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VOICE the georgetown

Playing the Game Who controls off-campus life?

By Shalina Chatlani

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w October 16, 2014 w Volume 47, Issue 9 w georgetownvoice.com

the

Voice

Oct. 16, 2014 This week: Editorial ... Hoyas need neighborhood engagement, pg. 3 News ... Student representatives await ANC elections, pg. 4 Sports ... Mixed bag for men’s soccer, pg. 6 Feature ... The toll of neighbor relations on campus, pg. 8 Leisure ... The jury is out on Inherit the Wind, pg. 10 Page 13 ... Housing requirement explained, pg. 13 Voices ... Friendships become shallow in modern age, pg. 14

No Exit Strategy

2010 Campus Plan places financial strain on University and students.

Last week’s key:

–Leila Lebreton

This Week’s Horoscope

–Ambika Ahuja

The Aries is a natural leader. Aries has the ability to not only create a vision but also follow it through. These go-getters are driven and feisty in bed. However, their quick tempers can make them seem unpredictable at times. They find their best matches in the Air signs of Aquarius, Gemini, or Libra, as these partners would fuel the passionate fire of the Aries.

BLOG

Editor: Ryan Greene

Assistant Editors: Grace Brennan, Marisa Hawley, Kenneth Lee

HALFTIME

Senior Leisure Editor: Daniel Varghese

Assistant Leisure Editors: Micaela Beltran, Erika Bullock, Simone Wahnschafft

VOICES

Editor: Chris Almeida

Assistant Editor: Grace May

NEWS

Steven Criss

Assistant Editors: Shalina Chatlani, James Constant, Lara Fishbane

Dayana Morales Gomez

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, Julia Jester, Caitriona Pagni, Kenneth Lee, Daniel Varghese, James Constant

General Manager

Technical Director

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

COPY

Chief: Eleanor Fanto

Editors: Rachel Greene, Ryan Miller, Dana Suekoff, Lauren Chung, Maddi Kaigh, Andrew Frank, Jupiter El-Asmar, Bianca Clark, Michael Mischke

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

we’re not so ancy

ANC elections demand more GU student-neighborhood engagement

Georgetown shares little more than a name with the community that surrounds it. While students inhabit streets, sidewalks, and buildings alongside neighborhood residents, their political interactions are limited. The Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, one of seven advisory boards throughout northwest D.C, gives citizens a venue to represent their community interests. The two ANC 2E seats annually allocated to Georgetown students were recently vacated, with elections for their replacements coming on Nov. 4. Although commonly known for political savvy, Georgetown students display a woeful lack of knowledge about this vital point of connection with the neighborhood.

This disconnect has been made abundantly clear by the increasingly contentious relationship between Georgetown and the wider residential area.

The 2010 Campus Plan, which was updated in 2012 and which restricts the number of students who can live off campus, has forced discussions of a satellite campus, as well as widespread construction on campus grounds. If changes forced by the current

plan prove anything, it’s that students should have a vested interest both in ANC discussions and in rehabilitating our relationship with our neighbors.

It’s been said that what’s past is prologue, and more student involvement in future decisions that directly affect them will help avoid extending the errors of the 2010 Campus Plan into future plans.

It will also allow students to reset their political interactions with the neighborhood through new channels and capabilities. The 2010 plan created Georgetown Community Partnership working group forums in order to help develop the next plan, which will cover the next 20 years.

Although the GCP forums are intended to give Hoyas a larger voice in how the university will be physically developed over the next two decades, they are threatened by the same factors that delayed student concern over the 2010 plan until its provisions were already being implemented. Student apathy, disengagement, and impatience toward discussions of future issues that may not directly affect their time on campus will be as present

in the future as they are now. They will also be as difficult—and necessary—to surmount.

The effort to change this must come from students. Most Hoyas regard GUSA as a forum for self-advocacy, but they rarely look to micro-level government outside the front gates as a way of exercising influence. This cannot be a task reserved for the ANC’s student representatives alone, as general student support will be essential going forward.

Regardless of the extent to which students become involved, relations between campus and the wider Georgetown community may never be wholly smooth. And, realistically, it seems apparent that the neighborhood’s interests, prerogatives, and ANC recommendations will never align wholly with those of the university or the student body. In matters of such importance to Georgetown’s future, however, Hoyas cannot afford to accept either the university or their ANC representatives alone as stewards. If we are to exercise a voice in advocating on our own behalf, the responsibility of actively—rather than nominally—having a seat at the table falls to us all.

coloring outside the lines

going viral

In Va. case, racial gerrymandering corrosive to American democracy

U.S. media outlets that spread Ebola fear distract from real issue

Last week, a panel of federal judges ruled Virginia Republicans’ newly redrawn congressional district map unconstitutional on the grounds that it sequestered a large swath of the state’s voting-age African-American population into a single district, thereby violating the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Brought to bear

by Democratic operatives, the case highlights both how entrenched racial politics remains in the American political tradition and the routine and institutional cynicism with which political parties exploit it.

It’s true that Virginia Republicans’ most recent redistricting plan was politically shrewd— after all, 88 percent of African-Americans voted Democrat in the 2004 presidential election and fully 93 percent of blacks who cast a ballot in 2012 did so for Obama. It is also clear, however, that Republican policies alienate minority voters— and in some cases actively subvert their rights. Thus, pursuing gerrymandering as a way to offset this reality is both ethically and politically suspect—and a shameless effort to not only smother AfricanAmericans’ political agency but skirt the fundamental racial crisis that confronts the modern GOP. Virginia is not alone among states in which the GOP has sought to manipulate voter distribution, nor is gerrymandering the only technique employed to exploit voting mechanisms for political payoff. In an ostensible effort to combat voter fraud, Republicans have championed a spate of restrictive voter identification laws in states

like Georgia and Texas that require would-be voters to present government-issued photo documentation before getting access to the ballot box. The pretext for these laws is flimsy at best; independent election analysis by News21 has shown voter fraud to be “virtually non-existent.”

Given that the majority of Americans without proper photo IDs are low-income, left-leaning minorities, it becomes apparent that the GOP’s goal is not so much to stamp out electoral corruption as it is to stamp out opposition votes nationwide.

It wou ld b e patentl y u n fair, however, to pretend that only Republicans are guilty of voter manipulation. Democrats in states like Maryland have employed gerrymandering in an effort to diffuse pro-Democrat minority voters across historically right-voting districts. Indeed, the fact that both parties are guilty of these underhanded measures, which often fall along racial lines, constitutes a systemic threat to voter enfranchisement and the institution of voting itself.

The decision in Virginia against the GOP’s gerrymandering handed an important and justifiable victory to Democrats and opponents of racial politics everywhere. But the real loser is the entire American democratic project, whose institutional fixation on divisive racial politics stands squarely in the way of achieving a more perfect union.

Both Democrats and Republicans have the potential to approach issues of race and social justice through much-needed policy solutions, but in order to do so they must first stop exploiting race as a numbers game intended to win elections.

Ebola has made its way to the U.S. Two cases have emerged on American soil thus far. Two nurses who helped treat Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man visiting family in Dallas who died of the disease on Oct. 8, have also contracted the disease. Since then, pundits, talking heads, and even government officials, such as former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey, who fear a national epidemic have taken to television, op-ed columns, and Fox News studios to ask a depressingly common question: “What about the risks to Americans?”

The reality—banal, unsexy, and certainly not good TV—is that there aren’t many. The CDC, President Obama, and medical officials have repeatedly assured Americans that the risk of widespread infection in the U.S. is slim. Nevertheless, it is our national and international duty to both support humanitarian efforts to halt Ebola’s spread abroad and to properly contextualize the problem. Panicking or advocating rash action, such as cutting off transportation and trade to affected countries, helps no one— least of all those nations in which Ebola currently runs rampant.

The biggest facilitator of Ebola’s spread is poor medical infrastructure. In Liberia and Sierra Leone, Ebola has wreaked havoc since its outbreak in December 2013. Outside hospitals in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, those affected wait to be admitted into overflowing treatment centers that are only caring for 18 percent of patients.

People with malaria, cholera, and HIV—all endemic to the region— are being left to die because Ebola patients have been prioritized.

Across West Africa, entire cities are shutting down, as businesses close for lack of revenue, employees refuse to go to work, and children no longer attend school.

The virus’s devastation is inversely proportional to affected countries’ level of infrastructure.

Despite the fact that Nigeria is fighting an internal war against Islamist militants, its GDP per capita is about 5 percent that of the U.S.’s, and nearly half of its population lives below the national poverty line, it has been able to control Ebola’s spread within its borders because of its more advanced infrastructure. If Nigeria is able to hold off Ebola, the U.S.—a country with vast medical resources and separated from Africa by the Atlantic Ocean—has little to worry about.

The point is that Ebola is hardly a threat to the U.S. While concern is certainly justified to a point, that concern is best directed outward toward the overseas communities suffering from the outbreak. As of last month, Georgetown students are no strangers to the fear that incidences of contagious disease can generate. Our campus’ tragic experience with meningitis demonstrated, however, that forbearance is better at containing both diseases and the fear they provoke than panic. The climate of fear pundits have the power to stoke, though, does nothing but distract from Ebola’s devastating magnitude.

news

4 | the georgetown voice

OCTOBER 16, 2014

Student candidates run for ANC to represent undergrad voices in new Campus Plan LARA FISHBANE Georgetown students will have the opportunity to turn out for their Advisory Neighborhood Commission student representatives on Nov. 4—Kendyl Clausen (SFS ’16) and Reed Howard (SFS ’17) are running for the two student commissioner positions on the ANC 2E advisory board.

Clausen and Howard began their campaigns this week by going to dorms to speak with students and tabling in Red Square.

“One of the reasons we’re still running a campaign even though Reed and I are running unopposed is to get the word out about ANC and show that it is an important political body,” Clausen said.

“Even though Georgetown students are really political-minded, most of them don’t even know what the ANC does.”

According to their website, “The Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consider a wide range of policies and programs affecting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic devel-

opment, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and the District’s annual budget.”

Clausen and Howard are running for the two student seats on the ANC 2E advisory board, which includes a total of eight commissioners. “The students who serve in the ANC are considered elected officials,” Assistant Director of Community Engagement Jamie Scott said. “They have all the same responsibilities as other commissioners, except that they represent a community that is predominantly students.”

Though unchallenged, Clausen and Howard will not be officially listed on the ballot and therefore must be written in by voters. “You need twenty-five signatures to get on the ballot, but you also need to be living in your district sixty days prior to the filing deadline and I lived in Darnall last year and moved to Henle this year, which is in a different district,” Howard said.

“Kendyl did not get the required number of signatures. I didn’t meet the residency requirement.”

According to Clausen, getting students involved is imperative for improving Georgetown’s rela-

students fight for social justice in ferguson.

