The Hoya: February 20, 2015

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 96, No. 35, © 2015

Friday, February 20, 2015

REDEFINED VALENTINE

Across campus, a range of student couples challenge traditional romantic norms.

COMMENTARY The tragedy of the UNC murders teaches a lesson in American solidarity.

FIVE STRAIGHT The women’s tennis team extends its winning ways with two key victories.

OPINION, A3

SPORTS, B8

GUIDE, B1

2015 EXECUTIVE ELECTIONS

Luther, Rohan Win Historic Race Katherine Richardson

the Counseling and Psychiatric Services, improved disability access and increased attention to sexual assault Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Connor and Title IX regulations.

Rohan (COL ’16) won the Georgetown Luther expressed commitment to University Student Association ex- creating a comprehensive list of seriecutive election Thursday night in ous goals, but plans to engage the stuan unprecedented fashion, having dent body through humor. executed an unorthodox, satirical “It was pure satire before, but you campaign. have my explicit word that we will, in “I’m very surprised with how the the coming days, begin a real adminelection turned out. I always consid- istration,” Luther said. ered the possibility that this camRohan said that he did not expect paign, which started as pure satire, to win and congratulated the other could win, but I have to say I was very four tickets for well-thought-out platblown away by the results,” Luther forms. said. “I have many thanks to give the “All the campaigns have been wonGeorgetown community for all the derful,” Rohan said. “Ultimately they faith they put in me and I will do ev- had a lot of experience. I guess I’m erything I can to advocate for their just surprised by the weight of our interests in the coming year.” message in that we want to bring The pair received transparency and 29.7 percent of the we want to bring votes in the first “You have my explicit the student voice round of the in- word that we will, in the back. We want to stant runoff and advocate on be54.1 percent in coming days, begin a half of the student the fourth and fi- real administration.” body — that’s what nal round, leaving we’ve been runthem with 1,693 ning on.” votes. Abbey McM c Na u g h to n JOE LUTHER (COL ’16) Naughton (COL ’16) and Simons reGUSA President-elect and Will Simons ceived the most (COL ’16), placed second with 1,434 endorsements of any ticket, with supvotes in the final round. port from H*yas for Choice and Hoyas Over 51 percent of the student body for Immigrant Rights, among others. voted in the election, with a voter “We’re definitely disappointed but turnout of 3,637, surpassing the 3,517 we are incredibly grateful for the votes in 2014; the all-time election 1,400 students that believed in us,” record is 3,733 voters, from the 2013 McNaughton said. “We’re incredibly election. grateful for our team, and we know The results, which were tweeted that this shows how hard we worked, round-by-round over the course of 21 and we know that Georgetown saw minutes by the GUSA Election Com- that.” mission, partially match the results Simons said that he hopes he and of The Hoya’s door-to-door poll, which McNaughton can work with the Lupredicted Luther-Rohan as the win- ther-Rohan team in the upcoming ners with the support of 23 percent of months. likely voters.

“They clearly showed that GUSA The ticket, which received endorse- fails to engage students in the corments from the editorial boards of rect way and in the right manner,” The Hoya, the Georgetown Voice and Simons said. “We’re going to work the Georgetown Improv Association, with them and we look forward to ran on a satirical platform of “You- working with them in the next year.” topia,” promising to obliterate any Chris Wadibia (COL ’16) and Merstudent issues or concerns. Although edith Cheney (COL ’16) came third almost entirely satirical, the platform with 1,049 votes in round three. is serious about its health and safety The campaign faced negative press tenets, which push for the expan- and attention in the past two weeks; sion of and increased accessibility to Wadibia was accused of ignorance of Hoya Staff Writer

KATHLEEN GUAN FOR THE HOYA

Upon learning of their victory in the 2015 GUSA executive race, President-elect Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Vice President-elect Connor Rohan (COL ’16) shared a tender moment in celebration at the campaign party. sexual assault and homophobia, and criticism intensified after his performance at the presidential debate seemed to target other candidates.

“I would say this campaign has been a blessing to my life,” Wadibia said. “I’m not a perfect individual.

I never will be perfect. … You know, it’s no secret that my campaign underwent a lot of negative quotes and things, and we stayed true to our dignity. Does that mean that we were perfect? No. But we strove to be perfect by being our best at all times.”

Wadibia said he will consider working in the Luther-Rohan administration, suggesting a possible post as the undersecretary for mission and ministry.

Sara Margolis (COL ’16) and Ryan Shymansky (COL ’16) came in fourth place with 717 votes in the second round. The ticket, conversely, came in second place in The Hoya’s poll, trailing behind Luther-Rohan by only six votes.

“I am not really upset because we

dent Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) called Luther to inform him of the results of the election. Immediately afterward, Tezel and GUSA Vice President Omika Jikaria (SFS ’15) arrived at the LutherRohan campaign party in Luther’s West Georgetown townhouse.

“Trevor, I have bad news for you,” Luther said on the phone to Tezel.

“I’m replacing you.”

Tezel said that he is hopeful that Luther and Rohan can bring a new approach and perspective to GUSA. “I think it says a lot about Georgetown students,” Tezel said. “We are constantly engaged in what’s going on on campus and what Joe and Connor were able to bring to the race was a genuine desire to shake up how GUSA works. Any organization, including GUSA, needs that every once in a while.”

lost. I am really upset because you guys put so much work into this and it meant so much to me,” Margolis said, through tears, to her supporters.

Margolis encouraged her campaign staff to get involved in the Luther-Rohan cabinet.

“They’re going to need a lot of coaching and a lot of training and a lot of help, a lot of help,” Margolis said. “But I mean, there are four other tickets of people who are willing to help them, who share at least a vision that is good for Georgetown.”

Tim Rosenberger (COL ’16) and Reno Varghese (SFS ’16) came in last place with 154 votes in first-round voting. Rosenberger said that he does not have plans to continue work in GUSA but will provide help if Luther and Rohan request it.

“Good luck to Joe and Connor,” Rosenberger said. “I think we were ready for something different and the race showed us that.”

Per custom, current GUSA Presi-

Hoya Staff Writers Kristen Fedor, Tom Garzillo, Toby Hung, Molly Simio and Andrew Wallender contributed reporting.

Knockout Rounds Round 1

JL-CR: 1080

CW-MC: 899

Am-WS: 773

Sm-RS: 692 TR-RV: 154

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ERIN NAPIER, DAN GANNON, TINA NIU, CHARLIE LOWE/THE HOYA

Round 2

JL-CR: 1134

Round 3

JL-CR: 1377

Round 4

JL-CR: 1693 500

CW-MC: 917

Am-WS: 692

Am-WS: 1067

Sm-RS: 717

CW-MC: 1049

Am-WS: 1434 1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

VOTES

After the fall: Will Simons & Abbey McNaugton, Chris Wadibia & Meredith Cheney, Tim Rosenberger, and Ryan Shymansky & Sara Margolis.

FEATURED NEWS Aramark Rally

Around 30 Aramark workers and 100 students rallied for better working conditions in Sellinger Lounge on Wednesday.

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

NEWS Fr. Heelan Dies at 88

Fr. Patrick Heelan, S.J., who taught at Georgetown for over 20 years, died Feb. 1.

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NEWS Human Trafficking

Sixty-two cases of human trafficking were reported in the District in 2014.

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EDITORIAL Students must stand with employees on the upcoming Aramark renegotiation.

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Published Tuesdays and Fridays

MULTIMEDIA GUSA 2015 Results

Watch the candidates receive the news of the final poll outcomes. thehoya.com

Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com

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OPINION

THE HOYA

Friday, February 20, 2015

THE VERDICT

C EDITORIALS C Stand Against Aramark C Founded January 14, 1920

Feb. 18 marked a landmark change in Georgetown’s involvement with Aramark, the corporation behind Leo’s, Hoya Court and most other food locations on campus, with employees and students rallying together for workers’ rights.

Aramark has gained a reputation both for poor payment of its workers and the poor quality of its food — notoriously, with the maggot-infested food provided to Michigan inmates.

Unfortunately, the situation of Aramark employees on Georgetown’s campus does not appear very different, with both union and non-union workers receiving treatment unbecoming of this university’s commitment to social justice. This is an issue that warrants the attention of an engaged student body.

That Aramark has been allowed to continue its unsatisfactory practices for as long as it has is reason enough to advocate for the employees that comprise an essential part of student life at Georgetown.

In response to the unjust lack of respect shown to Aramark employees, the Georgetown Solidarity Committee circulated a petition around campus with the intent of calling attention to the workers’ poor treatment and dis-

playing the desire of the Georgetown community that it be improved.

This petition was signed by 2,021 students, faculty, staff, prospective students and parents, but has yet to reach the level of recognition on campus that real change and increased benefits for employees will undoubtedly require.

Talks between Aramark and its workers at Georgetown over salaries and benefits have been especially contentious this year, but as formal negotiations will finally take place Friday, it is critical that the Georgetown community not allow this issue to fade into the background.

In the words of a member of the GSC, the non-hierarchical student organization that worked with employees to organize this event, Wednesday’s action was an opportunity to “indicate the desire and need both for respect for Aramark workers and for a fair process in negotiating respect and organizing union representation.”

As a socially conscious student body, it is important that we take steps to improve the conditions for everyone on Georgetown’s campus, and hopefully these efforts for the respect of Aramark employees mark a strong first step in the right direction.

Hoya Corps — Georgetown [laced 10th in the nation for midsized schools (between 5,000 and 15,000 undergraduates) for the number of Peace Corps volunteers, with 23 alumni currently serving.

Good Samaritans — Despite the fact that D.C. cabbies had the option to charge an extra $15 snow fee during Tuesday’s snowblitz, the D.C. Taxicab Commission reports only 98 out of 3,261 trips charged the extra fee.

Polls Closed — As of midnight last night, the two-week Georgetown University Student Association election seasonm, as well as The Hoya’s coverage thereof, is OVER.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Personal Attacks Mar GUSA Elections To the Editor: As a tour guide on the Hilltop, parents of prospective students often approach me after a tour to note “Students here at Georgetown seem so passionate about all they do.” It speaks volumes about the culture of our campus that even outside observers can see the underlying commitment and devotion students give to a variety of activities and organizations. This passion is also certainly visible during this cycle of GUSA Executive elections.

Unfortunately, alongside this energy and excitement regarding the future of our student government, negative personal attacks have also reared their ugly head. I’ve personally heard many of these derogatory remarks directed at one GUSA candidate: Christopher Wadibia.

Chris was my RA last year in Village C West, through this I was fortunate enough to get to

know Chris very well. Chris’s commitment to his residents was profound and from the minute I met him during NSO, his caring nature was evident.

Freshman year for me, and I imagine for many, was a fun, but also quite daunting experience. As my RA, Chris was a solid rock who was always open to talk and help me find my way on campus. I have never met such a caring and honest individual as Chris. It is because of this that I find the personal attacks against Chris to be so harmful, absurd, and flat out wrong. I would encourage all students at Georgetown to continue to be passionate about the GUSA Executive elections, but to not let this passion be distorted to personal attacks.

Billy Schuette SFS ’17

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Shannon Hou

Save the Fading Dialogue Federal Bureau of Investigation Agency Director James Comey spoke at Gaston Hall last Thursday on the relationship between law enforcement and race, noting that national dialogue on this issue has unfortunately faded in recent events.

This speech, which was covered heavily by news outlets such as The New York Times, CNN and the Huffington Post, reminds Georgetown to invest in conversations of race.

As the university continues to struggle to foster a more diverse community at a predominantly white institution, this dialogue is particularly pertinent and must be carried out by students and administrators alike.

Comey’s remarks resonate in a nation still recovering from the racially charged killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and the deaths of New York Police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.

He reveals an uncomfortable truth, that aside from the initial protests that caught the attention of American citizens everywhere, many have already compartmentalized the issues at hand relating to law enforcement and race.

The fact remains, however, that strife exists on both ends of this spectrum.

In response, Comey admitted that many in law enforcement develop a cynicism relating to race. For example, many law enforcement officials have incarcerated certain races so frequently that they develop suspicions aimed more at those races than at others.

What is more, the same racism behind the murders of Brown and others can be traced to seemingly simple beginnings.

Georgetown seeks to address a related issue with the creation of Provost Robert Groves’ committee on diversity, indicating an increasing awareness of the tension caused by inequality.

However, there remains much work left to do. Students are therefore urged to attend the events put on by organizations like GU Women of Color, Black House and GU Women in Leadership in an effort to further discussion and awareness of these issues.

While the semester is still fresh, we must make it a priority to carry on the dialogue or risk these issues leaving us divided and ignorant of the world around us.

Unresolved tension that prevails even today in Ferguson and Brooklyn alike cannot afford to be ignored any longer.

4 Classes 4 All Earlier this week, the College Academic Council sponsored a town hall that offered students the chance to sit in on a panel with College Dean Chester Gillis and discuss the possibility of changing the academic requirements from a 5:3 model, in which students take five classes worth three credits each semester, to a 4:4 model, in which students would take four classes worth four credits each semester.

Not only is the 4:4 model followed by many of our peer institutions, it also lends itself to the liberal arts model of the College by offering students a multitude of new options regarding their academic paths.

Firstly, it would allow students to devote greater time to their existing classes. Georgetown remains one of the only schools at which five classes is the average credit load.

