The Hoya: April 5, 2019

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 100, No. 24, © 2019

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Urban Renewal

Check out The Guide’s spring Fashion Issue, highlighting the many sustainable clothing options in D.C.

EDITORIAL Students should vote yes on the referendum to establish a GU272 reconciliation fund.

FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM Three students are working to free a man who has been imprisoned for 27 years.

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A5

Admit Rate Falls to 14 Percent, Historic GU272 Referendum Lowest in University History Set for Thursday Vote TAYLOR KAHN-PERRY

MOIRA RITTER

Georgetown University’s undergraduate acceptance rate dropped to 14 percent this admissions season, the lowest in the university’s history, marking the third consecutive year of record-low acceptance rates for Georgetown.

A total of 3,202 applicants were admitted to the Class of 2023 from a pool of 22,788 in hopes of meeting an enrollment target of 1,600 first-year students, according to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69).

“This is the lowest April 1 admit rate,” Deacon wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Although the pool was virtually unchanged from last year’s record number, we did offer 130 fewer acceptances because the yield (those saying yes) has increased and last year we enrolled 1621 with a goal of 1600.”

This year marks a slight decrease in the size of the applicant pool compared to last year’s record-breaking high of 22,897 applicants, which followed the previous record of 21,459 applicants for the Class of 2021.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies saw a 12 percent rise in applicants since

Undergraduate students are set to vote next Thursday on a referendum to create a semesterly fee that would go toward a fund to benefit descendants of the GU272.

Students will vote on whether to include a $27.20 fee in student bills every semester.

These funds would be allocated to descendants of the GU272, the 272 enslaved individuals Georgetown sold by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in 1838 to financially sustain the university.

If the April 11 referendum passes, the proposal will be sent to Georgetown’s board of directors, comprised of 39 members selected by the university, where it would have to be voted on and passed before being enacted.

The board, which must approve major policy changes and advises University President John J. DeGioia on university decisions, passed a tuition increase that removes a mandatory Yates membership fee for undergraduate students in January.

Other universities, such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia,

Hoya Staff Writer

Special to The Hoya

TARIKA KUMAR/THE HOYA

Of Georgetown’s four undergraduate schools, only the School of Nursing and Health Studies saw a rise in applicants relative to the 2018 cycle. last year’s admissions cycle, with a total of 1,682 applications compared to last year’s 1,500. This year, 222 students were admitted to the NHS with an acceptance rate of 13.2 percent, the lowest acceptance rate of the four undergraduate schools.

Outside of the NHS, each undergraduate school saw a decline in the size of its application pool since last year, resulting in a lower number of applicants overall compared to the Class of 2022.

The College received 13,704 applications with an accep-

tance rate of 13.6 percent; the School of Foreign Service accepted 14.5 percent of its 4,109 applicants; and the McDonough School of Business had a pool of 3,322 applications, accepting 15.9 percent.

Twenty-two percent of students admitted to Georgetown’s Class of 2023 are Asian-American, 12 percent are Latinx, 11 percent are black and 1 percent are Native American. Eight percent of admitted students are international.

See ADMISSIONS, A6

have acknowledged their past ties to slavery, according to the Associated Press. However, Thursday’s referendum marks the first time a university has held a vote regarding the inclusion of a fee that would raise funds for descendants.

The GU272 Advocacy Team, an on-campus group of students that advocates for descendants, has hosted events to educate students and encourage them to vote in the weeks leading up to the referendum.

“If you don’t want to give $27.20 to another thing in your whole life, you don’t have to, but while students are here at Georgetown, this is what we’re going to do.”

MÉLISANDE SHORT-COLOMB (COL ’21) Member, GU272 Advocacy Team

Students for GU272, the Advocacy Team’s social media presence, hosted a discussion Monday for students to ask questions and share their thoughts on the referendum.

On Wednesday, the group hosted a town hall to encourage discussion about the referendum.

The town hall featured a panel of students that included supporters and opponents of the referendum.

Students who are privileged to attend Georgetown should vote, according to Advocacy Team member Mélisande ShortColomb (COL ’21), who is a descendant of the GU272.

“You have come here to get an education that you will take out into the world, and for $27.20 for eight semesters, you can invest in something while you’re here that makes it better or presents opportunities for people who do not have the same opportunity you have — and that was to come to Georgetown University,” ShortColomb said at the Monday discussion. “If you don’t want to give $27.20 to another thing in your whole life, you don’t have to, but while students are here at Georgetown, this is what we’re going to do.”

The GU272 referendum requires a minimum participation rate of 25 percent among students to pass. Georgetown students’ voter participation See GU272, A6

Atlanta Archbishop to Assume DC Role ‘I cannot undo the past’: Gregory notes predecessors’ complicity in crisis ALEXANDRA BOWMAN Hoya Staff Writer

Archbishop of Atlanta Wilton Gregory is set to become the first black archbishop of Washington, D.C., on May 21, the Vatican announced Thursday.

Gregory’s appointment follows the ongoing clerical sexual abuse scandal within the

church, which has implicated the last two archbishops of D.C. The D.C. archdiocese has looked to fill the position for almost six months since former Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl resigned in October following reports he mishandled sexual abuse cases.

Gregory, the only living black archbishop in the Unit-

ed States, has led the archdiocese of Atlanta since 2005. He pledged to move forward past the history of sexual abuse in the church at a Thursday press conference.

“I cannot undo the past, but I sincerely believe that together, we will not only address the moments where we’ve fallen short or failed outright, but we will model

ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA/FACEBOOK

Wilton Gregory, the next archbishop of Washington, D.C., was working as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops when the Catholic Church’s abuse crisis was widely revealed in 2002.

FEATURED

for all the life and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and we will reclaim the future,” Gregory said at the press conference.

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who served as D.C. archbishop before Wuerl, was expelled from the priesthood for sexually abusing minors and soliciting sex from adults during confession at the conclusion of a canonical trial Feb. 16. McCarrick became one of the highest-ranking Americans to be formally dismissed from the clergy.

Shortly after McCarrick was removed from public ministry June 20, Wuerl was implicated in a Pennsylvania grand jury report last August for covering up sexual abuse.

Pope Francis accepted Wuerl’s resignation as archbishop of Washington on Oct. 12.

McCarrick and Wuerl had both been awarded honorary degrees from Georgetown.

McCarrick’s degree was revoked by the university days after he was expelled from the priesthood following months of student advocacy.

This marked the first time the university has ever revoked an honorary degree.

Gregory recognized the need to address the issue of sexual abuse during his time as archbishop.

“This is obviously a moment fraught with challenges, throughout our entire Catholic Church certainly, but nowhere more so than See ARCHBISHOP, A7

FILE PHOTO: MARGARET FOUBERG/THE HOYA

GUSA Senate Speaker Eliza Lafferty (COL ’21), right, and Vice Speaker Pat Walsh (SFS ’21) have overseen an increase in unexcused absences.

Senate Absences Increase Despite Committee Efforts RACHEL FRIEDMAN Hoya Staff Writer

Unexcused absences by senators at Georgetown University Student Association senate meetings have more than quadrupled from last year’s legislative season despite the introduction of a committee this fall intended to track senators’ attendance records.

GUSA senate meetings over the last year have seen 43 unexcused absences without proxies from senate meetings, compared to last year’s nine. Conversely, this year the senate witnessed 15 excused absences without proxies from its meetings compared to last year’s 39 excused absences within the same time frame, according to GUSA’s attendance records.

At the latest senate meeting

Sunday, 10 out of 27 senators were absent without an excuse.

Of the 43 unexcused absences, 42 have occurred this semester.

Senators are required to attend all senate and committee meetings or report absences to the speaker. Three unexcused absences from either form of meeting is considered grounds for removal from office, according to GUSA bylaws. Under these standards, at least five current GUSA senators qualify for removal. These senators’ absences account for 18 of the 43 recorded.

GUSA senate committees did not consistently publicize their attendance records, but at least an additional five absences were marked among the records that were made publicly available.

See GUSA, A6

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

Jesuit Spaces Over the last half-century, Georgetown Jesuits have found multiple homes on campus, most notably in the Woodstock Theological Center.

A7

Hyphenated Identities Embrace all parts of multicultural students’ identities, rather than excluding them based on differences.

A3

Domination Station The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team rolled to a 21-3 victory against Butler at home March 30.

A12

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

Women’s Museum Proposed Legislation was proposed in both chambers of Congress to establish a Smithsonian museum dedicated to women’s history.

A8

Realize International Assets International students face additional obstacles in the job search despite valuable advantages for potential employers.

A3

Midseason Adjustments After a road loss to Denver, the men’s lacrosse team needs to readjust its offense and focus on controlling possession.

A10

Published Fridays

Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

A2

OPINION

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 2019

THE VERDICT

Georgetown University would not exist today if the Maryland Society of Jesus had not sold 272 enslaved men and women in 1838 to financially sustain the university. And yet the university’s reconciliation with its historical connection to slavery is largely limited to legacy admissions preference for descendants and renamed buildings.

Frustrated by the university’s failure to uplift descendants, the GU272 Advocacy Team worked with the Georgetown University Student Association to propose a bill in January 2019 that establishes a mandatory fee contributing to a reconciliation fund directly benefiting descendants of the GU272. (Full disclosure: Editorial Board Member Maya Moretta is a member of the team). Next Thursday, students will have the opportunity to vote on the fee.

Students cannot remain silent as the university fails to pursue justice. To truly reconcile with the Georgetown’s deeply rooted connection to slavery, students should vote yes on the referendum.

The referendum would levy a mandatory fee of $27.20 per semester, amounting to about $400,000 annually. The money — which would be controlled by a board made up of five descendants of the GU272 and five students appointed by the GUSA president — would be used to fund projects for descendant communities, including college scholarships, eye exams and internet access. At the end of each year, a report detailing projects would be released to the study body.

Though the GU272 sale occurred nearly two centuries ago, the legacy of slavery still has an incredibly strong impact on descendant communities. The average income in Maringouin, La. — the town close to where most slaves were sold in 1838 and where nearly 4,000 identified descendants of the GU272 live today — is only $36,518, approximately $21,000 lower than the national average. Lack of resources also forced the closure of Maringoun’s only high school in 2009.

Georgetown was saved from bankruptcy by the sale of the GU272, an act that not only made the university complicit in the evils of slavery, but also perpetuated a system that would disadvantage descendants for centuries. This fund is not charity that should be given from generosity, but money owed to the community; as beneficiaries of the university, students have a responsibility to fulfill this commitment and vote yes.

Though University President John J. DeGioia — considered a leader among peer institutions in national efforts to reconcile with slavery — has acknowledged and apologized for the institution’s historical connection to slavery, none of the university’s reconciliation efforts thus far have pursued reparative justice.

While legacy advantage in admissions can be considered a form of reparative justice, this advantage is not enough to uplift descendant communities.

The renaming of buildings after Isaac Hawkins and Anne Marie Becraft in 2017 was an important gesture, but the action has no direct benefit for descendants, many who live in communities pervaded by poverty largely as a consequence of the university’s actions.

Critics of the referendum have argued that the university should pay the price — that students have no responsibility for the 1838 sale of the GU272. Yet students cannot be separated from the university. By attending Georgetown, students benefit from a prestigious education that would not have been possible without the 1838 sale.

Moreover, students with financial need would not be disadvantaged by the proposed $27.20 fee. A mandatory fee would not raise a student’s expected financial contribution. Because Georgetown meets the financial need of every student, this fee would be covered for financially disadvantaged students.

By voting yes on the referendum, students could also set a precedent for the nation. Reconciliation and reparative justice are being discussed among universities, and the student body’s decision to pursue a reconciliation fund that would directly benefit descendants could set a model for the nation.

Though critics are concerned that student compensation for Georgetown’s failure to take ownership of its past could encourage complacency among the administration, the university often takes action only when compelled by student activists; in fact, the university did not even agree to rename buildings after Hawkins and Becraft until students staged daily sit-ins outside of DeGioia’s office in 2016.

Georgetown has spent years denying its debt to the descendants of the enslaved people who financially sustained it. The student body should know better than to follow in its shameful steps. Next Thursday, vote yes.

C

Where’s the Beef? — This week, Burger King is releasing the Impossible Whopper — a burger made with a vegan patty that imitates beef. The chain plans to test the product in and around St. Louis and launch it on a national scale if all goes well.

Smelling Situation — A hawk broke into a New Jersey home Wednesday, breaking two panes of glass as it flew through the bathroom window. According to a Facebook post from the Cranford Police Department, law enforcement found the hawk “relaxing in the jacuzzi.”

C

Vote ‘Yes’ for GU272 Descendants

C

EDITORIALS

C C

Founded January 14, 1920

Who’s Laughing Now — On Sunday, early polling results for Ukraine’s presidential election came back with underdog candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former comedian with no experience, comfortably ahead of the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko.

No More Hedge-hugs — Seventeen people were infected with salmonella after coming in close contact with hedgehogs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned against kissing or snuggling hedgehogs to avoid contracting salmonella.

Soccer God — On Monday, Pope Francis warned against referring to Lionel Messi, a forward for F.C. Barcelona, as God. This refers to supporters calling Messi “D10S” — a combination of his jersey number and the Spanish word for God.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Alexandra Bowman

Lead Response to Clerical Abuse In 2009, Georgetown University and Fordham University were both notified of a sexual predator who had taught at both institutions. While Fordham immediately banned the predator, Fr. Daniel O’Connell, S.J., from campus, Georgetown failed to take substantial action until just weeks ago.

Georgetown’s delayed response to credible allegations of sexual assault against O’Connell follows a trend of long delays in responding to university-connected clerical abuse: at every opportunity, the university has fallen short in condemning perpetrators.

Despite a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report documenting former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse and Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s complicity in these crimes, Georgetown only rescinded McCarrick’s honorary degree after he was laicized in February — seven months after the report was released — and has not revoked Wuerl’s honorary degree.

Georgetown’s underwhelming response to clerical abuse casts doubt on the institution’s moral compass and ability to lead the Catholic community. To re-establish credibility among Jesuit universities, Georgetown must immediately revoke Wuerl’s honorary degree and condemn the 14 university-affiliated Catholic religious leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Georgetown’s consistent failure to take moral responsibility and act on allegations of clerical abuse connected to the university stands out among the proactive responses of other Catholic universities.

Six Catholic universities, including Fordham and the Catholic University of America, revoked honorary degrees awarded to McCarrick days after the grand jury report’s August release. Georgetown, however, only rescinded McCarrick’s degree Feb. 19 — three days after the Vatican expelled him from the priesthood.

Compared to the swift and transparent responses of other Catholic universities, Georgetown’s sevenmonth delay in condemning McCarrick and its continued failure to rescind Wuerl’s degree is an embarrassment to students; 1,376 students signed a Sept.

21 petition calling on the university to immediately revoke both honorary degrees, but the university blatantly dismissed these demands.

Instead of immediately revoking the degrees, Georgetown formed a working group in October 2018 to evaluate McCarrick’s honorary degree and organized dialogues on clerical abuse, an underwhelming response without the revocations of both degrees.

Though other Jesuit universities have not yet revoked Wuerl’s degree, if Georgetown became the first Jesuit university to do so, it could regain some credibility as a leader among Catholic institutions and set a precedent for addressing complicity in clerical abuse.

Georgetown must also act on credible allegations of sexual assault as they arise by immediately severing any connections to the accused perpetrator.

Though Georgetown was informed in 2009 of credible allegations of abuse against O’Connell, the university failed to remove his professor emeritus title until March 13, eight days after The Hoya reached out for comment on his status.

In contrast to Georgetown’s intentional inaction, other Jesuit institutions where O’Connell worked, St. Louis University and Fordham, have taken actions to grapple with their past association with predators.