PATRICIA CIPOLLITTI

Georgetown students travel to Ferguson, protest police violence and racism ELIZABETH TEITZ

This past weekend, 16 Georgetown students traveled to St. Louis, Mo. to participate in Ferguson October, a movement calling attention to police violence and racial injustice in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

Organized by a variety of a Georgetown organizations, including the university chapter of the NAACP and the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service, the students attended a rally in downtown St. Louis, a protest at the Ferguson Police Department, and a variety of teach-ins. The group also visited the site where unarmed black teenager Brown was killed by

a police officer in August, setting off a chain of protests and calls for change over the last two months.

The “Weekend of Resistance,” arranged by a coalition of national and local justice organizations, aimed “to build momentum for a nationwide movement against police violence,” according to Ferguson October’s website. For the Georgetown students who attended, the weekend was an opportunity to show solidarity with other protesters, as well as to learn about community organization and the future of the movement.

“Unfortunately, Michael Brown’s incident is not an isolated one, and I realize that this is something … our generation, has had

tionship with its neighbors. “I see an amazing group of people on campus who are intellectual and I love going to school with, but the problem is the neighbors only see the people on the weekends who are potentially destroying their property,” Clausen said.

Both Clausen and Howard highlighted the importance of building good relations between neighbors and students, as it will affect negotiations for the next campus plan. “It’s important to me because the next campus plan will be designing Georgetown for the next twenty years,” Howard said, “Its implementation won’t begin until 2018, but we will be the student commissioners during the design phase.”

According to Howard, the design phase will begin soon. The big points of discussion for this campus plan are the number of beds on campus and Georgetown’s transportation accessibility. “There’s interest among the neighbors for even more students to be living on campus,” Howard said, “The other big issue is going to be transportation and making sure Georgetown remains accessible.”

Clausen believes she and Howard can give students a stronger voice in the creation of this campus plan. “I would love to have a campus plan that is more conducive to having students’ voices heard, and I know there have been a lot of complaints about this campus plan— especially with the construction going on right now—about howstudents aren’t really getting enough out of the plan or having as much of a voice as they want,” she said.

Throughout the process of creating the upcoming Campus Plan, Howard and Clausen want to keep students updated through a bimonthly newsletter, town hall meetings, and student group invitations to ANC’s meetings.

“It’s important for students who are living on campus or in the

community to be involved in what’s happening in the city,” Scott said. “A lot of the issues theANCwill discuss can affect the quality of life for students, whether it’s a university project being built or whether they’re reviewing new liquor licenses for a restaurant or a bar.”

“When the last campus plan was going about being established, it wasn’t in the front of anyone’s minds really. [Students] didn’t realize the consequences of not being involved in the creation of the campus plan,” Clausen said, “But now, because of all the construction on campus, it’s very present in all of our minds.

We need students to be more engaged this time so we can do what’s best for the students and the university’s future.”

to fight—against systemic racism, against police brutality, against this militarization of the police, against the killing of unarmed, usually, people of color,” said Crystal Walker (SFS ‘16), who traveled to Ferguson. “The people in Ferguson are doing so much, and people from all across the country have come to do so much, and I wanted to show solidarity and show support.”

According to Walker, the rally on Saturday drew over 2,500 people who marched together and demonstrated the intersectional nature of the movement. “What was so beautiful was just the diversity of the people who were there,” she said.

“There were older people there, there were younger people there, there were people of different genders, races, sexual orientations …

It just showed that it’s not just black people who care about this issue, it’s all people who care about it.”

Ayodele Aruleba (COL ‘17) reflected on one of the chants from the protest that particularly resonated with him: “Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.”

“Just having the opportunity for us to stand outside the Ferguson police department … To stand there and tell our views, tell them how we feel about the system, about the

structure, to speak to police officers themselves, it just made me appreciate democracy,” he said.

At the police department protest, “[the police] had batons, they had shields, helmets, glasses, of course they had their guns,” Walker said, but were not interfering with the protesters. A woman from Ferguson who said she had been protesting every night since Brown’s death explained to Walker the unusual tone of the weekend.

“She [said], ‘Oh, they’re only doing that because they know people are here from out of town, they know that the media’s here … usually they’re out on the streets pushing us, they’re calling us names, they’re arresting us for no reason.’ Even a few hours after we left, people were getting arrested—Cornel West got arrested, clergymen got arrested, and that just kind of like showed me, wow, it was a show,” Walker said.

In “Back From Ferguson: A Conversation With Dave Ragland” on Monday night, the students joined Dr. David Ragland, Professor of Education at Bucknell University, to reflect on the weekend and share their experiences with the Georgetown community. The event followed “Don’t Shoot:AVigil for Mike Brown,” and “Reflections on Fergu-

son,” a panel discussion of Georgetown professors, which were held in August, as well as the Ferguson Teach-In and Dinner in September.

“I think it’s important for us to see all of the issues that we encounter, all the kinds of structural violence, as unjust, but also as, at its root, a violation of human dignity,” Ragland said. He emphasized the importance of connections between movements, referring to issues of environmental degradation, sexual assault, and gentrification as examples of seemingly separate but structurally connected injustices.

Students also discussed ways to carry their experiences back to the Georgetown community and to continue raising awareness.

Sophomore Michael Martin (COL ‘17) described returning to his dorm after the trip and being shocked by students’ lack of awareness of the situation in Ferguson and its underlying issues. “It’s something that we need to bring to the table, and really talk about as a whole community, not just those who care about it,” he said. “So I think it’s kind of a challenge for all of us who are in this room to go out and talk about these issues that are controversial to those who may not even want to hear it.”

Rock the vote at the enthralling anc elections.

GEORGETOWN VOICE

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice | 5

New DC Taxicab Commission proposals challenge Uber COURTNIE BAEK The DC Taxicab Commission disclosed a series of proposals on Oct. 8 that would make the city’s fleet of nearly 7,000 cabs a model for other taxi commissions in the country struggling to retain drivers and compete with popular app-based services, such as Uber and Lyft.

“The Commission will allow the public vehicle for hire industry to compete on a fair field,” DCTC spokesman Neville Waters said of the proposals. For instance, the commission has presented plans for the One City One Taxi app, allowing customers to call taxis electronically.

“There would be no charge for the taxis or the customers to use it. There would be a cooperative association form of drivers and owners who would actually operate it. It would be operated and marketed separately from the commission,” he said.

The DCTC is calling for further change in the drivers’ benefits under these projects.

“We are also looking to create a benefits program for long term drivers that would include retirement, life insurance, disability, and supplemental medical coverage,” Neville said.

“We’ve recently gone to a fiveday licensing process to streamline [certification], whereas it had been a month-long process before getting your commercial drivers license.”

Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett commented on why he believes riders and drivers alike are choosing the app’s service instead. “Everybody loves Uber.

It offers the safest, most reliable and affordable way to get around town,” Bennett wrote in an email to the Voice. “Unlike taxi drivers who start their week hundreds of dollars in the hole before they make a penny simply to rent their vehicle, Uber partners have minimal overhead costs and low barriers to entry to start their own small business, increase their income and live a more comfortable lifestyle with added flexibility in their schedule.”

The proposals by the DCTC aim to resolve the issue of local taxi services competing against ridesharing apps in the nation’s capital. Last Wednesday, a taxi driver protest against apps like UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar tied up downtown traffic. According

to Time, the protest was held in response to new regulations for the apps introduced in the D.C. Council. These regulations would allow companies like Uber and Lyft to permanently operate in the city as long as they conduct background checks for all drivers, provide a minimum of $1 million insurance coverage, and never accept street hails, among other rules.

The legislation moved out of committee on Tuesday and will face a final vote later this month. Uber has praised the legislation, but the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association and the Teamsters, which represent local taxi drivers, say that the rules give companies like Uber and Lyft an unfair competitive advantage.

Taxi drivers protested in Washington in June, congesting traffic for hours in downtown D.C. Similar protests occurred in Boston and San Francisco due to the taxi industry’s ongoing battle with the apps services.

Uber recently reduced UberX prices, making its services an even bigger threat to local taxi services and more appealing to local riders. Bennett explained that the decision was made after Uber invested millions of dollars in extensive pricing experiments in dozens of cities across the United States.

“We reduced fares in cities across the country, which led to greater demand and more people taking more trips, resulting in increased partner earnings,” said Bennett.

The D.C. taxi industry’s few app-based ride-sharing allies are at a disadvantage due to such companies. Since its launch in the District in 2012, Hailo, a London-based cab-hailing mobile app has connected professional

Seriously, who calls a cab anymore?

cab drivers with customers who would rather hail electronically than wave their arms on a street corner. On Oct. 14, however, Hailo announced that it will be shutting down service in the U.S. “We have decided to end our operations in North America, where the astronomical marketing spend required to compete is making profitability for any one player almost impossible,” said Tom Barr, coCEO and President of Hailo in a statement.

Hailo charged users $1.50 for installing its electronic hailing service. Then, customers paid the regular, city-mandated taxi fares. That put Hailo at a disadvantage against Uber and Lyft, which offer rates as low as half the regulated fare schedule.

Ashish Prashar, spokesman for Hailo, discussed the reasoning behind company’s decision to close its offices in the U.S. “It was not Uber’s attacks in the U.S. that made us leave, it was the ridiculous money that Lyft and Uber were spending to fight each other that made us rethink the make,” wrote Prashar in an email to the Voice.

Several private company apps, such as Curb and Hailo, allowed customers to order a cab via smartphone while in compliance with the DCTC. With the rising popularity of Uber, Lyft, and other apps that offer cheaper riding services under different legislation, local taxi drivers have struggled to make a living.

According to The Washington Post, Chairman Linton is hopeful that the proposal for One City One Taxi will be approved

by December. If adopted, the DCTC’s proposal would be one of the first measures that a city has offered cab companies as a tool to compete with apps on price and convenience.

JOSHUA RAFTIS

CITY on a HILL:

a tri-weekly column about D.C. NEWS AND POLITICS

D.C. TAXIS FARE POORLY AGAINST UBER

BY SHALINA CHATLANI

Most Georgetown students, especially when they have to be somewhere in a pinch, have experienced the satisfaction that comes with the ease of calling an Uber taxi and being dropped off right in front of their desired destination. But while we may be big fans of e-hauling vehicle services that do our bidding at the tap of a button, a number of D.C. taxi organizations are starting to become very angry, and the D.C. Council has been forced to respond.

Last Wednesday, taxi operators joined together to protest the D.C. Council’s decision to allow ride-sharing app vehicle services, such as Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, to operate within the city. In a large demonstration that blocked the city’s traffic downtown forabout two hours, taxi cab drivers honked their horns in unison and caused a commotion that angered many people, especially those working in nearby offices. It’s also worth noting that therewas a similarprotest onlya few months ago in June, showing that these drivers aren’t about to give up on getting their message across.

These city taxi drivers are speaking out against e-sharing app cab services because they have been able to operate without the same regulations and rules that normal taxi drivers are forced to deal with. As a result, they are granted a “competitive advantage” that is preventing fairness in the market. The Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association along with Teamsters Local 922 Union, in particular, have called upon the D.C. Council to pass just legislation that would even the playing field.

