The Hoya: February 10, 2015

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 96, No. 33, © 2015

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015

SISTER ACT

Daphne and Rachel Corboz were selected to train with the U.S. national women’s soccer teams.

COMMENTARY A Navy ROTC student reflects on an unorthodox college career.

WATER OUTAGE Half of campus will be without water from 10 p.m. tonight until 5 a.m.

OPINION, A3

NEWS, A4

SPORTS, A10

Charitable Donations Peak With $236M, university records highest level of giving CHARLOTTE ALLEN Hoya Staff Writer

Last year marked the highest charitable donations total given to Georgetown University, mirroring a national trend of increased alumni giving to alma maters.

In the 2014 fiscal year, which ran from July 2013 to June 2014,

Georgetown raised $236 million in donations, $40 million more than the previous record total of $189 million in fiscal year 2013.

The period was highlighted by the $100 million donation by Frank McCourt Jr. (CAS ’75) to create the McCourt School of Public Policy in September 2013. The donation was the largest received by George-

DONATIONS SINCE 2012 FY14 DONATIONS ($236 MILLION)

FY13 DONATIONS ($189 MILLION)

FY12 DONATIONS ($179 MILLION)

= $50 MILLION

SHANNON HOU/THE HOYA

Fiscal year 2014 saw record donations for Georgetown, bolstered by the endowment for the McCourt School and TAC gifts.

town.

“We believe that this marks a transition point, and helps to send a signal that Georgetown is continuing to progress and is maturing into an organization that fundraises and receives support from donors that is consistent with both our peer group and our aspirational peer group,” Vice President for Advancement R. Bartley Moore (SFS ’87) said.

Ongoing fundraising for fiscal year 2015, which began in July 2014, has solicited $72.78 million as of the end of December.

The Georgetown increase reflects a nationwide increase in charitable giving to colleges and universities, which reached a record high in 2014 for the second year in a row, according to a Jan. 28 report in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Giving across the United States totaled $37.45 billion in 2014, a 10.8 percent increase from 2013 and the highest amount that has been recorded since the survey started in 1957. The Chronicle attributed the increase to an explosion of wealth, rather than an increase in income.

According to Senior Director of Campaign Management and Donor Relations Stephanie Jacobson-Landon, trends in charitable giving strongly correlate with the state of the economy and the stock market — the increases have occurred since the end of the recession.

“It really does map closely to the

FILE PHOTO: HUNTER MAIN/THE HOYA

Rhino Bar & Pumphouse, a Georgetown hotspot, will shutter its doors Feb. 28, a result of increased rents, and will not relocate.

Rhino Closes, Ending 63-Year Bar Legacy KRISTEN FEDOR Hoya Staff Writer

Rhino Bar & Pumphouse, the popular M Street sports bar, will be closing its doors Feb. 28.

Manager George Kennedy confirmed Rhino is not renewing its lease when it expires at the end of the month, citing the rising rent cost as reason for the closure. The bar is owned by restauranteur Britt Swan.

“The landlords decided to rent it out to somebody else,” he said. “They were asking for more than we could afford.

They found someone that was willing to pay that amount.”

See DONATIONS, A6

Kennedy also said the bar is not looking to relocate.

“This is the end of the establishment,” he said.

Rhino has been an oft-frequented spot

by Georgetown students since its opening in 1998. 3295 M St., where Rhino is housed, has been home to a bar since the Shamrock opened in 1952. After the Shamrock’s closure in 1972, Winstons Bar occupied the location until Rhino’s entrance near the end of the millennium.

Kennedy said that a clothing store would take the location of the establishment but did not know any addiSee PUMPHOUSE, A6

2015 EXECUTIVE ELECTIONS

Unconventional Trio Serves as Watchdog MARGARET HEFTLER Hoya Staff Writer

As the five tickets campaign for the Georgetown University Student Association executive position, hundreds of fliers and social media blasts will go up, seemingly countless meet-and-greets will be held and thousands of doors will be knocked on.

Three election commissioners — Pavan Rajgopal (SFS ’14), Alden Fletcher (SFS ’17) and Grady Willard (SFS ’18) — are responsible for making sure these campaign activities all adhere to standards.

According to his LinkedIn account, Rajgopal graduated from Georgetown in 2014, yet he remains an election commissioner.

The GUSA Election Commission enforces all GUSA bylaws during elections and audits the campaigns upon suspicion of broken

rules. “[The Election Commission members] are supposed to audit the candidates’ campaigns and make sure they’re within their spending limits, not fliering in places they’re not supposed to be. And if they find a candidate has violated those regulations, they are then supposed to issue sanctions,” GUSA Constitutional Council Chief Justice Josh Shinbrot (COL ’16) said.

The GUSA Constitutional Council oversees and regulates the Election Commission to ensure fair elections and is composed of three justices, who are charged with interpreting the bylaws and regulations of GUSA. These justices are appointed by the GUSA president and are tenured for the length of their undergraduate years. The ConstiSee COMMISSION, A6

Next Exec Key to 2018 CampusPlan

RELATED

ALICIA CHE

Special to The Hoya

The next Georgetown University Student Association executive, who will be elected next week, will play an important role in the upcoming negotiations for the 2018 Campus Plan.

The university and the neighboring community will negotiate to solidify plans for the next 20 years of construction and maintenance around campus as part of the 2018 Campus Plan. Contentious negotiations for the 2010 Campus Plan required the university to house more students on campus, necessitating extensive construction projects around campus.

According to Associate Vice President for Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives Lauralyn Lee, who heads the Office of Community Engagement, the negotiation process has already commenced, and the

FILE PHOTO: ARIEL POURMORADY/THE HOYA

The five tickets’ respective platforms, which vary drastically in length and focus, are broken down.

See A5 In a change from previous years, no candidates in this year’s race are members of secret societies.

See A5

See ENGAGEMENT, A6

FEATURED NEWS NAIMUN LII

NEWS Spirit of Georgetown

Prospective applicants to the Spirit of Georgetown LLC can take tours of the dormitory.

A4

OPINION Editorial ISABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA

Alden Fletcher (SFS ’17), left, and Grady Willard (SFS ’18) are new to the commission; third commissioner Pavan Rajgopal (SFS ’14) has graduated.

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

The reformed study abroad housing policy leaves sophomores in the dark.

A2 Published Tuesdays and Fridays Published Tuesdays and Fridays

This year’s edition of the high school Model United Nations is the biggest yet.

A7

SPORTS Humbled Hoyas

Losing three of its last four, men’s basketball hopes to get back on track today.

A10

MULTIMEDIA Campaigns on Camera

Stay abreast of the 2015 GUSA executive race with The Hoya’s video series. thehoya.com

Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com

A2

OPINION

THE HOYA

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

THE VERDICT Founded January 14, 1920

EDITORIALS

Welcome the Prodigal As the daunting prospects of next year’s housing dominate campus conversation, a majority of sophomores have been cast adrift by the Office of Residential Living’s new study abroad housing policy for the 2015-2016 academic year, for which deadlines have already passed.

Students studying abroad in the fall will be excluded from the housing lottery this spring, and upon return, are not guaranteed housing on campus according to a Residential Living press release.

Junior year is the year many students live with friends as well as host social events.

Ending housing reservation, which was previously a gentleman’s agreement outside the administration anyway, poses a serious problem to current sophomores looking or planning to study abroad.

Rising juniors have been left directionless. If the Office of Residential Living expects students to accept this policy going forward and aims to quell the resentment many feel toward the office and this change, it is of absolute importance that the administration provide a clearer picture of exactly how the new policy will affect students and how they can navigate this policy.

We implore the Office of Residential Living to listen and empathize with students’ concerns and provide examples or at least some increased direction on how the new system will work and how students will be placed upon their return to campus.

It is certainly the least Residential Living can do given the punishing change in policy and the tension-filled housing politics that currently engulf Georgetown’s campus.

Starting relatively small, The Alternative Spring Break Program, recently renamed the Alternative Breaks Program is set to debut several non-spring break programs this year, advertising trips to explore “the cross-section of social entrepreneurship and the criminal justice system,” and their effect on communities.

For students that are not accepted to or cannot afford the longer spring break program format, ABP weekend trips promise to be a rewarding opportunity for concentrated community engagement.

Social justice should not be limited to a single season, and ABP’s redefinition will give it a longer continuity that is more in line with other CSJ programs.

Since 1975, the Alternative Breaks Program, working through Georgetown University’s Center for Social Justice, has offered Georgetown students

the opportunity to forgo the stereotypical spring break in favor of trips involving community service and social justice. Programs in the past have gone to an array of locations, including Detroit, New Orleans and different Appalachian sites.

Each year, the program has increased its presence on campus, offering more scholarships, more trips and more opportunities to engage with service once participants return to the Hilltop.

Last fall, the program changed its name, a minor adjustment that belied a much larger change in the program — a focus on engaging students throughout the entire academic year.

As weekend trips become incorporated into the structure of the ABP, students would do well to take advantage of this new opportunity to contribute their time and energies off campus and beyond the Hilltop.

A Better Program

C C

British Invasion — Sam Smith performed an Adele-like sweep of the 2015 Grammys, winning four: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Vocal Album.

C C

Positive Message — President Obama interrupted Sunday night’s Grammy Awards with a positive message against sexual assault, seconding last week’s NFL sponsored advertisement highlighting domestic abuse.

Anchoring Lies — Brian Williams has come under fire for alleged exaggerations in his news reports over the past 10 years, warranting cancelled television appearances.

Underdog Candidate — A draft Facebook campaign “Left Shark for GUSA 2015” has gained traction, distracting the student body from half of Georgetown’s new profile pictures.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Georgetown’s Team Effort To the Editor: Georgetown University recently received high honors for its international relations programs. According to Foreign Policy magazine, Georgetown is the fourth best undergraduate institution in the world to study IR. Our university’s Master’s programs rank number one, and our doctoral program ranks 15th.

The survey did not rank schools within universities. Nor did it rank individual programs within schools. Hence, it was unfortunate that The Hoya connected the honor exclusively to a handful of programs within the Walsh School of Foreign Service. The study of international relations at Georgetown takes place across a range of schools, includ-

This week on

Carolyn Maguire, Executive Editor Alexander Brown, Managing Editor Jess Kelham-Hohler, Online Editor Katherine Richardson, Campus News Editor Kshithij Shrinath, City News Editor Kara Avanceña, Sports Editor Hannah Kaufman, Guide Editor Jinwoo Chong, Opinion Editor Daniel Smith, Photography Editor Shannon Hou, Layout Editor Zack Saravay, Copy Chief Emily Min, Blog Editor Molly Simio, Multimedia Editor

Editorial Board

Jinwoo Chong, Chair

Madison Ashley, Kit Clemente, Francisco Collantes, Johnny Verhovek

school when discussing the issues that GUSA is typically charged with overseeing.

With issues ranging from the renegotiation of Georgetown’s Campus Plan to improving free speech policies on campus, it should come as no surprise to the administration that students often feel left out of the dialogue when it comes to important campus issues.

The inclusion of transfers in the institutions that act as loudspeakers shows that we as a university value the voices not only of those students who have spent the full four years on this campus, but also of those who, as a result of their shorter time as Georgetown university students, can offer a viewpoint that extends beyond the Georgetown, D.C. area and culture.

Transfers make up between 10 and 20 percent of any given class at Georgetown according to the university’s current admission statistics.

This large campus population should feel encouraged that their voices are being heard and should seek to ensure that phenomenon continues.

Sincerely yours, Jeff Anderson Chair of Faculty, School of Foreign Service Georgetown University

[ CHATTER ]

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

Paul Healy (COL ’15) implores readers to delineate what it is to be busy and what it means to be happy: Because money is a more easily measured and tangible resource than time, we’re generally better at restricting our spending of it. But when it comes to allocating time, we tend to overcommit ourselves because we can’t help but say “yes” to every opportunity that is presented. Yet, the cost to indiscriminate “yes-ing” looms. As a result of such extravagant spending of our limited stock of time, we implicitly make a choice in the trade-off between breadth and depth of experience.”

“

Transfer of Power Each year Georgetown welcomes a diverse and accomplished group of transfer students who inject new ideas and energy into campus life.

The transfer population at Georgetown is a valuable community, providing the unique perspective that accompanies already having a year or more at a different college under one’s belt.

Having already seen how other universities have handled similar issues, they give an insightful outlook on a variety of campus issues.

This is why it is encouraging to see that three out of the five tickets in this year’s Georgetown University Student Association executive election include a transfer student.

Transitioning to life at Georgetown — while seamless for some — is difficult, especially for transfers who have less time to get involved and carve out their places in student life, which are already established for most of their non-transfer peers.

It is that distinction that makes the transfer voice both a minority and an increasingly valuable presence to our

ing SFS, the department of government in the College, the McCourt School, MSB and the Law Center. International relations faculty hold joint appointments across these units, and their efforts are integral to Georgetown’s stellar reputation in the field.

We hope that The Hoya can make clear that Georgetown’s success in international relations is a team effort and something that the entire university should be proud of.

Cyrena Touros (COL ’18) reflects on growing into maturity: Before coming to Georgetown, I never once wondered what it would have been like to grow up along a normal timeline of maturity. I never considered what I was missing — I was always far too busy thinking highly of myself for acting like an adult. For others, becoming an adult was a dreaded process of forgoing the safety net of childhood; for me, it was the long-awaited plunge into a world I wished I had already been inhabiting for years.

“

Find this and more at

thehoya.com/chatter

Corrections A previous version of “Midnight in Red Square: 2015 GUSA Executive Race Begins” (The Hoya, A1, Feb. 6) reported that the Luther-Rohan ticket did not bring a ladder to post their banner and thus had to borrow one. In fact, Luther and Rohan brought a ladder, but it was too short.

