9 26 13

VOICE the georgetown

0

MOLD IN DORMS THREATENS STUDENT HEALTH PAGE 4

SAILING CONTINUES TO IMPRESS PAGE 6

2 BIRDS NESTS INTO D.C. BAR SCENE PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w September 26, 2013 w Volume 49, Issue 7 w georgetownvoice.com

by Julia S. Tanaka

THE BURDEN OF STUDENT DEBT AT GEORGETOWN

2 the georgetown voice

september 26, 2013

Voice Crossword “Themeless Challenge” by Tyler Pierce 35. Advisories 36. Toward the center 38. Magician’s word 39. Groks 40. Clavell’s “___-Pan” 42. Ending with hard or soft 43. Acquiesce 46. Sot’s sound 49. Score before 15 50. Naturally occuring magnet 52. Awry 54. Kind of calendar with phases of the moon on it 55. Beatle ending 56. Declaration 57. Anxiety 58. Est, to an American 59. Tournament passes Down

Across 1. 1984 Peace Nobelist 5. One of the Joads 7. City near Oberhausen 12. Anti-government philosophy 16. Oversight 17. Spiny lobster 18. Jacket parts

19. Underdog victories 20. Angers 21. Farm pen 22. Qur’an division 23. Affirm 24. Alkaline liquid 25. California wine valley 26. Filtering organ 31. Czech composer 34. Back of a wing

1. Anklebone 2. Not suitable 3. Invasive flower of the aster family 4. Craving 5. Penny-pinching 6. Off course 7. Little toymaker 8. Physically reacts to hunger 9. Extra tire, for example 10. Made up international language 11. Capone’s nemesis 13. Camp beds

14. Tutsi rival 15. Vibes well with 23. Anoint 26. Grandma to mom, for example 27. Sewing together 28. Diacritic made of two dots 29. Like Vikings 30. Conclusion 32. Blemish 33. “Right __ rain!”

34. 3.14159 37. Wastes tactful time 38. Amazon biters 41. Rabbit-like rodent 44. Rewrite 45. To be, to Tiberius 46. Like Swiss cheese 47. Asinine 48. Popular mints 49. Dalai ___ 51. Dead center?

53. Convened

Answers to two weeks ago’s sudoku

Answers to last week’s crossword

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

Email crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

VOICE the georgetown

Volume 49.07 September 26, 2013 Editor-in-Chief: Gavin Bade Managing Editor: Connor Jones Blog Editor: Julia Tanaka News Editor: Lucia He Sports Editor: Chris Almeida Feature Editor: Patricia Cipollitti Cover Editor: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor Leisure Editor: Heather Regen Voices Editor: Ana Smith Photo Editor: Andres Rengifo Design Editor: Lauren Ashley Panawa Projects Editors: Alec Graham, John Sapunor, Cannon Warren Puzzles Editor: Tyler Pierce Creative Directors: Madhuri Vairapandi, Amanda Dominguez Back Page Editor: Tiffany Lachonna Social Media Editor: Rio Djiwandana

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

Staff Writers:

Tim Barnicle, Emilia Brahm, Will Collins, Emlyn Crenshaw, Claire McDaniel, Liana Mehring, Dzarif Wan, Sam Wolter, Abby Greene, Abby Sherburne, Steven Criss, John Guzzetta, Jackson Sinnenberg, Joshua Ward, Annamarie White

Staff Photographers:

Elizabeth Coscia, John Delgado-McCollum, Robin Go, Alan Liu

Staff Designers:

Karen Bu, John Delgado-McCollum, Mike Pacheco, Tom Pacheco, Teddy Schaffer, Pam Shu, Sophie Super, Noah Buyon

Copy Chief: Sonia Okolie Copy Editors:

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

Editorial Board Chair: Caitriona Pagni Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Patricia Cipollitti, Lucia He, Quaila Hugh, Connor Jones, Julia Tanaka

General Manager: Michael Grasso Managing Director: Nick Albanese

SCORES OF SPORES

Mold a danger to students in residence halls A disturbing growth has been detected around Georgetown, and for once it’s not the neighbors. The contamination has worsened in several of the University’s older, run-down buildings. Mold poses serious health risks to students, and the school’s failure to eradicate this problem suggests that it is not equipped to continue bringing students back on campus during the timeframe stipulated by the Campus Plan.

In the last two years, one student living in Kennedy and two students living in LXR have reported being sickened when their rooms were infested by mold.

Over the summer and into the start of this year, mold growth in Henle caused apartments to be closed down and residents to be relocated. Additionally, resident of Magis Row have filed numerous reports of mold in living spaces.

Mold can pose a serious health risk to students. At best, exposure can lead

This newspaper was made possible in part with the support of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, online at CampusProgress.org. Campus Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org.

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

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

Email: editor@georgetownvoice.com Advertising: business@georgetownvoice.com Web Site: georgetownvoice.com The opinions expressed in the Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the Editorial Board. Columns, advertisements, cartoons and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of the Georgetown Voice.

The University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors. The Georgetown Voice is produced in the Georgetown Voice office and composed on Macintosh computers using the Adobe InDesign publishing system and is printed

by Silver Communications. All materials copyright the Georgetown Voice. All rights reserved.

On this week’s cover: Student Debt at Georgetown Cover Design: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor

to respiratory irritation and an allergic reaction. In the most serious cases, exposure can be fatal. If the University has the best interest of its students in mind, it needs to plan and finance extensive renovations of affected housing facilities as soon as possible.

Potential renovations, however, have been complicated by the requirements laid out in the 2010 Campus Plan. According to the Plan, Georgetown must move 385 students back on to campus

by Fall 2015. This timeframe leaves little flexibility for the University to relocate students during renovations.

Unfortunately, the administration has so far opted to construct entirely new buildings such as the North East Triangle Project to respond to the pressure of the 2015 deadline for the Campus Plan’s housing requirements. When some buildings on campus are unsafe to occupy, the construction of new

buildings such as the Intercollegiate Athletic Center seems especially ill-timed.

For the sake of student health, the renovation of existing spaces must be the University’s primary focus. Changes need to be undertaken soon to remedy mold problems in residential spaces across campus. Without significant adjustments in the administration’s current priorities, sufficient renovation and fulfilling the requirements of the Campus Plan likely cannot occur simultaneously.

When faced with the choice between assuaging the grievances of neighbors and providing healthy and inhabitable residential spaces for Georgetown students, the University needs to place student health first. Georgetown must strongly consider applying for an extension of the Campus Plan so that meeting its requirements will not jeopardize the well-being of current Hoyas.

A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD

Navy Yard shows negligence in veteran care

Navy contractor Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard in Southwest D.C. before being killed in a gun-battle with police last Monday. Although facts concerning Alexis’s motivations remain elusive, questions of responsibility abound.

In 2011, after being honorably discharged from the Navy, Alexis went through a protracted period of unemployment. At the time of the shooting, he had been employed and given security clearance by The Experts, a naval defense contractor. Despite showing signs of mental health problems, Alexis’s security clearance was validated in 2007.

That clearance granted him access to the Naval Yard a week prior to the shootings.

In 2004 Alexis was arrested for shooting out the tires of a man’s truck in Seattle during an angry blackout, he later claimed. In 2008 he was arrested for disorderly conduct in Georgia,

The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

the georgetown voice 3

and in 2010 for firing a gun through the ceiling of his apartment. Alexis’s neighbors and roommates noted his angry outbursts and fascination with guns, but did not alert authorities to these tendencies. Alexis’s father claims that his son was suffering from PTSD stemming from rescue attempts during the 9/11 attacks, but staff at the Veterans Health Administration in Rhode Island failed to diagnose any behavioral abnormalities.

The Navy Yard incident demonstrate more than the obvious inadequacy of our gun laws. It serves as a painful reminder of how our healthcare system fails veterans. Though Alexis sought treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, he was not declared unfit by the armed services and claimed he was not receiving his full benefits.

This negligence is, regrettably, unsurprising. A 2011 study in The Journal

of Traumatic Stress noted that 59 percent of V.A. mental health professionals rarely or never follow guidelines to diagnose PTSD or other psychological after effects in patients.

Better medical treatment for veterans could not only avert tragedy, but also assist veterans in reintegrating into civilian life. In 2011, NPR noted a steady upward trend in unemployment for veterans, largely due to employers’ fears that their applicants might be suffering from PTSD. Discussing mental illness should not serve to stigmatize veterans, but rather to emphasize a responsibility to treat those who are suffering. The military must serve those who serve our country. Ultimately, last week’s tragedy extends far beyond those 12 lives lost. It reflects a system that failed Aaron Alexis and that without significant change, will fail others in the future.

OH, SNAP!

SNAP budget cuts deprive low-income Americans

On Thursday Sept. 19, 2013, the House passed the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013, also known as H.R. 3102. The act would cut nearly $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and almost 14 million lowincome Americans would have their benefits limited or cut entirely starting on Nov. 1.

The Recovery Act of 2009 increased the SNAP budget by 13.6 percent, which amounted to about $80 billion in 2012. Last June, the 2013 Farm Bill, which called for a $20 billion cut of these benefits, failed to pass in the House. Republicans responded by isolating the SNAP reform bill and passing it with almost double the program cuts and not a single Democratic vote.

Republicans claim these cuts will fix the inefficiencies of SNAP, and prevent abuses of the welfare sys-

tem. Proponents of the cuts point to so-called “Welfare Queens”, claiming that hoarding government transfers inevitably results from SNAP benefits.

These claims completely miss the reality of living on SNAP benefits.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, close to two-thirds of SNAP beneficiaries are children, elderly, or disabled. Though there may be a handful of people subverting the system, for the majority of beneficiaries a $29 cut in benefits per day for a family of three has a signifigant impact on their quality of life.In 2014 beneficiaries will recieve an average of $1.40 per person per meal. This is not an acceptable standard for our welfare system. The first priority of the government should not be decimating the benefits of millions of low-income workers.

Moving forward, policy-makers must be cognizant of not only the

quantity of welfare, but also the quality of the benefits they provide.

SNAP in its present state fails to meet the needs of recipients, especially in terms of nutrition. SNAP places few limits on the food stuffs recipients can use their benefits to purchase, and many people opt for cheap, processed foods. The Center for Science in the Public Interest reported that SNAP users spend an average of $4 billion a year on soda. Ideally, SNAP could be used as a tool to support healthier lifestyles, but this goal cannot be achieved with the sweeping funding cuts specified by the act passed last Thursday.

With this decision, the House has abandoned the needs of low-income Americans. The burden now lies on the Senate to uphold its mandate to provide for the general welfare and reject H.R. 3102.

4 the georgetown voice

news

september 26, 2013

Mold outbreaks sicken students

by Claire Zeng and Grace Brennan Over this past summer and beginning of the school year, students have reported multiple cases of mold in Kennedy Hall, Village C, LXR Hall, Henle Village, Village A, and Alumni Square. The mold has both had a detrimental effect on student health and stirred discontent about the responsiveness of Georgetown housing and facilities.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, residents of buildings with mold growth may experience health problems such as “headaches, breathing difficulties, skin irritation, allergic reactions, and aggravation of asthma symptoms.” Although different types of mold vary in their health threats, exposure to mold for extensive periods can cause even more severe diseases like cancer and mental illness.