Such a change to one fewer class per se-

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, Ed Crotty, Johnny Verhovek

This week on

[ CHATTER ]

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

Demetrius Cooper (COL ’16) and Rabia Mirza (COL ’16) examine the misplacement of energy in criticizing GUSA candidates’ characters:

mester would mean three contact hours and countless secondary hours that students could use to more fully engage with their class material and professors.

Having one fewer class could additionally give students more flexibility in their schedules to pursue part-time jobs or internships, a pertinent and commonly experienced struggle for upperclassmen looking to break into the workforce after graduation.

Finally, students could use a 4:4 system to take on a fifth class that would carry with it more credits than a fifth class does currently, allowing them to graduate early or move to part-time status their senior year.

While requirements differ across schools, a switch in the College, the university’s largest undergraduate school, could set an important precedent for the three other schools to reconsider their existing credit requirements.

“​ T ​ o objectively review the platforms of each campaign, highlighting weaknesses and calling for more in-depth consideration is indicative of this positive leadership. However, to smear the characters of one campaign’s leaders and accuse them of not caring about such an issue is neither constructive nor is it collaborative.”​

“

Tithi Patel (SFS ’18) brings to light how privilege is permeated through media: “Privilege is abhorrent in the media at all levels. Not all groups of people are reported on equally, or with equal regard. Not all groups are represented in the newsroom as anchors or guests or writers. Not all groups are present in the workplace hierarchy. This further enforces the need to use social media, to a reasonable extent, as a news-making force, especially within younger, more colorful communities.”

“

Find this and more at

thehoya.com/chatter

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 Courtney Klein Deputy Blog 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 Joseph Scudiero Tessa Guiv Caroline Gelinne Sarah Hannigan Gregory Saydah William Lowery Zoe Park

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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.

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OPINION

friday, fEBRUARY 20, 2015

The Century Cap

Nikita Deshpande

Is Reversing Extinction Feasible?

L

ast year, I had a stunning realization: I thoroughly envy cavemen.

After watching “Ice Age” with my younger brother and marveling at the prospect of seeing mighty woolly mammoths traverse the land, I became compelled to revisit the magical Pleistocene Epoch. Imagine the robust sampling of species that once populated the ice sheet Siberia; I picture cave lions parading alongside woolly rhinoceros, with the threat of savage saber-toothed tigers lurking in the frosty air. I visualize the wacky 8-foot-tall terror bird — Titanis walleri — sprinting at speeds of 65 mph while slumbering ground sloths look on in amusement from comfy tree perches. What a time to be alive!

This year, my longing to experience the radical diversity of the past exponentially increased when I learned that we can bring back the lumbering woolly mammoth, the flightless dodo, the Irish elk and countless other extinct species through genetic technology.

De-extinction — a field that combines the genius of molecular genetics with evolutionary and conservation biology — has emerged to resurrect and revive species.

George Church, a geneticist at Harvard, has proposed extracting fragments of DNA to reconstruct ancient genomes of extinct organisms.

Identifying genes would be spliced into stem cells of the extinct species’ modern relatives, and resulting germ cells would be implanted into the modern relative’s developing embryos. In two generations, the extinct species would breathe again.

The implications of this extraordinary technology are earth-shattering; de-extinction could be our golden ticket to restoring the biodiversity that humans have singlehandedly sapped over generations. We could use this method to repopulate every single organism on the endangered species list — ranging from the tiger to the polar bear to the elephant — and erase the devastating damage we have wrought on the natural world through deforestation and habitat pollution. We could even use de-extinction to satisfy our fantasies of seeing stealthy saber-toothed cats grace the Arctic tundra during our lifetime.

But should we bring these prehistoric and extinct species back to life? Absolutely not.

Just because we have the ability to harness the power of biotechnology and manipulate DNA, that does not entitle us to waste resources on dead organisms. Regenerating just one wooly mammoth is estimated to cost a staggering $10 million. De-extinction is an inordinately costly process, and is not currently feasible on a grand scale.

Furthermore, there are 16,928 endangered species across the globe that could face extinction within decades. According to National Geographic, we lose between 100 and 1,000 species every single year. Decelerating this alarming rate of vanishing diversity requires eliminating poaching trades, fostering political will, monitoring species and maintaining natural habitats.

To effectively carry out these tasks, organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy need billions of dollars. Given these costs, we should purposefully invest our money in saving endangered species before we lose them forever, not in reviving long-gone flora and fauna.

De-extinction also presents a slew of ecological concerns. If these extinct species are recreated, questions will arise about which environments to place them in, and how to guarantee they will not negatively impact prevailing ecological relationships. Introducing a population of Tasmanian tigers in its ancestral habitat of Australia could disrupt other organisms’ niches if the tigers prey on a keystone species, and perhaps even lead to the extinction of currently thriving organisms.

Similarly, de-extinction carries a vast amount of population genetic concerns; establishing a successful and self-sustaining species is difficult work thanks to the microevolutionary force of genetic drift.

In a finite collection of organisms, certain alleles randomly become over-represented while others become under-represented; this decreases the amount of genetic variation present within the population.

Because de-extinction involves creating genetically identical organisms from a couple eggs, these organisms would also face immense difficulty in maintaining variation due to their homogenous genomes. Thus, the entire population could be exploited and terminated by one strain of bacteria or a particular selective pressure since it would not have adequate variation to survive the heterogeneous environment.

The wow factor of de-extinction embraces my inner child, connects me to the phenomenal scientific world and helps me appreciate the volume of biodiversity that once inhabited and still populates planet Earth. However, when considering de-extinction, it is important that we keep our feet firmly planted in the ground and separate fantasy from reality.

Nikita Deshpande is a freshman in the College. The Century Cap appears every other Friday.

THE HOYA

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VIEWPOINT • Syed

UNC: A Tragedy to Bridge Religions D

eah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha, three young Muslim students, were brutally murdered by Craig Stephen Hicks last Tuesday just a few blocks from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus. After invading their apartment, Hicks shot each one of them in the head and turned himself in later that night.

It is hard to wrap my head around a tragedy such as this — the unnecessary violence of three young students being killed in their own home. They were students, living as both practicing Muslims and proud Americans, who honored both of these identities through their hard work and community service.

I have been amazed at the strength, courage and fortitude that their families have shown in these last few days. They all have responded positively and have used this incident to dispel stereotypes about Muslims. Yusor and Razan’s father, Mohammad Abu-Salha, said this about his daughters: “This is Islam. It’s not what you hear on the media, and it’s not “American Sniper” movie.

This is Islam. These three angels.”

The murder of these three individuals is the antithesis of everything that they represented to this country.

Each one of them devoted their lives to combatting injustice, whether it was through service to others or promoting dialogue over discrimination.

Deah was planning a trip to Turkey this summer to provide free dental care to Syrian refugee students. Yusor was dedicated to showing others that her Muslim and American identities were by no means mutually exclusive.

Razan was a frequent volunteer

The mainstream media delay in reporting and the pushback to the characterization of these murders as anti-muslim hate crimes is telling. at a nearby soup kitchen. These weren’t just activities that Deah, Yusor and Razan did; they were defining aspects of each of their characters and the people they were well on their way to being.

What does this tragedy mean for this country? It shows that bigotry remains very much alive in this nation.

The fact that it took nearly a day for this story to be reported by

mainstream news and that there has been so much pushback to even the characterization of this as an anti-Muslim hate crime is telling.

This same mindset is present in the vandalizing of the Islamic School of Rhode Island following the shooting, in which “Now this is a hate crime” along with other profanities insulting Islam were written all over the school walls.

While these responses are unfortunate, this incident has also been one of the first and few major news stories to reach a large American audience that portrays Muslims in an honest and unbiased light.

It’s a shame that the accomplishments of the victims were only honored after their death, but it has nonetheless showed the importance of a commitment to service that so many American Muslims hold.

Muslims and non-Muslims from around the United States and the world have come together to organize vigils for these three outstanding individuals, a hopeful sign that we can rise above this incident and bring about meaningful change. The only way that we can honor their memories and everything they stood for is by following in their footsteps.

Deah’s fundraising goal for his Syrian refugees project was $20,000; that figure now exceeds $450,000.

On a page set up to commemorate Deah, one popular post says, “This is definitely not the end of your life’s work. Your charity and humanitarian efforts will live on beyond your lifetime, and I hope that brings some comfort to your family.”

This tragedy has created a bond of humanity that bridges religions. It has hopefully inspired non-Muslim Americans to reach out to their Muslim neighbors, and see that they not only shatter hateful stereotypes, but also contribute to the fabric of American society positively through their faith.

Zahid Syed is a junior in the College and president of the Muslim Students Association.

EIGHTEEN WEEKS

VIEWPOINT • Fletcher

An Appeal for a Stay Involved, But More Practical GUSA Don’t Forget to Breathe

T

he Georgetown student body is consistently ranked as one of the most politically active in the country. Government internships are ubiquitous and politics is generally fair game for discussion, yet every season the Georgetown University Student Association becomes the most derided spectacle on campus.

With approximately one -third of students not voting, why is Georgetown’s involvement in its own politics so reminiscent of the general electorate’s apathy?

This question did not go unrecognized during the election; indeed, the race had candidates advocating for changes in GUSA’s culture and relationship to the student body.

W h e t h e r through a humorous or serious approach, several tickets took more direct issue with GUSA’s character than the quality of its past policies.

Even the campaigns with exhaustive, curated platforms emphasized bringing marginalized student groups into GUSA’s deliberations, further evidencing general concerns of a removed and distant student association.

Despite appeals for a change, this past election largely embodied politics as usual. The heated exchanges that students saw during the presidential debate were in many ways the tip of the iceberg of tension and mistrust between campaigns.

While assessing the machinations made in the shadows may be impossible, enough information floats to the surface to inspire worry.

How candidates receive support from other student groups is an inherently murky process that cannot help but be colored by personal animus and connection. Despite a spending limit of $300 per campaign, it would be naïve to deny that those with more time and resources possess an advantage.

Finally, the large pie of executive jobs with which candidates reward their staff presents another source of tension within campaigns.

In many ways the problems with GUSA elections mirror those of American politics at large. Patronage politics and revolving doors exist even at our level. The process for executive appointments and candidate selection is troubling. Moreover, the way in which a small group

of involved student insiders muddle the priorities of the rest of the electorate is cause for serious concern.

These issues are far more salient on the national level, but if Georgetown students are seriously passionate about resolving the pathologies of national politics, they must first look to the fixes they can make at home on the Hilltop.

Though prospects may appear dim, creating a better campaign culture and a better GUSA is possible, and an election cycle that serves to measure ideas and policies is not out of reach.

This past season we were fortunate to witness instances of involved and constructive debate, leading us to believe that every candidate was motivated out of an earnest desire to see a better Georgetown.

Yet, much too often, petty intrigue overshadowed real dialogue. These divisions are not the product of any individual campaign but rather the results of a system biased toward divisive competition.

We should have enough humility to accept the relative importance of GUSA in the grand scheme of things, yet we should be equally self-aware as to recognize that politics, whether national or local, can never fully escape self-indulgent pettiness.

Free speech rights on campus matter. Funding for student groups matter. And the 2018 Campus Plan matters.

The 2012 Georgetown Student Life Report details a list of recommended fixes for improving the experience on the Hilltop.

Many of these are incredibly simple.

The report stands as a stark reminder that basic changes can make Georgetown not just a more effective place but a happier place. For all its faults, GUSA has the potential to take a lead role in promoting such changes and fighting for the interests of students.

Here at the commission we wish the best of luck to the new executive. We hope that they go further than just appealing for change and instead make the institutional adjustments necessary to guarantee a healthier system for elections to come.

We should have enough humility to accept the relative importance of GUSA in the grand scheme of things.

Alden Fletcher is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service and one of the three GUSA election commissioners.

L

ast year, two friends made ing to keep right on going to your an intriguing video for one research assistantships and your of their classes. It was called five clubs and your full course load.

“Sleep When You’re Dead” and it And you know what? That’s just got a lot of attention on Vimeo fine. from students, faculty and adThat thirst for life, that desire ministrators alike. to excel and exceed is part of what The video itself highlighted makes Georgetown students the Georgetown’s “busy” culture and wunderkinds that they are. It’s how as a student body, we choose what gives this university its charto define ourselves by what we acter and reputation of excellence do, so much so that the question among its peer schools, which is “what do you do?” becomes part something we should take pride in. of our typical exchange when we In short, we want you to stay meet someone for the first time on thirsty, Georgetown. campus.

But as you rush around, take a We glorify the student who is in- pulse. Take a moment of self-reflecvolved in four to five extracurricu- tion; check on your health, both lar activities (a mental and physileader in at least cal, and check on one of them), has your goals. Make an internship sure that what and is writing you think you an optional thewant to do is realsis on the side. ly what you want We value our soto do. And let cial worth along these moments these metrics, of inner awareKendall Ciesemier and and always, it’s ness guide your never enough. actions.

Camille Squires How many peoThese words ple do you know may sound trite, who stopped apbut when all of us plying to things make these small after their freshchanges on an man fall semesindividual level, ter? It never change starts to seems to end; ophappen on a culportunity doesn’t tural level. And just knock at we will realize the the beginning of possibility of not every semester, sacrificing our it breaks down “busy” culture, our door with not changing it ads, Facebook campaigns, posters fundamentally, but making our and tables in Red Square and the culture healthier and more reasonLeavey Center. able.

