The Hoya: November 19, 2021

GUIDE

FEATURES

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The Fashion Issue

Institutional Sexism Since 1920 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021

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Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 103, No. 8, © 2021

GU Prof Debuts Musical Work Honoring GU272

CARLOS SIMON

The Library of Congress aired a song written by Georgetown University professor Carlos Simon honoring the GU272 on Nov. 5.

Nick Cohen

Special to the Hoya

A song honoring the 314 enslaved people sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus made its international debut Nov. 5 at a Library of Congress event.

Written over the past three years, “Requiem for the Enslaved” is an approximately 45-minute multigenre musical work written by Carlos Simon, an assistant professor of music at Georgetown University, that features spoken word. The song honors the 314 enslaved people, commonly referred to as the GU272, sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in 1838 to pay off university debts. Simon performed the song, which was funded by the department of performing arts, alongside Hub New Music, a Boston-based classical music group, at the

virtual event.

By relaying the story of the GU272 through music, Simon hopes to pay homage to the lives of enslaved people.

“First and foremost, I really want to honor the lives of the women, men and children that were sold, families that were broken up,” Simon said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “The university owes a large debt to these humans.”

The Georgetown community has been reckoning with its history of slavery in recent years. In April 2019, 66.1% of undergraduate students voted in favor of creating a semesterly fee that would go toward a fund to benefit descendents of the GU272. The referendum drew the highest turnout of voters in Georgetown student government history, See SIMON, A6

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Georgetown University Student Association President Nile Blass (COL ’22) proposed the National College Consortium, a group of university student governments designed to organize around regional and national issues affecting students.

GUSA Proposes College Coalition Samuel Yoo

Hoya Staff Writer

T

he Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) launched efforts to create a national consortium of university student governments to increase interscholastic activism.

The National College Consortium, a proposal GUSA President Nile Blass (COL ’22) spearheaded, along with GUSA Executive Officials

Genevieve Grenier (MSB ’24) and Thomas Leonard (COL ’23), will organize around regional and national issues important to college students. In the organizers’ vision, the consortium will include public, private and two-year higher education institutions from across the country and has already confirmed membership from 10 universities.

The consortium’s immediate agenda will include supporting federal voting rights

legislation and student loan forgiveness, according to Grenier.

“There’s a lot of issues that we do align with the interests of other universities on, for example, voting rights and student loan debt forgiveness,” Grenier said in an interview with The Hoya.

“There’s no body that brings together all the public, private, HBCUs, tribal colleges, every type of university from across the country. I think there’s 20 million college stu-

dents on American campuses — so that means there’s a lot of political power.”

Student governments at American University; Howard University; Gallaudet University; the University of Maryland; the University of Mississippi; the University of Iowa; the University of California, Los Angeles; Princeton University; Harvard University and Yale University have signed on, See CONSORTIUM, A6

Sen. Warnock: Politicians Philosophy Course Pilots Must Protect Voting Rights Disability Ethics Module Abby Tucker

Special to the Hoya

Following a current pilot program, Georgetown University will introduce a three-week disability ethics module into “Intro to Ethics” course syllabi.

A three-week disability ethics module is being piloted in a bioethics course taught by Margaret Little, philosophy professor and

director of Georgetown’s Ethics Lab. The module includes discussion sections and lectures centered on disability studies, as well as readings that focus on the lived experiences of people with disabilities. After Little completes the pilot module, additional professors will introduce the module into their courses. The module was designed through collaboration between the

Georgetown University Ethics Lab and the disability studies program.

The module’s content will engage students in the intersection of disability studies with the fields of justice and philosophy, according to Little.

“It’s a really interesting topic for exploring the human condition in general, See ETHICS, A6

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

At an event titled “Race, Religion, and the Assault on Voting Rights,” guests spoke on the need to pass federal voting rights legislation.

Annie Kane

Special to the Hoya

Sen. Raphael Warnock (DGa.) spoke on campus about the state of voting rights legislation in the United States on Wednesday.

The event, titled “Race, Religion, and the Assault on Voting Rights,” was held in

Lohrfink Auditorium and featured Warnock in conversation with Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Al.) and Rev. Jim Wallis, the inaugural director of the Center for Faith and Justice, a research center that studies the intersection of faith and politics.

Voting is deeply tied to the human condition and

should be a human right, according to Warnock.

“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” Warnock said. “I believe that is sacred because at root, the vote is about your voice, and your voice is about See WARNOCK, A6

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Georgetown University’s Ethics Lab and Disability Studies Program co-created a three-week module on the intersection of ethics and disability studies.

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

BLOG

Disability and Border Politics

Reflections from the Editor

Debut Dominance

A Blog Marriage Pact

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Panelists discuss the intersection of disability, health care policy and immigration at a Nov. 16 event.

Outgoing editor in chief Riley Rogerson (COL ’22) shares her perspective and final thoughts from the newsroom.

Sweet Beginnings

To BeReal or Not to BeReal?

Crosstown Victory

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Bakeshop, a new Georgetown bakery offering cupcakes, macarons and more, opens up to fanfare on Grace Street.

Data privacy is a concern as casual social media platforms like BeReal are rising in popularity on college campuses.

Take the 4E’s latest quiz to find out which Blog staffer is your perfect match. blog.thehoya.com

Georgetown squash won its first two matches in Division I history with two impressive victories.

First-year guard Aminu Mohammed’s first career double-double led the way in a 79-57 win over American.

Published Fridays

Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

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THEHOYA.COM | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021

OPINION EDITORIAL

ONLINE THIS WEEK

Guarantee Student Safety As the fall 2021 semester comes to a close, the approaching spring semester gives Georgetown University community members an opportunity to reflect on the return to campus. Though being back on campus is exciting, students have voiced frustration over the university’s failure to uphold basic safety measures. Throughout the fall semester, the Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) has recorded at least six unlawful entries on campus.

Following a semester of safety concerns, the university must guarantee students’ safety while they live and learn at Georgetown. To do so, administrators must communicate with students in a transparent and timely fashion. However, the university’s solution cannot be increasing GUPD’s presence on campus.

Student discourse regarding intruders on campus took off after an unknown person unlawfully entered New South Hall and walked into a women’s bathroom, where they whispered to a student and ignored her requests to leave. Despite the deeply unsettling nature of the incident, the university did not contact students living in New South until nearly 20 hours after the incident.

As additional intrusion reports have piled up this semester, students have voiced concern over poor transparency from Georgetown’s administration and called on the university to provide more details about the nature of the intrusions.

In particular, student advocates demanded the university improve its faulty HOYAlert system. Georgetown did not send out any campuswide alerts on HOYAlerts, an emergency message notification system, regarding safety concerns.

Receiving emergency communications is essential for student safety, according to Caleb Richmond (SFS ’25), who was visiting friends during the New South intrusion.

Richmond wrote an open letter to the university voicing concerns about how it handled the situation.

“While transparency is a more long-term goal, I wish the university had told us anything during the events last night (i.e. shelter in place or something of the sort) as opposed to letting confusion spread through their silence,” Richmond wrote in an email to The Hoya, published in a Sept. 24 article on residence hall intrusions the day after the intrusion.

The university’s response to intrusions has been lackluster at best and neglectful at worst.

During emergencies when minutes matter, the university and GUPD must prioritize clear communication with students. Without direction from university officials, administrators force students to rely on rumors to gain information about the state of their safety.

In response to these incidents, GUPD has hung posters around campus encouraging students to be aware of their surroundings and has announced it would increase its patrol presence around residence halls. However, studies show that increasing police presence does not deter crime, according to researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Students who encountered an intruder in Reynolds Hall in September did not contact GUPD even though they felt uncomfortable, making it clear that increasing police presence will not improve student safety because students understandably do not trust campus police to protect them, nor should they.

GUPD has a history of hyperpolicing students of color, as well as internal allegations of racial bias by its own former officers. Numerous students of color have shared stories within private clubs and organizations detailing racial bias incidents, including being forced to prove their relationship to the university, experiencing excessive use of force from officers and being unnecessarily surveilled by the department. GUPD’s troubling record gives community members, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, no reason to trust the department with their safety.

GUPD does all it can to ensure it operates equitably, according to a university spokesperson.

“Based on the results of the Campus Cultural Climate Survey, GUPD instituted a new initiative to track all proactive stops performed by its police officers. Demographic information that has been collected will be analyzed and shared with university leadership and published for the university community twice each year on the GUPD website,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Guaranteeing student safety must mean ensuring that all students feel safe regardless of their identity. The university’s lack of timely communication following intrusion incidents caused uncertainty and confusion among students, and its next steps must be thoroughly thought out and researched.

Rather than forcing students to take their safety into their own hands, GUPD must address its failures in protecting all members of the campus community. The department needs to improve transparency, not only in times of emergency, but also in its operations in the Georgetown community.

Rethinking community safety is a significant task to take on, but it is absolutely imperative. To keep students safe, the university can start by hiring professionals to Health Education Services trained in deescalation. Administrators could also push to expand the existing blue light system to make these professionals easy to contact. In order to more substantively invest in long-term solutions, the university should hire a panel of experts who have done research about policing to make recommendations for how to keep students safe and decrease the presence of GUPD. Clear communication is the least students should expect from the administration and GUPD. The university has repeatedly failed to protect the community from intrusion incidents, and it is past time that administrators prioritize transparency.

“

In political discourse, we must seek to understand and empathize with all voters if we want to create and maintain a functional democracy. True understanding, however, does not look like infantilization. It requires an honest understanding of voters’ responsibility for the ways they vote.”

Yana Gitelman (SFS ’25)

“How White Women Reinforce Racism” thehoya.com

DEEP DIVE

Global Vaccination Efforts This week, we’re diving into Anagha Chakravarti’s (SFS ’25) article about COVAX and the difficulties in developing an effective global vaccine initiative. Vaccine initiatives have faced countless struggles throughout history, especially in times of crisis and during mass outbreaks.

For instance, during the first outbreak of smallpox in 1803, vaccination efforts in Western Europe and South America were confined to the local level, as it was difficult to find ways of distributing the vaccine globally. After initially moving from town to town and relying on unsystematic, disorganized distribution, vaccine officials worked with local doctors, as well as political and religious leaders to successfully set up mass vaccination drives.

During the 1950s, when the polio outbreak was at its height, vaccine distribution faced

similar issues. After Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine was licensed by the U.S. government, there was low supply and output for a longer period of time than expected. Additionally, like the smallpox vaccine, distribution was led by local and state officials in a relatively disorganized process.

Even when the rollout progressed to the global sphere, distribution efforts were futile in their early stages because of low supply and weak transportation. The situation is shockingly similar to the current pandemic.

The barriers that we face today are not unique to our time, and though we now have modern technology to aid these efforts, it is nonetheless important to learn from the mistakes of past vaccination efforts and distribute the vaccine in equitable and efficient ways, in our attempt to fight the current COVID-19 pandemic.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Alan Chen

The Hoya’s Editorial Board is composed of six students and is chaired by the Opinion editors.

Editorials reflect only the beliefs of a majority of the board and are not representative of The Hoya or any individual member of the board.

HOYA HISTORY

Healy Affirms Need for Minority Aid Hike Nov. 18, 1977 Georgetown University president Fr. Timothy Healy, S.J., indicated support of a proposed $200 tuition increase for incoming students devoted solely to financial aid for minorities in an address to the annual Faculty Convocation last Saturday.

“The recent suggestion that each class be asked to contribute directly towards the diversification of its own members is attractive because it would provide for students a social and ethnic mix,” Healy said. “No part of American life, and certainly no college, is richer for being monolingual or monochromatic.”

The proposal, if passed, would add $200 to the tuition of incoming freshman and transfer students, above and beyond any schoolwide tuition hike, to be used for financial aid. Healy called for an additional $40,000 in scholarship money for minorities in his budget proposal for Fiscal Year ’79.

“It is hard to ignore social realities when your teacher or the

student sitting next to you represents a racial, ethnic or religious understanding of America totally different from the one you yourself grew up in. The diversity of understanding is probably the greatest gift America gives its people. It ought to be noted here that Georgetown’s precise weakness is that it cannot present either in its student body or in its faculty the spectrum which prepares students for life in 21st century America,” Healy said.

In addition, Healy reaffirmed Georgetown’s commitments to moral education and liberal arts in professional studies such as law and medicine.

Healy chastised the hyperprofessional educational atmosphere of the university. “Technical education, education for the practical business of earning a living and running the republic, does have one major difficulty…

Technical education can always threaten and defeat the larger human and civic purposes it was

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.

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CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Clara Grudberg at (917) 715-5754 or Executive Editor Kirsten Garino at (551) 265-1390. Both editors can be reached by email at executive@thehoya.com.

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meant toserve,” he said.

Healy cited the conflict between personal and societal interests within the School of Medicine. “The high specialization which the university has imposed upon the profession has reached its apogee…Because the university has turned the study of medicine from an art into a science, we have developed an incapacity among our high specialists to place any aspect of their professions in order.” Healy cited the inadequacy of primary health care both in the cities and the country and the conflict over laetrile as primary examples of moral crises within the medical profession. Healy went on to say that “One thing is clear; the moral and intellectual beauty of those who pick this highly lucrative but difficult vocation are worth the university’s care and worry, and worth almost any cost to preserve for both the City of Man and the City of God.”

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021 | THEHOYA.COM

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OPINION VIEWPOINT • KHEMKA

Beware of BeReal’s Threats to Privacy

H

alloween is over, and the creepiest things on campus are not the rotting pumpkins or leftover fake cobwebs, but the new social media app BeReal.

BeReal, the newest social media craze that seems to have a hold on Georgetown University, seeks to promote “authenticity” by asking users to post their real everyday lives rather than a filtered picture taken at the perfect time.

The app claims to help users “discover who your friends really are in their daily life,” but it is really a frightening privacy intrusion in an era of already extensive data collection.

BeReal notifies all users at a random time once a day that they have two minutes to post what they are doing at that moment. It captures and posts both the front and back side of the camera, so followers can see what users are doing at that precise moment. Users don’t have to post on time, but they cannot look at their BeReal feed until they post for the day. BeReal is completely unique in its premise of explicitly asking people to post something at a certain time and denying people access to their feed until they post. The app’s purpose is to strip away the polished posts and filtered photos to present a more realistic reflection of daily life.

When I scrolled through a BeReal feed myself, I thought it did a really good job of doing that as I saw everyone’s quirky selfies of themselves lying in their beds or clinging to a cup of coffee for dear life in Lauinger Library.

Despite this noble mission, BeReal’s encouragement of daily posts hints at a much more dangerous reality.

Through posting a random, unfiltered moment every day for a long period of time, the app could potentially build a profile on you and determine a pretty accurate routine consisting of where you are, what you typically do and who you interact with. This is no different, of course, from many social media platforms, such as Facebook’s laserlike ad targeting and Snapchat’s Snap Map feature. However, the difference between BeReal and

other popular social media platforms is that we did not understand the extent of data abuse and collection of these platforms five years ago the same way we do today.

We have already seen the potential dangers of social media data collection. The Chinese government has surveilled citizens using the messaging app WeChat, and hackers like Tom Liner have been known to scrape social media profiles and sell detailed information about users to the highest bidder on the dark web.

While BeReal’s privacy policy is under the jurisdiction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation laws and promises to not sell personal data or information without prior consent, this social media platform could potentially choose to sell your data to third parties as it becomes more popular and more profitable, making you vulnerable to mild to extreme invasions of privacy ranging from targeted advertising to full surveillance.

Even worse, data scrapers could hack the social media app and create a detailed profile of your routine based on your BeReal posts, which the platform can hold for up to three years after the last use of the app and sell to the highest bidder or maybe even worse. With or without the app’s consent, the privacy of its users is in danger.

To promote its new platform, BeReal has been sponsoring events held by various clubs on Georgetown’s campus to promote usage. Armed with all of the evidence of previous social media abuses, we have the power and knowledge to shape our engagement with it.

With the specialized focus the app seems to have on college campuses like Georgetown at the moment, we as a community have the ability to make a statement about this app: We do not want it. We do not want to make ourselves vulnerable to the potential dangers that lurk behind “being real.” We do not want to become another chapter in the current story of social media use and abuse.

