The Hoya: November 17, 2017

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Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 99, No. 12, © 2017

friday, november 17, 2017

STATEMENT PIECES

In this special issue, explore the political power and significance of art.

EDITORIAL The GUSA executive has fallen tragically short of its campaign promises.

#PROUDTOBEGSP This week, the Georgetown Scholarship Program held its fourth annual promotional campaign.

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A5

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Midway, GUSA Executive Revisits Campaign Promises jeff cirillo and christian paz Hoya Staff Writers

JOHN CURRAN/THE HOYA

Fax Victor (COL ’19), who was told as a child he would never be able to attend an elite college, is now working to increase diversity in Georgetown’s applicant pool as a member of the Georgetown Scholarship Program.

Diversity, Defined: Fostering Inclusivity at Georgetown Tara subramaniam Hoya Staff Writer

“Community in Diversity.” One of Georgetown’s oft-touted Jesuit values, the phrase is often mentioned by the university to entice prospective students. Students may catch a glimpse of it on a banner around campus in their dayto-day hustle or in the university’s promotional materials.

Behind the flashy catchphrase, the question remains: What does it actually mean to be a community in diversity?

From an admissions perspective, of the 1,633 students in the Class of 2021, 227 are Asian, 183 Hispanic and a record 172 are black. Together, they make up 35.6 percent of the class — while nearly twothirds of students, 64.4 percent, are white. By comparison, white students make up 58 percent of all college students nationwide.

This disproportionality is not limited to race. According to a study by The Equality of Opportunity Project published by The New York Times in 2017, the median income for a parent of a student in Georgetown’s Class of 2013 was $229,100, the 8th highest of the 2,395 U.S. colleges surveyed. More students at Georgetown come from families in the top 1 percent of income earners than from the bottom 60 percent combined.

Despite the university’s efforts, challenges remain in promoting a true community in diversity — one that fosters a sense of inclusion for those of traditionally marginalized socio-economic, racial and sexual backgrounds. The numbers tell one story, but the students tell another.

Economic Straits Emily Kaye (COL ’18) never thought she could get into an

Ivy League school. Her admission to Cornell University was not only a surprise, but also an escape from the stress of impending foreclosure and her parent’s divorce.

“I was hyping up college so much in my younger years because it was like my escape, what I was looking forward to — to get out of this home life that hadn’t really given me what I needed to get out of it in terms of growing and learning,” Kaye said.

After a year at Cornell, Kaye transferred to Georgetown.

“I was looking for a school that would stimulate me more intellectually outside of the classroom and also feel more like a community around things that I valued, such as the independence and the drive that I grew up with,” Kaye said.

“I found that in the Georgetown See DIVERSITY, A6

After Georgetown University Student Association President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) won the 2017 GUSA executive election in February by a 34-vote margin, they promised to establish a “Fresh GUSA” focused on affordability, health resources and student entrepreneurship.

Since then, Mack and Andino have engaged Georgetown’s administration to address concerns over the status of students without documentation and “hidden costs” that make Georgetown campus life less affordable.

They have also had to react to external events, including early tensions with the GUSA senate, free speech challenges among student groups and anti-Semitic vandalism in various residence halls in September and October.

In an interview with The Hoya, Mack and Andino discussed their successes and shortcomings in achieving campaign promises, giving themselves a B+ grade so far.

Despite progress on specific projects, Mack and Andino recognized the long-term nature of their campaign goals.

Steps Toward Affordability During their campaign, Mack and Andino made affordability a central issue, calling it “the most pressing issue affecting Georgetown students” in a February preelection viewpoint (“An Entrepreneurial Approach,” The Hoya, Feb. 21, 2017, thehoya.com).

Mack and Andino promised to push the administration to adopt “more cost-saving measures” in the budget and to facilitate “Georgetown-specific discounts” with neighborhood businesses including Safeway and Trader Joe’s.

The second proposal has been implemented in a modified program launched in August as Mack

Petition Seeks Mental Health Care Stipend elizabeth ash Hoya Staff Writer

Student mental health advocates launched a petition advocating for the university to fund a pilot program to subsidize offcampus mental health care for 40 students.

The petition addressed to University President John J. DeGioia on Monday requested funds for the pilot program from the Office of the President and through the creation of an alumni fund.

The proposal was created by the Georgetown University Student Association’s mental health policy coalition.

GUSA’s proposal would provide a stipend to subsidize care for students who are no longer eligible for mental health care through the university’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services.

The pilot program would cost between $34,000 and $40,000, approximately half of a Georgetown student’s tuition, according to Kenna Chick (SFS ’20), GUSA’s mental health policy coalition chair and the leader of the petition drive.

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Chick said besides approaching the Office of the President for support, GUSA would solicit funding from private donors and alumni and student crowdsourcing platform SaxaFund.

The pilot program would provide data on the funding required to sustain the program for each student. Advocates hope to use the results of the pilot program to advocate funding for a furtherreaching program that would serve more students.

CAPS currently provides individualized mental health care for a maximum of two semesters, after which the service refers students to off-campus providers, according to Rachel Pugh, the university’s senior director for strategic communications. Only about 55 percent of psychiatrists accept private insurance, according to a 2014 study by the National Institutes of Health.

“CAPS operates on a short term model and can provide a semester or two’s worth of services, consistent with what is typically done at other university counseling centers. Long term care is typically referred to community resources.

STEPHANIE YUAN/THE HOYA

GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) reflect on their term thus far. and Andino’s first affordability initiative. The project consisted of distributing 1,500 coupon cards offering local business discounts to students, particularly to those from low-income families.

The cards offered modest discounts at 21 clothing stores, restaurants and entertainment options.

Most markdowns offered no more than 15 percent off original prices — and some were already available with a student ID.

Missy Foy, director of the Georgetown Scholarship Program, a university program to support lowincome students on Georgetown’s campus, said the discounts on the card were meager and largely applied to nonessential luxuries.

“While we’re appreciative of any discount offered to students (and certainly students for whom finances are a significant stress See MIDTERM, A6

Veterans day ceremony

FILE PHOTO: STEPPHANIE YUAN/THE HOYA

Student advocates are pushing for the university to subsidize offcampus mental health care for 40 students in a pilot program.

Where finances are not an issue, such referrals work well,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“CAPS also maintains a list of low cost and no cost providers in the local community to whom referrals can be made.”

Chick said financial barriers prevent some students from accessing care once their time with CAPS expires.

“Although all students have health insurance, the exorbitant

KARLA LEYJA/THE HOYA

The annual Veterans Day ceremony took place Monday, featuring an address by former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. Story on A7.

See MENTAL HEALTH, A6

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

Grand Opening The de la Cruz Gallery of Art in Walsh will open in January after a semesterlong delay.

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A Refugee Crisis The international community must act as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar rages on.

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Ewing Era Begins Under new Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85), men’s basketball has started its season with two dominant wins.

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NEWS Clarify Coverage

opinion With Gratitude

SPORTS Flair for the Dramatic

H*yas for Choice delivered a letter to administrators demanding clarity on coverage of contraceptives.

A9 Printed Fridays

Our feelings toward Thanksgiving change as we go through college, but we should always remain grateful.

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Men’s soccer claimed the 2017 Big East Championship this Sunday after winning a 2-1 thriller over Xavier in double overtime.

A12 Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

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OPINION

THE HOYA

friday, NOVEMBER 17, 2017

THE VERDICT

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Bad News Bears — Tian Tian, one of the giant pandas at the Smithsonian National Zoo, is believed to have arthritis in his left shoulder, according to veterinarians.

Keepers put him under anaesthesia Tuesday and gave him acupuncture and laser treatments.

GUSA Promises Remain Unmet C

Don’t Bug Me — A paintings conservator in Missouri discovered a grasshopper in Vincent van Gogh’s “Olive Trees.” The insect has been embedded in the painting for 128 years.

Halfway through the term, the administration of Georgetown University Student Association President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) has made minimal progress on the core proposals of its campaign.

A lack of cohesive vision and a disparity between the priorities of the president and vice president explain the meager progress achieved by this administration.

While Mack and Andino had an admirable platform centered on affordability, entrepreneurship and student health, they have failed to deliver concrete results. As such, this editorial board, with great chagrin, awards this GUSA executive a C-plus for their efforts thus far.

Lacking A Cohesive Vision The divergence between Mack’s and Andino’s priorities for the remainder of their administration indicates why they have failed to make significant progress on many of their initial goals.

When asked in an interview with The Hoya about his priorities going forward, Mack cited the GUSA executive’s proposed stipend for students seeking unpaid internships that is set to launch its pilot program in the spring. He also noted the importance of responding to student feedback about dining.

Andino, conversely, discussed responding to any future bias-related incidents in a substantive manner as one of her priorities for the remainder of their term. Both Mack’s and Andino’s responses, while touching on important issues, neglected a broader vision to address their campaign promises.

The lack of coordination between Mack and Andino has led to an absence of an overarching trajectory for their administration. The GUSA executive has made some noteworthy accomplishments, but it has failed to address much of its initial platform.

When asked about the administration’s proudest achievement thus far, Andino discussed the university’s vocal opposition to the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Both Mack and Andino have been strong supporters of the university’s stance on DACA. The GUSA executive also pushed for the appointment of a full-time associate director for undocumented student services, a laudable act.

Mack cited efforts in master planning and student conduct as among his proudest achievements. He discussed, for example, the executive’s success in repealing the no-warning policy in firstyear dorms; now, first-year students receive a warning before being written up for a noise violation.

The members of the GUSA executive have clearly worked hard on the issues about which they are passionate, but their own efforts have been just that — their own. The executive should devote its time and resources to creating a cohesive vision and then achievable goals by which to guide GUSA. Failing to Address Affordability Perhaps the most salient failure of this GUSA administration concerns affordability. In a 2017 poll by The Hoya, 32.3 percent of students polled cited affordability as the most relevant issue in the 2017 GUSA election. Yet, Mack and Andino have made hardly any progress on this issue.

This executive has often discussed its commitment to addressing the hidden costs of attending Georgetown, and it has made some small progress on this promise. For example, enhanced weekend GUTS service — a joint effort of GUSA and the university — has sought to reduce student transportation costs.

Mack and Andino’s only effective initiative on affordability, however, has been its proposed creation of a stipend to assist students seeking unpaid internships. The GUSA administration hopes to launch a pilot version of the program this spring. This editorial board lauds this idea and encourages the GUSA executive to work to see this project through.

Still, one of this administration’s largest undertakings, the introduction of discount cards for lowincome students, was both ill-conceived and poorly executed. The cards received immediate criticism, as many of the discounts they provided were either already available to all students or did not really address the needs of low-income students.

“15% off at Ralph Lauren or Vineyard Vines or Brooks Brothers doesn’t represent a major commitment to low-income college students,” wrote Missy Foy, executive director of the Georgetown Scholarship Program, in an Aug. 31 email to The

Hoya. Clearly, GUSA’s implementation of this plan did not include careful thought of how these cards could be most useful to low-income students.

Under the program, 1,500 discount cards were produced. However, the initiative was poorly implemented. The GUSA executive failed to set up any sort feedback mechanism to gauge the efficacy of this pilot program, demonstrating a stark lack of monitoring and accountability on this project.

The discount cards cost around $2,000, with their funding coming from the Office of Advancement, the Division of Student Affairs and GUSA. If the GUSA executive is so serious about tuition transparency — about students knowing where their money is going — it should monitor the progress of projects it pours our tuition dollars into.

Seeking to Support Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship was another key plank of the Mack-Andino campaign. In an op-ed published in The Hoya preceding the 2017 GUSA election, Mack and Andino noted that “entrepreneurship is vital to Georgetown’s culture” (“An Entrepreneurial Approach,” The Hoya, Feb. 21, 2017).

Undoubtedly, Mack, and by extension the GUSA executive, has supported entrepreneurship on campus. However, these efforts have come largely through support of external, alreadyestablished entrepreneurship initiatives, such as Georgetown Ventures, a seed accelerator that supports student entrepreneurs and for which Mack serves as a board member. New entrepreneurship projects spearheaded by the GUSA executive have largely been neglected.

Mack discussed the success of various on-campus entrepreneurship projects, including Georgetown Ventures, the Startup Hotel — a platform in Lauinger Library for budding entrepreneurs — and Yellow House, a residence for students interested in entrepreneurship. Yet, none of these projects were begun by GUSA executive.

The Yellow House was in the works long before the Mack-Andino administration came to power: The deadline to apply to be in its first cohort of residents, who currently live there, was March 15, 2017. Mack and Andino were inaugurated March 18, 2017.

As Mack sits on the board of Georgetown Ventures, his experience and relationships are undoubtedly integral to the club’s continued success.

Nevertheless, this club was not launched by the GUSA executive and should not be touted as one of its accomplishments.

Mack also noted that the GUSA executive is working toward the creation of an entrepreneurship minor, though progress on such academic ventures is often slow. For example, the disability studies minor, which the university began offering this fall, came to fruition after three years of advocacy. This editorial board encourages the GUSA executive to prioritize this endeavor during the remainder of its term, as it would be a tangible way in which this administration could further entrepreneurship on campus.

Committing to Mental Health The Mack-Andino administration has made some notable progress in the area of student health.

This editorial board commends the prioritization of mental health by this GUSA executive, along with its policy teams. For example, the executive’s efforts have led to the hiring of the equivalent of two additional full-time employees at Counseling and Psychiatric Services.

Additionally, this administration’s mental health policy coalition has recently taken steps toward implementing a pilot program to subsidize off-campus mental health treatment. We appreciate their administration’s commitment to improving access to mental health resources on campus.

Moving Past the Midterm This GUSA executive is clearly well-intentioned.

While Mack and Andino have the passion and capacity to accomplish their campaign promises, a lack of clear vision and the divergence of their priorities have hampered their ability to achieve substantial progress.

This editorial board is disappointed to award the administration of Mack and Andino a C-plus for its work thus far. If the GUSA executive hopes to better the Georgetown student experience and leave a strong legacy, it is time to work together to prioritize the issues that got it elected.

Toby Hung, Editor-in-Chief Ian Scoville, Executive Editor Marina Tian, Executive Editor Jesus Rodriguez, Managing Editor Jeff Cirillo, News Editor Christian Paz, News Editor Dean Hampers, Sports Editor Mitchell Taylor, Sports Editor Meena Raman, Guide Editor Maya Gandhi, Opinion Editor Will Zhu, Features Editor Stephanie Yuan, Photography Editor Alyssa Volivar, Design Editor Emma Wenzinger, Copy Chief Tara Subramaniam, Social Media Editor Mike Radice, Blog Editor Jarrett Ross, Multimedia Editor Aly Pachter, Development Editor Lisa Burgoa, Public Editor

Yasmine Salam Alfredo Carrillo Hannah Urtz Madeline Charbonneau Dan Baldwin Dan Crosson Kathryn Baker Mac Dressman Noah Hawke Will Leo Yasmeen El-Hasan Kate Rose Elinor Walker Anna Kovacevich Karla Leyja Ella Wan Saavan Chintalacheruvu Grace Chung Mina Lee Catriona Kendall Juliette Leader Joshua Levy Catherine Schluth Laura Bell

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Editorial Board

Maya Gandhi, Chair Habon Ali, Alan Chen, Michael Fiedorowicz, Elsa Givan, Joseph Gomez, Josh Molder

Blake Takes The Cake — People magazine named country music star Blake Shelton this year’s Sexiest Man Alive, succeeding Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

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Face Off — A new study shows that sheep can be trained to recognize faces. The sheep chose the familiar faces of celebrities like former President Barack Obama, Emma Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal over strangers’ 79 percent of the time.

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EDITORIAL

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Founded January 14, 1920

Spills in the Black Hills — The Keystone pipeline leaked 210,000 gallons of oil on Thursday morning in Marshall County, S.D. This spill comes amid ongoing deliberation over whether to grant a permit for the sister Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Elinor Walker

HOYA HISTORY: Nov. 18, 1983

GU Welcomes Sen. Glenn to Campus Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) continued to try to widen the gap between himself and fellow presidential candidate, former Vice President Walter Mondale in a speech given last Wednesday in Gaston Hall.

