10 02 14

VOICE the georgetown

Shouts and Murmurs Students report sexual harassment from construction workers

By Caitríona Pagni Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w October 2, 2014 w Volume 47, Issue 7 w georgetownvoice.com

the

Voice

Oct. 2, 2014 This week: Editorial ... D.C. police body cams debut, pg. 3 News ... Students, GUPD voice concerns on SafeRides, pg. 4 Sports ... Football winning streak snapped, pg. 6 Feature ... Students face harassment from workers, pg. 8 Page 13 ... Should You Cat Call? No, pg. 9 Leisure ... Yury Urnov reinvents Marie Antoinette, pg. 10 Voices ... Center consolidation negative for students, pg. 13

Walk This Way

The Voice investigates the complaints of female students about sexual harassment by university employees.

Last week’s key:

Letters to the Editor:

The Georgetown Voice welcomes responses, questions, and opinions from its readers. Submit all e-mails to editor@georgetownvoice.com. Please include your name, year, and school. Bear in mind that letters may be edited for length and clarity and may be published and used in any medium.

BLOG

Editor: Ryan Greene

Assistant Editors: Grace Brennan, Marisa Hawley, Jared Kimler, Kenneth Lee

HALFTIME

Senior Leisure Editor: Daniel Varghese

Assistant Leisure Editors: Micaela Beltran, Simone Wahnschafft

COPY

Chief: Eleanor Fanto

Editors: Judy Choi, Rachel Greene, Ryan Miller, Dana Suekoff, Lauren Chung

NEWS

Julia S. Tanaka

Assistant Editors: Shalina Chatlani, James Constant, Lara Fishbane

Steven Criss

Editor: Julia Jester

Editor in Chief

Managing Editor

FEATURE

Mary-Bailey Frank

EDITORIAL BOARD

Noah Buyon

Editor: Caitriona Pagni Chair: Ian Philbrick

Board: Chris Almeida, Shalina Chatlani, Steven Criss, Lara Fishbane, Ryan Greene, Lucia He, Julia Jester, Caitriona Pagni, Ryan Shymansky, Julia S. Tanaka

General Manager

Technical Director

Dayana Morales Gomez Editor-at-Large

Tim Annick

Managing Director

SPORTS

Editor: Chris Castano

Assistant Editors: Kevin Huggard, Joe Pollicino, Max Roberts

LEISURE

Editor: Josh Ward

Assistant Editors: Elizabeth Baker, Sam Kleinman, Manuela Tobias

VOICES

Editor: Chris Almeida

Assistant Editor: Grace May

COVER

Editor: Christina Libre

PHOTO

Editor: Ambika Ahuja

Assistant Editors: Sabrina Kayser, Gavin Myers, Joshua Raftis

DESIGN

Editors: Pam Shu, Sophia Super Assistant Editor: Leila Lebreton

PAGE 13

Editor: Dylan Cutler

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

The georgetown voice | 3

lights, camera, police action

District police body cameras offer promising solution to misconduct

D.C. police began wearing body cameras yesterday as part of a six-month pilot program that spreads dozens of camera-equipped officers across the city’s seven police districts. This is a commonsense, pragmatic, and effective action that will benefit both District citizens and its law enforcement officers.

District Police Chief Cathy Lanier seems to agree. At a news conference last Wednesday, she stated that she expects the cameras to cut complaints against officers by as much as 80 percent.

Police body cameras have significant potential to rehabilitate relations between citizens and officers of the law—rela-

tions that have been especially strained as of late by Ferguson and other recent high-profile instances of police misconduct.

A yearlong study of Rialto, Calif. conducted by the nonprofit Police Foundation found that mandating police to wear body cameras reduced incidents in which officers used force by 60 percent. The study also observed a reciprocal benefit for officers, who registered 88 percent fewer complaints during the assessment period. Not surprisingly, in cases where force was used, it was twice as likely to have been applied by officers who were not wearing cameras.

C a l l s f o r p o l i c e b o dy cameras have not been limited to D.C. Last week, fed-

eral judge Shira Scheindlin delivered a speech at the Bronx County Bar Association promoting police body cameras as a solution to nationwide incidences of police violence.

“In Staten Island, an unarmed man was killed by policemen arresting him for trafficking in untaxed cigarettes, and in Ferguson, Missouri, an unarmed teenager was shot six times and killed by police officers,” Scheindlin said. “If the police in both of those encounters had been wearing body cameras, I expect that neither incident would have ended with a dead body.”

The evidence sides with Sheindlin. Polls demonstrate that at least on a state-bystate basis the general public largely supports the use of body cameras, and not by slim margins. Fully 80 percent of Utahns and 68 percent of Floridians favor them according to reports from recent surveys. America’s three largest cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—have all either implemented or announced upcoming body camera programs.

In a society dominated by ever-greater forms of surveillance, whether online via the NSA or in person through the lens of an airborne drone, police body

cameras provide a welcome reprieve. Here is a welcome instance of state-sponsored technology injecting safety and civility into perhaps the most tense, notorious, and dangerous interactions between citizen and state.

If all parties involved know they are being recorded during a police encounter, and that such recordings could potentially incriminate them in a court of law, they are more likely to adjust their behavior. Amid rampant toxicity, cameras offer police and citizens a rarity—an instance in which justice and doing the right thing align irrefutably.

Riding the struggle bus

mommy & daddy issues

SafeRides program’s inefficiencies do disservice to GU students

New D.C. paid family leave program provides a model for the nation

SafeRides is a valuable program run by the Georgetown University Police Department that gives students, staff, and faculty the option to avoid walking home alone at night.

Although the Georgetown neighborhood is statistically one of the safest in D.C., the University community ultimately lives and studies in an open urban environment. Email notifications of area and campus crime, including intermittent cases of burglary and theft, ping periodically into our phones and emails. And, as a Sept. 13 bias-related incident involving a gay slur that resulted in the hospitalization of a student unfortunately demonstrates, public safety incidents can directly threaten student safety.

While GUPD deserves praise for establishing SafeRides, the program’s growing inefficiencies and issues picking up students promptly undermine its ability to protect students at the times of day when the probability of crime is highest. SafeRides’ use of contracted dispatchers to coor-

dinate rides Thursday through Saturday evenings, when students often host off-campus parties in the comparatively faraway Burleith and West Georgetown neighborhoods, is deeply worrying.

GUPD should have made contracted dispatchers clearly aware of the program’s invaluable contribution to middle-of-the-night student safety from the beginning. The fact that a meeting between GUPD Chief Jay Gruber and the contracted dispatchers occurred last week to reinforce this concept strongly calls into question whether such a conversation ever took place.

Calls for an overhaul of SafeRides have come from all corners—SafeRides student drivers, students attempting to use the service, and GUPD itself. The meat of the issue is the University’s persistent description and promotion of SafeRides as a readily available and reliable service for students when this promise has proven difficult to deliver. Given the limited number of SafeRides drivers and vehicles, it is understand-

able that dispatchers sometimes tell callers to wait for the University’s neighborhood shuttles, the routes of which overlap with SafeRides’ coverage area.

Nevertheless, calling SafeRides currently carries the expectation of swift pickup; waiting for buses is often not feasible, however, especially if waits amount to as long as half an hour.

The image of SafeRides as a prompt service might eliminate the need for students to call the Department of Public Safety, which the SafeRides website recommends in cases of emergency.

GUPD should overhaul SafeRides to improve response-time, better train contracted dispatchers, and articulate more clearly when students should expect to wait for a bus instead. Ultimately, waiting alone on a street corner late at night is more dangerous and no different than walking back to campus at a similar hour. In order to truly prioritize student safety, SafeRides has an obligation to Georgetown students to live up to its name.

Yesterday, D.C. government employees received a much-needed and long-overdue boon to their occupational benefits— the ab ility to appl y for up to eight weeks of paid family leave.

Announced Tuesday b y D.C . M ayo r V i n c ent G ray, the new measures allow the city’s 30,000 government employees an opportu n ity to c are for children or other loved ones without risk in g either their employment or their paycheck. Though a marked step forward, the District’s program will truly achieve succ ess if it serves a s both model and motivator for the rest of the country.

The chief factor that sets the District’s program apart is its accessibility by both men and women. While the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides for 12 weeks of unpaid maternity and paternity leave, the law leaves employers wholly free to determine whether or not employees will be paid during their time off.

According to Mayor Gray’s office, the District’s program places it alongside just 1 6 percent of st ate governments and 12 percent of pri v atesector employers that offer similar benefits.

As reported by The New York Times last year, the U.S. lags behind most countries of the world—and all highly developed nations—in guaranteeing widespread parental leave. Most European nations all strongly outperform these select American employers, with the U.K. offering parents as much as half a year in paid leave in some cases and Sweden up to 18.

Despite its numerous demonstrated benefits, paternity leave in particular remains disappointingly scarce in the U.S. Arguments in favor of paternity leave range from the feminist to the economical. The practice better involves fathers in the household and mothers in the workplace. It can also boost national productivity in tough economies, promote gender equality, and both add more women

to the workforce and reduce pay gaps between female employees and their male counterparts.

Implementing such paternity and family leave policies on an incremental—yet nationwide—scale would likely replicate the benefits witnessed by countries like Sweden, among others, in which increased participation in so-called paternity leave “daddy months” correlates with greater benefits for mothers as well. A July article in The Atlantic examined an aggregate effect in which fathers who took paternity leave resulted in a 15 percent spike in the likelihood that their brothers, other male relatives, close friends, or coworkers would do the same.

D.C.’s program for family leave has great potential to mainstream the conversation about paid maternal and paternal employee benefits in this country. Whether you’re a mother, father, employee, or employer—or, indeed, a newborn—a survey of the facts unequivocally makes the case that it’s a conversation worth having.

news

4 | the georgetown voice

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Vendor bankruptcy leaves store shelves empty at Vital Vittles COURTNIE BAEK A new sign in Vital Vittles this week informed shoppers that its largest vendor, Associated Wholesalers Inc., has gone bankrupt—explaining the temporary shortage of certain items until the Corp reorganizes its business.

The shortage at Vittles includes Chobani Greek yogurt, various brands of cereal, and some paper products, including plates and napkins.

Director of Vital Vittles Aaron Feltman (COL ’15) explained why the vendor’s bankruptcy has not affected other Corp services. “Associated Wholesalers Inc. is only a vendor for Vittles.

I’m not sure exactly how long we’ve been using AWI, but for at least 3 years,” wrote Feltman in an email to the Voice. “AWI supplies roughly 50 percent of our products. However, the

THE CORP INSISTS vittles’ INVENTORY WILL BOUNCE back. supply shortages only lasted for about a week. We got most of the products we were out of through other vendors during AWI’s inventory struggles.”

The Times-Tribune reported that Associated Wholesalers Inc. currently seeks Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and has placed its assets up for a court-supervised auction after years of financial problems.

