GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 98, No. 36, © 2017
FRIday, MARCH 17, 2017
THE TRAVEL ISSUE
Curb your wanderlust with travel guides, photos and essays in our first travel issue.
EDITORIAL Georgetown basketball must address students’ and alumni’s frustrations.
CELENZA GOES TO COLLEGE The next dean of Georgetown College shares his goals and priorities.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A4
THE GUIDE
Class of 2021 Application Rate Increases to All-Time High Christian Paz Hoya Staff Writer
COURTESY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., who will join the university in August, currently serves as a professor at Loyola University Chicago.
New VP for Mission, Ministry Appointed Bosco to teach in English department Tara Subramaniam Hoya Staff Writer
Reverend Mark Bosco, S.J., a professor of theology and English at Loyola University Chicago, will serve as the new vice president for mission and ministry starting Aug. 1. Currently, Bosco serves as director of The Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at LUC, where he is responsible for developing symposia, lectures and research on Catholicism. Bosco, who will also serve as a professorial lecturer in the English department in his new role, brings a history of scholarship to the position. Bosco has authored three books and about 20 articles on the relationship between theology and art.
“I’d like to deepen the conversation about what Jesuit Catholic education means, whether to faculty and staff or to students.” REV. MARK BOSCO, S.J. Appointed Vice President For Mission and Ministry
In an interview with The Hoya, Bosco said he is looking to engage the community in a conversation on Georgetown’s Jesuit identity in his new position. As vice president for mission and ministry, Bosco will oversee the Office of Campus Ministry,
featured
which is responsible for Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox Christian, Hindu and Buddhist worship services and includes the Hindu, Muslim and Jewish chaplaincies. “I’m excited to celebrate the liturgy for students as often as I can, something I’ve always gotten great joy out of,” Bosco said. “I’d like to deepen the conversation about what Jesuit Catholic education means, whether to faculty and staff or to students.” In a campuswide email yesterday, University President John J. DeGioia said Bosco embodies the university’s Jesuit identity. “Fr. Bosco will bring to our University an extraordinary understanding of our Catholic and Jesuit tradition and the way it influences and strengthens all that we do,” DeGioia wrote. “Fr. Bosco also shares our University’s commitment to advancing interfaith and ecumenical dialogue and understanding, and will work with colleagues in our Office of Mission and Ministry to further animate our efforts to help our students live lives of deep meaning and purpose.” Bosco taught at the University of San Francisco and the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, after earning his Masters in Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. Bosco will replace interim Vice President Fr. Howard Gray, S.J., who has served in the role since former Vice President of Mission and Ministry Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., (CAS ’88) left the university to serve as the dean of the Jesuit School of Theology last August. Gray said Bosco will bring a See MINISTRY, A6
After receiving a record number of total applicants for this year’s application cycle, Georgetown’s admissions department anticipates accepting about 15 percent of 21,459 regular decision applicants to the Class of 2021, down from last year’s acceptance rate of 16.4 percent. Georgetown accepted a recordlow number of early action applicants this year, down to 11.9 percent of the 7,822 applicants from last year’s 13 percent. The total applicant number is up 12.4 percent from 19,097 applicants in 2016. The previous record was 20,115 applicants in 2012. This increase is expected to reduce the number of transfer students accepted this year from 170 to 150 admits. According to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69), the incoming freshman class is expected to increase slightly from 1,580 to 1,600 students. Deacon said based on the 1600 SAT score scale, the average critical reading score and math score for the applicant pool rose by about 16 points, translating to a more competitive applicant pool. The number of first-generation college students who submitted regular decision applications increased this year, making up 11 to 12 percent of total applications. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions plans to send out decisions for the regular decision cycle beginning the week
of March 27 for applicants to receive their letters by April 1. Deacon said the College received a bump in applicants, while the number of prospective students in the School of Foreign Service, the McDonough School of Business and the School of Nursing and Health Studies remained similar to last year. Deacon was unable to provide specific numbers as of press time. According to Deacon, these
trends suggest a greater interest in the liberal arts and an improving job market. “The trend that had people going toward business or the [School of Nursing and Health Studies], which gives you a concrete outcome with a job — maybe people are getting less worried about getting a job on that end and more worried about See ADMISSIONS, A6
ILLUSTRATION BY SAAVAN CHINTALACHERUVU/THE HOYA
The application rate increased by 12.4 percent from last year, while the acceptance rate is expected to decrease to about 15 percent.
Feminist Values Compatible With Religion, Author Adichie Argues Tara Subramaniam Hoya Staff Writer
SPENCER COOK FOR THE HOYA
Writer and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie argued that religion and feminism are not mutually exclusive in Gaston Hall yesterday.
The pursuit of gender equality should transcend religious ideology, according to author and feminist activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who spoke as part of the Faith and Culture Lecture Series in Gaston Hall yesterday. “Not just Catholicism, but the religions I am mostly familiar with, in the mainstream way they are practiced are not the most women-friendly institutions,” Adichie said. “Feminism is just that simple idea that women are fully equal and there’s a sense in which religion has been used to justify oppressions based upon the idea that women are not fully equal human beings.” The event, moderated by Paul Eli, senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, was Adichie’s first public appearance since her Sunday interview with Channel 4 News, in which she distinguished between the experiences of transgender women and women. The comment was met with opposition from transgender activists. The Faith and Culture Lecture See ADICHIE, A6
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
GUPD Investigates Flyers Posters from white nationalist group Identity Evropa were spotted around campus Sunday night. A5
Follow Your Arrow People ought to incorporate the Zen principle of “It Shoots” into their lives. A3
Hoyas Welcome Blue Devils After winning two straight, the men’s lacrosse team hosts No. 13 Duke on Saturday. B10
NEWS Ossoff Tossed Off
opinion Rose Ceremony
SPORTS Struggles Continue
Jon Ossoff (SFS ’09), an alumnus running for Congress, has been criticized for newly resurfaced videos. A5
Fans of the reality TV show “The Bachelor” can reconcile feminism with the show’s premise. A3
Published Tuesdays and Fridays
With just four wins this season, the softball team prepares for its final tournament before Big East play. B10
Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com
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OPINION
THE HOYA
Friday, march 17, 2017
THE VERDICT
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Frost-Bitten Blooms — Following freezing temperatures brought by winter storm Stella this week, the National Park Service reported widespread damage to cherry blossoms. This means fewer trees could blossom this season.
Georgetown Basketball Must C Confront Off-Court Issues C C
Quarter-Percent Hike — On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, its second increase in three months. “The economy is doing well,” Chair Janet Yellen said.
EDITORIAL
If six consecutive losses and two straight losing seasons are not enough to irredeemably smear Georgetown basketball’s national reputation, Hoya fans have another reason to be dispirited. The university’s lackluster response to an increasingly embarrassing performance demonstrates that the program’s woes extend far beyond the court. Exasperation with the basketball program has driven four former players to anonymously call for Head Coach John Thompson III’s removal and 1,700 fans to sign a petition demanding he be fired. Regardless of the validity of these appeals to oust Thompson, the athletic department undeniably mangled its response with clumsy attempts to suppress dissent from fans. Nowhere was this more apparent than during Georgetown’s 26-point defeat by rival Villanova on March 4. Signs proclaiming “DeGioia do your job” and “Fire Thompson” were allegedly confiscated by Verizon Center ushers, according to witnesses. Georgetown athletic trainer Lorry Michel shouted down a group of spectators for chanting “Fire Thompson” from the student section, while former player Tyler Crawford allegedly threatened a student who tried to start the chant. Even if these attempts to muzzle student dissent were not sanctioned by the athletic department, the university’s failure to condemn this suppression and outright intimidation is a jarring affront to fans.
The bottom line is that even if the athletic department decides to keep Thompson, its handling of the situation is inexplicably inept. The department went so far as to silence dissent in an attempt to circumvent the program’s accountability to its fans. Yet the program’s own self-censorship proves just as troubling, especially as the closed-door athletic department shrouds details about Thompson’s contract in secrecy. In a four-minute March 4 press conference, which came under the scrutiny of USA TODAY, Sports Information Director Michael Carey prevented Thompson from answering reporter Ben Standig’s question about the program’s future. The department has also not made any statement in the aftermath of the Villanova loss or recruit Tremont Waters’ announcement that he is requesting release from Georgetown. The departure of the four-star point guard, who is ranked among the top 100 players of his high school class, is a testament to the declining star power of Georgetown basketball. Furthermore, the department’s silence on the departure is especially worrisome as Georgetown is losing leading scorer guard Rodney Pryor, center Bradley Hayes and forward Reggie Cameron to graduation this year. Comparably, the Nebraska Cornhuskers had a disappointing 12-19 season for Head Coach Tim Miles and similarly lost forward Jeriah Horne to a transfer, but the university was much more forthcoming to their fans, acknowledging their frustration and publicly affirming their faith in Miles for next season. Georgetown has released no such statement or even announced its intention to retain Thompson, neglecting to recognize the disillusionment of its fan base and even going so far as to try to silence it at the games. Georgetown’s tight-lipped approach
also stands in stark contrast to other peer universities, particularly regarding Thompson’s contract with the university. While Villanova, Duke, Seton Hall, Xavier, Notre Dame, Providence and other private universities publically disclose their coaches’ contracts, Georgetown is unique in that Thompson’s contract details are not available, leaving fans in the dark about how much the university is spending — reported figures from the International Business Times are in the ballpark of $2.8 million per year — on a program that has struggled to fill half the seats at the Verizon Center for the past two seasons. The relationship between the Georgetown men’s basketball program and the fans, students and university community is fundamentally broken. Regardless of whether Thompson is head coach next year, the Georgetown administration and athletic department must start treating its basketball program the way peer universities treat theirs. The bottom line is that even if the athletic department decides to keep Thompson, its handling of the situation is inexplicably inept. As if failing to acknowledge the failing program was not enough, the department went so far as to silence student dissent and media questioning in an attempt to circumvent the program’s accountability to its fans. In a time where Georgetown’s free speech protections have come increasingly under scrutiny, with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranking Georgetown among its 10 worst schools for free speech, the overt attempt to stifle fan dissatisfaction is particularly galling. The university should ensure students are permitted to brandish non-explicit signs during games and publicly condemn those within and outside the athletic department who suppress student speech in the student section. The athletic department must also follow the example of other private universities that maintain the transparency of their program by disclosing contract details and permitting the media to ask Thompson questions about more than just gameplay. As the university forces departments to cut budgets, including slashing Lauinger Library’s budget by $1 million, the athletic department cannot continue to maintain its presumed largest single expenditure — Thompson’s salary — a complete secret. But the university can also borrow a page from Nebraska’s playbook and acknowledge the fact that the program is in a state of turmoil. Even if it intends to keep Thompson as head coach, the athletic department ought to be forthright with its fans and affirm its faith in his continued leadership, or else risk further alienating a group of fans who are already leaving the Verizon Center in droves. Georgetown’s recent play has eroded the university’s reputation as a college basketball titan that has produced legends like Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Allen Iverson, as well as current NBA players Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, Greg Monroe, Hollis Thompson and Otto Porter Jr. By refusing to publicly acknowledge this and attempting to silence any proclamations to the contrary, the athletic department’s bungled attempts at damage control are only exacerbating fans’ frustrations with the program. Only by promoting full transparency — in the team’s performance, in the program’s future and Thompson’s full salary — can the athletic department hope to restore faith in a once powerful Georgetown hallmark.
