The Hoya: Sept. 28, 2012

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 94, No. 9, © 2012

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

A CITY IN FLUX

The Guide takes a look at the gentrification of the H Street corridor.

EDITORIAL GUSA should do more to educate voters about their options in senate races.

PEPCO Workers may strike after rejecting the utility company’s contract offer.

FOOTBALL Georgetown faces its third Ivy League rival, Brown, in a Homecoming clash.

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A4

SPORTS, A12

GUIDE, G8

Bias Reports Updated Referendum Is Valid, Ongoing Through Spring 2012 ANNIE CHEN

“We’re extremely pleased with the turnout,” Chess said.

Chess also expressed satisfaction After a failed university web serv- with the successful use of HoyaLink er delayed the release of ballots by to host the elections. This is the first more than nine hours, voting for time that the website, which was esGUSA senators and the evidentiary tablished at the start of last semesstandard referendum was still un- ter, has been used for a GUSA vote. derway at press time early Friday “It’s really quite advanced softmorning. ware that allows us to be 100 perAccording to Georgetown Univer- cent clear that every vote comes sity Student Association Election from the right person in the right Commissioner Ethan Chess (COL district,” Chess said, explaining that ’14), 2,509 HoyaLink pulls students had up the correct voted as of ballot for each 12:30 a.m. Fristudent based day, exceedon his or her For extended referendum ing the 2,000 NetID. coverage and results, votes needed “I think this is to make the going to set the visit thehoya.com. referendum future of GUSA valid. elections on a This elecnew and better tion’s turnout is the largest GUSA course,” he said. has seen on any student body-wide Because of the delayed release of referendum, surpassing the record the ballot, polls will stay open until 2,463 students who voted on the noon Friday.

Student Activities and Fee EndowAn email containing a link to the ment reform proposals last spring. ballot for the election and referen-

Hoya Staff Writer

TIA BAHERI

liams said.

Since fall 2004, the website has listed statistical breakdowns of inGeorgetown’s Bias Reporting Sys- cidents reported on campus each tem was updated this month for the semester. The site also began includfirst time since August 2010 and now ing month-by-month breakdowns includes statistics through spring starting in September 2007. Cases are 2012. categorized by type of alleged bias, In April THE HOYA reported the and reports give a brief description then-20-month inactivity of the web- of the nature of the incident. Unlike site, the maintenance of which is the the Department of Public Safety’s responsibility of the bias reporting crime logs, no information is given team, which is composed of represen- about the location of or the response tatives from the Office of Student Af- to incidents. fairs, the Office of Institutional DiverAbout 12 to 15 cases are typically sity, Equity and Affirmative Action reported each semester, though inciand the Department of Public Safety. dents spiked in the spring and sumAccording to the updated reports mer of 2009, when 25 incidents were on the site, 49 incidents have been reported. reported since August 2010 — 16 in Williams said that even in the abfall 2010, six in sence of updates spring 2011, one between August in June 2011, 14 in “The website was 2010 and this fall 2011 and 12 in month, the incibasically created in spring 2012. dent reporting Director of the system remained Center for Mul- somebody’s garage ... intact. ticultural Equity so a lot of things “People have and Access and been making reAssociate Dean became obsolete.” ports,” Williams of Students Densaid.

“Someone DENNIS WILLIAMS nis Williams, who follows up with Chair of the bias reporting team serves as chair of the person filing the bias reporting the report and team, said that the long drought was makes sure that that person is OK, due to Georgetown’s outdated infor- [checks] if there is anything that permation technology systems and the son needs in the way of resources lack of a point person responsible for and advises that person of any possimaking updates to the website. bilities of recourse.”

“The website was basically created Georgetown University Student in somebody’s garage … so a lot of Association President and Vice Presithings became obsolete or didn’t dent Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13)and make it,” Williams said. “We are in Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13) said that the process of updating the system their administration hopes to pub… and filling a position and a part of licize the system more aggressively that person’s job would be to periodi- this semester. cally update the system.”

“It’s important that the university A new staff member in the Office community follows up on these reof Student Affairs has been appoint- sults, both in response to individual ed to maintain the website, accord- incidents and to address the larger ing to Williams, though he declined problems within Georgetown’s culto name the individual. ture that give rise to bias and harassThe system was created in 2004 by ment,” Kohnert-Yount said. “There the bias reporting team to address in- is still a lot of work to be done to tolerance on campus, and a total of publicize the BRS to the Georgetown 181 reports have since been filed. community, as many students don’t Before the implementation of the know that it even exists.” website, bias-related incidents often Part of their effort includes adding went unreported. the system and an emergency phone “You could look at [the university’s number for victims of sexual assault reported] crime statistics and say, ‘Oh, there are no hate crimes,’” WilSee BIAS, A9

Special to The Hoya

FINAL TALLY

14 CONTESTANTS, THREE ROUNDS, ONE CROWN

Foreign Enrollment Levels Off

Why did you choose to become Georgetown’s provost after your time organizing the 2010 Census?

I am an academic at heart. I’ve taught at the University of Michigan, started mainly graduate programs and done research for a long time … and then I had this stint as a presidential appointment in the Obama administration … so going back to a campus was just a natural thing for me. I realized I missed being around students deeply. It is something that I learned about myself more from being away from them than being with them. I wanted to get back to campus.

Georgetown is special on a variety of dimensions that make it an important attraction. One is, I have a firm belief that the next few years at a university are going to be the most exciting years in my life. There are massive changes going on in the

While annual international undergraduate application totals have grown significantly since the turn of the millennium, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions intends to keep the proportion of international students on campus stable going forward.

International students, who comprise 9 percent of the undergraduate population at Georgetown, have applied to the university in rising numbers in recent years, according to Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon. The university received close to 2,200 international applications for the Class of 2016, compared to about 600 such applications for the Class of 2004.

According to Deacon, the admissions office has sent admissions officers abroad to inform prospective students about Georgetown since the early 1980s.

“Georgetown’s goal has always been to be representative internationally, so an international student population of 7 to 10 percent is the range that we hope to have every year. But within that range, we hope to have our students coming from a fairly wide distribution of countries,” Deacon said. The Class of 2016 includes students from 47 foreign countries, though no more than 20 students hail from each individual nation.

Georgetown admissions officers work with admissions departments at Harvard University, Stanford University, Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania in the Exploring College Options Group, which travels abroad to provide information sessions for parents and students across the world.

Senior Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jaime Briseño is responsible for recruiting students from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as much of southern California, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Briseño said that traveling with other wellknown schools allows Georgetown to present itself to high school students who may not have heard of

See PROVOST, A6

See INTERNATIONAL, A8

NATALIA ORTIZ FOR THE HOYA

Mr. Georgetown participants rehearse for Friday night’s pageant.

Hoya Staff Writer

Now in his sixth week as Georgetown’s provost, former Director of the U.S. Census Bureau Robert Groves sat down with The Hoya to discuss his hopes for the university and goals for the year.

Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947

See REFERENDUM, A9

Special to The Hoya

SARAH PATRICK

FILE PHOTO: NATALIA ORTIZ/THE HOYA

dum was originally scheduled to be delivered to the student body by 10 p.m. Wednesday night, but one of Georgetown’s primary domain

ABBEY MCNAUGHTON

Provost Aims to Expand Research at GU

Groves hopes to transform Georgetown into a global research university.

CONNOR BERNSTEIN FOR THE HOYA

GUSA President Clara Gustafson advocated for the referendum in Lau.

What are your aims for this academic year?

They are derivative of larger university goals. My job is to worry about the quality of faculty and academic programs. … I have to worry about the education [the students] are getting, recruiting good faculty and making sure the programs are up-to-date and high quality. A lot of the goals are keeping that going, making sure that program reviews are going on and that we are getting outside critiques of how well we are doing. I also make sure that we have rigorous reviews of … the faculty, especially for tenure decisions, which are very important decisions that we worry about. … I want to make sure we keep doing as well as we have been doing. The other goals are longer-term ones that I won’t finish in a year. ... [The long-term goals] have to do with making sure that the way we educate both undergraduate and

graduate students utilizes the best methods we can. Many universities, including Georgetown, are deliberating on how we can use new technologies in the classroom to make it faster for [students] to learn things, give [them] more time with faculty for intense interactions.

Published Tuesdays and Fridays

Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com

A2

OPINION

THE HOYA

Friday, september 28, 2012

THE VERDICT

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Homecoming Kickoff — Georgetown’s annual Traditions Day will be held on Healy and Copley Lawns today, featuring musical performances and activities like a wing eating contest, powderpuff football games and a dunk tank.

GUSA Senate Stumps Voters C

Beauty King — The Mr. Georgetown Pageant, featuring some questionable performances by male leaders of student groups, will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Gaston Hall.

EDITORIALS

ing most students haven’t carefully reviewed the candidates’ Facebook pages or campaign coverage in the student media, “vote for me” posters around campus are about all they can call upon when casting their vote.

But there’s a national precedent for remedying this issue. Many local elections provide ballots that include short candidate statements, which — while inherently selfserving — give voters some last-minute insight into the candidates’ platforms. Voters might be able to connect a name to a face after reading a statement, or they might identify a policy stance of personal importance. These statements are usually not very substantive, but they’re a legitimate starting place.

Local jurisdictions also often mail registered voters candidate information guides, which offer more in-depth explanations of a candidate’s background and positions. This serves as a valuable supplement to media coverage, giving candidates direct contact with the voters.

An informed electorate is a basic prerequisite in any democratic process. The GUSA senate does commendable work on behalf of students, but its ability to govern is directly tied to its ability to execute thoughtful and thorough elections.

GU Enables Adidas Abuse It’s been over nine months since the Worker Rights Consortium discovered that Adidas, which has a contract with Georgetown, owes workers in Indonesia $1.8 million in back wages. We’re still waiting for Georgetown to respond.

Adidas is clearly in the wrong on this issue, and Georgetown doesn’t save face by postponing a decision. If anything, the delay confirms the university’s role as an enabler.

Adidas violated the Code of Conduct for university licensees by failing to pay severance compensation, and Georgetown’s inaction represents the very attitude that allows greedy employers to prosper at the expense of foreign workers. Other colleges, including Cornell University, have cut ties with Adidas; Georgetown, meanwhile, can’t manage to schedule a meeting to decide what to do.

Earlier this week, Associate Vice President for Federal Relations Scott Fleming told The Hoya, “Is it better to cut our relationship with [Adidas] or maintain contact and talk them into doing the right thing?” (“GU Delays Decision on Adidas Violation,” The Hoya, A1, Sept. 25, 2012). Does Fleming truly believe that Georgetown can talk Adidas into paying nearly $2 million in back wages, thus establishing an expectation that it do so in the future? Georgetown has maintained business relations with a company that exploits already underpaid workers.

What moral high ground does it have to lecture Adidas about “doing the right thing?”

We find this inaction unacceptable, particularly for an institution that preaches justice and social values. By postponing a response to Adidas’ breach of contract, Georgetown cheapens those ideals.

C

Without well-informed voters, GUSA senate elections are at best a popularity contest.

Typically, they hinge on name recognition.

At worst, they are a total guessing game.

But these elections matter, and while everyone involved in the process has some share of responsibility for keeping students informed, GUSA could make several feasible changes to better educate the electorate.