Higher edge: a tri-weekly column about america’s universities

The White House’s star-studded “It’s On Us” campaign may have made headlines this month, but it’s far from being the only step in recent times to combat sexual assault on college campuses. As Georgetown was sending detailed emails explaining its existing process for addressing sexual misconduct, other universities were drastically changing theirs to comply with—and even surpass—new standards. Georgetown, on the other hand, had already implemented similar changes earlier this year. In fact, the Hilltop’s handling of sexual assault issues, at least institutionally, fares pretty well when stacked up against other schools of comparable caliber and spiritual nature.

Under the Obama administration’s White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault,theU.S.DepartmentofEducation’s Office forCivil Rights issued a report on May 1 naming 55 colleges and universities nationwide under investigation for possible Title IX violations concerning the mishandling of “sexual violence and harassment complaints”—a list that has grown to include over 70 schools as of September.

TIM ANNICK

AWI plans to sell its assets to C&S Wholesale Grocers, which is the largest grocery wholesaler in the U.S. and serves 5,000 stores in 15 states.

C&S is one of three companies that has shown interest in purchasing AWI during an evaluation by Lazard Middle Market earlier this year. According to Supermarket News, C&S has offered to finance at least $132 mil-

COLLEGES SHOULDN’T GET IX LIVES

Earlier this week, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown signed the “Yes Means Yes” bill mandating “affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity,” as a core component of school sexual assault policies into law—the first of its kind in the U.S. The legislation defines consent as “an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity” and notes that a lack of resistance, or absence of a verbal “no,” does not indicate consent. When considering the fact that California has multiple schools on the the OCR’s list, ranging from a community college district to UC Berkeley, the landmark law seems less revolutionary and much more reactionary.

Georgetown’s official policy similarly states, “‘Consent’ means words or overt actions indicating a freely given agreement to the sexual act or contact in question.” Advocates applauded California’s new bill for also requiring access to counseling and health care services for victims, as well as training for faculty who review complaints. Meanwhile, Georgetown already requires—and

BY JULIA JESTER

recently vowed to strengthen— these measures.

Not all schools, however, are ahead of the game. Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and Princeton University don’t just share Ivy League status—all three schools are on the OCR’s investigation list. Therefore, it was long overdue when Princeton finally became the last Ivy League school to lower its burden of proof for sexual assault cases earlier this month. The university’s evidence standard for such cases changed from “clear and persuasive” to “preponderance,” or rather, “more likely than not.” Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz found herself in the national spotlight when she began carrying her mattress around campus as a physical reminder of the burdens that victims of sexual assault face every day.

In February, Fordham University earned one ranking colleges don’t ever want—the Jesuit university with the highest number of on-campus sexual assault claims between 2010 and 2012.

According to data from a report by the Office of Postsecondary Education, Fordham, with an undergraduate population of 8,325,

lion for the lesser of AWI’s bank debt. Their funding, however, may vary depending on AWI’s adjustments for additional debts.

Currently, AWI owes money to multiple creditors, including Kellogg’s and General Mills.

According to the Corp, the bankruptcy has had little impact on Vittles’ overall revenue. Chief Executive Officer and President Sam Rodman (MSB ’15) wrote in an e-mail to the Voice, “AWI has received a cash infusion [loan] so they can continue to operate at nearly 100 percent inventory.

As far as operational issues go, it’s a pretty minor problem for us—we’re tracking the sale of AWI but we don’t have to scramble to find a new wholesale grocery vendor or anything.”

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Gene Ball (MSB ’16) further explained that the Corp will continue to employ AWI after the company’s buyout. “We

led the nation’s 28 Jesuit universities with 23 claims, followed by Gonzaga University (4,896 students) with 21 claims, Marquette University (8,300 students) with 20 claims, Boston College (9,100 students) with 18, and Georgetown (8,258 students) rounding out the top five with 15 claims.

The number of claims, however, isn’t the only sign of trouble—Regis University is the only Jesuit university on the OCR’s investigation list. Yet, its definition of consent is one of the most comprehensive: “Consent is defined as freely and actively given, mutually understandable words or actions which indicate a willingness to participate in a mutually agreed upon, specific sexual act.” Clearly, this indicates meaningful change cannot simply be made at the systemic level.

The White House Council on Women and Girls revealed that roughly one in five college women is sexually assaulted by the time she graduates, but only 12 percent of them report the incidents—an alarming number when stacked against the estimated 40 percent of assaults reported by the overall U.S. population. Even more concerning is that students found guilty are expelled only in a minority of cases, with the more frequent consequence being suspension or

have over 70 other different vendors between all of our services.

We don’t need to employ any changes because they will be bought out in the next two weeks by a bigger vendor,” Ball wrote to the Voice. “Therefore, after this happens, our product selection from the vendor can be larger than ever...We plan on sticking with whoever buys out AWI.” The Corp suggests that students need not worry about missing their snacks at Vital Vittles.

“I know that a company going bankrupt seems like a big deal, but it really hasn’t had a major impact on us. Going forward, AWI’s bankruptcy will not have any significant operational impact on Vittles or The Corp as a whole,” wrote Feltman. “We put up a sign because although the impact was minimal, we believe in transparency and informing our customers about the reasons why some products were not stocked.”

social probation—meaning they are granted continued presence on campus with their victims.

Sexual assault is a pressing, complex problem within the university environment. The Obama administration has taken numerous steps to punish perpetrators properly and help combat the issue, but it has one more option in its arsenal: the “nuclear option.”

Its alternative term, “the academic death penalty,” is also fitting, as Title IX violations are grounds for losing eligibility for federal funding. This would mean cutting off access to federal student grants and loans, as well as research funding—producing negative consequences for students’ education so dire that this method of punishment has never been, and realistically will never be, used.

Since the Obama administration can’t exactly rule with an iron fist to make systemic improvements, its next best option is a massive public relations campaign to change campus culture surrounding consent. Georgetown’s involvement in the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign shows a small—but significant—step in the latter’s direction. Because after all, a tarnished reputation can do more damage to a university than any dollar amount.

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice | 5

GUPD addresses free speech at GUSA roundtable Georgetown MOOCs begin in October JAMES CONSTANT At a GUSA Hoya Roundtable meeting this Tuesday, Georgetown University Police Department Chief Jay Gruber addressed free speech concerns. He called his department’s actions against H*yas for Choice last Monday “absolutely wrong” and vowed to change departmental procedure to ensure such an event never happens again.

The incident he referred to was the ousting of H*yas for Choice from the sidewalk outside the University’s front gates on 37th St. during a peaceful protest of Georgetown’s ceremony granting the Archbishop of Washington, Donald Wuerl, an honorary degree.

“As a result of what happened, we’re having the Cen-

ter for Student Engagement come in to do training for my leadership staff next Tuesday,” Gruber said. “And in the months of October and November, every single officer, sergeant and below, will be trained on the new speech and expression policy.”

Gruber also said that he would make it clear to every officer under his command that he must be notified beforehand if they plan to take any action regarding the speech and expression policy. He also emphasized the fact that GUPD did not have jurisdiction over the area that H*yas for Choice was expelled from.

“There’s no exigency to moving somebody. Nobody’s getting killed, nobody’s getting injured,” he said. “And the speech and expression policy doesn’t

THE SIGHT OF A SAFERIDES VAN should be a sign of comfort.

GAVIN MEYERS

Students, GUPD express concerns about SafeRides system JARED KIMLER Both students and the Georgetown University Police Department have recently expressed concerns over the operation of SafeRides, the free service offered to Georgetown students, staff, and faculty as a safe alternative to walking alone at night.

On the night of the Sept.

13 bias-related assault of a LGBTQ Georgetown student, Lexi Dever (COL ‘16) called SafeRides requesting an escort.

“They said they weren’t going to send us a van and that we could wait at the corner of Prospect [St.] and Wis-

consin [Ave.] for a shuttle bus,” Dever said. To assist the with the increased volume of SafeRides callers this semester, the University began offering a weekend shuttle service that operates in four separate loops—including Burleith, West Georgetown, and M St.—between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. But this was the first time Dever had heard about the auxiliary shuttle service and she was not provided with a timeframe or a physical description of the shuttle.

Dever waited on the corner with her girlfriend for half an hour before giving up and walking home. Within the same time frame—between 1

have any place outside the bounds of the University.

There could be three people naked carrying signs in the middle of 37th and O, protesting the president, and I don’t have a dog in the fight.

It’s outside the gates of the University.”

H*yas for Choice President Abby Grace (SFS ‘16) praised Gruber’s statements, but expressed dissatisfaction that actions were not taken earlier.

“I’m happy that they have taken steps to ensure that all officers understand the updated policy,” Grace wrote in an email to the Voice. “However, I think it speaks to the reactive nature of Georgetown’s bureaucracy that it took H*yas for Choice being removed from public property for GUPD to institute this training.” a.m. and 2 a.m.— several blocks away, a Georgetown student was assaulted on the basis of perceived sexuality.

“We knew [the assailant] ran away, we don’t know where he ran to,” said Dever. “Had he run towards me, I could’ve been assaulted next.”

“Safe Rides is definitely an area we can improve upon,” GUPD Chief Jay Gruber said.

“We need a better customer service interface between dispatchers and those requesting rides.”

“Sunday through Wednesday, Georgetown University police dispatchers often answer the SafeRides line, and I think they do a really good job,” said Gruber. Students like Dever, however, report problems with the service during the weekend when contracted dispatchers are working.

On Saturday evening, Gruber held a meeting with contracted dispatchers to elucidate the value of the service to the campus community.

“There’s a disconnect—[contracted dispatchers] really don’t get what SafeRides is all about, at least from my perspective,” Gruber said.

At the meeting, Secretary of Student Health and Safety Nora West (SFS ’15) demonstrated the importance of the service, even if the caller’s destination is a bar on M St. “That

DAYANA MORALES GOMEZ Last month, Georgetown announced three new upcoming mass open online courses, to be centered around terrorism, Dante, and globalization. The first course, which started yesterday, is the fourth MOOC offered by Georgetown since it joined edX, a consortium of higher education institutions offering free online courses, in 2013.

The three MOOCs are entitled “Terrorism and Counterterrorism,” “The Divine Comedy: Dante’s Journey to Freedom, Part 1,” and “Globalization’s Winners and Losers: Challenges for Developed and Developing Countries,” which is a more elaborate version of a successful pilot course offered last fall.

“Terrorism and Counterterrorism” held its first session yesterday, “Globalization’s Winners and Losers” will follow on Oct. 7, and “The Divine Comedy” will begin is still a student who feels unsafe. I was … making sure they understand the seriousness of a student calling even if it seems infantile,” West said.

In an attempt to cut down on potential confusion, West and Gruber also revealed that they were making efforts to include a SafeRides button on the LiveSafe app.

“ Safe rides needs a major overhaul, and it is in the university’s best interest to overhaul it. ” Several students directly involved with the operation of the service have also expressed dissatisfaction.

“SafeRides needs a major overhaul, and it is in the University’s interest to overhaul it,” Caroline James (COL ’16), who drives for the service, wrote in an email to the Voice.