A previous version of “SFS Tops Foreign Policy Rankings” (The Hoya, A1, Feb. 3) mis-characterized the ranking for the graduate school as highlighting only the MSFS program. The Foreign Policy ranking recognizes all eight international affairs master’s degree programs within the SFS.

Mallika Sen, Editor-in-Chief

Brian Carden, General Manager

Toby Hung Deputy Campus News Editor Andrew Wallender Deputy Campus News Editor Kristen Fedor Deputy City News Editor Elizabeth Cavacos Deputy Sports Editor Tyler Park Deputy Sports Editor Andrew May Sports Blog Editor Michael Fiedorowicz Deputy Guide Editor Gianna Pisano Deputy Guide Edtior Daniel Almeida Deputy Opinion Editor Parth Shah Deputy Opinion Editor Sarah Kim Opinion Blog Editor Isabel Binamira Deputy Photography Editor Dan Gannon Deputy Photography Editor Julia Hennrikus Deputy Photography Editor Cleo Fan Deputy Layout Editor Elana Richmond Deputy Layout Editor Matthew Trunko Deputy Layout Editor Katherine Cienkus Deputy Copy Editor Becca Saltzman Deputy Copy Editor Gabi Hasson Deputy Copy Editor Reza Baghaee Deputy Multimedia Editor

Jason Yoffe, Director of Accounting Brenna Muldrow, Director of Corporate Development Genie Douglass, Director of Marketing Ellen Zamsky, Director of Human Resources Lena Duffield, Director of Sales Matthew De Silva, Director of Technology Laura Tonnessen Monika Patel Sean Choksi Kevin Wilson Joseph Scudiero Tessa Guiv Caroline Gelinne Sarah Hannigan Gregory Saydah William Lowery Zoe Park

National Accounts Manager Local Accounts Manager Accounts Manager Treasury Manager Operations Manager Alumni Relations Manager Personnel Manager Organizational Development Manager Local Advertisements Manager National Advertisements Manager Web Manager

Contributing Editors & Consultants

Sam Abrams, Katy Berk, Zoe Bertrand, David Chardack, Nick DeLessio, Robert DePaolo, Ben Germano, TM Gibbons-Neff, Michal Grabias, Chris Grivas, Allie Hillsbery, Emma Hinchliffe, Emma Holland, Penny Hung, Nicole Jarvis, Sheena Karkal, Hanaa Khadraoui, Natasha Khan, Lindsay Lee, Charlie Lowe, Hunter Main, Jackie McCadden, Suzanne Monyak, KP Pielmeier, Eitan Sayag, Katherine Seder, Sharanya Sriram, Sean Sullivan, Natasha Thomson, Kevin Tian, Laura Wagner, Emory Wellman, Christina Wing, Michelle Xu, Janet Zhu

Board of Directors

Sheena Karkal, Chair

Brian Carden, David Chardack, Lindsay Lee, Mallika Sen, Zach Singer, Laura Wagner Letter to the Editor & Viewpoint Policies The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story. Letters should not exceed 300 words.

Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-800 words. The Hoya retains all rights to all published submissions.

Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya.com.

Letters and viewpoints are due Sunday at 5 p.m. for Tuesday’s issue and Wednesday at 5 p.m. for Friday’s issue. The Hoya reserves the right to reject letters or viewpoints and edit for length, style, clarity and accuracy. The Hoya further reserves the right to write headlines and select illustrations to accompany letters and viewpoints.

Corrections & Clarifications If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of a story, contact Executive Editor Carolyn Maguire at (908) 447-1445 or email executive@thehoya.com.

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OPINION

Tuesday, fEBRUARY 10, 2015

Culture Clash

THE HOYA

A3

VIEWPOINT • Tsusaki

The Midshipman’s Journal “Y

Tucker Cholvin & Thomas Christiansen

GUSA: A Comedy of Errors T

hough his death in 1616 places him approximately 350 years before the modern GUSA era, it is a pity that William Shakespeare never had the chance to witness the annual, gleefully nauseating ritual that is the GUSA executive election season.

Just think of it: the Bard and power-hungry Richard III would have worked perfectly for our current slate of candidates.

Sure, our current race for power here at Georgetown lacks much of the incest, infanticide and secret prophecy that made “Henry VI” and “Richard III” so charming. But what we lack in infanticide our current slate of candidates doubtless makes up in ego, vanity and hearty, red-blooded lust for attention.

Analyzed critically, the most dispiriting thing about the annual Georgetown University Student Association scrum is not the endless assault on freshman halls for easy votes, or even the paltry platforms put out by a few of this year’s candidates — some have less policy recommendation than a grocery list. Instead, it’s the spectacle of watching a good deal of time, energy and effort expended on winning a position that is meaningless on the whole.

GUSA’s tangible power lies entirely in the pot of money that it doles out to student boards and groups once a year, like a cymbal player who has exactly one note to play in a symphony. Beyond that, the work of GUSA seems to limit whatever disastrous idea has occurred to Our Dear Leader Dr. Todd Olson, whether it is a satellite campus, four-year housing requirement or hiring a small boy in livery to blow a bugle anytime Olson enters a room.

GUSA’s nuclear option, of course, is to hold a nonbinding referendum protesting something, which in recent years had become an annual passion play to which you could practically set your watch to. However, as if to demonstrate the true powerlessness of GUSA, our current administration has failed even to achieve that much. (Take heart, Trevor, Omika: perhaps there is still time for a university-wide referendum on some truly pressing issue that students can rally around, such as whether Tuscany’s Pizza should be revived, or if President DeGioia resembles Admiral Ackbar from “Return of the Jedi)”.

But something truly earth-shaking has happened to interrupt the beauty pageant of hacks this year. And to borrow a phrase, now is the winter of our GUSA discontent made glorious summer by two sons of Improv.

The Joe Luther-Connor Rohan ticket’s entry into the race has been hilarious, and there are few people on this campus who cannot confess to having watched their debut video or read their platform (#tunneltopia) and laughed louder than was socially appropriate on Lau 5.

If Connor and Joe cruise to victory, as we believe they should, whether or not they achieve their mission to create a chivalric order of knights to establish social justice throughout the realm is irrelevant.

By winning a pointless election with an almost entirely pointless campaign, they will have already made a larger statement about Georgetown and its micropolitics than any of the other candidates can dream of.

As an aside, it’s worth noting that the Luther-Rohan platform is almost a parody, but not entirely. In what has been the hardest and most important year in recent memory for mental health issues on this campus, it is telling that it is the joke campaign that has put forward the most earnest, dynamic, and effective proposals to improve mental health provision and care on this campus. Perhaps as a joke campaign, they have more license to deal with such issues; other candidates should take note.

Talking to people on this campus, you’ll find a lot of people who have gone from laughing at Joe and Connor to thinking they’ll rank them second or third to realizing that hell, they really do want them to win. It’s not without precedent; Harvard and Oxford Universities both delivered joke campaigns to power in their student governments last year, with Oxford’s winning ticket promising the construction of a citywide monorail system to ferry students around (no such monorail, yet, but many laughs).

And if Joe and Connor do take the reins, well, GUSA meetings will be a lot more interesting than they’ve ever been previously.

In the end, the fact that in the space of a few days a hastily planned joke campaign now appears to be one of the more viable tickets in the race says more about other tickets than it does about Joe and Connor’s wit. If a serious ticket wants to win this year, they will have to convince voters not just that they’re the best women and men to do the job, but that the job actually matters in the first place.

If not, they should consider their campaigns already resigned to the terrifying Jesuit necropolis that our future leaders Connor and Joe have promised to demolish.

Tucker Cholvin and Thomas Christiansen are seniors in the School of Foreign Service. Culture Clash appears every other Tuesday.

ou’re in ROTC? Do you know so-and-so?”

“No... I’m in Navy

ROTC.” “I didn’t know Georgetown had a Navy program.”

“Well actually, it doesn’t.”

This conversation became routine during my four years at Georgetown. Most students are familiar with the Army ROTC program on campus but do not realize that there are also a small number of Navy midshipmen here (seven to be exact, up from four last year).

While army cadets from American, Catholic and GW come to Georgetown for their training, we, along with midshipmen from UMD, Howard, and Catholic, commute to GW three times a week for NROTC. Being a “crosstown” student means many additional early mornings, but it also fosters a tight community between us. Our preparation includes everything from a three-credit Naval science course per semester, to physical training, professional development, leadership roles and community service.

Reserve Officer Training Corps is actually an antiquated misnomer; everyone who commissions through NROTC has a five-year active duty service commitment.

The other part of that initial conversation usually includes: “I didn’t really picture you in the Navy.”

Honestly, neither did I. Whatever the stereotype for a naval officer is, it’s not me. Neither of my parents was in the military, and I never really considered the Navy until I started applying to colleges.

My older brother went to the Naval Academy, and I was certain I did not want to do the same, but the more I looked into NROTC, the more it seemed to fit. I knew I wanted a job where I could travel,

I knew I wanted a job where I could travel, work with motivated and moral people, represent the United States in a positive light and challenge myself. work with motivated and moral people, represent the United States in a positive light, and challenge myself. The Navy provides all that and more. When I first started NROTC as a “fourth class.”

I thought it would change me in some way to fit that stereotype. In fact, I’ve found NROTC to be quite a diverse bunch of people more concerned with performance than conformity.

Throughout the past four years,

the Navy and NROTC staffs have been overwhelmingly supportive.

I would not have been able to attend Georgetown without the full tuition assistance the Navy provides.

Even though 85 percent of NROTC students have technical majors, I was fortunate enough to get selected for one of the new Language, Regional Expertise and Cultural Awareness scholarships, which allowed me to study what

VIEWPOINT • Crawford

I wanted in the SFS. The Navy financed my two separate semesters abroad to Argentina and Peru, and sent me on a summer training cruise to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. These experiences helped foster both my academic and personal growth, and I feel better prepared to lead because of them.

More than anything, the spirit of camaraderie that defines NROTC is what reassures me I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.

On one hand, everyone is competing for service selection (aviation, submarines, surface warfare, special warfare or marines) and homeport, but on the other hand, we all want to commission together.

The older midshipmen mentor the younger midshipmen; there’s a peer tutoring system in place; we work out with each other; and the battalion leadership is genuinely invested in the success of every individual; we are constantly pushing each other to improve.

Besides the general sense of good will between us, there is the very real chance that one day we will have to depend on one another in combat. Because of this shared mentality, I have close friends at all five consortium universities.

Hopefully, I don’t come off as recruiting propaganda. Everyone joins NROTC for unique reasons and has his or her own experiences. The dropout rate is a lot higher than I expected. It is still a little surreal knowing I will be graduating and getting stationed at my homeport (hopefully Spain) in less than four months.

That said, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Nicholas Tsusaki is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.

AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT...

Balancing the Unequal Climbing Mountains, Ebola Epidemic Dreams and Ambitions

I

n the first of Georgetown’s Global Futures lectures last week, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group described the core mission of his development-based financial institution.

Kim aligned the goal for the World Bank Group — to end extreme poverty by 2030 — with the duty to provide a “preferential option for the poor,” a concept first coined by his friend Gustavo Gutierrez.

The Ebola crisis is an unfortunate example of the burden of an epidemic falling disproportionately on the poorest. Contrary to the panic and dramatization of American cases depicted by Western media, Ebola hit Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone the hardest. Crippled by years of internal conflict and corruption, these countries are some of the poorest in the world.

These impoverished conditions are matched with some of the most dysfunctional health systems today. They have health systems that gravely lack the capacity to respond to an epidemic that has taken nearly 9,000 lives to date.

Should we also be surprised that the bulk of the response, resources and money — outside of the actions of a few courageous, largely faith-based, first-responders — really were implemented and gathered only once white, non-African lives were endangered?

According to Kim, the Ebola survival rate in developed countries is over 80 percent, whereas the survival rate in developing countries is roughly 30 percent. These numbers relay to us the dire situation those in poverty experience during epidemics: a lack of medical resources, a lack of health care personnel, and an initially delayed and inefficient response by the international community.

Thus, when the leader of an organization that provides over $30 billion dollars in assistance to developing countries each year specifically calls for a preferential option for the poor, leaders in global health and citizens in the global community alike should be inspired to listen, reflect and, most importantly, act.

The former co-founder and executive director of Partners In Health is right in his twofold claim: The poor are the most affected by these types of outbreaks (including the endemic diseases like African trypanosomiasis, dengue fever, malaria and typhoid),

and preventative and treatment measures need to be taken sooner to stop similar outbreaks in a more effective manner.

However, while I am aware that the purpose of his talk was to address the need to better prepare against pandemics, I was surprised by Kim’s failure to mention the disproportionate burden Ebola has on women, given his role as an advocate for those most marginalized by disease.

Women have fought courageously on Ebola frontlines. In the field, there are more women nurses than men nurses tending to the needs of sick patients. At home, women are caregivers of their families, bathing and taking care of their sick husbands or children, which only further increases their risk of exposure and transmission.

Because of social and cultural norms, Ebola afflicts women up to three times as often as it does men.

In Liberia, for example, 75 percent of Ebola victims have been women.

Consequently, the Ebola outbreak offers just as much a commentary on gender inequity as it does on poverty.

A preferential option for the poor, therefore, inherently must include a preferential option for women. Knowing the gender burden of these viruses before they strike will better enable us to take gender-appropriate measures, such as equipping the female nurses that provide much of the health response in these countries.

This knowledge requires us to better inform mothers, sisters, and daughters about the mechanisms of transmission, methods of protection, and modes of treatment.

Performing these simple, prudent tasks will better protect the lives of everyone involved.

With the proper foresight, communities would be more inclined to have the emergency funds for which Kim implored countries to have, emergency funds that will notably protect both the poor and women.

