The Hoya: March 15, 2019

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 100, No. 21, © 2019

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

The Georgetown 14:

Abusive Priests in University’s Past, Present 14 priests with connections to Georgetown University have been credibly or plausibly accused of sexual abuse

One known abuser was recognized as a professor emeritus of the university until Wednesday afternoon YE DOMSEDAY BOOKE

Daniel C. O’Connell, Professor Emeritus 1998-2019

YE DOMESDAY BOOKE

ILLUSTRATION ALEXANDRA BOWMAN/THE HOYA

YE DOMESDAY BOOKE

JEFF ANDERSON & ASSOCIATES PA

Engelbert M. Axer

Michael L. Barber

H. Cornell Bradley

Neil Carr

Religion professor, 1946-1949

Hospital chaplain, 1976-1978

Campus Ministry, 1970

Undergraduate student, 1937

JEAN DENIS BEUCHER/PINTEREST

Martin J. Casey

ILLUSTRATION: ALEXANDRA BOWMAN/THE HOYA

WOODSTOCK LIBRARY ARCHIVES

Augustine J. Ferretti Thomas M. Gannon

Jesuit Community, 1973-2006

Student, 1944-1947

HOROWITZ LAW

Sociology professor, 1983-1986

ILLUSTRATION: ALEXANDRA BOWMAN/THE HOYA

JEFF ANDERSON & ASSOCIATES PA

HOYA FILE PHOTO

Jack Kennington

Bernard Knoth

Researcher, 1981-1983

Administrator, 1990-1995

BISHOP’S LATIN SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

DOMINICAN STUDIES

Anthony McGinley

Neil P. McLaughlin

William J. Walsh

Lisa Zuccarelli

Professor, 1977-1987

Hospital chaplain, 1965-1983

Researcher, 1996-1998

Nursing professor, 1995-2003

Investigation Inside: A report by The Hoya uncovered Georgetown University’s ties to the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

FEATURED

NEWS

OPINION

Campus Reacts to Bribery Scheme Students and faculty are concerned with Georgetown’s ties to a national admissions scandal.

A6

EDITORIAL Georgetown must release housing reports to hold itself accountable for poor infrastructure on campus.

A2

NEWS

OPINION

GUSA Executives Reflect on Term Juan Martinez (SFS ’20) and Kenna Chick (SFS ’20) share highlights and obstacles from their time in office.

A5

Challenge Subtle Antisemitism Denationalization should be recognized as a subtle form of antisemitism.

A3

Published Fridays

SPORTS The Waiting Game

After defeating Villanova and losing to Marquette, the women’s basketball team awaits its postseason fate.

A12

SPORTS Leake the Way

Sophomore Lawrence Leake earned three Big East titles and was named men’s high point track performer.

A10 Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

A2

OPINION

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

THE VERDICT

C

Founded January 14, 1920

EDITORIALS

C

A student unscrewed lightbulbs multiple times in Kennedy Hall elevators, according to a Nov. 19 email to Kennedy residents from Residential Living. Instead of finding and punishing the student responsible, Georgetown threatened to fine hundreds of students in the residence hall.

The university’s current system of collective punishment — in which damage to community spaces is billed to all residents of the community — is lazy and ineffective, punishing innocent students and rewarding the perpetrators. To actually increase student accountability and foster more respect for shared spaces, Georgetown must stop relying on collective punishment to administer university policy.

Georgetown has been quick to implement communitywide fines for years. After four chairs in the Henle Village common space were stolen in December 2016, residents were charged a total of $2,234.08 just 12 days after the theft; each individual resident was fined $5.28. Similarly, after historic photos from Darnall Hall’s lobby disappeared in March 2018, each student was charged $1.01 after seven days.

The university has demonstrated a trend of charging students mere days after an incident, hardly enough time to conduct a thorough investigation. By correcting housing procedures, the university could also signal to students that it is concerned with more than making its money back.

Though the amount charged to each individual may be small, communitywide fines are unfair to innocent residents. To practice a system of justice, Georgetown should instead find and charge the perpetrator the full value of the damage.

Moreover, collective punishment fails to adequately discipline students who actually do violate university policies. Currently, a student can steal a chair and enjoy the benefits, while the punishment is diluted across the residential community. The thief or vandal may not even belong to the residential community: Any per-

son who strolled through Georgetown’s gates could have stolen the Henle chairs, and yet the university lazily assumed assumed the guilt of Henle residents and laid the punishment at their feet.

Georgetown should focus on finding and punishing the perpetrator rather than penalizing the entire community after a couple of emails. Such a policy would discourage — rather than potentially incite — these problematic behaviors.

Removal of communitywide fines would also increase the incentive for the Georgetown University Police Department and administration officials to thoroughly investigate each incident. Georgetown’s policies ensure property value is restored to the university by innocent students already paying for room and board.

Without this assurance, however, Georgetown would have motivation to conduct a more comprehensive investigation.

To maintain student accountability and foster respect for community spaces, the university must remove communitywide fines.

Though a proper investigation would likely incur more time and resources, such a system is necessary to ensure vandalism and theft are curbed. Moreover, enforcing order and safety is the purpose of GUPD; demanding that the university rely on police investigation to catch a criminal rather than punishing innocents is not unreasonable.

While communitywide fines may incentivize students to turn in the perpetrator, this result could be accomplished through rewards for information rather than fining students who were likely unaware of the incident for failing to provide information.

Georgetown’s implementation of collective punishment is lazy and unjust. If the university seeks to reduce vandalism or theft, it must end communitywide fines.

Georgetown should punish the person unscrewing the lightbulbs rather than the residents using the pitch-black elevator.

Chickening Out — Cynthia Newman, a dean at Rider University, resigned after the university banned Chick-fil-A from opening a franchise on campus. She stated that she could not stay at the university due to its denouncement of Chick-fil-A’s Christian principles.

C

End Collective Punishment

Unlikely Leader — Lincoln, a 3-year-old Nubian goat, won the title of honorary mayor in the small town of Fair Haven, Vt. He beat out 15 other animals running in an election that the town manager organized to raise money for a local playground.

Breaking and Eating — An Arizona man was arrested after two women found him cooking tortillas in their apartment. After the women demanded him to leave, he proceeded to eat a can of soup on their balcony.

C C

Haunting Tunes — CVS announced it is in the process of changing its on-hold music after complaints from a Massachusetts doctor. The doctor had previously stated that the current music haunted him “day and night.”

I’m Feelin’ Lucky — A Virginia women purchased 30 lottery tickets with the same numbers after she saw the numbers “a couple of times during the day.” After her combination won, she was awarded $5,000 for each ticket, totaling $150,000.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Alexandra Bowman

Increase Housing Accountability By now, concerns about Georgetown University housing sound like a broken record: Students implore the university to address rats, mold, gas leaks and collapsing roofs, while university officials fail to prioritize student safety.

This pattern of negligence has made starkly clear that Georgetown on its own cannot be trusted to provide students with safe and healthy living conditions. Rather, the university must hold itself accountable by publishing reports about issues in student housing and detailed plans to improve facilities.

Last month, Georgetown relocated about 85 students from top-floor apartments in Alumni Square after engineers identified structural concerns with the roof. Though university officials claimed they were acting on an abundance of caution, students were given a mere four days to move, suggesting a more urgent hazard. Despite student calls to release the engineering report detailing the extent of rooftop damage in a Feb. 11 information session for relocated residents, the university has yet to do so.

Similarly, after Nancy Cave, a parent of a Georgetown freshman, requested air quality test reports from her son’s dorm, Associate Vice President of Facilities Operations Gregory Simmons assured her the room was safe but declined to release the report, citing an unidentified committee that prevented him from providing her with additional information.

Georgetown’s refusal to release these reports and hold itself accountable to students is concerning, especially given the university’s previous inaction and immense misjudgements on housing hazards.

The university only became aware of rooftop concerns in Alumni Square after a maintenance inquiry spurred inspections in October 2018, according to the residential living website. However, a university official was aware of water damage last summer, well before the first maintenance request.

Georgetown also failed to respond to a prolonged gas leak in Alumni Square, according to Humeyra Selcukbiricik (COL ’20) in a Feb. 20 op-ed. Students reported the smell to the university, but facilities declared nothing was amiss. It was not until the D.C. fire department intervened that residents were evacuated and three students hospitalized.

The university’s negligence on these serious — and potentially life-threatening — issues has made has made abundantly clear Georgetown’s ineptitude in solving housing problems.

Only by enhancing its accountability to students

and publishing reports on the current state of housing can the university demonstrate a genuine commitment to student safety.

Currently, Georgetown’s lack of transparency conceals information that is vital to student well-being.

Releasing the reports on facilities concerns would allow students to better understand their housing situation and demonstrate that the university is concerned with more than lawsuits and maintenance expenses.

Moreover, the university’s release of facilities reports would incentivize Georgetown to truly improve housing conditions. Making the information public would pressure university officials to proactively resolve any hazards or provide students exposed to dangerous conditions with alternative housing.

Georgetown should also publish its future plans to improve facilities. Though the board of directors allocated $75 million to a five-year maintenance plan on Feb. 14, the details of this plan are unclear.

By publishing its plans, Georgetown would be less likely to delay on crucial repairs. If university officials fall behind on deadlines, students and alumni would be able to hold them accountable and ensure targets are met in a timely manner.

Transparency with renovation plans would also inform alumni of the pressing need for repairs and open more pathways for alumni contributions to housing. Currently, Georgetown focuses fundraising efforts on new construction — rather than maintenance — because new facilities are more attractive for donors, according to university spokesperson Rachel Pugh in an interview for a March 2018 op-ed.

By publishing its renovation plans, Georgetown could signal to alumni the crucial need for alumni investment in housing and combat the idea that renovation is less attractive or necessary than new buildings.

Georgetown has proven incompetent in resolving the deplorable housing conditions of students. For housing to become tolerable, students must at least be able to take their safety into their own hands; the university should publish reports on the current state of student housing and its future maintenance plans.

For facilities to improve — and hazardous conditions to be addressed — university officials must be held accountable to students. Students deserve to be safe.

Maya Gandhi, Editor-in-Chief Yasmine Salam, Executive Editor Will Simon, Executive Editor Catriona Kendall, Managing Editor Will Cassou, News Editor Deepika Jonnalagadda, News Editor Danny McCooey, Sports Editor Faris Bseiso, Guide Editor Kiera Geraghty, Guide Editor Yumna Naqvi, Opinion Editor Harrison Hurt, Features Editor Amber Gillette, Photography Editor Samuel Nelson, Design Editor Emily Shambaugh, Design Editor Susanna Blount, Copy Chief Kate Rose, Social Media Editor Caroline Porterfield, Blog Editor Tarina Touret, Multimedia Editor

Karena Landler Amy Li Mason Mandell Yolanda Spura Cady Stanton Allie Babyak Brendan Dolan Sarah Cammarota Suna Cha Maddie Finn Dennese Mae Javier Timothy McNulty Sela Dragich Jonathan Wiersema Doris Zhang Will Cromarty Meena Morar Natalie Isé Sheel Patel Kiki Schmalfuss Amanda Van Orden Mina Lee Janis Park Eloise Owen Katherine DeMatteo Sarah Donofrio Chau Le Victoria Lei Madison Carter Barbara McDuffee Isabel Roemer Irene Chun

Graduate Desk Editor Campus Life Desk Editor Academics Desk Editor City Desk Editor Campus Life Desk Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Features Editor Deputy Features Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Social Media Editor Deputy Blog Editor Deputy Blog Editor Deputy Multimedia Editor

Editorial Board

Yumna Naqvi, Chair

Juliette Leader, Maya Moretta, Rowan Saydlowski, Jenny Xu

Contributing Editors

Yasmeen El-Hasan, Caroline Pappas

HOYA HISTORY: March 11, 1971

GUSA Discusses Housing Lottery After Sunday night’s Georgetown University Student Association senate meeting, Suzanne Forsythe, acting director of housing, spoke with interested students on next year’s housing problems.

Many of the grievances centered around the upcoming lottery, which was decided upon by the Ad Hoc Housing Committee upon the recommendations of the House Council presidents. It was suggested to Forsythe that the $5 application fee be returned to those students denied rooms. At a meeting held Monday it was decided that after April 20, those unable to get a room on campus would receive the $5 refund.

Another concern was the method to be used in the selection of Harbin clusters. As it stands now, the sum of the numbers drawn by the eight applicants for a cluster

will be the number used. It was suggested that the sum total of the eight be divided by four so that students would still have an opportunity for a double occupancy room if they fail to get a cluster. This idea was also later agreed upon by the Housing Committee.

The recent release of universityowned townhouses for students’ use was discussed “People will have to apply, having one or two references, much like any other rental situation, and sign a lease for either ten or twelve months,” Forsythe said after being asked if the townhouses would be under the jurisdiction of the Housing Office.

Due to the fact that townhouses are unfurnished, Student Development has considered buying used furniture and renting it to students. The increase in transfer students who will be en-

rolled next year was also brought to Forsythe’s attention. She stated that transfer students will be treated separately. They are not guaranteed rooms on campus.

“The Housing Committee has approached the Washington Club about housing transfer students in their homes,” Forsythe said. She added that the idea was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Confronted by two freshmen who were under the impression that they were guaranteed rooms on campus for their four years at Georgetown, Forsythe said, “This was a complete fallacy, and in the housing brochure being sent out to freshmen this will be made clear.”

Tim Brown Hoya Staff Writer

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

Tara Halter, General Manager Luke Sanders, Director of Alumni Relations Brian Yoffe, Director of Financial Operations Aditi Joshi, Director of Human Resources Kate Wittpenn, Director of Sales

Board of Directors

Anna Kovacevich, Chair Dan Crosson, Maya Gandhi, Tara Halter, Subul Malik, Margo Snipe, Hannah Urtz LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND VIEWPOINT POLICIES The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words.

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

Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya. com.

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

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Yasmine Salam and Executive Editor Will Simon by email at executive@thehoya.com.

TIPS News Editors Will Cassou and Deepika Jonnalagadda: Email news@thehoya.com.

Guide Editors Faris Bseiso and Kiera Geraghty: Email guide@thehoya.com.

Sports Editor Danny McCooey: Email sports@thehoya.com.

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

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

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

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

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

The Hoya does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, color, national or ethnic origin. © 1920-2018. The Hoya, Georgetown University weekly. No part of this publication may be used without the permission of The Hoya Board of Editors. All rights reserved. The Hoya is available free of charge, one copy per reader, at distribution sites on and around the Georgetown University campus.

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

OPINION

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

VIEWPOINT • WISLER & LOW

THE HOYA

A3

GENERATIONAL GAP

Build GSP Allyship

N

ext week, the Georgetown Scholars Program launches its fifth annual #GSProud campaign, an initiative dedicated to celebrating first-generation and low-income students on the Hilltop and building allyship on campus.

Too often on campuses of elite, predominantly white institutions, low-income and firstgeneration college students are burdened with educating those around them about their life realities. At Georgetown, they are doubly taxed by serving as leading voices for substantive reform and culture shifting.

We write as a first-generation Hoya, now an assistant director at GSP, and an ally who serves as executive director of the Center for Social Justice. We convened a 35-member advisory board for access and affordability, dedicated to removing the burden on first-generation students to advocate for institutional change.

Our work culminated in a report that offers steps toward a whole institution transformation rooted in the belief that every individual at Georgetown has a vital role in uplifting not only first-generation and lowincome students, but all Hoyas on the Hilltop.

Through that process and from our diverse Georgetown roles, we see the power of a community in diversity — one where students, faculty, staff and administrators converge to work toward a more inclusive, more equitable Georgetown.

Despite first-generation students serving as changemakers on our campuses, national research shows that first-generation students do not experience a strong sense of belonging on college campuses. A sense of belonging increases positive outcomes in student success and retention, but the data indicates that firstgeneration students tend to graduate at significantly lower rates than students who come from families with college degrees.

For low-income first-generation college students, the graduation rate is even lower, at 11 percent.

The #GSProud campaign recognizes the crucial contributions — both visible and invisible — that our first-generation and low-income Hoyas have made through their presence on the Hilltop. They enrich classroom dialogues, lend their energies as student leaders and uplift those around them through acts of service: standing in support with Washington, D.C. immigrant families through D.C. Schools Project, walking a friend to a first-time CAPS appointment and, quite commonly, working multiple jobs to send money home to family.

To foster a sense of belong-

ing for our first-generation students, let’s establish that by choosing to be a member of the Georgetown community, each one of us has a responsibility to animate a Georgetown that focuses on the formation of all Hoyas. Traditional centers of institutionalized first-generation support such as GSP, the Community Scholars Program and the First Generation Faculty and Staff Initiative have become “one-stop shops” for students to feel seen and heard. The calls of first-generation students for advocacy should be undertaken up by every department and individual. We can only live out the Jesuit value of community in diversity with every member’s commitment.

Second, our institution admits students without regard to their financial circumstances and is committed to meeting the demonstrated financial need of a student’s cost of attendance. That is, applicants are not judged by their ability to easily pay — or not — Georgetown’s tuition. Yet we all know that there are hidden and overt costs to college living, whether that’s owning a winter coat or having a MetroCard to pay for transportation to and from an internship. Transformation begins with every campus unit and student organization auditing its policies for barriers that prevent first-generation students from engaging fully with Georgetown.