“At the very least, the communication and protocol between GUPD and stu-

on Oct. 15. The latter MOOC will be taught in three parts, with parts two and three offered beginning Feb. 4, 2015, and Apr. 8, 2015, respectively.

Last fall’s globalization course—the first MOOC ever offered by Georgetown—enrolled over 30,000 people from all over the world. Encouraged by this result, Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Bioethics launched its own MOOC in April of this year; Georgetown’s Medical Campus followed suit in June. Both courses were well received, garnering ratings of 4.5 stars out of five from enrollees.

President John DeGioia expressed his excitement for the MOOCs in an announcement to the University. “These courses are an extension of our mission and tradition,” he said. From DeGioia’s perspective, it is the University’s mission to “create and disseminate knowledge in effective, innovative ways, and to speak to some of [the] world’s most pressing issues.” dent drivers needs to be improved, which doesn’t seem like it would be terribly hard,” James wrote.

GUSA has been looking to address issues with the service as well. “I wouldn’t judge the legitimacy of anyone’s use of SafeRides, my concern is less with the amount of usage, but rather with the efficiency and effectiveness of the service, an ongoing project GUSA has looked to address,” wrote GUSA Speaker Sam Greco (SFS ’15) in an email to the Voice.

An anonymous feedback form has been posted on the GUSA website in which students are encouraged to express their issues with the SafeRides service. “In three weeks we’re going to sit down and evaluate all that feedback and talk about what that means going forward,” West said.

“Most students, in my experience, know that if you call the SafeRides number, they will send a van to pick you up,” Dever said. “That, clearly, is not true in all cases.”

At times, confusion results when students request the service to and from the same location covered by the shuttle routes. “You can always tell a student, hey, the shuttle service runs and that’s coming more quickly than SafeRides, but you can never deny them SafeRides,” West said.

sports

6 | the georgetown voice

October 2, 2014

Raiders cut Hoya football winning streak short JOE POLLICINO After stringing together their first two-game winning streak since the 2012 season, the Georgetown football team (2-3, 0-1 Patriot League) failed to keep it alive as it fell 19-0 in its Patriot League opener to Colgate (2-2, 1-0 Patriot League). Two blocked punts by the Raiders, which resulted in a safety and touchdown, were too much for the Hoyas and their offense to overcome.

Georgetown found itself at a deficit early, after sophomore punter Harry McCollum’s punt from the back of the Hoyas’ own endzone was blocked for a safety that the Raiders an early 2-0 lead with 8:45 left in the first quarter.

In similar fashion, Colgate extended their lead, as they blocked another McCollum punting attempt, with freshman linebacker Pat Afriyie returning it 10 yards for a touchdown to make it 9-0 Colgate with 5:11 remaining in the second quarter. Colgate sophomore running back Jake Melville’s 38-yard touchdown run with under one minute left in the first half gave the Raiders a 16-0 halftime lead. Sophomore kicker Jonah Bowman’s 31yard field goal with 8:58 left in the game capped the scoring for the Raiders.

Georgetown Head Coach Rob Sgarlata acknowledged that ill-timed mistakes, such as the two blocked punts, prevented the Hoyas from getting back into the game.

“It affects you, it’s a momentum changer,” said Sgarlata of the special teams errors. “We’ve analyzed it and

it’s like anything else in football, it’s all about alignments and techniques. We worked on it (in practice). It’s a huge focal point. We’ve re-assessed all of personnel that are on it. But we believe in the scheme and believe what we’re doing. We just got to do better this week.”

On the offensive side of the ball, the Hoyas, who amassed only 163 total yards, struggled to move the ball down the field due to lack of execution and unforced errors. Overall, junior quarterback Kyle Nolan completed 15-of-28 passes for 128 yards, while junior running back Jo’el Kimpela led the Hoyas rushing attack, gaining 41 yards on 10 attempts.

The anemic offensive output was especially disappointing considering the success that the Hoyas had in their previous two wins.

“Offensively, we just had a couple of missed assignments. On every drive, we had something to stall it,” said Nolan. “That’s something we can’t do in order to keep moving down the field.

We got to be more efficient and keep executing. We can’t have the missed assignments that we had.”

Despite their offensive struggles, the Georgetown defense maintained their consistent form, allowing the Colgate offense to enter the red zone only once, while also holding the Raiders to an impressive 2-of-12 on third down conversions and 1-of-3 on fourth down conversions. Melville’s touchdown run in the second quarter broke the unit’s streak of 10 quarters without allowing an offensive touchdown.

Freddy Rosas

Georgetown football will face its greatest challenge yet in Harvard this weekend.

Senior defensive end Alec May, who earned Patriot League Honorable Mention for the week for his performance, led the Hoyas with eight tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and a forced fumble. May has now earned Patriot League weekly honors for his play six of the last eight weeks, dating back to last season, tying him for the program’s alltime record. Despite these impressive stats, May credits his success to his fellow defensive linemen.

“People don’t realize that when it gets to third down, and we’re in our nickel package, [Hunter Kiselick and Richard Shankle are two other great pass rushers. It makes it a lot easier when I get in the backfield and [the quarterback] has nowhere to go.”

May and the Hoyas will look to rebound this week when they host Harvard (2-0, 1-0 Ivy League) this Saturday at 12:00pm in the schools’ first ever meeting.

Sgarlata acknowledged the challenge this matchup will provide for his young team, as the undefeated Crimson were Ivy League co-champions last year.

Under their Head Coach Tim Murphy, Harvard has always had a potent offensive attack. Entering this year, the Crimson failed to score over 30 points only five times over the last three years while never scoring less than 20 points. Through their first two contests, a 41-18 win over Holy Cross and 22-14 win over Brown, the Crimson have averaged 419.5 total yards of offense,

including 189 rushing yards.

This will present a challenge for the May and the Hoyas defense, one which he feels they’re ready for.

“We’re not worried. We’re just going to do our thing.

Coach Luke Thompson, [the team’s defensive coordinator] preaches every week that we don’t really care what the offense is going to do, we’re just going to do our thing. We know we have the guys on defense to stop them.”

Sgarlata is not overwhelmed by the matchup eithere. He is confident in his team’s abilities regardless of the opposition.

“I’ve told the kids again and again, ‘it doesn’t really matter who we play. If we play our brand of football, we’ll be fine against any opponent on our schedule.’”

Chrisastano’s SPORTS SERMON--C “We really need everyone to not commit crimes and drive safely right now. ”- Kansas City Police Twitter during the Royals game Over the past year I’ve read piece after piece on the world’s most prominent footballing websites condemning my favorite league, the Italian Serie A, to league-ranking hell. While it’s hard to argue against a visible decline in perceived quality, loss of talent and money has actually helped the Italians avoid some pitfalls currently affecting other domestic competitions.

I’m not going to downplay the league’s fall from grace.

Gone are the days when Serie A was the destination in a player’s career, instead of a waypoint.

Gone are the days when the peninsula attracted talent like AC Milan’s Dutch trio of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, and Frank Rijkaard, or El Diego Maradona himself. Thanks to mismanagement, clubs that were staying afloat five years ago are in serious financial peril and don’t seem poised to recover.

But what these teams lack in quality, they certainly make up for in character. The Italian league is by far the the most representative of its home country’s culture, both on and off the field. For one, the Italian league is flooded with Italians.

It might seem like a given, but considering the international nature of European soccer, it’s not uncommon to see foreign players muscling out the home grown talent for spots on domestic teams. Young English

players have had a particularly rough time breaking through as the English Premier League’s quality continues to attract the top footballing imports from other countries. The German Bundesliga and French Ligue 1 are not far behind as their elite follow suit.

This is not so in Italy. Channels are open for domestic footballers to strut their stuff. This sort of accessibility has allowed top youngsters like Alessandro Florenzi, Domenico Berardi, Simone Scuffet, and a host of compatriots to secure opportunities they might not have had if they were born under a different flag. Would it be cool if the top players wanted to go to Italy? Would it make it more exciting for the fans if there was a little more star power? Of course. But there’s something to be said watching the boys next door duke it out instead of high-paid talent from across the pond. It’s about the passion, not the paycheck.

Italian clubs are also struggling financially, but are slowly doing a better job of balancing their books than some of their international rivals, especially where the Union of European Football Association’s (UEFA) financial responsibility rules are concerned. Former superpowers like Napoli and AC Milan have had to balance their books and find better deals in

the transfer market in order to comply. This sort of stinginess has kept affairs relatively competitive considering there are no financial super elites who can buy their way to success a la Real Madrid or Barcelona.

Despite a lack of money, or talent, I think the on-field product in Serie A has suffered only a fraction of the damage that professional columnists claim it has sustained. The current crop of players still seem to be able to put on a show that will can blow viewers away.

Take AC Milan’s 5-4 victory over Parma for example.

Both lineups were lacking in star power (I’m sorry Rossoneri fans—it’s true), but the game was an absolute classic, keeping everyone watching on the edge of their seat. It was fast, it was incredibly dramatic, and watching it in the moment made the event feel like it could only happen in Italy.

Has the Italian league fallen from the lofty heights it occupied 15 years ago? Sure. Are top players more likely to take contracts in other countries?

Sure. But a diet of domestic talent and financial responsibility has slimmed Serie A down into a unique model of competition that’s representative of the peninsula. Its certainly doesn’t‘ ‘ fit everyone’s tastes, but you can’t deny it doesn’t have a style all its own.

sports

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the georgetown voice | 7

Hoya boxers beef up for showcase CHRIS ALMEIDA

It is a common sight to see the club soccer or frisbee teams practicing on Harbin Field, or to see club basketball on the courts in Yates, but the equally dedicated club boxing team, tucked away in Bulldog Alley, might be the best kept secret on the Hilltop. The squad practices a sport that’s gone underground in recent years, but its members are hoping to step into the spotlight soon.

The team, which practices three times a week, sports both novices and national champions.

Recently, the squad participated in an event with a number of Georgetown MBA students at K Street’s Sphinx Club, hosting fights to raise money for charity.

“It was a charity event... but they were asking for undergraduate students to fight against some of their graduate students. I ended up being the only one, though ... but they got other graduate students together, and they fought each other,” said Georgetown fighter Janie Rosales (COL ‘17).

Though many undergraduates and MBAs withdrew from the scheduled fights prior to the event, Rosales stepped into the ring to fight Laura Macrorie (MBA ‘16).

“I think it helped me to fight a different kind of fighter, because up until now, I’ve been fighting girls who would come at me in the same way that I would go after them, and that wasn’t her style,” said Rosales. “She did more slipping, more ducking.

Hot heads and hot rods

The Boxing club hopes to HOST NEXT SHOWCASE on healy Lawn.

She chose her shots. She was a smart fighter. So, I think now I have more experience with that kind of fighter. It just builds up what I already know.”

Rosales, who is 1-3 as a fighter, lost the three-round fight by split-decision, but went toe-totoe with her opponent, who was more than 10 years her senior.

“Janie made the school proud; we were very proud of her... I am very disappointed with the decision,” said Adan Gonzalez (COL ‘15), the boxing team’s captain. “By the end of the fight, you had people chanting for her, and I think that made all of us proud.”

