a team of students to receive submissions from the Georgetown community as well as other undergraduate students across the U.S.,” Duncan said. “We will go through those submissions as either being viable or not, and then work with faculty members and Ph.D. candidates across the university to go through the peer review process.” Hylen said one of the publication’s current goals is to broaden the journal’s horizons and cultivate an environment that facilitates discussion of international relations research on campus.

“Right now we really want to create an organization that has a lot of scope,” Hylen said. “It’s not only just our frst publication at the end of spring, but also expanding that to having events and speakers is something that I want to do to really make it a real space for the research.” Duncan said GUJIP will help promote undergraduate research in international politics.

“Personally, my goal is to leave behind an organization that is self-sustaining in a way,” Duncan said. “It will be passed down to students as we graduate and continue to exist within the Georgetown community beyond our time here.”

MEN’S LACROSSE

After Quarter nals Exit, No. 4 Hoyas Have NCAA Championship Goals

A year after fnishing as Big East regular season and tournament champions, the Georgetown University men’s lacrosse team, ranked fourth in USA Lacrosse Magazine’s preseason poll Jan. 5, returns ready to build upon a postseason run that ended in the NCAA quarterfnals.

Georgetown’s 2025 season was simultaneously successful and disappointing. The team opened play with a home victory against Loyola University Maryland before delivering mixed results during the nonconference slate, going 5-3. However, the Hoyas ruled Big East play with a 4-1 record, fnishing frst over Villanova University on a head-to-head tiebreaker.

In the postseason, the Hoyas steamrolled Marquette University and Villanova to clinch their seventh straight conference tournament title. The Hoyas received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where, after an upset victory over 7-seeded Duke, the Hoyas fell to the 2-seeded University of Maryland on May 18. That tournament run marked Georgetown’s fifth consecutive year ending in a quarterfinal loss. The Hoyas have set their sights higher for 2026, aiming to make a deeper run in the NCAA tournament, and the team believes they have the squad to do it.

Senior midfelder Lucas Dudemaine, graduate short-stick defensive midfelder Joe Vranizan and senior midfelder Jordan Wray captain the roster. They said taking it day-by-day and improving the small habits were key themes to the Hoyas’ ofseason.

Dudemaine said the team did not achieve all of its goals in 2025.

“Obviously we didn’t reach our ultimate goal last season,”

Dudemaine wrote to The Hoya

“Just being able to take a step back in the last six months and rethink our goal settings and how we’re going to diferentiate our process day-to-day is kind of what we’ve been focusing on.”

Despite Georgetown’s top scorers, Aidan Carroll (SFS ’24, GRD ’25) and Fulton Bayman (GRD ’25), graduating, Head Coach Kevin Warne is confident that transfers Rory and Liam Connor will give the team an offensive boost. The two, who are brothers, are highly rated attackmen coming from Colgate University. Warne said he is also certain that younger returning players will take a step forward in their development, forming a well-rounded team with plenty of depth scoring.

“We brought in two players from the transfer portal, Rory and Liam Connor, who have scored a lot of points in their careers, and we expect them to come in and contribute in lots of ways,” Warne wrote to The Hoya

“Everyone else is also a year older, so I think that some of our returners will have new roles and we’ll be a lot deeper this year, instead of depending on one or two guys,” Warne added.

Aside from Carroll and Bayman, the team is also losing Michael Haus (MSB ’25) and Jack Erb (GRD ’25), whom Vranizan remembered for their selfessness.

“I’m going to miss playing with Haus and Erb,” Vranizan wrote to The Hoya. “They were unselfsh guys who were also a lot of fun to play with. I felt that they made last year really special for me.”

As for younger returning players, Dudemaine, Wray and Vranizan said sophomore attacker Jack

Ransom and frst-year midfelder

Johnny Price are potential breakout stars this season.

The season begins Jan. 31 in Baltimore against Loyola Maryland, a highly anticipated game as the team seeks to set a tough and winning tone for the season. Wray said he recognized the importance of starting the season with a win.

“I’d say that our frst game against Loyola is one that’s on my calendar,” Wray wrote to The Hoya “We just want to go 1-0 there, and we’re really looking forward to it.”

