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CALL Campus Since 1920 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024
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Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 105, No. 09, © 2024
SJP Rallies, Urges University To Divest From Companies Selling to Israeli Military
AAMIR JAMIL/THE HOYA
Student protesters called on Georgetown University to divest from companies supporting Israel during a rally Feb. 2.
Maren Fagan and Aamir Jamil
Academics Desk Editor, GUSA Desk Editor
More than a dozen students rallied in front of the Healey Family Student Center (HFSC) during Georgetown University’s Senior Parents and Family Weekend, calling on parents and students to urge the university to divest from companies supporting Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. The Feb. 2 rally coincided with the start of the President’s Reception, an event the Office of the President hosts to welcome families and showcase student groups in the HFSC. Protestors amplified their chants with megaphones in an attempt to make parents and students inside the HFSC hear them until the Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) officers told protestors to stop using the megaphones. Selina Al-Shihabi (SFS ’26), a
protestor and organizer of the rally, said Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a student organization that supports Palestine and calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, decided to host the rally outside the HFSC to maximize protestors’ visibility. “We knew that if we did an action during Parents Weekend, not only would it be high impact because there would be a lot of parents and would show the university we’re serious about our demands, it would be impactful to the university because the university cares about its image,” Al-Shihabi told The Hoya. “It would probably make the university more likely to answer our demands.” Al-Shihabi said the conflict was personal for many of the protestors, as they had family members killed in Gaza. “I know people who have lost 40plus family members in Gaza,” AlShihabi said. “Having lost just three See RALLY, A7
AAMIR JAMIL/THE HOYA
The ambassador to the United States from Poland and the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine met in Riggs Library to discuss Russian war crimes and the path to holding perpetrators accountable at a Feb.7 event.
Diplomats Discuss Russian War Crimes Aamir Jamil
GUSA Desk Editor
CW: This article references and discusses war crimes against women and children. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.
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he ambassador to the United States from Poland and the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine joined experts in international affairs and Georgetown University faculty to commemorate the second anniversary of the Rus-
sia-Ukraine War at an event in Riggs Library on Feb. 7. The Polish embassy partnered with the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting women in leadership, to host the event. Organizers also screened a short documentary titled “TENETA”, showing accounts of Russian war crimes from witnesses and survivors. Melanne Verveer, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues and current director of GIWPS, said the two-year-long Russia-Ukraine War has caused
immense death and destruction in violation of international law. “It’s been almost two years now since Russia mounted its full-scale unprovoked assault on Ukraine, and it has brought enormous death and destruction to Ukraine and her people,” Verveer said at the event. “Civilians continue to be directly targeted in violation of international rules of law.” Kateryna Smagliy, the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine, said Russia has committed numerous war crimes during the war’s two-year course, including sexual violence and
violence against children. “As we get closer to the second mark of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked attack in our country, mass killings, rapes, torture, filtration camps, illegal detention of civilians and children have become a cruel reality again in the 21st century,” Smagliy said at the event. Ambassador Marek Magierowski of Poland, who discussed the investigation and recording of Russian war crimes by independent organizations, said technology like social media has made it easier to document the atrocities. See DIPLOMATS, A7
Students Commemorate 48th Georgia’s Secretary of State Annual Black History Month Speaks on Election Security Joshua Chilmaid Special to The Hoya
Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state of Georgia, spoke about his experience overseeing presidential elections and his predictions for the future of U.S. politics at a Feb. 7 event. The event, titled “Trust in Elections,” was hosted by the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) and featured a moderated discussion about Raffensperger’s work to ensure election accuracy in Georgia. Raffensperger garnered national
attention in the wake of the 2020 election after refusing former President Donald Trump’s orders to overturn Georgia’s election results. Since the 2020 election, Raffensperger has worked to improve election administration, security and access at a time when Republican voters are concerned about the validity of voter counts. Raffensperger said this public mistrust in elections is a threat to American democracy. “Trust is the gold standard of this work,” Raffensperger said at the event. “Accessibility with security, building trust — I think that’s what really pulls our so-
cial fabric back together.” Raffensperger discussed Trump’s requests to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in Georgia. On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump called Raffensperger and asked him to find 11,780 votes to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia. Raffensperger said he knew the call with Trump would be significant within the context of the 2020 election and Biden’s 0.23% margin of victory against Trump. “It wasn’t something I was looking forward to,” Raffensperger said. “Somewhere, the hopeful part of me said, if I See GEORGIA, A7
LAUREN DOHERTY/THE HOYA
Students honor the start of Black History Month, celebrating this year’s accomplishments while looking forward to continued activism and community building.
Madison Fox-Moore Student Life Desk Editor
Georgetown University announced its recognition of the Black community in the honoring of the 48th annual Black History Month Feb. 1. This year, the celebration hinges on student engagement, particularly in celebration of this year’s accomplishments furthered by Black student activists and in the continued push for further advances in inclusion and equity on campus. This year’s celebration includes the recognition of two achievements that the Black Student Alliance (BSA) realized in the past year: the inaugural recognition of Slavery Remembrance Day — a Sept. 10 event that Hoyas Advocating for
Slavery Accountability (HASA), the GU Black Leadership Forum (BLF), BSA and the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) hosted to honor those who endured slavery — and the opening of a Black affinity space, Blaxa Block. The BSA hosted its second annual Family Feud event Feb. 1 and will also host Melanin Milestones, an event celebrating Black seniors at Georgetown Feb. 15 to celebrate Black History Month. GUSA President and BSA Vice President of Operations Jaden Cobb (CAS ’25) said Black History Month at Georgetown presents both the opportunity to engage with Black culture at large and at the university. “Celebrating Black History at Georgetown is not only celebrating
the historical significance of Blackness in American culture but also celebrating Blackness and its microcosms here at Georgetown,” Cobb told The Hoya. Nestory Ngolle (CAS ’26) said Slavery Remembrance Day, which honored the 272 men, women and children whom the Jesuits sold in 1838 to keep the university financially afloat, marked a commitment for the university, as a Jesuit institution, to formally confront its history with slavery. “You always hear about the Catholic Church and slavery, but especially in history classes, that begins to fade,” Ngolle told The Hoya. “But Slavery Remembrance Day See HISTORY, A7
@GUPOLITICS/X
Brad Raffensperger spoke to the Georgetown community about trust in elections and the outcome of presidential contests in an event hosted in Lohrfink Auditorium.
NEWS
OPINION
GUIDE
SPORTS
Senator Speaks on Trade
Reflections on Research
Bienvenue, La Bonne Vache
The World of NIL
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Hoyas Rising has emerged as the lead Georgetown collective pairing student athletes with third-party vendors. A12/A11
Get on Your Knees
Lax Loses at Loyola
Chris Coons (D-Del.) discussed the evolving relationship between climate change and U.S. trade policy.
Black Poet Voices
Four Black poets gathered to celebrate Black History Month by reading their work and discussing its resonances.
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Assistant Dean Michael Parker calls for a more inclusive approach to undergraduate student research.
Ceasefire in Gaza
Saeed Samra (CAS ’27) says a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is the only humanitarian solution to the mounting death toll.
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Jordan Guzzi (CAS ’26) rates Georgetown’s latest French newcomer highly, recommending the garlic aioli fries.
A Georgetown grad smashes performative purity culture in a new hit comedy special, according to Elizabethe Bogrette (SFS ’26).
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Published Fridays
In the first match of the 2024 season, Georgetown men’s lacrosse disappointed against Loyola Maryland in an 18-10 loss.
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THEHOYA.COM | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024
OPINION VIEWPOINT • CHBANI AND CHANG
POLL
Invest in Space Studies on Campus Georgetown University has a storied history with astronomy — yet since 1972, that history’s only legacy has been in the neglected, aging Heyden Observatory. Founded in 1841 as part of a nascent movement across America to privately fund observatories to match those found in Europe, the Heyden Observatory has been home to more than 180 years of astronomical research, from Fr. James Curley, S.J.’s calculations of the latitude and longitude of Washington, D.C. in 1846 to Fr. Paul McNally, S.J.’s award-winning solar eclipse photography in 1937. But when Georgetown’s astronomy department — once one of the strongest in the world — shut down in 1972 due to light pollution and funding issues, the observatory became less a teaching tool than a dusty landmark. For 52 years, the Georgetown University Astronomical Society (GUAS) has been charged with operating and maintaining the site, which is the third oldest college observatory in the United States. While GUAS’ weekly Tuesday observing nights have served as a tool for inspiration and space awareness on campus, the society’s primary mission has always been to preserve and renovate the Heyden Observatory. Despite our best efforts, Georgetown has left the observatory to deteriorate for decades — until now. This semester, the Heyden Observatory is closed for limited renovations, but its future is still uncertain. The university has yet to decide on Heyden Observatory’s future and the renovation’s scope. As members of GUAS, one thing is clear to us: Heyden Observatory should not be left to crumble. Instead, Georgetown should invest in space resources, with the observatory becoming a center for space studies on campus. In our petition, GUAS and the Georgetown University Space Initiative (GUSI), a student-run organization that is working to encourage the prioritization of space studies in university curricula, call on the university to increase course offerings about space and plan for the observatory’s future as a place of learning and science policy. This ambitious plan seeks to respect the historic observatory’s heritage while equipping it with the tools and facilities needed to serve a modern, innovative academic community. We envision the historic observatory as the home of an interdisciplinary space studies institute, hosting researchers and educating the next generation of space leaders — in policy, business, science and more. The world needs science policy leaders, and a space studies master’s program centered around the observatory would help this. GUAS, GUSI and
members of Georgetown’s faculty have proposed a program for masters’ students in the School of Foreign Service (SFS) next year, with hopes to later expand the program into an undergraduate concentration and minor. Space touches every facet of our modern lives; Georgetown should seize the moment to become the school of choice for leaders shaping the future of humanity in space. This idea is nothing new at Georgetown, an institution on the cutting edge of science policy: the SFS’ Science, Technology and International Affairs major has quickly grown in popularity, becoming one of the SFS’ largest majors and now boasting a complementary master’s program. Student organizations focused on the intersection of science and policy, like GUSI and GUAS, have seen record attendance in recent semesters, and alumni from these science policy clubs have since gone on to become industry professionals, science communicators and congressional staffers. Our plan also imagines Heyden Observatory as D.C.’s only public observatory. The observatory could be transformed into the beating heart of a STEM outreach program to D.C. schools, easing concerns surrounding the quality of available STEM education in the area. Students from every ward and walk of life in D.C.’s majority-minority classrooms could come to the third oldest functioning observatory in the nation and explore the wonders of the universe, just as the Jesuits did over a century and a half ago. Since the petition’s release on Nov. 13, 2023, over 230 students, alumni, faculty and industry professionals have signed on in support of our mission. GUAS hopes that the current renovations are not just an exercise in preserving a relic of history, but a movement to make Heyden the historic yet modern home of the Space Studies Institute. We envision a Georgetown campus at the forefront of space security, policy, sustainability and STEM outreach — with a fully equipped observatory for students to appreciate the wonders of the universe right from the Hilltop. To learn more about the GUAS’ vision for the Observatory and Space Studies Institute proposal and to sign the petition, follow us and GUSI on Instagram @gtown_astro and @guspaceinitiative. For any questions, or if you’d like to get involved, contact us at astronomicalsociety@georgetown.edu.
The shortened two-and-a-half week 2024-25 winter break has sparked campus outrage, resulting in a widely-circulated petition advocating for a longer winter break. As of Feb. 8, 2024, over 700 students and faculty have endorsed the petition. The Hoya issued a poll on this subject, to which 94 students responded. The poll asks how long respondents think Georgetown’s winter break should be. Fifty six respondents (59.6% of respondents) answered four weeks, and 31 respondents (33% of respondents) answered 3.5 weeks, while only seven respondents (7.5% of respondents) answered three weeks or less.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Heather Wang
Owen Chbani and Sophia Chang are both seniors in the School of Foreign Service.
HOYA HISTORY
Gym Use Spurs Student Demonstration November 6, 1969 The Nov. 13, 14 and 15 activities of the National Mobilization Committee have been announced and outlined. Georgetown’s role in the events is pending a decision by the President of the University, the Rev. Robert J. Henle, S.J., concerning the use of McDonough Gymnasium as a housing facility for incoming students participating in the demonstrations. At a recent meeting, the Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling upon Fr. Henle to make the gymnasium available for the housing of students. The University Athletic Board considered the question during its meeting this Tuesday, and made recommendations to the University President. According to Robin Yates (SLL ’70), the campus co-ordinator for the mobilization activities, if the Student Senate resolu-
tion were adopted by Fr. Henle, Georgetown would become a “regional center” for the “movements” of Nov. 14 and 15. Yates estimated that 10,000 students would “pass through” the University if the facilities were available. He also stated that the Mobilization activities would attract approximately one-quarter of a million students from universities throughout the nation. Yates then remarked that if the University became a “regional center,” the New York company of Hair would stage a free performance in the gymnasium Nov. 14. He announced that the Mobilization Committee has asked for a student boycott of classes Nov. 13 and 14. Further, the Committee will sponsor a “march against death” Nov. 14. Forty thousand people, primarily composed of students and dignitaries, will
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march from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House. Each of the marchers will carry placards bearing the names of either the American armed forces killed in Vietnam or the names of Vietnamese villages destroyed during the war. Each marcher will place the placard, representing the deceased soldier, in a coffin corresponding to the soldier’s home state. The march to the White House will take place Nov. 15. A mass rally will be held at a site yet to be designated. The site will be near the White House. The activities will conclude with a march to the Ellipse. Yates stated that the march against death will establish the peaceful nature of the activities. Sen. Charles Goodell (R.-N.Y.) and Caretta Scott King have committed themselves to participate in the Nov. 14 march.
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OPINION
VIEWPOINT • PARKER
Promote Research on Campus I am a scientist turned academic advisor. At Georgetown University, I wear many hats: I advise a caseload of about 250 biology and chemistry undergraduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), teach coursework in virology and biosecurity and lead a team of undergraduate researchers investigating biosecurity policy. Core to these enterprises is my belief that principles of research — hypothesizing, experimentation, discovery, reflection and synthesis — are fundamental components of both teaching and advising. With this in mind, I think there are improvements we need to make as faculty and administrators at Georgetown to better integrate research into the undergraduate experience. I’ve come to this conclusion in part because of my own path to scholarship, having grown up and attended college in rural Pennsylvania. While I hadn’t had much exposure to biology before college, I was drawn to science because of its attempt to synthesize and understand natural processes. I realized early on that I wasn’t satisfied simply with what we knew, but also curious to explore what we didn’t, which drew me to research. After four years spent inside classrooms and labs and countless hours spent looking at genomic data, I achieved one of the proudest moments of my educational career: publishing my undergraduate thesis research on plant bioinformatics. But in true scholarly fashion, full-time research in graduate school led to a better realization of just how little I really knew, even after decades of schooling. It was in these moments spent on research that I learned the most about myself as an intellectual — what drove me, my strengths and, perhaps most importantly, my weaknesses. Classwork had always
come easily to me, but research was hard. In the challenge, though, was the beauty, too. Reflecting on these experiences, I think they are indicative of the core of what makes an excellent scholar: students who have transformed, via inquiry, into academic innovators. This is why it is so critical that students participate in the process of guiding their own research, however big or small the project. And I have come to the conclusion that the epitome of education is best viewed as an evolution of self. I believe that term papers and problem sets, while useful learning exercises, are not sufficient for such profound educational transformation. Students are far more likely to realize true scholarship when they meet hard questions head on, justifying their assertions based on observation, identifying gaps and thinking differently than others have before. And in the context of an institution, this is much more likely to happen productively and successfully through an iterative process with a mentor rather than submitting an assignment to a grader. Since arriving at Georgetown, I have noted two areas where we can better enable the transition from student to scholar through research: requirements and centralization. Relatively few of our majors require meaningful participation in research, which is likely a result of a blend of bandwidth and pedagogy — departments may feel that mentored research takes more of their resources, and this may disincentivize its inclusion in their curricula. Within the CAS, only 10 majors require a “research methods” style course, and only eight require a research course. In addition, we have a culture where students do all the legwork to find research
opportunities. Undergraduate research at Georgetown is decentralized, so when a student wants to get involved in research, they are expected to navigate via department websites, cold email chains, appointment calendars and assertive requests for positions. Together, faculty and administrators need to find solutions to these barriers to undergraduate research so that we can more routinely and equitably incorporate research as a core principle of our educational structure on the Hilltop. As such, I think it is important that we internally incentivize faculty to mentor students in research, develop requirements for research across most majors and provide resources to help match students with mentors. Importantly, we should expect and enable faculty to teach students through research. Taking these steps toward inclusion, we are more likely to produce a pool of professionals attuned to the principles and values of scholarship. Nowadays, my proudest academic moments are helping my student researchers accomplish what I did — to conduct, complete and publish a project. And, really, the publication just provides tangibility and closure. The essence of the pride isn’t the product per se, but the journey, if you’ll allow me the platitude. Those experiences are the culmination of true scholarship: to produce something new, innovative and inspiring. To observe and participate in the formation of individuals capable of generative education — and to then be able to learn from them — is a process of which I’ll never tire. Michael Parker is an assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences.