During the summer and start of this semester, multiple apartments in Henle Village saw extensive mold problems, which required residents to be temporarily evacuated.

“Over the summer, we had about five to six different apartments [with mold] in Henle, and then as the folks moved in, we had about another five or six,” said Robin Morey, vice president of planning and facilities management. According to Morey, the primary causes were leaking air conditioning units and windows left open during periods of rain.

In general, mold on campus occurs in isolated incidents. Facilities is responsible for ensuring that dorms are safe through procedures including mold remediation.

“Reports of mold are usually inspected within the same day by either facilities management or health and safety personnel. If the report is validated, then cleaning/remediation is

initiated—usually within a day or two,” Morey wrote to the Voice. “The reports [we receive] can vary significantly with most being in the summer. Beginning move-in weekend to present, we received approximately 21 reported instances of mold—all of which have been cleaned.”

Students, however, have had mixed experiences with facilities’ response speed and efficacy to reported mold problems.

“My mom and I went to facilities, to housing…I said, ‘Isn’t this a priority? It deals with student health.’ And they said ‘No, we only have so many people,’” said Liz Sellers (MSB ’14), who lives in Henle 37, one of the apartments that was evacuated. “My mom and I were going all around campus, trying to find somebody to take care of it, and we actually bumped into President DeGioia after convocation. We were talking to him about it, and then he contacted the facilities and housing people.

Really, we had to go all the way to President DeGioia in order for them to handle mold, when it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

Students also said that if facilities responded to their calls, their response methods were often ineffective.

“We put in at least two or three facilities complaints about the mold. For the black mold in the shower, they came and bleached it, but failed to bleach under the plastic handle, so it was obviously still there. At the beginning of the year, we reported black mold on the ceiling of our living room, and they never came to clean it up,” wrote Julia Christensen (COL ’15), who lived in Henle last year. “A little over a month after we moved out, Henle 33 was evacuated for excessive mold.”

Erica Lin (COL ’14), who lives at 1403 37th Street on Magis Row, has faced similar compli-

cations when dealing with facilities.

“We put in this huge work order [about black mold at the beginning of the semester], but there have been issues getting work orders to go through,” Lin said. “I think what they did was they painted over it last time and it just grows back.”

The EPA strongly recommends to never paint over mold because it is ineffective and leads to more serious problems. Morey denied that facilities utilized this approach. “This is not an acceptable procedure to deal with mold and facilities management does not do so,” he wrote.

In addition, facilities largely depends on students to report problems with mold in their residences.

“To be clear, any report of mold in any Georgetown unit will be addressed by facilities… but these incidents need to be reported to facilities in order for facilities to fix them,” wrote Rachel Pugh, director of media relations.

For anyone who has no professional training in mold remediation, spores may not be easily identifiable. In addition, according to the EPA, “it is possible that mold may be growing on hidden surfaces, such as the back side of drywall, wallpaper, or paneling, the top of ceiling tiles, [and] the underside of carpets and pads.”

“Our room flooded once in VCW, and then I started coughing a lot. And then two months later, our room flooded again and they moved the dresser by my bed and there was mold underneath it,” wrote Tessa Pulaski (SFS ’15). “I was on an inhaler … [and] I didn’t [ever suspect it was mold].”

The University did not comment on how many students have become ill due to mold.

However, the symptoms of mold are easily confused with those associated with the common

News Hit

GU launches first MOOC

Over 20,000 students from 150 countries have registered for Georgetown’s first Massive Open Online Course, “Globalization’s Winners and Losers: Challenges for Developed and Developing Countries.” The course, taught by SFS Professor Theodore Moran, will begin on Oct. 1st and last for over seven weeks.

The course is part of the edX initiative, a non-profit site founded by Harvard and MIT that allows people worldwide to participate in university-level courses online for free.

SFS associate professor Rodney Ludema, one of the faculty members who contributed to Moran’s course, is optimistic about the prospects of this new approach to education. “[Massive Open Online Courses] have the potential to enhance the external reputation of Georgetown,” Ludema wrote in an email to the Voice. However, he worries that the courses could become sensationalized as competition for enrollment intensifies. “[They] are costly to produce but are freely available to viewers. I wonder how long that model can be sustained.”

Georgetown plans to offer additional online courses in the spring on counterterrorism, bioethics, and genomic medicine.

—Kenneth Lee cold or allergies. Compounding the problem that mold can grow visibly undetected, students may experience extended symptoms of illness without realizing the cause.

When asked if it was feasible for facilities to regularly check rooms during the year, Morey responded affirmatively, writing that “we are redesigning our inspection program and we envision regular inspections.”

University to increase student tuition and faculty salaries

by Lara Fishbane Over the next five years, the University’s Financial Plan intends to increase total University spending by $127,893,000. In order to cover these additional expenditures, the University expects greater growth in revenue, primarily by raising tuition.

As a whole, money raised through tuition will increase by 5 percent, prompting undergraduate student tuition to increase by 4.5 percent in 2014, 4 percent in 2015, and 3.5 percent each year after until 2017.

Despite bringing in over $1 billion in revenue in 2012 through tuition, gifts, grants, contracts, endowment income, and other resources, Georgetown closed the fiscal year of 2012 with a $15.7 million deficit. According to the University’s 2014-2017 Financial Plan, the deficit is expected to extend until the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

The University is expecting to see a fall in the operation deficit from a projected $19.4 million in fiscal year 2013 to $9 million in fiscal year 2014 and $2.6 million in fiscal year 2015.

The source of the total university’s deficit is predominantly the Medical Center, which, in 2012, closed the fiscal year with a deficit of $26.5 million. Meanwhile, the Law Center had a deficit of $38,000, University services had a deficit of $5.8 million, and the Main Campus brought in a surplus of $12.7 million.

Currently, the largest portion of the budget is dedicated to employee salaries and fringe benefits. Over the next five years, the amount of money set aside for salaries is planned to increase by 2.7 percent, while fringe benefits will increase by 5.3 percent. In order to accommodate this increase in salaries, the base salary increases for tenure line faculty at the Main Campus and certain members of the law center faculty will be delayed by 6 months, taking effect only on January 1, 2014.

When contacted on Wednesday evening, Stacy Kerr, assistant vice president for communications, could not immediately comment on possible increases in salaries for adjunct professors, who composed 48% of University faculty.

Revenue Net Tuition (65%) Grants & Contracts (20%) Gifts/Contributions (5%) Endowments & Investments (5%) Other Sources (3%) Auxilliary Enterprises (2%)

Expenses Salaries & Benefits (52%) Supplies, Services & Library Books (16%) University Services Support (16%) Facilities (7%) Travel & Business Functions (4%) Debt and Depreciation (4%) Other (2%)

Georgetown University projected revenue and expenses for the 2014-2017 fiscal years.

John delgado-mccollum

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 5

University, GUSA to survey student body on satellite housing

by Deborah Sparks In response to Thursday’s referendum launched by the One Georgetown One Campus campaign, administrators announced the University will conduct its own survey gauging student interest in living at a satellite residence.

After collecting more than the 300 signatures needed to launch a student referendum, GUSA officials are calling the student body to vote “No” on the satellite campus proposal.

“This referendum will be a very clear expression of the student opinion on this issue,” said Nate Tisa (SFS ‘14), GUSA president. “From what we’ve heard from talking to students, the sentiment is overwhelmingly no.”

The administration, however, has asserted that a majority of students it has spoken with supports the possibility of satellite housing.

Robin Morey, vice president for planning and facilities management, said that during the administration’s recent outreach to the student body, “Ten, fifteen, twenty students have said that [satellite housing] might be a good option for them. They’ve talked about it in a way that says that it’s something they’re interested in.”

In order to poll general student sentiment toward satellite

housing, the University will release its own survey in the beginning of October, regardless of the results of the referendum being held by GUSA. The administrators believe the survey would be a more comprehensive gauge of student opinions on off-campus housing options than the referendum.

“Let’s just say 95 percent of people said they wouldn’t [live in a satellite residence], and 5 percent said they would … There might be a market for those 5 percent that might find it attractive to live off campus,” Morey said. “If we can somehow say that that’s a desirable option, that’s something we ought to consider. ” However, students opposed to the idea of building satellite housing still believe that the potential five percent of students that would be in favor of this construction should not have the final word on the administration’s decision.

“You can pretty much find data to support any opinion—you can find 140 students that support [satellite housing], but I don’t necessarily think that is representative of the entire student body,” said Rosie Lauricella (MSB ‘14), co-director of the One Georgetown One Campus campaign.

Even though she’s skeptical of the survey’s accuracy, Lauri-

Keep the District open

With the D.C. Council’s failure to override Mayor Vincent Gray’s (D) veto on the Large Retailer Accountability Act, it’s easy for progressive Washingtonians to forget that we’re blessed with a relatively activist government. Flawed, sure.

Corrupt, you bet. But activist as well. Or at least a bit insurrectionist.

Tuesday morning, the Council met to hear a presentation by City Administrator Allen Lew. The subject was the consequences D.C. would face if the federal government shuts down amid the latest round of budgetary chicken. Turns out the District’s in a bit of a tight spot. Because the D.C. budget must be approved by Congress, it is illegal for our city to spend its own money if the federal government closes its doors. That would mean only two-thirds of city employees could report to work, less trash collection, and cuts in other services.

The councilmembers didn’t take that sitting down. According

to Washington City Paper, David Grosso (I-At Large) first proposed during the meeting to defy federal law and keep the city functioning at full capacity, regardless of whether Congress can get its act together.

Other councilmembers and even the mayor soon lent their support as well, both to keep the District’s doors open and to gain publicity for budget autonomy fights. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) told City Paper he would draw up legislation to do so, and that he had the nine votes to pass it.

Even Gray, who has been more cautious than the Council in past budget autonomy fights, was emboldened by the idea, asking, “Isn’t this how the country was founded?”

Of course, there were voices of caution. D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan outlined the possible legal consequences of defying the federal Anti-Deficiency Act—the law that shackles the District’s

maRla aBadIlla

Students attend forum on campus planning in Village A common room.

cella notes that “it makes sense for them to issue a survey, and that’s what the referendum is doing too. It’s important that students are involved.”

During a student engagement session held on Monday night, administrators also clarified that the satellite residence would be a temporary housing option while other on-campus options were made available to meet the 2010 Campus Plan goals.

“The possibility of off-campus housing has always been considered a temporary option to help meet our long-term goal through building new spaces and renovating existing spaces to create desirable on campus housing,” wrote Rachel Pugh, director of media relations, in an email to the Voice. budget to Congress. If they chose this “irresponsible” route, according to Nathan, the mayor and city employees could face fines and up to two years in prison. Even worse, it could lead to the dissolution of the Home Rule Charter and Gray being forced from office. He urged the Council to desist.

city on a hill

by Gavin Bade

A bi-weekly column about D.C. news and politics.

But in the end, he didn’t need to worry about the legislators so much as their executive. In a surprise move Wednesday morning, Gray announced he would designate every district employee “essential,” allowing them to stay on the job during a shutdown and making him the focus of any prosecution should a shutdown occur.

