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VOICE the georgetown

The Start of a Revolution Entrepreneurship at Georgetown

By Dayana Morales Gomez

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w September 18, 2014 w Volume 47, Issue 5 w www.georgetownvoice.com

the

Voice

SEPT. 18, 2014 This week: Editorial ... Down with rankings, pg. 3 News ... GU community remembers Andrea Jaime, pg. 4 Sports ... Football finds first win, pg. 6 Feature ... Profile of Hoya entrepreneurs, pg. 8 Leisure ... Mujumdar mesmerizes in new exhibit, pg. 10 Page 13 ... Drunk Food Truck Menu, pg. 13 Voices ... NATO summit shows strength against Russia, pg. 14

Start Me Up

A profile of Hoya entrepreneurs and the fates of their future business ventures.

Last week’s key:

Letters to the Editor:

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

BLOG

Editor: Ryan Greene

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

HALFTIME

Senior Leisure Editor: Daniel Varghese

Assistant Leisure Editors: Micaela Beltran, Simone Wahnschafft

COPY

Chief: Eleanor Fanto

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

NEWS

Julia S. Tanaka

Assistant Editors: Shalina Chatlani, James Constant, Lara Fishbane

Steven Criss

Editor: Julia Jester

Editor in Chief

Managing Editor

FEATURE

Mary-Bailey Frank

EDITORIAL BOARD

Noah Buyon

Editor: Caitriona Pagni Chair: Ian Philbrick

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

General Manager

Technical Director

Dayana Morales Gomez Editor-at-Large

Tim Annick

Managing Director

SPORTS

Editor: Chris Castano

Assistant Editors: Kevin Huggard, Joe Pollicino

LEISURE

Editor: Josh Ward

Assistant Editors: Elizabeth Baker, Sam Kleinman, Manuela Tobias

VOICES

Editor: Chris Almeida

Assistant Editor: Grace May

COVER

Editor: Christina Libre

PHOTO

Editor: Ambika Ahuja

Assistant Editors: Sabrina Kayser, Gavin Myers, Joshua Raftis

DESIGN

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

PAGE 13

Editor: Dylan Cutler

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

The georgetown voice | 3

Rank and defile

Reliance on U.S. News college rankings misleads prospective students U.S. News and World Report released its annual rankings of American universities last week, ranking Georgetown University No. 21 in the nation—a step down from No. 20 last year. While the change hardly undermines Georgetown’s reputation as a world-class undergraduate institution, the continued importance of college rankings demonstrates that the education community continues to rely on a measurement of questionable value.

Students and parents deciding among colleges naturally desire a metric by which to compare them. An article in The Atlantic last year that prominently featured an image

of Healy Hall, however, made the case against the undue obsession with college rankings. Outsiders’ perceptions of an institution, faculty salaries, selectivity, and endowment size are heavily weighted in U.S. News’s arbitrary criteria.

Moreover, comparisons from year to year are made dubious by changes in the metrics used, the difficulty of quantifying certain metrics, and the fact that nearly a quarter of them are qualitative.

Rankings have driven some schools to manipulate numbers, as did George Washington University and Claremont-McKenna College in 2012. It has also induced them to spend money on improving their image,

rather than investing directly in students. The University of Chicago, for instance, aggressively lowered its acceptance rate from 39 percent in 2006 to 13 percent in 2012, raising its ranking from 15th to fifth during the same period. These practices drive up tuition, obscure an institution’s true quality of education, and ignore outcome metrics that indicate graduating students’ future success.

Georgetown’s small endowment of $80,000 per student and its modest admissions rate, due to the University’s continued refusal to accept the Common Application, necessarily relegated it below the top 20 rankings this year. Renowned professors

and high SAT scores of incoming freshmen, however, have only a marginal impact on the value of a Georgetown education.

Of greater concern is the University’s average ranking of 0.2 in The New York Times’ College Access Index, also released last week, which quantifies socioeconomic diversity at the nation’s top colleges on a scale between -3 and 3.1. The Times observed that Yale, which is tied with Georgetown for accessibility, has an endowment of almost $2 million per student. Despite the fact that the University’s tuition remains one of the highest in the nation, programs such as the Georgetown Scholarship Program have flourished

in the past decade, providing its recipients with career connections and one-on-one support.

The University was also recently ranked as the No. 1 college for veterans—by U.S. News and World Report no less—illustrating steps taken in the right direction to support Hoyas with limited financial means.

Georgetown deserves praise for resisting the trend of manipulating data and pursuing policies that kowtow to U.S. News & World Report’s artificial inflation of university prestige. With the worth of a college degree coming under increasing fire, an institution that prioritizes students over arbitrary ranking sends a valuable message.

Rehousing at a glance

hearing but not listening

Rapid rehousing program does disservice to D.C. homeless

Senate hearing on D.C. statehood leaves the District disappointed

Housing now costs more in D.C. than anywhere else in the United States, according to a report released this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Beating out the usual leaders, San Francisco and New York City, the average price of housing-related costs in the District is $17,603 per year. Rising housing costs, compounded with D.C.’s rising homeless population, pose a dilemma that has baffled policymakers for decades. According to The Washington Post, as of last February, a p proximately 5,000 families in the District are homeless or on the verge of homelessness.

Since October of last year, the number of families in emergency housing increased from 297 to 771, signaling an imminent increase in the homeless population.

In an effort to alleviate the pressure of housing costs on people in the lowest income bracket, the O b a m a ad m i n i s tr a tion introduced a Rapid Re-housing Program as part of the 2009 stimulus package. The program, which pays a

percentage of families’ rent for a maximum of four months to alleviate populations in homeless shelters, was widely adopted in cities across the U.S. It aims to address the immediate problems of homelessness by providing families with housing subsidies for a guaranteed period of four months, and up to a year with extensions.

Rapid rehousing has been praised because it cuts costs for city g o v e r n m e nt s . O n e study conducted this ye a r by t he C e nt r a l Florida Commission on Homelessness suggests that providing housing subsidies to homeless people racks up only onethird of the cost necessary to house them in government-funded shelters. However, the program, which is intended to provide a leg up for low-income families, in many cases sets them up for failure. As of February 2014, the Department of Human Services determined that, of the 299 families that exited rapid rehousing in the District over the past 14 months, a mere 31 were subsequently

reported as being able to pay their rent ind e pendent of government help. While it is possible that these other families found methods of supporting themselves, the majority remain unaccounted for. 11 were reported to have ultimately returned to a shelter.

The city’s numbers illustrate a program that often prolongs, rather than breaks, the cycle of poverty.

The D.C. budget next year will allocate $20 million to rapid rehousing—twice as much as last year—but cut $6 million from homeless family services. Given the program’s questionable success rate in its current form and a District average unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, it is imperative that D.C. reform rapid rehousing to set low-income families up for success rather than simplyshuffle them around in short-term housing solutions. Without proper social services and more reasonable time-frames for achieving financial security, D.C.’s rapid rehousing will only continue to disappoint the families it aims to serve.

When a resident of Wyoming—America’s smallest state by population—feels dissatisfied with his or her political representation in the U.S. Congress, she can vote, run for national office, or plead with her representative at the grocery store (which, given that the state’s population is only slightly more than that of the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, Ariz., isn’t outside the realm of possibility).

A resident of Washington, D.C., on the other hand, can do none of these things. The people of America’s capital city and the nation’s 23rd most-populous metropolis are denied any voting representation in the Congress that presides over them. Monday’s Senate hearing on a bill regarding D.C. statehood—the first public forum to address the issue in nearly 21 years—sought to address this obvious inequality. But, as in years past, little progress was made, and the skewed representation of the opposing sides was telling.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, District “shadow” Senator Paul Strauss, and numerous pro-statehood activists attended the hearing, yet only two senators

bothered to show up, with the bill’s 19 other ostensible cosponsors opting not to join in.

As Monday’s hearing aptly illustrates, D.C. statehood is an issue that receives lip service, but no real traction, despite the fact that District residents serve in the armed forces and pay federal taxes like all other Americans. Last year’s federal government shutdown, during which Mayor Gray dipped into the District’s emergency funds in order to keep the city functional, made a strong case for ending Congressional budgetary control over D.C.’s tax dollars. Nevertheless, taxation without representation continues unabated and Congress’s ability to overturn local legislation affecting D.C. continues to hamstring District policy making.

Congress’s logic on the issue is brutally utilitarian: because D.C. has no say in the selection of Congressional representatives, Congressional representatives have no incentive to advocate for D.C. statehood. Politicking and partisanship have held the rights of 649,449 American citizens hostage. Republicans oppose D.C. statehood because the city’s largely

urban population virtually guarantees it would reliably vote Democrat. Most Democrats, by contrast, do not want to appear intent on pushing an issue that matters little to their constituents back home—it is simply not worth the fight.

District residents also cannot rely on the executive branch to stand up for them. When asked about D.C. statehood at a town hall event this July, President Obama stated that he is“forit.”LikeCongress,however, he has thus far done nothing concrete to advance thecause.

Arguing against statehood, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) on Monday suggested that the Constitution specifically provides for a federal district outside state boundaries as the seat of the federal government. As Strauss countered, however, the Constitution also codified both female disenfranchisement and slavery for over a century. The Framers could never have imagined D.C.’s future dimensions, population explosion from just 8,144 residents in 1800, and current political circumstances. Without Congressional action, their oversight will persist—to the deficit of both the District and its citizens.

4 | the georgetown voice

news

Georgetown community remembers Andrea Jaime JULIA JESTER Georgetown student Andrea Jaime (NHS ‘17) passed away from apparent meningitis at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. That evening, students, faculty, and friends gathered in Dahlgren QuadJOSHUA RAFTIS rangle to mourn the loss and STUDENTS GATHER in dahlgren quad to reflect AND REMEMBER. celebrate the life of Jaime.

Hospital officials concertainly proud to have her as Dahlgren’s usually flowing firmed her diagnosis of menina member of our program.” fountain remained still and sigitis—however, they are awaitChristine Pfeil, associate dilent as Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., ing test results to determine rector of GSP and Jaime’s adviled the community in prayer whether the illness was viral or sor within the program, echoed and reflection. The Office of bacterial, with the latter being Salazar’s words of shock. “I don’t Campus Ministry prepared tamore deadly, though less likely. think students know how to feel bles with binders for attendees “We will inform the University yet … a lot of students [Tuesto express feelings and offer community as soon as we learn day] night were starting to have prayers for Jaime and her fammore from those tests, and we that thought process of ‘Woah, ily. “[For] Andrea’s family, who are in regular communicanothing is guaranteed,’ ‘Woah, feel so very much your prestion with the hospital and the life is fleeting,’ ‘Woah, all these ence and your prayers and your Department of Health,” wrote things I thought were important love in the past 24 hours, it has Assistant Vice President of Stuaren’t important, what’s really meant a very, very great deal to dent Health Services Dr. James important is how we make each them,” O’Brien said.

