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DPS TO WATCH OVER STUDENT GUARDS PAGE 4

HELFRICH MANS UP, DOWNS MARQUETTE PAGE 6

ANDY WARHOL IN WALSH GALELRY PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w October 31, 2013 w Volume 49, Issue 12 w georgetownvoice.com

people have posed the same

question for

decades: Is Georgetown

catholic enough?

scandal! [by claire zeng]

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Voice Crossword “A Very Sunny Crossword” by Tyler Pierce

Across 1. Crude group?

5. Do as directed 9. Hotel employee 14. Adopted son of Claudius 15. Carbamide

16. Japanese cartoon art 17. Bit of physics 18. Kind of paper 19. , 20. First part of 38 Across show 23. Deli bread 24. Poison ___

25. Foot the bill 26. Like some humor 27. Masseur’s workplace, maybe 29. Orgasm sound 33. Bubbly drinks 36. “Once ___ a time...”

37. Muhammad ___ 38. Demonstrate value, engage physically, nurture dependence, neglect emotionally, inspire hope, separate entirely 42. Order between “ready” and “fire” 43. Inactive 44. Desert havens 45. Vulgarian 47. Costa del ___ 48. Wild blue yonder 49. Bard’s “before” 51. “___ Maria” 52. Snoop 55. Second part of 38 Across show 60. Like a hot brownie 61. False god 62. Banned orchard spray 63. Mr. T’s group 64. Pass gas 65. Peddle 66. Butter up?

67. Branch headquarters?

68. Internet sale location Down 1. TV studio sign 2. Unimportant 3. Jagged, like a leaf’s edge 4. Deep sleep 5. Money spent 6. Snap 7. Mysterious: Var. 8. Thanksgiving dish 9. Hoovers 10. Pseudonym 11. Describe 12. TV prize since 1949 13. Caffeine source 21. Inferior 22. Crosses over 26. Large amount of money 27. Knock over, like a glass of water 28. Sit for a photo 30. Quaker ___ 31. On the safe side, at sea

32. Steals 33. Knife wound 34. Buckeye State 35. Audition tape 36. Word processing command 39. Japanese-American 40. Bumpkin 41. Articulate 46. Echo 48. Slender 50. “Bike” and “Mike,” e.g.

51. Be gaga over 52. Lug 53. Baby grand, e.g.

54. Footbal field measurement 55. Itty bit 56. Denials 57. Pick-me-up 58. Month before Nisan 59. Asphalt 60. Chitchat

ARE YOU A LOGOPHILE? Share your love of words and help us write crosswords.

Email crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

VOICE the georgetown

Volume 49.12 October 31, 2013 Editor-in-Chief: Gavin Bade Managing Editor: Connor Jones Blog Editor: Julia Tanaka News Editor: Lucia He Sports Editor: Chris Almeida Feature Editor: Patricia Cipollitti Cover Editor: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor Leisure Editor: Heather Regen Voices Editor: Ana Smith Photo Editor: Andres Rengifo Design Editors: Lauren Ashley Panawa, Teddy Schaffer Projects Editors: Alec Graham, John Sapunor, Cannon Warren Puzzles Editor: Tyler Pierce Creative Directors: Madhuri Vairapandi, Amanda Dominguez Back Page Editor: Tiffany Lachonna Social Media Editor: Rio Djiwandana

Assistant Blog Editors: Minali Aggarwal, Isabel Echarte, Ryan Greene, Laura Kurek Assistant News Editors: Jeffrey Lin, Claire Zeng Assistant Sports Editors: Chris Castano, Brendan Crowley, Joe Pollicino Assistant Cover Editor: Neha Ghanshamdas Assistant Leisure Editors: Dayana Morales Gomez, Joshua Ward, Rianna Folds Assistant Photo Editors: Kathryn Easop, Joshua Raftis Assistant Design Editor: John Delgado-McCollum

Staff Writers:

Tim Barnicle, Sourabh Bhat,Max Borowitz, Emilia Brahm, Grace Brennan, Emmy Buck, Shalina Chatlani, Will Collins, Emlyn Crenshaw, Steven Criss, Lara Fishbane, Mary-Bailey Frank, Abby Greene, John Guzzetta, Kevin Huggard, Kenneth Lee, Julia- Lloyd-George, Claire McDaniel, Liana Mehring, Dan Paradis, Max Roberts, Abby Sherburne, Jackson Sinnenberg, Deborah Sparks, Manuela Tobias, Daniel Varghese, Chris Wadibia, Dzarif Wan, Joshua Ward, Annamarie White, Sam Wolter

Staff Photographers:

Elizabeth Coscia, Robin Go, Alan Liu, Ambika Ahuja, Gavin Meyers, Annie Wang, Muriel van de Bilt, Katherine Landau, Annie Wang

Staff Designers:

Karen Bu, Noah Buyon, Katarina Chen, Dylan Cutler, Corrina Di Pirro Mike Pacheco, Tom Pacheco, Sebastian Sotelo, Christina Libre, Pam Shu, Sophia Super,

Copy Chief: Sonia Okolie Copy Editors:

Eleanor Fanto, Grace Funsten, Caitlin Healey-Nash, Morgan Johansen, Sabrina Kayser, Samantha Meaden, Dana Suekoff, Isobel Taylor, Suzanne Trivette

Editorial Board Chair: Caitriona Pagni Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Emilia Brahm, Patricia Cipollitti, Lara Fishbane, Juan Daniel Gonçalves, Ryan Greene, Lucia He, Quaila Hugh, Connor Jones, Jeffery Lin, Ian Philbrick, Ryan Shymansky, Julia Tanaka

General Manager: Michael Grasso Managing Director: Nick Albanese The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

Mailing Address: Georgetown University The Georgetown Voice Box 571066 Washington, D.C. 20057

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

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

On this week’s cover: History of Catholic Identity Cover Photo: Leila Lebreton

the georgetown voice 3

VOYEURS IN THE RANKS

Camera use violates privacy of student guards

In an Oct. 25 email to all student guards, the Student Guard Office announced that it would “go over past footage whenever possible to check for failures, to follow policies properly to supplement current procedures already in place, such as rovers or officers walking around the desks”. Whereas in the past the office only reviewed security footage to resolve employee disputes and investigate complaints.

According to GUPD, which manages the Office of Student Guards, the new policy will function as “quality assurance checks.” In light of an article published in The Hoya on Oct. 8 that reported ineffective enforcement of department policies, these checks will undoubtedly be used by GUPD to enforce the laptop ban and uniform policies instituted at the beginning of the summer term this year.

It falls completely within GUPD’s rights as an employer to monitor employee performance. However, using security footage to implement the laptop ban is equivalent to GUPD spying on its employees. GUPD has shown a lack of respect for its student employees by implementing this policy. If problems concerning employee performance arise, rather than playing Big Brother, GUPD should address concerns on a case-by-case basis.

Constant surveillance wastes the Office of Student Guards’ time and energy.

Rovers and student supervisors responsible for monitoring guards already are in charge of enforcing department policies. Using security cameras to enforce policies undermines the role of these students and would not ensure a consistent enforcement of policies. As the email states, supervisors do not have the “time

or inclination” to be “constantly viewing footage, past and present.”

Apart from the new enforcement policy, the laptop ban itself shows a vast disregard for the lifestyle of student employees. No matter what department employs them, student employees are students first. Banning electronic devices such as laptops and electronic reading devices severely limits a guard’s ability to use the four hours of their shift productively. While student guards are paid to be vigilant while on duty, electronic devices do not distract students any more than printed books, which are still permitted.

GUPD should focus on other, more effective ways to ensure security in residence halls. GUPD would be well-served to show more trust in its student employees. Student guards do not need a babysitter to make sure they can perform their jobs competently.

HASHING OUT THE DETAILS

Georgetown should follow D.C.’s lead on weed

Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and ten members of the D.C. Council came forward to support marijuana decriminalization in the District on Oct. 23. A bill co-authored by Councilman Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) would reduce the penalty for possessing less than an ounce of marijuana from $1,000 and a possible six month sentence, to a fine as low as $25.

If the D.C. Council takes this step toward eliminating penalties for marijuana use, it will fall in line with public opinion. 75 percent of District residents favor decriminalization, and use of the drug is not harmful enough to warrant its prohibition. If Washington decriminalizes marijuana, Georgetown should follow suit and alter its student code of conduct to be in line with the District’s view of the drug.

Decriminalization is definitely progress, but it does not go far enough. The

proposed penalties are so low that the District would essentially recognize that there is nothing about the use of marijuana that makes it worthy of punishment. The District must make progress beyond a trivial $25 civil fee and move toward legalization.

Georgetown must also recognize that in the event that these proposed penalties pass, marijuana usage will have an entirely new legal status. Although marijuana will not yet be completely legal, the associated fines for possession are so small that they show how legally acceptable marijuana use has become. If Georgetown lessened Student Code of Conduct punishments for marijuana possession, it would reflect D.C.’s new outlook and do a service to its students, who are also residents of the District at large.

Marijuana decriminalization would additionally help protect D.C.’s mi-

nority population, who are disproportionately affected by harsh drug laws.

A report from the American Civil Liberties Union found that, despite nearequal usage rates, black Washingtonians are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana.

The unequal application of marijuana punishments to blacks demonstrates how harsh drug laws only create injustice in our legal system and harm minority communities. Decriminalization will help this problem, but only full legalization will erase it.

Decriminalization of marijuana is a bold, yet necessary step for D.C. While the District government seems to be aware of the need for loosened restrictions on marijuana, it now falls on Georgetown’s administration to be fair to its students and match the District’s openness to change its stance on drugs.

WELL-ENDOWED

Class of 2017 admissions process stays honest Last week, Georgetown released its annual Admissions Report for the Class of 2017.

Keeping with recent trends, the University boasts a remarkably low acceptance rate of 17 percent. In spite of its small endowment and pressure to switch to the Common Application, Georgetown continues to stand out from other universities with its need-blind admissions process and promotion of diversity in its undergraduate class .

Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that Washington and Lee University padded its admissions rate by including incomplete applications. 1,100 applications (or about 1 out of every 6) were left unfinished yet were still included in the applicant pool.

Such actions run the risk of becoming normal in the increasingly competitive admissions market. Just last week, George Washington University’s Admissions Department admitted to lying about having a need-blind admissions process.

Of course, even without resorting to outright dishonesty, other schools use the Common Application to increase the size of their applicant pool and decrease their percentage of admitted students. Georgetown Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon recently estimated that if Georgetown were to switch to the Common Application, the University would receive about 10,000 more applications every year. By resisting the temptation to deflate our acceptance rate for the sake of rankings, the Admissions Office manages to attract prospective students with an actual desire to attend school at Georgetown while maintaining its integrity.

Georgetown’s distinctive campus culture is the direct result of the Undergraduate Admissions Office’s dedication to maintaining fair and honest admissions practices that still create diversity among the student body. 8 percent of admitted students for the Class of 2017 were African-American, while 11 percent were Hispanic or Latino, 13 percent were Asian-American, and

6 percent were biracial. Half of the applicant pool came from multicultural backgrounds, and together the admitted students represent all 50 states and 69 different countries.

It is essential for Georgetown to maintain its need-blind admissions process, however, it should refocus its efforts to create socioeconomic diversity on campus. The University should continue the capital campaign to grow its endowment to $1.5 billion and then direct the bulk of these funds to financial aid.

