GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 98, No. 38, © 2017
FRIday, MARCH 24, 2017
THE MUSIC OF RESISTANCE
The heart of American music and culture lies in the early origins of black music.
EDITORIAL GUSA’s electoral reform task force should examine its preferential voting system.
LESS MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS Georgetown’s $1.48 billion endowment ranks 61st among peer institutions.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A7
GUIDE, B2
FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA
Head Coach John Thompson III was fired yesterday afternoon after weeks of increasing discontent from fans of the men’s basketball program. Thompson, whose father coached the basketball team to three Final Four appearances from 1982 to 1985, began his tenure in 2004 and has been criticized for leading the team in two straight losing seasons.
Thompson Fired After 2 Straight Losing Seasons Sean Hoffman AND PAOLO SANTAMARIA Hoya Staff Writers
After losing two consecutive seasons without any postseason play, Head Coach John Thompson III has been fired from his position in the men’s basketball program, according to a statement released by the university Thursday. Thompson’s dismissal
comes after the worst fouryear stretch in his 13-year tenure, where he missed the NCAA Tournament three times in four years, finished with two straight losing seasons and failed to qualify for any postseason tournament in those two seasons. His overall record the past two seasons has been 69-62, 32-40 in the Big East conference — the thirdworst in that time span.
“I am honored to have been the Head Coach at Georgetown University for the past 13 years, where I had the privilege of coaching and mentoring outstanding student-athletes. I am proud of what my players have accomplished on the court and how they are thriving since leaving Georgetown,” Thompson wrote in an email sent through his attorney.
Thompson’s father, John Thompson Jr., brought Georgetown basketball to the national spotlight. Thompson Jr. coached the team to three Final Fours in a four-year span from 1982 to 1985, including the school’s sole National Championship in 1984. Fans have grown increasingly discontent with the program in recent weeks, especially on the heels of this
past season. Georgetown closed with six straight losses, including consecutive defeats at the hands of DePaul and St. John’s in late February, finishing in ninth place in the 10-team conference. The Hoyas’ overall record of 14-18 was the worst in program history since accumulating a 3-23 record in the 1971-72 season. About three weeks ago, students launched a peti-
tion to fire Thompson on the heels of ESPN and student articles regarding the fan base’s general malaise toward the program and Thompson as a coach. The petition received more than 1,400 signatures from students and alumni. According to Sports Information Director Michael Carey, the search for See THOMPSON, A6
University to Rename Freedom Hall Bias-Related Vandalism Targets Name to memorialize Isaac Hawkins of the 272 slaves Religious Groups Ian Scoville Hoya Staff Writer
Jeff Cirillo
Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown University Police Department and university officials are investigating graffiti of swastikas in Village C West and the removal of Muslim and Hindu flyers from chaplainin-residence bulletin boards earlier this week as bias-related incidents. VCW resident Sarah Hirshorn (COL ’20) said she discovered one of the two swastikas scratched into the interior walls of an elevator Tuesday morning. She first reported the incident to the building’s community director, Kenny Steelman, and later filed a bias report at his suggestion. “I did not feel attacked or unsafe, more just uncomfortable as a Jewish student that there was someone who lived in my building, or took it upon themselves to enter my building, to go out of their way to make a resident feel uncomfortable,” Hirshorn wrote in an email to The Hoya. GUPD Chief Jay Gruber
featured
said the vandalism was reported to the department at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The swastikas were painted over by Wednesday morning.
“Cowardly expressions of hate like the ones we’ve been seeing deserve no less than our disdain, condemnation and investigation.” RABBI RACHEL GARTNER Director of Jewish Life
Gruber said GUPD is actively investigating the antiSemitic vandalism and had no suspects as of last night. Gruber declined to comment on what the investigation entails. “We generally do not discuss or disclose our investigative techniques or methods,” Gruber wrote in an email to The Hoya. Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry Rev. See VANDALISM, A6
The university plans to rename Freedom Hall as Isaac Hawkins Hall in late April, in honor of the first enslaved person recorded in the 1838 sale of the 272 slaves that benefitted Georgetown. University President John J. DeGioia announced the university’s intention to rename Freedom and Remembrance Halls as Isaac and Anne Marie Beechcraft Halls in September, as part of a series of plans to address the university’s history with slavery. The change to rename Freedom Hall was announced to residential assistants and residents of Ryan and Freedom Halls yesterday in an email from University Chief of Staff Joe Ferrara. The dedication ceremony will occur with the university’s Emancipation Day celebrations April 18. The university has not yet announced its plans for the formal renaming of Remembrance Hall as Anne Marie Beechcraft Hall. The university also an-
nounced in September that it would offer descendants of the 272 who apply to Georgetown legacy status in admissions, and has established an institute to research slavery and its aftermath. The two halls that constitute the Former Jesuit Residence were first re-
named from Mulledy Hall and McSherry Hall after a series of student protests and a sit-in in DeGioia’s office in November 2015. Former University President Thomas Mulledy, S.J., authorized the sale of the 272 slaves to a Louisiana plantation, while former University President Wil-
liam McSherry, S.J., served as Mulledy’s lawyer during the sale. Historical research conducted by the university indicated Isaac’s last name as Hawkins, even though no documents show the last name, according to See RENAMING, A6
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Freedom Hall will be renamed Isaac Hawkins Hall after the first slave who was listed in a record of the sale of the 272 slaves that benefitted Georgetown.
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
O’Donovan Returns Former University President Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., discussed the Catholic Church’s duty to refugees Monday. A4
Closed Culture GUASFCU’s failure to expand the diversity of its membership calls for a re-evaluation of the club’s culture. A3
Offense Powers Hoya Benefitting from multiple offensive outbursts, the softball team finished its last tournament with a 3-2 record. B8
NEWS Trump’s Budget Hits DC
opinion The Joy of Lent
SPORTS Hot Start Continues
District officials said the city stands to lose $103 million under the president’s proposed budget. A5
Believers can rejoice in the celebration of sacrificing for love and worship during Lent. A3
Published Tuesdays and Fridays
The women’s tennis team defeated Williams on Tuesday, bringing its record to 8-3. B10
Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com
A2
OPINION
THE HOYA
Friday, MARCH 24, 2017
THE VERDICT
C EDITORIAL C Examine Electoral Reform Founded January 14, 1920
majority – would remedy rather than reduce the problem. The recommendations also clearly address problems that arose following the December referendum and propose the ability of the GUSA senate to endorse a stance in referendums. If truly committed to reforming the electoral system, however, GUSA ought to expand upon these recommendations by revising its ranking system in executive elections as well. A focus of the report presented March 19 was the proposition that the senate as a body may take a stance on referendums without invalidating the results, suggesting that the GUSA senate require a five-sixths majority to officially endorse constitutional referendums. The proposal also begins to address the problems presented by the Dec. 1 club funding reform referendum, which led to allegations systemic interference at polling stations by GUSA’s proponents of the measure. Creating parity in regulations of referendums and the executive election would bind referendum partisans to the finance and endorsement guidelines that executive candidates must follow. This consistency would help ensure a more transparent, fair voting process. Referendums gauge the student body’s opinion on pertinent issues. The institution of a transparent endorsement process enables students to make more informed opinions. Senators are students, and the GUSA senate are students who should maintain their rights to have their voices heard in the referendum process, but regulations should clarify potential biases in this process. In cases like club funding reform, members of the senate are the best versed and most equipped to help students understand the merits and shortfalls of proposals, so their voices should be clearly heard as part of the electoral process so long as biases are clearly presented and recommendations are made in good faith and without corruption. All of these considerations have been made by the task force’s proposals. The editorial board acknowledges and applauds the GUSA task force’s recommendations to make elections more transparent and accessible to different communities on campus. As such, we propose that the association act on the task force’s recommendations. By examining the preferential ranking system during the executive election and acting on measures to ensure transparency in the organization’s stances during referendums, GUSA can be held more accountable to the desires of the student body.
Back from the Dead — Rowan Atkinson has been the victim of yet another death hoax, this one claiming he perished in a car crash. Mr. Bean is alive and well.
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Following a year of electoral upsets within the Georgetown University Student Association, GUSA’s much-needed Election Reform Task Force had plenty of fodder for its report presented at the GUSA senate meeting March 19. The year saw the invalidation of results from the Dec. 1 club funding reform referendum, and GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino’s (COL ’18) narrow 34-vote victory in February’s executive election. The task force’s recommendations demonstrate that the organization has engaged in a genuinely introspective approach to electoral reform and seeks to address longstanding issues of inaccessibility and insularity. Among the proposed measures in the two-page document, the task force proposed hosting executive election information sessions before winter break, in part to educate “outsider” candidates without much prior knowledge of the process. They also support releasing a voter guide with candidate statements, referendum descriptions and voting instructions, as well as improving engagement with less frequently reached communities to create a more inclusive, representative GUSA. While the task force’s proposals largely addressed fallout from the referendum in December, we propose a similar group to examine potential alternatives to the ranked voting system. The Mack-Andino ticket’s narrow victory over Garet Williams (COL ’18) and Habon Ali (SFS ’18) spotlighted how political maneuvering could clinch a winning campaign through GUSA’s preferential electoral system, which allows students to rank candidates if their first choice is eliminated in subsequent rounds. Mack and Andino, who had secured a crossendorsement from the third-place ticket of John Matthews (COL ’18) and Nick Matz (COL ’18), trailed behind Williams-Ali by more than a hundred votes through the third elimination round, only to inch ahead by 34 votes when the Matthews-Matz ticket was removed. This preferential voting system proves problematic when students are unaware of how the system works, potentially altering the results of the election. With the rankings, students may be under the false impression they must rank all candidates for their votes to be counted. While a wide-reaching public awareness campaign could explain the rationale and make the election system more reflective of student opinions, introducing a more intuitive run-off or primary system – which pits the first- and second-place tickets against each other if no one attains a simple
Sticky Shift — Two Ohio teenagers were arrested during their attempted carjacking after they realized they could not drive a stick shift car, even though the victim tried to teach them.
Casket Case — In an attempt to get elderly drivers off the road, a town in Japan is offering funeral discounts to senior citizens who gave up driving before passing away.
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Purr-fume — Demeter Fragrance Library released a new fragrance called Kitten Fur, which joins the ranks of others like Earthworm, Dirt, and
High Flying — Farmers are complaining about an increase in drugged parrots who feed on their opium fields to maintain their drug addiction. These parrots have reportedly learned not to squawk to stay inconspicuous.
