The Hoya: December 4, 2015

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 97, No. 23, © 2015

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015

MUSIC ISSUE

From Georgetown’s student artists to the local art scene, 2016 will be a defining year for music.

EDITORIAL The funding of winter housing was an admirable example of collaboration.

RIVALRY RENEWED The Georgetown men’s basketball team faces Syracuse on Saturday.

OPINION, A2

SPORTS, B10

GUIDE, B1

Teach-In Looks to Address Legacy of Slavery OWEN Eagan Hoya Staff Writer

The Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation held a teach-in event focusing on Georgetown’s relationship with slavery and announcing the implementation of Freedom and Remembrance Grants and an Emancipation Symposium to address that history for an audience of around 150 people in Gaston Hall on Tuesday. The event comes in response to university-wide activism surrounding the legacy of slavery on Georgetown’s campus and demonstrations against instances of institutional racism on college campuses nationwide.

Working group chairman and history professor Fr. David Collins, S.J., led the conversation, which began with Matthew Quallen (SFS ’16) outlining the history of slavery at Georgetown. Quallen, who received a Marshall Scholarship this month to study the dehumanization of groups through history, published a Sept. 2014 viewpoint article in The Hoya that detailed Georgetown’s slaveholding past, sparking conversation and action

from the Georgetown community.

“The Jesuits who supported the university held literally hundreds of people captive across generations over a century, entire families and lives passing by in slavery,” Quallen said in his lecture.

The Office of the President formed the working group this September to address the consequences of the university’s history with slavery. The event comes in conjunction with the working group’s recommendation for the interim renaming of former Mulledy and McSherry Halls to Freedom and Remembrance Halls, respectively, following student protests. The group’s recommendation was approved by University President John J. DeGioia and the university’s board of directors Nov. 14.

Associate professor of history Marcia Chatelain — who formerly taught at Brown University — and University of Virginia professor Kirt Von Daacke presented to the audience the ways in which both Brown and UVA have addressed their own histories with slavery.

See HISTORY, A5

JULIA ANASTOS/THE HOYA

University of Virginia professor Kirt Von Daacke, left, history professor Marcia Chatelain and former Berkley Center faculty member Charles Villa-Vicencio shared their insights as part of the panel.

Georgetown and Slavery: A Complicated History c. 1711

August 24, 2015

November 13, 2015

November 30, 2015

December 11, 2015

Maryland Jesuits begin purchasing African slaves for plantation labor

University President John J. DeGioia states his intention to create a working group to address historical slavery at Georgetown

Student activists stage a sit-in outside DeGioia’s office and the working group submits recommendations to rename Mulledy Hall and McSherry Hall to the interim names of Freedom Hall and Remembrance Hall, respectively

The working group releases the educational pamphlet “What We Know: Georgetown University and Slavery”

A ceremony commemorating the renaming of Freedom and Remembrance Halls is to be held at 11 a.m.

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September 24, 2015

November 14, 2015

December 1, 2015

April 18, 2016

Fr. Thomas Mulledy, S.J., and Fr. William McSherry, S.J., authorize the sale of 272 Jesuit-owned slaves to a Louisiana plantation

DeGioia appoints the Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation

DeGioia accepts the working group’s proposed building names

The working group holds the teach-in event “Georgetown University and Slavery: What do we know and what should we do about it?” in Gaston Hall

The working group is to host Emancipation Day Symposium, revealing final recommendations

Three Students Win Renowned Scholarships SARAH GRIFFIN

Special to The Hoya

Three Georgetown students won prestigious postgraduate scholarships in November, with Peter Prindiville (SFS ’14), Matthew Quallen (SFS ’16) and Hannah Schneider (COL ’15) winning the Mitchell, Marshall and Rhodes scholarships, respectively.

Prindiville is Georgetown’s 10th Mitchell Scholar, and Quallen is Georgetown’s 11th Marshall Scholar, the first recipients to win both awards since 2012. Schneider — one of 32 Americans to win the scholarship in 2016 — is Georgetown’s 24th Rhodes scholar and the first Georgetown award recipient since 2011.

The Marshall and Rhodes scholarships provide the opportunity for scholars to pursue postgraduate degrees in the U.K., with the Rhodes scholarship awarded specifically for study at the Oxford University.

Founded in 2005, the Mitchell Scholarship selects 12 scholars for a year of postgraduate study at an Irish university.

Compared to the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, founded in 1903 and 1953, respectively, the relatively new Marshall Scholarship is named for Senator George Mitchell of Maine, who served as the United States special envoy to Northern Ireland and helped negotiate the Northern Ireland Peace Accords in the 1990s. The Mitchell See SCHOLARS, A5

FEATURED syed humza moinuddin/the hoya

Representatives from H*yas for Choice joined members of the D.C. community at a vigil outside the Supreme Court for the victims of the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

H*yas for Choice Joins Planned Parenthood Vigil syed humza moinuddin Hoya Staff Writer

Reproaction, a non-profit that advocates increased abortion access and reproductive justice, organized a vigil attended by H*yas for Choice for victims of the recent Planned Parenthood clinic shooting in Colorado outside the Supreme Court on Monday.

Around 25 people attended the vigil, which was Reproaction’s first official event since university alumna Erin Matson (COL ’02) founded the organization in August. Speakers included Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), representatives from National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood.

According to H*yas for Choice member Michaela Lewis (COL ’18), who attended the vigil, the student group did not take part in planning the event but did encourage members of the university community to attend. Lewis stressed the urgent need to address the violence that hinders reproductive justice.

“The war on reproductive justice and abortion care in the United States is one that has been fought for decades, and it is devastating that it has taken such a wanton act of brutality to bring this structural violence against women to public consciousness,” Lewis wrote in an email to The Hoya. “These events have not occurred in isolation, and now more than ever we cannot talk

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

OPINION Mobilize for Accessibility

Students need to share their concerns with GUSA to inform its campaign to improve accessibility.

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news Georgetown’s Rhodes Scholar

Sports Hot Start

BUISNESS & TECHNOLOGY DeGioia in China

MULTIMEDIA Legacy of Slavery

Hannah Scheider (COL ’15) discusses her journey to winning a Rhodes scholarship.

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University President John J. DeGioia and Mayor Bowser visited China to encourage investment in D.C. A10

The Georgetown women’s basketball team moved to 5-1 after beating George Mason.

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Hear what the panel had to say at the Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation’s teach-in. thehoya.com

See VIGIL, A5 Published Tuesdays and Fridays

Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

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OPINION

THE HOYA

Friday, DECEMBER 4, 2015

THE VERDICT

EDITORIALS

Holiday Housing Georgetown students living on campus are required to leave their dorms within 24 hours after the last final exam is offered.

Some students face uncertainty regarding housing arrangements over winter break, stemming from independence or unstable home situations. The Georgetown Scholarship Program, Students of Georgetown, Inc., the Georgetown University Student Association, Alumni Association, Office of the Provost and Office of the President came together this summer to address this gap and help fund a winter house for 10 students through a process that should make us all proud of the Georgetown community.

Corp Social Impact Chair Harrison Williams (COL ’16) took outstanding initiative to recognize need on campus, leading The Corp to commit $4,500 to help fix it. GUSA President Joe Luther (COL ’16) took the initiative to reach out to other organizations, all of which agreed to donate money for the house, in order to engage a wide swath of campus on the issue and fully fund a temporary residence. In response, the Office of the President donated the requested $1,000 and the Office of the Provost doubled the requested donation of $1,000 to give $2,000.

When student-driven movements are able to receive full support from the administration, Georgetown succeeds in truly serving its students.

GSP has and will contribute whatever money is necessary, from their necessity fund or by reaching out to more donors, to fund winter housing for independent students. Yet, this year’s model brings together funds and sponsorship from student groups and administrative offices alike, allowing for greater program sustainability. Only 10 students have expressed a need for the house this year, but in the future, this number may rise and the resources necessary to house more students should be available, reusing this model. When more organizations have a stake in ensuring that there is winter housing, it becomes more likely that fund-

ing challenges will be resolved since more organizations can contribute to the lacking funds, allowing the program to continue to satisfy student needs from year to year.

While GSP would have continued to finance the cost of winter housing, as they did last year without the help of other organizations, the money to do so would have come at a cost to its other programs. The per diem model of years past came out of GSP’s Necessity Fund, which typically provides funding for students’ everyday needs with money from outside donors. Now that GSP does not have to take $10,000 out of its funding, the money can be put towards providing 100 winter coats, 155 grocery grants or 286 iClickers. Moreover, not all of the students staying in the winter house are in GSP. This fact further proves that the entire campus should care about this issue and be willing to contribute to it.

The university’s positive response to student-led efforts can help to foster further collaborations in the future. Georgetown is lucky to have a large student-run organization such as The Corp that can lead with money and manpower for the causes that need it on campus. Yet, in future years, more organizations, perhaps the Center for Social Justice, should buy into the program in order to increase campus-wide ownership and engagement.

On the administrative side, a long-term winter housing plan could include efforts to acquire a permanent residence or property, similar to a Magis Row house, to avoid the variable and interim process of renting through Airbnb. The fact that every group responded affirmatively when asked to donate to the cause demonstrates the existing commitment that our administration and students have for others. Thus, all campus organizations with the necessary resources should consider supporting a winter house, therefore ensuring that every year, every student has a safe and comfortable place to spend the holidays.

C C C C

C C

Founded January 14, 1920

Pacific Policy — Presidential candidate Jeb Bush hosted a surprisng fundraiser at C ​ hinese Disco​Club​​in Georgetown​.

Orange you Glad? — Leo’s will not serve any orange food today to support the basketball team before its game against Syracuse.

Dunkin’ Runs — Dunkin’ Donuts will begin offering $1 delivery next week.

Panda Meet-n-Greet — The National Zoo is holding a contest where 25 winners will be some of the first people to meet Bei Bei the baby panda.