This course of action would allow for more low-income applicants to attend Georgetown while not sacrificing the financial anonymity of need-blind applications.

Though the prospect of a deflated admissions rate is no doubt enticing to many Georgetown administrators, the policies of the Admissions Office are reassuring in the face of increasingly misleading and fraudulent college admissions practices in many schools across the country.

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news

october 31, 2013

Student Guard Office changes surveillance policy

by Kenneth Lee In an email sent out to student guards on Oct. 23, the Student Guard Office informed its employees that it will allow DPS to use footage from security cameras installed in the lobby of every residence hall to ensure that student guards are following employment procedures.

“We must go over past footage whenever possible to check for failures to follow policies properly to supplement current procedures already in place, such as rovers or officers walking around desks,” Matthew Brands, assistant manager for the student guard program, wrote in the email.

According to DPS Chief Jay Gruber, this policy acts as a reinforcer of previously established policies that evaluate the performance of student guards.

“Nothing prompted the change,” Gruber said. “I have been requesting my staff to perform [quality assurance] checks since the beginning of the semester. Using the cameras is just a tool in our tool kit.”

The cameras previously helped resolve security breaches and shift-related disputes, such as provisions of the 15 minutes break every guard is guaranteed to receive and situations where a student guard had left his or her post abandoned.

Some student guards support the policy, as it helps to clarify who is responsible for what when incidents happen. “I don’t see anything wrong with having video cameras,” said Zoe Disselkoen (SFS ’14), who holds the title of rover, which are

experienced students who supervise student guards. “If you’re not doing anything wrong and you’re following policy, you should have no problem [with] having a camera on you.”

Others, however, are unconvinced that using footage to uphold DPS policies will increase security. “The new [camera] policy is basically there to make sure that you wear your shirt and don’t have a laptop, and that has no effect on what kind of a guard you are at all,” student guard Leona Pfeiffer (COL ’14) said.

Since this past summer, student guards have not been allowed to use their laptops or electronic tablets while on duty. They have also been asked to wear a specific uniform that identifies them as DPS employees.

Disselkoen says that the cameras add pressure to rovers. “If [the footage] shows

that as the rover responsible for that shift I never stopped by to check [the guard], then … both myself and the student guard can be at fault,” she said.

In spite of the new policy, Gruber emphasized that his staff does not have time to constantly monitor student guards through cameras. “In-person checks are the most effective because we can take corrective action right then and there,” he said. “I don’t anticipate them being used very often…It’s something we have access to.”

DPS did not consult with student guards on the recent changes. “I don’t believe there would be a need to consult the rank and file on [the camera policy],” Gruber said. “It’s a management decision on how to make sure the guidelines and policies are being met.”

Security cameras will be used make sure student guards are complying with policies.

Marla abdilla

GU Law Center course sparks controversy

by Benjamin Jury Georgetown University Law Center ’s new practicum course set to begin next semester entitled “Regulatory Advocacy: Women and the Affordable Care Act” sparked controversy over the weekend after Catholic media sources such as the Cardinal Newman Society claimed the class would “have students working with a pro-abortion rights advocacy organization.”

According to the Law Center ’s website, the four-credit course will “provide students with substantive knowledge of the ACA and a real world understanding of consumer advocacy and the regulatory process.”

During the course, students will attend a two-hour seminar with 10 hours of supervised work per week at the National Women’s Law Center, where they will participate in strategy meetings and conference calls with partner organizations.

Kelli Garcia, adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown Law School and Senior Counsel for the NWLC, is at the center of the controversy surrounding the class. Her work, which the NWLC site describes as “focused on addressing religious restric-

tions on women’s access to reproductive health services,” angered conservative Catholic writers.

“We have long warned about Georgetown scandals that undermine the Church’s strong defense of innocent life. But here students are being required to work for a pro-abortion lobby, making America’s oldest Catholic university an active agent of the culture of death. If allowed to continue, this puts Georgetown in direct opposition to the Church,” Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, wrote in an article on the Cardinal Newman Society website.

“It goes without saying that the class should be canceled. But so much more would be expected at a faithfully Catholic college. How did the class get approved?

How did a professor with such credentials get hired? Why has there been no outcry within Georgetown? The rot goes very deep,” Reilly later said in an interview with the Voice.

Many students and faculty members disagreed with these claims. “Categorizing the National Women’s Law Center as a ‘pro-abortion’ lobby trivializes the rights of women and diminishes the other various work it has accomplished,” said

Abigail Grace (SFS ’16), vice president of H*yas for Choice. “Georgetown Law is not only well within their bounds to offer such a course, but should do it to ensure that their students are aware of the issues they will face in their future professional duties. Choosing not to offer these courses because of specific religious beliefs is reprehensible and does a disservice to the students that come to Georgetown for a comprehensive education.”

The practicum course will be optional and will cover issues including state maternity coverage mandates and whether women will be able to receive adequate coverage for treatment of eating disorders.

According to the course description, the class curriculum contains no assignments related to abortion.

“The Affordable Care Act is a major piece of legislation that has introduced significant change to regulatory landscape and is important for anyone interested in health law or administrative law,” Garcia said in an interview with the Voice. According to Garcia, by focusing on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and women’s health, the class offers students an in-depth study of this historic piece of health care legislation.

News Hit

Budget cuts to affect Alumni Lounge operating hours Starting Nov. 1, the Alumni Lounge will adjust its operating hours to three days a week for the remainder of the fall semester. This change is part of a transition to the spring semester, when the lounge will only be accessible to students through reservations.

“The decision to make this change rested with two important priorities— the interest to expand student meeting space on campus while reducing costs in a difficult budget climate.” wrote Ed Gilhool, director of residential education at the Office of Residential Living, in an email to the Voice.

Students who work at the Alumni Lounge will be dismissed. “We recognize this adversely impacts the outstanding and committed staff of the Alumni Lounge, and as such, we have extended invitations for other employment opportunities,” said Gilhool in reaction to student concerns over employment.

However, users and employees of the lounge are concerned that the lounge will lose its appeal as a gathering space after the change. “Shifting the space to being ‘reservation only’ stops students who decide on the fly to go and relax in the student lounge and I think that is a real shame,” said Michael Lindsay-Bayley (MSB ’14), a student employee at Alumni Lounge.

—Shalina Chatlani

GU tables satellite dorm option

The University has officially taken the satellite dorm off the table in favor of Ryan and Mulledy halls as student housing options, administrators confirmed Monday. This decision comes on the heels of a student referendum that rejected the satellite dorm option.

GUSA President Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) and Vice President Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14) told the Voice on Sept. 8 that the University was considering opening Georgetown housing on an off-campus site.

Zach Singer (SFS ’15), Tisa’s chief of staff, and Rosie Lauricella (MSB ‘14), director of professional development for The Corp, led a campaign to create a student referendum against this decision.

Despite the administration’s negative reaction to the referendum, the campaign went forward. “GUSA took risks, it was bold,” Tisa said. “Even among my staff, there was contention as to whether this was a good idea. It wasn’t easy.”

The One Campus, One Georgetown campaign was successful. 93 percent of the 2966 students who participated voted against the satellite dorm option. The University now acknowledges the role that student action played in the decision.

“The only way this works is if students stay engaged,” Lauralyn Lee, associate vice president of community engagement and strategic initiatives, said. “Our goal is to be as transparent as possible.”

—Julia Tanaka

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 5

On-the-record with Missy Foy

by Deborah Saparks The Voice sat down Melissa Foy (COL ‘03), the program director of the Georgetown Scholarship Program, to talk about the progress of the growing program.

I understand that you graduated from the College in 2003. What made you want to come back here and work for GSP? I was working in D.C. and I found that the work that I was doing was not rewarding personally.

I actually looked into a job in admissions because I thought, “I love Georgetown.” It’s easy for me to talk about how great Georgetown is and it would be great to travel and talk to people about the University.

So when I came here to interview for the admissions position, I had face time with the dean of admissions, and of all the things we talked about he said that they were looking to launch a new thing called the Georgetown Scholarship Program.

How do you think GSP is helping incorporate a more socio-economically and ethnically diverse population into the University?

GSP brings 150 students to Georgetown each year that otherwise might not have been able to afford it. This makes a dent in di-

versifying our campus socio-economically, racially, even geographically because our students are from all over the country. When you add this scholarship on top of it, the yield skyrockets.

In this day and age when you look at the whole cost of attendance, unless we have competitive scholarships, we will only cater to a certain part of the population and I think that anybody who truly loves Georgetown would understand that that’s not the best thing for the University.

Quite frankly, it’s selfish—it’s better for the University to get these students than to lose them to other schools.

What do you consider the most important development in GSP this academic year?

The biggest thing in the GSP world this year is the fact that we have more students than ever before. Even last year we were at 530, this year we’re at 640. These are the biggest numbers we’ve ever had in the program. And also I think we’re understanding which programs work and help students the best, and also maximizing the resources we have—better streamlining and making the program more efficient.

It’s hard to argue with results

GUSA gets a bad rap for its grandiose rhetoric and its chronic ineffectiveness. “If GUSA passes a bill and no one is around to care, does it still not matter?” Vox Populi asked this summer.

But with the University’s nixing of the satellite residence proposal, One Georgetown, One Campus has cause to celebrate, and closely-aligned GUSA can justifiably declare victory. Perhaps we don’t give our favorite student lobbying body enough credit. While endlessly altering bylaws and passing nonbinding resolutions does little to advance student interests, GUSA still wields sizeable influence when it chooses to start campaigns, stage protests, and circulate petitions. Even though the One Georgetown campaign didn’t involve protests, direct action is the most effective way for students to exert their leverage.

Entering their term, GUSA Executives Nate Tisa and Adam Ramadan had a number of priorities, all of which couldn’t be accom-

plished in one year. They told the Voice in their editorial board interview that reforming sexual assault policy and expanding campus free speech zones were the two issues they would not want to leave GUSA without addressing. Codifying alcohol amnesty in the student code of conduct was a good first step, and I hope to see more progress on that issue to come. Reforming the speech and expression policy could still happen, but, at this point, it seems unlikely.

GUSA executives didn’t know what issues would crop up during their term, and they didn’t know what opportunities would present themselves. Priorities have to change. The pilot open container policy and the end of the keg limit both benefitted student life but were both unforeseeable.

In the same way, nobody could have known that the University was strongly considering establishing a satellite residence. As I’ve written before, administrators till that point

Dick Durbin speaks on immigration

AMBIKA AHUJA

by Deborah Sparks The Lecture Fund hosted Senator Dick Durbin (SFS’66, JD’69), the assistant majority leader of the U.S. Senate, at an event titled “U.S. Immigration Reform 360: ‘Immigration Reform: Where we go from here’” on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

Durbin discussed his involvement in comprehensive immigration reform. He first introduced the DREAM act in 2001 and has been pushing for its enactment ever since.

“There may be some dreamers in here, and I just want to let them know

had insisted that they were wholly focused on improving student life on campus, not anywhere else.

When the satellite campus option kept coming up in discussions with administrators, Tisa/Ramadan ultimately had two choices: either start a student movement against the satellite campus or hope that GUSA could exert enough leverage in closed-door meetings to kill the proposal quietly.