Welsh in an email to the Voice. other feel,’” said Pfeil. “They Cinthya Salazar, assistant In an email sent to GSP memwere saying things like ‘Oh my director for academic student bers, program leaders urged stugod, the last time I saw Andrea, support services at the Cendents who are concerned about did I make her happy? Was I ter for Multicultural Equity their health to visit the Student a good person?’ I’m thinking and Access, knew Jaime closeHealth Center, regardless of cost. those same things, too.” ly through her work with the “Please don’t worry about financFoy was touched by the UniCommunity Scholars Program es; we will reimburse any charges versity’s response during Jaime’s and also spoke at the service. that result for medical care relatlast days, noting in particular “When someone is taken from ed to this through the GSP Grant the compassion us suddenly, at far Application,” stated the email. of Professor Joan too young an age, Andrea Jaime died from menRiley, who opened it’s as if they’ve ingitis, but she lived for her pasher Copley apartbeen torn from sions and dreams. Having taken ment to students us,” she said. “It’s the Georgetown Emergency around 10 p.m. on as if there’s a tear Medical Services EMT class last Monday. in the fabric of our spring, Jaime was on track to pur“Within 15 lives where Ansue her career in medicine. minutes there drea once stood Pfeil described Jaime as were 50 students, and smiled.” a “go-getter” who was full of that’s of course Director of joy and life. She shared a fond when ‘RIP’ was the Georgetown memory from Jaime’s first days appearing on her Scholarship ProANDREA JAIME’S FACEBOOK PROFILE as a GSP freshman last fall. “It’s Facebook, which gram Missy Foy a time when people are generwas tragic—really tragic—so commended the care taken by ally timid, a couple of students of course students were conO’Brien in preparing for the mewere sitting quietly in our offused,” said Foy, referring to morial service. “The thoughtfice and Andrea is not—talking, the spread of preemptive mefulness that [Fr. O’Brien] put laughing, making people feel morial messages across Jaiinto it, how do we celebrate her comfortable, making jokes me’s social media accounts on life adequately—he cared so about our broken Keurig maMonday evening. much about how to comfort stuchine,” she said. “Just so joyful “I saw three chapdents best,” she said. and making people feel at ease, lains-in-residence [and] the Jaime was an active memand making people feel welhead of campus ministry himber of GSP, participating in come, and bringing joy where self, who I think cancelled some activities such as its “Dare to she went. I remember that of trip to make sure he was there Thrive” challenge designed her, and just her stubborn perto pray with the students and to help students make the severance on the path that she explain to them, ‘I just came most of Georgetown and volsaw for herself into the medifrom seeing her family and this unteering to work in the ofcal field. She knew that’s what is exactly what the status is, and fice. “To be selected for GSP she wanted, and she went for it I’m here with you, we care about … it’s a really high honor, and from day one. She was an inspiyou, these are the resources one of which she was very deration—I think it’s a huge loss.” that are available,’” Foy said. serving,” said Foy. “We are

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Senate holds first hearing on D.C. statehood in 21 years JAMES CONSTANT Activists and District leaders crowded the Dirksen Senate Office Building this Monday as the Senate held its first hearing on the issue of D.C. statehood in 21 years. If D.C. is admitted as the 51st state—a prospect that supporters acknowledge as being unlikely—it will exclude all lands currently utilized by the federal government, such as the National Mall andtheWashingtonNavalYard.

The proposed state’s name, New Columbia, and constitution were decided upon by D.C. voters in a referendum in 1982. New Columbia’s state population would be roughly 645,000—more than the populations of bothWyoming andVermont.

Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del.), the statehood bill’s sponsor, was present, however, its 17 Democratic co-sponsors were absent. Carper pointed to city residents’ lack of representation in Congress as a clear injustice.

“In myview, this situation is simply not fair. Neither is it consistent with our values as a country,” said Carper. “Perhaps most importantly, though, it’s not consistent with the Golden Rule: treat other people the way we want to be treated.”

The only other senator present wasSen.TomCoburn(R-Ok.),whoargued against the bill before leaving 30 minutesintothethree-hourhearing.

“D.C. residents sufferan injustice ... by not having a vote,” Coburn said, but decried the idea of statehood as a “legal and political absurdity.”

Coburn was the only witness to argue against the “NewColumbiaAdmissionAct,”while everyotherspeaker—including Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C.’s Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes, and ProfessorViet D. Dinh of Georgetown LawCenter—addressed statehood as an issue of glaring importance. Paul Strauss, one of the District’s two “shadow” senators, spoke infavorofthebill’sconstitutionality.

“I am suspicious of those who claim to support equality for the District, but oppose this bill as a remedy

because of the argument that the District shouldn’t be a state because historically, it was only meant to be the the seat of the federal government,” said Strauss. “Among the historical aspects of our Constitution were enshrined the institution of slavery, lack of rights for women, and a host of other injustices, now corrected by Constitutional amendments.”

The issue of statehood reared its head again a year ago during the governmentshutdown,whenthecitywas prohibited from spending funds on local services—such as garbage pickup, Circulator buses, and the DMV— due to congressional inaction. Under the statehood bill, D.C. would have authorityoveritsownbudget.

Monday’s hearing comes on the heels of President Obama’s declaration of support for statehood at a town hall meeting in Northwest D.C. this July.

“Folks in D.C. pay taxes like everybody else. They contribute to the overall well-being of the country like everybody else. They should be represented like everybody else,” said Obama n July. “There has been a long movement to get D.C. statehood and I’ve been for it for quite some time.

The politics of it end up being difficult to get it through Congress, but I think it’sabsolutelytherightthingtodo.”

While the measure was supported by those in the audience on Monday, the numbers paint a troubling picture for the statehood campaign. Only 18 senators, all Democrats, have announced their support the bill—far from the 51 required to pass through the Senate.

No Senate Republican has shown any support for it, as D.C. statehood would grant two additional seats, most likely to Democrats.

Carper acknowledged the bill’s lack of support in the Senate, but pledged to continue working to raise awarenessaboutstatehood.

“My goal for this hearing is to educate a new generation of people about this injustice and restart the conversation about finding a more thoughtful solution,”Carpersaid.

THE ODDS ARE NOT IN new columbia’s FAVOR.

MILES GAVIN MENG

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Saxa POLITICA: GU HISTORY IS FAR FROM A FAIRYTALE

a tri-weekly column about CAMPUS news and politics Once upon a time, Georgetown became the first Catholic university in America to have an LGBTQ center, with not one, but two full-time staffers—an anomaly at the time. Today, the Georgetown LGBTQ Center and student group GUPride serve as pillars of support for LGBTQ students, with regular meetings and programming.

This fairytale is the one that is handed down “for generations to come”—each incoming freshman class given the same story, the moral of the fable being that Georgetown—Catholic, Jesuit Georgetown—was progressive for its time.

The truth, however, is that LGBTQ students at Georgetown have had a long-suffering history with the University, dating back to 1970 when homosexuality was finally removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the fall of 1987, students successfully sued the University

BY JULIA TANAKA

to establish a student group that would have full access to benefits, which became GUPride. Still, LGBTQ students were repeatedly denied the privilege of a resource center. The University’s only concession was the hiring of a parttime staffer in 2004.

Then, Sept. 9, 2007: a Georgetown student was assaulted in the early hours of the morning. The perpetrator yelled anti-gay slurs, broke the student’s thumb, and left him nursing several cuts and bruises. Less than a month later, a student was shoved and verbally abused on the Lau steps. These two incidents garnered so much attention that President DeGioia created working groups, which came up with the Bias Reporting System of today, and, in 2008, designated an official space for LGBTQ students to congregate and find resources.

There was another spate of sexuality-based bias crimes in late 2009. And this past weekend,

when a student was assaulted by a man screaming homophobic slurs, the Georgetown campus banded together in collective disgust at the crime, and support for the victim. But no undergraduates today, even if they are factually aware of the history of the relationship between LGBTQ students and the University, lived through the experience, or have firsthand knowledge of the incidents.

The narrative of the LGBTQ community at Georgetown is not the only narrative that has been streamlined and tailored into a neat, compact story that fits in right along other Hoya slogans: “Men and women for others,” “Cura personalis,” “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam,” and most recently, the drumbeat of the words “a living, learning community.”

I don’t blame Georgetown for maintaining a well-manicured PR strategy, nor do I think that the administration actively works to

the georgetown voice | 5 hide facts: the student struggles are simply omitted from the story.

And since student turnover is so high, especially compared to the long-standing careers of members of the University administration, the truth gradually slips away, until, like clockwork, every four years, the administration can master the version of history that ends up cemented in the future students’ minds. The Public Safety Alerts about hate crimes and the calls for rallies in Red Square languish in the inboxes of dormant NetIDs. As we move into the final phases of the implementation of the 2010 Campus Plan and look ahead to the beginning of the negotiations for 2017, we must engrave the minute details of the slow, painful slog of the creation of the 2010 plan onto the mind of the collective student body. Reader, do you remember www.drunkenstudentsofgeorgetown.com? Do the names Lenore Rubino and Jennifer Altemus mean anything to you? How about Ron Lewis? It is crucial that as Georgetown seeks to expand, both physically and academically, that students continue to

advocate for themselves as the University’s highest priority. It is on the backs of our research, our theses, the weird number of SFS graduates who have gone on to to run Latin American countries, that Georgetown’s reputation still proudly stands, and we must remember that and exert ourselves to remind the administration and our neighbors of this fact. If not us, who?

Campus plans are not the only issue. As we begin to embrace dialogue about race and socioeconomic diversity and gender, it is a perfect moment to change the way we remember. It falls on us, the student body, to diligently record and pass on every fight, every negotiation, and every disappointment. It is up to us to maintain institutional memory so that every group can cultivate an accurate and nuanced narrative. Fundamental and progressive change moves slowly, and we cannot set ourselves back every four years if we want to continue to advocate for ourselves—no matter the issue of the day. Compiling a Student’s History of Georgetown would be my fantasy. That would, to me, be a fairytale ending.

