The Hoya: October 24, 2025 by The Hoya

For Peñalver’s Presidency Stakes Include Scrutiny, Investment, Finances

Ajani Stella Senior News Editor

When Eduardo Peñalver begins his tenure as Georgetown University’s president July 1, 2026, he will likely face questions on the university’s relationship with the federal government, investment in the Capitol Campus and financial security.

Peñalver will succeed President Emeritus John J. Degioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95), who was Georgetown’s president for 23 years, and Interim President Robert M. Groves, who, at the time of Peñalver’s matriculation, will have been president for one-and-a-half years. Peñalver will join Georgetown as the university faces increasing pressure from the federal government, scrutiny over its investment and endowment practices and a changing landscape across higher education.

Peñalver said he will focus on centering Georgetown’s Jesuit values and deepening the university’s academic programs.

“This is an exciting moment in Georgetown’s history — with the expansion of the Capitol Campus, the

creation of new, interdisciplinary programs, a renewed focus on access and aﬀordability, and a commitment to ﬁnding innovative solutions to society’s most pressing issues,” Peñalver said in the university press release. In his former administrative career as president of Seattle University and dean of Cornell Law School, Peñalver has addressed similar issues, including student protesters, divestment referendums, university expansion and federal attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Peñalver could confront Georgetown’s relationship with the federal government as President Donald Trump attempts to exert more control over universities across the United States.

While Georgetown’s undergraduate schools have not faced direct attacks on programs, Washington, D.C.’s former top federal prosecutor warned Georgetown University

See PEÑALVER, A7

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Eduardo Peñalver will begin his term as Georgetown University president amid concerns about finances, politics and student life.

Panel Advises GU Against New GUTS Policy

Ruth Abramovitz and Nicolas Abreu

Senior News Editor and Events Desk Editor

A Georgetown University advisory committee voted Oct. 23 to advise the office of the president against enacting a plan that would effectivelyremovesomeGeorgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) drivers’ university benefits, following weeks of student and worker advocacy.

The Advisory Committee on Business Practices (ACBP) — composed of 12 students, faculty and administrators — consults the

Students to Vote on Arts, Noise Referenda in GUSA Election

Nicolas Abreu Events Desk Editor

Georgetown University undergraduate students voiced support for two referendums on university investment in the arts and campus noise policy that are on students’ ballots for the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) election, ending 8 p.m. Oct. 24. The referendums —the Securing the Arts in Georgetown’s Expansion (STAGE) Act and the Restore Student Life Act — passed the GUSA Senate unanimously at an Oct. 17 special session and require at least 25% voter turnout and 50% approval to pass. The STAGE Act would encourage Georgetown to publicly acknowledge its academic and ﬁnancial commitment to the arts, while the student life referendum would call for reform in the conduct process for noise violations and change weekend quiet hours. Student referendums are nonbinding and serve as recommendations to the university’s board of directors, which oversees university operations.

In addition to the public acknowledgment, the STAGE Act, which received endorsements from a number of performing arts student organizations, would urge Georgetown to ensure new buildings and developments on all campuses incorporate creative, rehearsal and performance spaces.

Elle Marinello (CAS ’28) — the publicity director for Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society, a student theater group that endorsed the referendum — said the STAGE Act would be

critical to addressing student groups’ lack of space on campus.

“We really want to support other arts groups on campus, especially things like dance groups,” Marinello told The Hoya “There aren’t a lot of spaces for them, or just not a lot of art spaces on campus. Even so, there are some spaces that are taken by the department or used for speciﬁc groups.”

“We want to actually help the arts expand on campus because it’s important to us,” Marinello added.

Daniel Tomas (SFS ’26), show director and former publicity director for Nomadic Theatre, said that, while the university has the resources to support the arts, this referendum will help show the student body’s commitment and the need for more spaces on campus.

“The university has the resources to give to us,” Tomas told The Hoya

“They just need to understand that theater groups on campus, that other groups on campus that dedicate themselves to the arts, require this access and that they should be promoting the arts in any capacity.”

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is working to identify more spaces for student groups and that current performance spaces are accessible for student organizations with access to beneﬁts.

“Georgetown has a number of performance, practice and meeting venues available to students and to student groups with access to beneﬁts.” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya

“University staﬀ are in the process of working with other university

colleagues to identify additional spaces where students may perform without adverse impact on the surrounding community,” the spokesperson added.

The Restore Student Life Act, the second referendum, would institute day-long warnings for noise violations that escalate to formal citations upon a second noise violation. The new policy would also remove noise violation warnings from students’ conduct records at the end of an academic year.

The resolution would also push weekend quiet hours from 12 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.

Madeleine Callender (CAS ’26) — co-director of the Student Advocacy Office (SAO), which advises students on disciplinary proceedings — said GUSA worked closely with SAO to create an equitable system for students facing noise complaints.

“Given SAO’s direct role in supporting students navigating the disciplinary process, we were able to oﬀer some of the practical insight into how the current system actually operates, what speciﬁc issues are top-of-mind for students right now, and how to talk about them in a way that makes sense,” Callender wrote to The Hoya.

The Student Code of Conduct restricts “excessive sound which infringes upon the community’s right to reasonable peace and quiet during any time” on campus property. For offcampus housing, noise that can “be heard beyond the property line, taking into account the time and the nature of the activity generating the sound” is See REFERENDUM, A7

president on the ethics of labor and business policies at the university. ACBP primarily focuses on implementing the Just Employment Policy, which directs the university to provide livable wages and benefits to employees and to avoid job loss.

The plan under consideration, first presented to drivers in September, would subcontract GUTS drivers with the private company Abe’s Transportation. This plan changes GUTS drivers’ employment from being direct university employees to subcontractors, meaning they lose access to most university benefits, including the university’s health insurance and retirement packages.

The resolution, approved unanimously by the ACBP, advises chief operating oﬀicer (COO) David Green to keep the GUTS drivers employed by the university “by any means necessary.”

“We understand that it is the conversion to and upkeep of a new fleet of buses — not the cost of driver wages — which represents a significant economic burden to the University,” the resolution reads.

“We also understand that the drivers currently employed by Georgetown to drive GUTS buses, who are among its most loyal and beloved employees, strongly object to having their direct employment

with the university severed and believe that doing so will compromise the level of commitment that subcontracted drivers feel to serving the Georgetown community,” it reads. Around 20 GUTS drivers and students with the Georgetown Coalition for Workers Rights (GCWR), a student group advocating for labor rights on campus, gathered outside of the Murray Conference Room in Lauinger Library, where the ACBP was meeting to consider

Fauci Flags Politicization of US Health Policy, Misinformation

Sam

Fishman Hoya Staff Writer

Anthony Fauci criticized the federal government’s public health attitude, growing skepticism of science and health misinformation in an Oct. 23 event at Georgetown University.

Fauci, who ran the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a lead agency in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for over 35 years, warned about the dangers of medical misinformation on social media, criticized federal research cuts and speculated about the future of infectious diseases and pandemics. Norah O’Donnell (CAS ’95, GRD ’03), a senior news correspondent at CBS News, interviewed Fauci, who is also a distinguished professor at Georgetown, the university’s highest professional honor.

Fauci said he ﬁnds changing federal attitudes toward health science especially concerning.

“The thing that pains me and worries me more than anything else is the lack of trust and the viliﬁcation of science and scientists,” Fauci said at the event.

Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employee firings and cuts to government agency budgets have made him concerned that the United States is unprepared for another pandemic.

“We’re not prepared because we’re pulling back on scientists, and you don’t need me to tell you — the place I lived for 54 years, they’re firing scientists,” Fauci said at the event.

“The CDC is having all of its center

See FAUCI, A7

A key committee that consults the Georgetown University administration on labor and business practices voted in favor of keeping

Dr. Anthony Fauci criticized the federal government’s health policies and their consequences at an Oct. 23 event.

Mr. Jawani Saatvik Kaul (SFS ’26) won Mr.

Oct. 18 game.

OPINION

Vote Wagner/Missaghi for GUSA, Recognize Other Tickets’ Strength

To the Georgetown University student body who has become disillusioned with the student government executive, the opportunity for meaningful action is on the ballot this year.

Votes are currently trickling in from students who are casting their ballots for the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) executive. Who wins this election will have an important job — to advocate for all students and represent their needs to the administration.

Though multiple tickets have proven records of action within GUSA and policy platforms that demonstrate a clear understanding of the issues, the Editorial Board urges students to vote for Darius Wagner (CAS ’27) and Nazgol Missaghi (CAS ’28) due to their plans to meaningfully improve student life and dedication to championing student voices beyond campus.

The Wagner/Missaghi policy platform has three main priorities: continue to improve the student experience, further transparency between GUSA and university administrators and stand up for student values both on and oﬀ campus.

To strike a balance between academic and social lives, students must be able to celebrate and do so without the undue stress of superﬂuous restrictions. The Wagner/Missaghi ticket vows to reduce restrictions on parties and reform meal plan policies as part of a broader eﬀort to improve student quality of life on campus.

As the current GUSA vice president, Wagner coordinated with the university to relax planned measures — such as wristband distribution and townhouse policing — for Georgetown Day and Homecoming. Wagner’s efforts to limit restrictions during these celebrations give us confidence in a continued effort to promote an enjoyable student experience.

Wagner’s track record as vice president indicates his ability to represent students to the administration and promote accountability from the university. Through hosting town halls and establishing a dining committee, Wagner encouraged GUSA to foster students’ understanding of initiatives and communication with the university.

Now, the Wagner/Missaghi ticket plans to support student conversations with the provost’s ofce, the dining team and campus facilities groups. Promoting student dialogue with the university administration as such — especially on matters like construction and university contracts — is essential to ensuring Georgetown is a campus dedicated to the voices and values of its students.

As for defending student voices, Wagner said oﬀ-campus concerns would be a priority under their executive.

“We think it’s very important to have a student administration that is prepared to stand up to admin to say, ‘We’re going to stand on protecting our diversity programs, protecting our academic freedom and not capitulating to the Trump administration,’” Wagner told The Hoya in an early October interview.

The Editorial Board and the Georgetown student body believe deeply in the importance of the diversity of thought and speech that President Donald Trump has so ardently attacked. The Wagner/Missaghi ticket has aﬀorded special priority to defending Georgetown and its community from these attacks. Student opposition to continued attacks on academic freedom must begin with the GUSA executive.

While the Editorial Board believes the Wagner/Missaghi will best address student concerns, other tickets show faithful consideration of how to eﬀectuate change.

The Saahil Rao (SFS ’27) and Zadie Weaver (CAS ’28) campaign similarly published an extensive 13page policy proposal plan. Many of their goals overlap with the Wagner/Missaghi campaign, something to be expected with two expansive policy platforms. If anything, this overlap indicates both campaigns are acutely aware of the student body’s myriad concerns.

The Rao/Weaver ticket’s primary priorities include increasing club funding, reducing restrictions on partying and ending restrictions on ﬁrst-year recruitment for clubs in the McDonough Student Advisory Board. The Editorial Board believes each of these policies would meaningfully improve student life on campus. In addition to publishing their intended policies, the Rao/Weaver campaign followed up on the platform with a series of implementation memos detailing how they plan to achieve their goals. Each memo includes an in-depth explanation of each policy’s rationale, as well as the relevant actors and implementation plan of each policy. The Editorial Board appreciates the Rao/Weaver campaign’s clear knowledge of aﬀecting change within university policy and their comprehensive plans to do so. Rao said his and Weaver’s experience working with administration would allow them to enact quick reforms.

“We’re obviously the current speaker and vice speaker of the senate, we’ve been in that position since right before last summer,” Rao told The Hoya in an early October interview. “So we’re ready to hit the ground running on day one.”

However, both the Wagner/Missaghi and Rao/ Weaver campaigns fell victim to the perennial GUSA tradition of large policy platforms promising sweeping and ambitious reforms, few of which fall within GUSA’s ofcial powers. Still, the Editorial Board recognizes that either campaign will diligently work toward realizing these policy plans. The Editorial Board retains other concerns. During an interview with The Hoya, Rao conﬁrmed his membership in the Second Stewards Society.

Manuel Miranda (SFS ’82) founded the society in 1982 as an all-male service fraternity dedicated to preserving Georgetown’s traditions through anonymous service. Pressure from the university, however, forced the Stewards to disband in 1988 after its existence was publicized and widely condemned for excluding women and minorities. In subsequent years, students have revived the society in a number of iterations, including the Second and Third Stewards Society organizations.

Miranda has been actively involved in the Second Stewards Society and — according to the organization’s tax returns for 2023, the most recently available year — has acted as its secretary.

In 1991, Miranda petitioned the Vatican to strip Georgetown of its Catholic status, in part because the university recognized then-GU Choice, a prochoice organization. In response to this pressure, Georgetown revoked the club’s recognition, blocking the now-reformed H*yas for Choice from accessing university beneﬁts or funding.

The Second Stewards have also served on the board of and donated to the Georgetown Academy — an intermittently operated campus publication — which has in the past regurgitated homophobic rhetoric and compared conservative life on campus to the Holocaust. These are just the activities we know about, as the Stewards largely commit themselves to “anonymous” service.

Today, the Second Stewards Society appears to function as both an anonymous student group and a nonprofit organization called The Stewards Charitable Trust (Second), which donates to on-campus causes that support its mission.

Rao defended his membership in the organization despite its problematic history, saying the organization is apolitical and does not conﬂict with his views.

“I am — and always have been — afrmatively pro-choice, an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and an advocate for marginalized groups on campus,” Rao wrote to The Hoya. “My record of service speaks clearly to those values.”

Let us be clear: The Second Stewards do donate to a number of honorable causes as well, including Habitat for Humanity and student scholarships. The group’s connections to far-right political advocacy, however, are too problematic for the Editorial Board to overlook.

Punishing H*yas for Choice and promoting homophobia stand in stark contrast to the values of the Editorial Board and should be antithetical to all Hoyas.

If nothing else, the Editorial Board is concerned with any student government ofcial’s connection to an organization with this problematic history.

The Luke Hughes (SFS ’27) and Mikey Williams (SFS ’28) ticket provided few policy proposals, and those that the campaign did announce were largely abstract and reliant on elementary generalizations.

While commendable for their passion, the Editorial Board has little conﬁdence that their administration would be able to follow through on speciﬁc goals, especially given their relative lack of GUSA experience compared to their opponents.

Ultimately, students should celebrate the option of multiple qualiﬁed tickets in this election.

The Editorial Board believes that both the Wagner/Missaghi and the Rao/Weaver tickets would be eﬀective GUSA executives.

The decision is one of what students want the executives to emphasize.

If students believe in a focused approach that conﬁnes its activity to the bounds of the Hilltop, they should vote for Rao/Weaver. Rao’s association with the Second Stewards does not negate the merits of a thorough and speciﬁc policy platform. In addition, the extensive GUSA experience that both Rao and Weaver share give us little doubt in their ability to actively work toward achieving their goals.

Beyond the Hilltop, however, attacks on higher education by the Trump administration continue to threaten students’ academic lives and professional pursuits. The university needs a student government that will not only resist the threats to our communities but also resist threats at all. The Rao/Weaver ticket has stressed their desire to keep GUSA’s scope to campus — Wagner/Missaghi has made it clear they will not.

What happens beyond the Hilltop aﬀects us all.

From student loan reform to international student restrictions, the Trump administration’s policies have fundamentally made it more difcult to be a student. As an organization created to represent the interests of our students, GUSA must do whatever it can to look out for students and protect them amid the tumult of an increasingly far-right government seeking to attack every facet of life.

The Editorial Board believes GUSA has a responsibility to champion student voices beyond the Hilltop. For those who believe the same, the choice is obvious: Vote Wagner/Missaghi for GUSA president and vice president.

The Hoya’s Editorial Board is composed of six students and is haired y the opinion editors. Editorials reﬂe t only the beliefs of a majority of the board and are not representative of The Hoya or any individual member of the board. A version of this article appeared online Oct. 20.

IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE “

The university needs a student government that will not only resist the threats to our communities but also resist threats at all. The Rao/Weaver ticket has stressed their desire to keep GUSA’s scope to campus — Wagner/Missaghi has made it clear they will not.

The Editorial Board “Vote Wagner/Missaghi for GUSA, Recognize Strength of Other Tickets” thehoya.com

Students are currently voting for the next executive of the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA). This week, the Editorial Board urged students to vote for the Wagner/Missaghi ticket, citing their dedication to championing student voices beyond the Hilltop and against the Trump administration. One of their opponents, the Rao/

Weaver ticket, has stressed their desire to focus on on-campus changes.

In order to gauge student opinion, students were asked what the next GUSA executive should focus on during their term. Of the 82 respondents, 48.8% said oﬀ-campus changes, 48.8% said on-campus changes, and 2.4% said they were unsure.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Ellie Hill

Founded January 14, 1920

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Prioritize Student Wellness

In rapidly changing times, worldwide pandemics, health crises, health and social justice inequities and political upheaval can contribute to feelings of instability for all of us.

College students’ mental health has been a prominent public health concern for decades. According to a large national survey, the Healthy Minds Study, 60% of students met criteria for one mental health problem, 34.6% of students had multiple diagnoses, 38% of students reported symptoms of depression and 34% of students reported symptoms of anxiety.

Students can’t perform well academically when they are stressed, and learning about well-being helps students reduce stress and build resilience. Classrooms with a well-being focus become the main environment where students can learn to be healthy. Georgetown University students should recognize the value of well-being courses and practices in their personal lives. Further, they should urge Georgetown to do more to prioritize the development of academic courses, consider implementing a core requirement for well-being courses and consider the adoption of the Okanagan Charter, which calls on universities to make well-being a priority for the entire campus, including faculty, staff and students. All students can benefit from learning ways to incorporate evidenceinformed practices into their lives. This education is essential for personal well-being and flourishing, which are basic to human health.

I teach a course providing an overview of topics and opportunities to apply principles of well-being to physical, social and emotional health, even during difcult times.

The course IDST-112 (now UNXD2112) was designed and developed by Emeritus Teaching Professor Sarah Stiles and me when the university was remote during the pandemic. The course is similar to the threecredit “Flourishing” course that we developed in 2015 under a grant from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) that was focused on developing a well-being initiative for Georgetown. The research project associated with “Flourishing” provides ample evidence of how wellbeing concepts can be valuable to students, who reported that it changed their understanding of themselves and gave them the opportunity to learn how to implement components of well-being into their lives. On the national level, many colleges and universities such as Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, the University of Virginia and Yale University are offering courses on thriving, well-being and flourishing.

National university-affiliated organizations have formed coalitions working to expand and enhance initiatives that support campus-wide health and well-being, including the USHPCN, the Wellbeing in Higher Education Network and NIRSA.

Georgetown’s Engelhard Project provides an innovative curriculum infusion approach through partnerships between faculty and campus resource professionals. The project has had 20 years of success oﬀering academic courses that link student health to academic content in courses that are not necessarily primarily focused on health and well-being. Many other Georgetown courses focus on health and wellbeing, but we can still do better.

Many college students benefit from education about how to bring health and well-being practices into their daily lives. These courses, whether they focus on more commonly understood topics like the importance of sleep or the power of relationships, or lesser-known components of well-being, provide experiential education. They offer valuable experiences and a space to practice, reflect and hone the skill set necessary to face challenges while in college or beyond.