“Some of the president’s most vocal critics in my own party aren’t offering anything better,” Glenn said. He called these “doeverything” proposals, which would not help to bring down the federal deficit. “Mr. Mondale’s pledge to match other nations’ export subsidies dollar for dollar would only risk an international trade war — but could cost the Treasury an additional $50 billion,” Glenn said.

In his more recent speeches, Glenn has tried feverishly to distinguish himself from Mondale and President Ronald Reagan.

He has attacked both men for their respective policies with some of the strongest rhetoric that has been heard on the campaign trail. Glenn has also been the recipient of some heated words from the Mondale camp in recent speeches.

In his speech in Gaston, Glenn gave a shopping list of Mondale’s proposals, which he estimates would cost $89 billion in the short run and $203 billion in the long run. “The former vice president promises all this — and more,” Glenn said.

“He also promises to cut President Reagan’s record budget deficits — and to ‘cut them fast.’

But that’s another promise that he just can’t keep.”

“The American people know that a candidate who promises everything to everybody can’t

Todd Robinson Hoya Managing Editor

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be serious about controlling the federal deficit,” said the senator, who struck several deliberately hard notes in his speech.

Glenn was making a pointed reference to the close ties that Mondale has with many of the major special interest groups across the country.

In the question-and-answer period, the senator acknowledged his approval of pay raises for teachers to upgrade the education system and outlined a five-point plan to stop the proliferation and growth of nuclear weapons. Glenn stressed that any nuclear freeze had to be mutually verifiable and include the other European powers and China.

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OPINION

friday, november 17, 2017

THE HOYA

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VIEWPOINT • SCOTT

From the Dean’s Desk

Sarah Shohet

Appreciating Holiday Complexities

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hanksgiving: What now represents my favorite holiday — a four-day weekend with my family and a time to cook and consume food I love with people I love — has not always been so rosy.

Like many holidays, Thanksgiving is complicated, full of warmth for some and anxiety for others.

I think back to my college years and recall a slew of diverse and somewhat contradictory emotions about Thanksgiving.

I reflect on my freshman year of college, way back in the late ’80s.

As transitions to college go, mine was fairly easy. Despite general happiness in my new world, I was itching to go home for my first college Thanksgiving holiday. I went to school close to my hometown, so unlike many, getting home for the holiday was easy.

I had seen my parents a few times since my departure. Because I went to school close to home, they had visited campus a few times to take me out to dinner and attend a football game. So while I was looking forward to spending time with them, I was most excited to see my beloved high school friends.

Because I went to college eons before social media existed and nearly a decade before anyone had a cell phone, students knew far less then about how their friends were faring at college than they do now.

I communicated with old friends through phone calls on landlines. However, long-distance phone calls were expensive, so it was more difficult to stay in touch then compared to now. Hence, Thanksgiving was a time of temperature-reading — gauging how our adjustment stacked up next to our former high school classmates.

This phenomenon unsettled me during my first college Thanksgiving. Then, after returning to campus, I experienced a stronger feeling of longing for my high school posse than I had previously.

When I left for break, I considered myself a happy, well-adjusted new college student. When I returned to school less than a week later, I missed my high school friends intensely. Spending time with friends who knew me so well and whom I had known for so long caused me to feel unsettled when I returned to campus, in a way that I

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hadn’t just a short week earlier.

And then there was my family.

Logically, my parents — who were fairly lenient and trusted my judgment — understood they had no idea what time I returned to my dorm on Saturday nights. So why did they feel that it was appropriate to set a curfew for the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend? And why did I feel like, even if they hadn’t, it would be inappropriate for me to stay out until the wee hours of the morning while at home?

Life changes swiftly for college students. Rules that made sense just three months ago seem nonsensical and can disrupt the strongest of parent-child relationships.

Your own views on certain subjects may have changed dramatically since leaving home. As such, navigating conversations with parents, siblings and grandparents during Thanksgiving dinner may pose all sorts of new obstacles.

As challenging and sometimes difficult as these new tensions may be, they are normal — predictable and appropriate, even. Don’t be rattled if, despite great anticipation, returning home isn’t entirely easy.

We also shouldn’t forget those Georgetown students who will not return home for Thanksgiving. Many live far from home — perhaps thousands of miles away, even in another country — and travelling this much for less than a week at home simply isn’t viable.

For many, the break may loom long and lonely. Those who did not grow up in the United States may not care about the holiday of Thanksgiving and find it difficult to immerse themselves in an environment in which normal life grinds to a halt to honor this centuries-old American tradition.

As with so many elements of your college years, there will be highs and lows associated with Thanksgiving. Embrace what comes your way. Get some extra sleep, catch up on a little work and focus on at least one thing in your life for which you are grateful. After all, it is Thanksgiving.

Sarah Shohet is an assistant dean of academic affairs in the School of Nursing and Health Studies.

This is the final installment of from the dean’s desk.

I ultimately was able to pay off the debt for a better future for myself, but many people are not in that position.

Often, people lose out on jobs because of poor credit, usually for reasons that are out of their control.

Equalize Our Employment Process

I

almost missed out on my dream job because of $400 in medical debt. After receiving a job offer, I agreed to undergo a credit check as part of a routine background investigation.

My credit report showed two debts from visits to urgent care centers. When my mom lost her job, I was unable to afford health insurance for two and a half years — pushing me into medical debt.

I never imagined that my debts would affect my job prospects. But the hiring manager told me I had to show that the debts had been paid or removed from my credit report before moving forward with my approval.

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act permits employers to make employment decisions based on the credit history of job applicants.

Under the 1970 law, employers must first obtain written permission from job applicants or current employees to conduct a credit check. Employers must notify job applicants or current employees if they take “adverse action” against them based on their credit report.

Although employers cannot obtain employees’ credit scores, they can access the details of their credit reports, including the balances and payments on student loans borrowed, home mortgages taken out, credit cards opened and bankruptcies filed.

As I considered future employ-

ment opportunities, I was put in a difficult position: Should I pay off my medical debt and risk being unable to pay my current bills, or should I let the job opportunities go and risk being unemployed?

I ultimately was able to pay off the debt for a better future for myself, but many people are not in that position. Often, people lose out on jobs because of poor credit, usually for reasons that are out of their control.

A 2013 survey by Demos, a public policy organization that combats inequality, showed that 10 percent of respondents who were unemployed had been informed that they would not be hired because of some facet of their credit history. The same survey indicated that one out of every seven job applicants with “blemished credit histories” had been told they were not hired because of their credit history.

Over the past decade, employers have increasingly used credit checks to assess job applicants’ character, judgment, reliability and even their likelihood to commit theft or fraud. According to a 2012 report by the Society for Human Resource Management — a professional society for human resources — 47 percent of employers check candidates’ credit histories.

Employers may think: If job candidates cannot be trusted to pay their personal debts, how can they

be trusted to do their jobs?

Yet poor credit is more likely to be the result of uncontrollable factors such as unemployment, lack of health insurance and medical debt, rather than character flaws or bad judgment. A study from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that 52 percent of all delinquent accounts reported by collection agencies were from medical debt.

Moreover, problems of poor credit are more likely to affect already disadvantaged communities, such as people of color. Black and Latinx householders tend to have lower credit scores on average than white householders, largely due to predatory lending and credit discrimination against these communities. Demos has also noted that communities of color are disproportionately likely to have poor credit reports.

The good news is that legislation is in the works to emphasize employment equality. In September, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) reintroduced the Equal Employment for All Act of 2017, which would prohibit employers from using credit checks against prospective and current employees to make employment decisions.

“It makes no sense to make it harder for people to get jobs because of a system of credit reporting that has no correlation with

job performance,” Warren said when reintroducing the bill in the U.S. Senate.

Eleven states have already passed laws limiting credit checks in employment, an important step toward equalizing our employment system. A 2016 study at Harvard University found that laws prohibiting credit checks have had a positive effect on employment rates in communities with poor credit. Those with average credit scores below 620 — generally considered poor credit — saw an employment increase by roughly 3.7 to 7.5 percent.

Banning credit checks in employment is not the silver bullet to reducing unemployment by any means. Expanding job training opportunities, investing in community programs on financial literacy and strengthening the social safety net are also critical.

But while it has not been proven that credit checks are an effective reflection of employment performance, it has been shown that banning them positively affects communities with poor credit. As such, we must push our legislators to support the Equal Employment for All Act, which would prohibit employers’ use of credit checks and introduce greater equality into the employment process.

Amanda Scott is a junior in the College.

VIEWPOINT • DUVAL

The Accidental feminist

Rectify Apathy Amid Crisis

Learning to Act From Hollywood

s the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar rages on, many in the international community have highlighted the inadequate response of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s state counsellor — a position akin to prime minister — and international symbol of human rights.

Yet, the apathy of the global community in actually addressing the crisis is the real failure.

If the international community continues to fail to intervene in the Rohingya genocide, its critiques of Suu Kyi ring especially hollow.

Discrimination against the Rohingya — a predominantly Muslim minority group in Myanmar — is not a new phenomenon. In the last several months, however, persecution has dramatically intensified, leading to a massive refugee crisis in which nearly half a million Rohingya have fled from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh, according to National Geographic.

The crisis did not emerge from thin air. From 1962 to 2015, Myanmar was led by a brutal military dictatorship. Turmoil roiled the country as the government warred with ethnic minorities. Protesters — including Buddhist monks — were killed in the street, and political dissidents were held in minute jail cells. Conflict and violence are hardly new to Myanmar.

What is new is Western attention. This August, following a mass exodus of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, Western news outlets jumped on the tragedy. Soon, articles about it were everywhere.

Even as media outlets have cried out about the crisis, the reactions by international governments has been nearly nonexistent. This international apathy shows the hypocrisy of criticisms of Suu Kyi’s relative silence. International outrage should be directed at the continuing crisis, rather

than at the actions of Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, widely regarded as the father of modern Myanmar.

She has long served as a symbol of democracy and human rights in Myanmar for years. In the ultimate of act of dedication to her country, she remained under house arrest for 15 years. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy for human rights in Myanmar.

International outrage should be directed at the continuing crisis, rather than at the actions of Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi now holds a place of power in Myanmar as the de facto leader: A clause in the constitution of Myanmar prevents those whose spouses or children are foreign citizens from becoming president; as such, she cannot ascend to the office.

Yet, Suu Kyi has been remarkably quiet on the violence inflicted upon the Rohingya. Praise has turned into criticism as many leaders and human rights activists call on Suu Kyi to condemn the violence and military actions.

The West has now soured on its darling, to such a degree that some have called for the revocation of her Nobel Prize.

Suu Kyi will not lose her Nobel Prize, as many have demanded — nor should she: Despite the errors of her current inaction, they do not invalidate the amazing work she has done for her country.

For years, Suu Kyi was the light that led and inspired her people to push for a democracy. Few

people in the world, including past Nobel Peace Prize winners, are perfect. Even Mother Teresa — who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 — had her flaws; she condemned all those who sought abortions. Though we critique Suu Kyi’s inaction, we should maintain respect for her past.

Moreover, it is important to note that Suu Kyi has virtually no power over the military in Myanmar. The military holds 25 percent of seats in the Burmese legislative assembly and retains strong control over the country. As the violence toward the Rohingya is largely perpetuated by the military, it is unclear whether Suu Kyi could make a significant difference.

While the idealist in me wishes my former idol would live up to her past as a symbol of human rights advocacy, the realist in me acknowledges why such action would be difficult.

Throughout this discussion, the international community’s involvement in the Rohingya crisis continues to be minimal.

After the Holocaust, the global community promised that “never again” would genocide be allowed. It failed in Rwanda, Armenia and Bosnia. Yet again, when addressing the Rohingya crisis, global leaders refuse to utter that word, which would require them to intervene under United Nations doctrine.

As Western leaders and citizens fret about Suu Kyi’s failings, thousands of Rohingya still toil in destitute refugee camps in Bangladesh. While the world calls on Suu Kyi to step up in the face of this ethnic cleansing, the true failing is that of the global community’s inaction.

Christina Duval is a sophomore in the College. She is the academic programming coordinator of No Lost Generation, a group dedicated to refugee advocacy.

I

can’t count the number of times in the past weeks I’ve been asked: “So, are you going to write your next column about all the celebrity cases of sexual assault?” Ask and you shall receive.

Everyone has had a unique response to the massive uptick in news about celebrity cases of sexual assault. I would argue that the statements tweeted and solidarity expressed are insufficient.

These responses are moving, but they have not stopped sexual assault in its tracks. I will always advocate for productive dialogue, but when it comes to sexual assault, more must be done; concerted efforts must be made.

Actions such as boycotting the productions of those accused of sexual assault can signal the severity of the problem in our society. Yet the steps taken by companies like Netflix are not enough. Individuals have to take up the initiative to create spaces where survivors can feel safe sharing their stories to combat future assaults.

Many in Hollywood have responded to the deluge of sexual misconduct allegations. Several power players from George Clooney to Meryl Streep released statements pertaining to their relationships with Harvey Weinstein.

Director Ridley Scott moved to refilm Oscar-bait “All the Money in the World” without Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault in the last several weeks. Netflix also announced it would fire him from its Emmy award-winning series “House of Cards.”

The streaming service has also cut ties with comedian Louis C.K., who has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women, as reported by The New York Times.

These public moves are steps in the direction of creating a survivorpositive environment, but they are just that: steps.

We have long known that sexual assault pervades our society, hurting women but men as well,

with particularly high frequency among LGBTQ individuals and people of color.

On a personal level, most people I have talked to are unsurprised by the constant revelations of sexual harassment and assault. Perhaps these responses were colored by the fact that most of my friends and family engage in feminist communities; for years, we have debated the merits of boycotting work

by Johnny Depp, who has been accused of both physical abuse and sexual violence, and that of Bill Cosby, who has been accused of sexual assaulting more than 50 women and has faced both criminal and civil ramifications.

Molly Cooke

These public moves are steps in the direction of creating a survivorpositive environment, but they are just that: steps.

Art can be separated from its artist to some degree, and the ideas handled in a program like “House of Cards” are no less intriguing because Spacey is in the show.

There is an argument to be made for not consuming the show so that he cannot profit from it.

Still, many other innocent people worked hard to make that product, too — it does not make sense to punish Spacey’s colleagues unless they knew about his crimes and turned a blind eye, as was the case of Penn State football coach Joe Pa-

terno with the abuses committed

by Jerry Sandusky.

The activism of boycotting, then, is best done on a case-by-case basis with scrutiny of the actions of others involved in producing the piece.

A practical solution to our society’s problem with sexual assault is more multi-faceted than carefully choosing which movies and TV shows to watch. We must ultimately foster an environment in which it is wholly unacceptable and practically impossible to commit sexual assault in the first place.

Before we can do that, we must create a space for survivors to speak out and be believed so that perpetrators learn there are consequences. These efforts manifest in a variety of ways: calling out those in power even when it’s scary, advocating for policy changes and supporting the survivors in our lives because we understand them as people better than any administrative advocates could.

I admire that Hollywood is taking action. While celebrity involvement with sexual assault is no surprise, it undeniably affects our collective psyche. The general public often looks to celebrities as role models; when we reject unsuitable behavior in them, our society sees that behavior as unsuitable for all.

However, as we face an increasingly critical moment in our response to sexual assault, I find it unsettling that our best first responder so far has been a company that profits from students like myself binge-watching bad TV shows.

While it is laudable that corporations like Netflix are addressing this epidemic of sexual assault, individuals should also be mobilizing. We need to do more than considerately selecting what entertainment to patronize while we are putting off our homework.

Actively fighting injustice is always time well-spent.

Molly Cooke is a junior in the College. The Accidental Feminist appears online every other Tuesday.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE Student-run startup Fiber Filter has created a fiber-catching laundry bag prototype.

Story on A9.

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IN FOCUS ANTI-WAR PROTEST

“

Pro-life Democrats’ voice is so important within the party, talking not only about abortion but whole-life issues.”

Democrats for Life of America Executive Director Kristen Day on anti-abortion dialogue Story on A9.

from our blog

THANKSGIVING TUNES Dreading that long journey back home for Thanksgiving break? Catch up on some good music with the latest 4E-approved tunes.

