GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 97, No. 17, © 2015
TUESDAY, NOVEMber 3, 2015
CONFERENCE CHAMPS
The Georgetown men’s soccer team clinched a share of the Big East season title.
EDITORIAL A focus on alumni engagement can increase student engagement.
BEHIND THE STACKS Delve into the underbelly and inner workings of Lauinger Library.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A4
SPORTS, A10
Common Core Yet to Raise DCPS Results ALY PACHTER Hoya Staff Writer
Twenty-five percent of D.C. Public Schools 10th-graders who took the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers in English and 10 percent of students who took the test in geometry demonstrated proficiency in each subject, indicating low levels of college and career readiness and revealing potential flaws within the Common Core curriculum. The results show a discrepancy in performance among demographics; white students, who make up around 10 percent of the citywide sophomore class, generally outscored the minority students who took the exam.
“Historically, D.C. schools have been very low performers. That shows up in the regular standardized tests. But in gains, they’re way ahead of the game.” JAKE HANNAWAY Founding Director, National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Educational Research
DCPS adopted Common Core standards five years ago in an attempt to increase the range and rigor of education in public schools nationwide. The District, along with 11 states, developed the PARCC as a replacement for other standardized tests to evaluate student progress toward set standards in English and mathematics. According to DCPS Press Secretary Michelle See DCPS, A6
Young Professionals Eschew District A perceived lack of cultural capital renders the nation’s capital undesirable
EUNSUN CHO
Special to The Hoya
Washington, D.C., is failing to attract a young and educated workforce, according to a recent survey from the Roadmap for the Washington Region’s Economic Future. While D.C. is still the most popular first destination after graduation for Georgetown students, according to the Cawley Career Education Center, the study reports that recent graduates are increasingly moving to other cities.
“The Washington region needs to continue to offer fantastic career opportunities, but also needs to focus on how to keep it a great place to live.” ELLEN HARPEL (sfs ’88) Business Consultant
Data for the study, collected from May to October 2015, aimed to identify D.C.’s opportunities and challenges in boosting its economic growth. The study revealed that D.C. maintains a competitive advantage in its connectivity to the world, high quality of life and occupational specialization. However, qualitative conclusions suggest the District needs to rebrand itself as a good place to do business and improve living conditions for young professionals. Ellen Harpel (SFS ’88), a business consultant who helped lead the study, pointed out that both job market prospects and living environments matter in enhancing the city’s competitiveness in appealing to young professionals. “Keeping and attracting talent is critical. Our research suggests that the Washington region needs to continue to offer fantastic career opportunities, but also needs to focus on how to keep it a great place to live,” Harpel said. According to the Roadmap, D.C.’s econ-
KATHLEEN GUAN/THE HOYA
Despite a large job market, Washington, D.C., ranks low for attractiveness to young workers, although it remains the most popular city for recent Georgetown alumni. omy has grown on the basis of information and knowledge industries. From 2003 to 2014, the fastest-expanding industries were business and financial services at 38.9 percent, biology and health technology at 25.1 percent, legal, public, social and other advocacy services at 19 percent and science and security technology at 18.6 percent. In a report by the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, D.C.’s job growth from 2014 to 2015 is slightly below 2 percent, which places the city in 10th place among the 15 cities with the largest
job markets. The lasting association between the city and federal government may be a negative factor in attracting workers. Conclusions in the Roadmap study suggest that the city develop nonfederally dependent and export-oriented industries to maintain its economic growth. D.C.’s high population turnover rate may be linked to the city’s longtime focus on government and professional business See WORKFORCE, A6
FEATURED
NEWS GUMC Amphitheater
A new clinical teaching space, opened Oct. 23, will provide for more hands-on training. A5
OPINION #EndTheStigma JOHN CURRAN/THE HOYA
The Halcyon House, located on the corner of 34th and Prospect streets NW, is one of the supposedly haunted stops on the Ghosts of Georgetown tour, a mile-long trip following M Street and capturing the ghastly and ghoulish history of the neighborhood.
Exploring the Haunts of a Georgetown Past Lisa Burgoa
Special to The Hoya
The picture on the phone screen is blurry, but unmistakable: At a window, a silhouette materializes out of emerald light, its green, hollow eyes aimed fixedly at the camera. It resembles a specter of some sort. Or at least, so reasons Mike Harden. In his three years as a guide for the Ghosts of Georgetown tour, he has collected two ghostly images on his cell phone — one captured by a guest two weeks ago at the Halcyon House on Prospect Street NW, the other taken near M Street NW’s famous Old Stone House. He brandishes the photographs as a final flourish on the hour-and-a-halflong expedition, where skeptics are
invited to suspend their incredulity company has offered D.C. tours since during a macabre march through 2007 and has expanded internationally, now including cities such as San Georgetown’s most eerie haunts. “I love this tour,” Harden said. Francisco, London and Rome. For $13, a “It’s definitely the Ghosts of Georgemost fun one that “As we walked through town tour particiI give.” pant hears stories Harden said the the tour one night, I was vengeful nightly tours at- talking to a young girl and about spirits wreaking tract thousands of havoc in the manguests, who trace I believe I saw a ghostly a mile-long route hand brush her hair to the sions of unsusfamilies, starting at the Old side and I saw her shiver.” pecting curses that foreStone House and MIKE HARDEN told the untimely ending at the ExGuide, Ghosts of Georgetown Tour demise of an orcist Steps. The groups walk past West Georgetown American president every 20 years landmarks while Harden discusses and ghosts summoned by Georgethe history of the different locations. town University students through Tours operate under the umbrella Ouija boards. One of the stops is outside the company Free Tours by Foot. The
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Halcyon House, allegedly the most haunted location in the city. Mark Twain’s nephew Albert Clemens inhabited the home in the early 20th century, constantly altering the building with seemingly nonsensical renovations, including staircases to nowhere and doors leading to brick walls. According to Harden, Clemens believed perpetually rebuilding the house extended his own life. Although Clemens died in 1938, Harden said the ghost’s presence is so potent it compelled the founder of the Ghosts of Georgetown tour, Canden Schwantes Arciniega, to refuse to continue as a guide after a supernatural encounter.
Depression must be addressed, both in dialogue and in campus resources. A3
NEWS ERASE
A program focused on equity and diversity has opened membership beyond RAs. A6
Sports Senior Day Success
The Georgetown women’s soccer team beat Creighton 3-1 on Senior Day. A10
See TOUR, A6 Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com
A2
OPINION
THE HOYA
TUESDAY, November 3, 2015
THE VERDICT
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Founded January 14, 1920
EDITORIALS
In Search of Mentors It is an oft-cited truism that the most valuable learning experiences happen outside the classroom. “Mentorship” — in particular or fostering relationships that can function as academic, professional and personal resources — has become somewhat of a buzzword at Georgetown. Although there are numerous ways for students to take advantage of mentorship both formally and informally, the university should make a concerted effort to institutionalize these opportunities and create continuity within existing programs. By ensuring continuity in university-sponsored programs and creating more accessible programs within academic departments, administrators can ensure that more students are exposed to important support networks throughout their four years. Existing mentorship programs such as the Peer Advising Program, New Student Orientation, the Georgetown Scholarship Program and various alumni networks such as Women Advancing Gender Equality, Alumni-Mentor Program through the McDonough School of Business, Wall Street Alliance and Friends of the School of Foreign Service all have different aims. The Peer Advising Program and the New Student Orientation programs, however, lack continuity and often end prematurely during a
stressful and busy time for first-year participants. Administrators should add more oversight to these programs to ensure consistency and student outreach and responsibilities throughout the year. Peer advisors, for example, should have a detailed program with events spanning the school year, rather than simply answering emails over the summer and meeting once during NSO. In addition to specific alumni network programs, Georgetown and the Cawley Career Center should also facilitate a low-barrier mentorship system for students who have not yet decided on a career path. Academic departments should also incorporate mentorship into their structures by following the model currently used by the new Institute of Politics and Public Service. The program aims to foster professional and personal development by connecting students to leaders in their field of interest. This model is easily replicable in academic departments to connect students to professional experts. Georgetown students and faculty should consider developing mentorship programs with a stronger commitment to continuity and new academic department-based programs if they wish to emphasize the importance of mentorship on an ever-busy campus.