In fact, Councilmember Mary Cheh of Ward 3 has proposed legislation that aims to place more regulations on app-sharing taxi services. Under her bill, Uber and the like would have to provide primary insurance coverage for accidents, conduct criminal background checks, submit one percent of receipts from rides beginning in the city to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, and agree not to accept street hails.

Even with all these rules, however, the DC Taxicab Commission still feels that the competitive marketplace would not be leveled. The commission has proposed a “creative” solution: require all 7,000 or more taxicabs in the district to

adopt a “One Taxi One City” e-hailing application, along with a benefits program for all public vehicle operators. Riders would be able to decide whether to pay with cash or credit card, or even credit card on file, through the application.

While the commission believes it has developed a unique solution to the make the game fair, it seems more like they have developed a replica of the very app-sharing services taxicab drivers are protesting. Some may be able to argue that taxicab drivers are taking a hit thanks to apps like Uber, but the reality is that city drivers have much more sway in Congress than any of these services could possibly enjoy.

For instance, for every $3,500 the taxi industry has donated to legislators and lobbying efforts, companies like Uber have granted only a dollar, according to a study from the Sunlight Foundation— talk about leveling the playing field.

E-hailing vehicle services face a great deal more opposition than taxi drivers do, including when the D.C. Council briefly banned UberX after cab drivers spoke out against the service a couple years ago.

The real issue here seems to be a matterof innovationversus regulation, two institutions that hardly ever work together. Unfortunately for taxicab drivers, under the authority of the city, there isn’t much wiggle room for getting past services like Uber that have become ubiquitous foryoung adults in major cities.

At the same time, however, there’s also the reality of competition. At the end of the day, if Uber and all other app-sharing services are required to follow the rules outlined in Cheh’s legislation among other regulations that are sure to follow, there’s no reason for taxi operators to protest the company.

What taxicab drivers ought to be doing, on the other hand, is improving their response rate. Just a day before the protest, D.C. Taxi inspectors announced the results of a 30-day undercover operation, and they weren’t pretty. The District’s numbers show that of the 308 cabbies tested, 27 percent showed a failure rate of picking up passengers for a variety of reasons, most notably racial bias. The taxi industry has more to gain if operators spend less time blocking traffic and more time picking up passengers who want their service.

sports

6 | the georgetown voice

October 16, 2014

Men’s soccer exorcises Demons, kneels to Friars ROBBIE PONCE

The Georgetown men’s soccer team (7-2-4, 2-1-1 Big East) needed every minute of Saturday’s game against DePaul (4-6-2, 1-2-0 Big East) to defeat the Blue Demons, scoring two late goals for a 2-0 victory. The Hoyas traveled to Chicago as the No. 5 ranked team in the nation and came away with their second win in Big East conference play.

“The guys did a good job of being patient and breaking down a well-organized, committed DePaul team,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “The guys did a good job of not panicking that it was 0-0 with almost 20 minutes to go and kept their way about them waiting for the goal to materialize.”

Although the Hoyas held possession for much of the game, it was DePaul who looked more dangerous in the early stages, producing several chances in the beginning of the first half. As the game wore on, the Hoyas slowly took control, and saw a series of attacks late in the half fall just short of an opener. First, sophomore midfielder Bakie Goodman’s shot was blocked.

Then, DePaul goalkeeper Mack Robinson made two difficult saves to stop shots from junior defender Keegan Rosenberry and sophomore forward Brett Campbell.

The Hoyas carried this momentum into the second half, dominating possession and eventually breaking through in the 70th minute. Goodman played the ball in advance of Rosenberry, who flew down the right side of the field.

Rosenberry gathered the pass

and launched a shot into the right side of the net, just past a diving Robinson. The goal was the first of Rosenberry’s college career.

“Keegan is such a quality, technical player and he’s really capable of scoring goals, so it was almost long overdue,” Wiese said. “It was an important and well taken goal. He has so much quality to him it was just a matter of time.”

Junior forward Brandon Allen then added to the tally in the 78th minute after he was fouled inside the box. He made no mistake on the ensuing penalty kick, firing the ball past Robinson to give the Hoyas some breathing room.

Georgetown outshot DePaul 11-4 on the day, and the defense earned its fifth consecutive shutout.

Following their impressive road performance in Chicago, the Blue and Gray returned home to host the Providence Friars on Wednesday. Due to inclement weather, the contest was rescheduled from a 4 p.m. to a 10 a.m. kickoff. The uncertainty about the field conditions played a part in neutralizing home-field advantage for the Hoyas, who missed the support of many fans who skipped the game due to Wednesday morning classes.

The Hoyas struggled early on against the Friars, who struck first just two minutes into the contest. A streaking run and cross from Providence winger Fabio Machado found forward Mac Steeves, whose header bounced off the far post.

Fortunately for the Friars, the ball rebounded straight back to Steeves, who calmly found the back of the net.

ANNA RUNOVA

MEN’s Soccer had an Up And Down WEEK with A win Against DePaul and A Loss to PROVIDENCE.

After falling behind, the Hoyas struggled to find their rhythm in the remainder of the first half. The Blue and Gray began to commit many players into the attack with the hopes of finding an equalizer before the conclusion of the half, but were exposed a second time by a Providence counter-attack in the 38th minute. The Hoyas found themselves in an unfamiliar 2-0 hole going into halftime.

Though the Hoyas threatened on several occasions in the second half, the Friars were content with conceding possession while sitting back and protecting their lead.

Georgetown’s persistent attacks allowed the Hoyas to win seven corner kicks in the second half, but the team was unable to capitalize on each of these chances. Despite outshooting the Friars 12-11, the Hoyas were shutout and fell for the first time in more than a month.

“I think this was the flattest performance we’ve had all year,” Wiese said. “We have to give a lot of credit to Providence for executing what they wanted to do.

They’re well-coached and well-organized, and they’ll be a team that is a potential candidate to win the league.”

The Hoyas will now try to rebound in South Orange, N.J., where they will take on the Seton Hall Pirates at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18. With just five games left in their Big East campaign, there is little room for error as the Hoyas’ quest for a first-ever Big East Championship continues.

Though several tough tests lie ahead for the Blue and Gray, Wiese still believes his team has the quality to contend for a conference title.

“If you take each game one at a time, we still fancy ourselves as being very capable of winning the league.”

Chris tano’s SPORTS SERMON--as C “IM STARTING TO FEEL THE EARTH IS A GIANT BODY AND WE ARE CELLS AS HUMANS.” - Lil B via Twitter Finances are private. Everyone knows that.

We learn this reality from a young age. We teach kids that asking for such information is not polite, and they, in turn, carry this attitude with them, passing it on. In American society, we’ve made the collective decision to keep personal financial information a secret in almost all areas, but one.

The one exception to the rule is that if you have something to brag about in terms of income, you don’t need to keep it a secret. Rolling in the Benjamins isn’t exactly something to be ashamed of. Those who are fortunate enough to be able to afford small islands and golden toilet paper probably aren’t as worried about keeping such information on the down low.

Who rakes it in like they’re printing it themselves? Celebrities do. Despite the taboo nature of sharing personal finances, some of the mind-boggling sums involved when it comes to celebrities cause American citizens to be more than okay with breaking their strict rules concerning financial discussion. We love ogling all the articles concerning how much money the Gates family is worth, or how much money Tom Cruise pulled in for playing himself in his latest remake of the exact same movie he’s been in for years.

Nowhere is that truer than in sports. Take a look at any major purveyor of sports news during contract season and you’ll find all sorts of information concerning athlete earn-

ings that in any other context would remain a secret. From new contract salary figures for stars like Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James to how much players like footballer Kaká or pitcher Max Scherzer turned down, it’s all there.

Thanks to Forbes, I can tell you that so far in 2014, LeBron James has made $19.3 million dollars thanks to his salary and playoff bonuses, and that the Cleveland star has also raked in an additional $53 million from endorsements. Thanks to Celebrity Net Worth, I can tell you that before his retirement, Derek Jeter was earning approximately $35 million from salary and endorsements. However, I couldn’t tell you how much my government professor is earning, but then again he probably doesn’t want to tell you either.

The frenzy surrounding our favorite sporting leagues provides the perfect setting in which this sort of mutually satisfactory violation of privacy can occur. Sports are status-oriented. They are competitions, after all. Nothing determines status in our country like the size of your paycheck. Leaking the ridiculous size of your bank account isn’t going to hurt you in that realm, unless someone is making significantly more.

On top of that, most of today’s prominent athletes like to tailor their lives to the ragsto-riches story that everyone knows and loves. Starting from the bottom and now earning millions is an affirmation for themselves, as well as a means of measuring worth.

The question remains: is this right? Is it okay for us to ignore the societal rules we let govern the rest of us simply because these people have nothing to be monetarily ashamed of? Publicizing these numbers certainly leads to a lot of negative connotations about sports.

It’s common for those opposed to the behemoth sporting industry to point to monstrous salaries and endorsement fees as reasons to write sports off as nothing but a disgusting money-driven enterprise. It’s common for people to look down on the lavish lifestyles of these superstars, despite the fact that these millionaires are simply a supply to capitalist demand.

Are these people wrong in being outraged at the fact that the net worth of some of the most profitable athletes in the world is the same as the GDP of small sovereign nations?

In my opinion, probably not.

However, they condemn this form of business based off of which salaries are heavily publicized, forgetting that for every mega-millionaire there are nine more guys trying to prepare for the looming day when their bodies are no longer able to make them money.

Do super-profitable athletes do a lot of work to hide their finances? Not even a little bit. Would it save sports a good deal of trouble and bad press if they did? Yes, it would.

At the end of the day it’s up to us to decide if we’re going‘ ‘ to let dollar bills dictate how we behave toward a certain group of people.

sports

georgetownvoice.com

Leopards pounce on Hoya mistakes JOE POLLICINO

Despite holding a fourth quarter lead, the Georgetown football team (2-5, 0-2 Patriot League) lost a heartbreaker 2421 this past Saturday at Lafayette (3-3, 1-1 Patriot League). In a backand-forth game that saw both teams take the lead twice, the Hoyas failed to overcome costly mistakes and take advantage of scoring opportunities.

“At times, we played our best football of the year,” said Georgetown Head Coach Rob Sgarlata. “At the end of the day, we did not take care of the details and did not do enough of the little things to win.”

The Hoyas opened the game with a promising start. Junior quarterback Kyle Nolan capped an impressive drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Matthew Buckman to give the Hoyas an early 7-0 lead.

On the subsequent Lafayette drive, senior defensive tackle Peter Daibes forced and recovered a fumble at the Layfayette 18. The offense, however, had to settle for a 28-yard field goal attempt that the Leopards blocked.

The Blue and Gray regained their composure on their following possession, though, as junior running back Jo’el Kimpela’s 19-yard touchdown run extended their lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter. The lead did not last long, as Lafayette senior running back Ross Scheuerman scored on Layfayette’s next two possessions to bring the score to 14 all.

The Georgetown men’s and women’s golf teams both finished their respective weekend tournaments in sixth place overall. The men’s team tied for sixth place out of 14 teams at 37 over par through 36 holes in the Big Five Invitational in Philmont, Pa. The women placed sixth out of 12 teams in the three-day Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate match held in Denver, Colo.