Though the team often fights off campus, the team will be bringing their talents back to 37th and O when they host their showcase event on Oct. 18. They usually hold their home fights in Yates, but they are working to have this year’s event in plain view out on Healy Lawn.

“We’re very excited that we’re hosting our showcase on Healy Lawn. We just want to give everyone the opportunity for an

Haoyang Zhao

outside event,” said Gonzalez.

“Boxing itself, is very exciting, and now, doing it in front of our historic building, where everybody is passing by, [students] will get to see that we do have a boxing program, and we are actually very good.”

The club also plans to incorporate many other groups on campus, allowing cultural clubs to provide food and entertainment with the community as a supplement to the events in the ring.

“This year, we have a lot of ethnic clubs that are going to be able to share their food and contribute to the event,” said Gonzalez. “They’ll be able to bring a little of their own part of their culture to not just showcase the boxing part of the event, but also to expose themselves to campus.”

Though the sweet science may not be in the center of the nation’s sporting conscience, but it will hopefully be on display for all of the Georgetown population to see in just under three weeks from now.

D.C. United aims for playoffs ROBBIE PONCE

Last season, D.C. United was the laughingstock of Major League Soccer. Though MLS fans and experts predicted that the squad could contend for the league title in 2013, the team’s campaign was one of the most ill-fated in club history as United managed just three victories in 34 league games. This dismal record tied United for the least amount of league wins in any season in MLS history.

Eager to rectify last season’s woes, the club’s management elected to reconstruct the team’s roster in the offseason. The club released several beloved veterans, including long-time captain Dwayne De Rosario, and attempted to sign a younger

– BuckWild –

Emmy Buck’s TRI-weekly column about sports

core of players via transfer.

In the first match of the 2014 season, only four players from the 2013 starting lineup remained with the club.

After a difficult first three games this year in which the team lacked cohesion, D.C. lost just one of its next eight games and sat atop the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2012. The team continued to streak through their league campaign and currently have a six-point cushion atop the Eastern Conference table with just four regular season games to play.

After he felt himself on the hot seat following the dismal 2013 season, Head Coach Ben Olsen is reaping the rewards of United’s success this season and signed a contract extension last week with the

club through the 2019 season.

Forwards Fabián Espindola and Luis Silva have taken on vital leadership roles for the squad and have anchored the United attack, scoring 20 goals and tallying 11 assists in 25 games this season.

United will host Sporting Kansas City on October 10, which may serve as the club’s last true test before the playoffs begin in November. With just four games remaining in the season, United needs just one win and one tie to secure their first Eastern Conference title since 2007. The club looks poised for a deep playoff run this season, and the United players and management hope to bring an MLS Cup trophy back to the District for the first time since 2004.

The world of NASCAR was shocked when Tony Stewart killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward, Jr. on Aug. 9, 2014 at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in New York. Millions of viewers watched Ward’s car spin into the wall after being bumped

by Stewart. As Stewart’s car circled back from another lap, millions of viewers watched as Ward angrily marched toward Stewart’s oncoming car, pointing an accusatory finger.

Then, millions of viewers saw Ward’s body fly from the sudden impact with Stewart’s car.

Despite almost 20 years of racing experience and 48 race wins, many questioned Stewart’s intentions. An investigation, led by the Ontario County District’s Sheriff Philip Povero, had asked many fans to turn over pictures and video footage of the incident to the sheriff’s office as evidence.

The video of the event showed Ward making accusatory gestures toward Stewart, but the authorities were still trying to determine if Stewart had swerved his car in Ward’s direction in a threatening manner.

For seven weeks, the case continued to explore various forms of evidence, during which time the three-time Sprint Cup Champion separated himself from the racing world. In the period following the investigation, Stewart, a 43-year-old veteran driver, kept a low profile. Upon his return, Stewart received support from both his sponsor and his teammates. Bass Pro Shop’s founder, Johnny Morris, expressed support for Stewart not only as a sponsor, but as a friend.

When he finally did make his competitive return, others followed suit in showing support and jubilation at Stewart’s reentry into the world of racing.

Then on Sept. 24, 2014 Tony Stewart was cleared by the Orange County Grand Jury of any suspicions. Evidence, revealed during the trial, proved Ward was under the influence of marijuana the night of the accident. In the examined footage, investigators observed that the first car to pass Ward had to swerve in order to avoid hitting him. Ward was then struck by Stewart’s right rear tire, and hurtled through the air. He died of blunt force trauma to the head. But his death might be better understood as the poor decision to mix drugs, racecars, and a hot temper.

Stewart’s age, experience, successful racing record, and various character testimonies should silence any further accusation concerning this event.

The additional presence of marijuana should answer the questions regarding Ward’s brash behavior. The Ward family, however, continues to pursue a civil suit against Stewart.

They claim Stewart accelerated his car during a caution warning, which is a signal given for all cars to decelerate after a crash has occurred. Ward’s father said to a newspaper there was “no reason” for the accident due to Stewart’s record and experience as a driver.

In light of this event, NASCAR introduced a new rule to at least attempt to decrease the risk of driver deaths, because to completely eliminate the possibility of death in NASCAR is impossible. Now, a driver may not exit a crashed or disabled vehicle, unless the vehicle is on fire or until safety personnel arrive.

This rule may seem obvious and inherent for all drivers to abide by, but in actuality, many racecar drivers exit their damaged vehicles in a storm of anger. Apparently, these hot rods can also be hot heads.

NASCAR, although seemingly pointless to those who do not understand the technique behind the mastery of driving a high speed car, is an extremely dangerous sport. 43 drivers race around a track in tight packs, cruising around 188 miles per hour. More than 520 people have died in U.S. auto racing over the past 25 years—an average of 21 deaths per year. Although NASCAR has enacted much reform to guarantee a safer sport, they still cannot completely erase all dangers. There will always be the potential for death on the NASCAR racetrack.

I’ve spent years trying to understand the fascination with NASCAR. About six million fans—one of them my own brother—crowd around their television sets every Sunday afternoon. For seven hours they sit there, glued to the blurry vision of race cars zooming around the track and leaving balls of melted rubber behind them. But in light of recent events, I see this not as a sport, but as an example of men toeing the line between life and death.

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8 | the georgetown voice

WALK THIS WAY

October 2, 2014

[Female students subjected to sexual harassment by construction workers.]

By Caitríona Pagni As Georgetown breaks ground on the many construction projects planned for the next two years, several female students have raised concerns for their personal safety in response to incidents of alleged sexual harassment from construction workers on campus. These complaints have prompted University administrators to address this problem and devise solutions to better enforce boundaries of behavior for the construction workers on campus.

“It started over the summer with the Healy Family Student Center. I could hear [workers] talking about me,” Aloysia Jean (COL ‘16) said while recalling her first experience with construction workers catcalling her as she walked through Henle Village.

The behavior of these workers made Jean so uncomfortable that she later altered her route on her way back to her apartment in order to avoid their inappropriate whispers.

“I happened to be going out, so I was dressed nicely,” she said. “I could hear them talking about me and it wasn’t anything shouted at me, but I could feel them looking at me. I purposely chose another route because I knew they were going to talk about me.”

Jean recalled another incident that occurred over the summer while she was working for the summer housing operations crew. According to Jean, the Office of Residential Living had contracted outside workers to assist the student workers with moving heavy boxes across campus.

In order to better coordinate, Jean shared her cell phone number with one of these workers.

“After they left for the day, they thought it was okay to text us, and his friend was trying to get my number,” Jean said. After she declined to give out her personal number to the worker, he continued to ask for other information from Jean, such as her Facebook profile. “He was still pressing on. I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” she said.

Other female students have also come forward to share their experiences with this type of harassment coming from contracted workers.

Marlene Cox (COL ‘16) said that construction workers harass her on a regular basis.

“At least once a week—it has been pretty bad,” Cox said. “I have actually been dressing down lately because

when I was being catcalled, I dressed up those days. When I think about how I have to hide my femininity, it can become very taxing.”

Cox recalls one of the most recent incidents of construction workers catcalling her. “I was walking past and a worker just said. ‘Hey, hey you.’

He kind of followed and just kept saying, ‘Hey you with the big booty.’”

part of the Georgetown community and must behave as such,” Maness wrote in an email to the Voice. “Street harassment goes against university policy and threatens the university’s safe atmosphere.”

Now that this problem has been made known to University officials, they have begun taking steps to find solutions. “We certainly want to get

Construction on Healy Family Student Center.

Cox went on to suggest that this behavior is not limited to construction workers and recounted an incident in which an employee of the University bookstore knocked on the window of the bookstore to get her attention, and proceeded to follow her through the Leavey Center. “He came out of the bookstore and walked, following me, to Bulldog Alley,” Cox said.

According to Title IX Coordinator Rosemary Kilkenny and Director of Student Health Services Carol Day, their offices have not received official complaints about the behavior of construction workers on campus.

Kilkenny and Day first heard about these complaints last Friday when Haley Maness (NHS ‘15) brought them forward at a Sexual Assault Working Group meeting.

“Because the contractors are working on university grounds, they are temporarily considered to be a

Photo by Joshua Raftis.

on top of this matter and take appropriate action. We should not have to tolerate this. This is unacceptable,” Kilkenny said.

“I could hear them talking about me and it wasn’t anything shouted at me, but I could feel them looking at me. I purposely chose another route because I knew they were going to talk about me.”

Kilkenny and Vice President for Planning and Facilities Management Robin Morey plan to meet with the

construction company managers to set clear boundaries about the way workers interact with students. “We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior. We have written our contractors to reinforce Georgetown University contractual requirements, policies and expectations regarding this issue,” Morey wrote in an email to the Voice.

As of now, the University does not have any official records of these incidents or harassment. Kilkenny stressed the importance of filing reports either through the bias-related incident reporting system, which can be found on the University website, or directly through a Title IX coordinator at the Office of Student Affairs.

Jeanne Lorde, the University’s additional Title IX coordinator, was unavailable for comment.

Neither Cox nor Jean felt they should have reported these incidents to the University. “I just let it go and I kept walking … I don’t want to cost somebody their job,” Cox said. Jean held a different reason for not reporting the incident. “It never even occurred to me that I could report someone for saying something because I have no way of proving it, so I just tried to ignore it and keep on moving,” she said.

Because the University uses multiple contracting companies who employ subcontractors to work on campus, Jean was unable to clearly identify the company affiliation of the workers who allegedly harassed her. “It was very unclear as to what relationship he had with the university… Most of these [construction workers] are nice guys and will say ‘Good morning’ to you, but Georgetown has to choose better contractors,” she said.

Jean believes that the Georgetown bubble effect can create a false sense of security among students. Her interactions with construction workers thus far have only further shattered any illusion of Georgetown as a safe haven. “[Harassment] happens on this campus and people tend to forget,” she said. “When those instances break through that facade, it’s just a reminder that just because I am on this campus, that doesn’t mean I am actually safe.”

