Families of Four Hostages
Discuss, Reflect on Oct. 7, Call for Focus on Hostages
Maren Fagan Senior News Editor
Four family members of U.S. citizens who have been held hostage or killed in Gaza called for a focus on the hostages during a Sept. 19 event at Georgetown University.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, a civilian taken hostage Oct. 7; Ruby Chen, the father of Itay Chen, a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen serving in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who was killed Oct. 7; Orna Neutra, the mother of Omer Neutra, a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen serving in the IDF taken hostage Oct. 7; and Iris Liniado, the daughter of Judy Weinstein and Gad Haggai, both killed on Oct. 7, spoke at the event. The Center for Jewish Civilization (CJC) at the School of Foreign Service (SFS) hosted the event, with CJC professor Bruce Hoffman moderating.
According to Hoffman, the event represented the first time families of U.S. hostages have
spoken on a university campus.
SFS Dean Joel Hellman introduced the speakers and the event by calling for the audience to unite in grieving the loss of innocent lives on all sides of the conflict.
“We gather here today, of course, with heavy hearts,” Hellman said at the event. “For each of the innocent civilians affected, there is a family — Israeli and Palestinian alike, cutting across many countries, some here in our own community — agonizing over the uncertainty of the hostages’ fate or grieving over the lost ones.”
Military and political conflict in the region has been ongoing since before the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948, which Palestinians characterize as an occupation and which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The most recent escalation occurred Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and other militant groups
See HOSTAGES, A7
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Four family members of U.S. citizens held hostage in Gaza called for a focus on the hostages and their release in a Sept. 19 event.
GUPD Officer Anthony Allen Dies at 57
Aamir Jamil Senior News Editor
Anthony Allen (CAS ’90), a Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) officer and former forward on the men’s basketball team, died Sept. 11 in Dayton, Md. He was 57.
Born Sept. 10, 1967, in Port Arthur, Texas, Anthony Joseph Allen Sr. grew up in a sporting family, with his two older brothers playing high school football. Allen, however, played high school basketball for Abraham Lincoln High School, winning two state championships and receiving the Texas “Mr. Basketball” award in
HOYA
Georgetown University community and the Iranian Cultural Society (ICS) gathered for a commemerative vigil to mark the second anniversary of Masha Amini’s death Sept. 16.
ICS Holds Commemorative Vigil to Honor Mahsa Amini
Kate Hwang
Student Life Desk Editor
Georgetown University community members gathered at a commemorative vigil to mark the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died Sept. 16, 2022, while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police,” a force responsible for enforcing Iran’s strict dress code regulations, after she was arrested for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab. The Sept. 16 vigil was organized by Georgetown’s Iranian Cultural Society (ICS) in Red Square. ICS members lit candles and set up a memorial
for members of the Georgetown community to stop by and pay their respects.
After the “morality police” arrested Amini, she was sent to a detention center in Tehran, where police officers reportedly beat her unconscious; she died three days later. In the immediate aftermath of her death, protestors demonstrated across Iran, sparking a global movement for the human rights of Iranian women known as the Woman, Life, Freedom movement; Georgetown students also joined a protest in downtown Washington, D.C.
Ava Joulapour (SOH ’25), the president of ICS, said the second anniversary of Amini’s
death is an opportunity to show members of the Georgetown community that the Women, Life, Freedom movement continues to remember Amini’s life and her legacy across the globe.
Full disclosure: Ava Joulapour previously contributed to The Hoya.
“We’re doing a vigil and remembrance of her and to remind Women, Life, Freedom is still alive,” Joulapour told The Hoya . “People are still fighting at home and we honor and respect every day what they’re doing for us.”
Satya Heidrich-Amin (SFS ’25), the outreach coordinator for See VIGIL, A7
Don’t Hang Up
(CAS
his senior year.
Scouted by Georgetown men’s basketball coach John Thompson Jr., Allen attended Georgetown after graduating from Lincoln in 1986. In his first game, the 1986-87 season opener, Allen scored 15 points in 15 minutes; despite knee and ankle injuries limiting his time on the court, he went on to score 221 points over his college career.
“Anthony was a smart player, you know,” Thompson Jr. told The Hoya in 2008. “He was competitive, and he was the kind of guy that was a very good defensive player, and a lot of the things we tried to do predicated on a person being a team player as
well as a person who could rebound and defend. Anthony could do those things, and that was very important.”
After graduating, Allen played on a U.S. exhibition team in France before joining Athletes in Action, a Christian organization that combined exhibition basketball with ministry, which sent him to Mexico and Australia. Allen returned to Georgetown in 1994, joining GUPD as a campus police officer. He patrolled the northern side of campus during night shifts and eventually rose to the position of master police officer. While serving at GUPD, Allen completed his graduate studies to
become a minister and then served as an assistant pastor at Mount Horeb Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., also working with youth ministry. Known for his singing in high school and college, Allen served as a choir director at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. Fred Johnson, GUPD’s patrol operationscommander,whoworkedwith Allen for 13 years, said Allen was dedicated to Georgetown and its community. “If you talk to anybody in this university about Anthony Allen, he’s a staple,” Johnson told The Hoya. “He’s a true Hoya, blue and gray. Always caring, See ALLEN, A7
GU Jewish Space Completed, Renamed Ammerman Makom
Ruth Abramovitz GUSA Desk Editor
Georgetown University community members joined Sept. 14 to rededicate the university’s campus gathering space for Jewish students as the Ammerman Makóm, marking the completion of the renovation.
Makóm — located in the Leavey Center — hosts a variety of events for the Georgetown Jewish community and its Campus Ministry office, Jewish Life, including Shabbat services, Torah studies and Jewish Student Association (JSA) events. The multipurpose space, originally opened in 2011, underwent significant renovations starting in the summer of 2023 before reopening for student use beginning in October 2023.
The renovation, sponsored by donors including Andrew Ammerman (SFS ’72) and his family, included improvements such as an expanded seating area, sliding doors which separate the prayer space from the entry space, decorative elements highlighting Jewish imagery and a permanent ark to hold the Torah scroll. Additionally, Michelle Sloane Wolf (CAS ’85) and Steve Wolf (MSB ’84) sponsored the construction of a kosher kitchen in Makóm.
Talia Zamir (CAS ’26), a Jewish engagement intern who oversees student programming for the Office of Jewish Life and co-president of JSA, said the
Oasis Fans Face Ticket Desert Ryan Lee (SFS ’26) reflects on Oasis’ cultural impact and criticizes Ticketmaster’s handling of the band’s reunion tour.
Cause Stumble Georgetown’s football team played messily and turned over the ball in its first loss of the season at Sacred Heart. A12/A11
upcoming NWSL playoffs. A12/A11
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Anthony Allen (CAS ‘90), a beloved Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) officer and former forward on the men’s basketball team who scored 221 points during his college career, died Sept. 11 in Dayton, Md. He was 57.
KATE HWANG/THE
Fumbles
Suki Waterhouse Sparkles Waterhouse weaves a captivating musical tapestry in “Memoir of
Spirited Victory The Washington Spirit defeated the Houston Dash and will look to succeed in the
Embrace Living on the Hilltop
As the hustle and bustle of move-in, New Student Orientation and the first day of classes gives way to the rhythm and routine of the fall semester, many students and faculty members, myself included, find themselves asking: “Where does the time go?”
This semester marks the beginning of my 23rd year on the Hilltop. I hope — with more than two decades spent working, learning and growing alongside extraordinary faculty, brilliant students and dedicated and industrious staff — that I have learned some kernels of wisdom that will help you make the most of your time here at Georgetown. Your time here will go quickly. You’ve already learned this from your experience in high school, and it will happen again, only faster this time around. I’m not going to stand on my desk to emphasize this, as I’m sure you get the point.
My first piece of advice would be to slow down and take a step back and appreciate where you are, how you got here and the people who may have helped you get here. Georgetown has a special place in the world. It’s one of the reasons so many of us have chosen to be at this university. If you’re not already familiar with our mission statement, I suggest you give it a read, as it’s a good introduction to Jesuit values. One of the things that is most appealing about this centuries-old set of precepts, which are the bedrock of this institution, is that they are universal. One need not be a practicing Catholic to find them compelling: Interreligious understanding is one of these values. I’m always moved when we have a diverse set of faith leaders speaking at university events like Convocation and Commencement. It’s the best possible message to send to a broken world that needs us as a model: We are committed to pluralism.
The core values of the university can serve as something of a road map as you find your path forward as a Georgetown student (and later on in life). You will have many competing demands on your time while you are here. There will be pressure to pack your schedule, to pick up another major or minor, to get into a club, to set up a summer internship, to keep up with the resume of the future prime minister who lives down the hall. Those pressures are real and it’s important to acknowledge them. But be sure to remember that, while you are finding your way and setting yourself up for what is very likely a bright future, it’s important to get
to know yourself. Yes, you should think about professional preparation, but the best way to do that would be to find your passion. You will spend the bulk of your life in the profession that you choose. Make sure that path is one that excites you, that can give you meaning and a lasting sense of fulfillment and that can make the world a better place. One of the few downsides of being a dean is that I don’t get to teach this year. Teaching is energizing and inspiring for me, so if you’ll indulge me, I’ll share some lessons that I would have shared in the classroom this year. Lately, I’ve been teaching a seminar on Albert Camus, the Nobel Prize-winning author and public intellectual who, from the 1940s through (and even after) his untimely death in 1960, was about as famous as a writer can be. Among his best-known works is “La Peste” (1947) — in English, “The Plague.”
As you can guess from the title, it’s a story of a pandemic, not unlike the one that we all recently lived through. But it’s also a few other things: an allegory for the rise and fall of Nazism in Europe; a critique of orthodoxy and conformity; a primer on collective and personal responsibility; a warning about the dangers of extremism. It’s a very complex novel, but one of the things I’ve noticed after numerous readings is that it’s basically the story of a doctor and his close friends who, against the odds, are determined to help their fellow citizens survive a catastrophe. They persevere, keep trying to do the right thing and find meaning through deep relationships and hard work. Camus teaches us that, even in the most difficult of situations, one can — and indeed must — find meaning.
So as you settle into your routine on the Hilltop, I’d advise a few things: Go to office hours and get to know your professors (they are amazing); explore new subjects and disciplines; find connections among the various classes you’re taking; get guidance from your advising deans (they, too, are amazing); become a better reader, writer and researcher. The four years you have here will expand your worldview, help you become an informed and responsible citizen and set you on a path to becoming a lifelong learner.
Andrew Sobanet is interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and a professor of French and Francophone studies.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Rohini Kudva
HOYA HISTORY
April 28, 1992
Dean of Student Affairs John J. DeGioia and university President Leo J. O’Donovan, SJ, announced Friday that they would terminate access to student club benefits for the controversial abortion discussion group GU Choice at the end of the current academic year. The decision removes GU Choice from the roster of clubs under the Student Activities Commission (SAC), Georgetown ’s benefit distribution body, and severs any official affiliation between the university and the club. The club’s benefits for the 1991-92 academic year totalled $135. In accordance with the university policy on free speech and expression, the club can still engage in activities on campus such as applying for classrooms in which to hold meetings, bringing speakers, setting up tables on
campus and distributing pamphlets or other in-formation. DeGioia and O’Donovan explained their decision to revoke university benefits for the 14-month-old group in a news briefing attended by eight reporters, university Spokesperson Gary Krull and two university vice presidents Friday morning in Riggs Library.
The administration’s decision was also explained in two separate letters from DeGioia and O’Donovan, which were both made available to the public. Most students received DeGioia’s letter in the mail Friday.
DeGioia notified leaders of GUChoice — both outgoing co-chairs Julie McKenna (CAS ’92) and Kelli McTaggart (CAS ’92) and newly elected co-chairs Vanessa Chipman (NUR ’95) and Julie MacLaren (CAS ’95) — of the decision in a
Dean Andrew Sobanet “Embrace Living on the Hilltop” thehoya.com IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE “
But be sure to remember that, while you are finding your way and setting yourself up for what is very likely a bright future, it’s important to get to know yourself.”
GU Choice, the predecessor of H*yas for Choice, was initially granted formal recognition from the university on the condition that the group stuck to discussion and not action. This agreement fell apart in 1992 when the university took issue with the club’s activism efforts, resulting in the modern, unrecognized H*yas for Choice. In his article, Saahil Rao (SFS ’27) argues against this unrecognized status, citing its ineffectiveness and con-
flict with the university’s Free Speech Policy. The Hoya conducted a poll in order to gauge students’ views on if organizations not fully recognized by the university, such as H*yas for Choice, should be permitted to reserve rooms to the same degree as other clubs. Of the 50 respondents, 82% said they should be permitted to reserve rooms to the same extent, while 18% said they shouldn’t.
Founded January 14, 1920
Evie Steele, Editor in Chief
Jasmine Criqui and Lori Jang, Executive Editors
Caroline Brown, Managing Editor
Maren Fagan, News Editor
Aamir Jamil, News Editor
Paulina Inglima, Features Editor
Erin Saunders, Features Editor
Peter Sloniewsky, Opinion Editor
Elizabethe Bogrette, Guide Editor
Amber Cherry, Guide Editor
Sophia Lu, Sports Editor
Allen Tovmasyan, Sports Editor
Sahana Arumani, Science Editor
Camille Vandeveer, Science Editor
Rohini Kudva, Design Editor
Heather Wang, Design Editor
Patrick Clapsaddle, Copy Chief
Madeline Grabow, Copy Chief
Emily Blackstone, Social Media Editor
Toni Marz, Social Media Editor
Alan Chen, Blog Editor
Nikhil Nelson, Blog Editor
Alexis Lien, Multimedia Editor
Hayley Young, Multimedia Editor
Meghan Hall, Photo Editor
Board of Directors
Mary Clare Marshall, Chair
Andre Albrecht, Emily Han, Cate Meyer, Oliver Ni,
Shiva Ranganathan, William Yu
Max Kurjakovic, General Manager
Riley Vakkas, Director of Business Operations
Sophia Williams, Technology Director
meeting at 8:30 a.m. Friday. At the meeting, DeGioia showed the cochairs his letter.
According to DeGioia’s letter, the decision to revoke benefits was based on three violations of the club’s original agreement with the university. The agreement is officially stated in another letter to the Georgetown community from DeGioia dated February 22, 1991, the day GU Choice was officially approved for access to university benefits.
The agreement stated that “there can be no cooperation of the club in the advocacy and practice of abortion.”
DeGioia said the three violations which he alleged in Friday’s letter related to the group’s inability to make a distinction between discussion about abortion and advocacy of abortion. Amy Lundy
LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND VIEWPOINT POLICIES
The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words. Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-700 words.
Face the Uncomfortable
Weeks into the fall classes, I find myself replaying a moment from last semester.
Last spring, I worked as an intern for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).
I answered the phone — often to speak with angry constituents — and while it was not my favorite activity, to say the least, I got used to it.
However, in early February, about a month into my position, I received a call that rattled me more than most: “Beep! Hi, this is Uzi Garcia,” the caller on the other end of the line shouted into the receiver, causing me to immediately slam the phone down.
I slammed the phone back down because I knew what would happen next: “I love video games, telling jokes, making my friends laugh and jumping on the trampoline with my family. I’m a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Or, at least, I was when a man with an AR-15 came into my school and killed 18 of my classmates, two teachers and me.”
Earlier that week, I had read that same transcript in the news, but reading it and hearing it are two very different things.
Hanging up the phone was the wrong decision. As a student and as someone who wants to make change in the world, I, like the rest of the Georgetown University community, have a responsibility to face the uncomfortable.
The phone call was from an organization called The Shotline, which uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to recreate the voices of victims of mass shootings, particularly children.
Calls made to legislators then play the recordings, which urge them to support gun control.
The process is simple. Users can visit the website and type in their ZIP code. They will then be prompted to select their representative and/or senators and, at the click of a button, send that message to an unwitting front desk assistant or intern.
As an ardent supporter of gun control, when I first read about The Shotline, I was impressed by the example it set as a good-use case of AI, but when I was the one on the other end of the call, I hung up.
The call sounded eerily realistic; so realistic that I initially thought it was one of thousands of school-age children calling Senate offices in opposition to banning TikTok.
But no, this was a plea from a boy who will never see his 11th birthday begging for legislation that could have prevented his murder. And it was heart-wrenching to imagine — even more so to hear.
I justified hanging up on the grounds that I support gun reform.
My employer, Senator Gillibrand, supports gun reform. It would be a waste of time to listen to a phone call that would not change my office’s policy and likely ruin my shift. However, this is the wrong attitude. These phone calls are not meant to be pleasant or comfortable to hear. In fact, they are designed for the opposite effect. They are meant to disturb a country that has grown far too complacent in stasis.
Supporters of gun control do not
hear these calls and rejoice at the fight being made for change. The discomfort these voices create knows no political party, and we should be just as unsettled as we hope our peers across the aisle are when hearing these calls.
Like me, a majority of Americans support gun reform, but you would not be able to see that from current progress — or lack thereof — on federal gun control laws.
Alongside The Shotline’s count of 43,036 gun violence deaths in 2023, there is a zero. Zero, for the number of common sense gun laws passed in 2023.
This lack of action is staggering, and the foot-dragging is only getting worse.
I am months removed from my time working in the Senate, but my ethical quandary with hanging up on the voice of Uzi Garcia haunts me today. Unfortunately, it is not on my mind coincidentally.
Just a few weeks before, the new school year had recently started at Apalachee High School, just an hour outside of Atlanta, Ga., when a 14-year-old opened fire, killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others.
