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VOICE the georgetown

CONTEXT CLUES: Gathering the pieces of life at Georgetown

By Elizabeth Baker, James Constant, and Catriona Pagni

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w August 28, 2014 w Volume 47, Issue 2 w georgetownvoice.com

the

Voice AUGUST 28, 2014

Julia S. Tanaka Editor in Chief

Steven Criss Managing Editor Mary-Bailey Frank General Manager BLOG Editor: Ryan Greene

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

NEWS Editor: Julia Jester

Context Clues

The Voice explains the social dynamics of Georgetown to guide new students.

Editorial ... Schooling sexual assault, pg. 3 News ... Navigating campus construction, pg. 4 Sports ... New coach for Hoya football, pg. 6 Feature ... Piecing together the Georgetown puzzle, pg. 8 Leisure ... D.C.’s freshest farmers’ markets, pg. 10 Page 13 ... Freshman Year Mistakes, pg. 13 Voices ... Sectarianism and neoliberalism, pg. 14

Letters to the Editor The Georgetown Voice welcomes responses, questions, and opinions from its readers. Submit all e-mails to editor@georgetownvoice.com.

Please include your name, year, and school. Bear in mind that letters may be edited for length and clarity and may be published and used in any medium.

Assistant Editors: Shalina Chatlani, James Constant, Lara Fishbane

SPORTS Editor: Chris Castano

Assistant Editors: Kevin Huggard, Joe Pollicino

FEATURE Editor: Caitriona Pagni COVER Editor: Christina Libre LEISURE Editor: Josh Ward

Assistant Editors: Elizabeth Baker, Sam Kleinman, Manuela Tobias

VOICES Editor: Chris Almeida

Assistant Editor: Grace May

PHOTO Editor: Ambika Ahuja

Assistant Editors: Sabrina Kayser, Gavin Myers, Joshua Raftis

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

COPY Chief: Eleanor Fanto

Editors: Judy Choi, Allison Galezo, Rachel Greene, Ryan Miller, Dana Suekoff

EDITORIAL BOARD Chair: Ian Philbrick

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

Tim Annick Managing Director On this week’s cover: Dahlgren’s Stained Glass Puzzle Photo by Joshua Raftis

editorial

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The georgetown voice | 3

va is for consensual lovers

GU and VA Gov. McAuliffe take campus sexual assault to task As part of a statewide campaign to improve how university officials adjudicate reports of on-campus sexual assaults, Virginia Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe recently announced the creation of a task force charged with reviewing the sexual assault policies of 76 Virginia colleges and universities. Along with his Attorney General Mark Herring and 17 public higher education leaders, the governor also signed an official declaration resolving to prevent sexual assault and ensure that schools enact fair judicial procedures to address reported incidences.

Misconduct by university administrators has come under greater scrutiny as sexual as-

sault becomes an increasingly rampant problem on college campuses. Federal data alone shows a 50 percent rise in reported incidents of rape from 2009 to 2012. Most recently, James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA was put under federal investigation for Title IX violations after its administration found three students guilty of sexual assault and harassment, but responded only by banning the perpetrators from campus after graduation.

The survivor, on the other hand, has since withdrawn from the school. Incidents such as this are not unique to JMU; McAuliffe’s initiative, which emphasizes bystander intervention and discourages the shaming

of victims, may be just the push higher education officials need to address instances of sexual assault responsibly.

Unfortunately, the Georgetown bubble does not shield Hoyas from the problem. According to data released by the National College Health Assessment, one in four women—and one in 33 men—will be sexually assaulted during their time at Georgetown.

First-year students are particularly at risk during their first six weeks on campus, a time period commonly referred to as the “Red Zone.”

Although Georgetown’s response to sexual assaults have historically been disappointing, over the past year the

University has responded positively to student activism and taken several notable steps forward. The Student Code of Conduct now includes an alcohol amnesty policy, which disregards alcohol-related conduct violations when they coincide with reports of sexual assault. Additionally, Student Health Services has hired an additional staff member who specializes in counseling sexual assault survivors. These new measures are also proactive.

For the first time, New Student Orientation for the incoming freshman class included a mandatory workshop and dialogue about the prevalence of sexual assault on campus called Hoya RealTalk.

While Georgetown prides itself on fostering a safe environment for student development, as long as sexual assault remains an issue, campus will not be a truly safe space. Thus, the importance of inviting open dialogue and creating awareness about the realities of sexual assault—both at Georgetown and on campuses across the nation—cannot be overstated.

Nevertheless, the much-needed initiatives pursued by the University and Gov. McAuliffe will require a commitment to continued partnership among students, university administrations, and local and state governments if they are to signal the first steps down a long road to creating permanent change.

Better Endowed

Hands up, don’t speak

Georgetown should lead on divestment from fossil fuels

In Ferguson, entrenched social ills in need of dialogue

The student group GU Fossil Free released the final draft of a proposal titled “Divesting Georgetown’s Endowment from Fossil Fuels” on August 19.

The 35-page document is the culmination of a twoyear campaign to compel the University to abandon funding from companies that produce fossil fuels, an initiative similar to efforts at schools including Harvard, Vassar, and Swarthmore. In addition to its practical goals and multilateral approach, the proposal charts a practical course toward environmental responsibility—a march in which Georgetown should assume leadership.

The multi-campus divestment campaign has received support not only from college students, but also from academics and policy experts—a multifaceted approach reflected by GU Fossil Free’s newest proposal. A recent article in the Harvard Political Review concluded that “divestment from select fossil fuel producers would send a powerful message to the energy industry and the nation” and show that “America’s universities take the climate-energy challenge seriously.”

The current proposal dates to May 2013, when GU Fossil Free released a first draft to the campus community and later engaged Georgetown students, administrators, alumni, faculty, and the University’s Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility in discussions about feasibly implementing its recommendations.

The revised proposal addresses head-on the financial risks of divestment and the notion that divestment would financially threaten the University’s endowment. Citing the shifting sands of environmental resources, changing social and market norms, and government and legal consequences, the proposal concludes that not only are the negative effects of divestment negligible but that doing so would actually increase the overall financial security of the University’s endowment because of the high risk of fossil fuel investments.

Nevertheless, divestment alone will not curb fossil fuel companies’ consumption of natural resources, nor will it wholly alter their market behavior.

As a recent Huffington Post column argues, these

companies will continue to profit from less squeamish investors until divestment feverreaches a critical mass.

Moreover, GU Fossil Free’s proposal does nothing to combat investment from coal companies, which currently accounts for the greatest amount of atmospheric pollution.

In its conclusion, however, the proposal persuasively argues that divestment is a necessary step towards addressing global climate change that also poses minimal financial risk. The pedigree of colleges that have pursued divestment is currently small and the number of Catholic universities to have done so is smaller still. In late June, the University of Dayton became the first Catholic college in the United States to divest from fossil fuels, a move praised both by ecologists and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Just last month, even Pope Francis branded the exploitation of the natural world a “sin … of our time.” A decision to begin to divest Georgetown’s Endowment Fund from its fossil fuel company holdings could have profound positive implications for both the future of the University as well as that of the planet.

The cover of this week’s issue of the New Yorker is awash in red and yellow, the silhouettes of protesters with raised arms backlit by the spotlights of a police armored vehicle manned by a helmeted figure with a gun.

Eric Drooker’s illustration, based on a photograph by Scott Droll, aptly embodies the fallout that has resulted from the August 9 shooting of 18 year-old black teenager Michael Brown by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, MO. Perhaps because of the stillhazy facts surrounding it, and perhaps because of the glaring issue of the militarization of American law enforcement it has provoked, the shooting has garnered headlines and polarized punditry.

But to what end?

National reactions to protests and to the heavy-handed bungling of Ferguson police reveal systemic issues that have manifested at every level of American society. The shooting says something pro-

found—and profoundly dismaying—about continuing issues of race relations, including the poor representation of minorities on police forces and municipal governments in towns like Ferguson, barriers to minority enfranchisement and political activism, and daily socioeconomic barriers. It has also invited criticism of the advanced militarization of police departments across America and police brutality in response to citizen protests.

Moreover, it has laid bare the stark reality of how some in this country view young black men: not as children, not as innocents, but as perpetrators who are guilty until proven innocent.

A feature story for T he Atlantic this ye a r b y r e n o w n e d African-American journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates made the case for reparations by the American government as recompense for decades of oppression, disenfranchisement, and federally condoned inequality against black Ameri-

cans subsequent to their emancipation.

Ferguson has violently blown the lid off the ugliest still-living roots of this greatest national failure. Fifty years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act, even conversations in the public forum are hamstrung by race’s third-rail status in American politics and society. When the first African-American president of the United States, constrained by the fear of political backlash, sends his attorney general as an emissary to comment on issues of race in his stead, we are struggling with a deep-seated societal ill that further dialogue— even when scheduled to take place at Georgetown—will not be sufficient to resolve.

Ultimately, understanding what happened in the noon heat of August on a smalltown city street will go far beyond ballistics, testimony, and even crime and punishment. The shooting of Michael Brown was Ferguson’s tragedy, but the issues it has dredged up are America’s pain.

news

4 | the georgetown voice

AUGUST 28, 2014

SAXA POLITICA:

a tri-weekly column about CAMPUS NEWS AND POLITICS

PLANNING GEORGETOWN’S BLUEPRINT

CLAIRE ZENG

WELCOME TO THE GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY OBSTACLE COURSE.

ADAPTED FROM THE OFFICE OF PLANNING AND FACILITIES

Campus construction creates new pedestrian, bus routes SHALINA CHATLANI Georgetown welcomed students to a construction-heavy Hilltop this week. With the university trying to meet goals outlined by the 2010 Campus Plan to increase on-campus student activity and living space, several projects are simultaneously underway. Now, students in all areas of campus have developed concerns about noise levels, traffic detours, and safety.

Robin Morey, vice president of Planning and Facilities, stressed the importance of taking smarter routes andavoidingtheconstructionzones.

“Our primary concern is safety. Students really should follow the pedestrian paths and not walk on the road,” he said. “Students are generally used to walking on the road by Regents and now they should try to stay on the sidewalk.”

Construction workers have been advised to direct students toward the sidewalks or pedestrian pathwaysaroundHenle,Reiss,Healy, Regents, McDonough Gym, New South, and the Jesuit Residence— areas affected by construction.

Morey acknowledged students’ apprehension over the increase in noise level. He reassures that construction will be kept to a minimum—or even stopped—during midterms and finals, that alternative forms of construction will be used to mitigate any ruckus and that workday hours will not be bothersome toward students’sleep schedules.

“Wearedoingeverythingwecan tominimizethenoise,”saidMorey.“For example, we’re using drilling, which is a lot less noise intensive. Generally speaking, the normal construction workday is 8 a.m. to 5p.m.—definitely noconstructionatfiveinthemorning.”