Additional Reporting by Ryan Greene

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leisure

10 | the georgetown voice

October 2, 2014

Let them eat cupcakes: Yury Urnov modernizes Marie Antoinette ANNA NESTEROVA If you were built to be nothing more than a political toy, what would you do in the face of a life-threatening revolution outside your palace gates? The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s rendition of David Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette directly confronts this question, presenting a modern interpretation that challenges viewers to reimagine history’s “famous-for-being-famous” queen. Director Yury Urnov turns the classic on its head, bringing a contemporary bang to the scandals, decadence, and protests. Antoinette, played by Kimberly Gilbert, wades around her Jacuzzi in striped bikinis, engages in steamy love affairs, and poses for the paparazzi in her world at Versailles.

The first half of the play follows Antoinette’s life at court, carried out in provocative wisps of conversations and encounters.

Draped in pink silk and embellished in glass, the stage becomes a modern Versailles—built more for the likes of the Kardashians than the 18th century French elite.

Flashing lights and bass-heavy music turn Antoinette’s life into an endless, wig-strutting catwalk,

with all of Europe as her audience.

But between the hypnotic beats and ceaseless attention, glamour, and glitter, Urnov reveals a terrified teenage girl given neither enough time to grow up nor an option to refuse what life—or higher powers—had in store for her.

Gilbert handles these complex layers of Antoinette’s char-

acter with a well-orchestrated delicacy. Bursts of emotional arguments with Louis XVI, played

by Joe Isenberg, demonstrate a painful marriage that Antoinette ascribes to being arranged for the sake of political alliance. Bitter ti-

A bi-weekly literary column by Micaela Beltran

On for two reasons: first, I had heard about the subtleties in Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, but never had the patience to master them myself. Second, it was written by Georgetown’s own Professor Maureen Corrigan, known for teaching the most popular English course on New York literature—complete with a trip to that beautiful chaos.

Corrigan, like many of us, at first didn’t understand why this slim blue book was so pervasive. In fact, as Corrigan writes, Fitzgerald’s third book received terrible reviews when it was first published, becoming his least successful novel during his lifetime. Like many greats, it wasn’t until Fitzgerald had long passed that people started to take notice and fall deeply in love with Gatsby.

They discovered incredible respect for the protagonist whom

As a company that has accrued a reputation for its artistic audacity and defiance of traditional norms, Marie Antoinette proves to be an appropriate opening for the 35th season for Woolly Mammoth. Urnov’s production truly adds the troupe’s provocative flavor through the deliberate and extreme modernization of an oth-

The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

“A horse, a horse, a kingdom for a horse!”

UNDERTHECOVERS: I remember reading The Great Gatsby when I was in high school and just not getting it. It was one of those books everyone was supposed to read.

Like most other people my age, I didn’t want to feel left out.

Though I am from New York— and this book touts references that only New Yorkers would really understand—The Great Gatsby didn’t seem to fit into my world at all. What are these Eggs for, and why am I being blinded by this green light?

Who throws extravagant parties in Long Island?

I always knew I was missing something important in Gatsby. Three years later, after reading Maureen Corrigan’s new book, So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why it Endures, I finally understand the hype. I was attracted to So We Read

rades from her mother, the powerful Maria Theresa of Austria, and her older brother, Joseph II, chastising Antoinette’s “heterodox behavior” show complex family relations and high expectations. And of course, the citizens of France have chosen Antoinette, the unwelcomed foreigner, as an icon of everything wrong with

the country. Antoinette was by no means completely innocent and the production doesn’t hide her fervent gambling and even more fervent spending habits, but the young queen was merely doing what she was consigned to do.

erwise traditional story. The grandeur of Versailles is transformed into a wasteland of trashy extravagance, an aesthetically important touch that makes the character’s lives only more frustrating for modern audiences. While life at

“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” the media had depicted as a pretentious spendthrift.

In So We Read On, Corrigan takes us on her journey across the U.S., from the Princeton Fitzgerald collection to the restricted chambers of the Library of Congress, simultaneously talking to experts and admirers, while reading the book several times over and gaining new insights every time. She also teaches the book extensively in some of her classes, and describes many of her Georgetown students’ surprising insights. Corrigan’s examination of every facet of Gatsby radiates her deep curiosity of how it grew beyond its slim, bounded edges.

But the book doesn’t stop at exploring Gatsby. It also excavates much of Fitzgerald’s life, from his teenage love affairs to letters to his daughter, Scottie.

So We Read On explores Fitzgerald’s early years, depicting

the writer as a man we don’t often see: the loving father and husband, the “pretty boy” at Princeton, and the skilled comedian, rather than just an idol-worshipping profligate who could write pretty well. When one of his past girlfriends asked him if she had inspired any of the women in his fiction, Fitzgerald responded, “Which bitch do you think you are?”

Corrigan brilliantly portrays not only his sense of humor and reckless persona, but also his sensitivity towards his past, finally presenting Fitzgerald the person, as opposed to just Fitzgerald the writer.

Today, most of his other books are considered mustreads—Tender is The Night, The Beautiful and Damned, and his short stories have appeared in hundreds of movies and plays (for example, I had no idea that The Curious

the Chateau dominates the first half, the second focuses on Antoinette’s imprisonment in the Palace of the Tuileries, then the Conciergerie Prison. Despite the change in location, the same concrete backdrop stained with graffiti spelling out modern slurs like “la garce d’Austriche” (“the bitch from Austria”) remain, representing the overwhelming torment Antoinette experiences.

The extent to which Marie Antoinette’s world mirrors our own is no coincidence. From the colloquial language to Marie’s paparazzi poses, Adjmi works to draw a clear parallel. The play demands reflection on how our supposedly advanced society still reflects the socioeconomic crookedness of late 18th century France. It serves as an intense wake-up call to a culture obsessed with moulding celebrities into idols, only to slam and abandon them once fans find a new phenomenon to worship.

As Antoinette spends her last days in prison, heart-stricken with the hues of the Tricolour symbolically dripping down her pale face, viewers see no arrogant queen. Rather, they see a child flung away from home and drowning in a role that she never had the desire to be.

Case of Benjamin Button was his). Despite his ubiquity, few know Fitzgerald’s personality.

Most have come to know him only through his works, which, though iconic, prevent readers from seeing something greater than his writing: his inner thoughts and his origins.

It’s important to turn back and remember why we were attracted to The Great Gatsby, after we pushed aside all the cultish fanfare and read it through.

At its core, it’s a sincere story about reaching for something greater than oneself, without actually knowing what such possession entails—something to which every one of us should relate. It also invokes this message through layers of distasteful classism and an endearing (if phony) love story. For these reasons and the many that Corrigan devotedly shapes, The Great Gatsby’s green light will shine on.

Charleston with Micaela at mfb61@georgetown.edu

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“Now stand aside, worthy advesary.” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail

LEZ’HURLEDGER: CONNOR ROHAN Nothing says “leisure” like sinking into a plush recliner after a long day of not reclining. Let’s be honest with each other here for a second. You want to recline.

I can feel your desire to recline in my muscles, in my pores, and in my perfectly straight spine resulting from nearly a century of awesome lumbar support. “But how can I recline,” you might ask, “when Georgetown doesn’t offer students recliners?” Well, luckily for us, recliner heaven is as close as Dulles, VA. I went to Belfort Furniture in Dulles to test out some recliners for your consideration. Winner of the North American Home Furnishings Association’s “2012 Retailer of the Year Award” (they really want you to know that they won this, by the way), Belfort Furniture is a recliner gem tucked away in the vast sewage-town that is Dulles.

As soon as I entered Belfort Furniture, I began sampling the local fare. The first recliner that took my breath away was the Belfort Signature Motion Salazar Casual Power Recliner with Lumbar Support in burgundy and listed at only $899—a real steal for anyone familiar with the world of recliners. The BSMSCPRWLS lives up to its name regarding power and lumbar support. Reclining in this beauty feels like lounging on a

To recline, or not to recline?

That’s a pretty stupid question.

lightening bolt curved like a human back. Pad-over-chaise with contrast stitching seat? Check.

Available in leather? You bet it’s available in leather. Believe me, this recliner has got it all.

Another star performer was the Hooker Furniture Reclining Chairs Traditional High Leg Reclining Chair with Tufted Recliner which, despite the name, was anything but traditional. Sure, this chair had some of the qualities of your grandfather’s recliner, like rolled arms and nailhead trim, but it comes revamped with “high density foam core wrapped with virgin polyester fibers” and a “special ticking.” Just when you think things couldn’t get any better, it turns out that this chair is imported—good news for all you Europhiles out there.

The most charming recliner that I had the pleasure of sampling was the Palliser Westside Contemporary Pushback Chair with Curved Track Arms. Before you get all pissed off that I referred to a pushback chair as a recliner (for those unfamiliar with the debate, the question of whether or not a pushback chair is a recliner has raged for decades in the chair community), please read my dissertation published in the May 1986 publication of the Journal of Furniture Studies on the matter [disclaimer: This does not actually exist]. The PWCPCWCTA boasts a classic design straight out

of the 60s, the kind of thing you’d see on Mad Men or in photos of the set of Mad Men. Cubic and sleek with an interwoven 100% elastic webbing coil, the PWCPCWCTA appeals to minimalists and fans of Mad Men alike.

While I may have tried out some stellar recliners, it is important to note that not all recliners are created equally. For example, sitting on the Bastrop DuraBlend-Steel Contemporary Bonded Leather Match Rocker Recliner was like riding a roller coaster made of stones straight to hell. The BDSCBLMRR feels unsteady to the point where sitting on it inspires real fear. By the time that I mustered up the courage to rise from the chair, I had spent 45 minutes paralyzed and drenched in sweat, but that’s what happens when you make a recliner with a cushion core.

After visiting Belfort Furniture, I can say with complete certainty that the world of recliners is not nearly as doomed as many say.

Its golden age may have passed, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some incredible recliners still being produced today. So, to the recliner skeptics out there, I say this: make the trek to Belfort Furniture with an open mind, try out some chairs, and see if you still feel the same way. Maybe you’ll love it. Maybe you’ll hate it, but then you’d be wrong. As I always say, love, live, recline.

SW ArtsFest (e)merges this weekend LARISSA ONG

Hot on the heels of last Saturday’s Art All Night event is SW ArtsFest––yet another opportunity to soak up visual and performing arts offerings in the District.

With six different programs, each catering to art aficionados of all aptitudes, SW ArtsFest is a must-see for D.C. residents starved for art.

Spanning Oct. 2 to 5, events will be scattered throughout Southwest D.C. Just south of the National Mall and readily accessible from the Waterfront metro station on the green line, the rapidly redeveloping Southwest is a vibrant alternative to the hipster bastions of the District. With lectures, presentations, and plenty

the georgetown voice | 11

of exhibits, ArtsFest is likely to be a Mecca for D.C.’s art scene.

The most prominent event will undoubtedly be the fourth installation of the (e)merge Art Fair at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, showcasing some of the most cutting-edge artists in the District. “The Shoplifters” at the Kreeger Theater-Arena Stage promises to be a biting social commentary about an elderly shoplifter, played by Tony-nominee Jayne Houdyshell, in a world distinctly divided into the haves and have-nots.

