The Hoya: February 21, 2020

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 101, No. 19, © 2020

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

GU Fills Title IX Investigator Position GUSA Senator Resigns, Cites Toxic Work Environment SOPHIE HABER Hoya Staff Writer

ASHLEY ZHAO

Hoya Staff Writer

Former Georgetown University Student Association Senator Alexandra Mucher (COL ’22) resigned during a GUSA Senate meeting, reading a resignation letter that cited a toxic and unsupportive environment.

Before Mucher’s resignation Jan. 26, the Ethics and Oversight Committee had begun drafting articles of impeachment against her because of her several meeting absences, which exceeded the three allowable number of absences for senators. Mucher, a survivor of sexual assault, said she missed meetings because of her struggles with her mental health, which was negatively affected by insensitive conversations in GUSA surrounding issues of racial violence and sexual assault, according to Mucher.

Mucher was one of two GUSA senators who resigned this semester. The other senator, Zumanah Mahmud (MSB ’23), has taken a medical leave of absence.

The Ethics and Oversight Committee was originally going to announce the drafting of impeachment proceedings against Mucher during the senate meeting in which she resigned, according to Chair of the Ethics and Oversight Committee Chris Ziac (COL ’22).

Mucher, who had been informed of imminent impeachment plans against her by another senator before

the meeting, decided to announce her resignation to ensure she would be able to share her perspective and experience, she said in an interview with The Hoya.

“I think that if I didn’t talk about all of this, it would just kind of vanish into nowhere,” Mucher said. “Especially around the time when I chose to actually resign was because, if I was about to be removed anyway, and if I was removed, it would have just been like, ‘Oh yeah, Alexandra didn’t show up to the meetings, and then she was removed,’ and that’s not an accurate depiction of what happened.”

The general attitude and conversations in GUSA surrounding sensitive topics such as racial violence and sexual assault on campus made it difficult to make progress on such issues through legislation. The topics’ treatment in the senate also made some survivors and people of color uncomfortable, according to Mucher.

Her choice to publicize her resignation and share her experiences in GUSA help reveal the flaws within the organization to the student body, Mucher said.

“I think that GUSA needs to be held accountable for the ways in which they routinely fail people, not just survivors, but also people of color, low-income communities, queer students,” Mucher See GUSA, A6

Georgetown University has appointed Sarah Onori as its new Title IX investigator, filling a full-time position that has been vacant since June 2019.

Onori formerly served as the equal opportunity and Title IX investigator at Northeastern University. As investigator, Onori will oversee student Title IX investigations, investigate employee civil rights discrimination and harassment complaints, and conduct university climate assessments, the university announced in a Feb. 18 news release. Onori will also focus on improving community engagement with the Office of Title IX Compliance and contributing to training initiatives, according to Title IX Coordinator Samantha Berner.

The university has not had a full-time Title IX investigator since Berner simultaneously served as Title IX investigator and interim Title IX coordinator until late June 2019. While the university conducted its search for a full-time investigator, several temporary investigators shared the responsibility of investigating sexual misconduct cases filed by students against their peers, according to Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Rosemary Kilkenny (LAW ’87).

The university spent months conducting its search for a new Title IX investigator to ensure it found a candidate with the necessary experience for the role, according to Berner.

“This role is an extremely important position, not

only to the Title IX office, but for the Georgetown community as a whole, so we approached our national search with extreme care,” Berner wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Students have criticized long vacancies in the Title IX office. After former Title IX investigator Laura Cutway left unexpectedly in June 2018, Berner served as both interim coordinator and investigator, prompting students and student groups, such as H*yas for Choice and The Corp, to demand the university publicly address the lack of a full-time

dedicated coordinator in a September letter emailed to university administration.

Ten months later, Berner transitioned to full-time Title IX coordinator.

The university did not publically announce Cutway’s departure or Berner’s appointment to the campus community.

The lack of transparency and expediency in the Title IX office’s hiring processes is concerning, according to HFC Vice President Chad Gasman (COL ’20).

“We’re angry that it took the University this long to provide a resource that stu-

dents deserve, need, and had been asking for for months,” Gasman wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “It demonstrates a lack of care on the part of the University and specifically a disregard to the needs of the University’s most marginalized and unsupported communities.”

Since qualified investigators handled students’ sexual misconduct cases in the interim, the lack of a fulltime investigator had no impact on the quality of university support, according to Kilkenny.

See TITLE IX, A6

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Georgetown University named Sarah Onori as its new Title IX investigator after the full-time position had been vacant since June 2019. Onori previously served as an investigator at Northeastern University.

Novel by Professor Adapted to TV Anonymous Twitter Account Vows Series, Set To Stream on Hulu To Unmask Secret Society Members ANNALISE MYRE

CLARA GRUDBERG AND HARRISON MCBRIDE

Hoya Staff Writer

A TV adaptation of “Baghdad Central,” a novel authored by Georgetown University professor Elliott Colla, is set to stream on Hulu in March.

The series originally aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on Feb. 3 and has received critical acclaim since its release, according to a news release from the Arabic and Islamic studies department. Colla, an associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies, published the historical fiction source novel about the U.S. presence in Iraq in 2014.

The TV show is set in U.S.-occupied Iraq shortly after U.S. forces removed Saddam Hussein from the Iraqi presidency and disbanded the Iraqi army. The story features a former police inspector named Muhsin al-Khafaji who searches for his missing daughter. Al-Khafaji works as a detective for the U.S.-led coalition forces while following his own personal agenda.

The show is a six-part crime thriller for Channel 4 written

NEWS

Fulbright Scholars GU produces record number of scholars in 2019-20 cycle.

A5 50 Years of Lau Lau launches two exhibits highlighting 50 years of its history.

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SPORTS

Carraway Carries Team Senior attacker notches four goals in men’s lacrosse victory.

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FEATURES

Consulting After Graduation Students feel social pressure to pursue careers in consulting.

A4

Hoya Staff Writers

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Elliott Colla, a professor in the department of Arabic and Islamic studies, published “Baghdad Central” in 2014.

by BAFTA-nominated writer Stephen Butchard.

After Euston Films bought rights to the novel in 2016, Butchard began writing the

FEATURED

script, according to Colla.

Butchard added characters and changed many elements See HULU SHOW, A6

A black-clad person, equipped with a cellphone and a voice manipulator, took to Twitter on Feb. 8 to urge members of Georgetown University’s secret societies to reveal their identities. The unknown person claims to be a member of the anonymous group “The White Rose.”

The group has been targeting supposed members of the Society of the Stewards by revealing their identities and personal information on its public Twitter account.

Over the past two weeks, the group has posted a number of masked, voice-modulated videos, as well as released a portion of a tax return document from an organization called the Stewards Charitable Trust.

The Society of the Stewards is a long-standing, all-male Georgetown secret society.

While few details are known to the general public, the group is believed to have a large graduate network and a six-figure endowment. The group purportedly recruits men whom it perceives to be

THE GUIDE

influential on campus.

The White Rose seeks to hold powerful groups on campus, like the Stewards, accountable, according to The White Rose.

“The White Rose exists to raise awareness of some of the more nefarious aspects of secret society culture at Georgetown.”

THE WHITE ROSE Anonymous Twitter Account

“Primarily, the White Rose exists to raise awareness of some of the more nefarious aspects of secret society culture at Georgetown,” The White Rose wrote in a statement to The Hoya through Twitter.

“We asked for further transparency from an organization with hidden membership and a secret agenda attempting to wield influence in all corners

of Georgetown life. When the Stewards failed to compromise we decided to continue releasing names again to further raise awareness among the Georgetown community.”

On Feb. 4, two days before the Georgetown University Student Association executive elections, The White Rose sent an email to members of the GUSA Senate and campus publications, claiming a GUSA executive candidate and a senator are Stewards. The sender signed off on the email as “The White Rose,” but the email account was under the name “Ann Hutchinson,” an apparent reference to the Puritan reformer Anne Hutchinson.

In subsequent tweets, The White Rose released the names of another GUSA senator and three other student leaders on campus as alleged Stewards.

GUSA members have been connected to the Stewards in previous years. In 2013, a separate anonymous organization, known by its Facebook profile “StewardThroat Hoya,” released documents See WHITE ROSE, A6

OPINION

Taking a Leap A Jesuit reflects on a bold professional decision.

A3 Support Young Parents Acknowledge this critical homeless subpopulation.

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EDITORIAL

Revert to Tuesday Schedule Have regular Tuesday classes after President’s Day. A2

GUIDE

Secondhand Shopping in DC Explore how students thrift to be both trendy and sustainable.

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OPINION

THE HOYA

HOYA HISTORY • Feb. 25, 1983

Georgetown Returns to Its Traditions With New Seal Georgetown University is changing its official school seal and bringing back a historical symbol in the process. The present, round Georgetown seal is being phased out gradually in favor of the original, oval-shaped seal which was used from 1798 until 1894.

The decision to readopt the original seal, which will soon be seen on all university stationary, flags, official documents and memorabilia, was made in June 1977 when the Corporation of the university voted to reinstate the oval symbol. The Corporation, which is a special arm of the Board of Directors vested with “corporate” control of the university, acted on the recommendation of President Rev. Timothy S. Healy, S.J. The original oval seal was selected by the university simply for tradition’s sake, according to Charles Meng, Acting Vice President for Administration and Facilities. “It was the original seal used by the University,” he said. The new “old” seal will not completely replace the present round seal for some time, he predicted, because seal changes will only be enacted as printing dies wear out and stocks bearing the round seal are depleted.

Georgetown’s original seal is thought to have been designed by its second president, Rev. Louis Dubourg, S.S., around 1796. This is because the seal has 16 stars around it, which represents the 16 states in existence between 1796 — when Tennessee became the 16th state — and 1803 — when Ohio was admitted as the 17th state. The seal was first engraved in a 3” copper plate in May 1798. Its cost of 15 shillings was borne by a charitable French woman.

The new oval seal is essentially the same as the original one. It has been clarified for modern printing purposes by two freelance engravers at the United States Mint, and the year 1789 was added under the seal. The cost for the work was less than $1,000. In the center of the seal is the bald eagle, which is identical to that of the Great Seal of the United States. The eagle holds a crucifix in its left claw and a globe with a pair of calipers in its right claw. A caliper is an instrument used to measure thickness and diameters.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

THE VERDICT Raunchy Royals — Instead of linking to a Welsh nonprofit endorsed by the Queen of England, a hyperlink on the official royal website led readers to x-rated adult content. The royal website replaced this unfortunate oversight with the correct link Monday morning.

Not So Cheap Date — A man in Kansas created a website that promotes his offer of $25,000 to anyone willing to

find him a girlfriend. The potential girlfriend must take a survey first, and if they match, she must date the man exclusively for 365 days before the matchmaker is eligible for full payment.

Florida Man-Er, Peacock — Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood will soon lose many members of its infamous

peacock population. The City Commissioner approved the removal of excess peacocks earlier this week attempts to reduce the extensive property damage inflicted by the birds.

Virginia Is for Lovers — Democrats in Virginia recently repealed the “crime of fornication” which had fornication listed as a Class 4 misdemeanor that carried a fine up to $250. If passed, the bill would finally make it legal for unmarried people to have sex in the state.

Dictator’s Horseplay — Information from Russian customs has shown that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has spent over $500,000 importing Russian horses over the past decade. Some of these horses are believed to have been used in the dictator’s photoshoots.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Advait Arun

Greg Nemrow Hoya Staff Writer

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

EDITORIALS

Fix Post-Holiday Class Schedule Further Invest in CAPS Groups Georgetown University follows a Monday class schedule on the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day, even though this day is just a regular Tuesday everywhere else.

Last spring, Georgetown started following a Monday class schedule on the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day. Since three days of Monday classes are canceled for holidays in the spring, the university chose to use a Monday class schedule for the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day to equalize the number of meetings for classes that meet on different weekdays in the spring semester, according to a university spokesperson in an email to The Hoya. The university’s attempt to add more Monday class days, however, creates conflicts for students and faculty with commitments off campus.

Since the Monday class schedule for this day is already planned through spring 2022, it likely cannot change. For the next multiyear calendar, however, the university should revert to a regular Tuesday class schedule after Presidents’ Day. While Georgetown starts each semester on a Wednesday that follows a Monday class schedule, this practice is more realistic because classes often follow a Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday schedule. The additional day of Monday classes is more disruptive when it is imposed on a Tuesday.

Even other universities that start semesters on Wednesdays with a Monday class schedule, such as Duke University, do not parallel Georgetown’s practice of holding Monday classes the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day. Though losing Monday class days is not ideal, other universities have survived this challenge without creating unnecessary scheduling conflicts.

If the university is concerned with missing too many Monday-only classes, it should avoid scheduling such courses during the spring semester when it knows several holidays will occur.

Losing Monday class time can create challenges for professors, but making Tuesday follow a Monday schedule is even more burdensome, according to Adam Rasmussen, an adjunct lecturer in the department of theology.

“When you teach part-time at multiple institutions (as most adjuncts do), unless both institutions follow the same ‘administrative Monday’ system, it can create conflict,” Rasmussen wrote in an email to The Hoya. “As an adjunct, I would prefer they re-

vert to the old policy and abolish the administrative Monday for Presidents Day.” Neither American University nor The George Washington University follow a Tuesday schedule after Presidents’ Day, making it difficult for adjunct professors who also work at these institutions.

It is unfair for Georgetown to expect faculty to adjust their schedules around a quirk in the academic calendar when the day after Presidents’ Day is a regular Tuesday almost everywhere else. The university should not require professors to choose between teaching an extra day at Georgetown and upholding work commitments elsewhere.

The current policy also creates problems for students who work off campus with inflexible work schedules. On Feb. 18, Grace Crozier (COL ’21) skipped two classes to work her regular retail shift on Wisconsin Avenue.

“I had to make a choice between attending class and working, which is a choice I try really hard to avoid having to make,” Crozier wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Georgetown’s current policy makes attending class on this Tuesday less accessible for students who cannot afford to lose a day of pay. Though the schedule is published multiple years in advance, this notice does not guarantee students a solution to their scheduling conflicts.

“The Monday make-up is inherently unrealistic because it isn’t Monday anywhere else in the world, only within the bounds of Georgetown’s campus,” Crozier wrote.

Outside employers have no reason to care about adjusting to Georgetown’s schedule, and students cannot plan their semester-long work schedule around one particular Tuesday. The current policy will always require some students to choose between skipping a day of pay and racking up unexcused absences. Georgetown has a responsibility to alleviate this additional barrier for students who rely on income from off-campus jobs.

Georgetown should not require students and professors to choose between their Georgetown commitments and regular off-campus ones. The university should return to a Tuesday class schedule after Presidents’ Day in future calendars. If it’s a Tuesday everywhere else, it should be a Tuesday here, too.

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Demand for mental health services on college campuses has increased nationwide over the past few years, and many universities have invested in group counseling options as they try to meet this rising demand. Georgetown University has followed this pattern by investing in valuable group therapy options.

With limited resources for individualized services, Georgetown’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services, an on-campus mental health resource, offers several opportunities for students to join therapy groups, support groups and workshops, according to Director of CAPS Phil Meilman.

This editorial board strongly supports CAPS’ current group counseling programs. Since these programs are important and currently more accessible than other campus mental health resources, the university could even consider investing further in expanding and publicizing therapy groups and workshops.

All mental health services on campus are important, and group therapy options are not the best fit for everyone seeking mental health resources. Funding for other mental health services like individual therapy should not decrease, and Georgetown should still work to supplement CAPS’ overall budget as soon as it can. Nevertheless, groups and workshops are important resources for many students and have the potential to help even more if expanded.

Therapy groups can provide students with a support network and a space for dialogue with peers experiencing similar mental health challenges, according to the American Psychological Association. For the spring 2020 semester, CAPS’ groups include four support groups, two interpersonal groups and three skill-building workshops.

Group therapy receives positive satisfaction ratings from clients and can result in the same amount of learning as in individual therapy, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.

Since therapy groups have proven to be beneficial nationwide, CAPS’ commitment to these services is important and could even be expanded, as therapy groups and workshops are more accessible than other CAPS services.

Whereas individual CAPS appointments are short term and cost $10 each, students may at-

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tend unlimited groups and workshops free of charge, Meilman wrote. Since groups are currently the most accessible option for long-term mental health services on campus, Georgetown should invest further in CAPS groups so that even more students can access these services.

Accessible group options are also important, as CAPS struggles to meet the rising demand for mental health services on campus. Demand for CAPS has increased so much that there is now a waitlist for students seeking individual services with nonurgent needs, according to Meilman.

Since individualized services cannot meet current demand at Georgetown, CAPS is encouraging many students to participate in therapy groups and workshops, Meilman wrote.

The lack of resources for individual services is a problem the university must prioritize by increasing CAPS’ total funding as soon as possible.

CAPS groups are an important resource, however, for this period in which other services are inaccessible for many students seeking them.

Investing further in group services would allow the university to increase the capacity of mental health services with a minimal increase in cost while they work to establish more financial support for CAPS overall.

Further investments in group therapy could add a broader range of options for students seeking accessible mental health services by establishing groups for even more topics. CAPS is continually considering new ideas for group therapy subjects, according to Meilman. The university should offer CAPS support to invest in even more ideas so that these mental health services can reach as many students as possible.

CAPS’ current groups are important for students who are benefiting from the presence of free on-campus group mental health resources. While demand for mental health services on campus continues to exceed CAPS’ capacity, the university can consider immediately investing further in group counseling programs, as these are the most accessible mental health services on campus.

CAPS groups and workshops are necessary on Georgetown’s campus. The university should further support these programs by expanding their breadth and publicizing them to as many students as possible.

