VOICE The Georgetown
GUSA Senate Passes Reconciliation Referendum for GU272 page 8
The Voice Predicts the 2019 Oscars page 14
February 15, 2019
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FEBRUARY 15, 2019
THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
staff editor-in-chief Margaret Gach Managing editor Sienna Brancato
—Celebrating 50 Years— Volume 51 • Issue 11
news
executive editor Jake Maher Features editor Jack Townsend news editor Noah Telerski assistant news editors Damian Garcia, Caroline Hamilton, Roman Peregrino
culture
executive editor Santul Nerkar Leisure editor Dajour Evans assistant leisure editors Emily Jaster, Nicole Lai, Ryan Mazalatis Sports editor Aaron Wolf Assistant sports editors Tristan Lee, Will Shanahan
“A reel bummer” by Egan Barnitt
opinion
contents Carrying On: Amanda and the Pimpin’ Focus Katherine Randolph
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Taking Control by Opening Up Roman Peregrino
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We Were Never Silent: On Asian-American Feminism Amanda Chu
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Editorials
“Doing What Has Never Been Done”: GUSA Senate Passes Reconciliation Referendum for GU272 Annemarie Cuccia Terrence Johnson Talks Theology, Teaching, and Tradition Claire Goldberg Students Lead the Way for New Composting Options at Leo’s Delaney Corcoran Gun Control Gains Ground at Georgetown and Across the District Caroline Hamilton The Voice Predicts the 2019 Oscars Voice Staff
8-9 10-11 12 13 14- 15
Executive editor Emma Francois voices editor Julia Pinney Assistant Voices editors Natalie Chaudhuri, Leina Hsu Editorial Board Chair Claire Goldberg Editorial Board Sienna Brancato, Annemarie Cuccia, Inès de Miranda, Chris Dunn, Margaret Gach, Nick Gavio, Alex Lewontin, Jake Maher, Julia Pinney, Phillip Steuber, Noah Telerski, Jack Townsend
halftime
Leisure editor Juliana Vaccaro de Souza assistant leisure editors Skyler Coffey, Anna Pogrebivsky, John Woolley Sports editor Teddy Carey Assistant sports editors Nathan Chen, Josi Rosales
design
Executive editor Delaney Corcoran Spread editor Jake Glass Photo Editor Hannah Song cover Editor Egan Barnitt assistant design editors Camilla Aitbayev, Jacob Bilich, Josh Klein, Olivia Stevens Staff designers Timmy Adami, Amy Zhou
copy
copy chief Cade Shore assistant Copy editors Sophie Stewart, Neha Wasil editors Mya Allen, Natalie Chaudhuri, MAX Fredell, Maya Knepp, Stephanie Leow, Moira Phan, Madison Scully, Maya Tenzer, Kristin Turner, Rachel Weinman
online
Podcast editor Kayla Hewitt assistant podcast editor Panna Gattyan social media editor Katherine Randolph MULTIMEDIA editor Isabel Lord Content manager Margaux Fontaine
business
general manager Anna Gloor assistant manager of alumni outreach Beth Cunniff
support
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 Georgetown Voice, unless otherwise indicated.
associate editors Rachel Cohen, Brynn Furey, Inès de Miranda, Lizz Pankova, Katya Schwenk editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057
Staff writers
Kent Adams, Luis Borrero, Annemarie Cuccia, Haley D’Alessio, Jorge DeNeve, Max Fredell, Errol French, Bradley Galvin, Amy Guay, Peter Guthrie, Dominic Parente, John Picker, Zach Pulsifer, Cam Smith
THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
Page 3 An eclectic collection of jokes, puns, doodles, playlists, and news clips, from the collective mind of the Voice staff.
Halftime Leisure Preview From niche to notorious, “Powerful Shaggy” memes have taken over the internet. But how has Scooby-Doo’s signature stoner scaredy-cat become a superhuman entity who can take down armies of men with only 2 percent of his power? The answer involves Dragon Ball Super, Mortal Kombat and a Phantosaur. Halftime leisure assistant editor Sky Coffey explains in this week’s installment of The Meme Files on georgetownvoice.com
SPORTS Freshman guard Mac McClung (2) steps back for a three-pointer during Georgetown’s matchup against Butler University on Feb. 9. McClung was named Big East Freshman of the Week for the second time this season, but the Hoyas came up short against the Bulldogs, falling 73-69.
Podcast Preview In this episode of “The Reel Pulpit,” leisure editor Dajour Evans and leisure writer Danielle Guida go over the absolute mess that has been the 2019 awards season. They talk all things Golden Globes, Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, and Oscar nominations—giving half-hearted predictions in the process. Want to hear two film lovers scream and rage about why nearly everything this awards season is awful? Listen to this episode on georgetownvoice.com
Overheard at Georgetown “It was an accident” -Mac McClung on his new buzzcut in the Feb. 9 postgame interview after loss to Butler
CDC: Don’t Kiss Your Pet Hedgehog
Margaux’s Animal Doodle
The Real Story of the Clock in Red Square At dusk on Wednesday, several workers climbed out of a truck in Red Square and set about removing the orange traffic barrel which had covered the remnants of the clock that used to stand among the bricks. During its investigation, the Voice learned that Georgetown removed the clock a few weeks ago after a university-owned vehicle damaged it, leaving students wondering where the time went. The day after
“Afternoon Tea” Reports “Throwing MLK on your syllabus in February doesn’t count as diversifying your curriculum… and that’s the tea.”
the incident, facilities management director Mark Sciarratta and associate director Greg Burton said the university spent about $12,000 on a new ticker. The money was later reimbursed by an insurance company, they said, but the two were eager to point out they had acted quickly to replace the downed timepiece. Earlier that Wednesday, Burton and Sciarratta made a trip to Red Square to examine the gaping wound in the bricks. What Sciarratta saw worried him. He complained that the barricades and the barrel were not “presentable.” He and Burton went to a place they called “materials” to look for an alternative. They arrived back at
their offices beneath Harbin patio with one gray bucket. Sciarratta told this reporter he would invert the bucket over the vacant patch of Red Square. Asked whether the bucket might blow away in the wind, he allowed he might have to secure it to the ground with zip ties. But the larger question was how they could be sure the bucket was visible to pedestrians. Sciarratta wanted to wrap some tape around the top of the bucket. Burton proposed something red, but Sciarratta resisted. He wanted yellow. At press time, the gray bucket was surrounded by the same metal barricades and had a loop of yellow and black tape around it, suggesting Sciarratta had prevailed.
EDITORIALS
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FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Transparency is Key for Sustainability Initiatives The university has taken a variety of steps to reduce its environmental impact, including on- and off-campus solar projects to generate more renewable energy. While these plans are well-intentioned, issues during their implementation have muddled their potential positive effects. This editorial board believes that the university must take steps to increase the transparency of sustainability projects with the general student body. Georgetown must ensure that all students are well-informed about why the university makes certain choices to plan and implement sustainability measures, as well as the progression of this work. Georgetown’s efforts to increase its use of renewable energy are admirable, but the outcomes have not fully matched the goals. Most recently, an off-campus solar installation set to be built in La Plata, Maryland, has received criticism from local environmentalists because the project will require the clearcutting of over 200 acres of forest. The installation would provide roughly half of the electricity needed to power the university and would allow Georgetown to reach its goal of cutting carbon emissions in half from the 2006 baseline. However, it will come at the expense of a forest classified as a targeted ecological area by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and labeled an important bird area by the Audubon Society. A project on campus, announced in April 2017, was supposed to place solar panels on six different campus buildings. The university’s press release at the time of the announcement claimed that the installation would come “at no cost to the university and is expected to save Georgetown over $3 million on energy costs over 20 years.” But
the project has not been undertaken, and there has been no update on its status. Similarly disappointing, the solar panels on the roof of the ICC have sat idle for years, with no clear timeline to rebuild them. They were installed in 1984 and operated for nearly 30 years but were eventually shut down to be replaced as part of the on-site project in 2017. In 2014, the university ran the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a competition among small and mid-sized communities across the country to develop plans to reduce their energy usage. While the competing communities did see reductions in their energy consumption, some were left disappointed when the projected $5 million prize ultimately turned out to be consulting services and $5 million in financing toward an energy project, not cash. However, some of the university’s major sustainability projects have been successes. In 2013, solar panels were installed on six university townhouses on 37th Street. The project, called Solar Street, is a good example of how the university should undertake projects of this nature as a collaboration between students and administrators. Georgetown also recently introduced the Laudato Si’ Fund, inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical of the same name, to support sustainability projects done by students, faculty, and staff. There are groups of students working on projects of their own to make Georgetown a more sustainable community. GU Fossil Free, which advocates for the university divestment from companies that profit off of fossil fuels, submitted a proposal on Feb. 1 to the university calling for the complete divestment from fossil fuel investments by 2024. The university has worked toward reducing its carbon footprint by 50 percent from 2006
levels by 2020. These goals are attainable but can only be achieved if administrators and students continue to advocate for a greener Georgetown together. The university must address the lack of transparency regarding the status of sustainability projects, most notably that of the postponement of the on-campus solar project. The necessary communication is as easy as sending out a regular email to students updating them on the progress of ongoing sustainability initiatives. This is similar to the frequent emails about construction projects and events around campus that students already receive. We encourage the university to continue collaborating with student activist groups, such as the Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network, who are already interacting with the Office of Sustainability. But students who are not as involved cannot be left in the dark. Increasing the capacity of the Office of Sustainability is a way to enable this information campaign. Achieving sustainability goals will require a high level of nuance, and the more information that is available to the relevant parties, the more likely it is that good choices will be made. For example, greater input from students as well as La Plata residents could have led to a solar installation plan with a broader base of support and one which would not require the clearcutting of the forest. This editorial board commends Georgetown for the work that it has done. We believe that its sustainability goals are admirable and that the university should continue working toward becoming more environmentally friendly. However, if Georgetown is to make true progress in the future, it must transparently inform its students not only about when it takes a step in the right direction but also when it makes mistakes.