Summer has come to signify not only the long-awaited 104 days of vacation but also freedom from a tragedy that we have become all too comfortable with ignoring: school shootings.
Comfortable might seem like the wrong word, and it feels wrong to describe it as such, but by refusing to accept — and act — on the uncomfortable reality of mass shootings, comfortable is a depressing truth.
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican vice presidential nominee, embodied this comfort at a campaign rallyinPhoenixfollowingtheshooting.
“I don’t like this. I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life.”
A fact of life. I struggle to articulate how profoundly wrong this characterization of mass shootings is. But “a fact of life” is how we treat mass shootings, both in the United States at large and here at Georgetown. In the week since the Apalachee shooting, neither the university administration nor the Georgetown University College Democrats nor the Georgetown University College Republicans have released a statement condemning the violence. On a campus where everyone seems to have something to say, the silence is deafening.
Georgetown students are as busy as we are intensely politically active. A school shooting is the last thing we want to think about, but we owe it to the victims to hear their stories and ensure our leaders and politicians know mass shootings are not a fact of life.
Whether we are interning on Capitol Hill or happen to see a victim’s testimony on the news, we have an obligation to open our eyes, ears and hearts to listen.
So don’t do what I did. Don’t hang up.
Madison Fox-Moore is a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.
While packing for my first year at Georgetown University a few short weeks ago — a carefully curated process of tearing my bedroom apart to see just how much I could fit into two suitcases and a backpack — I stumbled upon a relic buried deep in my nightstand: my best friend’s copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” I don’t know how it got there, but I know why it was there.
“The Great Gatsby” has been my favorite book since I first read it at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and is, as weird as it may sound, somewhat of a personal scripture to me. Every scene is a parable, and every line of dialogue is like a proverb that frames the way I see the world, my hopes and my dreams. Knowing what the book meant to me, my best friend gifted me his personally annotated copy for my 17th birthday. Two years later, 24 hours before going away to college, I rediscovered this lost treasure. Leafing through the pages, I found a new meaning that excited, unsettled and scared me all at once: Georgetown’s promise is my green light at the end of the dock — “the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.”
Gatsby’s green light is one of the most recognizable symbols of the “American Dream” in all of literature.
On a good day, it can represent our hope in that dream — the genuine belief that whatever we want can one day be within our grasp, as long as
INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR ILLS
Vats of ink have been spilled in contemplation of Georgetown University’s extended divorce with H*yas for Choice. It is an issue that, while frequently covered, still deserves our attention.
In fact, it still urgently deserves our attention, something underscored by H*yas for Choice’s current predicament, as it once again faces unwarranted institutional hurdles in organizing an informational event on the status of abortion rights in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
While Georgetown is a Catholic institution, it is also a university — a title it must continue to live up to and cannot take for granted. In other words, as an academic institution, Georgetown must stay committed to its values of academic freedom and open discourse.
While full recognition of H*yas for Choice appears untenable due to Georgetown’s Jesuit identity, the organization should at least have the right to reserve all university spaces for its meetings and events alike. The current prohibition on doing so is not only out of step with the university’s proclaimed values but also nothing more than an aimless inconvenience. Georgetown’s policy on speech and expression begins with a preamble, written in 1989 by Rev. James Walsh, S.J. — who was, at the time, a professor of theology. Important to understand is the preamble’s opening line: Georgetown’s speech policy is firmly grounded in “a certain understanding of what a university is.”
This certain understanding depicts a place defined by the “untrammeled expression of ideas and information,” where “discourse is open and candid.”
Toward its end, the preamble even offers a stark and clear warning: “To forbid or limit discourse contradicts everything the university stands for.”
It’s an unambiguous, powerful idea. I believe it is this idea that led the then-Dean of Student Affairs
John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) to take the brave, controversial step to initially recognize GU Choice — the predecessor to today’s H*yas for Choice — in March 1991. Stemming from the recognition of “the need for open academic debate at the university,” the club was granted access to benefits under the agreement that it would advocate “only discussion, not action.”
The decision was thoroughly condemned.
Cardinal James A. Hickey, the most senior Catholic official in the Archdiocese of Washington from 1980 to 2000, wrote that the group’s recognition was “inconsistent with the aims of an institution of higher learning that has a Catholic identity.”
In Fall 1991, 1,500 Georgetown students and alumni even attempted to strip the university of its Catholic status, requesting that the Holy See do so in a petition.
This sustained pressure, combined with the narrowness of the no-advocacy-only-discussion agreement, led to the collapse of DeGioia and GU Choice’s arrangement in April 1992. Citing the group’s postcarding for a pro-abortion bill and informal organizing for an abortion rights march, the university revoked the group’s recognition, leaving them without school funding and the ability to reserve nonclassroom spaces. GU Choice has existed as H*yas for Choice since, bringing us to the current status quo.
In the present day, H*yas for Choice is wholly unaffiliated from the university, and thus prevented from using the trademarked term “Hoya.” No longer able to receive school funding, the group relies
on private donations to finance its operations. It is also unable to access the Georgetown Event Management Services (GEMS) room request portal — mainly used to reserve the campus’ most coveted locations, such as Gaston Hall, Copley Formal Lounge and the Intercultural Center Auditorium for events — on the GEMS website. Despite this, H*yas for Choice last spring hosted a highly-covered abortion rights panel in Lohrfink Auditorium, one of the university’s flagship spaces for large group events. In order to secure such a prominent venue, the group had to make use of a strategic workaround. For workshops and larger events, H*yas for Choice is forced to co-sponsor with other groups. In this case, it partnered with Georgetown University College Democrats (GUCD), an officially recognized club, in order to gain access to the section of GEMS needed to reserve non-classroom spaces.
This all renders the current policy regime silly and pointless. The organization is able to put on large events due to the thinly veiled workaround of event co-sponsorship. Thus, the current rule only serves to create an unnecessary, timeconsuming hurdle. While originally intended to be substantive, it now only has the effect of being trivial.
If Georgetown truly opposed the existence of all clubs engaging in proabortion activism, then GUCD — which regularly holds phone banks for candidates that support expanding abortion access — would lose its recognition immediately. Additionally, the rule does not meaningfully limit the group’s activism in any way, as it regularly holds general body meetings and workshops on campus.
It is nothing but a bureaucratic hurdle (one that the group consistently
overcomes), forcing its leadership to waste time and energy finding spaces as well as cosponsors.
Finally, and most importantly, prohibiting H*yas for Choice from reserving rooms runs starkly against Georgetown’s “certain understanding of what a university is.” If our university is truly a university — one that believes in the “untrammeled expression of ideas and information” — it has no need to create meaningless, ineffective and timewasting obstacles for a group engaging in that exact kind of dialogue it claims to desire. H*yas for Choice is currently struggling to finalize a date and time for a nonpartisan, informational event that it will invariably have anyway on reproductive rights in the 2024 election, precisely because of its prohibition on reserving rooms.
Right now, the university administration has the opportunity to extend an olive branch and close a chapter that was opened 32 years ago when the administration withdrew recognition of GU Choice. Times have changed. From my understanding, the club does not need university funding. It does not desire its endorsement. It would, though, greatly benefit from the right to reserve rooms.
By just granting H*yas for Choice a GEMS login, Georgetown can show that a Catholic university can engage with challenging ideas without compromising its values. It can begin living up to the words Rev. Walsh wrote in 1989 when he warned not “to forbid or limit discourse.” The administration currently has the chance to end a pointless policy and finally embody its own understanding of what it means to be a university. We should all hope they take it. Saahil Rao is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service.
we’re willing to get our hands dirty. On a bad day, the green light seems to only taunt us, holding that same dream just out of our reach. On the worst of days, it can be the topic of your five-page, double-spaced high school English essay. At Georgetown, our green light is found at the intersection of these perspectives — always visible, but not in the way we might’ve been taught to see it. For as long as I can remember, thanks to the unyielding input from my friends and family, my bucket list contained a single item: get into a college that was “good enough.” Georgetown certainly checked that box. I thought college would be the realization of this “American Dream” — a promise of material success and a message to the world that I made it. Even now that I’m here at Georgetown, this myth still exists in my head partly because, as my tour guide told me when I asked why she chose to go here during my senior year rush of college tours, “it’s Georgetown.” The problem lies in that exact outlook, one which almost every Georgetown student shares: We see the low acceptance rate, accomplished graduates and grandeur of Healy Hall and think we’ve made it. But even though Georgetown has been my dream — my “American Dream” — in reality, it’s never been some enchanted object that possesses the ability to suddenly elevate my status in
the world. This isn’t my fairy-tale ending. So, what now?
My copy of “The Great Gatsby,” now sitting on the bookshelf of my dorm, reminds me to challenge how I view my college experience. While the “American Dream” is, in the end, nothing more than a myth, I can hold onto the hope that drives me toward a different dream. Even if I can no longer believe in the material success promised by college, I can cling to and realize this hope in other ways.
On the last page of my gifted paperback, my best friend answers this search by writing in the margins: “capacity for wonder = hope.” Our capacity for wonder keeps us going and keeps us dreaming; we are driven not by our desires themselves but by the feeling of desire. No matter how many times we fail, we wonder if maybe, just maybe, we’ll get it next time. Eventually, we’ll find something we’re looking for — even if we don’t yet know we’re looking for it.
So, I don’t know if things will work out, but I hope anyway. I don’t know if studying will improve my chances of a better grade, but I study anyway. I don’t know if loving this girl will only end in tears, but, like Gatsby, I’ll love her anyway — maybe I can have my own fairy-tale ending after all.
Dylan Goral is a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the first installment of his column “The Fairy Tales We Tell.”
This summer, I began boxing.
Being a non-confrontational person, I was originally hesitant about trying out a combat sport. I had always been more comfortable in situations where the objective was to work with others; thus, the thought of stepping into a ring where the goal was to lash out at another felt at odds with who I perceived myself to be.
I didn’t always have the best relationship with my body. Every time I looked in the mirror, I always let out a sigh of, “today’s the day.” Every day was supposed to be the day I began the process of rediscovering myself, but hesitation always found a way to creep in. Stuck in a cycle of wanting change but fearing the discomfort real growth demands, I took a step into the unknown, into the ring, where I found embracing the unfamiliar was the key to unlocking a version of myself I never knew existed.
Admittedly, my first session in the ring was a rude awakening. My form was untrained and awkward, my elbow swinging clumsily as I weakly performed a jab and my feet dragging across the floor lifelessly. But there was a liberating feeling to it all — following my opponent’s movements as if we both were engaging in a partnered, rhythmic dance, my physical exhaustion transforming into an adrenaline-jacked high — that allowed me to punch away the self-doubt and fear that had held me back for so long. Slowly but surely, I was beginning to
embrace my discomfort and chipping away at who I thought I was.
After that session, I didn’t recognize myself. I was intense, focusing on myselfandmybody.Iprotectedmyface — a thorough, concentrated defense is just as crucial as an impactful offense.
I was aggressive, throwing hooks and jabs far and wide with every ounce of energy I could muster. I was relentless, not willing to stop throwing jab-cross combos when my opponent dropped their hands. I was tired, sweat drops dripping onto the boxing ring floor. I was hurt. I was confident. I was excited. Seeing my body move fluidly in the ring, unrestrained by my perceived inflexible awkwardness, I felt liberated from the self-judgment that had always held me back.
An underappreciated aspect of the process of self-discovery is the overcoming of self-imposed hurdles — whether it’s the fear of failure or the avoidance of discomfort.
For a long time, I tried to push past these barriers by making small, safe changes — like joining sports teams or tweaking my daily routine — but each attempt left me no closer to the person I wanted to become.
But maybe I didn’t have to scale my barriers; maybe I could punch through them. At that moment, I saw a version of myself through a hole on the other side of my imaginary wall: a version of me that was unafraid, strong and unapologetically determined. I saw someone who was resilient, who could
take hits and keep going, who found freedom for himself not in staying in his comfort zone but in leaving it with conviction. The wall between who I was and who I wanted to be wasn’t as strong and sturdy as I had once thought. At the beginning of the school year, I found a boxing gym a short bike ride away from campus, excited to continue pursuing my newfound passion for the sport. Looking at myself in the mirror as I wrapped my hands with boxing wraps — three times around the wrist, three times across the knuckles, around the gaps between the fingers, the thumb and back — I now see someone who is slowly and surely getting into the shape he wants to be, someone who is confident in his capabilities and someone who is still learning to embrace his inner strength. Self-discovery often begins with a single step into the unknown, so I encourage you to embrace discomfort and let it shatter who you thought you were. You might find, as I did, that on the other side of the wall lies a version of yourself that is more resilient, more capable and more alive than you ever thought possible. So go ahead — take that leap, punch through your walls and see what you can achieve.
Nhan Phan is a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the first installment of his column “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost.”
CATHERINE ALAIMO/THE HOYA
THE FAIRY TALES WE TELL
FEATURES
Won’t You Be Our Neighbor?
Neighbors’ long-running debate over Call Your Mother’s adherence to zoning laws reached a head this summer.
Paulina Inglima Senior Features Editor
Students at Georgetown University are no strangers to the ways politicians play dirty. Whether it’s student government election controversy, city council bribery arrests or the latest news from Congress, one can be sure to hear Georgetown students touting their opinions on the latest scandal. However, this summer, while students were tucked away at home or at internships, separated from the Georgetown bubble, a battle on the homefront was bubbling over. At its center? Bagels. Call Your Mother Deli, a local bagel shop with 13 locations across the Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, has served the Georgetown neighborhood at 35th and O Streets NW since 2020. On weekend mornings and early afternoons, neighborhood residents and students flock to its signature pink building and lines spill down the street.
Kishen Anand (SFS ’27) said Call Your Mother is a classic student spot, often providing breakfast for lawn picnics and community building.
“I definitely feel like it’s like a staple in the Georgetown community,” Anand told The Hoya. “It’s just so quintessential to the Georgetown experience.”
However, since its opening, some neighbors have cited zoning violations, saying the store functioning as a prepared food store causes a disturbance to the neighborhood. Historically, the wooden rowhouse Call Your Mother now occupies has been used as and classified under zoning law as a corner store. Under D.C. zoning laws, a corner store in the Georgetown neighborhood cannot operate within 750 feet of a mixed-use or commercial zone. However, Call Your Mother sits around 600 feet from the 1200 block of 36th St. NW, which contains Wisemiller’s Deli, The Tombs and 1789 Restaurant & Bar and which D.C. classifies as one such mixed-use zone. This proximity means the city required Call Your Mother to acquire a corner store variance, a formal exception to this zoning law which allows them to operate. Call Your Mother’s status as a corner store comes with a host of limitations: Corner stores cannot cook food. What exactly qualifies as cooking is disputed: Call Your Mother initially argued that they only reheat their sandwiches, rather than preparing them in-house.
In light of this, Call Your Mother is seeking a special exception for the sale of prepared foods, a request to deviate from the zoning laws under specific criteria, which the Board of Zoning Appropriations (BZA), the body responsible for any zoning appeals, must approve. The BZA typically solicits the input of the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, ANC 2E, the lowest-level government body representing residents of the Georgetown, Burleith and Hillandale neighborhoods. Both special exceptions and area variances have a requirement that the business’s activities are not likely to become “objectionable,” which would involve creating a disturbance to the neighbors. But some of Call Your Mother’s neighbors have argued that such a situation is playing out.
Georgetown resident Melinda Roth, who led the initial lawsuit against Call Your Mother, testified
at a June 12 meeting of the BZA that Call Your Mother’s success has caused them to grow in an unsustainable way due to its lack of seating and relatively small space, making it a better fit for a different location.
“We want them to continue to be successful, but as you’ll hear, we want them to be successful in the right place,” Roth said at the meeting. “And not on a block in a residential area that is ill-equipped to handle the consequences of their great success.”
Joe Massaua (SFS ’25), an elected student commissioner for ANC 2E, said that the issue is a question of the neighborhood’s identity and what its future will look like.
“I guess it’s a question of how integrated is a bagel shop into a neighborhood, you know, and how welcoming is a neighborhood to that and how welcoming is the store to that?” Massaua told The Hoya. “I think it’s a bigger question than just pure zoning.”
“It’s more than just a bagel.”
LOWELL (SFS ’25) GEORGETOWN STUDENT
Neighborhood Objections
Controversies over Call Your Mother’s zoning have existed since before it opened its doors in Georgetown.
In 2020, a group of neighbors sued the BZA in the U.S. Court of Appeals after the store announced its intention to open the Georgetown location, citing the zoning problems. The U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the case and referred it to the BZA, who then sent it to the ANC to make a recommendation based on neighborhood input.
Although the BZA recommended that Call Your Mother open while seeking zoning relief, Call Your Mother owner Andrew Dana said that the neighbors opposed to its opening have not given the business a chance.
“The people that are opposing us, they appealed the case before we even opened, right?” Dana told The Hoya “So they basically made up their mind that they did not want us there.”
However, ANC 2E vice chair Topher Mathews said that the problems that opposing neighbors foresaw did end up coming to fruition.
“A lot of these neighbors that are objecting would say that this was completely foreseeable,” Mathews told The Hoya. “They had absolutely said all along, this is exactly what was gonna happen. And I think they’re probably correct, you know, this store was going to be immensely popular.”
The ANC is a purely advisory committee, and its monthly votes cannot directly determine governing decisions. However, the BZA considers their recommendations with “great weight” and sees the ANC as reflecting the opinions of its constituents.
After the BZA met in June in an 11hour Zoom meeting to consider Call
Your Mother’s case for a special exception, hearing from a variety of perspectives on the issue, they decided to bump the case to ANC 2E to garner further neighborhood input.