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Members of the Catholic Worker Movement gathered in Red Square on Thursday to protest Georgetown University’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador.

blog.thehoya.com

Students Meet Pope at Vatican Security Conference ERIN DOHERTY

Special to The Hoya

Pope Francis welcomed seven Georgetown students and four faculty members to Vatican City last weekend for an international conference on nuclear disarmament.

The conference, hosted by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, took place Nov. 10 and 11. Over the two days, the Georgetown delegation heard from 11 Nobel Peace Laureates, representatives from the United Nations and NATO, diplomats and ecclesiastical officials on their approaches to reaching a world free of nuclear weapons.

Fr. Drew Christiansen, S.J., a professor of ethics and global human development and a senior research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, led

the Georgetown delegation.

Christiansen, who served as one of the chief advisers to the Vatican’s work at the United Nations. spoke at the conference on the urgent long-term need to rid the globe of nuclear arms.

“Nuclear weapons must be treated as a wholly different class of weapons,” Christiansen said at the conference. “We should cease to imagine them as tools we can manage but rather as a curse we must banish.”

Representatives from Israel, Jordan and Japan also spoke on the negative impacts of nuclear weapons worldwide.

Masako Wada, a survivor of the Nagasaki nuclear attack, gave a personal testimony.

The Catholic Church opposes the use and possession of nuclear weapons and has advocated for full abolishment of nuclear weapons. In April

2015, Pope Francis began to push for active disarmament of nuclear weapons, hosting international conferences to discuss methods of global nuclear disarmament.

Pope Francis spoke on the first day of the conference, noting that the threat, use and possession of nuclear weapons is reprehensible.

“Weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, create nothing but a false sense of security,” Pope Francis said. “They cannot constitute the basis for peaceful coexistence between members of the human family, which must rather be inspired by an ethics of solidarity.”

Nuclear experts noted the need for students around the world to get involved in the commitment to eliminating nuclear arms. Student delegations from Catholic University and Notre Dame Univer-

sity were also in attendance, an outgrowth of the organizers’ effort to involve young people in the initiative.

Daniel Rosenberg (SFS ’18), who attended the conference, noticed the positive feedback from the speakers on the attendance of the students at the conference.

“Everyone was super excited that we were there just because one of the things that they’ve really been focusing on is involving the youth,” Rosenberg said.

Students from the Georgetown delegation had the opportunity to engage in one-onone conversations with some of the speakers. Hunter Estes (SFS ’19) spoke briefly with Pope Francis.

“The opportunity seems surreal, while particularly interested in the issue, being Catholic myself and having the opportunity to actually meet the

Pope and talk to him for a few minutes was easily one of the best moments of my life,” Estes said.

Many of the students in attendance, who were invited to go on the trip because of their academic interests in international security, were inspired to hear the leaders in their fields speak on pressing international security issues.

“My interest in terms of academic and security stuff at Georgetown and what I’m studying is very much motivated by my faith, and my hope to help people around the world,” Estes said. “To see that so tangibly being carried out by the leaders of my church feels like a dream, it still does.”

Ricardo Mondolfi (SFS ’19) said he appreciated hearing from leaders with different opinions about approaches to nuclear disarmament.

“It was an impactful academic experience, it provided me the opportunity to listen to a different perspective on nuclear weapons that I had gotten here,” Mondolfi said. “I got a much deeper understanding of what the Church’s position is, which is important [to me] both as a person and as a Catholic.”

For the Georgetown students who attended the conference, the experience of hearing distinguished lecturers speak on nuclear disarmament may influence their remaining time on the Hilltop and beyond graduation into their professional lives.

“So often as students, we spend four years working on a set of topics, but at times we don’t really see how it plays out in real life on the world stage,” Estes said. “Especially as a [School of Foreign Service] student, this was the nerdiest opportunity available and was just like an absolute dream.”

COURTESY DAVID PALMIERI

Daniel Rosenberg (SFS ’18), left, and David Palmieri (NHS ’18) were among seven Georgetown University students and four faculty members who met Pope Francis and Ghanian Cardinal Peter Turkson, center, on Nov. 10 and 11 in Vatican City for an international conference on nuclear disarmament. Students were selected based on their academic interests in international security.

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ProudToBeGSP Campaign Tax Bill Could Negatively Empowers Story-Sharing Affect Graduate Students Sarah Mendelsohn

Kara tippins

Hoya Staff Writer

Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown Scholarship Program held its annual ProudToBeGSP promotional campaign to highlight its support for first-generation and low-income students.

The ProudToBeGSP week, runs from Nov. 13 through Nov. 17, and started as an initiative to spread awareness about low-income and first-generation students at Georgetown University. GSP provides more than 650 undergraduate students with mentorship, advising and financial assistance. Over 70 percent of GSP current students are among the first in their family to attend college.

Originally called GSProud, the week launched under its new name this year to focus more on student stories, according to GSP Assistant Director of Marketing and Events Mariana Gonzalez (MSB ’15).

“They wanted to focus more on the stories of students and, in past years, a lot of people had shared stories about how impactful the program was or how the staff was, which was great,” Gonzalez said.

“But we like to say a lot of our secret sauce of GSP lies in students and their own stories, so that’s where the focus of ProudToBeGSP has come from this year.”

The ProudToBeGSP week, consisted of programs including a social media campaign, a family dinner for GSP students and a community art share that helps GSP students share their experiences and become more comfortable with their identity.

GSP Director Missy Foy (COL ’03) said the ProudToBeGSP week makes the GSP community and its contributions to Georgetown more visible.

“This campaign is a powerful statement about our program and our students, and hopefully about Georgetown as a whole: demonstrating that these students belong and are valued and integral members of our campus; they enrich it and make it a better place,” Foy wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Since its inception in 2004, GSP has served over 1,400 students.

Originally created to raise money to offset student loans and comprised of 50 students, GSP has grown into an essential support network for many first-generation students on campus.

GSP member Emilio Joubert

The Republican tax bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday could have a strong negative effect on Georgetown graduate students receiving financial aid.

The bill, proposed by House Republicans on Nov. 2, is aimed at reshaping the tax code, including reducing the number of income tax brackets from seven to four, lowering the corporate tax rate and repealing the estate tax by 2024. The bill passed in the House by a 227-205 vote.

This bill raises financial concerns for graduate students relying on federal benefits to finance their education.

According to Politico, the plan would remove nearly $65 billion in tax benefits, many of which finance programs that alleviate student loans and help students trying to finance their university education. The proposed bill would cut tax breaks that employers receive for programs that aid graduate students with their education. Additionally, the bill would remove the tax break colleges receive for giving tuition discounts to their employees.

According to Georgetown’s Office of Student Financial Services’ website, a first-year graduate degree can cost anywhere from roughly $64,000 to upwards of $113,000 per year.

Without significant financial aid, the cost of a graduate education at Georgetown can impose a heavy financial burden on many students. While the proposed tax bill would not completely remove

LUC Nikiema FOR The Hoya

The ProudToBeGSP campaign runs Nov. 13 to 17 and highlights stories of the more than 650 students in the Georgetown Scholarship Program.

(COL ’19) said the ProudToBeGSP campaign helps break socio-economic barriers on campus.

“People get to see that it’s not just legacy students or just third legacy students or super rich students who go to Georgetown,” Joubert said. “People are seeing that there’s another dimension to what a Georgetown student is, and I feel like ProudToBeGSP really promotes that fact.”

GSP held a Social Media Day of Action Wednesday, where GSP students shared their stories and why they are proud to be GSP students on social media platforms with the hashtag #ProudToBeGSP. The campaign also encouraged students outside of GSP to share why they are proud that GSP exists on campus according to Emily Kaye (COL ’18), GSP’s student board chair.

Kaye said the Social Media Day of Action helps facilitate dialogue about diversity on campus.

“It’s a space for students to think about and reflect why diversity is valuable to the entire campus and how they’ve benefitted from students’ feeling empowered to talk about themselves within the classroom,” Kaye said.

The social media campaign also contributes to a shift in how scholarship and first-generation students are perceived, according to Foy. “It’s really important that students’ experiences are being told in their own voices,” Foy wrote.

“That’s like culture shifting. So, it’s not a social media campaign, it’s a culture shift that we’re seeing.”

The ProudToBeGSP Art Share, which was open to the whole Georgetown community, included an open mic and opportunities for GSP members to share their experiences. This event provided a creative outlet for the Georgetown community to learn more about GSP students’ experiences, according to GSP Event Coordinator Kosi Ndukwe (COL ’19).

Roberto Cabrera (COL ’19), GSP Peer Mentor Program chair, said ProudToBeGSP week helps members embrace their identities as low-income or first-generation.

“ProudToBeGSP is for first-generation college students to have pride in their identities, sort of just take their name back, take the label and own it, and I think that’s extremely vital in creating solidarity among the Georgetown Scholarship Program” Cabrera said.

Tithi Patel (SFS ’18), GSP’s Outreach and Strategic Partnership chair, said ProudToBeGSP week provides a way for the Georgetown community to celebrate socioeconomic diversity on campus.

“Campaigns like this week allow people from all backgrounds, not just those from a lower income bracket, to explore what socio-economic status means and celebrate the stories that color our student body,” Patel said.

graduate financial aid, it may significantly impact it.

For Ph.D. candidate Jewel Lipps (GRD ’22), the passage of the bill could mark a turning point in her education.

“I view this as having an apocalyptic impact on graduate student costs,” Lipps wrote in an email to The Hoya.

According to The Washington Post, the House’s version of the tax reform bill would eliminate Code 117 of the current tax law, which ensures that tuition support for higher-level education is not counted in calculations for gross income taxes of students.

Without the deduction, Lipps said her tuition costs would inflate her taxes, and she would be forced to pay taxes that would amount to nearly one-third of her income.

“If what I described above became my reality, I would have to drop out immediately,” Lipps said.

Additionally, the bill could impact families without documentation.

University President John J. DeGioia has openly expressed the importance of students without documentation to the Georgetown community.

“As a university located in our nation’s capital and animated by our Catholic and Jesuit identity, we are called to support all of our students, including our undocumented students,” DeGioia wrote in a Facebook post Nov. 21, 2016.

According to Politico Pro, the bill’s passage could cause a new wave of difficulty as a clause in the bill would restrict the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This

credit offers up to $2,500 in higher-education expense coverage for undocumented students.

Rachel Pugh, senior director of strategic communications at Georgetown, said the university is concerned about the effects of the bill.

“Georgetown is committed to improving the affordability and accessibility of higher education and is opposed to provisions that undermine these values,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“We have worked with other institutions of higher education to communicate our concerns— particularly with provisions in the tax reform bill that would make education more expensive for graduate students and provide less tax relief to families in affording tuition—with Members of Congress.”

The Office of Financial Aid, the Office of the President and the Office of the Dean for Georgetown’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences declined to comment.

The bill is now set to proceed to the Senate, where it faces strong opposition from Democrats. After a process of adjustments, the Senate may ratify it, although the Senate’s own version of the bill includes major differences like a proposed repeal of the Affordable Healthcare Act’s mandate for individuals to purchase health insurance.

The Senate’s version faces an uncertain future. With at least two senators — Ron Johnson (RWis.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) saying they cannot support the current plan, Republicans may fail to secure a simple majority to pass the plan.

Walsh Art Gallery to Open Next Semester After Delay Deepika Jonnalagadda Special to The Hoya

The de la Cruz Gallery of Art is set to reopen January on the first floor of the Edmund A. Walsh Building after a semesterlong delay, according to Assistant Vice President of University Facilities Gina Bleck.

Difficulties in acquiring covers for a glass display case for suspended sculptures, among other unspecified pieces of equipment, delayed completion of the project, originally planned to open this fall, according to Bleck.

The gallery space is currently undergoing a final round of inspections by architects, engineers and university staff, according to Bleck.

Constructionofthe2,500-squarefoot exhibit space began last February, more than a year after Maria de la Cruz (CAS ’87) and Alberto de la Cruz (CAS ’89) donated an unspecified amount for the project in October 2015.

The gallery will feature travelling exhibitions and historical artwork from museums across Washington, D.C., as well as original pieces from Georgetown University undergraduate and graduate students. The space will complement the Lucile M. and Richard F.X. Spagnuolo Art Gallery, which opened in 1958 and is also located

on the first floor of Walsh.

Art History Department Chair Alfred Acres said in an interview with The Hoya Oct. 16, 2015 that the de la Cruz Gallery of Art would include paintings, sculptures, and installation pieces, while Spagnuolo would host photography and works on paper.

Al Miner, Georgetown’s director of galleries, said the gallery will host events both open to the public and exclusive to students, adding that the space will allow visitors to not only admire the artwork, but also engage with its creators.

“The gallery won’t be a passive viewing space,” Miner wrote in an email to The Hoya. “An annual public program of performance art, visiting artist presentations, and innovative multidisciplinary dialogues will ensure that the gallery is a space to have memorable experiences, ones that will appeal to and resonate with students well beyond the art department.”

In addition to the de la Cruz gallery, the Walsh lobby’s paint, lighting, benches, and restrooms are also being renovated.

The gallery replaced the Walsh Black Box Theatre, the main auditorium used by student theatre and dance groups.

The theater was closed last year to prepare for construction, leading to the creation of the Village

C Theatre in Village C West Residence Hall and additional space in Poulton Hall to compensate for the loss of space for the performing arts, according to Maya Roth, the director of Theater and Performance Studies.

The Village C Theatre, formerly occupied by a performing arts classroom and alumni lounge, now serves as a black box theatre with lighting and seating, despite no longer being able accommodate classes. The student theater groups displaced by the creation of the Village C Theatre now share the rehearsal space offered in Poulton Hall with Hoya Kids.

Roth highlighted that the music department remains the only group on campus lacking creative space at Georgetown.

“The biggest glaring gap that remains is a new or renovated space for Music: for concerts, for classes, for rehearsals, including ones specifically designed or renovated with choral music and, separately, instrumental music,” Roth wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Roth endorsed the repurposing of the Walsh Black Box Theatre, saying it would be an appropriate forum for the visual arts as it had been for theater before.

“WBB will make a great art gallery,” Roth wrote. “It had made a versatile, great space for many groups.”

Ali Enright for the Hoya

The de la Cruz Gallery of Art is set to reopen January in the Edmund A. Walsh Building after a delay in construction. The art gallery was funded by Maria de la Cruz (CAS ’87) and Alberto de la Cruz (CAS ’89).

RYAN BAE FOR THE HOYA

Educational reform advocate Cathy Davidson argued for a new model of teaching that recognizes privilege in elite institutions and teaches students to recognize disparities around them.

Education Reformist Calls For New Teaching Model

Chapel Puckett Special to The Hoya

All Georgetown students have benefited from rare good fortune that enables them to attend an elite institution, educational reform advocate, professor and author Cathy Davidson argued at a Riggs Library discussion Wednesday.

“Whether you were lucky enough to be born with affluent parents or parents that believed in education and fought for you, or a teacher who inspired you, every one of us had something in their life that was luckier than the majority of Americans,” Davidson said.

Davidson spoke about her new book, “The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World In Flux,” released Sept. 5.

Davidson said students at schools like Duke and Georgetown all share a privilege that is not enjoyed by the vast majority of college students.

As an English professor and vice provost of interdisciplinary studies at Duke for over 20 years combined, Davidson began taking up interest in public education. It was then that Davidson realized she had to make a career change. At first, Davidson said people often bristled when she spoke about problems in public education.

“I would get this look like, how dare you distinguished professor at Duke University talk about public education,”

Davidson said. “I don’t think it’s possible to know what everyday life is like at a really stressed university until you’ve actually been in totally involved.”

Davidson moved to the City University of New York in July 2014, where she is now a distinguished professor in the English Ph.D. program at the CUNY Graduate Center.

“We cannot have a modern, responsible society without modern, responsible public education,” Davidson said.

The goal of a modern and responsible education takes many forms, according to Davidson, and requires a radical change in the state of higher education. She spoke highly of introducing new technology, diversifying student bodies and establishing programs of interdisciplinary studies.

She uses techniques called inventory methods to give all students a voice — even in a class of thousands of students.