Trojan Women Summit presents opportunity for Syrian voices to be heard COURTNIE BAEK In lieu of a performance from its original cast members after they were denied visas to the U.S., Georgetown will host Voices Unheard: Syria: The Trojan Women Summit this weekend. The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics is presenting the political event on Friday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Gonda Theatre at Georgetown’s Davis Performing Arts Center.

Their original performance, Syria: The Trojan Women, weaved the personal experiences of the 12 female cast members who fled their homes to live as refugees in a 21st-century conflict into Euripides’ 2,500 year-old script about the women of Troy post-Trojan War. After premiering in December 2013 in Amman, Jordan, Georgetown invited the cast to perform in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18 for its first North American performance.

“It’s really an extraordinary thing that this play written by Euripides about the devastating impact of the Trojan war applies so directly for these women about their own experiences in Syria,” said Cynthia Schneider, Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and Co-Director of the Lab.

The Trojan WomEn website/gallery

THE SYRIAN CAST MEMBERS PERFORM THEIR ORIGINAL WORK. The summit that will take the place of the performance includes excerpts of the play, behind-thescene documentary footages, and live discussion with the Syrian refugee women of the cast via livestream from Amman, originators of the project, and the leading Syrian director Omar Abu Saada.

Policy experts and artists will also discuss the political realities of the region and the role of art as a humanizing force, including Honey Al Sayed, producer and co-founder of SouriaLi Radio; Faisal Al-Juburi, executive director of Bridges of Understanding; Dale Gavlak, BBC and CNN correspondent in Amman; Faysal Itani, resident fellow in the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East; and Hind Kabawat, Senior Program Officer in United States Institutes of Peace, Syria.

Despite months of efforts and communication on the women’s behalf from top officials, ambassadors, and lawyers, the U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs in Amman denied the visa applications of the actresses under section 214b of the Immigrant and Nationality Act: “failure to demonstrate non-immigrant intent.”

“We had one comment that this confirms their worst fears about the United States that their story doesn’t matter here,” said Professor Derek Goldman, artistic director of the Davis Performing Arts Center and co-director of the Lab. “At the same time, we’ve experienced this outpouring of support for the project, so those emotions are all entwined.”

Goldman also commented on the negative response in the U.S. regarding the efforts of bringing the Syrian performance

group. “If you read the thread of comments for the NPR or the Washington Post piece, there are comments about why would we let terrorists into the country, and other unbelievably ignorant, prejudiced comments,” said Goldman. “The best antidote to those kinds of sentiments is an artwork like which exposes and combat these stereotypes about the Muslim community.”

Schneider further emphasized the reality of the conflicts that the Syrian performance group faces.

“It’s really easy to talk about this conflict in terms of geopolitics with the division of sides—Russian Iran siding with Assad, United States building its own coalition against them—so it’s so easy to lose track of the human impact.” she said.

“There are three million Syrian refugees out of the country now, and these women are just a small fraction of that.”

After joining the summit at Georgetown, the Syria Trojan Women project will continue with various works, including a performance funded by the Talberg Institute at the European Or-

• • •

ganization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland, in November of this year.

Voices Unheard: Syria: The Trojan Women Summit is the first anchoring event of the Myriad Voices Festival, a two-year project where artists share their work about issues in the Middle East with scholars, policymakers, faculty, and students at Georgetown.

Schneider’s hopes for student engagement with the event are threefold. “I hope that the students have a deeper understanding of the human consequences of this conflict. I hope that they come away with this awareness of the very important role that culture and creative expressions play in emerging from conflicts,” she said. “Finally, I hope everyone will come away with a deeper understanding of the complexity of foreign policies and decision making in these situations.”

Online tickets for the summit have sold out, but students can contact the Georgetown University Department of Performing Arts Box for information on additional ticket availability.

READ MORE ONLINE:

Adjunct professors reach settlement agreement with the university Thrive Week highlights nutrition and well-being issues on campus Georgetown environmentalists to attend the People’s Climate March

sports

6 | the georgetown voice

September 18, 2014

Georgetown football drives Marist away for first win ARJUN GUPTA When the Georgetown football team (1-2, 0-0 Patriot League) traveled to Poughkeepsie, NY to play the Marist Red Foxes, they knew that they needed to turn their season around.

They had struggled in their previous two games against Wagner and Dayton, posting two losses and scoring only 17 points cumulatively while allowing 44.

Thankfully for the Hoya faithful, the team that showed up on Saturday wasn’t interested in taking yet another beating. The Blue and Gray beat Marist by a resounding score of 27-7 for their first victory of the season.

“The biggest improvement, I think, from the Dayton game was that we ran the ball a little better and we definitely tackled better,” said Head Coach Rob Sgarlata. “It felt great to get a win.

[It was a] good total effort, offense, defense, special teams.”

The Hoya defense had an especially big day, as the Red Foxes only gained a total of 140 yards. They managed 13 possessions, 10 of which they were forced to punt away.

Senior linebacker Nick Alfieri starred with a season high 14 tackles and an interception. He was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career and is ranked second in the Patriot League for tackles, averaging nearly 12 per game.

Rainy playing conditions slowed down the beginning of the game considerably.

The Red Foxes were unable to move the ball downfield and turned the ball over on just their third drive. However, things weren’t much better for the Blue and Gray as they were unable to take advantage of Marist’s weak offense. The Hoyas settled for two short field goals instead of punching the ball in for touchdowns.

“We shot ourselves in the foot in the first half. The great thing for our offense is that coming out of the game we put together two 10 plus play drives,” Sgarlata said.

The second half opened the game up considerably as Georgetown was able to drive down the field on their first offensive possession of the half and score. Junior quarterback Kyle Nolan found senior wide receiver Michael Cimilluca for the game’s maiden touchdown.

With the Hoyas up 130, the defense went to work and stopped two promising drives with two interceptions. The first, on a play made by junior cornerback Ettian Scott, came at the end of the third quarter, deep in Hoya territory. The second interception of the half, made by sophomore defensive end Phil Novacki, broke the game open. Novacki returned the ball for a touchdown that put Georgetown up 20-0. Novacki was named a College Football Performance Awards Defensive Lineman of the Week Honorable Mention following the game.

Alfieri does not believe that the elevated level of defense that the Hoyas played has anything to do with luck

FREDDY ROSAS

The defense stepped up to hand Georgetown football its first victory of the season.

or chance. Instead he’s convinced that the team is finally becoming comfortable in Sgarlata’s system.

“The defense is starting to mesh and gel and we’re all starting to trust each other,” Alfieri said.

The Red Foxes finally managed to put some points on the board, as they returned a punt for a touchdown, but again, the Blue and Gray responded strongly. Nolan drove the team down the field, ate up five minutes of game clock, and scored a rushing touchdown to seal the victory.

The Blue and Gray don’t have much time to celebrate the win, as their upcoming game against Brown (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League) this Saturday at noon is one of the toughest on their sched-

ule. The Hoyas have lost to Brown in each of the past two seasons in blowout fashion and are looking for redemption. “[Brown is] very well coached and they play hard,” said Sgarlata. “For us, it is a challenge. It should be an advantage for us playing in our fourth game.”

The game also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the return of competitive, intercollegiate football to Georgetown, which will see many alums returning to the Hilltop for the celebration weekend.

“It is a great reminder of the modern day era… For me, it is just another way to look at the entire history of the program,” Sgarlata, who’s been a part of the football program as a player

and coach for nearly the past quarter century, said.

Along with a planned tailgate in the McDonough parking lot and a gala dinner on Saturday, the team will have a ceremony during halftime of the game on Saturday to honor General George William Casey II (F’70) and Rory F. Quirk (C’65, MA’71, L’80) for their efforts in bringing football back to the Hilltop in 1964.

The football team hopes that they can carry their momentum from last week into this weeks game. Winning against a traditional conference powerhouse in front of an excited home crowd would be an excellent way to honor a program that is now half a century old, but still struggling to stay relevant and competitive.

Chrisastano’s SPORTS SERMON--C “Name the top 5 cartoon movie lil nick should watch this week ,I need .......,.. Lion King.” -Nick Young, via Twitter If you’re a sports fan, and you happen to be friends with dance enthusiasts, I promise you, at some point, you’ll be out to dinner and someone will turn to you and say, “So, why don’t you think dance is a sport?”

Fun fact: unless your answer expounds on how competitive dance is underrated and is deserving of a prime-time slot on ESPN, your night’s about to get a whole lot worse.

The vast majority of dancers are adamant that their pastime has what it takes to be considered as, if not more, difficult than the sports we’re used to watching. For the most part, they’re right, but the definition of “sport” is changing and leaving behind activities that would otherwise be included.

Serious dance training is hard—take it from a kid who quit tap class four months in. I can only imagine what it takes to become truly great at a style that’s a little more intense, like ballroom or ballet. Rehearsals are long and arduous, both strength and balance are required, and you’re working in a team environment. Precision is a must if you really want to make it in the world of dance, from the top of your head, right down to the direction of your toes.

There are, nonetheless, a few aspects of dance that make many a sports fan a little skeptical of its legitimacy as a sport.

For one, points and competition are not necessarily intrinsic to dance. The spectacle can be conducted simply for the purpose of entertainment. The point of a dance performance is to do the style right, to perfect the ideal aesthetic form.

There’s also a distinct lack of running in dance, which seems to be a staple in the land of sportsdom. Asking those indignant dancers if they could make it through a four-mile jog has been my only defense on those fateful nights.

You might think you’ve sufficiently argued against competitive dance, but every point made against its inclusion as a sport categorically eliminates other athletic activities that are unquestionably considered sports. Some dancers might not be able to run three miles, but the same could be said of more than a few players in the MLB, or golfers on the PGA circuit.

It’s also true that certain sports, such as NASCAR, involve little to no running whatsoever.

If we’re going to use intrinsic performance quality as an argument against dance, we had better eliminate snowboard freestyle and gymnastics from the Olympics.

The truth is we really don’t have an objective definition of sport that excludes dance to the benefit of all the activities that popularly retain the label.

That’s not for lack of physical qualifications, but rather an intangible cultural standard that dictates how we decide what’s sport and what’s art.

Unfortunately, Americans tend to fall prey to binaries.

