The Georgetown Voice, February 3, 2017

VOICE The Georgetown

February 3, 2017

Uncovering D.C.’s Pop-Up Concert Scene p. 8

Recruiting Woes p. 10

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

staff editor-in-chief Graham Piro Managing editor Caitlyn Cobb

Volume 49 • Issue 10

news

executive editor Ryan miller Features editor Alex bOyd assistant features editor jonny amon news editor isaiah seibert assistant news editors Jake maher, margaret gach

culture

executive editor Brian Mcmahon Leisure editor caitlin mannering assistant leisure editors Gustav Honl-stuenkel, Devon O’Dwyer, ryan mazaltis Sports editor tyler pearre Assistant sports editor alex lewontin

“fight me” by Emma Francois and aicha nzie

contents

opinion

Editorials

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Carrying On: Feminism in the Age of Trump Sienna Brancato

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Civil Religion on Campus: A Potential Danger Devon Schmidt My Mother, a Trump Supporter Serena Vilasi Cutting Down Consumption Susana Gil del Real Sofar So Good: Uncovering D.C.’s Pop-Up Concert Scene Devon O’Dwyer

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Documenting Georgetown’s Hometown Recruiting Woes Nick Gavio

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Graduate Stduents Continue Push to Unionize Jake Maher

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Surviving the Scrum: 50 Years of Rugby on the Hilltop Alex Lewontin

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Executive editor kevin huggard voices editor emma Francois Assistant Voices editors kaei lI, rebecca zaritsky Editorial Board Chair chris dunn Editorial Board jon block, caitlyn cobb, kenneth lee, kevin Huggard, GRAHAM PIRO, PHillip Steuber, ryan miller

halftime

Leisure editor amy guay assistant leisure editors brynn furey, emily jaster, anne paglia Sports editor Jorge DeNeve Assistant sports editor parker houston

design

Executive editor alli kaufman Spread editor lindsay reilly Photo Editor Isabel lord assistant design editors jake glass, lizz pankova, jack townsend Staff Designers Rachel Corbally, Alexandra Falkner, Sam Lee, Cecilia li, Sarah martin, Aicha nzie, max thomas, rachel zeide

copy

copy chief Anna Gloor assistant Copy editors audrey bischoff, julia pinney editors Sienna Brancato, Jack Cashmere, Clara Cecil, Claire Goldberg, Isabel Lord, Isabel Paret, Greer Richey, Jack Townsend, Gabriella Wan

online

A Wonderful Reimagining Ryan Mazalatis

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podcast editor danielle hewitt assistant podcast editor nick gavio social media editor Claire Goldberg

Critical Voices Parker Houston and Dan Sheehan

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associate editors Mike Bergin, Jon block, lilah burke, michael coyne, cassidy jensen

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. 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. All materials copyright The Georgeton Voice, unless otherwise indicated.

support

Staff writers editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057

madelyn rice, Noah Telerski, Rebecca Zaritsky

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

READ MORE ON GEORGETOWNVOICE.COM NEWS

Maintenance Worker Alleges Racial Profiling By GUPD Chris Dunn reported on allegations of racial profiling made against the Georgetown University Police Department by a campus maintenance worker.

The Georgetown Voice

University Misses GU F.R.E.E.’S Disclosure Deadline Katya Schwenk wrote about the university’s failure to release its financial relations by the Jan. 13 disclosure deadline set by GU F.R.E.E. last semester.

Office of Student Financial Services

Podcasts

The Phone Booth: All Aboard The Disillusionment Train In the latest installment of our sports podcast series The Phone Booth, host Tyler Pearre brings on The Phone Booth’s first guest, Bobby Bancroft of Casual Hoya and an AP freelance writer, to discuss the Hoyas’ recent success. Pearre then speaks with staff writers Santul Nerkar and Beth Cunniff to examine Georgetown’s last few games.

Alli Kaufman

The 250: La La Land Check out The 250, a weekly podcast on which Voice staffers watch a movie from IMDb’s top 250 list and discuss their thoughts. This week’s host, Danielle Hewitt, sits down with Amy Guay, Caitlin Mannering, and Gustav Honl-Stuenkel to discuss the Oscar favorite La La Land.

IMDB

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

EDITORIALS

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Trump Administration Requires Active Resistance Last weekend, demonstrators filled airports across the U.S. to protest President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order banning refugees, immigrants, and non-citizens from select Middle Eastern countries from entering the U.S. On Sunday, outside the White House, protesters chanted “No Ban, No Wall,” in disagreement with both this ban and the proposed border wall with Mexico.

These protests came a week after over 2 million people participated in a global outbreak of women’s marches to show their dissatisfaction with the new administration.

As students at Georgetown, we have front row seats to these consequential political changes. Demonstrations, whether at the White House, the Capitol Building, or Dulles International, have dominated the news this week, and will continue to do so in the future. We students are in a unique position, one that not only allows us to watch history happen, but to participate in it.

This editorial board believes that the concerned students of Georgetown must go beyond passive expressions of indignation toward an activism that is truly active. It is essential that those members of the student body who are physically able show up to protests and make clear where they stand, decrying with their actions and with loud voices what they find unacceptable.

There is, of course, more than just marches and rallies. Real change requires sustainability, and our actions should not end after one particular protest or with one

particular issue. A faded protest sign tucked under one’s bed as a souvenir cannot be the only evidence of political action. Guides written by former Congressional staffers instructing citizens how best to reach their members of Congress have proliferated online, and local organizations where students can contribute to fight for racial justice, gender equality, and the protection of Muslims and immigrants abound. There are seasoned organizers who know how best to effectively target and pressure politicians, and students can bring their enthusiasm and numbers to bear by channeling their energy into existing organizations and campaigns.

As students, we have the time to give to political movements and the institutional means to make our voices heard. Georgetown prides itself on the wide variety of skills its students have. There are those among us who speak languages like Arabic and Farsi, who understand foreign policy, who write well, who strategize around government or business, and who know how to organize their friends for a common cause.

These are all useful and necessary. The challenges we face require passion, intelligence, and a willingness to work hard. That is exactly Georgetown students offer.

Those of us who are not directly impacted by new federal policies cannot wait until we fear for our own civil liberties. If you are not a Muslim, an immigrant, a refugee, or a member of another targeted group,

and feel you are safe now, you should use that safety to advocate for others. Our rights are connected to those of our fellow citizens, so showing solidarity with issues beyond your most deeply personal ones is essential. In the coming months, a number of progressive issues will come under attack, and this will need to be met with a broad, popular front of resistance from people from a number of movements.

We often hypothetically insert ourselves into consequential moments of history by asking, “If I were there, what would I have done?” This is one such moment. Many of us hope that we would have spoken out against the Chinese Exclusion Act, lobbied Congress to overturn the internment of Japanese-Americans, or marched for the civil rights of Black Americans.

Our challenges are no longer hypothetical, and we no longer have to imagine what life would be like in these consequential times. At Georgetown, we have a unique collection of talents and passions located a few bus stops from the centers of American power. Many students are sad, angry, or terrified about what is now happening in our political system. We need to act, and continue to work until we have seen the change we desire.To do anything less would be a waste of our opportunities as students here and a dereliction of our duties as Americans.

University Must Address Inequality On Jan. 18, 2017, The New York Times reported on a study by The Equality of Opportunity Project which ranked colleges by how many of their students come from families within the top 1 percent of the income scale versus how many students come from the bottom 60 percent. The study found that of all colleges in the United States, Georgetown had the 12th most top-heavy ratio of students from these two groups.

In the class of 2013, 20.8 percent of Georgetown students had household incomes in the top 1 percent (more than $630,000 annually) and only 13.5 percent of students had household incomes in the bottom 60 percent (less than $65,000 annually).

Georgetown’s ranking at number 12 puts the school below its academic competitors in terms of equality, with Notre Dame, Boston College, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and the Ivies all more equitable.

In light of this study, this editorial board believes that the university must make institutional changes in order to create a more economically diverse student body. Such a student body would better reflect the country as a whole and better fulfill the university’s core Jesuit values, which promise a strong education regardless of a student’s background.

No single change in Georgetown’s policy will realize this goal. Instead, working toward greater economic diversity will require a change in the tone and attitude of the admissions philosophy to one that prioritizes accepting students from a broad range of backgrounds, rather than focusing on admission statistics and rankings.

In 1989, President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J. first

created the school’s endowment. This means that, despite its 228 year history, Georgetown has only raised scholarship money for the past 30 years.

