1 19 2012 by The Georgetown Voice

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GEORGETOWN HONORS MLK AT KENNEDY CENTER PAGE 4

TENNIS STARTS SPRING SEASON PAGE 6

D.C. ENTERS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w January 19, 2012 w Volume 46, Issue 2 w georgetownvoice.com

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january 19, 2012

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Mutombo reportedly involved in $10 million conflict minerals scam

President DeGioia reﬂects on the previous semester GU DONOR PRINCE ALWALEED REPORTEDLY EMPLOYS DWARFS AS “JESTERS”

Vox Populi

“POSSUM FOUND ON NEW YORK SUBWAY”

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classifieds Apartment near Georgetown University campus available June 1. Details and map at HoyaHousing.com or Facebook “Georgetown Rentals.” Offered by Charles Sullivan, Re/Max Metropolitan Realty. 301-526-7894 (cell) or 301-947-6500 (main ofﬁce).

Voice Crossword “Fresh Start” by Scott Fligor

24 27

26 31

58 64

43 46

56 59

Across 1. Rush-___Treaty of 1818 6. Abominable snowman 10. Overlook 14. ___-Turkish War, 19111912 15. Author Steinhauer 16. Cartoon pooch

17. Sycophant 18. Presidential protectors: abbr. 19. Dock 20. Physician known for his oath 23. I 24. 2002 Olympics location

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25. British Commonwealth member 27. Its ﬂag displays a trident 31. Imaging machine 32. Green preﬁx 33. Racing gas 35. Nirvana chart topper “In ___” 39. Depressed 40. Shingles 41. Blue Jays, on a scorecard 42. Works 44. Old Japanese currency 45. Supped 46. Emissions monitoring org. 48. Mexican destination 52. Patrick Ewing’s birthplace 56. Coup d’___ 57. Christmas preceder 58. Gulf War 63. Unload 65. Location 66. Skater Sonja 67. Genealogy chart 68. “American ___” 69. The way things are going 70. Plant part 71. Broadway award 72. Meter statistic

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Down 1. Star Wars species 2. Yours, in Paris 3. Georgetown admitted students grp. 4. Long time hangout? 5. Japanese car 6. Courtly title 7. “Born Free” lioness 8. Exam notation 9. Pant’s measurement 10. Unruly hair 11. Colloquialism 12. Italian cathedral city 13. Asiatic peoples, to Pliny 21. Scoundrel 22. Indifferent act 26. River islet 27. 1996 Nobel recipient 28. Rent-___ 29. T. ___ Price 30. Bulgarian capital 34. Without wax 36. Bibliographic notation

37. Campus mil. grp. 38. It can be double-stuffed 40. Swift 43. Stephen of “V For Vendetta” 47. Performs perfectly (on a test) 49. Verizon competitor 50. Afghani language 51. Speaks 52. Kids 53. Turn away 54. Brawl 55. “Do as I say, not ___” 59. Princely prep school 60. Draft eligible 61. Graduation jewelry 62. Old Iranian 64. “Solaris” novelist Stanislaw ___

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Volume 46.2 January 19, 2011 Editor-in-Chief: Sean Quigley Managing Editor: Leigh Finnegan Blog Editor: Jackson Perry News Editor: Vanya Mehta Sports Editor: Kevin Joseph Feature Editor: Rachel Calvert Cover Editor: Richa Goyal Leisure Editor: Heather Regan Voices Editor: Connor Jones Photo Editor: Lucia He Design Editor: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor Projects Editor: Rob Sapunor Crossword Editor: Scott Fligor Assistant Blog Editors: Ryan Bellmore, John Spaunor Assistant News Editors: Soo Chae, Morgan Manger Assistant Sports Editor: Abby Sherburne, Assistant Leisure Editors: Mary Borowiec, Julia Lloyd-George, Kirill Makarenko Assistant Photo Editors: Julian De La Paz, Abby Greene Assistant Design Editors: Madhuri Varapandi, Amanda Dominguez Contributing Editors: Geoffrey Bible, Nico Dodd, Tim Shine

Staff Writers:

Geoffrey Bible, Rachel Calvert, Mary Cass, Soo Chae, Patricia Cipollitti, Jane Conroy, Emma Forster, Daniel Kellner, Julia Lloyd-George, Kirill Makarenko, Morgan Manger, Kelsey McCullough, Eileen McFarland, Matt Pacana, Adam Rosenfeld, Jake Schindler, Melissa Sullivan, Fatima Toskomur

Staff Photographers:

Sam Brothers, Helen Guo, Kirill Makarenko, Tim Markatos, Jackson Perry

Copy Chief: Kim Tay Copy Editors:

Claire McDaniel, Jordan Moeny, Neil Sood, Tori Jovanovski, Keaton Hoffman

Editorial Board Chair: Gavin Bade Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Tiffany Brown, Rachel Calvert, Nicolo Dona Dalle Rose, Leigh Finnegan, Julia Jester, Julia Tanaka

Head of Business: Keaton Hoffman

The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday. This newspaper was made possible with the support of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, online at CampusProgress.org. Campus Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org. Mailing Address: Georgetown University The Georgetown Voice Box 571066 Washington, D.C. 20057

Office: Leavey Center Room 424 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. 20057

Email: editor@georgetownvoice.com Advertising: business@georgetownvoice.com Web Site: georgetownvoice.com The opinions expressed in the Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the Editorial Board. Columns, advertisements, cartoons and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of the Georgetown Voice. The University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors. The Georgetown Voice is produced in the Georgetown Voice office and composed on Macintosh computers using the Adobe InDesign publishing system and is printed by Silver Communications. All materials copyright the Georgetown Voice. All rights reserved. On this week’s cover: Best of 2011 Cover Design: Richa Goyal and Julien Isaacs

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WE HOPE FOR CHANGE

NDAA an inexcusable violation of civil liberties On December 31, President Obama signed into law the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, one of the most constitutionally questionable bills in the history of the United States. The law broadens the definition of the “War on Terror” and legalizes the indefinite detention of foreign nationals and American citizens. While the President issued a signing statement promising to disregard this final provision, one ought to remain intensely skeptical of this claim—indefinite detention, while not yet officially applied to American citizens, is already regularly practiced abroad, and Obama’s rhetoric doesn’t change that it is now part of official law. There has been discussion over whether or not this provision applies to U.S. citizens, but close examination reveals that it does. While the indefinite detention of foreign nationals “suspected” of sympathizing with, or providing any aid to, groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. or “associated forces” is required by the new law, indefinite detention of American citizens in similar

circumstances is optional—it is neither expressly required nor outlawed. The bill does not mandate indefinite detention of American citizens, but it certainly allows it. More broadly, Obama’s embrace of the NDAA underscores his abominable approach to civil liberties. As some law professors and historians have suggested, we may be referring to the “Bush-Obama presidency” for years to come. For not only has the former constitutional lawyer continued some of the worst practices of the Bush administration— illegal wiretapping, indefinite detention, and the use of Guantanamo Bay—but he has come up with some of his own. The war on whistleblowers, for instance, is a hallmark under Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. Using the 1917 Espionage Act, the DOJ has tried five whistleblowers for breaching national security—more than all previous administrations combined. There’s also the consistent evocation of the “state secrets” privilege, which Obama has used to avoid investigations into torture, illegal rendition,

drone policy, or wiretapping. Finally, there’s the most radical policy—the President’s selfasserted right to target American citizens for killing without trial. While no one shed a tear when the American-born cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed by an American drone in Yemen, such actions have troubling consequences. The President’s extraordinary ability to target and kill Americans is unprecedented. While many of the President’s defenders often cite the necessity of engaging with Republicans to justify objectionable policies, this argument falters when it comes to civil liberties. Just as Obama had the ability not to specifically prosecute whistleblowers or approve the targeted killing of American citizens abroad, he had the ability to veto this law. Sadly, it’s rather fitting that Obama responded to this bill by issuing a signing statement expressing his “serious reservations.” No more pitifully do we see the utter clash between rhetoric and reality that has come to characterize his administration’s approach to civil liberties.

DOING WORKERS A SOLID

GSC holds Georgetown to its Jesuit values

As the only campus organization dedicated to the needs of workers, the Georgetown Solidarity Committee plays a uniquely vital role on Georgetown’s campus. Although the University administration is nominally committed to the Jesuit value of social justice, many of the subcontracted workers on campus, including Leo’s workers and custodial staff, work long hours for meager wages, all while receiving inadequate healthcare services. The University regularly subcontracts to corporations—like Aramark and P&R—which have historically come under fire for being reluctant to honor workers’ unionization efforts. Although the University implemented a Just Employment Policy in July 2005, the administration initially barred workers from attending meetings of the Advisory Committee on Business Practices, despite the Com-

mittee’s own guidelines requiring three staff members to be present. The Just Employment Policy was implemented after GSC’s Living Wage Campaign in March, when a group of GSC students mounted a successful hunger strike to urge the administration to raise custodial workers’ wages. Even after this successful campaign, the administration was reluctant to grant workers access to the ACBP meeting concerning their own wages. The University’s tepid response to workers’ needs speaks to the importance of GSC’s work. The University’s Just Employment Policy sets minimum standards for workers’ wages and requires vendors to respect workers’ rights to unionize. However, in the case of the Leo’s campaign, workers reported that they consistently faced arbitrary discipline, including termination, by Aramark management. GSC members helped

the Leo’s workers organize in secret for four years, gathering pledges of support to present a united front to the Aramark management. Solidarity clearly played a significant role in encouraging Leo’s workers to confront a resistant and retributive bureaucracy. The prolonged, strategic efforts of GSC came through where the University’s passive employment policy fell short. Even though the University boasts many student groups dedicated to worthy social justice endeavors—from Prison Outreach to D.C. Reads—GSC is unique in focusing on the rights of workers on campus. Students who organize with GSC gain valuable experience that will help them continue their work after graduation. And they are certainly an indispensable asset to Georgetown, where the administration must always be held accountable for ensuring workers’ rights.

D.C.P.S. TAKES THE CAKE

Extra funds best applied to public schools Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and his administrative staff rang in the new year by doling out the $42.2 million that D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Natwar Gandhi, projected as a surplus from initial predictions for fiscal year 2012’s revenue. Gray allocated over half the funds—$21.4 million—to D.C. Public Schools. The announcement stood in stark contrast to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula used in the Per Pupil Funding Analysis in the Mayor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, which established a requirement for public and public charter students to be funded equally. Since then, Executive Director of D.C. Association of Chartered Schools Ramona Edelin and supporters have spoken out to gain attention for the many financial pressures placed upon charter schools, and to call Mayor Gray out for contradicting previous statements that charter schools are full partners in the D.C. public school system. Charter schools receive public funding in all areas but facility establishment and up-

keep, and are characterized by the waivers they receive from their public school districts which allow them a certain amount of money in exchange for the promise of fulfilling performance goals established in the school’s charter. If the school does not produce higher academic results within 3 to 5 years, it is closed down. Though charters in D.C. have consistently produced higher numbers for several qualitative evaluations, including literacy, graduation, and college acceptance rates, their enrollment is confined to the students and parents concerned enough with education to look outside traditional options. This means that they typically enroll better students than traditional public schools. With the expansion of school choice, traditional public schools in D.C. have suffered lower enrollment rates due to lack of funding and inadequate management; parents in neighborhoods with failing schools seek alternatives to public schools for their children. This means that, as enrollment drops, already struggling public schools receive

less per-pupil funding and continue to spiral downward. This has created an achievement gap among D.C. students as seats in the comparably few high-performing charter schools are raffled off at random. Charter schools are undeniably positive when they work well, but even the good ones leave many children behind due to lack of space in their classrooms. This discrepancy makes it clear that equal educational access for all children needs to be more clearly prioritized in the District. The extra millions were best spent as they were—on D.C. Public Schools—as it serves a larger group of students and has consistently shown lower performance levels. Though charter schools have provided additional resources and choice to students in D.C., they necessarily exclude a majority of kids from enrollment. Mayor Gray should be praised for affording all the funds to traditional public schools, as he showed a commitment to increasing educational opportunity for every student in the District.