We know that Georgetown students will go on to be leaders in their professionallives,intheircommunities, in their families. They care about each other in ways that will contribute to a longstanding network of alumni, friends and family members. They deserve to have a university education that helps them grapple with the challenges that we all face as humans. Unless and until well-being courses are expanded and, perhaps required, students should continue to choose Engelhard courses and tell others about valuable courses that helped them understand and embrace wellbeing for themselves. The addition of the new Healy well-being hub brings a welcome space and focal point for exploring well-being programs, activities and opportunities. Students must be co-creators of what they want this space to be and advocates for the kind of culture they want.

Our Georgetown mission as a Catholic, Jesuit university calls on us to do more, to be more, to be a leader in well-being among institutions of higher education. Georgetown students deserve more — more courses offered, more conversations about mental health and well-being and more opportunities to share our values and care for one another.

Carol R.T. Day is the director of Health Education Services. She is also an adjunct assistant professor of human science for the Georgetown University School of Health.

Support GU Community Amid Ongoing Shutdown

Afederal shutdown could cost Georgetown University $462 million in research grants and ﬁnancial aid. For a university that has built its identity on being global and inclusive, this loss of capital is not just a budget or accounting problem; it’s a test of how well the university can actually achieve its mission when federal dollars disappear.

Of Georgetown’s $1.8 billion operating budget, roughly 26% comes from federal sources: research grants, Pell Grants and work-study funds. When the government upends existing funding and policy structures, its support for institutions like Georgetown becomes precarious. Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the university has responded with a hiring freeze, a pause on merit raises for select employees and a plea for departments to “increase revenues from auxiliary services.” In practice, this seems like the university wants to ﬁnd revenue while waiting for Congress to function. Since the government shutdown began and further concerns of funding and support stability, Georgetown has introduced temporary relief measures for aﬀected community members; however, many still face uncertainty about longer-term support.

Interim Provost Soyica Diggs Colbert and other university leaders announced Oct. 20 a temporary grace period for students affected by furloughs, delayed federal pay or paused U.S. Department of Defense education benefits. The measure exempts students from late fees and registration holds but offers

Find Your Academic Footing at GU

Beginning my first year at Georgetown University has been a learning curve. Beyond moving to a new city and making new friends, the transition from high school to college changed how I manage my time, approach studying and handle stress. The difference became especially clear during my first round of midterms, which taught me how to approach studying more effectively. To succeed in the rigorous academic life of Georgetown, new Hoyas must adapt by focusing on time management, taking advantage of resources like office hours and practice exams and embracing the mindset that we can succeed. In high school, my days followed a predictable schedule. I knew I’d have class from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then go to fencing practice before doing homework. That compact routine made it easy for me to know exactly when I’d have time to study or relax. In college, this structure is far less fixed: My classes start at noon one day and 9 a.m. the next, sometimes ending as late as 7:30 p.m, followed by late night club meetings and other obligations. Though the flexibility seems freeing, it demands that I hold myself more accountable. I’ve learned to make the most of time between lectures and meetings to study when I can but also to maintain a social life. Georgetown’s grading structure is another major adjustment. In high school, grades often came from frequent smaller quizzes and tests. Now, only a handful of assignments make up most of my grade. For many Georgetown first-years, Professor David Burk’s “Introduction to Microeconomics” exam was our first college midterm. I, alongside others, felt the pressure of adjusting to highstakes testing for the first time. Unlike tests that rewarded memorizing

the material, the exam assessed our intuitive understanding of the concepts, something foreign to me.

Even high-achieving students who got straight As in high school often find college midterms more challenging than expected. A study by the University of South Florida found that high-achieving students experienced, on average, higher levels of stress than their peers due to selfimposed academic pressures and high expectations — a common phenomenon at Georgetown and something I’ve felt this firsthand. Balancing multiple exams can be overwhelming, especially without the same organization and support from home so accessible in high school.

At Georgetown, where nearly everyone was at the top of their class back home, the adjustment can be humbling. This is a shared sentiment for many Georgetown first-years, especially early in the semester before we’ve fully understood what study strategies work best for us.

For those still navigating this transition, my biggest advice is to not panic if the material feels confusing at first. Once you start reviewing, you will find you have absorbed more from the lectures than you think.

Practice exams are good resources for identifying weak spots and focusing your studies. Then, clarify uncertain concepts with teaching assistants during office hours and don’t hesitate to seek outside resources. YouTube videos, for example, can be helpful in breaking down complex topics in subjects like economics or calculus.

I’ve found that planning my time wisely is one of the most valuable habits I’ve developed so far. For me, it’s easy to put oﬀ studying for the classes I enjoy the least, but I realize that those are often the ones

that need the most attention. In subjects like economics, math or the sciences, I started by spending just a few minutes after each lecture reviewing my notes and reinforcing what the professor covered. I noticed that taking this small step makes a big diﬀerence, because otherwise I’d forget much of what was taught, similar to how we often never look at the photos we take of the board.

For courses like government or public policy, consistency matters just as much. Keeping up with the readings, summarizing the key ideas in them and referring back to them when writing essays or preparing for exams was crucial for me. I’ve felt the overwhelming feeling of falling behind on readings and having to catch up all at once, which is why I try to stay on top of them bit by bit to save myself far more stress in the long run.

I’ve also learned the importance of shifting my perspective. Midterms can feel intimidating at ﬁrst, partly because of the name itself, but I remind myself it is just another assessment covering a few weeks’ worth of material. Approaching it this way helps me manage my anxiety and focus on understanding the content rather than worrying about the weight of the exam.

Most importantly, I’ve learned to give myself grace. One midterm — whether in Burk’s class or another — doesn’t deﬁne your semester.

Adjusting to academic life at Georgetown, with its late classes and high expectations, is not easy. But if we plan ahead, use the resources offered to us and stay open to learning from our mistakes, it won’t be long before you too find your footing.

Basia Panko is a first-year in the School of Foreign Service.

no retroactive forgiveness and requires proof of federal employment status. It provides breathing room, not security. For low-income and international students, that distinction matters. Georgetown must use its $3.6 billion endowment and Capitol Hill proximity to create emergency funding for affected students, advocate for stable federal education support and protect workers from bearing the cost of political dysfunction — proving whether its globally-minded mission can survive without federal crutches.

Pell Grant recipients are recalculating whether they can aﬀord next semester, while workstudy hours hang in the balance. International students, already navigating visa backlogs and surveillance, face renewed anxiety about whether they’ll even be allowed back after winter break as embassy stafng cuts and slower visa processing times threaten the foundation of Georgetown’s international community.

These pressures expose a deeper irony. Georgetown’s reputation as a global university is built on its proximity to Washington, D.C.’s power; yet, that closeness makes it acutely vulnerable when D.C. itself falters. A school that trains future policymakers can’t shield its own students and staﬀ from the consequences of a political ecosystem in disarray.

Therefore, when the District shuts down, the global university model — reliant on visas, grants and student aid — collapses into a shell of purported values and promises.

The deeper issue is not just one shutdown. It lies in how dependent Georgetown’s values are

on a system that treats education funding as a bargaining chip. The university’s reliance on the federal government has created a paradox: its institutional commitment to global service and inclusion is sustained by policies and budgets that can evaporate in a week.

As detailed in Colbert’s email, Georgetown’s recent grace period is a start, but it doesn’t resolve the deeper contradictionbetweentheuniversity’s mission and its dependence on federal funding. Real service to others requires sustained investment, not temporary exemptions tied to a federal shutdown form. Georgetown has the potential to do better.

And it should use its prime location to advocate on Capitol Hill for stable federal education funding. Georgetown holds approximately $3.6 billion in endowed assets; dedicating even 2-3% could generate between $70 million and $108 million to cover federal aid gaps during shutdowns. This would ensure Pell Grant and work-study recipients do not have to choose between staying enrolled and paying rent when Congress fails to pass a budget.

Georgetown also needs to provide comprehensive legal and logistical support for international students navigating an increasingly hostile visa system. This means funding immigration attorneys, creating emergency response protocols for students stranded abroad during visa processing delays and establishing hardship grants for students who incur unexpected costs due to federal policy changes.

Other universities, like New York

University and the University of Michigan, have already created similar support structures, and Georgetown can follow suit. Most importantly, Georgetown has proximity to power; it should take advantage of it. That means university leadership meeting regularly with lawmakers on education committees, testifying at budget hearings and joining coalitions of universities lobbying for stable federal funding for higher education. Finally, Georgetown must reject the reflex to make its lowest-paid workers bear the cost of political gridlock. Freezing merit raises for employees earning over $50,000, which includes many administrative staff, librarians and junior faculty, sends a clear message about whose financial security matters. Instead, the university should commit to maintaining salaries and benefits for all employees during federal funding uncertainties, drawing on reserves if necessary. The federal government may have shut down, but Georgetown does not have to. The university can still choose whether to mirror D.C.’s dysfunction or to model something better: stability, fairness and genuine care for the community thatmakesitsmissionpossible.The question is whether Georgetown’s leaders have the courage to put the institution’s money where its mission statement is.

Neha Jampala is a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the second installment of her column “Between Healy and the Hill.”

Welcome back, advice lovers. The leaves are starting to fall on Healy Lawn, so you know what that means — panic, fatigue and midterm anxiety. Luckily for you, I’m here to help you through it all. This week, we’ll be talking through school stress and relationship problems. As always, if you’ve got a question I haven’t answered, submit it to the anonymous form and I’ll help you out. My dad and I have really different politi al views, and I’m having a hard time when we all and all he wants to talk a out is politi s. It drives me razy to sit and listen to him talk a out things he knows I disagree with every week, and sometimes I don’t want to pi k up his alls e ause of this. I don’t want to lose my relationship with him ut I don’t know how to get him to stop talking a out things I an’t stand. It can be really hard to have meaningful conversations with your dad when you disagree on something that’s very important to both of you, but trying to reframe the conversation when it starts to get political can be more effective than getting upset or avoiding his calls. I’m assuming your dad knows about your political differences, but if he doesn’t or doesn’t know that you aren’t interested in discussing them, tell him. Be clear about the fact that you don’t want to fight about politics and you’d rather talk about something else when you call. Focus on topics you both enjoy hearing about, like a new hobby or something you thought was interesting in one of your classes. If he keeps bringing the conversation back to political topics you aren’t interested in,

it’s okay to tell him that you have to go, and make a quick exit from the conversation. If your dad calls every week, it’s clear he really values the relationship he has with you. Maintaining a connection with you is likely more important to him than a monologue about his latest political ﬁxation. Giving him a strong, direct reminder that you’re focusing on other things when you call can drive this home and work to reframe your conversations for the better.

I’ve een with my oyfriend for almost seven months and things are going well, ut I’ve een thinking a lot a out my sexuality re ently and I’m pretty sure I’m isexual. I’ve een feeling like I want to explore this a little more outside of a relationship, ut I also don’t want to hurt my oyfriend. Where should I go from here?

Having an open and honest conversation with your boyfriend about what you’ve been thinking lately is a good place to start and can help you clarify what you want going forward. It may be that right now isn’t the right time for you to be in a relationship, and that’s totally ﬁne! College is a great time to try new things and ﬁgure out who you are and what you want. It seems like the main reason you’re thinking about staying with your boyfriend is because you don’t want to hurt him, and if that’s the case, it probably isn’t the best choice in the long run. While your boyfriend may be hurt by this revelation, it’s more fair to both of you to have a clear conversation about your desires to explore your bisexuality so you can both make an informed decision

about whether continuing the relationship is the right choice for each of you.

I hate Georgetown. I don’t hate it enough to transfer, espe ially sin e I have su h a great ommunity here, ut I just hate the s hool, the grind ulture, preprofessional ulture, and the elitism and latant wealth inequities. How do you re ommend I get through my next two years? Getting comfortable in a place that seems like it doesn’t match with your values can feel impossible, but having a community you love is a great place to start. Ask the people whose company you do value to bring you to clubs and activities they enjoy, and see if anything meshes with what you’d want your college experience to look like. Casting a wide net and getting involved with new aspects of Georgetown can really broaden the way you see the school and can integrate you in some new communities that don’t prioritize wealth, constant grind or a focus on careers after graduation. While the negative aspects of a school you’re unhappy with can feel overwhelming, a huge part of college is the people you spend your time with, and it sounds like you’ve already got a great community that supports and interests you. Spending less time with the parts of Georgetown you don’t like and more with the parts of it that you do can do a lot to make your next two years here more worthwhile than the last two.

Caroline Brown is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the sixth installment of her column “Calling in With Caroline.”

HAAN JUN (RYAN) LEE/THE HOYA

A Work in Progress: GU Faculty, Students Call for Increased Arts Support

Georgetown’s arts scene has experienced facilities, faculty and funding challenges, impacting students’ ability to fully engage in creative expression and building community on campus.

Sophia Lu and Serene Pai Senior Features Editor and Features Writer

As a senior deciding between colleges, Brigid O’Connor (CAS ’26) considered each school’s arts program as a key factor in her final decision. A longtime multi-disciplinary artist, O’Connor wanted a rigorous arts education to develop her skills and maximize space for creative expression.

O’Connor said she initially had reservations about committing to Georgetown University because arts appeared to take a backseat to the university’s more prominent offerings, like government.

“I was worried about the arts program, so I tried like hell to track somebody down to talk to,” O’Connor told The Hoya. “It was actually such an experience of just finding someone who would talk to me in the department.”

Ultimately, O’Connor connected with late Professor John Morrell in the department of art and art history, who convinced her to attend Georgetown by touting the department’s range of curricular programming, faculty expertise and research opportunities.

Georgetown has made meaningful improvements in supporting the arts in the past few decades. However, according to 37 students and faculty members interviewed by The Hoya, Georgetown still lacks the multi-level support — faculty numbers, visibility and well-maintained facilities — needed to ﬂourish.

O’Connor said her experience in the department as a studio art major has been mixed due to noticeable resource deﬁciencies, causing her to question her initial decision.

“I think if I had known the full picture when I was making the choice, I probably wouldn’t have chosen Georgetown,” O’Connor said. “This is just not at all what I was expecting.”

O’Connor said she appreciates the department’s efforts to provide students with a comprehensive arts education despite structural limitations.

“They just don’t have the resources to be able to do as much as they would want to do,” O’Connor said. Beyond academic programming, students have also expressed concerns for university support in arts-based student life.

Georgetown houses numerous student-run arts organizations, including dance troupes, literary publications, music ensembles and theater groups. Many are formal clubs, but students have also collaborated independently of the university, such as by forming bands to perform live gigs.

Isabel Liu (CAS ’27), who plays keys for That Girl Band, a four-member rock ensemble, said one of the ways in which underfunding manifests for student musicians is the lack of sufficient space on campus for rehearsals.

“When you’re practicing for these events, for these gigs, it’s hard to find the available spaces or the resources to do that,” Liu told The Hoya. “A lot of people that I know on campus that do creative stuff have had to make do with what resources we have.”

Liu, who is also the executive director of student fashion magazine Added to the File, said the publication had a similar experience.

“I was trying to check out clothes and accessories from the costume

shop because we’ve been doing that for the last two years,” Liu said. “We’re not allowed to do that anymore starting this year, and the reason that they gave me was because the costume shop has had severe cuts in their budget, where they don’t have enough people; they don’t have enough student staff.”

A university spokesperson said Georgetown has made concerted efforts to expand support for the arts, including efforts to work with students and hire new faculty and staff.

“The university is grateful to the departmental leadership and faculty for their ongoing work and commitment to Georgetown’s mission,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya

In the Classroom As part of its curricular offerings, the university supports two departments that are dedicated to the arts: the department of art and art history and the department of performing arts. It also houses a collection of other program-level options for students, who can minor in creative writing, film and media studies or journalism.

Al Acres, a professor in the art and art history department, said his department faced various challenges.

“When I came to Georgetown in 2006, I didn’t join the department of art and art history — it didn’t exist — I joined the department of art, music and theater,” Acres told The Hoya

“That meant that the way I thought of it, and I think the way a lot of people thought of it, the arts were kind of all bundled conveniently off to the side. It always seemed to me like it was a side dish to what was understood as the real education at Georgetown.”

Acres said he has witnessed the university’s support for the arts develop during his two decades as a professor.

“I’m optimistic — in a word, encouraged,” Acres said. Acres pointed to the construction of the Davis Center for Performing Arts, which helped create two new specialized departments — art and art history and performing arts — from the original department. The Maria & Alberto de la Cruz and the Lucille M. & Richard F.X. Spagnuolo art galleries also opened in 2018, and the master’s program in art and museum studies started in 2006.

Acres said there are still pressing needs, such as hiring more fulltime faculty.

“The proportion of adjuncts in this department is unusually high at the university,” Acres said. “It’s a tremendous strength to have that kind of pool of talent, excellent people, but at any university, it is better for everything if there are more full-time faculty for the consistency of the curriculum that can be offered, the predictability of certain kinds of courses always being available and being connected to active faculty research.”

Currently, 63 percent of the art and art history department faculty are adjuncts and 57 percent of the performing arts department faculty are adjuncts. In contrast, 18 percent of the history department, 29 percent of the math department and 35 percent of the economics department faculty are adjuncts.

Lisa Strong, director of the art and museum studies program, said the size of and funding allocated to Georgetown’s arts department are not comparable to those of other universities.

“Universities of the size of Georgetown, with their own art museums and galleries, tend to fund their programs at a higher level than Georgetown is,” Strong told The Hoya Duke University, for example, houses 28 full-track faculty in its department of art, art history and visual studies in comparison to Georgetown’s 10 tenure-track faculty in its department of art and art history. A few blocks away, George Washington University supports 48 full-time faculty in its Corcoran School of Arts and Design.

Michelle Wang, a professor of art history, said the reliance on adjunct faculty creates uncertainty for the department.

“It’s a very tough position to be in, because it means that adjunct faculty aren’t assured teaching from semester to semester,” Wang told The Hoya. “The lack of certainty is very challenging for those faculty who teach on an adjunct basis and also for students to whom we want to assure continuity in courses.”

Judy Wang (CAS ’27), a studio art major, said she has felt a similar lack of certainty when trying to enroll in upper-level classes.

“After I took Painting II, I was going to take Painting III, and I was informed by the department chair that there’s no longer Painting III because they’re restructuring,” Wang told The Hoya. “Now, if you go on the fall course registration, there’s no other painting classes besides Painting I, there’s not even Painting II anymore.”

On the personnel front, Benjamin Harbert, chair of the performing arts department, said the department should hire younger academics at the cutting edge of their sub-ﬁelds.

“Our greatest need is in faculty and bringing tenure-line faculty,” Harbert told The Hoya. “We have a lot of full professors here, and we’re starting to get a few younger people, but it would be amazing to have younger faculty who have their own new takes on what’s happening in scholarship, on what’s happening in the arts.”

For students who do take these classes, they cannot always rely on the university to provide arts equipment, creating a high barrier to entry for the arts.

Judy Wang said she spends hundreds of dollars per semester on supplies such as paints and canvases.

“That’s a very large cost burden for people who might be interested in doing a major or minor to even enter into that discipline,” Wang told The Hoya

Peter Fanone (COL ’15), an adjunct lecturer in the performing arts department, said his colleagues have been resilient in finding ways to make things workdespitethesefundingchallenges.

“Georgetown has always been a little engine that could in the department of performing arts,” Fanone told The Hoya. “You wouldn’t expect it.”

Fanone said, however, that expanding investment will enable more students to explore their

artistic sensibilities and help the university ﬂourish creatively.

“I want every freshman to know their way around the Davis Center from the moment that they step on campus,” Fanone said. “The more resources that we have, the more that we are able to do and to impact the community.”

