The Hoya: September 13, 2019

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

Anatomy of a Brand

Learn how luxury brands have crafted compelling but pricy lifestyles and begun to focus on younger audiences.

HOYA HUB EXPANDS The on-campus food pantry can now store perishable food items in its renovated space.

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A7

Public school students denied access to public space

ASHLEY ZHAO Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Student Association senate is considering proposals to abolish the GUSA Fund, which reallocates part of the student activities fee to clubs requesting additional funding.

The GUSA Fund is intended to provide ad hoc funding for university-recognized clubs and organizations seeking to fund activities and events.

The fund reallocates thousands of dollars from the student activities fee to student organizations who fill out a request form throughout the year as they need funding, according to the GUSA website. The fund’s resources are determined by the GUSA executive’s discretionary funds, which change annually based on finance and appropriations committee deliberations.

But the fund has historically failed to fulfill its original mission and misappropriated funds, according to GUSA senators seeking to abolish it.

The GUSA Fund has facilitated funding for student groups who did not receive money from the Student Activities Commission for rightful disciplinary or logistic reasons, according to Harrison Nugent (SFS ’20), who was elected the new GUSA

EDITORIAL Georgetown must address high lead levels in water if it claims to prioritize health.

Parents Oppose Exclusive Field Rights for Private School

GUSA Considers Cutting Supplemental Club Fund

CONNOR THOMAS Hoya Staff Writer

SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA

GUSA senators backed a proposal to abolish the GUSA Fund, which provides support to clubs, to the opposition of GUSA executive. senate transition finance and appropriation chair in a 10-7 vote at the weekly GUSA meeting this Sunday.

“In previous years, the account has been mismanaged by the executive and has been used as a workaround to SAC for clubs that are either on probation or should be going through new club development,” Nugent wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The GUSA FinApp committee, composed of 12 senators, annually allocates the

student activities fee to the GUSA executive and other groups including six advisory boards — like the SAC — Georgetown Program Board, the Georgetown University Lecture Fund and other applicants.

Five students appointed by the GUSA executive and approved by the GUSA senate govern the GUSA Fund.

The fund stipulates minimum levels of funding for See GUSA FUND, A6

Glover Park residents are pushing for the Washington, D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation to renege a contract with a prestigious D.C. private school after pushback from parents of public school students who also utilize the space.

The newly renewed contract, which was first negotiated in 2009, grants the Maret School privileged access to Jelleff Field, a public sports field in Glover Park across from Hardy Middle School, for the next nine years. Maret has had exclusive access to Jelleff during primetime after-school hours since paying into a $2.4 million agreement with DPR in 2009, under the condition that the school would pay to improve Jelleff’s facilities. In response to disagreements over use of field space and field maintenance, an online petition emerged three weeks ago calling for the nullification of a contract renewal between Maret and DPR. Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E Commissioners Elizabeth Miller, Kishan Putta and Joe Gibbons met with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), DPR Director Delano Hunter and Deputy Mayor

Q&A: Fellows Talk Political Divide CONNOR THOMAS Hoya Staff Writer

The five fall Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service fellows, including four Georgetown alumni, bring a variety of backgrounds to their positions including experience in public policy, political communications and journalism.

The fellows include Republican policy and politi-

cal advisor Jonathan Burks (SFS ’99), former Republican Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer (COL ’81), Senior Advisor to the Human Rights Campaign Olivia Alair Dalton (COL ’06), ABC News reporter Karen Travers (COL ’00, GRD ’03) and EquisLabs co-founder Stephanie Valencia.

Fall 2019 is the GUPolitics Fellows Program’s ninth semester. The program gathers professionals involved in Washington, D.C. politics

and advocacy to give students insight into real world happenings and problems.

The Fellows hold weekly discussion groups as well as office hours with the goal of giving students an insider’s perspective on working in Washington and in politics more broadly.

The fellows discussed their desire to pass on what they’ve learned from their various career experiences when engaging with students in a Sept. 6 interview with The Hoya.

Why did you decide to become a GUPolitics Fellow?

@KARENTRAVERS/TWITTER

The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service fellows previewed their fall office hour discussion topics in a conversation with The Hoya.

FEATURED

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 101, No. 2, © 2019

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

BURKS: I think the thing for me was the opportunity to come back to a place that had been so formative in my entire approach to my career, and sort of an opportunity to come back to Georgetown and really participate in a unique program. That, being part of the McCourt School, but having so much involvement from the rest of the university as well just gives you this opportunity to really have an impact and really come back to a place that is special to me, as an alum.

DALTON: I mean so much of us came to Georgetown as undergrads and/or graduate students because of our interest in public service.

Georgetown played a similarly formative experience

for Education Paul Kihn on Wednesday night to discuss the status of the contract.

Bowser called the meeting in response to the petition, according to Putta, which garnered 2,400 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.

The $950,000 contract renewal, which extends the agreement for another nine years, has come under fire for pitting private school children’s interests against those of public school children, Putta said.

“This deal is a terrible lesson for our children. We should be teaching them that sharing high-demand public resources is important.”

KISHAN PUTTA Advisory Neighborhood 2E Commissioner

“We explained that every day over 100 kids in the free Jelleff after-school program can’t play on the reserved field and they have to hang out in the basement instead,” Putta said in an interview with The Hoya. “This deal is a terrible lesson for our chil-

dren. We should be teaching them that sharing high-demand public resources is important and that all children deserve them.”

At the meeting, Bowser said her office would reconsider the contract, according to Putta.

Maret, which is located away from Glover Park in Woodley Park, argues its partnership with DPR has actually benefited the wider community. Maret deserves credit for improving Jelleff by building new lights, a new pool and new turf since 2009, according to Maret Director of Communications Linda Johnson.

Maret is also attempting to correct misconceptions about the demographics of its school and the students it serves, according to Johnson.

“It’s important to get the facts straight because there’s a lot of misinformation going around,” Johnson said in an interview with The Hoya.

“There isn’t just one type of student that goes to our school. One in four of our students receives financial aid.

We are committed to equity and our partnerships, and we think Jelleff is one and it is benefiting the city.”

Other parents have claimed See FIELD, A6

TIME PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT GU

and sparked a passion for me … I’m excited and proud to be part of an opportunity to try and create that experience for students who are here today.

We also all talked about how all of us had sort of wished there had been a Georgetown Institute of Politics when we were here in order to really make the most of what this city has to offer.

So it’s really exciting that the McCourt School now has an opportunity and has given us all a platform to come back and do that.

TRAVERS: Yeah, I’m really excited to learn from students and have a refreshment of the cynicism of Washington and just get past that and not think of the negativity because I think the students here are not going to be as negative and jaded and cynical as everybody who is east of 37th Street, hopefully. And I’m very excited to feel energized about what younger people are thinking about politics and also to help students think of different career options.

There are many options, there are many different ways of getting involved in politics and public service and there’s such a great alumni network in this

President of TIME Keith Grossman advised students on the effects of paywalls on equal media access for consumers.

See GUPOLITICS, A6

Story on A8.

ASHLEY CHEN/THE HOYA

NEWS

OPINION

Rangila Celebrates 25 Years The annual South Asian dance showcase plans to commemorate the program’s history.

A5

Respect LGBTQ Students CAPS must do better in supporting LGBTQ students’ mental health needs on campus.

A3

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

Composting Program Begins Fifty students are participating in a new residential composting initiative beginning this fall.

A8

Finding Community in GSP Caitland Love (COL ’21) reflects on how the GSP community supported her through struggles with family.

A3

Staying Strong Men’s soccer survives threats from UC Irvine and UCLA in California to preserve its undefeated start to the season.

A12

Published Fridays

SPORTS Super Saturday

Ground offense powers Hoyas to their biggest blowout in nearly 20 years as Georgetown took down Marist 41-3.

A12

Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

A2

OPINION

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

THE VERDICT Founded January 14, 1920

EDITORIALS

End Lead Exposure Elevated levels of lead identified in several water sources in a recent study conducted by Georgetown University graduate students means that members of the Georgetown community are subject to potentially dangerous drinking water.

To ensure community members are not experiencing the pernicious effects of lead, Georgetown should identify and replace deteriorating lead pipes, notify students of locations with elevated lead levels and make water filters available for those who are at risk of lead exposure.

The study identified multiple locations, including several floors of White-Gravenor Hall and the Office of Facilities and Management in New South Hall, with lead levels near or above the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level of 15 parts per billion, the threshold at which water suppliers are required to inform their customers about lead. Floors two through five of WhiteGravenor Hall averaged a lead level of 13 ppb, and the facilities office had a similar concentration of 13.67 ppb, according to the study.

Lead exposure is particularly dangerous for young children under 6 years old, and adults are also at risk for health consequences. Prolonged exposure can cause symptoms such as high blood pressure, difficulty in memory and concentration and abdominal pain, according to the Mayo Clinic.

No student, staff member or administrator should be at risk of lead exposure when working or living on campus. Georgetown has an obligation to ensure no one is inadvertently exposed to the dangers of lead because of university negligence.

Currently, the university is conducting follow-up testing and has promised to take appropriate action following the results, a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

But the university should take precautions even before further testing is completed to protect community members’ health.

First, the university should publicly announce all locations the study identified with lead levels near or above the EPA’s action level through university-wide emails in order to ensure the entire community is aware of the issue. Georgetown should also display abundant signage to discourage people from drinking water from those locations.

Additionally, for those whose offices have elevated lead levels, the university should subsidize

water filters, such as the Zerowater filter capable of filtering out 98% of lead, so all community members have access to safe drinking water.

These temporary mitigation efforts are necessary to prevent lead exposure, but the university should strive to permanently solve the problem by replacing deteriorating lead pipes.

Lead pipes were most commonly used in buildings constructed before 1986, according to the EPA. As a historic campus with an abundance of decades-old buildings, Georgetown is especially likely to find lead pipes in its infrastructure.

The university is not alone in facing the issue of lead pipes. As a city with a long history and thousands of lead pipes, the Washington, D.C. government has worked toward replacing the pipes. The Washington Metropolitan Water and Sewer Authority has been gradually replacing lead pipes under public streets and partners with homeowners to replace pipes on private property, according to the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment.

Because of the historic nature of campus, replacing lead pipes will not be easy or cheap.

However, the university must used its deferred maintenance funds to follow through with its promise to ensure a safe and healthy environment on campus.

“Georgetown is committed to ensuring sufficient resources that allow us to maintain the safety and integrity of the infrastructure on our 230 year-old campus,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Last February, the university’s board of directors approved a $75 million allocation of funds to the deferred maintenance budget, which funds structural repairs and improvement of utility systems. The university must make replacing lead pipes a priority when allocating these funds.

The university has a wide range of infrastructure and maintenance problems to resolve. Replacing lead pipes, however, should not merely be an item at the end of the checklist that Georgetown will eventually get through.

Clean drinking water is not too much for students to ask from their school. Georgetown must undertake both immediate steps to address any health concerns and long-term infrastructure repairs to eliminate the possibility of lead.

C C

The Chicken Down the Road — A Washington, D.C. woman went viral on Twitter after praising the fried chicken at Roaming Rooster, a local familyowned restaurant. In response, the owners gave her free chicken for life.

C C C

Take the Sun, Leave the Cannoli — The National Park Service is currently hiring for a position that has been nicknamed “The Sodfather.” This position involves the upkeep of more than 44.5 acres of grass between the U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.

Striking Sculpture — A tree struck by lightning in Fairfax County is being repurposed by an ambitious artist. The artist, Andrew Mallon, is using only a chainsaw to turn the tree into a sculpture depicting several animals playing and has invited local children to come watch him work.

Bad Crab! — A specific type of crab was discovered to be able to make a growl-like sound using teeth in its gut. While they typically make the sound using their claws, the crabs have developed this secondary system to scare off predators when their claws are in use.

Asleep at the Wheel — A driver on the Massachusetts Turnpike recently recorded a video of a man asleep at the wheel in a self-driving Tesla. The videographer honked to try to wake the driver up but to no avail.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Victoria Lei

Codify Extension Policies As students receive their syllabi at the beginning of the semester, the inconsistent and often unclear extension policies put forth by professors cause uncertainty for the months to come. Such variety in extension policies cause student stress, especially when students are unsure whether their extension will be granted in case of emergencies before an assignment’s due date.

To alleviate stress caused by the uncertainty around extensions, each academic department should establish a uniform departmental extension policy. The additional time provided by extensions would allow students to follow a healthy sleeping, eating and exercise schedule, thereby helping them manage stress.

One in five college students experiences more than six stressful life events in a year, according to a 2018 study by Harvard Medical School researchers. Academic deadlines, especially when coupled with other work or family responsibilities, are undoubtedly a contributor to stress.

While Georgetown University emphasizes its support for students’ mental health, much of university-provided support has placed a responsibility on students to manage their own stress.

Providing students resources to handle stress is undoubtedly important, but the university can also take a tangible step in alleviating stress by allowing students to plan ahead with departmental extension policies.

Currently, without departmental policies in place, extension policies range widely: Some professors do not provide a written policy on the syllabus and some do not allow any extensions, though others are more accommodating. The variation in policy leaves students vulnerable to stress should unforeseen work or family obligations become overwhelming at any point during the semester.

Explicitly stated departmental extension policies would allow students to plan their schedules to best align with their nonacademic obligations.

Especially for those who have more uncertainty

regarding their work and family obligations, these students would be able to avoid a full course load with stringent extension policies.

The implementation of departmental policies would not be unprecedented. The McDonough School of Business, along with the economics and government departments in the College, have policies that establish a curve. These policies set clear expectations for students considering any given class.

With these policies made public, students are able to make informed choices about their course selection. Should a student find that a competitive curve does not best serve their learning needs, they could opt for a course in another department, and some may choose to avoid a major with strict policies.

With set extension policies in place, students will no longer begin a semester without knowing how their professors may handle extension requests.

The departmental model for creating extension policies provides clearer policies for students while allowing differences across disciplines. In crafting extension policies, each department would consider the nature of assignments in the discipline and preferences of its professors, thereby creating a policy most functional for that department.

Clear departmental policies would also alleviate the burden on professors of determining the legitimacy of individual students’ claims for needing an extension. Because students were made aware of the policies when they decided to enroll in the class, professors need not justify denying an extension in accordance with policies.

As students juggle various work and family obligations during the academic year, they should not be stressed by the uncertainty of how an extension request might be handled. Academic departments at Georgetown should establish and publicize clear extension policies to mitigate an already intense stress culture.

Maya Gandhi, Editor-in-Chief Madeline Charbonneau, Executive Editor Kiera Geraghty, Executive Editor Amber Gillette, Managing Editor Katrina Schmidt, News Editor Cady Stanton, News Editor Henry Mihm, Sports Editor Jake Wexelblatt, Sports Editor Timothy McNulty, Guide Editor Doris Zhang, Opinion Editor Will Cassou, Features Editor Meena Morar, Features Editor Subul Malik, Photography Editor Samuel Nelson, Design Editor Katherine DeMatteo, Copy Chief Sheel Patel, Social Media Editor Jenna Ryu, Blog Editor Hector Herrera, Multimedia Editor

Editorial Board

Doris Zhang, Chair

Rachel Biggio, Faris Bseiso, Bianca Corgan, Joshua Levy, Joseph Yacovone, Grant Zangwill

Myroslav Dobroshynskyi Academics Desk Editor Amy Li Graduate Desk Editor Sana Rahman Campus Life Desk Editor Riley Rogerson Campus Life Desk Editor Connor Thomas City Desk Editor Joanna LaCoppola Deputy Sports Editor Steven Botsoe Deputy Guide Editor Michelle Brown Deputy Guide Editor Allan Navarro Deputy Guide Editor Zain Sandhu Deputy Guide Editor Max Hamid Deputy Opinion Editor Rebecca Stekol Deputy Opinion Editor Karena Landler Deputy Features Editor Afua Nyantakyi Deputy Features Editor Yolanda Spura Deputy Features Editor Julia Alvey Deputy Photography Editor Margaret Fouberg Deputy Photography Editor Natalie Isé Deputy Photography Editor Kiki Schmalfuss Deputy Photography Editor Tarika Kumar Deputy Design Editor Mina Lee Deputy Design Editor Eloise Owen Deputy Design Editor Janis Park Deputy Design Editor Madeline Broderick King Deputy Copy Editor Chau Le Deputy Copy Editor Victoria Lei Deputy Copy Editor Nora Ma Deputy Copy Editor Grace Jaworski Deputy Social Media Editor Alexandra Matthews Deputy Social Media Editor Isabel Roemer Deputy Blog Editor

Contributing Editors

Susanna Blount, Will Cromarty, Erin Doherty, Harrison Hurt

HOYA HISTORY: Oct. 3, 2014

Rally Supports Hong Kong Protests Around 200 protesters, including several Georgetown students, gathered at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office and marched to the White House on Wednesday night to demonstrate support for the Occupy Central protest currently occurring in Hong Kong, where 14 Georgetown students are currently studying abroad.

The rally was organized by Global Solidarity with Hong Kong, a political awareness group advocating for universal suffrage in Hong Kong. On Wednesday, Oct. 1, the National Day of China, the group held similar events supporting prodemocracy protests in 64 cities worldwide.

In Hong Kong, an estimated 150,000 protestors, including university students, have participated in sit-ins across the city’s main districts since Sunday, calling for the Chief Executive CY Leung’s

resignation and for democratic electoral reform. The protesters blame Leung, who was appointed to his position two years ago, for the current political stalemate, but Leung has refused to step down. The movement gained international media attention when riot police used tear gas and pepper spray to subdue the nonviolent protesters.