Third, let’s recognize that allyship is a lifelong practice of building relationships that are grounded in trust, consistency and accountability. We start from the undeniable truth that low-income and first-generation college students are not a “problem.” This assertion is a radical and countercultural act on a campus with an overzealous fixation on fixing problems. The backgrounds of our first-generation and low-income students are not “problems” to be solved or fixed. Our Hoyas deserve our attention and solidarity. #GSProud week provides an opportunity for all members of our community to commit to the collective movement of a whole institution approach to equity and to student flourishing. We must move towards a Georgetown community that doesn’t simply “include” firstgeneration and low-income students, but rather dynamically and dramatically transforms by virtue and value of their incomparable presence and engagement — by their belonging.

ANDRIA

WISLER is the executive director of the Center for Social Justice.

JASON LOW is a 2017 graduate of Georgetown College and assistant director of GSP.

I feel intense rage that almost a decade ago I cowered in shame because of my thrifted clothing, and now people who enjoyed comfortable financial upbringings delight in their secondhand items.

Appreciating Unproductive Anger

Rachel Biggio

A

t age 11, the joy I would have felt as I debuted my new jacket to my fifthgrade class was overshadowed by my private knowledge of its dishonorable provenance: my local Goodwill.

Back then, shame silenced me. I resented that my family’s financial situation precluded me from the musky aisles of Hollister Co. and instead condemned me to the dusty racks of discounted retailers. I would have done anything to hide this reality and my paralyzing embarrassment from my comparatively well-off peers.

In 2019, however, I will gladly tell you the secondhand origins of any piece of clothing I wear and, though you probably won’t ask, I’ll tell you exactly how much it cost. In the past few years, the explosive popularity of vintage styles, purposefully tattered streetwear and sustainable fashion has destigmatized thrifting, and I’m more than happy to ditch my silence in favor of celebrating my pair of $5 vintage

wide-legged Madewell jeans.

Yet, even though I am pleased by the recent acceptance of thrifting, I am also angry that I ever experienced such shame.

Recently, I have embraced this anger and I now recognize that though my emotions will not transform socio-economic inequality or even my own experiences, they still represent valid and relevant expressions of my experiences and identity.

I feel intense rage that almost a decade ago I cowered in class-based shame because of my thrifted clothing, and now, people who enjoyed comparatively comfortable financial upbringings delight in the look of their secondhand items — or worse, their brand new, Urban Outfitters-sourced clothes paradoxically designed to look used.

I find this behavior especially frustrating and ironic when I perceive their sartorial joy as part of an insidious cultural movement that increasingly glamorizes and fetishizes poverty while continuing to neglect actual low-income people.

Yet I do not intend to ask anyone to stop buying secondhand clothing or apologize for their privileged upbringing. In fact, if anyone wants to go thrifting this weekend, my netID is rpb47, and I’m always down.

My experience of unproductive rage about a seemingly trivial topic has indeed taught

VIEWPOINT • CHAN & PERRET

me a valuable lesson I find applicable to many situations we face as college-aged students in 2019: your anger does not need an outlet to be valid.

As college-aged people, we have many reasons to be angry.

We face a terrifying financial future. Vine is dead. Our planet might be uninhabitable in 12 years, and, at the moment of this anthropogenic apocalypse, we’d be in our 30s. Meanwhile, some members of older generations have derided us as entitled and lazy — characterizations that work to minimize the gravity of our problems and shame us for complaining about them.

In reality, however, we have every reason to be furious and every right to curse anyone who judges our fury and insists we must fix these enormous problems without stopping to complain.

Of course, I’m not implying that young people should not advocate for fair wages, affordable college or climate change action. On the contrary — go forth and advocate! I’m simply asking young people to resist the rhetoric that the hand we’ve been dealt is acceptable or fair and to recognize the profound mental relief that comes from allowing yourself to just be peeved. Advocate and act because you feel inspired and valuable, not because you feel pressured to channel your

feelings into outlets deemed productive by a society that often values profitability over humanity.

I assert: you don’t need to “do something” to allow space for a feeling. You are not whining when you articulate your frustrations without simultaneously producing a plan of action.

We should not internalize omnipresent demands of productivity and apply them to our emotions. In order to preserve our sense of self-worth, we must resist suppressing our emotions and instead insist on seeing them as inherently valid. Only then can we accurately see our own intrinsic value, and only then can we lead meaningful, happy and healthy lives.

Above all, the real evil of demanding productivity from anger is that it corners the relatively powerless. Those who render such imperatives insist that if the aggrieved are not organizing a revolution — regardless of whether they have the money, the power, the time or the emotional stability to do so — their pain does not matter. I’m here to tell you: People and emotions do not find their worth in that which they tangibly create. Your pain matters, and it always will.

Rachel Biggio is a junior in the College. GENERATIONAL GAP appears online every other Monday.

VIEWPOINT • STEKOL

Sustain Activism for Survivors Redefine Modern Antisemitism

F

or many on our campus, particularly survivors of interpersonal violence, the fall 2018 semester was emotionally exhausting. Highly publicized allegations of sexual assault pervaded our communities, both on and off campus. The student body was left vulnerable and confused when the university’s former Title IX coordinator Laura Cutway resigned last June. Administrators delayed in responding to over 1,300 students who petitioned the University to rescind Theodore McCarrick’s and Donald Wuerl’s honorary degrees. Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education replaced previous Title IX guidelines in November with policies that will severely harm survivors.

These events drove a group of students across our campus to form Students Taking Action against Interpersonal Violence last October. After months of activism from STAIV and various student leaders, university administrators submitted a comment to the Department of Education on the proposed Title IX guidelines, attended STAIV’s town hall and rescinded McCarrick’s degree last month.

But we as a campus cannot allow issues of interpersonal violence to fade from our collective consciousness, nor should we be satisfied with university administrators doing the bare minimum on these issues. Students should seek to create supportive spaces for survivors of all identities, provide ongoing and accessible mental health services, and foster student understanding of the complexity of interpersonal violence.

Currently, survivors of diverse identities do not have spaces to talk or decompress where they know others share their experiences. These survivors are less likely to report experiencing assault and more likely to believe that those institutions may retrauma-

tize them. Students must demand spaces that cater to the experiences of low-income survivors, survivors of color, LGBTQ+ survivors, survivors who identify as men, disabled survivors and undocumented or immigrant survivors.

Moreover, survivors do not have access to adequate mental health services. The mental health needs of survivors often extend beyond the one free semester of counselling they receive at Counseling and Psychiatric Services, and many cannot afford off-campus care. Additionally, survivors often have to wait days, sometimes even weeks, to secure an appointment with the confidential counselors at Health Education Services. While the Georgetown University Student Association’s pilot program to provide stipends for students to obtain off-campus mental health services is an important step, students must continue to urge the university to commit to fully subsidize the program, increase the capacity of CAPS to provide ongoing care and prioritize the staffing needs at Health Education Services.

Students should also foster a broader recognition of interpersonal violence in classrooms and other spaces. While all freshmen and student leaders take mandatory preventative education, structured discussions about sexual assault prevention and combating campus rape culture often do not extend beyond these spaces. Professors should be trained how to discuss the topic in class or how they can accommodate a student in their class without requiring them to disclose a traumatic event. Campus clubs, which often are the primary social networks for students, should mandate Sexual Assault Peer Educators’ trainings on consent, sexual harassment, and how club culture intersects and interacts with rape

culture on campus.

While Georgetown students can support many structural initiatives with their activism, we as a community should also eliminate the language of victim-blaming and excusing perpetrators that supports rape culture in our dayto-day interactions. According to the 2016 Campus Climate Survey, one in three women, one in nine men, and one in three trans and gender-nonconforming students has experienced some kind of unwanted sexual contact at Georgetown, which means there is likely a survivor in every student organization and classroom. It is essential that we center survivors in our language to avoid unintentionally retraumatizing our peers.

After the successes of recent months, we as a campus face the choice between lapsing into complacency or building off of this momentum to channel our energy into sustained activism against interpersonal violence.

This activism must continue after viral hashtags, articles from The Hoya and Supreme Court confirmation hearings have faded from our social media feeds. It is essential that we move beyond reacting to the most egregious examples of interpersonal violence and begin challenging the forces that uphold rape culture on our campus.

This work is not easy, especially on top of the academic and social pressures students face daily, but we cannot rely on anyone else to do this work for us. Those of us who are able to mobilize must recognize the power in sustained student activism and continue to combat rape culture in any way we can.

GRACE PERRET is a junior in the College and HANNA CHAN

is a senior in the College. Both are members of STAIV.

A

t 19 years old, I still find it difficult to answer basic questions pertaining to my national and cultural identity.

Denationalization, the removal of a group of people from a national consciousness or identity due to their “otherness,” has stripped national identity from my family. My parents were born in the former Soviet Union; my mom was born in modern-day Ukraine and my dad in modern-day Latvia. Yet they are neither Ukrainian nor Latvian because Soviet regulations barred them from having a nationality. They were just Jews under Soviet law. Nearly every traceable generation of both sides of my family has experienced some form of denationalization and was forced from places they could not call home.

Though I have been fortunate to have an American nationality and citizenship — unlike my ancestors — denationalization is not a long-gone phenomenon for Jews. Today, denationalization is not a legal policy, but it persists in rhetoric that questions and undermines the loyalty of Jews to a given country. The demoralizing process of modern denationalization is one of the most dangerous manifestations of antisemitism and should be recognized as such.

Including denationalization in our everyday definition of antisemitism is necessary to improve the inclusion of Jews into national consciousness, as well as to monitor — and end — any current attempts to reduce a Jew’s identity to solely being Jewish.

In Western Europe, dangerous rhetoric of denationalization is gaining momentum. Polls conducted in Great Britain by

the Anti-Defamation League show that of those who harbor antisemitic attitudes, 41 percent responded “probably true” to the statement “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to Great Britain.” These kinds of attitudes generalize a complex group of people and strip individual Jews from their right to formulate their own identities. These attitudes denationalize Jews by using the existence of a Jewish state to cast doubt on their loyalty to their countries of residence.

Insinuating that a Jew automatically has less of a right to a national identity creates an atmosphere of insecurity and tension. My family had to minimize their Jewishness to try to live a normal life in the Soviet Union. My grandmother was able to have a successful musical and teaching career in Ukraine, but it came at the cost of hiding her Jewish identity to perform in spaces where Jews were not allowed.

Even now, the formerly vibrant Jewish community of Glasgow, Scotland, has begun to face higher level of discomfort about being Jewish on an everyday basis. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of people in Glasgow declaring the Jewish faith dropped by 20 percent.

There have been increased reports of Jews in Glasgow taking down their doorposts, mezuzahs, and speaking of attending “church” instead of synagogue.

While some Jews suppress their religious identities, others have decided to migrate elsewhere.

Glasgow’s Jewish population peaked at nearly 20,000 towards the end of the 20th century, and now there are fewer than 5,000.

As a result of the migration, only one kosher store remains open,

making it more difficult for Jews to remain true to their kosher diets while living in Glasgow.

This recent trend of migration, as well as increased fear of backlash over maintaining both Scottish and Jewish identities, demonstrates the need for increased recognition that denationalization should be labelled antisemitic.

On an individual level, we each have a duty to call out intolerance and to make sure every minority group feels that they have a place in their societies. While American Jews are not currently facing the impetus to migrate like British Jews, recent political rhetoric echoes the problem of generalization. Such rhetoric can range from the assumption that all American Jews support Israel and the actions of its government to the trope that Jews hold too much political influence.

For me, the solution is not a politically motivated initiative, but rather a recognition from those we interact with that it is immoral to question our loyalty and steal our right to a nationality. When we know to watch out for rhetoric of denationalization and treat it as an instance of antisemitism, we will send the uplifting message that Jews are included and respected in national consciousness.

I simultaneously celebrate my American nationality, my rich Russian culture and my religion.

These diverse identities make me who I am, and though I will always be devoted to my Jewish heritage, no one has the right to tell me that it is the only thing that defines me.

REBECCA STEKOL is a sopho-

more in the School of Foreign Service.

A4

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

PAGE FOUR

INSIDE THIS ISSUE A photography exhibit on overcoming gender barriers at Georgetown opened in Hoya Court on Thursday. Story on A7.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

IN FOCUS

STUDENT STARTS FUND

verbatim

“

Because you have money does not mean that you deserve to go to Georgetown or Harvard.”

Daniel Sulmasy, acting director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics on recent college admissions fraud allegations.

Story on A6.

from our blog

@SETHOWEN/INSTAGRAM

After his parents kicked him out of the house for being gay, Seth Owen (SFS ’22) founded a scholarship fund, Unbroken Horizons, to support access to postsecondary education for marginalized groups. The fund officially launched in late February.

TAKE A BREAK FROM YOUR HIBERNATION IN LAU Midterm season getting you down? Still waiting for spring? Got those midsemester blues? Remind yourself why we love the Hilltop with these 10 things Georgetown students have to be thankful for. blog.thehoya.com

LGBTQ Nightlife Dissipates in the District SEAN FULMER AND STEVEN BOTSOE Specials to The Hoya

As students left campus for spring break, Georgetown’s queer community lost another one of its dwindling LGBTQ nightlife establishments, calling into the question the state of safe spaces for queer individuals.

Washington, D.C., has the largest proportion of LGBTQ residents of any U.S. state or territory, according to a recent Gallup poll.

With a community that makes up 8.6 percent of the population, the District enjoys some of the most progressive gay rights legislation in the country.

Despite the increasing legal and social acceptance of the queer community, D.C. has been losing iconic queer establishments and neighborhoods that, for decades, have functioned as safe places for LGBTQ individuals. Consequently, the centralized community that was historically established in the city is now scattering, and the reactions to this dispersion have been mixed.

CLUB CLOSURES

Cobalt, a gay nightclub in Dupont Circle, abruptly closed its doors March 5, with no prior warning or announcement. The building that housed Cobalt was sold in 2018 to a real estate developer who plans to convert the space into residences, according to The Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the United States.

Though Cobalt’s lease continues through 2021, this short-term lease made continued investment in Cobalt infeasible, owner Eric Little wrote in a Facebook post. The shuttering of Cobalt closely resembles the close of another popular gay nightclub in the Shaw neighborhood, Town Danceboutique, in July 2018.

Town was relatively well-known among the Georgetown student body, as it allowed people 18 and over to attend on Friday nights — drawing a contrast to bars like Trade and Number Nine, which only allow attendees 21 and up.

These closures have been frustrating for queer students on the Hilltop, according to Chris O’Hara (COL ’21), director of social affairs for GUPride.

“The difference between my freshman year and my sophomore year has been staggering, with the biggest reason for that being the closure of Town,” O’Hara said. “It was such a staple, and I feel lucky to have had that for at least one year.”

The geographic decentralization of the gay population throughout the District has also

negatively influenced the community that it was rooted in.

HISTORY OF THE ‘GAYBORHOOD’

During the 1970s, the LGBTQ residents of the city began building a community in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, which became a safe space for queer people, according to the Washington City Paper.

Lambda Rising, the first LGBTQ bookstore in the District, opened to much fanfare in Dupont Circle in 1974 and became a favorite spot for the queer community.

April Sizemore-Barber, an assistant professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies program at Georgetown, grew up in the D.C. area and worked at Lambda Rising for a summer after college. Lambda Rising helped forge more communal spaces for LGBTQ residents, according to Sizemore-Barber.

“Spaces like Lambda Rising were not just bookstores but were community spaces where there would be speakers and gay publications,” Sizemore-Barber said.

However, as acceptance of the community expanded nationwide, major bookstores began to include LGBTQ sections, diminishing the need for a specialty bookstore like Lambda, which closed in 2010, as NPR explained.

Lambda’s opening marked a major turning point in Dupont’s development as a queer community. It opened very near the already established activist group, Gay Liberation Front-D.C., which operated on 16th and S Streets NW, according to Washingtonian. The area’s status as a “gayborhood” was cemented in 1975 when Gay Pride Day, a precursor to the annual Capital Pride parade, first started there.

Throughout this growth in community spaces, Lambda served as a “de facto community center,” as per Washingtonian.

These establishments have struggled in recent years, as acceptance of the LGBTQ community has progressed in the District.

As a result, Dupont Circle’s significance as a central hub for queer residents has been more undermined, according to SizemoreBarber.

“I feel like [Dupont Circle] is more of a historical touch point than actually currently gay because all of the gay businesses that were there closed,” Sizemore-Barber said.

This historical undermining of Dupont’s importance diminishes the need for establishments specific to the LGBTQ community and led to the shuttering of many of these historic venues, according to the Blade.

The creation of “pop-up parties/ events at non-gay venues” — such as Bent, the LGBTQ dance party

hosted quarterly at the 9:30 Club — also contributed to the closure of Cobalt, according to Little’s Facebook announcement, further demonstrating how the dispersion of queer spaces has influenced the more centralized locations.

The reaction among the queer community to this recent development has been mixed. The risk is that the sense of community vanishes when LGBTQ residents merely occupy straight spaces, according to Sizemore-Barber.

“Straight businesses have created spaces where people do not feel like they have to go to a gay bar anymore,” Sizemore-Barber said.

“However, the problem with the despacialization of gay physical spaces is that it really makes communities disperse.”

There are still potential solutions to this dispersion, such as events hosted in various locations, according to Josh Hall, co-host of the D.C. queer podcast “The Two Beer Queers.”

“I definitely think we need brick and mortar queer spaces. But, I’m not opposed to pop up parties and queer parties at straight clubs. I love the idea of that,” Hall wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “I do love growing acceptance, and I do think that queer nightlife has a lot

of exciting things happening, so I see why straight bars and patrons want to take part!” Hall wrote.

EXPANDING SPACES

While the LGBTQ nightlife scene has been primarily geared toward gay men for decades, the lesbian bar scene seems to be re-emerging in the District.