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OPINION

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

REPRESENTATION GAPS

THE HOYA

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AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT

Inspire Young Leaders

Trevor O’Connor

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epresentative Don Young (R-Alaska) has served in Congress longer than the average American has been alive.

With almost five decades under his belt representing Alaska’s only congressional district, Young has been in office since President Richard Nixon was saluted with “Hail to the Chief” and Diana Ross ruled the airwaves back in 1973.

Yet Young is not an anomaly.

The average member age of the House of Representatives is 57.6; the average member of the Senate is 62.9. Only 26 members of our national legislature are millennials.

This age gap between Congress and the U.S. population affects which issues are championed, such as retirement and Medicare, and which are sidelined, such as climate change and student loans. While it’s important to have experienced representation in our legislatures, it’s just as important to ensure more young people are in office.

Though far from monolithic, age groups tend to have distinct worldviews. Two-thirds of Generation Z, those born after 1997, agree that “increasing racial/ethnic diversity is good for society.”

Meanwhile, less than half of baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, agree with this statement. On key social issues, Gen Z Republicans are more liberal than their Republican boomer counterparts. Moreover, Gen Z and millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, are more likely to cite human activity as the cause of climate change than are other generations. Younger Americans skew more liberal than other age groups and prioritize different issues. If we’re serious about solving the imminent climate crisis and promoting equity in our country, more youth representation is important.

Of course, age does not dictate ideology. At 78 years old, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) single-handedly carried almost half of voters under 29 in the recent New Hampshire primary. Meanwhile, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), who at 38 years old is the first millennial presidential candidate, could barely gain 6% support for voters under 34 in a recent national poll. Clearly, the populist rhetoric of Sanders resonates more with young voters than does the centrism of Buttigieg. Younger elected officials aren’t guaranteed to be more in line with youth in-

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terests, but having more in office is a good start.

Moreover, in an age of cyber threats, alt-right trolls, and debates over social media regulation, it’s critical to elect people who are aware of the nuances of the internet age. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), elected at 29, has quickly risen to prominence as a symbol of youth energy and power. With an understanding of the changing nature of political engagement, Ocasio-Cortez masterfully uses social media to connect with younger Americans in ways older legislators may not grasp as readily. Younger members such as Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) have likewise utilized social media to spread progressive ideals and engage with youth directly.

This approach also translates into championship of certain issues that affect younger Americans.

For example, 33-year-old Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) has made maternal health a priority.

However, those born after 1981 make up only 6% of Congress, mostly due to incumbency. Incumbents can mobilize millions of dollars in support and rely on name recognition to stay in power. Moreover, political parties are more likely to recruit people who are wealthier and well connected, inherently making the candidate pool older. One small step would be for parties to identify and support younger candidates earlier on.

Though organizations like Run for Something are trying to encourage more young Americans to run for office, the problem is structural. Since campaigns are incredibly expensive and keep many newcomers from entering, change must happen at that level. Public funding of elections may provide more opportunities for new faces and younger candidates to rise. Various proposals of campaign finance reform such as small-donor matching, a system that works in New York City, could help younger candidates raise enough money to compete against big donor-backed incumbents.

Additionally, instituting congressional term limits remains a bipartisan option that would help lower corruption, reduce barriers of incumbency and allow for newer voices to enter the halls of legislatures. Despite these structural barriers, however, we all have a responsibility to support younger candidates if we want to change the composition of our legislatures. Inspire your colleagues to run for local office, research nonincumbents and identify ways to help fellow youth organize both outside and inside of government. If we want change, let’s start now.

Trevor O’Connor is a senior in the College. REPRESENTATION GAPS appears online every other Tuesday.

It was undeniable for me that this job, this opportunity, carried some excitement with it. The only question was whether I would trust my gut, whether I would take a leap and give it a shot. I leapt.

Deciding To Take a Leap

Fr. Peter Folan, S.J.

I

am in the middle of only my second semester as a faculty member at Georgetown University, and, happily, I am already penning my first column for The Hoya. As good fortune would have it, I get to write just a week or so before one of my favorite dates: Feb. 29. There are two basic reasons, the latter more meaningful to me than the former, that I have always liked leap day.

First, it is a fun little quirk of the calendar that most of the world uses. Indeed, it is a quirky day on top of a quirky month. Compared to the 11 other months of the year, February, with only 28 days, is already peculiar enough. And then, as if that had not already been confusing enough for most people when they were learning about the calendar as children, the month tacks on

an extra day every four years.

Where others find annoyance in this, however, I find charm. Yes, I know that leap years exist to keep the calendar aligned with nature’s seasons, and I was told recently that the reason February gets the extra day has its roots in some decisions of Julius Caesar. Neither of these things is especially charming, but sometimes a whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Keeping me on my toes for February each year, and for Feb. 29 every four years, is a welcome task.

The second, and as I said above, the more significant reason I like Feb. 29, is because it was on that day 20 years ago that I interviewed for what would become my first job after college. I boarded a plane early that morning at South Bend Regional Airport in South Bend, Ind. — at the time, I was three months away from finishing my undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame — and flew here, to Washington, D.C. More to the point, on Feb. 29, 2000, as I was flying to D.C., I was about three weeks away from hearing whether I had been accepted to a totally

different program, one that was administered by Notre Dame and would have seen me teach high school for two years.

A number of good friends had applied to the same program, and I was crossing my fingers in the hopes that we would all matriculate, deepen our friendships and do some good work along the way. Most of them did just that, but things turned out differently for me.

During my interview that day, my future boss asked me, “If you are offered this job tomorrow, are you ready to accept it on the spot?” I had been tipped off that this question would come my way, and further, that it had only one correct answer, which is the answer I gave. “But of course, Father.” The job, as it turned out, was at the United States Catholic Conference, which is now called the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. And that future boss was a priest.

Late on the 29th, I flew back to Notre Dame, crawled into bed and awoke the next morning to a phone call from an administrator at the university. The job was mine, and I had 24 hours to decide if I wanted it.

I was surprised at the time cushion. I was thinking I would have no more than 24 seconds to say yes or no, so a whole day seemed luxurious. Truly, I have no idea how many of those hours I took to accept the offer, but I did so before the close of business that day.

I do not remember exactly what my thought process was before I communicated my decision, but I would reconstruct it in this way.

Living in a big city, working in a field I did not know all that well and striking out on my own, had an attractive sense of adventure.

Call it “the road less traveled,” or something like that, but it was undeniable for me that this job, this opportunity, carried some excitement with it, an excitement that was thicker than the one I felt when I thought about the teaching program. The only question was whether I would trust my gut, whether I would take a leap and give it a shot.

I leapt.

Fr. Peter Folan, S.J. is an assistant professor of theology and religious studies in the College. AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT appears online every other Thursday.

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VIEWPOINT • PELZEL

Commit to Allyship

Support Homeless Young Parents

lack history is American history. Since 1619, when the first Black slaves were brought to the United States, Black people have been shaping American history in more ways than have been recorded. From carrying the American economy on their backs to driving innovation and creating entire cultural movements, black people have had a profound impact on American institutions and culture, an impact that has often not only been forgotten, but erased.

Today, Black history has been relegated to a history of “firsts.”

Thurgood Marshall, Mae Jemison, Jackie Robinson.

These are the names we associate with black excellence.

While the contributions of each of these individuals should not be minimized, acknowledging them solely on the basis of their primacy vastly oversimplifies the rich history of Black people in this country.

Black history should not be defined by its entry into White spaces.

In an Atlantic piece titled, “Letter to My Son”, Ta Nehisi Coates eloquently captures the second-class status that Black history is often demoted to in academia. In describing his grandparents’ resistance to a subjugated Black history within their own home, Coates frames this institutional bias. “They [Coate’s grandparents] were rebelling against the history books that spoke of black people only as sentimental “firsts”—first black four-star general, first black congressman, first black

mayor—always presented in the bemused manner of a category of Trivial Pursuit. Serious history was the West, and the West was white.”

Coates indicts a history of firsts. Only acknowledging black pioneers entering white society fundamentally devalues the contributions and experiences of Black people.

In solely recognizing Black groundbreakers, we delegitimize the humanity and value of Blacks before they entered these majority-white spaces.

Whether they be the baseball stadium, the NASA research lab, or the Supreme Court of the United States, the value of Black Americans in this skewed universe is mapped out in the terms of white institutional development towards racial integration, not the inherent excellence that these individuals embodied.

This kind of history inclines us not to appreciate these pioneers by their hard-earned merits, but only in terms of their novelty in the White world. A black History of firsts assumes traditionally white spaces to be the default by which human progress can be mapped and neatly timelined. This places a premium on a history of white achievements, as if Black Americans weren’t innovating, thinking, writing, and inventing before they were accommodated into mainstream institutional structure. Thus, a Black history of “firsts” reinforces an inherently racist power structure and narrative of our collective pasts.

This in no way means that these “firsts” cannot be celebrated. On the contrary,

we have much to learn from the examples of Madame C.J. Walker, Gwen Ifill, and Althea Gibson.

But to acknowledge these firsts and stop is to forget our history as a country, and at Georgetown, as a school.

For instance when examining Georgetown, a Black history of firsts gives us only a narrow picture of the role of Black Americans in their history of the university.

Georgetown’s first black students graduated in the 1950s and 60s, and most of them are still alive today.

Samuel Halsey Jr., the first black Georgetown undergraduate (SFS ‘53) passed away in 2012, and potentially our first Black female student, Margaret (Hayes) Jordan (BSN ‘64) graduated as recently as 1964.

While the delayed integration of Georgetown in and of itself speaks volumes about our history of exclusion, our celebration of our own firsts also neglects the immense impacts Black people have had on our campus since our inception.

From slaves to servants to presidents of the university, Black people have been everywhere on this campus. Some of our buildings were literally built on their backs. To pretend this presence began in 1949 is to woefully misrepresent the contributions of Black people to our campus, contributions which were numerous and significant even before their entry into white spaces.

KYRA HANLON (SFS ’16) is the assistant director of immersion programs at Georgetown University.

H

omeless young parents, defined as under 24 years old and pregnant or with a child, are no longer considered youth, and are not a “population in focus,” according to Washington, D.C.’s Solid Foundations D.C.: Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness.

Homeless young parents are sent to adult-centered services, while all homeless single youth receive youthcentered services. Very few young families will be placed in youth-centered transition homes with fully customized support services on site.

At the Georgetown University Public Policy Challenge finals Friday, March 20, Brittany Panetta, Yamel Sarquis Elias and myself, all secondyear graduate students, will advocate for young parents to be considered a youth subpopulation and a significant data point, within D.C.’s written policy on homeless youth. We noticed a pattern, conducted field research and found that there is a group of people who urgently need to be seen and heard by advocates and policymakers.

Reclassifying young parents will bring more focus to their needs and prompt service providers to collaborate and coordinate care if it’s a written policy.

There are three main arguments for why we should consider youth parents a population in focus within Solid Foundations and in the District’s adult-centered Homeward D.C. plan. One, young parents are underrep-

resented in D.C.’s homelessness goals and laws. Two, young parents are put at significant risk of perpetual homelessness. Three, homeless young women are more likely to become pregnant than their housed peers.

A significant data point in the D.C. homeless population, young parents are an underrepresented population in both the federal and local census. If we don’t acknowledge young parents in written policy and separate them out in the bylaws from other populations, they will not be treated with the urgency and care they need.

As it stands right now, the majority of homeless young parents are not referred to youth-centered transition homes because of lack of space and end up in a hotel. This puts the burden on mothers as young as 18 years old to navigate the system to get wrap-around services that other youth parents are receiving as part of their livein programs in a transition home.

Eighty percent of homeless young women are likely to become pregnant by age 26 and 38% by age 20, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Federal census numbers, however, don’t reflect these data points, resulting in less policy, less social services training and higher continuous cycles of homelessness.

If we don’t count this population correctly, we can’t fully understand their needs to help them transition to independence.

Young parents slip through the system. Young people with kids are often not on the streets because they move around between friends’ and family’s homes, sleeping on buses or pooling money to get a hotel. Federal and D.C. Point in Time reports far fewer because their count does not account for transient youth.

When a group is hard to track down, it seems smaller because its members are rarely seen or heard from. Since homeless young parents are particularly less visible than other homeless groups, they are more likely to be overlooked in counts of people experiencing homelessness in D.C. As a result, public priorities shift to serve the more obvious demographics.

Not counting young parents as youth and nesting young parents within a families category without making them a subpopulation of families is overlooking a demographic in the homeless population, heightening the risk of these young families.

As a city, we can solve the problem by representing young parents in policy, counting them in accurate census and creating more collaboration to mirror the wrap-around services young parents in youth-transition homes receive. Let’s all keep pushing for transparency and advocacy for young parents in D.C. KRISTI PELZEL is a secondyear graduate student in the School of Communication, Culture & Technology.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE The deputy director of the Foreign Service Institute at the U.S. State Department discussed effective ways to create a representative workforce at a Feb. 20 event. Story on A8.

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IN FOCUS URBANIZATION CHALLENGES verbatim

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The number one thing overall is to make sure that Ward 2 believes in their leader.”

Brooke Pinto (LAW ’17) on the upcoming D.C. Ward 2 Council Special election.

Story on A9.

from our blog

WILL HOUSTON/THE HOYA

At the event titled “Urban Challenges in Globalizing Times: Making Cities and Urban Lives across the Americas,” speakers discussed the creation of the modern cities of Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montreal, Los Angeles and Houston.

GET TO KNOW THE FACES BEHIND OUR CONTENT! This spring, we hired three new people to produce plentiful publications that are sure to provide laughter in any place! Read their personal top-five lists here. blog.thehoya.com

Consulting Stays Dominant With Push From Clubs, Firms ADAM PACK

Special to The Hoya

In the next two months, several finance and consulting firms will be interviewing Georgetown University students for summer 2021 internships — more than a year before the internship start date. For seniors looking for full-time jobs, recruiting for finance and consulting will wrap up within the first few months of the fall semester, earlier than all other industries.

Such early recruiting timelines can leave students doubting whether they are making the right career choices, according to Tina Gaddy, assistant director for undergraduate professional development at the School of Foreign Service Career Center.

“Many students have this feeling of FOMO on whether they should pursue consulting or investment banking,” Gaddy said in an interview with The Hoya. “They see some of their peers wanting to go into these industries, maybe even having these jobs already lined up, and they think, ‘If everyone else is doing it, then I should be, too.’”

In 2018, management consulting was the most popular employer industry for Georgetown undergraduates, with 14.5% of the graduating class choosing to work in consulting. The popularity of consulting has been consistent since 2008, with the exception of one year, according to Susan Campbell, director of the Cawley Career Education Center, a career resource center on campus.

Many Georgetown students choose to pursue consulting because of the prevalence of preprofessional clubs and encouragement from recruiters at large consulting firms. While consulting is a popular industry among Georgetown graduates, some consulting firms do work with controversial clients, raising ethical questions among those who go into consulting.

CONSULTING AND THE SFS

The SFS sends the largest proportion of graduates into consulting, with 21.3% of the class of 2018 SFS graduates pursuing careers in management consulting, compared to 14.3% of McDonough

School of Business graduates, 13.3% of School of Nursing & Health Studies graduates and 11.4% of College graduates.

Unlike the other undergraduate schools, the top three employers of SFS students in the class of 2018 are all consulting firms: Deloitte, McKinsey & Company and PwC. In recent years, the SFS has emphasized the importance of understanding the relationship between policy and business. For example, the school has created academic programs focused on business studies that can serve as a stepping stone for students interested in consulting, international trade and development, as well as other industries.

In light of trade wars and international economic tensions, the SFS has increased the presence of business in the curriculum to educate students in both diplomacy and business studies, according to SFS Dean Joel Hellman.

“As we can see already with the trade war between the United States and China, commercial policy is going to be an important tool within this great power competition,” Hellman said in an interview with The Hoya.

“Diplomats need to understand business to a degree they did not 40 years ago.

Business people are going to need to appreciate how the policy ecosystem works to a degree they did not have to.”

As the need for people skilled in business and diplomacy has increased, the SFS has created more opportunities to study the business sector through initiatives such as the bachelor of science in business and global affairs program, a joint degree program with the MSB that officially launched this semester.

In addition to the appeal of consulting in the context of international affairs, students are often drawn to the industry for the skills development and the job security that consulting provides, according to Hellman.

“There is a temptation for students to take the jobs offered to them,” Hellman said. “They’re great jobs.

They pay well. They do give you a lot of skills.”

