The Hoya: February 21, 2014

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 95, No. 35, © 2014

FRIDAY, february 21, 2014

WOLF OF O STREET

After unexpected turns, Javier Arguello (MSB ’15) claws his way to the top.

COMMENTARY Archaic philosophies turn a blind eye to transgender students.

GUIDE, B1

AMNESTY Code of Student Conduct adds medical amnesty for alcohol violations.

OPINION, A3

PIRATES SINK GU With Thursday’s 82-67 loss, the Hoyas are 5-8 in Big East play.

SPORTS, B10

NEWS, A4

Capital One Ends Georgetown Partnership Diversity Katherine Richardson Hoya Staff Writer

CHARLIE LOWE/THE HOYA

Allison Manning (MSB ’16) withdraws money at the Capitol One ATM in the Leavey Center. The bank will disappear from campus in May.

Dean & DeLuca Closes For Health Violations

The university’s relationship with Capital One Bank will dissolve after 10 years, with the financial institution’s Leavey Center branch scheduled to close May 21.

A new bank partner, chosen by a committee composed of Georgetown students and faculty at the beginning of April, will replace Capital One on July 1.

Capital One’s contract with the university was set to expire in June, and in preparation, Georgetown offered eight banks, including Capital One, a chance to apply to put a branch on campus. Three banks applied for the partnership, but Capital One did not reapply to renew its position on campus, according to university spokeswoman Stacy Kerr.

Amanda Landers from the Corporate Communications division at Capital One said that the bank decided to end its partnership with Georgetown after much deliberation.

“Capital One is continually eval-

uating our business to ensure we operate as efficiently and effectively as possible while continuing to provide high-quality products and services to our customers,” Landers wrote in an email. “Through the course of these evaluations, in some instances, decisions are made to open, renovate, close or relocate branches. … This was a difficult decision to no longer operate on the campus of Georgetown University and one that our bank leaders did not take lightly. Our relationship with the university has been very positive over the last decade.”

Kerr also characterized the university’s relationship with Capital One as positive over the past 10 years.

“We of course respect their business decision not to reapply and appreciate their service to our Georgetown community,” she said.

“We’ve been very happy with them and they were invited to resubmit, but they just elected not to. We’re not ending our relationship on See BANK, A6

EASING TENSION

Suzanne Monyak

lack of proper date marking on produce. While two of these violations, improper date marking and the Live rodents and poor disposal maintenance of food at improper of waste and sewage were among temperatures, were able to be corthe critical health violations that rected on site, the eatery remained caused the Georgetown location of closed until it was able to correct all Dean and DeLuca to close Wednes- critical violations Thursday afterday. noon.

The eatery was cited for six critiLive and dead mice were also cal and eight non-critical health found upstairs in the food preparaviolations. According to Najma Rob- tion area, as well as downstairs by erts, communications director for the cheese display case. the D.C. Department of Health, the The store received especially low gourmet grocery store was found to marks for prevention of food conhave “gross and unsanitary occur- tamination, after being found not rences or conditions that may en- in compliance for the categories danger public health, including but “insects, rodents and animals not not limited to a heavy infestation of present,” “contamination preventvermin.” ed during food This is not the preparation storfirst time that age and display,” the store, located “wiping clothes: at 3276 M St. properly used NW, has been and stored” and shuttered for “washing fruits critical health and vegetables.” violations.

In The inspecANNAMARIE WHITE (MSB ’17) February 2013, tion also pointed the eatery was to the lack of sigcited for the presence of rats and nage inside the storefront instructcockroaches, which was attributed ing employees to wash their hands to the presence of construction and poor disposal of sewage and next door. waste water.

In light of the repeat violations, Roberts said that the store would Dean and DeLuca was designated not open unless all health code vioa Class 4 Risk on a scale of five on lations had been corrected. both the 2013 and 2014 reports.

“Our goal is to assist in the correc“[This] means that it would be- tive action and make sure that that come a higher-risk food establish- establishment is safe and healthy,” ment than perhaps a gas station she said. or a restaurant that maybe has not Georgetown students expressed been closed. So what that means alarm at the health inspection refor us is that they will get inspected sults. more frequently than the standard Annamarie White (MSB ’17) said once a year,” Roberts said. that she was unlikely to continue to Included among the six critical buy food there. violations were a lack of separation “That’s quite alarming, and I’m of foods to prevent cross-contamina- glad that I don’t buy cheese there. tion, a failure to maintain proper It’s such a well-regarded store that food storage temperatures and a has such high values, that makes me think maybe I’ll just stick to Vittles,” White said.

After a recent encounter with uncleanliness at the eatery, Paola Peraza (SFS ’17) was not surprised by the violations.

“I went into Dean and DeLuca a couple of weeks ago to buy glass cups, and all of the ones on the shelves were dusty, chipped or covered in fingerprints. I bought a couple anyway but had to wash them multiple times before using them,” Peraza said.

Abigail Watson (COL ’17), however, was confident that the grocer would be able to address the violations accordingly.

“That’s disgusting, but I still love Dean and DeLuca. I figure if they close it down and clean it out, ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA they’ll be good to go,” Watson said.

DOH inspectors found live and Dean and DeLuca did not respond to requests for comment. dead mice in Dean & DeLuca.

Hoya Staff Writer

“I’m glad that I don’t buy cheese there.”

Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947

CHARLIE LOWE/THE HOYA

Pakistan’s ambassador, Jalil Abbas Jilani addressed current relations between the two nations Tuesday. See story on A9.

KRISTEN SKILLMAN/THE HOYA

KRISTEN SKILLMAN/THE HOYA

Lacking in Exec Race

Matt Gregory Hoya Staff Writer

While over 54 percent of Georgetown students are female and less than half of the student body identifies itself as white, only one out of eight candidates running for Georgetown University Student Association executive office this year is female, and only two identify as members of minority ethnic groups.

The absence of diversity among the tickets drew criticism from some candidates and student groups, who allege that the electoral field does not accurately represent the student body.

Six of the candidates, Ben Weiss (COL ’15), Sam Greco (SFS ’15), Zach Singer (SFS ’15), Dan Silkman (COL ’15), Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) and Thomas Lloyd (SFS ’15) identify as white males, while Lloyd’s running mate, Jimmy Ramirez (COL ’15), is a Latino male. Omika Jikaria (SFS ’15), the only female in the race, is of Indian descent. Both Ramirez and Jikaria are running for vice president.

Although Jikaria is often reminded of her status as the only female in the candidate field, she maintains that this fact is relatively unimportant compared to other campaign issues.

“It’s definitely something I’m aware of going into the race, and people always bring it up,” Jikaria said. “But I think that the conversation about the issues is much more important than how many girls are running.”

She noted, however, that the lack of female candidates in this year’s GUSA executive contest appears indicative of a larger trend in American political culture.

“I think it’s sad that there’s only one girl running. I think that there definitely is a dearth of women leaders in student government positions in general in America,” Jikaria said. “I don’t necessarily have a solution for that. I think that it’s just important for young girls to see other women running, and that will inspire them.”

Tezel, Jikaria’s running mate, expressed disappointment that GUSA leadership See DIVERSITY, A6

MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

OLIVIA HEWITT/THE HOYA

From left to right: Ben Weiss (COL ’15), Sam Greco (SFS ’15), Dan Silkman (COL ’15) and Jimmy Ramirez (SFS ’15). Weiss and Greco are members of the Second Society of Stewards. Silkman and Ramirez are in the Thirds.

4 Candidates Secret Society Members Tezel campaign press release outlines history with Stewards recruitment Matt Gregory Hoya Staff Writer

Four of the eight candidates running for Georgetown University Student Association executive office have confirmed membership in secret societies, compared to two out of the 10 candidates involved in the groups last year.

Presidential candidate Ben Weiss (COL ’15) and his running mate Sam Greco (SFS ’15) are both members of the Second Society of Stewards, while vice presidential hopefuls Dan Silkman (COL ’15) and Jimmy Ramirez (COL ’15) are members of the unrelated Third Society of Stewards.

A fifth candidate, presidential hopeful Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15), was rumored to have been in the process of induction into the Second Society; however, correspondence with Steward leadership provided by Tezel indicates he declined an offer of membership Jan. 29.

Published Tuesdays and Fridays

Tezel and Omika Jikaria (SFS ’15) are the only ticket without at least one member of either secret society. Last year, three of the five teams claimed to be unaffiliated.

Tezel’s campaign sent a press release to student media early Wednesday, outlining the trajectory of his conversations with the secret society.

Tezel was interviewed by a panel of Stewards during the last GUSA executive election in February 2013, but the society declined to pursue him further at the time. He was approached again in October, at which time he submitted a letter to an unidentified Second Society leader delineating his ultimate decision to decline the organization’s offer of membership.

“My personal decision to decline consideration for the society stems not from its mission nor its potential effect on my candidacy for any office I may consider seeking next semester,” Tezel wrote in the letter,

a redacted copy of which he sent to The Hoya. Tezel cited two concerns: the Stewards’ demands for secrecy, as well as the overall effect of their presence at Georgetown.

He has since been approached twice, according to the statement.

“According to Tezel, the existence of secret societies on campus can and has dissuaded non-members from involvement in campus life due to the dominance of leadership positions by members of secret societies, predominantly heterosexual, white, Christian men,” the statement, issued by Tezel and Omika Jikaria’s communication director, Emily Perkins (COL ’14), reads. “This imbalance in resources constitutes socio-structural prejudice and is an institutional barrier to equal opportunity and equal representation on a campus that purports to support social justice.”

See STEWARDS, A6

Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com

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OPINION

THE HOYA

FRIday, february 21, 2014

THE VERDICT Founded January 14, 1920

EDITORIALS

A Practical Credit At the 2014 SkillHack Georgetown hackathon last weekend, a one-credit finance course, “Fresh Finance,” was proposed to correct a perceived lack of basic money management skills among students.

The course proposal is practical and highlights an aspect of Georgetown education that is lacking: learning for learning’s sake.

Most classes at Georgetown teach critical thinking and analysis rather than rote memorization, as they should. However, in some cases, a cursory overview of an unfamiliar subject or practical skill can prove useful to students who may not be able to devote the time and effort required to perform well in a threecredit class.

The one-credit course, “Map of the Modern World,” required for students in the School of Foreign Service, is an example of a class that takes advantage of a less intensive format to create a foundation of knowledge that will come

in handy for future courses and careers. Yet, for a school whose students boast far-reaching curiosities besides the capitals of the world, Georgetown’s one-credit options are limited. Currently, students can receive one credit on a pass-fail basis for working in various department of performing arts programs and some school-specific courses like “Computational Business Modeling” in the McDonough School of Business.

Georgetown would do well to offer more vocational and informational courses to undergraduates.

While students should understandably focus their academic attention on full-fledged courses, undergraduates would benefit from learning about practical subjects like financial literacy, public speaking, graphic design or sustainable living. Without affecting students’ GPAs, one-credit courses would teach valuable skills for their personal and academic benefit.

C

Bridging the Gap — On Wednesday, national clothing chain Gap announced it would raise its lowest wage for employees to $10 per hour.

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Nine Lives — An Alexandria, Va., tabby cat has survived after being shot more than 30 times with a BB gun.

A Tale of Two Districts — A study by the Brookings Institution found that D.C. has the fifth-largest economic inequality gap of the 50 largest cities in the country.

Back With a Vengeance — Despite this week’s high temperatures, meteorologists forecast more wintry weather next week, with lows in the 30s once again.

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Spa on the Go — By spring 2015, Terminal A at Ronald Reagan National Airport will have a full-service spa for passengers as part of its $37 million renovation.

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Bronze-Medal Barista — Jessica Lutz, a barista at The Coffee Bar in Logan Circle and a member of Switzerland’s Olympic hockey team, scored a go-ahead goal for the Swiss team Thursday, which later went on to win the Bronze medal.

Potholes a Plenty — Melting snow from last week’s storms has caused many new potholes to form in the D.C. and Virginia Areas.

A Plus Side to the Polar Vortex — According to Virginia Tech field researchers, the prolonged cold weather of January has killed 95 percent of the stink bugs in the D.C. area, which have been exponentially reproducing since 2010.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Megan Schmidt

Coordinate the Date Last year, the Diplomatic Ball and Relay for Life occurred on the same night, frustrating the participants and the orchestrators of both events.

What many had hoped was an anomaly is becoming an unfortunate trend, illustrating the need for more centralized communication between student groups.

Again, Dip Ball has been scheduled for a time that conflicts with another major Georgetown event: Georgetown Programming Board’s annual spring concert.

Both events will be held April 4, drawing from the same pool of likely participants. Similarly, both Georgetown Cabaret and Battle of the Voices will be held Feb. 28, much to the chagrin of their attendees — mainly students involved in performing arts groups.

There are too many unused weekends in the academic year for coordination failures to continue undermining student groups’ offerings. Dip Ball, Relay for Life

and other programming events are not only enriching, but they also represent tremendous investments of students’ time and resources, often requiring months of planning and thousands of dollars. It is unfortunate that some of these events will fizzle because of clerical oversight.

A simple registry of student events with one central calendar would solve this problem. A centralized system would help student groups plan around each other and ensure maximum attendance for each event. Whether added to the university’s main events page or included on Hoyalink, such a directory would solve a perennial problem for both student attendees and event planners.

Students work hard to put on programming to benefit both their causes and their peers. Making sure that simple scheduling errors don’t inhibit the potential of their efforts ought to be a top priority.

Biking Up the Hilltop With a nickname like the Hilltop, it seems implausible that Georgetown would ever receive an award for being friendly to cyclists.