Student-Driven Arts Scene

Outside the classroom, students have faced similar challenges in accessing arts resources.

Mason Hall (MSB ’26), president of Georgetown Pep Band, said the ensemble has been struggling to meet demand for instruments as more students express interest in joining.

“Something we deﬁnitely would love, and we deﬁnitely need, is more school-owned instruments,” Hall told The Hoya. “We almost had to turn a clarinet away because we weren’t sure if we had a clarinet that actually worked for them.”

“It’s the Pep Band’s mission to be open to everybody who can play an instrument,” Hall added. “And we’re definitely trying to make sure everybody who wants to contribute to Georgetown culture in that way is able to.”

Camille Jean (MSB ’27) — director of Black Movements Dance Theatre, a student dance company that performs in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz and hip hop — said the scarcity of resources has disrupted their operations.

“We lost a lot of funding recently — we’ve always been slightly cutting down more and more, but this year, it’s where it’s actually noticeable,” Jean told The Hoya. “Choreographers usually charge way more money than what we’re giving them. The choreographers that we have are just very nice and do it for the love of the game, but we’re basically giving them pennies for the type of work that they’re doing.”

Catherine Patterson (CAS ’27), a member of the Gracenotes, said the all-female and gender minority a cappella group has also been coping with another round of budget cuts.

“The Gracenotes have a much smaller budget this year than we had last year, and that budget was much smaller than it had been my freshman year,” Patterson told The Hoya. “It just feels like we’re constantly fighting to just be seen or to be appreciated.”

Patterson said she feels the university underpublicizes arts events compared to other campus activities.

“There’s no advertising for art on this campus, there’s no momentum behind it,” Patterson told The Hoya. “All of the advertising for artistic events on campus is entirely student-led, whereas things like sports events, networking events, speakers — all of that is really heavily advertised but also really heavily subsidized by the school.”

While the university does not regularly advertise arts events, it does spotlight student arts groups and programming during campus-wide events such as Homecoming and Georgetown Day.

CC Mesa (SFS ’26), associate producer of Nomadic Theatre, said the university should be more inclusive about what it chooses to

Dance, music, theater and other arts groups on Georgetown’s campus provide students with an outlet for expressing their identities, connecting with their peers and embodying the value of cura personalis.

highlight in order to improve arts visibility on campus.

“In terms of highlighting the best of Georgetown and with the image that it wants to put forward, the arts have been a little bit excluded from that narrative,” Mesa told The Hoya “It would only work to strengthen the narrative of Georgetown as a place of possibilities, place of opportunity and a place of diversity to include student artists.”

The availability of spaces for students to engage in creative expression has also surfaced as a deficiency, according to Tina Solki (SFS, MSB ’26), who is also a visual artist on campus.

Solki — a senator in the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), Georgetown’s student government — said she’s heard from student dancers, musicians and theater production staff about the issue.

“This is an immensely talented campus, and there’s just not enough resources,” Solki told The Hoya. “There’s physically not enough space for enough students to be able to both hone their craft and do the things they love, but also to build community, feel seen, feel visible in their engagement with the arts.”

GUSA President Ethan Henshaw (CAS ’26) — who is also a performer in Rangila, Georgetown’s premier South Asian dance troupe — said groups like Rangila have found it harder to have rehearsal space accommodating their hundreds of student performers each year.

“The arts are signiﬁcantly underinvested in, whether that be money or space or time,” Henshaw told The Hoya. “Rangila, for example, which is the biggest dance performance on campus, are just practicing in ICC rooms where there’s no mirrors, there’s no infrastructure.”

Solki spearheaded the introduction of an arts referendum, which aligns with the current executive election timeline. The referendum aims to compel the university to prioritize the arts in future campus development and speciﬁcally encourages Georgetown to open more spaces for artists on campus.

Solki said she hopes the referendum will reﬂect that many students are interested in the arts on campus, but need more institutional support to open up more opportunities for participation.

“We need to open up the space, commit to increasing the amount of resources, to be able to meet the existing demand and to help encourage new demand for arts programming,” Solki said.

Care for the Whole Student Brady Stoﬀregen (SFS ’26), managing director of Added to The File, only engaged with the arts later on in his time at Georgetown. Last year, after returning from study abroad, Stoﬀregen felt inspired to switch his minor from physics to music.

Stoﬀregen said his experiences in the performing arts department have helped him develop a deep appreciation for the arts.

So much of what you learn in school doesn’t stick with you, in a lot of cases, and this is something that

definitively does — it became a passion for me,” Stoffregen told The Hoya

“What I think is really valuable about arts at Georgetown is the capacity for expression and empathy and a time in your life when, especially at this university, you’re pretty overwhelmed with a lot of aspects of your life,” Stoﬀregen added. Patterson said her experience in the Gracenotes has helped her ﬁnd a creative outlet apart from the business of everyday student life.

“There’s something that’s just so cathartic about being able to sing in a group of people that I really admire and like spending time with,” Patterson said. “There’s also just something too about the act of creating for enjoyment and not just for productivity.”

Scip Barnhart, an adjunct professor in the art and art history department, said the arts do more than just enable students’ creative expression — they also help students ﬁnd connections across areas of study.

“It’s called a rounded education,” Barnhart told The Hoya. “The humanities, no matter what you’re studying, you can always find something in the arts that enhances your study.” Arts education has been historically and statistically linked with positive academic outcomes. Students who engage in creative expression experience improved cognitive abilities and social and emotional development.

Shiva Subbaraman, an adjunct professor in the performing arts department, said the value of the arts extends far beyond a student’s time on campus.

“It’s really my hope that students will see performing arts, in particular, across the board, as a very serious space where they can actually build on their skill sets to be more eﬀective in whatever career they choose,” Subbaraman told The Hoya Considering its role on campus, Henshaw said the arts are crucial.

“Art is a way to bring people together, it’s a way to create unity on campus, it’s a way to have events that all students can share in and enjoy together,” Henshaw added. “When you miss out on that, when you miss out on providing the opportunities that people are really looking for, even if it’s not what they want their major to be, I think it’s just a disservice to students.”

Sarah Wang (CAS ’26), former concertmaster for GU Orchestra, said she sees a lot of resonance between the university’s Jesuit values and the ﬂourishing of the arts.

“When students participate in the arts here, we’re expressing ourselves, and then when the university supports that, it’s adding to the Georgetown identity,” Wang told The Hoya. “I appreciate how the arts ﬁt into Georgetown’s mission.” Judy Wang said supporting the arts is an essential condition of a university that prides itself on the education of the whole person.

“Cura personalis is to say to build a whole person and the arts is a critical part of it,” Judy Wang said. “We all have artistic interests, whether that’s ﬁlm or music or going to museums and that should also be worthy of space and attention.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MADELEINE OTT/THE HOYA

Decades of Advancement, Discovery Honored

Jaya Alenghat Science Writer

in 2025 Science Nobel Prizes

From Oct. 6-8, the Nobel Foundation announced the recipients of the Nobel Prize in physics for advances in quantum mechanics, the prize in physiology or medicine for immune system breakthroughs and the prize in chemistry for developments in metal-organic frameworks.

John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis received the prize in physics for the discovery that quantum mechanics — such as quantum mechanical tunnelling, the process in which particles pass through high-energy barriers — can occur in larger electrical circuits than previously thought. Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi won the physiology or medicine prize for their discoveries about the peripheral immune system.

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi received the prize in chemistry for their work with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), materials made up of metals connected to each other by other organic molecules. Clarke, Devoret and Martinis’ work built on discoveries that found mi-

croscopic particles to be capable of passing through an energy barrier. The trio demonstrated that fairly large objects could still behave quantum mechanically, laying the foundation for the first quantum computers, theoretical computers that use the principles of quantum mechanics to perform vastly more complex calculations than traditional computers. Christopher Lobb, a former University of Maryland physics professor and afliate researcher in Georgetown University’s physics department, said he personally knows the Nobel laureates in physics and thinks their work is particularly deserving of the prize.

“I think it’s wonderful. I’ve been waiting for this to happen for more than 20 years,” Lobb told The Hoya. “I know all three of them personally, and two of them fairly closely, and they’re not just extraordinary scientists, but they’re wonderful people.”

Lobb added that the physicists’ discoveries highlight the ﬁeld’s real-world applications, comparing the applicability of their work to research with the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator that propels charged particles at high speeds for research.

“Sometimes we think about physics as being things like the big accel-

erator at CERN or cosmology — and that certainly is physics, and it’s an important part of it. But, most physicists work on things that are surprisingly connected to the real world,” Lobb said. “And I think this is just a reminder of how important physics is for broader applications.”

Brunkow, Ramsdell and Sakaguchi’s work led to the discovery of regulatory T-cells, a type of immune cell that plays a crucial role in maintaining immune tolerance and overall health.

Steven Singer, director of Georgetown’s biology of global health program, said the trio’s work identiﬁed a crucial gene involved in producing and maintaining regulatory T-cells, which is essential for many bodily responses to illness.

“The work of these Nobel prize winners helped identify a key gene involved in production and maintenance of these cells, as well as describing the overall ability of these cells to block unwanted immune responses from developing in the body,” Singer wrote to The Hoya. “Together, their work resolved a long-standing controversy in the field.”

Singer added that the biologists’ discoveries reveal how regulatory T-cells help the body distinguish between native and foreign cells, resolving key questions

Over the years, Nobel Prizes have honored scientists whose decades of research led to discoveries that continue to shape the future of science and have practical applications in today’s society.

about immune tolerance and paving the way for future therapies.

“This work is important for medicine as many new therapies are being developed to increase the activity of regulatory T-cells to help control autoimmune and inﬂammatory diseases, including Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and many others,” Singer said. “I don’t know of any therapies for human diseases based on regulatory T-cells that have been approved yet, but there is signiﬁcant interest in applying them in these kinds of scenarios.”

The prize awarded in chemistry set the scientiﬁc foundation for vari-

Former Health Officials Emphasize Policy Importance

Jordan Levin Special to The Hoya

Two former U.S. government public health ofcials shared their insights on the past, present and future of public health policy at Georgetown University’s annual Maloy Distinguished Lecture in Global Health on Oct. 16. The lecture, originally endowed in 1999 by Paul Maloy (SFS ’68) and Catherine Maloy (NUR ’68), featured Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Presented by Georgetown’s science, technology and international aﬀairs (STIA) program, the discussion focused on Frieden’s recently published book, “The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives — Including Your Own,” with Fauci moderating.

Frieden said his formula combines scientiﬁc knowledge with a willingness to act upon it, offering a method to improve both public and individual health.

“See, believe, create. See the invisible, believe the impossible, create a healthier future,” Frieden said at the event. “Only if we believe we can make a diﬀerence can we make a diﬀerence.”

Frieden added that he originally entered medicine and public health on advice from his father, who was a cardiologist.

“While I was in college, wondering what to do with my life, my father gave me his simple answer, ‘You gotta help the people,’” Frieden said. “This perspective leads to a straightforward question: What will save the most lives?”

Frieden pursued a master’s degree in public health while attending medical school — both at Columbia University — and was previously Assistant Commissioner of Health and Director of the New York City Department of Health’s Bureau of Tuberculosis Control.

Frieden said his experience overseeing tuberculosis control in New York City changed the way he thought and worked.

“‘Of the 3,811 patients diagnosed with tuberculosis in New York City last year, how many did you cure?’ I didn’t know and was deeply ashamed,” Frieden said. “Science doesn’t give you certainty, but humility.”

Frieden’s book frequently references the Greek myth of Cassandra, who — despite being able to see the future — was cursed to never be believed.

Fauci said there are parallels between Cassandra’s curse and working in public health, a ﬁeld in which progress in disease prevention and treatment is sometimes met with resistance, like with vaccine hesitancy.

“We might be living through a Cassandra’s curse of our own with measles,” Fauci said.

Frieden, in response to Fauci, said those who express hesitancy about the efcacy of vaccines and public health information often don’t recognize their utility until it’s too late.

“Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy will be self-correcting,” Frieden said. “People need to see the product of disease to know why vaccines are so necessary.”

Fauci said past scientiﬁc progress should fuel urgency, not complacency.

“The essence of public health is to structure society in a way that

JORDAN LEVIN/THE HOYA

Georgetown hosted Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Anthony Fauci as part of the Maloy Distinguished Lecture in Global Health.

people don’t have to think about getting sick or dying at any moment,” Fauci said at the event.

Upasya Swarna (SOH ’29), who attended the event, said she appreciated that both Frieden and Fauci emphasized the role of crisis prevention in public health.

“What stuck with me most was their perspective that success in public health is not always deﬁned by newsworthy breakthroughs, but often by the crises that never occur,” Swarna told The Hoya

The end of the lecture featured a Q&A section, during which Frieden and Fauci ﬁelded questions from audience members and of-

fered insights about the politicization of science and increasing misinformation and disinformation.

Fauci emphasized the role of critical thinking, saying people have a responsibility to challenge where information comes from and recognize uncertainty.

“Treat information as a moving target,” Fauci said. “Utilize the self-correcting nature of science and don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know.’”

Fauci said his decades-long work responding to epidemics and shaping health policy now lies in the next generation of scientists.

“Embrace what you are passionate about,” Fauci said. “We need you.”

For First Time in Six Years, Case of Mosquito-Borne

Chikungunya

Eva

Siminiceanu Science Deputy Editor

The New York State Department of Health conﬁrmed a local case of chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness predominantly found in tropical and subtropical regions, in a Long Island, N.Y. resident, the ﬁrst local transmission of the disease in the United States and its territories since 2019. Health ofcials in China recorded an abnormal outbreak of the chikungunya virus, which presents regularly across Africa, South America and parts of the Caribbean, leading U.S. public health ofcials to issue a warning notice for those traveling to China. Although smaller outbreaks have occurred in Italy and France this past summer, health ofcials say that the New York case is an outlier and the risk of outbreak in the United States remains low.

Charlotte Phillips (CAS ’28), a biology of global health student, said she is not worried about the disease being transmitted near Washington, D.C.

“Even though there has been an increase in cases and out-

Virus Contracted on Long Island

breaks this year, this one is not likely to signal a public threat,” Phillips told The Hoya. “Colder temperatures make mosquito-borne illnesses harder to transmit, and since this disease can’t be transmitted from person to person, decreased exposure to mosquitoes will really help mitigate any local threat.”

While the immediate threat is low — especially in places that will soon see falling temperatures — the increased prevalence of chikungunya virus in areas where outbreaks do not regularly occur may indicate a potential need to increase information and prevention strategies for mosquito-borne illnesses.

Anish Patel (CAS ’28), who recently traveled to the New York area, said he believes public health ofcials have an obligation to better inform the public about local health events.

“People like me travel between there and D.C. all the time,” Patel told The Hoya. “If the disease is present in the local mosquito population, anyone could contract it and expose new populations of mosquitoes to it. Even

though the risk is low, more efforts to inform travelers and locals could be an important public health measure in the future.”

Phillips said mosquito-borne illnesses like chikungunya are on the rise globally due to rising temperatures and climate change, making these prevention measures even more important.

“As temperatures get warmer, you start to lose that protection provided by the cold weather, and these diseases can pop up in new locations and stay there longer, like we saw in China this summer,” Phillips said. “Even though this case is not particularly worrisome, the trend of mosquito-borne illnesses is concerning and now is the best time to start building public health infrastructure to combat these illnesses before we have a real problem and it’s too late.”

Currently, prevention measures consist of vaccination for vulnerable individuals traveling to high-risk areas and preventing mosquito bites.

Some students have noticed changes in local mosquito be-

havior and prevalence this fall compared to previous years.

Ellie Ward (CAS ’28), who frequently engages in local environmental service projects, has noticed higher and more aggressive populations of mosquitoes this fall, making bite prevention difcult.

“At this time last year we didn’t have to worry much about bugs when we went to local parks,” Ward told The Hoya “This fall’s been warmer, and the mosquitoes are very prominent and very aggressive. They’ll bite through clothes and even around our faces, making bites much more common in general.”

Full Disclosure: Ellie Ward currently serves as a Science Columnist for The Hoya.

Phillips said that although chikungunya is unlikely to spread to D.C. soon, it is important to be informed of mosquito-borne illnesses as prevalence is likely to increase in the coming years.

“Even though this case isn’t directly worrying, it could be a warning of the future danger of mosquito-borne illnesses,” Phillips said.

ous applications that can help combat harmful environmental eﬀects and promote clean energy usage.

Song Gao, a Georgetown chemistry professor, said MOF-based materials have a high potential for environmental and energy applications, including curbing air and water pollution, mitigating climate change and generating clean energy.

“For environmental mitigation, MOF materials may be used for adsorption of greenhouse gases, harmful gases, heavy metals and particulate matter and even potentially the photocatalytic degradation of certain PFAS,” Gao wrote to The Hoya. “These

applications can be extended to gas, water, soil and other environmental systems, due to the highly porous structure and immense surface areas of the MOF.” Lobb said that while the awarded discoveries hold potential for positive change, scientiﬁc achievement alone may not be enough to bridge the gap between researchers and the public.

“I understand why some people mistrust science. I think that what we need is more understanding of both sides,” Lobb said. “I think we need, as scientists, to play a bigger role in explaining what we do in a way that doesn’t drive people away.”

Hope for Climate Policy Continues Despite Attacks On Scientifc Research

Ellie Ward Science Columnist Climate science and policy are contentious topics that seem to constantly appear at the forefront of public consciousness. Being tucked away on an urban campus, Georgetown University students may feel far away from the reality of climate politics. However, the constant influx of demoralizing news headlines that detail climate protection rollbacks and new barriers to clean energy poses a stark reminder that climate science and the way politicians choose to address it will impact everyone.

This month, the World Meteorological Organization reported the concentration of gas in the Earth’s atmosphere to be 423.9 parts per million (ppm). This is a 3.5 ppm increase compared to last year, marking the highest annual jump on record. Similarly, an October United Nations report revealed that spending must increase threefold to meet international climate and biodiversity pledges by 2030.

These staggering figures are a call to action to protect us from the worst of climate effects. This year, the federal government has lessened regulations on reporting requirements from polluting facilities and has missed deadlines for reporting national emissions, decreasing the amount of data available about these climate effects.

Beyond this, a January 2025 executive order paused wind energy projects, and the Nevada solar project Esmeralda 7, expected to power almost two million homes, was canceled.

Funding for the planned Grainbelt Express Line was revoked, dashing hopes for an 800-mile transmission line that would have connected the country’s East and Midwest regions to solar and wind electricity had the project been successful.

Amid the negative headlines, it can be hard to seek out sources of hope, but Georgetown’s neighboring states are playing a role in protecting their natural environments from the destruction that comes with the decreasing aid for clean energy.

In Maryland, an impressive conservation goal of 30% of the state’s land has been reached six years ahead of schedule after just joining the effort in 2023, faster than the other eight states that made this pledge. The protected

land, from forests to fish hatcheries, will be available for farming or management, but protected from development, no matter what person or company takes over the land. Despite budget setbacks, the state has set a goal to get this value to 40% by 2040. On the other side of Washington, D.C., Virginian farmers are cultivating sustainable and accessible growing practices for their Appalachian forest and herb botanicals market. Efforts by organizations like Herb Hub have created educational systems on sustainable herb farming and economic rewards for farmers who engage in this cultural industry in ecologically friendly ways. These local efforts are uplifting to read about and raise questions about what else there is to be done. On a college campus, these projects by government ofcials or organizations that have a broad scope and financial reach raise another question about the role of young people in a crisis that will directly affect them. While there are countless ways to approach this idea, from advocacy to volunteering, a recent court decision, Lighthiser v. Trump, offers a potentially new judicial view on the responsibility of government to its youngest generations who are threatened by climate change. In the case, 22 young plaintiffs sued the federal government, claiming that three executive orders signed by President Trump threatened their life and liberty because of how they would exacerbate climate issues. The plaintiffs lost the case, but legal experts are hopeful that the decision’s phrasing opens doors for future legal battles. The ruling asserts that the U.S. government does have a responsibility to protect young generations from threats posed by climate change. While it does not change the outcome of the case, a precedent is set to protect the world that future generations will inherit. The precedent may help direct approaches of legal teams representing young people who may otherwise feel their voice is drowned out by those in established seats of power. As science headlines continue to feel like devastating setbacks and executive action defunds environmental projects, young people should consider what a future not fundamentally threatened by climate change will look like.