“Sleep When You’re Dead” Because the fact of the matter is, spurred a campus-wide conversa- our culture won’t change unless tion about our culture. Unfortu- we change it. The pressure that we nately, it didn’t seem to be enough feel (often a consuming, crushing to warrant a buzz that lasted more pressure) will never change unless than a few weeks; after a while, we decide to expand our definithe conversation ended and peo- tions of “success.” It will never ple went back to their “busy” lives. be enough to just go to class and Here we are a year later. Unsur- attend one weekly club meeting prisingly, not much has changed unless we make it enough. Until at Georgetown. We still judge each each of us stops measuring our other by our involvement in X or Y own self-worth by how busy we club and expect that our “what do are, others won’t stop measuring you do?” question will yield an an- us with that same eye. swer in which the respondent ratWe recognize that these intles off at least three involvements. sights are anything but original — Anything less is labeled implicitly lamentations about Georgetown’s as a failure. busy culture date back for at least And yet, despite the fact that we as long as we’ve been here, and gladly participate in it, we are all probably far earlier. still complaining about how this But we repeat this advice anyculture should change. way because it bears repeating; Now if this were a typical critique we constantly need to examine of the busy culture that George- (and re-examine) where we are town fosters, this is the part where and where we’re going, at Georgewe would give the canned advice: town, and beyond.

“Relax. Chill out. Don’t take everything so seriously.”

Kendall Ciesemier and Camille But we’re not going to tell you Squires are seniors in the Colthat, Georgetown. Because we lege. Eighteen Weeks appears know you’ll never listen. You’re go- every other Friday.

We’re not going to tell you to relax. Just be aware, and find a balance that fits you.

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THE HOYA

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NEWS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Catholic groups are protesting two D.C. council laws that prevent workplace discrimination. See story on A6.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

IN FOCUS

SNOW DAY IN BED

verbatim

“

You can call up and order a child the same way you can call up and order a pizza.”

Innocents at Risk Founder Deborah Sigmund on the prevalence of trafficking in DC. See story on A5.

from

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

DANIEL SMITH/THE HOYA

After a Monday evening snowstorm deposited over four inches of snow on campus, causing the closure of the university and the cancellation of classes Tuesday, students frolicked outside in the snow to celebrate.

ROOMMATE PROPOSAL SONGS Concerned about how to ask that perfect potential roommate to live with you? Break the ice with these unique proposal songs. blog.thehoya.com

Heelan, 88, Strengthened Community Transit Agency Considers Metro Service Changes ANDREW WALLENDER Hoya Staff Writer

Fr. Patrick Heelan, S.J., loved to smile. In the midst of any disagreement or serious discussion, Heelan’s smile refused to fade.

Heelan was the William A. Gaston professor of philosophy at Georgetown as well as a Jesuit priest, a university administrator and an esteemed philosopher and physicist. Heelan always had open ears and a large grin. He died Feb. 1 in his native Ireland. He was 88.

“Can you imagine a guy, vice president of the university, who does not at all become hostile when contradicted, smiles, and then settles down to an extremely pleasant discussion of the question?” professor of German and friend of Heelan Fr. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., asked. “To me that just showed you how deeply gracious he was — deeply gracious. It overcame hostility and fostered friendship in the midst of disagreement.”

Friend and associate professor of theology Fr. Stephen Fields, S.J., said that Heelan’s smile was an essential part of who he was.

“I would say he had a delightful Irish sense of humor,” Fields said. “He was consistently smiling. He would come across many times as the absent mind-

ed professor — there was a certain charm in that.”

Heelan originally came to Georgetown University in 1992 and, in his more than 20 years at the university, served as vice president for the main campus and oversaw academic and administrative affairs, as well as being the William H. Gaston professor of philosophy.

Heelan, during his tenure as vice president, oversaw drastic change to the university in the merging of the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics into the College in the early 1990s under the direction of university president Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J. A significant number of faculty and students resisted the merger, which made Heelan’s task especially challenging.

“Once it’s done, it’s likely to seem obvious to people,” colleague and philosophy professor Fr. John Langan, S.J., said of the merger. “But when it’s still in the stage of negotiating, it’s quite difficult. And that stirred up quite a bit of anxiety.”

Fields said that overseeing the merger was the most difficult task Heelan took on in his role as university administrator.

“He met a great deal of resistance,” Fields said. “And that took its toll on him. So he really had to step down because he met so much resistance. I think

it took him a while to recover from that.”

University President John J. DeGioia sent a campus-wide email Feb. 11 announcing Heelan’s passing and paying tribute to the work that the former provost and philosophy professor did for Georgetown.

“Fr. Heelan’s leadership strengthened our community in so many ways and was integral to bringing us to where we are now,” DeGioia wrote in the email.

Before arriving at Georgetown University, Heelan served as vice president at the State University of New York at Stony Brook during the ’70s and ’80s, a time when public higher education was experiencing rapid growth.

“When he was working in Stony Brook, there was a sense that this might be a new wave connected with an increasingly leftward movement in American society, preferring public institutions as more egalitarian than private institutions,” Langan said. “So, he had done pretty well as an administrator and that was in a politically charged environment.”

Aside from his duties as an administrator, Heelan was a renowned scholar of philosophy and physics. His interests encompassed a wide breadth

COURTESY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Fr. Patrick Heelan, S.J., who served as the university’s vice president for the main campus and as a professor of philosophy, died on Feb. 1 in his home country of Ireland at the age of 88.

of subjects ranging from quantum theory to music to Islam.

Heelan was educated by three Nobel Prize winners, including the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of quantum physics, at his alma mater, the University of Vienna.

Heelan published dozens of articles and multiple books throughout his lifetime.

Langan said that Heelan was not only interested in philosophy but in Catholic and Jesuit traditions. Heelan was especially skilled at bridging the gap between science and religion.

“When you talk about relating science and religion, he had a foot in each camp,” Langan said. “Very frequently in those discussions, the people who are comfortable in one camp are quite uncomfortable in another camp. … He was able to be comfortable on both sides of that and to encourage the science people to take religion seriously and to encourage the religious folks not to simply deny the results of modern science.”

Heelan will long be remembered for his contributions to the world of academia, but to those who knew him, he will also be especially remembered for his uniquely Irish disposition in life. Heelan, whose birthday was St. Patrick’s Day, was born in Dublin in 1926.

“To me what’s most memorable and what I will always carry is when he and I would talk about Ireland — Ireland’s history and its history of troubles, which he lived through, so I could always talk to him about [them],” Fields said.

Murphy said he would also regularly talk with Heelan about Ireland and Heelan’s Irish heritage.

“I felt I could always talk to him,” Murphy said. “I could always joke to him about Irish things. Maybe being a Murphy, that gives me the right. Even if I hadn’t been, he always thought it was funny to hear things like that.”

During Heelan’s last few years, he fought a long and difficult struggle against dementia, which forced him to leave Georgetown in 2013 and return to Ireland, where he lived out the remainder of his life surrounded by loved ones.

Notes of condolence can be sent to Jesuit Provincialate, Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin 6, Ireland.

SARAH FISHER

Special to The Hoya

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is currently considering both raising fares and altering several transportation schedules in order to cut back its projected $919 million budget proposal for next year.

Proposals include increasing all rail and bus fares by 10 cents, ending service at midnight on weekends and cutting shuttles to Dulles International Airport completely.

On Saturdays and during non-peak hours on weekdays, trains would run every 15 minutes instead of every 12 minutes. On Sundays, trains would run every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes.

Currently, eight local jurisdictions fund the Metro. There was a public hearing Thursday to discuss these proposals.

“At this point, no decision has been made. ... All options remain on the table.”

MICHAEL TOLBERT WMATA Spokesperson

More than a dozen people testified against the new proposals, and no one spoke in favor of them.

In response, the Metro board decided to table a decision for two weeks.

WMATA spokesperson Michael Tolbert maintained that no final decisions have been made.

“At this point, no decision has been made … and the issue has been tabled. All options remain on the table,” Tolbert said.

The Metro board of directors approved a 3 percent fare increase last March.

Georgetown students expressed dismay at the service cuts, believing that they would exacerbate existing inadequacies in the Metro’s service, such as early shutdowns on weeknights.

“I don’t like how it stops running relatively early on weeknights, runs very irregularly on weekends and is so much more infrequent on the Red Line than the Orange/Blue/Silver corridor through downtown,” Jonathan Doernhofer (SFS ’18) said.

Noah Nelson (COL ’18), who grew up in the D.C. area, said he has had these issues with the Metro for years.

“I have taken the Metro for as long as I can remember. My biggest concern with the Metro system is that the Metro only stays open until midnight Sunday through Thursday,” Nelson said. “For those who take public transportation to work … a serious problem arises with such an early closure time during the week.”

news

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015

THE HOYA

A5

Workers Rally for Better Conditions Human Trafficking

Still Plagues District

Toby Hung

Hoya Staff Writer

Approximately 30 Aramark workers and 100 students marched from Sellinger Lounge to Aramark’s management office in Hoya Court on Wednesday to deliver two petitions seeking better work and wage conditions for workers at O’Donovan Hall.

The second petition demands union representation for workers at Hoya Court in light of the expiration of their three-year contract with Aramark in March.

The student petition, which received 2,021 signatures from students and other community members, supports the renegotiation of work conditions for workers at Leo’s, which includes a 40hour paid work week, an increase in health care benefits, the protection of immigrant workers, antidiscrimination rules and greater involvement in food sustainability discussions on campus. The workers presented their demands to Aramark at a march on Jan. 23.

In addition, a petition drafted

by Aramark workers, which was signed by 83 percent of the workers, demands the unionization of Aramark workers at Hoya Court under UNITE HERE, the same labor union that Aramark workers from Leo’s, Cosi and Starbucks joined in March 2011. Negotiations regarding the workers’ demands will begin at a meeting between the workers and Aramark’s management on Friday.

The rally, organized by the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, began with Leo’s workers and students congregating at Sellinger Lounge. The students and workers then marched to Hoya Court while delivering chants in unison demanding justice and respect for Aramark workers on campus.

The workers then delivered the petitions to the Aramark management office, which was met with cheers and applause from the rallying students.

GSC member Erin Riordan (COL ’15) addressed the rally attendees at Hoya Court by expressing the committee’s determination to ensure the just treatment of the workers.

“Today is the first time that retail workers at Aramark are standing up and demanding respect and just treatment in the workplace,” Riordan said. “And this Friday … we hope that Aramark will stand up and honor the respect and dignity these workers deserve and honor our Jesuit values, and give these workers what they need. If Aramark doesn’t honor the respect of these workers … we’ll be back.”

Under the current contract, workers at Hoya Court claimed to have experienced inconsistent wage payments, racial discrimination and verbal abuse.

Erenia Pacheco, who has been a sandwich artist at Subway at Hoya Court for two years, said she hopes the petition will end the unfair treatment that workers experience from their managers.

“We just [don’t] want to get … disrespected. We want respect, we want to stop discrimination, being racist, having favoritism,” Pacheco said. “Hours-wise, people need more hours.”

According to Pacheco, there are frequent disputes between workers and managers at Hoya Court over operational duties and wages. “[In] less than a one-month

Emma Rizk

Hoya Staff Writer

DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

Students marched from Sellinger Lounge to Hoya Court in solidarity with Aramark workers seeking better conditions. period, [the management] fired five people because [the workers] talked back to them. There was an incident when a manager was about to slap a worker’s hand.

They just be calling out names like ‘stupid.’ Who wants to come to work knowing that you’re going to come to a place where nobody respects you?” Pacheco said.

Pacheco recounted an incident in which she was not given sick leave despite providing proper documentation.

“There was an incident when I was sick, and I brought in my note, and [my manager] just threw it in my face like ‘Here, I don’t care about your note. How do I know you didn’t make that letter up yourself?’ And I came back to work the day before the doctor said to come back to work. He didn’t accept my letter, but two weeks after, he was like ‘Do you still have your letter?’ So he’s gonna ask for it back after two weeks when he threw it in my face saying he didn’t care about it,” Pacheco said.

“It’s not fair. We’re all sick of that.

They [are] playing with our hours, disrespecting and all that. We’re just fed up.”

Francisco Lopez, a worker at Elevation Burger at Hoya Court, said that the daily tasks given to him by his manager are too demanding for an understaffed establishment.

“Sometimes you close with just one more person, it’s just two people closing tonight. … That’s a lot of work because you have to wash the dishes, wash the grill and the grill takes about 20 minutes and on top of that they want it all done in an hour because if you go over they yell at you because you went over,” Lopez said. “I’m just one person, I’m not a machine, but they don’t want to hear all that.”

However, under the current contract with Aramark, Lopez said that there are no opportunities for workers to voice their complaints.

“All they tell us to do is call that hotline that’s in the back, the Aramark corporate, they tell us just call the hotline,” Lopez said. “[Our manager’s] telling us go call corporate because he knows it’s going to take them a week to get back to us. That’s not how you deal with stuff. We just have to deal with it and move on, [not] brush it under the rug.”