Something can’t be sports and art: it has to be one or the other. We’re taught that when you lace up cleats, you’re playing a sport, and when you lace up pointe shoes, you’re performing an art. For many, it’s hard to fathom that an activity can be considered both.

It’s the same sort of binary that has led Americans to classify activities like competitive equestrianism, figure skating, and sailing as something other than what they intrinsically are: sport. For whatever reason, as it matured, America just couldn’t find a space for them in the box that also contained football, hockey, baseball, and basketball.

Should fans of such pastimes be worried about the popular opinions of those that would deny them the moniker of sport? Probably not. Do what you like, like what you do.

But sports fans would do well to remember that you’ll find athletes outside of Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Just because someone is performing a plie‘ or releve‘ doesn’t mean what they’re doing deserves a sports fan’s dismissal.

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice | 7

Rugby rebuilds after graduation SOURABH BHAT

The Georgetown club rugby team was founded in 1967 and holds an impressive legacy of success here on the Hilltop.

After a strong 2013-2014 season during which they won their 48th Cherry Blossom Rugby Tournament title, the team is hoping they can build on their tradition of success. This season is accompanied by plentiful change, with key players graduating from the Hilltop, and the club exploring different tournaments.

Jack Sheridan, one of the captains last year, who played the position of the fly, graduated this past May, along with four other seniors who were on the first string for the club.

Younger and more inexperienced players have been called upon to step up to fill the void.

Despite losing to George Washington in a shocking encounter last spring, the Blue and Gray have already reclaimed their dignity this year with a 28-7 victory against GW in their first conference game this season. Rugby Captain Conor Shea described the win as “a confidence booster, which has gotten the ball rolling for the team this year.”

Georgetown plays in the Division II Capital Rugby Union with eight other teams from Maryland, Virginia, and the District. The top two teams from this group earn themselves a place in the coveted national championship. Unfortunately for Georgetown, two of the best

Chris Almeida’s TRI-weekly column about sports

selective outrage: reactions to ray rice

The Hoya Rugby team wants to improve despite its illustrious legacy. and most organized teams in the country, Towson University and Salisbury University, also play in the same division.

However, last year the Hoyas managed to split games against both these teams, which bodes well for this season considering they both pose the only real threats to the Hoyas for most of the season.

“I want to see the team develop in many positions as they replace seniors, and get a spot in the national championship in the fall,” Shea said.

These goals are certainly realistic due to the increase of fellow students’ interest in rugby.

This year, the club has swelled to include more members than they’ve ever had before. In addition, the team has a new head coach who has brought a new attitude to the team.

“In my time here I’ve never seen so many people consistently show up to practice and games,” said Shea. This is sure to pay off during the season. With many of the team’s athletes playing rugby for the

Freddy Rosas

first time, consistent exposure will result in a stronger team down the line.

Georgetown rugby is also looking to increase the number of tournaments it attends.

Traditionally, rugby is played with teams of 15, and in the fall, the club will be sticking to this format. However, in the spring, the team will also look to form a condensed squad to participate in seven-versus-seven tournaments.

The team has also been in continuous conflict with the Georgetown administration.

Thanks to their status as a club team, oftentimes they book fields well in advance only to have them taken away at the last minute. During the GW game, for example, the club booked Harbin Field for three hours but their time was arbitrarily cut after a visiting varsity soccer team, arriving late, needed the field to practice.

The team’s last home game this fall is against George Mason University on Oct. 11 at 3:00 p.m. on Harbin Field.

Field hockey streak cut short VICTORIA BORNEMAN

The Georgetown field hockey team (2-3, 0-0 Big East) brought home their second win of the season against Holy Cross this past Saturday, before dropping a game on Sunday 4-1 against Brown. The weekend was full of highs and lows for a program that is currently trying to reinvent itself.

Saturday’s game against Holy Cross was a true test of will as both teams maintained a steady offense and an even stronger defense throughout.

The challenge forced the Hoyas to exercise their full range of abilities, demanding individual players to play at their very best.

The first goal on the board came from junior forward Sarah Butterfield, who scored for the first time this season after a rapid as-

– Backdoorcut –

sist from sophomore midfielder Louise Chakejian.

While the Hoyas took shots as soon as they mounted the pitch, the Crusaders did not make any legitimate attempts for the goal until about fifteen minutes in. And even these were repelled by senior goalkeeper Rachel Skonecki.

Skonecki managed a total of six saves and kept the net unscathed from Crusade fire for the entire first half.

As time became more sensitive, Holy Cross’s offense stumbled, awarding the Hoyas a penalty circle and granting the offense a less heavily guarded net. Sophomore forward Aliyah Graves-Brown scored the winning goal off of the penalty.

“I thought our best hockey of the match came in the first half today,” said Head Coach Shan-

non Soares. “We let some things slip in the second half and didn’t quite play to our potential. With that said, we’re very proud of our players for their resilience in the defensive end and for their ability to fight back in overtime.”

The Hoyas weren’t as lucky in Rhode Island during the game against the Brown Bears. Both teams were evenly matched throughout the first half, but the floodgates opened after the break as the Bears scored four goals against Georgetown. Sophomore midfielder Emily Weinberg added a late goal for the Blue and Gray, but it was too little too late.

The field hockey team will have a chance to redeem themselves this Saturday at home.

The game will be against the Longwood Lancers on the Multi-Sport Field at 6 p.m.

It is no secret that professional sports are played and managed by imperfect individuals. It is rare to find an athlete, coach, or owner whose bottom line is based on more than winning or generating revenue. It is well acknowledged that loyalty is often shunned in favor of the opportunity to win games and sign expensive contracts—just look at the recent moves made by LeBron James or Johnny Damon, as well as Colts management over the last decade. However, it is greatly understated how often ethical lines are crossed in the interest of wins and money in the sports world.

Let’s move to the realm of the sports dilettante, the civilian who watches the Super Bowl more for the nachos than the game. Ethics transcend into this world as well—most members of American society have “pet causes.” Formative life experiences often lead individuals to be particularly concerned about particular issues. While this can often lead to greater visibility for certain important issues, having a group that is strongly and passionately involved in only one side of a conflict can often lead to a lack of dialogue, thus, bringing about more incoherent shouting to a problem than change.

We live in a buzzword-driven culture. We live by sound bites, Tweets, and gossip. We receive small bits of information and suddenly believe ourselves to be experts. When we hear our buzzwords we immediately become preachers. This has been the case with the recent scandals in the NFL. Both the Ray Rice domestic abuse incident and the battle over the Redskins’ team namehas recently drawn negative attention to the country’s top-grossing professional sports league. Almost all would agree that the Rice incident was disgusting and inexcusable. Fewer, but still many, would say the same about the usage of the Redskin name and logo. It is unnerving, however, as a close follower of the NFL to see the number of parttime fans delivering sermons about the evils of the league.

Let’s talk about other legal troubles that have involved NFL players in recent years. Donte Stallworth, a wide receiver, hit and killed a man with his car while driving drunk in 2009.

Stallworth was convicted of DUI manslaughter, but was reinstated to the NFL for the 2010 season after serving a mere 24 days in jail. Josh Brent, a lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, was indicted by a grand jury on a count of intoxication manslaughter after driving drunk and killing a teammate who was riding in the passenger seat. Brent retired after the incident, but has now returned to the NFL, and will be eligible to play for Dallas after serving a 10-game suspension.

When media sources use phrases like “domestic violence” and “animal cruelty,” crowds flock to give commentary on issues. Cable news channels all jump at the chance to talk about how the NFL is (or isn’t) a representation of twisted standards in society. Everybody demonizes Rice, commissioner Roger Goodell, and the professional sports machine and, in turn, feel as though they can pride themselves on a job well done. The layperson uses issues like the Rice scandal, or the Michael Vick story before it, as a medium to feel like a social justice warrior. But how much do these people really know about the issues in the NFL? This is not the first, nor the last case of domestic violence in the NFL, but it has been the most publicized and, for the most part, is the only one that has drawn mass criticism.

Where were all these people when Chad Johnson’s wife had lacerations after being head-butted by her husband?

Where was everybody after those convicted of manslaughter, under the influence of alcohol no less, were given a second chance? If the masses are upset that a season-long ban for Rice may be too short, shouldn’t they argue the same about the players who took human life? Recently, a group of 16 female U.S. senators sent a letter to the NFL advocating for a zero-tolerance policy relating to domestic violence.

While this is wholly reasonable, why not also address crimes that are even more heinous?

These renowned events fuel plenty of feel-good righteousness from the masses, never mind that it’s simple decency to condemn a domestic abuser.

Do your research. Follow along.

If you really want to make a difference, fight for the cause whenever an injustice occurs, not just when it’s fashionable.

feature

8 | the georgetown voice

September 18, 2014

START ME UP

>>THE BUSINESS OF STUDENT STARTUPS

BY DAYANA MORALES GOMEZ It was a pleasant winter evening in Rwanda, where the temperature rarely dips below 60 degrees no matter the season. Ann Yang (SFS ’15) and Phil Wong (SFS ’15) took a moment from their busy schedules to unwind from a day of work.

Yang, a Culture and Politics major, was working on a service project funded by a fellowship through the group GU Impacts. Wong, a Science, Technology, and International Affairs major, was researching the impact of cooking stoves on respiratory health.

During one of the many conversations they had during their time in Rwanda, Yang and Wong contemplated the beginning of senior year and what their career paths would be after graduation. “One of the nights, people were partying and whatever,” Yang said. “We were just talking—you know, catching up on life. The conversation turned to what were we going to do post-graduation It was then that we decided that this was something that we were really serious about and something that we would go forward with.”

Two months later, Yang found herself buying cosmetically imperfect fruit from the Georgetown Farmer’s Market as part of preparation for what would become her own joint venture with Wong: Misfit Juicery.

Student entrepreneurship at Georgetown has been tenuous for some time now. Various alumni have founded and maintained impressively successful companies all around the world. Recent notable alumni startups include the successes of sweetgreen, founded by Jonathan Neman (MSB ‘07), Nicolas Jammet (MSB ‘07) and Nathaniel Ru (MSB ‘07); Luke’s Lobster, founded by Luke Holden (MSB ‘07); and Lulu’s Ice Cream, founded by Luisa Santos (COL ‘14).

But in an age marked by the emergence of successful startups like Facebook, the risks involved in starting a business from scratch are hard to ignore. According to Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School who specialized in Entrepreneurial Management, three of every four startups ultimately fail. For a multitude of reasons, entrepreneurship has, until now, attracted only a handful of Georgetown students over the years.