Cirillo Paolo Santamaria, Executive Editor Jeffrey Tara Subramaniam Jesus Rodriguez, Managing Editor Christian Paz
Editorial Board
Lisa Burgoa, Chair CC Borzilleri, Laila Brothers, Daria Etezadi, Ellie Goonetillake, Jack Lynch, Jack Segelstein, Bennett Stehr, Annabelle Timsit
Rule, Reverse and Repeat — A federal judge in Hawaii ruled against President Trump’s revised travel ban Wednesday. Boyfriend and the Beast — Refusing the request of the Malaysian government to cut a “Beauty and the Beast” scene that was ruled to promote homosexuality, Walt Disney will not show the movie in the country on its scheduled opening Thursday.
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Show Symbolism — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ivanka Trump together attended “Come From Away,” a Canadian show now on Broadway that tells the story of a Newfoundland town that welcomed refugees following 9/11.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Jonathan Compo
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Toby Hung, Editor-in-Chief
Ian Scoville, Campus News Editor Aly Pachter, City News Editor Sean Hoffman, Sports Editor Marina Tian, Guide Editor Lisa Burgoa, Opinion Editor Lauren Seibel, Photography Editor Alyssa Volivar, Design Editor Sarah Wright, Copy Chief Kelly Park, Social Media Editor Alessandra Puccio, Blog Editor Jack Martin, Multimedia Editor
Final Reveal — On Tuesday, Rachel Maddow revealed President Donald Trump’s 2005 Form 1040, showing that he paid about $38 million in taxes on about $150 million income that year.
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OPINION
Friday, march 17, 2017
PLAYING POLITICS
THE HOYA
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VIEWPOINT • GLAVIN
Christian Mesa & Aaron Bennett
Rooting for an Underdog Upset
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n March of 2013, a littleknown school by the name of Wichita State University made a historic run in the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Entering as a No. 9 seed team, the Shockers triumphed over No. 8 seed Pittsburgh, No. 1 seed Gonzaga, No. 13 seed La Salle and No. 2 seed Ohio State before finally being eliminated by Louisville. Wichita State’s story has been heralded as the epitome of a March Madness Cinderella story — a team with low expectations and high odds makes a miraculous run deep into the tournament. This dark horse narrative can be found not only in the tournament but in our current political landscape as well. Coming off the heels of a decisive electoral defeat last November, Democrats are out of power in Washington and face limited options to advance their agenda. Currently, the Republican Party commands both Congress and the White House. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Republicans could essentially pass whatever they desire into law but that is not always in the cards. Like the NCAA Tournament, the latest arena for a clash between frontrunner and underdog also takes place this March. A Republican-controlled Senate looks to confirm quickly Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s nominee, to the Supreme Court of the United States, a process that begins with his nomination hearing March 20. The odds do not look great for the Democrats. Gorsuch is a mainstream conservative justice who greatly respects an independent judiciary, passes GOP litmus tests and has been on the shortlists for years. Republicans should not have trouble keeping their Senators in line and placating their base, and, with 52 affirmative votes in the Senate, Gorsuch is expected to face little trouble. However, this does not mean Democrats should give up hope so quickly. There are Cinderella stories every few
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years, despite the slim chances of success. Yes, it will require a tireless work ethic and a lot of luck, but declaring it impossible ignores the classic underdog narrative. To pull off the upset, Democrats must frame Gorsuch as a nominee outside the political norm. Gorsuch has a resume fit for a Supreme Court nominee, but his views are decidedly of the conservative extreme. To deny successfully his nomination, they need to paint Gorsuch as too stringently conservative for the non-partisan bench. Because the Supreme Court has become more partisan in recent years as the fault of both parties, Democrats could seize this opportunity to frame a message and return the Supreme Court to a nonpartisan entity. Democrats will also need to convince voters that this seat rightfully belongs to Merrick Garland, the moderate judge nominated by President Obama to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat. Not only did the GOP block Garland’s nomination for over eight months, but many Republicans had come out saying they were prepared to block a potential President Clinton nominee for four years. Using the argument that Republicans had politicized the Supreme Court and that this seat was meant for a centrist nominee like Garland, Democrats could mobilize enough support to win a narrow vote against Gorsuch. We are not saying this will be easy or even likely. We are saying it is not impossible. Although incredibly rare, low-seed teams should never give up hope. Wichita State and Florida Gulf Coast certainly did not, and Democrats should not either. They lose nothing by taking on Goliath, and if they do lose, they get to say they tried. But after all, it is March. Anything can happen.
Christian Mesa and Aaron Bennett are sophomores in the College. Playing Politics appears every other Friday.
“It Shoots” has to mean, most fundamentally, that the undesired things in our lives — not of course the evil of the criminal — equal in validity the desired.
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Lessons From Zen: ‘It Shoots’
here’s a particularly memorable scene in Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery (German 1948; English 1956). Herrigel had come to Japan in 1921 to learn more about the practice of Zen. Once there, he concluded his best route would involve training in a specific discipline. A serious athlete, he picked archery as that discipline, which he took up under a renowned master, Awa Kenzo. In this scene, Herrigel is complaining that Awa regularly criticizes his pupil’s performance but never demonstrates his own putatively superior skill. In response, Awa orders Herrigel to turn out on all the lights in the shooting gallery, and then to set a target up at the opposite end; finally, he tells Herrigel to position a candle directly in front of Awa’s face so that he is, in effect, blinded. Awa then releases two arrows into the dark space. When the lights come up, Herrigel sees that the first arrow has hit the bull’seye, and the second arrow has split the first in half. Awestruck, Herrigel asks
the Master how he did that. Awa answers by refusing to take credit. Instead, he insists: “It Shoots.” After the English translation appeared, a lively controversy emerged over what Awa actually said in Japanese, and how Herrigel may have misunderstood and mistranslated him. I don’t want to become involved in that. Instead, I want to talk about how we might adapt “It Shoots” to our own lives. American mass culture insists that each person is or can or should be the master of his or her own fate — a fantasy that can mask the predatory power of privilege while fueling in every class the engines of consumption. But, what if we resist that fantasy and reverse its argument? What if — instead of seeing life coming from us — we see it coming toward us and through us? In other words, what if for “It Shoots” we read “Life Shoots”? What would your life feel like, how would you live differently, if you started from this radically altered point of view? This may seem an impossible prescription in an age
and culture of apps, which encourage each individual to believe he or she should be able to summon without effort and instantly everything he or she desires, from Uber to entry into the upper-middle class. Nevertheless, I’d urge you, at least tentatively, to explore this version of “It Shoots”; it contains, I think, an extraordinarily liberating and life-enhancing potential. You can begin with a short exercise. List all the things in your life that have come to you or through you but not from you — both good and bad. Where in your life have you found “It Shoots”? Where in your life has your life found you? Almost everywhere, right? But as you answered that question, you probably also encountered one or more of the following attitudes, stances that seem to hallmark contemporary life. 1. Anything in my life that I didn’t choose is an imposition on that life. 2. My needs and desires should not be affected by any limit on supply or availability. 3. Good things that hap-
pen to me happen largely through my own efforts. 4. Anything that goes wrong or comes up short in my life is the responsibility of those nominally in charge. If they were doing their job, I wouldn’t be disappointed. 5. I should be able to do what I want in my own time and in the space I choose. 6. I ought to be able to enjoy both now and hereafter a prosperous, successful and fulfilled life. It’s my right as a human being. All of these positions subvert “It Shoots,” because “It Shoots” has to mean, most fundamentally, that the undesired things in our lives — not of course the evil or the criminal — equal in validity the desired. Life is what is. And everything else is not life but — well, a kind term would be fantasy. John glavin (COL ’64) is a professor of English and director of the Georgetown Office of Fellowships, Awards and Resources for Undergraduates. From January to December 1963, he was editor-inchief of The Hoya.
VIEWPOINT • CAPRIO
FROM THE DEAN’S DESK
To Each Her Own
Finding Perspective Abroad
fter my “Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies” class, multiple readings of Gloria Steinem’s “If Men Could Menstruate” and a role as the communications co-chair for HoyasForShe, I am faced with a question: Can I enjoy “The Bachelor” and still live with myself? It is a question I long struggled with, but one that I could eventually reconcile with my concept of feminism. Since its premiere in 2002, ABC’s “The Bachelor” has featured countless female contestants competing to reach the timeless goal of any woman’s life: getting engaged to a steamy white man. Upon realizing the potential profit margin from filming two seasons per year, the producers of “The Bachelor” created the spin-off, “The Bachelorette,” allowing nearly 30 steamy white men to pine over a single woman and effectively end gender inequality in modern America. With the franchise boasting a marriage survival rate of 17.64 percent — low enough to rival Georgetown’s admission rate — the shows’ producers have decided to tackle another social justice hurdle in the next season: racism. After 34 combined seasons of “The Bachelor” franchise, not including additional spinoffs, the show will finally debut the first black Bachelorette with this season’s “Bachelor” contestant, Rachel Lindsay, next season. Usually a few women of color appear each season, but the steamy white men generally hand out roses to white contestants. Since the next bachelorette is determined
from popular non-winners of the previous “Bachelor” season, women of color often do not advance far enough to be considered for the next bachelorette. We had a black president before we could handle a black bachelorette.