The men began the weekend with an extremely strong showing, racing out to a tie for second after the first 18 holes on Saturday. The Hoyas were carried early by impressive performances from a trio of freshmen. Jack Musgrave, who shot a 1-under-par 69. Musgrave’s score placed him second overall individually, only one shot

– BackdoorCut – Chris Almeida’s TRI-weekly column about sports

FAMILY FEUD: BASKETBALL EDITION

Poor Execution Cost the Hoyas in their Matchup with LAFAYETTE. In the third quarter, junior kicker Ryan Gralish kicked a 25yard field goal to give Lafayette their first lead of the game. The Hoyas regained the lead early in the fourth quarter when Nolan threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Justin Hill. The Leopards then responded as Scheuerman’s 5-yard touchdown run gave Lafayette the lead for good.

In spite of the loss, the Hoyas offense piled up 487 total yards of offense, including 282 yards rushing. Kimpela ran for a career-high 159 yards on 20 carries, while senior running back Daniel Wright ran for 106 yards on 15 attempts. For his effort, Kimpela earned a Patriot League weekly honorable mention.

“After looking at the stat sheet, the positives jump off of the page,” said Sgarlata. “Offensively, we had our most productive day of the season.”

Sgarlata did acknowledge, nonetheless, that the Hoyas still have to execute when it matters most. The Blue and Gray committed nine penal-

CAROLYN ZACCARO

ties for 115 yards, allowed an 80-yard punt return that led to a Lafayette touchdown, had a blocked punt, and struggled on third and fourth down.

“In critical situations, we were unable to convert a third or fourth-and-1,” said Sgarlata.

“We were also unable to hold onto a four-point lead in the fourth quarter. These situations are won by paying attention to the little things.”

The Hoyas now enter a much-needed bye week and will return to action for the annual homecoming game on Oct. 25, when they will face Bucknell (5-1, 1-0 Patriot League).

The Hoyas will look to win their first homecoming game since the 2011 season. Sgarlata feels his team can use the bye week to their advantage and looks forward to the challenge that Bucknell presents.

“I am happy with our progress, but not satisfied with the results,” said Sgarlata. “We will work this week to play smarter and work toward a victory versus Bucknell.”

Golf searches for consistency MAX ROBERTS

the georgetown voice | 7

behind the leader, J.T. Harper of Seton Hall. Not far behind Musgrave were freshmen teammates Cole Berman at 1 -over and Sam Madsen at 4-over, good for ties for eighth and 18th overall, respectively.

Despite promising early performances, the men’s team was unable to maintain its high level of play during the final 18 holes of the tournament. Junior Raleigh Chapin carded the team’s best score: a 4-over-par 74. After a tremendous Saturday, the Hoya freshman couldn’t replicate their form on Sunday, demonstrated by Musgrave’s tumble to an 11-over-par 81.

“We had a tremendous experience playing in the lead group,” Head Coach Thomas Hunter said. “Now we have to learn how to compete when we get there again. We’ll grow from it.”

The women’s team saw similar inconsistencies. Junior Mackenzie Boydston was in a tie for 27th overall after her 5-over-par on Friday. Fellow junior Patricia Lee led the team on Friday and ended up tied for 22nd after shooting a 4-over 76. On the tournament’s second day, however, both Lee and Boydston found themselves moving in different directions. Lee struggled and dropped to 41st overall, while Boydston shot even par and moved into a tie for 12th overall.

As evidenced by their recent play, both teams have had brief moments of success.

Hunter admitted, “We need to get more consistent.” The most important thing for both teams going forward will be to extend their early successes through to later rounds as they move deeper into tournament play.

Feuds involving basketball players and figures in popular culture are no recent phenomenon, but recently a conflict between the NBA’s reigning MVP and one of the most confusing rappers of all time has come to the forefront of this strange tradition.

Let’s back up. When have these conflicts come into the spotlight before? Well, the first and most notable tiff was between filmmaker Spike Lee and Pacers sharpshooter Reggie Miller. Lee, debatably the world’s the most well-known Knicks fan, has sat courtside at games since the mid 1980s, and became famous for harassing opponents. But, nobody played into Lee’s trash talk like Miller, who would try his hardest to win and gesture directly at Lee during games. The feud has now become common knowledge for sports fans since its glorification in the ESPN film Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks.

A lesser known, but significantly more absurd feud was one that took place, in part, near my hometown. In the mid 2000s, the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers played each other in the first round of the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. Though some of these series will be known for game-winning shots and egregious travel no-calls, at least in my mind, nothing will be more memorable than the tag-team feud of Wizard Deshawn Stevenson and Soulja Boy versus Cavalier LeBron James and Jay-Z. The problems started when Stevenson called James overrated, prompting LeBron to say that responding “would be like Jay-Z saying something bad about Soulja Boy.” Long story short, Soulja Boy started showing up to Wizards games, Jay-Z made a Deshawn diss track, and comedy ensued. Looking back, the fact that James and Jay-Z even bothered with their counterparts seems ridiculous, but let’s never forget that Stevenson won his first ring before LeBron.

Now, to the present. Kevin Durant, last season’s NBA MVP, recently fractured his right foot, which will require

a six to eight-week recovery period. Nobody was more delighted by Durant’s misfortune than rapper Lil B. Who is Lil B? He’s one of music’s most perplexing figures. He releases hundreds of tracks each year, most of which are only notable because of their tacky production, absurd lyrics, or nonsensical topics. Mr. B has also lectured at universities and is a published author, despite having little to say of consequence. There is an entire subculture, the “based” movement, surrounding Lil B, but few would argue that it is out of line to say the rapper is “wack.”

That is exactly what Durant did in 2011, tweeting, “I tried to listen to Lil B and my mind wouldn’t let me do it…. can’t believe this guy is relevant.” In reply, Lil B tweeted, “KEVIN DURANT WILL NEVER WIN THE TITLE AFTER HE SAID ‘LIL B’ IS A WACK RAPPER, ‘THE BASEDGODS CURSE’#THEBASEDGODSCURSE ON DURANT - Lil B.” In the ensuing three years, “#thebasedgodscurse” has only gained traction as Durant has failed to acquire his first Larry O’Brien trophy. Lil B issued a diss track entitled “Fuck KD,” and has talked consistent trash via Twitter since the initial encounter. “I THOUGHT THE CURSE WAS OVER BASEDGOD! PLEASE I NEED TO TALK TO ‘THE BASEDGOD’ I THOUGHT THE CURSE WAS OVER !

(SCREAMING)...,” tweeted Lil B shortly after news of Durant’s injury surfaced.

Though Durant, by almost all metrics, has had an enormously successful career, Lil B’s taunts will only grow louder as Durant and Oklahoma City struggle to fight through the gauntlet of the Western Conference.

So even though Durant is the world’s second most prominent basketball player and Lil B is far below the Kanye echelon of the rap world, Twitter, the great equalizer, has put these two figures at odds. While I can’t guarantee that Lil B is actually a warlock or that Durant will ever win a title, what I can guarantee from the conflict between these two men is hilarity.

feature

8 | the georgetown voice

October 16, 2014

No Exit Strategy

The effects of the 2010 Campus Plan on the future of student life

By Shalina Chatlani In December 2010, Georgetown neighborhood organizations, including the Citizens Association of Georgetown, Burleith Citizens Association, Foxhall Community Citizens Association, and others, in anticipation of Georgetown’s 2011-2020 Campus Plan, began rallying support against Georgetown University’s growing presence in the neighborhood.

Yard signs with inflammatory signs littered the streets of Georgetown with messages that read, “OPPOSE GU’S CAMPUS PLAN. OUR HOMES. NOT GU’S DORMS.” The CAG released a special edition newsletter in December 2010, entitled “Georgetown University Campus Plan Threatens Neighborhood,” accusing students of unlimited growth and disorderly conduct.

In a lengthy diatribe against the university’s efforts to expand, the newsletter cited an increase in enrollment of 3,200 students since 2009, construction of mixed-use buildings in West Georgetown, and the addition of 700 parking spaces to accommodate traffic as strains on neighborhood life.

The newsletter read, “GU can not continue to use the neighborhood for its residence halls.”

The newsletter turned students into the enemy, making them sound like uncontrollable barbarians who posed a threat to the university’s safety: “Do you think that having dozens of individuals running (or even worse: driving) around the neighborhood under the influence of alcohol or drugs, knocking down stop signs, yanking metal railings, damaging private property, urinating in public … makes our neighborhood more or less safe?”

It came as no surprise that when the university filed an application for the proposed 2010 Campus Plan with the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, the Citizens Association of Georgetown, ANC 3D, which represents Foxhall, and the Foxhall Community

Citizens Association opposed the proposal on the grounds that it did not include provisions to increase on-campus housing.

In fact, before the Zoning Commission ruled against Georgetown on Dec. 30, 2010, ANC 2E rejected the plan by a 6-1 vote. Jake Sticka (COL ‘13), the student representative to the ANC at the time, cast the lone vote in favor of the plan.

“The rest of the commission rejected [the first] plan, arguing that the university had not offered enough to satisfy their demands. At the time, neighborhood leaders argued vehemently that they would not settle for anything less than 100 percent of students on-campus,” Sticka wrote in an email to the Voice.

Due to the Zoning Commission’s legal requirement to grant “great weight,” according to a document regarding the campus plan in July 2012, to the recommendations and opinions of the ANC, the advisory bodies found the plan inadequate in addressing the neighborhood’s concerns. Neighbors made it very clear that they wanted students to acknowledge that living off campus should be considered a “privilege, not a right,” according to the same document. The university appealed to the Zoning Commission to overturn the decision, but it lost the petition.

What followed was two years of requests for more time to plan, negotiations with joint committees of neighborhood and university officials, and updates to the original document, until an amended plan was finally approved by the Zoning Commission and ANC for the period Jan. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2017 as a short-term plan that would make up part of a longer-term, 20-year master campus plan which would begin in 2018.

“Following the negotiated plan … [it] sailed through the zoning process.

If there had not been a negotiated plan, I have no doubt that there would hsve

Projects & their Costs

been years of litigation between the two sides,” Sticka wrote.

On the surface, the 2010 Campus Plan appears to be the product of relentless pressure from the neighborhood for the university to “mitigate the impacts of trash, noise, and student behavior.” Administrators, however, insist that the ANC and the university jointly agreed to house 90 percent of students on campus.

“One of the principles that the university identified when it went into an effort to resolve tensions with the neighborhood was move toward a model where we have a collaborative planning process,” said Associate Vice President of Community Engagement Lauralyn Lee. “We really felt that it was in the university’s interest to develop a more residential, more robust living and learning community to support the undergraduate and graduate experiences.” She also added that the administration had heard from students in the undergraduate community that they would prefer to live on campus.

As a result, the university agreed to remove the proposed block of new student housing from the plan. The university also agreed to add 385 extra beds beginning in the fall of 2015, with a possible addition of 244 extra beds being added if the the university decided to move forward with its goal to house 90 percent of students on-campus by 2020.