The university claims that one reason it has fewer low income students is because it has only recently dedicated itself to expanding the endowment, which is used to fund scholarships in place of student loans.

While Georgetown has shown a recent effort to increase financial aid for low-income students, fundraising for financial aid has come with continuous tuition increases. According to an email addressed to students from Provost Robert Groves, the university projects it will spend more than $180 million dollars in financial aid in the next year. However, this email, which came a day after the Times report, also announces that undergraduate tuition rates for the 2017-2018 school year will increase by 3.5 percent in addition to similar increases in room and board and meal plan costs.

Keeping to its full-need, need-blind commitment while still offering competitive academic programs and campus resources is not costless, and the university does work to help low-income students assimilate to campus life once here and ensure their success. Georgetown does have one of the highest graduation rates in the country, University spokesperson Rachel Pugh wrote in an email to the Voice.

The Times report, though, proves that despite of Georgetown’s commitment to meeting the full need of its accepted students, the university is still enrolling a disproportionately small number of low income students.

A large portion of the student body comes from elite college preparatory and Jesuit high schools.

These schools produce students that are prepared for Georgetown’s coursework and also prepared to pay its price, giving the university a high yield rate—the measure of what portion of accepted applicants choose to attend a school. Thus, recruiting at prep schools and Jesuit high schools is a priority for Georgetown Admissions.

The university must place greater value on the applications from students that come from lower-income families and schools as well as those that come from elite high schools. With targeted recruitment in such areas, Georgetown can increase the number of applicants from these backgrounds.

Additionally, the university charges an application fee of $75, and while Georgetown offers a waiver for this fee, the student must get their guidance counselor to submit an official NACAC Application Fee Waiver form—adding yet another step for low income students to Georgetown’s already unorthodox and complicated application process. This isn’t a necessity. The University of Chicago, for example, waives the $75 application fee for any student who plans to apply for financial aid.

These are just some things the university could do to make a Georgetown education more accessible to lower income students. There are a wide range of other policies that have been proposed that can and should be considered and discussed. Most of all, we demand transparency and a concerted effort by Georgetown to both acknowledge the problem and work towards creating a student body that is representative of all backgrounds.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

The End of Complacency Feminism in the Age of Trump

Carrying On: Voice Staffers Speak

isabel lord

Women and men of all ages and ethnic backgrounds wearing pink hats with pointed, ear-like appendages on either side carried signs emblazoned with clever slogans: “There is no Planet B,” “Grab ‘em by the patriarchy,” “Let’s talk about the elephant in the womb,” and “I’ve seen smarter cabinets at Ikea.”

Celebrities gave speeches. Marchers took to the streets. As the day progressed, the established route dissolved; there were simply too many people to be contained. Protesters flooded all avenues of the city, prompting many unforeseen road closures.

Chants echoed through the streets, the loudest and most vulgar in front of Trump International Hotel.

The Women’s March on Washington was a prominent, necessary outpouring of feminist ingenuity and unity within a historically fragmented movement. I wish that our current reality with Donald Trump as president wasn’t the case, but his election has given women and feminists the impetus to gather and protest, making our voices heard. I saw a sign that said something to the effect of “the feminist movement, back by popular demand.” The feminist movement hasn’t disappeared in recent years by any standard, but its necessity and influence in the 21st century has been questioned by many who assume women have already gained full equality. As was demonstrated clearly at the march, this is not the case. Trump’s election has lit the fire for a new wave of feminism.

Trump gives us a reason to fight for the changes that need to be made to our government and our culture. It’s my view that feminists had become a bit complacent and have now been challenged to fight and advocate more actively. We have no choice but to rise up and stand together. The longer Trump sits in office, the more horrifying the policy proposals he makes and the executive orders he signs. He embodies the culture of the white male inferiority complex, persistently threatened by any and all advances made by women. In response, he lashes out by demeaning and dehumanizing women, providing those who look to the president as an example with the permission to do the same.

If Hillary Clinton had been elected president, some positive changes would undoubtedly have been made, like fighting for paid family leave and attempting to close the wage gap. But a Clinton administration most likely wouldn’t have spurred feminists to advocate for necessary, radical change. Hillary

has consistently been more moderate and a believer in gradual progress. That might be the more realistic or practical approach, but big change is not often made without radical voices of protest and large demonstrations of unity.

I’ve heard claims that the protesters were all whining babies who simply need to accept reality and get over it. But it’s hard to “accept reality” when the reality we live in is one in which many fear for their personal livelihoods and safety. Besides, the protesters have accepted reality. That’s exactly why they’re outraged. People may have marched for different reasons, but the implication that the march was unstructured and without concrete political goals is plainly false.

Let me be clear—people were disrespectful. People were crude and irreverent. I saw more than a few explicit signs.

As a result, many politicians, political commentators, Trump supporters, and non-marchers alike continue to demand respect for the new president. The main lesson I got from the Women’s March was that respecting the office of the presidency shouldn’t necessarily imply any respect for the president himself. Trump has not yet done a single thing throughout his campaign and few short days in office that has compelled me to respect him.

We must not let the values he espouses define us as a nation even more than they seem to do already.

Despite the potential for a violent outbreak, the day transpired peacefully. An enormous group of impatient, frustrated, and motivated people interacted closely with the police without clashing. I saw multiple people thank officers for doing their jobs properly and helping to keep order.

However, if the march had worn a different face, would things have been different? The speakers who addressed the crowds could not have been more diverse, but the crowd itself was mostly white. Not a single person was arrested at any of the marches nationwide. Women of color, particularly black women, have long been stereotyped as angry or aggressive. If pictures of the march showed large groups of black women raising their voices in protest, would conservative political commentators and newscasters have called it a riot? Or would they still have referred to the marchers as a bunch of “snowflakes,” as has become the common term?

We have to confront the fact that 53 percent of white female voters cast their ballots for Trump. The feminist

movement has long had problems meeting at the intersection of gender and race. The speakers at the march successfully exemplified the power of diverse women, but the movement as a whole needs to embrace women from all backgrounds.

Technically, the march was open to all, but in reality, the predominant face displayed was that of white feminist allyship towards minority groups.

Over time, attending the march became the “in” thing to do. As it was popularized, celebrities signed on to speak, and commercial opportunities arose as thousands of women purchased and wore pink “cat” hats. It became cool to display “interest” in the event on Facebook or to take the perfect photo for your Instagram, accompanied by the perfect caption.

Social media publicity in activism isn’t all bad. Social media organization was a huge contributor to the march’s success.

The problem arises when people become more concerned with looking outraged than with actually being outraged, more focused on appearing to be an activist than on actually advocating.

This march was a huge step forward, but our main concern now is ensuring the initial wave of momentum will carry into the future. We must be active in our communities surrounding the issues we’re passionate about. We must work harder to draw minority voices into the conversation.

We must run for public office. We must keep in contact with our government representatives. Call them; they need to hear our voices as concrete proof of our objection to Trump’s proposals. And finally, we must continue making our dissent heard.

Complacency is our worst enemy right now. We can’t stand by and lament within our liberal echo chambers without actually taking steps to advocate for real change.

We must be persistent with our resistance, never allowing Trump and his administration to deny our clear outrage.

By Sienna Brancato She is a freshman in the College.

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

VOICES

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Civil Religion on Campus A Potential Danger Civil religion, as defined by sociologist Robert Bellah, is a set of common values and sacred symbols derived from national history that form a cohesive, quasi-religious faith within the United States. Americans accept this civil religion in accordance with certain fundamental values, beliefs, holidays, and symbols that are considered quintessentially American.

Bellah asserts that civil religion serves as a powerful force that fosters cultural integration, political legitimation, and social union. Examples of civil religious symbols entrenched in the American identity include the glorification of the military, the idolization of the founding fathers, and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. A lot of unity and good does arise from civil religion, but despite this, it also serves as a powerful (but often latent) force to ostracize, otherize, and otherwise push people to the margins of public discourse.

Although civil religion is most commonly discussed in the public sphere of American life and politics, it can be analyzed by examining Georgetown University. Georgetown is an overtly religious institution, making it more difficult to critique the values and identity that it purports to espouse.

If Georgetown were secular rather than religious, one would be hardpressed not to criticize the abundance of religious representations on campus. However, the values that the university does embody are divisive forces in the Georgetown community.

