The Hoya: April 21, 2023

Since 1920

GU Graduate Student Workers, University Negotiate Over Wage

Jack Willis

Graduate Desk Editor

Georgetown University graduate student workers and university administrators continued to meet this week after months-long negotiations over demands of the Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees (GAGE) for a livable wage.

Since October, students in GAGE, the labor union for graduate student workers, have been in negotiations with university administrators to agree on wages for graduate student workers. GAGE members have called for a roughly $12,000 increase in wage stipends, including an increase from $33,813 to $45,802 for nine-month Ph.D. stipends and $36,934 to $49,466 for 12-month Ph.D. stipends.

GAGE has sought to engage the student body and graduate workers with tabling events, as well as an April 21 rally in Red Square calling for higher wages.

Representatives for GAGE said that despite ongoing inflation and tuition increases of around 5% in recent years, the university offered a 4% increase to the wages of graduate student workers, which fell roughly $10,000 short of GAGE’s demand per worker.

Prior to this, the university originally offered a 2.5% increase but after negotiations, offered an additional 0.5% increase. As negotiations progressed, GAGE negotiators told The Hoya that university negotiators raised that number by another 1%.

Dominick Cooper, a rising fourth-year doctoral student and the president of GAGE, said he believes the university’s proposals are inadequate in their current iterations.

“In our current inflationary environment, these proposals are, functionally speaking, proposals for grad student workers to take pay cuts,” Cooper wrote to The Hoya. “This is

See GAGE, A7

GU Remembers Will Stocksdale

Clayton Kincade and Evie Steele Executive Editor, GUSA Desk

The Georgetown University community celebrated the life and memory of William “Will” Stocksdale (SFS ’25), who passed away April 5, at the Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart on April 17. Stocksdale was 20 years old.

Stocksdale grew up in Baltimore and attended Loyola Blakefield, a Catholic prep school in Towson, Md. Stocks-

Second Assault Charge Raised Against Ex-Cardinal

dale was the school’s student body president and swam on the school’s swim team.

Stocksdale’s friend Eli Blumenfeld (CAS ’25) remembered his friend as a thoughtful and dedicated individual.

“He always had a great attention to detail and would oftentimes go the extra mile, just for the sake of being a good friend,” Blumenfeld said at the memorial. “Although I know that Will’s no longer earthly present, we can still try to be friends as well as he was, with as much

zeal, with as much loyalty, with as much soul, with as much exuberance as Will carried with him.”

Blumenfeld was Stocksdale’s neighbor in Reynolds Hall and recalled bonding with him over a television show early in their first year.

“Will was one of the most friendly and easy-to-talk-to people I’ve ever met,” Blumenfeld wrote to The Hoya “One of my first memories with Will was having some drinks and watching Marvel’s ‘What If?’ series.”

“It was really the first night that I can remember having fun at college, and it made me look forward to future experiences not only with Will, but more generally my time here at Georgetown,” Blumenfeld added. Lauren Sullivan (CAS ’25), who lived two doors down from Stocksdale last year, said she remembers Stocksdale as one of her first friends on the Hilltop.

“Will was one of the very See MEMORIAL, A7

Flooding in First-Year Dorm Sparks Student Frustration

University Hotel and Conference Center.

Theodore

Nina Raj and Mary

Clare Marshall

Senior News Editor, Special to The Hoya

CW: This article references sexual assault. Please refer to this article on thehoya.com for onand off-campus resources.

Former Washington, D.C.

Archbishop and Georgetown University honorary degree recipient Theodore McCarrick, 92, is facing his second criminal case for the sexual assault of a teenage boy in 1977.

Wisconsin prosecutors charged McCarrick on April 17 with one count of fourthdegree sexual assault over accusations that he fondled an 18-year-old man without his

NEWS

GUSA Senators Sworn In

consent at a residence in Lake Geneva, Wis., in 1977. The incident is allegedly just one instance of McCarrick’s repeated sexual abuse of the survivor — to whom the archbishop was a family friend — that began when the survivor was 11 years old, according to a Vatican report on the ex-cardinal.

McCarrick is the first cardinal in the United States to be criminally charged with a sexual offense against a minor and is the highest-ranking clerical official to be removed from the priesthood over sexual misconduct. After a 2019 church investigation found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminaries, Pope Francis expelled McCarrick from the priesthood.

OPINION

Eighteen students won election to represent first-years, sophomores and juniors in the GUSA Senate. A5

Farewell, Transformers

A District government advisory board called for the removal of two popular Transformer statues on Prospect Street.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Georgetown awarded McCarrick an honorary degree in December 2004 for his humanitarian work as archbishop of Washington, D.C. McCarrick also engaged with the university through events, including an August 2009 discussion with students on global development and peacemaking efforts.

The university later revoked the distinction in light of the allegations against McCarrick, marking the first time in history that Georgetown rescinded an honorary degree, according to a university spokesperson.

“In 2019 Georgetown announced its decision to rescind

See CARDINAL, A7

Challenging Heteronormativity

Lori Jang (CAS ’26) describes heteronormativity at Georgetown and argues that Hoyas need to combat their stereotypes of what “queer” is.

God is Queer

RM Flanny Flanigan speaks on the ways their identity as gender-nonconforming, queer and gay intertwine with their religious identity.

A3

The fourth floor of Copley Hall, a first-year residential building, flooded following the overflow of a suite toilet, forcing residents to move many of their belongings into a different suite and stay in the Georgetown

Water from the flood leaked April 15 into the hallway and through the floor into the suite below the affected room, causing damage to a room on the third floor of Copley. Simone Guite (CAS ’26) said she and her two other suitemates were

elsewhere in the building when the flood started, but that when they returned to their room, it was flooded. “By the time I arrived from the common room, half of my room was flooded,” Guite wrote. “I started taking everything I could off the floor like See COPLEY, A7

SCIENCE

Abortion Pill Access

The Supreme Court has placed a hold on a ruling that bans mifepristone, the first of a twopill sequence used for medication abortions.

A6

Sophomore Wins Physics Prize

Physics major Leah Chen (CAS ’25 ) placed third in the D.C. Space Grant Consortium Student Research Poster Contest.

A6

SPORTS

Tennis Teams Beat Villanova

The Georgetown men’s and women’s tennis teams came out victorious over the Villanova Wildcats last weekend. A10

Men’s Lax Remains Undefeated

The No. 9 Hoyas secured a 15-14 overtime win against the Marquette Golden Eagles, their eighth consecutive win this season. A10

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Georgetown University held a memorial at the Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart on April 17 for William “Will” Stocksdale (SFS ’25), who passed April 5. Stocksdale was a global business major from Towson, Md.

COURTESY EMMA VONDERHAAR Water from an overflowing toilet leaked into the fourth floor hallway in Copley Hall, forcing students to move out of their rooms and into the Georgetown Hotel.

Karenna Warden Multimedia Deputy Editor

McCarrick, the highest-ranking clerical official to be removed from priesthood over sexual misconduct, is facing his second criminal case for the assault of a teenage boy.

OPINION

Value Nonbinary Experiences

Ihate receiving compliments — I can never find the right words to respond. Maybe it’s because my Vietnamese American family shows affection through every medium but words: plates of freshly cut fruit, neatly folded squares of laundry or tickets to the latest blockbuster are the ways my parents prefer to say “I care for you,” “I’m sorry” and “let’s try again.” Because actions spoke more than words, I grew up without ever learning the language of niceties and praise.

Ofallcompliments,thereisoneIdespisethemost: “girlboss.” Besides the problematic assumption that a boss is inherently a man, I am not girl-ing (nor bossing) — I identify as nonbinary, and although I have never felt more true to myself, my vocabulary falls short when I face my family.

As the eldest child of immigrants, I’ve always known I was the vessel for my parents’ hopes and dreams. It’s a full-time gig with endless part-time hustles: the caretaker, the translator, the therapist, the retirement fund, the mediator. Since coming to Georgetown University, a predominantly white and historically anti-LGBTQ+ institution, I’ve only become more conscious of these responsibilities and the obstacles set in front of me — and how I reckon with them, if not as the eldest daughter.

Identifying as nonbinary has forced me to confront my language gaps and ask myself which words express who I truly am. While I am hesitant to be called “miss,” “ma’am” or “my girlfriend,” I know that being a “child” and a “sibling,” the only gender-neutral options, do not inform my lived experiences the way “daughter” and “sister” have. Where English is insufficient, I find refuge in my mother tongue, Vietnamese. As a method of resistance for queer and gender-nonconforming Asian Americans, words are powerful enough to move us to action.

In the three languages I know, pronouns can exist on intersecting hierarchies of gender, relation and age.

In Mandarin, “tā” (X也, 她, 他) is gender-neutral when spoken; likewise, referring to yourself with “wǒ” (我) expresses no gender. However, in situations where one is expected to recognize another’s age or position, honorific pronouns demonstrate respect. “Nǐ” (你), which means “you,” turns into “nǐn” (您) when you’re referring to an elder, professor or mentor. When placed side by side, the lack of relational aspects in English pronouns contrasts with the values

of collectivism and filial piety in Mandarin. In Vietnamese, pronouns capture gender and relation. While some are gender-neutral — like “con” and “em,” which translate to child and younger sibling — other pronouns like “chị” and “anh” translate to older sister and older brother, respectively.

The Vietnamese trans and gender-nonconforming community has combined “chị” and “anh” to create the gender-neutral pronoun “chanh,” which also means lemon. Lý Thuy Nguyễn, a bilingual queer scholar, has marveled at the metaphorical image of “chanh”; the sharp and sour fruit for which it is a homonym speaks to the joy and stubbornness of Vietnamese queer resistance. Despite the conformity it pushes, language moves and flows with the liberation of its speakers.

Although the gender binary can be tangibly enforced through clothing and hobbies, language was at the forefront of my gender identity formation. My family let me wear tomboy-ish clothes and go on camping trips with my dad as long as I knew my position as a “chị.”

Queerness and gender nonconformity cannot be removed from cultural contexts. “Chanh” is not the equivalent of “they” — the word expresses who I am. That said, “chị” is still deeply rooted in my everyday life. Being a “chị” is laden with responsibilities and expectations — the title carries more weight for me than “sister” or “girlboss” ever will. I knew from a young age that I was my family’s future, a duty I’ve resented at times and deeply cherished at others.

When I look at myself, what reflects back is not a girl, but generations of failures, hopes and dreams.

For me, being nonbinary and being a “chị” have never been separate worlds. I can’t look into my brother’s eyes and tell him I am anything but his “chị.” Unlike in English or Mandarin, there is no true translation for “I” and “you” in Vietnamese — even if they’re not related to you, everyone is called “chị,” “anh,” “chanh” or another familiar term. You are always someone’s sibling, cousin or friend; a stranger is called family.

As a rising senior, I am excited to be a “chị” to other queer and Asian American Georgetown students. Even when we cannot find the right words to say so, we must care for one another like family.

Linh Truong is a rising senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Expand Inclusive Language

Do you have a boyfriend?”

The dental hygienist asked the question in jest as I sat in the chair awaiting my routine teeth cleaning.

I laughed politely and responded, “No,” to which I wanted to add, “And I never will.”

That wasn’t a conversation to initiate with a stranger, so the latter response remained in my head. The perceivably insignificant moment to the hygienist stood as a stark testimony to the invisibility of my queerness.

On another occasion, as my family ate at a local pizza place, my grandmother inquired if I had met any cute boys in my first semester of college.

I smiled hesitantly and simply said, “No.”

My grandmother continued her inquiries about my first semester, but I was already deep in thought, devising a plan in which I could confirm my queerness to her.

As a feminine lesbian who frequently wears makeup and loves a spring dress, I often fall victim to assumptions about my sexuality. My overtly feminine appearance does not conform to the physical stereotypes that society assigns to lesbians. Thus, I find my queerness being erased by those who, despite having good intentions, assume the gender of my partners.

One of the ways that the Georgetown University community can express its allyship to the queer community is by using inclusive language that recognizes that outward appearance does not inherently allude to a person’s sexuality. Validating femme lesbians and femme-presenting queer women remains a critical means of ensuring these women feel seen and integral to the community to which they belong.

Feminine lesbians often confront femme invisibility, a term that refers to feminine lesbians’ queer identities being rendered invisible by their traditionally feminine exterior. Therefore, feminine lesbians often feel they must prove their queerness to be seen as valid.

Femme queer women comprise a majority of the lesbian population of the LGBTQ+ community. A study conducted by the National Institute of Health reported that 51% of queer women surveyed between the ages of 14 and 21 identified as femme in comparison to 43% who identify as butch, a term referring to those whose appearance is more traditionally masculine.

Studies also confirm that feminine lesbians

LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND VIEWPOINT POLICIES

The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words.

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 600-700 words. The Hoya retains all rights to all published submissions.

Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya.com.

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 Jared Carmeli at jared.carmeli@thehoya.com or Executive Editor Caitlin McLean at caitlin.mclean@thehoya.com.

NEWS TIPS News Editors Adora Zheng and Eli Kales: Email news@ thehoya.com. Guide Editors Clayton Kincade and Ishaan Rai: Email guide@thehoya.com. Sports Editors Saar Shah and Rushil Vashee: Email sports@thehoya.com.

Stop the Normalization of Hate

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has built a platform and rabid following, not by solving any kind of real issue but by targeting “wokeness,” a word that his General Counsel Ryan Newman defined as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”

Frequently, Republicans use “wokeness” as a synonym for “being LGBTQ+” and especially for being transgender. As DeSantis’ power grows and he considers a presidential run, the United States is becoming a more and more terrifying place for trans people — even at Georgetown University, a place that touts its students as “people for others.”

DeSantis’ bigotry thrives because it’s not just limited to laws on a state or national level — even if his bills are struck down by a judge, they still sow the seeds of hate. They embolden other bigots because if a U.S. governor can be celebrated for his transphobia, then they can be too.

Unfortunately, those seeds of hate have found fertile soil at Georgetown — and we need to pull up the roots before it’s too late.

tioning her. The goal was to deny NeW the drama and controversy that it was seeking.

In response, members of the Georgetown chapter of NeW perceived our actions as intolerant, and later, photos obtained by the far-right site Campus Reform were posted online without consent from students. Fun fact, that was how I got forced out of the closet to my parents. Thanks, NeW.

The worst part of it all, though, isn’t seeing how many people are willing to parrot DeSantis’ bigotry. At this point, like many other queer people, I’m just used to that. The part that hurts is seeing how many students are willing to turn a blind eye to this behavior or even make excuses for it. Queer people have to live as if our very existence is a valid topic for debate. Open bigotry is a threat to us, but people who seek “moderacy” in the face of hate are an even greater threat.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about how the greatest challenge for the Civil Rights Movement was “the white moderate” — someone who was happy to nod along with the idea of equality but would balk at taking actual action.

are more likely to experience internalized homophobia — or internalize others’ homophobic sentiments. Feminine lesbians also have lower rates of coming out for fear of society’s sentiment that they are not queer enough.

These higher levels of internalized homophobia contribute to worse mental health and relationship health, along with higher levels of substance abuse. The implications of this femme invisibility are far too dangerous to go unnoticed.

Femme lesbians and femme-presenting queer women beautifully exist, and the Georgetown community cannot neglect the gravity of inclusive language for this population of the LGBTQ+ community.

When inquiring about a woman’s relationship status, regardless of their outward appearance, we can say “partner” instead of “boyfriend” and express interest in their partner regardless of their gender.

These efforts are small but powerful steps that ensure femme-presenting queer women feel valued both on campus and in the LGBTQ+ community at large.

Six months after my encounter with my dentist, at my general practitioner in March this year, my doctor inquired about my relationship status.

“Do you have a boyfriend at college?” he said.

“Here we go again,” I immediately thought.

I responded with the reflexive answer I had employed over the last two years: “No.”

Yet, the doctor, realizing the directness of his language, inquired whether I was dating anyone at college, to which I responded that I had a girlfriend. He asked how we met, how long we had been dating and how I liked her parents and family, all of which seemed like quite simple inquiries.

I seldom receive these questions because people unconsciously assume the gender of my partners.

I am not sure if the doctor realized just how validating this series of questions was to me. I want someone to use inclusive language when inquiring about my relationship status. I want someone to subsequently express interest in my relationship if my partner isn’t a man. I want my queerness to be validated regardless of my exterior appearance.

Really, it can be quite simple.

Grace Rivers is a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Hoya is published once a week during the academic year with the exception 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. Signed columns and cartoons represent the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Hoya Unsigned essays that appear on the left side of the edito-

DeSantis’ policies have been harmful for the trans community in Florida. His “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which originally targeted elementary schools and was recently expanded to cover all students up to 12th grade, has heavily restricted discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in elementary school. His press secretary Christina Pushaw then called anyone who opposed the bill a “groomer.” After that, DeSantis banned gender-affirming care for trans youth, despite doctors and medical organizations calling these laws harmful to transgender children.

These laws are not just limited to Florida, though. Lawmakers introduced 155 antitrans bills nationwide in 2022, and that trend has only continued in 2023. As of this moment, there are 359 active anti-trans bills in the United States. Transphobia is becoming a mainstream platform and a pillar of Republican strategy. We must stand up and stop these extremists. Otherwise, they will continue to persecute trans people.

Last year, Georgetown saw several acts of transphobia happen right on campus, such as the use of transphobic slurs after former Vice President Mike Pence’s 2022 visit to campus. The Georgetown University College Republicans (GUCR) have also publicly spoken out in favor of DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ+ policies at debates held on campus, such as at the 2022 first-year debate between GUCR and the Georgetown University College Democrats. There have been multiple cases of transphobic protesters on campus, including recently on April 19, when a man with a transphobic sign calling for the protection of children from gender ideology walked around Red Square and conversed with students. One of the most blatant was a speech by Riley Gaines, a former college athlete who has called a trans woman “a man with a fetish,” hosted by the modestly named Georgetown Network of enlightened Women (NeW).