“Right now, the current situation [in Hong Kong] can be described as a war of attrition. It is a battle for the hearts and minds of the people in Hong Kong,” said Roger Li (SFS ’15), a Hong Kong native who participated in the D.C. rally. “I wanted to do as much as I could to show the world how polite and peaceful the protesters are in Hong Kong.”

Fourteen students in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are studying with programs through the Office of Global Education, according to the office’s

director, Craig Rinker.

According to Katy Berk (COL ’16), a former opinion editor for The Hoya currently studying abroad in Hong Kong, studyabroad advisers have advised Georgetown students not to participate in the protests and that it would be a violation of rules and could result in a loss of credits.

“Between that rule and the potential for violence, I’ve chosen not to attend the protests, though they’ve been quite peaceful and orderly since Sunday evening,” she wrote in an email.

“The entire highway is flooded with people, the protesters are remarkably polite — serving each other free water, crackers, cool towels, hand sanitizers, even trays of McDonald’s — and there is a lively upbeat atmosphere.”

Toby Hung Special to The Hoya

For letters to the editor and more online content, visit thehoya.com/category/opinion.

Mitchell Taylor, General Manager Sarah Mihm, Director of Human Resources David Towell, Director of Sales Brian Yoffe, Director of Financial Operations

Board of Directors

Will Simon, Chair Dan Crosson, Maya Gandhi, Anna Kooken, Yasmine Salam, Mitchell Taylor, Hannah Urtz LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND VIEWPOINT POLICIES The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words.

Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-700 words. The Hoya retains all rights to all published submissions.

Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya. com.

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

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Madeline Charbonneau and Executive Editor Kiera Geraghty by email at executive@ thehoya.com.

TIPS News Editors Katrina Schmidt and Cady Stanton: Email news@thehoya.com.

Guide Editors Suna Cha and Timothy McNulty: Email guide@thehoya.com.

Sports Editors Henry Mihm and Jake Wexelblatt: Email sports@thehoya.com.

GENERAL INFORMATION The Hoya is published once a week during the academic year with the exception of holiday and exam periods. Address all correspondence to: The Hoya Georgetown University Box 571065 Washington, D.C. 20057-1065

The writing, articles, pictures, layout and format are the responsibility of The Hoya and do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University.

Signed columns and cartoons represent the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Hoya.

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

Georgetown University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression for student editors.

The Hoya does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, color, national or ethnic origin. © 1920-2019. The Hoya, Georgetown University weekly. No part of this publication may be used without the permission of The Hoya Board of Editors. All rights reserved. The Hoya is available free of charge, one copy per reader, at distribution sites on and around the Georgetown University campus.

Email: editor@thehoya.com Online at www.thehoya.com Circulation: 4,000

OPINION

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

PROUD TO BE GSP

THE HOYA

A3

INTERFAITH INSIGHTS

Caitland Love

Trusting Community

T

he first night I spent at Georgetown University was at the university hotel, with my mom and I in a bed and my dad on a couch somewhere. I spent the night in stressful tears that didn’t subside when my mom told me it would be okay.

I was going to be thousands of miles away, traversing personal and academic terrain foreign to my family.

Although I knew I had support from the Georgetown Scholars Program, which was my primary reason for attending Georgetown, I didn’t know what that meant. I just felt like a small, insignificant freshman at a too-distinguishedfor-me-to-belong-here university. I finally fell asleep wedged between my mom’s arms, tears stiffly clinging to her shoulders and my cheeks.

I woke up my first day of classes to a text from my dad: “We need to talk, can we call you tonight?” I assumed my parents just wanted to make sure t I was enjoying myself. I drifted lightly through that first day of classes, thinking over what moments I would share with my parents later.

I knew something was different by how quickly my dad picked up, as if he had been sitting and waiting by the phone all day. “It’s on speaker,” he asserted in an overly-aggressive opening.

“Your mom and brother are here as well.” I didn’t really understand why Koby was on the line. He wasn’t interested in my life, and my parents weren’t the type to force him to talk to me.

There was a sharp inhale on their end of the line. “Your mother and I are separating. It was her decision to leave me. She did this.”

Then, there was muffled crying. I still don’t know from whom.

I had prepared to tell them that my chemistry professor seemed cool amd quirky, corations had gone up and to ask whether they wanted me to send them a picture of the finished product. But this wasn’t something I could have planned for.

The year that followed was jampacked with an influx of intricate details of the separation, of the falsities of my parents’ marriage, of my childhood shattering right when an adulthood was beginning to form. I felt isolated by this experience, one that felt starkly contrasted by my peers’.

While others were learning how to handle their workload, I was skipping class to talk my brother out of his suicidal thoughts. I was mediating information and emotion between each of my family members from thousands of miles away. Neither of my parents could afford a divorce. My mom took more pills. My sister was in rehab getting clean. My dad was lying to my face. My life at Georgetown

wasn’t questioned by anyone because it was the least urgent matter. My purpose was to be an on-call support system.

A month into school, I signed up for Cookies with Corey in the GSP office, mostly for the cookies, but also because I thought maybe Corey would know what to do. I was behind in my classes, and I was working two jobs to make ends meet at school and to buy a ticket home to see my family.

I was ready to leave Georgetown behind. My mom needed me, and college wasn’t my thing.

Little did I know that Corey’s advising would become the reason I am still at Georgetown, and the first of the many restorative experiences that GSP family has blessed me with. He told me about all the resources GSP and Georgetown could offer me. But more importantly, he listened. He let me get the pressure and the anxiety off my chest. He ended the conversation with, “You are not here by accident. Georgetown needs you. Just give it a chance.”

Corey reaffirmed that everything I was experiencing should not prevent me from living and enjoying myself at Georgetown.

Corey was one of many people in the GSP community who repeatedly reminded me that I belong at Georgetown. Saham Ali, my freshman chemistry partner and a GSPer, listened to my complaints about textbook prices and pointed me toward the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access library. Sonali Mirpuri, a friend and GSPer from my Spanish class, became my go-to when I needed to cry after a tough day.

These people, and countless others, made me feel less alone, but they also reminded me that it was okay to be vulnerable. They reminded me that going through the emotional and sometimes financial burdens of our lives as GSPers equipped us with a skill set that made Georgetown much less intimidating.

As often happens in GSP, the staff are poised to be more than “advisors” and the students are poised to be more than just peers.

They informally become mentors, older siblings, teachers, therapists and coordinators to this amazing program of resilient people who truly care about one another. The individuals that make GSP as accepting and strong as it is do so by proving, time and time again, that no obstacle is too complicated to overcome. Whether it be personal, academic or financial, our issues do not exempt us from being happy, healthy Georgetown students. We are not here by accident. Georgetown needs us. Just give it a chance.

Caitland Love is a junior in the College. PROUD TO BE GSP appears online every other Monday.

Surrounded by preachers, rabbis and imams here at Georgetown, I am constantly reminded of the power religion has to unite those of different faiths and allow us to cross our narrow bridge.

Bridging Divides Through Inquiry

Carly Kabot

W

ho I am as both a Jew and a person begins with my grandparents’ bookshelf.

Their bookshelf was my first window to my Jewish heritage, with stories that took me from the Old City of Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee. These tales of people, places and pain allowed me to understand not only history, but also how I too am part of a much greater story that will always be unfinished.

Growing up, every book I read meant time spent curled up beside my grandfather, attempting to answer the moral questions he posed. He always seemed to have the answers, yet he always prodded me until I found them myself. At 8 years old, I stumbled upon what would become my greatest enigma: seven simple words. On the cover of what appeared as an ordinary siddur — or Jewish prayer book — read “all the world is a nar-

row bridge.” After finally discovering the meaning of the quote a decade later, I realized it embodied a universal need to speak across difference in the pursuit of unity.

I desperately yearned to discern the truth behind the quote on the cover of that siddur to no avail. But my grandfather taught me that sometimes knowledge cannot be learned –– it has to be experienced. My adolescence was defined by this Jewish spirit of inquiry, influenced by the fictitious characters I had grown up with. Though their stories were diverse, they all challenged normalities in their communities for the sake of righteousness.

Years later, I once again sat beside my grandfather, this time at Rosh Hashanah services listening to the Rabbi’s sermon. “The whole world is a narrow bridge, and the essential thing is not to fear at all.”

I nearly began shouting in a silent sanctuary. I realized the quote had a second part.

Two weeks into my time at Georgetown University, I lost my grandfather. Upon his death, I began to realize why after all these years the quote mattered so much to me: It was exactly how he saw the world and how he wanted me to see it, too.

My grandfather saw reli-

gion as a conversation, not an argument. The irony in my grandfather’s funeral was that he was eulogized by a Protestant pastor. What bonded my grandfather, who grew up as an Orthodox Jew before becoming deeply involved in the Reform Movement, to this pastor was precisely that perspective. He was an innately curious man, and he never asked a question without the intent to learn from others. I strive to emulate his genuine interest in the thoughts and feelings of others, regardless of how they differed from his own. His books allowed me to see beyond the limited lens we as individuals are given; his life taught me the importance of doing so.

Surrounded by preachers, rabbis and imams here at Georgetown, I am constantly reminded of the power religion has to unite those of different faiths and allow us to cross our narrow bridge.

Those first steps are daunting, but we must remember that words unspoken become hearts unchanged. We cannot be afraid of the world. The only thing to be afraid of is our own inability to think we are not courageous enough to make it into what we want; a place of tolerance awaits us on the other side.

I hear my grandfather in every question I ask someone new at this institution, awestruck at the willingness of others to teach me what books cannot about what it means to be Catholic, or Muslim, or Hindu, and everything in between, but, most of all, what it means to be human. History is only half the story; humanity is the other. Each book from my grandparents’ shelf was a piece of who I would later become –– a piece put into place by the people I would meet and the perspectives they would share. For while novels can give you knowledge, only relationships can help you understand empathy.

Growing up in a family where the value of chesed, or lovingkindness, meant everything, I know I am prepared to cross this narrow bridge.

From the moment I found that fateful siddur to where I am now, I’ve learned that if we can ask difficult questions, act with empathy and live with compassion toward all, we will move forward. To my grandfather, to my family and to me, that is what being Jewish is all about.

Carly Kabot is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service.

INTERFAITH INSIGHTS appears online every other Wednesday.

VIEWPOINT • YAMAKAITIS

‘I Had Little Hope’: CAPS Fails LGBTQ Students This article discusses suicide and selfharm. Please refer to the end of the article for resources on and off campus.

The first time I seriously considered suicide, it was 2014 and I wasn’t depressed. I was 15 and closeted. Growing up in an extremely orthodox Catholic home, I knew my parents would never accept me as queer and figured I was better off dead.

The first time I actually attempted suicide, it was March 2017, and I was 18 and severely depressed. I never thought I’d accomplish anything with the constant feeling of sadness that weighed upon me. After about a year of medication changes, several diagnoses and another suicide attempt, I was finally stabilized. This time included the end of high school, the beginning of my time at Georgetown University and a medical leave from the university.

The third time I attempted suicide, it was March 2019 and I was back at Georgetown after one succesful full semester. I was halfway through my second semester and I wasn’t depressed. I was 20 and closeted again, seriously questioning my gender. I thought about my stringently Catholic parents who believed any deviation from cisgender, heterosexual norms was a mental disorder. My driving force to attempt to take my life was the thought my parents would rather have a dead daughter than a living son.

I knew any form of transition I wished to take would mean breaking their hearts. I wanted to live but I didn’t want to go through the struggle of being trans, and I certainly didn’t want to hurt my parents whom I loved so much. I figured the mourning process for death was easier than coming to terms with your child’s transition.

After I survived that attempt, I found myself facing down a team of psychiatrists, therapists, medical students, deans and, of course, Georgetown Counseling and Psychiatric Services, the university’s primary mental health care provider.

All these people insisted I should take a medical leave — return to my home with my homophobic parents for at least the next year and work out what they saw as merely mental health struggles. I fought tooth-and-nail to be allowed to stay on campus, explaining how toxic my home life was and that I no longer identified as female. CAPS and the team of doctors finally agreed that I could return for the remainder of the spring semester on the condition that I attend a residential program, a rehabilitation center for depression, for the summer once I’d finished my final exams.

I agreed.

For the next month and a half, I kept up with classes and attempted to delve back into student life.

But near the end of April, right before finals season, I hit a rough

patch. I retreated into old self-sabotaging behavior by self-harming, and I experienced a few panic attacks. That’s when I made my greatest mistake: I went to CAPS to ask for help.

I said I was worried about my safety and explained my history.

They suggested I go to Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, where I had stayed in March after my suicide attempt. I complied, naively assuming they could prescribe me something for anxiety.

We were nearing the study break days, and I figured I could afford a stay in the psychiatric ward for a few days if that were necessary.

CAPS officially states they do not compel any student to go on medical leave and that they simply recommend it. However, within two days of my stay at the hospital, my dean and a CAPS team sat me down and told me I had no choice: They wanted me to immediately go to a rehabilitation program.When I asked if I could at least take my finals first, they told me that was simply not possible. To ensure I didn’t fail my classes — since they were demanding I leave campus — I had to take a medical leave. I asked when I could return to campus; they informed me that for a fall return, I would have to complete a significant amount of paperwork by June 30. This paperwork included a letter from a current therapist saying I was prepared to attend Georgetown again, a note from a nonfamilial community

observer such as a supervisor at work and a personal statement from me.

Following my brief stay at Georgetown Medstar, I attended a residential program in Tennessee, which was not only segregated by biological gender, but was also staffed by professionals who had little to no knowledge of LGBTQ issues. My primary therapist at the program insisted that any questioning of my gender was a result of either past trauma or body image issues and that my queer sexuality could easily be a phase.

This program was the place CAPS recommended as a good fit for a young person who had newly decided to go by he/him pronouns and change their name to a more gender neutral one — changes they were fully aware of since March.

I was discharged from the residential center June 10, giving me less than three weeks to find volunteer work or a job, as well as a therapist, to complete my paperwork for a fall return. I emailed a local animal shelter that day, started my volunteer work and therapy that week, and I was luckily able to get all of my paperwork submitted by June 30. At that point, CAPS notified me it would take up to four weeks for them to make a decision.

About three weeks into July, my therapist in New Jersey let me know he had spoken to CAPS. My therapist agreed it was best

for me was to return to school, where I have a support system in my friends. Georgetown and its stress culture have never made me suicidal, and my therapist felt being at home in New Jersey with my unsupportive family was significantly worse for my mental health. He told CAPS all of this, but informed me they pushed back on his assertion that I should return to school. They would most likely stand by their recommended four to six months of leave.

After this meeting with my therapist, I had little hope. Within a week, I received the official email that I would not be welcome to return to Georgetown in fall 2019. The letter from CAPS itself was addressed to my birth name, which I no longer go by, showing how little they cared about my gender identity.

With no other options, this decision meant I would be staying with my homophobic parents for the fall semester. My parents, who refer to transitioning as “self-mutilation” and frequently compare same-sex attraction to alcoholism.

I appealed the decision to the assistant vice president for student health services via email, explaining that I lived with parents who threatened me as a teenager with conversion therapy. I explained that I had hopes to begin hormone replacement therapy while away at school in Washington, D.C. — a step that would

certainly improve my health but one I could not take under my parents’ watchful eyes. About a week later, the assistant vice president interviewed me, and I elaborated further. However, the decision still was not overturned.

I want to believe that CAPS is trying to do their best by LGBTQ students. But while everyone employed by CAPS goes through training to handle queer and trans students, they still must do better. For many of us, our mental health struggles often stem from growing up in environments in which being who we’re born to be is frowned upon or even punished. We’ve spent years trying to figure out ways to escape — and some of us do, through higher education. To send a student back to the environment from which their issues stem is irresponsible.

Though these situations are difficult to navigate and no option is without risk, I hope one day CAPS would choose to place the LGBTQ student with their support system rather than a family that incites their suicidal ideation.

BERNIE YAMAKAITIS is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service.

Resources: On-campus resources include Health Education Services (202687-8949); additional off-campus resources include the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255) and the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth (866-488-7386).

A4

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

PAGE FOUR

INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Kennedy Center is hosting the Reach Opening Festival from Sept. 7 to 22 to kick off the opening of the center’s major expansion. Story on A9.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

IN FOCUS

HK PROTESTS PERSIST

verbatim

“

We did it to remind the world that this is the cost, and any one of you, your friends, your family could be us.”

Nadia Milleron, who lost a daughter in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Story on A8.

from our blog

KATRINA SCHMIDT/THE HOYA

After anonymous messages in Red Square debated Hong Kong and China’s relationship last week, pro-Hong Kong protestors demonstrated and hung posters drawing attention to issues of police brutality in the special administrative region of China.

HOPING PUMPKIN SPICE WHITE CLAW IS REAL? We’re still sweaty in D.C., but dreams of hay bales and GU finally making March Madness are just around the corner. Start brainstorming your “sexy” cat costume now — tail required. blog.thehoya.com

Slavery’s Legacy Finds Focus Amid Wharf Development YOLANDA SPURA Hoya Staff Writer

Five hundred feet from the port that carried members of the 272 enslaved people sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in 1838 to financially sustain Georgetown University, plans for redevelopment of the Wharf have lined the southwest Washington, D.C. waterfront with new restaurants, shops and apartment complexes.

While plans to construct commercial establishments and residential buildings are already more than halfway completed, designs to examine and remember the history of the former slave depot have also emerged. From explicit references to a failed escape attempt by enslaved people to restaurants that draw influence from cultures touched by the Atlantic slave trade, the Wharf’s development is attempting to walk the line between acknowledging the past and giving new signifiance to historic spaces.