For students interested in being hired for a full-time job or a summer internship at a consulting firm, recruit-

ment season involves sub- students interested in indusstantial efforts by large con- tries other than consulting, sulting companies, which according to Byman. usually recruit early during “We can’t make the fedthe fall semester. eral government better at “They really make their hiring. We can’t make a presence known,” Gaddy small nonprofit all of a sudsaid. “They try to come even den have a huge human reearlier, but we don’t let sources division,” Byman them.” said in an interview with The To balance the presence of Hoya. “But we are trying to large, well-known consulting make it more reassuring to firms, the SFS Career Center students who are pursuing is working to give students ex- those opportunities.” posure to opportunities from Working in the public secless accessible and less re- tor or for a nonprofit is not cruitment-heavy industries, the only way to make a difaccording to ference in Hellman. the world, Despite however, efforts to as consultbalance coning jobs can sulting with also allow other indusstudents to tries within have a fulfillthe SFS, ing career, pursuing a according to consulting Samuel Arjob does not onson, an asfully emsistant dean body an SFS in the SFS. education’s “I’m overemphasis on joyed that service and more stuTINA GADDY Assistant Director for Undergraduate advocacy, acdents are Professional Development at the SFS cording to Olgoing into Career Center. ivia Torbert the consult(SFS ’20). ing/finance “I came into the School of sector and not the governForeign Service expecting ment/foreign policy route,” everyone to be really into in- Aronson said in an interview ternational relations, and to a with The Hoya. “Consulting degree that does incorporate entities are really helping the business sector, but to to shape what’s happening me that much more means around the world, and I’m government and nonprofit so glad our students are the and advocacy work,” Torbert ones that are there and share said in an interview with The our values of cura personalis Hoya. and being men and women Students often opt for a ca- for others.” reer in consulting because of job security and the George- CLUB PRESSURES town culture surrounding When Katie Merola (MSB consulting, according to ’20) joined Hilltop ConsulTorbert. tants, a preprofessional “I’ve talked to friends and consulting club that works peers who have gone into with nonprofits, during her consulting, and it’s not their freshman fall, she cited camfirst choice, but because it puswide pressure to have ensures job security so early a career plan. in their senior year, they “If anything, I think there trade pursuing their dreams is pressure at Georgetown right after graduation for the just to know what you’re gojob security,” Torbert said. ing to do and want to do,” Some jobs in the public Merola said in an interview sector might be seen as less with The Hoya. secure because they may reHilltop Consultants is one quire obtaining a security of several established conclearance, which can be a sulting clubs on campus, inlengthy process and compli- cluding Georgetown Global cate recruiting, according to Consulting, Innovo ConsultDaniel Byman, professor and ing, TAMID Group and DCivice dean of the SFS. While vitas. the SFS cannot change the These clubs are among hiring practices of some sec- the most selective student tors to make them more ef- organizations on camficient, the school supports pus, with Hilltop Consul-

“Many students have this feeling of FOMO on whether they should pursue consulting or investment banking.”

tants accepting less than 4% of applicants on average, according to the club’s LinkedIn page.

Merola, who is now the director of personnel for Hilltop Consultants, only started considering consulting as a potential career after two years of internships in finance left her unsatisfied with the industry.

Merola was recruited as an incoming business analyst for Bain & Company, one of the “Big Three” management consulting firms, alongside Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey. Merola attributed part of her successful recruitment to the skills she learned from Hilltop Consultants.

“All of my presentation skills are from Hilltop,” Merola said. “The ability to work on a team and synthesize large amounts of information into a really aesthetic and well-thought-out presentation — I think that’s been hugely helpful.”

Consulting clubs on campus can also open the door to nontraditional consulting careers, such as consulting for nonprofit organizations, according to DCivitas vice president Monica Essig Aberg (COL ’22).

“With DCivitas, I have seen the impact of nonprofit work on social justice issues, and how my skill set fits into the needs of nonprofits,” Essig Aberg wrote in an email to The Hoya. “This has opened my eyes to careers in the nonprofit sector that I didn’t know existed.”

CONSULTING ETHICS

While consulting continues to be the most popular Georgetown career path postgraduation, students also grapple with how consulting influences communities around the world.

Management consulting firms have played a significant role in helping different enterprises grow and develop their companies, according to management professor Nicholas Lovegrove, who worked for McKinsey as a senior partner in the London branch and managing partner of the Washington, D.C. branch.

“You could say enterprises of various kinds have been obtaining higher standards of performance and enabling that growth,” Lovegrove said in an interview with The Hoya. “To do that, they’ve

been drawing upon whatever advice they can get and management consultants play a prominent role in that.”

However, major consulting firms have recently been exposed for working with clients that violate human rights. For example, McKinsey consultants have worked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cut costs in detention facilities and accelerate the deportation period, disregarding the rights of detained migrants, according to a December 2019 report by The New York Times and ProPublica.

In 2018, 11 Georgetown undergraduate students chose to work for McKinsey after graduation.

After facing public backlash for their involvement with ICE, McKinsey announced that it was halting its work with the controversial government agency in July 2018. However, that same month, McKinsey signed a contract to consult for Customs and Border Protection, a partner government agency with ICE involved in family separations.

McKinsey is not the only consulting firm that has worked with ICE. Deloitte, the largest employer of Georgetown graduates in 2018, has been awarded over $74.9 million in consulting fees for ICE since the start of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Management consulting firms need to start being accountable for the clients they choose to advise, according to Lovegrove.

“Where they’ve made tangible mistakes — and clearly McKinsey in particular has made some quite tangible mistakes in its choice of clients and engagements — they certainly need to and have not owned up to that,” Lovegrove said.

Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J., professor of government and director of the Center for Latin American Studies, believes students have to consider how their career choices will impact others.

“Everything is bothered,” Carnes said in an interview with The Hoya. “People are bothered in whatever area we are working in. If we’re working in an NGO, we’re bothered in how we make that NGO better. If we’re working in consulting, we’re bothered on what difference does it make.”

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Speaker: Black Activists Must GU Produces Largest Number Use Social Media Influence Of Fulbright Scholars in US CLARA GRUDBERG AND YALDA ZARRABI Hoya Staff Writers

Activists can harness the power of digital media platforms to raise awareness and bolster the goals of black liberation movements, political scientist Cathy Cohen said at a Feb. 20 event.

The event titled “Black Resistance in the Digital Age—From Twitter to Black Queer Feminism” took place in Lohrfink Auditorium. At the event, Cohen reflected on the growth of black resistance movements within the digital realm.

Social media provides a platform for historically silenced and marginalized individuals to freely express themselves, according to Cohen.

“It is a space of previously policed voices; in particular, those of black feminists can be heard,” Cohen said. “The imposition of the politics of respectability is more difficult with spaces with relatively open boundaries.”

The event was sponsored by the Center for Social Justice, the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, which develops policies and strategies to improve American workers’ lives, multiple academic departments and major and minor programs.

The talk is a part of a series of events on campus recognizing Black History Month.

This year’s programming commemorating Black History Month features almost 50 events, nearly double the number of events in 2019.

Digital platforms give young black activists a space to unite and rally together against in-

justice, according to Cohen.

“I want to explore the liberatory and maybe deviant possibilities of politics in the digital space,” Cohen said.

“Speceifically, I’m interested in how young black people are using digital spaces armed with deep political alienation and the participatory culture to build a new black public sphere where radical black politics, radical black movements might be birthed.”

Platforms like Twitter have allowed movements to gain momentum. The social justice movement Black Lives Matter, which aims to stop violence and systemic racism towards black communities by law enforcement, was birthed on Twitter in 2013 through a trending hashtag. A lack of diversity among Oscar nominees was highlighted by the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, created by activist April Reign.

Information can be spread more effectively via digital platforms than traditional media sources, which increases the effectiveness of liberation movements, according to Cohen.

“These sites, which highlight content which focus primarily on issues impacting black communities, may now constitute an online black counterpublic that has the potential to provide a space for political discourse and action that allows us to fight for black liberation,” Cohen said.

Cohen is a professor at The University of Chicago where she served as the chair of the department of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and

Culture. Her work primarily focuses on the study of post-civil rights movement black politics and social movements.

Over the past decade, black digital media outlets like Blavity and The Root have emerged.

These online publications primarily cover and offer perspectives on issues affecting black communities.

Open digital platforms, however, still offer more equitable coverage for activists than these black media outlets because digital platforms are free from bureaucracy and editorial restrictions, according to Cohen.

“Even black media sources, whose mission of uplift and respectful visibility was decidedly different from the mainstream press, were hierarchy-structured with editors making final decisions with who and how black people would be represented,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s work in political activism includes serving as a founding board member of the New York-based Audre Lorde Project, an organization which serves LGBTQ people of color. Cohen has also written two books: “The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics” and “Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics” Digital media offers powerful tools for movement building, but the true transformative capabilities lie within the activists themselves, according to Cohen.

“I never think of platforms of having revolutionary potential,” Cohen said. “I think of people on platforms as having revolutionary potential.”

Islamophobia Permeates Foreign Policy, Speaker Says JAIME MOORE-CARRILLO Hoya Staff Writer

Young United States citizens risk forgetting how post-9/11 U.S. policies have harmed Muslim communities at home and abroad, author and researcher Nazia Kazi said at a Wednesday event.

After terrorist organization Al Qaeda attacked U.S. military and economic targets Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. launched a decadeslong effort to neutralize terror threats across the globe. U.S. counterterrorism efforts, which remain a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy, focus on Islamic fundamentalist organizations in the Middle East. Experts, pundits and policymakers have criticized the undertaking — dubbed the war on terror — for its allegedly unclear goals and problematic methods.

The U.S. government’s war on terror is a manifestation of Islamophobia, according to Kazi. U.S. citizens must recognize state actions can qualify as Islamaphobic to begin to counter bigotry more broadly.

“If we are to understand Islamophobia at all, we must push ourselves to think beyond the actions of bigoted individuals, and we must push ourselves to understand the roots of their hate,” Kazi said. “We must push ourselves to see the Islamophobia that is perpetrated by the state and all too often paid for by our tax dollars. And most importantly, we must push ourselves to see our own tragic and often invisible complicity.”

The post-9/11 expression “never forget” has been used to justify and mask U.S. foreign policy blunders, according to Kazi. “‘Never forget’ is the brand name of 9/11, and as a slogan ‘never forget’ is on par with ‘Just Do It,’ and we have to ask: If ‘Just Do It’ makes us go out and buy Nikes, then when it comes to ‘never forget,’ what exactly are we being sold?” Kazi said. “‘Never forget’ functions ideologically, making sure we do forget — that we forget the uneasy global histories that have better memory, a more nuanced, contextual memory would force us to remember.”

Kazi serves as an assistant professor of anthropology at Stockton University, a public university in New Jersey, where she studies Islamophobia and U.S. foreign policy.

Her 2018 book “Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics”

discusses the intersection of Islamophobia and U.S. foreign policy, according to the publisher’s website.

Those born after 9/11 lack knowledge surrounding the incident because of twisted historical narratives, according to Kazi.

“I surveyed undergraduate students this fall, students who were born after 9/11 in 2001. I was curious to find out what these young Americans actually do remember about the thing they’re supposed to never forget,” Kazi said.

“Eight percent of my respondents couldn’t tell me what the Patriot Act was. One respondent said it was a Netflix show starring Hasan Minhaj.”

Signed into law by President George W. Bush almost two months after the 9/11 attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act introduced sweeping reforms with the described intention of bolstering U.S. national security. The law, which granted U.S. law enforcement the power to collect communication records and detain immigrants suspected of terrorism, has drawn criticism from politicians and human rights advocates.

The event, titled “Islamophobic Nationalism and Forgetfulness in the Terror Decades,” was hosted by the Bridge Initiative, a university research group that investigates Islamophobia, in the

Intercultural Center. During the event, Kazi discussed the diverse manifestations of Islamophobia in the United States, especially in the foreign policy arena.

U.S. society has glossed over unflattering aspects of U.S. foreign policy after 9/11 through slanted ceremonies and educational programs, according to Kazi. She referenced the United States’ often overlooked support for Saudi Arabia and CIA sponsorship of mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, instances she said reflected United States’ willingness to compromise purported U.S. human rights values for political ends.

“These are not the histories that make it into our social studies books. They might not even be the histories you expected to hear at a university lecture on Islamophobia. But there are ideological underpinnings at the heart of U.S. empire building,” Kazi said. “It might begin to help us understand how it is that generations of Americans have come to see their country as a global force for good or a hapless victim of evil, but never, to quote Martin Luther King Jr., as ‘the greatest purveyor of violence’ on earth.”

Hoya Staff Writer Ashley Zhao contributed reporting.

DR. NAZIA KAZI

Nazia Kazi, an author and researcher, spoke about Islamophobia in U.S. foreign policy at a Feb. 19 event.

GRACE BUONO Hoya Staff Writer

A record 45 Georgetown University students and graduates have been named Fulbright student scholars during the 20192020 cycle, the most of any college or university in the United States.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program funds research opportunities and teaching fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students worldwide, according to the program website. This year’s cohort of Georgetown Fulbright student scholars is the largest number of students admitted to the program in university history, after 30 recipients set the previous record during the 2018-19 cycle.

Fulbright student scholars receive federal funding in the form of grants to study abroad after graduation, conduct individual research, pursue master’s degrees or teach English in foreign countries. Douglas McKnight, a third-year doctoral student in the German department and 2019-2020 Fulbright grant recipient, will use his grant to study the impact of World War II on the cultural memory of Austrian cities.

McKnight would not be able to further his research without the support of the scholarship program, he wrote.

“Fulbright provides graduate students the ability to conduct on-site fieldwork for an entire academic year that is fully funded,” McKnight wrote. “Fulbright has a great reputation abroad and being a Fulbright scholar enables you to access resources that might otherwise remain inaccessible.”

The historic number of student recipients comes after a yearslong initiative by the

Georgetown Office of Fellowships, Awards, and Resources to raise awareness for the program and bolster resources to better support applicants, according to Lauren Tuckley, senior associate director of fellowships.

“When I first came here I saw that this program was completely underproducing what we could produce because this is a very good program for Georgetown’s students, especially because it’s internationally focused,” Tuckley said in an interview with The Hoya. “This has been the first year, after eight years of deliberation and developing the recruitment advising and the review packaging of this, that we’ve been able to achieve the 45.”

Since Fulbright was founded in 1946, 492 Georgetown students have taken part in the U.S. Fulbright student scholars program, according to a Feb. 10 university news release.

University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) congratulated the Georgetown Fulbright student scholars for their commitment to global improvement in a Feb. 10 university news release.

“We are deeply honored by this distinction earned by the students and alumni of our Georgetown community,” DeGioia wrote in the news release. “The contributions of our Fulbright recipients – past and present – represent a profound commitment to service, to the pursuit of knowledge and to building bridges of understanding.”

The record number of admitted students to the program this year is a testament to Georgetown’s strong academic program and institutional support, according to McKnight.

“Georgetown should be

proud that it has such a large cohort abroad with this program,” McKnight wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Fulbright has a great reputation abroad (and here in the US), and having so many Georgetown students and alumni taking part in it reflects the high level of academics offered at the university across the board.”

GOFAR provides a number of resources for applicants to the Fulbright program. Each applicant is aided by a personal advisor, as well as a faculty panel, which reviews and provides feedback on the application, according to Katrin Sieg, a German professor who served as McKnight’s faculty advisor.

The resources provided by GOFAR are key reasons for the success of Georgetown applicants, according to Sieg.

“We have a great infrastructure in place, we have people who tell students about grant opportunities, fellowship opportunities,” Sieg said in an interview with The Hoya. “We have people who do mock interviews for the Fulbright so they get a lot of help so beyond the individual advisor and of course that plays a really big role in getting a grant.”

All applicants to the Fulbright program gain invaluable experience and perspective, according to Tuckley.

“This was a program that was founded in 1946 after the second world war with an idea that to become a more tolerant citizen we need to embrace other cultures. That is an essential component to why we tremendously promote and recruit,” Tuckley said. “We hope that anybody that goes through this process ultimately leaves with a set of skills that’s invaluable to them irrespective of whether they win or they lose.”

LEFT: CAMRON & AMIE 2019/FACEBOOK, RIGHT: NICO & BRYCE FOR GEORGETOWN/FACEBOOK

Nicolo Ferretti and Bryce Badger used campaign materials from a University of Texas at Austin Student Government campaign to create graphics for their GUSA executive ticket.

Ferretti, Badger Campaign Uses UT Austin Campaign Materials KATRINA SCHMIDT Hoya Staff Writer

Campaign leadership for a University of Texas at Austin Student Government winning executive campaign identified uncanny similarities between the graphics used for their campaign and the graphics of Nicolo Ferretti (SFS ’21) and Bryce Badger’s (MSB ’21) winning Georgetown University Student Association Executive campaign.

Camron Goodman and Amie Jean, the UTSG president and vice president for 2019-20, ran in February 2019 with the slogan “UT led by you” and a campaign featuring bold, ’90s-inspired graphics. The designs are originally by Sarang Kim, a recent graduate from UT’s advertising and studio art programs.

Ferretti and Badger’s GUSA campaign this January employed nearly identical graphics, a detail Badger acknowledges was directly inspired by Goodman and Jean’s campaign at UT, although he maintains the designs were not explicitly plagiarism.

“We were conscious of the fact of how similar the two are,” Badger said in an interview with The Hoya. “We liked how nontraditional this was and how out of the box it was.”

Badger personally created the designs for his and Ferretti’s campaign using Adobe Photoshop and Canva. After Badger and Ferretti decided to run for GUSA Executive, they researched student government campaigns at universities across the country. The design of Goodman and Jean’s campaign stood out to them, Badger said.

“The colors were so brilliant,”

Badger said. “We were like, ‘wow, let’s do something like this.’”

In hindsight, Badger and Ferretti regret failing to contact Goodman and Jean prior to using such similar graphics.

Badger and Ferretti included a credit for the “Design Inspiration” for the campaign on their Facebook page and website, Badger said.

The credit, which reads “Design Inspiration: Camron & Amie,” should have included a link to the campaign or attributed direct credit to the design, Jacqui Briddell, the communications director for Goodman and Jean’s campaign, said in an interview with The Hoya.

“They credited us on their website, but they just said ‘inspired by Camron and Amie,’ but they didn’t link to our campaign. They didn’t say ‘at the University of Texas,’ so there’s no way for people to know where it came from,” Briddell said. “It would’ve been nice for them to reach out and ask us.”

Kim and Briddell credit much of Goodman and Jean’s campaign’s success to its cohesive graphics and visual elements.

“We just really focused on having something that was approachable, personable,” Kim said in an interview with The Hoya. “I think that’s how you attract people with the same mission, same vision, same values.”

Briddell first learned of Ferretti and Badger’s campaign through a friend who saw a Facebook post sharing Ferretti and Badger’s graphics.