GU Pride attempted to hold an event at the same time as Gaines’ speech, without men-

King said, “Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

King’s bewilderment is just as relevant today. I can accept that certain people, for whatever reason, will give in to hate. But it baffles me how so many people can acknowledge that what DeSantis is doing is wrong yet still refuse to take even the slightest action.

We absolutely need action at a university level. The housing process must become far more accessible to trans and nonbinary students, both in the language used and in the options that are on the table; the university must continue funding and supporting queer organizations and events; and the Student Health Center needs to offer nonbinary health care, not just provide “physicals for both men and women.”

And all students — regardless of gender or sexual orientation — should help fight for these policies.

At the end of the day, however, official policies are just words on paper. DeSantis’ true danger is the culture of hate that he is fostering — a culture that cannot be allowed to grow at Georgetown. We need to form our own culture, one in which the only thing not accepted on campus is bigotry.

If you see someone being harassed, stand up for them. If you see people endorsing views like those of DeSantis, shut them down. In the fight between hate and love, there can be no middle ground.

Students may not be able to stop DeSantis from spreading hate in Florida, but we can stop his hate from spreading here. You can’t get rid of a weed by tearing at what’s above the surface. You need to dig it up from the roots and destroy it.

Matt Shinnick is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

editor@thehoya.com Online at www.thehoya.com

Circulation: 3,000

VIEWPOINT • TRUONG

VIEWPOINT • SHINNICK

VIEWPOINT • RIVERS

ILLUSTRATION BY: JASMINE CRIQUI/THE HOYA

ILLUSTRATION BY: ALAN CHEN/THE HOYA

VIEWPOINT • FLANIGAN

Empower LGBTQ+ Indenity in Religious Understanding

Ifirmly and deeply believe that God is trans. Or queer, or gender-nonconforming in some manner or another. I know and trust this understanding for a variety of reasons, mainly because the divine — whatever people may call it or define it — feels too vast, too mysterious, too undefinable to fit neatly into any earthly binary or gender descriptor.

But also because, as a gendernonconforming, queer, gay person myself, I crave images of the divine that I can relate to, that look like me, that affirm and celebrate my existence.

I understand the divine as referring to the God who created me, who nurtures me and who supports me.

I recognize that, to many, Georgetown University’s commitment to both its religious heritage and LGBTQ+ acceptance may seem contradictory, but I have found that this viewpoint undermines the wisdom that lies at the intersection between faith, gender and sexuality.

Indeed, this community is strongest when it embraces the opportunity to explore the sacrality of queerness and the queerness of faith. This is the blessing and opportunity of belonging to a community that possesses such a strong commitment to faith and justice.

As a gender-nonconforming individual who grew up in a fairly conservative Christian tradition in Tennessee, I often receive some variation of the question: “Why do you stick with the church?”

I know why I hear the question so often — the church does not exactly have the best history with LGBTQ+ people.

Indeed, I have been hurt by, excluded from and made to feel less than by the church and by religious leaders. I know and feel the pain that has been caused by those who act unjustly while claiming divine authority.

And I have also been loved, affirmed, celebrated and empowered by religious communities. I now belong to the Presbyterian denomination,

a tradition that descends from the theology of John Calvin and the Church of Scotland. A phrase that I hear mentioned often within this tradition is that we are “reformed and reforming.” This phrase recognizes both the church’s connections to the Protestant Reformation and also to that fact there is still room for growth and change. I rely on my faith and the communities it connects me to, because I can’t help but understand the church itself as a queer body. And so it pains me to see the rampant rise of transphobia across the United States, particularly by people who root their hatred in Christian understandings of gender. Whether it be laws intended to limit access to genderaffirming health care for minors, criminalize drag performances or oppose instruction about LGBTQ+ topics in school, the recent wave of anti-trans legislation presents an ungodly assault on LGBTQ+ identities. Beyond the obvious harm these views, policies and actions pose to LGBTQ+ persons, they also represent such a limited understanding of the divine and of the communities we may create together.

I know this rhetoric is far from exclusive to Christian communities — and likewise that many Christian communities are very vocal in their support of trans bodies — but I still can’t help but lament the space and encouragement that so many religious communities have given to voices that seek to denigrate others based on their gender and sexuality.

I weep for anyone who asserts that God only creates people in one of two genders with no wiggle room or fluidity. I believe, understand and trust that everyone — gay and straight, cis and trans, binary and nonbinary — is stronger when their community embraces more opportunities to identify, express themselves and love beyond any boundaries.

I believe this because that is the space the church occupies

in my life — a space unlike any school or workplace to which I have belonged.

I don’t need to look far within the Christian tradition or its history to find examples of nonnormative expressions of gender and sexuality. Our holy text contains many examples of people forming families and supporting each other in ways that feel queer in one way or another, whether it be how Ruth clings to her mother-in-law and vows to continue together as a family even after the men in their lives have died, or Jesus’ repeated calls to his followers to leave their families and married partners to be in community with each other. And don’t get me started on Jesus’ situation — conceived under unique circumstances and raised with two dads and a mom.

I don’t mention these examples to essentialize or gatekeep queer experiences or identities, but rather to recognize that the sacred text says a lot more about gender and sexuality than just preaching marrying someone of the opposite sex and having kids.

And so I cannot accept transphobic rhetoric or antiLGBTQ+ policies, not just because they are an attack on queer bodies, but also because they place a limit on spiritual and religious expression.

The proponents of such hate may claim they are protecting children, empowering parental rights or ensuring some divine order, but as a queer person — created in the image of God and called to serve my church with my whole being — their attacks feel more like an attempt to limit God’s power, beauty and love.

However you may seek the divine, whatever names you use to call God and whatever identities you may ascribe to your holy being, let your expression of self be a divine revolution against those who seek to belittle, shame or marginalize you.

Flanny Flanigan is a Residential Minister at Georgetown University.

VIEWPOINT • JANG

ILLUSTRATION BY: ALAN CHEN/THE HOYA

Unlearn GU Heteronormativity

Iknew Georgetown University from the start was not established for students like me: a person of color, female and queer. After all, it wasn’t until 1969 that the university was fully coed. The prospect of applying to a religious institution was far from enticing to me as a senior in high school.

Despite — or maybe because of — growing up Christian, the idea that “religion” could be synonymous with “acceptance” felt foreign and paradoxical. My community was kind and caring, but not unconditionally. It was established early on in my mind that the church did not love people like me — and the ones that did were a rarity. The choice came down to my religion or my sexuality. Like deja vu, I found myself doubting the possibility of sincerely feeling comfortable in my own skin at a Jesuit university while applying to college. It’s safe to say I had major reservations about attending.

The Jesuit identity Georgetown University famously claims makes our campus an intimidating place for queer students. This is especially true when considering how the relationship between the church and the LGBTQ+ community is tumultuous.

While the university has made incredible strides to become a campus that encourages progress and acceptance of all community members — even being named the “Best College for LGBTQ+ Students in D.C.” — Georgetown remains far from perfect, and it’s still hard to say that I am fully comfortable within our gates.

To my surprise, it’s not because of our Jesuit ties.

ingrained within our culture. As a result, Georgetown continues to perpetuate invalidating stereotypes that increasingly distort the perception of queer identity in our community.

This heteronormativity remains a corrosive force at Georgetown that invalidates identitiesandsubjectsindividuals who identify as LGBTQ+ to stereotypes. With this normalized standard, heterosexuality is treated as the default orientation — a damaging assumption.

While Georgetown preaches being an inclusive space, genderneutral bathrooms are not in all publicly accessible buildings. For most residential halls, this option does not exist.

As a result, the extent of the university’s LGBTQ+ inclusive policy is exposed: flimsy signage that reaffirms students’ freedom to choose a gendered bathroom they most closely identify with but resistance to actually establish suchspaces.Thisforcesindividuals to adhere to norms that further enforce the gender binary.

A major problem with the Georgetown community is that students often only ever consider the possibility that someone is queer when they check the boxes for the stereotyped and generalized LGBTQ+ individual.

Too often have I seen my peers immediately assume someone was gay simply because of the way they dressed, talked or even walked. The moment someone does not fit these ideas of queerness, the possibility of the individual being queer is crossed off altogether.

to force LGBTQ+ individuals into this box. Being queer is not some kind of aesthetic. I am not someone who fits traditional stereotypes about queer individuals. More often than not, when discussing my own identity, I’m met with surprise. “Oh, I couldn’t tell” — or, “You look so straight!” — are statements that I’ve grown to be very familiar with.

By anchoring my identity to my outward image, I felt the pressure to present myself in a certain way grow exponentially. If I refused, it felt as if the integrity of my identity was closely scrutinized and invalidated.

Ontheflipside,ourcommunity is quick to label individuals as queer the moment they are seen in anything other than a heteronormative and binary light. Just because someone presents themselves in a certain way does not give us the jurisdiction to assume their identity.

Here at Georgetown, students have developed tunnel vision regarding those considered to be “queer-passing” individuals and in turn have invalidated the identities of those who do not fit a hetero-based LGBTQ+ stereotype. Inclusivity does not thrive in complacency. Despite already receiving praise for its current strides toward progress, Georgetown can and should continue to grow instead of remaining content with its stagnation. Rather than viewing appearances and demeanor as an open invitation to dissect one’s personal orientation, Hoyas must remember that unwarranted questioning is wounding. There is no checklist one must fill to be queer, and it is imperative we unlearn this together.

Wow, being gay at Georgetown … you must be fighting for your life.”

This is a common refrain that I hear from others when they learn that I am openly queer at Georgetown University. But I disagree.

Georgetown has a wellknown culture as an academically rigorous university that closely aligns itself with Jesuit values and traditions. “Preppy” perfectly describes the mainstream culture here — but in this case, I am particularly focused on the traditional beliefs, values and fashion associated with being “preppy” that queerness does not fit into.

When I consider how this affects my experience as a queer student, I could deflect the conversation, confronting all the ways that the administration has discriminated against queer people and trans students.

Georgetown certainly has plenty of work to do in addressing its history with the LGBTQ+ community. What’s heartening, however, is that students have not let that go unnoticed. One example that immediately comes to mind is the administration’s silence surrounding the transphobic protests right outside the campus gates. As a queer student, the lack of support was disheartening. But with regard to student culture, there was a glimmer of hope.

The crowd of students I saw protesting against this hateful group filled me and many of my queer friends with a sense of security about our place on campus. Through the work of GU Pride, National Coming Out Day celebrations in Red Square and the student-led protests against hateful groups on campus, the student body is leading the charge to make queer and

trans students feel safe and welcome at Georgetown.

Georgetown has an extraordinary queer and trans community on campus that creates a safe environment where students with different stories can come together.

This community is rooted in the basis that our sexuality, and perhaps the way we express ourselves, does not follow the preppy culture Georgetown self-proclaims.

The key here is this shared experience. The unique preppiness that permeates Georgetown’s school culture knocks heads with queerness, but the result is a shared experience that builds a bond and calls for mutual support within this community.

Some argue that the LGBTQ+ community is operating against the traditional view and culture of Georgetown, specifically the religious history. And honestly, sometimes it feels like you are fighting against the palpably heteronormative institution that Georgetown remains. But I do not think it is as clear-cut as it seems. I see the LGBTQ+ community working together to create a space for queer and trans people here. In doing so, queer and trans students are applying Georgetown’s cornerstone ideals within their community.

Jesuit values such as “people for others” and “cura personalis” — Latin for “care for the whole person” — promote thoughtfulness and a sense of service and are embodied in the culture of inclusion, advocacy and strength that Georgetown’s queer and trans community epitomizes.

Georgetown itself has joined this cause by altering the wording of “men and women for others” to “people for others.” This phrasing subtly changes a whole

population’s view of binary gender identification. An environment that is willing to make even small changes to make a marginalized community feel more welcome is a strong foundation to begin meaningful change.

The administration has also responded to the changing culture on campus in some larger ways. Founding the LGBTQ Resource Center in 2008 demonstrated Georgetown’s commitment to its queer and trans students. Lavender Graduation, a commencement ceremony hosted by the university every spring since 2009 that honors Georgetown’s LGBTQ+ community and its allies, symbolizes the university’s changing stance on LGBTQ+ students and the cultural changes on campus.

Students come to college searching to build a new community away from home, and at Georgetown, Jesuit values guide the way we do so. Community bonds are stronger because of the values that we are taught from our first days on campus. Being a queer or trans student at Georgetown is not always an easy experience. While more can certainly be done to fully support student-led movements for change and help expand the environment of inclusivity on campus, it is important to acknowledge that this is not just an administrative movement.

Students need to look internally and reflect on how they can better support and welcome students who feel that their sexuality and gender identity runs counter to Georgetown’s founding values. But hopefully, Georgetown is changing too.

With pervasive prominence on the Hilltop, heteronormativity — the concept of treating heterosexuality as the default sexual orientation — is deeply

Continuously imposing norms and conventions on each other is invalidating and suffocating. My sexual orientation and queer identity should not be reduced to the way I style or present myself. There is no one way to “appear” queer, and we should stop trying

Celebrate Student Allyship Value All Forms of Queerness

Ifall into the questioning part of the LGBTQ+ community, which is an under-discussed portion of the queer experience. There is no one right way to navigate the queer experience, but more understanding of oneself or others always makes it easier.

My story of questioning my identity has no clear beginning. In eighth grade, I went on three dates with boys because they asked me, and I had nothing better to do. By the time I started high school, people were beginning to talk about romance and attraction.

My friends started to tell me who they thought was hot, what they found most attractive or how they really wanted a boyfriend. I never felt bad about it, but it was isolating not to know what they were talking about and not to be able to relate to or add anything to the conversation.

When everyone except you understands an experience, it can feel exclusionary, even if you know that is not someone’s intention. For most people, it doesn’t occur to them that not everyone has the same feelings as them — and this lack of awareness is why I think talking about the questioning community is so important.

I did not understand the idea of having a crush. I never felt attraction toward other people, and I couldn’t care less about someone’s arms, jawline or whatever else my friends found appealing. I never judged other people for their preferences —

instead, I wondered what was wrong with me. I wondered why I was not like everyone else. I had never heard of the term asexual, and I did not realize there were other people like me.

Because I did not know of a label that fit, I chose the closest one I could find. For a while, I labeled myself as bisexual — someone who is attracted to both men and women — because I knew I felt the same about people regardless of gender. But it didn’t feel right. Even in the Gender Sexuality Alliance club at my school, I felt as if part of me was broken: they were still talking a lot about romance and attraction, which were all things I did not understand. No one judged me when I did not participate, but no one noticed my silence.

It took a while, but I eventually learned that I am not broken.

I still do not know what to call myself. When I try to, the closest label that comes to mind is asexual. Asexuality

— or ace, as it is nicknamed — describes someone who feels very little or no sexual attraction. Many people think asexual people never want, or even are disgusted by, sex, but a lot of feelings toward attraction, sex and relationships can be encompassed by this term.

However, I am not sure if this feeling is temporary or just how I am. I have not learned more about myself in this area since the beginning of high school, and I have

Lori Jang is a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences.

become comfortable with the fact that I do not need to have it figured out.

If I want, I can kiss someone or experiment with dating. But I have no desire to do any of that now, and I have grown to a point where I am comfortable with that. I know labels can help people immensely by giving them a word to describe themselves — a word that confirms there are others like them. But labels do not always fit, and it is totally normal to go from one to another while you are figuring yourself out. It is also normal to settle in between labels or never have one. Your experience is valid even if your experience is defined by confusion, just like it was for me.

I have only been at Georgetown University since the fall. There are still conversations regarding attraction that I cannot contribute to, but that is part of who I am.

I wrote this piece in part to encourage everyone to support each other through whatever struggle or confusion they are facing. Mostly, I wrote this article for anyone who feels like me. For anyone in the Georgetown community who is questioning, or simply feels as if the world does not have a place for them, you are not alone, and you never were.

Juliet Boelhouwer

is a first-year in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Circle of Indigenous Students’ Alliance

Reinvents Itself on the Hilltop

The newly renamed Circle of Indigenous Students’ Alliance has aimed to rebrand itself this year alongside a leadership restructuring, striving to increase Indigenous students’ visibility on campus.

Caroline Rareshide Senior Features Editor

When the Office for Strategic Communications offered the Circle of Indigenous Students’ Alliance (CISA) resources to host an event commemorating Native American Indian Heritage Month in November, members jumped at the opportunity to increase Indigenous students’ visibility on Georgetown University’s campus.

Tianna Young (CAS ’25) came up with the idea for a showcase, titled Hózhó, featuring artwork created by CISA members and their relatives. During the event, students recited poetry, sang songs and performed other oratory works before displaying multimedia art, including one member’s grandmother’s woven baskets, a tšumaš baby cradle and different acrylic paintings.

An important goal of CISA was to host Hózhó in Riggs Library, the exclusive library reserved for highlevel, university-sponsored events.

Alanna Cronk (CAS ’23) said they were notified of an opening in Riggs just two weeks before the event, and they rushed to organize the showcase in that short time.

“I had an opportunity to sing a song in my native language, which was really beautiful to do in a space like Riggs,” Cronk told The Hoya. “It’s such a monumental amount of symbolism, and taking up space in the university’s most prestigious space, that meant a lot to us.”

The event marked a turning point in CISA’s outreach on campus and followed a significant overhaul of the organization.