This is what feminism should be about: allowing women to have the freedom to do what makes them happy. Aside from that, to apply for “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette,” contestants must be 21 years of age and list all visible tattoos. The video application must include biographical information, but the bolded instruction is not to forget close-up and full-body shots. The producers need those to make sure they can keep their ratings high and get gratuitous shots of chiseled bodies emerging from the shower. This is probably why we have not seen a lanky bachelor or a size-14 Bachelorette. An uncomfortable binary also exists in “The Bachelor” franchise: You can be the bachelor, choosing a wife from nearly 30 attractive women, or you can be the bachelorette, choosing a husband from nearly 30 steamy white men. On top of that, heteronormative standards are just as heavily promoted. Simply ask the women who must have the
two remaining men propose to them on “The Bachelorette” season finale. Admittedly, “The Bachelor” does sprinkle some dialogueprovoking moments between the drama and heartbreak that dominate two hours of America’s Monday nights. From concerns of Chad Johnson’s abusive language on the last season of “Bachelor in Paradise” and female contestants’ voluntary exits from the show to focus on their careers, to an ongoing slut-shaming debate, “The Bachelor” franchise is no stranger to tough topics. So how do I still allow myself to watch “The Bachelor” despite its flaws? Why am I okay with the show’s premise? It is a concept of feminism I have often struggled with, one that Amy Poehler eloquently states in her Nobel Prize-deserving memoir, “Yes Please.” She writes, “That is the motto women should constantly repeat over and over again. Good for her! Not for me.” This is what feminism should be about: allowing women, regardless of age, race, size, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and biological gender, to have the freedom to be ambitious, to do what makes them happy and to reach for their own dreams. For many women, getting married is their ultimate goal. For a smaller subset of these women, competing with several other women for said husband on national TV seems like an appealing opportunity. Good for them. Not for me. Angela caprio is a sopho-
more in the College.
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priceless perspective that elevates the Georgetown University experience is looking back at the Hilltop, from over your shoulder and from overseas. In the current global environment — where complex problems know no borders — it is important to have at least one meaningful experience abroad to see how other people live and what they value. The lessons you carry back are ones that will change and enrich the perspective you bring to things that lie ahead of you. What you glean from these experiences will support and challenge you as you venture out onto the path you choose and, in many cases, as you struggle to find that path. As Hoyas, we believe our academic community becomes a richer place when we push you to go beyond just being a tourist. We want you to experience the twinge of discomfort in realizing that you might need to rethink what you already know and what you already believe you understand. For those still holding out on us for fear of missing Georgetown Day, clubs and friends, we challenge that there are three undeniably good reasons to venture abroad: the personal, the academic and the professional. On a personal level, an experience that takes you to an unfamiliar place will often provide the push you need to be open to new ideas. Sure, we all say we want to be open to challenging ourselves, but how many of us cringe when we think about doing something that is really hard? Think about your plans post-graduation. Do you have
the courage to take a less welldefined path? An experience abroad might just help you develop the confidence you need to be patient in searching for what you really want instead of playing it safe. The experiences you have away from Georgetown can provide memories for a lifetime that will help you grow, mature and stretch yourself in ways that staying near good old 37th and O cannot.
Polly Robey & Lisa Gordinier An experience away from Georgetown can also give you a more nuanced understanding of your chosen major or minor. Think about the value of stepping into a culture you are studying. Sure, we all know you can improve your language skills, but think about the people you will be studying with and the ways in which they can change the way you learn things simply by sharing their perspectives with you. Whatever path you choose after Georgetown, your experience abroad will set you apart, and above, those who have never traveled, studied or worked abroad. Employers — whether from the government, private sector or NGOs — appreciate these experiences and often speak to us about
the value of them. The time to start considering your overseas experience is now. Explore your options. Do not leave decisions and applications to the last minute. Doing so only limits what is available to you. Make the most of this experience and choose whatever it is that will get you where you want to go. Let us be clear: This is not easy. Sometimes it is hard, and you might feel alone or afraid. Trust us when we tell you to go away! Some of the things we have learned from our years studying, living and working overseas are what help us help you through the challenges you bring to us. Whatever you choose, be a good ambassador for Georgetown and your community. People will learn from you, too. In a time of such great challenges, at home and abroad, it is good to recall that Georgetown University was established in 1789 in the spirit of a new republic, itself a foreign country to most. Our mission of serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures and beliefs promotes understanding. We embody this principle in the diversity of our students, faculty and staff, our commitment to justice and the common good, our intellectual openness and our international character. So go away — you will be glad you did.
Lisa Gordinier and Polly Robey are assistant deans in the School of Foreign Service. From the dean’s desk is a rotating column that appears every other Friday.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE The university is planning to invest $6 million in renovations to student housing this summer. Story on A7.
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IN FOCUS WINTER COMES LATE verbatim
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It is a fellowship that, as a whole, is dedicated to actualizing social change, leveling the playing field around the world, and improving local communities.” Louisa Christen (SFS ’19), a 2017 GU Impacts Fellow, on the program. Story on A7.
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REJECTED, NOW WHAT? 4E guides you through you saving your night after dealing with the hardest rejection of them all: Piano Bar. LAUREN SEIBEL/THE HOYA
The university cancelled classes and closed campus Tuesday as winter storm Stella hit the Northeast, bringing three inches of snow to the District and the delayed opening of the federal government and D.C. public schools.
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New Dean Looks to Balance Tradition With Innovation IAN SCOVILLE AND TARA SUBRAMANIAM Hoya Staff Writers
Christopher S. Celenza, who will start as the next dean of the College on July 1, is looking to balance maintaining Georgetown’s traditions with a need to prepare students for an uncertain future. “On the one hand, the basic experience of the College for Georgetown students is one that really prepares them for life in a specific way, which is to say it can give you the sorts of tools that you can resituate yourself,” Celenza said in an interview with campus media. “We have to be willing and courageous enough to think that we can’t only do something just because we’ve always been doing it.” University President John J. DeGioia made the announcement in a campuswide email March 2 about Celenza, who is leaving his post as vice provost for faculty affairs at Johns Hopkins University. Celenza also serves as a professor in the German and Romance languages and classics departments at Johns Hopkins. A BACKGROUND ROOTED IN ACADEMIA Celenza has a long history in scholarship, according to DeGioia. He served as the chair of the classics department at Johns Hopkins from 2014 to 2016, was the founding director of the Charles Singleton Center for the Study of PreModern Europe from 2008 to 2010, a multi-departmental study focusing on the history of pre-modern Europe, and served as vice dean for humanities and social science. Celenza served as director of the American Academy in Rome, a research and arts institution, from 2010 to 2014. Performing arts professor Anna Celenza, who is married to Christopher, said her husband is motivated by a passion for learning. “A deep love of learning is what first drew him to academia,” Anna Celenza wrote in an email to THE HOYA. “And that love of learning, I think, has only grown stronger over the years. Working in a university setting is so fulfilling on so many levels: interacting with students,
scholars and colleagues.” William Egginton, who is the German and Romance languages and literature department chair at Johns Hopkins and worked with Celenza in the department, said Celenza unifies his interests in literature, history and classics through his work. “He also managed to bring those three departments together both in small, practical ways, like guiding graduate students, but also in larger ways, the sorts of events that he would plan, the kind of contributions that he would make at an intellectual level,” Egginton said. “He managed to bring all those three departments together in a way that they hadn’t been before.” Celenza’s work is focused on making the humanities accessible to all, according to Egginton. “We want to move away from this sense that humanities are for a cloister group of select people who can understand them, and rather really are important for society as a whole,” Egginton
said. “We need to understand our history, we need to understand how to read, in the sense of doing deep interpretation and having an understanding of where our traditions come from is vital for a democracy.” A BALANCED APPROACH TO CHANGE College Dean Chester Gillis, who will take a yearlong sabbatical before returning to the department of theology as a professor, said he hopes Celenza takes a holistic approach when making changes in the College. “I don’t want to saddle him with my vision or my projects. I hope he’ll sustain many of the things that I have done, but as far as initiatives, he should be his own person and not really inherit mine,” Gillis said. Going forward, Celenza said the College must equip its students for an uncertain future. “On the one hand the basic experience of the College for Georgetown students is one that really prepares them for life in a specific way, which is
to say it can give you the sorts of tools that you can resituate yourself,” Celenza said. “We have to be willing and courageous enough to think that we can’t only do something just because we’ve always been doing it.” The College has seen an expansion of its curriculum in recent years, with the introduction of an African American studies major this fall and the introduction of Urban Studio courses next fall – six-credit, yearlong courses that allow students to create projects that help the D.C. community. Egginton said Celenza has a proven track record of creating positive change. “I can tell you he’ll be a transformational being, he certainly has in the work that he’s done for us in this last decade that I’ve been with him here at Hopkins, he’s really turned our humanities around in many ways,” Egginton said. Celenza said he was drawn to the university because of its culture of service. “I love the fact that so many
of the students are interested in doing service of all kinds, I love that it is part of the university’s mission to reach out to people who might otherwise fall off the radar of educational institutions,” Celenza said. “I really love the fact that one of the guiding principles of the university is men and women for others.” As dean of the College, Celenza said he hopes to embody Georgetown’s mission of service. According to Celenza, his new role as dean is not to overhaul the existing structure but to evaluate which traditions remain vital. “Deans are at their best when they are serving the community. When they are gathering opinions from faculty members, from students and finding through energy and commitment how people at a university can best work together,” Celenza said. “I don’t see myself as a top-down dean, I see myself as someone who is really responsible for understanding what the ground-up dynamics are.” Egginton said Celenza looks
to balance competing interests when making decisions. “Some really stuff issues on his plate, and the key to understanding how Chris deals with tough issues, is his deep collegiality and his ability to approach everything with calm, efficiency, but also just a sense of approachability and we’re going to have a conversation about this, and we’re going to put everything out on the table and see where our interests lie and try to forge some kind of a common path forward,” Egginton said. Celenza said he has a deep appreciation for the university’s emphasis on its Jesuit values, particularly cura personalis, or care for the entire person, as a driving factor. “On a national level, Georgetown has a second-to-none undergraduate experience,” Celenza said. “This idea of men and women for others is so meaningful. It is very rare that you see universities foreground personal development, this traditional idea of cura personalis.”
COURTESY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
University President John J. DeGioia announced the appointment of Christopher S. Celenza as the new dean of the College starting July 1, replacing current dean Chester Gillis, who plans to continue teaching at Georgetown after a yearlong sabbatical.
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Alumnus Under Fire in Georgia Congressional Campaign Tara Subramaniam Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown University alumnus Jon Ossoff (SFS ’09) is running as a Democrat in Georgia’s special election to fill the 6th Congressional District’s seat in the House of Representatives. Ossoff has come under fire for videos from his time at Georgetown that have resurfaced. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who represented Georgia’s 6th District for 12 years, was confirmed as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to President Donald Trump on Feb. 10, leaving his seat in the House of Representatives vacant.
