2 23 2012

VOICE the georgetown

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NEW SYSTEM LEAVES STUDENTS UNPAID PAGE 4

HOYAS REGROUP FOR GREY OUT PAGE 7

OSCAR SHORTS STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w February 23, 2012 w Volume 46, Issue 7 w georgetownvoice.com

LAX ON LAX ON LAX Lacrosse Season Preview

2 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

hot off the blog !

X O V

Athletic practice facility ready (again) for regulatory approval

Gustafson 1st, Tisa 2nd, “Undecided/Chicken Madness” not last in Vox straw poll GUSA CANDIDATES REACT TO VANDALISM OF RED SQUARE FLAG POSTER

Vox Populi

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Voice Crossword “Themeless Challenge ” by Tyler Pierce 1

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18. More than a few 19. More like a certain Looney 53. Loser 29.coyote to Clinton gun6. Matchsticks game Tunes Like a perfectly 1. Gangster’s placed picture 54. Knocking 4. Big sound footballer 7. Clairvoyance, e.g.

20. Winter Olympian Po-po 12.

The loneliest number 22. Elite32. group of celebrities 59. Voice piece 8. Grimaces 13. Disembowel 25. The 33. difference "My gal"between of song “is” 60. Like16.

9. Worth ourSaturated varsity substances and “was” 34. Curl one's lip teams 17. Person who stalls 10. Seed covering 26. Penn Station city 61. Dorsal, perhaps 62. Wept

11. Infamous party 14. Athletic supporter?

45. Took away 46. Pole type

27. Ozone depleting mol.

30. Jeans brand 31. Drew Barrymore, for example 35. Lode load 36. Willing and able 37. You might see a film about the last one 38. Didn’t walk 39. Spongebob tool in Jellyfish fields 40. Any narrow pointed solid 41. Eccentric 42. Before, to Emerson 43. It might be yellow or black 44. Dodge 46. Gown fabric 48. Happen again 49. Buds, south of the border 53. Loser to Clinton 54. Knocking sound 59. Voice piece 60. Like our varsity teams 61. Dorsal, perhaps 62. Wept 63. Adjective for last Tuesday Down 1. Soccer position 2. French revolution surname 3. Balls 4. Allow

5. Elvis Presley’s “___ Lost You” 6. Matchsticks game 7. Clairvoyance, e.g.

8. Flat-bottomed boats 9. Worth 10. Seed covering 11. Infamous party 14. Athletic supporter?

15. Screw up 16. Some live life in it 21. Paper amounts 22. Omen at a picnic 23. Type of dance 24. Rapper turned actor with a cool name?

27. Thanksgiving sight

answers at georgetownvoice.com

28. Like some IDs used at Towne 29. Like a perfectly placed picture 32. Po-po 33. “My gal” of song 34. Curl one’s lip 45. Took away 46. Pole type 47. Practice 49. Circle piece 50. Revolutionary leader 51. “___ have to do” 52. Fiesta 55. Sn 56. Sylvester, to Tweety 57. Downed 58. Guitarist Nugent

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Email crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

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VOICE the georgetown

Volume 46.7 February 23, 2012 Editor-in-Chief: Sean Quigley Managing Editor: Leigh Finnegan Blog Editor: Jackson Perry News Editor: Vanya Mehta Sports Editor: Kevin Joseph Feature Editor: Rachel Calvert Cover Editor: Richa Goyal Leisure Editor: Heather Regen Voices Editor: Connor Jones Photo Editor: Lucia He Design Editors: Julia Kwon, Kathleen Soriano-Taylor Projects Editor: Rob Sapunor Crossword Editor: Scott Fligor Assistant Blog Editors: Ryan Bellmore, John Sapunor Assistant News Editors: Soo Chae, Morgan Manger Assistant Sports Editor: Abby Sherburne Assistant Leisure Editors: Mary Borowiec, Julia Lloyd-George, Kirill Makarenko Assistant Photo Editors: Julian De La Paz, Abby Greene Assistant Design Editors: Amanda Dominguez, Madhuri Vairapandi Contributing Editors: Geoffrey Bible, Nico Dodd, Tim Shine

Staff Writers:

Geoffrey Bible, Mary Cass, Will Collins, Jane Conroy, Emma Forster, Daniel Kellner, Morgan Manger, Kelsey McCullough, Eileen McFarland, Matt Pacana, Paul Quincy, Adam Rosenfeld, Jake Schindler, Melissa Sullivan, Fatima Taskomur

Staff Photographers:

Nick Baker, Sam Brothers, Helen Guo, Kirill Makarenko, Tim Markatos, Jackson Perry, Matthew Thees

Copy Chief: Kim Tay Copy Editors:

Keaton Hoffman, Tori Jovanovski, Claire McDaniel

Editorial Board Chair: Gavin Bade Editorial Board:

Patricia Cipollitti, Tiffany Brown, Rachel Calvert, Nicolo Dona Dalle Rose, Leigh Finnegan, Julia Jester, Cole Stangler, Julia Tanaka

Head of Business: Keaton Hoffman

The Georgetown Voice

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On this week’s cover: Lacrosse Season Preview Cover Photo: Abby Greene

the georgetown voice 3 DEBT AND TAXES

Government, colleges failing students on debt A group of students at the University of California, Riverside have proposed a plan to put themselves through college while avoiding massive student loans: students would pay their tuition after graduation by giving up 5 percent of their annual income over a twenty-year period.

While their plan is certainly intriguing and offers incentive to enter lower-paying professions like teaching or public service, the responsibility should not lie on students to develop new plans to pay for the exorbitant and ever-rising cost of post-secondary education—university administrations and our elected officials should be doing more to help. Their inaction on this issue threatens to make college a luxury for the few, instead of accessible for the many.

In a country where it is almost imperative to hold a bachelor’s, if not a postgraduate, degree to find a good job, it is also imperative that something be done to curb the rising cost of tuition and make higher education truly accessible to all. State and federal governments are not making this task easy— California cut funding to the UC system by $650 million last year alone. To make up for these losses, tuition increased by 18 percent this year. Sadly, this phenomenon is hardly unique to the Golden State. Students everywhere struggle with paying for an education they must obtain, which promulgates a vicious cycle of debt.

Getting an education at an American university should not bankrupt students.

With an astronomical unemployment rate for recent graduates and few options for those who forgo college, students are trapped. For some, college is simply not an option, when even in-state tuition rates are too big a financial burden for many families to bear. College is becoming again an elite pursuit, instead of an option for all hard-working Americans to achieve the means of building a better life.

We need Congress, state legislatures, and universities across the country to take a stand on student loans and the rising cost of college, instead of passing the buck until it finally lands in the laps of students. What’s at stake is not just a college degree, but the basic American promise of access to higher education for all who earn it.

FLYIN’ THE FREAK FLAG

Vandalism displays need for wider dialogue In the early hours of Saturday morning, a vandal spray-painted the words “U.S. wanted for murder” in capital letters on the campaign banner of GUSA executive candidates Colton Malkerson (COL ‘13) and Maggie Cleary (COL ‘14), which was in the form of the United States flag. A heated debate on campus revealed the divergent opinions on whether this was a legitimate form of expression, or whether the insult of a national symbol should be condemned regardless of circumstance.

The idea that the defamation of a national symbol is libelous is characteristic of an authoritarian way of thinking, which should not be the case in a pluralistic society. Although we cannot support any act of vandalism, no matter how true its message, in our campus free speech zone, the act itself speaks volumes of how marginalized anti-nationalist opinions are on our campus and how inappropriate it is to use a national patriotic symbol in a GUSA campaign.

Many of those critical of U.S. foreign policy find their voices stifled at George-

town, especially when they call nationalistic value systems into question. The backlash which many students felt after expressing discomfort with hyper-patriotic displays of enthusiasm in D.C. in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death exemplifies how such unpopular views are discouraged at Georgetown.

The marginalization of those with such opinions, who often hail from the international and leftist communities and have different experiences and interpretations of the United States’s role in the world, is to the detriment of every student and serves only to limit productive dialogue on campus.

Further questions remain about the GUSA flag situation, especially regarding the inconsistency inherent in the belief that writing a political statement on the flag is vandalism of a national symbol, while using it to advertise a student government campaign is not considered defacement. Certainly, it is difficult to draw a moral distinction between the two.

Nonetheless, we also must consider how effective spray-painting was at deliver-

ing its message. That this was all part of a GUSA campaign is impossible to disregard, and any criticism of U.S. foreign policy would thus be likely subject to misinterpretation. In any case, although we recognize that the choice of campaign strategy may have been in poor taste, the act of spray-painting should not be condoned—it sets a dangerous precedent for the treatment of other banners and flyers around campus, particularly those advertising politicized issues.

Instead, we should focus on providing the forums for these types of discussions, and allow for the expression of discourses that diverge from the patriotic or nationalist prerogative. It’s everyone’s responsibility to look past their own patriotic mindsets so we can foment legitimate political conversations on campus that include every perspective. This way, one side is not allowed to monopolize campus dialogue and give it the sole institutionalized platform on our campus.

HOMICIDE HULLABALOO

MPD’s bogus statistics betray public trust

Because of a statistical manipulation, Chief Cathy Lanier’s Metropolitan Police Department reported an impressive 94 percent homicide closure rate for 2011. But by artificially inflating its success, MPD is exaggerating how much safer the city has gotten during Lanier’s tenure, and in effect betraying the trust of the public. The artifice is especially puzzling in light of the fact D.C.’s violent crime rate has dropped in real terms during Lanier’s tenure.

Homicide closure rates are meant as administrative tools rather than scientific gauges of success. MPD uses the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting system, which calculates the rate by dividing the number of cases solved by the number of offenses closed in a year, and dividing that by the number of crimes committed during that same year. But federal regulation on the system is lax, so police departments across the country report varying statistics. Lanier’s department was counting cases opened in

previous years and closed in 2011, but not taking into account crimes from previous years that remain unsolved.

This kind of statistical manipulation was first used in the 1980s when the District’s closure rate started to decline. At that point, MPD adopted the FBI’s UCR system—which allows for this statistical manipulation—to make it appear that they were solving more homicides than they actually were.

Under this statistical stratagem, a department could boast a success rate of over 100 percent. Furthermore, a 94 percent closure rate is, as former FBI special agent Brad Garrett told the Post, an unrealistic goal in the District. He also elaborated on alternative methods for calculating closure rates. “If the case is from 1994, then you say that the rate includes X cases from 1994, X cases from 1996 and so on. That way it’s clear that it’s a combination from other years.”

As Lanier has pointed out, this practice predates her time as Chief of Police. How-

ever, it is also not unprecedented for a Chief to alter the way the Department calculates its statistics. Former D.C. police captain W. Louis Hennessy, who oversaw the homicide unit from 1993 to 1995, called the thencurrent method “entirely unfair.” When he came into MPD, he changed the system to the format Special Agent Garrett suggested.

In all, it is a bit puzzling that MPD would risk such a scandal when the real violent crime rate has been dropping in real terms since Lanier’s arrival while the real closure rate rises. Even so, D.C. still struggles with its reputation as a violent city, and mismanagement like this only increases doubts about community safety as a whole.