RECONNECTING WITH THE PAST

Nearly 200 years after the members of the 272 enslaved people sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in 1838 to financially sustain Georgetown set sail from the D.C. wharf, community members and those involved in the site’s redevelopment are taking steps to acknowledge the Wharf’s complex and dark history with slavery.

The Wharf finished Phase 1 of its development Oct. 12, 2017, in which 900 residential units were built, estimating to hold 2,000 people, according to WTOP. Phase 2 of the Wharf’s development began in March and is set to finish in 2022. The plans include an additional 1.25 million square feet of hotel, residential and office space, according to the Wharf’s website.

As a part of the redevelopment process, the Wharf worked alongside a committee of volunteers created by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission to identify important aspects of history to consolidate into medallions to be displayed on the boardwalk.

The purpose of this project was to inspire curiosity in visitors, according to Emily Eig, an architectural historian and preservation specialist who conducted most of the histori-

cal research on the Wharf.

“It was the idea that it’s a little tidbit that you can take and go, ‘Hmm, I’m interested in that,’” Eig said. “That might come up just by reading two sentences, or a long sentence, and that’s kind of an exciting project, really making accessible history.”

Outside the Wharf’s institutionalized development efforts, however, chef Kwame Onwuachi opened new restaurant Kith and Kin in 2017 in hopes to recognize the complex legacies of the Atlantic and domestic slave trade.

The restaurant is located within InterContinental D.C. and tells a story through its menu that stands in stark contrast to that of the modern glass buildings and upscale shops that surround the newly developed Wharf. Founder Onwuachi created the restaurant to serve homestyle AfroCarribean food to honor his diverse heritage and the complex and dark history of the District’s waterfront regarding to slavery.

Onwuachi, who is of Nigerian, Jamaican, West African and Caribbean heritage, grew up in the Bronx but lived with his relatives in Nigeria for two years during his childhood.

When Onwuachi got an offer to run a restaurant inside the InterContinental, he became inspired by his family legacy as well as the Wharf’s history, according to The New York Times.

“I could either do an elaborate tasting menu or I could do something to honor my ancestors,” Onwuachi said in an interview with The New York Times. “I hadn’t seen anything representing them in that vein — a place to celebrate our food while celebrating a special occasion.”

Beyond intentionally centering ancestral influences within Kith and Kin’s cuisine, Onwuachi has actively highlighted Kith and Kin’s historical connections to the domestic slave trade and invoked the memory of the GU272.

“272 slaves were sold to save Georgetown University from bankruptcy in the 1800s, and the community was ripped apart. The ship would have left from where Kith/Kin is today,” Onwuachi wrote in a Facebook post. “Slavery is not our history. It is the disruption of our history. That’s what Kith/Kin is about.”

Though efforts in the Wharf to acknowledge the site’s

complicated history are important, a more active analysis is necessary to make meaningful progress, Maya Moretta (COL ’21), a member of the GU272 Advocacy Team, said.

(Full Disclosure: Maya Moretta is a former member of the editorial board) “I think it’s a great first step, but I hope that everybody can begin to think more critically about the legacies of slavery, not just in the historical lens but also making connections to all of the capital and wealth we have now,” Moretta said.

A PROFITABLE HISTORY

From the District’s Wharf, many of the 272 enslaved people sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus left the nation’s capital for the Deep South, where many descendants still reside today in Maringouin, La. Though the Wharf played a central role in facilitating the sale and transport of these people, the location’s legacy as a hub of the domestic slave trade is not always so quickly remembered.

In the 19th century, the District became a center of domestic slave trade, with the Wharf being one of the most active depots of the nation.

Nestled between slaveholding states Virginia and Maryland, the District facilitated the sale of people in the Chesapeake Bay Region and the Deep South, which saw an increasing demand from the production of cotton.

In 1800, for every one free black resident, four enslaved people lived in the capital, and, by 1820, approximately 6,400 slaves inhabited the District. Enslaved African Americans built some of the Wharf’s original infrastructure and worked at the tobacco plantations along the riverside.

However, many enslaved people also used the Wharf as a means to escape to Pennsylvania or New Jersey, according to WAMU. Among these slaves were 77 people who attempted to escape on a ship called Pearl. The attempt, while unsuccessful, helped spur protests which led to the Compromise of 1850, ending the slave trade in D.C. Though establishments like Kith and Kin are attracting attention to the Wharf’s historical ties to the domestic and Atlantic slave trade, the redevelopment of the Wharf has contributed to displacement of local communities.

Gentrification and devel-

opment has displaced thousands in the District, and this displacement is occurring at the highest rates in Ward 6, where the Wharf is located. In some Ward 6 neighborhoods, low-income residents have decreased from being over 70% of the neighborhood makeup to nearly 20% percent.

While the Wharf has attempted to discuss slavery as part of its history, the redevelopment plan did not include any plans to erect a memorial recognizing its role in perpetuating slavery, according to Eig.

PRESERVING CULTURAL MEMORY

A complicated history also makes the process of remembrance more complex, as there is no one way to tell the whole story. Segregation and racism have prevented the public construction of a generational memory of slavery, imbuing cultural artifacts with great significance, said Eric Langenbacher, a Georgetown professor who teaches a proseminar called “Politics and Memory” in the School of Foreign Service.

“The memory of slavery and its effects is almost like a kind of cultural memory

from the get-go in this country,” Langenbacher said in an interview with The Hoya. “[This] means that … those external raw materials that have to do with the food, memorials, documents, testimonies that exist are going to be all the more important, because we don’t have people with actual real experiences to help to construct that memory to it.”

By honoring the legacy of Onwuachi’s heritage, which is rooted in the African diaspora, Kith and Kin is one example of an attempt to preserve cultural memory and recognize the history of slavery in the Wharf area.

Though Onwuachi chooses to preserve the historical legacy of those sold in the Atlantic and domestic slave trade through food, Georgetown students have pursued other avenues to remember the enslaved perople shipped from the Wharf, whose suffering has benefited and continues to benefit countless students.

Artwork dedicated to the GU272 and student-led outreach trips to descendant communities are a few of the ways students have grappled with the legacy of slavery.

The GU272 Advocacy Team

has been a proponent of student organizing on campus, from leading community organizing events and educating students on the ways the 272 enslaved people have impacted Georgetown’s campus to drafting the referendum on the reconciliation fee that students voted on in April.

However, the 1838 sale is not the only instance that the university has benefited from the institution of slavery, and students should not limit their memory and focus to just one instance, Moretta said.

“Almost every building that was built before 1860 on Georgetown’s campus and in the neighborhood was built because of the institution of slavery,” Moretta said. “Buildings that we still currently inhabit and purchase coffee from are places where extreme violence and trauma occurred.”

Although the fee is a heroic effort, it can never truly make amends for Georgetown’s actions, Langenbacher said.

“All efforts will always be inadequate given the severity of the crimes, but any effort is better than no effort at all, because you’re at least hopefully achieving a semblance of healing,” Langenbacher said.

DISTRICT WHARF

As a part of a development plan, the Wharf installed medallions along the boardwalk, commemorating the complex history of slavery in the District. The second phase of the development is set to be finished in 2022.

NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

THE HOYA

A5

Rangila Celebrates 25 Years, Blommer Relocation Put Will Showcase Live Music On Hold Pending Review RACHEL FRIEDMAN Hoya Staff Writer

Rangila marks its 25th anniversary this year and will use the showcase to pay homage to the individuals who shaped it over the years while introducing new elements like live music.

Rangila, Georgetown University’s annual, student-run philanthropic showcase of South Asian dance, includes an average of 500 dancers, 1,500 audience members and $30,000 raised for India-based charities per showcase.

This year’s 25th anniversary show, set for Nov. 22 to 23 in Gaston Hall, is themed “Make Your Mark.” This theme aims to celebrate Rangila’s past while simultaneously keeping the show rooted in the present, according to Rangila co-coordinator Anshul Agrawal (COL ’20).

“We’re really trying to highlight the individuals that have shaped Rangila over the past 25 years as well as the individuals that are shaping it in its 25th year,” Agrawal said. “I think ‘Make Your Mark’ is the perfect amalgamation of that.”

While the show primarily features South Asian music, many of the choreographers also incorporate pop, rap and Latin music into their dances.

Agrawal’s past dances have included genres ranging from traditional South Asian music to newer Bollywood tracks and rap songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA.” Such variety helps show the dynamism of South Asian culture, according to Agrawal.

“What Rangila strives to celebrate is how universal South Asian music and dance can be,” Agrawal said. “With most shows of this nature it’s either totally South Asian or it’s not very cultural at all, and I think Rangila brings a good mix because ultimately it’s a fusion showcase.”

This year Rangila will broad-

en its celebration of South Asian culture with its first inhouse band, Saaz, composed of instrumentalists and vocalists from the Georgetown community that will perform their own original compositions inspired by South Asian music, according to Agrawal.

This new element will expand Rangila’s cultural showcase to highlight areas beyond the choreographed aspect of the show, according to Raas dance co-choreographer Anika Sanghvi (SFS ’22).

“Introducing a band makes it not as much dance-focused and more just about South Asian culture, and it broadens the scope of what Rangila is,” Sanghvi said in an interview with The Hoya.

A key but often forgotten aspect of Rangila is its philanthropy, according to Sanghvi. Each year the Rangila philanthropic board selects an India-based charity to which they donate the show’s proceeds.

This year, the money raised from Rangila will go toward Behala Anwesha The Quest, a nonprofit organization based in Kolkata, India, that supports children with disabilities through music and dance therapies, according to their website.

Anwesha’s mission of helping children with disabilities develop their confidence aligns closely with Rangila’s own, according to Agrawal.

“Their mission was something that we were really excited about because we also seek to empower people through music and dance,” Agrawal said.

Rangila’s collaboration with Anwesha is particularly important given that mental and physical disability is rarely discussed in South Asian or American communities, according to Agrawal.

“Issues of disability and the privilege that comes with being able-bodied is not something that we talk about too often,” he said. “So I was very excited

for the Rangila community to engage with that issue this year by supporting Anwesha.”

Last year, the $30,000 raised from Rangila went to Prerana Anti-Human Trafficking, a nonprofit institution working toward ending the cycle of sex trafficking in India. Rangila has also partnered with Lend-AHand India, a nonprofit venture that provides vocational training to youth in rural and urban communities, and The Next Purpose, a nonprofit group that establishes sustainable medical and educational projects in underserved communities in India, in previous years.

Through dance, music and philanthropy, Rangila has fostered an important cultural community on Georgetown’s campus for the past 25 years, especially among South Asian students, according to the Bulldog Bhangra dance choreographer, Syona Hariharan (SFS ’22).

“It’s definitely given me a much better sense of community and family,” Hariharan said.

Rangila has also provided an important opportunity for South Asian students to share their culture and feel represented and appreciated on Georgetown’s predominantly white campus, according to Hariharan.

“It’s nice to feel like people are interested in my culture and have such a positive attitude toward it,” Hariharan said.

Agrawal is looking forward to shouldering the responsibility of coordinating this year’s cultural showcase despite the 25th anniversary’s added significance, he said.

“Regardless of whatever year it was — whether it was the 24th or 100th—I’d feel the same amount of pressure simply because Rangila is such a huge event with so many people involved,” Agrawal said.

“It’s a whole lot of talent, it’s a whole lot of dedication, and it’s a whole lot of enthusiasm for the culture.”

Center for Social Justice Building Expands, Increases Workspace KATRINA SCHMIDT AND RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writers

Extensive renovations to the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service’s home in Poulton Hall will be completed in October, providing expanded space for CSJ programs and staff.

Once limited to a central room with offices lining its perimeter, the addition will add meeting rooms and offices for both the CSJ and justice and peace studies faculty, who will now have dedicated office space, according to CSJ Associate Director Ray Shiu. The building’s former UPS store, which closed in 2017 and faced 37th Street, will be fully incorporated into the building. The ribbon cutting ceremony Oct. 25 will be during the CSJ’s Education for Liberation Week, marking the developments and challenges in the field.

The CSJ is a collection of education, research and service programs intended to further social justice in the community. Founded in 2001, it was originally located in St. Mary’s Hall. The CSJ moved to Poulton Hall not long after its creation, and although minor updates have been made in the years since, the current construction is the first major renovation, Shiu wrote in an email. Shiu estimated that the construction will be completed by early October.

The CSJ’s Executive Director, Andria Wisler, worked with several university departments throughout her tenure to develop a design to meet CSJ’s faculty, staff and student needs with this renovation.

“CSJ will have a new front door opening onto 37th Street, and will serve as a visible symbol of our University’s commitment to social justice and the common good,” Wisler wrote in an email. “This is a commitment that CSJ enacts every day.”

Students who work with the CSJ’s programs, which includes over 1,800 students per semester, study, tutor and hold meetings in the space. Joey Fernandez (SFS ’20), a DC Schools Project coordinator, wrote in a message to The Hoya that the building provides necessary

working space.

“Poulton Hall and the CSJ is an amazing space that provides student leaders the freedom to organize and develop programs for the local D.C. community,” Fernandez wrote. “My favorite use for the space is when we bring local elementary and middle school students for free tutoring services.”

The new rooms will facilitate more interaction between CSJ student coordinators and provide spaces to improve working relationships, DC Schools Project Coordinator Kelly Membreno Berrios (MSB ’20) said.

“It is going to be great to have more space to be able to work with your own program and then also be in community with other CSJ programs that we don’t really get to interact on the daily with,” Membreno said.

Despite the ongoing construction in the CSJ building, students and staff have not been impacted by the renovations, according to Membreno.

“They are still working on building the back — where the UPS was — so a lot of stuff has shifted around and you can hear the construction,” Membreno said. “But I will say this, the first time I walked into the CSJ when this semester started, I had no idea the construction was even going on.”

In recent years, Georgetown has funded the renovation of common spaces across campus, including Sellinger Lounge, Cooper Field and O’Donovan Hall. The university’s funding of the CSJ renovations affirms the social justice work that the CSJ with dozens of community partners and hundreds of Washington, D.C. families each week, according to Membreno.

“We’ve seen so many other spaces on campus be renovated, and it is good to know that a center that dedicated itself to social justice and being about the larger D.C. community is also given attention,” Membreno said.

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

The Center for Social Justice renovations will expand into the former UPS storefront. The added space will be used for new offices.

ANYA HOWKO-JOHNSON AND MYROSLAV DOBROSHYNSKYI Hoya Staff Writers

Blommer Science Library’s future will be reevaluated by a committee of Georgetown University faculty, undergraduates and graduate students after the library’s relocation was put on hold over the summer, a reversal from previous plans to permanently close the library last spring.

Last April, the university informed students and faculty that Blommer would permanently close and its materials would be relocated to Lauinger Library due to necessary renovations to the x Science Building. The renovation was prompted by facilities issues including flooding and mold that have repeatedly damaged the books and journals stored in Blommer. Following the announcement about Blommer’s closure, students started a petition to the administration to keep the library open.

The university plans to establish a new committee to draft a set of recommendations concerning the future utilization of the library space, according to Kathryn Olesko, chair of the Main Campus Executive Committee and professor in the Science, Technology and International Affairs department in the School of Foreign Service.

“For the moment, the decision to close Blommer is rescinded until the needs of students and science and science-related faculty in the College, SFS (STIA) and SNHS can be taken into account in order to best meet their needs in Blommer and Lauinger,” Olesko wrote in an email to The Hoya.

In response to feedback relating to the potential closure, the provost and the Main Campus Executive Faculty Steering Committee will create the Blommer Library Faculty Review Committee. The review committee, comprised of faculty, undergraduates and graduate students, will examine the future of services, collections and study spaces in the library.

The process of drafting the recommendations is expected to last several months, according to Olesko.

“The MCEF-Provostial Blommer Library Review Committee will complete its work during the fall semester, or

at the latest, early January,” Olesko wrote. “At that time it will send its report to both the Provost and the Main Campus Executive Faculty Steering Committee for review.”

As reflected by the petition, many students expressed concerns they would lose access to the valuable resources Blommer’s collection offers following the closure, such as access to many science course textbooks that can pose a financial burden for students, according to Yixuan Zhao (COL ’22).

“For my hard science classes, I always check Blommer before buying the textbooks.

A lot of the time they’ll have them and it saves me hundreds of dollars,” Zhao said in an interview with The Hoya.

The majority of the library’s collections were planned to be relocated to Lau, while the few that were to be stored off campus at the Washington Research Library Consortium’s Shared Collections Facility would have been made available via HoyaSearch, the library’s search engine. Currently, there are science research materials in both Blommer and Lau and the move was also intended to consolidate the materials in one location.

Students also raised con-

cerns about Blommer’s closure, as it is the only library in close proximity to Reiss, providing a convenient study space for students between classes and those residing in Darnall Hall, Henle Village and Arrupe Hall.

While there is no announced date for when the relocation will take place, students can expect Blommer to be relocated to Lau sometime next year, according to Rebecca Hollister (COL ’21).

“As far as I know Blommer materials are going to be relocated in June of 2020,” Hollister wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“So there are still two semesters of Blommer access! Right now we’re operating as normal.”

Blommer, which houses more than 60,000 books and journals and provides extensive research opportunities for students looking for resources relating to STEM subjects, will remain open without interruption to its regular hours while the Blommer Review Committee drafts its recommendations concerning the future of the library.

“No changes will be made to the current operations and services in the Blommer Science Library,” the library said in a news release.

JULIA GIGANTE FOR THE HOYA

Blommer Science Library, which was set to be permanently closed last spring, remains open as the university establishes a review committee.