The main issues neighbors point to are Call Your Mother customers’ trash disposal and its lack of outdoor seating, which means customers often sit on curbs or front stoops of residences to eat their bagels. Other issues mentioned include delivery timing, illegal parking and noise.
Neal Emad, who owns the house directly next to Call Your Mother, said the houses on the block serve as de facto seating for customers.
“What’s happening is they’re sitting all over other stoops all over the place, and I could show you tons of pictures,” Emad said at the June ANC meeting. “Our streets are becoming an eatery for them.”
Emad said neighbors have complained that customers often leave trash on the streets or dispose of it in private trash cans.
“There’s trash all over the place and it’s causing problems,” Emad said.
Mathews said he sympathizes with residents’ concerns over customers crowding neighborhood streets.
“The key thing that is causing them a problem is that it’s pretty clear, in my opinion, that the way they operate is creating an objectionable condition for some neighbors,” Mathews said. “Just to have so many people out on the sidewalk every Saturday and Sunday in a fully residential neighborhood, I think that’s fair to consider that to be objectionable.”
Reilly Lowell (SFS ’25), a longtime Georgetown resident and current student who lives across the street from Call Your Mother, said although she has not experienced this problem on her porch, she is aware that it has been an issue historically.
“I can imagine that those are problems when they do occur,” Lowell told The Hoya. “I have not seen many people sitting on the stoops in my years living here, or at least in the past two years. I know it was a problem in the past.”
However, Lowell said that at the end of the day, she feels the shop’s contribution to the neighborhood is greater than the problems it causes.
“They are just so sweet and so fun to talk to, great community and very welcoming,” Lowell said. “It’s more than just a bagel. Quote me on that.”
During the BZA meeting, neighbors on opposing sides traded photos of each other’s trash to prove or disprove Call Your Mother’s contribution to neighborhood trash violations.
In advance of their June BZA meeting, Call Your Mother stepped up measures aimed at stemming the neighbors’ concerns — hiring a “neighborhood ambassador” who manages lines, picks up trash and ensures customers do not use front stoops for seating. Call Your Mother also pays for public trash pickup on the block. The question now is if they have done enough to satisfy the BZA’s standards for potential objectionable behavior.
Valli Pendyala (SFS ’27) said that these measures have been effective for quelling the seating problem.
“I’ve gone when it’s literally packed and the line’s out the door, and I’ve never seen people sitting on stoops, because the staff discourages that very heavily, like they have signs ev-
erywhere.” Pendyala said. “If they see people, they make sure to tell them that they can’t sit there. So I feel like that issue is not really well founded.”
Dana said that he is always open to further conversation with neighbors about their concerns, and has reached out to the neighborhood through flyers and email lists.
“All we’ve ever asked is that the neighbors who oppose us come in and sort of sit at the table with us, and let’s chat about it and find solutions,” Dana said. “And they’ve never agreed to sit down and hash it out.”
On Sept. 3, ANC 2E voted in support of BZA approving the cornerstore variance, but were undecided on the special exception; the ANC will support the BZA in approving the exception if conditions require Call Your Mother to further address concerns of adverse impact on residents. The BZA will meet on Sept. 24 to make the ultimate decision.
Expansion
One of the biggest complaints throughout the neighborhood is the lack of available seating in front of Call Your Mother, resulting in a push for Call Your Mother to expand. In order to be permitted to have tables in front of a restaurant, the District Department of Transportation must approve the application, an often lengthy and difficult process.
The neighborhood has absorbed the overflow from this in many ways, whether through customers sitting on front stoops or using the seating at Coffee Republic, a coffee shop sitting across 35th Street from Call Your Mother.
Coffee Republic owner Sean Flynn said that Call Your Mother’s functioning as a corner store has a real impact on his business, as customers regularly take over Coffee Republic seating.
“We’ve always kind of had an issue with that burden and a lot of our customers will come in and, you know, Call Your Mother customers are sitting at tables eating, and it takes their place of being able to sit and have a coffee and chat,” Flynn told The Hoya Flynn also claims that Call Your Mother’s lack of bathroom facilities has caused customers to use his restrooms, more than doubling his expected costs of necessary bathroom equipment.
“The problem is that the zoning was there for a reason, and the reason that
HOYA Call Your Mother’s years-long zoning battle may be coming to an end, with a Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) meeting, scheduled for the end of September, to decide its future.
that zoning was in place is because it can impact neighbors and other businesses,” Flynn said. Dana and Flynn both said that they considered an agreement under which Call Your Mother would rent some of Coffee Republic’s seating, but ultimately Flynn decided against it, citing financial and liability concerns.
Massaua said that more seating — either through outdoor tables or an expansion of the restaurant — is essential to solving many of the neighborhood’s problems.
“Ideally I would like to see Call Your Mother invest in outdoor seating,” Massaua said. “If they can’t get outdoor seating permitted, which they likely wouldn’t be able to, I would like to see them, do they own the space above them or the basement. There’s a way to augment the store so that it can handle the customer load.”
Currently, Call Your Mother rents its space on the first floor of the building, while the top floor is leased as an apartment. The building is currently listed for sale for $1.9 million.
Flynn said that for a period over the summer, he and Dana had preliminary discussions about Call Your Mother potentially moving to the Coffee Republic space, a conversation he said he was open to. However, those conversations have not gone further.
Dana told The Hoya that they currently do not have plans to either buy the Call Your Mother building or lease the Coffee Republic building.
“If the upstairs apartment ever becomes available in the building, we’ll think about if there’s something to be done there,” Dana said. “We’ll continue to think creatively in the neighborhood and see where we can slide some seats.”
Georgetown’s Future
The debate over Call Your Mother reflects broader concerns in the Georgetown neighborhood about growth versus residents’ privacy.
“Georgetown is a federal historic neighborhood, so with that comes a lot of visions about what the neighborhood should be, how the neighborhood has been, and there’s a rigorous commitment to history and aesthetic architecture,” Massaua said. Neighbors have also had disagreements over life-size Transformer sculptures on one front porch — statues which still stand on Prospect Street despite multiple denied permits.
Residents have also opposed sidewalk extensions, known as streateries, on Wisconsin Avenue and M Street. The Georgetown Business Improvement District, a coalition of business owners who collaborate on commercial and community improvement, have pointed to the success that these extensions have in increasing space for restaurants, while groups like the Georgetown Coalition for Public Spaces and Citizens Association of Georgetown, a non-profit organization that represents the interests of residents in the neighborhood, say they are poorly maintained, create trash that attracts rats and are generally an eyesore.
Mathews, who has frequently dealt with zoning concerns as a commissioner, said that the phenomenon of NIMBYism — short for “not in my backyard” — takes hold frequently in Georgetown as residents worry that any changes to the neighborhood’s historic character will result in property values decreasing.
“It does reflect the broader dynamics of NIMBYism that are present in Georgetown and questions of real estate and questions of home prices,” Mathews said.
Pendyala said that such the desire to keep Georgetown a quiet, residential neighborhood puts it at odds with the vibrant student and commercial culture.
“We have a lot of similar conflicts about student housing, parties, and there’s just a general tendency to view Georgetown, but they run as, like a quiet residential, mini suburb, by residents, which puts it in conflict with the school.”
Mathews said that neighbors must decide if their desire for neighborhood communal gathering spots is more of a priority than the peace and quiet of their streets.
“It’s kind of a balancing act,” Mathews said. “That’s the heart of NIMBYism, basically, is that you agree that something should be somewhere but you don’t want it in your exact backyard.”
Lowell said that despite being heavily residential, the hustle and bustle of Georgetown — including Call Your Mother — is a natural part of the neighborhood.
“At the end of the day, we’re living in a city, and Georgetown is a shopping center,” Lowell said.
“That’s just kind of what you sign up for when you live in a city and you’re in the neighborhood.”
MEGHAN HALL/THE
REILLY
MEGHAN HALL/THE HOYA
Neighbors have long criticized Georgetown bagel bakery Call Your Mother’s presence in the neighborhood because it lacks widespread seating, trash disposal and parking.
GU Medical Center Seminar Spotlights Immune
Adhithi Rajesh
Special to The Hoya
System, Cancer
A Sept. 17 Georgetown University Medical Center seminar highlighted research on a revolutionary approach to cancer treatment: utilizing the body’s natural immune system to combat tumor growth rather than directly targeting cancer cells.
Alejandro Villagra, an associate professor in the department of oncology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, shared his research in a talk hosted by the department of microbiology and immunology. The lecture focused on Villagra’s research on the manipulation of macrophages, a type of white blood cell active in the immune system, to combat the growth of cancerous tumors.
“Some people assume cancer research is about killing cancer directly,” Villagra told The Hoya “We are focusing on the mechanisms we already have in order to kill cancer. So, these treatments, rather than the normal conception of killing the tumor, helps galvanize the immune system to indirectly kill cancer.”
Macrophages are one of the
most abundant cell types in tumors, making their regulation vital to cancer research. These cells fall into two main categories: M1-like macrophages, which trigger inflammation, and M2like macrophages, which reduce inflammation. According to Villagra, the probability of a cancer patient’s survival correlates with the type of macrophages present in the tumor. A higher content of M2-like macrophages is associated with increased tumor growth. However, it’s important to note that not all activities performed by M2-like macrophages are disease-causing. “M2 macrophages are not bad just because they are ‘pro-tumor,’” Villagra said. “These macrophages are the ones that help with wounds and allergies, preventing strong reactions. As a side effect of their actions, they can promote tumors.”
For cancer therapies targeting M2-like macrophages to be effective, they must be able to diminish these tumor-causing activities. To achieve this, researchers alter the activity of specific enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDAC), which, among other functions, control
Treatment
M2-like gene expression.
Villagra and his lab found that altering HDACs 6 and 10, which are both involved in regulating inflammatory responses, significantly reduced the size of tumors in mice. In their experiment, 10 out of the 16 mice had their tumors completely eradicated by this treatment.
“Interestingly, you can see here that 10 mice out of 16 in this group, they completely went under remission, the tumors disappeared,” Villagra said.
The drug used in the study, AVS100, decreased tumor size by lowering the concentration of M2-like macrophages and prevented tumor regrowth by arresting the conversion of M1-like macrophages to M2like macrophages following treatment. This mode of cancer treatment, focusing on M2-like macrophages, has also shown great promise in improving the outcomes of radiation therapy.
“Anytime there is radiation, there is an injury,” Villagra said. “Whenever there is an injury, the macrophages go there with an inflammatory response and then try to heal the area. So, when tumors are eradicated, the macrophages become anti-inflammatory to
heal the area. This inadvertently helps the tumor relapse.”
HDAC6 inhibition combats this relapse by arresting the switch from M1-like to M2-like macrophages, preventing the natural wound healing process that inadvertently promotes tumor regrowth.
Megan Winakur (CAS ’28), a Georgetown University student interested in cancer research, was amazed by this research and new approach to cancer treatment.
“Cancer is such a widespread disease that affects so many
Seminar Spotlights Racism, Reproductive Health
Shivali Vora Deputy Science Editor
Christina Marea, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and a faculty fellow at the Center for Social Justice, advocated for reproductive equity and safe child-rearing environments in a seminar hosted by the Health and Public Interest master’s program Sept. 18.
The seminar, titled “Operationalizing Reproductive Justice in Health Services Research and Policy to Address Perinatal Health Disparities,” focused overall on addressing inequalities in reproductive health outcomes.
Marea noted reproductive justice can only be achieved through a multifaceted approach that includes broadening access to green spaces, clean air and water, adequate nutrition, health care providers and necessary medications.
“Reproductive justice involves the social and economic environments in which we live,” Marea said at the event. “It involves the ability to have care be delivered in a way that is respectful, engaging and welcoming — and not begrudging, biased and discriminatory.” When these essential needs are not equally accessible to all, health disparities emerge. For example, roughly 45% of people in the Anacostia neighborhood, located in Ward 8, have high blood pressure compared to about 20% of people in the Georgetown neighborhood in Ward 2. According to 2017 data from D.C. Health, Ward 2 was able to meet seven times the demand for primary care relative to Ward 8.
Marea emphasized the importance of examining racism’s role in perpetuating poor health outcomes. Furthermore, she outlined three levels of racism: institutional, interpersonal and
internalized. Marea explained that each of these levels act as a stressor, potentially leading to health-risking behaviors such as missing regular doctors’ appointments.
“Those behaviors don’t happen in a vacuum,” Marea said. “An individual doesn’t simply decide to engage in riskier behaviors or fewer protective-type behaviors. That’s deeply informed by the living conditions, the social environment, the family environment, the political environment in which they’re existing.”
Marea also said some institutional policies are particularly burdensome for groups with reduced access to resources. For example, policies to cancel appointments when patients are more than 15 minutes late disadvantage those who rely on public transport, do not receive paid sick leave or lack access to child care.
According to Marea, health disparities in the D.C. area were exacerbated bythe2017closureoftheobstetricward at United Medical Center, the only full-service hospital in Southeast D.C. She noted such closures disproportionately affect patients who are uninsured or have limited English proficiency.
“Is it meaningful access when we have hospital closures, facility closures — even in a city like Washington, D.C. where in theory we have five hospitals, but they’re not equally accessible?” Marea asked.
Even if one has access to care, the quality of this care is also influenced by systemic discrimination. Marea’s research revealed many new mothers do not return for postpartum care once the social pressure to seek prenatal care subsides after birth. This reluctance often stems from their past experiences of structural dismissal and suboptimal treatment within the health care system.
“The health care system is often
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Nursing professor Christina Marea discussed the role of structural racism on reproductive justice and perinatal health.
an unwelcoming and unsafe place,” Marea said. “A significant proportion of Black birthing people are mistreated during their delivery, admission and birth.”
Marea said a critical investigation of data must be undertaken to improve future care. The D.C. Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) — an organization of physicians, doulas, midwives, pediatricians and community members — analyzes maternal mortalities that occurred during or within a year of pregnancy, identifies contributing factors and makes recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.
A key aspect of the MMRC’s approach is life course analysis. This method involves examining factors beyond the immediate circumstances of death, including the patient’s comprehensive medical history, childhood experiences and access to housing support, among other social determinants of health.
“Housing justice is reproductive justice, and right now this is an
important area for advocacy within our city,” Marea said.
In addition to data analysis, outreach initiatives like Community of Hope, which Marea works for, can also advance health equity. The organization provides continuity of care, transportation, early childhood and postpartum home visits by providers, breastfeeding support and maternal and baby supplies. Their mission is to “ensure equity for all Washingtonians regardless of their neighborhood.”
Underpinning these efforts is the stark reality that, according to Marea, the maternal mortality rate among Black birthing individuals is three to four times higher than that of their white counterparts. She emphasized merely acknowledging the higher risk that marginalized groups face is not enough.
“The health care system, the social system, needs to do a better job of protecting,” Marea said. “We are systematically failing them in ways that are visible, that are preventable and that are not a secret, not a surprise.”
Magis Prize Awardee Will Study Smallpox Origins
Camille
Vandeveer Senior Science Editor
Georgetown University an-
nounced the three inaugural winners of the Magis Prize, which awards $100,000 in research funding and two semesters of leave to associate professors who demonstrate exceptional research potential, Sept. 5.
Awardee Timothy Newfield, an associate professor in the biology and history departments, will investigate the origins of smallpox by tracing its historical and epidemiological roots.
Smallpox, a deadly disease caused by the variola virus, killed millions of people globally throughout human history. Smallpox remained a severe public health threat until the World Health Organization (WHO) led a worldwide vaccination and contact tracing campaign that eradicated smallpox in human populations in 1980. However, according to Newfield, significant gaps remain in our understanding of smallpox, especially its origins. Newfield said the research he will do through the Magis Prize will help inform our current knowledge of emerging diseases.
“Smallpox is often assigned much historical agency but it is rarely studied in its own right,” Newfield wrote to The Hoya. “So there is a lot of work
to do. And thanks to discoveries in paleogenetics, it now seems that the pathogen that causes smallpox emerged in relatively recent time — not millennia ago but centuries, which makes it possible to study its early history to better our understanding of disease emergence now.”
Rachel Singer (COL ’21, GRD ’27), a doctoral candidate in the history department studying environmental history under Newfield’s mentorship, said the natural sciences are valuable tools for studying past disease outbreaks.
“Data produced by the sciences can speak to facets of the past that more traditional, textual sources do not and can serve as a really important independent check on those sources’ testimony even when they do overlap,” Singer told The Hoya.
Newfield will use modern DNA analysis techniques to study the viral DNA contained in the bodies of people who died of smallpox, allowing him to understand the virus’ evolution and historical impact on human populations from epidemiological and historical lenses.
“Part of the project will entail identifying physical remains of historical victims of the disease from which we hope to recover Variola DNA,” Newfield wrote. “From DNA extraction to library preparation to genome en-
richment, this is a multistep, highly specialized process that can — if successful — radically improve our grasp of the history of infectious diseases, smallpox included.”
A key component of the Magis Prize is the involvement of undergraduate students in the awardees’ research.
Newfield said that he plans to invite students interested in biology and history to work with him on the project.
“That is absolutely the plan — students bringing their own interests and passions to the project, working on facets that are either more history or more biology,” Newfield wrote. “Some students at Georgetown, of course, do both.” Singer, who studied history at Georgetown, performed independent research into the Black Death in North Africa under Newfield’s mentorship as an undergraduate. Singer said that her undergraduate research with Newfield was crucial to her formation as a scholar.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without my experience of undergraduate research at Georgetown,” Singer said. “I came to college never having written a paper longer than five pages and without a clear idea of what research was, much less how to do it. But with lots of help from excellent faculty mentors, I managed to figure it out.”