According to GSC member Clare Kelly (COL ’17), the petition would be effective in demonstrating to the Aramark management that there is community support for the workers. “[Companies] are usually scared of students especially on university campuses. So that means we hold a lot of power. Since we hold a lot of power, we should be using it,” Kelly said. “[We need to] show that students really do support the workers here on campus. … If [workers] feel that support, they are able to be stronger and speak up for themselves. … We’re going to keep pushing and maintain that support to show that we care and to make it matter.”

GSC member Lily Ryan (COL ’18) said that many community members expressed interest in signing the petition.

“One of the ways [of garnering support] was just going around campus to Red Square, Leo’s, talking to people, engaging people in discussions about workers’ rights on campus,” Ryan said. “I think other ways was how we reached out to an incredibly diverse group of clubs and try to engage clubs, classes, just really engage people about what was going on and ask people if they were interested in supporting workers.”

Pacheco said she is grateful for the support for Aramark workers from students and the community.

“I feel so grateful [about the student support]. When I first heard about it, I thought about how crazy it is that students care more about our work than our own managers,” Pacheco said. “It feels good knowing that we have support from the outside that sees how hard we work.”

Aramark’s Director of Corporate Communications Karen Cutler said that Aramark will bargain in “good faith” with the workers in the upcoming weeks.

“Negotiating union collective bargaining agreements are a routine part of business,” Cutler wrote in an email in January. “At Georgetown, we are committed to bargaining in good faith and are working hard with union representatives to come to an agreement that works for everyone.

We had a productive meeting this week and hope to have a new agreement soon.”

The District of Columbia experienced 62 reported cases of human trafficking in 2014, a similar number to that of previous years, while there was a 26 percent national increase in calls to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, according to an annual report published by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and national advocacy organization Polaris.

Of the 62 tips reported to the NHRTC hotline in the District, there were 36 cases of sex trafficking and 21 cases of labor trafficking, a decline from 2013, which saw 78 cases. Sixty-seven cases were reported in 2012.

According to Polaris Media Relations Officer Brandon Bouchard, it is unlikely that the prevalence of human trafficking has changed as the statistics simply reflect increased reports. However, he admitted that little is known about human trafficking in the United States.

“It’s challenging to say whether or not there is an increase in human trafficking because there hasn’t been a prevalent study that’s been conducted for the United States or for D.C. specifically,” Bouchard said. “But without a prevalent study like that, we don’t have that baseline number for actual human trafficking victims to compare to.

That’s one area in which we definitely want to see some action.”

A possible reason for the national increase in reported cases of human trafficking is increased awareness of the issue.

Austin Naughton, a communications team volunteer at D.C. Stop Modern Slavery, said that this awareness extends beyond the general public to law enforcement.

“I think now that there is greater sensitivity among law enforcement [as] they try and look below the surface about what’s really going on with the person,” Naughton said. “There are people who are trained to look for [whether this might] be an incident of trafficking and if so, how do they then connect that person … with the different service providers that can support them.”

Despite this increased awareness, Washington, D.C., remains a hub of human trafficking activity according to activists, primarily due to its location on the coast and popularity as a tourist destination.

“There is a corridor, it goes from one big city to another, up and down Interstate 95,” Naughton said. “So cities that are like hubs, let’s say New York or D.C. or Atlanta, these are places where there is a lot of tourism or conventions. There are people who are coming here who have free time and money to spend.”

Deborah Sigmund, founder of Innocents at Risk, another D.C. organization that fights human trafficking, explained how widespread trafficking is in the District.

“Unfortunately we have people in Congress, doctors, lawyers, all walks of life.

There is no field that is not participating in buying children,” Sigmund said. “You can call up and order a child the same way you can call up and order a pizza.”

This year, Washington, D.C., received a D grade from the Protected Innocence Challenge, a comprehensive study of existing state laws that evaluates each state and gives it a grade. This grade is based on 41 key legislative components that must be addressed in a state’s laws in order to effectively respond to the crime of domestic minor sex trafficking.

The report card pointed out several flaws, including that D.C. has not statutorily mandated the reporting of mission or rescued children. Training on human trafficking and minor domestic sex trafficking is neither mandated nor authorized by law.

“Sex trafficking of a minor under 18 without regard to force, fraud, or coercion is a crime. Nonetheless, juveniles are sub-

ject to arrest for prostitution in the District of Columbia in conflict with their status as sex trafficking victims. Critical investigative tools to combat the growing use of the Internet to commit sex trafficking are not provided by law,” the report reads.

However, there is some movement toward improvement. On Dec. 2, the D.C. Council passed a law that increased law enforcement training and provided safe harbor to child victims of sex trafficking, preventing the prosecution of underage persons who engage in sex acts in exchange for money.

In addition, Naughton explained that D.C. Stop Modern Slavery has introduced a bill to the D.C. Council, attempting to decrease demand for prostitution by raising the consequences for people caught trying to purchase sex services.

“Historically, the people that get busted tend to be the prostitutes and not so much the person buying the services. So there are efforts being made to raise the stakes higher so that people will feel deterred from seeking sex,” Naughton said. “It’s taking away the consequences for people that are caught selling sex services as a way to try and put pressure on the networks that are behind the trafficking, as a way to try and reduce the incentives that go along with trafficking.”

Bouchard echoed Naughton, noting that advocating for legislative reform is a key method to working towards ending human trafficking.

“We really want people to reach out to their lawmakers, the key stakeholders in whatever community they are from, and encourage them to focus on human trafficking … [and] focus on passing laws and working on initiatives that [combat] all forms of human trafficking,” Bouchard said.

Despite the recent legislative advancements, Bouchard indicated that efforts to campaign against human trafficking are limited by financing.

“We see across the country that law makers are taking very important steps to criminalize human trafficking, [to] provide additional training [and] create additional resources, but every bill doesn’t necessarily come with additional funding,” Bouchard said.

According to Bouchard, part of the reason the campaign lacks support is because the issue of human trafficking extends far beyond the crime itself and the existing model allows traffickers to reap high rewards at low risk.

“We don’t have enough resources to investigate or prosecute [human trafficking],” Bouchard said. “We’re not getting to the root causes that enable victims of human trafficking to be victimized like poverty, unemployment, runaway and homeless youth issues.”

Students Stopping the Trafficking of People, a Georgetown student organization, focuses on raising awareness among students. SSTOP President Clare Murphy (SFS ’15) noted the current system lacks adequate support for victims.

“There is a lack of resources, specifically a lack of shelters and a lack of beds,” Murphy said. “Organizations have trouble going out to find and rescue more victims because they don’t actually have the capacity to house them.”

Murphy added that Georgetown students can bring more attention to this issue on campus.

“Especially at Georgetown, we have students here who are going to be going into the top levels of government and business and that’s really where we need to put the pressure on to address this issue,” she said.

“Raising up future leaders who are aware of this issue is the focus of our group: just educating students on trafficking and modern day slavery, making them aware that this problem still exists, that there [are] still 27 million people in slavery and even in our own backyard of D.C., this is a huge issue.”

College Considers Restructuring Academic Credits Kelsey Quackenbush Special to The Hoya

The College Academic Council held a town hall meeting with a panel of administrators and professors from Georgetown College on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of changing Georgetown’s standard academic course structure from five three-credit courses per semester to four fourcredit courses.

Over 40 students attended the meeting, which included a panel followed by a discussion for students to raise concerns and share their opinions.

Faculty members on the panel included College Dean Chester Gillis, Senior Associate Dean Anne Sullivan, Vice Provost Randy Bass, Government Department Chair Michael Bailey and government professor Andrew Bennett. CAC President Parnia Zahedi (COL ’15) and CAC representative Kennedy Maker (COL ’18) also sat on the panel.

Maker began the meeting by discussing the structure of a Georgetown degree and the implications of restructuring it.

“What really sparked my interest in this whole transition from the 5-3 to the 4-4 was just a little calculation I made out one night,” Maker said. “Basically I just went through and I made a sample four-year plan of someone who’s coming in as a freshman as a government major who wants to be

pre-med and has no AP or IB credit or language experience.”

Georgetown University degree requirements mandate that each student earn 120 credits in order to graduate. A student in the College must take a minimum of 38 courses, including core requirements, six additional college-specific requirements and the language requirement.

To highlight the problems with the current course structure, Maker indicated that a government major on the pre-med track would have to take 37 courses and 113 credits, which leaves one course and seven credits available to the student before completing the minimum degree requirements.

According to Maker, the remaining credits do not leave enough room for exploration within other College courses. “[This was] kind of staggering because I thought ‘Oh wow,’ there’s literally one course of free time and you have seven credits of free time,” Maker said. “So then I did some more research. I looked at peer schools to kind of see what kind of systems they had, and that’s when I really started to notice that Georgetown was more of the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself.”

Several other universities, such as Johns Hopkins University, Washington University in St. Louis and Notre Dame University, have also switched to a 4-4 course structure in order to alleviate students’ academic stress and

shift the focus of courses from quantity to the depth of the material.

Afterwards, Maker suggested methods of implementing this new system, including double-counting courses for different requirements, reducing elective requirements and altering core requirements.

As an alternative to a complete restructuring of the College’s standard course structure, Bass proposed a hy-

“Georgetown was more the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself.”

Kennedy Maker (COL ’18) College Academic Council Representative

brid system of 36 courses that would have a 5-3 course structure when a student begins taking courses required for his or her major. The structure would transition to a 4-4 system later on in order to preserve both breadth and depth.

In addition, Bass introduced the possibility of project-based minors in which some or all of the credits are awarded through projects rather than courses.

“We are trying to look at ways to assign credit to some of the richest experiential learning so it’s credit-

bearing for you and load-bearing for faculty,” Bass said.

Zahedi explained that the current 5-3 course structure does not offer equal opportunities to all students.

“One issue surrounding it all that the council discussed … was kind of the equity issue of this all. What if you came in with a lot of AP credit?”

Zahedi said. “Someone who doesn’t have that AP exposure in high school and then came in and didn’t have those credits and can really only take their requirements. [They would] never [have] the chance to take that one semester of four courses so they could intern.”

However, several panelists discussed the potential drawbacks of the 4-4 system, including the reduced ability for students to earn more than one major or take additional electives and possible negative effects on less popular departments.

Gillis said that the restructured system may also have negative consequences on a student’s grades.

“There are two consequences you also might think about if you are on a 4-4 versus a 5-3. [In] a 4-4 system, your GPA might be affected more by one class [or] two classes that don’t go as well as it would compared to the [5]-3. It would make a more profound impact up or down,” Gillis said.

“And I don’t know what your parent’s reaction would be, say, ‘Am I getting my money’s worth? I’m spending 60-something thousand dollars [for

you] to go to Georgetown and you’re only going to four classes.”

Although a straw poll taken at the meeting showed that the majority of attendees supported a change to Georgetown’s degree requirements, students had different reactions to the proposal.

Madeleine Ringwald (COL ’16) said that the 4-4 course structure would have both pedagogical as well as practical benefits, in terms of doublecounting course requirements.

“I do think double-counting classes between minors or across majors and minors is a really good way to combat … not having to reduce major requirements drastically,” Ringwald said. “And I also think if a sort of decrease in course requirement or totally eliminating course requirement were accompanied also by a broader consideration of cross-disciplinary learning. … That wouldn’t only benefit professors, that would benefit students.”

Contrarily, Benjamin Lillian (COL ’18) said that the current course structure allows for students to take a larger variety of courses.

“I feel that re-scaling to a 4-4 credit course system would seriously limit our ability as students to get a taste test of a bunch of the huge academic variety of these fields that there are before we choose to specialize in the right one and I feel that that might rush us … into picking something that [we] have not tried,” Lillian said.

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THE HOYA

Friday, February 20, 2015

Persistent HIV Epidemic Anti-Prejudice Laws Challenged Prompts New Partnership Maureen Tabet Hoya Staff Writer

Lucy Prout

ment that ranges from mental health counseling to a larger scope of testing services.

Hoya Staff Writer “We know that nationally, the only group Although HIV rates in Washington, D.C., that has seen an actual increase in HIV is have steadily declined since 2008, above-aver- young gay and bisexual men. Therefore, we age rates continue to persist throughout the know that addressing HIV among youth District, leading to renewed efforts by city of- is critically important and is going to be a ficials and organizations to fight the disease. main focus. We are going to continue to have According to the most recent survey con- that focus,” Whitman-Walker spokesperson ducted by the D.C. Department of Health, Shawn Jain said. new diagnoses fell to 497 in 2013 from 680 Jain explained that the organizations will new cases in 2012. There were 722 reported target the most marginalized communities incidents in 2011 and 1,180 in 2008. in D.C. by combining the broad base of health Jeffrey Crowley, Program Director of the care from Whitman-Walker Health Center National HIV/AIDS Initiative at the O’Neill with the youth focus of Metro TeenAIDS. Institute for National and Global Health Law, “Now that Metro TeenAIDS programs will attributed the decline in new diagnoses to continue under Whitman-Walker, we will be the D.C. government’s efforts to promote able to add wrap-around services and greater HIV testing and screening. He explained that offerings to youth including medical care, the government has also taken extra steps to substance abuse services and mental health make insurance available, even before the Af- services,” Jain said. “We know that you can’t fordable Care Act went into effect. just address HIV with condoms and testing. It “This is a moment of opportunity for mak- requires a full-throttled effort that addresses ing major progress in responding to HIV,” issues in various areas of people’s lives.”

