GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 96, No. 29, © 2015
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015
THE HOYA SPORTS EXTRA
Immerse yourself in Georgetown fan culture with the relaunch of this sports-dedicated page.
COMMENTARY When abroad long enough, one can find a home anywhere.
SECOND CHANCE No. 21 men’s basketball team will aim to avenge its loss to Xavier.
OPINION, A3
SPORTS, A10
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HFC Leads 8-Hour Protest Emma Rizk
Hoya Staff Writer
As approximately 500 people gathered for the 16th Annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life in Gaston Hall on Saturday, around 20 members of H*yas for Choice, a pro-choice student group unaffiliated with the university, staged an eight-hour protest in Healy Circle. At last year’s conference, H*yas for Choice protesters were removed from Healy Circle by the Georgetown University Police Department. In September, GUPD mistakenly removed H*yas for Choice protesters from 37th Street during an event in which the university bestowed an honorary degree on Donald Cardinal Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington. At Saturday’s conference, the police did not approach protesters or comment on their presence. Conference attendees came from colleges and high schools across the country and included faculty, clergy and young professionals from the D.C. area. The conference aimed to focus on the value of human life and encourage pro-life dialogue with lectures such as “Theology of the Body: Building a Culture of Awe and Wonder” and “Mercy and Forgiveness: A Life Issue Even for the Guilty.” The Conference on Life is unique compared to other conferences that convene in the area during the days leading up to the March for Life, conference co-director Evelyn Flashner (COL ’15) said. “From our position at a Catholic university, we take as our duty and our pleasure to invite more intellectually rigorous speakers,
FILE PHOTO: ISABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA
The CISR vote was scheduled for Jan. 16, prompting a GU Fossil Free-led rally, but the results were not released until Monday night.
CISR Rejects Fossil Free Plan Toby Hung
Hoya Staff Writer
The Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility voted against GU Fossil Free’s divestment proposal Monday night and instead recommended to the university’s board of directors a program of targeted divestment, strategic engagement and continuing assessment as an alternative course of action. The decision, which was originally scheduled to be released after CISR’s meeting Jan. 16, came after months of negotiations between GU Fossil Free, CISR and the university on GU Fossil Free’s proposal for the university to divest from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. CISR, which consists of 12 voting members including four students,
DANIEL SMITH/THE HOYA
The 16th Annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life took place Saturday, and saw uninterrupted protest from H*yas for Choice. not necessarily Catholic, who will address these issues not necessarily from an activist perspective but more of a perspective of intelligent debate. That’s always been one of our missions,” Flashner said. The conference opened with a keynote address by His Eminence Sean Cardinal O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, and ended with a panel discussion titled “The End of Intelligent Debate.” Flashner and the conference board of directors aimed to foster a debate about
what Flashner said was a “disturbing” tendency to distort and sensationalize abortion. “It’s addressing this tendency to shut down debate and use euphemisms and rhetoric to cover up the real issue at hand,” Flashner said regarding the final panel. “To any seriously held belief on abortion, whether pro legalized abortion or against it, I think it’s essential to look at abortion as honestly as
Corp Shutters Stores For Coffee Transition Katherine Richardson Hoya Staff Writer
The Corp will close its three coffee services, Uncommon Grounds, Midnight Mug and More Uncommon Grounds, in a staggered schedule from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 to accommodate an institution-wide change in coffee vendor and coffee brewing equipment. Uncommon Grounds will close on Wednesday and Thursday; Midnight Mug will close on Friday and Saturday; and More Uncommon Grounds, which is closed on weekends, will be shut Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Closing the stores will allow technicians to install new coffee equipment in each store, including brewers,
See CONFERENCE, A6
CUATES RAIDED
three professors and five university administrators, will present its recommendation to the Committee on Finance and Administration of the board of directors in a meeting in February. According to a document released by CISR last night and a separate statement from CISR Chair and Georgetown University Law Center Associate Dean for Transitional Programs Jim Feinerman, the majority of CISR members voted against full divestment, though no tally was released. However, a majority also supported an alternative approach to divestment that reflects the moral, environmental and fiduciary concerns of the university. “After lengthy discussion, CISR See RECOMMENDATION, A6
New Hindu Chaplain Resigns
espresso grinders and cleaning equipment. During this time, Students of Georgetown, Inc. will also transition from its current brand of coffee, Mayorga Coffee, to Compass Coffee. Compass Coffee, according to Moore, will cost five to 10 more cents per cup than Mayorga Coffee, but it will also significantly increase coffee quality. “This is something that we’ve had to put a lot of work into over the past four months … but it’s something that we’re really excited about because we know that a lot of people want to see even higher-quality coffee products,” Corp COO Patrick Moore (MSB ’15) said.
Deirdre Collins Hoya Staff Writer
The university’s first Hindu chaplain, Pratima Dharm, announced her imminent resignation from her position Jan. 22, citing personal reasons. Dharm, 43, who began working at Georgetown in October, will leave the university Jan. 31 and said she will retire from the U.S. military, where she served as the Army’s first Hindu chaplain for eight years before taking her position at the university. Dharm declined to elaborate on the reasons for her resignation. In an email sent Jan. 23, Vice President for Mission and Ministry Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., informed the Hindu community of Dharm’s decision and commended her for her work at Georgetown. “We respect her decision to leave for personal reasons,” O’Brien wrote.“We appreciate that she did not make this decision lightly, as she enjoyed her ministry
See COFFEE, A6 FILE PHOTO: ARIEL POURMORADY/THE HOYA
Undercover police officers seized fake identifications from Georgetown students Saturday at Los Cuates. Names will be referred to the university. Manager Sergio Kehl said Monday night that the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration had yet to reach out.
See CHAPLAIN, A6
FEATURED NEWS Pope Francis
NEWS GU Energy Prize
The 50 towns were named semifinalists for the $5 million prize. A5
Opinion Editorial FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
Uncommon Grounds is one of three Corp storefronts that will close this week to prepare for the transition from Mayorga Coffee to Compass Coffee. Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947
Students owe their support to Leo’s employees lobbying for benefits. A2 Published Tuesdays and Fridays Published Tuesdays and Fridays
The pope will visit Washington, D.C., during his fall visit to the United States. A5
Sports Heartbreaking Loss
The women’s basketball team led for most of the game, but lost to Seton Hall in overtime. A10
MULTIMEDIA DeGioia Interview
Watch today’s sit-down with University President John J. DeGioia. thehoya.com
Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com
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OPINION
THE HOYA
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
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Founded January 14, 1920
EDITORIALS
Knights of Charity? As the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization, the Knights of Columbus have a strong presence on college campuses across the country. Georgetown is no exception. The Georgetown Knights of Council 6375 have been responsible for planning and hosting various events, including this past weekend’s Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, since the chapter’s founding in 1972. But while the KoC portrays itself as a fraternity for the betterment of Catholic men and as a service group for the Catholic community, questions exist concerning whether it is actually serving the interests of its members. A significant portion of donations from the KoC goes toward overtly altruistic organizations, like Habitat for Humanity. Millions of these ostensibly charitable funds, however, have also gone toward what can only be termed a “socially conservative ideological agenda.” They have financed organizations that actively oppose abortion, euthanasia, stem-cell research and — perhaps most notably — LGBTQ rights. The annual resolutions of the KoC con-
tinually define marriage as “the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others,” which is entirely within their rights as a private fraternal service organization. Polling, however, consistently reveals that the majority of Catholics in the United States support marriage equality. So why is the largest organization that claims to represent Catholic interests in the United States spending millions of dollars in the fight against that same equality? By nature of their presence within the Catholic community, and their receipt of charitable contributions from people all across the country, the KoC has a moral obligation to inform contributors where its money is going, or at least to not spend it in direct opposition to their supporters’ beliefs and interests. Obviously the Georgetown Council of Knights cannot be held responsible for the choices of the leadership of the national organization but ought to at least be clear and upfront with its contributors about how its charitable donations are being used or risk unnecessary moral conflict.
THE VERDICT Drone Disaster — D.C. man accidentally crashes drone into White House grounds. Another failure for the Secret Service. Unlucky Slush — Most Northeastern schools cancel classes in record-breaking snowstorm. They face record-breaking snow.
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Engaging Faith — University celebrates 15th annual Jesuit Heritage week; Georgetown priests hold dialogues with chaplains at Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim services on campus.
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Breaking Boundaries — In a papal first, Pope Francis reportedly holds audience with transgender man, in a welcoming gesture to the LGBTQ community.
Uber InEssentials — Uber indefinitely ends its “UberEssentials” service in D.C., which delivered CVS or Walgreen’s items to Washington residents free.
Cold Showers — University officials have advised residents of Henle Village to start showering in Darnall and Yates Field House after a water heater was broken during maintenance work.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Michelle Xu
Lobbying for Leo’s Workers While some students may overlook the hustle and bustle that commonly occurs at O’Donovan Hall, it is important that members of the Georgetown community show solidarity with the workers of Leo’s in their fight to re-negotiate a contract with Aramark, Georgetown’s dining services contractor. Last week, the workers organized in order to present their demands to the kitchen manager of Aramark in response to the dining services contractor’s refusal to provide several important employee benefits. The workers’ demands included a 40-hour workweek to allow them to be full time, the protection of immigrant workers, affordable healthcare benefits, better job protections and fresh, sustainable food for the dining hall. The workers have been met with support by a number of Georgetown University students who have signed an online petition marked “Equality at Georgetown” and rallied in support of the cause this past Friday. Although Aramark has provided these benefits at other universities and cam-
puses in Washington, D.C., like American University, the company has not yet provided the Georgetown University workers with these benefits. Thus, we urge students to stand in solidarity with the workers who are dedicated to providing us with the essentials we consume and yet usually underappreciate at Leo’s. It is imperative that students become aware of their plight and support possible further protests, which workers may be forced to consider if Aramark does not move forward to make their demands a reality. Students should additionally take the time to sign the online petition, which implores the Georgetown community to call upon Aramark to stop treating the university’s service workers as secondclass citizens. In order to show both Aramark and Georgetown University that, as students, we demand better, especially when it comes to treatment of university employees, students need to put in the effort and live up to the ideals the university professes to maintain.
This week on
Be sure to check Chatter, The Hoya’s online opinion section, throughout the week for additional opinion pieces.
A Georgetown Lineage
Regardless of religious affiliation, it is undeniable that Jesuit values are woven into the Georgetown experience. Although religious practice may be a more important part of the Georgetown experience for some, we have all observed the influence the university’s Jesuit values have exerted on its culture, community, and values. This week’s celebration of Jesuit heritage is organized by students to recognize and reflect on the work done by Jesuits at Georgetown and around the world. Educational and recreational events offer students and faculty a chance to discover and explore how Jesuits have shaped and continue to shape the Georgetown experience.
Carolyn Maguire, Executive Editor Alexander Brown, Managing Editor Jess Kelham-Hohler, Online Editor Katherine Richardson, Campus News Editor Kshithij Shrinath, City News Editor Kara Avanceña, Sports Editor Hannah Kaufman, Guide Editor Jinwoo Chong, Opinion Editor Daniel Smith, Photography Editor Shannon Hou, Layout Editor Zack Saravay, Copy Chief Emily Min, Blog Editor Molly Simio, Multimedia Editor
Editorial Board
Jinwoo Chong, Chair
Madison Ashley, Kit Clemente, Francisco Collantes, Daniel Sandoval, Johnny Verhovek
[ CHATTER ]
Cyrena touros (COL ’18) reflects on the disappointments of a misappropriated education:
“
It was simply a job, the goal was graduation, and the price was my love for learning. The price was my idealism in life and my blind compliance. It’s a price that’s been too much.
Through Jesuit-taught classes, their roles as academic and spiritual advisers and effect on the university’s espoused philosophy, Jesuits play an integral role in our Georgetown experience. Even if students are unable to attend any of Jesuit Heritage Week’s events, each should stop and consider how Jesuit philosophy has shaped Georgetown throughout the years. Every student has the choice as to the degree with which he or she integrates the Jesuit identity into the Georgetown experience. But Georgetown’s history is rooted in the Jesuit identity and stopping to appreciate it is sure to enrich campus dialogue among students of all backgrounds.