Senate elections for Georgetown University Student Association, like those for the executive, use an instant runoff ballot, meaning that voters must rank candidates in order of preference. While this system can be effective for building consensus, it also requires a much greater level of voter engagement; while it’s simple to check off one’s top choice, it’s quite difficult to make an educated decision on whom to rank sixth versus seventh.

Instant runoff is indeed a desirable voting mechanism, especially for student elections, but we must appreciate the consequent demand for more information about the candidates.

Students vote for one at-large senator and one senator for their respective residential area. There are seven candidates for the atlarge seat and a similar number in most dormitory races, and their names are the only information provided on the ballot. Assum-

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Technical Difficulties — A university server failed Wednesday, preventing any emails to be sent from outside the Georgetown server to an @georgetown.edu email address.

Power Play — Georgetown will be holding its first independently organized TED event, which will be on the subject of power, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. today in the Lohrfink Auditorium.

A LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD US ... @danatgu A choice set of Op-Eds in this Tuesday’s issue of @thehoya… Bravo.

Sept. 25

@Ebony_Kissed Sept.26 Stop it. “@thehoyaguide: Playboy ranked Georgetown near the top of having ‘The Best Sex Life.’ #gutraditions” @jlloydgeorge Sept. 27 If the potential threesome suggested between @gtownvoice, @thehoyaguide and @wgtb were to ever occur, feature stories would be written.

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READER’S RESPONSE Identification is required for almost anything these days, including drinking, driving, purchasing tobacco, etc. The idea that this is somehow a burden on a citizen only when it comes to voting is laughable. As for your complaints against the laws? Out-of-state voters are more than welcome to cast their votes on absentee ballots, so that is a non-issue. The real reason that Republicans are fighting for these laws is because of the left’s dedication to organizations like ACORN, which perpetrated a voter fraud scheme in the 2008 elections. Republicans want voter turnout just like Democrats do. The only difference is that they prefer voters to be real people casting only one vote.”

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Founded January 14, 1920

Anonymous, on “Carded at the Polls” Posted Sept. 25, 2012

1789 PROBLEMS by Arturo Altamirano

Free News a Worthy Cost Staying up to speed on current events is an important aspect of education. The Collegiate Readership Program is lauded for helping in that endeavor, but it only scratches the surface of what the university can do to provide expansive and diverse news media resources.

The university should build on current readership programs, adding online and print access to both newspapers and news magazines.

Free print copies of The Washington Post, The New York Times and USA Today offered now are popular on campus — so popular, in fact, that they often get snatched up early in the morning. With pay walls becoming more common on news websites, however, it would be a worthwhile investment for the university to also provide students with online subscriptions to these and other sources.

Daily newspapers offer important coverage and commentary on current events, but they

do not cover the whole spectrum of quality journalism. The university should strive to supplement current options with subscriptions to news magazines such as The Economist and The New Yorker, which would broaden students’ understanding of current affairs.

This type of investment is not unparalleled.

Villanova, for example, provides its students with free print subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. That service reflects an appreciation for the value of a well-read and aware student population.

Georgetown should follow suit.

Access to free, extensive news media is one of the most valuable resources this university can employ in fostering a globally conscious student body. Expanding the Collegiate Readership Program would go a long way toward meeting the needs of modern students and realizing the mission of this university.

Connor Gregoire, Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kaplan, Executive Editor Steven Piccione, Managing Editor Sarah Patrick, Campus News Editor Braden McDonald, City News Editor Evan Hollander, Sports Editor Victoria Edel, Guide Editor Danny Funt, Opinion Editor Leonel De Velez, Photography Editor Emory Wellman, Layout Editor Michelle Cassidy, Blog Editor

Contributing Editors Mariah Byrne, Patrick Curran, Kavya Devarakonda, Katherine Foley, Bethany Imondi, Upasana Kaku, Shakti Nochur, Samantha Randazzo, Ashwin Wadekar, Lauren Weber

Emma Hinchliffe Hiromi Oka Kelly Church Sam Rodman Arik Parnass Ryan Bacic Zach Gordon Sheena Karkal Hunter Main Shannon Reilly Jamie Slater Hanaa Khadraoui Chirs Grivas Zoe Bertrand Kyle Hunter Jessica Natinsky Nikita Buley Martin Hussey

Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy City News Editor Deputy Features Editor Deputy Sports Editor Sports Blog Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Layout Editor Deputy Layout Editor Deputy Layout Editor Graphics Editor Deputy Blog Editor

Editorial Board Danny Funt, Chair Kent Carlson, Sidney Chiang, Patrick Gavin, Hanaa Khadraoui, Laura Wagner

Jonathan Rabar, General Manager David Hanna, Director of Corporate Development James Church, Director of Finance Erica Hanichak, Director of Marketing Kent Carlson, Director of Personnel Mary Nancy Walter, Director of Sales Michael Vu, Director of Technology Glenn Russo Martha DiSimone Kelsey Zehentbauer John Bauke Molly Lynch Sheena Garg Michal Grabias Keeley Williams Suzanne Fonzi Michael Lindsay-Bayley Ryan Smith

Special Programs Manager Accounts Manager Operations Manager Statements Manager Treasury Manager Public Relations Manager Human Resources Manager Institutional Diversity Manager Professional Development Manager Online Advertisements Manager Web Manager

Board of Directors

Lauren Weber, Chair

Patrick Curran, Connor Gregoire, Dylan Hunt, Jonathan Rabar, Mairead Reilly, Sam Schneider

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Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues.

Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-800 words.

Send all submissions to: opinion@ thehoya.com.

Letters and viewpoints are due Sunday at 5 p.m. for Tuesday’s issue and Wednesday at 5 p.m. for Friday’s issue.

The Hoya reserves the right to reject letters or viewpoints and edit for length, style, clarity and accuracy. The Hoya further reserves the right to write headlines and select illustrations to accompany letters and viewpoints.

Corrections & Clarifications If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Sarah Kaplan at (917) 605-0509 or email executive@ thehoya.com.

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tion of holiday and exam periods. Address all correspondence to: The Hoya Georgetown University Box 571065 Washington, D.C. 20057-1065 The writing, articles, pictures, layout and format are the responsibility of The Hoya and do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University.

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Unsigned essays that appear on the left side of the editorial page are the opinion of the majority of the editorial board.

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OPINION

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

THE HOYA

VIEWPOINT • Cho

A3

CONTEMPLATION IN ACTION

From DC to DMZ, GUSA Can’t Do It All A Newfound Identity F B eing born in Seoul, South Korea, growing up in Sydney, Australia, and attending a university in the United States, my identity has never been easy to pin down. After finishing my freshman year at Georgetown, I was notified by the South Korean Department of Defense that I had to fulfill a 21-month military service in order to keep my South Korean citizenship. I immediately accepted.

Needless to say, it was very tough in the beginning. I entered the army in late August and was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division on the western front of the Korean peninsula, right along the 38th parallel, where the border between South and North Korea is drawn.

After enduring training exercises under cold-blooded drill sergeants for five weeks, I was recruited by a master sergeant from the Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Division. Battalions generally select soldiers with superior physical and intellectual capabilities because they carry out the most important missions in the military.

My battalion’s main mission is to maintain security around the Demilitarized Zone, which divides the Korean peninsula, and watch for possible enemy infiltration. It is where the world’s tensions between capitalism and communism come to a head. The region also has extreme temperatures, getting as cold as negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.

Some of our missions include scouting and patrolling possible routes in the DMZ that the North Koreans might take to infiltrate.

We do, however, also have fun, recreational drills, such as helicopter repels and search and kill drills. The most memorable exercise was the cold-acclimatization training in winter, in which we sat in a frozen pond for 15 minutes in 5-degree weather.

In the beginning, I hated the army.

I didn’t know why I was serving for a country with which I didn’t even identify. The culture, the morals and ethics — they were all strange to me. But then I learned about Korea and its history, especially about the Korean War. Korea endured 36 years of brutal Japanese control. It lost its young men to the Jap-

anese army as soldiers and laborers in the World War II frontlines and young women as sex slaves to the Japanese soldiers. Then, the Korean War tore the country apart, killing over 1 million people and destroying 90 percent of the country. U.S. General Douglas McArthur said it would take at least 100 years to rehabilitate this land.

But my forefathers didn’t believe this. They worked tirelessly to rebuild.

And now, South Korea is among the top 20 most prosperous economies in the world, boasting more than $32,000 in GDP per capita, and leadership in industries like ship construction, I.T. and automobiles.

Yet South Korea could lose everything right now if it can’t defend itself.

That’s why I answered my country’s call: to protect what my fathers and grandfathers built, to protect our loved ones from those who threaten our existence and to preserve democracy and freedom for the people who live in this country. Out here in the DMZ, I endure the freezing nights and scorching heat waves for those reasons.

More and more people try to get away with not serving in the military in South Korea these days, but I believe that if you are a citizen of a country, it is an obligation and an honor to protect the place where you and your people live. In doing this, you learn that the freedom you forego to serve is not given in vain. You learn that the things that you take for granted in everyday life — the air you breathe, the water you drink, your rights to travel, have free speech and vote — are things that are earned through sacrifice and devotion to your nation.

For those who are in the United States where military service is voluntary, I strongly recommend that you have a go at serving your country. Until then, you will never really understand the value of your country’s freedom, and how that freedom is earned, not given.

I have rediscovered my roots in South Korea and I am proud to be a Korean.

I have eight more months left before I return to Georgetown, and I am making every minute of it worth the experience.

or a moment, the “clear and convincing” evidentiary referendum brought the student body and its elected government together in support of a common goal. Yet I fear, in the end, that efforts undertaken by the Georgetown University Student Association alone will be insufficient. Not until students develop a culture of self-advocacy and mutual assistance will we succeed in steering the university in the short term toward lasting change.

Let me first make one thing clear: Georgetown is not a democracy. It is an idea that bridges centuries of intellectual and moral pursuits with the students and faculty who now write its current chapter. For now, the administration dictates how to enact this idea, with an eye for the long run. But administrators by no means enjoy a monopoly on dictating the spirit of Georgeotwn, and Georgetown students are not merely stuck with the Hilltop they found on the first day of their freshman year.

Allow me to draw a parallel.

Millions of immigrants came to the United States in pursuit of opportunity, prosperity and education, not Jim Crow, the Vietnam War or skyrocketing rates of incarceration and national debt.

The America we know today was built by newcomers with bold ideas and passions often outside the mainstream — Catholicism being one of them, university education being another.

Not all ideas are perfect, but you take the bad with the good and work to make it better. It’s high time we put authoritarian take-it-or-leave-it logic to bed and get back to ignem mittere in terram — “set fire upon the earth” — which lies at the center of Jesuit philosophy.

Ironically, but perhaps not

by accident, the struggle for change is an essential part of the Georgetown experience. University policy — for all its outdatedness, legal hurdles and stubborn bureaucracy — hones the skills of student leaders. If the university’s idea of cura personalis means tough love, then maybe the lesson is to give tough love right back.