When a friend showed Briddell the social media accounts for Ferretti and Badger’s GUSA campaign, she was shocked

by the similarities to the UTSG campaign she had worked on the year prior. She tweeted screenshots of Goodman and Jean’s graphics alongside Ferretti and Badger’s, and the tweet received dozens of retweets and over 200 likes.

Following her initial frustration, Briddell now describes Ferretti and Badger’s use of many of the same design elements as flattering.

“Me saying everything I said wasn’t coming from a place of malice,” Briddell said. “It’s actually really cool to see that our campaign, our brand identity and the way we kind of executed things from a communications standpoint really inspired them.”

The growing role of social media in student government campaigns, and branding in general, makes originality critical for developing a unique concept, Briddell said.

“People aren’t necessarily paying attention to where content was birthed or where it came from,” Briddell said. “It just isn’t who you are. It doesn’t truly represent who you are as a person, as a candidate, as whatever, if you’re using something that you didn’t create.”

Goodman and Jean’s campaign, focused on making UT a more inclusive and supportive campus, was particularly inspiring, Badger said.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t reach out to them in advance,” Badger said. “I think they really set a high bar for what campaigns should look like across the nation, and I really applaud them for everything they did throughout their campaign and throughout their term.”

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NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

7 Months Passed Before GU Hired Professor’s Middle East TV Full-Time Title IX Investigator Crime Drama Debuts in UK TITLE IX, from A1 “There has never been any compromise in the University’s ability to provide excellent investigatory services in the Title IX arena,” Kilkenny wrote.

Among undergraduate students at Georgetown, 31.6% of women and 11.6% of men reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact since entering college, according to the results of the 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct. Georgetown reported higher rates of sexual assault compared to other universities who participated in the national survey.

The search committee to find a new Title IX investigator included key campus partners, community members and students, according to Berner. The committee looked specifically for an experienced candidate who had an appreciation for Jesuit values and was compatible with the Georgetown community, according to Berner.

As the investigator at Northeastern, Onori gained experience conducting investigations, drafting reports and advising students about Title IX rights and resources, she wrote.

In addition to her most recent work at Northeastern, Onori also served as an assistant district attorney in Plymouth County, Mass. These professional experiences will help inform

Onori’s work as Title IX investigator at Georgetown, according to Kilkenny.

“Sarah Onori is a seasoned investigator with a proven track record not only in higher education, but also in our judicial system,” Kilkenny wrote. “Her experience uniquely equips her to fairly and evenhandedly work with the parties involved in sexual misconduct cases and we are looking forward to integrating her into the team of talented colleagues involved in the adjudicatory process.”

Onori’s experiences growing up in a first-generation Nigerian family and studying at Boston College, a Jesuit university, instilled in her a passion for service to others, she wrote.

“I am enthusiastic to be a part and contribute to that mission at Georgetown and serve the community by being a neutral and impartial investigator on discrimination and harrassment matters,” Onori wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The move to hire Onori comes alongside a broader effort by the university to improve Title IX processes. The university released a January 2019 statement underscoring its commitment to ensuring Title IX processes are adjudicated fairly in response to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ plans to release Title IX guidelines that would narrow the definition of sexual harassment, expand the

rights of those accused of sexual misconduct and limit liability for institutions.

Georgetown is preparing for potential new regulations that may come from DeVos’ plans in the coming months, according to a university spokesperson.

“Georgetown remains committed to its programs, resources and initiatives to combat sexual assault and to fostering a safe environment for the entire community,” the university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The University will continue to focus on sexual misconduct education and prevention, support for individuals impacted, and prompt and equitable processes to respond to reports and complaints of sexual misconduct.”

The appointment of a fulltime Title IX investigator is key to fostering a community free from sexual and discriminatory harassment, according to LGBTQ Resource Center and Women’s Center Director Shiva Subbaraman.

“At the LGBTQ Center and the Women’s Center we are certainly very pleased with the appointment of Sarah Onori as Title IX investigator,” Subbaraman wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Some of these searches are far more complicated and long drawn out than many imagine it to be, and we are really glad that we have been able to secure a seasoned professional.”

HULU SHOW, from A1 of Colla’s initial plot, but Colla and Butchard reached a compromise in the end, according to Colla.

“I read drafts of the screenplay as Stephen worked on them and gave my feedback, but from the outset, our understanding was that this would be their story, though it would remain true to the characters and situation,” Colla said.

American actor and Oscarnominated producer Waleed Zuaiter plays protagonist alKhafaji. Zuaiter is best known for co-producing and starring in the critically acclaimed 2013 film “Omar.” Alongside Zuaiter, well-known theater actor Bertie Carvel plays Frank Temple, a former British police officer who helps rebuild Iraq’s police force.

Co-stars also include “House of Cards” star Corey Stoll as Captain John Parodi, a U.S. military police captain and Temple’s archnemesis, and “Homeland” star July Namir as Mrouj, Khafaji’s sick daughter.

At the beginning of the production process, Colla worried the series might fall into discriminatory tropes prevalent throughout the industry’s adaptations of events in the Middle East, Colla wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“There’s a long history of orientalist, Islamophobic representations of Arabs in Euroamerican cinema and television,” Colla said. “But as soon as I met the producers, and then the director, and then the cast, I stopped worrying.”

Colla collaborated with Jonathan Curling, a producer in Egyptian television, and Arij al-Soltan, a young Iraqi producer, to maintain the historical integrity and realism of the script, according to Colla.

In contrast to traditional Western portrayals of Iraq, Colla’s novel captures the country’s often misunderstood nuances and complexities, according to Joseph Sassoon, a professor of history and political economy at Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and al-Sabah chair in politics and political economy of the Arab world.

“Because of Elliott’s back-

EUSTON FILMS

The crime drama is set in Iraq 2003, shortly after the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The show aired on Channel 4 in January. ground as a professor of Arabic literature, he understood how the society functions and how it is structured,” Sassoon said in an interview with The Hoya.

“He didn’t come with the usual biases of a lot of politicians or journalists or even sometimes academics when they write about this country.”

The series will showcase Colla’s accomplishments and draw attention to Arabic literature and culture, according to Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych, chair of the department of Arabic and Islamic studies.

“All of us AIS are proud of Colla’s accomplishments and their contribution to our fields of Arabic language, linguistics, literature and the other Islamic humanities,” Stetkevych wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We hope that his novel Baghdad Central and the television series will serve to alert readers, viewers and critics to the world of Arabic literature and culture, and the presence of so talented and engaging litterateur among our research and teaching faculty at AIS.” In the summer of 2017,

Colla travelled to London to work on early drafts of the script. In August 2018, Colla went to Morocco to meet the production crew and cast. The day of the first script readthrough with the entire cast was also the first day of classes at Georgetown, according to Colla. Colla had initially told producers he was not going to be able to make it, he wrote.

“I happened to be teaching a comparative literature course on noir fiction that year,” Colla wrote. “I got off the phone and my family said, ‘No! When someone turns your book into a film and invites you, you go.’ And besides: have you ever had students complain because you had to miss a class?”

Colla ultimately accepted the invitation and explained to his students he would be missing class to go to Morocco for the television production, he said.

“Sure enough, no one complained,” Colla said. “But at the same time, I doubt many of them believed it. It was a far-fetched claim for a bookish professor to make.”

Former Senator Criticizes GUSA Insensitivity on Sexual Assault GUSA, from A1

SHEEL PATEL/THE HOYA

The White Rose wants to push legislation to regulate secret societies on Georgetown’s campus.

If the measure fails, the group plans to seek a referendum to achieve the same goal in April.

White Rose Twitter Theorizes About Stewards’ Membership WHITE ROSE, from A1 and photographs implicating that year’s GUSA presidential runner-up as a Steward. In 2014, four of the eight candidates running for GUSA executive office were confirmed to be Stewards.

The White Rose has membership in the double digits and formed on campus in the spring of 2019, according to the anonymous member.

One of the group’s main aims is to have the GUSA Senate pass legislation regulating the activity of secret societies on campus, according to the anonymous member.

“Releasing names will not be enough because this action alone will not end the Stewards’ constant pursuit for power under the veil of secrecy. Therefore, we are pursuing action in GUSA to introduce an amendment to ban those with secret agendae from running for public office within their organization,” The White Rose wrote. “An alternative, and perhaps more realistic amendment, would involve forcing those in secret societies to declare their allegiances upon deciding to run for student government.”

If these options fail, The White Rose will pursue a referendum to coincide with the April GUSA Senate elections to introduce a total ban on secret societies, according to the member.

GUSA does not currently intend to take up legislation on secret societies, according to Senator Daniella Sanchez (COL ’22).

“Neither the White Rose nor the Stewards have any real power or influence in GUSA at the moment. Not to mention, if the person behind the White Rose truly wanted to improve the exclusive culture of our university, they would not hide behind a mask,” Sanchez wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Instead, they would reach out to those in GUSA with their true identity to work with us on real solutions rather than threatening us.”

While the intentions of the group may be positive, the method by which the group is pursuing its goals is questionable, according to GUSA Senator Leo Teixeira (COL ’21).

“In theory, the prospect of an unaccountable society seeking to covertly seek to influence and push an agenda is unacceptable, so one can understand why the White Rose is doing what they’re doing,” Texiera wrote in an email to The Hoya. “At the same time, however, since they have to maintain privacy for obvious reasons, its difficult to judge their legitimacy or credibility.”

The White Rose reached out to “The Hilltop Show,” a student-led online political comedy group, to organize an

in-person interview Feb. 15, but subsequently canceled it, according to Alexandra Bowman (COL ’22), president of “The Hilltop Show.” (Full disclosure: Bowman formerly served as a staff writer and a cartoonist for The Hoya.)

“We then responded by offering to do a ‘live video interview’ with the White Rose,” Bowman wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The White Rose responded, ‘This is something we can do.’ Some time later, they said that they had ‘chosen a representative and are willing to go live.’ Then, on Friday night at 12:48 a.m. before the day of the interview, the White Rose contacted us and said that, for private reasons, they wanted to cancel the interview.”

The White Rose will remain anonymous because of fears of possible retribution, according to the member.

“Yes, retribution is a possibility. We know of examples where previous individuals who have attempted to expose their behavior have faced attack,” The White Rose wrote. “Furthermore, it is easier to conduct operations without facing a repeating barrage of questions from others. Despite this, we have considered going fully public before, because unlike others, we have nothing to hide.”

Hoya Staff Writer Jaime MooreCarrillo contributed reporting.

said. “I also think that GUSA says this thing where they say that they’re pushing for diversity, but the environment is actually extremely toxic, and I don’t want people to go into it without knowing what to expect, because that’s what happened to me.”

Mucher noted an Oct. 6 senate discussion on a bill for a potential climate survey about racial issues on campus. The senate discussed including questions regarding student experiences with the Georgetown University Police Department, and some senators argued the questions in the survey were antipolice. While the bill ultimately passed unanimously in the senate, the initial pushback reflects GUSA’s lack of understanding about racial issues, according to Mucher.

“People aren’t really sensitive to the fact that for people who don’t look like them, the police are an actual threat, and people have had experiences with the police that leave them traumatized and upset,” Mucher said. “They just talk about it like it’s just this arbitrary issue that doesn’t really affect anyone and can just be talked about completely neutrally, which kind of shows the bias of GUSA.” After Mucher had accrued two absences, the Ethics and Oversight Committee met with her Nov. 8 to discuss reasons behind her missing GUSA events, according to Ziac. These absences were for missing events, such as tabling. Mucher did not know these events, outside of the weekly senate or committee meetings, were mandatory, according to Mucher. The rule that made such events mandatory for senators to attend had been presented and

passed the day the fall 2019 class of senators, including Mucher, was sworn in, according to Ziac.

Mucher had not submitted any excuse forms, which are available to senators who need to miss meetings, and did not wish to discuss issues she had with the GUSA environment, according to Ziac.

Mucher also did not inform the Ethics and Oversight Committee of the reasons behind her absences in advance, Ziac said.

“The environment is actually extremely toxic, and I don’t want people to go into it without knowing what to expect.”

ALEXANDRA MUCHER (COL ‘22) Former GUSA Senator

“We also tried to figure out more about the senate culture, if that was affecting her in any way, but for whatever reason she didn’t really want to talk about that, so that didn’t really factor into our discussions too much, which is kind of unfortunate in my opinion because that was something we were looking to improve,” Ziac said.

Many of the meetings Mucher chose not to attend were because they had to do with sexual assault, however, which she did not feel comfortable discussing in GUSA’s environment, Mucher said. The Ethics and Oversight Committee spoke with Mucher again via FaceTime and Ziac texted her Dec. 3 after she accrued over four absences to inform her that the committee was considering impeachment, according

to Ziac. Mucher then clarified to Ziac that her mental health and discomfort with insensitive conversations in GUSA were reasons behind her absences.

Mucher’s experience reflects the need to reform punitive measures against senators to better account for the diverse experiences of the student body, especially those of students within marginalized communities, Speaker of the Senate Juan Martinez (SFS ’20) wrote in a news release sent to The Hoya.

“In specific regard to the resignation of Senator Mucher, I believe it is unfortunate that the Senate has specific thresholds for unexcused absences that, upon being met, commits the Ethics and Oversight Committee to pursue impeachment against senators regardless of individual situations,” Martinez wrote. “I believe there needs to be a cultural shift on campus in the way we hold others accountable. That shift should be toward a conflictresolution approach that is conscious about factors that disproportionately hinder marginalized students.”

The GUSA Senate should create greater transparency beyond public statements student representatives release as they do not accurately reflect the conversations surrounding sensitive topics within the senate, Mucher said.

“I think that the student body should know who’s representing them, truly, and the decisions that they’re making, and not just the things that they see them send out, which are reactionary pieces and don’t actually have any weight to them,” Mucher said. “The student body’s already extremely disillusioned with GUSA, and I think that this shows why.”

NEWS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

THE HOYA

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Cuban Orchestra Faces Travel Gun Access Prevents Justice Challenges on Annual GU Trip For Survivors, Experts Say HARRISON MCBRIDE Hoya Staff Writer

Members of Cuba’s Lyceum Mozartiano of Havana are completing a visit and cultural exchange program with the Georgetown University Orchestra after travel complications threatened the annual program.

As a part of its fourth annual exchange with Georgetown, the cohort will sit in on orchestra classes and rehearsals, as well as lead master classes for students in the Georgetown University Orchestra from Feb. 17 to 21. Prior to this year’s exchange, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra performed at the John.

F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the production of the Clemency of Titus from Feb. 13 to 15. This year, Lyceum Mozartiano of Havana musicians faced visa difficulties that complicated their travel to the United States for the performance and exchange.

Maintaining the exchange has been logistically difficult due to ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Cuban governments. Previously, the two countries had a poor relationship due to the Cuban government’s association with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, according to BBC. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has instituted provisions that make travel arrangements difficult.

The Havana Lyceum Orchestra and the Georgetown University Orchestra have collaborated in an exchange program since 2017. Although the program has grown in recent years, the changing political dynamics between Cuba and the U.S. have complicated the travel process, according to Georgetown University Orchestra music director Angel Gil-Ordóñez.

“It was an incredible experience for us,” Gil-Ordóñez said. “Then the administration changed, so it was much more difficult to keep the relationship. This year we were able to bring them here because the Kennedy Center took care of the visas.”

The Kennedy’s Center’s International Programming team usually submits visa applications for the international artists it presents, according to Brendan Padgett, a senior press representative for The Kennedy Center.

“The Kennedy Center did help with the visas,” Padgett wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“This is standard procedure that presenters follow with any company that requires work visas.

The Havana Lyceum Orchestra had to travel to Mexico before being able to enter the U.S., according to Gil-Ordóñez.

Despite these travel barriers, it is still important for Cuba and the U.S. to partake in cultural exchanges.

“My only hope is that politicians understand that cutting bridges with such a culture is such a terrible decision. I think that these people can bring so much to us, and everytime they come here they do,” GilOrdóñez said. “I hope that politicians understand that the best way to understand different people is knowing them better, traveling to their countries and understanding them.”

JoJo Farina (COL ’23), who is serving as a translator for the group, said the experience has been enriching as the two orchestras bonded through music.

“I feel like music is something that the language barrier kind of goes away with. I think it’s kind of a cool way of bridging that gap,” Farina said in an interview with The Hoya. “Almost

every group of people creates music, and I think it’s pretty cool that you can share that connection even if you can’t really understand.”

The two groups hope to complete further exchanges in Georgetown and Cuba, pending further cooperation between the two governments. Hopefully, the program continues to offer lessons and experiences to students, according to GilOrdóñez.

“Definitely we want to keep the cooperation, and hopefully it will happen again next year,” Gil-Ordóñez said. “They really discovered wonderful things here. And, for our Cuban visitors to be in a place like Washington, D.C., it’s such an incredible experience.”

At the Kennedy Center, the seven members of Havana Lyceum Orchestra performed with Latin American theater director Carlos Diaz and other musicians to create a Cuban adaptation of Mozart’s opera “La Clemenza di Tito,” according to the Kennedy Center website.

The experience of performing with the orchestra offered both professional and cultural development for everyone involved, according to Bryce Robinson (SFS ’22), who performed alongside the group at the Kennedy Center as a member of the chorus.

“My experience with them was incredibly professional.

They are really good musicians, and they’re super nice,” Robinson said in an interview with The Hoya. “The biggest thing is, obviously we have distinct cultures, but we’re still all people. Yes, we are from different countries with different political systems, but we all got in a room and we made music and we hung out after.”

HARRISON LEE

Special to The Hoya

Proliferating gun ownership increases the potential for domestic abuse and complicates the judicial process for survivors, representatives from the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project Lauren Pires and Sofia Kim said at an event Tuesday.