While Georgetown may be a Catholic university, it is not exclusively a university for Catholics; Catholicism is a dominant tenet in the Georgetown identity despite the fact that many students are not Catholic.

Georgetown’s version of civil religion mainly resides in its 228 year tradition of Jesuit values, Catholic intellectualism, and religious pluralism. This message is generally wellreceived and paves the way for positivity, especially with Georgetown’s commitment to producing students who are men and women for others, as well as the university’s desire to build a diverse community of various backgrounds, faiths, cultures, and traditions.

Despite Georgetown’s stated message of inclusion and pluralism, the university continually falls short due to its inability, or perhaps refusal, to deviate from core tradition. This tradition and its consequential values are seen to be quintessentially Georgetown, but maybe being quintessentially Georgetown isn’t always a good thing.

It is understood and often repeated that Georgetown University is a Catholic institution.

Students are reminded of this every time they go to class and see a crucifix hanging from the wall, walk past the graveyard planted firmly in the middle of campus, or pass a Jesuit priest adorned in his clerical shirt and collar. These Christian symbols exist on campus because of the traditions that shape the identity of the university. These traditions exist as a part of the civil religion of Georgetown itself. When overt religiosity is conflated with what it means to be a member of the Georgetown community, one can imply what it means to not embody the spirit of Georgetown. Bearing in mind that less than 50 percent of the student body adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, the university, by furthering public piety, is telling more than half of its students that their beliefs are not valued as highly as those of their Catholic peers.

Another problem indicative of Georgetown’s civil religion and Jesuit identity is its strict rejection of a woman’s right to choose. Nothing makes this as visible as the official recognition and funding of Vita Saxa (Georgetown’s pro-life student group), and the simultaneous lack of recognition for H*yas for Choice (Georgetown’s pro-choice student group). This value is furthered by the university in its explicit refusal to allow any officially recognized organization to distribute condoms or any type of birth control to students. During the spring semester, the university even sends out emails to the student body promoting a university-sponsored “Life Week.” The university creates a “fundamental identity” of what it means to be a Georgetown student around the religiously charged pro-life movement, thereby making prochoice students feel excluded, unsupported, and unvalued.

Nevertheless, there are core values of Georgetown’s civil religion that are not religiously motivated, such as the innate desire by Georgetown students to be involved in campus life.

There exists a social hierarchy in which a person is not truly considered to be successful if they’re not actively involved in at least two clubs and they don’t have an internship lined up after freshman year. The illusion of success is worshipped, and sacrifices of sleep and health are made at its altar. This holy spirit of involvement that is so important at Georgetown lends itself to a culture of stress and feelings of inferiority. Students who aren’t involved in the most prestigious clubs, don’t get the best grades, or aspire to be something other than CEO of J.P. Morgan fail to fit in among the lemmings of Georgetown.

While being involved is undeniably a good thing, Georgetown ought to create an atmosphere where a future career and current welfare are SAM LEE not mutually exclusive.

Civil religion is often cleverly shrouded in dog whistles and buzzwords such as “patriotism” and “faith.” Civil religion’s latent ubiquity makes it all the more important to recognize it and understand its potential for dangerous discourse. In a broad sense, civil religion is a set of shared values which forms an identity that lends itself to social cohesion and self-fulfillment, but there is usually a more sinister side to any good thing. And with the unifying nature of civil religion comes the ostracizing side effect of creating a limited national, or communal, identity. At Georgetown, this identity is often based on religious elements, but not always. Students are categorized by the traditional whims of the institution and the aspirations of an overly ambitious student body. Oftentimes in the scramble to legitimize our own beliefs, we leave behind those that might challenge us to do better and to be better.

By Devon Schmidt He is a sophomore in the SFS.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

The 2016 election cycle forced me to come to terms with a dimension of my mom’s character that I did not know existed before, and that I did not want to confront. Discussing politics with my mom was never pleasant, but recent events heightened the stakes of our discussions. We spoke with the fervor and frustration that only rears its ugly head during an election cycle. The polarization that plagues American society infected my relationship with my mom. I could not believe the words that fell from her mouth, taking root and festering in the deepest parts of my heart.

Hearing the woman who taught me everything I know about kindness, respect, and dignity for self and others defend a candidate who seemingly disregards all common deference for these values alienated me from her. The woman who told me, above all else, to honor myself and my fellow human beings justified vile, misogynistic rhetoric with the halfhearted buzzword “locker-room talk.” As I attempted to express the way Donald Trump’s words slashed my confidence and sense of self-worth, I was met not with the response of my mother, but with the response of someone attempting to defend their candidate against criticism. As I sought in vain the comfort of my mother, I contemplated what this man’s words meant for women everywhere. I felt a profound and hopeless sense of conflicting interests within her.

To comfort me would be to vilify her candidate, and to vilify her candidate would make her election decision dishonorable. Why should this man, who holds the most powerful office in the world, be granted justification for ignorance she would never excuse were it to spew from anyone else’s mouth?

The same friends who had sat at my mother’s dinner table called me, terrified, at an election result to which she had contributed. As I attempted to do damage control, I was torn between an overwhelming anger toward the voters who caused their pain and the difficult reality that my mother played a role. I was torn between two troubling, contrasting images of the same woman. I was torn between my mother: source of wisdom, compassion, and inspiration; and my mother: Trump supporter and excuser of ignorance.

These election results make me feel like I, and the rest of the American people, are on a terrifying amusement park ride we desperately want to end. Despite our pleas, the ride

commences. Our anxiety builds, and we begin the slow crawl up the steep slope that takes us to Inauguration Day. All that is left now is a huge, terrifying fall.

In the wake of the inauguration, I mourn for the America I thought I knew. I mourn for the future that does not seem to belong to me anymore. I mourn because it was my mother trying in vain to justify everything that transpired.

Yet, this conflict is not just my narrative. Today, America is more polarized politically than it has been for years. The undertones of this polarization are laced with a reinvigorated hatred that is thinly veiled under a guise of national protection and making America “great” again. The protests, hyper-vigilance towards Trump’s actions, and camaraderie among his opponents have heartened me. History has proven that America cannot stand divided, and neither can my home. In the throes of a new age of anxiety, we must find unity and strength.

We must unstrap ourselves before we reach the huge, terrifying fall, and do what we can to soften the blow. Participating in protests, making our voices heard, and standing up for ideals we believe in will help us do this. I must come to terms with the fact my mom and I don’t agree on politics, just as thousands of Americans must do with the people in their lives who hold different beliefs.

After discussing in depth with my mom, I’ve come to terms with the fact that her “bottom line” differs from mine. While I believe the best candidate is the individual who plays to the American public’s more compassionate, noble penchants, my mom believes in a candidate who is more radical and unforgiving. My mom wants to see change within our country, just as I do, but in a different way. In voting, she made her voice heard. It may not be the voice I was expecting, but she acted in a way she believes will better our country.

By Serena Vilasi She is a freshman in the College.

Doing Our Part in Trying Times Cutting Down Consumption

This year, my New Year’s resolution was to not buy a single bottle of water all year. I’ve broken it already (isn’t that what New Year’s resolutions are for anyways?), and I have no doubt that I’ll break it again and again as the year progresses. But no matter what, I won’t give up on it. I feel like it’s a good sacrifice that I’m making. I mean, technically all other beverages are fair game, so it’s not like I’m suddenly going green in everything that I do, but it’s still a difference. I figure a small change like this might not make an impact in the big picture, but our environment can do with a few less bottles of water being thrown away each year.

I’ve always been into preserving the environment. I recycle my plastic, I don’t litter, and I try not to be excessive with my use of water. But I’ve never really considered how to reduce the amount of waste I produce until now. My contributions have always been relatively halfhearted, and that is something I want to change this year. Cutting out water bottles is the first step, but eventually I want to do more. And my New Year’s resolution has helped me figure out what “more” entails.

My resolution has made me realize the amount of plastic I use on a day-to-day basis. To start, if I grab hot coffee, I use a plastic lid to cover my cup. If I get iced coffee, the lid, the cup, and the straw are all plastic. Plus I get coffee several times a day. Then there’s the plastic utensils I use if I feel too lazy to clean up after myself, the plastic containers if I get food at Wisey’s or Epi, the plastic water cups I ask for when I eat out (except for Chipotle, because they use paper cups, god bless them), and the countless Solo cups that my friends and I use throughout the weekend. And those are just the things that come to mind at the moment— I’m sure that in reality, I use so much more.