It is clearly dishonest to continue employing these statistics in a city where the police chief is tantamount to a political figure. It’s true Lanier has an approval rating to keep up. But her inflated homicide closure rate might be inflating that as well.

news

4 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

Management system errors leave students unpaid

by Vanya Mehta After the University failed to send her several paychecks in the past month, Claire Austin (SFS ’12), an assistant at the Mortara Center for International Studies, rushed to the Student Employment Office last Friday to take out an emergency loan for $360. “I have a job for a reason,” she said.

Many student employees have experienced problems with pay this semester, and they frequently blame the issue on the University’s new computerized payment method, called Georgetown Management System, which was introduced at the beginning of the semester.

From the Library to the Admissions Office, campus employers with hourly workers have struggled to adjust to GMS. GMS provides students all over campus with paychecks on a bi-weekly basis. While administrators and human re-

sources staff were trained on the system up until its implementation, errors continue to plague the process, and answers are difficult to find.

“It doesn’t seem right that the people who are in charge of programming are now having to take on administrative tasks that they really aren’t well trained to handle,” Austin said.

Maddie Howard (COL ’11), a recent graduate and current staff member at the Woodstock Theological Center, has not received a paycheck all semester.

“My boss is definitely working hard to try to get me paid.

But the system itself…seems like too much machine and not enough common sense,” Howard said. “You can kind of chalk it up to [it being] a new system, people are new to using it—but it’s been two months…I’ve just been starting to live off savings, and I don’t know how much longer I can do this before it becomes a problem.”

Austin said the system’s interface is difficult to operate for employees. “I don’t have any idea how to use it…in the past all I’ve had to do is turn in a time sheet and fill out the paperwork beforehand,” she said.

The Human Resources office claims that work to change the system is underway. “We are deeply concerned that student employees are experiencing problems with their payments,” Mary Anne Mahin, vice president and chief human resources officer wrote in an email to the Voice. “We are working diligently to address and fix all issues facing the University community as a result of the GMS installation.

The Human Resources Department and University Information Services will be augmenting the resources of the Student Employment Office to resolve these problems.”

Another student University employee who spoke on condi-

tion of anonymity said the human resources department has been unresponsive to questions about her delayed paychecks.

“When I realized that my paycheck was zero, I emailed and called an HR representative,” the student said. “I’ve asked her questions every single time I emailed her and she never answers them. I have zero indication that they’re actually fixing the problem and I won’t have to do this every week. I rely on this money and I don’t have anything to fall back on when I don’t get it. I just keep working even though I have no guarantee.”

Antony Lopez (COL ’14), a student employee at the Gelardin New Media Center, mentioned that several of his coworkers also remain unpaid.

“There have been a few cases where people did not get paid at all, so they’re having to submit hours that they did actually work but didn’t get fully paid

for,” he said. “I know my boss has been having meetings [with GMS] discussing the transition to the new system.”

Rachel Hoffman (SFS ’13), an assistant at the Protestant Ministry and employee at Yates Field House, said she thinks the system struggles with her pay coming from two different sources. “They haven’t been able to give me a straight answer for what it is and I haven’t been paid for any of the hours I’ve worked so far this semester for Campus Ministry,” she said.

Not all of the problems with GMS involve students being underpaid. One Admissions Office employee says he has been exorbitantly overpaid—a check that should have been for around $70 was “in the 800s.”

Still, it seems more students are having the opposite problem. “I had a lot of patience with [GMS], but now I’m kind of losing that,” Howard said.

GU law student denied testimony on contraception

by Connor Jones Last Thursday, third-year Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke was called by Democrats to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the recent White House requirement that employers must provide contraceptives without a copayment in their insurance plans. Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) refused to let Fluke testify, sparking a controversy regarding fair representation.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration released a federal regulation requiring all insurance providers to cover contraceptives at no cost to the employee as part of the health care reform law that the President signed nearly two years ago. Exceptions were made for objecting churches and places of worship, but not for religiously-affiliated organizations like charities, hospitals, and universities such as Georgetown.

Issa convened a hearing to determine whether this regulation violated these institutions’ religious liberties. House Democrats requested that Fluke testify, but Issa refused, saying that Democrats did not submit her name in time for consideration, a charge

which Democrats contest. At Issa’s refusal, Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) stormed out of the allmale panel, saying: “Where are the women?”

Democrats asked Fluke to testify again this Thursday at the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, but the Republican-controlled body refused to televise the event.

“House Republicans are again trying to silence voices of women affected by the policy,” Fluke told the Voice.

Fluke, the former president of the Georgetown chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, planned to affirm her support for the new mandate and recount her experience with one of her friends at Georgetown Law. According to Fluke’s written testimony, her classmate was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome and required oral contraceptives to prevent development of ovarian cysts. Contraceptives are not covered by the University’s student health policy with UnitedHealthcare Insurance unless they are being used to treat another condition.

In this case, Fluke’s friend, despite confirmation of her illness from her doctor, was never able to get her medication. “Her claim was denied repeatedly

on the assumption that she really wanted the birth control to prevent pregnancy,” Fluke said.

“She’s gay, so clearly polycystic ovarian syndrome was a much more urgent concern than accidental pregnancy.”

According to Fluke, her friend could not keep up with $100 per month out-of-pocket payments for her medication, so she had to forgo treatment until a cyst developed on her ovary, requiring its removal altogether. Such a procedure caused early menopause and likely infertility in the law student, said Fluke.

According to a survey by LSRJ, 40 percent of female Georgetown Law students reported struggling financially as a result of the lack of birth control coverage. Additionally, according to the same body, 20 percent could never get the insurance company to cover birth control for legitimate medical reasons.

Georgetown denies culpability for incidents like this one. “The Student Health Center and the Office of Student Insurance have consistently worked together to minimize administrative issues for students seeking insurance coverage for oral contraceptives prescribed for medical condi-

tions,” University spokeswoman Stacy Kerr said. “Students routinely are provided coverage when a medical condition is present that necessitates the use of such contraceptives.”

LSRJ has been lobbying the Georgetown administration for several years to start covering birth control in its student health plans. The University already offers several health plans that cover contraception for University employees. Over the past year, LSRJ had meetings with the University at which they presented their view of how the policy was affecting students. Invoking the D.C. Human Rights Act, LSRJ demanded that the University change its policy.

The issue reached the Office of the President last year, which upheld the policy.

Several small, religiously affiliated schools, including Ave Maria College in southern Florida, have filed a lawsuit to prevent the new mandate on insured birth control from taking effect. There is no indication that Georgetown will join the suit.

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the Catholic Health Association, and Catholic Charities USA all expressed support for the mandate. Georgetown has said it will comply with the new federal regulations, which take effect for most employers on Aug. 1 of this year.

Max Blodgett

Congress rejected a Georgetown law student’s testimony last Thursday.

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 5

As voting nears, GUSA candidates increasingly competitive one unifying factor among the campaigns is extraordinary competition and innovation. Campaign videos feature men’s basketball players Hollis Thompson and Henry Sims, Georgetown rapper Tate Tucker, and even our very own “Shit Hoyas Say” parody. We’ve seen photo montages of Hoyas endorsing candidates, and a giant Rubik’s cube in Red Square. The official websites for the campaigns have professional aesthetics and layouts.

“This year has a larger, more diverse field, and it seems that the race has been more volatile and uncertain compared to last year’s,” current GUSA President Mike Meaney (COL ’12) said. “By all measurements, this is a very competitive election. Many of the tickets have qualified, proven candidates, with a variety of different backgrounds and different experiences on campus.”

The competitive nature of this year’s election has not been without its challenges. When a Red Square advertisement for the Colton Malkerson/Maggie Cleary ticket shaped like an American flag was vandalized this weekend, Malkerson (COL ’13) decided to

stick to the issues rather than lose energy and stamina.

“We’re keeping our heads up and staying on schedule,” he said.

“Although the election is competitive, that doesn’t change anything about our platform or our experience.”

Other candidates also noticed the dirtier side of this year’s race.

“Increased competitiveness of the campaigns did add some negativity, such as anonymous comments on [Vox Populi] or other news websites,” vice-presidential candidate Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13) said. “However, I don’t know any specific instances of negativity or competition from any other campaigns, and this shows that we’re all in it to make Georgetown a better place.”

The seven sets of candidates have each laid out their platforms, debated, knocked on hundreds of doors, and handed out flyers in Red Square, proving that this year’s hopefuls are working more tirelessly than ever to be taken seriously by the Georgetown population. Now the time has come to reveal how much each of their efforts has resonated with the undergraduate student body.

GUSA exec, represent!

leith, respectively. Accordingly, the relationship between the local government (ANC2E) and the citizens associations (CAG/BCA) is extremely close: for the campus plan hearings, CAG/BCA and ANC2E co-authored a few submissions.

In summary, there is a local government supposedly representing everyone in the Georgetown-Burleith-Hillendale area equally, and two community organizations, CAG and BCA, which work closely with ANC2E.

by Jamie Niu By the end of Friday, the ongoing campaign efforts of seven dedicated tickets for GUSA President and Vice President will finally reach a conclusion as voting takes place over the next two days. Over the past two weeks, students going to Leo’s, entering the library, or walking through Red Square have been subject to a hoard of campaigning by hopeful candidates. Any student browsing Facebook finds that a huge chunk of students have foregone their regular profile pictures for candidate endorsements.

“Everybody’s stepping up their game and doing things with a lot more intensity than what has been done in the past,” presidential candidate Murphy Kate Delaney (COL ’13) said. “I would say that overall this campaign season definitely has been unique as opposed to the elections in the past years I’ve been at Georgetown, simply because of the sheer number of tickets running.”

This year’s election, with one of the largest fields in recent memory, has witnessed a variety of strategies and slogans, but the

There is a certain vocal, insatiable group of neighbors who dislike facets of Georgetown, namely the students. They are the ones who buy “Our homes, not GU’s dorms” signs, lobby for 100 percent of students to stay on campus, and write so many letters that Zoning Commissioner Peter May concluded at the latest hearing that yes, Georgetown students do make objectionable impacts on the neighborhood. More than an opposition to the behaviors, lifestyles, and existence of students, their anti-student view is predicated on their belief that students do not belong to their community.

And everyone in the GUSA election who says they will “improve neighborhood relations” somehow misses that point. This group of vocal neighbors has no reason to come to picnics thrown by the University, nor to attend plays with free tickets, nor to call all of the University’s efforts—including the Alliance for Local Living, Rocky’s Reports, and the off-campus life team—anything but PR. We can’t expect these cantankerous

neighbors to see students as legitimate citizens when every interaction with them is approached like a peace treaty. If the next GUSA executive genuinely wants to improve the student body’s relationship with the anti-student neighbors, whoever wins is going to need to play on their field and go the meetings of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E. For some context, the ANCs are the basic unit of local government in D.C. Each commissioner on ANC2E (encompassing Georgetown, Burleith, and Hillendale) represents around 2000 citizens, determined geographically. Currently, ANC2E has one student commissioner who represents a portion of campus. In the next election cycle, campus will be represented by two commissioners (only two, but I’ll get to that later).

The other two important local organizations are the Citizens Association of Georgetown and the Burleith Citizens Association. CAG and BCA have no legal standing, but do have a remarkable buy-in from the residents of Georgetown and Bur-

Saxa Politica

by Ryan Bellmore

A bi-weekly column on campus news and politics Now we come to students who are already under-represented on the local government and whose association doesn’t even show up to the meetings. Yes, I’m talking about the Georgetown University Student Assocation. All I hear from GUSA candidates are outside-thebox solutions, like more neighborhood clean-ups, to fix “the neighbor problem.” I think it’s time to start playing on their terms.