XX+ Crostino, a cocktail lounge aimed at queer women opened in July 2018. A League of Her Own, a lesbian sports bar, opened in August 2018. Such establishments provide safe spaces for not just queer women, but also trans and gender nonconforming individuals, a focus not typically present in gay nightclubs, according to DCist.

Both venues train their staff to use gender-neutral language when talking to patrons.

Creating spaces that cater to a broader queer clientele may be more difficult to achieve in the current nightlife climate, according to Hall.

“I also think that there’s a lot of shifts that need to be made that brick and mortar bars may not be equipped to or able to make, and pop up parties / one off events may be the place. For example, DC only has one, maybe 2, queer femme spaces.”

INVISIBLE BARRIERS

For Georgetown’s LGBTQ population who might be interested in District nightlife, cost and intersectional acceptance — or lack thereof — can often present challenges, according to David Friedman (COL ’20), president of Georgetown University Queer People of Color.

The financial burden that comes with enjoying the city’s nightlife is something that incoming freshmen at Georgetown must consider, according to Friedman.

“I would say that if you’re looking to find clubs, just be aware that you’re probably going to have to put in the money if you want to go, and you should do it not super frequently because of that,” Friedman said.

Students who are not in going off campus for queer nightlife options also have several on-campus options, specifically through clubs like QPOC and GUPride. The clubs regularly create and host events around campus to bring together both LGBTQ students and allies to the community.

Successful examples include GUPride’s OUTober Queer Coffeehouse in October 2018, which led to another coffeehouse event in February 2019. GUPride will

also be hosting a drag brunch in April.

In addition to the cost barriers, Friedman pointed out the issue of racism within the queer community.

“I definitely feel like D.C. in general — as the rest of the U.S. — is biased towards the white queer community, and doesn’t really pay attention towards the queer people of color communities,” Friedman said. “Like, even with the clubs, there’s a lot of white gays that attend and less queer people of color, and I feel like the way that clubs and bars advertise is they always use white gays in their advertisements.”

There are still cons to the nightlife experience that lurk beneath the fun, according to Steve Reyes (MSB ’17), senior adviser to the McDonough Alliance, a preprofessional community for LGBTQ undergraduates, who wrote in a statement to The Hoya.

“I have mixed feelings,” Reyes wrote. “I’ve met my best friends through queer nightlife in D.C., but some places can be pretty exclusionary if you don’t already know a lot of people who go to those bars or don’t look a certain way or belong to queer social circles.”

DC TRIATHALON CLUB

Despite more LGBTQ-friendly spaces on campus, university students are regularly losing access to queer nightlife establishments, like Cobalt, in the city. Such closures represent the persistent struggle for LGBTQ students to find communities with which to celebrate their identities.

NEWS

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

THE HOYA

A5

Native American Student Group First Asian-American Affinity Petitions for Representation at GU House in Magis Row Approved JAIME MOORE-CARRILLO Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Native American Student Council plans to begin collecting signatures from students on a petition urging the university to increase support for and representation of indigenous students by March 19.

The petition is set to be submitted to the Office of the President on April 1, the first day of Native American Heritage Month, according to NASC leaders. The NASC, a student affinity group recognized by the university, is committed to discussing events affecting Native American communities and promoting Native American culture. The organization, which was founded in 2012, aims to accrue at least 500 signatures before submitting the petition to administration.

Poor support services, lack of representation on campus and university neglect of indigenous students motivated the creation of the petition, according to Kelsey Lawson (SFS ’19), president of the NASC. “NASC feels compelled to submit the petition at this time because we have been facing a plethora of issues regarding member recruitment, support services, and a general lack of recognition of indigenous peoples from Georgetown at an institutional level,”

Lawson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The petition will also include a list of 12 demands for the university. Among the drafted demands is a call for the university to hire more indigenous faculty members and establish a full-time Program Coordinator for Native American Students, who would act as a liaison between students and administration.

Additionally, the petition seeks academic reforms, calling for “the inclusion of Native American peoples in the core curriculum, with special consideration of the status of tribal nations as sovereign nations,” and “the creation of a Native studies major and/or minor/ certificate,” according to a draft of the petition.

To bolster university recruitment efforts, the petition calls on Georgetown to partner with College Horizons, a nonprofit that offers college admissions assistance to Native American students. Peer institutions such as Northwestern University and Duke University are currently partnered with College Horizons.

Poor representation of indigenous communities and limited university efforts to recruit indigenous students are among student concerns, according to NASC treasurer Yasmin Zuch (NHS ’20).

“It has always been a concern to

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT COUNCIL/FACEBOOK

The Georgetown University Native American Student Council plans to circulate the petition among students early next week.

me — the number of indigenous students on campus and their representation in the community.

Because I know my freshman year I had no sense of that,” Zuch said.

“Personally speaking it was a really hard time adjusting to this culture shock and trying to find a support group on campus where I could relate on the basis of being an indigenous person here.”

Georgetown’s efforts to recruit indigenous students to the university have been inadequate, Zuch said.

“I know that a lot of other people in NASC, during their application processes to other universities, we all found support during the application process because of our indigenous backgrounds. But with Georgetown there wasn’t anything like that; there was no outreach,” Zuch said. “There is a nationwide crisis of native students just not continuing higher education, and I think it’s really problematic that a university would continue to encourage this by not taking action.”

The petition, originally drafted Feb. 22, has already been shared with some students and faculty members for feedback and requires only a few revisions, according to Zuch.

“At this point, it’s just a matter of circulating it and getting the word out,” Zuch said.

NASC plans to launch a large social media campaign, primarily through their page on Facebook, and partner with other affinity organizations on campus, including La Casa Latina and Black House, to publicize the petition, according to Zuch and Lawson.

Efforts by indigenous students to establish assistance and forge a community on campus have proven fruitless, according to the petition.

“We feel as though we have exhausted our resources and have had to navigate through an overly complex bureaucratic structure that has largely inhibited our attempts to establish and sustain a community for Native students on campus,” the petition reads.

The petition grew out of other efforts the community made to address its concerns in the past, according to Zuch.

“It seems like we’re continuously being pushed back and consistently diverted to other people to ask questions, and it seemed like nothing was actually being done when we were voicing our concerns,” Zuch said.

“That’s what built up our frustrations: consistently asking for help and not seeing any change come out of it.”

CASEY FERRANTE Special to The Hoya

The Office of Residential Living approved the establishment of an Asian-American affinity residential house, the Asian-American Hub for Organizing, Movement and Empowerment, on Feb. 27.

The approval comes after a push from the Asian-Pacific Islander Leadership Forum, who announced Residential Living’s decision in a March 11 Facebook post.

The Asian-American HOME is a space that will serve as a justiceoriented community for students of color at Georgetown and based on the campaigns that led to the creation of the Black House and La Casa Latina, according to the APILF Facebook page.

“The House would serve as a space for dialogues and community events related to Asian America and an affirming space for all students, particularly students of color,” APILF wrote on their website.

Four students will live in the first iteration of this house in the 2019-2020 academic year, with Ester Sihite, the assistant director of diversity education at the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, serving as the faculty advisor.

The house will be located on Magis Row, one of the Living Learning Communities offered through an application process by the university each year. Students submitted proposals based on a variety of personal and academic interests, and AsianAmerican HOME is one of nine selected to join Magis Row for the 2019-2020 academic year, according to Ed Gilhool, executive director of residential education.

All three affinity houses, which are each aligned with a cultural identity, share common sentiments regarding improving inclusivity and diversity on Georgetown’s campus. However, the Asian-American HOME differs from Black House and La Casa Latina as the other two affinity houses are owned by the CMEA, Gilhool wrote on behalf of Residential Living.

“Unlike the Black House and Casa Latina, Magis Row houses are reviewed and selected on an annual basis,” Gilhool wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Students may reapply to return for the following year, but placement is not guaranteed.”

Outgoing Georgetown University Student Association Presi-

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

The Asian-Pacific Islander Leadership Forum advocated for the space to forge community among Asian-American students. dent Juan Martinez (SFS ’20), a resident of La Casa Latina, said that Asian-American HOME is not guaranteed year to year in the same way as Black House and La Casa Latina, which have a level of permanence.

The Asian-American HOME will serve as a welcoming space for Asian-American students, according to Jamyson Smith (COL ’22), a GUSA senator.

“By having this space it will create almost like a safety net and place of understanding for Asian Americans,” Smith wrote in an email to The Hoya. “It is especially important when being a minority in a space like Georgetown because it provides a location that is home like and inviting. It can give a sense of compassion and body in which one can truly feel as if they belong.”

APILF is a forum open to anyone who identifies as Pacific Islander, Asian or Asian-American, including Southwest Asian and Central Asian individuals, according to the APLIF website.

The approval comes among other campaigns launched by APILF, including a February push for an Asian-American Studies department at Georgetown. The student-run photo campaign, which aimed to draw attention

to the lack of academic programming on Asian-American studies, was organized in collaboration with the Georgetown AsianAmerican Student Association’s Political Awareness Committee, an affinity group for Georgetown students of Asian descent.

The existence of affinity houses for Georgetown students is consequential for minority students on campus, according to Kendell Long (COL ’19), a resident of Black House.

“It was nice to have a space where I know I can find people that look like me,” Long wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Having affinity spaces with minority identities are really important at predominantly white institutions like Georgetown.”

Smith agreed with Long that affinity homes forge vital communities for minority students at Georgetown.

“For students, it is potentially more than just a home, it is more than just a living arrangement, it could be a source of spirit, connection, kinship, and even culture,” Smith wrote.

Although there are organizations on campus that promote equity, there is something special about living with others that share an identity, according to Long.

Exit Interview: Martinez, Chick Share Lessons From Time in Office CADY STANTON Hoya Staff Writer

Though outgoing Georgetown University Student Association President Juan Martinez (SFS ’20) and Vice President Kenna Chick (SFS ’20) began their term unexpectedly, the circumstances did not prevent them from prioritizing the issues that matter to students most: diversity, student activism and mental health resources.

The pair, who were confirmed to office in October following a series of resignations in September, entered their term with an emphasis on diverse representation and encouraging student advocacy. Martinez, who previously served as transition chair of the senate, became president under GUSA’s bylaws Sept. 16. Martinez nominated Chick on Oct. 1, and the GUSA senate confirmed her nomination Oct. 2.

The week they exit office, Martinez and Chick reflect on their term as GUSA executives, including the obstacles they faced restoring stability to student government and the highlights of their term.

What are you most proud of from your term, as a collective administration and as individuals?

MARTINEZ: I think Kenna and I did a good job on starting a conversation on the importance of valuing student activism within GUSA. It was a really big part of the executive elections this year, which is something that ever since I came into GUSA as a freshman senator, I was very passionate about.

CHICK: When we came into office, for us the really main thing we wanted to focus on was just stabilizing the situation, as you all know. I think that for us, part of it was definitely just making sure that the situation is something that we needed to take care of, but also moving forward from that and doing the work that we wanted to do within policy, and I think that given we did not have a full term to really work on the things that we did, we still made changes in places that we felt like were very

important to make changes in, particularly within policy.

What challenges did you face coming into your term in the middle of the fall semester?

MARTINEZ: Following all the events in September, we couldn’t expect huge turnout and interest in people wanting to join our organization, but we did pull through and we managed to get a good cabinet in place where our senior staff, the first group we managed get in the executive, was extremely diverse with a majority of people indicating different non-white races. It consisted mostly of women, not men. That was one of the first things where we said, you know, maybe we didn’t get a full term in and maybe we didn’t get all the fallout, but we still are drawing from these communities that are underrepresented and we had a lot of students who had never indicated interest in GUSA apply to our cabinet, students activists who wanted to join.

CHICK: The transition had been very difficult just because of the timing of things. Neither of us had really planned to devote this amount of time to GUSA, and for us, once we counted, I think it was around 20 hours a week, just for planning and meetings. In addition, when there were different emergencies that we had to deal with or things that came up last minute that we had to work on, there’s just added time to that.

For us, that was not something that we expected and I would say I think that we both managed to change our schedules around to ensure that whatever time was needed was put into GUSA, and made it our priority.

Given the nature of the last executive’s resignation, how have you worked to restore trust and stability in GUSA during your term?

MARTINEZ: I think one thing we have done is we’ve tried to be more transparent by putting out many more press releases than in the past. That’s a direct way of getting the messages out to people, telling them here’s what we

stand for, here’s what we support.

When students in our community are hurting, how we’re going to show up for you.

CHICK: I think that GUSA definitely has the resources to do a lot of the work, but also that working with student activists is very very important in getting things done, definitely to ensure that we’re all working on things together, because I think that at the end of the day we all care about things on this campus and we all want to see changes, and it is definitely more helpful to work together with people that are involved and really understand what are the different sides to this, rather than working against each other. I think that that’s definitely something that we’ve made a point of doing in order to bring stability really to our administration, is to really start working on things with the people that it involves.

they have working in their favor?

MARTINEZ: I think that in response to lack of confidence in GUSA, and that’s something that a lot of admins have faced before, but I think especially in light of recent events in September, addressing that and making that a big part of how they’re going to respond to these concerns. You have concerns that come up from the conference in GUSA, but you also have this new conversation that’s starting with how to best incorporate students. I know they did a really good job of addressing those concerns specifically, making them a big component of their debates and their campaign, but

I think manifesting that into action.

CHICK: We’re very happy to provide any advice or insights or let them know what happened at certain meetings so that when it’s their turn to pick up that mantle and start advocating for some of these issues, they can do so with the full knowledge of what had happened in the past.

So that way they have in their favor people who have been working on these issues for a really long time and that is so important for advocacy. Given the way that transition looked for us, I think that I’ve put it as a priority to help them through their transition as well.

What strengths do you think each of you have that played well off of one another this semester?

MARTINEZ: Where we complement each other specifically is that I used to be in the senate beforehand and Kenna used to be in the executive, so Kenna knew a lot about administrators and specific areas, but also the way administrators would respond to certain things, saying, ‘They’re gonna say this. Here’s how they responded to me before. They tell you to contact 10 people, which is just a tactic to slow you down.’ Stuff like that I found really useful, just like institutional knowledge, knowledge of who the admin was and how they think.

What do you see as your legacy?

What do you hope students took away from your leadership this year?

MARTINEZ: I think that in terms of our legacy, I hope people felt comfortable with us in office at the top. I think that us taking over was a huge change from the last administration, and I hope that people recognize that. We did our best to represent students in the face of sort of any major concern that hit campus, making sure we stood with students.

MARTINEZ: I think it’s very very powerful the way that Kenna and I were able to change the conversation, or kind of shape the conversation for the future.

But also, I hope that the projects that the projects we were able to accomplish during our three or four months provide some sort of help to anyone in the Georgetown community. As long as that’s true I think that I will think we left a good legacy on campus.

What is the biggest challenge incoming GUSA President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20) face entering office and the biggest thing

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT ASSOCIATION/FACEBOOK

Georgetown University Student Association President Juan Martinez (SFS ’20) and Vice President Kenna Chick (SFS ’20) hope to leave a legacy of supporting student activists and promoting diversity.

A6

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

Students, Professors Criticize GU to Establish Largest Role of Wealth in Admissions AI Policy Center in US SANA RAHMAN AND RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writers

In the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice’s report that revealed a former Georgetown tennis coach accepted bribes from parents to guarantee their children admission, university students and professors speak out against inequality perpetuated within the college admissions process.

The college admissions bribery scheme highlights how socio-economic status plays a role in gaining admission to prestigious universities, according to Daniel Sulmasy, the acting director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

“Because you have money does not mean that you deserve to go to Georgetown or Harvard,” Sulmasy said in an interview with The Hoya. “It sheds light on more of those kinds of problems in our society where super wealthy people think that the rules sometime don’t apply to them, that money can buy anything. It shouldn’t buy justice. It shouldn’t buy admission to Georgetown.”

Former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst fraudulently recruited at least 12 Georgetown applicants, many of whom did not play competitive tennis, to the Georgetown tennis team, according to a March 12 DOJ indictment. Ernst coached the men’s and women’s tennis teams from 2006 until December 2017, leaving the university in January 2018.

The indictment involves eight different U.S. colleges, with the DOJ bringing charges against 50 defendants. Among those charged are athletic coaches, parents of university students and administrators of college entrance exams engaging in fraudulent behavior. Five Georgetown parents were named in the indictment.

The college admissions process already provides legal avenues for those from higher socio-economic classes to obtain admission into universities, which deprive low-income students of potential opportunities,

said Onrei Ladao (COL ’21), Center for Multicultural Equity and Access intern.

“We should be reminded that there are plenty of legal ways in which students are essentially ‘buying their way’ into universities, whether it be through their ‘legacy’ status, having wealthy donors for parents or having access to more resources to increase their test scores,” Ladao wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“Students that may be coming from a first-generation lowincome background don’t have any of this.”

The CMEA offers multicultural programming and academic support to students of racial and ethnic backgrounds that have historically found Georgetown inaccessible. Ladao is also a member of Georgetown Scholars Program, which provides support, advising, networking and mentoring to over 600 Georgetown undergraduates, most of whom are first-generation college students or come from low-income families.

College admissions fraud is an example of widespread societal cheating, a trend which should be condemned by all, according to Georgetown sociology professor Sarah Stiles.

“It’s not easy to live by one’s values, and that’s the point. It’s not easy. And when we know there are people who are cheating, and yeah they are gonna get a better grade because they cheated, does that mean you cheat too?” Stiles said in an interview with The Hoya. “If that becomes the norm and everybody is doing it apparently, you’ve got a rotten to the core culture.”

