The Hoya: October 18, 2024

Data Leak Exposes GU Students’, Graduates’ Personal Information

Clayton Kincade, Evie Steele, Maren Fagan

Contributing Editor, Editor in Chief and Senior News Editor

A data leak through Georgetown University’s GU Experience internal information platform exposed students’ and graduates’ financial aid, social security numbers, GPA, admissions details and visa information. Georgetown users who logged in to GU Experience between 8 a.m. Oct. 16 and 8:30 a.m. Oct. 17 could use the sidebar to access an administrative version of the website. This site contained a page marked “Insights,” which contained a folder named “Datawarehouse.” Within the “Datawarehouse” folder were multiple nesting folders which contained several spreadsheets with the personal information.

According to Doug Little, the university’s chief information officer, the leak was a result of a setting error in the GU

Experience platform, known as Ellucian Banner.

“Following a maintenance and outage period of the Banner student information system, a subset of student users in the GU Experience platform were able to access certain student data from current and former students,” Little wrote in an email sent to community members at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

“This was not the result of an external attack or security compromise of our system, but instead an inadvertent setting change that allowed a subset of existing users with GU IDs to gain access to data that would otherwise only be used by administrative staff,” Little added. It did not appear that individuals could access the data without a Georgetown login, but the platform also allowed users to download and save this information to their personal devices.

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GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

A data leak on the GU Experience platform exposed years of admissions, financial aid, GPA and social security information.

GU Sees Drop in Racial, Ethnic Diversity

Evie Steele

Editor in Chief

In the first class of Hoyas admitted without race-based affirmative action, Georgetown University enrolled fewer students of color than in previous classes, according to data from an Oct. 9 university press release. According to the university’s data, of enrolled first-years who self-reported their race, 26% identify as Asian, 9% as Black, 1% as Native American, 1% as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 12% as Hispanic and 63% as white. Students could self-select one or multiple racial or

McCourt School of Public Policy Dean Cancian To Step Down

Aamir Jamil Senior News Editor

Dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy Maria Cancian will step down Nov. 1 to focus on family care responsibilities, Provost Robert Groves announced in an email sent to the Georgetown community Oct. 15. According to the email, Cancian, who started in February 2019, is stepping down to focus on “urgent family care responsibilities.” She will return to McCourt as a professor of public policy in the Fall 2025 semester. McCourt Associate Dean for Faculty Thomas DeLeire will serve as interim dean until a new dean is appointed for the

Fall 2025 semester.

Cancian said she was honored to lead McCourt for the past six years as the school has grown and worked towards missions of inclusivity.

“It has been an honor and a wonderful opportunity to serve as Dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy,” Cancian wrote to The Hoya “The last six years have been a period of tremendous growth and development, focused on advancing our aspiration to become the most inclusive school of public policy in the nation, advancing our mission of strengthening the pipeline of future problem solvers and advancing solutions to complex policy problems.”

In the Oct. 15 email, Groves said Cancian left an indelible mark on McCourt and the greater public policy community.

“Dean Cancian will leave a lasting legacy on the McCourt School and a strong foundation for continued growth, with an outstanding faculty and staff, deepened connections to the D.C. and policy communities and a diverse and growing set of committed partners,” Groves wrote in the email.

Cancian oversaw the launch of an undergraduate program in public policy in 2023 and the opening of the new McCourt building on the Capitol Campus

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ethnic identities or choose not to report their race or ethnicity; 9% of students did not report, while the university’s data does not report on the racial or ethnic background of international students, who represent 8% of the class.

In total, 49% of enrolled students identified as students of color; 53% of students admitted to the Class of 2027 identified as students of color. Although the university has not made public further admissions records using this methodology for the classes of 2026 or 2027, admissions records on the classes of 2025 and earlier using the same methodology as the Oct.

9 data indicate that this year’s class, the Class of 2028, likely has fewer Black, Asian and Hispanic students than earlier classes.

In the current senior class, the Class of 2025, 10.3% of admitted students identified as Black, 12.2% as Hispanic and 25.6% as Asian, while in the Class of 2024, 11% of admitted students identified as Black, 13% as Hispanic and 28% as Asian.

Nationally, 12.5% of college students identify as Black, 20.3% of students as Hispanic and 7.3% of students as Asian. Notably, the enrolled Class of 2028 has a lower percentage of

Black students than the admitted Class of 2016, which was 10% Black. The university did not release data about the race of enrolled students in either of these classes nor about the race of admitted students this year. Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69), the dean of admissions, said the university aims to ensure its student body is diverse.

“Georgetown pursues all available efforts to cultivate and support a diverse Hoya community,” Deacon said in the press release. “We will continue See ADMISSIONS, A4

Community Memorial Service Honors GUPD’s Anthony Allen

Ruth Abramovitz GUSA Desk Editor

The Georgetown University community remembered the late Anthony Allen (CAS ’90), a Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) master officer and former player on the men’s basketball team, at a celebration of life service Oct. 16.

Anthony Joseph Allen Sr., who had served as a campus police officer since 1994, died Sept. 10 at 57 years old. Reflecting Allen’s devout Protestant faith, Rev. Ebony Grisom, the director of Protestant Life, and Rev. TauVaughn Toney, a Protestant chaplain in the Office of Campus Ministry, led the memorial service, which featured prayers, gospel music and words of remembrance from various campus leaders.

Fred Johnson, GUPD’s patrol operations commander, who worked alongside Allen for more than a decade, said Allen was an honest and exemplary person in all regards.

“What you saw is what you got, and what you got was one of the most caring, kindest, nicest and loving people that I’ve ever met in my life,” Johnson said at the memorial.

Joyce Pearson, a GUPD lieutenant who spoke on behalf of Associate Vice President of Public Safety Jay Gruber, said Allen’s 30 years of service to campus safety were centered around personal care for the Georgetown community.

“He believed that policing was about building relation-

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ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

According to Georgetown University data, fewer students of color enrolled at Georgetown in the Class of 2028 than in the Class of 2027 and other previous classes admitted using race-based affirmative action, which is now illegal.

RUTH ABRAMOVITZ/THE HOYA Georgetown students, faculty and staff memorialized GUPD officer and former men’s basketball player Anthony Allen (CAS ’90).

the law,” Pearson said at the memorial.

took time to know the people he served, attending community events and engaging with students,

worked in youth ministry throughout his life, joining Athletes in Action, a sports organization that combines youth spiritual growth ating from Georgetown. He later became

Keep Looking for Opportunities

As a first-year student, I’ve been actively searching for opportunities on campus from an outsider’s perspective, seeking jobs and club connections. Coming in without the insider knowledge or networks that upperclassmen have built over time, I had to approach things differently. My unfamiliarity with campus systems gave me a unique vantage point. Scouring through the Georgetown Management System (GMS) and the tables at the Council of Advisory Boards (CAB) Fair, I was determined to be actively involved on campus. After receiving several rejections from clubs and being denied my requests for a federal work-study award for on-campus jobs, I felt dejected. However, as lost as I might have been, I kept looking — I forced myself to understand that continuing to chase new opportunities was all that I could do. I also began to recognize that not every opportunity needs to be grand to have a meaningful impact. It can be easy to let ambition cloud one’s vision of reality. Admittedly, I entered this process naively expecting numerous new doors to open for me the moment I came to Georgetown University. But I soon realized that those same doors can shut as fast as they open. A somewhat disheartening thought: It seems to me that getting into Hilltop Consultants is even more difficult than gaining admission to Georgetown itself! The unfortunate reality is that the competition for involvement opportunities can be fierce, and not every door will swing wide open, regardless of how eager, ambitious or prepared we feel. This can be especially daunting for first-years like me, who are navigating this application process for the first time. While updating my resume, I found myself embellishing the skills I had gained during my previous work and extracurricular experiences. I used phrases like “superior interpersonal skills,” “mastery of productivity and presentation software” and “outstanding academic acumen.” In doing so, I realized I was adept at creating an illusion of competence, portraying myself as someone who tackles any challenge. However, this process inadvertently inflated my expectations for the types of opportunities I thought I should pursue. The more I exaggerated my abilities on paper, the more daunting the gap between my perceived qualifications and actual capabilities became. When rejection followed rejection, I was left questioning not only my qualifications but also my self-

HOYA HISTORY

worth, now that my inflated perceptions had set me on a path that didn’t align with my experience. While I feel ready to tackle any opportunity that comes my way, the reality is that many positions require qualifications — senior leadership experience, past internships or proficiency in industry-specific software — that I haven’t yet built as a first-year. It became clear that ambition alone wouldn’t be enough; I would need to develop these skills and experiences over time to align with the demands that come with the opportunities in question. Upon reflection, I understand that this feeling of uncertainty is a healthy part of my transition into a new chapter of my life. Feeling lost at this stage doesn’t indicate failure, but rather reflects the natural pains that come with the process. More importantly, it teaches us that when faced with rejection, we should continue to seek out opportunities anyway — even those that seem unrelated to our longterm goals. Sometimes, minor opportunities can generate major revelations about what we are passionate about, what we are good at or how we want to navigate our future. Embracing these seemingly small opportunities can help us uncover hidden talents or unexpected passions and even reshape how we envision our future.

I’ve since decided to revisit the “skills” section of my resume. Instead of fancy fluff, I’ve decided to be honest with myself and highlight skills that are truly pertinent to me, such as “effective communication” or “conflict resolution skills.” Inflating what we think we’re capable of only sets us up for disappointment when the reality of our experience doesn’t match the expectations we’ve created for ourselves. Instead, by confronting feelings of being lost and frustrated, we should all strive to be honest with ourselves and identify what we can truly bring to the table.

In this way, my opportunity-seeking journey becomes less about chasing an ideal and more about exploring what I want to become. Feeling lost is not a flaw; it’s a fundamental part of growth. I encourage everyone to continue to feel empowered to look for opportunities that resonate with who you truly are instead of the person you exaggerate yourself to be.

Nhan Phan is a first-year in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the third installment of his column, “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost.”

Students Must Concentrate on Education

February 13, 1990

Higher education in the United States is suffering from a damaging philosophy that concentrates on future personal Success at the expense of learning for learning’s sake.

The idea of reading Shakespeare, Darwin and Aquinas for the purpose of understanding what they thought has often been shelved for the pursuit of the elusive 4.0 grade point average. In addition, athletic activities or pursuits in college journalism’ or’ radio consume the student so that Her/his studies become nothing ‘more than a bothersome expedient that must be given cursory attention during exam time.

The portrait of university students participating in a variety of non-academic activities is not uncommon and generally admired.

The 4.0 student is also laureled with honors and indeed should be. However, we must be careful as to the intent behind the results, and the atmosphere we create in extolling the ends without a purview of the means.

The four years a student spends in college usually consists of his/ her final teenage years and-at least a symbolic passage into adulthood. After completing these years at school most graduates proceed to their own personal endeavors and specific careers, which require allconsuming attention. Therefore, the four years they spend in higher education should be spent absorbing the knowledge humanity has left for posterity. Four years is a

small commitment when one considers the vast concerns of knowledge that will remain unexamined. Unfortunately, my personal perspective borders on the hypocritical. In addition to being a student in the School of Business Administration, I have participated broadly in college radio and have spent great amounts of time at various jobs during school. I have tried hard throughout my schooling to keep outside activities to a lesser concern; however, this has not always been possible.

As I approach the completion of my undergraduate studies, I realize there are theories and essays that I neglected to read and learn even though my course work mandated for me to do so. My concerns are heightened when I survey some of my peers who concentrate on their studies only during exam time and feel compelled to do nothing more. This scenario brings to light the words of H.G. Wells who defined modern history as “a race between education and catastrophe.”

Education in the United States must refocus its purpose in order to keep pace in this. most important race. The first priority of a student in higher-education should be to seek the opportunity to study and learn the past to carry on the pursuit of the future. Unfortunately, the U.S. currently faces a dearth of “students” and a plethora of diploma-seekers. Our culture has created the philosophy of completing a course rather than reading a subject.

There are several ways our environment may change to allow the student to return to learning. First, and most important, pressures must be relieved from the student to attain the 4.0, and more emphasis be given to the quality of schooling received. In the more progressive schools, such as Brown University, the system of pass/fail grading has been implemented to a greater extent than Georgetown.

Second specialized schooling on the undergraduate level should be reviewed. At age 18, the teenager has hardly encountered the basic theories of such subjects as science, philosophy or history. These disciplines or arts should be stressed as they help one to learn to think and should not be overlooked especially by the future businessman or journalist.

To say that the U.S. system of higher education is failing would be misleading. It is still one of the most advanced and thorough in the world. However, we are quickly becoming too worried about personal advancement. In the realm of education, this demeanor may be quite damaging in the long run. Students are becoming too competitive and preoccupied with plans to build a career that keeps them on the fast track. It is the purpose of undergraduate education to provide the proper antidote rather than agitation to these things.

Henry E. Mazurek

Founded January 14,

In remembering that things aren’t any less “fantastic” now than they were in my past, I am reminded to enjoy the present — even in the smallest ways.

Dylan Goral (CAS ‘28) “Make Your Mundane Wonderful” thehoya.com

The club-application process at Georgetown is known to be rigorous. While some organizations have open membership opportunities for students, others are more exclusive, requiring formal applications and interviews. In his article, Nhan Phan (CAS ‘28) reflects on how the difficulty with getting into various student organizations canbediscouraginganddaunting,particularlyforfirst-yearstudents.

The Hoya conducted a poll in order to gauge students’ opinions of whether the club-application process at Georgetown should be less formalized and competitive. Of the 54 respondents, 64.8% said that they should be less formalized and competitive, while 35.2%

CARTOON by Lauren Tao

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

EDITORIAL

Practice Solidarity, Service

When I made the decision to come to Georgetown University intent on studying international political economy, I didn’t quite expect that my weeks would include curating children’s books, ordering fidget toys or picking up Sour Patch Kids to pass out as rewards to elementary schoolers. Yet that’s where I’ve landed in my fourth semester of work as a site coordinator and tutor for D.C. Reads, a program within Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ) that offers one-onone literacy tutoring to students at historically under-resourced elementary schools in Washington, D.C.’s Wards 7 and 8, east of the Anacostia River.

For me, tutoring at Plummer Elementary School has represented a welcome twiceweekly disruption to days otherwise circumscribed by the norms and expectations of the Georgetown bubble. In an instant, worries about class schedules, accolades, insecurities and tightly packed Google Calendars become secondary. Liberated from those structures, we can embrace the principle of solidarity.

Solidarity rejects the hierarchy inherent in the oftreferenced “savior complex” in which a person believes they are responsible for “uplifting” others with fewer resources. Instead, it recognizes that there is nothing about the person engaging in service that renders them superior to the community in which the service takes place.

The CSJ’s formalized vision, which debuted this school year, attests that its work centers on “the redistribution of resources,” among other values. And no, this isn’t a Marxist proclamation or a formulation for tax policy — it’s actually much simpler. It’s a recipe for envisioning how we can, with humility, direct the opportunities presented to us toward the common good.

Approaching service with the CSJ or another Georgetown service organization with a mindset of solidarity means recognizing oneself as an agent of resource redistribution, not a saint or martyr. As Georgetown students, our time and energy are valuable and available resources that we can share with our partner communities. The CSJ offers us vans to travel to elementary schools and funds to procure books and supplies. Our access to these resources is in a sense coincidental — we did not ourselves earn them, but we have access to them through our university affiliation. Our agency and opportunity, then, lie in recognizing how we can

serve as agents of redistribution. The value of solidarity is intimately intertwined with Georgetown’s Jesuit values of “people for others” and “a faith that does justice.” For those of us involved in D.C. Reads, it means supporting our partner elementary schools on their terms and in their space. We maintain constant communication with school staff to make sure we are serving students in the best way we can. In letting our school partners take the lead, we must recognize the limits of our knowledge, a scary and perhaps counterintuitive acknowledgement in the competitive Hilltop setting. Through this practice, too, service and solidarity challenge us to embrace humility and flexibility.

My experience in D.C. Reads has shown me that service and solidarity demand the kind of flexibility that is required to get out of one’s comfort zone.

Solidarity calls on us to set aside our assumptions and ask how we can apply our unique talents, passions and capacities to bring about the common good. The opportunities awaiting past the (literal and figurative) water’s edge could change your life.

The good news for those eager to engage is that Georgetown is brimming with opportunities to practice service and solidarity. We can all participate in this project of solidarity, recognizing the distinct opportunities available to us as students. Those opportunities can catch us off guard: If a flyer or social media post catches our eye on the way to class or walking in a dorm hallway, we should keep our minds and hearts open. We should let the joy of service surprise and excite us. By embracing humility, flexibility and solidarity, each of us can flourish as agents of redistribution — taking some of our own surplus, in whatever way that manifests itself, and pouring it into another’s cup.