Since so much of the rhetoric coming from this group of neighbors

Most agree that voter turnout will be very high this election.

“We don’t have enough history of a campaign this competitive to go by,” GUSA Election Commission Officer Adam Giansiracusa (SFS ’12) said. “That said, I think most people would assume that a more competitive campaign would lead to more people voting.”

The dedication on the part of candidates is indicative of a prom-

ising future for GUSA. “The campaigns have been working hard to turn people out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we approached record turnout,” GUSA Senatorat-Large Adam Talbot (COL ’12) said. “I’ve been very impressed with the creativity, dedication, and platforms of many of the tickets. I think we can rest assured that the organization will be in good hands moving forward.”

GUSA candidates unleash creativity in campaigning efforts. in charge of the ANC/CAG/BCA is directed specifically at students (and not just University policy), the student voice should be represented, directly to the neighbors, by attending the ANC meetings.

Looking back, there were two instances last year when having an official student voice could have benefitted (or at least defended) students. First, GUSA could have filed with the Zoning Commission for party status at the campus plan hearing last June. The University, ANC2E, CAG, BCA, and a few other groups all had official party status in the hearings, but not GUSA. Especially since many anti-Campus Plan arguments were explicitly anti-student arguments, someone representing the students as people, and not as objects of policy, should have countered.

Second, students could have been better represented in the redistricting debacle of last summer and fall. In the decennial post-census redistricting of the single-member districts of ANC2E, Ward 2 councilmember Jack Evans appointed three co-chairs of the redistricting working group. The three co-chairs each represented different voices: the ANC chair, and the presidents of

lUCIa He

BCA and CAG. But students, who make up a whopping 45 percent of ANC2E’s population, weren’t represented by a co-chair.

In an email interview with me last fall, ANC2E Commissioner Charlie Eason commented on the choice of working group co-chairs.

“In our own Ward 2,” he wrote, “Councilmember Jack Evans claims to have appointed as cochairs of the redistricting ‘working group’ leaders of community associations, but completely ignored what is arguably the largest community association, GUSA.” Although having the GUSA executive fight for a co-chair position would have been nice, this slight demonstrates that the student association is not seen as a legitimate voice in the neighborhood.

This brings me back to the point that GUSA candidates are missing: no improvement in student bodyvocal neighbor relations will improve as long as students are seen as and act as outsiders to the community. The solution is easier than they might imagine. Just show up.

Think GUSA should get on their ANC game? Talk to Ryan at rbellmore@georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

Big East favorite Hoyas have high expectations

by Steven Criss Preseason rankings loom over the women’s lacrosse team as it enters the 2012 season. The lacrosse website LaxPower has placed them as the 15th-best team in the nation and slotted them to win the Big East Championship, just as they were expected to do last year before falling to Notre Dame in the semifinal. These Hoyas, who have consistently been a force in the Big East, have a special way of handling the expectations that various rankings bring upon them—by setting even higher goals for themselves.

Head Coach Ricky Fried keeps the team’s view of their preseason rank in perspective. “I think that our expectations are probably higher than LaxPower’s, so it’s not really hard to handle those expectations, but it’s really one of those things where you can’t get caught up with what other people think of what you’re doing,” he said. “You [have to] focus on yourself and play one game at a time...but at the end of the day you have to prove yourself.”

The ninth-year coach wants his team to focus most of its attention on where it will be ranked at the end of the season, rather than worry about where it is now. He thinks that with this attitude and by implementing a strategic, fast-paced work ethic, the squad can achieve a rank far higher than No. 15.

Part of the team’s method for getting better throughout the season includes setting a challenging non-conference schedule.

Although the Hoyas struggled at the start of last season against tougher teams outside of the Big East, they obviously learned from their weaknesses—they made an impressive run in the Big East until that final Notre Dame loss.

Fried says that the team’s schedule has lightened up a little this year, but is still filled with

matchups against the very best.

With games against Florida, Duke, and North Carolina, his team will have a chance to prove itself against elite teams, all ranked in the top five.

“I think it’s important to challenge yourself, because it prepares you for conference play,” Fried said of the schedule. “We’re going to be smarter about how we go about things and keeping ourselves fresher, so that when we hit the Notre Dames at the end of the year we’re able to compete a little bit better.”

The group’s leadership will play a significant role in their improvement as the season goes on. In fact, Fried believes is one of the team’s assets. Senior Captain Kelly Barnes and junior midfielder Sophia Thomas are two among many who will help lead the Hoyas through their challenging schedule in attempt to win the Big East Championship. Both were named to the All Big East First Team and the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, and will be vital in keeping up work ethic on the field—both in practice and in games. The two were humble about their roles as leaders on the team, instead strongly emphasizing that their performance is what really matters on the field.

“Honestly, I don’t really look or pay attention to that stuff that much,” Barnes said. “I think you just have to show up on the field and, you know, what people say outside of the field, it really doesn’t mean anything if you can’t come and be a good leader and be a good teammate.”

Coach Fried describes Thomas and Barnes as players who lead by example, and who, although they are not the most vocal, show their team what to do on the field.

Communication may not be their biggest strength, but the effort they put in on the field makes them valuable leadership figures for the team.

Hannah Franklin scored 17 goals last season as a freshman.

ABBY GREENE

In comparison to past teams, this year’s Hoyas have the advantage of youth and athleticism.

Their impressive depth will allow Coach Fried to make substitutions and adjustments whenever necessary without worrying about taking out or moving key players at the cost of their effectiveness.

“I will say that we are probably more athletic than we’ve

been, especially from the midfield through the defense, so we can play at a higher pace,” Fried said.

“We’ll have a little bit more quality of depth…[so] if somebody gets injured or somebody isn’t playing particularly well, we can make adjustments easier.”

Coach Fried admits that the Hoyas lack an offensive go-to player as of yet, but he believes

that with time they will be able to develop the necessary strength up top. The team added a promising freshman class this year, with young players stepping up to fill spots in each set of positions. Because their lineup appears thoroughly solid, coaches and players alike are ready to get rolling and see just how they fare in the 2012 season.

The Sports Sermon “Linderella story of the year jeremy lin has lingle handedly played lensational lincredible” -@SHAQ on Lin-sanity

apart on his ESPN 980 radio show, questioning the AD’s integrity and intelligence. The legendary In lacrosse and women’s bascoach inserted some backhanded ketball, Maryland and Georgehumor into his comments as well, town have a long-standing, complimenting Anderson on takhistoric rivalry. But when the ing on scheduling duties at both men’s lacrosse Hoyas take on the Maryland and Georgetown. eight-ranked Terrapins on Friday, In the past, Big John has that game will likely mark the shown that you don’t mess with last matchup between the two his program. After a long-standschools for a very long time. ing feud with former DeMatha In a naïve attempt to strongHigh School coach Morgan arm the Georgetown athletic Wooten, Thompson Jr. simply department, Maryland Athletic refused to recruit from the basDirector Kevin Anderson reketball powerhouse. But today, cently announced that his school Georgetown does not explicitly would not schedule the Hoyas in belong to Big John. Instead, it any sport until a men’s basketball belongs to his son, who endmatchup between the two comes ed that DeMatha to fruition.

Pete Rose Central drought when he But an elite basDa bettin’ line recruited Austin ketball program Freeman in 2007. like Georgetown’s Margin Dookies Hoyas That Thompson does not need to (duh!) (underdogs) legacy and attitude, respond to Ander- (favorites) son. In the same Wildcats Expectations though, still permeHoyas ates McDonough manner, though, K. Anderson Whining Lee Reed Arena. “Don’t piss Maryland does not Runners B. Posey Knee off Big John” has need Georgetown transformed itself over the years of other schools.” on their basketball schedule. The – now, it’s just “don’t cross the To Carey and the rest of Terps play in the ACC and face Hoyas,” advice which Kevin Georgetown Athletics, the move off against Duke, North Carolina, Anderson obviously did not is baffling, if not completely and the like on a yearly basis. If take. Although Lee Reed may unnecessary. If anything, John Terrapin Nation isn’t showing have been reluctant to start a Thompson III and the Hoyas up in droves for those marquee new rivalry, Maryland is obvishould be flattered that Maryconference games, scheduling ously attempting to reopen old land went to such extreme public Georgetown will not improve wounds. The problem, though, lengths in this last-ditch attempt numbers at the Comcast Center is that Georgetown doesn’t need to coerce a basketball matchup. either. Perhaps the move is MaryMaryland, but the opposite is not Instead, Thompson criticized land Coach Mark Turgeon’s way true—Maryland has eight varMaryland for its approach. “I find of prying recruits from the Hoyas. sity sports going down the drain, it extremely odd that a competent After all, if the Terps upset the and budgetary problems growathletic director would choose Hoyas in one of these matchups, ing immensely over the next few that method to try to schedule a it may turn a DMV baller over to years. Maybe it’s time for Andergame,” he said.

College Park instead of 37th and son to realize that the Terps need Not everyone associated with O streets. a lot more than a basketball game Georgetown stayed quiet on the That’s not to say an anwith the Hoyas to fix their own matter. Former Hoya coach John nual matchup between the local problems.

Thompson, Jr., ripped Anderson schools would be a bad thing. Lo-

by Kevin Joseph

cal rivalries can be heated matchups, even if they aren’t of Duke versus North Carolina caliber.

Take, for instance, Philadelphia’s Big Five. Villanova is clearly the cream of the crop in the region, but even they struggle against Temple, Penn, and the rest of the middling programs that comprise the rivalry.

Still, Georgetown responded in the best way possible in this scenario – terse and unaffected. Athletic Director Lee Reed declined to comment, and Sports Information Director Mex Carey simply said, “We do not make a habit of commenting on the scheduling practices

sports

Hoyas regroup for ‘Nova Grey Out

by Daniel Kellner Tuesday night offered the Georgetown men’s basketball team a cruel reminder of the unpredictability of Big East play. Despite entering their road test with Seton Hall as the No. 8 team in the nation, the Hoyas suffered their worst loss of the season, as the Pirates’ sweet shooting catapulted them to a 73-55 blowout victory.

In fairness to the Hoyas, any team would have had trouble with the Pirates on Tuesday night. Seton Hall shot 61 percent from the field, including a sizzling 8-13 from downtown.

Senior point guard Jordan Theodore was un-guardable throughout the contest, connecting on all five of his three-point attempts to finish with a career-high 29 points.

“They played a terrific game,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “Jordan Theodore played one of the best games that I’ve seen him play all year… He

totally controlled everything, and tonight we just didn’t have any answers for him.”

The Hoyas had little to offer in response to their woes on the offensive end as well. Freshman Greg Whittington led the Hoyas with a pedestrian nine points, as the team shot 40 percent from the field and failed to produce a double-digit scorer for the first time all season.

Meanwhile, sophomore point guard Markel Starks had one of the worst games of his career, making just one of nine shots to finish with a total of two points. This kind of struggle extended throughout the Hoyas’s starting five, as they managed only 24 points between them—five fewer than Theodore had by himself.

“I think that the frustration at the defensive end carried over to the offensive end,” Thompson III said.

“They shot the cover off of it, and we didn’t respond like we normally do.”

On Saturday, they return to the Verizon Center to take on the strug-

Jason Clark struggled on Tuesday, a rarity for the senior guard.