Georgetown students love to stay busy — so busy that as clubs and organizations with legitimate and worthwhile causes compete for students’ finite time, conventional means of outreach such as tabling, flyering and chalking Red Square may not be effective enough to spark and retain the interest of members and the larger student body. For organizations that are not as well known on campus, largely because they appeal to niche demographics, it becomes harder every year to engage a student body that flocks to the better-known organizations on campus. To change this, organizations should focus on hosting alumni networking events that utilize the tradition and the value of its alumni network to engage the student body in important issues. As midterm season begins to slow down on campus, student clubs begin looking for ways to re-engage their members, especially underclassmen, many of whom are likely still searching for that niche group to call their own. An organization that regularly hosts alumni networking hours can hope to regain the interest of pre-existing and potential members. The multiple days Black Alumni Summit, an event done in collaboration with the Office of Advancement, is a fantastic example of alumni engagement. More than 230 alumni gathered during three days of social activities, networking events and panel
discussions, drawing the attention of students to issues of diversity and the relationship between black alumni and the university. Although a considerable amount of work is required to successfully pull off an event like this, the benefits — in the form of effective engagement — are clear. Similarly, last month, the GU Improv Association seized its 20th anniversary as an opportunity to connect with the student body in a new and exciting way. The group invited alumni to return to the Hilltop and perform onstage with current members. The event enjoyed wide attendance across the student body, energizing the troupe and exemplifying the publicity power of such an event. Publicizing and commemorating an organization’s achievements is a significant way to draw in new students and remind the general student body of an organization’s importance on campus, while also raising money for worthwhile causes. The main challenge to improving engagement on campus through new events and marketing is time. Students at Georgetown pride themselves on dedicating incredible amounts of time, effort and energy to the organizations they care about. If club leaders want to continue bringing in an engaged audience, they must draw on their alumni network to spark an interest in the missions they
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Georgetown or Halloweentown? — Put away your cat ears and your ironic Donald Trump masks because Halloweekend has come and gone. On to something scarier: more midterms. Good Kid, m.A.A.d District — Kendrick Lamar performed to a sold-out crowd at the Lincoln Theater on Sunday night. World Champs — The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Mets 7-2 in extra innings Sunday night to win the World Series. It was the first championship for Kansas City since 1985. Return of the Red Cup — Starbucks has re-released its famous red cups for the holiday season, ensuring there will be no shortage of red cups on college campuses.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Michelle Xu
Engage Through Alumni
Costly Curves As midterm grades roll in and students commence the push toward final examinations, it is not uncommon to see students from the different schools within Georgetown University engage in lively debates about grading curves. Several academic departments — from the government to economics departments in the College, as well as all core courses in the McDonough School of Business — automatically employ a curved grading system, but the system’s standards harm both students and faculty because of a system of backward incentives for both groups. Faculty, on their part, are encouraged to put less effort into their lectures if students’ grades will eventually be lifted by the curve while students consequently allocate less time to their studying if they feel they will be “saved by the curve.” To create a more meaningful and fair grading system, department heads should grant individual professors the agency to develop their own grading system or curve. The economics department is famous for fielding generous standards for its students, given the high difficulty of the material. In courses such as “Intermediate Microeconomics,” 40 percent of students are required to receive some form of an A. While the argument for course difficulty seems to hold, especially for many upper-level economics courses, the underlying incentives with the current system cause both students and faculty to perform worse. The only party that benefits is the univer-
Katherine Richardson, Executive Editor Daniel Smith, Managing Editor Molly Simio, Online Editor Toby Hung, Campus News Editor Kristen Fedor, City News Editor Tyler Park, Sports Editor Jinwoo Chong, Guide Editor Daniel Almeida, Opinion Editor Isabel Binamira, Photography Editor Shannon Hou, Layout Editor Becca Saltzman, Copy Chief Courtney Klein, Blog Editor Laixin Li, Multimedia Editor
Editorial Board
Daniel Almeida, Chair Gabi Hasson, Irene Koo, Charlie Lowe, Sam Pence, Parth Shah
sity, because students end up receiving satisfactory grades, but in the end the standards cause deleterious effects to the academic rigor of the university. Students do not need to master the course material to receive an A or B as their final course grade, because ultimately the competition created in the current system is between students. Students can set a low bar for “excellence,” thereby skating by with low scores, but high grades. As a result, students’ best bet for high grades becomes poor and lazy classmates instead of sustained hard work in classes. Faculty face a similar incentive structure; with professors already incentivized by institutional structures to focus on research and publishing, grading curves remove any remaining motivations for teachers to prioritize pedagogical performance and excellence. They do not have to work as hard to deliver content, as a large contingent of students will receive an A and thus won’t receive any useful feedback on their students’ performance. A better curving strategy would allow faculty to create discretionary scales for their courses. Professors can set grades at appropriate percentages on the curving scale based on the difficulty of the course. Such a shift dissolves the current departmental one-size-fits-all institutional imposition, and helps professors deliver content to a standard that creates opportunities for students to master the material.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Catholic Vision of Sexuality As a recent alumnus who “feels that Georgetown must change to include more church teaching,” I very much appreciated Lexi Dever’s viewpoint (“The Georgetown That Saved Me,” Oct. 30, 2015, The Hoya). I am glad that Dever has found a home on the Hilltop; Georgetown is in need of a substantive dialogue about the Catholic Church’s vision of human sexuality, and I hope that Dever’s article can be an occasion for it. Since I became a Catholic at Georgetown, in no small part because of my attraction to the Church’s moral teachings, I feel that my voice may be of some use in this conversation. Too often, people experience these teachings as oppressive and judgmental — a litany of “thou shalt nots.” But as Pope Benedict XVI consistently articulated, for each “no,” there is a corresponding “yes,” a fundamental human good that affirms the Christian vision of man as a great “yes” to the dignity of persons. I hope to use this space to express some of
these values and explain why I have found authentic freedom and peace in them. The first of these values is human dignity, which follows from an anthropology of the human being created in the image and likeness of God, a unity of body and soul. It is precisely because the Church cares for the body that it celebrates the complementarity of man and woman, which is the foundation of all human relationships, sexual relationships especially. Since the Church sees the body as good, it takes an extraordinarily high view of sex. In sexual intercourse, the two distinctive forms of the human person — male and female — make a gift of themselves for each other, body and soul. It is because of its great power and dignity that sexual activity is properly expressed within marriage, the lifelong union of man and woman. The Church affirms the human person as lover, a being who desires. The power and depth of our longings are a tes-
tament to the spiritual dimension of our nature. I arrived at Georgetown with an identity shaped by the love of lesser goods – prestige, pleasure, power, wealth. The Catholic Church saved me by teaching me to settle for nothing less than the highest good attainable, which is love of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is in Christ, the perfect union of God and man who “fully reveals man to himself,” that we ought to find our identities, not in a lesser good like sexual attraction. Dignity, relationship, openness to life and love — these are the fundamental human values that the Church’s sexual teachings affirm. These teachings are not easy, but the Church calls us to heroism precisely because of its exalted view of human nature perfected by God’s grace. Ultimately, the Church’s vision of sexuality is about showing us what it means to be fully human, fully alive.
Taylor Colwell (SFS ’15)
CORRECTIONS An earlier version of “Pahlavi Talks Challenges in Post-Nuclear Deal Iran” stated that Delta Phi Epsilon co-sponsored the event. DPE hosted an event with Pahlavi following the speech.
Mallika Sen, Editor-in-Chief
Brian Carden, General Manager
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OPINION
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
THE HOYA
A3
VIEWPOINT • Goldstein
Mr. Right
A New Kind of Georgetown Story
A
Michael Khan
Consider Divestment Dangers G
eorgetown’s board of directors decided to end the university’s direct investment of endowment monies in coal this summer. Over the past few months, Georgetown University Fossil Free has committed itself to divesting the rest of our endowment from fossil fuels. Employing charged rhetoric and exaggerated cautionary tales, it claims in its campaign statement that it is “unconscionable to pay for our education with investments that will condemn the planet to climate disaster.” It cites the poor and disenfranchised and our Jesuit tradition as reasons to act. So, for the sake of their argument, it is about time we start talking about the poor. More than a billion people lack electricity in the world. Living in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia, these people are the ones who need fossil fuels the most. Over the last 30 years, China lifted 680 million people out of poverty by providing cheap and easy access to energy, powered overwhelmingly by coal. That’s how a nation with 90 percent extreme-poverty transformed itself into a world superpower. A sincere environmental activist would further acknowledge that one way to pivot away from coal is through hydraulic fracturing of natural gas — but most in the movement oppose this too. These idealistic champions of the environment seem to think that the world’s energy production, made up of 90 percent fossil fuels, can be satisfied by a few windmills in Kansas. According to The Washington Post, China completes a new coal plant every eight to 10 days — “divesting” from coal will make absolutely no difference as long as the world’s largest nation of more than one billion people fails to join us. If the United States acts alone, we will potentially decimate American coal production and, by extension, outsource all of it to China, thus catapulting the so-called climate crisis to even larger proportions and destroying thousands of American jobs and livelihoods. And forget international agreements — the United States has already cut carbon emissions more than any other world power for nearly 10 years, while China roars ahead with limited concessions. Upcoming climate negotiations in Paris are expected to cost the American taxpayer over $70 billion annually according to a recent American Action Forum report, all in an effort to reduce global temperatures by less than two-tenths of a degree by 2025. When the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the Clean Power Plan in 2014, estimates found that Americans’ electric bills could increase by a total of $366 billion as a result. While the rich spend less than 10 percent of their income on energy, the poorest Americans spend nearly 78 percent of their income on utilities. Increasing energy costs with expensive clean alternatives would hurt the very communities hardest hit in today’s economy. Our robust industrial world demands that we prepare for the effects of climate change by adapting through innovation and economic development instead of trying to prevent the unknown. In fact, adaptation was exactly what transpired after the Medieval Warm Period beginning in the ninth century and the devastating winters of the early 1300s – in other words, our Earth has been through this before. Especially after the author of a 1975 Newsweek article now admits atmospheric scientists wrongly believed in global cooling, it seems wise not to spend precious capital on the next climate forecasting faux pas. Sadly, many fair-minded Americans might wrongly view Pope Francis’ statements as a validation of the climate activists’ position. While Pope Francis most certainly speaks with authority on moral and theological issues vexing our time, his science is up for debate. His views on the scientific method have no place in the religious corridors of power. I would hope that he reconsiders his strategy of demonizing those in the fossil fuel industry and instead urges Catholics here and abroad to care for the environment in the best way we know how — in our local communities, not within pages of burdensome red tape. The same capitalistic system the pope dismisses is precisely the one that lifted millions out of poverty with synthetic fertilizers derived from fossil fuels, which assist in the growth of the vast majority of the world’s food supply. The Church tells us that it does not “presume to settle scientific questions,” but yet is the same church that condemned Galileo for heresy and continues to posit climate change falsehoods to this day. While President Barack Obama has convinced himself that climate change is our gravest national security threat while Iran is ascending and terrorism is growing, one is compelled to ask him and his party if they are truly willing to risk economic suicide to save one polar bear in the Arctic or a pair of quiver trees in South Africa. America’s future lies in their answer.
