2 24 2011

VOICE the georgetown

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ANC CRITICIZES CAMPUS PLAN PAGE 4

WRIGHT HURT IN HOYAS’ LOSS PAGE 7

A TOUCH OF GLASS PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w February 24, 2011 w Volume 44, Issue 7 w georgetownvoice.com

The ultimate Mr. Georgetown

2 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

Voice Three-Day Forecast

hot off the blog 1789 chef nominated as “People’s Best New Chef of 2011”

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X VO

Anti-Campus Plan lawn signs burned in Burleith Concert Calendar: Bon Jovi, Tennis, Rooney

Free Food For All: Power lunches

UPCOMING

GUSA

LIVE

CONCERT

ELECTION

COVERAGE OF

CALENDAR

RESULTS

THE SYRACUSE

RELEASE

GAME

Nate Lubick reprises role as “Most Interesting Man at Georgetown”

Find all of this and much more How do you want your GUSA to smell? on our blog, Vox Populi: blog.georgetownvoice.com Vox Populi blog.georgetownvoice.com

Voice Crossword “Protests and Dictators” by Scott Fligor

Across: 1. “___ the train a-comin’” (Johnny Cash opening line) 6. Model/volleyballer Gabrielle 11. Holiday drink 14. Model wood

15. 1912 Nobel Peace Prize winner Root 16. Credit card abbr.

17. Supreme leader of Iran 19. Golfer’s aid 20. Coral habitat 21. Circus employee

22. Dietary drink, Pedia___ 23. Modern chess spinoff 25. Tahrir Square protests’ target 27. Home of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet 30. Test version 31. Bard’s before 32. Grayer, maybe 35. ___ Lama 38. Morays, e.g.

40. Houston hockey team 42. Amnesty International, for one 43. “The Crucible” locale 45. British tax determinant 47. New Zealand’s largest airport: abbr.

48. “This round’s ___!”

50. Jasmine revolution country 52. Libya’s “Leader and Guide of the Revolution” 55. Makes mistakes 56. Years, en España 57. Annual nanoscience conference 59. Indian percussion rhythm 63. Philippines’ language: abbr.

64. One of 70,490 in the United States 66. Each, without exception 67. Shrek author 68. Calculus topic

answers at georgetownvoice.com 69. Hoya alum Hibbert 70. Hoist again, as sails 71. Try Down 1. Construction beam 2. Robust 3. Nobelist Wiesel 4. Request 5. It’s preceded by “choo-choo” 6. Left over amount 7. I or O, but not A or E 8. Prussian WWI general 9. One of 22-downs disguises 10. Building energy efficiency unit 11. “Clean” energy source 12. Faust, e.g.

13. Get Him to the ___ 18. Famous Hun 22. “Paradise Lost” protagonist 24. Quicklime 26. Sleeping place

27. Busy workers 28. ½ bh for a triangle 29. Musical based on The Matchmaker 33. Mesozoic ___ 34. What H2S smells like 36. Golfer Isao ___ 37. Cuba, por ejemplo 39. Hits “Reply” 41. Frodo’s enemy 44. Ultimate fighting, in short 46. French rugby org.

49. Ineffectual 51. Adriatic Sea peninsula 52. Wealthiest Arab nation (by GDP per capita) 53. One of the WASP words 54. Central 60. Goals 61. Café additive 62. Beginning stake 64. Shell shock: abbr.

65. PC key

ARE YOU A LOGOPHILE? Share your love of words and help us write crosswords.

E-mail crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

VOICE the georgetown

Cover Illustration: Iris Kim

Volume 44.7 February 24, 2011 Editor-in-Chief: Molly Redden Managing Editor: Tim Shine Editor-at-Large: Juliana Brint Director of Technology: Ishita Kohli News Blog Editor: Geoffrey Bible Leisure Blog Editor: Nico Dodd News Editor: Chris Heller Sports Editor: Nick Berti Feature Editor: Sean Quigley Cover Editor: Iris Kim Leisure Editor: Leigh Finnegan Voices Editor: Aodhan Beirne Photo Editor: Max Blodgett Design Editors: Nitya Ramlogan, Catherine Johnson Projects Editor: Brendan Baumgardner Crossword Editor: Scott Fligor Assistant Blog Editors: Diana McCue, Vincent Tennant Assistant News Editors: Rachel Calvert, Ryan Bellmore, Jeffrey Neidermaier Assistant Sports Editors: Adam Rosenfeld, Rob Sapunor Assistant Cover Editor: Holly Ormseth, Kelsey McCullough Assistant Leisure Editor: Mary Borowiec, Heather Regen, John Sapunor Assistant Photo Editors: Julianne Deno, Matthew Funk Assistant Design Editor: Michelle Pliskin Associate Editors: Julie Patterson, Jackson Perry Contributing Editors: Keenan Timko, Matthew Collins