Chandan Vaidya, vice provost for
faculty, said students can reach out directly to winners of the Magis Prize to express their interest in contributing to the research.
“Interested students could express their interest in being involved in research, directly to the three winners of the Prize,” Vaidya told The Hoya.
According to Vaidya, the research produced by Magis Prize awardees may influence the direction of the future Georgetown curriculum.
“The winners will meet with Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship instructional design teams to consider how to incorporate the innovations created over the term of the prize into the Georgetown curriculum,” Vaidya said.
Newfield, who is also the director of undergraduate research and scholarship for the Medical Humanities Initiative, said interdisciplinary research is essential for future disease scholarship.
“No single discipline has all the tools to study disease now let alone disease in the past,” Newfield wrote.
“We very much need each other — to not only make sense of things but then also to make the most of our discoveries. Working on the fringes of multiple disciplines, working collaboratively, constantly learning — all of this historical epidemiology demands. It’s just a lot of fun.”
families around the world, and forming new and better ways to treat this disease will only help,” Winakur told The Hoya. “Specifically, the way this research targets the tumor indirectly will drastically improve quality of life for cancer patients, as chemotherapy and radiation treatments are much more harmful to the entire body.”
The traditional approach to curing cancer focuses on “killing cancer” by directly attacking tumors. However, according to
THE INTERSECTION
Villagra, research is evolving to instead utilize our natural body processes to combat the disease.
Villagra’s work demonstrates how scientists can harness the immune system to indirectly target cancer cells, opening up promising new avenues for immuno-oncology research.
“Some people assume cancer research is about killing cancer directly,” Villagra said. “There is no magic bullet to kill cancer, so let’s use the armament we already have: our immune system.”
The Human Cost of Big Pharma’s New Golden Age
Keerthana Ramanathan Science Columnist
Despite its government spending more than any other on health care both per capita and as a percentage of GDP, spending over $4.5 trillion in 2022, the United States has the lowest life expectancy at birth and the highest mortality rates for avoidable or treatable conditions of any high-income country. The heart of the issue lies in Big Pharma.
The term “Big Pharma” is used to describe the global pharmaceutical market. The name was coined as a reflection of the role drugs play in our daily lives, ranging from their societal value to their role in the global economy.
Today, Big Pharma companies not only manufacture drugs, but also control drug development and pricing, with over 600 drug price hikes in January 2024 alone. This business model leads to a staggering statistic: One in four Americans report difficulty in affording the medications required for their health and well-being.
The issue of inaccessible medication is especially prevalent when it comes to insulin.
Around 8.4 million in the United States with diabetes require insulin to survive, yet a quarter of them are not able to afford it. When insulin is unaffordable, the consequences can be life-threatening.
The rise of Big Pharma occurred alongside the emergence of the opioid epidemic. In 1900, Bayer, the same company that first launched aspirin, created a much stronger painkiller, naming it after the German word for heroic: heroin. The company advertised it as a miracle drug that could be used to treat everything from colds to stomach cancer and even claimed it was safe for children.
Bayer was not the only company maximizing profits. Pushing medical, legal and ethical boundaries, drug companies of the 1900s prioritized profit over the public, leaving behind a legacy that has since spiraled into a drug epidemic and resulted in pharmaceuticals becoming one of the most powerful industries in the United States.
Although the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which laid the foundation for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), attempted to regulate drugs, Big Pharma was simultaneously “coevolving with the new regulatory landscape.” Rather than aiming to protect consumers’ health and safety, some of the new institutional actions instead put power right back into companies’ hands.
The FDA’s 1997 guidelines allowed Purdue Pharma to directly market the opiate OxyContin
to consumers, hand out “coupons” to physicians and fund programs that promoted the drug. These strategies resulted in the overprescription of opiates, which led Americans to believe when one goes to the doctor, they can expect to walk out with a drug prescription. This belief drove forth a notion that health is transactional. Medical marketing expanded beyond the scope of painkillers in the 1950s, the golden age of Big Pharma. Modern-day pharmaceutical giant Pfizer launched the broad-spectrum antibiotic Terramycin in 1951 with a $7.5 million marketing investment, an exorbitant sum of money at the time. Pfizer’s aggressive marketing techniques opened the door for Big Pharma to push ethics out the window for increased profit and set an example for transgressive marketing that continues to this day. Egregious abuse of the patent system has also contributed to the nation’s drug pricing crisis. Big Pharma has found a way to exploit patent law for profit, extending existing patents to create a monopoly over certain drug products. Patent law was designed to promote innovation by granting creators of innovative technology a limited period of monopoly. However, Big Pharma has distorted this process, making minor changes in drug products’ packaging and flavoring to extend their patents and continue their monopolies.
A key example of this is Eylea, a drug Regeneron created to treat macular degeneration, which results in loss of central vision. Since the drug’s approval in 2011, Regeneron has been granted over 90 patents on Eylea, after making minute changes like packaging alteration while gradually increasing the price of the drug. The cost of a single dose of Eylea is now $2,625. With the number of patents and corresponding extensions to the monopoly period, no other alternative or generic treatments are available for people with macular degeneration. To combat Big Pharma, the U.S. government must take critical steps in the areas of drug marketing and patent system reform. The United States Patent and Trademark Office must be highly critical in granting patents to pharmaceutical companies, ensuring a balance between private and public interest. Furthermore, increasing funding to the National Institutes of Health, the largest source of groundbreaking therapeutics, and channeling new products to smaller pharmaceutical companies are key in the fight against Big Pharma monopolies. The pharmaceutical industry has transformed from a sector of scientific innovation to a profit-addicted monolith. It’s time we end the new golden age of Big Pharma.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Alejandro Villagra, an associate professor in the department of oncology, presented his research on harnessing the immune system to slow the growth of cancerous tumors.
Daniel Greilsheimer
City Desk Editor
Washington, D.C. Ward 2
Councilmember Brooke Pinto (LAW ’17) introduced legislation Sept. 16 that aims to bring transparency and accountability to the city’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC), which handles and records 911 calls and dispatches.
The bill, officially known as the Transparency in Emergency Response Act of 2024, would require the agency to release audio recordings and documents from calls with suspected dispatch errors, a category which includes calls that were not answered in an appropriate time, technology failures and a delayed response by emergency personnel. Pinto, who counts Georgetown University students among her constituents, said past mistakes by the OUC are a major concern for D.C. residents, herself included.
“The standard for our emergency response must be 100% accuracy,” Pinto said in a press release.
“The Transparency in Emergency Response bill and oversight interventions I will be focused on this fall target improved performance, transparency and public trust in our 911 operations to provide residents the emergency response they deserve.”
According to former WUSA and WTOP reporter Dave Statter, who now runs the District’s fire and emergency medical services (EMS) news site STATter911, at least 14 deaths have occurred in the District since 2019 in incidents in which 911 dispatchers made mistakes.
Jamil
Legislators and bank leaders speculated on the future of cryptocurrency and the impact of current events at the Financial Markets Quality Conference, held by the Psaros Center, Sept. 17. Representative Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) spoke about the regulation of cryptocurrency and current legislation to establish joint oversight over cryptocurrency. In the past, both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which prevents the manipulation of markets, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates raw materials that can be traded, have struggled over jurisdiction. Other speakers included Rostin Behnam, the chair of CFTC; Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase, a banking and investment conglomerate, and Nellie Liang, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Department of the Treasury.
McHenry said cryptocurrency regulation is needed because the SEC and CFTC are both claiming jurisdiction to regulate digital financial products.
“We have a breakpoint,” McHenry said at the event. “We have a problem here because we have the CFTC saying, ‘Well, we see digital commodities, it should be with us,’ and then you have the Securities Exchange Commission saying, ‘Well, what we see is securities.”
In one incident from April 2023, in which three people died after their car plunged into the Anacostia River off the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, 911 operators sent first responders to the wrong bridge.
More recently, on Aug. 2, a computer outage at D.C.’s 911 call center — the fifth since May — played a part in a 15-minute delay in 911 dispatching critical care to a fivemonth-old child suffering cardiac arrest, who later died.
Statter said the UOC and the mayor’s office have been unjustly withholding information related to these cases and others.
“It’s unfair to the public who they serve and particularly unfair to the families of those who lost someone when there was a 911 mistake,”
Statter told The Hoya. “I know a lot of those people who have lost someone in that situation, and most of them have never gotten the truth.”
This bill represents the third piece of D.C. council legislation since 2023 written in an attempt to bring transparency and accountability to the city’s 911 system. The first two passed and became law with varied degrees of success.
The proposed legislation would force D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency to publicly release a report within 45 days of a possible emergency response error. The bill would also require the city to release associated transcripts, documents and 911 call recordings.
Despite the push for transparency and accountability, Statter remains worried that Pinto’s legislation is misguided.
“I think frankly that is part of being at the Securities Exchange Commission, is you see everything within your world and your desire to regulate it, even if you don’t have the capacity to regulate,” McHenry added. Lummis also pushed for greater clarity in cryptocurrency regulation to help foster the industry, saying current SEC regulation is harming the industry’s potential.
“The SEC is suing a lot of digital asset companies, using enforcement actions of rules and regulations that are not clearly defined or explained to the industry and it’s running up legal fees for that industry when they could easily just go over to Europe and set up shop,” Lummis said at the event. “The United States puts itself at a strategic disadvantage with regard to financial services related to digital assets.”
“If we don’t put a clear regulatory framework in statute, by deferring to the SEC on this, we have really stubbed our toes,” Lummis added. “The SEC’s approach is just truly unclear and the industry is perplexed about how to navigate a very unclear regulatory framework.”
Dimon, who spoke during the second half of the conference, said current events, including the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war and the fragile relationship between the United States and China, have major effects that can affect the financial world.
“This may affect the free and democratic world for the next 100 years, and I think that’s the most important
“My concern about the way the bill is written currently is that it just allows the status quo to continue,” Statter said. “I would say, from my experience and I can even prove it in some ways, that 95% of the time, within hours, the director of OUC knows what went wrong, knows what the mistakes were, but they’ve always waited to tell us.”
“This idea of giving them 45 days to tell them what they know within hours is ridiculous,” Statter added.
D.C.’s 911 call centers are also severely understaffed: according to OUC data, 58 out of 66 shifts in July did not meet target staffing numbers.
Joe Massaua (SFS ’25), a commissioner on the Advisory Neighborhood Committee 2E (ANC), a local government body that represents the Georgetown, Burleith and Hilldale communities, said the bill is a first step in repairing D.C.’s emergency response and crime infrastructure.
“As a D.C. resident, yes, I am 100% in support of this, and it should have been done sooner,” Massuau told The Hoya. “There are systemic issues beyond just this 911 call center that have impacted daily lives for District residents for a while now, so I’m glad that Brooke is taking the mantle of doing that.”
Statter said he remains optimistic that Pinto’s bill can help alleviate some of D.C. 911’s issues.
“The biggest thing is I just want more transparency and accountability because if you don’t know what’s really going on surrounding mistakes and errors and the everyday data, you can’t fix the problems,” Statter said.
thing,” Dimon said at the event. “If it really goes south, obviously it’ll affect markets like you’ve never seen.”
“It is a major risk that we should be prepared for. Hope it doesn’t happen, but you got to think through, what if it does?” Dimon added
Discussing which countries will lead the economy in the future, Dimon said the United States remains the strongest because of its free market and democratic strength.
“China has some good things going for it, but it’s a very difficult part of the world, there’s not enough food, water and energy,” Dimon said. “I think their lack of freedom will hurt their innovation, their growth. They’ll obviously be one of the big successful nations and we should obviously try to have a great relationship with them. But the most successful? America.”
“If you open our borders to everybody in the world, billions of people will come here. The beacon of light that this country was for my Greek immigrant grandparents, it’s still that beacon of light,” Dimon added.
When asked about advice he would give students as they look to the future, Dimon said lifelong learning is crucial.
“Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn,” Dimon said. “If you’re a Democrat, read the Republican opinion — you know the good ones, there are a lot of very smart ones there — if you’re a Republican, read the Democrat ones.”
“You only learn by reading and talking to other people, there’s no other way,” Dimon added.
WHAT’S NEW ONLINE?
Patrick Clapsaddle Copy Chief
Tickets to Mr. Georgetown — an annual pageant for male-identifying Georgetown University seniors to represent their club — went on sale on CampusGroups Sept. 12 amid massive demand, leading to major problems with the sales process.
Students ran into an array of issues when purchasing tickets with CampusGroups — the only website approved for online ticket sales by the Center for Student Engagement, the university center that liaises with all university-sponsored organizations. Both the main webpage and payment portal crashed, multiple charges were processed for a single purchase and delays lasted upward of 30 minutes. Georgetown Program Board (GPB), the student organization that organizes Mr. Georgetown every year, plans to investigate the cause of the technological issues and respond to student concerns.
Kate Huckaby (SFS ’25), GPB events coordinator and an organizer for Mr. Georgetown, spoke to The Hoya on behalf of GPB and said they did not know the exact cause of the website crash and payment problems.
“We still do not have a definitive explanation for the root cause of the issue,” Huckaby wrote to The Hoya. “We believe ticket demand was just as high — if not higher — this year and this surge in site traffic may have caused CampusGroups to crash.”
Mr. Georgetown has historically been a sold-out event, with last year’s pageant selling all tickets in under 10 minutes. This year, roughly 40 minutes after the sale began, CampusGroups began processing students’ purchases, with tickets selling out shortly thereafter.
Students who experienced is-
sues with CampusGroups during Mr. Georgetown’s ticket sales said pop-up windows indicated errors on both the registration page and the external payment portal.
CC Mesa (SFS ’26), who attended Mr. Georgetown in both 2022 and 2023, said the series of technological issues when purchasing a ticket caught her off guard.
“Last year and the year before, I had literally zero problems,” Mesa told The Hoya. “We started getting these messages on our devices saying, ‘The ticket you just tried to purchase was purchased by someone else. Please try again.’ I was really confused.”
Ruby Gilmore (SFS ’26), who attended Mr. Georgetown once before in September 2023, said she experienced similar technical issues when trying to purchase her ticket to this year’s event.
“The CampusGroups page kept buffering and when it finally did load, if I clicked on any buttons, I would get an error message,” Gilmore wrote to The Hoya. “I finally got the pay screen to load but every time I entered my information, I received an error message. I was charged five times despite this.”
Several students have expressed discontent with the ticket-purchasing experience and CampusGroups in general. Mesa said she felt using the CampusGroups app as opposed to the browser made the process even more difficult.
“I was using a mobile interface which, on CampusGroups, is confusing and hard to manage and hard to type things into and whatnot,” Mesa said. “At least twice, maybe three times, I was prompted to the page where you pay for the ticket — I put in my card information, submitted it and then it would reload and send me back to the homepage with the thing of ‘Someone got your ticket.’” Mesa added that, while she
doubts Mr. Georgetown organizers could have anticipated the chaos, she is concerned about how this will affect attendance at future popular campus events.
“I think maybe in the aftermath, they could’ve done something, but to anticipate it, I don’t think there’s anything they could’ve done,” Mesa said. “I’ve already heard apathy about Mr. Georgetown from people who were like, ‘I’m not messing with that.’” Huckaby said individuals who were charged by CampusGroups multiple times should reach out to GPB for a refund.
“We have heard from three students that were charged multiple times by CampusGroups,” Huckaby wrote.
“We encourage all students that were charged multiple times to contact gpb@ georgetown.edu so that they can be issued refunds as well.” Gilmore expressed reservations about future challenges in advertising and organizing events like Mr. Georgetown in the future but had fewer doubts about students’ determination to attend student-run events.
“Georgetown students are pretty diligent when they set their minds to things so I’m sure they’ll continue to try and buy tickets to popular events,” Gilmore wrote. “Whether or not they’re successful is another story.” Huckaby added that GPB is working to find a solution to the problems with CampusGroups for future events.
“As an organization, GPB strives to provide accessible and inclusive programming for the entire undergraduate student body,” Huckaby wrote. “For our few ticketed events, we will work to find a ticketing solution that more closely aligns with our mission in the future. We sincerely apologize that Mr. Georgetown ticket sales did not go smoothly and that many students experienced difficulties.”
AAMIR JAMIL/THE HOYA
Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.),
The
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Georgetown University graduate Ted Leonsis (CAS ’77) and his family donated $10 million to the university, the school announced Sept. 10.
US Citizen Hostages’ Families Talk Conflict,
HOSTAGES, from A1
Grief, Israeli Government
attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. According to Israeli authorities, 101 hostages remain in captivity, with 35 of those hostages presumed dead.
Israel’s response to the attacks has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, left over 92,000 people injured and displaced more than 85% of Gazans. Those who remain in Gaza are experiencing a shortage of food, water, shelter and access to health care; many Palestinians have described facing wrongful imprisonment, torture and human rights abuses in Israeli prisons and elsewhere.
Neutra said her son was one of the IDF’s first responders to the Oct. 7 attack; she said she and her family have not heard anything about him since.
“I look at your faces,” Neutra said at the event. “He could have been here, in the audience, under different circumstances.”
Liniado, who learned about her parents’ death 83 days after Oct. 7, said the release of hostages must be urgent to ensure all families of those can have closure.
“Our loved ones are just innocent people who were there that day,” Liniado said at the event.
“I think the key to all of this is to make sure that we bring our loved ones back home, start to heal, somehow, both us in Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, and make sure we know this is a huge humanitarian issue.”