He’s Got Chutzpah — Presidential candidate Donald Trump managed to offend yet another minority group after he told the Republican Jewish Coalition that “he didn’t want any of [their] money” and that he and the RJC are both “negotiators.” ​End of an Era — Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant announced he will be retiring at the end of the current NBA season.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Michelle Xu

Restricted by Jargon The Georgetown University Student Association senate’s rejection of a referendum regarding student opinions on divestment Nov. 22, as proposed by GU Fossil Free, surprised many on the Hilltop. Many more did not even know such a vote was happening.

Before the senate vote, GUFF had advertised that a referendum on divestment would occur along with the February presidential election, presuming that student support would make the decision for a vote automatic.

The senate rejected the vote, with different senators citing that divestment was not an issue that directly affected students, that there was no advocacy group against divestment and that the referendum could distract from other issues facing GUSA. The vote and the confusion over the timing of the vote makes clear that GUSA needs to devise a clear standard for what conditions merit a referendum.

To begin, GUFF was too quick to publicly announce that a referendum would appear on the ballot; this kind of presumption does not cast the campaign in a positive light.

GUFF was right to delay proposing a referendum, originally considered in 2013, to better educate students about the issue and gain petition signatures. But the support it received from students this year should not necessarily have led GUFF to be so cavalier that the GUSA senate would approve its referendum.

To make their previously implied referendum policy formal, GUSA only firmly enshrined in an omnibus bill this past spring that all referendums require a two-thirds vote of the senate in addition to gaining 300 petition signatures — something that had been implied but not specified in its rules before. This new rule — which has some ben-

efits in making sure that student government has some say over referendums that might only be supported by a very small percentage of the student body — may have gone too far and given the senate more control over referendums than it should have.

The merits of a vote on divestment aside, if GUSA — and the senate in particular — adheres to its mission of engaging student voices and gauging student vision, then it should encourage plebiscites that originate within the student body, including from student organizations. The February executive election has the highest voter turnout each year, and GUSA should take advantage of such an opportunity. The September 2013 vote to reject a potential satellite campus was a great instance of student opposition to an administration initiative, but referendums do not only need to be wielded as a tool of student protest or in response to administrative policy. Rather, they can be used on a wide variety of issues facing the student body.

Moving forward, the senate should decide on an objective standard for what issues merit a referendum and create a more open process for student-advocacy groups to propose and gain support for schoolwide votes, and to then submit them to the senate. At the same time, it can contemplate raising the bar that automatically triggers a vote, currently at 300 signatures, or a little less than 5 percent of the undergraduate population, so as to make sure minor issues with limited appeal to a substantial number of students are not considered.

Referendums are a great way to fulfill GUSA’s primary purpose — engaging with and supporting the voices of students at Georgetown; the senate should not turn its back on such an opportunity.

Jess Kelham-Hohler, Editor-in-Chief Katherine Richardson, Interim Executive Editor Jinwoo Chong, Managing Editor Shannon Hou, Online Editor Ashwin Puri, Campus News Editor Emily Tu, City News Editor Tyler Park, Interim Sports Editor Toby Hung, Guide Editor Lauren Gros, Opinion Editor Naaz Modan, Photography Editor Matthew Trunko, Layout Editor Jeanine Santucci, Copy Chief Catherine McNally, Blog Editor Reza Baghaee, Multimedia Editor

Syed Humza Moinuddin Ian Scoville Aly Pachter Andrew Wallender Maureen Tabet Madeline Auerbach Darius Iraj Andrew May Sean Davey Tom Garzillo Kate Kim John Miller Anthony Palachio Cleo Wienbar Julia Weil Robert Cortes Daniel Kreytak Stanley Dai Charlotte Kelly Jesus Rodriguez Alyssa Volivar Nick Greco Sarah Wright Jarrett Ross

Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy City News Editor Features Editor Deputy Features Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Paranoia Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Edtior Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Chatter Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Layout Editor Deputy Layout Editor Deputy Layout Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Multimedia Editor

This week

[ CHATTER ]

Be sure to check Chatter, The Hoya’s online opinion section, throughout the week for additional opinion pieces.

Elijah Jatovsky (SFS ’16) ruminated on his experiences with Syrian refugees in a TEDx talk.

“

The reality is, though, that everyone who has survived these crises such as the civil war in Syria has a miraculous story because otherwise they would not have survived. Therefore, in listening to these stories, make it a point to go beyond just reflecting on the miracle they survived and remember both the thousands of others who have similar experiences and the millions who are still at risk.”

Find this and more at

thehoya.com/chatter

Evan Zimmet, General Manager Selena Parra, Director of Accounting Addie Fleron, Director of Corporate Development Nicky Robertson, Director of Human Resources Lucy Cho, Director of Sales Ashley Yiu, Director of Technology Brittnay Logan Senior Accounts and Operations Manager Matt Zezula National Accounts Manager Connor Mayes Local Accounts Manager Alexander Scheidemann Treasury Manager Daniel Almeida Online Sales and Accounts Manager Galilea Zorola Subscriptions Manager Emily Ko Alumni Engagement Manager Shreya Barthwal Special Programs Manager Caroline Gelinne Interim Personnel Manager Kristen Chapey Market Research Manager Natalia Vasquez Public Relations Manager Steven Lee National Advertisements Manager Julie LeBlanc Local Advertisements Manager

Editorial Board

Lauren Gros, Chair Emily Kaye, Irene Koo, Jonathan Marrow, Sam Pence, Sharanya Sriram

Contributing Editors & Consultants

Sam Abrams, Kara Avanceña, Madison Ashley, Alexander Brown, Kim Bussing, David Chardack, Robert DePaolo, Kristen Fedor, Ben Germano, Penny Hung, Natasha Khan, Lindsay Lee, Carolyn Maguire, Emily Min, KP Pielmeier, Elana Richmond, Zack Saravay, Eitan Sayag, Katherine Seder, Mallika Sen, Ian Tice, Michelle Xu, Jason Yoffe

Board of Directors

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OPINION

Friday, December 4, 2015

THE HOYA

A3

VIEWPOINT • Zamalin

But i digress

Make Campus Accessible for All Lam Nguyen

Beating My Sophomore Slump I

am the epitome of the sophomore slump. When the year began, I was keen on buckling down hard on academics, knowing that I had left a few extra GPA points left unclaimed last semester. The semester started off better than I expected; my classes were more rigorous than before, but they were no challenge for my new work ethic. I actually did all of my readings, I finished essays weeks in advance and I surprised both my professors and myself by going to office hours. I heard a lot of talk about the sophomore slump but refused to believe it was real. I finished my first wave of midterms confident that I put the nail in the coffin of the sophomore slump myth.

However, my GPA thought otherwise.

Grade after grade plunged my GPA into a free fall. Combined with the pressure of the Georgetown culture to constantly keep busy with pursuits such as seeking internships fostered stress that required every fiber of my being to suppress and disguise it with a smile. All of the activities that I once enjoyed became stressful.

I stopped enjoying soccer, which I had always loved, because it wasted time that I could dedicate to studying. Working for The Hilltoss had defined my freshman year experience, but I found myself avoiding the store as much as I could this semester. The slump not only affected my academics, it consumed all parts of my days.

Around this time, my friend asked me to join her Rangila dance group because they needed an extra dancer. Since I obviously had no regard for the concept of being too busy, I agreed. I continued to struggle with my grades, but having a three-hour practice once a week to salsa and spend time with an interesting group of people that I would not have otherwise met took my mind off my stress.

Following one particular practice, after getting back my second round of midterms, I had a reawakening. I reflected deeply on what truly mattered to me, and realized that my GPA was not very close to the top of the list. My family came first, so I began calling my mom whenever I could. I wanted to take care of my physical health, so I cleaned up my diet. But then I convinced myself that I valued happiness more, so I ate more pizza. My peace of mind seemed important, so I began meditating in my room between classes.

I replaced my assigned ethics readings with poetry and news because I could develop a stronger morality through my own interpretations of the arts and current events than by analyzing Kant.

I even skipped four classes to see Bernie Sanders speak because sometimes you can learn more by not attending class than you would in the classroom.

Academics still held significant value to me but not in the same sense as before. I wanted to learn for the sake of selfimprovement, so I stopped competing with my GPA and began to compete only with the person I was the day before.

Most importantly, my epiphany made me realize that the privilege of going to Georgetown lies not only in the opportunity to learn at Georgetown; it lies in your fellow classmates as well.

The people I have met here will go on to be some of the most successful people in their respective fields of study, but they are also some of the most insightful, amusing, helpful, interesting and loyal people I will ever meet. From my Hilltoss family to my Salsa Masala family, my roommates to my classmates, time and time again they have reminded me that I should look up from my homework and engage with as many people around me as I can. Hold on to the people you meet here and strive to meet as many people as you can, because those relationships will take you much farther than a number that inaccurately measures your efforts and academic performance.

We are each going through our own struggles and slumps, but we can overcome them simply by recognizing where we are and whom we are with. The standards we have placed on ourselves have created a culture of pressure to succeed, and it has grown to be overwhelming.

But by joining a Bollywood dance group, working at a salad shop or pursuing any of the innumerable opportunities to meet new people that Georgetown offers, it becomes evident to us that we are surrounded by people who are genuinely willing to help us, by an abundance of chances to be better than ourselves and our situations, and by constant reminders that we will be all right.

The slump, no matter when it happens, is nothing more than a slump, and every slump will eventually curve up again.

Lam Nguyen is a sophomore in the College. This is the final appearance of But I Digress this semester.

B

y now, you have probably seen the Facebook cover photos and captions discussing accessibility on campus. Maybe you scrolled past these posts, thinking they did not apply to you.

You might be correct. The vast majority of Hoyas will go to a party at a top-floor Henle and simply grunt at the amount of exertion required to climb the stairs. Many of us, after getting an email that a speaker is on campus, will not have to think twice about if we can access the event location. But not all Hoyas have this privilege. For this reason, the Georgetown University Student Association is working to educate the student body and receive feedback about accessibility on the Hilltop.