Michael Khan is a sophomore in the College. Mr. Right appears every other Tuesday.
t the end of last summer, I caught up with a close high school friend who goes to Williams College. As we were talking about the differences between our college experiences, she told me about her favorite club, Storytime. The club meets every Sunday night over cookies, and club leadership selects a student or faculty member to tell his story. Students sometimes speak about growing up in war-torn communities. Other times, they spoke out about ways their university could be improved. Professors sometimes take the opportunity to lecture about fascinating topics they could not fit into their curriculum. Other times, they speak about their professional life before teaching. My friend explained that the communal sessions, regardless of their somewhat childish name, do a great service to her collegiate community. When I look back at my threeplus years at Georgetown, above all, I feel grateful. Hearing world leaders and celebrities speak in Gaston Hall, dancing on the Kennedy Center stage at Rangila and taking a class taught by a Middle East peace envoy are just a few things I have done that I never thought I would experience in life. This university is a remarkable place, and a Georgetown version of Storytime could help the community come together to hear about our remarkable school. Students from unique backgrounds could speak about their upbringings. Professors could give talks about the most exciting work happening in their fields. Just like at Williams, they could talk about their experience in business, government, art and science. Georgetown already has something of the sort. From time to time, we receive emails asking us to name professors we would like to hear lecture in an informal setting. TEDx Georgetown also does a great job of providing a forum for student voices. However, both
Storytime could bring together students and faculty to hear about what we do best, what we can do better and what brings us together. platforms could undoubtedly be strengthened. When my feelings of thanksgiving pass, I think about Georgetown’s numerous flaws, such as the divided student body, which from sophomore year diverges into four paths culminating in four separate graduations. Beyond the studies that separate us, there are also clubs with admission rates lower than that of Georgetown itself and socioeconomic and racial issues that divide the campus. Many remember the fierce debates the Georgetown Confessions Facebook spurred, demonstrating the deep fissures within the
community. Anyone who glanced at a Georgetown newspaper last summer and read the reports on Georgetown’s track team knows that we are far from a perfect institution. Advocates for particular causes are often frustrated by the slow pace of Georgetown University Student Association reform, administrative red tape and the inability to prompt serious discussion campus-wide. A Georgetown version of Storytime with wide student, faculty and administrative buy-in could address these issues head on. Ultimately, these sessions — whether branded Georgetown Storytime or something else — have
VIEWPOINT • Mallahan
the potential to galvanize the student body in a new way. Now and again, we experience it, like at New Student Orientation when we hear students’ incredibly personal essays in Pluralism in Action. But by and large, the conversations and forums taking place are too ephemeral, weak and divided to truly capture, discuss and improve the Georgetown experience. What is Georgetown? We are first and foremost a Jesuit institution. Religious leaders could speak about what drew them to faith and how religion has changed their lives. We are a strong, geographically diverse academic institution — professors could give talks on the future of their fields as much as students from around the world could speak about their unique upbringings, cultural heritages, perceptions of life in America and so on. We are a hilarious student body — members of theater, film, radio and improv associations could make us laugh about all the things that make us Georgetown. We are also a deeply political campus, fierce advocates for our many causes. Students can bring to light the many structural flaws within Georgetown and propose ways to address them. While these conversations often occur formally and informally on campus — through GUSA advocacy and faith groups, Georgetown Confessions and Dinner With Seven Strangers — they lack the inclusive, participatory forum that could strengthen and improve our university. A weekly Georgetown session hosted in Gaston Hall could do for our community what Storytime did for Williams. It could bring together students and faculty to learn, discuss what we do best, what we should do better, what makes us unique and what brings us together. And of course, someone would need to provide the cookies. Who’s with me?
SCOTT GOLDSTEIN is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.
Dean’s Desk
End the Stigma, Start the Dialogue
Scientific Literacy: Left-Out Liberal Art
y story is all too com- to the institution that was supmon, but unfortunately, posed to be there for me: Counseling and Psychiatric Services. it is rarely discussed. In the spring of 2015, my I actively felt the stigma against workload was unprecedented. mental health as I walked into As a junior pre-med, I was tak- the counselling center. I prayed ing physics, biochemistry, Span- no one would see me enter the ish and philosophy, conducting doors, fearing I would be judged lab research and studying for for needing to see a counsellor. the MCAT. I was overwhelmed, Due to scheduling issues, cancelstressed and slipping back into lations and a snow day, I waited a depression I thought I left be- eight days for an appointment. Unfortunately, after my first two hind. When I was a sophomore in sessions, I did not feel like CAPS high school, I was diagnosed with counsellors helped me to make depression, put on medication, any progress. While I know CAPS has helped so and referred many people to a therapist. this camThankfully, afNo one likes to admit on pus, it did not ter four years for me, of work and he is not happy all the work and I decided struggle, I began to feel like time, but it is the truth. not to return for my third myself again and eventually The more we speak up, session. Fortunately, weaned off my the more we engage I got through medication. However, the in dialogue, the more some of the worst parts of over whelmwe take some of the my depression ing stress of with a my course load heavy weight off our not therapist, but triggered the same feelings shoulders, the more we instead with the help of my of numbness can accomplish. friends and and doubt I family and the didn’t know elimination I would feel of my stress again. The fact that all of my hard work would with the end of the semester. My ultimately boil down to two depression is not cured or gone, numbers, my GPA and my MCAT though, and I wish I had conscore, overwhelmed me. I told fidence in the systems in place myself I could get through it all that are meant to help me. I joined the Georgetown Uniby myself. I constantly repeated the same excuses over and over: versity Student Association I don’t need help. It’s just stress. Mental Health Committee to Everyone experiences stress, espe- help determine ways to reduce cially at Georgetown. I just need the stigma of mental illness. My to work harder and cut out the name is Clare Mallahan and I things that don’t matter: sleep, suffer from depression. This does not make me crazy or sick; it nutrition and a social life. After abandoning friendships, makes me one in four adults in losing seven pounds and sleeping the United States. At Georgetown, a fraction of the amount I should we need CAPS reform and adminhave, my illusion that everything istrative change, but right now, was okay shattered. I realized my we also just need more dialogue. I know I’m not the only one on stress and unhappiness was not at a normal level and that I need- this campus who suffers from these ed help. I couldn’t just mentally issues, but sometimes, it can get tough it out, and I needed to ad- pretty lonely. No one likes to admit mit that my depression was not a he is not happy all the time, but it is the truth. The more we speak up, simple fact of the past. Finally, I admitted some, but the more we engage in dialogue, not all, of this stress to my mom. the more we take some of the heavy She suggested I call my doctor, weight off our shoulders, the more attempt to get back on antide- we can accomplish. It’s time to #EndTheStigma pressants and try to see a therapist. Unfortunately, my doctor that surrounds mental health wouldn’t prescribe the medica- and illness. tion without an appointment, and since I live on the West Coast, Clare Mallahan is a senior in this was impossible. So I turned the College.
So at the very time when it is essenfew years ago, the Harvard Gazette published an ar- tial for citizens to have a good grasp ticle called “Way to Delay of science, science itself has become Huntington’s Disease Found.” more unreachable to the average These words would be music to citizen. As a result, we have become the ears of families that endure more and more dependent on nonthe hardships of Huntington’s scientific sources (newspapers, magadisease, a devastating neurologi- zines, infomercials, the Internet, et cal disease that currently has no cetera.) to interpret new studies, and effective treatment. The article this benefits neither society nor the featured the landmark work of individual. The writers of such articles are usualseveral Harvard University researchers and suggested that hu- ly not scientists and are simply reportman testing could start in as ear- ing findings from a press release. Furly as two years. This was in 1999. ther, these writers do not lend a critical Today, there is still no effective eye to their reporting and seem to reltreatment for HD. Despite the head- ish in the use of electrifying headlines line’s claim, those that do not accurately researchers had not reflect the conclusions found a way to deof the study. This is lay HD’s symptoms what occurred with and did not develop the Harvard Gazette a drug in the suband the UNO press resequent years. I leases. More examples mention this not to can easily be found evdisparage the Harery day in almost any vard Gazette or the newspaper. Ed Meyertholen researchers — on the So what is there for contrary, their work us to do? It is unrealistic is important and may eventually to expect nonscience majors to become lead to an effective treatment. In- experts in scientific fields — the amount stead, I mention this to cite an ex- of information is simply too large. But a ample of a larger problem: how the well-designed nonmajors science course popular press often reports on new does not need to be and should not be findings in science and medicine by a watered-down version of a majors sensationalizing results of research course. Rather, it should teach students studies. Interestingly, the same mis- how science works — with examples — leading headline was used in a press and include how to find, read and anarelease by the University of New Or- lyze the primary literature. leans 13 years later. Sure, many science papers are not It is clear that science and tech- easily understandable to a novice, nology play an increasingly impor- but many others are. Most clinical tant part in our world, both for the trials, for example, are usually quite good and the bad, and it is becom- straightforward, and one does not ing essential for even nonscientists need to be a physician to understand to have some knowledge about the and analyze such a study. I believe it workings of science. We all must is possible for all students to differenmake decisions on scientific issues, tiate a good scientific study from a whether they are global (e.g. climate bad one. They can learn, for example, change and genetically modified or- the proper and improper uses of staganisms), societal (e.g. vaccinations) tistics; they can learn the properties or simply personal (e.g. how to deal of a well-designed study; they can with Huntington’s disease). These learn to identify the various types of decisions are usually made by peo- errors that can lead to erroneous conple who are not scientists — there- clusions. They can learn to be skeptifore, it is essential for a liberal arts cal, think critically and contribute to education to include a significant scientific discussions. scientific component. We expect a liberal arts education This is not really a new concept. to teach the student how to think Science literacy has, in some form, critically so that he will become a been part of the liberal arts since more effective participant in society. antiquity. What seems to have We must remember that this also changed, however, is that science includes the formation of a strong has become increasingly more sig- foundation in the art of science. nificant to society. Thus, the need to produce graduates who are scientifi- Ed Meyertholen is an assistant cally literate has become more vital. dean and the director of preThis may seem quite obvious, but health programs at Georgetown its implementation is complicated College. He is one of the by the fact that science has also be- alternating writers for The Dean’s come significantly more specialized Desk, which appears every other and, in many ways, less accessible. Tuesday.
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NEWS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Biology professor Leslie Ries conducted a new study on the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies. Story on A7.
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Today’s life is about connectivity, so it depends on whom you are sitting with. That guy might be a friend for life.”
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Barry, an Uber driver, on the company’s introduction of UberPool in the District. Story on A5.
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KARLA LEYJA FOR THE HOYA
William Friedkin, the director of the 1973 horror film “The Exorcist,” spoke at the commemoration of the famous staircase from the movie at 3600 M St. NW on Friday, Oct. 30. Screenwriter William Peter Blatty (C ’50) also spoke at the event.
A GUIDE TO BAGELS IN D.C. A New Yorker’s take on the D.C. bagel scene. Read to hear the good, the okay and the downright horrible. blog.thehoya.com
Lauinger Library Addresses Digital Demands JESSIE YU
Special to The Hoya
Thousands of students walk in and out the doors of Lauinger Library every day, but few know the inner workings that allow students to search a book or collection, print a document or conduct research. Over the past few years, the Joseph Mark Lauinger Memorial Library has expanded its collection and services to attend to the needs of students and faculty in an increasingly digitized community. Lauinger Library is comprised of the main general book collection, the Booth Family Center for Special Collections, the Woodstock Library, the Gelardin Media Center, the Writing Center and Midnight MUG, a coffee shop run by Students of Georgetown, Inc. It takes a staff of 105 people to manage the library and the 30,000 new books that arrive each year. The
library also employs 100 to 125 additional student workers annually. University Librarian Artemis Kirk oversees the library’s operations. This year, the university hired Ryan Johnson as its head of collections, research and instruction. Having served as the head of information services at the University of Mississippi for the past 10 years, Johnson said his goal is to keep Lauinger up-to-date with changes in the education world, including open access and digitalization. “I’m going to work with this department to … provide the best well-rounded collections [and] set of collection services for the students and faculty,” Johnson said. Kirk said that the library draws on sources across a diverse range of subject matters and issue areas. “We first and foremost support all of the disciplines that are taught at Georgetown and all of the research aspects of Georgetown’s ma-
jor work,” Kirk said. “We’re not just buying course materials nor materials for particular disciplines. We are taking all of this into account.”