Prior to when the DOJ made the results of its own investigation public, Georgetown found that Ernst violated admissions policies during an internal investigation in 2017 and put Ernst on leave. The university did not encounter bribes or other criminal conduct in its investigation until contacted by the U.S. attorney, university spokesperson Meghan Dubyak wrote in a statement to The Hoya.

The university should be recognized for its work uncovering this misconduct, Sulmasy said.

“With respect to Georgetown,

I was gratified to hear that we had as a university already recognized some of the improprieties regarding the former tennis coach’s activities,” Sulmasy said.

The 30 parents charged in the indictment include Elizabeth and Manuel Henriquez, Stephen Semprevivo, Elisabeth Kimmel, and Douglas Hodge, all of whom have or had children at Georgetown University between 2013 and 2019. Parents paid a fraudulent test proctor to oversee the SAT and falsified athletic records and admissions essays, according to the charges.

The university declined to comment on any disciplinary action against students who attend Georgetown and were admitted with fraudulent applications because of protection afforded by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Georgetown will review the U.S. attorney’s indictment and “take appropriate action,” according to university spokesperson Matt Hill.

Moving forward, the admissions office and the university need to take further steps to acknowledge flaws present in the system and increase transparency surrounding future admission processes, CMEA intern Christine Sun (SFS ’22) said.

“Some changes need to happen, not necessarily just by sending a letter, but I think the admissions office could come out with upcoming statements with changes in their policies and more transparency about what’s actually going on,” Sun said.

Although there is no indication that Georgetown was directly culpable in the bribery scheme, the indictment reveals the university has failed to promote a culture of integrity, a core St. Ignatius Jesuit value, according to Stiles.

“There is a good segment of the population that is mostly concerned with money and status and prestige and I think St. Ignatius would have a problem with that,” Stiles said. “Georgetown is a reflection of the larger culture. So I think that at Georgetown we need to highlight the importance of living truth, and that’s integrity, even if it means you don’t come out on top.”

ANYA HOWKO-JOHNSON Hoya Staff Writer

The largest U.S. center focused on artificial intelligence technology and policy is set to open on Georgetown University’s campus in fall 2019.

The center will be housed in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, offering undergraduates the opportunity to partake in research as assistants and students, according to SFS Dean Joel Hellman.

“First of all, they are going to be doing really interesting research on issues related to AI, advanced computing and security,” Hellman said in an interview with The Hoya. “We hope that we are making available to them a kind of ready group of talented, eager, researchers who want to build up their knowledge and expertise and can help more experienced researchers.”

The new initiative, named the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, will be funded by a $55 million grant from the Open Philanthropy Project, a nonprofit foundation that aims to improve public welfare, and will host approximately 20 researchers to

study cybersecurity, technology policy and artificial intelligence, Georgetown announced in a Feb. 28 news release.

The newly hired specialists will also be encouraged to integrate with the university community through outlets other than research, according to Hellman.

“They could be giving lectures in individual classes, they could be teaching as adjunct faculty members,” Hellman said. “They could be available for coffee chats and lectures and other things for students who are really interested in this area.”

The CSET will meet the growing need for policy makers in artificial intelligence by dedicating itself fully to the topic, according to Jason Matheny, the founding director of the CSET. “We will focus mainly on AI and cybersecurity for the beginning, as policy makers are increasingly asking for advice on AI and technology policy,” Matheny said in an interview with The Hoya.

The center will work closely with the Science, Technology, and International Affairs program in the SFS to provide the major with new classes and broader expertise, according to Mark Giordano,

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Jason Matheny is the founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, which received a $55 million grant.

STIA director.

“Getting people at Georgetown who work on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, getting the right faculty is really difficult because there’s so much industry demand,” Giordano said in an interview with The Hoya. “This is going to be a huge new injection of skill to SFS, STIA and Georgetown more generally.”

Georgetown was chosen to house the center in Washington, D.C. and abroad based on its ties to public policy, technology and its extensive global network, according to Hellman.

“Knowing that we not only deep ties to the defense community, the intelligence community the legislative and regulatory communities here in Washington but that we also have deep ties and networks across Asia, across Europe and elsewhere was I think the main feature that attracted the group working on this to Georgetown,” Hellman said.

The Open Philanthropy Project said the mission of CSET embodies its values of reducing the risks of technological advances in AI, according to a post on the foundation’s website.

“We think one of the key factors in whether AI is broadly beneficial for society is whether policymakers are well-informed and well-advised about the nature of AI’s potential benefits, potential risks, and how these relate to potential policy actions,” the website reads.

The $55 million grant is the largest amount ever given by the Open Philanthropy Project, and the second grant given to Georgetown. The foundation has previously granted the university $250,000 for research on marijuana legalization and health initiatives.

The center will add an important element to the university’s technology curriculum, according to Hellman.

“We really do think the center represents a sweet spot for Georgetown in linking the latest advances in technology to the deep traditional ties that we have in the policy community all based on an ethical and moral foundation of what these changes mean for policy,” Hellman said.

Jay Sean, Jesse McCartney Student Volunteers Monitor To Headline Spring Concert Leo’s Compost Contamination CHELSEA HAFER

ERIKA GEBHARDT

Musical artists Jay Sean and Jesse McCartney will perform in the McDonough Gymnasium on Friday, April 12, as co-headliners for the Georgetown Program Board’s annual spring concert, GPB announced this week.

This year’s concert differs from previous years’, with two main artists scheduled instead of two openers and a headliner. GPB may also invite a student opener for the artists this year for the first time, according to Juliet Fitzpatrick (SFS ’21), co-chair of GPB’s concert committee.

Sean and McCartney were most popular in the 2000s, complementing GPB’s throwback theme for this year’s concert. Sean released his most popular single, “Down,” in 2009, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 that year.

McCartney released his debut album “Beautiful Soul” in 2004, which reached the top 15 on the Billboard 200.

Tickets are available this week through GPB and cost $5 for Georgetown students.

Zachary Schroepfer (SFS ’19), vice president of GPB, anticipates student enthusiasm for the artists this year, as GPB is taking a direction they have not in the past.

“Last year we had a hip-hop artist and the year before we focused on EDM. This year, we are looking towards a more throwback themed artist,” Schroepfer said.

“While the artists are still currently making music, a lot of students will recognize them from songs they created earlier in their lives, which we are hoping will bring out some more students and get them excited about a few of their songs.”

Past performers at the GPB spring concert have included rapper Waka Flocka Flame, who performed last spring, rapper Wiz Khalifa, who performed in 2013 and 2016, and Norwegian DJ Matoma and electronic musician Cheat Codes in 2017.

This year’s performers were selected by the co-chairs of GPB’s concert committee, Subul Malik (COL ’21) and Fitzpatrick. (Full disclosure: Malik is a member of The Hoya’s board of directors.)

Because of high levels of contamination, student volunteers have begun monitoring a composting pilot program in O’Donovan Hall.

Beginning this past fall, postconsumer composting, an initiative led by the Office of Sustainability, seeks to reduce landfill waste by collecting organic materials to be turned into soil by the decomposition process.

Though the bins have been closed most of this semester because of high levels of contamination, when open, Hoya Hospitality and the Office of Sustainability has used students volunteers during peak meal times to help students separate their waste.

This voluntary monitoring system has reduced the amount of non-compostable material found in the bins, according to Samantha Panchèvre (SFS ’19), Georgetown University Student Association sustainability chair.

“Based on what I’ve heard from the Office of Sustainability, this program has been successful at both mitigating compost contamination—which is hugely important otherwise it would compromise the entire stream and risk getting our contract cut—and educating students about how to properly compost,” Panchèvre wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The voluntary monitoring role should be made into a paid student position, especially during the beginning of each semester when new students are still unaware of environmental initiatives, according to Panchèvre.

The composting vendor used by the office for the program would not accept contaminated compost, leading to the initial decision to close the bins, according to Office of Sustainability intern Chelsea Hafer (COL ’22). (Full disclosure: Hafer is a staff writer for the news section of The Hoya).

Hoya Hospitality partners with the Office of Sustainability to pursue opportunities for waste-related initiatives, collect statistics and data on waste and organize pick-ups around recycling and composting, according to their website.

The organization claims 90

Hoya Staff Writer

Hoya Staff Writer

JAY SEAN/FACEBOOK

The process of choosing headliners Jay Sean, above, and Jesse McCartney began last March with social media polls.

GPB’s choice of artist was motivated by a desire to be different than previous years, according to Fitzpatrick.

“We had to keep in mind that we want something popular and we want something different than what we’ve done in the past,” Fitzpatrick said. “I am definitely excited, and I think it’s going to be a big hit with students.”

The process of choosing an artist began last March, when concert co-chairs released polls over social media, followed by a partnership with an agent to come up with a list of possibilities within the organization’s budget range.

GPB tries to take students’ voices into account through the lengthy process of selecting an artist, according to Schroepfer.

“The process is a little difficult because we want to make it as public as possible; however, we have to deal with contract issues where we can’t release the artists’ names until the contracts are signed,” Schroepfer said. “In an ideal world, we would love to make this a very democratic process so we try to do that with the input at the begin-

ning of the process.”

Schroepfer said that GPB was allocated $80,000 for the concert this year, which goes towards covering costs of converting McDonough Arena for the event, among other expenses.

“We have a lot of GUPD costs; we have the event outside the concert, which is the pre-concert bash,” Schroepfer said. “All that money goes towards all those different aspects as well as the artist fee. It can be quite expensive to get an artist that students are excited about.”

Because the spring concert is GPB’s largest event, the organization’s board aims to appeal to a wide audience with its advertising, according to Schroepfer.

“The mission of GPB is to create high-quality, low-cost entertainment for students at Georgetown, and I think the concert is the best example of that mission,” Schroepfer said. “We make it a high priority that our money is spent on as large a variety of students as possible to make sure that we are effectively using the budget we are given.”

percent of all waste from Leo’s is composted.

The pilot composting program includes audits on the amount of non-compostable material found in the Leo’s composting bins.

Interns at the Office of Sustainability manually sort through the compost to get statistics on how much and what kind of contamination is present, according to Hafer.

Volunteers include Noelle Gignoux (SFS ’22) and Hannah Funk (SFS ’20), co-chairs of composting for the student-run environmental organization Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network.

GREEN is in the pilot composting program to educate students on the importance of composting and instill it as a norm on campus, Gignoux said.

GREEN is also working to eventually facilitate composting in residence halls and at the Georgetown Farmers’ Market, according to Funk.

“Our main initiatives this semester are that we applied to a Laudato Si Grant to promote

residential compost and we’re currently partnering with Hilltop Compost at the Farmer’s Market,” Funk said. “We’ve also done some volunteering at the Leo’s compost initiative to try to educate students about what is and what is not compostable.”

The Farmer’s Market is set to return to campus for the rest of the semester Wednesday.

To improve the current system at the dining hall, the Office of Sustainability is working on more signage and educational programs to teach students how to compost.

The monitoring of the compost bins will continue until students know how to properly sort their waste, according to Hafer.

“We are hoping to get the compost program up and running before the next academic year,” Hafer wrote. “The main problem is that students don’t know how to compost, and if they do, they don’t do it correctly. We need students to know that without them, we can’t have a functioning compost program. It is so important for students to compost correctly.”

FILE PHOTO: DAN KREYTAK/THE HOYA

The Office of Sustainability has implemented a voluntary monitoring system to reduce contamination in its compost pilot program.

NEWS

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

THE HOYA

A7

Georgetown Law Student Dies Education Crucial to Prisoners’ In Ethiopian Airlines Crash Future Success, GU Prof. Says MEREDITH MILLER Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown law student and a New South residential minister, Cedric Asiavugwa, died in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed all 157 people on board March 10.

Asiavugwa, 32, was traveling to Nairobi, Kenya, when flight ET302 crashed near Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Asiavugwa should be remembered for his character — especially his concern for the well-being of others, according to Fr. Gregory Schenden, S.J., the director of campus ministry. He spent three years as a residential minister on the second floor of New South, where he provided support to first-year students.

“While Cedric certainly accomplished much good in his life, it is my hope that he will always be remembered for the extraordinary values that governed his life - his kindness and generosity, his magnanimity and deep love and care for all, especially those most

in need,” Schenden wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The mass held at 7 p.m. in Dahlgren Chapel on March 10 was dedicated to Asiavugwa.

Born and raised in Mombasa, Kenya, Asiavugwa graduated from the University of Zimbabwe with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

After graduating, he traveled in eastern Africa, working on issues such as refugee settlement and food security. He also served as the assistant director of advancement for a free high school in Nairobi, Kenya, for orphans living with HIV/AIDS. Asiavugwa was recognized for his dedication to social justice issues, William Treanor, dean and executive vice president at Georgetown Law, and Rev. Mark Bosco, vice president for mission and ministry, wrote in a March 10 campus-wide email to the Georgetown community.

“With his passing, the Georgetown family has lost a stellar student, a great friend to many, and a dedicated champion for social justice across East Africa and the

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

GU Law student Cedric Asiavugwa, residential minister in New South and social justice advocate, died March 10 in a plane crash.

world,” Treanor and Bosco wrote.

Asiavugwa was also a practicing Catholic and Jesuit Scholastic for the past eight years, while living in both Africa and the United States.

Asiavugwa’s residents mourn the loss of their community leader, who served as a positive influence to students, according to New South 2 resident Julio Perla (SFS ’22).

“He was extremely caring, he paid close attention to our responses and offered us advice. He told us he was there for us if we ever needed anything,” Perla wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I also know that Cedric made a tremendous impact on my fellow NS2 peers, he was just an overall incredible human being and he was an important member of our floor.”

Asiavugwa was a supportive leader, particularly to his residence hall and to underserved populations, according to Matthew Hall, the associate director for residential ministry.

“I can attest to the caring, pastoral support that Cedric provided to New South over three years as a residential minister, the gentle support he provided for fellow RMs, and the impact of his efforts working toward social justice and inclusion,” Hall wrote in an email to The Hoya.

As a third-year student at Georgetown Law, Asiavugwa was pursuing a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degree in international business and economic law.

He was also the recipient of several Georgetown scholarships, including the Blume Public Interest Law scholarship and the Global Law scholarship, which provide law students with additional resources and mentorship.

During the fall semester, Asiavugwa worked directly with refugees as a part of the Center for Applied Legal Studies clinic, where he assisted those seeking asylum in the United States.

Asiavugwa planned to continue social justice work in Africa after obtaining his law degree, according to the March 10 email.

“Cedric’s goal was to return to Kenya after his studies to pursue a career promoting the rights of refugees in East Africa and beyond,” Treanor and Bosco wrote.

CHARLIE GOETZMAN Special to The Hoya

Two panels of filmmakers, Georgetown professors and former inmates discussed the rehabilitative power of education in the prison system March 11.

The event featured the public debut of director Lynn Novick’s four-part PBS documentary College Behind Bars, excerpts of which were shown to an audience in Gaston Hall.

Novick, an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, spent six years shooting footage of students and educators in the Bard Prison Initiative, a program launched by Bard College that offers degrees to incarcerated people in the New York state prison system. BPI reorients the goal of incarceration away from punishment and toward rehabilitation, according to Novick.

“This film raises two important questions: What is prison for? And who in our society has access to education?” Novick said.

“And over the course of making this film, we gained a deeper understanding of the transformative power of education.”

With over 2.3 million individuals in jails and prisons, the United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world, according to a March 2017 news release from the Prison Policy Initiative, a criminal justice policy think tank. The liberal arts education BPI provides aims to lower this recidivism rate and reintegrate inmates into society, according to Novick.

Novick spoke on a panel with Max Kenner, BPI executive director, and Jule Hall, BPI alumnus and program associate for gender, racial and ethnic justice at the Ford Foundation, a charitable institution that seeks to advance human welfare. The panel was moderated by Ken Burns, executive producer of Novick’s documentary.

Programs like BPI have had demonstrable success at reducing re-incarceration rates. Incarcerated individuals who received correctional education were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than those who did not receive educa-

tion, according to a 2013 study from the RAND Corporation, a policy analysis think tank.

Hall, who completed a BPI undergraduate degree in German studies in 2011, said the philosophers he studied at BPI allowed him to better understand himself.

“Walter Mosley, Friedrich Nietzsche, the social sciences, the philosophies — allow me to understand myself and articulate what is going on inside me,” Hall said. “Those were the tools I used to be able to say, ‘This is me, and this is the world I exist in.’”

Brian Ferguson (COL ’18), a Georgetown graduate who was wrongfully convicted of homicide and spent 11 years in prison, echoed a famous champion of freedom in his assessment of the relationship between being educated and being free.

“One of my heroes, Frederick Douglass, said that education is the key to freedom, and I really believe that,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson spoke on a second panel that was moderated by University President John J. DeGioia. Panelists included Marc Howard, a Georgetown professor of government and law, Shon Hopwood, an associate professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, and George Chochos, BPI alumnus and assistant director of Georgetown’s Pivot Program, which connects former inmates to classes and internships.

The chance to receive a postsecondary education in prison is limited. Among state prisons, 35 percent offer college level courses, and only six percent of inmates participate in these programs, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization dedicated to improving the U.S. justice system.

Being in prison reduced his life to a statistic, according to Chochos.

“Experiencing reality through metal bars is very difficult. Prisons are constant reminders of your dehumanized status. I wasn’t George Chochos; I was a number,” Chochos said.

Chocos attributed the positive shift in his perception of his role in society to the education he re-

ceived through BPI. “Somehow, what I had to say — my scholarship and my voice — could have meaning; somehow my life could add value to society. I could transcend a number,” Chochos said.