As other Jesuit universities publicly acknowledge university-affiliated abusive priests, Georgetown has no excuse for its consistent apathy and negligence in condemning clerical abuse.

Last month, The Hoya published an investigation identifying 14 university-connected Catholic leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse, 10 of whom the Office of the President and the Office of Campus Ministry have still not publicly recognized.

Rather than condemning these priests, the university released a vague statement on its website stating that none of the abuse occurred at Georgetown.

Regardless of where the abuse occurred, however, these 14 Catholic leaders were all members of the university community in various capacities. With such an outrageously indifferent response, the clerical abuse ingrained in university history cannot be adequately addressed Publicly denouncing these priests would at least address over 10 years of complicity in perpetuating a culture that silences survivors and protects abusers.

To regain any trust in its values, the university should immediately revoke Wuerl’s honorary degree and publicly condemn university-connected abusers, rather than dismissing students’ demands for action.

Georgetown has thoroughly discredited itself as a leader in the Catholic community by consistently failing to grapple with its connections to clerical abuse.

Until it prioritizes morality over complacency, the university will continue to fail students and hinder cultural change in the Catholic community.

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

Elizabeth Ash, Matias Burdman, Juliette Leader, Maya Moretta, Rowan Saydlowski, Jenny Xu

Contributing Editors

Yasmeen El-Hasan, Caroline Pappas

Letter to the Editor

Penance and Mercy in College Scandal Dear Editor, In a recent viewpoint by Madison Pravecek (SFS ’19) about the college admissions scandal, the author confuses the Catholic sacrament of penance with Christ’s teachings on love and compassion, citing a lack of atonement as justification for heartlessness. Penance allows Catholics to be reconciled with God and His church, but the absence of this reconciliation does not rob a sinner of his or her human dignity.

In fact, the example Christ sets is one in which even egregious sinners are welcomed.

While the Pharisees were content to cut sinners out of the

community, Jesus frustrated them by sharing His table with sinful tax collectors and prostitutes. And when they brought him an adulterer to be stoned in accordance with the law, He prevented her condemnation by the mob, instructing her to go forward and sin no more.

The author writes that “compassion in this situation is therefore misplaced” and calls for the continued humiliation of accused students. It is, in her view, the only justice they may face.

We should of course demand that justice be done, but St. Thomas Aquinas warns us that justice without mercy is simply cruelty: the wanton

trampling of the dignity of the person.

Jesus is clear: We are called to love even our enemies.

This love does not include sneering callousness. Indeed, Paul writes that love “does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). If we are to be glad, let us be glad that we now know the truth and that justice can proceed. But let us not rejoice in an opportunity to create more suffering. And as for those who want nothing more than to lob condemnations, then they without sin can go first.

RICHARD HOWELL is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.

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, APRIL 5, 2019

AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT

THE HOYA

A3

LONG-DISTANCE EDUCATION

Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J.

Discerning Values

O

n banners and in New Student Orientation talks, in classes and on retreats, we proudly proclaim the values of the Spirit of Georgetown. Many of us can rattle off these values: cura personalis, people for others, interreligious understanding and all the rest. We take them as a common reference point, and they help guide our conversations and the way we care for one another.

But translating values into choices is challenging. Sometimes it is easier to leave our values floating in the air as philosophical propositions rather than stake them in the ground to both drive and sometimes limit our choices.

What is true for our Georgetown values is also true for those of the Jesuits. We Jesuits, and the many people who share in Jesuit institutions, have no shortage of long-held and deeply cultivated values and convictions. Yet lest they remain simply good intentions, we must translate our values into concerted, effective action.

So roughly every decade, Jesuits around the world try to do just that in a way that will guide the future.

Last month, the Society of Jesus culminated a two-year process of discernment, announcing what it calls its four Universal Apostolic Preferences. These preferences are not new laws or even a new set of values — rather, they are strategic emphases intended to guide the worldwide Jesuit order and its many institutions.

How might these new priorities shape our life at Georgetown?

If we take them seriously, they should transform our community and each of us individually as we shape our choices in classes and clubs, in internships and careers.

The first of the preferences is “Discernment and the Spiritual Exercises.” This preference foregrounds the key charism, or gift, that St. Ignatius Loyola gave to the world: a way of prayerfully and conscientiously orienting our lives.

Against the backdrop of a cosmos charged with meaning and God’s loving presence, it invites us to “get in touch with our deepest self, the space where God speaks to us.” At Georgetown, where deadlines often pressure us to make rushed decisions, I hear this as a call for each of us to go deeper in the practice of interiority while making choices with reverent respect for ourselves and those around us.

“Walking with the Excluded”

T

is the second priority embraced by the Jesuits. It seeks to ground our decision-making in the concrete reality of human life by turning our attention to those on the margins. Here on the Hilltop, I see this preference asking us to turn our community inside-out: aspiring to be not with the successful and the strong, but with those whose courage in facing adversity, evil and injustice has the most to teach us.

Third, in what they call “Caring for our Common Home,” the Jesuits take up Pope Francis’ call to “change the course of history” in addressing our growing global environmental crisis. It asks how we can each be “honest custodians” of creation and how this might shape our relationships to the populations most acutely affected by climate change and environmental degradation. I hear in this preference a radical, lifestyle-questioning invitation – one that forces us to think about every disposable cup we use, every flight or Uber ride we take and the foods we consume (and to challenge our institutions and businesses to do the same).

The fourth and final priority is Journeying with Youth. This preference prioritizes the next generation and recognizes the disorientation of growing up in today’s hyperconnected, super-aware ecosystem of technology, discord, superficiality and economic pressure. Jesuit institutions are asked to accompany young people in nnovative ways in the “creation of a hopeful future,” nourished by depth, relationship and meaning.

This priority forces me to think about the example each of us gives to the next generation in the ways we communicate, form relationships, and model hope and commitment. What example do we want to provide for the world?

These concrete priorities the worldwide Society of Jesus has set for itself give us a chance to think afresh about the values we so often celebrate. The Jesuits hope to transform the decisions, imagination and impact of the Society of Jesus around the world. How will they transform us here on the Hilltop?

How might they transform you?

Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J., is an associate professor in the government department and the School of Foreign Service and director of the Center for Latin American Studies. AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT appears online every other Thursday.

As visa sponsorship requirements become more stringent, international students increasingly feel discriminated against in the job search process despite the many merits they can bring to a company.

Barriers to International Employment

Karissa Prayogo

W

hen people ask me why I chose to go to Georgetown University, I always cite my desire to experience a world-class education, deep admiration for Jesuit values and excitement at being in Washington, D.C. However, the unsaid implication for many international students, including myself, is that we came to Georgetown — or any university in the United States — because we see a future in this country. Even if a student only plans to stay for a few years after graduation, a U.S. education and job often improve the reputation of those who return home.

Unfortunately, as visa sponsorship requirements become more stringent, international students increasingly feel discriminated against in the job search process despite the many merits they can bring to a company.

Ask any international student what application question they dread the most, and they’ll probably answer, “Will you now or in the future require spon-

sorship for employment visa status?” These students feel that once they answer yes, their application is likely to be discarded without their resume being read. Even more disheartening is when they find a job posting that perfectly matches their qualifications, only to read at the bottom, “unfortunately, we are not sponsoring visas at this time.” They’ve probably received a few joke proposals from their American friends to help them get a green card — and secretly contemplated accepting one of them.

Given the costly price of an overseas prestigious education, career outcomes are a large factor when international students consider whether this expensive education is worth it. Thus, this barrier to employment is not a pertinent issue just for international students, but also for a university that aims to attract a diverse, international population. As resources to find our desired American careers become more ineffective, it becomes more difficult to justify paying for a Georgetown education. So what exactly can the university do about it?

Probably not that much.

We are at the mercy of the policies of a government administration whose platform centers around keeping foreigners out, making it more difficult to obtain a post-graduation visa than ever before. And while the university is an imperfect institution when it comes to address-

ing our unique needs, these stricter immigration policies are putting more of a strain on existing international student resources.

For example, the Office of Global Services is now burdened with the increased paperwork required for immigration issues, which prevents it from being a more holistic advisor and resource for international students. While offices such the Cawley Career Center have made efforts to provide more international student programming to ease this process, these efforts are limited to being simply informational. Articulating specific and feasible solutions that the university can implement is incredibly difficult when so much of the uncertainty lies beyond its control.

We are also at the mercy of employers who have to decide whether we are worth the cost of taking a gamble in an opaque lottery system that decides whether we can stay. In a job search already fraught with uncertainty and self-doubt, international students face the additional barriers of working under visa constraints. In this process, it’s increasingly difficult not to feel defined solely by our international backgrounds.

Amid all this uncertainty, international students tend to forget there are many ways our distinct profile sets us apart from the competition. We often hesitate to put our foreign address

on our application, without considering that living abroad and understanding a different language and culture is extremely useful for employers operating in a globalized world. We try to hide our “foreignness” during interviews, hoping that employers won’t notice, which prevents us from highlighting the strengths that come with it. It is unfortunate that the job search is more complicated for international students, but above all, it’s important to prevent the job search from making you resent a part of who you are.

Convincing employers that you are worth the cost of sponsorship requires you to highlight why you are irreplaceable, and your international background is a large part of that. Even beyond the language and overseas familiarity, the challenges you’ve overcome in adapting to a new country translate into being resourceful and adaptable in your job. Going through a more complicated hiring process requires resilience and ambition that will help you progress your career. Embrace how being international has made you stronger, and your future employer will too — whether they’re American or not.

Karissa Prayogo is a junior in the School of Foreign Service and president of the International Students Association. LONGDISTANCE EDUCATION appears online every other Wednesday.

VIEWPOINT • FAMAZ

VIEWPOINT • HAMID

Denounce Israeli Apartheid

Embrace Hyphenated Identities

his past week, Georgetown University’s Students for Justice in Palestine, launched its 15th annual Apartheid Week, hosting a series of events to highlight the apartheid conditions Palestinians live under in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Apartheid — defined in international law as the institutionalized, systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another — is legally codified and practiced by the state of Israel. As future leaders, Georgetown students should recognize the harm in Israel’s apartheid practices.

Internal and external observers have concluded that Israel does legislate and enforce a system of apartheid, even restricting the marriage rights of Palestinians living in east Jerusalem.

Well-known anti-apartheid leaders including Nobel Peace laureates Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have explicitly aligned themselves and their struggle with that of the Palestinian people.

Currently, a single government operating a robust system of ethnic and religious hierarchy, controls the land and its inhabitants between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Within Israel’s internationally recognized borders, dozens of laws discriminate between Jews and non-Jews, including Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

Most notably, Israel’s 2018 nation-state law constitutionally enshrines a Jewish state and the supremacy of Jewish people at the expense of the non-Jewish minority of about 20 percent of the population. The law, according to Adalah, an Arab rights legal center in Israel, legitimizes exclusion, racism and systemic inequality. In the Gaza Strip, a to-

tal land, sea and air blockade in what is described as the world’s largest open-air prison has been in effect for over a decade.

In the West Bank, Palestinians live under occupation by the Israeli army and a legal system, enforced by military rather than civilian courts. Under this legal code, Israel has issued hundreds of land seizure orders and forces children as young as 12 to stand in front of military judges and sign away their rights on Hebrew documents they cannot read, often without legal representation.

In the 25 years since the Oslo Accords were signed by Palestine and Israel, instead of negotiating for peace and a two-state settlement, Israeli governments have built more and more illegal Jewish-only settlements by dispossessing Palestinian land and have increased repression of Palestinian civil and human rights.

The United States is Israel’s closest ally, and while Israel is a high-income country, it consistently receives billions in military and foreign aid each year, surpassed only by Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite this support for Israel, the state’s apartheid policies are anthithecal to U.S. values.

Recently, the progressive wing of the Democratic party has become more vocal in calling out gross abuses of power and violations of democratic norms and international law. U.S. taxpayers are right to hold their government accountable for each dollar spent at home and abroad, and that includes calling foul when military aid is provided in violation of our own laws to governments, including Israel’s, that violate human rights. Otherwise, we are complicit in human rights violations and potential war crimes.

And it is not just Israel. Led

by Congressmen Bernie Sanders

(I-Vt.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), both chambers of Congress passed a resolution checking U.S. participation in potential war crimes committed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their war on Yemen. Though President Trump vetoed the bill, its message was clear: Americans will no longer accept a foreign policy that does not advance our values. When we hold our friends and allies to account, the same message is clear to other habitual human rights abusers.

The American government and public, especially future thought leaders at Georgetown, must acknowledge the apartheid regime implemented by Israel.

The United States should use its leverage in the United Nations and U.S. taxpayer-funded aid to be a neutral arbiter. Georgetown students should advocate and vote for representatives that seek to do so. Georgetown student groups that advocate for strong U.S.-Israel ties should not do so at the expense of peace and human rights.

The Georgetown University community, which includes many past and future political leaders, must practice the values upon which our university was established: truth, conviction, character, service, and most importantly, a commitment to building a more just world.

As Georgetown University students, we must reject the intellectual gymnastics used to justify Israel’s indefensible treatment of Palestinians. We must recognize the apartheid regime and encourage engagement with Israel that seeks to bring an end to the protracted situation that our government is complicit in maintaining.

LINDA FAWAZ is a master’s candidate in applied economics.

A

s an Iraqi-American, I have easily accepted and embraced the hyphenated identity of being both Iraqi and American.

However, I have found that hyphenated identities — including mine — are often othered: we find ourselves being excluded from groups on either side of the hyphen.

But at Georgetown University, a prestigious and diverse institution that attracts students from all nationalities, I did not expect to encounter narrow-minded attitudes toward my background.

And yet one of the first people I met on campus reported me to a university official for terrorist suspicions after hearing me speak Arabic on the phone with my mom.

Though this was not the first time I have been accused of terrorism, it was the first time the accusation occurred to me on a college campus, and it made me reflect on the way people look at me when I speak Arabic in public. I was perplexed by how many Georgetown students were interested in Arab culture but were afraid of its people.

In addition to facing prejudice, even at Georgetown, I have been othered by my peers. As a campus community that prides itself on its global perspective, we should seek to embrace those with multifaceted identities rather than exclude them.

Georgetown as a community struggles with recognizing both sides of the hyphen and instead solely fixates on one side. However, this was not a problem I experienced only in the United States, but also in my homeland.

The difficulty of having a

hyphenated identity is that we are considered alien wherever we go because we fail to fully affiliate with one culture. As an Iraqi-American, I am seen as too Iraqi for America and too American for Iraq.

My most vivid memory of this othering was when my family approached a military checkpoint on our way from Baghdad to my hometown of Babylon. Two years after the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011, it seemed life had returned to Iraq as it was before the U.S.-led invasion. Once we stopped at the checkpoint, I was expecting a warm welcome from the guard — my countryman — as he approached us.

Instead, I overheard the guard say in Arabic, “The two in the back look Western, maybe American. We should conduct a thorough search.”

As someone born in Iraq — to this day, I have lived there most of my life — I never expected to feel unwelcome in my own country. Though I moved to Chicago when I was 10, I still felt a kinship with my home country as part of who I am.

Similarly, in the United States, I soon found that many of my peers could not see the American in me. Arriving in the United States, I thought I would be welcomed into the community as an American — especially considering the large influence of American culture brought by the Iraq War. As I found out, this was not the case.

Too often I am asked, “What was the war like? Did you see any bombs explode?

Do you speak Iraqi?” I would much rather be talking about baseball, March Madness or

my opinion on what the best rap album of the 2010s is.

After all, I love the Yankees, watch basketball every week and religiously listen to Travis Scott — I am American.

Georgetown emphasizes the value of diversity of background, race and experience, but we must not overlook the similarities that connect us.