In the meantime, this allowance has its limits. Every year, ill-conceived rules and non sequiter punishments cause students irrevocable harm. Victims

Nate Tisa

It’s time we put authoritarian take-it-orleave-it logic to bed. are denied justice and subjected to a system that does not sufficiently protect or advocate on their behalf. Sexual assaults, relationship violence and cases of bias too often go unreported, unanswered or experience the pitfall created by the “more likely than not” standard. Students threatened in these ways inhibit any experience of learning or growth.

Legalism and bureaucracy inhibit the pursuit of justice everywhere. At Georgetown, the problem lies in the administration’s

perception of discipline and its willingness to penalize students for a violation they only “more likely than not” committed. In fact, the Code of Student Conduct itself teases us with the philosophy that would serve to holistically repair the entire regime, stating: “The mere observance of rules, however, without the cooperation and personal appropriation of the values they protect, falls short of what Georgetown hopes for everyone who is part of the campus community.”

GUSA can urge that Georgetown alter the language for burden of proof, but until the code is used to protect students, rather than prosecute and punish them, we will see little substantive change.

Out of all the concerns plaguing the student body, apathy is our greatest enemy. GUSA is an institution for advocacy, and I am committed, along with my senate peers, to do this work on behalf of students. Not everyone agrees with GUSA’s policies, and that is perfectly fine. From groups in the Center for Social Justice to Students of Georgetown, Inc., there are plenty of organizations for students to cut their advocacy teeth on injustices in the surrounding community.

Consider a concept from Plato’s “Republic:” “What is writ small on the soul is writ large against the sky.” Georgetown reflects the world we prepare for every day, in the best ways and some of the worst. Stand up for your neighbor. If someone is disrespectful, challenge him. If a policy is wrong, make it right.

Whatever you do, do something.

Nate Tisa is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. He is transition chair of the GUSA senate.

CONTEMPLATION IN ACTION appears every other Friday.

SCRIBBLES OF A MADMAN by Ben Mazzara

MICHAEL CHO took a leave of absence in 2011 following his freshman year in the McDonough School of Business.

EDITORIAL DISSENT • Carlson

Neighborhood Safer With Security Cameras L

ast week, the Editorial Board of THE HOYA authored an editorial titled “You’re Being Watched” (A2, Sept.

21, 2012). In it, the Board criticized the Citizens Association of Georgetown for installing private cameras to monitor public streets for crime. The editorial argued that this action was unsettling and inappropriate, despite the fact that it is completely legal.

I was joined by Patrick Gavin (COL ’13) in dissenting from that editorial. Georgetown students should not be concerned by the security cameras. Instead, students should feel safer knowing that CAG footage will help investigate and deter crime.

While last week’s editorial focuses on the discomfort we should feel about being watched, anyone can see that there is effectively no difference between this and a neighborhood watch, which patrols the area looking for crime. Many neighborhoods have volunteers who roam the streets at night to observe and report crime. In the event that a crime is committed in plain sight, the police would be forced to deal with eyewitness accounts.

By implementing a camera system, CAG is simply creating a more reliable source to help the Metropolitan Police Department investigate crimes. Witnesses to a crime are capable of getting the facts wrong, and the ability to review video footage will help MPD investigations become more accurate. There is no real difference between being observed by a living person on the street and being recorded on camera. You are still being watched, only now there is less room for error in reporting.

This measure should not be placed on the same level of privacy invasion that accompanies, say, a stop-and-frisk. When you enter the public domain of the street, you allow yourself to be observed by others. These cameras are only able to see what is in plain sight. Stop-and-frisk, on the other hand, allows police to act immediately on so-called suspicious behavior in order to investigate what might be hidden. These cameras are unable to go beyond those limits and therefore should not be compared to blatantly invasive laws.

The concern that these neighbors are not subjected to the same sorts of accountability measures as government agencies

should also be questioned. Illegal wiretappings and other less-than-legal government activities that have surfaced in recent years prove that government accountability is not necessarily a guarantee that power will not be abused. Even though the neighborhood group is not elected or directly accountable to the Department of Internal Affairs, the fact that CAG is not a government agency makes its use of cameras less threatening. MPD or the FBI could in theory gather this information and use vast government resources to investigate you and track you throughout the city. Government cameras on every corner would create a Big Brother state, something everyone should fear. But CAG can do none of those things.

The organization’s influence and scope is limited enough that its potential for using camera footage for illegitimate purposes is dubious.

Furthermore, crime is a serious problem for the Georgetown community.

While it may not affect everyone directly, we all receive those unnerving Department of Public Safety reports about someone being robbed at gunpoint only a few blocks from campus. Those crimes are unacceptable and neighbors are justifiably wary. Students should recognize that this camera installation is not a secret move by neighbors to catch students in the act of drunken and disorderly conduct. MPD is already frequently called to deal with noise pollution and drunken behavior. These cameras will not change this policing, nor will MPD care about reviewing the tapes after the fact to verify petty misdemeanors involving students. The cameras are for security — both neighbors’ and ours.

It is natural to feel uneasy about being watched as you go about your daily life, but given the circumstances, students should not be concerned that neighbors will inappropriately handle this footage. Neighbors clearly benefit from these cameras, while it is doubtful that anyone else is disadvantaged in a serious way. With that said, we should not only accept this move by CAG, but also welcome it.

KENT CARLSON is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Editorial Board and Director of Personnel for The Hoya.

VIEWPOINT • Isdaner

Straighten Out the MSB Curve

I

f the McDonough School of Business’ aim is to educate students to be among the most competitive in the nation and more attractive to potential employers, its grading policy does a poor job of furthering that goal.

While MSB students may be appealing to prospective hires once they graduate, the grading curve creates severe problems within the school itself.

Some MSB disciplines, such as accounting, involve objective grading measures (i.e. are the numbers you gave on the test correct), while other courses, like marketing, are more subjective. Despite these noteworthy differences, all disciplines in the MSB employ the same curve: a department-mandated average GPA combined with a quota on different letter grades.

This would not be a problem in most classes based on objective grading, which makes every student easily comparable. But what happens when assigning numerical grades in a course is nearly impossible? In such cases, even small variations can have massive impacts on students’ final grades.

The difference between a B and a B+ on a single assignment, for example, can be huge. And when professors have a large number of students, the impact that one grading decision could have on the entire class’ curve is not fully appreciated.

Yet this objective versus subjective grading issue is only a

symptom. The root cause of most problems with the MSB curve is the large variability and disparity in the course difficulty. In notoriously difficult classes, a grade in the low 60 percent range may constitute a B, or even higher. As far as the MSB grading policy is concerned, this presents no problem: the distribution of grades will likely work out in such a way that the average GPA and quota requirements can be met. When classes are challenging, grades will more closely resemble a normal distribution because students have a greater opportunity to excel or to fail. Some students will perform much better than average and others will struggle, but most students will fall somewhere close to the median score, which is the most important measure when using a relative grading policy.

But what happens when a class is too easy? If the average in a class is 93 percent, the distribution of grades will not fall neatly into a bell curve. In these cases, outstanding students are no longer given the opportunity to stand out. In fact, two students with statistically insignificant differences in their scores could see very significant differences in their final grades. So while an A and a B+ may only differ by 3 or 4 percent, the effect of that difference on a student’s GPA is disproportionate to his actual class performance.

Does a student who got one ques-

tion partially wrong on a test really deserve almost a full grade point lower than someone who got the question correct? Objectively, their performances were nearly identical, but the results of the grading distribution say otherwise. If you accept the premise that grading systems ought to reflect student performance as accurately as possible, then there is no way that the MSB’s policy is ideal. If the goal of a grading system is anything but that, then institutional priorities need to be reevaluated.

So what’s my solution? It’s incredibly simple and feasible: the MSB should look at its historical grading data since the curve was implemented, find classes with unreasonably skewed distributions near the top and urge its professors to make those classes more difficult. While some students would bemoan the additional work, most would be happy with a system that accurately reflects their academic performance. An increase in difficulty could always hurt some students, but these students likely have artificially inflated grades in the current system anyway. For many students, fair and accurate representation of their class performance could mean the difference between getting their dream job and having to look elsewhere.

ERIC ISDANER is a junior in the McDonough School of Business.

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Jack Tannous presented an unconventional view of Muslim-Christian hybridity Wednesday. Read more at thehoya.com.

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LIFE AND LITERATURE

verbatim

“

When I went last year, everyone radiated happiness.

”

Katelyn McNelis (SFS ’15), explaining her interest in Rangila.

See story on A6.

from

PICTURESDEPOT.COM

AMY LEE FOR THE HOYA

Chair of Poetics Dinaw Mengestu (COL ’00) kicked off the program’s Reading and Talk Series with a speech on writing and identity in the Lannan Center Center for Poetics and Social Practice Tuesday. See story on A6.

LET’S GET IT ON When you don’t know what to say, let Marvin Gaye say it for you — this week’s Friday Fixat10ns has all the right moves. blog.thehoya.com

GU, Pepco Prepared for Possible Strike PENNY HUNG

Special to The Hoya

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Works Local 1900 union voted to reject electricity supplier Pepco’s final contract offer Wednesday night, making a city-wide strike an increasingly likely possibility.

According to The Washington Post, union members rejected the offer by a five-to-one ratio, with over 1,000 members turning out to vote. The union represents about 1,150 Pepco workers.

“While Pepco has described their offer as ‘generous,’ we call it ridiculous, and we think when [the workers] see the offer, [they] will agree with [the union] negotiating committee that this offer should be a lot better,” IBEW President Jim Griffin said in a message to union members the day of the vote.

But Pepco Regional Communications Director Myra Oppel said that the company’s offer was more than fair.

“We feel it is attractive and mirrors our approach with managing employees,” Oppel said. “It has pay increases, hires more union workers and continues an excellent pension plan. We feel that it is fair and reasonable by any standard.”

IBEW and Pepco are resuming negotiations Friday in hopes of reaching an agreement. In the meantime, the existing contract will remain in effect until either party decides to terminate it, though the last extension expired Sept. 16.

If an accord cannot be achieved, the union’s next step could be to vote to authorize a strike. If the motion passed, IBEW would have to give Pepco 48 hours’ notice before formally going on strike.

No matter the outcome, Pepco has made prior arrangements to prepare for such a possibility.

“If they did decide that they wanted to go out on strike, we are fully prepared for as long as the strike may or may not go on. For the last several months, we have trained employees … who would help maintain the system,” Oppel said. “We also have contractors who are already here working on our system who would be available to assist in any outages. If there were any extended outages, we would use our normal process of requesting mutual assistance.”

Although Pepco is the university’s primary electricity supplier, the university does not expect any disruptions in power supply in the event of a power outage.

“In the event of a power outage and delayed response time from Pepco, Georgetown has systems in place to keep operations running and minimize the impact,” said Rachel Pugh, director of media relations.

LEONEL DE VELEZ/THE HOYA

An expanded version of the Einstein Bros. Bagel shop in Car Barn is set to open for business by the end of October.

Car Barn Bagel Shop to Expand PENNY HUNG

Special to The Hoya

Students with early morning classes in Car Barn will be able to grab breakfast at an expanded Einstein Bros. Bagels store by Oct. 29.

Renovations for the new store began Sept. 12, according to Director of Media Relations Rachel Pugh.