The Hoyas will face six teams they played last year in addition to five Big East conference games to end their regular season slate. It shapes up to be a very familiar schedule — one that the Hoyas have had winning seasons with. Georgetown’s home opener is set for Feb. 7 vs Johns Hopkins University.

Big East play will begin March 28 against the University of Denver, with the tournament taking place in early May. The NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament will follow shortly after at the University of Virginia.

During the upcoming spring season, the Hoyas will look to rely on transfer players, as well as standout frst and secondyear players, to build a uniquely well-rounded squad with scoring depth. The season outlook is positive and reassuring among the players and coaches as the team will take lessons, both good and bad, from last year and enter the 2026 season with sights on a national championship.

Before the season kicks of, the Hoyas will host two scrimmages. The frst, against the Naval Academy, is Jan. 17 at 1 p.m., and the second is against No. 1 University of Maryland on Jan. 24.

Representing Latest Hoyas Drafted To Pros, Baker, Godinho to Join MLS

10 days later.

Two MLS teams selected Georgetown University men’s soccer players in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft on Dec. 18, 2025.

The Colorado Rapids picked sophomore forward Mitchell Baker 10th in the frst round, while sophomore midfelder Aidan Godinho was picked 46th overall and 16th in the second round by CF Montréal. Both players are expected to return to the Hilltop for the 2026 season before seeking professional opportunities after graduation.

The SuperDraft, which the MLS introduced in 2000 to draft college seniors and graduates, expanded in the 2023-24 season to include sophomores and juniors. If a player with remaining NCAA eligibility is selected, they may either opt to return to their respective school or sign a professional contract. When a team drafts a player, the team is required to invite them to the preseason, but they are under no obligation to offer the player a contract. If an athlete decides to return to collegiate soccer, they cannot be drafted again, and the team that selected them retains their rights until the end of the calendar year.

After the 2024 season, two Hoyas were selected in the 2025 draft: junior defender Eric Howard, chosen 35th by the New England Revolution, and junior midfielder Matthew Van Horn, picked 75th by the Colorado Rapids.

Both Howard and Van Horn returned to Georgetown following the draft.

Zach Zengue, who was chosen in the 2024 SuperDraft with the 58th pick

by the Columbus Crew, signed a firstteam contract with the Crew on Jan. 9 after finishing out his junior and senior seasons on the Hilltop.

Following December’s selections, Head Coach Brian Wiese has now had 46 players drafted or signed by a professional club during his 20year tenure on the Hilltop.

In Baker’s frst year, he appeared in all 21 games, starting in 19. Baker managed 4 goals and 4 assists at the end of the season and ranked third overall on the squad in scoring. He earned one Big East weekly honor roll selection and was named Big East all-academic.

This season, Baker made it clear that his frst-year success was only the beginning. In 2025, the Melbourne, Australia native led the Big East conference in gamewinners with 5, which ranked sixth across college soccer. Baker received three selections to the weekly honor roll and one designation as Big East offensive player of the week. He was also named to the Big East all-tournament team and featured in the preseason all-Big East selection.

Baker finished the 2025 season with 21 starts, tallying 14 goals and 3 assists. He was second only to Zengue in points — a combined goals and assists statistic — (31) and scored over a quarter of the Hoyas’ total goals (14/51).

In mid-October, Baker started a 6-game scoring streak, scoring 7 times in 6 games. He netted 2 goals against Providence College in the Big East semifinals Nov. 13 and secured his second brace of the season against the University of Central Florida Knights

TENNIS

Preparing For Postseason Success, Hoyas Ready for Spring Matches

The Georgetown University tennis teams kick of the spring season this week, with the women’s team traveling to the University of Maryland on Jan. 18 and the men’s team to Virginia Commonwealth University on Jan. 16. Both teams will play their frst home match against Howard University on Jan. 31: the men’s team at Yates Fields House and the women’s team at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland.

Last spring, both teams achieved major postseason success in the Big East Tennis Championships — the women to the quarterfnals and the men to the semifnals — setting the stage for high expectations this spring. Head Coach Freddy Mesmer is now in his ffth season leading both teams and said he expects to improve on last season, especially since both teams have many returning players.