Now I’m here and I don’t know if this is the life I want to lead. In all my years, I never stopped to ask myself if this was truly what I wanted or if it was just what I had been conditioned to want — what other people expected me to want. I dare you to ask yourself the same questions. Are you making the same mistakes? Are you another cog in the machine? Is this who you really want to be?”
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OPINION
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015
Culture Clash
THE HOYA
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VIEWPOINT • Garber
An Arbitrary Approval T
Tucker Cholvin & Thomas Christiansen
Cataloging Our Dating Mishaps A
s Valentine’s Day approaches, we thought that we would lighten the mood by celebrating that which often goes uncelebrated in February: disastrous romantic misadventure. Without further ado, we present several 100 percent true anecdotes of terrible dates that we have been on. Tucker: In the summer of sophomore year, I briefly attempted to convince a first date that I was a member of the intelligentsia by meeting him at the Corcoran Gallery. I thought this would be a great way to convince my date that I was clever, refined and artistic. Instead, we arrived at the Corcoran to discover that the entire gallery had been given over to a spectacularly gruesome exhibit on war photography. We spent the next two hours looking at pictures of dismembered limbs. He did not call me back. Thomas: I recently visited the alma mater of a woman I have been seeing. By recently visited, I mean drove in a car for six hours to New Haven to visit an Ivy League school that has asked to remain anonymous. After visiting a building more spacious and more beautiful than anything we have on the Hilltop, we returned to her old college to watch some very attractive shirtless men shoot hoops in its basement basketball court. She then asked me if my college at Georgetown had a basketball court in its basement. I had to inform her that we had neither basketballs nor basements. It all ended well, though: I later serenaded her on the piano with a moving rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The piano was in the common room, the type that anyone could play. It was a Steinway. Tucker: Once on a date with someone I had been seeing for a few weeks while studying abroad, the conversation turned to the subject of children. My date, who was about 30, expressed in no uncertain terms that he wanted to have kids and wanted to have them very quickly. Jokingly, I apologized that I would be leaving the country too quickly to help him out with that attempt. He responded, “Sure, but if you were staying we would be having kids together.” I replied: “Excuse me?”, and he said, “I mean, we would date for a few years, you would graduate, and then we would have babies.” It became increasingly clear to me that he was not joking, and he grew increasingly insistent that in this hypothetical future, we were bound to have children. After that, I became very glad my visa had an expiration date. Thomas: During my freshman year I developed romantic intentions for the only other Mormon woman on campus. Certain particulars about her were both a blessing and a curse. She had recently joined my church, which was a blessing. She had joined because of her boyfriend, which was a curse. Refusing to be a victim of circumstance, I took matters into my own hands the week of the Snowpocalypse, making my desires clear through an awkward game of footsie and showing her pictures of her boyfriend (whom I endearingly called “Gorilla Face”) sideby-side with pictures of me. Don Draper himself could not offer a more convincing pitch. All this exploded in my face at Café Bonaparte, where she told me she had decided to stay with Gorilla Face after I had already bought escargot. I made her eat a bite anyway. Tucker: Although this is not strictly a date, I once met a friend that I dated several years previously while we were both studying abroad in England. I came down to London to see him for an afternoon, and we had a nice time together. I was confused though, because his hand kept grazing against mine while we were walking down the street, I caught him staring at me somewhat intently when he thought I wasn’t looking, and he stood a little closer than necessary to me on the subway. Finally, I cracked and asked him, “Do you touch all of your friends this way?” He laughed and said I was imagining things. I departed London a little bit later. Rather than keeping a blog, he used to send out email updates to a bunch of his friends; I was on his listserv, and he knew it. Two days later, I received his little weekly update. In it, I read: “Tucker came down and visited this week. It was so hard for me, because I just spent the whole day wanting to kiss him, but I didn’t know if I should! I was definitely getting some signals though ... maybe next time ;).” I never spoke to him again. And so, on this Tuesday, Jan. 27, we wish all you singles out there as many terrible returns as we’ve had. (You can find Tucker on Grindr. You can find Tom on J-Swipe.) Tucker Cholvin and Thomas Christiansen are seniors in the School of Foreign Service. Culture Clash appears every other Tuesday.
his week, President Barack Obama’s approval rating jumped above 50 percent for the first time in 18 months — a huge milestone for a president whose rating has been around 42 percent for most of his second term. Moreover, this jump occurred before his State of the Union address, which has typically been accompanied by a bump in approval ratings anyway. At the end of this week, we could be looking at an approval rating of anywhere between 52 and 55 percent. This relative popularity for the president comes at an interesting time. In November, the Republicans easily retained their majority in the House and emphatically retook the Senate. At the time, it seemed that the tide was turning against the president, and turning fast. The country had just made a strong statement against the president and his party, signaling a break away from the president and the liberal policies that he espoused during his term. And yet, somehow, here we are in January with his approval rating at 50 percent and rising. With this apparent divergence between the political climate of the country and the president’s approval rating, it is important that we examine what the presidential approval rating actually means. In many cases, the rating has nothing to do with the president’s policies or legislative success. Rather, the essential factors that compose a presidential approval rating are often events or circumstances that are outside of the president’s control. For example, immediately following Sept. 11, President George W. Bush’s approval rating soared to an astronomical 92 percent, the highest since FDR.
It is a tenet of this country’s political environment to look to the president for the successes and failures of our government. Now, obviously, it was not the policies of President Bush that caused his popularity to rise so rapidly. Rather, President Bush was the beneficiary of the tragedy that was completely outside of his control. While President’s Obama re-
cent rise in popularity is not nearly as extreme as Bush’s, the same themes remain. The American economy is on the rise. Jobs have been increasing at a favorable rate, while unemployment is declining. And it does not come as a surprise that the president’s
VIEWPOINT • MacFarlane
approval rating has risen in accordance with this rising economy. Now, while the president is quick to take credit for the improved economy, even the staunchest Democrat would not argue that the president is entitled to take a substantial amount of credit for the country’s current economic prospects. Much of our economic activity, in good times and bad, is far outside of the president’s control. Yet, when the country is doing well, the people look to the president as the source of the progress, whether that assumption is true or not. This is not by any means an indictment of President Obama, but rather an indictment of today’s political climate in which misconceptions of the power of the president are common. The country looks to the president as its savior during triumphs and as its villain during hard times. It is for this reason that the presidential approval rating is such a dubious statistic. As history will show, it is not by any means a measure of presidential accomplishment. In reality, it is a measure of how the country is doing. Most Americans believe that how the country is doing and how the president is doing are synonymous. Yet, in many issues facing this country, and especially in the economy, the president does not have tremendous impact. We should realize as a country that we are composed of a lot more than our president, and ultimately that it is the people and the government together who produce the good times and the bad. Alexander Garber is a junior in the College.
AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT ...
Making My Home In Other Places
On the Blessing of Our Belovedness
hy are you here?” “I’m here to practice French.” “What made you decide on Senegal?” “I like international development, I didn’t want to go to Europe.” I’d had the same conversation so many times that my answers became robotic. “What is it that made you come here even though everything you heard about this place was negative — war, famine, Ebola?” This time, as the sun set over the ocean, the teapot over the fire was heating up the second round of attaya and the guitar was playing in the background, it seemed like the answer was obvious: I came for the moments like this. If I had listened to everyone who tried to convince me I would get Ebola, I wouldn’t be drinking tea at the beach with some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. If I’d listened to those who thought I would die in a terrorist attack in Morocco, I wouldn’t have spent a weekend interviewing indigenous women in their mountain village or climbed the highest mountain in North Africa. I could have definitely learned French in a safer way, in a safer place. The chances of being chased by a cow between Leo’s and Red Square are pretty slim, and cars actually stop at stop signs in D.C. It would have been easier if I had hot water instead of bucket baths and lived in the same time zone as my friends and family. Spending the year abroad meant I didn’t see the leaves turn red in the fall. I wasn’t there to welcome new steppers to the step team. I haven’t had Wisey’s in eight months, and Pinkberry clearly missed me as much as I missed it. It’s been hard to miss two semesters at Georgetown, to see pictures of my friends that came back from their own semesters abroad, reunited, partying at school. It’ll be harder still to miss Georgetown Day and the spring days that are too beautiful to leave the lawn even for class. But I’ll be back soon enough, and in the meantime I’m making myself at home in other places, other families, other cultures. When I left Morocco, I said good-
met Nancy on my first night at way echo the voice of God, who Georgetown in August 1984. I from the beginning of our lives had moved into my room on to the end, whispers in our soul, New South 1 (which looks very “You are my beloved son.” “You much the same today) and wan- are my beloved daughter.” The radical nature of this affirdered anxiously over to a party on the Harbin patio. mation of belovedness is revealed I was overwhelmed and felt way when we mess up and find accepout of my league. Finding refuge at tance anyway. the edge of the crowd, I met Nancy In those moments of weakness who greeted me with a warm smile and failure, it is so easy to think and an understanding look. She that we are not worth much. We felt equally awkward. We weren’t can start to beat ourselves up (a big partiers. In a ritual we would terrible image when you really repeat countless times in the next think about it). Faced with our four years, we found refuge in ice imperfection and limitation, we cream and talking long into the think we have lost love. In the night. calculus of conditional love, that We became fast friends, in part may be the case, but not in the because it took us both some economy of grace. time before Georgetown felt like The truly good news of our home. We missed belovedness is that our families very we are loved not much. I came from despite of our limia small town in Flortations but because ida, but was now of them. We are in a big city. Nancy, beautiful but brofrom Atlanta, was ken, and that is OK. an African-AmerWelcome to the huican woman on a man race. largely white cam- Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. This is not an expus. Above all, we cuse to avoid makbonded over faith, ing amends or ima commitment improving our lives. To portant to both of the contrary, when us. Nancy was a Sevour hurt or failure enth Day Adventist, is returned by love, and I was an Irish we want nothing Catholic. more than to love or Nancy introforgive in return beduced me to the gospel choir cause that is what love does. service in St. William’s, and I inBy its nature, love always spills troduced her to what the Mass over to another, like the light of a was all about. We embarked on a candle stretching to fill every corspiritual journey together. ner of a dark room. Besides conversations about In writing this way about love, faith, Nancy and I would usually I do not mean to make love trite talk over ice cream about our or saccharine, because it is lived latest romantic interests and out in the gritty reality of every our recent heartbreaks. day. We stumble to find words The heartbreaks were crush- to describe love, knowing that ing, but I also recall those invig- any sentence, poem or song orating moments of first love, will be inadequate before its when the other returned ro- mystery. mantic interest. To be loved and The attempt is worthy. When accepted was a source of great words fail, presence is enough. confidence. Everything seemed On a fundraising trip to Atright with the world. Such mo- lanta a few years ago, Nancy ments are gifts that could deepen and I met again, over chocolate into lasting bonds. But when they milk shakes, of course. Twendid not, there was Nancy, and ty-five years had passed since other friends, to help me regain graduation, but she still made my footing and to remind me me feel at home, accepted and that I was loved. loved. We need people like Nancy We can earn paychecks and acin our lives. There are so many colades, but not love. Love is a gift voices in our world that say that to be cherished, not a reward to love is conditional. We have to act be earned. And should I ever foror look a certain way to be loved. get that most important lesson, Those voices dictate that we must I know I will be reminded when earn love or prove ourselves love- Nancy and I make our next trip able. for ice cream. In contrast, the religious traditions teach the most fundamen- Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., is vice presital truth of our existence: we are dent of mission and ministry. AS loved simply because we are. Fam- this jesuit Sees it ... appears evily and friends who love us in this ery other Tuesday.