Emphasize Intersectionality In HIV Advocacy, Activist Says RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writer

Activists need to center intersectionality when advocating for those who are HIV positive, Charles Stephens, founder of the Counter Narrative Project, said in an event Sept. 8.

The Counter Narrative Project, in solidarity with other social and racial justice movements, seeks to empower and amplify the voices of black gay men, according to its website. The organization aims to highlight their stories while encouraging voter registration, reducing crystal meth usage, improving HIV prevention medication accessibility, offering peer coaching and promoting the arts.

Although the Counter Narrative Project’s work is centered on the lives of black gay men, HIV advocacy connects this group to other individuals fighting the virus as well, according to Stephens.

“To talk about HIV is to talk about intersectionality because we see an interplay of race and class and gender identity and sexual identity and economic distress,” Stephens said. “Just so many forces and factors contributing to one’s social vulnerability but also as a space of joy, as a space of finding ways to be resilient collectively.”

The disability studies program hosted the event entitled “We Are Here: Anti-Black Racism, HIV Justice, and Future of Our Movement” in Copley Formal Lounge on Sunday. Stephens shared a series of videos featuring prominent HIV activists and encouraged an active dialogue with the audience throughout his presentation.

Sharing stories of black gay men living with HIV is a cornerstone of the Counter Narra-

tive Project because it has the capacity to shape public policy and impact hearts and minds, according to Stephens.

“One of the things that I have been passionate about for my entire activist life really has been just wanting to use collective memory as a way to respond to injustice, wanting to take the stories of the movements I’m a part of, taking those stories and presenting them as evidence of our community resilience and resis-

“Criminalization isn’t just about putting people behind bars – which it is – but it is an entire system.”

CHARLES STEPHENS Founder, Counter Narrative Project

tance,” Stephens said.

Stephens highlighted HIV activist Robert Suttle’s narrative throughout the event. Suttle was incarcerated in Louisiana for six months in 2010 after he was accused of failing to disclose his HIV positive status before a sexual encounter, according to the website of his advocacy organization, The Sero Project.

Suttle’s story and prosecution under Louisiana’s “Intentional Exposure to AIDS Virus” statute prompts broader conversations surrounding laws that criminalize those with HIV, according to Stephens.

The statute is similar to laws in 19 states that require people with HIV to disclose their positive status to sexual partners, according to a 2018 Center for Disease Control study.

Other laws criminalize peo-

ple with HIV for “low or negligible risk behavior” like biting or spitting. Such legislation needs to be updated to better reflect the scientific realities of HIV, according to Stephens.

“Many public health associations and professionals have come out and said these laws are bad for public health and I think the question that we ask ourselves is: ‘What is optimal for public health and what is not optimal?’” Stephens said.

“These laws are just not seen as optimal. They are seen as very harmful.”

HIV criminalization expands beyond the traditional incarceration as those with HIV also have to face the court of public opinion, according to Stephens.

“Criminalization isn’t just about putting people behind bars — which it is — but it is an entire system. People are criminalized in the media,” Stephens said. “Often times when people are charged and it makes its way to certain media outlets, they are convicted and tried by the media and you will see this horribly stigmatizing information before they even go before a judge.”

Throughout the presentation, Stephens shared quotes from famous advocates who influenced the Counter Narrative Project, including writer Joseph Beam and poet Essex Hemphill.

However, lesser known activists’ stories also inspire the organization’s work, according to Stephens.

“There may not ever be books written about them.

There may never be major movies about their lives but we hold their work in our hearts, in our work, in the DNA of our organization,” Stephens said.

“When I think about what is means to resist anti-blackness in the HIV movement, I think about mainly them.”

A6

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

GUSA Senators Propose Abolishing Auxiliary Club Funding GUSA FUND, from A1 diversity-related events, civic engagement and the arts.

However, the majority of the fund is unassigned, allowing for discretion by the committee throughout the year, according to the GUSA website.

GUSA President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20) oppose abolishing the GUSA Fund because the majority of organizations served by the fund last year catered to women and minority student organizations, according to Olvera.

“Norman and I believe that abolishing GUSA Fund is a direct attack on student groups who serve underrepresented populations, since they make up the majority of GUSA Fund’s recipients,” Olvera wrote in an email to The Hoya. “GUSA is meant to serve all students, and it disappoints us that they would want to take this opportunity away from communities that are already lacking in proper resources.”

But the fund has failed to provide all student groups the support they need and

should reallocate the resources to clubs directly, rather than through GUSA Fund, according to Nugent.

“I believe that it is our duty as senators to represent student interests above our own, and the money that will be saved by abolishing GUSA Fund will ultimately be reallocated to the student clubs we know and love,” Nugent wrote.

Former Transition FinApp Chair Matthew Buckwald (COL ’20), whose resignation from his position in the senate was announced Aug. 30, formally introduced legislation to amend the GUSA bylaws to abolish the GUSA Fund on Aug. 29.

“The GUSA Finance & Appropriations committee is tasked with ensuring that student funds are responsibly appropriated to enhance student activities,” the act said.

“The GUSA Fund has not sufficiently provided responsible monetary support to student activities.”

The conversation around the GUSA Fund’s abolition has been ongoing for years but has been especially prominent in recent months, according to

Senator Samuel Dubke (SFS ’21), who ran against Nugent for transition FinApp chair.

While the fund’s many flaws should be addressed, its principles should be preserved and reformed, according to Dubke.

“In the past, this fund has been misused, by providing money to groups that did not need it, and by lacking clear regulations or oversight,” Dubke wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Nevertheless, the core value behind GUSA Fund - that we should be able to help those organizations that slip through the cracks of advisory boards’ stringent regulations - remains relevant.”

Though the GUSA Fund members are officially approved by the executive branch, the senate should increase their attention to the fund, according to Dubke.

“The Senate, which has allocated millions of dollars for years through the Finance and Appropriations Committee, should have much greater oversight over GUSA Fund,” Dubke wrote. “The fund’s charter should be rewritten, and new, reformed-minded leadership should take over.”

SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA

Newly elected GUSA senate finance and appropriations committee Chair Harrison Nugent (SFS ’20), left, endorsed a proposal to abolish the GUSA Fund, which provides clubs with supplemental funding.

The GUSA senate intends to vote on the GUSA Fund’s proposed abolition in upcoming meetings, according to Nugent. If the senate does pass a proposal to abolish the fund in coming weeks,

the executive will challenge the legislation, according to Olvera.

“I’m not sure why this is a controversial/divisive issue within GUSA, but if the Senate were to advocate for

the abolishment of this fund Norman and I are prepared to fight against it,” Olvera wrote.

Hoya Staff Writer Riley Rogerson contributed reporting.

Fall Fellows Discuss Polarized Political Climate Parents Pressure City To Reconsider Field Privileges GUPOLITICS, from A1

town. I think you need to know how to navigate it, though. One of the things we can do here is help students tap into that.

COLYER: Yeah, and so there’s some really unique paths that kids can put together here at Georgetown. When I was here, I was economics and pre-med, which is something nobody would have let you do, but at Georgetown, talking about service, I really think that the students that I’m meeting, they’re different. They really do want to serve, they’re thinking about it and they won’t take no for an answer.

FIELD, from A1

What are your discussion groups about? Why did you choose that topic?

BURKS: So I’m going to be talking about politics meets policy and really exploring how political decisions or political electoral outcomes are affected by policy debates and how policy debates are driven by electoral decisions and sort of that interplay.

And I think for me the reason it’s important to think about these issues and really work through them is that I think there’s a lot of disaffection generally in today’s body politic, and a lot of that is because of a disconnect between our politics and our policies. And so, trying to think through that.

COLYER: So in my session we’re going to look at strategy and we’re going to look at service. And that you’re here to serve, to make a difference and what are some of the strategies and then how do you apply them to different things, how do you apply them to your career, how do you apply them to healthcare and health policy and how does that system really work on a really personal level.

TRAVERS: I’m going to be looking at how you cover the White House in this era of Trump and what rules he has changed, maybe permanently, and how this could be the new norm for covering an administration … The question I get asked all the time when people hear what I do is ‘What’s it really like?’ It’s exactly like you think, but a thousand times more crazy. Everything you see is exactly what it is, and then just assume way worse. So pulling back the curtain on what that’s like, and then how this toxic climate of president hates the media but he also relies so heavily on the media and there is truth to what he says about the media needing him because people are tuning into us because he drives so much coverage, but how that has spilled over into people’s cynicisms about the entire process.

Students interested in your respective fields may already be interested in talking with you, but why might other students who don’t share those interests benefit from talking with you?

DALTON: What I hope students will come talk to me about is if they have an interest in politics but aren’t sure if it’s a career for them, if they’re a really strong writer, you know, I was also a history minor. If you have these kinds of

FILE PHOTO: KIRK ZEISER/THE HOYA

The fall 2019 cohort of Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service fellows shared their hopes for mutually constructive interactions with students this semester in a Sept. 6 interview with interests, come talk to us and explore what kind of career opportunities are out there.

When I was an undergrad, I thought of political communications as C.J. Cregg on the West Wing, and that’s about it. There’s such a wider world of opportunity out there, speechwriters, researchers, digital communications today. And to understand what kind of roles and opportunities there are out there in the world for your specific talents I think is something that all of can offer in our respective fields but hopefully one that students will really take advantage of.

ery part of our life, whether we believe it or not or want it to or not. And so I think that whether you’re a physics major or pre-med track or interested in a very specific path in politics, I think you will get something out of any number of our discussions. Either just to see a different perspective on the world and expand your worldview or to see how your particular issue gets affected by policy and politics.

“I’m really excited to learn from students and have a refeshment of the cynicism of Washington.”

BURKS: I think one of the big misconceptions out there is the intensity of the disagreements on substance mean that you’re that intensely disagreeable with each other. I have a ton of friends who are on the left side of the political spectrum, and always have and hope I always will, and so I think one of the benefits of coming to campuses, hopefully showing students that in the real world you don’t have to be at each other’s throats just because you disagree with each other.

TRAVERS: I think what we see of the disagreements, we’re seeing it through Twitter, and we’re seeing it through one minute of a video where people are just shouting at each other and the rhetoric is just so nasty in those spaces but that doesn’t necessarily reflect what happens in meetings or what happens on the hill. People are passionate of course and are going to fight for their side, but I think we’re unfortunately boiling everything

KAREN TRAVERS White House Correspondent, ABC News

COYLER: Students looking forward, I think you can have multiple careers and you can even have dual careers. I still do surgery and was involved in politics. You can go and create some interesting things, and this group of people has a really diverse experience in that. And you can still participate in all of these there, and so we want people to visit whether your a physics student or whatever. We want to visit with you, we want to see what your thinking about.

VALENCIA: Policy and politics impacts everything, ev-

GUPolitics tries to bring together a diverse group from different backgrounds and ideologies. How might you model discourse even through disagreement at a time when polarization is a real issue?

in policy and politics down to those fights right now and there’s so much more happening in this town.

I think especially with the advocacy work, it’s not the fight of the mechanics of legislation but it’s doing very important, significant communications to get a message out there and I don’t think people realize that that type of stuff is happening in this town. Everyone just thinks it’s gridlock on the hill and the president can’t get anything done and that’s it.

There’s a lot happening in this town that should give reason for optimism but all we see — because of my industry — is focusing on the cynicism and negativity.

VALENCIA: And I think also just the kind of group we have here, you know the bipartisan design of the program. I mean here you have somebody, I mean I worked for Barack Obama for 10 years of my life almost and he worked for Paul Ryan, where can we model really good behavior to students in having conversation about where we can find common ground and how we can work on issues like immigration, we were starting to talk about that last night, so I think we will be able to create a sense and space among ourselves that can be modeled to the broader community that I hope we will take away from this also.

DALTON: And be a rejection of some of the toxic politics that I think we all abhor out there right now. Despite the bipartisan nature of the table, I think there are things, I won’t speak for others, but I think that we all see and abhor in the sort of politics of today and Washington.

that, though the agreement requires Maret to maintain and update the field, the school has not upheld its end of the deal. Martin Welles (LAW ’09), vice president of Hardy’s Parent Teacher Organization and father of three Hardy students, provided The Hoya with a June 2019 report from Leading Design & Development Sports, which tests sports fields for safety standards. The report shows Jelleff Field is out of compliance for shock absorption regulations in the field, important for contact sports.

The report demonstrates that Maret neglected to maintain safety standards for the field; this shortcoming stands as a reason not to extend the agreement, according to Welles.

“Maret was responsible for the upkeep of the field and they let it deteriorate,” Welles wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Parent-teacher organizations at Hardy and other public schools in the area, along with ANC Commissioners from Wards 2 and 3, wrote a letter to D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine asking his office to investigate the now 19-year no-bid contract between Maret and DPR, according to an email obtained by The Hoya.

When the contract was originally negotiated, the city did not have enough funds to renovate Jelleff on its own, leading to the agreement with Maret, according to an email D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) sent to residents of Burleith, which borders Glover Park, on Wednesday.

“DC’s DPR entered into a public-private partnership with Maret that would preserve the field,” Evans wrote in the email. “I approached other schools and entities to partner on the renovations;

no one else was interested.”

Maret originally wanted a 20-year contract deal but reached a compromise with DPR, receiving preferred permitting for 10 years first and then an additional 10 if they followed through on improvements to the field.

This year, Maret renewed its contract before it was set to expire in June 2020, creating a 19-year agreement.

Maret has invested enough money to earn the second decade, according to Evans.

“A compromise was reached where the city agreed to extend the relationship for an additional 10 years, if Maret delivered on the terms of the contract in the first 10 years,” he wrote. “Maret has lived up to their end of the agreement. When Maret approached DPR to extend the agreement, per the original terms, they offered to invest an additional $1 million in the field, and in improvements to the clubhouse.”

DPR had purchased Jelleff for $20 million from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington in 2010 after the organization fell into financial trouble during the 2008 recession. However, this purchase left no money for renovation, and the city needed an outside contractor to renovate Jelleff on behalf of DPR, according to Evans’ email.

D.C. Councilmembers Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) and Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) expressed support for making Jelleff fully public. The council may hold a hearing on the issue soon, according to Putta.

But the children currently prohibited from using the field after school bear the real cost, Putta said.

“For one school to get all of those hours for 10 years was bad enough,” Putta said. “And for them to extend it for another decade is really a slap in the face.”

@GERMANYINUSA/TWITTER

Ward 2 and 3 public school parents challenged a contract that gives private school students preferential access to a public field.

NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

THE HOYA

A7

Kardashian Doc To Spotlight Hoya Hub Expands Size, Prisons and Justice Initiative Offers New Food Options PAULA HONG AND AMY LI Hoya Staff Writers

The Prisons and Justice Initiative will be featured in Kim Kardashian West’s upcoming Oxygen documentary following her work on prison reform and in a separate television documentary on an unannounced major network.

The documentary, “Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project,” follows Kardashian West’s prison reform advocacy that brought her to the Washington, D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility in July, where she met Prisons and Justice Initiative Director and professor Marc Howard.

The Georgetown Prison Scholars Program at the D.C. Jail, launched by Howard’s initiative in January 2018, provides both credit and noncredit courses for incarcerated scholars and will feature in the Oxygen special.

The Prisons and Justice Initiative has hosted multiple course for Georgetown University students annually. A spring 2020 class will be filmed by a professional crew for a multi-episode documentary series to air on a major network. The course, “Making an Exoneree,” focuses on the cases of six likely wrongfully convicted people and has attracted national media attention in the past.

Howard founded the Prisons and Justice Initiative in 2016.

Through public events, courses and programs at local prisons, the initiative aims to better understand the mass incarceration crisis and contribute to effective reform solutions, according to the Prisons and Justice Initiative website.

Kardashian West’s advocacy began in 2018, when the reality star ran a successful campaign for Alice Marie Johnson’s clemency. After discovering a passion for criminal justice reform, Kardashian West made it one of her priorities to help grant more citizens like Johnson their freedoms and rights.

Following her D.C. visit, Kardashian West tweeted her support of Howard’s work and

applauded his desire to educate college students about criminal reform.

“Last week I was so moved

by Dr. Marc Howard, a Georgetown professor who teaches a course inside of a DC prison where men & women can get Georgetown credits,” the tweet wrote. “I met so many amazing people that can’t wait to share their stories with you.”

A premiere date for “Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project” has yet to be announced.

In Howard’s “Prison Reform Project” course, students conduct intensive research on the cases and develop short documentaries, websites and social media campaigns that advocate for the innocence of a wrongfully committed person.

Howard’s goal is for students to become lifelong supporters of criminal justice reform, Howard wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“I want students to walk away from the class with pride (for their tireless work to try to save an innocent person’s life), compassion (for the suffering of others), and empowerment (based on their ability to effect real change in the world),” Howard wrote. “But most importantly I want them to develop a lifelong passion for correcting injustice that can never be extinguished, no matter what their individual futures hold.”

The course requires students to apply months in advance.

Students must submit a brief cover letter, a resume, an unofficial transcript and a threeminute webcam video to be considered. Nearly 100 applications have been submitted for the spring 2020 version of the course, but only 15 students will be accepted.

Howard’s course allows students to see how their work can make an impact, government department Chair Charles King wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“Prof. Howard has become a noted authority on prisons and punishment in a global context and, through his innovative teaching, has broken down the walls between incarcerated individuals and the rest of American society,” King wrote. “This is exactly the kind of work that we should all strive to do—dar-

ing, pathbreaking, and truly life-changing.”

Howard’s course began in 2016 with the pilot course involving extended class meetings and student interactions with incarcerated individuals.

The course gained national attention and was featured as the cover story of The Washington Post in September 2016.