In their roles at DVRP, Pires and Kim collaborate with service providers and law enforcement agencies to provide care for survivors of domestic violence. DVRP specifically seeks to end gender-based violence by working with clients from Asian/Pacific Islander communities, according to their website. Pires works as the outreach and training program manager at DVRP, while Kim serves as outreach and training coordinator.

During the event, Pires and Kim discussed the role of firearms in domestic violence and elaborated on the barriers survivors of domestic violence face when seeking support. Many volunteers and aid organizations do not adequately understand the complexities of domestic violence, Pires said.

“We work with volunteers at shelters, we work with organizations providing free legal aid and even though these places should know what they’re talking about, they do not because people do not like talking about domestic violence,” Pires said.

Many survivors of domestic violence from Asian/Pacific Islander backgrounds must overcome additional language hurdles when attempting to report domestic violence to authorities, according to Kim. “For almost all of our clients, English might not be their first language. So imagine having so

much trauma, right, and not having the ability to access help in your native tongue,” Kim said. “So that is a huge barrier to seeking help.”

With the rise of mass shootings and gun control activist groups like March for Our Lives in recent years, gun violence has increasingly become a concern throughout the United States. As U.S. citizens advocate for gun reform, they should remember how guns can also make domestic violence more lethal, according to Pire.

“I’m sure everybody in this room understands that when you hear gun violence and domestic violence, the two kind of go in hand-in-hand, right?

Homicide by gun. So for us, this comes into play with the idea that more than 50% of women victims of intimate partner violence in the U.S. overall are killed by a gun,” Pires said. “Every month, an average of 52 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner, and that’s in the U.S.” In recent years, domestic gun violence has increased. Seven hundred fifty-two of 1,321 women murdered by their partners in 2014 were killed with guns, according to a recent Northeastern University study. This figure rose to 926 of 1,527 in 2017. From 2010 to 2017, gun-related domestic homicides increased by 26%.

One way perpetrators of domestic abuse gain access to guns is through the boyfriend loophole. This measure allows people to purchase and own guns even if they are convicted of domestic violence or have a restraining order filed against them. The 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which must be renewed every five years, established resources such as the National Domestic

Violence Hotline for survivors of domestic abuse. The National Rifle Association opposed the act’s renewal in 2019 because of a new provision that would close the loophole. Congress officially renewed the act April 4.

Recent legislation to quell domestic violence against women, including renewing the Violence Against Women Act, has required significant activism to convince lawmakers of its necessity, according to Pires.

“It attempts to close the ‘boyfriend loophole,’ and ensures that survivors have access to safety and justice, but it has to be renewed every five years by Congress and it almost didn’t this year,” Pires said. “There were — I mean, the amount of petitioning we were doing and the amount of coalitions we were on — like it was unreal.

And yet, we are at the whims of whoever is in office to decide whether or not this very basic law gets passed.”

In an effort to raise awareness about gun violence, the Georgetown University chapter of March for Our Lives held the event titled “Dialogue on Gun Violence and Domestic Abuse” in the Intercultural Center Feb. 18.

Firearms can add a layer of instability to already uneasy situations in relationships, according to James Benner (SFS ’21), the federal affairs committee chair for Georgetown’s chapter of March for Our Lives.

“Bringing a gun into an already volatile situation is not a good idea,” Benner said at the event. “Say the victim gets the gun. I think that gives more evidence for the perpetrator to be like ‘I’m the one being threatened, I’m not the one who asked for the gun first,’ so I can see it very easily flipping the tables in the advantage of the perpetrator.”

2 Exhibits Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Lauinger GIULIA TESTA Hoya Staff Writer

Lauinger Library is celebrating its 50th anniversary with two exhibits honoring the evolution and history of the building since its opening in 1970.

The main exhibit on the fifth floor of the library is titled “50 Years of Excellence & Service” and examines the library’s legacy from its construction to the present, according to a Feb. 11 press release posted on the library’s website. The companion exhibit on the third floor in the Kerbs Exhibit Area is titled “Eight Things You May (Or May Not) Know About Lauinger Library.”

The exhibits feature artifacts, pictures and other documentation relevant to the library’s history. Both exhibits opened Feb. 3 and will remain on display until May. An online version of the “50 Years of Excellence & Service” exhibit is also being created on the library’s website. The webpage details the history and importance of all the objects included in the physical exhibition.

The exhibits celebrate Lau’s importance to the Georgetown University community, according to Harriette Hemmasi, dean of the library.

“Over the years, Lauinger has become more of a place to create knowledge than just consume content on the shelves,” Hemmasi wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Through the use of digital technologies such as podcasting and tools such those found in the Maker Hub, students and faculty are able to express their scholarly ideas and arguments in new ways and with new meaning.”

Lau first opened in 1970 after

the university’s book collection outgrew Riggs Library, the library on campus at the time, according to the library’s website.

One of the most recent expansions of the library includes the creation of the Maker Hub on the first floor. The site, which was constructed in 2016, was designed as a multipurpose workshop for students on campus.

The creation of new spaces within the library has expanded the number of resources the library offers to students, according to the Feb. 11 library press release.

“Today’s Library remains a central place to conduct research and to study; it is also a place of creativity and exploration. Several major transformations in the Library’s recent history reflect a shift toward more collaborative and experiential learning,” the press release read.

In addition to providing an overview of the building’s design and planning process, the exhibit highlights examples of scholarly work and projects undertaken by Georgetown faculty and students who have been supported by library resources, according to Lynn Conway, one of the curators of the exhibition.

“Lauinger is much more than simply a place. It’s a combination of amazing collections, services and staff, all available to the campus community,” Conway wrote in an email to The Hoya. “With the Library 50th anniversary exhibition, it was fun to work on a topic which was very familiar to me in some ways (I’ve worked in this building for 25 years) but also one which allowed me to discover and share new aspects of Lauinger’s history.”

The exhibit also features documents, photos and other artifacts celebrating the history of libraries on Georgetown’s campus and the lead-up to the creation of Lau. The main exhibit includes a portion of a door from the university’s first library from 1831, a map of campus showing potential sites for a new library from 1945, library construction photos from 1967 to 1969 and other documents honoring the evolution of Lau’s capabilities as a library.

Another aspect of the exhibit focuses on the specialization of each floor to meet various student needs, including a social work space on the second floor, as well as a space dedicated to research on the fifth floor.

Every student at Georgetown can find an effective study space in the library, according to Hemmasi.

“While many students want a quiet place in the library to study, others need and enjoy different types of study environments such as the more collaborative, social space on the second floor of the Lau,” Hemmasi wrote.

For students, this multi-functioning space on campus provides students with a versatile space to work, according to Saahithi Dantuluri (MSB ’23).

“Lau is one of the best places on campus to study in,” Dantuluri wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“The quiet reading rooms allow you to focus on studying for tests or writing essays, while Lau 2 is a busy environment where you can get your group projects done.”

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the library will also host an open house reception March 30 for students, faculty, staff and graduates.

KASSIDY ANGELO/THE HOYA

The main exhibit, titled “50 Years of Excellence & Service,” is located on the fifth floor of the library, while the companion exhibit, “Eight Things You May (Or May Not) Know About Lauinger Library,” is located on the third.

VALENTINA SALINAS FOR THE HOYA

The event featured the speakers Sofia Kim, above, and Lauren Pires, representatives from the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project. The two discussed gun policy to help prevent domestic abuse.

Sanctioning Lies Violates 1st Amendment, Speaker Says ASHLEY ZHAO Hoya Staff Writer

Sanctioning lies infringes upon U.S. citizens’ right to free speech, journalist and legal scholar Garrett Epps said at an event Wednesday.

The event, titled “The Right to Lie,” was hosted by the Free Speech Project and the Georgetown University Lecture Fund. The Free Speech Project, a studentand faculty-run nonpartisan initiative that works to assess free speech across the United States, hosts monthly discussions on campus on topics concerning free speech.

Whether the government should be able to restrict free speech it deems false or defamatory is an especially relevant question given the rise of social media, according to Epps. Social media has created greater platforms for all perspectives, including those that are not truthful, Epps said.

“A lot of people began to think, ‘Well, you know, we need to look very carefully at what is allowed and what isn’t allowed,’” Epps said.

“And we’re still dealing with that question, and we’re dealing with it in a very complicated, fast-moving and in many ways maligned media landscape that nobody’s really prepared for.”

President Donald Trump has used social media to tweet 3,083 false or misleading statements between the start of his presidency and January of this year, accord-

ing to The Washington Post.

Such statistics raise the question of whether false speech should be regulated, according to Epps.

While people should continue to discuss concerns regarding the proliferation of false speech and possible ways to address this issue, allowing the government to decide what should be considered false speech will only lead to an abuse of power, according to Epps.

“You don’t want the government coming in and deciding this is true and this is false; or this is too rude, you can’t say that; or this is too inflammatory, you can’t say that.

Because history shows us that governments who have that power inevitably will abuse it,” Epps said. “And either just abuse it in the sense of being just sort of heedlessly bureaucratic or deliberately attempting to skew and suppress criticism of the government and points of view that it finds to be inimical.”

People who argue the law should not protect false speech are primarily concerned with defamation, according to Epps.

“We don’t want to live in a society where there’s no boundaries on what people can say,” Epps said. “The idea that we don’t protect false statements of fact that injure people’s reputation and the law of defamation is very old; it’s very highly developed.

We know how to assess when someone has suffered damage as a result of false and

defamatory statements about them.”

However, while the precedents set by defamation laws do condemn some false speech, they do not imply the government has the right to suppress any speech it deems false, Epps said.

“Out of that enormous well of case law, going back well before the settlement of the New World, we have this proposition that falsity, false and defamatory speech, has no value at all,” Epps said.

“But that doesn’t create, as it’s quoted, a general principle that if something is false, government can suppress it.”

Epps has been a professor of law at the University of Baltimore Law School since 2008, where he teaches “Constitutional Law” and “First Amendment” and specializes in constitutional law.

U.S. citizens and policymakers should not become complacent with current free speech laws and instead should constantly reevaluate and reexamine them, according to Epps.

“If you bring in someone like myself who makes his living teaching the First Amendment, you are very likely to have someone tell you that we’ve struck the appropriate balance, so, you know, the American law of free speech is great,” Epps said. “I don’t know that I want to take that position because I think that any regimen of free speech has benefits and it has costs, and we are constantly reassessing what the costs are.”

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NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

US Political Woes Not Limited Vandalism Discovered in Multiple To Trump, Commentator Says Locations Around St Mary’s Hall JAIME MOORE-CARRILLO Hoya Staff Writer

Voters and activists dissatisfied with President Donald Trump’s administration must consider long-term fixes to the structural issues that enabled his rise, former presidential adviser Dan Pfeiffer (COL ’98) said during an event Thursday.

Since Trump assumed office in 2017, the president has been met with criticism. The U.S. House of Representatives impeached Trump in December on counts of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Nearly 40% of Democratic voters say defeating Trump in the 2020 presidential election should be the most important issue for the Democratic nominee, according to recent polls

by FiveThirtyEight.

Before serving as former President Barack Obama’s senior adviser from 2013 to 2015, Pfeiffer advised numerous Democratic candidates on the state and federal level over the span of two decades. Having exited the political arena, Pfeiffer currently co-hosts the popular political podcast “Pod Save America.”

Should the Democratic presidential nominee defeat Trump in the 2020 election, policymakers must reform broken aspects of the American political system, according to Pfeiffer.

“Even if we are to beat Trump in 2020, which is something I think personally is very important and we’ll work very hard to do, even if we do that, we are not going to solve the problems that gave us Trump,” Pfeiffer said. “The politics is currently rigged against the views of the majority of Americans.”

Republicans were able to

secure a majority of seats in the Senate in 2018 because of the structure of the U.S. electoral system, even though Democrats won 12 million more votes nationwide, according to The New York Times. Many experts are also concerned that partisan gerrymandering — redrawing political districts to secure an electoral advantage — and voter suppression are unfairly disadvantaging progressive voters and candidates, according to The Guardian.

Pfeiffer proposed three strategies to mend the issues he sees in the U.S. political system: challenge Republican political strategies, beat Trump in the 2020 election and introduce sweeping electoral changes.

Republican lawmakers’ and political actors’ behavior during the Trump era represents a continuation of long-running Republican positions that preceded Trump’s rise, according to Pfeiffer.

“There is a strain of belief that is very prominent in this town and among a lot of elected Democrats that Trump has taken the Republican party hostage, and he is the one making them act the way they’re acting,” Pfeiffer said. “And I fundamentally believe that is not true and that Donald Trump is not an aberration. He’s the logical extension of where the Republican party has been going for a long time.”

Issues of political reform and Democratic electability have been the focus of his latest book, “Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again.” The talk, hosted by the Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service, was the second

stop on Pfeiffer’s national book tour. The book was published Tuesday and follows Pfeiffer’s acclaimed 2018 release, “Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump.” Pfeiffer spoke with Mo Elleithee, the executive director of GU Politics.

To win in 2020, Democrats must focus on concrete policy proposals and issues of fairness, Pfeiffer said.

“The question the Democratic nominee has to make is: it’s not is the economy working, it’s who is the economy working for,” Pfeiffer said.

“And if you want someone who’s going to make the economy work for you, vote for a Democrat. If you want someone who wants to make sure that you pay more for your Amazon Prime subscription than Amazon pays for federal taxes, you should vote for Trump. Like, if we make it a discussion about fairness, we have a chance to win it.”

If a Democrat wins the presidency, the new administration must reform electoral law, restructure the Supreme Court and restore valuable democratic norms, Pfeiffer added. First among these reforms is reversing Republican voter suppression policies and engaging eligible voters who have been disengaged from the political process.

“The very first thing — the most important thing — Democrats need to do is we need to not just undue Republican voter suppression.

We have to have an aggressive agenda of voter expansion,” Pfeiffer said. “We need to make it as easy as possible for every eligible person to vote in this country.”

SHEEL PATEL/THE HOYA

Dan Pfeiffer (COL ’98), co-host of popular political podcast “Pod Save America,” discussed strategies to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election at an event Feb. 20.

CSJ Hosts Celebration Events For 5th Social Justice Week SAMANTHA SINUTKO Special to The Hoya

Georgetown University kicked off its fifth annual week of social justice programming on Tuesday with a schedule of 15 events.

Social Justice Week is hosted by the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, a collection of education, research and service programs intended to further social justice in the community.

This year’s Social Justice Week features a variety of programming, including speakers, networking events, seminars and self-care workshops.

The annual week of events aims to raise awareness about social justice issues and encourage activism, according to Executive Director at the CSJ Andria Wisler.

“Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, Georgetown has a University-wide mission for social justice,” Wisler wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We hope that this week of diverse events with multiple campus and community partners, shows how the creation of a more just world can be and is the responsibility of all members and units of our Georgetown community.”

This year’s programming will take place over the course of five days. The week kicked off with a Feb. 18 discussion on effective race-conscious policies at universities titled “Doing the Inner Work of Racial Justice: Principles, Practices (and Prayers!) for Healing

Ourselves and Transforming the World.”

The week will culminate in the “MLK Evening of Hope and Resistance,” an evening of spoken word, poetry and music meant to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy.

The event will be co-hosted with the MLK: Let Freedom Ring! Initiative of the Office of the President and is a part of Georgetown’s Black History Month programming.

Each year, the CSJ brings in distinguished speakers honored for their scholarship in their field to discuss issues directly related to Black communities and the issues they face, according to LaMonda Horton-Stallings, chair and professor in Georgetown University’s department of African American studies.

One of the week’s events, titled “The Ella Jo Baker Distinguished Lecture: Black Resistance in the Digital Age — From Twitter to Black Queer Feminism,” will feature speaker Cathy Cohen, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and founder of the Black Youth Project, an organization designed to advocate for Black millenials.

Cohen will address evolving advocacy efforts for the Black community, according to Horton-Stallings.

“Dr. Cohen will discuss the growing role of digital media in the strategies of grassroots activists and politicians, community organizing, and social movements of various Black commu-

nities and societies across the globe,” Horton-Stillings wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Social Justice Week is intended to bring together departments and organizations across Georgetown’s campus, according to the CSJ website. The master of science in health and the public interest program invited Alejandra de Mendoza, assistant professor at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, to speak Wednesday.

Mendoza’s seminar focused on how women from minority communities experience disparities in receiving proper medical counseling and testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The seminar will highlight the intersection of social justice and medicine, according to Vi Nguyen, Educational Coordinator at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

“We invite speakers who are leaders in their field,” Nguyen wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“Since many of our students are interested in social justice and changing public health through activism and advocacy, we thought it was appropriate to invite Dr. Mendoza for this week’s seminar.”

Students should attend and actively participate in the events hosted during Social Justice Week, according to Nguyen.

“It is important that our graduate programs engage with the community and attend events outside of the classroom,” Nguyen wrote.

SOPHIE HABER Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Police Department arrested a person not affiliated with Georgetown University on Feb. 15 after he vandalized areas in St. Mary’s Hall.

The vandal left messages and tagged his Instagram handle in several classrooms and hallways, broke a vending machine and discharged a fire extinguisher, a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya. The messages have since been removed from the building.

The suspect confessed to damaging the building upon his arrest, according to the university spokesperson.

“He was apprehended by the Georgetown University Police Department when they responded to a noise complaint in the building,” the spokesperson wrote. “He was arrested for destruction of property after admitting to causing the damage.”

The vandal wrote his Insta-

gram and Snapchat account names and messages including, “Fuck the police I come strei from the undergraun ha ha ha ha they mad cuz I am lit Brown” on classroom doors and whiteboards in marker.

St. Mary’s houses the School of Nursing & Health Studies and academic departments, including Georgetown College’s departments of mathematics and computer science.