It’s insane how we use these products once, throw them away, forget about them, and then they last for centuries. They don’t decompose. They make their way into the ocean, and then some poor baby turtle gets stuck in them, or a whale tries to eat them and suffocates.

Fish and birds eat our trash, and eventually this makes its way back to us to the point where we’re eating the very fish that ate our garbage. It’s an awful cycle, and we all end up suffering.

While it does makes a big difference to recycle the plastic we use, we still should not be using it so much in the first place. It’s easy to forget how often we use it, because plastic is literally everywhere. But we have to try to be more conscious about our use and abuse of it.

Simple things like buying a reusable water bottle or using metal utensils can go a long way and reduce a lot of waste.

After the election last year, many students at Georgetown were worried about what Donald Trump’s presidency would bode for the environment. From what we’ve seen thus far, I think it’s safe to say that for the next four years, preserving our environment is up to us.

We probably won’t be seeing any changes for the better—probably the opposite. I know that there’s only so much we can do as students, but whatever we can do, we must. This is about more than just cutting down on plastic. This is about doing what we can to fight back against the measures that will harm our planet. First, let’s stop generating so much waste. It adds up.

Let’s also save energy and water. Let’s keep our surroundings clean. Let’s care about the future of our planet and the well-being of our animals. Let’s raise awareness.

And let’s protest the hell out of the next four years.

By Susana Gil del Real She is a sophomore in the College.

VOICES

My Mother, a Trump Supporter

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017

Sofar,

So Good Uncovering D.C.’s Pop-Up Concert Scene

By Devon O’Dwyer A crowd of people file into WeWork, a trendy office coworking space in DuPont Circle, on a Wednesday evening.

Chattering amongst themselves and opening up their wine and beer bottles, they settle into couches and sit on the floor.

The location exudes cool; WeWork includes an open lounge space featuring an odd assortment of couches and chairs and modern office spaces separated with glass walls. There’s a camaraderie that feels more like a casual house party than a concert. It would come as a surprise to an uninformed bystander that this group of strangers was actually waiting to see three unexpected artists perform.

Washington, D.C. lacks the distinct arts and culture scene of some other U.S. cities like Nashville or New York City. But to those with a pulse on the industry, the past decade has been marked by radical growth for the music and arts scene in the District. Fitz Holladay, the D.C. Director of Sofar Sounds, and Chris Richards, Pop Music Critic at the Washington Post, credit the growth to a recent influx of young people that began around 2008.

Washington, D.C. lacks the distinct arts and culture scene of some other U.S. cities like Nashville or New York City. But to those with a pulse on the industry, the past decade has been marked by radical growth for the music and arts scene in the District.

According to Holladay, after the 2007 economic recession more young people moved to D.C. as federal spending protected the city and provided job opportunities that may have been scarce elsewhere. Richards said that the demographic change was due to Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential election, which he believes attracted a younger population to the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area.

The United States Census Bureau reports that in 2000, 26.9 percent of the Washington, D.C. population were

people ages 20-34. In 2010, they accounted for 38.1 percent of the D.C. population.

In addition to this demographic shift, Richards also attributes D.C.’s burgeoning live music scene to a broader shift in the artistic economy over the past decade. As artists make less money via online streaming than they would have selling CDs, touring schedules have become increasingly competitive. “The D.C. nightclub world has tried to expand to that,” Richards said.

He referred to the expansion of new music venues and clubs that have opened in the DMV area in the past decade, including the Fillmore Nightclub in Silver Spring, Gypsy Sally’s in Georgetown, and the re-opening of the Howard Theater and U Street Music Hall in Shaw.

The biggest challenge? Oversaturation. “Clubs like the 9:30 Club will sell out constantly because they’re hosting really recognizable acts. It’s a lot harder to get someone to come out on a Tuesday night to hear something unfamiliar to them. It’s a tender balance and I think people are still trying to figure out how to get it together,” Richards said.

And yet, on a chilly Wednesday night, WeWork is full to capacity with people ready to hear three artists they did not even know the names of prior to that evening. Maybe, then, Sofar Sounds is doing something right.

Founded in London in 2009, Sofar, which stands for “Songs from a Room,” currently exists in 294 cities around the world.

Their model brings concert venues into the age of Airbnb and Uber, where technology blurs the line between private and public. Sofar hosts pop-up concerts in secret locations, which according to their website could include a roof, attic, bedroom, office space or church, to name a few.

Audience members log on to Sofar’s website and sign up for a date, general region of their city, and time. If they are randomly selected for one of a limited amount of tickets, they’ll find out the exact address the day before the event and the three artists when they arrive at the venue. Sofar D.C.’s ticket prices have changed several times, beginning with a “pass the hat” donation model to an online pay-what-youwant system in early 2016. As of January 2017, tickets cost a fixed price of $15.

Sofar D.C. started in March 2015 and expanded quickly, from hosting one show a month to over 13 shows across D.C. in February 2017 alone. One of Sofar’s biggest challenges isn’t a lack of interest, but the very opposite.

“We have so much demand, which is wonderful. We have all these amazing artists and all these potential venues that are willing to host us. So the challenge is that we’ve grown very fast so just making sure that we’re not losing quality along the way in the way that we operate,” Holladay said.

In one night, a Sofar audience member may experience the full spectrum of music genres. On Nov. 22, the show opened with Brackish Water Jamboree, a charming country group hailing from Tidewater, Virginia.

Following Brackish Water Jamboree’s set, Naimah Muhammad (Stage name NAIMAH), a recent graduate of the University of Southern California and a D.C. native, took the stage. After playing a couple of original songs, she concluded with a soulful rendition of Justin Beiber’s “Let Me Love You.” Sweet and full of youthful acoustic charm, Naimah is the kind of D.C. artist Sofar can promote to a local audience.

The Exnations perform.

“The main thing we’re doing is providing a platform for artists to have an engaged audience and the content we then distribute, so [we are] giving them exposure,” Holladay said. Sofar gives their artists a high quality video of their performance, which is then uploaded to Sofar’s YouTube channel that has over 260,000 subscribers as of February 2017.

To Paul Bidanset, lead vocalist of Brackish Water Jamboree, the value of this technology is high. “With so many people today discovering their new favorite artist or band via video, it’s crucial to have high quality videos with good sound, good video, and good recording equipment. What lots of people

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

don’t realize is how expensive that is. If you’re an indie band, you’re essentially a small business and having to front those costs could be difficult,” Bidanset said.

The Sofar show concluded with Rufus Roundtree and Da B’More Brass Factory, a New Orleans-style brass band based out of Baltimore. Loud and charismatic, they exuded energy and by the end of the set had successfully encouraged the entire crowd to stand up and dance along.

A country band, an alt-pop singer songwriter, and a large brass band—Sofar doesn’t shy away from anything.

In between each of Brackish Water Jamboree’s songs, Bidanset paused to re-tune his banjo while the other members made endearing jokes and small talk with the audience. “This is definitely the coolest thing we’ve gotten to do as musicians,” violinist Rachel Gaither said during a break in the set.

Sofar tries to cultivate a culture where music comes first.

At the beginning of each show, a Sofar volunteer informs the audience that rules include refraining from texting and staying for the entire duration of the show.

Bidanset admits that bands may not be accustomed to this level of attentiveness. “It’s really nice because you actually have people sitting there watching you, and it’s actually also a little intimidating, because sometimes the distractions in a more traditional performance venue kind of act as a bit of a buffer.

But when you have the light on you and everyone’s quietly observing you, you feel a little vulnerable.”

Sofar’s artists have the ability to fully immerse themselves into the audience after their set, and one can find a level of authenticity in this transparency that may be harder to find in a traditional setting.

In between the second and third sets, a Sofar volunteer asked each member of the audience to high five the person to their right and left, and then to tell an embarrassing story about themselves to one of the strangers. This is another tactic that Sofar employs to try to encourage more interaction between guests; the room is quickly awash with chatter.

Taylor Bono, 24, attended her second Sofar show on Nov. 22 and was quick to compliment the culture that Sofar has created. “What I really like is number one it’s local music, regular folks who are like: ‘want my CD? I’m from around here.’ The second thing I like is that everyone is on the ground, we can bring our own shit to drink, and we’re talking. I really value that, I love being able to connect with people.”

In addition to connecting with other guests, audience members have more direct access to the artists themselves.

Bono, who is from the same hometown as Brackish Water Jamboree, introduced herself to the band after their set.