The store, which will be located in the “Fish Bowl” on the second floor of Car Barn, will serve bagels, sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups, espresso drinks and pastries.

The plan for a full store in Car Barn was suggested in the univer-

sity’s untitled 2011 food research report that refers to a comprehensive collection of research on products, services and experiences, according to Pugh.

The original kiosk, which had been stationed in the Car Barn since January 11, was moved to its permanent location in Regents Hall this fall.

Student responses to the anticipated store have been mostly positive.

“I think it’s great to see the university’s efforts to provide its students with different non-Leo’s food options, even in a somewhat marginal location like Car Barn,” Stephanie Welsh (NHS ’14) said.

Christina Wing (MSB ’16) emphasized that a food option in the Car Barn area would provide more choices for busy students.

“I think that it will be nice for people who have classes in Walsh and Car Barn because, right now, the only option for real food there is Wisey’s,” Wing said. “With Einstein’s, there will be more options.”

Some, however, have expressed concern that the new store would create more student traffic in the Fish Bowl area.

“I know a lot of students use the ‘Fish Bowl’ to hang out and study,” Sharmila Das (SFS ’16) said. “I think that with an Einstein’s there, it will be a lot more

packed.”

Some students also felt that other areas of campus would benefit more from a new food service.

“I’ve heard a lot of people discuss the need for a coffee place in the [Rafik B. Hariri Building], but Georgetown has several other items higher up on the to-do list,” Welsh said.

With the kiosk and the upcoming full store, Einstein’s presence on campus is growing larger, and additional growth is not out of the question.

“Future expansion will weigh heavily on the success of the new full store in the Car Barn and the kiosk in Regents Hall,” Pugh wrote in an email.

friday, september 28, 2012

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With Weeks to Go, Rangila Provost Outlines Goals Preparations Underway PROVOST, from A1

Molly DePippo Special to The Hoya

Though Rangila is not until mid-November, practices are already underway for one of Georgetown’s largest student-run events.

The annual two-night performance, which showcases traditional South Asian dance along with other styles, is now in its third week of rehearsals.

This year, over 600 dancers and 30 choreographers are involved in the show.

While dancers are still in the process of learning basic choreography, co-coordinators Neha Sobti (COL ’13) and Rohan Muralidhar (SFS ’13) have been planning this year’s Rangila since the summer. Major logistics, such as costume selection, have been nailed down with the help of the Georgetown University South Asian Society’s executive board, and the coordinators’ focus has shifted to the choreographers’ job of teaching their routines to hundreds of mostly inexperienced dancers.

“We call them the backbone because it’s their enthusiasm and creativity that really make a great show,” Sobti said about the choreographers, who were all appointed last spring.

In addition to South Asian culture, Rangila incorporates other dance styles, including salsa and contemporary hip-hop. This year the performance will feature a number from hip-hop group Groove Theory. Other dance groups on campus, including GU Irish Dancers and GU Dance Company, will also perform independently during the show.

Although organizing Rangila is extensive, coordinators say the benefits of the event far outweigh the work.

“It’s just a blend of great things,” Sobti said. “It’s [fundraising], getting to meet people, dancing and at the same time [showcasing] South Asian culture that a lot of people wouldn’t be exposed to.”

Rangila, which is now in its 17th year, has always been committed to donating all of its proceeds to charitable causes. In recent years, ticket sale revenues have been given to The Asha Kendra Hope Center, a non-profit career counseling, vocational training and educational resource center located in Jaipur, India. AKHC is exclusively funded by the GUSAS. Rangila has also been a way for students with diverse interests to meet and work together.

“Rangila is unique because it is the one event that unifies all the kids on campus,” choreographer Sana Imam (COL ’15) said. “Every school, every race comes together for this event.”

Sonia Vora (SFS ’15), another choreographer, agreed with Imam.

“It’s one of the few things that people genuinely do just for fun. I think we have a lot of clubs that are good resume-builders, but Rangila … people just do it because it’s cool,” Vora said.

For Katelyn McNelis (SFS ’15), a Rangila rookie, last year’s performance left a lasting impression that motivated her to get involved.

“When I went last year, everyone radiated happiness,” she said.

AMY LEE FOR THE HOYA

Lannan Chair of Poetics Dinaw Mengestu (COL ’00) shares how history, culture and personal experience influence his writing and shape his characters.

Author, Alum Examines Role Of Identity in Literature Caitlin Casey

Special to The Hoya

Lannan Chair of Poetics Dinaw Mengestu (COL ’00) kicked off the Reading and Talk Series in the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice Tuesday.

Mengestu was a Lannan fellow as an undergraduate and has returned to campus multiple times since leaving Georgetown, including a stint as a writer-in-residence in 2007 that corresponded with the release of his debut novel “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears.” In 2011 he spoke to freshmen about his novel “How to Read the Air” for the annual Marino Family International Writers’ Academic Workshop.

Mengestu said he was honored to be back at Georgetown and looked forward to teaching “The Writer’s Perspective,” a literary seminar and creative writing workshop in the fall 2012 semester.

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mengestu moved to Illinois in 1980. Most of his writing addresses the emotional transition and integration of African immigrants into American society, but he said he does not feel pressure to represent the Ethiopian community in his work.

“My characters reflect a history and culture that

is mine, but more importantly, they are human beings,” he said. “They portray the loneliness of immigrants, the loneliness of an everyday man struggling to bear and love life in all its complexity.”

During the seminar, Mengestu discussed how his particular history and identity influenced his development as a writer.

“I basically had to write myself into existence,” he said. “My perspective is uniquely mine — the absence of an Ethiopian community during my childhood, the resistance to becoming an American citizen during my teenage years, the racism I encountered growing up — and I have the authority to create something out of that.”

Mengestu explained the faith required to impress readers.

“As a writer, you find the music and equilibrium of a sentence, then a paragraph, and you take a tremendous leap of faith, which is hoping that readers will invest themselves in your text.”

Maria-Jose Navia, a doctoral candidate in the Spanish and Portuguese department, attended the seminar after reading Mengestu’s second novel, “How to Read the Air.” “I finished the entire book in one night,” she said. “It was incredible, and I just had to hear him speak in person.”

world that universities have to adapt to. They can’t be ignored. How Georgetown will look 20 years from now, I think, will really be shaped over the next few years. … It really is a matter of a small number of years that will seal the future of Georgetown, and … I want to be involved.

I really believe that the undergraduate and graduate student experience has to be a much more original discovery of knowledge and research-based, because we are all going to be researchers. We won’t call ourselves researchers, but that is how we are going to live our [lives] in the future. This involves an integration of the academic side and the teaching side and the research side of universities. This has sometimes been confused as [conflicting], but I view these as different parts of the same beast. And then how we have to adapt new technologies to the new pedagogy. I wanted to be a part of that, and if you think of both those things, Georgetown has been involved in a discussion about them. Here was an institution that seemed ready … to move on them, and that’s very exciting to me.

What do you see as your role in Georgetown’s long-term future?

Georgetown is ready to be a much more prominent research university. It has a lot of the ingredients for this, so one of my jobs has to be to find out what the structure and the appointment process and the administrative procedures that will facilitate world-class research. So that’s clearly a front-burner issue for this office. We have to get this right, and there is work to be done on it. And then the second thing is related to that. Part of the answers to this will force us to

FILE PHOTO: NATALIA ORTIZ FOR THE HOYA

New Provost Robert Groves met with Georgetown students and faculty in Dahlgren Quad Aug. 19. talk about the next round of undergraduate and graduate programs as well. … These are big things that will end up determining what the Georgetown of 20 years from now will look like. Most of my thoughts are on that.

What inspired you to start a blog?

What is the blog’s purpose?

The blog is really for me to float ideas and to address an issue of what’s going on on campus: What [is the administration] talking about?

What are they planning? I want it to be a way to make things more transparent, and I want it to be a dialogue. We will start, soon, a dialogue about the use of technology in classrooms, and I want students and faculty to be a part of that dia-

logue. I’ll use the blog to remind people about how they can participate.

How will you respond to student feedback on your blog?

What I’m looking for are ones that start expanding the point, especially ones that are controversial. …

Usually when that happens, there is something worth thinking about. If people are having divergent viewpoints, that is really important for me to know.

My hunch is rather than jumping into the comment stream … I may do another blog that’s stimulated by the stream of comments. I don’t want to squelch any of the commentary. … I don’t want to be the arbiter of the comments.

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WAGE Fellows Foster Female Leadership Caroline Welch Special to The Hoya

In an attempt to offset what they perceive to be an “old boys’ club” mentality on campus, members of the Women Advancing Gender Equity Fellowship hope to focus campus attention on gender issues.

Led by Women’s Center director Laura Kovach, WAGE consists of female leaders who advocate for the empowerment of women in the Georgetown community.

The 10 founding members established WAGE in 2008 after recognizing an unequal correlation between gender and the opportunities at Georgetown.

“The founding members felt that there was an ‘old boys’ ’ network at Georgetown and that some of the male leaders on campus had close connections with the Jesuits and would be invited to the Jesuit residence,” Brittanie Leibold (COL ’13), a second-year WAGE fellow and undergraduate assistant at the Women’s Center, said. “Women leaders weren’t allowed those same opportunities. WAGE just wanted to create a space for that.”

Since its founding, WAGE has seen an annual increase in applicants and now includes 15 fellows, nine of whom are new this semester.

Students can apply for the fellowship in their sophomore and junior years.

“The reason I looked to WAGE was because I was involved in women’s issues off campus, but there weren’t really places to have those discussions on campus. And that was odd to me,” Sophia Boyer (COL ’14), a new WAGE fellow, said.

The group currently meets in the Women’s Center for one hour a week to listen to female speakers, read newspaper articles and discuss gender issues.

“We talk about everything related to gender,” Leibold said.

WAGE emphasizes the importance of fostering strong female leaders on campus.

Boyer has not always considered herself a women’s leader.

“The conversations [of gender] weren’t on my mind, which ­I think is problematic,” Boyer said. “I don’t know why I wasn’t conscious of myself being a woman leader, but that was the environment [at Georgetown].”

WAGE matches new fellows with mentors — alumni who can offer both professional

and personal advice about transitioning into the working world.

Leibold said she looks up to former WAGE Fellow Soraya Chemaly (COL ’88), a feminism and gender writer for the The Huffington Post. “[Chemaly] talked about the need for women to support each other and not look at each other as competition — the ‘cat-fight’ mentality,” Leibold said, citing the statistic that one woman has a position of power for every 10 male leaders. “If there were more than one token woman at the top, we would be pulling each other up rather than making it a competition.”

WAGE emphasizes the importance of establishing an alliance between men and women.

The group holds an annual Women’s Leadership Panel, which invites all members of the community to join the gender discussion.

“Last year we even had [Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J.] up there with three women,” Leibold said.

With O’Brien’s addition to the panel, WAGE seemed to have breeched the “old boys” barrier of previous years “I enthusiastically support the Women’s Center as Laura Kovach and her team cultivate women for leadership on our campus and beyond,” O’Brien wrote in an email. “[The Jesuits] are proud of the many ways that women from different faith traditions lead our ministries.”

However, WAGE Fellow Melissa McClure (COL ’13) said she still notices a gender barrier when she attempts to start conversations with her classmates.