“W
bye to at least five sets of people that had become my family. My only fear in Senegal was not about the rough living conditions, the sudden French immersion or the courses; I was scared that I wouldn’t find a place that felt as much like home. It turns out I didn’t need to worry. I’ve only been here for a week, living with my host family for only four days, and haven’t even started school yet, but Senegal’s famous “teranga” (hospitality) has already worked its magic. To see the teranga firsthand, to feel welcome, or to find a family, go no further than the Acoustic Tree. This tree, one block from my house on the main dirt road of my neighborhood, is a place where everyone is welcome to sit, drink tea, play music and just hang out. Regardless of your religion, your race, your age, your anything, you are welcome. The Acoustic Tree family lives by the mottos “at ease” and “we are together,” and it’s this family that helped me adjust. Invitations to beach barbecues, watching football games, nightclubs and dinners have eliminated all of my previous fears. During my last week in Morocco, I learned a phrase in (Moroccan) Arabic that quickly became my favorite: “haaniawasmasaafia.” “Everything is good and the sky is clear.” And while it goes without saying that being abroad has taught me a lot, it hasn’t been about learning the languages, the culture or even about myself. It has been overwhelmingly about integration, joining the locals and living the way they do. And when I’m surrounded by these welcoming people, seeing how genuinely happy they are despite whatever is going on in their lives, all I can think of is that phrase. It makes me appreciate the moment at hand and forget about anything else, in the past or the future. It makes life’s problems seem smaller and the happiness greater. If there’s one thing I hope to take away from my time abroad and apply to life back in the U.S., it’s haaniawasmasaafia. Everything is good and the sky is clear.
More than six months into a year abroad, the word “home” takes on a myriad of new meanings.
Samantha MacFarlane junior in the College.
is
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Love is a gift to be cherished, not a reward to be earned.
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Akshay Sinha (GRD ’15) was awarded the McCourt School’s annual Whittington Scholarship. See story on thehoya.com.
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JESUIT HERITAGE
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It is an issue of images. I have been suffering with images. People don’t think I look like an imam.” Imam Yahya Hendi at a panel discussing satire and politics. See story on A5.
from
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Jesuit Heritage Week opened Sunday evening with a Mass by Fr. Joseph Lingan, S.J., accompanied by the gospel choir. Events will continue throughout the week, ending Saturday with a storytelling event. See story on A7.
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Bioethics Library GULC Students Visit Guantanamo Extends Hours KSHITHIJ SHRINATH Hoya Staff Writer
MATTHEW LARSON Hoya Staff Writer
Beginning last Tuesday, the Bioethics Research Library in Healy Hall extended its weekday hours until 9 p.m. on days when it is not hosting an event. The library’s usual hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., will remain intact on nights when the library hosts speakers and panels. The Saturday and Sunday hours of 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. will remain the same. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Head of Information Services Mark Hakkarinen said that the extended hours will allow students to better use the library. “I want to do the best thing for Georgetown students [to] maximize the use of this space,” Hakkarinen said. “So this sort of idea of flex hours is a way to address that.” The library is part of the university’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics and operates as a research and study facility with over 30,000 books, journals and archives. Hakkarinen said that the library made the change after students expressed a desire to spend more time in the Bioethics Library. The library extends its hours during study days each semester from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends, and students expressed a desire to spend more study time in the library during the academic year. Last year, Anita Joshi (SFS ’15) created a petition to extend the hours that received 127 votes on IdeaScale. “I was like, let’s just try this, let’s see how this works,” Hakkarinen said. “So we’ve made a lot longer study hours, including late at night, and [there] was really a great response.” The library hired two new undergraduate students to staff the extended hours and have used some of their graduate student workers to help ease the transition. In case any problems arise during the extra hours, these students will work with Lauinger staff to resolve them. “Ultimately, it’s going to be a student-run place in the evenings,” Hakkarinen said. “We also have contacts over in Lauinger Library, such as their evening supervisor, in case there is anything they need help with.” The new flex hours will be paid for partly by the university
and partly by allocating money from the library’s existing budget, Hakkarinen said. Deputy Director of Reference at the library Martina Darragh said that the first few days produced mixed results. “On Tuesday, that was the first night, we did have a good crowd up until 7,” Darragh said. “Then from 8 to 9, we didn’t have anybody at all. Now, of course, we’re not in exam time, but we’ll see.” Hakkarinen said that the library staff will monitor capacity to ensure that the extended hours are an efficient use of resources. “I think we had 25 people in there per hour [on Tuesday],” Hakkarinen said. “But if there’s one or two people in there, it’s not worth it for Georgetown. I think 30 people would be great per hour.” One issue that the library faces is a general lack of awareness among students, according to Darragh, who noted that, while they receive a lot of repeat visitors, the amount of new students coming to the library to study has not changed. “We do have a lot of regulars … coming to study in the library is part of their routine,” Darragh said. “Sometimes our regulars will say, ‘I don’t tell anyone else about this because I don’t want it to be spoiled.’” Hakkarinen said he wants the flex hours to continue during the spring and fall semesters into the foreseeable future. “If people are in there, I’ll keep doing it as long as we have money coming in,” Hakkarinen said said. “It’s a really reflective space, I think, and you get a different experience in there.” Julia Ma (MSB ’15), who works in the library during the day, believes the increase in hours will bring more students to the library. “Students want to work [at] this facility,” Ma said. “This is a really quiet place to work, it’s really nice, [so] once the word gets out, I’m pretty sure there will be more people.” Laura Higbee (COL ’15) said she believes that once the flex hours become known, more people will come to study in the library. “I think a lot of people haven’t discovered the Bioethics Library yet,” she said. “It’s a lot quieter than Lau, it’s a lot prettier than Lau. It’s a gorgeous library.”
The first two Georgetown University Law Center students selected as part of a Department of Defense program visited the military commissions and observed pretrial hearings at Guantanamo Bay in November and December. Additional student trips are planned for the coming months. Selected through an application process available only to second-year and third-year law students, as well as Master of Law students, Kayleigh Golish (LAW ’15) attended proceedings from Nov. 3 to Nov. 8, which primarily dealt with pre-trial evidentiary motions related to the impending trial of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian citizen accused of orchestrating the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 before his arrest in 2002. “The most interesting [motion] to me was that the defense counsel was requesting that the death penalty be taken off the table as a possible punishment for alNashiri because of the limitations with accessing classified information,” Golish said. “I thought that was a really interesting conversation that was worth having.” Shaw Drake (LAW ’15) visited the base from Dec. 14 to Dec. 17 to observe hearings related to the 9/11 case, which includes charges against five members of al-Qaida for orchestrating the deadly attack in New York City and Washington, D.C. While Drake was there, the potential conflict of interest for a lawyer of one of the defendants was dominating the proceedings. “An FBI investigation targeted one of the members of the defense team,” Drake said. “If your attorney is under investigation by the FBI, that could affect the decisions that they make.” Another critical motion being considered was the refusal of the defendants to attend meetings with their lawyers because of the presence of women guards in the movement of prisoners. “The five 9/11 detainees were refusing to go to attorney meetings or court because women were now in positions where they would physically touch them,” Drake said. After several closed-door sessions with the lawyers that the observers could not view, the judge in the case decided to cancel the hearings, denying Drake the chance to view any proceedings. “It seems like a calculation was made by the judge: Do we hold the meeting that probably gets us nowhere because the prosecution is not prepared … and in doing so, do we bring beaten up and bloodied defendants into the courtroom because they’ve had to be forcibly removed from their cells and tied down? It’s probably not worth doing that,” Drake said. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was a primary subject in the “torture report” released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in December, which detailed prisoner abuses used to elicit information and confessions from prisoners at the base. Despite the cancellation of the hearings, Drake explained that the defense counsel
COURTESY KAYLEIGH GOLISH AND SHAW DRAKE
Kayleigh Golish (LAW ’15), left, and Shaw Drake (LAW ’15) travelled to Guantanamo Bay to observe pre-trial hearings in front of military commissions. met with the observers to discuss some of the issues behind the trial, particularly in relation to the torture discussed in the Senate report. “[Torture] was a dominating discussion topic … It’s pretty clear that the trial is going to have months and months of arguments around that topic,” Drake said. “The defense team has claimed all along that the way their clients were treated will and should impact the reliability of the evidence and the usage of any statements that they’ve made. They alluded in that conversation that what was released in that report is purely the tip of the iceberg.” Golish echoed Drake, explaining that the question of torture was ever-present in the Guantanamo commissions. “Someone who’s been subjected to torture, can they give a voluntary confession?” Golish said. “Every defense counsel is going to try to bring those issues to the forefront and try to use them specifically as mitigating factors.” Both cases are stuck in the pre-trial stage. According to Drake, the defense counsel in the 9/11 case do not expect a trial until 2017, while the al-Nashiri case is projected by some to start later in 2015, though the defense was pessimistic. “It’s really quite incredible, not in a good sense, how long it takes, because al-Nashiri is facing charges for events that happened in 2000, before 9/11, and he was arrested in 2002. His trial is starting potentially 13 years later. What does that say for fair and speedy trials?” Golish said. The observer status conferred upon GULC by the Department of Defense primarily applies to non-governmental organizations, though other universities, including Yale University, Indiana University, Seton Hall University and the University of Toledo, have all sent observers to the proceedings as well. GULC’s Center on National Security and the Law Executive Director Nadia Asancheyev (LAW ’06) said that the law center thought the observer status would provide a platform for students to experience the law in practice. “We have such a depth of expertise on these issues at Georgetown Law … that we could fulfill the Department of Defense’s mission of having observers go and be
able to really do a lot with the information that they gathered,” Asancheyev said. “We just saw a natural opportunity to enhance their learning.” Asancheyev noted that even as three additional trips were pending for January and February, GULC would continue sending observers as long as the program continued. “When they have a hearing set, it appears that then they go to the observer pool — and we’re in the observer pool — and ask for nominations for people they want to send,” Asancheyev said. “As long as they are continuing to prosecute people at military commissions at Guantanamo, we intend to send representatives as observers.” Drake pointed to the program as setting the university in a position to interact with important national issues. “It puts Georgetown in a unique place to be able to engage with major issues that will make headlines over the next few years, and establishing ourselves as a law school that will send qualified and prepared students to engage actively in this observation project is something that will set Georgetown apart,” Drake said. Golish reflected on her experience, explaining that viewing the trial had given her a nuanced understanding of the issues surrounding the military commissions. As a member of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy, she explained that the organization was planning a symposium to address issues of terrorism trials and would incorporate her experience into the discussion. “I think there is a lot of stuff that is still unsettled in terms of rights these people have and whether we’re okay with that. We’re a country that believes in laws and adheres to laws and yet, the laws, as they apply to this set of people, who we’re not crazy about, are not clear,” Golish said. “I also went into these proceedings thinking that they were completely unfair. But after going, you realize that people are trying to achieve justice, but the practices haven’t quite caught up with the law and vice versa. And everything surrounding these commissions is very hazy about where the legal lines really are.”