The hyphen in “Iraqi-American” displays that these two identities are interdependent and not distinct entities. In other words, we are not solely Iraqi or American; we are Iraqi-American.

As a community, we should explore what makes us similar in this era of increasing cultural and political division. Racist remarks are a byproduct of being othered, and if we are to solve this, we must address the issue of how we treat those stuck in the gray area between nationalities.

I recognize that the vast majority of members of the Georgetown community are not like my peer who accused me of terrorism. In fact, I have felt more welcome in this community than I have in most others. Still, the issue of othering hyphenated Americans continues to be a problem which we can improve upon as a community.

The Georgetown community should engage and become more mindful of the backgrounds within our diverse student body and not pigeonhole individuals through prejudice and inaccurate assumptions. We must remember to emphasize both sides of the hyphen.

MAX HAMID is a sophomore in

the School of Foreign Service.

A4

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

PAGE FOUR

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) proposed a bill in the U.S. House calling for a new Smithsonian Institution museum for women’s history.

Story on A8.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

verbatim

IN FOCUS QUEER EYE IN DC

“

We are rebranding to reinforce the McDonough Alliance’s commitment to serving all students.”

Georgetown LGBTQ+ Mentors and Resources President Tanner Daggy (MSB ’20) on the group’s recent name change.

Story on A9.

from our blog

@BOBBYBERK/INSTAGRAM

Four of the cast members of Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” including Antoni Porowski, left, and Bobby Berk, right, spoke on a panel about self-love, acceptance and visibility in LGBTQ youth communities at a Library of Congress event April 4; they also met Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), center.

GET TO KNOW YOUR NEW HOME ON THE HILLTOP Attention future Hoyas! 4E answers all your questions about the next four years on the Hilltop in “Frequently Asked Questions: GAAP Edition.”

Read up, and Hoya Saxa! blog.thehoya.com

OWN IT Highlights Forgotten Female Narratives in History CASEY FERRANTE Hoya Staff Writer

The sixth annual OWN IT Summit brought women from the public and private sectors to Georgetown University on Saturday to highlight leading women that not only broke barriers, but also used their influence to uplift other women.

Approximately 215 people attended this year’s OWN IT Summit, a conference aimed at bridging the gap between female leaders and their millennial admirers, to discuss how women can use their success to provide opportunities for others, according to Paige Taylor (COL ’19), co-chair of the 2019 OWN IT Summit.

“We wanted these conversations to highlight what happens when women take the lead and rise up, whether that’s working to secure venture capital funding for a new business venture or winning a heated Congressional race,” Taylor wrote in an email to The Hoya. “So much of what we focus on at OWN IT is forward-thinking -- women who are breaking down barriers, and who are disruptive in the best way possible.”

OWN IT was founded in 2014

by Helen Brosnan (COL ’16) and Kendall Ciesemier (COL ’15) to address the disproportionately low rates of women in leadership positions, both in the public and private sectors.

The founders sought to provide young women with the chance to learn from and connect with women in leadership roles in a variety of fields, according to the OWN IT website.

“We’re shaking up the women’s leadership arena by producing events accessible to college-aged women of all demographics -- not just those who can afford to pay their way,” the website reads.

The summit, which brought over 100 speakers to Georgetown’s campus, featured 31 break-out sessions that attendees could attend two of, two panel discussions and a mainstage conversation between awardwinning historian Alexis Coe and Marcia Chatelain, associate professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University and member of the OWN IT advisory board.

OWN IT also presented the Gwendolyn Mikell Award for Women’s Empowerment, which aims to address the in-

equities and barriers to success faced by women, to Ghipsel Cibrian (COL ’16). The award is in collaboration with the Georgetown Social Innovation and Public Service Fund, which allocates annual grants to students and alumni to start their own social ventures.

Coe, the summit’s keynote speaker, and Chatelain discussed the challenges female historians face and historical narratives’ neglect of women’s experiences as well as ways to draw attention to the often unrecognized contributions women make. Coe has used her platform as a historian to highlight perspectives often ignored by male historians, Taylor wrote.

“She’s looked back at history and uplifted the stories of lesserknown women or women who have been misrepresented,” Taylor wrote. “But Alexis has also brought new angles and perspectives to stories we all know.

For example, she shared on the OWN IT stage that she’ll be the first female biographer to write a book about George Washington.”

The culture of idolizing predominantly famous and well-known women, most pronounced during celebrations of women’s achievements like Women’s History Month, can be harmful to female leadership and empowerment, Coe said at the event.

“There’s this impression of #BossLady where if you aren’t at the center of everything at a time where you really couldn’t be, you weren’t an influencer, you didn’t actually have a place where you could do anything,” Coe said.

Male historians have often excluded women from history, leading to historical narratives that emphasize the experiences of elite white men, according to Chatelain.

“The assumption was that it wasn’t there because he didn’t think it was important,” Chatelain said in the conversation.

Though more diverse historians are elevating the narratives of women, female voices, such as Walt Whitman’s sister, are often relegated to the background of historical discussions and used to provide context for the famous men surrounding them, Coe said at the event.

“For a long time, for women to be significant in the collective memory, they had to be considered what was known as ‘do-

mestic witnesses,’” said Coe at the event. “Whitman’s sister, for example: Her journal is going to be read for what he ate, what he said, where he went, in a really narrow way so they don’t even look at what was this woman’s interior life.”

Female historians are also faced with gender expectations that reinforce institutional sexism, Coe said.

“For a long time, I was asked whose wife I was, whose research assistant I was,” Coe said.

“We’re told what we can and cannot do in explicit ways, but also in implicit ways, too.”

Additional speakers on mainstage panels included Berna Anat, creator of a financial literacy media series for young people called Hey Berna; Rep.

Lori Trahan (D-Mass.); Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily’s List, which aims to help prochoice Democratic women win election into public office; and Emma Gray, a senior reporter at HuffPost who focuses largely on women’s issues.

The morning panel, “By Women, For Women,” featured speakers in the business field and the afternoon panel, “Women’s Wave,” featured women in politics. The panelists shared their experiences to uplift young women wishing to pursue maledominated careers.

This year’s conference comes after the 2018 midterm elections saw a record number of women elected to congress. Following the midterm elections, 102 women — including 35 new-

ly elected women — now serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 25 women, including five new senators, now serve in the U.S. Senate.

Because of difficulties associated with entering male-dominated workspaces, refraining from entering jobs stereotypically paired with female entrepreneurship can be daunting, according to Nicole Corbett, a speaker on the “By Women, For Women” panel and founder of Worn, an entirely female-led agency that helps companies develop their branding.

“Listening to your own inner voice about what is right to do while everyone around you is telling you something else is very difficult,” Corbett said at the event.

Break-out sessions focused on female leaders in a variety of professions including journalism, cybersecurity and law.

These sessions were designed to connect students with professional opportunities, according to Laurie-Maude Chenard (SFS ’19), director of speakers for OWN IT 2019.

“My hopes for the summit are to connect college-aged women with women who are experts in their fields and are paving the path for others like them, to create accessible spaces for women to talk about their experiences and the things that they’re passionate about, and to leave attendees feeling inspired, empowered, and supported,” Chenard wrote in an email to The Hoya.

ELLIE STAAB FOR THE HOYA

Renowned historian Alexis Coe, left, and Georgetown professor Marcia Chatelain critiqued male historians who have ignored the contributions of women to narratives of the past at an OWN IT panel March 30. Coe was the summit’s keynote speaker.

NEWS

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

THE HOYA

A5

Students Petition to Exonerate Muslim, Jewish Students Inmate Serving Life in Prison Demonstrate Solidarity CADY STANTON

JAIME MOORE-CARRILLO

A petition for the exoneration of Eric Riddick, a Pennsylvania inmate who was sentenced to life in prison in 1992 for first degree murder, has received over 2,780 signatures since three Georgetown University students created it March 29.

The petition, addressed to Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner, cites the fact that the lone witness in the case, Shawn Stevenson, recanted his statement in 1999 as reason for Eric Riddick’s release. Ballistic evidence also contradicts Stevenson’s testimony and provides evidence that two shooters were involved.

Alexander Buffone (COL ’20), Kendell Long (COL ’19) and Taylor Riddick (COL ’19), students in Professor Marc Howard’s “Prison Reform Project” class, created the petition as part of the Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative’s “Making an Exoneree” project.

Taylor Riddick, who is not related to Eric Riddick, said they created the petition to draw attention to the evidence discovered by “Making an Exoneree.”

“At its core, the petition is meant to raise awareness about the case,” Taylor Riddick wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The thousands of supporters Eric has received prove that this case is not one that can be easily swept under the rug. There is clear evidence proving that he has not committed the crime, judges have even stated that he is likely innocent.”

Family members and friends of Eric Riddick have been active in maintaining his innocence, creating a website, Facebook page and a pamphlet outlining the details of the case. Eric Riddick has also received the support of a city councilman in Philadelphia and public appeals by rapper and friend Meek Mill, who brought national attention in the spring to the criminal justice movement as the focus of the #FreeMeekMill movement.

Drawing attention to the injustice surrounding his incarceration is an important step toward Eric Riddick’s exoneration, Buffone wrote.

“One of the biggest problems facing wrongfully convicted individuals is lack of awareness,” Buf-

Every Friday, Muslim Life at Georgetown University runs weekly Jum’ah prayer services at 1:30 p.m. in Bulldog Alley. At the March 22 service, attendees grappled with responding to a devastating massacre.

A week earlier, a gunman stormed two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 worshippers and injuring 50 others. The attack, a manifestation of persistent and intensifying Islamophobic violence, rocked Muslim communities across the world and at Georgetown.

At Jum’ah following the shooting, Imam Yahya Hendi, Georgetown’s Muslim chaplain since 1999, emphasized cross-cultural exposure to diverse religious experiences as the best way for the Georgetown community to combat Islamophobia.

“We need to share with them the beauty of our faith, the beauty of our culture and what we have and can contribute to world peace,” Hendi said in his sermon after the Christchurch shooting. “We cannot hide away.”

University President John J. DeGioia, who attended the service, addressed the congregation, offering a message of support and hope to the Muslim community.

“This is our work today, to build and sustain a sense of community, a sense of welcome, a sense of belonging,” DeGioia said at the service. “We recognize in these moments the responsibilities that we have to one another.”

Student representatives from the Jewish Student Association presented a poster to Imam Hendi with messages of support from the Jewish community on campus.

“We’re here for you now and we’re here for you always,” JSA member Jack Thorman (COL ’19) said during the presentation.

The Jum’ah service captured how Muslim and Jewish students and faculty remain supportive and resilient amid intensifying hatred against both religious minority groups. In light of such attacks, members of these communities are making renewed calls for action against bigotry on and off campus.

Hoya Staff Writer

Hoya Staff Writer

ERIC RIDDICK/FACEBOOK

Georgetown students are leading an effort to publicize the case of Eric Riddick, who was convicted of murder in 1992, through a petition. fone wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“Change comes from the masses – the more people we can educate about this issue the better. The creation of this petition is beginning to shine light on this issue.”

Eric Riddick has appealed his sentence multiple times using the evidence collected around his innocence, but has been denied due to Pennsylvania’s Post-Conviction Release Act, which requires a petition for appeal be filed within one year of sentencing.

Howard is the founding director of Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, which studies and seeks to combat the issue of mass incarceration.

“Prison Reform Project” allows students to work on six cases of men and women who are likely wrongfully convicted by interviewing witnesses, attorneys, family members and other key individuals, according to the program’s website. “Making an Exoneree” is the continued theme from last spring’s class.

Howard met Eric Riddick in prison in February, and Howard’s students have since discovered new evidence supporting his exoneration, Howard wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“He made a strong impression upon me, and I left with the overwhelming desire to do everything possible to help expose the injustice that has kept him in prison for almost three decades,” Howard wrote.

Eric Riddick’s case was first brought to the program’s attention when Meek Mill spoke at Georgetown in November, according to Howard. Mill learned at the

event that Howard’s program had exonerated wrongfully convicted inmates in the past including Valentino Dixon, who spent 26 years in prison after being found guilty of murder. After the event, Howard followed up with Mill’s lawyers, who put him in touch with Eric Riddick’s wife, and the Initiative assembled a legal team devoted to Eric’s case.

The Initiative also partnered with the D.C. Department of Corrections to create the Prison Scholars Program, which launched in January 2018 and provides incarcerated individuals in the D.C. jail to enroll in Georgetown courses.

Halim Flowers, a participant in the Prison Scholars program who was imprisoned at 17, was released early from jail March 21 after 22 years in prison based on his demonstration of personal growth while incarcerated.

Though the petition has received significant support, the progress made towards Eric Riddick’s exoneration has been a collaborative effort dependent on the work of activists who have long been advocating for him, according to Buffone.

“Who knew that three undergraduate Georgetown students with little to no previous law experience could make an impact on a judicial case like this one,” Buffone wrote. “With that being said, we would not be where we are today without the amazing help of his mother, his wife, his uncle, his lawyer, and his private investigator. Everyone has played a crucial role in this case throughout these four months, and I believe that exoneration is on the horizon.”

RISING HATE

In recent years, hate crime reports against both Muslim and Jewish communities have risen throughout the United States.

Islamophobic hate crimes increased by 77 percent in the United States between 2014 and 2017, and antisemitic hate crimes increased by 54 percent in the same time period, according to the FBI. Both religious communities have recently suffered deadly shootings, including the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October and the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch.

The national uptick in hate crimes has also manifested at Georgetown, particularly in the form of antisemitism. In May 2017, antisemitic graffiti was found in restrooms outside Makóm, the Jewish prayer space.

In September of that year, swastikas were also found spray painted in bathrooms in LXR Hall. Overall, the number of hate crimes on Georgetown’s campus rose by 275 percent in 2017.

Recent social and political unrest has contributed to the rise in antisemitic hate crimes, according to Rabbi Benjamin Barer, a Jewish chaplain on campus.

“Antisemitism is one of the oldest hatreds, because it’s not really about Jews,” Barer said in an interview with The Hoya. “It’s a way to pigeonhole us when people are unhappy for all sorts

of reasons — economic, social [or] religious.”

Although many attacks, such as the March 22 shooting in Christchurch, take place abroad, their consequences resonate with students and faculty on campus. The anti-Muslim attack sparked feelings of anger and anxiety, according to Muslim Chaplain Umbreen Akram.

“As humans, you know, it hits you,” Akram said in an interview with The Hoya. “It made me angry a little bit too, ‘Why again, why again, when it is gonna end, when is it gonna stop, we are not safe anywhere.’”

For some Muslim students, the Christchurch attack was a reminder of their community’s vulnerability, according to Sajjad Alvee (SFS ’22), an active member of the Muslim Student Association.

“We need to share with them the beauty of our culture and what we have and can contribute to world peace. We cannot hide away.”

IMAM YAHYA HENDI Georgetown University Muslim chaplain

“The first thing that I thought of was the family members of the people that passed, because they look like people from my country,” Alvee said. “Even the ones that don’t, these are the kinds of faces I see at the mosque back home.”

In response to the rising number of hate crimes and mass attacks across the country, members of Muslim and Jewish communities at Georgetown have attempted to move past the violence.

For Abdulrahman Gabriel (COL ’22), dismantling negative perceptions of Islam is an everyday process.

“It’s definitely in my mind, but it doesn’t really affect my day-to-day issues or how I deal with people,” Gabriel said. “I always try to remain the same. I always try to be as good as I can be to anybody else, to put the right image of Islam, at least, if the person knows I’m Muslim or considers that aspect of me.”

JSA President Aviv Lis (COL ’19) maintained a sense of normalcy in the wake of antisemitic attacks.

“When there’s a hate crime in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, yes I feel for it and it’s really sad, and I don’t like that it happened at all, but it doesn’t affect my daily life,” Lis said.