Staff Writers:

Gavin Bade, Thaddeus Bell, Akshay Bhatia, Tom Bosco, Kara Brandeisky, Matthew Decker, John Flanagan Kate Imel, Satinder Kaur, Daniel Kellner, Matt Kerwin, Eric Pilch, Sadaf Qureshi, Abby Sherburne, Melissa Sullivan, Mark Waterman

Staff Photographers:

Helen Burton, Lexie Herman, Hilary Nakasone, Jackson Perry, Audrey Wilson, Sam Brothers

Staff Designers:

Megan Berard, Richa Goyal, Lauren MacGuidwin, Ishita Kohli, Michelle Pliskin, Amber Ren

Copy Chief: Keaton Hoffman Copy Editors:

Emma Forster, Emily Hessler, Kate Imel, Tori Jovanovski, Claire McDaniel, Kim Tay

Editorial Board Chair: J. Galen Weber Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Juliana Brint, Ethan Chess, John Flanagan, Hunter Kaplan, Ishita Kohli, Tim Shine, Cole Stangler

Head of Business: Kara Brandeisky The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

the georgetown voice 3 VOTE LOVEJOYCE

Charlie Joyce and Paige Lovejoy for GUSA In a Georgetown University Student Association election that features high-profile running mates, a deluge of YouTube commercials, and cliché campaign slogans, it can be easy to miss the presidential ticket marked by sound judgment, competence, and a clear work ethic. Charlie Joyce (COL’12) and Paige Lovejoy’s (SFS’12) campaign has made few waves, but their combined experience and knowledge of the issues make their ticket the most effective and refreshing choice for executive.

Joyce and Lovejoy offer student government experience without the insularity that has become common in GUSA. From his work as a member of GUSA President Calen Angert’s (MSB ’11) executive staff, Joyce has extensive knowledge of the Student Code of Conduct, which he intends to use to reform its woefully inconsistent guidelines. Lovejoy was a member of the GUSA Constitutional Council. At the same time, both candidates have experience with leadership outside of GUSA. Lovejoy has been active with Georgetown’s Office of Leadership Development, Diplo-

matic Ball, the International Relations Club, and Georgetown’s foreign service fraternity— which gives the ticket a better understanding of what the student body as a whole needs.

Joyce and Lovejoy appreciate what is reasonable and have set realizable goals, like increasing Department of Public Safety patrols along Prospect Street, improving SafeRides by eliminating their designated late-night pickup locations so that the vans can meet students at any University-area location, and adding a GUTS bus line that would reach these stops instead. Of all the candidates, Joyce and Lovejoy best recognize that the role of the GUSA executive is not to divvy out funds for short-lived initiatives but to communicate directly with students and advocate for their interests, pressing and lobbying both the administration and the neighborhood.

Other tickets have valuable ideas and skills to offer, but less realistic or desirable platforms. Mike Meaney (SFS’12) and his running mate, Greg Laverriere (COL’12), would bring extensive experience in student government. However, their vision consists too heav-

ily of flashy new initiatives, such as the GUSA Ambassadorship program, which would pay for students to attend international conferences. Ace Factor (COL’12) has admirable plans to rework the student code of conduct and establish a student advocacy program, but the logistics of the program are not feasible.

And while presidential candidate Jed Feiman (COL’12) and his vice presidential pick, Hoyas basketball player Henry Sims (COL’12), have reminded us that most GUSA presidential campaigns are insipid and homogeneous, ultimately, the ticket elected to the executive will shoulder a great deal of responsibilities— making Feiman and Sims’s lack of experience a major concern.

The Joyce-Lovejoy ticket is not perfect.