Crowley wrote in an email. “We have been MTA Executive Director Adam Tenner following a national strategy echoed Jain, noting the wellthat calls for collective action rounded health care that to more effectively deploy the partnership will be able a variety of prevention apto provide. proaches, building on the “Over the last several Affordable Care Act to get years we have been develall people with HIV in care oping a broader agenda to and on treatment and workaddress the health and welling to ensure that harmful ness needs for young people laws that criminalize HIV in our community,” Tenner are eliminated and that we said in a press release. “HIV remove barriers that keep continues to be a critical people from accessing prehealth issue for teens. But vention and care services. We the epidemic has evolved are making real progress, and we believe that we need but we need all Americans to SHAWN JAIN a more holistic approach.”

Whitman-Walker spokesperson remain actively engaged in A primary focus of the this effort.” partnership will be fighting The National Institute of Health’s “Test and the persistent negative perceptions surroundTreat” model has further shown the effective- ing the disease. ness of the current technologies existing to “Addressing stigma is going to be a huge treat HIV. part of it — the stigma around testing, around However, the most recent D.C. Department disclosing one’s HIV status, around seeking of Health reports estimate the number of D.C. out treatment. This continues to be a barrier. citizens living with HIV to be 16,594 people, The development of new biomedical inter72.9 percent of them male and 27.1 percent ventions that can help prevent HIV is going female. The most recent data from summer to become critically important but we need to 2014 indicates 2.5 percent of the city’s popu- get people there,” Jain said. lation living with HIV, a rate that falls within While the Whitman-Walker Institute has the World Health Organization’s definition not set any particular goals, such as New York’s of a “severe epidemic.” plan to end HIV by 2020, they welcome conTo lower these rates, city organizations crete plans from the government, though Jain have forged new programs. The most promi- acknowledged that eradication will be difficult. nent development was the Feb. 2 announce“We know that if everyone were to get into ment of a partnership between the Whitman- treatment, who are HIV positive and know Walker Health Center, a community health their status, we would be able to stop the center in Ward 2 that served 1,800 youths in epidemic,” Jain said. “We also know that is in2014, and Metro TeenAIDS, the only nonprofit credibly hard if not impossible to achieve so organization in the District focusing on com- we keep that as a goal, but at the same time bating the disease in the youth population. we really hope to find other interventions The partnership aims to tackle the root of that will help bring down the rate of new dithe HIV epidemic in youth and provide treat- agnoses.”

“We know that addressing HIV among youth is critically important and is going to be a main focus.”

Disability Funding gugugug

Prominent conservative and Catholic groups are urging Congress to overturn a pair of laws passed by the D.C. Council last year that prevent discrimination in the workplace based on contraceptive use or sexual orientation.

The Reproductive Health NonDiscrimination Amendment Act of 2014 prevents employers from taking action against workers, specifically from demoting or firing employees, based on their decision to use birth control or to seek an abortion, while the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014 prevents religious educational institutions from discriminating against those who identify as LGBTQ. Both unanimously passed by the Council and signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, the laws are currently under congressional review.

Fifteen conservative and Catholic groups sent a letter to Congress on Feb. 5 urging them to overturn the laws, claiming that they violate freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of association under the First Amendment and other federal legislation.

D.C. Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) defended the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act, saying that it would prevent mistreatment of workers who have used contraception or had an abortion.

“This protects the everyday workers that are working in these institutions. When somebody may get wind that a worker went out and used contraception or had an abortion and that doesn’t give with the employer, that doesn’t mean that they can fire the person,” Grosso said.

Republican leaders of Congress, including Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Oh.), who met with Mayor Bowser regarding the issue, wanted to amend the act to include that employers do not have to provide insurance for contraception.

Grosso said he believes these demands are irrelevant to the main ideas behind the legislation.

“We were like, this is ridiculous. It has nothing to do with the law that we passed,” Grosso said. “I think it would just codify something that we don’t want codified in our laws in the District of Columbia. It may still come up in March, but I’m going to probably work against it at that time and I think that my colleagues would support me.”

Grosso also introduced the Human Rights Amendment Act to repeal the Armstrong Amendment of 1989, which created an exemption allowing religious educational institutions ways to avoid following the gay non-discrimination law in the District.

The Armstrong Amendment was first passed after a case filed under the D.C. Human Rights Act forced Georgetown University to recognize a gay student organization. Although the D.C. Council and the court supported the student group, Congress passed the Armstrong Amendment, siding with Georgetown.

Despite Georgetown’s original involvement with the Armstrong Amendment, the university has not signed this repeal.

Director of Media Relations Rachel Pugh expressed the university’s compliance with D.C. laws, specifically highlighting the Human Rights Amendment Act. “The Catholic and Jesuit tradition that animates our university emphasizes the inherent dignity and worth of all persons and calls us each to do our part to foster well-being, civility and respect for all members of our community.

We thoughtfully comply with local D.C. laws and will continue to do so,” Pugh wrote in an email.

Despite Georgetown’s abstention from signing the repeal, it still denies certain student groups affiliation with and benefits from the university based on its Catholic principles.

“We have held to the principle of not granting access to benefits to student groups whose core mission is directly contrary to Catholic teaching. As a Catholic and Jesuit institution, Georgetown cannot support organizations whose stated purpose conflicts with Catholic moral teaching,” Pugh wrote. “For that reason, H*yas for Choice, a group whose constitution espouses ‘advocating for reproductive choice,’ is not eligible for access to university benefits.”

Grosso said that the potential denial of the Human Rights Amendment Act would exacerbate discrimination against the LBGTQ community.

“Unfortunately, like every other law in the District of Columbia that law had to go up for congressional review so it’s up for review now, but these conservative groups who I think just want to discriminate against the LGBTQ community decided that they were going to propose it,” Grosso said.

The backlash against the two laws originated from the disapproval of local Catholic and conservative groups but spread to national organizations. Among the 15 groups who signed the letter were Heritage Action for America, the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage, representatives from the Catholic University of America, the Archdiocese of Washington and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Lawrence Morris, General Counsel of The Catholic University of America, said that repealing the Human Right Act would force universities to change their approach to student life and education.

“Regarding the Human Rights Amendment Act, the original bill recognized the freedom of religious universities such as The Catholic University of America to shape their educational environments in ways that are consistent with the teaching of the church. Repeal of this protection could force us into decisions regarding personnel or student life that would contradict such teaching,” Morris said.

Morris confirmed that, while they will not file a lawsuit, they will defend themselves against the new legislation.

“We do not expect to initiate a lawsuit over the new legislation, as we do not consider the laws to require us to do anything that contravenes our First Amendment freedoms. But we will vigorously defend ourselves, relying both on the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, in the event that a party brings an action against us grounded on the council’s legislation,” Morris said.

In order to overturn these two bills in Congress, the House and Senate would have to pass a resolution of disapproval, which would also have to be signed by President Barack Obama. Grosso said this sequence of events is unlikely.

Even if no resolution is passed, the groups aiming to repeal the bills could attach a rider to another piece of legislation, which they have done with other controversial issues in the past, including marijuana. The appeal for congressional intervention has provoked criticism from D.C. home rule advocates.

“I just find it bizarre that there is so much attention being paid for amendments that were trying to make to our Human Rights Act that we believe are just and right for the people of the District of Columbia, but that’s the way it goes,” Grosso said.

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THE HOYA

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Iconoclastic Pair Capture GUSA, Students’ Fancy Mallika Sen Hoya Staff Writer

Sunday night finds the Healey Family Student Center nearly exceeding capacity and Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Connor Rohan (COL ’16) on a quest to find a private space to conduct an interview for this article.

Frustrated in this endeavor, their offer to perform an interpretive dance in lieu of a traditional sit-down interview is cut short by a passerby: “Luther-Rohan, big fan!”

“I had random people taking pictures with me last night,” Rohan said later. “Quoting our campaign, you walk down the street and you hear it from the windows, like a musical.”

Each year, the Georgetown University Student Association executive race produces candidates proudly touting their extensive experience within the organization, or emphasizing their fresh perspective. This year, the annual clash between the GUSA insider and the GUSA outsider has been toppled askance by the entrance of a third category — the GUSA iconoclast, who proved to be the eventual victors.

Luther and Rohan won the 2015 executive race, whose results were announced just past 1 a.m. Friday, with 1,693 votes, after leading all rounds in the single-transferable vote system. With a decidedly unorthodox approach, their victory marks a departure for the GUSA executive.

Changetopia In their bid for the GUSA presidency and vice presidency, Luther and Rohan targeted the apathetic, fatigued and jaded with their satiric promise of a “Youtopia” — interchangeable with “______ topia” (pronounced “blanktopia”) — a perfect Georgetown where every whim will be satisfied.

“There are a lot of campaigns that try to make a mockery of the system and the way people treat it, and while we are trying to make a lot of commentary about the GUSA process and the way people approach it and how alienating it is to people, we are also trying to make commentary about Georgetown itself through what we’re doing,” Luther said.

The ticket’s unorthodox approach was a means to an end, but with their triumph, the pair does not plan to make a mockery of GUSA. “We’re very careful to not have much farce. Farce doesn’t have anything underlying, but the way that I see it is that a lot of people don’t listen to the other candidates. They know of them, and might support them because they know someone in their campaign, but they don’t read their platform,” Rohan said. “We’re presenting issues in such a way where, maybe there’s not as much very clear content but at the same time we’re pressing very important issues … through a medium that makes people want to read it, and they want to think about it and talk about it and want to laugh.”

Nine of the 10 tenets of the published

Luther-Rohan platform are, as Rohan put it, “impossible,” with the 10th tenet encompassing health and safety reforms. Now that they have been elected, the pair will assume office, but they face two large obstacles: a failed confirmation by the GUSA Senate and a demonstrated unwillingness of university administrators to work with the pair.

“Just because we have a mandate from the public doesn’t mean that people are willing to work with us, and we want to make sure people are willing to work with us and hear us out before stepping up,” Rohan said.

Luther and Rohan have prepared an alternate agenda for their term as GUSA executive, with a major focus on transparency and mobilization.

“I think GUSA’s biggest failing is that it really does not mobilize the student base well. At the end of the day GUSA’s power really does not lie in one or two individuals and the executive positions and senators,” Luther said. “Its power lies in mobilizing the people and informing them, to [let them] have a say [in] what’s going on in the universe. The only time I’ve seen GUSA mobilize people was last year during the satellite campus debate, and I think that’s in part because people are so turned off by GUSA and how they approach issues.”

Heckling, Reinvigorated Perhaps nothing has recently captured the fancy of a large swath of the student body as the resurrected Georgetown Heckler. The genesis of the LutherRohan campaign lay in the Georgetown Improv Association, which brought the pair together last year upon Rohan’s transfer from George Mason University, and in the satire publication, which gave them the notoriety and push to run. Luther serves as editor-in-chief, while Rohan is a managing editor.

Luther and Rohan both joined the flailing online publication last winter, which began to revive with Twitter coverage of the 2014 GUSA executive election, an achievement entirely orchestrated by Luther. His performance was enough for graduating editor-in-chief Henry Thaler (COL ’14) to eschew the established hierarchy and hand control to the eager upstart.

“I just felt like, with Joe, not only was he enthusiastic, but he was really funny, and he wanted to expand the Heckler and take it to a whole another level,” Thaler said. “Joe understood that a lot of people would love to read funny things about what’s going on in the Georgetown community, and because he’s plugged in he gets it and is able to put a funny spin on it.”

The revitalization, which includes a commitment to posting at least one new piece a day, has caused readership to grow from 100 unique views to 10,000 in a matter of months. Facebook posts easily attain over 100 likes, far exceeding those of traditional campus media. “[We] heard Connor [at the vice presidential debate] talk a lot about engagement, how powerful our voice can be and kind of re-engage the students,

KATHLEEN GUAN FOR THE HOYA

Joe Luther (COL ’16), left, and Connor Rohan (COL ’16) celebrate after the success of their satirical Youtopia campaign. The pair attempted to engage jaded voters by criticizing the association for being out of touch. whereas previous GUSA executives have failed at that. Even though what they’re doing is kind of satirical, it is kind of like the proving ground,” Heckler editorial board member Craig Levites (COL ’17), a campaign staffer, said. “If we can get that done during the campaign, if we can engage those people who are traditionally apathetic, I think there’s no reason why we can’t do it when we’re in office because I think we’ve been very successful at that so far.”

This familiarity with the mindset of the Georgetown student body reflects Luther’s background. Besides Improv and the Heckler, Luther has been involved in the Blue and Gray Tour Guide Society, New Student Orientation and Students of Georgetown, Inc. as director of marketing for Vital Vittles.

“Joe, I don’t think people realize, he is as much of a Mr. Georgetown as he is. His sister went here, so it’s all in the family. … He kind of runs this place and people don’t know it,” campaign staffer Emlyn Crenshaw (COL ’15) said. Crenshaw is also the executive producer of Improv and a member of the Heckler editorial board. “And Connor, if you’ve ever talked to Connor, you know he is extremely dynamic and passionate. He’s so driven that it’s almost scary. I think if there was some GUSA initiative that he wanted to get done, or if he had to get into a meeting about Aramark and was advocating for students in a room full of administrators, I know that Connor Rohan would be extremely vocal.”

Verity In pursuing the GUSA executive positions Luther and Rohan follow in the footsteps of successful, high-profile satirical campaigns at Harvard College and Oxford University.