By having students write down a simple idea, for example, and sharing it with another classmate, everyone’s voice is heard in some way.

“Interactivity and becoming a responsible part of the world we are in is also about being able to hear from everybody,” Davidson said. “You want everyone to have a chance to hear and think for themselves and then think for themselves.

Many students never speak in a class unless specifically called upon, that, to me, is a horrible

failing.”

Davidson said a diverse student body contributes to a richer educational experience.

“The more diverse the people who are contributing, that’s every kind of diversity, the more likely to have a better solution for everybody at the end,” Davidson said.

Davidson also advocated for interdisciplinary studies programs, saying they offer a more comprehensive approach to learning that goes beyond the boundaries of discrete disciplines.

“The questions that these generation’s students are dealing with are so complicated and so vast and so intermingled that those old divisions between the humanities, the social sciences, the sciences, divisions between disciplines, the regulations between what a discipline is really don’t matter,” Davidson said.

Davidson said the traditional understanding of learning needs to be radically altered.

Students attend classes in pursuit of a degree without truly engaging in the learning, she said, which she believes should change.

“Learning really should be about what you don’t know and getting to that place of unknowing so you can build on that,” Davidson said. “It takes a lot of confidence to admit, ‘I don’t have a clue, and I still want to learn.’”

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Students Reflect on Definition of Diversity on the Hilltop Diversity, from A1 Scholarship Program, and that’s when I started to understand my identities more of being first-gen and low-income.”

Each year, GSP provides financial support and mentorship to at least 170 low-income or firstgeneration students. GSP creates a community of over 650 students to help them navigate the unfamiliarity of college.

“It’s important to recognize that part of this campus is really wealthy, but there’s another part that is not,” Kaye said. “We have to acknowledge those differences and learn from them, but not in a way that isolates other people.”

Fax Victor (COL ’19), another GSP student, said the organization has made tremendous strides in promoting diversity in ways beyond financial inclusion.

“GSP, they do a great job of reaching out to other communities, like the Black House, the Casa Latina, to ensure that other people are not forgotten, that it’s not just about being low-income, it’s about the overall picture of just being together despite whatever differences we may have, either racially, ethnically or just in thoughts,” Victor said.

Victor grew up in Boston surrounded by elite universities like Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — and detractors telling him he was not good enough to get into them.

“Things didn’t go my way when I was younger. My parents separated. I was stuck as a kid, in the sense that I had to grow up very fast,” Victor said. “Many people didn’t see the idea of me going to an elite college, period; it wasn’t heard of where I’m from. So the fact that I actually did it, and I still want to do bigger and better things, had me feeling like an underdog.”

The Road Less Travelled Thanklessly compassionate.

Thrilling. Challenging but rewarding. Meant to be.

While each student has different experiences both before and during college, Georgetown brings them all together.

Amanda Scott (COL ’19) never went to high school. But Scott’s nontraditional education did not prevent her from pursuing her dreams: Having been homeschooled, she got her General Educational Development diploma at age 20 and attended Coastal Alabama Community College in Bay Minette, Ala., for two years before transferring to Georgetown.

“College was not a standard or expectation for me growing up,” Scott said. “I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I came to Georgetown, because I didn’t come from a traditional background like a lot of my peers did. But I’ve really found that my work experience and background has helped me, helped my worldview.”

Like Kaye and Scott, GSP student

Deshaun Rice (COL ’20) followed an unlikely path to Georgetown.

After his junior year in high school left him in trouble at school and with the law, he had a change of heart that may have meant the difference between life and death.

“Eleventh grade I almost failed. I think I ended my junior year with, like, a 1.2 [GPA]. I actually was in a gang at that point and had been to juvenile. That summer I decided that if I don’t get anything changed, I’m either going to end up dead like my friend or behind bars. That wasn’t the life for me,” Rice said.

But by his senior year, Rice raised his GPA to a 3.7 and earned a full scholarship to Georgetown.

Despite the GSP aid, the transition to college was difficult for Rice.

“I was behind when I got here, in terms of books people had read or even just how to take notes in class. I was almost dismissed from Georgetown because I had failed two classes spring semester of freshman year,” Rice said. “In the fall, when I came back to Georgetown, I was working three jobs because I was preparing to have a son. I really didn’t have any money when I came, so the first couple of weeks I didn’t have any food.”

The combination of financial and academic stress reached a tipping point after Rice’s first year at Georgetown, leading him to take a yearlong medical leave of absence.

“All of that just hit me. I didn’t know what was going on. I

thought it was normal to feel like this,” Rice said. “I got depressed. I actually tried to attempt suicide. I failed and ended up being admitted to the Georgetown psychiatric unit.”

After a year away from the university, Rice feels more prepared to deal with the differences between his life back home and college life.

“I feel like that time away from Georgetown helped me grow and mature and see that self-care and mental health is an important thing, especially as a college student at a top-tier, elite university where just the pressure of being here and the expectations people have of you can be stressful,” Rice said.

Room to Improve First-generation college students like Rice face distinct challenges. In particular, many struggle to navigate differences with their peers from more traditional backgrounds.

Scott, who identifies as openly bisexual in addition to being low-income and first-generation, said she feels that Georgetown supports certain aspects of diversity more than others.

“It’s more diverse than I had anticipated, in the sense that we do have an LGBTQ center.

But sometimes, I am surprised at the lack of diversity,” Scott said. “Although on the surface there may be programs for LG-

BTQ students, for immigrant students and people of color, I think it’s really lacking in socioeconomic diversity.”

Justus Pugh (MSB ’20), who said he specifically selected Georgetown because he felt its global mindset would embrace diversity, was surprised to find the diversity of the campus fell short of his expectations.

“I went to a very diverse high school. I was constantly surrounded by and engaged in talks about different cultures and religions and different ways of life, just learning how different everybody is,” Pugh said. “After being constantly surrounded by that, then coming to Georgetown, it wasn’t as immersive.”

Nevertheless, Sayako Quinlan (SFS ’18), who works for the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, believes the university has made progress in terms of including and providing support for groups with diverse identities through institutions like the CMEA. “Throughout my first year, I noticed that for me, the most salient topic in diversity was race.

However, as a half-Japanese, half-white person, that often meant racial advocacy for people more marginalized, more underrepresented or more oppressed,” Quinlan said. “The best way I could describe diversity at Georgetown for me has been a work in progress. The work the

CMEA does is really helping to make it a place for all people.”

Now an outreach and strategic partnership chair on GSP’s student board, Victor is currently spearheading efforts to increase the diversity of Georgetown’s applicant pool. In high school, Victor attended the Crimson Summer Academy at Harvard, which offers 30 students across the Boston and Cambridge public school system the opportunity to take classes and be immersed in the culture of a college campus. He is now working with the admissions office to create a partnership between the CSA and GSP. “This would one, contribute to the diversity of Georgetown, but also the thought that these students needed to know what Georgetown has to offer, because I feel like other schools don’t offer anything close to Georgetown,” Victor said.

Despite remaining challenges, Kaye said she commends the efforts by the university and GSP to continuously improve when it comes to diversity on campus.

“The administrators are trying so hard to make this place what they know it should be. Especially compared to other universities, they are doing a good job,” Kaye said. “It’s helpful and productive to be critical of the university, but only in the context of what other universities are doing. I want to continue to hold them to a high standard.”

Mental Health Policy Coalition Prepares Monday Petition Drop Mental Health, from A1 costs hinder a student’s ability to seek out care,” Chick wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The costs of high deductibles and additive copays prove to be obstacles for students who are seeking care.”

The average cost of therapy in Washington, D.C., ranges from $150 to $225 per hour, according to Chick. Under Georgetown’s student health insurance plan, the average deductible fee for medical services is $250 and the average copay is $25.

Chick said GUSA hopes to expand subsidized off-campus care options to cover more students if the initial pilot program is a success.

“The purpose of the pilot program is to collect data on the financial contributions required to subsist the subsidized off-campus therapy on 40 students,” Chick wrote.

Chick said the next steps for the development of the program after receiving funding from the President’s office and collecting the data include setting up an alumni fund and receiving private donations.

College counseling centers nationwide have reported high demand for mental health services this year, according to Pugh.

“Counseling directors are reporting three-to-four week waits and in some cases even two-tothree month waits despite ramp-

ing up staffing and finding new and creative ways to deliver services,” Pugh wrote.

According to Pugh, senior university leaders — including Assistant Vice President for Student Health Vince WinklerPrins and CAPS Director Phil Meilman — have met with GUSA mental health advocates to discuss their concerns.

“Georgetown remains committed to working with students on a range of initiatives to improve health services on campus and will be forming a student health advisory board in January to seek continued input from students,” Pugh wrote.

The university has started taking steps in recent semesters to provide platforms for students to air health-related concerns. Administrators initially planned to establish a student health advisory board this semester, a plan that was announced in February but has not yet come to fruition. The university now hopes to establish the board by the spring, WinklerPrins said at a graduate student health care roundtable Nov. 10.

Aaron Bennett (COL ’19), press secretary for the GUSA executive, said GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) support actions taken to improve off-campus mental health availability for students.

“The Mack-Andino administration has always included mental health of the student body as a top

priority for GUSA advocacy,” Bennett wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“This proposal, which increases access to adequate care for a number of students who are most in need, is a step in the right direction to make sure everyone in our community is healthy and able to thrive here.”

In the past, GUSA has worked with the Mental Health Advisory Board, a joint student and faculty task force formed in fall 2015 by Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson to explore and address policy for mental health issues on campus, and university offices like Health Education Services and CAPS to improve mental health care accessibility and medical leave policies.

According to GUSA’s website, they plan to advocate for greater mental health programming in New Student Orientation and Blue and Gray campus tours.

Chick said GUSA’s proposal aims to equalize access to mental health services to further Georgetown’s Jesuit values.

“Currently, unlimited systems such as Yates and Campus Ministry exist for students to care for their bodies and souls, respectively,” Chick wrote.

“This program ensures that everyone can have access to mental health services, especially the specific population that has a high need for service.”

FILE PHOTO: ALI ENRIGHT FOR THE HOYA

GUSA mental health advocates led by Kenna Chick (SFS ’20) plan to present a petition to the president’s office requesting funding for a pilot off-campus mental health care program.

STEPHANIE YUAN/THE HOYA

Midway through their executive term, GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) reflect on their policy successes and shortcomings, while looking ahead.

GUSA Executive Weighs Success, Shortcomings Midterms, from A1 The Hoya.

Mack and Andino stood by the initiative, though Mack acknowledged that the project could have been more successful with more outside input.

“The lesson I learned from it is that engagement is key,” Mack said. “When students feel left out of the loop, they aren’t as good and aren’t as well-received. I don’t regret it, I just think we could’ve done a better job.”

A second major affordability effort by Mack and Andino is plans to establish a program through the Cawley Career Education Center that would give students stipends for working unpaid internships.

The executive has secured $15,000 in funding for a 10-person pilot program by spring or fall 2018, according to Aaron Bennett (COL ’19), the press secretary for the GUSA executive.

Mack cited the GUSA executive’s involvement in the expansion of Saturday GUTS bus service to Dupont Circle and the Trader Joe’s grocery store in Foggy Bottom.

The change expanded free weekend transportation options from the main campus to popular locations by reallocating funding from a late-night bus service to Adams Morgan.

Discussing the prospect of securing funding and organization for a food pantry for students who stay on campus during holiday breaks when O’Donovan Hall is closed, Mack expressed restraint.

“It’s a project that transcends our administration,” Mack said.

“It’s an important topic.”

Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship has been a guiding theme for Mack, who has taken the topic up as a personal project.

Mack cited as one of his proudest accomplishments the growth of organizations centered on supporting student startups, such as the Yellow House, a townhouse located at 1239 37th St. NW that hosts training and mentorship programs sponsored by the university’s Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative. Mack similarly pointed to individual startups and student group Georgetown Ventures, which connects undergraduates entrepreneurs with funding and consulting services.

Mack acknowledged GUSA was not directly involved in Georgetown Ventures or the Yellow House’s creation. Planning for the house started before Mack and Andino took office: The application deadline for students seeking

to live there was March 15, three days before Mack and Andino were inaugurated.

“GUSA involvement in the Yellow House wasn’t direct. GUSA didn’t necessarily say, ‘Hey, we need the Yellow House,’” Mack said. “But GUSA’s role is just that the conversation of entrepreneurship is on the Provost’s mind so that when he sees a proposal for a Yellow House, they choose that over other uses of that space.”

Another entrepreneurship-related initiative, an entrepreneurship minor in the McDonough School of Business, will benefit from consistent activism, Mack said.

“It’s hard to say it’s going to be accomplished by the end of our term because these are the longterm projects,” Andino said.

Supporting Students, Activism Mack emphasized the role the executive plays in bringing the needs of students to the attention of university administrators.

“Jessica and I meet with administrators all the time, but we recognize that there are a lot of students at Georgetown who have never and will never meet with an administrator,” Mack said.

Over the summer, Mack and Andino joined efforts by student advocates, including members of the student group UndocuHoyas, to push for a full-time coordinator for undocumented students. The administration hired Arelis Palacios as full-time associate director for undocumented student services, who was previously serving in the role part time.

On the mental health front, Bennett pointed to the work led by Kenna Chick (SFS ’20), GUSA mental health policy coalition chair, in pushing for the university to subsidize a pilot program for offcampus mental health care, while Mack spoke approvingly of the expansion of mental health dialogue on campus.

Mack and Andino also indicated support for further sexual assault prevention policies at the academic and student activities, including a push to finalize a department of women and gender studies and bystander training for all new students.

Campus Planning and Housing Andino said petitioning directly to the university involved a learning curve, but that administrators are frequently receptive to the executive’s ideas.

“At first it’s always hard to navigate all the different names of administrators, and you realize how many offices exist at this campus.

But I feel like a lot of the times in

our initial meetings, administrators would be like, ‘We are here to help you,’” Andino said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said Mack and Andino are doing “very thoughtful work in their leadership of GUSA.” “I have really enjoyed working with Kamar and Jessica, and have great respect for their leadership, and their focus on listening to and representing student voices,” Olson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Mack highlighted the pair’s involvement in discussions on campus construction and planning, including working with Vice President of Planning and Facilities Management Robin Morey to ensure morning quiet hours by pushing back the daily start times for planned construction at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital.

Morey spoke favorably about his collaborations with Mack.

“He and his GUSA team have been great partners and have helped us advance our work in improving the Georgetown University community,” Morey wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The executive also successfully advocated for the repeal of a nowarning policy for noise violations in freshman dorms. Freshmen are now offered a single warning before they are written up for noise violations, a return to a policy discontinued in 2016. The policy provides freshmen “with a more forgiving policy as they transition into college life,” Bennett wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Ben Baldwin (SFS ’19), the speaker of the GUSA senate, said Mack and Andino have brought an untraditional vision of GUSA advocacy.

“In our interactions and work with the executive, we certainly think they have a brought a new perspective to GUSA that had not existed in recent administrations,” Baldwin wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I hope moving forward we will see greater cooperation between the executive and the Senate, and I know that our newer Senators look forward to working more closely with the policy coalition chairs.”

Reflecting on his term so far, Mack said he would have to take time to consider running for a second term.

“I need to call my mom about it. One thing I will say is I want to see someone in the role who has a background and who is doing it for the right reasons. If you are doing it as a joke, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Mack said. “That’s what I really care about, is making sure that GUSA is in good hands next year.”

News

friday, November 17, 2017

THE HOYA

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Ceremony Highlights Challenges Faced by Veteran Students Kara Tippins

Special to The Hoya

courtesy phil humnicky

The annual Veterans Day Ceremony took place Monday and featured former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who emphasized the need for greater inclusivity for veteran university students.

Nonmilitary students must create a more inclusive culture for veteran students, argued former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at a ceremony Monday commemorating Veterans Day outside White-Gravenor Hall.

Hagel, a veteran of the Vietnam War, honored veterans who rebuild their lives after service. “[They] return home not asking for favors or special recognition,” Hagel said.

“They do not wallow in selfpity. Rather, they rebuild their lives.”