The Georgetown University Native American Student Council (NASC) reintroduced itself at the beginning of the Fall 2022 semester as the Circle of Indigenous Students’ Alliance, beginning a rebranding that stretched beyond the organization’s name.

In the past year, CISA has restructured its leadership, hosted an art showcase and created partnerships with Campus Ministry, the Earth Commons Institute and the Smithsonian Institution. These changes have brought more recognition to Indigenous students on campus — with ambitious plans and greater visibility in the works.

Rebranding and Restructuring

Earlier last year, members of NASC unanimously agreed to change the organization’s name to be more welcoming to students of different Indigenous backgrounds and not restrict its membership to people native to the United States. Rachel Two Bulls (CAS ’24) suggested “Circle of Indigenous Students’ Alliance” to achieve this inclusivity.

Melanie Cruz-Morales (CAS ’23), a CISA member who identifies with the Mixtec people, an Indigenous community in southern Mexico, said she only joined this past year because of the change in name.

“The way that I got involved was primarily because of the focus of their inclusivity and their rebranding that not only centered northern Native Americans, but all Indigenous people

throughout the globe,” Cruz-Morales told The Hoya

Two Bulls, who is Lakota, said CISA’s expansion has allowed her to examine the similarities between the histories and interests of her Indigenous group and those of other groups.

“A really interesting part of this journey has been learning about people who are from South America, Central America, Mexico and what their Indigenous identities entail and how they’ve dealt with so much hardship getting here and how they’re trying to access their identity and how

on a single executive board, and most decisions are agreed on with unanimous consent. Members like Young have noticed more vocal input and closer relationships among members since the change.

“Everyone has an equal voice in how we plan things. We don’t do anything really without sort of a unanimous consent from everybody, and everyone is able to pitch in ideas and bounce off each other,” Young told The Hoya Navigating Indigeneity at Georgetown

Members credit CISA with providing a sense of community that allowed them to hold onto their Indigenous identities while at Georgetown.

“Originally, when I came to Georgetown, I really wanted to not be marked, or exoticized like that. I wanted to be known for the work that I put into getting here, the work I do here that does not have to do with my identity,” Sam said. “But my involvement with them over the years has made sure that I don’t forget about that identity and realize the importance of it.”

Forming a community on campus can prove difficult given the low enrollment of Indigenous students at Georgetown.

this effort, including by collaborating with College Horizons, a nonprofit that aims to help universities increase their enrollment of Indigenous students.

Sam said that in the past, the university has delegated issues related to Indigenous students to CISA (and formerly NASC), including the creation of a land acknowledgement for Georgetown to use in university spaces and clubs.

“We learned to kind of take on what we can but transition away from being that to more so being a community and showcase our own events, versus trying to take on all of the problems related to indigeneity by the school,” Sam said.

CISA students have often called for the university to acknowledge Georgetown resides on Piscataway and Nacotchtank land.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is open to engaging with the Piscataway tribe and is supportive of exploring programming and course options to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

@CISAGEORGETOWN/INSTAGRAM

CISA members unanimously agreed to rename their organization to be inclusive of all Indigenous backgrounds, in addition to abolishing their hierarchical leadership structure

Cruz-Morales said.

CISA has formed a stronger relationship with Campus Ministry this year and is working to create an Indigenous spiritual space on campus. In the meantime, the group has been planning a retreat for Indigenous students for the Fall 2023 semester, Young said.

As part of this effort to increase its spiritual presence on campus, CISA is working with both Campus Ministry and the Earth Commons to create a medicine garden on campus, which will be revealed April 21 at the Earth Commons’ Spring Festival. The garden will supply Indigenous students with plants that can be made into medicines used for different spiritual activities, such as smudging, the burning of sacred herbs.

CISA is also working with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s “Q?rius” exhibit to host an educational program in the fall centered around Native American art in the environment. Members took a tour this April to a Smithsonian off-site location, where they discussed anthropological research, museum ethics and repatriation efforts.

number of Indigenous students at Georgetown.

“That would involve more hosting and meeting with high schools and trying to get more Native students to apply to Georgetown and see that they do have a place here and that this isn’t something out of reach that they can strive for, that is very much possible, and that when they do, there is a community here for them and that they will be welcome here,” Young said.

A university spokesperson said the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has been doing targeted outreach to Indigenous students for several years and that admissions staff members often work with students to help with recruitment.

Cruz-Morales said the admissions office only reached out to CISA to help in the recruitment process in February of this year.

“Two years ago, it was very, very hard to get attention from the Office of the Vice President, from administration in general. It was definitely something that seemed to be on the bottom of their list,” Cruz-Morales said.

that plays into their lives,” Two Bulls told The Hoya

“It’s definitely provided a sense of community, and understanding what community looks like, as an Indigenous person from a place where everyone is of the same culture,” Two Bulls added.

CISA’s rebranding extended beyond its name change. Cronk, then the vice president of NASC, also brought up an idea last spring to make all members equal.

“Everybody else who had usually been more on the quiet side seemed very engaged all of a sudden and very supportive of that idea,” Cronk said. The organization then abolished its hierarchical form of leadership and replaced it with an executive board, stemming from the need to create a more collaborative and less administrative club culture.

“The idea of a presidency feels a little colonial, a little nontraditional,” Cronk said. “Each Native American nation, Indigenous group has their own unique style of governance. But the idea of a presidency is a pretty European or American settler construct, and I felt that doesn’t seem to match our cultural needs, either. And people seemed to agree.”

Given the tight-knit environment in the organization, which includes students from many different backgrounds, the hierarchy felt to some like a barrier to equal collaboration, CISA member Tristin Sam (SFS ’23) said.

“I was afraid with the hierarchy, too, that there would be a sense of too much leaning into one tribe’s traditions in regards to what we’d showcase and what events are held,” Sam told The Hoya. “So the transition away from the hierarchical structure has actually helped out a lot.”

In place of hierarchical positions, all members of CISA are

Data USA, a website that aggregates government statistics and data, reported that in 2020, less than 0.1% of Georgetown undergraduates identified as American Indian or Alaska Native and less than 0.2% identified as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders (NHPI). While Georgetown has a higher percentage of NHPI students than other comparable private universities, its percentage of American Indian or Alaska Native undergraduates is slightly lower compared with schools like Brown University and Columbia University.

Cruz-Morales’ tribe is not federally recognized in Mexico nor the United States, and she said she has to identify as Latino on the U.S. Census, in addition to American Indian or Alaska Native. At a Campus Ministry event last semester for Indigenous students, Cruz-Morales said the university had a hard time identifying the number of Indigenous students on campus because of the way the identification process works.

Students who identify as biracial cannot choose both American Indian or Alaska Native and another race, which complicates the identification of Indigenous students.

“That was a very sad event, because you could see how much lack of systemic support or inquiry or research or knowledge that this university has on its Native students,” Cruz-Morales said. “I don’t think that the university has done much, except I do think that Native outcry from students has increased a lot.”

As GUSA Senate speaker in 2021, Cruz-Morales introduced legislation alongside her twin sister, Sheila Cruz-Morales (CAS ’23), asking the university to provide more resources to Indigenous students. She is continuing to work with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions in

CISA members said the organization’s rebranding, combined with greater vocalized support for Indigenous students from the general public, has forced the administration to pay more attention to the fact that there are so few Indigenous students at Georgetown. CISA members hope to show students, faculty and graduates that they intend to not be ignored.

“This is not at all about calling people out or saying ‘you haven’t done enough,’” Young said. “It’s about us saying, ‘Hey, let us help you and let us cultivate relationships that we’ll continue to make. We understand your history, and we recognize that. And we’re glad that you do, too. Now let us work together to build something better for everyone involved.’”

Establishing Lasting Roots

This year CISA has formed several partnerships with institutions both on and off campus — and has multiple upcoming projects planned for this year.

“It’s very beautiful to see CISA’s expansion, its wonderful opportunities, that are coming our way since our rebranding,”

Each member received a packet with objects from their tribe on the tour and later were allowed to view more objects in individual cabinets. Cronk explained how they began crying upon seeing the objects from their tribe.

“There is an immense responsibility you can feel getting access. And there’s an ache. Something, to me, feels so wrong with these objects being so far from home, all alone out here,” Cronk said.

Seeing textiles made by his native Quechua people brought similar emotions to Carson Ramirez (CAS ’23).

“It brings a bit of sadness because it’s supposed to be in movement at all times — at least, from my viewpoint. It’s never supposed to just be hidden in just some location in the cabinet,” Ramirez said.

“But at the same time, it’s nice that something has been preserved there and really says a lot that we’re being seen from some other viewpoint besides a culture viewpoint,” Ramirez added.

Achieving greater recognition requires uplifting more Indigenous student voices, CISA members said — and the organization ultimately hopes to expand the

“And so, with just — I guess — new interest that has arisen from the office of admissions, they’ve been searching to collaborate a lot with CISA members to figure out how we can create a safer and better space for current Native students, but also how we can attract Native students to Georgetown,” Cruz-Morales added.

Overall, CISA members are optimistic about their new direction and work moving forward, but they credit this year’s progress to the empowerment of having a space for Indigenous students.

“I think that it’s a beautiful thing when you can step into a room and be working in a team where we can all understand each other without having to fight for our identities and having to defend them and having to explain them,” Cruz-Morales said.

“I think that this year has been quite a turning point for Circle of Indigenous Students’ Alliance, from our structure to our name to our increased presence across campus, and now the greater D.C. educational spaces. And I think that’s just the beginning,” Cronk added.

“It’s definitely provided a sense of community, and understanding what community looks like.”

RACHEL TWO BULLS CISA MEMBER

COURTESY ALANNA CRONK

CISA has formed various on-campus and off-campus partnerships this year, such as with the Earth Commons Institute and the Smithsonian Institution.

IN FOCUS

WHAT’S NEW IN MULTIMEDIA

Victoria’s Secrets: Reward Yourself With Yellow

Have you ever tried a “Halva Honey” latte? Take a listen to the latest episode of “Victoria’s Secrets” to hear host Victoria Freeman’s (CAS ’26) review of Yellow, a new Levantinspired coffee shop in the Georgetown neighborhood.

Podcasts are available to stream on The Hoya website, Soundcloud and Spotify.

Brendan’s Opinion: Five Ways the University Can Appreciate GERMS Without Breaking the Bank In this podcast, Brendan Teehan (CAS ’25) brainstorms ways the university can express their appreciation for the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS) without spending any money.

Grads Donate $11M to MSB Students Elect 18 GUSA Senators

Emily Han

Academics Desk Editor

Georgetown graduates Joe Baratta (GSB ’93) and Abigail Baratta (SFS ’96) gave an $11 million gift to the McDonough School of Business (MSB), funding several ongoing initiatives in global business.

The donation includes $5.3 million for the Global Business Fellows Program, which provides interdisciplinary learning opportunities for undergraduate students, and $3.7 million for the Baratta Center for Global Business, a newly launched institute that will consolidate several programs across the university, including the Global Business Fellows program, among others. $2 million will go toward the Baratta International Business Curriculum Endowed Innovation Fund, which will provide four grants annually for faculty and pedagogy, according to an April 11 university statement.

Joe Baratta, the global head of private equity at the investment company Blackstone and a member of the MSB’s Board of Advisors, said he and his wife have worked with the university since 2007 to broaden its presence as a leading institution for globally oriented business.

“The objective of all of this is to make Georgetown the preeminent university for the study of global business at both the undergraduate and graduate level and to attract the best students and professors,” Baratta told The Hoya. “The idea is to ensure that we maintain this position as one of the leading universities in the world and, hopefully, the leading place for students interested in business at the undergraduate level.”

Baratta said he and his wife made their first major gift to the McDonough School of Business in 2016, making a $7.3 million contribution for initiatives furthering scholarships in the international and business realms.

Ricardo Ernst, a Georgetown professor who taught Joe Baratta

when he was a student, has served as the Baratta Endowed Chair in Global Business since 2016. Ernst said Baratta has been highly involved throughout the process of creating and developing initiatives to help the MSB provide students with an interdisciplinary education and problemsolving skills.

“He’s fully and absolutely committed to all this,” Ernst said. “He’s a true believer in all the things he’s doing, and he’s hands-on. He knows every single detail into what goes on here because we have been working together for the definition of what the Center and the refinement of the Global Business Fellows are all about.”

Ernst and Joe Baratta meet every two weeks to track progress on their programs.

For instance, the Global Business Experience program allows both undergraduate and graduate students to travel abroad and meet with executives from multinational organizations and Fortune 500 companies, according to the Baratta Center’s website.

Baratta said he has been satisfied with how Ernst has implemented programs such as the Global Business Fellows program and the Global Business Experience program.

“They’ve actually been enacting these things that some of us as benefactors of the school believe are important and take advantage of Georgetown’s natural competitive advantages,” Baratta said. “That’s been very gratifying. Specifically, the Global Business Experience program having tangible benefits to students is cool to see.”

The newly launched Baratta Center for Global Business will build on and expand these initiatives, according to Anil Khurana, the Baratta Center’s recently appointed executive director.

“We expect the Baratta Center to be a global convenor of industry, government, and society, focused on a range of high priority issues,”

Khurana wrote to The Hoya. “I think it is as an ‘action think tank’ where applied research by Georgetown and MSB faculty and students will help our Baratta Center advisory board members with many of their burning questions.”

Khurana said his priorities include continuing existing global business programs, contributing to research and teaching, presenting at COP28, a United Nations climate change conference, in December, and establishing a visiting fellows program that will benefit student participants.

Ernst said his goals for the new center include creating partnerships with global companies to host internships for students and organizing conferences for students and practitioners. The overall objective of these plans is to provide experiential learning opportunities to students and build on Georgetown’s position as a leader in global business education, according to Ernst.

“We would like this to be the place where everybody goes to understand, calibrate and actually get firsthand information into what’s happening in global business,” Ernst said. “How can we leverage our incredible location in Washington, D.C., to start working with the government on anything that might be dealing with global business — and all that within the tradition of the Jesuit education, which is one of the most important things that most companies appreciate, admire and respect at Georgetown?”

Baratta said his time as a student at Georgetown has greatly shaped his personal and professional life, which is part of why he gives back to the university.

“I’ve had lasting, lifelong friendships and maintain relationships with certain professors who had a profound impact on me over the years, and the environment and culture of Georgetown, I think, was an enabler of my career,” Baratta said.

JUUL Coughs Up $15.2M in Suit

Kate Loughran and Mia Streitberger

Hoya Staff Writers

Washington, D.C. Attorney

General Brian L. Schwalb announced April 12 that JUUL, an e-cigarette manufacturer, will pay D.C. $15.2 million in a settlement for preying on children and falsely advertising their products to consumers.

D.C.’s lawsuit against JUUL for its dangerous products and targeted advertising to minors follows litigation from many other states, including California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Colorado. In total, these states have obtained $462 million in lawsuit settlements against JUUL.

As a result of the settlement, JUUL is now subject to strict advertising regulations, including a ban from advertising on social media channels, more stringent ID verification and limitations on online and in-person bulk orders, according to a press release from the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

Attorney General Schwalb, who served as prosecution in the case, said the company used deceptive advertising, such as not disclosing the amount of nicotine content of their e-cigarettes in milligrams, to manipulate vulnerable consumer demographics.

“JUUL knew how addictive and dangerous its products were and actively tried to cover up that medical truth,” Schwalb said in the press release. “The Office of the

Attorney General prioritizes protecting District children’s health and safety and ensuring our kids can live healthy, hopeful lives.”

New data suggests vaping, or using e-cigarettes, leads to chronic lung disease, asthma and cardiovascular disease when used alongside cigarettes. Much information about the long-term impacts of vaping have yet to be tested, meaning users are exposed to chemicals with unknown effects.

Despite declines made in smoking rates in youth, e-cigarette usage is increasing dramatically, especially among teens, according to the press release. 3.6 million kids in the United States used ecigarettes in 2018, including 1 in 5 high school students, according to the FDA and Surgeon General.

The settlement is the largest litigated settlement that the D.C Attorney General has brought against a company. The lawsuits are grounded in the Consumer Protection Procedures Act, which prohibits deceit in business practices. At least 50% of the settlement amount will be used directly to mitigate the public health damages JUUL’s products caused, according to the release. JUUL had previously paid $438.5 million in a lawsuit with similar concerns on the company’s marketing to underage consumers brought by 33 states and Puerto Rico, which was settled in September 2022.

Georgetown has maintained a tobacco and smoke-free campus since 2020. This move was in an effort to take greater care of the

Georgetown community and emphasize Jesuit values.

Ranit Mishori (MED ’02), chief public health officer at Georgetown, said the outcome of the settlement is a step in the right direction for holding e-cigarette companies accountable.

“It’s an important intervention and a great outcome, but this complex public health issue requires a well-coordinated multisectoral approach that includes policy issues related to marketing, advertising, retail, age limits, bans on flavoring, price increases, additional medical and public health research, as well as prevention and education campaigns targeting susceptible groups, among others,” Mishori wrote to The Hoya Studies show that e-cigarette usage leads young people to start smoking conventional cigarettes and other products that contain tobacco, such as cigars and hookahs. Other risks of e-cigarettes include the batteries and devices exploding or catching fire, resulting in serious injuries.

Mishori said that the risks of vaping are entirely avoidable, which is why lawsuits against their advertisement and distribution are so important.

“It is up to us to educate ourselves, our family, and our friends, and to actively resist using and promoting these harmful products,” Mishori wrote. “It is also critical to come together to demand policy and regulatory changes and push for accountability for our community at large.”

