The Hoya: December 7, 2018

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 100, No. 14, © 2018

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018

A Change of Art

Check out Georgetown’s visual arts, the result of a long-developing culture.

EDITORIAL Georgetown must include women in leadership positions across the university.

DCPS NAMES NEW CHANCELLOR A new DCPS chancellor was named,, ending a six-month search process.

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A7

Facilities Employees Reveal Title IX Proposal, GU Policies Institutional Challenges Face Student Criticism in Sessions MEENA MORAR Hoya Staff Writer

The smooth operations of Georgetown University’s maintenance rely on employees of the Office of Planning and Facilities Management to respond to work requests. Yet, several of these work-

ers feel overworked, underpaid and unprotected against mistreatment by their management team. Under a new trade-based work delegation, facilities workers have faced a large number of work requests and insufficient institutional support for addressing work-related grievances, as two

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

Facilities workers feel mistreated by Georgetown and unsupported by their union after structural changes to the work-assignment system.

anonymous employees, referred to by the pseudonyms Leo and Sam, said in interviews with The Hoya.

A SHIFT IN STRATEGY

From 2014 to 2017, Facilities shifted delegation of work requests from a zone-based to a trade-based structure, according to former interim Vice President of Planning and Facilities Management Greg Simmons. Under the zone-based system, workers were responsible for maintenance tasks in specific buildings, while the trade-based structure allocates duties based on workers’ skill specialization. During this transition, Robin Morey served as the Vice President of Planning and Facilities Management. Morey left in July 2018, and Simmons filled the role until Benjamin Kuo took office Dec. 1. As Facilities transitioned to trade-based delegation, however, workers felt a significant shift in their roles without preparation or support. For example, the trade-based structure placed Sam — a general building maintenance worker before the switch — in the plumbing skill shop, without the training or wage increase associated with skill specialization. A skill shop is a department within Facilities that includes workers to reflect their area of expertise. “As a building maintenance worker, you’re not allowed to be in a skilled shop,” Sam said. “You See FACILITIES, A6

SANA RAHMAN Hoya Staff Writer

Students criticized Georgetown University’s current response to sexual assault and the upcoming changes to Title IX regulations that could lessen the university’s legal obligation to combat assault during campus feedback sessions Monday and Thursday. The U.S. Department of Education is holding a 60-day public comment period after its Nov. 16 release of a series of recommendations that would bolster protections for students accused of sexual assault in a number of ways, including by raising the standard of certainty needed to sanction accused students. Georgetown chose to host a series of feedback sessions to gather student input on how they hope the university will respond to the proposed regulations, according to Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Rosemary Kilkenny (LAW ’87), a coordinator for the events. The Education Department’s proposed allowance for cross-examination of the survivor by the accused student’s adviser was a major concern of students present at the first session, according to data collected from the event’s RSVP form. Students questioned whether Georgetown would provide

GUSA Exec to Prioritize Transparency MADELINE CHARBONNEAU Hoya Staff Writer

Transparency, student health and advocacy are key focuses of the Georgetown University Student Association executive, according to President Juan Martinez (SFS ’20) and Vice President Kenna Chick (SFS ’20). Martinez and Chick took office this fall after the resignations of former President Sahil Nair (SFS ’19), Vice President Naba Rahman (SFS ’19), Chief of Staff Aaron Bennett (COL ’19) and nine other members of the GUSA executive. Nair resigned Sept. 11 amid sexual misconduct allegations. Martinez, who was transition chair of the GUSA senate at the time of the resignations, became president Sept. 16 in accordance with GUSA bylaws. Martinez nominated Chick to be vice president Oct. 1, and she took office Oct. 2. The pair is emphasizing transparency among GUSA, the university and the student body, according to Martinez. Martinez and Chick, along with GUSA’s department of student engagement, are holding weekly office hours in an effort to build this transparency. The pair also plans to hold monthly state of the campus addresses, in addition to the annual February address, the two said. Martinez and Chick have also begun working with efforts with university Chief

FEATURED

Operating Officer Geoffrey Chatas (CAS ’85) to improve communication between the university and students, according to Chick. “For transparency, specifically, we just honestly wanted to rebuild GUSA from the ground up,” Chick said. “A lot of the different changes we made within our cabinet was reflective of that, but we also wanted to reach out to different groups. We wanted to make sure that GUSA itself was being transparent and also reflective of the student body.”