Here’s what to expect as you move throughout campus’ construction zones this year.

HFSC, OLD JES RES: NEW SOUTH, VILLAGE A

The Healey Family Student Centerisnearingitsfinalstagesofconstruction and will open on Sept. 5, though without the yet-to-be-named pub and

theCorp’ssaladshop,TheHilltoss.

The back areas of New South are still being developed, affecting areas mostlyaround the rearend ofVillage A and Leo’s. “On the outside of the building is a rain garden and bioretention pond that’s environmentallysustainable,”said Morey. “There will also be two decks, one of which will be open on Sept. 5. It will have chairs and gardens that students can take advantage of and hang out in.”

Construction on the old Jesuit Residence, Ryan and MulledyHalls, has already begun and is scheduled for completion by July 2015.

dorf Rd. between ICC and Regents Hall has been closed since Aug. 25 to pedestrians and non-construction automobiles, limiting student traffic.

Northeast Triangle’s location will mostly affect areas of campus

by Reiss and Henle. Pedestrians can expect to see a number of signs designating safe travel areas and fenced off walkways along the sides of the road. Alternative entrances will also be opened for access to Leavey.

THOMPSON ATHLETIC CENTER: MCDONOUGH, YATES

The construction of the Thompson Athletic Center is slated to begin next Tuesday, provided the University is granted a permit.

Chris Jordan, the project manager for the center, said that students will most likely have to take the route past librarywalktogettoMcDonough.

“The biggest impact will be to McDonough Gym, and there is going to be a covered walkway on the alleyway between the gym and the utility plant,” he said.

CAMPUS SHUTTLE ROUTES

Brian Barger, senior project manager for the site, wrote in an email to the Voice, ”In the upcoming months students can expect to hear falling debris down the trash chute and dumpster trucks removing waste from the site. There will also be steel and lumber deliveries as structural repairs are made.”

Structural work will be restricted to the interior. There will also be some exteriorwork involving the removal and restoration of windows.

“Library Walk will see a change in pedestrian and traffic flows,” Barger said, “We will be deploying barriers to safely separate construction equipment and delivery trucks from pedestrian pathways.”

NORTHEAST TRIANGLE DORM: REISS, HENLE, LEAVEY

Construction on the Northeast Triangle Dorm is expected to begin this September and continue through summer 2016. According to an email that was sent out by the Office of Planning and Facilities on August 22, Ton-

Buildings aren’t the onlycampus elements affected by master planning—the 2010 Campus Plan calls for allbusloops,withtheexceptionofWisconsinAve.,togothroughCanalRd.on theeastsideofcampus.Thestopforthe Dupont Circle route will be relocated to what is now the parking area beside the McDonough Gym, which will be redesignated as a turning area for the Rosslyn,DupontandArlingtonlines.

“Half of the passenger trips are on Rosslyn and Arlington, the other halfisDupont,andnowit’sallinonelocation serving the whole population,” said Morey. He also noted the impact of moving the location away from the GeorgetownUniversityHospitalarea.

“The majority of the Dupont route is facility, staff, and medical.Whilewe’d like to have something penetrate further north of campus, we just can’t do that right now.”

For students unable to make the trek to East Campus, the University will provide a shuttle. Construction of the turning area is expected to begin in March 2015 and end in October that same year.

It’s hard to not talk about the banging of construction, dust of drywall, and random road closures that will last for the next year. All this is driven by the requirements of the 2010 Campus Plan, which stipulates that the University add 385 beds to campus by 2015.

One can simply think back to the “satellite campus” fiasco from last fall, where the administration considered housing students in an off-campus dorm in Rosslyn or Capitol Hill. The Georgetown University Student Association, in response, helped launch the “One Georgetown, One Campus” campaign and led a referendum where over 90 percent of students decisively voted against a “satellite campus.”

Although somewhat dramatic, this incident demonstrated the stress that the University administration is under to meet a tight timeline. All the construction redirects and road closures are an inevitable inconvenience. But, there are ways to at least tryto make everyone less unhappy.

Anyone who recalls the satellite campus event will remember that the primarydriverof student discontent was the lack of transparency in administrative action. Following the blowback from the satellite campus referendum, the University did not seem to have learned from its mistakes when it made a housing selection change that disadvantaged students studying abroad and announced the possibility of a thirdyear housing requirement. Both had less than satisfactory student engagement in the form of small focus groups. Again, students were furious, and GUSA members, again, criticized the University’s recurrent lack of student engagement. I worry about the University’s penchant towards only informing students of important policydecisions after-thefact, which is a challenge to combat due to students’ lack of authority over administrative decisions.

Secondly, as students are moved back on campus, the University must reform its disciplinary policies and code of conduct restrictions, especiallybeginningwiththejunioryearhousing requirement effective starting with the class of 2017. Partying should bemadeassafeaspossibleoncampus to avoid continuing to push it off-campus where students are more likely to be victims of harm and crime. The University clearly recognizes this and has made clear steps in relaxing con-

duct violations, such as the test trials of 21+ open container areas in Henle and Village A and clarifying the alcohol amnesty provision in situations of sexual assault in the code of conduct.

GUSA President TrevorTezel (SFS ’15) and Vice President Omika Jikaria’s (SFS ’15) team has also prioritized expunging first-time alcohol violations from student disciplinaryrecords and lifting the ban on alcohol paraphernalia, which are positive steps I look forwardtoseeingimplemented.

Finally, the importance of affordable housing absolutely demands prioritization. A double in a dorm or on-campus apartment costs between $4,700 and $5,200, which translates to at least $1,175 per month. For comparison, a single in Burleith can run around$1,000permonthandaround $1,300 per month in generally pricier West Georgetown. To be fair, the cost of University housing includes utilities, cleaning services and security. There is, however, no guarantee from the University that it will price housing costs to ensure affordability, nor are there incentives for the University to do so, especially in light of the multiple expensive construction and renovation projects on which the Universitywillneedtorecoupcosts.

I’m encouraged by the recent UniversityagreementwithGUSAtoensure fouryearsofon-campushousingforstudentswithhighfinancialneed,whichwill allow for those students’ housing costs to be fully covered by scholarships and financial aid. In the long term, however, 90 percent of students must be housed on campus by2025 underthe Campus Plan anyway. I hope affordability is alwaysinthebackofthemindsofGUSA membersandadministratorsalike.

I’ve talked about what I hope to see from administration, but students need to deliver too, and I’ve seen apathy from most students. It’s discouraging when students don’t care and subsequently get angry at the University for making decisions they don’t like. For instance, following the “satellite campus” outrage, the University hosted dorm open houses and campus planning town hallsandactivelyadvertisedthrough multiple campus-wide email blasts.

Attendance was disappointingly low at some of these open houses. The University cannot be blamed for the lackofstudentsthatshowuptofocus sessions and open houses, nor does the University have a responsibility to aggressively entice students—beyond offering pizza, of course.

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the georgetown voice | 5

NSO includes first ever mandatory sexual assault education component JULIA JESTER For the first time, New Student Orientation included a mandatory sexual assault education component this year after a recent push from student organizations, including the Voice and GUSA. Last year’s NSO held a voluntary ice cream social addressing the issue of sexual assault during Welcome Week. This year, however, sexual assault education was integrated into HoyaRealTalk.

Performers from the Georgetown theatre community put on a skit addressing issues within college culture, complete with videos from campus resources sprinkled throughout the show and followed by small group discussions with IAmReady facilitators.

The humorous skit showed what sexual assault can look like on a college campus by using a stereotypical party setting to highlight the how the actions of a drunk guy hitting on a tipsy freshman girl are inappropriate. The character’s friends sat him down

NSO Performers STEP out of their roles to discuss sexual assault. in a chair for a game-show style quiz on what is and is not proper, or legal, behavior—including the fact that if a girl is under the influence of alcohol, she cannot legally consent to any sexual encounter. The skit’s comedic tone changed quickly, however, when the actors and actresses stepped out of their roles to start a serious conversation.

“Consent is never assumed, implied, or pressured,” said one of the HoyaRealTalk performers. “Only yes means yes,” said another.

JULIA JESTER

They shared the statistics that one in four females and one in 33 males encounter sexual assault while in college, reinforcing the importance of their message.

The event also included an interactive feature in which students could text responses to questions, including “Do you know someone who is a survivor of sexual assault?” to which 54 percent of freshmen respondents in the first session anonymously responded “Yes.” Overall, feedback on how HoyaRealTalk addressed sexu-

Four-year housing guaranteed for students with financial need NOAH BUYON For Hoyas receiving financial aid, there was a bright spot to be found amid the grime and whine of construction activity that greeted them on campus: GUSA helped secure four years of on-campus housing eligibility for students with high financial need, partly due to the looming requirement of the addition of 385 new beds to campus by fall 2015 as per the 2010 Campus Plan. The new policy, announced last Wednesday, is expected to take effect before students can sign up for 2015-2016 housing eligibility in October.

GUSAPresident TrevorTezel explained that, inyears prior, returning

students whose financial aid packages covered housing costs could be denied eligibility to live on campus due to an absence of available beds.

“The issue came to my attention, and was included on my election platform because I have a friendwho was in that exact situation, in which they were really counting on getting on-campus housing but weren’t eligible, and it really caused them to … freak out,” said Tezel.

Missy Foy (COL ‘13), executive director of the Georgetown Scholarship Program, noted that there was only so much administrators could do in the event that a student with high financial need was denied housing eligibility. “We’d see quite a number of students

VILLAGE A IS ONE OF VERY FEW ON-CAMPUS APARTMENT OPTIONS.

FREDDY ROSAS

very concerned and sometimes in a total panic about having to seek housing on a budget at the last minute,” she said. “We’d lend moral support and often make some desperate phone calls to see if there’d be movement on the waitlist.”

The housing guarantee came out of talks between GUSA, the Office of Residential Life, and the Office of Student Financial Services that took place over the summer. Support forthe newpolicyexisted across the board, according to GUSA Vice President Omika Jakaria. “We just needed to get everyone from thevarious offices in a room and say, ‘What are the logistics of this?’” she said.

Tezel characterized the newpolicy as “righting a wrong” on the part of the University. Foy, on the other hand, viewed the change a little differently. “The great thing about this new policy is that it’s proactive and not reactive,” said Foy. “I think the reality is that many systems at Georgetown are not bad in their intent but perhaps require that all of us—students, professors, and administrators— look at thoughtfully and ask, ‘Are we serving all students with this policy? Or does this only serve a particular demographic?’”

al assault was positive. “I think it was effective—it’s hard to do that without being cheesy,” said freshman Robert Cortes (COL ‘18) after attending HoyaRealTalk. “I think it was good to say ‘what is consent, what is not’ to be clear about it. I didn’t know that when someone’s drunk, they can’t consent.”