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Georgetown to move SCS downtown by Kevin Diasti During his yearly sit-down with campus media outlets, University President John DeGioia announced Georgetown’s plan to provide a new location in downtown Washington for one thousand School of Continuing Studies students by the end of 2013. The development is an attempt to accommodate the growth of Georgetown’s Continuing Studies department, as well as a response to local neighborhood groups that have opposed the University’s expansion in the area. “We’re now looking for something in downtown Washington, particularly for the adult learner,” DeGioia said. “We think that [it] will address a number of the concerns that we worked with our community—our neighborhood community—on, as it relates to the growth of Continuing Studies, which has been pretty exciting.” The exact location of the development has not been determined, he added. “[It’s] not clear yet what we can do, but we’re currently working with real estate brokers, trying to determine what spaces would make the most sense for us, for a Georgetown downtown,” DeGioia said.

Assistant Vice President for Communications Stacy Kerr said the University “is looking for locations all over the area.” DeGioia said the top priority for the location of the satellite campus will be accessibility for the working adult. He said it would “likely be near a Metro site.” He also claimed the new SCS site will serve to help ameliorate tensions with opponents of the Campus Plan, like the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E and the Citizens Association of Georgetown, which have opposed further campus expansion into the Georgetown neighborhood in the past. Issues with building the SCS near the main campus have been realized by the administration as well as the neighbors. “There is just not enough space,” Kerr said. In an area where land is precious and tensions between the University and the neighbors run high, University officials hope that the new SCS be in a location that will address the demand for continuing studies in D.C. while providing a living environment that will not infringe on the needs and desires of students and neighbors. Georgetown established its SCS in 1956, and the school was

originally entitled “Georgetown University School for Summer and Continuing Education.” The school’s first degree program in liberal studies was launched in 1974, and it has since grown to offer more than 600 courses and degree programs ranging from bachelors to graduate and professional certificate programs. In addition, it is home to Georgetown Summer School and specialized Georgetown summer programs. Today, SCS is primarily utilized by adult and graduate students, most of whom live in the greater D.C. metro area. Currently, SCS students study at a satellite location in Clarendon, Virginia. The expansion to another location in the D.C. area results from a growing need and demand for continuing studies among adults in our community. The new site for the SCS also presents a new opportunity for Georgetown effectively to expand its role in the realm of adult education. “In addition to being America’s college town, this is the most educated populace per capita of any city in the country,” DeGioia said. The D.C. community “wants continuing education, so we’re just trying to keep up with demand for us, for the kinds of programs we deliver.”

january 19, 2012

University releases final Campus Plan by Amy Liu After almost a year of hearings, Georgetown submitted its final defense of its 2010 Campus Plan to the D.C. Office of Planning on Friday. Originally submitted to the Zoning Commission on Dec. 30, 2010, the plan has faced much opposition from community groups, and has been formally rejected by the Burleith Citizens Association and the Citizens Association of Georgetown. The plan includes the creation of a New South Student Center, expansion of Lauinger Library, and enhanced academic space in the Leavey Center, Reiss, and Walsh. The University has also committed to freezing undergraduate enrollment at current levels with a voluntary enrollment maximum for graduate students, and increasing the number of dormitory beds on campus. Complaints from neighborhood groups range from the shortage of on-campus housing to unacceptable noise levels at night. While in May the Office of Planning sided with neighbors, calling for 100 percent on-campus undergraduate housing, Georgetown has made no such commitments. In the new response, the University claims that the total num-

ber of students living off campus is less than the OP suggests, and cites other urban campuses, like Harvard University’s, which are significantly less involved in the regulating of their off-campus students. Georgetown also asserts that no other institution in the country houses all of its students on campus. Georgetown has launched a series of new initiatives to address citizen concerns, including trash pickup, a weekend M Street shuttle, and an increased presence by Metropolitan Police officers around campus. However, BCA and CAG have claimed that these measures have not significantly impacted quality of life in the neighborhoods. The Zoning Commission has yet to respond to the final version Campus Plan. Nonetheless, Georgetown President Jack DeGioia expressed hope that the final documents will be positively received. “We believe that the proposals that we’ve made are very reasonable, very responsible, very responsive,” he said. He explained that changes in the plan reflect “further engagement and deep listening to concerns that were raised in the hearing on November 17 and subsequent conversations that we’ve had with the Office of Planning.”

Obamas join Georgetown to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy by Morgan Manger On Monday, Georgetown held its tenth annual “Let Freedom Ring” Concert at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall in celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The show included a performance by Grammy winner Bobby McFerrin, the presentation of the John Thompson Legacy of a Dream award to Dr. Clarence B. Jones, and an appearance by President Barack Obama. The concert began with a piece of music entitled “Buses are A-Comin,” inspired by the “Freedom Riders” of the 1960s, who rode buses in southern cities in protest of segregation laws. After the music, several speakers, including Toddchelle Young (COL ’12), discussed King’s legacy. After these speeches, University President John DeGioia presented the Legacy of a Dream Award to Dr. Jones, who served as lawyer, advisor, and speech writer for Dr. King. Jones discussed the

2008 election of President Barack Obama with the audience, saying that it was the result of the work of many activists, like King, who struggled for equal rights. According to Jones, both Martin Luther King and John Thompson “challenge us to be the very best that we can be,” and that Americans must “go where there is no path and make a trail.” He accepted the award in tribute to other fighters, or, as MLK once called them, “winter soldiers,” who struggled in all conditions for equality. In an interview, Dr. Maurice Jackson, a Georgetown professor of African American studies, said he thought Dr. Jones was a deserving recipient of the award.“Not only was he Dr. King’s lawyer … he played many different roles behind the scenes,” Jackson said. “It’s great that people like that are honored. … Everyone is not going to be on the marching lines, but everyone can make [a] contribution.”

After the Thompson award presentation, McFerrin preformed for the crowd. His performance mainly consisted of vocal improvisation, and at many times he encouraged the audience to participate along with him and the choir. While the concert had a celebratory atmosphere, many speakers reminded the audience that the fight for dignity and justice has not ended. “The danger of doing these kind of observances every year is that we treat them as retrospectives… we lose sight of the fact that there’s still yet work to do” Rev. Nolan Williams Jr., the event’s music director, said. Dr. Jackson asserted that inequality between the African American and white communities persists today, especially in areas of education and employment. “Many African American males are dropping out [of school],” he said. “Whites in Washington, D.C, make three dollars and six cents for every one dollar a black person

makes,” pointing out that the unemployment rate in predominantly black Anacostia is 28 percent, above the national average of 8 percent. It is this kind of indignity and injustice that the concert encouraged people to fight against as part of its celebration of Dr. King, Rev. Williams asserted. “We have a theme for all of you who believe that social injus-

tice anywhere is social injustice everywhere,” Rev. Williams said at the end of his speech, echoing the ideas of the Freedom Riders. “You can lock us up, you can shut down government, you can do whatever, but buses are still a-comin… and it is my hope and my prayer that all of you will leave here tonight with that renewed determination.”

LK photos

President DeGioia and Coach Thompson presented an award to Dr. Jones.

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GUSA campaigns for vote on SAFE reform projects by Ambika Tripathi Last week, Georgetown University Student Association Senior Counselor Sam Ungar (COL ’12) sent an email to GUSA senators and campus media announcing the creation of Students for a Better Georgetown, an independent advocacy group of GUSA members involved in Working Groups for Georgetown Energy, the Social Innovation and Public Service fund, and the New South Student Center. Ungar said the group intends to mount an “aggressive” pro-referendum campaign, encouraging students to vote for the fund allocations. “It was obvious that all three of the [referenda] should pass, so we wanted to bring everybody together as best as we could to make sure that we are all fighting together,” Ungar said. Students for a Better Georgetown hosted two town hall meetings this week, and over 30 students knocked on around 1,600 doors in support of the campaign on Tuesday. “Our knockers were knocking at an average of one door every seven seconds,” Ungar said. “We’re really pushing.” The campaign, with Ungar as manager and GUSA Vice President Greg Laverriere (COL ’12) as chairman, plans to hold an endowment referendum from the

24th to the 26th for students to vote on the reform proposals. In Spring 2011, the Student Activities and Fee Endowment, or “SAFE reform,” unanimously passed in both the Finances and Appropriations Committee and the GUSA Senate, mandating that $2.4 million from Georgetown’s endowment, which had accumulated in recent years from the annual mandatory Student Activity Fee, be spent. The advisory board of the Endowment Commission decided to allocate these funds among the three leading student projects—SIPS, Georgetown Energy, and NSSC. The three student groups will be receiving approximately $1.2 million, $250,000, and $2 million, respectively. SIPS’ funds will go towards investing in student initiatives embodying the Jesuit ideal of “men and women for others.” Any graduate from Georgetown since 2001 will be able to apply for funding for a socially innovative, or publicservice-oriented entrepreneurship project. “We think it’s the first in its kind in any campus in the world,” Ungar said. “SIPS will work to help individual students with nonprofit, social, and business ventures to bring them up to scale,” SIPS co-founder Paige Lovejoy (SFS ’12) said. A student committee and advisory council will connect