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Before ‘Amrika Chalo,’ Panel Discusses Satire Giovanna Azevedo Hoya Staff Writer
In light of the recent shooting at the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics hosted “Politics, Comedy and the Dangers of Satire” on Friday, a panel featuring distinguished guests who discussed their experiences regarding satire and its cultural and religious implications. The event, which was sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Bridges of Understanding and the Office of the President, preceded two performances of “Amrika Chalo,” a satirical play by the Ajoka Theatre of Lahore, at Gonda Theatre on Friday and Saturday. The panel, which was moderated by Co-Director of the Laboratory and Artistic Director of the Davis Performing Arts Center Derek Goldman, featured award-winning Iranian-Canadian cartoonist Nik Kowsar, British-Canadian writer and filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz, Pakistani playwright Shahid Nadeem and Muslim Chaplain Iman Yayha Hendi. In his opening remarks, Goldman acknowledged the importance of being sensitive to different cultural contexts in writing comedy. “I teach a comedy course here at Georgetown’s campus and in that
context we explore the deep, serious roots of comedy, as an often dangerous form of social critique,” Goldman said. “We talk about the sources and the social power of laughter, the deep connection between laughter and tears, comedy’s role of exposing hypocrisy in uses of power and also how culturally specific comedy is. What is funny to people in one context may be very serious or deeply offensive in others.” Kowsar attributed the potential danger of culturally insensitive cartoons to the immediacy of their impact. “The thing about cartoons is that people understand them in a matter of seconds. You don’t have to read a whole ‘War and Peace’ book in order to understand a cartoon,” Koswar said. “Also, you’ll remember the concept of the cartoon, possibly for your entire life. Cartoons, especially those you can’t read, have a great impact on cultures.” Kowsar also related his personal experiences in describing the consequences of publishing controversial cartoons. In February 2000, Kowsar was arrested and imprisoned for six days in Tehran for drawing a cartoon that satirized the freedom of expression in Iran, for which he received numerous death threats. “If they are scared of caricatures
and cartoons, I think that they have to look at the caricature that they have created of themselves, the radicals,” Koswar said. Afterward, the moderator called on Nawaz, who spoke about her experiences as the creator of the world’s first sitcom about a Muslim community living in the West. Her work has de-mystified Islam worldwide by showing how practicing Muslims live their ordinary lives. “I did a documentary about how many of these traditions are not actually based on religion, but on culture, and many people have mistaken culture for tradition,” Nawaz said. “When my show went on air, conservative Muslims went crazy. What I had forgotten was that I was coming in conflict with the cultural understanding of Islam and also of a different generation. It quickly became evident to me, that even though I, as a practicing Muslim, had no intention of mocking Islam, people were looking through a cultural lens, which was very different from my lens.” Nadeem, who has been involved in human rights issues in Pakistan since the 1960s, then joined the discussion. He had already been imprisoned by various military regimes and adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. “[In] the Muslim society, and in
Pakistan, where people crack jokes all the time in their private lives, we believe that we have a great sense of humor,” Nadeem said. “However, when that humor is mixed with reality, it has a lot of political and social undertones. So, it is not just the dictators, the authoritative regimes or the religious forces, but also, people in general, especially when it relates to religion.” Nadeem said that art provides people with a way to criticize social and political issues without being charged with blasphemy. “In that context, when you want to address certain issues, you want to shock people; you want to make people realize their own contradictions, conflicts and irrational beliefs,” Nadeem said. “It is very difficult to engage that in dialogue, so you have to use theater, music and art. The only way to get away with it is through humor and satire because otherwise you may be charged with blasphemy which is punishable by death.” Lastly, Imam Yayha Hendi delivered a speech about how certain images can have the power to either promote or destroy a cause. “Regardless of whether it is a cartoon, a movie or a document, it is an issue of images,” Hendi said. “I have been suffering with images. People don’t think I look like an imam. I have to prove to people that I am an
imam because I look different than the general image of an imam. Images help destroy and promote, and we are at an age in which images can promote peace and help relationships work or not.” Hendi also condemned the Charlie Hebdo attack by calling it a breach in the freedom of expression. “Regarding what happened in Paris, I think that the image of Muslims has not helped Muslims at all. I say that France failed to engage Muslims, in an intellectual way, but Muslims also failed to engage Europe and America in a spiritual way,” Hendi said. “At the end of the day, there has to be freedom of expression, people have the right to express themselves. But on the other hand, we can morally censor ourselves, but not through censorship by law.” Giulia Martins (SFS ’18) said she was very impressed by the event, especially by the remarks made by Zarqa Nawaz. “The members of the panel were incredible. Each person added their own personal experiences, which were incredibly relevant to the matter being discussed,” Martins said. “I loved Zarqa Nawaz. It is so great to see a strong Muslim woman, who has produced amazing pieces of work, really shine a new light on Islam in the western world.”
Pope Francis to Visit DC Later This Year Sarah Smith and Kristen Fedor Hoya Staff Writers
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ENERGY PRIZE
Fifty small cities and towns across the United States were chosen as semifinalists for the Georgetown University Energy Prize and will implement detailed energy efficiency plans over the next two years.
GU Energy Prize Semifinalists Chosen Deirdre Collins Hoya Staff Writer
Fifty communities across the United States were selected Jan. 14 as semifinalists from hundreds of applicants to compete for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize. The communities, which are small cities and towns, will work to lower their individual energy consumptions over the next two years, after which one winner will be chosen in June 2017. All applicants were required to have a population of fewer than 250,000 people, making 70 percent of communities in the United States eligible to apply. Fifty-three eligible communities were selected as quarterfinalists in August based on basic energy plans. In the subsequent stage, each submitted detailed plans to improve energy efficiency, and semifinalists were selected based on their unique and innovative ideas. The plans were reviewed by a panel of energy efficiency expert volunteers and were asked to incorporate commitments from residential associations, businesses and governmental institutions. “Every one of the fifty has the whole community involved and has a serious energy plan,” GUEP Executive Director Francis Slakey said. As the communities execute their plans over the next two years, Slakey, Technical Director John Shore and Project Director Christopher Nelson will be in constant communication with the competing cities, receiving quarterly statistics for electricity and natural gas use. Based on their energy-saving performances, ten finalists will be selected in January 2017 and will be further judged on sustainability, reproducibility and community engagement in advance of the announcement of a winner later that year. “The plan had to be something that could be duplicated in cities around the country. The goal here is to find plans that can be replicated by small and mid-size cities in the U.S.,” Slakey said. Although only one community will win the $5 million prize, the expected five percent annual increase in energy efficiency for each community will allow all competing cities to benefit economically with savings estimated at
$10 million. “The Prize is unique and exciting in several ways. Besides yielding innovative solutions that can be implemented throughout the country, it will result in widespread education within the participating communities and beyond, and it will have valuable benefits to every participating community, not just the winners,” Shore said. Slakey explained that the idea originated a few years ago at Georgetown. “We started this a couple years ago with a workshop here on campus where we invited in mayors, city planners and energy efficiency experts,” he said. “We asked them what we could do to help their cities get more engaged in energy efficiency. We decided to have a competition and offer a prize. There is nothing like a little friendly competition to get people really motivated.” The GUEP directors held an event to announce the opening of the application phase in April 2014. “Hundreds of cities contacted us which gave us the luxury of setting the filter pretty high about who gets into the competition. All communities needed letters of commitment from their mayor, from all utilities servicing their community and from some prominent community-based organization,” Slakey said. Although large cities have made substantive strides in energy efficiency, the GUEP aims to identify plans that will work in small to mid-size cities in the U.S. “There is a lot going on for energy efficiency in big cities in the U.S. like Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. They are doing exemplary work, but their plans don’t really scale to small and mid-size cities in the country,” Slakey said.“If it’s going to work in Fargo, Fairbanks or Houghton County, it’s got to be something that can be slotted in very easily without expectations for additional manpower and resources from the city. That’s what the prize is intended to create,” he said. Each community plans to lower their energy consumption in different ways. Some competing cities will work with scientists at their local universities to apply the latest concepts in behavior change, while others plan to implement sophisticated ideas in gamification or data analysis to identify what their city’s biggest needs are.
Slakey said he believes that the diversity of approaches that integrate both policy and technology will make the competition both effective and exciting. “There are 50 cities and 50 different plans. Everybody came up with a completely different approach, which was something that we were hoping for. There are some ideas that are just wildly aggressive and there are others that are a bit more conservative,” he said. Slakey expects that after two years, tens of millions of tons of carbon will be displaced, an important step forward in energy efficiency. “Right now in America, we are wasting half the energy that we burn. We are sitting on this vast reservoir of available energy. We have to become just as effective for mining for efficiency as we are for mining coal, natural gas or petroleum,” Slakey said. Besides the GUEP’s proposed benefits for the competing communities, Shore is confident that the GUEP will also be valuable for the university as it engages with sustainability and energy-efficiency initiatives on campus. “It will foster cross-disciplinary engagement among the various schools within the university, it will yield data for research, for studying what does and doesn’t work in energy education, and it will engage students in numerous ways, including experiences with community service that help to solve real-world problems,” Shore said. The Office of the President’s Chief of Staff Joseph Ferrara (GRD ’96) echoed Shore, noting the connectionof the GUEP to the university’s Jesuit identity. “We believe that there is a unique potential in hosting a challenge like this in the context of a University — a place committed to learning and experimentation, seeking a deeper understanding of our world, and supporting the well-being of our communities and the common good. This challenge has deep resonance with the mission of this university and its Catholic and Jesuit tradition,” Ferrara said.“The Energy Prize is animated by this tradition and we’re very excited about the new ideas and dialogue it will support — as well as the impact it will have for communities around the world.”
Pope Francis will visit Washington, D.C., this fall during his first official visit to the United States as pope. Francis’ three-city trip of New York City, Philadelphia and Washington marks the first papal visit to the United States since Pope Benedict XVI came in the spring of 2008. During that trip, which was the first papal visit in over 20 years, the former pope visited New York and D.C., celebrating mass at Nationals Park and meeting with President George W. Bush. Exact details of Pope Francis’ inaugural trip to the District are still not finalized, but he did indicate that he plans to celebrate Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in the United States, located in the northeast quadrant of D.C. According to DCist, the pope also plans to canonize Junipero Serra during this mass in honor of his service spreading Christianity to the western United States. More details of the visit, including the exact dates he will be in D.C., will be announced in the coming months. At this time, Georgetown has no formal plans regarding his visit, but Georgetown officials noted their excitement for the papal visit. Director of Media Relations Rachel Pugh said the Georgetown community is looking forward to Pope Francis’ time in D.C. “We look forward to supporting his visit to the United States and Washington, D.C., this fall,” she said. Vice President for Mission and Ministry Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., said he is excited for students to potentially see the pope in the fall. “I am very happy for our students that the pope will be coming to Washington so that hopefully they will have a chance to see him during his public appearances,” he said. Chancellor of the Knights of Columbus Max Rosner (SFS ’18)
echoed O’Brien, saying that he plans to take advantage of the visit. “There was some assumption that he would be coming to D.C. but it was not verified until about two weeks ago, which, living in D.C., is a great opportunity to go to a Mass by the pope, especially this pope,” he said. He said the Knights of Columbus will plan an official trip to watch a Mass by Pope Francis when final details are announced. “That’s definitely in the works right now, wherever he’s going to do Mass, it may be the National Basilica or the National Mall, either one, we will 100 percent be taking a van to go see him,” Rosner said. Rosner added that the organization hopes Pope Francis will stop at Georgetown during his visit. “We’re in the works of us writing a letter to the Vatican hoping that he can actually come to Georgetown,” he said. Though Pope Benedict XVI did not visit Georgetown during his trip, and chose to speak at the Catholic University of America, Pope Francis has a closer tie to the Jesuit university, as he is the first pope from the Jesuit order. Originally from Argentina, Pope Francis took over the position of head of the Catholic Church in February 2013 after Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope in centuries to resign his position. Rosner said he believes Pope Francis’ actions reflect his Jesuit values and closely align with the central values of Georgetown. “My views are reflective of the whole world’s view that here’s a man that with the church’s recent history of being less focused on action and more with doctrine. Here’s a man that the world sees as a model Christian, and even non-Christians can look to this man as an example,” Rosner said. “Him having this Jesuit message, I actually think it even helps Georgetown more, because he’s reflective of what Georgetown’s message is, which is, let’s actually commit to action and let’s engage with the world.”
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, will visit D.C. in 2015.