ILLUSTRATION BY: ALLIE YI/THE HOYA

VIEWPOINT • ROGERSON

Imagine Your Name in the Byline

I

did the math. I have been thinking about writing this article for 1,079 days.

Back then, I was a brighteyed Hoya news writer with five stories and an interview with Meek Mill to my name.

One thousand and seventynine days ago, on my way to an introductory history discussion, I picked up a copy of The Hoya and read former Editor-in-Chief Ian Scoville’s “exit viewpoint” — an article traditionally penned by the outgoing editor in chief.

Immediately, I started dreaming of my name in the byline. Riley Rogerson: editor in chief.

The fantasy wasn’t hard to conjure. I had held plenty of high school leadership positions. I understood the formula. Show up in the office.

Write two, even three, articles a week. Put The Hoya ahead of school. Sleep when you can.

Stress when you can’t.

I got to work.

I sought out mentorship, made friends and inadvertently fell in love with my job. With every source I interviewed and every story I told, I became more welcomed into the newsroom. While my Srishti Khemka is a junior in growing commitment sprang the School of Foreign Service. from telling stories that mat-

VIEWPOINT • VALLIATH

tered, writing with the thrill of a print deadline and cultivating meaningful relationships, I never took my eyes off the prize. Riley Rogerson: editor in chief.

The formula to becoming editor in chief, of course, included hard work, a love of student journalism and all the sweat and tears I could muster.

As I leave the role, I’m now aware the formula also included the confidence of feeling like I belonged in just about every room I’ve ever walked into as a privileged, prep-school-educated white woman. It included never hearing microaggressions about myself in the office — save for a few sexist remarks — and not having to simultaneously work a paying job.

The Hoya’s most recent diversity survey results show that The Hoya overrepresents white students at Georgetown University, and about 65% of Hoya staffers do not receive financial aid.

Of course I could imagine my name in the byline 1,079 days ago. The Hoya rewards people like me.

Calls for change have been loud, yet substantive progress has been modest. The past three editors in chief

commented on The Hoya’s demographics in their exit viewpoints. One said university funding processes caused newsroom inequity, another pushed for greater accountability from the Georgetown community, and the most recent argued staff compensation would lead to greater diversity.

I think it’s all of the above plus a leadership with an unflinching, officewide commitment to inclusivity. It is something that can’t and hasn’t happened overnight, but it’s something leaders, particularly leaders of color, have begun to nurture at The Hoya.

The Hoya puts out a newspaper every week. But our top priority shouldn’t be meeting our print deadline.

It should be writing hardhitting articles that all students at Georgetown care about. It should be building trust with underserved communities on campus who are wary of counting on The Hoya to tell their stories. It should be decreasing The Hoya’s stress culture and prioritizing our team’s mental health. It should be welcoming and mentoring each of our over 300 staffers.

While The Hoya, and its

leaders, have repeatedly fallen short of these mantras, I now leave filled with hope. In the past 1,079 days, The Hoya has begun working toward our goal of becoming a more representative newsroom.

Some of the steps have been common-sense practices. The Hoya has reformed its hiring processes to make some positions open to any applicant. It has collected data in a diversity survey to better understand our demographics, and it has required professional trainings about reporting on race and trauma.

Other initiatives address big-picture structural concerns. For example, The Hoya created a new compensation director position with the dream that one day we can pay our staff.

The list goes on; so does the work The Hoya has left to do.

I look forward to seeing what The Hoya accomplishes in the next 1,079 days. I hope it is constructing a newspaper where everyone can imagine themselves as editor in chief.

Riley Rogerson is a senior in the College and the 147th editor in chief of The Hoya.

Her term ends Saturday.

VIEWPOINT • CHAKRAVARTI

Accomodate Virtual Attendance Assist Pandemic Relief Efforts

A

fter over a year of online learning, Georgetown University’s return to campus has been thrilling, hectic and frenzied. This semester, many students transitioned from part-time course loads held on Zoom to in-person, fullcredit course loads. Students now must balance demanding extracurriculars, jobs and social obligations. The transition has not been seamless. The university’s arbitrary illness policies and ineffective resources to make up coursework only make this transition harder.

Protocols for illnesses are unclear. On one hand, Dr. Ranit Mishori (MED ’02), Georgetown’s chief public health officer, has encouraged sick students to stay home, including during this semester’s norovirus outbreak.

“If you are unwell, please stay home and do not attend class or arrive for work,” Mishori wrote in a Sept. 22 email to the student body. “Students do not need a doctor’s note for a medical-related class absence.”

In spite of this advice, faculty are not obligated to make synchronous lectures virtually available to sick students, according to Rohan Williamson, vice provost for education.

“As the semester progresses there will be occasions — illness, family emergencies, or other life events — when it might seem reasonable to request to attend classes remotely,” Williamson wrote in an email to the student body. “You should not expect that you will be able to participate synchronously (i.e., Zoom) in a class designated as in-person, nor should you assume that you may miss class ... without an approved reason for doing so.”

Williamson urges students to attend class in person. He also writes that “sharing notes” and

“virtual office hours” constitute sufficient accommodation for COVID-19-afflicted students who are unable to attend class.

Countless students find this accommodation inadequate.

After falling seriously ill with norovirus, Arianna Nassiri (COL ’24) found that her only accommodation for a certain class was a written transcript of the lecture.

“I tried that for the first lecture and was missing so much from the class discussion so I had to ask a friend to record the lecture on his phone and send me the entire 75 minutes. That week I fell completely behind in my courses,” Nassiri said in an interview with The Hoya.

In this same email, Williamson encourages anyone with COVID-19 symptoms, including a cough, sore throat and runny nose, to stay home.

One only needs to watch any Georgetown lecture for about 20 minutes to see that, by this metric alone, most Georgetown students should be self-quarantining.

Even when Hoyas report mild COVID-19 symptoms, it appears these reports are not taken seriously. A few weeks ago, one Georgetown professor, who requested to remain anonymous, filled out the COVID-19 Daily Check-In indicating that he had a cold and sore throat. When called by a university COVID-19 Care Navigator, he was asked if he thought he had COVID-19. He said that after saying no, he was informed he shouldn’t have reported his symptoms at all.

Similarly, Nassiri said she played basketball for over an hour with a student who happened to be positive for COVID-19. When the student received a positive test result shortly after their game, the

university did not inform Nassiri of the positive contact or instruct her to get tested.

“I only ever found out because a friend let me know I should get tested,” Nassiri said.

Sifting through the university’s guidance, it seems that sick students should stay home to protect their classmates and professors without any guarantee of quality make-up resources.

Even when a professor makes in-person classes available via Zoom, the virtual experience is hardly helpful. Cameras situated in the back of classrooms capture pixelated, low-quality footage. Microphones barely pick up a professor’s voice, much less those of students, making it difficult to keep up with a lecture and nearly impossible to participate in class.

Without comprehensive make-up resources, Georgetown students ultimately have an incentive to prioritize the quality of their education over the well-being of themselves and the Georgetown community.

This contradicts some of Georgetown’s most important Jesuit values: men and women for others and cura personalis.

The university should require professors to provide a remote synchronous option to sick students and train professors to use this feature when a student is ill. The quality of video and audio recordings also needs to improve. Students should be able to clearly hear and see a given lecture over Zoom.

This semester, Georgetown has not given sick students adequate options. Students are left choosing between quality lectures and the safety of their community, a set of options incompatible with our school’s values.

Maya Valliath is a junior in the College.

I

am from Delhi, India, and I spent the past 10 years in Manila, Philippines. Both countries were hit extremely hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Philippines having one of the longest lockdowns, while India suffered a devastatingly huge second wave brought about by the Delta variant. As experts often say, COVID-19 has become a developing-country pandemic.

So what could the world do to offer support to these less economically developed countries during this crisis?

The solution for these countries as proposed by international health bodies, experts and other official stakeholders seemed to be the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative. COVAX was founded in April 2020 by multiple health bodies, institutions and nonprofits like the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. The program was supposed to “be a global powerhouse and a multibilliondollar alliance.” The initiative’s main goal was to provide quick, fair and safe access to COVID-19 vaccines to emerging economies. While COVAX experienced a fair share of success in acquiring and distributing doses, its shortcomings in terms of vaccine storage, obtaining deals with manufacturers and overcoming bureaucratic barriers outweighed the benefits of the program.

The COVAX initiative did have its fair share of successes, and this can be accredited to the fact that the initiative brings together the efforts of multiple stakeholders such as international health bodies, institutions like UNICEF and

nonprofits. According to the WHO, the COVAX program was able to provide COVID-19 vaccines to 100 economies, including countries in Africa and Asia, in the first 42 days of the program through acquiring and delivering doses.

However, the COVAX program faced severe shortcomings, which unfortunately outweighed the program’s benefits. I find that most of these challenges revolve around money, vaccine supply and global solidarity. Andrea Taylor, a Duke researcher studying global vaccinations, stated that “Covax is like a group project without a leader.” This quote is quite telling, especially because COVAX is such a large, collaborative initiative among various stakeholders.

COVAX struggled to acquire an adequate supply of vaccine doses that would meet the large demand in low- to middle-income nations. This supply shortage was due to a lack of funding from high-income nations or established partnerships with other vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer. This shortage of funding for COVAX also created difficulties in terms of transportation, the administration of shots and the added hurdle of persuading people to take the vaccine.

It is fair to say COVAX was an effective example of the inner workings of collaborative initiatives during health crises.

While identifying the ways in which COVAX would have been better prepared and more successful is challenging, the initiative undoubtedly needed a clearer leadership presence.

COVAX needed more individuals with different expertises to fully dedicate themselves to the goals of the initiative, instead of having so many separate orga-

nizations and institutions contribute a limited amount.

Given the complexities of the pandemic and the struggle to aid less economically developed nations, students must engage in discussion, take classes or get involved in wider pandemic-reliefrelated efforts on campus. Campus life has practically returned to normal, but for my friends and family back in the Philippines, a never-ending lockdown remains the reality. In the Philippines, there were stringent rules on wearing masks and face shields at all times. It is entirely different in the United States — ranging from factors like rules around the pandemic, vaccine rates and standard of living. The catastrophically grim conditions in India, especially during the second wave, were extremely distressing for me because I worried about my extended family and friends back home. Reading the news, seeing graphic images on social media and talking to relatives back home always elicits a somber and deeply melancholy feeling. Both the Philippines and India have faced tremendously dark times in the pandemic with effects that will continue to shape and impact lives for years to come.

As we often say in my “Pandemic Responses” seminar, “the pandemic isn’t over for anyone until it is over for everyone.” Sadly, however, it doesn’t fully always seem that way — at least here in the U.S. Therefore, programs such as COVAX, with its wellmeaning aims, despite the immense challenge of proper execution, are vital to show solidarity and support and to extend resources to underresourced nations.

Anagha Chakravarti is a first-year student in the School of Foreign Service.

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FEATURES

Longtime Georgetown Professors Recount Institutional Sexism Decades ago, Georgetown’s female professors faced nonexistent parental leave and unequal service commitments. The situation has improved, but many barriers remain.

ILLUSTRATION BY: NATASHA LEONG/THE HOYA

Studies show female professors work more service hours than their male counterparts, limiting their capacity to research and publish, which is critical to securing tenure and getting promoted to full professorship.

Ceyda Guleryuz Hoya Staff Writer

A

bout one week after Georgetown University finance professor Reena Aggarwal gave birth, she was back teaching in the classroom.

It was 1987, and Georgetown, like most workplaces at the time, did not have a parental leave policy. What’s more, Aggarwal’s tenure clock was ticking. Aggarwal began working at Georgetown in 1986, and from that point, she only had seven years to obtain tenure, a policy that is still common across many universities, including at Georgetown.

Georgetown was and continues to be an environment in which female professors face more barriers to career success than their male counterparts. Aggarwal said it was difficult to balance all her duties — as an educator, researcher and parent of two children — while staying on track toward achieving tenure. Some of Aggarwal’s female peers simply didn’t have enough time and support to manage it all.

“I saw a number of women who were on tenure track, but they decided to get out of tenure track because they were trying to juggle a lot of things,” Aggarwal said in a Zoom interview with The Hoya. “We didn’t have flexibility. We didn’t provide that time off or stoppage of the tenure clock.”

Across all Georgetown’s campuses, women comprise about 47% of Georgetown’s full-time faculty. However, in the McDonough School of Business, where Aggarwal teaches, women account for just about 27% of all faculty, and in 2019, only 33% of Georgetown’s tenure-line full professors on the main campus were women.

According to several of Georgetown’s longest-serving female professors who have been at the university since at least the 1990s, inflexible parental leave policies — or the absence of such policies — are just one of the many barriers they have faced throughout their careers.

These professors — some of whom were among the first women in their departments — discussed other obstacles they faced, including an unofficial expectation they contribute more service hours than their male counterparts by serving on committees. These barriers existed in a culture characterized by bias and sexism.

Though there are fewer deterrents to advancement facing Georgetown’s female professors today, these professors said many hurdles are still in place at the university that hinder women’s career development.

Underrepresented Beginnings

Many of Georgetown’s longest-serving female professors noticed an obvious problem while climbing the academic ladder decades ago: At every level of their education, they rarely saw themselves among academics because there were so few female professors.

Deborah Tannen, a Georgetown linguistics professor, began working at the university in 1979. Surviving the long path of advancing in academia was especially hard, she said, because she had few female role models along the way.

“When I got my Ph.D., there was only one woman in the faculty. When I was an undergrad, I had one woman professor,” Tannen said in a Zoom interview with The Hoya. “That one woman professor took me under her wing. It was a huge benefit that there was this one woman, and we became very good friends.”

Many other female professors have had similar experiences. While pursuing her doctorate, Aggarwal never had any female professors.

There were other women in her class when she began, but by the time she graduated, Aggarwal was the only woman left. The others had dropped out along the way, she said.

Having female mentors is critical to improve a female scholars’ chances to succeed in academia, as well as any other

“We felt we had to basically establish our place in the academy.

We were pushing open a door — ­­ for ourselves and for other women to come.”

JUDITH TUCKER GEORGETOWN PROFESSOR

field, according to Aggarwal, who said she now draws on her experiences to inform her teaching philosophy.

“Sometimes female students are less likely to speak up. But being a woman faculty member, I can gently bring them in and help them to overcome that barrier, which is very important in the long run,” Aggarwal said.

As of 2019, women make up just over 50% of faculty at U.S. postsecondary institutions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But in 1987, the first year

this data was collected, that number was only 33.2%.

Georgetown history professor Judith Tucker was searching for a professorship position in the 1980s when academic jobs were scarce.

The lack of academic positions put even more pressure on women to succeed in academia when they actually got a job, according to Tucker, who has worked at Georgetown since 1983.

“We felt we had to basically establish our place in the academy,” Tucker said in an interview with The Hoya. “We were pushing open a door — for ourselves and for other women to come.”

Institutionalized Inadequacy

After starting at Georgetown, several female professors said they faced barriers to scholarly success their male counterparts never experienced. These women encountered inflexible policies and inadequate support systems, but their concerns were rarely prioritized because there were so few women.

In 2006, the earliest year with available statistics on the gender ratio of Georgetown professors, only 22% of tenure-line full professors at Georgetown’s main campus were women.

Tucker said her department was overwhelmingly composed of white men. She and her female peers often felt they had to work harder to earn the same recognition as their male peers, according to Tucker.

“Did we really belong there? I think we all had to face that challenge that we had to prove ourselves. And that meant we had to be better than our male counterparts, and it was a burden,” Tucker said.

For tenure-line female faculty, this extra work often came in the form of unpaid service hours. Service, which includes a broad range of committee and department responsibilities, leave faculty members with less time to devote to research and teaching, which are critical to securing tenure.

According to Susan Mulroney, professor of pharmacology and physiology, female faculty members were expected to take on significantly more service hours than their male counterparts when she first joined the university in 1985.

Even today women professors continue to face this burden. A 2017 study in the journal Research in Higher Education found women reported 0.6 hours more service per week than men.

Women, especially among the junior faculty, often agree to take on these extra

service hours because they find it challenging to decline committee roles, according to Aggarwal.