“We always ... find the materials that meet the teaching, learning and research needs of the community.” RYAN JOHNSON Head of Collections, Research and Instruction
According to its staff, one of the biggest challenges facing Lauinger Library is its increasingly limited space. Over the past few years, the library has shifted its focus to procuring e-books. In 2003, fewer than 500 of the library’s 1.7 million volumes were
e-books. Today, the Main Campus libraries house around 1.26 million e-books, more than 1.3 million microforms and constantly growing collections of audiovisual materials, photographs, government documents and electronic databases. The library also provides access to online databases, in addition to a 3D printer in Gelardin, which was installed last year. Aside from the procurement of new materials, the university also expanded its services to students and faculty over the past years. According to Johnson, librarians work closely with professors to ensure that students have access to publications that will complement their curriculum. “We always … find the materials that meet the teaching, learning and research needs of the community we’re working with,” Johnson said. “We track what books are used and how they’re used so we can get
RACHEL SHAAR FOR THE HOYA
In recent years, the staff of Lauinger Library has adapted to the shifting needs of students and faculty by increasing both the amount of its physical collections as well as that of its digital resources, including electronic databases, e-books and reference services.
a sense for how the students or the faculty are making use of the collection, so we can then tweak it to better meet some of their needs.” Students and faculty can request books from the School in Foreign Service in Qatar library to be delivered to the Main Campus. In 2014, librarians answered more than 19,000 reference questions posed by students. More than 1 million website visitors accessed almost 6 million library web pages. Much of the digital information is leased from aggregators or accessed through the Washington Research Library Consortium. The consortium is a nonprofit organization that includes eight other D.C. universities, including American University, the Catholic University of America, the George Washington University and Howard University. This year, Lauinger Library has a combined operating budget of $6.5 million. Each year, it receives a base amount from the university for its regular collections. Special collections are sustained through special funds, endowments and donations. Library archives have continued to grow in the field of special collections in recent years. In March, the Booth Family Center for Special Collections opened after the library received a $3 million grant from Georgetown parents Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth and an additional $2 million in various private donations. The center adds onto the library’s extensive archive collection. The archive collection, which was founded in 1816, is one of the oldest university archives in the country. According to Kirk, every nonconventional, unique and rare object, including manuscripts, rare books and other art, is held in these archives. “These [artifacts] are the things that kind of distinguish one university research library from another,” Kirk said. “Not just size, but what you’ve got that’s really quite unique and relevant to the mission of your institution. That’s where we focus.” Student Library Assistant Brynlee Norton (COL ’19) said her favorite part of the job is organizing special collections and observing pictures of exclusive events that involvr presidents, prime ministers and military leaders. “My first day I got to go into the rare books closet and on that day I got to see a complete set of first- edition Charles Dickens novels as well as a really giant book from the 13th century that monks probably inscribed,” Norton said. “So that was really cool to see.”
NEWS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015
THE HOYA
A5
GUMC Debuts $10M Classroom Renovation
UberPool Launches in DC
MARINA PITOFSKY
Uber introduced UberPool, a feature that allows users heading in the same direction to share an UberX vehicle and split the fare, to Washington D.C. Oct. 22. Instead of deciding between UberX or UberBlack, users may now select the UberPool option, enter a pickup and drop-off location and match with another user on the same route. Additionally, UberPool riders are guaranteed the cost of their trip, regardless of whether an extra passenger is picked up along the way. The company claims that UberPool will be 25 percent cheaper than UberX, which already costs 40 percent less than a taxi, on average. The creation of the service stems from Uber’s goal to be more cost-effective. “We’re aiming particularly at those who haven’t tried Uber before, maybe because of the cost,” Zuhairah Washington, Uber’s general manager for the D.C. area, told D.C. Inno last week. “Our goal is to continuously grow the pie of users.” However, the range of UberPool is significantly smaller than the traditional services Uber offers. UberPool will only service the D.C. Metro area and several outlying suburbs. Additionally, it will transport users to and from Dulles International Airport but will not stop in neighborhoods between the airport and the District Line. D.C. is the sixth U.S. city to unveil UberPool after San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Austin and Boston. In San Francisco, almost half of all trips in the city use UberPool since the program debuted three months ago. Washington cited its success in San Francisco and expressed optimism that the feature will also gain popularity in D.C. “We have seen it proven to be the most affordable product. We expect the same in D.C., with prices that are considerably less than UberX for riders,” Washington said to D.C. Inno. “The long-term vision is for this to be a product that allows us to bring down the price even further.” She added that the company noticed high demand for UberPool. “We’ve had more requests for its prelaunch here than other
Special to The Hoya
The new W. Proctor Harvey Clinical Teaching Amphitheater at the Georgetown University Medical Center, a space that will host courses with more hands-on, clinical curricula, officially opened Oct. 23. The School of Medicine will share the space with the hospital’s training program, and a set schedule for class use is not yet cemented. Dean for Medical Education Dr. Stephen Mitchell said the emphasis on increasing the school’s clinical education is a concept the GUMC focused on with its $10 million renovation. “The more teaching that’s done in a clinical context, the better,” Mitchell said. “Even if you’re learning basic science, you need to learn it as it applies to a patient.” Around 600 individual donors contributed $8.5 million for renovations through various medical school initiatives. MedStar Health donated the remaining $1.5 million needed to finalize funding and in return will have access to the space for its own residents and interns. Mitchell highlighted the alumni do-
MARINA PITOFSKY FOR THE HOYA
A new amphitheater opened at the Medical Center on Oct. 23.
nors as the driving force behind the project’s completion. “Over one alumni weekend, we had pledges for chairs, so we offered the 100 best seats in the house to honor the 100 best teachers,” Mitchell said. “We raised over $400,000 that weekend.” The amphitheater’s namesake, Dr. W. Proctor Harvey, GUMC for more than 30 years, starting in the 1950s. He pioneered cardiac auscultation – the practice of listening to a patient’s heart and diagnosing him based on any abnormalities in his heartbeat. Harvey would often open classes by playing a piece of classical music and asking students to pay attention to certain instruments to model the idea of auscultation. Mitchell said Harvey was known for listening to patients’ literal hearts only after listening to their metaphorical hearts — their concerns and long-term needs — and that this unique approach is reflected in the amphitheater itself. “I visit a lot of medical schools, and I would say right now that there is not another clinical teaching space like this in the country, if not the world,” Mitchell said. The renovations included extensive technology additions to the amphitheater, including several 100-inch projector screens, multiple high-definition cameras and individual audio connection, broadband access and power outlets for each of the 300 seats. Additionally, changes include a new concrete floor and ceiling panels designed for improved acoustics. The space includes 15-inch desks and an electric “sky wall,” which can be brought down to divide the space into two classrooms. Harvey Amphitheater Project Manager Whitman Brown expressed hope that the new technology will help students gain a more practical knowledge of material. “We actually have a digital stethoscope, so that you can have a live human being sitting on an exam table in the middle of the classroom. It broadcasts that person’s heart sounds to every headphone in the amphitheater,” Brown said. “So you can have 300 people sitting there listening to what a physician would be hearing in a stethoscope.” Sarah Schuessler (MED ’19) said the amphitheater is popular among students, although it is not yet clear how often students will get to use it, given MedStar’s share of the space. “It’s a beautiful space. I’m really excited about it, and I’m really happy that we have it,” Schuessler said. “I think there’s a little bit of a consensus among the medical students that we are happy to have it, but we are disappointed that we’re not getting to use it more.”
PAUL TSAVOUSSIS Special to The Hoya
COURTESY UBER
UberPool, a feature that connects users to share an UberX vehicle, became available to Washington, D.C., riders Oct. 22. cities,” Washington said. “D.C. is known for embracing innovation and tech and carpooling is a popular concept itself.” Additionally, Uber spokesperson Taylor Bennet told The Washington Post the company also aims to contribute to reducing congestion and pollution in the city by encouraging carpooling. “This is a part of Uber’s larger vision helping take cars off the road and providing a more affordable way to getting around, not having to rely on personal vehicles or on other transportation options that aren’t as reliable or effective,” Bennet said. “D.C. is a city that is faced with significant traffic congestion. … We hope this is a way to tackle that issue and reduce the congestion.” Barry, a local UberPool driver who chose not to provide his last name for job security reasons, believes the new feature will significantly improve conversation in his car. “Today’s life is about connectivity, so it depends on whom you are sitting with. That guy might be a friend for life,” Barry
said. “If Uber did not think it would help people, I don’t think they would have done it.” Zach Durkin (SFS ’17) expressed optimism about the convenience and cost of the new feature. “UberPool is going to be great, especially for college kids without cars because it makes getting into D.C. much more inexpensive, which I am really excited about,” Durkin said. Clayton Smith (MED ’18) also pointed to the cost-saving potential of the option. “Yeah, I’ll use it for things like going to the airport, but I haven’t tried it yet, though,” Smith said. “I think when [UberPool] catches on it will be [worth it] but in the beginning it won’t be very cost-effective.” Caitlyn Cobb (COL ’18), however, doubts she will use this feature, given the current rideshare feature that allows users to split fares with each other. “I already split fares when I’m riding with a group of people, and that’s pretty straightforward,” Cobb said. “I don’t see why I would use the new feature.”