Matthew Carvalho (NHS ’23) saw the effects of the vandalism when giving his mother a tour of the school Feb. 16.

When he noticed the inappropriate messages scrawled on the doors, Carvalho took photographs for evidence and tried to explain the situation to his mother, he said.

“At first I thought it was for an activity or something like that, but I looked closer and saw that it was someone’s Instagram account, and I realized it can’t possibly be for an activity,” Carvalho said in an interview with The Hoya. “There was derogatory language and swear words. I told my mom it was a

school activity because I didn’t want her thinking my school was being vandalized when we pay all this tuition.”

The university has not announced plans to alter security measures in the building. However, the incident has raised concerns about safety in St. Mary’s, according to Carvalho.

“It was really disheartening to recognize how easy it is for strangers to get in there,” Carvalho said. “I know I have to swipe in order to get in and there is security, but I realized anyone can come in at any time.”

Although the vandalism offended Carvalho, it renewed his appreciation for the building, he said.

“It gave me a newfound respect and made me realize how much I care about that space,” Carvalho said. ”I go there to study and work a lot, and the fact that someone would disbody it in that way was highly offensive to me, because it’s my school, it’s my place of learning, and no one should disturb that.”

Speaker: Continue Expanding Diversity In State Department KELLY ANDERSON Hoya Staff Writer

The United States Department of State has made strides toward cultivating a representative workforce for public servants in recent years, Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State Julieta Valls Noyes said at a Thursday event.

Noyes discussed the need for diversity and inclusion in foreign policy and challenges faced by her and other minorities in pursuing work in diplomacy at the event titled “Talk With Ambassador Julieta Valls Noyes - Deputy Director, Foreign Service Institute.” Noyes has spent more than three decades in the Foreign Service, a career that has spanned assignments in five different countries.

Despite progress in workforce representation in recent years, the State Department still has room to improve regarding diversity, Noyes said.

“Where we’re not as well represented is in the more senior ranks because, of course, it takes up time for people to move up,” Noyes said. “Slowly, slowly, steadily, steadily, we hope to get to a more equitable service.”

Noyes cited the Rangel Program, a State Department initiative started in 2002 administered by Howard University that seeks to attract people from minority groups that are historically underrepresented for careers in the Foreign Service, as a key factor in the department’s increasing diversity. Since the Rangel Program’s start, representation of minorities in the State Department has increased by about 25% and representation of women in Foreign Service generalist officer positions has increased by 12%, according to Noyes.

As a woman of color in the Foreign Service, Noyes sometimes felt that she could not adequately express her opinions to her superiors and peers, she said.

“There have been times I’m not going to lie where I felt like it was probably more prudent

to keep my opinions to myself or where I felt like if I did voice my opinions, they would fall on fallow ground,” Noyes said. “There have been other times where I expressed my opinion even with some trepidation that it wouldn’t be well received, and there have been some times where my opinion has been strongly solicited and strongly guanted and so it really did depend on the issue on the situation who I was engaging with how urgent the matter was what particular experience I brought to the table.”

Before becoming the deputy director of the Foreign Service Institute at the State Department, Noyes served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia. Prior to that, she managed relations with twelve countries in Western Europe and the European Union as the deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs from 2013 to 2015.

In the discussion hosted by the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy as part of its Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series, Noyes also discussed her journey to joining the foreign service and the ways a profession in diplomacy has enriched her life.

Noyes decided that she wanted to join the Foreign Service when she was 15 years old because of her experiences growing up as a child of immigrants, she said. Noyes’s parents immigrated to the United

States from Cuba as refugees shortly before her birth, an experience she said sparked her desire to serve her country.

“We grew up with a profound sense of gratitude to this country for taking in our family and for giving them an opportunity to make a new start,” Noyes said.

Noyes, who met her husband on the day she took the oral exam to become a Foreign Service officer, spent part of her childhood in Brazil where her father was assigned while working for The International Business Machines Corporation.

During that time, Noyes became friends with other American children whose parents were stationed in the country working for the U.S. Foreign Service.

“I started learning about what their parents did and it was just a very attractive lifestyle I already was enjoying living overseas, learning new cultures and cuisines,” Noyes said.

Noyes joined the Foreign Service immediately after graduating college and was grateful for the opportunity to give back to the country that helped her family.

“It really was destiny, I think, and it was such a magnificent opportunity to repay this wonderful country for everything that it did for my family and for the family of so many other refugees and new arrivals,” Noyes said. “It is something that we remain profoundly grateful for to this day.”

SHEEL PATEL/THE HOYA

Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute Julieta Valls Noyes spoke about diversity and inclusion in the workforce at the State Department.

NEWS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

THE HOYA

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DC Council Considers Ending Cashless Business Practices JIMMY O’MEARA Special to The Hoya

CLARA GRUDBERG/THE HOYA

DDOT will install over 100 off-sidewalk electric scooter corrals throughout D.C. The nearest corral to Georgetown University has been installed at the intersection of M Street and Thomas Jefferson Avenue.

DDOT To Install Scooter Corrals To Reduce Sidewalk Traffic CLARA GRUDBERG Hoya Staff Writer

The District Department of Transportation is in the process of constructing 100 electric scooter parking corrals around Washington, D.C., after legislators and residents complained the scooters obstructed sidewalks.

An off-sidewalk corral has been installed in the Georgetown area at the intersection of M and Thomas Jefferson Streets NW. DDOT is planning to install additional corrals at 33rd and M Streets NW and 26th and P Streets NW by spring 2020, according to DDOT Public Information Officer Lauren Stephens. Personal vehicles like bicycles can also be parked in the spaces.

The corrals will prevent parked scooters and bikes from interfering with pedestrian traffic, according to DDOT Director Jeff Marootian.

“These off-sidewalk corrals provide a designated area where both shared dockless vehicle operators and riders and private vehicle riders can safely store their vehicles,” Marootian wrote in a Jan. 24 DDOT news release. “By placing these corrals in no-parking zones near intersections, we are fulfilling Mayor Bowser’s vision of creative problem solving to make our streets safer for all users.”

Scooter sharing platforms must be regulated because of routine carelessness from riders, according to Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who introduced a bill in

the D.C. Council calling for increased regulation of scooter parking locations in June 2019.

“Many scooter users weave in and out of pedestrians on the sidewalk at high speeds, do not follow important safety rules, ride while inebriated, and routinely discard scooters that block pedestrian walkways, private driveways, and handicap accessible ramps,” Cheh said at a Nov. 4 hearing on the bill. “Users have also been seen riding with two people on a single scooter, which is both against the rules and extremely dangerous. This bad behavior is not just dangerous to the user, but to the public at large as well.”

To address pedestrian concerns, DDOT chose locations to install the scooter corrals based on commercial foot traffic and community feedback, according to the news release.

“The off-sidewalk corrals were first piloted in business improvement districts and commercial areas where higher numbers of dockless vehicles were expected to be parked,” the statement read.

“The new locations focus on residential areas where sidewalks are narrower and more likely to be blocked by an improperly parked dockless vehicle, based on feedback DDOT received from residents.”

Electric personal vehicles like scooters and bikes have rapidly increased in popularity since they were introduced in the District in spring 2018.

About one in six D.C. residents used an e-scooter in the past

year, according to a June 2019 poll conducted by The Washington Post. In October 2019, DDOT announced plans to allow e-scooter services to expand their fleets, bringing the amount of scooters deployed in the D.C. area to approximately 10,000.

The move to expand e-scooter operations, however, has been delayed by a DDOT plan to allow only four e-scooter sharing companies to operate in the District: Jump, Lyft, Skip and Spin. Until March 31, all licensed companies will be allowed to operate. After, DDOT will make their selection and the planned fleet expansion will begin.

The expansion of e-scooters in the District should address public desire for more vehicles without inconveniencing pedestrians, according to Marootian.

“We have listened closely to the public on this,” Marootian said to The Washington Post.

“We have heard from users of bikes and scooters who want to see more of them, and we have also heard from members of the community who support the program and want to see it managed in a way that has less scooters placed in public rights of way.”

E-scooters are a positive addition to transportation options in the District, but require greater oversight and regulation, according to Cheh.

“It’s a wonderful thing to have the scooters,” Cheh said to The Washington Post. “But it’s a little bit like the Wild West at the moment.”

Georgetown Law Graduate Enters Local Ward 2 DC Council Race HANSEN LIAN

Hoya Staff Writer

Brooke Pinto (LAW ’17) joined the race for a competitive Washington, D.C. Council seat last Thursday, becoming the eighth candidate to enter the upcoming Democratic primary and special election.

The D.C. Council seat for Ward 2, which represents the Georgetown neighborhood, has been vacant since January, after former councilmember Jack Evans resigned amid ethics violations. Evans himself is seeking to regain his seat as one of the eight Democratic primary candidates in the crowded field. Ward 2, which also encompasses Dupont Circle and downtown D.C., is among the District’s most affluent wards.

Pinto has worked in the office of D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D) for the past two years as the assistant attorney general for policy and legislative affairs. Previously, she served as a tax attorney for Racine.

Working for Racine, Pinto has helped push through legislation to address hate crimes, data protection and deceptive charity practices, according to The Washington Post. These experiences working with advocacy groups to pass policy inspired her run for the council, according to Pinto.

“I was really impressed and inspired by a lot of the advocacy going on at a ground level by the various groups around our city and felt that sometimes they lacked an ally to make sure that their issues were taking across the finish line,” Pinto

said in an interview with The Hoya.

Pinto marks the eighth candidate to join the June 2 primary race and the ninth to enter the June 16 special election for the Ward 2 seat. In a crowded field, Pinto hopes to stand out as the candidate who can most effectively represent Ward 2 from the moment she is elected.

“By the time of the election in June, the seat will have been vacant for six months. Ward 2 residents right now don’t have a representative in the D.C. Council, and we need someone to get in there right away who knows how to do this job,” Pinto said.

Before his resignation, Evans had represented Ward 2 since 1991, making him the longeststanding member in D.C. Council history. After gaining notoriety for accruing 11 ethical violations stemming from his legal and consulting work outside of the council, the politician may have lost some of his longtime voters. Some of Evans’ critics fear, however, that Pinto joining the race will further split the opposition vote, potentially allowing Evans to win back his former, according to The Washington Post.

Critics should not frame the race as Evans versus everyone else because former Evans’ voters may switch their vote in favor of a new alternative, according to Pinto.

“I think that voters who have traditionally supported Evans in this seat are excited to have a fresh new face, not only someone with new ideas, but someone who has practical business education and the rel-

evant professional experience,” Pinto said. “The number one thing overall is to make sure that Ward 2 believes in their leader.”

Vicki Girard, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who taught Pinto in a seminar on medical-legal partnership, said that Pinto’s work ethic in the classroom demonstrates a passion for law that will make her a strong representative for Ward 2.

“Brooke is a smart, openminded, fair, organized, professional woman who thinks big yet knows what small steps are needed to get things done,” Girard wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Her well-established commitment to Georgetown Law Center’s motto, ‘law is but the means, justice is the end’ is reflected in her approach to school, work, life and the world.”

Pinto said her experience at GULC helped motivated her to become a lawyer and run for public office and inspired her campaign slogan: “If you don’t like the law, change it!”

“The driving principle that really inspires me in being a lawyer is something that I learned at Georgetown during my first year,” Pinto said. “And that was this notion that the law is valuable; the law can be changed. I used to think prior to law school that the law was this set in stone, archaic, traditional, centuries and centuriesold institution that could not be changed, and something that I was always so inspired by during law school is that if the law doesn’t make sense, you can just change it.”

The Council of the District of Columbia is considering banning cashless businesses following similar legislative measures across the country.

The bill, introduced by Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large), would penalize vendors that do not offer a cash option for payment. Adopted for perceived security benefits and to ward off robberies, cashless businesses have been criticized for being inaccessible to people with lower incomes who may not possess a bank account. Grosso introduced similar legislation in February 2019 and June 2018, neither of which passed the council vote.

Cashless businesses increase socioeconomic divisions among D.C. residents, according to Grosso.

“By denying patrons the ability to use cash as a form of payment, businesses are effectively telling lower-income and young patrons that they are not welcome,” Grosso wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Practices like this further stratify our diverse city when we should be working to foster greater inclusion.”

The bill should benefit marginalized groups as cashless businesses often block low-income patrons from paying, according to Meryl Chertoff, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and the executive director of the Georgetown Project on State and Local Government Policy and Law. “I observed how the operation of cashless businesses in the District created two tiers of customer,” Chertoff wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Those who carried bank cards or apps, generally well-off people, and the poor and unbanked who disproportionately in DC are people of color, or the undocumented.”

Businesses should accept cash to treat all of their customers

equitably and respectfully and make their products and services more accessible, according to Chertoff.

“Retail establishments are places of public accommodation. If I come into a coffee shop with $10 in my pocket I should be treated the same if it is cash I earned running chores, or salary loaded on my debit card from my employer the investment bank,” Chertoff wrote. “Money in your pocket is a source of dignity and autonomy for each of us.”

The bill comes as part of a broader movement against cashless operations around the country. Rhode Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia and San Francisco have passed laws banning cashless businesses, according to WAMU. Additionally, the U.S. Congress is considering enacting a similar measure.

Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) cosponsored the bill to promote equitable consumer access throughout the country, he wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“There’s a substantial number of District residents who do not have credit or debit cards,” Mendelson wrote. “They are excluded from retail opportunities. This is about equity for all residents.”

An increasingly cashless economy also encroaches on consumers’ privacy as credit and debit cards leave an online trail of purchased items and shopping locations, according to Chertoff.

“The real world increasingly will mirror the online one if the cashless model expands, as each swipe of a card, like each click of your mouse, enables the data miners to ascertain your location, buying preferences, health needs and habits,” Chertoff wrote. “All that data lets them build an increasingly granular picture of who you are.”

The Corp launched a cashless policy in February 2018, garnering criticism from members of the Georgetown University community, including 2019-

2020 Georgetown University Student Association President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20).

“It is an elitist practice that prevents a lot of students, especially low-income students, from living properly on campus by making basic life necessities such as food or cleaning supplies inaccessible,” Francis wrote to The Hoya for a September 2019 article. “Cashless is classist, plain and simple.”

Representatives from The Corp did not respond to The Hoya’s request for comment by publication.

The bill should not significantly impact the Georgetown student body but only expands students’ potential payment methods, according to Chertoff.

“The bill won’t change anything for Georgetown students who like to be cashless,” Chertoff wrote. “It just will give everyone the option to use cash for a retail purchase.”

A representative from the Washington Parking Association, a nonprofit organization of commercial parking operators, opposed the bill. The representative testified at the Feb. 13 meeting that accepting cash would be inefficient for some businesses, like parking garages, where attendants need to work quickly to reduce traffic. Others, including the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, expressed concerns that the bill does not include an exception for app-based payment models ride-share companies use.

Banning cashless methods will hurt D.C.’s economy, according to Erika Wadlington, a representative from the D.C. Chamber of Commerce who spoke at the hearing, according to WAMU. “We see a significant impact on current and emerging businesses in the District, as well as a hindrance to our innovative and creative economy,” Wadlington said.

Safeway Workers Plan Strike During Contract Negotiations JACK ZHANG

Special to The Hoya

Dozens of union workers from Safeway and Giant grocery stores rallied in front of a Safeway store in Southwest Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19 and announced a potential strike.

The demonstrators announced a strike vote meeting for March 5, following four months of contract negotiations in which workers have fought against benefit cuts and frozen wage rates. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 represents the unionized workers as well as more than 25,000 Safeway and Giant Food workers in the DMV area, according to their website.

The UFCW Local 400 announced a tentative agreement on a new contract with Giant after the Feb. 19 rally, according to a UFCW Local 400 news release. Negotiations with Safeway reached a stalemate.

Safeway will not exclude a three-year minimum wage freeze for new workers from the contract. The company is also seeking to impose an hour limit for part-time workers that would prevent them from receiving benefits, according to the release.

Additionally, union workers are concerned about proposed cuts to healthcare and pension benefits.

Representatives of Giant workers are expected to agree to the

terms, but further negotiations with Safeway may be necessary, according to Jonathan Williams, a spokesperson for UFCW Local 400.

“Our expectations are that our members will vote to accept the offer that we are going to table.

But Safeway is another story,” Williams said in an interview with The Hoya.

Mark Federici, the president of the UFCW Local 400, announced at the end of the rally that Safeway unionized workers will review the contract and vote whether to accept the companies’ proposals. If the workers deem the proposals unacceptable in a two-thirds vote, the union will authorize a strike, according to Williams.

“We announced today our intent to take a strike vote on Thursday, March 5th if we don’t have a fair contract by then.” Williams said. “If we were to vote on a strike at Safeway it would require a two-thirds majority vote by our members and we think this it’s doable.”

If a strike is authorized, it would affect 115 Safeway stores around the DMV area, significantly disrupting their operations should all 10,000 Safeway members choose to strike, according to Williams.

“We have had signs at every single Safeway location that you can see if you drive by, signed by workers at their stores saying they are willing to go on strike,” Williams said.

The companies’ move to cap wages and limit benefits is worrisome, according to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in a Feb. 18 letter to Ira Kress, the interim president of Giant Foods.

“I am proud to stand with workers in the District and to support policies that ensure they have access to a living wage and health benefits,” Bowser wrote.

“I am deeply concerned by the recent news that indicates a new contract would make cuts to healthcare and retirement benefits and stagnate the salaries of new workers at a minimum wage for three years.”

Strikes are not unprecedented in The District. In December, Metro transit bus operators striked to prevent the Metro from privatizing, which shut down some bus services. The union representing the workers, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, set up a fund to financially support workers during the strike.