Maintaining daily routines within the Jewish community is also an important part of triumphing over hate, according to Barer.

“Doing what we do every day despite, or because of, the challenges that we face, just continuing on as normal is one of the strengthening things that we can do,” Barer said. “We’re still gonna get together to proudly be Jews in this Catholic space.

That’s what people need.”

CAMPUS SUPPORT

The Muslim and Jewish communities on campus have supported each other through solidarity events in response to antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks.

After the Pittsburgh shooting, for example, MSA delivered handwritten letters of support to Jewish students and faculty, according to Lis. Alvee feels supported by fellow Muslims on campus in the wake of tragedy.

“There’s more sense of solidarity,” Alvee said. “It’s just nice to

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

In response to acts of antisemitism and Islamophobic violence abroad, Jewish and Muslim campus groups have supported each other.

know that there are other people that are going through the same emotions.”

Members of the Jewish community responded in solidarity after events in Pittsburgh, according to Benjamin Smith (COL ’20), a Jewish student from Massachusetts.

“We responded by chalking positive messages in Red Square,” Smith wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The Jewish adage, ‘Be strong, be strong, and we will be strengthened,’ guided our response: We defeat bigotry by sharing our best selves with others.”

Support beyond the immediate community members has proven vital for students and faculty in trying to deal with instances of hate, according to Alvee.

“I think a good way of processing it is just seeing the outreach we have from other communities,” Alvee said. “I don’t know how it helps me process it, but something about it that just helps me feel at ease or just cope with it better is when I see that people do care.”

Messages of support proved invaluable to the Jewish community recovering after Pittsburgh, Barer said.

“To the extent that you can, know that every single person that reached out to us, to the Jewish students after Pittsburgh, meant the world,” Barer said.

“There aren’t the right words to say.”

INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

For students and members of campus ministry, preventing violent acts of hatred begins with education and interreligious outreach.

Breaking down the misconceptions that prop up hatred and enable violence requires proactive dialogue, according to Hendi. Barer agreed that education is critical to tackle hate.

“We need to build bridges,” Hendi said in his March 22 sermon. “We need to educate our fellow neighbors about who we are.”

“It always comes down to education,” Barer said. “It’s being out there publicly expressing Judaism, not just in this kind of monolithic way.”

For Alvee, however, dismantling hatred begins with dismantling fear.

“I think the biggest thing is just eliminating fear and fostering understanding,” Alvee said.

“For me, that’s through social interaction and just normalizing interactions with Muslims or any group that you’re afraid of.”

Student organizations and Campus Ministry have spearheaded efforts to cultivate dialogue and host discussions, interfaith events and vigils.

On Oct. 29, for example, Campus Ministry hosted an interfaith service of mourning and solidarity in the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting. JSA also hosted a discussion about antisemitism in Congress and at Georgetown on April 4 with GU Jewish Life and Resetting the Table, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bridging political divides through dialogue.

While Georgetown demonstrates strong support for faith communities after crises, limited resources constrain the university’s ability to assist on a daily basis, according to Barer.

For example, Barer suggested that campus ministry does not have the capacity to bring university chaplains as guest lecturers to mandatory theology courses such as “The Problem of God,” which would help expose more students to religious leaders at Georgetown.

“It would be amazing if we had the capacity to bring a chaplain into each of those classes as a guest lecturer,” Barer said, “Just to have the opportunity to have face time with every student instead of just with the students who seek us out.”

Diverse faith communities must cooperate in response to rising bigotry, according to John Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs and the founding director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

“The rise of white supremacism and nationalism and the significant increase in antiSemitism and Islamophobia rhetoric and violence globally threaten the very fabric of our societies,” Esposito wrote in an email to The Hoya. “In an increasingly multicultural and multireligious world, it is critical that followers of all faiths and none are challenged to acknowledge our shared values and religious & cultural pluralism.”

A6

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Semester Marked by 42 Unexcused Admitted Class of 2023: 12 Percent Absences From GUSA Meetings 1st-Generation, 8.7 Percent Legacy GUSA, from A1 Impeachment is the only binding punishment available to the committee, which ethics and oversight committee chair Dylan Hughes (COL ’19) said the committee is unlikely to resort to given the short amount of time to schedule a special election before the legislative season ends in late April.

GUSA established an ethics and oversight committee within the senate last October to track senators’ attendance records, ensure accountability and monitor conflicts of interest.

Ensuring better attendance this year was one reason for the creation of the committee, Sam Dubke (SFS ’21) one of the senators who helped draft the legislation that established the committee, said to The Hoya last October.

“A lot of senators would just not come to meetings that they felt were unnecessary, and there was functionally no enforcement mechanism,” Dubke said.

GUSA Senate Speaker Eliza Lafferty (COL ’21) and Vice Speaker Patrick Walsh (SFS ’21) declined to provide their own comment to The Hoya. The pair, instead deferred to Hughes’ statement as a comment from senate leadership.

While the committee plays a role in shedding light on the attendance problem, it is up to the senators to deliver on their duties in GUSA, according to Hughes.

“Each Senator takes an oath to the student body, and they have to show up to fulfill that oath,”

Hughes wrote in an email to The Hoya. “That said, the Committee does have a role in reminding and incentivizing good attendance.”

GUSA’s bylaws allow absent senators to appoint proxies twice during the legislative season in an effort to provide more opportunities for senators to vote at any given meeting. Proxies are rarely used, however, with only 22 proxies appointed this year relative to the 58 total absences.

Low attendance might be evidence of dissatisfaction among senators with their legislative power, according to Senator Thomas Teravainen (COL ’22).

“There tends to be a lack of substantial impact that our policies actually make,” Teravainen wrote in a message to The Hoya. “We still need permission from University administration in order to pass anything and they are able to overrule anything that we do pass.”

This dissatisfaction may be because of the limited role GUSA plays relative to other campus organizations, according to Teravainen.

“GUSA’s actions and policies often overlap with many other groups on campus, and at times our efforts may undermine the projects that others have already been working on,” Teravainen wrote.

Hughes also noted a lack of consensus within GUSA leadership on the proxy policy.

“Limiting proxies encourages Senators to show up themselves to all meetings,” Hughes wrote. “Yet, hypothetically this could cause a Senator to not have any represen-

tation after having already expended their proxy limit.”

Hughes also said the attendance record reveals some positive insights. Although two meetings, including one near President’s Day, marked large absences, these meetings were not necessarily indicative of the number of absences at the average senate meeting, according to Hughes.

“On a brighter note, I hope future Senate leadership can continue the trend of improved median attendance and take steps to avoid outlier bad attendance days perhaps by rescheduling meetings near major holidays,” Hughes wrote.

The last time a GUSA senate meeting did not suffer any unexcused absences was Dec. 2. The average number of absences across the nine meetings in the spring semester was around four. Three meetings accounted for 27 of the 43 absences.

GUSA President Norman Francis (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20) hope the senate takes steps to remediate the rising unexcused absences, according to GUSA executive chief communications officer Winston Ardoin (SFS ’21).

“Norman and Aleida are concerned with the absences and hope that there are actions taken in the senate to mitigate this. We believe that in order to have a strong GUSA that supports its students, individuals must be able to attend open meetings in order to provide transparency,” Ardoin wrote in a message to The Hoya.

ADMISSIONS, from A1 First-generation students represent 12 percent of the class, up slightly from last year’s 11 percent.

The admissions office cites programs like the Community Scholars Program and the Georgetown Scholars Program that provide support for first-generation and low-income Georgetown undergraduates as part of Georgetown’s initiative to admit a more socioeconomically and racially diverse class of students, including firstgeneration college students.

The median family income of a student at Georgetown is $229,100, with 74 percent of students coming from the top 20 percent, while 3.1 percent of students’ family incomes fall in the bottom 20 percent, according to The New York Times.

Georgetown remains need-blind when reviewing applications and guarantees to meet demonstrated need for all accepted students, according to Deacon. The policy has been in place since the late 1970s.

Legacy students make up 8.7 percent of the admitted class of 2023, according to Deacon.

“Of the 3202 total admits, just 2.5% received a legacy tip since most legacy admits are competitive on their own merits,” Deacon wrote.

This admissions cycle comes amid a March 12 indictment by the Department of Justice in which a former Georgetown tennis coach was charged with accepting bribes from parents in exchange for their children’s admission to the university. The coach left the university in

FILE PHOTO: ROCHELLE VAYNTRUB/THE HOYA

Amid an admissions scandal with national attention, Georgetown admitted 3,202 students.

December 2017 after an internal investigation.

Student athletes are admitted to the university through a recruitment process spearheaded by university coaches, according to Deacon.

“Coaches recruit talented student athletes and have been allowed to support the admission of a limited number of these athletes,” Deacon wrote. “The role of admissions is to verify the academic talent of those recommended.”

Georgetown admitted students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Admitted students to the Class of 2023 also came from 77 foreign countries, slightly lower than last year’s representation of 81 foreign countries.

This admissions cycle, the university received the highest number of applicants from California

— 2,632 — followed by 2,527 applications from countries outside the United States and 2,177 applications from students in the state of New York.

New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania completed the list of the top 10 regional sources of applicants.

Overall, admitted students ranked within the top six percent of their high school class. The median score range for the SAT was between 710 and 790 for the math section and between 710 and 770 for the verbal section.

The median score range for the ACT was between 32 and 35.

Georgetown holds a no “score choice” policy, meaning students must submit their scores from all standardized tests they have taken rather than sending only their highest scores.

Georgetown also differs from most universities by using its own application rather than allowing students to apply via the Common Application or Coalition Application.

Georgetown’s separate application limits its applicant pool to those who are seriously interested in the university, allowing most applicants to interview with an alumnus and personalizing Georgetown’s admissions process, according to Deacon.

“We have never deviated from the belief that a student centered admissions policy begins with the relationship established between the student and college through the application process,” Deacon wrote.

Students Voice Praise, Hesitation At GU272 Advocacy Team Events GU272, from A1 can ensure that advocacy for the descendents is a priority among the the Georgetown community, according to Elliot Mack (SFS ’22), who plans to vote in favor of the referendum.

“If we really want to prove that this is something of essence in our community, we need to be able to get huge participation,” Mack said. “I hope to prove that this is a priority of our community and of the student body. If we want this to be a successful first step, a step which allows us to take many more, this needs to be a big statement. We need the whole community to come out and express their opinion.”

The referendum is set to coincide with GUSA’s April 11 senate election. Overall voter turnout at the last senate election in October was 20.9 percent, according to the GUSA Election Commission’s Twitter account. The relatively low turnout marked a downturn since the April 2018 senate elections, when turnout reached 23 percent.

Recent elections for GUSA president and vice president in February saw the lowest voter turnout since the 2007 executive election, with 32 percent of the student body casting votes.

Georgetown University Student Association Senator Sam Dubke (SFS ’21) voted no in the Feb. 3 GUSA Senate vote on whether or not to hold a referendum to benefit the descendants, many of whom live in Maringouin, La. Dubke said that though he believes Georgetown should be held accountable for its past actions, the injustices were committed by the university itself, and thus the university should be responsible for repaying the descendents.

“It is my belief that Georgetown University committed

the heinous crime that was the sale of 272 slaves, that Georgetown University made a commitment to repay the descendents of those slaves,” Dubke said at the townhall.

“Therefore it is Georgetown University’s responsibility financially to contribute financially to that community of descendents in and around Maringouin. Students should not be required to pay.”

If passed by students and the board of directors, the referendum will establish a reconciliation fund, which will be presided over by a board of trustees composed of students and descendents. The reconciliation fund would then allocate funds toward purposes to the direct benefit of descendants of the 272, according to the Students for GU272 Facebook page. Some proposed projects include funding K-12 education, creating college scholarships and buying school supplies.

GUSA Senator Hayley Grande (COL ’21), who also opposes the addition of a reconciliation fee and who sat on Wednesday’s panel, said voters should consider the financial burden of the fee on low-income students.

“We can’t treat the student body as it stands today and in the future as a monolith,” Grande said at the townhall.

“Everyone really brings a different voice to this community, and going across the board and requiring everyone to pay more to come to this prohibitively costly and expensive university is unjust.”

The financial aid office has indicated students receiving financial aid from the university would not have to pay the fee, according to former GUSA senator Sam Appel (COL ’20), who originally sponsored the resolution proposing the referendum.

However, the Advocacy Team has not been able to make a concrete guarantee that lowincome students would receive

a waiver for the fee, according to a February op-ed in The Hoya

by Dubke and Grande.

The referendum lacks empirical reasoning behind the designated $27.20 fee and fails to specify how the money will be utilized for the descendents, Dubke said at Wednesday’s town hall.

“The amount $27.20 per student is symbolic but not grounded in data; only undergraduates are feed, even though everyone at Georgetown, as most on this panel argue, benefits from the sale of these slaves,” Dubke said. “There are no concrete plans for where this money should go and why.”

The GU272 Advocacy Team first started considering the proposal of the referendum at the beginning of last semester.

The GUSA senate voted in favor of holding the universitywide referendum with a 20-4 vote Feb. 3.

Of 615 students who responded to a Feb. 6 door-todoor poll conducted by The Hoya, 34.8 percent said they approved of the fee, 34.7 percent said they were indifferent or unsure, 16.3 percent said they do not support the fee and 13.4 percent said they did not plan to vote.

Passing the GU272 referendum would be an important step not only in addressing injustices of the past, but also in helping Georgetown University set a historical precedent, according to Mack.

“Many other elite universities and institutions are in the same situation as us, and none have acted,” Mack said.

“I want this to be a statement from the student body to the administration, to the board of trustees, to other institutions in this country, to the country on a national level that this is an issue that we care about and this is an issue that our community is pushing for.”

Hoya Staff Writer Amy Li contributed reporting.

FILE PHOTO: KARLA LEYJA/THE HOYA

If the April 11 referendum goes into effect, students would pay a semesterly fee of $27.20, which would go toward a philanthropic fund to benefit descendants of the GU272, many of whom live in Maringouin, La.

SHEEL PATEL/THE HOYA

Students for Justice in Palestine members built a mock apartheid wall in the galleria of the Intercultural Center on April 1 to raise awareness of discriminatory policies of the Israeli government.

Palestinian Rights Group Hosts 15th Israeli Apartheid Week CHELSEA HAFER Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine hosted their 15th annual Israeli Apartheid Week, beginning April 1, to raise awareness about the of IIsraeli state policies against Palestinian citizens.

Israeli Apartheid Week is an international campaign across college campuses that strives to raise public support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. This year’s theme is “Stop Arming Colonialism.” Over 200 cities worldwide participate in IAW, according to its website.

The Palestinian-led BDS movement encourages the boycott of and divestment from Israeli businesses, cultural and academic institutions, and sanctions on the Israeli government.

Georgetown’s SJP will be hosting events throughout the week to support the BDS movement and raise awareness of the situation of Palestinians in Israel, according to SJP. “We hope students understand how Israel’s separation wall, occupation of the West Bank, and illegal settlements therein are a manifestation of apartheid,” SJP wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “These policies have divided families, expropriated land, and violated the civil liberties and human rights of Palestinians.”

Israel built a 400-mile wall intended to bolster security along the West Bank in 2002 during the Second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, after a series of attacks killed 130 Israelis, according to The New York Times. With the violence along the West Bank having declined, the wall violates international law and the rights of self-determination, according to a 2004 advisory opinion of the International Criminal Court.

Students gathered to create a mock wall of art on Monday, April 1, and it has been displayed in the ICC Galleria throughout the week.

The construction aimed to represent the Israel barrier in the West Bank.

SJP hosted Former Syrian Dep-

uty Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Abdallah Al Dardari, on Tuesday, who spoke on the historical context of the Palestinian occupation and its impact on Syria, according to SJP president Ahmad Al-Housani (NHS ’20).