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TUESDAY, November 3, 2015
ERASE Expands Membership Tours Highlight PATRICJA OKUNIEWSKA Special to The Hoya
Educating Residents About Social Equality, a group sponsored by the Office of Residential Living that provides programming on equity and diversity to the university residential community, restructured its organization to include general membership positions for students this year. Since it was founded in 2011, the organization has been run by residential assistants, community directors and students who apply for positions on the executive board. The advisory board also includes two staff advisors — Henle Village Community Director Jillian Sitjar and Village A Community Director Quintin Veasley — who assist in procuring funds from the university. This year, students will be able to participate in different event planning committees without joining the board. The group will also host weekly general body meetings open to all students. “At any time, individuals from the student body, whether on a whim or from promotion at an event that we host, are free to sit in on meetings and dedicate themselves to a committee they’d like,” ERASE President Anita Williams (COL ’17) wrote in an email to The Hoya. In the past two years, ERASE has hosted a number of events and programs to promote dialogue on cultural diversity and social equity, with the goal of building more inclusive communities within all residence halls. These programs include facilitated roundtable discussions on racial, gender and disability diversity, photo campaigns and open mic events. The group hosted its first event this year, a study break in Sellinger Lounge on Oct. 27. Several planned events for this year include social functions with hot chocolate and cookies and pot-
lucks featuring cultural foods. Williams said the group would like to engage students in discussions about diversity without giving the events specific labels. “We definitely want to host some fun, engaging things that move beyond the somewhat static ‘dialogue’ space,” Williams wrote. According to Williams, ERASE plans to host more events this year in partnership with a variety of student groups to improve relationships between student clubs and create a greater sense of community. The specific clubs have yet to be confirmed. Williams said that the goal of ERASE is to help students engage with one another beyond their club affiliations. “It’s not hard to notice that some of the cultural clubs keep to themselves, as well as some of the arts and sports groups,” Williams wrote. “We want to bridge that gap and provide a space that’s interactive and fun, tackles real issues with diverse opinions and transforms the relationships across the student body.” In addition to collaborating with other student groups, ERASE partnered with the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, which distributes newsletters and flyers across campus to help promote the group. Every year, ERASE hosts a series of open mic events, in which students can perform music, poetry or other art in front of their peers. Maria-Jose Nebreda (MSB ’19), who joined ERASE as a general body member this year, said she has been impressed with the group’s engagement with the university community. “I was looking for ways to get involved in the action-based social justice side of Georgetown and ERASE was a way of me doing that,” Nebreda wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I liked that ERASE took into account the importance of in-
tersectionality and that it seeks to create better relationships between student groups at Georgetown.” Eliza McCurdy (COL ’17), who participated on the board of ERASE as a residential assistant in Darnall Hall last year, said while she enjoyed her experience working with the board, she thinks that the group can benefit from more marketing in the future. “I really enjoyed the group of people who worked on it and thought they could get a lot done if they put their minds on it, but unfortunately, it worked out that people’s focuses seemed to be elsewhere,” McCurdy wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I think there is a lot of potential for ERASE in the future though if they can do a better job of getting the word out.” Other nonmember students also praised the group’s efforts. Gina Kim (SFS ’18), a member of the Georgetown University Student Association Multicultural Council, said that she values ERASE’s programming. “I think that ERASE is important because it strives to bring together a lot of different groups on campus,” Kim said. “I think that diversity and conversations on diversity are important to create voices for all on campus.” Daniel Lysak (COL ’18), president of the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center Hall Council, said he thinks ERASE can help increase student involvement in important dialogues on campus. “ERASE has the ability to become a powerful force for diversity and social equity, both of which are essential to making all Hoyas know that they are important, regardless of their backgrounds,” Lysak said. “Through active discussions in ERASE, I believe we can achieve this goal.”
Hoya Staff Writer Toby Hung contributed reporting.
Local Legends TOUR, from A1 Since Clemens’ death, the structure has been sold multiple times, even being used as a university dormitory from 1961 to 1966. Since 2011, the Halycon House has been used as headquarters for S&R Foundation, a nonprofit organization. “Two years ago, Canden gave the tour to a group of young boys for an 11-year-old’s birthday party, and as she crosses in front of the house, she sees three rope nooses hanging from the fourth-floor window, and as she scans the windows she see a man in a black robe and a wide-brimmed black hat, with a long grey beard and bloodred eyes who lifts a finger to point at her. She screamed and left the boys to fend for themselves, and has declared she’ll never give a tour again,” Harden said. Visitors often report perceiving otherworldly figures or orbs during the tour, or sensing sudden chills. One particular ghost — the apparition of former Union General Irvin McDowell — is reported to exclusively bother brunette longhaired young female visitors along the tour. According to legend, his brown-haired lover, Confederate spy Betty Duvall, betrayed him during the Battle of Bull Run. “As we walked through the tour one night, I was talking to a young girl and I believe I saw a ghostly hand brush her hair to the side and I saw her shiver,” Harden said. “I waited until we crossed the street to tell her what had happened, and I never saw her again.” Miquita Parker from Laurel, Md., attended the tour to satisfy her curiosity about the supernatural aspects of the District. She said she identifies as a believer in ghosts after two experiences in her childhood. “When I was three, I remember seeing this figure at my window
with all this crazy hair. I woke up crying, and when I called my mom and she said, ‘Oh, that was your grandma,’” Parker said. “I wasn’t scared then because I was so young. … So for me, I definitely believe, which is what made the tour even more interesting.” Eric Sellers (GRD ’15), who joined Parker on the tour, highlighted it as an opportunity to explore Georgetown from a perspective he had not experienced as a graduate student. “I enjoyed all the stories, especially about the Civil War,” Sellers said. “I enjoyed the fact that [Harden] knew all these stories about the different areas of Georgetown and the backstories, and instead of just telling us the scary part we also got a history lesson. Because I went to Georgetown, I wanted to find out more information about the stories here.” Though he said he believes in ghosts since they are mentioned in the Bible, Sellers said ghost tours command popular appeal among believers and skeptics alike because morbid curiosity is inherent in human nature. “I think people go on ghost tours for the same reason that they like going to the theater. They like being scared,” Sellers said. “They look forward to that fear, they want to see if it’s real, they want to satisfy that curiosity. It’s just fear, this weird or creepy feeling that you know something isn’t right. I think that’s what makes it scary, the ambiguity. It’s definitely an adrenaline rush.” Joshua Han (SFS ’18) said he has seen the tours walking by and sees their appeal, but does not believe in the myths surrounding the Georgetown neighborhood. “I don’t believe in ghosts, but I think that these ghost tours are pretty interesting,” Han said. “If you walk by the Exorcist steps late at night, you can’t help but feel there’s something spooky about it.”
DC Public School Test Scores Falter DCPS, from A1
FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
Educating Residents About Social Equality, a student-run group focused on diversity in residential halls like Copley Hall, above, expanded its membership opportunities to the entire student body this year.
City Struggles to Attract Grads WORKFORCE, from A1 activities. According to 2014 census records, D.C.’s ratio of residents who lived in a different state a year ago to the residents who stayed for more than one year was 0.09, compared to 0.01 for New York, 0.01 for California and 0.02 for Massachusetts. Georgetown students, specifically, are increasingly headed to other cities after graduation. The Cawley Career Education Center’s annual senior class reports indicate that while the D.C.-VirginiaMaryland and the New York-New Jersey regions continue to be the top destinations for graduates, the number of those moving to California, Massachusetts, Illinois and Texas is steadily growing. For example, since 2010, the percentage of graduating seniors moving to California has jumped from four to 7 percent. Massachusetts witnessed an increase from 2 percent to 5 percent and Illinois from one percent to three percent. Despite the study’s findings, D.C. still boasts high educational attainment rates. Research from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce indicates that the city’s job market favors highly educated workers. Among the online advertisements for jobs in the District, 72 percent require a bachelor’s degree, compared with the national average at 48 percent.
“[The] D.C. market has always been a job market for college graduates … mainly because of the business in the federal government and the jobs in consulting and [financial] businesses,” Tamara Jayasundera, research professor and senior economist at the McCourt School of Public Policy, said. Sidharth Sharma (SFS ’16) said the demographic trends from the Roadmap’s survey possibly reflect the city’s inability to generate a sense of belonging.
“It’s always been the center of government, the center of power, and it always attracts a certain kind of people.” JAVIER GONZALES (SFS ’16)
“People I know who are from the D.C. area, their parents moved here for something government-related, and they themselves do not plan on staying here,” Sharma said. “If I was interested in anything else
besides government and international relations, I wouldn’t want to stay here.” Other students said the strong focus on the government sector deters the city from developing a dynamic social atmosphere. Javier Gonzales (SFS ’16), who hopes to move to New York City after graduation, expressed his desire to see more diversity in D.C. “I think the city has a certain feel to it that doesn’t stand for cultural diversity,” Gonzales said. “It’s always been the center of government, the center of power, and it always attracts a certain kind of people.” Emily Kent (COL ’16) also said she hopes to move to New York or London because of the cities’ cultural richness. “When I’m in a place like New York or London, I feel like I am encountering so many things I can do as a person who lives there,” Kent said. “D.C. doesn’t feel like a cultural center to me.” Maurice McCaulley (SFS ’16), however, knew he wanted to stay in D.C. after graduation after his junior year. He said he believes that while D.C. is a busy city, it still provides an atmosphere conducive to personal connections between people. “You still have the chance to meet and network with people in a more genuine way.” McCaulley said. “[New York City] is too much, too impersonal, too fast.”