“Women faculty are more likely to say yes, to do a really good job, and then they get asked again,” Aggarwal said.

“Women faculty find it more difficult to say no.”

Another frequent issue women tenure-line professors encountered was the dilemma of raising a family without a paid family leave policy in place, according to Francisca Cho, a professor of East Asian languages and cultures who joined the university in 1992.

“To try to have a child before tenure, you’re just really making a devil’s bargain because you just know that your career is going to suffer,” Cho said in a Zoom interview with The Hoya.

Although the federal Family and Medical Leave Act was passed in 1993 and guaranteed up to 12 weeks of unpaid protected leave after the birth of a child, Georgetown still had no paid parental plan when Cho had her first child in 1999, according to Cho. Cho spent her sabbatical — available to tenured professors and usually reserved for pursuing research — taking care of her child after giving birth. Angela Stent, professor emerita who joined the university in 1979, timed her sabbatical to coincide with the birth of her first child in 1985.

“I did not have children until I got tenure,” Stent said in an interview with The Hoya. “When I did have my children, there was no maternity leave, and there were also no child care facilities.”

Women who had children before achieving tenure faced even fewer options and were met with insufficient formal parental leave policies, according to Tucker.

Tucker, a mother of two, returned to teaching full-time three weeks after giving birth in August 1984, which, looking back, she described as inhumane.

“It was a struggle I would not wish on anybody. We could not complain. We could not push our issues.

We could not raise the fact that we as women faculty were feeling beleaguered — because we were expected to do it all,” Tucker said.

Having children while working as a full-time professor was a nearly impossible situation for many women, many of whom were forced to choose between their academic success and family life, according to Tucker.

“When I look at my generation, a number of female faculty did not have children,” Tucker said.

Slow Steps Forward

Female professors still face additional barriers at Georgetown, according to these professors, but the environment today is much improved compared with decades ago. The most significant improvement has been the establishment of a paid parental leave policy, several professors told The Hoya.

Georgetown currently allows women a total of up to eight paid weeks of maternity leave under the university’s Short Term Disability plan. The American Public

“To try to have a child before tenure, you’re just really making a devil’s bargain because you just know that your career is going to suffer.”

FRANCISCA CHO GEORGETOWN PROFESSOR

der equity among faculty, according to a university spokesperson, who pointed to the creation of a Task Force on Gender Equity in 2018. The task force looked at institutional policies and provided recommendations in a report aimed to enhance and elevate the status of faculty women on campus.

“We received anecdotal evidence of a disproportionate burden on female faculty to perform service and emotional labor at Georgetown, which is similar to the experience of female faculty at other universities,” the report said.

Though the task force dissolved in May 2021 after the publication of its report, it recommended establishing a standing committee to monitor the collection of data on gender equity and advise university policy related to gender equity.

The university has also taken steps to reduce barriers to securing tenure for female professors, according to Aggarwal. Starting about 15 years ago, departments have increasingly sought to protect their junior faculty members from doing too much service so they can focus on teaching and research, Aggarwal said.

But a similar problem persists for female professors after they obtain tenure as they seek to become full professors, Cho said. When associate professors become full professors, they receive a significantly larger salary increase than when they obtain tenure. The problem is that female professors face more barriers than male professors in obtaining that promotion, according to Cho. “You get tenured associatelevel professors getting stuck with all the service because they’re no longer exempt from service because they have gotten their tenure,” Cho said.

“Then those who end up taking up the lion’s share of that service work are delayed — and perhaps permanently prevented — from going up for full professor.”

The university is not doing enough to help female professors become full professors, according to Cho. Women still end up contributing more service hours than men, which means women have less time to devote to producing the research and publications that are critical to becoming a full professor.

“They’re taking steps, but there’s still a long way to go,” Cho said. “The persisting problem is the university wants everyone to eventually make it to full professorship but won’t give departments and individuals the resources to get there.”

Health Association recommends 14 weeks of paid maternity leave.

When professors go on parental leave now, they are also able to pause their tenure clock, so parental leave does not hinder their efforts to secure tenure, according to Aggarwal.

Over the past two decades, the university has made several changes to improve the parental leave policy. For instance, in 2018, the university established a new policy that made full-time non-tenure-line professors eligible for the same parental leave as tenure-line faculty.

When Georgetown first implemented a paid parental leave policy is not publicly available. A university spokesperson told The Hoya they did not have that information.

Along with the current family leave policies, Georgetown also offers a child care service through Hoya Kids, although there is often a waiting list to join. Many faculty feel the university should make more efforts to provide child care services or other alternatives for all faculty with young children, according to Mulroney.

“Anyone who works here can sign up, but you have to do it very rapidly. You have to get on this list, so there’s no guarantee,” Mulroney said. “It’d be great to have something that was either a subsidy or something that would really help with child care, because it’s an enormous responsibility.”

Georgetown is committed Liam Scott contributed reportto further improving gen- ing to this article.

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Inside Look at GULC Tech Incubator

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya

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INSIDE THE ISSUE

I feel like a lot of the bakeries in Georgetown are mainly cupcakes.”

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER

The GULC Center on National Security launched its National Security & Technology Incubator on Nov. 10. The program willl convene a task force to address future threats in the social media landscape.

Nonprofit organization ROHAN AGRAWAL FRESHFARM launched a customer at Bakeshop, on new food assistance progrand opening. Story on A9. gram. Story on A7.

GUSA Proposes Transportation Student Activists, Howard University Reach Agreement To End Takeover Stipend for Select Students Ingrid Matteini Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) proposed a transportation stipend Nov. 8 that would allow qualifying students to receive a stipend for traveling on Metro buses and trains.

Under the proposal, students who commute to an internship in the Washington, D.C. area or students who have expected family contributions of $20,000 or lower would receive a transportation stipend of up to $400 in value. GUSA senators hope this proposal is the first step toward Georgetown University’s implementation of the Metro U-Pass program, which would allow students to receive unlimited free Metro rail and bus rides throughout the D.C. area.

If implemented, the proposal would make Metro services more affordable for students who rely on public transit for work opportunities in and around the District, according to GUSA Senate Speaker Leo Rassieur (COL ’22).

“The stipend proposal, if implemented, would lift some of the financial barriers to participating in internships and other career opportunities that excite people to attend Georgetown,” Rassieur wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Promoting public transportation use would also, of course, be a very green approach to this problem.”

In April 2021, GUSA published a referendum calling on the university to adopt the U-Pass program. Ultimately, 84.03% of voting undergraduates voted in favor of implementing the program. After the referendum passed, GUSA leaders sent the referendum to university administrators for approval; however, university officials have not taken any steps to join the program and university officials have not responded to the most recent stipend proposal.`

The program, if implemented, would result in an increase in student tuition costs, hindering the university’s inclination to participate in the initiative, according to a university spokesperson.

“Because U-Pass requires enrollment of all students — whether they use the pass or not — and has historically been funded as an addition to student tuition bills with other universities, Georgetown does not currently participate in the program,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The tuition increase presented the biggest barrier to university cooperation when

“The stipend proposal, if implemented, would lift some of the financial barriers to participating in internships and other career opportunities.”

LEO RASSIEUR SPEAKER OF THE GUSA SENATE

GUSA senators met with administrators to discuss the potential of implementing the program, according to Rowlie Flores (COL ’22), GUSA Senate vice speaker.

“We received some pushback on not having enough data on student’s usage of public transportation systems in the DC Metro area,” Flores wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Some administrators have also expressed concerns regarding the mandatory fee of $136 that would be charged to every student as the Metro U-Pass program is a universal program with no opt-out option.”

According to Rassieur, the transportation stipend is the

best interim solution to students’ transportation needs while the future of the U-Pass program remains uncertain.

“While we’re ultimately pushing for a Metro U-Pass program that would cover all students, we think that having a stipend that would cover low-income students is an important first step that would achieve most of the impact of the broader Metro U-Pass,” Rassieur wrote.

While the university will continue to pursue transportation options for students, it will not join the Metro U-Pass program at this time, according to a university spokesperson.

“Student referendums help to express important student perspectives but do not create University policy and are not binding on the University,” a university spokesperson wrote.

“We are always looking for creative ways to provide our students with transportation options while safeguarding against increases to the cost of attendance.”

Georgetown remains one of the last schools in the District to not participate in the U-Pass program. George Washington University announced Nov. 5 that it will join the Metro UPass program, giving students unlimited rides at a cost of $1 per day and becoming the largest university in the District to offer the passes. American University joined the program in 2016, and 26 schools in the D.C. area are currently part of the program.

Financial barriers should not inhibit student participation in opportunities that require transportation around the District, according to Flores.

“We hope that the administrators consider our proposal thoughtfully as transportation costs do add up, which sometimes prevents low-income students from partaking in opportunities that complement their academic work on the hilltop,” Flores wrote.

Caitlin McLean Hoya Staff Writer

Howard University students have ended their takeover of a campus building after a monthlong protest demanding university action over unsafe living conditions on campus.

Protesters and university administrators reached an agreement Nov. 15, but the details of the negotiations have not been made publicly available. Since Oct. 12, students had been occupying the inside and outside of the Armour J. Blackburn University Center, demanding the university address student safety concerns after reports of poor ventilation, mold, leaking pipes, pests and mushrooms growing from ceilings in university residence halls.

The issues current Howard students are facing are not new, according to Mohamed Jalloh, a former student at Howard who distributed food and warm drinks to protesters last week while the takeover was still ongoing.

“We had rats, you know, I’m saying — some people complained about mold and stuff in their dorms but it was one of those things where you kind of just lived with it,” Jalloh said in an interview with The Hoya.

“I would say that I’m not sure if this is just a Howard thing or not. But the water in the dorm was so harsh that I ended up losing all my eyebrows during the school year.”

According to Alexis Harper, a graduate student at Howard and an advisor to students participating in the takeover, pressure from the media and graduates forced the university to act.

“I think it was, from my perspective, the intense social pressure from the students being there for 34 days, in addition to the physical support that they had of alumni and organizers coming through,” Harper said in a phone interview with The Hoya.

The protest was organized

by Howard students involved in The Live Movement, a coalition of current and former students fighting for the advancement of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Black students.

During the takeover, The Live Movement regularly posted updates, asked for food and supply donations and streamed live on its Instagram account.

The Live Movement did not provide comment before the time of publication.

Prior to the negotiations, student activists had demanded an in-person town hall with Howard President Wayne A. I. Frederick and other university administrators before the end of October. The other requests included legal and disciplinary immunity for all participants of the takeover and an official housing plan to address the unsafe conditions.

Protesters also demanded that student, graduate and faculty voting power be reinstated to the university board of trustees. In June, the university announced it would phase out student, graduate and faculty voting power from the board of trustees after completing a review, consulting an outside firm and interviewing over 40 campus community members. Now it is up to Howard to abide by the agreement, according to Harper.

Administrators asked stu-

dents to stop the takeover of the building Oct. 13, warning of disciplinary consequences, including expulsions, according to an email sent to Howard students by Interim Student Affairs Vice President Cynthia Evers. Students who participated in the takeover have now been granted academic immunity, according to Harper.

The contents of the agreement are confidential, according to Harper.

“There wasn’t an explicit agreement reached regarding the board of trustees issue,” Harper said. “Then there are some apparently things going on with housing and the upcoming town hall, but the exact details — because it was a legal agreement — are confidential.”

Frederick said he is pleased with the agreement.

“I am pleased to share with you today that through ongoing dialogue and a desire to hear and address their concerns the student protesters have agreed to end the Blackburn occupation and leave the building,” Frederick said in a video statement.

Harper said it is up to Howard to follow through on the agreement.

“It seems like the implementation — it’s a watchand-see situation, with how the university chooses to implement the agreements that were reached,” Harper said.

The protests will have a lasting impact on the university community, Jalloh said.

“What they’re doing is incredible,” Jalloh said. “I think that what they’re doing is going to make a change and I’m hoping what they’re doing is actually going to make a difference for generations to come.”

Former Colombian President: Compromise Necessary for Peacekeeping Claire Stowe Hoya Staff Writer

Collaboration, team-building and restorative justice are central aspects to peacemaking and peacebuilding, former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos said at a Nov. 18 event.

The event, titled “The Colombian Peace Agreement 5 Years Later: A Conversation with Juan Manuel Santos,” featured the former president in conversation with Alejandro Werner, founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute, a university platform that aims to advance research, teaching and impact on policy decisions and challenges in Latin America. The event, which was held in Lohrfink Auditorium, was hosted jointly between the Georgetown Americas Institute; the School of Foreign Service (SFS); the Latin American Policy Association, a policy group in the McCourt School of Public Policy that discusses and debates policies around Latin America; and the Center for Latin American Studies, an SFS research

and policy organization focused on the region.

The event falls five years after the signing of the Colombian Final Peace Agreement in November 2016 between Santos and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which ended over 50 years of violent conflict that killed over 260,000 people and displaced millions more.

Colombia’s Final Peace Agreement focuses on restorative justice instead of punitive justice, where the victims are centered in the response to the crimes and perpetrators acknowledge responsibility, according to Santos.

“You don’t send the people that have committed crimes against humanity, war crimes, to jail,” Santos said at the event.

“You judge them, you condemn them and you send them to an alternative punishment, which is repairing the victims, and that is exactly what we are doing now. In the process, and this is the first time that this has been done, we put the victims and their rights in the center of the negotiation.”

FARC leaders and others who committed crimes during the war have begun to admit responsibility for human rights abuses, according to Santos.

“Many of the FARC leaders have recognized that they are responsible for crimes against humanity, war crimes; they have said ‘I’m sorry’ to the victims, and we are in that process,” Santos said. “Difficult process, but it’s a necessary process because that is the way to heal the wounds. It takes time.”

Since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, multiple ex-FARC leaders have admitted accountability for war crimes, including four former commanders who accepted accusations of crimes against humanity in February 2021.

The Final Peace Agreement was a significant compromise between the FARC and the Colombian government, as many FARC leaders avoided jail time and some took roles in the government. The Final Peace Agreement guaranteed a minimum of five seats in the senate and five in the lower house for FARC politicians beginning in

2018, causing public backlash.

To build a successful negotiating team, people from all groups and perspectives should be represented, according to Santos.

“The group that I created was a heterogeneous group that represented the different factors that had usually been against the peace process,” Santos said. “We brought in aspects which were important, including women in the negotiating team, and the indigenous communities and the ethnic aspect.”

With the perspective from indigenous communities and other groups within the country, many of the agreement’s proposals aim to improve sustainability and empowerment, Santos said.

“That’s why the agreement has an ethnic chapter that has very progressive proposals with the indigenous communities and the Afro-Colombian community, which, if implemented, will solve many of the problems we have right now,” Santos said.

“Today, the best thing Colombia can do to contribute to this

existential challenge to stop climate change is to empower the indigenous communities to protect the most valuable richness that we have, which is our biodiversity, our Amazon, our water fountains.”

Despite diverse perspectives in the peacemaking process, the agreement faced strong opposition from Colombians and other political parties because of the amnesty granted to many FARC members. The agreement failed in a public referendum in October 2016, less than two

months before Santos officially signed it with the FARC. With many different perspectives within a country, peacemaking is a delicate balance that requires compromise and collaboration, according to Santos.

“The peace process boils down to where you draw the line between peace and justice,” Santos said. “No matter where you draw that line, somebody would claim that they wanted more justice, or somebody would claim that they wanted more peace.”

FILE PHOTO: KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos spoke to students in Lohrfink Auditorium on Nov. 18.

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GUSA Proposes National College Georgetown Professor Performs Consortium To Bolster Activism Song Honoring GU272 Story SIMON, from A1

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

GUSA Executive leaders proposed a national college consortium that would allow student governments from other universities to collaborate on advocacy initiatives.

CONSORTIUM, from A1 according to Blass. The organization will publish a website Nov. 19.

Currently, many colleges and universities around the country participate in administrative consortiums to share resources and promote advocacy. Georgetown participates in the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, a group of local university administrations that collaborate around educational and financial resources.

The National College Consortium will also aim to elevate historically underrepresented voices from HBCUs, public and private universities and tribal colleges, according to Blass.