So no, I can’t pretend that my high school self, upon acceptance to my top-choice college, envisioned a chapter characterized by prepping bags of art supplies and wrangling third graders in an elementary school cafeteria. But after joining D.C. Reads, I never looked back.

I’m grateful that I reshaped my expectations for what my Georgetown years would look like. In a world in which we seek to control and predict so much, I encourage all Georgetown students to embrace surprises as invitations to solidarity.

Nicholas Voltaggio is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.

THE FAIRY TALES WE TELL

ADance for Diversity, Spotlight Your Culture

rowing up in Wausau, Wis., events such as our annual Diwali Festival were especially important to me because, even in an area that was predominantly white, the energy of Indian culture could create an evening of multiculturalism, happiness and humanity. My personal contribution to these festivals was as a dancer. With my sister as our choreographer, myself and several of our friends would perform in front of an energetic audience, all eager to see the months’ worth of effort we put into our presentation of Indian culture.

Although most of my friends were not Indian, and many of those clapping for us after our dance weren’t either, the night did not lack magic. In fact, the very focus on learning about each other — our humanity and our backgrounds — almost made the joy more infectious. It was a type of happiness from which I never imagined I would feel disconnected.

Upon coming to Georgetown University — although I was surrounded by a community far more diverse than the one I grew up with — I found myself struggling to find the confidence to join groups with an Indian or South Asian community. I became a victim to a problem I never imagined myself having.

Only by listening to my peers’ experiences and acknowledging my own hesitation to embrace my culture did I truly understand why those Diwali festivals back home meant so much to me. Dancing, my culture, the people — it was about educating. While I derived great personal joy from being on stage and seeing our hard work pay off, I felt real power from how I contributed to the South Asian community, educated the Wausau community and advocated for diversity.

Unfortunately, when advocating for diversity, many organizations, communities, schools and other

Your Mundane Wonderful

t the beginning of the fall season, when the air becomes crisp and the leaves start to lose their greenish hue, I indulge in my favorite annual tradition: a viewing of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Unlike most seasonal traditions, celebrated with friends and family in apple orchards or pumpkin patches, mine takes place alone, under the covers of my warm bed, in the middle of the night. This way, I feel immersed in one moment — outside of my little bubble, time stands still. Like me, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is also stuck in a single idealized moment in the middle of autumn. In almost every scene, the sky is a saturated orange. Every tree clings to only a handful of bronzed leaves, and every blade of grass assumes a brassy yellow hue. Mr. Fox even boasts a cornucopia ripe with corn and obsesses over the classic seasonal beverage, apple cider. Beyond the movie’s autumnal aesthetic, Mr. Fox himself is stuck in his own idealized moment: his past. He recalls the glory days when he and his friends would engage in mischief, laments the mundanity of his middle-aged life and fears the prospect of death — the inevitable winter. In his autumn, the transition between the nostalgic summer and the uncertainty of winter, all he wants to do is go back. He longs for the days when he felt “fantastic,” and I do, too.

With each viewing, I’m reminded of my desire to return to a time when I was more “fantastic.” This year, as

I hit play on the film in a new room, 500 miles away from home, I felt less “fantastic” than I ever have before. For the first time, I felt nostalgic about my foliage-filled town in the heart of New England. I felt I’d left behind a “better” version of me. Back home, I was a team captain and club president — a brother, a son, a best friend. Now, as I study almost every night for midterms, alone in the cramped study rooms of Lau 2, obsessing over every detail that might compromise 30% of my grade, I can’t help but long to return to the time and place before I was just some kid living in Darnall Hall. But as this year’s viewing ended at 3 a.m. on a Thursday, I found a new meaning to the movie I have seen a million times: There is no such thing as “better days.” I thought back to last year — the fall of my senior year — and tried to remember how things were better then; I was quick to forget the chaos of applying to ten different universities before their deadlines. Those days were not any better, but after every late-night study session and early-morning wake-up, I tell myself they are. Sometimes, I can only look at my past through rose-tinted glasses. In remembering that things aren’t any less “fantastic” now than they were in my past, I am reminded to enjoy the present — in even the smallest ways. After the hot weather to start the school year, there is something refreshing about the chilly mornings and cool evenings. Exchanging my

iced coffee order at The Corp or Epi’s for hot coffee has added a little bit of joy to my life. Having the right weather to sport a flannel jacket also never fails to put a smile on my face. Instead of romanticizing the past, I can romanticize the now. Even if midterm madness and club commitments take up most of my time and effort right now, in a new setting I’m still learning to navigate, I can focus on the little things — the simple pleasures of life. Things don’t have to be “fantastic” — a reflection of an idealized past — to be wonderful. Even as the once-green leaves wilt from the trees preparing for winter, they still look beautiful. As I deal with the stress of my first midterm season and the other challenges that come with being a college first-year, finding the beauty in the little things keeps me going.

I never expected the conversations with my roommates about badminton, the discussions with my girlfriend about her autumnal nail palette or the friendly interactions with strangers in the elevator every morning to be the highlights of my day at this point in my first year. But they make my day fantastic in their own way. As mundane as they might seem, they’re part of my fairy tale — and that’s all that matters.

Dylan Goral is a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the third installment of his column, “The Fairy Tales We Tell.”

institutions often measure their work by how it looks. For example, in many cases, “diversity” is considered achieved by the mere inclusion of a single brown individual.

This underwhelming attempt at diversification has the harmful implication that South Asians are a monolithic group; there is a gap in education and a clear lack of nuance in how most people understand South Asian cultures.

Georgetown Rangila, the university’s premier South Asia philanthropic performing arts showcase, introduces a creative solution to this complex and overshadowed issue. Because music and dance are such integral parts of many South Asian cultures, they can be helpful tools as we learn how to effectively appreciate the diversity within South Asia itself.

Saachi Baldwa (CAS ’26), a student here at Georgetown and a child of Indian immigrants, emphasized the importance of highlighting the complexities within the South Asian region and how art can be a productive means by which to do so to me.

“One of the easiest ways for me to access culture was to see myself on the screen through Bollywood,” Baldwa told me.

Moreover, Baldwa not only praises this approach to cultural inclusion but also practices it in her own work. As one of the directors of Studio Rangila, a team of student musicians who perform South Asian music of several different genres, she explains how music can successfully achieve representation of South Asian cultures.

“Rangila prioritizes representation through diversifying our music taste and the charities we support,” said Baldwa.

This year, Studio Rangila will highlight music from several regions, including Afghanistan and South

India, while also representing a plethora of languages, as seen in one of their selections, an Urdu-Hindi mix.

Rangila’s unique way of using art to provide a holistic appreciation of all different South Asian cultures is coupled with philanthropic efforts to fulfill its mission of uplifting these communities. Although Baldwa and I advocate for the inclusion of all different backgrounds, as Indians we are a part of the group that receives a majority of the attention among South Asians.

Deepa Phuyal (SFS ’26), a choreographer for Rangila, uses spaces like the showcase to not only fight for representation of the various cultures in the region, but as a Nepali, to also fight for herself. Phuyal recounted to me that Rangila showcased the first Nepali dance only two years ago. Even organizations like Rangila, whose intentions are to educate and include, have areas to grow and improve.

This year, Rangila’s chosen philanthropy partner is the Little Sisters Fund, a charity that seeks to provide at-risk Nepali girls with the resources and support to become empowered individuals, emphasizing a young girl’s right to an education and any opportunity to be a change maker within her community. The Nepali community — Deepa’s community — received not only a spotlight in the showcase the last two years but also the much deserved recognition as Rangila’s board members decided where the club should invest its revenue. Rangila’s growth in the last few years is indicative of the way that activism is about constantly learning, making mistakes and trying again.

What seemed so daunting to me at first about finding a brown community on campus suddenly seemed so insignificant. Phuyal, as a fellow Midwesterner, understood how difficult it was to adjust to a

campus that seemed so diverse and rich in culture, especially when coming from a background where she was one of the few South Asians in personal and professional circles. And yet, through the guidance of upperclassmen, friendships made with classmates and, of course, personal courage, she has been a part of a student group that not only puts on a wildly entertaining and successful show but also does the important work of raising money for charity and spreading awareness about South Asia’s multifaceted nature. South Asians are not a monolith and all aspects of their variety deserve to be explored. However, this larger picture can only be tended to if we can navigate our personal challenges first. It is unproductive to scare yourself away from what you are drawn to. As someone who has done just that, I implore you against convincing yourself that where you came from can stop you from accessing the things you care about. Culture is pervasive and it’s important to embrace it. It doesn’t matter if you are someone like Phuyal and myself — who come from areas with a significant lack of diversity — or like Baldwa — who thought Georgetown lacked in multifariousness compared to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was part of a large immigrant community. In the end, we all care about our background and our culture. We care about speaking up and showing out for all types of people, whether that happens to be through dancing, singing, donating or writing an article. Mansi Peters is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. This is the second installment of her column, “Activism Through Art.”

Eliminate Participation Grades

Iam a self-proclaimed yapper. Give me any topic, and I could probably ramble on about it for hours — at least in front of my friends and family. As for the professor and teaching assistant (TA) who facilitated the lecture I took last semester? They saw a different side of me.

When I found out the TAs were keeping track of who spoke during the lecture and using the tallies to calculate our “participation grade,” I felt a wave of stress overcome me. I love talking, but not enough to do it in front of 150 people. Participation grades are not uncommon, and this was just one of my many classes where verbal engagement had an impact on my final grade. Since this is a typical component of grade composition across classes, concerns arose in the back of my mind and led me to question the true validity and reliability of class participation as a measure of academic success.

One factor that undermines the validity of participation grades is their inherent subjectivity. Like anyone else, teachers can carry unconscious biases that may affect their evaluations of students. For instance, affinity bias might lead them to favor students with similar backgrounds, interests and experiences, resulting in an unfair assessment of students’ contributions.

Additionally, when participation is factored into

grades, students are pitted against their classmates regarding how much they speak and what they say. This can create competition for “air time,” which fosters a toxic classroom environment, ultimately undermining the goal of participation grades: to promote collaborative learning through discussion.

Furthermore, personality plays into students’ comfort level with public speaking. It’s unfair to make students talk when they’re reluctant. Some people like to talk, others don’t. That doesn’t mean they’re not learning.

Some have advocated for eliminating participation grades altogether. While I see the merits in doing so, this is not the path that should be taken. As a student, I understand the frustration when a teacher tries to engage the classroom and no one responds — a situation that participation grades might help alleviate.

Studies have also shown that students who participate in class achieve better academic results than their peers who do not. However, valid reasons exist for why some hesitate to participate. Students come from diverse backgrounds with different expectations for classroom behavior. In classes at Chinese public schools, for example, students are traditionally taught to listen and take notes rather than engage in open discussion; they

are expected to follow the teacher’s instructions without rebuttal. Just because you participate doesn’t mean you’re a good student, and just because you don’t doesn’t mean you’re a bad student. Perhaps you simply grew up in an environment that emphasized a different set of values.

To address the issues with participation grades, I suggest making them more inclusive by adopting a self-evaluation approach. For example, professors can distribute forms that allow students to evaluate their own performance in class and explain the reasons behind their assessments. This method would give students a space to share their thoughts and challenges with instructors, providing professors with valuable insights about students’ diverse backgrounds, personalities and learning preferences. Especially in large lecture classes, where understanding each student’s circumstances can be difficult, open communication through this self-evaluation approach can lead to fairer, more accurate participation grading.

This way, when the yappers (and non-yappers) aren’t yapping, professors and TAs alike will understand why.

Aria Zhu is is a sophomore in the College of

GU Admits Fewer Students of Color to Class of 2028, University’s First Post-Affirmative Action Class

Georgetown’s Class of 2028 includes fewer Black and Hispanic students than the first-year classes at many of the university’s peer schools and fewer students of color than previous classes.

Evie Steele Editor in Chief

ADMISSIONS, from A1 our commitment to this work in the years ahead.”

Deacon denied a request for an on-the-record interview through a university spokesperson.

A university spokesperson said the school will continue using a holistic admissions process.

“Georgetown University only admits students who will contribute to the academic rigor and thrive in our community,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Georgetown carefully considers all applicants to the University and, as a result, our admissions process has always been as personalized as possible.”

Zack Mabel, a research professor and the director of research at the university’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), which researches education policy, said universities’ different statistical methodologies make it difficult for researchers to understand the full impact of ending race-based affirmative action on college classes’ demographics.

“This is all coming from selfreported enrollment numbers from institutions, and they’re choosing to report their demographics however they want to,” Mabel told The Hoya. “And so institutions are using different definitions. They’re aggregating groups in different ways which also oftentimes makes it difficult, if not impossible, to really compare what the true impacts are across institutions.”

The university also released data on the incoming class’s eligibility for Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates demonstrating financial need, in an Aug. 28 press release.

Of Georgetown’s Class of 2028, approximately 15% — the highest percentage in a Georgetown freshman class in more than a decade — are Pell-eligible.

The university spokesperson said Georgetown aims to meet students’ financial needs.

“Georgetown University meets the full financial need of all eligible undergraduate students and a student’s need for financial assistance nevernegativelyimpactstheirchances of admissions,” the spokesperson wrote. “In fact, Georgetown nearly doubled the number of incoming students with exceptional financial need — through eligibility for the Pell grant — in the 2024-25 school year.”

Racial and Ethnic Diversity at Georgetown

The 2023-24 undergraduate admissions cycle, during which the university admitted members of the Class of 2028, was the first in which the university could not consider race in its admissions process after the U.S. Supreme Court ended race-based affirmative action in June 2023.

According to 2023 research from the CEW, the Supreme Court’s decision likely makes it more difficult for universities to admit and enroll racially and ethnically diverse classes.

While many selective universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Johns Hopkins University, have since released data showing that the percentage of Black and Hispanic students enrolled in

their first-year classes has dropped significantly, other institutions such as Dartmouth College have seen increases in their populations of students of color.

Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy who has studied affirmative action in the workplace and in college admissions, said this variance is not surprising.

“For lots of places, the declines in diversity are not as large as people feared they would be,” Holzer told The Hoya. “It seems to vary from one school to the next one.”

Mabel said universities’ differing policy changes after the Supreme Court decision have resulted in variation across different institutions.

“A big question is, what new policies did each individual institution embrace in response to the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious

“If you care deeply about diversity, then you will do everything in your power to protect and expand it.”

DARIUS

WAGNER (CAS ’27) HOYAS AGAINST LEGACY ACTIVIST

admissions practices that may have been more or less effective in this most recent admissions cycle,” Mabel said.

“Not all institutions chose to respond in the same way.”

“Some, I think, took a very, very conservative approach and said we’re going to continue to do business as usual, except we’re not going to consider race,” Mabel added. “Other institutions were much more aggressive about introducing new strategies to try to make up for the potential losses in racial diversity.”

The university spokesperson said Georgetown aims to continue providing resources to a diverse student body.

“Georgetown remains committed to our efforts to recruit, enroll, and supportstudentsfromallbackgrounds to ensure an enriching educational experience that can best be achieved by engaging with a diverse group of peers,” the spokesperson wrote.

Georgetown holds recruitment events in every state, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which aim to reach out to a diverse variety of students, according to Melissa Costanzi, the director of undergraduate admissions.

“Recruitment activities include joint travel (in-person and virtually) with other top universities in a group called Exploring College Options, high school visits and in-person and virtual Georgetown information sessions and tours,” Costanzi wrote to The Hoya. “In addition, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions offers application workshops (including workshops designed specifically for first-generation college students and international students), a series focused on facilitating conversation between current and prospective students of similar backgrounds,

and financial aid literacy workshops produced in partnership with the Office of Student Financial Services.”

Costanzi said the university works to specifically reach out to first-generation students through partnerships with educational organizations on presentations, college fairs and application preparation.

“While each individual staff member works within their own geographic region to recruit to a group of prospective students from a variety of different backgrounds, a Diversity and Access team coordinates outreach to first-generation college students and others through programming with a variety of organizations,” Costanzi wrote.

Georgetown’sClassof2028includes fewer Black and Hispanic students than the first-year classes at many of the university’s peer schools, which the university uses as benchmarks for comparison, including Columbia University, Northwestern University and Duke University.

At Columbia, 19% of the first-year class identified as Hispanic and 12% Black, while 49% of first-years identified as white and 39% as Asian. Northwestern’s first-year class is 15% Black and 18% Hispanic, while Duke’s is 13% Black, 14% Hispanic, 29% Asian and 52% white. Each of these schools calculated admissions statistics for domestic students using the same methodology as Georgetown.

Asher Maxwell (CAS ’26), a student organizer who has worked with the student organization Hoyas Against Legacy, which aims to encourage admissions reform, said the university’s admissions results were disappointing relative to these peer schools’.