“We were knocking on the door, but came up just short,” Mesmer told The Hoya

The women’s team graduated no seniors and added two frstyears, Ruhika Bhat and Julia Chu. The men’s team lost three seniors but brought in three frst-years, Jonah Hill, Joshua Lamm-Bocharov and Cyrus Zia.

Mesmer said many returning players have grown into confdent competitors, noting that some have begun to step into leadership roles on the team.

“I think going through everything last year helped them learn a few things and gain some experience and it showed in the fall,” Mesmer told The Hoya. “Hopefully, they can take some of that momentum into the spring.”

Burke Pablo, who played all four of his undergraduate years at Georgetown and was named a 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Men’s ScholarAthlete and to the 2024 Big East All-Academic Team, said he has high expectations for the team’s season.

“I wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t think we had a chance to win the Big East,” Pablo told The Hoya Pablo said that at the college

COMMENTARY

Following an exceptional season, Baker racked up numerous awards. United Soccer Coaches named him as a Hermann Trophy semifinalist, first team all-Big East region, first team all-Big East and a second team All-American. He has two years of eligibility remaining on the Hilltop.

Godinho, from Longwood, Fla., also had a strong first-year season for the Hoyas, appearing in 12 games and earning 4 starts. His breakout moment came in the dying minutes of last year’s Big East Championship Semifnals game against Akron University on Nov. 14, 2024. After capitalizing on a defensive mistake at the top of the box, the rookie fred his golden-goal, game-winning strike into the net in the 99th minute. The goal, which could not have come at a more important time, marked his frst for the Hoyas.

Godinho continued his success in the 2025 season. He appeared in all 22 games in the 2025 season with 4 starts. Playing 1,015 minutes in total, Godinho managed 1 goal and 1 assist on the season for 3 points.

Godinho’s low-driven finish against Xavier University on Nov. 1 nutmegged two defenders before nestling into the bottom right corner. The Hoyas went on to win 3-0 and capture their fourth consecutive Big East Regular Season Title.

Baker and Godinho join a talented group of athletes chosen in the MLS SuperDraft, highlighting their significance to Georgetown’s program as the Hoyas prepare for the 2026 season.

level, most players tend to be at a similar skill level, meaning that marginal gains matter most.

“The little details on and of the court make a huge diference,” Pablo said.

For many players, Georgetown marks their frst experience competing within a team structure, as tennis is often an individual sport.

Mesmer said the team environment is tough at frst, but it is key to the teams’ performance.

“It’s defnitely a learning curve,” Mesmer said. “But I value it as a coach because when I have a group that is all aligned together, it makes my job easier to be able to push them as a group.”

Senior captain Paige Gilbert — who began her tennis career at 12 and later transferred to IMG Academy, a sportsfocused boarding school, before Georgetown — said playing on a team has made her a better player.

“Even though you’re out there on your own, your ambition and motivation come from within the team and the work you put in together every single day at practice,” Gilbert told The Hoya

In the fall, both the men’s and women’s teams competed in a series of tournaments, including the Commander-in-Chief’s Tennis Challenge in October, which Mesmer equates to their preseason. Georgetown secured multiple singles and doubles wins across both teams.

Mesmer said his coaching philosophy relies on a foundation of preparation, including focusing on what he calls the “controllables” — sleep,

recovery and hydration.

“The teams probably laugh at me because I say it so much,” Mesmer said. “One hundred percent of the time, the best teams are the ones who are most prepared.”

Pablo said Mesmer emphasizes the process over goals.

“Mesmer is always telling us to be process-driven, not goaloriented and he lives that by example,” Pablo said.

Gilbert said Mesmer understands there is more to the Hoya tennis players’ lives than merely tennis.

“He is very aware and thoughtful about each of our lives,” Gilbert said. “Understanding the ofthe-court pressures makes him a really good leader.”

As the spring season approaches, Gilbert said mindset is a focal point. “It’s easy when you have so many matches for them to blur together,” Gilbert said. “We’re being very serious in our practice and being really intentional, while keeping up extremely high energy.”

Mesmer said both teams are working on consistency this year.

“The biggest message to both teams has been fnding a way to stay as consistent as we can from start to fnish this season,” Mesmer said. “Our group as a whole has talked a lot about doing everything as we’ve done since August, being super simple and process-oriented.”