Existing administrative consortiums are often only among university administrations and do not include student governments and marginalized voices, according to Blass, which is why GUSA is intentionally diversifying participating higher education institutions.

“We’re talking about demographic differences,” Blass said in an interview with The Hoya. “We still want to have it definitely based on student activism and student voices.

We want to make sure that

— it’s Georgetown starting this, obviously — but we don’t want this to just be Georgetown.”

Blass’s fall 2021 GUSA Executive campaign platform included a promise to pursue a national college consortium. The GUSA Executive branch introduced the idea to the GUSA Senate at a Nov. 7 meeting and is currently leading efforts to organize the consortium.

According to Rowlie Flores (COL ’22), vice speaker of the GUSA Senate, the consortium will hopefully help GUSA and university administrators better recognize and accommodate students belonging to disenfranchised groups at Georgetown.

“As student leaders in this university, we have to recognize that some of the issues we face are also felt by other universities, so there’s always a benefit to sharing resources and input,” Flores wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We have to be cognizant of the fact that Georgetown’s student body leans toward backgrounds of socioeconomic privilege and the consortium allows us to learn from leaders in HBCUs, state and public universities, community colleges, and colleges serving historically marginal-

ized communities.”

The National Consortium has not met as a group yet; however, Blass and other GUSA Executive members plan to meet with other representatives of the consortium Dec. 4 over Zoom to discuss expanding the consortium and future plans for the organization.

While Blass and members of the GUSA Executive are currently focused on expanding the organization’s membership, the group hopes that in the future the national consortium will be a launching point to negotiate with both state and local governments and, eventually, federal officials. However, GUSA will continue to work on issues pertaining specifically to Georgetown in addition to working on the consortium, according to Blass.

Blass hopes the National College Consortium will spur united local and national university advocacy.

“There are so many problems that go beyond our campus that we are in a position to meaningfully facilitate and support, that I see no reason to say that just because we’re part of the DMV, that means that we shouldn’t be working to organize and help elevate the voices of other people,” Blass said.

but despite the result, the university did not implement the proposal, instead launching an initiative in November 2019 to support research and education efforts surrounding GU272.

In March 2021, the university funded the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, which was created in collaboration between descendants and Jesuit leaders and was intended to contribute to racial healing programs and scholarships for the descendants of the GU272. The move was met with pushback from student advocacy groups, however.

During the writing process, Simon researched Georgetown’s history, spending time looking through Georgetown’s archives, talking to descendants of the GU272 and visiting cemeteries where many of the enslaved people are buried.

In March 2020, Simon also traveled alongside Bernard Cook, associate dean in Georgetown College, and a group of students to visit the former West Oak Plantation in Maringouin, La., where the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus sold some of the 314 enslaved people. Simon’s visit informed his writing process, according to Cook.

Cook said Simon’s song helps listeners engage with the university’s relationship to slavery.

“Prof. Simon’s musical composition and performance create opportunities for connection, communion, and implication,” Cook wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We need to share this new musical work with the campus community and with the descendants communities with whom we are seeking to build and maintain relationships. Much of this work involves listening, and Prof.

Simon’s ‘Requiem’ can help us to hear differently.”

Simon’s song offers listeners the chance to commemorate the 314 enslaved people in a personal way, according to Adam Rothman, history professor and principal curator of the Georgetown Slavery Archive, an ongoing project that is part of the university’s Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation initiative.

“I believe the goal of the Requiem is to honor the lives of the GU272 and other enslaved people who built early America,” Rothman wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Professor Simon is drawing from a venerable religious and musical tradition. It’s essentially a prayer for them to rest in peace. But they will not be at peace until we are.”

During the Library of Congress performance, Simon played the piano while Marco Pavé, the first hip-hop artist in residence at Georgetown University, performed the work’s spoken word.

The Library of Congress’

presentation of Simon’s song allowed its message to reach a national audience, according to Rothman.

“It shows that Georgetown’s history has tremendous resonance outside of our own campus, and to have it embraced by our leading national cultural and educational institutions is deeply affirming of the work that

“First and foremost, I really want to honor the lives of the women, men and children that were sold.”

CARLOS SIMON ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MUSIC

many people at Georgetown and beyond have been doing,” Rothman wrote.

According to Simon, the experience of writing the work enriched his understanding of Georgetown’s history of slavery.

“I learned about how Georgetown sold slaves, and that as a Black man really stuck with me. Also, I had a lot of admiration for the university coming forward and saying that we did this, and we are not proud of this, but it is a part of our history,” Simon said.

Members of Congress Say Politicians Must Protect Voting Rights

New Disability Ethics Module Piloted in Bioethics Course ETHICS, from A1 how we feel about dependency, vulnerability and difference, and different ways of having bodies and minds in the world, and then also the very real and insistent issues that people with disabilities in this society often face as barriers and what justice asks us to do in the face of that,” Little said in a phone interview with The Hoya.

Jenae Ruesch (LAW ’09) and Matt Ruesch (COL ’02, LAW ’09) also made a $100,000 donation to the module, which helped pilot the module and will assist the university with developing the module for other undergraduate courses. The module will include classroom instruction and breakout group exercises. After it is incorporated into courses, the module will later be redeveloped and expanded across the undergraduate humanities departments as well as into courses at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Jennifer Natalya Fink, director of the disability studies program, wrote that examining disability studies in an ethics course will give students an introduction to exploring the field.

“By exploring the complexities of disability and the ethical issues it entails, this module will help prepare our students to create a more equitable and inclusive society, especially around this crucial vector of difference,” Fink wrote in an

email to The Hoya.

The Ethics Lab and disability studies program worked together to select a range of course materials that reflect lived experiences of disabled people, according to Little.

“The readings are a combination of essays from people living with disabilities and across a huge diversity and a huge range of disabilities,” Little said. “This is included together with theories from dis-

“By exploring the complexities of disability and the ethical issues it entails, this module will help prepare our students.”

JENNIFER NATALYA FINK DIRECTOR OF THE DISABILTIY STUDIES PROGRAM

ability studies, which are often written by theorists who have disabilities or who have close experience with people living with disabilities.”

The university began offering the disability studies minor in 2017. The introduction of the program came after three years of advocacy by the Disability Studies Minor Working Group.

The Ruesch donation will help the Ethics Lab access resources needed to build the module and expand it to a variety of undergraduate courses, according to Little.

“One of the great things that’s come out of the gift is that it helped to support us reaching out to other faculty who teach disability studies, especially in the philosophy department, because it’s a philosophy course,” Little said.

Georgetown students should learn about barriers that students with disabilities face, according to Matt Ruesch, who is also a current member of the board of regents, a group of advisers that provides financial support and counsel to the university’s leadership.

“This is the type of philanthropy that I find really exciting because it’s working with very effective people on a very meaningful mission and watching that small seed grow into something much bigger,” Matt Ruesch said in a video Georgetown posted to YouTube.

The Ruesch family previously made a donation in support of the Ethics Lab’s work in fall 2020 that helped create the “Religion and Disability Studies” course, which worked with the Ethics Lab to create a space for students to analyze accessibility in sacred spaces.

While this pilot is the first time that this module will be taught to students, Little says this work will expand to more students and courses in the future.

“The aim is to build something that’s a resource available to other faculty, and we’re also networking with faculty to continue to grow the ecosystem here in really cool ways,” Little said.

REVEREND RAPHAEL WARNOCK/FACEBOOK

At the event entitled “Race, Religion and the Assault on Voting Rights,” U.S. members of Congress spoke about the importance of voting rights.

WARNOCK, from A1 your human dignity, and we have to stand up for that.”

This year alone, at least 19 states enacted 33 laws that made it harder for Americans to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The laws include criminal charges for handing out water or snacks to voters in Georgia or submitting ballots for those who may need assistance voting in Iowa and Kansas.

Compounding the issue, Senate Republicans have invoked the filibuster three times in the past year to block the advancement of legislation to protect voting rights.

Warnock, who serves as a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, said pushback against voting rights in his home state and across the country is opposite to U.S. democratic values.

“What’s going on in Georgia and all across our country is very serious,” Warnock said at the event. “It is an all out assault on our democracy, and those of us who believe in democracy have to take up this fight, and so I’m deeply honored to be in this struggle with

you to fight for our country to fight for our democracy because I believe in democracy.”

Making voting easier is a straightforward policy for politicians to support, according to Sewell.

“Voting rights, especially among the elected, should not be a partisan issue,” Sewell said at the event. “We should all want, especially as elected officials, our constituents and the people to vote. After all, the vote is your voice in this democracy.”

Sewell is the sponsor of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, which establishes new criteria for states to receive preapproval from the U.S. Department of Justice before making changes to laws that affect voting rights. Though the bill passed the House of Representatives on Aug. 24, Senate Republicans blocked passage of the bill in the Senate on Nov. 3.

Warnock has also worked on voting rights legislation in the Senate, co-sponsoring S. 2747, the Freedom to Vote Act. The bill includes several provisions that address voter access and voter registration, such as extending early

voting and creating a national voter validation standard.

Senate Republicans filibustered the bill Oct. 20.

Voting rights help preserve other democratic rights and are at the core of the U.S. mission, according to Warnock.

“It’s about the broadening of communities,” Warnock said. “For me, this is deeper than any kind of partisan political argument. I sit here knowing that you won’t win on the face. But that idea of one person, one vote — that’s the covenant that we have with one another as an American people, and we ought to defend it with all of our might.”

Warnock said politicians should push voting rights legislation to restore faith in the American government.

“We’ll keep pushing the issue,” Warnock said. “But I think history will judge us harshly, and it should if we don’t find a way to do something about this. We may well have crossed a Rubicon that will make it difficult for us to set things right for another generation. And so we’ve got to do everything we can to pass both of these bills.”

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021 | THEHOYA.COM

NEWS

GULC Leads Annual Mock Trial Competition for DC Schools Darya Molotkova Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown University Law Center’s Street Law clinic held its 49th annual fall mock trial event for students attending Washington, D.C. public high schools Nov. 4, offering participants the opportunity to learn about the law and practice legal skills.

Under the program, students in the clinic teach a semesterlong course about basic legal principles to participating students from Washington D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). At the end of the semester, students participate in a mock trial case on a topic chosen by the course instructors.

The program allows students to learn about the legal process and develop self-esteem, according to Charisma Howell, director of the Street Law clinic.

“The real value is in the young people and seeing them accomplish something that they didn’t necessarily think that they could do,” Howell said in a phone interview with The Hoya.

“It can be an incredible boost for one’s confidence. It’s a very complicated process, but they

do amazing every year.”

Under the program, the law students create a lesson plan and hold classes, which last between 60 and 90 minutes and occur two or three times a week. The courses cover a wide range of subjects; however, they also help prepare students for the final mock trial competition, which takes place at the end of the semester.

Law students work to make the course materials as relevant and accessible as possible to the high school students, according to Howell.

“The law students need to bring the law to life and make it tangible,” Howell said. “It is about teaching the nuances of the law while infusing relevant examples that students are engaged and interested in.”

The classes employ a variety of teaching methods, as student instructors use different techniques to teach the high schoolers legal and public speaking skills, according to Elizabeth Choi (LAW ’22), a student coach.

“For each class, I try to incorporate several different teaching methods to accomodate the variety of ways in which students learn,” Choi wrote in an email

to The Hoya. “There is usually always some type of reading, a worksheet, some writing, sometimes a video, sometimes a game, etc. One thing I almost always include is time for a classroom discussion/debate.”

At the end of the semester, the high schools participate in a mock trial to assess skills learned throughout the course. The topic of the trial changes every year, with this year’s presenting students with a case focused on human rights, according to Howell.

While preparing for the trial was stressful at times because of student absences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience was fulfilling for both students and teachers, according to Shelina Warren, a teacher at Dunbar High School, a DCPS school near the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood that won the competition.

“In my opinion, preparing for the mock trial was stressful up until the day of because of the unpredictability of student attendance due to being in a pandemic,” Warren wrote in an email to The Hoya. “It was a delight to see my students perform, some that had been struggling in various ways this semester

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES DC

The Georgetown University Law Center hosted its annual mock trial event for students in D.C. Public Schools, which Dunbar High School won this year. but that rose to the occasion.”

While Georgetown Law students helped prepare students for the trial, the participants largely competed by themselves, according to Choi.

“I helped prep my students on our way to the mock trial and while we were waiting for the trial to start,” Choi wrote. “During the trial, I answered some of my students’ questions but for the most part only observed them.”

The mock trial consists of three rounds of 15 teams, and judges tally points based on vari-

ous criteria, including speech and feasibility of the legal approach presented, to determine which two teams will compete in the final round, according to Howell.

Competing in the tournament and winning the trial was very exciting, according to Rakiah Willis, a junior at Dunbar high school.

“Preparing for the mock trial was definitely a great experience,” Willis wrote in a message to The Hoya. “It felt very great to win the trial. I felt a burst of excitement knowing all of our

hard work paid off.”

Despite being nervous for the competition, Dunbar competitors were ready to win, according to Dunbar high school junior Jaquan Waller.

“I was nervous at first but once we went through the doors I was excited and ready to win,” Waller wrote in a message to The Hoya. “When I got there I kept telling myself that, ‘we are going to win,’ so when we finally won I was relieved and I was like, ‘I knew it was going to happen,’ but I was very happy to win.”

Hypothermia Season FRESHFARM Expands Threatens Unhoused Food Access for LowIncome DC Residents People’s Health Julia Staley

Hoya Staff Writer

Washington, D.C., saw its first hypothermia alert of the season Nov. 15, resulting in unhoused people being even more vulnerable to dangerous weather conditions.

The National Weather Service issued Washington, D.C.’s first overnight freeze warning of the season Nov. 3, while Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) activated the first hypothermia alert of the season Nov. 15.

These announcements will be the first of many warnings issued as a result of low temperature and inclement weather throughout hypothermia season, which ends March 31. As a result, the District is taking steps to provide shelter for unhoused populations who are most at risk in the face of freeze advisories.

Officials declare hypothermia warnings when the temperature, factored with the wind chill, is expected to be below 32 degrees Fahrenheit

“This volunteer work is an important way for the Georgetown community to care for our own neighbors in need.”

RAY SHIU Deputy Director of the CSJ

or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit with a 50% or greater chance of snow, rain or sleet.

Bowser told District residents to look out for each other and said that the Shelter Hotline, a resource available to request transportation to shelters in the event of inclement weather, is always available for unhoused individuals, according to a press statement released just hours before the start of the hypothermia alert.

Hypothermia occurs when a person’s body temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in heart failure, organ failure and a shutdown of the respiratory system, which could lead to death when left untreated.

Following the first hypothermia alert issued Nov. 15, which was in effect from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning, the District opened five men’s shelters and four women’s shelters at various public spaces, including recreation centers and public libraries throughout the District, so that unhoused people had a place to seek protection from the cold temperatures outside.

According to Curtis Smith, interim public affairs specialist at the D.C. Department of Human Services (DHS),

a District-wide winter plan outlines how to protect unhoused District residents as temperatures lower.

“DHS follows guidance from the Interagency Council of Homelessness’ FY22 Winter Plan to provide services to DC residents experiencing homelessness in hypothermic conditions,” Smith wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Resources available in the winter plan include services such as overnight warming sites, which allow unhoused individuals to seek a temporary break from cold temperatures, as well as transportation to shelters and meals.

Staff and unhoused individuals at shelters must wear a mask regardless of vaccination status, and even though capacity in the shelters will exceed COVID-19 limits in an effort to accomodate more people, pre-pandemic capacity will not be allowed in an effort to protect staff, volunteers and clients.

The Hypothermia Outreach Team (HOT), a volunteer service provided by Georgetown University’s Center for Social Justice (CSJ), works on the ground to help unhoused individuals find shelter from the cold, according to Ray Shiu, deputy director of the CSJ. “In partnership with Georgetown Ministry Center (GMC) and other service providers throughout the city, HOT members conduct street outreach and serve to supplement and build capacity for outreach during the hypothermia season,” Shiu wrote in an email to The Hoya. “HOT volunteers help to prevent death from exposure and encourage unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness to seek safety in available shelters.”