Gaither interrupted our discussion to hand Bono a copy of the group’s CD, which each of the band members had doodled on. “This is what I’m talking about,” said Bono. “This is what I f*cking love.”

This interaction is what makes Sofar different from the structure of traditional venues, where bands have a level of untouchability, disappearing backstage at the conclusion of a set.

Sofar’s artists have the ability to fully immerse themselves into the audience after their set, and one can find a level of authenticity in this transparency that may be harder to find in a traditional setting.

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According to Eliza Yackamovich, another Sofar guest, “I really like the intimacy. It seems really homey here, it’s a community in a way...The artists are all very nice and are willing to talk to the crowd more than just a regular concert.”

Artist Dazeases dances in the studio.

Within the larger picture of the D.C. live music industry, Sofar appears to have carved itself a unique niche. The goals of a small music venue and Sofar, however, may be more similar than they appear on the surface. While talking to two owners of small music venues, familiar themes reappeared.

Ben Tufts lives in the 16th Street House, a music house that was built in 1939, where he hosts shows. In an e-mail, he wrote, “I’d played a lot of house shows, and my goal was to combine the best things about house shows–the intimacy, the casual environment, the fact that you can cater and BYOB but still have it be all ages–with none of the bad things–crappy sound, unclear hospitality and compensation.”

Bassist and vocalist Nicole Saphos performs.

And just a few days before they played at the Sofar show on Nov. 22, Brackish Water Jamboree performed at Gypsy Sally’s, a venue in Georgetown that opened in 2013. David Ensor, the owner of Gypsy Sally’s, described the 18-month search across every quadrant of D.C. that he and his wife went through to find the perfect building for their venue.

Whereas Sofar uses the uncertainty of location to their advantage, Ensor worked hard to create a physical space for an optimal concert experience, “We went to a lot of trouble to design the room to be comfortable, and we have seating on three different levels...so everyone has great sightlines,” Ensor said.

Gypsy Sally’s also boasts of a free separate lounge, separate from the main music room, that includes a VW van where audience members can sit. The bar in the lounge has its own stage where another band can play. “That’s part of the experience here. You can be on a break and you wander through the hallway and you come around a corner and there’s another band, you didn’t know they were there. And you’re like ‘Oh my gosh! Who are these guys? That’s so cool!’ So that’s part of the experience, that you’re getting something that you didn’t expect,” Ensor said.

A country band, an alt-pop singer songwriter, and a large brass banD— Sofar doesn’t shy away from anything.

Looking to the future, Holladay is focused first and foremost on Sofar’s sustainability. “The goal is, we have this magical thing, how do we ensure it’s around for the next five, 10, 20 years?” For both Sofar and Gypsy Sally’s, the only guarantee is that right now, the uncertainty sells.

Photos by Erica Nguyen

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017

THE DMV DILEMMA: DOCUMENTING GEORGETOWN’S HOMETOWN RECRUITING WOES On a quiet, unassuming Tuesday evening in Northwest Washington, D.C., Gonzaga College High School defeated Dematha Catholic High School in a monumental men’s basketball Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) matchup. In front of a capacity crowd and packed student section squeezed into Gonzaga’s Carmody Center near Union Station, the Gonzaga Eagles dealt Dematha its first loss of the season, 76-63. Featuring hectic, up-tempo play and exceptionally skilled players, the matchup was thrilling especially for those unfamiliar with the area’s high school basketball scene.

“The environment is that everyone here is just basketball crazed and everyone wants to be the best,” said Sean McAloon, head coach of St. John’s College High School, the WCAC’s defending champion.

The palpable enthusiasm surrounding the game was business as usual for seasoned fans of District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) high school hoops. The DMV area is rich with athletic basketball talent, representing a prime recruiting hotbed for college coaches. The game between Gonzaga and Dematha featured at least 10 likely Men’s Division I prospects. Six players are currently committed to play at college basketball’s highest level and are set to attend schools such as the University of Miami, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Connecticut. Of these six commitments to Division I programs, none will attend Georgetown University.

The D.C. basketball grass“ roots, all the tradition, to me, this is the best area for basketball, high school and college, in the country. ”

Since 2011, there have been 34 prospects from the DMV in Scout.com’s Top-100 player rankings, excluding military academies, post-graduate prep schools, and boarding schools.

Josh Hart, a member of the 2013 recruiting cycle and Villanova University’s leading scorer during its 2016 National Championship season, attended high school in Washington, D.C. Markelle Fultz, a Dematha alumnus, was Scout.com’s number three ranked prospect in the nation in the 2016 class, and Anthony Cowan Jr. of St. John’s College High School was rated number 58. Fultz now attends the University of Washington and is projected as the top overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft by DraftExpress.com. Cowan Jr. currently plays for the

University of Maryland, where he is averaging 30 minutes per game and 10.8 points per game (ppg) as a freshman.

Despite the large quantity of top talent concentrated in the DMV area, Georgetown has recently been unable to successfully recruit the best local prospects. Hart, Fultz, and Cowan Jr. are some of the latest examples of top local prospects opting to play elsewhere instead of accepting offers from Georgetown. Of the 34 Top-100 prospects from the DMV since 2011, only two decided to come to Georgetown as scholarship players: Tre Campbell of St. John’s College High School in 2014 and Marcus Derrickson of Paul VI High School in 2015. If southern Virginia is generously considered part of the DMV area, Kaleb Johnson of Martinsville, Virginia could also be considered a member of that group.

The Hoyas haven’t always struggled as mightily in recruiting local players as they have in recent years. Throughout the 2000s, Georgetown was a force to be reckoned with on the DMV recruiting circuit. During the 2006-07 season, the Hoyas’ most successful in recent memory, six of the team’s nine players that appeared in 29 games or more during the season attended high school in either D.C., Maryland, or Virginia. Four of the team’s five leading scorers — Jeff Green (14.3 ppg), Roy Hibbert (12.9 ppg), DaJuan Summers (9.2 ppg), and Jessie Sapp (9.1 ppg) — graduated from high schools in the state of Maryland. The Hoyas finished the year at 30-7 overall and 13-3 in the Big East, won the Big East regular season and tournament titles, and made their first Final Four appearance since 1985.

Georgetown’s last outright Big East regular season championship, the 2007-08 campaign, saw six of nine players appearing in more than 27 games hail from the DMV. That team won 28 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a two-seed. In 2011-12, Georgetown finished 24-9 and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Again, the Hoyas were heavily reliant on local players, with five of the team’s nine leading contributors in 2011-12 being graduates of a local DMV high school.

More importantly, though, is that during the recruiting cycles leading up to Georgetown’s most successful seasons, the Hoyas locked down top, cream-of-the-crop local talent. Green and Hibbert, both four-star recruits during the 2004 cycle, have gone on to successful NBA careers following their time on the Hilltop. Sapp was a four-star prospect during the 2005 recruiting cycle and Summers achieved a five-star rating in the 2006 class. Vernon Macklin, a forward who came off the bench for Georgetown during its Final Four run, was also a 2006 five-star prospect from Virginia.

In the 2007 recruiting class, Georgetown landed five-star shooting guard Austin Freeman and four-star point guard Chris Wright, both Maryland natives who factored as significant contributors to the 2007-08 run. In 2008, the Hoyas locked down four-star center Henry Sims and four-star shooting guard Jason Clark, from Maryland and Virginia, respectively. The 2010 class included four-star guard Markel Starks, and 2011 contained four-star forwards Mikael Hopkins and Greg Whittington, all three of whom attended high schools in Maryland.

The 2006-07, 2007-2008, and 2011-2012 Hoya rosters were skilled blends of the best talent from the DMV area. It’s no coincidence that the Hoyas’ best recent finishes have correlated with rosters comprised of predominantly local players.

“The D.C. basketball grassroots, all the tradition, to me, this is the best area for basketball, high school and college, in the country,” said Glenn Farello, Head Coach of Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Virginia.

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

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Photo Nick Gavio Edited by Alexandra Falkner

“It’s as good of an area for talent as there is in the country, year in and year out,” said Evan Daniels, National Director of Basketball Recruiting for Scout.com. “There’s consistently a handful of players ranked in our Top-100 out of the DMV area each and every year.”

The WCAC is certainly an important factor in boosting the DMV’s prestigious reputation among basketball locales. “The amount of time and effort that kids’ parents put into getting them better is, I think, higher here than any other area,” said McAloon.