The success of HoyaRealTalk was in part due to the openness of its planning process. “[The organizers] continued to take feedback and suggestions on what to include in the skit up until basically the last rehearsal,

“I didn’t know that when someone’s drunk, they can’t consent.” which I thought was great,” said Orientation Adviser Trishla Jain (SFS ‘15). “They even solicited and incorporated feedback from NSO

Captains and OAs after we saw the skit during training.”

By mixing in education about sexual assault with other common issues faced by college students, HoyaRealTalk emphasized its dangerous presence on college campus—particularly during the “Red Zone,” the first six weeks of fall semester, when sexual assault incidents are most common.

The event’s discussion component invited incoming freshmen to the important conversation. “We spent the first 15 minutes of the discussion talking about the general topics covered by the skit and then the IAmReady facilitators led a discussion about the sexual assault component of the skit for the last 45 minutes,” said Jain. “I was so impressed by the facilitation skills of the IAmReady facilitators in my room and I was in awe of the way that the students were engaging with these extremely sensitive issues of sexual assault in a way that I never did as a first year student.”

Chadwicks closes on K St. this weekend, replaced by Mr. Smith’s LARA FISHBANE

Chadwicks will serve its last bottomless champagne brunchon Sunday,Aug.31atitsKSt.location.

With the restaurant closing, Georgetownstudentsoflegaldrinking age will be losing an important part of their culture. “[My friends] andIwereprettyupsetaboutitclosing,”saidSeanSullivan(MSB’15),“It was kind of like Tuscany in that everyone had to go there at least once andeveryoneknewwhereitwas.”

Chadwicks server Ben Rosse believes that without the Georgetown location, its business will suffer because Chadwicks’ Alexandria restaurant doesn’t have the same college crowd. “Georgetown students definitely have provided a lot of business for us here,” Rosse said. Chadwicks attracted many Georgetown students by offering a brunch entree with unlimited champagnefor$22.95onSaturdays and Sundays. “I’m pretty sure we hadthebestdealgoing,”Rossesaid.

Chadwicks has to close its Georgetown location because its leasewasboughtoutbyMr.Smith’s.

Mr. Smith’s, currently located on M St., is moving its location due to a rent increase. According to Mr. Smith’s manager Robert Kristiansen, Chadwicks’ lease is “substantiallyless.”

Kristiansen hopes that Mr. Smith’s will be able to attract some of Chadwicks old unlimited champagne brunch patrons.

“We actually do a similar deal as them, but theirs is just better advertised,” he said. Mr. Smith’s does offer unlimited champagne at $2.95 a glass, but their offer does not include a meal.

Kristiansen also noted that Mr. Smith’s is hoping to restart events to attract more students, such as its Wednesday night Hoya Lounge, a weekly event held for Georgetown students that ended a fewyears ago.

Georgetown will soon find out whether Mr. Smith’s will be able to attract a similar nighttime bar crowd and be continue Chadwicks’ popular champagne brunch tradition when it opens on K St. in early September.

sports

6 | the georgetown voice

August 28, 2014

Georgetown football embraces ‘Hoya Culture’ Joe Pollicino After a disappointing 2-9 campaign last year, the Georgetown football team enters this fall with high hopes thanks to some major offseason changes. The new head coach Rob Sgarlata took over this January after spending the past eight seasons as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Although Sgarlata does not have a win total in mind for this season, he expects his team to be ready to compete each and every game.

“I’ve never talked to anybody about wins and losses. We want to be that team that’s tough to beat and very scrappy in the games. We want to build a great foundation with the program. For me, if we keep doing the little things right … I’ll think we’ll be fine. ” The coaching change has been particularly less burdensome on the players considering their familiarity with Sgarlata. His prior knowledge of Hoya football made his first training camp exciting for his players.

“It’s been a really smooth transition for everyone,” said senior linebacker Nick Alfieri. “There’s a new level of energy, I think, that Coach Sgarlata brings, and it trickles down the whole organization.

It’s been a really upbeat, fast camp, which is a good thing.”

Sgarlata’s new coaching staff also embodies familiarity. New offensive coordinator Michael Neuberger and new defensive coordinator Luke Thompson have both previously coached on the Hilltop. Neuberger coached the wide receivers during the

2012 season, and Thompson served as the linebacker/ special teams coach from 2006-2011.

“I wanted people on my staff that I can trust. So every person on my staff, I’ve either worked with or coached for at least a year. That was really important to me. The number one thing I wanted to do was take care of our players. I’d rather go without than bring somebody in here who I don’t think will toe the line [when it comes to] our players.”

According to the new staff, one of the keys to transforming the program from one of mediocrity to one of sustained success is what they call “Hoya Culture.” Part of this approach has entailed asking the players to take what they learn on the field with them to their daily lives. “[Coach] emphasizes little things: working hard and developing your person as a whole. This is something the whole coaching staff has focused on too. It’s developing your person as a whole, and it brings everything back to football, focusing on being the best you can be in certain aspects of life,” said Alfieri.

Sgarlata realizes that he and his coaches cannot transform the culture of the program by themselves. That’s why seniors, such as Alfieri, a Preseason All-Patriot League team selection, are crucial in terms of setting an example for the rest of the team. “[Alfieri]’s an all-around kid. From everything on campus, classroom-wise to the team, he’s a sparkplug all the time. He is that personality. He’s the same all the time. He’s one of those kids

Andres Rengifo

New coach rob Sgarlata is tasked with changing Football’s fortunes.

who’s the same everyday.

There’s no real rollercoaster with him, which is great.

That’s a constant I can rely on as a coach to know that he’s going to be there all the time,” said Sgarlata.

On the defensive line, all of the previous team’s starters return including senior Alec May, the team-leader in sacks last season, junior Dezmond Richardson, and seniors Jordan Richardson and Richard Shankel. Senior Patrick Boyle, 2013’s leading tackler, returns alongside Alfieri to form a formidable partnership at the linebacker position.

On offense, the Hoyas hope to have a consistent starter at the quarterback position for the first time in three years in junior Kyle Nolan. The past two seasons have seen Georgetown jug-

gle starting quarterbacks thanks to injuries and poor play. Sgarlata feels that Nolan’s talent and leadership can bring some much-needed ferocity to an otherwise inexperienced offensive unit.

“He’s got great poise. People don’t realize how athletic he is. He’s a big kid. He’s sixfoot-six, but he can run. He does some things physically that makes him different from the quarterbacks in the league,” said Sgarlata. “The experience he’s gained, the number one thing that does is give confidence to kids around him. He’s got the physical stature but also the way he carries himself is really paramount for our offense, especially with our young players and young receivers.”

Overall, their successful training camp has the team

optimistic for its season opener this Saturday, when they face Wagner College (00, NEC) on the Multi-Sport Field at 12:00 p.m. The Seahawks have become a staple on the Hoyas’ non-league schedule, having played Georgetown annually for the past four seasons. Despite the Seahawks escaping with a narrow 28-21 home win last season, Alfieri is eyeing a little payback. He thinks the Hoyas have what it takes to walk away victorious thanks to their transformation under their new leadership.

“It’s been exciting to have a different style of training camp under Coach Sgarlata.

It’s been good. I think we’re really prepared for Wagner, and I think we’re all really excited and we’re coming out hungry right now.”

Chrisastano The Sports Sermon--C “We gon’ let you read Cat in the Hat.” -50 Cent challenging Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to read on live TV for charity.

If the U.S. soccer team were a living room, goalkeeper Tim Howard, on the squad since 2007, would be a couch— but not like the beer-soaked couch that’s travelled with you since back in the day. He’s more like a fine leather sectional , both sturdy and stylish, something that’s on every homeowner’s wish list. Would I ever describe the greatest American goalkeeper as a staple of interior design straight to his ferociously bearded face? Well, no, but you get where I’m going with this.

However, despite America’s renewed appreciation—16 saves, baby!—for one of its most consistent sporting stalwarts, it seems as though we’ll have to wait a whole year before we get to see him back in a U.S. team jersey. That’s right. Tim Howard is taking a sabbatical from the national team.

Aside from his obvious goalkeeping talents and game-saving performances, Americans love the Jersey boy because his personal narrative is a beacon of familiarity in an otherwise unfamiliar sport.

Determined to stay active in the life of his son, despite his job as a long distance trucker, Howard’s largely absent father taught him to play a variety of sports before his second birthday. He was diagnosed with Tourettes Syndrome in the sixth

grade and has been dealing with tics for as long as he can remember. His high school sporting career was largely played out on a basketball court before being plucked for his goalkeeping potential by a youth soccer coach. He hasn’t stopped working since.

Playing a sport professionally for 17 years has to be utterly exhausting. It’s one thing to put in a shift at an office building from nine to five every day.

It’s another to participate in hours-long training sessions day in and day out, travel weekly, and have your final product televised to the world. That’s probably more than I’ll ever be able to handle. Despite all this, I still seem to unconsciously associate soccer sabbaticals with weakness, mainly because they don’t really happen.

No athlete of comparable status in the NBA or MLB has ever just stopped playing the sport because they needed some time off. Granted, Howard is only taking time off from the national team, but you don’t exactly see other prominent national teamers asking for breaks. Maybe it would’ve prevented a divorce or saved a body from injury, but you can’t help but admire the men and women who have never shunned a call-up for their dedication to the sport and their country.

The highest profile national team sabbatical of recent memory is that of American soccer legend Landon Donovan.

The L.A. Galaxy forward took a break from all soccer-related activities in the winter between 2013 and 2014 to recharge his batteries after playing the game non-stop since 1999. But Donovan’s bad attitude up until that point led fans, pundits, coaches alike to resent the goalscorer (myself included). Although he needed the personal time, he left the team in the middle of crucial Gold Cup games. No matter how legitimate the need for time off was, I’ll always resent him a bit for it.

I’m afraid my feelings toward Howard are growing increasingly more negative, even though his reasons for taking a break are understandable.

After years of travelling, night games, and constant practice, he wants to spend some concrete time with his family. However, he’ll be pulling a Donovan in that he’ll be absent for next summer’s Gold Cup. The recently appointed “Secretary of Defense” has put more than his fair share of effort building soccer in the States. But a little voice in the back of my brain keeps whispering about how I wish he’d finished his career with the national team continuously. Not in self-defined pieces.

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Men’s soccer to reach new heights The Hoyas play organized team defense in front of Gomez, but they also have plenty of individual talent. Sophomore center back Joshua Yaro, who has been named to the watch list for the Hermann Trophy, the award given to the nation’s top player, leads the talented unit. Along with Yaro, juniors Keegan Rosenberry, Cole Seiler, and Josh Turnley return to round out a defensive

All-Rookie Team selection last year, should step up into a Last year the Georgetown greater role alongside Allen.