There are about 6,380 unhoused people living in the District who will be directly exposed to freezing winter temperatures, which puts them at an increased risk for hypothermia and other freezeinduced injuries such as frostbite. During this past winter, seven unhoused individuals died as a result of conditions associated with hypothermia or exposure to the cold in the District, while 114 hypothermia alerts were called throughout the season.

Based on the data from last year’s first hypothermia season during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is estimated that 1,500 men and 625 women will need individual beds for this winter’s hypothermia season.

According to Shiu, aiding unhoused individuals who are struggling during the cold winter months is essential work.

“This volunteer work is an important way for the Georgetown community to care for our own neighbors in need,” Shiu wrote.

Paige Kupas

Hoya Staff Writer

Healthy food options will increase for low-income Washington, D.C. residents as a supplemental food assistance program gains new leadership.

FRESHFARM, a nonprofit organization that focuses on food sustainability and operates farmers markets throughout the D.C. region, will now manage the Produce Plus program, a city initiative to provide locally grown, fresh produce to D.C. residents facing food insecurity.

The program gives enrolled and eligible District residents a stipend to spend on healthy fruits and vegetables at participating vendors.

The combination of FRESHFARM and the Produce Plus program will expand food equity in the District, according to a Nov. 11 press release from Nick Stavely, incentive programs director at FRESHFARM. “DC Health’s Produce Plus Program is one of the most progressive and generous programs of its kind in the entire country,” Stavely said in the press release. “FRESHFARM sees this as an opportunity to take this significant investment by the government of the District of Columbia and expand upon it by working with private and

public funders to improve food access and strengthen our regional food system.”

Currently, all FRESHFARM farmers markets can be used by individuals enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal nutrition program that provides funds for food to low-income families and individuals, providing opportunities for low-income individuals to purchase healthy, fresh and sustainable food with their SNAP benefits.

In its new role, FRESHFARM aims to expand food access and education opportunities for low-income District residents, according to Juliet Glass, director of communications and marketing at FRESHFARM. “FRESHFARM will implement an evidence-based, multi-level nutrition intervention at farmers’ markets across the city to improve food retail environments, food access, and nutrition security for residents with low incomes,” Glass wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Over 16% of District residents experience food insecurity, while about 11% of the District can be characterized as a food desert because of residents’ low incomes, lack of close proximity to a grocery store or lack of a vehicle.

According to Glass, FRESHFARM will work to

FRESHFARM

FRESHFARM, a nonprofit organization, will provide fresh produce for low-income District residents. improve food accessibility for District residents through its leadership in the Produce Plus program.

“FRESHFARM has long been committed to increasing food security and decreasing rates of diet-related illnesses in communities across the city,” Glass wrote.

Still, there is more work to be done to make healthy food more accessible in the District, and FRESHFARM aims to work toward a more equitable food system by starting new distribution services and initiatives, according to Glass.

“As the new administrators of Produce Plus - FRESHFARM will work to increase redemption of incentives, offer home delivery, and connect District residents with additional federal and local food access programs across the city,” Glass wrote.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already severe issues of food insecurity in the District. Before the pandemic, there were 400,000 individuals facing hunger; now that number is over 650,000.

According to Glass, while

the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the food crisis in the District, the Produce Plus program hopes to resolve some of the heightened disparities in food accessibility.

“COVID-19 continues to impact rates of food security in the District, particularly among residents aged 60+, children, undocumented individuals, and unhoused individuals,” Glass wrote.

In previous years, D.C. Greens, a local nonprofit working to advance food equity, managed the Produce Plus program, eventually including 19 vendors in which members of the Produce Plus program could shop for groceries.

According to Glass, FRESHFARM’s participation in the Produce Plus program will work toward more equitable food opportunities in the District.

“The city’s Produce Plus program aims to create long-term system changes and solutions to ensure that every resident has meaningful access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate fruits and vegetables,” Glass wrote.

Event: Connect Immigration, Disability Rights Marco Uustal

Special to The Hoya

Immigration policy is disability policy, panelists said at a Nov. 16 event that explored the intersection of disability, access to health care and immigration in the United States.

At the event titled “Disability and Border Politics” experts examined the intersection of disability, health care and border politics as discussed in “Enforceable Care: Health, Justice, and Latina/o Expressive Culture,” an upcoming book by Julie Minich, a professor at the University of Texas. Minich spoke at the event, followed by a Q&A with Georgetown University professor Emily Francomano, chair of the Spanish and Portuguese department, and professor Jennifer Fink, director of the Program in Disability Studies. The event was hosted by the Program in Disability Studies, the Spanish and Portuguese department and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

Storytelling and uplifting the lived experiences of those with disabilities or those immigrating can promote equity in the United States, according to Minich.

“Literature forces us to re-examine questions we assumed to be settled, like the idea that diabetes is only to be feared or that immigration trauma results only from the act of migration and not the policies that constrain migrants’ lives in the United States,” Minich said at the event. “In doing so, it moves us out of the constraints that shaped our thinking on these crucial issues and pushes us to re-examine them in new ways.”

Latinx artists have told stories of disability and immigration through various forms of literature. ire’ne lara silva is a​​ Chicana feminist poet who details the struggles of living with diabetes in her collection of poems, “Blood Sugar Canto.” Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian American writer who shares her experiences as an undocumented immigrant in her book, “The Undocumented Americans.”

In addition to discussing storytelling, Minich highlighted the history of exclusion that undocumented immigrants, especially those with disabilities, have experienced under U.S. health care policy.

“How is it that our society has come to deem some

people as deserving of health and others as undeserving?”

Minich said. “Going back to my opening story about Barack Obama and Joe Wilson, how is it that two politicians on opposite ends of the U.S. political spectrum can agree on the idea that an entire category of person, the undocumented immigrants, should be excluded from a national health care plan.”

In November 2014, former U.S. President Barack Obama failed to provide health care to undocumented individuals in the United States under the Affordable Care Act. Additionally, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) supported limiting health care on immigrants. Undocumented immigrants, including DACA holders, are still generally ineligible to receive most federal public benefits such as regular Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. According to Minich, U.S. society — and especially the health care system — centers able-bodied individuals and stigmatizes people with disabilities.

“Under a system of compulsory able-bodiedness, behaviors that do not maximize health are not only incomprehensible but subject to pun-

ishment,” Minich said. “Those unwilling or unable to perform normative health behaviors are seen not merely as responsible for their own ill health but as a burden on society, a drain on valuable resources, unworthy of care or protection and ultimately disposable.”

The notion that health is a choice is harmful to individuals with disabilities and can contribute to discrimination, according to Minich.

“When health is construed as the result of so-called good personal choices, motivation, restraints or discipline, those experiencing illness are constructed as indolent, gluttonous and negligent adjectives with a long history in racializing discourse,” Minich said.

“In this way, health can function as both an outcome and a source of racial injustice.”

Health care should be expanded, as all of society benefits from collective health, according to Minich.

“Health is not a finite resource that becomes more scarce as more people access it.

Instead, health becomes more abundant the more widely it is spread,” Minich said. “Simply put, when everyone in our community is healthier, everyone is healthier.”

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NEWS

Black Restaurant Week Features Graduate Students To Vote Special Menus, Promotional Deals On SCS Inclusion in GradGov Maria Fernanda Borda Special to The Hoya

Black-owned restaurants participated in promotions and special deals for Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) Black Restaurant Week.

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) declared Nov. 7 to 14 as the 2021 DMV Black Restaurant Week, a promotion to encourage customers to support Black-owned restaurants in the DMV area.

Over 80 restaurants with Black owners took part in the event, offering dine-in, takeout and delivery promotions, as well as special menu items, throughout the week. According to a Nov. 7 press statement from Bowser, the promotional week is designed to advertise and support the many Black-owned businesses in the area.

Jennifer Meltzer, managing partner at one of the participating restaurants, All Set Restaurant & Bar in Silver Spring, Md., noticed an increase in business throughout the week because customers wanted to come for their special promotional menu.

“We definitely got people saying, ‘We knew you were participating in Black Restaurant Week, and we came for your Black Restaurant Week menu,’” Meltzer said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “Any time our elected public officials back community events, it’s going to get more awareness, so I think that’s awesome.”

DMV Black Restaurant Week started in 2018 after Black business owners and entrepreneurs were racially profiled and unjustly taxed, and it is now the

only Black restaurant week officially endorsed by Bowser.

According to Chelsea Xeron, owner of Niko’s Spiked Gelato in the District, supporting local Black-owned businesses is especially important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought difficulties for many businesses.

“I think initiatives like this are extremely important, especially now during the pandemic,” Xeron said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “I think businesses, not only Black-owned but all small businesses, need help and support, and they need support from the communities.”

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the temporary or permanent closure of more than 43% of businesses in the District, and revenue at small business decreased by over 61% from March 2020 to March 2021.

According to Meltzer, by declaring one week DMV Black Restaurant Week, Bowser allows businesses to focus their promotional efforts within a specific time frame.

“I think concentrated efforts on well thought out promotions are better,” Meltzer said. “I think quality over quantity, but I certainly do think there’s a place for these kinds of promotions.”

During DMV Black Restaurant Week, Bowser announced that $9 million in grants through the Food Access Fund were available to help expand food options, eliminate food deserts and increase employment opportunities in Wards 7 and 8, where food insecurity

is a problem for many low-income individuals.

The grants will help to ensure that everyone in the District has access to reliable food sources, as well as provide the opportunity for business owners to start new restaurants and businesses, according to Bowser in a Nov. 8 press statement.

“We have an incredible amount of entrepreneurial talent and creativity in DC, especially in our restaurant and foodservice industries — it’s just not equally distributed or equally funded,” Bowser said in the press statement. “The Food Access Grants are going to change that.”

Bowser’s endorsement of DMV Black Restaurant Week helps to change the false stereotypes surrounding Blackowned restaurants and prove that they are successful and valuable to District residents, according to Xeron.

“I think that people tend to see Black-owned businesses and Black-owned restaurants as kind of subpar and say, ‘Oh, they might need some help,’” Xeron said. “But to have the mayor behind it and to legitimize the movement makes it that much better.”

While DMV Black Restaurant Week was a success, customers should not limit their support of Black-owned restaurants to one week per year, according to Meltzer.

“I think it’s great when people come visit us during Black Restaurant Week, but I would encourage everyone to seek out ethnic-independent family restaurants and support them all year long,” Meltzer said.

Social Media Misinformation Threatens Democracy, Experts Say Alicia Novoa

Hoya Staff Writer

The increased spread of misinformation on social media is a threat to democracy, experts said at a Nov. 15 event.

At the online event, titled “Truth and the Rise of Popular Lies,” political experts outlined how political imagery has allowed misinformation to thrive, as well as steps policymakers should take to regulate social media platforms to protect against the influence of disinformation. This event was co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Free Speech Project and the Future of the Humanities Project, a research initiative that examines the impact of the humanities on public life, as a part of the Free Speech at the Crossroads: International Dialogues series.

The event was moderated by Sanford J. Ungar, director of the Free Speech Project, and Michael Scott, director of the Future of the Humanities Project, and featured panelists Baroness Jenny Randerson, a member of the British House of Lords since 2012; John Battle, a British Labor Party politician who chairs the Justice and Peace Commission of the Diocese of Leeds; Erica Green, an award-winning correspondent in the Washington, D.C. bureau of The New York Times; and Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution in D.C. The lines between fact and falsehood have shifted over the past decade, according to Randerson.

“What we have now is something that goes way beyond the occasional acts, way beyond what we used to call ‘labor spin’ under Tony Blair,” Randerson said at the event. “Now we have a situation where, when we’re told things, we really have no idea as to whether they’re true or not because breaking promises and failing to tell the whole truth have become a modus operandi.”

The blurred lines between fact and falsehood are a consequence of the value shift from service and honesty to notoriety among politicians, according to Battle.

“Politicians are now encouraged to be dramatic personalities or pragmatists, if you like.

Distraction politics is a key kind of theme,” Battle said at the event. “So performance has become more important than actual competence and again, it was the image, not the reality, of competence. So

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

At an event entitled “Truth and the Rise of Popular Lies,” political experts said the spread of misinformation on social media platforms is a threat to democracy.

I think that notion of survival started to get buried into the political system, so politicians are about their own survival.”

Celebrity politics and the use of fame to influence political opinion have reached new heights during the age of social media. Many politicians have sought to amass large social media followings in order to shape public discourse around political issues, according to a study by the American Political Science Association.

Social media has increased the long-term impacts of the dissemination of false information, according to Green.

“It feels like there’s just nothing that you can do to really overcome that and the damage is so lasting,” Green said at the event. “On social media in particular, when we think about even the coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection, a lot of what was put out by Republican lawmakers still lives on.”

Social media platforms have amplified fake news and empowered disruptive voices in society, according to a February 2020 study by The Ohio State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study found that social media platforms have the potential to influence civic engagement due to a lack of government regulation.

The federal government needs to update regulation around social media to moderate the spread of disinformation, according to Hess.

“We also have to worry

about getting misinformation, lies out of the system. I don’t think we do a very good job of that. And we have to give more thought to that,” Hess said at the event. “In other words, we had the same situation back in the 1920s when there was suddenly the burgeoning of radio and the federal government passed a national radio act and it expanded to cover television and you apply for a license and if you don’t follow certain rules, you could lose your license.”

In recent years, some politicians have voiced support for regulating misinformation on social media platforms.

The Biden administration has advocated for the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has allowed social media sites to avoid being held liable for their content. The administration has not taken any steps toward formally repealing the section, however.

Politicians must do more to combat the effects of disinformation, according to Battle.

“It’s always much easier to have an intense politics of fear, demonize your opponent, go for ad hominem arguments and get the person rather than the policy,” Battle said. “And that generates that permanent campaigning style that’s incredibly negative, and I think that makes it very difficult to introduce any longer term vision of where we’re going or have a political conversation that actually opens up complex questions that might not have immediate answers.”

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Georgetown graduate students will vote on a referendum to permanently include the School of Continuing Studies in the Georgetown University Graduate Student Government.

Satya Heidrich-Amin Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown University graduate student body is voting this week on a referendum to permanently include the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) in the Georgetown University Graduate Student Government (GradGov).

The referendum, open for voting from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22, would ensure full participation of the SCS in all GradGov affairs, thereby allowing SCS students to attend all GradGov events, run for executive positions and join committees in the bodies’ senate. The referendum needs a two-thirds majority to pass, with a minimum of 20% of the student population voting.

SCS students are excited about the prospect of being fully involved in GradGov, according to SCS student David Zumbrennen (GRD ’23), a member of the senate leadership committee.

“The enthusiasm of SCS students to be a part of GradGov is out there,” Zumbrennen said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “There are students who want to give back to the community and GradGov is a great avenue for them to do that and make sure all the programs are represented and as a whole it makes Georgetown better.”

Despite outside responsibilities, SCS students are still motivated to participate in student government to enact change, according to SCS student and GradGov Senator Teresa Garcia Bautista (GRD ’23).

“We are just so involved,” Bautista said in a Zoom interview with The Hoya. “It shows the dedication that we have towards not only our pro-

grams but the whole Georgetown community.”

SCS students’ differing professional backgrounds provide a strong asset to GradGov and an unexplored perspective, according to Zumbrennen.

“It is kind of an untapped source of individuals who may have run their own business before,” Zumbrennen said.

“We’ve got individuals working in amazing jobs and amazing places with great experience.”

In addition to differing professional backgrounds, most SCS students do not attend class or live on Georgetown’s main campus. The SCS, which offers graduate programs in professional and liberal studies, is located in downtown Washington, D.C., away from the main campus. Many SCS students also take online classes and are located all over the world.

The geographic difference between the SCS and Georgetown’s other schools played a large role in the school’s past exclusion from GradGov, but the virtual learning environment caused GradGov leaders to rethink the SCS’s involvement, according to GradGov President Jonah Klempner (LAW ’22).

“SCS has a majority online graduate community, and their graduate students live all over the world,” Klempner wrote in a text message to The Hoya.