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tuesday, january 27, 2015
Hindu Chaplain Leaves Post The Corp Changes CHAPLAIN, from A1 here, especially working with our students. We will miss her presence among us, and wish her the very best.” Dharm, who spent only three months at Georgetown, expressed appreciation for the relationships she formed with students and administrators. “I’m sad that it was short, but it’s just been an awesome experience,” Dharm said. “The leadership, staff and campus ministry have been so wonderful. My overall experience has been very positive.” Dharm, who served as a spiritual leader for the Hindu Student Association, emphasized the importance of developing more programs to meet the needs of the Hindu community at Georgetown, which totals in around 400 students and faculty members. “They’re just wonderful, wonderful students,” Dharm said. “They’re from different parts of the world and it’s a dream to be at Georgetown. I’ve had very good experiences with them and I wish them all the best. They definitely deserve to have their needs met, especially the spiritual and emotional needs.” Dharm said she plans to continue to worship God. “The future is big, and I see God’s presence,” Dharm said. “In the future, I want to take my time to continue to worship God and seek his guidance in my future. I truly wish to worship Him and spend time with Him after my retirement from the military. I wish the Georgetown community and staff all the best in the future.” Dharm said she hopes that the
university community will continue to value the Hindu tradition in her absence. “I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to support and be part of this important community,” Dharm wrote in an email to the Hindu community. “I pray as I prepare to leave you that you will continue to live out the very pluralistic principles of Sanatan Dharma [an alternative name for Hinduism] at Georgetown.” Hindu Students Association President Smiti Mohan (MSB ’15) said that Dharm had a strong presence and breadth of knowledge. “She was a role model and a mentor for a lot of students and they really just liked having someone older that they could talk to about their faith and about other issues,” Mohan said. “She had so much knowledge and experience to share that they really enjoyed and liked.” According to Mohan, Dharm spent a significant amount of time conversing with students and acting as a religious and intellectual mentor. “The opportunity to just speak with her was really important to most members because she was so knowledgeable and has had so much experience,” Mohan said. “Every time they had a conversation with her, she would share so much that they would feel very enlightened and feel like they got a lot out of each conversation with her.” Mohan said that the Hindu community will greatly miss Dharm and all she has done for Hindu students during her chaplaincy. “We just want her to know that we are still supporting her and we
are sending her our best wishes her way, and we hope that everything is okay, but we were all very sad,” Mohan said. O’Brien ensured the Hindu community that the university would continue to develop the Hindu chaplaincy and confirmed that the university will soon begin a new search process for its next chaplain in the coming months. O’Brien did not comment on the potential for interim resources for the Hindu community during this time period. The university hired Dharm in October in order to provide Hindu community members with a way to address their spiritual and emotional needs. While serving as chaplain, Dharm provided counseling, Hindu worship services and blessings to her constituents. “We will soon begin a new search process to identify a worthy successor,” O’Brien wrote. “As before, we will rely on the input and support of our students and alumni to identify and select candidates. It is unlikely that we will be able to complete this process before the end of the academic year, as such professional searches take time.” O’Brien also recognized the value and importance of the Hindu community at Georgetown in his email. “I join my colleagues in Campus Ministry in thanking you for your faith-filled presence and service on campus and beyond,” O’Brien wrote. “The Hindu community is a vital part of the interreligious ministry in which we take great pride at Georgetown.” Hoya Staff Writer Katherine Richardson contributed reporting.
Equipment, Coffee COFFEE, from A1 Compass Coffee, located in the Shaw area in Washington, D.C., opened in late September. The company was created by Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez, two former Marines who became passionate about coffee after meeting at Washington University in St. Louis and serving in Afghanistan together. Coffee beans from Compass come from Brazil, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kona and Ethiopia, and the vendor offers nine different flavors that include Horizon, which is described on the company’s website as “bright, berry-like and sweet” and Azimuth, which is described as “warm, smoky and intense.” Since opening just three months ago, the coffee brewery has been covered widely by the press, with a multi-part series in the Washington Post, a feature in chef Martha Stewart’s holiday catalog and a ranking on Thrillist’s list of best coffee shops in D.C. neighborhoods. Compass Coffee is also one of the coffee brands served at Baked and Wired in Georgetown and currently, Uncommon Grounds alum Fahad Abdul (COL ’14) works at the Compass storefront. The Corp’s partnership with Compass Coffee also includes a change to the brewery’s recommended Curtis and La Marzocco brand machinery, known as the Vulcano. The Corp’s current machinery will be put in storage in case the new equipment malfunctions. Moore declined to comment on the cost of the additional machinery. During the days the storefronts are closed, the Compass Coffee founders will train over 200 Corp employees on the proper use of the new equipment. Moore said that the equipment will lead to quicker and more efficient coffee brewing. “Consistency and quality is how we chose the equipment,” Moore said. “We’re hoping that it will also be quicker to serve drinks. The Vulcano enables people to get the espresso ready to go in half the time it normally would have taken. … We’re hoping that will speed up the process of making drinks for our baristas.” Moore said he expects a significant revenue loss during the days when Corp stores are closed but declined to specify the exact loss. Despite this, Moore said that benefits of this change far outweigh the revenue loss. “This change in general is very important to us, and we hope that this is important to campus as well,” Moore said. “We’re willing to show that we can
FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
The Corp will replace machinery in all of its coffee shops this weekend. take that hit … that being said, we think that this is the plan that will help us make the best possible product moving forward.” Moore said that he is eager to receive student feedback on the new taste. “We hope that campus will respond positively,” Moore said. “We’ve tried to stagger our different stores as much as possible, so while we know that there will complications on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. … We hope that people will bear with us as we try to make ourselves better.” Tori Costa (COL ’18) said that she always orders tea at Corp establishments because she dislikes the coffee’s taste. “The old coffee was absolutely nasty,” Costa said. “I would go out of my way to not go there, even though usually it’s convenient because they have a lot of locations. ... I will definitely start ordering more coffee beverages because usually I just get tea.” Johnny Jung (COL ’18) said that he thinks that the only way the coffee can improve is if Corp employees are properly trained. “I feel like it’s not so much the coffee itself; it’s the people who have never used brewing equipment, just tossing grounds into the coffee machine,” Jung said. “I feel like it’s less of an issue of the coffee itself and more the process and training.” For further coverage of the vendor switch, see Friday’s Business & Technology page.
CISR Offers Alternative COURTESY PRATIMA DHARM
Georgetown’s Hindu Chaplain Pratima Dharm provided students with religious ceremonies, blessings and counseling during her three-month stay on campus. Dharm resigned this week.
Conference Prompts Protest CONFERENCE, from A1 possible.” While the conference went on, H*yas for Choice protestors yelled chants such as, “Racist, sexist, antigay — Cardinal O’Connor, go away” and “Pro-life, that’s a lie; you don’t care if women die.” H*yas for Choice President Abby Grace (SFS ’16) and Vice President Vincent DeLaurentis (SFS ’17) said they want the university to recognize that the Conference on Life is another example of underrepresentation of certain groups within the student body. “I think the biggest misconception that people have is that we don’t want this conference to happen,” Grace said. “While we definitely disagree with everything being said in the conference, the reason why are protesting and why we continue to express our opinions is because we believes that it is fundamentally unfair that H*yas for Choice is the only viewpoint that is consistently silenced.” DeLaurentis, who wrote a blog post about the conference, said he was upset about some of the “virulently racist and homophobic” viewpoints held by some of the speakers. “I think the conference is a slap in the face to a lot of Georgetown students, so while Georgetown can claim that it is a pro-life university solely based on the fact that it’s a Catholic university, so many of the speakers comments go so far beyond that,” DeLaurentis said. Members of H*yas for Choice posted six opinion pieces on the group’s blog before and after the conference that criticized its motivations. One post addressed Damon Clarke Owens, a speaker at the event, who DeLaurentis said has openly expressed anti-gay and homophobic sentiments on social media. “I wonder why Owens would be invited to speak at a universityendorsed conference,” DeLaurentis
wrote in his post. “How can Georgetown simultaneously justify this speaker while continuing to claim to be progressive on LGBTQ issues? What does the university have to say to queer students whose basic dignity has been challenged by this speaker?” Grace also wrote a post on H*yas for Choice’s blog criticizing conference speaker Jennifer Lahl, who opposes assistive reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization. “Writing, ‘Assistive reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization not only involve serious medical risks, they also disrupt family life and commodify human beings.’ Lahl misses the forest for the trees,” Grace wrote in her blog post. “If anything, technologies such as IVF empower individuals to have the family life that they determine is best for them. Just because an individual’s family life fails to perfectly align with Lahl’s conception, it is not any less of a family.” Flashner responded to the protesting that prefaced the conference, specifically the H*yas for Choice blog posts, by expressing a wish for members of the pro-choice movement to attend the conference in an effort to engage in dialogue. “I would love for H*yas for Choice to attend our event,” Flashner said. “I’m not in the business of converting any of them to the pro-life position, but I would love to encourage dialogue to inform each other’s positions. I worry when the opposition is entirely devoted to shouting opponents down and disqualifying discourse or debate according to either personal positions or actions of speakers, and I worry that an emphasis only on protest standing outside such a discussion without attempting to enter into discussion at all.” DeLaurentis called the invitation to attend the conference “disingen-
uous.” “The way that I think dialogue should work is that both parties should come to it on equal footing,” DeLaurentis said.“When the pro-life student groups can have the nation’s largest student pro-life conference in Gaston Hall, and I get removed from a public sidewalk by a DPS officer, how can you say that any type of substantive dialogue can go along?” Flashner said the overall goal of the conference is to have an open, honest forum on pro-life positions. “I would hope that any attendee from Georgetown’s campus will walk away being more edified, understanding more clearly what it is either that they believe or that they whole heartedly rebel against,” Flashner said. “That’s why we try to invite students of all different perspectives.” Conference co-director Spencer Crawford (SFS ’16) said that he sees next year’s conference theme focusing on common ground between the pro-life and pro-choice movements. “I think we share a lot more in common than what we may originally think, so I really want to focus more on the sociological effects of issues concerning the prolife movement,” Crawford said. Pro-choice supporter Michaela Lewis (COL ’18) attended the panel and expressed her frustration with one-sided conversation. “The issue I take is with the way the panel was conducted,” Lewis said. “I find hypocrisy in the title, ‘The End of Intelligent Debate,’ in that the panel did not function as a debate as it only told one side of a very divisive issue. There was no opportunity for another viewpoint to be represented. … I don’t know how you can make progress when you are expressing your viewpoint to a group of people who also share it. When there is no dialogue, no one is learning anything.”
RECOMMENDATION, from A1 concurred with the need to act in light of these concerns, but did not support the proposal for full divestment submitted by Georgetown University Fossil Free,” the release read. Instead, CISR’s recommendation offers targeted divestment as an alternative, specifically targeting the top 100 companies that cause significant environmental damage from coal mining. Subsequently, the recommendation exempts oil and gas companies from divestment. The CFA and the university’s Investment Office will identify the specific companies for divestment. “Over a reasonable time period and consistent with good stewardship, Georgetown should divest from energy companies with the worst environmental impact, least commitment to alternative energy and least responsiveness to engagement efforts,” the release read. “Specifically, the university should divest from companies whose principal business is the mining of coal for use in energy production because there are energy alternatives that have less harmful environmental impact.” CISR’s recommendation also calls for strategic engagement, which advocates for Georgetown to leverage its role as a shareholder of energy companies and to engage in active dialogue to reduce these companies’ harmful environmental impact. “These efforts should include not only voting on, developing or supporting shareholder resolutions consistent with our principles, but also working with others to develop shareholder resolutions, and to seek opportunities to raise these issues in dialogue and communications with companies as well as other policymakers,” the release read. The last part of the alternate solution proposed by CISR is the continued assessment of advances in the university’s environmental objectives. CISR recommends the appointment of a working group to produce a full review of the impact of targeted divestment and engagement after three years. Additionally, a statement released by CISR Chair Jim Feinerman also stressed the importance of the university’s continued efforts in researching solutions and raising awareness about environmental issues. “CISR further acknowledges and supports the work of academic departments of the university with relevant expertise that continue to contribute to the advancement of these goals with their resources, research and engagement in the public discourse on issues related to climate change, global warming and sustainability,” Feinerman wrote.