“He came and spoke about the occupation in Golan Heights and the relationship between Syria and Palestine and the intrinsic special bond that is there,” Al-Housani said.

The event follows President Trump’s recent official acknowledgment of Israel’s sovereignty over Golan Heights, a region controlled by Syria until 1967. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, a move recognized by no other country until Trump’s announcement on XX, according to the Washington Post. The United States is now the only state to officially recognize Israeli authority over this contested region.

On Wednesday, SJP also held a panel including BDS movement leader Andrew Kadi, Taher Herzallah, Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing at American Muslims for Palestine, Ramah Kudaimi, Director of Programs & Operations for the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and Moath Elhady, an SJP activist.

The International community has the responsibility to ensure the rights of Palestinians are protected, Kadi said at an event held

by Washington Report on Middle East Affairs in May 2018.

“To me, BDS is a movement that is more about the international community. It’s a solidarity movement in the sense that we’re the ones who are complicit,” Kadi said.

SJP hosted a charity dinner Thursday in McShain Lounge to raise money for Helping Hand for Relief and Development, an emergency and humanitarian aid organization with according to the HHRD website. At the dinner, students read poetry and celebrated Palestinian culture.

The events of the week show the power of student organizing and collective action, Sonya Fares (COL ‘22), an attendee of the charity dinner, said.

“The topic is a highly contentious one that raises much debate, but I think any instance where students come together to share their perspective and spread their message is really great to see,” Fares said.

The philanthropic dinner was an opportunity to celebrate Palestinian culture, according to Munir Pavez (SFS ’20) co-president of GU Arab Society, who performed at the event.

“I’m glad SJP this year was able to hold a philanthropic event that focused on Palestinian culture, art, and solidarity,” Pavez wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I helped lead dabke, a traditional Levantine line dance that, for Palestinians, has symbolized cooperation, determination and love for their heritage.”

The IAW does not encourage dialogue and only tells one side of the IsraeliPalestinian issue, the Georgetown Israel AlliancewroteinanApril2statementon Facebook.

“We are disappointed that this week’s events discourage dialogue and reject the Jewish connection to Israel in favor of a divisive, onesided narrative,” GIA wrote. “To further our goal of dialogue, we will be tabling this week in red Square so that members of the Georgetown community can engage with us on their views.”

Some of the week’s events have led to misunderstandings of SJP’s mission, according to Tara Nouri (SFS ’22), an SJP board member.

“We’ve had a lot of great interactions over this past week and a lot of bad interactions where people have not quite understood what our mission is here,” Nouri said.

“We are interested in the uplifting of the Palestinian people for their equal treatment in the occupied territories.”

To conclude IAW, SJP will host a screening of the documentary “The Lobby” about the influence of the Israel lobby in U.S. politics, on Friday.

Last year during IAW, a Palestinian flag hung in Red Square was removed. SJP filed bias reports with the university, and Georgetown University Police Department eventually questioned the perpetrator.

NEWS

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

THE HOYA

A7

Multiple Abusive Priests Worked in Campus Jesuit Spaces MYROSLAV DOBROSHYNSKYI AND RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writers

The Woodstock Theological Center moved into Old Ryan, now known as Ida Ryan Hall, in 1978. Over the next several decades, three priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct would work at Woodstock, a Jesuit-run research institution housed on Georgetown’s campus. All three lived in the Woodstock Theological Residence, two blocks away from the university’s front gates.

Nineteen years after the center’s opening, Woodstock hired Fr. William J. Walsh, S.J., who was later found to have committed sexual abuse in at least four locations, according to a December 2018 report issued by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. Walsh sexually abused five of his nieces hundreds of times while they were between 5 and 14 years old.

The Maryland Province moved Walsh to Woodstock from ministry in China after his nieces reported his abuse to the province in 1996. He worked there until his nieces went public with their abuse in April 1998, when he moved to Ferdinand Wheeler House, a Jesuit residence in Baltimore.

Fr. Jack Kennington worked

at Woodstock from 1981 to 1983. He went on to abuse two children from 1984 to 1987 in New York City, and the church settled a lawsuit brought by the survivors in 1994.

Fr. Thomas Gannon, S.J., came to Woodstock as its director in 1983 after sexually abusing a minor at a church in Highland, Ind., that same year and abusing two adults in the 1970s while he worked as chair of the sociology department at Loyola University Chicago. He served as director of the center for three years and taught Georgetown University undergraduates as a sociology professor at the same time.

Woodstock, which closed in 2013, is one of several spaces on Georgetown’s campus where Jesuits — including perpetrators of clerical sexual abuse — worked, lived and rest in peace.

The university has maintained that the Jesuit order independently manages these spaces, but archival material and interviews with clerical abuse experts suggest close administrative links between Georgetown and spaces on campus that housed some abusers — who may have interacted with students.

WOODSTOCK ORIGINS

Woodstock first came to

Georgetown in May 1975, when it was located in the first floor of Car Barn. Three years later, the center moved to the Georgetown Jesuit Residence in Ryan Hall.

Woodstock was moved to Ryan Hall following a need for a central location with a larger space for discussion and research, according to Fr. Robert Mitchell, S.J., the Woodstock director from 1976 to 1979.

The Georgetown Jesuit community offered Woodstock a discount of $4,300 per year on the rent, according to “Woodstock at Georgetown: The Creation of a Library, a Center, a Community” by journalist and author Patricia Markun. The Georgetown Jesuit community constitutes Jesuits at the university, Georgetown Preparatory School and Holy Trinity Catholic Church, according to a university spokesperson.

The New York and Maryland Provinces financed and managed Woodstock. The center was a reincarnation of Woodstock College, a Jesuit seminary that operated from 1869 to 1974 outside Baltimore. The Maryland Province also owned and operated Georgetown until 1968, when the university became an independent institution.

Fr. Clarence L Stankiewicz, S.J., rector of the Georgetown Jesuit community from 1973 to

FILE PHOTO: AMBER GILLETTE/THE HOYA

Fr. Martin J. Casey, S.J., faced an allegation of sexual misconduct from 1959, deemed plausible by the Maryland Province in December 2018. Casey is now buried in the Georgetown Jesuit cemetery.

1979, developed the guidelines stock did not commonly track for Woodstock’s operation in sexual misconduct allegations 1975, following the provinces’ during the hiring process, acdesire to formalize the center’s cording to Langan. relationship with the George“Woodstock is a research intown Jesuit community, accord- stitution, and so it doesn’t have ing to “Woodstock at George- a well-defined clientele of stutown.” dents or faculty,” Langan said.

Woodstock has always oper- “There is not the kind of direct ated independently of George- pastoral responsibility or the town, according to a university likelihood of situations that are spokesperson. focused on the discussions of “The Woodstock Theological the abuse of children. I think Center has almost of the ways been an time we didn’t independent, think much Jesuit-sponabout that.” sored research The clerical institute sexual abuse staffed, operatcrisis, howeved, and funded er, was publicthrough the ly uncovered Maryland Provdecades before ince,” the uni2002, when versity spokesreporter Jason person wrote Berry (CAS ’71) in an email to uncovered patFR. JOHN LANGAN, S.J. The Hoya.

ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE terns of clerical WOODSTOCK THEOLOGICAL sexual abuse in Woodstock CENTER, 1986 TO 1987 fellows were New Orleans, encouraged to according to teach at Georgetown and other Tom Doyle, a former Catholic universities, however, accord- priest and canon lawyer. ing to a 1976 letter by Fr. Joseph “This all exploded in the fall Panuska, S.J., who served as a of 1984 in Louisiana,” Doyle trustee for Woodstock from said in an interview with The 1974 to 1979.

Hoya. “And the media, all of “Your relationship to the Uni- a sudden, changed its tune. versity is something which is Now they could — they weren’t important both to you and to afraid of the church.” the University community,” Panuska wrote in the letter to the LIVING AND DYING Woodstock Community. “I can Members of Woodstock understand how some slight worked in Ryan Hall, but they teaching might be both intel- also lived just off campus in the lectually stimulating and even Woodstock Theological Resipsychologically helpful—in ad- dence, two blocks from Georgedition to serving real teaching town’s front gates. needs.”

Walsh, whose history of abuse was known to the MaryWORKING AT WOODSTOCK land Province, arrived at the Jesuits typically came to second floor of Ryan Hall each Woodstock in order to pursue day and worked alongside scholarly research, according to Georgetown students, accordFr. John Langan, S.J., acting di- ing to Fr. Leon Hooper, S.J., rector of the Woodstock Theo- currrent acting director of the logical Center from 1986 until Woodstock Theological Library, 1987 and a senior fellow at the who worked with Walsh from center from 1976 until 1995.

1996 to 1998.

“It is not a particularly mys“We did have some student terious or remote process,” Lan- workers there,” Hooper said gan said in a phone interview in an interview with The Hoya. with The Hoya. “It was more “You know, there was almost like ordinary academic recruit- a little commune they had up ment. That is, people came to there. The place would be open work there because they had at nights, and you know the stuprojects they wanted to pursue dents. It was their study hall. It or because they had areas of was their community.” expertise in areas that we were No students lived in Ryan interested in working on.”

Hall when it housed the WoodBefore 2002, when the Bos- stock Center, and the center’s ton Globe’s Spotlight report director conducted all hirexposed the Catholic Church’s ing, according to a university sexual abuse cover-up, Wood- spokesperson.

“Woodstock is a research institution, and so it doesn’t have a well-defined clientele of students or faculty.”

Even when sexually abusive priests are reassigned to research or administrative roles without direct access to children and young adults, perpetrators can never be fully isolated, according to Doyle.

“The myth has always been: ‘We’ve got father so-and-so and he’s perpetrated a couple of times, so we’re gonna give him an assignment where he is not near young people,’” Doyle said.

“The only place that you could do that is send him to Antarctica, because if you put them in a convent or a hospital, all you’ve got to do is walk outside.”

Beyond their presence on and off campus, Jesuit priests are also buried on Georgetown’s campus.

The Jesuit cemetery on Georgetown’s campus near Harbin Hall serves as a resting place for over 320 Jesuits with ties to the Georgetown community. Among the Jesuits buried in the cemetery is longtime Georgetown administrator Fr. Martin J. Casey, S.J., who worked at Georgetown from 1973 until his death in 2006.

Casey faced an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor from 1959, deemed plausible by the Maryland Province in a December 2018 report.

As the current superior of the Georgetown Jesuit community, Fr. Ronald Anton, S.J., handles burials in the cemetery. Before a burial can take place in the cemetery, Jesuits at Georgetown must be consulted, according to archival records and an article from the Georgetown Independent.

“The Georgetown Jesuit Community superior and the Maryland Province determine burial decisions, which includes burying Jesuits who were a part of the Georgetown Jesuit Community,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Jesuits, including credibly accused perpetrators like Casey and Fr. Daniel O’Connell, S.J., who was stripped of his emeritus title in March 2019 in response to inquiries from The Hoya, can request where they would want to be buried upon death, a request that is usually honored, according to Fr. Brian McDermott, S.J., special assistant to University President John J. DeGioia.

“I think if you died and you’ve asked to be buried there and you served at Georgetown, especially if you die while serving at Georgetown, you go there,” McDermott said in an interview with The Hoya.

FILE PHOTO: ASHLEY CHEN/THE HOYA

Three priests credibly accused of sexual assault worked at the Woodstock Theological Center, which operated from 1973 to 2013. The center was run independently by the Maryland Province.

Gregory Set to Become DC’s 1st Black Archbishop ARCHBISHOP, from A1 this local faith community,” Gregory said at the press conference. “I would be naive not to acknowledge the unique task that awaits us.”

Despite public outcry following revelations of Wuerl’s involvement in covering up clerical abuse, Wuerl sits on the Congregation for Bishops at the Vatican, which recommends candidates for bishop positions to be selected by Francis, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Wuerl, who previously worked with Gregory on a number of church initiatives, welcomed Gregory to the D.C. archdiocese in an April 4 news release.

“As the Church of Washington opens a new chapter and looks to the future, we can

all, with great confidence and enthusiasm, welcome our new shepherd,” Wuerl wrote.

Gregory’s appointment was announced in D.C. by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Gregory served a term as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004, when he led the U.S. Catholic hierarchy through the fallout of the Boston Globe’s 2002 investigation into the cover-up of clerical abuse in the church.

During his term, Gregory oversaw the formation and implementation of the Dallas Charter, or the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a comprehensive set of procedures established by the USCCB in 2002 to address allegations

of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

Following his tenure as president of USCCB, Gregory continued to work with Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz to examine and develop proposed reforms for increasing episcopal accountability regarding the sexual abuse of minors by clergy while serving as archbishop of Atlanta.

Gregory may only serve as archbishop of Washington for a short amount of time.

At 71, Gregory will have to submit his resignation when he reaches 75, the age when every bishop must submit his resignation according to canon law. The sitting pope has the authority to decide whether or not to accept the resignation.

A8

NEWS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

DC Police Officers to Carry Treatment for Opioid Overdoses AFUA NYANTAKYI Hoya Staff Writer

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) plans to distribute 76,000 kits of naloxone, a drug used to counter opioid overdoses, to police officers and community health organizations by Sept. 30.

The purchase of 76,000 naloxone kits marks an increase in the city’s efforts toward overdose death prevention, as only 2,396 kits were distributed over the last nine months of 2017, where overdose deaths were at their peak, according to The Washington Post. In 2018, D.C. saw more deaths from opioid-related overdoses than homicides.

The distribution plan is a part of Bowser’s “LIVE. LONG. DC” initiative, which was released in December and aims to cut opioid related deaths in D.C. in half by 2020. An updated version of LIVE. LONG. DC, released March 28, includes more detailed procedures for D.C. institutions to begin carrying out the initiative.

The update was released after complaints made by D.C. officials stated that the original document was too vague and lacked specific details such as timelines, according to The Washington Post.

In addition to the distribution of naloxone, the update includes an April 30 deadline for the start of another program which allows recent overdose victims to be treated with buprenorphine, a medication that diminishes opioid cravings as part of longterm addiction treatment. MedStar Washington Hospital Center, United Medical Center and Howard University Hospital will implement the initiative first.

To receive input on the plan, the D.C. Council Judiciary and Public Safety and Health committees held a joint public oversight roundtable Jan. 28, where they received feedback from the public, the mayor’s office, the Department of Behavioral Health and the Metropolitan Police Department. The roundtable lasted for more than nine hours and covered topics such as street outreach to heroin users and the

possibility of establishing government-supervised areas where residents can inject heroin, according to The Washington Post.

Opioid use and overdose prevention policies must treat addiction as a health issue, according to Regina LaBelle, program director at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. The O’Neill Institute, which is housed at the Georgetown University Law Center, seeks to develop solutions to national and international health concerns such as the opioid epidemic.

“Recognizing that addiction is a disease from which people can recover, our drug policies must be centered around compassion,” LaBelle wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Providing naloxone to community members and first responders is an important tool to save lives.”

LaBelle, who is also the former chief of staff of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, responded to potential opposition to the initiative in a testimony presented at the roundtable. The number of opioid-involved overdose deaths in the District more than tripled from 2014 to 2017. The uptick in overdoses occurred despite emergency medical responders providing residents with prompt services, according to LaBelle.

“It continues to be important, therefore, to get naloxone into the hands of as many people as possible, including law enforcement and community groups such as syringe exchange programs,” LaBelle said during the testimony.

The Metropolitan Police Department and Bowser’s office initially perceived the initiative as expensive. However, costs of naloxone can vary and manufacturers of the product have already put in place programs to make the drug more accessible for purchase by the government, according to US News.