“This is urgent. This is right now. We need them out now,” Liniado added.
Liniado said her parents’ bodies have not yet been repatriated.
“Our family is just looking for closure, basically,” Liniado said. “In all religions, it’s something that must be done to let them
come back to burial, give them the respect their souls deserve, give us the closure we need.”
Dekel-Chen said political leaders and activists need to focus on saving innocent lives on both sides of the conflict after the kidnapping and death of people in his community.
“That does not mean that we, or anyone else, should not have enormous empathy for the suffering of the people of Gaza,”
Dekel-Chen said at the event.
“Two things can be true at once.”
“The simple matter is that the only way to stop this madness is not militarily. It is by a negotiated agreement that will accomplish two things: it will silence the guns, and it will release our captives,”
Dekel-Chen added.
Dekel-Chen said the Oct. 7 attack represented a failure on the Israeli government’s part.
“My initial feeling was just, ‘What a colossal failure by Israel,’”
Dekel-Chen said. “There was an unwritten contract between Israelis, certainly those living on Israel’s borders that have always been contested, and the government of Israel, that we would protect — sort of with our very presence — the borders of the country, again as civilians, and also in our region, serve as the breadbasket and the vegetable basket for the country, but in times of real desperate trouble, the country would be there, the army would be there, and they weren’t.”
Dekel-Chen said the government’s failure to defend civilians added on to a feeling that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is ineffective — especially after Netanyahu supported unpopular and since-canceled judicial reforms.
“This has created or added on to an enormous crisis of faith in Israel among Israelis and simply lack of faith in our government
that began before Oct. 7,” DekelChen said. “Those of you who follow Israeli politics know this, the same government, it tried to push through a constitutional coup and essentially incapacitated our free judiciary.”
“It’s only been multiplied by the frustration with our government in letting it happen on Oct. 7, not taking accountability for it and not doing what it needs to do what it must do to get the hostages home,”
Dekel-Chen said.
Chen said he believed his 19-yearold son Itay was still alive until March when Israeli intelligence officers informed him that Itay was likely dead; Chen said he has not yet seen his son’s body.
“We needed to process that, but it’s very difficult to process that with just a notification without having that physical component associated with that,” Chen said at the event.
Neutra said it has been difficult for her to heal since finding out her 22-year-old son Omer was taken hostage.
“Every time we sit together and I hear these stories again and different stories of what actually happened on Oct. 7, it’s living that trauma again and again and again, and there’s so many layers to that grief and also thinking about Omer and what happened on that day,” Neutra said.
Following a question and answer session with students, Rabbi Ilana Zietman, Georgetown’s director for Jewish Life, ended the discussion with a prayer calling for the safe return of all hostages.
Neutra said the immediate release of the hostages and the end of the war is an urgent issue that all people should address.
“For us, it’s been urgent since day one,” Neutra said. “We pray every day, every second of the day, that they just get it done.”
ICS ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ Vigil Commemorates Mahsa Amini
VIGIL, from A1
ICS, said it is important to commemorate Amini’s life amidst the tumult of global politics.
Full disclosure: Satya Heidrich-Amin
(SFS ’25) served as a News Desk Editor in Fall 2023 and News Staff Writer in Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2022 and Spring 2023.
“Markingthetwo-yearanniversary is important to remember that major issues shouldn’t be forgotten within the news cycle and just because other important things happened doesn’t detract from the things that happened before,” Heidrich-Amin told The Hoya. “With the news cycle it’s easy for something to happen, everyone pays attention to it for the next month, if that, and then people forget about it.”
Heidrich-Amin said Amini’s death impacted her family and catalyzed a significant shift in Iran’s national discourse.
“I remember when everything happened, it had a huge impact on my family and the Iranian community as a whole,” Heidrich-Amin said.
“It definitely marked a shift in Iran. Before, there was the sentiment that everything was getting slightly more
liberal and slowly progressing. This was really a wake-up call for a lot of people that wasn’t the case and that without drastic change nothing will ever change.”
Melanne Verveer, the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, said students’ efforts should not go overlooked as tools like social media can connect students to Iranian women.
“Many tens of thousands of women in Iran are connected on social media and these are the kinds of things that really enable them to understand that the battle isn’t just theirs and that there are others who care about them,” Verveer told The Hoya.
Julien Fagel (SFS ’25), an attendee at the vigil, said he came to pay his respects and support members of the Iranian community, many of whom also identify as Persian, in their ongoing struggle for democracy and freedom.
“I’m here today to pay my respects, I have a lot of Persian friends back home in L.A., and I have a lot of Persian friends here, and I’ve seen how what’s going on in Iran affects them,” Fagel told The Hoya. “It’s important to me to
Anthony Allen, Basketball Alum And GUPD Officer, Dies at 57
A
golf
ALLEN, from A1
show up and support them and the causes they believe in: freedom and democracy for the people of Iran.”
Verveer said there are abundant opportunities in D.C. to pursue activism and stay educated on important human rights issues.
“There are any number of ways because the campus is in Georgetown, in Washington, D.C. — so many opportunities to bring people together who are experts,”
Verveer said. “That’s something we strive to do, which is provide the students with opportunities to relate to these people who are experts but many have endured their own experiences in Iran and can speak volumes about what is happening there.”
Verveer said though the vigil and speaking out on a college campus may seem small amidst the global Woman, Life, Freedom movement, activism events taken all together can have a major impact.
“The aggregate of these kinds of activities does make a difference, it does influence others and it will affect you and how you lead your lives into the future,”
Verveer said. “I think we should never underestimate what a vigil does, what speaking out can do.”
in
lived a true Christian life each and every day. I don’t think you’ll find anybody that has a disparaging word to say about him.”
“He was like a giant, but he literally was a gentle giant,” Johnson added. “Cared about all, tried to do everything he could. You knew he would always be there. Always approachable, he made it known that if you needed just to talk, he treated everybody like family.”
Johnson highlighted his close relationship with Allen, saying Allen comforted him when his brother passed away.
“For me, our relationship was, as some folks would say, is a unique one, he was like my brother from another mother,” Johnson said. “We were very close, we did a lot of things together, we talked about a lot of things.”
“For me, two years ago my older brother passed, that would’ve been my last brother,” Johnson added. “So of course he came to me and he used to say, ‘Well, I’m going to be your big brother.’ And I’m like, ‘Well Anthony, you can’t be my big brother because I’m older than you so you can’t be my older brother.’”
“He surrounded my family and was there for us. It was a tough time, and he was there.”
Lee Reed, director of intercollegiate athletics, praised Allen’s deep involvement in campus life, both during his college basketball career and his time as a GUPD officer. Reed said Allen exemplified the Jesuit
flower
value of cura personalis, or care for the whole person.
“Anthony was a true Hoya. As a student-athlete coming to the Hilltop from Texas, he was known for his defense and his ability to play every position,” Reed said in an email sent to the athletics community.
“This translated into his work as an officer on campus where he was a mainstay on the sidelines, always looking out for our Hoyas.”
“Anthony’s faith, family and commitment were of the utmost importance to him, and he lived the concept of cura personalis. Our condolences go out to his family, friends and teammates, he will be missed,” Reed added. Jay Gruber, associate vice president of public safety, said Allen left behind a legacy of care and love for the Georgetown community.
“During his 30 year tenure with the Department he had a positive impact on literally hundreds of thousands of Hoyas,” Gruber wrote to The Hoya. “Anthony was known by his height but was better known by the size of his heart. He cared about all Hoyas and was a great ambassador for the Department.”
Gruber added that Allen was always welcoming to new GUPD officers, training numerous new recruits.
“He shared his enthusiasm for the Georgetown community with everyone he met,” Gruber wrote. The hundreds of police officers he trained over his tenure were quickly welcomed into the
11 in Dayton, Md. He was
Hoya family. He will be deeply missed by his colleagues and the community.” Johnson shared one of his many fond memories, saying he often compared Allen’s barbecue to his own.
“We both are avid barbecuers, so we had many conversations about whose barbecue is the best,” Johnson said. “I’ll say mine, he’ll say his, but at this point his wasn’t bad, you know.” Johnson expressed that he will cherish his memories of Allen while finding comfort in the enduring legacy Allen leaves behind at Georgetown.
“There’s a lot to hold onto,” Johnson said. “I’m shocked that he’s gone but you know what, I just say to myself, he fulfilled his purpose on this earth and God called him home, so I know where he is.” Allen is survived by his wife, Laura; his children, Anthony II and Aniyah; his brother and sister; and several nieces and nephews. His first wife, Tania; parents, Melvin and Joseph; and brother, Royce, predeceased him. Johnson said Allen cared for everyoneandwasdevotedtohisfamily and community at Georgetown.
“He was just a loving guy,” Johnson said. “He was a father, a husband. There wasn’t nothing he wouldn’t do for this place. That’s Anthony Allen.”
“We used to say love is an action verb. He applied it every day. He showed those actions every day,” Johnson added.
GU Jewish Space Rededicated After Renovation as Ammerman Makom
MAKOM, from A1
redesigned space and kosher kitchen has made it easier for Jewish Life to run weekly Shabbat programming.
“It’s a lot more functional for us to serve Shabbat dinner and turn the space into a really big dining area,” Zamir told The Hoya. “Which is really great because before it was really difficult, we would have the food set up during our services. It was really distracting.”
The newly constructed ark permanently sits at the front of the room, along the Eastern wall, ensuring that people praying in Makóm will face Jerusalem, as Jewish law requires.
Yana Gitelman (SFS ’25), upperclassman chair of JSA, said the new designs cement Judaism’s place as a part of campus life at Georgetown.
“The stars of David on the ceiling light and Torah ark make the space feel more specifically and intentionally Jewish, which feels really different from using the Copley chapel or Dahlgren quad for Shabbat services,” Gitelman wrote to The Hoya Rabbi Ilana Zietman, the Director of Jewish Life, said the renovations to Makóm — including the new wooden cabinets engraved with Stars of David — cultivate a more spiritual experience for Jewish students.
“It elevates the experience of being in that space. It just feels like there was thought put into it,” Zietman told The Hoya. “Because of such high-quality work that they’ve done, it does make it feel like a sacred space as opposed to just a room where Jews are happening to be together.”
Zamir said that having a permanent space for Jewish students creates a sense of comfort and belonging that is not found elsewhere on campus.
“Overall, it’s really important to have Jewish spaces on campus where we can be in community together and also find support in one another,” Zamir said.
“It gives us a dedicated space, Shabbat gives us a dedicated time to just be together, talk about things that are unique to our lived experience.”
Zietman, who delivered remarks and led prayers at the rededication ceremony, said the graduates’ contributions to the space demonstrated the enduring influence of Georgetown’s vibrant Jewish community.
“It was very touching to see people who already had their time at Georgetown wanting to give back to make sure current and future Jewish students get to have a gathering space that is large enough for our community and fulfill our needs,” Zietman said.
Maya Taylor (CAS ’27), another Jewish engagement intern, said
she has been able to make meaningful connections within the Jewish community through events in the newly redesigned space.
“These kinds of things showed me that it was more of a tight-knit group, that was like a family to hang out with, and that was our little space,” Taylor told The Hoya. Sam Stein (MSB ’27), another Jewish engagement intern who serves as the treasurer of JSA, said the alumni speeches at the ceremony deepened her appreciation for Makóm’s importance.
“I think meeting with other Jewish leaders in the community is so empowering, both Jewish intern meetings and JSA board meetings,” Stein told The Hoya “That’s where the future for the Jewish community here is being planned and thought out for generations. It’s powerful.” Taylor, who attended the ceremony, said that she sees the Ammerman Makóm as a marker of the longstanding legacy of Jewish life at Georgetown.
“Knowing that the donors saw that there was a need and wanted to give back, clearly Jewish Life made a big impact on them as students, and it obviously impacted them in a very positive way,” Taylor said. “It also indicates that this is a place that will probably stick with us throughout the rest of our lives and will make an impact on who we become.”
AAMIR JAMIL/THE HOYA
GUPD
cart covered
photos and
bouquetswas placed outside the GUPD office to memorialize Officer Anthony Allen, who died Sept.
57.
KATE HWANG/THE HOYA
The Iranian Cultural Society held a vigil to remember Mahsa Amini two years after her death.
Rep. Raskin Discusses Freedom, Threats to Democracy, Upcoming Election
Aamir Jamil Senior News Editor
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) warned against threats to democracy and freedom related to the upcoming presidential election at a Sept. 13 Georgetown University event.
Raskin, joined by Sanford J. Ungar, director of the Georgetown University Free Speech Project, condemned what he views as a rise in authoritarian rhetoric in the United States. The discussion focused on the upcoming Nov. 5 presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Touching on the history of democracy in the United States and the current state of U.S. politics, Raskin also called for reforms that included ending the Electoral College, in which a slate of electors vote for a candidate based on the popular vote in each state. Comparing Trump to authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Raskin stressed the role of democracy in protecting freedom.
“ThefoundersofAmericaknewthat democratic freedom under a constitutional government was the exception and would be the exception,” Raskin said at the event. “Most people have lived for most of human history under dictators and madmen, people like Putin and Trump and Orbán. That’s been the fate of humanity.”
“There is no democracy without freedom, but there also is no freedom without democracy. It doesn’t guarantee it even within democracy. You have to fight for your freedom, but Vladimir Putin and the autocrats are not going to defend anybody’s freedom, anybody’s liberty. The dictators will always trample your freedom,” Raskin added.
As Ungar shifted the discussion
toward the 2024 election, Raskin said the current Republican Party is increasingly authoritarian.
“The political scientists have told us what the hallmark characteristics are of an authoritarian or fascist political party or tendency,” Raskin said. “One, they don’t accept the outcome of democratic elections that don’t go their way. Two, they embrace or they refuse to disavow political violence as an instrument for obtaining or maintaining any political power. Three, they are organized in an authoritarian cult of personality around a charismatic, or allegedly charismatic, figure.”
“And then four, because they have no real plans that they’re willing to submit to the people for debate and discussion, they thrive on scapegoating, racism, antisemitism, gay bashing, immigrant bashing and so on,” Raskin added.
Highlighting President Joe Biden’s comments on Republican extremism, Raskin said the party has shifted away from President Abraham Lincoln and his opposition to the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing party, which ended in 1860.
“They got mad at our great President Joe Biden when he said there were semi-fascist currents running through the Republican party, but I’m sorry, if the shoe semi-fits, you semi-wear it,” Raskin said. “That’s what they’ve become. They’ve taken Lincoln’s party of freedom and union, anti-Know Nothing, anti-conspiracy theory, anti-what we would call propaganda and disinformation, and they’ve turned it into this cult.”
Raskin also said he believed most Americans do not support Trump’s campaign platform.
“The vast majority of the country still rejects authoritarianism and that kind of derangement,” Raskin
Three Professors Receive Inaugural Magis Prize To Fund Their Research
Nora Toscano
Georgetown University awarded three associate professors the inaugural Magis Prize, which grants $100,000 to professors whose work has an important impact on their field and on students, the university announced Sept. 5.
Funded by an anonymous donor, the prize allows the three professors — Diana Kim, an Asian studies professor in the School of Foreign Service (SFS); Timothy Newfield, a history and biology professor in the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS); and Carlos Simon, a Grammy-nominated composer in the performing arts department in the CAS — funding for their research and two semesters of leave.
The funding will begin this academic year and continue over the next three years and recipients are to involve students in their studies; at the close of the three years, the recipients will meet with the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), a Georgetown organization aimed at supporting faculty, to discuss a place for their research in Georgetown’s curriculum.
“The Magis Prize is another way that Georgetown is seeking to support faculty in creating new ideas, deepening human understanding and pushing the boundaries of knowledge,” Provost Robert M. Groves said in the announcement. “It is also another way to give students an opportunity to work with the most productive faculty at Georgetown.”
Kim, who started teaching at Georgetown in 2016, will use the prize money to help her write her next book, titled “Untouchability as Global.” The book focuses on stigmatization of untouchables — people in the lowest castes in a caste system, a strict stratification system in which someone is born into a hierarchical social group and typically has no social mobility.
Kim said that she was surprised to be named a recipient and that the award creates new opportunities to expand her research.
“I found out just a few days before the announcement was made itself, and I was really surprised,” Kim told The Hoya. “I was really grateful. I know it’s sounding so obvious, but it’s a really generous award, both in terms of time and financial support.
So it’s like one of those things
said. “I think the vast majority of the country is pro-choice, it’s pro-environment, it’s pro-labor, it’s pro-freedom and it’s pro-democracy.”
In discussing democratic reforms, Raskin called for the abolition of the Electoral College, asserting that the popular vote ensures everyone’s vote counts.
“We’ve had five popular vote losers in America become president, twice in this century alone in 2000 and 2016,” Raskin said. “I think the vast majority of American people think we should be electing the president just by having an election and seeing who gets the most votes rather than this convoluted, rickety system where it all comes down to a handful of states, six or seven states, instead of everybody’s vote counting equally everywhere in the country.”
Finishing the conversation on free speech in democracies, Raskin said people instead of the government should counter lies, highlighting the Harris campaign’s debunking of claims Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
“The only answer to the profusion of lies is that we get people figuring them out and answering them and debunking them,” Raskin said. “And what’s joyful about this presidential campaign right now is people having fun debunking all the lies about immigrants eating cats and dogs and all that kind of stuff. People have begun to turn it around and expose the outlandishness, the absurdity and the derangement of these lies.
“What is the alternative? The government will decide what’s a lie and what’s a truth? I don’t think so, that’s not going to work. What solution do we have other than people telling the truth to debunk the lies?” Raskin added.