Hayley Young Hoya Staff Writer

Eighteen students won elections to serve as Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) senators, representing the Classes of 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Members of the student body elected six senators from their respective class years to serve in the GUSA Senate until April 2024 in the April 13-15 election. Twenty students ran campaigns last week — nine first-years, six sophomores and five juniors — with candidates’ messaging focusing on club funding, student housing, inclusivity and institutional transparency.

The junior senators include incumbents Julian Jimenez (CAS ’24), Max Massick (CAS ’24), Megan Skinner (SFS ’24) and Jibril Syed (MSB ’24). Members of the Class of 2024 also elected two new senators, Mason Leath (CAS ’24) and Jeff Mueller (CAS ’24).

Full Disclosure: Mason Leath (CAS ’24) served as Senior Guide Editor during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters.

Leath said taking care of Georgetown students’ mental health will be a priority in his first term.

“I think we’re seeing a startling trend of mental health epidemics across the university landscape for young people, and no one should ever feel alone,” Leath wrote to The Hoya. “Moreover, I want everyone at Georgetown to have adequate resources if they are struggling with anxiety or depression because I never want my friends and classmates to feel isolated or scared writ large.”

Jimenez said he plans to focus on small goals that will increase students’ productivity following his reelection.

“I want to prioritize the seemingly little things that affect students on a daily basis that often get overlooked,”

Jimenez wrote to The Hoya

“For example, late last semester I started the project to install power strips on Lau 2 because there would often not be enough working outlets for people to use. Someone recently mentioned the HFSC has some outlet issues too, which is why I want to work on that next.”

GUSA also swore in George LeMieux (CAS ’25), Dua Mobin (CAS ’25) and Noriko O’Shea (SFS ’25) to their first senate terms, alongside incumbents Chijioke Achebe (SFS ’25), John DiPierri (SFS ’25) and Saatvik Sunkavalli (SFS ’25).

In the freshman race, students reelected incumbents Meriam Ahmad (CAS ’26), George Currie (CAS ’26), Dylan Davis (CAS ’26) and Rhea Iyer (CAS ’26) to their GUSA Senate seats, with newly elected Ethan Henshaw (CAS ’26) and Yasin Khan (SFS ’26) joining them.

The first-year senatorselect are especially focused on workers’ rights and equity on campus, according to Ahmad. “There’s a lot of energy among the newly elected senators, particularly the freshman class, to make a difference for workers on campus,” Ahmad wrote to The Hoya. “I’m also planning to continue my efforts to get more lights in Red Square, reduce the cost of laundry, and fix the kiosks at Epi’s to make them representative of what’s actually on the meal plan.”

Ahmad said she plans to increase the student body’s engagement with GUSA particularly through its Finance and Appropriations Committee (FinApp), which allocates money to club advisory boards and held a contentious appropriations process this year.

“I hope to work with the Senate to establish a regular ‘FinApp Debrief’ town hall following each budget summit where anyone can ask FinApp liaisons and adjuncts questions about their decisions to increase transparency and accountability within FinApp,” Ahmad wrote. As the newly elected FinApp chair, Iyer said she also wants to continue addressing equity issues at Georgetown.

“The most important issues on campus are definitely equity, safety, and facilities,” Iyer wrote to The Hoya. “In this upcoming term, I plan to continue to see the projects I started through to completion. I’ve worked on getting cheaper laundry, having longer SafeRides hours, and instituting regular town halls with GUPD.”

Jimenez said he is proud of GUSA’s accomplishments in the last term, despite student concerns about the organization’s efficacy in previous years.

“People running would present themselves as groundbreaking candidates, and yet most students felt GUSA didn’t actually do anything important,” Jimenez wrote to The Hoya. “This past year, though, I have seen GUSA redeem itself. Members have a strong work ethic and have now embarked on more projects that people tangibly benefit from, most notably the free New York Times and Washington Post subscriptions.”

Founded January 14, 1920

Caitlin McLean, Editor in Chief

Clayton Kincade, Executive Editor

Adora Zheng, Executive Editor

Mary Clare Marshall, Managing Editor

Nina Raj, News Editor

Michelle Vassilev, News Editor

Annie Kane, Features Editor

Caroline Rareshide, Features Editor

James Pocchia, Guide Editor

Nikhil Nelson, Guide Editor

Ryan Thurz, Opinion Editor

Liam McGraw, Opinion Editor

Oliver Ni, Sports Editor

Carrie McDonald, Sports Editor

Naomi Greenberg, Science Editor

Cece Ochoa, Science Editor

Sophie Liu, Design Editor

Alan Chen, Design Editor

Miranda Xiong, Photography Editor

Hannah Wallinger, Copy Chief

Cate Meyer, Copy Chief

Sarah Sisto, Social Media Editor

Amna Shamim, Multimedia Editor

Board of Directors

Jared Carmeli, Chair

Bay Dotson, Laetitia Haddad, Khushi Vora, Laura Kapp, Rushil Vashee, Timothy Goh

JASMINE CRIQUI/THE HOYA

The Old Georgetown Board recommended the removal of the Transformers statues located on Prospect Street in Georgetown, sparking controversy among the student body.

SCIENCE

Science Spotlight: Sophomore Wins DC Space Grant Contest

Olivia Williamson

Science Staff Writer

Leah Chen (CAS ’25) placed third in the 2023 District of Columbia Space Grant Consortium Student Research Poster Contest. Chen was notified Feb. 13, 2023, about the award for her work focusing on the use of novel nanoparticles to improve treatment for acute kidney injury (AKI) before the winners were announced publicly earlier this week.

NASA funded Chen’s research during the summer of 2022 by a Space Grant from the Space Grant Consortium, which aims to support undergraduate research focused on science and engineering. Chen has researched AKI since her first year at Georgetown University.

“I knew I wanted to focus on something more biomedical. So I reached out to my dean, and she got me connected to Professor Van Keuren by the second week of school,” Chen said. AKI is one of the most prevalent major post-surgical complications for open-heart surgery. According to Georgetown physics professor Edward Van Keuren, this is because open-heart surgery

exposes the body to excess hydrogen peroxide, which can result in severe bodily tissue damage and cause kidney failure.

“You normally have a little bit of hydroperoxide in your body, but if you’re undergoing surgery, or if you’re wounded, your body tends to react by overproducing it,” Van Keuren told The Hoya

The treatment that Chen has been researching, known as APP-103, both reduces hydrogen peroxide concentration and produces anti-inflammatory agents. It therefore works twofold in fighting against AKI.

“We’re trying to find a way to better quantify the way that the reaction happens,” Chen said.

At Georgetown, Chen is pursuing the pre-med track with a major in physics and a minor in public health.

Chen said that although chemistry and biology are traditionally majors for students hoping to enter into M.D. programs after they graduate, she found physics to be the most engaging of the hard sciences, particularly because of the field’s lack of rogue memorization and focus on problem-solving skills.

“In high school, I remember physics was one of the classes that

really challenged me, and it was a lot more rewarding when I did well in it,” Chen said.

Chen said she maintains a fondness for many childhood memories of sitting in her father’s office, listening to him speak passionately about his work and caring for his patients. Chen’s father earned his doctorate in physics but later entered the medical field, according to Chen.

Chen said she hopes to combine her passions for physics and medicine and work as a physician in the future.

“I just clicked really well with the subject, and the physics department at Georgetown is amazing. I cannot imagine majoring in anything else, as cheesy as that sounds,” Chen said.

Chen said that because of the novelty of her work, bringing the technique into the realm of physical science has not been without its difficulties.

“Over the summer, we went through a huge period of getting really bad data and having to figure out, ‘Why is this data looking so terrible?’” Chen said.

Chen said she spent the past summer altering the parameters of her experiment, slowly working toward more conclusive results.

Chen has shown remarkable dedication in her perseverance and mastery of her complex research of AKI, according to Van Keuren. Notably, her research involves the use of isothermal titration calorimetry, a technique traditionally used in the field of biology to measure the heat of reactions. Chen’s work has focused on novel application of the technique to physical science research.

“We don’t have any experts locally who know how to use it. We don’t have a lot of experience using it and so Chen’s had the chance to kind of become the local expert on how to get good data out of it,” Van Keuren said.

Abortion Pill Challenge Raises Student Concern

doms,” Ping added.

Eleni Hughes (GRD ’23), a doctoral candidate for physics and member of the Van Keuren lab, said she is impressed with Chen’s work.

“When you’re developing something new, which [Chen’s] trying to do, there’s no sort of prescripted technique, there’s no paper online that you can just follow,” Hughes said.

During her remaining time at Georgetown, Chen said she looks forward to continuing her research and hopes to obtain even more conclusive results. Chen said she plans to work in the Van Keuren lab this summer, hopefully to begin putting together a paper about her work for publica-

tion in a scientific journal.

Van Keuren said he is proud of Chen’s dedication to her research — and looks forward to the work she will be doing in the future in his lab.

“I think the next step is just continuing on with what I’ve been doing, reaching out to more people in the field, seeing if they have any opinions or suggestions on how to improve because it’s very much still like a work in progress,” Chen said.

“I’m deeply honored to have received this award. This research is really new and exciting, and it feels rewarding to have it highlighted and shared with a greater audience,” Chen said.

THE INTERSECTION

The future of abortion access in the United States is up in the air as the Supreme Court decides whether or not to uphold a Texas judge’s block of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, the first of a two-pill sequence used for medication abortions.

The Supreme Court has extended the hold placed on the Texas ruling from April 19 to April 21 at 11:59 pm to give justices more time to make a decision in the case.

The drug in question, mifepristone, has been widely used for medication abortions since its introduction to the market in 2000. It is the most common drug used in medication abortions, which account for more than half of abortions in the U.S. Since the rulings, the FDA has defended mifepristone, saying the drug is “safe and effective.”

Lauryn Ping (CAS ’23), the vice president of H*yas For Choice, Georgetown University’s reproductive justice organization, said the potential restrictions on access to the pill has caused concern among students.

“Limiting access to abortion could create more anxiety amongst Georgetown students about sex and the potential of having an unwanted pregnancy. The importance of using contraceptives will be much greater,” Ping said in an interview with The Hoya. “This decision further perpetuates a stigma around sex on campus that is unwarranted.”

“There are power dynamics that come into play since not everyone has the ability to ask their partner to wear con-

Mifepristone, which has been widely used for medication abortions for over two decades, blocks the hormone progesterone, a hormone necessary for maintaining a pregnancy. The pill is usually followed within 48 hours by misoprostol, which causes contractions in order to facilitate an abortion.

Rebecca Reingold, Associate Director at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, said rollbacks over the access to the drug will have serious implications for college students.

“Together, the Texas court’s and Fifth Circuit’s decisions would severely restrict access to mifepristone for all college students, regardless of where they reside,”

Reingold wrote to The Hoya

“Limiting the medication’s use to through 7 weeks’ gestation, for example, curtails access to essential reproductive health services for pregnant college students, many of whom do not know they are pregnant so early on,” Reingold added.

Mifepristone was first blocked on April 7f by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, blocked the drug on the basis that the FDA used an accelerated approval process, lacking research into any potentially harmful side effects of the drugs.

Major adverse events related to mifepristone are exceedingly rare, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), and occur in just 0.3% of cases. The major adverse event rate of giving birth ranges from 0.4%-3.6%.

FDA approval for Mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions.

A federal judge on the Fifth Circuit Court in Washington, on the same day as the Texas ruling, ruled that no restrictions should be placed on mifepristone access in 17 states, including the District of Columbia.

Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights and faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, said that the Texas court’s decision to prohibit access to mifepristone would lead to serious health ramifications.

“Banning or placing restrictions on an FDA approved medicine like mifepristone has severe consequences for access to safe abortions,” Gostin wrote in an email to The Hoya. “It also places the pregnant person’s health, or even life, at risk.”

For students who are worried about access to the pill, Gostin said that at the moment in Washington, D.C., access to the pill is still legal.

“At present, D.C. law holds firm. Unless the Supreme Court

Treat Safe Abortion Access as Health Care

sides with the Fifth Circuit, there should be unrestricted access to abortion medications in the District,” Gostin wrote.

Sara Collina, a lawyer and professor in Georgetown’s Women’s and Gender Studies department, said government agencies, such as the FDA, are important in ensuring the safety of medicines in various fields.

“When you need a cavity filled, you know your dentist has a license for that work. When you buy a painkiller at the store, you know a government agency reviewed the research to be sure the drug can do more good than harm,” Collina added.

Ping called on those without the capacity for pregnancy to support those directly impacted by the ongoing rulings.

“Oftentimes the onus is placed on people with the capacity for pregnancy, so I think now is a really great time for people who can’t get pregnant to step up and use contraception and make sure they practice safe sex — lifting the burden of dealing with this alone,” Ping said.

Georgetown Team Wins National Bioethics Bowl

Naomi Greenberg

Senior Science Editor

The ethics of medical crowdfunding, animal research, and medical assistance in dying were just a few of the many topics addressed at this year’s National Bioethics Bowl, a competition that brings university teams together to discuss ethical challenges in biomedicine and technology.

The competition, which was hosted at Northeastern University in Boston on April 15, brought together 22 teams from colleges around the country, and a team of Georgetown University undergraduate students took home the first-place trophy in the final round after three rounds of group debates.

The undergraduates representing Georgetown were Mark Kuo (CAS ’24), Max Massick (CAS ’24), Kyle Jain (CAS ’24), Anna Hampton (CAS ’24) and Leigh Meyer (CAS ’23). They were coached by Elisa Reverman (GRD ’25) and Jacob Zionts, a first-year Georgetown graduate student, both of whom are pursuing doctorates in philosophy.

The team began preparing for the April competition in January 2023, when the bowl organizers released a packet of a dozen case studies spanning the breadth of the relatively new field of ethics,

from clinical to research bioethics to organizational ethics.

Massick, a classics and economics major, said the team met weekly to prepare for the competition.

“We sit there, we try to figure out what are the real philosophical issues at the heart of the issue, and what do we think?

What are different ways we can approach this? What are counterarguments?” Massick said in an interview with The Hoya Team members enjoy debating bioethical issues because of their applicability to real life, something Massick said includes common questions including the decision of when to stop life support for a loved one.

“There are tough calls that need to be made,” Massick said. “What’s nice about bioethics is that it connects these more philosophical questions with the actual world and making decisions.”

According to Kuo, a biology major with minors in public health and bioethics, the field of bioethics feels more tangible and accessible than philosophy.

“Oftentimes, you’re very much at the heart of matter itself rather than up in the milieu of philosophy,” Kuo told The Hoya In the final round of the Bioethics Bowl, the Georgetown team faced students from the Uni-

versity of Maryland, Baltimore County in a case study about recently developed technology for the creation of “three-person babies,” where a third person’s mitochondrial DNA is transferred into a fertilized egg. The study asked contestants whether it would be ethical to use the technology to give a same-sex couple the opportunity to have offspring with DNA from both partners, as opposed to only one.

Kuo, who represented Georgetown in that final round, said the issue was nuanced — the team wanted to push for reproductive freedom, family planning and equality, but also recognized several concerns with the possibilities of such technology.

“We wanted to avoid the prickly implications of potential genetic fetishization, or the obsession with having a biological relationship to kin instead of embracing social families,” Kuo said. “It was very interesting doing that particular balancing act.”

After stating their position on the case, facing rebuttals from the opposing team, responding to the rebuttals and finally responding to questioning from a panel of judges consisting of philosophers, lawyers and doctors, Georgetown’s team was declared the winner.

Although speaking time was not evenly spread across team members, with Kuo representing Georgetown in the finals and Massick representing Georgetown in the previous three rounds, the whole team worked together to secure Georgetown the win, according to Reverman.

“One of the primary strengths of our team this year is that they’re really cohesive and that they spent a lot of hours preparing together,” Reverman told The Hoya. “I think their ability to really work as a team and communicate during competition was incredible.”

“Everyone worked like a welloiled machine,” Massick added.

Zionts said the diversity of the students’ academic backgrounds — ranging from classics, to economics, to history, to medical humanities — was also an asset.

“This is how good bioethical scholarship works in the real world. It’s a relatively collaborative and interdisciplinary discipline,” Zionts said.

Reverman, who has now participated and coached a total of seven Bioethics Bowl teams, three of which were winners, said she believed in the team from the start.

“I knew that they were capable of it,” Reverman said. “The fact that they actually did was all the more exciting.”

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a landmark Supreme Court case decided in June 2022, redefined — and overturned — the idea of reproductive bodily autonomy.

Abortion restrictions in 24 states have been enacted since the Dobbs decision overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which enshrined a constitutional right to an abortion. This includes the April 7 order issued by a District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas that could suspend the use of one of the most widely used drugs for medication abortions, a decision that could represent the most significant restriction on abortion rights since the Supreme Court decision last summer.

In addition to being an outright attack on the bodies of those who can get pregnant, abortion restrictions directly contradict data about the benefits and risks of pregnancies, representing the deeply politicized nature of what should be a purely medical health intervention. From a scientific perspective, abortion should be a choice granted to all those who are capable of pregnancy. Regardless of individual beliefs or personal politics, we all must recognize the widespread harm and mortality abortion restrictions cause and shoulder the shared responsibility to protect each other from the consequences.

The World Health Organization attests that comprehensive abortion care is an essential healthcare service and says denying people abortion care and access can have catastrophic effects.

According to a 2009 study published in “Reviews of Obstetrics and Gynecology,” nearly half of the yearly 42 million people who choose to have an abortion turn to untrained individuals lacking the necessary skills or an environment that does not follow the minimal medical standards because of a lack of access to safe services.

Some 68,000 people die from unsafe abortions each year, making unsafe abortions one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.

A common argument put forth by anti-abortion rights legislators is that abortion harms those who choose to end their pregnancy. However, a recent landmark study conducted by Diana Foster of the University of California, San Francisco found that people denied abortions are more likely to experience negative socioeconomic, physical health and mental health outcomes than those who were freely allowed to choose to do so.