“I am doing my best and my team is doing its best to run a different kind of campaign.” Jon Ossoff (SFS ’09) Democratic Candidate, Georgia’s 6th Congressional District
Ossoff is one of the 18 candidates — five Democrats and 13 Republicans — vying for the spot. The race to replace Price is unique for a few reasons. First, the election is a jungle primary, in which unless a candidate wins by a majority, garnering 50 percent of the votes plus one, the two top candidates enter a runoff. The first vote is on April 18 and if there is no majority winner, a runoff vote is scheduled for June 20. Second, Georgia is historically a Republican state and its 6th Congressional District
is no exception. The 6th District has not elected a Democrat congressman since 1979, when former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) replaced incumbent John Flynt (D-Ga.). However, in the 2016 presidential election, Trump won the 6th District by only 1 percent of the vote. With an online pitch to voters titled “Make Trump Furious,” Ossoff, like the other Democrats in the race, is counting on November’s numbers signaling a shift in the district’s voting preferences. Ossoff’s campaign has received a large amount of media attention from liberals who see his candidacy as part of the anti-Trump resistance. The progressive online community Daily Kos, which helped fund Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) bid for Senate, set up a website to receive donations for Ossoff. Through the website, Ossoff’s campaign received more than $800,000 in a week, around double the total amount Daily Kos raised for Warren. At only 30 years old, Ossoff’s youth is being used to paint Ossoff as young and immature by some. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC backed by House of Representative GOP leaders, ran an attack advertisement featuring clips from a performance Ossoff gave as a member of the Georgetown Chimes. In the video, Ossoff sings a parody of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” in Gaston Hall with the Chimes. “Georgetown girl / You know she’s living in her M Street world / She never tires of her high-class toys,” the Chimes sang. In other parts of the video, Ossoff is dressed up as Han Solo from “Star Wars.” The advertisement ends by describing Ossoff as “not honest, not serious, not
JON OSSOFF
Jon Ossoff (SFS ’09), who is running as a Democrat in Georgia’s special election to fill the 6th Congressional District’s seat in the House of Representatives, has come under scrutiny for videos taken during his time at Georgetown. ready.” Ossoff spoke to volunteers and supporters at the campaign’s Marietta, Ga. office March 11. He said the campaign’s grassroots growth with over 7,000 volunteer workers is reflective of the current political climate. “The grassroots momentum that this campaign is building is really extraordinary,” Ossoff said. “It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with the times we’re living in and the renewed sense of civic engagement that people across the sixth district are feeling.” Ossoff said his campaign aims to unite the district and give the people hope during a
contentious political time. “I am doing my best and my team is doing its best to run a different kind of campaign, to run a campaign that approaches all voters with respect and humility, with no prejudice no matter where they are on the political spectrum, no matter who they support,” Ossoff said. “Despite all of the negativity out there, we are doing our best to run a positive campaign that gives people something to believe in.” Ossoff’s campaign is not the first time this year that Georgia politics have come under the national spotlight.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) from Georgia’s 5th District was attacked by Trump on Twitter as being “all talk, talk talk — no action or results” for criticizing Trump’s legitimacy as president. In a Jan. 5 statement endorsing Ossoff, Lewis said Ossoff’s campaign provides an avenue for Democrats looking to rebuild after the 2016 presidential election. “Jon is committed to progress and justice and he knows how to fight the good fight,” Lewis said. “We should unite behind Jon and send a clear message that Donald Trump doesn’t represent our values.” The Georgetown Institute
of Public Policy and Service is sending a small group of students to Georgia from March 29 to 30 to meet with Ossoff and experience what it is like to campaign in a local election. GU Politics Chief of Staff Hannah Hope said the trip builds upon the program’s mission and work on campus. “This is the kind of experience we are always looking to give Georgetown students, the chance to leave the beltway and see what is politics really like on the ground, how does public service take shape in the real world,” Hope said. “This is an extension of our mission on campus.”
GUPD Responds to White ACLU Sues DC Police Nationalist Group’s Posters Over Arrest of Activist Jeff Cirillo
Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown University Police Department has launched an investigation after posters were placed in several locations on and off campus by Identity Evropa, a white national group, Sunday night. The posters, placed in locations including Red Square and Village A, included several white nationalist slogans, such as “Our destiny is ours,” “Serve your people,” and “Let’s become great again.” The group took credit for the posters on its Twitter account. By Monday night, many of the posters had been taken down by students. GUPD Chief Jay Gruber said campus police were investigating the matter. “We have recently been made aware of the posters,” Gruber wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are currently investigating this.” The group, founded at California State University Stanislaus, has plastered posters at universities across the country, including the University of California, Los Angeles, Pennyslvania State University and the University of Washington. A past campaign at Indiana University specifi-
cally targeted the offices of professors of color. The Southern Poverty Law Center identified the group as white nationalist on their website in February. Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said in a statement to The Hoya the campaign is an act of hate. “The posters appear to be part of a campaign by an outside group that has posted similar materials on campuses across the country. Acts of hate will not be tolerated on Georgetown’s campus,” the statement reads. “We are a community that welcomes all people and that values understanding, dignity, inclusion and respect.” Georgetown University Student Association President-elect Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President-elect Jessica Andino (COL ’18) said the posters stray beyond the territory of free speech into harassment. “We are appalled to see that these flyers that promote hate were spread across campus. Because of the hateful message that the organization embodies, this crosses the line of free speech into dangerous territory of harassment,” Mack and Andino wrote in
an email to The Hoya. “We are committed to promoting a tolerant speech environment where there is fruitful dialogue.” Mack and Andino also encouraged students to use the university’s Bias Reporting System, which allows students to report bias incidents to the university. “At this time we want to remind students that Georgetown has a Bias Reporting System if they feel any of their identities have been targeted in a threatening manner,” Mack and Andino wrote. “We would also like to emphasize the current guidelines of the Speech and Expression Policy as laid out by the university and to express that during our administration we plan to continue programming that informs the student body of these guidelines.” The Georgetown Bipartisan Pro-Israel Dialogue denounced the posters and Identity Evropa in a post to the group’s Facebook page Monday. “These individuals may be blinded by hatred and ignorance; the Georgetown population, however, is not,” the post reads. “For we are Georgetown, and we are one family. And no Hitler dress-up club can touch that.”
IDENTITY EVROPA
White nationalist group Identity Evropa posted a series of posters on and off campus Sunday night at locations such as Village A and Red Square.
Maddi Charbonneau Special to The Hoya
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit late last month against four D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers and the D.C. government on behalf of Lourdes Ashley Hunter, a local transgender rights activist who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge without a warrant last November. Hunter, co-founder and executive director of the TransWomen of Color Collective, was hosting a dinner for her friends and fellow trans activists last November. Hunter’s neighbor allegedly called the police to complain about noise and claimed Hunter had assaulted her. ACLU attorney Shana Knizhnik said the ACLU is suing the MPD both for the warrantless arrest, which violates a D.C. statute, and for a violation of Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals and their homes from unreasonable searches and seizures. “There are two claims that we’re making. First, that the warrantless arrest of Ms. Hunter was a violation of D.C. law,” Knizhnik said. “Second, we’re claiming that the entry by MPD officers into Ms. Hunter’s home to arrest her — again, entry without a warrant, arrest without a warrant — was in violation of the Fourth Amendment.” According to Hunter, police then proceeded to enter Hunter’s apartment without a warrant and arrest her on a misdemeanor charge. “I refused to go with them, and they dragged me out of my apartment,” Hunter said. “The police violated my Fourth Amendment rights. The MPD has a history of entering homes without a warrant and it is against the law for them to enter my home for a misdemeanor charge without a warrant.” Hunter said she contacted the ACLU for assistance in suing the MPD.
Knizhnik said she felt that pursuing the case was not only in Hunter’s best interest, but also in the interest of the D.C. community as a whole. “Ms. Hunter reached out to us and we saw some video from that night and spoke with her and did research about the issue and found that this was a violation by the police,” Knizhnik said. According to Michael Tobin, the executive director of the D.C. Office of Police Complaints, the District has laws different from other metropolitan areas regarding when an officer can and cannot arrest an individual for a misdemeanor. “Under D.C. law, which is a little bit peculiar from other jurisdictions, the police officers in Washington, D.C., are required to actually observe that type of event in order to make an arrest, unless there is an exigent reason at the time, such as to quell violence or to prevent violence from continuing to occur,” Tobin said. The D.C. Office of Police Complaints has received numerous complaints of warrantless entry into private homes over the past several years. Prior to 2013, dozens of reports of warrantless home entry were filed with the office. Of these, 12 were ruled legitimate. Tobin said a report was filed in 2013 by the Office of Police Complaints that described the incidents and made recommendations to the MPD on how to improve on this issue. “In that policy recommendation we had found that there were a series of instances that we recognized to be developing into a pattern in which MPD officers were conducting arrests without the proper warrant,” Tobin said. Tobin said the pattern the office noticed led to a desire to rectify the situation. “When we see a pattern developing then, if we’re able to identify that, we try to help the police department improve its policies, procedures and
training by making these policy recommendations,” Tobin said. “That’s what we did in this case. We made the recommendation that they improve their procedures.” Since the 2013 report was filed, there have been 57 more incidents of warrantless entry into private homes and warrantless arrest. Tobin said a second policy report was filed last year to address this same issue. “We found some cases in which proper police work was not being done to identify the actual house and the proper living place of the subject of the warrant, so we issued a second policy recommendation with respect to doing more diligent work and identifying where somebody lives before the arrest warrant or search warrant is issued,” Tobin said. According to Tobin, there are currently four open cases against the MPD for warrantless entry into private homes. Hunter, who attended the White House gala for transgender activists the night after her arrest, said her arrest has caused her significant trauma, and she hopes that her case will influence future MPD policy. “My hope is that MPD will implement monitoring of its officers, in particular when it comes to entering the homes of citizens without a warrant because that is illegal,” Hunter said. “I also hope to be compensated for the trauma I experienced from being arrested the night before attending a huge gala at the White House.” The MPD Public Information Officer Hugh Carew said the MPD cannot comment on pending litigation but said the department is looking to strengthen its ties to underserved groups. “MPD remains committed to assisting and building relationships with historically underserved groups including the LGBT community,” Carew wrote in an email to The Hoya.
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Adichie Advocates Increased Gender Equity in Religions ADICHIE, from A1 Series invites authors to discuss their work and its connections to faith. Driven by her belief that “we should all be feminists,” discussed in Adiche’s 2013 TED talk of the same name, Adichie said she wants those who are religious to feel like they can also be feminists. “Lately, I’ve been finding myself thinking about how one can craft a feminist platform from Christianity. It feels tenuous, but maybe it’s not impossible,” Adichie said. “Practicing religion is really about making choices about what you want to emphasize. So the question becomes what does one want to focus on.” Adichie, who grew up in the Catholic tradition in Nigeria, said she has struggled to define her relationship with religion. “I like to say that I was raised Catholic. I am very uncomfortable saying that I am Catholic,” Adichie said. “It’s almost a political identity to be Catholic, in America. It’s an identity that says you’re pro-life, conservative. In some ways I feel as though they often go together.” Despite having left the Catholic church as an adult, Adichie said she values her religious upbringing and the ways it shaped her worldview. “Growing up Catholic, for me, was a joyful experience. As a child, I loved Mass. I loved the drama of Mass. It was very important for me to grow up the way I did with a sense of the Catholic world,” Adichie said. “It’s a very complicated thing for me because on the one hand, I do have these deep-seated concerns with the laws of the Catholic doctrine. Part of my quarrel with the Catholic Church is how often there is an elevation of the institution over the person.” In her hometown and childhood communities, Adichie said she has encountered several women who find themselves torn between being good Christians and following their instincts concerning gender equality. “I remember talking to a woman who I thought was very progressive and I was just horrified at what I thought were very backwards views on homosexuality, and then she said, ‘If it wasn’t in the Bible I would
be more willing to listen to you,’” Adichie said. According to Adichie, many women, especially in countries other than the United States, are hesitant to identify themselves as feminists or act according to feminist values of equality because of a negative cultural stigma associated with the term.