ABBY GREENE

The enigma of JaVale McGee

The Washington Wizards are a very bad basketball team. If you’re a basketball fan at Georgetown, you undoubtedly know this, and simply focus your attention on the team at the Verizon Center that actually wins.

That’s a reasonable course of action, and, to be honest, probably the more enjoyable one. Except that, unless you subject yourself to watching the Wizards, you’re missing out on the wonder that is JaVale McGee. With all due respect to Jeremy Lin, the Wizards’ center is the most fascinating player in the NBA. Lin is incredible in the literal sense of the word—it’s impossible to believe a player could come out of nowhere and continue to play

like he has for the past two weeks.

But when Lin gets the ball in his hands, I at least understand what he’s trying to accomplish. McGee, on the other hand, is a complete enigma.

Depending on how his highlight reel is cut, McGee could look like a perennial All-Star or the worst player in the NBA. He’s an athletic seven-footer, the perfect physical specimen to play the most talentdeprived position in the league.

In last year’s dunk contest, McGee put on a show that would have bested Blake Griffin if it weren’t for the latter’s assist from Baron Davis and Kia Motors. During actual games, his athleticism more often comes out at the other end of the floor, where he’s established him-

gling Villanova Wildcats (11-16, 4-11 Big East), a team in the midst of their worst season since Head Coach Jay Wright took over the program 11 years ago. While Seton Hall was inspired by their postseason aspirations, the Wildcats have little left to play for other than pride.

Nevertheless, the annual matchup with the Wildcats is always a highly anticipated affair, due to a rivalry that stretches back to 1985, when the heavily favored and No.1seeded Hoyas led by senior center Patrick Ewing fell in the NCAA Championship to the No. 8-seeded Wildcats in one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history.

But this ‘Nova squad is a far cry from their NCAA Tournament teams of recent years, let alone that miraculous title winner. They are led by two experienced scoring guards in juniors Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek, who average over 30 points per game combined. Yet both stars, as well as the rest of the team, struggle with inefficiency, and the Wildcats have shot an atrocious 41 percent from the field this season, good for 277th in the nation.

The Hoyas will be keen to avoid another upset and as they look to secure a bye in the first two rounds of the Big East Tournament.

South Florida has emerged half a game ahead of the Hoyas into the fourth spot after Tuesday’s debacle, but with a difficult schedule ahead for the Bulls, the Hoyas will certainly have the chance to make up ground. Tip-off against the Wildcats is set for 2 p.m. this Saturday at the Verizon Center. self as one of the best shot blockers in the league. McGee even pulled off the rare points-rebounds-blocks triple-double last season.

That infamous triple-double is also an example of all that is wrong with McGee. He reached double digits in rebounds and blocks before passing that mark

Double Teamed

by Tim Shine

a rotating column on sports in points, and realizing his shot at the triple-double, spent the closing minutes of the game chucking up ill-advised shots. He finally succeeded in scoring on a dunk with 18.7 seconds left in the game, and promptly hung on the rim to earn a technical foul. The Wizards lost by 19.

the georgetown voice 7

Guy back in action

It seemed to be the start of something special for then-sophomore Zac Guy and the 2011 Hoyas. Guy, an attack out of Tully, N.Y., had just logged one goal and one assist in the team’s season opener against Jacksonville. Minutes into the second quarter, however, Guy was slashed on the hand.

As a typical, tough Division I lacrosse player, the sophomore brushed it off as a small setback, not realizing he had suffered a broken hand that would end his season quicker than it had begun. With the injury, Guy was forced to sit out and redshirt the season, a result that even he admits was heartbreaking.

“It was really disappointing,” Guy said of the injury. “Last year, not playing, just watching the whole time just got me wanting to get back in.”

Head Coach Dave Urick echoed Guy’s disappointment over the injury, but is glad to have the junior back alongside classmate Travis Comeau.

“The thing that you like about him is he’s got a lot of confidence in his ability,” Urick said.

“He’ll turn it over from time to time but he’ll also make a lot of very good plays. He’s getting better – he’s getting a lot better.”

What Rocks

georgetownvoice.com

There are plenty more lowlights, including a now-legendary play in which McGee ran back on defense while the Wizards set back up on offense after an offensive rebound.

Despite all of that, though, I still think that McGee is the key to the Wizards’ future. It may even be a bright one.

The season’s Wizards are a maddening team—they’ve even driven normally reasonable owner Ted Leonsis (COL ’77) to pen rants about the media’s “wicked pixels” on his blog. Everyone expected them to be bad, but not this bad. They have a potential star in John Wall, and a number of seemingly legitimate players around him, including McGee. But the team is somehow less than the sum of its parts—Nick Young

Last season, Urick beamed about Comeau and Guy’s chemistry. Comeau’s penchant for inside scoring and Guy, whom Urick describes as a player who prefers to accrue assists over goals, complement each other ideally. Despite the pairing, and while he appreciates the creativity Guy brings to the field and his innate confidence in his own ability, Urick also feels that the attack needs to work on keeping things simple.

“The young man doesn’t lack for imagination, and he can create for himself,” Urick said.

“He’s very capable of goal scoring, and sometimes he’ll have a five-yard shot but then he feels like he’s got to get a three-yard shot. I think we need to take the five-yard shot.”

Guy was on the verge of what seemed to be a breakout season, but his coach feels that much of his instinctual improvement will come with experience, as this will be his first full season as a significant piece of the Hoyas’ puzzle.

The upstate New York native, for his part, is comfortable again, as he worked throughout the summer playing box lacrosse in Canada with Comeau. In the end, though, he is simply excited to get back in the swing of things and contribute for the Hoyas.

“Just watching the rest of the year was pretty difficult,” he said. “But now, I’m all healthy and ready to go.”

-Kevin Joseph

and Andray Blatche can score, but they’re black holes. Wall hasn’t developed enough as a point guard to control the chaos that surrounds him, and McGee, well, he’s still JaVale McGee. Still just 24 years old, McGee could be the fulcrum of a revitalized Wizards squad in a few years, owning the paint at both ends of the floor. The team needs to decide whether to make a big bet this summer when McGee becomes a restricted free agent. I, for one, hope that Leonsis doesn’t hesitate to re-up McGee. I’m not convinced he can be a major contributor on a winning team, but even if he drags the Wizards down, I know it’ll be entertaining to watch.

Block Tim’s shots at tshine@ georgetownvoice.com

feature

8 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

Lacrosse Season Preview

feature

georgetownvoice.com

Angel and Comeau look to power strong Hoya attack against Maryland

ABBY GREENE

by Keaton Hoffman

From left, Zach Angel, Travis Comeau, and Zac Guy

ABBY GREENE

Despite historically high national rankings and a legacy of league success, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse program, which eked out a .500 record last season, hasn’t done much in the postseason. But the team’s struggles are not for lack of star power. This season, Head Coach Dave Urick boasts a second round Major League Lacrosse pick in senior midfielder Gerry Reilly—just after losing defenseman Barney Ehrmann

Young Hoyas seek to recapture Urick’s winning tradition

by Kevin Joseph 7-7. A record like that does not sit well with Dave Urick. The face and head coach of Georgetown lacrosse simply is not used to losing.

Now entering his 23rd season at Georgetown, the legendary coach is coming off his worst three-year stretch with the program. He knows it, but he also feels that this group, despite its significant youth, can restore the unranked Hoyas to their proper place in the upper echelon of collegiate lacrosse.

“Obviously, there’s no secret that the last few years we haven’t lived up to the standard that the program has created here over the previous 15 or 20 years,” Urick said.

“I think these guys are working hard and are anxious to get back into that group of schools that’s still playing at the end of the year.”

For that to happen, Urick needs significant contributions from a group of unknown commodities.

Senior Zach Angel, for instance, has struggled with a number of injuries during his time on the Hilltop.

But now the team captain is fully healthy and certainly not flying under the radar—he was named to the Big East Preaseason First Team with teammate Travis Comeau.

“It’s an interesting part of the season,” Urick said. “You go in with a lot of questions personnelwise, you’ve got a lot of younger guys playing key roles, and health becomes a little bit of an issue.”

Comeau, a junior, allows Urick to work around one of those questions. The attack scored 55 goals in his first two seasons as a Hoya, and remains the team’s most dangerous offensive threat. His emergence could not be timelier, as Georgetown recently lost graduate student attackman Rickey Mirabito to graduation and sophomore attackman Davey Emala to North Carolina.

Because of these losses, the team had to reload up front, a task simplified by redshirt sophomore Zac Guy’s return from last year’s season-ending wrist injury, and junior Jason McFadden’s transition to attack. McFadden came seemingly out of nowhere for the Hoyas, a desperately needed emergence after Emala’s transfer.

“Jason’s filling his spot and is just as good or better of a shooter as Davey,” Comeau said. “We haven’t really skipped a beat at all.”

Angel reiterated his teammate’s sentiment. “It obviously hurts losing Davey,” he said. “But [McFadden] has played a huge role for us this year, and I think he’s going to do great things for us.”

He won’t be without reinforcements, though—Angel leads a midfield that Urick and his coaching staff are confident that the team can lean on. The coach feels that Angel, in particular, will present matchup nightmares for opponents.

“It’s going to be interesting to see who they choose to put the long-stick on with that midfield,

but I have a feeling Zach will see it more often than not,” Urick said.

“Francis McDonough and Brian Casey are also on that unit. That’s a pretty good unit, and it’ll be interesting to see how teams match up…they have to put the pole on one of those guys.”

Urick took this prediction a step further, suggesting that teams may be forced to bump two long-sticks to defend the Hoya midfielders, opening up favorable matchups for Comeau and the rest of the attack.

On the individual level, the Hoya midfield looks different from most, with each player providing something unique. Angel, for his part, will greatly aid Comeau with the goal-scoring, as the four-year starter leads the midfield in goals last season with 15. Senior McDonough has contributed more as a defensive midfielder—one of the tough do-everything types that any successful unit needs. But mainly because of heightened chemistry and their preseason play, Angel expects that McDonough and junior Casey will also help him fill the goal-scoring void.

“Our team as a whole, we all click very well,” the Maryland native said. “I guess this year off the field translates directly onto the field where we’re all just one closeknit group. Success, I think, will come from that.”

Across the board, the players seem to credit first-year Associate Head Coach Matt Kerwick with

transitioning the new group in preparation for the season. Urick has kept the Hoya program quite stable during his time on the Hilltop, but breathed new life into it by bringing Kerwick back to Georgetown after a two-year head coaching stint in Jacksonville.

“Matt was an offensive player [under Urick at Hobart] and he’s a great coach, but he’s working with the defense primarily,” Urick said.

“I think that’s obviously going to help him tremendously in the long run. He’s a real positive addition to what we’re doing, that’s for sure.”

Kerwick’s defensive work has been centered on transitioning junior Chris Nourse into the spotlight. After losing All-American Honorable Mention defender Barney Ehrmann and goalie Jack Davis to graduation, the Hoyas need Nourse and senior captain and goalie CT Fisher to fill more voids on the defensive end. Though Nourse has been struggling with what Urick describes as “a couple of cracks in his hand,” the coach feels that he could be ready for the team’s season opener. Either way, he knows that once the team gets Nourse in the fold, the defense is capable of playing a major role to the team’s success this season.

“We’re doing well down at that [defensive] end, and the kids have responded really well. I think the issue right now is Chris Nourse,” Urick said of his injured defender.