Yet, earlier in the academic year, Georgetown became the first school in the District of Columbia to be recognized as a bike-friendly university by the League of American Bicyclists. Through free bicycling classes, helmet giveaways and ample bike storage on campus, Georgetown received Bronzelevel certification, the lowest of four levels of certification offered by the biking organization.

While this award commends Georgetown’s actions to make campus more bike-friendly, our

biking culture is still regrettably lackluster. Reserved bike paths are sparse on our campus, and only a small percentage of Georgetown students and commuters use bicycles on the Hilltop.

But whether or not this recognition was deserved, it reminds Georgetown of the benefits of having a bike-friendly campus.

Encouraging students to use bicycles is a productive, if minimal, way to counter Georgetown’s isolation from the rest of D.C. and promote sustainability.

The League of American Bicyclists has made clear its faith in us, and Georgetown should do its best to live up to those expectations.

Emma Hinchliffe, Editor-in-Chief TM Gibbons-Neff, Executive Editor Sheena Karkal, Managing Editor Lindsay Lee, Online Editor Mallika Sen, Campus News Editor Madison Ashley, City News Editor Carolyn Maguire, Sports Editor Kim Bussing, Guide Editor David Chardack, Opinion Editor Alexander Brown, Photography Editor Ian Tice, Layout Editor Robert DePaolo, Copy Chief Karl Pielmeier, Blog Editor

Contributing Editors

Katy Berk, Zoe Bertrand, Pat Curran, Victoria Edel, Danny Funt, Chris Grivas, Penny Hung, Sarah Kaplan, Hanaa Khadraoui, Hunter Main, Eitan Sayag, Sean Sullivan, Emory Wellman

Deputy Campus News Editor Sam Abrams Deputy Campus News Editor Kit Clemente Deputy City News Editor Suzanne Monyak Deputy Business Editor Natasha Khan Deputy Sports Editor Andrew May Deputy Sports Editor Tom Schnoor Sports Blog Editor Max Wheeler Deputy Guide Editor Allison Hillsbery Deputy Guide Editor Jess Kelham-Hohler Deputy Guide Editor Lindsay Leasor Deputy Opinion Editor Matthew Grisier Deputy Photography Editor Julia Hennrikus Deputy Photography Editor Daniel Smith Deputy Photography Editor Michelle Xu Deputy Layout Editor Michelle Cardona Deputy Layout Editor Kennedy Shields Deputy Copy Editor Jackie McCadden Deputy Copy Editor Zack Saravay Deputy Copy Editor Sharanya Sriram Deputy Blog Editor Emma Holland

Editorial Board

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Recognizing Our Student-Athletes To the Editor: Re: “An Airball in Academia” [The Hoya, Feb. 4, A2] As President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, I felt the need to respond to this article in defense of our student-athletes. When athletes are recruited to Georgetown, they know they will be challenged with balancing vigorous class schedules, multiple practices and extra time spent in the training and weight room becoming the best athlete they can be. They know they are expected to maintain a certain level of academic success that goes beyond the NCAA requirements.

As it is, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence from our student-athletes to contrast the assertion made that we have a culture of underperformance on campus. For example, volleyball had a cumulative Big East leading team GPA of 3.5 last year with two graduates achieving magna cum laude honors at graduation. Men’s and women’s track boasted team GPAs of 3.14 and 3.18, respectively, in 2013.

Football had 25 student-athletes named to the Patriot League allAcademic Team, led by Aaron Aiken who achieved the prestigious honor for a team-leading fourth time. In the fall of 2013, the 700 student-athletes at Georgetown achieved a cumulative 3.2 GPA and saw 232

Michal Grabias, General Manager Jason Yoffe, Director of Accounting Christina Wing, Director of Corporate Development Nicole Foggan, Director of Marketing Addie Fleron, Director of Personnel Brian Carden, Director of Sales Nick DeLessio, Director of Technology Clara Cheng Kevin Wilson Tessa Bell Sean Choksi Laura Tonnessen Chris Amaya Dimitri Roumeliotis Natasha Patel Charles Lee Nicole Yuksel Ellen Zamsky Emily Manbeck Christine Cha Chris Hedley Katherine Seder Matthew De Silva Casandra Schwartz

Operations Manager Revenue Outreach Manager Senior Accounts Manager Local Accounts Manager National Accounts Manager Treasury Manager Statements Manager Alumni Relations Manager Special Events Manager Public Relations Manager Human Resources Manager Professional Development Manager Institutional Diversity Manager Online Advertisements Manager Local Advertisements Manager Systems Manager Technical Support Manager

David Chardack, Chair

Consultants

Katy Berk, Taylor Coles, Patrick Drown, Ben Germano, Kelly Nosé

Kent Carlson, Kevin Tian, Mary Nancy Walter, Mullin Weerakoon, Simon Wu

athletes who received academic honors for their work in the classroom. There are certainly more examples of academic achievement that could also be named here, but the list is too long to name all of them.

Georgetown student-athletes work extremely hard for the Georgetown community and deserve respect and recognition for their success not only on the field, but also in the classroom.

The Georgetown athletic department has a long history of academic success for student-athletes and will continue to strive for that as we move forward with our athletics programs.

Annalee Abell SAAC President

Board of Directors

Evan Hollander, Chair

Michal Grabias, Emma Hinchliffe, Hanaa Khadraoui, Vidur Khatri, Hunter Main, Braden McDonald Letter to the Editor & Viewpoint Policies The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story.

Letters should not exceed 300 words.

Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-800 words.

Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya.com.

Letters and viewpoints are due Sunday at 5 p.m. for Tuesday’s issue and Wednesday at 5 p.m. for Friday’s issue. The Hoya reserves the right to reject letters or viewpoints and edit for length, style, clarity and accuracy. The Hoya further reserves the right to write headlines and select illustrations to accompany letters and viewpoints.

Corrections & Clarifications If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor TM Gibbons-Neff at (203) 858-1127 or email executive@thehoya.com.

News Tips Campus News Editor Mallika Sen: Call (310) 918-6116 or email campus@thehoya.com.

City News Editor Madison Ashley: Call (504) 3446845 or email city@thehoya.com.

Sports Editor Carolyn Maguire: Call (908) 4471445 or email sports@thehoya.com.

General Information The Hoya is published twice each week during the academic year with the exception of holiday and exam periods. Address all correspondence to:

The Hoya Georgetown University Box 571065 Washington, D.C. 20057-1065 The writing, articles, pictures, layout and format are the responsibility of The Hoya and do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University.

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

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

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

The Hoya does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, color, national or ethnic origin. © 1920-2014. The Hoya, Georgetown University twice weekly. No part of this publication may be used without the permission of The Hoya Board of Editors. All rights reserved. The Hoya is available free of charge, one copy per reader, at distribution sites on and around the Georgetown University campus.

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OPINION

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014

I

Candidates: Spare Us The Circus D uring GUSA election season on Hilltop Farm, sometimes it’s hard to tell pigs and humans apart.

For students who once hungered to pursue public office, the stench of sausage-making inside the Beltway is not what’s so unappetizing, but rather, it’s the road required to get there.

“Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates,” James Madison warned, “every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” Those who thumb their nose at American electoral politics would have a hard time defending the tone and tenor of Georgetown University Student Association elections, in which superficial campaigns and apathetic voters are mutually reinforcing.

GUSA races are like a game of political dress up — the real question is why that’s a costume anyone would want to wear.

At 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 13, the GUSA executive race was officially underway. Unofficial preparation had begun months earlier — years, in some cases — and eight thoroughbreds were ready for a race that will likely go down to the wire.

The first test — which ticket claims the best real estate in Red Square to hang its poster — occurs just seconds out of the gate. These signs feature the running mates’ first names and their campaign slogans: “Together With Georgetown,” “Building Your Georgetown,” “Connect to Georgetown” and “Working for You.” GUSA candidates work to dispel the perception that elections are popularity contests decided by name recognition. What, then, is achieved by these posters? With so many serious campus issues at stake, it’s symbolic that the campaigns begin on such a remarkably uninformative note.

The theatrics of GUSA campaigns distract from the leadership the candidates demonstrate.

As expectations for campaign hoopla grow higher and higher year after year, fewer students are motivated to run.

Nowadays, candidates don’t just need leadership experience and a detailed platform that caters to the needs of Georgetown students; they also need a website builder, a graphic designer, a video producer and an army of volunteer supporters. One could say this reflects the ability to form a coalition; others see it as empowering insiders and enabling the machine-like influence of big clubs and secret societies.

Qualification for office is now measured by the quality of messaging. A shabby poster, unattractive Facebook campaign or poorly edited video is a knock against legitimacy, and students who can’t produce a cosmetic campaign are dismissed as fringe candidates. But blaming candidates for those expectations is like blaming attractive politicians for elections that come off as beauty pageants.

In a poll of nearly 800 students conducted by THE HOYA last year, 74 percent of students said they primarily learn about GUSA candidates through social media, flyers and posters or word of mouth, compared to just 11 percent who base their judgment on candidate debates, campus media reports or campaign websites. Candidates adjust to voter preferences, and if students resent GUSA elections for being superficial popularity contests, they have no one to blame but themselves for rewarding that focus.

The theatrics of GUSA campaigns distract from the leadership these candidates have demonstrated. Yet voters are less likely to learn about those accolades than they are about who has the cooler Facebook following or more intricate website.

When more than 3,500 students cast their ballot next Thursday, how many will base their vote on free speech reform, sexual violence prevention or any of the challenges facing GUSA? Candidates respond to voters, but they also must lead them.

A GUSA ticket that wanted to demonstrate real leadership would pull its goofy campaign ads and sit out the YouTube video contests that divert attention from the issues that inspired them to run.

They’d have my vote.

Danny Funt is a senior in the College.

He is the former editor-in-chief of The Hoya. CALLING MY SHOT appears every other Friday.

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VIEWPOINT • Dever

CALLING MY SHOT

Danny Funt

THE HOYA

Hurdles for a Life in Transition

walked into Leo’s the other day for dinner. It was early, about 5 p.m., and while I normally would eat later, I needed to make some prints before my 6:30 p.m. photography class. When I handed my GOCard to the cashier, he hesitated.

He looked me up and down, then looked at my GOCard, then back to me. “ … Alexis?” he asked, clearly not buying the name on the card. I nodded, and he finally swiped me in, saying, “Have a nice day … Alexis.”

If you think this is a strange occurrence, you’re wrong. This is simply the norm for freaks like me.

I am a sophomore in the College, a graphic designer, a studio art major, a Pep Band member, an ice hockey super fan and a transgender woman.

You’ve probably seen me around campus: I’m the 6-foot-2-inch chick in glasses, usually wearing a military jacket, maxi skirt and combat boots.

I know that I don’t pass. There are certain things makeup and dresses can’t change and other things that will take years of hormones and surgeries to change.

But I’m okay with that. If only Georgetown were.

Let’s go back to my freshman year.

It took a while, but I eventually decided to stop pretending I was a guy and start my transition to the life as a girl that I had wanted for years. But when housing selection happened, I learned that freaks like me have to out themselves to the director of housing in order to even be considered for special treatment. While he was understanding and helpful, I couldn’t help but wonder: How many cisgender female students have to go through this process just to procure housing that fits the most basic needs, like not being paired with a random male student?

This fall, I learned firsthand about Georgetown’s policy for transgender students. In order to be considered female by the university, I had to present myself as female 24/7. What does that even mean? Dresses and lipstick all the time? A pink iPhone case and tight jeans? Eyeliner and long hair? In order to be seen as fe-

By using the philosophy that only males and females exist, the administration turns a blind eye to our needs. male by the administration, I have to squeeze into a completely arbitrary box that many “real” girls on campus don’t even bother trying to fit.

At that point, I was certainly not ready to do that. I had yet to be prescribed hormones, my voice was deep and my hair wasn’t long enough. I was out to all my friends and going by “Lexi,” wearing panties and a bra and occasionally even a skirt, but I chose to deal with the administration and its policies only

as much as I had to. I helped create the Trans* Representative position on the GU Pride board, but that was the extent to which I was involved.

Now, it’s spring. As soon as I returned to campus, I started the process of getting my name and gender changed within the university. I may not be passing, I thought, but I’m certainly presenting as female now.

And so, I was again forced to out myself to an administrator, this time in the registrar’s office, and in return,

VIEWPOINT • Tisa & Ramadan

I was given a new GOCard. It does not say “Alexis Dever.” It does not say “Lexi Dever.” It says “M. ‘Alexis’ Dever” — a friendly reminder that I’m not normal. That “Alexis” is not my real name. Quotation marks on a GOCard are a gift reserved especially for freaks like me, and we’re supposed to smile and accept it.

But I have it easy. Some of us aren’t even recognized by the school.

There’s Jo, whose gender doesn’t fit the traditional male-female binary.

There’s Alex, whose gender fluctuates. There’s Faye, whose gender is not yet concrete. None of them have a path as simple and straightforward as mine.

In hiding behind the Catholic Church’s outdated philosophy that only males and females exist, the administration turns a blind eye to our needs. There are no genderneutral dorm options. There are no gender-neutral bathroom options beyond the handicapped rooms in public buildings like Lauinger Library. And if they want their name changed on their GOCard, they are turned away. Their professors will look at class rosters and see students’ legal names. They can live only on their own or with others of their birth sex.

The solution is simple: Treat transgender students the way they want to be treated. Allow students to live with the gender with which they identify. And if they’re outside the binary, give them priority for single rooms or let them choose which gender to live with. Include single-occupant, handicapped bathrooms for all new dorms. And for the GOCards, get rid of the quotes. It’s insulting, and this would be such an easy fix.

Now, I don’t believe that I’m a freak. There’s nothing wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with any of us. But until Georgetown decides to change its ways and stop treating me like a freak we’d all be better off without, I will continue to look in the mirror and see one.