In any situation, if an unaffected majority permanently disregards minorities, oppression becomes rampant. Any injustice on campus should affect all of Georgetown; we are men and women for others.

Last week, our community affirmed this commitment by standing in solidarity with students of color. With this support, student activists spurred action from the President’s Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation and accomplished a significant first step to improve race relations on campus. However, our commitment as Hoyas calls on us to be allies to all underrepresented communities. For too long, we have ignored the struggles of many of our peers, naively accepting the premise that since Georgetown meets Americans with Disabilities Act minimum requirements, our campus is completely accessible. Why does our sense of obligation and responsibility not transfer to accessibility issues? I think it is because most of us just do not understand the reality.

The ADA was signed into law in 1990 in order to prevent discrimination and

Every single room in every single building must be accessible, or else there is more work for us to do. provide equal opportunity for employment, transportation, state and local government and more. But accessibility is so much more than ADA compliance.

If there is one accommodating apartment in Alumni Square, but your best friend is hosting a party in an apartment that is only reachable by stairs, can we call our campus accessible? If there is a handicap-friendly stall in the restroom, but the narrow, heavy-set doors

VIEWPOINT • Shah

are impossible for you to open, can we call our campus accessible? If you are severely depressed and Counseling and Psychiatric Service takes weeks to see you for an appointment; if you having immense trouble focusing, but the Academic Resource Center insists that you provide more proof that you require accommodation, how can we call our campus accessible?

One confidential, paraphrased

quote in particular we received from our recent Accessibility at Georgetown University survey best explains what our goal is for the future of accessibility at Georgetown: “Let’s aim for accessibility to not just satisfy a code, but to satisfy the human who it is for.”

Every single room in every single building must be accessible, or else there is more work for us to do.

A Georgetown alum recently visited my “Health Promotion and Disease Prevention” class. As someone who experienced Georgetown from a motor chair, he told us that it is pointless for the ablebodied population to guess what needs to be ameliorated.

Therefore, GUSA invites the community — students, faculty, staff and administrators, alike — to voice its concerns, suggestions and experiences with us through our accessibility survey or reach out to the GUSA accessibility representative directly . Without your help, we cannot know what to fix or even where to start.

As a member of the able-bodied majority, my life will not dramatically change if we add more elevators and ramps, or require all on-campus extracurricular events to provide accommodation. I can very easily avoid the Facebook posts, the survey or even this op-ed.

But we are Hoyas, and we should be living up to our commitment as men and women for others. We should be mobilizing for this unfairness, as we have for issues of race, class and freedom of speech, among others. We should not withhold that collective power from the injustices that need it most. When students rise together, we are unstoppable.

Danielle Zamalin is a sophomore in the School of Nursing and Health Studies. She is the GUSA undersecretary of disability affairs.

OH THE PLACES YOU’LL GO

Why Am I Choosing To Wear This Suit?

Finding New Sources Of Inspiration Abroad

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write this as I sit in “Mammalian Physiology,” wondering why I find myself preparing for a consulting interview. Our professor just showed us a new biotech development, one that connects a mechanical arm to the somatosensory cortex — a beautiful medical development that elicited starry-eyed astonishment from everyone in the class, myself included.

If it’s so clear to me that I love medicine, why am I wearing a suit?

Everyone knows at least one person at Georgetown who is pre-med, and if not, at least one person who started out pre-med.

Everyone knows, then, that it is likely the university’s most rigorous academic path (I took accounting — I don’t want to hear it, MSB). The science departments are not bad — the professors genuinely do the best they can — the curriculum is just hard, as it ought to be.

Georgetown’s undergraduate acceptance rate to medical school hovers around 90 percent, a staggering figure considering that virtually all U.S. medical schools accept less than 5 percent of applicants. Are we really that smart, or is something else going on?

What looks impressive on the surface has a more sobering story underneath. Georgetown achieves this prized statistic by weeding people off the pre-med track, slowly but surely. Does the College really need to require 38 courses, when pre-meds could achieve 120 credits with far fewer classes (given all the labs we take)?

Is it absolutely necessary that so many people fail every exam in “Organic Chemistry?” Perhaps these are just questions of merit — the tough doctor attitude: If you cannot handle this, you cannot handle medical school.

The more prominent problem, to me, happens behind the closed doors of a few deans’ offices. I have numerous friends who were quietly advised — not through force, but through subtle suggestion — to drop pre-med and look at other options. More directly, students are compelled to seek a recommendation from the premed committee as they apply to medical schools.

The committee responds in one of four ways: highest recommended, highly recommended, recommended, recommended with reservation or they do not send a recommendation at all.

But should Georgetown really make anyone show up to a medical school interview empty-hand-

ed and have to explain why their own school does not think they should be a doctor?

I understand the concern. By recommending everyone, the school may dilute the importance of its praise; but are four degrees of recommendation insufficient to this end? Even if those nonrecommended students are not optimal candidates, the role of the university should be in facilitating its students’ dreams, not in actively crushing them.

This is not an indictment on the administration; most elite schools will weed students out.

There is, however, something peculiarly difficult about being pre-med at Georgetown. The glorification of finance and consulting seeps into every crevice of this school, and over four years, gradually into our own veins.

It is your roommate’s copy of the Wall Street Journal on the dining table every morning. It is conversation fodder, at parties or at clubs, where so many jokes revolve around market-sizing Natural Light or the potential leveraged buyout of another club. It is the walk down glamorous M Street, even just to get Chipotle. It is partying in townhouses worth millions of dollars. It is knowing that most of your friends will be in New York next year. It is all of Hoya Career Connection. And it is that almost-tangible dismissal in the first month of senior year, when people ask what you did over the summer and you respond with “MCAT” rather than “Goldman Sachs.”

My father was a physician, as was his father. Growing up, I remember sitting around the Christmas tree listening to stories of heroic resuscitations and anxiously awaiting my chance to live this life.

After four years, however, Georgetown’s infectious whitecollar culture has a way of idealizing a different set of dreams.

When I imagine myself in one year, the idea — a nice apartment in New York, happy hour with friends, vacationing all over the world — is inescapably alluring.

But when I think of myself in 30 years, the idea of being in business makes me cringe and the idea of being in a hospital makes me giddy.

So I ask myself once again: if I know I love medicine, why am I wearing a suit?

The glorification of finance and consulting seeps into every crevice of this school and gradually into our veins.

Parth Shah is a senior in the College.

eorgetown students tend to have “busy” lives packed with internships, sports, clubs, activism and school. We pride ourselves on the Jesuit value of reflection, yet it can certainly be difficult to find time for, unless it becomes a required exercise during one of our activities.

In South Africa, I was forced into silent reflection for extended periods of time, whether I wanted to or not simply because of where I was. The isolation, devoid of anyone else from Georgetown, allowed me to return to campus rested, refocused and enlightened as to what problems I want to help solve with my remaining time at Georgetown and beyond.

When I studied in Ecuador last summer, I was constantly surrounded by almost 40 Hoyas with a fully packed schedule for an incredible six-week adventure. South Africa was the polar opposite; I knew nobody and had no plans at all for what I would be involved in on campus. This raw freedom and restart was a scary but also exciting prospect.

Over time, I developed friendships and became involved in communities. I developed a niche for viticulture and eventually became a wine enthusiast in the Wine and Culture SociAlexander ety, where I tasted wine at nearly 30 vineyards in the Western Cape. I probably learned more about wine than I learned about the actual academic course material.

Societies are the Stellenbosch version of Georgetown clubs, except there are only a handful of them and thus they have huge amounts of members.

Thus every Wine and Culture Society tasting was an opportunity to redo the awkwardness of introductions and small talk but also to forge new friendships. Fortunately, this process was smoothest and quickest in the Wine and Culture Society because there was a lot of wine involved.

By not being bound to my Georgetown activities and leadership roles, I could reflect on what actually makes me happy, what makes me fulfilled and what inspires me rather than following the repetition of a schedule that becomes mundane.

While some see viticulture or wine knowledge as pretentious or posh, I view wine as an art no different from music or painting. From the years of schooling and experience required to be a winemaker to the hard working laborers tending the vines and adapting to varying annual conditions, everyone works in concert to produce incredible aromas, tastes and sensations to be enjoyed while making memories with friends and family. When opening a bottle of such a familiar scent years down the road, those sensations spark those same good memories once more. Maybe wine production is what I should shift my life course toward.

In November, I spent a week hik-

ing in the mountains bordering the magnificent Elgin Valley with eight complete strangers. While the original meeting was awkward to say the least, this friend group of three couples and two roommates joked that we had become close enough friends to finally stop calling me “the add-on.” They also forgave me for being a Republican because of my distaste for Donald Trump, in return I adequately convinced them to become Carly Fiorina supporters.

Walking 60 kilometers through what could easily have been Middle Earth was a chance to just let my mind roll in thoughts as I stared in awe at the views. It was the first time I was free from the shackles of stress in years. Maybe I should spend my life hiking across the world.

The following week I went to a tiny beach town called Muizenberg because I had to at least wade in the ocean once before I returned to winter in the United States Once again, I had no plans, nor was there much to do in this sleepy narrow coastal town. I ended up spending time with a Belgian student beginning his travels around the world, hiking up a mountain overlooking the Atlantic, losing my way and following an old man — who I could only assume was the wise town Bobroske elder or perhaps the Grandpa from “Up” — and suntanning with some 70-yearolds living at the retirement hotel on a Monday. Maybe I should open a bed and breakfast on a beach.

South Africa was a time of both active and silent meditative reflection.

By removing myself from the Georgetown bubble, I was able to reassess who I was at Georgetown versus who I want to be. I tasted what it was like to reset and start from scratch. My priorities in life have evolved and I have promised myself to quit anything I feel is a scheduled burden rather than an activity that inspires me or contributes to my well-being — even if it is long, hard work.