“The university should be seeing these numbers grow,” Maxwell told The Hoya. “That is where we should be, and that is what a commitment to community in diversity looks like. But that is not what we’re seeing with this.”

Prior to the Supreme Court decision, Georgetown’s admit rate for Black and Hispanic students had been decreasing, while its admissions of Asian and white students have increased, according to publicly available data from the Common Data Set (CDS), a set of standardized questions colleges answer about their admissions and financial aid processes.

CDS data uses a different methodology to the university’s data: While Georgetown’s data allowed students to select more than one racial or ethnic identity, the CDS classifies students by one race only or as mixed-race.

Under the CDS formula, the Class of 2027 includes 52.3% white, 18.6% Asian, 5.4% Black, 4.5% Hispanic, 7.1% mixed race and 8.5% international students. In contrast, the Class of 2022 included50.8%white,12.3%Asian,7.6% Black, 10.2% Hispanic, 5.4% mixed race and 11.3% international students. The CDS data does not report on the racial or ethnic background of international students or mixed-race students, nor does it report on the racial identities of Hispanic students.

Georgetown did not immediately make available data for the Class of 2028 using

this methodology. According to a university spokesperson, the university typically releases data using this methodology in spring.

Darius Wagner (CAS ’27), another organizer with Hoyas Against Legacy, said Georgetown’s decreasing diversity reflects a lack of commitment to opening the university to students of all backgrounds.

“It feels like the university is more committed to ensuring that the gates are higher and less accessible than opening the gates to more students from different backgrounds,” Wagner told The Hoya “If you deeply care about diversity, then you will do everything in your power to protect and expand it, not just protect it, but expand it.”

Financial Diversity

This year, the university began considering students’ eligibility for Pell Grantsaspartofitsadmissionsprocess, according to the Aug. 28 release.

In the release, Provost Robert Groves said this financial diversity benefits every Hoya.

“Every student at Georgetown, all class discussions, all learning are advantaged by a student body with diverse life experiences,” Groves said in the press release. “Pell students are part of our multipronged approach to building a socioeconomically diverse student community and fostering an environment of dialogue among diverse perspectives.”

Georgetown’s increase in Pelleligible students comes as the U.S. Department of Education changed eligibility rules to make approximately 610,000 new students eligible for Pell Grants — increasing the pool of Pelleligible students by approximately 10%. Approximately 34% of undergraduates across the United States receive Pell Grants.

As a result, many of Georgetown’s peer schools have also seen upticks in their Pell-eligible student populations, with those schools’ Pelleligible student populations often larger than Georgetown’s.

At Duke, 22% of first-years are Pell-eligible, while at Columbia, 24% are Pell recipients. At Harvard University and MIT, neither of which Georgetown counts as peer schools, 20.7% and 20% of first-years, respectively, are Pell-eligible, while at Howard University, 45% of first-year students received Pell Grants in 2021.

Felix Rice (CAS ’26), a Pell Grant recipient and another student organizing with Hoyas Against Legacy for changes to the university’s admissions process, said the university’s rising Pell-eligible student number is not impressive because it is still far lower than both peer schools’ numbers and the percentage of Pelleligible students in the United States.

“The expansion of Pell eligibility is a victory, because it means that college is more affordable to more people,” Rice told The Hoya. “It’s not a victory for Georgetown.”

“Socioeconomic diversity isn’t just a data point, it also fundamentally shapes your experience on campus when you’re on the lower end of that, and it shapes whether or not you feel that the institution that you’re going to is made for you,” Rice added. “What has fundamentally changed?”

Mabel said Georgetown’s lower Pell-eligible student population

may be a result of the university offering smaller financial aid packages to lower-income students than other universities do.

If they’re not being offered a financial aid package that can compete with the Columbias or the Princetons of the world, and the reality is that many of these institutions are competing for the same students, then it’s a smart decision on the part of the student to enroll at the institution that’s offering them more generous financial aid,” Mabel said. “And it’s gonna show up in the enrollment numbers that Georgetown is falling behind its peers in terms of the representation of Pell-eligible students on campus, I would expect.”

Holzer said the low percentage of Pell-eligible students at selective schools, including Georgetown, reflects increasing class disparities at elite schools.

“These days, it’s just much harder for middle class people, working class people, for their students to compete with high-income people in admissions,” Holzer said. “The highincome people now have so many advantages. They send their kids to the very best schools, and they invest in coaches — essay coaches — and test score tutors. And so the gap has grown much wider.”

Considering Future Changes

Members of the Georgetown community have called for the university to further adapt its admissions strategies, including by installingaclass-consciousaffirmative action system or by eliminating legacy admissions — preferential treatment in admissions for children of graduates, faculty or staff.

The2023CEWreportrecommends that colleges eliminate legacy and student-athlete admissions preferences, expand recruitment efforts to less wealthy communities and use class-conscious admissions systems to maintain the levels of racial diversity they had with raceconscious admissions in place.

After the Supreme Court’s decision on race-based affirmative action, University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) said the university planned to consider socioeconomic factors in admissions as a substitute for race-conscious affirmative action. The university spokesperson did not directly address questions about any socioeconomic factors the university considers beyond Pell eligibility.

“The best answer we as a higher-ed community have come up with thus far has been using socioeconomic status as a proxy,” DeGioia told The Hoya in September 2023. “We’ve had 25 years of experience with this, and it’s an imperfect proxy is the best way to describe it.”

Holzer said class-based affirmative action could allow the university to attract more lowincome students of color.

“Affirmative action by class, if done the right way, could help bring in more people of color,” Holzer said. “It won’t be large enough to fully offset if there’s a big drop, but I think it would help. It would help at least a little bit.”

“I think it’ll be an interesting time as schools, every year, they will watch these data, and I think they will adjust to try to preserve as much of the racial diversity that they had before, and

maybe even be more diverse along class lines, which I think would be a good thing,” Holzer added.

Mabel said that a class-conscious admissions system would require Georgetown to increase its investment into financial aid.

“It is absolutely true that recruiting a more diverse class and using socioeconomic metrics to not only try to diversify the family income representation at selective colleges, but to use that as a tool to also try to diversify racial representation on these campuses means requiring much larger financial aid investment,” Mabel said.

Students and faculty have also called for the university to end its practice of legacy admissions preferences. Since August 2023, 38 student organizations and over 1,100 students, faculty, staff members and graduates — including Mabel — have signed a petition calling for the university to eliminate legacy admissions preferences.

Inspired by the petition’s success, organizers including Maxwell, Wagner and Rice formed Hoyas Against Legacy, which has since met with university staff members and Washington, D.C. elected officials and campaigned both at Georgetown and within D.C. seeking admissions reform. Holzer said universities justify legacy admissions by arguing that the practice increases graduates’ loyalty to the university.

“They think it increases the fundraising, their ability to fundraise, the contributions that alums give,” Holzer said. “I’m not sure that legacy preferences have quite as big an effect on those things as the schools believe, and there’s even been a bit of evidence on this that the schools might be overstating how much they really get from those legacy preferences. And if that’s the case, then we should reduce their influence on admissions.”

Maxwell said the university’s reluctance to end legacy is shameful.

“When the university was told by its own researchers that ending legacy admissions was an absolute, necessary first step to protecting against the losses of affirmative action, and the university did not take those steps, and then saw a loss in minority enrollment, that is embarrassing for the university,” Maxwell said. “It’s a failure of the university to act, and it spits in the face of the Jesuit values that the university purports to adhere to.”

Mabel said eliminating legacy admissions is an important step in ensuring students of all backgrounds feel welcome to apply to Georgetown.

“It’s not the silver bullet, but it can make differences on the margin around expanding both class and racial diversity,” Mabel said. “I think it’s, more than anything, a really important signal that preferences on those considerations should not be held in higher regard to preferences for race or any other purposes.”

“Ifwe’renotgoingtogivepreferences to level the playing field on account of people’s background due to racial discrimination, then we certainly shouldn’t be giving preferences because you come from a privileged background where someone in your family has attended the university previously,” Mabel added.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY Georgetown University admitted the most Pell Grant-eligible students in over a decade, but its percentage of Pell-eligible students remains low relative to peer schools.

GU Space Initiative Wins Prize at Lunar Business Pitch

Anna Tsioulias Science Writer

Eight members of the Georgetown University Space Initiative (GUSI), a student-run organization that brings together students passionate about space exploration and innovation, traveled to Denver, Colo., for SpaceVision 2024, a conference hosted by the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS-USA) from Oct. 3 to 5. Out of the seven teams from different universities that competed in the conference’s business pitch competition, GUSI secured second place, winning a $500 prize.

The four GUSI members that participated in the competition were tasked with creating a business idea that incorporated the cislunar economy, or the area between the moon and Earth. They impressed the judges with their pitch for MoonBounce, Inc., a cislunar distribution company that would create necessary infrastructure to transport goods on the moon.

According to GUSI business team leader Ben Bliss (MSB ’27), the goal of the hypothetical company is to make the lunar economy more viable by improving transportation and distribution methods.

“If you think about a strong lunar economy, you need strong distribution from one site to another on the moon; you can’t deliver everything from terrestrial payloads,” Bliss told The Hoya. “Our product was moon bouncers, so essentially lunar hoppers, which would be like suborbital medium-distance, rocket-boosted transportation vehicles that would go across a network of blast pads that would act as a distribution channel on the moon.”

Despite receiving the prompt a mere 24 hours before the competition, Bliss, along with Julen Payne (MSB ’28), Shuai Li (CAS ’27) and Nico Baumann (CAS ’27), all members of GUSI’s commercial team, worked hard to polish their 10-minute presentation as much as possible.

“We went into it still practicing right until the last minute because we had finished the deck at 2:30 a.m. and had spent all morning practicing,” Bliss said. “We were confident and really proud of our work. It was fun.” In addition to the business pitch competition, SpaceVision hosted panels and speaker events featuring high-profile representatives in space technology, defense and government organizations, such as NASA,

Lockheed Martin and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce. The conference also provided a unique opportunity to connect with hundreds of fellow undergraduates interested in space.

Attending such conferences serves as an incredible networking opportunity, according to attendee Anjan Balakrishnan (SFS ’27).

“GUSI has been an incredibly productive and successful club in the sense that it has genuinely changed a lot of people’s career trajectories, and it’s one of the reasons why our club decides to attend this kind of serious networking conference, because we went there and we met rocket scientists, aerospace and industrial engineers and CEOs from all over the country,” Balakrishnan told The Hoya At the SpaceVision conference, Balakrishnan was elected as the chairman of the Council of Chapters of SEDS-USA, a position that will enable him to found new university chapters and further develop those that require additional mentorship and funding.

“I’m basically the point of contact for everyone, all individual SEDS-USA chapters, for any issue that they might have,” Balakrishnan said. “I think obviously this is way too large a responsibili-

ty for one person to have, since we’re an organization of about 110 chapters and more than 10,000 kids. A big part of my push when I ran was to create a lot more support systems through 11 regional boards or regional chairs, which will be the point of contact for 10 to 11 chapters.”

Because SEDS-USA is largely an aerospace engineering organization, GUSI Co-president Owen Chbani (SFS ’25) said that Georgetown’s strengths in policy and business will enhance and diversify the knowledge base of the collective organization.

“We want to have more of a role in the national organization, SEDS-USA. They coordinate a lot of student outreach and activities, and they make space policy and business a key part of that. So it’s not just engineering, but it’s interdisciplinary,” Chbani told The Hoya. “Then you’re not just building all these things like rockets, but you’re understanding how they fit into broader society, broader politics, so you’re developing these technologies in a sustainable way that makes sense with the rest of society.”

GUSI has approximately 60 members and hosts weekly speaker events and a mentorship program that connects students with professionals in the aerospace industry. The club is separated into three

Northern Lights in DC Spark Student Excitement

Allie Stevens Science Deputy Editor

Georgetown University students recently had the rare opportunity to witness the northern lights, an astronomical phenomenon occurring when solar particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere to create vibrant displays of light. While typically visible at higher latitudes, the northern lights were briefly observed from Washington, D.C., sparking excitement among the campus community on the evening of Oct. 10.

Many students gathered outdoors, eager to catch a glimpse of the novel light show, an event that is most often visible in places like Scandinavia or northern Canada. For those on campus, this event was a rare chance to witness a natural phenomenon.

Bradley Fugetta (CAS ’23), a doctoral candidate in the physics department, explained how the northern lights occur and how they can be seen on Earth.

“You have all of these floating positively-charged nuclei and then electrons that are freely moving around,” Fugetta told The Hoya. “These charged particles, often ejected from the sun during solar flares, are then carried toward Earth by solar winds.”

According to Fugetta, as these charged particles approach Earth, they interact with its magnetic field, which channels them toward the polar regions where the auroras typically occur. Earth’s magnetic field acts like a protective shield, but it also directs the solar particles along magnetic flux lines toward the North and South poles, creating the aurora. Fugetta said how observing the sun allows us to determine when the northern lights are most likely to be visible.

“We know when they are going to happen, because the light coming from the sun reaches us

much earlier than the particles,” Fugetta said. “We should be able to know probably at least a week in advance by looking at where solar flares are happening. If the sun has a particularly large number of solar flares, we can predict that there’s going to be a large geomagnetic storm, making it more likely that you’ll see aurora borealis.”

Geomagnetic storms, which occur when solar winds and flares intensify, increase the chances of seeing the northern lights at locations of lower latitudes, such as D.C. The northern lights occur when charged particles from the sun collide with gases — such as oxygen and nitrogen — in Earth’s atmosphere, releasing energy as light.

“As the oxygen and nitrogen atoms decay from higher energy states to lower energy states, they release photons,” Fugetta said. “The green and the red colors you’re seeing are quantized based on different particles.”

For students like Umar Ahmed Badami (SFS ’26), witnessing the aurora from a location known for light pollution made the event even more striking.

“Even though the campus has a ton of light pollution, thanks to being in D.C., it was still extremely bright and a wonderful sight,” Ahmed Badami wrote to The Hoya

Ahmed Badami elaborated on the geographical distribution of aurora sightings, emphasizing the exceptional nature of the recent event in D.C.

“Generally, the northern lights — and their analog, the southern lights — are only visible at very high latitudes, so it’s extremely rare and special to be able to see them from less extreme locations like D.C.,” Ahmed Badami wrote.

According to Fugetta, even though the lights are rare in the D.C. area, students should be on the lookout for announcements of potential solar activity. The

brief but awe-inspiring appearance of the northern lights over Georgetown serves as a reminder of the powerful and unpredictable forces at play in our solar system, Fugetta said.

“Just watch out for the news,” Fugetta said. “You as an individual probably cannot predict it unless you have a really good telescope. But someone can predict it. You can be aware.”

Ryan Shea (CAS ’28), one of the students who observed the northern lights, noted the collective excitement the event generated.

“It was a really cool experience to see a bunch of people all kind of gather at once and watch,” Shea told The Hoya. “It almost reminds me of when the eclipse happened, and was just a bunch of people looking at this really, really cool astronomical event.”

Physics Fair Highlights GU On-Campus Research

Undergraduate physics students got a glimpse into the research professors, graduate students and fellow undergraduates have conducted at an open-invite research fair hosted by the Georgetown University physics department in Regents Hall on Oct. 11. The fair was intended to expose students who want to get involved in physics research to the myriad of available opportunities, according to Emanuela Del Gado, a provost’s distinguished associate professor and the director of the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology, a physics research institute at Georgetown. Del Gado was one of the faculty members present at the fair, where she gave an overview of her research on the interactions of gel molecules and solids, breaking down complex ideas into simple analogies.

Del Gado encouraged undergraduate students to find their own research interests and pursue them.

“This event is more conceived for undergraduate students in physics to get some ideas of what are the research groups in the classroom, what are the research possibilities for them within the department,” Del Gado said. Jonathan Riess (CAS ’25), a math and physics major at Georgetown, attended the event and said he thought the fair was a great opportunity to keep up with others’ research and network within the physics community at Georgetown.

“I came here to socialize and talk to other people about their research,” Riess told The Hoya Bradley Fugetta (CAS ’23), a postbaccalaureate fellow in the physics department and doctoral student, provided insight into what it takes to continue research after college, emphasizing the importance of interdisci-

plinary knowledge and communication skills.

Fugetta said learning how to code ultimately provided the foundation for an integral part of his research, which focuses on determining the magnetic properties of different materials through machine learning.

“I had no idea what to do, but I very quickly realized that I really, really liked coding,” Fugetta told The Hoya

Mado Faradyan (CAS ’28) attended the fair and said he appreciated how every researcher took the time to explain their work, which left him with a deeper interest in physics.