“He’s an exceptional player for us,

though. Very versatile.”

As always, the Hoyas must maneuver one of the toughest schedules in the nation this season.

Nearly all of their Big East opponents are ranked, while their outof-conference slate includes powerhouses Maryland, Duke, and Harvard. Any program could use such a schedule as the perfect excuse for a failed season, but it is not so for Geogetown. After joking that he would find the knucklehead who created the schedule, Urick offered his real perspective, one that has kept the Hoyas on the national lacrosse radar for almost three decades under his reign.

“The players come here for the opportunity to play with and against the best teams and the best players around,” he said.

A young team with low expectations—a familiar trend for Georgetown athletics this year— men’s lacrosse hopes to follow in the footsteps of its basketball counterpart. This would not come as a shock, but rather a restoration to the order that Urick has established during his time on the Hilltop. The team is anxious and hungry to get back to the NCAA Tournament and make some noise, something they all feel is an attainable goal.

“There’s a lot of competition out there, for sure, but that’s a realistic goal,” Urick said. “A goal’s got to be within your reach, but not necessarily in your grasp, and that’s exactly where we’re at.”

the georgetown voice 9

to graduation and a professional contract. The coach is optimistic about this season’s prospects, though much of this is because of his two highly-touted offensive players. With Big East Preseason First Team players like junior Travis Comeau and senior Zack Angel leading the charge, Urick’s optimism might not be misplaced.

At 5-foot-8 and 155 pounds, Alberta native Travis Comeau is an unlikely leader for the Georgetown squad, but if last year’s numbers are any indication, 2012 could be another stellar year for the ju-

nior attackman. As a sophomore, Comeau managed an impressive 30 goals and five assists, making him the second-highest scorer for the Hoyas. One of Comeau’s most impressive attributes is his accuracy, which he honed during his summer spent playing box lacrosse in his native Canada. Nearly 80 percent of his shorts are on target and 47 percent earn goals.

“He’s obviously a great finisher,” Urick said. “He has that unique ability to put the ball in the back of the net.”

The left-handed Comeau talks about chasing current Assistant Coach (and son of the head coach) Scott Urick’s record as Georgetown’s all-time leading goal scorer, with 144 goals over his four years on the Hilltop. Currently at 55, Comeau would have to average 45 goals for this season and next to match him, an accomplishment made somewhat more feasible given Comeau’s new status as the team’s prime offensive target following the transfer of last year’s leading scorer Davey Emala to North Carolina.

Comeau isn’t the only surprise awaiting the vaunted Terrapins, who are ranked eighth in the

nation, come Friday. Plagued by injuries last year and during the offseason, senior midfielder Zack Angel has a lot to prove coming into his final year for the Hoyas. “[Angel’s] been playing with a lot of injuries, and now that I look at him and see what he’s doing right now—he’s playing exceptionally well,” Urick said. A versatile player who’s had successes on the defensive side of the field as well, Angel has all the skills to make this a miracle season for Georgetown. Last year he recorded 15 goals and scored in seven of the last eight games for the Hoyas.

Besides continuing to put up impressive numbers for the Hoyas on both offense and defense, Angel, alongside senior team captains Reilly, CT Fisher, and Neil McGroarty, plays an important role as a leader on the team—as he put it, “trying to just push everybody to be their best each day.”

Both Comeau and Angel have high hopes for this season, in part because of the team’s chemistry.

Both stars acknowledge the inevitable role that such intangibles will have to play in their success.

“We’re all just one close knit group,” Angel said. “Success I

think will come from that.”

Comeau reiterated this sentiment. “The off-field camaraderie translates onto the field really well,” he said. “No one’s selfish.

Everyone’s out there to make plays for each other and we all have got each other’s backs.”

Such optimism is admirable, but as any chemist will tell you, the results can be catastrophic if all elements do not combine perfectly. As he prepares for Friday’s game, Angel admitted that basic ball skills have been lacking.

“We have the intensity, we have the drive, but right now it’s about passing, catching, just getting basically the rust off the stick before the big game,” he said.

Angel and the other team leaders are hoping that they can get the team up to speed to shock the Terrapins, who will come in with one game already under their belts. An explosive win could set off a chain reaction and propel the Hoyas into the postseason, while a loss could result in a contagion of doubt and insecurity that infects the entire season.

Face-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Multi-Sport Field.

High expectations for captains Barnes and Thomas in 2012

by Abby Sherburne

The legendary Dave Urick enters his 23rd season as Georgetown’s head coach.

ABBY GREENE

After being ranked first in the Big East preseason poll, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team has to live up to some big expectations.

Luckily, the women have some strong upperclassman leadership in junior Sophia Thomas and senior Kelly Barnes, both of whom were named preseason All-Americans and are on the Tewaaraton Award watch list.

Thomas, a junior midfielder from Lutherville, Md., garnered a lot of attention in her first two years, surprising the Big East with a team-high 37 goals in the 2011 season. She also led the team in turnovers caused, recording 33 for the season. Head Coach Ricky Fried credits some of her success to her supreme athleticism. And as if her stats weren’t impressive enough, Thomas outshined the conference as well, grabbing the Big East Midfielder of the Year award.

But her aptitude goes far beyond numbers and awards. “Soph really leads by example,” Fried said.

“She plays all facets of the game.”

For Thomas, the awards don’t mean much. “It’s a great opportunity to be put in a position like that, but it just comes down to how you play on the field,” she said of her numerous nods. The self-professed “competitive person” is focused on rallying her team to better last year’s performance.

Fried, for one, is impressed with

her work ethic. Even after the accolades, Fried says Thomas “continues to work hard to improve her game, which I think says a lot about her as a player.” As a midfielder, Thomas spends a lot of time running up and down the field, a testament to her strong athleticism.

While this is a quality she shares with her teammates, Fried says that Thomas’s leadership position is unique as a midfielder, and that historically the squad has been led by attackers or defenders.

Thomas says that she looks up to Barnes, who exemplifies a leadby-example mentality to the squad.

The senior defender has seen her share of success as well, but she too doesn’t heed it much.

“What people say outside the field, it really doesn’t mean anything if you can’t come and be a good leader and be a good teammate,” the Pennsylvania native said.

Fried cannot say enough about Barnes, especially with regard to her importance as a team leader.

He is especially impressed by her growth, and how she has started to rally the other players on the team. “[Barnes] wasn’t real ‘rah-rah’ or vocal, and she’s learning to find her voice a little and demand the respect from her teammates, not only through her play but holding them accountable through her voice,” Fried said.

Both women rise above their roles as team leaders, and have tried to spread their love of lacrosse to

Georgetown Sports Information

younger teammates. Thomas, for instance, spends time each summer coaching a lacrosse team in Baltimore with teammate Kelsi Bozel.

She says it is rewarding to work with the kids, and that it does not hurt for her to keep up with the sport.

“Lacrosse never stops,” Barnes said. “In a good way!” She helps coach a Georgetown lacrosse camp during her summers, and has devoted a lot of time to the betterment of her peers and students.

While Barnes is not sure how she will keep lacrosse in her life af-

ter graduation, she certainly knows that it will continue to play a role.

“Ricky says it every day, it’s the best part of your day,” Thomas said.

“You come out, you get to hang out with your best friends for three hours”. What sets Thomas and Barnes apart is just this—the desire to do what they love better, and with the people they love best. The captains open another campaign with high hopes next Wednesday against Delaware.

Face-off is set for 4 p.m. at MultiSport Field.

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

Size doesn’t matter: Oscar shorts at E Street Cinema

by Paul Quincy The live-action shorts are one of the Oscars’ most alienating categories—no one promotes them, few even know anyone who has seen them, and even the actors are unrecognizable. But this week, E Street Cinema is making this obscure category a little more accessible to the masses, running them in succession and allowing the audience to decide which should get the award. If you can’t make it down there, here’s a quick guide to what you need to know about this year’s five live-action nominees.

Short by even short film standards, “Pentecost” is a brilliantly paced 11-minute mash-up of a sports-movie played out in the setting of an Irish Catholic mass.

11-year old Damian is the incense burner for his local parish, and also a fanatical soccer fan. Although he was kicked out of his post in church for—accidentally or not—hitting the priest with the incense burner, he is reluctantly asked back when the archbishop plans to give mass and the church finds itself one altar boy short.

The film takes on the tone of a sports montage as tensions over

the archbishop’s visit run high.

The pep talk scene for the altar boys is quick paced, and the sure highlight of the entire group of nominees.

“Raju” poses a stark contrast with the previous film. A story of two Europeans who travel to India to adopt a wide-eyed, smiley fouryear-old, the film deals with serious emotional struggles, punctuated with moments of cuteness rather than any true laughs. Though the plot’s concept may seem contrived, “Raju” grounds the story of international adoption with a set of complex characters. Plot twists, well placed for such a short film, add depth to the otherwise happy story. Though the film moves a little slowly and the dialogue (in at least three languages) is at times difficult to understand, the superb acting serves to make up for some of the film’s flaws.

“The Shore” is the most likely contender for the Oscar title, complete with family secrets, heavy drinking, long-lost friendships, and the beautiful Irish greenery.

Jim returns to the homeland with his daughter for his first time in 25 years, and there the girl learns of her father’s lost fiancée. The two go

seeking both her and her husband, Jim’s adopted brother and formerly his closest friend. 30 minutes isn’t quite enough to show the emotional toil that the four characters face, but director Oorlagh George smooths over those moments with well-placed humor. The mix of drama and gaiety make this film serious Oscar bait, and writer Terry George might finally capture a statue after his 2004 nomination for original writing in Hotel Rwanda.

“Time Freak” stood out as the most American of the group. With the tone of a sitcom, it follows a man who invents a time machine and immediately begins to panic about every single thing he’s done the previous day. From his point of view, months have passed as he corrects awkward silences, bad jokes, and accidental insults. It’s funny and fast-paced, but ultimately seems more like an extended Super Bowl commercial—it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if the Budweiser name had been tacked on at the end.

The final film, “Tuba Atlantic” (a rough translation from Norwegian), was the best of the five nominated shorts, though not as critic-friendly as “The Shore.” The

from Monday, Feb. 20 through Sunday, Feb. 26. Showcasing both local and international up-andcomers in design, the collections will spotlight fall fashions that even the haute couture denizens of New York have not had the privilege of seeing.

Straight on the heels of New York Fashion Week and in the middle of London’s own seven days of style, D.C. Fashion Week

works to distinguish itself from its more famous counterparts. As a nonprofit event, the District’s incarnation strives to nurture new talent by opening its online registration to any designer, model, or volunteer. Several events are also open to the public, including the Fashion Industry Networking Party tonight at Dupont Circle’s Dirty Bar Lounge, where there will be a show catering exclusively to jewelry and accessories.

Knowing D.C., these may or may not include election campaign buttons.

In a press release, Founder Ean Williams promised that “D.C. Fashion Week will rock,” as he kicked off the event’s 16th season this year with an eco-fashion show at the Wooly Mammoth Theater. Though no cavemen were present, the show was free of admission charge and open to the general public. While “Sexy and I Know It” blasted from loudspeakers, attendees were free to pose in front of an official backdrop and try their best Blue Steel impressions.