Creating an inclusive environment will help veteran students acclimate to campus life, according to Hagel.

“I think the bottom line is the common responsibility that we all have is to serve others in some way,” Hagel said in an interview with The Hoya.

In its seventh year, the Veterans Day event began as a crowd-funded project initiated by the Georgetown University’s Student Veterans Association, according to GUSVA President Cristine Pederson (SFS ’18). This year’s ceremony was sponsored by the Office of the President.

The ceremony was opened with a rendition of the national anthem by the Georgetown Phantoms, a performance by the Hoya Battalion Color Guard and an opening prayer by Fr. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. Among the guests

were active members of the military, veterans and family members of service groups.

Georgetown’s campuses are home to about 950 students with connections to the military, including service members, veterans and military family members, according to Georgetown’s Veterans Office.

University President John J. DeGioia said he hopes current students appreciate the sacrifices made by veteran students.

“We recognize in our midst [there] are other young people that have sacrificed significantly, so that we could have the kind of experiences that we have here at Georgetown,” DeGioia said in an interview with The Hoya.

In commemoration of Military Awareness month, Georgetown plans to host a series of 13 events to recognize and foster a feeling of inclusion on campus.

The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action, which seeks to promote inclusivity on campus, hosted an event called “Hiring Veterans Debunking the Myths” with Veterans Office Director LeNaya Hezel, on Nov. 16. The Georgetown Military Appreciation Football Game is scheduled for Nov. 18 and is free for all veterans.

As a five-year veteran of the Marine Corps veteran, Pederson said balancing campus life with military experience “can almost feel like living a double life,” as veterans carry

the weight of past service and mourn lost friends while living the life of a university student.

Pederson said growing more accustomed to civilian life in a college community can be challenging.

“There’s a huge disconnect between staff and faculty and the military and civilian populations,” Pederson said.

The military presence on campus is often overlooked by most Georgetown students, said Lauren Fraiser (SFS ’21), a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

“A lot of people that I have talked to have no clue what ROTC is; they do not really know much about the military in general,” Fraiser said.

This feeling of detachment is not uncommon among veteran students, according to a study conducted by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs. According to the study, when veterans are placed in a college environment, they find it hard to relate to their younger peers due to a disparity in life experience.

Between 2003 and 2019 it is expected that approximately 4.3 million service members will have returned home as veterans, many seeking to attend college for the first time.

Pederson called on civilian students to encourage a sense of unity at Georgetown.

“If you learn of someone who is a veteran, accept them into the community,” Pederson said.

Bowser Addresses Citizens’ Rodent Cybersecurity Experts Urge Concerns in Dupont Rat Walk Response to Russian Interference Marina Pitofsky Hoya Staff Writer

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) led a demonstration in Dupont Circle to address the concerns of Washington, D.C. residents surrounding the city’s growing rodent and vermin population Monday.

The walk, which attracted about 100 participants, was one in a series of “results walks,” in which Bowser, local leaders and agency officials walk through District neighborhoods to listen to complaints and comments from area residents. Bowser said her administration is taking a proactive approach toward combating infestations across the city.

“Rats are an issue I take very seriously and my team is being innovative, proactive, and strategic in our approach,” Bowser wrote in a news release on Monday. “Like many cities across the country, Washington DC has seen an increase in the number of rodent reports over the past several years, but through better analytics, smart technology, and broader community outreach, we are meeting the challenge.”

According to the District’s 311 city services helpline, rodent sighting complaints saw a 65 percent increase during the 2016 fiscal year, with 3,200 complaints filed across the District. The helpline attributed the city’s growing rodent population to a number of factors, including warmer winters, during which fewer rats freeze to death, in addi-

tion to the District’s growing population, which generates more garbage that pests feed on.

Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) also attended the walk, encouraging District community members to work together to address the rodent population.

“Rats are an issue I take very seriously and my team is being innovative, proactive, and strategic in our approach.”

Muriel Bowser (D) Washington, D.C. Mayor

“I’m walking in Dupont Circle with Mayor Bowser to focus on DC’s rat problem. I encourage residents to call @311DCgov & @DOHDC when they see rats around their homes and neighborhood,” Evans said in a tweet Monday.

“We move toward a healthier DC when we work together to prevent the spread of the rat population.”

According to D.C.’s Department of Health, city residents can do their part to address the city’s rat problem by disposing of garbage in heavy metal or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids, storing pet food in secured containers and removing weeds and other debris from

yards where rats can hide.

The walk also brought together a growing number of rodentrelated services available to District residents. Bowser highlighted The Lab @ D.C.’s Rodent Abatement Predictive Analysis project, an initiative that will use 311 data to develop predictive models that recognize locations of rodent infestation to better inform exterminators.

Other initiatives include a $13,500 grant from the Department of Small and Local Business Development to help District businesses purchase commercial trash compacters to keep rodents out of city dumpsters. The DSLBD has identified 29 grantees to receive funding.

Additionally, the Department of Health has distributed 25 solar trash cans and 400 “smart litter bins” in all eight wards of the city. These solar powered bins compact trash and keep rodents out of garbage, while also helping D.C. businesses save electricity.

The rat walk was part of Bowser’s #BacktoBasicsDC initiative, which focuses on ensuring that District residents have access to city services and highlights the day-to-day work of city employees. This effort has included programming such as Form-aPalooza, an event in which city residents were able to seek help and provide feedback on filling out forms for local and federal assistance; the Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program and UequalsU, a program that confirms HIVpositive District residents take their medication on a daily basis.

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Samuel Kao

Special to The Hoya

The United States government must evaluate the role of social media networks in facilitating Russia’s ongoing cyberwarfare campaigns in European elections and Eastern European government affairs, two cybersecurity experts argued during an event Wednesday.

Speaking on a panel organized by the Alexander Hamilton Society, an international relations club, James Carafano (GRD ’85, GRD ’00), vice president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy think tank, and Samuel Visner (SFS ’76), director of the National Cybersecurity Federally Funded Research and Development Center, debated the merits of increased government action against Russian cyberwarfare.

Robert Lieber, a government and international affairs professor, moderated the panel.

Both panelists acknowledged the United States’ intelligence community’s assessment of active and coordinated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, but they cautioned against conflating correlation and causation regarding Russian cyberattacks and U.S. election results.

A Jan. 6 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, CIA and NSA concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a sophisticated and extended campaign to manipulate public opinion, attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, bolster support for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and undermine confidence in the American electoral process.

“We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the report reads. “When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign then focused on undermining her expected presidency.”

The interference campaign included manipulation of social media networks including Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, as well as disinformation outlets disguised as legitimate news outlets like the RT network in the United States.

Visner said cybersecurity measures must be improved to strengthen electoral processes.

“It’s time for us to improve the cybersecurity of the electoral system, and I’ll go further, and I don’t just mean the system that counts votes,” Visner said. “I do think that means the system that is being used to transmit information so that people are no longer simply bombarded with information without any sense of provenance or without any hope of attribution.”

However, Carafano said that any given solution to dealing with social networking information must respect civil liberties. “[A solution] has to not in-

Anna Kovacevich/The hoya

Cybersecurity experts James Carafano, left, Robert Lieber and Samuel Visner discussed the role of social media in Russia’s election interference. fringe on the basic liberty of American citizens, which means their free access to information and their freedom to be stupid,” Carafano said.

Carafano said the U.S. should first determine the consequences of the Russian cyberattacks before deciding to commit resources instead of responding with a kneejerk reaction because Russia was involved.

“Where I think there is an honest place to have debate is the efficacy of these activities,” Carafano said.

Visner said Russian interference was not directly connected to Trump’s victory.

“It’s dangerous to argue that coincidence is a causality,” Visner said. “The fact that the Russians attempted to affect the U.S. election and the fact that the election resulted in, gave us a result that many people didn’t expect, does not necessarily connect the two.”

The U.S. has a tendency to emphasize capabilities and exclude intentions, Visner said.

“We didn’t see this coming because we focused on capabilities,” Visner said. “We talk a lot about the resources without asking what the resources are for.”

Visner said the Russians aim to provoke the global community through their political strategy. “[The Russians,] as a declining power, are insurgents, and insurgents do not want to shake the international system. They want to shock the international system,” Visner said.

Carafano compared U.S. and Russian motives in conducting cyberwarfare. Unlike the U.S.,

which demands concrete objectives, the Russians consider cyberwarfare as a means of “creating opportunity, not creating effects or outcomes,” Carafano said.

Visner and Carafano also discussed Russia’s foreign policy objectives, including its desire to craft a sphere of influence in the Eastern Europe, a region formerly controlled by the Soviet Union in the 20th century.

The panelists placed cyberwarfare in the broader context of hybrid warfare a combination of physical, unconventional and symbolic attacks on a nation with the intent to undermine legitimacy, sovereignty and integrity.

Visner said hybrid warfare is a new technique, which employs cyberwarfare as a part of statecraft. Russia, Visner said, plans to reassert itself as a power in the “near abroad” region, which includes countries such as Ukraine, using this startegy.

Most recently, Ukraine continues to field military strikes and cyberattacks, which began in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea that house part of Russia’s naval fleet, and Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine that continues to witness heavy violence between the Ukrainian military and Russian armed militants led by Russian military officials.

Russian president Vladimir Putin aims to seize control of U.S. influence in Europe, Carafano said.

“He would like to see American power essentially retreat from Europe.”

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news

THE HOYA

friday, NOVEMBER 17, 2017

Suspected Kidnapper NPS to Ban Sports on Mall, Pleads Guilty to Charges Raise Rates for Facilities DEEPIKA JONNALAGADDA Special to The Hoya

The male suspect accused of kidnapping a Georgetown University student last January pled guilty to assault with intent to commit robbery Nov. 2, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, who agreed to drop federal kidnapping charges.

London-born Paolo Aldorasi was arrested in Seattle on Feb. 24 and later admitted to assaulting and attempting to rob a Georgetown student.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has scheduled Aldorasi’s sentencing hearing for Jan. 30, 2018.

Aldorasi drove up to an unidentified Georgetown male student walking on the 3400 block of O Street NW and asked him for directions to Dulles International Airport.

According to a Metropolitan Police Department news release Nov. 2, the student spoke little English and responded saying he did not know the location. Aldorasi then asked the student for money and forced him into his light gray sport utility vehicle.

Aldorasi drove the student to various nearby locations, making four unsuccessful attempts to withdraw money from ATMs and two unsuccessful purchases at retail stores using the student’s debit card, according to the news release. Following the last failed attempt in a retail store on the 4500 block of Wisconsin Avenue NW, the student was released unharmed, about two hours after his initial capture, three blocks from campus near Saxbys.

Later that afternoon, the victim reported the incident to MPD, which soon released video footage of the crime to the public in an effort to apprehend the suspect.

Though the kidnapping occurred three blocks from the front gates of campus, Georgetown University Police Department was not informed

by MPD as the crime did not occur on campus. GUPD did not learn of the kidnapping until the following morning after hearing about the incident from a university staff member.

A public safety alert identi-

fying the victim as a university student was sent out to the Georgetown community later that day.

Aldorasi was identified through surveillance video documenting the kidnapping and his rented vehicle. According to The Washington Post, federal authorities tracked Aldorasi, in part through his social media postings, to the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, where he was arrested Feb. 24 by the FBI’s Seattle field office and charged with one count of kidnapping. He has been held in custody since the arrest and was granted representation by an attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender.

The District of Columbia District Attorney’s office declined to comment as the trial is still pending.

Aldorasi submitted his guilty plea during a hearing at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Under the federal kidnapping charge, a felony offense, Aldorasi would have faced a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. With the lesser charges, he faces between two to 15 years of incarceration.

MaTTHEW LARSON Hoya Staff Writer

The National Park Service plans to ban sports and other recreational activities on the grounds of the Washington Monument and raise rates for those who want to use other facilities on the National Mall next year.

The field closures are intended to help maintain the newly installed turf on the monument grounds, according to the NPS. The six fields surrounding the Washington Monument have been closed since earlier this year for the installation of new turf, a project due for completion in 2018. The grounds would remain closed permanently if the proposed plan is approved.

The NPS also plans to raise fees for reservations and permits for those looking to hold games or events on the other fields of the National Mall and Rock Creek Park. Currently, rates to use some of the fields are under $10 per hour, but the NPS is considering raising the fees to over $70 for a two-hour block.

A public comment period on the changes to hear feedback on the measures being considered has yet to be scheduled as of press time NPS spokesman Mike Litterst wrote in an email to WTOP that the NPS had been considering restricting access to fields surrounding the Washington Monument since the closure to put in

the turf was approved. Litterst also noted that those seeking permits to use the fields would also now have to work with the NPS rather than with Washington, D.C.’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

“With the completion of the turf restoration of the National Mall we’ve been working to maximize our athletic field space in nonmemorial/monument areas of the park,” Litterst wrote.

Litterst added that the revenue the NPS would receive from the higher field usage fees is needed to keep the Mall in good repair. The current fees only cover permitfiling costs, but the NPS is planning to use extra money for a more expansive field upkeep program. “[We will change the fees] from the previous flat fees based solely on administrative costs of processing (in some cases as little as $7 per season) to an hourly rate that will provide revenue for upkeep and management of the fields,” Litterst wrote in an email to The Washington Post.

The proposal has not been met with great enthusiasm by those who use the fields.

Robert Kinsler, founder of D.C. Fray, a company that runs recreational sports leagues, has filed a petition on Change.org, which has over 6,000 supporters, seeking to prevent or modify these proposed changes. According to Kinsler, his peti-

tion has support from groups such as the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Social Sports Foundation.

In the petition, Kinsler wrote that restricting access to public land would go against the founding values of the National Mall. He also noted that it would affect the view of D.C. as a good place to live with a vibrant community.

“The total ban is antithetical to the purpose of the Mall,” Kinsler wrote.

“Through the inception of the National Mall dating back to the [Pierre] L’Enfant plan of 1791 and the redesign by the McMillan Commission of 1901, a main intention of the Mall is to serve area citizens and the city by providing open recreation space.”

The NPS has also received pushback from elected officials. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) tweeted her opposition to the proposal on Monday.

Holmes is also circulating a letter among her colleagues in the House of Representatives that urges the NPS to reconsider its proposal. As of Monday, the letter had received signatures from seven House members.

“Space for intramural sports is already at a premium in the District of Columbia and throughout the region,” the letter read. “Closing six fields at the Washington Monument will impact local parks and recreation departments.”

Democrats Sue Agency Over Trump Hotel SARAH MENDELSOHN Hoya Staff Writer

Richard schofield for the hoya

The suspect, arrested in Seattle on Feb. 24, now faces between two and 15 years of incarceration, instead of 20, as the prosecutors agreed to drop federal kidnapping charges as part of the plea agreement.

MBA Students Launch Sleep-Aiding Tea Startup Kevin hautigan Special to The Hoya

Coyotea, a sleep-aiding bottled tea company started by one student and two alumni from the McDonough School of Business MBA program, launched this month after over a year of planning.

Christian Hyland (GRD ’17), Matt Harb (GRD ’17) and Nick De Gregorio (GRD ’18) founded the startup. The founders claim their organic tea promotes a good night’s sleep, and it has a list of organic ingredients, including lemon balm, hops, valerian root, chamomile and peppermint.

After its first production run in June 2017, Hyland, Harb and De Gregorio launched the company earlier this month.

Hyland, who served in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan for five years, started developing Coyotea in 2016 while experimenting with herbal teas as a sleep aid after returning from his military tour and experiencing trouble sleeping.

The teas can now be found in select natural food stores in the Washington, D.C. area, and they can be ordered online and delivered anywhere in the continental United States.

After the co-founders started brewing in Harb’s kitchen in October 2016, Coyotea was featured on the online food blog Spoon University and MSN.com. The next spring, Hyland, Harb and De Gregorio received 1,200 preorders of Coyotea — before they had enough money to begin production.

The co-founders each put $6,000 of their own money

into the company, and they collected another $19,000 in funding from donors from the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative. The founders are now seeking $100,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to launch a larger-scale production line and go from producing about 10,000 bottles to 100,000 bottles per production run.