It’s Not Rocket Science — A 17-year-old from Sheffield, England, emailed NASA to inform it of false data collected by its radiation sensors in the International Space Station. NASA is now working with the student to correct the error. Better than Tinder — A Michigan State University student’s dating resume went viral after citing skills such as “crying during Marley & Me” and “acting like a Dad in public.” He has since received hundreds of date solicitations.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Elinor Walker
Toward Inclusive Feminism In a stirring celebration of girl power, the fourth annual OWN IT Summit hosted more than 500 attendees and 100 speakers during a daylong event Saturday geared toward encouraging the next generation of female leaders. The summit was only one of several events celebrating female empowerment as part of Georgetown’s Women’s History Month programming. Women in the armed forces were recognized by the university Thursday in a panel discussion, and this weekend the BRAVE Summit will honor the accomplishments of black womanhood with influential speakers ranging from Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to Google analyst Aerica Banks. If there is one overarching message to extract from these events, it is the fact that there is no singular experience that defines womanhood, nor should the term “feminism” be ascribed to any one particular set of beliefs. In advocating for women, the university should continue to showcase intersectionality in race, gender, sexual identity and ability within their programming, and also recognize that success looks different to each woman. In programming events aimed at collegeage women, much of the discussion is centered on women’s professional development and mobility. These conversations broach the indispensable topics of salary negotiation and work-life balance, but a factor often neglected in these conversations is that women who opt to be stay-at-home moms are just as valid within the feminist movement. A truly inclusive feminism recognizes that women are empowered through their
choices, no matter which path they choose to pursue. Additionally, feminism is not exclusively a liberal movement. The desire for women to achieve equality and a fulfilling life on their own terms need not be considered binary, which unequivocally embraces some beliefs and roundly rejects others. Being a feminist is not irreconcilable with assuming an antiabortion rights stance, and organizations would do well to include female speakers with different political and ideological leanings in their events. The university already represents an array of different perspectives within its programming through the joint efforts of students and administration, but it can continue to empower women by providing balanced dialogues that can unify historically divided perspectives. Creating panels that bring both conservative and liberal women, pro-abortion rights and antiabortion rights activists, and CEOs and stayat-home moms can allow students to expand their understanding of feminism and advocate for a form of inclusivity that taps into a more nuanced conversation about what it means to be a woman. By exploring these nuances and helping students feel empowered about the choices they make in their lives, the Georgetown community can demonstrate that it embodies feminism in every sense of the word. Georgetown has already demonstrated it is willing to welcome all women to the conversation — now it can turn its sights toward ensuring they are all represented.
Toby Hung, Editor-in-Chief Cirillo Paolo Santamaria, Executive Editor Jeffrey Tara Subramaniam Jesus Rodriguez, Managing Editor Christian Paz
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
Editorial Board
Lisa Burgoa, Chair CC Borzilleri, Laila Brothers, Daria Etezadi, Ellie Goonetillake, Jack Lynch, Jack Segelstein, Bennett Stehr, Annabelle Timsit
William Zhu Alfredo Carrillo Emily Dalton Dean Hampers Cynthia Karnezis Viviana De Santis Dani Guerrero Meena Raman Maya Gandhi Grace Laria Jacob Witt Elinor Walker Derrick Arthur Anna Kovacevich Karla Leyja Stephanie Yuan Michelle Kelly Esther Kim Peter Shamamian Eleanor Stork Anna Dezenzo Janine Karo Sterling Lykes Catherine Schluth Charlie Fritz Kathryn Baker Dan Baldwin Yasmine Salam
Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy City News Editor Business Editor Deputy Business & News Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Cartoonist Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Blog Editor Deputy Social Media Editor Deputy Social Media Editor Deputy Social Media Editor
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“I
The Rostrum
t is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt, University of Paris at The SOrbonne, April 23, 1910
Daniel Almeida, General Manager Emily Ko, Director of Alumni Relations Brittany Logan, Director of Financial Operations Gabriella Cerio, Director of Human Resources George Lankas, Director of Sales Karen Shi Galilea Zorola Matt Zezula Tara Halter Brian Yoffe Emily Marshall Akshat Kumar
Personnel Manager Senior Accounts and Operations Manager Treasury Manager Accounts Manager Accounts Manager Alumni Engagement Manager Local Ads Manager
Contributing Editors & Consultants
Madeline Auerbach, Kara Avanceña, Chris Balthazard, Isabel Binamira, Elizabeth Cavacos, Tom Garzillo, Lauren Gros, Shannon Hou, Darius Iraj, Yuri Kim, Dan Kreytak, Andrew May, John Miller, Syed Humza Moinuddin, Tyler Park, Becca Saltzman, Sarah Santos, Jeanine Santucci, Kshithij Shrinath, Emily Tu, Emma Wenzinger
Board of Directors
Kristen Fedor, Chair Daniel Almeida, Jinwoo Chong, Toby Hung, Arnosh Keswani, Selena Parra, Matthew Trunko Letter to the Editor & Viewpoint Policies The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words. Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-700 words. The Hoya retains all rights to all published submissions. Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya.com. Letters and viewpoints are due Sunday at 5 p.m. for Tuesday’s issue and Wednesday at 5 p.m. for Friday’s issue. The Hoya reserves the right to reject letters or viewpoints and edit for length, style, clarity and accuracy. The Hoya further reserves the right to write headlines and select illustrations to accompany letters and viewpoints. Corrections & Clarifications If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Paolo Santamaria at (703) 409-7276 or email executive@thehoya.com. News Tips Campus News Editor Ian Scoville: Call (202) 602-7650 or email campus@thehoya. com. City News Editor Aly Pachter: Call (916) 995-0412 or email city@thehoya.com. Sports Editor Sean Hoffman: Call (703) 300-0267 or email sports@thehoya.com. General Information The Hoya is published twice each week
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OPINION
Friday, MARCH 24, 2017
UNMASKED
THE HOYA
A3
VIEWPOINT • BROWN
Caitlin Karna
Deconstruct Hidden Privilege
“H
ey. I’ll pay you $2 if you can play at least one song by a black person,” my friend said to me during our shift last week, where I manage and control the auxiliary cord. I take music very seriously and curate my playlists with meticulous attention to detail and flow. It was a Sunday opening shift, and it felt like a “Ur Dad’s Playlist” kind of morning. The playlist, one I like to say I am proud of, is made up of songs I grew up hearing. Hits like U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name,” The Police’s “Roxanne” and The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” remind me of my parents, who played these songs in the kitchen when cooking or in the living room from the new surroundsound stereo when guests came over and dinner parties quickly escalated into dance parties. These are the songs of their youth and the melodies of their college days doused in nostalgia. Play at least one song by a black person. The words hung in the air as I let go of the coffee shuttle, watching steamy brown liquid fill the cup. I looked up, dumbfounded. My friend gave me a pointed look. I tried to search for words to respond to this declaration. How should I respond? There was no justification I could make, nor would it have been appropriate to try. Was I so ignorant? I trudged home with a bad taste in my mouth. I felt as if my friend picked a fight, calling me out on my own inherent whiteness, even if his own knowledge about me was limited. The current climate of our country leaves us constantly in a state of questioning. We triple-check everything. Did I use the right gender pronouns? Am I being inclusive? Can I support this cause without appearing partisan? Is this statement politically correct? Today more than ever, we watch our words and actions and their consequences. In the disjointed society we live in, we believe it is more important now than ever not to offend, whether intentionally or not.
The act of playing only white artists may not explicitly exacerbate the racial divide, but it does beg the question of what it is we are missing in the conversation of race. Regardless of my own background, the fact of the matter is that I was oblivious to a glaring omission. This was not about me at all. I had no aim to create a playlist that was not diverse, nor did I deliberately choose mostly white artists. I crafted this playlist based on my knowledge of a particular time in my life and my parents’ lives. But the fact that the playlist lacked music by black artists never occurred to me. And that is a privilege I was not aware I had — the fact that this awareness is not something I have to worry or think about. According to Virginia Polytechnic and State University researcher Christine White, “the primary function of music is that it creates for us a particular self-definition, a particular place in society.” Unconsciously, we create and align our identities and nonidentities in our music taste, creating symbolic boundaries. Especially at Georgetown, we are often on the defensive when evidence of our privilege seeps through. But often, we act unconsciously. No matter how many times we take the Harvard Implicit Bias Test to prove we do not lean one way or the other, we cannot relate to the achievements or the hardships of all people. As a result, we will make mistakes. But instead of pretending, in place of defending, we should take this as an opportunity to actually learn about the world around us — its history and its inhabitants. I am not going to try to immediately compensate by blaring the Jackson 5 or Otis Redding, but I will take the time to research that which I do not know and incorporate that into the future.
Caitlin Karna is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. Unmasked appears every other Friday.
Acceptance to the Credit Union is an opportunity that should be available to all the varied individuals that roam our halls.
Correcting a Club’s Flawed Culture
T
his semester, Students of Georgetown, Inc. welcomed a new group of baristas, cashiers and accountants that I imagine must be among the most wonderfully diverse assemblies of individuals to ever be embraced as “Corpies.” The same day, my own organization, the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, admitted its whitest new cohort in the past several interview cycles. In quantifiable terms, of 64 non-white applicants in our pool this semester, only three were accepted to the organization at a rate of 4.7 percent, compared to a roughly 20 percent acceptance rate for white applicants. As a member of the newly formed Diversity & Inclusion committee and one of the few students of color in GUASFCU, I must lend voice to a question that has been knocking about in my head ever since this disheartening wave of acceptances: When will the Credit Union follow The Corp’s lead and address our own diversity problem? First, let me say that my opinion is by no means an indictment of the individual first-year students who have recently joined our ranks. I have no doubt that each one of them performed exceptionally throughout the interview process and received a well-deserved offer to join
the Credit Union as a result. I would, however, like to call into question the judgment of the individuals who afforded them the opportunity. Although the new tellers are individually marvelous, they are collectively destructive. The responsibility of the Credit Union’s leadership is not to pick wonderful individuals; it is to pick a wonderful class. Contrary to this obligation, we have constructed an interview process which, while not inherently prejudiced, lends itself comfortably to prejudiced ends when coordinated by fallible individuals. I have seen this imperfect process give preference to implicit biases throughout my time with the Credit Union. One particular instance comes to mind as the most striking example of all that is wrong with our method. Each semester that I interview our first-round applicants, I meet people that are so astoundingly accomplished that I am forced to wonder how it is that I was ever accepted to the Credit Union. Lucy was one of those people. Lucy was a Muslim young woman of Middle Eastern descent who spent her childhood abroad and chose to fly from her nest for her college years. I hesitate to divulge too much information for the
VIEWPOINT • LARKIN
sake of preserving her confidentiality, but let me assure you that she was nothing short of remarkable. For those reasons and more, I was shocked when she was ultimately denied admission. Later that week, I ran into a board member who had contributed to deliberations over Lucy’s hiring. I mentioned to him, more as afterthought than inquisition, “Hey man, what happened with Lucy? She killed it in our room.” He instantly responded, “Yeah, she was a really great girl, but I just don’t think she would’ve fit in with the hookup culture here at the Credit Union. I wouldn’t have wanted her to feel uncomfortable at our parties.” I could not believe the words that came out of his mouth. His statement spoke far more about the inadequacy of my organization than it did about the character of the candidate. Besides the obvious paternalistic misogyny and cultural ignorance that just oozes from such a ridiculous justification for exclusion, there was also an element of proud bluntness in his response. Internally, the most commonly cited reason for shutting someone out of our ranks is that he or she would not “fit with the culture.” This leads me to two
questions. First, what is this culture we are preserving? And, as we continue to admit almost exclusively white people to our organization, how could a student that embodies diversity in all its many meanings ever fit comfortably into this highly coveted mold? The former question was answered very clearly by one of the gatekeepers himself. His mentality is insensitive at best, outright discriminatory at worst, and shows that there is something fundamentally wrong that should not go unaddressed. The latter question is the one that now confronts our organization. The Credit Union remains, in my own opinion, the single best opportunity for pre-professional development on our campus. It is an opportunity that should be available to all the varied individuals that roam our halls. But such a shift in mindset will not be self-starting. It will require the transformation of a body that has been wellentrenched in its procedures as long as I have been a member. That said, if The Corp can confront its own flawed practices, I have no doubt that we at the Credit Union are capable of the same level of introspection. COLE BROWN is a junior in the
College.