Now, let’s be clear. None of this will likely come to fruition.

Congressional Republicans are

According to Tisa, however, the University had initially not presented the option of satellite housing as a temporary one. “They weren’t saying that three weeks ago. It sounds like they’re starting to hear student voices,” he said.

The administration has emphasized that once enough beds are created on campus and the satellite housing is no longer needed, the residences could be potentially offered to graduate students who are interested in living in the city, closer to a metro stop.

However, if no agreement is reached between students and administrators on the establishment of a satellite residence, the University would restart negotiations with the neighborhood.

more keen to haggle over a debt ceiling increase than a continuing budget resolution. And even if there was a shutdown, it’s unlikely Eric Holder would send his goons down to the Wilson building to enforce such a ridiculous law as the Anti-Deficiency Act. But this is still politics, and symbolism still matters. Gray’s announcement yesterday, along with incensed statements from the likes of Councilmembers Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Grosso, help bring more attention to the uniquely unfair position D.C. occupies in the national polity.

D.C. no longer needs congressional oversight of its budget, but instead is routinely hampered by it.

As Gray said in his statement, the city has balanced its budget every year for the past 18 and has a rainy day fund of over $1 billion. As dysfunctional as our local government is, it works a helluva lot better than most other large American cities, and it’s a cruel absurdity that the likes of Tea Party Republicans in

“It will not be [a] viable option if enough students do not want to live there. I hope it is clear to everyone that interest from five students would not be sufficient,” Pugh wrote.

In the meantime, administrators have been considering alternative long-term housing options, two of which would involve renovating Ryan-Mulledy Hall and the Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center. RyanMulledy has structural and safety issues that would require major renovations to house students, though, and the administration has expressed concern that other campus institutions, such as the Georgetown University Hospital and the McDonough School of Business, will need the hotel space.

While the University has been negotiating the purchase of Kober-Cogan from MedStar for the past eight months, the administration has said that it is impossible to refurbish the location by 2015.

So far, the administration has considered multiple sites to place the satellite residence — four in Rosslyn, one in Courthouse, and a last one in Capitol Hill.

“If something sounds like it’s a viable option, then I’ll go look at it,” Morey said.

Congress can have any impact on its governance at all.

It’s fair to count me as one of the Gray administration’s most strident critics. But each time he and the councilmembers use direct action tactics to pressure the federal government and bring D.C. budget issues to the forefront—as they did in 2011 when Gray and 40 other protesters were arrested at a statehood protest—they are firmly in the right. Furloughing D.C. employees doesn’t just count as an inconvenience for residents, it hurts the workers’ abilities to pay their bills. It hurts the whole District economy. And city officials should stand up in opposition, even if it breaks the law.

In the end, there’s little downside to Gray’s announcement yesterday. And, even in the worst case scenario, it’d be nice to see a D.C. politico go to jail for something noble for once.

Picket with Gavin at gbade@ georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

september 26, 2013

Sailing continues to dazzle against top competition

by Max Borowitz As Hoya fans await basketball season patiently, one team on campus is preparing to make a different kind of buzz.

Perennially below the radar, the Hoya sailing team numbers among the strongest teams on campus. Even though Georgetown’s sailing team is strong enough to be one of the best teams in the country, they are yet to be the talk of the campus.

Anyone who talks to sailing coach Mike Callahan wouldn’t notice, though.

Callahan manages to combine high expectations with a patient temperament. “Our expectations are that we try to improve every day,” he said.

“We have the potential to be really good.” Yet, despite his high sights, he stresses that process and training trump short-term results: “The way we do it is unorthodox, the way we do it is not like other colleges, and that’s what I think is what makes our program better. You look at a team like a Harvard, or a Boston College, or a Yale, or a Stanford… They have no walk-ons.”

Unlike those schools, Callahan believes in giving any committed athlete a chance to be a great sailor. “My belief is that college athletics should be a fun part of your life here,” he said. “People who do it enjoy it, it’s not like they are being told to do it or are being made to do it.”

For those who don’t follow the cutthroat culture of modern collegiate athletics, Callahan’s ethos might come off as the musings of a man who rationally understands that fun should be a part of college athletics. Yet at a time where impatience and shortsighted priorities reign, Callahan’s view that any athlete, particularly those who played sports in high school, should be given a chance to succeed is rather unusual. Most remarkably of all, Callahan does not use his openminded patience to justify mediocrity. Even though Georgetown’s sailing team is arguably the strongest team on campus, Callahan describes its current form as “not very good.”

When talking about the team’s most recent regatta at Dartmouth, Callahan talked about his three best female sailors, senior Amanda Taselaar, senior Nancy Hagood, and junior Katia Da Silva, before blithely mentioning that he “gave each of them the week off.” For some, it would be unconscionable to use a competition against some of the strongest competitors in the country as a learning experience for younger sailors, but that is what Callahan chose to do.

Some other coaches would criticize this philosophy as overly lax, yet it’s hard to argue with his results. Not only did they finish sixth against the other schools’ best competition, but they showed they could compete with the na-

ANDRES RENGIFO

Sailing hopes to continue their dominance this weekend in New York and Maryland.

tion’s elite.

“The girls all left thinking that they could have done much better. The top two teams in the national championship, Dartmouth and Yale, had their top teams there, and we were very close to them,” Callahan said.

This week, Callahan gave his top male sailor, Nevin Snow, the week off “to catch up with work and life.” Yet, despite this

clear loss, Callahan noted that the coed side was still “in the hunt for first place.”

Nobody can know whether strong early season results can carry over later in the year, though Callahan deserves credit for trusting his younger sailors and recognizing that “work and life” matter as well. The younger sailors deserve praise in equal measure for rising to

the occasion. In a day where the integrity of the student athlete is slowly eroding, Mike Callahan and Georgetown sailing show that patience isn’t just a good maxim, but that it makes for an excellent team with excellent athletes.

The Hoyas will be back in action on September 28th, as different parts of the team will travel to Great Neck, NY, Annapolis, Maryland, and St.

the Sports Sermon

“There are a lot of pundits and ignorant idiots who thought, ‘Oh, the Seahawks are going to lose this game.’ Well please, please don’t doubt us again. Every time you doubt us, they look stupid.” -Richard Sherman, Seattle Seahawks.

in 2005, have made the playoffs once and have had only two winning seasons, though this year is so disappointing they may as well have just lost all 162 games.

In 2011, my friends and I regularly went to Nats Park to cheer for the Nationals just to reach .500, which, by the way, they didn’t. I’m not quite sure why I expect success to be around the corner when it hasn’t been each year for more or less the past two decades, but for some reason every year I watch the games and check the standings like my teams stand a chance.

I know that Cleveland can make a strong case as the most miserable sports city in the country, but I think things have been

fourth seed and getting stomped

by LeBron’s Cavaliers each year Just a year ago at this time, I from 2005 to 2008. I know that was ranting about how my Nawas the most excited I’ve ever tionals and my Redskins, losers been watching one of my teams, for the entirety of my lifetime, excepting the Hoyas, who have were now moving to the top of brought their own unique brand their respective leagues. I said, of misery to the table. This “great” “Pitching wins championships, era came to an end when Gilbert and nobody has a better rotaArenas ran into injury problems, tion than the Nationals.” I said, shooting down the team’s chanc“RGIII is our savior. The offense es at the playoffs. Since then, the is the best it’s ever looked. They’ll Wizards have been perpetual celbe great for years.” lar dwellers.

The Nationals finished 2012 I wouldn’t be so upset about with the best record in Major the past woes of these teams if League Baseball, while the RedI had any reason to believe that skins won their division for the change was in store, but this isn’t first time since 1999. The expectathe case. Of course, Redskins tions were sky-high for the teams quarterback Robert Griffin III who were built on young talent, hasn’t fully recovered from knee and who seemed to surgery, but even Pete Rose Central be able to accomwhen he does replish the impossible. cover, that doesn’t Da bettin’ line The oddsmakers change the fact that Dookies Margin Hoyas and I seemed to be the Washington (underdogs) (duh!) in agreement; both (favorites) defense is on track teams, the Nats espeto be the worst deYankees cially, were going to fense of all time.

Mo Closing be great. Yeah, right.

This isn’t hyKings Shaqramento Shaq Nationals manperbole. In three Our Hearts Andrea ager Davey Johnson Breaking Bad weeks, the Redskins said before the season, “World worse in the nation’s capital. At have allowed the most yards of Series or bust. That’s probably least Cleveland had the LeBron any defense in the history of the the slogan this year. But I’m com- years that included a trip to the National Football League. The fortable with that.” The Nation- Finals. No Washington sport has Nationals had a down season, als were eliminated from playoff sniffed at a championship in my but there are no huge injuries or contention this week. lifetime. In fact, in this time, the misfortunes that can explain the The Redskins, who have Wizards haven’t even made the drop from World Series favorite started 0-3, aren’t in the news Conference Finals, the Redskins to a team that didn’t even make for their on-field accomplish- haven’t made the NFC Champi- the Wild Card play-in game. ments. Rather, the stories have onship, and the Nationals have Some say the Wizards are in been the “feud” between their never played for a National position for a better season, but franchise quarterback and the League pennant. There hasn’t I’m not ready to celebrate grabcoach, as well as how non-Native been a single season in the last bing an eighth seed in the playAmericans believe that the fran- twenty years where a Washing- offs, because the best NBA draft chise name is offensive to Native ton franchise in the three major of all time is going to be in 2014, Americans. But my complaints sports has had any shot of bring- and the Wizards are going to be with those storylines are for an- ing home a title. just good enough to miss out other day.

In fact, if you were to ask a on all the top talent while being I’ve been conditioned quite 20-year-old what the “golden bad enough to get swept in the well in my 19 years on this plan- years” were in their memory, first round by Miami. But at the et. The Redskins have only had you would probably be directed end of the day, sports are about four winning seasons since 1998, to the four year period where hope for the future, and the fact moving no further than the sec- the Gilbert Arenas-led Wizards that I’m still watching says that I ond round of the playoffs. The made the playoffs four years in a might still be optimistic. Oh wait, Nationals, since moving to D.C. row, never earning better than a the Nats just lost.

by Chris Almeida

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Football helpless against Brown Men’s soccer impresses

by Max Roberts Following a frustrating loss to Marist (1-2, 0-0 Pioneer) a week ago, the Georgetown football team (1-3, 0-0 Patriot League) endured another torrid day against Brown (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League) in a 45-7 loss at Brown Stadium. “[It was] a disappointment,” Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Kelly said. “It’s not just the three hours on the field, it’s all the work that you put in prior to.”

Brown set the tone early in the game as the team moved the ball efficiently down the field on the opening possession, not facing a single third down on a 92-yard drive that lasted four minutes.

The drive culminated in an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brown senior wide receiver Alex Phelan to give Brown a 7-0 lead.

The Hoya offense then took over, but could not give their defense any rest since they were forced to punt after a quick three and out. Brown then added to their lead with a 32-yard field goal fol-

lowing a 38-yard drive kept alive by a key fourth down conversion.

Georgetown’s second drive was no better than their first, as a personal foul penalty negated the small gains they had made on first and second down and they were again forced to punt.