The 2018 and 2019 cohorts of “Prison Reform Project” also focused on wrongful convictions.

Last year’s class investigated the cases of six wrongfully convicted men in the mid-Atlantic region, hoping to prove their innocence, according to Alex Buffone (COL ’20), who took Howard’s course.

Although he and his classmates did not exonerate their client within just one semester, Buffone wrote that the course left a lasting impression on him.

“It was by far the greatest experience of not only my academic life, but also my life in general. It totally changed my perspective of our government and the criminal justice system. It was so rewarding to see how your work was positively impacting someone’s life,” Buffone wrote. “Myself and my group continue to work on the case and are hopeful that Eric (our client) will be exonerated.”

Three undergraduate students in Howard’s 2018 “Prison Reform Project” seminar unearthed evidence that led to the exoneration of Valentino Dixon, who spent 26 years in prison after being found guilty of murder.

As the course moves into its fourth iteration, Howard hopes the publicity will show others the need for justice reform and to continue to empower students to become strong advocates.

“My hope is that the course will lead to a successful and longrunning TV show, that we will help exonerate even more people--as we have so far with Valentino Dixon--and that we will change public perception about both wrongful convictions and the ability of students to improve the world,” Howard wrote. “We definitely hope to have reunions with past students, and hopefully more exonerees.”

HARRISON MCBRIDE Hoya Staff Writer

The Hoya Hub, an on-campus food pantry, expanded to twice its original size over the summer allowing for free perishable food items to be available to the Georgetown University community for the first time.

Although talks of expansion have occurred since the food pantry first opened, the actual renovations, which included knocking down walls and expanding into a former dark room in the Leavey Center, took place this summer. The Hoya Hub first opened last October as part of an initiative by the Georgetown University Student Association to combat food insecurity. The food pantry is open 24 hours a day and is available to anyone in the Georgetown community.

Prior to the renovations, the pantry was limited to nonperishable food items. Last year, the space was able to provide over 10,000 nonperishable items to over 200 undergraduate and graduate students, according to Hoya Hub Student Advocacy Organization treasurer Samuel Dubke (SFS ’21).

The renovations to the Hoya Hub include a refrigerator, new shelving units and space for more equipment, according to Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Erika Cohen Derr, who oversees food pantry operations.

“From the inception of the food pantry, there was hope for a larger space to accommodate more inventory and the option to add perishable items,” Cohen Derr wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The larger space can now accommodate a refrigerator which can include some perishable staples — milk, cheese, yogurt, for example — and also frozen items.”

With the additional capability of an expanded and updated space, the Hoya Hub received its first perishable items from Food Rescue DC, a local branch of the national company Food Rescue US that distributes excess food throughout Washington, D.C. Refrigeration allows Food Rescue DC to be more involved with the Hoya Hub moving forward, according to Food Rescue DC site

JULIA ALVEY/THE HOYA

The renovations to Hoya Hub include a refrigerator and space for more equipment. The pantry now offers perishable foods. director Kate Urbank (SFS ’83).

“I’m so encouraged that the hub has expanded and doubled its size and now it includes refrigeration,” Urbank said in an interview with The Hoya. “That means Food Rescue US can do significantly more rescues to the hub than we were able to do before.”

In addition to the Hoya Hub, which is administered by the Center for Student Engagement, involved students are also engaged in a new club development process to be fully recognized and receive Access to Benefits status. The new club, the Hoya Hub Student Advocacy Organization, will be separate from the pantry and reside in the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service.

The club will allow students to engage in advocacy surrounding food insecurity that extends beyond Georgetown’s campus, according to Hoya Hub Student Advocacy Organization president Julianne Licamele (COL ’21).

“Our club itself is more focused on student advocacy and food insecurity as a systemic issue rather than just running the food pantry,” Licamele said.

The added space will allow the food pantry to be more group friendly, making students feel more comfortable visiting the Hoya Hub with their friends, according to Licamele.

“Additionally, the new space

means that people can comfortably visit the pantry in groups,” Licamele wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Many people who use the pantry tell me that they come with their friends, so it makes sense to make the space more group-friendly.”

In the future, the Hoya Hub Student Advocacy Organization has plans of further collaborating with Students of Georgetown, Inc., commonly referred to as The Corp, according to Dubke.

At the end of the last school year, the Swipe It Forward Flex Donation Drive allowed students to apply their excess Flex dollars toward purchasing bundles of $5, $10, $20, $50 or $100 associated with a variety of nonperishable food items.

Handling the planning, funding and execution of the renovated space through the CSE shows the university’s potential to act upon student advocacy on campus, according to Licamele.

“I think that this expansion represents the university working with us to dignify pantry users,” Licamele wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Students who benefit from the pantry deserve to have a space that is large and comfortable. The project speaks volumes about the potential of Georgetown to work with us when we identify real needs of students.”

Young Comedians Showcase Faculty Grant Awardees Featured 3 GU Students Support Sustainability ASHLEY ZHAO AND SANA RAHMAN Hoya Staff Writer

Three Georgetown undergraduate students showcased their comedic talent at the local “DC’s Best Young Comedians” showcase held at Dupont Underground on Sept. 6.

Student comedians Sahaj Sharda (SFS ’20), Gary Simons (COL ’21) and Daniel Ruescher (COL ’20) performed at the event hosted by entertainment agency Asteria Entertainment last week. The performances took place at the Dupont Underground arts space and featured 12 current and recent college graduate comedians from Georgetown, American University, George Washington University, Catholic University, University of Maryland, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University and James Madison University.

Asteria Entertainment recruited young Washington, D.C. comedians to perform five-to-10 minute sets at the show, according to Sharda, who was contacted by the agency after performing at open mic events in the District throughout the summer. Sharda sent in copies of his act and was then contacted to perform at the event.

As all the comedians were in similar stages of their comedic careers, and because the event included an engaging audience of 300 people, the event was enjoyable for performers, according to Sharda.

“We were all in a similar place experience-wise,” Sharda said. “It was fun, everyone went up and did their sets for five-to-10 minutes, and the crowd really got into it. It was a really good time.”

Taking the step to send existing comedy work to Asteria Entertainment also provided the push needed for young comedians to create new content, according to Simons, who is a member of Georgetown Improv Association.

“A lot of times people want to do things but never do it, like never put forth the effort to make it happen, like writing material or practicing material,” Simons said.

“It’s hard cause you have classes

and there’s nothing forcing you to do it, so just putting myself out there, sending the stuff I had done and them saying yes, forced me to create kind of like new content.”

The event provided a platform for individuals with diverse backgrounds and voices to express their thoughts through comedy, something that does not happen frequently at Georgetown, according to Simons.

“I think that sometimes, especially in spaces like Georgetown, diversity in comedy doesn’t happen too much, so I was really happy that I got to get my voice out there and have it be heard,” Simons said.

Hosting a comedian showcase that highlights younger comedians provides current and recent college graduates with the respect and support they deserve, according to Rebecca Lamis, the founder of Asteria Entertainment.

“Most of the professional comedy venues do not always treat younger comedians with the respect they deserve,” Lamis wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I want to ensure everyone has a great time and feels valued when performing with Asteria.”

Asteria puts on events with the intent of providing artists with performance opportunities that they may not often encounter, according to Lamis. Keeping

this goal in mind, Asteria puts on affordable events for college students in the D.C.-MarylandVirginia area such as “Better Than A Cappella: A Night of Stand-Up Comedy and Music” in February.

Performing in DC’s Best Young Comedians made doing standup in the future as a hobby a possibility, said Simons.

“I kind of recently, like last semester, realized that I enjoyed comedy, and I’m not sure that it’s necessarily a space that I want to do professionally, but I knew I definitely wanted to do more of it in just performing,” Simons said.

For those wanting to do standup comedy, performing at open mics and practicing jokes at smaller events is important when starting before moving on to comedy events like “D.C.’s Best Young Comedians” that require selection, according to Sharda.

“But I would say start at the open mic level, go to some of these things, sort of run your jokes, run your craft,” Sharda said. “You’re going to be bad probably for the first month, two months, three months, but eventually you’ll get the hang of it, and then something like this event is naturally going to appear on the horizons for you.”

Hoya Staff Writer Riley Rogerson contributed to this reporting.

DUPONT UNDERGROUND/FACEBOOK

The showcase at Dupont Underground, “DC’s Best Young Comedians,” attracted an audience of 300 people.

SANA RAHMAN Hoya Staff Writer

The majority of the sustainability-focused projects awarded Georgetown University’s new Laudato Si’ Grant are by faculty and staff, who are now planning and executing their proposals for this academic year.

The Office of Sustainability announced the Laudato Si’ Fund, named after Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on environmental justice, in January to encourage collaboration combating sustainability challenges. The 11 grant recipients revealed at the end of May include eight projects by professors and staff in a range of campus programs.

Among the faculty and staff projects receiving grant funds are “Design Transfigured,” an exhibition featuring fashion and furniture made of waste materials; “Disability, Disaster and Climate Change: A Public Ethics Project,” which features a summit on the intersection of disability, environmental ethics and climate change and “Incorporating Sustainability Across the Curriculum,” which will work with faculty to make their courses more environmentally friendly.

The $300,000 in the Laudato Si’ Fund was distributed to the different projects in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.

“Design Transfigured” will show 40 works of clothing, jewelry and furniture crafted from trash in an effort to convey pollution’s impact. Led by Albey Miner, director of Georgetown University galleries, the exhibition will feature 25 international designers and studios.

It will not only create avenues for conversations around sustainability, but also show that waste can be creatively utilized to make useful products, according to Miner.

“We always intend our exhibitions to spark interesting new dialogues among our campus community,” Miner wrote in an email to The Hoya. “This particular show will hopefully expand individuals’ definition

of “upcycling” and challenge them to consider new ways of approaching waste.”

The exhibition will show in the Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery and Lucille M. and Richard F.X. Spagnuolo Art Gallery starting Oct. 2 during a public reception and will remain on display until Dec. 15. There will also be a panel on Oct. 3 following the exhibition’s opening featuring a few of the artists, one of the art curators and some Georgetown faculty members, according to Miner.

The “Design Transformed” display is crucial in highlighting the role that artists and designers play in finding a solution to current environmental issues, according to Miner.

“The environmental crisis impacts all of us; we often hear about potential solutions from scientists and politicians, but artists and designers are making fascinating and unique contributions to the conversation and to our lives,” Miner wrote.

Laudato Si’ Grant recipient Julia Watts Belser, an associate professor of Jewish studies, is gathering activists, artists and academics for “Disability, Disaster and Climate Change: A Public Ethics Project.”

The project will include a three-day strategy summit March 28 to 30 featuring around 20 scholars and activists. The summit will discuss topics like how prisons are frequently located in environmentally harmful areas and the structural barriers facing disabled communities that become life-threatening in an emergency, according to Belser.

Bringing together people from a range of disciples will facilitate an exchange of ideas, according to Belser.

“One of my key goals for the project is to bring together a highly interdisciplinary group of scholars, artists, and activists — people who don’t usually have a chance to be in the same room, strategizing together, sharing ideas, and exchanging knowledge,” Belser wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Climate change can lead to conflict, and the impact of both

are particularly felt by those with disabilities, Belser wrote.

These intersections will be another source of discussion at the summit.

“We’ll also have scholars and activists present who’re thinking about the intersection of disability, war, and climate change,” Belser wrote. “Climate change is a significant driver of conflict, and war is a tremendous cause of both disability and environmental harm — not just in the immediate sense of disability caused by the overt violence of war, but also because chemical residues from weaponry often affects regions for generations.”

“Incorporating Sustainability Across the Curriculum,” led by Senior Associate Director for Assessment and Programs at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship Mindy McWilliams, will work with about 10 faculty members to develop their courses’ environmental friendliness.

The project provides faculty members an opportunity to discuss how to incorporate sustainability into classes and daily life in a forum that previously did not exist on campus, according to McWilliams.

“There are a lot of courses, minors and majors where students can focus on learning about sustainability and environmental education, but I haven’t really seen at Georgetown anything that brought faculty together to talk about these issues and how they’re trying to make strides in their own courses,” McWilliams said in an interview with The Hoya.

In the spring, McWilliams plans to host a public forum or speaker that will involve more of the university community.

The project’s collaborative and discussion-based model creates an environment in which people can share ideas and be inspired to shift toward more ecologically-conscious lifestyles, McWilliams said.

“To bring people together and share resources and ideas to get inspired together always seems to have a lot more power than doing things in isolation,” McWilliams said.

A8

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

GREEN Composting Initiative Paywalls Inhibit Media Equity, Kicks Off With 50 Households President of TIME Says MEREDITH MILLER Hoya Staff Writer

Fifty Georgetown students living on and off campus began composting their residential food because of a collaboration between Compost Cab, a compost pick-up service, and the Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network.

Participating students who live in apartments or townhouses will collect their compostable food scraps each week in a five-gallon bucket to bring to a centralized pickup location.

For those in townhouses, Compost Cab will pick up the compost from Alumni Square for on-campus residences and from the front steps for townhouses, according to co-leader Noelle Gignoux (SFS ’22).

Composting residences were chosen based on students who expressed an interest in participating in the pilot program over the summer. At least one student from every participating household underwent training Sept. 11 to learn how to use the composting service, as well as to learn the specifics of what is compostable.

Continued educational trainings are another part of GREEN’s compost team’s mission, whose members hope that more information about composting will

help make Georgetown more sustainably focused, according to Gignoux.

“We want to cultivate a culture of compost and sustainability,” Gignoux said. “If they start talking about it more and if they start going to cool educational events about compost then they’ll tell their friends about it, so we’re hoping that it’s going to snowball.”

The composting initiative was funded through a grant from the Laudato Si’ Fund, named after Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on environmental justice.

The $300,000 fund was distributed to 11 projects that aim to address global and local issues of sustainability. Among the grant recipients was the GREEN composting team, headed by Gignoux and Hannah Funk (SFS ’20), who applied for the grant to make sustainability easier for Georgetown students.

The composting initiative has provided an easy and accessible way for students to help the environment, according to participant and off-campus townhouse resident Emma Berk (COL ‘20).

“I think composting is important because it’s a simple way to make a significant difference, especially if a great deal of households participate in this program,” Berk wrote in a

JULIA GIGANTE FOR THE HOYA

Participating students who live in apartments or townhouses will collect compostable food scraps each week to bring to a pickup location.

message to The Hoya. “I decided to participate in the program because it has made composting extremely simple for students, I don’t see why one wouldn’t participate in the program based on how simple Compost Cab has made it.”

Pursuing residential composting has been a goal for GREEN, which has other composting initiatives on campus such as collecting food scraps during the Georgetown University Farmers’ Market. However, Funk thought to partner with Compost Cab after personally using the service during the last academic year, according to Gignoux.

That Georgetown’s composting is part of a student-driven sustainability movement led Compost Cab to partner with the project, according to Compost Cab founder Jeremy Brosowsky.

“We love this project, and we’re proud to help bring it to life. What’s most significant is that from the outset, this effort has been entirely studentdriven,” Brosowsky wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We think student-driven programs are the right model for food waste reduction at scale in colleges and universities, and we’re excited for this pilot to succeed and prove that.”

Compost Cab typically partners with urban farms and community gardens, which take the soil created by their compost. A usual weekly pickup subscription for Compost Cab costs $8 per week per residence, but Georgetown students will not be paying for their own subscriptions, which the Laudato Si’ grant from the university will fund. Members of the Compost Cab service reported a 40% drop in household waste as a result of using their program, according to the Department of Energy and Environment.

Beyond the scope of Georgetown, Gignoux hopes that students who learn to compost as a part of this program will carry those skills with them after graduation.

“Most of the people who signed up are juniors and seniors, because they’re living in apartments,” Gignoux said.

“They’re going to be here for this year, they’re going to learn about composting and they’re hopefully going to change the culture here at Georgetown a little bit, but also they’re going out into the real world and so hopefully when they leave they’ll find a way in their adult lives to also compost.”

Hoya Staff Writer Harrison McBride contributed to this reporting.

GU Falls in Overall National Rankings, Rises in Undergrad MYROSLAV DOBROSHYNSKYI Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown University faced mixed results in the 2020 college rankings released Monday by the U.S. News & World Report, losing ground in the overall national ranking while rising in the undergraduate programs category.

The university, ranked 24th in the United States, is down from being tied for 22nd place last year but remains the highest-ranked institution of higher education in the Washington, D.C. area, according to the rankings.

While the rankings provide one way to measure the relative standing of a university, they do not fully represent the success of a university, according to Georgetown Provost Robert Groves.

“Georgetown continues to be ranked among the top 25 universities nationwide by U.S. News and World Report and in the top 15 by Forbes,” Groves wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“While Georgetown is pleased to be recognized with strong rankings across multiple outlets, we believe it is important not to place too much emphasis on these rankings since they only represent certain dimensions of a University’s success.”

In the Forbes college rankings released August, Georgetown dropped three spots, down to 15th from 12th the year before.

In addition to the change in the national rankings, Georgetown’s undergraduate programs were ranked 10 spots higher than last year, up to 16th place from 26th place.

The higher ranking is a result that will bring more vis-

ibility to the university and its student-centered mission, according to Georgetown College Dean Christopher Celenza.

“Georgetown is a special place, where faculty who are leaders in their research fields make sure to be in the classroom with students,” Celenza wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“In recent years, there has been increased focus on bringing undergraduate students into the research experience, so that students are learning actively, by doing.”

Georgetown increased in rankings in recent years as spring 2019 nationwide and global surveys ranked the McCourt School of Public Policy and the McDonough School of Business highly, with the MSB named first in the world for having the best-trained MBAs. The rankings are encouraging signs, and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions focuses on rises and falls primarily because of how they can impact potential applicants’ understanding of Georgetown, Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69) said in an interview with The Hoya.