The construction of the Northeast Triangle Dorm, renovations on the Old Jesuit Residences, and the development of the Healey Family Student Center are all projects that were included in the 2010 Campus Plan.

With the relatively recent decision to move forward with so many projects in such a short amount of time, it remains unclear where the money and resources to fund these projects are coming from, and what impact the 2010 Campus Plan will have on the the university in the long run.

“While GUSA does not have access to specific financial information from the university in terms of main campus capital projects... it has become clear that there has been a freeze on some medium scale projects [including Henle renovations and Kehoe Field], leading us to believe that there is a connection between campus construction and costs in other areas of improvement to student life,” said Georgetown University Student Association President Trevor Tezel (SFS ‘15).

Robin Morey, vice president for planning and facilities management, however, claims that none of the construction projects are “running over budget” and that “strategic choices” have been made to see where resources ought to be allocated.

“It would not be appropriate to simply say that ‘x’ construction project was funded at the expense program ‘y.’ The university constantly makes decisions with respect to strategic investments,” wrote Morey in an email to the Voice.

“For instance the need-blind, full need [scholarship] is a strategic investment that defines the core of what Georgetown is and accordingly resources are allocated to support that investment. Similarly, our investments in building a living and learning community is a strategic investment and defines who we are.”

In the 2012-2015 Financial Plan, President John DeGioia called upon the university to “proceed cautiously and prudently with the growth assumptions in the financial plan for both revenues and expenses,” due to the “impact the recession has already had on the nation and on the university’s fiscal condition.”

DeGioia claimed that one of the goals of the university would be to have breakeven on operating performance.

Under the operating costs and investments portion of the 2012 fiscal plan,

georgetownvoice.com only $89.2 million in average operating cash balances are allocated for fiscal years 2011-2015. The plan warrants that the university must “continue to operate prudently through these challenging times,” with exceptions for critical investments in “science facilities, faculty salaries, information systems, and academic programs.”

The three major construction projects alone make up the majority of the Capital Financing Plan figures cited in the 2012 Fiscal Plan.

“The university’s capital plan includes the construction of a new science building, which is critical to advancing the university’s science education programs, and needed renovations to the university’s residence halls ...The debt for these projects is the only additional borrowing contemplated over the course of the Financial Plan period. Of the $90 million in new money proceeds, $20 million will be used to reduce existing line of credit balances, bringing the net impact of this new borrowing to $70 million.”

According to Morey, the construction of the Northeast Triangle dormitory runs $46 million, the Thompson Athletic Center costs $61 million, and the Healey Family Student Center totals $26.3 million. Funding for all projects is broken down into three parts: $64.9 million from philanthropy, $61.9 million from debt borrowing, and $57.9 million from reserves.

DeGioia writes that revenue for fiscal year 2012 for the the Main Campus financial plan would come from a combination of tuition rate increases, revenues from increasing enrollments in selected graduate programs, new revenues from several new graduate programs, new revenues from the university’s Qatar campus, and increases in current use gifts for scholarships. Current use gifts are donations from alumni with no specific delegated purpose.

Submitted after the filing of the 2010 Campus Plan, the fiscal budget assumes an undergraduate tuition increase of 2.9 percent for the fiscal year 2012, and a 3.5 percent increase annually thereafter. Although the construction projects were agreed upon prior to the submission of the budget, there is no mention of them being accounted for by tuition increases.

One could infer that revenue from tuition increases would go toward funding of construction projects. In fact, one would have to, given the fact that construction project funding of $61.85 million is coming from debt, a figure that nearly meets the $70 million for total university borrowing, and because the university was under an obligation to begin construction in an expedited timeframe, as demanded by the neighborhood. This leaves very little room for borrowing to go to the rest of the university’s spending initiatives.

Morey insists that the priority of the university’s investments have not changed. “There are always competing priorities for university resources and typically requirements exceed resources. We view the current allocation of the resources to align with our

feature strategic priorities,” wrote Morey.

Tezel explains that new budget costs could have an impact on some aspects of the academic life, especially given how fast they are required to be completed.

A history department memo from Sept. 4, 2014 from Carol A. Benedict, Chair of the Department of History, reveals that minimum enrollments for undergraduate classes would be raised to eight students this academic year

Neighbors made it very clear that they wanted students to acknowledge that living off campus should be considered a “privilege, not a right.” and 10 students by 2015. The document cites “cost cutting” as the primary reason for this increase in minimum enrollment, even though smaller classes offer students a better chance for deep engagement in a discipline.

There are a number of metrics that the university is aware of, according to Tezel, that it needs to maintain its competitive status among other top-tier universities or even rise in the rankings. These factors range from focusing more on science and math education, specifically the lack of an engineering program, to innovation on how we understand the academic experience, currently being examined

by Vice Provost Robert Groves.

“With less flexibility in our finances, some of these innovations and financial improvements we need to make to maintain our competitive status will be more difficult to achieve. I do think that current obligations under the campus plan make that flexibility difficult,” said Tezel.

Rachel Pugh, director of communications, however, writes that the university is still investing a number of resources in improving academics.

“We continue to invest in our faculty and our academic programs.

Through the Designing the Future(s) initiative, we are reimagining the Georgetown curriculum for the 21st century,” she wrote in an email.

“Through faculty-led curricular experiments, we are exploring new ways to teach and quantify the skills our students will need in the 21st century and think of new academic programs to meet the challenges of our world.”

She also noted that cost-cutting has been a university-wide initiative with a goal of providing high-quality educa-

tion in a sustainable way, and that departments have used their discretion to determine how best to slow spending.

Still, the question of neighborhood influence on university affairs in off-campus life remains problematic. The university and the ANC in the negotiated agreement created two institutions specifically designed to address neighborhood and off-campus life, as well as collaborate on developing a long-term campus plan that will be presented in 2018. The former Office of Off-Campus Student Life was transformed into the Office of Neighborhood Life, dedicated to “being a resource for all residents of the neighborhood, students and non-students,” according to Pugh.

Additionally, the Georgetown Community Partnership, a collaborative forum between the university and the neighborhood, was developed as the primary organization to go over and conduct master planning. Neighborhood officials, including Ron Lewis, the head of the ANC 2E, administrators, and a student representative on the Steering Committee, Tezel, oversee a number of working groups that discuss campus planning.

A great number of neighborhood political bodies, however—the CAG, BCA, and FCCA, the ANC 2E, and the ANC 3D—make up part of the Steering Committee, the main acting portion of the GCP. Moreover, the Office of Neighborhood Life invites community members to be privy to the office’s plans for off-campus improvements.

This fact suggests that the neighborhood still plays a large role in what the university plans in the future, which is troubling given the fact that university must submit another campus plan in 2018.

While moving students off campus seems like the best option for both parties, the reality is that off-campus life could actually get worse. According to statistics from the Washington Post, the median age of all residents within the Georgetown Neighborhood falls around 31 years, with 72 percent of residents claiming a single status, and 29 percent being married. With the median years in residence falling around 2.9, it could be inferred that a number of the homes that will become vacant post-campus plan will actually be more attractive to young professionals that would want to live in group housing.

“I don’t know how aware people were of just how many residents and renters off campus—talking about people living four or five to a townhouse—were non-Georgetown undergraduates or even graduate students,” said Craig Cassey (SFS ‘15), current ANC 2E student representative. “There are a lot of young professionals that live here. The problem we see now, having tracked Georgetown undergraduate students, we’ve found that the homes that are more likely to have messy front yards, leave their trash out, and break what our rules are, are not

the georgetown voice | 9 actually Georgetown students.

They’re young professionals.”

Unlike Georgetown students, young professionals that occupy residence houses are not subject to the same noise ordinances stipulated by the university that exist between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. These residents would not be reprimanded by university services like SNAP, which was expanded under the 2010 Campus Plan to have a 100 percent response rate, another area where the university will have to invest further resources. Rather, the Metropolitan Police Department would have to respond to noise complaints and other violations, meaning that response rate would probably not be as efficient due to the sheer distance of the MPD from Georgetown.

“They don’t have the same lessons about caring for their neighbors as every Georgetown student renter has to have. So it’s my opinion with Georgetown students not living in the neighborhood, you’re only going to see an increase [in violations]... the narrative is projected on the student body, not on the actual participants,” said Casey.

Throughout the discussion on the development of Georgetown’s campus, the general community’s interests have been prioritized above those of the students. With the July 2018 deadline just around the corner, the question of Georgetown’s status among other schools and the role of the neighborhood in the future of the university’s plans, given the reality of construction’s impact on the budget and student life, seriously needs to be addressed.

Of course, it’s still important to be engaged with the neighbors, at the very least, so the war can end, and we can finally tear down this Burleith wall.

Funding Sources Philanthropy $64,900,000

Debt $61,850,000

Reserves $57,950,000

leisure

10 | the georgetown voice

october 16, 2014

Mask & Bauble calls Inherit the Wind to the stand, delivers expert testimony ELIZABETH BAKER The Mask and Bauble Society’s first show of the semester, Inherit the Wind, “all comes down to the right to think, and the right to express those thoughts,” said Matt Grisier (COL ‘16). This relevant theme is inherent in the battle between evolution and creationism in the fictional, bible-thumping town of Hillsboro, endearingly called “the buckle of the Bible Belt” by the fictional journalist Hornbeck.

Under the direction of Will Redmond (COL ’15), Mask & Bauble opens its 163rd season with Inherit the Wind, bringing Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee’s literary behemoth to Poulton Hall’s Stage III. Introducing a delightfully large cast of 18 student actors, the stage’s minimalist courthouse set soon bustles with life, as the citizens of Hillsboro anticipate the arrival of hero Matthew Harrison Brady, played by Peter Fanone (COL ’15).

Brady is the prosecutor in the trial of Bert Cates, played by Matt Beshke (COL ’18), a teacher in Hillsboro accused of teaching Darwinism in his classroom.

Coming to Cates’ defense is Henry Drummond, played by Matt Grisier (COL ’16), a man with exaggerated mannerisms

and a brilliant ability to sway the jury. What the people of Hillsboro don’t know about Drummond, however, is his great empathy and understanding of all those he meets, including his old friend and newest enemy in the courtroom, Brady.

While some early scenes border on the melodramatic, the high tensions are perfectly appro-

“Oh God, Betsy, i think that was corp coffee you gave me” priate once the stage transforms and the trial begins. Drummond and Brady’s energy electrifies the theater. Their witty, fastpaced dialogue requires a sharp ear, but is riveting and extremely engaging.

As the trial progresses, the audience find itself leaning for-

UNDERTHECOVERS: A bi-weekly literary column by Micaela Beltran

The virtue of the word “feminist” is still a contentious topic.

I’ve heard friends say that the term implies misandry and that the history of feminism is racist—many women of color don’t feel comfortable using the term. While these are valid arguments in a persistent debate, this tension doesn’t mean we should toss the word entirely in favor of something like “womanism” or “genderism.”