“COVID broke down those geographic barriers and had everyone scratching their heads as to why SCS wasn’t originally part of GradGov.” The student body referendum follows a GradGov senate vote on Sept. 17 on the issue, in which the GradGov senate formally approved adding the SCS to GradGov’s purview. Currently, the

SCS is included in GradGov on a probationary period, which is set to expire in December.

As part of the probationary period, SCS students could run for 44 seats allotted to the SCS in the GradGov senate as part of GradGov’s September 2021 elections. In total, 42 of the 44 seats were filled after over 70 students ran for seats, according to Klempner.

Under the probationary inclusion of the SCS, students have already been able to participate in additional programs and make connections with others, according to Bautista.

“The inclusion has been a huge success and a huge step going forward for all the graduate students being able to connect all the graduate students and programs that maybe people weren’t aware of,” Bautista said.

Prior to the SCS’s participation in GradGov, students had no representatives to voice concerns to, making it difficult to enact change, according to Zumbrennen.

“I think for those that were within Georgetown they probably did feel marginalized and like their voices weren’t being heard,” Zumbrennen said. “Whether you are in your school or in your community, everyone wants to feel like their voice is being heard.”

While the referendum’s results will not be released until after voting closes, the SCS’s inclusion has already benefited students and GradGov representation will continue to support SCS students, according to Bautista.

“I really hope everyone votes,” Bautista said. “I don’t know if we are going to pass it or not. I have faith. I really think it’s going to be so beneficial for the students.”

Good Food Markets Grocery Store Opens in Ward 8 Food Desert Paige Kupas

Hoya Staff Writer

A new grocery store in Ward 8 opened last week as part of a program to alleviate food deserts in Washington, D.C. neighborhoods.

Good Food Markets (GFM) opened a new location Nov. 13 at 4001 S Capitol St. SW in the Bellevue neighborhood of Ward 8, which has a population of 80,517 people and the lowest median household income in the District. Good Food Markets is only the second grocery store in the entire ward.

The grocery store is part of a larger initiative to end food insecurity in the District and provide healthy food options in all neighborhoods. Through the Neighborhood Prosperity Fund, a program launched by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) that supports development projects in low-income neighborhoods, the city allocated $880,000 for a grocery store in Ward 8.

Good Food Markets will help alleviate some of the concerns regarding food insecurity in Ward 8 and act as a starting point for the addition of more healthy food options in the area, according to Bowser in a Nov. 13 press statement.

“Today, with the opening of this Good Food Markets, we’re making good on a promise to deliver more grocery stores and food access points to neighborhoods east of the river,” Bowser said in the press statement. “And there’s more on the way — more

grocers, more restaurants, more financial support for neighbors with the passion and talent to start their own food businesses.”

Food deserts — geographic areas where the nearest grocery store is over 0.5 miles away and over 40% of households have no vehicle available — make up 11% of the entire District.

Ward 8 alone contains 51% of the District’s food deserts. Food insecurity worsened in the District during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 250,000 additional people facing hunger, making it even more difficult for low-income individuals living in food deserts to access meals.

According to Philip Sambol, executive director of Good Food Markets, the company chose the Bellevue neighborhood because of its distance from reliable, healthy and affordable food options.

“GFM’s mission is to improve food access and community health,” Sambol wrote in an email to The Hoya. “When we looked at available locations that were potentially viable from the business perspective, and would be meeting a real need for fresh food, S Capitol was a good fit.”

According to John Falcicchio, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, in the press statement, the projects that result from the Neighborhood Prosperity Fund will help more District residents who are currently facing food insecurity.

“Increasing access to healthy

food options east of the river and creating jobs for local residents remain a top priority,” Falcicchio said in the press statement.

“Projects such as this exemplify how we continue to collaborate amongst district agencies, developers, and the community to deliver essential amenities, such as Good Food Market, and opportunities for residents to thrive in the District.”

It is not just about having access to food, however, but it is also about providing healthy, fresh and educational options, which Good Food Markets aims to do at their new Ward 8 location, according to Sambol.

“It is our hope that the new GFM location will make it easier for people in Bellevue and Washington Highlands to purchase fresh produce and basic groceries, increasing consumption of fresh food and improving the health of residents,” Sambol wrote. “We also work with a variety of organizations to provide fun and educational events in the community so people can gain new skills for cooking at home and leading an active lifestyle.”

According to Bowser in the press statement, the new Good Food Markets location, as well as the other projects within the Neighborhood Prosperity Fund, will give opportunities to D.C. residents formerly impacted by food insecurity.

“What we’re doing, one project at a time, is giving more Washingtonians the fair shot they deserve,” Bowser said in the press statement.

THE HOYA | A9

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021 | THEHOYA.COM

NEWS

GULC Receives Record-Breaking Donations for 150th Anniversary Akashdiya Chakraborty including subsidizing faculty the Center for Transformational Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) announced a record-breaking $56 million in donations over the past year, marking the highest amount in gifts received by the school.

The donations will help to finance scholarship programs, expand teaching and professional opportunities and upgrade GULC facilities. The school previously recorded its largest amount of donations and gifts in 2019 when it received $40 million in fundraising.

Even with the transition to virtual fundraising events due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were still motivated to support the school, according to William Treanor, dean of the Law Center.

“When the pandemic started we quickly pivoted to all virtual programming,” Treanor wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We had over 61,000 people participate in our programming during the year, which was extraordinary.”

The successful year of fundraising will have an impact on all aspects of the Law Center,

positions, campus facility upgrades and scholarship funding, according to Treanor.

As part of GULC’s fundraising efforts, the school launched several initiatives. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, the Law Center launched a special campaign to secure 150 gifts of $150,000 or more, which closed on July 1, 2021 after exceeding its goal by securing 155 gifts.

Included in the past year’s donations is the school’s largest gift to date, a $24.5 million contribution from the estate of Agnes Williams (LAW ’54), who graduated in the first class of Georgetown Law which included women and was a past member of the GULC Board of Directors. The gift will fund the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professorships, an endowment that will allow Georgetown Law to hire and retain outstanding professors.

Frequent donors Timothy O’Neill (LAW ’77), who serves as Vice Chair for of the Board of Directors, and Linda O’Neill (NHS ’77), who is a member of the Board of Regents, donated another $10 million gift to establish

Health Law, which focuses on the legal and policy impact of the COVID-19. The Center is housed within the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, which was founded in 2007.

The donation will allow the O’Neill Institute to continue research and engage with health issues, according to Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95).

“On behalf of Georgetown, I wish to express our deep appreciation for the generosity and leadership of Agnes Williams and Tim and Linda O’Neill — who have each enabled us to deepen the context for our faculty to pursue groundbreaking research and scholarship and contribute to advancing justice in our world,” DeGioia wrote in a press release.

Another important focus of fundraising over the past year has been raising money to support student scholarships and financial aid at GULC, according to Treanor. Over the past year, the school’s annual fund, which distributes aid to students through a range of programs, received $8.2 million in donations.

GEORGETOWN LAW/YOUTUBE

The Georgetown University Law Center received a record-breaking $56 million in donations in the past year, the highest amount of gifts received in its 150 year history.

The Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides aid to students who otherwise might not have been able to attend Georgetown, received significant donations, according to Gene Finn, assistant dean for development and alumni affairs and one of the coordinators for the Opportunity Scholarship campaign.

“The Opportunity Scholarship program has been a high

priority for Dean Treanor because it allows outstanding students to attend Georgetown Law who, without the financial aid, may not have been able to be here,” Finn wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Our alumni have been very excited to support the program and to meet the students who benefit from their philanthropy.”

The Opportunity Scholarship program, which currently

has 110 participants, began six years ago and has raised $22 million to support high-need and high-merit students at Georgetown Law. The large amount of donations represents GULC graduates’ commitment to supporting students, according to Treanor.

“Our alumni responded with their typical generous spirit and helped us meet the needs of these students,” Treanor wrote.

Bakeshop Opens New Storefront in Georgetown Panel: Catholic Church Must Listen To Survivors’ Voices Nihar Iyengar

Special to The Hoya

Crowds of customers lined up outside Bakeshop, a new bakery in the Georgetown neighborhood, to get a first taste of the desserts for sale during the grand opening celebration.

Justin Stegall, owner and founder of Bakeshop, opened the new storefront at 3210 Grace St. NW on Nov. 10 in the Grace Street Collective, a small market space that is home to a smoothie bowl shop, a coffeehouse and other small food and clothing shops. The bakery serves homemade cupcakes, cakes, macarons, pies and drinks.

The grand opening celebration, held Nov. 13, was a success, with many customers visiting the new storefront, according to Stegall.

“There are a lot of Georgetown students, which has been really cool, and the first few days have been nice,” Stegall said in an interview with The Hoya. “We’re just getting our feet wet and trying to understand the flow of things here because every time you open a store, each one is its own entity.”

According to Eric Bolden, a customer who sampled a Vietnamese iced coffee, an assortment of cookies and some macarons, everything tasted delicious but the macarons were the standout.

“I took a macaron cooking class in Paris, and these are the best,” Bolden said in an interview with The Hoya. “They’re the closest thing to what I’ve had in France.”

Stegall started his baking career in the kitchen of his mom’s house, eventually leading to the opening of the first Bakeshop location in Arlington, Va., in 2010, followed by a Falls Church, Va. location

in 2019. Opening a location in Georgetown was always the ultimate goal, according to Stegall, who has been trying to obtain a storefront in the neighborhood since the start of his business.

“I was looking for space in Georgetown 12 years ago but was just never able to find a spot,” Stegall said. “It’s always been in the back of my mind to do something here, and then this space became available.”

The COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after the opening of the Falls Church location, forcing Bakeshop to continue operations by offering takeout services for cakes and deliveries to local hospitals.

Takeout sales allowed the bakery to remain open while abiding by public health restrictions, according to Stegall.

“We went through all the precautions, and we were lucky to get through it, and what really saved us was the fact that we’re mostly a takeout business,” Stegall said. “We don’t rely on people to sit inside and eat, so we were able to continue to do business throughout the whole thing just by limiting people in the shop.”

Regular customers from other Bakeshop locations came to celebrate both the new location and Bakeshop’s survival through the pandemic, according to Alyson Fligg, an employee at Bakeshop.

“It has been a fun day,” Fligg said in an interview with The Hoya. “This is our celebration of opening, so we have seen a really nice crowd, and a lot of our regular customers from around the area have come to see us.”

Rohan Agarwal, who came from Arlington, Va., to celebrate the grand opening, was excited to have

Maria Fernanda Borda Special to The Hoya

CW: This article discusses clerical sexual abuse. Please refer to the online article for on and off-campus resources.

SARA WARM/THE HOYA

Bakeshop, a bakery specializing in macarons, pies and cupcakes, opened Nov. 10 in the Grace Street Collective. a new dessert option in the area.

“I feel like a lot of the bakeries in Georgetown are mainly cupcakes,” Agarwal said in an interview with The Hoya. “Bakeshop has a bunch of variety, and their macarons are the best ever.”

Northern Virginia Magazine declared Bakeshop the winner in the Bakery/Patisserie category for its Best of NoVa 2021: Food feature, applauding its vegan options, ice cream cookie sandwiches and macarons.

According to Stegall, employees having the opportunity to interact with the local community

is an integral part of the Bakeshop experience.

“I love working with students, so I’m excited to employ some Georgetown students here,” Stegall said. “We have a lot of kids from high school to college to just out of college who work here, and it’s a nice collective group.”

Stegall looks forward to connecting with the Georgetown community by providing highquality and delicious dessert options at Bakeshop.

“We do it the right way,” Stegall said. “We take a lot of pride in it, and everything is top-notch.”

Inaugural Director Joins McCourt Institute Claire Stowe

Hoya Staff Writer

The McCourt Institute appointed Shéhérazade Semsarde Boisséson (SFS ’90) Nov. 10 as its first executive director.

Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy joined with the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in June 2021 to found the McCourt Institute, which was created to promote ethical technological innovation. The Institute builds on Georgetown’s Tech & Society initiative, an initiative between all of Georgetown’s nine schools focused on research, driving policy change and improving education around technology.

Semsar’s experience in technological development and infrastructure will allow her to make significant contributions in the field of technological ethics to the McCourt Institute, according to Frank McCourt (CAS ’75), who funded the Institute’s partnership with Sciences Po. “We are thrilled to welcome Shéhérazade to the McCourt Institute and grateful for the expertise, enthusiasm, and leadership skills that she brings to her role as our first executive director,” McCourt

wrote in a statement. “She understands that, to solve the urgent and systemic problems that today’s tech infrastructure is fueling, we need interdisciplinary thinkers working hand-in-hand with technologists to infuse ethics into technology and creating a workable plan for good digital governance.”

Semsar previously served as the founding CEO of Politico Europe, and will now further the institute’s goal of enhancing digital governance, online tools establishing authority and accountability in an organization, and technological ethics through research and engagement with policymakers and academics.

Frank McCourt’s March 2021 $100 million donation granted funding to scholarships, financial aid and research. Of these funds, $25 million were directly distributed to support the university’s initiatives with the McCourt Institute. This marks Frank McCourt’s second donation to Georgetown University; in 2013, Frank McCourt donated the same amount to found the McCourt school.

The Institute will work to improve ethics in technology and development and form

a framework for the use of technology in government, according to Semsar.

“Despite technology’s many benefits, it’s clear that today’s tech structure is driving negative outcomes; this is a global problem, not just a U.S. or European problem,” Semsar wrote in the press release. “I look forward to working with great minds across countries and disciplines to create a much-needed governance framework and help put us on this better path.”

During her work at Politico, Semsar helped launch the organization’s annual Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Governance Summit, which gathers leaders from around the world to discuss AI standards. Semsar continues to serve on the Georgetown School of Foreign Service Advisory Board, and also served on Georgetown’s Board of Directors from 2013 to 2019.

The partnership with Sciences Po was made possible

by McCourt’s $100 million donation to the McCourt Institute, according to McCourt School Dean Maria Cancian.

“One of the key elements of Frank McCourt’s extraordinary second $100 Million investment in the McCourt

School was support for our partnership with the McCourt Institute,” Cancian wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Semsar’s extensive background in technology and digital advancement and experience with leadership at Politico will allow her to think interdisciplinarily about the institute’s work, according to Frank McCourt.

“Shéhérazade’s deep international experience leading industry shifts and tackling big challenges makes her the perfect person to advance the goals of Project Liberty and spearhead the critical work of the institute,” Frank McCourt wrote.

With Semsar’s appointment, the McCourt School will continue to engage with the institute’s projects and research, according to Cancian.

“The appointment of Shéhérazade Semsar-de-Boisséson as the inaugural executive director of the Institute is a great step forward,” Cancian wrote. “Semsar is a Georgetown alum and former board member, with a deep appreciation for public policy and a keen understanding of both US and international dynamics. We look forward to engaging with her in the Institute’s important work.”

Listening to survivors of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is fundamental to making recommendations for change, survivors and experts say.

At the Nov. 16 virtual event, titled “Prière De Ne Pas Abuser (Please Do Not Abuse): Listening to the Voices of Survivors,” experts shed light on a newly released report on the rates of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in France and the importance of listening to survivors. Clerical abuse survivor and Jesuit theologian Rev. Patrick Goujon, S.J., discussed his new book in the event hosted

by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, which also featured panelist Laëtitia Atlani-Duault, a member of the 2021 French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church.

The stigma around sexual abuse and lack of resources for support means the process of coming to terms with experiencing abuse is often an ongoing, life-long struggle, according to Goujon.

“When I decided to write this book, it was an answer to a necessity for me not to be lost in my own story. In a way, I have totally forgotten what happened to me. It has totally disappeared. And when it suddenly came back much later in my life, which was so disturbing, I was really lost,” Goujon said at the event. “It was at the same time really painful, but also a real gift.

In fact, I decided to write not to be lost, but also not to lose what I was discovering.”

For Rev. Goujon, the shame of being abused was compounded with that of being a spiritual director, and the ‘physician heal thyself’ presumption that comes with the profession.

“As a Jesuit trained and sent to be a spiritual director, one of the reasons for that was that I have a good capacity to understand my own life, to listen to people. So there was something intangible for me in that,” Rev. Goujon said at the event.