De Gregorio, who met Hyland through the MBA program, also served in Afghanistan and struggled with the transition back to civilian life.

“I was having trouble sleeping, so I was all about the idea,” De Gregorio said.

According to Hyland, Georgetown University helped the company grow by providing resources including mentorship that guided how the company presented itself in pitch competitions and later influenced their 30-second Kickstarter ad.

“Professors and entrepreneurs-in-residence made themselves available to spotcheck our assumptions in our financial forecasts, help create compelling investor pitches, and craft a scalable business model,” Harb wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Georgetown offered the entrepreneurs a way to move their idea forward, according to Hyland.

“Sleep tea is a great idea, but an idea is not a business,” Hyland said.

The company also embraces a social mission, by giving 10 percent of their profits to Friendship Place, a nonprofit combating veteran homelessness in the D.C. metro area, according to Hyland. Before

coming to Georgetown, Hyland spent almost a year working on the issue of veteran homelessness by connecting veterans in the District to resources to help them access housing.

The company is also working with The Headstrong Project, which aids veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, by donating Coyotea to veterans in need, De Gregorio said.

The three founders first joined forces while taking a course together in fall 2016 called “Lean Startup Principles.” When Hyland and De Gregorio presented their idea in class, Harb said he was interested in joining the venture because of Hyland’s story and his own issues with sleep.

“Christian and Nick presented their idea and I was instantly drawn to it because of Christian’s story behind creating the product and identifying with the problem he was addressing from my personal experiences suffering from sleepless nights,” Harb wrote in an email to The Hoya.

In the long term, the company hopes to build brand equity in the realm of sleep beverages, ramp up the distribution of products through retail and online selling and scale production to lower per unit costs, Harb said.

Coyotea stands apart in a crowded beverage market because of the founders’ personal connection to their social impact, according to De Gregorio.

“I think it’s important to note, we want to do this to kind of be the change we wish to see,” De Gregorio said.

Seventeen Democratic members of the House of Representatives sued the General Services Administration on Nov. 2 over the agency’s refusal to provide documents regarding Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The House members said they repeatedly requested documents, which the GSA is legally required to provide, regarding the financial history of the Trump Hotel, located in the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also requested records of payments the Trump Hotel received from foreign clients.

The GSA, which owns the Old Post Office Pavilion, signed a lease with the Trump Organization in June 2013 that allowed the company to transform the historic building into a luxury hotel. The hotel opened in September 2016 during the presidential campaign.

The lease prohibits any “elected official of the government of the United States” from profiting from the Trump Hotel. It also requires the Trump Organization to provide monthly statements about the finances and operations of the hotel.

The members are seeking to determine “whether the Office of the Presidency is being used for private gain,” ac-

cording to a committee press release.

In their complaint, the 17 plaintiffs said that President Donald Trump’s refusal to give up ownership of the hotel not only violates the terms of the lease but also presents a conflict of interest for the president.

“President Trump’s refusal to divest his ownership interest in a company that contracts with the federal government raises numerous issues requiring congressional oversight, including oversight of potential conflicts of interest, oversight of GSA’s interpretation of the contract requirements, and oversight of GSA’s ongoing management of the lease,” the committee wrote in its complaint.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (DMd.), the ranking Democrat in the House Oversight Committee, said that Republicans in Congress have failed to exercise proper oversight over the Trump administration.

Under the Seven Members Statute, federal agencies are required to submit information to the House Oversight Committee if at least seven of the committee members request the information. Cummings said the members sued after the GSA refused to obey the Seven Member Statute.

“Under the previous administration, this exact same agency—GSA—explicitly recognized our authority under this exact same statute—the Seven Member statute—and produced documents on this

exact same issue—the Trump Hotel. But all that stopped on Jan. 20,” Cummings wrote in a statement. “There is one thing, and one thing only, that has changed in this case—President Trump is now sitting in the Oval Office.”

The 17 Democrats said the reasoning behind the GSA’s noncompliance with the Seven Members Statute is unclear.

“Following the inauguration of President Trump, GSA’s practice of honoring Seven Member Rule requests changed, but the rationale for the change has been shifting and contradictory,” they wrote.

Pam Dixon, a spokesperson for the GSA, wrote in an email to The Hoya that the “GSA does not comment on pending litigation.”

The House Democrats are not alone in worrying about the relationship between the Trump Hotel and the office of the presidency.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an organization that uses legal means to demand governmental transparency, also filed a suit against the Trump Organization for accepting payments from foreign governments or officials in November 2016.

The attorneys general of D.C. and Maryland filed a lawsuit against the hotel over foreign payments to the Trump Hotel in June this year.

The lawsuit is set to be litigated in the U.S District Court for Washington, D.C.

anne stonecipher for The HOYA

The representatives alleged the GSA had refused to provide documents related to the financial history of the Trump International Hotel, located in the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue.

news

friday, November 17, 2017

THE HOYA

A9

H*yas for Choice Calls for Contraception Coverage katrina schmidt Hoya Staff Writer

Members of student group H*yas for Choice delivered an open letter to Georgetown University administrators Monday demanding the university maintain its coverage of contraception in student health insurance plans.

Two rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on Oct. 6 rolled back a mandate of the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, which required most employers to cover contraception in employer-provided health insurance plans. The actions expanded the list of organizations that can receive religious exemptions from the mandate to include nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies and institutions of higher education.

Georgetown has yet to announce whether it will continue covering access to contraception under university-provided student health insurance plans. The university did not provide contraceptive coverage until the Affordable Care Act mandate was enacted.

Thirteen members of H*yas for Choice delivered the letter to the Office of the President.

Annie Mason (COL ’18), copresident of H*yas for Choice, read the letter aloud to Joseph Ferrara, chief of staff of the Office of the President, before leaving copies for other administrators not present.

H*yas for Choice, a campus pro-abortion rights organization not officially recognized by the university, is calling on

Georgetown to maintain its contraception coverage.

The open letter, addressed to University President John J. DeGioia and six other administrators, asks the university to clarify the nature of its decision-making process regarding contraceptive coverage and to include students in that decision-making process.

A student health advisory board, intended to provide a platform for student input on student health issues such as contraceptive coverage, was originally set to launch this semester, but has yet to be established. Administrators now planning to establish the board this spring.

Michaela Lewis (COL ’18), copresident of H*yas for Choice, said she hopes Georgetown would continue its contraception policy required by the Affordable Care Act. “We are hoping that the university keeps the policy that it had to implement under the ACA,” Lewis said. “Because the university has implemented this policy when they had to, we know that it’s possible.”

Rachel Pugh, Georgetown senior director for strategic communications, said students will continue to have a platform to voice their concerns about health insurance.

“Senior leaders from Georgetown frequently meet with students on health insurance issues – with a session on health coverage with graduate students convened as recently as last week – and will continue to be accessible moving forward,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Mason said transparency is a crucial step the administra-

tion can take to acknowledge the complexity of the issue and commit to addressing it in a way that is “as humanizing and validating as possible.”

The contraceptive mandate, which required all employer health insurance plans to cover at least one form of birth control effective August 2012, exempted certain religious organizations with moral opposition to contraception. However, the exceptions were narrowed under the Affordable Care Act rule, excluding universities such as Georgetown with religious affiliations that provide health insurance for students.

The contraceptive mandate required insurance companies to directly cover contraception for individuals covered by religiously affiliated organizations with objections to contraception, a rule left unchanged under President Donald Trump’s administration’s rollback.

Pugh said Trump’s rules do not alter the system in which United Healthcare directly pays for contraception covered on the Premier Plan.

“As a religiously-affiliated organization, Georgetown receives an accommodation under which our insurer offers coverage at no cost to the University or plan participants,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are currently reviewing the new regulations and in the meantime our current accommodation remains in place.”

Since 2013, Georgetown’s student health insurance has covered contraception through United Healthcare.

This academic year, over 6,600 students are enrolled in

Alyssa Alfonso for the hoya

Thirteen H*yas for Choice members read the petition for maintaining contraception access in student health care plans despite the rollback of the Affordable Care Act to Joseph Ferrara on Monday. the Premier Plan, the highest enrollment in university history.

Georgetown is not the first Catholic university to face pressure over contraception coverage since the mandate rollback. The University of Notre Dame initially decided to stop covering birth control last month, then unexpectedly reversed its decision on Nov. 7 after student backlash.

Amelia Irvine (COL ’19), president of Love Saxa, a student group that promotes

traditional views of relationships and sexuality, said administrators should consider the university’s Catholic background when deciding whether to continue contraceptive coverage.

“They should definitely consider their Catholic identity and how that plays into their rights and responsibilities to their employees and their students,” Irvine said.

Irvine said Georgetown should consider ending contraceptive coverage because

of “Catholic sexual ethics.”

The Catholic Church officially opposes all forms of contraception.

Mason urged the administration to consider the needs of the community.

“Often we get sort of lost in legal rhetoric, and what’s Catholic enough, and what is the law, and maybe we could do this and what’s the cheapest,” Mason said. “We forget that these are actual experiences of people on this campus whom we see every day.”

Startup Addresses Microplastic Pollution Georgia Payne

Special to The Hoya

anna kovacevich/the hoya

Kristen Day, the executive director of Democrats for Life of America, argued that the Democratic Party should accept anti-abortion views in a Georgetown Right to Life discussion Nov. 9.

Anti-Abortion Advocate Rebukes Democratic Stance

Erin Doherty

Special to The Hoya

The Democratic Party’s national political agenda should not exclude anti-abortion dialogue, argued the executive director of Democrats for Life of America, an anti-abortion advocacy group, during a Georgetown University Right to Life discussion Nov. 9.

The event, titled “Pro-life Across the Aisle,” featured Kristen Day, DFLA’s executive director, speaking with around 15 students about her organization’s work to integrate the national anti-abortion movement with the mission of the Democratic Party.

The party’s 2016 platform, its latest, supports “safe and legal” abortion and endorses a plan to end a ban on federal funding for abortion, a stance that NARAL Pro-Choice America, a pro-abortion rights advocacy group, praised as the “best ever for reproductive freedom.”

Prominent Democrats including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (DCalif.) have vocally supported funding for Planned Parenthood, a national provider of reproductive health services, including abortion.

Founded in 1999, DFLA advocates for and supports programs and policies that respect and promote human life from conception to natural death, according to the organization’s mission statement.

This mission includes opposition to abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia.

The support for anti-abortion Democrats is dwindling, Day said.

The number of Democrats identifying with the anti-abortion movement in government is at its lowest

numbers since the 1930s, according to Day. Day attributed the decreasing numbers to the increasingly polarized nature of national politics, arguing the Democratic Party is cultivating a culture in which antiabortion activists are unwelcome.

“The Democratic Party is kicking pro-life members out, encouraging them not to run, or to run on a prochoice platform,” Day said.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez drew the ire of anti-abortion Democrats in April when he released a statement stating that “every candidate who runs as a Democrat” should support the party’s pro-abortion rights stance.

However, Pelosi later said in an interview that “of course” it is possible for Democrats to oppose abortion rights, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said in July the party would not withhold financial support for anti-abortion candidates in the 2018 elections.

Day said anti-abortion issues are important to the future growth of the Democratic Party.

“Pro-life Democrats’ voice is so important within the party, talking not only about abortion but whole-life issues,” Day said.

“Nobody wants to find common ground anymore, but I still think we can do it.”

DFLA must work actively to recruit financial donations to build on its mission, which must include lobbying the Democratic Party to be inclusive of anti-abortion advocates, Day said.

“I don’t want to give to the Democratic Party,” Day said. “I want to give to pro-life candidates; please direct my money there.”

Day, who now oversees all opera-

tions in DFLA’s Washington, D.C. office, said she became interested in politics as a sophomore at Michigan State University when she was selected to serve as a precinct delegate for the Democratic Party.

Day then became the chief of staff for former Rep. Jim Barcia (D-Mich.), who opposed abortion.

Day has been advocating for antiabortion policy since then.

Havens Clark (COL ’20), president of Georgetown Right to Life, said the event aimed to promote a conversation about anti-abortion initiatives and raise awareness about the efforts of Democratic politicians and activists who identify with the anti-abortion movement.

“We are trying to dispel the notion that a lot of people get that Democrats are all pro-choice,” Clark said. “We have members of our organization who are Democrats, so we want to support them with this event and create a dialogue that was more bipartisan.”

Michael DeFelice (COL ’20), who identifies as a Democrat and is a member of Right to Life, said many students at Georgetown do not know that there are groups that support both Democratic and antiabortion policies. “[These events] tell people that we exist and that the Democratic Party needs to support candidates that are pro-life in order to start winning,” DeFelice said.

Regardless of how low Democratic anti-abortion support may be, Day said she will continue to advocate for anti-abortion Democratic initiatives.

“I really believe the Democratic Party should be the pro-life party,” Day said. “We need to make bipartisanship cool again.”

Student-run startup Fiber Filter is promoting its new fiber-catching laundry bag prototype in a promotional video that aims to pressure washing machine companies to take responsibility for microplastic pollution.

Fiber Filter founders Lola Bushnell (COL ’18), Carter Cortazzi (COL ’19), and Jaime Farrell (COL ’19) released the video Monday. Photographer Ben Von Wong traveled to Washington, D.C., at the end of the spring 2017 semester to film and edit the video with social media volunteers.

Von Wong used cloth laundry “monsters” to depict the growing problem of microfibers from synthetic clothing that are released into water systems each time someone does a load of laundry.

“His video is fantastic. It’s awesome. it really alerts people to the problem,” Cortazzi said.

Cortazzi and the other founders of Fiber Filter were first alerted to the problem in the “Global Challenges, Climate and Sociology” course they took in fall 2016. Students in the class were charged with identifying a global environmental problem and proposing a solution.

Bushnell, Cortazzi and Farrell shared a love for ocean and water conservation, so they chose to focus on microfiber and microplastic pollution. Microplastic pollution affects oceans worldwide, and makes up 85 percent of debris on shorelines across the world, according to The Guardian.

The problem does not just affect oceans, however; micro-

fiber pollution has also affected local water sources. Microplastic pollution cannot be filtered out by wastewater treatment plants, such as D.C.’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant.

For Bushnell, Cortazzi and Farrell, the project was not just for a grade in the class.

“It’s a huge problem with no real solution,” Cortazzi said. “We saw that and we thought we had a solution that could make a real difference, and it’s something that we were super passionate about so we decided to put all of our energy into it and that’s sort of where the startup came from.”

After receiving grants from the Social Innovation and Public Service Fund and Startup Hoyas, the group, with the addition of new team member Anisha Vora (SFS ’19) spent the spring 2017 semester working on product testing and research. Bushnell and Farrell stayed in D.C. over the summer to continue refining the website and prototype.

“It was long and really difficult, as it’s hard to get the methodology for doing that,” Cortazzi said.

The prototype is a mesh bag comparable to a small laundry bag, except the mesh of the bag is significantly smaller.

“Our mesh is super, super fine,” Cortazzi said. “We experimented with 100 to 250 microns, so less than a millimeter in size.”

The team has tested the prototype in performance tests for both cleanliness of clothing and the capture rate of the fiber. Their best result was an 87 percent capture rate of microfibers.

“Experiments show the water and detergent can move freely through the bag but the fibers can’t really escape,” Cortazzi said.

There are other similar products out on the market today, according to Cortazzi, like Patagonia’s Guppy Friend and the Cora Ball. The team is not worried about the competition because their end goal is to inspire change.

“What we really wanted to achieve with this new video was pressure for an institutional solution because we’re three students – if we can come up with a solution to this, there is no reason that a huge washing machine company can’t build something like a filter into a washing machine,” Cortazzi said.

Challenging washing machine manufacturers to assume social responsibility and to stop ignoring the problem they are facilitating was the main goal of releasing the video. Finding a solution to the problem is important, particularly given that synthetic clothing production is set to triple by 2025.

Progress has been made in the overarching battle against microplastics, however. Plastic microbeads were banned in a legislative decision by the Microbead-Free Waters Act in 2015. But, Cortazzi said, “the solution here is not as simple as that because you can’t just stop making synthetic clothing.” Thus, the team decided to pinpoint washing machine companies as their main point of contact.

