The Hoya: February 9, 2016

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 97, No. 31, © 2016

TUESDAY, FEBRuary 9, 2016

CRUCIAL STRETCH

The men’s basketball team is entering a string of must-win games.

EDITORIAL The referendum on live registration deserves student attention.

DEGIOIA COMMENTS ON RACE President DeGioia announced several new initiatives on Thursday.

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A4

SPORTS, A10

Regular Application Numbers Hold Steady Emily Tu

Hoya Staff Writer

Regular decision applications rose by 2.46 percent this year, increasing from 19,478 for the Class of 2019 to 19,958 for the Class of 2020. The slight increase marks a departure from the stable number of applicants over the past few years. This is the secondlargest pool of regular applications the university has received since the 20,100 collected in 2012. However, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon emphasized the relatively predictable overall trends in the total application pool. “Generally there aren’t many changes you can see from year to year,” Deacon

said. “Our applicant pool has been in the 19,000s all along. For a lot of places, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You have to look beneath that to see all the changes that are going on.” Georgetown College received 11,657 applications, compared to 11,461 for the Class of 2019; the School of Foreign Service collected 3,771, up from 3,597; the McDonough School of Business saw 3,294 applications, a decrease from 3,373; and the School of Nursing and Health Studies received 1,236 applications, a rise from last year’s 1,047 applications. Black applicants increased from 1,886 to 1,975, Latino and Hispanic applicants rose See APPLICATIONS, A6

Georgetown Applicants See SURVEY, A6

STEPHANIE YUAN/THE HOYA

The restructuring of the GUSA senate and executive will form a central part of Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Chris Fisk’s (COL ’17) platform, with plans to create new policy teams for efficiency.

Ticket Plans Restructuring Khan, Fisk propose changes to GUSA executive and senate CHRISTIAN PAZ Hoya Staff Writer

GRAPHIC: MATTHEW TRUNKO/THE HOYA

The College, School of Foreign Service and the School of Nursing and Health Studies received a slight increase in applications.

After years of serving the student body in both the Georgetown University Student Association senate and executive respectively, Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Chris Fisk (COL ’17) have made restructuring GUSA a key plank of their campaign platform. Under the proposed restructuring, the executive and senate would have combined responsi-

bilities under new “executive-senate policy teams,” which would assume the roles of current senate committees and subcommittees that work on specific issue areas. Secretaries and undersecretaries would be phased out and replaced by “policy team chairs” appointed by the president and vice president, who would lead the policy teams in conjunction with co-chairs chosen from the senate. The finance and appropria-

tions committee would be the only committee kept from the original model, but it would be required to have liaisons that keep policy teams updated on committee decisions. A minimum of four policy teams would be commissioned, with team members reviewed by the GUSA president, vice president, speaker of the senate and vice speaker. Members of these See GUSA, A6

Past GUSA Executives Reflect on One-Ticket Race PATRICJA OKUNIEWSKA Hoya Staff Writer

This year’s Georgetown University Student Association executive race — comprised only of the Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Chris Fisk (COL ’17) ticket after Tony

Pezzullo (MSB ’17) and A.J. Serlemitsos (COL ’17) dropped out of the race yesterday — marks a significant departure from past GUSA elections as potentially the first race with a single ticket in GUSA history. See TICKET A6

courtesy fire

The GULC received a letter from FIRE, a nonprofit advocating for individual rights at American universities on behalf of students restricted from political campaigning on campus.

Free Speech Issue Tested

GU Law Center bans political campaign activity Lisa Burgoa

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown University Law Center Dean William Treanor received an open letter from the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education Feb. 1 urging the university to revise its student organization policy after the center banned students from campaigning for presidential candidates. The GULC cites its taxexempt status as grounds to prohibit political campaignrelated activities on campus. FIRE, a nonprofit that seeks to promote individual rights at American colleges

and universities, wrote its letter on behalf of Alexander Atkins (LAW ’17) and other law students who comprised an informal grass-roots group supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The Office of Student Life rejected the student group’s request for a table outside of Georgetown Law’s McDonough Hall in September. The group then opted for cafeteria tables but was asked to leave on the day of the first Democratic debate on October 13 by university officials who cited the center’s policy governing partisan political speech. According to the GULC’s

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

Student Organization Policy on Partisan Political Activities, under the 501(c)(3) category of the Internal Revenue Code that grants tax exemption to nonprofit organizations, the university cannot engage in political campaign activity. “Georgetown University and the Law Center must generally avoid engaging in partisan political campaign activity and must restrict the use of University resources in support of such activity,” the policy reads. In FIRE’s letter, Senior Program Officer Marieke Tuthill

GRAPHIC: MATTHEW TRUNKO/THE HOYA

This year’s Georgetown University Student Association executive race will be comprised of one ticket, a sharp drop from last year’s fiercely contested six tickets.

FEATURED BUSINESS Split Your Ride

NEWS Zika Report

Students in countries with cases of the virus receive university warnings. A5

NEWS Single-Ticket Race

Pezzullo and Serlemitsos have dropped out of the GUSA executive race. A4

A Georgetown grad’s ridesharing app forms user communities. A10

Sports White’s Stellar Season

Dionna White has led Georgetown to success in her freshman season. A10

OPINION Bowing Out

Pezzullo explains why his ticket is leaving the GUSA executive race. A3

See GULC, A6 Published Tuesdays and Fridays

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