“Offensively we didn’t play up to our potential,” said redshirt senior quarterback Isaiah Kempf, “[its] frustrating in a lot of ways” he added.

Brown closed out the first half with their third scoring drive in three possessions. Brown drove 55 yards for a touchdown to make the score 17-0. Brown senior running back John Spooney carried the load on the drive, accounting for 33 of the yards including an 8-yard touchdown run to cap off the drive.

The second quarter began with three short drives that resulted in punts, two by Georgetown. The Hoyas’ second punt took place from their end zone. As a result, Brown took over with excellent field position, starting at Georgetown’s 37-yard line. Brown capital-

ANDRES RENGIFO

The football team will look to right the ship this weekend against Princeton.

Sports make us exceptional

Despite Vladmir Putin’s admonitions, encouraging American children to excel is neither dangerous, nor will it be the ruin of future generations, as Amanda Ripley argues in her “Case Against High-School Sports,” published on The Atlantic’s website last week. Instead, it is this insatiable vie to become exceptional that best contrasts American youth from their foreign counterparts. The institutionalized weight of high school sports in American society, I would argue, is a major molding factor that challenges younger generations of Americans to be competitive and not to settle for anything but the top.

Ripley argues that if we changed our schools’ focus to academics, we could climb the worldwide ranks and regain our blue ribbons from bookworms such as Finland and South Korea. Since America never topped any of these lists, the book-smart rankings shouldn’t matter in our

street-smart world. While we may have ranked 25th in subjects like math and science, we’re still able to produce geniuses like Steve Jobs who, incidentally, swam for his high school team.

That’s the beauty of sports’ integration into the academic education system: Students can excel on more than one platform. High school sports programs allow for creative competition, where there is not just one right answer to an algebra equation, nor a correct translation of Pablo Neruda.

Educational systems, like those of Finland and South Korea, limit themselves by abstaining from the sports culture.

By keeping sports intact in the American public education system, we assure access to opportunity for all kids, regardless of socio-economic status. Howard Shultz, the chairman and CEO of Starbucks, found refuge in high school sports. 2Chainz was able to win an athletic scholarship to go to college and become the first

ized on the favorable field position with a 24-yard touchdown reception by Spooney to give Brown a 24-0 lead.

Georgetown responded with a promising drive. However, Kempf fumbled on a fourth down attempt at Brown’s 22-yard line. Brown again took advantage and concluded a seven-play 58-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run from Spooney to put Brown 31 points ahead of the Hoyas.

Georgetown took over with just under 4 minutes left in the half, in desperate need of a spark. The Hoyas appeared to find the spark in Kempf, who accounted for 59 yards in a combination of passes and rushes. Kempf’s attempt to convert was intercepted and thus the half, and the Hoya’s most promising drive so far, came to an end with Brown leading 31-0.

Brown added touchdowns in in the third and fourth quarters, but the Hoyas did not quit and finally got on the scoreboard with a touchdown pass from Kempf to cap a 77-yard drive, topping the score at 45-7.

While the first half was disappointing and essentially decided the game, Georgetown did show some fire in the second half.

“It shows the character of these young men… they aren’t going to quit” Kelly said. “We had a bad [first] half.”

After struggling against both Marist and Brown, Georgetown takes on Princeton (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) this Saturday.

member of his family to graduate. If poverty to pumpkin spice lattes isn’t the American dream, then I don’t know what is.

Despite being ludicrous for the aforementioned reasons, Ripley’s fantasy of transferring American obsession with sports to academics is delusional. Over 7.7 million students participated in high school sports last year,

Sporty Spice

by Abby Sherburne A bi-weekly column about sports

and the number is only rising.

Non-compulsory in nature, the attraction of high school sports is undeniable. Students reap new friends, an hour or two of fun each day, and a line or two for college applications, as well as a slew of “grown-up” traits which parents couldn’t be happier with.

Moreover, by keeping sports within the educational system, we preserve millions more opportunities to excel.

by Chris Castano It is now officially safe to say that the Georgetown men’s soccer team is on the rise. After a shaky preseason and an unconvincing start to the fall of 2013 which included losses to UC Berkeley (50-1, 0-0 Pac -12) and New Mexico (4-2-1, 0-0 C-USA), the Hoyas are on a four-game winning streak.

Head Coach Brian Wiese and his troops have certainly picked up the pace of their play.

Despite entering their last game against Princeton with momentum, Georgetown came out slow and paid the price in the 24th minute when Princeton forward Nick Hurtado sent a shot sailing past junior goalkeeper Tomas Gomez. The test for the Hoyas then was to respond positively.

“We just tried to regain calm,” said sophomore defender Cole Seiler, “We kind of came out flat and weren’t really playing our kind of soccer. It was kind of a wake-up call for us. Princeton was obviously eager to get back and strike against us. We just had to get back and play our kind of soccer.”

The Blue and Gray began to dominate possession and was able to respond quickly in the form of a goal, thanks to senior forward Steve Neumann. Freshman forward Alex Muyl and sophomore forward Brandon Allen combined well to set the Hermann Trophy candidate up for the shot into the bottom corner of the Princeton net.

Competitive colleges, such as this one, do not judge applicants based on transcripts or SAT scores alone. We are able to choose hundreds of different paths during our youth, many of which are centered around exercise and play. The diverse, competitive culture that is endorsed by high school athletics creates students like me and you.

Without sports opportunities, I wouldn’t have stood out in a crowd of some 20,000 applications, but with organized school sports like cross-country and basketball, I was able to make it among the ranks of you all.

For people like me, high school sports are non-negotiable.

Hell, my senior year, we had students transfer from schools with lesser basketball programs that were hours away, just to compete on a higher level. This competitive nature—to be the best and settle for nothing less—is ingrained in the sports culture of the American education system, and rightfully so. The lessons of competition, perseverance, and

The Hoyas took the lead for the first time in the match thanks to a Brandon Allen free kick which took a deflection off the post, the goalkeeper, and then finally into the net.

Despite a number of Georgetown chances, Princeton found their way back into the game with a goal in the 76th minute, but ultimately wound up losing the game due to a late Georgetown goal scored by junior midfielder and unlikely sharpshooter Tyler Rudy.

“It was amazing. The last time I scored was my freshman year, on this field, against Princeton. It’s pretty interesting actually. It was like the exact same goal. It felt amazing, “said an ecstatic Rudy.

Even though the Hoyas didn’t start the game in the fashion they would have liked, the team views Sunday’s game as a largely positive experience.

“We needed a game like that… the only time this season we’ve been down was against Cal and we did not respond well,” said Wiese. The goal really affected how we played.

The only other time we were down was in overtime, but we can’t do anything about that…

I thought we did a much better job of handling that adversity. We went down a goal, but got it back quick which is nice to see.”

Georgetown will look to extend its excellent form on Homecoming Saturday against Creighton at 1 p.m. on Shaw Field.

community inform our society as a whole, and without the framework from an instructional institution, we cannot assure that future generations will have a leg up to the rest of the competition outside our borders.

As the adage goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Sports and war have always been intricately linked, and it is no wonder that the team that tops the Olympics year in and year out is also the best at war. (Hint: It’s us.) Americans train to be extraordinary their entire lives—from competing in high school sports, to competing for roles in theater productions, and even to campaigning for Mr. Georgetown—our society is oriented toward individual achievement. It is this exceptionalism, the American dream, which has allowed the United States to be the singular most powerful goddamn force on the globe. For the sake of America’s future, just let ‘em play.

Talk America with Abby at asherburne@georgetownvoice.com

feature

Kelly’s management, GUASFCU has worked to ensure that private loans, if they must be taken out, are managed in the most appropriate way for Georgetown students.

“The difference is that we know our clients,” Kelly said. “We know that they’re trustworthy.” According to McWade, Georgetown students have an extremely low default rate. Only 0.5 percent of the 2011 cohort of borrowers couldn’t repay their loans on time.

Therefore, GUASFCU ensures a low interest rate, which can be as little as half as much as private banks offer. It also

40% receive direct aid

.

.

Leah calls home. Both her sister and her brother are in school, and, since her father is working on his doctoral thesis in Urban Studies at the University of New Orleans, it’s her mother that picks up the phone.

They chat for a while about her day.

“We’re so proud of you,” her mom says. “Keep working hard.”

.

“it’s time for a

conversation

on class.”

are often viewed as a prerequisite to employment. Scott Fleming (COL ‘72), head of the Office of Federal Relations, pointed to the GUSA Summer Fellows program, which pays for the housing of students who stay in the District to intern over the summer, as well as to some White House internships that only take up half the summer, which free up time for students to work. Nonetheless, these programs are selective, and only a lucky few will have access to those benefits.

Leah’s phone buzzes with a new text. It’s from one of her close friends.

“Hey!” it reads. “We’re going to get dinner at Filomena tonight. Want to come?” She smiles for a second at the absurd idea that she could spend $25 on a single meal, then texts back, “No, sorry :( Swamped with work.”

“The financial aid office at Georgetown really works,” Vondall said. “Other institutions really just don’t care.” However, despite the best efforts of the Office, there is also an intangible cost that can’t be factored into an algorithm for the cost of living. There are obvious material differences between students,

.

39% of these students graduated with debt

of the 39% of students graduating with debt, 39% of that debt was nonfederal

as presented in their dress and eating habits, but there are more subtle social and academic pressures that needle at lower-income students.

It’s a pressure that is experienced by a wide spectrum of Hoyas. Nate Tisa (SFS ‘14), GUSA president, related his own experience: “I felt the impact freshman year … I’d hear people talk about countries they’d been and things they’d done, and I couldn’t afford to go home for Thanksgiving,” he said.

It was this experience that Tisa carried as he worked with student governments at other colleges to bring a petition to Capitol Hill. In July, the subsidized Stafford loan rate was set to double if Congress refused to act.

While Congress eventually passed a measure that would tie Stafford loan rates to financial markets, students could see rates rise in the coming years.

According to McCartin, the push for change at both the federal and campus levels needs to come from students. “Student voices are the most powerful tool we have,” he said.

Meanwhile, students on financial aid remain cowed by a culture of silence. In the drive to achieve, many feel that their troubles will be viewed as insignificant in comparison to many of the global problems we study in the classroom. “In being ‘Men and Women for Others,’ we don’t talk about ourselves,” Morgan said.

McWade agrees that there are limited venues for a frank discussions about socioeconomic class and how it affects student experiences on the Hilltop. “We have great conversations about gender and other issues,” she said. “It’s time for a conversation on class.”

The birds never stop chirping on Georgetown’s campus, but tonight, as the glow of the streetlights touches the corners of her window, the noise is distinct. She draws her bedcovers around her and tries to fall asleep, readying herself to do it all again tomorrow.

80%

Georgetown’s Graduating Class of 2011

14% receive Pell Grants

16% receive another form of aid

at Georgetown and director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

The rise of the unpaid internship is a large contributing factor to the impoverishment of students and recent graduates characteristic of today’s labor market. Georgetown students are familiar with the pressure to take prestigious but unpaid internships, which

..........

as of 2012

“[college] is not Easy, cheap, or free.”

The predicament that Leah faces is theoretically tackled in the financial aid package, since there is $1,200 built into the estimated yearly cost of attendance in order to compensate for the cost of textbooks. Many families are scrimping for cash as it is and cannot afford the increasing book prices.