The cost of naloxone varies from $12 generic injectable doses to a $150 nasal spray containing two doses, according to LaBelle. Manufacturers of the most expensive naloxone product,

the auto-injector, announced that by mid-2019, their product would be available for purchase to government agencies for $178, significantly less than the usual retail cost of $4,100.50, according to LaBelle.

Other objections to the widespread distribution of naloxone among law enforcement and community healthcare centers included potential criminal liabilities. However, good samaritan laws and laws designed to protect healthcare professionals have been established in many states to protect those who administer the drug, according to the United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams.

Citizens can also play a role in administering the drug to prevent overdose deaths, according to to Adams. There are two FDAapproved naloxone products for community use that are available by prescription.

Too few community members are aware of the drug’s accessibility, Adams wrote in a 2018 Naloxone Advisory Statement.

“Expanding the awareness and availability of this medication is a key part of the public health response to the opioid epidemic” Adams wrote. “Therefore, increasing the availability and targeted distribution of naloxone is a critical component of our efforts to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths and, when combined with the availability of effective treatment, to ending the opioid epidemic.”

Research suggests that an effective measure to decrease overdose deaths in a community is to provide naloxone and overdose education to its members, according to Adam’s statement.

To further increase the drug’s accessibility, the FDA is currently developing an over-the-counter version of the drug, available for purchase by the public. People who are or who know someone at risk for opioid overdose can already go to a pharmacy or community-based program to receive naloxone and naloxone administration training without a patient-specific prescription, according to Adams.

Bill Introduced to Establish Women’s History Museum HARRISON MCBRIDE Hoya Staff Writer

Bills proposing a new Smithsonian Institution museum that would highlight the contributions of women throughout U.S. history were introduced in both chambers of Congress on March 28.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ten Republicans and 16 Democrats cosponsored the proposed legislation in the House, among them were Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Rep. Brenda Lawrence (DMich.) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). One senator, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), cosponsored the upper chamber’s bill.

The establishment of the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum will bring to light the untold stories of women in U.S. history, Maloney wrote in a March 28 news release.

“The U.S. needs and deserves a comprehensive women’s history museum that will inspire men and women of all ages and for future generations,” Maloney wrote.

“For too long, women who have made extraordinary contributions to our nation have been left out of the telling of our history.”

While the Smithsonian supports the idea of a women’s history museum, the institution does not currently have the necessary resources to create the museum, according to Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian.

“We support the idea behind it, which is to tell the stories of women in American history that have been sometimes overlooked or not brought out as much as we think it should be,” St. Thomas said in an interview with The Hoya. “However, as much as we agree with the ideas behind this new museum, we are not able to deal with new building right now.”

The Smithsonian is focused on two ongoing renovation plans, a $650 million project to overhaul the Air and Space Museum and an effort to remove mold and renovate the Smithsonian Institution Building, commonly known as the Smithsonian Castle, according to St. Thomas. The renovation project planned for the Air and Space Museum is set to be com-

US SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS/FACEBOOK

A national women’s history museum would recognize the untold stories of women in U.S. history, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said March 28.

pleted in the next six years and will also feature new exhibits.

Despite not having a separate museum on women’s history, the Smithsonian has developed exhibits and programs that are dedicated to the topic, St. Thomas said.

“You have exhibitions, programs, Votes for Women, a new exhibition that opened about suffrage at the Portrait Gallery and a book that’s coming out,” St. Thomas said. “So, we have a lot of programs and activities about women’s history and focused on women, but not a building.”

A legislative push for the museum comes after a bipartisan congressional commission was formed in December 2014 to determine the necessity, feasibility and potential content of the museum. The commission unanimously concluded that a women’s history museum was needed by the American people in a report to Congress in November 2016.

The national women’s history museum would recognize the past achievements of American women, Collins wrote in a March 29 news release.

“American women have made invaluable contributions to our country in every field, such as government, business, medicine, law, literature, sports, entertainment, the arts, and the military,” Collins wrote. “Telling the history of American women matters, and a museum recognizing these achievements and experiences is long overdue.”

Creation of the bipartisan commission followed similar legislative efforts in the 114th Congress led by Collins and Maloney along with former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and then-Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who now serves as one of the senators for Tennessee.

The last museum created by the Smithsonian, the African American History Museum, was completed in 2016 after a 13-year process sparked by similar legislation proposed the museum’s construction.

Should the bill pass Congress and be signed by President Donald Trump, the museum would need new legislation to determine funding and appropriations for the museum. After the bill passes, the Smithsonian could then begin planning for the museum’s location and eventual construction, according to St. Thomas.

@ELEANORHOLMESNORTON/TWITTER

A bill introduced by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on March 28 would give Washington, D.C., more control over its judicial system. The bill is Norton’s latest effort to grant the District more autonomy.

Norton Moves to Expedite District Judicial Nominations ERIKA GEBHARDT Hoya Staff Writer

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D­ -D.C.) urged the Senate to address the growing number of vacancies in Washington, D.C. courts and introduced legislation to allow nominees for local D.C. court positions to be seated without a vote of approval from the Senate on March 28.

Nominees to D.C. court positions must receive affirmative approval by the U.S. Senate in order to assume their nominated positions. There are currently 10 vacancies in the D.C. Superior Court and two vacancies on the D.C. Court of Appeals. These vacancies pose a threat to the District’s judicial system, according to a March 28 news release by Norton’s office.

“The current process is so badly broken that it is doing harm to the administration of justice in the nation’s capital.”

Norton said. “These vacancies are leading to a potential crisis for the criminal and civil justice systems in the District.”

Three of the Superior Court seats have been vacant since 2016, and one seat in the Court of Appeals has been vacant since 2013.

Because local D.C. judge confirmations require affirmative Senate approval, these confirmations are often delayed as nominations for federal courts receive top priority. Under Norton’s 30-day congressional review proposal, the nominee would automatically receive approval as long as Senators do not enact resolutions of disapproval during the review

period, bypassing the Senate approval.

D.C. local courts uniquely require their judges to receive Senate confirmation because it is not a state.

The bill comes after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) met with President Donald Trump to discuss the backlog of judges in district courts March 13.

Calls for increased independence of the District’s judicial system have long identified the prevalence of vacancies for D.C. court judges for the necessity of allowing nominations to move forward without explicit Senate approval.

Norton already proposed this bill before in May 2018, and Irvin Nathan, former attorney general and president of Council for Court Excellence, wrote to senators regarding the consequences of these vacancies.

The CCE, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the District’s courts, found that delays in Senate confirmations were the primary responsibility for the vacancies, which had deleterious effects on the District’s judicial system by causing judges to take on extra work, Nathan wrote in the letter.

“Not only does this affect sitting judges, it impedes due process for all litigants involved,” the letter reads. “The result of these increased burdensome and time-consuming demands is the postponement of justice for all parties.”

The proposed legislation follows a series of bills introduced by Norton to grant D.C. more autonomy. Her proposals include eliminating the con-

gressional review period of the District’s laws and establishing a local prosecutor.

In January, Norton introduced H.R. 1, a bill that includes language to grant D.C. statehood. The bill would give D.C. full congressional representation and self­-governance in accordance to the other 50 U.S. states. The first endorsement of D.C. statehood passed in the House of Representatives with a 234 to 193 vote March 8.

Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) tweeted that the D.C. residents are disproportionately underrepresented in Congress in a Jan. 28 tweet and voiced her support for H.R. 1.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), another longtime supporter of D.C. statehood, introduced another bill, H.R. 51, which would moves beyond endorsing to officially grant D.C. statehood, Feb. 28. The bill has 32 cosponsors.

Though the push would grant the District greater autonomy over its judicial system, it still does not grant D.C. judicial independence from the Senate. Norton does not expect the Senate to relinquish its control of nominations to the courts in the absence of D.C. statehood, she said in the news release.

“Pending statehood, when D.C. would have full control over the appointment of its local judges, the Senate may not be willing to give up complete control over D.C. judges,” Norton said.

Hoya Staff Writer Will Cassou contributed reporting.

Journalist Chris Hedges Criticizes Corporate Influence in Politics ERIKA GEBHARDT Hoya Staff Writer

Income inequality and the influence of corporate lobbyists in politics have caused a societal decline in the United States, said Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times reporter, Monday.

Hedges served as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times for 15 years, resigning after receiving a reprimand from the Times for publicly criticizing the Iraq war in 2003. In 2002, Hedges received a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting as part of a Times reporting team that profiled global terrorism both before and after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

After leaving the Times, Hedges became a senior fellow at the Nation Institute, a nonprofit media organization, and a weekly columnist for online news website Truthdig. Hedges has also written 14 books since 2002.

The discussion on Monday focused on Hedge’s latest book, America: The Farewell Tour, which was published last August. The Farewell Tour explores the detrimental effects of corporate influence in politics and flawed democracy on society.

Increasing economic disparity between middle class Americans and the corporate elite has closed off opportunities for the middle class, according to Hedges.

“The old rules, imperfect and often untrue for poor people of color, nevertheless were not a complete fiction in the United States,” Hedges said. “They offered Americans, especially those from the white, working and middle class modest social and economic advancement.”

The wealthiest one percent held 66.7 percent of the wealth in the United States in 2016, compared to 54.6 percent in 1962, while the

share held by the bottom 90 percent has dropped to 21.2 percent, according to Inequality.org, a project of the think tank Institute for Policy Studies.

The growing income inequality is one reason that leaders such as President Donald Trump gained popularity, though impeaching Trump would not resolve the disparity, Hedges said.

“Removing Trump from office without confronting the rulelessness that defines the lives of tens of millions of Americans would do nothing to restore our democracy,” Hedges said. “In fact, it would probably consolidate the power of a Christianized fascism that cloaks itself in a false morality.”

The war in former Yugoslavia, where demagogues pandered to the ethnic biases of an enraged population, was another example of decay of social order observed in his reporting, according to Hedges, who covered the war in former Yugoslavia while serving as the bureau chief of the Balkans from 1995 to 1998.

“Demagogues, and I saw this in Yugoslavia, arise from failed democracies plagued by rulelessness,” Hedges said. “They tell an enraged population what it wants to hear and crudely, to the delight of the betrayed, ridicule the elites who sold them out.”

Held in the Intercultural Center Auditorium, the event was hosted by the Lecture Fund as the organization’s 11th annual Michael E. Jurist Memorial Lecture. The memorial lecture series is held every year to honor the legacy of the late Michael Jurist (SFS ’07), who worked as Lecture Fund chair from 2006 to 2007. Previous speakers in this series have included former White House photographer Pete Souza in 2018 and Ezra Klein, the CEO of U.S. news and opinion website Vox, in 2016.

Isabelle Hupez (SFS ’19), vice

chair of finance for the Lecture Fund, highlighted Jurist’s commitment to promoting free speech in her introduction.

“As the chair of the organization, Michael shaped the mission of the Lecture Fund with his unwavering faith in the power of free speech and dialogue,” Hupez said.

“That mission carries on today.”

Corporate lobbyists also exacerbate climate change and are unlikely to change their practices without pressure, according to Hedges. Hedges urged attendees to engage in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to halt production in capital cities until the issue of climate change is addressed.

“We must, in wave after wave, carry out non-violent acts of civil disobedience to shut down the capital cities of major industrial countries, cripple commerce and transportation until the ruling elites are forced to publicly state the truth about climate catastrophe, implement radical measures to hold climate emissions by 2025, and empower citizens free of corporate control to terminate our binge on fossil fuels,” Hedges said.

Humanity has until 2030 to stop the irreparable effects of climate change that occur over 1.5 degrees celsius of warming, according to a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in October.

Despite this short timeframe, mitigating the effects may still be possible, according to Hedges.

“The more we free ourselves from the bondage of fear, to throw up barriers to the forced march towards ecocide, the more we will be evolved by a strange kind of euphoria, one I often felt as a war correspondent documenting horrific atrocities and suffering to shame the killers,” Hedges said.

“We obliterate in the acts of our defiance, despair.”

NEWS

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

THE HOYA

A9

GU Opens Masters Progam Medieval Studies Renamed Studying Infectious Disease To Reflect Global Approach MEREDITH MILLER Hoya Staff Writer

A new masters program in global infectious disease is set to launch in fall 2019. The program intends to bridge the gap between the science of infectious diseases and its public policy implications, according to the program’s website.

“Better integrating emerging infectious disease science concepts into political and social problem solving is a serious challenge that must be met,” the program website says. “Of equal importance is the growing appreciation that infectious disease scientists must become more ‘policy literate’ if they are to contribute more effectively.”

In 2016, infectious diseases were five of the top 10 causes of death in low-income countries and three out of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.

The program will be divided into two concentrations: science policy and infectious disease modeling. Prospective students apply directly to each

concentration. Though the concentrations have different core curricula, they will both require a foundational knowledge of science and math and will overlap in coursework.

Interdisciplinary analysis is crucial to finding effective solutions to disease outbreaks, according to Steven Singer, a biology professor who will codirect the program.

“Real solutions often arise out of bringing multidisciplinary perspective to a problem,” Singer said in an interview with Th e Hoy a . “Understanding the biology and chemistry of the pathogen and the host interaction is important for developing the right interventions.”

Within the policy concentration, students will focus on on international, economic and security policy as they relate to infectious disease and global health.

The modeling concentration will focus on data analysis and effectively utilizing data. It will be the only masters-level program in the United States to

SMS3STEVEN/TWITTER

The new masters program in global infectious disease plans to accept approximately 10 students in its inaugural fall 2019 class.

deal specifically with infectious disease modeling, according to the program’s website.

The new program comes after the university board of directors approved the creation of a masters program in bioinformatics, another field of study that uses computational tools to tackle scientific questions, in February.

The Center for Global Health Science and Security, a research center dedicated to studying public health emergencies established in 2016, also currently offers a doctorate program in global infectious disease. The addition of a masters program will better prepare students from undergraduate programs in global health for the workforce and bridge the gap between undergraduate and doctoral studies, according to Singer.

The program specifically intends to cultivate an expertise directly applicable to students’ professional careers, according to Rebecca Katz, who will be co-director of the program and currently serves as director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security.

“This is master’s level training that will provide a discrete set of skills that can be taken into the work world,” Katz said in an interview published by Georgetown’s Global Health Initiative, which fosters collaboration between students and faculty members to help address health challenges in the world.

The program plans to accept approximately 10 students in its inaugural class and intends to expand to an average class size of 30 to 40 graduate students, according to Singer.

Program Director Felice Apter said she is eager for the first class of students in the new masters program to arrive on campus in the fall, now that the first round of applications closed Monday.

“As the director of the program, I very much look forward to welcoming our inaugural students with a great set of orientation activities to introduce them to Georgetown and to encourage a close-knit student community,” Apter said in an interview published by the Global Health Initiative.

AFUA NYANTAKYI Hoya Staff Writer

The medieval studies program was renamed the global medieval studies program as it diversifies its curriculum by including countries outside Western Europe, director Sarah McNamer announced in a March 28 email.

The change was partially inspired by an overall shift in academia away from perspectives centered on Western Europe to one that more accurately reflects a global approach to medieval studies, according to McNamer.

“In the past couple of years, it’s partly been a nationwide change where people are thinking very much about expanding the borders of what we think of as medieval,” McNamer said in an interview with The Hoya.

The name change comes after the theology and religious studies department updated its name in February 2019. The new name reflects the curriculum’s courses outside Christianity, which are often not referred to as theology, according to program administrators.

The name change is an important step toward addressing the university’s Euro-centric curriculum, according to Nabil Kapasi, who wrote a viewpoint in 2017 accusing the university of failing to fulfill its dedication to a global perspective. (Full disclosure: Kapasi is a former member of The Hoya’s editorial board.)

“I wasn’t aware of the change in Medieval Studies program, but I think making the focus global is a great step to take,” Kapasi wrote in a message to The Hoya.

“It’s awesome to see Georgetown recognizing and fixing existing biases in its curriculum.”