The panelists spoke about a number of initiatives Georgetown has started over the last couple of years to help inmates in prison and to help former inmates adjust to life after incarceration.

Howard founded Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, an initiative dedicated to studying and addressing the issue of mass incarceration, in 2016. The Pivot Program, which was established in collaboration with the Prisons and Justice Initiative in November 2018, is a fellowship that helps formerly incarcerated individuals become productive leaders in society. The program offers non-credit-bearing certificates in business and entrepreneurship for formerly incarcerated individuals.

The MORCA-Georgetown paralegal program, a paralegal certification project run by the university and Washington, D.C.’s mayor’s office of returning citizen affairs, began in October 2018. Additionally, the Georgetown Prison Scholars program, which launched in January 2018, offers courses and lectures at D.C. jails.

In 2015, former President Barack Obama’s administration announced a pilot program to give Pell Grants, governmentfunded scholarships for college education, to 12,000 incarcerated U.S. citizens. Pell Grants had been unavailable to inmates since the 1994 Higher Education Act. However, the governmentsponsored initiative is insufficient in addressing the scale of the problem, according to Kenner.

“In America we suffer from a real cynicism about the role of education itself,” Kenner said.

“So when people look at education or college in prison, they’re looking at a person that’s a problem because they committed a crime, or a problem that’s a set of institutions because they’re very expensive to the taxpayer.”

GWA Exhibits Historic Survey to Measure Cultural Georgetown Alumnae Inclusivity at Georgetown TAYLOR KAHN-PERRY Special to The Hoya

Three Georgetown alumnae shared their stories of breaking gender barriers in college at the opening of the Georgetown Women Alliance’s “Women on the Walls” photography exhibit March 14.

Georgetown became fully co-ed in 1969, when the College of Arts and Sciences became the last of Georgetown’s undergraduate colleges to admit women.

GWA is a collective of staff, faculty, students and alumni for professional training and collaboration around women and leadership, and curated the exhibit, which depicts 12 portraits of women from Georgetown’s history, each with captions sharing their stories.

Held in Hoya Court, the “Women on the Walls” exhibit opening included remarks from three women who were featured in the exhibit.

The university’s first female provost Dorothy Brown, Artrice Valentine Bader (GRD ’66), the first Georgetown student to receive a Ph.D. in biology, and The Hoya’s first female editor-in-chief Bernadette Savard Tramm (CAS ’73) returned to campus for the event.

C.C. Borzilleri (COL ’19) led the project to memorialize the legacies of Georgetown women as part of her GWA fellowship, which connects undergraduate and graduate students with mentors and networking opportunities within the GWA. The exhibit’s opening comes two years after a collaborative effort from Borzilleri and the GWA that included archival research on the women whose portraits are featured in the exhibit.

Brown joined Georgetown’s history department in 1966 as the department’s only female faculty member.

Brown told the audience she participated in the vote admitting women to the College in her first year.

Brown filled numerous roles at Georgetown, includ-

ing director of the American studies program and chair of the department of history.

Georgetown’s Jesuit values helped women become incorporated in the college’s student body, Brown said at the event.

“The Jesuits turned out to be very supportive of women, I found, and colleagues did.

When I left, women were 39 percent of the faculty, and I’m sure it’s been growing ever since,” Brown said.

Brown left Georgetown in 2001, and women currently make up 50.5 percent of the university’s faculty.

“One of the goals of this exhibit was to ensure that we all had people to look at and to be inspired by for their incredible accomplishments.”

C.C. BORZILLERI (COL ’19) FELLOW, GWA

Before the university became fully co-ed, Bader was a pioneer for male and female Georgetown students alike.

She began graduate school in 1963 and was the first student of any gender to earn a Ph.D. in biology at Georgetown.

Bader’s time at Georgetown came in the middle of her career at the National Institute of Health, where she worked at the National Cancer Institute.

“I spent 32 years at the NIH split between research, which was always my first love, and health-science administration,” Bader said at the opening.

Tramm, a member of the College’s inaugural class of women, became editor-inchief of The Hoya in 1972.

Tramm’s time at The Hoya spanned tumultuous political moments for the country

that often coalesced in Washington, D.C., giving student reporters the chance to address major stories, according to Tramm.

“The challenges were really more how to cover and personalize some of the major events that were sweeping across the country in those years,” Tramm said in an interview with The Hoya.

“There were a lot of other forces converging, with the women’s lib movement and the anti-war movement, and there was a great feeling of students being empowered to really drive change.”

Exhibits like “Women on the Walls” are part of GWA’s ongoing efforts to create programming regarding women and gender on campus, according to Lauren Mullins, GWA communications cochair.

“In addition to giving Hoyas a chance to learn about some of the most unique and accomplished women in Georgetown’s history, it also demonstrates the opportunities students have to effect real change on campus,” Mullins wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“Women on the Walls” is an example of how the GWA Student Fellowship Program helps students convert ideas into action by connecting them with relevant leadership, project and initiatives, according to Mullins.

“C.C. saw a chance to make a difference, and GWA provided her with the space and resources to make it happen.

We could not be more proud of her hard work,” Mullins wrote.

Borzilleri worked hard to ensure that the stories picked for the exhibit reflected the diversity of Georgetown female students, she said at the exhibit’s opening.

“Having strong female role models is incredibly important for women at Georgetown, and one of the goals of this exhibit was to ensure that we all had people to look at and to be inspired by for their incredible accomplishments,” Borzilleri said.

MOIRA RITTER

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown plans to roll out its first Cultural Climate Survey to gauge inclusivity and diversity on campus, according to the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action.

The Cultural Climate Survey is set to examine an array of identity and diversity distinctions, including race, ethnicity, faith, sexuality, ability, gender identity and other backgrounds, according to Rosemary Kilkenny (LAW ’87), vice president for institutional diversity and equity.

The Coalition on Racial and Cultural Inclusivity is currently collaborating with IDEAA on the Cultural Climate Survey, according to Uju Nwaigwe (COL ’20), chair of the Georgetown University Student Association Coalition on Racial and Cultural Inclusivity. The coalition was planning to administer its own racial climate survey before IDEAA announced plans to develop the Cultural Climate Survey.

Nwaigwe said that she hopes the survey will resemble the Sexual Assault and Misconduct Climate Survey.

“I hope the survey also speaks to various situations, such as what it is it like to be a queer POC on campus or what is the experiences of students of color in classrooms,” Nwaigwe wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The university is committed to

using the survey as a tool for identifying areas of concern related to policies, practices and resources, Kilkenny said.

“As a Catholic and Jesuit university, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive campus and always working to improve our institutional policies and programs,” Kilkenny wrote in a statement to The Hoya.

Similar climate surveys have been administered at a number of other universities. The University of Michigan administered the Campus Climate Survey on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2016.

The Office for Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity at Case Western University administered the Diversity Climate Survey in 2011.

Discussions between university leaders and the Georgetown community regarding the details of the Cultural Climate Survey are ongoing, and IDEAA has not yet established a timeline for the survey.

The Cultural Climate Survey can help bring attention to discrimination issues on campus, according to Nwaigwe.

“As a person of color, there is no number to the amount of times that I have been discriminated on this campus,” Nwaigwe wrote.

“My decision to make this climate survey happen was to create data to strengthen my arguments that racism and discrimination are prevalent on Georgetown’s campus.”

Georgetown administered its

inaugural Sexual Assault and Misconduct Climate Survey in 2016 to assess the prevalence of sexual misconduct on campus.

In the 2016 survey, 31 percent of female undergraduates who answered the survey and 10.8 percent of male undergraduates respondents reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact on campus. Over 7,900 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the survey.

The second Sexual Assault and Misconduct Climate Survey is currently taking place. The survey opened Feb. 1 and is set to close Friday. Over 5,000 students have participated in the survey thus far, according to Kilkenny.

As a result of the Cultural Climate Survey, a broad spectrum of identities can be heard, according to Kendell Long (COL ’19), resident director of the Black House.

“One identity doesn’t take the backseat to another,” Long said.

“All are covered in a very intentional and with a great level of depth.”

Having statistics that prove the prevalence of discrimination on campus may pressure the university to take action, Long said.

“The Cultural Climate Survey will be able to hear the hard and undebatable data based on student experiences,” Long said. “I think it is somewhat disheartening that it takes numbers and data to do this rather than student experiences, but I am hopeful for the impact it can have on

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Georgetown’s first Cultural Climate Survey will help identify areas to improve policies and resources for inclusivity, according to Rosemary Kilkenny (LAW ’87), vice president for institutional diversity and equity.

A8

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

Endorsement of DC Statehood DC Metro Tests Automatic Train Doors for Reintroduction Passes in House of Representatives DUSTIN HARTUV Hoya Staff Writer

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has been testing automatic doors on trains in the Washington, D.C. area over the last three weeks as part of a plan to reintroduce automatic doors by the end of the year.

The transition back to automatic doors would shorten wait times and reduce rider risk, according to a March 4 WMATA news release.

Without automatic doors, drivers may open the doors on the wrong side of the track, which could produce injury and increase commute times, according to Ian Jannetta, WMATA media relations manager.

The automatic doors were first implemented during WMATA’s launch in 1976 as part of the automatic train operation system, which gave trains self-driving capabilities. The system was discontinued after a 2008 accident at the Fort Totten station, where two trains crashed into each other following a system signaling error. The incident killed eight passengers and the train operator.

Regarded as the deadliest in WMATA’s history, the accident forced the organization to reexamine its entire operations systems and discontinue automatic train operations, according to DCist.

While train operators will still be in charge of closing doors, installing automatic doors reduces the interactions that operators have with machinery, which results in safety benefits, according to Jannetta.

“Metrorail operators initiate an ‘open doors’ command more than 20,000 times each weekday,” Jannetta wrote in an email to The Hoya “While rare, there have been instances where operators have temporarily lost awareness and accidentally opened doors on the wrong side of the train, something that

the automatic system prevents.”

Although WMATA officially announced their plans for installing automatic doors in 2018, the organization has planned to transition back to automatic trains for several years now, according to The Washington Post.

WMATA aims to restore the automatic train operation system because of its potential to shorten wait times and enhance customer experience, according to the news release.

“Following a series of wrongside door incidents several years ago, Metro began training operators to pause several seconds prior to opening the doors,” the news release read. “However, for customers, there is now a delay of several seconds between the train arriving at the station and the doors opening.”

To ensure the safety of its return to automated doors, WMATA plans to introduce a system to disable automatic features outside of rush hour and train its operators on navigating the system, accord-

ing to the Washington Post. WMATA still plans to have operators on board to monitor the systems, make announcements and close doors.

The automatic doors are set to be implemented system-wide after undergoing additional testing, according to Jannetta.

“Additional testing will be conducted over the next several weeks, along with ongoing train operator familiarization,” Janetta wrote. “If all goes well, Metro expects to return to system wide use of the auto-doors feature later this year.”

Reinstituting automatic train operation is one of several plans to increase ridership on Metro, which now competes with rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft. Other potential initiatives included creating an all-day peak service, allowing users to make payments through a mobile app and giving ride credits to customers whose trip is more than 10 minutes late, The Washington Post reported.

CAROLINE PAPPAS/THE HOYA

Reintroducing automatic doors on Metro trains would shorten wait times and decrease safety risks for passengers, according to WMATA.

MOIRA RITTER

Special to The Hoya

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its first-ever endorsement of Washington, D.C. statehood in H.R. 1 with a 234 to 193 vote March 8.

Although campaign finances, voting rights and anti-corruption were the primary focuses of the bill, known as the For the People Act, an endorsement for D.C. statehood was also included, according to a March 8 news release from Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (DD.C.) office.

Introduced to the House in January, H.R. 1 has a record 236 cosponsors, all of whom are Democrats.

The bill was passed along party lines, with no Republicans voting in favor. Although the House has approved H.R. 1, Republicans hold a majority in the Senate and have historically opposed D.C. statehood.

D.C. currently operates as a district under federal jurisdiction rather than as a traditional state.

Because of this title, the District is granted one delegate seat in the House of Representatives and no seats in the Senate. The House delegate is only eligible to participate in procedural votes and cannot vote on the House floor.

The March 8 vote is a step forward, but more work needs to be done to ensure equality for the District’s citizens, according to Josh Burch, an organizer for an advocacy group of D.C. citizens who support statehood.

The issue of democratic rights should be nonpartisan, which allows Republican lawmakers to also show support for H.R. 1, according to Burch.

“Protecting and expanding democratic rights for all Americans is a non-partisan issue and we call on Sen. McConnell to take up this bill and give it a floor vote in the US Senate as well,” Burch wrote in an email to The Hoya.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON/FACEBOOK

The D.C. statehood endorsement bill, H.R. 1, has a record number of cosponsors at 236 and passed along party lines.

Norton has introduced a series of bills to grant D.C. more autonomy, including one to establish a local prosecutor and another to eliminate the congressional review period for legislation. This period allows Congress to have 30 days to veto civil legislation and 60 days to veto criminal legislation.

Among the supporters for D.C. statehood are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), according to Norton.

“A wave of momentum is sweeping across the country for D.C. statehood,” Norton said in a March 7 news release. “The strong Schumer and Pelosi endorsements, and the 200 cosponsors in the House for D.C. statehood, are among the indicators that the American people want to right the historic wrong for over 200 years of disenfranchisement.”

Warren voiced her support for H.R. 1 in a tweet after the bill was passed March 8. The bill will help fight corruption in the nation’s capital, according to Warren.

Despite the District’s large popu-

lation, D.C. residents are disproportionately represented in Congress, Warren wrote in a Jan. 28 tweet.

“700,000 people is more than the populations of Wyoming or Vermont. But DC residents don’t have an equal voice in our government – despite paying federal taxes,” Warren tweeted.

Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), another longtime supporter of D.C. statehood, introduced The Washington, D.C. Admission Act, H.R. 1’s counterpart in the Senate, on Feb. 28. The bill has 29 cosponsors.

Norton introduced H.R. 51, known as the Washington, D.C. Admissions Act, which would make D.C. the 51st state. The passage of H.R. 1 is a historic achievement because it draws more attention to H.R. 51, according to Norton.

“After decades of struggle, the House of Representatives today endorsed D.C. statehood in H.R. 1, our major democracy reform bill,” Norton said. “What today’s vote does do is pave the way for a vote on H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, and assures we are on the cusp of righting one of the nation’s oldest continuing wrongs.”

Proposed DC Bill Allows Minors to Consent to Vaccines HARRISON MCBRIDE Special to The Hoya

Washington, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced a bill in the D.C. Council to allow minors to get vaccinated without parental approval March 5.

The proposed legislation, entitled the “Minor Consent for Vaccinations Amendment Act of 2019,” would allow any minor who understands the need for and the nature of a vaccine as well as the risks associated with it to receive a vaccination from their doctor.

Current D.C. law allows minors to receive health services such as abortions, treatment for substance abuse and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. However, decisions regarding vaccinations require an individual to be at least 18 years old, according to a Feb. 5 news release by Cheh’s office.

Some families choose not to vaccinate their children because they believe that vaccines may cause autism or have other harmful health effects, according to Cheh.

“Vaccinations are perhaps our most effective and essential tool to prevent a number of communicable and deadly or debilitating diseases,” Cheh wrote in the news release. “Anti-science beliefs not only put unvaccinated children at risk of contracting deadly diseases, but lead to the spread of diseases that have been all but eradicated.”

The bill comes in light of an on-

going measles outbreak in 12 states and concern for the outbreak to spread into D.C., a large source of tourism in the United States.

The World Health Organization named vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. The proportion of children who have not received vaccinations by the age of 24 months, though low, has grown, according to an October 2018 report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

High school student Ethan Lindenberger, who chose to get himself vaccinated after his 18th birthday, testified in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions on March 5, according to USA Today. While Lindenberger’s mother was an antivaccination advocate, Lindenberger found scientific research which debunked her claims, leading him to get vaccinated.

“My mother is an anti-vaxx advocate that believes that vaccines cause autism, brain damage and do not benefit the health and safety of society,” Lindenberger said in his testimony. “As I began to approach high school and think more critically for myself, I saw that the information in defense of vaccines outweighed the concerns, heavily.”

A similar bill was introduced by New York State Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy (D) in the New York State Assembly on March 8. Similar measures have already been

adopted by California, Washington and Oregon.

Critics of the measures have cited concern over allowing minors to make their own health decisions. Laws in California and Oregon require the minor to be above the age of 14 or 15, depending on the state, or to be evaluated to ensure that the minor is mature enough to make the decision to vaccinate, according to WAMU, the primary NPR member station for D.C. Children who wish to be immunized should have the right to receive vaccinations, Cheh said.

“A child who wishes to be immunized should not be put at risk when his or her parent is unwilling or unable to vaccinate,” Cheh said in the news release.

“Access to these important and sometimes life-saving treatments should not be withheld in the District of Columbia.”

The bill currently has eight cosponsors, among them former mayor and current Councilmember Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) and Chairman of the D.C. Council, Phil Mendelson (D). The next step for the bill is a review and markup in the Committee on Health, chaired by Gray.

There is no timeline currently set for the proposed legislation; however, the bill is expected to draw public attention as the bill must face a hearing and two council votes before being enacted as law, according to WAMU.

MARY CHEH/FACEBOOK

D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced the legislation amid concern that an ongoing measles outbreak in 12 states might spread to the District in the coming months.

FILE PHOTO: KEENAN SAMWAY/THE HOYA

The citizenship question would cause participation rates in the census among minority communities to decline.The bill, introduced before a March 14 hearing, concerns the upcoming 2020 census.