The runway show itself featured both rising designers like student label Emore’J Couture and established names like Elizabeth

Hollywood chicago

“Look Raju, Meryl Streep! She steals all of the Oscars so we can’t have any.” film centers on a very cynical old man—when told, “You don’t have long to live,” he asks, “Could you be more specific?” Given a deadline of six days, he responds, “That’s very specific.” A young girl from Jesus Club then joins him, as she wishes to help him accept that he is dying but does so with just a bit too wide a smile. The film is touching and sweet, yet darkly hilarious. The two main actors play off of each other brilliantly, and viewers can’t

help but be impressed with the passionate cursing the dying man casts into the wind.

Together, the five nominated films strongly showcase the range of the shorts genre, cramming 90 minutes of emotion into 25 minutes of screen time. If you can, get to E Street Cinema, which is showing the animated shorts nominees along with their live counterparts.

You’ll finally feel in-the-know come Oscar night.

St. John Couture, which showcased a number of eco-friendly gowns. Though the designs were mostly fresh and appealing, the show featured a few outfits that looked like they belonged at an awkward high school dance. As the debut event of the week, however, the runway show did a generally praiseworthy job of spotlighting local talent.

D.C. Fashion Week is also making a new addition this year by featuring local musicians in conjunction with top designers from local universities (Georgetown, apparently, is not included). This event, the Metropolitan Emerging Designers and Indie Artists (M.E.D.I.A.) showcase, will include MTV’s “Making the Band 4” season one finalist DeAngelo Redman and will be held on Saturday at the Washington Post Conference Center.

In harmony with its internationally focused setting, D.C. Fashion Week makes a point of highlighting designers from across the globe. Says Founder Ean Williams in the press release, “international designers who have come to the U.S. for the New York

show consider it a treat to have their designs featured in Washington, D.C., the world’s political epicenter.” Two of the week’s events focus especially on designers from overseas, including a Ukrainian design show on Friday and International Couture Collections show and bazaar at the finale event at the French Embassy on Sunday. Hailing from everywhere from Germany to Nigeria, the eclectic group of featured designers is sure to make for a diverse showcase. As Williams points out, “this event builds on a 15-season tradition uniting a fabulous mix of vendors, over 100 diverse models, and dozens of world media outlets, for a sell-out affair.”

Though it lacks the prestige of more established and renowned fashion events, D.C. Fashion Week brings its own flair to the industry. By highlighting both lesserknown names from the area and international labels, the event brings something to the table that famed fashion weeks ignore. And if anything, it raises the status of fashion in the nation’s political center above the level of Rick Santorum’s sweater vest.

Haute couture invades the District at 16th annual Fashion Week

by Julia Lloyd-George While D.C. is used to its share of questionable creations, they usually come in the form of congressional bills rather than runway fashions. But although the nation’s capital is not known as a center for fashion, D.C. Fashion Week represents an effort to change that conception, with a full line-up of stylish events running

D.C Fashion Week

If David Bowie and Prince had a love child, she still wouldn’t look this fierce.

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the georgetown voice 11

“i’m kind of a big deal.” — anchorman

Cardamom to caviar: A modern take on American cuisine

by Heather Regen Even if you haven’t taken high school Latin, Unum, a new addition to the D.C. dining scene, makes its esoteric name clear from dish one. While E Pluribus Unum—“out of many, one”—might be the nation’s de facto motto, every course at this M Street restaurant takes the mantra to heart.

“The name isn’t just evidence that we listened occasionally in high school civics,” owners Laura Schiller, who works at the Senate, and her husband, Executive Chef Phillip Blane, write on the restaurant’s website. Each offering at Unum layers unlikely combinations of spices, delicate sauces, and classic ingredients to bring together truly unified dishes.

Though not as impressive as the rest of a menu that excellently balances adventurous and comforting offerings, Unum’s oyster appetizer still satisfies. Served three ways, the oysters fried with tomatillo cocktail sauce are delicious, with their crisp texture and lively taste. Next to the fried and freshly shucked oysters with ap-

ple mignonette, the poached oysters in garlic cream fall flat. While the caviar floating on top attempts to liven the poached oysters, the cream gives the whole dish a gross, liquid feel.

Like its chic interior decorated with dark, polished oak and soft candles and lights, Unum’s

clusion of Indian spices in many typically American or French dishes. While the ricotta softens the beignets wonderfully, the dessert gains its striking flavor from full cardamom seeds simmered into the blueberry sauce.

The almost gingery note of the cardamom adds an unexpected

When the sous chef called in sick, Unum had to grab Picasso to put together their dessert plates. menu draws its strength from a theme of warmth. Even the cold banana sorbet, whose delicate flavor matches its icy yet smooth

Child stars: All work and no pay

If you’re eager to watch scantily clad children spreading their legs for the cameras, you’re either a pedophile or a fan of Lifetime’s hit show Dance Moms. Centered on Abby Lee Dance Studio in Pittsburgh, the show follows a group of fanatic moms, their dancing daughters, and head choreographer and coach extraordinaire Abby Lee Miller, who weds the near-psychotic rage of Teresa Giudice with the vituperation of Simon Cowell in perfect reality television matrimony. In spite of all this, her character—because I refuse to denigrate any human being to that level of callous virulence—is rather entertaining, propelling the show into a successful second season.

This week’s episode featured much of the predictable yet compelling content we keep tuning back in for. Dance mom Holly Frazier questions the appropriateness of Abby’s choice to use guns in the girls’ Charlie’s Angels-themed group number. Emotions run high as moms Kelly Hyland and Christi Lukasiak struggle with how to

texture, is served atop a glaze of warm dulce de leche sauce.

Served next to a soft chocolate ganache and an airy almond pavlova, the dessert balances the sorbet’s sweetness with strong cacao and rich nutty flavors.

The ricotta beignets, however, are the most striking dessert

comfort their crying daughters after a particularly critical tirade

by Abby. While the show does focus primarily on the aspirations, cogitations, and interactions of the moms, the girls, the youngest of whom is seven, are inevitably thrown into the spotlight.

Dance Moms is by no means the only reality show to focus on children. TLC is chock-full of such programming, with shows like 19 Kids and Counting, Sister Wives, and Little People, Big World that feature the daily struggles and stresses of atypical families. More infamously, TLC has brought us Toddlers in Tiaras, shedding light on the competitive world of children’s beauty pageants. Network television, too, has featured reality shows that center on children, like Kid Nation and The Baby Borrowers, but both were cancelled after legal challenges that questioned whether these shows were causing harm to the featured kids.

By nature, reality television lies in a gray zone between scripted series and documentary, the former requiring financial compensa-

HeaTHeR Regen

on Unum’s menu. If the motto E Pluribus Unum is reflected anywhere in the restaurant, it shows most strongly in the in-

depth to the warm fruit sauce’s sweetness, which, when soaked up by the beignets, makes for an incredible dish.

tion and legal protections for child safety, while the latter is free from the safeguards ensured by child labor laws. So shows like Dance Moms, which feature pre-planned events and interviews that involve children, blur the line between reality and fiction. Though generally treated as documentaries, reality shows have come under increasing fire for causing harm to children and unfairly compensating them for their “roles” in reality programming.

lawsuit, but eventually dropped the charges under stipulation that the children receive ample revenues from the show to be kept in a trust fund until they reach adulthood.

The Jon and Kate Plus 8 fiasco highlights several problems with the status quo. First, there are no comprehensive national laws protecting the rights of children in the film industry, and the only federal law establishing child labor standards, the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempts child actors. Thus the current system is a patchwork of laws across different states that provide varying degrees of protection for children. While states with large contingents of production studios like California and New York have fairly robust protection, Dance Moms’ home state of Pennsylvania does not.

Second, reality show producers need to recognize that the children in their shows are essential to the shows’ success. The children need to be compensated as such, and shows need to file the proper paperwork to officially hire the minors.

Trash Talk

by Keaton Hoffman a bi-weekly column about reality television Another Pennsylvania-set show, Jon and Kate Plus 8, faced criticism from actor’s unions and children’s rights groups who claimed that the program caused psychological harm to the children—it showed them in compromising positions during an infamous potty-training episode—and ultimately violated child labor laws by not compensating the child performers. The state of Pennsylvania pursued a

The incorporation of unlikely spices in traditional dishes centers Unum’s main courses as well. The restaurant’s lamb takes on an Indian character, coated with cilantromint chutney and raisin-cashew cauliflower. The soft meat slips off the shank bone easily, making the lamb appear even more delicate than the soft cauliflower it rests on.

Although the rosemary gnocchi is Unum’s only vegetarian main dish, it outshines its carnivorous counterparts as the best plate on the menu. The small dumplings are so soft that they barely even need the dish’s light truffle butter sauce, but with it, the pasta is irresistible. Paired with oyster mushrooms, butternut squash, and cranberries, the dish is offered in a smaller version for $10, although the larger plate at $18 is certainly worth the splurge.

Unum may be tough on a college student’s wallet, with some main dishes priced at $25, but if navigated right, the menu doesn’t cost much more than those at other sit-down restaurants on M Street. With an all-American name, a Senate-employed owner, and melting pot inspired plates, Unum fits right in with the D.C. restaurant culture.

The last, and more looming problem, involves the child’s consent. While many shows claim that children are willing participants in the programming, it remains unclear to what extent children are able to make decisions about their careers. The legal working age in most states is 16, but child actors are allowed to work as soon as they leave the womb, with parents deciding what roles they take on. The difference is that adult actors make money by appearing in reality programming, while reality TV children do not. Add on the potential for psychological harm that these children face and it quickly becomes apparent that the treatment of reality TV kids is child labor at best and child abuse at worst.

The state needs to step in and safeguard the vulnerability of these child performers by passing comprehensive laws establishing safe labor practices and fair compensation. In the case of Dance Moms, the girls perform intricate pirouettes and pliées for a national audience, and they deserve to get paid.

Sell your kids to Keaton at khoffman@georgetownvoice.com

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12 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

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

Eleanor Krause, Hold on Daylight, Tabletop Productions Not since they started making maple syrup has Vermont produced something as remarkably rich as the haunting tracks of Eleanor Krause’s Hold on Daylight. The Burlingtonbased crooner’s debut album lays out a simple combination of beautiful vocals and quiet guitars, which results in a moving sense of nostalgic serenity. The soft melodies of Daylight lend the album a folksy atmosphere reminiscent of Joan Baez, if Baez had honed her skills in the light of an Indiana campfire.

Opening with the titular track “Hold on Daylight,” the singer, who originally hails from Indiana, captures a peaceful sense of longing with a soft, ethereal voice backed by well-placed string accompaniment. While other songs, notably the banjo-infused “News-

stand,” put more emphasis on pure vocals to create the same atmosphere, the delightful familiarity of “Hold on Daylight” comes from its lyrics. In such frank lines as “Singin’ to himself / He don’t need no help,” Krause reveals a streak of stubborn individualism that echoes throughout the album.

But sometimes, the characteristic simplicity of Hold on Daylight becomes a fault, especially in the guitar accompaniment, which demonstrates little variation despite being featured on most of the album’s tracks. The constant, soft chords create a sound somewhat like that of a lullaby, and they sometimes seem to beg the artist to wake the song up with her strong voice. On certain tracks, Krause abides by this request, and her strong and sure vocals offer a lovely juxtaposition to the gentle acoustics, making tracks like “Like That Old Willow” some of the album’s impressive highlights.

The lyrics that Krause croons are on par with her stunning vocals, deftly grounding the album’s airiness the tangibility that comes from her own life experiences.