Men’s Soccer team made it In the midfield, the senior trio to the Sweet Sixteen of the of Tyler Rudy, Tom Skelly, and NCAA Tournament. In 2012, Austin Martz lead a deep and the team advanced all the way experienced group. to the finals of the College The Hoyas also bring in Cup. Ranked ninth in the naa heralded freshmen class, tion and picked to win the Big headlined by midfielders Chris East, this year’s squad looks Lema, Declan McCabe, and poised to continue these reArun Basuljevic. cent successes.

“These guys are all capa“The expecble players.” tations for this said Wiese. group is that they “It’s just a mathave the potential ter of when for being the best they get their team I have ever opportunity coached,” said are they going Head Coach Brian to be ready as Wiese. “But it is young players the beginning of to take it.” the year, and that The team is just potential. will play a diffiA season can do cult schedule, a lot of different with some maAmbika Ahuja things to a team.” jor tests awaitSophomore winger alex muyl has senior-shaped shoes to fill.

The defense, ing in top preled by senior goalkeeper and unit that led the nation in shutseason pick Notre Dame and captain Tomas Gomez, will anout percentage last year.

2013 national runner-up Marychor the team. Gomez earned When the Hoyas have the land. The Hoyas begin their Big East Co-Goalkeeper of the ball this year, Preseason Big season on August 29 at Indiana.

Year honors last year, as he finEast Offensive Player of the “We have a really talented ished the season fourth in the Year, junior forward Brandon and driven group of players,” country, with a .44 goals against Allen, another Hermann Trosaid Wiese. “The challenges of average. phy candidate, is expected to the season that lies in front of “I think he’s one of the best, provide much of this team’s us are going to be severe and if not the best, goalkeeper in the production. Allen scored 11 will be a really good test for country, and he’s got all the tools goals and added five assists last the guys, and we’ll see how we to take us on a really good run this year, earning a Second Team handle those tests. We’re optiyear,” said Wiese. “But we hope we All-American nod. Sophomore mistic that it could be a really don’t have to use him that much.” forward Alex Muyl, a Big East fun year.”

Kevin Huggard

Field hockey goes back to basics Maxwell Roberts

As the Georgetown University Field Hockey team prepares for a fresh start, all eyes are on new Head Coach Shannon Soares. The former Virginia Commonwealth University coach will look to revitalize a struggling Georgetown program that has shown promise in previous years.

“To say that I’m excited to work with this group of young women would be an understatement. They are a special group and I can’t wait to get started with them,” said Soares.

The Hoyas finished last season with two wins, but boast a great deal of young talent in 12 incoming freshmen and sophomores. In her first year of coaching at VCU, Soares helped the team improve from only five wins to

an impressive 13, one of the best turnarounds in Division I at the time. Part of her success is owed to her ability to foster the intangibles that help a team run smoothly.

“We focused on creating and delivering an explicit plan… developing internal leadership and holding our program accountable for the core values we created together,” said Soares.

However, Soares will also help develop the physical skills of Georgetown’s young players. Expect the Hoyas to get back to basics and focus on perfecting fundamental skills. They will also strive to be better conditioned, more confident, and more aggressive this season.

“You can expect to see a team that fights for a full 70 minutes, has a bit of a ‘chip on the shoulder’ mentality,” said Soares.

The new coach also made sure to emphasize the importance of the academic side of her student athletes.

“I want our student-athletes to be known for their hard work both in the classroom and on the field,” she said.

The William & Mary graduate now brings her energetic personality to a Big East Conference that boasts some of the smartest coaches and the strongest programs in the entire nation.

“Some of the best coaching minds in the sport are a part of our conference,” said Soares.

Soares’ team will make their debut when the team opens their season August 29 at Appalachian State.

The Hoyas will be playing their home opener on the Multi-Sport field September 7 against the Bald Eagles of Lock Haven.

the georgetown voice | 7

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

the nba’s greatest worry Paul George made contact with the ground, and his shin split into two, giving traction to the fear that lingered in the back of the minds of NBA team owners and fans: what if superstars hurt themselves while serving their international duties?

After America’s debut in the 1992 Barcelona Games, the first national team comprised of professional players, interest in playing for the national team waned—the risk of injury, the toll of extra summer competition, and a lack of financial compensation were great deterrents. Although the years wore on and team quality declined, the Stars and Stripes were able to bring home gold medals.

That is, until 2004. The Red, White, and Blue roster was comprised of Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, and a supporting cast of B-listers and undeveloped future stars.

They were pantsed on the world stage, coming in third place at the Athens Games.

As a result, the “Redeem Team” of 2008 boasted 11 NBA All-Stars, including Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul. Rookies in 2004, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwayne Wade were eager to participate in the tournament alongside the established veterans. Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski was brought on to head the team. The Americans, at full strength, stormed through the tournament and brought back a gold medal. The story was similar four years later in London, when the United States fielded a team that was debatably improved from the 2008 squad and won every game with little competition.

Intermediate international competitions, like the FIBA World Cup, which is taking place this year, understandably bring less acclaimed teams. Players like LeBron, exhausted from participating in 100 games during the season, choose to rest their bodies since the competition isn’t as prestigious.

That loss in momentum was on full display earlier this summer as many top-notch players, such as Blake Griffin and Kevin Love, elected not to join the team for the World Cup. Kevin Durant, by

far the highest profile player that was expected to take part in the tournament, also dropped from the team prior to the competition, citing exhaustion. This trend should be disturbing for any fan of United States basketball, as these attitudes are what led to the embarrassment in 2004.

More fuel was added to the fire when Paul George suffered a gruesome injury in an intrasquad scrimmage. The Indiana forward was running back on defense to stop a fast break and left his feet to block a James Harden shot, but came down awkwardly against the basket’s support structure, breaking his leg in two places.

This incident represents the greatest worry of players and NBA owners alike, and may change the way that business is handled with the national team in the future.

The Pacers, after losing Lance Stephenson in the offseason, were already short handed, but have now lost their most potent scoring threat for at least an entire season. Furthermore, when George returns it remains to be seen if he will be the same player he was before the injury. If upper management had reasons to worry about injuries before, they certainly do now.

There has been no immediate action to stop players from representing the United States in competition, but this high-profile injury has sparked debate and will surely bring some changes in the future. Having to look at representing one’s country in one of the world’s most popular sports as a liability rather than privilege is an absolute shame, but NBA owners are not going to want to risk the availability of their best players, even if it means the decline of the United States as the world’s basketball superpower.

For now, we can still assume that LeBron, Durant, and company will all be back in 2016 to bring a gold medal home from Rio. But with George’s injury in recent memory, it wouldn’t be surprising if some of the American elite elected to stay home, either of their own volition or due to the pressure from their organizations.

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8 | the georgetown voice

August28,2014

Catholic Idenity and the LGBTQ Movement

PIECING TOGETHER THE GEORGETOWN PUZZLE:

By Elizabeth Baker

As the oldest Catholic university in the country, Georgetown is constantly being pulled between its traditional religious identity and progressive campaigns on campus—the LGBTQ movement for example. Although Georgetown has run into conflict in the past, particularly in the past year when William Peter Blatty (COL ’50) wrote a petition asking that the Vatican strip Georgetown of its distinction as a Catholic university, Georgetown students across campus proudly embrace Georgetown’s pluralistic outlook, which encourages students to use campus as a place for open and thought-provoking dialogue.

In 2007, in response to student activism on the part of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, President DeGioia announced the opening of the LGBTQ Resource Center, which exists today as a support system and educational resource for students and

The issues that define the student experience at Georgetown as told by the voices of students

With a campus that’s constantly in motion with its students moving at a hundred miles an hour in seemingly endless directions, it can be difficult to gather perspective on the big picture of campus life and even harder to find your place in the madness.

Disability Activism

By Caitriona Pagni

Here are some snapshots of the issues that are at play at Georgetown and the students who have encountered these issues in their undergraduate experience. They have found their piece of the puzzle. Where will you find yours?

Socioeconomic Diversity

By James Constant

For a member of the Class of 2018, the full cost of attendance for one academic year at Georgetown is $64,980—roughly the same as a very well-equipped Porsche Cayman sports car. According to U.S. News and World Report, 38.7 percent of undergraduates receive some form of financial aid from Georgetown, yet it is still hard to ignore the fact that the families of most students are spending luxury-car money every year on their child’s education. In fact, Georgetown’s financial model is predicated on 50 percent of the student population paying full tuition every year.

Those sort of numbers paint a pretty clear picture of the economic situation that a substantial proportion of Hoyas were born into, and it’s not exactly surprising—as one of America’s most prestigious universities, Georgetown attracts the sons and daughters of the world’s elite. There are a lot of private-school graduates

on the Hilltop—of the 12 high schools that sent the most students to Georgetown last year, 10 were prep schools, many of them storied New England institutions boasting illustrious alumni and exorbitant endowments. The average Georgetown student’s background is not representative of the average American 18-22-year-old’s background. But there’s more to the Georgetown student body than just wealth and privilege.

In the fall of 2005, 50 Georgetown freshmen enrolled as part of a new, experimental initiative to support students from low-income families and first-generation college students. The Georgetown Scholarship Program has since grown into a massive community, providing 640 students—8.6 percent of undergraduates—with a $25,000 scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year.

According to Missy Foy (COL ‘03), the GSP program director, the initiative has been instrumental in building a dialogue on campus around socioeconomic diversity. “Socioeconomic diversity is

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as powerful and legitimate a form of diversity as any other,” wrote Foy in an email to the Voice. “People seem to be ‘getting’ that now more than they did a few years ago.”

“Because a lot of student leaders are in GSP, it’s raised the profile of the program, and it gets people asking questions about scholarships and socioeconomic diversity at Georgetown in general,” said Foy. “We’re getting to a good place.”

Despite the efforts of the GSP, only 12 percent of Georgetown undergraduates are first-generation college students—well below the national average of 30 percent. Those first-generation students, however, have shown tremendous promise, with 98 percent graduating, compared to 32 percent nationwide.

Economic issues will remain a problem for many Georgetown students in the foreseeable future. While most students graduate free of debt (61 percent as of 2011, according to the Institute for College Access and Success), who ends up saddled with debt and who

doesn’t is almost totally decided by the relative wealth of each student’s parents.

The 39 percent of Hoyas that do take on private loans in order to graduate are faced with a substantial obstacle towards future financial stability—an average of $28,035 in loans, $1,435 more than the average American college student.

Jimmy Ramirez (COL ‘15) and Colleen Roberts, (COL ‘15) both chairs of GSP Advocacy and Strategic Outreach, noted that Georgetown’s largely high-income student body often expresses ignorance towards the issues that poorer students face.

“When high-income students inappropriately use the words ‘broke’ or ‘poor’ to describe their financial situation, this demonstrates a lack of understanding,” wrote Ramirez and Roberts in an email to the Voice.