“There’s an extra layer of finances,” said Brandon Anderson (COL ‘14).

Anderson is a student veteran who has worked extensively as an advocate for indebted students, partnering with the Georgetown University Student Association this past summer to push Congress to halt the planned doubling the rates of subsidized Stafford loans. “In order to buy my books here, I have to run up my credit cards,” he said.

Taking into account the struggles of students like Anderson, Georgetown is taking steps in order to ensure greater accessibility to education. The Office of Financial Student Services partners with GUASFCU to organize eight financial literacy workshops for all students throughout the year, in addition to providing both entrance and exit counseling for students on financial aid.

A major part of the limitation on aid is the relatively small size of Georgetown’s endowment. The University’s capital

The emotional pressure of taking on debt—whether it be federally subsidized or private—is still a burden that tugs at students in addition to the daily obligations of academics, extracurriculars, and maintaining a social life.

For Anderson, the pressure is acute. As a first-generation college student, he is expected to contribute to his younger siblings’ education at the very least, if not help out his family with rent and utilities. Vondall feels a similar obligation. Being Native American, there are a specific set of challenges that he faces. “Most Native families don’t have that family structure where you can call home and ask your parents or grandparents for a little money,” he said. “In that way, they’re just like every other impoverished demographic.”

Reilly Poppert (SFS ‘15) receives direct financial aid from Georgetown, but, because of his parents’ employment situation, he has also taken out private loans in order to pay for school. His father is employed with the Navy, but his income comes in on a project-by-project basis rather than in a steady salary.

“There’s always the probability looming that there won’t be money coming in,” Poppert said. In order to ensure his continued enrollment at Georgetown, he preferred to take out a private loan instead of hoping that his family’s expected contribution could be continually adjusted.

Despite the private loans, he will still take next semester off in order to take an internship at the State Department, since it will cost less money than it would for him to remain at Georgetown. “My father graciously allowed me to use his benefits on the GI Bill … [but] with my brother going to college soon. I need to be conscious,” Poppert said.

But, for most students unpaid internships are not a sustainable path.

“The need to have an internship in order to work is taking away from the democratizing effect of education,” said Joseph McCartin, a history professor

.

Leah’s story is one of many across the country. According to the Federal Reserve Board of New York, 39 million people held outstanding student debt as of late 2011, averaging out to $26,000 in debt each. This debt is a combination of private and federal loans.

On the surface, the situation at Georgetown appears to be worse than the average. Last year, the Institute for College Access and Success published a study indicating that as of 2011, 39 percent of Georgetown students graduate with an average of $28,035 in debt—$1,435 more than the national average.

Of the 56 percent of Georgetown undergraduates that receive some form

of external financial aid, 40 percent receive direct aid from the University in the form of a package that meets “full demonstrated need,” according to the Office of Student Financial Services.

These packages are a combination of subsidized federal loans, scholarships, and federal work-study.

In 1978, Georgetown committed to meet 100 percent of students’ “demonstrated need,” but that term has its limitations. Need often looks different on paper than it does in reality—income statements and FAFSA forms lack the nuance necessary to convey a student’s financial reality.

Andy Vondall’s (SCS ‘14) situation reflects the potential inaccuracies of the forms. He is finishing up his requirements to enter a joint master’s program in Pharmacology and Law in the School of Continuing Studies, but, as neither an undergraduate or a graduate student, he fails to qualify for most federal aid packages. He is working for Sen. Max Baucus (DMont.) as an advocate on the Committee on Indian Affairs and usually attends classes at night or online to fit in school around work.

The myopia of financial aid forms is a result of the massive bureaucracy in which both students and the University operate. “Growing up having to struggle to find money is like being at the DMV for your entire life,” said Katherine Morgan (SFS ‘15), a recipient of financial aid. “You’re always asking,

After breakfast, Leah heads to Lau. For her Foundations of Social Theory class, every week brings a new book to read, and there is no space in her budget to buy that many books for a single class. Instead, she checks out the texts she needs on a weekly basis, combing the shelves for her required books.

campaign, launched in Oct. 2011, was designed to bring in $1.5 billion in revenue from donors in order to expand the pool of funds available for a multitude of projects. The University plans to allocate one-third of raised funds to increase student scholarships. 80 percent of this money will go toward undergraduates.

In order to create a more ambitious recruiting strategy to increase socioeconomic diversity at Georgetown, the University realized its endowment needed an aggressive injection of cash. “We … acknowledge that it is not easy, cheap, or free to make the sacrifice it takes to come to Georgetown,” said R. Bartley Moore (SFS ‘87), vice president for the Office of Advancement. “The [small] endowment is a limitation. … We identified early that student aid needed to be a priority.”

Considering where Georgetown was only two years ago, this fundraising points to a significant jump in Georgetown’s ability to provide aid to students in need. At the beginning of the Campaign for Georgetown, $115 million of a total of $1.16 billion of the portfolio was dedicated to scholarships.

The ambition is that, through an increase in alumni donations, Georgetown can commit $245 million of the endowment to scholarships, raising usable funds from $5.7 to $12 million annually.

This amount would be in addition to the University’s other two sources of financial aid, the GU Fund, valued at $7.14 million at the end of Fiscal Year 13, and current-use funds, which approximate $5 million this year So far, the campaign has raised just over half of that goal, $257 million of which will be for scholarships.

the georgetown voice 9

. .

Leah Brown (COL ‘16) wakes up at 9:30 a.m., finally giving in to her alarm after hitting snooze a couple times. As an RA, she lives alone, so her alarm hasn’t disturbed anyone.

She rolls out of bed and pads into the hallway, slipping into the empty bathroom. Under the harsh lights of her Reynolds dorm bathroom, she washes her face and brushes her hair, then heads back to her room to get dressed. After that comes breakfast, a piece of fruit she swiped from Leo’s the night before.

She has to choose her Leo’s meals carefully and stretch out her 10 meals so they last the week.

doesn’t charge pre-payment penalties— an extra fee banks often add in order to ensure a steady stream of revenue if borrowers want to pay their loans early.

“I was looking at our clients’ statements, and all of them have good jobs and will be able to pay back their loans,” Kelly said. “I was just struck by the injustice of it.”

feature

georgetownvoice.com

.

by Julia S. Tanaka

‘Are they going to send me back if the entire bubble isn’t filled in?’”

At least, taking out federally subsidized loans as part of a University aid package makes students eligible for various Department of Education loan repayment plans, including income-contingent repayment. Private loans are an entirely different matter.

According to the Institute for College Access and Success, 39 percent of indebted Georgetown graduates carry nonfederal debt. “The horror stories come from students who take out private debt,” said Dean of Financial Student Services Patricia McWade.

Private student loans target a particularly vulnerable group. Christopher Kelly (COL ‘14), CEO of the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, sees the difficulties incurred by private loans through his work with clients. Since students are young, have little to no prior proof of good credit, and lack a steady income, they are considered an “insanely risky” group of borrowers by private banks, according to Kelly. Under

.

// making debt ends meet//

september 26, 2013

.

8 the georgetown voice

$257MILLION Amount CAPITAL CAMPAIGN has raised for student scholarships

of GU’s capital campaign funds are for undergraduate student aid

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

september 26, 2013

Masturbatory masterpiece hits dark theater near you

by Julia Lloyd-George It’s not difficult to imagine how the pitch meeting for Don Jon went: “So, there’s this porn addict…” I know I would be skeptical, but, then again, I’m not part of Hollywood’s key adolescent boy demographic. It’s certainly not an easy story idea to pull off, and the main character is about as likable and multi-layered as a cardboard cutout of Todd Akin. Still, there’s a lot more to this film than first impressions allow.

What may seem like an obnoxious tale of porn addiction is instead an intelligent satire of the ways in which the media we consume influence our expectations of our partners and relationships in general. If anyone can pull that off, it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

As Jon, JGL is a slick Jersey Shore lothario with incredibly simple tastes. This guy knows his values: his body, his pad, his ride, his family, his church, his boys, his girls, and his porn. We choose what to worship, and Don Jon reveres the physical above all else.

He objectifies every element of his existence, fitting it into his vision of the perfect, carefree life.

Inevitably, that includes women. He rarely spends more than one night with any of his conquests, insistently reminding the audience that the real thing just isn’t the same as porn. We’re treated to endlessly repetitive shots of JGL booting up his Mac in a darkened room, enter-

ing Pornlandia, doing his thing and then throwing a tissue into a wastebasket. (He uses the exact same sound effect of adding a file to your trash on a Mac. It’s amazing I don’t now think of masturbating movie stars every time I clear out my electronic debris.)

It’s clear that this directorial choice is meant to highlight the intensity of his character’s addiction, yet it’s tiring to watch after about the fifth take of the same onanistic routine. The first rule of satire is exaggeration, yet as a director, JGL has a tendency to take the cartoonish nature of his characters too far. In any story, an element of plausible nuance is a necessity.

One of the greatest problems I had with Don Jon, after all, was with its female characters. Scarlett Johansson is perfectly cast as Barbara Sugarman, the gum-chewing bombshell who tries to change Jon’s ways, though it turns out she has her own media addiction: romantic comedies. Basing her expectations of the Perfect Boyfriend on the gospel of chick flicks, she thrusts a hefty set of standards onto Jon. I could sympathize with both characters and their inability to understand each other without the crutch of their respective media narratives, but it seemed that JGL allowed his audience to be far less forgiving of Barbara for her weakness than of Jon for his own.

This problem escalates with the arrival of deux ex machina Esther (Julianne Moore), a breezy,

Jesus bought front row seats to Don Jon’s gun show.

iMdb

middle-aged woman clearly meant to teach Jon about the value of intimacy in relationships.

Her role is a little too hastily heightened at the very end of the film, though, making it seem like JGL just needed a way to neatly wrap up his coming-of-age story.

Something about the couple’s interactions feels a little too pol-

ished and convenient, not the messy stuff of real human evolution and relationships.

In spite of these noteworthy shortcomings, Don Jon boasts fantastic comedic timing and remarkable insight into the ways in which love and sex are shaped by consumer culture and media overload. It’s unabash-

A caffeinated Turkish delight

I will never forget the first time I drank Turkish coffee.

It was my eighteenth birthday, and that very morning I arrived in southern Turkey, where I was handed off to a Turkish family who would be my family for the next 10 months. They spoke no English, I spoke no Turkish, and, as we zoomed away from the airport in a tiny blue car, dust flying, sun pounding, my heart raced as I thought, “What the hell am I doing here?”

The very first stop we made, about ten minutes from the airport, was at the home of a friend of my host family. I was sat down on a chair in a swelteringly hot living room and asked by the family friend, who spoke a bit of English, “Turkish coffee?”

That sounded like the absolute worst thing possible at the moment. It was hot, I was dehydrated, I didn’t even like American coffee. So I used my one Turkish word, the most useful word I have ever learned, to reply to him with a smile, “Tamam”—“Okay.”

This marked the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

So what exactly is Turkish coffee? And how is it made?

The answer was revealed to me quite slowly, and by drinking many cups of it in the process.