LEXI DEVER is a sophomore in the College. She is the Trans* Representative on the GU Pride board.

AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT ...

Why We Won’t Endorse Appreciating Those A Candidate for GUSA We See in Passing

L

ast Wednesday night, election banners were unfurled, videos were released and — like clockwork — the GUSA campaign season was underway once again. Though we don’t miss the late nights and sore knuckles from door knocking, it is hard not to think back to our own experience as candidates, and just how much has happened in the year since.

Far too often, we all get so wrapped up in the day-to-day sequence of events that we lose sight of the big picture. Students at Georgetown are more empowered now than ever before, in part because we have been unafraid to utilize the Georgetown University Student Association to create change.

Every year, more and more Georgetown students participate in GUSA elections. We’re more diverse than we were then, as more and more individuals have sought to represent their fellow students.

But the fact is, GUSA wields very little inherent power of its own. What we do have is the power to channel a united student voice — and that voice has the power to move mountains.

During our term, we have never backed down from addressing challenges to student life or setting aside a chance to build new opportunities for future generations of students. This has been possible because members from both our executive team and the senate have believed in our mission, dedicating their time and effort to turning students’ best ideas into reality.

That is why we will not be making an endorsement for GUSA president and vice president this year. Rather than instruct students on our personal opinion, we believe it is up to voters to decide which candidate’s priorities best match their own. After the dust settles, it won’t be up to one candidate pair to make Georgetown a better place. It will be up to all of them — and, most importantly, it will be up to all of us as an engaged student body.

The success of the future administration will depend not only on how they implement their platform, but also on how they work with their current competitors and future colleagues to advocate for students.

Each of the four tickets appearing on the ballot next Thursday has experience, vision and a proven dedication to service. And while we are confident that any one of them would continue the progress GUSA and Georgetown students have made in recent years, we believe there are a few crucial priorities that voters should take into ac-

count when they cast their ballots.

First and foremost, GUSA must always stay vigilant as a vanguard of student representation — and that is especially true as the 2010 Campus Plan agreement goes forward. Students have already felt the sting of an undergraduate parking ban and have run into trouble with strict noise rules that label all infractions “disorderly conduct.” And while it is because of the “One Georgetown, One Campus” campaign last semester that students will be living in Ryan and Mulledy Halls at the core of campus come fall 2015 rather than in a satellite dormitory miles away from the Hilltop, this will not be the last time students need to make their voices heard. The next GUSA executive must be willing and able to mobilize student activism even in the face of uncertainty and the possibility of failure.

The next GUSA executive also has an opportunity to grow the “What’s a Hoya?” program to maturity in a way that permanently improves our campus community. This initiative has the capacity to bring about a more inclusive Georgetown — one where all students understand not just the meaning of our Jesuit values, but how they can be implemented to promote inclusion, service and meaningful relationships on an increasingly diverse campus.

Lastly, we believe this institution has a moral imperative to continue combating the scourge of sexual assault on campus. We are proud to have fought for both the new alcohol amnesty clause for reporting sexual assaults and the campus-wide Sexual Assault Working Group, and we are thankful to the work of Sexual Assault Peer Educators, administrators and others who confront this difficult problem every day. This conversation must not fade from public consciousness, and we are pleased that virtually all candidates have prioritized this issue.

It has been among the greatest honors and privileges of our lives to serve Georgetown through our roles this year. We wish all candidates best of luck, thank them for their willingness to undergo the campaign process and look forward to what students can achieve together in the years to come.

We believe it is up to voters to decide which candidate’s priorities best match their own.

NATE TISA and ADAM RAMADAN are seniors in the School of Foreign Service. They are president and vice president of the Georgetown University Student Association.

I

missed a great opportunity. sometimes lead to meaningful enI go up to Yates to work out counters. three or four times a week. Often It seems that God is constantly there was an older man, with a ruddy sending people our way to teach us face, ready to swipe my card. We only something or enrich our lives. We exchanged pleasantries. After count- just might be missing those graced less exchanges, he probably figured moments because we aren’t paying out that I was a Jesuit, given that my attention. Everyone has a story to tell, ID photo features me in a black shirt but they need time and space to tell and white Roman collar. I knew noth- it, and they need someone to listen to ing about him, however, until he died them. We can’t force these moments in early January at the age of 79. of self-revelation — they are a gift. But His name was Tom these opportunities Quinn, and he led a certainly present remarkable life — I themselves more just did not know it. than we notice.

He was a Georgetown In the Jesuit tragraduate from the dition, we speak Class of 1955. Accordabout being coning to a two-column, templatives in acpage-length obituary tion. This does not in The Washington simply mean being Post, Tom was the last Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. a contemplative in boxer at Georgetown one place and time, to win an intercoland active in anlegiate title and to be God constantly sends other. For instance, named to our athI’ll contemplate in people our way to letic hall of fame. He Dahlgren Chapel served in the Marine and then be active enrich our lives.

Corps after graduaevery other time. Of tion and continued to box or coach course, we need such contemplative throughout his careers as a stockbro- times and places to reflect on our ker, political consultant, investment experience so that we can discern advisor and benefits manager for their meaning. Such quiet, reflecthe NFL Players Association. In recent tive times and places help us live years, he coached the club boxing more deeply. team at Georgetown and taught boxBut being a contemplative in acing as a form of fitness and self-defense tion means more than that. It means at Yates. Typical of his wry sense of hu- that in the midst of our activity, we mor, he called boxing, “Advanced Irish have a contemplative spirit. While Pilates,” and quipped, “If boxing was we are walking, playing, eating, easy, they’d call it football.” studying, exercising, working, recIn the later part of his life, Tom re- reating and conversing, we try to turned to a love of his from his youth: focus and pay attention. We listen acting. The nuns at his Catholic intently. We gaze gratefully. We try school thought he would be an actor not to get distracted by what is superat some point. In the 1980s, Tom took ficial. In other words, we experience a theater course at Georgetown and the meaning as it is happening. We played on local stages. He became a notice and then seize opportunities character actor. If you needed a husky, for grace: moments when the tranmiddle-aged Irishman to play a cop scendent breaks into our lives. Being or coach, Tom was your man. He ap- a contemplative in action in this way peared in “The Pelican Brief,” “Major takes practice. It is challenging, and League II,” “Enemy of the State” and we cannot do it all the time. But even “The Hammer” and in the television if we just do it a little bit more, we series, “The West Wing,” “Homicide” may be surprised how much fuller and “The Wire.” our lives can become.

Who knew?

Next time I walk through McSo many people come in and out Donough Arena, I’m going to be a of our lives every day, especially on bit more contemplative in my stride, a busy campus and vibrant city like because hanging there in the trophy ours. We rarely take the time to know case are Tom’s championship boxing any of them. Even when we are wait- gloves. I don’t want to miss seeing ing around, we tend to retreat to our those and remembering this remarkhandheld devices and connect with able man I knew only in passing. people virtually rather than actually.

Or it may be less about technology Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., is vice and more about time. I just want to president of mission and ministry. get in and out of Yates as fast as I can, He is one of the rotating authors and I usually don’t take the time for for AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT ... which the passing conversation, which can appears every other Friday.

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THE HOYA

PAGE FOUR

NEWS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Saturday’s SkillHack, the second annual hackathon, sought to reimagine education. See story at thehoya.com.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

IN FOCUS

verbatim

RUSSIA RESET

“ We are all

terrorists in Syria. ”

Dr. Annie Sparrow, of the Icahn School of Medicine Human Rights Program.

See story on A7.

from

RCMURALS.COM

BRINGING NOVA TO NEW HEIGHTS Flight, a new trampoline park, is slated to open Feb. 28 in Springfield, Va. AMY LEE/THE HOYA

CERES Director Angela Stent presaged the future of U.S.-Russian relations based on the two countries’ history, fraught with relationship “resets,” as well as current events in Ukraine and Syria on Wednesday in Copley Formal Lounge. See story A7.

Medical Amnesty Attached to Code KELLY MCKENNA Special to The Hoya

Georgetown officially added the Medical Amnesty and Good Samaritan Policy to the Code of Student Conduct on Feb. 4, which protects anyone in need of medical attention because of the consumption of alcohol or drugs, and their caller.

The policy, added as Appendix E because of nuances and specific guidelines, stipulates that students seeking medical attention for an alcohol- or drug-related emergency for themselves or other individuals will not be subject to consequences of violating the alcohol or drug policies already included in the Code of Student Conduct.

“This keeps students from having to choose between getting themselves or their friends emergency medical care that they need versus worrying about getting themselves or their friends in trouble,” Judy Johnson, director of the Office of Student Conduct, said.

Students will still be liable for other violations of the code of conduct that do not pertain to alcoholor drug-related polices. The policy also does not protect underage students who may be at the scene and are consuming alcohol or drugs, but who are not seeking medical help for themselves or others.

“It is not amnesty for the entire scene. It is amnesty for the situation at hand,” Student Advocacy Office co-Director Michelle Mohr (COL ’15) said. “If the [Department of Public Safety] arrives on scene and six students are holding beer cans, they can still be written up.”

Under the revised policy, the responding medical or law enforcement officials will first make sure that the individuals in danger receive appropriate medical attention before any infraction documentation takes place. A report of the incident and the surrounding social event will be given to the Office of Student Conduct, where officials will determine if the situation applies to the Medical Amnesty Policy. The policy changes also determine that the student that experienced the medical emergency will have a meeting with a community director to discuss the situation.

“Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services is very excited and proud of the official addition of the Medical Amnesty

Policy,” GERMS Director of Public Relations Kate McClellan (COL ’14) said. “We believe that such a policy will eliminate significant hesitations patients and their friends might have felt when deciding whether or not to seek emergency care from GERMS or D.C. Fire and EMS. This is a great step forward in improving access to emergency treatment, care and transport.”

Overall, the policy does not represent significant change, as Georgetown has honored medical amnesty in some form for many years.

“This policy is not much different from what the university has been doing in practice. This was all about putting things into writing. With GERMS, we have a good relationship with the student body and we are well respected,” GERMS Acting Crew Chief Brian Monahan (COL ’15), who advocated for the policy, said. “I think that students know that they can call us even if they are not sure [if they might get in trouble]. I hope it will convince people to call, but I don’t see there being a major change in call volume.”

According to Mohr, prior to its enactment, Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson and legal counsel reviewed the proposal to ensure compliance with the law, as with the new alcohol amnesty policy in cases of sexual assault.

“This type of policy is a national standard and a lot of schools have policies like this. As a leading institution, it is really important that Georgetown follows that. If that is our policy, it is important then that that is written,” Mohr said. “There is no reason for us to have a policy that was not written in our code. Especially if Georgetown is going to hold its students to a code of conduct, all policies need to be included.”

Mohr and Monahan both highlighted the importance of student body awareness of the official policy so that they are aware of their rights in a medical emergency.

“The hope is that once the students see the policy in writing, they will believe it and act on it,” Mohr said.

Monahan agreed that the policy change will result in positive student behavioral change in dangerous drug- and alcohol-related situations.

“As an EMT, I would rather have someone that I walk onto a scene to that is fine and that they refuse to go to the hospital than have someone who is not fine and that we have to take more drastic measures,” Monahan said.

blog.thehoya.com

MAYORAL RACE

MADDY MOORE/THE HOYA

Tuesday’s mayoral debate at the District Architecture Center explored aspects of planning, including design and housing. From left to right: Carlos Allen, Vincent Orange, Tommy Wells, Reta Jo Lewis and Michael Green.

Eclectic Group Meets at Debate MADDY MOORE

Special to The Hoya

With Mayor Vincent Gray out of town, an unconventional cast of mayoral candidates took to the stage Tuesday evening to explore the future of planning in Washington, D.C., in a debate held at the District Architecture Center in downtown D.C. Sponsored by the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Potomac Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Planning Association, affordable housing and architectural design were on the table at the event, moderated by Douglas Fruehling, editor-in-chief of the Washington Business Journal.

The featured candidates included Councilman Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), Councilman Vincent Orange (D-At Large), former State Department official Reta Jo Lewis, write-in candidate Michael Green and the late addition of D.C. party promoter Carlos Allen.

Candidates addressed recent proposals to rewrite the District’s decade-old zoning laws including provisions allowing for accessory apartments and the construction of corner stores in areas zoned for residential use. Orange emphasized the importance of striking a proper balance if revisions were to be made.

“We need a reasonable, balanced approach without leaving anyone behind,” Orange said.

Lewis encouraged continued partner-

ships between District residents and the design community, saying that changes in zoning laws should parallel structures right outside of the District.

“Why aren’t we looking at communities right next door?” Lewis said.

Fruehling shifted the debate’s focus to family life and affordable housing in the District, and Wells spoke adamantly about his plans for adaptability in the city, proposing the creation of multiuse housing units that would be both affordable and adaptable for a diverse group of people.

“We need to move to infrastructure,” Wells said. “It can change depending on its use. So people don’t have to move because of their family size or income.”

Fellow candidates noted the importance of attracting and retaining families in D.C. Orange brought up the Georgetown 2028 plan, a comprehensive strategy to make the Georgetown area more family friendly and accessible through new and improved modes of transportation.

Green emphasized the importance of encouraging families to stay in the area, but he offered no concrete plans for doing so, while Lewis stressed the importance of having well-established education systems in each neighborhood.

Allen, who arrived late, agreed with Lewis on the value of education.

“We need to teach people to focus on how to depend on themselves instead of giving them handouts,” Allen said. “We need to make sure children are learning, graduating. If you aren’t making a living wage, you are in survival mode.”