Replace Jack the Bulldog with a Rescue A series of Jack the Bulldogs have been at Georgetown for 57 years. He became the university’s official mascot after a committee of students raised funds to invest in a bulldog in 1962. After a brief lapse in the 80s and 90s, different Jacks have been living on campus continuously since 1999. The specific species was chosen for its “tenacity,” attempting to represent the spirit of Georgetown students and athletes. But bulldogs are some of the most unhealthy and inhumanely bred dogs in existence, and this editorial board believes Georgetown must discontinue the practice of having a live bulldog as its mascot. Bulldogs are bred to have flat faces, which causes breathing difficulties and often necessitates expensive and painful medical procedures. Inbreeding contributes to the numerous health issues that bulldogs experience, and dogs in general are harmed by exposure to the overstimulation of campus life and sports. By parading Jack the Bulldog around at basketball games and having him as halftime entertainment for students, the university is facillitating the dog’s discomfort. Loud noises and bright lights are known to cause all dogs large amounts of stress. Furthermore, Jack’s relatively short history at the university has been plagued with problems. The first bulldog brought to campus in the 60s faced multiple health issues and was eventually stolen by a rival university. More recently, Georgetown purchased a new bull-
dog after the former Jack passed away in 2013. The puppy had behavioral issues and was often frightened by groups of people and cameras. The dog bit a small child, and after reaching a legal settlement with the child’s family, the university determined that the puppy was better suited for a home than a work environment like Georgetown. The current Jack is aggressive toward other dogs and is not allowed to take photos with children. Having a dog around campus does have its merits. While Jack is certainly not a therapy dog, interacting with dogs is proven to help improve students’ mental health. It also provides a sense of school spirit. But our mascot should not be a dog that is plagued with serious health issues due to the immoral practices of breeders. And that dog certainly should not be brought to basketball games or treated as merely a prop for photo opportunities. The American Kennel Club ranks bulldogs as one of the most popular breeds, yet they have one of the shortest lifespans of any type of dog. This is partly due to how they are bred. If people had let nature take its course, the bulldog would look nothing like it does today. Selective breeding that often pairs direct relatives to control for certain characteristics is a deeply unethical practice that ignores the well-being of animals who have no say in their treatment. Over 90 percent of bulldogs must be born via cesarean section because their heads are too large for natural birth, and the breed has a relatively high rate of puppy mortality. Buying from breeders
exacerbates the problem of animal overpopulation—there are roughly 3.3 million dogs in shelters in a given year, 670,000 of which are euthanized. Having a bulldog as our university’s mascot has only been a “tradition” for 57 years, a fraction of the school’s history. While Jack the Bulldog is loved by many students and has become a part of our university’s name and brand, there is no excuse for ignoring the immoral breeding practices of bulldogs. Georgetown has had dogs as mascots, both official and unofficial, since the 1800s. In the early 20th century, a terrier named Stubby served as the school’s mascot, and in the 1940s, a Great Dane was the dog of choice. Georgetown has the responsibility to promote animal welfare, especially as a Jesuit institution. Other colleges—including the University of Georgia, Butler University, and Yale University—also have live bulldogs as their mascots. Georgia’s series of Ugas have had a multitude of health issues and only live a handful of years due to complications of extreme inbreeding. We call on these universities to end the practice of having live bulldogs as mascots as well. Georgetown should set an example by leading the push for animal welfare. After the current Jack the Bulldog passes away, Georgetown should invest in a rescue dog as its official mascot. Hundreds of dogs live in shelters across the DMV area, and Georgetown would be doing the community a service by promoting pet rescues rather than breeders.
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
VOICES
TEDDY CAREY
Amanda and the Pimpin’ Focus Carrying On: Voice Staffers Speak
When I was a kid, I wanted my first car to be a Ford Focus. I dreamed of whipping my cool, worldly friends around my tiny Texas town in a 4-cylinder sedan, blasting all the music that didn’t play on my parents’ favorite Christian radio station. The reason I wanted a Focus was simple: When my cousin Amanda used to come visit my family from Oklahoma, she was always driving her silver car that she had nicknamed the “Pimpin’ Focus.” I’d almost forgotten about my Focus dreams until last week, when Amanda died of cancer. ··· My mom is the youngest of her four siblings by a decade, which means that most of my cousins were having children of their own while I was still in diapers. Amanda was a teenager when I started kindergarten, which made her the perfect mix of young and relatable, and mature and cool. Amanda was the first person I can remember really admiring. She used to call me “Stumpy” because I was short and round and had a tendency to get grouchy between meals. Once, when she came to visit us, I was sick with a stomach bug, and Amanda, ever the athletic trainer, had the perfect solution. She mixed orange Gatorade with just a little bit of water, and I spent the night on the couch while she and my mom watched Napoleon Dynamite together. My mom thought the movie was too inappropriate for my youthful wiles, so I pretended to be asleep. But Amanda knew that I was faking it. At one point, she caught me with my eyes open and winked. Now, when I’m hungover, I still crave orange Gatorade. Amanda had been sick before this year, but she’d always recovered. Even though I knew for almost a month before she passed that she wasn’t going to get better this time, it didn’t stop me from hoping for a miracle. Amanda was so, so ridiculously funny. She could make anyone laugh. She could make anyone feel better. She couldn’t die before turning 35. Before my twin brothers were born, my mom was hospitalized with pregnancy complications. Amanda and her sister,
my cousin Stephanie, drove the Pimpin’ Focus down to Texas to entertain me and my sisters. They took me to get my first (and last) manicure. I chose a Kelly green shade that should be banned from nail salons forever. We went shopping for summer clothes at Old Navy. All the while, Amanda played the cool pop radio stations that my parents never let us tune into. Eventually, though, Amanda didn’t come to visit us as much. My sisters and I proudly manned the guestbook at her wedding as she married her high school sweetheart: a tall, handsome man named Josh. I had never been to a wedding. Amanda had never looked prettier. When I found out she was pregnant with her son Jordon, I begged my mom to let me take a Greyhound bus to her baby shower. I was ten, so it was probably good that she said no. When Amanda and Josh moved to Hawaii for his job, I oohed and aahed at all of her photos of beaches and palm trees. She was far away, but I always assumed she’d come back. I always assumed she would watch me graduate from Georgetown. I assumed she’d get to see that I wasn’t so Stumpy anymore. Amanda and Josh ended up in Seattle, Washington, where Jordon goes to a Catholic school and loves to play with his dog. In the summer of 2018, Amanda came back to Oklahoma for another cousin’s graduation. I didn’t get to see her because I had chosen to spend the summer in D.C. I know it wasn’t my fault that I missed her that last time. I know that I couldn’t predict that she would be gone by March. But I still regret it just a little bit, and I always will. There are a million things I thought Amanda would be around for. I could’ve spent every single moment of my life talking to her, and I would still have so much to say. Life is so unpredictable and short and cruel sometimes, but we can’t sit around every moment waiting for someone we love to die. We can choose to worry constantly about whether this will be our last text message or phone call, or we can choose to focus on the moment with our full energy. Amanda always chose the latter.