For visual art, Lance Fung’s Nonuments will re-create the National Gallery’s sculpture garden with a welcome revival of Jazz in the Garden’s regular home. Nonuments is further

dedicated not to the national heroes and leaders whose erected likenesses we encounter on the National Mall, but illuminates pertinent issues of our time, such as human trafficking and immigration.

G40 Art Summit at Blind Whino will also feature visual installations throughout the weekend, while the outdoor market will be running on the same grounds on Saturday, with bohemian arts and crafts vendors and jazz performances. If you missed Nuit Blanche this past weekend, make up for it with a pilgrimage to SW ArtsFest’s fourth iteration.

SW ArtsFest October 2-5 swdcartsfest.org

to save energy, dbdg is airdrying all dinnerware.

DBGB

DBGB crowdsurfs into D.C. TYLER KRANAWETER

DBGB’s interior might best be described as storeroom chic.

Shelves are neatly lined with ingredients and dishes, cookware surrounding the dining area, giving the room a cozy, pantry-esque feel. Complemented by the sleek, minimalist furniture and lighting, DBGB’s style is both industrial and elegant.

The plates displayed on the shelves were decorated by chefs who had previously visited the restaurant, including names such as Jose Andres and Anthony Bourdain (probably without reservations). The large back window in the dining area overlooks the new City Center. The restaurant’s decor and location help DBGB preserve its one-of-akind casual, clean look reflected in the dishes themselves.

But what exactly does DBGB stand for? Nothing in the restaurant even seems to hint at the answer to this puzzling mystery. The answer is a bit tricky, requiring first some backstory. DBGB has a counterpart with the same name located in the Bowery district of New York. Owner and chef Daniel Boulud named the New York location DBGB as a reference to the CBGB punk rock music club that was just a block away. There are no punk-rock riot grrrls hurling plates at chefs here, however.

Instead, DBGB serves casual food with an upscale twist, boasting a trademark American influence on classic French dishes.

The menu, according to the manager, is aptly split between traditional Americana and French basics, a staple in D.C.’s culinary culture. The menu starts off with “Bites to Share” and appetizers—both served in shareable smaller portions. The appetizer menu contains a selection of seasonally-rotated dishes, such as their signature Crispy Egg. Featuring broccoli rabe and radish

topped with anchovy dressing and a deep fried hard-boiled egg, the dish offers a unique taste in which salty and bitter compete perfectly in a delicious contest.

The main entrees come in more generous portions, but are accompanied by not-so-generous prices. The entrees can be shared, but once you’ve tasted them, you won’t want to. The signature Crabbie Burger consists of a traditional American burger topped with Maryland crab meat and Old Bay tartar sauce, served with a side of hand-cut fries, an addictive substance that does not have to be secretly consumed in DBGB’s bathroom.

The pride and joy of DBGB, however, is their selection of signature sausages. Executive Chef Ed Scarpone began his culinary training in Bangkok, Thailand, reflected by the masterfully crafted, though thematically inconsistent, Thai sausage. Made with pork and red curry paste, this sausage is served with fried rice, red curry, and quail egg, creating a well-balanced, piquant flavor that should not go unordered.

DBGB keeps its food traditional and casual while successfully adding its own twists and sophistications. Boulud’s mastery of the basics allows the dishes to be complemented by the addition of supporting flavors. This improved essence of fundamental flavors, however, can be clearly observed in both the dishes’ tastes and prices.

DBGB’s unique French-American cuisine offers a refreshing change of pace from any typical Georgetown meal, but be warned: though DBGB’s cuisine is something to bang your head to, the high prices may be reason for a riot.

DBGB Kicthen + Bar 931 H St N.W. Monday-Sunday, 5 p.m.-11 p.m. dbgb.com/dc

leisure

12 | the georgetown voice

CRITICAL VOICES

The Last Bison, Inheritance, Universal Folk band The Last Bison’s appropriately-named second album, VA, was written in a cabin in rural Virginia, and it feels like it. It takes abundant technical skill to marry the band’s own kind of musical complexity with rusticity, but the group accomplishes it skillfully. Perpetuating the brand of mountaintop chamber-folk that made their last album, Inheritance,

JEFF the Brotherhood, Hypnotic Nights, Infinity Cat Records JEFF the Brotherhood’s garage rock siblings, Jake and Jamin Orrall, with all their tattered-denim, hillbilly sex appeal and carefree demeanor, hold a special place at the top of my fangirl list. After many years of devotion to this Nashville, Tenn. duo, I am still infatuated with JTB’s simplistic, three-string guitar quintessential rock and roll.

Now, with the release of Dig the Classics—a six track EP featuring

so compelling, The Last Bison has produced a more mature, cohesive compilation that blends mellow folk influences and the freak folk of greats such as Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks.

The first song “Bad Country” opens the album effervescently, with an upbeat ode to adventurism and happy trails. The orchestral elements of The Last Bison are distinctive, incorporating strings, pianos, and bells, while keeping traditional folk staples such as the banjo and mandolin. This fusion results in sparkling intros like the one in “Endview” and an atmospheric hypnosis induced by pieces like “By No Means.”

This melange of nu-classical and classic folk gives the album more depth, as well as movie-soundtrack quality. Lead singer Dan Hardesty’s dynamic and soulful voice is impressive in its

own right, and even more so as an instrument among the soaring ensemble of sounds on the album. But for all their theatrical leanings, The Last Bison never lose hold of their folk roots.

There are no weak tracks in this album—only dynamic and tonal shifts, as the listener travels with the band on an emotional and intimate journey through the mountains and valleys of modern Americana. This album deserves to be played all the way through at least once—to listen to it any other way is to miss the way the songs whimsically weave into one another. VA sweeps us away, and the only shame is that after the last track plays, we’re forced to leave The Last Bison’s mountain forests and return to our dorm room walls.

covers of songs from bands such as the Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, and Beck—my heart palpitations have returned.

Not to worry though, because the remedy can be found in Jake’s bewitching incantations and Jamin’s jammin’ mojo jojo drummin’. This record follows JTB’s previous release Hypnotic Nights, also co-produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Hypnotic Nights was JTB’s move toward a more uniform aesthetic and a step away from its characteristically more experimental garage rock sound. Thankfully, the band reversed its one-time foray into the vanilla mainstream with a return to its unorthodox musical roots.

That being said, this record is not about experimentation or thematic consistency.

Instead, it’s meant to be a fun, light-hearted project through which the Orrall brothers could pay tribute to their favorite artists.

The EP opens masterfully with the band’s cover of “Gouge Away” from the Pixies’ Doolittle, blending JTB’s grunge with the best of the Pixies’ punk rock roots. The best track is the band’s take on MBV’s “Come in Alone” from Loveless.

On this record, Jake emphasizes My Bloody Valentine’s transfixing guitar riffs, but replaces Shield’s traditional lo-fi vocals with a deeper voice, resulting in a unique, almost indescribable track.

While some die-hard fans of the artists featured on the Dig the Classics might find JTB’s take on iconic rock songs unsuccessful or lacking, this compilation successfully rebrands the icons’ songs with the Orrall brothers’ overalled sex-appeal. It just goes to show, true love never dies.

Voice’s Choices: “Endview,” “Every Time” —Ida Dhanuka

Voice’s Choices: “Come in Alone,” “Gouge Away” —Shalina Chatlani

CONCERT CALENDAR THURSDAY 10/2 Black Lips Black Cat, 8 p.m., $20

SATURDAY 10/4 Cloud Nothings 9:30 Club, 10 p.m., $18

SATURDAY 10/4 Gardens & Villas Rock & Roll Hotel, 8 p.m., $15

FRIDAY 10/2 We Are Scientists & Surfer Blood U Street Music Hall, 6 p.m., $20

Saturday 10/4 King Tuff 9:30 Club, 11 p.m., $20

SUNDAY 10/5 Foxygen 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $20

REELTALK:

october 2, 2014

Indie is the new blockbuster

A bi-weekly column about movies by Dayana Morales Gomez

Gena Rowland once said, “People in independent film have a passion; they’re not in it for the money.” Indeed, scrolling through the list of films nominated for Independent Spirit Film Awards and comparing it to the winners of more mainstream academies, there seems to be a bit of a disparity between what gets pop-culture attention and what’s thoroughly hipster. Perhaps more importantly, there is a huge gap between what gets funding and what does not.

Independent film has been around since at least 1908, according to Fandor. After 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company formed the Edison Trust, essentially a media conglomerate for film production and distribution. A little over 10 years later, Charlie Chaplin and other silent film stars started the United Artists studio, the first independent film studio in the United States.

Flash forward 80 years, and indie movies continue to lure some of the industry’s most talented actors and directors. Stars including Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, and Matthew McConaughey and directors Steve McQueen, Sofia Coppola, Alexander Payne have all devoted the majority of their careers to independent film.

For these successful artists, it’s easy to secure funding. McQueen’s critically-acclaimed 12 Years A Slave was made with over $20 million. It’s the lesser known independent artists, however, who have the hardest time getting even $1 million for their projects.

In the initial planning stages of Blue Valentine, 13 years ago, Derek Cianfrance imagined shooting past and future scenes years apart. He signed Michelle Williams when she was only 21 and Gosling when he was 22 (two years after hiring Williams). Cianfrance was returning to film for his first feature-length film since 1998, when he directed the documentary, Black and White: A Portrait of Sean Combs.

Unfortunately, his inability to find funds for his project made it impossible to shoot.

Even though he hired them

years prior, shooting only began when Williams and Gosling were 29 and 28, respectively.

Conversely, you have directors like M. Night Shyamalan, who, after forming connections in the industry, has been able to finance 10 films over the last 20 years. Though Rotten Tomatoes suggests that his films hover at around a 50% rating, his lowest film, Avatar: The Last Airbender—released in 2010—was “rotten,” liked by only 6 percent of critics. It didn’t fare much better with audiences.

We know that films with lower budgets have the capacity to succeed—Napoleon Dynamite certainly surprised producers when its $400,000 budget went on to make $46,118,097 at the box office.

Napoleon Dynamite premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it was picked up

by Fox Searchlight and given limited distribution. Unexpectedly, audiences loved it and the film was subsequently released on an international scale.

The opposite also exists: those that keep the block intact. Take 2011’s Green Lantern for example. The film hired big names: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, and Peter Sarsgaard, to name a few. After distribution, the production costs can almost double. For a film like Green Lantern, that means something like $400 million dollars went into production, plus marketing. The film didn’t even break $250 million in revenue.

Independent cinema must do more with less––entice audiences without major celebrities or CGI. Only festival recognition provides a means to mass distribution, and making it here can prove a bigger challenge than making the film at all.

With the recent successes of (500) Days of Summer, 12 Years a Slave, and Boyhood, there remains hope for independent film. Though the budgets of these films vary from $4 to $20 million, they all offer a depth unfound in traditional Hollywood films. Fortunately for indies, you can, sometimes, get more than you pay for.