Although the debate focused on the future of D.C. planning, candidates used the event as an opportunity to further criticize Gray’s current administration in his absence. Orange, a candidate with experience in economic development, spoke extensively about Gray’s failure to increase the minimum wage steadily every year.

“The minimum wage was raised to $11.50. ... Gray didn’t increase the minimum wage annually as planned,” Orange said. “Are we really talking about giving people an opportunity to be here?”

On the subject of the proposed changes to the D.C. Height Act, however, all candidates united in opposition. The changes would lessen building restrictions instituted in the 1910 act, which limits building heights in the District to 130 feet. Wells criticized D.C. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning and her proposal that the building height restrictions should be loosened. “[Tregoning] viewed it in a very linear, two-dimensional way,” Wells said. “We are redefining in a very complex way.”

Green offered no specific solutions for maximizing space in D.C. but repeatedly emphasized the importance of investing in residents. Allen opposed the height change proposal, referencing the changes in the housing economy in the city.

“I don’t want the height to change.

The supply and demand of housing is always changing. We need to focus on that,” Allen said.

Mayoral candidates will square off again this Wednesday, Feb. 26th at a debate hosted by American University.

News

friday, february 21, 2014

THE HOYA

A5

Redesigned Plans for Northeast Triangle Released Molly Simio Hoya Staff Writer

University administrators and representatives from architectural firm Sasaki Associates presented revised designs for the Northeast Triangle Residence Hall at an open forum Wednesday afternoon.

“We’ve evolved the building significantly since it appeared on the website [last] June,” Sasaki Senior University

Architect Jodi Ernst said. “We’ve been working in concert with a lot of student input, a lot of forums, a lot of …

[Old Georgetown Board] input most recently, to really refine the building and make it as nice as it is today.”

Approximately 15 students attended the forum.

In response to the OGB’s suggestions, Sasaki architects added an additional entrance on the south side of the building that leads into an open

NATASHA THOMSON/THE HOYA

Senior University Architect Jodi Ernst introduced revised designs to the Northeast Triangle Residence Hall in an open forum Wednesday.

engagement space on the ground floor.

This space, accessible to all students, includes a large workroom with movable panels that can be used as temporary study niches and a large multipurpose room that can be divided into two smaller rooms and a kitchen.

“One of the things that informed a lot of our thinking about the design was the ability to engage students in different ways and the ability to combine social learning and hanging out with more academic purposes,” Sasaki Campus Studio Head and Executive Board Member Vincius Gorgati said.

The building’s original plans included a mezzanine with various study spaces overlooking the first floor’s engagement space, but architects eliminated it due to the building’s height restrictions and financial constraints.

“You always start a project with a wish list of all the things that you would like to have, and at some point, the budgets come and you need to make some adjustments,” Gorgati said.

Residents will access their rooms with their GOCards, making the Northeast Triangle Georgetown’s first keyless residence hall. Administrators have not yet finalized plans for electronic room access, but they have determined that each floor will contain an emergency phone in case of lockouts. “[The Department of Public Safety] has signed off on it. GOCard has signed off on it,” Director for Residence Life Stephanie Lynch said. “It’s just a mat-

Wires Crossed in GPB, Dip Ball Scheduling Hannah Post

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown students will face a Friday night dilemma this spring, as miscommunications led to the scheduling of both the 89th Annual Diplomatic Ball and the Georgetown Program Board Spring Kickoff Concert on the night of April 4.

This is not the first time a scheduling conflict of this sort has occurred. Last year, the ball conflicted with Relay for Life, and while the leaders of those two events worked together this year so as to avoid a similar issue, the respective ball and spring concert planners did not take each other into account.

Both the ball and concert are highly anticipated events planned well in advance, which includes the scheduling of venues. For the kickoff concert, McDonough Arena was scheduled immediately after last year’s Calvin Harris concert wrapped last spring. For the ball, after the committee chairs were elected in the spring, the venue was booked when students returned to campus in the fall.

The conflicting date was brought to the respective organizations’ attention in November, by which point it was too late to make changes.

“We spoke to each other but at that point we realized it was too late. Everyone had already booked their [respective] venue[s],” GPB Spring Kickoff Committee Chair Tiara Kawser (MSB ’15) said.

The organizations initially attempted to work together to seek alternatives, including arranging transportation for the students to shuttle back and forth between events if they were interested, but in the end, the funding from both ends proved inadequate to cover such expenditures.

“We talked to Tiara and we thought about taking GUTS buses and asking them to drive people from Dip Ball to the Spring Kickoff, but neither of us have the budget to do that,” Diplomatic Ball Committee Chair Victoire Carrasco (SFS ’15) said.

Kawser admitted that more could have been done to ensure that the events would be held on separate evenings.

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way. It was kind of a miscommunication on both our ends, which is a lesson to learn for the upcoming years,” Kawser said.

Carrasco added that perhaps in the future, a master scheduling plan or more effective

communication route would be best to ensure that each event could be accorded its own time frame.

“We’ve learned that it would be good for someone higher up to be coordinating these events,” Carrasco said.

While neither organization anticipates majorly depressed attendance levels, Kawser did express some concern.

“I think the event will still be successful because the concert is something that a lot of students look forward to, but it is unfortunate because Dip Ball is a huge event as well. It will definitely affect our numbers. I know people will definitely be torn,” Kawser said.

Dip Ball recognizes that ticket sales may be affected as well, but considering that the event has consistently sold out in recent years, Carrasco is not overwhelmingly concerned.

“We sell out every year. It may affect ticket sales, but it will affect both sides,” Carrasco said.

Both organizations have remained upbeat in spite of the scheduling concerns. The upcoming artist reveal for the Spring Kickoff looks to capture students’ curiosity and interest in the event.

“I think that the artist will be highly anticipated. We will release it as soon as possible so students can get excited,” Kawser said.

Similarly, the ball leadership understands that although the events coincide, the array of students at Georgetown suggests that varying interests will lead students to both events.

“The good thing about Georgetown students is that everyone has very diverse interests, so I think both events are appealing to a large group of students. We are lucky in a way that these events come back every year, so if you don’t make it this year, you can always make it to the one next year,” Carrasco said.

Students seem to feel confident that both events will be successful as well.

“I plan on going to the Spring Kickoff Concert. It has nothing to do with ticket price, really. I just am more interested in the concert,” Courtney Lenny (NHS ’17) said. “[However], most of my friends are going to Dip Ball.”

If students feel torn between the events, and ticket prices are of no concern, it is possible to attend both events. The ball begins at 8 p.m., while the concert is expected to start over an hour later.

“There is a way around the conflict for students who want to go to both. If students want

Volunteers Needed for Tanning Research!

Are you a woman between the ages of 18 and 30 who has used an indoor tanning bed in the past year?

Researchers at Georgetown University are looking for young adult women to volunteer for a research study about tanning and skin cancer risk. The principal investigator is Dr. Darren Mays, PhD, MPH. The purpose of the study is to learn more about how young adult women use indoor tanning beds and how that may relate to skin cancer risk.

What’s Involved?

• Females ages 18 to 25 who have used a tanning bed or other indoor tanning device • Complete a brief online survey • Some will be asked to provide a DNA sample and complete up to two telephone interviews • Receive up to $70 in gift cards for your time

Interested? Please email habit@georgetown.edu or call (202) 784-2202

ter of implementation at this point.”

Each residential floor consists of a variety of semi-suites with two, four or six beds and a bathroom. The bathrooms will be compartmentalized to allow up to three people to simultaneously utilize them while maintaining privacy.

The double bedrooms in each unit are compact and will have space for closets, beds and desks. Beds will be raised to create room for dressers underneath.

“Every square inch that we could get, we put back into the [common] areas so that we could find some balance between privacy and collaboration,” Gorgati said.

Additionally, each floor will include a common room, a kitchen and a quiet study room.

In addition to changes to Northeast Triangle’s interior, Sasaki also implemented changes to the outside according to OGB’s feedback.

The building’s exterior includes elements of stone, brick and glass in order to connect the primarily stone buildings of Healy Quad with the brick buildings on the north side of campus.

“There was a very strong engagement from OGB in the sense that we should work with those elements and develop a design that was authentic — a building of today that was inspired by the buildings of the past, as opposed to a building of today that tries to mimic the buildings of the past,” Gorgati said.

Sasaki’s plans for the Northeast Triangle extended beyond the building

itself, with landscape architect Gautam Sundaram presenting designs for the walkway situated between Reiss Science Building and the site of the Northeast Triangle.

The plans created extra outdoor seating by calling for additional benches and movable tables and chairs along the walkway, as well as a green terrace with precast concrete seat edges outside the dorm.

“That area can be a more successful and user-friendly space, rather than just a wide walkway,” Sundaram said.

In addition, Sasaki redesigned the steps between Red Square and this walkway. The new stairs will be wider for greater accessibility. The adjacent ramp will also be moved to the opposite side and will be curved, meeting the steps at both the top and the bottom.

The Northeast Triangle, which will house 225 students, is scheduled to open in fall 2016, instead of the originally planned fall 2015. The Old Jesuit Residence Project and temporary conversion of Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center floors will contribute to filling the requirement in the interim.

Preliminary Northeast Triangle site work is expected to begin in June, with construction beginning in early October. The architects approximated that construction will take about 16 months.

Although the OGB already approved the proposed building’s scale and massing, the university will seek full concept approval on March 6.

Adjuncts Refocus Approach Molly Simio

Hoya Staff Writer

Adjunct professors, university officials and students discussed the problems that non-tenured faculty members face nationwide — including an inability to find full-time jobs and difficulties involving unionization — during a conference held in the ICC Auditorium on Wednesday evening.

During this event, which was sponsored by the Georgetown University Student Association, adjunct-professor panelists discussed the strides that have been made since May 2013, when adjunct professors at the university voted to unionize and join the Services Employees International Union 500.

“It’s just unfair to have people doing the same work, held to the same expectations, with the same qualifications and expertise and the same dedication … to have these people underpaid and excluded and offered no benefits,” SEIU Director of Research and Strategic Planning Anne McLeer said to the audience.

The conference, which was attended by about a dozen students, also examined student involvement in the unionization of adjunct professors at Georgetown; it proved minimal when compared to similar movements at other colleges like American University.

“Somehow, at Georgetown, there was not very much student activity, and I think that’s a shame. I think in the future, in organized efforts, every effort must be made to get the students involved,” adjunct faculty member Pablo Eisenberg said.

In addition to issues involving pay, benefits and job protection, the adjuncts described the difficulties they face when finding jobs as fulltime professors.

“Unfortunately, what happens is that there is a bias against adjuncts themselves, which is counter-intuitive because we do all have the same qualifications [as full-time professors],” adjunct professor Kerry Danner-McDonald (COL ’93) said. “More or less, the longer you stay adjunct, the less likely it is that you will ever be hired for a fulltime position. It’s almost like you have a shelf life.”

Adjunct professors were buoyed in their efforts with the January release of a report by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, which concluded that the quality of education at universities is compromised by a lack of institutional support for adjunct professors.

CHEA proposed fundamental changes in the accreditation process for colleges and universities with large numbers of non-tenure-track faculty members.

“Given that NTTFs make up the majority of faculty on most campuses, they should be provided a significant

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

SEIU Director of Research and Strategic Planning Anne McLeer rallied the crowd at a panel on adjuncts Wednesday. voice and attention in the accreditation process during the self-study process and campus visits,” the report said.

Eisenberg felt that the report called on administrators to directly respond to the needs of adjunct faculty members.

“I think that [the report is] some momentum in pushing administrators to be fairer in their treatment of adjuncts, particularly since the working conditions of teachers affect the quality of education that students receive. I think it’s a welcome report,” Eisenberg said.

According to the report, poor working conditions for non-tenure-track faculty members negatively impact students and lead to decreased graduation and retention rates. Daniel Maxey, who co-authored the report, believes that accrediting schools have been receptive to its findings thus far.

“Ultimately, accreditors are very concerned with the quality of academic programs at colleges and universities,” Maxey said. “You’ve got a situation where a majority of the faculty at many institutions are facing working conditions that impede their ability to serve their students and to provide the highest quality instruction possible. … The accreditors that we work with believe that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.”

Georgetown’s adjunct professors are currently working with the university to forge solutions to these problems.

SEIU has reached tentative agreements with the university that will be included in a contract voted on by adjunct professors. These agreements include the assurance of a safe working environment, the creation of a Labor Collaboration Committee that will meet between negotiations to discuss issues of mutual interest and equal academicfreedom rights for part-time

and full-time faculty members.

“We have presented proposals on various issues, and then both sides roll their sleeves up and make suggestions as to how to resolve these issues. It’s a much more collaborative process than I think people imagine,” McLeer said.

So far, negotiations between the bargaining committee and the university have proceeded amiably.

“Negotiations are going very well,” McLeer said.

“They’re very productive, very collegiate and very collaborative. Both sides are working together to resolve some of the issues that adjuncts face at Georgetown.”

However, some adjunct professors feel that little progress has been made since the union was formed last year.

“I haven’t seen much activity on the university’s side so far. The university was very open about the vote [to unionize] and didn’t try to influence our votes, but I haven’t seen much change yet,” said Natalie Goldring, an adjunct professor in the Center for Security Studies.

“I would like to see the university address the question of working conditions. I’d also like to see them address benefits.”

Goldring, who has worked at Georgetown as both a fulltime and adjunct faculty member, said that her workload was unchanged by her status. She therefore feels that the discrepancy in the working conditions of fulltime and adjunct professors is unwarranted.

“I don’t think that adjunct professors in the Security Studies Program provide a lower quality of teaching, and I don’t think we provide a lower-quality learning experience for our students,” Goldring said Vice-Provost for Faculty Adriana Kugler did not respond to requests for comment.