Turkish coffee is created from a very finely ground, high quality Arabica beans. The way they are roasted and ground is a mystery to me, and to many, since each coffee grinder has his own special method.

I did learn about the complex process of brewing the coffee, however. In Turkey, coffee is commonly made whenever guests come over.

My host mother, Yasemin, taught me to make coffee within my first few months

there in order to show off to the guests, “Look at our foreigner girl make coffee!”

Yasemin taught me the proportions, imprecise by American standards: one rounded scoop of ground coffee, one fincan (small coffee cup) full of water, and a heaping spoonful of sugar for each person. All of those ingredients would be poured into cezve (a small, copper pot with a long handle), stirred together, then placed on the stove. I would let the coffee boil once, then I would pour off the foam that developed on the top, dividing it equally between the coffee cups. Then

Plate of the Union

by Rebecca Barr & Colleen Wood a bi-weekly food column I would put the coffee back on the stove and let it boil again, before doling it out to fill up the cups the rest of the way. It was very important, Yasemin told me, to make sure that the foam covered the entire top of the cup. The more foam, the better, and the more the guests would be impressed.

Of course, making coffee was a nerve-wracking experience at first. I wanted to impress the guests and reflect favorably upon Yasemin, my host family, and my own dedication to learning the art of coffee making. My first few cups never had enough foam and always looked rather amateur compared to Yasemin’s. Yet over my year abroad, I slowly improved.

By the time I was preparing to leave, not only was I making Turkish coffee like a champ, but I was also enjoying the experience of making it—a soothing one that inspired a feeling of belonging to my host family and my community.

edly shameless, and I’ve seen nothing else that so confidently satirizes such a prevalent problem in an age when we’re more likely to look at screens than faces. This is a comedy of guilty pleasures that’s aware of its own status as a guilty pleasure, and it’s that rare consciousness that sets it apart.

When I came back to the States, Yasemin sent me with a cezve and several packets of the best Turkish coffee grounds. I made the coffee for my family back in Alabama, and I made it for my new friends in Harbin’s common room. I loved making Turkish coffee; I loved drinking it; and most of all, I loved sharing it.

On my 21st birthday, I found myself back in Turkey.

Three years later, I was sitting in a tiny café in the enchanting area around the Chora Church in Istanbul. I had a cup of Turkish coffee in my hands, but this time I took part in a new ritual with the coffee—reading the grounds on the bottom of the cup.

In the style of Professor Trelawney, after a cup of Turkish coffee is drank, you can turn the cup over in its saucer, let it cool down, and then read your fortune based on the patterns left over. That day, I enjoyed making up elaborate and ridiculous fortunes based on my friends’ cups. Yet the art of reading coffee grounds is a special one, and I was determined to actually learn the skills involved with reading them at some point in my life.

Well, that time has come. I spent this Sunday training to read Turkish coffee grounds so I could volunteer at the Turkish Festival on Sept. 29.

Surrounded by a group of men and women with ageold knowledge, I soaked up the true art of fortune telling.

Even if you think prophecies only come true in Harry Potter, come visit me at the Turkish Festival this weekend. I see coffee in your future.

Sept. 29, 2013 11am-7pm Pennsylvania Ave. NW turkishfestival.org Ask Rebecca and Collen out for some coffee at rbarr@georgetownvoice. com and cwood@georgetownvoice.

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 11

“There’s a leek in the boat!” — Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Intimate new bar snuggles up to U St. Reviews, Haiku’d

by Rianna Folds

As a general rule, it’s a good idea to avoid dark, isolated basements. But despite its location underneath the pan-Asian restaurant Doi Moi in an alley just off U St., 2 Birds 1 Stone is not exactly dark and full of terrors.

On the contrary, 2 Birds surrounds you like a chic Anthropologie sweater, ornamented with birds and rustic charm. My friend and I were warmly welcomed by the server and were invited to sit at the main bar or at one of several booths and alcoves.

We were soon provided with a cocktail menu hand-drawn by Adam Bernbach, bar manager at Proof and Estadio and the mastermind behind 2 Birds. The cocktails rotate weekly but always include house-made juices.

A punch du jour that changes daily provides regulars with a chance to try something new.

Monday’s punch combined house made apple cider, bourbon, and bitters to complement the crisp change of season.

I followed up my punch du jour with a Gin Daisy, a combination of gin, lemon, and grenadine. Sweetly pink, the well-crafted drink was by far the best gin cocktail I’ve had.

Interested in trying a non-alcoholic beverage, my friend selected the homemade ginger beer. The drink was cut with sparkling water but still had quite a kick.

Quality mixed drinks are the focus of 2 Birds, but unfortunately the portions are small for the prices. I spent $25 (including tip) on two drinks, so this bar isn’t the best fit for price-conscious students.

Starting next week, 2 Birds will begin serving small plates from the kitchen it shares with Doi Moi. The bar is still trying to find its niche as it adjusts its menu and hours, which are usually from 5:30 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. on weekends.

2birds1stonedc

Go home birds, you’re drunk. Remember kids, don’t drink and fly.

Word has spread fast about this little alleyway bar, and for the past few weekends there have been wait times of almost an hour. Patrons are invited to sit in Doi Moi until called to enter, which will be convenient in the upcoming winter months. While not selective about entrance, 2 Birds simply wants to limit the number of guests to around 60 to keep the space comfortable.

Though sparsely populated on a Monday night, the bar’s clientele was comprised mostly of young professionals looking to relax after work. Not as hectic as most happy hour hot spots, 2 Birds is perfect for intimate conversation. Each booth and alcove is private enough for a discreet romantic encounter, but the whimsically erotic bathroom wallpaper could suffice if you come alone.

Pairs of birds alight on almost every surface, including the blue mural that provides the only splash of color. Whitewashed walls meander around the alcoves and booths, adding a farmhouse feel to the dimly lit bar.

2 Birds 1 Stone is still not a basement you want to enter alone, because it’s all about sharing excellent drinks and conversation with friends. When walking through the alley and downstairs into this bar, you should only fear that the drinks will empty your wallet.

Gravity So many questions Clooney & Bullock Oscar bait Houston, this is weird.

Rush Sexy Chris Hemsworth!

Some traumatic crash occurs, Chris is still sexy.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Questionable food Like what they serve in Leo’s Sponsor? Aramark!

Baggage Claim Challenge for hot girl: Find a man before wedding.

Found him, typical...

Enough Said Fat guy deserves love.

Give him love and massages.

Give me the popcorn.

Blue Caprice Trained as a killer Taught to kill without remorse Not for faint of heart.

—Emmy Buck, Rianna Folds, and Joshua Ward

D.C. Fashion Week struts its stuff down the National Mall

by Nicole Kuhn Perhaps not quite up to the standards of the holy quartet of cities who host what is informally known as fashion month (New York, London, Milan, and Paris), D.C. is doing everything in its efforts to establish a noteworthy fashion week of its own.

D.C. Fashion Week is now in its 10th year, and its 225,000th (or so) social media follower, as executive director and founder Ean Williams was eager to share at the Kickoff Reception and Eco Fashion Show on Monday.

The Eco Fashion show hosted around 250 eclectic audience members at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Penn Quarter, as well as the four featured eco-friendly labels on show: Project Blue Wrap, Red Zipper, Simply L3ve, and Isagus Extroversions.

“Going green” is typically a term that makes fashion editors tremble as sustainable fabrics and a primary focus on ‘eco-friendly’ techniques don’t typically lend themselves to the most wearable or stylish clothing.

Simply L3ve came closest to creating apparel that a normal person might actually consider buying, with its Delpozo-meetsChristopher-Kane vibe mixed in with the accessibility and simplicity of Loft. They took great effort to make sure their dresses didn’t look like they had been made out of trash bags, while one such trash bag-laden look was actually shown by another designer.

Nevertheless, some quirky touches, atypical to the more prominent fashion weeks, ended up being highlights of D.C.’s show. Models of all races and sizes were featured (a perennial hot topic in the fashion

industry), and one designer even walked the end of her show instead of taking the traditional curt bow.

Participating designers are diverse. Emerging designer April Mehraban, who shows Saturday, Sept. 28, described her design aesthetic. “I love vintage inspired clothing that I add a modern twist to.

Sultry fabrics and couture finishes complete the looks,” she said.

Meanwhile, another emerging designer Kenneth Wells Jr. of Underground Market Clothing Company draws inspiration from the ups and downs of his life: “Over the past 10 months I’ve lost a close family member, a job, have been homeless living out of a truck … all while building the brand and designs,” he said.

“I take that energy and allow clothes to be my canvas to express my emotions and state of mind. In hopes to inspire and motivate, not only myself, but others to keep go-

ing, and keep fighting in their pursuit for happiness.”

This fashion week will run until Sept. 29 when its 19th International Couture Collections show will present. Until then, there are set to be parties, emerging designer showcases, and international shows. And, unlike Mercedes Benz Fashion Week

and the like, tickets for these shows can be purchased online, rejecting the exclusivity factor typically associated with the fashion industry.

In any case, if Ean Williams has anything to do with it, D.C. Fashion Week is sure to continue running, and hopefully growing, for years to come.

dc fashion week

There’s more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking.

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

september 26, 2013

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

Chrvches, The Bones of What You Believe, Glassnote Records A tumultuous lovers’ quarrel is not often told in such beautiful, cheerful tones. On their first fulllength release, The Bones of What You Believe, Chvrches delivers the enthralling narrative of a failing relationship, dragging the listener through pain and loathing with a charming, electro-pop sound.

When the punchy drum line hits beneath the initial glistening chord on “The Mother We Share,” the Scottish trio has their listeners hooked. This foot-tapping start is quickly elevated by Lauren Mayberry’s poppy vocals, which prove to be the alluring thread that ties the album together. Coupled with upbeat instrumentals, Mayberry dives right into her story of heartbreak and abandon-

ment, describing the despair her relationship has caused.

Mayberry’s pain turns to anger in the vengeful lyrics delivered in the otherwise lighthearted synthpop tune “Gun.” This aggression contradicts the youthful vocals and the track’s thumping synthesized accompaniment. “I’ll be a gun and it’s you I’ll come for,” she threatens.

The dissonance between the poppy, Cindy Lauper-influenced vocals and the heavy lyrics hinders the sincerity of the story being developed. Chvrches have sugarcoated the gloomy emotion of their songs, turning each one into an energetic jam. This, while high in entertainment value, distracts listeners from the lyrical plot.

“Under the Table” introduces Iain Cook’s vocals, which offer the contrasting perspective on the turbulent romance. This unexciting filler is eventually tossed aside by the invigorating track, “Recover.” Mayberry’s lively voice and the trotting synth are more fitting in this hopeful song, in which Cook’s character is offered another chance to fix the relationship.

This lyrical tone doesn’t last long, however, as the lovers’ tale falls back into sadness. Both voices weigh in on their failing relationship atop similarly peppy tunes. The album

Reel guns aren’t real guns

Following the Sandy Hook massacre, the NRA blamed the frequency of mass shootings in the United States on a culture of violence incubated by games like Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat and movies like American Psycho and Natural Born Killers. Guns don’t kill people, the combination of violent media and a flawed mental health system do.