VIEWPOINT • SAMRA
Call for a Humanitarian Ceasefire Four months after the tragic events of Oct. 7, Israel continues its siege on Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with its aggressive assaults. Home to about 2.2 million people living in merely 141 square miles, Gaza supports a population of about 15,600 people per square mile, making it approximately six times more densely populated than the average urbanized area in the United States. Thus, any war in Gaza utilizing explosives as opposed to a concentrated task force immediately and consciously sacrifices the well-being of every citizen in Gaza, Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike. The many innocent people within the open-air prison of Gaza are not acceptable collateral in Israel’s genocidal war against Hamas, and a ceasefire is necessary to achieve political peace and uphold international humanitarian law. If Israel wants peace, it will not be able to achieve it by adding to regional violence. Nearly 67,000 innocent people are injured on top of the over 27,700 already killed as of Feb.7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel continues to target hospitals, stating that they are trying to neutralize Hamas bases. Satellite imagery, open-source visual information and releases from the Israeli military do not support Israel’s claims of a Hamas stronghold. Additionally, the entire population of Gaza faces starvation and dehydration. More than one-third of all infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed; 500,000 of the 1.9 million people currently displaced no longer have homes. The death toll in Gaza is unacceptable. The entire war is equally unacceptable. Israel claims self-defense and yet has proceeded to commit atrocious war crimes and annihilate entire families across multiple generations. Since the 1948 Nakba, the mass expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians creating an unresolved refugee crisis, Israel has fought in 15 wars against surrounding Arab neighbors — including Palestine — regarding their occupied
territory. When viewed alongside the recent history of frequent wars, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent rejection of Hamas’ pleas for an end to the fighting in exchange for the release of hostages, suggests Israeli leaders have no true desire for peace. Some argue that Israel’s violence is an attempt to liberate Palestinians from the terrorist organization Hamas. These theorists see innocent Palestinian casualties as unfortunate but inevitable. This does not explain, however, why Israel dropped 2,000-pound, Pentagon-supplied bombs on regions in Southern Gaza that Israel designated as civilian safe zones. The U.S. government is understandably worried about American citizens that Hamas is currently holding hostage. Their continued support for Israel’s disorganized fighting contradicts this concern, especially when considering the three Israeli hostages that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed. Israel’s actions are producing more souls to mourn, not restoring peace. Eva Borgwardt, the national spokesperson of Jewish advocacy group IfNotNow, expressed that the violent and genocidal language spouted by the Israeli government echoes Nazi Holocaust propaganda. “As Jewish people whose ancestors went through the Holocaust, when we hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant use words like ‘the children of darkness’ and ‘human animals’ to describe Palestinians, we feel the resonances of that in our bones,” Borgwardt told CNN. While pro-Israel groups claim that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, Rabbi Alissa Wise counters that this claim is manipulative and invalidating to Jewish history. “The claim that it’s antisemitic is used as a cudgel to silence people and it’s really egregious, the way that they manipulate Jewish trauma,” Wise said to CNN. Though the eradication of Hamas is justifiable, the unfortunate reality is that Israel is not eradicating Hamas.
Israel is eradicating Palestine and Palestinians, a fact that is supported by the continued murder of innocents in the West Bank. We should not accept images of mothers holding their bleeding children, fathers walking familyless, doctors burnt out and crying and an entire race subjugated to a fate more horrific than one could ever imagine: an internationally televised genocide. We must uplift the voices of the oppressed. I urge students to take the accusations levied against Israel seriously and acknowledge the harm Israel has caused to the Palestinian and Jewish communities alike. Antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise following the events of Oct. 7 and Israel’s response. Understanding the facts is vital. Equally important is seeking out human stories and resources to understand the emotional impact of the reality in Gaza. Art has served as a backbone for the resistance movements and is worth exploring: Poets like Mahmoud Darwish, honored as a Palestinian national poet, and Naomi Shihab Nye, a critically acclaimed and greatly awarded Palestinian-American author, are a great place to start. I acknowledge that no single article — including this one — could sum up this entire issue, nor its history. But from all I know, I am certain that a ceasefire is objectively and morally necessary. The United States continues to uphold an unfair and inherently racist double standard regarding which lives are worth mourning. Israel continues to engage in war tactics that are ineffective, violent and, according to the International Court of Justice, in plausible violation of the Genocide Convention, the first U.N. human rights treaty intended to ensure the atrocities of World War II would “never again” plague our world. I ask my community to seek out truth amid the storm of information. God bless and keep Palestine in your prayers. Saeed Samra is a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences.
ASKING FOR A FRIEND
ILLUSTRATION BY: RACHAEL GROSS/THE HOYA
This Just In (or Out) for 2024 We barely made it past Jan. 1 before the first trend of the year made itself known: Ins and Outs. It’s fun, it’s pithy, and I’m here for it. For those of you who weren’t rotting on X, formerly known as Twitter, the last week of winter break, here’s the rundown: “Ins and Outs” are a quicker versionofNewYear’sresolutionswhich have taken the internet by storm. It’s a fun way for people to decide what’s here to stay or ought to be burned at the stake in the name of the new year. Here, I’ll start with a few I think all our lists should include: IN: Gratuitous pauses in conversation. Those who know me know I hate awkward pauses. I’ve always thought that a “good conversation” first and foremost needs to flow. There’s something so utterly charismatic about someone who doesn’t even need a second to mull things over before hitting back with a reply — it sparks something that just feels an awful lot like chemistry. Recently, though, I’ve had a revelation about whether this “flow” is actually something that should be idealized. After experimenting for a bit, I’ve realized that steady eye contact and a drawn-out pause at the right moments puts you in control of the pace of conversation and lets interesting things slip through. If nothing else, it makes you seem like a more confident and compelling person than someone who’s always biting into the ends of people’s sentences, trying to make sure there are no “awkward” silences. If you want to get real, unexpected value out of conversations with the people you’re trying to get closer to, give it a try.
OUT: The bare minimum. Let’s get the obvious out of the way — no more being in the trenches over a long-term, long-distance, low-commitment casual situation (unless that’s your thing). What I’m more interested in talking about is not doing the bare minimum for yourself. We know how things go here — the expectations of forsaking yourself to do better. But being stuck in that loop is grueling and unsustainable. There’s a level of sacrifice needed to reach your goals, but a step I’ve taken this last year is learning to admire those who have a life outside of “the grind.” I don’t just mean having a robust social life. People who pointedly pursue “unproductive” side quests like randomly picking up beekeeping, earning a bartending license or even ritually nurturing produce from the Leavey terrace have all my love and respect. Ultimately, taking back control of your life by indulging in low-stakes enrichment takes you out of the constant stress of productivity. IN: Handwritten letters. In light of my decision to take a gap year after this semester, I’ve reflected on the best ways to keep in touch with the people I’ll miss most while I frolic over to wherever life takes me. Here’s the thing about handwritten letters — they’re kind of terrifying. You should have seen me break a sweat trying to write out the jumble of emotions I was stewing in on my Amtrak back to school. But at the end of the day, my absolute most treasured gift is a handwritten note from a friend who can be charmingly stoic in her affections. There’s something about being able to hold a physical snapshot of someone’s singleminded efforts to convey something to you (and just you!) that’s touching like few other things are. If you decide this is the year to start writing letters again,
I challenge you to take it a step further and send the first draft, scribble-outs, imperfect wording and all. Don’t even read it over again. Just sign it off, seal it with a kiss for good luck and hand it over. OUT: A screen time of over four hours. Maybe even three hours. Look, we’re all in different places. The point is to take whatever your current status quo is and lower it. A word of warning — in my experience, it’s easy to default to spending all that extra time doing more work or mindlessly hanging out with friends. Lowering your screen time is really just the first step. The crucial point is to take ownership of the time you’ve earned back by being intentional with how you spend it. Whether I choose to spend this “bonus” time (girl math) by taking my mornings slow or by getting my hair dyed at five in the morning, it feels all the more special because the time spent on these activities is intentional and imbued with more meaning. Anyway, stick with cutting the fluff, keep an open mind and if all else fails, write to me for some tips. Asking for a friend, of course. If a friend, loved one or pet has a concern you think they should get some advice on, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email at opinion@ thehoya.com or keep a look out for the next advice poll on The Hoya’s Instagram (@the_hoya). I’m looking forward to hearing from you lovelies. Ciao, d Diane Kim is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the first installment of her advice column “Asking for a Friend.”
WE ARE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE
Rethink the American Ideal My high school did not have a guidance counselor, but that didn’t stop me. I bought an SAT prep book on Amazon and religiously studied “How to Get Into Georgetown” YouTube videos. During my last years of schooling in Portugal, only one thing mattered: securing a place on an American campus. All I wanted was to walk around with the golden stamp of an American higher education. After two and a half years at Georgetown University, much has shown me that the rest of the world has a distorted view of the United States. Not everything is as it seems. Beneath the glitz and glamor of the “American Dream” is an infinitely complicated society that, in many ways, makes that dream nothing but a myth. Yet millions of international students still fight to come to America, willing to accept things that would immediately blacklist other countries: daily HOYAlerts about violent incidents, endless hours waiting for medical emergencies and paying $7 for a latte. My friends and I often ponder upon what makes it all worthwhile. We ask why we traveled thousands of miles away from our families and friends, trying to assimilate to an unfamiliar culture, only to be deported a year after graduation when our student visas expire. We wonder if the price is too high to pay. These were not questions I entertained when I was an applicant. It would be impossible to exaggerate the mythical magnitude American colleges had in my mind. Elite institutions like Harvard and Stanford seemed to be the beating heart of the country, the place where all ideas began and flourished, where professors and fellow students endlessly opened and shaped young minds. But at some point along the way, there was a shift. American colleges have faced a number of acid tests in the previous years — most of which
they failed. The 2019 Varsity Blues scandal showed how money can easily open the back door to any elite college, allowing the children of wealthy parents to steal spots from less privileged, more diligent ones. Last year, the Supreme Court deemed affirmative action unconstitutional — while legacy admissions, a practice giving an unfair advantage to primarily white and wealthy children, is still up and running at many institutions, Georgetown included. These developments undoubtedly revealed the unfairness of the American higher education system. But perhaps they rippled so strongly throughout the country because they revealed something deeper: That the whole American system of meritocracy is a myth. American colleges are meant to be the great equalizer — the place where inherent disadvantages are fixed. But from what I’ve seen, they are the place where social mobility comes to die. But the question currently is not only whether the system works for everyone, but whether it works at all. Beyond its ability to deliver on its promises of being a place to facilitate social mobility, I wonder whether our education system is even making us smarter. Some of the extreme reactions to the IsraelHamas war displayed on our college campus made my father — who was always the biggest proponent of me going to the United States for college — wonder the same thing, calling me to check what I was learning in classes and hearing from my professors and peers. We are meant to be thinking every day — but only about the right things, the polite things, the uncontroversial things. “Thinking outside the box” is often a mortal crime. In the era of performative politics, there are two rights under threat: the right to speak and the right to stay quiet.
Anyone who was surprised by three university presidents’ refusal to label calls for the genocide of the Jewish people as bullying or harassment has been blind to this existential shift. Indeed, the downfall of these presidents is a sad metaphor for the downfall of their respective institutions. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked the university presidents a moral question, and Americans were furious with their responses — just like they are furious with their elite colleges’ inability to facilitate justice, equality and progress. That seems to be the crux of why incidents on college campuses appear to be attacks on the American soul: We have turned elite institutions from places where we learn ideas into places where we learn morality. American colleges are mirrors of society. I wonder if this is the way it should be — I’m not entirely convinced that it’s natural for colleges to be America’s moral compasses. I do not necessarily hold pessimistic answers to all these questions, and if I had to choose today, I would go to Georgetown all over again. Despite all I’ve written, Georgetown is still the place where my mind has been opened more than ever and where I have made the friends who became family. But I suppose my point is that I never had so many questions either. Maybe the sole fact that I hold these doubts — that I am now capable of thinking critically on a topic that I previously placed beyond judgment — is an ode to my education. Maybe I will accept this narrative — this four-year degree better be worth it, since it ain’t cheap. Claudia Amendoeira is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. This is the first installment of her column “We Are Not in Kansas Anymore: Life in America Through the Eyes of an International Student.”
A4 | THE HOYA
THEHOYA.COM | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024
FEATURES
From Downtown DC to the Hilltop: CALL Transfers Reflect on Campus Experiences
COURTESY OF ERIN FORCE
Eight transfer students who joined Georgetown University this fall began their academic journey in the Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL) program.
One month into their first semester on Georgetown’s main campus, the Fall 2023 cohort of CALL transfer students reflected on their time downtown as well as their academic and social transition to the Hilltop.
Hayley Young
Senior Features Editor
O
f the new cohort of transfer students that joined Georgetown University this fall, eight began their academic journey beyond the Hilltop. The university accepts a small number of transfer students annually into the Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL), a program in downtown Washington, D.C., which allows them to gain professional experience while still earning a semester of credits toward their undergraduate degree. Although the CALL first welcomed transfer students in Fall 2021, it officially launched the “CALL Transfer First” program in Fall 2023 for select transfers to spend their first semester at the CALL. Transfer applicants interested in the CALL can submit a short response when applying to Georgetown to be considered for the program. Kara Howey (CAS ’26), a CALL transfer, said the university denied her request to spend her first semester at the main campus following her acceptance. “We were told it was either the CALL first semester or nothing,” Howey wrote to The Hoya. “I was honestly so grateful to have been accepted that I would have gone anywhere temporarily.” Although the CALL was not his first choice, Henry Morgan (CAS ’26) said he was excited to attend Georgetown — regardless of which campus — after initially being waitlisted. “I would have preferred to be accepted to the Hilltop, but I got waitlisted,” Morgan wrote to The Hoya. “A week later, I got an email that said I was a serious contender for acceptance to the CALL. Around a week after that, I got my official acceptance, which was contingent on starting at the CALL.” One month into their first semester on Georgetown’s main campus, this fall’s cohort of transfer students is reflecting on their time at the CALL and transition to the Hilltop. CALLing Transfers Downtown The CALL offers four categories of courses: professional seminars, which integrate work experience like internships and research fellowships into the classroom; city seminars, which enable students to learn by exploring D.C.; CALL workshops, which teach specialized career skills and knowledge; and CALL electives, which are primarily government, journalism and women’s and gender studies classes, along with a few core requirements. CALL students must take one professional seminar, one city seminar and two CALL workshops for their first nine credits. They are expected to fill the rest of their schedule with two additional CALL courses, which can range from “Women and Leadership” to “Congressional Reporting.” Jovi Bahnan (CAS ’26), a transfer student who started at the CALL, said her favorite part of the program was the opportunities for experiential learning in the CALL courses.