We know the historic and present prejudices of diseases like Ebola; now it is time to change the course of the future — of both the disease response and the lives of those most stricken by disease — by converting mere recognition to swift, substantive action.

Eighty percent of Ebola victims in developed nations survive compared to 30 percent in developing nations. The burden falls disproportionately on women.

Spencer Crawford is a junior in the School of Foreign Service.

A

t 3:25 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. goals like a career in law, or becom14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell ing a heart surgeon, or founding an and Kevin Jorgensen ended economically successful business a 19-day free-climbing expedi- or earning a Ph.D. in order to teach tion, ascending El Capitan’s Dawn at some prestigious university.

Wall in Yosemite National Park.

Dreams envision a change of Although others had climbed that heart, a conversion from winning mountain before, none had used to serving. Let’s take these same only their hands and feet to pull examples to illustrate what I mean their way up the 3,000 foot moun- by dreaming. The career in law betain — the height of three Empire comes an opportunity to promote State Buildings. justice for the poor, the marginal This month-old news event and the voiceless. The heart surgeon prompts an enduringly relevant dedicates herself to discovering new question. Why did Caldwell and Jor- surgical techniques that will save gensen undertake this dangerous lives while decreasing the cost of and arduous pilgrimage to the top delicate surgery. The business perof Dawn Wall? son wants to found In an exclusive an enterprise that New York Times will create a commuinterview, Caldwell nity of co-ownership explained, “For me, between employers I love to dream big, and employees. The and I love to find new Ph.D. wants to ways to be a bit of an inspire his or her stuexplorer. These days dents to love learnit seems like everying, to know the thing is padded and difference between comes with warninformation and ing labels. This just wisdom. In short, Fr. Howard Gray, S.J. dreams — whether lit a fire under me, and that’s a really to climb a mountain exciting way to live. or to labor in ways And this has driven that help other peome for a very long ple — lead to the virtime.” tue of magnanimity, Jorgensen added, the dedication to a “I wanted to see project greater than what I was capable oneself. of and this was the But ambition and biggest canvas and dreams need not be the most audacious opposed but compleproject I could join and see to the mentary. D.H. Lawrence put it this finish.” way: But more telling was this ear“All people dream, but not lier quote from Caldwell, “I would equally. love for this to open other people’s Those who dream by night in minds…. I think the larger audi- the dusty recesses of their mind, ence’s conception is that we’re wake in in the morning to find thrill-seekers, out there for an that it was vanity. adrenaline rush. We really aren’t But the dreamers of the day are at all. It’s about spending our lives dangerous people, in these beautiful places and formFor they dream their dreams ing these incredible bonds with with open eyes, friends and family.”

And make them come true.”

Then Jorgensen offered his view The ethical and spiritual herion the “why” of their adventure: tage of Georgetown University “I hope it inspires people to find resides in the kind of dreams we their own Dawn Wall, if you will. encourage one another to cherish.

I think everyone has their own That same heritage challenges all secret Dawn Wall to complete one to forge our dreams into projects day, and maybe they can put this that dig deeply into human needs project in their own context.” and then to work hard and steadily This old Jesuit is uncomfortable to transform these needs into opwith heights, and mountain climb- portunities for the common good. ing remains a sport I admire, albeit Caldwell and Jorgensen remind us from afar. But what Caldwell and that the educated heart is finally Jorgensen symbolized for me was the heart that responds to its own the courage and resilience it takes to dreams as the invitation of God. live out the dream. To clarify what In that light, a month-old news I mean by courage and resilience, feature morphs into an enduring contrast ambitions and dreams. Am- moment of wisdom. bitions generally focus on accomplishment, success and career fulfill- Fr. Howard Gray, S.J., is the ment. Dreams focus on inspiration, assistant to the president at aspiration and soul-fulfillment.

Georgetown University. As This Ambitions orient a woman or Jesuit Sees It… appears every man toward specific, achievable other Friday.

Dreams envision a change of heart, a conversion from winning to serving.

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THE HOYA

PAGE FOUR

NEWS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE A new Metro report revealed declining crime rates on the transportation service.

See story on thehoya.com.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

IN FOCUS

verbatim

UNITY IN FLUIDITY

“

We’re going to drop out if [the Stewards] don’t contact us. We’re going to drop out, and we don’t care.”

GUSA vice-presidential candidate Connor Rohan (COL ’15) on his Stewards involvement. See story on A5.

from

GUSA

MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

The Georgetown University Dance Company performed at the sixth annual Unity Live benefit concert, co-sponsored by the School of Nursing and Health Studies Academic Council and the GU AIDS Coalition and held in Gaston Hall on Friday.

GUSA CAMPAIGN VIDEOS With GUSA campaign season in full force, 4E reviews each campaign’s election video. Vote for your favorite online. blog.thehoya.com

Water Jesuit Residence Layout Revealed in Tours Outage Hits Campus OWEN EAGAN

Special to The Hoya

ANDREW WALLENDER Hoya Staff Writer

Students living in Village A, Village C East, Village C West, New South, Kennedy, Reynolds and McCarthy Halls will be without access to water tonight because of a planned water outage beginning at 10 p.m. and ending at 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

The outage, which will stop all water flow from showers, toilets, sinks and washing machines, will occur to allow water line relocation for the construction of the Thompson Athletic Center, according to an email sent to affected students Monday evening by the Office of Planning and Facilities and the Office of Residential Life announcing the outage.

Construction of the Thompson Athletic Center is currently in the utility relocation phase, which will be completed by mid-February. Work on the center started in November 2014 and will be completed in August 2016.

Vice President for Planning and Facilities Management Robin Morey could not be reached for comment by press time regarding the outage.

Student reaction concerning the outage was mixed. Village C West resident Teresa Kim (SFS ’18) said the time of the outage is a large inconvenience.

“I don’t think anyone will be asleep by 10 p.m.,” Kim said. “I feel like people would come back to their rooms halfway through the outage, which means they would not be able to use the water in the bathroom. It will definitely inconvenience a lot of us, if not all of us.”

On the other hand, Southwest Quad resident Catherine Zolbrod (NHS ’17) said that she did not mind the outage since she can plan around it.

“I don’t really mind it,” Zolbrod said. “I think if they need to do whatever they need to do, it’s fine because I’ve been given fair enough warning, and I can plan my shower schedule around 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. It’s a pretty short time block, so I don’t really mind it, but I could see how it could be an inconvenience to some.”

Kennedy Hall resident Saniya Khullar (COL ’15) said that although the outage poses a temporary inconvenience, she understands the causes prompting it.

“I feel that it will definitely impact a lot of Hoyas who take showers at night and brush their teeth and for other hygiene purposes,” Khullar said. “Personally it doesn’t affect people like me that take showers in the morning, except for hygiene-related things at night. I definitely feel if it’s only for that short window and nothing longer, then it is fine as long as it is for the athletic center, but frequent or more such outages, I would not really like.”

Approximately 140 students and staff attended Residential Living’s informational tours of the former Jesuit Residence last Friday. The residence is under construction to become a dormitory beginning next fall.

Tours will continue to be offered every Wednesday and Friday until spring break, as the application to join the Spirit of Georgetown Living and Learning Community at the residence closes this Wednesday. The tours, which run at regular 15-minute intervals from 2 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., allow participants to view a mock-up of a six-person apartment on the fourth floor of the Jesuit Residence, which faces the Dahlgren quadrangle.

The sample apartment features two double-occupancy rooms, two single rooms, two full bathrooms, a central kitchen and a living room. Participants are also able to see the furniture designed for the rooms.

The residence includes 18 apartment units in total, including one nine-person, five eight-person, four six-person, five four-person and three three-person rooms.

The university contracted Ayers Saint Gross and Hoffman Architects for the design and construction of the residence, respectively.

The Manhattan Construction Group managed the construction within the space.

According to Vice President of Planning and Facilities Management Robin Morey, it was important for the design to respect the historic nature of the building while also meeting the modern needs of the university.

“It really is, because it was an existent facility and not built up from scratch … respecting the past while making sure that we’re trying to meet the needs of the future,” Morey said. “All of that has to come together and you have to make compromises to get the best design that you can, and I think the team’s done a really excellent job here in doing that.”

The layout of the residence combines both aspects traditionally found in other dormitories on campus as well as newer designs.

The dark, hardwood-style vinyl floors of the residence marked the transition of the university’s dormitories away from carpeted floors, except in communal hallways for the purpose of noise reduction.

The residence also has plenty of natural light because of the new energy efficient glass panes

FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

The former Jesuit Residence, which is undergoing conversion to dormitories for the 2015-16 academic year, was unveiled in tours given to students and staff last Friday. placed in the refurbished window frames, which have adorned the residence since the 1930s.

Large spherical lights also hang from the high ceilings of the space, evoking the academic roots of the building in their resemblance to the classic globes often used in classrooms.

Additionally, the furniture in the residence resembles that of other buildings on campus since the university contracted CHL Business Interiors, which also provided the furniture for the Healey Family Student Center.

Other notable features of the FJR include a non-denominational contemplative space to be maintained by the President’s Office in conjunction with Campus Ministries. The great hall in Ryan Hall, which was once the main dining area for the university, will be converted into a group gathering and study space open to all students.

After the tour, students are invited to vote for their choice of furniture to be included in the Great Room of the residence, including a billiards table.

Morey noted that the final design of the residence should reflect the interests of students, many of whom have been following the design of the space at planning meetings since planning began in December 2013.

“It’s trying to take the best of everything that we know that the student body likes and fit it into a program in the existing building to the extent that we can,” Morey said.

Executive Director for Residential Services Patrick Killilee, who served as a tour guide on Friday, said that many students reacted positively to the design.

“I have not been on a tour with anybody who has not been just sort of awed by just being present in the space … we don’t build

— and not we as in Georgetown — we as people don’t build like this anymore,” Killilee said. “You don’t walk into buildings that just have 18-foot ceilings above the entry level, so these are unique.”

Clara Cecil (MSB ’18) found the residence to be highly appealing.

“I think that it’s beautiful and that it would be an ideal living space,” Cecil said.

Courtney Maduike (SFS ’17) toured the building and said that she loved the representation of both the past and the future in the design.

“I love that they care so much about student input and approval in the renovation of the old Jesuit residence,” Maduike wrote in an email. “It’s an interesting and beautiful way to combine the traditional spirit of Georgetown, represented by the Jesuits, with the new, represented by the university’s current students. I absolutely love the building.”

news

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015

THE HOYA

A5

2015 EXECUTIVE ELECTIONS

2015 Executive Election Candidates Present Platforms TOM GARZILLO Hoya Staff Writer

The 2015 Georgetown University Student Association election, which began Thursday at midnight in Red Square, features five student pairs, who have publicized their plat-

forms on their respective websites and social media pages. The presidential and vice presidential tickets include Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Connor Rohan (COL ’16), Sara Margolis (COL ’16) and Ryan Shymansky (COL ’16), Abbey McNaughton (COL ’16) and Will Simons (COL ’16), Tim Rosenberger (COL

’16) and Reno Varghese (SFS ’16), and Chris Wadibia (COL ’16) and Meredith Cheney (COL ’16). A sixth candidate group of Mike Minahan (COL ’16) and Stephen Paduano (COL ’16) officially withdrew from the race Sunday morning. The candidates will discuss their platforms further in two debates

YOUTOPIA Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Connor Rohan (COL ’16) have developed a satirical platform called “YouTopia” in order to bring issues within the university and GUSA to light. The platform addresses topics such as religious pluralism, transfer students and student funding through satire.

One example of satire in the Luther-Rohan platform is its description of student athletes. The platform states that student athletes should have, “first access to lifeboats in the event of a great flood” and, “get to be President of Georgetown for a day.” Rohan said that satire allows the campaign to criticize the university and its treatment of athletes.

“The athletics portion is clear satire of the amount of privileges they’re giving to athletes,” Rohan said. “I believe that it can be a little insane sometimes, and the amount of privileges that are afforded to athletes are not in the spirit of academia. The university, first and foremost, is meant to, in my opinion, serve the students.”

Despite the satirical elements of the platform, Luther and Rohan remain entirely serious on their description of student health. The Luther-Rohan ticket resolves to increase support for mental health by subsidizing CAPS appointments and expanding its emergency call services, work with the administration to prioritize disability access and improve sexual assault resources by training all employees on Title IX. “If we don’t touch [health], it looks bad,” Rohan said. “If we make fun of it, it’s terrible and taste-

less. And if we do it right not only does it show that we’re serious, but it shows that we are cognizant of the most important issues that people are facing at Georgetown.”

The ticket also aims to increase student involvement in GUSA, especially in relation to the 2018 campus plan.

“I think GUSA’s biggest failing is that it really does not mobilize the student base well,” Luther said. “At the end of the day, GUSA’s power does not lie in one or two individuals, or the executive position, or the senators or things like that. Its power lies in mobilizing the people and allowing them to have a say what is going on in the university.”

BELIEVE IN GEORGETOWN Sara Margolis (COL ’16) and Ryan Shymansky’s (COL ’16) platform, at approximately 30 pages, is the longest of the five tickets. Through a focus on diversity, student experience, cura personalis, social justice and education, the pair hopes to serve as advocates for the student body.

The platform is unique in its call for a $5 million Student Activities Capital Campaign, which will partner over the next five years with the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, 1634 Society, the Office of Advancement and the Alumni Association to solicit donations from alumni that will go directly to funding student organizations.

In the student experience portion, Margolis and Shymansky emphasized the importance of the upcoming 2018 Campus Plan, in which the pair will fight to forgo the construction of new buildings until necessary renovations of existing residence halls occur. Similarly, the pair plans to push the university to sign a Green Space Agreement that will require every foot of green space removed by future construction to be replaced in exact square footage elsewhere on campus.