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Faculty Opposes Class Recordings GU Students Join ‘No

Manika Niwas and Sienna Lovelock-Burtt Specials to The Hoya

The Georgetown University chapter of a faculty professional association is proposing greater restrictions on students recording class lectures and discussions, citing concerns over intellectual property violations and retaliation for speech.

Students with certain academic accommodations that require notetaking assistance can receive anonymous note takers or use Genio, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that records lectures and takes notes. The Georgetown chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the national faculty association, is advocating for greater faculty input and considering amending the policy to require students to ask professors for permission before recording.

Gregory Afinogenov, AAUP Georgetown chapter president and professor of history, said the AAUP has been working with disability law experts to balance professors’ privacy concerns with generous accommodations for students by incorporating faculty voices into the policymaking process.

“The AAUP is pushing for a multistep process,” Aﬁnogenov told The Hoya. “One is for the university to adopt a kind of unauthorized recording ban that’s in place at the Law Center, which basically says, unless you have permission, you’re not allowed to record in class, ofce hours or anywhere else. And then, essentially, the idea would be to create faculty input in re-evaluating what accommodations look like in the context of this recording policy.”

The current class recording policy only requires authorization through the Academic Resource Center (ARC). The Georgetown University Law Center’s policy allows students to request recordings through its Ofce of Disability Services, which will inform faculty who have opted out of recording classes.

Aﬁnogenov added that the AAUP is more concerned about students who do not have accommodations recording classes.

“We certainly do not think that the overwhelming majority of these cases come from a student who’s receiving

accommodations, to be clear,” Afinogenov said. “The goal is not to blame students for anything or single them out. It’s just to create an environment where the university takes responsibility for keeping classrooms safe.”

“We want to facilitate a dialogue,” Aﬁnogenov added.

A university spokesperson said when students with notetaking accommodations utilize Genio they are required to sign a contract that includes provisions protecting professors’ intellectual property.

“Students who receive access to Genio as an accommodation are required to sign an agreement addressing privacy, copyright, a prohibition on disclosure of recordings and deletion of recordings at the end of the semester,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya

The AAUP chapter is pushing for faculty input in a new accommodations policy that cracks down on unauthorized recordings while exploring options to provide alternative solutions, such as professors recording lectures themselves and giving students access, or using more student notetakers.

Laura Moy, director of the Law Center’s Communications & Technology Law Clinic who was part of the faculty panel that instituted the Law Center recording policy, said alternative methods exist to ensure class material is still accessible without recordings.

“Professors can assign rotating note takers to take notes during class,” Moy told The Hoya. “They can assign teaching assistants to take notes during class and make them freely available. They can post their slides and teaching notes in a way that is available to all of the students in the course.”

Afinogenov said that because these concerns and any policy changes would impact students who need accommodations, he invites their input.

“We definitely want to include students more in the process,” Afingenov said. “We’re going to have a town hall for anyone who’s interested, whether faculty, students or staff.” In advocating for the proposal, professors cited fears over having classes recorded in a contentious political climate. After the assassination of far-

right political commentator Charlie Kirk, dozens of professors have been fired or reprimanded for statements made online and in classrooms, concerning free speech groups.

Moy said class recordings may discourage vibrant in-class discussions.

“Surveillance has the potential to disproportionately chill minority and dissenting viewpoints,” Moy said. “That makes it particularly concerning in a context where we really want free and open discussion in classes to advance the university’s mission of discourse among people of diﬀerent faiths and viewpoints.”

Aﬁnogenov said faculty are afraid that what they say in class could bring consequences from universities or government entities.

“There’s a real sense of real fear among faculty that their words can be used against them,” Afinogenov said. “There’s increasing pressure to have every class be video recorded by default, and that creates a real problem because the university has control of these recordings and they could be subpoenaed by the government.”

Aﬁnogenov said AAUP members are also concerned about AI tools reading their intellectual property through recorded lectures, devaluing professors’ knowledge over time.

“A lot of these AI properties behave very analytically,” Aﬁnogenov said. “A lot of people have had their books be illegally used by anthropic and open AI to generate content.”

Academics and lawyers have become increasingly concerned that AI is unlawfully taking intellectual property in an uncertain legal environment, leading to multiple lawsuits from publishers, writers and journalists. Genio does not permit its notes or recordings to be used to train third-party AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.

Aﬁnogenov said recordings threaten both teachers and students’ political speech.

“This isn’t just a professor’s issue, it’s a student issue,” Aﬁngenov said. “Students might be talking about their immigration status, they might be talking about gender identity or other things that might cause them to draw unwelcome attention online, so we want to make sure that privacy is protected.”

The Hoya Gala

The Hoya Gala will take place Nov. 22 at the Planet Word Museum, featuring Karen Travers (COL ’00, GRD ’03), a White House correspondant for ABC News, as the keynote speaker. Scan the QR code to donate to support our gala and jouranlism, and check out CampusGroups to buy tickets in advance.

More information is available on CampusGroups and The Hoya’s social media.

Kings’ Protest Against Trump Administration Policies

Shira Oz City Desk Editor

Georgetown University students joined 200,000 demonstrators at the “No Kings” national protest in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 18 to condemn the expansion of President Donald Trump’s executive power.

Seven million demonstrators gathered in more than 2,700 cities and towns across all 50 states to vocalize concerns over attacks on democratic institutions, aggressive United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, National Guard deployments in U.S. cities and reductions in federal funding. Over 50 Georgetown students attended the D.C. protest, including members of the Georgetown chapter of the legal nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Georgetown University College Democrats (GUCD) and the student chapter of Free D.C., a local group advocating for D.C. statehood and self-governance.

Elinor Clark (CAS ’27), GUCD’s Director of Advocacy, who attended the protest, said it is crucial for broad segments of the population to speak out against the Trump administration.

“I think it’s really important to show the world and our leaders that we’re not okay with this and that large portions of the population do not agree with what the Trump administration is doing,” Clark told The Hoya Protestors rallied on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the U.S. Capitol and White House. They chanted slogans including “This is what democracy looks like,” “No kings” and “The people united will never be defeated.”

Hannah Hanson (SOH ’21), who attended the protest, said being among the thousands of protesters made her feel she had the power to make a diﬀerence.

“It’s really easy to feel like you are alone and have no power when you’re reading headlines or seeing news stories and just feel demor-

alized about it,” Hanson told The Hoya. “But I think coming to a protest and seeing how many people are here and care — I think it helps feel like we do have power.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who spoke at the rally, said protesting the Trump administration is a patriotic duty.

“Millions of Americans are coming out today, not because they hate America — we’re here because we love America,” Sanders said to the crowd. “We’re here because we’re going to do everything we can to honor the sacriﬁces of millions of men and women who over the last 250 years fought and sometimes died to defend our democracy and our freedoms.”

Carleigh Heckel (CAS ’27), a member of Georgetown’s chapter of Free D.C. who attended the protest, said she was moved by the many diﬀerent causes represented at the rally.

“There were so many people there,” Heckel told The Hoya. “There was such a diversity of signs and groups that people were coming with and causes that people cared about. And I think that kind of coalition building is super important.”

Tony Guarda, who attended the protest with Refuse Fascism, an anti-Trump protest organization, said he demonstrated because he is afraid of the eﬀects of federal immigration enforcement on his community.

“What’s going on is not normal,” Guarda told The Hoya. “This is not what America stands for. Our Latino brothers and sisters are suﬀering right now. They are not sleeping because they are afraid even to go to work. Children are afraid that they won’t see their parents at the end of the day. Mothers are afraid that they won’t see their children.”

The Trump administration has intensiﬁed its immigration enforcement eﬀorts, conducting large-scale raids targeting undocumented immigrants.

Reports show that during the ﬁrst ﬁve months of the Trump administration, ICE arrested 40,000 undocumented Mexican immi-

grants and is targeting immigrants mostly from Latin America and the Caribbean. In September, the Supreme Court allowed federal immigration agents to stop and question people based partly on race, language or job type, which civil rights groups and the dissenting justices condemned as legalizing racial proﬁling.

Lucas Lyons, a D.C.-based community organizer who attended the protest, said the demonstration was impactful as an important step toward change.

“Everyone has the energy to fight fascism and to organize, but it takes that shared solidarity, shared commitment to each other to actually make it happen,” Lyons told The Hoya. “And I feel like that’s what we’re seeing today.” The first “Kings Day of Defiance” demonstration was held in June to protest the Trump administration amid allegations of anti-democratic measures, drawing five million people across the United States. In January, the People’s March mobilized 50,000 people in D.C. to demand accountability from the Trump administration and reafrm commitments to voting rights and democratic governance. Nicholas Cefalu (CAS ’27), the president of Georgetown’s ACLU chapter, who also attended the protest, said that protesting is important but it is not enough to make a significant impact on important issues.

“I’m really hoping that people keep waking up to what this administration is doing and push back a little more and hopefully they change how they vote, more importantly,” Cefalu told The Hoya Clark said she hopes the protests impact the wider U.S. electorate.

“I hope more than anything that people who are on the margins, who don’t want to pick a side, are swayed by this show of support for progress,” Clark said. “Join our fight. There’s strength in numbers. This is how we can make a difference.”

NATO Diplomat Advocates International Cooperation Amid Global Conflicts

Andrew Jiang Special to The Hoya

An international military official argued in favor of continued transatlantic military cooperation at a Georgetown University event Oct. 21.

Javier Colomina, a Spanish diplomat who is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs, addressed a range of topics at the event, including the Russia-Ukraine war, Western relations with China and adapting to nationalist trends. Colomina also expressed hope that his visit to Washington, D.C. will encourage support for effective multilateral military cooperation and advancement of Western interests.

Colomina said Russia and China pose a signiﬁcant threat to NATO security, as China continues its naval standoﬀ against the Philippines and Russian drones violate Polish airspace.

“We’ve seen all sorts of attempts of very reckless behavior from Russia in the last weeks,”

Colomina said at the event.

“We’ve seen drones in Poland. We’ve seen airspace violations in Estonia. We have also China, which is a challenge among the threats that is a systemic one, a decisive enabler of the war, and in Ukraine that is clearly contributing to what we see.” Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while allegations of Chinese ﬁnancial and military support have driven a deeper wedge in international relations.

Colomina said resolving transatlantic security issues like the Russia-Ukraine war is difcult due to disagreements among NATO member states.

“We pushed the Europeans not to whine about being at the table, not to complain about being involved,” Colomina said.

“The Secretary General argued that we need to get the act together and work on something that is concrete and that gives answers to what we might be doing if we end up in a ﬁrst ceaseﬁre then at these negotiations.” European Union (EU) leaders reportedly criticized President

Donald Trump’s handling of the conﬂict, including sidelining them from direct negotiations with Russia. After a contentious meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February, EU leaders promised to support Ukraine with European peacekeepers.

Colomina said that while challenges to U.S.-European relations exist, the conﬂict’s containment in Ukraine demonstrates the eﬀectiveness of NATO’s coordinated deterrence.

“What happened from February 2022 is, in my view, confirmation that NATO deterrence works,” Colomina said.

“The Russians went only up to where they could go, and they didn’t cross any line into NATO territory. There’s different ways of saying it, but I believe that at the end of the day, our deterrence works.”

Isaac Hawkins (SFS ’26), who attended the event, said Colomina’s answers were a reassuring continuity at a time of global uncertainty.

“I feel more hopeful than I did beforehand,” Hawkins told The

Hoya. “It was good to hear just certain positions restated. And ultimately, I ﬁnd it helpful to always know what they’re up to and how the U.S. is interacting with our allies abroad.”

Colomina said commitments to NATO made by the United States are central to deterrence and peacekeeping eﬀorts because of the United States’ ability to quickly place ships and soldiers.

“Whenever you see that there is a crisis or tension, look at the aircraft carrier from the Americans,” Colomina said. “They’re always positioned in places where they will certainly bring stability, just by the deterrent eﬀect of it.”

Clomina said that while NATO adheres to democratic values, it occasionally needs to take a more utilitarian approach to security.

“At the end of the day, we are, of course, an alliance of principles and values,” Colomina said. “But we are what we are, and what we are is to protect our societies and protect one billion people. To do that, sometimes we need to get over some principles and

values. We understand democracy works in different ways.”

Colomina said NATO’s core mission is to address modern-day threats through multilateral cooperation.

“We come from the conviction that the challenges and threats that we see these days need all of us working together, not just the allies, but also the allies and partners,” Colomina said.

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Hillary Clinton honored female leaders for defending democracy worldwide, including two journalists, pro-democracy protesters in Bangladesh and political prisoners in Venezuela.

Peñalver to Confront Investment, Student Life,

PEÑALVER, from A1

that his oﬀice would stop hiring Georgetown Law students if the university continues its DEI practices. Former Law Center Dean William Treanor rejected the letter as a violation of First Amendment protections.

The Hoya also reported in September that Georgetown quietly changed or removed diversity, equity and inclusivity-related language from several university webpages, though a university spokesperson said Georgetown “is not moving away from its Catholic and Jesuit mission.”

Peñalver has previously criticized Trump’s education policies and defended diversity eﬀorts at both Seattle and Cornell, including saying that the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI in higher education appear to “threaten” universities.

“When faced with a bully, some people are tempted to quietly submit while others feel compelled to punch back,” Peñalver wrote to the Seattle University community in February. “But it is important to remember that we always retain the power to control how we respond, both emotionally and practically, to provocation. In moments of uncertainty and fear, it becomes even more important to hew closely to ﬁrst principles and deeply held values.”

As Georgetown grapples with the impacts of federal grant cuts, Peñalver will also inherit ﬁnancial uncertainty.

The budget cuts Groves announced in April expire Dec. 31, before Peñalver’s tenure begins, at which point the university plans on reassessing the state of its budget. Currently, the university has implemented a comprehensive hiring freeze and broad spending cuts to prioritize long-term ﬁnancial stability, according to Groves.

Peñalver’s tenure also comes as the university is diverting resources to the Capitol Campus, increasing investment as it seeks to establish a greater presence in downtown Washington, D.C., and attract more students. However, many students have been skeptical of the campus’s growth, criticizing it for rerouting funds from the Hilltop.

Jeanne Ruesch, the presidential search committee’s vice chair, said she believes Peñalver will help grow both the Capitol and

Politics as New President

Hilltop Campuses based on his “valuable experience.”

“As Georgetown expands its academic programming and campuses on the Hilltop and Capitol Campus, we know he will continue to foster a community of care where all students can thrive,” Ruesch said in the university press release.

At Seattle University, Peñalver oversaw a historic deal with the Cornish College of the Arts, a small private school in Seattle, that transferred Cornish’s assets to Seattle University in June. The deal expanded the university’s campus to include the separate Cornish campus, which Peñalver said would bolster the university’s oﬀerings.

As Georgetown looks to expand the Capitol Campus, it has also prioritized growing the university’s endowment, which has long been signiﬁcantly smaller than that of peer institutions.

In July, Georgetown welcomed a new chief investment oﬀicer, whose focus is augmenting the $3.6 billion endowment, which is signiﬁcantly larger than Seattle University’s $318 million.

Peñalver will also enter Georgetown amid ongoing calls for the university to divest from Israel in response to the latest phase of the Israel-Hamas war.

In May, Groves rejected a student referendum calling for divestment from companies and institutions with ties to the Israeli military, saying it was incompatible with the university’s mission. Student calls for divestment remain ongoing, with support from candidates for student body president and regular protests on campus.

Peñalver did not explicitly reject Seattle University students’ calls for divestment from Israel, saying in a June 2024 interview that the university’s values and previous divestment from fossil fuels warrant “further conversations” about divestment.

“We’ve set the precedent with climate change of using the endowment as a vehicle for university policy,” Peñalver said in the interview. “There’s a risk in terms of taking that too far and how many diﬀerent limitations can we put around our investment managers, but once we’re down that road, I think it’s only consistent to at least entertain the conversation.”

Students at Seattle University, similar to those at Georgetown, have called on Peñalver to make a

statement about the Israel-Hamas war, criticizing the university’s neutrality. In May, Peñalver held a town hall about the protests and met with leaders from the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Student protesters at Georgetown have also criticized the university’s time, place and manner restrictions in the Policy on Speech and Expression, including bans on excessive noise and a requirement that permits university oﬀicials to ask students to remove masks.

A university spokesperson said in September that the Policy on Speech and Expression protects community members’ free speech while reserving the university’s right to reasonable restrictions.

When Peñalver was an undergraduate student at Cornell, he made national headlines for leading a sit-in of 120 Hispanic students demanding that the school’s president meet with them after vandalism of Hispanic artwork on display. The occupation lasted four days and administrators considered suspending Peñalver, according to The Cornell Daily Sun.

“We’ve been taught by experience that this is how minorities accomplish things at Cornell,” Peñalver said at the time to The New York Times.

As late as June 2024, Peñalver defended his actions, writing to The Cornell Daily Sun that the occupation “expanded opportunities for Latin students by increasing the visibility of our issues on campus when they had largely ﬂown under the radar up to that point.”

Peñalver has repeatedly said that his position as the president of a Jesuit university, and previously the dean of an Ivy League law school, demands advocating for democracy, equality and justice.

When he joined Seattle University, Peñalver said Jesuit universities like Seattle University must be a voice advocating for “multiracial democracy.”

“They’re places for dialogue, where people with diﬀerent identities and experiences and values come together and encounter one another and engage with one another,”

Peñalver said in a 2020 speech.

“And so, the development of a truly diverse and inclusive Seattle University community, one that includes faculty, students and staﬀ alike, is fully in keeping with its academic and Jesuit values.”

Students Express Support for Arts, Conduct Reform Referendums

REFERENDUM, from A1

generally considered excessive.

Callender said the current noise violation process can lack proportionality and transparency, making students wary of engaging in social activity.

“Despite efforts to make the process feel more restorative and specific to the circumstances of each student, the sanctions received for noise violations can lack proportionality,” Callender wrote. “It’s frustrating for students to see that they hosted a six person movie night with friends that perhaps got a little loud, and they’re facing the same exact process and sanctions as someone who, maybe, had a much louder party gathering next door.”

“Of course, as Georgetown students, we want to be respectful of our neighbors and our living communities, but students also deserve to engage in social activities and traditional college life without constantly having to feel anxious and concerned that they aren’t sure exactly what standards they’re being held to,” Callendar added.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown may reasonably regulate the time, place and manner of expression to ensure that ordinary activities are not disrupted. The spokesperson also said that students should communicate with the Residential Education team — a division of the Oﬀice of Residential Living — before planning ampliﬁed-sound events.

“Residential Education staﬀ frequently communicate with residents in university townhouses, Village A and other locations about maintaining a reasonable noise level, especially during periods of high activity such as Homecoming or Georgetown Day, as well as managing large crowds that loud music may attract,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya.