THE ROUND TABLE
Criticism, Not Anti-Semitism Our Essential Suffering
L
ast October, a swastika was scratched into the wall of a Georgetown University Medical Center bathroom. Laudably, administrators and others quickly condemned this blatant expression of bigotry. However, a less explicit form of anti-Semitism has established a toehold on our campus. It manifests itself in the actions of two student groups: Students for Justice in Palestine and GU Forming a Radically Ethical Endowment. Citing Israeli “state violence,” SJP and GU FREE advocate for an anti-Israel tactic called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. They insist they are not anti-Semitic, and that such an allegation is merely a mechanism to stifle free speech. However, GU FREE and SJP’s anti-Israel campaign is marred by genuine, blatant anti-Semitism. Israeli policies, like those of all countries, deserve scrutiny. However, there is a tendency for excoriations of Israel to verge into antiSemitism. To distinguish between legitimate and antiSemitic criticism of Israel, we can apply a test developed by human rights activist Natan Sharansky. Sharansky’s “3D Test,” which has been adopted by the U.S. State Department, states that criticism is antiSemitic when it targets Israel with delegitimization, demonization or double standards. The test’s validity is grounded in the idea that when Israel’s right to exist is denied, when its actions are vilified or when its behavior is subjected to unique and impossibly high standards, Is-
rael is being ostracized not for what it does, but for what it is: a Jewish state. Delegitimization of Israel is the beating heart of anti-Israel activity at Georgetown. Israel is not simply flawed, the thinking goes, but inherently illegitimate. This can be seen in some of the claims promoted on SJP’s “Apartheid Wall” — that Zionism, the ideology that there should be a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland, is “racism,” that Israel exists on “stolen Palestinian land” and that the Israeli Defense Forces should be “abolished.” This form of delegitimization even extends to students; both the SJP and GU FREE have a policy that bars contact with the Georgetown Israel Alliance, comparing dialogue with Israel to dialogue with slaveowners. Even more alarmingly, a trope at SJP events is to delegitimize Israel by delegitimizing Jewish peoplehood itself. This was made painfully clear at a March 13 SJP event titled “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.” The speaker, Osama Abu Irshaid, insisted that Jews are “an invented people” without ancestral connection to the Biblical ancient Israelites. More than just flying in the face of genetic, linguistic and historical evidence, this anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, which was reiterated by three speakers at an SJP event March 15, serves to undermine Israel’s right to exist. Indeed, Abu Irshaid said that pro-Palestinian activists must help dismantle “this enterprise called Israel.” Demonization of Israel is also integral to GU FREE and SJP. Both routinely defame
and misrepresent Israeli actions, but they sink to new lows when members accuse Israel of “genocide.” There are ulterior motives to this easily falsifiable claim. First, this smear seeks to undermine the Israeli narrative by falsely associating Israel and Nazi Germany. Israel was founded largely as a Jewish refuge, and spurious accusations of genocide or ethnic cleansing cheapen both the genocide of European Jews in the 1940s and the flight of Middle Eastern Jews in the ’50s and ’60s. Second, this claim attempts to justify GU FREE’s flagrant double standard. For example, GU FREE advocates divesting from Israel, but not from Qatar, which is home to both a Georgetown campus and hundreds of thousands of severely and systematically abused and exploited migrant laborers. GU FREE’s campaign is antiSemitic in effect, but not necessarily in intent: These groups’ messages are frequently hateful, but I am confident that most members are not. Yet racism ought to be unacceptable on our campus whatever the motivation. Moreover, anti-Semitism related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more than just a continuation of traditional prejudices against Jews. It also indicates a broader failure to understand the Israeli perspective of a nuanced, complicated issue. If progress toward peace is to be made, both sides must learn to acknowledge each other’s point of view. TANNER LARKIN is a freshman
in the School of Foreign Service.
T
he first day of Lent is perhaps the busiest day of the year for Dahlgren Chapel. Far more Hoyas come to Mass on Ash Wednesday than attend weekly Sunday service, even though only the latter is morally obligated by the Catholic Church. There are two ways to view this discrepancy. The first is with cynicism. People on campus and around the world come to Ash Wednesday mass because they “get something.” They receive a mark that distinguishes them as dutiful believers like voters sporting buttons on Election Day. I am in no position to say whether this is true or to what extent it motivates Georgetown students. If it were true, however, it would smack of more than a little irony. The ashes are first and foremost a mark of penitence. They remind us of our sinfulness and mortality, which we are meant to remember throughout Lent. It is not a “happy” day like Easter and Christmas, but one of solemnity, mortification and sorrow. Christians are spiritually called to walk and suffer with Christ as we remember his 40 days of fasting in the desert to prepare for the temptations of the devil and ultimately his death and resurrection. My second perspective is hopeful, not cynical. Scores of Hoyas attend Ash Wednesday Mass because they are each responding with empathy and humility to the memory of Christ’s suffering. Thes ashes serve as a source of shame, not pride or ostentation. But why the shame? For many, Lent is the epitome of Christianity’s ostensibly austere deprecation of humanity. It is
often said that the Christian life is fundamentally one of guilt, tragedy and postponement until “eternal life” begins. If I felt this to be true, I would
Jack Segelstein not be Catholic. G.K. Chesterton, the 20th century Christian apologist, held that the natural — and most mysterious — state of the human person is joy. He felt Christianity better recognized this fundamental claim about humanity than did any other faith or philosophy. Food tastes better when you are hungry. Assuming we have food available to us, we only allow ourselves to get hungry when we restrain ourselves and exercise discipline. Despite the “suffering” that is hunger, we are more fully rewarded for it when we get around to a meal. This is, more or less, the logic of Lenten fasting, save for one crucial piece. Christianity shows us that hunger itself has intrinsic value, something that has nothing to do with later consuming food. The same applies to all suffering. In fact, all suffering entails a sort of joy. I do not expect most of you to buy this. I was a recent convert to Catholicism when this principle — sometimes called the neighborhood of joy and pain — was first explained to me, and I was actually offended by it. I thought it perversely misunderstood the often-unut-
terable suffering in the world. However, if you distill Christ’s life to one essential act, he elected to suffer on the cross to save us. Yes, it was Christ’s destiny to die on the cross, but he exercised real, utterly human discipline in submitting to his captors and enduring each nail. We are, then, profoundly Christ-like when we suffer. Further, we have the opportunity to offer our suffering for him precisely as he did for us. Far from perverting human suffering, Christ’s suffering allows it to be redemptive. Perhaps some people object to my locating Christ’s essential action in suffering instead of love. But surely they are not mutually exclusive. Love is giving oneself over to another — it entails sacrifice and requires suffering. Indeed, there has never been a greater act of love in all of human history than Christ’s suffering on the cross. While it is true that fasting — and its accompanying suffering — helps purge us of our sin, it does much more. It allows us to more fully love God and one another, thereby more closely resembling Christ. We wear the ashes in shame precisely so we have less reason to be ashamed To all those observing Lent, suffer. Not mindlessly or masochistically, but lovingly. Call to mind your mortality and sinfulness, but remember how they make God’s love and suffering for us all the more remarkable. For this, rejoice.
Jack Segelstein is a junior in the College. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Hoya. The Round Table appears every other Friday as a rotating column by members of the Knights of Columbus.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE A roundtable on Georgetown’s Student Health Center focused on access and resources. Story on A8.
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4E’S GUIDE TO YOUTUBE IN THE 2000S Feeling nostalgic? Visit happier days with these YouTube videos that were all the rage back in the 2000s. KELLY PARK/THE HOYA
The Georgetown University Farmers’ Market, which was founded to improve access and availability to healthy and fresh food on Georgetown’s campus, returned for the spring Wednesday, featuring new and returning vendors.
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‘Welcoming the Stranger’ Panel Focuses on Refugees ISABELLE GROENEWEGEN Hoya Staff Writer
In response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, the Catholic Church should welcome refugees and immigrants, according to a panel of speakers Monday evening in Gaston Hall. The panel, titled “Refugees and Immigrants: Welcoming the Stranger in Tough Times,” was hosted by the Georgetown Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life Initiative and moderated by the initiative’s director John Carr. The six panelists included Georgetown President Emeritus and Jesuit Refugee Service Interim Executive Director Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., and Cath-
olic Community Services of Salt Lake City Immigration and Refugee Resettlement Director Aden Batar, a Somalian refugee.
“I did criticize Donald Trump during the primary, but on immigration I actually ended up supporting Donald Trump.” ALFONSO AGUILAR President, Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles
Panelist Bishop Ricardo Ramirez said the Catholic Church has been and re-
mains committed to welcoming everyone. “Moses and his people were migrants, they fled Egypt and they went to the promised land,” Ramirez said. Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles President Alfonso Aguilar said he believes immigrants make the United States more American by instilling values of hope and freedom. Despite this, he said the United States still needs to maintain border security amid immigration growth. “We do have to address the issue of security. I listen to the theological discussions, I believe in the refugee program, but the bishops also talk about the importance of border security,” Aguilar said. “We have to balance being
a welcoming nation with ensuring the security of our territory. It’s a difficult balance.” Aguilar, who criticized Trump’s rhetoric in the primaries, said he supported Trump’s immigration proposals during the general election because he believed in his ability to secure the border and reform the immigration system. “In the Hispanic community and in other immigrant communities, the perception is that Republicans are bad, Democrats are good. I think it’s a very complicated issue,” Aguilar said. “I did criticize Donald Trump during the primary, but on immigration I actually ended up supporting Donald Trump. I am looking at the end goal to bring people out of the shadows
and really reform our immigration system.” Ashley Feasley, who serves as director of policy for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs, said she felt those who opposed Trump’s policies, especially on immigration, should voice their opinions to enact change. “What is really important is that we use our voice in this time period,” Feasley said. “That you, as citizens, say to your local lawmaker that you are against these executive orders and that you want your lawmaker, whether it’s your senator or your House of Representative member to vote against these bills.” As a Mexican Georgetown student without documentation, Luis Gonzalez (COL ’19) said he appreciates the
university’s efforts to support students without documentation. “I am undocumented and I am unafraid,” Gonzalez said. “The reason why I say that I am unafraid is because I have an institution like Georgetown that is supportive of undocumented students. We have a university that has partnered with Catholic institutions to provide legal services for its undocumented student population.” Despite the uncertain fate of immigrants in the United States, Ramirez said that if people of faith stand together, they will persevere. “The last thing I want to say is that there is hope. I have hope especially that comes from our Catholic communities,” Ramirez said.