“There are Hoyas on this campus who have to work numerous jobs in order to support themselves and families at home. Inappropriately using the words ‘broke’ or ‘poor’ show a small example of how much more needs to be done.”

Although Georgetown’s diversity-minded student culture generally emphasizes social justice, one group still exists on the margins. Georgetown students who have mental and physical disabilities face many additional challenges that the typical able-bodied student does not, yet they remain largely invisible to mainstream campus culture. These challenges range from securing academic accommodations from professors to finding campus events that have appropriate accommodations for their disability, even to tasks as simple as traveling across campus.

Lydia Brown (COL ‘15) is an autistic student at Georgetown and an activist for the disabled community. “The idea that disability can be a political identity, that disabled people can have a collective history, that disability itself is a political term in the same way [as]

Free Speech

By James Constant Last Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of students trudged over to Healy Hall through the chill of the frigid early morning and set up a table. They didn’t have much besides a blue banner with “H*yas for Choice” written on it and a scattered assortment of pamphlets on sexual assault.

Within 18 minutes of their arrival, this innocuous display proved enough to have Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety escort the group from the front gates to continue their activism off campus. These extreme measures left many students on campus confused and outraged. As it turns out, H*yas for Choice had come to protest the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, the largest pro-life conference in the United States, which was to take place inside Healy that day.

This wasn’t the first issue H*yas for Choice had run into with the University.

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faculty. Today, the resource center opens its doors to not only LGBTQ members, but also to any student or faculty member looking for guidance. GU Pride is also a large part of campus life, hosting an annual Coming Out week in October and a Lavender Graduation for LGBTQ seniors.

Director of the Center Sivagami Subbaraman describes the relationship between the Center and Campus Ministry as collaborative rather than one of conflict. A queer Catholic prayer group has existed on campus for years. “The struggle [of religious identity] is not different between LGBTQ members or any other student,” Sivagami said. “Even in strict religions, we need to remember that’s not what it’s about. It’s about love.”

GU Pride President Thomas Lloyd (SFS ‘15) also announced that in March 2015, Georgetown will be hosting the Ignatian Q conference, a weekend that invites Jesuit schools’ LGBTQ students to unite in dialogue and growth.

“When I was thinking about doing the conference, [Vice President for Mission

and Ministry] Father O’Brien himself said absolutely, of course – just keep us in the loop,” Lloyd said. Celeste Chisholm (COL ‘15), a transgender student, spoke about her relationship with Campus Ministry. “[The relationship between Campus Ministry and LGBTQ on campus is] not nearly as tumultuous as one would expect.

There’s a lot of coalescence. I found the Ministry’s reaction [to my coming out] to be very calm and understanding.”

Undoubtedly, Georgetown and its students embrace a rapidly changing modern world, yet Georgetown still remains very true to its traditional Catholic roots. Several student groups, such as the Catholic Daughters and the Knights of Columbus, allow students to live out their Catholic faith among peers. The Grand Knight, Christopher Cannataro (MSB ‘15), describes the Knights of Columbus as “servants to the campus” who readily accept calls to community service and assisting campus ministry.

Despite the personal opinions of each Knight, the group does not rebuff

the opinions of other students. Cannataro spoke fervently about the necessity of open-minded discussion around campus to create a safe, accepting environment for all students. “At a university, a hearty dialogue should be able to occur and people should be able to express their views and learn from others. The Knights are ambassadors of our Catholic faith on campus. We should all have mutual respect for differing positions and views, regardless of their popularity.

Regardless of differences, we should all be able to work together to build a Hilltop of Love,” he wrote.

Tim Rosenberger (COL ’16), who is openly gay and Republican, believes that the ability to have open and thought-provoking discussions and opinions on campus is what makes Georgetown such a special university.

“I think Georgetown is absolutely a safe space. We have all these great intersections, great respect for each other—and I encourage people to bring their voices out, loudly.”

gender or class is not an idea that exists outside of certain communities,” she said.

Brown went on to say that in her work as an activist, she has found that Georgetown is not immune to larger social ideas that propagate ableism: discrimination against disabled persons. “When I interview people at Georgetown who did not want me to use their names, chief among their reasons was the fear that if [they were] found out as disabled they would no longer be treated as a peer because disabled people, particularly mentally disabled people, do not belong here.”

Campus construction projects, such as the Northeast Triangle and the renovations to former Jesuit residences Ryan and Mulledy, will only further complicate life for students with accessibility concerns because many pedestrian walkways will be partially or completely closed.

University officials have acknowledged this concern, and have tried to incorporate solutions into their plans.

“We’ve thought carefully about the experiences of our students with disabilities during this time of significant growth and are working to ensure every student has safe and accessible pedestrian pathways throughout campus,” Director of Residential Living Ed Gilhool wrote in an email to the Voice.

Student activists and university officials alike are working hard to make student culture more accepting of students with disabilities. This semester, the University will offer a new class titled Introduction to Disability Studies.

Additionally, the Academic Resource Center is working on ways to increase the number of accessible events on campus by streamlining the process for reserving accommodations such as American Sign Language interpreters.

“One thing we are encouraging student to do is to put language on their events saying that if a student needs a particular accommodation to notify the appropriate person,” Director of the ARC Jane Holahan said.

In the long term, Brown hopes that the University will establish a disability cultural center, which would function similarly to the LGBTQ resource center, Women’s Center, or the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access. “In mainstream culture there are so few points of resistance to the dominant narratives of disability as something pitiable or something tragic to be overcome. A disability cultural center would create that social nexus for student-led initiatives,” Brown said.

Nia Lazarus (COL ‘16), a founding member of GU Signs, Georgetown’s only ASL club, has seen progress in creating awareness of deaf culture since the club began in 2013 and is optimistic about the future of disability accommodation on campus. “I have seen a lot of people who have never really learned about American Sign language or deaf culture before and it made a difference in their lives. It’s only a matter of time before the whole campus really knows about this.”

Over the years, the group’s highly publicized conflicts with the University over free speech have shone a spotlight on how Georgetown, as a Catholic university, deals with speech that contradicts the Church’s teachings.

According to Abby Grace (SFS ‘16), president of H*yas for Choice, the organization faced repeated instances of discrimination while tabling in the Leavey Center—H*yas for Choice was allowed to do so only in the case of inclement weather. “We had a lot of issues with ‘what is freezing?’, because if the windchill was really bad but it was 40 degrees, we had to leave the Leavey Center and go back to Red Square,” Grace said.

Last May, the University revised its Speech and Expression policy after a long, drawn-out process that involved forums, surveys, committees, and a “memorandum of understanding” that was eventually agreed upon by former Georgetown University Student Association President Nate Tisa and Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson.

Today, there are four official “free speech zones” where students are allowed to freely express their views: the Healey Family Student Center lobby, the lobby of the Leavey Center, Red Square, and the lawn outside of Regents Hall. The new policy also provides protection for student protests anywhere on campus as long as no other university policies are violated.

The new free speech code provides clarifications for campus media outlets like the Voice, The Hoya, and WGTB. Previously, student DJs for WGTB were discouraged from talking about contraception on-air—now the only restriction levied is that campus media may not publish advertisements for contraception or abortion.

Despite the changes, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education wrote in May that “the establishment of four official free speech zones is still inconsistent with Georgetown’s stated commitments to free speech. Rather than being confined to specific zones, students should be permitted to engage in expressive activities in any traditionally public areas of campus.” FIRE

has previously rated Georgetown as a “red light institution”—meaning it has “at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”

Current GUSA President Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) stressed the importance of students exercising their right to individual expression in an interview with the Voice.

“Do what seems right and what would be natural in a college environment, and let us take on advocating on your behalf,” said Tezel.

“If one thing is clear to the University administration, it’s that if a student group is forcibly removed from an area, that won’t be the end of the story… there will be pushback, there will be press, and it’s up to us to push the boundaries of what’s seen as acceptable.”

Additional reporting from Ambika Ahuja, Dayana Morales Gomez, and Ryan Greene Photos: The Georgetown Voice

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10 | the georgetown voice

August 28, 2014

Farm fresh fixtures fill local markets with delights dorms desire Shalina Chatlani

Here at the Voice we know how satisfying it is to get your hands around a pair of firm, juicy tomatoes––organic, of course! If in the midst of your frantic move to campus, you briefly betrayed your inner hippie with embarrassing Safeway runs, don’t fret. There are a number of farmers’ markets nearby, with interesting people and eclectic stalls that you and your sustainably grown friends can walk or ride to on your vintage bikes.

Glover Park and Burleith Neighborhood Market Nothing in life makes sense until you try peanut butter and chocolate goat cheese fudge. This delicious delicacy is from Spriggs Delight Goat Milk Cheeses, a vendor from Maryland that participates in the Glover Park and Burleith Farmers’ Market. The market’s assistant manager, John Little, explains that the best part of this local farmer’s market is “being able to meet new people who have gathered together to support local businesses and small farms.” Only a 15 minute walk away, Burleith’s fresh produce is within easy reach. Al-

It’s like Dean & deluca without the bourgeouis rats and $30 sandwiches. though quite small, this particular gathering of local farmers and foodies has a lot to offer, including homemade baked goods from Bonaparte Breads, organic eggs and dairy products from Happy Hen’s Barnyard, and even some live music.

Wisconsin Ave. and 35th St. NW, opposite Safeway Saturdays 9 a.m.- 1 p.m., May 10- Nov. 22 Dupont Circle “FRESHFARM” Market Bev Eggleston, the founder of Eco-Friendly Foods and

Breeches&bodice A bi-weekly column about style by Tim Annick

Now that we’re all back on the Hilltop, please take my advice: those Birkenstocks aren’t doing you any favors. They’re ugly, comfortable, and —dare I say it— painfully hip. But, it’s Normcore and since real lifestyle publications are writing about it, you know it’s not the biggest mass media prank of the year.

Hold on. Let’s backpedal a bit. In case you live under a rock, or went home this summer, Normcore is the new black. The word is a portmanteau of normal and hardcore. It’s the trend for those of you who don’t want anyone to know how hard you’re trying. It’s so ridiculous that even the New York Times can’t quite tell whether it’s a “Fashion Movement or Massive In-Joke,” as Style desk reporter Alex Williams wrote in April.

Perhaps it’s the socialization of the free-market economy? Sartorial equality for all? Regardless of whether it is or isn’t, I love it. In a word where floral printed men’s blazers and metal-plated sneakers have reigned, I relish a return to the plain.

Let me explain. To me, the whole idea behind Normcore seems rooted in the total disregard for the absurd pace, trends, and prices in high fashion. It’s a return to basics, to the things that are comfortable, well made, and eternal. A fleece jacket or a basic sneaker, worn by suburban dads everywhere, are beloved because they are undeniably comfortable, built to last a lifetime, and perennially predictable. No Fashion Week peacocks here.