Though certainly not tinged with subtlety, songs like “Best of Luck” give a welcome break from the softness of the album, serving up such lines as “Six feet under is just as cold as the last time we spoke.”

Little gold men please Academy

There’s something special about the Oscars. Maybe it’s the glamorous red carpet entrances, where the freshly Botoxed faces mumble on about their bewilderment (and our bewilderment) at being invited to the Academy Awards without having appeared in any of the nominated films. Maybe it’s the gathering of unnatural-looking old men who have several lifetimes’ worth of accomplishments packed under their belts.

Maybe it’s the celebration of cinema, both old and new. But most of all, the real meaning of the Oscars is berating the Academy for consistently handing those little golden men to undeserving candidates.

The Academy Awards have been littered with erroneous victories and unjustified losses. Citizen Kane lost Best Picture to How Green Was My

Valley, a movie that might not even have a Wikipedia entry.

Rocky took home Best Picture over Taxi Driver, All the President’s Men, and Network. Having wasted more hours than I’d like to admit digging up these past Oscar upsets, I have developed a keen sense of which nominees will win this year.

It’s really a simple process: I pick out the legitimate winners, then choose their polar opposites. So with this deftness for Oscar predictions in mind, bear with me as I guide you through what will happen on the night of February 26.

Let’s start with the big one: Best Picture. The Artist has already garnered this honor in several of this season’s award shows, and no formidable opponents in this category have stepped up to the plate. Why people call a movie that is no

For a first album, Hold on Daylight captures an intricate soulfulness that is remarkable for an artist who has yet to graduate college. Though young, Krause’s soulful, poignant vocals create a mature sense of intimacy that puts her on the level of more seasoned folk artists.

Voice’s Choices: “Hold on Daylight,” “Best of Luck” —Claire McDaniel

Sleigh Bells, Reign of Terror, Mom+Pop Records A press release from Sleigh Bells describes their new release, Reign of Terror, as “the sonic equivalent of a beautiful shotgun to the head.” While the imagery certainly fits their 2010 debut Treats, the duo’s “beautiful shotgun” seems to have been loaded more than an imitation of every silent film imaginative or creative is a mystery, but when it comes to Oscar campaigning, the Weinstein brothers (the film’s distributors) are artists in their own right. Best Director and Best Picture have a tendency to go to the same film, but The Artist’s Michel Hazanavi-

Box office, Baby!

by John Sapunor

a bi-weekly column about film cius’ status as a newcomer may move the Best Director award into the hands of a veteran like Martin Scorsese or Terrence Malick. That said, Hazanavicius is riding on an awards season current that reeks of an upset, and as the past two years have seen this award go to nobodies like Kathryn Bigelow and Tom Hooper, he seems like the guy to beat.

with blanks here. Terror is, on the whole, an enjoyable LP, but the added noise on a number of tracks is distracting. Despite that their sound is largely defined by volume, Sleigh Bells allows this din to overwhelm many tracks that would benefit from a more focused sound.

Sleigh Bells has managed to create a sizable sound through guitarist Derek Miller ’s masterful use of reverb and distortion influenced by Def Leppard. On tracks like “Demons,” this effect adds to Miller ’s violent yet controlled riffs, and, when combined with front woman Alexis Krauss’s aggressive vocals, provides the perfect balance between aural clutter and musical virtuosity. “Crush,” too, achieves this balance, but adds a third element to the mix— Krauss’s ability to actually sing, as opposed to simply yelling her lyrics into the microphone like she usually does.

The prevalence of Krauss’s singing on Terror is a welcome contrast to the generally guitarheavy tracks. “Road to Hell” is a particular gem on the new LP; the track showcases Krauss’s voice, which is barely above a whisper, with guitar and synth lines steadily keeping the beat Moving into the acting categories, the choices become a bit more difficult. George Clooney has received steady praise for his role in The Descendants, and Brad Pitt and Gary Oldman are still in contention. Still, even up against distinguished actors, I won’t be shocked if the Academy chooses Jean Dujardin, the lead actor in The Artist. Actually, since he is the choice that would most piss me off, my gut tells me to bet on him.

Saying Meryl Streep deserves Best Actress is no longer a matter of opinion; it’s a fact. But since the establishment of this fact, the Academy no longer deems it necessary to give her the award, so Viola Davis of The Help better have her acceptance speech ready.

To round off this shot-calling, I have Christopher Plummer of Beginners winning Best Supporting Actor, and Melissa Mc-

without detracting from her vocal performance. The lyrics also underscore a shift from a top-ofthe-world attitude on Treats to a steadily creeping darkness on Reign of Terror. Krauss epitomizes this lyrical anguish in “You Lost Me,” as she sings, “I don’t want you to see me this way / But I wait and die.”

Unfortunately, the vocal focus is a rarity on Terror, and some tracks even allow for Krauss’s voice to be completely overtaken by the background’s sampled beats and remixed guitar riffs.

“True Shred Guitar,” which kicks off the album with a sample from a live performance in New Orleans, transforms into a medley of unnecessary sounds, which results in a song that is both short and repetitive.

Though Reign of Terror is not perfect, Sleigh Bells’ second LP demonstrates artistic growth.

The honeymoon phase of the Brooklyn duo is over; Krauss and Miller will now be able to focus on darker, more serious themes instead of merely pumping up the volume.

Voice’s Choices: “End of the Line,” “Road to Hell” —Kirill Makarenko Carthy of Bridesmaids winning for Best Supporting Actress.

Of course, I hope neither of them actually does.

I’m not happy about my grumpy pessimism towards the Oscars, but in a way, I feel like I’m standing up for the integrity of cinema as it takes a beating from the politicized Academy members.

What tugs at my soul is the sight of a deserving recipient sitting in his chair, applauding a fellow nominee’s inferior yet prize-winning performance.

So please, Academy, don’t give Melissa McCarthy Best Supporting Actress for a performance that included her literally shitting in a sink. You’ll break my heart, and shortly after, I’ll break my TV. Send your own dream-crushing Oscar winning predictions to John at jsapunor@georgetownvoice.com

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the georgetown voice 13

Page 13 Investigative Report Markel Starks’s Trash

Last week, Vox Populi editor Jackson Perry published a photo of the vice-presidential debate placard of candidate Markel Starks, which was filled with doodles of tic-tac-toe games played against himself and musings about whether or not he was hungry. Many commenters— including Starks himself—decried Perry’s choice to publish the placard. While Perry, a communist racist who hates athletes, might have questionable moral standards, Page 13 has no journalistic integrity at all.

Seeking only to piss everyone off further, we went through Markel’s trash last night.

Here’s what we found:

• Soccer cleats and a baseball glove

• Receipt for Chinese food ordered at 2 a.m. It also indicates he only tipped 50 cents

• Incriminating photos of Dan LaMagna • Omar Wattad

• Hundreds of crumpled up papers with hangman games on them; they are all unfinished

• Letter to the Big East indicating his intention to personally leave the Big East Conference

• Dartboard with photo of Jackson Perry in center • Pair of sneakers from hit film, Like Mike • Vice President Joe Biden’s fake ID • Page 13’s lost dignity

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14 the georgetown voice

february 23, 2012

Overzealous GUSA candidates take battle to YouTube

by Tori Jovanovski Dorm-storming, flyering, and Red Square antics were once enough to win an election. But members of today’s generation of would-be GUSA executives would be remiss if they neglected to engage students on the Internet as well as in real life.

Whereas online campaigning may have started out as a way to get a leg up on the competition, it is now expected that candidates keep up appearances on multiple social networking sites.

The seven tickets have Facebook pages, Twitter streams, YouTube channels, and fullfledged websites. We’ve got GUSA candidates jumping through hoops to earn our votes, and I feel a little sorry for them; I can only imagine how much the pressure of maintaining an Internet presence adds to the overwhelming stress of juggling

campaigning in person with the demanding responsibilities of being a student.

Still, I’m having a hard time deciding whether to be impressed or annoyed. No longer can I retreat to the depths of Lau’s microforms section and feel safe from the barrage of slogans and promises, because every study break is an opportunity for Facebook to push one ticket after another at me. It hasn’t quite reached the level of the circus that moves into Lau 2 in the evenings, but lately my newsfeed has been overflowing with Sax-Crouch profile pictures and Murph and Mike campaign video shares. Unfortunately for the candidates, this kind of oversaturation can rub students the wrong way— I know more than a few Hoyas who are so fed up with the campaigns that they don’t plan to vote at all.

The Clara-Vail Campaign occupying precious Lau 2 tables.

CONNIE YANG

Campaign videos remain perhaps the only good thing to come out of the GUSA election season. The candidates use these videos to show students what candidates think is the best way to portray themselves to get elected: goofy or serious, no-nonsense or folksy, issuescentered or, shall we say, more focused on style. In short, videos allow curmudgeons like me to judge candidates more easily, and to reduce hardworking Hoyas and their carefully crafted platforms to little more than a scoff or a giggle.

The “Meet Colton and Maggie” video from the MalkersonCleary camp, for instance, is all business. So serious about their campaign that they can’t even crack a smile, Colton and Maggie run through a comprehensive list of proposals and credentials.

It’s pretty clear that these two were voted “Most likely to have LinkedIn accounts already” in their senior yearbooks, and I bet they have a strong stance on national security.

Clara Gustafson (SFS ‘13) and Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ‘13), on the other hand, seem somehow to engage the entire Georgetown community in their video. How they plan to get so much done for so many different groups of people on campus remains a mystery, but their “all together now!” vibe, combined with arthritis medication commercial music, make for a cheerful viewing experience.

Similarly, jacks-of-all-trades Tyler Sax (COL ‘13) and Michael

Crouch (MSB ‘13) miraculously manage to run all-inclusively from squash, to gospel choir, to a radio show, to Groove Theory practice in their campaign video—all in one day! Without Hermione’s Time-Turner! If voting for Sax-Crouch gets me endless hours in the day, sign me up.

In what is definitely the campaign video most suitable to play at your next pregame, Murphy Kate Delaney (COL ‘13) and Mike Appau (COL ‘13) paint themselves as reformers raring to shake up the system. Their version of Watch the Throne song, whose title I don’t feel comfortable writing would win the Grammy in the category of “Best Use of ‘Hoya’ as an Adjective,” thanks to the lyrical ingenuity that is the line, “People say I’m the Hoya-est, even more than DeGioia is.” Look out Tate Tucker, here comes Murphy Kate.

A favorite tactic this year has been the tried and true method of emulating another commercial or video. Daniel LaMagna (COL ‘13) and Markel Starks (COL ‘14) parodied the bizarre Herman Cain spot that featured his campaign manager smoking, and since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess Dan and Markel must be big Herman Cain fans. I suspect they see themselves as “mavericks,” which is fine by me—as long as Markel is still a Georgetown Hoya at the end of the day.

Nate Tisa (SFS ‘14) and Sheila Walsh’s (COL ‘14) camp released a regrettably unimagi-

native rendition of the tired “Sh*t People Say” videos, entitled “Sh*t Hoyas Say.” Though it was probably intended to unite Georgetown students with scenes of their shared experiences, the video actually ended up making me feel like I don’t go here. Apparently we all walk around chirping “hashtag!” and sighing about peer advisors, which I didn’t know. The plight of the SafeRides-forsaken Hoya, though, was a theme explored by several tickets that undoubtedly deserves the airtime TisaWalsh gave it.