The program’s wider focus challenges misconceptions of the medieval world that have been prolonged because of the program’s limited scope in the past, according to to Michelle Wang, director of undergraduate studies in art history.

“Our emphasis on the ‘global’ also pushes back against simplistic and erroneous narratives that paint the medieval world as purely Eurocentric,” Wang wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The goal of the expansion is to provide students with an interdisciplinary curriculum that ex-

FILE PHOTO: JULIA ALVEY/THE HOYA

The global medieval studies program will expose students writing theses to diverse cultures through a mandatory senior seminar next fall. amines the Middle Ages outside Europe and specifically in Asia and Africa.

Broadening the program was a logical step for Georgetown as an internationally-minded institution, according to Timothy Newfield, assistant professor in the department of history.

“It only made sense to go global,” Newfield wrote in an email to Th e Hoy a . “‘Middle Ages’ is a periodization used originally in Europe and for European history, but in recent decades scholars working on the premodern history of Central, East, South, Southeast and West Asia, as well as North and Sub-Saharan Africa have adopted the concept.”

In place of a foundation course focused on Western Europe, the program enforced a new requirement in the fall semester: Students of the major and minor need to take at least one class focusing on a geographic area outside of Europe and one class focusing on Europe.

The program is also developing a senior seminar for fall 2019 that aims to help students write their thesis on a broader range of topics, according to McNamer.

“With exposure to cultures that they may not have considered before, students are more likely to write theses that incorporate a global perspective in some way,” McNamer wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The program is also working to establish a global medieval studies minor in the School of Foreign Service to continue the

school’s effort to replace certificates with minors.

The honors track for majors, which previously required students to be proficient in Latin, or in recent years Arabic or Hebrew, now accepts proficiency in any language that facilitates research in global medieval studies.

The department also developed study abroad opportunities outside Europe to further its efforts to expand the discipline, according to Wang.

“It was exciting to read about the students’ research experiences in Zambia and the Middle East and for the faculty, it affirmed the necessity of being in the field in order to truly experience and understand the medieval world, both past and present,” Wang wrote. “This is important for faculty and students alike.”

Cross-cultural understanding, particularly for Western students, is critical to a successful curriculum, according to McNamer.

“Where it’s really interesting, important and sort of urgent is understanding other cultures beyond Western Europe,” McNamer said. “Also, students seem to really be interested in that.”

Though the changes are a welcomed development, the terminology of “medieval” still centers the program around European history, according to Kapasi.

“This might be appropriate for European history as it refers to the time between Rome and the Renaissance, but for the rest of the world it was not a ‘Middle Age,’” Kapasi wrote.

Queer Professional Group Rebrands, Aims to Expand AMY LI AND RILEY ROGERSON Hoya Staff Writers

McDonough Alliance, a student group that seeks to bridge the gap between queer students and professional opportunities, has changed its name to Georgetown LGBTQ+ Mentors and Resources and expanded events beyond career guidance to promote broader student involvement.

Changing the McDonough Alliance’s name to GLMR affirms the organization’s commitment to Georgetown LGBTQ students across all four colleges, GLMR President Tanner Daggy (MSB ’20) said.

“Our mission is to provide queer students at Georgetown with professional mentorship and information about career opportunities that they might not otherwise have access to,”

Daggy said. “We are rebranding to reinforce the McDonough Alliance’s commitment to serving all students, not just those in the MSB.” The name McDonough Alliance was misleading for students at the annual Council of Advisory Boards fair because it seemed limited to students in the McDonough School of Business, according to GLMR board member Colin Maloney (SFS ’20).

“The number one question I get at CAB fair when I table for it is, ‘Do I have to be in the MSB?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m on the board and in the School of Foreign Service,’” Maloney said. “I think it’s a good marketing change. It’s really just to emphasize our commitment to all students, not just those in the MSB.” GLMR is set to host a resume and cover letter review work-

shop in Red Square on Friday as a kick-off event for the rebranding, according to GLMR’s Facebook page. GLMR plans to begin hosting events for HIV/ AIDS testing and events supporting LGBTQ homelessness in Washington, D.C., according to Daggy.

Among its services, GLMR offers mentorship, targeted recruiting and social events to Georgetown undergraduates. Students are welcome to attend GLMR programming whether they are pursuing careers in finance, government, advocacy, medicine or any other field.

GLMR has also worked with other student groups on campus to promote LGBTQ advocacy including GU Pride, which works to provide a welcoming space for LGBTQ students, and GU Queer People of Color, which seeks to create an en-

vironment cognizant of the intersections between race, gender and sexuality and conducive to constructive conversations.

“It wasn’t until I got to college and it wasn’t until I joined McDonough Alliance that I realized what an asset being queer in the job application process is.”

TANNER DAGGY (MSB ’20) President, GLMR

The organization currently seeks to expand its presence among underclassmen as well, considering students may begin pursuing jobs early in their Georgetown career, according

to Maloney.

“We want to be there every step along the way of finding a career, whether you know what you want to do yet or whether you’re interviewing for that job after senior year,” Maloney said.

The GLMR board also aims to adjust their leadership strategy to encourage more underclassmen input, Daggy said.

“McDonough Alliance has always been pretty ‘boardcentric,’ meaning that we put on events for other people,” Daggy said. “But we hope that going forward, it’s more of a grassroots thing where the underclassmen tell us what they need from us, and we’re listening to them and giving them what they want.”

The group has also collabrated with the on-campus LGBTQ Resource Center, which celebrated its 10th anniver-

sary with OUTober, an annual monthlong programming series honoring the LGBTQ community, in October 2018.

Many LGBTQ students have unanswered questions when applying to jobs, including whether or not to put information about their identity and sexual orientation on their resume, according to Daggy. GLMR provides these students with a resource that can answer their questions and reaffirm the value of their identities, according to Daggy.

“It wasn’t until I got to college and it wasn’t until I joined McDonough Alliance that I realized what an asset being queer in the job application process is,” Daggy said. “Companies really are looking for different backgrounds, different experiences.”

A10

SPORTS

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

COMMENTARY

TRACK AND FIELD

Norris Records 4th-Fastest Hoyas Lose at Denver, Time in Program History Need to Make Changes SIDNEY LEE

Hoya Staff Writer

Members of the Georgetown men’s and women’s track and field teams travelled to Gainesville, Fla., last Thursday for the Pepsi Florida Relays, hosted by the University of Florida, to compete in a two-day meet.

While the Hoyas were ultimately outrun by their competitors, individual members of the team put up strong performances, including a runner who recorded a personal best time. One Georgetown runner, graduate student Josette Norris, travelled to Stanford and ran a personal best.

The men’s team shined brightest in the 800 meter race, in which all five Georgetown runners finished within two seconds of each other. AllAmerican sophomore Ruach

Padhal raced his way to 12th place out of 60 runners for a time of 1:49.06. All-American senior Spencer Brown finished .15 seconds behind Padhal to finish in 14th place, with just one runner from Columbia separating them.

Sophomore Lawrence Leake was looking to build on his second-place finish at the Penn Challenge on March 24 in the 400m hurdles. In Florida on March 28, Leake recorded a personal best, hitting a time of 54.1 and beating his previous record of 54.38.

The women’s team travelled to Florida and competed in the 800m as well, with two freshmen making their collegiate outdoor debuts. Freshman Sami Corman placed in the top 30 of 50 runners with a time of 2:09.93. Sophomore Olivia Arizin and freshman Cathilyn

McIntosh followed Corman by about five seconds.

Out on the West Coast, Norris ran in the Stanford Invitational on Friday. Norris wrote her name in the Georgetown history books with a personal record of 15:46.75 in the 5,000m. This record is the fourth-fastest 5,000m time in Georgetown’s history.

This meet is just the second of the outdoor season for the Hoyas, and they have a lot to build on.

Two teams from the Georgetown track and field team will travel separately this weekend for the Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., and the Sam Howell Invitational hosted by Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. Both races will take place Saturday, April 6.

NICKY PISONI

Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team needs to control possession and find more effective roles for supporting offensive midfielders to have a chance at post-season success. The Hoyas lost their second game in a row with a score of 16-9 against the Denver Pioneers on the road this past weekend. The team needs to step back and re-evaluate many aspects of their game plan to rebound from a weak start in conference play.

The first point of concern for the Hoyas (7-3, 0-2 Big East) is their difficulty in integrating the midfield unit into the offense. Six of Georgetown’s nine goals against Denver came from the attack unit.

The three starting attackmen — senior Daniel Bucaro, senior Robert Clark and junior Jake Carraway — tallied two goals each. Bucaro and Clark both registered one assist each, while Carraway notched two assists. The other three goals came from senior midfielder Lucas Wittenberg, freshman faceoff specialist James Reilly and freshman attack Dylan Watson.

All six of the goals scored by the starting attack unit were generated by the attacking line itself, with no help from the midfield. Reilly scored his goal in transition after a faceoff win; therefore, it did not come in a settled offensive opportunity for the Hoyas. Wittenberg’s goal came in the last 40 seconds of the game while the Hoyas were down 16-8 and is also not indicative of a strong midfield presence within the offense.

Two weeks ago, Georgetown had a similar outcome, with 11 of the 13 goals against Drexel scored by attackmen.

Wittenberg has had a great season thus far but lacked support from other midfielders on the offensive end. In a previous interview with The Hoya, Coach Warne expressed no concern toward the team's lack of a strong midfield presence. However, figuring out more supportive roles for midfielders other than Wittenberg and alleviating the pressure on Bucaro and Carraway seems essential to the Hoyas' success.

The Hoyas were also impeded by their lack of possession.

Reilly was able to win only 11 of 29 faceoffs. Further hampering Georgetown’s possession game was its repeated failure

to clear the ball. The Pioneers’ attack unit was incredibly effective on the ride, forcing the Hoyas to turn the ball over on four out of six attempted clears in the first quarter alone. On the other hand, Denver turned the ball over only once in the first two quarters.

Georgetown was able to stay in the game in the first quarter and the beginning of the second. However, the Pioneers capitalized on their failure to control possession, outscoring the Blue and Gray 5-2 in the second half and widening the score to a fatal gap. The Hoyas did not come within six goals of Denver for the rest of the game.

The Hoyas have five games left in the regular season, three of which are in the Big East.

They still have a solid record, but have not beaten any of their top ranked opponents. In past games against unranked teams, Georgetown has gotten away with sloppy mistakes and turnovers. However, harder opponents have been capitalizing on the Hoyas’ miscues and their attack-centric style of play. This week of practice will be crucial for the Hoyas as they continue their Big East schedule next week against Providence.

IN TRANSITION

GUHOYAS

Sophomore sprinter Nate Alleyne outruns his competitors in the Hoyas' opening outdoor meet, the Penn Challenge, on March 23. The Hoyas put up a strong performance at the Florida Relays last weekend.

SOFTBALL

GU Drops 2 Straight Big East Games at St. John’s JOANNA LACOPPOLA Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown softball team suffered two losses against St. John’s last weekend in a doubleheader at the Red Storm Softball Field in Queens, N.Y. The team’s Big East record is now 2-3, while their overall record has fallen to 9-24.

The Hoyas lost the first game 12-4 to the Red Storm. The Blue and Gray started off strong, leading 3-0 in the top of the third inning. Junior first baseman Noelle Holiday hit a home run, followed shortly by another home run from senior center fielder Sarah Bennett. Holiday’s home run, her sixth of the season, brought in two runs for Georgetown. Later in the game, sophomore infielder Savannah Jones hit her first home run of the season to help out the Hoyas.

Freshman infielder Kiki Besnard also contributed with two hits during game one. Junior Anna Brooks Pacha pitched the first four

innings for the Hoyas, letting up the first nine runs. Pacha walked four hitters and struck out three before being relieved by fellow junior pitcher Katie Vannicola.

Georgetown did not fare as well in the bottom of the third inning, with St. John’s scoring three runs.

The Red Storm went up 9-3 in the fourth inning with a combination of doubles and home runs before ultimately winning the game 12-4.

As for game two, the Red Storm took the lead early on during the bottom of the second inning, scoring off of a Georgetown error followed by a home run in the third.

Sophomore outfielder Deirdre Gallo picked up the score for the Hoyas in the top of the fourth inning after Besnard hit a single to center field. The Hoyas then tied it up 2-2 when Bennett scored, thanks to a single from senior infielder Kelly Amen. However, the scoring stopped there for the Hoyas, with the Red Storm tallying eight more runs before the game ended with a final score of 10-2.

Sophomore London Diller started off the second game for the Blue and Gray, pitching for the first four innings. Diller allowed six runs before freshman Cassie Henning took over for one inning, letting up two additional runs. Junior Casey Kozak allowed two more runs as she finished the game for the Hoyas.

Georgetown was unable to get another chance against St. John’s, for their game on Sunday was cancelled because of inclement weather. The Hoyas will return to the field this upcoming weekend, April 6 and 7, continuing Big East play with three games against DePaul at Nats Youth Academy.

The Hoyas season is shaping up a lot like 2018. They enter April with one more win and one less loss than they had at this point last year. They have also maintained a similar conference record to last year’s 1-4 coming into April. The team will need to generate more offense as they look to improve on last year’s tough season.

GUHOYAS

The Georgetown softball team fought hard last weekend but ultimately dropped both its games to St. John's on the road. The Hoyas are off to a shaky start this season at 9-24.

ILLUSTRATION BY: JANIS PARK AND BINQI CHEN/THE HOYA

Basketball MVP Determined

By Inconsistent Criteria

Vikram Sud This NBA season’s battle for the most valuable player award has been a two-horse race between Milwaukee Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and reigning MVP James Harden of the Houston Rockets. Although Harden is the favorite, the award could go to either worthy candidate based on changing criteria in the past few years.

The arguments for each player’s case are clear. Antetokounmpo has led the Bucks to the best record in the NBA, much to the shock of the rest of the league. Meanwhile, Harden has put up gaudy numbers to keep the Rockets afloat in a tougher Western Conference, made more difficult when costar teammates Chris Paul and Clint Capela were injured.

With each side having a clear reason for believing their player should win MVP, the issue lies with a lack of a clear and consistent criteria for winning the award. The award is not given to the consensus best player in the league, otherwise LeBron James would have likely won at least six out of the last eight awards, as opposed to just two in 2012 and 2013 within that eight year span.

Despite team wins and losses being important, the award is not necessarily given to the star player of the best team.

The accolade has aligned with the player whose team had the best regular season record only five out of the last eight years.

The last two seasons in particu-

lar have highlighted how the barometers for voters change each year, with Russell Westbrook winning in 2017 despite his team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, being the sixth seed in the west. Even Harden won the award last year, despite James posting historic numbers and leading a mediocre Cavaliers team to 50 wins.

Westbrook was statistically superior to Harden, as he was the first player to average a triple-double in 55 years. Westbrook and the Thunder had also just lost star Kevin Durant in free agency. He benefited from a narrative that he was more valuable to his depleted Thunder team, than Harden was to a star-filled Rockets team. Interestingly enough, this notion of Westbrook’s value seemed to be affirmed when Westbrook’s Thunder played Harden’s Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, with Houston winning in four of five games.

The 2017-18 race however, was decided by a starkly different set of criteria.

Last season, James played all 82 games for the Cavaliers team, which had just traded Kyrie Irving, and put up superior numbers to Harden outside of scoring. Although James had a marked advantage in efficiency in terms of field goal percentage, shooting percentage, compared to Harden’s 45 percent rate. However, Harden led the Rockets to a 65-17 record, which seemed to push voters in his favor. Once again, Harden clearly had a superior supporting cast to James, but this time, unlike 2016-17, his superior record was enough to give him the edge.

This season, Harden is on the other side of the argument compared to the past two seasons. He is now hoping his statistical superiority will be enough to overcome Antetok-

ounmpo leading the Bucks to a far better record.