“A lot of Georgetown students have never failed,” says Jeff Reid, director of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative. “[Hoyas] are type-A personalities, people who [were] really successful in high school or else they wouldn’t be here. Fear of failure can be a big challenge.”

And yet, something is quickly changing. On a campus of only six thousand undergraduates, more than five companies are being taken straight off the Hilltop and into the entrepreneurial world at large, and the masses are starting to take notice.

When Katrina Vassell (MSB ’17) arrived at Georgetown, she was eager to start a career in the sciences. “I’m a huge biology nerd—I was going to major in Health Care Management in the School of Nursing and Health Studies,” Vassell said.

Like many other students at Georgetown, she eventually realized that she needed to find a part-time job.

“I was looking for a job on campus and I felt like there was a problem: it was really hard to find one. All of the applications, including the Corp’s, were really long. But there is no guarantee that you are going to get anything. You can waste a lot of time going through the application and the interview and then just not get anything.”

Last summer, Vassell decided to take an alternative route to the job search: she created her own line of work. After waiting an hour for her Chinese food to arrive from Wisconsin Avenue, she teamed up with her classmate Sam Kleinman (COL ‘16) and started Nosh, a student-to-student food delivery service. [Full disclosure: Sam Kleinman is an assistant editor for the Voice.]

Student entrepreneurship first gained an institutional presence at Georgetown six years ago, when Reid, former director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of North Carolina, was hired to pioneer the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative in 2007. “This university was ripe for an entrepreneurial explosion,” Reid told the Voice. “Georgetown attracts brilliant, ambitious young people who want to change the world.”

Since then, Reid has seen the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative, also known as Startup Hoyas, grow dramatically since 2007. The initiative now offers entrepreneurship classes, a startup incubator program, and events to entice investments from venture capitalists, among other resources for students. This coming Saturday will kick off Startup Weekend, a networking and professional develop-

ment event for student entrepreneurs.

The University will also host Entrepreneurship Day and TechBuzz on Saturday, a set of professional development events presented by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association.

Though the startup boom at Georgetown seems to have gained traction lately, students who started their business only a few years ago reaped huge benefits from the mentorship at Startup Hoyas. This was the case for Rahul Desai (MSB ‘17), whose startup is in the market of reviewing the potential success of other startups—colloquially called a meta startup. Startup Hoyas provided him with unprecedented attention from faculty, local business leaders, and even the entrepreneurs-in-residence.

“Hoyas are type-A personalities ... Fear of failure can be a big challenge.”

Lulu’s Ice Cream

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georgetownvoice.com “I’m competing less for a fixed amount of resources than someone in a large pool of entrepreneurs at say, UMD,” he said. “Because they’ve [UMD] got a virtual reality lab, they’ve got a prototyping lab, they’ve got a giant incubator space—they’ve got a lot of people working there. They’ve got about 150 on average working in that space—that’s a lot of competition.”

The relatively small size of the entrepreneurial community means that Georgetown has sufficient resources to meet the demands of all the Hilltop’s startups, regardless of the founders’ academic interests. “We offer a bunch of courses and a whole bunch of extra-curricular programs, and we actually don’t limit any of these,” Reid said. “Nothing that the Startup Hoyas program does is limited to business students. That’s one of the big myths out there that people just assume … because many other things at Georgetown are siloed.”

Today, some entrepreneurs themselves are seeking to increase a sense of community among student business leaders. Tammy Cho (MSB ‘16) is currently taking a leave of absence from classes to work with her business partner James Li (MSB ‘13) full time on their company, Encore Alert, a startup that does strategic marketing. But even with their busy schedules, they find time to give back.

“James and I started a co-working session that is open to any student, [alumnus], or faculty [member] that is interested in entrepreneurship. We meet together every Friday and share what we need help with while also helping each other,” Cho said.

The roundtables are attracting a wide variety of entrepreneurs. Connor Bernstein (COL ‘16), a regular participant in these discussions, started his business making science kits over 10 years ago.

As a fourth grader with a love for science, he recalled saving up his allowance in order to buy science kits.

“As a kid, I was frustrated with the science kits I bought—I was always really curious … But it really frustrated me. They were really expensive, they didn’t include enough materials to do things multiple times, and they were hard to use. … They didn’t even have kid-friendly directions… My mom helped me make a business out of it [in the fourth grade].”

According to Bernstein, the decision to go to Georgetown made sense because it would complement his social entrepreneurship venture.

“Georgetown is really into service and men and women for others. …

There’s a focus on community service and doing things for others.” Now, this service has the potential to turn into his livelihood.

In an economy where it is increasingly difficult to find a job even with a degree from an elite institution, startups

the georgetown voice | 9

Connor’s Kits for Kids are providing jobs for graduates at an incredible rate. Reid commented, “Government officials are now recognizing something that’s been true for decades, and that’s that entrepreneurs create jobs, entrepreneurs create value.”

With the multitude of events occurring this weekend concerning entrepreneurship, it’s evident that Georgetown is eager to improve its offerings to prospective entrepreneurs in the immediate future.

“On Friday, we’re going to announce the Startup Hoyas Reverse Scholarship Program,” said Reid. “So, if you are a senior and you think you want to start a company, but you have student loan debt and you’re really anxious … we will give you money that you can use to pay your loans off for the first couple years when you’re out of school, so you can then afford to at least not worry about that while you start a company. So, as long as you continue to work on your start-up, we’ll make periodic payment to you that you can use.”

“Even if it fails, I still feel like it was worthwhile.”

The reverse scholarship program has enabled Startup Hoyas to champion new companies based on their merit and potential, and reveals how far the group has come in the short time since its inception.

But even with this positive financial news at hand, Reid acknowledges that money is not the only necessity for a successful startup. “The program does not invest in your company or

solve all the other problems that an entrepreneur has, but at least it allows you to pursue your own entrepreneurial dreams.”

Some other student entrepreneurs still have to circumnavigate bureaucratic blockades.

Vassell initially hoped to create a startup similar to Birchbox, a company that delivers beauty product samples to subscribers. But she quickly realized how the Corp’s on-campus student vendor monopoly impeded her ability to have any business space on campus. “The Corp definitely inspired me, … but there are things that really inhibit entrepreneurship on campus.

[The Corp’s] exclusivity charter is very difficult to work with. If you are trying to think of a startup here, it really limits you. If we wanted to have a storefront or anything like that, we just wouldn’t be able to. Many ideas are scratched off the drawing board.”

More importantly, the seeming invisibility of resources makes it difficult for students to grasp the opportunities of opening a student-run business.

Vassell has experienced this first hand with Nosh.

In the incubator program, offered

by Startup Hoyas, students are given the opportunity to more or less set up a company in about two days. Unfortunately, she didn’t find out until after the application deadline for the competition. She and Nosh were left to fend for themselves.

Still, Vassell feels accomplished with what she’s done so far. “College is really the ideal setting for a startup,” she said. “It’s a time to focus just on your own individual growth and development. It’s really just an educational experience. Even if it fails, I still feel like it was worthwhile.”

Even with students like Cho taking time off from school to manage her company and Desai considering doing the same, they still respect the value of higher education. Many student en-

trepreneurs feel that the pressure of running a business while pursuing an undergraduate degree is well worth the extra time and effort.

“The company is, at this point, the main thing in my life. It supersedes everything else. And that’s a factor of the fact that we’re one of three [meta startups] in an $18 billion market, so there is that. Basically, if I decide to leave Georgetown for any amount of time, it’s going to be based on how much revenue we’re making,” said Desai.

Georgetown, though lacking in a legacy of entrepreneurs, still provides a nurturing environment for aspiring entrepreneurs. Even indirectly, it is encouraging the kind of leadership spirit that is needed in entrepreneurship.

Misfit Juicers Yang and Wong, who are not in the business school, believe that their Georgetown educations are actually contributing to their success.

Thinking about how Rwanda ended up being the birthplace of their juicery, Yang and Wong defended their Georgetown educations.

Yang said, “I don’t know if I would say that this is really a transformation away from SFS things into business. I think it was more of a realization that there are market based solutions to issues of inequity—and that is a very SFS concept.”

Wong agreed, “In the day to day operations of the business, [STIA] certainly isn’t the most helpful. But it certainly is helpful on broader things. The SFS is all about having an international view and being responsible to the international community. This [project] is just one of the ways of accomplishing that.”

For now, the entrepreneurs of Georgetown are left figuring out the ins and outs of programs that are only recently getting the attention they deserve. Speaking of the future, Wong said, “This is probably the time in our lives when we are the most untethered. … Entrepreneurship is more than just a buzzword for us. It’s a career path.”

leisure

10 | the georgetown voice

September 18, 2014

Majumdar’s abstractionist exhibit impresses at Spagnuolo Gallery COLLEEN ZORC “Too much of anything is never good,” artist Sangram Majumdar shared with the crowd gathered at Georgetown’s Spagnuolo Gallery on Sept. 10. I quickly understood his point while staring at the dozen pieces selected for his new show, “Just Like.” Walking through the gallery, I felt that only if I squinted my eyes and leaned in a little closer to the paintings, pressing my nose up against the complex canvases, would I find important details to help me understand exactly what Majumdar had chosen as his subjects— and why. From a distance, the paintings seemed decipherable, but upon closer inspection, I lost grasp of my understanding. The artist’s work struck me as simultaneously familiar, yet out-of-reach.

Majumdar draws his inspiration from interruption, fragmentation, and collision. His artist’s statement reveals that his paintings, “inhabit the territory between ‘I know you’ and ‘What’s that?’” As evidenced by this exhibition, Majumdar does not provide answers with his paintings, but rather seeks to inspire exploration. He

hopes the viewer’s experience ends not with one objective opinion, but with more questions than when they started.

By juxtaposing identifiable objects with experimental and imaginary forms, Majumdar does just that.

er not only what appears on the canvases, but also what doesn’t. Without a title, I would have had difficulty contextualizing the objects.

Ironically, the title refers to the objects that are absent from the painting. As a re-

“Between the potency And the existence, Between the essence And the descent, Falls the Shadow” Two paintings in particular stood out from the rest: “Torque” and “Missing Trees.” “Torque”, with its strong, geometric repetitions and rich earth tones drew viewers closer for a second glance. Standing in front of the work, I felt as if I

UNDERTHECOVERS: A bi-weekly literary column by Micaela Beltran

The narrative painted about Iran by the American media is a depressing one—a landscape peppered with deserted lands, beheadings, extremists, and bombings. Hyperbole about Iran as part of an “axis of evil” is often accompanied by pictures of masked men with guns—the kind of pale-yellow journalism that passes through our newsfeeds while we strut to class, latté in hand.