Gray should side with Occupy

Last Thursday, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray released a letter sent to the head of the National Park Service requesting the removal of Occupy protesters at McPherson Square. The message, addressed to Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, included a memorandum from the city’s health director detailing problems with rodent infestation and concerns about hypothermia and communicable diseases in the park. Since both Occupy locations in D.C. fall under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, there is little that the D.C. government can do beyond this sort of rhetoric to impact the movement. This means that Gray’s letter is about as strong an action as his administration can take in opposition to the protesters. This is a bit ironic, considering many of his attitudes towards the movement in the past and his own legacy of civil disobedience. Back in April, Gray was arrested for blocking traffic at a demonstration

in support of D.C. voting rights— a tactic commonly used by the McPherson Occupiers. More recently, he publicly voiced support for the Occupiers’ hunger strike for District voting rights and autonomy, and mandated D.C. police to take a hands-off role in their oversight of the encampments. While the Mayor may have questions about Occupy’s specific goals, it is clear that he acknowledges the positive force it exerts on American politics. Cooperation with the movement, and not confrontation, is clearly the best option for Gray’s government in addressing the problems in the health director’s memo. This need not be difficult. Some of the worries addressed in the letter already seem exaggerated. Organizers at McPherson say they have not experienced hypothermia or disease issues, and the Square continues to be a safer and healthier place for dozens

students with experts in their field. Since the University’s endowment includes contributions from Georgetown graduates’ tuition, recent alumni will also have access to the SIPS fund for research and public sector projects. Georgetown Energy will allocate their money to installing solar panels on University-owned townhouses along 37th Street, and into a Revolving Green Fund. The referendum is projected to establish Georgetown as a leader in sustainability as a university by providing a showcase of houses with solar panels along 37th street. “Tour guides will point at it in years to come,” Ungar said. The Revolving Green Loan Fund will allow GUSA to make continuing investments in sustainability in years to come. The “solar street,” which will be comprised of seven to nine townhouses and begin construction this summer, will cost about $50,000, and in the subsequent 20 years will generate $100,000 in savings back to students. The remaining $200,000 will be placed into a Revolving Green Loan Fund, which will be administered independently through the SIPS fund. “This fund is meant to sponsor student sustainability projects on campus,” Townhouse Working Group member Patricia Cipollitti (SFS ’15) said. “Any student can

apply for a loan to this fund and, eventually, once the fund is big enough, it will start to give grants for sustainability projects as well.” [Full disclosure: Cipollitti is a staff writer for the Voice.] The New South Student Center proposal will build an outdoor terrace by New South Hall overlooking the Potomac and revamp the building’s first level into student space. The area will provide space for students to relax, study, and host events. For each referendum to pass, a minimum of two thousand students must vote on it, with at least 1001 voting

of homeless individuals in this especially tough time of year. As for sanitation concerns, protesters are happy to comply with cleanliness initiatives. “We’d love to work with them on getting the rats out,” Sam Jewler, a media organizer for the Occuper, told The Washington Post. “We don’t think that requires getting the tents out.”

actions of the Occupy campaign. His victory over the incumbent Adrian Fenty in 2008 was largely a result of his strong support among working-class and minority communities around the District. Occupy’s most fundamental role is to push political discourse to the left, and the more this happens, the better the situation for Gray’s core constituency. A more progressive political environment would beget more federal assistance to schools, stricter environmental protections and worker safety standards, and greater employee choice and protection in unionization efforts. These are all intrinsically important to workingclass and impoverished families in the District, many of whom live in the shadows of harmful power plants and face intimidation and meager pay and benefits on the job. If Gray truly represents these disenfranchised populations, he should be looking for an excuse to help keep Occupy strong and growing. Instead, he is succumbing to conservative political pressures to jus-

City on a hill by Gavin Bade

A bi-weekly column on D.C. news and politics Government working together with the movement is hardly unprecedented within the past few months. Gray’s own police forces have taken a noticeably cooperative stance toward the movement, including blocking off streets to protect marching protesters from traffic. A self-billed progressive Democrat, Mayor Gray must notice the correlation between his societal goals and the rhetoric and

“yes.” Unsurprisingly, GUSA members are urging students to pass all of them. “They are three very different proposals, but they share the common theme that they are going to have tangible and visible benefits for the campus community,” Ungar said. Voting tables will be set up by Leo O’Donovan’s dining hall. All three of the ideas must pass the 2,000 votes threshold total in order to be considered legitimate. “I think that these three proposals are such a slam dunk that people will be excited to vote for them,” Ungar said.

NICK BAKER

GUSA senators held a town hall Wednesday night on the SAFE proposals.

tify shutting the movement down and ending the dramatic increase in discussion of class, economic opportunity, and environmentalism it has inspired. Whether he is conforming to the example set by other mayors who have cleared out other encampments, or concerned over wealthy D.C. business leaders and their distaste for the movement, Gray is ignoring what is best for the citizens he was elected to represent. If American progressivism is ever to reclaim the political impetus and end its recent legacy of capitulation and rightward drift, it will take the work of every elected official to push it forward. This is a movement our Mayor should be looking to manage and encourage, and doing anything but immediately rescinding his letter to the National Park Service immediately is a betrayal of his electoral promise to be the voice of the marginalized communities in D.C. Feeling displaced, underrepresented, misunderstood? Come occupy Gavin’s space at gbade@georgetownvoice.com

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january 19, 2012

Tennis serves up start of spring season at VCU by Melissa Sullivan With the spring season quickly approaching, the Georgetown varsity men’s and women’s tennis teams are eagerly anticipating their upcoming matchups. In 2012, both teams are facing much greater expectations, even after a promising 2011 finish. During the fall, the men’s team ended with a record of 7-10, and lost their first two matches in the Big East Tournament. The Hoyas graduated two seniors from last year’s squad, and are as a result left with nine players as opposed to last year’s 11. However, the squad still remains very confident, led by senior Andrew Bruhn and junior Charlie Caris. “I have a lot of confidence in our squad this year,” Caris said. “And it’s my job as an upperclassman to project that confidence during each match of the season. My goal for the team this season is for everyone to show up ready to play for every match.” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said he wants the men’s squad to have a winning record this season. “We’re just looking for more wins, especially against teams that are close to us,” he said. “Two of the teams we play this weekend are both pretty good teams that beat us in the past. Those are the teams that we can beat, the ones that are kind of close.” The men’s squad begins its season at Virginia Commonwealth this Saturday at the 4+1 tournament. At last spring’s VCU 4+1 Tournament, the Blue and Gray performed disappointingly, also falling to both Virginia Commonwealth and Campbell University. To prepare for this tournament, the teams have been having

normal practices, with a heightened sense of urgency only days before the beginning of their spring campaign. “We’re just trying to get as sharp as we can,” Ernst said. “We’ve hit a lot of tennis balls around…we’re just trying to get everyone in that frame of mind that [the season] starts this weekend.” Caris feels that this year’s Hoyas will be able to sustain themselves throughout the season, especially with their extensive offseason regimen. “Our new assistant coach, Matt Brooklyn, has put together a great program of agilities and running that has elevated the team to its best fitness level in my three years here,” Caris said. In line with his view on getting his team in the right mindset, Ernst is not concerned about their loss last year. “VCU is very, very good,” he said. “They’re very tough and 10 years ago … they were one of the top teams in the country. Obviously we’re not going to win all [these matches this weekend], but what we want to improve on are teams that are somewhat equal to us, so we want to go out there and get those wins.” The women’s team will also participate in the 4+1 tournament, with their matchups beginning this Friday. The women lost to both VCU and Campbell last year. Ernst is confident in the women’s team, especially with the addition of sophomore Cornell transfer Kelly Camolli, and because sophomore Tina Tehrani and senior Lauren Greco are now nationally ranked. This type of individual success has inspired team success. “We have two girls who are nationally ranked for the first time,”

LUCIA HE

Andrew Bruhn looks to shine for men’s tennis during his senior season.

he said. “How about the team gets nationally ranked? That is the common goal. If we can knock off a [ranked] team [early] on the women’s side, we could be in the national rankings.” During the 2010-2011 season, the women’s team finished the regular season with a winning record of 11-6. They made it into the fourth round of the Big East Tournament, where they had a 2-2 record and fell to conference

rival Syracuse. Like the men’s team, the women cut two players from their eleven members last season, but only had one student leave the team due to graduation. The women, led by senior Lauren Greco, are all fairly experienced, as eight out of the nine players participated in NCAA matches last season. “We had a slow start last year, and then we really picked it up strong,” he said. “We want to build

on confidence a little earlier in the season.” As for both teams, Ernst places a strong focus on being in top competitive shape. “We want that reputation that we’re just so tough to beat,” he said. “Throughout the lineup we’re mentally and physically tough. That’s what we’ve had a hole in, but now we have a bunch of kids on both teams that are really, really dedicated.”

the Sports Sermon “My sources tell me Rob will star in an epic remake of ‘Deep Throat’” - Colts owner Jim Irsay on Rob Lowe’s false Peyton Manning retirement tweet are set to face off this weekend for the NFC title and a spot in the Super Bowl. Both the Giants and the 49ers found motivation in their locker rooms, among players and, more importantly, their coaches. Numerous 49ers have come out vouching for Coach Jim Harbaugh, noting that he is perceived as “one of the guys,” which allows players to buy into his motivational, heart-onhis-sleeve coaching techniques. He expressed his belief within his locker room, rather than spouting guarantees and placing unnecessary expectations on his team through the media like other coaches.

In a season which promised a final gun-slinging battle At the beginning of this involving the Eagles, Saints, season, football experts looked or Packers, the tables seem to at the San Francisco 49ers and have turned entirely. In realNew York Giants and immediity, however, San Francisco and ately wrote both off as pretendNew York serve as prime exers, saying that no one in the amples of how the formula for right mind would pick either winning the Super Bowl never to win their division or capture changes. Both of these teams a Wild Card spot. And honplay smash-mouth defense estly, who could blame those that dictates the pace of their experts? games. The 49ers have done it The 49ers were just comall season, while the Giants are ing off a 6-10 season with a just now hitting their stride, as quarterback, Alex Smith, who all of their key defensive weaplooked horrendous in the proons are back and healthy for cess. Sadly enough, that only the first time all season. put the team one game out of Of course, for all the hype the division lead in the horrensurrounding their defenses, dous NFC West, but all Super Bowl Pete Rose Central nonetheless, few winners have a Da bettin’ line predicted that they steady hand at would make any quarterback. This Dookies Margin Hoyas noise a season later. season, Smith has (underdogs) (duh!) After all, Smith was (favorites) established himstill under center self as that type Giants Alex Smith of quarterback, all 49ers and a new, unprovKobe MVP en college coach LeBron MVP Wrist ligament too reminiscent of was in charge. Ravens Gronk Nation a fledgling ManPatriots On the other ning during the side of the country, Giants Tom Coughlin, the Gi- Giants’ magical run in 2007. fans’ last football memory was ants’ coach, has a disposition This season, Manning has elDeSean Jackson’s punt return that is quite the opposite of evated his game, establishing in the last game of the season, Harbaugh’s. His stoic nature, himself as one of the game’s which ended Big Blue’s season however, is highly effective, elite quarterbacks. Both are and catapulted the Eagles into as players sense that their un- able to balance their passing the playoffs. Despite finishing wavering coach truly believes skills with their teams’ tre10-6, the same record as eventu- in his team’s ability to win mendous running attacks. al Super Bowl champion Green with the players they have. Over in the AFC, the PaBay, the Giants had a signifi- Although he has lightened up triots have elite quarterback cant amount of work to do. Eli in years past, he never made play, but one of the worst deManning had one of his worst excuses over the losses of fenses in football. Conversely, seasons as a quarterback, Osi Kevin Boss and Steve Smith the Ravens come in with their Umenyiora was holding out, to free agency and virtually signature, vaunted defense, and the team let go of some key half of the team’s defensive but questionable play from offensive weapons. To think unit to injury. Instead, he sim- quarterback Joe Flacco. With they could beat the Eagles’ ply pointed to the next man this in mind, it’s hard to fault a self-proclaimed “Dream Team” on the bench to step up—and hopeful Giants fan for believwas preposterous, especially the players complied. For both ing that the winner of a matchgiven Philadelphia’s offseason Harbaugh and Coughlin, be- up between Coughlin and the spending rampage. lief in their personnel fueled younger, less-established HarBut despite the lack of pre- them, and led them to this baugh will signal the ultimate season media hype, the teams Sunday’s showdown. winner of Super Bowl XLVI.

by Kevin Joseph

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Men’s basketball looks to fix flaws Hoyas prepare for Cards by Tim Shine After adding two more wins to its total with two road games in three days, the Georgetown men’s basketball team returns home this week to face Rutgers on Saturday. While no coach would scoff at sweeping such a quick turnaround, Head Coach John Thompson III wants more from his team as the gauntlet that is Big East conference play rumbles on. Despite sophomore point guard Markel Starks sitting out with an unspecified stomach illness, the No. 10 Hoyas (15-3, 5-2 Big East) defeated the DePaul Blue Demons on Tuesday night 83-75. Still, there were obvious flaws in Georgetown’s game, starting with a season-high 18 turnovers. Those miscues allowed the Blue Demons to hang with the Hoyas for most of the game, remaining within a basket as late as the 13-minute mark of the second half. “You look at that and say, ‘We still came away with the win,” Thompson told reporters after the game. “But we’re better than we showed them here.”