LAUREN SEIBEL/THE HOYA
Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., left, Somalian refugee and advocate Aden Batar, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez and Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life Director John Carr participated in a panel discussion on religious teachings regarding refugees and immigrants Monday evening in Gaston Hall.
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GUSA Senator Proposes Student Activities Fee Increase Ben Goodman Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown University Student Association senate’s Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Owen Hayes (COL ’18) has proposed a $41 increase in the annual student activities fee, which would be implemented if approved by a campuswide referendum. The proposed increase from $159 to $200 per year was suggested by Hayes during both a GUSA senate meeting March 13 and a Finance and Appropriations meeting March 14. Currently, the student activities fee, which each Georgetown student must pay at the beginning of each academic year, is scaled to national inflation, amounting to $159 during the 2016-17 school year. GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19), who cited affordability as a central issue in his campaign, said he opposes raising the student activities fee because it would effectively increase the cost of attendance for students. “Regardless of what the final dollar amount is, there will always be more need. Organizations can always put up more programming; there
can always be more financial support,” Mack said. “We are always hesitant to implement policies that would make the cost of attendance higher for students.” Hayes said his Fin/App Committee experience has shown him that student groups on campus lack the necessary funding to organize events and run programs. “It has become apparent that there is a fundamental gap between the amount of programming that student groups are looking to put on and the amount of funds there are available to facilitate that programming,” Hayes wrote in an email to The Hoya. Hayes said he reached the $200 figure after analyzing data from Fin/App Committee records and emphasized he believes the current student activities fee is insufficient to fund the number of student groups active on campus when compared to the funding available to students at peer institutions. “More conversations can and should be had about what the exact appropriate number for the fee is, but as it stands it is definitively too low and raising it to $200 would not
only serve the purposes listed above, but would also bring us closer in line with our peer institutions, many of whom have student activities fees, or their equivalents, that are well above that $200 amount,” Hayes wrote. Mack said not raising the fee allows students to choose what they wish to pay for. “Under the status quo, we are giving the students the choice to spend their $41 where they so please, and so students who are not involved in clubs then have the freedom to decide where that money goes,” Mack said. Hayes said neither students involved in student groups nor those who are not involved would benefit from the hike. “It funds hallmark events put on by the Georgetown Program Board like Mr. Georgetown and the Spring Concert,” Hayes wrote. “It provides the funding to bring remarkable speakers to campus through the Lecture Fund. Georgetown Day itself, the hallmark community day on the Hilltop, is funded through the student activities fee.” GUSA Finance and Appro-
priations Committee Vice Chair Scott Lowder (COL ’17) said a hike in the activities fee is a good idea because many students are active in student groups. “The arguments in favor of it make sense, in that we are a very program-heavy university, especially considering that unlike other universities, we don’t have as much of a Greek system,” Lowder said in an interview with The Hoya. Lowder said this spring is not an ideal time to push for a referendum; Mack and Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) won the executive race on their platform of affordability. “We just had an executive campaign centered on affordability, and tuition is rising, so that’s student costs rising,” Lowder said. “I don’t think this is the right time to put a referendum to the student body.” Hayes said the increased fee would lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income students, for whom the student activities fee is already accounted by financial aid packages. “For the many Hoyas receiving financial aid the financial barrier to participating fully in student activities on campus will be reduced,” Hayes wrote.
Student Activities Commission Chair Ricardo Mondolfi (SFS ’19) said he is not yet convinced a fee hike is necessary. “If this is a proposal that is put forth, it needs to be very nuanced, met with a university increase in their funding to us,” Mondolfi said. Mack said even if the university pledges to match the amount raised by students, administrators would have to account for the expense in other areas. “Money does not fall out of the sky. If we raise the Student Activities Fee, and say, ‘hey, university, you should pay more money too,’ that has to come from somewhere,” Mack said. “It will result in equally scalable tuition increases or increases in other areas.” Mondolfi said the Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Chris Fisk (COL ’17) GUSA executive considered a fee raise, but decided against it. “We needed to get a lot more serious with efficiency, making sure the funds we already have are spent appropriately, and the solution was not necessarily to throw more money at it,” Mondolfi said.
Mondolfi said he doubts the current student body would support a cost-raising proposal. “It is very easy for anyone to raise the argument that we essentially are raising tuition,” Mondolfi said. “For less interested students, the idea of having to pay more, and having it go to GUSA — people might be skeptical, and there could easily be a massive turnout against it.” Lowder said the idea does not have enough support within the GUSA senate or among Fin/App Committee members. Two-thirds of the GUSA senate must vote to approve adding a referendum to the GUSA election ballot. Mack said event co-sponsorship between distinct, but similarly minded student groups could be an alternative “Any given week at Georgetown, you may have different clubs that are putting on virtually the same event,” Mack said. “That will help with costs, and that will also help with cross-pollination of ideas, so that could be really beneficial in helping us getting a lot of bang out of our buck.”
DC Reacts to Trump’s Federal Budget Proposal City, university officials talk challenges Hannah Urtz Hoya Staff Writer
file photo: john curran/The hoya
As the university plans to renovate the bookstore and move Uncommon Grounds to the second floor of the Leavey Center, club leaders have begun to prepare for the changes.
Clubs Express Concerns Over Leavey Renovations Group leaders worried about traffic flow Ben Goodman Hoya Staff Writer
Planned renovations to the Leavey Center this summer potentially pose major changes for the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union and Students of Georgetown, Inc. storefronts, according to leaders of the two student-run organizations. The university is planning renovations that include construction in the bookstore, Sellinger Lounge, the north corridor and Hoya Court areas of the Leavey Center to expand the bookstore, according to Senior Director for Strategic Communications Rachel Pugh. The renovations are expected to take place from May 13 until September 2017. The Hoya reported Feb. 28 that Uncommon Grounds would move to within the university bookstore on the second floor of the Leavey Center, with an exit onto the Leavey Esplanade. The blueprints for the new UG show a rectangular space with doors leading into the second floor of Barnes & Noble and a staircase to the new location and seating areas. The move is part of a larger expansion of the bookstore into Sellinger Lounge. Pugh said the construction will seek to avoid The Corp and GUASFCU storefronts. “Construction will be limited to the bookstore, Sellinger Lounge, north corridor and Hoya Court areas in Leavey. The design and construction team has worked closely with the Corp during planning stages of the project,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya. However, Corp CEO Melina Hsiao (COL ’18) and GUASFCU CEO Rupert Kingshott (MSB ’18) said the changes could affect traffic flow in Sellinger and the Leavey Center, affecting GUASFCU and Corp storefronts UG and Vital Vittles. Hsiao said the move of UG presents an exciting but uncertain change for the organization. “It’s really exciting in some ways, and a little bit nervewracking; it’s going to be a ma-
jor change to the flow of traffic in the Leavey Center, and that is likely going to be a major change to our business,” Hsiao said. “It is going to be interesting to see how that works out.” Kingshott said although the change will not help GUASFCU’s business, the burden is on the credit union to cater its services to Georgetown students. “If I could make it not happen, that would be great, but I am not too concerned about it,” Kingshott said. “In the end, we are here to serve Georgetown. We make the financial lives of Georgetown students easier, and the burden should be on us to find them, not on them to find us.” Hsiao said she was concerned that Vital Vittles might suffer as a result of the construction. “Also, for Vittles, it will be a little bit of a concern postconstruction with part of the Leavey Center so shiny and brand-new that no one wants to walk over toward Vittles. That could also be a hit to some of our business,” Hsiao said. Kingshott said because students usually plan trips to the GUASFCU office, slight inconveniences should not deter them from banking there. “Our business model is not so much about foot traffic. It is more about us presenting our message,” Kingshott said. “For us, you basically go for a specific thing, whether it is a loan, or even just to make a withdrawal. Because of that, it will not really affect us.” Pugh said that the results of the new Leavey Center will not noticeably affect GUASFCU or Vital Vittles. “GUASFCU and Vital Vittles impact is minimal and limited to construction activities that will occur in the designated retail areas,” Pugh wrote. Hsiao assured the Corp is collaborating with the university to continue to promote Vital Vittles. “We are working with the university to get signage to promote the new UG and pointing out that Vittles is ‘around this corner’ and ‘down the hall,’” Hsiao said.
Hsiao said UG’s transition upstairs to the Leavey Esplanade might attract new audiences from different locations than before. “I think that it will be a really different flow of traffic into UG. Being up on Leavey Esplanade, maybe we will get more people coming over from MSB or the hospital,” Hsiao said. Hsiao said she is concerned students could shift their business to Starbucks on the first floor of the Leavey Center. However, Hsiao said she hoped UG maintains a culture that will retain students’ favor regardless. “I wonder whether people will go upstairs to UG or down the hall to Starbucks. I think that is a little bit of a concern,” Hsiao said. “It will be a new space, and I hope that UG is creating a welcoming environment that people want to hang out in anyway, so they will seek that out.” According to Hsiao, the construction itself will likely not have a significant impact on business for UG since business operates far slower for The Corp from June to August. Hsiao said The Corp’s main goal vis-à-vis the new construction is to ensure that all Corp locations in the Leavey Center remain integral to students’ daily lives on the Hilltop. “How do we find the best way to make going to UG or Vittles part of the daily life and routine of incoming students? That is true of every year, but this year in particular, because we might be losing some of the business from people for whom it is already part of their daily routine,” Hsiao said. Kingshott said that GUASFCU would ultimately bear responsibility for its own success despite any problems that arise from the new construction. “It is just one of those things that happens, and you roll with it, because in the end it is up to us,” Kingshott said.