“I came from a really big school before I moved to Georgetown, so going to the CALL was very much different because CALL classes are so much smaller,” Bahnan told The Hoya. “It was definitely a different experience, but one thing I really liked was that they were all immersive and very hands-on.” Bahan said many of her CALL professors would either bring guest speakers to the classroom or take students on visits to sites around the District. “For example, for my U.S. law class, we had all these different lawyers from various fields come to us, or we’d visit
“I was honestly so grateful to have been accepted that I would have gone anywhere temporarily.” KARA HOWEY (CAS ‘26) CALL TRANSFER STUDENT
them in their offices, so that was really cool and unique, even compared to classes at the Hilltop,” Bahnan said. The CALL courses take place at 500 First St. NW, a building that Georgetown acquired in 2019 when the program launched. The program is expected to relocate to 111 Massachusetts Ave. NW when it opens next fall. This new building, acquired by Georgetown in 2021, will also house other programs, including the School of Continuing Studies and the Earth Commons Institute. All CALL students, including transfers, live a few blocks away from their current instructional building at 55 H St. NW, where they are typically assigned their own single bedroom within a shared apartment. Sydney duKor-Jackson (CAS ’25) said the apartments’ convenient location and proximity to public transportation allowed her to explore beyond the Georgetown community. “On my walk to class from the apartment building, I would encounter so many different people who had nothing to do with Georgetown at all,” duKor-Jackson wrote to The Hoya. “It was so easy to spontaneously decide to go to an event somewhere in the city or go grocery shopping when I had a free hour or go out to dinner just for fun.” Bahnan, however, said the CALL’s small student population often made living there socially isolating. “Other than where your classes are and where you live, there’s not a lot to do in terms of the Georgetown community,” Bahnan said. Regarding housing, Morgan said the apartments were fairly high-end — including full kitchens, in-unit washers and dryers and a penthouse fitness and community center — compared to housing on the main
campus. “We had our own bedrooms, which was a huge plus,” Morgan wrote. “The communal living spaces were also really luxurious. But there wasn’t much social activity, so they felt pretty empty.” Transitioning to the Hilltop After their first semester at the CALL, transfer students essentially transfer again to a new campus for the spring semester — the main campus. This second transition brings its own opportunities and challenges, as CALL transfers strive to connect with the Hilltop community. Morgan said the university mostly facilitated a smooth transition for CALL transfer students to the Hilltop, including arranging for a local company to move students’ belongings across the District. “The CALL directors kept in contact with us throughout the process and quickly responded to all of our questions,” Morgan wrote. “Georgetown also organized for Storage Scholars to handle our belongings, and I’m grateful for that.” However, Morgan said Georgetown could have improved communication with CALL transfers regarding housing details. “At the same time, the university, as a whole, could have done a better job; many of us didn’t know where we were living until five days before moving in,” Morgan wrote. Howey said she still felt a little behind, academically and socially, upon arrival to the main campus. “After feeling so isolated as a CALL transfer, I was counting down the days to the main campus,” Howey wrote to The Hoya. “But I felt as if everyone already had a friend group, their clubs set in stone, and the campus figured out. I honestly didn’t even know where most of my classes were.” Morgan said the main campus has provided a significant departure from the social isolation of the CALL. “I’ve made many more friends since moving here, and it feels like I’m having a more typical college experience again,” Morgan wrote. “The campus community is great; everyone has been so friendly thus far. It didn’t take long for me to feel at home.” Other students have brought friendships from the CALL with them to the Hilltop. Bahnan said the program fostered connections among herself and her fellow transfer students. “Because it was so small, me and my transfer friends were able to build a strong connection since there weren’t that many of us,” Bahnan said. “So moving to the main campus, we’re still a group of friends, which I really like.” duKor-Jackson said transitioning to a new campus community twice in the same academic year makes it difficult to establish a sense of belonging. “As transfer students, we have already made the initial transition from our previous schools to Georgetown, and then, just a few months later, we are expected to transition again from the Capitol Campus to the Hilltop.
Jumping from place to place isn’t exactly conducive to building community,” duKor-Jackson added. Transfer Criticisms of the CALL Several CALL transfers criticize the program’s limited course offerings, which impeded their efforts to fulfill core requirements. For the Fall 2023 semester, for example, the CALL only offered seats in one course meeting the university’s Science for All requirement and one course meeting the Humanities: Art, Literature and Cultures (HALC) requirement. The program also offered one Spanish class, “Intermediate Spanish II,” that would count toward the language requirements for the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) or the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS). Georgetown only offered other courses that fulfill core requirements, such as theology and religious studies or philosophy, on the main campus. duKor-Jackson said she was frustrated that she was unable to complete core requirements at the CALL. “Though I was excited about the classes I was taking, it was frustrating that I wasn’t really making progress towards graduation during my time at the CALL,” duKor-Jackson wrote. “As a junior transfer, in particular, I’m now in a position where I don’t have room for any more electives for the remainder of my undergraduate career, and I’ll be taking first-year and introductory classes like Problem of God as a senior.” During their CALL semester, students are also not allowed to enroll in courses at the main campus, except for second-semester seniors who are taking a thesis or capstone course. However, students on the Hilltop can take CALL courses without being enrolled in the program.
Howey said being able to take courses at the main campus would have eased her transition from the CALL to the Hilltop this semester. “I definitely feel the university could have supported us a little more, especially when it came time to schedule our classes,” Howey wrote. “I think that if they allowed us to take a class or two at the main campus, it wouldn’t have made me feel as behind in my core requirements, and I also would have been able to integrate into campus sooner.” The university does require transfer students at the CALL to enroll in “Designing Your Georgetown,” a one-credit course that guides them in planning their Georgetown experience. Erin Force, an associate dean at Georgetown who taught “Designing Your Georgetown” in the Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 semesters, said the course urges students to consider their undergraduate goals after their semester at the CALL and postgraduate plans. “As we do this planning, we’re also discussing the bigger picture: the value of a residential undergraduate education and how that aligns with our work and life goals; what brings us energy and engagement versus what drains us; what previous activities and accomplishments make sense to build upon at Georgetown; and what three versions of our five-year plan could entail,” Force wrote to The Hoya. Tad Howard, the former CAS transfer advising dean and current associate dean for strategic innovation at the CALL, said this course provides him informal opportunities to support CALL transfers, in addition to his office hours. “I’m available to all students, but have made special outreach to transfer students a priority,” Howard wrote to The Hoya. “For reasons of continuity and orientation, all students have a Hilltop CAS advising dean assigned to
them, so I’m providing another layer of support and presence. I’d like to think that this less formal advising relationship opens things up a bit.” duKor-Jackson said the CALL program also provided insufficient transportation to the main campus. Although Georgetown’s main campus is accessible via the public Circulator bus, CALL students’ primary mode of transportation is the Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS), a free shuttle bus for Georgetown faculty, staff, students and members of the public. The Capitol Campus GUTS route runs on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 10:15 p.m., stopping at several locations in D.C., including at 55 H St. NW, where CALL students live. On Saturdays, students can also take the 55 H St. Saturday Shuttle to the main campus. With the Saturday Shuttle only operating until 10:20 p.m. on Saturday nights and no GUTS bus running on Sundays, duKor-Jackson said the available modes of transportation to the main campus often felt unsafe. “So many events are held late on weekends or on Sundays, and the GUTS bus doesn’t run at those times,” duKor-Jackson wrote. “Late at night, it often doesn’t feel safe to use a rideshare app or take the Circulator, then walk to campus from M Street — especially alone and especially as a young woman.” Howey said she appreciates the opportunity to attend the CALL, but feels she would have enjoyed the program more as a returning junior or senior, rather than as a transfer student new to Georgetown. “I will forever be grateful to attend this university, and I believe the CALL brought me people that I will have for the rest of my life,” Howey wrote. “I just do not think it was the right place for me as a transfer student my first semester here.”
COURTESY OF ERIN FORCE
Although some CALL transfers appreciated the program, others said it had limited course offerings and insufficient transportation to the main campus.
THE HOYA | A5
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024 | THEHOYA.COM
SCIENCE National Portrait Gallery’s Orchid Conservation Exhibit Blossoms Audrey Twyford
Senior Science Editor
Orchids of magenta, vermillion and ochre hues burst into bloom at “The Future of Orchids: Conservation and Collaboration,” a live orchid exhibit that debuted in the National Portrait Gallery’s Kogod Courtyard on Jan. 27. The exhibit is the 28th annual orchid display presented by the United States Botanic Garden and Smithsonian Gardens, but it is the first to feature original artwork in addition to live plants. The featured artist, Phaan Howng, drew inspiration from human-plant dynamics to create a collection of sculptures and paintings installed alongside the orchids. In a Jan. 10 press release, Susan Pell, executive director of the U.S. Botanic Garden, said the collaborative exhibit not only highlights the orchid’s stunning appearance but also the problematic loss of biodiversity that endangers orchids around the world. “It is a joy to continue this collaboration to spotlight the beauty of orchids, the challenges they face and the opportunities we have to save them,” Pell wrote.
Sarah Hedean, living collections manager for Smithsonian Gardens and president of the National Capitol Orchid Society, a local group of orchid enthusiasts, served as the content curator for the new exhibit. Hedean noted that environmentally destructive trends like logging, deforestation, over-harvesting, rising temperatures and habitat fragmentation — when human activities divide an organism’s natural habitat into smaller, discontiguous pieces of habitat — seriously threaten orchid survival and biodiversity. According to Hedean, environmental degradation particularly endangers orchids because they are interconnected with their entire ecosystem; insect pollinators, healthy soil and fertilizer from animals are all necessary for orchids to flourish. “If the orchid disappears, many times the pollinator disappears as well,” Hedean told The Hoya. “They say when you find healthy orchids growing in their environment, that shows a healthy ecosystem because all the biodiversity is working together.” Howng, known for her colorful paintings and immersive art installations, said that the exhibit’s
theme of ecological destruction inspired her to create art based on an imagined world where human civilization experiences a climate apocalypse. “Once we all die off, how would the world restructure itself, and how would the landscape change?” Howng told The Hoya. “I was thinking about how plants would take on even brighter colors to signal warning, about how plants and the landscape militarize themselves.” While creating her artworks, Howng said she learned about orAUDREY TWYFORD/THE HOYA chid species at the United States Na- Smithsonian Gardens and the United States Botanic Garden debuted a live orchid and tional Herbarium and studied my- art exhibit Jan.27 highlighting the potential consequnces of biodiversity loss. corrhizal fungi — symbiotic fungi that provide orchids with nutrients Ecuaganera, an Ecuadorian orchid get it for $80 when it’s ethically and by growing at their roots — with the Smithsonian collaborators. “The Smithsonian does so much company that sustainably grows consciously produced.” help of Smithsonian researchers. Howng said she hopes that the “Some of the research I did was work with ecosystems, plants, sci- and sells orchids through a propagagoing to the herbarium, which is ence, education and art, so we really tion program, are working to protect exhibit’s breathtaking beauty and located not at the Smithsonian Gar- wanted to highlight a Smithsonian the nearly 30,000 species of nat- engaging educational elements will dens but at the Natural History Mu- perspective on orchid conservation,” urally occurring orchids that exist encourage visitors to support orchid conservation initiatives. seum,” Howng said. “I also learned Hedean said. “That’s why you see around the world. “These propagation programs “I’m hoping that if people are atmore about mycorrhizal fungi and throughout all the panels in the exhow important they are by reaching hibit a lot of different stories about are helping to reduce a lot of habi- tracted to these very attractive flowfolks within the Smithsonian and tat loss as well as making sure the ers that are also very diverse and out to experts.” Hedean said that in addition to the work they’re doing, whether in price drops by making them more interesting-looking, that interest collaborating with Howng, the new the U.S. or Panama or wherever in available,” Hedean said. “There’s no will become something where peolonger the pressure of being able to ple will say, ‘We want to save these exhibit relied on interdisciplinary the world they might be working.” Hedean said that along with the get $1,000 if you take an orchid out orchids and see them thrive in the contributions from researchers, curators, horticulturists and other Smithsonian, organizations like of its environment if you can now wild,’” Howng said.
Spotlight: Student Club Creates Software Bootcamp Caroline Blakeman Science Writer
Hoya Developers, a student-run organization at Georgetown University that gives students experience with computer programming, data analytics and other software skills, launched their inaugural software engineering boot camp Jan. 30. The boot camp invites participants with little to no software engineering experience to learn about the basics of website and app development during twice-aweek meetings. In a post on LinkedIn, Hoya Developers said the semester-long course would seek to prepare students for internships and career opportunities in software engineering. Reed Uhlik (CAS ’25), president of Hoya Developers, said the boot camp seeks to complement undergraduate computer science courses by providing project-based software engineering experiences. “Hoya Devs was founded in the summer of 2023 in an effort to fill the gaps of Georgetown’s computer science curriculum by giving Georgetown students a way to gain internship-like experience coding websites and apps on project teams,” Uhlik wrote to The Hoya. According to the boot camp registration form, students will create five of their own software development projects — two of which must contain a personal element — that will become tangible demonstrations of their technical capabilities and creativity. Such projects teach programs that are common in the software development industry, including
Firebase, a mobile and web application development platform, and Node.js, a platform that helps website developers use the programming language JavaScript. Leo Ledlow (SFS ’27), a project manager and boot camp instructor, said that compared to other computer science courses, the boot camp emphasizes skills with direct relevance to real-world software development opportunities. “We designed the boot camp to be Georgetown’s most relevant computer science course,” Ledlow wrote to The Hoya. “Over 12 weeks, students go from any level of experience to well-versed web and app developers and get the opportunity to work on real-world projects.” According to Chris Tengey (CAS ’26), one of the club’s technical project managers, Hoya Developers welcomes students regardless of past technical or coding experience. “While a large portion of our club are computer science majors, learning to code is becoming more of a life skill, so we pull students from every background on campus,” Tengey wrote to The Hoya. Tengey added that he believes the diverse abilities and academic backgrounds of Hoya Developers members foster a collaborative environment where students can learn and work together. The boot camp registration form notes that once students complete the boot camp, they can get more involved with the club community. Throughout the semester, club members work in six to eight-person teams to design, code and deploy software engineering projects on a pro bono basis for local companies or other student clubs.
Science Writer
The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center hosted a presentation on the importance of exercise and weight loss in breast cancer prevention on Feb. 1. The event, part of a monthly Grand Rounds lecture series that allows experts to share knowledge about research in family medicine, was hosted by Chiranjeev Dash, an associate professor of oncology and biostatistics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dash offered insight into his recent study, called F.I.E.R.C.E. (Focused Intervention on Exercise to Reduce Cancer), which sought to identify potential limiting factors for breast cancer and bridge racial disparities in the field. During the webinar, Dash discussed his research on physical activity interventions to improve the metabolic health in Black women who are at high risk for breast cancer. In the District of Columbia, reports have shown that the breast cancer mortality rate is over two times higher for Black women than for white women, with the most deaths occurring in Wards 7 and 8. According to Dash, since Black women have a higher proportion of residence in Wards 7 and 8, this statis-
tic reflects a trend of disparity in breast cancer mortality between Black women and white women in the District and nationally. “We know some of the reasons why we have cancer health disparities across the United States, and it’s multifactorial,” Dash said at the event. “It’s not just race or ethnicity, it’s not just differences in diet or physical activity, all this comes together with environmental and behavioral factors as well as biological and genetic factors.” One independent risk factor that contributes to this increased prevalence of breast cancer is metabolic syndrome, a group of conditions including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. According to Dash, while previous research has demonstrated that exercise helps to reduce metabolic syndrome, these studies have not included a diverse sample of participants. “What we don’t have much data on is inclusion of African American women, especially those who we would put at the highest risk in terms of obesity and sedentary behavior,” Dash said. This lack of data led Dash and his team to investigate whether exercise interventions in postmenopausal, metabolically unhealthy Black women would reduce components of met-
New Year, Old Commitment To Self-Improvement Claire Chou
Science Columnist
@HOYADEVELOPERS/INSTAGRAM
Hoya Developers provides students with real-world software development experience through their beginner-level bootcamp. Last semester, the club helped Hilltop Microfinance Initiative, a Georgetown undergraduate-run organization and the largest student-run microfinance initiative in the United States, redesign its website. Club members also created a new registration portal for NAIMUN, the world’s largest student-run Model United Nations conference for high school students, which is organized annually by the Georgetown International Relations Association. Matthew Jordan (CAS ’26) said working on a semester-long project offers developers the opportunity to improve their software development skills through coding a real-world project for clients. “Hoya Developers prioritizes the learning experience of our projects,” Jordan wrote to The Hoya. “We’ve built one of the strongest
tech networks because our projects are great for developers, users, and inventors alike. We’re one of the few clubs that cut through all the red tape around startups — we take clients at any stage and get straight to developing their ideas,” Uhlik hopes that as the club enters its second semester, Hoya Developers will continue supporting students in learning software development tools and industry frameworks, in addition to helping students with career preparation through one-on-one mentorship and mock interviews. “Driven by the scarcity of tech clubs on campus, we sought out to create the perfect club for students studying computer science — one where students can learn by doing, foster a greater sense of community, and be prepared to land lucrative internships,” Uhlik wrote.