Three hours after CISR announced its decision, GU Fossil Free published a response on its website on behalf of the organization expressing disapproval of the CISR vote. “The CISR’s decision not to support full divestment is disappointing,” the response read. “Partial divestment is an insufficient tactic, and, in light of the challenges at hand, is ideologically inconsistent with the CISR’s mandate to align Georgetown’s investments with its ethical standards.” In particular, GU Fossil Free criticized the alternative plan for targeted divestment recommended by CISR, citing the insufficiency of only divesting from coal companies. “Divestment from only coal would effectively legitimize other fossil fuel sectors whose products pose just as severe a threat to global human rights,” the response read. “While we would encourage divestment from any fossil fuel companies, partial divestment does not recognize the severity of the injustices perpetuated by the sector as a whole.” GU Fossil Free also labeled CISR’s recommendations for strategic engagement and continued assessment as unrealistic. “[S]hareholder advocacy efforts with companies whose objectionable behavior makes up the core of their business will never bring about the kind of adjustment that urgently needs to take place,” the response read. “These companies’ entire business model revolves around the unethical extraction and combustion of the carbon reserves they profess to own; engaging with these companies will not change this fact.” Despite its disappointment with CISR’s recommendation, GU Fossil Free expressed hope for the board of directors to vote in favor of full divestment in February. “We hope that members of the board of directors will favor a more decisive commitment to moral leadership and opt for comprehensive divestment from the top 200 fossil fuel companies across all sectors,” the release read. A statement released by Director of Media Relations Rachel Pugh praised the collective efforts of CISR and GU Fossil Free in engaging the university community in this dialogue regarding the university’s environmental responsibilities. “We are grateful to the Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility for their work and to GU Fossil Free for the important contributions they have made to the question of how we make and meet our sustainability goals, as it relates to our endowment and investments,” Pugh wrote.
news
Tuesday, january 27, 2015
THE HOYA
A7
Jesuits Celebrate 15th Annual Heritage Week Michelle McCann Hoya Staff Writer
DAN GANNON/THE HOYA
Fr. Daniel Madigan, S.J., spoke at Jesuit Heritage Week’s opening event.
Jesuit Heritage Week, the 15th annual university event that celebrates the work and spirituality of the Society of Jesus, began Sunday evening with an opening Mass in Gaston Hall and will continue through Saturday, Jan. 31. The Office of Mission and Ministry sponsors this event, which happens throughout the final week of January each year and involves a series of special events planned by a student-led team. “The goal is to share with our students, faculty and staff different aspects of the Jesuit tradition,” Vice President for Mission and Ministry Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. said.“ We have academic events, like lectures; we have social events, spiritual events, artistic events and we have athletic events. They share different aspects of the Jesuit tradition and provide an opportunity for students to get to know Jesuits on campus.” The week’s events are all centered on the goal of bringing the 40 Jesuits of the Georgetown community closer to the student body while celebrating the university’s Jesuit roots. As part of the week, Fr. John Foley, S.J., delivered a lecture Monday evening on the Cristo Rey model of
education. Foley is the founder of a network of schools that use the Cristo Rey, a new Jesuit education model that partners with local businesses for a work-study format of learning. Other highlights of the week include a lecture on Jesuit history delivered by world-renowned Jesuit historian Fr. John O’Malley, S.J. on Tuesday night and a basketball shoot-out between students and Jesuits during halftime of Tuesday’s basketball game against Xavier at the Verizon Center. More events include the annual “Spike-a-Jesuit” volleyball match on Thursday night and Jesuit storytelling on Saturday afternoon. A complete schedule of events can be found on the Mission and Ministry website. The week’s events were planned and coordinated by a team of eight students headed by two student cochairs, Nikita Jejurikar (NHS ’15) and John Whitmore (NHS ’16). “The week is meant to celebrate our heritage as a school and to give students the chance to get to know some Jesuits and kind of understand the values that make us a Jesuit institution and what that means,” Jejurikar said. “It’s mostly a celebration and a learning opportunity.” Jejurikar also said that while the
week is centered on Jesuit spirituality, the events are by no means limited to students of Christian faith. “The Jesuit values and the Ignatius spirituality and mindset inspires a set of values that are not exclusively Catholic or exclusively Christian,” Jejurikar said. “All the events are Jesuit themed but are relevant to all students. All students are welcomed and encouraged to come.” In an effort to embrace the different faith traditions represented on campus, a Jesuit will be speaking at a service for each of the religions present on campus during the week. “We have a Jesuit speaking at each of the religious services, from Jewish Shabbat to Hindu Puja, so we reach students in all different areas,” O’Brien said. Fr. Joseph Lingan, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community, expressed excitement for the events of the week and noted a growing student interest in Jesuit philosophy. “It’s always wonderful to have student interest in who we are and what we’re about,” Lingan said. “The reason why we’re here is the students here at Georgetown. It’s our delight to meet and encounter and hopefully help students in whatever way we can. This week really spotlights that for us.”
Metro Emergency Response Prompts Worries From Officials Maureen Tabet Hoya Staff Writer
After smoke filled a Yellow Line train because of electrical arcing on Monday, Jan. 12, city and federal officials have responded with concern about the safety of the Metro and the lack of disclosure provided by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) expressed extreme concern about the incident that occurred and the safety of the Metro moving forward. “From the initial reports, it seems clear that communication problems between emergency responders and Metro, both underground and above ground, appear to have caused critical delays in rescuing hundreds of passengers from two smoke filled trains that took the life of one passenger and sent 86 others to the hospital,” she said in a press release on Jan. 17. The timeline, according to the District, included what Congresswoman Norton believed to be a failure in communication between Metro and Emergency Response Services. Emergency responders received their first call 18 minutes after the incident began. Before that, officials report that they were unaware that an emergency evacuation would be necessary. “It may well be what prevented the loss of more lives is that it only took Metro one minute to activate the tunnel’s ventilation system, which indicates that Metro understood a serious incident was underway. At the same time, Metro may not have communicated the severity of the situation to emergency officials,” she said. Several D.C. councilmembers raised concerns about the incident at a press conference held Wednesday. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) expressed concern at a briefing held by Chairman Tom Downs on Tuesday. She requested that Downs respond generally to concerns about the safety of the Metro while the official investigation is still going on. “I’ve heard from a number of constituents who are just feeling scared about whether it’s safe to ride the Metro,” she said. Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (DWard 5) added that the city has a responsibility to residents and commuters to provide a safe Metro system. “We are asking people, thousands every day, almost a million in the entire system, to ride Metro. We encourage them to do that,” he said.
“At the very least, we could … make sure they have the information that arms them to make an informed decision.” Tom Downs, chairman of the WMATA board of directors, said WMATA will be investigating the incident and instituting any changes that are necessary. “No matter what the findings are, whether it shows that Metro did something wrong in this process, we are not going to contest it,” he said. “Whatever they recommend as safety fixes, we are going to put the resources in to make those changes as quickly as they can be made.” Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) probed Downs about why Metro wouldn’t talk about repairs that must be made in response to last week’s incident. “Councilmember, I would posit that the facts are actually important before jumping to conclusions about what needs to be fixed,” Downs said. Although officials have been concerned about lack of disclosure following the Metro incident, closed-door briefings with city and federal lawmakers began Wednesday. A report on the smoke incident was released last Saturday by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s office. It shows concerns that have subsequently been mentioned by city and federal officials. The major concern reported in the document claims firefighters in the tunnel around the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station were unable to communicate well by radio with officials outside the tunnel because signal-boosting equipment was not working correctly. The equipment is under Metro’s control, and the report claims that fire officials told the transit agency about the problem days before the incident. Passengers were stuck inside train cars full of smoke for at least 35 minutes. Transit experts have said that it was unclear whether the fans, which would have diffused smoke, were working properly during the incident. According to Metro records, 171 fire and smoke incidents have been reported in the Metrorail system in 2013 and the first eight months of 2014. WMATA released a letter apologizing to its riders last Sunday. “We apologize to all riders and particularly to the family of Carol Glover and those injured or impacted by the events of Monday afternoon,” Downs wrote. “We know that we have to redouble our efforts to learn from this and take every step necessary to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
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ISABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA
Tom Guthrie (SFS ’15) introduced the Youth Voice Initiative at a Sunday conference.
Initiative Encourages Youth To Serve in Government Andrew Wallender Hoya Staff Writer
When the government shut down in 2013, Tom Guthrie (SFS ’15) had a revelation that there are too few young people serving in government. “I was looking at the TV, looking at the newspapers and there were no young people anywhere,” Guthrie said. “And I started looking at the numbers more broadly, and it’s ridiculous. About 3 percent of state legislators are between 20 and 34 years old. About 1.3 percent before these last elections of Congress were under 40 years old. Those numbers are absurd.” That revelation led Guthrie to co-found the initiative Youth Voices with Matt Weinmann (SFS ’15), a program aimed at encouraging young people to consider running for office and equipping them with the tools to launch a campaign, in early 2014. Since its founding, Youth Voices has grown to a core team of four people and about a dozen others working on specific projects. More than 60 students attended Youth Voices’ first event, a day-long conference titled “You Should Run,” which was held in the Intercultural Center on Sunday. The event, put on in collaboration with the McCourt School of Public Policy, featured politicians and those who work in the political arena. Topics of discussion ranged from social media to fundraising to local government. “The thought is to get a lot of young people who are interested in politics into a room with people who have done this before, who have wisdom to offer them and tell them what it’s like to run for office and hopefully get some people actually running,” Guthrie said. Eleven speakers attended the event, including four Advisory Neighborhood Commission members who participated in a panel on local government moderated by journalist John Celock.
“People will put you in a box because you’re young,” Ward 8 ANC Commissioner Markus Batchelor said during the panel. “But in my community, regardless of your age, people will value you if you’re knowledgeable and consistent.” At an earlier talk, Rashawn Davis, the youngest person to ever be certified on the municipal ballot in Newark, N.J. at 21 years old, said, “I kept asking people, ‘How can I, a millennial, run for office and be successful?’ and unequivocally the first step people told me to do was build a team.” Youth Voices is working with the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth College to plan a second event, a two-day conference to be held in late March at Dartmouth College. The event already has commitments from some of the biggest young elected officials in New Hampshire, according to Guthrie. Sunday’s event included students not only from Georgetown University but also George Washington University and American University. “This [event] gave me so much good info about the details, the things that you wouldn’t know about beforehand, problems you can incur, and things that you should really work on,” American University freshman Andreas Elterich said. “I loved it. I got a lot of good info, and I met some really good people.” Nick Guthman, also a freshman at American University, said that he was drawn to the event by the professionalism of the event’s marketing and that the conference affected his perception of youth in government. “What I learned and what I’m going to take away is the power that we have as young people and the power that we have to coalition build and work together,” Guthman said. “I think that the power we hold as youth is really just going to keep getting bigger and bigger. And so I’m really grateful for the opportunity Youth Voices gave to us.”
A8
SPORTS
THE HOYA
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015
Swimming & diving
OuT OF OUR LEAGUE
Hawks Snubbed in All-Stars GU Falls in Philadelphia FIEGE, from A10
Pero Antic and DeMarre Carroll all provide threatening floor spacing with their long range shots, while Thabo Sefolosha and Dennis Schroder provide competent substitutes on both ends of the court. As a result, the Hawks rank fifth in the NBA at offensive efficiency, second in the NBA at average margin of victory and first in the NBA when it comes to defense, holding their opponents to 96.6 points per game. Keeping this in mind, it is perplexing that they do not get a proper level of representation. I believe All-Star selections and jersey sales are most indicative of a franchise’s popularity. The NBA hosts an All-Star game every February, in which the Eastern and Western Conferences are represented by five starting players who are voted in by fans through social media, while the reserves for each side are determined by votes from each conference’s respective coaches. Despite their collective success, it seems unlikely that the Hawks will have any rep-
resentation this year, aside from their coaches who will coach the Eastern Conference All-Star team. If we go by the opinion of the fans, there are not any Hawks players in the top 10 of either the guard or frontcourt category. Granted, the coaches’ vote is supposed to be the great equalizer, the preventer of snubs, but most of those players end up being an afterthought. For instance, Millsap was selected last year, but only ended up playing benchwarmer’s minutes, garnering little attention for either his reputation or that of his organization. It goes without saying that the Hawks have had similarly little success in marketing their brand. Jersey sales for the team are pitiful. Not surprisingly, the Hawks also rank in the bottom 10 of all NBA teams for average game attendance. Did I mention that they were allotted a grand total of four nationally televised games this season? Regardless of their regular season success, the Hawks seem doomed to be considered the underdogs, even in the Eastern
Conference, to make a title run. Is this disregard actually indicative of the validity of the Hawks’ success so far? As a team that thrives off of the three-point line, averaging nearly 25 shots per game, they will have to keep up their defensive effort to withstand times of famine from behind the arc in May and July. While their lack of star power provides them with flexibility in terms of injury, it also limits their ability to truly counter an opponent of that caliber. If LeBron James or Stephen Curry, the top leaders in the All-Star balloting, put up a vintage, unstoppable performance in the playoffs, the best the Hawks could individually muster would be a three-point barrage from Korver. Perfect execution has gotten the Hawks this far, but they will need the discipline to maintain it if they hope to reap the benefits in the postseason. Max Fiege is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service. OUT OF OUR LEAGUE appears every Tuesday.