President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget is expected to cost the Washington, D.C. government approximately $103 million and could cut about 120 public-sector jobs, hindering affordable housing and other social services in the city, District officials said Monday. According to City Administrator Rashad Young, Trump’s plan to defund agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development — targeted for a 13-percent spending cut — would significantly reduce a large portion of the federal grants that are used in District programs to help the poor. According to Young’s office, city officials are most concerned about the Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Minority Business Development Agency, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a nonprofit funded by the federal government to promote public broadcasting, and the New Starts Program, which provides federal grants for large transit projects. “As outlined, President Trump’s budget would undermine much of the progress we have made in Washington, D.C., over the past two years,” Young said in a press release Monday. “This proposal would force the city to make some very hard choices in order to keep our commitment to expanding prosperity for
all D.C. residents.” According to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) office, the District’s federal funds finance programs and agencies such as D.C. Public Schools, D.C.’s Public Charter Schools, the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, District Emergency Planning, the Presidential Inauguration and HIV/AIDS prevention programs. After initial review of the budget, Bowser expressed concerns for the impact this proposal might have on District residents. “In recent years, Washington, D.C., has seen tremendous growth and today our economy is one of the topthree strongest local economies in the country,” Bowser said in a March 20 press release. “Now, at a time when we are working to ensure that all of D.C.’s residents benefit from our city’s prosperity, we have significant concerns about the President’s initial budget outline.” Bowser continued by predicting future hardships the city might face under the proposed budget. “By making cuts to programs that support basic needs like housing and healthcare, this budget will force our city to make tough choices about programs that not only promote growth but enable us to support our most vulnerable residents,” Bowser said. Members of the Georgetown community also intend
to keep track of the budget as it develops, noting how it may impact the university community, according to Georgetown University Media Relations Manager Ryan King. King said the proposed budget calls for cuts that would impact federal financial aid to students and work study programs, as well as grants for faculty and graduate student research on academic, health and science topics. Additionally, King said nurse training programs and resources for student veterans could be affected. “Georgetown is concerned about the potential impact of the administration’s proposed budget and continues to monitor the deliberations over it closely,” King wrote in an email to The Hoya. Bowser indicated her office will look for ways to counter the negative effects of the budget. “As we continue analyzing the budget and advocating for programs that move our city and country forward, my administration will work with the community and our partners on the Council to promote and defend D.C.’s values,” Bowser said in the press release. The full budget proposal is expected to be released by Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney (SFS ’89) in May. The final budget is scheduled to be voted on by Congress in the fall, prior to the start of the next fiscal year October 1.
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Bias-Related Incidents Reported VANDALISM, from A1 Howard Gray and Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson informed the university community about the incidents in an email Wednesday. “As a Catholic and Jesuit university, we are committed to fostering a community that is welcoming to people of all faiths and that values understanding, tolerance, inclusion and respect. Acts of hate are unacceptable and antithetical to the values of our community,” Gray and Olson wrote. Two separate bias reports were also filed regarding incidents of Muslim and Hindu flyers being ripped down and vandalized from
chaplain-in-residence bulletin boards, according to Gray and Olson’s email. The bias reports were filed through the university’s anonymous online bias reporting system. Gruber could not confirm details of the timing and location of these incidents, as they were not reported to GUPD. According to New South Hall’s Chaplain-in-Residence Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan, one of the hall’s bulletin boards was vandalized. “I returned from a trip to London over spring break to find that the Muslim and Hindu flyers were missing from my Chaplain-inResidence display,” Sharan wrote in an email to The
Hoya. “I urge the perpetrators and those who would trivialize such deplorable acts to examine whether these actions will better or worsen the state of our society.” Georgetown University Student Association Vice President Jessica Andino (COL ’18) said GUSA is concerned by any bias-related incident. “We are deeply concerned by the swastika sign and other bias-related incidents that have recently come to light,” Andino wrote in an email to The Hoya. “GUSA stands by any Hoyas that have been personally attacked through these hate incidents, whether it be a member of
FILE PHOTO: isABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA
Three bias related incidents have been reported to the university this week, including the drawing of swastikas in two elevators in Village C West.
the Jewish, Muslim, Black, Hindu, Latinx, or LGBTQ community.” Andino and Mack plan to meet with Gruber tonight to discuss how to improve student safety and prevent future vandalism. Director for Jewish Life Rabbi Rachel Gartner condemned the incidents. “Cowardly expressions of hate like the ones we’ve been seeing deserve no less than our disdain, condemnation, and investigation,” Gartner wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I am proud of how seriously and expertly the university has been handling them, and how sensitively university staff and officials have been reaching out to those targeted. And my heart is warmed and encouraged by the ways students are reaching out to one another as well.” In light of the incidents, Gartner called on members of the community to self-examine and reflect on their own implicit biases. “At the same time, as we stand together against such vivid and visible expressions of hatred, my hope is that we also continue to look inward into the unexamined or implicit biases that also may be operative in each of us, and are communicated in more subtle and insipid ways,” Gartner wrote. Director for Muslim Life Imam Yahya Hendi said members of the Georgetown community should speak out against hateful acts. “Our campus is a beautiful one, and has no room for hate or exclusivity,” Hendi said. “My Muslim tradition teaches us to celebrate diversity, care for our neighbors and coexist with mutual respect and understanding. Hence, I reject all forms of hate directed at any Hoya, and call on us to treat any attack on one as an attack on all.”
FILE PHOTO: LAUREN SEIBEL/the hoya
Freedom Hall willl be renamed as Isaac Hawkins Hall after the first enslaved person recorded in the sale of 272 slaves.
GU to Rename Freedom Hall School looks to honor the 272 RENAMING, from A1 Ferrara’s email. History professor Adam Rothman, who is a member of the Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation, said genealogical research showed Hawkins was the patriarch of the Hawkins family. “On the Jesuit records, his name is just Isaac; he’s not recorded with a last name,” Rothman said. “But the more research that was done and incorporating the perspectives of the descendants themselves, it’s clear that he is the patriarch of his family. Even though his last name is not recorded, in archival material, his children and grandchildren are all Hawkins.” The university initially consulted the descendants of the 272 on renaming Freedom Hall to Isaac Hall, rather than Isaac Hawkins Hall, earlier this year, according to Patricia Bayonne Johnson, a descendant of one of the 272 slaves. Johnson said the naming has significance beyond simply renaming a building. “We’ve been in the shad-
ows so long so now that this has full exposure of the Jesuit slaveholdings we took to making things as clear as possible,” Johnson said. “Isaac Hawkins was a slave a long time ago, but they need to use the full name.” Rothman said the Working Group made the recommendation to rename the buildings to help highlight Georgetown’s relationship with slavery. “We thought it was important to come up with new names for the buildings that didn’t erase the history, but brought attention to the buildings in a different kind of way,” Rothman said. “And naming the buildings after one of the GU 272 would be one of the ways of highlighting aspects of Georgetown’s history that have been unknown or hidden for a long time.” Johnson said recognizing someone’s surname simultaneously recognizes their humanity. “Without the surname, he could be anybody,” Bayonne Johnson said. “In this country, the naming pattern is to have a first and a last name; it’s important to you.”
University Parts Ways With Coach John Thompson III THOMPSON, from A1 the program’s next head coach will be led by Paul Tagliabue (COL ’62), vice chair of Georgetown’s board of directors and former NFL commissioner, along with Athletics Director Lee Reed. “Decisions like this are not easy to make and are not made without a thorough process,” Reed wrote in a statement. “While we all recognize John’s tremendous achievements as head coach at Georgetown, what I value equally about him are his high level of character and the integrity with which he guided our program.”
“Georgetown basketball has been a part of my life since 1972, which makes this moment even more impactful but I look forward to my next chapter.” john thompson III Former Head Coach
University President John J. DeGioia reiterated the impact Thompson has made to the university, both on and off the court. “For thirteen years, he has been one of the elite coaches in college basketball. His performance as a coach has been exceptional, and he has served our community with remarkable distinction and integrity, sustaining our commitment to the academic performance of our students and providing them with the very best preparation for their lives beyond the Hilltop,” DeGioia wrote in a press release. In his tenure at Georgetown, Thompson amassed an overall record of 278151 coupled with a Sweet 16 appearance, a Final Four appearance and eight overall NCAA Tournament appearances. Since 2007, however, the Hoyas have not made it past the round of 32 in their last six tournament appearances. Thompson finished his
Georgetown coaching career with winning records in 11 of the 13 seasons. However, those two losing seasons came in the past two years, marking the first time since the 197274 seasons in which the Hoyas failed to qualify for a postseason tournament in consecutive seasons. Roey Hadar (SFS ’17), one of the students who started the petition to fire Thompson and CasualHoya.com’s senior student correspondent, voiced his approval of the decision to dismiss Thompson. “It’s encouraging to see the university make this decision. I hope the program can move forward, find the right candidate for the opening, and make necessary changes to the program both on and off the court,” Hadar wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Speaking on behalf of students concerned about Georgetown basketball, I also hope that the university incorporates the input of the dedicated student and alumni fans who lobbied for this change in its search for a new head coach.” Since the end of the season, four-star recruit and ESPN Top 100 player Tremont Waters requested his release from the university. Reports also surfaced stating that junior forward Trey Mourning was planning to transfer. Junior guard L.J. Peak, the team’s second-leading scorer this season, declared for the NBA draft Tuesday. Next year’s head coach will lead a team with nine scholarship players — eight if Mourning transfers — and faces the challenge of rebuilding with a youthful Georgetown squad. In the meantime, Thompson thanked the fans for their continued support and said he is excited for his next coaching opportunity. “I am grateful to the fans of Georgetown for their tremendous support,” Thompson wrote. “Georgetown Basketball has been a part of my life since 1972, which makes this moment even more impactful but I look forward to my next chapter.”
FILE PHOTOS: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA AND DANIEL KREYTAK/THE HOYA
Prior to his dismissal yesterday, 1,400 students, alumni and members of the community signed a petition calling on the university to fire Head Coach John Thompson III of the men’s basketball program.
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Georgetown Endowment Drops 3 Percent, Remains Lowest of Top 20 Schools Matthew Trunko Hoya Staff Writer
The university’s endowment declined 3 percent from $1,528,869,000 to $1,483,502,000 between fiscal years 2015 and 2016, according to a report of U.S. and Canadian university endowments conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Georgetown’s endowment is now ranked 61st for endowment funds of peer universities, below Harvard University, The George Washington University and Stanford University. The average change of all endowment funds reported by NACUBO was a loss of 2.9 percent from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2016. Georgetown University, ranked 20 on the U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 Best National Universities, has the lowest endowment of the top 20 universities listed. The average funds of the endowments of the top 20 universities, excluding the University of California system, is $10,070,453,000, approximately $8.59 billion larger than Georgetown’s endowment. Emory University and Washington University in St. Louis, which rank immediately after Georgetown, have endowments of $6,401,650,000 and $6,461,717,000, respectively. A smaller endowment hinders Georgetown’s ability to offer competitive financial aid packages to prospective students, according to Bart Moore, vice president of the Office of Advancement. Moore said in an interview with The Hoya the primary reason students do not attend Georgetown is because of a lack of financial support. “From their responses to our survey request, we do know that the most-cited reason they enroll elsewhere is they were offered more generous financial aid someplace else,” Moore said. “So, it is very clear that financial aid or affordability is a leading reason that students choose to go elsewhere.” Georgetown University uses the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to determine a family’s financial need. George-
town matches the financial need indicated by the FAFSA, but does not offer merit-based aid. “Sometimes, other institutions that are not limited to need-based aid will seek out or try to compete for that student by offering merit aid exclusively or merit aid on top of some need-sensitive financial aid offer,” Moore said.