“GUSA is not very representative of a lot of intersectional identities usually, and so I want to make sure that they’re being recognized.” JUAN MARTINEZ (SFS ’20) President, GUSA

GUSA also plans to build a new website in January to improve student access to information about the organization, according to Martinez. “In the past, we’ve had a website that’s just extremely inaccessible,” Martinez said. “It’s very ugly — that’s some-

thing we want to work on: a new website in January, to make sure that people know that there are status updates on different projects.” The organization’s current website was hacked on Sept. 7, four days before the resignations. The landing page title was changed to a gray screen reading, “Has the President resigned?” referencing Nair. Though the page was changed shortly after to read “Georgetown University Student Association,” the photos previously on the page were not returned. Martinez and Chick did not regain access to the website until Nov. 16, according to Martinez. The hacker had set up a two-factor authentication system that required a code sent to the hacker’s phone, preventing others from accessing the website’s editing platform, Martinez said. Martinez and Chick are committed not only to transparency, but also to improving support systems available to students, including resources available to survivors of sexual assault from on-campus student groups Martinez and Chick are also working to rewrite language in blueprint training, a program for student club leaders on handling survivor support and sexual misconduct reporting, according to Chick. “We expect people to intuitively be able to handle these

issues and say the right things, but unfortunately that’s not the case most of the times,” Chick said. “A lot of students may find it very difficult to be on the receiving end of the information and not be able to provide the correct resources to the survivors.” The executive’s push comes amid widespread student criticism over the university’s lack of a permanent Title IX coordinator and as the university is holding listening sessions to hear student input on the Department of Education’s proposed Title IX regulation changes, which could limit supportive measures available to survivors through the university. The GUSA executive members also plan to encourage the university to hire a student well-being coordinator, who would analyze the causes of stress culture and work to implement solutions to mitigate the issue, according to Chick. The executive members also hope to represent the full student body and recognize student advocacy outside of GUSA, according to Martinez. “GUSA is not very representative of a lot of intersectional identities usually, and so I want to make sure that they’re being recognized but also that they have some sort of access to institutional support on behalf of GUSA,” Martinez said. “I think that’s our biggest purpose here.”

legal counsel to all parties involved, as those of lower socioeconomic backgrounds could be unfairly affected. If the university does not provide counsel for all students, students who cannot hire a lawyer will have their capacities to advocate for themselves limited, according to Georgetown University Student Association senator Dylan Hughes (COL ’19). “You will see that classist implication of some students hiring lawyers under the name of advisers, and others not being able to,” Hughes said said at the Monday feedback session. In the second session, students focused on the provision that provides a formal definition of sexual harassment. The definition requires that unwelcome conduct be “severe, pervasive and objectively offensive” to be perceived as sexual harassment. The additional requirement of all three qualifications for behavior to be considered sexual harassment makes it harder for survivors to provide proof, according to Students Taking Action Against Interpersonal Violence member Kory Stuer (COL ’19). “The change to the ‘and’ is a very significant change,” Stuer said at the Thursday feedback session. “Particularly in the last few years where we have seen movements like #MeToo and the emergence of ‘Times

Up,’ I personally feel that it is incredibly important that we are not going backwards in the context of these movements.” Catherine Guttman-McCabe, a partner at Potomac Law Group who was involved in formulating Georgetown’s current policies on sexual misconduct, facilitated the feedback session, which also included Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson. The student feedback will help the university formulate its draft comments on the proposals, according to Olson. The coordinators, who include Olson, Kilkenny and GuttmanMcCabe, will make the comments public to the student body in January before making their official submission. Georgetown administrators have sought to use these sessions to listen to the student body’s concerns before taking action, according to Olson. “We know it is our responsibility to get to a point where the university has a clear position on these issues,” Olson said. “We believed it was not appropriate to start with that, but rather we believed it was appropriate to start with listening.” Students present at the first session were disappointed with the level of the university’s engagement in See TITLE IX, A6

MOURNING PRESIDENT H.W. BUSH

KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA

President George H. W. Bush, who died Nov. 30, was given a state funeral in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5. Story on A5.

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

Women in Iran Leading Iranian activists discussed reforming policies toward women in the Middle East in a Dec. 5 panel. A5

The Illusion of Brexit Despite unrealistic dreams painted by proponents of leaving the EU, Brexit negotiations satisfy no one. A3

A Win at Home The Georgetown men’s basketball team defeated Liberty University 88-78 at Capital One Arena on Monday. A12

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

HoyaTHON Breaks Records Georgetown’s dance marathon raised over $41,000 for D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital on Dec. 1. A5

Include Nontheistic Dialogue Georgetown must listen to religiously unaffiliated students to further interreligious dialogue. A3

Final Four Heartbreak The women’s soccer team fell 1-0 to UNC in double overtime Nov. 30, ending a historically successful season. A12

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