Other major components of the platform focus on marginalized groups ranging from transfer students to undocumented students to veterans

Abbey McNaughton (COL ‘16) and Will Simons’ (COL ‘16) “Rise Together” platform aims to promote cultural change within GUSA by engaging and representing the entire student body. Their platform promotes constant interaction and collaboration with student organizations and leaders and McNaughton and Simons have committed to meet with one student representative from every student organization on campus, but have not defined “student organization” definitively.

To encourage GUSA involvement with student groups, the platform is collaborative, with sections written by specific student leaders and alumni with expertise in certain issues such as dining, entrepreneurship and free speech.

“I’m not only talking about bringing in new people and making sure every single student group is represented or feel as if they can get involved or share their problems with GUSA, but also make sure that GUSA is actively engaging the students, even with really easy things like social media and revamping emails,” Simons said. “It’s supposed represent all 7,500 of us.”

Some major initiatives in the McNaughton-Simons campaign include plans to increase student involvement in the 2018 campus plan by encouraging administrators to share information and collaborate with student leaders, to increase the student activities fee to ensure all Georgetown stu-

dents have equal opportunity to student organizations and to advocate for increased mental health support on campus.

In addition, they hope to advocate for students with demonstrated need by providing a fund for clothing and transportation to internships, as well as a fund to help students cover the cost of laundry.

“We know that students don’t think GUSA does much,” McNaughton said. “We are committed to changing that. I think that our campaign and platform represents that and I want people to trust in that and vote.”

FOR THE LOVE OF GEORGETOWN Tim Rosenberger (COL ’16) and Reno Varghese’s (SFS ’16) platform is a mix of short-term and longterm goals that ultimately look to better the school “for the love of Georgetown,” as stated in the campaign’s slogan.

Short-term projects include reform of CAPS and mental health, funding reform, improving workers’ rights and the quality of food at Leo’s, expanding the What’s a Hoya? Program, making the GU Farmer’s Market a larger part of campus and adding a more diverse selection of newspapers to the College Readership program.

Long-term goals include addressing the 2018 campus plan, increasing the Provost’s budget contribution to the student activities budget, making the campus more accessible to all students and improving life for transfer students.

The Rosenberger-Varghese platform addresses other aspects of Georgetown as well, such as athletics: ensuring the renovation of Kehoe Field, increasing the number of academic advisors for athletes and granting club sports greater access to varsity resources.

In the realm of academic life, the pair is seeking to greatly expand the academic opportunities available to undergraduates. This includes allowing SFS students to minor in MSB, NHS and College majors and allowing students in the NHS, MSB and SFS to get a certificate — or more than one certificate — in traditionally College minors.

One especially contentious issue that Rosenberger and Varghese look to mend is off-campus housing. They propose allowing juniors who live

Chris Wadibia (COL ’16) and Meredith Cheney (COL ’16), whose slogan is “Dignity,” established an 18-point platform, separated into three core principles entitled “Washington and the World,” “Access and Transparency” and “Spirit and Service.”

“Washington and the World” focuses on providing students with opportunities beyond Georgetown, particularly with the Washington, D.C., and international community, through a series of programs. One of the campaign’s most publicized programs is “Finance Your Future,” which aims to provide students with tax assistance and classes on personal financial management taught by Georgetown alumni.

The campaign also plans on integrating student input as part of the “Access and Transparency” section. In addition to revamping policies related to free speech, sexual assault and mental health, Wadibia and Cheney hope to establish a philanthropy trust to allow students with demonstrated need to apply for funds to specific expenses, such as flights home during breaks.

The third section of the campaign, “Spirit and Service,” mainly aims to expand service-oriented initiatives on campus, from increasing sustainability efforts to providing more funding for the Center for Social Justice.

Although the platform lists out the campaign’s priorities, there are few details on how and when its programs will be implemented.

Wadibia said that the succinctness of their plat-

off-campus their junior year with the intent to return their senior year to receive four full housing points.

Eliminating special restrictions on off-campus students, increasing student representation on the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission and creating an online portal to allow students to advertise available housing are included in their platform as well.

Varghese said that his and Rosenberger’s platform is made of more than empty talking points.

“We didn’t want anything in our platform, any major campaign push, to be something you think about and ask, ‘Can anybody actually do that?’” Varghese said. “We think we can work with the fundamentals and make them better.”

form makes it accessible to students.

“Our platform is succinct because we know students aren’t going to read a 30-40 page platform,” Wadibia said. “But an 18-point platform that’s maybe three pages in length is something that they could read in literally three minutes. So as a result, our platform focuses on making practical efforts.”

Cheney said that the platform is more focused on the candidates’ passion for the programs rather than its details.

“Something that is near and dear to both of us is the overall concept of our platform. It is more vague,” Cheney said. “Ours is so unique in that it’s [our] desire and drive to be so inclusive of everybody.

It’s beyond something that we can put on paper.”

No Candidates Linked To Secret Societies This Year Hoya Staff Writer

RISE TOGETHER

Hoya Staff Writers Mallika Sen, Andrew Wallender, Toby Hung and Deirdre Collins contributed reporting.

DIGNITY

Tom Garzillo

to minorities to those identifying as LGBTQ. “If you flip through our platform, we have specific micro-level policies for every single one of those marginalized student groups, every single one,” Shymansky said. “And in a lot of cases we are the only platform that addresses those specifically.”

The pair also said that exploring options for a new food distributor would be a priority since Aramark’s contract with the university expires in 2016.

on Feb. 11 and Feb. 16 and the race will culminate in a vote Feb. 19.

None of the 10 candidates running for Georgetown University Student Association executive office hold membership in a secret society, compared to four of eight candidates in last year’s election.

Secret societies dominated media coverage of the 2013 GUSA executive race, with the discovery of leaked emails revealing the identities of several members of the Second Society of Stewards, including one GUSA executive candidate and the current GUSA chief of staff. Last year, four candidates running for executive office confirmed involvement in secret societies. The Stewards and an offshoot known as the Thirds are the main secret societies on campus.

Presidential candidate Chris Wadibia (COL ’16) and vice-presidential candidate Will Simons (COL ’16) have both said that the Stewards approached them, but neither is a member. Neither clarified if they were contacted by the Seconds or the Thirds.

Simons said that he was approached last year, but after speaking with “a couple individuals,” he was never contacted again.

Wadibia said he was “very impressed by their mission statement and what they go about doing,” but he could not say anything else about the process.

“They stress one thing: utmost discretion that you don’t discuss anything with anyone,” Wadibia said. “I’m not at liberty to go into the details of it in regard to what we discussed.”

The Society of Stewards is a long-standing, allmale Georgetown secret society, comprised of both alumni and students, but few specific details are known to the general public. The group is believed to be largely conservative and Catholic, had strong ties to the Georgetown Academy, a conservative publication, and was founded by known conservative students.

The group, founded in 1982, remained a secret until 1988, when Rev. Joseph T. Durkin, S.J., moderator of the Stewards and a Georgetown professor, revealed its existence in The Hoya after he objected to the group’s secrecy and refusal to admit women. The organization existed as a single society until a schism in 1982 led to the formation of the Second Society, now known as the main branch of the Stewards, after the “first” society went defunct. The Third Steward Society also has cropped up as an offshoot of the first two groups.

Following Durkin’s exposure of the group, leadership announced that the Stewards would be dissolved. Despite this announcement, the society operated in total secrecy until 2001.

In 2001, then-Speaker of the Stewards Society Adam Carter (COL ’87, LAW ’91) explained the organization in an article published in the nowdefunct Georgetown Academy. Carter said that the mission of the Stewards is to “inspire service to our school, and aspire to the building of character in young men, that they may be better sons, husbands, and fathers” in the article.

The Stewards have also been known to make donations to campus groups, including the Philodemic Society and Mask and Bauble. According to the records of the Stewards Charitable Trust, the society had nearly $150,000 in total assets in 2012.

Manual Miranda (SFS ’82), a conservative GOP former congressional aide and lawyer with involvement in the State Department, co-founded the Stewards in 1982. In 1992, Miranda led a campaign to request Georgetown to withhold funds from a pro-choice student group. The campaign was successful and solidified the society’s conservative ties.

Simons and his running mate Abbey McNaughton (COL ’16) are linked with prominent Steward alum and Head of D.C. Alumni Association Sean Redmond (SFS ’97, GRD ’00, MBA ’11), who worked with the ticket to write the alumni and mentorship section of their platform. Redmond, a former photography editor and member of The Hoya’s board of advisers, did not respond to the request for comment. Simons said he chose to work with Redmond because of his expertise and did not consider his Steward ties.

“He’s the head of the D.C. Alumni Association,” Simons said. “He’s obviously very knowledge-

able on everything regarding alumni-student relations and that’s why we asked him to help us write that piece of the platform.”

Simons said that a focus on Stewards detracts from the more important parts of each candidate’s platform.

“To be honest, it detracts from the importance of the issues,” Simons said. “I understand that some people think it’s important and I respect that but I think that there are too many important issues, especially this year, that need to be discussed. I think the real issues deserve more attention.”

Presidential candidate Tim Rosenberger (COL ’16) said that he is aware that one member of his campaign staff is a member of the Third Society of Stewards, a group that is not connected to the Second Society. He declined to name the student.

Rosenberger said that he suspects other campaigns have deeper Steward connections.

“We probably have easily the least Steward support of any ticket,” Rosenberger said. “Some of those [other] tickets should be a mining expedition.”

Despite this statement, all of the four remaining tickets said they were not aware of any staffer involvement in any secret society. In addition, all female candidates said that they were not approached by any secret groups, since there are currently no known female secret societies on campus.

Vice-presidential candidate Ryan Shymansky (COL ’16) said that the personal choice to accept membership to the society should not impact the campaign. He was not approached by a secret society.

“I think that we can look at everybody’s individual record, regardless of whether they’re a member of a secret society or not, and say who has the best ideas for Georgetown,” Shymanksy said. “If people want to spend their time in secret societies, that’s fine.”

Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Connor Rohan (COL ’16) spoke sarcastically about the Stewards involvement, and said they were also not approached.

“No, but we’re waiting for it. God d- - - - it Stewards, where are you, why are you even doing this?” Rohan said, regarding offers of membership. “We’re going to drop out if you don’t contact us. We’re going to drop out and we don’t care.

Why even be at the school anymore if we don’t have you?”

Rosenberger’s running mate, Reno Varghese (SFS ’16), said that Stewards are not as important as they make themselves out to be.

“I really don’t think it matters,” he said. “You could rename it the Elitist Society and still get the same people.”

During the February 2013 GUSA elections, names of students and alumni members of the Second Stewards were released in an email and public tax returns leak. The revelation that leading candidates and top campaign staffers were Stewards caused a scandal in campus politics when one candidate, Jack Applebaum (COL ’14), was revealed to be a member of the Seconds, and the other, Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14), was revealed to be a member of an unknown secret society.

The following year, half of the candidates were revealed to be Stewards.

Current GUSA President Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15), who was approached four times but declined membership, and Vice President Omika Jikaria (SFS ’15) were the only ticket without at least one member in the secret society.

Tezel said that the Stewards’ demand for secrecy and the effect of such a presence at Georgetown were the biggest reasons for his choice to turn down the offer.

“According to Tezel, the existence of secret societies on campus can and has dissuaded non-members from involvement in campus life due to the dominance of leadership positions by members of secret societies, predominantly heterosexual, white, Christian men,” the Tezel-Jikaria campaign said in a statement issued at the time. “This imbalance in resources constitutes socio-structural prejudice and is an institutional barrier to equal opportunity and equal representation on a campus that purports to support social justice.”

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news

THE HOYA

TUESDAY, February 10, 2015

GUSA to Impact 2018 Plan Georgetown Sees a Record Year in Giving ENGAGEMENT, from A1

incoming GUSA leadership will take up an important role in the process.

“What we have been doing through [Georgetown Community Partnership] in the past twoand-a-half years is developing and working through the elements of the substance of what will compose of the plan,” Lee said.

“We have lots of forums for student meetings in residence halls around specific projects, an open forum every semester, as well as GUSA-led working group focused on planning issues. All these activities [are] an effort to involve GUSA leadership and other students in the planning process.”

The GUSA executive has taken up a central role in Georgetown Community Partnership, the forum created as part of Georgetown University’s 2010 Campus Plan, to facilitate discussion, information sharing and consensusbased decision-making on issues of shared concern to the university and the neighborhood.

The GCP is led by a steering committee made up of university leaders, neighborhood civic leadership and the GUSA President.

Current GUSA President Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) said that the future executive leadership must have a strong grasp of student needs to advocate effectively on behalf of the student body during the negotiation.

“It’s going to take a strong executive that’s prepared to state and articulate student principles that are non-negotiable, but still at the same time be willing to come to the table so that we can get an agreement that can be hammered out in unison with the principal that the university and the neighborhood want to advance as well,” Tezel said.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Reed Howard (SFS ’17) noted that since the GUSA president is the only student representative on the GCP steering committee and the master planning subcommittee, the winner of the Feb. 19 election would thus play an integral role in the future negotiations.

“The campus plan will affect the next 20 years of student life on the Hilltop, and we need an executive team with extensive knowledge and relationships in this area so that they can immediately hit the ground running as effective representatives,” Howard wrote in an email. “Right now the advocacy effort on behalf of the student body is fragmented and in need of greater coordination.

The GUSA executive is uniquely

DONATIONS, from A1

FILE PHOTO: DANIEL SMITH/THE HOYA

Deliberations at Advisory Neighborhood Commission meetings will determine the future of the 2018 Campus Plan. positioned to mobilize the student body in a single direction.”