“It is very clear that financial aid or affordability is the leading reason that students choose to go elsewhere.” BART MOORE Vice President of Advancement, Georgetown University
Georgetown’s endowment size has limited its ability to meet the FAFSA’s indicated financial need with only direct grants, requiring students to take out loans or participate in federal work-study to receive their full indicated need. “Historically, Georgetown has met its students financial aid needs through a somewhat greater, modestly greater reliance on federal government guaranteed loans and federal work-study and then a comparatively smaller grant or scholarship,” Moore said, “and some of our peer institutions, for example, have eliminated government-subsidized loans or they’re reducing somewhat federal work study income.” Media Relations Manager Ryan King said Georgetown’s endowment has performed well relative to global markets. “Against a challenging global market environment in recent years, Georgetown’s endowment has performed reasonably well,” King wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Over the trailing five years ended 12/31/2016, the Georgetown endowment earned an annualized return of nearly 8 percent compared to 5 percent for the
portfolio’s benchmark. This return is top quartile among more than 300 endowments and foundations tracked by the university’s investment consultant.” According to the FY2016 Stewardship Investment Report, which is sent out to Georgetown donors and is available on Georgetown University’s Office of Advancement website, the fund has grown from $696 million in fiscal year 2004 to $1.48 billion in fiscal year 2016. While returns on investment help the fund grow, the fastest way to grow the fund is by increasing its principal. “The fastest way to grow the endowment is through new contributions, and we’re contributing to the endowment and accelerating at historic high rates,” Moore said. Georgetown has launched a series of recent campaigns to increased the size of its endowment and to fund other projects, such as the John R. Thompson Intercollegiate Athletic center. The For Generations to Come Campaign lasted five years and ended last June, raising $1.675 billion over that time. Five percent of the endowment is withdrawn for use as current funds, enabling it to be used by the university for a range of needs. Of that 5 percent, 36 percent is spent on academic research and programs, 25 percent on professorships, 22 percent on financial aid and the remainder on smaller initiatives, such as facilities and library expenses. Georgetown University Student Association President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) said it is important that students understand the value of contributions from an early stage. “Making sure that Hoyas understand why it’s important to give back to the university while we’re here,” Mack said. “That’s why Jessica and I want to work closely with the Office of Advancement and make sure that everyone is indoctrinated with the concept that Georgetown is as good as you make it, and we want to make sure that everyone leaves with a sense of why it’s so important to give back to the university.”
FILE PHOTO: CLARA MEJíA ORTA/THE HOYA
Student organizations and outside businesses will be required to install their own Wi-Fi service in order to maintain compliance with new credit card industry regulations.
Student Groups Required To Install Own Wi-Fi Emma Kotfica Hoya Staff Writer
Student organizations and outside businesses on campus accepting credit card payments will be required to provide their own Wi-Fi service next year to maintain compliance with credit card industryimposed regulations. Organizations, including the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, Students of Georgetown, Inc. and businesses in Hoya Court, must use their own internet networks. The regulations, part of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, require all companies that accept credit card payments from major card schemes to host their data on a secure network in order to protect customer data. Because SaxaNet does not meet PCI requirements, outside businesses and clubs accepting credit card payments must purchase and operate their own networks. Vice President and Chief Information Officer Judd Nicholson said the switch is necessary and important. “Maintaining compliance with the PCI regulation is very important for both the business, groups and the university to protect our consumers and to avoid steep fines and disruption to business activities,” Nicholson wrote in an email to The Hoya. The change has been
about a two-year process, according to GUASFCU Chief Technology Officer Nick Matz (COL ’18). Outside businesses, such as the ones operating in Hoya Court, transitioned to their own networks first, and the university is now helping student clubs like GUASFCU and The Corp make the switch. GUASFCU Chief Executive Officer Rupert Kingshott (MSB ’18) said the group recognizes that the university was forced to make the change. “It’s not like the university wanted to do it, but their hand has been forced by compliance,” Kingshott said. “I do think the university has been very good in the process, and they deserve credit.” Although the organizations will now have to pay for their own internet, Kingshott and Matz said this likely will not affect the budget of GUASFCU. In fact, Kingshott and Matz are optimistic about what the change could mean for their business. “The positive side is that we’ll have our own network, which will be good for our own security,” Matz said. “If we want to make changes to our network, we can.” According to Corp Chief Executive Officer Melina Hsiao (COL ’18), student groups were not given enough time to make the transition to a new network. “The main frustration is
that it’s coming to us late so we don’t have time to put it in our budget, and there was no possibility for us to account for it in advance,” Hsiao said. “We didn’t really have the capacity to take a year to budget for it.” The Corp is planning to partner with an external organization for the creation of the network. Hsiao said The Corp will outsource much of the work of building their own network, after assessing the job would be too demanding to handle in-house. “Moving the entire system, building a Wi-Fi network on our own, is a massive undertaking for our IT department,” Hsiao said. The Corp announced last month it will also be moving Uncommon Grounds from its current location in Sellinger Lounge to the second floor of the Georgetown University Bookstore resulting from the expansion of the bookstore this summer. Hsiao said these two major changes pose a challenge for The Corp’s leadership. “The combination of the two coming at once is not ideal,” Hsiao said. However, Hsiao said The Corp will also benefit from owning its own Wi-Fi network, not only for security but also for practicality. “Building our own Wi-Fi will allow us to intentionally put strong Wi-Fi in physical places where we need it,” Hsiao said.
District Set to Become 1st City With Green Bank Alex Mooney
Special to The Hoya
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced March 15 that she is requesting funds from the D.C. Council to establish a green bank to aid the District’s clean energy efforts. This would make the District the first U.S. city to create a green bank. Green banks are financial institutions that use public funds to help the private sector invest in energy-efficient technologies by providing loans, leases and other financial incentives to green energy businesses. By using public funds, green banks are able to minimize private investment risk in order to incentivize a transition to clean energy. Bowser plans to introduce green bank legislation to the City Council in the coming weeks, asking for $7 million next year to fund her proposal. This money would come from the District’s Renewable Energy Development Fund, which comes from residents’ tax dollars. District Department of Energy and Environment
Director Tommy Wells said the initiative will help unite private and public sector interests, making the District a more environmental city. “I commend Mayor Bowser for introducing this innovative legislation,” Wells said in a press release March 15. “The D.C. Green Bank will pair private capital with public investment to more efficiently achieve our ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and to further reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.” Green banks have already been established across the United States in New York, Connecticut, California, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Maryland; however, no major U.S. city had set one up until now. In a March 15 press release, Bowser said initiative is part of a larger plan to create a more energy-efficient District. “We need to lead the way when it comes to protecting and preserving the environment,” Bowser said. “By creating a green bank, we will create more jobs for D.C. residents, which will allow us to continue our push for inclusive prosper-
ity.” Bowser also said this initiative is in line with her administration’s broader goal of creating a more environmentally friendly District. In 2016, Bowser launched the Climate Ready D.C. program, which suggested changes to District infrastructure and policy strategy to help make the District more resilient to the effects of climate change. Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large) said he supports the project ahead of the introduction of the legislation. “These investments will accelerate the use of green technology, which will in turn protect our environment and the health of our residents. It will also help put many residents to work with careers in a growing industry,” White wrote in an email to The Hoya. Other councilmembers have not released public stances on the Green Bank proposal. The Office of Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said the chairman has no official stance on the Green Bank legislation yet. Other offices did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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THE HOYA
FRIday, MARCH 24, 2017
Roundtable Proposes Increased Health Resources Darius Iraj
Hoya Staff Writer
A lack of resources prevents improvements to student health, according to students and administrators in a panel on student health in the Healey Family Student Center on Wednesday. At the panel sponsored by the Georgetown University Student Association, Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said the university is looking to increase the number of resources available for student health. “Short-term vision: More space, more integration, some more exam rooms. We need a little more square footage where we are,” Olson said. “That will help a lot.” The roundtable, moderated by GUSA Mental Health Policy Team Chair Sylvia Levy (SFS ’18), featured Olson, Assistant Vice President of Student Health Vince WinklerPrins, Director of the Student Health Center Leanne Lash and Di-
rector of the Student Health Insurance Office Laura Hardman Crosby. GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) said one of his initial goals is to improve Student Health Center accessibility. “The number one thing would be access to appointments.,” Mack said. “This goes back to what I said earlier, because sometimes there are just constraints that limit what the Student Health Center can do.” Olson said Georgetown’s commitment to Catholic and Jesuit values inspires its policies on healthcare. Currently, the Affordable Care Act requires student health insurance plans to cover contraception. Under the Trump Administration, this provision may be changed, and students may not be insured for contraception. Pro-abortion rights group H*yas for Choice Co-president Brinna Ludwig (NHS ’17) said contraception is not in opposi-
tion to the university’s Catholic values. “I personally think that providing contraception is not in conflict with Catholic values,” Ludwig said. “I think that the fact that a majority of Catholics use some form of contraceptives is a testament to that. I think they purposely withhold certain information that makes Georgetown less marketable and less accessible to non-Catholic students and I think it’s negligent for student health.” According to Mack, the nuances of Catholicism and contraception are unique within a college setting. “That’s always a difficult conversation to have because as Dr. Olson mentioned, we are a Catholic and Jesuit institution, and that’s valuable. That’s something that makes Georgetown unique, and it’s something that we’ve been since the beginning,” Mack said. “At the same time, we have a student body that is of college age and we have dif-
ferent health needs that that brings up. It’s definitely good to see that Dr. Olson recognizes that.” The university is making efforts to provide lower-cost health services for students. Lash, who joined Georgetown this semester, said the Student Health Center aims to put out baskets with menstrual health care products and is planning to put out more in the future. Co-president of H*yas for Choice Emily Stephens (SFS ’17) said she is optimistic about Lash’s plans to provide free menstrual health products Student Health Center. “I was super inspired by Dr. Lash, the new director of the Student Health Center,” Stephens said. “She started in January, and she seems really passionate about addressing the issues that we’ve been bringing up for close to two semesters now, and she seems like she’s noticed those things independently and is actively trying to address them now, so I really like her a lot.”
CAITLYN BRANDON FOR THE HOYA
Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson addressed student concerns regarding campus health resources.
Bowser Accused of Accepting Illegal Campaign Funds Marina Pitofsky Hoya Staff Writer
Democracy Is For People, a campaign finance oversight group, filed a complaint with the Washington, D.C. Office of Campaign Finance on March 7 alleging that Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) illegally accepted more than 20 campaign donations during her 2014 mayoral campaign. According to the complaint, the organization worked with its umbrella advocacy group Public Citizen to look into Bowser’s donations after the Washington City Paper reported that Bowser accepted a $3,000 campaign donation from the development group Sanford Capitol, $1,000 over the limit for individual campaign donations in the District. After completing their investigation, the group counted 23 total donations and $31,500 in supposedly illegal funds.