Panelists also discussed a report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, comissioned by the Vatican itself, which estimated that clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church in France sexually abused over 200,000 minors over the last 70 years. According to Goujon, statistics on sexual abuse are hard to obtain or even estimate because many cases go unreported.

For many survivors, the guilt associated with sexual

abuse and the lack of a support system for suvivors within the church makes it very difficult to seek help, according to Goujon.

“At the very beginning, just a few weeks after I realized what happened to me, I spoke to my Jesuit spiritual director and he suggested me not to speak of it,” Goujon said. “It was certainly not the best advice I received in my Jesuit life, and it was a real sign of what usually happens.”

The study conducted by the independent commission centered around listening to the stories of survivors rather than just analyzing cold statistics, according to Atlani-Duault.

“If you read the report it is full of the voices of victims.

Each analysis is based on quotes that I selected, not only to have their voices represented but also to build our understanding of the phenomenon and our recommendations on the very specific testimonies of the victims,” Atlani-Duault

“Even if you are not making a lot of noise, because someone who has suffered doesn’t shout, you have to listen to the very low side, the children, all of them.”

Rev. Patrick Goujon, S.J. Jesuit theologian

said at the event. “What is clear in all the survivors’ testimonies is the fact that they were forced, and that they are now alone, facing long-term consequences of what happened.”

The massive number of testimonies revealed not only the magnitude of clerical sexual abuse, but also the current necessity for a solution, according to Atlani-Duault.

“What is striking in our report is how these lonely experiences are massive, systematic and organized,” Atlani-Duault said.

“They have been long covered by silence, displacement of abusers and the avoidance of the French Republic law system — and they are actual, it’s not just something from the past.”

Goujon said it is imperative the church actively listens to survivor’s stories.

“Even if you are not making a lot of noise, because someone who has suffered doesn’t shout, you have to listen to the very low side, the children, all of them, the adjuncts who have been victims,” Goujon said at the event. “The reason why I decided to make this story public is to encourage that.”

A10 | THE HOYA

THEHOYA.COM | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021

SPORTS

WOMEN’S SOCCER

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hoyas Beat Central Connecticut 6-0 GU Falls 69-60 to Dartmouth, In NCAA Tournament 1st Round Suffers Season-Opener Loss Saar Shah

Maahira Jalan Wadhwa

Hoya Staff Writer

Hoya Staff Writer

The No. 2 Georgetown University women’s soccer team defeated the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils 6-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

The Hoyas (12-1-6, 7-1-2 Big East) started the game with a sharp offense and put immediate pressure on the Blue Devils (11-5-0, 8-2-0 Northeast).

In the second minute, the Hoyas took the first shot of the game courtesy of graduate defender Sydney Cummings. Her attempt was followed by two shots from junior midfielder Julia Leas, including one which forced Blue Devil goalkeeper Amanda McQuillan to make her first save of the day.

Central Connecticut responded to the pressure and took its first shot of the game in the 16th minute. The ball was headed towards the top left corner of the goal but Georgetown junior goalkeeper Allie Augur made the save.

The Blue Devils did not manage to take another shot in the first period. The period ended with a score of 0-0. The Hoyas had taken eight shots to Central Connecticut’s one.

The game picked up in the second period. In the 55th minute, Central Connecticut forward Kristina Kelly fouled Leas. Senior midfielder Maya Fernandez-Powell took the free kick and curled the ball into the penalty area to find graduate defender Kelly Ann Livingstone. The ball bounced off her chest and into the far corner of the goal, putting the Hoyas in the lead with a score of 1-0.

The Hoyas got their second goal in the 62nd minute.

Fernandez-Powell passed from the middle of Central Connecticut’s half to graduate midfielder Daisy Cleverley, far from the goal. Cleverley took a touch to control the ball, looked up at the goal and fired the ball with her left foot. The ball went flying into the top

BRIDGET SIPPEL/THE HOYA

Georgetown women’s soccer scored six goals in the second half in its win over Central Connecticut, matching a season high set Sept. 18. right corner with such accuracy and pace that the Central Connecticut goalkeeper had no chance of saving it.

The Hoyas seemed more in control of the game now with their two-goal lead. Central Connecticut did manage to take a shot on target to slightly break the Hoyas’ momentum but its attempt did not trouble Augur.

Georgetown’s next attempt on goal came in the 69th minute. First-year defender Cyanne Doyle played a through ball to junior forward Gia Vicari on the right side of the Central Connecticut penalty area. Vicari dribbled past a defender and kicked the ball into the box with her left foot.

The ball deflected off a Central Connecticut defender and fell for Leas in the penalty box.

Leas swiftly shot the ball towards the bottom left-hand corner of the goal and scored.

Once Georgetown had a three-goal advantage, Head Coach Dave Nolan made several substitutions for the Hoyas. The Hoyas kept possession of the ball.

In the 77th minute, Vicari intercepted the ball from a Central Connecticut midfielder. Vicari dribbled the ball towards the goal and passed the ball to Leas, who took a touch towards the edge

of the penalty box and took a long-range shot with her left foot into the top right corner of the goal. This marked Leas’ second goal of the game and Georgetown’s fourth.

The Hoyas’ fifth goal came just a minute after the fourth.

Leas was involved in the play once again. She dribbled the ball down the middle of the field and sent a through ball in for junior forward Sofie Fox. Fox, now one-on-one with the Central Connecticut goalkeeper, found the back of the net.

The Hoyas were leading 5-0.

In the 81st minute, Georgetown senior defender Jenna Royson crossed the ball into the penalty box from the left hand flank. First-year forward Erika Harwood ran towards the ball and managed to get a lot of power behind the header. Once again, the Hoyas scored to make it 6-0.

The game ended with the score of 6-0 in favor of Georgetown. The Hoyas had taken a total of 18 shots by the end of the second half while Central Connecticut had only taken three.

The Hoyas will now advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. They will face the defending national champion Santa Clara University Broncos (12-5-2, 8-1-0 West Coast) on Friday, Nov. 19 at Shaw Field.

After 616 days, Georgetown men’s basketball finally returned to its home court at Capital One Arena on Nov. 13. With a packed student section and a large jump in attendance from previous openers, the energy was palpable. The excitement was quickly eliminated when Dartmouth pulled off a stunning upset, defeating the Hoyas 69-60 and leaving behind a shocked Georgetown crowd.

With a Dikembe Mutombo (SLL ’91) appearance, Jack the Bulldog pawing around and a rousing speech from Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) before the game, Georgetown’s (0-1) season opener had all the expected fanfare. The Hoyas were playing their first regular season game after a shocking 2021 Big East tournament title, while Dartmouth (1-1) had just fallen to Boston College a few days prior. Hoya fans expected a triumphant and celebrative return of their team.

Georgetown, however, struggled from the start. Sophomore guard Dante Harris, who finished 3-13 on field goal shooting, had one of his roughest games as a Hoya. Graduate forward Kaiden Rice, who played his first game as a Hoya after transferring from The Citadel, missed his first-half looks and Georgetown’s centers were sloppy.

The Big Green capitalized on the Hoyas’ weak defense, sinking a pair of 3-pointers early on. Despite substitutions and the implemen-

tation of a full-court press, the Hoyas could not contain Dartmouth, who jumped to a 36-14 lead supported by guards Ryan Cornish and Taurus Samuels.

After a first half where the team shot 28.1% from the field, almost every newcomer shined as Georgetown rallied to start the second half. Rice hit three 3-pointers in two minutes. Later, first-year center Ryan Mutombo scored six straight points, and the son of former Georgetown and NBA star Dikembe Mutombo invigorated the crowd with a roar. Finally, firstyear guards Aminu Mohammed and Jordan Riley rattled off backto-back dunks to create the Hoyas’ first and only lead at 50-48.

There was a brief window in which it looked like Georgetown might bury the first half and take the game, but Dartmouth remained resilient. The Big Green squashed the Hoyas’ momentum with an 18-3 run to secure the major upset over the Hoyas.

Offensively, Georgetown lacked a clear game plan. One year ago, the Hoya offense was built around dumping the ball off to center Qudus Wahab in the post. Suffering from the loss of Wahab, who transferred to the University of Maryland last offseason, the Hoyas turned to their guards, who were unable to generate clean looks against an active Dartmouth defense.

On the other end of the floor, the Hoyas were torched from behind the 3-point line. The Big Green shot 38 3-pointers and made 16 of them for a 42.1% 3-point percentage. Dartmouth’s

BEWARE THE HYPE

For the Lakers To Succeed, Russell Westbrook Must Take a Step Back Christian Baldari Columnist

The much-hyped Los Angeles Lakers have so far been underwhelming this 202122 season. While the Lakers will certainly improve when the injured LeBron James returns, the team needs a transformation from Russell Westbrook if it wants to win a championship.

When the Lakers acquired Westbrook in a multi team trade in July, pundits were quick to question whether Westbrook’s ball-dominant, inefficient offense would blend well on a team that already boasts James and Anthony Davis, two ball-dominant superstars.

Through 15 games, Westbrook has done little to allay those fears. His counting stats — 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists per game — remain impressive, but they barely mask his inefficiency. Each of his shooting marks — 42.7% on field goals, 29.2% on 3-pointers and 68.5% on free throws — are worse than his career average and significantly worse than the current league averages.

The Lakers are objectively worse when Westbrook is on the court: Opponents outscore the Lakers by 7.1 points per 100 possessions when he is on the floor, and the Lakers outscore their opponent by 11.5 points per 100 possessions when he sits.

However abysmal those numbers may seem, Westbrook is still one of the most explosive and indefatigable guards in the NBA, and he

can still make a positive impact on this Laker squad.

In order to do so, he needs to learn to become the third option.

When Westbrook played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, when he had among the highest usage rates in the league. Those days are over.

Westbrook should no longer be the focal point of the Lakers’ offense. Instead, James and Davis, two of the top 10 players in the league, should be getting the ball in their hands on every play and taking the lion’s share of the Lakers’ shots.

Westbrook has a role on this team, but it does not include jacking up multiple low-percentage midrange jumpers and even lower-percentage 3-pointers per game. Rather, he should limit his offense to his strengths: leading lightning-fast transition drives and becoming a cutter who can receive passes en route to ferocious attacks at the basket.

The hardest part for Westbrook will be reconciling with the idea that he is no longer top dog. In fact, part of the reason why a championship has eluded him throughout his career is because when he has been on championship-caliber teams, he has been unwilling to cede offensive responsibilities to demonstrably better players.

In Oklahoma City, his failure to defer to Kevin Durant prevented the Thunder from winning crucial postseason series, and it was a motivating factor in Durant’s decision to leave OKC for the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 offseason. More recently, in Houston, Westbrook failed to gel with the even more balldominant James Harden,

and after losing to the Lakers in the first round of the 2020 Playoffs, the Rockets flipped Westbrook in a trade to the Washington Wizards.

Acknowledging your own decline is difficult but necessary. Just ask Westbrook’s current teammate Carmelo Anthony. Once an unstoppable one-on-one scorer for the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, Anthony failed to accept he was past his prime, and he found himself out of a job in November 2018. The Portland Trail Blazers eventually signed him in November 2019, and Anthony began to adjust, changing his role to 3-point specialist.

This season, he lands 45% of his shots from behind the 3-point line, and he is draining 45.3% of his threes.

Westbrook might not become a 3-point marksman anytime soon, but by tailoring his game to his best attributes — speed and athleticism — he will be able to prolong his years as an impact player, just as Anthony did.

Head coach Frank Vogel must convey to Westbrook that the Lakers are at their best when James and Davis control the tempo of their offense.

Westbrook is no longer the MVP he once was, but he still has the ability to be a productive and impactful player on a championship-level team.

To reap the rewards of their investment in Westbrook, the Lakers must not ask more of him. Rather, they should ask him to step back and allow others to take the reins.

SAMI POWDERLY/THE HOYA

Georgetown men’s basketabll suffered a 69-60 upset loss to Dartmouth in its first regular-season game since winning the 2021 Big East Tournament.

three leading scorers combined for 45 points from behind the arc.

Ewing said Dartmouth’s 3-point percentage was a key reason for Georgetown’s loss in his postgame press conference.

“You’re not gonna win letting a team make 16 threes against you,” Ewing said.

Conversely, Georgetown shot just 34.8% from deep. With Harris, Riley and Mohammed all having relatively weak jumpers, Georgetown’s shooting woes may be a recurring theme.

Sophomore forwards Kobe Clark and Collin Holloway both missed their season opener due to injuries as well as a surprise absence from junior center Timothy Ighoefe, who sat out at the last minute due to a concussion, after Ewing said he would be the game’s starter. Without Ighoefe, the Hoyas leaned on junior center Malcolm Wilson, who had 38 minutes of experience prior to the game, and Mutombo.

Ewing said he was optimistic about a healthy return for Ighoefe

by Georgetown’s next game.

“Hopefully Timmy will be back,” Ewing said. “I’m not sure about Kobe and Collin.”

The game was not all bad news for the Hoyas, though.

The most promising takeaway was preseason Big East Freshman of the Year Mohammed’s debut, who led the Hoyas in scoring with 17 points. Mohammed was Georgetown’s main creator, taking advantage of mismatches and generating points in transition. When asked about Mohammed’s first game, Ewing just mentioned the team’s loss.

He went on to say, however, that Mohammed would be a very good player with a great career.

Dartmouth Head Coach David McLaughlin was thrilled by the win, admitting the challenge of facing off against a prolific Georgetown squad.

“Coming into the second half, they made a terrific run,” McLaughlin said in a postgame press conference. “They were shooting with confidence, and what I was probably most proud of was that we sustained that run and went right back at them.”

Though the first game of the season, it is difficult to overstate this loss for the Hoyas. Georgetown should have been able to win convincingly while giving its rotation players plenty of minutes, yet fell short.

The Hoyas will look to bounce back Tuesday, Nov. 16, on their home floor at 8:30 p.m. against American University (2-0-0), aiming to land a much-needed victory and extend a six-game winning streak against the Eagles.

SQUASH

Georgetown Opens Up Inaugural Season With 2 Decisive Victories Julia Cannamela Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown University’s newest varsity team, women’s squash, played its inaugural two matches this past weekend. The Hoyas dominated their competition, sweeping Haverford University 9-0 and beating Denison University 7-2.

No. 27 Georgetown (2-0) has had a long journey to get to its first collegiate varsity performances. The Hoyas were the top-ranked club team in the nation in 2019-20 and planned to transform the program into a varsity-level team. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Georgetown to hold off on any such transformation until the university reopened in 2021.

Georgetown hired a head coach for the program in August 2021, Tim Lasusa. Lasusa has an impressive track record as both an athlete and a coach. He has played on the Professional Squash Association World Tour and Squash Doubles Association Pro Tour, reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Singles National Championship in 2017.

As an assistant coach, Lasusa most recently helped both the men’s and women’s squash teams at Yale reach a top-five and top-three finish in the College Squash Association Rankings in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Christian Baldari is a sophoSince Lasusa’s hiring, the more in the College. Beware team has moved at breakneck the Hype appears in print pace to prepare for competition and online every other week. at the highest level of collegiate

squash, and it seems their hard work has paid off. The Hoyas’ roster includes nine returning club players from the highly ranked team and an additional six new players.

Lasusa said the team was thrilled to start its season this past weekend.

“College Squash has been put on hold for over a year, but everyone is excited to see its return,” Lasusa said in a statement in October. “For us, it is perfect timing as it’s the start of a new beginning and we look to make an impact in our first year. The squash world is excited to see us compete and I know the team is chomping at the bit to get out there.”

On Saturday, the Hoyas took on the No. 26 Haverford University Black Squirrels (1-1) for the first match in program history. The teams were ranked just one spot apart in the College Squash Association’s preseason poll at No. 26 and No. 27, suggesting close competition.

However, from the top to the bottom seed, Georgetown’s players defeated each of their opponents, pulling off a definitive sweep. The Hoyas won eight out of their nine individual matches with overwhelming victories of 3-0, including the top three flights played by graduate student Zuha Nahir, senior Nina Thomas and sophomore Caroline Wilcox. Junior Nicole Cariño won in four sets in the fourth spot.