Featuring some of the country’s most esteemed high school basketball programs, the WCAC has been a pipeline to Division I NCAA basketball for years. “The level of competition helps prepare these kids not just to get the exposure and get recruited, but also to be prepared as best they can be to get to that next level,” Farello said.

In last year’s recruiting class alone, the WCAC sent eight players to Division I basketball programs, according to Scout.com’s prospect database. “They get really good coaching and are battle-tested,” Daniels said. “Those guys play against other really good competition night in and night out… These kids come out of there ready, competitive, and well-coached.”

Of course, successful teams and recruiting classes can’t be judged simply on star power as ranked by scouting services. There are multiple considerations for coaches when deciding who to recruit, including how the prospective players fit in the team’s system and how they would mesh with other potential recruits and players currently on the roster.

Similarly, a player growing up in the DMV may not be particularly drawn to local schools like Georgetown or the University of Maryland. There is a certain allure to top programs and conferences in other areas of the country that captivates prospects and would provide opportunities for new experiences during college.

“I think it’s an individual decision by each family,” Farello said when discussing the college recruiting process. “Some see the value of staying local and being able to play for such great programs. Others want the experience of being somewhere else in the country, based on maybe where other family members happen to be or whatever their interests are, so I think it’s just specific to the family.”

The puzzling element is that recent Georgetown recruiting classes have actually included many talented players, just not those with local ties. The Hoyas have consistently landed fourstar Top-100 prospects over the past few years, including L.J. Peak, Jessie Govan, and Jagan Mosely, from South Carolina, New York, and New Jersey, respectively. Still, Georgetown’s proximity to an area as talent-laden as the DMV allows unique access to high-quality potential recruits. “[Local coaches] can see a game every Tuesday and Friday that they’re in town,” McAloon said. “Literally, the advantage is that you get a chance to see these kids from when they’re freshmen to get a look at them earlier than maybe anybody else and get involved. You have a leg up on other places and other schools in other states.”

“You have the opportunity to really get to know the families and the kids, to have them over multiple times for unofficial visits,” Farello said. “The ability to just be around and for [coaches] to have the time to come and see the kids at their schools as well. The ability to be able to build those relationships and have that familiarity. It’s really important to have those connections.”

Georgetown possesses multiple other advantages to pitch to local recruits in addition to its geographic proximity, including academics, history, and new state-of-the-art facilities with the John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletic Center that opened in 2016.

“Recruiting right now is an arms race,” McAloon explained. “[Facilities] are definitely things that kids look for and want, families look for and want. I think [the Thompson Center] can’t do anything but help.”

“The effect that this building has is multifaceted,” said Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III at the team’s 2016 pre-season media day. “It does have all the bells and whistles… It’s the nicest in the country. That’s a good thing. But then also, practically, it is easier to do your job, it is easier to teach, to coach, it’s easier for the guys to get better.” Georgetown Athletics declined to comment on this specific story. “[The Thompson Center] is a nice thing for people to be able to visualize, that’s tangible and you can see [it],” Farello said. “But, we all know that what Georgetown brings to the table nationally from an academic and basketball standpoint is fantastic.”

Georgetown is most prominently known for its golden age of basketball during the 1980’s, when the Hoyas had arguably the best program in the country. Georgetown advanced to the NCAA tournament every year between 1979 and 1990 and won the 1984 NCAA National Championship. The Hoyas also finished as the tournament’s runner-up in 1982 and 1985 and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1980, 1987, and 1989. However, it is unclear how effective history and previous success can be in persuading prospects to attend a school.

“I don’t think that’s a primary factor in recruiting,” Daniels said when asked about the role a program’s history plays in a recruiting pitch. “They’re not going to these places because in 1978 they won a national championship.”

“Most of the kids in the area now weren’t around during the heyday of Georgetown,” McAloon said. “So, for the kids here, certain small things [matter] like [the] Jordan brand obviously, the fact that they play in the Verizon Center, large venue, really good conference, great competition, the opportunity to play in front of your family.”

“You have an unbelievable academic institution, an unbelievable tradition in basketball.

You have players and coaches and proud alums that support the program. The Thompson Center is absolutely just a feather in the cap of Georgetown,” Farello said.

Georgetown has added the glamor of the Thompson Center to the substance of prestigious academics, the flash of previous historical success, and the challenge of playing in one of the best basketball conferences in the NCAA, among other advantages. Especially considering the Hoyas’ success in bringing in talented players from across the country, their recent struggles recruiting locally is perplexing.

Yet, on a Tuesday night in downtown D.C., Georgetown Assistant Coach Akhbar Waheed was still in attendance, watching Gonzaga and Dematha ruthlessly battle for WCAC supremacy.

Maybe it’s a sign of further commitment to recruiting locally, or maybe it’s continuing an effort to have a consistent presence in the area. Additional success in recruiting the local DMV circuit could provide the necessary boost that would catapult the Hoyas back to their previous national prominence.

BY NICK GAVIO

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017

Graduate Students Continue Push to Unionize

By Jake Maher photo georgetown voice edited by aicha nzie

Georgetown graduate students are seeking stronger and more formalized representation through unionization, a growing trend nationally at private universities since an Aug. 23, 2016 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) allowing such organization for graduate students.

The recently formed Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees (GAGE) is working to establish an affiliation agreement with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). This move is a continuation of efforts by Georgetown’s graduate students to organize, which began in April 2016 with a contested proposal to increase Ph.D. students’ hours.

GAGE intends to focus on salaries for graduate students that the university employs, which some members of GAGE believe are insufficient. “According to MIT, the current living wage in Washington, D.C. for one adult is 30,253 [dollars per year]; yet the vast majority of us receive only 27,000 a year,” Ben Feldman, a Ph.D. student in the history department, wrote in an email to the Voice. “A survey of the top graduate programs in the United States found no other stipends that were lower than the living wage for the city in which the university was located.”

GAGE also hopes to address what some graduate students see as shortcomings in the health care benefits offered. “Our healthcare is the same healthcare offered to Georgetown undergraduates, despite the fact that many of us are in our late twenties, thirties, and beyond, and have very different healthcare needs than students aged 18-22,” Feldman wrote. “A union will help us negotiate for a living wage, as well as access to dental, vision, and mental health care.”

Approximately 20 people gathered on Jan. 10 for GAGE’s first meeting. According to Deidre Nelms, a Ph.D. student in the philosophy department, graduate students attending the meeting discussed their opinions on unionization, the proposed structure of the union, and plans for affiliation.

The right for employees to unionize is acknowledged by the university’s Just Employment Policy, according to Nick Wertsch (COL ’09, LAW ’18), program coordinator at the Kalmanowitz Institute for Labor and the Working Poor. “Georgetown adopted its Just Employment Policy ten years ago, and this policy affirmed the university’s commitment to recognizing the right of workers to freely associate and organize,” he wrote in an email to the Voice. “These are fundamental rights for workers and for any community seeking to build a collective voice.”

Feldman wrote that although GAGE has not yet officially been in contact with the university, the organization hopes that the administration will be neutral towards their goal of unionization.

“It is our expectation that Georgetown will continue its admirable history of remaining officially neutral during the coming campaign,” he wrote. Dean Norberto Grzywacz of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences declined to comment.

The Aug. 23, 2016 NLRB ruling, which in part sparked this movement, asserted that graduate students working as research and teaching assistants at private institutions are legally considered to be employees and therefore have a federally protected right to unionize. This ruling reversed the board’s previous 2004 decision stating that graduate students are primarily students, not employees, of their university.

If GAGE becomes an affiliate of the AFT, it will join a small but growing number of graduate student unions on college campuses across the country. Graduate students at New York University (NYU) have been represented by a union since November 2013, when the university’s administration chose to recognize the union voluntarily. Graduate students also unionized at Columbia University in December 2016.

Columbia and NYU are the only two private universities in the country to recognize graduate student unions. Unionization rights at public universities are determined by their state’s collective

bargaining laws, rather than the NLRB’s decisions. As a result, unions of graduate students at public universities are more common. According to the NLRB, 64,000 graduate students are members of unions at 28 public institutions across the country.

Following the NLRB’s decision in favor of graduate student workers, unionization for undergraduate student workers is a possible next step on some campuses. Student workers at Grinnell College in Iowa, George Washington University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have recently worked towards unionization.

At Georgetown, the drive towards unionization developed through the Doctoral Students Coalition (DSC), an organization formed in November 2015 to advocate for issues concerning Ph.D. students. According to Feldman, one of the founding DSC members, the union working group within the DSC looked into the advantages of unionization, and concluded that unionization would help graduate students negotiate with the university regarding their salaries and benefits.