“I was in International Law and asked, since [the professor] was on the panel, if I could make an announcement,” McClure wrote in an email. “The moment I said ‘women’ in ‘Annual Women’s Leadership Forum’ every guy who had been watching me turned their heads as if it did not apply to them. I was incredibly frustrated and said, ‘For all you guys who just put your heads down, try to take an interest in the other half of the population.’”

WAGE hopes that the recent growth in applicants and future events will increase student awareness of gender issues on campus.

“I think the more that other groups can bring multiple interests to one table and have in common, [the more] they care about women’s leadership. ... It will benefit WAGE,” Boyer said.

OLIVIA HEWITT FOR THE HOYA

Martha Kanter and David Bergeron outlined the Department of Education’s policy goals.

Education Officials Stress Importance of College Lily Westergaard Hoya Staff Writer

Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter discussed the future of federal financial aid Thursday in Intercultural Center.

Kanter, who was appointed by President Obama in April 2009 after serving as chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, described the U.S. Department of Education’s mission as bipartisan.

“Whatever administration is in or out of office, our responsibility is to educate as many students as we can to the best of our ability,” she said.

According to Kanter, the department aims to increase the country’s proportion of college graduates.

“We had that a generation ago, and we lost that in a generation,” she said of the fact that the United States no longer produces the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

“We need a huge sea change across the entire spectrum.”

The department’s agenda includes doubling work-study funding, increasing the number of Pell Grants — federal grants offered to undergraduate students — and providing incentives for graduates to go into the public service sector.

“Our president said, ‘It’s an economic imperative.’… College affordability is fundamental to the future of society,” she said.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education David Bergeron joined Kanter on stage for a question-and-answer segment.

When asked about the possibility for bilingual education programs, Bergeron was optimistic. “One of the things we have to recognize is that for us to be globally competitive we need to be global,” he said.

Kanter also emphasized the need for adapting national education policies to a modern world.

“One size doesn’t fit all. ... I am for what works. I am not for these old models of a certain kind of curriculum that might seem good but is failing kids,” she said.

“My dream is that every student in the country would learn more than one language early.”

Both speakers emphasized the importance of protecting the Pell Grant program and providing support for teachers in the public school system.

“Forty years ago [the Pell Grant] paid for all, or at least two-thirds, of a four-year education. … It’s now paying for less than a third at places like Georgetown as costs continue to rise,” Kanter said. “Is education a take it or leave it thing?”

Kanter also talked about the need to reduce student debt.

“Debt is something we’ve got to tackle in a very systemic way,” she said. “We don’t want Americans taking out any more loans they can’t pay back.”

Students said they had a more positive outlook on the American higher education system after the event.

“I thought it was very uplifting,” Dylan Gaffney (COL ’15) said. “[Kanter] was very optimistic, looking towards the future.”

DPS BLOTTER Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012

Monday, Sept. 24 , 2012

Theft, Copley Hall, 12:03 a.m.

A student’s bicycle that was secured to a bike rack was stolen. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

Theft, Lauinger Library, 9 a.m.

Cash was stolen from a wallet that was left unattended in a common area. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

Theft, 36th and N Streets NW, 2:30 p.m.

A student’s bicycle that was secured to a tree was stolen. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

Theft, Epicurean and Company, 10:21 p.m.

The Department of Public Safety received a report regarding the theft of food. Two males were observed walking past the cash registers with food containers. They fled the scene on bicycles.

Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012 Simple Assault Domestic Violence, Village A, 8:12 p.m.

A non-affiliate was arrested after being observed physically assaulting another non-affiliate, who was also the suspect’s brother.

Alcohol Violation, New South, 3:29 a.m.

Officers made contact with the underage occupants of a room in the listed location who were found to be in possession of alcoholic beverages.

Theft, Pre-Clinical Science Building, 4:42 p.m.

A student’s bicycle that was secured to a bike rack was stolen. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

Theft, Leavey Center, 8:45 p.m.

A phone that was left unattended in a common area was stolen. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 Theft, LXR, 12:54 p.m.

A student’s bicycle was stolen from the courtyard. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

CLASSIFIEDS

INDEX MISCELLANEOUS

Theft, New Research Building, 10:10 a.m.

Two boxes of gloves were stolen from an unsecured office. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

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Aid Constraints Limit International Population INTERNATIONAL, from A1 the university.

“The program really increases our visibility for areas that may have heard primarily of Harvard or Stanford. When students abroad consider American colleges, they tend to go by the most known name,” he said. “They are able to learn about Georgetown and walk away knowing why it might be a great fit.”

According to Deacon, admissions officers advertise Georgetown for its location, Jesuit values and global perspective.

Briseño added that while Georgetown’s Catholic values are appealing to much of the Latin American market, traveling with other universities gives Georgetown access to a wider variety of students who consider Georgetown for reasons other than its religious affiliation. “[I hope] that students gain a better understanding of how broad the Georgetown population is as a Catholic school … so that they realize that although we are very much a Catholic Jesuit school, we actually appeal to a large proportion of non-Catholics and are supportive of everyone,” Briseño said.

Georgetown’s alumni network also helps

draw international applicants. Former Filipino president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo attended Georgetown, so the school is well known in the Philippines, according to Filipino student Randy Puno (COL ’16).

“There is a solid alumni class back home, so I’ve considered Georgetown as a possibility my entire life,” Puno said.

But according to Briseño, Georgetown’s limited financial aid budget for foreign students limits the number of international students who can attend.

“The challenge isn’t as much market penetration in some foreign cities but rather the limited budget that the university has for foreign students,” he said. “It would be great if the financial aid office had a greater budget, because it would allow us to reach out to more middle-class students from across the world.”

However, Deacon emphasized that his office has no intention of increasing the proportion of international students on the Hilltop.

“We are happy to have international students, we get a very talented pool, we get a very representative group from all around the world, but we also feel the responsibility to U.S. citizens,” he said.

Argentinian President Talks Economic, Social Progress Meghan Patzer Hoya Staff Writer

The first elected female president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, spoke about Argentina’s bilateral relationship with the United States and her administration’s economic policies in Copley Formal Lounge Wednesday.

Her speech marked the inauguration of “Catédra Argentina,” a new Georgetown lecture series that includes lectures and conferences on Argentina by representatives from Argentina and the U.S. “Our government has been pushing forward a reindustrialization model, betting on the domestic market,” Kirchner said. “This is a huge move forward from the collapse that

CONNOR BERNSTEIN FOR THE HOYA

Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner spoke in Copley Hall Wednesday.

happened in 2001 when we were running a debt over 160 percent of the GDP.” Dismissing notions of an antagonistic relationship between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund, Kirchner argued that the country has paid off its debt to the organization, and in return, the country now has full autonomy over its economic policies.

According to Kirchner, Argentina has paid back $25 out of every $100 lent to the country after it defaulted in 2001.

“We restructured our debt in 2005 and now have corrected nearly 94 percent,” she said.

“That said, we still have no access to capital markets so everything is being paid without access to those markets.”

Kirchner also pointed out Argentina’s social reconstruction, including investments in education, science and technology.

Nearly 900 scientists who left the country after the 2001 collapse have returned because of an increase in resource allotment in those fields, and according to Kirchner, Argentina has the highest number of software experts in South America.

Her speech also focused on employment improvements.

“We have created over 5.5 million jobs, and we have also succeeded in making our workers have wages that are the best in all of Latin America,” she said.

Concluding on an optimistic note, Kirchner assured the audience that today’s Argentina is a different, more stable country than the one that existed 10 years ago.

“We will continue to advance,” she said.

“We will continue to recover things in our country and work with all of our Latin American compatriots to do so in our region as well.”

LEONEL DE VELEZ/THE HOYA

A rise in traffic at Reagan National Airport in the past decade has created infrastructural strain.

Reagan Sees Traffic Spike

Madison Ashley Special to the Hoya

Getting home for the holidays may become progressively more challenging for students as Reagan National Airport struggles to cope with increased traffic.

The airport, located between the Potomac River and Arlington County just over five miles from campus, has long been a destination airport for travelers coming into D.C. The convenience of its relatively urban location also means that, unlike more spacious suburban airports such as Dulles Airport, Reagan was never designed to be a major airline hub because of space constraints.

However, that is exactly what Reagan has become.

In 2011, 18.8 million airline passengers passed through

Reagan, a 22 percent increase over the 15.4 million seen in 2002. This increase has been felt most severely in security lines, baggage claim areas and bottlenecks that develop for connecting flights, according to Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Yingling said that the airport has faced increased strain in recent years because Congress can use legislation to mandate that it accept additional flights. Most recently, Congress voted to pass the FAA Modernization and Reform Act dated Feb. 1, 2012, which ordered the airport to accept 16 more flights within 90 days in an effort to increase competition and travel options for passengers.

“We do our best to accommodate the new flights, but

our main concern is that Reagan National is running out of room to grow,” Yingling said.

Nonetheless, Yingling said that the authority has planned changes to alleviate traffic, including the addition of security-screening lanes at two new checkpoints, a new outbound baggage building for Terminal A and the creation of 1,400 new parking spaces.

While these solutions address immediate concerns, the airport will eventually have to contend with larger issues — the foremost being that it lacks the necessary space to expand.

Yingling said that future plans for the airport may include revamping parking facilities, creating new passenger corridors or replacing a terminal.

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Voter Turnout Hits All-Time High REFERENDUM, from A1 name system servers failed Wednesday afternoon, preventing the election commission from sending the email until 7:30 a.m.

Thursday.

According to Chief Information Officer Lisa Davis, the server failure also caused a few thousand messages sent by outside addresses between 3:45 p.m. and 5:05 p.m. Wednesday to be returned to their senders or delayed.

Despite the postponement, GUSA Senate Transition Chair Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) said he does not believe the final result of the voting will be impacted.

“It’s unfortunate, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because this is an issue that students care enough to vote no matter what,” he said.

The referendum allows student

CONNOR BERNSTEIN FOR THE HOYA

Members of the GUSA executive tabled in Lau to raise awareness.

to vote “yes” or “no” as to whether they support changing the Code of Student Conduct’s evidentiary standard from “more likely than not” to “clear and convincing” in all cases other than sexual assault.

However, the referendum has no legislative authority to alter the Code of Student Conduct.

In order for the change to be implemented, Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson must approve the proposal, but Olson has said that he will not make his decision until representatives from Loyola University of Chicago and Duke University conclude their external review of the Office of Student Conduct on Friday.

GUSA President Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13), GUSA Vice President Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13), the co-directors of the Student Advocacy Office and several resident assistants met with the external reviewers Thursday. “[The reviewers] seemed to be very understanding of the challenges the students face in interacting with the code of conduct. …We talked a lot about personal experiences and how the system can be reformed to be more educational to the students,” Kohnert-Yount said.

Though the referendum does not have the power to modify the evidentiary standard, Gustafson said it is part of GUSA’s effort to show student support for the change.

“The more votes we get, the more clear and convincing the message that it sends to the university administration,” she said.

GUSA Exec Renews Focus on Bias System BIAS, from A1 to Georgetown’s mobile application, which was unveiled at the beginning of the school year. According to Gustafson, this information will be added in the coming weeks.