“As students plan events, they should be sensitive to the peace and privacy concerns of their colleagues,

students and local residents,” the spokesperson added. Students opposing the quiet hours extension anonymously created an Instagram account with the username @hoyasforsleep. The group also flyered on Red Square and Village A after the referendum was announced.

Brian Garrabrant (CAS ’28), who voted against the conduct referendum, said he supports reducing conduct violations but was against moving quiet hours.

“There are a lot of people who go to bed early and need to be up at a certain time, speciﬁcally on Saturday and Sunday,” Garrabrant told The Hoya. “There are people who wake up early on Sunday to go to religious services, such as mass or church — or of any faith group — or people on sports teams.”

“These two things are not mutually exclusive. I think that you should have more lenient noise violations, but I don’t think that you should push hours back to 1:30,” Garrabrant added.

Anna Holk (CAS ’27), a board member for the Georgetown Residential Assistant Coalition (GRAC), the residential assistant (RA) union, said she feels the current policy creates tension between RAs and their residents.

“I think it just makes RA interactions with residents feel more punitive when they can’t

have a reasonable conversation before writing an incident report,” Holk told The Hoya. “It’s also made people less willing to voice when noise is bothering them because they don’t want any repercussions for their fellow students.”

“I think we all agreed that we want a code of conduct and a system that doesn’t put unnecessary burden on everybody involved and is fair and reasonable and helps all students feel comfortable with the conduct process,” Holk added.

Callender said that, while changing university policy can take time, student voices are essential for promoting change.

“We know that the traditional answer is that changing policy is a long-term process, and there’s many diﬀerent Georgetown stakeholders involved, but we also know that student voices are an essential part of pushing for change at Georgetown and being willing to name what isn’t working is the only way to start that process,” Callender wrote.

“Ultimately, we hope that we’ll start to see changes that can ease student anxiety by clarifying the standards they’re being held to and recognizing the importance of allowing students to create meaningful community while on campus with their peers,” Callendar wrote.

Advisory Committee Recommends Against GUTS Tird-Party Shift

GUTS, from A1

though the students remained outside throughout the meeting.

While the ACBP deliberated, GUTS drivers and students expressed frustration with the university’s plan and response to community pushback.

Roy Linton, a GUTS driver of 14 years, said he was disappointed by the university’s lack of transparency while developing their proposal to subcontract drivers.

“They’re not being honest,” Linton told The Hoya. “They knew that they were going to do this way before now, and they wait till last minute to inform us.”

Linton added that although GUTS drivers have given feedback about the ﬁnancial impacts of the plan, he feels the university is not listening to their concerns.

“They just want to get rid of the department and see what they can save by not giving us beneﬁts or retirement pension pay for medical,” Linton said. “They’re just trying to cut costs.”

In an email response to a Sept. 19 petition circulated by GCWR opposing the plan, Green said the university would move ahead with the plan, citing university ﬁnancial constraints and a Washington, D.C. law requiring private bus ﬂeets to convert to 50% low-or-zero-emission buses by 2030 and 100% by 2045. A university spokesperson previously said not moving to a third-party vendor and remaining in compliance with the law would cost the university $60 million.

Green said the university was committed to upholding its commitment to the drivers even under the new plan.

“In our engagement to date, we are working to take into account the feedback we have received,” Green wrote in the email to GCWR.

“We are now working to ensure that aﬀected employees are treated fairly and respectfully as we manage this transition,” Green added. “Georgetown is committed to ensuring that any current employees impacted by this transition receive employment with comparable compensation and beneﬁts, unless they accept another position with the University.”

Noel Tiongson, another GUTS driver, said he felt blindsided and undervalued when administrators presented the plan to drivers Sept. 3, without ﬁrst gathering their input.

“Mr. Green not even bothering to alert us that he’s going to do this doesn’t give us any conﬁdence that he really has thought about this well enough,” Tiongson told The Hoya. “We are not just drivers for most people that never have anything to do with Georgetown; we are Georgetown University.”

If the plan is implemented, GUTS drivers would either move to an Abe’s Transportation subcontract or shift to a diﬀerent university position, many of which pay less.

Alvaro Barberena, who has driven with GUTS for 18 years, said the wages of the alternative occupations at the university are not comparable to their current salaries.

“They’re giving us the option of going to housekeeping, from driving to housekeeping, Barberena told The Hoya. “That is a diﬀerent pay, probably half of what we’re getting paid now. So we’re not keeping the same pay. They’re going to give us whatever they get paid.”

Linton said he feels betrayed. “I feel so disappointed. Every morning we get up, you used to look forward to going to work,” Linton said. “Now, I don’t have that feeling no more. I feel betrayed. That’s how I feel. It’s really depressing, as I was hoping to retire here.”

Michael Fleming, who has been a GUTS driver for seven years, said he feels GUTS is being treated as a business, though he sees the Georgetown community as a family.

“GUTS has been a part of Georgetown for 50 years,” Fleming told The Hoya. “So when all of a sudden it becomes a business and that you have to run it, that’s what makes me feel they don’t know what Georgetown is; they don’t know what Georgetown is about; they don’t know what Georgetown stands for.”

After the committee released its recommendation, students and workers felt cautiously optimistic.

Elinor Clark (CAS ’27), the GCWR facilities team lead who was outside the meeting, said the decision has given her hope after weeks of advocacy that included concerts, rallies and petitions.

“To be completely honest, I was starting to lose faith in our

advocacy eﬀorts,” Clark told The Hoya. “The Georgetown administration’s responses to our petition and actions have been very disheartening. But this meeting has given me a sense of hope again.” Clint Corkran (SFS ’28), one of two undergraduate student representatives on the ACBP who has an equal voting and deliberation role to all other members, said he was happily surprised by the outcome.

“I was uncertain what we would get out of the meeting, but I was very impressed with and proud of the ability to cooperate within the meeting, and the fact that essentially all nine voting members of the board had the same position that these Georgetown bus drivers are crucial members of the community,” Corkran told The Hoya Corkran added that the decision meant the community’s advocacy eﬀorts were working.

“This is only advisory, and this is a great step, but this is also a vindication of the pressure that students, alumni and community members have been putting on the university for weeks now.” The ACBP’s resolution has no binding impact, and the decision to implement the policy rests on Green and the Oﬀice of the President.

Clark said that though this feels like a marked shift in their ﬁght, the Georgetown community must ensure that the president’s oﬀice listens to the committee.

“This is not the end of the ﬁght,” Clark said. “We now need to turn our attention toward David Green, toward the COO and the president’s oﬀice to ensure that they adhere to this recommendation, but we are super excited that this recommendation has passed, and we know that it’s a step in the right direction.”

Tiongson said that while the resolution is encouraging, he still worries about the ﬁnal decision on implementation.

“It’s an incredible ﬁrst step, and I really appreciate that the committee sees it wise enough for us to be considered as part of Georgetown community and part of Georgetown as employees,” Tiongson said. “The next step would really be a lot more telling.”

Fauci Criticizes US Health Policy, Warns Against Misinformation

FAUCI, from A1 people essentially be removed and be replaced by people who have political connections. That’s not the way you scientiﬁcally prepare for the next pandemic.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the CDC, has laid off thousands of workers, fired senior officials and faced accusations of corruption since beginning his tenure in January.

Fauci said his partnerships with politicians, particularly former President George W. Bush, were crucial in combating the autoimmune disease AIDS, pointing to the increase in countries working with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a global program started in 2003 that Fauci helped spearhead.

“If you fast forward 25 years now, there are, instead of 15 countries, 50 countries, $110 billion, and during that period of time, the program has saved 26 million lives globally,” Fauci said. “That would never have happened had it not been for the feeling and the leadership of a conservative Republican President George W. Bush.”

Fauci added that the United States’ decisions to withdraw support for international health institutions, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) and PEPFAR, will harm the nation’s reputation.

“The idea of pulling back from WHO, pulling back from GAVI and now pulling back from PEPFAR is something that I think years from now, history is not going to judge us very favorably for doing that,” Fauci said.

Fauci joined the NIH in 1968 and led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, when he joined Georgetown as a distinguished professor in the School of Medicine and McCourt School of Public Policy. Throughout his career, he led the United States’ response to the AIDS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, be-

coming one of the country’s top infectious disease experts.

Fauci said his decision to pivot to studying HIV in 1981 perplexed some senior NIH ofﬁcials who thought it was not worth abandoning his previous research on the immune system and inﬂammatory diseases.

“My mentors at the NIH thought I was making a career-destroying decision,” Fauci said. “They said, ‘Why are you stopping what you’re doing so successfully and devoting all of your time on studying, caring for and doing whatever research you can with these individuals?’ I said this was a challenge that I really could not, could not walk away from.”

O’Donnell said Fauci’s HIV/AIDS work changed how experts understood it and helped form public policy.

“It’s such an incredible success and has saved millions and millions of lives,” O’Donnell said at the event.

Fauci also warned about increasing misinformation about science, health policy and vaccines amid declining trust in medicine.

Fauci said social media helps push misinformation, hurting the public’s trust in doctors and scientists.

“The thing that pains me and worries me more than anything else is the lack of trust and the vilification of science and scientists, which is amplified by social media,” Fauci said. “Things that are completely outlandish, once they get into the silos of social media, become true for an astoundingly and frighteningly large number of people. When you accept the normalization of untruths, then nothing is true. And when nothing is true, the confidence that people have in science and the trust in science essentially disappear.”

Alessandra Figueroa (SFS ’28), an international student from the Philippines who attended the event, said Fauci’s concern over social media resonated with her as she has seen it in her own country.

“A lot of propaganda is spread through social media, so I could deﬁnitely relate to his thoughts about that,” Figueroa told The Hoya.

Anti-vaccine misinformation spread in the Philippines in 2020

and 2021, fueled by a United States disinformation campaign, according to an investigation from Reuters. Fauci said he is worried about diseases from the past returning to the United States, such as measles, pertussis, rubella and polio.

“My biggest fear is that we are going to see a re-emergence of things that were responsible for the unnecessary death, mostly of children, but also of adults, before the era of vaccines,” Fauci said. Vaccination rates across the United States have dropped in recent years, prompting some diseases, such as measles, to resurge. Fauci said when confronting misinformation among patients, he prefers to take a compassionate approach.

“You’ve got to be very gentle in trying to guide them through the process of what is the evidence upon which you’re making this decision,” Fauci said. “Many people just need their questions answered, because when you talk about mothers and fathers and families who want their children vaccinated, they may or may not want the children vaccinated, but they want their children to be healthy.” Kailee Fino (CAS ’29), a pre-medical student who attended the event, said she appreciated Fauci’s comments about having empathy for patients.

“In today’s modern medicine world, there’s just so much corporatism, so much ‘here’s your slot; you get a 15-minute patient consult,’” Fino told The Hoya. “A lot of that personal connection is being lost, and I think medicine is suffering for that. Seeing that people, even at the top of medicine, care so deeply, is really refreshing.”

Fauci said young people should continue pursuing careers in public health or medicine because he believes the government must eventually shift course.

“Please don’t give up, particularly the young people,” Fauci said. “We need you. You are the future. The worst thing that could happen is that people pull back and say, ‘Well, this is terrible. I’m going to go do something else.’ This is not going to be sustainable, it can’t be.”

Wagner/Missaghi Sanctioned, Rao/Weaver Absolved After Investigations

Ajani Stella and Ruth Abramovitz Senior News Editors

The Election Commission of the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), Georgetown’s student government, investigated two executive campaigns for violating GUSA campaigning bylaws dictating ﬂyering and spending limits, according to emails reviewed by The Hoya The Election Commission, which coordinates and adjudicates elections, penalized Darius Wagner (CAS ’27) and Nazgol Missaghi (CAS ’28) after receiving one complaint about electioneering through the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) Instagram page Oct. 16 and a second complaint about an Oct. 20 postering violation. The Election Commission also investigated a complaint ﬁled Oct. 20 against Saahil Rao (SFS ’27) and Zadie Weaver (CAS ’28) for allegedly exceeding expenditure limits.

The commission found the Wagner/Missaghi ticket violated the ﬂyering rules by postering outside Darnall Hall near Epicurean and Company, and barred the campaign from postering anywhere on campus for the remainder of the campaign period and moving their name to the bottom of the ballot during the voting period. However, after an appeal from Wagner, the

commission said Tuesday morning the campaign could resume ﬂyering at 8 a.m. Oct. 22. The commission found no wrongdoing in the complaint against Rao/Weaver and closed the case Tuesday night. The commission concluded the Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS), with whom the campaign collaborated Oct. 17, did not provide in-kind or material donations that exceeded the contribution limit and the partnership amounted only to a “promotional collaboration.”

The Election Commission removed the Wagner/Missaghi posters Oct. 20, saying the campaign should be more conscious of the rules.

“We remind you to be aware of all rules before engaging in campaigning activities, and that further violations could result in increased sanctions including possible disqualiﬁcation from the election,” the commission wrote in its email to Wagner and Missaghi. Wagner said the commission’s response disappointed him and he wished they had been more transparent in communications.

“That cost us money, resources and time, and they took down something that was perfectly legal and within the speech and expression policy,” Wagner told The Hoya. “This lack of commu-

GUSA Senate Approves Course Transparency, Rules, Campaign Bills

Noah De Haan and Sofia

Thomas Special to The Hoya and GUSA Desk Editor

The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate, Georgetown’s student government, passed ﬁve bills at its Oct. 19 meeting, including legislation to clarify election conduct bylaws, reduce senator attendance requirements and improve the course registration experience.

The approved bills define campaign conduct during the election period, increase transparency around scheduled fire alarms and improve mechanisms for students to report bathroom supply shortages. The senate also passed bills to amend the bylaws of the Policy and Advocacy Committee (PAC) — the GUSA committee overseeing proposed policy changes before they are considered by the full body — to lessen attendance requirements for senators and designate the committee proceedings as off-therecord for media organizations.

Speaker of the Senate Saahil Rao (SFS ʼ27), who introduced the election bylaw bill alongside GUSA President Ethan Henshaw (CAS ʼ26), said the bill prohibits door knocking during elections and bars members of the Election Commission, the organization that oversees GUSA elections, from resigning close to an election.

“It also bans door knocking ’cause door knocking is bad,” Rao said at the meeting. “And it adds a point B, which says that no election commissioner is allowed to resign their seat within 45 days of an election. Obviously, you can’t do anything about it, but it communicates the expectation, and I think that is important.”

Senator Cameran Lane (CAS ʼ28), who opposed the initial version of the bill, said candidates typically refrain from door knocking, but the option should remain open to them.

“First of all, I don’t think there’s a reason to mention it in the bylaw, because I think the likelihood of a student doing that is pretty low, but I think if there’s a candidate that decides to do that, they should have every right to,” Lane said at the meeting. “I think it shows commitment.”

Henshaw said banning door knocking would limit the competitiveness of campaigns.

“I think stopping the arms race of GUSA elections is good,” Henshaw said at the meeting. “I think people do all these absurd things to run for GUSA. That is just not healthy. Yes, people might start doing this, but I think we should just stop it before it becomes a thing.”

The senate voted unanimously to amend the proposal, instead passing a bill which allows GUSA senate candidates to door knock between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays.

nication and immediate jump to sanctions, instead of communicating to our campaign, was just uncalled for, and it was wrong.”

The Election Commission cited the university’s Speech and Expression Policy, which governs where student groups can poster.

The policy explicitly permits ﬂyering on the exterior of Darnall Hall, among other locations.

“Flyers and posters should be posted only in the following designated areas: Red Square (not on walls adjacent to the ICC main entrance), Darnall, New South, Alumni Square and at the arches of Henle,” the policy reads.

The Election Commission initially opted not to penalize Wagner/Missaghi for the ﬁrst complaint, which claimed Missaghi, while doing a “takeover” on the CAS Instagram account, posted a photo of herself and a number of other students pointing to campaign posters. After the campaign appealed the ﬂyering complaint, the Election Commission maintained the ballot placement penalty in response to Missaghi’s post.

Rao, who submitted the postering complaint, said he felt the Wagner/Missaghi campaign was being dishonest.

“Our campaign was annoyed about what we saw as them not really trying very hard to follow

the ﬂying rules and us trying very hard,” Rao told The Hoya

“I’m sorry for any distress that it caused them, but honestly, we just want to have a free and fair election, and I feel like part of that is when there are violations, referring them to the rulemakers,” Rao added.

Wagner sent a 10-page response to the commission defending his campaign’s actions and alleging inconsistent enforcement of postering rules.

“The alleged ‘violation’ is not a violation; the University’s Policy on Speech and Expression explicitly designates Darnall as a legitimate exterior posting area,” Wagner wrote in the email.

Wagner also said the Election Commission was acting inconsistently by failing to restrict other campaigns, including the Rao/Weaver ticket, for ﬂyering activity that is not explicitly protected by university policy.

“The pillars in Lauinger 2, for instance, are not approved to display flyers or other postings, nor are repeat fliers permitted,” Wagner wrote. “Nonetheless, they persistently display large volumes of repeated GUSA and non-GUSA materials. Similarly, flyering in the stairwells and hallways of Lauinger, White-Gravenor and Healy is an accepted norm.”

“If the Election Commission were to suddenly reinterpret such

placements as violations, it would invalidate dozens of current and past campaigns,” Wagner added.

The Speech and Expression Policy does not explicitly state where students may ﬂyer inside buildings, instead saying “materials may only be posted on unenclosed public bulletin boards or kiosks” in academic and student spaces.

Senator Tina Solki (SFS, MSB ’26) issued the complaint against the Rao/Weaver campaign Oct. 20, alleging the campaign’s partnership with GUGS — which featured the “Rao-Burger” on the GUGS weekly menu — exceeded the $300 campaign spending limit outlined in the GUSA bylaws.

Solki said the Election Commission should consider the materials for the Friday grilling event as part of Rao/Weaver’s campaign expenditures.

“The materials (meat, buns, toppings, etc.) for this grilling event were, to our knowledge, purchased by the Grilling Society during a routine weekly Costco run,” Solki wrote in an email to the Election Commission. “Following the event, a member of the Grilling Society disclosed that groceries for weekly grills typically amount to a minimum of $600 per run.”

In a response to the commission, Rao said the accusation was baseless.

“Regardless, I accept the opportunity to present the true story: That the grill was a routine, weekly event hosted by GUGS, and never advertised by GUGS with the Rao-Weaver name attached,” Rao wrote in the email to the commission. “That there is no world where we can be held ﬁnancially liable for $600 from this event, and that the examples outlined in Tina’s email are stretched and nowhere near analogous to the matter at hand.”

While GUGS did not promote the event itself, the Rao/Weaver Instagram post includes the GUGS logo and tags its account. The commission said that since GUGS did not record “Rao-Burger” sales separately in its point-ofsale system, it was not a donation to the Rao/Weaver campaign. Wagner said he is disappointed by the development into backand-forth accusations and will focus on campaigning during the ﬁnal three days of the election.

“This is all really silly. We are keenly focused on earning your support and getting our message out there,” Wagner said.

“Because we’re really excited about our plan for Georgetown. We want students to know about what we’re doing, and we want to be focused on your issues, not play back and forth.”

The senate also unanimously conﬁrmed Wyatt Adamovich (CAS ʼ28) to serve as vice chair of the election commission.

The senate unanimously passed a bill calling for the establishment of a course guide that includes estimates of courses’ workload, comments from previous students and past syllabi.