There’s nothing you can say to make it better when someone dies young. Today, there is another child without his mother, a husband without his wife, parents without their daughter, an aunt without her niece. I am without the first hero I ever knew. If I started thinking about how hard the last few days of Amanda’s life were, I would probably never get out of bed again. I have to make a conscious choice with every single breath I take to remember Amanda as she was before she got sick: the loudest person in the room, the best at diffusing tension with ridiculous jokes, the proud owner of the Pimpin’ Focus. ··· My first car didn’t end up being a Focus. It was a $300 clunker that didn’t have air-conditioning and ended up in the junkyard shortly after I left for college, but I still have some good memories in it. The story of my first car might be the simplest example of the hardest thing to learn in life: Even the best-laid plans go awry. My childhood hero did not get to see me finish college or sign the guestbook at my wedding or come to my baby shower. My shiny, silver Focus turned out to be a rusty Mitsubishi with questionable power steering. But if I spent the rest of my life mourning my lost plans, I would miss out on a lot. Instead, I can spend my time trying to make people laugh, and I can smile at every Ford Focus that passes by.
Katherine Randolph is the Voice’s social media editor and a sophomore in the College. She is from Kennedale, Texas, and enjoys the term “yeehaw.”
VOICES
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February 15, 2019
Taking Control by Opening Up Josh Klein
When I was a kid, I used to rewatch Monsters, Inc. all the time, enough that I wore out the family VHS tape. Do you remember that scene when one monster comes out of his door with a sock on his back, and the Scare Floor erupts in chaos? If you really think back, you may also remember there is a quick cutaway to a counter that says “Accident Free for ___ Days.” After this incident, the number ticks from 47 down to zero. As a kid, I’m sure I found that hilarious. Now, though, I realize I have one of these signs in my own head. Only this sign isn’t for a “23-19.” My sign measures how many days it has been since my anxiety has been so overwhelming that I don’t know what to do. As I write this piece, my counter sits at six days. This isn’t counting my everyday feelings of anxiety, which turn my stomach into something between an Irish dancing competition and a butterfly house. I was 16 when I first truly encountered anxiety. The second semester of my junior year had just begun, but due to illness, I was forced to miss about a month of school. When I got back, I wanted to put that month behind me and move forward, but I soon found that I could not. I had never been very nervous before, even when going into a test. Now I always felt anxious, a troubling side effect of the medication I was taking to improve my medical condition. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t focus, couldn’t do anything. I did miserably on my first few exams after getting back, but once my dosages started to decrease, I began to figure my way out and my grades made a full recovery. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for my mental state. My ability to manage my anxiety only got more complicated when I came to Georgetown. Classes operated at level 11. The social scene was difficult to figure out. After attending a small, all-boys high school, I felt unprepared for the sheer intensity of the college experience. I was trying to make friends and join clubs while simultaneously choosing to stay in my dorm room when I didn’t have the mental strength to socialize. Throughout those first few months, I talked myself into a pattern of not voicing my problems. I reasoned that my friends from back home were living their own lives now, and my friends here were people I’d only just met, so I couldn’t justify burdening
them. And I figured my parents were worried about me enough, since I’m 3,000 miles away from them, and I didn’t want to worry them even more by detailing every time I felt anxious. There have been times when I’ve told friends I couldn’t hang out because I had too much work. When they ask what I’ve been doing all day, I can’t tell them I laid on my bed for over two hours, doing absolutely nothing because I couldn’t function. Better to just let them think I’m lazy. I tell them I procrastinated and put the work off, silly old me. I like to think I do a good job of putting up walls to ensure no one notices what is bubbling under the surface. I just tell another joke. Take on another responsibility. Keep smiling. When I do let my cheery exterior fall, and cracks appear on my normally smiling face, people tell me not to worry and that I’m just stressed. But I’m not just stressed. I feel like I’m living in an Eminem song: My “palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.” I feel like I am twisting my stomach up into a little ball to try to hide the anxiety away so I can deal with the problem at a later date. It’s often the small things that trigger my anxiety. The reminder of a due date or a messy room. Moments that may seem small to you are gigantic for me. You don’t care that I made a situation awkward. I do, and now I think you will look at me differently. You have already forgiven me for saying something unkind. However, it will be a long time until I forgive myself. These triggers cause my anxiety to crop up, occasionally to startling degrees. There are times when it hits so hard that I want to cry. I want someone to understand me and help me. I feel alone. But am I? According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.” I know there are people on this campus who feel the same things I do. However, they’re hard to find because they are just as skilled at putting on a mask as I am. I have begun to realize, however, that hiding is no longer the right path. I clearly remember reading that blowing on your thumb reduces anxiety, one of the many home brews I found on the internet. I was stoked to try it until I realized it wasn’t helping, and
the person sitting across from me in class was probably wondering why this weird dude kept blowing on his thumb like it was chicken noodle soup. So I threw out that option and decided to finally start talking to a therapist. I want to be able to do everything on my own, without needing others. However, I’m glad I decided to see a therapist because he has given me techniques that help bring me back to Earth. It was because of him that I discovered that by simply plugging in earbuds, tuning out the world, and focusing on breathing, I could feel so much better. Even with these new methods, though, I still felt like I needed something more. I recently told my roommate and a few of my close friends about my anxiety. This may have been the best decision I could have made. Simply knowing about my anxiety doesn’t mean they can stop the feelings. But they can help me get through the rough patches and continue to focus on the road ahead. Do you remember what happened to the monster with the sock on his back on the Scare Floor? He was jumped by the Child Detection Agency, shaved, and had a cone stuck on his head. All of his friends turned on him and ran away, and I was worried the same would happen to me when my counter got to zero. What I’m realizing now, though, is that this shouldn’t have been in my head. The more people I’ve told about my anxiety, the more support I have been given. People know when my sign has reached zero, but they don’t seem to care. They only care about me. I know these feelings won’t ever really go away. But I’ve found a way to make living with them more manageable. I’ve started bringing other people in. I’m just talking about it. Simple as that.
Roman Peregrino is a freshman in the College and an assistant news editor for the Voice.
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
VOICES
TIMMY ADAMI
We Were Never Silent: Calling for a More Inclusive Feminism
Coming to Washington, D.C., for college, I looked forward to my first Women’s March. In the weeks leading up to the event, I ordered red bandanas from Amazon to resemble Rosie the Riveter and scrolled through Pinterest for poster inspiration. When the day finally came, my roommate and I trekked across the Francis Scott Key Bridge to the Rosslyn Metro station, our fingers stiff from holding our posters in the frigid air. But when I got to the march, I felt out of place. As an Asian-American woman, it’s difficult to support a movement in which my issues aren’t being addressed. This sentiment isn’t new. For decades, feminism has received backlash for being too white and ignoring the challenges minority women face. In the ’60s, Asian-American women attempted to start their own movement. Since then, many of their voices have been lost, discouraged by societal and cultural oppression. Nevertheless, their struggles remain prominent. It’s time to listen to their voices again. Like other minority women, Asian women in America not only face the sexism all women face but also racism for being Asian, both of which limit their personal and professional lives. Being Chinese-American, I often find myself navigating damaging stereotypes about East Asian women. East Asian women are seen as quiet, submissive, and not “leadership material.” We are STEM masterminds and good worker bees. We are cute, small, and exotic. This may not seem detrimental on the surface, but it prevents us from being seen as real people. These stereotypical perceptions affect our employment and keep us from rising to leadership positions, a phenomenon known as the “bamboo ceiling.” These stereotypes have also led to “yellow fever,” when non-Asian men only seek to date Asian women. This may seem harmless, but the motivations often stem from racist stereotypes of Asian women as exotic and submissive. While all women face objectification due to their gender, Asian women—as with other minorities—face further objectification due to their race. I cringe remembering the time someone asked me for a massage or the numerous occasions when men on the street have called out “Ni hao” as a crude “What’s up?” in Mandarin. I speak Cantonese. Catcalling and assuming I speak Mandarin is sexist and racist. This is a particular issue Asian-American women face that isn’t addressed in the mainstream feminist movement. My initial response to these stereotypes was to be as “un-Asian” as possible. Growing up, I had no Asian role models in the media, except perhaps Brenda Song, the sole Asian woman on Disney Channel. The message was clear: To be American was to be white.