Gustafson also emphasized the need to educate the student body on the meaning of bias and said that she and Kohnert-Yount would like to address the root causes of these incidents.

“We have to educate the student body on what bias is. Some stu-

dents don’t know that; they don’t know what bias is even if they see it,” Gustafson said.

She added that the bias reporting team has been working with the Office of Residence Life to teach resident assistants about the system.

“RAs are, by far, the people who use the system the most,” Gustafson said. “We’ve had a few meetings with [the Office of Residence Life] to talk about how they do their trainings and how we can replicate some of their best practices on a campus level.”

RICHARD OLIVEIRA SOENS FOR THE HOYA

Sociologist Jeb Sprague spoke about the role of the paramilitary in Haiti in the Intercultural Center Tuesday.

Writer Talks Haitian Democracy Andrew Wilson Special to The Hoya

Sociologist Jeb Sprague discussed his new book on paramilitary activity in Haiti at an event organized by the SFS Center for Latin American Studies in Intercultural Center Tuesday evening.

“The basic theme of my book is that throughout Haitian history, there have been democratic steps moving forward, but continuously there have been pushbacks,” said Sprague, a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Sprague based his research on interviews with government officials from Haiti, the Dominican Republic and diplomatic cables that became

available through WikiLeaks.

“I basically read all the WikiLeaks on Haiti from 2004 to 2010,” he said. “There is one U.S. cable I have that says ‘Well, we think the French might be funding these paramilitaries.’”

Paramilitaries — unofficially organized military forces — were established in Haiti after the United States helped dictator François Duvalier gain power in 1957. His police force, the Tonton Macoutes, carried out brutal attacks throughout the country.

“They became this pervasive force in Haitian society,” Sprague said.

Sprague said he was surprised by the amount of international support offered to the paramilitaries.

“The astonishing thing is that so many of the people I interviewed are

so open about it, about being with the paramilitary,” Sprague said.

“Another sector backing the paramilitary was the Dominican foreign ministry. There’s a whole group of people there who are clearly close with the paramilitaries.”

Sprague dedicated his presentation and book to Pierre Antoine Lovinsky, a Haitan human rights activist who was kidnapped from Haiti in August 2007.

Steve Simbert (COL ’14), who left Haiti after the earthquake in 2010 and is now studying at Georgetown, was moved by Sprague’s presentation.

“I think that the Haitian people really have to get all the political games behind them and work together,” he said.

GU Tenure Requirements Clear, Consistent Across Schools Matthew Walters Special to The Hoya

For many professors, achieving tenure is the holy grail of an academic career. But it is not an easy position to obtain — or to grant.

Unlike associate or adjunct professors, who must normally renew contracts on a yearly basis, tenuretrack professors are granted a seven-year probationary contract, after which they are brought under review for a tenure position — one that guarantees job security and the ability to focus their research on a particular field. Tenure candidates undergo three levels of review, starting with their departments and then the specific school they teach in before making their case to the University Committee

on Rank and Tenure.

Despite the intensity of the process, administrators acknowledge that the exact requirements for granting tenure can be unclear.

“People don’t know what is expected of them or what the tenure process will entail,” said Fr. Christopher Steck, S.J., chair of the theology department. “There’s no way to say, ‘Yes, this will definitely get you tenure.’”

As with anything so potentially life altering, there is concern about whether the tenure determination process is sufficiently transparent and fair. According to a Sept. 17 article in The GW Hatchet, professors at The George Washington University have expressed concern that the guidelines for gaining tenure are not appropriately fair. Professors at

the school said that miscommunication or a disagreement with a dean could prevent faculty from securing lifelong positions, according to The Hatchet.

But academic administrators at Georgetown say that every effort is made to ensure the guidelines are laid out clearly and that the process is as fair as possible.

“I am sure that any process where someone’s life is at stake makes people extremely nervous, and that can give rise to feelings that it’s unpredictable,” said Alexander Sens, former chair of the University Committee on Rank and Tenure. “But that’s really not the case.”

The committee comprises delegates from Georgetown College, the School of Foreign Service and the McDonough School of Business

as well as from the Georgetown University Law Center and the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Half of the committee members are appointed by the Office of the President, and the rest are appointed by the faculty senate.

According to Steck, this common review process ensures an even playing field.

“I can see how there would be concern if one department has higher standards than another,” he said.

“Ultimately, though, the [final] decision is made by the same committee.”

SFS Faculty Chair David Edelstein, who has served on the tenure review committee for the SFS, added that the process is similar at each phase of review. He said that tenure is determined at all levels on the basis of

three main pillars — service, teaching and research — though it is difficult to pinpoint how those three factors are weighted.

“We value teaching, so it’s important that you’re a good teacher. It’s also important that you’re a good scholar and researcher,” Edelstein said. “There’s no single formula for weighing those things.”

Nonetheless, Sens said that clear information about expectations and frequent meetings between senior university academics and those on the tenure track ensures that those who wish to attain tenure generally do.

“I think we set expectations reasonably, and if you meet those expectations, then you should have a pretty good [chance] … that you’ll get tenure.”

A10

Sports

THE HOYA

the bleacher seats

men’s soccer

Hoyas Notch Win Over Dukes JMU, from A12 all that mattered.

“You’re not going to go into a place like James Madison and run the game for 90 minutes,” Wiese said. “The last 15 minutes, I think, the boys got a little bit more conservative and didn’t want to concede, versus trying to get the [knockout blow].”

Wiese was also quick to reiterate that simply notching the victory was more important than the margin.

“It’s better to win all your games, 1-0, than winning eight of them, 5-0, and losing one of them, 1-0,” Wiese said. “It’s a great result, and we’ll take it, and now we can focus on the Big East for a little while. “ And focus they must, with a trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday serving as a precursor to their

banner conference matchup Wednesday with No. 2 UConn (8-0-1, 1-0-0).

Not getting sidetracked by that home meeting with the Huskies will be key for Georgetown on Saturday, since the Panthers (6-2-2, 0-1-0) are no slouches themselves.

Undefeated until a conference loss to Cincinnati last Saturday, Pittsburgh has now dropped two straight, its most recent a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Navy. The team has a new home this season, leaving its off-campus rented polo grounds behind in favor of a new, better-kept on-campus facility.

“It’s a resurgent Pitt team.

They’ve had several years going into this one where they were really trying to find their way. [They] were always a hard game but were on the losing

side more [often] than not,” Wiese said. “I think the biggest difference for them this year is that they feel like they’re going to go into every game and get a win.”

But while the change of venue has facilitated the quality and duration of practices — in addition to increasing fan presence at games — the improved field should also allow the Hoyas to play their characteristic brand of possessionbased soccer, a style that the Panthers have adopted this season as well. The Blue and Gray know that they will have to be at their best to be able to grab a win — and the resulting three points — in Big East play.

“They’re going to be a team that’s going to require our full attention,” Wiese said.

Opening kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Pittsburgh, Pa.

cross country

Runners Set for Lehigh Meet Patrick Musgrave Special to the Hoya

Georgetown’s men’s and women’s cross country teams will be back in action today at Lehigh’s Paul Short Invitational, with both looking to build on strong showings in their season openers three weeks ago.

The women, defending NCAA champions, won the Dartmouth Invitational that weekend, defeating Syracuse, Connecticut, Middlebury and their hosts in the process.

“They are very tough [and] they are great racers, so I think the key for our women is going to be relaxed execution,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Patrick Henner said.

The Hoyas finished fourth in the Paul Short last season. Providence, which returns four of its top five runners from last year’s meet, looms as the biggest challenge for Georgetown, which will also clash with Big East rivals Villanova and Syracuse.

“The women are currently in the middle of a heavy training block, so we might sit a couple of our top athletes out just to let them focus on their training,” Henner said. “But I think we’re still going to be a competitive team even with some of our big guns in reserve.”

Senior Emily Jones was the leading runner last year at Lehigh, clocking a 20:48. Her class-

mate Rachel Schneider, who led Georgetown at the Dartmouth Invitational, will also be looking to finish in the top group.

Given what he saw in New Hampshire, Henner is optimistic about how his team will perform, even given last year’s lofty standards.

“This is a new year, a new team. We may not have a really, really low number, but I think our depth might be better than last year,” Henner said. “We could end up being a great team again this year.”

The Blue and Gray look just as good on the men’s side, with the squad finishing second — 32 points shy of Princeton — in Penn State’s Spiked Shoe Invitational three weeks ago.

“The preparation has gone very well. It’s probably some of the overall best team training that I’ve had a group do in my coaching career, so we’re really excited to see the guys get out there and race,” Henner said of the men’s efforts.

Georgetown will be led by graduate student Mark Dennin and senior Andrew Springer.

Springer covered the 8000m in 26:25 at the Spiked Shoe, averaging 5:19 per mile. He was followed closely by Dennin, who crossed the finish line in 26:30.

“Springer and Dennin are both among some of the best athletes in the country, and I

think they both have a good chance of being All-Americans this year and could be running at the very front of the pack [today],” Henner said.

Dennin and Springer will be joined by senior Ben Furcht, who finished nearly alongside Springer in State College. Junior Max Darrah will also be looking to close the gap on the older runners, having run a 26:33 at the Spiked Shoe.

In the team race, the Hoyas will face tough competition from conference rival Villanova, which returns two sub-26-minute runners. The Blue and Gray will also be competing against perennial foe Princeton. The Tigers have one runner capable of going sub-26, and three others right around the times of the Hoya top three, according to Henner.

“For us to be successful this year, Dennin and Springer need to be frontrunners. I think the advantage we have, though, is that by the time we get to Big East and NCAAs, we will have five guys that will all be able to run together,” he said. “I think that we have the depth to do that.”

Between demonstrating that depth and giving the women a chance to validate their early-season form, today’s races should give Georgetown a good opportunity to keep its eyes on the prize.

field hockey

GU Aims for Third Win Celee Belmonte Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown field hockey team (2-8, 0-2 Big East) catches a break this weekend, with two home games against nonconference opponents after a rough Midwest road trip last week saw the Hoyas lose to both Louisville and Miami of Ohio.

The Blue and Gray will play host to Monmouth (1-9) Saturday and Lock Haven (7-4) Sunday. They are hoping to use the games to pad their modest win total, which currently only includes victories over Appalachian State and St. Louis.

Mostly, however, the team just seems relieved to play at home again after travel that has taken them as far away as Missouri, Kentucky and North Carolina.

“We have only had one home weekend so far,” Head Coach Tiffany Marsh said. “We are looking forward to having a really big weekend at home.

We are really excited.”

Monmouth, which plays in the Northeast Conference, has notched only one win so far this season, a 5-1 victory over St. Joseph’s. Its most recent loss was a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Lehigh, a team that beat Georgetown earlier in the year.

Just over 24 hours later, the Hoyas will take on Lock Haven, which — despite a winning record overall — is just 2-2 on the road this season.

In addition to a chance for

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA

Sophomore defender Elizabeth Mueller has played in all 10 of Georgetown’s games so far this season. confidence-building wins, Marsh also hopes her team will be able to target and eliminate some weaknesses as they head back into league play.

“We have an opportunity this weekend to get back on track,” Marsh said. “This is really a great chance for us to work out the kinks before heading into a huge Big East game against Rutgers.”