Promoting student representation in neighborhood organizations to increase the student voice in community affairs has been a focus for GUSA executives in the past few years, including Tezel and GUSA Vice Presiednt Omika Jikaria (SFS ‘15). Because of the sole student voice on the steering committee, six working groups were created under the steering committee to involve a greater level of student representation, which GUSA has helped to provide.

GUSA Undersecretary for Neighborhood Relations Olivia Hinerfeld (SFS ’17) noted that over the past year, the executive had primarily worked with increasing student representation in the GCP working groups and on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Two of the eight single-member districts of ANC2E, the region that includes Georgetown, feature student representatives: Howard and Kendyl Clausen (SFS ’16).

“I think that’s certainly the most important issue for students, particularly with the 2018 Campus Plan — ensuring that we have students involved at every point in the process,” Hinerfeld said.

Despite the variety of students working on the campus plan issue, GUSA senate Speaker Tyler Bridge (COL ’17) pointed to a lack of coordination between the executive and the senate as an area for improvement under the next administration in anticipation of future negotiations.

“Basically, what we have right now is a system of GUSA meeting once a week or twice a week with upper-echelon administrators in certain boards and certain meetings, and the president is supposed to convey that to the

cabinet and somehow supposed to trickle down into the senate,” Bridge said. “I do not think that’s how we should work at all.”

Beyond the neighborhood, the GUSA president and vice president also represent the student body in wider city affairs, according to Tezel.

“Just a couple of weeks ago we were at a town summit to discuss some of the issues that Mayor [Muriel] Bowser was going to be facing as she took over. And we were able to provide feedback along with other D.C. committee members,” Tezel said.

Lee similarly highlighted Tezel and Jikaria’s work with voter registration.

“GUSA leadership has been involved in student voting — registering to vote in the District — so that we have the power of their voice as a District resident, in both city and local policy and federal policy,” Lee said.

With the increasing importance of neighborhood relations, the next president and vice president will likely continue the trend of occupying a neighborhood relations cabinet position that will work with the Office of Community Engagement to coordinate community events.

“Both the past and current GUSA had cabinet positions that were focused on neighborhood relations and D.C. relations. People in these roles have helped to recruit students for neighborhood events that our neighborhood association put on like picnic in the summer, community days or concerts,” Assistant Director of Community Engagement Jamie Scott said. “We think it’s important that students are participating in community life and to get students involved in neighborhood activities.”

Elections Governed Carefully COMMISSIONS, from A1 -tutional Council is the final board of appeals in all GUSA matters and its decisions are binding.

The Election Commission, on the other hand, strictly exists for the purpose of overseeing elections, and its members are also appointed by the GUSA president and tenured for the duration of their undergraduate career.

The commission moderates two information sessions before each GUSA executive race in order to go over election rules and requirements and closely oversees and communicates with candidates throughout the campaign period. In addition, the commission moderates two debates, which this year will occur on Feb. 11 and Feb. 16. They set time limits for the entirety of the debate including opening and closing statements and manage campus media and student questions throughout the events.

The Election Commission also plays a crucial role in the voting process.

“We count the votes and make sure that whole process goes smoothly,” Willard said.

Sanctions imposed by the Election Commission include anything from listing a candidate on the ballot below the write-in section to striking a candidate from the election altogether. Potential infractions include spending over the $300 limit on campaigning, campaigning before the official start of the season and setting up a campaign-sponsored electronic voting booth or locations on campus.

“It’s been at least four years since the election commission has actually sanctioned a candidate,” Shinbrot said. “I think 2009 was the last time someone was struck from the ballot, so it’s been a while.”

In February 2009, two GUSA executive tickets were disqualified by the Election Commission for poster violations. However, the Constitutional Council invalidated the ruling, the Election

Commission members resigned and a new election with all eight original tickets and new election commissioners was held.

This year’s group of election commissioners includes two firsttime commissioners, Willard and Fletcher. They replaced two election commissioners who graduated in 2014. One of last year’s commissioners Ethan Chess (COL ’14) brought the election commission into focus in January 2014 after filing a petition requesting the invalidation of a GUSA senate speaker election.

His knowledge of GUSA bylaws led him to send the petition to the Constitutional Council, since such an action is not under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission.

The new commissioners were appointed in the fall by GUSA President Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) after they applied for the position on Hoyalink. Willard said he applied because of his previous interest in student government.

“I had experience with elections in high school and thought it would be a unique experience to see what gets Georgetown students passionate and excited,” Willard said.

While the young age of the new commissioners might be viewed as a disadvantage, Fletcher said Rajgopal’s two-time experience provides a rubric for fulfilling duties. Rajgopal, who already graduated Georgetown in 2014, is still involved in the commission after graduation, and still serves as the CEO of the Georgetown International Relations Association, Inc. Commission byline 14.01 states that members can only serve for the duration of their enrollment at Georgetown, so it is unclear how Rajgopal continues to serve.

“I don’t think it’s terribly much of a disadvantage because we do have Pavan, who’s been here for a while and knows a lot of stuff,” Fletcher said. “So we’ve had the chance to work with him during the senate election, which went very smoothly.”

Willard said he also did not think his age would pose a prob-

lem.

“I don’t really think it will influence proceedings that much,” Willard said. “There’s a list of the rules we follow, and we have a senior on the commission, a sophomore and I’m a first-year, and I think we have a good, varied experience.”

Rajgopal said that he would work to serve as a mentor to the two new commission members.

“I think the system is a lot more valuable in that the new election commissioners, Grady and Alden, are going to get experience during this election, and I’ll be able to walk them through that,” Rajgopal said. “But there’s not going to be another situation in which there’s two vacancies and two new people need to join. As much as possible, I’m trying to let them handle the process and do the work to make sure they understand all the rules and procedures. In the spring we’ll probably nominate a new freshman to take my place and they’ll be able to pass all the knowledge down to him or her.”

All of the commissioners shared the same hope that the current election will run smoothly. Fletcher said that having a competitive and idea-driven race is crucial.

“As always, I think it’s important to have a competitive race, in which it’s not just people being discussed but ideas as well, and so we welcome the kind of competitive atmosphere that comes with it,” Fletcher said.

He also said that the tone of the race is just as important.

“We don’t want it to have a destructive or negative tone in a way that just won’t be beneficial to the long term health of Georgetown’s student body and a way that people are not seeing the value in the rules or deliberately flaunting them,” Fletcher said. “And luckily, so far, I haven’t seen anything of that nature. We have some very good campaigns being run right now and they’re all doing their best, as far as I can tell.”

general feeling of comfort that economic trends are going in a positive direction,” Jacobson-Landon said. “Charitable giving has been growing since the economic downturn, and by and large our giving totals have been going up as well as our overall participation rates.”

An increase in the donor populace has accompanied the total increase in charitable giving. Moore said that because of expanded outreach, the university has set a record number of donors every year for the past eight years, a particularly important factor since participation rate is built into the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings.

Additionally, giving by undergraduates during their time at college, which previously tended to rest around 23 to 24 percent, was 33 percent last year. The highest mark came in 2003, when 34 percent of current undergraduates donated.

The increase in giving corresponds with Georgetown’s landmark capital campaign, titled “For Generations to Come: The Campaign for Georgetown.” The campaign, which began in FY 2007 and will continue through FY 2017, aims to raise $1.5 billion, of which it has currently solicited $1.38 billion.

The largest capital project of the campaign is the construction of the $60 million John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletics Center.

This past year saw three large donations by former men’s basketball players to the center: a $3.3 million gift from Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85), veteran sports agent and Syracuse University alum David Falk and his wife Rhonda on Aug. 21, a $1 million donation by Jeff Green (COL ’12) on Aug. 28 and a $1 million gift from Roy Hibbert (COL ’08) on Sept. 2.

Moore noted that there has been a steady increase in number of large gifts over the past few years, noting the McCourt donation and the $75 million gift from Robert McDevitt (C

’40) to endow faculty chairs in Jan. 2011 as prime examples. In addition to the Ewing, Green and Hibbert donations in FY 2015, the university received $10 million from Patricia and Jon Baker Sr. (CAS ’64) in October to establish the Baker Center for Leadership and Governance within the McCourt School of Public Policy to promote policy research and discussion.

“Gifts of $10 million or more used to be quite rare, but now they are much more frequent occurrences for us,” Moore said.

Moore added that all gifts are allocated based on the donor’s wishes.

“We do exactly what the donor instructs us to do with the money that they give,” Moore said. “Where we exercise any discretion is when the donor gives a contribution that is unrestricted or only broadly directed.”

All unrestricted gifts to the main campus annual fund, the largest annual fund, go to financial aid.

Other general donations to the university happen through the annual Georgetown Fund, and the solicitation process takes many forms such as Phonathon — student calling — as well as the sending of letters and emails and the contribution of individual classes to reunion programming.

“A lot of the money we raise is raised by development officers who directly solicit support from a donor or multiple donors,” Moore said.

According to Moore, donors are more receptive to giving to the university after the end of the recession, particularly with the stock market boom benefiting wealth.

“The economic downturn is fading in people’s memories and there is an increasingly confident sense that we have returned to something more normal. People were less confident about giving away their hardearned money, and that concern has now pretty thoroughly receded for most people,” Moore said.

Rhino Bar and Pumphouse Set to Close Before March PUMPHOUSE, from A1 tional details. However, the listing is still available on the website of Asadoorian Retail Solutions, which is representing the property.

Hunter Dougherty (SFS ’15) frequently went to Rhino and said he will miss the bar when it closes.

“Next to [The] Tombs, Rhino was really the last bar catering to university students in the Georgetown area. There was something terribly endearing about that dive bar and it was a fundamental part of the fabric of Georgetown’s social scene,” Dougherty said. “Rhino was the Tombs’ rowdier cousin and the two went hand in hand as the pillars of the university’s bar scene.”

Rhino’s shutdown follows the closure or relocation of multiple bars in the Georgetown area. The Guards shut down in August 2012, The Third Edition closed in January 2013 and was replaced by Mexican restaurant El Centro D.F. and Modern shuttered its doors in summer 2014, replaced in September by Georgetown Piano Bar. Additionally, Mr. Smith’s moved from its location on M Street to the former Chadwick’s space on K Street.

Dougherty spoke to the area’s diminishing bar scene and said it will have a negative impact on Georgetown student life in the neighborhood.

“[Rhino’s] closure leaves university students with even less options in the Georgetown social scene, which has been progressively less accommodating to students as more retail establishments move into the area and M Street becomes a glorified strip mall instead of a neighborhood,” he said.

Underage students frequented the bar, which had its license temporarily suspended for five days by the D.C. Alcohol Beverage Control Board in July 2014 after it was found to have sold beer to an underage student in February 2013.

Michaela (MSB ’16), whose name has been changed because of underage status, said she thinks the closure of Rhino will force more students to host house parties that last longer.

“I’m hoping that people just have more parties that don’t end at midnight or 12:30 because you can’t go to Rhino, but if they don’t, I guess I’ll either be going to bed earlier or people will choose another bar,” Michaela said. “I just can’t think of anywhere that people would go to that all of their friends could get into as well.”

She added that the closing of Rhino could have negative effects on student social life overall.

“It’s going to be a lot harder, I think, for people to have a college experience,” Michaela said.

news

tuesday, FEBRUARY 10, 2015

THE HOYA

A7

New Lau Exhibit Displays Georgetown Jesuit Heritage Patricja Okuniewska Special to The Hoya

Lauinger Library opened a new exhibit last week on its third floor honoring the Jesuit heritage of Georgetown University.

The exhibit, titled “The Woodstock Theological Library: The Jesuit Heritage of Georgetown University,” is located in both the Kerbs Gallery, which is on the third floor of the library between the Circulation and Reference Desks, and

the Woodstock Theological Library on the Lower Level .

The Kerbs Gallery exhibit focuses on the history of the Woodstock Theological Library, beginning from its founding in 1869 as part of the Woodstock College, which was a Maryland Jesuit seminary from 1869 to 1974, to the present-day.

Amy E. Phillips, the Woodstock Theological Library Rare Materials Cataloger, was one of the main organizers of the exhibit.

“The exhibit is a look at the early

DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

A new Lauinger LIbrary exhibit on the third floor honors Jesuit heritage at Georgetown and will be open until the end of February.

founding of the Jesuit Maryland province,” Phillips said. “The Jesuits were educated at Woodstock College, which was founded in 1869. I took some images from the resources that were used in the founding, such as a map of the farm they bought that would become the college – I showed the first librarian of the Woodstock Library – and also some of the scholarship that was produced out of Woodstock.”

Phillips said the preserved scholarship, particularly the Woodstock Letters, revealed a significant amount about the workings of the Jesuits around the world. The letters detail the Jesuit history and expansion from the late 1800s on.

“The Woodstock letters began as correspondence between the Jesuits about what they were doing,” Phillips said.

“Then, as they expanded their missions in China, Japan and Latin America, [the letters] became more extensive. As a result, it is a look into what Jesuits from the United States were doing in the world, and also takes on certain intellectual character by documenting some of the theological discussions that they were having and researching.”

The exhibit on the Lower Level of Lauinger focuses on a different aspect of Jesuit heritage, namely the role of Mary as an icon and symbol in Jesuit tradition. The display takes inspiration from a similar exhibit titled “Picturing Mary: Women, Mother, Idea,” currently on display at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Woodstock Theological Library Director J. Leon Hooper, S.J., was encouraged to put together the display to portray the important role Mary has for Jesuits.

“The collections aim to point out the

link between devotion to Mary and how it carried over into the theological considerations, especially in the 19th century debates about the innocence of Mary and the Immaculate Conception, as well as to demonstrate how central the image of Mary is,” Hooper said.