“The fair was super interesting. All of the professors and graduate students were really willing to share all the information, resources, and the specifics of it and learn how undergraduate students can contribute and they were all passionate,” Faradyan told The Hoya Instead of reinforcing the

teams: The commercial team focuses on aerospace- and defense-related stock and business pitching, the policy team engages in advocacy work for space policy priorities and the science team builds weather balloons and other technology related to climate and sustainability. Despite only being founded in 2019, GUSI has already made its mark on the Georgetown community and hopes to encourage members to become leaders in the space industry, Balakrishnan emphasized.

Biology of Birth Control: How Do Contraception Methods Stop Pregnancy? THE REPRO RUNDOWN

Audrey Twyford Science Columnist

There’s no question that contraceptives have been fundamental in the modern fight for gender equality. Since women and birthing people gained the ability to choose if and when they wanted children, they have attained greater education, economic power and freedom from health risks associated with pregnancy.

Today, people can choose from a seemingly endless array of contraceptive options, each differing in efficacy and usage method. However, this abundance of options can sometimes lead to confusion about the risks and benefits of each method, especially when social and cultural stigma further mystifies the importance of contraceptives. So, how do contraceptives work, anyway?

The biology behind birth control differs for each method, but non-permanent contraception generally falls into four different categories: barrier methods, short-acting hormonal methods, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) and emergency contraceptives. While most people are familiar with barrier methods — condoms, diaphragms, sponges and other physical means of blocking sperm from entering the uterus — these devices have relatively high rates of failure, with 12 to 24% of people experiencing unintended pregnancies during their first year of use.

perception that one needs an advanced understanding of physics to contribute to physics research, the fair showed Faradyan that there is a spot for him in Georgetown’s research community, he said.

“It’s far less intimidating. I initially thought it would be, like how professors are here. You’re allowed to talk to them, you’re gonna pick their brain essentially,” Faradyan said.

“Even when I told them I was a freshman, they were still going to listen to me, and teach me about their lab,” Faradyan added.

Apart from embracing undergraduate interest in research, the fair also provided the opportunity to showcase novel scientific inquiries, which Del Gado said is critical in stimulating undergraduates’ continued interest in physics research.

“When you do science and you do research, you learn from the others, you learn through the others,” Del Gado said.

Conversely, the most effective non-permanent contraceptives are LARCs. These methods include hormonal intrauterine devices (IUDs), tiny T-shaped devices that release pregnancy-preventing chemicals into the uterus, and subdermal implants, hormone-secreting rods inserted into a person’s arm. IUDs and implants, which can remain in the body for years, both rely on a hormone called progestin. When slowly released, this chemical messenger suppresses the release of eggs from the ovaries, thickens cervical mucus to trap wayward sperm and thins out the uterus’s lining (the endometrium) to prevent fertilized eggs from implanting. Notably, the only LARC that does not use hormones is the copper IUD, which relies instead on the spermicidal properties of charged copper ions. While each of these LARCs boasts an impressive 0.05 to 0.08% failure rate, some female users report adverse symptoms like irregular bleeding or cramping, making it important to monitor the body’s reaction to these devices.

When you initially read the term “birth control,” your mind probably jumped to “the pill,” a colloquial term for oral contraceptives. How-

ever, birth control pills are not the only short-term hormonal contraceptives on the market — skin patches, tri-monthly injections and vaginal rings are also available. Similar to LARCs, they use progestin — often in combination with another hormone, estrogen — to stop ovulation and fertilization. Though these short-term hormonal contraceptives have slightly higher failure rates than LARCs, ranging from 6 to 9%, they are easier to discontinue without seeing a doctor. They have also recently grown more accessible, with the first over-thecounter birth control pill, Opill, becoming available online and in pharmacies in March 2024. If you need to prevent pregnancy shortly after unprotected intercourse, emergency contraceptive pills (or “morning-after” pills) are another progestin-based method that can lower the risk of pregnancy to 0.1% if taken within five days of intercourse. These emergency contraceptives do not require a prescription, but they may be less cost-effective than other methods — one common brand, Plan B One-Step, retails for around $40 to $50 per tablet (though generic brands are often cheaper). If you’re someone with a uterus, you might be wondering, “Hey! Why is it always my job to prevent pregnancy?” Currently, that would be true, but the past few decades have seen renewed resources and attention devoted to developing birth control for individuals assigned male at birth. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to approve any of these birth control products, but excitingly, recent clinical trials have shown that a new hormonal gel, which users would spread on their shoulders daily, is safe and effective. We might have to wait a few more years for this sperm-suppressing gel to hit the market, but it may eventually encourage individuals with male and female reproductive organs to share the responsibility of pregnancy prevention more equally. Since every form of contraception carries different benefits and risks, you should choose birth control based on information from a trustworthy medical source, such as a family physician or gynecologist. The internet is rife with misinformation about contraception, including a new rash of social media influencers spreading negative falsehoods about birth control pills and touting less effective contraceptive methods like menstrual cycle tracking. The good news is that scientists and physicians are working every day to develop new contraceptives and alleviate the adverse effects of existing options. Hopefully, their research will ensure that we’ll one day live in a world where, regardless of one’s physiology or lifestyle, there’s an ideal birth control option available for everyone.

The aurora borealis, known as the northern lights, were visible from Washington D.C. Oct. 10, and the rare event sparked students’ excitement.

IN FOCUS

SJP, FSJP Hold ‘Week of Rage’

Irish Prime Minister Talks Diplomacy, US-Irish Relations, Human Rights at GU

Nora Toscano Academics Desk Editor

Georgetown University’s Global Irish Studies (GIS) initiative and the BMW Center for German and European Studies hosted Irish Taoiseach, or prime minister, Simon Harris to commemorate the origin of diplomatic relations between the United States and Ireland and to discuss global humanitarian crises Oct. 10.

The conversation celebrated the centennial of the United States becoming the first nation to formally recognize free Ireland in a diplomatic relationship on Oct. 7, 1924. Professor Cóilín Parsons, GIS director, moderated the conversation, which was attended by students and faculty from Georgetown and other local universities as well as journalists. At the end of the discussion, students had the opportunity to ask Harris questions on topics ranging from trade with China to educational exchanges between the United States and Ireland.

Madison Dwyer (SFS ’25), a member of the Global Irish Studies fellows program, which researches Ireland, said that the GIS program informed her about the event and the uniqueness of the opportunity inspired her to attend.

“I was invited to attend by our program director, Professor Parsons, but also like, are you kidding me? I’m never going to turn down the opportunity,” Dwyer told The Hoya

During his conversation with Parsons, Harris said that U.S. recogni-

tion of Ireland a century ago set the groundwork for a relationship that emphasizes democracy and peace.

“It’s quite incredible when you say that the first country in the entire world to recognize Ireland was the United States of America,” Harris said at the event. “And of course, this was more than just a simple gesture by the United States. It was a declaration of Ireland’s existence on the world stage. And since then, over the past 100 years, our relationship has been grounded in mutual respect, in shared values and in an unyielding commitment to democracy, to peace and to prosperity.

“We see this centenary moment as an opportunity to reflect on the ties that bind our two countries, our parallel histories over time, and it also offers us an opportunity to look forward,” Harris added. Maria Quinn (SFS ’25), who attended the event with her “Conflict in Northern Ireland” class taught by Darragh Gannon, said that Harris’ point about the significance of U.S. recognition of Ireland 100 years ago resonated with her because of Ireland’s recognition of Palestine earlier this year.

“I was struck by Harris’ remarks on the importance of recognition,” Quinn wrote to TheHoya. “He talked about the historical weight of the United States being the first country to recognize the Irish Free State in 1924 and the ripple effects of that recognition throughout the world. Harris tied this theme back to the Palestinian plight and Ireland’s recognition of the Palestinian state,

which is both a powerful symbolic and political step.”

Caleigh Peloso (CAS ’25), another student in Gannon’s class, said that Gannon’s passion and connection to U.S. and Irish politics reminded her of the importance of the opportunities at Georgetown to hear from diplomatic leaders firsthand.

“I think for this opportunity in particular, it was really important for us to share the same enthusiasm and participate in the conversation and kind of take it outside the classroom and engage with the history and the politics in real time and in real life,” Peloso told The Hoya. “So I thought that was really cool. And we’re lucky to go to a school where politicians visit and want to talk to Georgetown students.”

Harris said that Ireland’s role regarding global conflicts is to emphasize the country’s values, including human rights and democracy.

“Our foreign policy has always been guided by a simple principle that we as a nation have a duty to stand up for what is right,” Harris said. “We’re a small country, so we know that our only power comes from respecting our principles and being true to our values. Our words and our reputation bear that out.”

“Our vision is a world where peace triumphs over conflict, where human rights are not seen as some sort of remote privilege but a birthright, and where every nation, no matter how small, has a role to play in protecting human rights and democratic values,” Harris said.

Tinker Reflects on Landmark Decision

voice their own opinions.

Mary Beth Tinker, a key plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, delivered a lecture highlighting the connection between student free speech and racial justice movements, emphasizing the enduring importance of free speech rights.

The Georgetown University chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (GU-ACLU), a student-led affiliate of the legal civil rights advocacy organization, hosted an Oct. 10 event titled “Celebrating Youth Voices” featuring Tinker. The lecture commemorated the 55th anniversary of the Tinker decision, a 1969 Supreme Court case that arose when Tinker and her brother John Tinker wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. This pivotal ruling established crucial protections for student and teacher free speech rights in public schools, solidifying its enduring impact on civil liberties in education.

Tinker, who spent a portion of her career as a nurse, said that compassion forms the core of her activism, emphasizing the crucial role of speaking up in advocacy work.

“It’s about caring about what is going on in our world and in our lives and caring enough to then want to have a say about it and to make a difference on it,” Tinker said at the event. “I still find that it’s a good way of life — to speak up about things and to use our rights and to pay attention and to care.”

Tinker discussed the ruling’s significance for youth expression, saying that it affirmed the unique perspectives of young people in society and their right to develop and

“You have these wonderful qualities, you have energy, you have creativity,” Tinker said. “It’s very important to society that you are able to express your ideas and get those out there. And as it turns out, it’s good for you.”

Tinker explained the connection between free speech and racial justice, revealing that their black armbands were worn in memory of the four young girls killed in the 1963 white supremacist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Tinker noted that black armbands traditionally symbolize grief and mourning, adding that wearing them connected individuals to a collective expression of grief.

Tinker said this connection between racial justice and student free speech illustrates the collective need to advocate for rights.

“It happened because people used their rights,” Tinker said. “They spoke up and used their voices. They noticed when something wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right, and so that got changed.”

The 1969 decision, written by Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, affirmed that students and teachers in public schools retain free speech rights so long as they are not disruptive to the learning environment. Cases following the decision limited the rights of students and teachers, arguing that a principal can censor school-sponsored speech and obscene speech. Tinker said that she believes students’ advocacy today is important because it allows youth voices to constantly be heard and reinforced.

“Now, so many young people are speaking up about so many things, about animal rights, dress

codes, Palestine, Gaza, Israel, peace in Israel, the climate,” Tinker said. “I’m sure a lot of you are speaking about so many things as well wanting to have a say in your lives and in your school.”

Kristian Skovrup (CAS ’26), the GU-ACLU criminal justice project director, said he believed the crowd responded positively to Tinker’s event because of a widespread interest in advocacy on campus.

“I think it shows that people are definitely interested in talking about this issue and trying to get perspectives from people who have experienced things that they might be going through or experts,” Skovrup told The Hoya. “They want to have people who are willing to listen to them, and I think Mary Beth has put a lot of emphasis on the fact that she wants to lift up youth voices and really try and have a conversation rather than just give expertise.”

In addressing students’ continued involvement in advocacy, Tinker said that taking action in whatever form remains important for students to continue advocacy.

“Words are powerful. There are so many different ways to take action. Whatever it is that you like to do,” Tinker said. “That’s about taking action. There’s just all kinds of ways that you can take action.”

Tinker said her experience and the continuing legacy of the decision should remind students to voice their opinions.

“I learned a very important lesson,” Tinker said. “You can be scared, nervous — you can even back down. And you can still do something. You can still speak up.”

WHAT’S NEW ONLINE?

Madeline Grabow Chief Copy Editor

Assistant professor for Georgetown University’s Theater and Performance Studies (TPST) program Van Tran Nguyen premiered her feature-length film “The Motherload” at the 44th Annual Hawaii International Film Festival in Oahu, Hawaii Oct. 7.

The 92-minute film, presented in part by the Vilcek Foundation’s New American Perspectives program supporting immigrant filmmakers, centers on a Vietnamese American mother-daughter duo. Nguyen and her real-life mother, Sang Tran, play a fictional mother-daughter pair, recreating and satirizing iconic American Vietnam War movie scenes.

Nguyen said that the aim is to challengeprevailingU.S.mythologiesabout the conflict through this performance.

“We’re looking at all of the famous movies that are made by American directors about the Vietnam War and really hold the material accountable, and I do that by reenacting some of these shots shot-for-shot with my mother,” Nguyen told The Hoya.

“So what does it feel like, what does it mean when you watch? Like, you know, the very famous. ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning,’ but it’s said by a Vietnamese woman,” she added.

The creation of “The Motherload” was an intimate, small-scale production, co-directed by Nguyen and her husband, Alex Derwick.

This minimalist approach extends to the cast, with Nguyen and her

mother as the sole actors.

Nguyen said she wanted to center the movie around her perspective, influencing her decision to have the cast be just her and her mother.

“We play multiple roles. And it’s kind of to poke fun at the question of representation and how deeply simple it is,” Nguyen said. “So in the project, I kind of exhaust representation by only representing myself and my mother over and over and over again.”

Nguyen said that although the film focuses on dire topics such as the war and conflict in Vietnam, she still incorporated comedic elements.

“At the heart of it is a story about me and my mother, and kind of intergenerational migration and taking what we learned from like the very various drips of knowledge that we get from our families over time and dealing with the confluences of them at once,” Nguyen said. “Although it’s quite intense, it’s actually quite funny.”

Briana Sparacino (SFS ’25), a student in the performing arts program, said she hopes that this achievement opens up new doors for the TPST program.

“I have an avid interest in pursuing a career in the film industry,” Sparacino wrote to The Hoya. “While film is not under the TPST umbrella and has its own minor, I do hope that such an achievement by a professor could encourage Georgetown to offer a greater variety of film classes that allow students to work on films in a more hands-on context.”

Kat Martinez (CAS ’25), a current student in Nguyen’s “Adaptation

and Performance and Literature” course, which discusses adaptations of literature and media through different kinds of performance, said the course has been exciting and inventive, with Nguyen encouraging students to take creative liberties in their work.

“My favorite project that we’ve done so far has been our folklore performance, in which we were allowed to choose any folklore piece and adapt it into a live radio or podcast performance,” Martinez wrote to The Hoya. “Thinking about the soundscape and the impact of the purely sonic, we had to experiment with sound effects, music, diegetic/non-diegetic noise and speech patterns.”

Martinez also said having a professor with experience in fulllength feature filmmaking brings a new perspective to the course.

“She has amazing instincts that make our in-class performances all the more strong,” Martinez wrote. “Although I do not have much experience in or desire for creating films in the future, I deeply appreciate the advice she gives when script writing.” Nguyen said she never expected to be a filmmaker, and did not start filmmaking until she was in her PhD program, though she encourages students with passion or curiosity toward making movies to experiment.

“My advice is to kind of be delighted by failure and be even a little charmed by it — it’s quite helpful,” Nguyen said. “Movie-making is a process that is full of failure and I think it’s really lovely to embrace it.”

MAREN FAGAN/THE HOYA

Mary Beth Tinker, one of the petitioners in a landmark Supreme Court free speech case, emphasized the ongoing need to support student voices at an Oct. 10 event.

ANTHONY PELTIER/THE HOYA

Georgetown University chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) sponsored a “Week of Rage” to condemn violence since Israel began its war in Gaza.

Maren Fagan Senior News Editor

ANTHONY PELTIER/THE HOYA

Members of the Georgetown University community gathered for an Office of Jewish Life prayer service and Georgetown Israel Alliance candelit vigil on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

GU Data Leak Exposes Students’, Graduates’ Personal Information

DATA, from A1

Information The Hoya viewed in one spreadsheet included personal information on students’ full names, tax IDs, dates of birth, genders, ethnicities, marital statuses, disability statuses, immigration and visa statuses and religions.

Other sheets contained financial aid information for students dating back to the 1990s, including comments university staff made on students’ financial aid reports related to financial aid amounts and details of family marital and medical history. The data included specific details of students’ financial aid, such as how much aid they had received from the university versus federal or other grants and how much of an unsubsidized loan a student had taken out for a semester.