Many of these arguments are formed in lieu of mainstream feminism, which appears to suggest that the entire male sex should be disintegrated. To use the term effectively, we must be aware of this wrinkle, but I don’t think the arguments against the term “feminist” garner enough strength to eliminate it. The alternative labels, or any other we could try to make up, can’t capture all the gravitas that “feminist” does. As Noah Berlatsky writes in The Atlantic, “‘Femi-

ward, realizing the height of the stakes. It’s not only the American education system and everyday life of Hillsboro on the line, but also the livelihoods of two individuals—one who thrives on the love of others, perhaps to a fault, and another who survives on knowledge and reason.

Grisier and Fanone are captivating, drawing the audience

nist’ is a movement, a history, a faith, and a hope for change.”

Ironically enough, however, much of the debate over the use of the term comes from the men who seem to be uncomfortable using a feminine-sounding word to describe gender equality. Many men have argued that the term is inadequate and have tried to introduce a more accomadating word.

This isn’t surprising for prolific author Rebecca Solnit who, in her recent book, Men Explain Things to Me, talks about about a concept she famously helped coin, “mansplaining.” This phenomenon depicts a man explaining something to a woman from a “more knowledgeable” standpoint, though such mansplanations are always about things which the woman understands more fully. Solnit’s feminist essays have frequently gone viral because of her comedic style and

in as they communicate with the jury, who sit in the front row. The audience becomes a part of the trial, a mass of people that both Brady and Drummond must convince in their quest for justice.

It’s not only Brady and Drummond who brilliantly capture the audience’s attention. Josh-

ua Street’s (COL ’15) portrayal of Reverend Brown, for example, commands and captivates through his sermons and intimidating presence. The audience hangs on every word, breaking out of the reverie only once the Reverend falls silent.

This production of Inherit the Wind delightfully changes the character of Hornbeck, a

AMBIKA AHUJA

Hillsboro journalist, to a woman, played by Claire Derriennic (COL ’17). Hornbeck’s witticisms, quips, and comebacks are humorous and eyebrow-raising coming from the lips of an extremely powerful, intelligent woman. She quickly understands the power dynamics of

“Just because it’s taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn’t mean no one else has spotted I’m a girl!” her deep knowledge on the progression of women’s history.

There’s another modern development concerned with including men in the discourse on feminism, which recently covered my newsfeed. Emma Watson gave an inspiring speech to the United Nations about the need for men to be involved in the fight for equality because, she reminds us feminism is, ultimately, the equality of all genders. She introduced the U.N.’s “HeForShe” campaign, which aims to galvanize 1 billion men and boys as advocates for ending the global inequalities that plague women and girls.

As we look back at the long struggles women have faced, and the very gradual build up of support that continues today, it’s clear that society can’t truly advance if men avoid supporting feminism. At the same time, some problems arise with this new campaign—problems that

Solnit often alludes to in her book. I think Watson’s speech will help usher the feminist movement into modernity, leading it to do more good than bad.

However, fundamental difficulties may arise with the entry of so many men into this gender conversation.

In the first chapter of her book, Solnit recounts her essay “Men Explain Things to Me,” which prompted an explosion of reader responses, including a Tumblr page dubbed, “Academic Men Explain Things to Me.” She believes that nearly all women face two wars every day: one against the people and structures which still support gender inequality, and one within herself, against the socially ingrained belief that they lack importance when compared to not only men, but also to other women.

If the “HeForShe” campaign is to be truly progressive in

the courtroom and commandingly asserts her own power and independence. This lends a progressive air to Inherit the Wind, and certainly is a welcome change.

While Georgetown students don’t debate evolution and creationism as adamantly as Brady and Drummond, the student body has its own issues with secularism within a Jesuit framework, providing an opportunity to relate to the gravitas of the play’s subject.

“Inherit is all about conversation and engaging in dialogue,” said the show’s producer, Audrey Denis (SFS ‘15). “Today, we continue to face challenges of tolerance on many levels.

We have to learn that when we silence others, we put ourselves in danger.”

In the final scene, Drummond symbolically holds the Origin of Species in one hand and the bible in the other. He puts them together as the lights dim in a memorable gesture that nods to what a person must do to be accepting and respectful of others, while maintaining their own independent opinions.

Poulton Hall, Stage III Oct. 16-19, Oct. 22-25 performingarts.georgetown.edu

advancing the feminist movement globally, it needs to recognize the difficulty of having men understand what it means to be a woman. The goal of inciting 1 billion men to support this movement will certainly inspire change, but it’s also extremely ambitious to assume that all 1 billion will truly grasp what they’re fighting for. This inherent gap in understanding can lead to systemic problems later on when more difficult struggles for women’s rights may arise. Men might feel that they have enough experience to speak authoritatively on an issue they can never fully grasp, but in reality most likely do not.

Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me recounts eight of her most famous essays, including her own commentaries on the past and present effects of her works.

Her concise book provides valuable insight into the nature of gender interactions and adds a respectable voice to the fierce debate about feminism.

Go HeForShe with Micaela at mfg61@georgetown.edu

“If only we were amongst friends... or sane persons!” — The ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

GEORGETOWNVOICE.COM

Foxcatcher grapples with a violent legacy JOHN DODDERIDGE Georgetown students are well acquainted with the influence of legacy, and the dangers of unchecked wealth, a theme taken up in director Bennett Miller’s latest film, Foxcatcher.

The film tells the story of the heir to one of America’s greatest fortunes and trainer of the nation’s top wrestlers, John du Pont, as he works to restore his family pride with an Olympic gold medal.

Du Pont, however, has no experience with the sport. Although this story may sound like an Adam Sandler movie, Foxcatcher is not a slapstick comedy in any capacity. Miller provides a harrowing, unflinching look at the contemporary American elite and the dangers that come with inheritance.

Du Pont can buy anything he wants. He orders a massive military tank, for example, only to refuse it upon delivery because it didn’t come with a 50-caliber machine gun. His wealth allows him to amass people, too. He recruits Olympic gold medalist Mark Schultz and his brother to train under his tutelage at the estate, and orders Mark to refer to him as his “father figure” in a speech.

He even commissions documentaries to glorify himself, forcing interviewees to sing his praises.

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE | 11

REVIEWS HAIKU’d Interstellar Mankind, born on Earth But never meant to die here...

Inception sound! BWAMMMM!

“Bro, like, maybe yates isn’t everything in life after all,” The man with more money than he could possibly spend, however, has not worked a day in his life. Friendless and isolated, he simultaneously strives to win the admiration of his country and impress his mother, a quiet matriarch who dominates the Foxcatcher estate. The absence of sound at Foxcatcher Farms captures du Pont’s solipsism. The score’s nonexistence, particularly at times when the audience expects it most, also brings the wrestling grunts and du Pont’s heavy breathing to center stage.

Steve Carrell plays du Pont, a landmark role that reveals new depths for the actor. Prosthetics render The Office’s Michael Scott unrecognizable, and his voice becomes a chilling, maniacal whisper. The complex and sinister character nevertheless bears a striking similarity to

IMDB

Scott; they share the insatiable need to be loved. The difference is that, with du Pont, the stakes are higher and his delusions far greater. Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, who portray Mark and Dave Schultz respectively, also deliver stunning performances, marking Tatum’s best dramatic performance to date.

Miller lets these three leads drive the film, never dimming their spotlight.

Foxcatcher is more than a tragic wrestling tale. Miller conveys the dangers of privilege, showcasing what happens when the progeny of the families that built America believe they are due honor, respect, and glory. Miller terrifies his audience by exposing the myth of the noble elite and examining the pervasive and senseless bloodshed that has defined America since the Gilded Age.

St. Vincent Bill fucking Murray Takes a child to a stripclub and to the racetrack.

Fury Hell hath no fury Like a tank in World War Two Thank god LaBeouf shaved.

Ouija A childhood game Gone really, horribly wrong I hate horror films.

John Wick Revenge is so sweet Don’t mess with Keanu’s dog He will murder you.

The Best of Me N. Sparks strikes again With one more sappy love tale Just like the others

Phillip’s neo-impressionism exhibit points to symphonic transcendence ANNA NESTEROVA As its melodic name may suggest, Paul Signac’s “Setting Sun. Sardine Fishing. Adagio.” depicts a fleet of thin sardine boats bobbing like musical notes on a sea of blues and warm yellows, bathed by the light of a lazy sun.

Signac named many of his paintings after musical compositions, unshackling the artistic genre from its love for the external.

Signac was not alone in his artistic vision. He is joined by several artists in The Phillips Collection’s new exhibition, Neo-Impressionism and the Dream of Realities: Painting, Poetry, Music. Through over 70 works—ranging from large canvases to pamphlet designs—the exhibition explores the fin de siecle movement that arose from a disenchantment with classic

“The golden age has not passed; it lies in the future.”

PHILLIPS collection

impressionism, and its focus on brief, kinetic moments.

Neo-impressionism sought to capture a reality that pervades all living moments, resulting in an array of off-color works united by an abstraction of form and a dominating motif of nature.

The exhibition centers on landscapes, although portraits, cityscapes, and stage performances are featured Aficionados and casual visitors alike will recognize neo-impressionist staples like Georges Seurat’s Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy and some of Paul Signac’s iconic, pointillistic takes of the port of Saint Tropez. Lesser-known gems like Henry van de Velde’s The Beach at Blankenberghe and Charles Angrand’s The Seine in the Morning are also sure to equally delight.

Evoking the neo-impressionist synergy of painting and music, each canvas demands to be thought of as a symphonic

piece. Despite their differences in content, the neo-impressionist paintings all testify to one greater purpose: “the pursuit of the Intangible… and to inscribe the mysterious Meaning,” as van de Velde puts it. Outlines are distorted and figures morphed into a dream-like trance that suggests one singular essence.

The museum, on the other hand, chooses to enunciate the paintings’ contextual differences by dividing the exhibit into sections by subject. “Urban landscapes,” one room’s label touts. “Arcadia,” another says.

Even more vexing is when this partitioning takes a turn for the abstract: “Emptiness,” “Timelessness,” and “Arabesque” are all separate rooms. If the entire point of neo-impressionism is to bring out the permanent, overriding qualities of every subject, this pointed division, which rips the external shell off the paintings and categorizes them

by mere subject matter, runs counter to the movement.

Other than its arbitrary categorizations, the Phillips Collection does a fine job of bringing this esoteric genre to the public.

The selection itself is versatile, featuring works from many different artists across various stages of the movement. At the end of the exhibit, visitors can choose to take a “neo-impressionist selfie.”

In each painting we see a piece of an artist that could no longer stand to be chained to the externalities of impressionism—artists who long to break free and explore the universe of the internal. In each painting, this exploration pulses like a symphony—will you choose to hear it?

The Phillips Collection

1600 21 St., N.W. Thurs.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. phillipscollection.org

leisure

12 | the georgetown voice

REELTALK:

CRITICAL VOICES

Yellowcard, Lift a Sail, Razor & Tie Though occasionally blown off course, Yellowcard’s new album, Lift a Sail, elevates punchy rock ’n’ roll sound with melodic ballads. On their ninth studio album, they maintain allegiance to classic pop-punk and assume an understated style, culminating in a new alternative rock sound.