Although other recent strikes have shut down services, Safeway will continue operation in the event of a strike while negotiating with workers, according to Beth Goldberg, a senior public affairs manager at Safeway.

“Safeway is committed to remaining at the bargaining table to work through our challenges and reach an agreement that rewards our employees,” Goldberg wrote in an email to The Hoya. “In the event of a strike, our stores will continue operating and serving our customers.”

VALENTINA SALINAS FOR THE HOYA

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents local workers at the Wisconsin Avenue Safeway location, will vote on whether to commence full-time strikes at its March 5 meeting.

A10

SPORTS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Allen’s Career Day Leads No 19 Hoyas Outplayed in 1st GU’s Upset of No 19 Butler Half by Penn, Fall 17-6 in Pa DANNY MCCOOEY

AUSTIN BARISH

Hoya Staff Writer

Hoya Staff Writer

As the clock ticked under the minute mark, two free throws by senior guard Jagan Mosely closed out a 10-0 run by the Georgetown men’s basketball team to propel the Hoyas to a 71-60 advantage over the No. 19 Butler Bulldogs. The Blue and Gray went on to a 73-66 win to defeat its third ranked opponent this season, notching a fifth conference victory to keep its tournament hopes alive.

Georgetown (15-10, 5-7 Big East) faced a daunting task coming into the matchup Feb. 15, considering the Hoyas had dropped a 69-64 decision to the Bulldogs (19-7, 7-6 Big East) at home Jan. 28 and the Bulldogs had been ranked as high as the No. 2 team in the country in AP polls. In Saturday’s away game, the Hoyas were missing their two leading scorers to injuries — sophomore guard Mac McClung and senior center Omer Yurtseven.

Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) commented on his team’s ability to grind out a win despite the challenges it faced coming into the high-profile nationally televised matchup, noting a season characterized by comebacks.

“Coach Thompson always talked about the junkyard dog — having a junkyard dog mentality. No matter what the adversity is, you scratch, you claw, and be able to come away with a win,” Ewing said in a postgame interview. “And I think that’s what we’ve been doing. Not just today but all year.”

The first half of play featured a trade-off of scoring runs. An early 11-2 opening run from Georgetown gave the visitors a commanding lead at the outset, thanks to seven early points from graduate student guard Terrell Allen. Butler pulled within two, but back-to-back buckets from downtown by junior guards Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair put the Blue and Gray back up 17-9 midway through the first half.

Allen then ignited another Georgetown run by draining a contested three, but Butler fired back with a three-pointer to end the half. As the teams headed to the locker room at halftime, Georgetown held a one-point advantage at 32-31.

The game remained tightly contested throughout the second half until a layup from in-

FILE PHOTO: KASSIDY ANGELO/THE HOYA

Graduate student guard Terrell Allen possess the ball. Against Butler, Allen tied a career-high 22 points and went a perfect 4-for-4 from three. side the paint by freshman center Qudus Wahab and two field goals by Pickett led Georgetown on a 7-0 run to bring the lead to 44-39 with 13 minutes remaining.

Butler forward Sean McDermott, who led the Bulldogs’ defeat of the Hoyas with a late three-pointer in the teams’ last meeting, found his offensive stride again in the second half.

McDermott tallied 10 of his 12 points after halftime, leading a run that put the Bulldogs up 5352 after two free throws from guard Kamar Baldwin.

Just as it looked like Georgetown would again fall narrowly to Butler, freshman center Timothy Ighoefe found a huge putback score, receiving competitive playing time for the first time in Big East play because of the injury to Yurtseven and foul trouble on Wahab. A bucket by Mosely on the ensuing possession put Georgetown up 61-57.

A Butler three-pointer cut the lead again to one, but Allen took over. He accounted for five of the Hoyas’ 10 unanswered points in the last three minutes of play, including an off-balance corner three-pointer to give the Hoyas a 66-60 lead with fewer than two minutes to play.

Free throws by Blair and Mosely down the stretch ensured a 73-66 Georgetown win, marking its second straight con-

ference victory.

The Hoyas were led by a career day from Allen who dropped 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, tying his career-high 22 points scored against the UCF Knights last season. He also was a perfect 4-for-4 from three.

Blair finished with 16 points while Pickett had 12 and six rebounds. Starting in place of Yurtseven, Wahab made contributions to the effort on both ends of the floor. He scored 11 points and pulled in seven rebounds, continuing a strong season on the glass in which he has averaged more than 12 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Perhaps just as impressive as their performances on the offensive end, Allen, Mosely and Blair played all 40 minutes of the game. Late in the game they came away with critical stops on defense to gain the lead down the stretch. This bout was Blair’s fourth straight game without a substitution in the absence of McClung.

The team returns home to Capital One Arena on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. to take on the Providence Friars. The Hoyas lost to Providence 76-60 in their opening conference game this season but hope the potential returns of McClung and Yurtseven will help to continue their two-game winning streak.

A second-half explosive offensive effort by No. 19 Georgetown women’s lacrosse proved too little too late as the team fell 17-6 to No. 12 University of Pennsylvania in their first ranked matchup of the season.

Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried pointed to the Blue and Gray’s first-half struggles as the reason for the loss despite the team’s repeated comeback efforts.

"I thought we got outplayed early in the game and had trouble solving their defense,” Fried said in an interview with GUHoyas.

“We showed resilience in the second half with a strong effort, but it's difficult to sustain that energy to come back against a quality opponent."

Georgetown (1-1) entered the matchup Saturday, Feb. 15, coming off a dominant 19-5 victory against St. Joseph’s (1-2) on Feb. 8 while Penn (1-0) sought its first win of the season.

The rivalry between the two ranked teams continues after the Hoyas ended the Quakers’ season after beating them in a dramatic 13-12 double-overtime victory in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year. Earlier in the 2019 season, Georgetown had lost to Penn in Philadelphia in a close 7-8 defeat.

Both offenses started off fairly slowly in terms of scoring due to the strong play of both goalies, who combined for eight saves in

the first 15 minutes of play and allowed just two goals.

Penn got on the scoreboard first with a tally two and a half minutes into the game after senior captain and midfielder Natalia Lynch committed a foul inside the eight-meter mark. Penn midfielder Erin Barry capitalized on the opportunity, powering the ball into the back of the net on the free position attempt. The Hoyas’ defense could not contain Barry’s offensive success as she finished the game with four total goals, all of which came in the first half.

Despite the early goal, the Quakers failed to generate offensive momentum and could not find the back of the net in the next seven minutes.

The Quakers eventually struck again in the ninth minute of play as Barry netted her second goal of the game. Midway through the first half, Penn found itself up just 2-0.

The game quickly slipped out of the Hoyas’ hands, however, as they could no longer stop the Quakers’ attack after its slow start. Penn would go on to rack up five more consecutive goals over the span of 10 minutes before Georgetown could respond.

Sophomore attacker Celia Walsh was able to score Georgetown’s only first-half goal with a little less than two minutes left on an unassisted goal. Barry would go on to score her fourth goal with just 30 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 8-1 and creating an advantage that would be insurmountable for the Hoyas.

Penn scored again to start the second half before Georgetown went on a scoring explosion. The Hoyas scored five goals in just two and a half minutes, closing the lead to just three goals at 9-6 with 15 minutes on the clock. This scoring effort was led by Lynch, who scored the first two goals of the run on back-to-back free position shots in less than 30 seconds.

Walsh was then able to claim her second goal of the match. Finally, sophomore attacker Ali Diamond found the back of the cage from the right side while junior midfielder Mary Pagano followed with a free-position score before Penn called a timeout to halt Georgetown’s momentum.

For the Quakers, the timeout worked out perfectly and the Hoyas were unable to score again for the remainder of the match.

Meanwhile, Penn buried eight more goals, including a goal in a man-up situation with just six seconds left in the match, to secure the 17-6 victory.

The Hoyas lost the turnover battle, turning the ball over 24 times to the Quakers’ 19. Additionally, Georgetown shot the ball 13 times less than Penn with 22 shots to their 35. In net, senior Micheline DiNardo was able to make 13 saves to the Quakers’ 14 while conceding 17 goals, just two less than she allowed in her seven appearances and 135 minutes in the 2019 season.

Georgetown next takes to the road for the first time this season to face off with the Drexel Dragons on Saturday, Feb. 22, at noon.

FILE PHOTO: KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Junior midfielder Mary Pagano carries the ball toward goal. Pagano scored her fourth goal of the season in the matchup against Penn, closing out the Hoyas' 5-0 run in the second half.

PLAYING FOR PROFIT

Frugal OKC Thunder Missed Georgetown’s Comeback Efforts Out on Superstar in Harden Prove Futile in Loss to Villanova WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

KELTON MILLER Hoya Staff Writer

A 9-0 run to begin the fourth quarter failed to salvage the game for the Georgetown women’s basketball team against Villanova. After netting 11 unanswered points to close out the game, the Wildcats ultimately took down the Blue and Gray 48-40.

The Feb. 16 home loss marks the Hoyas’ (5-20, 2-12 Big East) 12th conference loss as the team remains in eighth place in the Big East while Villanova (14-11, 8-6 Big East) sits in fifth place.

The first quarter was a defensive battle as both teams shot low percentages from the field. The Hoyas took 18 shots, connecting on just three of their attempts for a 16.67% field goal percentage.

The Wildcats shot 3-for-13 — or 23.08% — from the field, finishing the quarter on a 6-0 run to claim a 10-7 lead.

The second quarter was Georgetown’s best stretch of the day, with the Blue and Gray denying the Wildcats their two field goal attempts from inside the three-point line.

Villanova connected on two of its 11 three-point attempts and sank a pair of free throws, leaving them with eight points in the second frame.

The Hoyas looked strong to start the second period as both sophomore guard Nikola Kovacikova and junior forward Tatiana Thompson scored early layups, reclaiming the lead at 11-10.

With just two minutes remaininguntilhalftime,Georgetownled 17-12 off a strong layup from sophomore forward Shanniah Wright.

Villanova’s Bridget Herlihy, however, then sunk back-to-back three-pointers to end the half, putting Villanova ahead 18-17.

The third quarter began in the Wildcats’ favor, with Villanova using its offensive momentum from the end of first half to power an opening 6-0 run. In the remainder of the third quarter, the Hoyas fought to keep the Wildcats’ lead to a manageable amount. Senior guard Marvellous Osagie-Erese found her offensive stride for the Blue and Gray for the first five minutes of the third, scoring five points and grabbing a rebound.

Sophomore guard Tayanna Jones finished the quarter with five points in the final minute to bring the score to 37-29 in favor of Villanova.

The fourth quarter began quite encouragingly for the Hoyas as they launched a 7-0 run, forcing a Villanova timeout. Five of these quick points came from Kovacikova as she tried to lead her team out of a deficit. After the timeout, sophomore guard Cassandra Gordon drilled a step-back baseline jumper to put the Hoyas up 38-37.

The final five minutes of the game, however, belonged to the Wildcats. Villanova scored 11 straight points and silenced the

Georgetown offense, effectively putting the game out of reach for the Hoyas as the final score read 48-40.

On the day, Kovacikova led the Hoyas with 12 points, four rebounds, six assists and a steal while Jones provided support with seven points, six rebounds and a block against the Wildcats.

Throughout the game, the matchup remained competitive, and the Hoyas hung in with a Villanova team that previously defeated them 74-53 on the road.

Both teams committed 10 turnovers and Villanova narrowly outrebounded Georgetown 41-40.

The Wildcats also made 29.6% of their field goals while the Hoyas went 28.3% from the field.

Georgetown’s next game is Friday, Feb. 21 at McDonough Arena against DePaul University, who currently sits in last place in the conference. The Hoyas will be looking to round their season out on a stronger note and avoid the low scoring pitfalls that plagued their midseason 10-game losing streak. Tipoff against the Blue Demons is scheduled for 7 p.m.

FILE PHOTO: KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Sophomore guard Nikola Kovacikova outworks a defender. In the loss to Villanova, Kovacikova tallied 12 points, four rebounds and six assists.

Matt Sachs In 2012, the NBA’s soon-to-be juggernaut fell apart when the Oklahoma City Thunder broke up its young and talented core.

Following the 2012 NBA Finals, in which the Miami Heat defeated the Thunder in five games, Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets.

Beside the obvious results of Harden turning into a superstar and the Thunder never returning to the NBA Finals, the real issue in the move lies in the financial motivation of Presti and the Thunder, who used profit as rationale for taking a pass on a generational talent they had developed within their organization.

Harden had just come off of winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award but remained a third option behind fellow future MVPs Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. After the season, the Thunder was met with a league deadline of signing Harden to a contract extension or letting him become a restricted free agent following the 2012-13 season.

With the two sides unable to reach an agreement on an extension, Oklahoma City opted to trade its potential superstar guard rather than wait to renegotiate in restricted free agency after the season. Presti took a hot deal and shipped Harden to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks and one secondround draft pick.

The Thunder offered Harden $55.5 million over four years, $4.5

million less than the max deal he wanted under what were then the rules of the collective bargaining agreement. Presti stayed firm in not giving him a max contract, as Durant and Westbrook both took pay cuts to stay with the team.

If the Thunder had given Harden his desired extension, which would have taken effect in the 2013-14 season, it would have had a salary total of $78 million, roughly $20 million over the cap. This increase would have placed the team into the luxury tax with a total bill close to $105 million, something the team was unwilling to stomach at the time.

Comparatively, however, OKC’s Western Conference opponent the Los Angeles Lakers paid $29 million, and in the East, the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets picked up a luxury tax tab around $13 million to maintain their star-studded rosters.

To keep three homegrown stars together who had great chemistry, had just won the Western Conference and could have surely brought home a title to Oklahoma City, Presi and the Thunder should have been willing to pay the $105 million price tag.

Unfortunately for OKC, the organization was not willing to pay.

Five years later, Oklahoma City found itself in a similar position when Paul George became a free agent following his first season with the Thunder alongside Westbrook in 2017-18. OKC knew it wanted to remain in contention for the top spot in the West, so it signed George to a four-year $137 million max contract. This deal immediately meant the Thunder would be in line to pay a new league record in luxury tax. After cutting players and stretching contracts, the tax bill still stood at a league-high $61.3 million, a total the front office signed off on to maintain its core of George, Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Steven

Adams and Andre Roberson.

OKC may have been willing to go into the tax for George and not Harden because George was a proven superstar at that point while, back in 2012, Harden was only a budding star who seemed superfluous given the presence of Durant and Westbrook.

From a team standpoint, however, Harden was a key player.

In 2012, the Thunder had just made the NBA Finals, defeating a mighty San Antonio Spurs squad that finished the regular season tied for the best record in the league. After its dominant run in the 2011-12 season, it seemed that OKC had plenty of deep playoff runs left if the team hung together. Surely, a move to put the team slightly in the luxury tax could pay off if the team wanted to return the NBA Finals.

Following the 2018 playoffs, however, in which George and Westbrook’s squad lost in the first round, the front office could not look at the team in the same hopeful way many saw the 2012 squad. The latter team, headlined by two stars but an average supporting cast, was not one that had proven to make deep playoff runs nor be a legitimate title contender, yet it continued to build success. Conversely, the 201819 team led by Westbrook and George was expected to do well but fell short.

Spending lavishly on that 2017-18 team rather than spending strategically on a team on the rise in 2012 does not make good business sense. Presti and his ownership group should take more heat for setting the stage for a future “30 for 30” ESPN feature on George and Westbrook rather than for an array of trophies for Oklahoma City.

Matt Sachs is a senior in the College. PLAYING FOR PROFIT appears online and in print every other Friday.

SPORTS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020

MEN’S LACROSSE

THE HOYA

A11

BASEBALL

Hoyas Plagued By Errors, Drop 3 Straight BASEBALL, from A12

While the Midshipmen scored in the first inning, neither team found any scoring success in the third through sixth innings. This scoring drought was broken by the Naval Academy’s catcher Christian Policelli, senior infielder Zach Biggers, and sophomore outfielder Joe Simourian in the seventh inning, followed by two runs courtesy of Biggers and freshman infielder Cole Reibenspies in the eighth. This rally brought the final score to 6-2, with the Naval Academy coming out on top.

GUHOYAS

The Hoyas’ third and final matchup against the Midshipmen came on Sunday, Feb. 16.

The Blue and Gray struggled again to find success at the plate, only recording four hits in the game whereas the Midshipmen doubled this number with eight hits.

Neither team managed to score until the third inning, when the Naval Academy’s Williamson scored on a throwing error by third basemen McCabe.

The Hoyas fought back with a solo shot from Lotsis in the fifth inning, knotting the score at one and marking the senior outfielder’s third homer of the weekend.

In just four games, Lotsis approaches his home run total of four in 35 games last season.

The Midshipmen reclaimed the lead with four runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh. The Hoyas’ two runs in the bottom of the eighth were not enough to deliver them their second victory of the weekend.

The Hoyas next faced George Washington (2-1) in Arlington, Va., on the Colonials’ home field on Feb. 18. In spite of totaling seven hits to GW’s four, Georgetown’s offense remained silent for the final two innings and failed to overcome a one-run deficit. After falling

behind 2-0 in the first three innings, Lotsis tallied one of Georgetown’s two runs after advancing on a throwing error, followed by a single by junior infielder Yareb Martinez to pull within one run.

Following another Colonial run in the fifth inning, Martinez scored a run off of a McCabe RBI in the seventh, but that run was not quite enough as the Hoyas fell to their Washington, D.C. rival 3-2.

The Hoyas will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 21 in Davidson, N.C., against Davidson College. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Fifth year attacker Robert Clark celebrates a goal. Clark netted three goals in the Blue and Gray’s six-point win over UMBC.