Moreover, there is profound

inequity in the consequences of abortion restrictions, as clearly seen in Mississippi. Michele Goodwin, a chancellor’s professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, where she directs the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, found that a Black person is 118 times more likely to die from carrying a pregnancy to term in Mississippi, a state with one of the most restrictive abortion bans, than they are from having a legal abortion.

Many states also have laws restricting abortions to certain gestational periods, limiting abortions to the early stages of pregnancy. However, the genetic and biological complications associated with the dangers of pregnancy are numerous and variable, differing from person to person and pregnancy to pregnancy. Setting limits on abortions goes against the basic workings of science, as cardiac and renal complications could create the need for a life-saving abortion at any point in a pregnancy.

Furthermore, one of the most important but often neglected aspects of the study of abortion services is the inequality of access to it. Restrictions on bodily autonomy have long been used as a method of oppression to control minority and underprivileged communities. Reproductive injustice has long been intertwined with American history and structural inequality. During the Jim Crow era, eugenic depopulation policies and sterilization laws forced as many as 70,000 people into non-consensual sterilization, galvanizing disparities in maternal mortality. Estimates suggest that abortion bans can result in a 21% overall increase in maternal mortality, and by 33% in non-Hispanic Black Americans. Laws and legislation that force people to carry out a pregnancy to full-term strip them of political and social choosing power, which, in turn, can also make women more financially dependent on men. Abortion restrictions also reinforce and uphold dangerous cycles of poverty, resulting in the continuation of poor health outcomes in people who are forced to have children when they do not want to or are not able to support those children.

The states with the most restrictive abortion bans also have relatively worse social safety nets, higher maternal mortality rates, and more significant disparities in health care across race and socioeconomic status.

At the end of the day, access to abortion is supported by pillars of science and fundamental respect for human dignity and equality. Everyone should have access to it — point blank.

Keerthana Ramanathan is a first-year in the School of Health. The Intersection publishes online and in print once every three weeks.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

GU Sophmore Leah Chen (CAS ’25) won the DC Space Grant Consortium Student Research Poster Contest for her acute kidney disease reseach.

Alexa Hill Science Staff Writer

TWITTER @AJPLUS

The Supreme Court will rule on

Keerthana Ramanathan Columnist

GAGE Engages in Next Stages Of Wage Raises With University

GAGE, from A1 not a contract that will come close to meeting the needs of GAGE members, and it is not a contract that GAGE members deserve.”

On April 17, GAGE negotiators said a university offer included an hourly rate of $21.10 for hourly workers as well as $35,167 for nine-month doctoral candidates and $38,411 for 12-month doctoral candidates. A single adult in Washington, D.C., must earn $46,082 before taxes to meet the threshold for a livable wage, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Living Wage Calculator.

The calculator uses economic measurements that account for geographic differences, as well as a wider range of basic expenses, including health care, which GAGE members receive through their university contracts.

GAGE workers have especially expressed frustration over the university’s decision to spend $11 million to buy out former men’s basketball Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85), while offering to spend fewer than $200 per student on stipend increases for graduate student workers, according to a GAGE tweet.

Georgetown University pays its graduate candidates the highest stipend in the re-

gion, according to a university spokesperson.

“We value our graduate students and their contributions to the Georgetown community and are committed to ensuring they are supported during their academic formation at Georgetown,” a university spokesperson wrote to The Hoya GAGE representatives said that among Georgetown University’s 10 self-selected peer institutions, none of which are in the region and five of which are members of the Ivy League, Georgetown ranks last in graduate student wages based on the MIT wage calculator.

Doctoral candidates at Georgetown receive full tuition, dental insurance and health coverage, as well as the highest stipend in the D.C. area for part-time work over nine or 12 months, depending on their program, according to a university spokesperson.

“Converting 9-month and 12-month stipends from 15 hours to 40 hours would produce full-time equivalents of at least $90,000 and $98,000, respectively,” a university spokesperson wrote.

Sidhant Saraogi, a rising third-year doctoral student and GAGE’s lead organizer for natural and biomedical sciences, said graduate student working hours often exceed

Georgetown Community Honors, Remembers Life of Will Stocksdale

their 15-hour-a-week contractual obligations.

“It is no secret that our members work much more than what is expected from us in our contract,” Saraogi wrote to The Hoya

Beyond acting as teaching and research assistants, graduate students are encouraged to conduct research and attend conferences, but often, they need to take other paid jobs, according to a tweet by a GAGE member.

This is not the first time GAGE and university administrators have been locked in negotiations. In 2020, they negotiated over health and economic protections that resulted in arbitration proceedings.

So far, Cooper said GAGE has made progress in its negotiations with the university in terms of noneconomic terms, and each side said they hope to continue working toward an agreement.

“Our negotiations with the GU administration began in October of last year, and we’ve made some good progress so far on many non-economic aspects of our contract, particularly on elements of the contract focused on immigration processing for international students, protection for undocumented workers, and stronger language on union security,” Cooper wrote. MEMORIAL from A1 first people here that I felt comfortable around and that I considered a friend,” Sullivan said at the memorial. “Whenever I think of Will, I think about his thoughtfulness.”

Ex-Archbishop Faces Sexual Assault Charge in Wisconsin

“I remember bonding over small things we had in common, like our love for those Starbucks fall-themed drinks,” Sullivan added. “What I look back on most fondly from the beginning of college is it was the first time that being around people at Georgetown was easy.”

Stocksdale was a global business major. Outside of the classroom, Stocksdale was a mentor for Best Buddies, a nonprofit organization creating friendship, career and mentorship opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and worked as a lifeguard at Yates Field House.

William Schlickenmaier (SFS ’01, GRD ’20), an adjunct government lecturer who taught Stocksdale this spring in “Contemporary U.S. Foreign Policy,” said Stocksdale was a thoughtful and passionate student. “He would always leave these challenging, trenchant comments that got down to his ethical core and his desire to get beyond realpolitik and take seriously the fundamentals of US foreign policy,” Schlickenmaier wrote to

The Hoya. “I always loved seeing that from him.”

“My last memory of Will was perhaps my favorite,” Schlickenmaier added. “He’d been out sick for a while, and had just come back to in-person class for our last meeting before he passed, that Tuesday. I’d shared how happy I was to have him back and he shared as well how happy he was to be back in class.

History professor Katherine Benton-Cohen, who taught Stocksdale in an introductory history course last spring, said she remembers Stocksdale as a proactive, empathetic and passionate student.

“He was attentive and thoughtful and kind,” Benton-Cohen wrote to The Hoya “I can remember coming up the lecture steps to chat with him one on one about class materials, teaching him when I visited his section once, and his decision to go above and beyond in his final paper by expanding on an oral history he did with an Afghan refugee.”

Hannah Levine (GRD ’22), who was Stocksdale’s teaching assistant in BentonCohen’s class, also spoke on Stocksdale’s kindness and the insightful final paper he wrote for the class.

“I remember feeling moved by his clear passion and empathy,” Levine wrote in a message to Benton-Cohen that was shared with

The Hoya. “I know he will be deeply missed.”

Geography professor and School of Foreign Service (SFS) Vice Dean for Undergraduate Affairs Mark Giordano taught Stocksdale in his SFS introductory course “Map of the Modern World,” and said Stocksdale was a model student.

“I am struggling to know what to say,” Giordano wrote to The Hoya. “The reason I am at Georgetown is students like him. I am so sorry he is gone.”

Stocksdale was a committed member to the Students Advancing Food Equity (SAFE), serving as the organization’s vice president and operations director. In those roles, Stocksdale led collaborations with George Washington University’s food pantry and planned sandwich-making events, according to a tribute from the club’s board.

“Will left SAFE a better organization, Georgetown a better community, and anyone that he interacted with, a better person,” the Instagram tribute read. “We will always remember Will for his genuine kindness and empathy. Not only was he a dedicated member of SAFE, Will was also a son, a dear friend, and loved one to many. Our heart goes out to those who were lucky enough to know and love him.”

Stocksdale is survived by his parents and his brother.

Students Raise Alarm After Copley Floods, GU Facilities Delays

from A1

COPLEY,

my power strip, rug, slippers and storage bins with clothes.”

A faulty valve in the toilet caused continuous flushing and overflowing that led to the flood, according to a university spokesperson.

CARDINAL, from A1

the honorary degree granted to Theodore McCarrick in 2004 after the Vatican concluded its investigation and dismissed him from the priesthood,” a university spokesperson wrote to The Hoya

Though honorary degrees are awarded for life, Georgetown retains the right to rescind the recognition if an individual fails to uphold its values of advancing the common good, according to university policy that the spokesperson shared with The Hoya “Awardees reflect the values and personify the mission of the University,” the policy reads. “If at any time during the life of an awardee the University becomes aware of documented evidence of criminal, unethical or immoral behavior or activity, the University has the right to rescind the honorary degree.”

The survivor in the April 17 charges also filed a complaint in 2021, after which

Massachusetts prosecutors charged McCarrick with three counts of indecent assault and battery for molesting the then-16-year-old survivor at a wedding reception in 1974. McCarrick’s attorneys filed for dismissal, arguing that McCarrick’s age makes him mentally incompetent for trial, although prosecutors are still working to disprove this claim.

Statutes of limitations — laws that dictate the maximum amount of time that can pass after an event before legal parties can no longer press charges — have prevented several survivors from filing civil lawsuits against McCarrick for assaults said to have occurred between the 1970s and 1990s. However, the survivor in these criminal cases was neither a resident of Wisconsin nor Massachusetts and left the states after the assaults allegedly occurred, a technicality that put a hold on the expiration

of the legal window.

An estimated 14 minors and at least eight seminarians, priests and other vulnerable U.S. adults have accused McCarrick of sexual abuse, according to BishopAccountability.org. Their stories follow a greater trend in recent years of sexual abuse allegations rising dramatically within the Catholic Church.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said he supports individuals who hold church officials accountable by reporting these abuses of power, especially given the backlash and doubt that survivors often receive.

“Thank you to the brave survivors who have made reports through the clergy and faith leader abuse initiative,” Kaul said in an April 17 press release. “I encourage other survivors who have not yet reported to consider speaking to the victim services specialist at DOJ who is dedicated to this initiative and to make a report.”

“When maintenance technicians arrived, they were able to shut the water off to the toilet,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Plumbers later responded to replace the defective part. Team members also cleaned up water in the impacted rooms.”

Guite said the flooding was not the first time they had issues with the toilet in their suite.

“We have had toilet issues all semester. The first day of the Spring semester we called facilities because our toilet was leaking,” Guite said.

Following the flooding, Residential Living followed up with students, the spokesperson said.

“Residential Living staff followed up with impacted students about their spaces and belongings. Facilities staff worked to clean items that were impacted and return the spaces to the best state possible,” the spokesperson wrote. Guite called facilities mul-

tiples times about the flood. After the toilet was shut off and the water in Guite’s room vacuumed up, employees from Residential Living asked Guite, her roommate and her suitemates if they could stay in a friend’s room overnight. Residential Living eventually found them rooms in the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center.

The water from the flood in Guite’s room also leaked through the floor and into Charlie Majcher’s (SFS ’26) room on the third floor of Copley Hall.

Majcher said many of his electronics were ruined by the flooding and that he was sitting in his room with his headphones on when he realized that water was seeping through his ceiling April 15.

“I looked over and saw water pouring out of the ceiling all over my bed and all over my guitar,” Majcher wrote to The Hoya “I quickly moved the guitar out of the now waterfall coming from the ceiling but the water had now started coming from every hole in the ceiling. I had a speaker, laptop, DJ deck, Xbox, clothes, TV and pretty much all of my valuables and electronics sitting on my desk

when the main light that had filled up with about 30 gallons of water broke, ruining the rest of my possessions,” Majcher added. The flood comes after a similar event on the second floor of Copley Hall on Feb. 9, when a toilet handle in a second floor suite snapped. Last year, residents of Copley also complained of flooding, which sparked frustrations among students over university response to the situation. Majcher has been living in a hotel room since the flooding occurred. According to Majcher, It took facilities 48 hours to bring the necessary supplies to his dorm to dry up the water, even after he submitted multiple work order submissions. Majcher told The Hoya that the magnitude of this incident was avoidable.

Two days after the flood, a third-party contractor hired by the university arrived at Guite’s suite to address the water from the flood that had leaked under the walls, into the hallway and into her suitemates’ room.

“This could all have been prevented if Georgetown Facilities had done their job or worked at a pace that would be of any help to students,” Majcher added.

CAITLIN MCLEAN/THE HOYA

The Georgetown community celebrated in Dahlgren Chapel the life of William Stocksdale, a student in the School of Foreign Service who passed April 5.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Ex-Washington, D.C. Archbishop and Georgetown honorary degree recipient Theodore McCarrick is facing his second criminal charge of sexual assault.

Expo Features Global Cultures With International Cuisine, Dance

Jack Willis

Graduate Desk Editor

Flags flew high and the aroma of delicious cuisine filled the air April 15 as almost 30 different campus organizations celebrated their unique cultures through food and performances at the 2023 Global Expo.

The International Student Association, an organization that aims to foster community among international students, and Office of Global Services, which aids international Hoyas with visa and immigration-related affairs, co-hosted the event, which featured distinct cultures and ethnic groups from across the globe. Nations and regions represented included Greece, Ukraine, the Caribbean, Eritrea, Palestine, South Asia and France, among many others.

Alongside serving international dishes, the event showcased dance and music performances from groups like GU Jawani, a bhangra dance team; the Vietnamese Student Association, an affinity group for Vietnamese Hoyas; the Hellenic Association, a community for Greek and Cypriot students; and the Ballet Folklorico Mexicano, a

student dance ensemble for traditional Mexican ballet.

Chris Tengey (CAS ’26), a Ghanaian American who lived in Ghana for several years as a child, said events like the Global Expo are key in engaging in cultural conversations to embrace diversity at Georgetown University.

“You can go to an event and know individuals have similar backgrounds,” Tengey told The Hoya. “You can also learn from other people and how their backgrounds have shaped them.”

Student cultural and religious groups, academic departments and sports teams alike participated in the event at tables displaying a sample of their corner of the world. For instance, the Armenian Student Association (ASA) set up a table and shared Armenian food.

ASA member Armen Asik (SOH ’25) said he appreciates spaces to express campus diversity and demonstrate pride in his Armenian identity.

“Georgetown’s a university that encourages a lot of multiculturalism, and it was good that we were represented even though we’re a small club on campus,” Asik told The Hoya. “There aren’t a lot of Armenians who go to Georgetown, but we’re very

The Transformers’ Next Battle: Optimus Prime vs. Neighborhood Board

Julia Butler City Desk Editor

Georgetown University students may soon give their last wave to the Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Transformers statues that line many Hoyas’ walks to class.

The Old Georgetown Board (OGB), a Washington, D.C. government advisory board of three architects who review Georgetown projects, recommended the removal of two popular Transformers located on Prospect Street between 37th Street and 36th Street in Georgetown. The Transformers statues, which stand at almost 7 feet tall, are located outside the house of Newton Howard, a cognitive neuroscientist at Georgetown University, who commissioned the creation of the Transformers.

Howard said he put out the statues because they represent the relationship between human and machine and are meant to be enjoyed by community members and neighbors.

“I wanted to share it with the wider majority of children that are just passing around,” Howard told The Hoya. “Kids just love them. And the neighborhood.”

Other neighbors did not find the Transformer as charming as the visitors who like to take photos with the statues.

Catherine Emmerson, neighbor and co-chair of the Prospect Street Citizens Association, a group that represents and advocates for the interests of Prospect Street residents, said this attention from tourists was just the reason why she advocated for the removal of the Transformers.

“We have motorcycle gangs that show up and block the middle of the street to take photos,” Emmerson said at the April 3 meeting of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2E, which oversees the Georgetown, Burleith and Hillandale neighborhoods. “We have cars at idle.

We have tour buses, we have pedestrians, off the street, in front of the house, on our sidewalk, across the street, you name it, we have it.” Howard disagreed with Emmerson and said it’s important for the Georgetown neighborhood to

proud to be Armenian.”

Lela Tolajian (SFS ’26), another member of the ASA, said the best part of joining the organization is the Armenian community she’s made on campus.

“We do a lot of cultural events,” Tolajian told The Hoya. “We’ve gotten together and had food, and gone to protests together.”

Kyryl Myronenko (SFS ’26), a member of the Ukrainian Society, said he enjoyed sharing his country’s culture at the event.

“Global Expo was nothing but a great time on a Sunny Saturday on the Copley Lawn! At the Ukrainian Society’s table, we had varenyky (traditional dumplings), syrnyky (cheese pancakes), kompot (sweet beverage), Ukrainian candy, and many more,” Myronenko wrote to The Hoya

Myronenko said food was a key channel for fostering connections and introducing students to Ukrainian culture.

“Through presenting cuisine, all students engaged in intercultural dialogue and were able to share with the student body something important to their identity,” Myronenko wrote. “It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new students

and spread the word about Ukrainian culture!”

Tengey said he hopes Georgetown will continue to foster intercultural dialogue to welcome new and existing students, especially those

‘Jazz in Bloom’ Takes Off With Local Artists at DC’s Union Station

be welcoming to others, instead of pushing them out.

“That’s not who we are,” Howard said. “We welcome people from abroad. We welcome people from out of town. We welcome people from other neighborhoods. We welcome people from next door to us, from the 100 doors down from us.”

The OGB declared in April 2021 that the statues, which are made up of spare motorcycle and car parts, did not fit with the neighborhood’s historical feel and required Howard to submit a permit for temporary installation, which the OGB granted for six months. After the six-month period concluded, the statues remained under Howard’s wishes.