Best known for singles “Ocean Avenue” and “Lights and Sounds,” Yellowcard prides

OK Go, Hungry Ghosts, Paracadute Almost a decade after OK Go’s chart-topping “Here We Go Again,” the indie-rock treadmill choreographers take another go with Hungry Ghosts. Though the band initially appears to trade in its prominent riffs for dance-worthy synth beats, we eventually discover the same old OK Go energy and inventiveness complete with a new set of viral music videos.

FRIDAY 10/17 Julian Casablancas 9:30 Club, 8 p.m., $15

itself in its brisk, intricate drumming and powerful guitar licks.

Thus, choosing to open with “Convocation,” an airy instrumental track, seems surprising and risky. Sean Mackin’s impeccable skill on violin, however, characteristic of the band since its formation, draws attention to its progressive sound.

The most impressive aspect of this album is its diversity. On “Transmission Home,” the album’s finest track, frontman Ryan Key exhibits a confident vocal range. He experiments with a falsetto that he has apparently hidden for ages, while stiff guitar chords and slick bass drums slash away in the background.

Even so, Lift a Sail is not without flaws. The band has difficulty achieving cohesion on inventive tracks. “Fragile and Dear,” for example, tries to combine an electric baseline, symphonic violin, and shredding guitar, mak-

ing it great in its separate parts, but fragile as a whole.

Nevertheless, Yellowcard’s emotional spunk easily blows away its blemishes. In an interview with Absolute Punk, Key explains how personal challenges influenced the music. In “Madrid,” a gorgeous acoustic composition, Yellowcard uses well-crafted lyrics rather than their characteristic steady tempo and catchy chorus, to deliver the emotion of the song.

Lift a Sail’s beautifully introspective alt-rock features have an earned place at the helm of the band’s nine-album repertoire. Not only does Yellowcard stay afloat with this album, the band charts its trajectory with an emotional, reinvigorated sound.

“The Writing’s On the Wall” is the clear standout. Paired with a mind-boggling video packed to the brim with optical illusions, this track showcases OK Go’s comfort as they settle into a new sound. The song features a captivating energy and a dance-rock tempo reminiscent of 1980s new wave favorites, such as New Order and Depeche Mode.

The album’s opener, “Upside Down & Inside Out,” is an effervescent track, setting the tone for the remainder of Hungry Ghosts.

The band successfully explores funky, electronic melodies, often juxtaposed with melancholic lyrics, but the record stagnates halfway through. “If I Had a Mountain,” sounds like a trite ballad set over looping analog synth and the album’s closer, “Lullaby,” is aptly named, proving somnolent.

It’s clear then that Hungry Ghosts is top heavy. It’s disappointing and unsatisfying at

times, especially considering the album starts off so strong and ends lackadaisically. OK Go, however, is moving in the right direction—after 16 years of innovation in its awesome music videos, it would be a shame if it refused to broaden its musical horizons and stayed on a familiar path that risks repeating a stagnant sound.

Hungry Ghosts probably isn’t an album that you’ll love from beginning to end, but it offers a glimpse of OK Go’s characteristic ingenuity, which—whether embodied in a warehouse-sized Rube Goldberg machine or in the band’s uptempo summer jams—continues to surprise its fans on this latest LP.

Voice’s Choices: “Transmission Home,” “One Bedroom” —AMY CHAR

Voice’s Choices: “The Writing’s On The Wall,” “Bright As Your Eyes” —MANEESHA PANJA

CONCERT CALENDAR

FRIDAY 10/17 Boombox 9:30 Club, 10 p.m., $17

FRIDAY 10/17 Warpaint The Fillmore, 8:30 p.m., $33

TUESDAY 10/21 STS9 9:30 Club , 8 p.m., $30

SATURDAY 10/18 Assembly of Dust Gypsy Sally’s, 7 p.m., $12

WEDNESDAY 10/22 Beats Antique + Shpongle Echostage, 8 p.m., $43

october 16, 2014

Documentaries present an inconvenient truth

A bi-weekly column about film by Dayana Morales Gomez

There’s something sublime about watching a film. The experience can take you to a fantastic world, removed from reality—a world with lessons and closure.

One that is finite.

Documentaries certainly throw viewers a curveball, then, when they present truths on screens larger than life.

Besides the occasional Bill Nye: The Science Guy that I watched in elementary school, my first serious venture into documentary film was with Michael Moore. Roger and Me, Moore’s classic 1989 documentary that highlights the closures of General Motors factories in Michigan and their effects on the greater community, was moving. Even as a teenager, the dark, gray images and grainy camera work stood out to me.

Moore brilliantly used these cinematic effects to drive home the truth he was illustrating.

Moore’s cinematographic style is alive and well in some more recent independent documentaries. Fruitvale Station, for example, attempted to capture as much authenticity and veracity as possible when director Ryan Coogler secured permission to shoot in the same room where the news of the death of Oscar Grant, a central individual in the story, reached his family.

The Waiting Room tells the story of Oakland, California’s Highland Hospital, a public hospital that often accommodates the city’s impoverished, uninsured communities. The film opens with people making their way to the hospital. A gloomy public bus moves slowly into the stop in front of the building.

The film then moves inside and into the hospital’s distinctive long waiting room. A nurse encourages those waiting to quiet down, or they won’t be able to hear their names being called.

Reading about the realities of lacking health insurance is difficult, both in terms of interest and comprehension. It’s hard to learn about people dying from preventable diseases or how some were once denied coverage because of preexisting conditions. It’s also hard to conceive of textbook examples as real people.

This is not to say that it is any easier to watch it on screen, but the immediacy of its depiction in film is striking.

The Waiting Room follows doctors and nurses over the course of a single day more than it does patients. The doctors and nurses narrate a scene in which a young man was shot and, as they describe it, the viewer’s attention is arrested and forced to focus on this vulnerable patient.

The film becomes even more difficult to witness when it highlights the inability of hospital staff to vacate a bed because one now fully recovered patient is homeless. Unwilling to send him back onto the street, the doctors leave the bed occupied as many continue to wait outside.

Another documentary, Last Train Home, highlights similarly difficult human practices, this time abroad. The film focuses on the life of a young Chinese family, whose mother and father leave their home in rural China to find jobs in the city as migrant workers. The title refers to the Chinese New Year—the family’s annual return home—and the chaos before finding train tickets.

The documentary narrows its focus on one single family, capturing their distress in a way that voyeuristic, yet contemplative.

In one scene, the mother and father are home, dealing with a family dispute––their daughter wants to drop out of school and enter the workforce. As their conversation becomes heated, the family becomes increasingly aware of and irritated with the camera personnel. Then, disregarding them, the father slaps his daughter flat across the face.

The reality that the whole scene captures is unnerving.

The Waiting Room and Last Train Home are different in their narration, but similar in their scope—a scope that is far greater than any fiction film can capture. While a finite world is comfortable, with its simple solutions and its clear messages, the world of documentary filmmaking expands our horizons beyond that fictitious existence, confronting the ugliness and expansiveness of our world.

Film a documentary of Dayana at dim23@georgetown.edu

georgetownvoice.com

PAGE THIRTEEN

the georgetown voice |13

– Megan Howell

voices

14 | the georgetown voice

OCTOBER 16, 2014

In an age of connectivity, connections are harder to make than ever AMBIKA AHUJA A few years ago, I began realizing how casually certain words are used in our culture. It began with the word “love.”

In high school, girls I hardly spent time with would post pictures with me on social media sites accompanied by overly compassionate captions. “Love this girl!!! <3,” they would proclaim. At the end of Governor’s School, a five-week academic camp, my fellow campers hugged me, cried, and told me how much they loved me and were going to miss me.

I never really did that. I never really felt the same way.

For the longest time, I thought I was heartless for not reciprocating. I thought that the discomfort I felt when saying the word was due to the fact that I was a cold and calculative person—my peers, and even a teacher in middle school, told me so. Then again, I can understand how they had developed that idea. I was a cutthroat stu-

dent who didn’t have any patience for nonsense.

The word “love” holds a lot of weight for me, and I don’t throw it around in the hopes of fitting in or making a certain kind of impression. The same goes for the word “friend.” I found myself casually using that word throughout freshman year. As I reflected on my year after finals, I realized that I didn’t have many friends at Georgetown.

I don’t think most people question the use of “friend” as much as “love” because it’s simply a great label. It’s short and doesn’t require much context during casual conversations.

According to the dictionary, a friend is anyone ranging from an individual in your social network to someone who you even remotely like. I found these definitions unsatisfying because, to me, a friend is so much more than that.

A plethora of childhood traumas have played a role in constructing my seemingly callous perceptions about people, love, and relationships. I was lonely

for much of my adolescence.

My smiles and sociable behavior were all a disguise covering up the depths of my depression for much of middle school and high school. I made my first real friends toward the end of high school. We were a group of four girls that laughed together, cried together, and talked all night—even cherishing each other’s presence quietly when words were not enough. Somehow, we were all able to look past the façades and see each other for who we really were.

In the fall of 2013, I was making my way to Georgetown, while my three best friends were on their way to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I felt lost and lonely again, surrounded by people in search of friends and putting on fronts to fit in. I was one of them. I, too, hoped to find something substantial in my relationships with fellow Hoyas when going out on the weekends. I wore short skirts and put on makeup, like the rest of the girls going out. I took cute pictures so my social

network could know how much fun I was having, when, in reality, I felt even more lonely as my first semester progressed.

I do not believe the dictionary has the correct definition of “friend.” These people in my social network, and even the people I remotely liked at Georgetown, are not my friends.

They are just people I knew.

They were, and many still are, acquaintances. I felt nothing special when we hung out on weekend nights.

“Friend” is an easy word to use, but I now hold it to a higher standard. To me, friendship is more than simple affection toward someone. It is knowing and understanding someone. It means feeling their pain, caring for them, protecting them, and being there for them.

Friendship is when you feel great just from spending time with someone. Friendship happens naturally. It isn’t something you force; it’s something you embrace together.

Because of the hollow use of words such as “love” and

“friends,” I have a hard time trusting what people say. I rely on my judgments about an individual’s character and intentions through careful study of body language and behavior over a long period of time.

Recently, I have been tying these two words together. Both are heavy to me, weighed down by strong emotion. I have very few friends and a large crowd of acquaintances. But I can honestly say I love the friends I do have. It takes a very long time for me to get to that level with someone. I have met some amazing people at Georgetown, and I hope to continue meeting and getting to know all of these great people.

Maybe one day, I will be able to call at least a handful of them my friends.

AMBIKA AHUJA MSB ‘17 only facebook friends people she knows in real life

O’Donovan’s on the Waterfront: Hoping for dining changes on campus KENNETH LEE

“Leave the cooking and dishes to us—you’ve already got a lot on your plate,” reads one of the many cheerful blue and orange acrylic signs on the tables of Hoya Court. The university is, once again, trying, in closeddoor discussions, to whip up a good reason for all of us students to return to Leo’s to nourish ourselves day after day.