AROUND THE DISTRICT
Nats Win With Scherzer
T
he signing of Max Scherzer to the Washington Nationals on a seven-year, $210 million deal has resulted in a variety of reactions, from raised eyebrows to genuine shock, around the baseball world. The signing was a whirlwind — I had not even heard a whisper of a rumor until 24 hours before the actual signing, and until he was announced in a Nationals jersey late last week, it still seemed too crazy to be true. Once the signing was confirmed, the headlines swarmed. Every possible angle of this story was analyzed. While Scherzer certainly bolsters the rotation and perhaps makes it the best in baseball, there are those who denounce the deal. Historically, few seven-year deals have ever worked out in a club’s favor, and other analysts posed concerns about payroll and where this move left a team loaded on pitching but still soft at second base. Upon further examining the particulars of the signing, however, it becomes clear that the Nationals have managed to set themselves up for both the present and the future given the specifics of the contract. The media reports that the seven-year deal is worth $210 million, which is technically correct. But, other writers have also thrown out $180 million, and some have gone even lower. The lack of certainty in what seemingly should be a simple dollar figure arises from the unique structuring of the contract. According to ESPN, the Nationals have not agreed to simply divide Scherzer’s $180 million salary evenly over his seven years, which would give Scherzer $35 million a year. Instead, the contract has been back-loaded, with parts deferred without interest until 2028. A date like that promotes a conception of Scherzer be-
ing heavy on the books for 14 years, leaving room for a lot of fear mongering. But that fear can be dispelled once the details of the contract are examined. If the dollar is not earning interest, as Scherzer’s contract stipulates, a dollar
Matt Raab today is generally worth more than a dollar tomorrow due to inflation, ensuring that the Nationals and their wallet will not suffer from signing Scherzer in the long term. Moreover, the MLB will not be charging the Nationals’ luxury tax based on any interest-related figure, leaving the club with room to maneuver in terms of cap space while also granting one of baseball’s best pitchers deserved salary and job security. As uncomfortable as it may be to have a pitcher on the roster for big money until after his 37th birthday, the reality is that Scherzer was not realistically going to sign for much more, or much less, time. The beauty of this deal is that it managed that concern while limiting the financial burden on the Nationals. In terms of the players, signing Scherzer gives the Nationals the opportunity to make adjustments on the roster to make the strongest possible pitching rotation available to them. The choices Washington will have to make in the coming months before the season opener are along the lines of “how good do we want this starting rotation to be?” As it stands, the rota-
tion, according to ESPN statistics, consists of Scherzer, who threw a 3.15 ERA season last year, Zimmermann at 2.66, Stephen Strasburg at 3.14, Doug Fister at 2.41 and lefthander Gio Gonzalez at 3.57, leaving hotshot Tanner Roark and his 2.85 ERA out of the rotation. Regrettable as that may be, these are problems anyone wants. The Nationals can now preserve one of the most remarkable rotations in recent memory. Each is proven in his own right, and the group is somehow more talented than last season. Furthermore, the Nationals could still work a trade with Zimmermann or Roark to bolster the second base position, currently slated for either Yunel Escobar or Danny Espinosa, or pick up some bullpen talent. Or, they could plan for the future and trade for prospects to help ameliorate the impending free agencies of Desmond, Zimmermann and Strasburg. Any way you look at it, this deal is a win for the Nationals. The team is as strong as ever, capable of both winning in the present and continuing to do so into the foreseeable future. Changes to the core roster in years past that brought baseball success to the District were productive, as that group proved just how talented they are — this can be seen in the difficulties in signing Desmond and Zimmermann to contracts and the trading of beloved Tyler Clippard. Now, Washington is in a position to deal with those changes with fewer uncertainties. The ownership and management have continually put this club in a position to win and we look forward to seeing if that effort pays dividends. Matt Raab is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. AROUND THE DISTRICT appears every Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: NATE MOULTON/THE HOYA
Senior Will Lawler finished fifth in the 200 freestyle against Drexel on Saturday.
Tyler Park
Hoya Staff Writer
Following a successful Senior Day weekend at home on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17, Georgetown’s swimming and diving team traveled to Philadelphia last weekend to face Drexel University on the Dragons’ own Senior Day celebration. Despite strong performances from a number of the team’s standouts, including sophomore diver Jared Cooper-Vespa and junior Erica Fabbri, both teams suffered disappointing defeats. The men’s team fell by a score of 191-109, while the women’s team was defeated 160-140. The meet against Drexel followed a competitive showing from Georgetown at home in a four-way meet that was the Hoyas’ first in over a month, as the Hoyas mostly trained over winter break. After its first meet of 2015, senior and cocaptain Jamie Gallagher said that the team was, “really excited to put that training to good use,” which the team made clear in its second-straight meet in as many weeks. Led by Cooper-Vespa, the Hoya divers continued their recent upward trend with a solid meet. The men’s diving duo of Cooper-Vespa and freshman Benjamin Goodfriend submitted two standout performances, with Cooper-Vespa winning both the 1-meter and the 3-meter diving events and Goodfriend finishing right behind him in second place in both events. For the women’s team, Fabbri contributed a whopping four top-two finishes. Individually, she won the 50-yard freestyle by a slim 0.25 second margin, and also finished first in the 100 butterfly, also by a margin of less than one second. Fabbri’s second place finishes were also close races as Fabbri finished in second place in the 100 freestyle, only 0.29 seconds behind Drexel freshman Aubrey Murray. Fabbri capped her day by anchoring one of Georgetown’s 400 individual medley relay teams, which finished second, just 0.82 seconds behind a Drexel team. Both the men’s and women’s teams were able to take some solace in the performance of their young swimmers, as multiple freshmen made significant contributions for both teams. Madeline Quinn recorded first-place finishes in the women’s 1000 freestyle and the 400 individ-
ual medley. In the 400 medley, Quinn narrowly edged Drexel freshman Miranda Rouse by a narrow 0.29 second margin. No other swimmer finished within eight seconds of the top two finishers. Quinn’s fellow freshman Christine Ryan also won her event, the women’s 500 freestyle, with a time of 5:09.32. Along with the rest of the freshmen who have performed well throughout the season, Ryan, who won the 200-yard freestyle event at the team’s home meet against American University, has continually provided hope for future Hoya success in the pool. For the men’s team, freshman Daniel Ross won the 200 freestyle, narrowly edging Drexel sophomore Matthew Klotz. In addition to finishing with the top spot in his shorter event, Ross also finished second in the 400 individual medley. Another freshman, Chase Ladman, won the men’s 500 freestyle. The Hoyas also enjoyed an area of strength in the distance freestyle events. In addition to Quinn, Ryan and Ladman’s triumphs in their respective freestyle races, junior Austin Evenson won the men’s 1000 freestyle, allowing Georgetown to sweep the four long-distance freestyle events, earning four consecutive first-place finishes. The women’s team also received a strong contribution from junior Lauren Ward. Ward won the women’s 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:12.82. On the women’s side of the diving team, senior Lauren Kahan finished in second in the women’s 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, finishing behind Drexel freshman Madison Kramer in both. Despite several strong individual performances from the Hoyas, Drexel was able to weather the storm by countering with a number of standouts of its own. In addition to winning the 100 freestyle, Drexel sophomore Aubrey Murray also won the 200 freestyle, while junior Madison Kramer captured two events in the diving categories. On the men’s side, Drexel junior Joel Berryman won both of the short-distance freestyle events — the 50- and 100-yard events — and senior Michael Krohn won the 100 and 200 butterfly races. Meanwhile, junior Kyle Lukens won both the 100 backstroke and the 400 individual medley. These performances led the Dragons to comprehensive victories over the competitive and improved Hoya squads. Georgetown will have the better part of two weeks to work to improve their times in preparation for a tri-meet against Rutgers University and Providence College in Piscataway, N.J. on Feb. 7, which is the final regular season meet before the Big East Championships. With one meet standing between Georgetown and the Big East Championships, the Hoyas want to remain focused and healthy as they close out their season. “In the next month, illness and injury are going to be things that we need to keep an eye on. [We will] try to just stay healthy and keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Head Coach Jamie Holder said in an interview prior to the Drexel meet.
SPORTS
tuesday, january 27, 2015
WoMen’s Basketball
But, each time, Georgetown responded and opened several sixpoint leads. The Pirates, however, were resilient. With less than two minutes remaining in the second half, they went up 76-75. Unfazed, the Blue and Gray responded with a quick layup by Adomako to reclaim the lead. The two teams exchanged baskets down the stretch until the game was knotted at 82 with 11 seconds remaining — and Georgetown had the last possession in regulation. The Pirates deflected the inbounds pass, leaving the Hoyas with 6.6 seconds remaining to make one last play. Off the second inbounds play, junior guard Katie McCormick slipped off a series of screens and had an open look from three, but her shot went long. With the miss, the game was sent to overtime. Despite the team’s heroic efforts in regulation, Georgetown was unable to keep pace with Seton Hall and ultimately fell 99-85. “They ran a flat offense. [Graduate student guard Daisha Simmons], who scored a lot of their points, can finish really well,” McCormick said. “But we didn’t step up and make any stops. That’s on us; we weren’t making any stops like we were in [regulation].”
Adomako once again led the way for the Hoyas, scoring a career-high 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting. Vitalis and Battle each contributed 16 points in the losing effort. Meanwhile, Simmons and junior forward Tabatha RichardsonSmith scored 32 and 29 points, respectively, to lead the Pirates. Despite emerging from the weekend with two losses, the Hoyas faired considerably well against the best competition the Big East has to offer. “For the team that we are in that locker room, [the Seton Hall loss] gives us fight,” Adair said. “It gives us that wherewithal that if that’s the number one team in our conference, if that’s the 20th team in the country … it’s not whether we have enough. It’s about putting it together and playing together for 40 minutes, or 45 minutes. And we’ll be ready.” Co-captain McCormick assented. “We can play with anyone, we showed it against [Seton Hall],” McCormick added. “We just didn’t finish.” As Georgetown begins the second half of its conference schedule, it will have the opportunity to avenge these losses. Its first opportunity comes on Friday, as Georgetown faces DePaul in Chicago. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m.
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Men’s Basketball
Upset Spoiled in Last-Minute Rally pirates, from A10
THE HOYA
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Freshman forward Isaac Copeland was named the Big East Rookie of the Week after he scored a career-high 17 points against Villanova, only to match his record five days later against Marquette.