As DC’s
COVID-19 Cases Increase, Students Express Concern Over Clarity of GU Isolation, Testing Policies
Ruth Abramovitz GUSA Desk Editor
that when you’re applying, you think, ‘Ah, how amazing would it be if I get that? I could do so many things.’ And then when you’re told you’re the recipient, along with these two other super cool scholars, my mind kind of stopped, and I was like, ‘Holy crap. What can I do?’”
Newfield, who has taught at Georgetown since 2017 and has researched history, biology, medical humanities and medieval studies with students, said he plans on using the grant money from the prize to continue this research.
“I work at the intersection of a few disciplines — history, disease ecology, epidemiology and evolutionary biology — in order to study, in a science-heavy way, the history of infectious disease,” Newfield wrote to The Hoya. “The Magis will be directed toward using these disciplines in order to better our understanding of the history of past disease emergence, specifically that of smallpox.”
Ella Lowry (CAS ’26), one of Newfield’s students in his course “Global Health History,” said that she sees his intersectional work as extremely important.
“As a student in Professor Newfield’s class, I have developed a great understanding and appreciation for the importance of intersectionality in research and scholarship,” Lowry wrote to The Hoya. “His work that combines history and infectious diseases is very unique and important in the context of current global health.”
Simon will use the grant money to compose an original opera titled “The Highlands” for the Metropolitan Opera. The opera will touch on societal issues such as climate change and the effects of racism.
Kim added that the requirement of engaging students in their research is meaningful to her because she has worked with Georgetown students on her research in the past.
“It was also because the prize was so explicitly designed to bring in students that it was super cool for me, because I had been working over the past few years with a few both undergrad and MA students who had helped me deal with languages that I wasn’t fluent in,” Kim said. “They were helping me kind of explore what this group looks like and historical records, but it has always been on a smaller scale, because it takes a lot of involved research. So I kind of imagined, well, I’d be able to scale this up and work with more students.”
COVID-19 infections on campus during the first weeks of the Fall 2024 semester have led to student absences from classes, student event cancellations and confusion about Georgetown University’s COVID-19 policies.
In Washington, D.C., the weekly case rate of COVID-19 increased from 17.55 people per 100,000 residents from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 to 26.68 people per 100,000 residents from Sept. 7 to Sept. 14. In navigating the local rise of COVID-19 cases, students expressed uncertainty about Georgetown’s isolation policies and frustration with the barriers to accessing tests.
Claire Auslander (SON ’26) said that although her roommate, who contracted COVID-19, was able to isolate with another infected student for a few days, both of them struggled to find useful information from the university on the correct procedures for isolating and symptom monitoring.
“It was the two of us guessing based off CDC protocols — which also keep changing — what her dad was saying because he’s a doctor, and then her symptoms,” Auslander told The Hoya.
Auslander added that al-
though she took extra precautions — such as washing her hands more frequently and disinfecting surfaces — she was unsure of what to do as someone living with a student who had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Guidance from the university on how to proceed with what happens if a roommate is infected would have been appreciated,” Auslander said.
Michala Koch, assistant vice president for public health at Georgetown, said COVID-19 policies have been updated to reflect the current guidance of the CDC, which no longer recommends a five-day isolation period.
“In line with this guidance, the University ceased requiring isolation and reporting of test results. Community members who have symptoms of COVID-19 or any common respiratory virus should self-monitor and follow the CDC’s recommendations to determine when to resume activities,” Koch wrote to The Hoya Raghav Akula (SFS ’27), who also contracted COVID-19, said testing for the virus is more difficult now, with the university directing students to send an email to pick up a test or go to the Student Health Center, rather than recommending students pick
up free test kits from on-campus vending machines.
“Sometimes when my friends started getting symptoms, they didn’t know what it was, and they couldn’t test until they went to the Student Health Center. But, you know, if the Student Health Center fills up with appointments then you can’t really test unless you go to CVS and buy your own test,” Akula said.
Dylan Shapiro (CAS ’26), who contracted COVID-19, said that supplementary resources, like food and temporary housing, would make isolation easier for infected students.
“It used to be that if you had COVID and were isolating, you could tell the university and they would bring you food, and I don’t think that that’s the case anymore, so I had to have my friends drop off food for me,” Shapiro said.
From Fall 2021 through Spring 2023, the university provided students who tested positive for COVID-19 with a room in the Georgetown University Hotel, which has now become a residence hall during the redevelopment of the former Henle Village. During their isolation, students received meals, snacks and drinks each day. Shapiro also said the resources he needed, such as tests and masks, were difficult to access on-campus.
“It was really hard to get COVID tests through the university,” Shapiro said. “I tried to get a test and you had to send an email ahead of time to this specific email address who never got back to me, so I ended up having to borrow one from a friend.”
Koch said the university is providing resources for students to combat COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
“COVID-19 remains a serious health issue, particularly for people who are at higher risk, and the University continues to provide resources and support,” Koch wrote. “The University stocks masks in stands at the entrances to most campus buildings, provides free antigen testing, and is offering vaccine clinics this fall for the updated COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, among other routine vaccinations.”
Despite dealing with a COVID-19 infection early on in the semester, Akula said it did not sidetrack him from his studies.
“I got really lucky in that my isolation kind of started on Friday afternoon after my classes, and my symptoms were okay enough by Sunday — basically I could break isolation 24 hours after my symptoms were okay — so Monday I was able to break isolation and go to classes,” Akula said.
Students Win Stapleton Award, $2,500 in Grant Money
Nora Toscano Academics Desk Editor
Three anthropology students received the Stapleton Award, a $2,500 research grant from the department of anthropology, the university announced Sept. 9.
The award honors Scott M. Stapleton (SFS ’05), a Georgetown graduate who died in a traffic accident in 2010; Frank and Pam Stapleton, Scott Stapleton’s parents, gifted the anthropology department funds to support students in their son’s discipline after his death. This year’s recipients, Kami Steffenauer (CAS ’26), Lauren Keohan (CAS ’24) and Leah Cundiff (CAS ’26), will use the funds to pursue independent research, unpaid research or other professional experience in the field of anthropology.
Sylvia Önder, a teaching professor of Turkish and anthropology in the College of Arts & Sciences who assisted Cundiff with her proposal for the award, said the award honors Stapleton’s interest in anthropology by funding undergraduate research.
“Because Scott had so loved the mentoring he got from Professor Susan Terrio (now retired) in anthropology and ethnographic research, he
had planned a Ph.D. in anthropology at the London School of Economics,” Önder wrote to The Hoya. “The Stapleton family wanted to support other undergraduate students so that they could pursue whatever research topics they wished, with the mentorship of faculty in anthropology.”
The three winners learned of their selection during finals week last semester and were able to use the grant money to begin their research over the summer and write reports as they continue their studies.
Steffenauer, whose project explores the impact of rurality and kinship on her family’s migration from Switzerland to the United States, said her family was excited to hear she had received the award.
“My project has to do with my family history, so my family was also very, very excited about it and so excited to be part of this,” Steffenauer told The Hoya. “It was a very much familial, communal celebration when we found out that I had received it.”
Cundiff used her funding to study death culture in New York City, specifically looking at “death doulas,” nonmedical professionals who provide end-of-life care. Cundiff said she hopes others can gain an understanding from her ongoing research
about the different ways people handle death across cultures.
“When I was speaking to Professor Önder about my initial proposal, we kind of were touching base on how death is very much a taboo topic in some cultures, how there’s a standardized way of doing death that’s kind of imposed within the United States as opposed to South America, or someone that immigrated here, or someone that is second generation,” Cundiff told The Hoya. “What death means is different to different communities, just the exploration of that.” Keohan used the grant money to travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and research the effects of tourism on the local ecology and culture. She said her research considers the impact of vacations on local communities.
“I think that understanding the way that humans and the environment are interconnected, and how we’re interdependent on each other is something that can be applicable in all different facets of all different disciplines,” Keohan told The Hoya. “And so something as simple as going on vacation, which is something that people in the United States, especially, most have the privilege to be able to do, diving into what the impacts are of your actions. Even
just going and supporting a hotel chain on a beach in Mexico, what is that actually doing to the local population, their culture, in the local ecosystems and nature?” Cundiff said that receiving the award has been gratifying for her.
“It means being more a part of the Georgetown community,” Cundiff said. “Being acknowledged as a student and as someone that, you know, has something to say, has some value to add to the academic community, in a way that I never really kind of considered.” Keohan advised students to look out for similar opportunities.
“I don’t think a lot of Georgetown students, or students in general, think that there are these types of opportunities out there,” Keohan said. “I didn’t even know that the Stapleton grant existed until I just went to a meeting and learned about some of my peers that were doing cool stuff, and I was just so bewildered that they have these really cool opportunities.”
“You never know that you might have a life changing experience where you would never think it’s possible, but you won’t know unless you try and really try to fight for those opportunities,” Keohan added.
AAMIR JAMIL/THE HOYA
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) discussed threats to democracy and freedom in relation to the upcoming election and warmed against authoritarianism and facism at a Sept. 13 event.
26 New Professors Join Georgetown Faculty
Song Lim Graduate Desk Editor
Georgetown University’s undergraduate schools welcomed 26 new faculty members for the Fall 2024 semester.
who are marginalized and address the injustices in our society and healthcare systems that perpetuate health inequity.”
Repair of Pipe Outside Dining Hall Draws Student Transparency Concerns
Kate Hwang Student Life Desk Editor
The Office of Planning and Facilities Management informed the Georgetown University community Sept. 10 about a broken pipe underneath the sidewalk next to Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall.
Facilities Management sent four emails to the Georgetown community from Sept. 10 to Sept. 12 with updates on the emergency pipe repair, stating in the initial email they could not estimate the duration of the repair. Although Facilities Management said the pipe repair would be completed by Sept. 11, the construction’s completion was delayed until Sept. 13, limiting Tondorf Road, between Leo’s and New South Hall, to one lane on Sept. 10. The road was closed completely except for emergency vehicles and pedestrian walkways from Sept. 11 to Sept. 13.
A university spokesperson confirmed the pipe’s repair and said Tondorf Road remained open for pedestrian traffic and emergency vehicles.
“A pipe broke on the morning of September 10 underneath the sidewalk on the east side of Leo O’Donovan Dining Hall that required an emergency repair,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya
“As a result of the repair, a section of the road between New South and O’Donovan was closed to vehicle traffic, although pedestrian and emergency vehicle access was maintained,” the spokesperson added. “The entrance and exit to Leo’s was not impacted. The pipe has now been repaired and the road has been reopened to vehicle access.”
Three students who live in the Southwest Quadrangle — a residential area adjacent from Leo’s — expressed concern over the lack of transparency and the inconvenience of being updated from Facilities Management through daily email reports.
Gabriela Martinez (CAS ’27), a Kennedy Hall resident, said the smell of the pipe construction was pungent enough to be detected throughout campus, including on the Harbin Terrace, which is located roughly 500 feet from Leo’s.
“It smelled like sewage, and you could smell it all the way up to Harbin patio,” Martinez told The Hoya. “The smell was even seeping into Leo’s. So when you went to get food from Leo’s, you could smell the sewage from outside.”
Martinez added that she wished Facilities Management had been more transparent with the Georgetown community at the beginning of the pipe construction, instead of sending daily updates throughout the construction process. She added that a lack of communication from Facilities Management caused a scene of confusion among students on campus as to what areas were walkable.
“I know a lot of people who were like, ‘I had to walk up the hill instead of going on the road just because I wasn’t sure if it was open,’” Martinez said.
Ruby Lillie (CAS ’27), a resident of McCarthy Hall, added the construction created a scene of disorientation, especially with all the moving construction equipment.
“The construction was loud and chaotic. It could be quite stressful trying to cross the street by Leo’s with the amount of moving construction vehicles in the area,” Lillie wrote to The Hoya. “Many students were unsure of where and how to cross the street without getting in the way.”
Francis Rienzo (CAS ’27), another resident of Kennedy Hall, said he was concerned about the extended duration of the project, especially since it created confusion for students attempting to access Prospect Street behind the Healey Family Student Center (HFSC) from the corner of Leo’s.
“My concerns about the pipe repair are the longevity and intensity of the project,” Rienzo wrote to The Hoya. “Not only is it causing human traffic jams getting into Leo’s, it’s also stopping the flow of auto traffic going in and out of Prospect behind the HFSC.”
Rienzo added that he was increasingly worried about the safety hazards posed by the pipe repair and the closure of one lane of Tondorf Road.
“It can be dangerous for students who consistently walk around this area when going to the Southwest Quad, Leo’s or the HFSC. If it continues, it can cause continual traffic problems,” Rienzo said.
The university spokesperson said the university apologizes for the inconvenience of the repair.
“We apologize to the campus community for any inconvenience the repairs may have caused and thank everyone for their patience and understanding,” the spokesperson said.
Martinez said the ongoing pipe repair construction also impeded individuals from going to other spaces around campus, including the Office of Student Equity and Inclusion (OSEI) in the basement of New South, across from Leo’s.
“As far as walking around it when they had the two paths closed off, it was a little difficult to tell what was open from time to time. I know the OSEI had to send a message like, ‘We’re still open,’ but I don’t think anyone felt able to go into the OSEI space,” Martinez said.
Martinez added that she hopes Facilities Management will be transparent about ongoing construction projects so students can better plan for road closures and take extra precaution when walking around campus.
“I just wish they’d be more honest with what happened,” Martinez said. “It’s okay if it’s gonna take a week. I just wish you would tell me that in advance so I could plan in advance.”
McCourt School Launches Congressional Fellowship, Welcomes Beatty as First Fellow
Jasmine Zhang Events Desk Editor
The McCourt School of Public Policy will launch a new visiting fellowship inviting past and present members of the Congressional Tri-Caucus, comprised of legislative leaders of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), to engage with McCourt students through lectures, discussions and mentorship starting January 2025.
Leslie Evertz, director of strategic initiatives at the McCourt School, said the program aligns with the school’s mission to educate diverse leaders from varied backgrounds and help students hear different perspectives.
“The McCourt School is dedicated to educating hundreds of rigorously trained and ethically grounded leaders from various backgrounds to become public service leaders,” Evertz said in a press release. “We aspire to build a student body that more accurately reflects our country and the world, especially by including students from backgrounds currently underrepresented in leadership positions across sectors.” Maria Cancian, dean of the McCourt School, said the program will provide students opportunities to engage with a variety of important leaders and to develop essential skills.
“Leveraging our new Capitol Campus location, we have launched a number of fellowship programs to
provide students with the opportunity to engage important political and policy leaders and develop the skills to work across differences and effect change,” Cancian told The Hoya. “The new Tri-Caucus Fellows program will give students a chance to be in conversation with dynamic leaders with a wealth of experience.”
The program will launch in January 2025 with its inaugural fellow, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who has served as the U.S. Representative from Ohio’s 3rd congressional district since 2013.
Beatty said she is excited to be invited as the first fellow, commenting on her commitment to embracing a diversity of voices in policy development.
“As Chair Emerita of the Congressional Black Caucus, I am truly honored to be the first McCourt Tri-Caucus Visiting Congressional Fellow,” Beatty said in a press release. “From my early career at The Ohio State University to my most recent advocacy for diversity, equity and inclusion in medical education, I’ve understood academia’s power to shape how we think, work and live. The McCourt School’s commitment to embracing the voices of those traditionally excluded from policy development exemplifies the inclusive leadership we need in higher education and government.”
Clint Odom, a founding member of the McCourt School Advisory Board, an organization that supports the school’s mission and offers expertise on strategic prior-
ities, said he is excited for the program to work with Beatty.
“This new initiative will create a pathway for McCourt students who aspire to be a changemaker,” Odom said in a press release. “I am honored that Congresswoman Beatty, who has been a vocal leader and advocate for the issues affecting her constituents for more than a decade, is leading the way for other policy community members to be a part of this important work.”
Tina Yang (MSB, SFS ’27) said her commitment to Georgetown was largely influenced by the opportunities given through the McCourt School and that the new fellowship program sparked an interest in exploring opportunities in public policy.
“This new program is a great example of what Georgetown has to offer in terms of public policy, and it seems like a truly incredible opportunity to engage with a lot of important and knowledgeable people,” Yang told The Hoya. “Hearing about this really sparked my interest in these programs, so I will definitely be exploring similar opportunities –– especially with the new Capitol Campus.”
Beatty reflected on the future of the program and the impact of education and mentorship on the future leaders of public policy.
“I look forward to inspiring and guiding these emerging leaders as they take on the urgent and transformative work ahead for our nation,” Beatty said.
Zenobia Chan, Andrea Carosso, Jonathan Fine, Darragh Gannon, Song Gao, Lydia Gibson, Matthew Hawks, Jaynelle Hazard, Helal Mohammed, Jungyoon Ko, Kelsey Moore, Mirtha Navarro, Van Tran Nguyen, Emily Nix, Nefertiti Takla, Ethan Wilcox, Molly Wilder (LAW ’16, GRD ’23) and Xiuquan Zhou will join the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS); Stephan Davis (GRD ’09) will teach at the School of Nursing (SON); the School of Health (SOH) will welcome Caroline R. Efird; and Denise Ho, Jane Komori and Emma Smith will teach in the School of Foreign Service (SFS). Bruno Niederbacher, S.J.,will be a visiting professor in the CAS, Amanda Pinheiro de Oliveira will serve as a visiting professor in the SFS; and Lucy Zipf will assume a joint appointment in the SFS and Earth Commons, Georgetown’s institute for the environment and sustainability.