In 2013, then-juniors Sam Clark and Gus Mayopoulos won their executive

race for the Harvard Undergraduate Council, having asserted they would resign if elected; Clark indeed stepped down, but Mayopoulos did not — and he thus ascended to the presidency.

“I think everybody was pretty surprised [when we won]. I think the people that voted for us were happy and I think a mix of that was some people were disillusioned with the student government and wanted to see something new go on,” Mayopoulos, whose term finished at the end of last year, told The Hoya. “I think some people just wanted to see the show go on and wanted to see out of morbid curiosity what would happen if you put a completely untrained person in a position of power, mild power.”

Harvard and its UC were plagued with many of the same problems Georgetown and GUSA faces: apathy, lack of communication and a divide between a largely forward-thinking student body and a conservative administration. Mayopoulos, who wrote for Harvard satire publication Satire V, was not a stranger to the substantive issues, but willingly tackled the UC’s learning curve.

“I think I knew less about the council than any other president before or even after this. I couldn’t micromanage because I had none of the knowledge necessary to do it and so most of my executive board was given pretty free range to do whatever they wanted in their capacities, so I think the different committee chairs appreciated it,” Mayopoulos said. “I don’t think they felt lack of guidance, but I think it was an exciting opportunity for them to take control of their committees in a very whole way.”

To ameliorate communication between the council and the student body, Mayopoulos’ team employed humor to

attract the attention of students; in all other cases, UC proceedings continued in a professional and largely serious manner under his leadership, eliciting the respect of students and administrators — with one minor hiccup.

“When we met with [Harvard University President Drew Faust], the first thing she said was, ‘Where is your costume?’ because I had worn a Napoleon costume to all of the council meetings,” Mayopoulos said. “The second time I met with her, I did wear the Napoleon costume — I think there was definitely an association of me being a joke.”

“The weird thing is, I think, in my opinion, [Luther and Rohan] are quite a bit sharper with their criticism and their satire,” Mayopoulos said. “I think we were more weird — we would say things that were just nonsensical — whereas the ‘Youtopia’ idea seems to be taking specific shots at real issues, which frankly seems like a better way to go about it than we did. For a long time, just because it seemed so ridiculous to us, we never planned on being serious contenders.”

As Luther and Rohan prepare to take office, they claim that neither legitimacy nor humor will be sacrificed, but the pair, who can officially claim the titles of iconoclasts, will certainly be a large change for GUSA. “Satire doesn’t mean that we’re not being serious,” Rohan said.

“I think there’s a very large difference between taking yourself seriously and taking your job seriously,” Luther added. “I think that, for years, people were really alienated by how seriously the GUSA crowd takes themselves, and I think that’s really hindered their ability to do their jobs, so we think, by taking a different approach by how we’re treating ourselves, it has no implication about how we’d treat the job.”

Satire, From Harvard to GUSA NAIMUN Succeeds Despite Dance Incident Mallika Sen Hoya Staff Writer

The election of Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Connor Rohan (COL ’16) to the Georgetown University Student Association executive elicited comparisons to the 2013 election of Sam Clark and Gus Mayopoulos to the Harvard Undergraduate Council.

Both campaigns wielded satire to highlight deep-seated issues germane to their respective institutions; Clark and Mayopoulos had, however, indicated that they would resign, if elected. Clark did indeed resign, but Mayopoulos chose to stay, becoming president.

He spoke to The Hoya a week before the election, reflecting upon his campaign and presidency, and offered thoughts on the Luther-Rohan ticket.

What are your general thoughts about the ticket? Was there anything that sort of struck your attention, or that you thought was similar to the way you approached your campaign?

I think, as in most cases, it looks like the satire is born out of frustration or discontent with the way

things are currently being done.

What’s interesting about satire is, well, it’s very useful in pointing out the problems; it is less useful in solving the problems.

From what I could tell, the other candidates were all celebrating Georgetown to some extent or at least the student government or the students, and this ticket has decided to take a more critical stance toward the whole situation.

I think that is just something that I’m sure they’re thinking about — me and my partner Sam considered ‘How do you deal with after the election, if you do win?

How can you shift your message once pointing out the problems is no longer your job, but providing solutions is?’

How did you go about providing those solutions? What was the transition like for you? It was a last-minute decision for you not to resign. How easy was it to assume power?

I think there were a couple of transitions that had to be made.

The most obvious was getting along with the rest of the student government, because in a lot of ways, Sam

and I had been some of a destructive force during the election.

We were mostly there to make fun of everyone and everything, and the Undergraduate Council, which is our student government, took the brunt of it, which we maintained wasn’t their fault but was rather the result of sort of having not a lot power when it came to making decisions at the school — mostly, because for all of its liberalness, Harvard is actually a very conservative administration and does not enjoy change. They are hesitant to follow the lead of the students too much and so my first job was to smooth things over with a group of people that I had to work with now.

A lot of that went pretty well, a lot of that I had to credit to my vice president who really took everything in stride. He was elected by the council, because when I became president, we left a vacancy in the vice presidency, and I thought he was really ready to work with me.

I’m curious, if these two candidates won, if they would both stay on or if they have two different opinions between themselves like how Sam and myself did. What it means to run as a joke and if you win what responsibilities do you have.

Did you expect to win at all?

I think it was about two days before the election results came out.

Around that time, we talked about what it would mean and how we would deal with [winning]. Sam was involved in far too much to have time for student government, but I thought I could take it on. But it wasn’t until the very end that we were like this might be a thing.

MADELINE LEAR/THE CRIMSON

Gus Mayopoulos dons a Napoleon costume during his successful satirical campaign for the Harvard student executive in 2013.

Having completed your term, would you have any precautions or advice to this ticket if they were to take office?

I think they seem like they can handle it, but if they’re serious they should really go for it and it seems like they really are. It seems like it’s an exciting race.

See the full interview online at thehoya.com.

Matthew Larson Hoya Staff Writer

Despite a disturbance involving the intoxication of two high school delegates, The Georgetown International Relations Association’s 52nd North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference, which took place from Feb. 12 to 15, succeeded as the largest in history.

The alleged incident took place on the night of Feb. 14 before the start of the planned two-and-a-half-hour delegate dance. When NAIMUN staff discovered the issue, they immediately ended the dance at around 11 p.m., one-and-a-half hours into the event. Secretary General Andrew Lyu (SFS ’16) and Executive Director Aaron Lewis (MSB ’16) decided to stop the proceedings to ensure the safety of the other delegates.

“This was an isolated incident of two delegates who were severely intoxicated,” GIRA Chairman and CEO Pavan Rajgopal (SFS ’14) wrote in an email. “The safety of other participants was never at risk.”

Lyu and Lewis both declined to comment on the specifics of the situation, including possible punishments, due to privacy and health concerns for those affected. In addition, neither would identify the names or delegation of the intoxicated persons.

“Thank you NAIMUN attendees for your patience and understanding tonight. On the evening of Feb. 14, 2015, there was an isolated incident of intoxication,” Lyu wrote in a statement posted on NAIMUN’s website that night. “Here at NAIMUN, our top priority is to ensure the safety of all delegates; therefore, the executive decision was made to end the delegate dance early.

We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The situation has since been under control, and there are no further safety concerns. We thank you again for your patience.”

NAIMUN Director of Programming Cheryl Lau (SFS ’16) would not go into detail about the incident. She did, however, emphasize that the attendees were never in harm’s way and were not affected by what occurred.

“The measures we took to cut short the dance and implement curfew right away was done smoothly,” Lau wrote. “Moderators and delegates understood the necessity

of the measures we took and were pleased with the overall quality of the conference.”

Lewis said that the conference was a success despite the setback due to the hard work put in by Georgetown staffers, who numbered around 200.

“We have good conferences and bad conferences,” Lewis said. “That usually correlates to the staff that we have. This year, we were fortunate enough to have an amazing staff who was diligent and on top of their game and I think that’s reflected in the quality of the conference.”

This year, staffers organized visits to various government agencies and local landmarks around the city for delegates to attend as a bonus for attending the conference. They included tours of the White House, Pentagon, Capital, Supreme Court and Smithsonian Museums.

“A year’s worth of time goes into preparing for the whole [conference],” Lewis said. “[And] all of our programming went really well, that was a huge point for us.”

NAIMUN’s organizers ran a program to collect money for Doctors Without Borders, which raised over $15,000 for the charity.

Merchandising sales, which help fund the conference, were over $18,000. Lewis credits these to the large number of delegates that were able to attend NAIMUN. In recent years, the conference had not reached its full capacity because of weatherrelated events. The 2014 conference faced heavy snowstorms, which caused one-third of the 150 attending delegations to arrive late, missing the first committee session.

This year, the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue filled with 3,000 students and teachers.

“Past years have been difficult because there have been snowstorms and that hindered us,” Lewis said. “But this year, everyone who signed up for the conference attended the conference, literally every single person.”

The planning for NAIMUN next year will begin in early March after new elections for the secretary general and executive director. However, Lewis does not expect many changes, as the format of the conference will not change.

“I have ideas on what to do differently, what to improve, what to change, so that’s all in my head,” Lewis said. “[But] year over year, the conference is always very similar.”

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THE HOYA

friday, February 20, 2015

Up to Us Competition Focuses Attention on National Debt Emily Tu

Special to The Hoya

A team of Georgetown students will compete in this year’s third annual Up to Us competition, a nationwide campus program with 44 participating universities and colleges that aims to increase student engagement with the country’s fiscal issues beginning Jan. 26.

The team, led by Erica Tsai (MSB ’17) and composed of members Charles Evain (SFS ’17), Elizabeth Tse (SFS ’17), Nicholas Werner (MSB ’17) and Karl Yee (MSB ’17), is one of 44 groups selected from across the U.S. to implement campaigns that inspire action on the nation’s rising long-term debt.

At the end of the four-week campaigns, a judging panel will assess each team on its effectiveness in increasing student involvement and promoting action. This year’s panel of judges incorporates leaders in government, media, issue advocacy and policy, including Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation Chelsea Clinton.

The winning team will be awarded a $10,000 cash prize and receive recognition from former President Bill Clinton at the upcoming Clinton Global Initiative University 2015 meeting at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., which will take place from March 6 to 8.

Up to Us is essential in developing an understanding of fiscal problems as multifaceted issues, Tsai said.

“The national debt exists; that cannot be disputed,” Tsai wrote in an

email to The Hoya. “But there are so many ways of viewing the national debt. Some see it as a burden and a problem that needs to be fixed, but cannot be fixed, while others view it as something that’s actually helped our nation and is an integral part of our economy.”

Tsai emphasized the opportunity that the competition provides for students to have a voice in the fiscal and economic future of the country.

“Here at Georgetown, we have such an educated and active student body,” Tsai wrote. “This competition is really a chance for all these students to pool together their ideas, whether they are conflicting or complimentary.”

Up to Us is organized by the nonprofits Net Impact and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in partnership with the CGI University.

Since the competition’s establishment, the size of the field has doubled each year, from 10 colleges participating in 2013 to 22 in 2014 and finally this year’s 44, according to a press release from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. This is the first year that Georgetown students have participated in the competition.

“Net Impact believes this competition is important because it is much more than just a competition,” Net Impact Program Associate Samantha Ethridge wrote in an email. “It is a hightouch, holistic leadership program where students gain 21st-century skills that empower them to be highly impactful leaders on any issue area they tackle.”

Student teams that represented different universities applied to the competition as a group. Once selected to represent the university, Georgetown’s Up to Us team members received training in campaign management at Net Impact’s November 2014 conference in Minneapolis, Minn. The team members attended brainstorming and speaker sessions as well as met their competitors, according to Tse. “They [Net Impact] embedded a lot of the training in that conference,” Tse said. “They brought in PR specialists to teach us how to effectively market our campaign. They gave us a lot of ideas about how to run a fun campaign, not just one that’s serious, or political, but one that is educational; and we thought that people at Georgetown would respond well.”

The Georgetown team’s campaign will incorporate giveaways — including a $500 Amazon gift card — informational pamphlets and a pledge signifying awareness of the issue to encourage community engagement. The pledge has acquired 20 signatures out of the desired 1,000 as of press time since its Jan. 26 posting on the team’s Facebook page, according to Tsai.

All teams will take part in My Two Cents Day on Feb. 12, a national day of action aiming to engage a significant proportion of university student bodies in underscoring the urgency of the country’s fiscal problems. The day’s events will include graffiti walls, photo booths, social media posts and further promotion of the pledge.

FACEBOOK

Erica Tsai (MSB ’17), center, and a team of four other students are participating in the Up to Us competition to address national debt issues.

Net Impact has high expectations for this year’s participating teams, according to Ethridge.

“Ultimately, what we hope to see from this year’s competition is a cohort of students who have a thorough understanding of how their generation can really be a true catalyst for change,” Ethridge wrote. “I hope to

see a group of empowered student leaders who will continue to innovate, plan strategically and act collectively to create positive social change on their campus and beyond.”

Tse highlighted the personal benefits the Up to Us competition will bring to the team members and their excitement at participating.

NHS Chosen as CDC’s Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health Kristen Fedor Hoya Staff Writer

The School of Nursing and Health Studies was chosen to be the academic home for the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earlier this month.