Last week the Navy Yard shooting was promptly followed by the release of Grand Theft Auto V, an eerie chain of events that brought media’s responsibility for mass shootings back into question. And, unfortunately for violent media, investigators discovered that Aaron Alexis was obsessed with graphic video games, binging on Call of Duty for periods of up to 16 hours at a time. By blurring the line between reality and fantasy, did this violent game inspire Alexis’s rampage? Yes it did—but it is in

no way responsible for the actions of this lunatic.

Violence in media has always been a hot issue, and much of the modern debate was instigated by 1971’s A Clockwork Orange. The movie’s graphic depictions of rape and its sadistic characters were accused of inspiring copycat crimes, leading many to categorize this piece of cinema as anarchic propaganda. Fast forward to 1999.

The Columbine shooters’ actions had obvious resemblances to The Matrix (the trenchcoat uniforms being the most visible similarity), and the pair was also infatuated with the video game Doom. It’s not a stretch to say that these shooters were inspired by the media that surrounded them.

Still, the media itself cannot be held responsible for their actions.

The creators of these video games and films have never supported mass shootings, nor do they intend for their works to influence

comes to a close in “You Caught The Light,” a somber song with fittingly reflective instrumentals. Cook’s lethargic vocals complement the despairing feeling of loss in his lyrics.

Chvrches’ debut effort introduces a playful, 80s-tinged sound that offers an entertaining and easy listen. As their sound matures, it will undoubtedly concretize and lose its contradiction, making Chvrches a unique and welcome addition to the slew of new electro-pop artists.

Voice’s Choices: “The Mother We Share,” “Gun” —Joshua Ward

Touché Amoré, Is Survived By, Deathwish Inc. Touché Amoré’s Is Survived By is less an exercise in creating music than it is an emotional outpouring the horrific actions of the shooters. When creating a film or video game, artists expect their audience to understand the difference between fantasy and reality, and to keep their sick imaginations confined to the realm of fantasy.

But what happens when a piece of media is so sick and demented that anyone who plays it could become desensitized to the horrors it

reel talk

by John Sapunor a bi-weekly column about film depicts? Many people cite the torture-porn genre of movies like Saw and Hostel as potential muses for serial killers. Should these extreme examples, supposedly made for the sake of exposing audiences to new levels of gore, be placed into a separate category of films that should be held responsible for their audiences’ actions?

The most famous extreme example of these “demented” films

that happened to take place in a studio. The L.A. five-piece’s third full-length LP scours the depths of human experience and returns with a chilling tale of personal reflection in the face of total uncertainty. Is Survived By takes posthardcore’s emotional potency to its extreme.

On the album opener “Just Exist,” lyricist and vocalist Jeremy Bolm confesses that he often dismisses his mortality. He lacks the confidence to address his problems head-on, he knows it, and he shows it in strong lyrics.

Bolm’s intense vocal delivery sets him apart from other singers, even within the post-hardcore genre. His screams capture every ounce of his deepest feelings and they contrast sharply with the moments when he winds down the volume for slower, but just as earnest, lines.

On some tracks, the vocals prove chill-inducing. During the frenetic ending of “Harbor,” Bolm wails, “What I’m afraid of is what is certain and / What I’m sure of is that it’s on me / But I’m too tired to be that person / And that person needs to be set free.”

Is Survived By raises Touché Amoré’s musical style to a new, and games is JFK Reloaded, a controversial computer game that allowed its player to act the role of JFK’s assassin. Fringe games that appeal to a side of human nature that should not be tapped into might make the most ardent enemies of censorship rethink their stance. Still, these sadistic virtual worlds should bear no responsibility for the actions of their players.

While it is difficult to defend these blatantly offensive games, the cost of not defending them is too great to risk ceding their critics’ points. If these games and films are deemed partially guilty for the atrocities their players commit, censorship will follow.

Once this censorship for the sake of security seeps into legislation, artists of all mediums would likely become subject to some sort of regulation. Imagine the MPAA restricting certain films from the general public. This cringe-inducing image warrants unfettered public access to even the most filthy, appalling media.

refined level. Whereas 2011’s Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me beat the listener over the head with its barrage of short, intense songs, Is Survived By paces itself much more deliberately.

Touché still has the same loud drums and clashing guitars as always, but this time slowed down segments with some brilliantly somber guitar work offset the chaos. “Non Fiction,” for example, starts with a long instrumental opening with quiet backing vocals that give way to a crashing finale.

In the closing and title track, Bolm and the rest of Touché Amoré bring it all together with a stirring ending. As the band breaks out of a vicious bridge, Bolm chants “This is survived by a love / This is survived by a cause,” wondering if he will ever leave a legacy when he is gone.

With an LP as compelling as Is Survived By, Touché Amoré’s legacy is secure. They should be survived by the next generation of inspired hardcore rockers.

Voice’s Choices: “Is Survived By,” “Harbor” —Ryan Greene Violent media is becoming more pervasive in our culture, and public access to it has never been easier. Yet the majority of people who obsess over Grand Theft Auto won’t end up taking to the street with a flamethrower—they know that their video game enjoyment is distinct from any enjoyment outside the virtual universe. It’s a sort of unwritten agreement between the game’s maker and the customer. For some reason, our country has a tendency to breed individuals who violate this agreement.

Once we begin constricting these make-believe worlds with censorship and accusations of complicity in these mass shootings, there is no knowing where the censorship will end. Yes, there are certainly people besides the shooters who should bear some of the responsibility for these mass shootings, but you won’t find their names in the credits for GTA V. Shoot John an email at jsapunor@georgetownvoice.com

georgetownvoice.com

page thirteen

the georgetown voice 13

— Dylan Cutler

voices

14 the georgetown voice

september 26, 2013

The long-anticipated case against a satellite campus

by Jim Myrtetus A friend recently referred me to a column published in the Voice on Sept. 19, entitled “The case for a satellite campus.” While the author may have merely been playing devil’s advocate, I felt that the article deserved a response. I don’t intend to elaborate on every argument against a satellite campus, nor do I intend to respond to every point made in “The case for a satellite campus.” Instead, I hope to address some of my concerns regarding a satellite campus that I have not seen discussed anywhere else.

To begin, the administration has attempted to frame the satellite campus as a last resort, a decision forced upon them due to constraints outlined in the 2010 Campus Plan. However, it is important to remember that these constraints were self-imposed. The only reason that the University is being “forced” to consider a satellite campus is because they agreed

to the deadline in the Campus Plan in the first place.

While it should come as no surprise at this point, the Campus Plan was signed without any significant student input.

As a reminder, the Campus Plan that the University agreed to also imposed a voluntary enrollment cap for the first time in Georgetown’s history; established that the townhouses on 36th street will become faculty and staff housing; and, by fall of 2015, 385 beds will be added to campus.

With all of this in mind, I find it outrageous that the administration is suddenly finding itself crunched for time.

For a plan that was originally submitted over two and a half years ago, the sudden urgency behind the satellite campus option suggests poor planning and execution on the part of the administration. Students should not be punished for the administration’s shortcomings.

It is also worth taking a closer look at the University’s

feeble attempts at marketing the satellite campus as a novel opportunity to live in another part of the D.C. Metro area while still attending Georgetown. This option is not novel because this option already exists—if a Georgetown student wanted to live in Capitol Hill, Rosslyn, or Clarendon, there is nothing preventing them from doing so. In fact, students could live in these neighborhoods for less than the price of Georgetown’s room and board.

The overwhelming majority of undergraduate students live on or around campus because we want to be on the Hilltop, not because we have to be. The administration would be remiss to think that students will suddenly migrate to Capitol Hill for a “novel” experience already available to them. Indeed, if the University couldn’t afford more expensive options closer to the Hilltop, I cannot imagine the state of the new dormitories. If renovating the

Leavey hotel was deemed too expensive, what does that suggest about the quality of the satellite dormitories?

Furthermore, the University is claiming that living on these satellite campuses would be voluntary and that the solution would be temporary. Allow me to address the administration directly: I don’t believe you. If you are serious, put it in writing, and to be clear, verbal statements to the Voice and The Hoya are not acceptable. It is entirely possible that at least some members of the administration are sincere, but, as the future residents of these satellite dormitories, the students of Georgetown deserve a written, legal guarantee that we will never be forced to live on a satellite campus.

A satellite campus also establishes a terrible precedent.

We have no reason to believe, as the administration has suggested, that the satellite campus would be “temporary.”

Unnecessary red tape and

bureaucracy run rampant at Georgetown, and if the satellite campus satisfies the current Campus Plan, it is not unreasonable to imagine that the administration would begin pursuing this option more aggressively with each successive Campus Plan.

These are only a few of my many issues with the satellite dormitory option. I am tremendously disappointed in the administration for continuing in the face of such strong opposition from students with so many other options available. I feel the Homecoming Committee captured the essence of the debate well with their slogan: “All Roads Lead to the Hilltop.” Not to Rosslyn. Not to Capitol Hill. And not to Clarendon.

Jim Myrtetus is a senior in the MSB. He could easily say Saxa Politica is his favorite column. He awaits each new article like a crazed Ke$ha fan.

Enemies of SNAP misunderstand program completely

by Tia Baheri Recently, a partisan passage of a bill merited a veto threat from the White House. I’m not talking about the House Republicans’ valiant 41st attempt to repeal Obamacare.

I’m talking about the bill that the Obamacare repeal vote has overshadowed: the passage of the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, which will cut $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next few years, despite what its misleading title might suggest.

At my congressional internship this summer, I was charged with a particularly cruel and unusual task: I had to be nice to everyone who

called about this bill. I had to be nice to the constituents who called the office, even when they were wrong. Day after day, I picked up the phone and listened to various complaints, sometimes heartfelt and sincere, other times furious and ill-informed.

“Don’t engage! They want you to engage so they can be mad at you,” was the advice I received. I gritted my teeth and nodded along to the people telling me that we had to get rid of SNAP because it is an awful welfare program that lets lazy people buy cigarettes and alcohol off of the taxpayers’ dime. To the contrary, SNAP is not a welfare program, and it doesn’t cover the sale of cigarettes and alcohol.

What’s worse, even people

CHRISTINA LIBRE

The Republican Elephant: “It just tastes so much better when it’s mine.”

who were “on my side” had no idea whether it was effective.

For the most part, callers repeated talking points without really knowing or caring what the legislation that they loved or hated did.

So many people misunderstand SNAP. Here’s the truth: The Republican vote to prevent “able-bodied adults” from receiving SNAP relies on the obsolete notion considering that 87 percent of SNAP recipients are households with a child, a senior, or a disabled person.

The “able-bodied adults” without dependents, who, according to Speaker John Boehner, should really be working, make up less than 10 percent of SNAP recipients.

Moreover, if they are eligible for SNAP, that either means they are working and unable to generate enough income or they are unemployed. The implication here is that if you are theoretically able to work but still cannot support yourself, it’s okay if you go hungry. The Republicans who voted for the bill are saying that if you cannot find a job in three months, maybe you deserve to stay poor and hungry.

As for the allegations of “waste, fraud, and abuse,” Boehner might be happy to know that less than three percent of benefits go to ineligible households. This is a

strong record of efficiency. In fact, despite the stereotype of bumbling and inefficient government programs, SNAP contains one of the most rigorous and effective quality control systems of any public program.