The DSC also provided a forum for communication among graduate students, which established some of the network behind GAGE. “We’ve already built up really strong relationships between the different departments,” Nelms wrote in an email to the Voice. “These relationships are largely the product of our time together building the Doctoral Students Coalition.”

The DSC’s working group’s decision came partially as a response to a dispute between doctoral students and the university administration in April 2016 over a proposed increase in number of hours the students would be required to work without a commensurate increase in pay. The proposed change faced opposition from graduate students, with the DSC circulating a petition against it. The change, originally set to take place for the 2016-2017 school year, was ultimately delayed for a year.

According to Feldman, a formalized union of graduate students would be a foundation for a more organized protest in similar situations. “Creating an institution with a clearly defined relationship to the university, and with clearly agreed upon rules for communication between the administration and graduate employees, is the only way to ensure that something of this nature does not happen again,” he wrote. “If any similar situation does arise, a union will ensure that it can be resolved swiftly, openly, and fairly.”

The DSC also conducted a survey immediately following a town hall event held on Nov. 2, 2016 at which the working group presented its recommendation to gauge graduate student interest in unionization. According to Nelms, the results were overwhelmingly in favor of unionization.

“GAGE is the result of widespread support of the graduate student body. 80% of graduate student employees who participated in a recent survey were either ‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’ in favor of unionization,” she wrote.

Although GAGE grew out of the DSC, the two organizations are now unconnected and have distinct roles for graduate students at Georgetown. “The two groups now have separate leadership and goals,” Nelms wrote. “DSC is an advocacy and social group for Ph.D. students, whereas GAGE is actively pursuing affiliation and recognition as a union.”

GAGE plans to continue pursuing unionization in the future, as well as providing immediate support for graduate students. Feldman wrote, “We are continuing outreach to grad workers, continuing conversations about affiliation, and in the process of drafting a constitution.”

A union would provide graduate students a sense of stability above all else, according to Feldman. With an increasingly competitive job market in academia, graduate students at Georgetown have followed those at other universities in redefining their relationship with the university primarily as employees, rather than primarily as students.

Maddie Vagadori contributed reporting.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Surviving the Scrum: 50 Years of Rugby on the Hilltop

By Alex Lewontin

Despite being a very visible club team on campus, the Georgetown University Rugby Football Club (GURFC) plays a sport that is utterly foreign to most other students. But even if it is niche, rugby isn’t just a fad on campus. 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of GURFC’s founding in 1967. In 2001, the team began competing at the Division II level, with the fifteens squad making two runs to the Final Four round of the USA Rugby National Tournament in 2005 and 2009. Starting last fall, the team was promoted to the Division I-AA level, along with longtime rivals Towson and Salisbury.

GURFC fields two different teams for two variations of the game, a fifteen-man squad and a seven-man squad. The fifteens season is in the fall and the sevens season is in the spring, and many players overlap between the two squads. There are fifteen specific positions, but players are generally classified as either backs or forwards. Forwards are bigger but less agile, while backs are small, nimble, and quick.

“There’s all the hard hitting you’d find in football, and some of the strategies you find in soccer. It’s similar to soccer in that the game keeps moving. There’s no timeouts or downs. It’s free flowing,” said captain and junior back Charlie Sullivan.

“There’s a similar ball [to a football], and you want to drive down the field the same way you do in football, go all the way down into the try zone, which is similar to an end zone in football. The difference is you can only pass backwards,” explained freshman back Rick Tamez. “I hadn’t really played rugby before, so at my first practice I was really nervous, but the older guys were really welcoming and helped me learn the game, and I love it now.”

Rugby’s growing popularity on campus over years led to the I-AA promotion, but with GURFC’s jump in division came a jump in the skill of their opponents, many of which are treated as varsity teams by their schools, a status that comes with resources.

“We’re facing an uphill battle here. We’re going against schools that have their own beautiful fields with access whenever they want. They’re getting donations for equipment, and funding from the school… everything we get is from our own dues,” said club president and junior forward Andrew Van Hoek.

GURFC practices two nights a week, two hours a night on Cooper Field (which also serves as their home pitch), but does not have access to the newly constructed Thompson Athletic Center or the varsity athletic training staff.

According to Head Coach Scott Zavrel, training has become much more difficult since the closing of Kehoe Field, the club and intramural field located on the roof of Yates Field House. It was closed indefinitely at the beginning of 2016 due to the poor conditions of the artificial turf surface. While GURFC used to practice four days a week, twice on Cooper Field and twice on Kehoe, training time is now limited to the two days on Cooper.

Nevertheless, the team is striving to operate as professionally as possible.

“We’re not attached to the athletic department, but that’s not going to prevent us from conducting business accordingly,” Zavrel said. “We’re teaching it like a varsity sport.” Zavrel works with six assistant coaches to prepare the team for competition.

“People are getting a lot more serious about the team,” Sullivan said.

Even as a club sport, the team serves as a draw for high schoolers considering Georgetown. Sullivan and Van Hoek played rugby at Fordham Prep in the Bronx, New York and came to Georgetown at least in part because of GURFC. Sullivan chose GURFC over NCAA Division III soccer.

Sophomore back Alexander Hersov, from Johannesburg, South Africa, began playing rugby when he was five. At 13, he joined the team at Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England, as well as the London Scottish RFC. “I wouldn’t have gone to a school without a serious program,” Hersov said. “I reached out to the coaches beforehand and cut applications to schools with programs that didn’t meet my requirements.”

The higher level of play has also required an adjustment period. During the fall fifteens season, the A-side went

1-7, although their sole victory came over traditional powerhouse University of Virginia.

This offseason, GURFC is emphasizing hitting the weight room. The team was composed of smaller players than most of their opponents and plagued by injuries, both problems that are addressed with strength training.

But while spring is a developmental period for fifteens, the sevens season is just beginning. Here, the team has high hopes.

The lack of size which disadvantaged them in fifteens matches is actually a boon for the faster pace of sevens competition.

“We’re a very good sevens team. We want to go to the [Collegiate Rugby Championship] this year,” Van Hoek said.

The team certainly has the talent. In the fall, Goff Rugby Report named Van Hoek one of its top 50 forwards, and Sullivan one of its top 50 backs in Division I-AA. Preparations for the spring are already well under way. On Tuesday evening, the team spent its two hours on Cooper at a near-continuous sprint. Practice ran like clockwork: catch, pass, tackle, repeat.

Sevens play kicks off on Feb. 18 with a conference tournament in Salisbury, Maryland. Other highlights of the season include a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Las Vegas Invitational, a collegiate tournament that coincides with the USA Sevens international tournament, and with luck, a trip to the national championship.

Junior forward Michael Ficca runs up the pitch, evading a Mount St. Mary defender.

Courtesy of JULIA HARRIS

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

LEISURE

14

A Wonderful Reimagining:

“The Phantom Tollbooth” Captures the Magic of a Childhood Classic NOMADIC THEATRE

By Ryan Mazalatis When people think of the books they loved as a child, they often imagine far away, make-believe lands with a wide array of magical characters and subtle, yet often profound, morals. These books serve the purpose of teaching children around the world and ensuring that these children, in turn, go on to make the world they inherit a better place. The Georgetown Department of Performing Arts and Nomadic Theatre’s coproduction of the classic children’s novel The Phantom Tollbooth embraces this spirit, creating a show that is both true to the source material and entertaining to audiences of all ages. In doing so, the play imparts important lessons on the merits of learning, acceptance, and time management— lessons that should resonate with Georgetown students.

“The Phantom Tollbooth,” which runs until Feb. 4 in the Davis Performing Arts Center on campus, tells the story of Milo (Carmen Livesay [COL ’17]), a young girl who inhabits a world that discourages creativity and thought. When Milo encounters a magical world in a seemingly abandoned subway station, she is taken on a journey to resolve the conflict between King Azaz of Dictionopolis (Mark Camilli [COL ’19]) and the Mathemagician of Digitopolis (Suzanne Coles [COL ’17]), rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason (Kylie Navarro [COL ’20] and Julia Marsan [COL ’17]), and restore harmony to the Kingdom of Wisdom with the power of her own creativity and problem-solving skills. Along the way, she meets a wide array of fun, fantastical characters, including Tock (Johnny Monday [COL ’18]), the loyal, responsible watchdog

and Humbug (J. Aiden McAleer [COL ’19]), a crotchety insectlike creature that provides laughs throughout the course of the play. In her quest to save the Kingdom of Wisdom, Milo and those around her learn to accept one another and embrace their senses of imagination.