In high school, I prided myself on not being like other Asian girls. I thought that by staying away from stereotypes, I’d receive more approval from society. This was helpful when preparing for college interviews, where I felt pressure to seem “less Asian.” This included not wanting to be a doctor (I didn’t) and not being on the badminton team (I wasn’t). I felt compelled to talk a lot and emphasize minor things I did that I wasn’t interested in, like theater, all to differentiate myself from other Asian applicants. I was made to feel that I was only appealing when pretending to be someone I’m not. The one thing I could not change was my quiet nature. In a small group of friends, I’m just as talkative as everyone else. In classrooms and large public events, however, I tend to be quiet and reserved. I feel the pressure to speak because if I didn’t, I would be reinforcing and validating the stereotype of the quiet Asian girl. But what if I simply don’t want to talk to you? Society has misconstrued quietness as a fault. Quiet doesn’t equal silent. It means I’m particular with what I say. Maybe I am a quiet Asian girl, but I am not quiet because I’m Asian. The loudest, most opinionated people I know are the Asian women in my family. Quiet is simply part of who I am. I started to question other aspects of the Asian female stereotype. What is so wrong with being a doctor? Playing badminton? Getting straight As? For any other race, these qualities would be deemed impressive. On an Asian woman, it makes her boring, lacking personality, and passive. It’s time for this mindset to change, for all Asian-American women to speak up in their own ways and not be lost in the mainstream feminist movement. This is not a completely new idea. In many Asian cultures, being loud and shouting, common at the Women’s March, are looked down upon. As a result, many Asian-American women have found their own ways to transgress through deliberate actions that speak for themselves. In 2017, a group of Asian-American women formed the Asian American Feminist Collective after noticing the exclusion of the Asian-American voice in the Women’s March. The collective fosters dialogue and hosts events dealing with political issues Asian-American communities face. This type of political work is a step in the right direction and must continue. Many Asian-American women are also taking business matters into their own hands. The least likely to be promoted in the workplace, these women are becoming entrepreneurs.
According to a 2017 Nielsen study, in the United States, the number of businesses with Asian female owners increased 44 percent, while the number of businesses with female owners overall increased by only 27 percent. Hollywood witnessed an increase in Asian representation in 2018 with hits like Crazy Rich Asians and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. It was refreshing to see Asian women depicted as real, normal people. One thing I like about the latter film is that it never makes protagonist Lara Jean’s Asian heritage a defining characteristic. It’s a typical American high school romance involving a girl who happens to be Asian. This is important because most movies featuring an Asian character feel the need to include fighting terracotta statues or recovering some jade amulet in the plotline, perpetuating the inaccurate portrayal of Asian-Americans as foreigners. Still, there is room for improvement. None of Lara Jean’s love interests are Asian and four out of five are white. In Crazy Rich Asians, the actor who plays the leading man is half Caucasian. The work is not only up to Hollywood. At Georgetown, none of my professors have been Asian, let alone Asian women. There have only been three Asian female senators in the history of Congress. Feature more Asian women in film and television, on boards and in faculty, and people will start to realize that Asian women, like all women, are multidimensional and varying in personalities. They aren’t all small, submissive, and silent. They can even be subversive. Maybe one day there will be a feminist movement that is inclusive of all women, where one isn’t seen as their race first and gender second. Until then, Asian women need to step up and address their unique concerns. We need to realize we were never silent, rather society has silenced us.
Amanda Chu is a freshman in the SFS. She’s a firstgeneration college student and hails from Queens, N.Y.
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272 FEBRUARY 15, 2019
“DOING WHAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE” GUSA SENATE PASSES RECONCILIATION REFERENDUM FOR GU
Jacob Bilich
BY ANNEMARIE CUCCIA
After four weeks of debate, the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate passed a resolution approving a referendum on a reconciliation contribution for descendents of slaves sold by the Jesuits. The resolution, which required a two-thirds majority of 29 senators, scraped through by two votes, 20-4. The cheers after it passed on Feb. 3 made it seem like all of Gaston Hall had broken out in applause, though it was just one small room on the ground floor of Healy. In April, the referendum will ask students to create a reconciliation contribution to benefit the descendants of the 272 enslaved people who were sold by the Jesuits of Maryland to keep the university financially viable in 1838. The fee would be similar to the student activities fee, collected once a semester in students’ tuition bills. It would start at $27.20, in reference to the number of enslaved people sold that year, though it could rise each year with inflation. Since The New York Times reported in April 2016 that there are living descendents of the 272 people the Jesuits sold, student activists have been searching for ways to address the university’s painful legacy. Student protests in 2017 pushed the university to rename buildings honoring Jesuits who were involved in the sale and proposed memorials to the people Georgetown sold. The university also issued an apology in 2017 and offered preferen-
tial university admission to descendants of the 272. It also established the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to provide further recommendations. But student activists contend that Georgetown has not yet fulfilled its obligations to address its past.
$27.20 $400K
SEMESTERLY FEE
ESTIMATED TOTAL REVENUE
Descendants themselves have advocated for financial reparations from Georgetown. The Isaac Hawkins Legacy Group, composed of direct descendants of Isaac Hawkins, the first slave on the 1838 bill of sale, called on the school to establish a fund
to repay them for their ancestors’ labor in February 2018. “They have asked for something tangible to help them deal with those needs that arise from their connection to Georgetown’s involvement in the slave trade,” wrote a spokesperson for the group in an email to the Voice. This summer, a group of Georgetown students visited Maringouin, Louisiana, near the plantation to which Georgetown sold the 272 people. Students met descendants, many of whom still live in impoverished communities in and around Maringouin, and from these visits, they were inspired to bring the referendum to the student body. Four weeks before the vote in the senate, former Sen. Sam Appel (COL ’20) presented the resolution to his GUSA colleagues for the first time. Much of the resolution’s text came from the GU272 Advocacy Team, a student group formed last fall. GUSA senators debated the resolution four times—twice in the Ways and Means Committee and twice in full senate meetings—before it passed. Appel introduced the resolution to the Ways and Means Committee in a tense and crowded room alongside members of the GU272 Advocacy Team, Hannah Michael (SFS ’21) and Mélisande Short-Colomb (COL ’21), who is a descendant. Neither is a GUSA senator, the first non-senators to ever sponsor a resolution.