Against St. John’s on Sunday, the Hoyas prevailed 69-49, but that impressive margin of victory was the product of a 21-4 run over the final six minutes, much of which came after the Red Storm’s chief offensive threat, freshman Moe Harkless, fouled out. Focusing on the ﬂaws in two games that the Hoyas won by a combined 28 points may seem like nitpicking, but affordable mistakes against the Big East’s bottom-dwellers can be fatal, even against the conference’s middle class — a fact the team witnessed firsthand in losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati. Georgetown plays five games over the next three weeks, a stretch that could either solidify the team’s position as a Big East contender or leave it stranded in the middle of the pack. First up is an inconsistent Rutgers squad, with two wins against top-10 opponents. Then there’s a road trip to play a desperate, Big East-winless Pittsburgh team, followed by a marquee home game against No. 13 Connecticut. The stretch closes out with a home game

ABBY GREENE

Henry Sims, Hollis Thompson, and Otto Porter pace the Hoyas’ rebounding.

Enjoy the ride, Hoya fans An essential component to being a fan of any competitive college basketball program is the ability to manage one’s expectations. With over a hundred Division I schools and just one champion, satisfaction with one’s team at the end of the season can be measured only partially by simple wins and losses; since almost everyone finishes a loser, a team’s real narrative comes from its success or failure in the eyes of its fans. The Georgetown men’s basketball team has embodied this cruel reality in recent years. Despite gaudy regular season records and accolades for individual players, the team has been harshly criticized for its failure to win a single game in the NCAA tournament since 2008.

Over the course of this young season, many have attempted to differentiate this group of Hoyas from those since 2007, in hopes that perhaps this team can be the one to get the squad winning in March again. Coach John Thompson III has primarily praised the team’s depth, length, and youth as crucial attributes that distinguish it from its predecessors. Additionally, the team’s experiences in China helped galvanize the team and foster a collective spirit of toughness that previous teams might have lacked. But look beyond the composition of the squad and its preseason bonding, and it seems that the narrative of the Hoyas’s 201112 season is so far eerily similar to those of previous years in which they dramatically failed to meet expectations. In every season

against South Florida and the biggest game of the season: a matchup with No. 1 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, the only time Georgetown will play the Orange this year and the last conference matchup between the teams. Over the past few weeks, the Hoyas’ play has been stellar outside of a few crucial areas. Maintaining control of the ball has been the main challenge. Over the past five games, Georgetown has averaged 15.8 turnovers, compared to 12.9 turnovers for the season so far. Even more troubling might be the Hoyas’ recent struggles from the free throw line. The players have proven themselves this year as one of the best-shooting teams in the country, but they shoot a pedestrian 70.1 percent from the foul line. They’ve been even worse recently, including a 57.1 percent performance from the stripe against DePaul. “It does kind of get to you,” Clark said. “But you know, if you’re a good free throw shooter, you’ve just got to keep shooting them.” Of course, the Hoyas still have plenty to be proud of. The team didn’t get to 15 wins and an AP top10 ranking without playing good basketball. Field goal shooting has been an obvious bright spot, and their 47-25 rebounding edge against DePaul, led by freshman Otto Porter’s 15 rebounds, showed that the Hoyas can be dominant on the boards. But this isn’t the team that began the season as an unranked afterthought in the Big East race. With success, expectations have changed. “To come in and have two road wins Sunday and Tuesday and to go home with two victories is good,” Thompson III said. “But we have to be better.” since 2007-2008, the Hoyas have dropped exactly one nonconference game before the start of Big East play, just as the Hoyas did this year after a tough loss to perennial juggernaut Kansas in Maui. Just as in past seasons, the Hoyas’s dominance out of conference helped catapult them to a

Double Teamed by Daniel Kellner a rotating column on sports top-10 ranking, only to lose and regress once they’ve reached that coveted plateau. Meanwhile, for the fourth January in a row, the Hoyas have lost to at least one unranked Big East opponent, while beating at least one ranked conference foe. Sadly, this familiar trajectory also predicts a gloomy forecast for February, in which the Hoyas have

by Abby Sherburne After consecutive dominating wins against Big East opponents Syracuse and Marquette, the Georgetown women’s basketball team is now gearing up for a tough matchup against Louisville on Sunday. The team’s record has improved to 4-2 in the Big East and 15-14 overall, and they are now No. 19 in the AP poll, giving them a newfound confidence going into this weekend’s game. Routing Syracuse came relatively easy to the Hoyas, and they were able to pull a 69-42 victory over the Orange. Syracuse’s defenders could not stop standout junior Sugar Rodgers, who scored 23 points. Senior point guard Rubylee Wright also played a big part in the win, scoring 15 points. With the help of these two strong efforts, the Hoyas never trailed in the contest, even holding the Orange to just 13 points in the first half. The team’s relentless pressure led to 30 Syracuse turnovers and their defensive pressure kept Syracuse at 25 percent from the ﬂoor and 0-13 from three. The Marquette win mimicked the Syracuse game in many ways, although different players stepped up in Milwaukee. While Rodgers still led the team in scoring, nine other Hoyas got in on the action, including senior forward Tommacina McBride, who came off the bench to score 14 points for the Hoyas on 7-7 shooting. The Hoyas also kept up the defensive pressure, grabbing 22

lost at least three conference games in each of the past three campaigns. In fact, the Hoyas’ current record is only marginally better than the 124, 13-3, and 14-5 marks they posted at this point in the season in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively. While these intriguing correlations among seasons hardly constitute hard science, they certainly begin to poke holes in the notion that this is a renaissance season for the Hoyas. But despite that the results are hardly distinguishable, it is undeniable that fans watch this year’s Georgetown team with emotions that are markedly different from the frustration of previous seasons. Just a few months ago, many experts had Georgetown picked to finish 10th or worse in the Big East. It took three gritty performances against nationally touted opponents to jolt the Hoyas into the rankings, an honor Hoya fans have started to take for granted during

steals off of 29 Golden Eagle turnovers. But even with these wins, there are a few holes in the Hoyas’ play that need to be addressed before the Louisville game. Against Marquette, the women were 5-14 from the foul line, and they only made five trips to the stripe against Syracuse. At No. 18 in the AP poll, Louisville is one spot higher than the Hoyas, but they only have one win against a ranked opponent this season, against Florida State in November. The Hoyas, however, have had a tougher schedule so far in the Big East. They’ve played six ranked opponents, and all four of their losses have come against top 25 teams. The Hoyas have also been able to tally wins against Georgia and Miami, both top-10 opponents. It’s also important to note that both Hoya losses in the Big East have been to vaunted, ranked opponents Notre Dame and DePaul. To defeat the Cardinals, the Blue and Gray will have to ramp up their offensive intensity, especially if they plan to rely on subs to bring the same spark off the bench as they did against the Golden Eagles. The Cardinals, who recorded all four of their losses on the road, will look to shut down Rodgers when they travel to D.C., though recent Hoya opponents have proven this to be a sizeable task. The game is scheduled for Sunday in McDonough Arena. Tipoff is set at 5 p.m. Players and coaches were not made available for comment.

Thompson’s tenure as coach. Unlike in the past, when we have expected the Hoyas to perform for us, this year fans were simply hoping to witness some progress and avoid embarrassment. By transforming the way in which we view the program, there has been more joy in Hoya victories and less vitriol in defeat. So while this year’s Hoyas are not quite a revelation from recent teams, the positivity surrounding the squad is tremendously refreshing. Though Georgetown’s early success is no indication of an end to the postseason dry-spell, we can only hope that fans can keep this season in its proper context. The Hoyas have outperformed any of our wildest dreams, even if this season does finish with more of the same. Are you riding with Daniel? Hop on at dkellner@georgetownvoice.com

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8 the georgetown voice

Workers Unite:

january 19, 2012

GSC organizes around labor rights

By Gavin Bade In the spring of 2005, 26 members of Georgetown Solidarity Committee staged an eight-day hunger strike as part of their Living Wage Campaign, a multi-year effort to improve the working conditions of the University’s subcontracted custodial staff. At the outset of the campaign, many custodial workers were not even making minimum wage. According to Gladys Cisneros (COL ’04, MA ‘06), then a member of Solidarity and now an AFL-CIO employee, GSC’s ultimate goal was a wage floor based not on the legal minimum wage, but rather on standard of living. Before the hunger strike, GSC members spent four years sitting on committees, protesting and questioning the administration’s wage policies. Eventually, they began to feel that their interaction with the University was nothing more than symbolic, so they took measures to draw the eye of the administration. “The hunger strike was a tactic that got attention,” said Sarah David-Heydemann (COL ‘09), who wrote her senior thesis on GSC. “I think the basic idea was that if the University wasn’t going to focus on the needs of the workers, maybe they would care about the students.” As the protesters camped out in Red Square and the community watched their health deteriorate, the strike attracted both detractors and supporters. Many workers were afraid to speak out during the campaign, which in turn led some observers to dismiss the activists as rabble-rousers or martyrs. “Some people thought it was a bunch of self-righteous

kids,” Cisneros said, who opted out of the hunger strike, but served as GSC’s liaison to the workers. “We said, ‘Well no...We’ve actually done meticulous research on this for years.’” Despite such dismissals, support for the hunger strike came from all areas of campus, proving much stronger than the negativity that hovered above the movement. Religious leaders like Father Raymond Kemp, who staged a prayer vigil with the strikers, came out in support of GSC. The history department drafted a resolution in support of the activists. The Corp issued a statement supporting the campaign, and wrote checks for the difference between actual wages and the ones Solidarity was demanding to any workers who cleaned Corp facilities. Members of the D.C. community also pledged their support. District Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton came to speak to the protesters, as did AFL-CIO President Rich Trumpka. Jos Williams, President of the D.C. Central Labor Council, took it a step further when he threatened to go on hunger strike in conjunction with the students, an act some Solidarity members credit with the University’s eventual capitulation. “What was the straw that broke the camel’s back?” David-Heydemann asked. “I think that’s the definition of solidarity. Students showed solidarity with the workers and the community showed solidarity with us.”