Lerner, school administrators expected the poor performance scores. “These results are sobering, but we were not surprised by these results,” Lerner wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are holding ourselves and our students to a high standard and our first outcomes show that we have a great deal of work to do. Again, we are making strong investments in our teachers, our curriculum and our schools. We expect these scores to improve each year.” Lerner hopes that higher expectations from teachers and school officials will help drive student academic progress. “We know that if we set the bar high, our students can meet that standard,” Lerner wrote. “We have a lot of work ahead of us to prepare our students, but we know that we will continue to make steady progress toward that goal.” Jane Hannaway, a McCourt School of Public Policy professor and founding director of the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, said the scores do not represent the gains made by DCPS in the past years. “Historically, D.C. schools have been very low performers,” Hannaway said. “That shows up in the regular standardized tests. But in gains, they’re way ahead of the game.” She highlighted the 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress as evidence of improvement; in it, fourth-graders jumped seven points in reading and three points in math overall since 2013. Hannaway said the scores may not accurately portray the value of the Common Core, given that the standards have not had time to take full effect. “These level scores are tricky because learning begets learning,” Hannaway said. “The real test is going to come when we start looking at the performances of kids who have been in the system for a number of years.” Cary Finnegan, the Center for Social Justice program director for D.C. Reads, agreed that the new standards for public schools need more time to show noticeable results. Finnegan added that poor performance scores on this particular exam may not be valid representations of college and career readiness. “If the data was showing better numbers, but on a less rigorous assessment, that would not mean good things for DCPS students as they enter college or the workforce unprepared,” Finnegan wrote in an email to The Hoya. The vast majority of students
who took the exam were minorities. Less than 10 percent of PARCC test-takers were white. However, white students drastically outperformed minority peers. Six percent of the English testtakers were white, and 82 percent of their scores indicated college and career readiness. In comparison, of the 78 percent of test takers who were black, only 20 percent scored in this range. Additionally, Hispanic students made up 13 percent of test-takers, with only 25 percent labeled as college-and-career-ready. In the math section of the PARCC exam, the scores showed a similar pattern. White students made up eight percent of the test takers, and 52 percent of them demonstrated college and career readiness. While 76 percent of the math test takers were black, only four percent passed. Again, Hispanic students made up 13 percent of the students taking the test; however, merely 8 percent of them were labelled college-and-career-ready.. Hannaway attributed the disparity to the fact that many minority students come from low-income families — a factor that greatly contributes to student achievement levels. Finnegan said these test scores are an indication of the importance of the Center For Social Justice’s work in supporting students of low-income families. “The data reaffirms that now more than ever, it is imperative that students consider ways that they can reach out and do work that will have a positive and meaningful impact on the greater D.C. community,” Finnegan wrote. “Whether it is a CSJ program or another GU program doing important work in D.C. communities, it is critically important that Georgetown students find ways to get involved and help schools prepare youth to be college and career ready.” Morgan Trevett (COL ’19) is a member of the After School Kids Program, an initiative that mentors adjudicated youths in the D.C. area. The students Trevett works with are all enrolled in DCPS. “The minority students that I work with come from some pretty low-income neighborhoods,” Trevett said. “I think that it’s really hard for them to reach their full potential, education-wise, because that’s not what they know.” Despite the overall poor results, a few highly selective and charter schools in the District reported higher proficiency scores. Students at School Without Walls, a selective public high school, had proficiency rates of 76 percent in math and 97 percent in English.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
News
THE HOYA
A7
GU Research Study Disproves Monarch Butterfly Extinction Patricja Okuniewska Hoya Staff Writer
According to a recent paper from assistant professor of biology Leslie Ries, monarch populations may not be disappearing, countering a long-held assumption in popular culture and the field of entomology. As an indicator species, the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies point toward general trends in the environment. According to Ries, the resurgence of monarch butterflies may shed light on climate change. “To understand the consequences of how things are changing is an important piece of information to have as we are trying to act,” Ries said. Ries arrived at her conclusion after studying large-scale continental patterns of butterflies, using data from citizen scientists and groups of hobbyists who collect data for scientific usage. Ries has helped these programs manage and curate data for more than 10 years. Ries said conflicting trends in her research caused her to doubt existing conceptions of monarch population decline. “In the winter you see this big decline, and in the summer you don’t really see it. And so, more than anything, this suggests a new question like, ‘What do we really understand?’ ‘What is causing their decline?’” Ries said. Ries also emphasized the importance of monarchs on overall North American migration patterns. As monarchs eat poisonous milkweed, the research provides insight on how insects use poison in order to be unpalatable for predators, such as birds. In addition to her current research interests, Ries said it is important to study other animals to track long-term changes, including figuring out how the environment and climate are changing. “We are able to take all these data sets that people have been collecting and the observations that people have been making for years and put all that data together in a way that helps us understand
how things are changing,” Ries said. Ries’ research focuses on two main areas: understanding how climate influences the monarchs and their year-to-year migration patterns, and studying temperature tolerances and population dynamics throughout migratory stages. Ries said she will begin to carry out her studies on campus. “At Georgetown, I will be starting up some of my own laboratory work, so I will start collecting my data,” Ries said. Treasurer of EcoAction Zachary Larkin (SFS ’18) said research on monarch butterflies is important in ensuring the well-being of the entire environment. “As a club focused on raising awareness for and trying to be a part of the solution for environmental issues, we certainly are excited about the positive news expressed by Ries’ research,” Larkin said. “Their presence in an ecosystem is essential for its health. From EcoAction’s perspective, this is another indication that taking care of the entire environment is important to ensure the health of all organisms,” Larkin said. Anton Lulaj (COL ’18), a biology major, said changes to the butterfly species can have cascading effects on other parts of the ecosystem. “In terms of the global perspective on climate change, looking at a species that is so pervasive around the world and that adapts so well to environmental change, we are seeing declines in population and changes in migratory patterns, which show that even the most resilient of species are being affected,” Lulaj said. Ries said that there is still much work to be done regarding the changing patterns in the monarch butterfly populations. “There are still a lot of questions we don’t know, and that’s true for the monarch as well. It’s a critical time for them and their populations do seem to be declining in an alarming way,” Ries said. “We do need to figure out what’s going on, and hopefully I can be a part of that.”
NAAZ MODAN/THE HOYA
Assistant biology professor Leslie Ries’ recent study on the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies in North America disproved popular claims of the species’ possible extinction.
Students Launch Academic Journal for History Research Ian scoville Hoya Staff Writer
A group of eight students will launch Georgetown’s first academic journal dedicated to history articles written by undergraduate and graduate students in early 2016. The Georgetown Journal of History, which will release its first online issue in the spring, will consist of research articles on history from students at Georgetown and universities across the country. The journal will be published online once a year. Cole Horton (SFS ’18) founded the journal this year and serves as its editor-in-chief. Horton leads an editorial board of six other undergraduate students and one graduate student to produce the journal. The undergraduate students consist of a mix of history majors and members of Georgetown’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, a national honor society for students and professors of history. The editorial board received support from the history department, which gave Horton approval to start the journal and provided funding and help with soliciting submissions. Director of Undergraduate Studies in the History Department Tommaso Astarita will also help with editing articles. The journal is seeking work from around 30 undergraduate institutions across the country, with preference given to submissions from Georgetown students. The journal will only accept graduate submissions from Georgetown graduate students. Submissions are open until Jan. 1, 2016. Horton said he initially conceived the idea when he tried to publish his own history articles. “After speaking with [my professor], I realized that Georgetown did not have an academic journal of history, which I was surprised about, because you would think that a university in D.C. would be in one of the strongest positions to solicit history [articles], just because of the city and Georgetown’s history itself,” Horton said. Horton said undergraduate students are often at a disadvantage when trying to publish their work, as they are often competing against submissions from graduate students and scholars. “One of the benefits of having an undergraduate journal is that you’re opening it up to students who have really great work, and just because of the nature of publishing in academic journals across the country, are often not prioritized in the publication process,” Horton said. Justin Abello (COL ’17), a member of the editorial board, said the online nature of the journal and its focus on undergraduate articles will make the publication more accessible to undergraduate readers. “We’re not just focusing on extensive re-
search papers from graduate students or seniors. We’re also looking at those seven- to 10page essays that someone might have written for a history course during their sophomore year,” Abello wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We think both types of pieces are able to make great contributions to the publication.” Horton said that the journal will accept articles from history students from a range of backgrounds, including those in introductory courses. “We think that that’s going to be a neat opportunity to involve an audience, a younger group of students that are not involved in any other journal that I know of,” Horton said. Astarita praised the journal for providing students with the opportunity to become further involved in the academic community. “I think it’s an interesting way to motivate students to sort of take some initiative in both their own learning but also kind of a community building of knowing what other history students are doing both here and elsewhere,” Astarita said. Astarita also said that the journal’s editorial staff will benefit from the experience. “For those who will be involved either as writers or as editors, it’s a kind of a professional experience of research and academic work that may not be directly related to all of their careers but will be a useful added skill that they will get to practice,” Astarita said. Natalie Smith (GRD ’16), a student on the editorial board who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in global, international and comparative history, said the journal will connect history students in Georgetown with those in other universities. “It will also be a venue where students from other schools can have their work published so it will create a great network of budding historians between Georgetown and other universities,” Smith wrote in an email to The Hoya. Smith said the journal offers students an opportunity to develop skills that historians use. “I think the journal will be a great opportunity for Georgetown students to showcase some of their work, get experience writing for [a] publication, working with editors … which is what a lot of being a historian is about so it’s great practice,” Smith wrote. Leyla Izquierdo (COL ’18), who is currently enrolled in a history course, said the journal would complement existing history education by allowing students to learn about a variety of topics. “I think it’s a great way to get other students informed on important events that happened in history without having to take the actual course,” Izquierdo said. “Exemplar papers would provide accurate information to students and thus enhance a student’s learning experience.”