Saxa Politica

by Connor Jones

A bi-weekly column about campus news and politics Some members of the Tisa/ Ramadan cabinet (and even some of Tisa’s former rivals, he said) disagreed with their approach. They worried that revealing information learned in private meetings would breach administrators’ trust. Additionally, if the referendum passed and the University ignored it and went ahead in founding a satellite residence, it would erode the credibility of both GUSA

that I’m never giving up on them and never giving up on the DREAM Act,” Durbin said during his speech.

In spite of Durbin’s optimistic view on the future immigration reform, a group from Dream Activist, an undocumented student action and resource network, interrupted the Senator at the conclusion of the Question and answer session.

“We’ve been trying to contact Durbin for weeks to gain his support. … We were in his office just this morning and he ignored [us].

He’s one of the most powerful sen-

and, with it, the voice of students at large.

At the same time, if Tisa didn’t come forward with the news of a satellite campus option, then administrators would have been able to hold off on making an announcement until there were only a handful of viable options left. Coming forward with the information involved a calculated risk, which the Tisa/Ramadan administration navigated tactfully.

They were aided by the administrations bumbling response, complete with the denial that a distant dorm would constitute a satellite campus and the infamous Todd Olson quote, “Even if most students don’t like the option, to be crass about it, most students don’t need to live there.”

Since then, administrators have transitioned from effectively saying “We don’t care about the results of the student referendum” to insisting “We’ve always deeply valued student input.” I’m not so sure how compelling the results of the referendum were. Obviously, students were going to vote no. Most students didn’t like the proposal, and

ators in the U.S. Congress,” said Mohammad Abdollahi, one of the members of Dream Activist.

A police officer tried to remove the activists from Gaston Hall until the Senator decided to respond to their angry accusations. “[The 30 individuals] are now going to have to go through the asylum process. There are real standards they have to abide by—they are not legal dreamers and they have chosen a different approach to get into the system,” Durbin said in response to the activists.

no one mounted a campaign to vote in favor of the proposal. It at least helped symbolically.

What really put pressure on University administrators was the One Georgetown campaign, and that movement wouldn’t have been possible without Nate Tisa dropping his media bomb. I can’t say how things would have turned out if the campaign wasn’t started, but it’s hard to argue with results.

This entire case also shows how reluctant the administrators are to transparently seek student input on major decisions. Fall 2015 classes start in 21 months. A plan has to be decided on soon. Major decisions had to be made, yet the University’s signature example of student engagement was various small groups of students consulted in closed-door meetings. Tisa/Ramadan promised transparency as well, and it seems the only way they could deliver it was by forcing the school’s hand.

Dress up as Nate & Adam for Halloween with Connor at cjones@georgetownvoice.com.

sports

6 the georgetown voice

october 31, 2013

Towering Ted maintains perfect defensive record

by Chris Castano Few teams or players can boast of perfection, especially in the world of soccer. In recent memory, the only two notable examples of a season without a single loss are the 2004 Arsenal invincibles and Antonio Conte’s breakout season with Juventus in 2012. However, neither of these two teams can claim to have never lost a game, unlike one of the Hilltop’s very own soccer stars.

As senior defender Ted Helfrich powered a header into the net this past Saturday against the Marquette Golden Eagles (94-2, 5-1-1 Big East), he not only ensured the Hoyas (12-3-1, 5-1-1 Big East) would keep their momentum heading into the end of their season, but also kept his one hundred percent win record in tact.

“I don’t think we’ve lost with Ted Helfrich in the game,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “Since his junior year, whenever he’s been in, we haven’t lost. He knows what he can do and he knows what his limitations are and that’s more than half the battle for any player.”

Knowing his limitations and mental strength are two of Helfrich’s strong points according to Wiese, both of which are apparent in his composed manner on the field.

“His mental fortitude to be ready and to be ready and be positive through a lot of stuff this season is what has allowed him to do such a good job for us the last few games. He’s stepped in and looked every bit the senior.”

While Helfrich’s contributions to the Hoyas fortunes this season and in those past haven’t gone unnoticed at the top of

the chain of command, Helfrich himself has some problems admitting his record is all up to his own brilliance.

“Honestly it’s down to the guys as to why I’m doing so well and slotting back in so easily.

It’s nice to just get out my senior year and be able to contribute. I contributed a little last year and that was a great season. I’m just happy to be a part of the team, get some minutes, and hopefully we’ll keep winning along the way,” Helfrich said.

While the towering defender might be a little coy on his personal attributes, his impact since stepping in for freshman defender Joshua Yaro due to a serious arm injury has been huge.

Helfrich has partnered well with sophomore mainstay Cole Seiler at the center of defense and has been involved in some key late season wins over teams like Butler, DePaul, and most recently against Marquette.

The game is Wisconsin started out well for the Hoyas as they were awarded three corner kicks early on, but couldn’t turn any of them into a goal. Marquette responded well forcing junior keeper Tomas Gomez into a pair of saves. The first half remained a back and forth contest as neither side could come up with a moment of magic to break the deadlock. The second half was the same story as Goergetown and Marquette exchanged blows to no avail. Unfortunately for both teams, a cold night in Wisconsin went on even longer as the game went into overtime.

Thankfully, sixth time was the charm as senior forward Steve Neumann launched yet another corner into the box. This time, instead of being directed behind the goal, or cleared out, Helfrich outjumped his marker

JOSH RAFTIS

Men’s soccer defeated Marquette in double overtime this past weekend.

to fire past the Marquette keeper, scoring his first Georgetown goal, and handing Hoyas the win in what was arguably their most difficult game of the season.

“It was not easy,” Wiese said.

“I thought we made it pretty uncomfortable for them and did what we set out to do. We had the lionshare of the chances in the first half. … The game opened up in the second half.

Marquette is a top ten team, and to go into their ground and get the result was a really positive statement for us.”

The win brings Georgetown one step closer to winning the league and further proves their credentials for a possible title challenge in the Big East tournament. Bar a game against Villanova, their trip to New York this Saturday to play the Red Storm of St. John’s (8-6-2, 1-4-2 Big East) will be the last big test the Blue and Gray face before the Big East tournament. While their record on paper may not look so impressive, Wiese is sure the Red Storm’s confer-

ence struggles come down to a simple run of bad luck.

“Their record is not the typical St. John’s record. If you look at how they’ve done out of conference, they’ve done exceptionally well. They’ve beaten Akron and some other really top end teams, and then the Big East has killed then. If you watch a lot of the games you’ve been in, they’ve been horribly unlucky.”

After their game against St. John’s the Hoyas will most likely return home for some part of postseason play.

the sports sermon “Michael Carter-Williams had 9 steals.”- Heat-Sixers box score

by Chris Almeida Since the “Big Three” were assembled three seasons ago, the consensus has been that Miami is the best team in the NBA. In three years, the team has made three trips to the Finals and has won the last two. Many seem to be adamant that this dominance is going to continue for years to come, but, forever the skeptic, I’m not so sure.

In 2011, the Heat, the second seed in the Eastern Conference behind Derrick Rose’s Bulls, fell short in the Finals, losing 2-4 to the Fighting Mark Cubans. But, more than the Heat’s loss, LeBron James was a non-factor during the series, turning up the volume on the large mob of LeBron-haters who argued that The King couldn’t come through in the clutch or win a ring. But as much as I love the image of Chris Bosh crying on the court, these days are behind us.

In 2012, Miami made another run to the Finals, then facing the young, but supremely talented, Oklahoma City Thunder. Miami managed to win the series 4-1. LeBron finally got the monkey off his back and Miami had ascended to their assumed place atop the NBA. One year later, Miami finished the regular season with a league best 66-16 record. Included in this spectacular season was a 27-game win streak, the second-longest in the history of the NBA. But then, Miami ran into Indiana. Led by breakout star Paul George and former Hoya Roy Hibbert, the Pacers pushed the Heat to their limit, narrowly losing a 4-3 series that could easily have swung the other way. In the Finals, the Heat played an inspired San Antonio team that once again pushed the series

to seven games. In fact, in Game 6, with the Spurs leading the series 3-2 and winning the game by a sizeable margin, the staff at American Airlines Arena started to rope off the court and bring out the Finals trophy for the victory celebration. With Miami down by three points and the clock winding down, LeBron pulled up for a game-tying shot, and missed badly.

But the ball went to Ray Allen, who took a desperation shot at the buzzer, and tied the game. Miami went on to win the game in overtime, and won a tight Game 7 to claim their second consecutive title.

Now, many assume a three-peat is a foregone conclusion. However, there are many reasons to believe this will not be the case.

First, let’s look at history. Threepeats are not common. Only four NBA teams have managed to win three or more titles in a row: George Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers, Bill Russell’s Celtics, who won eight straight titles, though in a very different time, Michael Jordan’s Bulls, who three-peated twice in the nineties, and Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers. A feat that has only been accomplished by four sets of players since 1946 is no small undertaking. These teams were not only generationally exceptional, but notable in historical scope.

Second, Miami has been lucky so far. Most other contenders have been hit with bad luck or the crippling forces of time. The Celtics, though not the contenders they once were, have managed to give the Heat trouble in recent years, but were brought down this season by an injury to Rajon Rondo that will keep him out of the game for over a year. The Bulls, who managed to win a game against Miami in the playoffs, had to play the entire

season without former MVP, and undisputed team leader, Derrick Rose.

Chicago also lost key contributor Luol Deng for the last seven games of the playoffs. Oklahoma City saw Russell Westbrook go down in the first round of the playoffs, and will be without him for the first two months of the upcoming season. Though Dwyane Wade is crumbling before our eyes, he has never suffered a sustained injury.

LeBron has never seen serious injury problems during his time in Miami.

It’s only a matter of time until a major player in Miami tears an ACL, or Shane Battier and Ray Allen get too old to be productive.

Third, younger, deeper teams are ready for Miami this year. Most notably, Indiana and Chicago stand in the way of a third title. While the Heat grow a year older (and will probably see a decrease in production from all players not named LeBron), the Pacers will have another year of experience under their belt this year and will see the return of All-Star Danny Granger. Though Miami signed center Greg Oden in the offseason to alleviate its problems in the post, Oden, who has not played an NBA game in over three years, will not likely be an answer for an emerging Hibbert.

Most prominently, Paul George, who started on his path to superstardom last year, is expected to become one of the NBA’s premier offensive weapons. Chicago will have Rose and Deng back at 100 percent. Many forget that before Rose missed the 2012-2013 season, the Bulls finished as the first seed in both the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons.

I know Miami is good, but I think it’s only a matter of time until “Not 5, not 6, not 7” becomes hilarious again.

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Football loses to Colagte, extends losing streak to six

by Joe Pollicino On a cool fall afternoon at Multi-Sport Field, the Georgetown football team (1-7, 0-3 Patriot League) extended its losing streak to six games as it fell to Colgate (3-5, 2-0 Patriot League) this past Saturday 34-14.

“You just got to keep fighting. Players got to keep playing, coaches got to keep coaching. We did some positive things today.

We were in the game there in the third quarter,” Head Coach Kevin Kelly said. “We had opportunities to maybe win the ballgame and we didn’t. We had opportunities on offense and on defense.

We couldn’t slow them down.

We just got to keep playing.”