The view we have of Iranian society as portrayed through the images we associate with the country are the same images that build a wall between us and a real understanding of the people we attempt to characterize. I don’t think it’s that we don’t want to understand: I think it’s that many of us aren’t handed the opportunity.

This void is where authors like British-Iranian journalist Ramita Navai become admirable facilitators of entirely new

was peering through a stack of canvases leaning against a wall of the artist’s studio.

Another viewer could have just as easily stood in front of the piece and had an entirely unique impression. For that reason, interaction with Ma-

perspectives. Her new book, City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and The Search for Truth in Tehran, chronicles stories built on conversations whispered among friends, tales of incredible episodes that happen to be the norm in Tehran.

Navai has been collecting stories for much of her life, travelling between Britain and Iran, listening to tales of extraordinary events happening to ordinary people. In her book, she gives voice to the truth beneath the cloud of misunderstanding and lies that hovers over Tehran, and unnoticed people finally come to light. Each chapter tells a different story: the forged marriage, the fearful blogger, the drug dealer, and the prostitute. Every single chapter digs deeper into a city that revolves on secrets and religious conflict.

As Navai writes, “The Ayatollah publicly denounced his son, who was sucked into a cycle of

jumdar’s artwork, despite its claim to abstractionism, is a deeply personal experience.

The pair of oil paintings that make up Missing Trees, made to look like white cardboard cutouts of trees against wooden boards, challenges the viewer to consid-

SPAGNUOLO

sult, I was forced to confront the negative space and the unexpected composition it created. Majumdar mentioned that as he worked on the paintings, “[he] realized that something about the space between the two paintings began to echo the space

Iranian journalist breathes truth into the City of Lies beatings and imprisonment.

Meanwhile the Ayatollah’s younger son released a pop video. Such is life in Tehran.”

From prostitutes of religious leaders to learned Muslims who sell their advice, Navai skillfully weaves together disparate narratives into a single cohesive novel. From story to story, the struggles that characters undergo, the people they meet, and the lives that change all seem connected by a love for Iran that feels like an athlete’s love for exercise: exhausting but exhilarating.

In one chapter, Navai tells the story of Farideh, an aging socialite who longs for an erstwhile Tehran. Before the Islamic Revolution, Tehran was a bustling, lively city filled with “discos and pool halls; juice bars and vodka bars; donkey carts and new cars.” And still to this day a section in North Tehran remains with the same

vibes, except they are enclosed in an upper class bubble. The elite who live within it pretend that the rest of the diminishing city doesn’t exist, a circle that includes Farideh, but doesn’t describe her outlook on Iran.

Farideh is one of the few who choose to stay in her beloved city during and after the Islamic Revolution, while most of her friends flee to Paris, London, New York, and Los Angeles. She stays partly because of her devotion to the “cursed, wretched, beautiful land,” and now that the revolution is over, she tries to feel happiness, but can’t. She worries about the giant gulf that prevents her from connecting to the dahati, or illiterate peasants, who make up a majority of the population.

Hers is a narrative that I can personally relate to when I look back on this past summer I spent in my family’s home in the Philippines. The feeling of

between the cracks of wood.”

The spontaneity was clear.

These two pieces are the highlights of the exhibit, successfully playing with the abstract space and forms on the canvas, and creating a subjective experience for the viewer. Several others of Majumdar’s works fail to impress. In some cases, the paintings feel incomplete or compositionally weak. Other works were too abstract, and didn’t give enough context to stimulate conversation, rendering the paintings unfamiliar and unapproachable.

In his Spagnuolo Gallery exhibition, Majumdar’s artwork doesn’t claim to be “Just Like” anything. In fact, on the contrary, the artists leaves it to the viewer to interact with each piece uniquely, and form their own opinion and relationship with the piece. His work embodies his ethos that too much of something is detrimental, but often, Majumdar’s paintings leave the viewer craving for just a little bit more.

Spagnuolo Art Gallery Sept. 10 - Oct. 12 1221 36th St., N.W. art.georgetown.edu

separation contrasting with a guttural desire to understand.

I used to be a member of the diasporic youth who didn’t have any connection to the homeland, except some stories passed through the voices of my parents. Although I understood their needs, I had never been there, nor had I ever felt the uncertainties or struggles that plagued them.

When Farideh tries living in London for a few months, her ultimate conclusion sustains her love for Iran much the same way I came to love the Philippines. Cities like London filled with towering buildings and ambitious people may seem dazzling to some. But Farideh realizes that the beautiful, unaffected landscapes of Iran and the passionate people she feels connected to are irreplaceable.

Reading City of Lies reveals the hidden heart of this conflicted country. You may find that sincere connections to Tehran’s people are more easily formed than you’d think.

Lift Micaela’s veil mfb61@georgetown.edu

at

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“How’s it going, Gossip Girls? CW just called - you’re canceled.” — The Internship

Rural steakhouse dazzles high society JASON CARDINALI Iron Chef Jose Garces’ first D.C. project, Argentinian steakhouse Rural Society, brings gold-medal refinement to flavors of the land of silver. Not afraid to get ‘Messi,’ this new eatery has shot its way up the District’s culinary field with juicy, wood-grilled meats and bold flavors that are far from second place.

The wait staff stayed true to the Argentine spirit, embracing my fashionably late appearance and seating me right away. The server was friendly and engaging, making an effort to initiate conversation, and was eager to provide much-needed suggestions about the menu.

The dim lighting and calm ambience of the restaurant resembled a meditation classroom, except nirvana comes in the form of a steak cooked to a perfect medium-rare. Many small tables populate the restaurant, orbiting an enormous woodfired grill that serves as the focal point of Rural Society’s decor.

An odd dividing wall filled with logs splits the large space into smaller dining rooms, making me feel like I was intruding on an elaborate Paul Bunyan fantasy.

The crowd, however, left their red-checkered flannel at home.

Consisting of D.C. yuppies and

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE | 11

REVIEWS HAIKU’d Annabelle Scary doll movie Prequel to The Conjuring No, no, no, no, no

Think it looks good on the wall? wait until it hits your plate. socialites, and well-dressed families, the high society customer base was anything but rural.

My server suggested the Picada as an appetizer, which consisted of three different meats. Owing its name to the verb picar—to nibble—this Argentine, tapasstyle starter was the perfect dish to pick at while I waited for my main course. The cold cuts paid homage to Italian influences in Argentinian cuisine, reminding me of Italian prosciutto and salami. Paired with the meats was a delicious dip which had a slight sweetness that perfectly complemented the saltiness of the meats.

For my main course, I ordered double-cut lamb chops with wood roasted carrots and garlic-whipped potatoes. Despite the small portion sizes of the lamb chops and the sides, they packed walloping flavor. The lamb chops

Carolyn Zaccaro

were a study in the art of roasting, succulent with fall-off-the-bone tenderness, validating the steakhouse experience and bringing me toward the carnivorous nirvana hinted at by the decor. The cider-glazed carrots turned out to be the highlight of the meal. If it weren’t for the fennel and goat cheese that covered the dish, I would have been convinced that I was eating candy.

Rural Society is not the the kind of place where you and your roommates can chow before a Friday night out. That said, if you need to be spoiled, this smoky Argentine steakhouse will certainly lift you above the inevitable Leo’s blues.

Rural Society

1177 15th St., N.W. 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. ruralsocietyrestaurant.com

Tusk Snatched in Canada Man turned into sea mammal Walrus are hot, eh?

A Walk Among The Tombstones New Liam Neeson NYC or the, wild west?

Everybody dies The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby One relationship Two sides of the love story Not a Beatles song

Gone Girl Murder mystery Or grand ole scavenger hunt?

That’s some twisted shit Two Night Stand What happens when you’re Snowed in with a one night stand Comedy ensues

Shawn Levy’s latest flick leaves you with stellar cast, nothing more JOHN DODDERIDGE This Is Where I Leave You follows the Altman family, who come together to sit shiva for a week after the death of their father. As the four siblings return home, each of them undergoing turmoil in their marriages and relationships, they rekindle former flings, reminisce with

old friends, and ponder their life trajectories.

“You used to laugh at my jokes,” said Penny Moore (Rose Byrn, of Bridesmaids) to her highschool lover, Judd Altman (Jason Bateman, of Arrested Development fame). Though referencing their past relationship, Byrn might as well have been speaking on behalf of the entire cast of This

“the store didn’t have any candle holders. So I got a cake.”

IMDB

Is Where I Leave You. Starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, and Adam Driver, director Shawn Levy’s latest flick fails to take advantage of its cast of comedy veterans.

The movie never figures out what genre it aspires to fit.

Though the sophomoric, slapstick humor characteristic of Levy’s previous comedies is certainly present here, the jokes often fall flat. The film’s attempts to build dramatic tension, for example, are undermined by juvenile potty-training laughs and by creepy jokes about the Altman mother’s breast implants.

This Is Where I Leave You jumps between comedy and drama so jarringly that the dramatic scenes lack the gravitas needed to work effectively. As the jokes grow even more obvious and tired, the movie loses whatever weak command of the audience’s attention it had.

The Altmans never seem like a real family. They fit perfectly into

the archetype of a dysfunctional family, and their problems seem trite and disingenuous: Phillip is the screw-up little brother who can’t seem to grow up; Judd catches his wife sleeping with his boss; and Paul and his wife, who is also Judd’s ex-girlfriend, can’t conceive a child despite numerous attempts. These situations have been used so many times in film and TV that nothing about the Altmans has any emotional pull.

Instead of flexing their acting muscles, Fey, Bateman, and Driver make basic jabs about religion and work, and far too much time is wasted discussing each other’s sex lives in vivid detail. The obvious toilet humor and gag comedy mean the cast’s talent, which has the potential to make up for the film’s dramatic insufficiencies, is entirely wasted.

Bateman’s Judd Altman is the protagonist of the film and the character that undergoes the most apparent growth. His ini-

tial resentment toward his wife subsides when he realizes that he must forgive her in order to have a presence in his daughter’s life.

After a week under the same roof as his mother and siblings, he has realized the importance of family.