Vote for Dayana at dim23@ georgetown.edu

voices

georgetownvoice.com

THE GEORGETOWN VOICe | 13

We have our reasons for seeming like excellent sheeple JUPITER EL-ASMAR In his article “Don’t Send Your Kids to the Ivy League” and his new book Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz insists that students at Ivy League and elite universities, while talented and driven, “are anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.”

There is much to criticize about elite higher education institutions and the imperfect methods that are used in their admissions processes—based not on merit but rather finding a ‘holistic’ person. Administration is no better, rewarding research and extracurricular success more than academic success.

Deresiewicz’s critique, however, doesn’t consider the whole picture behind people’s decisions to pursue what he considers the “sheepish route.”

It is no secret that a staggering number of Georgetown graduates go into careers in consulting and finance. The statistics are similar at other elite universities, including the Ivies. Many students work towards these goals throughout their undergraduate career. At Georgetown, the idea of joining Hilltop Consultants, GUASFCU, or even the Corp with the hopes of attaining prestigious leadership positions is prevalent and has probably crossed many—if not most—of our minds. If not these, we join other student organizations with the idea that there might be some payoff stemming from our hard work that manifests in our future job applications and acquisitions.

We are all heading in the same direction in much the same way.

It is also not uncommon to hear people around campus echoing their concerns with wanting to study topics of interest and immerse themselves in their classes but finding themselves forsaking that to take an easy course or get a good grade. Deresiewicz main-

tains that this mentality leads to a failure to achieve the two goals of college: teaching us how to think and building a self. When we get good grades, we are only learning analytical and rhetorical skills for our business jobs later on.

I do not believe that this is a bad thing, and I do not believe that we are sheep for pursuing lucrative careers or developing skills to that end. In fact, I think that sets us up for what is coming later in life.

For people coming from underprivileged backgrounds, there is greater pressure to find a well-paying job. These students need to make sure they succeed so their parents’ investment—or, many times, their own investment—is repaid, or at least, worthwhile. I think the same applies to the middle class.

While I might feel that doing what I love acts as more of a conduit to achieving true success than leading the “excellent sheep” life, I still tailor what I’m studying, whether or not I love it, toward something I deem practicable, such as “security and strategy” or “international

business development.” For the underprivileged and the middle class, going to Ivy League schools offers the resources, connections, and prestige necessary to get the first leg up and later pursue their own agendas. Coming from these backgrounds, it is difficult to justify following, say, musical passions at a school like Georgetown that offers the opportunity for a virtually guaranteed advancement in quality of life by setting us up for well-paying careers.

Perhaps it is the privileged, then, who may be most affected

by Deresiewicz’s plight. They may be stricken by the fact that they are privileged when they come to an institution like Georgetown and see people from other walks of life, making them insecure or timid about all they have been given. Or, they may have been conditioned to pursue a certain lifestyle and accrue honors and languages and extracurriculars, and are fabulous at doing so, but then find themselves lost in the mix and unsure where their passions lie at the end of it all. For the underprivileged and middle class, the

“excellent sheep” route serves as an avenue to future goals and ambitions; for the upper middle class and upper class, it may end up leaving them little room to forge their own path, opinions, or hobbies.

This experience is certainly not applicable to all. Some might be moved to correct the social inequities they perceive and use their position of privilege for good purposes. And even if they don’t, many will still become successful and pay for someone else’s education one day. It is impossible to enumerate all the possibilities, but there are many more than Deresiewicz gives us credit for.

In any case, I know what I believe in and what I want to contribute to later on. I just want to be on some footing that allows me to do that.

JUPITER EL-ASMAR SFS ‘17 His articles aren’t nearly as baaaad as his puns

Bit by bit: Thom Yorke and BitTorrent take on digital downloads RYAN MILLER

I have a confession: I worship Thom Yorke. But when I first heard Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, I can’t deny that I responded with, “...eh.” Ever since Radiohead’s “pay-what-youwant” release of In Rainbows, Yorke has worked tirelessly to aid all musicians who don’t walk in the rarified air of stardom.

As a die-hard Radiohead fan, I am obviously sad that Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes strays from the beautiful melodies of In Rainbows or the innovation of Kid A. But Yorke presented the music world with a chal-

lenge when he elected to use BitTorrent as the platform to release his album.

Online distribution is nothing new in the music world. In the past years with the rise of streaming services, namely Spotify, more and more money is being taken out of the artists’ hands and put into the pockets of these services. Musicians see less of the profit from the work they produce compared to the good old days of record stores and FM radio.

For six dollars, BitTorrent will share Yorke’s files, or songs, through a pay-gate to online users. BitTorrent also plans on sharing all of the sta-

MEGAN HOWELL

WE’RE RADIOHEAD, WE DON’T HAVE MELODIES. WE’RE SOOOO INACCESSIBLE

tistical information it collects through the release with Yorke.

For any musician, a big name like Thom Yorke backing a service that actually seeks to benefit the artists rather than the corporate structure of the music business (or the “elected gate-keepers,” to use Yorke’s own words) is a win.

Online services, such as Spotify, allow users to stream songs for free through the use of ads.

Even though some users can pay for ad-free services, Spotify gives only a pittance of the returns to artists who allow the company to stream their songs.

By using these kinds of services, music listeners are supporting an unethical model that ultimately steals from hardworking musicians trying to gain fame.

To be honest, though Spotify is a horrible service for musicians, it offers benefits to fans. It was through Spotify that I first heard Radiohead’s The Bends. I have found some of my favorite bands during the time that I used Spotify. My friends shared countless songs that they wanted me to hear. The discovery and social aspect of Spotify is an enormous benefit for any musician trying to reach a larger fanbase. Spotify creates a virtual record store—a community in which people can listen to and learn about new musicians.

At the same time, when we use Spotify, we bypass the checkout counter of the record store and consume music without paying. Bands put in hard work at the studio and spend countless weeks on the road to provide financial support for the albums that we hear on Spotify. And then we do it again and again, continually going to the store, but never paying.

It’s great that otherwise unheard of bands are able to gain recognition and even a fanbase through Spotify, but when we don’t actually buy the albums, recognition will mean nothing when music is their livelihood.

This past summer, I deleted Spotify from my computer after hearing an interview from one of my music idols, Yannis Philippakis of Foals, in which he said that he would rather have fans steal his music than use Spotify.

Another confession: I do still use iTunes. I actually buy my albums on iTunes., as I’m not cool enough to have a record player.

But even though iTunes is just another online distributor that ultimately takes a large portion of the profit from musicians, it still gives a bit money to my favorite bands.

I hope that BitTorrent takes off as an alternative platform to music distribution. It will give musicians a much more just

return, while taking a share of profits for providing the network of distribution.

We don’t live in a perfect world where musicians can just release music and earn all of what is rightfully theirs—skipping over the services Spotify, iTunes, and now BitTorrent provide. But working to find a fairer median between the current system and the ideal is something big name bands and everyday listeners should try to take part in.

You don’t have to trek to a record store and associate with hipsters claiming the superior sound qualities of vinyl, but consider taking the time to actually understand how you are listening to your music. And maybe buy the album instead of stream it. If you’re hip to Thom Yorke’s new adventures in electronic music, use BitTorrent to download Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. Whatever you do, don’t assume that by giving your favorite band thousands of plays on Spotify you are actually doing them any justice.

Ryan Miller col ‘17 looks for his music on casettes before using itunes

voices

14 | the georgetown voice

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Combining campus centers limits freedom of identity CHRIS GROCKI I recently heard that Georgetown was planning on combining three campus centers: the Women’s Center, the LGBTQ center, and the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access.

I have many close friends intimately involved in each of the three centers, who have taught me about each of their functions. Everyone on campus needs a place to call home, and for many people around campus, these centers have served that role. The identities of some of my fellow Hoyas are being unjustly grouped together for purposes of increasing the scope of administrative power, something I feel Georgetown too often does at the expense of its students.

Everyone at Georgetown needs a place to fit in, where they can feel comfortable being themselves. Finding

your own personal niche on campus that helps to bolster your sense of identity is one of the most important things a person can do in their four years on campus.

For me, I found that niche in my first weeks of freshman year with the clubs I joined and friends I made.

I noticed, however, that others struggled to find a place to fit in. Maybe they weren’t given to sports, the arts, or even politics. It was these people who often found comfort in groups not necessarily based on common interest but on a common sense of identity.

The CMEA, LGBTQ center, and Women’s Center are all essential elements of many students’ identities at Georgetown. Although somewhat dubious their functions, they provide services to their members and provide an array of opinions on issues that enhance debate amongst students.

Members of these centers have come to know

their groups in special ways.

To me, consolidating and altering the structure of these groups does students no benefit and only further entrenches the commonly felt sentiment that the University prioritizes administrative progress over student well-being.

I first heard about this issue from a friend, trying to build support against the issue. Initially, I disagreed because I was critical of the function of some of these three groups. Although I don’t agree with these groups on many issues, I recognize their right to not be forced into consolidation by the University. I had no inclination to become involved on the behalf of these groups, until I realized that organizations I am in could theoretically fall victim to administrative consolidation next. I am a member of many different organizations throughout campus, including College

Republicans and the Real Estate Club. These organizations have helped shape my experience at Georgetown and created my sense of place on this campus.

For a university that prides itself on freedom of expression and opinion, this proposition is far from an embrace of the Jesuit values that define this institution as a place where people can express themselves and their beliefs.

Every group on campus contributes to and enriches the campus’ diversity in its own way. I think it is important for groups to be able to clearly define themselves and operate autonomously in order to best serve their members. If this initiative progresses, the University will undoubtedly receive backlash from all students around campus who feel that greater freedom for student groups is paramount for groups to serve their members.

It is important that the administration keep in mind that centers, which have very specialized functions and dedicated visitors, may need to maintain their autonomy in order to maintain optimal well-being and happiness on campus. When the interests of students are compromised for the convenience of the administration, the university is hurt both internally and externally, bringing about both individual problems and public unrest.

For the sake of the student body, and the Georgetown community in its entirety, I hope the concept of combining these centers is put to rest without hesitance.

CHRIS GROCKI MSB ‘17 HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE COMBINING CENTERS DURING HIS CHILDHOOD

Unplugged: A good cup of coffee is hard to find on campus JOE LAPOSATA

By Parents’ Weekend of freshman year, I had already spent 66 of my 75 Flex Dollars, $2 at a time, on 33 small black coffees at Uncommon Grounds. That amounts to nearly one every morning before my 10 a.m. Italian class.

I justified it to myself by saying “I’m not drinking it for the taste, I’m drinking it to keep myself up.” That Parents’ Weekend, upon learning of my impending Flex Dollar shortage, my dad bought me a small Keurig purely for the sake of

cost-effectiveness: 40-cent K-cups were cheaper than $2 coffees.

It also had a different, wonderful side effect: I started liking coffee again.

I’ve been raised on coffee—there are home videos of a one-year old me toddling around the kitchen with a sippy cup full of decaf. As I write, there are five tins of espresso in my cupboards. Today, I framed and hung a coffee menu for guests to my room.