We only have four years on the Hilltop. While it might not seem like every day counts, they quickly add up and soon you are far past the halfway mark. I realized it is important to make each day count, to fill them with passion, laughter and love. Sometimes that means not being at Georgetown at all.

Whether we are studying abroad or on our own journeys at the Hilltop, as long as we empower each other and our own lives to have open hearts and clear minds, we will leave Georgetown on paths that align our passions and skills with the needs of our communities and the world. And that is the most fulfilling life journey we can make.

Alexander Bobroske is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. This is the final appearance of Oh The Places You’ll Go this semester.

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NEWS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Student-athletes and activists held a public forum on Nike’s unethical business practices Wednesday. Story on A8.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

IN FOCUS

HOLIDAY SPIRIT

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We would all appreciate it if the university invested in ... solutions that improve student life.”

GUSA Secretary of Campus Planning Ari Goldstein (COL ’18) on university response to concerns. Story on A8.

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First lady Michelle Obama hosted a preview of the White House’s annual holiday decorations, which pay tribute to the armed forces, with this year’s theme “A Timeless Tradition,” Dec. 3. See photo galley online at thehoya.com.

LEO’S GOES ORANGE FREE In anticipation of Georgetown’s upcoming men’s basketball game against archrival Syracuse, our loyal dining hall vows off orange foods. blog.thehoya.com

Q&A: Rhodes Scholar Talks Georgetown, Music IAN SCOVILLE Hoya Staff Writer

Hannah Schneider (COL ’15) won a Rhodes scholarship to pursue a twoyear master’s of philosophy degree in music at the University of Oxford.

Schneider is the 24th Rhodes scholar in Georgetown University history and one of 32 Americans selected for 2016 scholarships.

During her time at Georgetown, Schneider, 23, developed a program with Carnegie Hall to find musical talent in the North Caucasus region of Russia, served as concertmaster of the Georgetown Symphony Orchestra and served as editor-in-chief of Ultraque Unum, Georgetown’s undergraduate research journal.

Schneider is currently the director of special projects for the Mariinsky Foundation of America, dedicated to fostering greater partnerships between the United States and Russia through music and theater, and serves as an assistant to Russian conductor Valery Gergiev. While at Oxford, Schneider plans to specialize in music composition.

In an interview with THE HOYA, Schneider discussed the role of music in her life, her time at Georgetown and her future.

The majority of your achievements at Georgetown in your post-grad life and in winning the Rhodes Scholarship have been centered around music. Can you speak a bit about the role of music in your life and why it is important to you?

Well, first, I’m actually not sure the majority of my time at Georgetown was spent doing music. A lot of it was, but I think I spent a lot of time doing other things. Whether it was pickup soccer or editing Ultraque Unum, spending time at the Tocqueville Forum or the Christian Fellowship, I think ultimately it was a decision to pursue music. Mostly because I decided that was the best place I could have the most impact in the world.

I came to Georgetown planning to go into foreign service, focusing on U.S.-Russian foreign policy. I would say that I made the choice to go into music because I realized that music has the potential to create a cultural and societal impact that isn’t stymied by politics or political stalemates.

And what I saw in current trends was stalemate after stalemate, and I wanted to do something that could break through those tendencies.

How did Georgetown shape your relationship with music?

It’s funny. I came to Georgetown determined to quit music. I came to

Georgetown partly because it wasn’t known for music. I was essentially making a change. I thought that I was leaving conservatory to go and do something that I considered more useful, something not in the arts, something “practical.”

I thought I would be an economics major. And then after about three months, I realized that I missed it; there is a transcendent draw to music that I just wasn’t able to satisfy anywhere else. So I would say honestly that I stuck with music in spite of the culture of Georgetown, not necessarily because of it.

I’d like to qualify that however; Georgetown did shape the way I think about music in a particular regard. Georgetown has a remarkable culture of service that is quite unusual at undergraduate institutions.

So while I didn’t necessarily come thinking that I would integrate music and service, by the time I wended my way back to music, I had begun to reimagine how I might integrate whatever my life work is into greater practical societal good. Georgetown undoubtedly had a role in that.

for the betterment of the world, and I wanted to spend two years around those people.

What moments in your Georgetown career do you remember most? What role did Georgetown play in your winning the Rhodes scholarship?

The most memorable moments center around weekends of intellectual challenge and reflection with my professors and friends — particularly on retreats — such as the Tocqueville Forum retreat in the fall of my freshman year. But office hours also played an integral role in my personal development; there are a few professors and mentors who went above and beyond to grapple with my endless questions and en-

courage me to wrestle with the intellectual and ethical questions that gripped me. If I had to name a few, they would be professors Fedorova and Meerson in the Russian department and professor Mitchell in the government department.

The reason this is a difficult question to answer, however, is that there isn’t a particular institutional way that Georgetown prepared me for this scholarship. The funny thing about the Rhodes is that they examine your life — your academic record, yes, but also your ethical choices and your priorities. And so if I talk about what enabled me to apply for the Rhodes, it was my friends, my teammates, the people at my church, my professors, because each of them played a role in

challenging me to continue in the work that I was doing in various ways, whether that was again being a faithful friend, or continuing to ask the hard questions in scholarly research.

What do you plan to do after your time at Oxford? What does your future hold?

I’ll tell you after Oxford [laughs]. I would like to conduct an orchestra.

But I’m also thinking about ways to increase access points for classical music and rethink performance models, the art form, and new ways to engage younger audiences. So that’s a broad goal, and how exactly that will manifest after Oxford, I can’t say yet.

What inspired you to begin the recording program for musicians in the North Caucusus region?

My interest began with independent research I was conducting on the region. And it got to the point where I really wanted the rubber to meet the road. I felt compelled to test my findings, and see if I could budge the needle. So I wanted to see basically: Is the talent there in this region and does it just need to be promoted? Can I find people and help them achieve their goals by serving as a bridge between promoters and musicians or between agents and musicians?

But more than that I also wanted to understand and see firsthand what music can do in essentially a very conflicted and economically and politically challenged region.

And what I found was a startling and compelling draw toward music.

You would expect people to turn away from the arts in times of conflict, but on the contrary, I found that music permeated life; it was a sustaining and ennobling feature in the various communities I visited.

Why did you decide to apply for the Rhodes scholarship?

A couple of reasons. First, I am trying to pursue advanced music training, so I really did want the graduate school experience. But beyond that, the Rhodes puts a great emphasis on attracting people who are committed to using their skills

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Georgetown alumna Hannah Schneider (COL ’15) won a Rhodes scholarship to pursue a two-year master’s of philosophy degree in music at the University of Oxford. Schneider plans to focus on music composition.

news

friday, December 4, 2015

Hoya Transitions To New Leadership Patricja Okuniewska Hoya Staff Writer

The Hoya transitioned to a new editorial and publishing staff for spring 2016.

The new staff began their terms Nov. 21, producing their first print issue today.

Jess Kelham-Hohler (COL ’17) begins a yearlong term as the 142nd editor-inchief of The Hoya, taking over from Mallika Sen (SFS ’16).

“Every position I have held at The Hoya has been incredibly rewarding, in large part because it has allowed me to work with such talented and enthusiastic people. Now as EIC, I am very much looking forward to the challenges and opportunities for innovation that this year will hold,” Kelham-Hohler said.

Suzanne Monyak (COL ’17), who served as city news editor in the fall of 2014, will assume the role of executive editor upon her return from studying abroad in Strasbourg, France.

“It’s been two semesters since my term as city news editor and I couldn’t be more ready and excited to dive back in this spring. After taking a full schedule of classes in French while abroad this semester, I’m just thrilled to be

editing articles in my native language,” Monyak said.

Former Director of Human Resources and Opinion Editor Jinwoo Chong (COL ’17) will serve as managing editor.

“My favorite thing about working for The Hoya has always been spending time in the office. I’m glad that now I’ll always have an excuse to be there,” Chong said.

Former Layout Editor Shannon Hou (SFS ’18), will become The Hoya’s fifth online editor, taking over from Molly Simio (SFS ’17).

“Coming from the layout section, I’m excited to implement innovative design ideas to our online platforms.

I’m excited to integrate more graphics and artwork into our articles online,” Hou said.

On the publishing side, former Accounting Manager Evan Zimmet (MSB ’17) starts a yearlong term as general manager, following Brian Carden (MSB ’16).

“I look forward to working with a highly talented and dedicated staff this upcoming year,” Zimmet said.

Chair of the board of directors Christina Wing (MSB ’16) will continue her yearlong term, which concludes in April.

Vigil Honors Colorado Shooting Victims VIGIL, from A1 about women’s rights without talking about gun control.”

The shooting took place at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs last Friday. Suspected gunman Robert Lewis Dear Jr. opened fire in the clinic, killing three and wounding nine others. The three victims included a police officer, an Iraq war veteran and a mother of two. Police apprehended Dear after a five-hour standoff with law enforcement.

Matson led the crowd through moments of silence for not only those killed in Colorado, but also for all abortion and reproductive-health providers who have been targeted and killed in the past. Since 1977, there have been eight murders, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings and 186 arsons targeted at abortion clinics.

Matson emphasized Reproaction’s aim to advocate for reproductive- health rights and reduce acts of violence against abortion providers.

“It’s no secret that reproductivehealth rights are under extreme attack and losing, and Reproaction is a new organization looking to increase access to abortion and advance reproductive justice,” Matson said. “We know it’s time to stop losing and start winning – we think it’s time to shake things up.”

Matson said that as soon as the news from Colorado reached her office, she knew Reproaction needed to act in solidarity and demonstrate support from the pro-choice community.

“We saw the tragedy in Colorado and were immediately sickened and filled with resolve that we needed to provide a space for people to come together and say ‘No, we’re not going to let this continue any longer,’” Matson said. “We’re here to create space for more power within the movement so we are able to end the attacks on abortion and to see reproductive justice more broadly.”