Professor Investigates Breast Cancer Prevention Anna Tsioulias
GONE VIRAL
abolic syndrome as well as biomarkers, or molecules found in the blood, that are a sign of breast cancer. F.I.E.R.C.E observed one group of women who completed supervised workouts, one that completed workouts at home and a control group who made no changes to diet or exercise. The study was funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and had 213 participants. After six months, the researchers did not find significant changes in waist circumference, body mass index or fat mass between the control group and two other groups. However, Dash explained that while women across all three groups lost weight on average, the home-based and supervised groups had significant changes in terms of prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared to the control group. “The exercise groups gained something more than just weight loss,” Dash said. “Our home-based exercise and supervised exercise resulted in reductions in metabolic syndrome.” Additionally, blood pressure and biomarker measurements suggested that the metabolic profile improved in both the supervised and home-based groups. Dash said that based on this, he concluded that short-term exercise regimens can improve metabolic profile and thus reduce the risk of breast
cancer in metabolically-unhealthy Black women with a high cancer risk. Two years after the study was published, about 60% of the women returned for a follow-up assessment, and Dash found that women in the home-based exercise group had the most long-term success. “The home-based group was more likely to keep it up, so there was a more reduced rate but more consistent rate in weight loss,” Dash said. F.I.E.R.C.E. research participants were recruited to engage with the mission of Georgetown’s Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities Research, which conducts research to reduce cancer disparities among underserved and ethnic minorities in D.C. According to Dash, such research addresses social deterrents of health and cancer health disparities in local communities while emphasizing cultural and relational sensitivity in patient interactions. He said he celebrates Georgetown’s commitment to the diverse D.C. community that makes it possible to conduct impactful studies. “Part of the reason we can do these real life community-based studies is we have a community-based center, Georgetown in southeast D.C., and we have outreach staff who reflect the diversity we see in the community we serve,” Dash said.
Every year, around 100 million Americans set New Year’s resolutions, but only 8% of Americans stick with them for the entire year. This far-reaching tradition highlights the compelling nature of new beginnings, while simultaneously presenting a paradox: we are initially enthusiastic about our ambitious resolutions, but it becomes increasingly challenging to sustain them — leading us to abandon our goals. Still, techniques including setting concrete, proximal and approach-oriented goals provide hope as we start anew. The practice of setting goals each year is a trend that has persisted through time. For as long as there has been written language, anthropologists can find evidence of New Year’s resolutions. However, while ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods and kings, the practice of New Year’s resolutions has evolved into a more secular form of self-improvement. According to a YouGov poll, one-third of U.S. adult citizens planned to make resolutions for 2024. This percentage was notably greater for college-aged adults, with 52% of adults under 30 making resolutions. In general, people who live in North America or Europe are more likely to make New Year’s resolutions than people in Africa or Asia. Recent polls have shown that only 12-18% of people in Sweden, for example, tend to set New Year’s resolutions, compared to 44% in the United States. New Year’s resolutions often target behavioral changes intended to positively influence our physical and mental health. In fact, the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association reports that nationally, 12% of gym memberships begin in January, while 8.4% begin during the rest of the year. Interestingly, resolutions for 2023 held mental health as a greater priority than physical health, on average. However, this trend was reversed in resolutions for 2024, with physical health superseding mental health goals. Current events also influence our New Year’s resolutions. For example, rising gas prices in 2023 led to 2024 resolutions related to saving money to skyrocket. The psychology behind viewing a new year as an opportunity for self-improvement has to do with a concept called “temporal landmarks,” planning things around special dates. People tend to associate negative traits or failures with their
past selves to remain confident in their current selves. By creating distance between our past and current selves, temporal landmarks can increase our motivation to change. For example, it may be easier to start a new habit on a Monday rather than a Friday. “Transition points,” such as the beginning of a month or semester, personal milestones like a first date or a wedding or recurring special events like birthdays can also facilitate goal-setting behavior, according to the Association for Psychological Science. Unfortunately, as many as 80% of people fail to keep their resolutions by February. That being said, we can craft goals strategically to help us follow through with our resolutions. Concrete goals are more productive than ambiguous ones. For example, “I’ll go on the treadmill four times a week” is better than “I’ll exercise more.” Additionally, proximal goals, or goals that are easily within reach, foster more “personal efficacy and intrinsic
“The enduring popularity of New Year’s resolutions reveals people’s priorities and speaks to our universal desire for self-improvement.” Claire Chou (SOH ’25) COLUMNIST
interest” than distal goals, which seem less attainable. Emphasizing “bite-sized” goals, or setting goals in increments, can also be more effective for long-term success. Similarly, studies have shown that approach-oriented goals — “I will go to the gym” — yield better odds of commitment than avoidance-oriented goals — “I won’t break my diet.” The enduring popularity of New Year’s resolutions reveals people’s priorities and speaks to our universal desire for self-improvement. While capitalizing on a “fresh start” is often an elusive tradition, consider revising your resolutions into a more approachable action plan. And even if you don’t achieve the goal itself, making goals is still a positive: experts find that the practice of creating a resolution strengthens the part of your brain responsible for figuring out how to meet your goals. As you proceed with your New Year’s resolutions this February, remember to also embrace the journey.
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DC Delegate Norton Faces Primary
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Former D.C. councilmember Michael Brown announced a primary challenge to D.C.’s nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has represented D.C. since 1991.
Georgetown GREEN Hosts Local Zero-Waste DMV Business Owner Caleigh Keating Events Desk Editor
Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network (GREEN) hosted a local zero waste store owner to discuss the importance of zero waste, sustainable waste management and the dangers of waste-related chemicals at an event held Feb. 6. Rini Saha, the owner of FullFillery, a zero waste store located in Maryland, is also the founder and president of GreenThinker DC, an organization that promotes low waste living in Washington, D.C. through education and community outreach initiatives such as support groups and online resources. At the event, Saha recalled how FullFillery started as a side project during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has recently evolved into a more serious endeavor after she acquired a physical storefront. “Before COVID-19, it was like eight friends who put money into a pot. It wasn’t a whole lot of money, it wasn’t a whole lot of commitment,” Saha said at the event. “When COVID-19 started ending, because we had all this product left over, so I just went to the farmers’ market and started selling it, and it was super popular again.” FullFillery sells products like detergent, soap and toothpaste for customers to fill up in reusable glass containers, as well as plastic-free versions of personal hygiene and cleaning products such as toothbrushes and all-purpose cleaners. Saha emphasized zero waste’s accessible nature, noting that people do not have to make a huge lifestyle change to make sustainability an expectation of society’s everyday culture. “I’m not perfect. I’m human. I run out the door all the time and forget all this stuff,” Saha said, referring to a zero waste utensil kit she tries to
carry in an attempt to avoid unnecessarily using plastic. “But I don’t think it’s important to be perfect. It’s important to push the cultural needle, right? The more people see this and the more they support businesses like this, the more they realize they don’t have to do it all the time, but they’re pushing the cultural needle away from plastics.” Seventy-seven percent of Ameri-
“It’s hard because sustainability should be compulsory. It shouldn’t just be someone’s interest.” RINI SAHA OWNER OF ZERO WASTE STORE FULL-FILLERY
cans are concerned about plastic and its environmental and oceanic impacts, and 75% of Americans support national policies to reduce single-use plastics, according to a study conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Oceana. GREEN co-president Isabelle Bennette (CAS ’25) said Saha’s commitment to zero waste aligns with GREEN’s goals of reducing waste across Georgetown University’s campus. “Saha’s visit showed us how we can reasonably live a low-waste life while staying educated on the state of the waste problem in the US today. Zero waste is one of GREEN’s many teams and seeks to reduce our university’s footprint through short and long term solutions,” Bennette wrote to The Hoya. At the event, Saha said society’s generally apathetic attitudes towards sustainability and individuals’
failure to recognize their culpability in these issues exacerbate the plastic pollution plaguing the Earth. “When people see plastic, they think it’s not theirs. They don’t understand the waste management system. When stuff comes into the trash truck, the garbage man is putting it in the truck, and not all of it is going to go into the truck. Some of it is going to fall onto the ground, and then it’s going to rain and all of the storm drains that are there,” Saha said. “The drains are drained out onto the creeks and the rivers and the oceans. So it doesn’t matter if you live in Iowa. Some of your trash is blown off a trash can at some point and is going to the ocean eventually,” she added. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the majority of anthropogenic marine pollution in the oceans and Great Lakes can be traced back to littering, sewer water discharge, natural disasters and poor waste management. According to Saha, the consequences of this widespread indifference and lack of awareness accumulate to a devastating degree, as the ocean will have a larger quantity (by weight) of plastic than fish by 2050. Plastic Soup Foundation backs up her claim, adding that plastic production will increase by 40% in the next 10 years. Saha said sustainability is not just a trendy hobby, but has longterm importance as a core tenant of future generations’ education about environmental protection. “I think sustainability needs to be put into those things,” Saha said, referring to educational curriculums. “It’s hard because sustainability should be compulsory. It shouldn’t just be someone’s interest.” “That’s why I’m here. It should be required just like algebra in high school,” Saha concluded.
Check out our weekly podcast, “Mondays with Melanie,” and the next episode of our sports podcast, “Behind the Bulldog,” this week. All podcasts are available for streaming on Spotify, SoundCloud and thehoya.com.
Chimes Dedicate 50th Cherry Tree Massacre to Lost Chimes Members Kate Hwang
Graduate Desk Editor
A cappella groups from Georgetown University and other nearby colleges performed in the 50th annual Cherry Tree Massacre a cappella show Feb. 2 in Gaston Hall, during Senior Parents and Family Weekend. The Cherry Tree Massacre, hosted by the Georgetown Chimes — Georgetown’s oldest and all-male a cappella group — featured performances by four Georgetown vocal groups: the Chimes, Georgetown Superfood, the Capitol G’s and the Georgetown University Chamber Singers. Groups from three other local universities also sang at the show: the Virginia Sil’hooettes from the University of Virginia (UVA), Treble in Paradise from American University and Take Note from Catholic University. Christian Kim (CAS ’25), who has been a member of the Chimes since his first year, said that it feels larger than life to be on stage and take part in a celebrated Georgetown tradition. “It’s very humbling to be part of something that’s larger than yourself,” Kim told The Hoya. “We all worked really hard to make sure this could happen and we’re really happy that we’re able to contribute toward Georgetown in such a way.” Ben Fosnocht (CAS ’25), the Chimes’ president, known as the “Ephus,” wrote that keeping the Cherry Tree Massacre tradition alive requires extensive behindthe-scenes work. “We book the space, negotiate with an A/V company, reach out to guest groups, flyer, table in Leavey and Red Square, design a poster, advertise on social media, communicate with our alumni and, of course, rehearse
our music,” Fosnocht wrote to The Hoya. “It’s a huge team effort, and everyone pitches in. We’ve all worked really hard to create as great of a show as we can for the audience.” The Chimes opened with “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron and sang a diverse array of songs from “All I Ask” by Adele to “The Parting Glass,” a traditional Scottish song. Kim said the Chimes devoted much of their set list for this year’s Cherry Tree Massacre to Chimes members from the Class of 1974, the first class to partake in the event. “While most of the ’74 group who are still alive today will be able to come and sing — actually all of them that are still alive will come — there are three members who won’t be able to make it because they sadly passed away and so much of the set is actually dedicated to that,” Kim said. “‘The Parting Glass,’ ‘The Night We Met,’ other songs like that to just really honor them.” Grant Goodrick (CAS ’25), the Chimes’ social chair, said that the setlist, which every Chimes member contributes to, is unique to that year’s group of singers. “Behind the songs, it’s just we all chose it together and want to create an atmosphere that really got to know the group in our own special way,” Goodrick told The Hoya. Georgetown’s other a cappella groups contributed covers of pop and rock songs to the show. Georgetown Superfood performed a Rihanna medley and other songs, including: “The End of Love” by Florence and the Machine and Stevie Wonder’s “As.” The Capitol G’s, Georgetown’s low-range a cappella group, sang pieces like Bastille’s “Pompeii”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
by Green Day and “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys. Charlie Mei (CAS ’25), who has sung in Georgetown Superfood since his first year, told The Hoya that the group attempts to arrange their set list based on audience preferences. “We really tried to focus on a mix of both crowd-pleasing songs and songs that our audience might not have heard before,” Mei told The Hoya. All of the Chimes gathered on stage for the performance’s finale and sang the Georgetown fight song in a moment of camaraderie. The Cherry Tree Massacre will continue on Feb. 10, with members of the 1974 Chimes returning for a graduate performance alongside the Gracenotes and Saxatones, two other a cappella groups from Georgetown, and the AcHOOstics from UVA. Fosnocht said the Cherry Tree Massacre demonstrates music’s power to unify Georgetown students and graduates.
“We really tried to focus on a mix of both crowdpleasing songs and songs that our audience might not have heard before.” CHARLIE MEI SUPERFOOD SINGER (CAS ’25)
“Cherry Tree brings the community together through music, and it will continue to do so for another 50 years,” Fosnocht wrote.
Global Trade Keynote: Sen. Chris Coons Talks Regulations, Sustainability Catherine Alaimo and Lauren Doherty Senior News Editors
Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) delivered the keynote speech at the Remaking Global Trade for a Sustainable Future conference held at Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) on Feb. 8. The conference, hosted by the Center for Inclusive Trade and Development (CITD), a GULC initiative that seeks to synthesize a diverse array of academic and professional perspectives on international trade rules, featured speakers and panelists with expertise on global trade. Coons, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, discussed his outlook on the intersections of climate change and trade policy. Coons said he feels the status quo of U.S. trade policy fails to account for the implications of climate change. “In my view, the trade rules of the last three decades are often sharply at odds with the environmental exigencies of today,” Coons said at the event. “That’s the first challenge that I think we are facing: that the world
today has changed dramatically and that climate change is recognized as one of the overwhelming threats to the future of our world.” As the new year began, record-setting high temperatures were recorded across the world for the eighth consecutive month. The burning of fossil fuels and deforestation are widely regarded by scientists as causes for the increases in temperature, which include a Feb. 3 average sea temperature of 69.9 degrees — breaking the previous record that was set in September 2023. Speaking to his current role as a member of the U.S. Congress — which is currently deadlocked in a debate over legislation that would send humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Israel — Coons said he is well aware that the dysfunction of the American law-making body complicates calls for impactful action. “There is an air of uncertainty and a lot of anger and a lot of disappointment in the Senate about whether we can come together and address large challenges in the world,” Coons said. “Historically, some have called the Senate the world’s greatest deliberative body — that has a certain ring of irony to it today.” Regardless, Coons said that some
legislators have taken important steps to promote bipartisanship, citing the group that represented the United States at the 28th United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) this past December. “I wanted to balance being realistic about how fractured and divided and broken the legislative process is, but also giving you some reason for optimism,” Coons said. “We have moved away from climate denialism being a simple point that divided the two parties to having a bipartisan delegation that went to the last COP. So again, some encouragement, some challenge.” As a senator, Coons said he prioritizes developing sustainable trade partnerships with African nations — in particular through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to certain U.S. markets. “AGOA is a market access program that provides tariff-free access to the United States for dozens of African countries,” Coons said. “And that market access is hugely valuable and gives us an opportunity to shape our relationships and to deepen them as it tries to align aid, trade and diplomatic efforts. So more countries can utilize and
benefit from this program to deepen their economic ties with the United States.” Coons said that international partnerships — particularly with nations in the Global South and developing countries — will prove key in maintaining and enhancing global trade. “The global trade system is only sustainable if the Global South countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are benefiting and profiting from further engagement in trade,” Coons said. “Figuring out, through this exercise, a broader approach to a more inclusive and equitable global trading system will help us begin to make real progress towards a more sustainable global trade.” In 2022, Coons published an opinion in The Hill with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) that discussed his support for bipartisan legislation to expand U.S. trade partnerships abroad — in particular with the United Kingdom, Kenya and Ecuador. According to Coons, young people interested in pursuing careers in climate sustainability and trade should seek to learn not just from books and lectures, but from real-life experiences. When he was a junior at Amherst College, Coons stud-
ied abroad in Nairobi, Kenya, an experience that he said inspired him to volunteer to work against apartheid in South Africa and informed his foreign policy focus on Africa. “Spend at least as much time learning from people as you have from books. You’ve probably spent your entire life learn-
ing from books — maybe not, but at a place like Georgetown, probably — and the reality of these very complex global issues is often very different on the ground,” Coons told The Hoya. “So go. It is not a bad thing to spend a year or two or three or 10, actually in places that may be or feel very different,” he added.