That is the ultimate theme of This Is Where I Leave You: family is essential and whether you want to admit it or not, you’ll always need your family. This theme is didactically presented throughout the film, but, just in case you missed it, Hillary says it explicitly at the end. It is a common message, no doubt, but one that can still work if conveyed in a nuanced way. Instead, This Is Where I Leave You insults its audience’s intelligence with boring and hackneyed gags and half-hearted attempts at drama. The film never decides on a tone and hopes that viewers will merely overlook its incompetence. The Altman’s week-long Shiva could not end soon enough.

leisure

12 | the georgetown voice

CRITICAL VOICES

Jhené Aiko, Souled Out, ARTium Records Previously known for singles and the occasional LP, Jhené Aiko bares all on her new album, Souled Out, which symbolizes life through a girl’s eyes. At the end of the album, an exhausted Aiko murmurs, “Yes, this is all that I have left in me.” Yet, it is unclear whether this personal journey is one listeners want to take.

The album’s instrumentation is composed of soft, synthet-

Lia Ices, Ices, Jagjaguwar There is a time and a place for extravagance, and Lia Ices’ third full-length release, Ices, is undoubtedly such an occasion. Unapologetically eponymous, this album is exorbitantly rich with an upbeat grooviness, begging you to bop along.

Ices’ songs layer and build instrumentals to the point of oversaturation. Sometimes, the clutter is too much: one particularly busy song, “Creature,” drowns

REELTALK:

September 18, 2014 Leave it to the imagination: The trail less traveled

A bi-weekly column about film by Dayana Morales Gomez

ic chords that support complex, thumping drum lines. Constantly shifting into syncopation, these beats serve as an admirable attempt to prevent the album from growing dull. Unfortunately, background beats alone couldn’t salvage Aiko’s lackluster work.

The one saving grace of Souled Out is Aiko’s vocals, she sings every verse and chorus on the album, except for rapper Common’s underwhelming verse on “Pretty Bird (Freestyle)”.

Unlike her work on her debut EP, Sail Out, Souled Out gives Aiko’s voice, both alluring and sensual, the space to stand out.

Unfortunately, this raw vocal talent is wasted on boring lyrics.

In “W.A.Y.S,” Aiko repeats the same phrase, “you gotta keep going,” over and over, fruitlessly attempting to create the next uplifting feel-good anthem.

It’s on “Promises,” however, that the repetitive lyrics carry the intended emotional clout. The track features vocals from Aiko’s 6-year-old daughter, Namiko, and samples a recording of Aiko’s brother, Miyagi, who died of cancer in 2012. The song builds as Aiko asks her daughter to promise her “to be all right,” while she tries to support their small family. Reaching a huge crescendo, Aiko’s voice crashes in gorgeous waves over the thumping beat and gentle orchestration.

When addressing the listeners directly, Aiko’s words are lost in repetitiveness and soporific lullings. But when she speaks from her experience and to those she loves, her Souled Out creation truly shines.

out Ices’ vocals in a cacophonous jumble of competing percussion lines. Still,though, the album is not a headache. Ices’ vocals are raw and resonant, tempering the current of high-energy beats, ultimately fortifying the LP. Appropriately, it is the sweet-sounding single, “Higher,” that buoys Ices. For all of the track’s sweetness, a slur of dissonance keeps it fresh, not allowing the listener to drift into the complacency of a common pop-song.

It may even be tempting to dance along to “Higher,” or to the similarly upbeat track, “How We Are.” For the most part, though, the unpredictable cadences of Ices are appropriate only for the expert dancers among us.

Ices promotes her release as “a celebration of flight, levity, and the conviction that you can leave earth.” Her evaluation is accurate––Ices is immersive. This is a

tune-in to tune-out sort of album, suitable for a loud headphone-induced reverie. Ices also captures the theme of flight in the ease with which she uses eclectic influences: “We hear sounds from all over the planet in this album.”

Again, she is right. The album bounces all over the place.

Ices’ fans may be surprised by the departure from the sound of her earlier work. This time, the airy voice that drove her first two albums with only minimal instrumentation is heavily pronounced.

Still, the songwriter’s voice steals the show. In Ices’ haunting final track, “Waves,” her vocals are especially intricate and gorgeous, like a collection of icicles dancing off your dorm room window.

Voice’s Choices: “Lyin King,” “Promises” —DANIEL VARGHESE

Voice’s Choices: “Tell Me,” “Waves” —CHARLOTTE COOLEY

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As an industrious college student, there’s nothing I love more than killing time by watching movie trailers.

Something about the instant gratification and cheesy melodramatic music really gets me going.

I tend to watch trailers multiple times, both before and after watching the movie.

Beforehand, I think of them as my introduction to the actors and soundtrack. Afterward, I like to see if they revealed too much about the film. This issue is a heated argument in the industry today. What do we get from spending $15 to watch the feature film on a silver screen when a complete Sparknotes version was available for free all along?

Blockbusters are the biggest culprits of this practice.

Eager to entice crowds with their overdone CGI and bigname actors, trailers tease climactic scenes and show montages of sweaty A-listers after battle. “Of course they’re going to end up together,” we used to predict, before trailers came to be so revealing. Now we’re given slow motion previews of these precipitated love interests in the trailer.

Like the blurb on the back of a book, trailers are important. With attendance in movie theaters undeniably low, it seems safe to say that we need something to get people off the Internet and into the theater. But at what cost?

A survey conducted by research company YouGov Omnibus found that a whopping 49 percent of participants believed that trailers revealed too much of a movie’s plot.

Though this number may seem underwhelming, it’s a sharp contrast to the 20 percent that felt trailers revealed nothing at all.

With remakes coming into style, it’s harder and less worthwhile to hide anything in trailers. People already know what’s coming—they merely want to see it with bigger explosions and glossier color. Movies that started as books follow this trend, too.

The new Hunger Games and Hobbit trailers leave little to

be imagined for those who have read the books. Moreover, since the book’s readers constitute the core of their fanbase, producers feel little need to hide anything.

Take this past summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, for example The trailer highlights every major scene of the movie—including Magneto’s prison break and his quick return to the side of evil. As the trailer’s dramatic soundtrack crescendos, the preview seems to be built just like the movie: famous actors, then build up, and build up, then fight scenes, and—boom—resolution.

Perhaps because of their smaller budgets or their already limited audience, independent film trailers do a much better job of pulling viewers in without revealing much of the plot.

When I suggested to a friend that we watch The Broken Circle Breakdown, I imagined that we would be watching a romantic drama about a turbulent romance— some beautiful people who struggle with love. My friend was hooked after watching the trailer.

Lo and behold, the trailer was nothing like I had imagined the movie at all. In fact, the movie was so incredibly and beautifully made that I was pleased the trailer hadn’t prepared me. It presented only a few clips of early scenes in the film and created a tone linked to only one part of the movie, before any of the film’s core, its captivating developments.

Trailers are important. I am less likely to be interested and more likely to be irritated with a film that doesn’t give me any kind of window into its story. I want to know a little about what I’m walking into—but there is a line between what is necessary and what is overkill. I love glistening stars and slow motion explosions as much as the next Hoya, but why do the reading if you’ve read the whole Sparknotes? When it comes to movie trailers, less is more.

Tease Dayana at dlm23@ georgetown.edu

georgetownvoice.com

PAGE THIRTEEN

the georgetown voice |13

– Dylan Cutler

voices

14 | the georgetown voice

September 18, 2014

NATO summit a needed show of strength against Russia JASON GUSDORF Last week, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization held a conference in Wales to discuss Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine.

The conference was highly anticipated in the wake of months of conflict in the region and numerous close calls with mysterious envoys. The consensus was a request for increased military spending from its member nations and the building of a new 4,000 person “spearhead force.”

Members of NATO are now obliged to aim towards spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending.

The two countries which are ramping up most are Lithuania and Poland.

Some argue that if NATO increases its military capacity, Russia will be threatened and will mirror this strategy, leading to an even more destructive conflict than the one currently tak-

ing place in Ukraine. In fact, the reason for Russia’s aggressive intervention in the first place is post-1991 NATO expansion.

In Ukraine, Western states supported the ousting of the democratically elected Viktor Yanukovytch in the Orange Revolution of 2004.

In 2008, NATO also considered adding Ukraine and Georgia. Just by looking at a map of these countries, one can understand the NATO-induced claustrophobia Russia must have felt. The normative conclusion to this argument would be that in order to return to a calmer political state, the West should refrain from enlarging NATO any more.

This argument relies on a misleading narrative that speaks of the Eastern European countries as victims of Western desires and machinations. In reality, these countries voluntarily joined NATO for economic, political, and military benefits, not because Western

states manipulated them into the agreements for the ultimate purpose of surrounding Russia. These Eastern European nations were rightly given acceptance into NATO, regardless of how uneasy it made Russia. Any response against this statement would imply that Ukraine should be held to different NATO-joining standards than other countries because of its shared border with Russia.

This misunderstanding is dangerous. Russia is unmistakably a threat to its neighbors: the cyber attack on Estonia in 2007, the war in Georgia in 2008, the rehearsal of an invasion and occupation of the Baltic States in 2009, a substantial increase in Russian defense spending, the most recent Russian intervention in Ukraine, and its violation of sovereignty in annexing Crimea all warrant this claim.

Some would contest that the West’s encroaching on

this territory is the motivation for Russia’s actions.

If believed, it leads to the conclusion that if the West stops its encroachment, Russia will calm down. Beyond the fact that “Western encroachment” isn’t an accurate term for what actually occurred, Russia desires to control its neighbouring countries regardless. It does not want sovereign states, it wants pro-Russian states.

Russia does not want a neutral Ukraine, it wants a pro-Russia Ukraine.

The new arsenals in these NATO states will cause Russia to be less aggressive and send two important messages. First, that if Russia invades the newly armed countries, it can be sure to find itself in a much-too-costly war.

Secondly, it makes it clear that these nations want to be both politically independent and members of NATO. In both the Georgian and Ukrainian crises, Russia

claimed to be “protecting the local Russian population” in order to legitimize its intervention. This move to increase military spending by Poland and Lithuania make it even clearer that this excuse would be unacceptable if Russia aggresses either nation.

Putin has played his hand—Russia has no qualms with violating territorial sovereignty and asserting its power through the likes of physical aggression, subversion, bribery, cyber-warfare, diplomatic stunts, and energy sanctions. Appeasement only gives Russia room to exercise these capacities.