“At the end, we are on the same side. I am a person who will continue to stand up for the rights of trans women.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Author and Activist
“Feminism is not an abstract concept or academic discourse, it’s a way of life. It’s about changing the world,” Adichie said. “There’s a lot of hostility that’s directed at any woman who publicly takes on that label and I think it happens everywhere in the world. To know that that comes with the territory and to continue to do it has to be because I think it’s worth doing, worth talking about.” In the question-and-answer portion of the event, Desiree Lucky (LAW ’19) read a statement from transgender artist Venus D’Khaijah Selenite calling out Adichie’s Sunday comments as hypocritical and transphobic, questioning Adichie’s commitment to gender equality. Adichie clarified her comments by indicating that the sex someone is born with shapes their life experiences and alters the privileges they are granted by society. “For me, feminism is not rhetoric, it’s about lived experiences. I come from a place where a child is born, they look at what’s between a child’s legs and immediately decide what value to give that child. Based on what’s between that child’s legs, whether vagina or penis, that child runs the risk of being killed,” Adichie said. “Gender matters because gender is about how the world treats you. It’s about how the world treats
you based on your biology.” Adichie said while she believes transgender women have different life experiences than those born female, both parties should be considered equal and treated as such. “There is a difference in the gender experiences of trans women and women who are born female. I don’t see why acknowledging the differences somehow translates to my being transphobic,” Adichie said. “Trans women should have the right to be because they are fully human beings. At the end, we are on the same side. I am a person who will continue to stand up for the rights of trans women.” Adichie said she is hopeful that the feminist movement will continue to gain traction outside of the United States. “We have to start somewhere. If my friend’s friend is raising her son differently, then at some point we are going to have a critical mass,” Adichie said. “I am hopeful because I really believe in the ability of humans to change.”
SPENCER COOK FOR THE HOYA
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, left, discussed the need for religious institutions to better value gender equity, in a Gaston Hall event moderated by Paul Eli, senoir fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs yesterday.
GU Receives Record Number of Applications ADMISSIONS, from A1
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., will serve as the university’s new vice president for mission and ministry starting Aug. 1, succeeding interim vice president Fr. Howard Gray, S.J.
University Appoints New VP for Mission and Ministry MINISTRY, from A1 depth of experience to the new position. “Georgetown is fortunate to have Mark Bosco as the new Vice President, a Jesuit of many talents, wide experience, and proved commitment to Jesuit higher education,” Gray wrote in an email to The Hoya. Government professor Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J., who served on the search committee that selected Bosco, said Bosco will bring innovation to the Georgetown community. “I’m delighted by Fr. Bosco’s appointment. He conveys a marvelous sense of welcome and hospitality, and loves to cook, so I think there will be many opportunities for members of the community -— students, faculty, and staff -— to get to know him in close, personal ways,” Carnes wrote in an email to The Hoya. “His academic background in poetry, aesthetics, and theology, and
his deep grounding in spirituality, will be a real gift to Georgetown, and they promise to help us move in new directions in the ways we live out Mission and Ministry.”
“Georgetown is fortunate to have Mark Bosco ad the new Vice President, a Jesuit of many talents, wide experience, and proved commitment to Jesuit higher education.” FR. HOWARD GRAY, S.J. Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry
In his role as director of the Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola, Bosco said he focused on cultivating interfaith dialogue, which
he hopes to continue at Georgetown. “For the last four years we’ve done a successful afternoon symposium on trying to bring faith traditions together. We always invited students to be part of it, and I really liked that part the best,” Bosco said. “It usually brought other students in because students like to hear what their friends are doing, but it also was a witness to what’s going on on campus.” Bosco said he looks forward to becoming a part of the Georgetown community and strengthening the university’s Jesuit traditions. “Mostly I’m looking forward to getting to know people there and to see what’s out there and to see how I can contribute,” Bosco said. “I’d like to talk more about and celebrate Ignatian pedagogy — which I know is going on at Georgetown — and see if we can just articulate that.”
Hoya Staff Writer Hannah Urtz contributed reporting.
following their academic interests,” Deacon said. “It’s a good sign for the liberal arts that people are going back to it.” Deacon noted the role of the Georgetown Scholarship Program as a contributing factor of the rising number of first generation students submitting applications. “We have the GSP program, which is a great program. We don’t recruit for that — people get invited to join from the admissions committee selecting people they think would be good for it,” Deacon said. “But the word of mouth is out about it, which holds up our firstgen, lower-income pool.” Deacon said this change in admissions rates reflects a trade-off between the number of incoming freshmen and transfer students admitted. “We’re taking slightly more freshmen and slightly fewer transfers, which is what the deans want because the freshmen [class] is the strongest pool already,” Deacon said. “We still have a good transfer pool, which comes in April.” Deacon also said the increased number of first-generation students is a positive sign for socio-economic diversity, though it foreshadows competition between elite schools to retain these students. “For us, with first-gen kids, the problem is, with all the socio-economic circumstances of their lives, not that high of a percentage have the academic record that puts them in a range for a school like a Georgetown or an Ivy League school,” Deacon said. “Essentially, a number of the most competitive schools are sort of competing for the same
pretty small pool of people with a sufficiently strong background.”
“Almost all of the increase was from people who are in the top 10 percent of their high school class.” CHARLES DEACON Dean of Undergraduate Admissions
Deacon also indicated the various factors behind the high number of applications, such as the new SAT exam, Georgetown’s independent application system, an increase in the number of high school graduates applying to colleges, the national political climate and Georgetown’s location, which all bolster the university’s brand. “Washington, D.C., is an interesting place to be, particularly in a political year. President Trump wanted to drain the swamp, but he filled it back up with everybody,” Deacon said. “Washington is a political power center, as opposed to a financial one, or an entrepreneurial one. It’s a political power site.” The 2016-17 admissions cycle was the first to use the new SAT format, which transitioned back to the 1600-point scale from the previous 2400-point scale and was administered for the first time in March 2016. The change did not affect the way Georgetown analyzes standardized test scores, since the admissions committee only calculates
the combined critical reading and math scores. However, Deacon said the College Board, the organization that administers the SAT, has suggested there might be more students scoring higher than they would have on the old test. Deacon said this year also saw an increased number of students taking and submitting scores for the ACT. In the early admissions pool, the number of students submitting ACT scores compared to SAT scores was split about evenly. Deacon said this trend could have hurt students who preferred to submit ACT scores instead of the new SAT scores they received because they considered it to look more impressive. “A lot of people are advised by their high school counselors maybe to take the ACT, which we don’t think is great advice, because the ACT was unchanged but the SAT came out higher, so that could have had an impact,” Deacon said. Deacon said this ended up making the applicant pool significantly more competitive. “Almost all of the increase was from people who are in the top 10 percent of their high school class. What you see going on there is that as you become more competitive, people begin to weed themselves out. People with lower scores say, ‘Why bother?’ If they are high, they say, ‘Maybe this is a school I should be applying for,’” Deacon said. Deacon also said that despite the men’s basketball team’s performance this year, the university’s reputation is growing and attracting more students. “Put basketball aside,” Deacon said. “The Georgetown brand has been stronger and stronger.”
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GU Impacts Announces 23 Fellowship Recipients Charlotte Allen Hoya Staff Writer
JOHN CURRAN/THE HOYA
Georgetown’s MBA program, run out of the McDonough School of Business, ranked 21 for MBA programs in the country in a ranking by U.S. News & World Report.
MBA Program Ranked 21st Nationwide Marina Pitofsky Hoya Staff Writer
The McDonough School of Business’s program for master’s in business administration was ranked among the top-25 MBA programs in the country, according to a March 13 ranking by U.S. News & World Report. Of the 131 programs ranked, the MSB’s fulltime MBA program was ranked No. 21 in the nation, up one spot from last year’s ranking of No. 22. Additionally, the MSB’s international business studies program ranked eighth, up seven spots from last year. The MSB’s evening, part-time program was ranked No. 18, down six spots from last year. U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for MBA programs are based on a number of distinct metrics, such as rates of recent alumni employment, base salaries after graduation and surveys completed by peer institutions on fellow MBA programs. Senior Associate Dean for MBA Programs Prashant Malaviya said the ranking honors the MSB’s accomplishments and inspires them to improve programs in the future. Malaviya said the ranking indicates improvement in the latter metric, demonstrating Georgetown’s standing among fellow universities. “What’s really important is to see that, slowly but surely, our reputation amongst our peer institutions is also improving,” Malaviya said. “To see that those measures are also
improving is a reflection that not only are we doing hard work and doing well, but people are recognizing that we are doing the hard work and doing well.” Malaviya also attributed the rankings to the innovative use of technology fostered within the MSB. One such example is the “blended classroom” the MSB introduced last January, which allows students to attend classes and engage with course materials both physically and digitally.
“What’s really important is to see that, slowly but surely, our reputation amongst our peer institutions is also improving.” Prashant malaviya Senior Associate Dean for MBA Programs
“We cannot be satisfied with what we have done in the past. We’ve got to be continuously innovating, and a big part of innovation in today’s education world is technology-based initiatives,” Malaviya said. “We are exploring and experimenting with several initiatives that are reliant on technology and looking at how technology enhances both the educational experience for our students and the quality of learn-
ing, but also increasing access of Georgetown to the world.” MSB Assistant Dean for Communications Teresa Mannix said the MSB’s improved ranking for fulltime students is also due to the program’s increased percentage of students who are employed three months after graduation — up to 90.3 percent from last year’s 85.9 percent. Mannix said the drop in ranking of the MBA evening program can be attributed to the program’s primary recruitment of full-time students. U.S. News & World Report includes what percentage of students are part-time in their calculation of program rankings, which Mannix explained is a much smaller population within the MSB than within most MBA programs. Malaviya said the program’s increased rankings among international business programs reflect a number of new initiatives within the MSB, such as its joint master’s program with the School of Foreign Service launched last fall, which allows students to study the intersection between international business and foreign affairs. “That’s really a core of what the MSB brand is and what it has been since the very beginning, and that is getting reinforced every day through the curricula initiatives that we take and through the work that our students do all over the world,” Malaviya said. “So it is really making sure that we deliver on our promise of being the premier destination for global business education.”
georgetown university
Senior Associate Dean for MBA Programs Prashant Malaviya said the recent high ranking of the MSB’s program in part reflected the its focus on technology.
The Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation announced 23 recipients of its annual GU Impacts fellowship alongside a series of changes to the program Monday. The program, which sends students to work in social impact organizations for 10 weeks in the summer, is seeing a significant expansion this year, with the program almost doubling from last year’s 16 participants. 87 students completed the application this year., with a 26.4 percent acceptance rate. The program received 73 applications last year. The 23 fellows will work at nine partner organizations in India, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. The fellows will also partake in fall past-programming that includes capstone presentations, reflections and career development. Some of the new initiatives being piloted in the 2017 fellowship program include the addition of a graduate student from the Global Human Development program. The program is also debuting a partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, entrepreneurship collaboration space kLab, the Gashora Girls Academy for Science and Technology and Akazi Kanoze Access, a United States Agency for International Development-funded school, in Rwanda. GU Impacts project manager Matthew Fortier said
these changes are part of the program’s efforts to expand and reach more communities internationally. “I’m really excited about the program this year because it’s the largest program to date,” Fortier said. “We also expanded the number of partnerships, and with that we are entering new geography — we are working in East Africa, specifically in Rwanda, for the first time, and we’re placing students in three different partnerships in the same country, which is really exciting.” According to Fortier, one of the most important aspects of the program is how it teaches Georgetown students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real -life situations. “Whether it’s working for a nonprofit, a for-profit, or a government initiative, students can apply the skills they learn in the classroom, and that will not only help them to refine their skills, but also to determine how to make the most their remaining time at Georgetown,” Fortier said. According to Fortier, the program hopes to provide students with an experience that will stay with them through their time at Georgetown and beyond. “The hope is that these experiences will be transformative and that students will take their experiences with them for the rest of their lives, and as they go on to make important decisions in the various positions that they hold, that this GU Impacts experience will stay with them and influence them in a positive way mov-
ing forward,” Fortier said. Beatrice Hociota (MSB ’19), a GU Impacts alum who participated in a partnership with Mochila Digital in Managua, Nicaragua, and now serves as the program’s alumni mentor, said the program allowed her to combine her skills with her career interests to grow both personally and professionally. “Through GU Impacts I was able to work in a business setting while also improving my Spanish speaking skills and learning about a different culture,” Hociota wrote in an email to The Hoya. “It gave me the opportunity to learn to be okay with being uncomfortable – both personally and professionally. The growth that I have been able to see in myself and in my peers as a result of this fellowship has been incredible.” Louisa Christen (SFS ’19), who is part of the 2017 class of GU Impacts Fellows, will be working with Agora Partnerships in Managua, Nicaragua. Christen said GU Impacts is important because it empowers different groups around the world to exercise their innate potential. “It is a fellowship that, as a whole, is dedicated to actualizing social change, leveling the playing field around the world and improving local communities,” Christen wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Though the program’s mission is carried out in the local community, its vision reaches much farther. In our globalized world, unlocked human potential undeniably comes around to impact all of us.”
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
The university is planning a $4.5 million renovation to Alumni Square, as well as other renovations to Village A and Village C East over the summer.
University Plans to Renovate Residential Living Buildings Matt Larson Hoya Staff Writer
The university is planning to renovate Alumni Square, Village A and Village C East this summer to include new windows, furniture and LED lighting for the three communities. The Office of Planning and Facilities Management and the Office of Residential Living are working together to ensure that the upgrades are completed for the 2017-18 school year. The renovations funds, which are expected to total about $6 million, will come from the University Capital Fund, a fund established for such projects. The most extensive renovations, costing $4.5 million, will take place in Alumni Square. All apartments will receive new refrigerators, windows and dehumidifiers. Apartments numbered 1-15 will receive renovated kitchens and bathrooms with new flooring. Village A will receive new dining and living room furniture at a cost of about $300,000, while Village C East will have new windows installed at an estimated cost of $1.2 million. Robin Morey, vice president of planning and facilities management, said this summer’s projects are a continuation of the renovations to apartments and residence halls that began last year. The university installed new air conditioning, hot water heaters and roofing in Alumni Square last summer. The university, Georgetown University Student Association and neighbors agreed to a 20-year campus plan in September, calling for the university to maintain a three-year housing requirement. Morey
cited the plan, which also calls for existing residence halls to be renovated to bolster efforts to improve student residences. “The renovations to our residential communities are part of our investments in deferred maintenance and our commitment in the campus plan to renovate existing campus housing to be competitive and marketable,” Morey wrote in an email to The Hoya. GUSA President Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) said she worked with the university through the Master Planning Consortium, which brings together administrators and student advocates to address planning concerns and review residence halls and apartments run by the university to determine those in need of renovation. According to Khan, the previous campus plan had diverted funds away from renovations in order to construct new residences. “The suboptimal state of many dorms on campus is a result of the previous campus plan, which led to the building of two new residential faculties,” Khan wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The construction of these facilities diverted funds away from long-overdue renovations.” According to Patrick Killilee, executive director for residential services, many of the residential communities have not seen improvements since the 1990s. Last year, the Office of Residential Living and Facilities worked with an outside architectural firm to determine that Alumni Square, Village A and Henle Village were the buildings most in need of renovations. “Our facilities around campus — especially our apartment areas — needed renova-
tions. Most probably haven’t been renovated from the early to mid-90s,” Killilee said. “Certainly many are due — if not past due — for these renovations.” Khan said the renovations being conducted were a promising first step, but more money was needed in order to make housing options on campus more appealing for students. “Until we can raise the capital to take on the full renovations needed for some facilities, we hope these annual renovation projects will make a difference and fix the bare minimum,” Khan wrote. According to Killilee, work will begin in Henle Village and continue in Alumni Square and Village A in the coming years. Killilee said that by starting with 15 apartments in Alumni Square, best practices for future renovations can be determined. “We have enough money to do these 15 apartments, and that would be a test case,” Killilee said. “So,we can set our standard so when we do the rest in Alumni Square and Village A, we can say these are the materials we want to use.” According to Killilee, the renovations will have a minor impact on summer housing. He said that the apartments are usually not completely occupied for those staying on campus over the summer. Most students will instead stay in residence hall dorm rooms. “We’re down one apartment complex that we can’t use,” Killilee said. “However, apartments tend to be the least occupied of all of our residence spaces in the summer. We don’t often fill our apartment complexes. Alumni Square was down last year; it’ll be down again this year.”
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THE HOYA
FRIday, MARCH 17, 2017
Speaker Calls for Unified Response to Anti-Semitism Event comes amid focus on hate crimes Ben Goodman Hoya Staff Writer
ALYSSA VOLIVAR/THE HOYA
The total number of reported hate-related crimes in Washington, D.C., has increased in the past year, although racially motivated crimes are down.
District Sees Increase in Reported Hate Crimes
Mayor, police report rise in bias-related crime Hannah Urtz Hoya Staff Writer
An increase in the number of hate-related incidents reported within Washington, D.C., jumped to about 62 percent between 2015 and 2016, numbers that have left local authorities perplexed and members of the targeted communities concerned about their future safety. Sixty-six incidents were reported in 2015 compared to 107 in 2016. Though racially motivated crimes were down 26 percent in 2016 from 2015, crimes committed based on ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation all increased in 2016. Crimes based on ethnicity or national origin increased from three to 12 between 2015 and 2016. Reported crimes based on religion increased from five to 18. Crimes based on sexual orientation, which have the highest reported number in the past five years, increased from 27 to 40 between 2015 and 2016. Crimes based on gender identity or expression increased from 10 to 19. In a March 10 press conference addressing the city’s efforts to combat hate and biasrelated crimes, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said her administration has made combatting these issues a top priority across the District. “We value diversity and inclusivity and want all of our residents and visitors to feel safe. No matter your race, your faith, your sexual orientation, your gender identity, your background — you should be able to live, work and play in Washington, D.C., without fear of violence or discrimination,” Bowser said at the press conference. Bowser added that an important aspect of combatting hate-related incidents is the public coming forward to accurately report them. “My administration will continue fostering a culture that encourages people to come forward when they are the victim of discrimination or a bias-related crime because in order to properly address these issues, we need everyone to feel safe reporting them,” Bowser said. Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Peter Newsham said the MPD was disheartened to see the
rise in hate crimes in light of launching a number of initiatives to combat these crimes, including starting a focused outreach effort to the District’s Jewish and Islamic institutions, distributing flyers in six different languages to the District’s immigrant communities and increasing specialized resources to support victims of hate crimes. “Although the number of reported hate crimes is only a small fraction of the overall crime in our city, we think it is important for everyone to know about this increase so we can collectively work on addressing it,” Newsham said in a press conference. “We will not accept this as the new norm.”
“We are reminded every day of the negative impacts of bias through the discrimination complaints we investigate.” MONICA PALACIO Director, D.C. Office of Human Rights
Newsham also addressed the role of the 2016 election in the increase of bias-related crimes across the nation. “When I saw the concern that swept through our communities in the aftermath of the November election, I knew we had to send a message that MPD’s values have not and will not change,” Newsham said. Mónica Palacio, the director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights, said monitoring these incidents and establishing a protocol is crucial to reducing the incidents of hate crimes. Palacio said the OHR is expanding access to programs for transgender individuals who have been the victim of hate crimes, as well as programs for crisis intervention, counseling, medical forensic care and legal advocacy. “We are reminded every day of the negative impacts of bias through the discrimination complaints we investigate,” Palacio said at the press
conference. “However, we believe that when employers are equipped with the right information, discrimination can be avoided.” Palacio also announced that the OHR is partnering with MPD to provide services to victims of hate crimes as soon as they contact MPD. All District patrol officers will have a card with information directing victims to OHR services as they respond to 911 calls. Georgetown University Rabbi Rachel Gartner said she has seen increased instances of anti-Semitism, both through her own experiences and those of her colleagues and members of her community. Two Jewish schools in the D.C.-Metro area received bomb threats last month, and according to Newsham, of the 18 religiously motivated hate crimes in 2016, 12 were perpetrated against Jewish individuals. “I think it’s hard to say whether or not anti-Semitism is on the rise. We clearly know that anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise and it is very unsettling,” Gartner said. “It’s shifted our perspective a little bit, because seeing it is kind of an eye-opener. It makes you feel a little bit insecure, wondering what’s going to come next.” Despite being saddened by the increase in reported incidents in the past year, Gartner urged members of the Georgetown community to see beyond the incidents against just the Jewish community. “For me, this bias is just a piece of everything that we’re seeing. Apathy, in the very least and misguided fear and baseless hatred of refugees are all a part of it,” Gartner said. “As we fight one of these things we need to fight all of them.” Gartner said that despite the differences in the communities at the receiving end of hate-related crimes, all communities should act together to combat bias. “I do not feel that the Jewish community is going through the level of threat as some other communities,” Gartner said. “At the same time, I wouldn’t want us to forget that we need to stand up for each other and with each other.”