COURTESY OF JOEL KABOT
Sen. Chris Coons spoke at the “Remaking Global Trade for a Sustainable Future” conference at the GU Law Center.
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SJP Protest Calls on GU to Divest From Companies Supporting Israel RALLY, from A1 family members, it’s still painful.” Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in its Oct. 7 attack and captured around 250 hostages, half of whom remain in captivity, according to the Associated Press. The Israeli military response, which had lasted 118 days at the time of the SJP protest, has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians in Gaza, along with numerous United Nations workers, journalists and healthcare workers. During the protest, students accused the university of being complicit in the deaths of Gazan civilians and the destruction the region has suffered. “Georgetown, Georgetown, we know you. You invest in genocide, too,” protesters chanted at the event. “Parents, parents, don’t be blind. You donate to genocide. Students, students, don’t be blind. Your tuition funds genocide.” At the rally, students handed out flyers to parents leaving the HFSC that discussed Georgetown’s $28.4 million investment in companies like Alphabet, Google’s holding company, and Amazon, which sell products to the Israeli armed forces. “I am a student from Gaza. Georgetown paid for my murder,” the flyer read. “Georgetown invests
over $28.4 million in corporations developing tech for the Israeli military. Divest from genocide now.” A university spokesperson said students are allowed to protest in accordance with the school’s speech and expression policy, which outlines that protests are allowed as long as they do not impact university business. “Protests by members of the Georgetown community can happen anywhere on campus, but if they disrupt university business, the specific protest actions are subject to time, place and manner restrictions,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “In this case, after the initial GUPD response to a noise complaint, the students were allowed to continue with amplified sound and use of the megaphone.” At the protest, however, Lukas Soloman (SFS ’26) said GUPD told protestors to stop using megaphones to avoid disturbing the events in the HFSC. Soloman then addressed the crowd and told them to chant louder. “GUPD just arrived and told us to put the megaphones away,” Soloman said at the event. “Will that stop us? No.” “We have the power of our voices,” Soloman added. “We have the power of our numbers. The students united
will never be defeated.” Reporters from The Hoya also observed GUPD officers instructing protestors to stop using megaphones. The protestors subsequently continued their chants without utilizing megaphones for the remainder of the rally. Al-Shihabi said the goal of SJP’s protest was to point out to students and parents that companies Georgetown supports invest in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel’s military, and to encourage them to call on Georgetown to withdraw their funds from these businesses. “We’re not calling for parents to stop paying their kids’ tuition,” Al-Shihabi said. “We’re calling for divestment from companies supporting genocide, like boycotting companies like Amazon.” Al-Shihabi said the practice of divesting, boycotting and sanctioning companies is important in supporting Palestine because of the prevention of funding the IDF. “When everything is taken from you, and you don’t have the means to fight, what you can do is choose at least where your money is going,” Al-Shihabi said. “It’s something we should all be mindful of, and the importance of it is very underplayed.”
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Over a dozen students rallied in front of the HFSC during Senior Parents and Family Weekend, calling on the university to divest funds from companies that support Israel.
AAMIR JAMIL/THE HOYA
The Polish Embassy joined forces with the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and Vital Voices Global Partnership to host a discussion in Riggs Library.
Representatives from Poland, Ukraine Discuss the Russo-Ukraine War DIPLOMATS, from A1 “Collecting and securing evidence of Russia war crimes is, with all due respect, easy, particularly in times of permanent surveillance and continuous digital exposure,” Magierowski said at the event. “To put it cynically, we do have the tools to monitor the atrocities carried out by Russians in Ukraine.” Magdalena Gawin, a historian and director of the Raphael Lemkin Center for Documenting Russian Crimes in Ukraine — which interviews eyewitnesses and refugees fleeing Ukraine into Poland — said her team’s work focuses on lesser-known regions of Ukraine to better document and expose the war crimes. “We also try, and from the beginning, to rather omit wellknown towns or cities such as Kyiv or Bucha, which are full of journalists and are where everybody asks about the crimes,” Gawin said at the event. “We rather prefer those places where prosecutors couldn’t reach and where the problem is,” Gawen said. Discussing the prosecution of Russian war crimes, Nema Milaninia, special advisor to
the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, said the international community as a whole should acknowledge the crime of aggression. “Unlike other crimes against humanity, the crime of aggression recognizes that everybody is a victim: every soldier who has had to fight, every house that has been destroyed, because the very character of the conflict is unlawful,” Milaninia said at the event. Alyse Nelson, the president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, said women leaders helped organize when Russia invaded Ukraine but highlighted that women-led organizations were not receiving enough international funds. “A network of women leaders stepped up,” Nelson said at the event “In a moment’s notice they expanded shelters from 60 people to 600 people within a week’s time. But of the billions upon billions of dollars that six months later started to flow in to help, less than 1% was going to women-led organizations.” Geeta Rao Gupta, the current U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, said
Ukrainian women will play a key role in ending the conflict. “To achieve sustainable peace, the women of Ukraine must be front and center,” Gao said at the event. “Women’s participation before, during and after conflict is critical to achieving lasting peace.” Gao added that Congress, which has feuded over whether to increase aid to Ukraine, must continue to support Ukraine to maintain the United States’ image as a global superpower and bastion of democracy. “The first step to holding Russia accountable for the horrors it has inflicted on Ukraine and her people is ensuring its war of aggression is met with defeat,” Gao said. “For this, Congress must act. Friends and foes alike are watching what we do and will draw lessons about American power and resolve.” Resources: On-campus resources include Health Education Services (202-687-8949) and Counseling and Psychiatric Services (202-687-6985); additional off-campus resources include the Crisis Text Line (text 741741).
Students Celebrate Black History Georgia Secretary Talks Elections HISTORY, from A1 Day highlighted this, which I felt had not been recognized in the past.” While the university achieved new milestones in 2023 like sending students to Yale’s Black Solidarity Conference — an annual conference that brings students across the country together to discuss the African Diaspora — for the first time in over four years, the university also faced criticism for its inconclusive investigation of a racially motivated hate crime on campus. In addition to Slavery Remembrance Day, students celebrated the opening of Georgetown’s first
Black affinity space, Blaxa Block. The space was one of the demands made by Georgetown Protects Racists (GUPR), a group that emerged in response to the university’s handling of a hate crime that took place in April 2022 . Ngolle said Blaxa Block fosters a recognition and celebration of the diversity of the Black community at Georgetown. “There is a very traditional way to conceptualize what it means to be Black, and people tend to categorize us all into one group, but there is an insane amount of diversity in that group,” Ngolle said. “Seeing all those differ-
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The celebration focused on student engagement, notably the achievements of Black student activists.
ences meet each other in Blaxa Block is something that I have found to be very beneficial.” While Black History Month offers a chance to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year, BSA President Aniya Harris (CAS ’24) noted that this celebration of Black History is more than just one month of the year for Georgetown’s Black community. “Black History Month is every day for me,” Harris told The Hoya. “Every day I wake up Black, and every day I walk in my history, and in the reality of what it means to be Black in this country.” Harris said she is concerned that the annual acknowledgment of Black History Month is dutiful, but said it nevertheless offers the university a continuous opportunity to acknowledge its history with slavery and discrimination. “In some ways, it can be performative in how Georgetown acknowledges Black History Month,” Harris said. “My inbox is never as full as it is on Feb. 1. On the other side, it is a predominately White school. It’s important that we acknowledge this history – it’s important that it is here on this campus.” Georgetown will also celebrate the 75th anniversary of the matriculation of Samuel Halsey (SFS ’53), its first Black undergraduate student, in 2025. Melody Emenyonu (SOH ’24) said that the celebration of Black History Month hinges on the will of community members to learn. “It’s Black History Month, but it’s more of a reminder that we are Black every day,” Emenyonu told The Hoya. “It’s great that we get this celebration once a year, but especially people who are not Black, it is important to have a desire to learn.” Cobb said Black History Month revolves around meaningfully connecting with Black culture — both within and outside of the community. “Students should take the time to really conceptualize their place and how their identities, whether they are Black or not, intersect with Black histories and personas during this month,” Cobb said.
@GUPOLITICS
The Republican Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, spoke about his experience overseeing presidential elections at an event hosted by GU Politics. GEORGIA, from A1 have this call with the president and give the data, he’d say, ‘Oh, that’s why I came up short.’” Raffensperger said the Trump administration’s concerns over voter fraud were unfounded, with Trump supporters claiming widespread underage voting during the election. “I believe that fraud, nationwide, is not as large as people think it is,” Raffensperger said. “There weren’t 66,000 underage voters. There were zero. There weren’t thousands of felons. There was less than 74.” Raffensperger said he believed the COVID-19 pandemic and the laborious process of verifying absentee ballots caused major disruptions, which led to the rise of election-denying conspiracy theories in 2020. “Time is not your friend in the election space,” Raffensperger said. Raffensberger said Trump and his allies also tried to rile Republican voters into protesting election results with lies about illegal voting, while Raffensperger’s team tried to lead with facts. “They just kept on doubling down,
doubling down and all they really were doing was just stirring up people and creating all this anger that somehow something could happen,” Raffensperger said. “We just continued to go out there and talk to people and let them know this is what happened.” Since 2020, Georgia has changed its laws, aiming to improve election security by requiring photo ID for absentee mail-in voting, checking citizenship and updating voter rolls. Raffensperger said these laws will increase voters’ confidence in election security. “We think that having photo ID gives all of you confidence,” Raffensperger said. “We’re trying to elevate confidence, and photo ID builds trust. Accuracy will never be closer.” Other law changes included instituting no-excuse absentee voting, early voting and election day voting, which Raffensperger said would increase voting accessibility, another of his chief goals. “We give the voters an option, which we think is a good thing, but it also gives the county election officials a pressure
relief valve,” Raffensperger said. Raffensperger said that if the Trump campaign team wins the upcoming election, in Georgia or nationwide, he would remain confident in the election system. “If they win, they will win fair and square, and if they lose, they’ll lose fair and square,” Raffensperger said.“It’s as simple as that.” Raffensperger said he will work to continue encouraging trust in elections and creating secure elections in Georgia. “I will continue to be the person I’ve been,” Raffensperger said. “I’ll continue to talk respectfully, with the facts. And I’m going to do what I need to do, which is follow the law and follow the Constitution.” Raffensperger said fidelity to the Constitution is a civic duty. “People have fought and died for our freedom,” Raffensperger said. “Honor their sacrifice by just doing your job. At the end of the day, the beautiful thing is when you do your job, you will be able to look in the mirror at yourself for the rest of your life because you know you’ve done the right thing.”
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Mexican Presidential Candidate Discusses Migration, Energy at GU Aamir Jamil
GUSA Desk Editor
The opposition candidate in the Mexican presidential election visited Georgetown University as part of her U.S. tour to discuss the biggest issues facing Mexico Feb. 5. Xóchitl Gálvez, a former mayor and senator, is the main candidate opposing the incumbent party, the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA). While current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) cannot run for reelection, Claudia Sheinbaum, MORENA candidate and former head of government of Mexico City, is widely expected to win. At the event, hosted by the Georgetown Americas Institute, Gálvez focused on the issues of security, gang violence, militarization and renewable energy. Gálvez said she was running because the country is going in the wrong direction under the current administration. “I am here because I am not happy with what is happening in Mexico. 150,000 people killed under this administration does not speak well of our security policy. ‘Hugs and not bullets’ was a failure. The health system is devastated, public insurance was ended,” Gálvez said at the event. “We have a serious problem in the countryside with a prolonged drought that has left farmers in poverty. We have a problem of migration with the United States, a product of bad
understanding between these two countries that have not known how to address migration in an adequate way,” Gálvez added. Gálvez said she refutes the narrative that she cannot win, which has been pushed by President AMLO, instead opting to talk about her experience rising to business success out of poverty. “The president is not the one who has to accept the results; it is the Federal Electoral Tribunal who has to accept the results,” Gálvez said. “I believe that we will win by a wide advantage, even though the President gets so angry because he says, ‘How did she go from selling jellies and tamales to becoming a successful businesswoman?’” Gálvez began public service as the director of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples in 2003, leaving her career as a technology entrepreneur. She was elected mayor of Miguel Hidalgo, a borough of Mexico City, in 2015 before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Gálvez said her determination and resolve to continue through challenges in her studies to become an engineer allowed her to find success. “To have been born where I was born, to have grown up in violence, in poverty and in the lack of opportunities, I became a strong, courageous woman. To live in Tepatepec and sell jellies and tamales before becoming a successful woman, I say that if you put in a lot of effort, studying and working like this,
dreams come true. I never imagined being here where I am,” Gálvez said. Gálvez focused on the issue of security, discussing the ongoing fentanyl crisis and its associated gang violence. She said the United States and Mexico need to work together to develop innovative solutions, such as a joint customs agency, to prevent the fallout from gang violence, in particular among young people. “What is happening to the youth in Mexico is truly painful. The main cause of death of youth in Mexico is homicide. And of the main causes of death of youth in the United States is overdose. We are suffering, as two countries, the loss of our young adults,” Gálvez said. “We need to begin to solve problems by thinking out of the box, because if we continue thinking of the same solutions that we have used in the past 18 years, we will only aggravate the problem,” Gálvez added. “It seems the United States is worried about migration and fentanyl, but our relationship is a lot deeper than that. Today I proposed that we create a binational customs agency that allows both countries to work together.” Gálvez condemned the militarization of the country, saying the use of soldiers could potentially violate the law and would not work as well as a national police force. “I do not agree with the militarization of the country. The military has very specific func-
tions in the Constitution. They will continue to provide support tasks in the field of public security until 2028, but in that time, once and for all, we have to make a good national civil police force, with the ability to collect intelligence, investigate and use technology,” Gálvez said. Answering questions about how to address the security crisis, Gálvez said a national police force would be part of a larger campaign to restore peace. “A good security strategy is using technology, control of the prisons, certification of the police, strengthening the justice system,” Gálvez said. “We need to see what crimes can be addressed with alternative justice and focus public ministries on those crimes that are causing harm to civilians.” In response to an audience question about the transition to renewable energy and the use of fossil fuels in Mexico, Gálvez said renewable energy is needed now more than ever to reduce costs and also fight climate change. “The future of the world is in electric energy, in renewable energy,” Gálvez said. “Mexico has great potential in renewable energies. Wind and solar power are much cheaper than energy that comes from fossil fuels, and what we have to do is establish ways of sending solar energy across the country.” “You have to think about what planet future generations will live on,” Gálvez added.
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Xóchitl Gálvez, opposition candidate in the Mexican presidential election, visited Georgetown as part of her U.S. tour to discuss the biggest issues facing Mexico, including security and renewable energy, on Feb. 5.