Although this play is based on a children’s book, the messages it teaches are universal. As director Mollie Rodgers (COL ’17) describes, “Honestly, it was just a play I had fallen in love with when I read it,” director Mollie Rodgers (COL ’17) said, “In the world today, a lot of what we see on the news is children who are being forced into becoming adults too early through the decisions of people that are not necessarily affected [by their decisions], so this was touching a bit on children, their imaginations, and using imagination to adapt to new situations.”

The theme of the power of imagination pervades the play and carries an important message for Georgetown students.

Often in the course of their studies, students, like Milo in the beginning of “The Phantom Tollbooth,” become so absorbed in the mundane aspects of the day-to-day that they lose their sense of magic towards the world around them. The play allows its audience to realize that the complexities and problems young people face in the modern age may seem daunting but can be overcome with a childlike sense of wonder, curiosity, and innovation. By embracing a sense of imagination and a love of learning, the play demonstrates that people of all ages can change the world and restore the rule of rhyme and reason.

The production reflects a deep love and appreciation for the original 1961 Norton Juster novel, with funny wordplay

and beautiful special effects. The end result fantastically portrays Juster’s original conception. All of the actors, most prominently Livesay, Monday, and McAleer, bring the protagonists of the novel to life. McAleer provides constant comedic relief throughout the course of the play as the Humbug, while Livesay and Monday give loveable portrayals of Milo and Tock. Due to the difficulties of converting a fantasy children’s novel into a theatrical production, there are moments where the audience must suspend their disbelief and use their imaginations. However, rather than detracting from the audience’s overall experience, this suspension of disbelief reinforces the importance of the imagination celebrated throughout the play. While both children and adults can take something important away from “The Phantom Tollbooth,” the production stays true to the novel’s target audience as kids are sure to delight in seeing the fantasy world of Juster come to life. With jokes and morals scattered throughout the production, “The Phantom Tollbooth” makes for a fun, educational escape into the whimsical realm of numbers and letters.

“The Phantom Tollbooth” is a nostalgic journey into one of the stories that has shaped the lives of generations of children.

The effort that went into the production is clearly visible, with great performances from its actors and enchanting effects. Both fans of the book and fans of theatre will be enchanted by the Georgetown Department for the Performing Arts’ adaptation, undoubtedly taking a piece of the magical Kingdom of Wisdom back with them.

15

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Critical Voices:

By Dan Sheehan

Ty Segall has been one of the most prolific musicians in the rock scene for the last decade, but he isn’t the best at coming up with original album titles. Ty Segall is the eponymous Cali rocker’s second self-titled album, sharing the name with his 2008 debut release. This newest installation is more carefully produced and polished than its lo-fi predecessor, but it still acts as a fitting sequel, with nods to his roots and indications of his evolution and maturation. With his ninth studio album, Segall has taken his successful garage punk rock recipe and added dashes of nuance and sophistication.

Whereas much of his past work barrels ahead at breakneck speeds, Ty Segall balances this fury with finely crafted respites that showcase Segall’s masterful songwriting ability.

The ten tracks in the collection demonstrate just how versatile and well-listened Segall and his band are. In fact, listening to the album is a bit like taking a crash course in rock history. The high-octane opener, “Break A Guitar,” has shades of Hendrix in its distorted, whammy-ing layers of guitar. The song title conjures the very aesthetic of punk music, while the lyrics reveal a man disenchanted. “Take my guitar/I’ll be at the bar,” Segall snarls before ironically launching into a manic dual-guitar solo. The ambitious “Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)” begins with fuzzed out violence but then eases into a slowly simmering breakdown vamp with echoes of Santana and The Doors. Segall’s Drag city vocals are even more John Lennon-y than usual on “Thank you Mr. K,” a song that features a literal breakdown with live audio of what sounds like the band smashing a set of dishes right there in the studio, amid amps and guitars. This rebellious interlude is followed by an explosion of noise rock that sounds like something off of the White Album. The keys-heavy “Papers” takes some hints from David Bowie, dancing around a nervous, jangly chord progression as Segall sings harmonies in a nasally pseudo-English accent.

Here, in the last third of the album, Segall’s entrancing melodies are stripped bare and put on full display. Given room to breathe, they prove that his garage rock songs are equally effective in the form of folk rock interpretations. “Orange Color Queen” sways in an easy descending chord progression and features Segall’s adept falsetto, a reminder of the tenderness he possesses but rarely flaunts. The song is a touching tribute in which Segall struggles to convey the uniqueness of his lover, reaching for lines like “You’re a tree inside an airplane.” Their profundity might be debatable, but the enigmatic lyrics add to the sense of psychedelia that enshrouds the airy, floating ballad.

It’s impossible to ignore the influences at work here, but the sound Segall has crafted over the course of the past decade is very much his own. As such, Ty Segall is aptly named. The music on the album is a unique and careful negotiation of noise and space, of chaos and control, of retro and new. An original rock album has become something exciting and refreshing in our day, and with this effort Segall reminds us that the genre, relegated from the top charts and often considered to be exhausted in the modern era, is anything but dead.

Critical Voices:

Migos, Culture

By Parker Houston For a group that both invented the dab and subsequently declared it dead, it took Migos quite a while to get their big break. Migos’ revival of Memphis legend Lord Infamous’ triplet flow, the practice of rapping double-time in threesyllable bursts, sent shockwaves throughout hip-hop in 2013 after Drake featured on the remix of their song “Versace.”

Almost immediately afterwards, the entire rap game, from Kanye to J. Cole to Young Thug, started using the same flow on their own songs. The group that influenced the cadence of an entire generation of rappers somehow hadn’t truly entered the mainstream until this past year with their smash hit “Bad and Boujee.” Culture is the first time Migos have had an audience of this magnitude, and the album makes it clear that this new fame won’t be changing them.

Despite Migos’ talent for rhythmic ingenuity, their critics often claim that they lack in lyrical inventiveness. They tend to rap exclusively about drugs, guns, money, and women, but the subject matter is no more overbearing than that of a typical action movie, albeit with more references to designer clothing.

On the title track, the album’s opener, Migos deliver their typical subject matter as well as ever, unfurling an endless number of flexes on the listener. They rap about everything from the injuries they sustain while cooking drugs (presumably from overuse of their wrist ligaments), to their ability to buy more than one vehicle at a time, to even their capital gains quality control, 300, atlantic made from investing drug money in the stock market, and to, at the most ridiculous, the fact that group member Offset owns a mink coat made from an entire fox skin. Their rapid-fire verses are punctuated by a lurching monster of an 808 Mafia beat. This is the same song in which DJ Khaled calls the listener a f*ckboy, that includes the line, “I whipped up the babies, Harambe, abused it,” and claims, “Culture album coming soon,” on what is clearly Culture’s first song. All this considered, it should come as no surprise that this album is an absolute blast.

The rest of the album includes standouts like “T-Shirt,” which features a music video that involves the group’s three members cooking with Pyrex on a camp stove as fur trappers. The interplay between the production and the three rappers creates a musical experience greater than the sum of its parts. Especially evident on songs like “Call Casting,” the way Migos’ staccato flows jump in and out of different rhythmic patterns within the skeletal structure of the beats creates a unique bounce to the music that the group’s many imitators still have yet to master.

Speaking of the production, the beats on the album as a whole are fantastic. The hard 808 hits employed by producers Metro Boomin, 808 Mafia, and Travis Scott juxtaposed with the textured pianos and orchestral atmospheres of Zaytoven, Budda Bless, and Ricky Racks provide a coherent listening experience that never bores the listener.

While the project certainly has its flaws, namely its front-loadedness (the album’s four best songs fall in the first half of the tracklist) and weak performances from its featured artists, such as Gucci Mane—who sounds like someone else doing a Gucci Mane impression—it remains an exciting listen. Culture is far from the musical achievement that Migos’ 2014 project No Label II was. In fact, it probably isn’t as good as their other three mixtapes, but it’s still an excellent project, one that is just as worth going back to. Culture could’ve been Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff ’s crossover coming-out party. Instead, it was a statement: Migos are here to stay, and they aren’t looking to compromise.

LEISURE

Ty Segall, Ty Segall

PHOTO GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY EDITED BY ALLI KAUFMAN