GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 101, No. 9, © 2019
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019
Basketball Preview
Learn about the men’s and women’s hoops teams as the 2019-20 season gets underway next week.
EDITORIAL GUSA has implemented necessary internal reform but lacks timelines in advocacy goals.
THE BEE’S KNEES Georgetown is applying to become the first Bee Campus in the District.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A8
New GU Initiative Francis, Olvera Reflect on Term Progress Seeks Partnerships The pair hopes to push the university to enact further change With Descendants KATRINA SCHMIDT AND CADY STANTON Hoya Staff Writers
MYROSLAV DOBROSHYNSKYI Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown University will launch an initiative supporting community-based projects with GU272 descendants after a student referendum in April voted in favor of a reconciliation fund to benefit the descendants. The initiative, which will include an advisory board composed of faculty, students, alumni staff and descendants, will support new projects focused on education, research
and service under the advisement of the descendant communities, University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) announced in a campuswide email Tuesday. However, the initiative will not incorporate the fee proposed by the April student referendum. In addition to the primary projects of the initiative, the university will also form two additional advisory groups to continue the university’s academic and research initiatives See GU272, A6
KIRK ZEISER/THE HOYA
The university has announced a community-based projects initiative in place of implementing a semersterly fee voted on in an April referendum.
Georgetown University Student Association President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20) are hard-set on achieving their campaign promise of institutional reform, whether these goals come to fruition during or after their terms as executives. Focusing on the transparency and accessibility of their administration, Francis and Olvera have worked toward fulfilling their campaign priorities laid out earlier this year. In their term, the executives have attempted to implement change within their positions while also focusing on laying a framework for the president and vice president to come after them. Francis and Olvera were elected in February with 51% of the vote in the final round of voting. The pair’s election cycle saw a voter turnout of 32%, or 2,185 students casting votes: the lowest voter turnout in a GUSA executive election since 2007, which saw 2,121 votes. Halfway through their term as GUSA executives, Francis and Olvera sat down for an interview with The Hoya on Oct. 27 to reflect on their administration’s accomplishments, their expectations for the rest of their term and long-standing issues on campus, including the GU272 referendum.
MAGGIE FOUBERG/THE HOYA
Georgetown University Student Association President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20) sat down for an interview with The Hoya on Oct. 27.
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESSIBILITY
During their campaign for the executive seats earlier this year, Francis and Olvera ran on a platform of “T.R.A.P.”: transparency, reform, accessibility and progress. To increase the transparency and accessibility of the administration, the pair has implemented two new online platforms for the organization — bitly.com/gusa-library and
bitly.com/gusa-comment — for the student body to use. The executives created the first online platform, which publishes all meeting notes and executive press releases, to distribute their administration’s work, while the second serves as a place to receive student feedback. “That’s one of the big things that we launched that not a lot of people know about,” Olvera said. “We could probably do a better job of publicizing it.
That’s something that we really, really wanted to focus on around transparency.” Staying true to its campaign priorities throughout the rest of its term remains the goal of the administration, according to Olvera. “We haven’t lost touch with what we ran on, and I think it’s been really great that we’ve actually continued doing that same See FRANCIS/OLVERA, A6
Hong Kong Protests Spur Alumni Celebration Relocation GRACE BUONO Hoya Staff Writer
John Carroll Weekend, an annual alumni celebration set to take place April 16 to 19, 2020, will no longer be held in Hong Kong as a result of the city’s ongoing political unrest. The Georgetown University Alumni Association announced its decision to move the four-day event in an Oct. 23 update on the JCW website. Though the celebration, which is open to all alumni, will no longer be held in Hong Kong, JCW is still set to take place the same weekend. The university has not yet announced the new location. JCW typically features unique city tours, dozens of educational panels and social events. The weekend culminates with a banquet, celebrating the recipients of the John Carroll Award and Patrick Healy Award, which are awarded to alumni whose achievements exemplify the ideals of Georgetown and its founder, John Carroll. While JCW has been held across the United States and internationally in cities like Rome and Madrid, the event has never been hosted in Asia. After a successful international alumni reunion in
FEATURED
Hong Kong in 2015 and other regional Georgetown events, bringing JCW to Asia was the next step, according to Executive Director of the Alumni Association Julia Farr (CAS ’88). “We have been developing our relationship with our community in Asia for many years,” Farr said in an interview with The Hoya. “This is a great time where we can go and have a wider celebration.”
“We’re deeply committed to our alumni in Asia. We’re going back. And when it’s the right time, we’ll plan for this again.” JULIA FARR (CAS ’88) Executive Director, Alumni Association
Joan Shang (SFS ’08), the president of the Hong Kong chapter of the Alumni Club, wrote that she was eager to share her city with fellow alumni. “I was quite happy for the opportunity to present my
city to my fellow Hoyas from all over the world, though also quite aware of the logistical challenges of planning an event from halfway across the world,” Shang wrote in an email to The Hoya. The Hong Kong weekend was expecting 1,200 alumni from across all of Georgetown’s nine graduate and undergraduate schools. But, over the past few months, alumni began notifying the Alumni Association that they would no longer attend the event given the ongoing political protests in Hong Kong, which have continued since June, according to Farr. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam introduced legislation in February that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to mainland China, igniting massive protests across the city. Lam has since withdrawn the bill, but protestors continue to call for institutional reforms in Hong Kong, such as addressing police brutality and increasing democratic freedom. Ultimately, the event was canceled because of the logistical challenges that the uncertain political environment posed for an event of See JCW, A6
KASSIDY ANGELO FOR THE HOYA
Call Your Mother, a popular Petworth bagel deli, is at the center of local debate as officials weighed granting the Georgetown location an exception to zoning rules.
2 Local Government Officials Oppose New Bagel Deli Location JAIME MOORE-CARILLO Hoya Staff Writer
Two prominent local government leaders recently penned letters opposing Call Your Mother’s planned opening at the corner of 35th and O streets, despite an earlier vote to allow the deli to operate in the residential neighborhood. Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E Commissioner Rick Murphy and Washington, D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) wrote to the Board of Zoning Adjustment call-
ing for the denial of a pending zoning application that would allow the deli’s opening. The BZA, which approves exceptions to zoning rules, was scheduled to hear the deli’s case Wednesday. On Wednesday, the zoning board postponed its ruling to Dec. 4 to gather more information on how Call Your Mother, which already has a popular Petworth location, could address concerns, according to the deli’s founder and owner Andrew Dana. “Obviously we wished they had made a decision yesterday because we are paying
rent on the space and have already hired some people for this,” Dana said in a Thursday interview with The Hoya. “We promise we’re going to be good neighbors, and this worst-case scenario that the neighbors are worried about is simply not going to happen.” Four residents who live near the intersection also wrote to the BZA in opposition to the deli’s opening. However, five supporters submitted letters expressing their approval of the project. See CALL YOUR MOTHER, A6
NEWS
OPINION
GUIDE
Gillibrand Visits Campus The former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate spoke on the importance of diversity in public service. A5
Wealth Redistribution Haley Talati (COL ’20) argues that the Bible encourages governments’ role in alleviating income inequality. A3
Acceptance on the Airwaves Children’s media have begun including LGBTQ representation into their shows, presenting more diverse stories. B2
NEWS
OPINION
GUIDE
First Dharmalaya The first consecrated multi-Dharmic space on a U.S. college campus will open in Copley Hall in spring 2020. A7
CAPS Fails Students Elena Evans (COL ’22) details how CAPS failed her when she most needed support. A3
A Soulless Icon Kanye West’s new album “Jesus Is King” fails to live up to the artist’s legacy or redeem his divisive behavior. B4
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