One of its central goals—the creation of a WikiHow Georgetown—would take a lot of Joyce and Lovejoy’s limited time and energy, and its usefulness is questionable. But ultimately, they are the best candidates. Only Joyce and Lovejoy represent a confluence of good judgment, accessibility, and experience in one single ticket.

pell-mell budgeting

Defend Pell Grants against political assault For the past two weeks, House Republicans have been preparing to square off with President Barack Obama and Democrats over next year’s budget. Some 800 Georgetown students who receive Pell Grants will have a serious stake in this fight—billions of dollars in federal student aid hang in the balance. Republicans would like to cut the maximum Pell Grant by $845 per year and eliminate more than $1.8 million for the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant program. The president’s budget is less harsh on the program, maintaining the maximum grant amount of $5,550, but cutting the total number of Pell Grants handed out per year. So while the Republicans’ proposal is egregious, and must be opposed, Obama’s proposal is hardly better.

These proposed cuts to federal student aid are attempts by both parties to balance the budget at the expense of the country’s most vulnerable citizens—something Obama ex-

plicitly promised to avoid in his State of the Union address. While his proposal is likely a result of political circumstances, Obama must recognize that now is the time for government to help those struggling most, not cut the lifeline they depend upon.

Republicans are also being irresponsible lawmakers. Although they demanded an extension to the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans—costing $120 billion over two years—they have now decided that the comparably miniscule amount needed to keep thousands of American students in the classroom is too great a cost for the federal government to bear. For students, it’s becoming painfully clear where the priorities of our elected leaders lie.

The University’s reaction has been clear and effective. An effort spearheaded by Dean of Student Financial Services Patricia McWade and Associate Vice President of Federal Relations Scott Fleming has made it possible for

Georgetown students who benefit from Pell Grants to share their stories with the public and members of Congress. This past fall, Fleming and McWade helped Joe Hill (COL’11) testify before Congress about how federal student aid made college affordable for him. Two weeks ago, McWade emailed students receiving Pell Grants to explain to them what they can expect if cuts are passed and urging more students to share their stories.

Misguided political pressure for unnecessary, harmful cuts may be alleviated if those at risk speak out. Georgetown University and its Office of Federal Relations in particular have gone to praiseworthy lengths to raise awareness about what is going on. Students should follow the University’s advice and speak up to let their congressional representatives know how important student aid is.

Students may be some of this nation’s most financially vulnerable citizens, but we do not need to be the quietest.

KANGAROO COUNCIL

This newspaper was made possible with the support of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, online at CampusProgress.org. Campus Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org.

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Columns, advertisements, cartoons and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of the Georgetown Voice. The University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors. The Georgetown Voice is produced in the Georgetown Voice office and composed on Macintosh computers using the Adobe InDesign publishing system and is printed by Silver Communications. All materials copyright the Georgetown Voice. All rights reserved.

On this week’s cover ... Dr. Porterfield

RJC needs real reform, not a hasty makeover

When the Residential Judicial Council disbanded in October 2010 in order to reorganize, there was hope that with time to reflect on its shortcomings, the RJC would return ready to be an important voice for students in Georgetown’s opaque disciplinary process. Unfortunately, the proposed reforms announced Feb. 16 do little to address the fundamental issues that have plagued the RJC in the past.

Formed during the 1999-2000 academic year, the RJC was supposed to give students the opportunity to have alleged Category A violations of the Code of Student Conduct be heard by their peers. But the board’s power was significantly curtailed by the fact that only hall directors—not accused students— had the ability to submit cases to the RJC. Hall Directors were reluctant to do so, and as a result, the RJC saw very few cases.

The proposed reforms do nothing to address this problem. While the RJC restructuring committee deserves praise for attempting to legitimize the RJC by holding elections for its members and setting regular meeting times, their changes do not go nearly far enough.

Students deserve the right to have their disciplinary cases adjudicated by a board of their peers—and that right should not be contingent upon the whims of their hall director.

When asked at a town hall why they failed to tackle this issue, the RJC restructuring committee argued that such a reform would require changing the Code of Conduct itself. While that would be a serious endeavor, suspending the RJC for an entire academic year was itself a drastic move. Students were right to expect more when the RJC returned from months of suspension.