Professors Discuss Black Music Artist Highlights Disability, Intersectionality Women in Leadership, Activism, Politics Olga Rocio Rivas Special to The Hoya
Maren Fagan
Academics Desk Editor
Six professors discussed the role of Black women as leaders and mobilizers in voting, their influence in past elections and their role in the upcoming 2024 presidential election in a Feb. 5 panel. Georgetown University’s government department, department of African American studies and women’s and gender studies (WGST) program co-hosted the panel to highlight Black women’s contributions to political leadership. The panel included several Black female experts in the field, with Nadia Brown, the director of the WGST department and a professor of government at Georgetown, moderating the discussion. Sharon Austin, a panelist and professor of political science at the University of Florida, said the study of Black women’s role in politics is new and has only been thrust into the mainstream by years of academics’ advocacy. “I was told when I was an assistant professor trying to get tenure, ‘You won’t get tenure if you publish this, nobody cares about this,’” Austin said at the event. “Back then, it was almost impossible to study Black women.” “I’m always really excited when I see posts, projects, or see articles or see Black women being employed in political office, and that’s something really significant because your generation might be taking that for granted,” Austin added. The four other panelists were Christine Slaughter, an assistant professor of political science at Boston University; Pearl Dowe, a professor of political science and African American studies and the vice provost of faculty affairs at Emory University; Jamil Scott, an assistant professor of government at Georgetown; and Ayana Best, an assistant professor of political science at Howard University. Slaughter said that Black women studying political science hold diverse political views and practices. “We are very, very diverse in our way of thinking and in our way of being and in our way of coming to understand what politics is and where we fit in,” Slaughter said at the event. Scott said that inclusive studies of Black women in politics allow people to see the various identities and beliefs beyond what people believe to be a monolithic political identity for the group. “What is under the surface is this really rich in-group conversation
that’s happening around candidacy, that’s happening around politics,” Scott said. “Where people believe the work that my co-panelists are talking about that are revealing the in-group dynamics.” Best said the variation in the political beliefs of Black women based on demographics and location has shaped her research in understanding the contrasting political views among these communities, such as Black Muslim women in the north compared to southern Black women. “I’m originally from the West Coast, and moving to the East Coast is seeing so many variations of what I considered to be Black culture and what that meant in different places, I think is important to note,” Best said. “Understanding variation in that way has been informative to my research.” Austin said that Black women involved in politics and political organizing can shape the political landscape even without winning their elections, referencing Stacey Abrams, a Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022 turned political organizer focusing on voting registration and access. “Despite the fact that she was defeated in 2018, she turned that negative into a positive because she then started working to mobilize voters,” Austin said. “If it were not for her work and the work of other women, especially of other Black women, Joe Biden definitely wouldn’t have won Georgia in 2020.” Austin said she believes the future of political research in her field will concentrate on Black women’s governance and policy work in different areas of the United States as more Black women hold political positions in all levels of government. “It’s still kind of a recent phenomenon to see Black women getting elected to major offices,” Austin said. “I’m expecting to see more about not just how they win, but, once they’re in office, how they govern.” Slaughter said the perspectives of how Black women relate to different parts of their identity, such as being a mother and experiences with race, represent the need to study their role in American politics. “All of these experiences really shape and give Black women a unique view that no other demographic has,” Slaughter said. “To really understand American politics and who’s at the margins, but also, the strategies to move beyond the margins.”
An award-winning music artist and advocate for the disability community performed her songs and discussed disability culture at a Feb. 6 event. Lachi showcased her songs “Far,” “Dis Education” and “Black Girl Cornrows,” which, like much of her music, touch on themes related to her racial and disabled identity. The event was the finale of the ongoing Intersectionality Series from Georgetown University’s Office of Student Equity and Inclusion (OSEI), which seeks to promote the diversity of identities at Georgetown. During the event, Lachi discussed the need to ensure inclusion within the disability rights movement. “For a long time, disability rights seemed to only be serving a certain type of person,” Lachi said. “And we wanted to make sure that folks of different races, different sizes, different genders, different sexual preferences, folks who were indigenous, folks of all different creeds were also being included in these laws.” In addition to being a recording artist, activist and writer, Lachi also founded the Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities (RAMPD), an organization that works to increase disability inclusivity within the music industry. She also serves as the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Ambassador and New York Board Governor for the Grammy Awards and a consultant to various companies and organizations. Lachi said intersectionality is crucial in disability culture. “Disability culture has many meanings,” Lachi said. “We define disability culture as the music, the art, the words, the perspectives, the worldviews and the contributions of people with disabilities from all
diversities.” Lachi said the disabled community perceives disability culture as a collective journey of struggle, strongly and unconventionally overcoming hardships together. “We see it as the navigation, the winds and the woes and the heroes of our disability community,” Lachi said. “Of having to navigate the world differently, a world that was not built for you. Of having to think creatively, of having to be innovative, resilient and driven.” “The disability story is the human story,” Lachi added. Lachi said understanding her own multifaceted identity was important when finding support within the disabled community. “I identify as black, I identify as a woman, I identify as capital-Q queer, I identify as a daughter of immigrants, and I also identify as a person with a disability,” Lachi said. “I’ve got to say, the best community I started finding of people who started to care about what I had to say was actually the disability community.” The last third of the event included a brief Q&A led by student and Center for Multicultural Equity and Access (CMEA) intern Bilquisu Abdullah (CAS ’25). Abdullah said bringing activists like Lachi onto campus provides a platform for diverse and underrepresented voices. “Georgetown has a long erasure of voices that, quite honestly, are beautiful, deserve to be celebrated, deserve to be platformed,” Abdullah said at the event. “And, it means a lot to me, specifically, seeing the origin story of the Disability Cultural Center being so expansively welcoming to people like me who maybe wouldn’t have felt as welcome on Georgetown’s campus four years ago.” OSEI coordinated the event with Georgetown Athletics, the Women’s Center, Disability Cultural
Center (DCC), the CMEA and LGBTQ+ Resource Center, as a continuation of their Intersectionality Series. The Intersectionality Series has previously featured book launches and film screenings with speakers like sports journalist Katie Barnes, Georgetown professor of Jewish studies Julia Watts Belser, and artist Chella Man. DCC Director Amy Kenny said the series supports all Georgetown students, regardless of their identities, by promoting the unique cultures that accompany these identities. “We created a multi-modal series to invite our Georgetown community to engage with us in a variety of ways as part of our commitment to creating a culture of access,” Kenny wrote to The Hoya. “The Disability Cultural Center (DCC) celebrates disability as an intersectional identity through the transformative power of the arts, sciences, and community, which is what Lachi’s vibrant music is all about.” Women’s Center director Annie Selak, who attended Lachi’s performance, said bringing nontraditional representation onto campus allows students to observe different perspectives. “So often, we exalt people who followed a very traditional path to success,” Selak wrote to The Hoya. “The intersectionality series upholds that all paths and expressions are worthy.” Adanna Johnson, Georgetown’s associate vice president for student equity and inclusion, said that even after the closing of the Intersectionality series, OSEI will continue to foster diversity on campus. “We center joy, we center power to those who have been historically powerless,” Johnson said. “May the seeds planted during this series continue to grow, nourishing a community that thrives on the strength of its diversity and the shared commitment to collective wellbeing.”
Givenchy Executive Discusses Luxury Industry’s Growth Caleigh Keating Events Desk Editor
An executive at luxury fashion house Givenchy discussed the evolution and current state of the fashion industry at Georgetown University on Feb. 6. At the event, which the student club Georgetown Retail and Luxury Association (GRLA) hosted, Valerie Leon, Givenchy’s president of Americas, spoke with Ricardo Ernst, director of the McDonough School of Business (MSB) Baratta Center for Global Business, which aims to facilitate discussion and research about the future of global business, and managing director of the MSB’s Latin American Leadership Program, which aims to create impact networks in Latin America and the Caribbean. Leon has worked in the fashion industry for 30 years, including for brands such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Valentino and Christian Dior. At the event, Leon talked about the various meanings of luxury to her, noting that luxury can be all-encompassing, not just limited to the world of designer clothing and accessories. “The meaning of luxury is very simple,” Leon said at the event. “It’s being able to have what you want when you
want it and how you want it. Luxury could be the perfect cup of coffee in your favorite chair and the perfect morning watching the sun come up, and that could be your daily luxury.” Leon said the luxury industry aims to create products that are both personalized and pragmatic. “When we get into what we call the luxury industry — and we could argue that any fashion product outside what we need to cover our bodies is a luxury — we often go shopping for something we don’t necessarily need, we go for something that we want,” Leon said. “We focus very much in the luxury industry on taking the marriage of those two things, making sure our clients are receiving what they want, when they want it, and how they want it.” Leon said customer preferences are what ultimately determine trends and brand success in the luxury industry, rather than a brand’s overall strategy. “It’s the customer who decides. The customer, in the end, is going to tell us what they want to buy,” Leon said. “We can suggest, we can market, we can create plans, we can have a 360 strategy, we can push this product or that product, but at the end of the day, it really is the customer who decides.”
“We are always trying to learn from the customer and trying to be ahead of the customer so that when they arrive, we have what they want,” Leon added. Leon also talked about the unpredictable, dynamic nature of the fashion industry, noting that she enjoys working in luxury because it is fast-paced as companies navigate between high-profile global fashion weeks. “Every day is different, which is what I really do love about the industry,” Leon said. “No matter what you do in the industry, every day will be different.” The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the industry’s unpredictability, according to Leon. “Luxury really had a boom as soon as people were able to get out and start shopping again,” Leon said. “Some of it was pent-up demand, some of it was revenge spending and a lot of new firsttime shoppers entered luxury.” Leon said luxury offers a diverse range of jobs beyond designing clothing and accessories. “This is definitely an industry of traveling, but it’s also an industry that can provide extraordinary experiences for people that are coming out with so many different types of degrees,”
Leon said. “There’s so many extraordinary people from so many different backgrounds and different types of education that come together to make the fashion industry work.” Ava McDonald (CAS ’24), the president of GRLA, said Leon’s visit will leave an impact on students, fulfilling GRLA’s mission to educate students about retail and luxury and introduce them to professional opportunities. “As an organization, our goal is to educate members of the Georgetown community about opportunities in the retail and luxury space,” McDonald wrote to The Hoya. “We were so excited to bring Valerie Leon to campus, especially given her incredible variety of experiences at so many leading brands.” “Our hope is that attendees can hear about Valerie’s career trajectory and be inspired to forge a similar path or take something she has learned throughout her career with them,” McDonald added. Leon said she is excited to find out what the future holds for the booming luxury industry. “We’re always watching and looking and trying to figure out what’s coming next, but I always joke, ‘I ordered my crystal ball 25 years ago. When is it coming?’” Leon said.
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NEWS
Georgetown Students Continue Fight Poets Talk African Heritage, Showcase To Kick Starbucks Off GU Campus Work to Honor Black History Month Nora Toscano Hoya Staff Writer
Following a semester of petitions, protests and discussions with university administration, student group Georgetown Students Against Starbucks (GSAS) has formally requested to university administration that Georgetown sever ties with Starbucks over allegations of union busting. GSAS submitted a proposal Feb. 6 to the Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility (CISR), which makes recommendations to the university about shareholder proxies and socially responsible investments, demanding Georgetown immediately divest from its nearly $5 million in Starbucks stock and end food service provider Aramark’s contract for the Leavey Center Starbucks. The campaign is part of a movement across college campuses nationwide to boycott Starbucks, following multiple rulings from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an individual federal agency that aims to protect workers’ rights, holding that Starbucks has engaged in unlawful anti-union practices. Fiona Naughton (SFS ’26), one of GSAS’s organizers, said GSAS is committed to pushing Georgetown to immediately sever ties with Starbucks. “We believe that every second that Georgetown waits to remove the location from the Leavey Center and to divest from Starbucks is another moment that will provide the fiscal support for a union-busting campaign and union-busting company,” Naughton told The Hoya. “That’s why we believe this campaign is so urgent because for every day that Georgetown waits, we’re providing more money in Starbucks’s pocket.” Despite these allegations of misconduct, a Starbucks spokesperson said that the company remains committed to fair labor practices. “As a company, we respect our partners’ right to organize, freely associate,
engage in lawful union activities and bargain collectively without fear of reprisal or retaliation — and remain committed to our stated aim of reaching ratified contracts for union-represented stores in 2024,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. GSAS started their protests against Starbucks last fall, drawing inspiration from a campaign at Cornell University, which pushed the university to end its partnership with Starbucks when its contract with the coffee chain ends in June 2025. Over 500 Georgetown students, faculty and staff have signed a GSAS petition encouraging Georgetown to end its contract with Aramark for the Leavey Center Starbucks and divest from Starbucks stock. GSAS members delivered this petition to University President John DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) on Dec. 1, 2023 and have met with administrators at internal committee meetings since. Naughton said the campaign still awaits a definitive response from the university. “A lot of this has been administrative policies and bureaucracy, but we’re really calling on the administration to take a more clear and direct stance,” Naughton said. Elinor Clark (CAS ’27), a main organizer for GSAS, said that the largest goal for the organization remains convincing the university to allow its contract with Starbucks to expire. “What the Georgetown Students Against Starbucks group has proposed is that Georgetown announce that, due to Starbucks’s prolific union-busting campaign, they will let the contract expire in 2027 and not renew it,” Clark said. A university spokesperson said that Aramark, Georgetown’s primary food service provider, licenses the Starbucks location in the Leavey Center, where workers are represented by the UNITE HERE union. The spokesperson added that the university’s Ad-
visory Committee on Business Practices, which assesses the moral and ethical implications of Georgetown’s staff and vendor labor policies, is currently assessing the issue. “After receiving the students’ petition last December, we met with several students to discuss their concerns,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “In January, these students were invited to attend a meeting of Georgetown’s Advisory Committee on Business Practices (ACBP) to make a presentation about their petition and discuss it with the ACBP. The ACBP is continuing to review this matter at this time.” While GSAS awaits a response from the university, they intend to continue their campaign until the administration meets their demands, planning information sessions, panel discussions and solidarity events and flyering to raise community awareness. On Feb. 22, GSAS is hosting a panel titled “The Fight for a Fair Contract: A Conversation with Union Workers,” which Naughton said will attempt to bring worker voices to the table in these protests. “The goal of the panel on Feb. 22 will be to discuss the importance of unions in all sectors for combating economic inequality and fighting for worker voice,” Naughton said. “We will be featuring speakers from Georgetown’s grad student union, a dining worker representative from UNITE HERE Local 23 and a Starbucks worker to discuss their unique fights for a fair contract and what having union representation means to them.” Clark said, despite university inactivity, GSAS remains committed to advocating for the urgency of ending Georgetown’s business relationship with Starbucks. “It’s really frustrating because we’re here,” Clark said. “We’ve been very loud. And it’s clear that there’s student support for this and the fact that the administration is taking so long to respond is really unfortunate.”
Nola Goodwin
Special to the Hoya
Four poets of African descent shared their poems and reflected on their writing experiences at a poetry reading held by the Georgetown University Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice on Feb. 6. The Lannan Center, a literary institution that aims to increase engagement with contemporary written art, invited poets Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Saddiq Dzukogi, Henneh Kyereh Kwaku and Tolo Oloruntoba for an event to commemorate Black History Month, which takes place each February. All four poets read aloud poems from their published work, touching on their African heritage and individual experiences with colonial legacies. Bulley said that her experience joining the Barbican Young Poets, a program connecting writers, helped motivate her to share her poems with the world, in addition to adding new dimensions to her writing. “I was writing by myself, for myself, for a very long time, and that gave me a sense of ‘I’m enjoying this, and this is mine.’ I still have that, and I think it was foundational, but then I joined this ongoing workshop called the Barbican Young Poets,” Bulley said at the event. “Up until that point, it had been this thing I enjoyed, but privately. I think that having a community was a real motor because it made me aware of what I was doing.” Bulley published her debut collection, “Quiet,” in 2022, and has since won the 2023 Rathbones Folio Prize, an award for works of literary fiction, and been shortlisted for several additional awards, including the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Pollard Poetry Prize. Kwaku is the author of the collection “Revolution of the Scavengers” and worked as the 2022 resident at the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora near Accra, Ghana.