“We tend over the years not to worry about it much,” Deacon said. “We do worry about it from the point of view that there are some kids in our pool or nationally who go to big schools with not much high school counseling and don’t know us that well and they may tend to be more influenced by the rankings.”

Princeton University topped the U.S. News rankings this year, followed by Harvard University in second place, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University and Yale University tied

for third place. Georgetown was ranked highest in the D.C. area, while Howard University and George Mason University both dropped over 15 spots from last year’s rankings.

The U.S. News rankings take into account a range of factors to determine the rankings, including alumni donations, SAT and ACT scores of applicants, and the perceived prestige of the universities.

On the admissions side, Deacon said the Georgetown applicant pool has been growing stronger in terms of standardized test scores, which are usually reflected in the rankings.

“We have had good support from President DeGioia and the board in terms of our policies, which really admissions wise, as I say they may not be more than five or 10 percent of that ranking comes from admissions stuff, SAT averages, those are pretty good,” Deacon said.

For its 2020 list, U.S. News implemented new ranking criteria that heavily weighed social mobility and graduation outcomes. Forbes uses a different methodology, heavily weighing outcomes such as alumni salary, student satisfaction, student debt after college and other measures of success to determine the rankings.

While the rankings show mixed results, the university is concentrating on students’ academic satisfaction as well as postgraduate outcomes, according to Groves.

“We are focused on the success of our students, the scholarship and research of our faculty members, and how we advance our mission each day,” Groves wrote.

JAIME MOORE-CARRILLO Hoya Staff Writer

Keith Grossman, president of the global media corporation TIME, warned students of the potential consequences of paywalls in media and political polarization at an event at Georgetown University on Sept. 11.

Grossman, who has managed TIME’s business, advertising and marketing operations since joining the company in July 2019, spoke in the Fisher Colloquium in the Rafik B. Hariri Building. Grossman was the latest speaker in the “Stanton Distinguished Leaders Series,” put on by the McDonough School of Business to showcase the best of the business world, according to the MSB website.

Paywall mechanisms used by media companies like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other subscription sources can alienate less privileged consumers and leave them vulnerable to misinformation, according to Grossman at the event.

“If all of the greatest, most premium news sources think that the right path forward is to put a paywall on their content, what they’re doing is they’re creating content for an affluent audience, not for the general public,” Grossman said. “Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but the problem is that the general public thinks that news is a public utility, but it’s not, it’s a forprofit entity for the most part.”

Instead of going through the practical and financial hardship of subscribing to a news source, consumers will search for other, generally poorer quality sources, Grossman said.

“What you find is if you all of a sudden put paywalls on

all of the greatest news sources out there — and there are paywalls on the greatest news sources out there — and you put that back into a distributive news environment, when the consumer is faced with finding or accessing a piece of news that is all of a sudden gated, they don’t tend to go through the whole process,” Grossman said.

Some news companies use other methods to enable free news consumption. Many American publications, like The New York Times, offer nonsubscribers a monthly limit of articles they can read for free. TIME Magazine has previously operated under a limit system that granted readers free access to 10 articles a month but then required a $2.99 subscription to continue reading as of 2015.

“What you’re finding yourself in is a scenario where news again is not a public utility. It’s a for-profit business.”

KEITH GROSSMAN President, TIME

By establishing paywalls for more specialized information and leaving general news open to the public, companies could increase accessibility, according to Grossman.

“My personal belief, my bias, and where I’d like to see TIME go is: at the highest level, we’re giving the general news, keep that open and free, and put more gated communities around what I would say are the niche areas of the site,” he said.

Grossman’s perspective

comes after an extensive career in the media, including former positions as Chief Revenue Officer at Bloomberg Media and Chief Operating Officer at Engine, a global marketing firm. Grossman also worked as an associate publisher for the technology publications Wired and Ars Technica.

In a profit-driven media environment where partisan slants can boost ratings, media companies have incentives to be polarizing, according to Grossman.

“What you’re finding yourself in is a scenario where news again is not a public utility. It’s a for-profit business.

What they’re finding is that it’s easier for them to bifurcate further,” Grossman said.

Social media also poses a threat, as individuals are consuming media in an increasingly manipulated expanding echo chamber, according to Grossman.

“The other issue that people are finding is that in a distributive news environment where people are getting information on social media platforms, people are creating their own friend networks with news that is reinforcing filter bubbles of how people are sharing to each other,” Grossman said. “It worries me how we actually navigate ourselves out of this. I don’t really know the answer.”

To combat fake news circulated on social media, regulators should increase oversight of companies like Facebook and Google that disseminate news, according to Grossman.

“If they’re classified as media companies then they’re responsible for the content that they allow to be distributed, and that would solve everything, but that’s not what is happening,” Grossman said.

Vigil Near DOT Honors Victims Of Ethiopian Airlines Crash HARRISON MCBRIDE Hoya Staff Writer

Demonstrators gathered for a vigil in honor of the victims of March’s Ethiopian Airlines crash, which took the life of Cedric Asiavugwa (LAW ’19), outside the Department of Transportation on Sept. 10.

The vigil commemorated the six-month anniversary of the Ethiopian Airlines crash which killed 157 people March 10. Participants held up photographs of the victims that were killed in the crash, including Asiavugwa. The Ethiopian Airlines crash is the second accident involving a 737 Boeing Max; the Lion Air crash in Indonesia took place five months earlier in October 2018 and killed all 189 passengers and crew aboard.

Nadia Milleron, whose daughter, Samya Stumo, was killed in the crash, co-hosted the vigil. Milleron organized the vigil because of her struggles arranging a meeting with Ali Bahrami, the Federal Aviation Administration’s associate administrator for aviation safety, who failed to address safety concerns about the plane, she said.

“The reason we did the vigil was because of the frustration

of not being able to get that meeting,” Milleron said in an interview with The Hoya. “We did it to remind the world that this is the cost and any one of you, your friends, your family could be us.”

Boeing discovered a problem with a key safety feature on its 737 Max planes in 2017 within months of the company delivering the first 737 Max planes to airlines, according to a statement from Boeing in May 2019. The indicator, an “Angle of Attack Disagree Alert,” is designed to warn pilots if the plane’s sensors are transmitting incorrect data about the direction of the plane’s nose.

Boeing conducted a safety review that concluded the nonworking alert did not affect airplane safety or operation, and the company chose not to disclose the issue to airlines or safety regulators until after the Lion Air crash in October 2018, according to NPR. Boeing failed to comprehensively address the safety feature issue after the Lion Air crash, and the company’s negligence cost innocent lives, according to Milleron.

“They figured that was enough time for Boeing to

CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES/FACEBOOK

Participants in the vigil held up photographs of the victims whose lives were taken in the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

correct the problem while the plane remained in service, but that decision killed our family,” Milleron said. “That decision killed my daughter.”

Since the March crash, Boeing has faced broad public backlash. Boeing is dedicated to supporting those affected and will prioritize improving safety features on the 737 Max, according to the company.

“Our hearts go out to the loved ones of those whose lives were lost, and this will continue to weigh heavily on us,” a Boeing spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“We are committed to supporting the affected communities and working with customers, global regulators and industry partners to make the 737 MAX one of the safest airplanes to ever fly.”

The company plans to dedicate a $50 million fund of short-term aid to families of the victims of both the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the Lion Air crash, according to a July news release from the company.

Boeing also completed updates to the plane’s software and was in the process of testing and documentation with the FAA to recertify and resume operation of the aircraft, according to a Boeing news release from May. Boeing is now providing additional information to the FAA’s requests that includes details on how pilots interact with the airplane controls and displays in different flight scenarios, according to a Boeing news release. Once the requests are addressed, Boeing will work with the FAA to schedule its certification test flight and submit final certification documentation, according to the news release.

Moving forward, participants and organizers of the vigil plan to advocate for stronger certification processes independent of Boeing’s internal review to ensure general plane safety, according to Milleron.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that the certification process certifies a safe plane,” Milleron said.

“The system is falling apart because of this delegation to Boeing. Delegation of review of safety is going to Boeing.

They’re reviewing themselves. Their motivation is to save money.”

NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

THE HOYA

A9

Original Surfside Taco Spot Kennedy Center Debuts Relocating to Tenleytown New Outdoor Arts Space CONNOR THOMAS

MOIRA RITTER

Wisconsin Avenue taco restaurant Surfside will close its original Glover Park storefront at the end of 2019 to open a new location up the street in Tenleytown this fall.

Surfside has been at its first location since it opened in 2008.

The exact opening date of the new storefront, located at 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, is still to be determined, according to Eaghmon Banks, the manager of Georgetown Events. Georgetown Events, Surfside’s parent catering and food service company, also owns other local restaurants in Northwest Washington, D.C., including Jetties, The Bullpen, Due South and Millie’s.

Georgetown Events has been looking to expand Surfside for over a year in order to offer more comprehensive services and options, Banks said.

“We’d been looking for a bigger spot,” Banks said in an interview with The Hoya. “We want to do full service, and we’re just kind of outgrowing the spot right here in Glover Park.”

The new Tenleytown location will feature sit-down service, compared to the walk-up counter ordering system currently in place. The restaurant will also include a 24-hour walk-up window where customers can order from the menu at any hour of the day, and the expanded service will also increase the staff at the location, according to Banks.

Surfside’s second location in DuPont Circle already has a walk-up window for its late-night customers from nearby bars and clubs.

The new location will offer 250 parking spots for customers, according to Banks.

Surfside also plans to offer jobs to students at its new location, although the restaurant may be too far to make it practical for Georgetown undergraduates to work at

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will debut the Reach, its first major expansion since its opening in 1971, kicking off with a two-week-long festival that began last Saturday.

The Reach is an immersive arts center constructed in the green space next to the Kennedy Center building, containing three pavilions, an outdoor stage and 11 flexible spaces, which will be used for performances, events and classes.

The Kennedy Center is hosting the Reach Opening Festival from Sept. 7-22. The festival will include nearly 500 free events, including concerts and art installations, according to the festival website. Programming will be free, but festival attendees must obtain timedentry tickets.

The Reach’s spaces and events are designed to foster organic collaboration and encourage artistic inspiration, according to Kennedy Center Director of Public Relations Rachelle Roe. “We could have a ballet company in one of the rooms who takes a break and then they bump into a jazz artist who they’ve always admired coming out of rehearsal and some new piece of art might happen because of it,” Roe said in an interview with The hoya. “The whole idea is for that flexibility and that inspiration to happen in these spaces.”

Each day of the opening festival schedule offers a variety of activities, ranging from a “Spotlight on Classical and Broadway” orchestral performance of Alan Menken songs to a “Hip Hop Block Party,” an all-day celebration of hip hop music.

The diverse lineup of artists and musicians reflects the variety of Kennedy Center offerings, Roe said.

“The Kennedy Center offers so many different genres, everything from

Hoya Staff Writer

Hoya Staff Writer

@SURFSIDEDC/INSTAGRAM

The new location will have a 24-hour walk-up window, similar to the one at its location in Dupont Circle pictured above. the taco shop, Banks said.

“We can also have jobs for students that are looking for part-time jobs,” Banks said. “So actually by expanding we will be able to offer more jobs for people in the city.”

Surfside’s further distance from Georgetown’s main campus will reduce the number of students willing to make the hike to its new location, according to Amanda Perry (NHS ’20).

“Although I have only been to Surfside a few times, it was a great, reasonably priced taco and burrito place that was wasn’t too far from campus,” Perry wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Unfortunately, I do not think I will be making the trek to Tenleytown where its new location will be anytime soon, it’s still sad to see the staple taco place closing its Glover Park location.”

Assistant Manager Kevin Chavez Lopez, who is enrolled in graduate school classes at American University and will not have to commute as far from campus as a result of the move, said the

restaurant is moving because Tenleytown is an area of D.C. quickly growing in popularity.

“I’m kind of excited at the fact that it’s going to be much closer than it is right now,” Lopez said in an interview with The Hoya.

“Also, the parking lot is going to be much bigger, so it will be easier for me to find a place to park.”

Surfside originally planned to open two new locations in 2019, one in Tenleytown and the other at the Wharf, according to Eater.

The company wanted to capitalize on the Wharf’s late night crowds, especially concertgoers at The Anthem, but tabled plans for a new location there last February.

The restaurant will have the same owners and the same chefs who have been serving Glover Park, Banks said.

“We’ve enjoyed being in Glover Park. I was here from the beginning with these guys,” Banks said. “They love Glover Park, but sometimes you just move out of a neighborhood. We’re just moving up the street, expanding the concept.”

RFK Stadium Slated For Demolition by 2021 CADY STANTON Hoya Staff Writer

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, a sports complex that formerly housed the Washington Redskins and D.C. United teams, is set to be demolished by 2021.

The Washington Convention and Sports Authority, otherwise known as Events DC, conveyed the plan for demolition in a proposal released Sept. 5. The Washington, D.C.-based agency, which manages the stadium as well as Nationals Park, Walter E. Washington Convention Center and other D.C. venues, will be receiving bids from contractors for the demolition until Oct. 25.

The stadium was most recently used for games for D.C. United, Washington’s professional soccer club, from 1996 to 2017. RFK Stadium will be demolished because it presents a financial burden for the District, and because of some officials’ desire to prevent the controversial Redskins from building a stadium on the property.

The stadium stands as a historical site for athletics in its unique ability to house a variety of sports, according to Kevin Reichard, a publisher at the sports news website Football Stadium Digest and a D.C. native.

“Not only was RFK Stadium the first true multi-use stadium to be built, it was the first and last one that actually worked both for baseball and football equally well,” Reichard wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Most cookie-cutter facilities failed at both tasks, but RFK Stadium was a pleasant place to watch both MLB baseball and NFL football.”

RFK Stadium first opened in 1961 as the home for the District’s major league football team, the Redskins, from 1961 to 1996. The team won three super bowls while playing at the stadium. The Washington Nationals also briefly played at RFK Stadium from 2005 to 2007 during the construction of Nationals Park in Navy Yard. In addition to housing major league sports teams, RFK Stadium also served as the stage for a series of musical acts during its run, including The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Foo Fighters.

The stadium will continue to host small events while demolition proposals are submitted, according to Gregory O’Dell, president and CEO of Events DC. “The facility is 58-years old and has exceeded its useful life. De-

commissioning and demolishing a project of this scale requires significant planning, labor and due diligence, which is expected to take months,” O’Dell wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We will continue to operate the facility while simultaneously planning the demolition activities.”

Football fans have also speculated that a new stadium might be built at the site of RFK Stadium as a way to bring back the Redskins to the District.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) expressed a desire to return the football team to the city limits at a luncheon last August, according to the Washington City Paper. Since leaving RFK Stadium in 1996, the Redskins have been playing at FedExField Stadium in Landover, Md. D.C. United plays at Audi Field in Navy Yard.

Returning the team closer to the city could help recreate the excitement for D.C. football fans, according to Reichard.

“My personal preference would be a new Redskins stadium at the same site,” Reichard wrote. “People tend to forget the electric atmosphere throughout the District whenever the Redskins were in town: Even if you were not heading for the Redskins game, you still shared

in the experience. It’s a great location for a new stadium: wellserved by mass transit and freeway access.”

However, the Redskins face pushback from lawmakers who say the team’s name is an offensive slur against Native Americans, including Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), according to The Washington Post.

Bowser had previously backed a movement to purchase the property from the federal government. While both Bowser and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder had previously expressed a desire for the football team to return to the District proper, the District has not had any serious conversations with the team about a new stadium, according to The Washington Post.

While the chances of a Redskins return to the District are becoming more slim, Reichard still holds out hope that the heyday of football games in D.C. could come back.

“Between the rocking stands and the unbelievable crowd noise, a home Redskins game was a unique experience—and one not matched by the team since the move to FedEx Field, ” Reichard wrote.

@EVENTSDC/INSTAGRAM

RFK Stadium first opened in 1961 as the home for Washington D.C.’s major league football team, the Washington Redskins.

comedy and hip hop and jazz and orchestras and operas and ballet and theater,” Roe said. “It’s such a huge range — we tried to take a little bit of everything.”

After the festival ends, the Reach will regularly host performances, films and art installations, along with other community events.

The Reach will be an active space where visitors can also interact with artists and find themselves surrounded by art in progress, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter wrote in a news release.

“More and more, today’s audiences crave connection — with art and with each other — while artists and arts organizations desire customized spaces that nurture their creative endeavors,” Rutter wrote. “The Reach will fulfill many of those needs, all within a one-of-akind design that is a work of art in and of itself.”

The community has responded enthusiastically to the center’s opening, according to Roe. “The response has been great,” Roe said. “Last night, which was Wednesday, we had our largest evening crowd yet for the National Symphony Orchestra and Alan Menken came out and they did a whole bunch of his famous songs from Broadway and Disney movies and the response was really positive.”

The Reach expansion project was first announced in January 2013. The $250 million expansion plan added pavilions and 130,000 square feet of gardens, as well as 72,000 square feet of interior space to house studios, performance and rehearsal spaces and learning centers.

The Kennedy Center fundraised extensively to support the project, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Steven Holl Architects, the team that designed the expansion, intends for the additions to continue the

center’s mission as a living memorial for President John F. Kennedy, according to its website. The landscape includes a grove of 35 ginkgo trees to signify Kennedy’s position as the 35th president.

The flexible outdoor space of The Reach complements the iconic, yet isolated, stone Edward Durell Building, according to Roe. “The stone building is a very traditional concert hall type building with lots of activity that goes on behind closed doors and people come and they see a performance and its very polished and then that’s it,” Roe said.