All students accused of a Category A vio-

lations should be able to apply to have their case heard by the RJC. Hall directors should be required to notify students of this right when they cite students for a violation. Right now, too few students know about the RJC and the appeals process. The RJC’s jurisdiction should also be extended to cover students living offcampus, where disciplinary decisions often seem to be made based on town-gown concerns rather than the facts of individual cases.

Giving the RJC the year off was a great opportunity to make substantive changes to how students are represented in Georgetown’s disciplinary system. But by limiting its focus and making only cosmetic changes, the RJC restructuring committee squandered that chance. If Georgetown wants to transform the RJC so it is no longer a useless body, it needs to take the time to make the council a real source of equity in the student discipline process.

news

4 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

On eve of GUSA election, campaigns woo voters

by John Flanagan “Year after year, the same types of candidates run, not just for president, but also for Senate,” said Jed Feiman (COL ’11). “They talk about changing GUSA, but you can’t change the image of GUSA with the same types of people.”

Feiman is one of three presidential candidates who distanced himself from the Georgetown University Student Association establishment in their bid for the presidency. The idea of being an “outsider” is a key feature in today’s GUSA election, which marks the culmination of two weeks of campaigning for the four 2011-2012 GUSA presidential candidates and their running mates.

Ace Factor (COL’ 12), a former GUSA senator, similarly distanced himself from the GUSA leadership.

“I don’t have the GUSA endorsement and I don’t consider myself a GUSA insider,” Factor said.

Meanwhile, Charlie Joyce (COL ’12), GUSA executive for student safety, became an “outsider” candidate only when, by his own account, his bid for sitting president Calen Angert’s (MSB ’11) endorsement fell flat.

“I think the biggest hurdle, although [it was] something that helped me out in the long run, was running against the institution of GUSA,” he said.

Now, Joyce is seeking support by directly engaging students and by reaching out to leaders from major student groups, such as DC Students Speak, Alpha Phi Omega, the Student Activities Commission, College Democrats, College Republicans, and various academic councils.

Another theme is the race is grassroots engagement, which, by the candidates’ own accounts, played a key role in every campaign.

“You can chat someone up on Facebook or put up a YouTube video, but you’re not going to understand the details of people’s concerns and what they’re truly thinking unless you have a face-toface conversation with them,” said GUSA vice presidential candidate Greg Laverriere (COL ’12), who is running with Mike Meaney (SFS ‘12). “That’s why going door-todoor is so important,” Laverriere and Meaney have been able to make particularly effective use of door-to-door canvassing

because they enjoy the institutional support and manpower that comes from being endorsed by the current GUSA president. Laverriere claimed that “at least a plurality” of the executive and the Senate were actively campaigning for him.

A hazard of the door-to-door campaigning, however, is that students may be intimidated by an aggressive effort by the candidates to increase their visibility in the dorms. In New South, several people complained that the candidates were very persistent in trying to get would-be voters to put up their posters.

Sarah Quincy (COL ’14), a New South resident, was one of the students targeted by overzealous campaigning. “[The candidate] basically gave a pitch and then told me if I put up his poster on my door I wouldn’t be bothered by any other GUSA people,” Quincy said.

Quincy later added that later, another candidate wrote on her white board asking for her support.

It’s been a tight race and there is no telling how today’s election will turn out, even though Feiman captured 34 percent of the vote

max blodgett

Candidates’ posters have plastered Red Square since mid-February. in Vox Populi’s straw poll of 755 participants. The idiosyncrasies of the instant runoff voting system used in GUSA presidential elections have the potential to change the dynamics of the race because, although Feiman enjoys a plurality, voters’ rankings of other candidates could potentially affect his election chances.

To try to take advantage of the IRV system, Factor and Meaney considered a preference swapping agreement, where both candidates would encourage his supporters to

rank the other high on their ballots.

However, the two sides ultimately abandoned the idea.

“I think Ace and I would make the best choice for students. At the same time, because of the system, we think that, if it will not be us, Mike and Greg would be great candidates as well,” said James Pickens (COL ’12), who is running with Factor. “We didn’t really have time to make it some kind of formal thing and we liked what we were doing already, which is talking about our ideas.”