Georgetown’s Offense Explodes Late in 14-8 Win UMBC, from A12

of its 17 clears. Junior goalie Owen McElroy posted a solid performance in the cage, registering nine saves for his second win of the season.

Despite Georgetown’s defensive successes, the offensive unit’s slow start and 15 overall turnovers are an obstacle the team will need to overcome when it plays top20 ranked opponents later this season. While the Hoyas’ defense was able to prevent the Retrievers from exploiting their early lead too severely, they may not as easily be able to do so against future opponents.

The Blue and Gray’s most dominant performances on the day came from Carraway, who registered four goals and three assists in the game, and sophomore faceoff player James Reilly, who bested UMBC at the faceoff X. Reilly won 19 of 24 faceoffs and collected 12 ground balls, allowing the Hoyas to maintain steady possession of the ball.

Carraway’s offensive performance lands him at third alltime on Georgetown’s career scoring list and earned him the title of Big East Attack Player of the Week.

In addition to the valuable contributions of these two players, Reilly noted that the efforts by the team’s wing players also played an integral role in the win.

“We had a great wing play, especially,” Reilly said in an interview with GUHoyas.

Sophomore midfielder Zachary Geddes, sophomore defender Alex Mazzone and junior midfielder Jack Elders dominated play down the sides of the field in picking up ground balls and in getting shots off in transition.

These players also saw more action as UMBC chose to lock off Carraway in transition play, opening up opportunities on the wings.

The Hoyas’ first two games of the season are a promising glimpse into the 2020 season.

Underclassmen players have been stepping up to fill roles that were lost from last season, with Watson successfully playing alongside veterans Clark and Carraway on the attacking unit and filling the void created by lead-scorer Daniel Bucaro’s (MSB ’19) departure.

Thompson and sophomore midfielder Declan McDermott have also proved they can take leadership roles as offensive midfielders, replacing the scoring abilities of former attacker Lucas Wittenberg (MSB ’19), who had 23 goals and 37 assists last season.

As their 2020 season continues, the Hoyas head to Cooper Field for their first home match to face Fairfield University. Faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.

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Graduate student guard Terrell Allen stiff arms a Providence opponent as he drives down the court at Capital One Arena. Allen notched 16 points, one rebound and three assists in Georgetown’s second loss to the Providence Friars this season.

GU Loses Again in Rematch With Friars PROVIDENCE, from A12

bench than he would have anticipated early in the game.

The teams continued exchanging runs throughout the half. Providence eventually took a 28-27 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the first, but the Hoyas answered with a 7-2 run that was capped off by a threepointer from junior guard Jahvon Blair. Georgetown headed to the locker room with a 3430 lead and the momentum, having shot 40.9% from the field to Providence’s 31.3%.

The teams returned to the court evenly matched, as a bout of back and forth baskets from Providence and Georgetown kept the Friars within one to two scores of the Blue and Gray. Junior forward Jamorko Pickett helped maintain the Hoyas’ cushion with a jumper and foul shot to put Georgetown up 43-39 at the 16-minute mark. Pickett’s points, however, would be one of the last significant buckets made by the Hoyas on the night.

As time wound down, the Blue and Gray found a number of looks at the hoop through the remainder of

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on Wednesday night as Blair continued his proficient scoring performances with a game-high 20 points, while Allen followed his 22-point showing against Butler on Saturday with 16 points against the Friars. Pickett also pitched into the effort with his second double-double of the season, recording 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

On the defensive end, senior guard Jagan Mosely continued his lockdown defense, helping hold Providence’s second-leading scorer on the season, sophomore guard David Duke, to zero points.

Despite Mosely’s efforts, however, Georgetown struggled to defend the threepoint line as the Friars went 10-for-25 from deep just as they had in their 76-60 defeat of the Hoyas on Dec. 31.

Mosely, Allen, Pickett and Blair each played at least 35 minutes of the game, and their fatigue was evident down the stretch. Georgetown also began a full-court press in the second half in an attempt to generate turnovers and force the Friars to get into their sets with less time on the shot clock, tiring the Hoyas even more.

Following the loss, Ewing remarked on his team’s fatigue late in the game.

“To me, we just ran out of steam, ran out of energy, ran out of effort. All the things that we had been doing great — those guys have been logging some heavy minutes — tonight, it just took its toll,” Ewing said in an interview with GUHoyas.

The loss further decreases Georgetown’s chances at an NCAA Tournament bid.

While the Hoyas’ postseason hopes are still alive, they continue to dwindle as the team sits at eighth in the Big East. Between the December dismissal of four key players and the injuries to McClung and Yurtseven, the team has had to grow quickly, and players have been forced to step up at both ends of the court. Although the Hoyas are fighting to hang on with opponents in a competitive Big East, their late-season struggles have continued with a limited number of players in their rotation.

Georgetown will look to turn things around when they hit the road to play DePaul on Saturday, Feb. 22.

Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. and will be broadcasted on FS1.

BEHIND THE GRIDIRON

Rivers’ Stats Outweigh Playoff Failures VANDERZWAAG, from A12

Last issue’s solutions

the half but could not connect on any shots. The Hoyas went 0-for-13 from the field and 0-for-4 from downtown spanning from roughly the 14-minute mark up to the last two minutes of play. While the Georgetown offense was silenced during this stretch, the Providence players found their stride and notched 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field before Georgetown recorded another field goal.

While free throw shooting kept the Hoyas alive and held the deficit to single digits, Georgetown’s efforts were not enough to keep up with the Friars, who hit clutch shots down the stretch.

A three-pointer from graduate student guard Terrell Allen and a jumper from Blair to end the Hoyas’ field goal troubles would be in vain as the Friars hit five of their six free throws in the remaining 48 seconds to claim the 73-63 victory.

With McClung and senior center Omer Yurtseven sidelined with injuries, Blair and Allen have worked to fill the holes left by the team’s stars, especially on the offensive end. Both players came through for the Hoyas

recent retirement has stirred up conversations about his own Hall of Fame chances. While the strength of Eli Manning’s numbers alone may not get him in, his two Super Bowl rings will likely earn him the nod despite poor regular season statistics and frequent uninspiring performances in other big games throughout his career.

The issue with arguing Rivers’ lack of Super Bowl success precludes him from the Hall of Fame is the fact that there are already five Hall of Fame quarterbacks without a ring — Warren Moon, Sonny Jurgunsen, Dan Fouts, Jim Kelly and Marino. What makes this argument against Rivers’ qualifications even more ridiculous is the fact that Rivers outperforms these five players in nearly every statistical category.

Among these five, the closest comparison to Rivers is Marino.

Marino ranks one spot above Rivers in both passing yards and

passing touchdowns. This can largely be attributed to the fact that Rivers has started 23 fewer games than Marino. While Marino has one Super Bowl appearance to Rivers’ zero, Marino’s playoff record of 8-10 is very comparable to Rivers’. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who denies that Marino deserves a spot in Canton, so there seems little reason for the lack of consensus about Rivers’ Hall of Fame eligibility.

The answer probably lies in the fact that Rivers has zero All-Pro selections to his name, meaning he has never been considered the league’s top quarterback in any given year.

Still, it is unfair to blame Rivers for the competition he has faced at the quarterback position. With several other alltime greats to compete with throughout his career, it is no surprise that Rivers has never achieved this honor.

Although Rivers lacks a single dominant season, he has more

than made up for it by performing at a high level for an extended period of time. As mentioned above, Rivers is one of the most durable players of all-time, starting 235 consecutive regular season and playoff games involving the San Diego and Los Angeles Chargers. This includes the 2007 AFC Championship game, when Rivers played with a torn ACL. Rivers has not only managed to stay on the field, but he has also consistently put up solid numbers. Since 2008, Rivers has ranked in the top eight quarterbacks in the NFL in passing yards in all but one season. While many franchises struggle to find consistent quarterback play, Rivers has been a constant for the Chargers for more than a decade, a team that has consistently struggled with injuries to skilled position players such as LaDainian Tomlinson, Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry and Melvin Gordon.

“Through 16 seasons, 224 consecutive starts and more

‘dadgummits’ and ‘shoots’ than any of us can count, not only has Philip Rivers been our quarterback, he’s been the heart and soul of our organization,” Chargers Owner Dean Spanos said in the news release about Rivers’ departure.

Rivers’ time with the Chargers may have ended, but it is clear he wants to keep playing.

Following the team’s week 17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Rivers told the media, “If one of 32 teams want me and it’s the right situation, I can start that 225th game in a row, I’ll be running out there.”

While Rivers may want to keep playing, he has nothing left to prove. Regardless of whether he ever takes the field again, Rivers merits induction into the Hall of Fame.

Jacob Vanderzwaag is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. BEHIND THE GRIDIRON appears online and in print every other Friday.

Sports

Men’s Lacrosse Georgetown vs. Fairfield Saturday, Feb. 22, 12 p.m.

Cooper Field

FRIDAY, FEBR UARY 21, 2020

Georgetown’s fourth-quarter comeback efforts fell short against Villanova, leading to its second loss against the Wildcats this season.

See A10

MEN’S BASKETBALL

No matter what the adversity is, you scratch, you claw, and be able to come away with a win.”

Men’s Basketball Head Coach Patrick Ewing

Hoyas Defeat UMBC to Pick Up 2nd Win Hoya Staff Writer

WILL HOUSTON/THE HOYA

Junior guard Jahvon Blair shields off his opponent. Blair recorded a game-high 20 points and six rebounds against the Friars on Wednesday.

GU Offense Falls Silent in 2nd Half Hoya Staff Writer

In a game characterized by 11 lead changes and a Georgetown lead that reached nine points in the first half, the Georgetown men’s basketball team struggled shooting from the field after halftime, eventually falling to the Providence Friars 73-63.

Taking to its home floor Wednesday, Feb. 19, Georgetown (15-11, 5-8 Big East) opened the game on a 9-0 run that got the crowd at Capital One Arena roaring, but Providence (15-12, 8-6 Big East) quickly responded with an 11-3 run to pull within one at 12-11 with 10 minutes left in the first half.

Coming back from an injury that has kept him out of the last four games, sophomore guard Mac McClung made his

long-awaited return against the Friars, although his return was short-lived. McClung entered the game with 13 minutes left in the first half. He went 0-for-3 from the field on three straight possessions and scored two points before exiting to the locker room due to another apparent injury with three minutes left to play in the half.

Early foul trouble for both teams was both a blessing and a curse for the Hoyas. Georgetown has shot 77% from the line this season — 18th in the nation and first in the Big East — and the Hoyas continued this success with 25-for-32 free throw shooting against Providence. Fouls called against the Blue and Gray, however, meant Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) had to dig further into his See PROVIDENCE, A11

The 15th-ranked Georgetown men’s lacrosse team found itself trailing for the first time this season against UMBC, falling behind 2-0 in the first seven minutes of play. Four straight goals from the Hoyas in the third quarter, however, soon paved the way for a 14-8 victory over the Retrievers.

The Hoyas (2-0, 0-0 Big East) opened the game slowly in Catonsville, Md., on Feb. 15, missing their first four attempts on the net while conceding two goals on six

shots by the Retrievers (0-1, 0-0 America East) to fall into a two-goal deficit.

With just over six minutes left in the first quarter, the Hoyas began to find their offensive momentum, notching their first two goals of the game off the sticks of fifthyear attacker Robert Clark and sophomore midfielder Peter Thompson. Senior attacker Jake Carraway tallied a third goal with four minutes left, securing the Blue and Gray’s first lead of the match at 3-2.

The Hoyas’ advantage, however, was short lived, as the Retrievers put away a third goal with under two

Even with a dominant 16-6 defeat of Navy, the Georgetown baseball team, plagued by six defensive errors and numerous passed balls, finished out its opening week with a three-game losing streak. Despite their 10run victory over the Midshipmen on Feb. 14, the Hoyas fell 6-2 and 6-3 to Navy in the following days before dropping a tight contest with George Washington 3-2.

The Blue and Gray (1-3) opened up their season against the Naval Academy Midshipmen (3-1) with a strong first inning, managing to score four runs and preventing Navy from touching home despite the first two batters each reaching base with singles.

Senior outfielder AJ Lotsis con-

tributed an RBI for the Hoyas to begin the scoring, grounding out to first with the bases loaded to advance the runners.

Following the run, junior outfielder Kai Nelson and junior infielder Eddie McCabe were able to get on base and score for the Hoyas. Senior infielder John Simourian also contributed a run for the Hoyas.

In the third inning, a home run by Navy first baseman Zach Stevens off of sophomore pitcher Carter Bosch put the first run on the board for the Midshipmen.

In the bottom of the third inning, Lotsis powered a ball out of the park for a three-run home run, bringing home both Nelson and McCabe and increasing the Hoyas’ lead to 7-1 at the end of the third.

The Naval Academy clawed its

high bouncer and powered the ball into the back of the net to close out the period in favor of Georgetown 125, marking Watson’s eighth goal of the two-game season.

In the fourth quarter, UMBC was able to regain some offensive momentum, outscoring Georgetown 3-2 but ultimately failing to cut its deficit to less than six as Georgetown walked away with the victory.

The Hoya defense remained solid all game, forcing 13 turnovers from the Retrievers and completing 16 See UMBC, A11

FILE PHOTO: ELLIE STAAB/THE HOYA

Opening Series Ends in 1 Win, 3 Losses Hoya Staff Writer

minutes left to end the opening quarter knotted at three.

Georgetown answered in the second quarter with a three-goal run after seven minutes of scoreless play. Despite allowing an unassisted goal from the Retrievers at the five-minute mark, the Hoyas closed out the half on top 7-4 behind a late goal from junior attacker Colin Munro.

The Blue and Gray kept its pace going on offense in the third quarter, scoring five more goals and only conceding one goal to the Retrievers. In the last second of the quarter, sophomore attacker Dylan Watson scooped up a

Senior attacker Jake Carraway gears up for a pass. In the Blue and Gray’s win over UMBC, Carraway tallied four goals and three assists to earn recognition as the Big East Attack Player of the Week and to move to the third spot on Georgetown’s all-time career scoring list.

BASEBALL

GRACE COHN

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Career points for senior attacker Jake Carraway land him in third on GU’s all-time scoring list.

MEN’S LACROSSE

NICOLO PISONI

DANNY MCCOOEY

NUMBERS GAME

TALKING POINTS

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

way back with two runs in the fourth courtesy of two walks to outfielder Matt Wolff and infielder Jacob Williamson followed by a string of passed balls and a wild pitch that allowed the Midshipmen to score another run. A home run by Stevens to left center in the fifth inning continued Navy’s success at the plate, closing the deficit to 7-4.

The Hoyas blew the game open in the sixth inning, where they tallied seven runs while holding the Midshipmean scoreless. Senior outfielder Ryan Davis’ three-run homer paved the way for the Blue and Gray’s dominant inning, which was followed by three consecutive walks and hits from Lotsis and sophomore infielder Alex Rosen.

In the seventh inning, the Midshipmen attempted to climb

back, scoring two runs and holding the Hoyas to only one. Senior pitcher Noah Abdalla, in his first appearance with the Hoyas in two years, held Navy to a fourat-bat eighth inning to close out the game, stifling any comeback attempt in the 16-6 victor.

The Hoyas and Midshipmen returned to the diamond Feb. 15 for a rematch. The game saw little success at the plate for the Hoyas, who totaled just seven hits on the day compared to 12 in the prior game.

The Midshipmen struck first with an unearned run off of a wild pitch in the first inning. Lotsis answered with a home run to center field in the second, driving home Nelson to bring the score to 2-1.

See BASEBALL, A11

GUHOYAS

Junior infielder Yareb Martinez stands ready to run on third base. In the Hoyas’ opening week against Navy and George Washington, Martinez recorded one run, two hits and an RBI in his four at-bats during his two games played.

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BEHIND THE GRIDIRON

Jacob Vanderzwaag

Rivers Belongs Among the Greats In Hall of Fame For as long as I can remember, Philip Rivers has been the starting quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers, even when they were based in San Diego. However, Rivers’ time with the Chargers will end next season as the team announced Feb. 10 it is moving on from its 38-year-old franchise quarterback after 14 seasons with Rivers as the starter.

Rivers joined the Chargers via a trade with the New York Giants on the night of the 2004 NFL Draft. Since being named the team’s starting quarterback prior to the 2006 season, Rivers has not missed a single start. In fact, Rivers’ streak of 235 consecutive starts is the second-longest among quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. With Rivers’ NFL future uncertain, the sports world has turned its focus to his legacy. Rivers has played at the same time as surefire Pro Football Hall of Famers like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, making it even more difficult to assess how Rivers will be remembered. In the most pass-happy era in NFL history, Rivers’ career begs the question of whether he has done enough to cement himself as an all-time great.

Going simply off of raw statistics, Rivers would be a shoo-in for enshrinement in Canton, Ohio.

He ranks sixth all-time in career passing yards and career passing touchdowns. The five quarterbacks ahead of him — Brees, Brady, Manning, Brett Favre and Dan Marino — are all either Hall of Famers or future first-ballot Hall of Famers.

The biggest knock against Rivers has been his inability to lead his team to the greatest prize of all: a Super Bowl victory. In fact, Rivers’ Chargers have never even appeared in a Super Bowl and have made just one AFC Championship game, which resulted in a loss to the then-undefeated New England Patriots, in January 2008. The playoffs are where legacies are created and Rivers’ 5-6 record in the postseason is simply mediocre.

While winning a Super Bowl is a team accomplishment, it is hard not to use it as a measuring tool for a quarterback’s success.

When fans call Brady the greatest of all time — which he is — their most cited statistic is his record six Super Bowl rings. Another prime example is Eli Manning, whose See VANDERZWAAG, A11