Efird, a new assistant professor in the SOH who researches ways to promote health equity by addressing social and structural sources of health disparities and inequities, said she was drawn to the SOH for its commitment to the Jesuit value of cura personalis, or care for the whole person, regardless of their background.
“The school’s emphasis on ‘cura personalis’ really sets it apart from other programs,” Efird wrote to The Hoya. “To improve health and well-being in our local and global community, we must care about the experiences of those
Hazard, the director and chief curator of Georgetown University Art Galleries and an associate professor in the CAS, said she is eager to use university galleries as resources in her teaching with students.
“University galleries are centers for teaching, learning and scholarship,” Hazard told The Hoya. “I’m excited to work with Georgetown University students, faculty and departments to collectively present and explore opportunities to deepen understanding of contemporary art, artistic practice and critical thinking through academic courses, lectures, workshops and programs.”
Ho, an associate professor in the SFS who studies the social and cultural history of 20th-century China, said that Georgetown’s location allows her students to engage with class material firsthand by visiting local monuments and museums.
“I’m teaching two classes — one is called ‘Uses of the Past in Modern China,’ and the other one is called ‘Chinese History in Chinese Politics’ — both of them study museums, monuments and popular memory,” Ho told The Hoya. “This is the first time I’ve taught them in a place that has so many museums and so much monumental culture.”
Davis, the director of Doctor of Nursing Practice education and an associate professor at SON, said his goal is to guide students to reach their full potential and enhance healthcare in diverse communities.
“I am most looking forward to
contributing to the leadership development of our doctoral students and amplifying their efforts to improve health and healthcare for diverse communities,” Davis wrote to The Hoya. “As an educator, my primary goal is to help our students become all that they are ‘called to be.’” Wilder, an associate professor in the CAS teaching philosophy, said Georgetown’s extensive resources for faculty allow her to develop her courses.
“Georgetown is an ideal place to further develop my courses and pedagogical approach because of the university’s commitment to excellence in teaching and the fantastic resources available to professors,” Wilder wrote to The Hoya Efird added that she is excited to teach Georgetown students to equip them with the knowledge and skills to build a more equitable world and ensure they embody the Jesuit value of “people for others.”
“I look forward to teaching students who are going to be positive change makers in our society,” Efird wrote.
“Georgetown students are uniquely positioned to be ‘people for others’ by taking what they’ve learned and using it to help foster a more just and equitable world, and I’m excited to hear about and learn from their creative ideas and strategies.”
Ho said she has enjoyed her time in the classroom because of the students’ high level of engagement and passion for their interests.
“I learned more and more and found that the students are super engaged,” Ho said. “They’re really passionate about making a difference in the world.”
GU Students, Professors Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month With Events
Anna Lim Hoya Staff Writer
Campus-wide celebrations for National Hispanic Heritage Month began Sept. 15 and will feature events hosted by Georgetown University departments and student organizations that center on Hispanic and Latino culture.
National Hispanic Heritage Month’s 2024 theme, “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together,” is focused on honoring past changemakers while continuing to support Hispanic and Latino communities into the future. The month, which runs until Oct 15., also honors the independence days of various Latin American countries, which Georgetown will observe through events like a Mexican Identity Celebration hosted by the Graduate Association of Mexican Students and a talk on engaged activism jointly hosted by the master’s program in engaged and public humanities and other campus departments.
Throughout the month, the Georgetown University Library is featuring a curated book collection titled “Latinx Heritage Month: Books Bought in Buenos Aires,” which intends to increase access to academic materials that focus on Hispanic and Latino voices. Jade Madrid, the Latin American studies and Iberian languages liaison and reference librarian, purchased the books at the International Book Fair of Buenos Aires in April.
Madrid said international book fairs play an integral role in the library’s effort to amplify Hispanic and Latine culture.
“There is truly nothing like visiting book fairs in Latin America and Spain. These book fairs are essential cultural events and, as you can imagine, a large amount of book buying happens there,” Madrid wrote to The Hoya. “Because so many of the materials in my areas are being published print-only (no e-books), regular buying plans and trips to the region are essential to my work.”
Madrid partnered with book dealers in Buenos Aires to arrange buying plans, keeping fac-
ulty and graduate student book requests in mind. She said it is important to integrate Hispanic culture into Georgetown’s academic spaces through visibility and availability.
“Imagine a student writing a paper about Latin America and only citing sources published in the U.S.,” Madrid wrote. “I feel like so much of my work culminates in the moment that a student needs sources published outside of the U.S. and they can find them at Lauinger Library, thanks to our year-round buying of books from the region.”
Student-run clubs also will host events, including groups such as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A), an organization supporting Latine students through higher education; La Casa Latina, a permanent safe space established to empower Latinx students; Georgetown Latino Policy Initiative (GLPI), an organization amplifying Latino-targeted policy in America; Latin American Student Association (LASA), an organization that celebrates Latin American culture; and Ritmo y Sabor, a Latin dance group.
On Sunday, M.E.Ch.A partnered with La Casa Latina to host Noche de Lotería, a community lotería game night that provided refreshments, snacks, and prizes.
M.E.Ch.A co-treasurer Cecilio Sandoval (CAS ’26) said lotería holds personal and cultural significance for him and the event’s attendees.
“It’s just nostalgic because you play it as kids, so it was good for me to go play lotería with the community there,” Sandoval told The Hoya.
“It’s very easy to start conversations with that because a good amount of people I talked to were like, ‘I miss this whole thing,’ so it was a pretty good way to connect with others,” Sandoval added.
M.E.Ch.A also worked with Incorporado, an affinity group for Latinx students in The Corp, to host a Cool Down event in Red Square that provided sliced fruit and aguas frescas.
Other campus organizations such as GU Pride are engaging with National Hispanic Heritage Month by incorporating Hispanic and
Latino-specific topics into their regular programming.
Gisell Campos (CAS ’25), co-president of GU Pride, spoke about last year’s GU Pride events held to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, this year’s plans, and intersectionality.
“Last year, we held a weekly social event where I gave a brief lesson on gender-inclusive language in Spanish, or lenguaje inclusivo,” Campos told The Hoya. “What I really want to do with the club is to host a carne asada type of event where it’s hosted by Pride but we invite a bunch of Latin identity clubs. We’re thinking about reaching out to LASA, Casa Latina, to M.E.Ch.A., to a bunch of different Hispanic orgs on campus.”
“We try to make sure that all of our events still boil down to some queerness, in some sense, but I’m hoping that with this, you can kind of celebrate the intersectionality of our identities,” Campos added.
Later this month, celebrations of National Hispanic Heritage Month will include a talk on political polarization in the Americas hosted by the Georgetown Americas Institute and the Hispanic Heritage Celebration, a joint event hosted by various Latin-centered organizations. Sandoval said these celebrations make Georgetown more comfortable for him as a Mexican student and that Latino clubs create a sense of belonging on campus.
“They have culture festivals for this month, so that’s something I’m looking forward to doing,” Sandoval said. “If someone feels homesick, the clubs make an effort to have that here, so that way you don’t forget about your culture.” Campos said connecting with others and learning about their identities during Hispanic Heritage Month is important.
“I found my community here, and I’m super proud of that community,” Campos said. “With Pride having a white history, but myself now being a Latine student on the board and representing Latine people and advocating for Latine students on campus, it’s really a beautiful thing to be a part of, and it’s something I’m super proud of.”
OLIVIA HEWITT/THE HOYA
Student and university celebrations for National Hispanic Heritage Month began Sept. 15.
MEGHAN HALL/THE HOYA
The Office of Planning and Facilities Management informed the university community Sept. 10 about a broken pipe underneath the sidewalk next to Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall.
Star First-Year Recruits Drive Hoyas’ Momentum Ahead of Season’s Start
After ending last season with a run to the Big East quarterfinals, Georgetown women’s tennis is looking to the new season with a renewed competitive fire and has added new talent to make a deeper run.
This weekend marks the beginning of a new season as the Hoyas begin their campaign with a short ride up the road to Towson, Md. The Hoyas will travel to Maryland from Sept. 20-22 seeking a successful result to the beginning of their season when they compete at the Towson Hidden Dual.
Fans of the squad may find themselves unfamiliar with much of the roster this year, with the team having added a total of five new players over the offseason. One of these newcomers, graduate student Ellen Puzak, joins the Hoyas after showcasing her talent with the Buffaloes of University of Colorado Boulder. Some of her career highlights include 45 total match victories, as well as wins against No. 25 Baylor and No. 67 Denver. Also included in the newcomers is rising star firstyear Molly Evans, who shined in her high school career while competing for Sidwell Friends School. During this time, she was a 4 time champion of the Independent School League (ISL), amassing an astounding record of 41-1 during this time. Evans possessed an outstanding No. 2 overall ranking in the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) Sports Global Player Rankings.
Fellow first-year Carolyn Schaefer also made her mark in the tennis world during her high school career, being named to the All-State roster three times in her home state of Wisconsin. Not only did Schaefer impact the world of tennis while dominating on the court, but she was also granted the Frank Parker Award, which is presented by the Wisconsin Tennis Association for showing outstanding leadership and making major contributions to the game of tennis in Wisconsin. While the Hoyas will be excited to watch their new recruits make
an instant impact on the court, returning players who made large impacts last season will look to take another step forward in the fall. Sophomore Emily Novikov is back for her second campaign with the Hoyas, and her first season was a major success. At the conclusion of last season, she was named both Big East Freshman of the Year, as well as named to the Second Team All-Big East. With one year of experience under her belt, look out for her to make her name known across the conference again this year.
Fellow returner junior Paige Gilbert will also look to improve after an excellent performance last year. She notched an impressive victory in singles last year against George Washington University (GWU), storming back to comfortably win
the final 2 sets after dropping the first.
The Hoyas’ success was not only limited to individual stats but notably extended to their doubles performance when, in April of last season, Novikov and Gilbert routed the GWU doubles team. In the Big East quarterfinal matches with the Red Storm, Novikov and Gilbert were again the focal point of attention. They each won their singles matches and then were once again able to successfully team up and win a doubles match together. While the team as a whole was overpowered by the Red Storm on that day, the Hoyas should look forward to two of their top players returning with another year of experience and wisdom to guide the team to victory.
New-Look Washington Commanders Beat Giants Behind Kicker Siebert
Much has changed since the Washington Commanders last played host to the New York Giants. Last fall, Commanders fans trekked to then-FedEx Field in Landover, Md., only to watch their beloved team surrender nearly 250 passing yards and three touchdowns to New York’s third-string, undrafted rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito and hand the previously hapless Giants defense four sacks and six turnovers. Though the previous edition of the Commanders (1-1) seemed far out of their depth, ownership fortunately took notice and cleared house at the end of the 2023 campaign — a season that saw the Commanders go 4-13 overall and endure a painful 8-game losing streak to close the year. The new-look Commanders, under the guidance of head coach Dan Quinn, acquired LSU standout quarterback Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick in this year’s draft. Though Washington lost its first game of the season to Tampa Bay last week, Daniels’ heroics have finally given fans a reason to believe. Meanwhile, the Giants (0-2) are staring down yet another challenging season. Despite the return of starting quarterback Daniel Jones from an ACL tear, a retooled offensive line and star additions on both sides of the football, New York struggled mightily in its home opener, losing 6-28 against the Minnesota Vikings. As a result, fans have already called for head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen’s jobs.
The different trajectories of the two NFC East rivals made
for a fascinating matchup Sept. 15 at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md.
The Giants got off to an unfortunate start, losing star kicker Graham Gano to injury on the opening kickoff. Commanders return man Austin Ekeler returned that same kickoff for a touchdown, but the score was nullified by a holding penalty. All was not lost for the Commanders, as they drove back down the field and secured a field goal in an opening drive that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
The Giants quickly responded. Newly acquired running back Devin Singletary found the end zone to put New York up by 3. However, Gano’s absence proved detrimental when punter Jamie Gillan attempted the extra point and failed to convert.
As the first half rolled on, though both squads’ offenses chugged along, neither particularly impressed. The Commanders managed two unanswered field goals, going up 9-6 with just under two minutes left in the first half. Daniels briefly exited the game on the latter of these drives after an injury but returned in short order.
As the clock wound down on the first half, Jones led the Giants offense down the field.
The Giants quarterback tossed a jump ball to rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers in the end zone with eight seconds remaining. The succeeding two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Giants led the Commanders 12-9 going into halftime. New York opened the second half with possession, but a fumble by Singletary returned possession to the home side.
The Commanders drove down into Giants territory and
BETWEEN THE LINES
FIFA’s New Club World Cup Structure Promises Much, Accomplishes Little
Recently, the world football governing body, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), announced an expansion to its Club World Cup competition. Historically, the Club World Cup has been an unceremonious, uncompetitive and frankly, bizarre meeting of each continent’s respective highest achievers.
Perennially, the European team that qualifies by winning the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League comes in as the overwhelming favorite, usually winning handily against clubs from Japan, Egypt or even New Caledonia. However, FIFA — the robber barons of 21st century football — are remolding the Club World Cup into a structure that I cannot support.
Previously, seven teams — and only one from Europe — competed in a format that saw European clubs play a maximum of two games in the middle of the club season, putting little strain on the club or its personnel. Under the new structure, 32 teams will compete in a format that mirrors the World Cup: eight groups of four teams will play round-robin style, with the top two teams from each group entering a single-elimination knockout-style format. The competition, once held annually, will now occur once every four years, moving from midseason to after the conclusion of the regular European club season.
Let’s be clear: Very few people, if any at all, are asking or have ever asked for this. This is an expansion entirely at the whims of FIFA and its corporate sponsors. Indeed, players around the
footballing world have reacted poorly to the new format, citing health and safety concerns about adding potentially seven more competitive games to an already extremely crowded schedule. Respected Premier League midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is one of many players who has said he worries about burnout with the increase in games: “Maybe this year, everything will be okay, but next year, it will be a problem,” De Bruyne told Playing for 90.
FIFA, UEFA — European football’s governing body — and other footballing organizations have proven time and time again that they care more about increasing profits and expanding their brand than the health and livelihood of their players. De Bruyne added this about the organizations: “FIFA and UEFA only care about the money, it seems, without thinking about the players. Look at how the Club World Cup has expanded, even more teams will be added and the calendar will get even more packed.”
Increasingly, it seems as if sports organizations have been making changes nobody asked for at the expense of fans’ desires and players’ welfare. Recently, the NFL expanded their regular season to include more games and expanded their playoffs to include more wildcard games. In 2022, the MLB did something similar to accommodate another wild card team in each league’s playoffs. I have come to expect slight alterations in league format or game structure in U.S. sports leagues, but the shift in European football is something I am much less accustomed to. Since 1995, the Premier League has never once changed its format: Every
year, three teams get relegated and three teams get promoted at the end of each season. FIFA, on the other hand, has taken a totally different tack. As a neutral observer of the sports industry, I understand the need to innovate and evolve to continuously improve the consumer product. But as a fan of football, to see tradition, football heritage and the health of the players who make the game so special be put by the wayside for corporate gain and capital greed is extremely disheartening. There is a reason the European Super League proposed in 2021, which would have removed several famous European clubs from national club competitions and put them in their own closed competition,was met with such intense and pervasive negativity. For a lot of supporters, including myself, the beauty of football is in its consistent, almost monotonous nature. Tremendous changes like the Super League proposal scare us into thinking that the beauty of what we know is at risk, that the game we
kicked another field goal to tie the game. A three-and-out by New York and another field goal for Washington put the Commanders up 15-12 near the end of the third quarter.
With a win still within reach, the Giants responded with a six-minute, seventy-yard drive. Third-year wideout Wan’Dale Robinson found the end zone off a short pass from Jones, putting New York up 18-15. Still without a kicker, New York decided to go for two, but came up short yet again.
On the other side, the Commanders marched down the field once more and tied the game at 18 with their sixth field goal of the day.
Seeking to put the game away and vanquish their division rival, the Giants had seven minutes to drive down the field and score. Things failed to go according to plan, however, as the Big Blue’s offense stalled deep in Washington territory, turning the ball over on the Commanders’ 22-yard line after a failed fourth down try.
With the game hanging in the balance and just two minutes remaining, Daniels calmly guided the Commanders down the field one last time, setting up kicker Austin Seibert for his seventh field goal — a franchise record — as time expired.
Despite failing to find the end zone, Daniels played well, securing the football and engineering scoring drives. “It wasn’t the prettiest game,” Daniels told The Washington Post after the game.
“But a win is a win.”
Looking ahead, the Giants visit the Cleveland Browns next Sunday in search of their first win, while the Commanders square off against the Cincinnati Bengals (0-2) on Monday Night Football.
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has expanded the Club World Cup into a new
that players and supporters alike have found confusing, unsatisfactory and simply unnecessary.
Baker, Urrutia Goals Not Enough to Secure Hoyas Win Against LIU
Despite showcasing an aggressive offense and dominating possession, Georgetown men’s soccer settled for a draw Sept. 14 against the Long Island University Sharks. Both the Hoyas (2-2-3, 0-0-0 Big East) and Sharks (3-2-2, 0-00 Northeast) started slow in a defensive first half. The Hoyas maintained control of the game, keeping possession and limiting the Sharks to a single eighthminute shot. Georgetown struggled to get shots off early, though, but grew into the game offensively, beginning to ramp up its pressure on the Long Island defense towards the end of the first half.