Senator Jacob Intrator (CAS ʼ27) said the bill would clarify the process for students to view information about a course before registration.

“The goal of this is to emulate similar schools, which have had much more clear processes for people to look at what a class is, how much they like it and how much other people liked it,” Intrator said at the meeting. “More than just on a scale of one to five, how busy was it on a scale of one to five, how was the professor on a scale of one to five and all this other stuff that we have right now — that’s what the bill does.”

The senate unanimously passed a bill that advocates for more transparency around scheduled fire alarms and fire alarm outages, specifically in Nevils.

The GUSA Senate unanimously passed a bill amending the bylaws, which eases PAC attendance requirements for senators involved in other GUSA-related meetings and designates PAC meetings as oﬀthe-record for media organizations.

The previous PAC bylaws state that any senators who are not members of the Financial and Appropriations Committee, the committee that distributes funds for student organizations, or the Ethics and Oversight Committee, the committee that ensures GUSA operates ethically, are members of PAC.

Senator Sienna Lipton (CAS ʼ27) said senators regularly attending other meetings should be exempt from attending PAC, but each senate committee must a senator to PAC.

“If you’re attending a meeting twice a month that is not the senate meeting, you should not be forced to go to PAC,” Lipton said at the meeting. “Additionally, it would require that one senator from each of these committees is attending PAC.”

Senator Meriam Ahmad (SFS ʼ26) said the meetings should remain open to all students.

“What I think is important is that students who want to submit legislation or freshmen senators who want to submit something are able to come to PAC and feel like they are included in the legislative process,” Ahmad said at the meeting.

Lipton said there is concern with the media covering PAC because senators discuss bills that may never be presented to the senate.

“I think the concern is that when we are in PAC, we are discussing bills that may or may not be presented,” Lipton said. “Senators should be able to feel they can say what they want to say about the bills without the media.”

Rik Chakravarty and Sofia

Thomas Special to The Hoya and GUSA Desk Editor

Twenty-six ﬁrst-years are running for seven Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate seats for the Class of 2029, with voting open from Oct. 22 to Oct. 24.

The ﬁrst-years are campaigning on platforms that advocate for expanding on-campus dining options, improvements to Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) buses and increasing awareness of GUSA’s role on campus.

The candidates are Dima Al-Quzwini (SFS ʼ29), Sam Baghdadchi (CAS ʼ29), Simone Beshtoev (SFS ʼ29), Ryan Chin (CAS, McCourt ʼ29), William Chun (CAS ʼ29), Iris Cho (SOH ʼ29), Matthew Cosenza (CAS ʼ29), Jacqueline Cavallin (SFS ʼ29), Charlie Cutler (SFS ʼ29), Constantine Filippatos (SFS ʼ29), Marcos Feliciano Madero (SFS ʼ29), Jaxon French (CAS ʼ29), Roye Ganju (SFS ʼ29), Ahursa Ghalebi (SOH ʼ29), Jack Hill (CAS ʼ29), Julian Higgins (MSB ‘29), Michael Hou (CAS ʼ29), Avery Hughes-Davis (CAS ʼ29), Ishaan Jordan (CAS ʼ29), Lucy Kershen (CAS ʼ29), Mustafa Kilicarslan Jr. (CAS ʼ29), Angelina Kou (CAS ʼ29), Simon Maxwell (CAS ʼ29), Jacob Nolan (CAS ʼ29), Lucas Robbins (CAS ʼ29) and Joe Romano (CAS ʼ29).

Several candidates said their campaign platforms advocate for expanded dining hours, more food op-

tions and a better dining experience.

Kershen said she wants to increase dining hours at Epicurean & Company and expand meal options for students.

“The burden of ﬁnding a dining option on the weekend or in the evening shouldn’t fall on students,” Kershen wrote to The Hoya. “That’s exactly why I plan to push for expanding late nights at Epi’s, implementing grab and go options on campus and ensuring that weekend dining options carry food ﬁt for students with dietary restrictions.”

Nolan said if elected, he will advocate for adding cooking and supplies to ﬁrst-year dorm kitchens.

“It’s great that our freshmen dorm common rooms have fully functional kitchens, but there are no cooking and cleaning supplies,” Nolan wrote to The Hoya. “I will call on the university to stock all common room kitchens with cooking and cleaning supplies to promote community within our dorms.”

French said he will work to improve campus dining when the university’s contract with Aramark, a company that provides food services to Georgetown, expires in 2026, adding that he has researched Aramark’s contracts with other universities and believes that Georgetown is getting a worse deal.

“I have the passion and knowledge to help ﬁx this problem,” French wrote to The Hoya. “The Aramark contract expires soon, and with it comes a chance to

revitalize our campus dining.”

Robbins said he thinks a lack of dining options on campus is an important concern among ﬁrst-year students.

“While I plan to address whatever issues students bring forth, working with the administration to implement more dining options and longer hours is something that matters to a vast majority of students and will be the ﬁrst thing I work on if elected,” Robbins wrote to The Hoya Hill said improving dining by expanding hours and food options should be GUSA’s main focus.

“My priority for representing my class is ﬁxing the food,” Hill said. “There are so many little things GUSA can achieve that would make the student dining experience just that much better. My other main policies are more food on Flex, Leo’s open till 9 p.m. and ending the food desert, all of which GUSA should negotiate with the administration to get done.”

Several senate candidates said they are prioritizing improving dorms and living spaces.

Jordan said upgrading ﬁrst-year housing options is important.

“I plan to focus on improving ﬁrst-year housing, as for many students, this is their ﬁrst time away from home and with so many huge changes, we want them to feel as comfortable as possible through this time in their lives,”

Jordan wrote to The Hoya Cho said she will work to improve dorms and increase campus safety.

“If elected, I’m most passionate about improving dorm living conditions and overall campus safety,” Cho wrote to The Hoya

“This includes addressing persistent issues like pest control, maintenance delays and communication during emergencies.” Candidates said increasing communication between GUSA and students is an important. Ghalebi said she will prioritize communicating with classmates to ensure legislation is eﬀective.

“I want to make sure I’m hearing from everyone in every school and dorm so that GUSA’s laws are things the class actually needs, not what we assume they need,” Ghalebi wrote to The Hoya Ghalebi said she will use surveys to collect student feedback about utilities and student life.

“Additionally, if elected, I also plan to put out a survey that allows me to take direct input from students on campus that I can consider when writing legislation and going through GUSA meetings,” Ghalebi said.

Robbins said he will work to create QR codes for student input.

“If elected, we want to make this system permanent: a way for students to report issues and complaints directly to GUSA, so we can ensure that we are advocating for the interests of all students,” Robbins said.

Nine Students Run for GUSA At-Large Senate Seats

Sofia Thomas GUSA Desk Editor

Nine students are running for four at-large senate seats in the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), Georgetown’s student government, with voting open from Oct. 22 to 24. Among the candidates’ campaign priorities are looser consequences for noise violations, the incorporation of student perspectives in the Village A redevelopment plan and improved dining and laundry experiences. The candidates are Luke Schneeman (CAS ʼ28), Youngsung Sim (SFS ʼ27), Nico Santiago (CAS ʼ27), Shae McInnis (CAS ʼ28), Evan Cornell (CAS ’27), Shea O’Day (CAS ’26), Scotty Lichamer (CAS ʼ26), Wassan Abdelkarim (CAS ʼ28) and Kat Scarborough (CAS ’26). Schneeman said he will prioritize improving social life on campus by reducing the consequences for noise violations.

“My priorities are to reduce the consequences for first time noise violations and especially for first-time, off-campus noise violations,” Schneeman wrote to The Hoya. “Being able to invite friends over and host events is a big part of our college experience, and we should be able to do that without fear.”

Santiago, a current senator at-large, said he will work to in-

crease occupancy limits in Vil A by building on the student life referendum that students will vote on from Oct. 22 to 26.

“I plan to expand upon the amazing work in the Restore Student Life Act by advocating for more reasonable occupancy standards on Vil A beyond the current 20-person limit,” Santiago wrote to The Hoya Schneeman said he would work to preserve the Vil A rooftops, which have emerged as a point of contention during the GUSA executive elections.

“The Vil A rooftops are important community spaces for Georgetown students and it’s crucial that we don’t lose access to them after the renovation,” Schneeman wrote.

Lichamer said he will work with the Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC), the residential assistants’ (RAs) union, to decrease consequences for noise violations and improve student life.

“I pledge to work alongside the RA Union and the university administration to lessen penalties and grant ﬂexibility in the enforcement of noise violations, as well as ﬁght to keep our rooftops in a remodeled Vil A,” Lichamer wrote to The Hoya

“This includes working directly with university administration to ensure that student views

are considered in preparation for this Georgetown Day, as well as the return of a fourth party day across campus,” Lichamer added.

Multiple candidates said improving student spaces is a priority in their campaigns.

Kim, a current at-large senator, said he hopes to continue his work on the Common Spaces committee, a GUSA group that works with the Ofce of Planning and Facilities Management and the Ofce of Residential Living to improve student spaces on campus, and the GUSA executive.

“In short, I’ve been helping GUSA exec to improve our student spaces, through increased seating in HFSC, hammocks and swings, escalating Henle door access and accessibility signage for construction,” Kim wrote to The Hoya. “My priorities include continuing to work on projects like increasing practice-room spaces for the arts, advocating for open access to student space and improving class registry sources for the student body.”

Lichamer said he would work with the administration to revitalize living and learning communities, residential communities based on shared academic, service or cultural interests.

“I aim to keep campus an active and inviting space by revitalizing dorm common rooms, continu-

ing work on improving shared spaces on campus and working with administration regarding the return of living learning communities,” Lichamer wrote. McInnis said he would focus on improving issues on Georgetown’s campus rather than on responding to national politics.

“I’m running for the student senate to focus on real, tangible changes that directly impact student life without getting sidetracked by national politics or issues outside our control,” McInnis wrote to The Hoya Santiago said he will work to improve campus dining experience.

“Although its signiﬁcance may sometimes go unnoticed, our dining halls on campus are one of the main hubs that cultivate our community here at Georgetown,” Santiago wrote.

“I am dedicated to making sure that all Hoyas have the best and most accessible dining experience possible by making our dining halls a place that students can be proud of.” McInnis said he looks forward to working all students.

“I plan to engage with students from all corners of campus, especially communities whose concerns often go unheard,” McInnis wrote. “That means showing up, listening actively and staying accountable.”

Anti-Abortion Activist Advocates Reform

In Movement Amid Legal, Policy Changes

Noah De Haan Special to

The Hoya

An anti-abortion activist and former Planned Parenthood clinic director called for reform within the anti-abortion movement at a Georgetown University Right to Life (RTL) event Oct. 17.

Abby Johnson, the speaker, joined the anti-abortion movement in 2009 after watching an ultrasound abortion while working for Planned Parenthood. RTL, a student anti-abortion group, hosted Johnson to denounce abortion in all forms, call for federal codiﬁcation of abortion as murder and condemn President Donald Trump’s defense of abortion pills. Johnson said the anti-abortion movement is at a crossroads following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which held that the U.S. Constitution does not confer the right to an abortion.

“The pro-life movement, for the past 50 plus years, has been trying to regulate abortion,” Johnson said at the event.

“They’ve been trying to make it harder to get an abortion instead of just eliminating abortion. We are eventually going to have to have a very difcult conversation about where we go from here.”

Johnson added that the anti-abortion movement must shift its thinking toward valuing embryos and fetuses the same as live children.

“It takes a paradigm shift in our thinking, in our own movement, for us to truly see the pre-born child in the exact same dignity, worth and personhood as someone out of the womb — and I

don’t think the pro-life movement is there,” Johnson said. “As a pro-life woman who does believe in equal protection of the unborn, I believe that the mother and the child are in a dead heat. Their equality is exactly the same.”

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban, although the Trump administration proposed a rule change in August to remove elective abortion from government medical coverage provided to veterans. Trump also defended former President Joe Biden’s policies to increase abortion pill accessibility in May. Johnson said Trump’s expansion of access to the abortion pill mifepristone, known developmentally as RU-486, didn’t come as a surprise to many in the anti-abortion movement, and that Trump was falling short of the expectations of the anti-abortion movement.

“The FDA approved a generic form of RU-486, the chemical abortion pill,” Johnson said.

“Trump could have stopped this, and he chose to allow expansion of the chemical abortion pill. On the campaign trail, Trump did say he would do nothing to ban abortion, including chemical abortion. So, it should not be surprising to anybody that Trump is not the savior we thought he was.”

Elizabeth Oliver (CAS ’26), RTL’s president, said that because Georgetown students tend to have complex opinions on abortion, introducing to campus someone like Johnson, who has a history on both sides of the issue, is important.

“Many people at Georgetown find themselves in-between on

the issue of abortion,” Oliver told The Hoya

“Bringing someone like Abby, whose opinions changed over time, shows that opinions do change and it can be a gradual process, and that looks like listening to other people and having respectful dialogue,” Oliver added.

Johnson said her relationship with Planned Parenthood began when she was a college student who was drawn in by its goals, although she later resigned and was sued by the organization.

“I was on my college campus and saw a Planned Parenthood booth, and I didn’t have my ﬁrst abortion at Planned Parenthood so I didn’t know anything about the organization,” Johnson said. “So I went to work with Planned Parenthood believing I was helping women, and believing that this organization really wanted to reduce the abortion rate.”

“When I left I wasn’t like, ‘Now I’m totally pro-life,’” Johnson added. “I just knew I didn’t want to have a hand in it anymore, but when I left, Planned Parenthood sued me. They ended up suing me, taking me to court, and that turned into a news story, and that’s why I do what I do now.”

Johnson said she thinks abortion should have the same legal implications as murder.

“I do believe it should be treated as murder. I do not believe that a mother should have a legal cut out in the law so that nobody else can legally kill that woman’s child, but she can,” Johnson said. “The majority of women that have abortions have seen their children on an ultrasound. These are not ignorant women. They know what they’re doing.”

Conservative British-American

Pundit Praises Liberal Democracies

Ella Jones

Special to The Hoya

A British-American conservative political commentator recounted his journey with Catholicism and his outlook on the state of liberal democracy at a Georgetown University event Oct. 20.

Speaking at an event for Georgetown’s Faith and Culture Lecture Series, Andrew Sullivan, formerly the editor of the U.S. politics magazine The New Republic, described the way his conservative beliefs have shaped his career over the past three decades. Sullivan reﬂected on how his Catholic faith has transformed throughout several stages of his life alongside his views on liberal democracy and conservatism.

Sullivan said conservatism should ultimately work toward preserving liberal democracy.

“That is a fragile achievement, very rare in the world, to have created a society which really is a liberal democracy,” Sullivan said at the event. “That is under threat. It’s currently eclipsed in this country. But conserving that is what conservatism should be, not the restoration of some order that can’t be restored without real authoritarianism.”

Sullivan has published six books and several inﬂuential political articles, including “Here Comes the Groom,” a defense of same-sex civil marriage, and “Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters,” in support of former President Barack Obama during his candidacy.

Joe Ferrera — Georgetown’s senior vice president and chief

of staﬀ, who introduced Sullivan — said Sullivan’s writings bring a distinct perspective to politics and national events.

“Andrew’s writings engage the cultural and political events that have shaped our national landscape,” Ferrera said at the event. “He has brought a distinctive voice and clarity and suspicion of conventionalism to the full range of media in our time.”

Sullivan said fostering political dialogue is key to preserving liberal democracies’ futures, and new platforms, such as independent media, are increasingly important in creating these opportunities.

“We actually have potential for more complicated, more nuanced, more interesting thought out there, in a culture that is fast becoming, you’re either this extreme or that extreme and nothing in between,” Sullivan said at the event.

“So we have the tools to win this polarization, to actually argue as a counter to the screening. And I’m just conﬁdent, as long as they don’t take the First Amendment away, that we will survive doing that.”

Sullivan said he plans to shift away from political writing through his forthcoming book

“Credo,” which will focus on how Sullivan’s Catholic faith has transformed throughout the diﬀerent stages of his life.

“I have no standing to write anything about Christianity,” Sullivan said. “So all I can really have standing to do is tell the story about how it came to me and how I stuck with it and how it’s taken very diﬀerent forms and moods and dispositions in

my life and changed dramatically and yet come back and then changed again. It’s a very complicated story.”

Sullivan said he felt angry to-

ward God in 1993 as he witnessed a decline in his mother’s mental health and the death of many close friends from AIDS amid his own diagnosis with HIV.

“I’ve gotten through watching so many of my best friends die, very young, in horrible, horrible ways,” Sullivan said. “I thought I had the world in my hand, and all of it disappeared in a day.”

Sullivan said he took a break from the Catholic Church as he grappled with the implications of the church’s child sex abuse crisis in 2019, including the failure to address the defrocking of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who ran Sullivan’s parish in Washington, D.C.

“The sex abuse crisis, when it ﬁnally dawned on me what was actually going on, I did have a crisis in the church,” Sullivan said.

“This person who had betrayed everyone in that parish had just been defrocked by the pope, and no one in that parish felt even a responsibility to explain that, to talk about it, to air it.”

Sullivan said despite this, his unwavering belief in God is what helped him navigate through the messy, human elements of religion and unexplainable suffering.

“God, that’s how it happens,” Sullivan said. “There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. And sometimes it’s our very brokenness that is the vehicle for our healing.”

Six GU Professors Receive Research Funding Trough LSE Partnership

Ella Farahnakian Special to The

Hoya

Georgetown University and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) announced Oct. 14 the ﬁrst series of faculty recipients of a collaborative research fund between the universities.

The LSE-Georgetown University Research Seed Fund, launched in March, aims to support collaborative research projects between Georgetown and LSE faculty that focus on political economy, sustainability and health while bolstering the institutions’ academic relationship. Three Georgetown public policy professors — Jennifer Tobin, Jishnu Das and Bhumi Purohit— received the grant alongside Arik Levinson, an economics professor; Erik Voeten, a government professor; and Irfan Nooruddin, an Indian politics professor.

Each Georgetown and LSE professor will receive up to $25,800 for the ﬁrst cohort of research projects, which will focus on topics aimed at investigating and addressing issues of public health, climate change, and other related areas.

Das, whose work focuses on health and education in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), said his project will seek to reduce barriers to healthcare in low-income countries.

“The traditional model of healthcare in low-income countries is premised on the idea that too many people lack access to care,” Das wrote to The Hoya. “Addressing such access constraints have been critical to signiﬁcant improvements in health outcomes throughout low and middle-income countries.”

Mylène Lagarde, an associate professor of health economics at LSE working with Das, said the cooperative aspect of the fund is key to investigating LMICs.

“Our partnership brings together two teams with deep expertise and knowledge in healthcare markets in LMICs,” Lagarde wrote to The Hoya. “Bringing together our standardized patient studies allows us to pool datasets and analytic approaches that would not be possible in isolation. Our collaboration will also support training opportunities for students and junior researchers, and promote future joint research initiatives that address urgent questions in global healthcare markets.”

Levinson, whose work focuses on environmental and energy economics, said he will study how people experience pollution unequally, with a particular focus on London.

“There’s a lot of evidence of environmental inequities — pollution is worse in less prosperous places,” Levinson wrote to The Hoya. “But people move around. I’d like to know how the pollution people experience during the

day changes depending on where they go and how they get there.”

“It could change people’s behavior to avoid the places and times with the worst air quality. And it could change how policymakers approach environmental inequities.”

Nooruddin said his project will examine the evolving impact of technology on public services in India.