“Our solution is still something we feel to be really viable but it’s only going to be a small part of what’s necessary to change,” Cortazzi said.

courtesy benjamin von wong

The student-run startup Fiber Filter, which produces a prototype laundry bag that captures microplastics from synthetic clothing, launched a video this week highlighting the environmental dangers of microfibers.

A10

sports

THE HOYA

friday, november 17, 2017

Cross Country

Teams Fail to Qualify for Nationals, Green and MacDonald Advance madeline cusick Special to The Hoya

Despite strong individual performances, Georgetown’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams fell just short of qualifying for the 2017 NCAA Cross-Country Championships at the 2017 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships last weekend with their fourth- and third-place finishes.

However, graduate student Jonathan Green and freshman Martha MacDonald have each secured a spot in the NCAA Championships with their individual performances.

For a second consecutive race, All-American Jonathan Green secured an individual win for Georgetown’s men’s cross-country team with a time of 30:28:3. Green won the individual title at the 2017 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships last Friday in Bethlehem, Pa., following his victory at the Big East Championship.

The victory helped the Hoya men earn fourth place in a field of 26 teams, after arriving to the competition as the top-ranked team in the region and having won the past two years.

Going into the competition, Head Coach Brandon Bonsey expressed optimism about the team’s prospects.

“The postseason is what we gear all of our training toward,” Bonsey said in an interview with GUHoyas, the Georgetown athletics site. “We

did a solid job at the Big East meet and now we have to be better than that tomorrow at the regional meet. The team has come together very well the last couple weeks and I’m confident that we will see the best version of this group.”

Behind Green, the Hoya’s following four point-scorers all finished within 51 seconds. Junior Nick Wareham finished second for Georgetown in 17th place with a time of 30:51.3.

Wareham was followed next by senior Nick Golebiowski, who came in 28th place with a time of 31:00.0. Junior Reilly Bloomer and sophomore Jack Van Scoter took 35th place and 41th place with times of 31:08.9 and 31:19.4, respectively.

The Hoya men’s final score totaled 122 points, placing them behind Princeton, Navy and Villanova. Green and Wareham were awarded All-Region titles for their performances.

Bonsey praised Green’s individual performance but expressed some disappointment with the team’s overall performance.

“Jon Green ran a very smart race to earn his first regional title,” Bonsey said. “He closed very fast and is ready to run with the best athletes in the NCAA. I’m extremely disappointed in how our team performed. We need to look in the mirror and figure out what went wrong. This is a talented group and I’m confident we will rebound and have a great rest of the year.”

GUHOYAS

Graduate student Jonathan Green won the Mid-Atlantic Regional title last weekend, despite the men's team failing to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Green secured the individual win with a time of 30:28:3, as the Hoyas finished fourth overall.

Georgetown’s women’s crosscountry team placed just ahead of the men, earning third place in a field of 28 teams with a final score of 88 points.

The Hoya women secured one place in the top 10 with Georgetown’s first runner freshman Martha MacDonald coming in ninth place with a time of 20:18.4.

Director of Track and Field and Cross-Country Julie Culley praised MacDonald’s race.

“Martha MacDonald had a great day today and this young team has

Nothing but net

a bright future,” Culley said in an interview with GUHoyas. “She wanted to finish top 10 and she fought hard for her ninth-place finish.”

Georgetown’s top three finishers, including graduate student Meredith Rizzo and senior Madeline Perez, ran All-Region performances.

Rizzo earned 22nd place with a time of 20:42.3, while Perez earned 25th place with a time of 20:45.2.

Georgetown’s fourth and

fifth runners finished closely behind Perez, with senior Josette Norris coming in 26th place with a time of 20:47.6 and senior Kennedy Weisner coming in 27th place with a time of 20:52.5.

Following their season trend, the women’s final four pointscorers formed a tight pack, finishing within a period of 10.2 seconds and bringing the team’s score to 109 points.

“We had a race plan for the team going in to this meet to

ensure we were one of the top two teams, and we just didn’t put ourselves in a position to be successful,” Culley said.

Culley expressed optimism for MacDonald going into next week’s race.

“We are very excited for Martha and to see what she can do as an individual at NCAAs in a week,” Culley said.

Green and MacDonald will return to competition on Saturday at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky.

football

Hoyas Suffer 2nd Straight Shutout Cameron Perales Hoya Staff Writer

Vanessa Craige & Paolo Santamaria

Italian Soccer Needs Renaissance “F orza Azzurri!”

The echoes of that cheer lasted for 11 years of ups and downs for the Italian National Team, all in the aftermath of the most glorious moment in all of sports: Winning the World Cup in 2006. Now, the sounds of Italian splendor and joy seem a distant memory. And it indeed is distant, as the Italians failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup on Monday.

We have to go back to 1958 to find the last time Italy failed to reach the world’s biggest stage, as the team did this year by losing 1-0 to Sweden on aggregate. Decades have gone by since the team’s last absence, and Italy has until now remained steadfast in its status as one of the world’s soccer superpowers. Now that title is up for re-evaluation, and the team’s current manager, Gian Piero Ventura, was the first to go.

Beyond the inevitable, drawn-out negotiation to get Ventura as far away from the national team as possible is an even more glaring realization: For Italy, missing the World Cup is simply unacceptable.

Yes, the United States missed the cup, the Netherlands missed the cup and Wales missed the cup. However, these nations’ reputations pale in comparison to the stature and prominence Italy carries with its four World Cup titles — to say nothing of the international careers ending because of Italy’s failure.

Ventura’s firing is unquestionably necessary, as Italy must move on without the face of the team that failed to reach the World Cup. And now the Azzurri must move on without legends like Gianluigi Buffon, arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all time and undoubtedly one of the world’s most beloved players. Buffon is now retired, robbed of a chance to add a second World Cup to his extensive hardware collection.

Andrea Barzagli and Daniele de Rossi, two other remaining members of the 2006 title squad, are also retiring from international duty. Without a doubt, an era has ended in Italy. Of course, it was always going to end, but it was not supposed to end like this.

Loaded with younger talent like Lorenzo Insigne, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Andrea

Belotti and Marco Verratti, Italy seemed poised to fuse its youth with its veteran leadership and strike as one of the favorites come summer 2018.

However, Ventura’s failure to foster this talent on the pitch failed the Italian squad.

Italy must rebuild after Ventura’s departure. The squad contains a majority of middling players, players who are good enough to play but not too old to develop into the superstars who lined the 2006 title team.

It is a great challenge, of course, as it is in any sport.

But as we see in college basketball — for which another wild season has just begun — roster turnover must be met with adaptation.

Soccer, as the world’s most popular sport, sees new names rise every year, especially as old ones fall. Managers must adapt formations and tactics to incorporate the best of their new talent while retaining only the most essential old talent.

It is the dream of every manager to build a dynasty like that of Germany, a team from which legends like Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose retire only for players like Joshua Kimmich, Toni Kroos and Timo Werner to step up in their place.

Italy has these building blocks. Insigne, inexplicably left on the bench at the end of the Sweden game, is a key piece for Napoli’s current first place squad in Serie A. He possesses quickness and deft finishing that let him run rampant in the final third.

Belotti, an excellent striker for Torino FC, needs a strong midfield behind him to create his best chances. Ventura dared not play Insigne and dared not provide Belotti with the tools essential for his success, adding even more fuel to the fire.

Change must be swift and direct. Italy has less than two years before European Championship qualification, and it has miles to go before its squad — a current disgrace to its country — is ready to compete. And it had better be.

Vanessa Craige and Paolo Santamaria are seniors in the School of Foreign Service and the College, respectively. nothing but net appears in print every Friday.

At the half of Georgetown football’s contest with Bucknell last Saturday, sophomore quarterback Gunther Johnson had individually outgained the entire Bison offense with 144 yards rushing to the Bucknell’s 96 total yards. Johnson’s remarkable first half was not enough, though, as Georgetown eventually fell to Bucknell 12-0.

Johnson did most of his damage on the ground, breaking off huge first-down runs of 37, 21 and 38 yards for the Hoyas in the first half. But penalties derailed the momentum Johnson created for the offense as the Bison (5-5, 2-3 Patriot League) capitalized on turnovers to take a 3-0 lead into halftime.

The Georgetown (1-9, 0-5 Patriot League) defense turned in yet another mammoth effort, with senior defensive back and captain David Akere accounting for nine tackles and standout freshman linebacker Wesley Bowers accruing a team-high 10 tackles on his way to Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors.

Senior running back Isaac Ellsworth said he feels confident in Bowers’ leadership and work ethic and the program’s trajectory after the Class of 2018 graduates in the spring.

“I remember meeting [Bowers] when he came and visited last year and seeing how enthusiastic he was and how his work ethic has developed him even at such a young age,” Ellsworth said. “He reminds

us a little bit of Ray Lewis out there on the field with his ferocity and tenacity out on the field. We definitely see the future is in good hands with him on the team and leading the linebacking corps.”

Bowers and the Georgetown defense came to play against Bucknell, allowing less than 100 yards of total offense in the first half. But on short fields in the second quarter, Bucknell threatened to build a sizable lead. The Bison held the ball twice within the 20-yard line, where the Hoyas were able to hold them and force two field goal tries.

In the second half, Georgetown’s offensive woes would continue despite Johnson’s ability to throw and run. Early-down penalties proved costly for the Hoyas as they were forced to punt on four out of their five second-half drives, allowing Bucknell to dominate time of possession. The Bison eventually broke through Georgetown’s stout defense, scoring a touchdown with eight seconds left in the third quarter that sealed the game.

Avoiding penalties will be a big theme for the team as it looks ahead to Colgate this weekend in its season finale. Head Coach Rob Sgarlata said avoiding those presnap mistakes is a key to a cleaner game against the co-leader of the Patriot League.

“This was another weekend where we let penalties kill us as we started drives, so that’s something we’ll look to clean up as we are getting ready for Colgate,” Sgarlata said. “For us it’s about being consistent: We had seven penalties and

four of them were pre-snap, so we have to keep ourselves out of the first and 15 situations, and that’s something we’ve been focusing on this week.”

Georgetown faces a tough opponent in the Colgate Raiders (6-4, 4-1 Patriot League), who are tied with Lehigh (4-6, 4-1 Patriot League) for the number one spot in the Patriot League standings. The Raiders’ stout defense ranks first in the conference, having allowed 40 fewer points than the next best unit and only 18.2 yards a game.

“They’re probably one of the better defenses I’ve seen in the conference,” Sgarlata said. “They run to the ball, they’re well-coached and everyone that has played them has had a hard time running the ball on them. We have to establish a run game so we can be two-dimensional.”

Two star sophomore linebackers lead Colgate’s defense: Nick Ioanilli, who leads the team with 57 total tackles on the season, and Nick Wheeler, who leads the team with 9 sacks.

On offense, true freshman quarterback Grant Breneman has led the Raiders since the season opener and already has over 1,300 yards passing coming into their final game of the season. Senior running back James Holland Jr. has aided this young and talented team, providing three 100-yard rushing performances in his last four games.

Senior defensive lineman Kendall Catching said Colgate’s offense will use an option attack to spring

Holland and that the Hoyas must play sound, assignment-driven defense to stop Colgate’s balanced attack.

“Colgate has a really solid scheme on offense; they like to use the option a lot. So that means that each player has to do their job and do it well,” Catching said.

The contest against Colgate will take place this Saturday at Cooper Field, where Georgetown will honor 26 Seniors in the Class of 2018.

“For Isaac [Ellsworth] and I coming here from Texas, football is a very important part of our culture, and it’s a very important part of what makes us who we are,” Catching said. “We’ve put a huge amount of blood, sweat and tears into this program, so to see it come to an end is a bittersweet thing. We’ll have that little piece of us missing the rest of our lives, but we’re thankful to have been able to play college sports.”

Ellsworth expects emotions to be running high as a chapter in each of these players lives ends.

“It’s definitely an accomplishment for me, when I get to look back on my life. Being able to play Division 1 football has been a dream come true, especially at a prestigious school like Georgetown. I think this weekend might be a little emotional, and we’ll try to give this team and this program everything we’ve got on this last game,” Ellsworth said.

Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. and will be televised by GUHoyas.

women's Basketball

White Leads GU to Coach's 1st Win Justin chen

Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown women’s basketball team started its season on a high note Tuesday, beating the Howard Bison 93-41 in James Howard’s first win as head coach of the Hoyas.

Georgetown put together two strong halves and cruised its way to the first victory of the 2017-18 season, more than doubling Howard’s (0-2) point total of 41.

As a team, the Hoyas shot 40.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from long distance and 75 percent from the free throw line.

Despite a relatively low field goal percentage, Georgetown pulled down 20 offensive boards and forced 26 turnovers, leading to 10 more shot attempts and nine more free throw attempts than Howard.

“We came out on fire and focused,” Howard said in an interview with GUHoyas, the Georgetown athletics site. “I don’t know what percentage we shot from the floor early on in the first half, but it seemed like lights out.”

Junior guard Dionna White, a unanimous Big East Conference preseason honoree, led the team with 27 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and 4-6 from behind

the arc. She had 24 of the team’s 55 points in the first half, while adding six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

“Dionna White was in a zone, and that opened up a lot of things for us,” Howard said.

A number of other Hoyas had great performances also in the blowout victory. Senior forward Cynthia Petke had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds, and senior center Yazmine Belk contributed nine points and 10 rebounds. Together, Petke and Belk showed signs of being a dynamic frontcourt duo.

Freshman Tatiana Thompson scored 14 points and had six rebounds in her college debut, while starting guards Didi Burton and Mikayla Venson combined for nine assists in the contest.

In addition to the offensive explosion, the Hoyas’ stifling team defense played a key role in the win. The Bison shot only 21.3 percent from the field, 12.5 percent from the three-point line, scored just seven points in the first quarter and eight in the second.

Georgetown also registered 14 steals and five blocks as a team.

At one point early in the second quarter, the Bison cut the lead to 17, but the Hoyas answered with 16 straight points, including seven

from White. The team went on to allow just three more points until halftime while scoring 10 of their own.

Thanks to Georgetown’s strong showing in the first half, James Howard was able to give minutes to some of the younger Hoyas late in the game. Freshman center Breonna Mayfield flashed her potential by tallying three blocks in 10

minutes of play.

Overall, 10 of the 11 Georgetown players who stepped on the court scored.

The Hoyas travel to Baltimore to take on Loyola University Maryland (1-1). Georgetown will try to build off its momentum from the win against Howard in its first away game of the season.

Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.

CAROLINE PAPPAS FOR THE HOYA

Junior guard Dionna White, center, tallied 27 points on 8-14 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

SPORTS

friday, November 17, 2017

THE HOYA

A11

Men’s Basketball

Men’s Soccer

GU Earns NCAA Tournament 14 Seed XAVIER, from A12

which makes it hard. That’s an easy way to score goals,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said.

Just three minutes into the second half, controversy arose as freshman midfielder Foster McCune was deemed to have intentionally struck the ball into the crossbar with his hand to prevent a goal. While fortunate enough to avoid a red card, the Hoyas did concede a penalty.

Despite junior goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski’s diving the right way, he failed to stop Xavier senior forward Matt Vasquenza’s welltaken penalty shot, giving Xavier a 1-0 lead.

“There’s a real calmness to the group that permeates out from the older guys and the captains. ” BRIAN WIESE Head Coach

However, the Hoyas reacted well and quickly began to impose their will on the Musketeers’ defense.

“One thing that we harp on is, when we go down a goal, we always just tell ourselves we always have to score a goal to win anyways,” senior midfielder Christopher Lema said.

“You’re still trying to just get that one goal to win. You don’t tie a championship game — you have to win it. So we just kept pushing; we got the goal.”

In the 62nd minute, following a poorly taken Xavier goal kick, Georgetown launched a quick counterattack that led to its equalizer. Senior forward Declan McCabe got the ball near midfield and played a quick one-two pass with freshman midfielder Jacob Montes. After receiving Montes’ pass, McCabe played the ball across the box, where freshman forward Derek Dodson was able to finish the counter-attack with his teamleading 10th goal of the season, tying the game at one.