Finally, as a native Detroiter, John Morris and Lauren Weber’s rendition of Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” commercial was a welcome sight. Fully invested, I sighed in relief as they narrowly skirted the seal outside Healy. What can I say?

A dramatic voiceover can really reel me in.

Much like the preppiestor-most-hipster question, the debate rages on over whether Georgetown students are highly political or surprisingly apathetic. Though the experts remain divided, I think we can all agree that the candidates and their selfless campaign managers who are running for the GUSA presidency make life a little more amusing this time of year.

and love, and placed value on new, less conventional words and images. Above all, free verse allowed for the constant formation of new poetic structures, in place of the limits in meter and rhyme of the past.

With such a plurality of forms, however, poetry began to lose its distinctiveness and, to some, its meaning as art. More pieces of writing could be considered poetry, and judgment of them thus became less objective. Without poetic conventions against which to measure a poem, each poem’s meaning became almost entirely up to the reader.

This is not to say that all free verse poetry is bad— Whitman and Williams are celebrated for a reason, after all.

Free verse poetry is difficult to write well, since the only organizational tool for the author to use is the line breaks.

Poets of the post-modern era,

in their fascination for free verse, have forced themselves into the most difficult style of poetry to write.

Unfortunately, the love of free verse has lessened the appreciation of more traditional poetry. Outside of a literature class, very few of my classmates read and enjoy poetry.

According to the American Academy of Poets, “very few poets rely entirely on the proceeds from their work … Most poets, even the most widely published, hold other jobs,” such as teaching or journalism.

These societal changes caused a dwindling in famous poets, but not necessarily a lack of creativity. Inordinate desire for free verse and fewer incentives for writing good poetry have combined to cool the fervor of potential writers.

Perhaps the literary world has moved beyond formal poetry, and I am a mere tradi-

tionalist stuck in the past. Remember, however, the many revivals throughout literary history—the Renaissance revived the classics, the nineteenth century revived Celtic literature, and the twentieth revived Irish lit. In light of the past, a revival of Romanticism is certainly possible in the 21st century. Contemporary poets should draw from Classical and Romantic poetry, in addition to Modernist poetry, though more moderately.

Melding both the new and the old, as Robert Frost did, is the only way to channel this generation’s creativity into original poetry and move the art form forward as a medium.

Tori Jovanovski is a Junior in the College.

The line “Straight out of Ghana, a Georgetown Obama” is still stuck in her head from the Murph-Mike video.

Revive the Romantics and invigorate contemporary poetry

by Alex Zajac Few poets since William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg have gained the reputation that poets used to enjoy.

Often, critics place the blame for this on a dearth of creativity in recent generations.

But instead of drawing such a conclusion, the problem may instead be that contemporary poetry is simply weakened by changing conceptions of the definition of art.

Romantic poetry focused highly on meter and, to a lesser degree, rhyme. Shakespeare used metered rhyme in his love poetry, as did Alexander Pope in his satire. Blank verse was standard for English epics like Milton’s Paradise Lost. Poetry was judged not only by the author ’s skill in using words and invoking emotion, but also by his ability to properly employ formal structures. Free verse

was an unfamiliar concept at this time.

Walt Whitman was one of the first poets to become famous for free verse. With the help of Emily Dickinson’s popularity, a newer culture of poetry began to develop, straying from the strict formalism of the past. This continued with later poets, like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. Robert Frost is a unique character in this movement—he applied strict formalism to the lyric styles of Whitman and Dickinson.

Nevertheless, free verse continued to march forward and displaced formalism, culminating with the work of E.E. Cummings, who ignored not only poetic rules but grammatical ones as well.

Poetry thus began to be prized foremost for its originality. Poets scorned traditional subjects, such as nature

Alex Zajac is a freshman in the College. He asked his girlfriend out for the first time in rhyming iambic pentameter.

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the georgetown voice

15

Endemic intolerance: The flippancy of anti-Mormon bigotry

by Connor Jones This Tuesday, Rev. Franklin Graham, the influential son of the famed evangelist Billy Graham, told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Mitt Romney is not a Christian. Even though Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, considers himself a practicing Christian, Graham said he outwardly respects Romney’s faith but considers it too unfamiliar to be grouped with his own.

Insistence on such distinctions characterizes discussions of Mormonism. The faith is more often treated as an object of ridicule rather than the transformational spiritual guide that it often is. When anyone mentions Mormonism, more often than mentioning its focus on family or missionary service, people decide to tell me that Mormons believe that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, or how Mormons believe that Jesus came to the new world to teach the Native Americans.

How idiotic could they be? Everybody knows that the Garden of Eden was in Iraq and that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples in Galilee, not Mexico.

When looked at from the outside, every religious tradition

looks moronic. Just as easily as a Catholic can mock Mormonism’s prohibition against coffee, I can ask questions about Catholicism too. Why doesn’t God have a wife? Why would you follow a savior who was weak enough to be killed? And why would you drink his blood and eat his body?

I know each of these questions has a perfectly respectable answer that does not necessarily oblige anyone to believe the tenets on which they rest, but it does certainly compel the questioner to at least respect the tradition that imbues those tenets with meaning. Human culture encompasses many rich religious traditions, not all of which are easily understood growing up in a different belief system.

The problem, however, is that many Americans—or at least Georgetown students—already appreciate diversity of belief. Religious tolerance is widespread in the United States. Americans were appalled when France banned the niqab, a form of the burqa that involves covering of the entire face. Such a ban on voluntary religious expression was widely viewed to be a violation of natural rights, an abuse on the minority by the majority. Just 28 percent

Paying to stay competitive

With Georgetown’s new science center, Regents Hall, just months away from completion, the time has come for Georgetown to shift its focus towards its next major project. And so, last week, the University revealed revised plans for a new athletic training facility, which will be submitted for final regulatory approval in the coming months.

If all goes well with the Old Georgetown Board and the Zoning Commission, the University can finally begin moving forward with the first major addition to athletics practice facilities since McDonough Gymnasium was built in 1951. Needless to say, the new facility, which hosts dedicated practice space for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as new locker rooms and training areas for other sports, is a major upgrade. Athletic director Lee Reed called it “transformational.” John Thompson III simply said it was “necessary.”

For varsity athletes, or anyone who cares about the success of Georgetown sports, the new Intercollegiate Athletic Center makes perfect sense. However, not everyone in the University community feels that way. After meeting with administrators to discuss the project last Thursday, I wrote up a post on the new developments for Vox Populi. In the comments, a student (or at least someone self-identifying as “Student”) questioned the University’s priorities: why not upgrade Lauinger first?

I’m in full support of the new practice facility, but I cannot say that I haven’t thought about the logic of the University devoting resources to athletics that could go to academics. It’s an issue that’s being raised increasingly, not just at Georgetown but around the country. The endless parade of scandals plaguing major college sports programs (primarily in football and men’s basketball) has called into question whether

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of Americans would approve of a ban, making it less popular than the IRS (40 percent) and only three times as popular as Congress (9 percent).

In the United States, few religious traditions are disrespected with the same flippancy as Mormonism is, even though Mormonism is hardly an outlier in terms of belief. Mormon temple garments, ridiculed as magic long underwear, are intended to be constant reminders to act modestly and in a respectable manner. They can be removed, and do not restrict Mormons from doing anything that a Protestant, for example, could do. The garments are remarkably similar to a Sikh’s turban, which is a symbol of respect, spirituality, courage, and piety.

Sikhs wear their turbans proudly as a symbol of their heritage, without any derision from people who don’t share their religious norms. People don’t hush their voices when they insult Mormons, but the same person would be shunned if he or she ever made a joke about the religious headgear. No one would chastise a Jew for eating kosher, but somehow Mormonism’s proscription against tea is funny.

Mormons believe that Jesus came to America. Many Hindus bethe current athletics model is tenable. The athletic experience can be an important component of a student’s development, but at the upper echelons of NCAA football and basketball, the best teams are professional in every sense except for payment of players, or lack thereof.

Some argue that major college sports are antithetical to the educational mission of a university. While it is hard to disagree

Carrying On

by Tim Shine A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

that athletes sacrifice some of their education, almost every college student has extracurricular activities, and I know that athletes aren’t the only ones who prioritize them over schoolwork. Expecting students to spend four years singularly focused on their studies is an idealistic and antiquated notion.

Whether high-level athletics belong at colleges isn’t really an argument worth having, however, because they already exist, and they’re not going anywhere. Payfor-play and academic scandals around sports date back to 1900, and the college athletic model has shown a remarkable ability to adapt and grow despite them. Too

Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman hold secret meetings in the inner sanctum. lieve that the world was created in an egg, yet Hindus are spared the derision because they are protected by the doctrine of multiculturalism, which does not extend to Mormons.

The stereotypical Mormon is a white American from the mountain West, even though 52 percent of Mormons live outside the United States, and a majority are not white. Yet the persistent, popular view of Mormons remains.

Polls vary, but a mere 15 percent of Americans say that they would be less willing to support a Jewish president, whereas the number for Mormons is 36 percent, and the values for gays and Muslims are even higher (46 percent and 59 percent). many schools are now built on the backs of their athletic programs for them to ever disappear. It’s not even about revenue—only a handful of college athletic departments turn a profit—but marketing.

Sports are a loss leader for universities, getting their brand out to the public and engaging their alumni (i.e. donors).

Georgetown is no exception.

John Thompson Jr. didn’t make Georgetown the top-tier academic school it is today, but the Hoyas’ rise to prominence in the 1980s helped increase national awareness of what, to that point, had been a largely regional university. Sports may not directly improve the quality of education at a school, but they can improve the quality of the students in the classroom. According to a Virginia Tech study, even a Sweet 16 appearance by a school’s men’s basketball team corresponds with a three percent increase in applications the next year, allowing for greater selectivity.

Of course, if athletic success comes at the cost of spending on academics, that benefit quickly disappears. Despite other sorely needed upgrades to facilities around campus, the new practice center doesn’t really fall into that category. The $55 million project will be completely funded by donors as part of the University’s $1.5 billion capital campaign. Perhaps if the IAC didn’t exist, those

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Neither a gay person nor a Mormon would necessarily make a worse president. Perceptions of what is offensive change over time, and many once-proud racists are now largely quiet. Eventually, Americans will realize that disrespect is inexcusable regardless of how small the minority is. Perhaps, when our generation grows old, we’ll embarrass our grandchildren by joking about Romney’s underwear.

Connor Jones is a freshman in the College. He also wears special underwear—but for completely different reasons. benefactors would put that money into renovating Lau, but it seems unlikely. A lot of rich alumni care about Georgetown sports, and the University is happy to improve life for more than 750 varsity athletes if someone else is willing to pay.

There are certainly schools that have mixed up their priorities with regards to academics and athletics, but thankfully Georgetown isn’t one of them. If you need proof, just look to the other big behind-thescenes story in Georgetown sports last week—the Patriot League’s decision to allow athletic scholarships. As fun as I imagine it would be to see Georgetown become a major football force, I have to give credit to President DeGioia for standing by his position that football scholarships are not for Georgetown. Winning a college football championship is an expensive proposition, not to mention a long shot. It may come as a disappointment to some Georgetown fans, but the University isn’t going to waste money getting caught up in that chase. With that philosophy, a major outlay on athletic facilities once every half-century hardly seems excessive.

Tim Shine is a senior in the MSB. Full disclosure: He actually would defund academics for the sake of sports.