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
Michael said it was important that descendents and activists were involved in the legislative process. “This could not have originated in GUSA and actually been meaningful in the way it needed to be,” she said. But debate on the resolution proved contentious. GUSA senators had learned about the resolution only hours before the meeting, prompting concerns about the legislative process that stalled the policy discussion. Appel urged the committee to pass it, saying that if the referendum was going to be on a ballot in the spring, they would need time to inform the student body and ensure students uderstand it. However, the bill did not make it out of committee at that meeting due to overwhelming concerns about a lack of oversight of the funds. Appel and Michael returned to the committee the next week to clarify who would determine how the funds would be allocated. The proposed resolution now included a charter for the “GU272 Reconciliation Board of Trustees,” which would be established upon passage of the resolution to decide where the collected funds would go. While debate continued around who would be on the board, the clarifications satisfied some of the senators who had previous reservations. The committee passed the bill and sent it to the full senate. After a week of building anticipation and meetings between the advocacy team and senators, the senate sat down to debate the bill on Jan. 27. That meeting provided the clearest contrast yet between the views of those who supported the resolution and those who did not. Both the amount and the use of the proposed fee sparked division. Appel estimated the fee would raise around $400,000 a year and could be covered by the Office of Student Financial Services for students on full financial aid. Those who opposed the referendum argued that even for students not on financial aid, $27.20 per semester was a significant amount of money. This cost pales in comparison to the legacy of slavery, argued Sen. Samantha Moreland (COL ’21), a belief echoed by several of the senators. “It’s the smallest price you can pay for going to this school,” Moreland said. Appel responded to concerns that the Georgetown Board of Trustees would not allow implementation of the referendum by assuring that a student representative on the board had promised support. Senator Harry Clow (MSB ’19) replied that he had spoken to the same representative, who had reported it would not even pass his subcommittee. Sen. Dylan Hughes (COL ’19) introduced a series of amendments designed to solve some of the problems that detractors had with the resolution, one of which gives GUSA the right to appoint the students to the group which would control the funds raised by the fee. The advocacy team was concerned that this GUSA influence would limit the voices of descendants on the board who, under the original bill, would have selected the student members. Yet multiple senators spoke in support of Hughes’ amendments for more oversight and suggested that without them, the bill might fail. Two hours later, they emerged from Healy Hall without a vote. Instead, Appel used a parliamentary tool to table the vote to make sure the bill was not defeated in that meeting. For many on the advocacy team, it was disheartening. Michael said she was surprised that it was so difficult to get the referendum through the senate. “I expected senators to have reviewed the documents the team prepared prior to coming to the meeting so we could have conversations that are constructive and come from a place of having an educated understanding about Georgetown’s legacy,” she said. The inconclusive outcome surprised both senators and members of the GU272 Advocacy Team. More disruptions were to come: The day after that meeting, Appel resigned
from the Senate and his GUSA Executive candidacy for undisclosed reasons, and Moreland took over sponsorship of the bill. The advocacy team continued to meet with senators through the next week. Some senators came to show their support while others came to ask questions or criticize sections of the bill. But after that week of work, no one could tell if anything had actually changed. On Feb. 3, ideological disputes that had previously been afterthoughts to the technical criticism of the resolution were brought to the forefront. Sen. Evan Farrara (COL ’19) said he believed the university as an institution should address its history, not the students themselves. “Georgetown students do not have an obligation to pay for the misdeeds of Georgetown University’s past, nor would doing so be part of reparative justice on the part of Georgetown University,” he read from a prepared statement. He asked senators to imagine a person who hypothetically profited off shares in Amazon, which was later found to be culpable of human rights violations. While he said Amazon’s actions would be terrible, they would not compel action from those who benefitted. “The third-party who unknowingly benefited from these atrocities would not be considered to be at fault for these crimes,” he said. “Amazon and its administrators who were directly involved would be responsible.” Other senators agreed, suggesting the contribution by students should be charitable and voluntary. Sen. Saham Ali (COL ’21) responded that students of Georgetown have an obligation to descendants of the 272, since students have indirectly profited off Georgetown’s legacy of slavery by being educated here. Still, it was not enough to sway Farrara or the three other senators who voted against the resolution. One of those senators, Sam Dubke (SFS ’21) said that he felt that he was representing the voice of the student body by voting against the resolution, as he knew many people who would not vote in favor of the referendum. Along with Farrara and Dubke, Gary Xie (SFS ’20) and Lexie Gutierrez (COL ’20) voted against the referendum. Xie felt the reconciliation funds should come from donations, at least for the time being, and that people would not trust GUSA to spend the money appropriately. Gutierrez was concerned that many groups of people have been negatively affected by Georgetown, and that GUSA should not decide which of those communities receive money. Senators Matt Buckwald (COL ’20), Hayley Grande (COL ’21), and Harry Clow (MSB ’19) had all previously expressed concerns but were absent on the day of the vote.
WE AS PEOPLE CANNOT OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT THERE WOULD BE NO GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY WITHOUT THE INVOLUNTARY SALE OF THESEPEOPLE IN 1838.
In a last attempt to wrangle support, Moreland pointed out that voting in favor of the resolution did not necessarily equal support for the referendum, but rather for a broader discussion with students. She closed the final debate on the bill by expressing her concern that if the referendum failed, the opportunity to address this issue would be lost. “If I leave this meeting and this doesn’t pass, I’m going to have a different perspective on this school, this senate,” she said. Yet despite the discord, the resolution passed, and the referendum will be on the April ballot alongside GUSA Senate elections. While the process was difficult, Michael said the outcome was ultimately exciting. “I’m excited to play a part in empowering fellow students to inform themselves of our university’s legacy with slavery and look forward to hearing from my fellow students,” she said. Several students are still working to promote the referendum to the general student body. Sheppard Thomas (COL ’20), a descendant of the 272 involved with the advocacy team, said he is glad the referendum has started a conversation on campus about the university’s involvement with slavery. “Being a descendant, I feel that it is incumbent on me to be involved in those conversations with my fellow peers,” Thomas wrote in an email to the Voice. He kept other descendants updated on the referendum’s progress through GUSA via the GU272 Descendants Association. He wrote that descendants he has talked to have been “positive and supportive.” He is also reaching out to other descendants who are not involved with the association so that all descendants will eventually be aware. Another member of the advocacy team, Karla Leyja (COL ’19), is hoping to help bring the conversation to the student body. “At the end of the day, I realize I can’t force anyone to agree with me,” she wrote in an email to the Voice. “But I know that the way I got here is by putting in the work and educating myself about Georgetown’s history. I think there are things everyone can do, regardless of which side of the debate they’ll ultimately fall on.” Thomas hopes that students will not vote down the referendum because of a lack of information about it. “I feel that we as people cannot overlook the fact that there would be no Georgetown University without the involuntary sale of these people in 1838,” Thomas wrote. To help inform students, the advocacy team will host meetings and town halls to ensure students understand the referendum before they vote. Leyja knows that students may not initially be open to the referendum but hopes that they will come around to it. “The truth is, the idea behind the referendum is radical. It’s something that hasn’t been done before, and because there isn’t much of a precedent, a lot of people sort of have a knee-jerk reaction against it,” she wrote. “But once we get a chance to talk and a little time to reflect, I’ve found a lot of people are actually pretty supportive of the idea.” Regardless of the outcome of the referendum in April, Leyja thinks the process will improve the conversation around Georgetown’s history with slavery. “Our objective as a group isn’t to sermonize or preach. The words exist. We’re just trying to bring them back into the conversation,” she wrote. Georgetown is not the only university grappling with their part of the American slave trade. Harvard and Brown, among others, have researched and acknowledged their past of slavery, and Yale changed the name of their college memorializing John C. Calhoun. But so far, no college has instituted a financial contribution to address their history. Short-Colomb said she hopes students will pass the referendum and that other student bodies will soon take up reconciliation for their universities’ roles in the slave trade. “As Georgetown students voting yes on this referendum, we put ourselves in the position of doing what has never been done in this country.”