The Raiders, who have defeated the Hoyas in 11 of their 12 meetings ever, dominated the Hoyas with their rushing attack, amassing 309 yards on the ground, and their run defense, which held the Hoyas to only 54 rushing yards. Colgate senior quarterback Gavin McCartney completed 20 of 28 passes for 248 yards with three touchdown passes and an interception, and had 12 carries for 109 yards and a rushing touchdown.

“That’s why Gavin McCartney is the Preseason Patriot League Offensive Player of

SOPHIA KLEYMAN

Football will look to snap their six game losing streak against Lafayette.

Melo’s missed opportunity

In 2011, when Denver Nuggets superstar forward Carmelo Anthony demanded a trade to the middling New York Knicks in the early months of the season, New Yorkers rejoiced. Despite Anthony’s display of immaturity toward the Nuggets, it appeared that the stage was set for a huge turnaround, led by the imminent peak of Anthony’s superstardom in the Big Apple.

Today, just under three years since Carmelo first donned a Knicks uniform, Knicks fans are starting to brace for a predictably selfish departure. Anthony has made it clear that he will opt of out his contract at the end of the season, choosing to test the free agency waters instead.

“I want to be a free agent,” Anthony told ESPN,“I think everybody in the NBA dreams to be a free agent at least one time in their career. … It’s like if I’m in the gym and I have all the coaches, GMs come into the gym and just evaluate everything I do. So yes, I want that experience.”

As disappointing as this news was to hear just weeks before the start of a new season, especially one in which the New York Knicks have arguably improved as a team since last year ’s second round playoff exit, any true Knicks fan is not surprised by this revelation. This Carmelo Anthony is the player fans have simply started to get used to.

Since entering the league as the third pick in the famous 2003 NBA Draft that has since produced eight different NBA AllStars, including LeBron James, Anthony was naturally going to be held to higher standards than most other players. As a rookie, he joined a Nuggets team that had won just 17 games the year prior, and was was expected to bring the franchise back to relevance and then, eventually, to uncharted levels of greatness.

For seven and a half years, Anthony did everything he could to turn this hope into a reality, posting Hall-of-Fame level numbers, especially on the offensive end of the floor. However, the Nuggets

the Year,” Kelly said. “He does a great job, they have a good scheme. He’s been hurt but he was a lot healthier this week. He did a great job.”

The Hoyas failed to overcome an overwhelming 27-7 halftime deficit, their fifth straight game where their opponent had a halftime lead of 14 points or more.

These first half failings have been especially present the past three games as the Hoyas have been outscored 93-10 in the first half, a disturbing trend that has Kelly and the team searching for a remedy.

While many might jump to offer Kelly a quick fix or a gameplan of some sort, the head coach is adamant that all he and his team can do is to continue to put the effort in and hope the results start going their way.

“I wish I had the answer right now, I don’t,” Kelly said. “We just got to keep finding ways in practice to stir it up so we do come out quicker. It’s frustrating. Every week we talk about how we can jumpstart this thing, but we just need to keep struggled to make any waves in the playoffs, suffering six firstround exits in Anthony’s first seven seasons. Despite being responsible for a giant portion of the team’s success, Anthony, received the majority of the blame.

He had to do more. He had to do better.

For some players, this challenge is desirable—a chance to bring a team to glory, building something out of nothing until the job is complete. But not for Carmelo Anthony.

All The Way

by Brendan Crowley A bi-weekly column about sports

With his first potential free-agency period set for the end of his seventh season in Denver, Anthony demanded a trade just a few months into the new campaign, refusing to wait until the end of the year when the Knicks would have cleared cap room and realistically signed him anyway. Carmelo’s happiness came first and, following a trade that sent a large portion of the Knicks’

plug-ging away. There’s nothing else you can do.”

Despite the team’s woes, the Georgetown passing attack showed improvement. Sophomore quarterback Kyle Nolan played solidly for the Hoyas in his first home start of the season.

Nolan completed 23 of 46 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing. Senior wide receiver Zack Wilke had eight catches for 117 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown pass from Nolan early in the first quarter.

“He did some real good things,” said Kelly about Nolan’s play. “He threw the ball extremely well. … He gave us a chance in the ballgame.”

Georgetown will look to break their losing streak against Lafayette (2-5, 2-0 Patriot League) on Senior Day this Saturday at Multi-Sport Field. The Leopards will be out for revenge; the Hoyas have beaten them three consecutive seasons dating back to 2009. Although the opportunity for a winning season young assets to the Nuggets, Anthony, along with fellow star Amar ’e Stoudemire, prepared for a long future with the Knicks. Or so we thought.

In his first half-season with the team, Anthony helped spark the Knicks to a playoff berth, where they were promptly swept by an admittedly better Boston Celtics team. In next year ’s playoffs, the Knicks unluckily drew a Miami Heat team that rolled over them in the first round of the playoffs.

Last season, the Knicks assembled their best team in the Carmelo-era, managed to win a playoff series, before being sent home by the upstart Indiana Pacers.

Three playoff appearances, three early exits, and Carmelo finds himself in 2013 with a few looming decisions. He will play out this season and realistically be his dominant self on the court, but it has also become clear that Anthony is preparing the fan base for his possible departure.

He may stay, but if he does not, the shocking suddenness of the Denver situation will

has been lost and their Patriot League title hopes are extremely slim, Kelly and his team will look to take advantage of the season’s remaining three games.

“It’s the last game for our seniors. In college football you only get so many opportunities.

We’ve got three left. You got to make the most of your opportunities because you never know if you might not have that opportunity. There’s a lot to play for.”

Nolan and his teammates won’t let their prior disappointments this year interrupt their preparation for this Saturday’s game, when they’ll look to break their losing streak. No one is more aware of their record than the team itself.

“We’re obviously disappointed with our record and everything,” Nolan said.

“We’re trying to stay positive throughout the week to get prepared for the next game.

We’re trying not to look back as much and looking forward to every game. We got to get back to winning.” not be repeated. Carmelo is turning 30 in May and sees the window of his prime beginning to close, and with the Knicks financially unable to properly surround him with assets, ironically because of the disastrous 2010 trade he forced, he has started to prep the league for his availability.

But what Carmelo must realize is that he is the problem.

His “me-first” attitude and his inability to understand the long-term effects of his statements and decisions may leave him championship-less when his career ends. And the scary thing is, Carmelo might not care. Until he starts seeking the dream of every true superstar, the dream of winning an NBA title, instead of the dream of testing free-agency and leaving reeling franchises in his wake, Carmelo Anthony’s career will be remembered as nothing but a missed opportunity.

Complain about Melo with Brendan at bcrowley@georgetownvoice.com

feature

8 the georgetown voice

october 31, 2013

THE CASE FOR CATHOLICISM Alumnus William Blatty has filed a canon suit against Georgetown, claiming that our Catholic identity is no longer valid. Claire Zeng reports on the legitimacy of his criticism.

On Oct. 4, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. submitted a canon law petition organized by William Peter Blatty (COL ’50) asking the Church to require that Georgetown abide

by Pope John Paul II’s directives for Catholic universities, Ex corde Ecclesiae, or else disallow Georgetown from designating itself as Catholic.

Though the petition is a request to the Church and does not require signatures, according to a group that Blatty founded in support of the petition, the Father King Society, over 2,000 Catholics, including members of the Georgetown community, have signed petition mandates and statements in support of its claims.

In response to the 200-page petition, which documents “23 years of scandals and dissidence” according to Manuel Miranda (SFS ’82), legal counsel to Blatty, the University maintains that it has stayed loyal to its Catholic identity.

“If you take away Catholic and Jesuit from Georgetown, we cease to be the university that we have been over 225 years, and that is a university committed to the integration of learning because we’re a university, faith because we’re a Catholic university, and service because we’re a Jesuit university,” said Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. (COL ’88), vice president for mission and ministry.

Since its founding in 1789, Georgetown has undergone a transformation from small Catholic academy to global research university. Despite its rich history and tradition, Georgetown has struggled with the changes imposed on it through time—in fact, Blatty’s petition fits into nearly half a century of soul-searching by the University in response to contemporary challenges to Georgetown’s purported Catholic identity.

CHANGING WITH THE TIMES Fr. Gerard Campbell, S.J., the 44th president of Georgetown, is quoted in R. Emmett Curran’s History of Georgetown as saying, “Tradition, however glorious, is useless, even detrimental, if it serves as an anchor; it is of inestimable value as a rudder. ... If we are heirs of the past, we are no less the trustees and brokers of the future.”

Campbell, who passed away in August 2012, became president of Georgetown in December 1964. During his tenure, he was responsible for spearheading what many historians identify as a major change in the way Georgetown perceived itself and its role as a University—the transition in Georgetown’s governance from an internal all-Jesuit board to an external board of directors including laypeople unaffiliated with the Church. This new external board had ultimate authority in institutional operations, including in the appointment of the University’s president. As a result, Georgetown became an autonomous institution independent of any external authority, including the Church.

This break was influenced by the groundbreaking Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, which occurred between 1962 and 1965.

“Vatican II affected the structure of Catholic universities by its implicit recognition of the autonomy of the intellectual enterprise that is at the heart of higher education,” Curran wrote in an email to the Voice. “That recognition indirectly involved a rejection of the notion that religious individuals (bishops) or communities (religious orders such as the Society of Jesus) ‘owned’ the institutions of higher education that they legally governed through boards.”

However, Roman authorities as well as select campus Jesuits were displeased. In response, the provincial superior of Maryland Jesuits at the time, Fr. Edward Sponga, S.J., defended Georgetown by contending that “the Society of Jesus should permit its name to be identified with an institution which adheres to the Jesuit Education Association, and in which it is able to place responsible Jesuits … since a group of such responsible men can exercise a truly Jesuit apostolic influence within the institution.”

The Vatican approved Georgetown’s external board in 1966 and the addition of laymen the following year. By 1970, the majority of board members were non-Jesuits.

In altering its governance structure, Georgetown consciously recognized that, as a University, it was experiencing and reacting to a time of enormous change. In 1968, the University’s board of directors charged a working group with the task of defining the distinctive character of Georgetown’s education. The resulting 1969 report identified six characteristics of University identity, including that Georgetown was “Catholic but ecumenical in thrust,” as well as “Jesuit in tradition.” Specifically, the latter included a “critical core” of Jesuits involved in the educational, administrative, and pastoral aspects of University activities.

Campbell’s vision was complemented by that of Fr. Timothy Healy, S.J., Georgetown’s 46th president from 1976 to 1989. According to Curran’s History, Healy believed a Catholic university like Georgetown needed a critical mass of Christian and Jesuit faculty in order to preserve Catholic intellectual tradition in teaching.

Nevertheless, he maintained a strong conviction that, at its core, the University was and needed to remain secular and autonomous in nature.

EXTERNAL CHANGES Although Healy was a proponent of free dialogue, his conception of what that meant and what its implications were for Georgetown’s Catholic identity were challenged when the University faced a lawsuit concerning its refusal to grant gay-rights groups official recog-

Catholic students protest the invitation of Kathleen Sebelius to speak at graduation ceremonies.

nition or access to benefits. In 1980, the Gay Rights Coalition of Georgetown University Law Center and the main campus group Gay People of Georgetown University sued the University on the basis of the District’s Human Rights Act of 1977, which prohibits an educational institution from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

After a seven-year legal battle, the District Appeals Court ruled that Georgetown did not have to recognize the groups but had to give them equal benefits and access to facilities.