Like Bulley, his poetry touched on his feelings towards his country and the violence that it has faced. “I want to get a pet one day — a cat maybe — or a dog / And name it after my country so each poem I write for it / Is also for my country. I want a messy pet — a beautiful pet / A pet that’s a metaphor for my country. That when I say / ‘My pet tore my life apart today,’ I also mean my country / Tore my life apart. When I say my pet is beautiful, I also mean / My country is beautiful,” Kwaku read at the event. Oloruntoba said poetry began as a hobby for him but later blossomed into a serious profession. “I wrote one and then another one and another one and another one, and then I started to have enough to put into a Word document, which started to get bigger as well,” Oloruntoba said. “The cliche is ‘one foot in front of the other,’ but you build a career by writing one at a time.” Oloruntoba wrote the collections “Each One a Furnace” and “The Junta of Happenstance,” the latter of which won the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry, both of which are Canadian literary awards for poetry written in English. Dzukogi is an assistant professor of English at Mississippi State University and published his collection “Your Crib, My Qibla” in 2021. The collection won the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, awarded to an author who is not a citizen of the United States but whose work was published in English, and the Julie Suk Award, for best poetry book published by a literary press. Dzukogi touched on the relationships and interconnection between many African cultures, describing colonization as lines being drawn between peoples. He said his poetry is an act of rebellion against the ever-present effects of colonialism. “I don’t know if I can, or we can,
erase those lines, because they exist and we have created newer history. But I think it’s important to reclaim those disruptive narratives, to understand who we are, where we come from, that we’re all connected,” Dzukogi said. Bulley said that her poetry works to combat the effects of colonialism in small ways, and used the motif of “the belly of the beast” to refer to existing in colonized spaces. Bulley also touched on her feelings about coming to Georgetown in particular, due to the university’s historical relationship with slavery. “This trip hit me differently than my previous visits to the U.S. I was thinking about Georgetown and thinking about what I’ve been reading about the history of this place that was built by enslaved people with enslaved labor. I move through these different shapes of beasts, and the beasts that live in the language that I speak, and I try to sicken that beast,” Bulley said. “I try to sicken it by throwing things in the belly to break up the heartbeat of that beast. I try to interrupt its rhythms. I try to confuse it and to be a stitch in its side,” she added. Dzukogi said his current project is an epic poem, a book-length narrative written in verse, and was inspired by comments that Nigerian culture, along with other African cultures, lack myth and stories. He added that a lack of recorded family histories made those comments particularly hurtful. “I obsess about naming, because I just don’t know. There’s absence,” Dzukogi said. “I don’t even know what my great-great grandmother was called. It’s not written anywhere, and there’s a hunger, not just to figure it out for myself, but to say, ‘We are not a people without myth. We are people, and we have lots of myths, lots of gods before you stole them.’”
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SPORTS MEN’S LACROSSE
SUPER BOWL LVIII
Georgetown Hits Early Roadblock, Conference Championships Recap: Drops Season Opener to Loyola What to Watch for in the Big Game Michael Santos and Ben Resnicoff
Henry Liu
Despite entering the season as the No. 12 squad in the country, Georgetown University’s men’s lacrosse team fell 18-10 to the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds in their season opener Feb. 3. After Georgetown fell behind early, an onslaught of goals from Loyola squashed any chance of a comeback. Although the Hoyas entered the second half down only 4 goals, Georgetown was unable to crawl back into the game. The Hoyas (0-1) began the game on the right foot, with sophomore attacker and reigning Big East Freshman of the Year Patrick Crogan making a smooth spin move and drilling a shot past the Loyola (1-0) goalie just over a minute into the game. Unfortunately, this shot seemed to enliven the Greyhounds, as they proceeded to pour 4 unanswered goals past the Hoyas over the next 10 minutes to take a 4-1 lead. The barrage of scoring finally ended when sophomore midfielder Jordan Wray drove left and ripped a shot into the top corner of the net to make it 4-2. The teams traded goals to end the quarter, with senior attacker Aidan Carroll making a shifty move to his right and slotting the ball past the goalie to pull the Hoyas back within two, a 5-3 deficit. Unfortunately for Georgetown, Loyola appeared to make some tactical adjustments during the break. To open the second quarter, the Greyhounds scored 3 unanswered goals, putting the Hoyas on their heels. With the score 8-3, Wray came to the rescue again, scoring 2 goals within a minute of each other to bring the Hoyas back into the game. After trading goals over the final minutes of the half, the teams entered halftime with the Greyhounds leading 10-6. The third and fourth quarters
AftertheNationalFootballLeague’s (NFL) marathon regular season and several nail-biting playoff thrillers, the Kansas City Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 11. Heading into Sunday’s highly anticipated game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., the Chiefs are seeking their third Lombardi Trophy in five years, while the 49ers are looking for their first Super Bowl victory since 1994. The long road to the Super Bowl concluded with the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) championship games Jan. 28. In the day’s earlier game, the Chiefs triumphed over quarterback and this season’s MVP winner Lamar Jackson and the No. 1-seeded Baltimore Ravens, winning 17-10. Meanwhile, the 49ers overcame a 17-point second half for an impressive 34-31 comeback over the Detroit Lions. Analyzing how each team performed in these pivotal conference championship matchups reveals key insights entering the year’s pinnacle game. For the majority of the 2023 season, the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs have lacked their trademark explosive offense as in the past. However, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ experience on the big stage has shone throughout the Chiefs’ dominant playoff run. After a close road victory over the Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs toppled the favored Ravens in Baltimore. Although Kansas City sprinted to a 17-7 early lead, Baltimore only managed 3 additional points in the second half, ending the Ravens’
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LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MARYLAND
Sophomore midfielder Jordan Wray scored five goals in the loss.
were much of the same for the game with a hat trick had his wouldHoyas. Although the team had be second goal not been overturned some strong offensive stints, it by the newly implemented could not contain the quick and instant replay system. Installed composed Greyhounds. in the wake of public backlash Wray scored yet again early surrounding Duke’s controversial in the third quarter, collecting a victory over Penn State in last year’s groundball at midfield and quickly national semifinals over a missed faking to his left before sprinting to penalty, the system revealed that his right, placing a stinger of a shot Crogan illegally fell into the crease into the top left corner. However, surrounding the goal. Loyola responded with 2 goals Senior attacker TJ Haley put of its own in quick succession. in a strong all-around game, Crogan scored his second of the scoring once and assisting on 2 day to bring the Hoyas within Hoya goals. Graduate student 5 late in the third, converting Alexander Vardaro, scoring once after a stutter step that landed a and assisting once, had a similarly Greyhound defender on the turf. solid performance, as did his Loyola opened the scoring in fellow graduate student, faceoff the fourth quarter, keeping the man James Ball, who was terrific distance between themselves and in converting on 16-of-22 faceoff the Hoyas. Despite Georgetown’s attempts. best efforts, the lead was too large to Georgetown hopes that its key mount a comeback. To put a stamp players will bounce back in their on the victory, the Greyhounds next game. scored the final 3 goals of the game, Top dog graduate student cementing their 18-10 victory. Graham Bundy Jr., who established Despite the tough loss to begin himself as one of the best the season, the sophomore duo midfielders in the nation as a of Wray and Crogan flashed its junior, struggled greatly as Loyola’s immense potential. Wray led defense focused on him and limited the way for the Hoyas with 5 him to 0 points. The defense also goals, making a strong case for a gave up 41 shots, doing first-year permanent starter role. Crogan also goalkeeper Anderson Moore no showed off his skills, as his quick favors in his first collegiate game. first step and ability to effectively The Hoyas will look to bounce shoot in the corners with both back from this tough loss on Feb. 10 hands led him to a 2 goal day. in their home opener against No. 5 Crogan would have ended the Johns Hopkins at Cooper Field.
BETWEEN THE LINES
Jude Bellingham’s Stardom Defies Stats Owen Reid
Hoya Sports Columnist
My two favorite sports are undeniably European football and baseball. I appreciate baseball for how easy it is to explain why good players are good players: The best baseball players will always have the best statistics, be it batting average, fielding metrics or earned run average (ERA). Football is fundamentally different: The best players are not always as easily explained through statistics. Rather, their success is often hidden between the lines in the unquantifiable areas of positioning, reception of passes or pressing the opposition. Midfielder Jude Bellingham has been arguably the best player in the world over the last six months. After winning the Golden Boy Award at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony, he leads LaLiga, Spain’s top division, with 14 goals for Real Madrid. To put that in perspective, a midfielder has not finished as LaLiga’s top scorer since the 197778 campaign. According to FotMob, an online football data compiler, Bellingham has the highest average match rating, a statistic calculated by averaging subcategories of play, including possession, passing and attacking, of any player in LaLiga — and it is not close. His average 8.19 out of 10 rating is 0.41 better than second place İlkay Gündoğan; that 0.41 margin is equivalent to the difference between the second and 20thbest average match rating. If Bellingham is the league’s top scorer as a midfielder, the best player on a per-match average basis, an Englishman in a Spanish game and only 20 years old, how is he enjoying so much success? The answer lies in the less quantifiable aspects of the beautiful game. Football is unique in two ways: It demands movement and concentration on the ball, similar
to basketball, hockey or lacrosse, but is played at a slower pace and is lower scoring. Especially in the Spanish game, these factors make positioning — a skill Bellingham has mastered at a level beyond his years — the key to success. Often, midfielders find it difficult positionally to move forward and create goal-scoring opportunities without leaving gaps in the middle third of the field for an opposition counterattack. Bellingham simply ignores this: In the 2022 Bundesliga season, he ran an average of 6.7 miles per game, fourth highest among all Bundesliga players. Bellingham has the positional prowess to be potent in front of the goal while not sacrificing his defensive game. Thirteen of Bellingham’s 14 league goals this season were tapins or inside-the-box conversions rather than stunners or individual efforts. Even with his elite 29.8% shot conversion rate, Bellingham’s 8.5 expected goals are well short of his actual 14 goals. This isn’t luck, but instead a combination of Bellingham’s exceptional understanding of attacking positioning and his unparalleled will to get where he needs to be and finish. Bellingham’s hype this season comes from his goalscoring, but he has also quietly been one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. He ranks in the 95th percentile or higher in tackles won, interceptions, duels won and possessions won in the final third among all Spanish league players. Bellingham’s ability to maintain his defensive and attacking play at such an elite level makes him one of the world’s most complete players. Beyond any accumulation of statistics, Bellingham absolutely passes the eye test. And don’t just take my word for it — legendary manager Pep Guardiola had said of Bellingham in 2022: “Everybody knows about his
quality and skills… [but] this guy is something special in terms of mentality.” Bellingham plays with a conviction and vigor that I haven’t seen in years. It’s no mistake that he was awarded the captain’s armband at his former team Borussia Dortmund at just 19 years old. This grit and determination in his play helps explain why he has performed at such a high level in his first season with Real Madrid. Football can certainly be analyzed with numbers, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for a purely statistics-based game. During the 2015-2016 Premier League season, even though Harry Kane scored a league-best 25 goals, midfielders N’Golo Kanté and Moussa Dembélé finished with higher average match ratings because of their statistics-defying abilities to control the midfield. Although Aaron Judge’s 210 OPS+ explains his 2022 American League Most Valuable Player season, if Jude Bellingham wins the Ballon d’Or in 2024, statistics will not tell the whole story. Instead, Bellingham is deserving of the award for his unquantifiable qualities in positional understanding, ability to maintain defensive and offensive prowess and exceptional mentality.
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Jude Bellingham celebrates a goal amid his dazzling year.
season in disappointment. up front. Detroit rushed for 148 first Throughout the game, the half yards, with touchdown runs by Chiefs’ offensive line did a great job wide receiver Jameson Williams and protecting Mahomes and giving him running backs David Montgomery time in the pocket to operate. On top and Jahmyr Gibbs. of that, Kansas City’s defense has San Francisco needed chunk been one of the best in the league, plays to start the second half to stay ranking second in the league in yards in contention — and wide receiver and points allowed during the regular Brandon Aiyuk met the call with a season, only behind the Ravens. Their game-shifting 51-yard catch which matchup against the Ravens, holding bounced off a defender’s facemask. Baltimore’s prolific rushing attack to The 49ers proceeded to score on every just 81 yards, while forcing 3 turnovers. possession of the third quarter, tying Nonetheless, the Ravens had the game in just eight minutes. The their chances in the fourth quarter, team continued to dominate in the with two major errors on back- fourth thanks to elite play from Purdy, to-back possessions ultimately the last pick of 2022 draft, and a series dooming the team. Rookie wide of Lions miscues, including two failed receiver Zay Flowers fumbled the fourth down conversions while in ball on the 1-yard line, and then, field goal range. Jackson threw an interception into Purdy finished with 267 passing triple coverage with the team 20 yards and a touchdown, along with yards from the endzone. 48 yards rushing, proving he can As the Ravens offense fell apart spark a comeback for the second in the second half, tight end Travis consecutive game. Despite a late Kelce and Mahomes proved their touchdown by Williams, the Lions continued postseason dominance. could not find another score, ending Kelce caught all 11 of his targets for 116 their historic NFC North-winning yards and a touchdown. Mahomes season with a 34-31 loss. completed 30 of 39 passes for 241 Although the 49ers are the most yards and a touchdown. complete team in the NFL and On the other hand, the 49ers have will be able to engineer effective been favored in each game this season offensive drives against a dominant and enter the Super Bowl with the Chiefs defense, it is difficult to NFL’s second-ranked offense, led by count out Mahomes and the Chiefs quarterback Brock Purdy and All-Pro when it matters most. On top of running back Christian McCaffrey. that, the Chiefs have been playing San Francisco is the more complete at a higher level, beating the Bills team heading into Sunday’s matchup and Ravens handedly on the road, with Pro Bowl-level weapons at every while the 49ers have struggled to position from fullback to tight end. win both of their home games. In the NFC title game, the 49ers In the Super Bowl, Kansas struggled early, overpowered by City’s defense will contain the Lions on the way to a 24-7 McCaffrey, and the 49ers and the deficit at halftime; it seemed as if Mahomes-Kelce duo will come the end of San Francisco’s season up with big plays at key times, was imminent. Holes in the 49ers culminating in the Chiefs’ third defense were apparent, especially ring in five years in a tight win.
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Marquette Trounces Georgetown at Home MARQUETTE, from A12
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Much of MLB’s magic comes from its schedule, whether it be the frequent rivalry games or the mysterious interleague matchups.
find from first-year guard Rowan Brumbaugh ended the Marquette scoring run, the Georgetown offense was largely lifeless in those final 10 minutes, scoring just 8 total points over that span. Entering halftime, the Golden Eagles had the Hoyas doubled up, leading 44-22. Coming off a career-high 32 points against Villanova (12-11, 5-7 Big East), Marquette’s sharpshooting guard Tyler Kolek was especially impressive. He scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half and added 8 assists on the day. Georgetown’s woes continued to build in the second half, with potentially momentum-shifting fast break opportunities ending without a bucket. Just four minutes into the period, the Marquette lead grew to 55-29 — and it only grew more painful from there. Marginal Hoya help defense and weak box outs, combined with consistent Golden Eagle shooting, allowed Marquette to score with ease as the team authored a 28-12 run over the next 10 minutes to push the score to 83-41; that 42-point difference marked Marquette’s largest lead. During that stretch, Marquette guard Kam Jones — who was questionable to play entering the game — shined, scoring 23 points, including 11
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Senior guard Wayne Bristol Jr.’s constant switching and numerous pass deflections were a rare highlight in an otherwise challenging game for the Hoyas. straight at one point. He finished with a game-high 31 points on 12-15 shooting, including 7-9 from deep. Marquette Head Coach Shaka Smart unloaded his bench with two minutes remaining, the nail in the coffin on a forgettable Georgetown loss. The lacking Hoya offense was particularly striking. Marquette held the Georgetown and Big East leading scorer, sophomore guard Jayden Epps — who entered averaging 19.2 points per game — to only 2 points in the first 33 minutes of the contest. In hindsight, Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley admitted that he should not have played Epps, as well as a few other starters like Bristol Jr., senior forward Supreme Cook and junior guard Dontrez Styles, because the flu had been
spreading around the locker room. “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have played Jayden; he hadn’t practiced since last Tuesday. [Wayne] didn’t practice this week, Supreme and Dontrez,” Cooley said in the postgame press conference. “We got a little bug going through us, but I didn’t, I didn’t like our fight today. I didn’t like our will.” Nonetheless, Cooley was supremely disappointed in his team’s performance, especially at home. “We got to find a way to play better at home. I mean, our last two home games just haven’t been good. It’s not a good look,” Cooley added. “You know we take five steps forward and 32 steps backward.” With three games in one week — Marquette, Seton Hall
and UConn — the Hoyas must regroup quickly. On his locker room role, Cooley said he would be there to comfort and coax his team through the difficult period. “Right now, I can’t be a coach. Right now, I got to be a caretaker. Again, this is where you got to be a great person to 22, to 23, 24 year olds. Take off your head coach hat, make sure you’re there for them,” Cooley said. “Let them know, ‘Okay, it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to do this. But how are we going to improve?’” The Hoyas lost their seventh straight game at Seton Hall (15-8, 8-4 Big East) 76-70 on Feb. 7. They continue against No. 1 UConn on Feb. 10 in a game that should draw a large home crowd.