Although Georgetown is playing at home this weekend, the game will still be something of a hike for Hoyas fans. After years of hosting teams at American University’s William I Jacobs Recreational Complex, the Hoyas

friDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

are calling the University of Maryland’s Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in College Park, Md., home this season.

“The move from American to Maryland was just a matter of field availability,” Marsh said. “Maryland has one of the best facilities in the country. I think we are taking a step in the right direction playing at such a nice place.”

Georgetown will make the trip — which Marsh estimated at 20-30 minutes without heavy traffic — on Saturday to face Monmouth at 1 p.m., and again on Sunday, when they meet Lock Haven at 4 p.m.

Healthy Griffin Needed For Skins Trade to Show Results

R

obert Griffin III stepped onto FedEx Field The second half of Sunday’s home opener for his first regular season home game revealed one of the biggest decisions that the last Sunday amidst overwhelming fan- Redskins will have to make in dealing with RG3: fare. Fireworks were set off, and the entire crowd Will Head Coach Mike Shanahan sacrifice utilizof rabid Redskins fans erupted into a chant of ing some of Griffin’s skills and natural abilities “RG3” when the announcer sounded out his for the sake of keeping the young star healthier name for what felt like an eternity. for longer?

As my friend sitting beside me in section 451 With formerly explosive players like Michael nudged me to say, “The guy’s got swag,” I found Vick seeming suddenly human and prone to inmyself lost in the feeling that I was witnessing jury, Shanahan has to see the writing on the wall the start of something special. and know that Griffin could suffer a similar fate.

What if Griffin is the Redskins’ savior at quarIn only his third regular season game in the terback? league, Griffin seemed to stay down longer than After years of suffering through Jason Camp- normal after every hit. bell, Donovan McNabb and Mark Brunell, WashYes, he had just been smashed to the gridiron ington is in need of a Pro Bowl starting quarter- after executing an option run perfectly, but the back to lead the city to its first quarterback acted like he was Super Bowl since 1991. Strutting truly in pain after every single onto the field, Griffin appeared hit in the home opener. At the ready to take on that job. age of 22, his habit of hanging Through the first half of footonto the ball until the last posball that day, with his team strugsible minute is already causing gling to give Griffin time in the him a large amount of unnecpocket to make throws, Washessary physical trauma. ington’s quarterback had only But for some reason, taking six passing yards. Even worse, these hits is part of Griffin’s Corey Blaine the Redskins’ plays did not utistyle. You can’t enter a game lize their quarterback’s special with the swagger of the toughtalents, leaving the crowd at Feest guy out there without beOne season of dEx Field in doubt of the Baylor willing to back it up, someflashy plays and ing product’s potential. thing Griffin certainly loves to But those doubts quickly faded exciting wins will do.When a defensive player was as the second half began. Griffin became electrifying, slashing called for a late hit on the quarnot do. through linebackers and flickterback, Griffin stood tall and ing 20-yard passes as if they were even took the opportunity to nothing. After an abysmal first talk trash. He will never back half, Skins Coach Mike Shanahan allowed his of- down from a fight, but that toughness, comfense to run an option-based attack that put up bined with play calls that leave him as a target 24 points in one half. for defensive ends, will eventually wreck the forWith each big play RG3 made, I bought into mer Baylor standout’s body. the hype that he could usher in a new era of For the Redskins to get their money’s worth, Washington football — no small feat in a city which is quite a bit considering the draft picks that desperately needs to inject excitement to they gave up in the trade for Griffin, the phenom build on its 80-year history. has to remain healthy.

This was until the first big hit on Griffin of Washington leveraged its entire future to comthe second half. In order to open up the offense plete the trade, meaning one season of flashy to meet his particular skill set, the Redskins’ of- plays and exciting wins followed by chronic injufensive coordinator, Shanahan’s son, Kyle, had ries and disappointment will not do. to rely on option runs and pass plays that broke Unless the Redskins can find a way to use out of the pocket.

RG3’s talents in a safer way, they are heading As a result, the young superstar was left wide straight for disaster. open for serious collisions with defensive players who are much larger than his 223-pound Corey Blaine is a senior in the McDonough frame and most of whom intended to inflict School of Business. THE BLEACHER SEATS PHILLY appears every Friday. pain on the quarterback.

sports

friDAY, september 28, 2012

fOOTBALL

THE HOYA

voLLEYbALL

GU Confident Amid Skid PIRATES, from A12

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA

Junior defensive back Dustin Wharton (11) has 31.5 tackles so far this season.

Skon Readies for First Start BROWN, from A12 with the same composure he showed against Princeton. “[Stephen’s] had a good week of practice and he’s the guy this week,” Kelly said. “He’s got to take what the defense gives him, play within our scheme and not try to win the game [on his own].”

Skon’s performance last week helped Georgetown end a 13-game losing streak against Ivy League opponents, something that gives the Hoyas a big energy boost heading into this week’s showdown with the Bears.

“Everybody’s confident in what they’re doing and [I] can coach them a little bit harder now,” Kelly said. “They’ve responded and we’ve had another really good week of practice.”

They will need that sharpness to translate from practice to the game day, however, if Georgetown is to get past a Brown squad looking for its second win of the season.

The Bears are coming off a tough 45-31 loss to Harvard; but even in defeat, Brown showed off a high-power offense led by sophomore quarterback Patrick Donnelly — who threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns — and senior running back Spiro Theodhosi — who accounted for 146 yards of total offense and a touchdown.

“It’s a typical Brown football team. Offensively, they have a good running back and quarterback and they move the football,” Kelly said. “They’re solid all the way across the board.”

To come away victorious, Georgetown will need their defense to come up with stops throughout the game, putting Skon and the offense in prime position to earn points against

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the Bears.

Led by senior linebacker Robert McCabe — team captain and leading tackler — and senior defensive back Jeremy Moore — a ball-hawking preseason All-American — the Hoyas have an impressive ability to both shut down the run and force turnovers against their opponents.

“The quicker we can get the ball to the offense, the better,” Kelly said. “We are always looking for three and outs and a good way to get off the field is turnovers.”

So far this season, Georgetown has had a knack for finding themselves in wild, down-tothe-wire finishes. In their last three contests, the Blue and Gray needed late field goals off the foot of junior Matt MacZura to knock off Wagner and Princeton and dropped a heartbreaker to Yale when a potential game-winning pass to the end zone was intercepted.

“Every game is like that — we’ve got to take care of the football, we’ve got to create opportunities on defense and we’ve got to play really good special teams,” Kelly said. “I’m sure, like all of our games, it is probably going to come down to the last series or two.”

The Hoyas are expecting a large crowd for the contest since it is Homecoming weekend on the Hilltop. Kelly hopes that home-crowd advantage is the little push that will be the difference for Georgetown when they face the potent Bears.

“It’s going to be a festive atmosphere and that’s what college football is all about,” Kelly said. “[The players] work really hard so they can play in games like this one.”

Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. at the MultiSport Facility, with the Homecoming tailgate beginning in McDonough Arena parking lot at 11 a.m.

play, preferring instead to focus on the upcoming match.

“It doesn’t matter what they’ve done in the past. So they’ve got an 11-game winning streak. It’s going to stop Friday because they haven’t played Georgetown yet,” White said.

Williams is also confident that the Hoyas can turn their season around, citing their defensive prowes as a strength.

“We’re out-digging opponents, and we’re playing some really good defense behind the block. I think we’ll definitely build on that,” Williams said.

Following the Seton Hall

match, Georgetown will face a strong Rutgers (14-3, 0-2 Big East) team on Sunday. Like the Hoyas, they are seeking their first conference win of the season.

“We’re taking it one day at a time, one match at a time. [Rutgers is] playing really well, and we’re very aware of them,” Williams said.

In their quest to end the eightgame slide, the kills provided by sophomore Alex Johnson and consistency from players like White and senior captain Lindsay Wise matter more than ever.

But Williams deems the mentality that her team takes to the court equally important. “[The team] has heart, they’ve

got desire, and they’re putting in the work to make sure we don’t continue down the path we’ve gone,” Williams said.

“This group comes into practice every day and works hard.”

In line with that attitude, the team has a simple formula for overcoming its current doldrums.

“Just go after it. Get it done.

You need all six players at the same time working together cohesively in order to really execute,” White said.

The Hoyas have a chance to do just that tonight at 7 p.m. The game, the second home match of Georgetown’s season, will be held at McDonough Arena.

wOMEN’S sOCCER

Hoyas Enter Final Stretch PITTSBURGH, from A12 don’t play, and then they have to turn around and play us Sunday,” he said. “Whether that’s good for us and we’ll be refreshed, or maybe we won’t be as sharp, I don’t know. But I’m not expecting an easy game on the road.”

Junior defender Alexa St. Martin, who missed last Sunday’s game as a precaution after an injury in warm-up, is expected to be back in the starting lineup. Freshman Neela Mohan — who made her first career start in place of the junior ­— was impressive as well, and she could be a valuable player down the road.

“First and foremost she’s a great kid and she has a wonderful attitude. She wears a hard hat coming to work every day,” Nolan said of Mohan. “We kind of threw her in the deep end of the pool, and she learned to swim really quickly. But she was great,

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA

Junior defender Emily Menges (3) is one of the Big East’s best defenders but has also scored one goal this season. and she’s a kid that’s always available to play when we need her. “ Following Sunday’s contest, the Blue and Gray enter a tough final stretch with five games in three weeks against teams with a combined 29-21-5 record.

“We’ll get through this week-

end hopefully going to Pitt and getting the win, and after that we worry about the next five,” Nolan said. “But we’ve got four of the next six on the road, and that’s not easy.”

The Hoyas take on the Pirates on Sunday at 1 p.m. as the first stop on their threegame road marathon.

fresh out of philly

The Brazilian Name Game

L

ast Wednesday, club soccer powerhouses Chelsea and Juventus played to a 2-2 draw in the opening game of this year’s UEFA Champions League group stages. The game was marked by stiff play, trademark Italian soccer resilience and one insane goal that had tweeters across the globe hashtagging “SportsCenterTop10” left and right.

Twenty-year old Chelsea midfielder Oscar dos Santos Emboaba — simply Oscar to soccer fans — wowed with a debut that featured two goals in a span of three minutes, the latter an absolutely splendid strike into the top corner. Having just put his team up a goal in the 31st minute, the newly acquired star immediately outdid himself.

Positioned 20 yards out, Oscar received a pinpoint pass from left back Ashley Cole, spun himself free of Andrea Pirlo and finished the pirouette with a curving ball over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to double the lead.

The goal was certainly one of the best we will see not only in 2012-13 European competition but in all of soccer this year as well, and Chelsea fans will remember it (and hit replay on YouTube) for many years to come.

Brazilians, however, can only shrug their shoulders and smile: It’s nothing new to them.

Brazil lays claim to some of the most improbable, lawof-physics-defying goals ever.

Fellow countryman Maicon’s juggling volley blast in 2010 renders Oscar’s mundane. Roberto Carlos’ 1997 free kick vs.

France trumps all.