“My hope is that our project will seed a longer-term research agenda about how digital public infrastructures alter the citizen-state relationship, and how they aﬀect prospects for collective action that advocates for marginalized groups and greater redistribution,” Nooruddin wrote to The Hoya

Tobin, whose research focuses on the political economy of development, said she hopes to provide direct evidence of how canceled U.S. aid has and will impact non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and state-run aid providers.

“We want to bring evidence to a moment of real uncertainty. Everyone is speculating about the consequences of U.S. aid withdrawal, but there’s almost no data on what’s happening in real time.” Tobin wrote to The Hoya

“Our hope is that this project provides both policymakers and scholars with the first real evidence of how donors, NGOs and governments are adapting — and what this means for people who depend on these programs.”

Earlier this year, the administration of President Donald Trump restructured the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and a number of other U.S. agencies

as part of a broader effort to eliminate aid programs and subsume remaining roles under the U.S. Department of State. The United States previously provided billions of dollars to help LMICs, NGOs, and other international bodies with development projects, promoting democracy and aiding in disaster relief and poverty reduction.

Tobin said working with an academic from LSE, combined with her experience, will expand her outlook.

“My co-author Ryan and I both study foreign aid, but from very different angles,” Tobin wrote. “He’s much more focused on applied micro-level questions — how aid and politics interact on the ground — while I tend to think about the macro side: institutions, incentives and the global aid system as a whole. The partnership made us combine our strengths, and it has pushed both of us to think differently about how local political dynamics and global institutional changes are connected — and about how those links may be shaping the real-time consequences of the U.S. aid withdrawal we’re studying.” Nooruddin said Georgetown and LSE’s partnership will cultivate new relationships and research that will bolster both institutions.

“This investment by the leaderships of both universities in seeding cross-institutional collaborative research will bring individual colleagues together to advance academic research but also will hopefully create long-term relationships on which we can build for other yet unconceived projects that beneﬁt both universities,” Nooruddin wrote.

NOAH DE HAAN/THE HOYA

A former Planned Parenthood director who became a leading anti-abortion political activist advocated for changes in the movement at an Oct. 17 event at Georgetown University.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Georgetown University and London School of Economics partnership announced the first round of research grants.

Recapping Big East Women’s Media Day On the Ground at Men’s Media Day

In a conference devoid of football, basketball stars. The women’s basketball Big East Conference has long been full of just that — shining and rising stars: the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies women’s basketball team, Geno Auriemma, Paige Bueckers, NCAA tournament qualifiers and Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) qualifiers. This year, the Hoyas hope to rise to those ranks. And the Big East’s current stardom is extensive. UConn brought home the national title last season.

Auriemma, head coach of the UConn women’s basketball team, became the winningest coach in college basketball history — across both men’s and women’s basketball — in November of last year and now has 1,250 wins to his name. Auriemma has also led UConn to all 12 of the Big East conference’s national titles.

UConn star guard Paige Bueckers was selected as the ﬁrst pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, the sixth number one pick in Huskies history. Last season, two teams represented the Big East Conference in the NCAA tournament, and three teams represented the Big East in the WBIT. The conference has a lot to be proud of — namely, UConn.

The Big East Conference held its annual media day for men’s and women’s basketball Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Madison Square Garden. Coaches, athletes, administrators and reporters crowded around tables, discussing the season to come. The day began with the men’s programs, a speech by Big East commissioner Val Ackerman and a nod to Villanova graduate Pope Leo XIV, who mentioned Georgetown and the Jesuits winning during his papal duties Oct. 21.

In her speech, Ackerman addressed the ever-changing nature of college basketball, touching on the increasing attention women’s

basketball has been and deserves to be receiving. Ackerman said that Villanova Athletics’ senior administrator Lynn Tighe, who serves on the NCAA Division I women’s basketball committee, has been a part of this process.

“Lynn was a participant in the NCAA’s decision to create a new women’s basketball performance fund, which will reward bids and wins in the NCAA tournament, a nod to the women’s basketball growth over the past several years,” Ackerman said in her address.

Ackerman, a proponent of NCAA structural changes, said that she believes the NCAA men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments should be held on the same date in the same location.

“I’ve been somewhat of a lone wolf on this topic, but as one of just a handful of commissioners and administrators who shuttle back and forth between both Final Fours, I hope the NCAA will at least experiment with a combined Final Four that will have the men and the women playing on the same weekend in the same city,” Ackerman said. “It would reduce costs, ensure that all college sports administrators support both events and present heightened revenue possibilities to the association.”

This year, the women’s Big East conference is returning to a double round-robin competition format, where each team will play a twenty-game conference schedule and play each opponent twice, once at home and once away. Georgetown and its head coach, Darnell Haney, are ready for change. This year, the team’s roster consists of seven returning players — two of whom are coming back from season-long injuries — seven new transfers and one ﬁrst-year player. Haney said the new players bring needed maturity in the league’s changing landscape.

“We’re playing in a league and playing in a landscape that is

older, right?” Haney told The Hoya “And in order to compete in the league you need a little bit more maturity, right? And we made sure we went to go get some maturity.”

Haney said he thinks his current group of players has the potential to make a big impact.

“I’m just excited about our group,” Haney said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to put something on the ﬂoor that Georgetown women’s basketball and the Georgetown community and the Big East will be proud of.”

Haney also supplied an answer to the inevitable question of how the Hoyas are going to replace graduated point guard Kelsey Ransom. And he simply said they cannot.

“It’s going to be a little diﬀerent without Ransom, of course,” Haney said. “You can’t replace a revolutionary player like that.”

Along with the questions of how the Hoyas hoped to replace Ransom came questions to Hoya players about playing against UConn.

Sophomore point guard Khadee Hession — who was one of three players present at Big East Media Day, along with senior guard Victoria Rivera and graduate forward Brianna Scott — said she approaches every game the same when the team was asked about UConn for the third time.

“Like we said, you don’t play a national championship team every day, but I think I go into every game the same, honestly, regardless of who the opponent is,” Hession told a reporter.

Haney said he has high hopes for the season ahead and is conﬁdent in his team.

“I’ve got my kids in,” Haney said.

“I’ve got my group of young women in who are going to help us grow and they’re going to help this program reach elite status in the Big East. It takes people that love it, that love to want to see other people get better and that love the opportunity to be a Georgetown Hoya.”

Hoyas Take Down Blue Demons As GU Makes Big East Title Run

The No. 15 Georgetown University men’s soccer team (8-3-3, 4-0-1) shut out the DePaul University Blue Demons (2-6-6, 0-4-1) 3-0 on the road in Chicago on Oct. 18. Despite a slow start to the match, three Hoyas combined for 3 goals during a 40-minute stretch in the middle of the match. Sophomore goalkeeper Charlie DeMarco recorded his first career start and clean sheet with 1 save and multiple crucial claims. For the Hoyas, play in the windy city got off to a shaky start. Georgetown’s expected dominance over a team with no conference wins was not present as the Hoyas took the field. Throughout the match, possession was split mostly evenly 53% to 47%. While the Hoyas sent up 13 shots with 5 on goal compared to DePaul’s 6 shots and 1 on goal, this was well below their average 16 shots per game and their average 0.469 shots on goal percentage at 0.385. The match’s most impressive performance came from DeMarco, who was given his first career nod to the Big East weekly honor roll this week. With a slow start to play, Georgetown sent up their first shot of the match in the 9th minute, with a shot on goal from just inside the left corner of the box towards the left post by senior midfielder Julian Barrios Cristales. The attempt awarded the Hoyas a corner, which the team failed to capitalize on as sophomore defender Jack Lindimore missed the timing of his jump. Sophomore forward Mitchell Baker fired off the second shot of the match with a quick shot off a pass and turn that sailed wide and slow.

DePaul looked to have their first opportunity for a goal in the 20th minute but were stopped by Lindimore — and then almost awarded a penalty kick. Video assistant referee (VAR) review revoked the awarded penalty and landed Lindimore a yellow card, as play was just outside the box when Lindimore committed the foul. In the 27th minute, the Hoyas got their ﬁrst break of the day. Baker swooped in to grab a misplaced DePaul pass, dribbled past 3 defenders and forcefully sent the ball into the back right corner of the net past an unprepared DePaul keeper to put Georgetown up 1-0.

The Hoyas’ momentum picked up after their first goal, and in the next 7 minutes of play, the team sent up 4 shots — 2 from senior midfielder Zach Zengue off a corner, with the first being blocked and the second sailing over.

DePaul sent up their only shot on goal for the day in the 40th minute; DeMarco recorded his third career save, almost eﬀortlessly sticking his hand up to block a ball headed into the middle top of the goal.

Three minutes later, Georgetown responded with a successful shot on goal as junior midfielder Matthew Van Horn converted from close range off a Zengue assist, putting the Hoyas up 2-0 with less than three minutes remaining in the half. The second half picked up with the same energy as the first, continuing a trend of DePaul physicality, Hoya players on the ground and no fouls called. Senior midfielder Max Viera, returning from a 2-game hiatus due to a red card, sent up the first shot of the second half in the 49th minute and the first shot on goal of the second half in the 58th minute — a skillful showing by both Viera and the DePaul keeper.

In the 65th minute, Baker saved a ball headed out and sent it to junior midfielder Mateo Ponce Ocampo, who fired it into the top right corner of the net from almost the same spot Baker had scored from earlier, putting Georgetown up 3-0. Ponce Ocampo’s goalmarkedthelastshotongoalofthe game for either side, and the rest of the match was carried out with missed opportunities and unnecessary physicality that caused co-captain senior midfielder Diego Letayf to step off the pitch in the 75th minute after being taken to the ground for the third time in the match.

While Georgetown arguably did not play their best game, the match’s 3 goal scorers showcase the

team’s depth — especially without a Zengue goal. Letayf was named the Big East defensive player of the week and Baker was named the Big East oﬀensive player of the week for their eﬀorts against DePaul.

So far this season, Zengue has scored the most goals of any Georgetown men’s soccer player since all-time leading goal scorer Brandon Allen (CAS ’15) netted 16 goals in the 2012 campaign. Zengue is currently tied for fourth in the country in most goals scored with 12, is fifth in the country in points with 30 and was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy midseason watch list. In the 2012 campaign, Allen took 93 shots across 26 games with a 0.172 shooting percentage. Zengue has amassed 12 goals across 14 games with 49 shots and a 0.245 shooting percentage, giving him plenty of time to catch Allen and possibly the alltime leading season goal scorer, Ben McKnight, who recorded 18 goals during the 1994 season.

Georgetown men’s soccer Head

Coach Brian Wiese said the game did not look as he would have hoped, but it was still a league victory.

“DePaul makes things difcult,” Wiese told Georgetown Athletics. “They’re playing for the playoﬀs and it wasn’t a pretty result for us, but scoring three goals to stay top of the table going into the ﬁnal few games of the regular season is really all you can ask for. It was a little uglier than what we wanted but, overall, it was a gritty road performance and you need those in the league, so we’ll take it.”

The Hoyas return to Shaw Field on Saturday, Oct. 25 to face the Villanova Wildcats (5-4-5, 1-1-3 Big East) in their second to last home match of the regular season. Georgetown will look to continue their undefeated Big East record and climb the national rankings.

Seidenstein Senior Sports Editor

If March Madness is college basketball Christmas, then Big East Media Day is college basketball Thanksgiving. Media day brings the Big East conference’s 11 member institutions together under one roof to (sometimes awkwardly) discuss the summer and plans for the upcoming winter. Every attendee praises one another — regardless of how good their teams may actually be.

And of course, there are the in-laws — in this case, the mobs of reporters and camera crews that seem to be there only for the St. John’s University and the University of Connecticut (UConn) men’s basketball teams.

The Big East conference hosted its annual media day for men’s and women’s basketball at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 21, where coaches and players sat down with members of the media to talk about their teams, expectations and ongoing structural changes in college athletics.

Big East commissioner Val Ackerman opened the event with a speech touching on the conference’s role in the changing landscape of collegesports.Thissummer,theHouse settlement allowed universities to pay players directly for the first time, and a series of antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA has erased college athletics’ eligibility rules bit by bit.

Ackerman said she supported the SCORE Act, a bill pending before the House of Representatives that would provide conferences more power to regulate student-athletes, and expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament if it would not reduce the amount of money a team receives for winning a game.

“We ask a great deal of the players who represent our schools on the basketball court, and we believe the system that now allows them to share in our sport’s commercial rewards is appropriate and fair,” Ackerman said in her opening remarks. “We don’t have a crystal ball to tell us where college sports will be in one year, three years or a decade from now. What is clear is that we

need a national rules framework that heads oﬀ incessant lawsuits.”

The SCORE Act would standardize regulations at the federal level, legally prevent student-athletes from being recognized as employees and grant the NCAA and its members immunity from antitrust lawsuits.

Georgetown Athletic Director Lee Reed, an NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee member, said he agreed with Ackerman.

“It’s not to take away any of the beneﬁts that our student-athletes deserve. It’s more to create a level playing ﬁeld for everyone,” Reed told The Hoya in an interview on the sidelines of media day. “We need to have a framework in place.”

Reed added that tournament expansion would beneﬁt the Big East, but he understands it remains a controversial topic.

“One of the things for us is that 80% of those new opportunities would go to conferences like ours, so there’s some opportunity for us to grow in terms of bids,” Reed said. “It’s a great tournament. Some people, most people are saying leave well enough alone, so we’ll see.”

Georgetown men’s basketball Head Coach Ed Cooley and four players — junior guards Malik Mack, DeShawn Harris-Smith and KJ Lewis, and sophomore forward Caleb Williams — represented the Hoyas on the men’s side.

Early in the morning, the Big East announced Lewis was named to the all-conference second team and Mack was named to the allconference third team.

Both players said they appreciated the recognition, but that it did not aﬀect their focus or motivation approaching the season.

“We still got a lot to prove to ourselves and to the conference, but it definitely feels good to be recognized by all the coaches in this prestigious conference,” Lewis said at media day.

Mack echoed his teammate, saying he appreciated “knowing that the coaches think highly of us with respect to our games, but we still have much more to prove.”

Cooley said the Hoyas’ roster was developing on track and he expected them to continue to grow.

“I like the tenacity of our group,” Cooley said. “I think defensively we have an opportunity to be elite. Oﬀensively, we’re still trying to ﬁgure it out, but I really like the men that we have.”

Cooley was also eﬀusive towards St. John’s forward Bryce Hopkins, whom Cooley coached at Providence College. When Hopkins entered the transfer portal after last season, Georgetown heavily recruited him, but lost out to the Red Storm.

“I think he’s going to be one of the better players in the country,” Cooley told a group of reporters. “He’s a really good player. He’s a very versatile player. I hope he’s awful when he plays Georgetown.” Kevin Willard is entering his ﬁrst season as head coach for Villanova University men’s basketball after three seasons as the University of Maryland’s head coach. His leaving, immediately after Maryland’s best season in a decade, left a sour taste in the mouths of some Terrapin fans. A group of Maryland fans have been organizing an eﬀort to sit behind Villanova when the Wildcats visit the Hoyas on Feb. 7, 2026. Willard, who has a close friendship with Cooley, said he was unbothered by the possibly adverse environment.

“I think it’s great. I’m trying to help Ed’s budget — the more ticket sales I can get for Ed,” Willard told The Hoya. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to seeing the Maryland fans.” When the reporters after the Red Storm or Huskies were unable to break through the rings of people surrounding the two universities’ coaches and players, they made their way over to other teams.

One such reporter asked Cooley which team he believed was going to win the Big East:

“St. John’s or UConn?”

“Georgetown,” Cooley said.

“I can’t give two shits about St. John’s and UConn,” Cooley added. “I’m at the Georgetown table.”

Undefeated Run Continues as No. 12 Hoyas Shut Out Golden Eagles 3-0

Ethan Herweck Deputy Sports Editor

The No. 12 Georgetown University women’s soccer team (12-2-2, 8-0 Big East) dominated 3-0 on the road Oct. 18 in Milwaukee, Wis., against Marquette University (6-5-4, 2-2-3 Big East) with a pair of goals from senior forward Natalie Means.

The Hoyas dominated possession right from the starting whistle, with senior midfielder Mary Cochran taking the first shot of the game a few minutes in, though the ball sailed out to the right. Means took her first of 6 shots just a few minutes later, with this one earning Georgetown a corner kick.

Means took 2 more shots shortly after, the second of which put Georgetown up 1-0 in the 16th minute. Senior forward Henley Tippins put in a nice assist to Means inside the box.

The Hoyas continued to dominate for the following 15 minutes with shots from Cochran and graduate forward Maja Lardner. The Golden Eagles decided that adjustments were needed in this stretch and made multiple substitutions.

These ﬁrst half adjustments did not appear to work, though; in the 29th minute, a foul on Marquette allowed Means a penalty kick.

Means drilled the kick to secure a brace and put Georgetown up 2-0.

Just over three minutes following the goal, the oﬀensive onslaught continued with more shots from Tippins and Cochran.

In the final minute of the first half, senior midfielder Shay Montgomery sent in a strong strike and secured a decisive goal without an assist. This big lastminute goal put the Hoyas up 3-0, a lead the Golden Eagles would struggle to even make a dent in for the remainder of the game.

The Georgetown defense was commanding for the entire ﬁrst half, only allowing one shot attempt — not on goal — by Marquette. While the defense continued the shutout, Georgetown did not let up despite their utter dominance in the ﬁrst half — the Hoyas drew two yellow cards before the 64th minute, including one by Means.

Senior goalkeeper Cara Martin got her one and only save of the day in the 66th minute, which led to a corner kick that the Golden Eagles were unable to capitalize on.

Georgetown put up a few more shot attempts before the end of the game, including a shot on goal from Means, but each was saved by the Marquette defense. Additionally, Georgetown junior defender Isabel Boodell earned a yellow card of her own in the 74th minute.

After the game, Head Coach Dave Nolan said that he felt the team played an incredible ﬁrst half but got sloppy in the second, giving the team much to improve on heading into the ﬁnal 2 games of the season.

“This was another very good performance by the girls tonight,” Nolan told Georgetown Athletics. “Playing out here is never easy, and I thought the team was excellent in the ﬁrst half in particular. We pressed them straight oﬀ the opening whistle and had them penned in, which resulted in a great goal by Natalie Means to put us one up early.”

“That pressure led to a PK call, which Natalie tucked away for her second of the night, and right before the halftime whistle, Shay Montgomery ﬁnished well to give us a 3-0 lead, and probably killed oﬀ the game,” Nolan added.

“The second half was very disjointed,

Nate

Yankee Manager Boone Miscalculates the Odds

HERMAN, from A12

“I’m conﬁdent in our organization to build a team that gives us a chance to win,” Boone said. Boone’s message is clear. No longer is it the expectation to win the World Series. The expectation is to have “a chance.”

But even if we accept Boone’s ﬂawed assumption that once a team earns a spot in the postseason it can only watch as fate rolls the dice, we still cannot fully explain the Yankees’ sixteen consecutive years of falling short. If the postseason is a crapshoot, the Yankees defy the odds. I wasn’t lying when I told you I would rather do math than relive the Yankees’ October. Han Solo said “never tell me the odds” — but since you are not Han Solo, I will, in fact, tell you the odds.

The Odds In the sixteen years since the Yankees’ last championship in 2009, they have made the playoﬀs twelve times. Twelve pats on the back for Boone and his predecessor, Joe Girardi. In six of those seasons, the Yankees either won the division or earned an automatic wild card bid into the American League Division Series (ALDS): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2019, 2022 and 2024. In the other six, they were subject to a wild card game or series before the ALDS began: 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2025.