Sunday proved to be a bit

more competitive for the Hoyas, although they still handily defeated the No. 28 Denison University Big Red (13). Georgetown lost the two top flights in hard-fought, close matches, with Thomas taking her opponent into five games that were won by no more than 3 points each and lasted 47 minutes in total.

The Hoyas proved victorious in the third to ninth seed matchups, starting with a dominant win by Wilcox after a close first round. Notably, fourth seed senior Grace Feagin held her own in a five-round match, showing her endurance throughout her 30-minute match. In addition, senior Minna Holleck at the eight spot came back from a 11-6 defeat in the first round to win her next three rounds and secure a win over her opponent.

After the team’s performance over the weekend, Coach Tim Lasusa said he admired the efforts put forth by the team and the victorious outcome.

“I’m very proud of how the team competed this weekend,” Lasusa said in a postgame statement. “We had some tough matches today, but the team battled hard, competed well and we’re looking to carry it moving forward.”

The Hoyas’ next outing will take place the weekend of Dec. 4 to 5 as they take on No. 9 Virginia, No. 11 Dartmouth, No. 18 Franklin & Marshall and unranked Richmond in Charlottesville, Va.

THE HOYA | A11

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021 | THEHOYA.COM

SPORTS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL

22-2 Run Powers Hoyas to Victory AMERICAN, from A12

GUHOYAS

Sophomore guard Kelsey Ransom’s 13 points were not enough to lead the Hoyas to a win over Davidson.

Davidson Ends GU’s Undefeated Start to Season refused to give up its lead, even as Georgetown kept pouncing on many of the Wildcats’ missed opportunities. While Wildcat offensive threats like guard Chloe Welch continued to relentlessly find their way to the basket, the ball was more frequently in Georgetown’s court than earlier in play.

First-year forward Brianna Scott came off the bench to secure the Hoyas’ final pair of points, ending the match at a 15-point deficit.

While Davidson held its lead until the final minutes, the Hoyas displayed much more composure and grit heading into the second half. Even though the team’s early winning streak was cut short, Georgetown still has plenty of time to recover from its loss and capitalize on its missed opportunities later in the season.

Despite the loss, the Hoyas showed significant achievements. Ransom scored 13 points, marking a season high. The Hoyas made 16 of their 19 free throws, with the .842 free-throw percentage Georgetown’s highest through its three games. However, the team struggled to rebound defensively, grabbing just 19 boards after recording 53 rebounds in its win over Salem.

Junior forward Graceann Bennett struggled in the loss, logging a season-low six points.

The Hoyas will pick up where they left off in the McDonough Arena this Sunday, Nov. 21, at 2:00 p.m. against Columbia University (3-0).

DAVIDSON, from A12

to keep control of the ball’s possession. Thus, Davidson ended the first quarter with a 15-6 lead.

With the second period underway, Davidson continued to dominate Georgetown and overwhelm the Hoyas on offense. Beautiful shots from outside the 3-point mark increased Georgetown’s desperation to cut at Davidson’s lead. Quality pressure and hustle from Georgetown sophomore guard Kelsey Ransom instigated a fire under the Hoyas’ offense late into the second period — amid the score, the final minutes of the first half were a battle as Georgetown denied minimal chances to shoot. Davidson opened up an 18-point lead at halftime.

Precision was a success for Davidson thus far. Shooting over 50% on the floor against Georgetown, the Wildcats came out of the first half leading 37-19. Georgetown fans didn’t lose hope just yet, however. Continuing to eagerly cut into the deficit, senior forward Jillian Archer put the Hoyas on the board once again with a beautiful basket from the 3-point line near the third period’s close. Georgetown was able to tighten the game after outsourcing Davidson 17-12 in the third quarter, yet the Wildcats still led 49-36.

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Georgetown will seek to build upon its momentum as it continues non-conference competition on Friday, Nov. 19, at 6:30 pm against Siena University (03) at the Capital One Arena.

MEN’S SOCCER

Georgetown Claims 5th Big East Title

PROVIDENCE, from A12

Friars found an answer with just over five minutes left to play in regulation. Sophomore Brendan McSorely collected a deflection off the head of Lima in space and pounded it inside the far post to even the score at one apiece. Neither team was able to produce a scoring opportunity in the last six minutes of play, so the game proceeded to overtime.

It would not take long to relieve the palpable tension on Shaw Field. In the 96th minute, senior midfielder

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“I told him this is his time, he’s gotta rebound, he’s gotta defend, he has to be a presence in terms of protecting the rim,” Ewing said.

Georgetown men’s soccer reached the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in 12 seasons after clinching the Big East Tournament championship to follow up a fourth-straight Big East regular season title.

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GUHOYAS

The Hoyas outrebounded American 50-31 in the victory over the Eagles while making 44.4% of their shots, including seven 3-pointers.

ANNA YUAN/THE HOYA

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game-high 11 rebounds in the first half, including five offensive rebounds. He also finished with two dunks and two steals, affecting countless shots in an exceptional all-around effort.

After trading baskets over much of the low-scoring first half, Georgetown finally broke out on a 10-2 run with approximately four minutes remaining in the first half. The momentum in the Capital One Arena shifted when first-year guard Aminu Mohammed pinned Elijah Stephens’ fastbreak reverse layup attempt, resulting in a transition layup for sophomore guard Dante Harris.

Mohammed found Harris for a fastbreak layup again a minute later, creating a 33-25 lead and forcing an American timeout.

The Eagles ultimately stopped the bleeding in the last minute, going into halftime down 38-29.

American opened the first half strong behind a 3-pointer from guard Colin Smalls and wide open dunk by forward Josh Alexander, forcing Georgetown Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) to call a quick timeout. Graduate guard and team captain Donald Carey helped right the ship

coming out of the break, scoring five of his 12 points, including a 3-pointer, to keep the Georgetown lead at seven.

In an effort to keep the momentum going, the Hoyas deployed a full court defensive press in an attempt to disrupt the American offense. Despite an initial hiccup, the Eagles easily broke the press and made four field goals in a row, bringing the lead to just four points with 13:33 remaining in the game.

Four points was as close as American would come for the rest of the game. With four firstyears on the court, Georgetown embarked on an 18-0 run over the course of approximately four minutes. The charge was led by first-year guards Jordan Riley and Tyler Beard, who scored eight and five points respectively, putting a victory out of reach for the Eagles. Mohammed, the Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year, added an athletic layup en route to his team high 14 points and 10 rebounds. By the time American scored again with six minutes left, the Hoyas led 71-47.

Coach Ewing praised Ighoefe’s outstanding performance in his return to the court and emphasized his importance to the

Sean Zawadski directed a pass down the pitch to Stojanovic.

Streaking toward the goal, the veteran forward controlled the ball in midair with a deft touch and Stojanovic sent a strike past Burns into the back of the net.

The grandstand erupted.

Several Georgetown players ran to the barricade to celebrate with throngs of cheering students. Some even hoisted the three-foot-tall silver championship trophy to the end line for a photo with the mob of fans.

Coach Wiese said that the

passion of the home crowd always gives the team an advantage.

“Hopefully we can get two or three more home games in the tournament,” Wiese said.

“The energy is great that we get from our students here.”

Stojanovic’s heroics won him the Big East tournament’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors in a ceremony following the match, with his teammate Nikopolidis earning the Most Outstanding Defensive Player award.

Two other Hoyas, Zawadski and first-year midfielder Joe

Buck, were named to the AllTournament Team.

The victory concludes a dominant 2021 Big East campaign for the Hoyas where only two opponents all season were able to generate multiple goals. Conference champions in both the regular season and the tournament, Georgetown was named the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoyas await the winner of a first-round matchup between Charlotte (10-5-1, 5-3 Conference USA) and Georgia State (12-6, 3-3 Mid-American) on Thursday, Nov. 18.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

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Embattled Titans Remain Competitive BRENNAN, from A12

already setting career highs in sacks, tackles for loss and quarterback pressures through 10 games. Simmons’ presence in the middle of the line opens opportunities for edge rushers like Landry and Autry, who have clearly taken advantage.

While the line has been the most impressive, the rest of the Titans’ defense has been strong too. David Long has become a solid middle linebacker, especially with Rashaan Evans suffering an ankle injury in week seven. Tennessee’s cornerbacks have been impressive as well, but its

other big defensive star comes from safety Kevin Byard, a ball hawk on the back end who has already accounted for five interceptions.

Byard also makes a lot of tackles for the team. Currently, he has 46, which places him third on the roster behind Long and Landry.

When you can make a Defensive Player of the Year case for two players on one defense –– three if you include Landry –– you know that unit is clicking. Tennessee will need them to keep that up to compete with the NFL’s most potent offenses in the playoffs.

With the No. 1 seed in the

AFC for the moment and the NFL’s easiest schedule the rest of the way — facing off against teams with an average winning percentage of just .346 — the Titans are already planning ahead for the playoffs. Yet some may question the legitimacy of their 8-2 record, with critics pointing to the fact that Tennessee only has the point differential of a six-win team. I look at it differently. This Titans team has proven time and again it can win tight games.

In the playoffs, when the team is at full strength again, the ability to compete down to the wire and come through in the clutch is necessary.

Instead of sputtering in the postseason because of a lopsided roster and lack of preparation, Tennessee will come out stronger than ever, even after a season filled with adversity. With Henry back to destroying everything in his path and Byard and Simmons leading a top10 defense, the Titans are on their way to the AFC Championship –– and maybe even the Super Bowl.

Tim Brennan is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business. Any Given Sunday appears in print and online every other week.

Sports

MEN’S SOCCER

No. 3 Georgetown (16-2) vs. Georgia State (12-6) Sunday, 11 a.m.

Shaw Field

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021 TALKING POINTS

SQUASH Georgetown squash dominated its first two games in program history against Haverford and Denison.

See A10

NUMBERS GAME

The energy is great that we get from our students here.”

Men’s Soccer Head Coach Brian Wiese

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Georgetown first-year guard Aminu Mohammed scored 17 points in his collegiate debut against Dartmouth on Nov. 13.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Hoyas Unable To Overcome Early Deficit, Suffer 1st Loss Cate Camenzind Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown women’s basketball was unable to overcome a sluggish start and strong 3-point shooting from the Davidson Wildcats, marking the Hoyas’ first loss of the season in a 70-55 defeat.

Georgetown (2-1) faced off against Davidson (2-2) in its third game of the season at McDonough Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 17, eager to secure a win on its home court and extend its undefeated start to the season.

With both teams coming off of previous wins, including a monster 86-48 victory over Salem University by Georgetown on Friday, Nov. 12, the Hoyas and the Wildcats came in hungry to continue their winning streaks.

Both squads were off to a sloppy start heading into the opening minutes of the match, each being handed a pair of traveling penalties and a total of four turnovers in the opening five minutes. Putting their name on the board first, however, was Davidson junior forward Adelaide Fuller, who drained a 3-pointer from outside the arc.

Davidson capitalized on the early rocky start, knocking down a number of consecutive 3-pointers to put up a significant lead. Nearing the end of the first period, the Hoyas relentlessly searched for opportunities in their offense, yet failed to finish because of an inability See DAVIDSON, A11

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Georgetown men’s soccer clinched a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where the Hoyas will look to win their second title in three seasons.

MEN’S SOCCER

Stojanovic Goal Wins Big East Championship Peter Dicioccio Special to The Hoya

Junior forward Stefan Stojanovic netted a thrilling goal in overtime to lift the No. 7 Georgetown men’s soccer team to a 2-1 victory over No. 18 Providence on Sunday, Nov. 14, securing the Hoyas’ fourth Big East Conference Tournament Championship in the last five seasons.

Spectators crowded Shaw Field to watch the Hoyas (16-2-0, 8-2-0 Big East) face the Friars (10-4-4, 5-2-3 Big East) on a chilly autumn afternoon with temperatures

lingering in the mid-40s. The two squads previously met Oct. 13 in the regular season, with the Hoyas falling to the Friars 3-0.

Georgetown looked poised to avenge that loss early. Just 48 seconds into the match, Stojanovic redirected a beautiful cross from junior forward Will Sands toward the right post, the ball skipping wide by a mere foot.

A second near-miss came in the 28th minute when Providence goalkeeper Lukas Burns fully extended to deflect a blast from first-year defender Kieran Sargeant,

preserving the scoreless tie.

Both teams brought a great deal of intensity to the championship contest. Referee Sergio Gonzalez’s crew showed nine yellow cards total in the match, the most of any Georgetown game this season and six more than in the first matchup with the Friars. Toward the end of the first half, Providence received three after just 42 minutes of play, with two of those leveled against the Friar bench in separate incidents.

Georgetown Men’s Soccer Head Coach Brian Wiese said the fouls stemmed

from the teams’ earnest competitiveness.

“The ref was trying to keep a grip of the game,” Wiese said in a postgame interview with The Hoya. “But it was played in good spirit.”

Another yellow card helped Georgetown break the deadlock in the 52nd minute. Providence defender Ramzi Qawasmy was penalized as Georgetown made a run into the goal box, granting Stojanovic a penalty kick. The crowd of students behind the goal roared as the Hoyas’ leading scorer snuck the ball into the bottom

right corner of the net to give Georgetown a 1-0 advantage.

It would not be the last penalty try in the match.

Twelve minutes later, senior Georgetown goalkeeper Giannis Nikopolidis was carded for colliding with a Providence player while trying to corral the ball near the top of the box. Midfielder Paulo Lima stepped forward to take the kick for the Friars, but Nikopolidis managed a spectacular diving save to his left to end the threat.

Growing desperate, the See PROVIDENCE, A11

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

MEN’S BASKETBALL

GU Bounces Back, Defeats American Despite Injuries, The Titans Refuse To Lose Brendan Quill Hoya Staff Writer

After a heart-wrenching opening-day loss to Dartmouth, the Georgetown men’s basketball team bounced back in big-time fashion, defeating the American University Eagles 79-57 in a Nov. 16 crosstown matchup.

After a back-and-forth first half, the Hoyas went on a 22-2 run midway through the second half to break open the game, culminating in a 22-point victory.

With two steals on American’s (2-1) first two possessions, Georgetown (1-1) looked primed to dominate the game. However, the Eagles had an answer to every Hoya outburst early on. Despite coming into the game as overwhelming favorites against a historically weaker program, Georgetown struggled to establish a strong lead in the first half.

For Georgetown, the story of the first half was junior center Timothy Ighoefe’s dominance in the paint.

After missing the season opener against Dartmouth because of a concussion, Ighoefe collected seven of his

Tim Brennan Columnist

GUHOYAS

Georgetown men’s basketball scored 40 points in the paint in its win over American, See AMERICAN, A11 matching last year’s season high in the team’s second game of the season.

Visit us online at thehoya.com/sports

In week four of the NFL season, the Tennessee Titans seemed lost, losing to the hapless New York Jets and dropping to 2-2 on the season. Since then, significant injuries have forced the Titans’ playmakers to miss significant time. Yet despite these losses, the Titans have won six straight games, finding themselves atop the AFC and seemingly poised to compete for a championship come January.

Tennessee’s injury woes include 2020 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Derrick Henry, who is out due to a possible season-ending foot injury. Meanwhile, star wide receivers AJ Brown and Julio Jones have been in and out of the lineup with injuries of their own. While other teams may have admitted defeat without Pro Bowlcaliber offensive players, the Titans have emerged victorious — a resilient mentality that will serve them well.

The Titans have had some impressive wins during the six-game win streak.

They eked out a win against the Bills in week four and crushed Kansas City in week five, holding Kansas City’s normally high-flying offense to just three points.

Then, the Titans dominated in their first game without Henry, handily beating the 7-1 Rams.

Even without Henry, Brown and Jones, Tennessee’s offense has remained strong during its winning streak. The Titans are averaging 30.5 points over the last six games, which would rank fifth in the NFL over the season. But offense has never been the issue with this team; it is its defense that has held it back in the past.

Yet that narrative is changing this season.

During its winning streak, Tennessee is allowing just 20.2 points per game, which would rank 15th in the league over the season. The defense has never looked better, largely because of improvements on the defensive line. Harold Landry, Denico Autry and Jeffery Simmons are all having career seasons, reducing the workload of the rest of the defense. In particular, Simmons has come into his own in his third season, See BRENNAN, A11