Lewis similarly highlighted the importance of addressing crimes against abortion providers by placing the issue in a broader context.

“Shootings, bombings and arson are mere examples of the violent crime that has been perpetrated against providers of safe and legal abortions just in the past few years,” Lewis wrote. “It should go without saying that these explicit crimes do not include the political measures that are being taken by legislators to shut down clinics across the United States.”

Maston argued that incendiary rhetoric contributes to the targeting of abortion clinics, highlighting the words of Dear, who reportedly said “No more baby parts” to law enforcement following his arrest.

“The climate of bullying and incendiary rhetoric must end. It has consequences and it’s been going on for far too long,” Matson said. “For too long, this country has tolerated telling women who have abortions that they are murderers and women who use birth control that they are sluts. For too long, this country has tolerated the ongoing epidemic of terrorism targeting abortion providers.”

Lewis emphasized the role violence against women plays in driving attempts to prevent the advancement of reproductive rights.

“It is in this climate that anti-choice rhetoric takes wing, telling women that we are not worthy of bodily autonomy, of controlling our own reproduction or of choice,” Lewis wrote. “It should come as no surprise that in a world where there are individuals actively working to take away women’s freedom, there are individuals willing to take the lives of those who attempt to preserve it.”

As the vigil continued, Matson asked attendees to consider the role prolife movements may play in violence against clinics. She argued that by demonizing abortion receivers and pro-

viders, such groups fuel a climate of hate that inevitably evolves into violence.

“The pro-life movement needs to turn it down. It’s time to stop telling the onein-three women in this country who have abortions that they are murderers,” Matson said. “This broader culture where we can just say anything as horrible as we can think of about abortion providers is dangerous.”

President of GU Right to Life Michael Khan (COL ’18) maintained that the pro-life movement does not seek to be divisive, and refuted Matson’s statement (full disclosure: Khan is a columnist for The Hoya).

“Abortion is actually on the decline in the United States ... So, that’s a totally false narrative and incorrect statement.

Women are increasingly choosing life,” Khan wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“Concerning those who choose abortion, pro-lifers, particularly those of us at Georgetown, do not advocate demonization, but rather liberation. ... The only goal our ‘rhetoric’ seeks to accomplish is to promote a culture of life, for both the born and the preborn.”

Lilly Flashner (COL ’17), a member of student group Georgetown University Right to Life, echoed Khan’s sentiments, stating that the pro-life movement advocates reconciliation on the issue, rather than violence.

“It’s frankly contrary to reason to impute the violence of lone extremists to the pro-life movement. This man acted in ways contrary to the very rationale of the pro-life position, which maintains the only true consistent defense of the protection of life,” Flashner wrote in an email to The Hoya. “An authentic pro-life view gives witness to the reality that any society that accepts serious violence to its most vulnerable subjects breeds more pervasive violence in every other aspect of society.”

The GU Right to Life board also issued a statement in response to the shooting condemning the violence.

“The pro-life position advocates peace and dialogue with those of opposing viewpoints, never violence. We condemn violence of any kind against Planned Parenthood, abortionists, or any abortion industry workers,” GU Right to Life wrote on its Facebook page.

“The board members will continue to pray for the victims of this senseless act and their families; we hope that you will join us.”

Following Matson’s remarks, NARAL Field Director Mitchell Stille voiced concern for the current state of reproductive health care in the United States and the security of those seeking care.

“No one should be afraid of making their own healthcare decisions, whether it’s accompanying a friend or a loved one to a doctor, no one believes they are going to a healthcare provider and be harassed, terrorized or be killed,” Stille said. “The federal government should call these attacks exactly what they are: domestic terrorism.”

Schakowsky recalled her prior political experience and how support for abortion and the pro-choice movement has evolved.

“We are in a fight that we did not pick, but this is a fight that we will win,” Schakowsky said. “When I got to Congress over 17 years ago, we had a bipartisan pro-choice caucus and there was no shame at all. Now, I have never seen in my life such a blatant attack on women’s health and women’s reproductive rights on abortion. It has only gotten worse.”

Washington, D.C., resident Kelsey Ruewe attended the vigil and said she was concerned about the effects of violent rhetoric on clinic safety and reproductive healthcare providers in light of the shooting.

“Hateful rhetoric and false things have the potential to blow things out of proportion and be used to justify violence against people, and it’s starting to show,” Ruewe said.

THE HOYA

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Students Win Major Scholarships SCHOLARS, from A1 and Marshall Scholarships both boast annual acceptance rates of fewer than 4 percent from around 300 and 950 applicants, respectively.

University President John J. DeGioia expressed the Georgetown community’s pride in Prindiville’s accomplishment.

“We are deeply proud of our alumnus Peter Prindiville on the occasion of his selection as a Mitchell Scholar. His leadership here as President of our Philodemic Society and his many accomplishments are testaments to his hard work, dedication and commitment to serving the common good,” DeGioia wrote in a statement to The Hoya.

Prindiville, who is currently teaching social studies at an under-resourced Catholic high school in Biloxi, Miss., and pursuing a master’s in education at the University of Notre Dame, will be pursuing a master’s in history at the University College Cork.

Prindiville decided to apply for the Mitchell after his research interests led him to study in Ireland.

“I’m interested in exploring how societies remember and talk about the past, and how they inculcate traumatic memories in young people to form a national identity. I’m especially excited to examine the role of schools in ongoing cultural memory-making, and the power of education to sustain or discourage understanding between peoples,” Prindiville wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“In a place like Ireland, these topics are very potent.”

The Mitchell Scholarship specifically seeks candidates who use their education and talents to promote the greater public good. Director of the Office of Fellowships, Awards and Resources for Undergraduates professor John Glavin

said Prindiville made a significant contribution to campus and city life while at Georgetown through serving as an Advisory Neighborhood Commisioner, “He’s remarkable, he had a remarkable career at Georgetown. He was an ANC Commissioner, representing Burleith and representing the students. I have seen a letter of recommendation from the head of that commission saying he was the best student commissioner they’ve ever seen,” Glavin said.

“He really made a difference.”

Marshall Scholar Quallen plans to pursue a master’s degree in history at the University of Manchester followed by a master’s in geography at the University of Cambridge. Quallen will focus on the marginalization of people who historically lack access to structures of power.

“What I hope to study is early industrial history in England, and specifically this very important moment when the first cities in the world, cities that we know today, are forming,” Quallen said.

“So the first industrial cities — Manchester, London, Liverpool — and what happens is all these new people come to the city, and they form this new under class that never existed before. … What I am interested in specifically is the ways in which they’re dehumanized.”

Quallen has been actively involved both on and off campus during his time at Georgetown. He is a Carroll Fellow, a columnist for The Hoya, the Georgetown University Student Association historian and a member of the International Relations Club and CEO of its sister organization, the Georgetown International Relations Association. Additionally, Quallen has interned for the Supreme Court and the Brookings Institution.

Quallen also serves on the university’s Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation where he analyzes

Georgetown’s slaveholding past and lectured at a teach-in on the history of slavery at Georgetown on Tuesday.

“Though Matthew has been an extraordinary influence on the campus, as is shown by his influential position on the Working Group on Slavery, it is a mistake to think that work done at Georgetown is the only criterion for Marshall election,” Glavin said. “Matthew’s work as a student, as a researcher, as a writer, as an activist, convincingly demonstrates to objective reviewers that he is and is going to be a forceful advocate for those whom hegemonic forces marginalize and subjugate.”

Georgetown students and alumni have historically been very successful in winning the Mitchell, Marshall and Rhodes Scholarships. According to Glavin, Georgetown is one of the most represented schools for Mitchell Scholarship winners. This year, three of the 20 Mitchell finalists were Georgetown young alumni.

“We for many years were the leading school for the Mitchell. I don’t know if we still are but we probably are one of the two or three top. It’s a very prestigious fellowship which is very hard to win,” Glavin said.

Glavin also suggested early preparation as the greatest indicator of success in postgraduate fellowship awards.

“One of the great problems we have is that people appear as seniors trying to do something which they really had a good chance of doing if they had appeared as sophomores,” Glavin said. “We win these things, but they take a lot of work and the earlier you start preparing for them the better.”

The Hoya published a question-andanswer interview with Schneider today in print and online.

Teach-In Discusses GU History HISTORY, from A1 Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs faculty member and former South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Research Director Charles Villa-Vicencio also presented lessons from reconciliation efforts following South African apartheid, citing similarities between the post-apartheid and post-slavery periods in South Africa and the United States, respectively.

Slavery at Georgetown Quallen traced the story of slaves at Georgetown back to the 17th and 18th centuries. He described the grant of 12,000 acres of land to the Jesuits by Governor of Maryland Lord Baltimore upon their 1634 arrival in the colony.

The Jesuits utilized the grant for plantations as a source of funding; initially, Quallen said that Jesuits used indentured servants to work the land, but the availability of these servants declined in the 18th century. Soon after, the Jesuits began purchasing African slaves. By 1763, the Maryland Jesuits held approximately 200 slaves.

During his remarks, Quallen highlighted the humanity of the Jesuit-owned slaves who were held as property, telling the story of a 48-year-old woman named Fannie, whose family of 12 was most likely sold by Georgetown Jesuits in 1817.

According to Quallen, during the early 1830s, many Jesuits — including former University President Fr. William McSherry, S.J. — complained that the plantations were failing to produce profits and proposed a mass sale of slaves in order to generate greater revenue.

Fr. Thomas Mulledy, S.J., and McSherry, after receiving permission from Rome, executed the sale of 272 Jesuit-owned slaves for over $100,000 to the owners of a Louisiana plantation in 1834.

Under conditions placed on the sale from Rome, Georgetown was not to use the profits from the sales to pay down debts, such as those accrued during the university’s expansion. The families of slaves were not to be separated in the sale, and slaves were supposed to be able to receive holy ministry.