Unhappy with the ruling, Georgetown appealed to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. Healy accepted the ruling, although some commentators speculated that he did not appeal further out of fear of risking $127 million in tax-exempt construction bonds from the District. Georgetown would then grant access to benefits for its gay-rights student groups, a decision that had repercussions among Catholics opposed to homosexuality on the basis of Church doctrine.

Two years later, in 1989, President Healy was to be succeeded by Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J. The question of Catholic identity, so recently stirred up by the lawsuit, did not take long to surface once again—this time, around access to benefits for a pro-choice student group.

In the fall of 1990, during the second year of O’Donovan’s administration, the newly-formed undergraduate student organization GU Choice applied for University recognition and benefits. Cognizant that some of the goals of the group ran counter to Catholic doctrine, then-Dean of Students John DeGioia worked with GU Choice to develop a constitution that addressed such

LUCIA HE

concerns. DeGioia approved the group in February 1991.

“The students of GU Choice recognize that they will be conducting their activities in an institutional context in which the matter of abortion is settled. … There can be no cooperation of the club in the advocacy and practice of abortion,” DeGioia wrote in a letter to the Georgetown University community at the time. In spite of this restriction, Georgetown became the first Catholic university in the nation to approve a pro-choice group.

The outrage from some in the Georgetown community was immediate. In the fall of 1991, under the name of the Georgetown Ignatian Society, over 1,500 Georgetown alumni, professors, and students filed a canon law petition asking Cardinal Hickey, then-Archbishop of Washington, to require Georgetown to comply with Catholic teachings or else be stripped of its Catholic identity.

This petition was filed in light of the recently-released Ex corde Ecclesiae, “From the heart of the Church,” an apostolic constitution in which Pope John Paul II outlined the defining characteristics of Catholic universities.

The guidelines would take ten years to apply to American universities but provided those opposed to GU Choice a framework to challenge DeGioia’s decision nevertheless.

“The present active support of GU Choice, if continued, will have the corrosive effect of suggesting that the moral character of abortion is a debatable issue even on the hilltops of the Church,” the petition stated. “Georgetown’s example, left to fester, will make impotent and ineffectual the Holy Father’s recent promulgation of Ex corde Ecclesiae.”

georgetownvoice.com Although Cardinal Hickey criticized Georgetown for funding a group which, according to him, was inconsistent with the aims of a Catholic institution, in December 1991 he stated that only the Pope had the authority to grant or deny Georgetown Catholic status.

In early April 1992, the Ignatian Society sent the petition directly to Pope John Paul II. This submission came on the heels of O’Donovan’s visit to Rome in March of the same year. Though the extent to which the Vatican pressured the University’s administration remains unclear, on April 24, O’Donovan and DeGioia announced that Georgetown would no longer financially support GU Choice. According to DeGioia’s message to the community, “separating speech from advocacy proved unmanageable.”

While supporters of the petition saw this as a clear victory, the issues brought up by the GU Choice episode inspired a second working group on Catholic identity in the early 90’s. The findings of the group stressed the importance of maintaining a strong Jesuit presence, both physical and intellectual. Two years later, acknowledging this essential aspect of Georgetown identity but aware that conforming to its Jesuit heritage did not require Jesuit leadership, the University board of directors elected John DeGioia to succeed O’Donovan as Georgetown’s first-ever non-Jesuit president.

feature on our campus should not be viewed as an endorsement of her views,” DeGioia wrote in a statement addressed to the University community. “We are a university, committed to the free exchange of ideas.”

In light of Sebelius’s invitation and other grievances, including the founding of the LGBTQ Resource Center in 2008 and the covering of the IHS symbol in Gaston Hall for President Barack Obama’s address in May 2012, in May of this year Blatty announced that the Father King Society had submitted a petition to Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. The petition, which, according to Miranda had been in the works since 2010, asked the Church to require Georgetown to comply with Ex corde

the georgetown voice 9

ology, which it views to be inconsistent with the Church’s teachings. Liberation theology, a school of Catholic thought that stresses the Church’s duty to justice and the poor, has been criticized and dismissed by the Vatican as Marxist and out of step with true Catholic doctrine.

Blatty has decided not to release the formal petition to the public, claiming that canon law process is traditionally kept under wraps. According to Miranda, in the petition “there are witness statements and evidence that is highly confidential. For example, a letter from family of a young man who was seduced by a gay Jesuit.”

Miranda maintains that he does not believe that open dialogue is equivalent to ad-

CATHOLIC IDENTITY TODAY In May of last year, Georgetown announced that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius would deliver a keynote address at the Public Policy Institute’s Tropaia awards ceremony. The decision evoked outrage from Catholics upset with Georgetown for inviting a wellknown pro-choice advocate.

A few days before Sebelius was scheduled to speak, DeGioia defended Georgetown’s decision. “The Secretary’s presence

William Blatty (COL ‘50) receiving an apostolic blessing from Pope John Paul II.

Ecclesiae or lose its Catholic status.

Though Cardinal Wuerl has not expressed his support or rejection of the petition, on Oct. 4, the petition reached Rome. To date, the Vatican has not issued a response.

On the website of the Father King Society, Blatty publicly charges the University with multiple instances of non-compliance with Catholic guidelines. The primary charge is that Georgetown has not complied with Ex corde Ecclesiae, which mandates that in Catholic institutions of higher learning, Catholic teachers should constitute a majority and that these educators should respect Catholic doctrines and morals in their teaching and research. The constitution also asserts that “freedom in research and teaching is recognized and respected … so long as the rights of the individual and of the community are preserved within the confines of the truth and the common good.”

In his argument for pushing Georgetown to be true to its Catholic identity, Blatty cites the recent decree ordered by Pope Benedict XVI in July of last year to strip the Pontifical University of Peru of its right to call itself “pontifical” or “Catholic” since it GEORGETOWN LIBRARY ARCHIVES Rev. Leo J. O’Donovan, University president from 1989-2001 long allowed the teaching of liberation the-

COURTESY OF MANUEL MIRANDA

vocating moral relativism, which the petition accuses Georgetown of doing. “GU should encourage the marketplace of ideas, while not being a bargain basement,” Miranda wrote in an email to the Voice. “Moral relativism means that there are no absolute truths, and nothing has an intrinsic moral content derived from a source of authority, whether God or civil law. Anything that is Catholic is necessarily in opposition to this. But remember that it was the Catholic universities of Europe that held the great debates and appointed the ‘Devil’s Advocate.’ The Church is quite comfortable with open dialogue.”

The University has rebuked the petition’s criticisms. “Our Catholic and Jesuit identity on campus has never been stronger,” Rachel Pugh, director of media relations, wrote in an email to the Voice. She cited Georgetown’s requirement that undergraduate students take two semesters of theology and two semesters of philosophy over the course of their education as well as its multiple service and social justice programs as evidence of this identity.

In a recent interview with The Hoya, Fr. Ladislas Orsy, S.J., a visiting professor at the Georgetown Law Center and an expert in canon law, said that the petition

has no binding power over Georgetown.

Orsy refused to comment when asked by the Voice.

Miranda disagrees, claiming that the Church owns the University, an institution erected by the Vatican on land offered by Catholic donors prior to 1789, and that the Society of Jesus holds an apostolate at Georgetown. “The notion that GU is somehow independent of the Church is a myth fostered by people who have come to believe their own lie,” he wrote.

Regardless of the extent of the petition’s weight on Georgetown, some community members believe it addresses real concerns.

“In order to really engage in dialogue, I feel Georgetown has to make clear what the Church’s stance is,” said Kelly Thomas (SFS ’15), co-director of the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life. She referenced what she perceives to be a vague stance on contraceptives by the University. “Honestly, I believe that there’s a concern of the backlash. … I think one of the University’s greatest faults is trying to please everybody, and they’re turning away from the Church’s teachings in doing that,” she said.

Others believe its concerns are not justified or cannot be justified by Catholicism.

“Blatty is part of a vocal, tiny minority within the community who wish to go back to the glory days when, as his petition site refers to, ‘the many men of my generation’ dominated society in a way that is no longer useful,” Erin Matson (COL ’02), who volunteers with and mentors students through the Women’s Center, wrote in an email to the Voice. She does not see any conflict between Catholicism and contraception as a matter of public health.

Some students sympathize with the petition’s concerns but do not believe the petition is the solution.

Chris Cannataro (MSB ’15), deputy grand knight of the Georgetown Knights of Columbus, agrees that sometimes there is a disconnect between Catholic teaching and the University’s actions. Nevertheless, he says, “I don’t like talking about the petition because, for me, I see Georgetown’s Catholic identity as a dynamic that the students need to take a hold of.”

Despite the multifaceted reactions to the petition and its implications for Georgetown, considering the debate around Catholic identity that the petition has rekindled in the last year, O’Brien is optimistic. According to him, the dialogue highlights a perpetual effort to define Catholic identity.

“Of late, [the frontiers] are more cultural, intellectual, and religious as we strive to bring the Catholic intellectual tradition in conversation with a range of people in a host of places,” he said. “On these frontiers, whose markings are not always clear, we sometimes get it right, and sometimes wrong. But we who are in the privileged work of Jesuit education know that the frontiers are where we are meant to be because that is where the Church calls us to go.”

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

october 31, 2013

Star-crossed lovers get steampunk at Folger Theatre

by Emily Coccia As the star-crossed lovers brood on opposite ends of the balcony, their families march on stage to stand beneath them. A man in black emerges to narrate the prologue, gesturing to backlit scenes of Verona, before donning his hat, announcing himself the prince, and stepping back to let violent sword-fighting begin in the Folger Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Aaron Posner.

Clad in Victorian steampunk attire, Romeo, played by the delightfully melodramatic Michael Goldsmith, presents himself as an aspiring slam poet, perpetually clutching a black moleskin notebook and searching for anything to infuse his words with a semblance of emotional depth. His swoons are interrupted only by a scratching of his pen or a thumbing through his notes to find the words that once sounded right to describe his love. As the play progresses out of the initial stages of playful, familial teasing about love, he almost seems to be falling, not so much into love, but into a previously unknown sincerity.

Meanwhile, Erin Weaver captures Juliet’s growth from youthful insolence, gleefully flipping off her mother’s back and whining to her Nurse, even if her overwrought emotions never quite dissipate.

The Nurse, portrayed in all her bawdy glory by Sherri Edelen, provides the perfect comic relief to the tensions of the Capulet house, ruled by an abusive alcoholic Lord Capulet (Brian Dykstra).

Posner succeeds in his development of Lady Montague and Lady Capulet, played by Michele Osherow and Shannon Koob, respectively, transforming them from stock characters with a handful of lines into fully-developed individuals with an emotional depth that belies their unhappiness. While Lady Montague pops pills in the background from the start, silently committing suicide after Romeo’s banishment, Lady Capulet drinks away the reality of her husband’s abuse, casting withering glances at his receding back with all the power she can muster.