The display includes various depictions of Mary, scholastic arguments, images and documents dealing with Jesuits and the debate regarding the Immaculate Conception. The exhibit also includes the first printed edition of Saint Ignatius’ “Spiritual Exercises,” printed in 1548.

Hooper said the exhibit carries a special relevance to the Jesuit founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose work inspired the founders of Georgetown University.

“Ignatius was a soldier and knight, whose injury by cannon ball caused him to read about lives of the saints and gospels,” Hooper said. “He hardly missed a beat from being a knight for a secular ruler to being a knight for Christ, and Mary is very central in all of that. The Spiritual Exercises are meditations and exercises, in which the central image is Christ the king calling him [Ignatius] to serve in trying to win back the world for God. Every one of the exercises has prayer to Mary that this will be fulfilled.”

The exhibits opened at a key moment, a few days after Jesuit Heritage week, which took place at the end of January and celebrated the Jesuit history of Georgetown.

Associate Professor Fr. William C. McFadden, S.J., said the exhibit plays an important role in educating viewers on the history and foundations of the university.

“The exhibit is part of a celebration of history,” McFadden said. “At a univer-

sity, a library is special in that it captures in some sort of record way the history.

You’d certainly want libraries to be a central aspect in any kind of celebration of that sort.”

Phillips said the exhibit will help celebrate the unique roots of the university.

“It is important to know our foundations and our particular unique Jesuit character,” Phillips said. “The life of the Jesuits, which was always about the whole person and pioneering work in both spiritual psychological growth and formation, as well as very rigorous academic training .”

Lydia Bubniak (SFS ’18) viewed the exhibit and said that it is an excellent way to keep students cognizant of Georgetown’s Jesuit roots.

“Georgetown was founded on the idea of caring for the whole person,” Bubniak said. “Reminding students of the original Jesuit ideals will result long-term in a more caring student body and alumni who seek to use their knowledge to change the world in a positive way.”

Gina Kim (SFS ’18) looked at the exhibit and said she saw the importance of embracing the identity of Georgetown University.

“Talking to my older friends, something they have cited as important is the emphasis Georgetown puts on the care for the whole person,” Kim said. “I believe our Jesuit identity helps create a spirit of Georgetown that I wasn’t aware of while applying to colleges, but I’m really glad I found. For me, I would be not only interested in learning about Jesuit history, but [also about] Georgetown’s history of tolerance and ability to be open-minded in a changing world.”

The exhibit will remain open for viewing through the end of February.

NAIMUNDraws Youth for IR Research Center Investigates Effects of Universal Pre-K Alicia Che

ing the conference.

“The biggest difficulty in planning a conference of this scale is to make sure that there is a wide enough variety that delegates are able to find something they enjoy,” Lyu said. “This involves recognizing equal distribution of positions and topics so that all participants get something enjoyable.”

Lyu added that NAIMUN has always developed innovative topics to engage the participants.

“The uniqueness of running MUN at Georgetown is that we don’t get bogged down into the same topics over and over again,” Lyu said. “Even though you have traditional committees that have consistent themes like disarmament, social cultural themes, humanitarian aid and so on, people running these committee are choosing novel topics that are niche and different so that people do have interests to talk about them.”

Executive Director Aaron Lewis (MSB ’16) said that he wants participants to walk away from the conference having had a good time but also having learned what it takes to be involved in the arena of global policy.

“Essentially, we are trying to strike a balance between education and fun,” Lewis said. “We want the participants to have a fun weekend experiencing everything that D.C. has to offer and to learn about college and Georgetown, while also, through the NAIMUN experience, becoming better public speakers, debaters and global citizens.”

helping them better apply the knowledge they learn in NAIMUN to the real world, Kim said.

“We try to incorporate a new element to this year’s conference, which is that, at the end of the committee session, we will be going through the lessons learned with the participants,” Kim said. “For example, we will be asking questions like, what have you learned throughout the week? How have your decisions affected your outcomes in the situation you were put in?

In this way, we hope to bring the esoteric topics down to the level of reality and policy, and focus on how they impact the real world.”

The conference will include a variety of activities planned specifically to introduce participants to the vibrant college culture at Georgetown, although the groups will not be physically on campus. One such activity, Hilltop Madness, will bring together dance performance groups from the university to have a special showcase for the participants.

According to Secretary General Andrew Lyu (SFS ’16), the central and most important aspect in planning the event is the quality of experience the MUN participants will receive.

Despite an increased number of participants expected this year, NAIMUN coordinators will continue to keep the size of each committee small and increase the number of committees to ensure that it can effectively engage every participant. There is also an attempt to increase the variety of topics discussed dur-

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown University will host its 52nd annual North American Invitational Model United Nations conference at the Washington Hilton Feb. 1215. The conference continues to draw thousands of students from all over the world to discuss global affairs and this year will feature new initiatives to better engage participants and serve the mission of NAIMUN. Founded in 1963, NAIMUN is the largest exclusively studentrun Model United Nations conference in the world. This year, NAIMUN is expecting over 2,700 participating delegates hailing from 10 countries including the United States, and 200 Georgetown University student staffers will work as event planners and discussion moderators to ensure the smooth running of the conference.

The year’s conference will include a bigger emphasis on the educational aspect of Model United Nations.

“MUN is, at the end of the day, a competition, so it is very easy watching the participants get lost in the competitive aspect,” Undersecretary General of General Assemblies Allison Kim (SFS ’16) said. “But this can be detrimental to the overall purpose and the principle behind MUN, which is to raise awareness about big international issues and teach the skills related to solving these problems.”

The planning committee hopes to encourage greater interests for international affairs from the participants by

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COURTESY DEBORAH PHILLIPS

Professor of psychology Deborah Phillips co-directs the Center for Research on Children in the United States, which received three grants for its universal pre-K research in Tulsa.

Maureen Tabet Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown University Center for Research on Children in the United States received three new grants in support of its longterm investigation of the effects of universal pre-kindergarten, continuing a partnership with Tulsa, Okla. public schools that began in 2001.

The grants from the Foundation for Child Development, the Heising-Simons Foundation and an unspecified third foundation will further CROCUS’s research on the long-term impact of a universal pre-K program, which offers free and voluntary enrollment in preK for all children in participating school districts, following up on preliminary research that the center had conducted in coordination with the Tulsa region since 2001.

The new research will focus on this year’s eighth-grade class, who had enrolled in pre-K in the fall of 2005. It will assess educational, social and behavioral aspects of student’s lives with respect to those not enrolled in the universal program.

“After taking a break for a few years, we decided to revisit Tulsa and continue our research because there is considerable debate in the public arena and in the scholarly community over whether the short-term positive effects of a strong early childhood education program persist or fade out over time,” CROCUS Co-Director and McCourt School professor of public policy William Gormley said.

Tulsa became the focus of the study in 2001 because of its diversity and potential for replication, and almost three-fourths of four-yearolds in Tulsa are enrolled in pre-K. “The Tulsa pre-K program also offered the opportunity to learn what a relatively highquality program (e.g., with well-educated teachers, paid on the public school wage scale, with reasonable teacher: student ratios) could accomplish ​for a highly diverse population of children with regard to both economic and race-ethnic-linguistic characteristics,” CROCUS Co-Director and professor of psychology Deborah Phillips wrote in an email.

To conduct the study and its further research, the center brought the Georgetown University Department of Psychology together with the McCourt School of Public Policy, then the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

Gormley noted that the variety of approaches were critical to the quality of the center’s research.

“From the outset, our evaluation has been multidisciplinary, drawing simultaneously

from several social science disciplines, including economics, psychology, political science and public policy analysis. To understand something as complex as early childhood education, it is vital to take a multidisciplinary perspective,” Gormley said.

In 2008, CROCUS reported to Science Magazine that children who participated in Tulsa’s school-based pre-K program were nine months ahead of peers in pre-reading skills, seven months ahead in pre-writing skills and five months ahead in pre-math skills because of the program.

“Gains for English language learners whose parents speak Spanish at home were especially dramatic,” Gormley said.

The research received national attention, garnering recognition from the Department of Education and the White House. President Barack Obama has repeatedly called for universal pre-K programs around the country, most recently in a September speech at Northwestern University.

“The peak moment may have been when President Obama mentioned the Tulsa research in his 2014 State of the Union Address,” Phillips said. “Both Bill [Gormley] and I do the work we do because we hope it can influence public policy on behalf of children.”

To capitalize on the study, CROCUS contacted more than 2,000 eighth-graders whom they had initially tested in kindergarten for their short-term effects study. In collaboration with the Tulsa public schools and three neighboring school districts, they then gathered data on each student’s academic outcomes, schoolrelated behavior and attitudes toward school in collaboration with the Tulsa public schools and three neighboring school districts.

“In the fall, we collected survey data on our original participants who are now in seventh and eighth grade. We were able to gather data on socio-emotional outcomes, which are very much unique in the pre-K literature. We also are in the process of analyzing school administrative and survey data,” CROCUS postdoctoral fellow Sara Anderson said.

Philips said that the results of the upcoming students would have significant implications for the future of childhood education in the country.

“This is a question of keen national interest because it goes to the heart of whether investments in early childhood education are worth it — whether they ‘pay back’ over time in expenditures on, for example, grade retention, special education, absenteeism and, ultimately, graduation rates and employment success,” Phillips wrote.

A8

SPORTS

THE HOYA

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

SWIMMING & DIVING

around the district

Tri-Meet Ends With Mixed Result Wizards Face Mid-Season Dip RUTGERS, from A10

struggled to attain top honors, placing first in only two events. Senior John Fatigati was responsible for both of those first place finishes, winning both the 100 breaststroke and the 200 breaststroke.

Sophomore diver Jared Cooper-Vespa performed well for Georgetown once again, continuing the consistent success that has defined his second season as a Hoya. Cooper-Vespa took first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving contests, scoring 254 and a 276.85, respectively. “[Cooper-Vespa has] had a great season so far,” Holder said. “He really has seemed to come into his own as a diver here. He’s a really hard worker. He’s always willing to challenge himself and

it’s really paying off.”

On the women’s side, the Hoyas’ divers were unable to best their competition from Rutgers. Rutgers’ freshmen divers Addison Walkowiak, Alyssa Black and Morgan Engel took first, second and third places in both the 1m and 3m contests.

Following the Rutgers’ sweep of the top diving spots was senior Lauren Kahan, who finished fourth for Georgetown in the 1m event with a score of 244.40.

Freshman Jennifer Sullivan also took fourth place for the Hoyas in the 3m event with a score of 220.15.

Freshmen swimmers also stood out for the women’s team. Freshman Molly Fitzpatrick placed first in the 200 individual medley, finishing with a time of 2:13.52.

FILE PHOTO: NATE MOULTON/THE HOYA

Sophomore Martin Vanin earned third-place in the 50-yard freestyle event to help the Hoyas to a 200-71 victory over Providence this past weekend.

Freshman Ryan Murphy had a photo finish in the 100 backstroke. Murphy clocked in at 58.86, less than a tenth-ofa-second in front of fellow freshman Emily Erwin of Rutgers. Murphy also came from behind to finish second in the 200 backstroke.

In addition, the Hoyas’ first place 200 freestyle relay team featured two freshmen. Freshmen Kirstin Peterson and Shana McLaughlin swam alongside juniors Delaney Bader and Erica Fabbri and won with a time of 1:40.79.

“Our freshmen have done a really good job of coming in and transforming our culture here,” junior Erin Timochenko said. “They have come up as huge players, not just at this meet, but throughout the season. ... They have really helped us out in a lot of events and we are excited to see what they can do at Big East.”

The Hoyas will spend the next week preparing for the 2015 Big East competition.

“Everybody is focused on the last meet of the year,” Holder said. “It is what we have been working for all season.”

Holder anticipates continued contributions from Georgetown’s freshmen at the conference-wide contest.

“Many of [the freshmen] have experience in big meets, so I expect them to be able to handle the competition really well,” Holder said.

The championship meet will take place over the course of four days at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. It is set to begin Feb. 18.

tennis

GU Swept by St. John’s Storm Madeline Auerbach Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown men’s and women’s tennis teams opened Big East play in a disappointing fashion this weekend, with both squads falling 6-1 to the St. John’s Red Storm in away matches in New York. However, the men’s team bounced back in a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Marist Red Foxes (1-3) the following day.

Riding a hot three-match win streak, the women’s tennis team (3-1, 0-1 Big East) headed into the battle against the Red Storm (4-1, 1-0 Big East) with confidence. Unfortunately, match play did not reflect those sentiments. The Hoyas fell 6-1, notching only one singles victory courtesy of junior Liselot Koenen.

Koenen defeated Red Storm sophomore Stephanie Elgegren at fourth singles in a 6-2, 6-3 result.

“Liselot played well actually; she’s struggled with that tough stuff, but she managed to use her weapons and use her big serve and her slice backhand effectively,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said.

Georgetown failed to notch the doubles point, integral to both the match score and team’s confidence. The freshmen duo of Casey Marx and Daphne de Chatellus lost 6-0 in their doubles match, while sophomore pair Sophia Barnard and Victoire Saperstein fell 6-3. Considering that the majority of matches had already been won by St. John’s — thus scoring the doubles point — senior captain Sophie Panarese and Koenen’s match went unfinished at first doubles.

Unfortunately, the Blue and Gray did not bounce back in singles play. Threeset battles characterized both the first and fifth singles slots in the match, both concluding in Georgetown losses.

At number one singles, Saperstein fell in a tight three-set contest that ended with a 7-6, 3-6, 11-9 result. Meanwhile, Marx lost at fifth singles in a 6-4, 5-7, 7-10 result. Barnard, Panarese and de Chatellus all lost in straight sets.