“To our knowledge all of the conditions of the sale were violated [by Georgetown] in some way or another,” Quallen said.

Concluding his remarks, Quallen explained that the working group is not yet finished investigating Georgetown’s history with slavery. Quallen — who investigated Georgetown’s slave-holding past through university archives — said there is still more work to be done.

“There is probably much more that hasn’t been explored and questions remain,” Quallen said.

Models for Progress Brown and UVA utilized different approaches in reconciling their own relationships with slavery in the past decade.

Chatelain delved into the details of Brown’s approach in navigating its complex racial history, which includes being named after a family of merchants who financed slave voyages to Rhode Island in the 1700s.

“If I could characterize Brown University’s approach to this question, I would say that Brown played the long-game in investigating its history and really thinking about the action steps to reconciling it,” Chatelain said.

Beginning in 2003, Brown assembled a committee to investigate the university’s relationship with slavery. As a result of the committee’s work, Brown placed a memorial to the slaves of its past in the center of its campus, revised its official

history to acknowledge its slave-holding past and extended a $10 million yearly grant to help Providence’s long-disadvantaged public school system, among numerous other reforms.

Chatelain explained that Brown’s actions, while successful, were not a cureall for the university and its issues of race and slavery.

“The last point I want to make about the work that Brown did — although we consider it the gold standard of institutional responses to this history — it did not solve all of its problems,” Chatelain said.

According to von Daacke, the UVA commission to investigate its own historical ties to slavery was formed after 15 years of faculty, student, alumni and community members worked to compel UVA to acknowledge its ties to slavery.

UVA founder Thomas Jefferson held hundreds of slaves during his lifetime.

Since the formation of the commission in Apr. 2013, UVA has seen developments in recent years that include several monuments and plaques honoring the slaves that once lived and worked on and near the campus. Along with other initiatives, UVA has created a class to teach students about the school’s relationship to slavery and has named a dormitory in honor of two slaves, William and Isabella Gibbons, who were enslaved by UVA professors.

“Let us be what a university should be, a place of clear-eyed inquiry and creativity and dialogue.”

Fr. David Collins, S.J. Chair of the Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation

Von Daacke said that cooperation between all of the different groups constituting a university community is critical to adopt reforms. He also said that the process at Georgetown would be slow, but progressive. “[I]t’s collaboration — students, community, faculty, administrators, staff — everybody has to be brought to the table,” von Daacke said. “It takes time to gain trust and initiate meaningful dialogue. It’s going to take more than just your fleeting four years here to do this. This is something that you have to pass on to the next generation of students.”

Lessons from South Africa Villa-Vicencio, who served as national research director on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1996 to 1998, a commission formed to address victims of human-rights violations under apartheid, reflected on his experience and offered his thoughts on memory and reconciliation in light of racial strife in South Africa and on college campuses nationwide “Some of us just don’t have it within us to forgive the suffering and the tragedy that we may have faced,” VillaVicencio said. “I would like to suggest that a middle path is not forgiveness, but reconciliation.”

Villa-Vicencio added that in light of past societal tragedies, it may be best to recognize the past in order to overcome its tangible implications today.

“The past cannot be undone,” Villa-Vicencio said. “It can be acknowledged. … It can be managed, through

the unlimited participation of everybody involved.”

Georgetown’s Plan of Action The event ended with the unveiling of the working group’s newest policies, and announcing its decision to divide its 16 members into four issuespecific subsections to better formulate recommendations to the Georgetown community.

One subsection will focus on history and action concerning Georgetown’s archives. A second emphasizes Georgetown’s ties to local history in slavery, and a third works on topics of memory and memorialization. A fourth group will reflect upon reconciliation and ethics within Georgetown’s community.

These subsections have yet to convene and their recommendations will not be known until after the working group’s next meeting in mid-January.

The Working Group also introduced the Freedom and Remembrance Grants. These grants are a $10,000 initiative running until the end of the current academic year in which working group-approved students and faculty will receive amounts of up to $500 to sponsor creative engagement that promotes reflection on the issue of slavery at Georgetown.

The Working Group stressed that members of the university community interested in applying for a Freedom and Remembrance Grant, or in providing suggestions to the working group, can do so through its web page.

The working group additionally announced an Emancipation Symposium to be held April 18 and a ceremony commemorating the interim renaming of Freedom and Remembrance Halls on Dec. 11. The Emancipation Symposium will serve as a space for discussion and speakers on the topic of emancipation.

Georgetown University Student Association Vice President Connor Rohan (COL ’16), who attended the event, said that events of this type strengthen the university community.

“As Georgetown students, we have an obligation to learn about the sins of Georgetown’s past and how they continue to resonate today,” Rohan wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Events like these achieve that goal and bring our community closer together as a result.”

Sitaara Ali (COL ’17), who also attended the event, said that she thinks students should be more involved in response to the issue and continue to engage in the learning process.

“I wish more students were involved and understand that Georgetown has a history of slavery,” Ali wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I think the most important thing we can do now is learn from that history.”

Other students in attendance shared similar sentiments, with many wishing to see the community further acknowledge and engage with its emerging history.

Ebony Thomas (COL ’19) said she wants the Georgetown community to know that students and activists heed the working groups recommendations about Georgetown’s history with slavery and look forward to future dialogue.

“Just know that there are people listening and paying attention and want to know what their thoughts are about how we should move forward with the university,” Thomas said.

Collins closed the event with a hopeful sentiment for solidarity in the Georgetown community.

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Friday, december 4, 2015

Transportation Roundtable Solicits Student Input William Zhu Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Student Association hosted a Hoya Roundtable on transportation Wednesday night in the Healey Family Student Center’s Great Room, where students and administrators discussed concerns on the rerouting of Georgetown University Transport Shuttles and pedestrian safety.

Vice President for Planning and Facilities Management Robin Morey and Vice President for Government Relations and Community Engagement Chris Murphy fielded questions and suggestions from around 60 students for more than an hour. Much of the conversation focused on the rerouting of all GUTS bus stops to the newly constructed turnaround in front of McDonough Arena.

Morey explained that the change in bus routes was the result of the 2010 University Campus Plan, which mandated GUTS buses use Canal Road to leave campus instead of Reservoir Road.

“We’ve got to use Canal Road for the buses in and out,” Morey said. “We can’t cause objectionable conditions to our local communities and those objectionable conditions are really a function of negotiations between all the parties involved.”

To accommodate this change, several new GUTS stops were considered — such as around Cooper Field — but ultimately rejected due to pedestrian safety concerns. “[This] doesn’t synergize with what we want with that pedestrian student-life corridor to be on the east side of the football field,” Morey said.

In response to concerns on increased travel time caused by the change, Morey said the university has not compiled sufficient data, assuming the lack of a bus

stop outside of Car Barn has had the most significant impact on travel time.

Student riders, including GUSA President Joe Luther (COL ’16), have complained of wait times of more than 30 minutes for the Dupont Circle route.

GUSA responded to student concerns in early November by implementing a survey to receive student and faculty opinion on the rerouting.

“This is the part where we feel like we don’t have statistically significant data,” Morey said. “The loss of a Car Barn stop must certainly hurt and affect much of our community in terms of commute.”

Lydia Bubniak (SFS ’18), who attended the roundtable, said the GUTS bus rerouting causes Georgetown to be more isolated from the rest of D.C. “Georgetown sells itself as being in D.C., one of the most major cities in the country, but it seems like if it is going to take almost an hour to get to anywhere to connect you to anywhere else in the city — where most nonprofits and most businesses are — we might as well be all the way in Fairfax, Va, like at [the University of Maryland],” Bubniak said.

Bubniak also criticized the Georgetown neighborhood for imposing its desires on the university.

“The university was here since the 1700s, [the neighbors] knew it when they moved in,” Bubniak said.

As a response to student complaints, Murphy said that as most students are not D.C. residents, their words carry less weight than those of the surrounding community.

“Most of you are not D.C. residents, right? Most of you don’t vote in D.C., most of you don’t pay taxes in D.C., so the campus plan regulation that the district government put place was not designed with you in mind,” Murphy said.

In an effort to convey student discon-

ROBERT CORTES/THE HOYA

The Georgetown University Student Association hosted a Hoya Roundtable on transportation issues and pedestrian safety in the Healey Family Student Center on Wednesday with around 60 students in attendence. tent to administrators, GUSA Secretary of Campus Planning Ari Goldstein (COL ’18) polled students about their stances on the GUTS rerouting and found that students are in near-unanimous agreement against the rerouting proposal and want more accommodations like mini-shuttles to assist those who live far from the new GUTS turnaround.

“The university invested $4 million in a turnaround that every student in this room says had a negative impact on their experience,” Goldstein said. “We would all appreciate it if the university invested in similar funds, energy, attention and effort within the next campus plan to put negotiations into solutions that improve student life.”

As the roundtable ended, the event’s

dialogue shifted to the issue of pedestrian safety on campus after the GUTS bus rerouting.

Jack Welty (SFS ’16) said he supports pedestrian safety but doubts whether GUTS buses hinder pedestrian well-being on campus.

“I don’t think pedestrian-friendly is a bad thing but I have just never heard of a kid being hit by a GUTS bus,” Welty said.

Morey could not think of an instance where someone has been hit by a GUTS bus, but said the risk is still significant.

“I don’t know how many [incidences] there have been. If it is zero, that’s what I want but if it is the first one, it is too many,” Morey said.

Vice President of GUSA Connor Ro-

han (COL ’16) said he was pleased that students were able to effectively express their complaints to the administration during the roundtable.

“I am glad that students finally had a venue at which to voice their opinions on this very unpopular matter and I look forward to administrators presenting timely and effective solutions to the student body,” Rohan said.

Welty shared Rohan’s sentiment, but was disappointed that it took the GUTS bus rerouting to bring student attention to the university campus plan.