Hoyas Pursue 5th Straight Win xavier, from A10 points in Saturday’s overtime win against Marquette. Smith’s 15-rebound performance in 31 minutes set new rebound and minute career-highs for the big man. “I feel a lot different than I did last year,” Smith said. “After I found out I played 31 minutes I was like, ‘wow.’ I can’t remember the last time I played 31 minutes going back to high school or middle school.” Since the loss to Xavier in the first Big East game of the season, Georgetown has evolved into a more cohesive unit, with nine players who could lead them in scoring on any given night. Still, Thompson remains a cautious optimist when it comes to his team’s development. “The good thing about this team is that we’re getting better. We have not arrived yet, we still have room for growth in all areas,” said Thompson. Thompson alluded to the team atmosphere and camaraderie as key
components of the way the team plays and progresses together. “This might sound like a small thing, but the guys like each other. There is a sense of selflessness in that — ‘I’m just as happy for you if you’re scoring,’” Thompson said. One of the biggest reasons for the Hoyas’ consistent winning results over the past month has been the emergence of freshman Isaac Copeland. The 6-foot-9-inch forward from Raleigh, N.C., was named Big East Rookie of the week on Monday after averaging 17 points and six rebounds in wins over Villanova and Marquette. Copeland only had two points in seven minutes in the Hoyas’ previous loss to Xavier, but the freshman has since established himself as a valuable contributor on both ends of the floor while navigating the difficult transition from high school to the college basketball — particularly with the level of talent in the Big East. “More importantly than the scor-
ing, the energy that [Copeland] brings on the boards and the defensive end we need,” Thompson said. “I knew that at some point the clouds were going to open up for him. He’s been stumbling while thinking, now he’s just playing. It happens sooner for others, but it’s happened to him, and now he’s just out there playing.” As was the case in the second half on Saturday, Georgetown’s depth will be put to the test. Senior guard and co-captain Jabril Trawick (thigh) and freshman forward L.J. Peak (ankle), both regular members of the Hoyas’ starting lineup, may be unable to play against Xavier. “I’m not sure if either one of them are going to play, they didn’t practice yesterday,” Thompson said after Monday’s practice. “Neither one of them are out for any significant period of time, but they might be out tomorrow.” The matchup between Xavier and Georgetown will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Junior forward Brittany Horne scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in the Hoyas’ heartbreaking loss to Seton Hall.
GU Wins 2 of 3 in Richmond
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Sophomore Victoire Saperstein competed in the top singles slot between the two teams and fell to No.86 Cindy Chala in a 6-3, 6-2 result. The Hoyas lost in the three remaining singles slots, while the doubles pairing of senior captain Sophie Panarese and freshman Casey Marx lost 6-2, 6-1. Later on in the day, Georgetown bounced back with a resounding 4-0 victory over Norfolk State. Saperstein routed her opponent at No. 1 singles in a 6-2, 6-0 result. Sophomore Sophia Barnard won in the second singles slot in a straight set victory, while Panarese also won in the third singles slot. The Hoyas also impressed in the doubles slot due to the performances of sophomore Madeline Foley and junior Liselot Koenen, who finished off the sweep in a 6-2, 6-1 victory. “Victoire played the best tennis she’s played since the Big East [tournament] last year,” Ernst said. “Sophia Barnard didn’t play nervous at all, she just played a great, smart, competitive match. She just did
things better than she did last year and in matches she’s lost.” The Campbell match the following day proved a much tighter contest. Edging over the Camels 3-2, the heroics of Barnard and Saperstein proved integral to the win. Both won in their singles matches, while freshman Daphne de Chatellus and Marx lost in their singles contest. Putting pressure on the doubles contest, Koenen and Panarese won a tight straightset match with a 7-5, 7-5 result. Georgetown has kicked off its spring season with the match hosted by VCU for the past four seasons. All the competitions have showed similar results — the record between the Rams and Hoyas is 4-0 in VCU’s favor. On the flip side, Georgetown holds a 3-0 record over Campbell in the 4-1 Invitational Matches. Besides Marx, de Chatellus and Foley, all of Georgetown’s players have seen VCU and Campbell in 4-1 Invitational Matches in the past. Last year, Barnard went 1-1 in singles play — losing to VCU and beating Campbell — in her matches, while Saperstein went 1-1 in doubles play. Koenen stepped up in the first singles slot against
VCU last year, but fell in a 6-1, 6-3 decision on Friday. The matches this year saw the absence of graduates Madeline Jaeger and Kelly Comolli, both of whom played key roles in the Hoyas’ last contest in Richmond. Preparation for future matches, especially Big East matches, holds priority for the Hoyas. Thus, competition against strong teams such as VCU provides valuable opportunities to prep for matches that hold more significance. Though Ernst knows some of the tweaks the team has to make, overall he is pleased with the team’s current state. “We need to cut down on errors, [have] fewer double faults, get the ability to put balls away — some of these teams like VCU can just smack it away,” Ernst said. “But I actually thought we had more to work on than we actually do, which is really positive. We just compete really well, and we’re in pretty good shape right now, and that’s great.” Now, the Hoyas will prepare to compete against James Madison this Saturday in Alexandria, Va. The match will begin at 4 p.m.
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FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
Senior Sophie Panarese (pictured above) and her doubles partner, junior Liselot Koenen, defeated Campbell juniors Ana Maria Ortiz and Ewa Telenga 7-5, 7-5 in a tightly contested match Saturday.
SPORTS
Men’s Basketball Xavier (13-7, 4-4) at Georgetown (14-5, 6-2) Tuesday, 7 p.m. Verizon Center
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015
SWIMMING & DIVING Despite some stellar individual results, the men and women both fell to Drexel on the road. See A9
WOMEN’S TENNIS
TALKING POINTS
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NUMBERS GAME
The things we are talking about ... we can correct as a team.” WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH NATASHA ADAIR
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The men’s basketball team’s new rank — the team’s first top-25 billing since late December.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
GU to Avenge Big East Opener DILLON MULLAN Hoya Staff Writer
first, getting beat, and then learning from that. … We just did such a great job as a team.” The match, hosted by VCU, took place in Richmond, Va., and marked the spring debut for the young squad. Taking place over the course of a twoday span, Georgetown competed against Norfolk State and Virginia Commonwealth on Friday to kick off its weekend matches. VCU swept Georgetown, defeating all four singles competitors in straight-set matches.
When Head Coach John Thompson III and the Georgetown men’s basketball team (14-5, 6-2 Big East) welcomed in 2015 and began Big East play on New Year’s Eve, the team turned in its worst performance of the season — Georgetown had a humbling 70-53 loss to Xavier, forcing the Hoyas to tumble out of the top 25 after earning the rank just two days earlier. Now, No. 21 Georgetown has won six of its past seven games ahead of Tuesday’s rematch with the Musketeers at Verizon Center. On Monday, the Hoyas climbed back into the national rankings for the first time since the blowout in Cincinnati on Dec. 31. “Early on in the season we were ranked also, so when we get a second crack at it, hopefully we can get it done,” junior guard and co-captain D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera said. “It’s always redemption when you lose early in the season and you get a second crack at a team.” While Georgetown comes into the game riding a four-game winning streak, Xavier’s road woes have prevented them from establishing consistency so far this season. In Big East play, Xavier has been dominant at home, winning each of its four games by an average of more than 11 points. On the road, however, the Musketeers have lost all four of their conference games. Xavier’s offense runs through 6-foot-10, 270-pound center Matt Stainbrook who leads the Musketeers with 12.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. “He’s probably one of the few guys that I could say is close to my physique in the country. He’s a big dude, and for me to say that means a lot,” said the Hoyas’ 6-foot-10, 350-pound center Joshua Smith, who scored 15
See RICHMOND, A9
See XAVIER, A9
GU HOYAS
Sophomore Victoire Saperstein led the Hoyas with a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the top singles slot against Norfolk State.
Sophomores Lead Team to 2-1 Record MADELINE AUERBACH Hoya Staff Writer
Thanks to the efforts of sophomores Victoire Saperstein and Sophia Barnard, the Georgetown women’s tennis team (21) powered past Norfolk State (0-5) and Campbell (1-2) this weekend at the 4-1 Invitational Match, though it fell to Virginia Commonwealth (6-1). “It was a great weekend,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said. “We got the experience from playing a team like VCU — we got beat, but I’m just really happy we ended up playing them
OUT OF OUR LEAGUE
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Senior center Joshua Smith set new career highs with 15 rebounds and 31 minutes played against Marquette on Saturday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Hoyas Drop Two Straight at Home CAROLYN MAGUIRE Hoya Staff Writer
Max Fiege
Hawks’ Success Shrouded D
ec. 26, 2014 was a night unlike any other this season for the Atlanta Hawks. In front of a sold-out crowd at Philips Arena, NBA journeyman and current Milwaukee Bucks guard Jared Dudley went a perfect 10-for-10 from the field in the Bucks’ 107-77 blowout win. While it was shocking enough that this loss came at the tail end of a string of victories against top-tier teams, including the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers, the fallout from that defeat has been even more surprising. The Hawks have won all 16 of their games since the loss to the Bucks and are currently No. 1 in the NBA’s power rankings. Aside from that night, the Hawks have had a sparkling start to the season. Why is it, then, that they are still the Rodney Dangerfield of the league? Why is it that they get no respect? Let us take a look at the numbers. Kyle Korver is shooting an astronomical 53.1 percent from three — a percentage that is actually higher than his combined field goal percentage. Jeff Teague is putting up 17.1 points per game while maintaining an efficient 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Al Horford and Paul Millsap are nearly identical to one another down low and just as solid, contributing a combined 32.2 points and 14.6 rebounds a night. Moreover, exceptional role players surround this four-man core. Kent Bazemore, See FIEGE, A8
The score line of the Georgetown-Seton Hall women’s basketball game shows a commanding 99-85 overtime win for No. 25 Seton Hall (19-2, 8-1 Big East). The score line, however, fails to do justice to the performance turned in by Georgetown (4-17, 2-7 Big East). The Hoyas entered the game as underdogs. A young team with a first-year head coach, Georgetown showed its potential in several games throughout season, but had yet to string together a complete, 40-minute performance. Georgetown was coming off of a 74-57 loss at the hands of St. John’s University (15-5, 6-3 Big East) on Friday evening. After a
back-and-forth beginning, the Red Storm went on a 10-2 run to take a commanding 22-11 advantage. They followed their dominant start with another 13-2 run to enjoy a 35-20 lead going into halftime. Although the second half was considerably closer, the Red Storm still managed to outscore the Hoyas 39-37 and cruise to an 18-point win. Junior guard and Big East leading scorer Aliyyah Handford, who scored 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, led St. John’s to victory. “You are not going to stop a great player, but we wanted to make it hard for [Handford]. We did not do that in my opinion,” Georgetown Head Coach Natasha Adair said. “My hat goes off to her because she is a phenomenal
player in this league. It was not what went wrong, it’s that she is a tough guard.” Meanwhile, the Blue and Gray had three players in double figures. Freshman guard Dorothy Adomako led the way with 15 points and six rebounds, followed by sophomore forward Faith Woodard with 13 points and junior forward Logan Battle, who had 10 points. “We started out good. I think we played well in spurts. … We have to cut down on the turnovers. … A lot of that was self-inflicted,” Adair said. “We are right here. We are half an inch. You slide over half an inch. You extend on a layup half an inch. Half an inch can be fixed. The things we are talking about are things we can correct in practice, we can
correct as a team. So as a unit we will continue to grow.” But Sunday afternoon’s game followed no such script. After initially falling behind by eight points midway through the first half, Georgetown — led by the three-point shooting of junior forward Brittany Horne — rallied to gain a 40-31 halftime advantage. Georgetown’s momentum, however, did not carry over to the second half. After junior forward Dominique Vitalis opened the half with a layup, the Pirates, with a 12-6 run, closed to within two points. Throughout the second half, Seton Hall seemed poised to take the lead. See PIRATES, A9
JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA; FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Freshman guard Dorothy Adomako, left, and junior forward Logan Battle led the Hoyas against St. John’s on Friday. Although the Hoyas fell to the Red Storm 75-57, Adomako scored 15 points and notched six rebounds and Battle added 10 points to the Hoyas’ effort. Visit us online at thehoya.com/sports