I don’t appreciate Normcore’s distinct aesthetic. Let’s be totally honest: suburban

an organic food vendor from rural Virginia, explains that the connection between farm and table, consumer and vendor is the fundamental essence of the farmer’s market, and it is captured perfectly at Dupont’s “FRESHFARM” Market. It brings together over 100 farmers and producers and organizes a series of markets throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. Definitely much larger than the market in Burleith, the Dupont farmers’ market, albeit very conventional, is a lot more crowded. It has a greater range of

Shalina chatlani

vendors for those looking to purchase more than just fruits and vegetables, but also some other specialty products. Only a few minutes away from campus by GUTS bus, it is eggsactly the type of convenience Georgetown students are looking for!

20th St., between Mass. Ave. and Hillyer Place Sundays, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

March - Dec. Eastern Market Eastern Market captures the internationalism of the

Normcore: making suburban dads chic and Birkenstocks haute couture since 2014 dad has never been, and never will be, cool. But, I guess, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

If you’re trolling the internet for Normspiration—a term coined by yours truly—you’ll be happy to know that the Internet is (as always) here to save you, with weird results like the “dadchic” Tumblr, replete with weird quotes and weird photos of someone’s dad. Weird. Not even a “Made In Italy” tag makes Normcore appropriate.

Even so, I find Normcore to be ideologically appealing. In this world of H&M, Zara, and Forever 21, clothes are poorly made and far too trendy to be stylish. In five years, all of that stuff will end up in the garbage--it’ll be outdated and in tatters. Fast fashion is not only diminishing societal standards of quality, but also putting quality manufacturers out of business. There’s a

reason behind the success of boring dad wardrobe staples.

In this vein, my first requirement of my closet auditions is quality of construction because I don’t want to have to replace clothing in a couple of years because of its shoddy fabrication. Instead, try to focus on building your closet to a critical mass of fewer clothes that you’ll wear all the time.

But critical mass doesn’t have to mean high-priced designer garb. Again, the Church of Normcore prays in a language called comfort, and it’s preaching to the choir here. You’re grown up, so hopefully you should be getting to a pretty good understanding of who you are and how you express yourself. Build up a set of staples that cater to your lifestyle, whether it’s hand-welted brogues, pinstripe suits,

District, as the enigmatic Nigerian vendor, Emmanuel Babatunde, explained. Eastern market, he said, is a wonderful place to work because, “it’s beautiful … and you can meet all kinds of people from different walks of life … who show their culture in the stuff they sell.” Despite its distance from campus, Eastern Market is one place that all Georgetown students should visit. Expansive and comprehensive, Eastern Market offers everything from fruits and vegetables to kaftans at the outdoor stalls, lobster rolls at the indoor meat market, and aromatic chicken curry in the food court. Well-priced products from all over the world–– what could be better?

7th and C St. SE Sundays 10 am to 5 pm Year round Let’s be honest, all Georgetown students, particularly the couch potatoes among us, need the occasional escape from Leo’s and the District’s farmer’s markets promise good food and, occasionally, some bazaar people. hoodies, or lederhosen. If you love mohair sweaters more than anything else in the entire world, wear them.

Don’t let my shudders of horror dissuade you.

My second requirement at closet auditions is a sense of timelessness. It’s not about impulse purchases you’ll wear once or twice.

At the end of the day, there are only a few of things you really need in your life, and it’s up to you to figure out what those items are. Ideally, though, you should be able to wear them in five or ten years and not look like Marty McFly. Nobody wants to be the person with shoulder pads and jellies… but if that is 100 percent, authentically you, who cares?

With all this being said, maybe Normcore really is the future, not an Atomic age comic strip. Which is why this summer, to match my grandfather’s, I got myself a pair of Birkenstocks.

Welt Tim’s brogues at tra25@georgetown.edu

GEORGETOWNVOICE.COM

“It does not do to dwell on dreams, harry, and forget to live” — Harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE | 11

Speculative forms: creates conjecture Sabrina Kayser Each of us looks at the world through our own filter, constructed by our own thoughts and emotions. It matters that you are the one in front of the art— that there is an equal relationship between subject, object, and space—meaning that your interaction with and interpretation of what you see matters to your experience, or so the philosophy of the “Speculative Realism” exhibit at the Hirshhorn would have us believe.

This phenomenon is explored in the exhibition “Speculative Forms,” a collection of sculpture spanning the past century that challenges the notion of art separate from the viewer.

The artwork is displayed along

the second-floor hallway of the cylindrical Hirshhorn building, forcing you to consider each piece one by one.

The exhibition demands participation. Henry Moore’s Helmet Head, for example, makes you peer into the cavelike opening to see the details created in the hollow bronze shell sculpture. Another piece, Zygote, requires even more imagination. The sculpture is a large, flattened white marble egg, polished and featureless, save for a few detailed scratches. With a bit of imagination, these scratches look like glimpses inside the shell of an egg, hinting at hidden depths within the piece.

Tomonori Toyofuku’s Caelum II, a large, flat wood-

In the market for an abstract cheese grater?

hirshhorn museum

en carving riddled with holes like a honeycomb, even further draws the viewer’s attention. The Hirshhorn has this artwork exhibited with overhead lighting, so that the holes create a splatter of light in the shadows. As you walk from left to right, the shadows change, making you an active participant in the artistic experience.

Among the most impressive pieces is David Lee Brown’s 6-68, a reflective sculpture composed of silver, mirror-like metal arranged like two perpendicular handheld fans. Each time you move, the reflections change and move, showing different slivers of your face.

What this exhibit brings to light is, “the importance of installation and the viewer’s eye and body in relation to the object.” This is art where the individual truly matters and where you are encouraged to play around with how you see it. For “Speculative Forms,” your experience is in your own hands.

Hirshhorn Museum 7th St. & Independence SW Monday - Sunday, 10 - 5:30 hirshhorn.si.edu

Mary Ellen Funke at a GU jamsesh event, fall 2013

Andres rengifo

The Corp puts its feet up Sam Kleinman Georgetown’s hipsters will rejoice with the announcement of the Corp’s new event—Kickback. The all-day celebration promises to be the antithesis of bro tank-laden Georgetown Day, with a lineup of local and student artists. Among the set of six bands we’re sure you’ve probably never heard of are two impressive student acts: a solo performance by Peter Fanone (COL ‘15) and Tigers Are Bad For Horses, a duo composed of Mary Ellen Funke (SFS ‘15) and Lyell Roeder (COL ‘13).

Music not your thing?

Never fear, for there shall apparently be food trucks galore. What better way to

escape from Leo’s “pizza” than by delighting in D.C. food truck “pizza”? We also hope that the art to be featured will give an outlet to Georgetown’s oft-overlooked community of talented visual artists.

But really, we look forward to the likely atmosphere. Rather than innumerable crowds of bros bedecked in plastic Raybans day-drinking and encouraging inapproriate behavior, the Voice hopes the entire campus will gather for a good old-fashioned chill-sesh.

Kickback will take place on Monday, September 1st at 1pm. Tickets are $10 - reserve online at http://thecorp.org/ kickback/tickets.

DC’s The Partisan transcends divides, celebrates co-op diversity Sam Kleinman In my opinion, every man should have a mancave at some point in his life––womancaves are essential too, of course. I’m talking burnished wood, exposed brick, excellent scotch and rye whiskey, and decor rooted in your father’s or grandfather’s memorabilia but dotted with modern accents. That, in a nutshell, is the restaurant The Partisan: unique, unpretentious, rooted in the basics, but sprinkled with the occasional flare.

The Partisan is centered around excellent meats sourced mainly from two local co-ops, smoked and prepared in-house. This specialty, however, doesn’t indicate that The Partisan is a Palm-esque steakhouse, smothered in carbs and twenty-pound Porterhouses.

Far from it. It was clear from my first step into The Partisan that, though The Partisan may revolve around meat, much ef-

fort is put into pairing it with organic produce or craft alcohol.

My evening began at the bar, a twilit back room with a long granite countertop that illuminated a plethora of craft whiskeys. I perused the beer list (split into sections like “Tart+Funky”) while one of my comrades ordered a rocks Manhattan with Colonel Taylor rye. It arrived garnished with a lemon peel rather than maraschino cherry, making it slightly more floral than your average Manhattan—a modern, quirky flourish on a timeless classic. Though I’m not fan of superlatives, I’m comfortable saying that it was, in fact, the best Manhattan I’ve ever tasted, and paired well with our first course of the evening–– charcuterie.

It being a meat-centric eatery, I came from the bar with high expectations for the meats.

Charcuterie is ordered sushi-style, selecting any number of salamis, terrines, and roulettes from an exhaustive list.

We ordered a ’95 Berardenga Chianti, a dark and fruity wine that would, in our waiter’s opinion, pair quite well with our curried pork roulette, and boy, was he right. Though it may not look it, this is a first-rate steakhouse to rival the likes of Morton’s or any of José Andres’ creative destructions.

Like its larger plates and mixed drinks, The Partisan takes simple classics and re-imagines them, like its pickled half-smoke, a D.C. institution remixed. The bresaola was perfectly executed, salty and crisp.

Half of the plate was knockout-good, though the other half left something to be desired. The salami was salami, good, but no better than a neighborhood deli (though, in D.C., that’s hard to find). This is not to say that there was any bad charcuterie— indeed, it was an exceptional plate.

But the charcuterie was no better, if not somewhat worse, than The Partisan’s larger dishes and mixological creativity.

Ironically, The Partisan’s brilliance began to show in its produce. The beefsteak tomato salad touted a minimalist touch: tomato slices, olive oil, salt and pepper, peach slices and star anise cracklings. The interplay between the three main components, however, was masterful: soft, hard, and crunchy textures, and savory, sweet, and salty flavors. They paired well with a jalapeño-laced beef tartare and the half-baked chicken, respectively.

“There is elegance in a lack of affectation.” With 85 percent of The Partisan’s produce sourced both locally and organically, a commitment to classic, American cocktails, and dishes and ingredients that work in concert, The Partisan proves this saying darn well.

The Partisan DC 709 D St. NW 4pm to 11pm www.thepartisandc.com

“When I eat it is the food that is scared” — Ron swanson

Amibka ahuja

leisure

12 | the georgetown voice

CRITICAL VOICES

The Gaslight Anthem, Get Hurt, Island Records On the New Jersey punk rock band’s fifth LP, frontman Brian Fallon lost sight of the road beyond his dashboard and steered the Gaslight-mobile straight into Heartbreak Hotel. This is a breakup album, hot on the heels of Fallon’s recent divorce; and though The Gaslight Anthem should be hailed as a rock ‘n’ roll institution, they could not escape the breakup record’s inherent pitfalls.