Match play begins Jan. 16 and the women’s team faces its frst Big East opponent, DePaul University, in Chicago on Feb. 7, while the men’s team opens conference play against Creighton University on Mar. 10 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland.

e Wizards Are Seeing the Light

When the Washington Wizards faced of against the Orlando Magic on Jan. 6, Orlando were heavy favorites, having won their last eleven meetings against Washington. They seemed poised for an easy victory.

Instead, Magic fans watched a rout. The Wizards were up 26 points before Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley subbed out his starters in the 3rd quarter and, despite a run by the bench unit, Washington held on for a statement win.

Wizards center Alex Sarr boasted a game-high plus-minus of 23 while guard CJ McCollum led in scoring with an eficient 27 points.

This game was emblematic of Washington’s recent surge, powered by savvy veteran play and contributions from young players. The team’s abysmal 1-15 start to the season weighs down an overall 1029 record — No. 14 in the Eastern Conference. However, the Wizards have a respectable 6-5 record over their last eleven games. After a couple of years of heavy losses and little light on the horizon, the Wizards’ long rebuild may be coming to an end.

Central to this run has been Sarr’s emergence as a two-way force. Along with jumps in points, rebounds and assists, Sarr has markedly improved his eficiency, shooting an above-average 50 percent from the feld.

On the defensive end, Sarr has been a shining spot on a dismal unit — second in the league in blocks per game and receiving defensive player of the year buzz. Sarr seems primed to be an AllStar and remain a franchise cornerstone for years to come.

While Sarr increasingly looks to be a sure thing, guard Bilal Coulibaly remains something of an enigma. Defensively, the 21-year-

old has wowed as Washington’s best perimeter threat, racking up a steal and a half per game and sufocating opponents.

Ofensively, however, Coulibaly is a black hole, shooting a bleak 39% from the feld and 27.3% from three. He has shown strong fashes, including an 18-point performance with good percentages against Philadelphia earlier this month. Whether or not he can put the pieces together for a full stretch is an open question, and the clock is ticking.

For forward Kyshawn George, the good comes with the bad. Wizards

Head Coach Brian Keefe has been content to let George handle more scoring and playmaking duties this year, and George has responded to the tune of 15 points and nearly fve assists per game. This increased usage has come at a cost, however, as he now averages over three turnovers a game. For George, the upcoming challenge is maintaining his production while protecting the ball.

The jury is still out on Washington’s other young pieces.

Guard Tre Johnson has shown promise in his rookie season, scoring eficiently and handling the ball with poise, but he will need more time to develop, like any rookie. Forward Marvin Bagley III, meanwhile, has been a vital spark plug of the bench and may have played himself into a second contract. Point guard Bub Carrington continues to confound, shooting worse from two than from three this season and struggling to create his own shots. Still, at just 20 years old, he warrants more time to develop.

Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the acquisition of Trae Young. Washington’s trade with the Atlanta Hawks to acquire the all-star guard late last week marks a shift in their timeline as

they swap an aging veteran for a 27-year-old nearing his prime. Young and Sarr are poised to form a two-headed attack that could lead Washington to a playof spot as early as next year. Still, this acquisition feels strange. Many fans have voiced concerns about Young’s compatibility with the team, but the overarching question is whether he is a winner.

Ever since his mythical conference fnals run in 2021, followed up by a stellar 2022 season, Young has coasted on a reputation that has largely outlived him. His eficiency has cratered. For two of the last three years, his teams have performed better with him of the court. Most damning of all for a Wizards team that already ranks 27th in defense, Young is statistically the thirdworst defender of all time. This is not to say that the 27-yearold cannot be valuable for the Wizards. Having a gifted playmaker on the foor will undoubtedly help Washington’s youth grow. However, anyone seeing Young as more than a short-term rental is probably mistaken. Looking ahead, the Wizards enter a challenging stretch with road games against the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets before returning home to face the Los Angeles Clippers. Ultimately, the Wizards are the Wizards. By now, multiple years into a rebuild, fans know what to expect come February and March. The team most likely will tank as the organization shields its topeight protected pick, meaning Washington only gets the draft pick if it lands eighth or better. In the meantime, the Wizards remain what they have been for a while: a team capable of surprising on any given night, though they will disappoint in the season.