Furthermore, SNAP actually helps the economy: every $5 in SNAP benefits generates $9 of economic activity.

But, this debate is not simply a matter of two sides arguing about facts and figures. The ongoing conflict over the Farm Bill points toward a bigger ideological rift. One side is saying that cutting SNAP will hurt people who are already going hungry. The other side wants to cut it drastically to save the taxpayers money without even pretending to care how it will affect those who have not felt any economic recovery yet.

When did “helping” become a dirty word? We shouldn’t have to justify helping those who are going hungry during a slow economic recovery or apologize for a public assistance program doing exactly what it is supposed to do. We keep justifying food aid by reiterating that the majority of the aid is going to children, that the expansion of the program will stop with an upward swing in the economy, and that it is all a temporary measure. That argument works, but SNAP is helping millions

of Americans who would otherwise go hungry. It could be helping more Americans who are still going hungry, which should be enough of a justification in itself.

Meanwhile, continued cuts in the defense budget are drawing worried commentary from all over the political spectrum, even though our defense budget is still larger than any other country’s in the world. At some point, spending on new drone technology became patriotic and spending money on food for people in need became wasteful. Questioning defense spending became an unspeakable crime, and wanting to continue funding a program that helps 48 million Americans and lifts four million of them above the poverty line became something we need to apologize for.

I propose here that we stop apologizing and using talking points that lead to nowhere.

Stop being ashamed of public policy that actually works and start demanding that it does more. If we can’t even educate ourselves on the realities of SNAP, then maybe we’re the lazy ones.

Tia Baheri is a sophomore in the SFS. She was fired from her internship within the first week. She’s really mad about it.

voices

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice

15

Terror rhetoric a toxic trend in American civilization

by Shalina Chatlani Looking out upon a sea of anxious faces, Nina Davuluri, standing hand-in-hand with her opponent, learned that she would become the first Indian-American woman to ever win the Miss America pageant.

With the announcement of “Miss New York,” and a roar from the crowd, a shiny tiara was placed atop Miss Davuluri’s head in a victory for multiculturalism—an outcome that she had desperately hoped for, but that angry Twitter users would not put up with.

Minutes after her triumph, Twitter exploded with several

hundred racist comments. Among them were “Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11,” by one particularly astute user named Mr. CHEEZIT, while another insightful user tweeted, “Miss America, footlong buffalo chicken on whole wheat.

Please and thank you.”

Although none of these comments are acceptable, they also aren’t surprising. As a woman of Indian descent who has lived in the Deep South for most of my life, I have learned two things: first, that fried green tomatoes are the most delicious version of a vegetable and, second, that structural racism will always exist. That isn’t to say

LEILA LEBRETON

Let’s be honest, a beauty queen is more interesting than a weird white guy.

Teach regulation, not robbery

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley have become modern-day robber barons. This term originated in the late 19th century to describe businessmen who accumulated wealth through exploitative practices. They controlled national resources, exerted significant influence over the government, and kept wages low.

Although financial institutions are not necessarily contributing to today’s stagnating wages, they certainly have an outsized influence on the government.

Since 1999, these financial service corporations have been expanding into different commodity markets and driving up prices on essential raw materials.

For example, in July The New York Times reported that Goldman Sachs is making millions off aluminum by artificially lengthening storage times. According to market rules, alumi-

num warehouses must move at least 3,000 tons out a day. To get around this rule, Metro International, the company Goldman Sachs owns, moves its aluminum from one warehouse to another. Wait times have gone from six weeks to 16 months, and the production cost of 1,000 cans of soda has increased by $2.

Of course, that cost gets passed on to consumers, who industry executives and analysts estimate have spent $5 billion over usual market prices in the last three years due to the increase. The same article touched on JPMorgan’s expansion into the copper market, which has been strongly opposed by a consortium of copper users.

Wall Street has also made a market out of ethanol credits.

The ethanol credit program began eight years ago and required refiners to mix ethanol into gasoline or buy ethanol credits.

Let the Voice be your voice. We accept opinions, letters to the editor, personal experiences, and creative writing that are exclusive to the Voice. Submissions do not express the opinion of the board of the Voice. The Voice reserves the right to edit submissions for accuracy, length, and clarity. To submit, email voices@georgetownvoice. com or come to the Voice office in Leavey 424.

Opinions expressed in the Voices section do not necessarily reflect the views of the General Board of the Voice.

we shouldn’t work toward a world of racial equity, but that these comments are predictable.

What shocked and angered me, however, were Twitter comments like these: “Miss America right now or miss Al Qaeda,” by Shannon McCann, “More like Miss Terrorist” by Not Miss America, and the most unreasonable, “9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?” by one sadly misinformed Twitter user.

In addition to showcasing Americans’ enduring racist attitudes, the reaction to the Miss America pageant exposes a dangerous rhetoric of terror talk. This rhetoric fuels an unreasonable stigma toward international terrorism, classifies the “Arab” as a real threat, and a displays the persistent xenophobic attitude of American culture.

Nina Davuluri is not an Arab, and, even if she were, comments implying she is a terrorist could never be justifiable. She was born in New York and went to the University of Michigan—she is an American. Although it might be tempting to believe that her cultural origin points to a different conclusion, a quick Google search could prevent this onslaught of racist tweets.

The ease with which people use the term “terrorist” shows that

Because demand for gasoline is declining, the blending quotas for refiners are exceeding the amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline, and refiners are forced to buy credits.

Financial institutions such as JPMorgan bought up millions of credits and caused the price to rise from $0.07 in January to $1.43 in July. They are now trading at $0.60. The Environmental Protection Agency, which manages the market, has no disclosure requirements. When the program was created the government dismissed fears of Wall Street capi-

Carrying On

by Matthew Weinmann A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

talizing on an opaque market.

Again these costs are passed on to consumers at the pump.

It is debatable if banks should be allowed to own companies dealing with commodities. In the wake of the Great Depression, laws were passed specifically prohibiting banks from owning companies that deal in commodities in order to protect consumers. In 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act removed these restrictions and let today’s financial giants form. Af-

many Americans don’t understand the reality of modern terrorism.

Such terror talk only assists militant groups, which maintain their power by promoting a message of conflict between Islam and the West. When we indict anyone who may be perceived as a foreigner and use rhetoric that demeans the actual meaning of terrorism, we grant terrorist groups the source of their power—an unreasonable hatred toward the “others.”

Sept. 11, 2001 was a tragic day in American history that will always exist in our collective memory. But, it was also the point at which the U.S. government radically changed and improved its homeland security and counterterror efforts. Since 2005, international terrorism directed at the United States has dramatically decreased, reaching its lowest point in 2009, and continues to maintain similarly low levels.

Multiple recent incidents, however, point to the higher probability of homegrown, domestic terrorism. In Aug. 2012, Wade Michael Page, a white man and army veteran, entered a Wisconsin Sikh Temple and killed six people. In 2008, an American truck driver, Jim Adkisson, opened fire at a Unitar-

ter the Great Recession, the risks posed by combining investment and commercial banks with insurance companies are obvious.

But in this era of financial deregulation, even non-financial regulations can have financial impact. The ethanol credit program highlights the problem of unintended consequences.

Perhaps if the EPA regulators had developed stronger protections against financial speculation, the cost of credits would not have increased 20-fold in six months. When financial industries are allowed to incorporate themselves in virtually any market, regulators need to consider the consequences. But writing financial regulations into environmental regulation is not what the EPA is meant to do or even knows how to do.

A review of the Georgetown course catalog reveals that there is not a single course dedicated to regulation, either its theory or its application. Of course, regulation is a rather specialized field of law, but it would make sense to cover the fundamentals of regulation and how to prevent financial corporations from getting around it for those going into the industry.

Georgetown does offer a Master’s-level accounting

ian church and killed two people.

In 2010, Andrew Stack, yet another Caucasian man, crashed his personal plane into an IRS office in Texas.

These are just a few of the many instances of homegrown terrorism that haven’t involved jihadist groups or foreigners, which isn’t even to mention recent shootings at Sandy Hook, Newtown, Virginia Tech, and the Washington Navy Yard. Meanwhile, in 2012, there were only nine terrorist plots involving American Muslims.

Take it from someone who has been called a terrorist before—it’s not fun. Our rhetoric plays a role in combating this fear, and we can start by thinking twice before calling someone who looks foreign a terrorist. I think Stephen Colbert characterized our tendency to resort to terror talk well when he said “That’s right. Seven hundred and five people saw a woman in a bikini and thought: Muslim Extremist.”

Shalina Chatlani is a freshman in the SFS. She hates “the Twitter,” frequents local nursing homes, and loves early-bird specials. course, ACCT-565, on tax strategies for firms to maximize benefit and minimize risk for shareholders. The only course that comes close to what is needed is GOVT-437, Economics Morality and Law: Justice in a Global Order, which according to its syllabus “explores the moral values underlying economic activity.”

Regulation, especially financial regulation, is not a topic that would interest most students. But it is a sign of the economic order when, rather than having classes teaching students how to regulate an industry, there are classes about maximizing a firm’s profits in a given tax structure. Even two or three classes offering the opportunity for exposure to the ideas behind regulation would be a huge benefit not only for future policy makers, but for anyone who wants to be an informed voter.

Until the financial firewalls of the Glass-Steagall Act are restored and banks are just banks and not players in every market from oil to cotton, students interested in working in and bettering the industry need to be able to learn how to prevent financial institutions from gaming the system for their own benefit.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

So what’s your art?

I’m a drummer and I’m currently learning to play string instruments, since I own a few guitars and a bass. I’m also getting into producing through my major.

How are you involved here?

My friends and I started a punk band called Dagos, and we do all originals. I’m the co-president and drummer for Georgetown Cabaret, which is a popular cover band. I’m also the co-president and founder of GU Jam Sesh.

You started GU Jam Sesh!?

Yeah, a few of us were unimpresse unimpressed with the music scene here at Georgetown. It’s strong, but small. So we decided to do something about it. We pulled resources together and now we have a group of bands, a webpage, and we’re contacting new venues—here at Georgetown and local DC venues.

Sounds like you’re really involved in the music scene; where did it all start?

I started playing drums in the fifth grade playing blues-rock in a band. I got more involved throughout high school and then, coming to Georgetown, I was a Physics major but decided to go with my music.

How has Georgetown influenced your art?

Georgetown Cabaret was my first gig. It was fun playing rock, pop, and R&B standards, but I wanted something more. I was looking for a place to express my love for punk. So I started getting into the D.C. punk scene after I met Ian MacKaye here at Georgetown when he came to give a talk. I eventually formed a band with my friend Jon and his brother, we’ve been working on that ever since.

Can you tell me more about your band?

We’re called Dagos, which is a racial slur against Italians—we’re all Italian. It’s great having a space to develop our punk sounds.

What are your future goals ambitions in terms of your art?

We’re working on putting out an album and trying to break in the D.C. punk scene sometime this year. I want to focus on production as well.

My tentative plans are to stay here and see what I can do, but I plan to pursue music for the rest of my life.

College 2014 Music major Sociology minor Arts: Musician, Producer From Las Vegas, Nevada

Gianfranco Nuschese