“We have been talking about the campus plan for a long time,” Welty said. “It is almost sad that it took an event as ... sort of traumatizing to some students as moving these GUTS bus stops.”

DC Joins Underrepresented Territories Organization Cheryl Liu

Special to The Hoya

CAROLINE KANNEALLY FOR THE HOYA

Athletes and Advocates for Workers’ Rights and Wearable Justice held a public forum to discuss questions regarding the university’s relationship with Nike on Wednesday.

Athletes, Activists Host Forum Patricja Okuniewska Hoya Staff Writer

Athletes and Advocates for Workers’ Rights and Wearable Justice held a public forum to address questions about their awareness campaign against Nike’s unethical business practices and discussed plans to meet with University President John J. DeGioia Wednesday in the Worker/Student Solidarity Magis Row townhouse.

The event drew 16 attendees – mostly student-athletes – and was attended by professor of theology Kerry Danner-McDonald.

The forum began with a discussion of the letter AAWR sent Nov. 19 to DeGioia outlining the group’s opposition to Nike’s unethical business practices and urging the university to cut ties with the corporation. The letter was received by the president’s office, but the group has not received a response.

The letter comes as a result of athlete and advocate collaboration – sparked after a lecture by anti-sweatshop activist Jim Keady – to address Georgetown’s relationship with Nike. Student-athletes posted multiple images on social media showing athletes wearing universityprovided sports apparel with Nike’s logo covered.

AAWR has been in contact with other schools involved in United Students Against Sweatshops, including the University of Washington and Virginia Tech, and is attempting to follow their example of meeting with university presidents.

USAS advocates for workers’ rights with students on over 150 campuses nationwide.

CEO and founder of Wearable Justice Jake Maxmin (COL ’17) said the group hopes to meet with DeGioia to start a dialogue with him on the issue.

“The idea is [to sit] down and [start] a dialogue,” Maxmin said.

“Coming out and saying that we have been thinking and the Worker Rights Consortium is something very important for workers’ rights around the world, and we want to stand up

and support them.”

The group also discussed the timeline of its campaign, highlighting Nike’s recent decision to no longer allow the WRC into its factories. The WRC is an organization that works to monitor international labor rights and the enforcement of the manufacturing code of conduct in the production of collegiate goods. Nike now only allows monitoring by the Fair Labor Association, which is comprised of companies and corporations, along with 208 colleges and universities nationwide. The FLA has received criticism by USAS, stating that much of its funding comes from the very organizations — such as Nike — that are inspected by the organization.

Isabelle Teare (COL ’17), a student-athlete and co-leader of the campaign, noted the importance of informing the Georgetown campus about the WRC and what it does.

“We want to talk to Georgetown and Georgetown students especially, because I don’t think people realize what the WRC is and the fact that [Georgetown pays] the WRC to try to make sure that the conditions under which things are produced are at least somewhat ethical,” Teare said.

Danner-McDonald said the WRC conveys indispensable information.

“The WRC is an important tool, as it allows for some level of transparency and accountability, and even though there is evidence that there needs to be more accountability beyond what the WRC provides, the fact that Nike has withdrawn should be a significant concern for everybody in the Georgetown community,” Danner-McDonald said.

Teare said the group hopes to focus on bringing the WRC into Nike factories, so as to not set a bad example for other companies and their monitoring policies.

“If Nike, who is a massive leader in the apparel industry and also one of the worst in terms of their labor violations, says they are not allowing peo-

ple to monitor their factories anymore, that sets a precedent,” Teare said. “That starts a ripple effect and then all the progress that people have made goes away. Getting factories monitored was a big step.”

The group hopes to put an emphasis on conscious consumerism, particularly in purchasing apparel and being aware of where it is manufactured.

Danner-McDonald noted the importance of increasing transparency for student-athletes.

“I think that if it is indeed accurate that many student-athletes have tried to obtain copies of their contracts and have been denied access to them, then I think that is another issue that everybody should be quite concerned about, as that is a matter of transparency and treating students with integrity,” Danner-McDonald said.

An anonymous student-athlete at the forum spoke about the importance of the movement in making Georgetown students think about what they are buying and wearing. The athletes requested anonymity, citing potential repercussions from the athletics department.

“I think that it is a really great movement to get people reflecting about what they are wearing and who made it,” the anonymous student-athlete said. “It is something that I have never thought too much about before and have already found myself thinking more deeply about my personal purchasing power … I think that the movement is very empowering.”

Another anonymous studentathlete said the forum was an effective space for an open dialogue.

“I think the forum was an awesome place to share ideas and gain different perspectives on the issue, and to just be able to freely discuss what’s going on with other people who care,” the anonymous student-athlete said. “I think that by spreading the word and making as many people aware as possible, we could all really make a difference and that is so exciting to me.”

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization accepted the District of Columbia’s bid to join its membership – marking the first North American territory to be represented by UNPO – on Nov. 9.

Based in Brussels, Belgium, UNPO seeks to protect and promote the rights of its 42 members, which include indigenous peoples, minorities and unrecognized or occupied territories.

According to UNPO Program Manager Johanna Green, member commonality stems from underrepresentation on a global scale.

“This is where UNPO acts as an international platform through which our members can have access to the international stage, be it the United Nations ... or other international bodies,” Green said.

UNPO President Nasser Boladai said that D.C.’s application was accepted because the city meets the formal requirements of membership, including a lack of self-determination and voting representation in Congress, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) currently represents the District in the House of Representatives, but lacks the right to vote.

“As people in California have the same rights, people in D.C. should have the same rights,” Boladai said. “When people pay taxes and are full citizens of a country, they should have the same rights.”

In October, D.C. Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large, LAW ’88) launched a Statehood or Else campaign with the aim of garnering 1 million signatures on a petition to be delivered to President Barack Obama and Congress at the Democratic and Republican conventions in July 2016.

The District’s shadow Sen. Paul Strauss spearheaded D.C.’s membership bid by presenting the city’s case at the 20th meeting of the UNPO Presidency, the organization’s governing body, Nov. 9.

Shadow senators are elected D.C. officials who lobby for full voting rights for the city in the Senate but do not hold seats in Congress. The District’s other shadow senator is Michael Brown, who supported Strauss in the bid.

Strauss said that he recognized similarities between Taiwan’s and D.C.’s lack of official representation on a diplomatic trip to Taiwan, which is also a founding UNPO member. After encountering

UNPO again through his work with the Haratin, a marginalized minority group in Mauritania, Strauss said he began to research the organization.

“I saw, shockingly, every time I would read their rules and covenant, D.C. seemed to qualify,” Strauss said.

Strauss said he believes D.C.’s membership in the UNPO will help in its fight for statehood by focusing international attention on the issue.

“As we look for areas for international cooperation in these troubled times, I think this is an area in which international recognition will help advance the D.C. cause,” Strauss said. “We’re getting press in areas where D.C. voting rights doesn’t always get press.”

Boladai echoed Strauss’s optimism regarding D.C.’s acceptance into UNPO and said he feels that the relationship will be mutually beneficial.

“Creating awareness, making contact and learning from each other is what we can do together,” Boladai said.

However, Georgetown government professor Stephen J. Wayne listed several reasons why he believes D.C. statehood is not feasible, including partisan motivations.

“Basically, Republicans don’t want two more Democratic senators, states don’t want to lose any influence in the Senate and there is a general perception that it’s the United States that should control the District of Columbia because it’s the capital,” Wayne said.

While Strauss acknowledges the difficulty of achieving D.C. statehood, he is still optimistic about its prospects.

“It’s easy to be cynical about political developments, particularly this year,” Strauss said. “But you could also go back in time and find other examples of struggles for equality that were difficult to achieve ... the arguments against it are primarily partisan; the arguments for it are primarily principle.”

Additionally, Strauss said there is a need for the fight for D.C. statehood to be moved to college campuses. Georgetown students are also currently in the process of forming a Georgetown University for D.C. Statehood group, which does not yet have Student Activities Commission approval but aims to hold its first general body meeting next semester.

“Students have always been at the forefront of social justice movements and civil rights movements, and this is really a civil rights issue,” Strauss said.

FRIDAY, December 4, 2015

NEWS

THE HOYA

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Business & Tech FRIDAY, December 4, 2015

business DeGioia Joins DC Delegation to China bits Christian Paz Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown Alum Named Forbes Person of the Year Tanzanian businessman and philanthropist Mohammed Dewji (GSB ’98) was named Forbes Africa’s 2015 Person of the Year. The decision, announced late November, comes after Dewji became the first Tanzanian to appear on Forbes Africa’s cover in July. Dewji took over his family’s business, Mohammed Enterprise Tanzania Ltd., in 1999 and helped turn the company’s annual revenue from $26 million per year to more than $1 billion per year. Dewji is the 31st richest person in Africa with a net worth of about $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser traveled to China as part of a trade delegation pushing for increased Chinese tourism and Chinese investment in the District in early November. The trip brought together around 40 representatives from District government, businesses, healthcare organizations, real estate groups, tourism groups and economic development groups. Georgetown University was the only university asked by the mayor to accompany her delegation.

The trade mission, which lasted Nov. 7 to 14 and spanned 62 meetings, included two visits to Beijing and Shanghai. In

Beijing, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Christopher Augostini joined DeGioia at a luncheon with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Special Assistant to the University President for China Affairs Fr. Dennis McNamara, S.J., joined the delegation in Shanghai.

“President DeGioia was grateful for the opportunity to join Mayor Bowser and her District Delegation for part of their time in Beijing,” Office of the President Chief of Staff Joe Ferrara wrote in an email to The Hoya. “As a university with a steadfast commitment to deepening our global engagement, we were pleased to take part in ongoing conversations about how we might support and encourage partnerships that strengthen our international econo-

mies and communities.”

According to the Executive Office of the Mayor, the trip was part of the Bowser administration’s efforts to build upon relationships of District and Chinese businesses, academic and health institutions.