Posner plays up the comic elements of this tragedy for the first three acts to the delight of the audience, presenting us with a stoner philosopher Friar Lawrence, captured aptly by the talented Eric Hissom, and a well-choreographed scene of lighthearted revelry at the Capulet’s ball. It was one of the only scenes in which Mercutio (Brad Koed) has the chance to display his schoolboy charm—an aspect that often disappears in Posner’s darker interpretation of the character. However, a shadow falls even within the playful Queen Mab scene as Mercutio and Benvolio (Aaron Bliden) unwittingly act out the very motions of the star-crossed lovers’ death in a description of what they deem an absurd impossibility.

From the overall comedic genius of the first few acts, the play takes a sharp turn toward tragedy with Romeo’s exile and his description and misinterpretation of the dream that foretells his own fated future. From this moment on, the

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

Spoiler alert! Romeo and Juliet both die at the end of this play.

deceased gather together in a macabre assembly on the balcony, motionless and silent, moving only to allow new bodies to join them, gazing down upon the actions of the young lovers as they propel themselves closer and closer to death.

Despite this beautifully moving depiction of death, Romeo and

Juliet falls flat in the play’s most famous scene, as both Romeo and Juliet’s histrionics take their pain to the point of absurdity. In one final moment of redemption, however, Juliet’s last gasps of air peter out, leading to a beat of silence, then to one final collective sigh from the dead on the dais. The scene fades to

Giving voice to poetry

I attended a reading by prolific contemporary poets C.K. Williams and Stanley Plumly at the Folger Shakespeare Library this Monday, and I was scared.

I know nothing about poetry, and, aside from the very little I read in high school English class, I have never branched into the genre. I, like some other nervous readers comfortable in their familiar prose, have avoided meter for far too long.

I’m going to tell you—and I don’t know how much you should trust my word, since I am a total novice—but I’m going to tell you that poetry is nothing to be scared of. In fact, we should embrace it, arms wide and ears open, and there is no better way to jump in than by going to a poetry reading.

First of all, and most importantly, something that may assuage your fears, is that poets are funny. Really, really, funny.

Picture this old white guy, big glasses, mussed hair, tie askew and corduroy blazer askance, who walks up to the mic at your very first poetry reading and says, “I’m going to start with a poem about sex.”

C.K. Williams, the poet in question, went on to outperform all of my expectations. I proclaim C.K. Williams as funny as Louis C.K. (And I don’t take that assertion lightly, but Williams had me in stiches.)

His humor was Woody Allen-esque—a bit neurotic, self-effacing yet egotistical and histrionic to boot. His work is saturated with wit and cleverness, coupled with a sense for the aesthetic visceral pleasure one gets out of rich compilations of words. I was bowled over.

I hadn’t been expecting this, because (with some hesitation and little result) I had read Williams’ poems before the event.

I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as when he read them aloud, and, to get the full experience, his poems ought to be performed.

Reading the poetry alone was much more challenging than my usual obsessive procrastination of schoolwork via novel. Length-wise, there was much less to tackle in these books of poetry than in a novel. But poetry requires a more concentration, focus, and proximity.

Still, my favorites from Williams’ most recent collection, entitled Writers Writing Dying, were the ones addressing writing, including “Whacked,” which he performed at Monday’s reading, along with the titular poem. Unfortunately,

Under the Covers

by Emilia Brahm A bi-weekly literary column his political poems were contrived and easy to dismiss.

Stanley Plumly, the other well-known poet to headline Monday’s reading, is just as prolific as C.K. Williams. In contrast to Williams’s humor, Plumly’s work is primarily touching. The poet’s skill ismost evident in his ability to weave together completely unrelated events in an intricate, shimmering whole, even if you don’t understand exactly how it fits so well together.

The best example, which he read with a quiet command, was “The Crows at 3 a.m.” It smoothly combines all sorts of imagery, including “politically-correct” snow, insomnia, Fitzgerald, his mother’s hands, and the crows, all in just two stanzas. Plumly is also talented at capturing a singular moment, as he does in the best poem I’ve

black, bringing the audience back to the dark reality of the closing without granting us the words of redemption that the text provides.

Folger Shakespeare Theatre Oct. 15—Dec. 1 student discounts available folger.edu/theater read by him: “Woman on Twenty-Second Eating Berries.”

“She’s not angry exactly but all business,/eating them right off the tree, with confidence,/the kind that lets her spit out the bad ones/ clear of the sidewalk into the street./…/In the air/the dusting of exhaust that still turns pennies/green, the way the cloudy surfaces/of things obscure their differences,/like the mock orange or the apple rose that/cracks the paving stone, rooted in the plaza.”

The interplay between the two poets made their respective work pop. They last read together at the Folger in 1986, when, as they recalled, they were young and at their most famous. There was a comforting balance between Plumly’s coarse, strong, calm vibrato with Williams’ energetic, New Jersey-accented tone.

You get this balance if you read them, too, but they are particularly potent in person.

I can’t think of a better introduction to the world of poetry than hearing it at its best by its own authors.

Still, I never quite lost the consciousness that I was at a poetry reading, listening to a recital, reveling in the selfish pleasure that is good words for my own sake.

I look forward to branching out. There are monthly poetry readings here on campus, if you want an interesting introduction in a familiar place. The Lannan program often hosts authors in Copley formal and the Bioethics library. I’ll definitely be seeing Charles Simic, who is coming to the Folger on Monday, Nov. 18.

Because when poetry demands to be read out loud, it needs an audience.

Serenade Emilia with your verse and rhyme at ebrahm@ georgetownvoice.com

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“I had to wait three hundred years for a virgin to light a candle.” — Hocus Pocus

Big names Pop at Spagnuolo Gallery C O N C E R T

by Dylan Cutler Some of the biggest names in the pop art movement, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, settled into Georgetown’s Spagnuolo Art Gallery this weekend. Located in the lobby of Walsh, the gallery is showcasing these artists in its newest exhibit, Pop Art Prints.

In addition to displaying some of the most iconic pop art imagery, the exhibit also features works that, as curator and Georgetown museum studies fellow Carolanne Bonanno points out, “...are a little more alternative, so that [students] could compare them to the larger names.”

These big name pieces and lesser-known alternative works provide Hoyas with a vast range of pop art in the gallery’s limited space.

Some of the most prominent works the exhibit features are Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe and Jackie I. Marilyn Monroe is a lithograph print which

depicts the famous actress, whose portrait takes up nearly the entire composition. This print mostly makes use of neutral tones, except for the bright pink around the actress’s mouth and hair. The pink lips and locks jump out of the canvas without taking away attention from the portrait as a whole.

Warhol’s Jackie I is a monochromatic portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy before her husband’s death. In retrospect, her happy demeanor invokes a sense of tragic irony, for she is blissfully unaware of her impeding loss. Both of these works function beautifully as two of the exhibit’s centerpieces on the rear wall of the gallery.

Fans of the pop art movement may also recognize the Shipboard Girl by Roy Lichtenstein, placed right next to the Warhol works. In this print, Lichtenstein uses Ben-Day dots, a printing technique commonly found in newspapers, to give the illusion of varying values. In reality, the dots are made up of simple pri-

Steal this print from Walsh for an authentic dorm poster!

spagnuolo gallery

mary colors, white, and black. The result is a piece with basic but powerful tones that looks like a panel straight out of a comic book.

The other, more alternative pieces in the gallery demonstrate the breadth of the pop art movement.

One visually striking piece is Signs by Ronald Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg created the collage in 1970 shortly after the death of singer Janis Joplin, whose image is one of the main focal points of the work. The piece also features soldiers from the Vietnam War, John F. and Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King’s funeral, images that highlight just how tumultuous a decade America had just witnessed.

But then the image of Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon consoles us, for one cannot look into Buzz’s helmet and not feel some awe from the power of human achievement.

Another standout work is Water Made of Lines and a Blue Wash by David Hockney. This lithographic print utilizes a cool, Californian blue and green color scheme to depict a swimming pool in the summer. The work’s emphasis is on the water, and while Hockney’s approach is simple, his effect is astounding.

Together, the pieces in Walsh’s broad-ranging exhibit succeed in showing Georgetown students the breadth and power of the pop art movement. While there’s no fall semester break, works like Water Made of Lines and a Blue Wash will take you on a brief vacation.

the georgetown voice 11

CALENDAR

Friday 11/01 Holy Ghost! with Midnight Magic & Ozker 9:30 Club, 11 p.m., $20

satuday 11/16 Charlie XCX with Kitten & Liz U Street Music Hall, 6 p.m., $20

Sunday 11/03 James Blake with Nosaj Thing 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $32

Monday 11/18 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Taliv Kweli & Big K.R.I.T. Verizon Center, 8 p.m., $46

Albert Hammond, Jr. U Street Music Hall, 7 p.m., $25

Sky Ferreira & Smith Westerns 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $20

monday 11/04 Barenaked Ladies with Whitehorse Lincoln Theatre, 7 p.m., $49.50

thusday 11/21 Kanye West with Kendrick Lamar Verizon Center, 7:30 p.m., $51

tuesday 11/05 Rudimental with Stereo Faith U Street Music Hall, 10 p.m., $15

friday 11/22 Soul Clap with Navbox U Street Music Hall, 10 p.m., $12

saturday 11/09 Lotus with Cosby Sweater 9:30 Club, 8 p.m., $45.85

saturday 11/23 Baauer & AraabMUZIK with S-Type 9:30 Club, 11 p.m., $25

Thursday 11/14 Elton John Verizon Center, 8 p.m., $40

sunday 11/24 P!NK with The Kin Verizon Center, 7:30 p.m., $50

Friday 11/15 The Devil Males Three with Shakey Graves 9:30 Club, 6:30 p.m., $17.50

Lissie with Kopecky Family Band 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $20

Love thine enemy: War games blast off in Ender’s Game

by Ryan Vislosky “Ender Wiggin isn’t a killer. He just wins—thoroughly.” Director Gavin Hood brings these words to life in his adaptation of the classic science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. Visually and viscerally, he succeeds in creating a brutal movie about morals and ethics.

Ender’s Game tells the story of Ender Wiggin as he moves from an Earth-based military academy to an extraterrestrial base called Battle School, where children are trained to be the military geniuses of tomorrow. The movie takes place after the Formic Wars, an alien invasion that almost destroyed Earth.

While the movie proves visually stunning and boasts an aggressive, dramatic score the accompanying camerawork jerks viewers around.

There isn’t enough time to get settled

into the plot or get emotionally invested in the characters before the action grabs hold of the film.

Ender fights with fellow students, has a conflicted family situation, and is forced into social isolation by his superiors. All the while, he tries to understand and empathize with his enemy. We see these moments fly by on screen, but we don’t feel them.

They go by before we have enough time to register them. It’s not until the second half of the movie that Hood overcomes these shortcomings by slowing down the plot and letting the story run on its own.

Although the film has an impressive cast, including Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and newcomer Asa Butterfield, as well as strong instrumentation and stunning cinematography, the film’s strength lies in the moral questions it addresses.

Ender Wiggin, the protagonist, is a

child soldier. He was designed by the military to wipe out an entire species—the Formics.

As Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) pragmatically puts it: “It’s either us, or them.” And the movie does not pull punches in showing the cost of a social Darwinist mentality.

At the beginning of the movie, Ender says, “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.” Ender knows he must destroy his enemies in order to protect his family and his home, but he has little control in the matter and suffers for the actions he’s taken. He lives in a world where adults control the ebb and flow of knowledge and Ender only knows he is an important tool in it.