The center will act as a Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit for Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. These units address environmentally related pediatric health issues using a variety of methods, including increased education and consultations for professionals and the public. The units were created in response to events in the 1990s when physicians around the country were unable to diagnose poisoning from mercury vapor and pesticide exposure.

The new PEHSU at Georgetown is

one of 10 centers across the country.

Additionally, there are two PEHSUs in Canada and Mexico.

Before its relocation to Georgetown, the region’s PEHSU was housed at the Children’s National Medical Center, which is affiliated with The George Washington University.

NHS associate professor Laura Anderko, who serves as the Robert and Kathleen Scanlon Chair in ValuesBased Health Care, will act as the head of the pediatric center and has received $700,000 in funding from the CDC to be used over the next five years.

Anderko explained the types of pediatric health issues that the MidAtlantic Center will deal with, including several harmful environmental factors that affect children in the area.

“There are thousands of chemicals and other environmental exposures that can be harmful to children, but some of the more common exposures in the Region 3 area include lead poi-

soning from exposures within homes and schools, pesticide poisoning and environmental health impacts as a result of climate change, such as poor air quality and asthma,” Anderko wrote in an email.

Anderko currently serves as an associate professor in epidemiology and public and environmental health. She was also named a White House Champion of Change in 2013 for her work regarding climate-related health effects and has served on the Environmental Protection Agency’s federal advisory committee.

Georgetown University Medical Center Executive Vice President Howard J. Federoff said that the NHS is well equipped to handle the program.

“This is a critical program designed to protect the health of our children.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies and Dr. Anderko have a successful track record of taking the latest scientific knowledge to the

Asubuhi Celebrates 25 Years Alicia Che

Special to The Hoya

This year marks the 25th year of the publication of Asubuhi, the semi-annual newsletter from the African Studies Program of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

The newsletter varies in length from 5 to 20 pages and is published at the beginning of each semester.

Staffers include a variety of students and professors, who work in tandem to publish a physical and online version of the newsletter for consumption. The work is distributed throughout campus in a paper copy, sent via email to alumni and students and is also available on the African Studies Program website.

The newsletter has recorded the collective journey of the students, faculty and alumni involved in the program and will continue to serve as an important communication channel for those interested in African affairs in the Georgetown community.

Asubuhi, whose name was derived from the Swahili word meaning “morning,” published its first issue April 1990. It corresponded to the changes in the university during the decade, which included a rising interest in African affairs among the student body and increasing opportunities for students to be directly engaged in Africa-related programs. In addition, events in Africa, such as the apartheid in South Africa and the growing condemnation from the international community, also attracted Georgetown’s attention.

“Georgetown’s African Studies was increasing in size — both enrollments and course offerings — in the mid-1980s. I hoped that Asubuhi would help to publicize the program’s offer-

ings and to link faculty and students together,” former African Studies program director Herbert M. Howe wrote in an email. “Students increasingly were studying in Africa during their junior year, and Asubuhi could keep them linked to the African Studies program while helping to publicize the study abroad programs.”

The newsletter’s regular features include the coverage of available Africa-related programs, past and upcoming events, notable activities in the African Studies Pro-

“Its role is to provide current events cataloging and updates our various constituencies.”

Scott Taylor African Studies Program Director

gram and studying and working opportunities in Africa. It also profiles some of the students and alumni engaged in works related to African development.

“Its role is to provide current events cataloging and updates our various constituencies — current and former students, faculties and colleagues,” Associate Professor and African Studies Program Director Scott D. Taylor said. “[Asubuhi is] a good communication tool and a good benchmark of how well we are doing in terms of our activities and outreach.”

Currently, Asubuhi is available both in the online version and in paper copies around campus.

Among many changes concerning Asubuhi that happened over the years, the shift in audience has been

one of the defining trends.

From a largely internal and program-centric publication at the beginning, Asubuhi has slowly expanded to acquire a wider audience outside of the program and the School of Foreign Service, reaching the entire Georgetown community, as reflected in the diverse range of content it now covers.

“It has evolved into as much an internal as an external publication,” Taylor said. “Someone who is not necessarily an alumnus of African Studies Program or is not related to the program might also be interested in seeing what’s happening out there.”

The students and staff members working on the publication have also made conscious efforts to stay upto-date with current events and address the key issues happening in the continent.

For instance, Taylor discussed the Ebola outbreak and the significant challenge it presents to Africa in the Director’s Message for the last Asubuhi issue.

Esiwahomi Ozemebhoya (COL ’15), a co-editor of Asubuhi who has been involved in the newsletter for four years, believes that Asubuhi will continue to play an important role in promoting interests and awareness in African affairs among members of the Georgetown community, particularly in view of the rise of the African economy, which demonstrates its huge growth potential.

“There has been a time of history when Africa has been mostly ignored. However, now with the emerging markets in several countries of Africa, people start to notice that Africa is growing at a rapid rate, and they want to be a part of this,” Ozemebhoya said.

Overall, Taylor believes that 25 years is an important milestone as Asubuhi”seeks to reinvent itself and adapt to new changes.

community to protect those who are most vulnerable,” Federoff wrote in an email. “The CDC has recognized that and has selected Georgetown to lead this important regional effort.”

In recent years, the NHS has made several additions to expand its offerings regarding environmental health. The undergraduate minor in environmental and occupational health was introduced a few years ago, and this fall, the NHS launched a graduate-level certificate in the field.

Additionally, the university has made the issue a campus-wide priority with the launch of the Georgetown Environment Initiative after receiving an anonymous $20 million donation in 2012, which the school used to hire new faculty members.

Interim NHS Dean Patricia Cloonan commented on how the Georgetown PEHSU provides NHS students with new opportunities to explore environmental health issues.

“We have been creating meaning-

ful inter-professional educational opportunities for our students at NHS and medical students. An environmental effort focused on children’s health seems like a good place to expand this collaborative work and engage students across the health professions,” Cloonan wrote in an email.

According to Cloonan, the PEHSU will contribute to the university’s Jesuit values.

“The School of Nursing and Health Studies has a long tradition, reflecting this university’s Catholic, Jesuit identity, of advancing the health and well-being of individuals and communities with a special emphasis on the underserved and vulnerable. Having a center that seeks to minimize the health burden kids face due to environmental risks is a perfect fit for this longstanding commitment,” Cloonan wrote.

Hoya Staff Writer Lucy Pash contributed reporting.

Business & tech

Friday, FEBRUARY 20, 2015

THE HOYA

A9

McCourt Students Win Policy Challenge With App APPSENT, from A10

FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

Five students at the McCourt School won the Public Policy Challenge by designing an app to address D.C. public school attendance.

shape of the future

Robotic Technology Continues Progress CHISHOLM, from A10 and non-life, whatever that means for them.

Less humanoid technology may perhaps be less triggering to our instinctual reaction to fear outsiders, but they are nonetheless remarkable and full of use. “Caregiving robotics” also encompasses mobility assistance for patients in need of rehabilitation or with weak legs and can even take the form of so-called muscle suits donned by the caregivers to assist in lifting, carrying or bathing patients. Easily transported from home to home and presenting no threatening or austere attributes, these innovations demonstrate subtlety and grace. We will not so much compete with technology as embody it.

Fascinating as these innovations may be, they are not enough by themselves to justify implementation: the real impetus has always been cold, hard necessity. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimated in 2010 that the next 15 years would see a near doubling of the need for caregiving personnel, a growth that will indubitably outpace traditional manpower.

Even against the tide of necessity, barriers to the flood of robotic implementation stand stalwart in the minds of the public. Opinion polls still produce ambiguous results as to whether people, especially older people, are truly receptive to robotic caretakers. “Care is something given with the human hand” — even I may be seduced to agree with such a statement.

Regardless, robotic technology will progress fearlessly because it is economically efficient, a concept that carries near-religious clout in the modern sphere of innovation.

Robots only have to be cheaper — not quicker or more skilled — at our jobs than we are in order to achieve common use.

For those readers who remain skeptical of any real benefit from robots beyond fleeting novelty, I must admit that I partially agree: I find the messenger bot which meanders the halls of Georgetown University Hospital delivering medications to be gimmicky, sluggish and decidedly not cute. Not all robots are created equally, however, as the astounding sophistication of other hospital implements, like those in roboticallyassisted surgery, is enough to obviate any such doubt.

Robotically-assisted surgery already exists in multiple D.C. hospitals.

In all of this excitement of creation, one question plagues me.

Even though I sense resistance to this technological revolution, I cannot be sure where in our hearts this bastion of anti-robot sentiment truly resides. If it is that we do not think we are in dire need of robotic assistance, other countries with different population parameters will be quick to prove otherwise.

If it is simple fear that robots will deceive us, manipulate us or ruin our livelihood, I remain optimistic and assured that with enough contrary evidence, others will drop their prejudice. If it is simply that we are not charmed, I argue that it is a matter of taste and exposure, for ever since my first I-Choose-You Pikachu as a seven-year-old, I have found non-life to be just as deserving of affection and respect, even if it does not work like I do.

Whatever our inhibitions, we cannot continue to set robots so distantly apart from humans.

Robots exist solely at our own behest and will become whatever we make of them. The least we could do is show them some gratitude, or maybe even a pat on the head — assuming they’re programmed to like it.

Celeste Chisholm is a senior in the College. SHAPE OF THE FUTURE appears every month.

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tential implementing partner who has agreed to use AppSent in its school if the app proves to be successful.

The selection process for the competition was carried out through a forum on Feb. 6. Each of the seven teams that competed was allotted 10 minutes to present its proposal to the judging panel. After a questionand-answer period, the judges voted on the proposals before meeting to determine final rankings.

McCourt School Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Mark Rom, who served as one of the competition judges, explained why AppSent was ultimately chosen as the winning proposal.

“There were several reasons we thought it was the highest quality among a number of high-quality presentations,” Rom said. “It addressed an important problem, and it offered a reasonable approach to that problem. There is a high likelihood that it could work; it could be tried out on a small-scale, and if it works it could be expanded. It included a good use of both technology and behavioral economics — all of these characteristics spoke very highly of it.”

Professors of public policy Bar-

bara Schone, Margaret O’Bryon, Micah Jenson, John Buttarazzi and Simone Bunse also served as judges, along with previous challenge competitors Suzanne Falk and Madeline Pongor.

The six other McCourt School teams developed policy interventions addressing a range of issues, from unlicensed and unregulated day care centers in Virginia to high rates of HIV infection in D.C. The AppSent team received $1000 in tuition scholarship through its winning proposal and will represent the McCourt School at the University of Pennsylvania’s 2015 Fourth Annual National Invitational Public Policy Challenge, held March 21 to 22.

The challenge is hosted annually by the Fels Institute of Government at Penn and sponsored by Governing Magazine.

The team’s travel expenses to Penn will be covered by the McCourt student travel fund.

The McCourt School at Georgetown has sent a team to this invitational for the past two years.

However, McCourt School Assistant Director of Student Affairs Jaclyn Clevenger noted this was the first year that McCourt hosted its own internal competition.

“For the past several years Penn

has hosted a National Invitational Challenge, inviting some of the country’s top public policy schools to compete against one another,” Clevenger wrote in an email. “I thought it would be very important for McCourt to host our own internal competition to encourage our students to learn more about local issues in D.C., but also to help prepare them for the National Challenge.”

At the national challenge in March, the proposals will be judged according to criteria regarding the articulation of the problem’s importance, the demonstrated potential impact of the initiative, the feasibility of the approach, the quality of the implementation plan and the quality of the final oral presentation.

The winning team will receive $10,000, with the three other finalists each receiving $5,000.

Koschorke emphasized the team’s excitement at being able to present its idea on a national stage.

“It’s nice that in the second semester of our graduate degree, we can see how far an idea that we’ve come up with, one we’ve developed an implementation plan for, can go in terms of a national response,” Koschorke said. “To actually come up with a policy intervention — it’s a first experience in that kind of process.”

SIPS Fund Adds New Initiatives SIPS, from A10 nizations as critical to forming a culture of entrepreneurship and creativity around campus. While most students find out about SIPS through its website, others find the program as a result of its on-campus partnerships.

“Sometimes we have students come to us, and we realize they may not be within our funding model, so we’ll send them to the Beeck Center or Corp Philanthropy,” Trivedi said.

“And in that same fashion, we’ve had projects come to us through the Beck Center and other organizations in campus. … What we’re all trying to do is build an entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus.”

One of the fund’s new leadership’s major goals is expansion, so they can guide and mentor more Georgetown students. To do so, the fund will begin soliciting additional donations.

“In a little while, we want to approach donors and other non-profits to see if they’d be interested in giving a lump sum of money to SIPS so that we could fund our students,” Trivedi said.

In addition, the fund has plans to

help connect students to non-profits in Washington. Trivedi also noted that helping more students generate grant proposals would be a focus for SIPS in the future.

“Our primary function is to give out grants and evaluate projects that students are applying to us for funding,” Trivedi said. “But we really want to get in the field of incubation to help students really form their ideas.”

One of the projects on which SIPS recently embarked and which could serve as a model for further expansion is a summer program in Burkina Faso called CERAP. Named after the Centre de Recherche et d’Action Pour la Paix, the Jesuit institution which SIPS partnered with for the program, the initiative aims to take some of the burden off of students who want to go abroad but are unable to fully develop a project on their own.

“It’s hard for a lot of students to come with a full grant idea and apply for funding, so we kind of created these avenues for students to get involved in social impact and innovation through programming that we had,” Trivedi said.