“The Reach is designed to sort of turn this building inside out and to be able to show what goes on behind closed doors over here.”

Georgetown University and the Kennedy Center introduced a new partnership last fall: the GeorgetownKennedy Center Seminar Series. Students in the seminar attended three shows at the Kennedy Center for free and engaged in post-performance discussions with professors centered around a specific theme.

The program is set to be relaunched in the spring of 2019 as a one-credit course titled, “Encounters in Global Performance.” In addition to the three free shows and discussions, the course will culminate with a student presentation at the Kennedy Center Arts Summit.

The Reach was inspired by Kennedy’s vision for art and artists to be more accessible to the community, Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein wrote in a news release.

“The Reach is a one-of-akind building, and we see it as a ‘forever building,’ not simply because we want it to be around for a long time, but because there is a memorial aspect to our work here at the Kennedy Center,” Rubenstein wrote. “We are President Kennedy’s living memorial, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”

Migration Debate Needs Personal Stories, Panel Says KATRINA SCHMIDT Hoya Staff Writer

The debate around migration in the United States shifted from a bipartisan issue to a highly polarized one in recent years, but recognizing the impact on local communities could revitalize productive conversation, panelists at an Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life event said Wednesday.

The Gaston Hall panel welcomed four immigration leaders from across the political spectrum, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipient and Georgetown student Mizraim Belman Guerrero (SFS ’20), former U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), former Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama Denis McDonough and Vice President of Programs at Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees Aryah Somers Landsberger.

Individual stories help Americans understand the hardships of both immigration and those affected by it here, panelists said. Belman Guerrero told the story of his family’s migration to the United States and how he swam across the Rio Grande despite not knowing how to swim before squeezing into a car with an American family to cross a border checkpoint.

This experience was difficult and intense enough by itself, but the emotional cost of living in the United States without legal documentation is high, Belman Guerrero said. He described how three of his grandparents have died without his family having the ability to visit them or attend their funerals without risking legal trouble.

“For undocumented people, they don’t have those luxuries, they don’t have the basic human dignity to be able to say goodbye to their loved ones for the last time, and they face other challenges where they don’t have access to the same rights as any other person should have,” Belman said.

After Belman Guerrero finished telling his story, McDonough focused on the reality

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

The panel featured, from left, Aryah Somers Landsberger, Carlos Curbelo, John Carr, Denis McDonough and Mizraim Belman Guerrero (SFS ’20). that the extremes people must go to in order to cross the southern border does not prevent people from migrating because it is their best option.

“We know that the cruelty we’ve seen on the border does not deter people from traveling here,” McDonough said. “There are people who — we just heard an amazing story — who under significant pressure want something better for [their] kids — it’s something I want for mine, all three of them — and so cruelty is not a deterrent, that’s point one.”

While personal narratives are powerful in demonstrating the complexities of immigration, research and data-driven information can help counter xenophobic and racist narratives about migrants, Somers Landsberger said.

“We are really struggling with a research-based narrative that can counter that deep anxiety that people are feeling across America in welcoming the stranger across racial divides,” Somers Landsberger said.

Curbelo and McDonough both pointed out that history and data demonstrate how the premise that there is a particularly aggravated crisis right now ignores the reality that there have been varied migration crises throughout American history.

McDonough told the story of his Irish immigrant family, who immigrated to the United States alongside millions of other Irish people in a time of strong antiIrish sentiment.

Curbelo, who is from Miami, described the Mariel boatlift, when Fidel Castro announced that any Cubans wishing to emigrate to the United States were free to leave the port of Mariel.

Over 125,000 Cubans arrived in Florida, according to History. com.

Curbelo, who is the son of Cuban refugees and led ultimately unsuccessful efforts to pass bipartisan immigration reform legislation while a member of the House of Representatives, emphasized the inherent tension in the migration debate.

“The United States has a right and responsibility to enforce its borders, to honor the rule of law, to demand that immigration to our country be orderly, predictable and such that it does not pose an undue burden on our citizens,” Curbelo said.

“I think the other big idea we must uphold is that the United States should be a compassionate nation that welcomes people in need, that affords opportunity to those in faraway lands who don’t have the opportunity to cross one of our borders.”

A10

SPORTS

THE HOYA

WOMEN’S FIELD HOCKEY

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Hoyas’ Early Season Success Wears Off at Bulldog Invite HENRY DAI

Hoya Staff Writer

GUHOYAS

Junior back Ali Cronin looks to pass the ball upfield in the Hoyas’ 2-1 victory over Longwood.

Cronin went on to score the game-winning goal for the Hoyas, her first of the season.

GU Wins at Longwood, Falls Short at James Madison BRENDAN DOLAN Hoya Staff Writer

After splitting their first two home games of the season, the Georgetown University women’s field hockey team (2-2) took to the road for two early season tests against Longwood University (1-2) and James Madison (22). While both were closely contested battles, Georgetown beat Longwood 2-1 but fell to James Madison 3-2.

Early in the first matchup, Longwood had a few chances to open the game’s scoring. The Lancers had four penalty corners in the first period but were unable to convert any.

The scoreless tie extended into the second quarter, and Georgetown sophomore goalie Ciara Weets made two consecutive stops early to preserve the stalemate.The Hoyas, though shotless until this point, eventually found paydirt when senior midfield Jordan Sweeney found the back of the net to give the team a 1-0 lead. Entering the break, the score remained with the Hoyas out in front 1-0.

In the third period, the Lancers continued to test Weets with shots on net, but the sophomore managed to stop all four attempts. Just as the quarter was winding down, though, Longwood broke the drought and

evened the score at one apiece entering the final quarter.

Both teams battled early in the final frame but failed to take control of the game. Then, with five minutes to go, junior back Ali Cronin scored her first goal of the season to put the Hoyas out in front 2-1. Cronin scored on a rebound attempt after junior back Anna Farley was denied in front of the net.

Ultimately, this score held and Georgetown came away with the victory.

In an interview with GUHoyas, Head Coach Christy Longacre seemed pleased with the team’s performance in the win.

"Today was a great team win,” Longacre said. “They worked together all the way up until the last horn. Longwood is a great team that showed speed and skill and we stayed strong defensively."

Two days later, the team traveled back south to take on James Madison. James Madison came into the contest having dropped two straight games against 20th ranked Liberty and 14th ranked Ohio State.

James Madison jumped ahead early to take the 1-0 lead after scoring nearly three minutes into the game. Putting the first goal behind her, Weets would then stop James Madison’s next two shots in the quarter to keep

the Hoya deficit at one.

Early in the second frame, Georgetown scored on its first shot of the game when senior forward Lindsay Getz knotted the game at one apiece. Neither team managed to break the tie, though, after both teams had shots on net stopped, and the scoreboard read 1-1 entering halftime.

Halfway into the third period, junior forward Cami Osborne gave the Hoyas their first lead of the game when she scored her first goal of the season. The Hoyas would manage to hold onto this lead until about ten minutes remaining, but the Dukes evened the score on their second shot of the period. Soon after, James Madison recaptured the lead after midfielder Courtney Lynch found the back of the net for the 3-2 lead.

The Hoyas did not answer to Lynch’s go-ahead goal in the final minutes, and walked away with the 3-2 loss. Aiding the victory was the Dukes’ impressive total of scoring chances, as James Madison outshot Georgetown 5-0 in the quarter and 12-4 for the game. Following the split, the Hoyas now stand at 2-2.

Georgetown will once again be on the road for its next two matchups, traveling to Rider on Sept. 13 and Lehigh on Sept. 15.

After starting the season off strong at the Georgetown Classic, in which they won three of their four matches, the Georgetown women’s volleyball team was back in action at the Bulldog Invite in McDonough Arena last weekend. Despite the home court advantage, the Hoyas fell short in each of their three matches.

The Hoyas first faced Marshall in the Bulldog Invite opener. After dropping the first two sets, the Hoyas roared back, winning the next two and forcing a fifth set. In a thriller, Georgetown lost the fifth set 15-10 for the Hoyas’ second consecutive home loss.

The Hoyas found strong performances from both senior outside hitter Iva Vujosevic and freshman setter Emma Plutnicki, who each delivered double-doubles. Vujosevic recorded a match-high 22 kills, while Plutnicki led the way with 38 assists, demonstrating her prowess to the team in the

best performance yet of her young Georgetown career.

In its next match, Georgetown took on Northern Kentucky, a strong team that entered the match with a 3-1 record following a successful 21-10 record, including wins in its first two matches of the Horizon conference tournament.

Though the teams would split the first two sets, Northern Kentucky pulled away in the last two to win the match 3-1.

Sophomore Elissa Barbosa led the way for the Hoyas with career highs of 15 kills and 15 digs. In addition, sophomore Jessica Cusi contributed 15 kills, and Plutnicki earned her third double-double of the season with 17 assists and 10 digs.

In the finale of the Bulldog Invite, the Hoyas faced off against the Seawolves. Georgetown and Stony Brook traded wins for the first four sets, two of which were decided by a margin of two points. The fifth and final set would also be a nail-biter, and Stony Brook came away victorious with a 19-17 win, leaving Georgetown winless on

the weekend.

Again, Barbosa recorded a double-double with career highs of 17 kills and 10 digs. Vujosevic and freshman Peyton Wilhite each added 14 kills. Both Barbosa and Cusi, based on strong and consistent play in the three matches, were named to the AllTournament team.

The Hoyas are now 3-4 on the season, a definite disappointment having played each of the first seven games of the season at home, where the team can be expected to perform better.

They have an opportunity to bounce back this weekend at the William & Mary Tournament in Williamsburg, Va., where they will face teams from Iona (0-6), UNC-Greensboro (5-1) and William & Mary (2-3) in which the team hopes to get back on track after a rough weekend at home. One sign of optimism for the Hoyas comes from recent history, with last season’s midSeptember tournament serving as a springboard for the Hoyas, who then went on a six game winning streak on their way to a 17-13 record.

GUHOYAS

Freshman setter Emma Plutnicki, center, passes the ball as freshman middle blocker Makayla Serrett, left, times her jump in a 3-2 loss to Marshall at the Bulldog Invite on Sept. 6.

WOMEN’S GOLF

ON THIN ICE

Georgetown Struggles Across NHL Free Agency Format The Board at Cougar Classic Ready for a Major Overhaul

KELTON MILLER Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown women’s golf team traveled to Charleston, S.C., on Monday for the Cougar Classic tournament. The Hoyas struggled mightily, finishing last out of the 17 teams competing with a score of 58over par 922. Vanderbilt finished first at 27-under par and with Wake Forest on their heels at 26-under par.

Last season, Georgetown finished 18th out of 19 to start the season at this same event, before slowly getting back on track in a season that included a second place performance at the Princeton Invitational, a third place at the Blue Hen Invitational, a victory at the Hoya Invitational and a second place at the Big East championship.

The Cougar Classic was held at Yeamans Hall Club, ranked one of the nation’s top 100 courses in each of the past few years, according to the Golf Digest. The par 70, 6,808-yard course is full of many unique features, including nearly identical par-fives as holes nine

and 18, a challenging road hole and a Redan. A local favorite, the course remains popular even as it approaches its 100th anniversary.

The Georgetown lineup featured three freshmen: Lauren May, Dana Choi and Esther Park. May lead the Hoyas with a score of 11-over par 227 in her first collegiate tournament.

Choi finished with a score of 13over par 229 and Park finished with a 19-over par 235. The rest of the Georgetown lineup was rounded out by sophomore Baili Park scoring 21-over par 237, and senior Ashley Fitzgibbons with a finish of 22-over par 238.

Fitzgibbons has been an important part of the team throughout her time at Georgetown. Her freshman year, she finished in an impressive 10th place in the Big East championship. The following year she improved to a ninth place finish in the same tournament.

This first tournament was a rocky start for Fitzgibbons, finishing last on the tournament’s least successful team, but Fitzgibbons and the Hoyas can only improve from here.

The competition was especially steep at the Cougar Classic this year as Vanderbilt sophomore Auston Kim shot 16-under par over the course of 54 holes, setting a tournament record.

The Hoyas will look to put their start to the season behind them as they move on to Penn State for the Nittany Lion Invitational next weekend. The courses at Penn State are known for their outstanding caliber, and eight of the holes were designed by renowned course architect and professional Scottish golfer Willie Park Jr. The Hoyas have another four tournaments left in the season, including the Nittany Lion Invitational. They will play in the Princeton Invitational the weekend of Sept. 28, the Yale Invitational the weekend of Oct. 5 and the Blue Hen Invitational in Rehoboth Beach, Del., on the weekend of Oct. 19. The season is far from over, but the Hoyas need to secure a strong finish at the Nittany Lion Invitational to crawl out of the hole in which they have unfortunately found themselves.

GUHOYAS

Sophomore Baili Park reads the green at the Cougar as she prepares to place her ball at her mark for a putt. Park was the Hoyas’ fourth-best finisher this week, with a 21-over par 237.

Maddy Welch As much as I wish hockey season was just around the corner, it is still a whole three weeks away. While that seems like an eternity for fans before the season begins, it also means just three weeks remain for this year’s restricted free agent class to get signed. Restricted free agency usually passes by without incident and young players continue playing with the teams that drafted them, but tension is growing in these contract negotiations, a microcosm of disputes between players and management league-wide.

As a quick refresher, restricted free agency in the NHL is designed to be boring.

If an RFA, someone who just finished their first contract upon entering the league, is any good, their team will probably have to pay them $5 to $10 million. In order for another team to poach that player away, that team would have to offer the RFA whatever they are worth, and the original team has the chance to match and keep the RFA. If the offer sheet from their former team is not matched, the RFA can be poached; however, when the contracts are worth $8 million to $10.5 million, at the upper end of elite RFA signings, the poaching team has to give the team they poached from two first-round picks and a thirdround pick. This process is unnecessarily complicated, but basically, nobody wants to do this, so players stay with their teams.

Things have been chang-

ing, though, since last year.

William Nylander, who was in the unfortunate position of being one year older than his teammates Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, was an RFA contract holdout. He feared he would make significantly less than his younger teammates or get traded, so held out until the last possible day. If a player does not sign by Dec. 1 then they have to sit out until July, which is the whole season. He was eventually signed for $6.9 million per year for six years.

Mitch Marner is the latest holdout for the Toronto Maple Leafs, following the expiration of his contract upon the conclusion of the 2018-19 season. Auston Matthews signed an $11.6 million per year contract with the Leafs, and Marner thinks he is worth the same amount; I would argue he is worth a similar but slightly smaller amount. The hard cap in the NHL means the Leafs are really cash-strapped, especially if they pay another $10 million annually to someone my age, like Marner — I’m still job hunting, but my entry level salary will probably be less than $900,000. He therefore has yet to sign, and we will see if this conflict escalates to a full contract holdout.

I firmly refuse to make this column a Leafs-centric column, so we are moving swiftly on. Hockey analysts have long been lamenting the death of the offer sheet, but as Taylor Swift proved, it is still possible to sell one million albums. Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes proved the offer sheet method of poaching players still has a breath of life when he was offer-sheeted by the Montreal Canadiens. Sure, the offer sheet was so low the Hurricanes tweeted a poll asking, “Will we match the offer sheet for Sebastian Aho?” with the possible responses “Yes” and “Oui”, and the offer sheet was matched — a potential fi-

asco becoming a sadly boring footnote to the summer.

All of this is a long-winded attempt at saying that the clock is ticking, and these RFAs are poised to play some negotiation hardball. These deals are almost always done by this point in the summer, but for the aforementioned reasons, the paradigm is shifting.

While some of these teams have individual considerations such as the salary cap or asset management, there is an ongoing debate about what the second contract should look like in the NHL. Younger players seek shorterterm deals that expire as they hit their prime in their midto-late twenties, at which point they can start a bidding war as an unrestricted free agent and live out their days prosperously until they retire. Teams, on the other hand, seek long-term, cost controlled contracts. As the salary cap increases and elite players have been securing record contracts, the tension between what players and teams want grows.

Still unsigned are Patrik Laine who is coming off a very inconsistent first two years; Brayden Point, who is in no position to solve the Lightning’s playoff woes; Mikko Rantanen, who has the potential to finally make the Avalanche respectable and Charlie McAvoy, who is already a top-pairing defenseman. Valuable players such as these remaining without a team this late into the summer proves that the current RFA system which will require modifications when the current collective bargaining agreement expires September 2022.

The way this summer shakes out will prove to be a sign of the times.

Maddy Welch is a senior in the School of Foreign Service. ON THIN ICE appears online and in print every other Friday.

SPORTS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

WOMEN’S SOCCER

THE HOYA

A11

FOOTBALL

Ground Game Leads Hoyas to Victory MARIST, from A12

position the same way. There’s competition at every spot. We knew we were going to do that going into the football game and they both performed at a very high level. Hopefully, they will keep competing,” he said.

Sgarlata denied any claims that the competitive nature between players at the same positions as one another has led or could lead to legitimate conflict.

“It’s going to be contentious on Saturdays,” Sgarlata said. “Our job is to set it up so we get the best 23 kids between the kicker and the two sides of the ball.”

Sgarlata also clarified some of the benefits of the internal competition.

“We want to get a lot of people in the games because I know this is the deepest roster we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Sgarlata said.

The Hoyas showed promise for an eventful season during Saturday’s game. The 43 points

GUHOYAS

Senior quarterback Gunther Johnson scrambles against Marist on Saturday. Johnson rushed for 68 yards on the day. were the most points scored by the team since a 52-point game in September of 2011. Additionally, the team’s 272 rushing yards were notable for the history books, with this total being the most since Sept. 1, 2012. Johnson’s three touchdowns, two rushes and one pass, in addition

to finishing 9-of-14 passing for 77 yards and 68 rushing yards, earned his first career Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honor, the first by a Hoya since Kyle Nolan in 2015.