***

The Living Wage Campaign counts as one of Solidarity’s

greatest successes. According to Georgetown professor Michael Kazin, a scholar of progressive movements, GSC is uniquely influential—not only in the way it attracts attention to social justice issues, but in the tangible, identifiable changes it has affected in the community. “Sometimes people in progressive movements mistake their presence, their demonstrations, their protests, themselves for making change,” said Kazin, himself a former member of Students for a Democratic Society. “On the other side of a protest, the other side of progressivism, you’ve got to change people’s lives. If you don’t change people’s lives, then at some level it’s just rhetoric.” Most of GSC’s campaigns concern workers’ rights, but beyond that commitment, the group does not subscribe to an official ideology. “We talk about the workers on our campus and in our city,” Solidarity member Sam Geaney-Moore (SFS ‘12) said. “There might be an implicit, shared ideological basis there, but it’s not theoretical. It’s just a shared commitment to human values and social justice.” According to GeaneyMoore, GSC’s issue-based approach precludes ideological conflict within the group, and facilitates a non-hierarchical structure. In fact, GSC makes all its major decisions through the consensus model, under which all members must agree on a decision for the group to move forward. While it often makes for long meetings, Solidarity members say their non-hierarchical model has strengthened and expanded their organiza-

tion. “It’s refreshing compared to other groups you go to, because everyone has a voice,” Gina Bull (COL ‘12), a member since her sophomore year, said. David-Heydemann attributes GSC’s durability to the consensus system in particular. “It ensures teaching of younger students,” she said. “It allows people to be 100 percent involved from day one and it provides space for innovation.” Consensus-based decision making models have been in the news lately as part of the Occupy movement, but they have a long history in progressive campaigns. According to Kazin, the process originated in the New Left movement of the 1960s. Solidarity’s nonhierarchical structure was also inspired by the national activist movement, which had a particular impact on the group’s founding. Many early members of Solidarity also participated in the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests. “A number of students I spoke to refer-

enced that as a sort of radicalizing turning point for them,” David-Heydemann said. “And that’s also when I think a lot of the students in the group wanted to switch to the nonhierarchical model.”

***

Throughout its history, GSC has maintained working relationships with other workers’ rights groups. As GeaneyMoore put it, GSC members recognize they can do the most good when they “help build coalitions and help progressive groups link up together.” Through its Fair Food Campaign, GSC connects its members with students and labor activists hundreds of miles away. Historically, Solidarity members have served on the national steering committee of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Student Farmworker Alliance, one of the Coalition’s closest allies. The CIW is a group of Southern-Florida farmworkers who

Courtesy PRESTON KERES

Diane Foglizzo (SFS ‘05) on the sixth day of the GSC hunger strike.

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georgetownvoice.com work together to gain better pay, bargaining power, and better working conditions. Both groups generally work by pressuring cafeterias, restaurants, food service providers, and more recently supermarkets to pay a few cents more per pound of produce. Because the epicenter of the movement is so far away from many student volunteers, activists form local organizations to assist CIW. The local CIW ally, D.C. Fair Food, was largely founded last fall by GSC member Sarah Vazquez (COL ‘13), along with several recent graduates. “We definitely derive a lot of energy from GSC, but we’re definitely a community based organization,” Vazquez said. Throughout the year, GSC members work out of the spotlight to build relationships and community with employees on campus. Every Friday at 6 a.m., Solidarity members trek out to the GUTS bus stops to serve free hot breakfast and coffee to employees leaving the night shift and arriving at work in the morning. About twice a semester, they throw their barbeques where workers may bring children and family members to enjoy time on campus outside of their shifts. When a Leo’s worker ’s house burned to the ground in 2008, GSC was first to the punch with their own support. They also published a letter in campus media outlets requesting material and financial contributions from the larger Georgetown community. GSC maintains a significant behind-the-scenes presence, working to keep the University accountable for workers’ rights. According to David-Heydemann, GSC members served on the committee that wrote the University Just Employment Policy in the summer after the Living Wage Campaign. Heydemann herself sat on Advisory Council on Business Practices, which was tasked with overseeing the policy’s implementation. In February 2006, GSC members also protested outside a closed meeting of the ACBP. The University failed to include any subcontracted

workers, despite a previous commitment to seat them on the committee. As Geaney-Moore put it, “Georgetown has Jesuit and just generally ethical ideals. ... We push them on the basis of their ideals.”

***

In January 2011, a small group of Leo’s Aramark workers gathered with union organizers and campus supporters at All Souls Church, Unitarian in Columbia Heights. It was the first open discussion among employee organizers about the possibility of forming a union. This was a campaign that built on the experience of every previous GSC function, and challenged the conventional thought on the capability of student-organizers in the labor movement. “We couldn’t have done this campaign without the Living Wage [Campaign],” Bull said. During the Aramark campaign, GSC sought to correct some of the flaws they recognized in the Living Wage hunger strike. “One of the things we could have done better was to position the workers more front and center,” Cisneros said. The push to unionize the Aramark workers originated in conversations between Solidarity and Leo’s workers. “One of the hallmarks of the Solidarity Committee is that we try to spend a lot of time talking to workers,” said Geaney-Moore. “Just as a general principle that workers on campus are a part of the community that tend to be forgotten … and we don’t think that’s a good idea—we think they should be embraced.” Solidarity’s unionization campaigns often mean bridging racial and class divides between workers and students. Although a traditionally difficult task for inexperienced organizers, this usually does not present a problem for the GSC volunteers and their allies. “The [workers] have bluntly said to us that they don’t care if we’re white or black, or Georgetown students or not,” Geaney-Moore said. “They really care that we care about what they want.” Donte Crestwell, a Leo’s worker, attested to the unify-

ing power of the organizers’ common goals. “I mean, we see each other as equals, regardless of your background and upbringing,” he said. “Honestly, when we sit down, we’re all for the same cause.” Working conditions at Leo’s and the other Aramarkrun establishments—including the Hoya Court restaurants and Cosi—were harsh and hostile. “[The management] called you a lot of names,” Crestwell said. According to him, management had cut back the work week to 37.5 hours in an attempt to save money, and this made it hard for employees to make ends meet. “They were like ‘that’s the new 40.’ They were going down to at least 35 [hours per week].” Raises were miniscule. “People were like, ‘I’m a 25 year veteran and I got a 12 cent raise?’” Crestwell said. GSC members, cognizant of low pay and subpar working conditions, began to approach a small number of employees with the idea of organizing the workers. “We’re very, very careful about this process,” said Geaney-Moore, who was heavily involved in the campaign. “Because unfortunately it’s true in this country that workers tend to be disciplined and punished by companies for standing up for their rights.” GSC approached Leo’s workers slowly and deliberately. Students’ supporters were approached on a personal basis. “We couldn’t come out and say “we’re starting a union,’” Crestwell said, “because it was very dangerous to say that word on the job ... your work would get terminated.” So, he and a few other employees tapped into discontent among the workers, asking them about their feelings towards management and the work environment. GSC secretly pulled in members from other campus organizations, including the College Democrats, MECHA, and the NAACP, among others. Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’12), then President of the College Democrats, says her involvement with the unionization push was one of the most rewarding experiences she has had on campus. “Every week I looked forward to the [unionization] meetings we had because it was students and workers and professors and Jesuits and we were all in these rooms together, talking about the ideas we had to make Georgetown

the georgetown voice 9

THE HOYA

GSC members protest in solidarity with Coalition of Immokalee workers. a better place and more supportive of our workers.” Just before Christmas break of last year, the GSC student-activists organized a meeting with organizers from Unite Here!, an international union comprised of workers from an array of industries. A small number of Leo’s workers and professors was in attendance. They decided on a “blitz”—a 48-hour push to sign as many workers as possible on to the idea of a union before management caught wind of the move. It was a dangerous move for workers to agree to support the union. “We didn’t lie to them,” Crestwell said. “We had coworkers say ‘could I lose my job?’ and we were like ‘yeah.’” Even so, he says his coworkers were overwhelmingly supportive of the idea. “It gave them hope,” he said. “It’s better to stand together.” By the end of the blitz, over 85% had signed pledges of support. After gathering support from the Leo’s staff, a handful of activists and workers, including Crestwell and Geaney-Moore, took their case to management. Crestwell says they simply sat down, presented the list of supportive workers, announced their intentions and walked out. While they waited for Aramark’s management to react, the students took the campaign public. They were met with an upwelling of support from the Georgetown community. Again, the history department released a statement in support of the movement; campus leaders and administration officials came out in support. The administration even sent a letter to Aramark requesting they allow the workers to organize, pursuant to the University’s Just Employment Policy. Faced with multiple sources of pressure from

the Hilltop, and confined by their official corporate policy of not being “pro- or antiunion,” Aramark had little choice but to capitulate. “We thank the students and the staff of Georgetown because really without them, we wouldn’t have got as far,” Crestwell said. “Now we feel like we have a voice.” The newly unionized employees are currently in their first contract negotiation with Aramark since the campaign, but Crestwell says their personal treatment on the job has improved. “If any repercussions come to you ... it’s all documented. So if it’s like ‘this guy’s been late a lot of times’, we can document all the times you’ve been late,” Crestwell said. “Before that, it could be undocumented and that person would just have to suffer by himself.” For Geaney-Moore, the Leo’s unionization was emblematic of GSC’s ideal campaign—one that mobilizes workers to improve their working situation in a sustainable way. “While the hunger strike was a successful thing that got a living wage … it’s not the real ace in the hole,” he said. “It’s not workers standing up for their rights in the same way.”

***

Although among the most dedicated and active groups at Georgetown, Solidarity keeps a relatively low profile and remains somewhat misunderstood. “Sometimes GSC members can get a lot of flack for being crunchy granola hippies,” Kohnert-Yount said, “but I think that the thing we’re most proud of [are]… the things we’ve been able to do with the community to make it a better place—and I think that works speaks for itself.”

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

january 19, 2012

Nomadic’s acts are Un-f**king-Believable by Heather Regen “I was high as heck and I just wanted to love things.” Channeling a well-intentioned hippie at the beginning of the production, it’s a shock to see Addison Williams (COL ’14) morph into a sociopathic killer in the span of a few short hours. Yet Nomadic Theatre’s Night of One-Act Plays encourages this kind of versatility. While he plays the lovable Truman in John Behlmann’s Un-f**king-Believable, Williams casts off the character to

take on a darker role in Neil LaBute’s Coax. Brought together on a sparse stage, the plays in Nomadic’s Night of One-Acts don’t sync together intuitively, but they combine to provide the audience with a wonderful range of theatre. Un-f**king-Believable and Waiting for Philip Glass, directed by Hannah Hauer-King (COL ’14), capture the same devastation and loss of romance in remarkably different situations. True to its title, Un-f**king-Believable spells out the anxiety and tensions of a

“What do you mean, ‘I’m not hipster enough for you?’”