The Hoyas’ offensive effort paid off late in the first half, when first-year forward Mitchell Baker scored his fourth goal of the season. In an exciting sequence, senior midfielder Joe Buck started the drive for Georgetown with a breakaway steal down the left side and connected with sophomore midfielder Eric Howard, who found Baker. Baker’s goal, with only a few seconds remaining in the first half, broke open the match for the Hoyas, sending them into the locker room with the lead.
The Hoyas maintained their
offensive momentum early in the second half, regularly threatening Sharks’ senior goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski’s goal, twice forcing the keeper into saves and winning three corner kicks during the first ten minutes of the second half.
Georgetown’s aggression and grit paid off in the 56th minute as sophomore midfielder Jack Heaps connected with first-year midfielder Jack Brown. Brown sent first-year midfielder David Urrutia soaring through the box to score his first college goal and double the Hoyas’ lead. Long Island would not go down without a fight, though. The Sharks closed in on the Hoyas in the 67th minute when graduate forward Jesper Mikkelsen’s cross found senior midfielder Papa Sow, who planted a strong header past the Hoyas’ junior goalkeeper Tenzing Manske to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 2-1.
As the second half wore on, both sides ramped up their offensive play, but it was the Sharks who bit once more in the 84th minute.
LIU junior midfielder Alan Martinez beat Manske with a beautiful, high-arcing shot from the left edge of the 18-yard box that looped over the goalkeeper’s head and tied the match 2-2.
In the 87th minute the Hoyas would have one final opportunity to take the win, but Gawronski
saved from graduate forward Marlon Tabora to ensure LIU claimed a creditable draw.
Head Coach Brian Wiese said the performance of his team’s firstyears was heartening.
“It was great to see our young guys come out and do a really good job; the two goals we scored were great goals and David Urrutia scoring in his debut is fantastic,” Wiese told Georgetown Athletics. “Mitchell Baker also had a really good goal to close the half.” Wiese said the team needed to make small changes to ensure they can see out games.
“What
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Sophomore Katie Garofolo-Ro prepares to serve. The Hoyas’ women’s tennis team will look to reprise their success last year.
FLICKR/BEN SUTHERLAND
structure
John Ehrmann Sports Staff Writer
Owen Reid Hoya Sports Columnist
Michael Santos Sports Staff Writer
MEN’S SOCCER WOMEN’S TENNIS
Abbey Schiller Sports Staff Writer
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Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán is ecstatic after pitching a perfect game on June 28, 2023 against the Oakland Athletics.
We Can Accept Perfection From Imperfect Pitchers
HERMAN, from A12
inch he would give up a hit immediately. Like I’ve said, I’m superstitious. In the eighth inning, I called my parents, who were asleep. I informed them that they had to come downstairs and watch the end of the game with me. I couldn’t explain why — you can’t just talk about a perfect game — but I hoped the sense of urgency in the voice would convey the message. It didn’t. Finally, in the ninth inning, I had to risk it. I ran up the stairs, grabbed my parents and told them they didn’t have a choice in the matter. They got the point. So when did the switch flip? How did I go from wanting Germán to give up 14 runs to praying he allowed no baserunners?
Writer Claire Dederer might have the answer. “Genius gets a hall pass,” she penned in her 2023 memoir-esque book “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma.”
I read “Monsters” for a writing class last year. Opening the inside cover, I was attacked by the framing question: “What do we do with the art of monstrous men?”
I expected a lecture — ugh — and a list of music I was no longer allowed to listen to, art I could no longer enjoy and books I could no longer devour. I added baseball to the conversation myself, in part because baseball is art and in part because I add baseball to every conversation. Then I read the book. It was part memoir, part instruc-
tion manual: memoir in that Dederer chronicled her own wrestling bouts with excellent art by reprehensible people and instruction manual in that she provided her resulting takeaways. But her takeaways weren’t prescriptive at all. Instead, Dederer concluded that there is no single correct answer to the question she posed.
Because while we are sometimes happy to avoid art poisoned by a morally corrupt artist, there is a tipping point. Sometimes, the art is so beautiful that we no longer want to look away. We label the artist a “genius” and promptly excuse their transgressions.
My tipping point came in the fourth inning of Germán’s perfect game.
To Dederer, that is perfectly acceptable: we can appreciate the art of monstrous men, and we can even hope that they make more. But we have a simultaneous obligation to keep their misdeeds in the back of our minds — to contextualize the masterpiece and say: “that was awesome, but.”
That was awesome, but I wish Gerrit Cole or Nestor Cortés Jr. had pitched it instead. That was awesome, but I wish the credit would go to the catcher, Kyle Higashioka, instead of to Germán. That was awesome, but we should put an asterisk next to his name in the history books. But we are allowed to push the monsters under our bed. We can hate Domingo Germán and celebrate a perfect game at the same time. We can give a genius a hall pass — as long as we admit we’re doing it.
SUDOKU
COMMENTARY
Washington Spirit Dominate Against Houston Dash
SPIRIT, from A12
landed an absolutely stunning solo effort from outside the penalty box, seemingly out of nowhere, to make the score 3-0 and almost certainly put the game away for the Spirit immediately after they reentered the field. The goal was Rodman’s 8th of the season, tying her with forward Ouleymata Sarr for most on the team, and the joint 4th-most in the league).
Although the second half saw multiple more good looks for the Spirit, including several from rookie forward Makenna Morris, the game concluded with the Spirit winning 3-0.
The Spirit’s win against the Houston Dash was their second win of the season against the Dash. Their previous victory came back in April on a 3-1 scoreline. The Spirit are now undefeated in their last five league games, with four of those being wins.
After clinching a spot in the 2024 NWSL Playoffs, the Spirit will now look to use their remaining six regular season games to keep up the good form they have shown of late and fine-tune the team before the playoffs. Expectations will be high: The Spirit fell just short of earning a playoff berth last season, so fans are anticipating a more convincing showing this year, especially with the Spirit having qualified so early in the season.
The team will travel to Kansas City, Mo., this Friday, Sept. 20 to take on the Kansas City Current, who currently sit in fourth place with 39 points, two places behind the Spirit, who sit in second place with 44 points. Coincidentally, these two teams faced off just a few weeks ago as well, in a fixture that saw the Spirit come away with a 4-1 win. They will certainly be looking to play a similar game this time around and continue their final push towards the playoffs.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Hoyas Continue Winning Ways in Strong Team Showing
Freshman outside hitter Dionna Mitchell and senior libero Karis Park roar in approval after a point against the Indiana University Indianapolis Jaguars at the D.C. Showdown on Friday, Sept. 13. The Hoyas took three victories across the tournament.
VOLLEYBALL, from A12
with the set, winning 25-17.
Similarly, the Hoyas started the second set strong, going on an 11-5 run, and never looked back. Sophomore middle blocker Kamryn Lee-Caracci proved to be lethal at the net, with an efficient .500 hitting percentage. Lee-Caracci scored the final 3 points of the set for the Hoyas, all assisted by sophomore setter Emily Wen. In the second set, Georgetown recorded 19 total kills and won 25-19.
The third set followed the same pattern, as Georgetown started the match up 18-8. The Hoyas ultimately held the Broncs to only 14 points. Mitchell and Williams each had 13 kills in the match, and Urbina re-
corded a season-high 15 assists.
After the first day of matches, the Hoyas looked to continue their momentum.
“I think all of us really were intent on bringing the energy, especially after dropping the first set of the day,” Anoa’i told Georgetown Athletics. “Like I’ve said before, we want to be setting the standard and the expectation for what Georgetown volleyball looks like.”
The following day, Georgetown faced GWU in an anticipated crosstown matchup. The Hoyas lost the first set 21-25 but bounced back quickly, with the second set becoming a close battle.
In the last 6 points of the second set, Williams and Lee-Caracci stepped up and recorded 2 and
3 kills, respectively, allowing the Hoyas to steal a 26-24 victory from the Revolutionaries.
The third set proved to be an excellent showing from the Hoyas. Georgetown dominated the entire set, boasting a hitting percentage of .458 and forcing a -.114 hitting percentage from GWU. The Hoyas ended the set with an outstanding 25-8 victory.
Georgetown carried this energy into the next set, trading blows with GWU until they finally pulled away after blocks from Anoa’i and Lee-Caracci to win the set 27-25 and the match 3-1. The Hoyas dominated the stats chart throughout, with 69 kills to GWU’s 53 and 8 blocks to GWU’s 3.
To cap off the successful week-
end, Mitchell was named the All-Tournament MVP after posting a season-high 22 kills against GWU, while Park was named to the All-Tournament Team, leading the team with 17 digs in the final match. “A great win against a great opponent in the District. It’s always good to get the local ones, but still some things we can look at to continue to improve upon moving forward,” Head Coach AJ Bonetti told Georgetown Athletics. “Excited for the team with the weekend we had.”
The Hoyas will look to maintain their momentum at the Greensboro Invitational from Sept. 20 to Sept. 21 where they will face Marshall University (6-4), University of North Carolina Greensboro (4-5) and Tennessee Tech (9-0).
Second-Half Turnovers Doom Hoyas to Defeat
FOOTBALL, from A12 the pigskin with his back arching out of bounds and somehow managed to slam one foot in between the pylons for 6 points. To the delight of the students and alumni packing the Pioneers’ stadium for their homecoming game, Sacred Heart linebacker Myles Talley picked off a duck of a pass by Lauter on the ensuing Georgetown drive, regaining possession at the 25-yard line with 15 seconds to score. The crowd continued to
up with an eruption through the Georgetown offensive line for a 37-yard touchdown and a 30-14 advantage. Leigh’s game-high 112 rushing yards was also a career-high for the senior.
Lauter appeared to finally recover his rhythm when he launched a 39-yard rocket to Pygatt, but Pygatt fumbled the
ball. The fumble was Georgetown’s third in a troubling string of turnovers. Lauter tossed another interception with under two minutes remaining in the third, and Pygatt fumbled for the second time of the day at the beginning of the fourth. Building on the momentum that 5 turnovers give a team, Leigh parted the Georgetown defensive line for a monstrous 40-yard dash to the 13-yard line. Three downs later, Sacred Heart settled for a field goal to extend the lead to 19 with 11 minutes left to play. Leigh was not the only Pioneer to dominate the turf, as running
back Jalen Madison took one snap 84 yards midway through the fourth. Madison concluded the two-play, 32-second drive by barrelling into the endzone and capping off scoring at 40-14.
“We did not perform at a high level today,” Head Coach Rob Sgarlata told Georgetown Athletics. “We will work to take care of the football offensively and eliminate the big plays on defense this week.” Georgetown will face
GUHOYAS
WOMEN’S TENNIS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2024
TALKING POINTS
The Georgetown University women’s tennis team will open their season at the Towson Hidden Dual this weekend.
OUT OF LEFT FIELD
Germán-sters: On a Yankees
Fan’s Thorny
Dilemma
On June 28, 2023, the New York Yankees beat the floundering Oakland Athletics by the decisive margin of 11-0. I had every reason to celebrate. Oh, and the Yankees did not allow a baserunner. Three up, three down, every inning. That is to say, they pitched a perfect game — there have only been 24 perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), a sport that has existed for well over one hundred years. Even more reason to celebrate. And celebrate I did. But because the Yankees’ pitcher was Domingo Germán — who had previously been suspended from MLB for 81 games because he violated the league’s domestic violence policy — I couldn’t truly celebrate, not the way I would have celebrated if anyone else had pitched that day. I had never rooted for Germán before. I would always say I hoped he gave up 13 runs and the Yankees scored 14. I wanted his statline to suffer and the Yankees to prevail regardless. But as I began to realize around the fifth inning that Germán was doing the unspeakable, I couldn’t help it. I was officially rooting for not just the Yankees, but him, too.
I didn’t move for four innings. I wanted ice cream; too bad. My leg fell asleep; too bad. I was rooting for Germán so hard that I refused to do anything to jeopardize his chances of pitching a perfect game, and — obviously — if I moved an
See HERMAN, A11
Georgetown vs. Creighton
Sunday, 12:00 p.m.
Shaw Field
NUMBERS GAME See A10
We’re playing great soccer right now, but we’re finding ways to tie games we should win and lose games we should tie. Men’s Soccer Head Coach Brian Wiese
The Georgetown University women’s volleyball team celebrates after capping off a terrific series of wins against top-tier competition — Indiana University Indianapolis, Rider University and George Washington University — at the D.C. Showdown in McDonough Arena last weekend.
Hoyas Sensational, Undefeated in DC Showdown
Ceci Lukas Sports Staff Writer
The Georgetown University women’s volleyball team (7-2) recorded three straight victories against Indiana University (IU) Indianapolis (4-6), Rider University (1-8) and The George Washington University (GWU, 7-3) at the D.C. Showdown in McDonough Arena Sept. 13 and 14. Georgetown’s first match, against the IU Indianapolis Jaguars on Sept. 13, started slow. The Hoyas
struggled to garner momentum and individual errors muddled their performance. Georgetown had 9 attack errors in the first set, dropping the set but rebounding decisively in the second, recording 0 errors and maintaining an impressive hitting percentage of .500 to win the set, 25-20. Throughout the next two sets, the Jaguars put the Hoyas’ defense to the test. At the end of the third set, Georgetown was up 24-20 before the Hoyas’ individual errors allowed the Jaguars to reel off 3
straight points. In the end, firstyear outside hitter Dionna Mitchell closed out the set with a kill and sealed the 25-23 set victory.
Urbina and senior outside hitter Giselle Williams recorded kills on the last two plays to win the set 27-25 and the match 3-1.
The fourth set went much like the third, with each team going on short scoring runs. Though IU Indianapolis came a point away from claiming the set, with the score at 20-24, the Hoyas dug deep and instead forced attack errors and service errors from the Jaguars. Mitchell served an ace to make the score 25-24 before first-year setter Juleigh
The Hoyas displayed excellent defense, holding the Jaguars to a hitting percentage of a mere .095 in the third set and .105 in the fourth set. Senior libero Karis Park ended the game with 19 digs; Mitchell tallied 14, while junior middle blocker Vaughan Anoa’i recorded a game-high 8 blocks in the match. Still, Georgetown and
IU Indianapolis concluded the match with surprisingly similar statistics, including a total of 50 kills for both teams. The next match of the day for Georgetown proved to be more straightforward. In the first set, Georgetown forced error after error from the Rider Broncs. On the offensive side of the ball, the Hoyas recorded 15 kills with a .303 hitting percentage. Georgetown quickly ran away
Hoyas Suffer First Loss at Sacred Heart
Martha Brennan Sports Staff Writer
Much like the weather in Connecticut this past Saturday, Sacred Heart University (2-1) was scorching hot in their homecoming triumph over Georgetown University Sept. 14. The Hoyas (2-1) exhibited promise with a 14-13 lead toward the beginning of the second quarter, only to allow 27 unanswered points for a final score of 40-14 in favor of the Pioneers. The Hoyas entered the matchup as the only undefeated team remaining in the Patriot League, fresh off of beatdowns on Davidson College (2-1) and Marist College (0-2) in the previous two weeks. Last year, Georgetown handled Sacred Heart 27-10 despite severe thunderstorm conditions forcing the match to end early. This year’s theme was not rumbles, but rather fumbles (and interceptions), much to the delight of Pioneers fans, who enthusiastically cheered for Georgetown’s 5 turnovers. On the third play of the opening drive, senior running back Naieem Kearney, who typically carries the football in a vise grip, turned the ball over for the first time since the Hoyas; last matchup against Sacred Heart in 2023. Capitalizing on the turnover, Sacred Heart quarterback John Michalski capped off a 37-yard drive with a 9-yard rushing touchdown to put the Pioneers up 6-0. On the next drive, junior quarterback Danny Lauter launched a strong response, starting with a 14-yard swing pass to sophomore running back Bryce Cox. Cox would gain another
Hoyas junior wide receiver Jimmy Kibble maneuvers
Faith Specter Sports Deputy Editor
Having clinched a berth in the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) playoffs the night before, the Washington Spirit exuded energy and excitement while hosting the Houston Dash at Audi Field last Sunday. With the pressure lifted off their shoulders, the Spirit are now focused on making the final tweaks and finishes before the postseason. The Houston Dash entered the matchup sitting dead last in the standings, having not won an NWSL game since May 24. Although no win is ever a guarantee, the Spirit were clearly the overwhelming favorites for the afternoon. A few new faces made the Spirit’s starting lineup: English defender Esme Morgan — signed from the FA Women’s Super League’s Manchester City this June — made her first appearance, and forward Brittany Ratcliffe — signed from the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage in the offseason — earned her third start (and first since May).
The Spirit had about as good of a start as they could have asked for after a controversial penalty — a handball in the box by Dash defender Allysha Chapman — was called in their favor in just the second minute of play. After a video assistant referee check, forward Ashley Hatch cleanly buried the penalty to put the
Spirit up 1-0 just seven minutes in. Though the game was relatively uneventful for the next 20 minutes, Spirit star forward Trinity Rodman made sure to quickly pick up the slack. In the 26th minute, Rodman positioned a perfectly precise cross into the box to set Hatch up perfectly for a tap-in goal, putting the Spirit up 2-0 and giving Hatch a first-half brace. The goal would be Hatch’s 50th of her NWSL career, putting her in elite company with only six other players to have ever reached that milestone. Things seemed almost too good to be true when the Spirit put the ball in the back of the net for a third time just five minutes later. A corner-kick sequence by midfielder Leicy Santos and defender Casey Krueger saw Morgan’s initial shot saved by Dash keeper Jane Campbell, but Santos got
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First-year outside hitter Dionna Mitchell tallied 22 hits against George Washington in volleyball’s D.C. Showdown.
Eilat Herman Hoya Sports Columnist