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news

THE HOYA

fRIDAY, february 21, 2014

Wisconsin Ave Widens Sidewalks Gender Gap on Joy Ma

Special to the Hoya

The Georgetown Business Improvement District has begun experimenting with temporarily widening sidewalks along Wisconsin Avenue during some of Georgetown’s busiest shopping periods to alleviate congestion and promote a safer environment for pedestrians.

The Georgetown BID first piloted widened sidewalks during a French Market event held last April. During the market, parallel parking spaces along the 1600 block of Wisconsin Avenue were blocked off and barriers were erected to create a safer space for pedestrians to pass.

“We will be doing sidewalk widening for the second day of the Georgetown French Market on April 26 and possibly for a longer period that weekend, but are exploring options and physical barriers that would allow the BID to do more regular sidewalk widening, such as every weekend during the late springearly autumn seasons when we have significant foot traffic every weekend,” Sherie Winston, the communications manager for Georgetown BID, said.

The BID hopes that widening the sidewalks will promote more pedestrian traffic and thus more business for stores near Wisconsin Avenue and M Street.

“The BID expects that more people on the sidewalks will translate into an increase in business for merchants. For example, in Times Square in NYC, they widened the sidewalks, sales went up, and commercial rents went up,” Winston said.

Despite the success at last year’s French Market, concerns regarding reduced parking spaces during times when the sidewalks are widened still persist. The BID has concentrated their efforts on providing large parking lots for some of the planned events, like the Georgetown French Market, as well as easily available and accessible information about parking options.

“It would be significantly more efficient if drivers just anticipated going into a parking lot or garage to begin with. It would save a lot of driver frustration and time. Much of the weekend gridlock is exacerbated by people slowly cruising for parking spaces. We still have to do more to make the experience of using a parking garage better, but we’d like a situation where the parking economics don’t encourage drivers to cause congestion, waste time and burn extra gasoline,” Winston said, noting that the widened sidewalks only remove 10 to 12 parking spaces in total.

The BID has also considered working with the university to rent out Georgetown’s parking lot over the weekend, a time when the shopping areas see heavier traffic than the university, according to Winston.

“The times when the University needs parking most are the times when the shopping district needs it least, and viceversa. You can take a look on any weekend … and the parking lot at 37th and Prospect will be almost empty, while drivers are circling the very same blocks looking for a parking spot in the neighborhood. We continue to work with the

university on this and many other transportation issues,” Winston said.

Retail stores on M Street and Wisconsin Avenue expressed their support for the implementation of sidewalk widening to reduce the overcrowding over the weekend.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Chantia Johnson, who works at Baked and Wired, said. “It’s so crowded, and it’s very busy on the weekends. We have this small patio set outside, and although it does narrow down the sidewalk, customers enjoy the space, and it’s a perfect scene to relax with coffee and cupcake on a nice day outdoors. If the sidewalks widen, we’d be able to continue setting up the outdoor patio, and pedestrians wouldn’t have any problem walking past it.”

Steve Madden employee Nikyia Johnson also voiced her support for the new campaign.

“Widening the sidewalks would lead to a smaller street with less parking, but I don’t think it would change the value of the customers here because people come to shop regardless. Georgetown is a tourist town; it’ll be a plus,” she said.

Gayoung Jeong (SFS ’16), however, said that she did not think the wider sidewalks would make a difference.

“I’ve never really felt that the sidewalks are narrow … it definitely gets crowded on the weekends. But then again, I don’t think widening the sidewalks would un-crowd the streets. It’s more likely that even more tourists would come enjoy the wider sidewalk,” Jeong said.

Capital One Bows Out After a Decade BANK, from A1 bad terms in any way.”

A committee of representatives from the Georgetown University Student Association, Financial Affairs, the Division of Student Affairs, the Athletics Department and University Auxiliary Services will examine the three applicants, who will remain confidential until the beginning of April when the committee renders a decision. Assistant Vice President for Financial Operations Lennie Carter serves as committee chair.

According to Kerr, this committee is looking for specific qualities in banking partners to create the best relationship.

“Georgetown is exploring new banking partners who will both contribute to our academic mission and will meet the needs of our students, faculty and staff in the changing and increasingly mobile banking environment,” Kerr wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are also looking for a partner who will support the university in important areas including financial literacy programs, scholarships, mission-driven programming and internships.”

PNC Bank Vice President of Corporate Communications Roger Wallace said the bank was interested in partnering with Georgetown and confirmed the submission of an application to the committee. PNC Bank already partners with Georgetown through GOCards, which can double as PNC debit cards.

“No decision has been made yet, but we certainly would like to be the bank for Georgetown,” Wallace said. “We like to be engaged with great universities.

PNC has a university banking program where we service other universities and colleges in our footprint across the country, so this is something we like to do, we do well and we think that it would be a good fit.”

Wallace added that there are benefits to helping students start bank accounts.

“It’s good for business, number one,

CHARLIE LOWE/THE HOYA

Capital One will shut all on-campus operations in May, after declining to reapply for the banking partnership. A new bank will take over in July. because you’re able to get clients when they’re first starting out in life, basically,” Wallace said.

Around 500 Georgetown employees use Capital One to bank, but the number of enrolled students is confidential.

Students and faculty that currently have Capital One bank accounts will not lose any student benefits they received when creating their account, but will have to visit off-campus locations.

The nearest location is at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Q Street.

Leah Metoudi (COL ’17) signed up for a Capital One account when she arrived on campus last fall. Despite the branch’s closing, she said she would continue to use the bank.

“It’s pretty inconvenient, but I’m probably going to stay with Capital One just because I don’t want to have to create a new bank account,” Metoudi said.

“I know that I can still use the GUASFCU machines to withdraw money, it’s just a bit inconvenient because there’s an additional cost when not using Capi-

tal One machines. It’s just an inconvenience.”

Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union CEO Chris Kelly (COL ’14) said that he hopes that the closing of the branch will encourage more students to bank with the credit union.

“I’d much rather have them open up accounts and not be [charged fees] at all than have to be [charged] to use the ATM,” Kelly said.

He added that GUASFCU will attempt to attract students in the coming months to sign up, instead of banking with the new partner.

“We’ve been here for 31 years and we expect to be here for another 31 years as well, so the hope is that students know that we’re here for them and we’re here for the long term,” Kelly said. “Everything we do is very much student-centric, between our hours and our products rolled out. It’s really been our focus the entire time and that’s not changing anytime soon.”

Stewards a Staple on Exec Tickets STEWARDS, from A1 The Second Society has held a place at Georgetown since its founding in 1982, when it split from the original Stewards society. While it initially operated almost exclusively in secret, in 1988 professor Fr. Joseph T. Durkin, S.J., exposed the organization in two letters to The Hoya, after which leadership announced that the society would soon be dissolved.

However, the organization continued operating in secrecy until 2001, when Adam A. Carter (COL ’87, LAW ’91) published an article in the now defunct Georgetown Academy magazine, explaining the organization’s characteristics and objectives.

“The Second Stewards Society is a college fraternity of mostly alumni and students of Georgetown University,” he wrote. “Our right to serve Georgetown as we think best is no different than any other congregation of students, alumni, faculty, administrators or Jesuits.”

During last year’s GUSA executive election, the Stewards’ presence at Georgetown came to the forefront of public discussion when an anonymous Facebook account, “Steward Throat Hoya,” posted a correspondence that identified presidential candidate Jack Appelbaum (COL ’14) as a member of the Second Society. This year, a Twitter account with the handle @StewardsandGUSA and the display name “Edward Stewarden” attempted to bring the Stewards issue to the fore by tweeting a link to his blog at various Georgetown organizations and students, beginning Jan. 30, more than two weeks in advance of the election kickoff. The blog only featured one post,

which described the author’s distaste for the amount of power a secret organization could wield. The Twitter account, which had been inactive since Feb. 4, has since been suspended.

The Third Society of Stewards is the direct successor to the original Stewards, who renamed themselves thusly after the Second Society left, and remains more secretive than their erstwhile

“When you’re the president of GU Pride, you aren’t approached by too many secret societies.”

THOMAS LLOYD (SFS ’15) GUSA Presidential Candidate

peers. During last year’s election, Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14) admitted to being a member of a private organization that was not the Second Society, but did not confirm his status in the Thirds.

Presidential candidate Zach Singer (SFS ’15), Silkman’s running mate, said that he has never been approached by a society, as did presidential candidate Thomas Lloyd (SFS ’15), Ramirez’s partner.

“When you’re the president of GU Pride, you aren’t approached by too many secret societies, certainly none on the more conservative end,” Lloyd said.

This year’s candidates who are confirmed members of either society maintain that their membership in no way affects their platforms.

“It has definitely been a fulfilling experience on campus for me, and I have learned a lot and grown a lot through this group,” Silkman said of his membership in the Thirds. “But in no way, shape, or form does it have anything to do with my running for GUSA.” Silkman emphasized that he will continue to be open about his involvement.

“I plan to be very honest, so if I am ever asked, I will be honest in saying my affiliation,” he said. “But I don’t think it will have any impact.”

Weiss similarly noted that he did not expect his association with the Second Society to have any impact on his campaign.

“The society has absolutely nothing to do with GUSA elections,” Weiss said.

“I think everybody involved last year saw how it turned the focus away from the issues and what campaigns should be about towards a second and entirely unrelated question of private organizations.”

Weiss reiterated the society does not factor into GUSA elections.

“I am absolutely not ashamed in any way to be a member of my society, but it has nothing to do with GUSA at all,” Weiss said.

Similarly, in an emailed statement to The Hoya, Ramirez noted that his membership in the Thirds has had no impact on his motivations as a student leader.

“My membership in this group has not interfered in my on-campus involvements in the past,” Ramirez wrote. “And I can assure that it will not interfere with my future on-campus involvements as well, including my role as GUSA vice president if I was to win.”

Display in Elections DIVERSITY, from A1 failed to adequately represent the diversity characteristic of the student body.

“I think it’s always important that we see GUSA races that actually represent the student body, and part of that is, both from a racial and ethnic as well as gender side, it is important that we continue to have a diverse group run for GUSA,” Tezel said. “If we’re not continually looking at how we’re engaging with all the faces of Georgetown, then that’s something we’ll start to lose in a body that’s supposed to be representative of the whole student body.”

Lloyd, the race’s only openly gay candidate and the president of GU Pride, expressed similar frustration and described the difficult choice many students face regarding the decision to participate in activism for particular groups or causes, rather than becoming involved in student government.

“GUSA has had problems with gender for a very long time, and race and sexual orientation,” Lloyd said. “I think at Georgetown, it’s very difficult to be involved in an affinity group or an advocacy group and be involved in GUSA. I’ve never been involved because I’ve dedicated a lot of my time to Pride, and that’s meant burning some bridges with some administrators, that’s meant engaging in those tough conversations that maybe I don’t want to do if I have to get elected.”

Though neither Weiss and Greco’s ticket nor Singer and Silkman’s ticket include any women or members of minority groups, both teams stressed a dedication to fostering diversity on campus.

“Unfortunately, two individuals can never possibly represent the entire campus community,” Weiss and Greco wrote in a statement. “It has been crucial for us to hear every perspective, speaking with students of all different backgrounds in order to develop a platform and strategy that will best serve the entirety of Georgetown.”

Weiss and Greco’s statement additionally stressed input they received from campus groups such as the Women’s Center, the Georgetown chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Sexual Assault Peer Educators program in the development of their platform. However, they maintained the lack of diversity on their ticket was not a disadvantage.

“We will not, however, reduce our staff and supporters to minority tokenism,” the statement said.

Singer and Silkman similarly noted that, while women and minority groups are not represented on their ticket, these groups nevertheless maintain a significant presence in their staff and supporters.

“One of the top reasons Dan and I are running is because we know how to break down barriers and bring people together,” Singer and Silkman wrote in a statement.

“That spirit is reflected in our campaign team, a group of men and women of diverse backgrounds who bring a wealth of unique experiences to our campaign.”

Last year’s election featured two female candidates for GUSA executive office, Shavonnia Corbin Johnson (SFS ’14), who ran for president, and Maggie Cleary (COL ’14), who ran for vice president. While both of their teams ultimately lost to current executives Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) and Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14), Cleary and running mate Jack Appelbuam (COL ’14) came in a close second.

“I’m disappointed to see that just one of the eight GUSA executive tickets this year has a female candidate,” Cleary said. “That being said, this is not particularly unusual within Georgetown or within our country as a whole.”

According to Cleary, women may be hesitant to run due to concerns about qualifications.

“The reason we don’t have more women on tickets is not because more women aren’t qualified, but instead because they don’t believe themselves to be qualified,” Cleary added.

In 2012, however, the winning ticket featured two women, Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) and Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13). During that election, five of the seven tickets included at least one female candidate, and two featured openly gay students.

Kohnert-Yount expressed a desire for an increasingly diverse field but stressed the necessity that all candidates seek to represent minority groups.

“I would of course love to see more female candidates, just as I would love to see more candidates with disabilities or transgender candidates or candidates

DANIEL SMITH/THE HOYA

Omika Jikaria (SFS ’14) is the only woman on a GUSA ticket. who identify as working class or first-generation college students,” Kohnert-Yount said. “But I think less important than a candidate’s identity is their commitment to serve all the students of Georgetown across the spectrum of gender identity, sexual orientation, racial and ethnic identity, socioeconomic status, ability and so forth.”

Of this year’s batch of candidates, four have experience in the GUSA senate. Eleven of the 27 current GUSA senators are female.

Chandini Jha (COL ’16), a deputy chief of staff and a former senator, coordinated Elect Her, a conference to encourage women to run for student government office, in September, after Cleary ran an iteration last April.