Ultimately, the film argues that the only way we can truly know

and defeat our enemy is by loving them. Ender’s Game makes us love people, makes us hurt when we see them suffer, and makes us fear who we can become. It is only when we truly love and understand who we are though, that we break down the decisions we’ve

made and come to terms with their consequences. This dynamic makes the movie brutal to watch, but it’s also what makes it great.

Hood’s interpretation of our favorite childhood sci-fi might start out rushed, but it’s well worth seeing Wiggin to the end.

“Goose, whose butt did you kiss to get in here anyway?”

imdb

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

october 31, 2013

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

Arcade Fire, Reflektor, Arcade Fire Music Though it took them a trip to the Caribbean and some Disco lessons from LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Arcade Fire has finally learned how to have fun. The indie rock band’s fourth release, Reflektor, marks an intentional movement away from their definitive, Grammy-winning sound and ushers in a reenergized one that is less saturated in heavy thematic content. This doesn’t mean that Reflektor is entirely free from William Butler’s didactic, preachy lyrics, but this time they are delivered in a more brightly-lit way.

The spunk of this album is found in the Montreal-based foursome’s revitalized rhythm section. This new identity thumps in from the get-go with the title-track’s dancy, disco beat.

Murphy’s production influence is no secret on “Reflektor,”as the band borrows heavily from LCD Soundsystem’s iconic bass-heavy synth line and complex percussion. The electronic, full sound builds gradually as floating synth chords and dynamic guitar riffs are layered over the disco breakbeat, setting a lively tone for the 75-minute double album to come.

On “Here Comes The Night Time,” the band introduces a Carnival-inspired lilt, which meshes beautifully with the warmth and energy of the track. The instrumentation starts at a fast, celebratory shuffle, then, without warning, settles into a relaxed syncopation more suitable to carry Butler’s soft, fuzzy vocals.

Reflektor marks the first time Butler’s wife and bandmate, Régine Chassagne, hasn’t been the lead vocalist. It’s not until the duo of “Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)” and “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus),” that Chassagne is able to bring the band’s vocal line back to its previous gravitas. In this pairing, Chassagne and Butler’s voices wind together in an emotional tragedy. The first of the two tracks is backed by the same Haitian drum, while the second draws its support from Murphy’s Disco influence, offsetting the Carnival playfulness with a darker, bass-heavy feel.

Smells like teen spirit

I was an awkward teenager. That hardly makes me an anomaly, but the levels of angst accompanying that particular state of being reached the kind of heights that every misfit seems to think is unique to them. Of course, the irony is that this is a fairly universal condition among people navigating new identities and social strata, even as the hierarchies of high school appear to be carved in stone.

Everything seems inflated beyond belief, every interaction a subject to be endlessly analyzed, and every embarrassment a potential reason to leave the country.

I say all this in retrospect, because I’ve found myself imparting advice to a few high schoolers and wondering what I wish I had known at their age. Besides the typical warnings against surrendering to self-doubt or taking cliques too seriously, I mainly wish my younger self had known about two of the greatest TV shows of all time: My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks.

Like many of the introverted outliers of the universe, I spent a good part of my high school years seeking some kind of refuge within fictional worlds. Books, movies, music, and TV shows became a reliable source of truth and comfort for me, a way to make sense of everything I did not yet understand and provide a foundational structure on which to base the frustrating chaos of real life.

What I always failed to find, however, was a TV show that portrayed the kind of angsty and introspective existence I led.

Instead, I was faced with shows like Gossip Girl and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which I never felt particularly moved to watch.

Needless to say, my secret lives were far more likely to involve Nutella or late-night trips to IHOP than pregnancy.

When I discovered My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks about a year ago, then, I was taken aback by how relatable their central stories were.

Arcade Fire’s departure from their comfort zone reinvigorates a stagnant sound with new elements and diverse influences. At times, Reflektor’s movement away from their old refinement proves ineffective.

“Porno” is anticlimactic, and “We Exist” and “Joan Of Ark” risk falling into angsty teen-pop. Despite these letdowns, Arcade Fire brilliantly moves forward, reshaping their sound with no reflection on the past.

Voice’s Choices: “Reflektor,” “Here Comes The Night Time” —Joshua Ward

Kelly Clarkson, Wrapped in Red, RCA Records Ah, Kelly Clarkson. She stole the show with American Idol, stole our hearts with Breakaway, Both shows revolved around pretty unremarkable teenage girls, neither protagonist gorgeous or particularly interesting. They weren’t lavishly rich or up to their necks in operatic drama. They were just going through the motions of high school, dealing with crushes, math, and friend group dynamics in much the same way that I was a few years ago.

Unlike the majority of contemporary teen shows that are often

Idiot Box

by Julia Lloyd-George A bi-weekly column about TV overblown and unrealistic, these two bastions of adolescent experience derive their appeal from capturing the subjectivity of their heroines’ daily lives in a style that feels closely familiar and honest. You don’t have to throw in vampires, murders, or glamorous parties to generate conflict and create drama. Much of the conflict is internal, mirroring the way in which teenag-

and stole our praise with Stronger. No? Hyperbole aside, Kelly Clarkson has been around for a while, and there is no denying she’s got a hell of a voice.

But as the name may suggest, Wrapped in Red is her first Christmas-themed album, and that’s always a dangerous body of water to tread into.

She packed some of the classics in there. We’ve got “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” and quite a dazzling “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” for which she paired up with the notable country crooner Ronnie Dunn.

But she also includes a couple kitschy tracks, like “My Favorite Things.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the tune from The Sound of Music as much as the next gal, but I think on a serious Christmas album, maybe Kel should have left the Von Trapp family favorite to the likes of Alanis Morissette—shall we refer to “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love…)”?

Now for the heart of the album: the Clarkson originals.

The album’s eponymous tune “Wrapped in Red” has all the components of a good song. It’s mid-paced, has an easy chorus, ers, especially girls, magnify every seemingly banal event into a tragedy of tremendous gravitas or a romance with the force of a thousand fires. The central tension is between the girls’ constantly shifting sense of self and the intangible ideal that society expects them to be.

The jumping-off point for both shows, after all, is their protagonists’ respective decisions to break away from their former, obedient selves and branch out by acquiring a riskier, more marginal group of friends.

These transitions are not so much reflective of an irreversible decision to move to the dark side as an exploration of different identities, a leap into uncharted territory. These girls are filled with flaws and contradictions, testing their boundaries as they struggle to reconcile conflicting parts of themselves.

Apparently, portraying a smart, multilayered, ordinary teenage girl was a risky enough venture in itself, because both shows were canceled after only one season. It saddens me that I haven’t found anything

and shows off Clarkson’s vocals.

And yet, take out the phrase “this Christmas” and the shaking of jingle bells in the background, and this track essentially ends up sounding like any other Clarkson song.

“Wrapped in Red” is genuinely enjoyable, and Clarkson’s voice soars, but as far as Christmas originals go, I’d be willing to put money on households still playing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in ten years time.

Nonetheless, I’d still be happy to give the album a play on Christmas morning and even thoroughly enjoy her “White Christmas” as much as I have any other version of it. As far as Christmas albums go, there are worse, and at the end of the day, Clarkson sounds as great as ever.

Perhaps the only real blasphemy of this album is that it’s being released the week of Halloween— and everyone knows you can’t start listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.

Voice’s Choices: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “White Christmas” —Nicole Kuhn similar out there for contemporary teen girls, because that’s a particular demographic that desperately needs strong role models within their sphere of familiarity. No longer a teen, I still find myself returning to these shows because they capture such universal emotions.

Back when I was writing college essays, I found that a recurring challenge I ran into was drawing truth and profundity from ordinary experiences. I struggled to identify what singular event significantly contributed to my growth, what part of my routine would give admissions committees a glimpse at my true self. Calling forth the riches of daily life, after all, is the principal task of any creator. Having an eye for the universal beauty of both everyday triumphs and failures is what it is to be consciously human, even if all that means is dancing around your bedroom to the Violent Femmes after getting over a boy.

Share your angst with Julia at jlloydgeorge@georgetownvoice.com

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— Shalina Chatlani

voices

14 the georgetown voice

october 31, 2013

Being white doesn’t mean you’re not Hispanic

by Isabel Echarte At a party early in my freshman year, I told a boy that I was Cuban. He immediately responded, “No you’re not.” As intelligently as I could given the effects of partying, I said “Uh, yeah I am.” I didn’t know how to defend my own ethnicity to someone who was rude enough to think he knew my heritage better than I did.

I can’t blame him entirely. I have blue eyes, dark blonde hair, and pale skin. But being from Miami, where the population is over 60 percent Hispanic, where people speak to me in Spanish before English, and where people assume I’m Hispanic, I’ve never had someone question my ethnicity.

This interaction has happened a few times while I’ve been at Georgetown, though. Aside from the usual “Really?,” someone once asked me “What does it mean that you’re Cuban?” after I offered him some Cuban coffee. I

think what he really meant was, “How is it possible that you are Hispanic if you’re white?” I responded by explaining that both my parents were born there, and so were their parents. Before that, most of my relatives were Cuban or Spanish.

But, just because those people are ignorant about Hispanics doesn’t mean anyone has the right to doubt my heritage and what I have to say about it, especially because of how I look.

This doubt, however, has taken a hold of me, and I now feel as though I have to prove my Cuban-ness. Aside from slipping the fact that I’m Cuban into conversation just about every time I meet someone, I make Cuban coffee nearly every day and offer it to everyone that comes through my apartment. I’ve cooked ropa vieja, rice, and black beans for around 15 of my friends. At parties I try and play some reggaeton, and I recently convinced a few friends to go out salsa dancing.

I would say that me always talking about something Cuban would bother my friends, but then they get to drink the best coffee in the world, eat some delicious food, and experience the magic that is Cuban culture, something I’m proud to be a part of.

Besides the fact that almost everyone in my family is from Cuba by way of Spain, some relative a few generations back was even on Cuba’s pre-Castro $100 bill. There is paper proof of my Cuban heritage: the guy on the bill looks exactly like my father and shares my grandmother’s maiden name. Hell, my name is Isabel Maria Echarte. Pronounce that with a Spanish accent and tell me I’m not some sort of Hispanic.

But why should I have to prove that I’m Cuban, even to my closest friends who know beyond a doubt that I am?

Well to start, there is a surprisingly large number of Georgetown students who don’t understand that “Hispanic” is actually an eth-

nicity, not a race. I’ve met white Hispanics, black Hispanics, Asian Hispanics, and people who would be considered “stereotypical” Hispanics.

Diversity here is based on whether you’re from a foreign country. These students often have accents and are more comfortable speaking foreign languages. I, like a lot of Cubans my age, grew up in Miami speaking Spanglish. But I’ve never lived in Cuba, though I’d say Miami is similar enough, and I’m more comfortable speaking English.

I don’t seem to fit into the typical image of diversity here at Georgetown, which surprises me.

I thought an institution flush with students who have lived in multiple countries, speak two or more languages, and often study abroad would understand how diverse an ethnicity and identity can be.

I thought they would understand that it’s possible for someone to not be a cookie-cutter stereotype of their ethnicity.

are prepubescent girls.” It’s as if society thinks bands that appeal primarily to adolescent girls are not worth taking seriously.