A collective response is needed against the recent worldwide swell of antiSemitism, according to former United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira N. Forman in an event hosted by the Georgetown University Center for Jewish Civilization on Wednesday. “Words are terribly important. It’s absolutely essential for not just the president, but Congress, and local elected officials, to speak out,” Forman said in the Intercultural Center Auditorium. “If civil society does not come to our side, it’s over. This is about the very values of the French republic. By extension, you could say it’s about the values of liberal democracy. That’s what’s at stake.”
“There has been a real change in the United States of, at least, perceptions of incidents of anti-Semitism.” Ira Forman Former Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
According to Forman, while 49 percent of Americans surveyed agreed with the statement that antiSemitism in the United States is a very serious or somewhat serious problem in a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last February, 70 percent of responders agreed with the same statement in the same poll conducted last week. “There has been a real change in the United States of, at least, perceptions of incidents of anti-Semitism,” Forman said. Anti-Semitism has come under the spotlight in recent months. There have been 67 bomb threats against Jewish community centers since January, according to The New Republic, while in February, tombstones in a Jewish
cemetery in St. Louis, were turned over. Forman said the complexity of modern-day antiSemitism renders easy solutions impossible. “There are no simple silver bullets here that we have, partly because of the difficulty and the complexity of the problem,” Forman said. Forman said, however, that Jews are not in as dire straits as they were in the 1930s, when Jews faced persecution around the world, including in Nazi Germany. However, he warned that the world must learn from that perilous decade. “Is this the 1930s? The answer is no, it is not. But if it’s not the 1930s, there are some really important lessons and issues we have to deal with. First of all, I believe history does run in cycles,” Forman said. Forman specifically highlighted economic transformations as a trigger for xenophobia that corresponds with a rise in antiSemitism. “What pops for me out of the 1930s is economic dislocation and the rise of xenophobia. The other thing that is very clear is that we are 70 years past the Holocaust,” Forman said. “The generation that was alive during the Holocaust is quickly dying off. We forgot the implications, and that maybe is natural.” As U.S. special envoy, Forman said he noticed how anti-Semitism takes different shapes in different countries. “Xenophobic right-wing nationalism is driving anti-Semitism in Hungary. In France, you have xenophobic right-wing nationalism, but Jews also face anti-Semitism from the extreme left, often associated with green or anti-colonial movements, or anti-Israel sentiment,” Forman said. Forman said prejudice against Jews could be seen as a feature, rather than an exception, of Western society. “Whether it’s Hellenistic anti-Semitism during the Commonwealth Period, Christian anti-Semitism that dominated the first millennium and a half of the common era, racist anti-Semitism in the postEnlightenment era or even anti-Semitism that is often
masked behind anti-Israel rhetoric; all those have commonalities that are central to Western civilization,” Forman said. Collective action by civil society is more ingrained in American culture than in European culture, according to Forman.
“The generation that was alive during the Holocaust is quickly dying off. We forgot the implications, and that maybe is natural.” Ira Forman Former Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
“In the U.S., civil society generally does stand up. We can do it better — we can certainly do it better against Islamophobia — but we have that mechanism that is really important. That mechanism does not largely exist in Europe.” Georgetown Israel Alliance’s Political Chair Tanner Larkin (SFS ’20), who attended the event, said he appreciated that Forman distinguished antiSemitism from criticism of Israel. “It was very important that he highlighted that anti-Semitism and antiIsrael criticism are not the same thing, and people should not fall into the trap of automatically accusing anti-Israel sentiment of being anti-Semitic,” Larkin said. “However, they often are associated with one another.” Larkin said that despite increased incidents against Jews in America, he has felt increased support from the community, especially from non-Jews. “I felt a real upsurge in support for the Jewish community from many non-Jews, including many Muslims,” Larkin said. “It’s been a real wake-up call that anti-Semitism is present in our society, and we need to stand up against it.”
BEN GOODMAN/THE HOYA
Center for Jewish Civilization Director Jacques Berlinerblau, left, moderated a talk with United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira N. Forman.
business & tech
Friday, MARCH 17, 2017
THE HOYA
A9
Noodle and Rice Bowls Available at Epicurean EPICUREAN, from A10
FILE PHOTO: KATHLEEN GUAN/THE HOYA
According to Epicurean Chef Sean Han, the new Asian-style noodle bar will appeal to many younger student customers with its diverse menu offerings.
students commonly order quesadillas. The base price of any dish is $9, with every protein addition ranging from $1 to $3. Customers can customize their noodle orders to their own liking. Chef Sean Han, who boasts more than 20 years of experience in the food industry, said he attempted to offer a convenient meal that was healthy. Han said the rice bowl option allows for a variety of healthy vegetarian dishes. “With the rice bowl, you can make an all-vegetarian dish. Korean rice bowls are really healthy,” Han said. According to Han, the menu also reflects the current food trends that are most popular with younger customers, which constitute the majority of Epicurean’s business. Han said the Asian menu options can attract many students on campus. “Asian-inspired noodle, a gluten-free noodle, a
beef broth, a seafood broth and a spicy broth. I know that’s a trend and would appeal to Georgetown’s young crowd, there’s definitely a young
“With the rice bowl, you can make an allvegetarian dish. Korean rice bowls are really healthy.” SEAN HAN Chef, Epicurean and Company
crowd there,” Han said. Heather Bazemore, an employee at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, was one of the first noodle station customers and said she was displeased at the quality and authenticity of the food.
“I had the chicken Pho bowl with Jjampong Broth. I didn’t like it. A typical Pho bowl doesn’t have vegetables in it like that,” Bazemore said. “It was like a fusion, but I wanted my Chinese to be Chinese and my Vietnamese to be Vietnamese.” Bazemore also said the station’s noodle prices were more expensive than those found in other authentic Vietnamese restaurants she has been to. Bazemore said she agree with Epicurean’s menu formate of charging extra for protein in the noodles. “Here, you pay for every single piece of meat you get. That’s not typical,” Bazemore said. Pablo Lores (MSB ’17), who eats at Epicurean once a week, said the new station could enhance Epicurean’s menu by adding a new healthy option for his meals. “I can put as many vegetables as I want to, it’s quite healthy,” Lores said. “It’s a great addition to the menu.”
Venture Capital Digital Skills Create Lasting Value Team Progresses MURPHY, from A10
VENTURE, from A10
also led them to learn more about the different places that they travelled to. “You don’t know what you’re going to get and you have the capacity to learn about regional strength wherever that competition is being held,” Adiraju said. “Another neat part about being in these competitions is being able to go to all of these different places.” In describing the process of training and competing, Chen equated venture capitalism to family and dating. She said that participants adapted to one another and learned how to cooperate in the tense and stressful atmosphere. “There are often a lot of parallels of venture capitals, family and dating. Family being your team — leveraging your strengths: interacting with partners, with the team, coming up with the term sheet,” Chen said. Moreover, Chen said the simulation placed teams in the position of having to build relationships with entrepreneurs, challenging them to manage this lengthy and complex process — much like dating. “On the dating side, if you think about venture capitalism, it’s very similar
to dating because we have a general courtship period where you’re working with a founder to build foundations of trust,” Chen said. Chen also said that the competition allows them to also get a feel for what is involved for investors in the long run when it comes to managing their assets. “You move onto a more serious part in the relationship where you’re working on a portfolio for years on end to manage the relationship of growth and achieving the goals of the foundations. Participating in VCIC allowed us to venture into both realms of that process as associates or partners.” Chen added that the team is now focused on the global competition and aims to obtain another positive outcome. To do so, Chen said they will leverage all of their past experiences, as well as the VC Boot Camp’s teachings. “The global round will be 12 of the top schools who have competed in the pool of over 70 schools around the world,” Chen said. “We’re going to leverage our past experiences, everything we’ve been working on with Sara, and also, just getting to understand really the flow of the competition.”
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might surprise yourself with how easy it is to impress your coworkers with a few minutes of basic troubleshooting. One analyst I spoke to remembered a time when he saved a video conference with a client by quickly diagnosing and resolving the issue on his end. Without his quick response, the client with whom his team was video conferencing may have moved on with their day and delayed the project by several days. If you are looking for ways to save your firm thousands of dollars and leave a lasting impact on your team, look no further. Even if you are not an engineer, your contributions to financial technology do not need to end at troubleshooting. As you
become more experienced with the day-to-day challenges of your job and become more familiar with technology on the market, you may find yourself imagining ways that new technology could speed up your workflow. With a bit of initiative on your part, you could create a pitch (or prototype) for your idea, deliver it to your manager and see what comes of it. Skilled labor on Wall Street is not cheap, so if you can make a convincing enough argument that your idea will save the firm money over time, your idea could be firm-wide in no time. Yes, the concepts and skills that individuals gain from a finance degree are essential to securing their first job in finance. However, from the moment someone steps out into the real
world, they are expected to learn and contribute skills that go beyond the scope of their degree. With a mindset geared toward problemsolving and innovation, you can embrace the wave of technology that is taking Wall Street by storm, cutting costs and widening margins.
You can embrace the wave of technology that is taking Wall Street by storm, cutting costs and widening margins. There is a reason why physical data rooms have
become a thing of the past. Box, Google Drive, Intralinks and more have become host to virtual data rooms that can be easily accessed, searched, and copied without having to leave your desk. Virtual data rooms have saved firms millions, if not billions, of dollars on travel, property, and administrative expenses since their adoption. In hindsight, virtual data rooms seem like a common-sense application of technology, but for this innovation to occur, someone had to have the experience, vision and initiative to see the transition through. You can be the next.
Kevin Murphy is a junior in the McDonough School of Business. BYTE OF WALL ST. appears every other Friday.