Norton Moves to Block Census Question on US Citizenship YOLANDA SPURA Hoya Staff Writer

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives to prohibit the U.S. Census Bureau from asking questions regarding citizenship, nationality and immigration status in the 2020 Census on March 13.

Including the citizenship question on the census will not help enforce civil rights laws, which have been enforced without this information, Norton said. The citizenship question will only cause response rates, especially among minority communities, to decline, compromising the accuracy of the census, according to Norton.

“Since the all-important questions of congressional apportionment and federal funding rely on an accurate census, we must do everything we can to ensure this unnecessary and harmful question is not allowed to drive down response rates to the 2020 Census,” Norton said in the news release.

The citizenship question, which asks, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” was approved by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose department oversees the Census Bureau. The addition of the question has raised objections from opponents who argue because it might cause an underreporting of population count because minority groups may interpret the question as an effort to target undocumented immigrants.

The Census Bureau estimated that the addition of a

citizenship question would cause an estimated 630,000 households to not complete the 2020 census, according to a Jan. 19 memo.

The bill was introduced shortly before a March 14 hearing in which Ross was questioned on his motivations for including the citizenship questions. Before adding the question, Ross learned that the Justice Department had requested that the question be reinstated in December 2017 to help enforce the Voting Rights Amendment, Ross said at the hearing. During the hearing, Republicans said that the census has asked citizenship questions in the past, although these have been located on supplemental forms, according to NBC News.

Ross is facing accusations of giving misleading statements about the reason for requesting the inclusion of the citizenship question. Ross alleged the request was at the behest of the Justice Department, but Ross himself may have requested the question, according to a March 13 news release

by Norton’s office.

A federal judge ruled March 6 that Ross broke several laws and violated the enumeration clause of the Constitution, which requires the U.S. government to conduct a census every 10 years to determine a state’s representation in the House of Representatives, according to The Washington Post.

The ruling comes after 18 states, nine cities and Washington, D.C. sued the Commerce Department over concerns that including the citizenship

question in the census will decrease its accuracy, affecting congressional funding and representation. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the Commerce Department to remove the citizenship question from the 2020 census on Jan. 15.

The Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, a group based at the Georgetown University Law Center, filed an amicus brief on the behalf of the House of Representatives on Feb. 11.

The brief claims that the citizenship question would undermine the accuracy of the census, according to Joshua Geltzer, ICAP executive director and visiting Georgetown law professor.

“Adding it would thwart the constitutionally mandated goal of the decennial census, which is to determine an actual and accurate count of everyone present in the United States,” Geltzer wrote in a February email to The Hoya.

A bill similar to Norton’s, the Every Person Counts Act, was introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Jan. 24.

The bill would prohibit information regarding citizenship or immigration status from being asked in any census. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where it awaits further action.

Norton introduced a similar bill on Jan. 30, 2018, which was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform but has received no further action.

NEWS

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

A9

THE HOYA

Open Letter Calls for DC Law Center Professor Councilmember to Resign Runs for County Board CONNOR THOMAS Hoya Staff Writer

An open letter requesting Washington, D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) step down as National Committeeman of the D.C. Democratic Party was published March 6, following allegations that he misused his position to solicit corporate deals.

Evans is the councilmember who represents the neighborhoods including Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom, among other areas.

The letter, addressed to Evans, was signed by 23 members of the D.C. Democratic State Committee after accusations that Evans used his position in government leadership to solicit business deals from private firms publicly surfaced Feb. 28.

A grand jury subpoenaed documents relating to legislation benefiting Digi Outdoor Media, a digital commercial advertising firm, last September. Evans said he returned money and stock shares that he received from the digital sign company before introducing the legislation in a text message to The Washington Post.

Evans should step down because his compromised reputation will jeopardize the momentum of legislation addressing important D.C. issues such as statehood, according to Zachary Israel, a D.C. Young Democrats national committeeman. Israel signed the open letter to Evans.

“There are many individuals who are better able to serve and represent us on the Democratic National Committee, and the time has come for him to do the right thing and step down for the good of the party,” Israel wrote in an email to The Hoya.

D.C. Working Families, a progressive advocacy group that seeks to raise living standards for working families, drafted and released a petition March 6 calling for Evans to be stripped of his chairmanship of the Committee on Finance and Revenue. The petition also requested Evans be removed from his position on the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety.

The focus on Evans has distracted from D.C. efforts for initiatives such as the push for statehood, and have jeopardized voter trust in the Democratic party, according to the letter.

“The clouds growing over your alleged activities complicate efforts to win D.C. Statehood, determine D.C.’s position in the primary calendar and restore the faith of D.C. voters that their local Democratic Party leadership puts their interests first,” the letter read.

A representative from Evans’ office declined to comment on the accusations.

The allegations and open letter have received mixed responses.

President of D.C. Young Democrats Marcus Goodwin said the letter was premature because the allegations against Evans have not yet received a comprehensive investiga-

FILE PHOTO: AMBER GILLETTE/THE HOYA

Washington, D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) was asked to resign following allegations he used his office to solicit corporate deals.

tion, according to The Washington Post.

D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) announced he would reprimand Evans in a March 5 news release. However, Mendelson did not call for Evans to resign.

“Our Code of Conduct states explicitly that a Councilmember ‘may not knowingly use the prestige of office or public position for [his] private gain,’ and that government resources shall not be used for personal business,” Mendelson said. “This reprimand will send a clear message that Mr. Evans’ actions are not only unacceptable but are inconsistent with the Council’s ethical standards.”

Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) disapproved of Mendelson’s plan to reprimand Evans, calling for a special council investigation into Evans’ alleged wrongdoing in a March 5 news release.

“Chairman Mendelson’s proposed reprimand of Councilmember Evans is merely a slap on the wrist, allowing the Council to check a box and move on,” Grosso said. “It stops short of any real accountability as Councilmember Evans will remain at the helm of the powerful Finance and Revenue Committee from which he peddled his influence using the prestige of his office.”

A full investigation is unnecessary because Evans’ emails to businesses clearly demonstrated a violation of conduct, according to Mendelson.

“Some have suggested that I should appoint a special committee to investigate the matter,. However, there is no question whether Mr. Evans’ emails violated the Council’s Code of Conduct, and therefore waiting for an investigation would be an unnecessary delay,” Mendelson said in the news release.

Evans’ behavior reflects poorly on the councils’ public image and makes it impossible for him to continue in his position, according to the letter.

“The Council cannot afford to have decisions made by a committee as consequential as Finance and Revenue continue to be marred by questions of impropriety or influence peddling,” the letter said. “The Council also cannot have someone who is under grand jury investigation overseeing government ethics via a post on the Judiciary committee.”

@APERHOPLES/TWITTER

Alicia Plerhoples, Georgetown University Law Center professor, is making income inequality in Fairfax, Va., one of her hallmark issues in her campaign for chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

RACHEL FRIEDMAN Special to The Hoya

Georgetown University Law Center Professor Alicia Plerhoples was endorsed by grassroots advocacy group VA Democracy Forward in her bid for chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the highest governing body of Fairfax, Va., on March 2.

VA Democracy Forward, a group that supports progressive candidates, joins Jennifer Carroll Foy, a delegate in the Virginia House of delegates, in endorsing Plerhoples’ campaign.

Plerhoples had previously announced her candidacy for Fairfax County’s School Board, but suspended her campaign Feb. 15 to run for chair of the county board instead, a switch motivated by a desire for her ideas to have a wider platform.

“I had previously been running for school board but realized that my skill sets around community economic development are much more better suited for chairman, and that I can make a bigger and larger and more meaningful impact as chairman,” Plerhoples said in an interview with The Hoya.

Plerhoples, a woman of color, began her campaign in the face of the impending retirement of Catherine Hudgins, the only person of color on Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors. She launched her campaign because of the lack of candidates discussing the issues that matter in her eyes to the county.

“I also looked at the field of the candidates that were in the race and, as a resident of Fairfax County, I didn’t see anyone that I would

vote for or anyone that was talking about the issues that I really care about, which includes the affordability of the county,” Plerhoples said.

Fairfax County must help its disadvantaged communities that face important hurdles in economic security, according to Plerhoples.

“I am running for Chairman because I want to close the gap,” Plerhoples wrote in a Facebook post announcing her candidacy. “Because there are two Fairfax Counties, divided by economic security and opportunity. ” Plerhoples’ time at Georgetown Law has given her the motivation and experience to run for office.

“Certainly my time teaching at Georgetown has encouraged me to run for this position, and I think it’s really because some of the work that I do at the law school is directly transferable to the skillset for chairman,” Plerhoples said.

Plerhoples is the director of the Social Enterprise and Nonprofit Law Clinic at Georgetown, which supports the economic growth of small businesses, social enterprises and nonprofit organizations in the Washington, D.C., area through providing free legal assistance.

While at Georgetown Law, Plerhoples has chaired the Diversity Committee and co-taught “Campaigning for Public Office,” a class that simulates running for public office, with Zakiya Thomas, who now serves as her campaign manager. Plerhoples said she started the course with Thomas because of an uptick in interest among students in entering public office and government service.

To focus on her campaign, Plerhoples will be on sabbatical

through the Democratic primary on June 11.

Fairfax County is one of the prosperous counties among its peers, with an average median household income of about $117,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

However, Plerhoples describes two distinct realities of the County: one that is affluent and enjoys strong economic development, and one that does not enjoy Fairfax’s overall economic prosperity.

“We are one of the wealthiest counties in the country, but that masks some of the realities on the ground of our county,” Plerhoples said.

The mean income of the top 20 percent of earners in Fairfax county is over 11 times higher than the bottom 20 percent of earners, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve data.

Despite the county’s prosperity, certain districts have poverty rates that reach as high as 14 percent house thousands of students who receive free or reduced price school lunch. The county needs to do more to help these communities, according to Plerhoples.

Plerhoples said she hopes to continue this work as chair through focusing on affordable housing, early childhood education and growth that addresses the threat of climate change.

“Under my leadership, Fairfax County can become the leader in the region for stemming the effects of income inequality — by investing in affordable and workforce housing, universal preschool, and economic growth that addresses the existential threat of climate change,” Plerhoples wrote on her campaign website.

Varsity Captains Navigate Team Challenges SIDNEY LEE

Hoya Staff Writer

For Leah McCullough (COL ’18, GRD ’20), leading the Georgetown women’s varsity soccer team during a historic winning streak was all about maintaining the right attitude.

“When we did get on that streak, it was important to make sure we took every game seriously,” McCullough said. “We had a target on our back and it only got bigger as the season went on, so that pressure was there.”

McCullough served as captain when the women’s varsity soccer team went undefeated last season until a nail-biting overtime loss to the University of North Carolina in the national College Cup semifinals. The Hoyas also captured their second straight Big East regularseason title and third straight Big East postseason championship, the first team to accomplish such a feat since 2001.

But for captains like McCullough, the challenges of leadership go beyond hard-earned victories. Representing their team and their school is an important duty for varsity sports captains, according to Maya Ozery, executive director of the Cooper Athletics Leadership Program, a leadership development program available to student-athletes.

“There are a lot of expectations that go along with captainship, and at a place like Georgetown, a lot of traditions,” Ozery said in an interview with The Hoya. “Students recognize that they’re representing a lot more than just themselves, but at the same time they need to be themselves.”

To McCullough, being a leader meant serving as a model for her teammates.

“Even though I’m not the most vocal person, I always try to lead by example,” McCullough said. “I put the work in to just keep plugging away to stay positive and lead my team well.”

Leaders come in all forms, and other captains at Georgetown can relate to McCullough’s experience.

Students looking for a competitive edge on the field or in the class-

room often feel pressured to be the loudest voice in the room and make their presence felt among their peers. To several captains on Georgetown’s varsity sports teams, however, leadership is rooted in recognizing the needs of others and acting authentically.

BUILDING A TEAM

In traditional team-oriented sports like soccer or lacrosse, wins and losses are felt collectively.

However, for individually-oriented sports like tennis and track, captains face greater difficulties with uniting the team toward a common end.

Women’s varsity tennis captain Lilly Lynham (COL ’19) acknowledges the challenge of motivating her teammates to play as a team even in single matches.

“Tennis is very much an individual sport and for a lot of players, college is the first time you’re on a team,” Lynham said. “Once you finish a match, win or lose, you go cheer on your teammate. Hopefully I’ve done a good job of emphasizing that we lose together, win together, and support each other no matter what.”

Quincey Wilson (COL ’20), captain of the men’s track team, underlined the difficulties of adjusting first-year students to college-level competition.

“When we got our freshman this year, they weren’t used to being on a college team,” Wilson said in an interview with The Hoya.

“They were probably at the top of their teams in high school, and it was like getting lions to be cubs again. We had to mitigate that pride a little bit, and it was hard but I think that our team is more comfortable with each other and willing to help each other out.”

Like Lynham and Wilson, Ozery emphasized the difficulties of holding teammates to a high standard and common goal.

“Every team has some type of team culture and values, and I think that at times the challenge is making sure the team is living out those values,” Ozery said.

“The most effective captains have been willing to do that and understand the bigger picture about the

team’s success. Still, it’s never easy to call out any behavior that may not be consistent with the values we’re trying to uphold.”

UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES

Athletes often grapple with enduring injuries, which can significantly affect both an athlete’s mental state and physical abilities.

McCullough’s tenure as captain began in her first year as a graduate student, coming off of an injury incurred in her senior year. At the time, she was not only figuring out how to recover, but also mentally preparing to lead a team of 30 players.

“When you’re injured, it’s the only time you have to think about yourself, but I had to lead the team as well,” McCullough said. “Being injured is a huge mental toll and can be really frustrating, but as a leader you can’t let your discouragement show.”

Even if a captain has never sustained an injury, they still must motivate injured teammates throughout the season, according to Wilson.

“We have a lot of people injured right now, and it’s really hard to switch their psyche from being sad to being hopeful it’ll get better,” Wilson said. “But at the end of the day, I want them to know I have their back no matter what.”

Another part of a captain’s responsibility is representing the team outside off the field or track.

Captains have to be aware of how their actions in academic and social settings can affect the team.

Lynham has felt the pressure to always be mindful of her role as captain and her team in other aspects of her life as a full-time student.

“We represent the school 24/7, and I think that’s something people forget,” Lynham said. “When you go out you’re still representing Georgetown, and that’s a responsibility and a privilege. Being on the tennis team isn’t just those two hours of practice a day. I think my role might also be more magnified because I’m a leader and I have to be setting the tone.”

For any Georgetown student, managing homework, class, in-

ternships, club involvement and social life is always a balancing act. For student-athletes, hours of practice and traveling for games add yet another responsibility to an already long list.

Having played soccer since the age of five, McCullough is used to a busy schedule, though becoming captain tested her time management abilities.

“Adding on the role of captain, a lot of little things would come up that I had to take care of,” McCullough said. “I remember being really stressed because as captain you always have to be the first one to take on responsibility, and sometimes it’s not very convenient but you always find a way to get it done.”

LESSONS LEARNED

With the challenges of leading a team, captains learn more about their own personalities and abilities. For Lynham, taking the role as captain meant inspiring her teammates to be successful at multiple levels.

“I hope I’ve inspired the girls and shown them that it can all be done,” Lynham said. “That you can

get good grades, have a social life, get a job, and still play tennis full time. It’s hard but you learn what you can do, how much you can juggle and still have a lot of fun and be happy.”

Wilson felt that becoming captain taught him the importance of unity and the value of the team to each member.

“Being captain made me realize that it’s more than just me, or more than just the sprint team; it’s about the entire track team as a whole,” Wilson said. “I put others before myself a lot, but the team is always there for you on and off the track, and they make you want to be a better athlete and student.”

When feeling doubtful about her leadership, McCullough reminded herself about the qualities that led her to become captain.

“I know I’m not the most vocal, but I had to take that on even though it doesn’t come naturally to me,” McCullough said. “There were still times I didn’t know if I should be doing things like yelling at my team to pick up the energy.

I just thought a lot about why people wanted me to be captain and I tried to focus on that.”

Barbara Barnes, assistant athletic director for communications, has enjoyed watching the growth of athletes from their first arrival at Georgetown to the day they become a captain.

“Sometimes we see kids who come in and are clearly the best on the team as a freshman, and we watch them become incredible leaders because they’ve been mentored by their captains and teammates,” Barnes said in an interview with The Hoya. “Sometimes you’re just thrown into being a leader because you’re the best, but sometimes ‘the best’ is not the best leader, and leadership doesn’t always correlate to athletic ability.”

Ozery agreed that leadership and talent are not intrinsically linked; instead, she highlighted a leader’s need to bring out the best in their peers.

“I think that’s something you learn really well here at Georgetown,” Ozery said. “It’s not always the best player, the most talented skill-wise who is automatically the leader of a group, it’s a lot more than that. Instead, the question is always, how can I influence people in a positive way?”

GUHOYAS

Georgetown women’s varsity soccer captain Leah McCullough (COL ’18, GRD ’20), center, responded to the demands of her role by focusing on her strengths: leading by example and motivating her teammates.

A10

SPORTS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

SWIMMING AND DIVING

LACROSSE

Men Dominate Fairfield, Hoyas Claim Top Finishes Women Fall Short at Penn At Big East Championships HENRY MIHM

Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown men’s and women’s lacrosse teams found mixed results over the past week. The men’s team stayed undefeated in road matchups as they dominated Fairfield 19-6 on March 9, but the No. 17 women’s team fell just short in a tight 8-7 loss against No. 8 Penn. The men move to 6-1 on the year, while the women fall to 5-2.