“Overall, the mayor’s mission was very successful,” Interim Director of Business Development and Strategy at the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Karima Woods said. “This was her inaugural trip to China and China received the District very well.”

One of the key priorities for the trip was to attract tech and innovation companies to the District, encouraging educational exchanges between universities and District K-12 institutions,

Marriott CEO Discusses Leadership, Experience Marriott International President and CEO Arne Sorenson discussed his experience in the business world Thursday evening in the Rafik B. Hariri Building. Director of the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy Jeffrey Macher moderated the discussion, which was hosted by the McDonough School of Business. Sorenson’s visit is the latest installment in the MSB’s Stanton Distinguished Leaders Series, which brings business leaders to Georgetown to discuss leadership and chat about their life experiences.

Research Shines Light on Airline Loyalty Programs As airlines switch from mileagebased to price-based loyalty programs, the new systems might be more beneficial than most passengers think, according to research partially conducted by McDonough School of Business Assistant Professor So Yeon Chun. The research was jointly conducted with Anton Ovchinnikov at Queen’s University’s Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business and looked at airline loyalty programs over the last few years.

The report argues that consumers benefit from the switch to pricebased programs since they can now avoid taking unnecessary long haul trips to maintain mileage status.

Courtesy Karima Woods

President John J. DeGioia, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Chinese People’s Association for the Friendship of Foreign Countries Vice President Xie Yuan and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans pose for a photo during the trip.

increasing tourism to the District and attracting foreign direct investments, particularly in real estate projects.

The delegation inaugurated the InvestDC forum in Beijing and Shanghai, where Chinese investors were invited to hear project pitches and talk with District representatives about the need for investment in real estate and economic development. “The mayor made it very clear that the focus of her mission was to continue to build upon the district’s relationship with China,” Woods said.

“The total number of meetings we had was 62 meetings and each of those meetings focused on each of those different priority areas.”

The mayor’s office hopes to follow up on a number of key issues including education, in swhich Mayor Bowser and Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun stressed a desire to build ties between academic institutions at all levels. Over the course of the visit, Bowser visited Yu Cai Middle School, a sister school of Alice Deal Middle School in D.C. “The mayor made it very clear that they want to do something more formal with the District, particularly around education at the middle school level, so we will be following up with them about what the partnership could look like,” Woods said.

China has also become the District’s largest overseas market for tourism and trade, with about a 103 percent increase in commerce since 2010. In the realm of tourism, Woods noted a successful negotiation with Air China last year that announced the first non-stop direct flight from Beijing to Washington Dulles Airport. The District recorded 200,000 visitors from China in 2014, up 35 percent from 2013, as a result of establishing this route.

“For the city we’ve focused on how we can increase the number of jobs and increase the number of tax revenue to the city,” Woods said.

The final part of the visit announced the amount of foreign direct investment already made in two key District projects. A ceremonial check was presented announcing $100 million for the Wharf Project and $55 million for the Skyland Project, both real estate development projects expected to create over 1,500 new jobs for the city.

“We continue to look forward to engaging our colleges and universities in the work that we’re doing,” Woods said.

“We know that Georgetown was one of the initial universities that began to establish a presence in China … and we look forward to including Georgetown in our work.”

Energy Startup Grows Study: DC’s Economy Lags With $3.1 M Investment Tala Al Rajjal Special to The Hoya

Eunsun Cho

Hoya Staff Writer

Logan Soya’s (GRD ’13) energy analytics and management startup, Aquicore, is gaining traction in the technology industry.

In September, Aquicore became the first recipient of a D.C. incubator’s seed fund fully valued at $3.1 million. The incubator, 1776, provides business networks, mentorship and funding for startups.

In October, city news website DC Inno nominated Aquicore as one of its finalists for the “50 on Fire,” an annually compiled list of the top 50 companies achieving urban innovation.

Aquicore specializes in energy management for large commercial buildings. By providing real-time data about energy use in the building, Aquicore’s management system informs its clients about when and where to reduce energy waste.

Soya, who currently serves as Aquicore’s CEO, founded his company in 2012 as a first-year MBA student at Georgetown. He recounted that his education at Georgetown as an MBA student helped him launch the business, which now employs about 30 people.

“Going to Georgetown afforded me a great network to communicate my idea with which I would not have been given any access to without it,” Soya said. “Secondly, it exposed me to a number of individuals who … gave me a great understanding in how to articulate my message.”

Just like any other startup, Aquicore struggled in its beginning years to understand its customers and communicate its mission to potential investors, according to Soya. He added that a limited budget and resources also made growing the company difficult.

Currently, the company provides services to more than 500 buildings across the country, including hundreds of public buildings in D.C. Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative Director Jeff Reid said Aquicore has shown an outstanding performance in identifying the needs of customers and providing innovative solutions, which many entrepreneurs struggle with.

“From the very beginning, his [Soya’s]

company proved that they can add value. … They have already proven they work,” Reid said. “The challenge is how fast they can grow and what will happen when other competitors try to enter the market.”

Andrew Stein, a venture associate at 1776’s seed fund, pointed out that Aquicore possesses a competitive edge against similar companies in its ability to produce higher returns for customers and its contribution to environmental sustainability.

“Aquicore’s customers absolutely love the product,” Stein said. “They’re mostly sold as a pilot but that pilot allows them to break into a larger portfolio of property owners.”

Other criteria that 1776 considers in selecting the recipient of the seed fund include adaptability to the changing dynamics of the industry, the presence of a strong revenue model and a distribution plan, as well as the founder’s expertise in the industry.

According to Reid, Soya actively participated in the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative, also known as StartupHoyas, during his time as an MBA student. Soya received mentorship and feedback from faculty members, entrepreneurs-in-residence, competition judges and classmates.

More recently, Georgetown students have worked at Aquicore as interns. Soya himself also has come back to Georgetown as a guest speaker in various classes.

Soya said Aquicore will continue to grow and expand while refining its products. In addition to opening a new office in San Francisco to complement Aquicore’s office in D.C., the company is working to add new product features in the next few months.

While Soya said he is satisfied with Aquicore’s growth, he added he is still aiming for bigger goals.

“As a passionate entrepreneur, you always have to think about the next adventure, the next big leap forward,” Soya said. “But for me, personally, I don’t know if would consider myself as a success yet. I have bigger ambitions … that I’d like to achieve before I consider myself as successful.”

Universities will play a vital role in developing lagging global opportunity and advanced-level industry in Washington, D.C.’s regional economy, according to a study released in early November.

The Global Cities Initiative, a joint five-year project between the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase, published the study Nov. 5. The initiative aims to guide metropolitan economies toward greater engagement in world markets.

The report, “Benchmarking Greater Washington’s Global Reach,” indicated that, although Greater Washington is a hub for research and technology, it still lags in terms of technological innovation, patenting and STEM research at the university level.

The GCI report sourced its information from previously existing databases in the Brookings Institute, including “The Export Monitor” and “FDI in U.S. Metro Areas.”

Senior Research Assistant at Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program Nick Marchio highlighted the importance of studies like this one in placing national or global data in a local context.

“The unique value added of these reports and analyses is that it brings these global indicators to the local level to help local civic leaders and business people begin to assess their region and their relative competitiveness in the global economy,” Marchio said.

With the country’s highest proportion of college-educated adults — nearly 50 percent of the adult population is college-educated in the District — the Washington area has huge potential in its workforce, according to the study. The report praised the Washington area for its educated workforce, particularly among the immigrant population, but suggests that the District must pivot toward global opportunities.

According to the GCI, universities play a necessary role in enhancing the greater Washington economy

both by shaping the workforce’s talent and by utilizing its advanced facilities for research. The report suggests focusing on recruiting more foreign students to the area and developing more STEM research at the university level to bolster D.C.’s global economic status.

Marchio praised Georgetown University’s role as a premier researcher in the Greater Washington region at a time where STEM is crucial to the area’s growth.

“There’s some good progress you can point to and other areas that could use more work,” Marchio said. “Georgetown seems to be doing very well in terms of patenting.

Georgetown actually is in the top

“There’s some good progress ... and areas that could use more work. Georgetown seems to be doing very well in terms of patenting.” nick marchio Researcher, Brookings Institution

10 list of organizations in the Washington metro [area] that patents.”

However, Marchio stressed that the university should continue to expand its foreign student population, citing the benefits of an international, representative student body. Greater Washington currently ranks below other metropolitan areas in numbers of foreign student visa holders. According to the university’s website, nine percent of the Class of 2016 — about 140 students — are international students.

“One area where certain progress could be made is in terms of attracting and recruiting foreign students, F1 visa holders,” Marchio said. “A lot of F1 foreign students tend to focus in specialized STEM occupations, and they also have a

lot of global connections that are very advantageous for businesses attempting to expand overseas. Because of local knowledge of overseas markets, they’re sometimes the best suited to help reorient the economy towards global opportunities.”

Associate Director of Editorial Postsecondary Policy at the Center on Education and the Workforce Martin Van Der Werf echoed Marchio’s views.

“We feel that it is important to have students from all over the world because they bring different perspectives and also bring different skills to the workplace,” Van Der Werf said. “It helps give the United States more perspective about the world’s economy and skills from around the world.”

Despite the advantages of a larger international student body, Van Der Werf suggested that the report’s findings would be difficult to implement in reality because of visa limitations on where students can work.”

“I think that from the perspective of a university, you want to recruit these students, you want them be part of the university community,” Van Der Werf said.

“Whether you can influence them to join the local workforce or start a business locally, you can have some influence but it only goes so far.”

Georgetown University Vice President for Government Relations and Community Engagement Christopher Murphy agreed with the GCI report that continued focus on advanced level research and a diverse student body will pave the way for future growth.

“The university is pleased to be playing a part,” Murphy wrote in an email to The Hoya. “The regional D.C. economy is undergoing a profound transformation and it is important that major local institutions like Georgetown work together to build an inclusive, vibrant and increasingly global economy – we all have an important role to play.”