“Victoire and Daphne, especially Daphne, they should’ve won their matches,” Ernst said. “Really that made it like a 4-3 match, instead of 6-1. It really was much closer than a 6-1 loss, I’ll put it that way.”

“I think that our girls got so heated up for the match that it made them a little nervous. … Their girls moved better than we did, and they were able to play a little looser,” he added.

Though the women’s team was slated to compete with Seton Hall on Sunday, the match was cancelled for weatherrelated reasons.

The men’s team (3-1, 0-1 Big East) also competed with St. John’s (2-2, 1-0 Big East), resulting in a 6-1 loss. As St. John’s did on the women’s side, the Red Storm swept doubles. Senior Alex Tropiano and freshman Peter Beatty fell 6-3 at first singles, as did sophomore Jordan Portner and freshman Marco Lam at second doubles. Junior Daniel Khanin and redshirt senior Andrew Dottino’s third doubles match went unfinished.

Beatty won the only singles match for the Hoyas in the fifth singles slot, triumphing 6-1, 6-4. Khanin, Tropiano, sophomore Jack Murphy and senior Shane Korber all fell in straight sets in

singles play. Lam pushed his third singles match to three sets, resulting in a 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 loss.

“It’s just another tough match,” Beatty explained. “There’s definitely a lot we can build on and hopefully we’ll see them in the Big East. … I think if we come out strong in the Big East and everyone’s firing at all six matches at once, we have a really good chance at turning the result the other way.”

The Hoyas turned the tide in their match against Marist the following day.

Georgetown edged Marist in doubles play thanks to Portner and Tropiano’s tiebreaking victory at first doubles.

Marist bounced back by winning three consecutive singles matches over Korber, Murphy and freshman Mac Rechan.

“Think about it — we’ve lost to St. John’s 6-1, and now we’re down 3-1 to Marist the next night,” Ernst said.

Lam edged Marist senior Joseph Dube in a tight three-set battle that concluded in a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win. Khanin won at first singles in straight sets, leaving the match up to Beatty at fourth singles.

Beatty did not disappoint, defeating Red Fox freshman Timo Tanzer. Beatty won in three sets by a score of 6-3, 7-6, 7-5.

“I think I played very well in that match,” Beatty said. “I just tried to not let the other guy into the match. You never want to go 0-2 on a weekend and I think the win was really big for us.

Marist is a really good team this year.”

The women’s team’s next match is against George Washington (2-1) this Sunday. The men will continue Big East play in a match against DePaul (5-2, 2-0 Big East) two weeks from now.

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he Washington Wizards thing, but it does not mean are treading water. A that the team is destined for glance at the schedule disaster. The Wizards, like any tells an unsettling story: a suc- other team, should be expected cessful 12-4 December was to tread water at certain points followed by a mediocre 9-8 in the 82-game marathon of the January and a 1-3 record in Feb- NBA season. ruary, leaving the Wizards with Two losses to the Hornets are a 10-11 overall record in 2015. bad. Getting blown out 120-89 The Wizards, who were once by the Hawks is bad. But, even in the conversation for the sec- since Jan. 1, there are reasons ond seed in the Eastern Confer- for comfort. Washington played ence Playoffs, have seen that close games against the Thunpossibility virtually eliminated. der twice, taking them to overThe Cleveland time at Verizon Cavaliers are Center in one back to perof those games. forming at a The Wizards high level and earned satisfythe Chicago ing wins over Bulls and the the Pelicans, Toronto RapSpurs and Bulls tors are poised (twice), along Matt Raab for success. with two good While many old-fashioned explanations of the The Wizards suffered blowouts are abound — Nets and 76ers. whether this losses to top teams but U l t i m a te ly is a natural this tough can still bounce back. stretch of the regression for the team or a schedule has result of injuries is debatable served as a test for the Wizards.

— the slump is concerning be- In the weak Eastern Conference, cause Washington has strug- every team can afford a period gled against the league’s top of difficulty and Washington teams. has taken that opportunity to Since the start of January, find its weaknesses. As cliché as the Wizards have lost twice to it sounds, if a slump has to hapboth the Hawks and Thunder. pen, this may be the best time The team’s losses also include in the season for it. games against Portland and San Despite all the worry, the Antonio, but the culmination Wizards still sit at 32-20, good was a five-game losing streak for third place in the Eastern from Jan. 28 to Feb. 7, which Conference. Injuries are always was punctuated by two losses to a concern, but right now the the Hornets in three days.

Wiz have the luxury of time.

That second loss to the Hor- They absolutely need to turn nets, who currently have a 27- the corner. If they continue 24 record, on Feb. 5 was when to play at or around the .500 the alarm bells started going level, they will slide into the off, and deservedly so. A con- lower echelon of Eastern playtender cannot drop two games off teams. in a week to a team that went Nevertheless, the team has on to lose to a lowly Philadel- shown signs of life even with phia team that is sitting with players missing time due to ina 12-40 two days later. What jury. In Saturday’s 114-77 win should have been relatively rou- over the Nets, former Georgetine wins slipped away. town star Otto Porter stepped A cursory look at the box up in Beal’s absence, scoring 12 score often does not lend itself points in 21 minutes. Whereas to immediate identification of Paul Pierce was only able to fixable problems. The team is muster 2 points on 1-of-8 shootlosing in the most frustrating ing, Rasual Butler stepped in for ways because things are just a 15 points on 6-of-11. little bit off.

This is a versatile team. ReWhile pundits and fans may cent experiences have proven try to explain away the Wizards’ that more than ever. Since Jandifficulties, no single problem uary, only two of Washington’s explains all of their issues. Nene losses have been by more than is always dealing with injuries, 10 points. With 30 games left and while Bradley Beal means a to play and a nine-day All Star lot to the team, he simply does break to rest tired limbs, there not take enough shots to be a is no reason to believe that the standalone determinant in a Wizards are going to continue long slump like the Wizards’ to fade as they finish the seacurrent slide. son. When they are healthy So, what does this mean for and in sync, this team can be Washington? Is the team simply formidable. That form will renot ready to contend with the turn well before this season top teams of the league yet? Is wraps up. the roster’s depth insufficient?

Is the form from November and Matt Raab is a sophomore in December gone for good? the School of Foreign Service.

The short answer is yes, their AROUND THE DISTRICT appears record of-late means some- every Tuesday.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hoyas Aim to Impress in 1st Seton Hall Matchup PIRATES, from A10

what we’re doing, how we’re doing it. We know what everyone else is doing,” Thompson said. “It comes down to execution and communication.”

After a hot start that included a Jan. 3 66-61 overtime win over Villanova, Seton Hall has cooled down recently, losing five of its past seven games. Junior guard Sterling Gibbs leads the Pirates with 17.1 points per game, good for third in the conference.

The Pirates’ wild-card difference maker is freshman guard Khadeen Carrington who averages just under nine points per game but has gone off for 20 points in two Big East games this season.

“He’s a natural scorer. He’s hard to guard — really, really hard to guard,” Thompson said of Seton Hall’s impact freshman. “He’s an offensive threat.

He’s aggressive, and he’s effective.”

Seton Hall freshman forward Angel Delgado is another threat for the Pirates; he averages 9.4 rebounds per game, which is third nationally among freshmen. Delgado also scores 9.1 points per game and is a formidable threat on the interior.

“He’s a good player. He works hard.

He’s skilled, he’s mobile and he’s got a toughness to him,” Thompson said, discussing the surprising impact that Delgado has had on Seton Hall’s season.

“It’s very important [to keep Delgado off the boards]. This guy is almost averaging a double-double,” senior center Joshua Smith said. “He’s probably top three in our conference in rebounding, he’s averaging about nine

per game, and it’s always important to keep guys off the glass because you can give our guys confidence when we’re playing defense when you limit them to one shot.”

Following Tuesday night’s 7 p.m. tipoff, Georgetown will have a rare week-long break before taking the court again at home against St. John’s next Tuesday. In the midst of a long season, the Hoyas welcome the chance for respite, but they do not want to allow the stigma of a third-straight loss to linger for an entire week.

In order to break out of its slump, Georgetown has to avoid slow starts on the offensive end, a tendency that has plagued the team recently. Against Xavier, Georgetown didn’t score its 10th point until there was 3:59 remaining in the first half. Against Villanova, it took Georgetown over 11 minutes to score 10 points.

“We can’t start off slow, we can’t dig ourselves a hole like we did the other day,” Thompson said. “We can’t have that kind of start against good teams.”

Georgetown’s 6-foot-10-inch, 350-pound senior center Joshua Smith only pulled down two rebounds against Villanova and has fouled out of two of the past three games. To find offensive stability, Smith needs to establish himself on the low block early and often.

“In the last four, five games, I haven’t been playing well. I fouled out of a few of those games, and I haven’t made an impact the way I want to impact the game. I just have to be aggressive [against Seton Hall],” Smith said.

FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA

Junior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who leads the Hoyas this season with 15.2 points per game, scored two points in 31 minutes of playing time during Georgetown’s loss to Villanova last Saturday.

SPORTS

tuesday, February 10, 2015

out of our league

THE HOYA

A9

women’s basketball

NBA Should Losing Streak Extended to 8 Straight Restructure Playoffs Kara Avanceña Hoya Staff Writer

Though Georgetown women’s basketball team (4-20, 2-10 Big East) secured the tip to start the game, those first few seconds marked the last time that the Hoyas would have any significant advantage over their opponent.

Georgetown extended its losing streak to eight games as the team fell to Villanova (14-10, 8-4 Big East) 64-48 Sunday afternoon.

Villanova junior guard Caroline Coyer dominated on both ends of the court and led the Wildcats to an insurmountable 21-point lead going into halftime. The 5-foot-10 guard finished with 23 points and notched 13 rebounds, both of which were game highs.

Coyer’s performance marked her first double-double of the season and set her career high in rebounds. “[Coyer is] a tough player,” Georgetown Head Coach Natasha Adair said. “She’s one of the top players in the league. We respect the fact that you can’t leave her open — you’ve got to find her.”

While Coyer was off to a hot start, Georgetown struggled immensely to gain control of the game and ended the first half with only two points in the paint. The Hoyas entered halftime with just 17 points on 7-of-30 shooting.

“Villanova did a great job packing it in,” Adair said. “They clogged the paint up, they didn’t want us to get to the rim. I thought we got really good looks, but we just didn’t take them, or we second guessed them.”

While Georgetown’s first half was filled with empty possessions that led to long scoring droughts, one sequence in particular exemplified

FIEGE, from A10

surprisingly successful rebuilding period.

Last season, with a 58.5 percent winning percentage and the 12th-best record in the league, the Suns were denied a playoff berth and had to watch the Atlanta Hawks, with their 46.3 percent winning percentage, sneak into the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The Suns are on pace to fall victim to the same arrangement this same season, as their 54.7 percent winning percentage puts them at 14th-best in the league, but at a risk-addled eighth-best in the Western conference, thus leaving them with the possibility of being on the outside looking in come June.

Similarly, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a winning percentage of 51 percent but are at risk of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2009 season.

Though the initial design of the NBA playoffs had financial payoffs, Silver’s decision to speak out on the matter reflects the negative consequences this antiquated arrangement has on the league’s business side.

When league stars like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis are sitting on the couch in April watching Brandon Knight and Gerald Henderson duke it out on the hardwood, the league’s branding begins to suffer.

Playoff appearances have a real, quantitative impact on the jersey sales that make up $900 million in league revenue annually.

For instance, Dirk Nowitzki did not crack the top 10 in jersey sales until his 2011 championship run put him at seventh in number of jerseys sold in 2011-2012. The following year, which saw the Dallas Mavericks fail to reach the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, Nowitzki failed to even get into the top 15 of jersey sales.

Considering that Durant and Westbrook had the second and 12th most popular jerseys in 2014, respectively, a Thunder absence from this season’s playoffs could potentially be a significant loss for the league’s bottom line.

The NBA should look to adopt the same tournament setup utilized by the NCAA for its college basketball championship.

There are parallels between the various NCAA Division I leagues and the NBA’s six regional five-team divisions.

The winners of these NBA divisions should be granted playoff berths, with the next ten teams with the best records also being granted spots in the playoffs. At that point, they would just be seeded one through 16 and go about tournament play.

This kind of system would ensure that the best teams get the chance to compete in the playoffs, without arbitrary geographic restrictions limiting the merit of the results.

Georgetown’s offensive struggles.

With 2:59 left in the first half, junior guard Katie McCormick launched a jump shot from the top of the key, only to have her shot blocked by Villanova junior guard Katherine Coyer, Caroline’s twin sister.

Caroline Coyer grabbed the rebound and threw the ball into the frontcourt, where her teammates lost control of the ball.

Nevertheless, Katherine Coyer, who was streaking down the left sideline of the court, caught the ball before it went out of bounds, drove to basket, drew a foul on Georgetown and simultaneously scored a layup, before converting the ensuing free throw to complete the play.

What could have been a twopoint basket for Georgetown turned into a nightmarish threepoint play for Villanova.

Though the Hoyas floundered in the first 20 minutes of the game, they came out of the locker room STANLEY DAI FOR THE HOYA with renewed fight.

Junior forward Dominique Vitalis led Georgetown in its loss to VillaAfter Villanova’s lead ballooned to 27 points with 14:19 left in the nova with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. game, the Blue and Gray went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 18 lanova’s 51.9 percent effort in the for the second half. points with 8:43 left.

Adomako, who leads the Hoyas first half.