Another spreadsheet included GPA information of students dating back to the ’90s, while another included detailed information on every Georgetown student enrolled in the university’s law, medical, graduate and undergraduate programs’ Spring 2024 GPA.

One file also included a roster of all applicants to Georgetown undergraduate and graduate schools and their admittance and enrollment status. Another file included the payroll of all university employees, though users could not directly access this dataset.

Other files included students’ GRE and MCAT exam scores as well as their accompanying score percentiles.

According to Little, 29 users may have accessed unauthorized data. An email from Little sent at 12:04 p.m. Oct. 17 that The Hoya obtained instructed these users to delete any data they obtained and confirm the deletion to the university.

“We take data security and the privacy of our students very seriously,” Little wrote in the earlier email to all community members. “We recognize this is unsettling news and regret that this occurred. We will continue to investigate this data exposure and implement safeguards to prevent it from happening in the future.”

According to an email Little sent to graduates at 1:27 p.m., only “student data” was available to unauthorized users.

“No data from our alumni or donor systems was available or accessed by unauthorized users,” Little wrote in the email.

A university spokesperson said that “student data” referred to data relating to a person’s time as a student from application for admission to the university until graduation.

However, data The Hoya viewed included both graduates’ personal information and information about their time as Georgetown students, including data relating to their academic performance, admissions, financial aid and social security and tax ID numbers. The Hoya did not find donor information in its investigation of the data set.

The Hoya has destroyed all data accessed as a part of an investigation

of the leak’s authenticity.

GU Experience uses software from the company Ellucian, which provides information technology to over 2,900 higher education institutions.

A spokesperson for Ellucian did not respond to a request for comment.

The university’s internal data classification system describes personally identifiable information, social security numbers and student records as high-security data and directs university employees to maintain care for these records through secure platforms and printing services. University employees cannot store this data on their work or personal computers: These records must remain in the university’s authorized storage system and be destroyed or purged after it is no longer in use.

“The loss of its confidentiality, integrity, or availability would cause significant harm to Georgetown’s mission, security, finances, or reputation,” the university’s information security office writes on its site.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), Georgetown may not release any information about current or former students without the student’s written consent, other than directory information, which includes names, addresses, contact information for students and their family and information on their time at Georgetown. Students have the right to deny the university the ability to release this directory information.

Memorial Service Remembers

GUPD Officer Anthony Allen

CANCIAN, from A1

earlier this year. Cancian also aided in the allocation of a $100 million donation, including $50 million designated for scholarships, from the namesake of the McCourt School, Frank H. McCourt Jr. (CAS ’75).

Camilo Enriquez Zutta (GRD ’26), a master of policy management student at McCourt, said Cancian played a crucial role in transforming McCourt.

“Dean Maria has led remarkable changes at McCourt,” Enriquez Zutta wrote to The Hoya. “She made inspiring efforts to turn the dream of the Hill campus into reality.”

“Transitions at McCourt have brought both joyful and difficult moments, as is the case in life, with its many diverse challenges,” Enriquez Zutta added.

Enriquez Zutta said Cancian’s role at McCourt illustrated her support for students.

“In my personal experience, I can say that Dean Maria has played a significant role in McCourt’s success by placing students at the center, even before they officially joined the school,” Enriquez Zutta wrote.

“When I was aspiring to attend McCourt, I reached out to Dean Maria for advice. She responded, and we had a deeply inspiring

conversation that helped me make the best decision for my academic career.”

DeLeire praised Cancian’s leadership, saying she helped expand McCourt’s academic programs while strengthening its faculty.

“Under Dean Cancian’s leadership, we have moved to a new home on the Capitol Campus, launched a new undergraduate major while growing and strengthening our existing academic programs and recruited impressive new faculty, who, in their research, tackle some of the toughest policy challenges,” DeLeire wrote to The Hoya Cancian said she was encouraged by McCourt students’ desire to address public policy challenges in the United States and the world.

“Especially at this very challenging time, it has been inspirational to work with so many students eager to engage with different points of view, to build skills drawing from diverse fields and tackle the big issues — here in D.C. and across the nation and around the globe,” Cancian wrote.

Focusing on the rest of the academic year, DeLeire added that he plans to continue McCourt’s growth and work towards building the next generation of public policy scholars.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the McCourt School as its interim dean during this transition period,” DeLeire wrote. “My goal is to keep the school on its rapid upward trajectory to becoming the most inclusive public policy school. I will continue to help build a community of scholars dedicated to addressing complex societal problems.”

DeLeire said he has been honored to work with Cancian and is excited to welcome her back next fall.

“Working with Dean Cancian has been a wonderful professional experience,” DeLeire wrote. “She is a person whom I deeply respect and admire. Dean Cancian is a model academic leader, and I look forward to her return as a member of the tenured faculty of the McCourt School next academic year.”

Enriquez Zutta said he is grateful for Cancian’s time as dean.

“Throughout my time here, her door was always open to students, including myself, particularly after we completed our first summer semester in the MPM program,” Enriquez Zutta wrote. “Moreover, she believed in our goals and aspirations and proactively accepted our support in connecting the school with international partners and stakeholders who aligned with our objectives and the school’s vision.”

ALLEN, from A1

just about enforcing the law,” Pearson said at the memorial.

“He took time to know the people he served, attending community events and engaging with students, faculty and staff.” Allen worked in youth ministry throughout his life, joining Athletes in Action, a sports organization that combines youth spiritual growth with athletic growth, after graduating from Georgetown. He later became a minister and worked as an assistant pastor at Mount Horeb Baptist Church, again focused on youth ministry.

Pearson said Allen’s commitment to his faith and Christian values was evident in his day-to-day interactions on campus.

“His faith guided him in every aspect of his life,” Pearson said.

“Anthony believed deeply in the power of kindness and forgiveness — principles that he embodied daily.”

“He attended church regularly, where he not only found joy, but also shared love with others. His faith inspired him to see good in everyone, even in challenging situations,” she added.

Conan N. Louis (SLL ’73, GRD ’78, LAW ’86), who spoke on behalf of Georgetown’s Black Alumni Council, a group that

fosters connection between Black graduates and current students, said Allen had an impressive record as a student on and off the court, where he played as a forward for the men’s basketball team under coach John Thompson Jr. from 1986 to 1990.

“Anthony was a Top 20 recruit, and he played for Big John, who was not at all prone to hyperbole,” Louis said at the service. “John described Anthony as a damn decent man, a smart player, competitive, a team player. And importantly, in John’s own words, ‘just a good guy that you liked having around.’” Toney said in his eulogy that Allen’s defining characteristic was his camaraderie with others, exemplified by his frequent visits to the Protestant Ministry office.

“He would simply say, with a smile, ‘I’m just stopping by to check on y’all,’ or he’d have a new officer with him and would say, ‘I just wanted them to know who y’all were and where your office is,’” Toney said at the memorial. “He cared about people. He cared about making connections. He cared about bringing people together.”

Roy Eddy, a GUPD communications officer who had known Allen since he was a student and had worked police shifts

alongside him, said Allen was a mentor to younger officers in GUPD.

“I remember when he came on board at the university. He reached out to officers who were in trouble and needed just a little uplifting,” Eddy told The Hoya. “He was very good at that.” Joe Pappalardo, a senior business manager in the university’s office of public safety, said Allen made an effort to connect with people beyond what his duties as an officer required.

“I remember I broke my ankle about two years ago, and he brought in these ankle weights for me. You know, little things like that,” Pappalardo told The Hoya. “He was always concerned about other people and how he can help them.”

Allen is survived by his wife, Laura; his children, Aniyah, Anthony Jr., Ava Elyse and Aiden Michael, some of whom attended the memorial; his brother and sister; and several nieces and nephews.

Louis said Allen epitomized the spirit of Georgetown and embodied the Jesuit value of “people for others.”

“He didn’t just strive toward the Georgetown ideal,” Louis said. “He lived it, serving as an exemplar for all of us and for everyone whose lives he touched.”

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

A data leak through Georgetown University’s GU Experience internal information platform exposed students’ and graduates’ financial aid, social security numbers and other personal information.

RUTH ABRAMOVITZ/THE HOYA

A Georgetown community memorial for the late GUPD officer and basketball star Anthony Allen featured prayer, gospel music and words of remembrance.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

McCourt Dean Maria Cancian will step down Nov. 1 to focus on family care responsibilities, Provost Robert Groves announced in an email sent to the Georgetown community Oct. 15.

US News Ranks MSB Undergraduate Business Program 14th Nationwide

Elyse Ellingsworth

Special to The Hoya

U.S. News & World Report, a media company that publishes an annual set of education rankings, placed the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business (MSB) undergraduate business program 14th overall among 532 colleges nationwide, and third for its international business program, in rankings released Sept. 24.

U.S. News bases their business school rankings on survey responses from deans and senior faculty members at peer institutions. In the spring and summer of 2024, faculty at universities accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), a business accreditation nonprofit, were asked to rate the quality of the program on a five-point scale.

Sarah Brannigan (MSB ’28) said hearing about the ranking was a pleasant surprise.

“I was excited to hear that, especially as a first-year knowing that I have four years to take classes,” Brannigan told The Hoya. “It’s exciting for the student body to see the attention that the MSB is getting. I think that this distinction will give students even more resources to succeed and discover their passions.”

The undergraduate MSB program offers seven different majors, which students pair with the Georgetown liberal arts core curriculum. In the International Business program, students choose between a concentration in International Business Regional Studies and International Political Economy and Business. Both concentrations require some similar baseline courses; however, Regional Studies students take six credits of study in a specific region, and International Political Econ-

omy and Business students are required to either study abroad or complete an internationally focused internship. Both concentrations are also expected to attain intermediate proficiency in a language.

Brannigan said the size of the school fosters close relationships with peers and faculty.

“My largest class right now in the MSB only has about 35 students, and I’m also taking a class in the MSB with 10 students,” Brannigan said. “All students in the MSB have name tags on their desks, so when you’re interacting with your professor and other students in the class, you’re referring to them by their names, which is a good way to connect.”

Mason Hall (MSB ’26) said the connections between students and faculty both inside and outside the classroom contribute to positive student experiences in the MSB.

“In my first-year seminar, my professor was really nice and had us over to his house for dinner,” Hall told The Hoya. “In my management major classes, the professors have specific office hours just to get to know their students.”

“They’re also really interested in connecting you with their former students and people that they know in different industries.” Hall added.

Ella Forkin (MSB ’27) said that when deciding where to go for college, she appreciated the flexibility in the MSB.

“I love Spanish and I’m also a huge history buff, so I knew I wanted to minor in those but also focus on a major in business,” Forkin told The Hoya. “I knew that Georgetown really had that, where you can minor across schools, so I really liked how I could combine all the academic interests that I was looking for.” Hall said that she was excit-

ed about the MSB because of the wide variety of majors available to choose from.

“The thing that really drew me to the MSB was their variety of majors,” Hall said. “I was really excited because I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do. I really like math, so I wanted to be able to use that, but I felt like the MSB had a really great tasting menu of all the different majors, which helped me decide.”

The MSB provides opportunities to get involved and gain valuable experience, including participation in different student organizations, research and internships, as well as a peer ambassador program that connects first-year students with an upperclassman mentor.

Brannigan said the environment surrounding these opportunities and in her classes have been very supportive.

“The business school has been super collaborative, off the start,” Brannigan said. “We’ve had tests that we study for together, and we all worked together on a paper for my first-year seminar. The upperclassmen are also very available, especially your peer ambassador, so if you have any questions about specific topics, you can always reach out to someone.”

Forkin said that the school is a community of like-minded peers who are genuinely passionate about what they do.

“In the consulting club we’re actually consulting for real organizations, and in the finance club we’re investing in real stocks on behalf of the endowment,” Forkin said. “McDonough goes a step further by providing students with opportunities to take what you learned in the classroom and what teachers provide you with and actually do something tangible in the real world with it.”

Claudia Amendoeira

Special to The Hoya

actually more enhanced and far more needed,” Frazier told The Hoya.

Ajani Stella Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) led a get-out-the-vote campaign Oct. 10 in partnership with the League of Women Voters (LWV), a nonpartisan voting rights organization, to encourage students to vote in the upcoming November election.

GUSA President Jaden Cobb (CAS ’25) and Nile Blass (CAS ’22), a regional organizer for the LWV, provided voting information by tabling in Red Square, engaging students by giving out free LWV shirts and flyers, chips, energy drinks and cookies. Cobb and Blass asked students if they were registered to vote in advance of their state’s deadline and directed them to resources for absentee voting.

Cobb said this effort is part of GUSA’s mission to get more students engaged in off-campus issues.

“One of our initiatives this year is to make sure we’re not only taking care of our students on campus, but make sure we’re taking care of students on a more global scale,” Cobb told The Hoya. “We want to engage our constituents in the public atmosphere.”

Cobb added that the get-outthe-vote campaign, which is the first in GUSA’s history, was a key part of his own goal as GUSA president to uplift marginalized voices on campus by minimizing barriers to voting.

“One of the reasons I ran for GUSA president was because I felt like a lot of the communities lacked that voice that specifically they needed,” Cobb said. “While I can preach all of this talk on campus about making sure you vote in GUSA elections, make sure you hold the university accountable, make sure you create this community of inclusion, you also have to make sure you do it on a more national level and a more local level within your communities.”

Blass said the initiative was part of LWV’s ongoing effort to inspire more young people to become leaders and show them that their voice matters in politics.

“We want to provide young people with resources, leadership development and opportunities to put forward ideas,” Blass told The Hoya

GUSA’s Senate set this year’s elections on Election Day, Nov. 5, to encourage more student participation in both on and

off-campus elections.

GUSA’s campaign is the latest in a series of voter education initiatives this semester. GU Votes, a student-led group within the Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service dedicated to voter engagement on campus, has tabled in Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall, dorm lobbies and Red Square, spoken in classrooms and lectures and been present at social events to encourage voting.

GU Votes co-president Sam Lovell (CAS ’25) said GU Votes has tried to be visible to as many students as possible on campus, partnering with organizations like The Corp, Lauinger Library and the Andrew Goodman Foundation, a youth-focused voting rights group, to reach more students.

“Really just being flexible, trying to meet the needs that have been expressed by the community, has been really our main objective, but also trying to expand in areas that we haven’t before,” Lovell told The Hoya Niamh Dempsey (CAS ’27), who stopped at the table, said while her home state of California made it easy to vote by mail, many of her friends have struggled with navigating red tape and finding postage and dropoff sites for absentee ballots.

“I think that having some way of people accessing stamps and knowing where they can submit their ballots would be super important,” Dempsey told The Hoya. “I don’t have time to walk to the post office, and all of these types of requirements make it more difficult to vote by mail.”

David Gibson (CAS ’28) said he appreciates Georgetown’s efforts to encourage voting and civic participation, especially as student organizations have reminded him to vote.

“As a citizen and government major, one of the biggest ways I can make an impact is through voting for my representatives,” Gibson wrote to The Hoya. “I would even recommend people that want to vote against me to go vote because it’s a civic duty.”

Lovell said he hopes civic engagement at Georgetown will encourage civil discourse and mitigate increasing political violence.

“I believe that we solve our differences with ballots, not bullets,” Lovell said. “It’s really important that we’re encouraging people to participate in a way that’s nonviolent as the principle means to resolve our differences.”

Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS) launched an executive master’s degree program in humanitarian crisis and emergency management in partnership with Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year.

The program aims to prepare local, national and international leaders to address complex global disasters, focusing on human displacement. Natural disaster recovery, strategic leadership, weapons of mass destruction, global pandemics and terrorism are some of the key academic areas in the program, which seeks to teach students response, recovery and mitigation — with a special emphasis on emergency preparedness, as detailed on the program’s website.

Professor Tim Frazier, faculty director of the program, said there was a need to restructure and enhance the curriculum of two current programs dealing with emergency disaster management, one focusing on domestic response and the other on international response.

“We had two executive programs in the past that we sort of put on hold to restructure to this program, that is

Kelly Otter, dean of the SCS, said a unique aspect of the program is that it recasts the focus on the humanitarian response to the emergencies.

“With a modified curriculum focusing more on the humanitarian aspects, we are relaunching the program,” Otter told The Hoya. “If you think of what human and natural disasters do — earthquakes and terrorism — certainly there is an impact on the earth, but what we’re really focused on is the tragedy on human beings. People have been displaced, people have been injured, people have been killed.” Frazier said the rationale behind the curriculum’s redesign is to meet current industry demands.

“The new program is a more expansive program,” Frazier said, “It’s much more representative of the actuality of the field, because there’s a greater emphasis on the inclusion of humanitarian crisis, humanitarian crisis response, public and global health response.”