The crux of the fund’s activities, however, is the grants which it gives

out, having funded over $100,000 in student and alumni projects since its creation. Rice said that the organization is once again receiving a strong show of applications.

“Just leading up to this next round of funding we already have quite a large show of interest in terms of people applying for grants,” Rice said.

SIPS generally gets fewer than ten applications during the fall and winter funding cycles but receives more applications in the summer months.

Last summer the organization broke the record for most grantees funded in a round, granting around $25,000 to nine groups and seven individual scholars.

“The future looks promising with each funding round,” Rice said.

Most summer projects with SIPS are students going abroad to do service-oriented work. Some applicants are from student groups, like the Alternative Breaks Program, and some are from non-profits and small businesses that students have started themselves.

“There isn’t really a cookie cutter mold for SIPS applicants,” Rice said.

“We just want to hear your ideas, and we’ll work with you.”

Storefronts Transition on M St. TURNOVER, from A10 shoppers in the area, the Old Georgetown Board and the Commission of Fine Arts approved the development of a new affordable retail center in the parking lot at 3220 Prospect Street, located across from restaurants Mai Thai and Cafe Milano.

Though Cothran indicated the changes are common for an area like Georgetown, Adelaide Haase, a sales associate at Barbour, an English luxury brand with a store on M Street, said she noticed some differences in the characteristics of the area, specifically with regards to the addition of more affordable brands.

“In terms of the changes in Georgetown, I’ve been living in the area for two years, and specifically in Barbour I’ve heard from customers questions such as, ‘Where are all the high-end stores?’”

Haase said. “This used to be a really lux area of town, and living here there are still a lot of great places to shop, but I can also see how people wouldn’t necessarily be making that trek into Georgetown if high-end stores are leaving or if there is a change in the demographic of the shoppers.”

FILE PHOTO: DAN GANNON/THE HOYA Haase added that the changes Rhino Bar and Pumphouse announced that it will close when its lease around Barbour have not had a noends at the end of February, along with other area restaurant changes. ticeable impact on the store’s business.

Mr. Smith’s manager Ernesto C., students have been back,” Hardy said.

“It definitely fluctuates,” Haase who requested that his surname “It’s been great and definitely entersaid. “Our store in particular was exremain anonymous, said that the taining having a student base, and we tremely busy in December with the move was convenient for both Mr. love being here in Georgetown.” holidays, and I wouldn’t say that we Smith’s and Chadwick’s.

Elizabeth Borowiec (COL ’17) said noticed any kinds of changes.”

“It was the right timing for both that the changing environment In addition to changes in shopfor the takeover and for us to move with more affordable retailers was ping, the Georgetown neighborin, since they were looking for [a] friendlier to students, though she hood has also seen changes in resbuyer, and we were looking for [a] noted it was difficult for shops to taurants. new location,” Ernesto said. rely on the student population as Rhino Bar & Pumphouse, a reSimilar to the trend in clothing regular consumers. nowned spot for Georgetown stuestablishments, national chains are “It’s becoming a lot more student dents, announced its closure earentering the neighborhood, with friendly, for example, Forever 21 and lier this month, with the manager the recent prominent opening of H&M,” Borowiec said. “I thought expecting a national brand to take Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, a Dela- Kate Spade Saturday was a part of the bar’s place after the restaurant ware-based chain with 106 locations that, at least concerning jewelry, owner declined to pay the increased in 16 states, as a prime example. but I guess not. Honestly, I think it rent on the space.

Capriotti’s Manager Stephen Har- was just a bit too far of a walk for Last semester, local restaurant Mr. dy spoke about the steady increase the ideal student clientele to really Smith’s relocated from M Street to in business he has seen since the res- discover it.” the former location of Chadwick’s taurant’s Dec. 15 opening. on K Street. Both Mr. Smith’s reloca“Although it was a slow opening, Hoya Staff Writer Sarah Smith contion and Chadwick’s closure were we’ve gained some traction since the tributed reporting. the result of increasing rent.

Business & Tech FRIDAY, february 20, 2015

business bits aLUMNA SECURES “Shark Tank” OFFER

Georgetown alumna Christina “CC” Conrad (COL ’11) appeared on “Shark Tank” last week to premiere her new invention, the Boobypack, a sports bra that has waterproof pockets inside in order to hold and protect valuables. Kevin O’Leary offered her $80,000 for 0 percent equity but $10 per unit in perpetuity, with the perpetuity ending when he received $320,000, while Robert Herjavec offered $80,000 for 30 percent equity in her company. Refusing both of those offers, Conrad accepted Barbara Corcoran’s deal for $80,000 for 25 percent equity in the company.

The other sharks did not make offers.

Morgan Stanley CEO Discusses Financial Industry

James Gorman, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley since 2010, spoke with approximately 200 students, many of whom had already accepted full-time positions at the company, in Fisher Colloquium on Feb. 5. After noting that it can be difficult to stand out in such a competitive industry, Gorman stressed the importance of being passionate about your work. Recognizing how challenging and intellectually stimulating the financial industry can be, Gorman asked students to thoroughly research life and culture and Wall Street rather than just learning about the industry from movies and news articles.

City Disrupted Series Launched at SCS

The Urban and Regional Planning program at the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies launched a public lecture series, The City Disrupted, for spring 2015.

The lectures will address short-term changes in cities resulting from new technologies, economic changes, the environment, governance and new social networks. The lectures, which are free and open to the public, will explore the role of community stewardship in transforming cities. The series includes lectures addressing urban mobility, the effects on city planning and the influence of personal and community resilience on professional practices. All lectures will be held in the auditorium at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies.

MSB Center Will Discuss Updated Communications Act

The Center for Business and Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business will hold a breakfast discussion titled “Rewriting the Communication Act: An Introductory Event” on Feb. 24 at the National Press Club. The event will address the U.S. Congress’ plan to rewrite the Communications Act of 1934 in 2015, significantly affecting the digital economy in the United States. A panel of experts, including professor of business and public policy Larry Downes, professor of business John W. Mayo and adjunct professor Glenn Woroch, will also examine the political, economic, technological and policy-related aspects of current congressional efforts and explore the effects and uncertainties of the new Communications Act.

SIPS Fund Welcomes New Leaders Sarah Fisher

Special to The Hoya

The Social Innovation Public Service Fund inaugurated a new executive leadership team at the start of February, aiming to continue its steady expansion despite difficulties in raising awareness.

The SIPS Fund was founded in 2012 as a $1.5 million student-run endowment used to fund student and alumni projects with significant social impact. Applicants for grants were evaluated by the SIPS leadership team, which decides whether to fund the projects and how much funding each project should receive. Available funding comes from the interest the endowment earns.

While SIPS Executive Director Naman Trivedi (SFS ’16) will continue into a second yearlong term, Nirmal Maitra (NHS ’17) replaced Anna Frenzilli (COL ’16) as the managing director and Allison Heymann (SFS ’16) replaced Kyle Rice (SFS ’16) as the operations director.

Heymann said that her reasoning for becoming involved with SIPS was tied to ensuring Georgetown remained unique and forward-looking in its social impact.

“I want to … help guide, mentor and encourage these kinds of students, the ones who are looking to mix up the social, cultural and academic aspects of the university,” Heymann wrote in an email.

Trivedi said that the past year has seen significant expansion of the fund’s activities, adding new

DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

Managing Director Nirmal Maitra (NHS ’17), left, Executive Director Naman Trivedi (SFS ’16), center, and Operations Director Allison Heymann (SFS ’16) were inaugurated as the new SIPS executive board.. initiatives such as a summer scholarship to supplement students on high-impact, unpaid internships.

The program also gave out all available funding for the first time in its existence.

“I think some of the biggest changes are that we’ve gotten a lot

more innovative in our programming. Before, SIPS only had a single model in its approach, or how it involved students,” Trivedi said.

Over the past year, the organization has forged partnerships with numerous organizations around campus, including the Beeck Cen-

Students Win Policy Challenge

Hoya Staff Writer

The constantly shifting M Street landscape has seen the addition of several national retailers and the closure of established businesses over the past few months.

Georgetown Business Improvement District Communications

See SIPS, A9

SHAPE OF THE FUTURE

Emily Tu

“In our research there were a couple of things that emerged,” Jilani said. “One of them was D.C.’s low high school graduation rate, which is A group of five McCourt School of Public Pol- actually the lowest in the country. After that it icy graduate students won the McCourt Public was a process of investigating why the graduaPolicy Challenge with their proposal AppSent, tion rate is so low, and what the key predictors a mobile-based application designed to address for it are. We began thinking about innovative low high-school graduation rates in D.C. schools. policy intervention that could address, in the The winning team included medium- to long-term, high Natalie Duarte (GRD ’16), Naschool dropouts.” hal Jalali (GRD ’16), Amir Jilani Roster explained how she (GRD ’16), Julian Koschorke and fellow team members con(GRD ’16) and Kirstin Roster sulted various experts as they (GRD ’16). developed their proposal.

The app aims to address poor “Once we decided that we academic performance and wanted to address the issue of absenteeism as precursors for the dropout rate, we spoke to D.C.’s low high school gradusome people who were experts Amir Jilani (GRD ’16) ation rates, using a platform on the field, including the ecoAppSent Co-Creator aimed at creating effective nomics lab here on campus,” communication between teachers, students and Roster said. “In collaboration with those exguardians. perts, we decided that we wanted to focus on According to Jilani, the students developed technology specifically, which is how we started AppSent in response to the prompt for the com- thinking about AppSent.” petition, which required that each proposal Jalani added that the team already has a poaddress a local problem and offer a small-scale intervention that could deliver large benefits.

See APPSENT, A9

Special to The Hoya

“We began thinking about innovative policy intervention.”

M Street Sees Quick Turnover in Retail Charlotte Allen

ter for Social Impact and Innovation, Students of Georgetown, Inc. and the Alternative Breaks Program.

Trivedi highlighted the osmosis between SIPS and the various orga-

Director Rachel Cothran described the retail environment of M Street as tied to the surrounding neighborhood.

“M Street continues to be home to exciting retail often not found anywhere else in the region,” Cothran wrote in an email. “Georgetown is Washington’s top spot for a completely unique shopping

experience, special because of the density of stores, the charming and beautiful residential area, the historic beauty of the architecture and C&O Canal.”

According to Cothran, it is not at all unusual for areas like Georgetown to experience turnover in storefronts, though she also pointed to many lower-profile establish-

FILE PHOTO: DAN GANNON/THE HOYA

The Pinkberry location on M Street was closed early in January but will likely re-open under new ownership. The transition is one of many storefront changes that took place on M Street this past month.

ments that have no intention of moving.

“We love to point out off-thebeaten spots here, like the great antiques stores, boutiques and galleries in the Book Hill section of Georgetown,” Cothran wrote.

Plenty of national retailers have entered the Georgetown neighborhood lately, including Alice & Olivia, Forever 21 and Rent the Runway.

Kate Spade Saturday also opened a branch in the neighborhood near the intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue in October, but the spinoff of the Kate Spade brand is already closing, along with the label’s men’s shop, Jack Spade, which is located on Wisconsin Avenue. All Kate Spade Saturday and Jack Spade stores will be closed nationally by the middle of this year to allow the company to focus more on its original brand, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Additionally, the Pinkberry location at the intersection of 33rd and M Streets closed in January, along with six other locations of the popular frozen yogurt shop in the D.C. area. The space was auctioned off, and, according to the Washington Business Jounral, the winners of the auction, Amandeep Brar and Kamran Ahmed, plan to reopen the Georgetown location in addition to five of the other spaces.

For the most part, however, national retailers are entering, rather than leaving, the Georgetown area.

In addition to the development of Georgetown Park Mall, where Forever 21 and T.J. Maxx are located, as an affordable option for See TURNOVER, A9

Celeste Chisholm

Celebrate Our Robotic Future I

n Japan, the robotics market continues to expand with rapidity to the surprise, delight and chagrin of onlookers throughout the world. Although our imaginations may have oriented us toward a distant vision of a chrome-gilded future replete with anthropomorphic androids seeking to imitate and perhaps replace us, the reality of our horizon is not nearly as dystopian, and in fact much cuter than some expect.

The gradual development of robots should not evoke fears of a dystopian future. Instead, more efficent robotic technology promises to complement human life.

Today, all-purpose humanoid robots are so prohibitively expensive that it is difficult to conceive of a world in which they are ubiquitous. Robotics tend to be costeffective only in narrow situations such as car manufacturing, but recently that realm of efficiency has become an exponentially expanding one.

Particularly notable is the market of Japanese caregiving robots, where robotic products unceasingly prove their utility and thus accelerate from tentative introduction to active implementation in alarmingly short time frames. Consider Paro the seal, a six-pound robotic stuffed animal complete with tactile, visual and audio sensors that allow it to react convincingly to stimuli as well as learn its given name and understand disciplinary commands from its owner.

Paro is principally designed to chaperone elderly dementia patients in care homes, but it has proven to be so charmingly lifelike that some patients fail to realize it is a robotic doll. It has been empirically proven to reduce patients’ stress levels and promote sociable behavior, though some argue that to approach unnecessary realism in robots is a cause for dismay. It is deceptive to the patients and unnerving for those who seek to keep a clear distinction between life See CHISHOLM, A9