“I was proud of our team’s fight,” “I think if we started like that at with an average of 13.7 points per Adair said. “I was proud that we the beginning of the game, it would game, uncharacteristically strugplayed hard and that we played have turned out differently,” fresh- gled to find the bottom of the net through the end of the game. I man guard Dorothy Adomako said. against the Wildcats. thought the second-half effort “Just playing in the second half, I Although she ultimately ended showed a lot of what we could do. felt like the energy was better.” the game with nine points, the secWe just have to make sure that we Junior forward Dominique Vi- ond-highest total for the Hoyas, she come out ready or whatever it is, talis led the way for the Hoyas in was 3-of-11 from the field. the tale of two halves, that we put the second half. Vitalis finished the The game against Villanova was it all together.” game with a team-high 14 points, the first in a three-game home The Hoyas outscored the Wild- 12 of which came in the second stand for the Hoyas. cats 31-26 in the second half and half.

Georgetown will return to acsuccessfully limited their oppo“Just to play with confidence and tion on Friday when it hosts Xavier, nents to 38.5 percent shooting just trust in my abilities,” Vitalis in another push to end its losing from the field — a far cry from Vil- said about adjustments she made streak. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m.

Women’s Soccer

Corboz Sisters to Train at Camps Abroad CORBOZ, from A10

Rachel said that despite having experience with three previous U.S. national team camps, she still gets nervous in advance of such an event. She hopes to take one major idea back with her from training with the country’s best and from facing tough international competition from players hailing from countries such as Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.

“When you go into camps, there’s not a bad player,” Rachel Corboz said. “Everyone’s at the top level; everyone’s really good. I’ve realized how much the girls really want it, and they work so hard. [I’m] trying to reciprocate that with having our whole [Georgetown] team want it and want to be out there on the

Max Fiege is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service. OUT OF OUR LEAGUE appears every Tuesday.

field playing.”

In the middle of a typical Georgetown day, the freshman was surprised when she received the news from the camp’s coordinator that she would be heading to Spain with the U-20 team.

“I was actually eating lunch in Leo’s by myself when I got the email,” Rachel Corboz said. “I was very excited, but I couldn’t share my excitement with anyone. I texted my family right away, and it was super exciting.”

On the Hoyas’ team, Rachel Corboz is hoping to help mitigate the loss of her senior sister, who set a Georgetown single-season record for assists with 18 in 2014 and claimed the titles of Big East Midfielder of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year.

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Hoyas Earn 1-2 Weekend Record Peter Higgins Hoya Staff Writer

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Nolan believes that the camp will provide Daphne with the chance to solidify her place in the national picture despite significant American competition in the attacking midfield.

But for the younger Corboz sister, Nolan sees a different kind of opportunity.

“It’ll give Rachel great confidence,” Nolan said. “Everyone that’s been around Rachel has a lot of confidence in her. I think sometimes she needs to realize how good she is and step up a little bit. It’ll help next year maybe not having Daphne there because the focus will be more on her. … It’s her time to step out of her sister’s shadow, and the national chance helps forge her identity as ‘Rachel’ rather than as ‘Daphne’s younger sister.’”

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Daphne Corboz will travel to play in a U-23 tournament in La Manga; she has already played in five U.S. camps.

She sees the camp as the developing ground for the full national team and relishes the opportunity to improve her game against some of the world’s best players.

“Going to camps at the U-23 [level] has helped me exponentially, to play with such amazing players,” Daphne Corboz said. “I learn so much from them; I learn so much from the coaches and from the environment. I definitely think I’ve grown a lot in terms of speed of play, in watching other people play. … It will be really beneficial because we’ll have to face different styles of play and different perspectives on the game.”

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Georgetown’s softball team experienced a turbulent weekend, crushing University of South Dakota (1-3) 8-0 before dropping consecutive games to University of Missouri-Kansas City (2-2) and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (2-2). The weekend’s results pushed the team’s overall record to 2-2.

Georgetown did not let its erratic results affect its confidence.

“My biggest personal takeaway [from this past weekend] is that, despite being small in numbers, our squad is going to be great this year,” sophomore first baseman Sophia Gargicevich-Almeida said.

“Even better than I think we all anticipated — we knew we’d be good, but we have the right group of people all working towards the same vision. I get excited just thinking about how amazing this season will be and all that is in store.”

Georgetown had a tremendous performance against South Dakota, winning by a final score of 8-0. Senior pitcher Lauren O’Leary started for the Hoyas and contributed significantly to the win, going 4 1/3 innings without allowing any earned runs and only two hits.

“We played very well against South Dakota,” Head Coach Pat Conlan said to GUHoyas.com. “We got a great pitching effort from Lauren and [relief pitcher Megan Hyson] and we handled the bats well throughout the order. A win against a solid team like USD gives the team a great deal of confidence.”

After a rather slow start in which the Hoyas found themselves up 2-0 after five innings, the team’s bats roared to life.

Gargicevich-Almeida started the rally by blasting a solo home run to put Georgetown up 3-0. The home run marked Gargicevich-Almeida’s second in the past three games.

After junior shortstop Samantha Giovanniello scored sophomore catcher Gabriela Elvina to give the Hoyas a 4-0 advantage, Hyson stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. The Second-Team all-Big East and First-Team NFCA All-

Mideast team member delivered a grand slam, putting the Hoyas up 8-0. In the bottom half of the inning, South Dakota was held without a run before the game was called.

The Hoyas didn’t fare quite as well in their next two games.

Despite finding themselves down 10-4 in the fourth inning against UMKC, Georgetown battled back to cut the deficit to three runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Unfortunately, the comeback effort fell just short, and the Hoyas lost by a final score of 11-8.

“UMKC put the ball in play and took advantage of quite a few errors and the inexperience of our freshman pitcher,” Conlan said to GUHoyas.com. “I loved the fight we had in us, we made a game of it until the last out.”

In its game against IUPUI, Georgetown got off to a quick start, going up 3-0 by the second inning. The Jaguars, however, fought back, scoring five runs over the subsequent two innings, ultimately defeating the Hoyas 5-3.

Despite the losses, Gargicevich-Almeida points to the team’s chemistry as an area of strength.

“This is the first year I can honestly say that every single person on our team, whether on the field or in the dugout, is on the same page,” Gargicevich-Almeida said. “Not many teams will achieve this.

The fact that we do that so well speaks volumes to the quality of our team.

When everyone is on board and picking each other up, maintaining the team as their first priority and themselves second, there isn’t a single opposing factor that can stand in our way. Our camaraderie is by far our greatest asset and the biggest standout to me.”

Conlan echoed Gargicevich-Almeida’s sentiments.

“Overall it was a good opening weekend,” Conlan said. “We will get back to practice on Tuesday and work on some things to prepare for next weekend.”

Next weekend, the Hoyas will take on University of Maryland Baltimore County, UNC-Wilmington and Saint Joseph’s at the UNC Wilmington invitational.

“As a senior, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of teammates to get to play my last season with,” said GargicevichAlmeida. “It’s going to be a hell of a ride. I can’t wait to see what is in store.”

FILE PHOTO: ERIN NAPIER/THE HOYA

Senior pitcher Megan Hyson hit a grand slam in her relief effort against South Dakota on Friday to help the Hoyas to an 8-0 win.

Sports

Men’s Basketball Georgetown (15-8, 7-5) vs. Seton Hall (15-8, 5-6) Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Newark, N.J.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

talkING POINTS

SOFTBALL

“

NUMBERS GAME

I was actually eating lunch in Leo’s by myself when I got the email [about being selected to train with the national team].”

Despite earning an 8-0 win on Friday, the Georgetown softball team ended the weekend 1-2.

FRESHMAN MIDFIELDER RACHEL CORBOZ

See A9

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Men’s basketball

Women’s Soccer

Sisters Selected by National Team CHRIS BALTHAZARD Hoya Staff Writer

Freshman midfielder Rachel Corboz and senior midfielder Daphne Corboz, who both excelled on the Georgetown women’s soccer team

this season, have been selected to train with the U.S. national team at the U-20 and U-23 levels, respectively.

Both sisters will travel to Spain in late February to participate in a national team camp that will last about 12 days before rejoining the George-

claire soisson/THE HOYA

Freshman Rachel Corboz (left) and her sister senior Daphne Corboz will go from competing together on the Hilltop to training for the U.S. national team.

town squad in early March on their training tour of Spain, which will include stops in Barcelona and Madrid.

Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan said that both players read the game at a very high level and have technical skill uncommon in most U.S. players.

“First and foremost, it’s a reflection on their form over the last year,” Nolan said of the sisters’ selection to the team. “Daphne had a stellar senior season of her collegiate career, and Rachel turned a few heads as a freshman playing in a team that was pretty much dominated by her sister’s play. … More importantly, these two are not typical American soccer players. Their game is based on far more than just athletic ability. … Both of them are the type of player who have been lacking in U.S. Soccer.”

At the same time, however, Nolan cautions extensive comparison of the two sisters.

“It’s a little bit unfair to compare them because I think they are two different types of players,” Nolan said.

“They play the same position – and they look alike to an extent – but they play the position differently. I would feel Rachel still has a lot of potential that she can reach. There’s a very big upside for Rachel. But the reality is, if Rachel finishes her career at the same level or close to what Daphne did, that’s an incredible career.”

See CORBOZ, A9

Baseball

OUT OF OUR LEAGUE

The margin by which Villanova defeated Georgetown in both men’s and women’s basketball this past weekend.

claire soisson/THE HOYA

Senior center Joshua Smith looks to bounce back from a two-rebound performance against Villanova when the team faces Seton Hall today.

GU Grinding to End Recent Slump Dillon Mullan Hoya Staff Writer

Max Fiege

Playoffs Need to Be Modified

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he current NBA playoff format was established in 1984. It is comprised of 16 teams, eight from both the Western and Eastern conference that face off in three rounds of conference series.

The winners of each conference series then battle in the finals, a best-of-seven series.

This system ensures that the league can generate the most revenue off its equivalent to the NFL’s Super Bowl by having games played in different markets and different time zones over the course of the series.

In addition to the financial benefits, this format has fostered the growth of legendary rivalries between far-flung cities — Los Angeles and Boston being a notable example — and has added an extra fold of nuance to the nature of trade agreements and free-agent signings.

That being said, this format and its focus on geography need to be changed in order to preserve the sanctity of the game.

Last week, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came out in favor of playoff format reform on the basis of the current imbalance of talent between the Western and Eastern conferences.

Silver pointed out that the disparity is leaving certain Western conference teams out of the playoffs even though there are Eastern conference teams with worse records currently in position to make the playoffs. Silver suggested that the NBA would move to a new format in the coming seasons, one in which the top-16 teams in the league get playoff berths, regardless of geographic location.

This solution would be a welcome remedy for the perennial runners-up of the Western Conference. The Phoenix Suns narrowly missed the playoffs last season and seem destined to suffer the same fate this year despite having a See FIEGE, A9

claire soisson/THE HOYA

New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson was the featured guest at the baseball team’s First Pitch Dinner. Read more on thehoya.com.

Over the past two weeks, the Georgetown men’s basketball team (15-8, 7-5 Big East) suffered three painful losses to Xavier, Providence and Villanova. Each game was characterized by slow starts and prolonged periods of offensive droughts. Now, Head Coach John Thompson III and his team must stop the bleeding Tuesday night in Newark, N.J., when they face a Seton Hall team (15-8, 5-6 Big East) that is equally desperate for a victory.

“We lost three of four; we try to look past it, but the next game is crucial for us. We need this one,” junior guard and co-captain D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera said. “The easy thing is to crumble at this point.”

The veteran had his most ineffective game of the season managing a paltry two points as Villanova avenged its Jan. 19 loss by earning a 69-53 victory this past Saturday.

Despite its recent slide from the national rankings, Georgetown is in fourth place in the Big East, and with six conference games remaining, there is still time for the Hoyas to find their form before the postseason.

One key improvement that the Hoyas need to focus on is their offensive consistency, as they have turned the ball over nearly 16 times per game in their past three recent losses.

“It’s past the midway point of conference play, everyone knows See PIRATES, A8

Swimming & Diving

Freshmen Shine in Final Regular Meet Molly O’Connell Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown swimming and diving team travelled to Piscataway, N.J., over the weekend to take on Providence and Rutgers in its final regular season meet at the Rutgers Aquatic Center. Both teams defeated Providence, with the men’s team winning by a score of 200-71 while the women’s team outscored the Friars 208-70. Rutgers, which only has a women’s program, beat Georgetown by a score of 181-94.5.

The Hoyas received particularly outstanding performances from freshmen in their last meet of the regular season. On the men’s team, freshman Samuel Delise won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.04 as well as the 200 butterfly in 1:56.61. Freshman Daniel Ross also won two individual events for the Hoyas. Ross took first place in the 50 freestyle and in the 500 freestyle, clocking in at 22.16 and 4:43.89, respectively.

Ross was also a part of the 200 freestyle relay team that finished in first place with a time of 1:27.14.

Ross competed alongside junior Michael Smigelski, senior Mike Spinelli and senior Michael Young in the contest. Michael Spinelli also placed first in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 51.29.

Young had nothing but praise

for his freshman teammate.

“Dan Ross is a really good swimmer,” Young said. “I don’t know if there is an event that he can’t do.

He just crushes it in anything he swims.”

The Hoyas also benefitted from a strong showing by junior Cal Rohde. Rohde was victorious in the

100 freestyle with a time of 47.99 and in the 100 backstroke, which he completed with a time of 54.02, earning him two first place finishes.

Other standouts for the men’s side were freshman Jack McGuire, who finished first in the 200 freestyle, and freshman Edward Spi-

nelli, who won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:00.11. “[The freshmen] performed well,” Head Coach Jamie Holder said. “They did what they needed to do over the weekend.”

The men’s team from Providence See RUTGERS, A8

file photo: Nate Moulton/The hoya

Freshman Shana McLaughlin competed in Georgetown’s 200-yard freestyle relay team at the team’s final regular season meet at Rutgers over the weekend. The relay team earned first place with a time of 1:40.79.

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