Now, before I spew out the typical remarks about how our food supplier, Aramark, also serves prisons, I have to point out that there’s actually a lot to love about Leo’s. I’m addicted to

their cream of mushroom soup and their blondies. They also used to make a mean breakfast pizza during Sunday brunch.

Sometimes, the employees who swipe me in chat with me, bemused by the complex legal name that’s on my GOCard.

What I hope the university and Aramark realize, however, is that Georgetown University Dining has deep, systemic problems from which all students, not just upperclassmen, will want to escape.

Our dining hall’s design, for one, isn’t particularly well-suited for its purpose. Placing four small entree pots in the middle of the upper-level hall, and

KATIE HYLAND

We’re not saying Leo’s is like the stanford prison experiment, but...

then having Leo’s employees haul heavy pots to and from the kitchen, is an inefficient and cumbersome way to feed people. While it’s novel to have pasta and burritos made-to-order, when we left the cooking (and dishes) to Aramark, we expected our meals to also be fast, easy, and convenient. Instead, we’re confronted with long lines, food shortages, and inadequate seating. It doesn’t help that Aramark seems to like to spend its investment dollars on Taco Trivia Tuesdays and Hawaiian dance parties instead of on our everyday dining experience.

Rubbing salt into our wound is the high cost of our meal plans. The 60 block meal plan, of which I, as a sophomore living in Henle, am relatively fortunate to be allowed to choose, translates to $13.75 per swipe, a price inexplicably higher than Leo’s door prices for breakfast and lunch listed on Georgetown Dining’s website.

Moreover, a fruit cup of melons, a peanut butter granola bar, a cookie, and a cup of soda, which is all that I’m entitled to at Grab-n-Go, doesn’t even remotely cost that much—unless, of course, we aren’t being told that the melons contain pixie dust and the granola bar will give me X-ray vision. There is a certain irony in the fact that

while the university purports to create policies that foster a tightknit campus community—and, yes, Georgetown definitely is one—eating out on Wisconsin Ave. is more financially worthwhile than staying in for Leo’s.

Freshmen and sophomores living in residence halls have to buy a weekly meal plan, which forces them to schedule their lives around eating at a dining hall. During my freshmen year, in between classes, club meetings, and the pleasure of simply eating out with my friends, I was never sure that I could swipe my weekly meal balance down to zero. The value of all the unused meals that I had left simply went into Aramark’s coffers.

Auxiliary Business Services, according to what I’ve read, is looking to include a Flex Dollar-only meal plan in the name of increasing value and dining options. After all, deprived of a kitchen to themselves in their residences, students have to eat somewhere. Yet, Flex-only plans would simply spread students across campus and add to the crowds that form at Hoya Court or Epicurean at lunchtime, when university and hospital employees form long lines for burgers and subs.

Students and the people or organizations financing their educations, however, will con-

tinue to be made to suffer in the clutches of a business strategy designed with only profits in mind. With Aramark’s establishments closed or running a reduced service during school breaks, those who cannot afford to leave campus or make food for themselves suffer even more by having no access to meals that they paid for at the beginning of the semester.

Students have been sharing news articles on social media about the university’s proposed third-year meal plan requirement with a certain frenzy, not because the proposal excites them, but because it scares them. It deepens the frustration and dissatisfaction that they want to escape from as soon as they become upperclassmen.

Whatever the university and Aramark choose to do going forward—whether it be pushing through with their proposal or even designing a new dining hall somewhere—they’ll first have to learn why Georgetown’s dining situation is something we laugh about in private conversation.

Kenneth lee sfs ‘17 Will never admit he particpated in Leo’s guacamole-making class

voices

georgetownvoice.com

THE GEORGETOWN VOICe | 15

Forgetting the camera and gaining a formative experience SABRINA KAYSER Forgetting my camera was the best thing I ever did.

I visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 2011.

There was an exhibition of world-famous artist Dale Chihuly’s extraordinary glass sculptures—elaborate, life-sized figures that filled a series of rooms. As I wandered through Chihuly’s display, I found myself immersed in a brilliant, glowing jungle of glass shapes rising from the inky blackness of the gallery rooms. Plant-like protrusions created a veritable night jungle in one room, while in the next, a “Persian

Ceiling” of sculptures arranged like a stained-glass window to shine down upon the viewers diffused my head in multi-colored light.

Every corner and every angle of the exhibit was a feast for the eyes and my fingers were itching for my missing camera. I could have walked through the whole exhibit with my eye to the viewfinder.

It was then I realized that many people around were doing just that—experiencing the entire exhibit through the lens in their cameras. My jealousy of their constant clicking and flashing suddenly evaporated. There I was, walking

LEILA LEBRETON

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much for a picture of a picture?”

CARRYING ON

through this otherworldly display, soaking it all in, while almost everyone else was lugging around their camera and spending a third of their time with their eye pressed to a tiny screen.

I stopped feeling regret.

I was thankful that I had forgotten my camera. If I had had the device with me, I could never have resisted the urge to pull it out just once, or twice, or just every few minutes. Without this option, I was forced to be completely immersed in my experience. There was no lens between the art and me.

Because I knew there would be no way for me to see it again, my attention was focused like never before. My memory became my camera, and the impressions that I retained that day are stronger than many of my memories from a few weeks ago.

Even more than creating strong memories, however, the absence of a camera removed my ability to try and document everything I was seeing. Instead, I was forced to remain fully aware in each moment and experience it fully in real-time.

Buddhism is aware of this phenomenon. It warns against holding ephemeral

Coffee cultures representative of larger differences

BY ISABEL ECHARTE

A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

Having lived for an extended period of time in three major cities, and having visited many more, I’ve found that the best way to really understand a city and its people is through its coffee culture—that is, how, where, and why people sit down to have a cup of coffee.

In Washington, D.C., you drink Starbucks, Saxby’s, or Corp Coffee (assuming you’re a Georgetown student), until that special Sunday when you decide to trek 20 minutes into the city for a $4 cup of the smallest, most delicious slow-drip or French press coffee you’ve ever had from a trendy café. You’ll place your order and quickly scout out a single, coveted seat near an outlet (if you happen to be so lucky) so you can write your theology paper on your 13-inch Macbook Air. If you don’t believe me, check out Filter in DuPont on a Friday around 10 a.m.: all 12 or so seats will be filled by people

trying to do work on some form of tablet or laptop, and every few minutes, a student with a full backpack will walk in and either turn around right away or disappointedly get a coffee to go when she realizes no one will be leaving anytime soon. In D.C., coffee drinking, much like internships on the Hill or student groups at Georgetown, is competitive.

Buenos Aires could not be any more different. Whether it’s the fancy French café in the upscale part of town or a little cart outside your history classroom, all you need to say is: “te pido un café con leche por favor.” Coffee with milk, please. I quickly learned to never bother to look at the menu in cafés.

When ordering coffee in this city, you pretty much get the same thing no matter what you pick on the menu: relatively weak coffee with a ton of milk.

There’s no such thing as a $4 espresso-sized cup of slow drip Intelligentsia. The only thing

experience, rather than letting go and fully experiencing it in the present. This desire to capture certain moments is human: parents take thousands of baby pictures and the internet is flooded with pictures of sunsets because both are transient; both are beautiful, but in no time, both are gone.

It is natural to want to capture beautiful moments that disappear all too soon, but the abundance of platforms like Tumblr and Instagram adds fuel to the flames of our trigger-happy mentality. These kinds of platforms make it ridiculously easy to filter your life.

I do not mean to say that these sites are bad—I, myself, am a devout user—but it should be noted that they encourage the creation of a certain public façade. Of course, social media is also a wonderful tool for creative expression and inspiration, but I would caution you not to forget that it in no way provides an accurate depiction of real life. Pictures on Facebook could be said to be put through a kind of happiness filter: they usually show people surrounded by friends and having fun, not when they are sad and alone,

that changes between coffee options in Argentina is size and presentation. Coming to a South American country, I assumed I would be drinking Ecuador or

“

Here, it’s not the coffee itself that matters so much— people go to cafés and just sit for hours.

”

Costa Rica’s best every morning, but it turns out that a solid cup of coffee—one that doesn’t necessarily need a ton of sugar and milk—is rare. Most Argentines still use a very old method of preserving coffee beans: coating the beans in sugar—a process which removes the humidity and flavor—rather than roasting the beans.

Here, it’s not the coffee itself that matters so much—people go to cafés and just sit for hours. A

group of three other students and I sat and played a game of hearts for two and a half hours at a little outdoor café at the end of the San Telmo feria one Sunday. We stayed long after we had finished drinking our coffees. We weren’t competing for prime study spots and we didn’t bury ourselves in philosophy readings or problem sets the second we snagged a still-warm seat from the one person who decided to pack up their work and go. We enjoyed the company, the delicious café con leche, and the beautiful old Spanish building where the café was located. We weren’t in a rush, we weren’t studying, and no one was eyeing our seats, praying we would finish our drinks and leave as quickly as possible.

These differences between the coffee cultures of Buenos Aires and D.C. speak volumes about the cities and the ways in which people interact. In Buenos Aires, the people here value experiences and spending time with others

or going through a hard time.

Social media platforms are just collections of photos, after all. As is their nature, they show only a snapshot or moment in time.

I’m not trying to tell you to delete your Facebook (or Instagram or Tumblr) account. Nor am I telling you to start spouting off about how horrible your day has been.

All that I would like to point out is that we live in a Snapchat culture: one that glorifies the fast and the superficial, and filters out the hard and ugly parts of life.

It is precisely these dark spots—these ugly moments—that bring out the beauty of other moments by contrast. It is precisely this contrast that makes life so tragically, heartbreakingly beautiful. Don’t be afraid to embrace the “#nofilter” philosophy, or even the “#nophoto” philosophy. Live as deeply and authentically as possible, raw and aware in each moment.

sabrina kayser SFS ‘17 prefers canon over nikon

far more than work and careers (working 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. four days a week is essentially a full-time job here).

D.C., as any Georgetown student knows well, is a working city.

There, your job is essentially your identity, and just about everything revolves around work and rising up the ranks in your career.

In Buenos Aires, what’s important is the process (of your career and of drinking your coffee), while in D.C. it’s all about the end goal (of promotions and of how much work you got done while sitting in that café).

I’m not saying we should all collectively begin to work parttime and stop valuing careers as a measure of success—we did choose to go to Georgetown and live in such a city, after all. But we can at least try to make sure the lifestyle of cutthroat competition doesn’t seep into every aspect of the city. Perhaps delicious (and semi-snobby) $4 slow-drip coffee was meant to simply be enjoyed as its own experience and not be used as a means of getting work done. Perhaps we can resurrect coffee shops as places to take a moment out of the day, to relax and recharge, or to enjoy someone’s company—a small oasis in a competitive city.

CAMPUS CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGE Grab a bagel at Car Barn after class.

Head to Henle to get ready for the night.

Attend a Village A rooftop party.

End the night at Epi for late night snacks.