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FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Terrence Johnson Talks Theology, Teaching, and Tradition
By Claire Goldberg A giant painting sits on the floor of Professor Terrence Johnson’s office, among the hundreds of books lining the shelves, the African sculptures on the side table and desk, and drawings made by his children taped to the walls. The painting is of a woman’s face in shadow, a student’s final project for his Philosophy of Liberation class. It’s inception came out of Johnson’s desire to have students be more creative with their work: He wants to show off their different talents and not just confine them to essays and tests. Johnson is an associate professor of Religion and Government and an affiliate professor in the Department of African-American Studies. Johnson sits on the executive committee of the Center for Jewish Civilization, and he is also a faculty fellow at the Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Johnson’s appointments and positions in all these departments are certainly impressive, but there’s more to the professor than just his CV. “He pushes you to think critically and really engage with the material,” said Omi Okunola (COL ’20), a teaching assistant for Blacks and Jews in America, a course co-taught by Johnson. “To put it plainly, Johnson is an intellectual, and here at Georgetown, he attempts to make us all life-long intellectual thinkers.” Johnson wants his students to engage—not to just be passive observers—and to work to better themselves and their
PHOTOS COURTESY of Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University
communities through active conversation. In his lectures, he speaks with authority, but his style is personal. Johnson can make a panel discussion in Gaston Hall feel like a one-on-one conversation. “My prayer is that my students will also then take these conversations to help think about how do we restructure our institutions so that we have a real true sense of what it means to interact with the other and have deep conversations with people we disagree with,” Johnson said. “But then take that disagreement and create something so that these structures allow more opportunities for people to engage them.” Gueinah Blaise (COL ’20), another teaching assistant for Johnson’s Blacks and Jews class, explained that the professor is not afraid to “push the envelope” when it comes to discussions in class. “You know how some professors will have egos and only want you to regurgitate what they tell you?” she wrote in an email to the Voice. “That’s just not who he is as a professor.” Blaise recognizes the importance Johnson puts on communication and dialogue in his classes. “I do remember getting into a discussion/debate with him last year when I took Blacks and Jews as a student over black pride and what it means to be a black person with a homelands—I’m from Haiti—and a history tied to a successful slave revolt,” Blaise wrote. “I remember thinking, sometime toward the end of the debate, how cool it was that while I felt challenged, my
opinions and analysis of these themes were being listened to and processed by him not just to prove a point but to simply understand.” Johnson grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and graduated from Morehouse College in 1993, getting his undergraduate degree in English literature. He has a master’s from Harvard Divinity School and earned his doctorate in religious studies from Brown University in 2008. “We’re often judged by if you can do one thing really well,” Johnson said. “I think while I love the breadth of my interests, it’s also very difficult, and I’m still struggling with how to make sure it’s always coherent but also always accessible to the people who are going to validate me as a professor.” Johnson began his career teaching at Haverford College, a small liberal arts school in Pennsylvania and said that his favorite course was one of his first: Religion and Public Life. “The class was powerful, not necessarily because of the content, but because I had a wealth of brilliance in the room,” he said. “I felt so much energy from my students, and I was able to take that energy and grow as a teacher. It’s often not necessarily the courses that are my favorite, but it was those students. It was like magic in the air.” Johnson started teaching in 2007, the same year he got married to his wife, Jill. Johnson said the items he cherishes most of all the accoutrements scattered around his office are
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
his children’s drawings and a picture of his family. It’s his roots, his family of past and present, that provide him with the most inspiration, especially in his professorial path. “My grandmother and my mother were really instrumental in pushing education. I think because my grandmother was a sharecropper and mom spent her life working in a factory, I was always inspired by their work ethic and their ability to overcome a number of odds within their contexts,” Johnson said. “That was sort of one level of inspiration in terms of a certain kind of resiliency that I acquired.” A variety of books populate the shelves of his office, ranging in subject from literary analysis to philosophy to African-American culture and politics. He praised the work of Toni Cade Bambara and John Edgar Wideman, calling the former’s work “superb” and “profound.” He half-jokingly ended his commentary by saying these were just his favorite authors of the week. But there was one book in his collection, one author who has been the cause of immense inspiration for Johnson’s teaching and writing. It was something he read in high school. “My first college trip ever, I came to Washington, D.C., and my mentor told me I needed to read Du Bois’ Soliloquy,” Johnson said. “And I picked it up, and it really changed my life.” He got up from his chair and picked the book up off the shelf in his office.
“It changed my life, in part because he’s such a prolific writer, but also, he’s dangerous enough that when I read him in high school, my principal asked me, ‘Why are you reading this guy? He’s a communist, he’s not American,’” Johnson said. “So when he said that I thought, maybe I should read more.” It is safe to say he read a lot more. Johnson wrote an entire book about Du Bois, entitled Tragic Soul-Life: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Moral Crisis Facing American Democracy, published in 2012. He spoke about Du Bois as an intellectual guide, someone who has inspired him in his life and career path. “I really admire his desire to want to bring to light traditions that were ignored and often looked upon in disdain,” Johnson said. As someone who has both studied and learned from African-American theology and culture, the traditions of the black church have framed Johnson’s life experiences. “When we look at the role of the black church in wanting to develop people who are both spiritually sound but also equipped to interact in a diverse world and to prepare them to resist segregation and to find a place in the public sphere, I think that’s pretty incredible,” he said. But although black Christian tradition is Johnson’s background, he sees this as an underpinning to engage with other
The class was powerful, not necessarily because of the content, but because I had a wealth of brilliance in the room. I felt so much energy from my students, and I was able to take that energy and grow as a teacher. religious traditions. “I think what’s very powerful about my experience in the black church is it’s allowed me to develop a deep capacity to hear and to learn from other traditions as well,” he said. “My more traditional friends would say I’m not really Christian at all because I don’t adhere to a kind of orthodoxy. But when I look at the ideals of the African-American church, I see those ideals as very opening and very welcoming, even when some communities within that tradition don’t reflect the best of it.” Some of Johnson’s students appreciated Johnson’s approach to introducing the basics of theology in class. “Instead of simply presenting a survey class of world religions or tackling ‘traditional’ Christian theological issues, he asked us to consider the interaction between religion and marginalized groups,” wrote former student Sam Seitz (SFS ’19, SSP ’20) in an email to the Voice. Johnson’s emphasis on religion includes his admiration for the Jesuit educational tradition. “Clearly it’s problematic in terms of slavery, but in terms of ideals of the Jesuits and of Catholicism, I think it makes Georgetown an incredible and fertile place for the deep conversations I want to happen,” he said. This semester, Johnson is lecturing in the government department on the intersections of visual art and literature with political and religious ideals of African-Americans. As always, pushing his students to engage in dialogue is one of his focuses. “I’m thinking you guys are smarter than we were when we went to college,” he said. “So why not give you guys more freedom?” For Johnson’s students, the rigorous expectations he brings to class are an invitation to excel. He has high hopes for them. The Religion and Public Life class that he taught at Haverford years ago was so special in part because a few of those students went on to become professors themselves. Leaning forward in his chair, he gave advice to his students to seek out more from their education. “I would like to see students become more involved in shaping the intellectual life of the campus,” Johnson said. “I want students to not simply see themselves as consumers but to see themselves as knowledge producers. And as knowledge producers, I want them to demand more of the institution. And that’s what I want, that they demand more from us.”
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FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Students Lead the Way for New Composting Options at Leo’s Delaney Corcoran
As Georgetown University Student Association’s (GUSA) sustainability chair, Samantha Panchèvre (SFS ’19) knows that there is composting at Leo O’Donovan’s Dining Hall. But she also knows many students are unaware of it. “Either they see the bins or they haven’t, and they don’t know that we compost,” Panchèvre said. “I don’t think people know that Leo’s composts in the kitchens, and people think whenever the stations are closed we aren’t composting at all.” Now, a new pilot program to expand composting to Leo’s diners is being pushed through by a student initiative. When the upper level of Leo’s switched from an in-house dining system to a to-go model in the fall of 2017, Caroline Flibbert (COL ’21) noticed that the new structure created more garbage, and food waste in particular. The to-go model doesn’t allow for the reusable plates or cutlery that are typical in a dining hall, and students now throw out what they don’t eat instead of putting it in dish return. Flibbert felt she had to take action. Her planning eventually led the university to start a pilot post-consumer composting program on the upper floor of Leo’s. Composting involves collecting food waste and other organic matter into a receptacle so it can eventually decompose. The compost can be used as fertilizer or simply be added back to the earth, reducing the amount of waste that has to go to a landfill. Audrey Stewart, director of the Office of Sustainability, wrote in an email to the Voice that Georgetown has been composting pre-consumer waste—namely kitchen scraps—at Leo’s and other dining locations on campus since 2010. The additional new, post-consumer program would be different, relying on diners to sort their own food scraps into the composting bins instead of just workers composting kitchen waste, like in the pre-consumer system. Flibbert got in touch with Stewart and Aramark, the contractor that runs dining locations on campus. “Together we started having a series of biweekly meetings to sit down and say, ‘Hey, how can we make Leo’s more sustainable?’” Flibbert said. From these meetings, the new composting program was born. In the summer of 2018, Flibbert started an internship
by Delaney Corcoran with the Office of Sustainability to help implement the program. They installed large, green waste bins and increased the amount of compostable products in the dining hall, such as cutlery and straws. When the semester began, so did the new program, and the composting bins were opened. Interns at the Office of Sustainability had the unenviable job of manually sorting through the food waste in the bins to assess the level of contamination. “We literally took the compost bins from the sites, and we sorted out the compost by ourselves, by hand,” Flibbert said. “We saw how much was waste, how much was compost, and how much contamination there was. The results weren’t great.” Interns found plastic, chip bags, and other contaminants in the compost containers, which would have made the whole bin unusable if they had not been sorted out. “Since composted materials cannot include non-compostable materials … it is important to understand the best ways to reduce cross-contamination between compostable and non-compostable materials,” Stewart wrote. The interns were not just looking for contaminants. In order to estimate the cost of a full-blown composting program, they also gauged the amount of compost collected and the time it took to sort. The interns removed contaminants from the compost and combined the food waste with the pre-consumer compost from Leo’s kitchens. The compost was sent to Maryland Environmental Services, which deals with waste and has sites to process compost. Noelle Gignoux (SFS ’22), head of composting for Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network (GREEN), hopes that education will be the program’s next focus. “The main issue with the upstairs composting is the contaminants, because students don’t know how to compost,” Gignoux said. “I think the education piece really needs to be ramped up, and that’s something that [the Office of Sustainability] could be working on even more.” Panchèvre believes that in addition to general education, the process must be simplified for students to use it. “I think
[university administrators] underestimate how much students care about the environment,” Panchèvre said. “If there is a very clear system for disposing their waste properly, most people will take an extra two seconds and do the right thing because they want to feel good about themselves.” The second round of the pilot program includes adding volunteers—interns from the Office of Sustainability and students in GREEN—to explain to Leo’s customers how to sort waste. “This semester, the pilot is focusing on educating diners about composting,” Stewart wrote. “During February, the post-consumer compost stations in Leo’s Market will be open on selected weeknights from 5 to 7 p.m. when volunteers are available to educate and help diners properly sort their compostable materials.” Outside of Leo’s, GREEN is also looking for other ways to reduce waste on campus. They are hoping to receive money from the Laudato Si’ Fund, a Georgetown grant supporting sustainability projects, for a program in conjunction with Compost Cab, a company which facilitates composting. Compost Cab would deliver composting buckets to student kitchens and then collect the compost and clean the buckets every week, allowing students to compost on their own. Nareg Kuyumijan (SFS ’21), president of GREEN, is working on educating new students on campus about waste. He, along with the New Student Orientation (NSO) coordinators, is creating a workshop for orientation advisors (OAs). “One big thing we are working on is an NSO training for OAs on waste management and other sustainability programs which would specifically be on recycling and composting,” Kuyumijan said. The new program would teach OAs about composting on campus. They would show new students how to compost, including after dinner in Leo’s and if the Compost Cab program is funded, in their own kitchens. Then, the cycle of education would continue “As much as we educate the students right now, we have to face the reality that in four years there is going to be a completely different demographic,” Kuyumijan said. “Hopefully in four years’ time, people won’t be talking about these issues anymore.”