Jha said she does not believe the GUSA executive is institutionally male dominated.

“I don’t think the issue is the institution, but rather the way the institution has been in the past, in the sense that a lot of people see GUSA as something that is kind of male-dominated, and especially looking at the hard numbers in the Senate, we’ve always struggled to increase women’s representation because they’re a very underrepresented community in the senate,” she said.

Alyssa Peterson (COL ’14), also a deputy chief of staff, said the absence of women on this year’s executive tickets reflects the candidates’ priorities.

“You have a case where you have all-male heads of the ticket, but you’re making policy choices when you select your VP,” Peterson said. “When you pick a man, obviously there are a variety of factors why VPs are chosen, but when you do reach out to a man, you show that reaching out to females and representing us as a group isn’t necessarily one of your top priorities.”

The problem may also lie in how GUSA is perceived.

“My freshman year, GUSA was described to me as an old boys’ club, and just those words made it seem like an institution that was almost difficult to get into to and that mentality really needs to change. In order to have a student association that’s really representative of your student body, you need to have more females involved,” GUSA Director of Student Advocacy Office Michelle Mohr (COL ’15) said.

The idea of GUSA as a “boys’ club” can also lead to speculation about the women who do participate.

“I think that mindset also leads to the thinking that women who are involved are more cutthroat or of a very aggressive nature, which is often a characteristic given to women who are in leadership roles, that somehow they’re more aggressive than the standard female, if there is such a thing,” GUSA Freshman Outreach Coordinator Makaiah Mohler (COL ’16) said.

Nonetheless, Mohr said she does not feel like a victim of prejudice on the basis of her gender.

“The current cabinet does have more males than females, but there is a great sense of respect within the cabinet. I haven’t felt slighted at all by the fact that I am a female, and I think it speaks very highly to the individuals who are in the cabinet,” Mohr said.

Ultimately, some candidates expressed frustration at being categorized based solely on their gender or other characteristics.

Ramirez, running with Lloyd, noted that although his is an all-male ticket, it nevertheless represents many other forms of diversity.

“I’m frustrated that, because we’re both males, we’re typecast,” Ramirez said. “I’m proud to be part of a ticket that includes Thomas Lloyd, and I’m proud to have the vantage point that I have, but I’m not proud that there is one woman running in the race.”

Hoya Staff Writer Jennifer Ding contributed reporting.

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Professor Helms Language Preservation Projects Jamie Slater Hoya Staff Writer

Each Tuesday afternoon in Poulton Hall, professor Mark Sicoli gathers with a student research team to analyze videos of people speaking Lachixío, of the West Zapotec language family that is spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico.

With the rising prominence of Spanish, only approximately 3,000 people in the world currently speak Lachixío; in 2000, children in only four towns learned the language. Lachixío is considered an endangered language, and if current trends continue, the Linguistic Society of America expects it to become extinct within the next century.

Sicoli’s group, named Multimodal Interaction in Meso America, analyzes the videos in order to understand everyday interactions, such as eating dinner or entertaining visitors. The videos, which total over 40 hours, were gathered during the summers of 2008 and 2009. Known as multimodal analysis, this method relies on the theory that language is more than simply spoken words; it is also gestures and other behaviors.

“These are not setups. This is just what people would be doing if they were just going about their normal stuff,” Sicoli said. “Through all this work, we get the flavor of the language — not just the words and rules but also the flavor of how it gets used in social life — which are, in a sense, another level of rules for the use of language.”

According to Sicoli, interactional structures based on specific actions, such as requests or offers, can be similar between languages, even if the spoken language is different.

“The language material itself varies quite a bit, but the interactional structure that underlies language use is actually quite universal,” Sicoli said. “It’s actually turned the traditional view on its head — that language is much more variable than we thought, but interactional structure is much less variable than people think it is.”

--------------------------------------Sicoli, who also speaks Lachixío, initially learned about the language while completing his master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh when a professor invited him to help with another language documentation project in the area.

“I found the people fascinating and the languages very fascinating to me,” Sicoli said. “I wanted to work on a ton-

al language, like Cantonese and Mandarin and most of the other languages of the world.”

Although several factors contribute to a language’s endangerment and possible extinction, Sicoli noted the strong influence of cultural ideologies have a major influence, particularly for Zapotec languages.

“Spanish became everybody’s second language starting in the ’50s and ’60s there, and with nationalism, for instance, comes a strong ideology for creating signs of homogeneity among the population,” Sicoli said. “Language is an easy symbol for people to grab on to and say, if we all speak the same language, we’re all the same people.”

--------------------------------------To revitalize the indigenous ZapotecChatino language family, which includes Lachixío and approximately 25 other languages, Sicoli has launched two projects that are funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Part of the Documenting Endangered Languages Program is an online archive of 2,500 phrases — such as verbs or numbers — from each of the 103 Mexican towns that speaks a Zapotec-Chatino language, readily available for linguists and students to utilize for revitalization purposes. According to Sicoli, the archive will be completed later this year.

But while Sicoli recognized the importance of documenting languages, he said that it did not embody the true nature of languages.

“It doesn’t capture language in its natural ecology,” Sicoli said.

Therefore, based on the research collected with his student research group, Sicoli aims to release a book called “Saying and Doing in Lachixío Zapotec” this year. To finalize his research, he will return to Oaxaca in July.

Sicoli, who teaches the undergraduate course “Language Evolution” and graduate course “Multimodal Interaction,” is one of the first to emphasize discourse and multimodal interaction in this way.

“People have tended to focus on documenting vocabularies,” Sicoli said. “Actually looking at language in use and how people are using that to coordinate their activities in everyday life has been mostly absent, but it’s a growing area. It’s a cutting-edge area of linguistics.”

Sicoli added that this shift toward

JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA

Linguistics professor Mark Sicoli leads two projects dedicated to analyzing and revitalizing the Zapotec-Chatino language family, native to Mexico, with an innovative method that goes beyond spoken words. multimodal analysis is a field-wide trend, encouraged by the NSF and the NEH. “[They] are trying to encourage this type of documentation of language rather than the dictionary documentation as a bag of words and a bag of rules,” Sicoli said. “This is really the future of documentation — how language is used to do all of the things that we do as people — because it’s such a part of everything we do.”

Professor Deborah Tannen, a sociolinguist, stressed the importance of Sicoli’s methods and technology for the field of linguistics.

“He’s at the [forefront] of the use of new technology in understanding language, analyzing language, storing language [and] using technological capabilities to analyze the features of the language,” Tannen said. “[The technology] allows us to analyze language in a more scientific way than we could before.”

The students in Sicoli’s research group agreed and said they were excited to work with Sicoli on the inno-

vative analysis methods.

“I really like Dr. Sicoli’s approach — his analytical approach, his theoretical approach,” Amelia Tseng (GRD ’14), who is a Ph.D. candidate, said. “He’s a very well-rounded scholar who works on a number of things in impressive breadth and depth, so to be able to work with someone like that is very good for me in terms of learning how to do various things.”

By learning and using Sicoli’s methods, students are also able to learn and adapt to the specialized software the research group uses.

“I enjoy getting experience with the software, which has been really helpful for me in a lot of the projects that I’ve done,” said April-Michelle Thomas (COL ’15), who is also using Sicoli’s software for her senior anthropology thesis.

--------------------------------------In addition to his documentation work, Sicoli also raises awareness in indigenous communities of the en-

dangered nature of their language.

“There’s many a documented case where languages go extinct without people really recognizing they’re coming into jeopardy until it’s too late,” Sicoli said. “It’s this issue of the human right to have a means of communication that is culturally appropriate for your desires, and that’s a nice place to kind of be able to contribute with the work of a linguist to be able to contribute to that empowerment.”

Nevertheless, Sicoli emphasized that he does not like to think of himself as “saving” the languages.

“I’ve done a lot of work to train native speakers of different Zapotec languages to do linguistics and to develop materials for their own town, and this where I really see there’s a service side to the work which helps facilitate people to do language maintenance within their own community, and that piece has to be there in order for anything you do to really work,” Sicoli said. “I like to put the agency in the hands of the people.”

Bazaars Matter in Kyrgyzstan Johnny Verhovek Hoya Staff Writer

AMY LEE/THE HOYA

Angela Stent (left), CERES director and author of a book on U.S.-Russian relations, speaks with moderator Charles King on Wednesday in Copley Formal Lounge.

Stent Talks Future, US Resets With Russia Ryan Thomas Hoya Staff Writer

Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies Director Angela Stent discussed the future of U.S.-Russian relations Wednesday, as covered in her new book, “The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century.” The talk, held in Copley Formal Lounge, was moderated by professor Charles King and attended by approximately 60 people, most of whom were graduate students or professionals.

Stent covered the numerous “resets” which have been a hallmark of U.S.-Russian relations in recent years. Stent said that there were resets in the relationship under presidents Bill Clinton (SFS ’68), George W. Bush and most recently Barack Obama. The most recent reset was decidedly more tempered and practically focused. However, she emphasized that even the Obama reset had its troubles. Stent read a selection from her book regarding a humorous story from 2009 in which a mock reset button was given to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the word “reset” written in English on one side and in Russian on the other. However, due to a translation mistake, the Russian word did not read “reset,” but instead read “overload.” Such humor was laced throughout the talk, drawing a number of chuckles from the crowd.

Obama’s U.S.-Russian relationship reset over the past few years has been largely successful, according to Stent. The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, agreements on Iran sanctions, cooperation on transportation to Afghanistan and Russia joining the World Trade Organization are evidence to the productivity of the two nations’ solid partnership.

Still, Stent cautions that the strategy inher-

ent with a reset is also rife with weaknesses.

“That reset was largely driven by the personal ties between President Obama and then-President [Dmitry] Medvedev,” Stent said.

“That relationship was built by two younger, post-Cold War men. Once Prime Minister Putin returned to the Kremlin, the relationship began to deteriorate.”

Additionally, Stent talked about the legacy of the post-Cold War experience in Russia.

Americans and Russians experienced the 1990s in starkly different ways, as the American economy surged while the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving the nation with a lack of leadership and direction. A “legacy of mistrust” bred in the aftermath of World War II remains between the two countries even today, despite recent democratic advances in Russia.

A question and answer session followed the lecture, with questions ranging from the Russian perception of U.S. power to the current crises in Syria and the Ukraine, the rise of the Orthodox Church in Russia, the proposed Eurasian Union project and prospects for greater inclusion of Russia in the international system.

Attendees, both Russian and American, enjoyed the presentation.

“Over the past 20 years, hundreds and hundreds of books have been written on U.S.Russia relations, but pretty much nothing in the past five years,” Sidar Global Advisors employee Igor Danchenko said. “One of the reasons is [that] everybody focuses on U.S.-Russia relations rather than Russia-U.S. relations.”

A Georgetown student in attendance voiced her takeaway from the discussion.

“I thought it was really interesting to not only hear Dr. Stent’s research about the U.S.Russia relationship, but also to see the common threads that have carried throughout, and where they might be going,” Anjelika Deogirikar (GRD ’14) said.

The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies held an event featuring Dr. Regine A. Spector, assistant professor of political science at the University of MassachusettsAmherst, entitled “Protecting Property without Rights: Bazaars and the Emergence of a Familial State in Kyrgyzstan” in Riggs Library on Thursday.

The lecture focused on the development of property rights and economic development through the eyes of the traders and owners of these various bazaars – or marketplaces – in Kyrgyzstan’s major cities including the capital city of Bishkek.

Spector began by dispelling the notion that the region’s major trading centers are still those that originated along the Silk Road in countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

“While the bazaars that thrived in cities such as Samarkand and Bukhara — bazaars that still exist today — the biggest bazaars in Central Asia are now located in Kyrgyzstan. After the first decade of independence Kyrgyzstan has earned a reputation as a trading state and as a country of traders,” Spector said.

Spector also examined the political and economic development of the nation since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and the country’s transition to an open parliamentary democratic system after the 2010 removal of authoritarian President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Spector analyzed these developments through the eyes of the owners of these many bazaars — who are often wellconnected members of the Kyrgyz political elite — as a way to understand their role in the economic and social issues that plagued so-called “predatory” states that lack stable rule-oflaw institutions.

“If you take the 10 richest people in Kyrgyzstan’s parliament in 2008, you will find that five of them are bazaar owners. The active engagement in politics is considered crucial to maintaining their positions of power in society,” Spector said.

In the question and answer session that followed, Spector

MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

Regine A. Spector delivered a lecture on property rights in Kyrgyzstan, as part of the Nava’i-Nalle series on Central Asia. addressed questions from the audience of around 30 people, mostly academics with a particular interest in the field of Central Asian studies.

Dr. Angela Stent, Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, inquired about the current debate over Kyrgyzstan joining a customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus led by Russia, a move that has sparked mass protests from many workers who say the agreement would result in higher tariffs.

“Over time, I would suggest that various political analysts and business interests have come to realize that Kyrgyz tariffs are very low, and that joining the customs union would in fact raise those tariffs. For a re-export sector, those tariffs are very damaging, and that re-export sector is the bazaars,” Spector said.

Anne Johnson (GRD ’15), a student in the Global Human Development Program, asked about the role of women in these bazaars, and how their involvement shapes their role in these new political systems.

“The folks that you mentioned in the management positions seem to be mostly men, but women are also very active in bazaar culture,” Johnson said, “What about their role in these property negotiations and political maneuverings?”

Spector maintained that while men do primarily occupy these ownership roles in the bazaar system, there is a trend towards women taking larger roles in the day-to-day business operations in some circumstances.

“It is true that most of the owners are men, however women do play important roles at that level because often times the women are formally the owners of businesses since the husband is often a member of parliament or is in a political position where he is not allowed to have a business,” Spector said.