Going forward, Sgarlata hopes to build on the success of Saturday’s victory by continuing with

an effective running attack while stopping the run on the other side of the ball.

“If you look at teams that win championships, they can do two things,” he said. “They can run the football and they can stop the run. That is always a point of emphasis for us. Coach Spence, as the coordinator, and Coach Kolt, as the offensive line coach, have done a great job of developing [the offensive line] and we’re looking for them to continue to perform the way they did this past weekend.”

Looking ahead, the Hoyas return to action at home this weekend, facing off on Saturday against Catholic University on Cooper Field. will face within conference play. With only five games left before the start of Big East competition, it is essential for the Hoyas to learn how not to shrink against serious competition, as well as to determine what lineups and schemes make the most sense for this year’s iteration of the Hoyas.

MAGGIE FOUBERG/THE HOYA

Freshman midfielder Julia Leas takes a shot past a defender in Georgetown’s decisive 4-1 victory over Lafayette.

Germino-Watnick Leads Offense Against Lafayette WOMEN’S SOCCER, from A12

Junior goalkeeper Alyssa Navarrete had three saves on the day to the Lafayette keeper’s seven. The Hoyas tallied 24 shots, 11 of which were on goal to the Leopard’s six shots, four being on frame.

Georgetown also earned 17 corners to Lafayette’s one.

After the victory, Nolan expressed satisfaction with the team’s offensive showing while also voicing some concern about the goal allowed in the last few minutes of the game.

“We’re still trying to figure things out and still trying to get a little bit better each day,” Nolan said in an interview with GUHoyas. “I thought we played better today than we did against Bucknell last week. I thought there was a lot of positive today. I was disappointed though with the goal we gave up.”

Georgetown next looks to its matchup with Princeton this coming Thursday. The Hoyas are hoping to secure another victory against the Tigers after winning 2-1 in overtime off of a penalty kick last season. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. on Shaw Field.

Germino-Watnick sent a corner kick into the box, finding senior defender Meaghan Nally’s head and then the back of the net for the second goal of the game. In the 59th minute, Germino-Watnick then tallied a goal of her own to go with her two assists, as she slotted the ball past the Lafayette keeper after a passing combination between Livingstone and senior forward Casey Richards found her open in great position in the box.

After three unanswered goals by the Hoyas, Lafayette broke through the Georgetown defense in the 88th minute to find a player in the middle of the box who put the ball away and brought the game to within two.

The Leopards’ two-goal deficit would prove to be short-lived. With just over a minute remaining in the match, sophomore forward Boo Jackson soared a corner kick past the Lafayette defense and keeper to notch Georgetown’s fourth and final goal in their 4-1 victory.

GU Stays Perfect on West Coast Trip

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Junior midfielder Jack Beer dribbles the ball past a defender on Shaw Field. Beer contributed an assist in Georgetown’s win at UCLA on Monday. The Hoyas’ offense overwhelmed the Bruins, outshooting them 15-4 on the way to the team’s fourth-straight win.

MEN’S SOCCER, from A12

SUDOKU

3 4

7 8 5 3

8 7 4

MEN’S SOCCER

3 1 3 7

8

2

9

9 2

4 3

1 6

8 6 7 2 9

5 7 8

in the 13th minute following a quick break from UCLA. However, the shot from the Bruins’ forward sailed just over the bar. Yet, despite trailing early, the Hoyas began to gain momentum as the first half wore on.

“We went down early and the guys responded really well to it and ran the game at UCLA,” Wiese said. “They’re doing what every good team needs to do on the arc of a season which is to gain the experience of how to come through hard games and how to persevere.”

Following numerous looks on goal, the Hoyas finally equalized in the 31st minute when junior forwards Derek Dodson and Jack Beer assisted sophomore midfielder Zach Riviere. Dodson found Beer through traffic who quickly played it to Riviere at the far post. Riviere, who had re-

cently come onto the pitch, calmly finished the attacking play and gave the Hoyas their much-needed equalizer.

Minutes later, the duo combined again as Dodson found Riviere who scored his second of the day to give the Hoyas a 2-1 lead at halftime.

The second half was all Georgetown as they continued to pepper the UCLA goal with shots. Junior midfielder Paul Rothrock hit the post from a set piece in the 51st minute and a minute later assisted freshman forward Will Sands’ first career goal. Rothrock himself joined in on the scoring action minutes later when he scored in the 58th minute following a fantastic longball from O’Hearn to make it 4-1.

The day culminated when Riviere found the back of the net once more for his third goal of the game and the first hat trick for the Hoyas since 2013. O’Hearn once again

provided the assist by playing a penetrating pass down the field to Riviere, who gave the Hoyas a 5-1 lead.

“All three [of O’Hearn’s] assists [this season] have been wonderfully incisive passes,” Wiese said. “Something we really value in him is his ability to see the game and be able to pick out a wide variety of different kinds of passes as needed.”

The fireworks ended there, and the Hoyas improved to 4-0-0 on the year. Georgetown out shot UCLA 15-4, and freshman goalkeeper Tomas Romero earned the win in the net. Through four games, the Hoyas have been stout in defense, only conceding twice: once against Syracuse and once against UCLA. “Defending is really a team concept with us. We get our success derived from ten players who really work as a collective unit defensively and the center backs are the last line of that,” Wiese said.

“And when you look at our team, we have a very experienced group of returners in those front six spots who really understand their defensive responsibilities and how to press teams.”

After playing 172 combined shutout minutes in the Hoyas’ victory over UCI and their previous victory over Temple, O’Hearn was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career. “[O’Hearn] is as experienced of a player as we have,” Wiese said. “He’s played pretty much every minute of every game for us from his freshman year until now. So, he really understands his job.”

With their road trip concluded, the Hoyas will return home to Shaw Field and continue their nonconference schedule when they host the University of Connecticut Huskies on Saturday, Sept.

14, at 1 p.m.

Last issue’s solutions

8 9 3 1 2 7 4 6 5

2 1 4 8 5 6 3 9 7

7 6 5 3 9 4 8 2 1

6 7 9 5 1 3 2 8 4

4 3 1 2 7 8 6 5 9

5 2 8 4 6 9 7 1 3

1 4 2 7 8 5 9 3 6

9 5 7 6 3 2 1 4 8

3 8 6 9 4 1 5 7 2

FREE KICK

Clubs Can Pay Neymar at Their Own Risk HAMPERS, from A12

life has also raised questions about his commitment to the game despite his on-field ability.

Furthermore, his numbers on the field tell a mixed story. In his prime at Barcelona, he played alongside two elite forwards, Messi and Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez. While the trio was dubbed the deadliest front three in Europe, Neymar scored only 59 of their 250 league goals and registered just 30 league assists.

While Barcelona captured two Spanish League titles and one Champions League title in Neymar’s four seasons, these results were arguably an underperfor-

mance of the team’s potential or expected success over that stretch.

Since arriving in Paris in 2017, he has faced weaker competition in Ligue 1, France’s top division. Neymar notched an impressive 15 goals in 17 league matches last season, but this result paled in comparison to his teammate Kylian Mbappé’s 33 goals in 29 matches. Both of his seasons with PSG were marred by injuries which left him out of key Champions League fixtures, leaving the wealthy club still seeking its first continental trophy.

His spell at PSG has come with its fair share of off-field drama as well, including Neymar missing

practice and appearing to punch a spectator in the face after the 2019 Coupe de France final.

Neymar’s remarkable talent is undeniable, but his ability to consistently and maturely lead a team remains unproven.

Few sports require the level of team chemistry, intelligence and durability that soccer de-

mands. Neymar’s remarkable talent on the ball is undeniable, but his ability to consistently and maturely lead a team remains unproven on the club or international level despite multiple opportunities to do so.

At 27, Neymar is at least halfway through his professional career. Soccer fans rightfully hope that he will realize his full potential at a new club in 2020.

Whoever pays his extremely high price tag, however, must know the gamble they are taking.

Dean Hampers is a senior in the College. FREE KICK appears online and in print every other Friday.

Sports

Men’s Soccer Georgetown (4-0) vs. UConn (2-2) Saturday, Sept. 14, 1 p.m.

Shaw Field

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

NUMBERS GAME

TALKING POINTS

FIELD HOCKEY Junior back Ali Cronin scored a game winner at Longwood before the Hoyas fell at James Madison.

See A10

“

Something to be valued is how do you get results when it’s not going just how you want it to.”

Head Men’s Soccer Coach Brian Wiese

MEN’S SOCCER

40

The football team’s margin of victory against Marist, their most since 1999.

FOOTBALL

GU Captures 2 Georgetown Offense Explodes in 43-3 Win Wins on the Road GUEINAH BLAISE Hoya Staff Writer

DREW SEWALL Hoya Staff Writer

The No. 6 Georgetown men’s soccer team completed its first two road tests of the season by beating University of California, Irvine 1-0 and No. 13 UCLA 5-1.

The Hoyas (4-0-0, 0-0-0 Big East) visited the UCI Anteaters (0-3-1, 0-0-0 Big West) on Sept. 6. The first half ended scoreless as both teams were unable to break down the opposition’s defense and create any meaningful chances on goal. The Hoyas ended the first half having outshot the Anteaters 8-3 but with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

UCI came out of halftime firing on all cylinders and put Georgetown’s defense under immense pressure throughout large portions of the second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Giannis Nikopolidis came up huge in the 58th minute as he denied a fantastic scoring opportunity from the Anteaters’ attack and kept the game scoreless.

“We were on our heels for thirty minutes of that second half and were not doing anything we wanted to be doing,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said.

However, the game turned on its head in the 79th minute when a UCI player picked up his second yellow card of the game and was subsequently sent off the pitch.

The Hoyas made quick use of the man advantage and

broke the deadlock when junior defender Sean O’Hearn found junior midfielder Jacob Montes about 25 yards from goal. Montes found himself alone in space and unleashed a powerful effort that just snuck inside the far post to give the Hoyas a 1-0 lead.

Following the goal, Georgetown was stout defensively and ultimately hung on for a 1-0 win over UC Irvine. This victory was the Hoyas’ second shutout of the season and the first for Nikopolidis who made three saves in the win.

The Hoyas out shot the Anteaters 10-6 over the course of the game.

“The guys found a way to steal one and win it. Something to be valued is how do you get results when it’s not going just how you want it to,” Wiese said.

Following that victory, Georgetown continued its West Coast road trip and traveled to Los Angeles to face the UCLA Bruins (2-2-0, 0-0-0 Pac12) on Sept. 9.

UCLA struck first in the third minute following a dangerous attack beginning from around the center line.

The ball eventually made its way out wide before a cross found a Bruins’ attacker who did a simple near-post finish and give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

This goal marked the first time the Hoyas trailed in a match this year.

Georgetown almost conceded a second goal See MEN’S SOCCER, A11

Following a loss to Davidson to open the season, the Georgetown football team sought to score their first win of the season against Marist last Saturday. The Hoyas bounced back from last week’s loss in a major way with a 43-3 blowout win.

The Hoyas made notable improvement in the time of possession. In week one, Davidson was able to control the clock, possessing the ball twice as long as Georgetown. Last week, however, the Hoyas managed to possess the ball for over 36 of the game’s 60 minutes.

Georgetown Head Coach Rob Sgarlata, however, refrains from putting too much stock in comparisons between the two games.

“I think they’re two totally separate games. Davidson was an option attack so it’s a little bit different,” Sgarlata said.

Nevertheless, Sgarlata acknowledged the importance of winning the possession battle as the team was able to do against Marist.

“Every week you go into it, you want to have the ball longer and defend shorter,” Sgarlata said. “That’s probably the lowest number of plays we’ve defended in a while.”

Sgarlata then analyzed some other areas of success for the team, such as the ground game offensively and the turnover battle on both sides of the ball.

“I thought our offensive line did a great job of running the ball in the fourth quarter and allowing us to dominate the time of possession in the fourth. It is definitely something that we talk about every week,” Sgar-

GUHOYAS

Sophomore wide receiver Joshua Thomas celebrates a touchdown with senior quarterback Gunther Johnson. Johnson scored three touchdowns, two rushing and one passing, in the Hoyas’ win. lata said. “I think the turnover battle really played into our time of possession as well. We were good with our ball security and didn’t give up any turnovers and we forced four, one on special teams and three on defense, so that definitely helped us.”

Saturday’s scoring began with senior quarterback Gunther Johnson scoring on a 17yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Marist would go on to respond with their own 36-yard field goal in the second quarter, but the Hoyas dominated the

scoring from then on with 36 unanswered points.

Georgetown’s coaches became aggressive and it paid off, with the Hoyas completing a two-point conversion and going one-for-two on fourth downs.

“For us, we’re going to be aggressive when we have to be and we’re going to be smart when we have to be,” Sgarlata said. “All three of those situations are ones that we practiced throughout the week.”

The team went on to put up a total of 424 yards of offense while only giving up 244 yards

and three points. Sgarlata credits a lot of Saturday’s success to the competitive culture the team managed to foster between its players. This culture was especially evident in the team’s decision to play junior quarterback Joseph Brunell in the second quarter, which was not a game day decision, according to Sgarlata.

“Joe has done a great job throughout camp and showed that he can do some things for us on offense. We look at every See MARIST, A11

FREE KICK

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Dean Hampers

Neymar’s Value Overinflated In Transfer Market MAGGIE FOUBERG/THE HOYA

Junior defense Kelly Ann Livingstone splits the defense during Georgetown’s 4-1 win over Lafayette on Sunday at Shaw Field. The victory was led by a strong offensive performance, with the Hoyas outshooting the Leopards 24-6 and putting 11 shots on net.

Hoyas Fall at UVA, Defeat Lafayette RACHEL GAUDREAU Hoya Staff Writer

The No. 15 Georgetown women’s soccer squad had two contests last week, one at No. 5 University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and another at home against Lafayette. The Hoyas fell to Virginia’s talented squad but bounced back with a dominant win over the Lafayette Leopards.

The Hoyas began the first match with an early chance from senior forward Paula Germino-Watnick, who recorded a shot in the fourth minute that was blocked by the Cavalier defense.

In the 10th minute, a Cavalier player found a hole in the Blue and Gray defense and managed to bury an uncon-

tested shot from just outside the six-yard box. Virginia (50-0) kept up its offensive pressure by following up the goal with two shots and a corner kick in the following five minutes.

In response, GerminoWatnick, who would prove to be the Hoyas’ biggest offensive threat of the day, tallied another shot just wide of the net in the 21st minute.

Germino-Watnick would go on to record three of Georgetown’s six total shots, generating the most opportunities for the Blue and Gray offense.

Senior midfielder Carson Nizialek also contributed in the 33rd minute with the Hoyas’ only shot on goal, which was turned aside by the Cavaliers’ goalkeeper.

The Hoyas held the Cava-

liers to a close game throughout the second half, limiting them to three shots while recording three of their own.

Georgetown remained within one through 85 minutes but conceded a second goal to Virginia in the 85th minute.

Despite efforts in the remaining five minutes of the game, including a corner kick and shot, Georgetown could not close the 2-0 deficit.

Head Coach Dave Nolan understood the threat of the Virginia offense going into the game and detailed his team’s defensive strategy to contain them with pressure and counterattacks.

“This game was always going to be a real test for us,” Nolan said in an interview with GUHoyas. “Virginia is a top side with a special player

upfront. We set out to play in a compact way and tried to counter them when we could.

I credit our players for executing that plan really well and being down 1-0 with five minutes left, I always felt we could get one, and we almost did.”

Following the loss in Charlottesville, Georgetown (3-21) returned to Shaw Field on Sunday afternoon to host Lafayette (2-3-1).

The Hoyas were able to strike early. After a deflected shot by Germino-Watnick in the 18th minute of the match found the feet of junior defender Kelly Ann Livingstone in the box, Livingstone finished off the shot to put the Hoyas up 1-0.

Early in the second half, See WOMEN’S SOCCER, A11

Visit us online at thehoya.com/category/sports

After months of speculation about being involved in a transfer, the highly anticipated return of Neymar to his former club Futbol Club Barcelona officially stalled Sept. 1.

Despite making his intentions to leave his club clear to the world, the world’s most expensive player will remain at Paris Saint-Germain — the club that purchased him from FC Barcelona for 222 million euros in 2017 —– until at least January, when the international transfer window reopens.

As good as Neymar has been on the field in his greatest moments, his overvaluation has stuck him on PSG for the foreseeable future, a team for which he has no intention of playing long into the future.

Barcelona and PSG seem to have not been able to agree on the current value of the 27-year-old Brazilian star.

While rumors circled a possible deal valuing Neymar at 200 million euros, along with three Barcelona players, no proposals seemingly satisfied the PSG front office.

As even the most casual soccer fan knows, the sphere of individual accolades has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for over a decade. Since debuting in Europe in 2013, however, Neymar has been the heir apparent to this duopoly.

Even as Messi and Ronaldo continue excelling deep in their 30s, Neymar is widely viewed as the third best soccer player in the world. He has proven himself to be a generational talent with a stunning highlight reel of skill moves and free kicks.

He has amassed an enormous and international fan base with 125 million Instagram followers, more than the likes of even Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.

Neymar’s skill set has not necessarily translated, however, into being the most valuable team asset. As viewers of the 2018 World Cup will remember, his theatrical diving and unnecessary provocations with defenders showcase his consistent immaturity. His lavish social See HAMPERS, A11