The 12-month, cohort-based program includes five residencies to provide students with hands-on experience dealing with humanitarian emergencies — two of which are

online — and another three taking place in Japan, Qatar and Switzerland. The residencies provide students with practical experience to complement their academic studies as they analyze case studies alongside experts in the field.

Otter said that during their capstone projects, students will conduct research and develop plans addressing specific crises of personal interest, preparing them for practical application in their future careers.

“Students will work with various organizations,” Otter said. “They will go visit nonprofit organizations, they will meet with government officials, they will meet with scientists, they will be able to see, hands-on, in a deep war, the tools and practices that various scientific and nonprofit communities are putting into place.”

While all six classes offered in the program address a different area of emergency disaster management, Frazier said the value of ethical thinking is the connection.

“Obviously, Georgetown has a strong focus on ethics,” Frazier said. “It’s encapsulated in our program, in a single course and it’s blended throughout our program, because everything we talk about in our field has ethical considerations to it. Because

we’re caring for citizens of the planet, right?”

Hannah Vick, an adjunct lecturer in the program, said the program wil build creative leaders who also have a strong grasp of the foundations of disaster management.

SCS, GU-Q Launch New Executive Master’s Program Voting Rights Nonprofit, GUSA Host Student Voter Registration Campaign

“We also expect our leaders, in the Jesuit tradition, to be ethical. And to care very, very much about their fellow human beings,” Vick told The Hoya. Although the executive master’s will tackle the ongoing situation in the Middle East, Otter said it will not take a political stance.

“Our program now will help people understand more of the histories and the sociology and the politics as well as the humanitarian aspects of what’s happening in the Middle East,” Otter said. “So it will take a step back and look at all those components. We will not take a position on those.” Otter said the new executive master’s fits into the SCS’s mission of committing to serve the underserved.

“Our mission is very much focused on the Jesuit mission of going where the need is and going where the underserved are, and providing opportunity where people may not already have opportunity, and making the world better and striving for excellence,” Otter said.

GU Holds First-Ever Roundtable on Latino Health

Madeline Grabow Chief Copy Editor

The first-ever roundtable discussion focused on Latino health at Georgetown University in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month emphasized mental health and substance use disorder Oct. 10.

The roundtable brought together Latino leaders from across all of Georgetown’s campuses to discuss critical health issues facing the Latino community, specifically the overdose epidemic, mental health and broader health disparities.

La Casa Latina, a space for community building for Latino students at Georgetown University; the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, which supports marginalized students; Georgetown’s master’s in addiction policy and practice program, a new program that trains students in addiction policy and advocacy; Latino Medical Students Association (LMSA), an organization meant to bring together Latinos in medical school; and La Nueva Drug Talk, a movement to start conversations about substance use disorder among young people, all co-hosted the event.

Gina Malagold (GRD ’22), the director of multicultural affairs for Song for Charlie, a nonprofit charity dedicated

to raising awareness about counterfeit pills, moderated the roundtable. She opened the panel by sharing important statistics surrounding drug overdose and mental health within the Latino community.

“When we think of drug use and the drug overdose epidemic, which is sweeping our country — according to the CDC, since 2020, killing more than 100,000 people a year — we have to understand that the Latino community is being disproportionately impacted,” Malagold said at the event.

“We’re seeing a 617% increase in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids impacting the Latino community.”

Song for Charlie created La Nueva Drug Talk to identify the gaps in mental health care facing the Latino community by engaging young professionals in listening sessions across different universities.

Malagold explained that reaching young people is important, saying they are the ones who are directly serving the community.

“We want to reach students because we think those are the best messengers for this information because they are the ones who are going to be serving the community,” Malagold said.

“I know there are Latino brothers and sisters struggling right

now and we can work together to prevent tragic outcomes.”

Despite the rates of substance abuse among Hispanics in the United States being relatively close to the rates of the general U.S. population, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that works to expand substance abuse and mental health treatment services, reported that, in 2023, 97.1% of Hispanic adults who had a substance use disorder in the past year and had not received treatment did not perceive that they needed substance use treatment.

Maria Jose Salamanca (MED ’27), co-president of LMSA and a panel attendee, said the event was important to her because drug overdose is something that is stigmatized and rarely discussed in the Latino community.

“I was very surprised to learn how much of a growing issue it is here in the United States. I think it gives the issues a platform to talk about and a space,” Salamanca told The Hoya. “I think it’s also very important that we were able to connect with all the different colleges that Georgetown is a part of and just integrate the conversation, not just from the medical side.” Benjamin Fraifeld (GRD ’22), associate director for policy and ad-

vocacy at Maryland’s Office of Overdose Response, also spoke at the roundtable. HFraifeld said stigma surrounding drug addiction and overdoses plays an important role in policymaking.

“The stigma that exists in our households, our friends’ and families’ households, anywhere across the country, ends up being baked into policy,” Fraifeld said at the event. “And so that might look like a state that has robust good samaritan protections for somebody who seeks medical health for somebody having an overdose. But what if that doesn’t protect you based on your immigration status?” Fraifeld’s remarks contributed to the larger discussion at the roundtable about how substance use disorder should be thought of as a public health crisis rather than a criminal justice issue. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug treatment can reduce the rate of substance use disorder by between 40% and 60%.

Fraifeld added that immigration status is a stigmatizing factor involved in drug abuse help. “Substance use is an interesting condition in that it is one of the only — or the only — medical condition that is also criminalized,” Fraifeld said. “Whether we want it to be or not, it still is.”

The U.S. News & World Report ranked the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business’ undergraduate program 14th overall in the nation and its international business program 3rd.

GU Psychology Graduate Receives SAGE Career Trajectory Award for Teaching

Pooja Narayan Special to The Hoya

A Georgetown University graduate received the SAGE early career trajectory award, which recognizes achievements by psychology scholars who earned their doctorate within the last four to six years, the university announced Oct. 4. Kevin Carriere (GRD ’19) is one of the nine psychology scholars recognized by SAGE Publications and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the largest organization of social psychologists in the world, for the award. The judges evaluate candidates for the award based on their contributions to teaching, research and service, granting the award in specific categories that reflect these areas.

Carriere said his passion for mentoring students and experience teaching classes at Georgetown led him to apply for the award’s teaching category rather than the research and service categories.

“I knew I would never be able to compete against the amazing professors at Georgetown and George Washington and Harvard,” Carriere told The Hoya. “And so for me, I was like, ‘I think I would like to be judged on my teaching.’ That’s kind of what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always enjoyed teaching.”

In his application for the teaching category, Carriere described his use of a grant from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, a group of scientists interested in applying psychology to policy, to bring students to Washington, D.C., to lob-

by for issues they cared about after conducting research on them during the semester. He also discussed his development of a free online course to learn the programming language R, as well as his mentorship of undergraduate researchers at Stonehill College, where he is an assistant professor of psychology.

Carriere, while pursuing his doctorate of philosophy and master’s of public policy, taught general psychology and a seminar course on the psychology of human rights. He also worked with undergraduate students on research and publications.

Carriere said he was first exposed to the interdependent relationship between policy and psychology by his fellow master’s students at Georgetown and later gained more experience while working with then-Congresswoman Deb Haaland, who now serves as secretary of the interior, during his postdoctoral fellowship.

“I think psychology has to be part of the policy conversation,” Carriere said. “The way I try to explain it to my students is that, when you listen to Kamala Harris or Donald Trump and they’re talking about a policy issue, they’re not saying, ‘Well, if I increase your taxes, then P equals .05 and you’re going to feel better.’ They actually say stuff like, ‘Here’s little Susie who is struggling and we can give her a better life.’ The human is what drives the policy.”

Anna Hallahan (CAS ’18) worked with Carriere on her psychology senior thesis at Georgetown, which examined the effect of perceived threat

on civil liberties. Hallahan said she enjoyed her experience as both Carriere’s student and research assistant.

“What sticks out the most about my time with Kevin is his deep commitment to respecting students and his creative approach to teaching,” Hallahan wrote to The Hoya. “As both his collaborator and student, Kevin treated me as an equal; in real time, he espoused the respect for human rights we examined in his syllabus.”

Fathali Moghaddam, Carriere’s doctoral adviser at Georgetown, said teaching has always been Carriere’s passion.

“He’s a very easygoing person,” Moghaddam told The Hoya. “And he had extremely good relationships with both professors and other students and particularly undergraduates. And I think that’s the sort of hallmark from Georgetown that he took.”

Carriere said he hopes to continue working with undergraduates.

“I think the great thing about undergraduate research is that they haven’t been told what the rules are yet,” Carriere said. “What are the norms of science? But they’re coming in with these really interesting perspectives and questions and I, having just had the norms pressed upon me, would never think about it in that way.”

Carrieresaidgivingbacktostudents at all schools is important in building the next generation of scholars.

“A lot of it is kind of like giving back, right?” Carriere said. “Like my undergrad advisor did that for me. And look where I am now. I want to try to do the same for the next generation.”

Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum Shows

First “Basquiat X Banksy” Exhibition

Nancy Britten

Features Writer

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened a new exhibition titled “Basquiat X Banksy” Sept. 29 as part of the museum’s 50th anniversary season. The exhibition, which will run until Oct. 26, 2025, focuses on two significant paintings: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump” alongside Banksy’s graffiti response “Banksquiat. Boy and Dog in Stop and Search.” This marks the first time the artwork by either Basquiat or Banksy has been displayed in the museum. Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist known for public works that feature anti-authoritarian themes and a distinctive use of stencils. Banksy, whose identity remains guarded, first gained attention in the mid-1990s with his graffiti appearing on walls in Bristol and London’s Shoreditch district. Over time, his work has moved from the streets to the art market, now regularly featured in auctions and gallery exhibitions.

Born in 1960, beginning art before Banksy, Basquiat was an influential neo-expressionist graffiti artist. His background as the son of Haitian and Puerto Rican immigrants plays a crucial role in the messaging of the exhibition by highlighting how his identity influenced the themes of race, social justice and marginalization in his work. He died in 1988 at the age of 27. Hakimah Cambell, a visitor at the exhibition, said she had first discovered the work of Basquiat after recently being inspired to paint and purchasing a book of his paintings.

“I recently took up painting and found myself inspired by pictures of his work. It was my co-worker who mentioned the

exhibition would be in D.C. and I couldn’t wait,” Campbell told The Hoya. “I feel that I have to see his paintings and the symbols I’ve seen in the books in person to fully know his story.”

Betsy Johnson, assistant curator at the Hirshhorn, said Basquiat’s original large canvas piece uses vivid colors to depict an expressive boy and dog in an urban landscape while Bansky’s response takes this iconic imagery and reframes it as a stopand-search scenario.

“There’s these glorious fields of color in the brushwork which shows a boy and a dog in New York playing in the spray of a fire hydrant,” Johnson told The Hoya. “It conveys the heat of a hot summer’s day and a sort of joyous action.”

Johnson said the Basquiat piece was initially displayed at the Barbican Centre in London in 2017 and Banksy created “Boy and Dog in Stop and Search” as a mural on the wall of the Barbican outside the exhibition.

“Banksy took this boy and this dog from this very joyful painting and layered a social commentary on top by adding his well-known stencil figures of police officers,” Johnson said. The exhibition also features 20 small pieces created by Basquiat from 1979 to 1985, drawn from Larry Warsh’s collection, a private contemporary art collection. These works use recurring motifs like skulls and crowns to further explore the themes of identity and heritage. Additionally, the film “Downtown 81,” which was filmed between 1980 and 1981, will be presented. This film stars Basquiat as a struggling artist named “Jean” and portrays the avant-garde community of Manhattan in the 1980s.

Johnson said the pairing of these paintings is important be-

GU Psychology Professor Wins Annual Prestigious Rovee-Collier Mentor Award

Luke Suko Special to The Hoya

A Georgetown University psychology professor received the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology’s (ISDP) 2024 Rovee-Collier mentor award, the department of psychology announced Oct. 6. Rachel Barr — who studies developmental psychology — received the award, which is named for Carolyn Rovee-Collier, a professor and researcher who formerly mentored Barr. The ISDP, an organization founded in 1968 with the mission of promoting research about psychological and biological development, awards the Rovee-Collier mentor award to members who make impactful contributions to young academics.

Barr said being honored in her former mentor’s name was particularly special.

“It was a really meaningful thing to then get this award that was named after Rovee-Collier, who was an amazing mentor,” Barr told The Hoya. “She was one of the pioneering people in my field in infancy and had been a really big part of the ISDP.”

Barr has been involved in the ISDP since the 1990s, serving as president and a member of the program committee. She has worked at Georgetown since 2001, when she founded the Early Learning Project (ELP), an initiative on campus dedicated to researching social and cognitive development among young children. Since its inception, the ELP has seen hundreds of undergraduate, graduate

and postdoctoral students design and conduct various research studies sponsored by the program.

Barr said her lab has 22 people focusing on how kids learn different languages, especially through media.

“Kids are growing up in a digital world, they’re growing up in a multilingual world, so we focus a lot on them and how they understand and learn as they’re growing up with lots of languages, and how they understand and learn in this media ecology,” Barr said.

Joscelin Rocha-Hidalgo (GRD ’22), a former ELP researcher and one of Barr’s mentees, said she credits Barr with introducing her to the ISDP, where she now holds a position as part of the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee.

“It was Rachel who got me involved in the society in 2016,” Rocha-Hidalgo told The Hoya. “I remember I just joined as a postdoc. It was the first fall of being a lab manager, and she took me as one of her mentees to the conference.”

Following nominations and recommendation letters, Barr was selected for the award from a field of about 10 other professors and researchers.

Barr said that she thinks students have an important role on the mentorship process.

“Professors are lucky that students are curious and excited,” Barr said.

Phoebe Chartock (CAS ’25), a research assistant in the ELP, said Barr’s mentorship extends beyond individual guidance to fostering a supportive environment for all researchers in the lab.

cause it highlights an aspect of 1980s street culture where graffiti and art were used to claim space and voice identity.

“Basquiat’s life was also plagued by systemic racism,” Johnson said. “In 1983 there was also the brutal murder of a member of the graffiti art community at the hands of police officers because he was caught doing graffiti in the subway. So I think Banksy in some ways is layering all of this context on top of the Basquiat painting to show us these overtones of systemic racism.”

“This is the first time the works have been shown side by side in the space of a gallery. The Banksy piece we have in the gallery is a version of the one he created on the street outside the Barbican and was first exhibited in L.A. in 2018,” Johnson added. “So we’re showing it for the first time, reunited with the painting that inspired it.”

Itikari Nagagawa, who was visiting the museum with her family, said that although she did not realize the exhibition was on, she was pleasantly surprised to see the works and believes it will have an important impact for the city.

“It’s important for people to come and see because although D.C. has a lot of museums to offer, this shows the history in the form of a modern and contemporary art level,” Nagagawa told The Hoya. “I think that is an amazing way to open up D.C. to more exhibitions like that.”

Johnson said that so far the exhibition has been well-attended by the public and surrounded by general excitement.

“We’ve pretty much doubled our attendance at the museum since opening these shows, so there is a lot of excitement around it and we’re glad to have these artists on view,” Johnson said.

Chartock said Barr has been helpful in capacities beyond just developmental research.

“Right now, I’m going through the process of applying to doctoral programs for clinical psychology, and she has been such a wonderful resource,” Chartock said.

Rocha-Hidalgo said that Barr’s mentorship was also extremely helpful for her own development in academia and as a person.

“She empowered me and I think she empowered many of her mentees to know the space they take and to be proud of it,” Rocha-Hidalgo said.

“She was my mentor, so she taught me everything,” Rocha-Hidalgo added. “She cared about me as a whole as a person.”

Rocha-Hidalgo, who now works alongside Barr to train students, also said that acting as a mentor has inherent challenges.

“You can take years to learn how to be a scientist, but mentoring is a never-ending thing,” Rocha-Hidalgo said. “You can have a style of mentorship, but it is important to know what your mentees need.” Barr said that mentorship is not necessarily complex and being able to mentor Georgetown students helped make it less difficult.

“I think mentoring really just means giving advice, whether people want it or not,” Barr said. “I think that Georgetown students are really incredibly strong, and I think that actually makes it easier to mentor.”

“I think she absolutely deserves that,” Chartock told The Hoya. “She has been such a good mentor for me and to all the other research assistants, both undergrad and graduate, that I work with.”

Five GU Graduates Win Inaugural Baratta Center Global Impact Award

Nancy Britten Features Writer

The Baratta Center for Global Business, which emphasizes key research and initiatives for global business, at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business (MSB) announced five recipients of the first-ever Georgetown Baratta Center Global Impact Award Oct. 4. The Global Impact Award recognizes innovative and sustainable leaders under the age of 40 who promote cross-border business and economic development, representing one of the MSB’s initiatives to foster ethical leadership. This year’s inaugural award honors five graduates — Vikram Agrawal (SFS ’07), Caroline Cotto (NHS ’14), Agustin Porres (GRD ’16), Devi Sahny (CAS ’15) and Alexandra Scott (NHS ’10, GRD ’15) — for their contributions to global business through professional, philanthropic and educational initiatives and invited the winners to serve on the advisory board for the Baratta Center.