According to Stent, the Nava’i-Nalle series is meant to foster academic interest in Central Asian affairs, especially to encourage the work of younger scholars entering this field of study.

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THE HOYA

fRIDAY, february 21, 2014

NAIMUN a Success Despite Weather Chris Balthazard Special to The Hoya

CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

Chief Benefits Officer Charles DeSantis advised students on retirement and health care plans Thursday.

DeSantis Talks Common Sense Natasha Khan Hoya Staff Writer

Financial literacy program Common Sense held a conversation Thursday in the Reiss Science Building with Georgetown University Chief Benefits Officer Charles DeSantis, in which he highlighted the importance of considering health, retirement and other benefits when applying for jobs.

DeSantis previously worked in the banking industry before assuming his current position at Georgetown, and has been involved in developing an art immersion program for children living in the Kenyan slum Kibera.

DeSantis called health care a basic benefit.

“The minute you don’t have [health insurance] and something happens, it doesn’t matter how much or how little you make,” he said. He added that it is an epiphany for a lot of people to realize that their insurance co-pay does not actually cover the medical services they require.

DeSantis also discussed the

importance of defined contribution retirement plans like 401(k) s or 403(b)s, in which companies match money put in by individuals.

“It’s important to put away. You start doing it once and then you never think about it,” he said of companies that don’t offer retirement plants, “They’re not contributing to your future.”

DeSantis characterized dental insurance as the most non-aggressive and unsupported benefit in the marketplace.

“Really what you’re doing when you’re buying dental care is buying a discount. Discounts are negotiated based on the plan,” he said.

He added that benefits like company cars, gym memberships and day care can also make a big different to a person’s financial picture.

DeSantis ended with an emphasis on the importance of considering benefits, not just salary, when evaluating a job offer.

“I hate that we all pursue jobs for money only,” he said. “I really want people to pay attention to what they’re doing.”

Students enjoyed the event.

“He put a very personable spin on benefits that I never really thought of. I will take away from the event that it’s not just all about the pay while you’re at a job; it’s also about the benefits of the job and the accommodations offered to ensure my well-being,” Omorinsola Ajayi (NHS ’16) said.

Others agreed.

“I don’t really know much about benefits; like, it’s not a conversation I have much with my parents. I think it’s important that I learn about what I’m entitled to as someone who’s going to be a college graduate,” Queen Adesuyi (COL ’16) said.

Some students were already familiar with the information shared.

“While I knew most of the information that Mr. DeSantis presented, I enjoyed the review because it is all valuable information to keep in mind when in the job search,” Alexandra Buck (COL’14) said. “I also enjoyed his ‘bi-line’ of following your passions, not just the money.”

Va. Overturns Marriage Ban Laura Owsiany Special to The Hoya

Virginia made waves last Thursday when U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen overturned the state’s 2006 ban on same-sex marriage, making Virginia the first southern state to take such a strong pro-gay marriage stance.

Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and law professor Nan Hunter credited the same-sex marriage movement’s rising momentum to endorsements by high-profile figures like President Obama, younger generations’ support of marriage equality and a general shift in public opinion.

“In the more conservative states like Virginia, the public opinion had to reach a certain point before it was viable to bring a court challenge there…

Judges may see a constitutional violation but hesitate to declare a law unconstitutional if they fear that the backlash to that ruling would ultimately do more harm than good,” Hunter said.

The Associated Press reported that Wright Allen stayed the ruling in light of the anticipated appeal to the Fourth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals; same-sex marriages cannot take place in Virginia until the Fourth Circuit upholds her decision.

If Wright Allen’s ruling is upheld at the appeal level, it will apply to all states in the circuit — including North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.

According to Georgetown Law Professor and Constitutional Law Specialist David Cole, one potential problem with the appeal is that Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who has opposed the ban since his election, has refused to defend the ban in the case of an appeal.

“I think there’s a question about whether the Virginia decision can be appealed to the Fourth Circuit. In the California case, the Proposition 8 case from last year, the

Supreme Court ruled that where the attorney general representing the state refused to defend a state law banning same-sex marriage, there was no party that had standing to pursue the appeal,” Cole said.

Philip Tam (MSB ’14), treasurer of GU Pride and a native northern Virginian, hoped that Virginia’s ruling would encourage other southern states to recognize same-sex marriage.

“I remember even back when I was in high school I never would have imagined that something like this would even happen, in a state like Virginia. This might be sort of like the first domino in the ef-

“I think some marriage cases will be before the Supreme Court in the next term.” nan hunter Georgetown Law Professor

fect that the rest of the south potentially can now recognize marital equality,” Tam said.

Mack Krebs (COL ’16), who hails from the southern city of Lynchburg, Va., said that demographics in Virginia are changing.

“It’s very exciting that it’s overturned, especially because it’s such a conservative state.

It was very unexpected… I’m very happy with it, and I look forward to seeing what happens with it,” Krebs said.

With same-sex marriage legalized in nearby Maryland and D.C., Krebs did not foresee a change in movement of same-sex couples into Virginia.

“We already have Maryland and D.C. for gays who want to get married so I feel like they’d be there. And the political climate of northern Virginia is much more accepting than southern Virginia, so I don’t think it’ll change very much,” Krebs said.

Despite northern Virginia’s liberal tendencies, Hunter

held that the dissolution of legal barriers that currently keep same-sex couples in D.C. and Maryland will promote the movement of same-sex couples into Virginia.

“Right now there’s a sense among gay people in the metropolitan area that you want to either live in D.C. or Maryland because Virginia’s just viewed as a pretty hostile jurisdiction, so I think that will change.”

Tam agreed, noting that the ruling could stymie support for a more tolerant atmosphere toward the LGBTQ community in the area — and at Georgetown.

“It sends a message to the Georgetown community and especially the LGBTQ community at Georgetown that the area that we’re living in, no matter if you’re going into D.C., if you’re going back to Maryland, Virginia, it’s a very friendly, very progressive place to be,” Tam said.

Tam hoped that the ruling’s publicity would encourage support for groups in the LGBTQ community that do not receive as much media attention.

“There’s a lot of other groups that don’t necessarily get the coverage, so, gender fluidity, just being queer … with so much momentum behind it right now, if this is something that can be done and hopefully recognized on a national level, this momentum can carry on to focus on other issues that equally deserve the attention but aren’t necessarily getting that,” Tam said.

Since the Virginia ruling was the first of its kind among southern states, Hunter surmised that the ruling could hold a strong precedent for other southern states to reconsider their own marriage laws.

“It is the first time that a marriage statute has been struck down in a southern state, but the momentum for challenging these marriage laws has gotten so fast that I think some marriage cases will be before the Supreme Court in the next term,” Hunter said.

Despite heavy snow and travel difficulties, the Georgetown International Relations Association’s 51st North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference took place from Feb. 13 to 16.

In response to snow, NAIMUN staffers, led by NAIMUN Secretary-General Pavan Rajgopal (SFS ’15) and Executive Director Sarah Pemberton (SFS ’15), focused on the ability of committees to adapt and creatively continue discourse despite delayed delegates.

“There was just a lot of adaptation we had to do, mostly on the executive side, so that’s Pavan and Sarah who were running the conference, and they did a great job with it,” Danny Aherne (COL ’16), director of the U.S. Supreme Court committee, said.

The heavy snow affected travel plans, causing many of the 150 attending high school delegations difficulties in reaching the Hilton in Dupont Circle.

Only about two-thirds of high school students arrived in time for the first committee session at 9 p.m. on Thursday.

Late delegates, however, creatively stepped into their roles.

“Some of the people that got awards were people that came late,” Andrew Wang, president of the Roxbury Latin School’s Model UN, said. “So I think they definitely did a good job of making sure that people got caught up, and in knowing how to help them out.”

For those committees deemed unable to run because of the lack of delegates, Georgetown staffers found several creative solutions.

“A few of us on security were asked to sort of fill in on a few of the com-

COURTESY NAIMUN

The NAIMUN conference welcomed 150 delegates to D.C.

mittees because there were so many delegates missing that you couldn’t really run an effective committee,” staffer Alex Barnes (SFS ’16) said. “So a few of us stepped in and took the places of the high school kids that were missing. … I tried to start a secret war between the [United States] and the USSR, so that was fun.”

Crisis committees, although carefully structured, allowed delegates to control the direction of the committee.

“You usually sit down with the secretary-general, the director-general, the [Undersecretary-General] and the [Deputy Undersecretary-General] and you discuss different potential committee styles or committee types,” DUSG Councils, Boards and Courts Isobel Blakeway-Phillips (SFS ’16) said. “A lot of times you’ll have one or two ideas when you’re going into it, lots of which can be really, really controversial, and you take stages to come up with. [The trial of] Kaiser Wilhelm, we sat there for about an hour discussing whether or not it would even function properly.”

In addition to replacing absent delegates with present staffers, NAIMUN executives presented Georgetown chairs and directors with other solutions.

“Our committee was only supposed to have only 13 kids, so if you’re missing, you know, five kids, it’s not going to run very smoothly,” Aherne said. “So we wound up moving kids from different committees in, which actually worked really well.”

Though this on-the-spot shuffling of delegates left some committees well short of a necessary number, Aherne said that individual chairs and directors adapted remarkably well, along with the general oversight of executives.

“Mike [Sliwinski (SFS ’16)] also turned his committee into a crisis. So, his was supposed to be the [Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice], and so ostensibly they’re supposed to be dealing with macro issues, but given how small the committee was, because of how many kids weren’t able to make it and how many got moved onto different committee … they made a crisis arc out of it, where they had pirates and whatnot.”

According to attendee Wang, the ad hoc gambit paid off.

“I think NAIMUN is really creative with how they run their crisis committees, with the crises that they give us and making it creative, making it fun,” Wang said. “The chairs let us steer the direction of it our own way, as opposed to kind of saying, ‘We have to talk about this.’”

NEWS

friday, february 21, 2014

THE HOYA

A9

Ambassador Talks LGBTQ Center Holds Retreat US, Pakistan Politics Sydney Winkler Special for the Hoya

Madeleine Thornburn Special to The Hoya

Pakistani Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani discussed the turbulent political and economic relations between the United States and Pakistan in McGhee Library on Tuesday.

The School of Foreign Service Asian Studies Program organized the event as part of the Lunch with an Ambassador Series, which was designed to give Georgetown students, alumni and professors the opportunity to learn about current affairs from the international figures who are actively participating in world-changing policymaking.

The fully-booked event created an opportunity for conversation about the tense relations between the two countries since 2011, when Osama bin Laden was killed in a secret U.S. military operation in Pakistan.

“The years 2011 and 2012 also witnessed a low in U.S.-Pakistan relations. … They suffered a great deal,” Jilani said.

Although Pakistan is a U.S. ally regarding the “war on terror,” Americans and Europeans accused Pakistan’s military and security forces of protecting bin Laden from U.S. intelligence agents. The Pakistani government categorically denied these accusations, but the ramifications of this event as well as continued drone strikes targeting al-Qaida in the northern tribal areas have heightened tensions between the nations’ political leaders.

Despite this contention, the ambassador remained optimistic about current and future relations between the two nations, arguing that current cooperation bodes well for the future.

“The current level of engagement we have in both countries gives every reason for both sides to be satisfied with the level of cooperation that is going on not only on the economic front, but also on trade, counter terrorism, intelligence, military to military cooperation,” Jilani said. “Also I think at the level of the parliament of Pakistan and the U.S. Congress have good cooperation and good understanding about the interaction that is going on.”

The ambassador focused on Pakistan’s energy crisis, defense and counter-terrorism operations and economic and trade issues.

“On the economic front, the situation looks very good. The GDP has seen a significant growth in the last six months, the fiscal deficit has been reduced, the GDP has been increased, the government has also been able to pay back the circular debt in a matter of one month almost $5 million, which has increased the productivity of various projects, which resulted in industrial growth,” Jilani said.

However, the country cannot achieve its potential without the support of world

powers with already-prominent economies like the United States. He stressed that America’s investment in Pakistan’s economy could reap benefits in Afghanistan — a country of primary U.S. interest. The economies of Afghanistan and Pakistan are very closely linked since they engage in more than $2 billion worth of trade.

“A sound economic base in Pakistan would also have a very positive effect on the economy of Afghanistan, and in turn would bring about stability, which has been the long term objective of the United States and other countries involved in Afghanistan,” Jilani said.

The ambassador also spoke about Pakistan’s strained relations with India, which resulted from territorial disputes over the region of Kashmir.

“Just as India has its issues related to terrorism, we also have our concerns to terrorism as far as India is concerned,” Jilani said.

However, Jilani is aware that establishing strong relations with Pakistan’s neighbors is a crucial step toward prosperity and success.

“The Prime Minister is convinced that unless there is peace and stability in the region, the economy certainly will not gain the same kind of momentum that the government wants,” he said. “With that the government has taken a number of initiatives with Afghanistan and India in order to improve our relations and also in order to improve the overall security.”

This outlook seemed rather optimistic to Stanley Kober (SFS ’73), who attended Tuesday’s lunch.

“He’s being very diplomatic. … I’m not so sure about the economy and the terrorism,” he said.

During the latter half of the event, which was open to questions, several queries centered on the region’s military state of affairs. Despite concerns about Pakistan’s involvement with bin Laden, the ambassador stated that the two countries are currently cooperating on intelligence operations.

The ambassador concluded the event by reflecting upon his goals as ambassador to the United States. He hopes to build a very strong relationship between the two countries. Professor Christine Fair, whose research concerns political and military affairs in South Asia, found Jilani’s remarks trite: She felt that he avoided the accusations that were levied against his country.