In the men’s win, which was on the heels of a 12-goal routing of Furman (2-5) the week before, the program produced its largest offensive output in nearly two decades.

Junior attack Jake Carraway had a career day, putting up his largest point total as a Hoya with four goals and five assists for nine total points.

Not far behind him was senior attack Daniel Bucaro, who had seven points on five goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Lucas Wittenberg contributed a goal and two assists, while freshman attack Dylan Watson tacked on two goals as well.

The excitement for Bucaro and Wittenberg did not finish after the final whistle blew, as both seniors were selected in the Major League Lacrosse draft that same evening. Bucaro was selected ninth overall by the Denver Outlaws, the highest-selected Hoya in the MLL draft since 2005. Wittenberg went to the Dallas Rattlers with the 48th overall pick.

Georgetown was equally dominant on the defensive end, causing 13 turnovers over the course of the game.

Sophomore goalie Owen McElroy allowed six goals and made six saves, while freshman goalie Chris Brandau posted a clean sheet in the final quarter of play. No Fairfield player scored more than a single goal.

The game was never close.

Georgetown scored the first six goals of the game, and it wasn’t until nearly five minutes into the second quarter that Fairfield got on the board. By halftime, the Hoyas were up 10-2, and Carraway and Bucaro had each already scored a hat trick.

The start of the second half may have been the lone bright spot for the Stags, as they opened the third quarter with two consecutive goals in the first two minutes to bring the deficit to 10-4 the Hoyas. This bright spot, however, was brief. Georgetown ended the game on a 9-2 run, and the scoreboard read 19-6 when the final horn sounded.

Following a tough schedule to start the year, the men’s team has cruised in their past three games, winning by at least eight goals each time.

Next Saturday, the team, now ranked No. 18/16 in the nation, returns to the Hilltop where they’ll face a gritty opponent in Drexel, who just took down No. 11 Villanova, in their final game before Big East conference play begins March 23.

While the men didn’t face much of a challenge, Georgetown’s women’s team faced a formidable foe at Penn on Saturday. Georgetown put up a tough fight outshooting Penn 30-17 and securing eight draw controls to Penn’s four. Senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst led the Hoyas with three goals and three draw controls. She was followed by senior attack Morgan Ryan, who netted two goals of her own. Junior midfielder Natalia Lynch hauled in four draw controls to go with her lone goal, and senior attack Taylor Gebhardt put up a goal and an assist.

Georgetown, however, came up short on the scoreboard at the end of the day.

Their game plan failed to capitalize on free position shots.

The Hoyas got nine chances

but they converted only two of them.

The Hoya defense was strong throughout the game.

Disciplined play meant that Penn only had one free position shot, which was stonewalled by senior goalie Haelle Chomo. Georgetown also won the ground ball battle 18-12.

Whitehurst opened the scoring, but the Quakers responded quickly with three goals of their own. The teams traded goals, and Georgetown followed with two straight to tie the game at four with a little over 12 minutes left in the half. A goal from Lynch just two minutes later put the Hoyas up 5-4 entering halftime.

Penn tied the game on the first possession of the second frame. This goal was followed by over 10 scoreless minutes as both defenses held strong. The Quakers broke the drought to take back the lead, but Whitehurst took matters into her own hands. She secured the draw, coasted down the field and found the back of the net to even things up once more. A goal apiece from both offenses set the game tied at seven halfway through the second half.

At this point, both defenses stepped up once more, and it would be nearly 10 more minutes until Penn broke the draw to take what would prove to be the decisive lead.

Despite a solid scoring chance in the game’s waning seconds, Georgetown came up just short.

Although a loss, Georgetown’s strong performance against a tough team showcased a few bright spots for the Blue and Gray. In fact, the Hoyas moved up in the women’s college lacrosse standings, from No. 21 to No.17, despite their defeat on Saturday. Unfortunately for the women’s squad, the road only gets harder next week, as they travel to No. 1 Boston College for a Saturday game.

SIDNEY LEE

Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown swimming and diving team broke records and earned gold medals at the Big East Championships in East Meadow, N.Y., that took place Feb. 20 through Feb. 23. The men’s and women’s teams finished second and third out of the six schools that competed in the championships. Over the course of the four-day meet, the team broke 17 program records and won seven gold medals.

This year’s results displayed a slight change from last year’s Big East team standings where the men placed second and the women’s team finished in third.

The Hoya men came away with 744 points, behind Xavier University with 779.5 points, while the Georgetown women finished with 643.5 points behind Xavier University with 662 points and Villanova University with 1007.5 points.

On Wednesday, the men’s team started strong in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The relay team of senior Jacob Kohlhoff, sophomore Drew Carbone, freshman Michael Wheeler and freshman Brett Sherman gave Georgetown its first win with a time of 6:32.86. The quartet broke the previous record time by almost three seconds.

Wheeler set a school record on Thursday morning in the 500yard freestyle preliminary race, but classmate Sherman broke it again that night. In the evening finals Sherman came away with a first place with a time of 4:23.63 minutes, pulling just .12 seconds ahead of Wheeler, who finished second.

Junior Cristina Barrett swam the fastest race of her career in the women’s 500-yard freestyle on Thursday evening. She won second place and recorded a new program time of 4:50.85 minutes.

On the diving board, sophomore Naomi Peng won second place and sophomore Riley Fujioka won third place in the 3-meter event.

Carbone broke his own record in the 200-yard individual medley preliminary then placed first in

BASEBALL

the 200-yard individual medley, finishing almost two seconds before the second-place swimmer in what was an otherwise tight race.

In Friday’s evening finals, Sherman claimed silver in the 400-yard individual medley. Kohlhoff then placed first in the 200-yard freestyle, and Wheeler followed his teammate in third place.

Freshman Sean Devlin fell short of first place in the 50-yard freestyle and swam to finish second with a time of 20.42. Sophomore Nathaniel Goldfarb earned third place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.06 seconds.

Coming into the competition as one of the Big East leaders in the backstroke event, Carbone won gold in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 48.27 seconds. Carbone also claimed first place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:43.77 minutes, winning his fourth gold medal in the Big East Championships.

In the women’s 100-yard backstroke, freshman Grace Chen swam to silver in 55.05 seconds.

The quartet of Chen, senior Laine Morgan and sophomores Megan Smith and Belinda Donohoe finished on the podium in third place in the 400-yard medley relay.

On Saturday, sophomore Evie Mauzé kicked off the evening finals with a bronze medal in the 200-yard backstroke with only .03 seconds between her and the second place finisher. Her classmate Alexandra Rieker earned a silver

in the 200-yard breaststroke, while Smith followed in fifth place.

The women’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Morgan, junior Lauren Rutledge, sophomore Grace Sun and Donohoe also claimed a spot on the podium with a third place finish.

On the men’s side, junior Jack Calderwood, Devlin, Kohlhoff and Carbone secured second in the 400-yard freestyle relay and broke the school record by over a second.

Freshman Carlson Temple also broke another school record in the morning preliminaries of the 200yard breaststroke and ended in fourth place in Saturday evening’s finals.

A few Georgetown swimmers and coaches were recognized for their solid performances. Carbone earned Big East Championships’ Male Most Outstanding Swimmer for the second year in a row by winning four gold medals in this year’s championships. Swimming and Diving Head Coach Jack Leavitt along with his coaching staff were named Big East Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year and Head Diving Coach Marc VanDyken was named Big East Women’s Diving Coach of the Year.

The Big East Championships saw some of the best performances and exciting races of this year’s swimming and diving season. The Hoyas will return to action next month for the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, beginning on Wednesday, March 20.

GUHOYAS

In the 200-yard individual medley, sophomore Drew Carbone took first place for the Hoyas in the Big East championships.

IN TRANSITION

Early Season Woes Continue NBA Teams’ Focus on Analytics In Nonconference Play for GU Can Harm Them in Postseason NATE KRAL

Special to The Hoya

After opening the season with three losses at the Wake Forest Invitational, the Georgetown baseball team dropped all three contests in their series against Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C. on Feb. 22 through Feb. 24.

This marks the second year in a row that Georgetown has opened its season with a six-game skid, as the Hoyas (3-12) struggled to maintain early leads in all three games against a surging Fighting Camels (8-7) squad. Campbell came in with a strong record, winning four of their previous five games.

In the first match, the Georgetown side took advantage of early Campbell miscues and got out to a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning behind a double from graduate student outfielder Kyle Ruedisili and a single from sophomore infielder Eddie McCabe. Both players advanced and eventually scored on two of the six fielding errors from the Campbell side in the game.

Despite only giving up five hits in the game, Georgetown’s pitchers struggled to keep runners off base and surrendered seven walks and six earned runs in the eventual 7-4 loss, as the Hoyas were unable to capitalize on the Fighting Camels’ shaky defensive performance.

The following game saw an identical result with Georgetown losing to Campbell after opening with an early lead. Sophomore outfielder Kai Nelson and Ruedisili each hit their first home run in a Georgetown uniform as the Hoyas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Georgetown’s early offense, however, was met with a five-run Campbell response in the bottom of the third inning. The Hoyas would not take the lead in the match again as the bats went cold, managing only one hit and stranding eight runners on base in the remaining six innings.

The Georgetown offense came back to life in the last game of the series as the Hoyas recorded 10 hits and scored five runs in the contest. Yet, the solid offense was not enough, as Campbell pulled away late in the game with two runs in both the seventh and eighth in-

nings to secure a 9-5 win. Nelson again stood out on the offensive end as the 2017 MLB draft pick recorded his first three-hit game of the season.

This is one of the youngest Georgetown squads in recent memory, with Head Coach Pete Wilk only starting one senior position player. The team’s age does not bother Wilk, who said actions speak louder than experience.

“Leadership is also about production. Eddie [McCabe] is a leader on that field as a sophomore. Leaders, non-leaders, followers, we’re struggling right now,” Wilk said.

The constant travel, paired with the slow start to the season, has left younger players feeling frustrated, according to Wilk. The coach commended their progress.

“I think everybody’s pressing right now. I don’t think [the players] realize that with the exception of one team, we’ve played some really good teams so far,” Wilk said.

Following the triple header against Campbell, Georgetown went on a two-game win streak as they beat George Washington University 14-4 on Feb. 27 and

shut out Sacred Heart University 11-0 on March 1. The dominant victory over Sacred Heart came in the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational where Georgetown also faced Stetson and St. Louis.

However, the Hoyas dropped both of these in close contests, losing to Stetson 5-4 and to St. Louis 7-6 in extra innings.

The team then traveled to Port Charlotte, Florida to play in the Snowbird Classic on March 5 through March 8. The Hoyas dropped their first four games of this tournament to non-conference opponents Mount St. Mary’s, Western Michigan, Ball State and Kansas. Yet, they finished strong with a 8-4 win over St. Joseph’s.

This game featured strong hitting from junior outfielder Ryan Davis who led the team with four hits, scored four runs and drove in two runs.

With a weaker upcoming schedule, Georgetown will look to ease tensions and ride the ship before Big East Conference play. They next face Coppin State on March 13.

GUHOYAS

Freshman infielder Michael Willis slides home against George Washington. He recorded a season-high four hits in the game.

Vikram Sud One of the most significant changes in the NBA recently has been the increased scrutiny on analytics by basketball coaches, front offices and experts.

This attention has influenced the way offense is played, as the long two-pointer and midrange shots have been deemed less valuable shots. These shot attempts typically provide less value on a point-per-shot basis than three-pointers or two-point shots in the paint.

No team has embraced this mindset more than the Houston Rockets, who set the NBA record for the most three-point shots last regular season, en route to the best record in the league. An increased focus on analytics has helped teams in the regular season by gearing them towards shots that have higher pay-offs. However, it has also resulted in more predictable offensive schemes that have plagued teams like the Rockets in long playoff series.

Consequently, it may not be in the best interests of NBA teams to completely disregard shots that analytics deems less favorable, especially the midrange two.

When looking at a list of the NBA greats, one characteristic many of the guards and wings share is an effective midrange shot. Players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and to a slightly lesser extent, LeBron James have relied heavily on their midrange shot as part of their offensive arsenal, especially in the clutch. In a long playoff series, especially late in games, having the ability to have a player take and make these shots has a value that goes beyond a points-per-shot metric. For one, getting a midrange shot late in games, where de-

fenses are less focused, is appealing as it is markedly closer and easier to make than a contested three. The midrange jumper is also safer than driving to hoop because officials are more likely to swallow their whistles and allow for more physicality. Consequently, later in games, teams like the Warriors will often run a play to get Durant a midrange jumper, even though it may have less points-per-attempt than a Durant three or a Durant shot from the paint.

In addition, shooting these shots adds a layer of unpredictability to an offense. This problem has especially plagued the Rockets, who have almost completely abandoned their midrange games in key playoff series over the last few years.

The team notoriously missed 27 three-pointers in a row in a decisive Game 7 against the Warriors last year, while shooting just 31.2 percent from beyond the arc over the course of the series — a mark which was lower than all 30 NBA teams’ percentages during regular season. While the Rockets stood by their offensive model and offensive system and marked Game 7’s shooting drought as an aberration, perhaps instead they should have considered it a warning of the perils of relying too heavily on analytics.

An NBA playoff series be-

tween two top-tier teams often stretches to six or seven games.

This means teams can more comprehensively plan for opponents than they can over the course of the regular season, where teams face a different opponent almost every night.

The Warriors saw the Rockets’ desire to shoot threes and schemed defensively to chase them off the line. Despite having capable midrange shooters in Chris Paul, James Harden and Eric Gordon, the Rockets shied away from shooting such shots.

This tactic created a situation where the threes that provided more value over the course of the regular season became increasingly inefficient and less valuable as they became more contested. Similarly, paint twos become less effective as officials tend to call less fouls on drives in the playoffs. Had the Rockets showed a willingness to shoot more midrange shots over the course of the series, perhaps the Warriors’ defense would have had to adjust. Consequently, the threes and paint twos they shot would have been more open and efficient overall.

While analytics can be a valuable tool in improving an offense’s efficiency, there is still a value in shooting shots that analytics may discourage, especially in key moments in the playoffs.

@HOUSTONROCKETS/INSTAGRAM

James Harden and the Rockets lost to the Warriors in the Western Conference finals last season, missing 27 three-pointers.

SPORTS

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

THE HOYA

A11

MEN’S BASKETBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Hoyas Await Georgetown Keeps Postseason Hopes Alive Playoff Fate After Big East Semifinals MARQUETTE, from A12

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL, from A12

suing minutes while the Golden Eagles heated up from three point range, and after just a few possessions, the Hoyas found themselves in a 62-42 hole at the end of the third.

The Hoya women would not go away in the fourth, as they chipped away at the Golden Eagles’ double-digit lead twice, which forced the Golden Eagles to burn two timeouts. White and Venson were the catalysts this time, reducing the lead to nine after a 12-0 Georgetown spree.

Marquette would not let the game get much closer than this, however, and protected their lead for the remainder of the quarter to hand Georgetown the 75-62 loss.

Adomako and White backed up their impressive offensive performances against Villanova with 27 and 16 point efforts, respectively, which yet again led the team. Venson tallied nine points of her own, many of which aided timely Georgetown runs.

Howard praised the team’s resilience despite the loss.

“Marquette gave us some problems, but I really was impressed with the fight in our players. We went down about 20, and cut it to one in the second half before they made another run, as veteran teams do.

They’re the No. 17 ranked team in the country for a reason, but I’m very proud of our young women,” Howard said.

The veteran leadership refused to fold in the face of adversity, Adomako said about the team’s fight after the game to the media.

“Being seniors and being the leaders, we just couldn’t give up.

We had to leave it all on the court.

It’s our last game playing here in Chicago, so we really had to go out there and just leave it out there on the court,” Adomako said.

Following their performance in the tournament, the Hoyas await their postseason future, which is scheduled to be announced March 18.

The veteran leadership refused to fold in the face of adversity, Adomako said about the team’s fight after the game to the media.

“Being seniors and being the leaders, we just couldn’t give up. We had to leave it all on the court. It’s our last game playing here in Chicago, so we really had to go out there and just leave it out there on the court,” Adomako said.

Following their performance in the tournament, the Hoyas await their postseason future, which is scheduled to be announced March 18.

got the chance to create breathing room. White and graduate student forward Dorothy Adomako played a large role in building the Hoya lead, as the two provided defensive stops as well as timely buckets that proved instrumental in the team outscoring Villanova 29-14 in the period.

With the Hoyas leading 67-56 at the start of the final period, Georgetown kept up their level of play on both ends of the floor and walked away with the 7667 win. When the final horn sounded, White and Adomako had tallied game-high totals for Georgetown, posting 27 and 25 points each.

Less than 24 hours later, Georgetown took on Marquette (26-7, 15-3 Big East) for the chance to play in the Big East championship tournament. The semifinal matchup marked the second consecutive year in which the Hoyas had advanced this far in the conference tournament — a milestone they have not accomplished since 1999. While the Hoyas expected the game against the Golden Eagles would provide a considerable challenge, they were confident in their abilities coming off two previous matchups against the team this season, where they performed strongly.

Out of the gates, the game featured a number of runs by both teams, first by Marquette, then Georgetown and then Marquette again that culminated in a 22-12 gap in favor of Marquette.

The final run was ultimately the biggest, as Marquette closed the quarter by outscoring Georgetown 13-0 to grab ahold of the lead once again.