Joseph Baratta — the namesake of the center, global head of private equity and head of the board of directors of investment management company Blackstone — said the award aims to reflect Georgetown’s core values and a commitment to making a positive global impact.

“The award was the idea of the Center’s director, Anil Kurhana, and I was fully supportive of it,” Baratta wrote to The Hoya. “Each of our award winners have distinguished themselves professionally and are engaged in important and fulfilling work. That is the core mission of the Center — to enable Georgetown students interested in business and global organizations to achieve their full potential.”

Nominations were open to all qualifying Georgetown graduates who had demonstrated leadership, innovation and a positive impact through globalization. The

selection process began in early July and closed Sept. 8. During this time, the board received 35 nominations, both by others and by self-nomination.

Anil Khurana, founding executive director of the Baratta Center, said the winners and nominees were all diverse in their approach to their global initiatives.

“One of the winners is actually a private equity person who does a lot of work for climate and another one is a health-care-focused non-profit executive who also believes that bringing social entrepreneurship is a means to that end,” Khurana told The Hoya. “There are also two winners who are from the education community — one does it through a non-profit and the other one does it for profit, so there are so many different ways to get there.”

Cotto, one of the winners and the director at Food Systems Innovations (FSI), an organization which supports human food use, leads NECTAR, an initiative that supports the creation of plant-based products to alleviate the impact of animal agriculture on the climate.

Cotto said it was an honor to be nominated and to be able to represent the School of Health in the broader Georgetown community.

“I think it’s really cool to see how much diverse representation from across the Georgetown community was represented in the award winners,” Cotto told The Hoya “especially for the School of Health which is not particularly known for generating people who go into the business sphere.”

Khurana said that the initiative focused on those under 40 years old because of the unique challenges of being a young person in business.

“There is a balance between having a business or policy impact but also being able to affect and shape society,” Khurana said. “We often see very successful, wealthy or otherwise politically high achievers

but they compromise on not necessarily devoting enough time to society while they do that.”

Cotto said that the Georgetown graduate network was an invaluable source of mentorship to her and serving with the Baratta Center will help her pay back the work.

“It’s a real honor to be able to pay that support forward by being part of the advisory board that’s hopefully going to touch many more students in the years to come,” Cotto said. Baratta said the award sets an example for Georgetown students and young professionals to seek out globally ambitious organizations.

“My advice to students is to pursue a broad course of study within your area of interest, availing yourselves of what Georgetown has to offer,” Baratta wrote. “For young professionals, I recommend seeking out globally ambitious organizations that afford the opportunity to work abroad and learn from colleagues from different backgrounds and perspectives.” Khurana said a combination of passion and support networks around us is essential in creating long-lasting and sustainable global impact.

“It’s about passion and having the drive from your heart to make a difference. That must be genuine to make it worthwhile,” Khurana told The Hoya. “Realize the realities of how hard it is to make a difference. That means having the staying power and the patience to last the journey but also remember you have a support network of alumni you should tap into to succeed.”

Cotto said this award is an important reminder of the impact Georgetown alumni can go on to achieve globally.

“It’s important to remind people to leverage the Georgetown network, because there are amazing Hoyas all over the world doing incredible things,” Cotto said.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

The Baratta Center for Global Business, which emphasizes key research and initiatives for global business, announced five recipients of the inaugural Global Impact Award Oct. 4.

@HIRSHHORN/INSTAGRAM

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened its “Basquiat X Banksy” exhibition, which will run until Oct. 26, 2025, in honor of the museum’s 50th anniversary season.

Send Paige Bueckers to the Valkyries, Or Any Other Big-Market WNBA Team

Over the summer, I allowed my imagination to run wild. As an allaround Bay Area sports superfan (except for baseball — ask me about that), I’ve been calling for a WNBA expansion franchise in NorCal for just about forever. That wish came true about a year ago, when the league awardedtheGoldenStateWarriorsthat expansion team, and things got even better in May when the team officially revealed “Golden State Valkyries” as their new name. All that needed to happen for the dream to be complete was for the team to select University of Connecticut superstar point guard Paige Bueckers, the consensus top pick in 2025 mock drafts. Just picture this with me for a second: You have “Paige Buckets” surrounded by several other sharpshooters, some rangy, uberathletic forwards and a few defensive stalwarts. We wouldn’t even need five years to win a WNBA championship (looking at you, Joe Lacob) — just give the team three seasons and then we’d two-peat, followed by a three-peat. Anyways, that’s just me dreaming big. But seriously, I think it’d be totally possible with Bueckers.

The Valkyries hired Natalie Nakase — who has had a wealth of experience at the collegiate and pro levels — as their inaugural head coach last Thursday. In her playing days, she was a walk-on to the UCLA women’s basketball team and played as a three-year starter. Though Nakase’s own professional playing career was relatively short, she has since racked up abundant coaching time in international leagues as well as the NBA and WNBA. Most recently, she served as an assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces. The task ahead for the team is difficult, but hopes are high (which is why I’ve been daydreaming about potential roster configurations for next season). Nakase and Valkyries General Manager Ohemaa Nyanin will have their expansion draft on Friday, Dec. 6, during which the team can select up to 12 players from an unprotected pool of active WNBA players. That’s where they’ll get most of their roster for next season and maybe even a few borderline stars. I’m thinking the Atlanta Dream’s Haley Jones? Perhaps the Indiana Fever’s Lexie Hull? Or the Seattle Storm’s Nika Mühl? Regardless, none of those players will likely solve the issue of finding a centerpiece. That’s where one would hope next year’s WNBA draft comes in handy. So by now maybe you’ve realized I’m a huge Bueckers fan? I would give anything to see her in the Valkyries’ new violet and black. But

alas, the league has already set the lottery and Golden State is fifth in the draft order. It’s as sure of a guarantee as any that either the Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings, Los Angeles Sparks or Washington Mystics — essentially whoever gets the coveted number one spot — will immediately scoop her up. This is a real tragedy, not just because I have to wistfully watch Bueckers wherever she ends up, mourning the what could-havebeen. Hear me out: Generational players like Bueckers who have gamechanging abilities should end up on big market WNBA expansion teams. And no, this is not to discriminate against smaller market squads like the Connecticut Sun or the Indiana Fever, but rather, for the good of the women’s game.

Let’s first take a step back and acknowledge just how far the WNBA has come. Not too long ago the league was struggling financially, so much so that several franchises shut down. There is a long-lasting lack of parity between compensation for athletes in men’s professional sports leagues versus women’s professional sports leagues. This is especially apparent in basketball, where the highest salary for a WNBA player caps out at just over $250,000, whereas the highest salary for a NBA player currently sits at over $55 million. Many WNBA players need to supplement their income by playing additional basketball overseas in the offseason when they are supposed to be resting and recovering. Now, revenues for the league are rapidly increasing. When the time

comes around to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement in 2026, players will have the leverage to insist on better treatment (e.g., playing in actual state-of-the-art arenas, not the second tier ones that some teams like the Washington Mystics have been forced to play in) and higher salaries.We’reseeingprogressalready; the WNBA finally implemented a chartered flight system this season.

Back to what I was saying earlier: Generational star players like Bueckers must end up on big-market teams. This enables the league to grow its profile even further, and in turn, all the players in the WNBA now and those who will enter the league in the future will benefit. Again, this is not a hit on a team like the Indiana Fever, who landed Caitlin Clark last season. By all measures, Clark has done much good for not only Indiana, but also the league overall. My argument is merely that the women’s game overall will benefit even more if, first, gamechanging players like Bueckers end up with big market expansion teams and help organically grow the WNBA in those cities and, second, that those positive effects will percolate to the entire league. At any rate, I want to give a shoutout to Bueckers and all the other amazing WNBA and college players out there for doing what they do and inspiring us all to imagine a more equal future for men’s and women’s professional sports teams. The Valkyries will always be my team from here on out, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be rooting for Bueckers every step of the

FOOTBALL

The Georgetown University football team hoped to carry over the momentum from their big win against Columbia University two weeks prior to their game against Lafayette College Oct. 12. The Hoyas (4-2, 1-0 Big East) decisively achieved this goal with a shutout victory against the Leopards (3-3, 1-1 Patriot League). The Hoyas took the lead early and built on it throughout the game to win 170. Despite struggling to get their passing game going, Georgetown’s ability to run the ball and force sloppy turnovers on defense lifted the team to a conclusive win.

Despite punting on their first possession, the Hoyas’ next drive resulted in a field goal made by senior kicker Patrick Ryan from 26 yards out to put Georgetown up 3-0.

On their next possession, the Hoyas drove down the field and earned the lead thanks to a strong 16-yard run and an 18-yard reception from sophomore running back Bryce Cox. The Hoya offense wasn’t impeccable, though, as junior quarterback Danny Lauter threw an interception to Lafayette defensive back Neriyan Brown. Fortunately, Georgetown’s defense was able to recover the ball after sophomore safety Zeraun Daniel recorded an interception of his own to get the ball back for the Hoyas, starting a trend of turnovers forced by Georgetown’s stifling defense.

Halfway through the second quarter, Georgetown pushed down the field and went up

10-0 on Lafayette. Cox and firstyear running back Savion Hart exhibited an exceptional rushing game, leading to a touchdown scored by Hart. The two running backs combined for nine rushing attempts on the drive, and along with a penalty, were able to get in the red zone and take a two-score lead. The extra point from Ryan was also successful.

When Lafayette got the ball back following the touchdown, Georgetown blocked any offensive momentum by sacking Lafayette’s quarterback to end the first half. They continued this masterful defensive display in the second half, intercepting Lafayette for a second time shortly into the third quarter. This time the interception was made by sophomore defensive lineman Cooper Blomstrom, who returned it for 7 yards.

Blomstrom’s interception and return led to another Hoya touchdown on the very next drive. Sophomore running back Udechukwu Enyerlbe scored an emphatic 24-yard rushing touchdown and Ryan once again capitalized on his extra kick to put the Hoyas up 17-0. This touchdown run was followed by a series of punts from both teams, as neither seemed able to produce much in the late third quarter and early fourth quarter. The Hoyas’ defense continued to shine as they intercepted the Lafayette quarterback two more times on both of the Leopard’s final possessions of the game. The first came from Daniel, who returned

his second interception of the day 26 yards. The second interception in the fourth quarter came from graduate linebacker David Ealey III, who returned his own for 10 yards.

This trend exhibited by the Georgetown football team’s defense throughout the game was one of the main factors that pushed the team to victory. These turnovers not only put the offense in good positions to score but held the Lafayette Leopards scoreless throughout the entire game. The Georgetown running game proved strong as both touchdowns scored by the Hoyas came on the ground and the running backs combined for 197 rushing yards, with three different players rushing for over 35 yards individually.

Head Coach Rob Sgarlata told The Hoya that he was proud of the way the team prepared for the week and hopes that they carry the momentum from the win with them into the rest of the season.

“I thought our players did a really good job preparing throughout the week, and they’re really excited coming out for the Columbia win into the bye development week for us and having a chance to start the Patriot League on the right foot,” Sgarlata said. “So good weekend, definitely a lot of positives, definitely things to learn from.”

The Hoyas will be in action next Oct. 19 when they travel to Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. as they attempt to stay undefeated in Patriot League play.

Hoyas

Washington Capitals Fall to Devils In 50th Anniversary Home Opener

Hoyas Beat Lafayette, Rely on Defense To Begin Big East Play With Shutout Spirit Excite as Playoffs Approach

Faith Specter

Deputy Sports Editor

With a top-four finish and a home playoff game already a certainty, the Washington Spirit (16-2-6) entered Sunday’s matchup against Racing Louisville FC (6-7-11) looking to build continued momentum heading into the final days of the regular season before the playoffs.

Dealing with numerous injuries to key starters (including midfielders Andi Sullivan, Croix Bethune and Leicy Santos, as well as forward Ouleymata Sarr), head coach Jonatan Giráldez put out a slightly rotated lineup, although much of the Spirit’s core from throughout the season remained intact.

Star forward Trinity Rodman, who’s still recovering from an injury sustained three weeks ago in the Spirit’s 3-0 loss versus the Kansas City Current on Sept. 20, started on the bench. Rodman had exited that game in a wheelchair with spasms in her back. She had not made the matchday roster for either of the Spirit’s last two games, so her appearance was encouraging for those who hope to see Rodman in the playoffs.

Additionally, veteran Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan tore her ACL in the Spirit’s 2-0 loss to the Orlando Pride on Sunday, Oct. 6, leaving her officially out for the season, including the playoffs.

Their tenacity was rewarded in the 36th minute, when forward Makenna Morris put the team up 1-0 with a rocket of a shot that had Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund beat. Just seven minutes later, the Spirit’s relentless attacks down the left resulted in a Kouassi assist that perfectly set Morris up for a tap-in goal. The Spirit would see the 2-0 lead into the second half.

Louisville started out the second half with a good deal of possession and generated a couple decent chances. However, Kouassi drew a penalty in the 55th minute from a foul committed by Louisville winger Janine Beckie. Hatch took the penalty kick, cleanly tucking it away to put the Spirit up 3-0 in the 56th minute.

The 67th minute saw Trinity Rodman enter the game to thunderous applause from Audi

Sullivan played an integral role in helping the Spirit secure their first NWSL championship in 2021 and has been an even more essential piece of the team both on and off the field since. The Spirit started the game offensively minded, earning three corner kicks and generating multiple good looks at goal through the first 20 minutes of the game. The majority of these chances came down the left wing, where leftback Gabrielle Carle and winger Rosemonde Kouassi found a great rhythm and were able to put together multiple dangerous strings of passes, many of which striker Ashley Hatch found herself on the end. Louisville started to work things out a little after the 20-minute mark, although the Spirit’s defense was able to come up with several great clearances to keep control of the game and continue dictating the style of play.

Field as she replaced midfielder Courtney Brown, her first appearance since her injury against Kansas City.

Louisville did start to show signs of life, however, in the 76th minute. Forward Emma Sears, who had just entered the game a few minutes prior, put the ball in the back of the net. The goal was initially disallowed for offsides, which then resulted in a video assistant referee (VAR) check deciding that the goal was good, bringing the score to 3-1. The rest of the regulation time was relatively uneventful, although a great combination stop from Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury and defender Tara McKeown in the 85th minute prevented a Louisville goal that might have turned the game on its head.

In the waning minutes of stoppage time, forward Lena Silano beat multiple Louisville defenders for an astonishing soloeffort goal in the 97th minute. Putting the game to bed at 4-1, Silano’s goal was the cherry on top of an excellent all-around performance from the Spirit.

The Washington Spirit will look to continue building on their positive momentum this Sunday, Oct. 20th, when they return to Audi Field to take on the Chicago Red Stars in the second-to-last game of the season. Currently sitting in second place in the standings and determined to bring home a second NWSL championship, the Spirit will also be preparing to put on their best possible show in the playoffs.

Following a disappointing end to their 2023-2024 campaign, the Washington Capitals looked to hit the ground running, but fell to the New Jersey Devils by a two-goal differential in their home opener Oct. 12.

After battling through significant challengers and coming up short in the first round of playoffs last season, the Capitals (1-1-0) turned over a significant portion of their roster during the offseason. The team prioritized bolstering both the scoring attack and the blue line defense.

Washington’s additions included center Pierre-Luc Dubois, left winger Andrew Mangiapane and defender Jakob Chychrun in trades with the Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators, respectively. Additionally, the Caps signed reliable defenseman Matt Roy, another former King, to a generous, 6-year, $34.5 million contract. Notable departures included goaltender Darcy Kuemper, defenseman Nick Jensen and left winger Max Pacioretty.

These new additions, alongside the legendary Alexander Ovechkin — now in the twilight of his career but still chasing Wayne Gretzky’s alltime goal record — offered hope to a sold-out crowd at Capital One Arena.

Capitals fans streamed in to witness the team open its 50th anniversary season against division rival New Jersey Devils (4-2-0).

The Capitals started strong, winning the opening face-off and taking three shots in the first minute of play. The Devils, however, quickly adapted to the new-look Capitals. The two teams appeared evenly matched, trading shots, saves and face-offs as the first period progressed.

Halfway through the first period, Devils winger Timo Meier drew a cross-checking penalty against Capitals winger Brandon Duhaime. Taking full advantage of their first five-on-four power play opportunity, the Capitals took the puck down the ice and scored.