Joe Massaua (SFS ’25), a representative of ANC2E representing Georgetown University alongside John DiPierri (SFS ’25), said the statues should be recognized as public art.

“John and I have listened to neighbors and students for their opinions on the statues,” Massaua wrote to The Hoya. “In our most recent meeting on the ANC, we worked to remove language labeling the statues as disruptive, and view the statues as Public Art.”

“That being said, I think there is room for robust discussion with the homeowner and neighbors on the placement of the statues,” Massaua added. “Historically, homeowners follow the rules of Public Space Permits for art in Georgetown, since it is a historic district with firm statutes. I think the statues are a benefit for the community, and I look forward to engaging with the homeowner on placement moving forward.”

Gwendolyn Lohse, an ANC 2E representative who found issues with the statues, said they lack adherence to the OGB permit process.

“I don’t care if it was the most federal-heavy historic piece,” Lohse said in the meeting. “If they weren’t respecting the process, they weren’t respecting the process. The type of art does not matter to me in some way.”

Howard said he will continue to defend the statues.

“We’re leaving them there,” Howard said. “We’re fighting. We are in the trenches.”

Olivia Macaulay Hoya Staff Writer

Jazz music, local culture and a few blooming flowers are about to hit Union Station, bringing community and energy to this historic train station.

Titled “Jazz in Bloom,” the project features a series of concerts that will showcase jazz artists from around D.C. Upcoming concerts at Union Station will take place April 26 and April 27, and D.C. has plans to host more throughout the rest of the spring.

The Office of Cable Television, Film, Music, and Entertainment (OCTFME), a Washington, D.C. governmental organization that supports public radio, television and other media, launched the project as part of the plan of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to rejuvenate downtown D.C.

The series launched April 12 with a performance by Elijah Jamal Balbed, a local jazz saxophonist and winner of the 2020 DCJazzPrix competition.

“Jazz in Bloom” follows other local revitalization projects aimed at rejuvenating downtown D.C., including the Washington Union Station Expansion Project — a $1 million budget increase going toward modernizing Union Station during the 2023 fiscal year — and the Tourism Recovery Tax Emergency Amendment Act of 2022, which

increased taxes that D.C. tourists pay to make up for lost revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramona Yun, a public relations specialist at OCTFME, said this is the first time a local concert series aimed at revitalization is taking place in downtown D.C. The planning process for the concerts began in February 2023, with contributions from OCTFME, the Executive Office of the Mayor (EOM), the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) and a team at Union Station, according to Yun.

Yun said the Union Station host location will make concerts visible to visitors who pass through the area on their way to and from downtown D.C.

“Jazz in Bloom will re-ignite music displays in what many see as the portal to downtown DC, Union Station and help those visiting to see some of the talent DC has to offer,” Yun wrote to The Hoya The goal of “Jazz in Bloom” is to bring more people into the District while also promoting local artists and businesses, according to LaToya Foster, the OCTFME director and D.C. film commissioner.

“We will celebrate our city’s rich cultural heritage while reinvigorating downtown with pop-up concerts, giving music lovers the opportunity to support local businesses and enjoy the city’s vibrant

from abroad.

“I think it’s important that Georgetown as an institution creates spaces where people of color feel safe and feel in community, especially if they are coming from

parts of the country or other areas of the world where their culture is very unique to them,” Tengey told The Hoya. “So it feels like home to them when they come here and can adapt easier.”

social scene to the tune of the best jazz line-up around,” Foster said in an April 12 press release.

Bowser, who outlined several budget increases related to her revitalization plan during the April 12 “Jazz in Bloom” unveiling, said she aims to draw more people to downtown D.C. with the initiatives.

“Our downtown is the economic engine that allows us to invest in our schools, our safety net, our public safety teams and so much more,” Bowser said in the press release. “We know that the comeback of downtown relies on our ability to bring more people downtown.”

Bowser’s planned budget increases include raising the Housing in Downtown abatement from $6.8 million to $41 million in the 2028 fiscal year. The plan also supports a $3 million increase in funding for the Great Streets and Small Business Fund, which gives grants to local businesses, and an additional $1.5 million for businesses that take part in Creative and Open Space Modernization (COSM), a tax rebate that seeks to facilitate the creation of businesses in D.C. in the field of technology.

Keith Anderson, the interim deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said he hopes Bowser’s initiatives will help downtown D.C. reach pre-pandemic levels of community engagement.

“Downtown DC is home to 35% of our businesses, employs close to 240,000 workers and generated nearly $1.15 billion in annual revenue pre-pandemic,” Anderson said in the press release. “We know how important our downtown is and we are excited to continue invest in its revitalization, particularly investments in programs like the DC Family Fun Destinations grant that will bring residents and visitors back Downtown.”

“Jazz in Bloom” demonstrates D.C.’s community-centered focus, according to Bowser.

“We have plans and programs to bring more residents downtown, more workers downtown, and more visitors downtown — that includes international and domestic tourists as well as visitors from across DC and around the region,” Boswer said in the press release. “Our plans and investments reflect what we know to be true: people are the lifeblood of DC.”

DOJ Prosecutor Honors History of Holocaust

Karenna Warden

Hoya Staff Writer

CW: This article references genocide and antisemitism. Please refer to this article on thehoya.com for on- and off-campus resources.

In recognition of Holocaust Memorial Day, the Jewish Business Alliance and the Jewish Law Student Association collaborated to host a discussion with Eli Rosenbaum, the counselor for war crimes accountability at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Holocaust Memorial Day, or Yom HaShoah, is traditionally observed on the 27th day of Nizan on the Hebrew calendar, which falls between April and May on the Gregorian calendar. This year, Yom HaShoah is April 18. The date also falls near the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising that began April 19, 1943. This uprising was the largest act of Jewish resistance during World War II.

Many commemorate the day by lighting yellow candles in remembrance of victims of the Holocaust, during which the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators persecuted and murdered over six million Jews.

The April 11 event, titled “Holocaust Memorial Speaker: Prosecuting War Crimes From Nuremberg to Ukraine,” also featured Georgetown University Law Center professor Jared Silberman who teaches classes on the post-World War II Nuremberg trials.

Rosenbaum is known for his work at the DOJ identifying, denaturalizing and deporting Nazi war criminals following the Holocaust.

At the event, Rosenbaum said uplifting the stories of survivors is crucial. He shared a segment of poetry written by a survivor of the Holocaust, testimony shared in court by a survivor of a concentration camp and a description of the systematic murders of Jewish children in concentration camps.

Many survivors who Rosenbaum and his DOJ team speak with face an often impossible task of communicating how traumatizing their experiences were.

“You cannot imagine,” Rosenbaum said at the event. “Survivors who have tried to recount for my Justice Department colleagues and for me their hollowing experiences of brutalization at the

hands of the Nazis, they don’t have the words to convey the relentless, nightmarish horror of what they made us see and what they did to us.”

Rosenbaum said the international community must remember the history of how the Holocaust unfolded in order to ensure similar tragedies do not happen again, a prospect that is becoming increasingly concerning as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold.

“Jewish people have learned, at the terrible cost of six million lives, that one must not wait until those who harbor ambitions of mass violence and even genocide are able actually to realize their pernicious goals,” Rosenbaum said. “They have to be believed when they speak candidly of their evil goals.”

Rosenbaum now leads the DOJ’s efforts to investigate ongoing war crimes taking place on the global stage, with a specific focus on Ukraine.

“Last June, Attorney General Merrick Garland asked me to take on a new responsibility to lead the Justice Department’s efforts to pursue accountability in the wake of the unlawful fullscale invasion of Ukraine that accused Russian war criminal, Vladimir Putin, launched a year

ago,” Rosenbaum said.

“We’ve quickly made some progress in our investigative work, somewhat to my surprise, given the challenges; we have already identified a number of suspects,” Rosenbaum added.

After months of speculation and pressure from activists, the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The warrant, which bears Putin with personal responsibility for the forceful separation of Ukrainian children, marks the first time such an action has been taken against a head of state of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Rosenbaum said the DOJ’s preventative work in Ukraine is imperative, as the violence is continuing on the ground.

“The ghastly reality of Russia’s ongoing, widespread and systematic commission of atrocity crimes means that all of us in law enforcement have to do everything we can to pursue justice with all deliberate speed, especially with the intent to deter would-be war crimes,” Rosenbaum said.

CAPITALBOP

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) launched a series of jazz concerts to rejuvinate the downtown District area.

COURTESY OF NEIL DIPASQUANTONIO

Student cultural groups and associations gathered on Copley Lawn to share their food, traditions and stories with Georgetown at the 2023 Global Expo.

US Ambassador to Mongolia Explores Diversity in Diplomacy

An Nguyen Special to The Hoya

The U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Richard Buangan discussed his experience representing the United States as a Filipino American, the importance of authenticity and the significance of nuance in public diplomacy at a Georgetown University event April 11. The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, a part of the School of Foreign Service that explores diplomatic statecraft, co-hosted the event with the Una Chapman Cox Foundation’s American Diplomacy Project, an initiative that seeks to shape the future of the U.S. foreign service.

Buangan said his identity as a Filipino American has shaped his approach to diplomacy. “I was born and raised in San Diego, Calif.,” Buangan said at the event. “I am a proud American. I had the privilege of growing up in various multicultural neighborhoods and experiencing the cultural aspect that really speaks to our values as a diverse country.”

Buangan said his experiences have helped him better understand the importance of diversity in diplomacy.

“When I was a public affairs officer in Jerusalem, one of the things I always talked about is how powerful it is to have a story of uniting diverse individuals together to serve a common goal of serving the country,” Buangan

said. “A common goal is to share the values that make us great so that others overseas can also partake in the richness and diversity of their existence.”

Buangan said he has experienced bias and discrimination abroad because of his identity but never maliciously.

“Interestingly, it’s always been accidental bias and discrimination,” Buangan said.

“In a way, those experiences really explain why we need a diverse foreign and civil service, and for those who serve the American people or do public service, diversity is really our strength.”

Buangan said he is hopeful that the U.S. Department of State will continue improving its staff in terms of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).

“I think we’ve made tremendous progress,” Buangan said.

“When I first joined, there was no such thing as DEIA. It was only an interest, not an intentional strategy to diversify our ranks. Over the past decade, we are diversifying more than we have ever been. It speaks well to our recruiters who are actively identifying possible employees across the country, not only just the Northeast.”

Buangan said that when he was a junior officer, there was no recourse for when he felt hostility from someone in a senior position. Now, there are resources available to employees who are dealing with hostile superiors.

“I was always told to shut

DC Addresses Opioid Crisis, Pilots Harm Reduction Vending Machines

up, don’t say anything,” Buangan said. “But over the last few years, the department has done a very good job of being able to articulate employees’ rights and supervisors’ responsibilities of creating an ethical, welcoming environment. That is something that did not exist when I joined the foreign service.”

Buangan said it is important for diplomats to be authentic and to represent their country and its people through nuanced conversations about controversial issues.

“You are still an American,” Buangan said. “You still should find moments where you can say, ‘As an American, I personally have a problem with the Second Amendment, gun control or issues happening in the newspaper.’ When you talk from personal experience, you can find a way to still talk about the official U.S. government policy.”

Buangan said public diplomacy is important for shaping the perception of the United States abroad.

“Public diplomacy, for me, is engaging with non-government people about aspects of the United States, that include who we are as people, the values we champion and U.S policies relating to the current administration,” Buangan said.“Ultimately, what it’s about is engaging, informing and creating an impact on the perception of foreign audiences in the United States, official and unofficial.”

Central Asia Conference Highlights Overlooked Regional Power Shifts

Georgia Russello Staff Writer

Two Washington, D.C. government organizations announced a pilot project featuring vending machines that provide safety products like Naloxone (Narcan), an opioid overdose reversal drug, throughout the District that started April 4.

These new machines will also provide access to life-saving fentanyl test strips and hygiene and wellness products, according to the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), a D.C. government organization that provides prevention, intervention and treatment services, and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (FEMS), which administers pre-hospital treatment and rescue services. Family and Medical Counseling Services (FMCS), which provides emotional and physical health care to District families, and Honoring Individual Power and Strength (HIPS), a nonprofit that advocates for communities facing sexual exchange and drug use, received grants from DC Health in October 2021 for the program, according to a DC Health press release.

Alexander/a Bradley, the outreach and community education manager at HIPS, said that similar harm reduction vending machines (HRVMs) are not a new concept.

“Here in DC, organizations and residents have been advocating for low-barrier services like HRVMs for a while, and DC Health put out a Request for Proposals in 2020 based on the knowledge of the success of other programs and the potential for existing harm reduction programs in DC to succeed with such a program.”

Bradley said the supplies in the vending machines will be free of charge, and that residents should call the phone number on the HRVM to receive a code they need to enter on the machine for access to products like naloxone or condoms. Items with more restrictions, such as sterile syringes, require a unique code obtained through enrollment in the program.

There are currently six vending machines open 24/7 in various locations around the District where drug overdoses and unhoused populations are present at higher than average rates, according to the press release.

College students can provide significant support for harm reduction in the greater D.C. community, according to Bradley.

“Being a voice for supporting rather than stigmatizing people who use drugs is critically important,” Bradley wrote. “There are also many public events and advocacy efforts taking place on this issue.”

versity’s campus at 1101 Half St. SW. Lauren Aslami (CAS ’24), the treasurer of Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS) and one of its quality assurance officers, said GERMS is equipped to handle overdose in the Georgetown community.

“All of our members are emergency medical technicians carrying national and DC certifications and are trained in managing overdose-related emergencies,” Aslami wrote to The Hoya. “While the treatment for an overdose will depend on a specific patient’s presentation, this can include airway and breathing support and/ or the administration of naloxone (also known as Narcan), as indicated.”

Aslami said it is important for students to know that an individual’s condition can decline quickly in situations where drug overdose is happening, and that key symptoms include irregular breathing, pale skin and pinpoint pupils.

“If you believe someone you are with is in danger of an overdose or exhibiting concerning symptoms, it is always best to call GERMS so they can be assessed and their safety can be ensured, before they get any worse,” Aslami wrote.

Bradley said the HRVM pilot program will be coming to a close in September 2023 but wants the city to fund more permanent machines.

Jack Willis Graduate Desk Editor

Discussions of Russia and Ukraine have filled political science classrooms across Georgetown University for over a year, but an April 14 conference hoped to shed light on the other problems and opportunities facing Central Asia.

The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies (CERES), a branch in the School of Foreign Service, organized the oneday conference, entitled “Scenarios of Power in Central Asia.” The event brought together experts for a discussion regarding Central Asia’s role in the war in Ukraine and world affairs. The conference’s first panel, “Pipe Dreams and Energy Scenarios,” discussed the development of limited oil and gas resources, while the second, “Neighbors, Allies and Geopolitical Scenarios,” involved talks regarding trade sanctions, international alliances and other foreign policy issues.

Theresa Sabonis-Helf, a policy expert and professor who chairs the Science, Technology and International Affairs concentration in the School of Foreign Service Master’s degree program, spoke in the first panel.

Sabonis-Helf said she appreciates rising student interest in Central Asia especially given America’s historically low levels of analysis and research into the region.

“I would argue that, except as an appendage to Afghanistan, the level of U.S. interest in the region has never been as high as I think is warranted, but I think there’s a great new generation and it’s very exciting to sort of see that blossoming at Georgetown,” SabonisHelf told The Hoya Western countries and intergovernmental organizations, including the European Union, have increasingly sought to expand dialogue and diplomatic relations with Central Asian nations as the

region grows in influence, in part due to conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, visited the region in March 2023 for meetings with foreign ministers in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gavin Helf, a CERES adjunct professor and conference speaker, said he feels Central Asian studies have shifted away from a focus that formerly revolved around the Russian Federation.

“Any program in post-Soviet studies used to be a program about Russia, and, incidentally, the other stuff,” Helf said. “I think we’ve seen an evolution away from everything being Russiacentric and looking through the prism of Russia.”

Many of the Central Asian countries, including five of the seven ending in “stan”, were part of the Soviet Union and accordingly are often impacted by and connected to Russia and its foreign policy. Recently, however, western nations as well as China are vying for influence in the region.

Sabonis-Helf said that after living and working in seven countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, she has a particular appreciation for perspectives gained from the international diversity at Georgetown.

“I feel like the presence of students from the broader region in Georgetown’s program is really exciting, because they are folks who want to put their own country in context,” Sabonis-Helf said. “I’ve been really impressed with my students from Central Asia or from the Caucasus or from Ukraine.”

Brianne Todd, a professor of practice at the National Defense University and speaker on the second panel, said she enjoyed the event’s focus on power dynamics, many times understated or ignored, in analyses surrounding Central Asia.

“As several of the speakers highlighted, Central Asia is facing many challenges currently but

there are also incredible opportunities,” Todd wrote to The Hoya. “It was refreshing to discuss Central Asia outside of the usual “great power competition” paradigm and to recognize that there are additional power scenarios (and related implications) to be explored.”

Looking beyond the typical focus on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the panel surveyed energy scenarios in Central Asia, an oil-rich region whose trade deals and partnerships have a ripple effect worldwide. Panelists also discussed geopolitics, including diplomatic allyship in a region increasingly subject to foreign influence as Russian leaders devote time and energy to Ukraine.

The great power competition refers to an ongoing contest between large nations like the United States and Russia to establish hegemony, or monopoly on global influence. As technology and trade relationships have evolved over the course of the twenty-first century, foreign policy practitioners view regions like Central Asia as key players in such power competitions.