I love coffee more than most of my immediate family. And as a proud Hoya, I’m ashamed to say that the coffee situation on campus is beyond abysmal.

“I CAN’T HAVE ANY COFFEE. I DON’T DO DRUGS.”

ELLIE YAEGER

Of the multiple providers of coffee on campus, the Corp is obviously the most notorious, running Uncommon Grounds, More Uncommon Grounds, and Midnight Mug. And, as all Georgetown students know, Corp coffee is horrific. Mind you, they make up for it by making creative drinks with fun names that cost $4 a pop.

But in regards to their plain black coffee, it’s a half-step above Leo’s coffee in quality.

The only thing darker and muddier than a black coffee from the Corp is your soul after one serving.

This raises the obvious question: why does their coffee taste so bad? First, their beans: considering that Students of Georgetown, Inc. had a profit margin of just under $310,000 for the last fiscal year, you’d figure they could buy better beans.

That’s what they did with their food: the baked goods from the Corp are bought from Bread and Co., a solid catering service. Apparently, the idea that a coffee shop might pay as much attention to its coffee as its food is just too ludicrous.

I have friends who worked at Starbucks in high school and did not get hired

by the Corp. Fun fact: knowing how to make a good coffee is not one of the necessary qualities of a Corp barista; what matters more are your tastes in music and willingness to work 8 a.m. shifts. Considering that the Corp’s acceptance rate is lower than Georgetown’s, they definitely have the requisite applicant pool for better baristas. That they do not have more qualified staff is their own choice.

All of this would be okay if there were other good options on campus. Unfortunately, these are few and far between. Your best choices are Saxbys, which is just off campus but does not accept flex dollars and, therefore, doesn’t really fit on this list, and Einstein Bros. Einstein Bros has quality coffee that you can flex or include in their Grab n’ Go meal swipe options. The existence of Einstein’s in Regents should preclude any possibility of anybody ever buying a regular coffee from the nearby UG. When people think of alternatives to the Corp, however, they do not think of Einstein’s. Instead, they think of Starbucks, despite the fact that the Einstein’s in Regents is actually closer

to Sellinger than Starbucks.

Mind you, Starbucks has good quality coffee—I’ve been a proud gold member of Starbucks since February 2012—it just so happens that ours is the worst run Starbucks on the face of the planet. I have had orders forgotten, ingredients left out, and perhaps worst of all, orders switched with other patrons. The line is so inefficiently run that on most afternoons, it will be out the door and just barely moving.

This would be inexcusable for any Starbucks not on a college campus.

Coffee is a necessity for most college students. We are a perpetually overworked and underslept people in need of the bitter darkness of coffee. The subpar quality of the vast majority of coffee sold on this campus is a disservice to the hardworking men and women who make up the Georgetown community. What Hoyas need is a better cup of Joe.

JOE LAPOSATA COL ‘16 is still looking for a job at the corp

voices

georgetownvoice.com

THE GEORGETOWN VOICe | 15

Sexual harassment in the workplace leaves lasting scars SHALINA CHATLANI ”Play with me!”—these three innocent words, distorted by the seductively twisted smile and a slight nod of the head to the back door of the restaurant were enough to send chills down my spine and forever color my opinion of working in the food service industry. Waking up everyday this summer for work at seven in the morning for an eight hour shift was hell in itself. Having to deal with customers, co-workers, and even superiors making lewd comments and suggestions at me on the job certainly didn’t make the summer any better.

Finding a job this summer was probably one of the most dif-

ficult tasks I’ve ever dealt with.

The labor market has made it almost impossible for even the most educated people to find temporary work, because employers are only willing to invest in a candidate they don’t have to waste resources on—i.e. two days of training. Thus, after a few rejections from jobs as a cash register clerk in grocery stores for lack of experience, I was ecstatic to have finally been offered a position at my all-time favorite restaurant back home. Moreover, I was willing to do whatever it took to keep that job, so that I could finally become financially independent.

My excitement was shortlived, however, because it only took a week for indecent be-

MEGAN HOWELL

asking others to play isn’t ok, but neither is treating yourself in public

CARRYING ON

havior from my co-workers and customers to begin. And, after having quit my first job, for feeling incredibly uncomfortable and even being followed to my car at one point late in the night, I was desperate to not lose another one. As a result, I chose to ignore the comments— the classic: “Hey girl, what are you doing tonight?”; the forward: “You’re so fucking hot, and you know it”; the creepy: “Let’s just go out back and make out.”

What these co-workers didn’t quite understand is a sentiment that I’m sure many women in the workplace feel: such comments aren’t flattering. I value hard work and respect, and thus, these remarks didn’t make me feel better about myself.

Rather, I began to feel like I had been devalued to a mere object that was more worth as something to be gawked at than all the dedication and effort I could offer to the business.

What’s worse: I began to feed into the attention. I’d start to wonder why, on an off day, a fellow employee wouldn’t approach me, or why I hadn’t been asked if I had a boyfriend for the ten millionth time. And, other women at the restaurant started to act the same way. After trying to investigate whether my female co-workers had been experiencing sexual harassment—

Friendships fluctuating during college

BY NICOLE STEINBERG

A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

I stared at the couple across from me on the metro. They laughed and held hands as I guessed at the details of their relationship—how did they meet? What is her name?

I continued to stare, but lost focus on the couple as I approached my stop. I remembered that my time abroad was already half over, as is my time as a Georgetown undergraduate.

When I think about the transience of this period in our lives, my studies and activities fade into the background.

These times of unavoidable and sometimes intrusive self-reflection more often center on the relationships I’ve made as a college student.

I cannot help but compare them to past relationships, wondering if they’re different or stronger. This look into the past urges me to evaluate them in the context of my imminent future.

“We will stay in touch. Write messages online—even Skypechat! I will come visit you in D.C.,” my friend softly assured me as she tugged at my white high school graduation dress. I acknowledged her comment with a slight nod and a smile, outwardly signaling that I, too, was sure that our futures would remain interlaced. In my mind, however, I was not so certain. The smiles and hugs were superficial.

Even in the moment, I believed strongly that a majority of the people in that room would soon lose their relevance in my life. I had difficulty pushing back my doubt. I felt it creep deep into my thoughts toward everyone, including my close friends. I left the ceremony that day in full acceptance and anticipation of the disintegration of current relationships.

My expectations for old friendships were realized during my first year at Georgetown. I fell out of touch with a lot of close

the answer, accompanied by a little hair flipping and a smirk, was unfortunately, “Oh yeah, that’s normal. It happens all the time. He does that to me too.”

I’m sorry ladies, but that’s not acceptable. I have no regrets for not quitting, because I shouldn’t have needed to quit.

What I do regret, however, is escaping the situation rather than speaking out and making the co-workers who harassed me face the consequences of their actions. Granted, it took me a while to even realize that I had been sexually harassed.

But, go ahead and take a tip from me: don’t wait to have your ass grabbed three times by different co-workers to start saying something. Furthermore, don’t encourage this kind of behavior by passively calling it “normal” or even allowing it, in some sort of twisted way, to make you feel better about yourself.

For all women who, out of desperation, choose to keep their job despite inappropriate behavior at the workplace, its about time to stop beating around the bush: sexual harassment in even its mildest form—a comment that just barely crosses the line, a remark that is distracting to one’s job—is unacceptable and has to be dealt with.

Women who experience sexual harassment at work

friends. Although we still made the effort to see each other on breaks, it felt forced and unnatural. I grew increasingly detached from my high school friends

“

We must avoid . . .the labeling of friendships as either good or bad, long or short.

”

because they could only see the person I was in high school, someone very different from the one I had grown to be.

These experiences provide a compelling lens through which I will view my college relationships when I enter the next phase in my life. I concede that the way I view my past will affect how I approach my future. This unconventional disposition toward friendship, however, does not make me a cold person.

Relationships are capable of surviving beyond the time of life in which they were formed.

Lasting relationships change in accordance with the people involved and are not built around incidentals; they do not remain stagnant. We should recognize that these connections are rare and that short-lived relationships are not deserving of shame.

We must avoid subscribing to a framework that encourages the labeling of friendships as either good or bad, long or short. They are deserving of more creative and more forward thinking.

As I was picking up my mother’s drycleaning this summer, I ran into a former high school classmate. After identifying each other, we shared a momentary embrace and began the usual dance of old friends: “How is school?” “Are you still dating John?” Our conversation lacked depth and was characterized by an underlying feeling of distance and melancholy.

should recognize that they aren’t part of the problem, but could very well be part of the solution. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, or whether you have makeup on, or even if you are, god forbid, well-endowed. It doesn’t matter whether you are scared of other employees thinking you are a bitch or unapproachable.

Owning yourself and threatening to tell the manager about a co-worker that is pressuring you to do something you aren’t comfortable with is not only a must, but also the right thing to do-- for yourself and for others.

There’s an incredibly unhealthy attitude circulating around on sexual harassment, and it has a lot to do with passivity. Don’t be indifferent anymore; be active. In a way, I’m almost glad that I was able to experience what I did, because my attitude on how others ought to treat me has changed a lot, for the better. So, next time some jerk tells you that he just “wants to play,” tell him he can just go play with himself.

SHALINA CHATLANI SFS ‘17 IS NOW LOOKING FOR A CAREER IN CONSULTING

We both recognized that our friendship had not continued past high school, and we were okay with that. We understood that the other had changed with time and we didn’t feel the need to force a future.

The transition from high school to college taught me that fluctuations in the intensity of relationships are impossible to predict: my closest friend today actually did sit with me on graduation three years ago.

Similar to high school, my college friendships vary. Some do not extend beyond incidentals like mutual classes while others feel more reliable, stronger even. Though I do feel more confident about my relationships at Georgetown, I cannot say for certain that the bonds will remain this way forever. But as I felt this summer meeting an old classmate, I’m comfortable with not knowing how my friendships may evolve in the coming years.

We should enjoy college relationships for what they are now and hope that they persist in the future. But we should allow them to run their natural course. It is okay to let friends go because we make new ones—sometimes, better ones.

Spotted on the Hilltop

Worn by Katerina Mamais (SFS ‘18). Photo by Caitlin Garrabrant.

Worn by Joshua Ward (SFS ‘17). Photo by Sophie Super.

Timely Trends Worn by Luke Gile (SFS ‘18). Photo by Caitlin Garrabrant.

Worn by Caitlin Garrabrant (SFS ‘18). Photo by Caitlin Garrabrant.

Worn by Zack Abu-Akeel (SFS ‘18). Photo by Caitlin Garrabrant.

Staying chic for class is never a challenge on the Hilltop.

Despite their busy lives laden with academic, social, and personal responsibilties, Georgetown students make self-expression through their fashion choices a top priority.

This week’s edition of “Spotted on the Hilltop” focuses on the eclectic mix of watches we’ve spotted around campus.

Worn by Leila Lebreton (College ‘17). Photo by Sophie Super.

Worn by Dolly Moorhead (College ‘16). Photo by Pam Shu.