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

The Women’s Professional Baseball League Emerges

HERMAN, from A12

play in the league’s inaugural season. Although these frst four teams do not yet have names or mascots, they will represent San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Boston. It looks like I have a new favorite New York baseball team to root for — and a new Boston one to scof at.

For at least the frst few seasons, though, each team’s city is little more than an identifer. All four teams will play at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfeld, Ill., a historic baseball feld with a capacity of about 5,200. The regular season will begin this August and span four weeks, with each team playing 30 games before entering an additional two-week postseason. Games will last seven innings each, a small departure from pro baseball’s traditional nine.

Notably, the WPBL will operate entirely independently from MLB. The league, which is led almost entirely by women, struck a national broadcasting deal with Fremantle in May 2025. In one of my very frst editions of this column — which fnally

has more editions than the Yankees have World Series rings — I wrote that girls often “grow up hearing that baseball is for their brothers, not for them.” For the frst time in recent history, that is no longer the case. I might still be unable to fnd an authentic Derek Jeter jersey in women’s sizes, but the existence of the WPBL serves as a more-than-suficient consolation prize. No longer will young girls interested in pursuing a career in baseball need to turn to men in search of a role model. Personally, I am just grateful that baseball fans in the New York City area have options beyond the uninspiring Yankees — yet I recognize that the WPBL’s impact is even broader than just providing me with an option to change the channel. The WPBL will follow in the footsteps of the young Professional Women’s Hockey League and build on the recent, dramatic rise in viewership of women’s basketball. So maybe this winter has not brought me a new free agent signing — but if the WPBL successfully raises female representation and viewership in professional baseball, it will have been worth it.

Professional Women’s Baseball League will kick off their first season in August in Springfield, Ill.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Red

Storm Outmatched by Hoyas’ Shooting

ST. JOHN’S, from A12

Throughout the frst half, the Hoyas shot 14-31 while the Red Storm only shot 7-22. Georgetown had a three-point feld goal percentage of 40%, while St. John’s sat at 17%. The Hoyas outrebounded the Red Storm 22-10.

Returning from the break, St. John’s appeared to have picked up a renewed energy on defense, marked by an increase in physicality. The Hoyas and Red Storm traded free throws to begin the quarter, before St. John’s put in two layups, capping of a 6-0 run during a four minute Georgetown drought.

Both teams continued to blow chances on fast breaks, missing passes, overshooting and missing easy baskets. Junior forward Cristen Carter broke the Hoyas’ scoring drought with 4:37 remaining in the quarter.

Georgetown continued sending in shots and went into the fnal quarter ahead 47-25 asthey went on a second 11-0 run as St. John’s failed to score for over six minutes.

Jewitt sent in her third threepointer of the night to kick of the fourth quarter, capping of a 14-0 Hoya stretch.

With fve minutes left to play, Georgetown found themselves ahead by 30-points — 59-29 — as Agubata sank a three-pointer.

St. John’s guard Brooke Moore secured the Red Storm’s fnal 5 points of the night, and the game ended at 59-34 with the Hoyas failing to score in the fnal fve minutes.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgetown outcompeted St. John’s in every stat except free throw percentage. The Hoyas shot 22-55 from the feld, while the Red Storm shot 1242. St. John’s had 18 turnovers; Georgetown had 11. The Hoyas ofensively outrebounded the Red Storm 15-6, and put up 16 second chance points.

Georgetown Head Coach Darnell Haney said the team was prepared to win.

“Our group came out ready to go today,” Haney said after the game. “They listened to the game plan. We were in attack mode and not playing not to lose.”

Haney said the Hoyas’ defense helped them secure the victory.

“Regardless of what score is on the board, regardless of how many points we score, I feel like defense is something that you can control,” Haney told The Hoya. “You can’t control shots going in, but you can control guarding the other team and making it dificult for them.”

“McDonough Arena is really nice now,” Haney added. “We have chair backs, it’s painted up real good, but it’s still nightmare on M Street. We want to make sure that every time anybody walks in here or they see us or they see Georgetown across our chests, they’re facing the nightmare on M Street. And I think we did that tonight, so I’m proud of them.”

The Hoyas will continue Big East play this weekend as they will travel to Milwaukee to take on Marquette University (11-5, 5-2 Big East) on Jan. 17 with tipof scheduled for 3 p.m. EST.