Todd said students curious about Central Asia should pursue language and other professional opportunities both in the United States and in the region itself, in addition to exploring classes offered on the Hilltop.

“Beyond Georgetown, there are numerous opportunities to engage in language study, field research, and work experience (both remotely and in person) in and/or on Central Asia,” Todd wrote.

Sabonis-Helf said that Georgetown hosting the conference and its experts shows it is an influential institution for the study of Central Asia.

“The fact that Georgetown could round up that group of people shows that it is one of the programs in Washington that’s really doing great Central Asia, and more broadly post-Soviet, kind of work,” Sabonis-Helf said.

“In the United States, there have been HRVMs in Nevada for years now, and other jurisdictions have had naloxonespecific vending machines,” Bradley wrote to The Hoya

HIPS is a leader of #DecrimPovertyDC, a grassroots advocacy coalition fighting to decriminalize poverty, which Bradley said college students can continue to support.

The closest HRVM is about 5 miles from Georgetown Uni-

“We are hopeful that D.C. Health will consider this an investment worth renewing, especially considering we are really just getting started in terms of the rollout of the fully operational machines,”

GUSA Senate Elects Leadership, Committee Chairs for New Cycle

Evie Steele

GUSA Desk Editor

The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) Senate swore in seven newly elected members, presiding officers and committee chairs at its April 16 meeting.

The Senate unanimously reelected incumbent Manahal Fazal (SFS ’24) to serve as speaker and unanimously elected Joshua Bernard-Pearl (SFS ’25), the chair of the Policy and Advocacy Committee (PAC), as the vice speaker. Meriam Ahmad (CAS ’26) and Dylan Davis (CAS ’26) were elected the new chair and vice chair of PAC, while the Senate elected Rhea Iyer (CAS ’26) and Dua Mobin (CAS ’25) chair and vice chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee (FinApp). Incumbent FinApp chair John DiPierri (SFS ’25) became the chair of the Senate’s Ethics and Oversight Committee (E&O), which enforces GUSA’s bylaws and ensures that elected GUSA members fulfill their duties, with George Currie (CAS ’26) as E&O vice chair. The Senate also unanimously verified the results of the April 13-15 elections, during which six juniors and six sophomores standing for election gained Senate seats. In the contested first-year elections, incumbent first-year senators Hilary Orozco (CAS ’26) and Andrew Wong (SFS ’26) lost their current positions.

GUSA President Camber Vincent (SFS ’24) also swore in new members of the Senate: first-years Ethan Henshaw (CAS ’26) and Yasin Khan (SFS ’26); sophomores Mobin, George LeMieux (CAS ’25) and Noriko O’Shea (SFS ’25); and juniors Jeff Mueller (CAS ’24) and Mason Leath (CAS ’24).

Ahmad, who ran in a contested internal election for PAC chair against Davis and incumbent PAC vice chair Maria Victoria Almeida Vazquez (SFS ’25), said her record passing policy proved she has the experience needed to chair the committee.

“What I’ve done in the Senate so far has been passing resolutions in support of lowering costs of laundry, passing resolutions for, again, putting more lights in Red Square and to fix the Epi’s kiosks,” Ahmad said at the meeting. “This is really what I’m passionate about, and I want to make sure that GUSA is actually seen as doing something.”

Davis said he aims to further connect the GUSA Senate with the executive and its committees as vice chair of PAC.

“I have a passion to connect the Senate with the executive,” Davis said at the meeting. “I know facilitation, know how to delegate. And I know we’re only as strong as each of our members. So I want to empower everybody. And I want everybody to be working together.”

Iyer defeated Saatvik Sun-

kavalli (SFS ’25) for the FinApp chair election, while Mobin defeated Mueller and Currie for FinApp vice chair. The Senate will elect the other members of FinApp, the committee that appropriates student activity fee funding between club boards, at its next meeting April 30. Iyer said her prior experience serving as FinApp’s liaison to the Campus Ministry Student Forum, the advisory board that provides funding to religious student associations, will allow her to effectively lead the committee.

“I’ve learned the ins and outs of FinApp, I’ve learned about advocating for student organizations,” Iyer said at the meeting. “Moving forward, I want to make sure we have a transparent and accountable process.”

Mobin said her experience as the vice president of Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS) and a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office taskforce for diversity, equity and inclusion will allow her to fight for equity issues as the vice chair of FinApp.

“I have great potential to continue this work since I’ve already worked with administration on such issues in the past,” Mobin said at the meeting. “So many of the diversity, equity and inclusion issues on campus are financially related.”

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

A joint one-day conference surveyed fields of power in Central Asia, bringing together experts and academics alike to provide insights into the region.

MEN’S LACROSSE

Hoyas Sneak Past the Marquette Golden Eagles 15-14 in Overtime

Colin McLaughlin Hoya Staff Writer

Despite losing a two-point lead in the final 61 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team quickly reversed the momentum by scoring on the first overtime possession to maintain an undefeated conference record.

The No. 9 Georgetown Hoyas (8-3, 3-0 Big East) snuck out of Milwaukee after securing a 15-14 overtime win against the Marquette Golden Eagles (6-6, 1-2 Big East). After going 0-3 to start their season, Georgetown has become the front-runner for its third consecutive regular season Big East title after winning its last eight games in a row.

Marquette shocked the Hoyas with a quick goal within the first minute by attacker Devon Cowan, Marquette’s all-Big East second teamer. However, graduate midfielder Jacob Kelly turned it around for Georgetown, scoring two goals and assisting on a third to give the Hoyas a two-goal lead with nine minutes left after a series of commanding offensive possessions.

The remainder of the first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team appearing dominant. Marquette picked up three more goals, but graduate attacker Tucker Dordevic, a nominee for the Tewaaraton Award, which is given to the best player in the country, ensured the score remained even, scoring two more in the first after quick passes by the Hoya offense.

While a rocket of a goal by Georgetown standout senior midfielder and former U.S. U21 National Team captain Graham Bundy Jr. seemed to open up the second half, the game remained extremely tight despite an overpowering Hoya offense that had a 6-3 disparity in shots

on goal. Marquette’s 5-1 faceoff advantage and 3-1 save advantage ensured that even though Georgetown dominated possession time, the Hoyas were only up 8-7 by halftime.

The third quarter began in a similar fashion to the first, with Marquette securing a goal to tie it up after 66 seconds — but instead of a Hoya comeback, the Golden Eagles took their first lead since the first three minutes of the game and kept a 10-9 lead going into the final minute after holding the Hoyas scoreless for 10 minutes.

During a man-up situation, Dordevic scored off another assist by Kelly with 47 seconds left, and then with only 38 seconds left, graduate faceoff specialist James Reilly transformed his own faceoff win into a transition goal to reclaim the lead.

Reilly is now the first Hoya to collect at least 100 ground balls in three different seasons, and is just one more ground ball away from becoming the ninth Division I player to reach 500 over their career.

The final quarter was defined by Georgetown’s defense, with two bursts of Marquette scoring. The first came with two quick goals in the fifth minute of play, capped by Cowan’s fourth goal, which placed him as the second-highest scorer in

WHY IT WAS SPECIAL

Hollywood-Backed Wrexham AFC Provides Box Office Moments

Wrexham AFC, the third-oldest professional soccer club in the world, is a team steeped in history, having recorded wins against the likes of European giant FC Porto and then-English champion Arsenal FC as recently as 1992. However, poor financial backing saw the club fall into administration in 2004, which led to its eventual relegation from the Football League, the professional league system in England, four years later.

grit was apparent early in the season, as it truly got to experience the magic of the FA Cup. After easing past their first three opponents, the Red Dragons faced the current eighth-placed Championship team Coventry City, who are succeeding in a league three tiers above Wrexham’s own. Wrexham stormed to a 4-1 lead in the first half and held on to win 4-3 away from home, earning a fourth round matchup against Sheffield United.

do. It was a game of far higher quality than the usual standard of the league, with ex-Premier League players, international footballers and the country’s top goalscorers all featuring. The breakthrough came at the end of the first half, with the Notts County Magpies taking the lead through an expertly struck freekick that left Reynolds and the Wrexham cohort stunned heading into halftime.

Marquette history.

The Hoyas answered with three quick goals by graduate midfielder Nicky Solomon, Bundy Jr. and Dordevic, while graduate goalminder Danny Hincks had four saves to keep the game in check despite an even shots on goal at eight.

Marquette failed to capitalize on a man-up situation due to a stellar save by Hincks, but was able to notch a goal with 61 seconds left. They won the next draw and made a diving goal with 15 seconds left behind Jackson Rose, tying the game and forcing sudden death overtime after a Golden Eagles save.

Georgetown secured the ball off the faceoff, and after a 13-pass offensive possession, Dordevic hit a spin move on his defender before sinking his fifth goal of the night to secure the 15-14 win over Marquette, the Hoyas’ fifth consecutive victory over the Golden Eagles.

The Hoyas extended their winning streak to eight after trouncing the No. 20 Loyola Greyhounds 23-7 in their last nonconference game of the season April 18. Georgetown looks to continue its perfect Big East run against the St. John’s Red Storm (0-12, 0-3 Big East) in Queens, N.Y., on April 22 at 1 p.m.

Jon Rahm Dominates in Augusta in Historic First Masters Win

at this point, sitting at 12 under.

The weather cleared up on Sunday, setting the stage for a 30hole day for the two.

When play resumed at 8:30

A small club from North Wales floundering in midtable of the National League, the highest level of England’s semi-professional leagues, may seem an odd place to find a Marvel superhero or a sitcom star, but nowadays, you may see both walking down the high street. Since its somewhat curious purchase by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in November 2020, the historic club has undergone a meteoric rise to stardom across the pond, courtesy of the popular documentary “Welcome to Wrexham.”

In the Hollywood owners’ first full season at the helm in 2021-22, the Wrexham Red Dragons were agonizingly denied promotion when they were unexpectedly eliminated in the playoffs. This season, following further investment from Reynolds and McElhenney, the Red Dragons’ fans expected the team to go one better and achieve promotion back into the Football League for the first time in 15 years. Despite the potential circus that comes with having Hollywood owners and an ever-growing spotlight on the team, Wrexham’s performances this season have proved they are not going to succumb to stagefright anytime soon. The National League team’s

Only an equalizer by Sheffield in the fifth minute of stoppage time prevented Wrexham from beating the side heavily favored to gain automatic promotion back to the Premier League this season, as they drew 3-3 in North Wales. Their luck ran out in the replay, however, as they missed a penalty before conceding two late goals in the fourth and sixth minutes of second half added time that ended their FA Cup run.

While a cup run is a nice luxury and exciting for future seasons of the documentary, Wrexham’s main goal has always been promotion to the Football League Two — and with only one automatic promotion place up for grabs, winning the league has been its top priority. The Red Dragons’ league campaign has been far less dramatic, but even more successful than their FA Cup experience, as they’ve picked up 33 wins from 44 games and lost only three times thus far.

Wrexham currently sits on 107 points, but none were larger than the three it gained on April 10. The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham’s home stadium and the oldest international soccer stadium in the world, had not hosted many matches larger than this top of the table clash with rival Notts County, which looked to be a historic title decider.

The match started cagey, as these affairs almost always

A Wrexham equalizer three minutes into the second half sparked the game into life, though. Spurred on by raucous home support, Wrexham edged ahead only to concede and then regain its lead, all in the span of nine minutes. With the frantic match drawing to a close and a precious 3-2 lead to protect, the Red Dragons shrunk further back into their own half, inviting pressure from the Magpies. A dangerous cross struck the outstretched limb of a Wrexham center back, and Notts County earned a 96th minute penalty.

A delayed run up only increased the tension as the oxygen was sucked out of the stadium. Well struck down to the keeper’s right, it looked destined for the corner. Enter Ben Foster. A recently unretired 40-year-old who played in the Premier League last season, Foster got down to the ball and won the game for Wrexham, all but sealing the historic league title. Their job is not quite finished with two games to go, but with a 4 point gap between them and Notts County, Hollywood Wrexham look destined to return to the Football League. It seems like the second season of the documentary is not one to miss.

Jack Lonergan is a sophomore in the College. Why it was Special appears online and in print every three weeks.

Jon Rahm captured his second major championship at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga., this past Sunday, outlasting Brooks Koepka by four shots. With this victory, Rahm became the first European to win both a U.S. Open and a Masters, a feat that even his hero Seve Ballesteros, to whom he dedicated his win, could not accomplish. Rahm has now won six of his last 12 stroke-play events, overtaking Scottie Scheffler as the number one player in the world.

Despite a four-putt double bogey on his first hole of the tournament, Rahm sat atop the leaderboard with Koepka and Viktor Hovland after the first round, each opening with a 7-under 65. The second round was characterized by rain and high winds, forcing a dramatic early suspension of play after multiple trees fell near spectators on the 17th tee. Koepka shot 67 and Rahm shot 69, while Hovland faded with a 73.

However, the most impressive performance of the first two rounds did not even come from a professional. Amateur

Sam Bennett, a fifth-year senior at Texas A&M and the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, opened with back-to-back rounds of 68. He became the first amateur since 1956 to be in the top three after two rounds, and would go on to win low amateur honors after a top-16 finish — the best performance by an amateur in 18 years.

The third round was also cut short due to weather, with Rahm and Koepka’s group on just the seventh hole when play was suspended due to flooding on the greens. Koepka had a four-shot advantage over Rahm

a.m., Rahm immediately captured the momentum, birdieing the seventh and eighth holes and finishing the third round two back from Koepka. Rahm eventually overtook Koepka on the front nine of the final round, with birdies on the third and eighth. Koepka struggled off the tee and made bogies on the fourth, sixth and ninth to fall two shots behind Rahm.

After another bogey from Koepka at the par-three 12th, Rahm

four majors. With his health in jeopardy, Koepka decided to sign with LIV Golf, a Saudi Arabianbacked golf tour, for a contract reportedly worth $100 million last June. Yet by this February, there were already reports that Koepka was feeling “buyer’s remorse” over his choice to join the less-competitive LIV tour.

Alongside Koepka, fellow LIV golfer Phil Mickelson had a surprisingly strong showing at the Masters. After his controversial statements regarding the Saudi Investment Fund’s involvement in LIV Golf last year, Mickelson did not participate in the 2022 Masters and PGA Championship and missed the cut at the U.S. Open and the Open Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland. Mickelson, who won green jackets in 2004, 2006 and 2010, shot his best career round at the Masters on Sunday — his closing 7-under 65 helped him skyrocket up the leaderboard to a tie for second with Koepka.

Strong showings from both Koepka and Mickelson bolster the LIV tour’s credibility, as many have criticized it for running exhibition tournaments and having much weaker fields than its rival, the PGA Tour.

TENNIS

Georgetown Hoyas Fall to Temple Owls, Defeat Villanova Wildcats

Aiden Penry

Hoya Staff Writer

Both the Georgetown University men’s and women’s tennis teams came out victorious over the Villanova Wildcats last weekend. Although neither Wildcat team has won a conference game this season, the victory was nonetheless an important confidence booster ahead of the upcoming Big East Tournament starting April 21.

to three sets, with Georgetown sophomore Burke Pablo taking the rubber set over Ryan Nguyen with a fierce tie breaker. No other Hoyas lost a set, and first-year Arthur O’Sullivan dominated his opponent, Cooper Gordon, winning all six games in each set.

Against Temple, the Georgetown women’s team took an early lead. In a spectacular effort, the duo of senior Chloe Bendetti and sophomore McHaley Ho prevailed 6-4 over No. 8 Owl pair Maiko Uchijima and Jamie Wei.

point to Villanova’s Caitlin Fisher. Benedetti and Ho earned Big East Doubles Team of the Week honors for their performance against Temple and Villanova.

made back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th, bringing him five shots clear of Koepka. He made all pars coming in to clinch his first Masters victory.

Despite a poor 75 in the final round, Koepka’s topthree finish made it very clear that he is back with a vengeance; Koepka was the most dominant player in golf from 2017 to 2019, winning back-to-back U.S. Opens and PGA Championships. Such an impressive feat quickly vaulted his name into the conversation with the greatest golfers ever.

However, Koepka has struggled with injuries to both his knees. In 2022, he did not finish better than 55th in any of the

The next major on the golf calendar is the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Rahm (7-1) is certainly an early favorite along with Scheffler (9-1) and defending champion Justin Thomas (14-1). Rory McIlroy (10-1) had a very disappointing week at the Masters, missing the cut in the major he needed to complete the coveted career grand slam. He will look to bounce back at Oak Hill in an attempt to capture his third PGA Championship.

Leo Mangan is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. The 73rd Hole appears online and in print every three weeks.

Georgetown earned redemption against Villanova after both Hoya teams fell to the Temple University Owls the prior day. The men’s team (11-8, 4-2 Big East) lost 0-7 to the Owls (18-4, 1-0 AAC) before bouncing back to defeat the Wildcats (8-14, 0-6 Big East) 5-2. The women’s team (12-9, 5-3 Big East) dropped 2-5 against Temple (16-4) before downing Villanova (813, 0-6) 6-1.

The men’s team sustained an early blow April 14 as the Hoyas failed to pick up a single set in either the doubles or singles contests against Temple along the way to its commanding defeat.

The men’s team recovered April 15 to defeat Villanova. The contest was its 11th win of the season and it ended the Hoyas’ two-game losing streak. After Georgetown fell to Villanova in two of its three doubles matches to lose the doubles point, the Hoyas made quick work of Villanova in the singles matches. Only one of six singles matches went

First-years Paige Gilbert and Ashley Kennedy also defeated their Temple counterparts Thamara Frasser Kawaratani and Sena Takebe 7-5 to seal the doubles point as the Hoya pair of senior Olivia Ashton and junior Morgan Coburn fell 1-6 to Temple’s Evie Wei and Veronika Kulhava.