Brazilian soccer players approach the game with an unparalleled artistry. Since Englishmen introduced soccer to Brazil in the 19th century, the national team has gained eminence as perennially one of the finest in the world. They’ve won the World Cup more than any other country — five times — and represent the only na-

tion to have appeared in the tournament every time that it’s been held.

What sets Brazilian soccer apart is the culture. It’s the yellow shirts, blue shorts, and green lining. The bright jerseys seem to shed their flamboyance onto the players, who dance around the field as vivaciously as their supporters in the pre-game carnival. The most defining characteristic of the Brazilian footballer, however, is something much more personal than uniforms, wonder-goals and inflated egos.

Almost every Brazilian goes by one name. Oscar, Maicon,

Matt Bell

At first, the name makes the player. But in time, the player makes the name.

Ronaldinho, Robinho, Ronaldo, and my personal favorite, Hulk. This abridged list doesn’t even do it justice. Brazilian footballers through the ages have boasted creative names, some as phonetic representations of their play, others for no reason at all. Ronaldinho falls under the first category, his name meaning “little Ronaldo” to link him with his predecessor, legendary striker Ronaldo.

Hulk (formally Givanildo Vieira de Souza) went from 10 syllables to one when his father named him after the raging green monster. For those wondering, he’s 5-foot-11.

Myth holds that the onename system originated in Brazil, and has since lent itself to players from other countries.

Mexican goal machine Javier Hernandez goes by the stage name Chicharito, meaning “little pea.” Colombian striker Radamel Falcao Garcia simply took his middle name, and slapped it on the back of his jersey. The Brazilian name game has caught on and caught on big. And it’s no mystery as to why.

It’s easier, after all, for announcers in the heat of the moment to be able to say players’ names quickly. And plus, what’s more fun than running around after a goal screaming “Ronaldinho!!!” at the top of your lungs? Seriously, think of a more fun name.

Names are not randomly awarded, however. There are some soft rules that are universally observed.

Most defenders (David Luiz, Roberto Carlos, Dani Avles) stick with two names. Keepers, too — like Julio Cesar — make no changes. Generally, singlename players are the ones in the limelight, the ones making plays. By the nature of the game, these are more often than not the attacking players — midfielders and forwards.

The single-name tradition is no longer limited to soccer, either. Nene, a Brazilian basketball player on the Washington Wizards, has followed suit. It has also become a widespread practice outside of sports, as many Brazilians choose to shorten or alter their names in for the sake of convenience.

Brazilian players, and a growing number of international athletes, can be easily identified by their one-name status.

At first, the name makes the player, but in time, the player makes the name. Goals like those scored by Oscar, Maicon and Carlos highlight the sacred nature of the one-name tradition and, on a grander level, solidify Brazil as the greatest soccer dynamo of all time.

Matt Bell is a freshman in the McDonough School of Business. FRESH OUT OF PHILLY appears every Friday.

SPORTS

FOOTBALL Hoyas (3-1) vs. Brown (1-1) Saturday, 2 p.m.

MultiSport Facility

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

FRESH OUT OF PHILLY Traditions like single-named players make Brazilian soccer special, Matt Bell argues.

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TALKING POINTS

“

NUMBERS GAME

8 ”

It’s going to stop Friday ... they haven’t played Georgetown.

Sophomore volleyball player Dani White

FOOTBALL

Single-goal wins by Georgetown’s men’s soccer team, which picked up a 1-0 win over JMU Tuesday

MEN’S SOCCER

Hoyas Prepared for Final Ivy Test GU Slips Past JMU, JOSH SIMMONS

Special to The Hoya

FILE PHOTO: KAYLA NOGUCHI FOR THE HOYA

Sophomore quarterback Stephen Skon looks to build on his strong debut when Georgetown faces Brown tomorrow.

The Georgetown football team (3-1) earned arguably its biggest win of the season last weekend by knocking off Princeton (0-2). Tomorrow, the Blue and Gray have the chance to beat another Ivy League foe, Brown (1-1), in Georgetown’s Homecoming game.

The Hoyas’ 21-20 win over the Tigers did not go exactly as planned, with sophomore Stephen Skon — the team’s third-string quarterback — forced into action after junior Aaron Aiken went down with a sprained ankle.

But despite his inexperience, Skon had a stellar debut, showing poise throughout the game and leading Georgetown on a game-winning 72-yard drive. The Hoyas will have to hope that his outing wasn’t just beginner’s luck, because Aiken and senior Isaiah Kempf remain sidelined.

Head Coach Kevin Kelly, however, is hopeful that Skon will respond See BROWN, A11

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Defense to Be Key Over Panthers ARIK PARNASS Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown women’s soccer team (10-1-1, 4-0 Big East) continues to do the improbable. Going into this weekend’s game at Pittsburgh (5-7-1, 0-3-1 Big East), Head Coach Dave Nolan couldn’t help but look back at how far this group has come.

“I knew we would be okay because in the springtime, we managed to do quite well considering what we had lost,” Nolan said. “It was just a matter of ‘Can we get a little bit of momentum going?’ And I think that’s key.”

That momentum has been built as a result of outstanding defensive work all season long. If one discounts the 6-0 loss to Stanford as an anomaly, the Blue and Gray have allowed only three goals in 11 games, otherworldly numbers that Nolan attributes to the experience of the backline and its midfield support.

“They’re older. Emily [Menges] is a junior now, Mary Kroening is a ju-

nior, Alexa St. Martin is a junior [and] Claire Magliola is a senior, so that’s helped. Really, the only rookie back there is Emma [Newins] in goal.”

For the second consecutive time, a Georgetown defender was hon-

“I may be biased, but I think she’s the best defender in our conference.”

HEAD COACH DAVE NOLAN on junior defender Emily Menges

ored as Big East defensive player of the week; this time around, it was junior captain Menges, who led the Hoyas to back-to-back shutouts last weekend. Nolan had only the highest praise for his center back.

“I may be biased, but I think she’s the best defender in our conference,”

Nolan said. “I haven’t seen a better defender in the country.”

Georgetown’s next test will come when it travels to Pittsburgh, a team that — despite its mediocre record and five consecutive winless games — could prove dangerous.

“They’re an interesting team because they seem to be up and down,” Nolan said. “They had a great performance against Notre Dame on Friday night, then went down on Sunday against DePaul and maybe didn’t have the same energy.”

Last year, the Hoyas defeated the Panthers at North Kehoe Field, 6-0, but Nolan feels that game was closer than the score indicated. And armed with a new coach, Pittsburgh could be set to play spoiler on a home field at which they are 2-1 thus far.

According to Nolan, there is another variable that could come into play, as well.

“The big plus for us is that they play Villanova Friday night and we See PITTSBURGH, A11

Pittsburgh Up Next RYAN BACIC

Hoya Staff Writer

Before Tuesday, 15 straight opponents had entered University Park at James Madison without leaving the pitch victorious. Georgetown (9-0-1, 1-0-0 Big East) would not be resigned to the same fate.

Instead, the No. 5 Hoyas took the lead in the 62nd minute off a goal from sophomore midfielder Tom Skelly, and they held on from there to grab the 1-0 win and break the Dukes’ two-year home undefeated streak.

“The continued ability for the guys to get results whether we’re at home or on the road has been really great,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “We’re really happy. Winning’s a habit, losing’s a habit and [JMU is] just comfortable not losing at home. That’s just in their mentality.”

Even the defending national champions, North Carolina, were not immune to JMU’s strength at home.

The top-ranked Tar Heels traveled to Harrisonburg, Va., on Sept. 11 and left with a fresh L on their previously unblemished record.

“During the game, I [turned to my staff] and said, ‘You can see why they haven’t lost here for a while.’ They’re hard to deal with, they’re hard to play against,” Wiese said.

In the end, the Blue and Gray handled their hosts better than anyone since 2010, but the win nonetheless remained in doubt until the final whistle.

Neither team truly was able to threaten the opposing goal in the opening half, as the two squads combined for just three shots on goal on 10 total shots in the period.

Several set-piece chances arose for Georgetown off of the corner kicks of junior forward Steve Neumann, but it was not until the second half that each team’s offense began to get more of a foothold in the game.

From there, it did not take long before the game opened up, leading to the contest’s first goal.

Skelly — who came back from an early-season injury just a week ago — received a long ball in the 62nd minute from freshman striker Brandon Allen and found the bottom right corner from about 10 yards out to put the Hoyas on the board.

“It was a very good ball by Brandon that played him through, and it was

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA

Sophomore midfielder Tom Skelly scored the game-winner Tuesday. a great first touch and a great finish,” Wiese said. “Brandon and [senior midfielder Andy] Riemer have been carrying a lot of the load for us, [so] we wanted to start seeing production from some other places, and Skelly took a great goal.”

After taking the lead, Georgetown had the upper hand with possession and dictated the game’s tempo.

However, with the final 10 minutes approaching, desperation set in for JMU, who made a big offensive push in the waning moments.

The Dukes began to throw more numbers forward and play more directly, launching a number of balls into the Blue and Gray’s 18-yard box for their exceptionally tall lineup to run onto.

Even with senior centerback Tommy Muller sidelined — his status is day to day with a leg tweak and was rested as a precaution — the Hoyas still managed to hang on.

The central pairing of junior defender Ted Helfrich and freshman midfielder Cole Seiler did its job well under the pressure of the JMU barrage, and junior goalkeeper Keon Parsa made five saves for his third clean sheet in as many starts this season.

While the ending was not ideal, Wiese noted that to pull out the win in such a difficult environment was See JMU, A10

VOLLEYBALL

Weekend Pair Offers Chance for Georgetown’s First League Win JULIANA ZOVAK

Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown volleyball team (6-9, 0-2 Big East) will look to break an eight-game skid this Friday when they take on Seton Hall at McDonough Arena. But in order for that to happen, the Hoyas will have to end another long streak in the process.

The Pirates (14-1, 3-0) have now won 11 straight games — including two Big East matches — a mark that the Blue and Gray aim to end this weekend.

“We’re hungry for this game, so we’re ready for an at-home win,” sophomore middle blocker Dani White said. “We’re all in the mindset of ‘This is the week,’ [and] we’re ready for a battle.”

Head Coach Arlisa Williams agreed, asserting that Georgetown will be ready for everything that Seton Hall will throw at them.

“We’re going to make sure we’ve got some good blocking in front of them and make sure we play disciplined defense behind the block,”

Williams said. “If we can take care of our side of the court, that will minimize what they’re able to do.”

Although the Blue and Gray have posted strong statistics this season, their inability to finish off close games has proved to be an issue.

But after a tough loss to Connecticut earlier this week — in which the Hoyas lost by six points and five points, respectively, in the final two sets — Williams feels that the team is moving toward putting those kinds of games behind them.

“I don’t think there’s an overnight fix, but we’re getting closer, much closer,” Williams said. “Hopefully, our efforts will be rewarded Friday night.”

Seton Hall will enter the match after a commanding win over St. Peter’s, so its confidence is likely to be at a high on Friday. The Pirates topped the Peacocks in straight sets, each by a margin of more than 10 points.

White, however, is unconcerned with Seton Hall’s previous level of See PIRATES, A11

FILE PHOTO: AMY LEE FOR THE HOYA

The Georgetown volleyball team looks to regroup this weekend while facing two Big East opponent.

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