McCabe spoke highly of the freshman’s goal-scoring ability.

“There’s not a lot of guys that have that trait. Branden Allen was a guy who was here for four years doing that a lot.

You can’t undervalue how important it is for those guys to just score goals, and [Dodson]’s got the knack for it,” McCabe said.

Following Dodson’s goal, Georgetown continued to have the majority of the posses-

sions. However, Xavier defended well, and Georgetown did not get another good look at the goal until late into the second half. In the 86th minute, sophomore forward Achara took the ball down the right wing and crossed it into the middle to McCabe, who got a touch and sent the ball into the back of the net. Yet, much to the dismay of McCabe and the rest of the Hoyas, the goal was disallowed as McCabe was ruled offside, and the game remained tied.

Despite having a goal disallowed for the second time in the game, the Hoyas maintained focus and continued to search for the winning goal in the waning moments of regulation.

“There’s a real calmness to the group that permeates out from the older guys and the captains,” Wiese said. “Our senior class does a great job. McDonough and Marcinkowski, as captains, are calm.”

However, the Hoyas were unable to find the back of the net again, and both teams went into overtime tied at one.

In the first overtime period, Xavier got the chance to score off a set piece. Looking for his second goal of the game, Vasquenza hit a free-kick from over twenty yards, but it rattled the crossbar and harmlessly bounced out of bounds for a goal kick.

In the second overtime period, the best chance again came from a set piece, but this time it fell to the Hoyas. Although Lema has taken most set pieces for the Hoyas this season, late into the second overtime, McCabe stepped up to take a free kick from just outside the box.

He struck the ball with his right foot and bent the ball over the wall and into the corner of the net, just out of the reach of Xavier junior goalkeeper Colin Hanley’s dive.

The goal gave the Hoyas their 2-1 win in overtime and crowned them Big East champions for the second time in three years.

“Xavier is a really good team.

It takes two good teams to make a great game. I thought it was a great game,” Coach Wiese said.

The Hoyas’ win earns them a bid and a first-round bye in the NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament as the 14 seed.

Georgetown will play the winner of Thursday’s Southern Methodist University vs. Central Arkansas University game in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday on Nov. 19.

The game will be televised by GUHoyas.

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Govan Records Consecutive Double-Doubles THE MOUNT, from A12

“Jessie [Govan] set the tone rebounding,” Johnson said.

“He was a good presence down there. I’m just trying to control the outskirts while he’s controlling the boards.”

Govan put up 20 points for his second straight game, going 3-of-3 from deep and bringing down 14 rebounds.

Georgetown also defended well around the perimeter.

A high-volume three-point shooting team, Mount St. Mary’s converted only eight of its 33 attempts from be-

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yond the arc.

Georgetown’s deep rotation and versatility will be key moving forward. Pickett and Mosely came off the bench and played 31 and 28 minutes, respectively. Blair, who got his first start, made eight field goals, including a pair of threes.

“Everybody is doing their part. They’re doing a fantastic job,” Ewing said. “Jahvon stepped into the starting role and played a very good game.

Jamorko did another great job coming off the bench.”

Ewing praised the all-

around efforts of his team.

“Different guys are stepping up,” Ewing said. “That’s how it’s going to be. Some guys are going to play well every game, and some guys are going to step up in different games. As long as the outcome is a win, we’ll take it.”

If the Hoyas are to be wary of anything so far, it is the team’s turnovers. The Hoyas committed 16 turnovers, with Mulmore, Pickett and Johnson each finishing with at least three.

After 18 giveaways on Sunday, Ewing recognized the

importance of protecting the ball to get the Hoyas where he wants them to be.

“I want to push it. I want to push the pace. I want it to be fast,” Ewing said. “But while we push the pace, I want to cut our turnovers down. If we want to beat the elite teams that we’re going to be facing in the Big East, we need to cut our turnovers down.”

The Hoyas will host the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Capital One Arena.

The game will be televised

by Fox Sports.

Women’s Soccer

Bitter Loss Caps Successful Season WAKE FOREST, from A12

Wake Forest the higher seed. As a result, the team had to travel on the road to take on the Demon Deacons.

In the first half of the contest, both teams failed to generate quality scoring opportunities.

The Hoyas’ best chance came on a saved shot from sophomore midfielder Paula Germino-Watnick in the 18th minute.

Georgetown dominated possession in the second half, holding the advantage in shots at 5-4 and corner kicks at 5-0, as has been typical of the Hoyas this season, in which the Hoyas have averaged 18.6 shots per game while holding opponents to 4.7 shots per game. The Hoya defense was just as strong, with junior and Big East Goalkeeper of the Year Arielle Schechtman stopping any shot that Wake Forest took.

However, getting a goal across the line was the thorn in the Hoyas’ side, as senior and Big East Midfielder of the Year Rachel Corboz had a hand in two potential scoring chances that failed to come to fruition.

The game headed to overtime after both sides failed to break the scoreless tie in regulation.

The first overtime saw two dangerous chances for the Demon Deacons, but Schechtman

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SUBUL MALIK FOR THE HOYA

Junior center Jessie Govan tallied two 20-point performances in Georgetown’s first two games while averaging 14.5 rebounds per game. Govan’s efforts earned him a spot on the Big East Weekly Honor Roll. Govan currently leads the conference in rebounding.

made two acrobatic saves to rescue the game for the Hoyas.

Junior forward Caitlin Farrell gave the Hoyas their best chance in double overtime with two shots that were inches away from ending the game, one of which hit woodwork.

Georgetown eventually lost in penalty kicks 2-1.

“Unfortunately, we came up short tonight, and I feel for the girls,” Nolan said. “It wasn’t easy to go on the road against an excellent team, and I am very proud of our effort tonight.”

Failing to capitalize on offense once again doomed Georgetown. During the season, the team failed to score a goal in six out of their seven losses and draws, and only scored one in the seventh.

Seven seniors will leave the Hoyas at the end of the academic year, including Corboz, but seven of the team’s starters will return next season.

Even with the loss, Nolan praised his team’s efforts for its winning season.

“What great soccer players, but even more importantly what great kids they are. I really can’t ask for any more from them,” Nolan said. “In a few days, they will be able to look back at all they achieved this year, and the pain will go away.”

AISHA MALHAS FOR THE HOYA

Junior forward Amanda Carolan notched a team-high nine goals while adding two assists this season for the Hoyas.

GM’S Corner

New-Look New Orleans Built to Last MCCOY, from A12

2009. In reality, Brees has been performing exceptionally well on a smaller volume of passes, on pace for less than 600 attempts for the first time since 2009.

Meanwhile, the Saints’ rushing game has been phenomenal, led by feature back Mark Ingram and rookie sensation Alvin Kamara.

Kamara, who was drafted in the third round, has been the perfect complement to the big-bodied Ingram. Ingram and Kamara’s combination of size and speed was on full display this weekend, when the Saints were the first team since 1957 to rush for more than 295 yards and score six touchdowns in a single game.

Kamara has already racked up 790 combined rushing and receiving yards, as well as six touch-

downs. The University of Tennessee product’s dynamic speed and ability to get to the outside have given the Saints a new offensive boost.

Another Saints rookie has had a significant role on defense. With the 11th pick in the draft, the Saints addressed their underperforming secondary by drafting Marshon Lattimore from Ohio State University. Lattimore has the ideal size and speed necessary for a cover corner in the modern NFL, and his immediate production cannot be overstated. The rookie is already one of the best corners in the league: He boasts the secondlowest passer rating allowed on throws against him, according to Pro Football Focus.

The addition of a true shutdown corner has given the Saints’ secondary a real boost

and has allowed the defensive line, spearheaded by the talented Cameron Jordan, more time to get to the quarterback.

Jordan already has seven sacks this season, and Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen feels comfortable sending a variety of blitzes to pressure opponents because of more competent coverage behind him.

The cumulative effect of these changes has been dramatic; the Saints’ defense, derided for years, has quickly become one of the NFL’s best. It is a top-10 overall unit, and top five against the pass, according to Football Outsiders’ Defense-adjusted Value Over Average measurements. That level of production would have been unthinkable to most NFL analysts prior to this season.

Certainly, the Saints cannot

expect to win 37-point blowouts every weekend. However, the key ingredients to this seven-game winning streak, which has allowed New Orleans to take control of their division, have been talented rookies performing exceptionally well.

Kamara’s ability to stretch the field and take pressure off of Brees, as well as Lattimore’s immediate impact as a shutdown corner, have led to a dramatic turnaround for a team once believed to be running out of time.

Now, New Orleans fans view themselves as true Super Bowl contenders. If their rookies keep playing like this, it will be hard to argue with them.

Ryan McCoy is a senior in the School of Foreign Service. This is the final installment of GM’s CorneR.

Sports

Men’s Basketball Georgetown (2-0) vs. UMES (1-1) Saturday, 12 p.m.

Capital One Arena

friday, november 17, 2017

NUMBERS GAME

talkING POINTS

Women’s Basketball Head Coach James Howard scored his first coaching victory in Georgetown’s 93-41 win over Howard.

See A10

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You don’t tie a championship game — you have to win it. So we just kept pushing; we got the goal.”

SENIOR MIDFIELDER CHRISTOPHER LEMA

27

The number of points junior guard Dionna White scored against Howard.

men’s Soccer

Men’s basketball

Hoyas Start Season 2-0 Under Ewing George Brennan Hoya Staff Writer

When the AP Preseason Top-25 rankings were released in late October, Mount St. Mary’s received four votes to belong in the Top-25, while Georgetown received none.

Yet the Hoyas’ performance against the Mountaineers on Wednesday night proved voters wrong.

The Hoyas defeated the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (0-3) 102-68 in a one-sided affair. The Hoyas’ offensive efficiency was on full display all night, as the team shot 61 percent from the field and going 11-22 from behind the arc.

“Whenever someone gets in foul trouble or someone’s not playing well, I’m ready to step up.”

Jagan Mosely Sophomore Guard

Five Hoyas — junior center Jessie Govan, freshman guard Jahvon Blair, sophomore guard Jagan Mosely, junior guard Kaleb Johnson and freshman forward Jamorko Pickett — all finished in double figures.

Senior guard Jonathan Mulmore started the game for the Blue and Gray, but he picked up two quick fouls, causing

Ewing to look to his bench.

“We have guys who can step up and take over the load,” Ewing said.

For the duration of the game, Mosely was tasked with guarding senior guard Junior Robinson, a shifty, explosive guard who has averaged 20 points per game this season.

Nevertheless, Mosely illustrated how the best defense is often a good offense, showcasing his ability to get to the rim and score.

“I’m comfortable in any spot: the one, two, three, even four sometimes. Whenever someone gets in foul trouble or someone’s not playing well, I’m ready to step up,” Mosely said. “I like winning.”

Mosely, who posted 15 points coupled with five assists and five rebounds, was incredibly efficient in the contest, shooting 86 percent from the floor.

“I love his toughness,” Ewing said of Mosely. “This year he’s not starting, but he stepped up and played his guts out.”

The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead early, taking a 5436 lead into the locker room at half-time.

Much of the Hoyas’ success can be attributed to their work on the boards. Georgetown corralled 51 offensive rebounds, 14 of them coming on the offensive end.

The Mountaineers finished with a mere 21.

Senior forward Declan McCabe secured Georgetown men’s soccer’s second Big East Championship over the past three years when he scored off a free kick in double overtime against Xavier. With the victory, the Hoyas have earned the 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

See THE MOUNT, A11

See XAVIER, A11

AISHA MALhas for THE HOYA

McCabe Delivers Big East Title in 2OT Drew Sewall Hoya Staff Writer

In a thrilling championship match that lived up to the hype, the No. 18 Georgetown men’s soccer team defeated Xavier 2-1 at Shaw Field to win the Big East Championship. It was the team’s second championship win since claiming the 2015 title.

With the victory, the Hoyas have earned a 14 seed in the NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament.

Having suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of

Xavier (11-6-3, 5-4 Big East) in September, Georgetown (14-3-2, 6-2-1 Big East) sought a different result this time around.

Despite playing at home, the Hoyas started the game on their back foot as the Musketeers instantly put the Hoyas under pressure. Just under three minutes into the game, Xavier had a great chance to get ahead early. An attack down the right wing led to a tantalizing ball being played across the goalmouth.

However, the first few Xavier runners were not able

to get a foot on it. The ball eventually found Xavier redshirt freshman midfielder Payton Miller, who got off a shot that was then blocked.

Georgetown was able to clear its lines and avoid an early disaster.

After this early scare for the Hoyas, play began to even out as both teams settled into the game. As the half wore on, Georgetown saw more of the ball and forced Xavier to sit back and defend. The best chance of the half for the Hoyas occurred when they found the back of the net

just over 23 minutes into the game, but the goal was disallowed and called offside.

Following a tense 45 minutes of soccer, both teams entered the half still deadlocked at 0-0.

“When you get a team that is as well-organized and talented as Xavier, you’re going to have to find ways to manufacture [goals], and you just have to be patient, and it can come in a lot of different ways.

But there weren’t that many moments for us in transition,

gm’s corner

women’s soccer

Season Ends With Early Tournament Exit Josh Rosson Hoya Staff Writer

At the onset of NCAA postseason play against Wake Forest on Friday, the Georgetown women’s soccer team hoped the adage “offense wins games, defense wins championships,” would carry it deep into the NCAA tournament.

Yet a lack of offense ultimately doomed the Hoyas as they fell to the Demon Deacons in penalty kicks after a scoreless double overtime match.

“Tonight’s loss in penalty kicks was heartbreaking for this team,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “When you win, it’s fantastic, and when you lose, it’s gut-wrenching.”

Georgetown’s (14-3-4, 6-12 Big East) loss against Wake Forest (11-5-4, 5-3-2 ACC) in the first round of the singleelimination tournament means the end of its otherwise successful season, continuing on the program’s 203-3 season last year.

The Hoyas came into Friday night’s game on the heels of their 3-0 victory in the Big East Championship game.

The win secured both the regular season and postseason Big East title for the Blue and Gray, the first time it has accomplished such a feat. The win also marks the fourth time in conference history that a team has won back-toback postseason titles.

The postseason bid marked Georgetown’s eighth berth to the NCAA tournament in the program’s history. Despite being ranked No. 15 by United Soccer Coaches, the NCAA selection committee awarded Georgetown a No. 11 seed in its region of the bracket, and

AISHA MALHAS for the hoya

See WAKE FOREST, A11

Junior forward Caitlin Farrell finished the 2017 season with eight goals and three assists, good for third on the team in each category. Farrell’s 19 points ranked fifth overall in the Big East, and her 74 shots ranked first.

Ryan McCoy

Saints’ Resurgence Powered by Rookies

B

Visit us online at thehoya.com/sports

efore the 2017 season, the New Orleans Saints were perceived as a fading team. After winning the franchise’s only Super Bowl in 2010, the Saints kept two key ingredients: quarterback Drew Brees and Head Coach Sean Payton. Together, Brees and Payton formed a prolific offense, consistently one of the league’s best in the last decade.

Regardless, the Saints have struggled to achieve overall success. Four of the team’s past five seasons ended with a 7-9 record, and the Saints have not made it past the divisional playoffs since their 2010 Super Bowl run.

The problem was easy to identify. Despite a potent passing attack led by Brees, the Saints lacked balance: Their running game was significantly less advanced, and they consistently had one of the worst defenses in the league.

There was a perception around the league that Brees and Payton were on the decline, seen by ESPN predicting the Saints to finish 23rd in the league at the start of the season. Their offense supposedly could not make up for the roster’s shortcom-

ings, and with their star quarterback now 38 years old, the Saints were running out of time.

The Saints’ shift has been the product of improved overall play and the acquisition of two key rookies.

Instead, the Saints have started this season 7-2, punctuating a seven-game winning streak with a 47-10 destruction of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The roster has seen improved balance, especially on the defensive end and in the running game. The shift has been the product of improved overall play and the acquisition of two key rookies who have changed New Orleans’ outlook for the better.

At the start of the season, many would have been alarmed if they knew Drew Brees would be on pace to throw for less than 4,500 yards for the first time since See MCCOY, A11