The team enjoyed less success against Temple in the singles. Kennedy was the lone Hoya to win her back-and-forth contest, defeating Temple’s Takebe 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Against the Wildcats, the women’s team proved just as dominant as the men’s team in its 12th win of the season to snap a three-game losing streak. The doubles lineup of Gilbert with Kennedy and Ashton with Coburn proved too much for the Wildcats, and the Hoyas clinched the doubles point. Georgetown then grabbed all but one singles point — Coburn was unable to complete her match due to injury and had to forfeit the

“I am so proud of McHaley and Chloe,” Head Coach Freddy Mesmer told Georgetown Athletics in an April 17 press release. “They have been working so hard in practice to hone in on their doubles game and it is finally paying off. They were close to a solid ranked win last weekend on senior day but came up just short. The Temple pair was ranked eighth in the country and that shows that our team is not far off from some of the top teams in the country.”

The Hoyas will now turn their focus to the Big East Tournament in Cayce, S.C., from April 20-23. The women’s team, seeded at No. 5, will receive a first-round bye and is slated to face No. 4 seed St John’s (12-8, 5-2 Big East) in the quarterfinals on April 21 at 12:45 p.m. The matchup will be a repeat of a March 26 clash that saw the Red Storm edge out the Hoyas 4-3. The men’s team, seeded at No. 3, will face No. 6 seed Xavier (12-8, 2-3 Big East) in the quarterfinals on April 21 at 4:30 p.m. The Hoyas have not faced the Musketeers this season.

Georgetown’s teams will look to improve on their results last year, as Georgetown teams lost both of their quarterfinal contests at the tournament.

“Despite a poor 75 in the final round, Kopeka’s top-three finish made it very clear that he is back with a vengeance.”

LEO MANGAN Columnist

GUHoyas

The No. 9 Hoyas secured a nail-biting overtime victory, extending their wining streak to seven games.

New owners, the Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have spearheaded Wrexham AFC’s unexpected ascent to international popularity.

Jack Lonergan Columnist

@WBCBASEBALL/TWITTER

Columnist Eli Blumenfeld (CAS ‘25) extends an open invitation to readers looking for an exciting, dynamic, storied sport to follow MLB.

New Innovations, Youth Movement Inject Life Into Major Leagues

BLUMENFELD, from A12 steals this year, however, is an 81% success rate — an all time high. All of these game changes are … well … game changers. They have culminated in a faster, more exciting and ultimately more enjoyable experience to watch (and to play, hopefully).

Alongside the stars of the game shining and young studs being aggressively called up to play for their major league affiliates, why not start watching MLB? And if you already watch the beautiful game, then there really is no reason not to start watching religiously. I mean, how could you not fall in love with this game?

If you have any doubts at all, do me a favor and watch the dramatic final out of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) championship on YouTube between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout — teammates for the Los Angeles Angels and essentially sport deities. Now tell me that’s not art. It’s drama in its purest and most ingenious form.

Swift Potomac’s Lovely Daughters Shine

SAILING, from A12 takes a lot of steps, so the qualifier is absolutely a huge deal,” captain and sophomore Piper Holthus told The Hoya “When we walked away in third place, it was a pretty devastating loss in our eyes.”

Despite the April 18 announcement that the women’s team did not make the national tournament, the team’s season-long commitment to hard work was not cut short.

“Our team philosophy is our mantra, ‘as one,’” Holthus said. “We win as one, we lose as one. As soon as we get to practice, everybody is moving with intensity. You get all your gear on, your boots, your life jacket, and then you’re hitting that water as soon as possible.”

While the women’s team was in Ithaca, the open sailing team traveled to Annapolis, Md., for the annual Truxton Umsted regatta, which is hosted by the Naval Academy.

Despite choppy waves and weak wind, the Hoyas won their first fleet race of the season. As opposed to team racing, fleet racing mostly features in the fall season, pinning every team’s A boat in a gauntlet of competitions before switching to their B boats, which have varied widths and move differently through the water. Already having clinched a berth in the open team championship, the team expects to be one of the 36 selected for fleet nationals.

As a result of this confidence and because the race was not a qualifying event, the Hoyas brought more of their alternate sailors to the Truxtun Umsted regatta, and they still performed well. The only team they trailed, Tulane University, brought their best roster — the same one that won the 2022 national championship. Georgetown is aiming to achieve similar success in the upcoming championships but will need to maximize its strengths to do it.

“We like to think of ourselves as a hybrid team where we are fast and still smart in the boatto-boat combat,” Kriegstein said. “We can generally keep

pace with any team, but there are some teams that are clearly faster than us or clearly more experienced than us. Understanding when to use which discipline more — that is going to be what our success comes down to.”

The Georgetown women’s sailing team next hits the water this weekend for the women’s fleet racing championship, a second chance to secure a spot at nationals come late May.

Meanwhile, the open team will travel back up to Kings Point during the weekend of April 22 to vie for the Admiral’s Cup.

Blair Shaw (CAS ’25), a Georgetown baseball fanatic, told The Hoya the baseball

team is clicking at an opportune time.

“This was an extremely good win for an improving team,” Shaw said. “They are getting hot at the right time with only about a month left in the regular season.”

The Hoyas’ overall record improved to 21-16 after the series — they are 5-4 in conference play and a phenomenal 9-3 at home.

Georgetown then steamrolled Mount St. Mary’s 19-2 on April 19 and will play the UConn Huskies (26-10, 4-2 Big East) in Storrs, Conn., this weekend in a three-game series. The Huskies are currently in first place in the Big East.

Lastly, here are the teams (in no particular order) that have gotten off to hot starts or have been pleasant surprises: Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, NL Central (sans St. Louis Cardinals) and the Arizona Diamondbacks. In other words, if you’re a fandomless nomad, you’re probably safe to espouse one of the aforementioned teams. I’d probably stray away from the NL Central though, if recent history is any indication. Now go on and get a’watching some ’ball (pro tip: also crack up a cold beverage of your choice), or else I shove more awful limericks down your throat. You won’t regret it.

With love (and peanuts and Cracker Jack), Eli Eli Blumenfeld is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. Rounding the Diamond appears online and in print every other week.

BASEBALL

Georgetown Snaps 5-Year Losing Streak

Last issue’s solutions

CREIGHTON, from A12 Hoyas were in an 11-0 hole. However, the Hoyas came roaring back in the bottom of the third. They put together a seven-run inning, highlighted by back-to-back homers from graduate infielder Austin Kretzschmar and junior outfielder Andrew Bergeron. The Hoyas then tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back-to-back home runs from sophomore catcher/first baseman Owen Carapellotti, graduate first baseman/outfielder Ubaldo Lopez and junior outfielder/ first baseman Jake Hyde. The tie game held up for an inning, but the Bluejays came storming back by

TRACK & FIELD

putting together a four-run rally in the sixth that the Hoyas were unable to match for the rest of the game.

The next day, in their second game of the series, the Hoyas scored the first runs of the game in the third on a home run by junior infielder/ outfielder Michael Eze. Hyde hit his own home run in the sixth that earned the Hoyas a 4-1 lead and also had an RBI double in the eighth inning that scored the Hoyas’ eighth and final run of the contest. On the other side, the Hoyas were led to victory behind the left arm of sophomore Andrew Williams and stellar defense. Williams picked up his third win of the year after 5.1 innings of work

while giving up three runs.

“When I do well, it’s not really just me doing well at all. It’s our coaches putting in scouting reports, calling pitches,” Williams told The Hoya. “Owen’s behind there saving strikes for me. When the defense is playing that well, it’s really easy to pitch with confidence.”

With the series tied 1-1, the ballgame Sunday was the series decider — and the Hoyas rose to the occasion.

Creighton jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second on a solo home run from outfielder Jack Grace, but that run would prove to be its lone score of the day.

From there, the Hoya offense exploded. Kretzschmar hit a

solo home run of his own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, and Eze hit a home run in the fourth that put the Hoyas up 3-1.

Georgetown put together a 10-run inning in the bottom of the fifth that included RBIs from first-year pitcher/ outfielder Cody Bowker, Kretzschmar, Lopez and Hyde.

Head Coach Edwin Thompson said he was extremely pleased with the team’s victory.

“It was a long week with five games and Creighton is a good ball team that is really well coached, and we knew it was going to be a challenge so I am just really proud of this group,” Thompson told Georgetown Athletics.

Three Hoyas Run Personal Bests in1500m

BRYAN CLAY, from A12 5,000 time of 15:48.65 in the nation at the Raleigh Relays, ran a time of 4:18.01.

Gonzalez finished second in Heat 9, running a personal record of 4:16.87.

“Chloe Gonzalez’s breakthrough to 4:16 is a long time coming,” Baker said in the Georgetown Athletics press release. “The work and signs have been there, but today

was the type of validation that we all wanted for her. She earned it.”

Gonzalez said she was thrilled with her performance.

“I’ve been working really hard to have a race like this and with over half of my college career being sidelined by COVID-19,” Gonzalez told The Hoya. “It was great to finally feel like my best self on the track and I look forward for the team to keep making big

strides towards our goals!”

On the men’s side, Paymaps led the way, winning his heat and finishing 13th overall with 3:38.55 after moving up a distance from the 800-meter last week at the Duke Invitational. Rizzo and Teffra — both of whom also ran the 800 at the Duke Invitational — posted times of 3:39.38 to finish fifth in Heat 3 and 3:43.20 for ninth in Heat 4, respectively.

Gilmore also ran a personal best of 3:39.40 to finish 24th overall.

Georgetown hopes to continue its track season momentum next week as the team splits between the EKU Rick Erdmann Twilight meet hosted by Eastern Kentucky University at Richmond, Ky., and the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Va., both April 21-22, before the Big East and NCAA Championships in May.

GUHOYAS

The Georgetown open sailing team won the Prosser trophy at the MAISA open team championship, while the women’s sailing team secured third out of seven teams.

GUHOYAS

The Georgetown baseball team exploded for 32 runs in a three-game series against the Creighton Bluejays, securing a series win over Creighton for the first time since 2018.

Sports

FRIDAY , APRIL 21, 202 3

MEN’S LACROSSE NUMBERS GAME

No. 9 Georgetown squeaked by Marquette in overtime to remain undefeated against Big East competition.

See A10

BASEBALL

Hoya Offense

Ignites Against the Creighton Bluejays

Hoya Staff Writer

In the seventh inning of Georgetown baseball’s final game against Creighton University last Sunday, graduate pitcher Jake Bloss stepped up to the mound having given up just two hits and one earned run through the previous six frames. He forced a 6-3 groundout from the first Creighton batter of the inning but proceeded to issue a walk. With one runner on, Bloss then struck out the final two batters he faced, securing a run-rule victory over Creighton in just seven innings of play.

For the first time since 2018 and the first time ever at home, the Hoyas (21-16, 5-4 Big East) won a series against the Creighton Bluejays (15-14, 3-3 Big East) on April 15. The Hoyas lost their first game on Friday despite a heroic 11-run comeback to tie the game before Creighton eventually prevailed. Georgetown then blasted the Creighton pitchers and defense with 21 combined runs on Saturday and Sunday, while the Hoyas’ pitching staff gave up only four runs combined.

On Friday, the Hoyas came out flat, with graduate starter Cody Jensen surrendering eight earned runs in the second inning, which included back-toback hit batters, both of whom brought in a run. The situation did not improve in the third, as three more Creighton batters scored. By the bottom of the third, the

See CREIGHTON, A11

TRACK & FIELD

TALKING POINTS

We win as one, we lose as one. As soon as we get to practice, everybody is moving with intensity.”

Women’s Sailing Captain Piper Holthus

GUHOYAS

Georgetown sailing’s successful season has been highlighted by the open team winning the Prosser Cup at the MAISA championship. The open team also saw sucesses at the Truxton Umsted regatta, earning second behind 2022 national champion Tulane University.

SAILING

Georgetown Sailing Glides to Great Success

Conor Geelan

Hoya Staff Writer

Representing Georgetown against some of the United States’ best collegiate sailors, the open and women’s sailing teams recently captured a national tournament bid, a first-place trophy and achieved three top-three finishes at recent competitions. The preeminent achievement for the university’s open sailing team

was capturing victory at the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) open team championship on April 8-9 in Kings Point, N.Y. The team’s victory secured the Prosser Trophy, which is awarded to the MAISA conference champions, and an automatic bid to the Open Team Race National Championship in May on the same Kings Point waters. On April 18, the National Championship Selection Committee assigned

the Hoyas the No. 5 seed in the national tournament.

“I’m really happy for the team and coaches,” Head Coach Mike Callahan told Georgetown Athletics in an April 10 press release. “We worked hard for this, and it was a full team effort.”

The team emerged victorious in a field of eight, winning six of its seven races. In the three versus three-style team races, the Hoyas claimed the top three spots against the Navy and Fordham University, as well

Riggins Leads Runners at Bryan Clay

Ian Rasovsky

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown’s track and field team continued to build upon its strong record at the Bryan Clay Invitational, held April 15 at Cougar Athletic Stadium in Azusa, Calif. The meet is renowned in the track and field world, as it attracts top NCAA and professional runners who compete in traditionally fast conditions.

The Hoyas sent 10 athletes to compete in the 1500-meter run, their only event of the invitational. The athletes looked to post fast times to qualify for the postseason.

Graduate Andrea Claeson, graduate Sami Corman, junior Chloe Gonzalez, graduate Grace Jensen, sophomore Melissa Riggins and sophomore Chloe Scrimgeour competed in the women’s 1500-meter run. Seniors

Camden Gilmore, Matthew Payamps and Matthew Rizzo, as well as junior Abel Teffra, competed in the men’s 1500-meter run.

Riggins once again led the way for the Hoyas, finishing second overall in the race behind professional runner and Olympian Elise Cranny, who ran for the Nike Bowerman Track Club.

Riggins posted a careerbest time of 4:10.09 to finish

as the top collegiate runner for the second consecutive week. Riggins continued her stellar season at the meet: she holds the fastest 800-meter time of 2:03.50 in the Big East and 17th nationally.

Mitchell Baker, the assistant track and field coach, told Georgetown Athletics that Riggins had a sensational outing.

“She has a great sense of how to win, and she represented the program at a very high level now sitting behind only Emily Infeld and Josette Norris on our all-time school performance list,” Baker said in a Georgetown Athletics press release.

“That’s special company.”

“It was a signature win for her and a great indicator of the types of performances this group is ready for this spring,” Baker added.

Jensen and Corman also ran with Riggins in Heat 11.

Corman, who already holds the 5th fastest 800-meter time of 2:06.93 in the Big East, ran a time of 4:22.39 while Jensen ran 4:18.41.

Scrimgeour moved down a race in the second heat of the women’s 1500 from the Raleigh Relays three weeks ago, where she posted the 18th-fastest 5000-meter national time of 15:49.43.

Scrimgeour posted a time of 4:23.84 and finished second in her heat. Claeson, who also ran the 17th fastest

as the top two spots against St. Mary’s, George Washington and Old Dominion. Georgetown’s only loss was to the University of Pennsylvania, where Georgetown sailors finished in third, fifth and sixth place.

“Generally, we were beating teams and beating them handily,” sophomore crew member Spencer Kriegstein said in an interview with The Hoya. “So that felt really good for us.”

The Georgetown women’s

sailing team also had a solid showing at the MAISA Women’s Team Race Championship on April 15-16 in Ithaca, N.Y. The Hoyas placed third out of seven teams, trailing only behind the host school and champion Cornell University and runnerup UPenn. Despite the decent performance, the team was not satisfied with the result.

“The big goal is to win nationals, but getting there

ROUNDING THE DIAMOND

A Passionate Love Letter to Baseball

Eli Blumenfeld Columnist

Dear soon-to-be-baseball addict,

First off, thank you for picking up and reading this piece. You won’t be disappointed.

Second off, you’re welcome. You might be asking yourself, “For what exactly? I don’t even know you.” For helping you get up to speed on this year’s revolutionary and incredibly exciting MLB season, duh.

I was originally planning on writing this letter to you in the form of a rhyming limerick, but after my first two lines — and the fact I don’t really know what a limerick is — I thought it would be utterly unreadable for you all. I have, nonetheless and with great intrepidity, decided to “show off” this atrocity of an idea right here:

“The mighty Phils, filled with last year’s postseason thrills, have disappointed thus. But wielding a bat akin to Excalibur, the honorable Bryce Harper eyes a return (to first base, that is). And out west, where the cacti are fed by the arid sun, the Dia-

mondbacks seem poised to make a playoff run…” Yikes. Let’s finally start with the main reason why this season has been so different: the rule changes.

I’m paraphrasing from Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen here because I think he put it beautifully. It’s like the game has been transported back to the 1980s.

“The average time of game is down to 2:38 per nine innings this season. It was 3:03 last season and 2:38 is the lowest since 1984 (2:35),” according to Mike Axisa, a writer for CBS Sports.

Beyond this Orwellian speedup, there are more hits this year than normal. Exciting, no?

The league-wide batting average on balls in play (BABIP) has jumped due to the banning of the infield shift. As of April 19, league wide average BABIP was .298. It was only .282 in last year’s opening week.

This year has also seen a large uptick in stolen bases. On average, there are 1.7 attempts per team game, which is higher than 1.4 last year, yet comparable to 2010 or 2000. What’s really pushing the higher number of

Georgetown baseball snapped a five-year series losing streak against Creighton with 32 runs across three games.

GUHOYAS

Ten Hoyas competed in the 1500-meter run against the nation’s best collegiate and professional runners at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif.

Joe Moore