“Personally, I found the Ambassador’s talk to be a staged rehearsal of well-worn talking points and it included a regrettable amount of dissembling on key issues such as Pakistan’s support for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Taliban and so forth,” Fair wrote in an email. “It was clear from his talk that the talking points of the civilian government and the Pakistan military and intelligence agencies are isomorphic, unfortunately.”

The LGBTQ Resource Center held its inaugural retreat for 23 students at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains over President’s Day Weekend.

Due to high interest in the retreat, the center increased the number of participants from the original cutoff number of 18.

“As the community has grown, part of our hope in doing this retreat was to figure out where we are as a community because we don’t get to see ourselves as a community very often,” LGBTQ Resource Center Director Shiva Subbaraman said.

Although the Calcagnini Contemplative Center hosts other retreats including ESCAPE and ministry events, the retreat is the first LGBTQ event to use the space.

“I think we built on and extended that retreat culture by bringing something like this to the LGBTQ community to provide a space that really was safe to open up and talk about all of those different aspects of being a student and also [the] LGBTQ identity,” LGBTQ Resource Center Special Projects Coordinator Bridget Sherry said.

The retreat, endowed with a “journeys” theme, consisted of a series of student reflections on their origins, current states and future hopes. The retreat also included small group and large group contemplation with the goal of engaging those attending in reflection.

The retreat highlighted how being a member of the LGBTQ community affects a person’s identity.

“You’re recognizing that the LGBTQ identity is just one aspect of a person, how they experience that is part of a holistic approach to self,” Sherry said.

The students said that the dialogue that took place throughout the retreat served as a bonding mechanism.

“My favorite part of the retreat was staying up, a good three hours after we were supposed to go to bed, just talking,” ESCAPE leader and LGBTQ retreat organizer Eric Nevalsky (SFS ’16) said. “We started talking to each other about our lives and our stories and it was a great way for us to bond and bring our friendship to a deeper level.”

Throughout the course of the retreat, students celebrated diversity and discussed similar experiences.

“The LBGTQ communities have many different facades on campus and that’s not something I expect-

COURTESY LGBTQ RESOURCE CENTER

Left to right: Cal Watson, Bridget Sherry, Shiva Subbaraman and Michael Ritterbeck, staff on the LGBTQ retreat. ed,” Patrick Bylis (COL ’17) said. “I expected everyone to be involved in Pride and really vocal about it, but that’s not the case.”

Participants also discussed how they could improve the LGBTQ community at Georgetown and continue to expand the community.

“The phrase that came up often at the retreat was ‘widening the welcome mat,’” Nevalsky said. “Everyone said that we need to make sure that we are welcoming and that we respect people’s differences because everybody was at that point in the process at some point.”

In order to organize the event, students attended retreat-oriented focus groups in November.

“It takes a while to know the students, to know the community and for myself to see what the needs of the students are,” Subbaraman said.

Participants in the overnight retreat included students involved in the LGBTQ community, unaffiliated students and both closeted and openly gay students.

“I think it was surprising how open people were because it was a very short amount of time,” Bylis said. “Hearing about their triumphs and struggles in all of their lives inspired me to be open and inspired me to get a lot out of the retreat.”

Martin Hussey (SFS ’14) reflected on the changes he has seen during

his time at Georgetown. Although the LGBTQ community has grown in recent years in support and size, Hussey questioned whether the development was from the larger Georgetown community or simply his social circle.

“I think it’s difficult for me to separate Georgetown maturing as a community and myself and my friends maturing,” Hussey said. “I think freshman year it was much less stigmatized to say something homophobic.”

Despite its Jesuit identity, Georgetown has since aligned with the sentiments of society and its subsequent perception of the LGBTQ community.

“I think that the changes that have happened at Georgetown [are] parallel to what has changed in the country too,” Subbaraman said.

In the future, Subbaraman hopes to provide an LGBTQ-specific retreat at least once a year. For the immediate future, Subbaraman and Sherry both hope to find a way to sustain the conversations and connections students made on the retreat.

“Retreats are unique in that everyone gets something unique out of it for themselves,” Sherry said.

“I think one of the biggest fruits of it was hearing from each other in that small group sharing and the large group sharing to view that power of personal narrative and to recognize that you’re not the only one going through something.”

BUSINESS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014

COMMENTARY

GUASFCU, Corp Choose New Leaders AARON LEWIS & DAVID BROWN

Hoya Staff Writer & Special to The Hoya

Donald Kim

Apple an Essential Way of Life

W

hat philosophies are inherent in a big corporation such as Apple Inc.? I had the opportunity to obtain that answer firsthand. My time with Apple in the corporate sector from October 2012 to December 2013 was nothing far from remarkable. It was both enjoyable and eye-opening and personally, I thought that there would be no obstacles and surprises at the start of my employment. Not only had I been a customer of Apple since the fifth grade, I also considered myself generally tech savvy. Only later would I learn that my preconceived notions were very wrong.

My role with Apple was in the corporate sector in the educational sales department, as I served as Georgetown’s corporate representative. My reach extended to faculty, staff and students of not only our school, but to our neighboring ones as well. My duties entailed selling computers to the school as a whole and catering to faculty, staff and students. The purpose? To increase the use and presence of Apple products ranging from the iPod to the iMac, a job that was made easier due to the already salient presence of Apple on campus. It still was not a cakewalk, however, as I was trained not just to sell a product, but to sell a lifestyle.

At the beginning of my employment, Apple flew me out to Cupertino, Caifornia (fittingly, my home state) for employee training. I wasn’t

Why did I choose Apple? Why did you choose Apple? Why do others stay faithful to Apple? excited for the training; I was excited to get an extra vacation back in California and to visit what is frequently called, “The Mothership,” also known as Apple’s headquarters, for the first time.

I would humbly learn that Steve Job’s presence, even in death, was overshadowing. On the first of the three-day training session, we were asked why we chose Apple. Answers varied from, it was easy to use, it’s been present throughout our lives, all our friends use it and it’s just cool. The coordinators were not impressed; they then advanced to proceed by telling us, “We will tell you why you chose Apple.” So, why did I choose Apple? Why did you choose Apple? Why do others continue to stay faithful and convert to Apple?

The answer is simple: It is the philosophy Steve Jobs based the company on that makes Apple is so unique and successful. Apple products are not merely goods, they are an extension of a life discovered by Steve Jobs.

From day one, we were taught Steve’s philosophy that these products have to become an integral part of our lives, akin to eating and breathing.

The product needs to be capable of having a symbiotic relationship with the user; it’ll take care of us so as long we take care of it. Whether you’re on the run, at home, at school or at the office, an extension of yourself will always be connected to the world.

Now I am not a businessman.

I’m in the School of Foreign Service studying international politics, but I learned an invaluable business lesson from Steve Jobs. Not every business needs to follow Steve’s formula to be successful; every business has its own identity. But when it comes to marketing, make that product an extension of yours and others’ lives.

Make it into something that people can’t live without. Make it into something that connects you to and is accessible to the whole world, at your privacy. Turn it into your friend, make it essential to life. This is why I chose Apple.

DONALD KIM is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. He worked at Apple for a year and a half.

DANIEL SMITH/THE HOYA

London School of Economics professor Tim Belsey discusses changing global business climates at a conference Thursday.

LSE, USAID Experts Gather for Conference DAVID BROWN

Special to The Hoya

World Bank executives, business and economics professors from all over the country and international investors celebrated the World Bank Group’s annual flagship report, which highlights regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship in 189 worldwide economies, at the 10th anniversary of the Doing Business Research conference held yesterday and today in Lohrfink Auditorium.

Pairing with the United States Agency for International Development and influential economists and political scientists, the Doing Business conference aims to educate people about the inter national business climate and barriers to economic innovation.

The conference discussed issues such as market entry, financial infrastructure, labor markets and corrupt regulation in developing economies. Keynote speaker Tim Belsey, professor of economics and political science at the London School of Economics, noted the necessity of internationally comparable measures for business climates.

“To fundamentally change the business climate, one requires effective policy,” Belsey said.

The Doing Business report has created a set of indicators that allows for comparable measurement of the business climate across economies. These indicators include topics such as the ability to start a business, the ability to obtain a line of credit, investor protection, trading across borders and many others that create a detailed picture about the climate and policy in a specific economy. Stephen O’Connell, chief economist of the USAID, offered a reaction following the keynote address, stating that there are two major areas that still need to be resolved.

“First, the question of whether

institutional changes in these measures are sustained over time and what are the determinants of that,” he said. “The question is whether regulations go away as soon as they accomplish their objectives. We are conducting retrospective research about the staying power of these interventions at USAID.” O’Connell added that the organization is looking at the difference between de jure regulatory regimes, or the rules on the books, and the de facto regime, how things actually work.

“The thrust in economics of longrun growth and development over the last 20 years has been to push attention towards the de facto regime as the thing that really matters,” he said. “Work on the relation between the de jure measures and measures of de facto performance is critical TIM BELSEY to understand LSE Professor and the process of convergence from de facto performance to de jure rules.”

The conference served as a learning opportunity for participants with breakout sessions following the keynote address that focused on how the business climate of economies can be changed with effective policy reform.

Nighat Jadoon, an officer in the poverty reduction and the financial and private sector development groups at the World Bank, has a MBA in finance and analyzes the budgets of developmental economies. She is a newcomer to the Doing Business conference.

“This was an opportunity to come and understand what the Doing Business report does. I came here from the learning point of view to be exposed to this side of the business,” Jadoon said.

The Doing Business report has played an important role in contributing to the fight to end poverty in developing nations and provides useful benchmarking indicators as policy tools for reform.

“To change the business climate, one requires effective policy.”

INSIDER

There has been a changing of the guard at two of Georgetown’s largest student-run organizations, Students of Georgetown Inc. and the Georgetown Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, with both groups introducing new leadership into their executive boards.

Laura Krivacek (COL ’15), the newly hired incoming CEO of GUASFCU, has been with the group for three years. She most recently served as vice president of the member services department and has expressed that her prior experience, along with working at the Credit Union this past summer, makes her uniquely qualified for her new role.

“I stayed at the Credit Union over the summer with three other interns to run operations. That experience allowed me to gain a wider perspective of what is going on at the Credit Union, what our future goals should be and where it should be moving,” Krivacek said.

The Credit Union hires new members in both the fall and spring semesters, while the board turns over yearly at the start of the spring semester.

“We recently took 18 freshmen — sophomores are only hired in the fall semester, while juniors and seniors are not eligible — from the business school, the College and the SFS,” Krivacek said. “It’s always a competitive process, with so many qualified applicants, but we feel really strongly about the candidates that we selected for this semester.”

The new GUASFCU board was elected one month ago and will take over March 1.

With Capital One Bank recently announcing that it will be removing its ATMs from campus, Krivacek sees a unique opportunity for GUASFCU to grow its base of users.

“We always want students to come to us instead of other banking options on campus,” Krivacek said. “We are going to keep marketing to students. While Capital One moving off campus does not directly affect us, we are always trying to grow.”

GUASFCU wants to be competitive within Georgetown and with other credit unions so that it is the premier banking option for students on campus.

“We are really pushing to increase our loan portfolio with the goal of rolling out private student loans within the next couple of months, which we think will be a great opportunity for not only the Credit Union but for the university, as well,” she said.

Similarly, newly appointed Corp CEO Sam Rodman (MSB ’15) has big plans for his organization.

“The chance to accomplish individual goals and see a lasting impact on a service even after graduation is a great opportunity,” Rodman said. “One of the biggest strengths of organizations like The Corp is employee buy-in is higher than any organization you’ll see.

People really care about the products they are putting out, and they really care about the impact that they can have on the organization.”

Rodman, a former Editorial Board member of THE HOYA, emphasized the importance of The Corp’s social culture.

REBECCA GOLDBERG/THE HOYA

GUASFCU CEO Laura Krivacek (COL ’15) (top); Corp CEO Sam Rodman (MSB ’15) (bottom).

“Part of it comes from the social aspect of it; the fact each individual service is its own group with its own social culture, and part of it comes from the fact that there is so much upward mobility in The Corp,” he said.

Rodman’s tenure will include overseeing the upcoming opening of The Hilltoss, The Corp’s new salad and smoothie shop that will be located in the Healey Family Student Center.

“With Sweetgreen far away and pretty pricey, and Leo’s not quite as pricey but not the quality students want, salads just made sense for us,” Rodman said.

In addition to the new board members, The Corp also hired 38 new employees this semester. With high turnover every year as employees graduate, The Corp must constantly replace its members.

Gene Ball (MSB ’16) is the new Chief Financial Officer for The Corp. He indicated that because of the changing government policies and the rising minimum wage of employees, The Corp must adapt its business plan to retain profits.

“Over the next few months, we will be working to reduce excess costs in order to keep prices as low as possible in response to the upcoming minimum wage increases,” Ball said. “While we must maintain profitability in order to fulfill our mission of serving the Georgetown community, we also want to ensure our customers’ happiness and regular return with lower-priced goods.”

TRADING

Recruiting season is upon us. How has the interview process been for you?

“The process was really time consuming, but at the same time it was pretty entertaining. It was interesting to learn more about all of the different banks and positions within each bank, just difficult to make sure that other commitments didn’t take a back seat. The recruitment process was successful for me. I will be working for the Global Market Solutions Group at Credit Suisse this summer.”

“Recruiting went great and was a very exciting time. I got a lot of offers from a lot of different companies and ultimately decided to accept an internship with Barclays in the Investment Banking Division. I think that my success was largely thanks to Georgetown University Student Investment Fund and the MSB and so Barclays was a natural progression due to their great reputation and large Georgetown network.”

JOSH SATTEL (COL ’15)

MATTHEW SUTHERLAND (MSB ’15)

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