MLB’s Balanced Schedule Is a Swing and a Miss WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Hoyas Honor Tasha Butts, Kay Yow in Pink Out HERMAN, from A12
to face every other team, every season. This comes at the expense of intradivisional games. It also comes at the expense of my heart. Facing an interleague rival is no longer magical — it is the expectation. I no longer have to wait three years to watch my Yankees take on the loathsome Dodgers. It is as if I looked forward to Halloween every year, and then Halloween suddenly became a monthly holiday. It would lose its allure immediately. Rarity brings magic, and the MLB has failed to protect it. But baseball’s magic is not just a product of rare interleague play. Rather, frequent games against a team’s most hated rivals are the necessary second component. I’m a rabid Yankees fan. I despise the Boston Red Sox. Looking at their offensively-red uniforms and scraggly beards makes my blood boil. But the thrill that I feel when watching the Yankees play them is undeniable. By balancing the schedule,
MLB is not only yanking away the fun of interleague play — it is reducing the number of times I can feel that thrill. I’ve already fallen down the rabbit hole. Nothing short of the Yankees moving to Connecticut could threaten my fandom — but part of the reason I became a fan was the appeal of watching games against a sworn enemy, and another part was the occasional treat of interleague play. I worry the magic that lured me in might be too weak to have the same effect on the next generation. I hate change — my dad can also tell you that if he is still reading. But sometimes, I recognize that change is necessary. The pitch clock, for example, was necessary. Adapting the game to make it more appealing to younger fans is similarly necessary. The balanced schedule is not. In my last column, I told you that “tradition for the sake of tradition is lunacy.” But so is change for the sake of change — and that’s exactly what this is.
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DEPAUL, from A12 Following a timeout, the Blue Demons attempted to kick the ball outside for a 3-point attempt multiple times, yet failed to register a shot before the shot clock went off. On the next possession, a Bembry inbound pass found Scott, who was then fouled and converted both free throw attempts for the lead with just 4.8 seconds left. Allen tried a last-ditch layup, but
it was off the mark, earning the Hoyas a tough-earned win. Both teams struggled to score all game, as Georgetown finished with 34% shooting and DePaul sat even lower at 29.8%. The Hoyas’ guards, who shot a combined 2-for-21 from the field, failed to stretch the floor against the Blue Demons’ tight defense. Bembry had the best game of her Georgetown career, tallying her first double-double of the season. She tied her season high
of 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting, while also grabbing 10 boards and 4 blocks along the way. Bennett, too, was once again reliable, accruing 12 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double of her own. Jenkins held strong on the defensive end with 3 blocks and 8 rebounds. Haney said he was proud of the team’s effort throughout some of the tougher stretches in the game. “Players play, tough players win. Teams play, tough teams
win,” Haney told Georgetown Athletics. “They figure it out. We found a way to win when things weren’t going our way, and I’m proud of each and every one of our players for that.” Georgetown’s season continued with a crushing 52-38 loss to a strong Marquette (18-5, 7-5 Big East) squad on Feb. 7. The Hoyas hope to regain their scoring form at home against Providence (11-13, 5-6 Big East) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 10.
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Money Talks: NIL Collectives on the Rise at Georgetown
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Georgetown women’s basketball wore pink jerseys as part of its annual Play4Kay game, an initiative aimed at raising funds for cancer research named after Hall of Fame head coach Kay Yow. The Hoyas also took the opportunity to honor late head coach Tasha Butts.
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with third parties, particularly businesses here in the neighborhood, including South Block, the Dig Inn, South Moon Under. We’re working on multiple different deals like that,” Balkam added. “It’s an exciting new era for Georgetown student-athletes.” Currently, Hoyas Rising has completed nearly 100 NIL transactions — either directly or indirectly — with student-athletes from six different teams. The agency has also signed 230 student-athletes from 16 different varsity teams, including the entire men’s basketball team, as clients. Hoyas Rising does not overlap with Georgetown University, but the organization does own an exclusive license to the university’s intellectual property, which allows for any partnership between companies and students to use Georgetown’s logos. The aim is to maximize the value of any third-party partnership, according to Balkham. “We set it up so that it’s a higher value proposition for ev-
erybody, including the brands, including the student-athletes, and we thought it was our way to maximize the value of our student-athletes,” Balkam said. The licensing agreement also allows Hoyas Rising to operate an exclusive NIL storefront, selling official Georgetown merchandise with players’ names and numbers printed on it. Athletes receive above industry-leading royalties on all sales and can even create custom designs in their “digital locker.” In the coming semesters, Balkham expects Hoyas Rising to push the education component of NIL, which is key for reaching the remaining Georgetown student-athletes. “You basically have to be an entrepreneur on top of being a student on top of being an athlete,” Balkham said. “But I anticipate us doing some seminars — either we’ll run them or we’ll bring out outside experts to talk about things like branding and social media.” Behind Hoyas Rising’s outreach to student-athletes is an extensive fundraising wing, led by company
chairperson Tim Brosnan (CAS ’80), that relies on Georgetown graduates and allows the organization to continue to develop. “For now, and into the foreseeable future, we continue to rely almost solely on the generosity of Georgetown donors. And we continue to invest the great bulk of that capital in the place it belongs: the Student Athletes at Georgetown University,” Brosnan wrote in the “Hoyas Rising — The 2023 Year in Review” report, a recap of the company’s first year in business. “This may not be the environment we would all choose, but it is the environment. Simply put, without robust financial support this project fails.” Balkam notes that it is a chance for alumni to empower athletes, even though the NIL framework may shift in the coming years. “It’s an opportunity for the Georgetown community to really pay it forward to this generation of student-athletes,” Balkam said. “We don’t know if the rules are going to change. We don’t know exactly where things are going to shake out. But, you
know, we’ve been really grateful for the support we’ve gotten from the Georgetown alumni to date.” More broadly, the evolution and sustainability of the current NIL system is something to closely follow. “There’s a lot of changes coming to college athletics. NIL and the ruling in the Supreme Court were kind of the first dominoes to fall and now, we are in the midst of seeing the other dominoes fall. I don’t know what those dominoes are going to be. But is it unsustainable this way? Probably,” Balkham said. “It just seems like the amateurism model that the NCAA has modeled itself on forever now, it seems like there’s some cracks in that.” Nonetheless, Hoyas Rising will continue to operate with an eye toward the future. “Look, we want to be a staple in every Georgetown student athlete’s experience while they’re here on the Hilltop,” Balkam concluded. “So, the long-term vision is continuing to do what we do and get better and improve and continue to help our student-athlete members flourish during their time on campus.”
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Georgetown (8-14) @ No. 1 UConn Saturday, 12 p.m. Capital One Arena
FRIDAY, FRID AY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024 2 024 TALKING POINTS
MEN’S LACROSSE Georgetown suffers a bruising loss against Loyola University Maryland in its season opener, 18-10.
NUMBERS GAME
I think the accumulation of all the consistency helped me develop... I’m trying to get a national qualifier.”
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Senior Runner Abel Teffra
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Junior men’s track athlete Matthew Payamps ran a 3:37.60 in the 1500m, placing seventh in the country.
NIL
Hoyas Rising Takes Charge Of NIL Efforts At Georgetown Daniel Greilsheimer Senior Sports Editor
Name, image and likeness (NIL) rights, which allow student-athletes to be compensated for their marketability, went into effect July 1, 2021, following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on the matter — and collegiate sports have not looked back since. Although the NCAA had planned for years in advance on how to manage a future NIL framework, the governing body has largely taken a hands-off approach to regulation. As a result, most schools have created independent NIL collectives, ushering in an age of quasi-“pay for play” via recruitment channels and the increasingly active transfer portal. Thus, Hoyas Rising was born. Officially created in May 2023, the independent organization has positioned itself as the liaison between Georgetown University athletes and third-party vendors. John Balkam (MSB ’13), Hoyas Rising’s director of sales and athlete engagement, said the corporation is designed to help Georgetown athletes capitalize on the available NIL offerings. “Name, image and likeness to me basically just means you have the same rights that professional athletes do,” Balkam told The Hoya. “You can think of us as like an agency operating on behalf of Georgetown student-athletes.” Hoyas Rising connects athletes to businesses in the Georgetown area, while also helping to teach athletes about marketing and self-promotion. “We’ve also already landed a handful of small marketing deals See NIL, A11
PHOTO BY HAAN JUN (RYAN) LEE
The then-No. 9 Marquette Golden Eagles trounced the Georgetown men’s basketball team 91-57 in the worst home loss in Big East History. The team, despite some early defensive excellence, faltered down the stretch and could not settle into the game.
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Hoyas Flop in Worst Ever Home Big East Loss Daniel Greilsheimer Senior Sports Editor
In its largest home loss in Big East history, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team was trampled by then-No. 9 Marquette Golden Eagles 9157 on Feb. 3 in a game that was never truly close. Adorned in pink in celebration of World Cancer Day, the student section was ready for the first of two consecutive home matchups
against Associated Press Top 25 teams. On Feb. 10, No. 1 UConn (212, 11-1 Big East) will visit. However, the Hoyas (8-14, 1-10 Big East) were not up to the challenge, looking a step behind a talented Golden Eagles (17-5, 8-3 Big East) team yet again — the Hoyas lost their earlier matchup against Marquette 81-51 on Dec. 22 — while squandering offensive opportunities and playing poor defense. Marquette took an early
8-4 lead with 17:18 remaining behind hot 3-point shooting, a trend that would continue; the Golden Eagles shot 45.2% from beyond the arc and 55.6% from the field overall for the game. During the first five minutes, Georgetown turned the ball over four times, a recurring theme for the group. In fact, Marquette scored 35 points off turnovers in the game. The Hoyas managed to keep the game close, with a layup by
senior guard Jay Heath bringing the team within 4 points, down 18-14 with 10:17 left in the half. The defensive intensity was high for Georgetown early on, especially from senior guard Wayne Bristol Jr., whose impressive switching and numerous pass deflections do not appear on the score sheet. Nonetheless, poor shot selection plagued the Hoyas, who failed to capitalize on the Golden Eagles’ relatively slow start. Coming out of a media
timeout with just under 10 minutes remaining, Marquette scored 16 unanswered points, building the Golden Eagles’ lead to 34-14. Even the crowd began to turn, with the student section quieting and booming “We are Marquette” chants emerging from the stands. Although a dunk by graduate forward Ismael Massoud on a See MARQUETTE, A11
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
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Georgetown Survives in Narrow Victory
Do You Believe In MLB Magic?
Oliver Ni
Senior Sports Editor
Kicking off the new month with a win, the Georgetown University women’s basketball team broke a three-game losing streak with a narrow victory over the DePaul Blue Demons. The Hoyas (15-8, 5-7 Big East) beat the Blue Demons (12-13, 4-8 Big East), 44-42, in a low-scoring defensive battle. Donning pink jerseys in honor of World Cancer Day, Georgetown clinched the game behind junior forward Brianna Scott’s pair of clutch free throws and graduate forward Graceann Bennett’s key last-second rebound. The matchup took on a particularly special meaning for the Hoyas as it sought to raise funds for cancer research at Kay Yow Cancer Foundation. For Georgetown, the game also marked an opportunity to honor Tasha Butts, the beloved late Hoyas coach who died after her battle with breast cancer on Oct. 23, 2023. Butts served as head coach for six months, joining the Hilltop community after a run at Georgia Tech and UCLA. “It’s an honor to live through her legacy and knowing that this is what she wanted to do for her life,” senior guard Kelsey Ransom told The Hoya earlier this season. “We feel her all the time, we get touches every practice, she’s there with us. There’s no doubt that she’s in the space with us all the time.” With DePaul coming into the game averaging nearly 40 rebounds per game on the season
and 36.7 points in the paint across their last three, Head Coach Darnell Haney elected to roll out an unconventional lineup to bring extra physicality onto the court. Junior center Ariel Jenkins got the start, while sophomore guard Victoria Rivera moved to the bench for the first time this season. Both teams employed effective man defenses to start the game. Although Georgetown struggled to finish on contested shots and inside cuts, the team managed to limit DePaul’s offensive output by forcing bad shot attempts with a relentless defense. All in all, the Blue Demons held a slim 11-7 lead to end the first quarter. The Hoyas started the second quarter cold, but a jumper by senior forward Jada Claude and a 3-pointer by Scott gave Georgetown a 14-13 lead. But DePaul’s offense had other plans, streaking to a 23-16 lead behind forward Jorie Allen. With just over two minutes remaining in the first half, Georgetown faced the prospect of heading into halftime down 7 points — but a trio of stellar layups from Bennett, graduate forward Mia Bembry and Claude shifted the momentum, leaving the Hoyas down just 23-22. Georgetown began the second half more aggressively, pushing hard in transition. However, turnovers negated much of the Hoyas’ momentum, allowing the Blue Demons to take a 36-31 lead into the fourth. Bembry opened the last period with two quick layups, helping
Eliat Herman
Hoya Sports Columnist
GUHOYAS
The Georgetown Hoyas won 44-42 over the DePaul Blue Demons in large part thanks to graduate forward Mya Bembry’s all-around excellence. to spark an unanswered 7-point Georgetown run, which DePaul star guard Anaya Peoples attempted to stop single-handedly. However, with just 36 seconds
left, Peoples fouled out, giving Bennett the chance to tie the game via free throws. See DEPAUL, A11
There is a certain magic that envelops the game of baseball. My dad will read this — hi! — and tell me I’m too young to know that. He will claim that baseball has not been truly magical since the late ’90s, when the Yankees won three straight World Series. Perhaps he will point to the early 2000s, when shortstop Derek Jeter captained a team of Yankees legends. But he will almost certainly grumble at the assertion that baseball has been magical at any time in the last 10 years. I refuse to subscribe to the belief that baseball is only magical when the Yankees are successful. But I also recognize that, in the last handful of years, the magic of baseball has dimmed. The culprit is evident: Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred is overzealous about changing the rules of a barely-flawed game. I have no gripes about the introduction of the pitch clock — it has undeniably reduced dead time and lured new fans into the stadium. However — due to the introduction of the balanced schedule, new fans will be introduced
to a game of baseball completely unrecognizable from the one I fell in love with as a child. Up until the 2023 season, I could turn on the TV and reliably expect to see the Yankees square off against a familiar opponent. They played their American League East rivals exactly 19 times, faced other American League (AL) squads less often and met their designated interleague rivals twice. The remaining few games were against teams from the fearsome, mysterious National League (NL). I remember waiting for MLB to release their schedule every year. I’d scan the pages, eager to see which NL teams the Yankees would meet that year. It was an internal battle — did I want the Yankees to play the Los Angeles Dodgers so that I could watch future Hall-of-Fame starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throw a masterpiece? Or did I want them to face the middling Pittsburgh Pirates and likely collect some wins? Either way, interleague games brought a special shade of magic to my living room. The 2023 season’s new balanced schedule siphoned that away in a flash. Now, every team is guaranteed See HERMAN, A11