The Wytches, Annabelle Dream Reader, Partisan Records “I am here but lost in the light,” The Wytches frontman, Kristian Bell, croons in their new release Annabel Dream Reader. The album is, indeed, lost in its stormy sea of crashing crescendos and gritty grunge. It never strays from screechy feedback, and an eerie psychedelia pervades the LP. Heavy distortion seethes throughout, creating

Broad City leads pave way for female-driven comedy

A bi-weekly column about TV by Julia Lloyd-George

The problem with “break up” music overall—no matter the genre—is that it borders on melodrama. On the record’s weaker tracks like “Stray Paper” and “Underneath the Ground,” the poetic power of lines like “Where mighty men lay down their hearts / In the service of their queens / And gave their bodies to be burned / Like I did before your feet,” is lost among the histrionics. The group also took a dive in musical quality, losing their impeccable sense of melody in the sludgy churning of songs like lead track “Stay Vicious.”

Thankfully, Fallon and the rest of the Gaslight gang still bring the elements that make them such a great group: melodic sensibility coupled with Fallon’s nostalgia-tinged storytelling.

The band truly shines on songs like “Selected Poems,” on which it fires on all cylinders, bringing

pounding rhythms and elevated guitar riffs while Fallon paints beautiful lyrical portraits with lines like “All I seemed to find is that everything has chains / And all this life just feels like a series of dreams.” Other numbers like the lead single “Rollin’ and Tumblin,” and “1000 years” see Gaslight blend heavy riffs and flowing melodies into a potent, balanced combination. The band even put away the distortion pedals and amps to play a supremely delicate and beautiful acoustic ballad, “Break Your Heart.”

Across the expertly produced LP, the Gaslight Anthem takes a couple stumbles in the wake of Fallon’s divorce, but comes out on top, still rollin’ and tumblin.’

a sort of queasy feeling that you can never quite shake.

The Wytches’ angst borders on post-apocalyptic, evoking grunge greats like Nirvana. But the towering size of The Wytches’ sound and wit are much more akin to the early 2000s post-punk revival. “Gravedweller,” with its trotting percussion and screeching guitar, feels much more like an early Arctic Monkeys release and every track features White Stripes-style mad, reeling guitar solos.

Incorporating these seemingly disparate musical elements doesn’t detract from the emotion or intensity of the album. The Wytches sound genuine and engaged on every track.

“Annabel you got the loveliest eyes / that I’ve ever seen on a girl or a guy / you must be a dancer because you ruined my life / An-

nabel,” Bell shrieks at the end of “Fragile Male For Sale.”

The penultimate track on the album, “Crying Clown,” parodies the narrator, poetically grieving over Annabel, the “dream reader.” Bringing the album to its end, Bell opens up the track with, “I catch my breath, finally.” As Bell nears his finale, he repetitively beckons Annabel’s “perfect body.”

Bell speaks as a Nabokov-esque lover, serious in intent as he lets his insanity shine in between the lines. Annabel Dream Reader pours from Bell’s volcanic mouth and blankets fans of modern (and classic) rock with this unstable, emotional state.

CONCERT CALENDAR

IDIOTBOX:

august 28, 2014

Voice’s Choices: “1000 years” “Selected Poems” —Jackson Sinnenberg

Voice’s Choices: “Crying Clown,” “Gravedweller” —William collins

Thusday 8/28 Crocodiles, Sisu, and Shark Week Comet Ping Pong, 9 p.m., $12

Saturday 8/30 The Juan MacLean (DJ Set) U Street Music Hall, 10 p.m., $10

WEDNESDAY 9/03 Lone U Street Music Hall, 9 p.m., $12

Friday 8/29 Drake, Lil Wayne Jiffy Lube Live, 7 p.m., $47

saturday 8/30 Dirty Bourbon River Show Gypsy Sally’s, 9 p.m., $10

Thursday 9/04 Buzzcocks Black Cat, 8 p.m., $25

It’s impossible to tell whether the creators of the Comedy Central series Broad City drew any inspiration from Tyga’s classic 2012 single “Rack City” in a brainstorming session, but it’s easy enough to see how their show is no stranger to a similar dose of shock factor. If anything could read as a cheeky response to a sexist rap video, it’s a series whose entire pilot revolves around a quest to get to a Lil’ Wayne concert via any means necessary and whose second episode is dubbed “P*$$y Weed.”

But hey, maybe I’m reading too much into this.

The titular “broads” of Broad City aren’t afraid to ramp up the raunchiness, but underscoring this impulse would only belittle their daring brilliance.

On the surface, they’re horny, twenty-something slackers with dead-end jobs and an affinity for greenery. On the other hand, they’re fiercely loyal best friends with a tendency to get into absurd situations like going to an island to retrieve a package for a hot neighbor, or biking the streets of New York in formalwear as they attempt to make it to a “straight wedding.”

While any other show about female friends would incur some kind of relationship drama or workplace brouhaha, Broad City takes a brave step by eliminating all that from the equation.

What’s left is an extended, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video with the volume turned way up.

Abbi and Ilana aren’t looking for love or major strides up the professional ladder—they just want to have a good time, eager to leave destruction in their wake.

At times, this basic premise can skew a little towards the formulaic—many an episode seems to start with the raw material of a mundane crisis (having your phone stolen, getting locked out of your apartment, or killing time during a hurricane) in order to nurture a kind of comic petri dish for absurdity to thrive, since there’s little central plot to speak of. Still, all that’s easily forgiven when there’s enough hilarity involved.

Looking at the broader picture, what’s interesting about Broad City is that it’s the baby of a network whose target au-

dience is men from 18 to 34.

Though I’m as much a fan of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show as anyone, I confess I’ve often skipped past Comedy Central with the preconception that it leant a little too heavily on dick jokes and toilet humor. Let’s just say Broad City has played a major role in my conversion.

The other player is a little more polished and established, though still as wonderfully raunchy. Inside Amy Schumer has two seasons under its belt and received an Emmy nomination for best comedy variety series this year, standing out in a male-dominated category.

Helmed by NSFW Queen Amy Schumer, the show combines skits, stand-up, and interviews with colorful characters (such as a stripper) to form a satirical portrait of modern womanhood.

Like Broad City, Inside Amy Schumer is heavy on the sex stuff (Amy Schumer does have a stand-up special called, “Mostly Sex Stuff”), but the skits tend more to target social tendencies of privileged women and the Greater Forces that affect them. That’s not to say it’s less relatable, but that it just has a little more satirical bite. Ladies who brunch are a favored target, competing about who has eaten the most or who can receive a compliment the worst. The stand-up has to be the highlight, though, because you get to hear Amy Schumer sound off about Plan B and porn endings, topics within the repertoire of any comedian worth her salt.

If all that seems a little much, I think it’s partly because it’s still so taboo. Shows like Broad City and Inside Amy Schumer are pioneers because they’re bringing everything into the open, warts and all. Comedy is often underrated as an agent of social change because it’s, well, silly.

But overlooking its icebreaking powers is a major mistake. Validating every desire and foible on screen is a significant step toward breaking barriers in real life, which is part of what makes these shows so liberating to watch. Getting a laugh doesn’t hurt, either.

Prance around NYC with Julia at jfl49@georgetown.edu

georgetownvoice.com

PAGE THIRTEEN

the georgetown voice |13

– Dylan Cutler

voices

14| the georgetown voice

AUGUST 28, 2014

The road to peace in the Middle East lies with the secular left ROHAN ADVANI

The Middle East is often portrayed by mainstream Western media as a culturally backwards region: overtly religious, rife sectarian conflict, and a hotbed for terrorism. If we take a superficial view of the region, it is entirely possible to justify such caricatures. However, if we’re interested in genuinely understanding the region, the recent phenomenon of privatization of public assets deserves more detail. Sectarianism, admittedly important when discussing these matters, should not be overemphasized when trying to explain the Middle East. Unfortunately, Western commentators discuss sectarianism frequently because it is intellectually simple, politically and economically convenient, and vindicates Western actions in the region.

The conflict in Syria is now almost entirely viewed through a sectarian lens—as Tom Friedman of the New York Times put it, “Sunnis and Shiites have

been fighting since the 7th century over who is the rightful heir to the Prophet Muhammad’s spiritual and political leadership.” Although I cannot deny the sectarian nature of the conflict, dissecting the role of capital and neoliberalism helps to place some of the conflict’s undercurrents within Syria’s socio-economic context.

In 2000, Bashar Al-Assad, the president of Syria, implemented a policy of economic liberalization that resulted in significant changes to Syria’s socioeconomic landscape. It boosted the wealth of the urban merchant classes, who were traditionally Christians thanks to French imperialism, and opened up new opportunities for corruption. These changes came at the expense of Syrian farmers who were not able to compete with Jordanian and Turkish exports. Hence, the first signs of discontent and revolt surfaced from regions heavily dependent on agriculture, such as Deera and Idlib— because of economic, not religious, tensions.

As the conflict progressed, the country was flooded with Iranian and Gulf money, as well as tacit support by the United States and Russia—all contributing to the rise of sectarian identities as a form of political and economic mobilization.

Even Iran’s willingness to back an Alawite government, which their Orthodox Shiism considers heretical, is testament to the fact that this conflict is obviously not solely about religion.

Similarly, in Iraq, sectarianism is the word of choice for many pundits attempting to explain the current conflict there—apparently their memory is limited to only the past 10 years.

After the U.S. invasion in 2003, Iraq’s economy was completely restructured along neoliberal lines: foreign investors were given equal rights with Iraqis in the domestic market, a flat tax system was imposed alongside cuts in food and fuel subsidies, and, most importantly, the Iraqi people’s collective ownership of their country’s oil was removed. Unemployment

rose to 60 percent and more than 5 million people were living in poverty.

Subsequently, there was a movement away from the state and towards religious communities for welfare and protection. Moreover, the new oil laws were based on a constitution which reinforces sectarian lines by permitting provinces to form “autonomous regions”. Despite most Iraqis opposing federalism, certain Kurdish parties in the North and Shiite parties in the South, who have gone on record as favouring privatization, are pushing for such a policy, and in turn, reinforce ethnic and sectarian cleavages. These groups have mobilized along sectarian lines in a scramble for resources. Once again, to deny the sectarian nature would be foolish, yet to explain everything in terms of sectarianism is an exercise in intellectual lackeyism.

Like a sickness, we need to diagnose the problem in order to know how treat it. Reaching stability may seem impossible at this point, yet there are some

simple solutions should at least be discussed in the mainstream discourse. Policymakers, both here and abroad, need to take the socio-economic structures of these countries into account when planning on future action.