Aquene Freechild, the co-director of the Democracy Is For People campaign, submitted the complaint and said the organization also wanted to depict the influence of corporate real estate developers in District politics. Of the 23 total allegedly illegal donations, 15 are from real estate companies. “We felt it was a really important moment to share that this is not a unique circumstance, but rather that many developers and real estate folks have been the backbone of the Mayor’s funding as well as many members of the council over the years,” Freechild said in an interview with The Hoya. “We don’t think that that’s ideal when you have a city where affordable housing is one of the biggest crises that we’re facing.” However, according to The Washington Post, development groups in the District commonly make multiple
maximum $2,000 donations to local candidates. Frequently, initial donations are made in the name of the corporation itself and then given in the names of the company heads. This practice is legal under District campaign finance law. In 2014, Bowser’s campaign received more than 7,000 individual donations totaling $3.6 million in contributions, according to the Office of Campaign Finance’s E-Filing system. “If these reported excessive contributions were not simple reporting errors, but instead reflect a consistent pattern of negligence and failure to comply with the District’s campaign finance law, we ask that appropriate corrective action be taken to ensure that such abuses do not continue,” the complaint said. OCF Spokesperson Wesley Williams confirmed in an email to The Hoya that the of-
fice received the complaint and that the matter is under review, but would not comment further. The Washington Post also identified other donations the campaign identified as potentially violating district law are the fault of clerical errors by the Bowser campaign. For example, two $2,000 donations appeared in Bowser’s campaign donation records that appeared to be donated by the same individual, Franklin Haney, were actually donated by a father and a son named Franklin Haney, Sr. and Franklin Haney, Jr. Bowser’s 2014 campaign treasurer Ben Soto said though the campaign may have made small errors, the District OCF already looked into their donations during 2014 and again this year after the campaign account was closed and found no wrongdoing. “The Muriel Bowser for
Mayor Campaign Committee has always acted in good faith with full transparency,” Soto wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Like all campaign committees in the District of Columbia, the campaign committee was subjected to a complete vetting by the OCF, which resulted in the campaign committee being terminated with no reported violations. We will continue to work with OCF to make sure there were no excessive contributions from any contributor.” Freechild said regardless of why the mistakes were made, District residents deserve an explanation from Bowser’s administration. “If it’s sloppiness they should still apologize and fix it,” Freechild said. “If this was something that every treasurer goofed up on we would have a bigger problem. But not everyone who runs for office has this many mistakes, if that’s what they are.”
Freechild added that she believes that these instances were more than just mistakes. “I think that there are probably some bigger problems there. That’s why we asked for an investigation,” Freechild said. “It could be that there are many mistakes, but they have an obligation to make that clear for the public.” Though Freechild acknowledged that the donations the campaign identified add up to a fraction of a percent of Bowser’s total campaign donations, she said it represents a greater attitude among the Bowser campaign. “I’ve been disturbed by the response from the Mayor’s former campaign staff,” Freechild said. “You expect that if there’s a problem that somebody would apologize and try to fix it if they’re in public office, and that’s not been the response we’re seeing,”
news
Friday, MARCH 24, 2017
THE HOYA
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Business Leaders French Fries Startup Launches Encourage Use Of Blockchain SPUD, from A10
SUMMIT, from A10
‘how do we rebuild it from the ground up?’ According to Founder and managing partner of distributed database company R3 David Rutter, bitcoin’s potential could not be achieved if the decentralized blockchains or distributive ledgers remained isolated.
“That idea could be to banking what the internet was to the media.” David rutter Founder, R3
“In order to achieve the real promise of this technology, you can’t use a blockchain or distributive ledgers in isolation, so you need the network,” Rutter said. Rutter said blockchain’s impact on banking could be similar to the internet’s impact on media. “Not bitcoin, but the technology inspired by bitcoin, the idea of being able to push immutable records of transactions into the cloud—you know that idea could be to banking what the internet was to the media,” Rutter said. R3 recently came under criticism after the leak of a PowerPoint slide alleged that R3 was shifting away from its original blockchain technology agent. In response to this recent news, Rutter said the original blockchain approach was never part of the company’s plans because it was unnecessary. “It was never in the design, it’s not something that is necessary. It is much more efficient to not have blocks,” Rutter said. According to Rutter, what is more important are the people, particularly regulating agencies, who were previously unaware of bitcoin’s function and are now realizing the importance of having immutable records. “It’s been great to see how the regulators’ view of this has changed from a couple years ago, with the fear and concerns about bitcoin to a mutual appreciation,” Rutter said.
Jonathon Johnson, chairman of the board for the internet retailer overstock. com, analyzed the potential applications of blockchain technology beyond commerce. Overstock.com, Inc. is the first billion-dollar retailer to use bitcoin as a payment method. It implemented a trading platform last December where settlements between parties involved in a transaction are brokered by blockchains. The company seeks to use this platform to foster and advance the application of blockchain technology in banking, land titling, capital markets, identity verification and voting. In reflecting on these endeavors, Johnson said society is too slow in adapting to the quickly changing technological landscape, which that will be blockchain’s biggest obstacle. “Technology is outpacing humans’ or society’s ability to change as quickly,” Johnson said. “The blockchain’s biggest hurdle will be society’s inability to keep up with it.” In contrast to Rutter, Johnson expressed concerns over any attempts to regulate bitcoin. According to Johnson, government regulation would be inefficient and greatly hinder the tool’s potential.
“Technology is outpacing humans’ or society’s ability to change as quickly.”
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Åslund said. “What can you do when you cannot offer a rising standard of living anymore? You need small, victorious wars. In the cases of Russian intervention in Georgia and Crimea, Putin’s approval ratings reached new highs.” Åslund claimed that Putin’s primary concern is the control he holds over his own people. “I think the central theme with President Vladimir Putin is domestic politics. I think that all his foreign policy is just in order to stay in power,” Åslund said. Åslund connected this to the previous discussion on Trump and his surprising friendliness with the Kremlin, saying that this was due to his Russian business ties. “My guess is that he has
made is money by selling real estate to dubious people from the former Soviet Union on a massive scale,” Åslund said. Le Corre, meanwhile, offered insight on the upcoming French election and how it will alter the European political dynamic. When it comes to French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron, Le Corre said he represents ideas that oppose the current global populist trends currently seen at a global scale, but he faces Marine Le Pen who represents more of Trump’s populist ideals. “Macron in many ways contradicts many of the themes that we are talking about tonight. He is promarket and pro-trade and I believe many young people would be interested in this
message,” Le Corre said. “But he could face Marine Le Pen, who basically says we should close the borders, leave the Eurozone and possibly the EU and go back to the ‘good old times.’” According to Le Corre, Russia also plays a prominent role in the French elections as Macron, who is critical of Russia, faces off against opponents favoring closer political ties. “The question is the French elites’ relationships to Russia,” Le Corre said. “Macron is certainly the candidate with most Western, pro-democratic views of Russia, who has been very critical of Putin and the Russian system. Meanwhile, you have other candidates that are really in favor of getting closer to Russia in terms of political relationships.”
World Cup’s False Economic Promises
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ANNA KOVACEVICH/THE HOYA
Spud Buds, a student-launched french fries company, features fries inspired by five different countries.
ing in this direction, and if we need to tweak some things then we’re going to use this period to test and then go back to the drawing board over the summer.” Even though the menu will always be fairly small, Spud Buds plans to rotate items to include seasonal ingredients, reinforcing its commitment to local sourcing. Taylor Weaver (LAW ’17), who has helped Spud Buds with financial and business guidance since Newman reached out to him in January, said he was drawn into the project after seeing the founders’ dedication. “When they invited me to their Google Doc and I saw how much work and effort these guys had put into the company in such a short amount of time, I was hooked,” Weaver said. “It was also tasting their fries — they’re incredible.” Weaver said this passion and commitment makes him excited about what the future holds for Spud Buds. “In venture capital, a lot of times you’re betting on the team as opposed to the product,” Weaver said. “In this case the product is absolutely amazing, but more than that, it’s the team.” Weaver said that he would like to see the company take off as the next great in the D.C. food scene. “It would be really cool to see Spud Buds as a pop-up bar or in restaurants,” Weaver said. “Everyone wants to be the next Sweetgreen or some form of food shop that just takes off, so that would be the goal.”
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“Do you think that there is any government regulator that practices agile principles in regulating?” Johnson said. “The biggest anchor on that boat is regulation.” Johnson said while bitcoin is a fascinating tool, the blockchain mechanism that enables it is the most revolutionary aspect. “As cool as bitcoin was, it was the underlying technology that was going to be revolutionary,” Johnson said. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
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in frying time and temperature which would stop us from really perfecting our operation in the first run-through,” Hwang said “But those are definitely things we want to develop in the future.” Both Hwang and Newman described the process of getting into the GU Farmers’ Market as fairly seamless. According to Hwang, the organizers helped them by waiving the fee charged to all participants. “What’s really nice about the Farmers’ Market is that they reserve some spots for student entrepreneurs like us and waive the fee that’s required,” Hwang said. According to Newman, Spud Buds hopes to find additional opportunities for catering by participating in the GU Farmers’ Market and reaching out to different bars and farmers markets in the D.C. metro area “Being in the Georgetown Farmers’ Market is great exposure, and we’re hoping that that will translate into different catering opportunities for campus events,” Newman said. “This summer we’re working on different opportunities within the city such as popping up in different bars, and we are also in discussions with different farmers’ markets in the D.C. metro area.” Newman noted, however, that if they feel that something must be corrected before expanding, they would instead focus on improving their product. “It all depends what the feedback is,” Newman said. “If the response is really good then we’ll keep push-
“They don’t like immigration and they don’t like trade. There is some political science research that has found that people who express preferences that would characterize them as either racism or nationalist, or having some sense of cultural superiority are also more likely to oppose globalization.” Rothwell said. In addition, many of those who are not in favor of globalization tend to be older white males, according to Rothwell. “So in some ways there is a cultural bias against globalization that coalesces in America at least among older, white males,” Rothwell said. Rothwell later distinguished three forms of populism—anti-elitism, authoritarianism and nativism — all of which he argued could be seen in the Trump administration. Åslund, who has experience in economic advising for Russia and Ukraine, shifted the discussion to Russia’s increasingly aggressive role in the international political scene and President Vladimir Putin’s motives. Åslund noted that Russia seeks to fight and win small wars to bolster domestic support to compensate for economic troubles at home. “As I understand it, President Putin has two motives. One is macroeconomic stability, which he has achieved, but the economy is not growing like it was before 2008,”
Jonathan Johnson Chairman, Overstock.com, Inc.