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
Gun Control Gains Ground at Georgetown and Across the District By Caroline Hamilton Amy Zhou
As of Feb. 12, twenty-one people have been killed in Washington, D.C., this year. Homicide rates in the District have been climbing since 2012, and this year’s rate marks a 50 percent increase from last year. The spike in gun violence coincides with a national grassroots movement for broader gun control, the energy of which was most clearly seen in the city during the March for Our Lives last year. Now in the District, gun control measures are being proposed at Georgetown, in the D.C. Council, and on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Firearms are prohibited on Georgetown’s campus by the Code of Student Conduct and the Human Resources Policy Manual, but until last semester, there had been no university-wide ban on weapons in place. In November, the faculty senate approved such a ban, which unifies the existing provisions against weapons on campus under one policy. “Georgetown decided to clarify and consolidate its existing policies prohibiting firearms and weapons and codify it into one, university-wide policy,” Matt Hill, a university spokesman, wrote in an email to the Voice. The ban applies to everyone at the university and faced “little controversy,” Wayne Davis, president of the faculty senate, wrote in an email to the Voice. Under D.C. law, it is illegal to carry a concealed firearm on the grounds of colleges and universities. Hill wrote that due to a federal appeals court loosening concealed carry laws in 2017, the university is currently taking steps to ensure this provision is still acknowledged on campus. “We are posting signage in the coming weeks and months that reminds those entering campus about the provision of the law that prohibits firearms and weapons on private university property, including licensed, concealed handguns,” Hill wrote. Some students, such as the members of GU Advocates for Responsible Defense (GUARD), believe that restricting firearms on campus makes the school less safe. In April 2018, GUARD delivered a letter to the office of university president John DeGioia advocating that GUPD should carry guns. Currently, GUPD officers carry batons and pepper spray as well
as share information and conduct drills with the armed Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Amelia Irvine (COL ’19), a member of GUARD, wrote in an email to the Voice that she believes campus safety policy must include firearms to be effective. “Georgetown is frankly irresponsible in its refusal to even consider arming GUPD, as it leaves students, faculty, and staff vulnerable to deadly and devastating attack,” Irvine wrote. “Choosing to bow to a minority of progressive students rather than dispassionately weigh the evidence, Georgetown has maintained policies that make students less physically safe.” Chris Stauffer (SFS ’22) and Margaret Gleason (COL ’22), co-chairs of the university’s new chapter of March for Our Lives, are both adamant in their opposition to arming GUPD. “We should not begin introducing guns to a learning environment, no matter if it’s students or police officers,” Stauffer said. “Why do we feel the need to introduce new weapons into an environment that currently is functioning just fine?” Gleason added. Most universities in the District do not arm their police forces; campus police at George Washington University, American University, Catholic University, and Gallaudet are all unarmed. However, campus police at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia are armed. Last April, protestors occupied the Howard president’s office in an unsuccessful attempt to force its police to disarm. “If the University truly respects the value of Black life, it must take a preventative approach to police violence,” stated a letter from the Howard student activist group HU Resist to university administration. “As long as campus police officers have guns, there is a potential for lethal violence.” The need for gun violence prevention is even more pressing at the city level. The recent increase in D.C.’s homicide rates— nearly 40 percent from 2017 to 2018 and 50 percent from 2018 to this year—has prompted new gun control proposals. Earlier this month, Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie proposed a center to study gun violence at the local
level. Little national research has been done since Congress passed the Dickey Amendment in 1996, which prohibits the Center for Disease Control from using congressional funds to research gun violence. Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD Chief Peter Newsham have blamed illegal firearms for the increase in homicides. “We’re arresting sometimes the same folks over and over again for carrying illegal firearms in the city,” Newsham said in a September press conference. Murder rates in neighboring Fairfax and Prince George’s County have both declined, suggesting the problem is unique to D.C. “At all levels of the criminal justice system, we have to do better,” Newsham said. To this end, MPD is cracking down on illegal firearm possession. In 2017, police recovered 2,191 firearms, up from 1,870 in 2016. Although D.C. has strict gun policies, weaker legislation in neighboring states could be leading to an influx of illegal firearms. “To really solve these local issues, we’ve got to deal with the national issues,” Stauffer said. Regardless, Stauffer and Gleason are optimistic about national change. On Feb. 8, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony about gun control for the first time since 2011. “Just the fact that there was a hearing is changing the conversation,” said Stauffer, who attended the hearing. “I think now that we have a gun-sense majority that we’re actually going to start having those conversations and actually start to bring up solutions.” Georgetown’s chapter of March for Our Lives plans to continue meeting with members of Congress throughout the semester to advocate for measures like universal background checks and red flag bills, which would prevent individuals who might be a danger to themselves or others from acquiring firearms. Gleason emphasized that bringing about substantive change to gun laws requires hard work and collaboration. “Just a lot of kind of knocking on doors like ‘Hey! Remember those things we wanted you to do?’” Gleason said. “‘Please do them!’”
LEISURE
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FEBRUARY 15, 2019
THE VOICE PREDICTS
BEST PICTURE
WHO WILL WIN: GREEN BOOK WHO SHOULD WIN: BLACK PANTHER
It’s no secret that the Academy Awards voters are largely, to put it bluntly, old white men. As of 2017, only 39 percent of Academy members were women, just 13 percent were people of color, and only seven out of its 17 branches offered more invitations to women than men to join the Academy. Yet, still reeling from the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite protest and facing backlash from the #MeToo campaign, the Academy, now more than ever, is trying to be cognizant of the political and social dynamics at play behind the scenes. This is why Green Book, a feel-good story that decentralizes the life of an accomplished, gay, black pianist in favor of focusing on a white man’s journey toward not being racist, will win Best Picture. Green Book is a competently assembled film and, on a technical level, is comparable to Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Its “based on a true story” narrative, which happens to revolve around confronting racism during the era of segregation, is what draws Acad-
By Angela Wu emy voters. Throw in some classical music, a few high-brow actors, a dramatic confrontation in the rain, and an emotional scene about homophobia, and you’ve got yourself the perfect recipe for 2018 Oscar bait. Green Book is a black story told from a white gaze. But the film that truly and unapologetically addresses blackness in America is Black Panther. While critics may patronize the film as a silly superhero movie, no film in 2018 has addressed the topic as explicitly and as unambiguously as Black Panther. From its stellar storytelling to its exceptional ensemble cast to its visual design, the film is this year’s strongest embodiment of the issues of race, identity, and citizenship we face today. The award for Best Picture has become a paradigm for the creative industry. A win for a film like Black Panther would signal a shift in the film industry—a shift where entertaining films can have a moral core and even the most cerebral subjects can draw widespread recognition.