Cooley Fumes at O ciating

After Love’s BuzzerBeater Ruled Out, Sending Game to Overtime

CREIGHTON, from A12

Things got tense after an andone and a layup of a Mack turnover for Creighton, shrinking the Hoyas’ lead to 76-73 with 59 seconds left. With 19 seconds left, Swartz tied the game with his eighth three-pointer.

As time expired, Love thought he won the game for the Hoyas with a buzzer-beater layup called good on the court, but after video review, the oficials ruled the shot came after time expired, although the broadcast feed seemed inconclusive. The clock appeared to show 0.1 seconds remaining, even as the red lights on the baskets signaling the end of the game went of. Compounding the challenge, the camera angles made it dificult to see when exactly the ball left Love’s hand.

After the game, Cooley disparaged the oficiating. Cooley said the oficials did not explain the ruling to him, and he was confused how the shot was ruled out when the replay feed seemed unclear, saying he would later ask the Big East to explain the decision.

“I need a full explanation of — is it the clock?” Cooley said at the postgame press conference.

“There’s four diferent views that I just saw. If it’s good on the foor and it’s inconclusive, what does that mean? I’m not saying that’s why we lost the game, but I do need an explanation from my league ofice.”

“In a 50-50 situation, I don’t know how it’s overruled,” Cooley added.

“They called, I guess, what they saw. We’re looking at it from our angle, like: If it’s good on the foor, how are you overturning that?”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Beginning overtime, Iwuchukwu

won the tipof, but Swartz jumped the tip and converted an and-one.

Iwuchukwu landed awkwardly after the tip and stayed down, needing help of the court. He did not return. Lesis answered with a corner 3-pointer before Halaifonua’s layup gave Georgetown the lead, but Swartz responded with a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 81 with 2:40 left in overtime.

Creighton took the lead with 1:04 left, and after another basket from Lewis, Swartz gave the Bluejays the lead back with 30 seconds remaining before a free throw extended the lead to 86-83 with 9 seconds to play.

The Hoyas took the ball up court, and Cooley called a timeout to generate an open look from beyond the arc for one of his hot hands. Cooley drew up a dribble hand-of to Lewis, but Creighton read it well and forced a contest

ed, of-balance shot as time ran out, which missed the rim.

Once a tenth of a second away from victory, the Hoyas dropped the game, their ffth consecutive in conference play.

Cooley said he appreciated his team’s offensive improvement despite the loss.

“I’m really proud of our group,” Cooley said. “I thought we played hard, thought we played connected, thought we played together.”

“That one was tough. Shit happens,” he added, ending the press conference with an emphatic slam of the table.

The Hoyas are back home at noon Jan. 13 for a sold-out matchup against the No. 3 University of Connecticut Huskies (17-1, 7-0 Big East), in what will be a challenging attempt to reinvigorate the season.

Former Hoya, 3 DePaul Players Among Indicted

POINT SHAVING, from A12

for Georgetown in the 2022-23 season, was also charged with sports bribery for events that prosecutors allege occurred during his time at St. Louis University. Ezewiro transferred out of the Hilltop after former Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) was fred.

Georgetown Athletics issued a statement saying they were aware of the allegations against the DePaul players and Ezewiro, but noted that Georgetown was not involved in any point shaving.

“We are aware of indictments made against a player who previously attended Georgetown and separately against members of an opposing team during an away game,” the statement reads. “We are not aware of any misconduct or allegations of misconduct against former players while they were playing for Georgetown. We will continue to monitor this matter and continue to review our practices to ensure that Georgetown Athletics is in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.”

Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley said he condemned point shaving and did not understand why highly paid college athletes would risk their futures.

“I know it’s really prevalent,” Cooley told The Hoya. “I know we

have to speak to our student-athletes a lot about it, because of the ramifcations it could have — not when they’re in school, but when they’re out of the school and the carnage it leaves behind.”

“It’s impermissible. You’re not supposed to do it,” Cooley added. “I don’t understand why these student-athletes continue to think that that’s going to be the best thing for them moving forward, especially now that we’re paying the players.”

The Big East did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.

NCAA President Charlie Baker said the college athletics governing body cooperated with federal prosecutors to bring charges.

“Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA. We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports,” Baker wrote in a statement.