Innovators Research Policy Solutions SCHOLARS, from A10
limited access to grocery stores, fresh produce and overall dietary problems” Bouyamourn said. “Most people don’t want to or are unable to reach out to food banks so I’m working to connect them to food banks around D.C.” Bouyamourn is also experimenting with increasing the services food banks offer. Keeping with the theme of nutrition, Bouyamourn is hoping to add diabetes screening and SNAP signup as services offered by food banks. Bouyamourn wants to increase food and health security by working with existing food banks and improving upon them. Conroy is working to limit gerrymandering and increase the power of the average citizen in elections. His hopes to create better quantitative methods for drawing districts, increasing public transparency of voter districts using a website and working with local officials to set up independent redistricting committees. “My proposal aims to relink our democratic institutions to the popular will,” Conroy said. With his website, Conroy is also hoping to show how gerrymandering is affecting current U.S. politics while also presenting alternative district maps. In addition, Conroy will predict how key legislative outcomes would have been different if districts had been drawn fairly. Conroy said he wants to ensure that everyone, including minorities who are constantly disenfranchised by gerrymandering, have a voice in government. “At the heart of the proposal was the desire to help citizens feel secure from a range of threats by restoring their trust in the electoral institutions designed to protect them” Conroy said. Schneider is working in a similar arena as she hopes to address political polarization. Starting out with a pilot program in Blackhawk, Iowa, Schneider will run a series of workshops to foster a sense of community to create a dialogue between a variety
of demographics. Schneider said Blackhawk was chosen because the city has a wide range of demographics that her project can draw from. “The city has a manufacturing plant, a Muslim center, a large church and a university, so there are a lot of different groups there that we want to foster interaction between.” Schneider said. Ford’s project involves increasing the amount of internship opportunities available to today’s highschoolers. Ford plans to launch a pilot initiative at a local D.C. school. Ford believes that connecting youth to meaningful work will increase high school graduation rates and overall social well-being. Currently, Ford is searching for the right place for his initiative and build the relationships needed to connect students to internship opportunities.
“I’m searching for a local school to start my program and I have meetings lined up to find the best place. I also am looking to build relationships so that we have an array of internship opportunities that we can connect students.” Ford said. Lastly, Gerr is hoping to increase awareness about health care so more people can make well-informed health care decisions. Gerr said many Americans struggle with health care insecurity and have trouble navigating the current health care system. “Most people do not feel secure in their health care, for example they won’t know how much a hospital visit or what their insurance covers. Many people don’t know how to go about choosing a doctor or even choosing their insurance” Gerr said. She is hoping to work with a specific illness group and
connect it to existing information and to educate consumers about it. The project has personal importance for her, because despite working in the health care industry, Gerr has also been a victim of surprise insurance billing. “This summer I had two major injuries. For the first one I needed immediate help and went to the ER, my bill was $250. My second injury was less serious and I saw my primary care doctor the same morning as the injury. However, that bill was $400,” said Gerr. Gerr hopes that by educating individuals on the healthcare system, she can make the system more equitable for those at risk, so stories like hears will not happen. All five winners will work on their solutions over the year and they will present their findings and project results at the next Baker Forum in 2018.
ANDREW WALLENDER/THE HOYA
This year’s Baker Innovation Grant funds research projects that seek novel means to resolve policy issues relating to the restoration of faith in core institutions.
Business & Tech FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
Tech Tips U.S. Government Posts Nuclear test films online on youtube The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory officially released 750 declassified films of the more than 1,000 nuclear tests conducted during the Cold War March 14. The federal government posted dozens of nuclear test videos on an official YouTube channel. The films, which were produced between 1945 and 1962, had been stored for at least 55 years in a high-security vault and risked being lost to decomposition. The main purposes behind the project are to analyze the films for data on high—altitude test blasts — of which the United States conducted approximately 210 – and to identify proper techniques for managing the remaining stockpile. In addition, the LLNL said in a press release that the videos will allow physicists to better understand the effects of different types of nuclear weapons.
Department of Justice indict russian spys in yahoo hacking Officials from the Department of Justice indicted two members of the Federal Security Service, the Russian intelligence agency known as the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency, as well as two criminal hackers in relation to a 2014 breach that compromised the security of approximately 500 million Yahoo accounts according a DOJ press release March 15. In addition, the DOJ said the FSB provided financial and technical assistance to its operatives to allow it to penetrate Yahoo’s user database, compromising private information such as phone and credit card numbers. Yahoo had previously accused state-sponsored hackers for the attack, and responded to the announcement by reiterating this claim. According to a BBC report, the hackers are suspected to have targeted Google accounts as well. Though the hacking was directed primarily at Russian and U.S. government officials, the DOJ stated that the charges are not related to last year’s hacking of the Democratic National Convention.
Oracle earnings continue to rise despite licensing losses Oracle Corporation a business software developer, announced higherthan expected rises in quarterly adjusted revenue and profit despite a fall of nearly 16 percent in software licensing March 15. According to Forbes, the company’s stellar performance stems from its transition to cloud-based services and products, which was boosted by the acquisition of cloud-based software company NetSuite for $9.3 billion in July 2016. Forbes reported two of Oracle’s cloud divisions, software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service, had overall growth of 73 percent, and cloud infrastructure went up 17 percent, all during the third quarter alone. Revenue from all cloud products and services rose by 62 percent. Oracle’s shares on the New York York Stock Exchange went up 5.92 percent, closing out the day at $45.41 March 15. Hoya Staff Writer Sarah Fisher compiled this week’s TECH TIPS.
Epicurean Launches Noodle Station
Anabel Getz
Special to The Hoya
Epicurean and Company opened a noodle and rice bowl station offering custom-made pho and rice and noodle bowls with chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu and vegetables March 8. Georgetown students encountered the new addition upon returning to the restaurant for the first time after spring break. This is not the first time Epicurean has experimented with the the noodle concept. Manager Michael Chong said the new station built off the previous idea of a small Vietnamese noodle bar the restaurant featured for a limited time a few years ago. According to Chong, the previous noodle station was fairly popular among customers and as a result a full-scale noodle station was planned.
“The hibachi didn’t seem to take off as they were thinking, so why waste the space?” Michael chong Manager, Epicurean and Company
“About two years ago, they had, when this used to be all hibachi tables, there used to be a little noodle station, so they had Pho noodles, ramen noo-
WILLIAM ZHU/THE HOYA
After renovating its former hibachi grills, Epicurean and Company has opened a noodle and rice bowl station open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., which will allow customers to customize their orders. dles and that was just testing the concept,” Chong said. “After that was received pretty well, the owner and the former manager decided on doing something more full-scale.” In addition, Chong said the hibachi station was not garnering enough popularity so the logical choice was to use the existing space for a noodle station. “The hibachi didn’t seem to
take off as they were thinking, so why waste the space? Put something there that the students and faculty might enjoy,” Chong said. The renovation, which lasted around three months, was made easier due to the pre-existing electric, gas and water sources from the previous hibachi grill. Chong expected to hire four or five more employees for the new
Investing Team Advances to Finals
station, but he ended only hiring two new employees, since he had just promoted a few chefs to the station. The station currently operates daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., but Chong said there is a potential for the noodle station to be upgraded an all-night service to take pressure off the grill where See EPICUREAN, A9
BYTE OF WALL ST.
Paula Hong
Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown’s Venture Capital Investment Competition team is to compete in the VCIC Global Finals after earning first-place honors at the VCIC 2017 South Regional Finals, held at Rice University in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 10. The team, composed of Chris Cottrell (MBA ’17), Shreya Adiraju (MBA ’17), Sofocles Papas (MBA ’17), Chris Ahern (MBA ’17) and Elaine Chen (LAW ’18), will now have the opportunity to take on representatives from 12 of the top business schools from all over the world at the upcoming Global VCIC in Chapel Hill, N.C. The graduate students prepared extensively for the competition, receiving training and advice from Georgetown alumna and 2013 VCIC finalist Sara Zulkosky (MBA ’14). In addition, they attended the University of Virginia’s Venture Capital Boot Camp, a program designed to introduce newcomers to the basics of entrepreneurship and investment, in January. Cottrell described the intricate and demanding nature of the competition, which current Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative Founding Director Jeff Reid helped launch over 20 years ago. Cottrel said the contestants must analyze companies and make simulated investment choices. “The basic format is for MBA students to be able to meet other teams. They look at three differ-
Kevin Murphy
Seeking Your Alpha
B Courtesy GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Elaine Chen (LAW ’18), top, Chris Cottrell (GRD ’17), Shreya Adiraju (GRD ’17) and Chris Ahern (GRD ’17) are to compete in VCIC finals. ent companies, evaluate the companies and put together evaluation and a term sheet,” Cottrell said. “They do due diligence and defend their investment decisions to a mock board of venture capitalists to negotiate with the entrepreneur to come to a deal.” Adiraju highlighted the integration of cases particular to
the specific city or region where the competition is held. For instance, some of the cases they assessed in the South Regional Finals pertained to Houston’s oil and gas industry. According to Adiraju, this added an element of unexpectedness See VENTURE, A9
Baker Grant Winners Tackle Global Issues Adam Shlomi Hoya Staff Writer
COURTESY BAKER CENTER
Kelly Schneider (GRD ’18), left, Christian Conroy (GRD ’18) and Adam Bouyamourn (GRD ’18) each received $20,000 for their projects.
Georgetown graduate students Adam Bouyamourn (GRD ’18), Christian Conroy, (GRD ’18), Jacob Ford (GRD ’18), Rebecca Gerr (GRD ’18), and Kelly Schneider (GRD ’18) are each working find ways to enact meaningful and realistic change on global policies issues within a year with the $20,000 from the Baker Innovation Grant. The Baker Center is housed within the McCourt School of Public Policy and focuses on promoting realistic and positive changes throughout the world. The graduate students were awarded the grant at the 2017 Baker Forum on Jan. 25. This is the inaugural year for the Center’s Innovation Grant, which provides five students $20,000 each to be used over
y the time you graduate from business school with a degree in finance, you can value assets, optimize investment portfolios, structure complex transactions and more. The problem is, when you step out into the real world, those skills are a dime a dozen. To be a toptier employee, you will need to find your niche and contribute additional skills that bring value to your firm. Some of you may already be master orators or skilled graphic designers, ready to create and deliver a pitch at the drop of a hat. Others may be fluent in two or more languages, and are prepared to communicate with international deal teams. Whatever skill set you already bring to the table, there is always an opportunity to grow and learn. Today, one of the easiest ways to demonstrate lasting value to your managers is to understand the digital landscape on Wall Street.
Find your niche and contribute additional skills that bring value.
the course of one year to make a difference in Global Challenges which are areas where government and other systematic failures stymie progress. This year’s Global Challenge was “Restoring a Sense of Security” in light of decreasing national approval of core institutions like the media, government and schools. Bouyamourn’s initiative involves finding a way to better connect people to food banks in Washington, D.C., so more individuals who need food can obtain it. Bouyamourn said he aims to alert individuals if food bank nearby is open and available for meals using the same text messaging company Uber uses to alert users that a car has arrived. “D.C. has concentrated food insecurity. Wards 7 and 8 have
By “understand the digital landscape,” I do not mean to state the obvious and imply that you should be familiar with Excel and PowerPoint before stepping out onto the Street. Instead, you should get to know the ins and outs of the technologies that your team and others use on a day-to-day basis to conduct business. From printers to projectors and even video conferencing software like GoToMeeting, Skype, or Zoom, if you can master it, someone will appreciate it. Armed with even a light technological background, you
See SCHOLARS, A9
See MURPHY, A9