A8
SPORTS
THE HOYA
upon Further Review
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
GU Falls to Undefeated UConn Sean Hoffman Hoya Staff Writer
Jimmy McLaughlin
After Illustrious Career, Manning Should Retire In his nearly two decades of play, Peyton Manning has captivated an entire generation of football fans who normally would never tune in to a single Sunday showdown. Thanks to countless commercials, hysterical guest appearances — Manning’s “United Way” spoof is easily the best skit on Saturday Night Live — and a dash of Louisiana charm, Americans who were not football fans became Manning enthusiasts within minutes of watching arguably the best quarterback of the last 20 years sling the ball. In short, everyone came to love Manning, for both his persona and his play. Unless their team was playing against him that week, Americans have cheered him on for years. That’s why after this season, we should hope Manning never plays another down of football ever again. They say legends never die, but Manning’s performance in the first two months of this NFL season is beginning to kill this legend. For the first time since his rookie season, Manning is on pace to throw more than 25 interceptions in a season. His passes wobble. His footwork has slowed. Even Manning’s brain — once touted as the most highly calibrated mind in the game — has begun to show cracks. In his game last week against the Browns, Manning threw three interceptions to linebackers. Linebackers. Not only can the 39-year-old veteran no longer throw deep, he struggles to make the right reads at medium and short distances. We were once awed by Manning’s ability to orchestrate up-tempo offenses for full-field touchdown drives that boasted tight spirals and keen reads. But that wonder has been replaced with the cringing feeling we feel every time one of Manning’s passes wobbles helplessly from a surgery-riddled arm. As Manning fights the inevitable side effects of age in pursuit of another title, his fans watch a once-great quarterback meander slowly toward his expiration date. It’s an experience no sports fan should have to endure — watching his idol go out not in a blaze of glory, but rather in a painstakingly slow and drawn-out whimper. Which leads us to beg: Don’t do this to us, Peyton, please. We’ve been through it before. Fans suffered through two years of Joe Montana with the Kansas City Chiefs, shield-
ed their gaze from a couple of seasons of Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards jersey and rolled their eyes while barely tolerating four seasons of waiting for Brett Favre to finally decide to retire. When the time comes, fans want to see their favorite stars exit stage left with dignity and grace — not tumble awkwardly into the audience thanks to a herniated disc they suffered back in act three. What’s more, the alternative to stars like Manning struggling at the end of their careers has so much upside. Like Cinderella in football cleats, Michael Strahan left the league the moment his career clock struck midnight. He was on top of the world, had a newly won Super Bowl ring in hand and parlayed his elegant exit into a charming television career. On the contrary, Manning would be lucky to grip a microphone hard enough to do color commentary for ESPN 8 “The Ocho.” Some might say Manning would be crazy to leave next year. Despite the fact that his 40th birthday will come next season, Manning has miraculously kept Denver undefeated at 7-0. But legends like Peyton are not meant to rely on their defense to bail them out of games. But the biggest issue with Manning going 7-0 this season is that next year, if he chooses to come back at the age of 40, things could get even worse for him. We aren’t ready for that. The pain of having to watch a decrepit Manning throw four, possibly five interceptions per game would be cruel and unusual punishment for a fan base that would rather relish in the memory of moments like Manning’s NFL record seven touchdown passes from just two years ago. Manning has done football fans a great service during his 18-year Hall of Fame career. He put on record-setting performances, cultivated a legendary rivalry with the likes of Tom Brady that made for A-plus entertainment and developed one of the most loyal fan bases any player in any sport has ever seen. Now, the all-time great has an opportunity to achieve one last moment of greatness in the eyes of all football fans by retiring.
Jimmy McLaughlin is a sophomore in the College. Upon Further Review appears every other Tuesday.
The Georgetown field hockey team (8-11, 1-4 Big East) dropped its final two games of the season this past weekend, losing to No. 2 Connecticut (18-0, 5-0 Big East) 8-0 Saturday and then 3-1 to William and Mary (7-12, 1-5 CAA) Sunday. Against the Huskies, the Hoyas struggled to generate offense, spending most of the game on defense. “We felt like our press was good; we just shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times in terms of being able to possess the ball and defend our circle from a goalkeeper’s standpoint. Early in the game we made some unforced errors that hurt us early on,” Head Coach Shannon Soares said. UConn’s offense took advantage of those defensive mistakes, scoring four times in the first half. Senior midfielder Roisin Upton scored twice in less than four minutes to make it 4-0 before the 30th minute. Huskies sophomore forward Charlotte Veitner, who is a favorite to win Big East Offensive Player of the Year, finished the game with a total of four goals, including a natural hat trick, in FILE PHOTO: LAUREN SEIBEL FOR THE HOYA an eight-minute span. Despite the score, Soares was Freshman midfielder Sam Hickey scored Georgetown’s only goal still impressed with the effort in a 3-1 loss to William and Mary. It was her second goal of 2015. that her team displayed. “I thought we actually com- something special. It’s impossible the hard work and determination peted against them at a higher to replace each of them. They mean of this year’s team. level. … When you don’t look at more to this group than anyone “As a new staff we’ve been the score, I was pleased with the can express. They were the first in this for 20 months and … to effort that we put forth in the group to turn this program around go from a record that was 2-16 match against the No. 2 team in from where we were a few years before we started this thing to the country,” Soares said. ago. And they never looked back, 6-12 last year to 8-11 this year The game against UConn was never stopped trying. They’ve been just shows you the strides we an emotional one because it more impactful than anything else are making as a program that was Georgetown’s Senior Day. in the program,” Skonecki said. would never be possible without Soares and junior goalkeeper The Hoyas weren’t able to win the hard work and commitment Rachel Skonecki both had dif- their final home game of the sea- and internal leadership from the ficulty describing how impact- son for their seniors, falling to the group of 21 young women that ful and meaningful the senior William and Mary Tribe 3-1. comprise our team,” Soares said. class has been to the program. Freshman midfielder Sam HickBoth Skonecki and Soares realize “It is hard to put into words how ey started the game’s scoring, net- that their work is far from finished, special this senior class has been for ting the Hoyas’ only goal. However, and the team still has something to our program, especially over the William and Mary’s offense was prove to the Big East next year. course of the last two years since able to quickly break down George“We have to stop making misI’ve been here. They have been a town’s defense, scoring twice be- takes that are fixable. When we group of five young women who fore the end of the first half. control our games we play well. have bought in very quickly to what The Tribe added one more to … [We must] continue to follow we’ve been trying to do as a staff make it 3-1, and its defense never let the plan and just chip away at and have led the way in terms of the Hoyas back in the game. people who may write us off,” this new culture,” Soares said. Even though Georgetown ended Skonecki said. Skonecki echoed Soares’ the season on a four-game losing “We have a lot of work ahead of praise of the senior class. streak, it still saw signs of improve- us and have ways to go in terms of “It’s impossible to describe how ment from last year, finishing with the progress we want to make over much they mean to the team. Each two more wins than last year’s to- the course of the next 365 days, and and every single one of them brings tal. Soares attributes this success to that work starts now,” Soares said.
SPORTS
TUESDAY, November 3, 2015
Allen Goal Completes Comeback
THE HOYA
More than a game
Grantland Holds Meaning for Fans BARTON, from A10
hired him. Mays introduced himself to Simmons during an NBA Finals game. Simmons continued to read Mays’ writings, and two months later, Simmons tweeted a link to one of his articles and offered him a job at Grantland. Simmons found many writers in other interesting places, and in doing so he located some of the best sports writers in the world. Bill Barnwell was perhaps my favorite Simmons hire. Although “Moneyball” by Michael Lewis opened my eyes to the world of sports analytics, I rarely read articles about the quantitative side of sports. But that changed once I read “The Lions’ Financial Cage,” which discussed the implications of the Detroit Lions’ player contracts on the team’s future
VILLANOVA, from A10
where you are wanting a little more quality moving the ball. But the performance on the road was a good one,” Wiese said. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, senior defender and co-captain Josh Turnley was called for a foul inside the box as he tried to put himself between a Villanova forward and the ball near the Georgetown goal. Senior midfielder Sean Sheridan scored the resulting penalty kick in the 19th minute, putting the Wildcats ahead against the run of play. “I thought a pretty unlucky, unfortunate penalty kick call against us. Up until that point, we had done a pretty good job managing the game, and suddenly you find yourself down 1-0,” Wiese said. The Hoyas, however, went right back on the offensive as they looked to equalize. The opportunity came after just seven minutes, when senior defender and cocaptain Keegan Rosenberry sent a cross to junior midfielder Bakie Goodman in front of the goal. Goodman brought the ball down onto his right foot and easily scored to tie the game at 1-1. The game remained tied entering the half and picked up right where it left off in the second 45 minutes. Nevertheless, Georgetown had to wait until the 74th minute before it finally took the lead. The break came when senior forward Brandon Allen and sophomore midfielder Arun Basuljevic combined for a give-andgo that put Allen behind the defense. Allen, who now has 47 goals in his career, put away the opportunity and gave the Hoyas a lead they would not relinquish. The goal was Allen’s ninth this season and his fourth in the last three matches. “I think he is looking more and more dangerous. I think he is settling into enjoying his senior year, letting the goals come if they come, and usually when you do that they come,” Wiese said. Georgetown will not have long to enjoy the victory before one of its most important matches of the year. It will take on Creighton at home Thursday afternoon with the conference title and home-field advantage in the conference tournament on the line. The Bluejays can only win home-field advantage and a share of the conference title with a win over the Hoyas. This meeting has been looming ever larger as both teams marched their way through conference play. With both teams ranked in the top 10 throughout the season, and with the game scheduled on the final day of the regular season, Nov. 5 stood out on the schedule from day one. Wiese addressed the matchup and its potential implications in an interview in August. “[Creighton] is absolutely loaded with talent. They are hard as hell to play against,” Wiese said. “We know that if we slip up, they easily might not all year. They’re that good.” As it turned out, Creighton was the team that slipped up in conference play. Now the Hoyas will look to prove that one Bluejays’ mistake is all they need to take the Big East title.
financial flexibility. In Barnwell, I found a writer whose articles were grounded in quantitative evidence. Grantland introduced other great writers to sports analytics. Last year, inspired by this genre, I co-authored a piece about expected contract values in the NFL. This article helped me land an internship with the Cleveland Browns. I know I am not the only one whose life, both professional and personal, has been influenced by a Grantland author. Data-interested basketball fans love Zach Lowe, whose articles include both wit and analytics. Andrew Sharp’s articles felt like a conversation between him and the reader. Rembert Browne wrote articles about society and culture that were interesting and
Nick Barton is a junior in the McDonough School of Business. More than a game appears every other Tuesday.
PIRATES, from A10
“We’ve worked on some things, we’re a better passing team as the season has gone on, we’re a better blocking team as the season has gone on, and so I think that it was just some minor differences between the first time around and the second time around,” Williams said. Freshman middle blocker Symone Speech led the team with 17 kills and a 0.441 hitting percentage. King recorded her first collegiate double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs, a feat that she was proud of after the match. “I was really excited to see that after the game. I think during the game you’re not focused on stats at the moment, so it’s nice to see at the end that all the hard work has paid off,” King said. On Saturday night, Georgetown faced Villanova (21-5, 11-2 Big East). The Hoyas got off to a rough start, losing the first 10 points of the match. “I think that everyone was angry, everyone was embarrassed, we know that we’re a better team than that, and they just took it upon themselves to come out and play hard and redeem themselves,” Williams said. The Hoyas were unable to reverse the momentum in the first set, eventually falling 25-8. Georgetown was able to fight back and make the second and third sets more competitive, but the Hoyas eventually fell in straight sets 25-8, 25-18 and 26-
24. Still, Georgetown was encouraged by its ability to compete with Villanova, one of the top teams in the conference. “I think something that we took away from that is that if we could start how we played the last set right in the beginning and still progress, then we’ll start getting those matches that we’re just
falling a little short,” King said. Williams has been impressed by her team’s improvement over the course of the season. With a team that includes eight freshmen on its 12-player roster, Georgetown could have been expected to take a step back. However, with 10 wins this season, including four Big East wins, the Hoyas have already matched
their totals from last season. “I think that they stepped on campus as a very high-talented group,” Williams said. “And then wanting to play at the speed of the game, and then turning the corner. They’re just a work-hard, high-energy group, and they put forth the effort and it’s showing right now.”