While teenage fangirls have long been a subject of mockery, a recent GQ article by Jonathan Heaf about the fans of the British boy band One Direction took it to another level. The author portrayed the fans as nothing but sex-crazed, hormonal girls with little concern for anything other than dreaming about boys. In a bout of extreme misogyny, he says that we should by now be familiar with “the

immense transformative power of a boy band to turn a butter-wouldn’t-melt teenage girl into a rabid, knicker-wetting banshee,” and that “these women don’t care about the Rolling Stones. They don’t care about the meta-modernist cycle of cultural repetition. They don’t care about history. All these female fans care about is their immediate vociferous reverence.”

I consider myself a One Direction fan, I like their music, and I think they’re cute and funny. Being a fan of a boy band doesn’t make me a shallow banshee, it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy other activities, nor does it imply that attending a One Direction concert would make me part of the “dark pink oil slick that howls and moans and undulates with every impish crotchthrust from their idols’ plinths.”

I’d like to think I could be passionate about something without being reduced to a single-minded idiot. Although Heaf’s article may be an extreme example, I think it’s indicative of a general societal malevolence toward teenage girls and the things they care about.

Girls with crushes on celebrity heartthrobs are easily belittled, but, in a way, these crushes can be a way for girls to safely express their sexuality where they might not have other outlets to do so. Crushing on teen idols can even be empowering. The message of songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful,” embraced by a sentimental fangirl, can provide a positive contrast to the struggles she may face in daily life that make her feel bad about herself or pressure her in a way that her favorite star never will. Yes, it’s a fantasy.

But, it is a harmless one that can make reality easier to navigate.

Some people argue that this antipathy isn’t directed toward teenage girls, but toward the obsessive attitude regarding things like boy bands. I agree that extreme levels of obsession can be unhealthy, but why do we only subject teenage girls to this disdain? There are sports fans, oftentimes adult men, who cry over the losses of their favorite teams, paint their faces and bodies at large sporting events, spend hours engaged in fantasy leagues, and even participate in

Though Georgetown is, admittedly, better than most of the country when it comes to understanding race and diversity, students need to revise their preconceived notions of these two concepts.

It’s surprising that in a time and place where we are relatively sensitive regarding race and ethnicity, many people still seem to adhere to stereotypes that we know are not always true. And while I also shouldn’t feel like I have to prove my Cuban-ness, I know that feeling is not going to stop.

The one thing I can change, though, is my attitude toward people’s ignorance. Instead of being a little confused and slightly offended, I can instead approach it as an opportunity to teach people that not all Hispanics are like Sofia Vergara and Pitbull.

Isabel Echarte is a sophomore in the College. She currently heads a movement to put her family back on the Cuban $100 bill.

It should be okay for girls to like boy bands and video games

by Raina Roberts Let’s be honest, you don’t hate The Backstreet Boys or Justin Bieber. You don’t hate their music, you just can’t stand their fans.

Despite their success, Justin Bieber and One Direction are mocked and dismissed as having no real value only because teenage girls constitute the majority of their fanbases. I’m not claiming that Bieber is a lyrical genius, and it’s perfectly fine for people to hate his music or his attitude, but it’s not fine to bash him because “all of his fans

Latest: GQ names Math and Biology most useless subjects of all time.

LEILA LEBRETON

violent riots and demonstrations triggered by their obsessions.

But they aren’t met with the level of derision that is directed at an adolescent girl whose room is covered in posters and who writes “Mrs. Bieber” on the back of all of her school notebooks.

It’s important that we stop hating on girls for liking the things that they like, whether that involves devaluing the things that are marketed toward them, or, in a different manifestation, calling girls “posers” or “fake geeks” if they express interest in historically male-dominated hobbies such as video games or comic books.

We are not giving young women space to have interests in our society. By regarding things that girls like as inherently stupid or valueless, we are saying the same thing about them through one of the most pervasive forms of misogyny in popular culture.

Raina Roberts is a freshman in the College. Even though she disagrees with Heaf, we all know what she’s going to be for Halloween.

voices

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the georgetown voice 15

Federal government transition online poses potential problems

by Thomas Schuman Moving governmental functions onto a collective website could result in security threats and unproductive discourse. Instead of making the government more accessible and streamlined, moving the government online could mean moving it into the Stone Age. With the launch of the Obamacare website, people are expecting the U.S. government to fall in line with the times and start using the internet as a more efficient means of addressing U.S. citizens and providing its services to them.

Though everyone loves bypassing

long lines at the DMV, moving the U.S. government online presents a number of problems, many based solely on the problems the internet already has.

The internet has given every person with a computer or smartphone instant access to news and information. It has also allowed those with access to express their opinions and hear the opinions of others, regardless of how informed or qualified these individuals may be. By providing anonymity and large audiences, the internet has commoditized the audience usually reserved for politicians, news anchors, and celebrities.

CHRISTINA LIBRE

Unaware of an outside world, hackers forget government is made of lving people.

Government must join Digital Age In 2008, President Obama was heralded as the future leader of the digital age. His campaign was the first real internet campaign, combining social media with digital metrics. For those of us fully immersed in the internet culture, it seemed a sign of things to come.

Perhaps Washington was going to finally embrace technology and increase the flow of information between the government and the American public.

Five years later, it’s evident that, while President Obama is highly attuned to the digital era when campaigning, he has not spread this expertise to Washington. The over 300 federal agencies’ websites are not streamlined, making it very difficult to find any

useful information. Beyond what the public sees, the lack of technological awareness within the agencies leads to waste in spending and reduced efficiency.

The Oct. 15 rollout of Healthcare.gov in some ways felt as though the American public was finally going to get the digital democracy Obama’s campaign seemed to promise. Yet, as we’re all aware, the rollout has been consumed with glitches and has become fodder for late-night talk shows.

In a recent statement, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius stated that “veterans from top Silicon Valley companies” have been called in to handle the problem. Frankly, this

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But, the internet has added pressure to be the first to report on something, resulting in more and more inaccurate and sensationalist headlines. Think about CNN during the Boston Bombing. Think about the young men Reddit accused of being perpetrators of the Bombing who turned out to be innocent. Instant information has allowed thousands of people to process, evaluate, and throw out their half-opinions without consequence. This is a real danger to affected communities and groups as false accusations can have all too real consequences. What would happen if the government experienced these same pressures to provide immediate responses to events? On one hand, they may be forced to provide incomplete or inaccurate information. On the other, they are ridiculed for seemingly knowing nothing.

The internet has also proven to be a convenient meeting ground for the misinformed to gather and reaffirm their opinions with each other. A common thread among these groups is the resentment of opinions other than their own. After all, it requires less effort on their behalf. Look at people like Alex Jones,

a man whose radio show advocates almost every conspiracy theory you can think of and claims Obama is a lizard (I’m not kidding). There are people who follow him and aren’t confronted with any opposing opinion since Jones elects to omit every single one. When we combine these closed ideological communities that foster hate and discriminatory beliefs with the ability to make anonymous claims and accusations, we’re creating an anonymous spew of hatred that can clog our country’s political discourse.

Government technology is always behind technological progress, mainly because by the time the devices are made secure they are years old, which means that its web services will never be perfect. Technology and programs constantly behind the times foster programmers whose skills are always behind the times.

How secure can a government service website really be when techies in the private sector will always be more skilled with better resources than government contractors are allowed to be?

The internet isn’t going away anytime soon, and people will

step represents another problem.

Our top technological innovators should not be brought in to clean up the mess. They should be there from the start. They are now spending hours scouring lines of code to find errors, which is the least efficient way of dealing with potential glitches. Had they been there to write the code, this process could’ve taken days instead of weeks or months.

the government is too often far behind the industry.

Silicon Valley is ready and willing to help. There are a number of CEOs and technological innovators that have expressed interest in working with Washington on a number of issues. Their expertise could be instrumental in creating an accessible platform, not only for healthcare, but also for other services.

In the next few years, we would do well to follow the U.K.’s lead with their 2011 implementation of a digital core. The U.K. has a Government Digital Service, a team of 300 techies who streamline British citizens’ interactions with the government.

According to their government estimates, this program has led to savings of upwards of $20 million per year. Not only that, but the government has consolidated all of its digital information in one website, gov.uk. On this site, citizens can pay their taxes, apply for passports, and see the requirements for a driver’s license. There’s no need to search through hundreds of pages just to find out whether or not you need

Carrying On

by Sara Ainsworth A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

Federal contracting is predicated on long-term contracts with strict stipulations, even though technology is not long-term and it is does not fit within a box. You cannot plan 10 years ahead for your digital needs, because no one has any idea where technology will be in 10 years. The government needs to allow more flexibility when it comes to technology, because it changes too rapidly for rigidity and by the time many technologies are proven secure,

keep pushing for the United States to move online like other European countries have so far. There are many reasons why this move would be invaluable, but we as a society must make sure we can facilitate and advocate for genuine discussion and not one-sided reinforcement of hurtful ideas, lest we destroy the necessary resource of our country’s discourse. If we’re going to weave technology into our government, we need to make sure it’s up-to-date with enough security to prevent large-scale sabotage or inaccessibility. In order to do this, the government needs to bring in the most skilled techies in the industry.

Without a move to the internet, we will continue to face inconvenience with our government. But, taking that step means exposing the federal government to useless confrontation and further security issues. Perhaps the government wasn’t meant to be just a click away.

Thomas Schuman is a freshman in the College. He’s comforted that at least no threat comes from Georgetown programmers.

to bring your Social Security card.

For a government website, it’s shockingly user friendly and really speaks to the potential for the U.S. government.

Obviously, the U.S. system is more complicated with its state versus federal regulations, but the federal government should take the first step in better integrating technology. States often lead by example, and right now the example says a convoluted website with no clear answers is the way to go.

We have the opportunity to achieve an unprecedented level of transparency and accessibility in our democracy. The U.S. has one of the highest levels of internet penetration in the world, and there is no reason for the federal government to be ignoring it as an avenue for engaging citizens.

With the deluge of information that we receive everyday, a streamlined, unified government source will help dispel falsehoods before they can gain traction. It will also, hopefully, lead to greater citizen engagement. The potential is there, Washington just needs to plug into the 21st century.

Artist Spotlight Sophie Brenninkmiejer

Pasadena, Calif.

College ’14 Sociology Studio Art Can you tell me a little about your art?

Well I’ve loved art classes my whole life. I took AP Studio Art for photography in high school, but when I got to Georgetown I started taking more applied art classes. I took a sculpture class for fun and liked it so I decided to continue and have pursued different media through my classes here. I went into printmaking, and then drawing, and now I do mostly painting.

How would you describe your artistic process?

I work pretty quickly, but my paintings depend on my mood. Most of my drawings and paintings outside of my coursework have been for my friends and family.

What are your latest projects?

I am working on a landscape painting right now and also trying to figure out my studio thesis, too.

How has Georgetown influenced your art?

Well I was not planning on studying art at all. But it worked out that I could take an elective my freshman year, and I realized I loved art and stuck with it. I didn’t think Georgetown had that strong of a program. I mean, art is not really huge here. But once I started taking classes, I realized there are some really good professors here, so I continued. I’ve learned a lot, and I can appreciate many more forms of art now. I love going to art museums and exhibits in the District.