“The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA,” Baker added.

“Through helpful collaboration and with industry regulators, we have fnished or have open investigations into almost all of the teams in today’s indictment.”

MEN’S LACROSSE

The Georgetown University men’s lacrosse team gears up to face Navy and Maryland in scrimmages, with a championship on their mind. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2026

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

Another League Of Our Own Rises Up

TALKING POINTS

I need a full explanation from my league office. In a 50-50 situation, I don’t know how that’s overruled.

MBB Head Coach Ed Cooley

Georgetown vs. No. 3 Connecticut

Saturday, Jan. 17 @ Noon

Capital One Arena

you can follow along with bated breath as your team signs free agents or makes blockbuster trades. At its best, the ofseason is as exhilarating as the season is. For me, that has not been the case: My New York Yankees have not made a single signifcant move this ofseason. The

frst baseman Pete Alonso and the Houston Astros picked up Japanese starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai. I am still waiting for my turn. But — and perhaps I should not be surprised — while the men in baseball have spent their entire winters dilly-dallying, the women have been far more productive.

When the calendar fipped to 2026, it did not just mark the start of any new year: For the frst time since 1954, the U.S. sports landscape will feature a professional women’s baseball league.

Founded by Justine Siegal, the frst woman to serve as a coach for an MLB team, the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) will start its season in May 2026. Four teams, announced in October 2025, will

See HERMAN, A11

Sam Fishman Deputy Sports Editor

The Georgetown University men’s basketball team fell 86-83 to the Creighton University Bluejays in overtime Jan. 13, continuing a disappointing fve-game conference losing streak after playing solid basketball for long stretches of the night in Omaha, Neb. Head Coach Ed Cooley, deciding to change things up after Georgetown’s (9-8, 1-5 Big East) recent skid to kick of Big East play, gave senior center Vince Iwuchukwu his frst start of the season. Graduate guard Langston Love also made his frst start for the Hoyas in place of the ill sophomore forward Isaiah Abraham. Despite signs of improvement, including Georgetown shooting 57% from the feld, the Hoyas’ eforts were not enough to overcome Creighton (11-7, 5-2 Big East), which also shot well. Creighton guard Austin Swartz was particularly impactful, shooting 12-for-16 — and 8-for-12 from three — for a career-high 33 points.

The game started how it would end, with high-quality shot-making. Love lost the ball under the basket after Georgetown won the tip, and the Bluejays went down the court for a quick 3-pointer. Georgetown junior guard Malik Mack swiftly avenged his teammate with a sweet pass to Iwuchukwu inside for a dunk.

Both teams caught fre early, combining for 9-for-11 from the feld in the frst four minutes, culminating in a stepback

The Georgetown women’s basketball team dominated the visiting St. John’s Red Storm. Graduate forward Brianna Scott (left) had 5 rebounds and junior guard Khia Miller (right) had 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Madeline

Wang

Senior Sports Editor

The Georgetown University women’s basketball team dominated the St. John’s University Red Storm in McDonough Arena on Jan. 13, buoyed by a pair of 11-0 runs. The Hoyas (10-7, 3-5 Big East) outscored the Red Storm (14-5, 4-4 Big East) in every quarter, outrebounded St. John’s 40-26 and made 27 points of turnovers en route to a decisive 59-34 victory. Graduate forward Brianna Scott secured the tip off for the Hoyas, and

graduate guard Laila Jewett sent up Georgetown’s first attempt of the night from beyond the arc. Jewett’s attempt bounced off the rim, and graduate forward Chetanna Nweke secured the rebound. The Hoyas kicked the ball around and sent it back to Nweke, who put Georgetown on the board with a close range layup. St. John’s responded a pair of possessions later as guard Beautiful Waheed sank a three-pointer, pulling the Red Storm into the lead. St. John’s lead — their only of the game — was short-lived, however,

as sophomore guard Destiny Agubata sent in a clean threepoint shot from the top of the key. On the Hoyas’ next possession, Agubata put in a pull up jumper from the top of the key, extending Georgetown’s lead to 7-3 less than three minutes in. The Red Storm and Hoyas traded baskets, before Waheed sent in a second clean three-point shot, cutting St. John’s defcit to one with four minutes left in the quarter. Waheed’s pair of three-pointers in the frst quarter marked the Red Storm’s only threepoint feld goals of the game as they

shot 2-23 from beyond the arc.