Steps should be taken to increase Eastern European states’ capacities to resist Russian aggression.

JASON GUSDORF SFS ‘16 IS SO SFS

Ray Rice scandal could lead NFL to make needed, crucial changes ROEY HADAR

Ravens running back Ray Rice committed an unspeakable horror when he beat his then-fiancee, now wife, Janay Palmer. The NFL, the Ravens, and everyone else involved handled this incident the wrong way, but as counterintuitive as it may seem, the NFL might actually end up becoming a better league because of the blunders.

I say this not because the Rice scandal helps the league’s reputation, but because it should serve as a

wake-up call for the league as to how to navigate scandals such as these.

In the NFL, players receive punishments that are completely arbitrary. Recently, Browns star wideout Josh Gordon received a season-long ban (since reduced to 10 games) for marijuana use. Cowboys lineman Josh Brent, however, who was found guilty of intoxicated manslaughter after killing a teammate while driving drunk, is serving the same 10 game penalty.

The Rice scandal has been the most recent disas-

leila lebreton

Why use a legal system when arbitrary penalties are allowed?

ter for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who appears to have little concept of a reasonable course of action.

Goodell either failed to do his job by not discovering the video of Rice dragging his wife out of an elevator or he saw the video and proceeded to handle the matter incorrectly.

Goodell’s image is in even worse shape now because sources have indicated that law enforcement officials sent the NFL the video of Rice punching his wife months ago. Not only that, but while deliberating over the suspension, Goodell ruined the testimony of both Rice and his wife by having them testify sitting next to each other, contrary to protocol for the handling of domestic violence cases, indeed, any deposition, whether the case be civil or criminal. Goodell’s bungling of this issue has made it obvious that he should not be commissioner for much longer.

But even with this situation, there is a reason for optimism. Every revolution needs a spark, even if it comes out of awful circumstances.

Hopefully, Rice’s scandal will lead to

Goodell’s ousting, which will correct what has been the worst reign of any commissioner in professional sports in, at least, the last half century.

We can only hope that a new commissioner will come along and actually address the major problems facing the NFL. The new commissioner would need to continue Goodell’s focus on making more money for the league and its teams, while also acting in a more appropriate manner when dealing with disciplinary and safety issues.

Football appears to be in a decline because of player safety and disciplinary issues. The mechanisms for penalties in the NFL need serious reworking and it’s going to take a new commissioner with something to prove in order to get it done.

Punching your wife—or anyone, for that matter—in the face cannot carry only a third of the punishment levied for a second violation of the marijuana policy. The NFL needs to punish domestic violence abusers more harshly because Rice is not the first (and unfortunately, probably not the last) player to be a domestic abuser. The

league has to send a message. Multiple players each year run into disciplinary issues. The Rice incident is not a lone event of its type or magnitude, it is simply the most visible.

None of these problems can be fixed overnight, but over time they can be revisited and improved. If there ever was a time to drop Goodell, it would be now.

Maybe his replacement will have the spine necessary to improve the league and correct its more egregious errors.

Hopefully, NFL’s next comissioner will bring change to the league that has been well known for legal violations and disciplinary problems. The Ray Rice scandal may be a stark exposition of the NFL’s deficiencies off the field, but it may just the catalyst we need in order to bring a revolution to the United States’ most important sporting institution.

ROEY HADAR sfs ‘17 LOVES THE NFL, BUT IS MORE OF A SPELLING BEE FAN

voices

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICe | 15

New policy helps freshmen recover from early mistakes JACK LYNCH Over the past weeks, freshmen and other new Hoyas across campus have begun to pick up on the various beats and rhythms of life at Georgetown. In addition to the trips to Leo’s and the endless syllabus pages, for an undeniably large number of first-year Georgetown students, life on the Hilltop also involves alcohol.

From the long hallways of New South to the labyrinth of clusters in Harbin, and all the way to Darnall, a significant number of freshmen are drinking.

Some students come to campus with a high school career’s worth of beer pong and flip cup

experience, while others were tentatively sipping their first taste of alcohol (unfortunately, probably Burnett’s) in the back of a crowded dorm room during NSO. With this illicit boozing comes the reactionary crackdown by RAs, RHO officers, and the University administration.

GUSA executives Trevor Tezel and Omika Jikaria took a positive step forward in Georgetown’s handling of on-campus alcohol consumption with their support of a new university policy, which allows first-year students’ first alcohol violation to be wiped from their disciplinary records.

Adjusting to life at Georgetown is tricky in all

Erin annick

nothing unites students like a cold one after a friday with no classes.

CARRYING ON

aspects, but the threshold for mistakes in the realm of drinking is especially low. The new rule provides freshmen with some more wiggle room as they learn how to navigate the confusing world of on-campus underage drinking.

Undereage drinking on campus is an unavoidable reality, something that takes place frequently and inevitably. The methods of supervision Georgetown employs to crack down on such behavior in freshman dorms—namely, roaming on-duty RAs—could never effectively limit all of the drinking that happens on campus on any given weekend night. RAs have few options in controlling underage drinking besides investigating noisy dorm rooms and monitoring foot traffic. As a result, the students that are caught drinking

by RAs often are not the same students who are drinking dangerously or irresponsibly.

By punishing first-year students for early alcohol violations, Georgetown is punishing mainly those new students who are unlucky or foolish enough to attract the attention of an RA. As a result, freshmen, especially in the first few weeks of school, resort to dangerous drinking habits to avoid disci-

Enjoying the trials of working in public relations

BY LAURA KUREK

A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

Having been a member of the Voice for over two years, I have gained more than just my fair share of of snark and some trendy t-shirts. Through all the hours of probing for just the right quote, hunting for GUSA’s latest handiwork, and surviving merciless deadlines, I have built up legitimate journalistic experience.

This summer, however, I caught a glimpse of life on the other side of the mirror: the press office. As an intern at the City of Chicago Mayor’s Press Office, I observed firsthand the intricate dance between communications director and news anchor and between press secretary and reporter. I lived the 24-hour news cycle.

From my first-row seat in the press office, I witnessed the rote and frustrating tasks of journalists and press staffers alike. I witnessed the misleading and manipulation of people and facts by both sides. And I stared dumbfounded as I watched a

five-minute segment on the impending invasion of black bears in Illinois (with a total attendance of exactly one bear) for the sixth time that week. Despite the pencil pushing and misdirection, my three months at the MPO strengthened my interest in news media as a career.

As an intern, one of my main tasks was media monitoring. Any news concerning the mayor and City Hall had to be transcribed, formatted, and compiled into a daily digest for press staffers, policy gurus, and the mayor himself.

My average daily schedule included watching five TV stations’ morning, midday, evening, and late night programs, as well as perusing Chicago’s four major publications.

I plunged headfirst into the news cycle. Outside my hours in the office, I felt the news cycle’s omnipresence: a day off is nonexistent in this line of work.

Media monitoring also revealed to me the threshold of

pline. Aggressive binge drinking with hard alcohol takes priority, as students can conceal small containers and take shots quickly, thus limiting the potential for punishment if an RA pays a surprise visit.

In addition, first year students’ preoccupation with avoiding RA attention while drinking means that gatherings become smaller and more exclusive. Seeking to keep a lid on noise and hallway traffic, freshmen hosts tightly limit the number of students allowed inside their rooms, leading to uncomfortable rifts between freshman floormates.

Worst of all, however, patrolling RAs have no way of knowing the frequency, intensity, or willingness of students’ drinking when cracking down on a party. An RA may write up a group of students in one dorm who are drinking for the first time, while a group of students down the hall who are at a much higher risk for irresponsible drinking avoid detection.

The new rule on scrubbing first-year students’ first alcohol violations means that all students, regardless of their experience with alcohol, have the opportunity to better understand the risks and consequences of on-campus

what is considered “news” in the world of local TV. Shootings and accidents inevitably fill the first eight minutes, if not longer, of a 30-minute program and a par-

I felt the news cycle’s “omnipresence: a day off is nonexistent in this line of work.

”

ticularly gruesome or strange incident will occupy the rest of the program, regardless of the magnitude of any national political news. Of course, this fact was no major realization for me, but rather a reality under which to operate.

Another of my tasks was fielding phone calls from reporters, providing event details, and directing them to appropriate staffers. I dodged their attempts to trick me into divulging infor-

mation the MPO was not ready to release. One intern was not so lucky and was quoted in an evening program as a “spokesperson from the Mayor’s Office.”

At press conferences, I dealt with the abrasiveness of the press corps in person. I understood it comes with the job, but I questioned whether I wanted a profession where such etiquette was standard, if not a necessity for success.

At the same time, I admired certain reporters for the hurdles they surmounted in the name of good reporting: submitting Freedom of Information Act requests, scheduling interviews, and persistent cold-calling. As I was the one answering calls, they had to get through me. More than a few times I claimed that the staffer they were looking for was out to lunch while staring directly at her across from me in the office.

Despite the harsh and absurd realities of news media as seen from my seat in the press

drinking without permanently tarnishing their record at Georgetown.

Those that suggest that the new policy will encourage more underage drinking among first year students are misguided. Drinking will occur at Georgetown no matter what the rules are regarding violations and personal records, and those who previously would have abstained will not begin drinking in reaction to the rule.

Without a massive change in strategy, Georgetown’s current system of supervising first-year dorms for alcohol will remain largely ineffective and unfair. The new policy championed by the GUSA executives will hopefully soften the negative consequences of the old policy by allowing first year students to learn from early mistakes regarding alcohol consumption, without negatively impacting their record at Georgetown over the next four years.

JACK LYNCH col ‘18 Enjoys long walks along the beer garden

office, I still want to work in the industry some day.

My time at the MPO taught me the delicacy and malleability of the relay of information. A functioning, educated society demands reliable sources of information and, as a journalist, I could do my part by writing frankly and pertinently.

One might consider these two professions—press communications and news media— as two sides trapped in a game of deception, a tug-of-war to gain favorability with the public. I observed just a hint of the darker shades of these industries this summer, but herein lies exactly why news media is a worthwhile career—to endeavor to report news fairly and intelligently.

This past summer I witnessed print and TV reporters do just that: sifting through rhetoric, braving monotony, and overcoming dead-ends. Respectable reporters understand the weight of their job-a weight I came to more fully grasp this summer.

Giving people access to accurate information, watching revolutions unfold firsthand,, mankind steadily marching onward?

It sounds like a worthwhile career to me.