BEST DIRECTOR
WHO WILL WIN: ALFONSO CUARÓN WHO SHOULD WIN: ALFONSO CUARÓN
This year’s Best Director race has a relatively diverse (but all-male) pool of nominees, three of whom are foreign and all with their own varying levels of experience. Yorgos Lanthimos garnered his first directing nod for The Favourite, but the unorthodox period drama is probably too outthere to bring home any awards for the Greek director. Adam McKay is nominated for Vice, a thinly veiled attempt at nothing but an Oscar on McKay’s shelf and a departure from his days of Will Ferrell comedies—some of which say much more about America than Vice thinks it does. BlacKkKlansman is not even close to Spike Lee’s best movie, but the legendary director is long overdue for his first Best Director nomination. Paweł Pawlikowski’s surprise nomination for the Polish drama Cold War reveals the Academy’s willingness to engage with a black-and-white foreign film that is notably reminiscent of another Oscar favorite this year: Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.
By Danielle Guida Roma is a deeply personal masterpiece that threads together quiet yet powerful episodes from Cuarón’s childhood. Shot in sumptuous black-and-white by Cuarón himself, Roma speaks subtle volumes about classism in Mexico and family dynamics in broken homes. In a time when superheros and dinosaurs saturate the Hollywood landscape, it takes a true master to remind audiences that human interactions on the smallest scale can be just as engrossing as the grandest of spectacles. As the clear favorite, Cuarón is on track to win his second Best Director Oscar in five years, since he became the first Latin American to win for Gravity in 2014. He would join the ranks of some of the most esteemed living directors with another win for his work in Roma, a film that transcends the drama of everyday life and sets a stunning example of cinema’s potential to convey empathy in a world that greatly needs it.
BEST ACTRESS
WHO WILL WIN: GLENN CLOSE WHO SHOULD WIN: OLIVIA COLMAN
The Oscar for Best Actress is Glenn Close’s to lose. An acting legend, with a career spanning four decades and including six previous Oscar nominations (plus various Emmys and Tonys), Close has routinely delivered top-notch work, and her role in The Wife is no different. As housewife Joan Castleman, she starts off quietly, almost as an observer, allowing her deeply expressive blue eyes and facial expressions to do the heavy work, masterfully conveying a mixture of resentment, guilt, pain, and misplaced pride. Joan has lived under the shadow of her dishonest husband for decades, allowing him to take advantage of her talents because once, as an young ingénue, she did not believe in herself. Close’s control and subtlety is mesmerizing—once her character starts to reach her breaking point, she becomes a force of nature. She is that good.
By Luis Borrero That said, Close faces tough competition given the richly layered performances of her fellow nominees. Lady Gaga is a revelation in a Star is Born, Yalitza Aparicio’s soulful and introspective debut performance in Roma is unforgettable, and Melissa McCarthy is tragicomic dynamite in Can You Ever Forgive Me? However, if there is one actress who could, deservedly, snatch the gold from Close, it is Olivia Colman for her wonderful performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite. Wretched and outright hilarious in equal measure, Colman provides a textured portrayal of a melancholic and sweet, but rather aloof and at times selfish monarch whose life has been full of misfortune. Her line-reading is exquisite—and in a film filled with memorable characters, hers is certainly the one you will latch onto the most.
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BEST ACTOR
WHO WILL WIN: CHRISTIAN BALE WHO SHOULD WIN: BRADLEY COOPER The nominees for Best Actor this year fail to impress. Within this disappointing pool, Georgetown grad Bradley Cooper is the most deserving for his role in the stunning and important A Star Is Born. Cooper delivers an honest and heartbreaking portrayal of a man suffering from alcoholism, struggling with the rise and fall of stardom. Awards season, however, is cruel and wants nothing but for its followers to suffer, so the likelihood of Cooper’s success is low. Despite being an initial frontrunner, A Star is Born has failed to snag any major awards this season outside of Best Original Song. Cooper was subsequently snubbed from a Best Director nomination, further lowering his and the film’s chances at a win in the other major Oscar categories. Rami Malek is a frontrunner in this category—he won the Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA for Best Actor—but his role as Freddy Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody was bad acting in a bad movie. Though his complacency and ignorance of his director’s sexual assault allegations have nothing to do with his performance, they further prove he should not be the winner. Then there’s
By Claire Goldberg Viggo Mortensen, who played a racist in Green Book, one of the worst Oscar-nominated films to date. His acting in itself was far from worthy of any award. The man most likely to win is Christian Bale for his performance as Dick Cheney in Vice—a performance largely bolstered by the makeup and weight gain he went through to look like Cheney. Just last year, Gary Oldman won this award for his portrayal of Winston Churchill, so awarding Bale this year would prove just how predictable the Academy is when it comes to male performances: White men playing politicians often prevail, no matter how boring their portrayal actually is. What’s most egregious in all of this, though, is the erasure of two fantastic performances, Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You and Stephan James in If Beale Street Could Talk. This is indicative of a larger problem of diversity within the Academy. Only three black men have ever won Best Actor, and only one black woman has ever won Best Actress. So, Cooper deserves the win—but his competition does not represent the true best male performances of the year.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS WHO WILL WIN: REGINA KING WHO SHOULD WIN: REGINA KING
This year’s Best Supporting Actress race is positively stellar. With the surprise nomination of Marina de Tavira for her work in Roma, the Academy has solidified this category as one of the few gems in what is an overall disappointing roundup of Oscar nominations. Despite being such an exciting category, the competition isn’t too stiff. For her work in If Beale Street Could Talk, Regina King has had a fantastic awards season that began notably with her Golden Globe win in early January. With a career-defining speech in which she made a vow that everything she produces will include at least 50 percent women—and a challenge for those in positions of power to do the same—King has made a lasting impression. The only thing that could stop King is her absence in the Best Supporting Actress categories at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards and the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). Among the other ladies in this category, Amy Adams has certainly been overdue for the Oscar statuette,
By Dajour Evans with five prior nominations and zero wins. However, Adams’ chances of winning for Vice are slim, given that she did not win at the SAGs or the BAFTAs even without King in the running. If anyone is going to upset and take the gold, it’ll be Rachel Weisz, who took home the BAFTA. In a truly phenomenal performance, Weisz is ravishing in The Favourite. But at the end of the day, this is King’s award. She has the momentum, she has the drive, and, above all, she deserves to win. Her performance as a mother desperate to care for her daughter, to free her imprisoned son-in-law—the father of her future grandchild—is so subtle, so passionate and so nurturing. She pulls you in, inviting the viewer to feel the pain and hurt that she feels. Regina King has been in the industry for over 30 years, and the widespread recognition she is just now receiving is long overdue. More than perhaps anyone this year, King is fully deserving of the Oscar. It is her moment—finally.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR WHO WILL WIN: MAHERSHALA ALI WHO SHOULD WIN: ADAM DRIVER
In this year’s lukewarm Best Supporting Actor category, there are a lot of safe choices, but no great ones. Sam Rockwell is up for his entertaining performance as George W. Bush in Vice, and Richard E. Grant got a nod for his work in Can You Ever Forgive Me? The real contenders, however, are Sam Elliott in A Star is Born, Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman, and Mahershala Ali in Green Book. While Green Book is a trainwreck of a film, Ali is brilliant as usual. His work as jazz musician Don Shirley exemplifies the kind of slow, intense acting that Ali has perfected over his long ca-
By Katherine Randolph reer. But Green Book falls so flat as a movie that it frankly doesn’t deserve to walk away with any Oscars this year. Though Elliott is phenomenal in his small role as Bobby Maine, the brother of conflicted rocker Jackson Maine, he ultimately just didn’t have as much juicy material as Driver’s Flip Zimmerman, an undercover cop who helps David Lee Washington’s Ron Stallworth infiltrate the KKK. Driver takes an incredibly complicated supporting role and manages to give the best performance in a film packed full of talent. Though Ali will probably walk away with the statue this year, it belongs to Driver in every right.
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