The deficit for the Hoyas quickly ballooned to 17 at the beginning of the second quarter before Head Coach James Howard called for time. Out of the break, Adomako answered the bell with nine points over the course of the next several minutes. Graduate student guard Mikayla Venson also got involved, as she buried a three-pointer straight after Adomako. A jumper from White capped off a 14-3 for the Hoyas’ run to end the half. As both teams entered the locker room, the Blue and Gray trailed 39-33.

Georgetown opened up the second half strongly. White quickly stole the ball and dished to Adomako for the and-one layup to make it a one-possession game. Marquette would respond, however, and grew their lead back to 52-42 shortly thereafter.

The Hoyas went cold in the en-

SUDOKU

5 8 7 6

8 1 3 5 9 4 2 7

1 5

6 3 4 7 9 4 3

1

4 8 3 6

Last issue’s solutions

5 8 6 9 1 7 2 4 3

7 1 3 2 4 5 6 9 8

4 2 9 3 8 6 5 7 1

2 9 1 4 5 3 8 6 7

8 3 5 7 6 2 9 1 4

6 4 7 8 9 1 3 5 2

9 7 8 5 3 4 1 2 6

3 6 2 1 7 9 4 8 5

1 5 4 6 2 8 7 3 9

the second time in Big East Conference history that three freshmen from the same team received the honor in the same year. This milestone also suggests the positive potential Georgetown’s program could reach.

Akinjo was honored to receive the accolade with his teammates.

“It meant a lot. Like Josh [LeBlanc] said, that’s something we kind of all put in the back of our heads and was one of our team goals so it meant a lot,” Akinjo said in a postgame interview with GUHoyas. “It was great, and it showed the dominance of our class.”

Akinjo was also named Big East freshman of the year on March 13. He is the first Hoya to win the award since Greg Monroe in 2009, and the seventh to do so in program history.

Jessie Govan received All Big East first team honors and was named a top-five finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

“It’s definitely an honor,” Govan said. “There’s great names

to be on that list before and from Georgetown, so to be on that list, that’s an honor.”

The win improved the Hoyas to 9-9 in Big East play, moving them into a four-way tie for third place in the conference.

Heading into the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, the Hoyas will have the No. 6 seed and begin play Thursday night against No. 3 seed Seton Hall Pirates (18-12, 9-9 Big East).

Head coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) spoke about the Hoyas’ draw and their upcoming matchup.

“Because of whatever tiebreaker they got the third seed,” Ewing said. “But we can beat them and they can beat us.

It’s very close and on any given night, the bottom part of the league can beat the top.”

Georgetown has its sights on a strong tournament result, as its NCAA tournament hopes are still alive. They have an NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, ranking of 76. This is the measure by which the NCAA selects and seeds teams in the NCAA tournament. Wins in the Big East tournament are the only way the Hoyas can bolster their re-

sume to have a chance at entering “March Madness” for the first time since 2015.

Ewing talked about his team’s chances to make it to the NCAA tournament and the implications of the upcoming game against Seton Hall.

“Naturally we take it one game at a time, but our end goal is to make the NCAA tournament,” Ewing said. “We’ve had two significant wins, Villanova and Marquette. We have 19 wins and if we win on Thursday it will be 20 and will be more appealing.”

The Hoyas split their games with the Pirates this season. In the most recent matchup at home, Georgetown came away with a 77-71 win in double overtime. Govan led the team with 21 points, including all 11 of the team’s points in both overtimes.

Georgetown will look to stop Seton Hall junior guard Myles Powell, who averages 22.6 points per game. Powell scored 30 points in the Pirates’ win at home and 35 points in the following matchup. Govan commented on Powell’s dominance. “[Powell]’s definitely the en-

gine of that team,” he said.

“He takes a lot of shots, but he makes a lot of shots. So, we just gotta try and make it tough on him, because he’s going to get his looks and get his shots up.”

The Hoyas rank first in rebounding in the Big East, and the Golden Eagles rank second.

The team with the rebounding edge in the game has won both previous contests between the two. Marquette also ranks second in the conference in threepoint percentage, shooting 44 percent in the win and 17 percent in the loss.

Ewing stressed the importance of playing strong defense against a good outside shooting team like Marquette.

“We just have to play our game and just try to play outstanding defense and rebound at a high clip,” Ewing said. “One thing that I take away from the last time that we played them is we didn’t start out particularly strong, but our defense kept us in the game and was able to get us the win.”

Tipoff for the matchup will be approximately 9:30pm. Live televised coverage of the game can be found on Fox Sports 1.

MARGARET FOUBERG FOR THE HOYA

Freshman forward Josh LeBlanc splits a pair of free throws against DePaul on Feb. 27. LeBlanc posted a total of eight points in the loss to the Blue Demons at Capital One Arena. The Hoyas rallied to upset No. 16 Marquette in their March 9 contest.

TRACK AND FIELD

Underclassmen Impress for GU at Big East TRACK, from A12

but I think he [also] set a great example of how to compete in a championship meet and how to handle running multiple races.”

Leake completed his trio of victories by finishing first in the 4x400m relay, along with teammates sophomore Kino Cheltenham, sophomore Ruach Padhal and Delgado.

Bonsey also praised Leake’s performance, especially as an underclassman. “[Leake] was really tired anchoring our 4x4 in that last event, but he got the stick in the lead. The first three guys put him in a good situation and then he brought us home.

He was absolutely incredible and it’s exciting to have someone who is just a sophomore be able to win three events at the conference meet,” Bonsey said.

The men’s team had scorers in every event that it competed in, including Padhal coming in first place in the 800m run and senior Nick Wareham finishing second in the mile event.

The Hoyas also took the top three spots in the 200m dash,

with Leake, freshman D’Andre Barriffe and sophomore Nate Alleyne coming in first, second and third, respectively.

The energy of taking the three top spots carried the team forward, according to Bonsey.

“I know those three guys, Lawrence, D’Andre, and Nate, were all really fired up to beat Villanova. I think that specific race got the whole team really excited and that momentum carried over to the 4x4,” Bonsey said.

The women’s team gained sixth place overall with the help of graduate student Taylor Williams, who ran her last race as a Hoya in the 60m dash, finishing in third place with a time of 7.62.

“We are so grateful for all the contributions that Taylor Williams made to our program over the last two years. She came in and was a strong leader and garnered a few Big East titles while she was here on the Hilltop,” Director of Track and Field Julie Culley said.

Five underclassmen continued the trend of showcasing Georgetown’s young talent

in two events for the women.

The women’s 4x800m relay consisted of freshmen Sami Corman, Rachel Sessa and Katherine Modrall, along with sophomore Olivia Arizin, working together to finish in second place. Freshman Eni Akinniyi also gained points for the Blue and Gray, finishing third in the triple jump.

Culley discussed the future of jumping events in the Georgetown program.

“Georgetown has historically had great NCAA level horizontal jumpers and we are recruiting athletes of her caliber to join Eni and rebuild our strength in the jumps,” Culley said.

Following their Big East championship performances, the teams traveled to Boston and competed in the IC4A/ECAC Championships on March 3.

The men’s team put on an impressive championship performance in the 4x800m relay, with Ethan Delgado, freshman Ian Delgado, fifth-year senior Brennan Munley and junior Joshua Bell working together to finish in first place with a time of 7:27.69. Barriffe moved onto the men’s 200m dash fi-

nals with a preliminary time of 21.80 and ultimately finished 11th overall in the finals.

As for the women, sophomore Lexi Del Gizzo ran a personal best in the 800m preliminary race with a time of 2:10.73.

The following weekend, select members of the men’s team travelled to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to compete in the 2019 NCAA indoor track and field championships on Friday, March 8. The Hoyas made adjustments to their distance medley relay team from the one that competed in the Big East championships. This time Salisbury, Leake, Padhal and Wareham lined up on the track. They finished in third place overall with a season-best time of 9:33.06. Wareham, who ran the last leg for Georgetown, showed strong play, moving up six spots within the final stretch to finish closely behind Notre Dame and Stanford.

With the conclusion of the indoor season, the Hoyas will now prepare for the Penn Challenge on Saturday, March 23, in Philadelphia, where they will open their outdoor track and field season.

UNDER REVIEW

Nationals Improve in Harper’s Absence SWANSON, from A12

Additionally, Corbin proved that he could recapture the potential he displayed earlier in his career, before Tommy John surgery forced him to miss the 2014 season and suffer several lackluster seasons thereafter.

The signing of Corbin adds a tremendous talent to a Nationals rotation that currently boasts aces Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. The trio is arguably the best of any team in baseball and will be a key driver for the team’s playoff ambitions.

Furthermore, the Nationals added starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez to the bullpen, who resurrected his career last season in Atlanta. Sanchez will replace underachieving Tanner Roark, who has since been jettisoned to the Cincinnati Reds.

Another position group that will receive significant attention is the Nationals talented outfield that is composed of Adam Eaton, Juan Soto and Victor Robles.

Eaton has demonstrated his ability as an offensive catalyst at the top of the order, but injuries have forced him to miss large portions of his two seasons with the team.

In fact, Eaton’s injury last season cleared the path for Soto’s promotion at only 19 years old. Soto quickly proved that he belonged in the league, as he amassed 22 home runs, 70 RBIs and a .406 OBP in only 116 games.

Finally, Robles has been the Nationals’ top prospect for several years and now he finally has the chance to earn a spot as a starter on the big league club.

While none of the Nationals outfielders can single-handedly re-

place Bryce Harper, they possess strong upsides that can mitigate his absence.

While none of the Nationals offseason acquisitions will be as flashy as a Bryce Harper extension, the team is significantly improved.

Finally, the Nationals made several moves to better the catcher position. Last season, Washington received dismal offensive and de-

fensive performances from Matt Wieters. As a result, the Nationals acquired defensive specialist Yan Gomes from the Indians and signed Kurt Suzuki to create a more productive catching duo.

Washington also added some intriguing bullpen options in Kyle Barraclough and Trevor Rosenthal. Barraclough was among the most effective relievers in baseball during the first half of 2018, before suffering a severe drop in performance during the second half.

Meanwhile, Rosenthal looks to bounce back after missing last season because of an injury. If the duo can prove to be healthy and effective, they can fill high-leverage roles this season.

While none of the Nationals offseason acquisitions will be as flashy as a Bryce Harper extension, the team is significantly improved from last season’s 82-win squad.

Sports

Women’s Lacrosse Georgetown (5-2) vs. Boston College (8-0) Saturday, March 16, 12 p.m.

Newton Soccer Complex

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

The Georgetown men and women finished second and third out of six schools with seven gold medals at the Big East championships.

See A10

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

“

White Leads GU In Big East Quarters BRENDAN DOLAN Hoya Staff Writer

After earning a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament, the No. 4 seeded Georgetown women’s basketball team squared off against rival Villanova and defeated the Wildcats 76-67 on March 10. The win comes just weeks after Villanova handed Georgetown its worst loss of the season, 91-43. The next day the Hoyas faced top-seeded Marquette, who defeated St. John’s by more than 30 points in the quarterfinal matchup March 10. The Hoyas fought admirably against the Golden Eagles, the No. 17 ranked team in the country, but ultimately fell 75-62.

Against Villanova (18-12, 9-9 Big East), the first half’s play suggested that the game would be a back-and-forth battle between two teams that were evenly

matched for the most part, despite what their previous encounters may have indicated.

At the end of the first quarter, Georgetown (16-15, 9-9 Big East) found themselves in a four point hole,19-15, following a late 6-0 run by the Wildcats.

The level of competition remained high in the second quarter as both teams exchanged baskets that kept the game close.

However, Villanova created a degree of separation late in the quarter, sparked initially by a 5-0 run to give itself a 34-29 lead halfway through the second. That lead jumped to seven later in the period before a buzzer-beating three-pointer by senior guard Dionna White whittled the deficit down to 41-38 by halftime.

In the second half, the Hoyas See WOMEN’S BASKETBALL, A11

Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85)

Finishing the regular season on a high note, the Georgetown men’s basketball team upset No. 16 Marquette Saturday night in a nail-biting 86-84 game.

Freshman guards James Akinjo and Mac McClung carried the Hoyas to secure the win, scoring 25 and 23 points, respectively. Akinjo scored 20 of his points in the second half, including 10 straight for the Hoyas (19-12, 9-9 Big East) late in the game.

Akinjo said he wanted to ensure the late-game collapses, which have plagued the Hoyas throughout this season, did not happen against the Golden Eagles. The freshman guard prepared by watching tapes of opposing teams.

“I’ve been watching a lot of film, you know with coach and talking to coach a lot with my late game decision making of when to go and when not to go.

I’ve been talking to my teammates a lot, and I just want to close out games,” Akinjo said.

“A lot of times we’ve been up late and we lost so I just want to make sure as a point guard that we just close out games.”

Georgetown held Marquette (23-8, 12-6 Big East) to 34 percent shooting from the field.

Akinjo nailed five threes, while McClung and sophomore forward Jamorko Pickett made two triples, en route to Georgetown shooting an impressive 58 percent from beyond the arc.

With 1:22 left to play and leading 79-77, the Hoyas swung the ball to Pickett, who sunk a high-arching three-pointer to

put them up five points. Marquette answered with a threepointer of its own, but with little time remaining and a need to foul, Georgetown made four

The Georgetown men’s and women’s track teams travelled to Geneva, Ohio, on Feb. 22, competing in the two-day Big East indoor track and field championships. The men’s team fared better than the women’s with 114 points and a third place finish. The women came in sixth with 54 points.

On the first day, the Hoyas performed strongly in mul-

tiple preliminary heats, gaining 16 spots in the finals on the men’s side and 10 spots on the women’s. The finals of the distance medley relay and the men’s 5,000 meter run also took place Feb. 22.

The men’s team took second place in the distance medley relay thanks to the hard running of junior Jack Salisbury, freshman Ethan Delgado, freshman Maazin Ahmed and junior Jack Van Scoter. Junior Matthew Bouthillette also gained points for the Blue and

Gray, coming in seventh place in the 5,000m run with a time of 14:37.53.

The men’s team finished strong on the next day, especially sophomore Lawrence Leake, who earned three Big East titles and was named men’s high point track performer of the meet, gaining 22.5 points. Leake earned first place in the 400m dash with a personal best of 47.48, along with another first-place victory in the 200m dash, with yet another personal best of

were all named to the Big East All-Freshman team, marking See MARQUETTE, A11

MARGARET FOUBERG FOR THE HOYA

Leake Leads GU to 3rd-Place Finish Hoya Staff Writer

free throws to steal the win.

After the game, the Big East and NCAA handed out season honors. Akinjo, McClung and freshman forward Josh LeBlanc

Big East freshman of the year James Akinjo drives to the hoop against DePaul on Feb. 27.

Akinjo tallied a season-high 25 points in a road upset over Marquette on March 9.

TRACK AND FIELD

JOANNA LACOPPOLA

17

The number of school records broken by Hoya swimming teams in the Big East championhips.

Hoyas Stun No. 16 Marquette on the Road Hoya Staff Writer

MARGARET FOUBERG FOR THE HOYA

It’s very close, and on any given night, the bottom part of the league can beat the top.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

MATT SACHS

Senior guard Dionna White drives the lane. White contributed 16 points in the Hoyas’ last game, a loss to Marquette on March 11.

NUMBERS GAME

TALKING POINTS

SWIMMING

21.67.

Leake’s performances throughout the day were more than impressive, according to track and field Assistant Coach Brandon Bonsey who thought he could have been named outstanding track athlete of the meet.

“Lawrence had an absolutely incredible meet. He scored the most points of anyone,” Bonsey said. “Obviously the points were huge for the team, See TRACK, A11

GUHOYAS

Fifth-year senior Joe White runs for the Hoyas in the 800-meter run preliminary rounds. He qualified for the finals Feb. 23. In the finals, White finished in sixth place overall with a time of 1:48.19. The Georgetown men finished third overall in the Big East championships.

Visit us online at thehoya.com/category/sports

UNDER REVIEW

Jeff Swanson

Nationals Have Active Offseason Despite Harper Loss On Feb. 28, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired 26-year-old superstar outfielder Bryce Harper in a $330 million deal that spans 13 years. Harper was first drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2010 and has been with the team ever since. For Washington, this departure marks the loss of a tremendous homegrown talent who became a fan-favorite and a franchise icon. In the long run, it will be difficult to analyze the effects Harper’s absence will have on his former team. However, in the short term, the Nationals have successfully positioned themselves through an active offseason to field a better baseball team in 2019, despite Harper’s departure.

In 2018, the Nationals went 82-80 as both Harper and the team underperformed. Harper batted .249 with 34 home runs and 100 RBIs. For most players, this would be a stellar season, but for Harper, this was a disappointment considering his extraordinary talent and the fact that he has not been consistently exceptional since his MVP season in 2015. In that year, Harper totaled a .330 bat-

ting average, 42 home runs and 99 RBIs. The club’s lackluster season left Washington prepared to send Harper to the Houston Astros at the trade deadline on Aug. 1, but the Nationals’ front office eventually declined the deal involving the superstar.

Additionally, at the end of the regular season, the Nationals offered Bryce Harper a reported 10-year, $300 million extension, which he declined in November of last year.

Since that point, the Nationals have primarily resided in the background of the Harper sweepstakes. Despite their position in the Harper saga, the Nationals had an active offseason that was headlined by their acquisition of All-Star starting pitcher Patrick Corbin on a sixyear, $140 million contract.

Corbin elevated his performance to an elite level last season, as he produced 11 wins with a 3.15 ERA and 246 strikeouts. Corbin’s success was driven by increased usage of his slider, which he threw 40.9 percent of the time and led to 195 of his strikeouts.

See SWANSON, A11