Lucia He

young relationship in a string of profanity-laced lines. A perfect foil for the laid-back Truman, his girlfriend Phoebe embodies the high-strung, crazy girlfriend. But despite her initial abrasiveness, she grows more endearing as the play goes on. Such turns of character prove difficult given the plays’ short lengths. “It’s about what can be achieved in 20 minutes,” HauerKing said. “You can’t simply capture one emotion. You have to present Pheobe as she is, and then turn back and have her win the audience’s affection. It’s certainly a challenge.” Referencing Henry Kissinger, jazz, and summer ranches, Waiting for Philip Glass contrasts strikingly with Un-f**king-Believable’s nonchalance toward Thai hookers and hash-fuelled bachelor parties. Rather than focusing on the tumultuous relationships of twenty-somethings, the play captures the slowly suffocating social bounds of life in the Hamptons. Whitney McAniff (COL ’12) excellently captures the fragility of Spencer, a B-list socialite desperately trying to entertain her

circle of friends. Loves cedes to practicality in Waiting for Philip Glass, as Spencer surrenders hope when the man she loves marries a member of the vapid elite. Grounding the four disparate plays, the stage changes little throughout each of the one-acts. Paintings on the walls morph from posters of oversized album covers to seemingly expensive abstract art, while the furniture adopts different pillows or disappears entirely. This simplicity lends to smooth transitions, and gives an unusual but refreshing focus to lighting and music. Liars Club and Coax take full advantage of this focus, using both music and lighting to engage the audience and challenge the conception of reality on stage. As Coax slowly draws the audience out of its comfort zone, breaking the fourth wall and encouraging students to interrupt the actors, chill-inducing music from the ballet Right of Spring plays. Nostalgic for a time when riots exploded over groundbreaking theatre, as happened at Right of Spring’s premier in 1913, Coax dares the audience to react, to recreate a time when, as Williams’ character says, “theatre meant something.”

“I was drawn to these plays because they fly in the face of theatrical convention,” Brendan Quinn (COL ’14), director of Coax and Liars Club, said. And they certainly do. Williams’ character assures the audience, even as he tells them of his plans to kill a young woman, “it’s still theatre, it’s absolutely theatre.” The same bending of truth occurs in Liars Club, as the actors goad the audience into clapping for unspeakable deeds they supposedly carried out, from raping an unconscious babysitter to pouring urine on an old woman. And even while Danny Sullivan (MSB ’14) delivers the line “acting is lying,” he grapples with the blend of theatre and reality throughout the production. “If I give a genuine reaction during a play, does that make it more or less true?” Bringing four plays together, Nomadic Theatre’s Night of OneActs not only captures the audience, but also asks them to participate along with the socialites and sociopaths on stage. By subtly breaking the fourth wall, it ends up offering a satisfyingly different experience than traditional theater.

Unbuilt Washington: A new type of rejection by Mary Borowiec People sometimes take Washington D.C. for granted, but it’s beautiful—the manicured grass lawns surrounding the mall, the minimalist Washington Monument, the simple yet dignified White House, and the famed cherry blossoms bordering the tidal basin. But what if the grassy plane of the national mall were flooded with water à la Venetian canals, and Congresspeople were carried in paddleboats to the different federal departments? Or if walking across the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Bridge, bookended with two gothic towers straight from Medieval England, you were met with a pyramid-shaped version of the Lincoln Memorial, seemingly plucked out of Egypt? Seeking to challenge assumptions about the city with an exploration of these unrealized architectural plans, the National Building Museum has opened its latest exhibit, Unbuilt Washington, which runs from now through May 28. Outlining “the Washington that

could have been,” the exhibit reveals an unrecognizable cityscape. The exhibit invites these and many more “what ifs” through its exhibition of the city’s architectural history and rejected building plans. By showcasing a sample of alternative plans and miniature models for the nation’s capital, the exhibit succeeds in capturing a unique take on the history of the city’s development. Balanced with a collection of some serious and other not-soserious building proposals, Unbuilt Washington takes visitors on a journey throughout the district’s development. From competing designs for the Capitol, including sketches by Thomas Jefferson, to a monument proposal made during the Clinton administration for a “national couch” facing the White House—which would allow visitors to talk with the President through a television screen—the city has seen a variety of proposed plans that would have drastically changed the face of the District. Chronicling the alternate destinies of D.C.’s designs, the exhibit

keenly provides insight into why city planners chose the buildings, museums, and monuments as they exist today. Beyond the displaced vibes that their designs give off, these unrealized buildings are unique for the various reasons why they were not constructed. In the case of the Washington Monument, a shortage of money explains the building’s simple design: insufficient funds prevented the creation of an extravagant rotunda at the base, and forced architects to build its top out of a different material than its bottom. The exhibit’s success, however, lies not only in its largely unexplored subject matter. The organization of the works on display also serves to create the feel of exploring the unrealized side of Washington. Extending across several rooms in the museum, the exhibit’s arrangement fulfills curator Martin Moeller’s goal in communicating how the “design and construction of the capital and its additions constitute an epic—and ongoing—drama.”

If nothing else, Unbuilt Washington, boasts an incomparable supply of dinner party anecdotes on the more comical buildings proposed throughout the district’s history. One architect’s plan for the Dolphin American Hotel proves one of the more laughable, as his “Dolphin embassy” was intended to provide government workers an opportunity to relax with an in-house population of Dolphins.

From its diverse collection of proposed but unrealized building plans to its historical insight into the development of D.C., Unbuilt Washington provides a unique look a city whose architecture has played a large role in its history. The exhibit leaves visitors with awe at the city’s inventive designers—and perhaps with a bit of disappointment as well, knowing that we all could have paddleboated to our internships on the Hill.

National archivesi

Instead of a temple, let’s make the Lincoln Memorial look like Toblerone!

georgetownvoice.com

“i have a bachelor’s in kicking ass and taking names.” —thank You For smoking

the georgetown voice 11

A journey through grief and New York by Julia Lloyd-George According to the “seven stages of grief” theory, dealing with loss typically means journeying through different emotions—from shock and denial to pain and guilt—experienced before acceptance. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, though, nine-year-old Oskar Schell’s own path is anything but linear. Looking through Oskar’s eyes, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close director Stephen Daldry deftly handles this frag-

ile material and crafts a cinematic adaptation true to Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel. Oskar, the film’s precocious protagonist, is forced to grapple with issues of death and grief beyond his comprehension after his father tragically dies in the 9/11 attacks. An eccentric boy with an idiosyncratic love for random facts and scavenger hunts, Oskar creates his own personal quest upon finding a mysterious key among his father’s possessions. The nine-year old challenges us to see the futility of rote griev-

“Nicolas Cage told me the treasure was right here!”

iMDB

ing ceremonies, feeling the aftermath of 9/11 with full force. He erupts in anger as he watches his father’s empty casket being buried, protesting the irrationality of the ceremony. His relationship with his grief-stricken mother, played with precision by Sandra Bullock, grows particularly strained. Haunted by images of a falling man, Oskar processes death in a fundamentally different way than the adults surrounding him, creating a poignant portrait of grief. Eric Roth’s screenplay tactfully weaves scenes of the attack’s aftermath with Oskar ’s memories of his father, played by an easygoing Tom Hanks. Past and present find themselves joined through the emotional atmosphere of the flashbacks, creating an even storytelling. Recollections of the scavenger hunts Oskar ’s father sent him on quickly underscore the significance of clues and objects in the film, gracefully transitioning into Oskar ’s own discovery of a mysterious key in his father ’s closet. Simply labeled “black,” this key propels Oskar onto an ambitious quest to find the lock it

99 problems, but the rich ain’t one

“Gotta give us what we need/ Our freedom of speech is freedom or death/ We got to fight the powers that be.” When Public Enemy used these words in 1989 to command their fans to “fight the power,” they could not have guessed that their message would be embodied by a global movement more than two decades. But four months ago, the Occupy Wall Street protests burst onto the scene with a flurry of media coverage, and since then, terms like “Occupy” and “the 99 percent” have unquestionably become part of our lexicon. The Occupy movement has managed to gain universal attention, garner celebrity support, and even shape America’s political debates. Unsurprisingly, rappers have also attempted to ingratiate themselves with the movement. Rap first developed its antiestablishment image when Grandmaster Flash released the seminal protest track, “The Message,” in 1982. In the early nineties, N.W.A. and Public Enemy continued that

tradition with reputations for rebellion and rhymes about social inequality, racism, and government oppression. As Occupiers aim their damning criticism at corporate greed and corrupt politics, rap seems like it would provide the perfect musical complement to the demands of the 99 percent. With a “fuck the man” mentality, protestors and rappers share a message that is integrally linked. But while artists like Dead Prez and Lupe Fiasco have lent famous voices to the movement, some of the same rappers that denounce stark socioeconomic stratification in their lyrics display an uncanny similarity to the extravagantly wealthy capitalists they condemn in their songs, making it difficult for them to maintain sincerity. On November 11, an outsider showed up to the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park hawking $22 t-shirts glibly branded “Occupy All Streets.” This individual was no mere two-bit opportunist, but rap mogul Shawn Carter, oth-

erwise known as Jay-Z. His net worth? $450 million. A walking paradox, Jay-Z “joined” Occupy Wall Street two months into the protests near the peak of its media attention. At the start of his career, Jay-Z used his lyrics and heart-wrenching emotion to extricate himself from a difficult upbringing and life on the streets that would likely have resulted in poverty, jail, or death. But today, having put the

Blast that Box by Matt Pacana

a bi-weekly column about rap music gaudy lavishness of his newfound power and wealth into Watch the Throne, his collaboration with Kanye West, Jay-Z has officially completed his transformation into the stereotypical wealthy capitalist his lyrics denounce. While he managed to achieve unparalleled social mobility from such an impoverished upbringing, he has since exemplified everything that

opens, on which he embarks by visiting every person with the name “Black” in New York. Seeing the world from Oskar ’s unique perspective is no walk in Central Park. With more than a few hints of Asperger ’s, his omnipresent narrative ranges from a torrent of encyclopedia facts to spurts of helpless anger. As he goes forth on his ambitious journey, cinematographer Chris Menges’s depiction of the city mirrors Oskar ’s own emotional landscape, delicately avoiding heavy-handedness. While at times they are conveyed simply as an overwhelming flood of noise, Oskar ’s innermost thoughts don’t overwhelm, and at times Menges portrays the boy’s mind as a simple, serene backdrop to the film. With childlike innocence, Oskar’s search takes him through the city and onto the doorsteps of countless New Yorkers. His encounters with various people, including an unexpected guide played with characteristic strength by Viola Davis—contribute to the formation of a general portrait of grief in all its individual manifestations. As

a young Jay-Z and the Occupy movement hate about our society. The paradox underlying Jay-Z’s transformation boggles the minds of fans who love his heartfelt lyrics but are puzzled by his transparent entrepreneurship. While Jay-Z is vindicated by his humble upbringing, petulant producer-turned-garishly-materialistic-rap-phenomenon Kanye West has no such excuse. Kanye (net worth: $70 million) had a predictably short-lived experience with the dedicated protestors in Zuccotti Park. Arriving with $25,000 worth of gold in and around his face, his October tour with megamillionaire Russell Simmons resulted in boos, hisses, and immediate dismissal as a serious supporter. Despite his art school childhood and insatiable desire to wear golden-leaved crowns, Kanye has rapped about issues ranging from blood diamonds to tumultuous relationships. There is no denying that he deserves his commercial success, but the hypocrisy of his identification with Occupy is piercingly obvious.

he forms tentative relationships with more people, especially a mute character played by Max von Syndow, Oskar comes progressively closer to being able to share his own story. While his quest does not end with the definitive answer he had hoped for, it is the inevitable impetus for Oskar’s development. His understanding of the world, originally based on a foundation of facts and figures, is toppled by the senselessness of profound tragedy. As he eventually comes to terms with this reality, he becomes both more expressive and better able to face his fears. Unfortunately, the film version of his path to acceptance comes with a contrived conclusiveness and saccharine ending that the novel tactfully avoids. However, even this ending treats the experience of grief from Oskar’s childlike point of view. This sentimentality can be as cringe-inducing as Oskar’s temper tantrums, but it is the natural byproduct of his own innocent viewpoint. The events of 9/11 have been extensively analyzed, theorized, and politicized, but it is ultimately a nine-year-old child who reminds us how to grieve.