A team that earns a direct bid into the ALDS must win three series in order to win a championship ring: the ALDS, the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and the World Series. A wild card team must win four — adding in the best-of-three wild card series. Therefore, the Yankees needed to win three consecutive series six times and four consecutive series six times. Assume, as Boone does, that a series is nothing more than a coin ﬂip — each team has a 50% chance of advancing. The odds of winning four consecutive series then is (0.5)4, or 0.0625. The odds of winning three consecutive series is (0.5)3, or 0.125. Multiplying the inverse of each postseason’s probability together results in the following not-too-messy half of an equation: (0.9375)6 times (0.875)6 The result? 0.3047. Translated into English, the probability that the Yankees did not win a World Series in the last sixteen years — under Boone’s crapshoot model — is 30.47%. In 69.53% of these simulations, they would have won at least one World Series by now. Perhaps the Yankees should look into whether the dice are weighed against them. Maybe it is their defeatist, “everything is out of our hands” mindset that tilts the odds out of their favor. Attitudes trickle down — and Boone’s might just be poisonous.

HOYA

Yankees manager Aaron Boone is treating the postseason like a toss-up, but the math shows they are underperforming.

SUDOKU

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Scrimmage Is First Cross-Town Game Since 1981

GWU, from A12

getting the ball out of their own half. On one possession, the Revolutionaries deﬂected the ball three times before the Hoyas ultimately turned it over on a ten-second violation.

Both teams then descended into sloppy play, and scoring all but stopped for almost three minutes at the end of the half.

Caleb Williams finally ended the cold stretch with a drilled three-pointer to stretch the lead to 33-24. The next time around, Mack dished to Halaifonua in the paint for a nice layup.

Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley called a timeout to set up his defense, and Harris-Smith exchanged words and a few pushes with the GWU huddle, as the game remained incredibly physical for a preseason exhibition.

To end the half, GWU guard Trey Autry banked in an improbable three-pointer at the buzzer, falling backward between two defenders. Georgetown entered the break with the same narrow lead they had for much of the period, with the score 38-32.

At the half, the Hoyas swapped out Halaifonua for Iwuchukwu in the starting line-up. On the ﬁrst possession, Mack missed a step-back, one-legged midrange shot, but Caleb Williams tapped it back in for a put-back.

VILLANOVA, from A12

muster a tame eﬀort from close range, which Dickinson claimed. Georgetown kept possession into the next period of the game but could not muster anything to seriously trouble Dickinson.

In the 79th minute, Montgomery drew a foul at the top of the box on the left side. The shot curled over the wall, beating Dickinson clean, but clipped off the top of the crossbar and back into play. Georgetown kept the ball and came back down the right side; Spengler crossed a great ball for Means, whose effort was stopped by Dickinson on the goalline. In the 84th minute, Lardner picked up the ball from a throwin and cut across the field before curling an effort from the edge of the box which bent just around the far post.

A minute later, Lardner was sprung down the right wing by Means before she unleashed a strike from inside the box, which was tipped over for a corner kick. The corner fell to Boodell on the back post, but her eﬀort only met the side-netting. The game ended 1-0 for the Hoyas.

Georgetown and GWU then went back and forth with made layups. Harris-Smith and Lewis forced consecutive turnovers, but the Hoyas were unable to score on either possession. As Halaifonua made his ﬁrst appearance of the half, he threw the ball away. Into the under-16 timeout, Georgetown led 44-38.

Immediately after, Mulready missed an open three, and GWU responded with a made three of their own to make the game the closest it had been since the beginning of the ﬁrst half.

The Hoyas responded, kicking it around the outside for yet another Caleb Williams three.

A Mulready long-range make extended the lead back to 50-43.

Mulready, who had entered the transfer portal after struggling to break into the rotation last year, started to heat up and the offense began to run through him into the under-12 timeout, where Georgetown led 53-46.

Out of the break, Mulready nailed another three, turned to the Georgetown bench and flapped his arms like a bird — the bench mirrored his celebration. Redshirt sophomore Jayden Fort checked into the game and slammed home an alley-oop to make it 60-49, forcing the Revolutionaries’ coach Chris Caputo to call timeout as chants of “Hoya Saxa” rang around the Smith Center.

After the timeout, GWU’s oﬀense oﬀered glimmers of hope, and the

Hoyas were unable to separate themselves. They entered the under-8 timeout with Georgetown still holding a 62-54 lead.

A couple of key plays from Hoya stars kept the lead intact down the stretch. After a Mack turnover put the Revolutionaries on the fastback, Lewis chased down Dinkins for an emphatic block. Back on oﬀense, Jeremiah Williams made a slick behind-the-back bounce pass to set Lewis up for a lay-up.

At the ﬁnal media timeout, the Hoyas led 67-59. Both teams kept trading makes and turnovers, but the lead remained set between 8 and 10 points as the clock wound down. With two minutes left, a Bubu Benjamin three made GWU’s deﬁcit 6 points, but a Mack step-back from midrange put the Hoyas back up by 8.

As the clock ran down and the Revolutionaries were forced to foul, their press forced Cooley to burn two timeouts, but they were ultimately unable to mount a last-minute comeback as time expired.

For Georgetown, Caleb Williams led the way with 20 points, 1 assist and 6 rebounds. Mack and Mulready followed him with 16 and 12 points, respectively. Mack also contributed 4 assists in his ﬁrst game as the Hoyas’ undisputed ball-handler.

Cooley said he was proud of the eﬀort his players showed in front of a tough away crowd.

“We got better today,” Cooley said at a postgame press conference. “Are we going to play 11 guys the whole year? Probably not.”

Half of GWU’s 64 points came from inside the paint. Georgetown rotated between Iwuchukwu and Halaifonua at center, but Cooley said he was not ready to judge their performances.

“I thought when we executed some things, they seemed rushed. I didn’t have the rim protection that we’re going to need,” Cooley said. Cooley said he was proud of the team’s on-ball defense, but that the oﬀ-ball defense needed improvement and that he values tough defenders.

“I’m not going to have too many weak guys out there,” Cooley told The Hoya. “It’s not a democracy on defense, it’s 100% a dictatorship.” Caputo, in his press conference, appreciated the crowd, GWU’s largest at home since 2016, and the opportunity to play Georgetown.

“I would love to do this as a real game, but I also told Ed if you want to do this here, same time, same place, that would be great,” Caputo told The Hoya. “I don’t see a downside to it.” The Hoyas will play their second and ﬁnal preseason scrimmage against the University of Kentucky Oct. 30 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

ning by a goal, which made for a stressful end to the evening.

“We were a little bit unlucky,” Nolan told The Hoya. “We had a couple of good chances, a couple of good scrambles. We hit the crossbar. We got a number of good crosses across the face of goal.”

“Sometimes on a day like that, you start to feel that it’s not going to be your night, and maybe the other team will score on their only chance,” Nolan added. “But give the kids credit. They took care of business, and we got the three points, which is ultimately what we wanted to do.”

Nolan stressed that while the Hoyas could have scored more goals, the result was important in the broader context of what has become a historic season for the team.

“We did something tonight that we’ve never done, in that we’ve won nine conference games in a row and in a season,” Nolan said.

Head Coach Dave Nolan said he was happy with the team’s performance despite only win-

The Hoyas finish their regular season at Xavier University Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. Xavier is second in the Big East, behind only Georgetown. If the Musketeers beat Marquette University on Saturday, they will be two points out of first place, so the winner of the Xavier-Georgetown game would win the Big East regular-season title. Hoyas Pick

FOOTBALL

COLGATE, from A12

the previous two downs. The next two possessions ended in punts for both teams after a lack of gained yardage.

The Hoyas got the ball back with 3:01 remaining in the half, and on their 11th play, after Colgate almost grabbed an interception, Anderson stepped up for a field goal attempt from 42 yards that swung to the left. Colgate got the ball back with 0:42 remaining in the half and made no significant progress.

The third quarter saw much of the same back-and-forth play as the second quarter. Georgetown got the ball with 7:46 left in the quarter and, over 11 plays, worked their way down the field, putting sophomore running back Savion Hart in position to rush up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown. Anderson’s extra point was also good, putting the Hoyas up 14-7 with 1:41 remaining in the third quarter. With a “roughing the passer” penalty, Colgate found their way to a 1st and 10 at Georgetown’s 9-yard line to end the quarter. Despite finding themselves only 9 yards from the goal line to start the 4th quarter, the Raiders were unable to find their way to a touchdown and were forced

to attempt a ﬁeld goal after regressing 2 yards and 2 incomplete passes. Colgate made the ﬁeld goal, creeping up towards Georgetown’s 14-10 lead with 14:12 remaining in play.

In a 4-play possession, the Hoyas made minimal progress and punted the ball back to the Raiders. Across 9 plays, Colgate was able to complete a pass from 12 yards for a touchdown — and the extra point — to propel them into a 17-14 lead with 9:51 remaining.

The Hoyas were quick to respond and, with a 36-yard Kibble gain and 12-yard gain from a Raiders foul, found their way to the 12-yard line. Thomas II rushed for his second touchdown of the day, and Anderson’s conversion was once again successful, putting Georgetown up 21-17 with 6:41 remaining in play.

Georgetown forced a Colgate turnover on downs, and ﬁrstyear defensive back Brian Lloyd grabbed an interception to cement the Hoyas’ victory.

For their eﬀorts against the Raiders, three Hoyas were awarded Patriot League weekly honors. Lloyd was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week; Thomas II and junior cornerback Braylon Wise — who led on the defensive end with 14 tackles — were named Patriot League Honorable Mentions.

Head Coach Rob Sgarlata

said he was mostly happy with the team’s performance and game atmosphere.

“It was awesome to play in front of all of the Georgetown families on Family Weekend,” Sgarlata told Georgetown Athletics. “All of these Patriot League games seem to come down to four or ﬁve plays in the last series, so I’m proud of this team; they’re very resilient. We talk about “sisu,” a Finnish phrase that translates into cour-

age in the face of adversity, and how we do things, and we weren’t the smartest at the end but we were able to come up with a quality victory against a good Patriot League opponent.”

The Hoyas will return to action Saturday, Oct. 25, at 12 p.m. on Cooper Field against the Bucknell University Bisons (4-4, 1-2 Patriot League). Georgetown will look to capitalize on their recent success and pick up another Patriot League win.

ARIA ZHU/THE

EVE CARON/THE HOYA

Georgetown had 37 shots and 16 shots on goal, but their only goal came from senior forward Henley Tippins (above).

RAFAEL SUANES/GEORGETOWN HOYAS

Senior quarterback Dez Thomas II (center) threw for 201 yards and rushed for 2 touchdowns and 23 yards.

MEN’S SOCCER

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2025

Georgetown men’s soccer took down the DePaul Blue Demons 3-0 as they continued their Big East title run.

T e Yankees’ Math Does Not Add Up

The New York Yankees have been eliminated from postseason contention. Somehow, I have managed to avoid raging enough to eliminate my column from October in response. Still, I would rather do anything in the world than think about the Yankees’ postseason performance — the very little that went right, the mountain of things that went wrong and everything in between. I would even rather do math.

One of the most offensive things about the Yankees in their last few years of mediocrity has been their mindset. As former captain Derek Jeter said, “It doesn’t matter what you do during a 162 game schedule. It all boils down to the World Series. Win a championship or it’s a failure.” Win a championship or it’s a failure. Period. End of sentence. Every year my October has been cut short in the last sixteen, a well-meaning friend will try to cheer me up: “But they did so well!” No, they didn’t. There is no “did so well” — there is a World Series, or there is a failure of a season. If Jeter believes that, then so do I. But the people who matter do not define success in this way. After the Yankees slinked lifelessly out of the 2025 postseason, manager Aaron Boone delivered a post-mortem press conference. What should have been an introspective eulogy sounded more like a half-hearted excuse: the Yankees, said Boone, “are working our tails off to put us in the best position to take our shot every year and take a run in October.”

See HERMAN, A11

Sam

Fishman Staff Writer

Senior forward Henley Tippins scored the single goal in a 1-0 match to propel the No. 12 Georgetown University women’s soccer team (13-2-2, 9-0 Big East) to a win over the Villanova University Wildcats (9-7, 4-4 Big East) Oct. 22 in their last home game of the regular season. The Hoyas’ first chance came two minutes into the game when a ball from the right side of the box fell to senior midfielder Shay Montgomery, who couldn’t keep her effort under the crossbar. In the sixth minute, the Hoyas generated two corner kicks; junior defender Kaya Hanson steered the second one goalwards, but Villanova goalie Hannah Dickinson kept it out. Georgetown’s next chance came in the 14th minute when graduate forward and captain Maja Lardner drove down the left side and played a ball to Tippins, whose flicked effort was deflected and fell back to Lardner, whose volley was also deflected out for a corner. On the corner, redshirt senior midfielder Mary Cochran whipped it in for a Hanson header that just missed the left post. Five minutes later, senior forward Natalie Means blitzed down the left side and crossed to Tippins, who tried another flick which rolled just beyond the far post. With 18 minutes left to go in the half, junior defender Isabel Boodell made a crucial tackle to prevent a shot from around six yards out, Villanova’s best chance of the night.

A minute later, the ball fell to Tippins just past midﬁeld, who thread-

TALKING POINTS

Georgetown. I can’t give two shits about St. John’s and UConn. I’m sitting at the Georgetown table. Ed Cooley, when asked if St. John’s or UConn would win the Big East

Georgetown vs. Villanova

Oct. 25 @ 6 p.m.

Shaw Field

NUMBERS GAME

Hoyas Beat GWU in Physical, Sold-Out Scrimmage

Nate Seidenstein Senior Sports Editor

The last time Georgetown University played George Washington University (GWU) in men’s basketball — on Dec. 16, 1981 at the Capital Center in Landover, Md. — the world was a very different place. Ronald Reagan had just begun his first term as president. The Washington, D.C. Metro was still under construction. Georgetown just joined the fledgling Big East conference and was a season off its first Elite Eight appearance. College basketball was a very different place, too. Transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) deals were concepts decades away from invention. Georgetown and GWU are meeting in a public exhibition,

evidence of the changes to the sport. The NCAA is allowing teams to play two preseason exhibitions for the ﬁrst time this season, replacing the past practice of closed-door ‘secret scrimmages.’

The Georgetown Hoyas took down the GWU Revolutionaries 73-64 in a tightly-fought preseason scrimmage Oct. 18.

Although the result did not count, neither the team nor the fans seemed to know that. GWU announced that the game, at the Smith Center, was sold out, and that sell-out crowd was loud, especially as the game’s physicality increased. Georgetown started three returners — sophomore forward Caleb Williams, junior guard Malik Mack and sophomore center Julius Halaifonua — and two transfers — junior guards KJ Lewis and DeShawn Harris-

Smith. The Hoyas were without graduate guard Langston Love, who had been struggling with an injury and participated in warmups only. Besides Love, every scholarship player saw playing time during the scrimmage.

Halaifonua won the opening tip for the Hoyas. On the ﬁrst possession, Lewis turned the ball over, giving the Revolutionaries a fastbreak layup to open up scoring.

Mack responded quickly, nailing a three-pointer for Georgetown’s ﬁrst lead. GWU guard Garrett Jones made another layup, and Mack was fouled on his three-point attempt, making all three for a 6-4 lead.

Center Rafael Castro dunked over Halaifonua to tie the game at 6. After a jump ball, Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley turned to his bench for the ﬁrst time,

subbing in senior center Vince Iwuchukwu for Halaifonua.

Another GWU dunk, this time by forward Tyrone Marshall, meant the Revolutionaries had scored eight of their ﬁrst nine points in the paint.

The Hoyas ﬁnally responded with a wide-open three from Williams, before the game started to settle into a more even pace. At the ﬁrst media timeout, the teams were tied 9-9.

Out of the break, Lewis retrieved his own rebound oﬀ a missed layup and kicked it out to Williams for another three.

Again, though, GWU responded with a fastbreak dunk. This backand-forth stretch continued for a few possessions, with both teams missing good three-point shots, but Georgetown led 14-13.

On the next possession, sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready ended the dry shooting

streak with a made three. A made layup from sophomore forward Isaiah Abraham gave Georgetown a 19-13 lead at the under-12-minute timeout. The Georgetown run continued as Abraham cut to the basket for an uncontested finger roll, until GWU guard Tre Dinkins finally broke the Revolutionaries’ bad shooting spell — making 2 threes as their defense forced two turnovers on back-to-back possessions. GWU’s 9-3 run came to an end at the third media timeout of the first half, the Hoyas still leading 25-22. The Revolutionaries then started applying defensive pressure, shifting into a fullcourt man defense and giving Georgetown a hard time

ed it through to Lardner. Lardner moved in towards goal down the right side, but Dickinson closed the angle and saved the shot. In the 32nd minute, Tippins squared the ball for Means at the top of the box, whose effort curled just over the crossbar. With five minutes left in the half, Means drove down the left side again and crossed to Lardner, who sent the ball just wide of the front post. A minute later, sophomore midfielder Caroline Spengler

Madeline Wang

Senior Sports Editor

For the ﬁrst time since 2011, the Georgetown University football team (4-3, 1-1 Patriot League) downed the Colgate University Raiders (2-5, 1-2 Patriot League) 21-17 at home Oct. 18 in front of a Parents Weekend crowd almost double that of any other home match this season. The game marked the two teams’ 22nd matchup and the Hoyas’ second win ever over Colgate. The Hoyas came into the game on a high following a 27-24 homecoming victory over Morgan State University (3-4) Oct. 4, which garnered waves of national attention. Senior wide receiver Jimmy Kibble acrobatically caught a Hail Mary touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dez Thomas II in the ﬁnal seconds of the game to secure the Hoyas’ victory. Kibble’s catch landed him on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, made SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Day and was named the Cheez-It Crunch Time Play of the Week. Coming off that catch, the Hoyas had something to prove — and they did just that less than two minutes into the game. After two downs that ended in a loss for the Hoyas, Kibble made 2 consecutive catches to advance Georgetown toward the end zone. In a quarterback scramble, Thomas II rushed 14

yards to secure a touchdown. Sophomore kicker Thomas Anderson sealed the deal to put the Hoyas up 7-0 with 13:02 left in the first quarter.

Colgate responded to Georgetown’s early lead with a touchdown push of its own; the Hoyas’ kickoff was fumbled in the end zone by the Raiders, resulting in a touchback and granting Colgate the ball at the 25-yard line. Across 16 plays, the Raiders marched the ball 75 yards up the field for a final 2-yard run into the end zone. Colgate completed the extra point to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:25 remaining in the first quarter. The Hoyas got the ball back and failed to progress up the field after their third first down, electing to punt on 4th and 9, ending in a touchback. Colgate similarly made little progress, punting on 4th and 5. Georgetown got the ball back with 1:04 remaining on the clock and only gained 2 yards. Georgetown retained possession at the start of the second quarter and, after a few incomplete passes, failed to convert on 4th and 2, succumbing to a turnover on downs. Colgate faced the same fate in their next possession, landing a turnover on downs on a 4th and 1, after running back Marco Maldonado rushed for 1 yard on each of

MATTHEW GASSOSO/THE HOYA

Sophomore forward Caleb Williams (left) and junior guard Malik Mack (right) starred in Georgetown men’s basketball’s scrimmage against GWU. Williams led the Hoyas with 20 points, 1 assist and 6 rebounds. Mack followed him with 16 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

Eilat Herman Sports Columnist