FILE PHOTO: SOPHIE FAABORG-ANDERSEN/THE HOYA
Freshman outside hitter Liv King recorded her first career double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs in Georgetown’s five-set victory over Big East rival Seton Hall. King has 246 kills on the season.
woMen’s soccer
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ers, this is just another bump in the road. For older and more experienced writers like Lowe, who just had a child several months ago, Grantland’s suspension might cause life- and career-altering ramifications. Earlier, I spoke to a fellow columnist for The Hoya about the termination of Grantland, and we lamented the loss. He confessed he had always wanted to work at Grantland. Now, he will never have that opportunity. I lost the site that made me love sports on another level. The site has influenced my life and others in a way that I am sure no one, not even Simmons, could imagine.
Hoyas Match 2014 Season Win Total
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thought-provoking. The list goes on and on: Grantland was a hub for good writers. That is what makes this so sad. According to Deadspin, ESPN said it will honor Grantland’s writers’ contracts, and that the sportswriters will likely be brought over to ESPN.com. Still, many writers lost their jobs for an engaging and exciting website. Everyone expected Grantland would struggle once Simmons left. The final blow came when five top editors left Grantland, four of whom joined Simmons’ new, unknown project. According to Deadspin, Simmons told the editors to leave ESPN without giving any of their co-workers or ESPN any warning. Simmons, in essence, ended what he started. For some of the younger writ-
Volleyball
SUDOKU
8 7 1
A9
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GU Wins, Celebrates Senior Day CREIGHTON, from A10
finished an opportunity. A shot that missed and ricocheted off the post gave freshman forward Kaira Houser an opportunity to put the ball in the back of the net from close range. This win means that the Hoyas have secured a bye in the Big East tournament and will head straight into the semifinals. “It gets us out of having a play-in game to advance into the conference tournament next week at Creighton, and more importantly, it gives us four or five days to rest,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “If we’d lost this we probably would’ve had a game on Tuesday, which makes it very hard to prepare, so it’s great in that regard — it gives us a chance to get some rest behind us.” The team is excited about the win for this reason, but also because it was the last home game for graduating seniors. “It’s tough, it’s an emotional day for the kids,” Nolan said. “This will probably be their last day playing on Shaw Field so you know it means a lot for them. We’re just happy to get the win and move on.” A few rituals enriched the day and made the win all the more meaningful for the Hoyas. “Our seniors put in a really solid performance today, I’m just really happy for us that we were able to get the win on Senior Day and play for each other,” Thomas said. “We had a bunch of pregame stuff where we just talked about playing for each other as seniors and graduating, so that was really special.” Moving forward, Georgetown is confident that if it maintains its highest level of play, it can find success in the tournament. “I’m really confident in my teammates and our ability to make a good run for the Big East Championship. We just need to make a couple of good appearances against really strong teams,” Thomas said. “I think we’re ca-
pable of doing that, so if we just play to our potential I think it could be a really good postseason run.” Nolan also believes that the team has the recipe for success; still, the Hoyas are focused on maintaining a steady level of play. “Consistency, we just need certain
players to step up. … It’s rare you get a game where all 11 players show up, but then you need nine players to show up, and good teams will always have nine players that show up,” Nolan said. “It’s just a consistency of performance that I’ve been preaching all season.”
FILE PHOTO: CAROLINE KENNEALLY FOR THE HOYA
Graduate student forward Melissa Downey scored her fourth goal of the season in Georgetown’s 3-1 victory over Big East opponent Creighton.
SPORTS
Men’s Soccer Georgetown (12-2-2, 8-0-0) vs. Creighton (16-0-0, 7-1-0) Thursday, 2 p.m. Shaw Field
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015
TALKING POINTS
FIELD HOCKEY Georgetown fell to No. 2 Connecticut in its final Big East game of the season. See A8
“
NUMBERS GAME
10
It’s really important to remember that it’s a game and that we’re here doing what we love.” FRESHMAN OUTSIDE HITTER LIV KING
The number of consecutive wins by the Georgetown men’s soccer team.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Win Over Creighton Clinches Big East Bye SOPHIA POOLE
Special to The Hoya
The Georgetown women’s soccer team (11-5-2, 6-1-2 Big East) faced off against its final opponent of the regular season Friday before moving on to the Big East tournament. The Hoyas downed the Creighton Bluejays (10-10-0, 2-7-0 Big East) in a 3-1 finish, with two of Georgetown’s goals coming in the first half. The first goal of the game was a clean finish from graduate student forward Melissa Downey in the 21st minute on an assist from senior forward Crystal Thomas. Soon after, the two reversed roles; in the 23rd minute, an assist from Downey allowed Thomas to drill a shot into the back netting.
The Hoyas went into halftime holding a 2-0 lead. In the 85th minute, sophomore midfielder Rachel Corboz increased the lead with a shot from 10 yards out, assisted by Thomas and freshman forward Caitlin Farrell. Thomas felt that the third goal helped the team maintain the level of play it needed to finish the game with a win. “It was really important just to keep going and get that third goal, because if you sit back too much, then it gives them a CRYSTAL THOMAS lot of momentum, so Senior Forward I think it was really good that we were able to get the third goal,” Thomas said. In the 88th minute, after several substitutions for the Hoyas, the Bluejays
“It was really important just to keep going and get that third goal.”
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FILE PHOTO: NAAZ MODAN/THE HOYA
Junior midfielder Bakie Goodman scored the equalizer in Georgetown’s 2-1 comeback victory over Big East rival Villanova. The goal is Goodman’s second in his team’s 16 games this season.
GU Extends Win Streak to 10 ANDREW MAY Hoya Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Senior forward Crystal Thomas scored her sixth goal of the season in the Hoyas’ win over Creighton. Thomas was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week.
MORE THAN A GAME
On Sept. 27, the Georgetown volleyball team (10-16, 4-9 Big East) lost to Seton Hall (11-14, 5-8 Big East) in a hard-fought five-set match in McDonough Arena. On that night, the Pirates won two of
the first three sets to jump out to an early lead. Georgetown won the fourth set to send the match to a deciding fifth set but was unable to complete the comeback, falling 15-7 in the final set. On Friday night, Georgetown faced Seton Hall again, this time in South Orange, N.J. Again, the
Hoyas lost two of the first three sets to fall into an early deficit. This time, however, Georgetown was able to complete the comeback, triumphing 15-12 in the final set. “I think this time around we were a lot more energetic, and we were having fun playing,” fresh-
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SPN announced Friday that Grantland would be suspended, effective immediately. The website originated as a forum for writers to publish unorthodox journalism pieces, and Grantland became an intersection of sports, pop culture, opinion and analytics. Despite its short life, Grantland’s impact on sports fans is undeniable. In 2011, ESPN gave writer Bill Simmons permission to start Grantland, and it immediately became one of my favorite websites. Any time Simmons posted an article or podcast, I would read or listen to it as soon as possible. In the winter of my senior year of high school, I even wrote a paper about Simmons and his style of writing for an English class. While Simmons is a talented writer, his ability to identify talent was what allowed the site to prosper. Simmons was willing to use unorthodox methods to find writers for his site. After ESPN announced Grantland’s suspension, Robert Mays explained how Simmons See BARTON, A9
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Hoyas Avenge Loss in 5-Set Road Victory Hoya Staff Writer
Grantland Termination Upsets Fans
son, while Georgetown looked to take advantage of Creighton’s defeat, which had occurred just three days earlier. Much as they have throughout the winning streak, the Hoyas controlled the game from the outset. The opening action contained all the hallmarks of a Georgetown soccer game: possession, time on the ball in the attacking half and limited opportunities for the opponent to slow the game down. The team looked in control, though Wiese still saw room for improvement. “We had some really good moments and some moments
VOLLEYBALL
TYLER PARK
Nick Barton
The streak started with a marquee win over a top-ranked opponent. It has included blowout victories and overtime scrapes. Now, the No. 7 Georgetown men’s soccer team (12-2-2, 8-0 Big East) is adding comeback wins to its resume. The Hoyas have now won 10 straight matches, defeating the Villanova Wildcats (8-8, 3-5 Big East) 2-1 on the road Saturday afternoon after falling behind in the first half. “Very much like the Seton Hall game, the response [to conceding] was really good,” Head
Coach Brian Wiese said. “This week was a great test for us, and we passed twice, in terms of … not panicking when you find yourself down a goal.” The win moves Georgetown into sole possession of first place in the conference after No. 1 Creighton (16-1, 7-1 Big East) suffered its first loss of the season. The team also earned at least a share of the conference title to go along with its guaranteed first-round bye in the Big East tournament. In order to keep their streak alive, the Hoyas had to make it past the Wildcats. Villanova needed a win or a tie in order to clinch a spot in the postsea-
FILE PHOTO: STANLEY DAI/THE HOYA
Freshman outside hitter Alyssa Sinette leads the team with 323 kills this season, an average of 3.15 percent per game. Sinette has recorded 197 digs and has started 25 of the team’s 26 games. Visit us online at thehoya.com/sports
man outside hitter Liv King said. “I think it’s really important to remember that it’s a game and that we’re here doing what we love.” Georgetown started off strong, winning the first set 25-21 behind five kills each from freshman outside hitter Alyssa Sinette and senior outside hitter Lauren Saar. However, Seton Hall immediately fought back to win the second and third sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-20, respectively. In the fourth set, Georgetown was able to reverse the momentum. The set went back and forth and was close throughout, and eventually the Hoyas held an 1817 lead. Georgetown then went on a 7-1 run to close out the set 25-18 and even the match. “I think our team is really good at bouncing back from setbacks, and that applies to a lot of different areas,” King said. “And just as people, we’re really good at coming together and having each other’s backs and knowing that we’re there for each other.” The fifth set was another close affair, as the teams went back and forth until Head Coach Arlisa Williams called a timeout with her team down 7-6. Coming out of the timeout, Georgetown used a 5-0 run to earn an 11-7 lead that it would not relinquish. The Hoyas closed out the match 15-12. Williams was pleased with her team’s improvement since the September matchup. See PIRATES, A9