While Jay-Z is too rich to take seriously and Kanye lacks selfawareness, Lupe Fiasco has shown that he knows how to walk the subtle line between capitalizing rapper and social activist. Lupe (net worth: $8 million) is certainly a member of the one percent, but that has not stopped him from losing sleep and money traveling across the country to support the movement. While Lupe experienced and escaped childhood hardship like JayZ, he has maintained a philosophical outlook that keeps him grounded. Rappers who desire to impart their honest anti-establishment message in unison with the Occupy movement would be better suited to follow Lupe’s quiet example and forget their capitalist agenda. Pushing a decentralized theme, he makes it clear that the success of the movement will come from its focus on socioeconomic equality, not from the self-aggrandizing support of certain glitterati within the one percent. Occupy Matt’s email at mpacana@ georgetownvoice.com

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12 the georgetown voice

january 19, 2012

C r i t i c a l V o i ces

Bombay Bicycle Club, A Different Kind of Fix, Octone Records Despite their young career, the members of the Bombay Bicycle Club have proven themselves worthy of recognition through a rapid-fire series of successful indie albums. Their latest release, A Different Kind of Fix, follows 2010’s Flaws and 2009’s I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose, both of which reached the top fifty on the UK Albums Chart. Thankfully, Fix lives up to the standards set by both the band’s previous successes. The new release features a more polished finish than that of the primarily acoustic Flaws and youthful I Had the Blues. The album opens strongly with “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep,” which features

gentle, harmonized vocals and a distinctive guitar melody. This method is characteristic of the rest of the album, and the song employs it so perfectly that it attracted enough attention to be included on the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. But critics of Twilight should not be quick to judge the group, however—the rest of the album is more reminiscent of a Radiohead concert than a tween fangirlfueled midnight release. Though some tracks fade into pleasantly melodic background music, the album is cohesive with enough distinctive tracks to keep it interesting. Second track “Bad Timing” stands out from the rest with a notably grittier sound, forceful guitar riffs, and vocals that border on aggressive. “Shuffle,” a successful pre-released single from the album, shows a different side of Bombay Bicycle Club entirely. Lively piano accompaniment and fast-paced vocal harmony make this a cheerful and energetic addition to A Different Kind of Fix. Bombay Bicycle Club’s latest album showcases the growing maturity of a band that entered the indie music scene while still attending high school in Northern England. Though the band may have lost some of their

Tiny Tower’s big break

The iPhone might be the most popular video game system of all time. It almost definitely is when lumped in with the iPad and iTouch—Apple had sold 250 million of its iOS devices in October of last year, a total that has surely skyrocketed after the holidays. To put that in perspective, the PlayStation 2, the best-selling traditional video game console of all time, barely surpassed 150 million units sold in its lifetime. That’s probably not surprising though, considering the way Angry Birds captured the cultural zeitgeist or the number of games of Words with Friends taking place in any given lecture hall. With that in mind, when the typical deluge of year-end best of lists hit earlier this month, I wasn’t interested where traditional blockbuster console games like Call of Duty or Skyrim ended up; I wanted to see what games took the smartphone crown. Perhaps no accolade is more relevant than Apple’s own Game of the Year nod, which carries

with it prime billing in the App Store and a chance to become even more massively successful. Apple bestowed the honor on the free-todownload Tiny Tower (also available for Android phones), which is interesting, because Tiny Tower really isn’t a game at all. Tiny Tower is kind of a watered down amalgamation of The Sims and SimCity (or, for the video game historians out there, SimTower). The player takes on the role of a proprietor of a residential/ commercial highrise, responsible for building new floors, stocking a variety of stores, assigning jobs to residents, and (no joke) operating the elevator. All of these tasks are accomplished by either tapping on menu items or waiting around doing nothing. Tiny Tower doesn’t fit any traditional definition of a game, video or otherwise. There’s no winning or losing. The stated objective is to build your tower as high as it can go, but upward progress is inevitable as long as you have the app open and keep poking at it.

earlier work’s energy and raw feeling, the group’s continuing experience has led them to a more sophisticated and mellow sound that suits their talents well. A Different Kind of Fix is evidence of a young band growing gracefully into their talents. Voice’s Choice: “Beggars” —Jane Conroy

Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory, Carpark Records On Cloud Nothings’ first two albums, Turning On and Cloud Nothings, Dylan Baldi’s band was saddled with the classifier “lo-fi pop,” a term that wasn’t really inaccurate but didn’t quite do justice to the band’s unique sound. There’s no skill involved; there’s hardly any agency. Just keep restocking stores and customers will keep buying things, giving you money, which you promptly spend to build a new store that will let you sell more things to build another store. Basically, you’re playing a combination of Donald Trump and Sisyphus. I realize that this makes Tiny Tower sound at best pointlessly boring and at worst like some kind of existential crisis-inspir-

God Mode by Tim Shine

a bi-weekly column about video games ing exercise in futility. But over one million people a day currently play Tiny Tower, and it’s not because they’re masochists. Like any good game, Tiny Tower hides the man behind the curtain well. It has simple but effective artwork and continually offers positive reinforcement to keep your mind off the fact that you’re essentially running up a hamster wheel.

It’s true that most of Baldi’s songs were hummable two-anda-half minute jams coated in a reverby distortion haze or blazedout, melodic mumblers. Even so, there was a kinetic anger behind the endless progression of catchy bridges and hooks. It was Wavves via the Pixies via No Age. “Lo-fi,” sure, but there was something deeper going on than “pop.” The band’s latest effort, Attack on Memory, does even more to distance them from that label. It’s darker and heavier than anything they’ve done before, trading noise for even denser distortion and chugging basslines. Cloud Nothings was a mix of shitfaced exuberance and frustration; now, Baldi’s just angry and hopeless. From pseudo-screamo opener “No Future, No Past” onward, the riffs are heavy, the vocals are deep, and the themes are bleak and depressing. “I know my life’s not gonna change,” Baldi yells over and over on “Wasted Days.” “I thought I would be more than this.” Despite the sludge, Attack on Memory is the band’s cleanest and most professional-sounding record yet. It also sounds much That’s the one thing that stands out about Tiny Tower, especially as your building starts reaching higher and higher: you’re bombarded with notifications and updates about stores ready to be restocked, new residents moving in, and visitors waiting to be ferried up the elevator. The constant stimuli and clear progress as your tower climbs into the sky are the quick fixes that keep Tiny Tower players coming back. By default, the game will even send you notifications when you close the app, reminding you that the occupants of your tower relentlessly march on, awaiting your return. Vapid gameplay hasn’t impeded Tiny Tower’s success for another reason: its audience doesn’t care. The nature of smartphone games is that for many people, they’re meant to pass the time, not necessarily stand as entertaining on their own. Tiny Tower may be pointless, but its good presentation makes it an easy choice over staring out the window of a Metro train. Still, it’s not like smartphone games have to be tedious. Angry Birds is

more like a band frequently trying to rock the fuck out, mostly because it is. While Baldi was a one-man band in the studio for his first two records, he is joined here by his touring bandmates, all of whom wrote their own instrumental parts for the album, bringing the band even farther from its former brand of punkpop. “Wasted Days,” for example, is nine minutes long and features an extended bass solo. None of which is to say that the album doesn’t sound like Cloud Nothings: the crisp, catchy guitar work is still there, and Baldi is still one of indie rock’s strongest songwriters. On Attack on Memory, he’s added a whole new dimension to Cloud Nothings, keeping his ear for melody and infectious riffs while venturing into ‘80s hair metal and ‘90s emo. For a guy who was just a freshman at Case Western two years ago, it’s a pretty impressive and honest maturation. Voice’s Days”

Choice:

“Wasted

—Sean Quigley

a legitimately good game by any standard—it takes a simple puzzle game concept and keeps offering inventive new takes on it. The current number one (free) game in the App Store, Temple Run, is simple, but it has real gameplay that actually challenges the player. In comparison, Tiny Tower just looks like an interactive screensaver. Despite my problems with it, I’m not immune to Tiny Tower’s charms. I first downloaded the game back in July shortly after it came out, and I fell right into its addictive gameplay. But after a few days, I started to see my growing tower as a mocking monument to time wasted. (I also got really annoyed when I had to restock buffalo wings for the hundredth time.) When I revisited the game again before writing this column, however, I found my tower exactly as I left it, with shops and restaurants begging for supplies. The inexorable progress I made— like the gameplay itself—wasn’t going anywhere. Share your high scores with Tim at tshine@georgetownvoice.com

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THIS WEEK IN JACK DEGIOIA’S ADVENTURES: GEORGETOWN’S MULTIBILLION DOLLAR DONORS An article published last week by the Business Insider website profiled Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, a billionaire investor who in 2005 donated $20 million to Georgetown to have the University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding named after him. The article quotes numerous former employees of the Prince who claim that Alwaleed “keeps in his entourage a group of dancing, laughing, joking dwarfs,” and that he forced them to be used in a “midget tossing contest” for his amusement. Once, a source claims, Alwaleed tossed $100 bills into a bonfire, encouraging the dwarfs to run into the ‘raging fire’ and pull the money out, ‘scorching themselves’ in the process.” http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2012/01/16/gu-donor-prince-alwaleed-reportedly-employs-dwarfs-as-jesters/

MADHURI VAIRAPANDI

“$20 million in cash? Whooopeeeeee!” - Jack DeGioia

voices

14 the georgetown voice

january 19, 2011

Canada autism registry: Safety at cost of sensitivity by Ambika Tripathi Recently, the city of Ottawa, Canada formed a child autism registry. A collaboration between the Autism Organization of Ontario and the Ottawa Police Department, the registry allows 911 dispatchers to respond to emergencies involving children with autism spectrum disorder. The two organizations argued heavily for the formation of the registry, saying that it would help these children receive optimal emergency care. It’s difficult to say whether or not this registry will infringe upon individual privacy, but the measure will undeniably afford the Ottawa Police Department more specific information on what to expect in an emergency involving an autistic child. For example, children with ASD may not be able

to respond to police requests and orders. Through the autism registry, the challenges of communication, coordination, cognition, and control of self are taken into account as products of ASD, rather than intentional violation of the law. In this aspect, the autism registry is compelling, as it demonstrates good intentions on the part of officials, who are genuinely interested in improving emergency response for the disabled. Though an autism registry does potentially allow officials to respond to emergencies more peacefully, it fails to take into account the individual incapacities of ASD. Some autistic children may be prone to violent outbursts, while others may be able to control their actions over time and with the help of professional therapy. Additionally, in cases of mild

autism, law enforcement faces the possibility of being too sensitive and accommodating towards children who are actually in control of their actions and emotions. Criminals have long used tactics involving false mental illness and cognitive incapacity to evade consequences and charges of their crimes. Although children may be too young to understand the potential to employ this ruse, parents of children with mild autism may take advantage of the disability and the registry to liberate their children from consequences of their actions. Tara Fisher (MSB’15) has dedicated her past four summers to working with Autistic children, and shares similar concerns. “I’ve worked with autistic kids on different levels, and they are still humans,” she said. “Being autistic does