However, if there is one takeaway to understand the past two races, it seems to be the importance of the narrative each contender crafts. Westbrook benefited heavily by breaking a historical statistical threshold with his triple-double average, while keeping the Thunder afloat after Durant left for Golden State.

Last season, Harden benefited from a dominant team record and likely some sympathy from voters after finishing as the runner-up in the voting two of the previous three seasons. While it may be frustrating to some voters that there is not a clear set of guidelines for deciding the MVP, taking the importance of the story behind each candidate maintains the intrigue of the award, and makes the selection more of an art than a science.

Antetokounmpo should be this season’s MVP because he has the more compelling narrative. The Bucks have exceeded expectations in an overwhelming manner. They are 58-20 when their preseason over/under win total is at 48.5.

Antetokounmpo also does not have a high-caliber teammate like Harden does in Paul. Meanwhile, the Rockets returned a relatively similar roster to last season’s dominant team and had a preseason over/under win total of 56.5, which they will not reach.

In Harden’s defense, stars Capela and Paul have missed significant time, but Antetokounmpo has blown away expectations in such a pronounced and unforeseen manner that should be enough for him to win his first MVP. Vikram Sud is a sophomore in the College. IN TRANSITION appears in print every other Friday.

SPORTS

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

BASEBALL

THE HOYA

A11

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Liotta Nets 4; Georgetown Wins 2nd Straight BUTLER, from A12

GUHOYAS

Junior first baseman Freddy Achecar III went 1-for-3 with a run scored in the 4-1 win over George Mason on April 3.

GU Drops 2 of 3 Games at East Tennessee State BASEBALL, from A12

again failed to capitalize on its hitting, scoring just one run on eight hits in another loss, this time by a margin of 11-1.

Graduate student outfielder Kyle Ruedisili had a double and an RBI, driving in the Hoyas’ lone run with a sacrifice fly to center in the third inning. Sophomore infielder Eddie McCabe and freshman designated hitter Michael Willis each went two for three with two singles.

Georgetown gave up 11 hits in the first four innings alone, five of which went for extra bases. East Tennessee State scored early and often, jumping out to a 9-1 lead after four innings. The Buccaneers added two more runs in the sixth and cruised to an 11-1 victory.

The Hoyas finally snapped their losing streak on Sunday with a 5-3 win over the Buccaneers, ending a seven-game drought dating back to March 17. Georgetown needed only two pitchers the entire ballgame: senior right-hander Jack Cushing and junior righthander Nick Morreale.

Cushing started the game, earning the win on five and two thirds innings pitched and

town goals, 10 of them were unassisted, demonstrating a high level of confidence and ability throughout the offense.

The second half saw little difference in the contest, as Liotta and Gebhardt led a four-goal run to start the final frame.

The Bulldogs responded with its final score of the game, and the half ended just as it started, with another four unanswered goals by the Hoyas.

This victory was welcomed by the team, marking a return to form as Big East play commences. With a balanced offensive attack and a strong defense to back it up, Georgetown seems to be hitting its stride as it enters a critical stretch of contests.

In their next matchup, the Hoyas look to gain another Big East conference win against No. 15 Denver (9-2, 1-0) on Cooper Field. The game will take place Saturday, April 6, at noon.

MARGARET FOUBERG/THE HOYA

Junior midfielder Natalia Lynch cradles downfield in a home win over UC Davis on March 24.

Lynch tallied two goals and two assists in the Hoyas’ 20-11 victory over the Mustangs.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Hoyas’ Postseason Closes Against Dukes JMU, from A12

two runs allowed, both unearned. Morreale closed the final three innings, striking out four and picking up his first save of the season.

The Hoyas came alive Sunday afternoon, producing 11 hits and five runs. Freshman infielder Alex Rosen led the way with two RBI doubles down the left-field line. Weisenberg also delivered a pair of RBI hits. The season-high six doubles helped the Hoyas seal a 5-3 victory and avoid the dreaded series sweep.

With the 2-1 loss of the series, the Hoyas fell to 7-21 on the season. Despite the poor record, Head Coach Pete Wilk is not panicked heading into conference play.

“We challenged ourselves early. We’ve played better competition than almost everybody we’ve ever started with,” Wilk said in an interview with The Hoya. “We need to take ownership of it. You are what your record says, but I do think we are a better baseball team than our numbers say.”

The Hoyas return home Wednesday, April 3, to take on George Mason. Georgetown then travels to Xavier for a three-game series, opening Big East Conference play on Friday, April 5.

Down 16 with limited time remaining in the fourth, Georgetown faced its largest deficit up to that point. The lead for the Dukes hit 18 shortly after the timeout, but the Hoyas fought back by scoring eight consecutive points to cut the lead down to 10. Ultimately, Georgetown failed to muster up enough offensive firepower to erase the gap and fell 54-44.

For Georgetown, Adomako and White led the way offensively with 16 and 10 points,

respectively. Coach Howard highlighted the play of his two high scorers, and praised James Madison for stopping them.

“I thought it was a struggle offensively early on for our two seniors. We kind of fought and hung around and we made a run in the third quarter to try and get it back. Hats go off to JMU, they played hard and had some key shots. They’re a solid team and what they did today was pretty good,” Howard said in an interview with GU Hoyas after the game.

With the loss, the Hoyas fin-

ish the season with an overall record of 19-16 and 9-9 in the Big East, which places them at fourth in the conference. The women improved their overall record from 16-16 last year while matching their conference record.

Georgetown needed to overcome a midseason conference slump that saw them drop six of eight games to make a second consecutive postseason appearance. The women rallied by winning six of their last nine games starting Feb. 1.

Georgetown also advanced to

the Big East semifinal for the second straight season, marking the first time the team had accomplished this goal in school history.

With the departure of its top three scorers, White, Adomako and graduate student guard Mikayla Venson, the team will have to rely on younger talent and incoming recruits to fill the void in offense. The veteran trio averaged 17, 16.5 and 10.6 points per game for the Hoyas this season and tremendously helped the team down the stretch.

Last issue’s solutions

2 7 1 6 8 5 3 4 9

6 3 9 4 7 2 1 5 8

8 5 4 1 9 3 6 7 2

7 2 6 3 4 9 8 1 5

9 8 3 5 1 7 4 2 6

4 1 5 2 6 8 9 3 7

3 9 2 8 5 1 7 6 4

5 4 7 9 3 6 2 8 1

1 6 8 7 2 4 5 9 3

MARGARET FOUBERG/THE HOYA

Graduate student guard Dorothy Adomako, right, drives to the basket during the Hoyas’ first round WNIT 90-59 win over Sacred Heart on March 22. Georgetown went on to lose in quarterfinals to James Madison 54-44. Adomako led the team with 16 points.

SUDOKU

DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?

7 5

8 9 5 4 6 4 1 8 7 2 6 4 9 2 3 1 5 7 1 6 9

Trust James’ Legacy Over Zion’s Potential

6 3

ZANGWILL, from A12

8 3 6 8 2

collapse remains. On the other hand, James is not a guessing game. He has 16 years of NBA basketball as evidence for his success.

James has averaged 27 points per game to go along with seven assists and seven rebounds per game in his career. He has earned four MVP awards, most recently in 2013. In the process, he has led teams of relatively low quality to nine NBA Finals, winning three of them, including in 2016 against the Golden State Warriors, who that year held the best single season record in NBA history at 73-9.

All of that withstanding, the talk of the town is that he is

declining. While it is true that the Lakers will miss the playoffs this year, some context is needed to fully understand their underachieving.

For all the talk about how Williamson is going to be great, James already is.

The Lakers also missed the playoffs the previous five seasons before James’ arrival.

While this year may not have been his best, it certainly was not his worst. James averaged more points, rebounds and assists per game than his career averages, all while shooting a better percentage from the field.

By the ultimate measure of team success, his squad came up short. That being said, the decline of James has been greatly exaggerated.

While Williamson’s NBA prospect is risky, James’ is sure.

In a time when players rest because they played the previous night or because of fatigue, James is the iron man of basketball. He has started at least 75 games in 12 different seasons, including all 82 just one year ago.

James is a risk-free asset that delivers the highest return — a rarity in the sports world today. For all the talk about how Williamson is going to be great, James already is — the argument need not go any further. Fortunately for the Lakers, Cowherd recognized the minimal probability that a trade like this would ever happen. Williamson has had difficulty in his own shoes this season. It is hard to imagine him trying to fill those of LeBron James.

Grant Zangwill is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business. DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT? appears in print every other Friday.

Sports

Women’s Lacrosse Georgetown (7-4) vs. Denver (9-2) Saturday, April 6, 12 p.m.

Cooper Field

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

NUMBERS GAME

TALKING POINTS

MEN’S LACROSSE The Hoyas lost their second game in a row with a score of 16-9 against the Denver Pioneers on the road last weekend.

See A10

“

It was a much better experience than I expected, so everyone was psyched coming out of that.”

Sailing Coach Michael Callahan

41

The number of goals the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team scored in its past two games.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

BASEBALL

GU Obliterates Butler in Conference Opener HENRY MIHM

Hoya Staff Writer

East Tennessee State by a score of 4-0. Junior pitcher Jeremiah Burke started the game for the Hoyas, striking out six batters and allowing three earned runs in six innings pitched. Junior first baseman Freddy Achecar III and senior second baseman Ryan Weisenberg each had a pair of singles.

The Georgetown offense produced seven hits in the ballgame, but failed to convert any of those baserunners into runs.

The Hoyas left two runners on base in the second, sixth and ninth innings. Conversely, the Buccaneers’ offense was efficient, scoring four runs on only five total hits.

On Saturday, Georgetown

In its Big East conference opener, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team travelled to Indianapolis, where they defeated Butler 21-3 on March 30.

With this dominant victory, the Hoyas (7-4, 1-0 Big East), now ranked No. 22 in the nation, secured their second straight win, while the struggling Bulldogs (3-8, 0-1) extended their losing streak to three games.

The game also snaps a winless three-game road trip for the team.

The Georgetown offense was humming Saturday afternoon, as 13 players each contributed at least one point for the Hoyas.

Leading the way was junior midfielder Liza Liotta, who buried four goals, followed by senior attack Taylor Gebhardt, who put up a hat trick. Other valuable contributors were junior attack Michaela Bruno and senior attack Morgan Ryan, who each added two goals and an assist.

The offensive performance was supported by a solid defense. The Hoyas forced 17 turnovers and succeeded in all 20 of their clear attempts, while senior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo made seven saves.

The Hoyas opened the game up with a six-goal onslaught, bookended by scores from Gebhardt. The Bulldogs bit back with a goal of their own just after the midpoint of the first half. However, Georgetown responded with a 7-1 run, making the score 13-2 in favor of the visitors after the first frame.

Of the 13 first-half George-

See BASEBALL, A11

See BUTLER, A11

GUHOYAS

Senior pitcher Jack Cushing started in the Hoyas’ 5-3 win over the Buccaneers. Cushing allowed two runs in five innings.

Hoyas Start Off Conference Play On High Note TIM ROTERMUND Special to The Hoya

Last weekend, the Georgetown baseball team travelled to Johnson City, Tenn., for a three-game series against East Tennessee State University. The Hoyas lost the first two games but battled back with a seasonhigh six doubles to capture the final game.

Entering the series, the Hoyas (7-21) were in desperate need of a win, looking to snap a fourgame losing streak. The Buccaneers (21-6), on the other hand, were riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak and had won nine of their last 10 games.

On Friday, Georgetown failed to end its losing streak, falling to

MARGARET FOUBERG/THE HOYA

Senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst cradles the ball up the field against UC Davis on March 24.

The Hoyas next play No. 18 Denver on April 6. The team has scored 41 goals in its last two wins.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Basketball Season Ends in WNIT Quarters BRENDAN DOLAN Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown women’s basketball team finished their season with a 54-44 loss in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals at James Madison University on March 31. The contest was defined by a number of quick runs by James Madison which ultimately prevented the Hoyas from overtaking the Dukes. For Georgetown, the loss prevents the women from advancing to the WNIT semifinals, a feat that the team has yet to accomplish in its history.

The matchup marked the second time that the Dukes

(29-5, 17-1 Colonial) and the Hoyas (19-16, 9-9 Big East) have squared off this season. Early in the season, James Madison took the first matchup 69-57 in November. The result at the WNIT provides the Hoyas with solid momentum heading into Head Coach James Howard’s third season, as the team was able to advance to the tournament quarterfinal for the first time since 2009.

Georgetown started slow to open the first, as they quickly found themselves down 12-2 halfway through the quarter.

Freshman guard Nikola Kovacikova lifted the Hoyas out of the slump, however, knocking down a pair of triples that

helped the team cut the score to a 12-10 deficit by the end of the first quarter.

However, the second quarter began in a fashion similar to the first and the Dukes soon embarked on an 11-0 run to recapture control of the game.

Georgetown was able to weather the storm before the end of the half by closing the gap to 25-17.

Early in the third, the margin between the two teams grew to 13. Once again, the Hoyas managed to cut the lead to single digits after back-to-back buckets from junior forward Anita Kelava and senior guard Dionna White. Down 34-23 a few moments later, the Hoyas clawed

back into the game by starting a 7-2 run that made the game 36-30. Georgetown kept up the pressure to close out the final two minutes of the quarter, as graduate student guard Dorothy Adomako hit a jumper and White buried a contested three in the period’s closing seconds to make it 39-35.

Once again, the Dukes responded to the Hoyas’ pressure by regathering themselves and catching fire offensively.

Though junior guard Morgan Smith’s free throw made it 4136, the Hoyas quickly fell victim to an 11-0 spurt that forced Howard to call a timeout.

See JMU, A11

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Freshman guard Nikola Kovacikova, right, dribbles down the court during Georgetown’s WNIT win over Sacred Heart. The Hoyas then advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals with wins over Harvard and Providence, losing to James Madison on March 31.

Visit us online at thehoya.com/category/sports

DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?

Grant Zangwill

Struck by Zion’s Talent, Cowherd Takes Bold Stance I thought I could make it past my fifth column. Week after week, I have resisted the urge to weigh in on debates over LeBron James, despite their frequency. What a better world it would be if all of the sports debate shows could give even one segment to tennis or hockey.

Despite my desire to avoid the LeBron vacuum, I have been drawn in by the comments of Fox Sports 1’s Colin Cowherd.

While Cowherd has not built permanent residency in the LeBron fan club like his colleagues Nick Wright and Shannon Sharpe, he has avoided the anti-LeBron ravings of Skip Bayless and Jason Whitlock.

Last week on his talk show, The Herd, Cowherd proposed the hypothetical of trading James for star Duke University forward Zion Williamson. Although Williamson’s talent is undeniable, I think Cowherd is too caught up in his potential and is dismissing James’ greatness.

He compares the two star basketball players to stocks — James is declining, and Williamson is on the rise.

“The only reason you would not make this decision is fear,”

Cowherd said.

Further, Cowherd cites the numerous basketball experts in professional and collegiate circles who have come to a consensus: Williamson is going to be great.

Cowherd is valuing a college basketball player greater than the best NBA player of all time or, even by the harshest standards, a top-10 NBA player. For comparison, Williamson is still in college and is 18 years old.

Let us continue with Cowherd’s stock analogy. You do not have to be in the MSB to know the importance of minimizing risk. Williamson has never played in the NBA. While no one can question his excellence at Duke this season, any thoughts about his professional career are mere speculation.

He certainly has a lot of potential. So did Sam Bowie, a star center at Kentucky in 1984, and Greg Oden, a standout big man at Ohio State in 2007. Both players who completely flopped in the NBA. I am not here to argue that Williamson’s career will fail as theirs did, but the potential of See ZANGWILL, A11