Slapping the puck past New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom, Washington defenseman John Carlson put the Caps up 1-0, with assists from Dubois and center Dylan Strome. Undaunted, the Devils quickly responded, tying the game at one a piece thanks to a wrist shot from defenseman Seamus Casey.

As the clock drew down in the first, the wheels appeared to come off for the Capitals. Devils center

Paul Cotter found the back of the net to put New Jersey up 2-1 with about four minutes left in the first.

Though Washington would hold off New Jersey’s offense in the final minutes of the first period, they struggled to respond, sending several shots wide and yielding numerous giveaways.

The Caps returned from the first intermission with a newfound resolve. Strome poked the puck into the net within 30 seconds with help from Carlson and Ovechkin.

Yet, the game was tied at two only briefly. Four minutes into the period, New Jersey winger Tomas Tatar put the Devils on top with a snap-shot goal.

Despite several opportune moments, the Caps’ offense simply couldn’t return the favor. Washington struggled not only in finding the back of the net but also in holding off the Devils’ potent scoring attack.

After about ten minutes of stalemate, Cotter scored his second goal of the night, putting New Jersey

up 4-2 with six minutes remaining in the second period. Later in the second, Cotter was sent to the penalty box on a slashing call, but Washington couldn’t capitalize on the power play. Entering the third period, all hope was not lost for the Capitals. With 20 minutes of hockey still to play, the Caps had more than enough time to overcome the deficit and within two minutes, Washington’s veteran winger Tom Wilson scored to help close the gap. Despite Wilson’s early heroics, New Jersey’s defense held firm. Several Washington power plays came and went without a goal and the score remained 4-3 in favor of the visitors as time wound down in the third. In the final two minutes of play, the Caps took several shots on goal, but all of them came up short. With eight seconds remaining, New Jersey regained possession of the puck. Devils center Dawson Mercer scored on an empty net to put the game away.

Despite the 5-3 loss, Carlson was awarded one of the three stars of the game for his one-goal, one-assist performance.

Notably, Ovechkin, despite recording an assist, was held shotless for just the 23rd time in his legendary twenty-year career. New addition Matt Roy left the game early in the second with an injury and never returned. Looking ahead, the Washington Capitals will attempt to right the ship as they continue their homestand this week.

@WNBAGOLDENSTATE/TWITTER

Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and head coach Natalie Nakase will look to build the team.

GUHOYAS

Georgetown’s football team poses for a victory photo after raising their season record to 4-2. The

previously beat the Columbia Lions, Davidson Wildcats and Marist Red Foxes.

John Ehrmann Sports Staff Writer

Ethan Herweck Special to The Hoya

Sophia Lu Senior Sports Editor

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

ARTURO PARDAVILA/FLICKR Aaron Judge struggled in the Yankees’ American League Division Series (ALDS) matchup with Kansas City.

Yankees Star Judge Must Step Up This Postseason

HERMAN, from A12

Series (ALDS) against the Kansas City Royals — Judge has one hit in October. One. That’s exactly one more than I have, and I do not happen to be captaining the Yankees.

I can see Judge’s pinstripes fading off his jersey, dooming him to hide in the shadows of the legendary Yankees who will live forever in the stadium’s Monument Park.

Okay, I’m being dramatic. But not that dramatic. Pinstripes are earned in October, plain and simple. And while Judge has more than exceeded expectations during the regular season, he has fallen far short in the postseason. Shorter than me, and I’m five feet tall. Consider the example of Derek Jeter. A longtime Yankees’ shortstop and captain, Jeter earned admission into the Hall of Fame almost unanimously.

Part of that is because Jeter batted .310, amassed a whopping 3,465 hits and made fourteen All-Star games across a 20-year career. But Jeter is a legend first and foremost because he led the Yankees to five World Series rings. And he wasn’t just along for the ride: In 158 postseason games — the equivalent of nearly a full season — against the league’s best pitching, Jeter hit .308 and reached exactly 200 hits.

Pinstripes? Earned. Judge, on the other hand, is in the midst of his seventh playoff appearance, none of which have ended with the Commis-

sioner’s Trophy in his hands (yet). Of course, there are 26 men on a playoff roster, so it’s not exclusively his fault, by any means. But Judge is the captain of the team, and his postseason batting average is a nausea-inducing .207 as of Oct. 17. I’m no expert, but Judge’s playoff performance doesn’t strike me as a good model for his teammates to follow. Yeah, that was too polite. Let’s try again. To quote Key & Peele’s “Substitute Teacher” skit, “YA DONE MESSED UP, AY-AY-RON.”

I hate to speak poorly about Aaron Judge. It’s blasphemous. He just completed the best offensive season since Barry Bonds, who notably enjoyed a balanced breakfast (read: steroids). But, respectfully, if Judge lets the Yankees down in the playoffs once more, not a single Yankees fan will care about the 58 home runs he hit this year. We will care about the ones he failed to hit in October. Is that fair? Perhaps not. But in the words of Yankees’ radio announcer John Sterling, “That’s baseball, Suzyn.” Yankees fans expect championships, and we’ve been waiting for 15 years. It’s our captain’s job to fix that — and hitting .206 is simply not going to make that happen. So, Aaron. This is your time. Only the Judge can call the court into order. Do not leave us languishing in a silent courtroom all winter, collecting dust until another quest for a championship begins in April. I rest my case.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Hoyas Fail to Muster Sufficient Offensive Firepower

DEPAUL, from A12

The Hoyas offense had brought the ball back towards the goal to get set up for the next play, but a misguided pass found its way into the footpath of the Blue Demons offense. A quick pass to an unguarded DePaul midfielder Beth Smyth found two Georgetown backs running towards her and ultimately colliding. Hoyas graduate goalkeeper Anna Karpenko dove for the ball, missing, and allowing the Blue Demons to score the only goal of the game.

Tippins managed two more shots on goal in the ensuing 10 minutes, but Milam was there again each time for the save. In the 69th minute, an attempt by junior midfielder Shay Montgomery kept the Hoyas on their feet, though Milam’s save once again let Hoya hopes fall flat. An on-target attempt by senior defender Erika Harwood sunk right into the DePaul goalkeeper’s hands and ended Georgetown’s hopes for a win in the 2nd half.

The Hoyas allowed the Blue Demons to gain their first win in over a month and their first conference win of the season. Prior to this game, Georgetown had not lost to DePaul since 2019, also at Wish Field. Georgetown gears up for two more Big East matches this week, beating the Providence Friars 1-0 in Providence, R.I. on Oct. 17 and facing the Marquette Golden Eagles on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. at Shaw Field. The Hoyas will be looking to improve their league record heading into postseason play, which starts next month.

MEN’S SOCCER

Van Horn Impresses with Solo Goal to Beat UConn

UCONN, from A12 glance the crossbar. In the 33rd minute, a long series of Georgetown passes culminated in yet another shot from just outside the box from Viera, this one on target and forcing the keeper to make a diving save. WhiletheHoyaswereunabletoconvert another opportunity, their pressure caused the Huskies to remain on the back foot for the remainder of the 1st half. With the Huskies constantly

pulling people back towards their own goal in an attempt to win the ball from the dominant Hoyas, it would be difficult for them to generate their own offense and tie the match. It was much of the same story in the 2nd half. The Hoyas spent most of their time pushing to get a second goal, while the Huskies fought unsuccessfully against their one-goal deficit. Unsurprisingly, the Hoyas defense stole the show in this matchup. Including their battle with UConn, the

Georgetown defensive line, led by senior defender Maximus Jennings, has conceded just 1 goal in their last 6 matches, and they held UConn to just 3 shots on target throughout the game. Jennings’s strong performance of combining crisp passes with crunching tackles to keep the Huskies’ strikers at bay earned him the honor of Big East defensive player of the week.

Though all of the players looked dominant in the win, the performances of some of the Hoya players cer-

tainly stood out. Aside from Jennings, Viera had 3 dangerous shots at the UConn goal and tallied the lone assist of the game. Van Horn was clinical on the attack, scoring what was ultimately the decisive goal. The Hoyas have seen much success in their conference thus far, and they will look to continue this trend when they return home to Shaw Field for their battle with the Seton Hall Pirates on Saturday, Oct. 19.

The Georgetown University Pep

various Georgetown sports

including

Pep Band Provides Hoya Sports Spirit at Home Games

wood — the atmosphere is unmatched. It makes standing for hours during heartbreaking losses worth every second and compels you to forget about the dinner, club meeting or maybe even the class you skipped to give it all for the Hoyas and the band. It’s a kind of joy that can’t be put into words. You have to experience it first-hand. Games like the Creighton upset this past April upset remind me constantly why I refuse to hit snooze when my alarm goes off early on a Saturday morning to get ready for a game. The infectious energy I feel at games is something I want everyone to experience. So, I implore you to catch some games this school year. I promise you won’t regret it. Maybe you’ll even get to catch me with a trumpet in one hand, greasy pizza in another, all the while screaming for the electrifying 3-point buzzer beater that Georgetown makes to win the game.

GUHOYAS

Junior forward Henley Tippins looks on during a Georgetown game. After losing 1-0 to DePaul, the Hoyas rebounded with a 1-0 win against Providence Oct. 17.

ALEXANDRA HOMANN/THE HOYA

Band’s saxophone section poses for its media day. The band plays at home games for

teams,

football, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’ soccer.

Sports

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2024

FOOTBALL

The Georgetown University football team cruised to a 17-0 victory over Lafayette in their first Big East showing of the season.

See A10

Real Yankees Don’t Become Pumpkins

In October

Eilat Herman Hoya Sports Columnist

Happy playoffs. Or sad playoffs. Depends on what team you like, I suppose, but I’m assuming you’re a New York Yankees fan because otherwise you surely would’ve gotten sick of my column months ago. We’re midway through the American League Championship Series (ALCS) as you’re reading this, which means I’m either panic-running around campus in a Yankees jersey and clearing my evening schedule of commitments or staring out of a foggy window and waiting for winter to come and go. If it’s the former, that means a lot went right for the Yankees in the last week. It could’ve been a clutch hit from Jon Berti, who, for some reason, played his first game at first base during the playoffs. It might’ve been a trademark grand slam by veteran designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton. Maybe it was even a few well-pitched innings by former closer Clay Holmes, despite the fact that he evidently prefers to be atrocious. But if the Yankees are still standing, then Yankees’ captain and presumptive American League Most Valuable Player (AL MVP) Aaron Judge almost certainly contributed to their victories. At least, I hope he contributed. Not just for the team, but for Judge himself. As I wrote this column — two games into the Yankees’ American League Division

See HERMAN, A11

TALKING POINTS

The infectious energy I feet at games is something I want everyone to experience.”

Pep Band President Simone Guité (CAS ’26)

Marquette @ Georgetown Sunday, 1:00 p.m.

Shaw Field

NUMBERS GAME

Georgetown women’s soccer team huddles up. The Hoyas faced atrocious weather, including serious gusts of wind, that negatively affected their play and hurt their chances of coming back down the stretch in their 1-0 loss to the DePaul Blue Demons in Chicago Oct. 13.

Hoyas Fall to DePaul Blue Demons in First Big East Loss

Madeline Wang Special to the Hoya

Despite ample opportunities, the 18th-ranked Georgetown University Hoyas (8-2-4, 4-1-1 Big East) failed to secure a win against a DePaul team (4-5-5, 2-1-3 Big East) seeking its first conference win of the season Oct. 13. A costly mistake on the defensive end allowed the Blue Demons to score in the 56th minute of the game, and DePaul’s defensive prowess kept the Hoyas scoreless to close out a windy Chicago Sunday. Georgetown led the game in attempts, securing 13 shots, 7 of which were on goal, against DePaul’s 2 shots and singular on-target shot. Though the Hoyas had numerous

offensive opportunities, the Blue Demons’ strong defense and the Hoyas’ unfamiliarity with the tight sidelines at DePaul’s Wish Field ultimately led to a scoreless Georgetown showing. An offensive mistake in the 56th minute provided the opportunity for DePaul to take a shot, and the Hoya defense was unable to recover, allowing the Blue Demons to score the game’s only goal. The beginning of the match appeared promising for the Hoyas, with senior forward Maja Lardner putting up two shots on goal in the opening 12 minutes. She took the first shot about 9 minutes into the game, nailing the ball at an angle with her left

foot and sending it flying towards DePaul goalkeeper Elena Milam, who narrowly saved the ball from rolling into the net. Her second shot was on target as well, but unfortunately found its way straight into the arms of the Blue Demons’ goalkeeper.

An on-goal shot by junior forward Natalie Means late in the 15th minute from the right corner of the 18-yard box continued the Hoyas’ streak of unfortunate misses. The ball once again found its way directly into the hands of Milam.

In the 27th minute, it once again looked like Georgetown had an opportunity for a goal, thanks to some strong offensive work. Junior forward Henley Tippins deftly and

Dynamic Offense Powers Win Against UConn

Michael Santos Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown men’s soccer team traveled to Connecticut Saturday, Oct. 12 and took a 1-0 victory over the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies to move to joint first place, alongside St. John’s, in the East Division of the Big East Conference.

Faced with a strong UConn squad (7-2-4, 2-1-1 Big East), the Hoyas (6-3-4, 3-1-0 Big East) looked to carry their momentum from their most recent Big East Conference outing, where they cruised to a convincing victory against the Providence Friars.

The Hoyas began the game with some nerves, conceding a big chance to the Huskies within the first 10 minutes of the match when their left back whipped a cross into the path of a forward, who glanced a header just wide of the post. However, this pressure by the Huskies would not last long, with the Hoyas immediately putting their pressure on the Huskies’ defense, amassing a series of shots over the next several minutes. Thankfully, for the Hoyas, this pressure would eventually be rewarded.

Just as the clock ticked past the 21st minute, senior midfielder Blaine Mabie collected the ball near his own box and pinged an excellent pass forward to begin a blistering counterattack. Junior midfielder Max Viera collected the ball near the sideline

quickly maneuvered around the DePaul defense, then took a shot with her left foot that hit the right goalpost and nearly ricocheted into the goal. However, the attempt was once again saved by the Blue Demons goalkeeper.

The 1st half also included three more shots on the Georgetown side, two from Lardner and one from junior midfielder Mary Cochran, none of which were on target.

A single, weak kick on the DePaul side rounded out the goal attempts for the 1st half: Georgetown had 7 total, 3 on goal, and DePaul had only 1, which was not on goal. Serious gusts of wind picked up during the start of the second half, followed by

pouring rain. The weather, in conjunction with the narrow sidelines and all-around tightness of the field, made the game against DePaul much more trying than it might have been elsewhere. At one point during the game, a DePaul player managed to kick a ball out of bounds onto train tracks outside the stadium. Given the defensive-minded DePaul team and their potential to feed off offensive momentum, Georgetown’s goal throughout the game was to score first. Heading into the second half, this was still the Hoyas’ intention, though a costly mistake in the 56th minute led to a DePaul goal.

While most Georgetown University students may be sleeping in on Saturday mornings after packed Friday nights, I’m up early grabbing coffee and my trumpet before heading to Studio A in New North to prepare for game days with the Pep Band. It’s a year-round ritual: no matter the season, we’re at football, basketball, soccer games and more.

I joined Pep Band at the very beginning of my first year on the Hilltop. In the band, I found a group of kindred spirits who are some of the most passionate fans of Georgetown sports you’ll ever meet. Not only do we love playing our instruments, but we’re also united by a shared purpose in creating as conducive an environment as possible for our teams to win.

One of my all-time favorite memories from my time as a Hoya so far has been cheering on the women’s basketball team’s upset of Creighton at the Big East tournament last year. The game was electric from start to finish, and we played our hearts out despite the low number of Georgetown fans in the stands (the game took place at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville,

Conn.). We all lost our voices the next day because we had been chanting and screaming the entire time — a final release of the passion we had built up for the team over the course of the season, having first-hand witnessed their many highs and lows. This made watching the team’s success at the tournament even more special. This past April, I was elected as the president of the band after playing in it for two years. I love what we do, the entire ethos of it and just being able to share in the community of enjoying sports and playing music together. The thing I admire most about my bandmates — or as those of us in the band say, “bandos” — is their relentless dedication to pep, even when our teams lose. It is no secret that the football and basketball teams have had some rough times in recent years. I remember the turnout being so low at men’s basketball games my first year

GUHOYAS

Sophomore running back Bryce Cox rushed for 77 yards on 19 carries during the Hoyas’ Oct. 12 game.

GUHOYAS

Sophomore midfielder Matthew Van Horn handles the ball against the UConn Huskies. The Hoyas beat the Huskies 1-0 Oct. 12 at UConn’s home field in Storrs, Conn.

Simone Guité Special to The Hoya