not mean that you are unaccountable for your actions.” While certain children may not understand how to behave, to group an entire spectrum of people into one single registry leaves room for confusion and dishonesty. Autism of any severity not only challenges the person who receives the diagnosis; it also affects that person’s family. Although I do not have any close friends or family members with autism, I, like many other people in America and Canada, am uncomfortable with the idea of making a child’s personal incapacities so open to law enforcement officials and the general public. In registering an autistic child, parents are in effect typecasting their children, defining their entire identity as people through one label, leaving factors like personality, aspirations, and even

humanity’s most basic rights, alongside clean water, pure air, and health. Indeed, a quality education is a right that all men and women possess, simply by nature of their humanity. But it is unclear whether education is treated as such a right in the world, especially in the United States. Evidently, one’s position in life, including the socioeconomic status of one’s family, is a result of what philosopher John Rawls calls the “arbitrariness of fortune.” Because of the random nature of such circumstances, no person deserves his or her starting place in society. The state should not unfairly act as though students merit their starting position in society, and yet the current educa-

tion system clearly shows that if one is rich, one will have enormously better prospects than one in a lower income bracket. In the U.S., every young person theoretically has access to education. It is obvious, however, that the quality of the education available for young Americans varies dramatically. Quality of education depends on whether a child is fortunate enough to have benefactors who can afford private schooling, or on whether his or her public school district has the funds to provide him or her with adequate teachers and resources. Through the block grant system, wherein the federal government provides funding for education that states are responsible for allocating, an unfortunate pattern arises: very often, those school districts that are already wealthy receive the most state funding, while the districts most in need of funds are all but abandoned, left to struggle on their own. The American education system’s failed attempt (or perhaps lack of an earnest attempt altogether) to level the playing field of education leads to the cyclic perpetuation of inequality by a model that privatizes knowledge. This occurs despite the fact that, if knowledge is a global public good, it is technically a violation of human rights to privatize it. This model benefits a select few—if not the 1 percent then at least

the top 10 percent. One of the complaints listed on Occupy DC’s website is that the right of Americans to education, among other basic rights such as that to healthcare, is being “sacrificed to profit-driven market forces.” The cycle consists of the wealthiest becoming the best educated, and then entering positions of power to keep the cycle in motion while maintaining their position as most wealthy. Surely, the belief that hard work also plays a large part in success is valid, but only to an extent; one cannot deny the principal role of circumstance and pure fortune in creating opportunity and success under the current system. To address this grave inequality, a system that provides consistent education is needed. It is commonly accepted that, in the pursuit of a more fair and just society, there needs to be equity. Equity, or equality of opportunity, must be the moral standard. And because a quality education is the most important vehicle for opportunities, it is the first thing that must be available to all. Education is the silver bullet to solve problems of social justice in this country. So what should be done to ensure that all Americans, regardless of their location or socioeconomic status, are given an equally excellent education? For a good education, you need money, with which to pay teachers well and to ensure that schools are equipped with the

severity of their conditions as second-rate details. Further, this registry is anomalous in that other mental conditions, which could potentially complicate emergency situations and hinder the abilities of ambulance workers, do not have their own registries. No one is seriously considering implementing a registry for bipolar disorder or attention deficit disorder. What makes autism so different? The ASD registry is a noble concept, but in its current form, it raises more questions about law enforcement sensitivity and how police will treat different levels of autism than it promises in possible protection.

Ambika Tripathi is a freshman in the SFS. Ambika would oppose most canadian initiatives—For God’s sake, their milk comes in bags.

American system fails to provide educational equity by Patricia Cipollitti Isaac Newton, one of the all-time greatest minds in the field of physics, touched upon a fundamental truth when he humbly admitted that “if I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Because knowledge is a global public good, as philosophers almost universally agree, Newton was entitled to the combined wealth of human knowledge accumulated before him; accordingly, his addition to this wealth became the right of all men after him. If knowledge is a global public good, logic leads me to conclude that education, the medium through which knowledge is transferred, is one of

FLICKR

DC Public School students protest for equal opportunity on Capitol Hill.

FLICKR

proper supplies to foster a good educational environment. And since the United States is the largest economy on the planet, the money is clearly there. Money spent on useless wars, for example, needs to be reallocated to things that matter, like education. Money needs to be poured into this sector until education is, as Sam Seaborn from The West Wing puts it, “incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens.” By education, I don’t just mean primary and secondary schools—I also mean universities. All public institutions of knowledge need to be so well funded that they can compete with private institutions while charging their students little. Where you are, how much money you or your parents have, or to which class you belong should make no difference to the quality of the education you receive. A system that does not have equity does not make for a just society. If what we look for in the United States is social justice, then making knowledge through education of a very high caliber available to all Americans is the first and most important step.

Patricia Cipollitti is a freshman in the SFS. When Nixon said “Pink right down to her underwear,” he was referring to Patricia.

voices

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Counterculture condemns copulation with contraception by Christian Verghese In modern media, sex is often portrayed as a tool for pleasure. The cast of Jersey Shore doesn’t show love or commitment to each other, and Cosmopolitan only monetizes and sells sex as recreation. Instead of signifying a unique relationship, intercourse has been

reduced to the simple sharing of a sensation. Even hundreds of years ago, philosopher Immanuel Kant recognized the negative ramifications of this most basic, hedonistic use of sex: “Sexual love makes of the loved person an Object of appetite; as soon as that appetite has been stilled, the person is cast aside as one casts away a

H*YAS FOR CHOICE

Though unofﬁcial, H*yas for choice demonstrates on campus.

Politics beyond the Hill A few nights a week, I run roughly two miles to the White House and experience a brief moment of awe that, despite all that has happened during my time at Georgetown, the white walls still stand—untarnished, opaque, and foreboding. Every so often, I like to remind myself that I live in a city where leaders make decisions that resound further than a few city blocks. I will be the ﬁrst to admit that I haven’t paid as much attention to the decisions made within those walls as some of my peers have. What I have paid attention to, however, is the image these leaders have constructed—who it is they wish me to see beyond the walls, rather than who they are within them. Just last week, I found myself lingering in front of the White House as men dressed in orange

jumpsuits piled into a makeshift prison in the middle of the sidewalk clutching “Close Guantanamo” signs through the bars, in response to a promise made during Obama’s campaign that will likely go unrealized. As the 2012 campaigns gear up after a year of political discontent, the presidential candidates have managed to lower the bar even further in attempts to secure the vote. If Rick Perry wasn’t on his way out before, his latest controversy—his defense of a video in which Marines urinate on three Taliban corpses—might seal his political downfall. Perry, who has previously stated that “South Carolina is who picks presidents,” hopes to gain clout in the state which has the highest percentage of military voters among the early primary states.

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lemon which has been sucked dry.” According to Kant, those who engage in casual sex are reduced to mere objects and insatiable animals. Contraception serves as a vehicle to remove the procreative aspects of sex from its pleasure. Not only does it encourage meaningless sex, but it results in emotional and mental perversions that may cause people to lose sight of the inherent dignity in human life and sanctity in human sexuality. Sex is the ultimate culmination of the exclusive love that married people share for each other. Within a marriage, contraception need not accompany this action. Contraception removes the risk of pregnancy, enabling needless, spiritually harmful premarital sex. But what about a married couple that wants to respect that sanctity, but is not ready or able to embrace the responsibility of a child? In this case, even though the intent of intercourse transcends the most hedonistic level, sexuality that allows for unity and pleasure between a man and a woman but excludes the pro-

Though Perry takes a ﬁrm stance, something the Obama administration has arguably been lacking, his intention is transparent. Sure, winning the votes gets you to a seat within the white walls where the real decisions are made, but winning votes should come as the result of at least feigned integrity. In his grand defense of the

Carrying On by Kate Imel A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

accused Marines, Perry relinquishes them of responsibility for the act—”Eighteen, nineteen-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often, and that’s what occurred here.” They might be someone’s kids, and I’ll bet they’re four “kids” Perry can expect to get a vote from, but he’s lost many potential voters in failing to hold the Marines accountable. By coming to the defense of the Marines, Perry’s intentions not only become transparent, but he also holds the nation’s focus on a deplorable event that is best condemned immediately for the

creative aspect ignores the ultimate purpose of sexual acts. Pregnancy prevention attempts to establish the uniqueness of a relationship not through total devotion to one’s partner, but through simple sexual pleasure. To say that contraceptive intercourse within a marriage is completely hedonistic may not be entirely true, but nonetheless it loses sight of the true meaning of sexuality. Procreation and union are inseparable aspects of intercourse—the removal of one inevitably causes the removal of the other. Hence, even if the intent is to strengthen a couple’s bond through sex, contraceptive intercourse threatens conjugal love. It logically instills a deep mental and emotional restlessness, since the ultimate goal of sexuality becomes confused. A couple can console this uneasiness by either committing themselves to the full conjugal act of sacred sexuality, or become so exhausted with their confusion that they stop caring for one another. Hence, the overall solutions to the uneasiness caused by casual sex are self-restraint and chastity until marriage.

sake of our integrity at home and abroad. It doesn’t come as a big surprise that a year that has witnessed a total shutdown of the government is also a year in which presidential hopefuls will begin to shed their remaining principles in favor of desperation tactics to elicit votes. Although the republican candidates currently comprise much of the slanderous and abhorrent campaigning, the Obama administration has caused a recent stir as well. The controversy follows the alleged leak of information regarding the 2011 capture and killing of Osama bin Laden to ﬁlmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, winners of the 2009 Academy Award for The Hurt Locker. Although the Obama administration assures the media that no classiﬁed information has been released, the potential leak has nonetheless prompted an investigation by the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King (R-NY). It is obvious that the capture of Osama bin Laden is one of the great successes, if not the greatest success, of the Obama administration, and it is only natural for the triumph

The technological advance of birth control is a paradigm: it allows for dehumanization of women, men, and babies. Humans have a profound ability for continence, discipline, and chastity to respond to this problem. Yet in a society where the media propagates an idea of sex as a casual and acceptable activity, where condoms are freely distributed on campuses of Jesuit universities (albeit by unaffiliated groups) and where pornography has become increasingly brutal and violent yet at the same time becoming increasingly mainstream and accessible, chastity and continence seem to be treated like a counter-cultural movement of Bible-thumping traditionalists. Nonetheless, the virtue of respecting the personhood and sexuality of the body while using self-restraint encompasses the solution to the objectification of sexuality and humanity.

Christian Verghese is a freshman in the College. Along with sex, he’s also opposed to rollercoasters and pizza parties.

to mark his campaign. However, if the film—originally set to be released in October 2012, just before election time—uses classified information obtained through the Obama administration, this would be a gross violation of Obama’s power and the trust of the American people, not to mention a decision that could potentially put the Navy SEALs involved in the operation at risk as well. Of course, this allegation is just that—an allegation, not an indictment. Though the decisions made by our elected officials within the white walls of the White House, the Pentagon, and Congress are the decisions that will drive us into the future as a country, it is the image and presentation outside the walls that drives us to the ballot box. One can only hope that our candidates regain integrity and accountability in the coming months, as our elected officials are reflections of ourselves. But hell, maybe we’re all just “kids” who don’t know any better.

Kate Imel is a senior in the College. She knows all too well that “eighteen, nineteenyear-olds” make stupid mistakes.

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