Instead of aimlessly throwing money to the ‘opposition’ in Syria (which has strong extremist elements), or supporting the Al-Maliki government in Iraq, we need to be supporting popular, democratic, working-class elements of these countries that are inclusive of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or creed. Moreover, aid and support should be given without contractual obligations of forced privatization, but rather, that help bolster democratic and public institutions that are accountable to the people. The road to peace in the Middle East lies with the secular left.

Rohan Advani SFS ‘16 loves music almost as much as he loves international affairs

Thin shaming is just as harmful as other forms of harassment SARAH JOSEPH

Toward the end of my final year of high school, I was accosted by a friend in such an unexpected way that it has stuck with me to this day.

When she noticed me by my locker, she shouted, “Oh my God, Sarah. I want to be skinny like you.” I was flattered, but my thank you was cut short.

Another girl within earshot loudly proclaimed with a face full of disgust, “You don’t want to be that skinny, that’s too skinny. It’s just gross.” Never had a few words cut into me

so deeply, but the most concerning aspect of the situation unfolding around me was how none of those listening even flinched. Suddenly I was no longer a person with feelings.

To them, I was nothing but skin and bones. Sure, some people simply have no tact, but how can comments so blatantly offensive be so overlooked by others?

These incidents took a toll on my self-confidence. I not only saw my figure as feeble and weak, but I also began to act like it, as if their words were physically breaking me down.

In fact, my friends would jok-

SOMEONE GIVE HER THE SKINNY ON THESE BONES OF CONTENTION

LEILA LEBRETON

ingly call me “the frail one,” and later, “Holy Frail” after Jay Z’s “Holy Grail.” While this was funny at times, sometimes these snide remarks got out of hand. I slouched when I walked, and allowed my weight to define me. I would stuff myself late at night with as many carbs and fatty foods that I could get my hands on. This struggle to put on weight was futile because my fast metabolism always prevailed.

Eventually, I realized that fitting into a perfect mold was not worth the health problems it would cause. Though I could not control my metabolism or genes, I could still strive to eat right and exercise. When I finally expressed some interest in leading an active lifestyle, others made it a point to shame me for harboring those ridiculous thoughts. “Why would you want to work out—you’re already a skeleton. You want to be even skinnier?” People assumed I was overly obsessed with my figure, when frankly, all I wanted to do was walk up a flight of stairs without panting.

It seemed that for those who are already thin, making efforts to be healthy had become a crime. The judgment ensued and I lost my right to decide how I wanted to take care of my body. I could not beat them.

I wanted to gain some perspective and really get to the bottom of why people think it is okay to shame skinny people. How is it that the damaging effects of thin-shaming can be lost on even the most kind-hearted people? The sayings “real women have curves” and “only dogs want bones” so clearly discriminate against skinny people.

Something I didn’t consider, however, is a concept known as “thin privilege.”

Society predominantly stereotypes people who are not skinny as lazy, unattractive, incapable, and undesirable, while the thin woman has been idealized by pop culture.

These mantras are a rebellion against a society that glorifies skinniness: a way for people to say, “I love my body, too!”

Although it may be empowering for some, it also inherently contributes to thin-shaming.

Degrading others in order to empower yourself is absolutely inexcusable.

Thin-shaming is hurtful regardless of intent and should not be condoned in any form.

In the grand scheme of things, all everyone really wants is to feel accepted. Media encourages us to pursue unreachable goals. You will always be too skinny or too curvy accord-

ing to society. You will never achieve perfection, so why should we make it so hard on one another to love our bodies just the way they are? We would all be better off if we stopped playing into the media’s game of keeping everyone insecure.

The value of an individual should not be determined by the amount of fat on his or her body. Odds are, if you ever think that someone should lose or gain weight, that person most probably already feels the same way and has tried. You are not some saving grace who is kindly offering a wake up call to someone who is struggling. All you are doing is pointing out the obvious, needlessly lowering someone’s self-esteem, and tainting your relationship with that person. If you do feel that your friend should seek medical attention, express your concern with discretion, instead of publicly shaming that friend.

Otherwise, I’m afraid that it’s really just shame on you.

SARAH JOSEPH NHS ‘18 IS SKINNY BUT NOT A BITCH

voices

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice |15

Economic privilege alone is not a reason to be ashamed MANUELA TOBIAS “Where do you come from?” has been a difficult question for me to answer for as long as I can remember, because my birthplace, where I last lived, and where my family resides seldom coincide. The question has recently taken on a new dimension, however—one of socioeconomic status.

For those who have never heard of Greenwich, Connecticut, it is one of the wealthiest towns in America. It has also been my family’s place of residence since last August.

When I tell people where I live now, they respond with a knowing tone: “Oh, Greenwich?” Immediately, I am as branded as the clothing worn by most of those who walk along Greenwich Avenue. People assume that I am rich and spoiled. Attending Georgetown to top it all off, there is little else I can do other than to nod my head in slight embarrassment.

I do not fit into this category. Unlike many others living in towns such as mine, I did not grow up wealthy.

I grew up drinking government milk and Minute Maid

TWO OF THESE THINGS aRE NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

LEILA LEBRETON

CARRYING ON

Orange Juice coupons as my father was financing his education. I wound up in Greenwich after my family’s lifetime of hard work and I am proud of how far we have come from our shared New Hampshire townhouse with paper-thin walls.

The assumption that my zip code indicates a certain economic class is a problem. The issue lies in that the branding of “rich,” at least in me, sparks a sort of shame in being privileged, and as a result, abstention from dialogue on class.

The reason for this hesitation to participate in dialogue is because of the assumption by others that wealth goes hand in hand with being spoiled and of being, not necessarily oblivious, but indifferent towards many of the issues that afflict society’s less privileged members. The more privileged are consequentially discouraged from participating in dialogue due to the label of “hypocrite” that is immediately assigned to them.

There must be a line drawn between the judgement of resources and the appreciation of those resources. If we acknowledge

CHIPOTLE CHANGING THE FACE OF FAST FOOD

BY LAURA KUREK

A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

As Hoyas migrate back to the Hilltop for fall classes, how we occupied ourselves for the past three months is sure to be a choice topic of conversation. What did I do?

I helped lead a revolution—I worked at Chipotle.

For some, a look of awe comes over, eerily similar to the face one makes when unwrapping a burrito. For others, jealousy creeps over as they realize how inadequate their internship at the White House was. But everyone has the same question: How was it?

“I smelled like a burrito after work” is met consistently by positive reactions by my male friends.

“I made all the chips and crispy tacos” usually evokes a sense of respect followed by confusion. “Chipotle has hard shell?”

But each time I squeezed a lime wedge over a fresh batch of chips and a satisfying sizzle

erupts, I know my time at Chipotle is more than just a collection of amusing experiences. I am part of a mission.

Armed with plastic gloves and aprons, Chipotle restaurant crews worldwide are revolutionizing the food industry.

“White or brown rice, black or pinto beans?” I ask the customer in front of me. It is an important question. Chipotle buys only organic beans, along with a substantial amount of other organic produce. Organic farming produces more nutrient-rich food by growing multiple kinds of crops and rotating the fields in which they grow. Organic methods also use natural fertilizers such as decaying plant matter rather than synthetic fertilizers.

These often contain ammonium nitrate, whose evaporation creates the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide and whose runoff pollutes waterways.

“What kind of meat today?” I continue. Another good question.

the fact that this is an expensive school that we are incredibly fortunate to attend, we begin to move away from the “spoiled” title and towards a more nuanced “privileged.”

Being privileged should not inspire shame, rather thankfulness for our circumstances. The title begs us to thank those who have allowed us to reach this point. It also encourages us to keep working towards repaying those responsible for our privileges and to extend these to others who may not have been as fortunate in their upbringing.

Most importantly, privilege ought to inspire recognition of the rarity of our economic position, though this is often a challenge at a school where most of our peers are themselves just as, if not more, affluent than ourselves. It is difficult to acknowledge the fact that 15.1 percent of the U.S. was living in poverty in 2010, or that 2.4 billion people live below the poverty line worldwide while walking along M St. and overhearing lamentations on the inability to afford a new pair of heels.

Chipotle commits itself to serving meat from naturally raised animals. Each spoonful of carnitas comes from an animal that was raised without antibiotics, without

I know my time at “Chipotle is more than just a collection of amusing experiences.

”

hormones, in a field, rather than a cage. Factory farming is a concerning reality in the food industry.

Kept in cramped pens indoors, animals are pumped full of medicine to prevent disease and hormones to create muscle without movement. American pork produces administer over 10 million pounds of antibiotics a year to their livestock, more than triple the human consumption of antibiotics.

As I grace a tortilla with juicy steak, I am on the front

lines of a food industry revolution. Chipotle occasionally must serve traditionally-raised beef as the supply of naturally raised beef does not match demand.

But continued demand is essential in the fight against factory farming.

Food industry veterans told Chipotle founder and CEO Steve Ells it couldn’t be done: organic produce and naturally-raised meat would be too costly for the fast food business model.

Ells broke all the rules. Chipotle has provided local and ethically raised food on a mass scale, spending more on ingredients than payroll. Ells’ model is so iconoclast it spurred a new term in the food industry: fast casual—where quality food meets McDonald’s speed. Chipotle challenged everything America knew about fast food and proved that we would pay for better food, paving the way for other quality-minded restaurants to follow.

Many Georgetown students pride themselves on their knowledge of current events and on their awareness of statistics on poverty, but they remain unable to genuinely engage in the subject of privilege, particularly with their peers when they themselves fall into the higher social classes. Students refrain from dialogue on the upbringing of those less privileged and oftentimes ignore their own privilege in order to avoid awkward conversations, perpetuating an ignorance of socioeconomic realities beyond their own.

Dialogue that occurs within institutions such as Georgetown regarding the structures that enable, or more importantly, disable economic advancement must take place in order to invest a worthwhile effort into altering them. These discussions are only comprehensive if they involve both ends of the economic spectrum.

Manuela Tobias COL ‘17 lives by the mantra “mo’ money, mo’ problems” Chipotle offers quality and choice, which makes for happy customers as well as some humorous situations for its workers.

One customer so enthralled with the prospect of Chipotle forgets a few contextual details in his order. I ask, “Hi sir, what can I get for you today?” And he replies, “Chicken.”

Another tentatively reads an order from her iPhone: “Do you know what a quesorito is?

It’s for my son.” And then I help her navigate the behemoth that is a quesadilla-wrapped burrito.

One can walk into Chipotle and witness the myriad of choices for its customers. Less immediately obvious is the greater choice Chipotle offers—the ability to choose food cultivated and raised responsibly. This is the Chipotle manifesto: give people the power to choose, to demand better, responsible sustenance.

Their demand creates the market that rebels against traditional conceptions of what the food industry can be.

The choice isn’t black or pinto. It is so much more. *** The above words were written of the author’s own volition and not under the influence of a steaming, perfectly-rolled carnitas burrito.