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would value.” Newman said while most companies and restaurants make their fries very quickly, as if they were only an afterthought, Spud Buds truly cares about making the perfect french fry. This process starts long before the fry even touches oil and involves picking the right potato — Spud Buds uses Russet, No. 2s. “The idea is that you’re going to get the best fry you’ve ever had but with a different take on it,” Newman said. “The different dishes are meant to compliment each other with different flavor profiles so that way there’s something for everyone.” According to Hwang, Spud Buds developed the current menu after extensive research and testing. “In the fall we were just
doing a lot of research and talking to a lot of different entrepreneurs and getting feedback on our flavors and our concept,” Hwang said. “We now have five different flavors inspired by five different countries or fusion flavors.” To illustrate the complexity of the process, Hwang said they spent a long time selecting the best type of potato to use. “A lot of our initial tests were just about finding the right type of potato even. On our first test, we tested 12 different types of potatoes,” Hwang said. Hwang said they are currently sticking with one kind of potato so they can perfect the process before integrating other varieties, such as sweet potatoes. “We haven’t grown into sweet potatoes yet because they require certain variations
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without taking billions of dollars to finance with debt. Spending on this scale is extravagant for a developing country, such as South Africa, which still suffers from underdeveloped labor markets, public safety and sanitation, education and systemic financial inequalities. These issues will only worsen with increased debt caused hosting these sporting events. Developing countries still take on this debt because they want to show that they belong in the elite club of nations, most of which have already built the capacity throughout the 20th century to host these mega-events and, as a result, do not have to undergo fixed-cost expenditure. Even when developed countries do take on the fixed costs of hosting a mega-event, they have markets that generate post-event de-
TAIT RHYSSDAL/THE HOYA
Jonathan Rothwell, Philippe Le Corre and Anders Åslund discussed the implications of the recent rise of golbal populism on international trade relations and immigration.
mand and can integrate the new infrastructure into the economy.
Qatar will soon learn that hosting the World Cup comes with its own array of market setbacks. On the other hand, developing countries struggle to incorporate their newly built superfluous infrastructure into their small, underpaying demand. There are many striking examples. The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on which the government spent millions, is a particularly poignant one. Counter to the hopes and dreams of
both Port Elizabeth residents and the South African government, it has done little to nothing to improve living conditions even a few city blocks around it. This underused, unintegrated facility stands as an example of how hosting mega-events is a one-hit high for developing countries. Presently, Qatar is in the throes of World Cup spending euphoria. The country hopes to use the GDP growth from the increased World Cup spending to compensate for the recent years’ drop in oil revenue and slow economic growth. The country also hopes to preserve its reputation as the most progressive and forward-thinking of the Gulf states. However, Qatar will soon learn that hosting the World Cup comes with its own array of market setbacks. According to the Financial Times, Qatari
businesses are already complaining that all the large World Cup-related contracts are going to foreign contractors crowding out local companies and having limited impact on the domestic economy. The Qatari government is also doing all that it can to sustain expenditure, and has borrowed $17 billion internationally and domestically. But all this is expected. The World Cup is no free kick and its the beautiful economic landscape merely a desert mirage. No doubt, the new infrastructure will boost GDP temporarily, but the question remains on how will Qatar integrate this new infrastructure into its economy.
Mercy Radithupa is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business. BUSINESS OUTSIDer appears every other Friday.
Business & Tech FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017
Tech Tips Uber president Jeff jones resigns, successor hunt begins Uber President Jeff Jones resigned his position while the company continues to search for a chief operating officer, according to an article by Recode on March 19. In a statement to Recode, Jones said that his beliefs on and approach to leadership differed from what he saw at Uber. According to The New York Times, Jones was seen not only as a successor or counterpart to Travis Kalanick, but also an experienced leader who knew how to manage crises due to his experience overseeing Target’s marketing division during a major data breach in 2013. With five other executives having departed since the year started, both investors and the company’s board of directors expected to see greater stability, particularly after a series of incidents that cost the company public support. Such incidents include the #DeleteUber campaign and allegations of sexism in the workplace that are under investigation.
Samsung to release its new personal voice assistant, Bixby The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones will feature a new artificial intelligence voice assistant named Bixby to compete with Apple’s Siri, according to a report by WIRED on March 22. A Samsung press release said Bixby will be able to support multiple tasks and applications. Bixby will be able to perform any task that can normally be done via the touch screen, expanding its usefulness beyond the limited capabilities of other personal artificial intelligences. In addition, Bixby will take into account applications currently on screen and their context when it is activated. Users will also be able to switch between voice and touch commands to Bixby while completing one task. According to the press release, one of the most essential aspects of Bixby is its ability to accommodate a wide variety of voice commands and adapt to each user’s syntax. Samsung plans to eventually incorporate Bixby into all of its appliances and devices.
Panel Examines Impact of Populism
Tait Ryssdal Hoya Staff Writer
The McDonough Global Student Association held a panel at the Fisher Colloquium to discuss the recent surge of populism and its significance for the global economy March 20. Speakers for the event included Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Anders Åslund, Gallup Senior Economist Jonathan Rothwell and Brookings Institution Senior International Affairs Analyst Philippe Le Corre. The panel was moderated by Managing Director of the Business and Public Policy Initiative at the McDonough School of Business James Moore.
“There seems to be a nervous energy taking place as populism has become the word of the day.” James Moore Managing Director, Business and Public Policy Initiative
Moore said at the beginning of the event that there is a global tendency to reject established political structures and traditions in favor of alternative currents, most notably populism. “There seems to be a nervous energy taking place as populism has become the word of the day, rather than establishment,” Moore said. According to Moore this trend is
tait ryssdal/THE HOYA
Speakers at an event hosted by the McDonough Global Student Association observed a recent surge of populist ideals such as the anti-immigrant and anti-free trade policies of President Donald Trump. unprecedented in American politics, as the United States has never witnessed a wave of populism like the one embodied by the Trump administration. “It’s rather ironic, of course, that the United States, which has been arguably the prime mover in the move towards globaliza-
tion, now favors the construction of walls, has advocated for protectionism in the midst of free trade and brought the term ‘economic nationalism’ back to the forefront,” Moore said. Jonathan Rothwell discussed Gallup’s research on populism in the contemporary United States
Mercy Radithupa
COURTESY ChamBer of digital commerce
Co-founder and president of Unocoin, Sunny Ray said blockchain technologies such as the cryptocurrency bitcoin have the potential to revolutionize how business transactions are conducted.
Hoya Staff Writer
Spud Buds, a french fries company started by three Georgetown students, debuted at the Georgetown University Farmers’ Market on March 22. Founded by Matthew Wang (MSB ’18), Joe Hwang (MSB ’18) and Chas Newman (MSB ’18), Spud Buds uses locally sourced ingredients to offer customers five different french fries recipes inspired by cultures from all over the world. The founders developed the idea for Spud Buds during the course of last summer and won the people’s choice award at this year’s Startup Hoyas Rocket Pitch competition in November. In addition to managing the company, they trained to do all the cooking. Newman said that the idea first emerged during a casual conversation after they all realized that they shared similar interests.
Sporting’s Illusions Of Wealth
Executives Discuss Blockchain B Emma Kotfica
Special to the Hoya
Business leaders promoted the potential of blockchain technology and its ability to revolutionize the world at the second annual Blockchain Summit, hosted by the Chamber of Digital Commerce and the Georgetown Center for Financial Markets and Policy in the Lohrfink Auditorium on March 15 to 17. The three-day event featured scholars, economists and policymakers, all of whom discussed the changes to our political and financial systems brought about by these new technologies, which en-
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razil and South Africa both stood to benefit from the immense expansion of infrastructure that came with hosting the World Cup. In Brazil and South Africa, there was an increase in gross domestic product following the competition. In Qatar, which is slated to host the next World Cup, there is a similar expected boost in GDP. However, hosting massive sporting events may have a negative impact on the the sustainability and return on economic investments for local populations and governments. The argument for having developing or middle-income economies host the World Cup largely rests upon the idea that the World Cup will generate healthy spending and lasting GDP increases. This will pull the country further into the community of nations, encourage investment and enhance national pride. Hosting the World Cup can cause a GDP increase from the extra income to the construction sector, but given the nature of the construction industry, tourism industry and services sector, the benefits from this are distributed unequally. There is a disproportionate number of tenders awarded to international firms versus local firms. This is because local firms rarely have the capacity or experience to build huge stadiums and hotels, direct millions of tourists or provide, let alone build, the services for mega-events. Therefore, international firms from developed countries that have the experience, capacity and market intelligence on projects of this scope and scale get the first bid. Like the private sector, the underdeveloped public sector is often overwhelmed by the financial size of the World Cup. Governments find it difficult to impossible to pay for these projects
Joseph Hwang (MSB ’19), left, and Chas Newman (MSB ’19) launched their french fries company at the year’s first farmers’ market.
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able secure data storage via peerto-peer networks. Blockchain technology was first implemented in developing bitcoin, a decentralized digital crypto-currency. Bitcoin cannot be owned or regulated by conventional financial institutions. Instead, every transaction is recorded in an individual block, with the larger blockchain serving as a general ledger. Co-founder and president of Unocoin, India’s leading bitcoin trading company, Sunny Ray said the currency empowered people without access to bank accounts by eliminating transaction costs. “We think that bitcoin could
potentially bank the unbanked,” Ray said. Ray said his company can assist individuals working abroad in sending money home to their family and relatives. Ray equated the relationship between bitcoin and finance to that of email and the post office. According to Ray, bitcoin is revolutionary in the sense that it is redefining the concept of money. “The fact that bitcoin gets us to ask the question ‘what is money?’ I think is very, very exciting,” Ray said. “Bitcoin and the creators of bitcoin looked at money and said See SUMMIT, A9
Georgetown Students Start French Fries Company Charlotte allen
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Business Outsider
Congress begins to relax FCC internet privacy Rules Congress plans to limit the Federal Communication Commission’s roles protecting online privacy, according to a WIRED report March 22. Many consumers may be potentially at-risk when it comes to keeping information private. According to a joint resolution proposed in Congress on March 15, the Obama-era FCC rule forbidding internet service providers from selling the personal information of consumers will be eliminated. Currently, the FCC’s rule requires Internet Service Providers as well as internet companies to ask for the customers’ consent before collecting any data. If this rule were to be eliminated, customers would have to actively opt out of the data collection instead of being opted out by default. This resolution utilizes the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to reverse decisions made by federal agencies and prevent these agencies from making similar decisions in the future.
that identifies trends growing alongside the rise of President Donald Trump. Rothwell said the research has exposed some common ideological and demographic threads such as anti-trade and anti-immigrant beliefs.
“It all started late one night in August. We were sitting around the table, and we were talking about if you had a billion dollars and didn’t have to worry about getting a job, what would you do?” Newman said. “We realized that we all really wanted to deal with people and create something on our own, and we all were interested in food.” Only Wang had prior professional experience in the food industry, having worked at Luke’s Lobster and Boba Guys in the past. According to Newman, they realized Georgetown lacked good french fries options, and a global perspective would attract many customers. “There was a gap in the market for having good french fries at Georgetown,” Newman said. “We also thought that having a global take on something that is so quintessentially American would offer a differentiating factor that people See SPUD, A9