Sophomore guard Khadee Hession stepped in for the Hoyas at the 2:58 mark, and sank a three-pointer just 12 seconds later. Jewett sent up a successful pair of three-point shots as Georgetown fnished the quarter on an 11-0 run, leading 20-8.

A pair of St. John’s turnovers at the start of the second quarter saw Georgetown complete 2 layups in the opening minute, capping of a 15-0 stretch and allowing the Hoyas to accrue triple the Red Storm’s points at 24-8.

After a timeout, St. John’s returned with an and-1 bucket, ending Georgetown’s uncontested run. The teams began trading of baskets and missed opportunities, as both teams experienced turnovers on poor passes. With two minutes left in the frst half, junior forward Brianna Byars secured the Hoyas a 17-point lead with a tip-in from the paint. St John’s put in a successful layup to end the half, and Georgetown entered the break up 34-19.

3-pointer from Mack to give the Hoyas a narrow 13-12 lead at the under-16 timeout. The game stayed tight as both teams continued shooting well. Mack drove down the lane to give Georgetown a 24-22 lead with 10:23 to play in the half. Georgetown continued its strong start as junior guard KJ Lewis knocked down a three for his frst points of the night. On their next possession, the Hoyas tore back down the court, and sophomore center Julius Halaifonua potted

a second-chance layup, giving Georgetown a 32-22 lead of the back of a 10-0 run with 6:12 to play. As the half came to a close, Georgetown subbed out four players, putting graduate guard Jeremiah Williams and sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready into the game, but both posted negative plus-minuses. The Hoyas’ momentum and lead evaporated. Creighton made three 3-pointers on a 12-0 run in the last three minutes of the half. After leading by ten with three minutes to go, the Hoyas

trailed 38-36 going into the half. Out of the locker room, Creighton sank three more 3-pointers, all from Swartz. Georgetown kept pace, but Creighton held onto a 5148 lead at the under-16 timeout. Although he started quietly, with 9:47 left, Lewis came to life, stealing the ball and tearing down the court before getting his pass back from sophomore forward Jayden Fort and cashing a three to return the lead to Georgetown at 59-58.

See CREIGHTON, A11

Nate Seidenstein Senior Sports Editor

Among the 20 people indicted for their participation in a scheme to rig college basketball games are two former DePaul University players, whom prosecutors allege shaved points in DePaul’s Feb. 24, 2024, game against the Georgetown University men’s basketball team. Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which covers Philadelphia and the surrounding area, unsealed the indictment Jan. 15.

The indictment alleges Jalen Terry and Da’Sean Nelson, who both played for DePaul in the 2023-24 season, took a $40,000 bribe to ensure that DePaul would not cover the spread in the frst half against Georgetown. The indictment also alleged another unnamed DePaul player intentionally “underperformed” in the game, but he was not charged with a crime.

The indictment accuses the DePaul players of being part of a larger conspiracy to rig men’s basketball games and attempted to shave points at other games during the 2023-24 season. Terry and Smith each were charged with one count of sports bribery. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Terry and Smith were recruited by another

DePaul player, Micawber Etienne, who was charged separately in November 2025, and entered into a plea agreement in December 2025, according to court records. At the time of the game in question, both the Hoyas and DePaul were bottom-dwellers of the Big East. DePaul fnished that season winless in conference play, and Georgetown’s two Big East wins were their games against the Blue Demons. In the frst half of that game, the Hoyas outscored DePaul 41-28. Terry played 10 minutes and did not attempt a single shot, while recording two fouls and three turnovers. Nelson scored 6 points. Etienne played one minute in the game and did not record a stat in that brief appearance. In the second half, DePaul came back and narrowly lost, 77-76. At the time, The Hoya reported that DePaul’s second-half rejuvenation was surprising, and that their “halftime team talk seemed to be more efective” than Georgetown’s. In the second half alone, Terry scored 16 points and Nelson scored 10. Prosecutors specifcally noted Terry’s performance diference between halves in the indictment as evidence of point shaving. In addition to the DePaul players indicted, a former Hoya will face charges. Bradley Ezewiro, who played