ANC criticizes Campus Plan, proposes enrollment cap

by Sam Buckley As the D.C. Office of Planning prepares its report on Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan for the city’s Zoning Commission, Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Council has put forward a draft of its own positions to be considered at next Monday’s ANC meeting. The draft of recommendations, which will form the basis of the ANC’s report to the Zoning Commission, contains significant criticisms of both the plan and current University policies.

“The GU plan as proposed would have serious adverse effects on the community and would be highly objectionable,” the report, which was prepared by ANC Chairman Ron Lewis, said.

The ANC’s proposed recommendations to the Zoning Commission include requiring the University to cap both overall enrollment and enrollment among particular programs, such as the Medical School. It also suggested that students should be counted

using a Full Time Equivalent system, which counts students based on credit-hours to prevent manipulation of enrollment rates.

“A head count system doesn’t really give you the accuracy that Full Time Equivalent does,” Lewis said.

Whatever recommendations ANC commissioners vote to support will ultimately be considered by the Zoning Commission, along with the Office of Planning’s report, which is due the week before the Zoning Commission’s Apr. 14 hearing.

The document also identifies problems with off-campus student conduct, transportation issues, and the growth in student enrollment over the past decade as some of the ANC’s primary objections to University plans and policies.

Lewis consulted a variety of sources while preparing the report.

“I talked to every commissioner,” he said, adding that he also sought input from residents and the University.

ANC Treasurer Ed Solomon

echoed Lewis, saying that the proposal was a collective effort of the commission.

“I think [it is] pretty obvious the ANC was involved in putting together the proposal,” Solomon said. “I couldn’t tell you which commissioners spent more or less time working on the proposal.”

However, student Commissioner Jake Sticka (COL ’13) said that he was not closely involved in the production of the report. “[Lewis] provided it to me via email sometime mid-afternoon yesterday and I got the chance to look at it,” Sticka said. “It is mostly Ron’s draft though ... I think the majority of the commission supports it.”

The draft proposal also critiques the growth of enrollment and off-campus student housing after the University’s adoption of the 2000 Campus Plan and subsequent construction of the Southwest Quad.

According to the draft, the 2000 plan projected that student enrollment would be capped at

10,000 students, and the construction of the Southwest Quad would ultimately reduce the number of undergraduates living off-campus.

However, it notes that University enrollment has increased to more than 14,000 students and that the number of off-campus undergraduates has allegedly increased.

“Simply put, because of how GU has conducted itself, our community is over-saturated with GU’s ever-expanding numbers of students, and the situation, unless remedied, will only get worse,” the report claimed.

The report raises a number of other issues with the Campus Plan, including concerns about the location of Georgetown University Hospital’s planned expansion and the proposed enclosure of Kehoe Field. Most significantly, the proposal criticizes current University transportation policies relating to Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle buses and off-campus parking.

The report condemned the University’s perceived reliance

on residential streets for student parking and GUTS bus routes.

Unlike Metro buses, Lewis argued, GUTS buses do not provide a service to the neighborhood.

“The only reason the Metro buses are on [residential] streets is that they serve stops along those roads, which are very valuable to the community,” he said.

The critiques and recommendations within the report will be debated next Monday at the ANC’s public meeting. Although citizens can write to their commissioners, Lewis said, only University officials and a handful of “civic groups” will be invited to raise comments at the meeting.

“We really did solicit the community’s views very extensively over the past year and a half, including at the meeting on [Jan. 20],” he said.

Although Sticka opposes many parts of the ANC’s report, he believes it will ultimately pass.

“I do not support it,” he said.

“I will not be voting with the majority of the commission.”

news

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the georgetown voice 5

Clubs, SAC lock horns over funding

by Chris Heller A collection of more than 20 student groups plan to publicly voice their frustration with the Student Activities Commission’s new funding guidelines.

“We were given no formal opportunity to provide feedback on the existing Funding Guidelines prior to the release of the new funding guidelines,” the group wrote in a letter, which will be released Thursday.

Under the new funding guidelines, SAC will allocate funds to events based on anticipated attendance. Clubs will also be allowed to hold a single fundraising event per semester not planned in its annual programming arc, which clubs must submit to SAC by early March.

The representatives who signed the letter, including students from the International Relations Club, Philodemic Society, GU PRIDE, the Georgetown University Student Association and GU College Democrats, claim that the guidelines will have an adverse effect on club programming at Georgetown.

“Clubs cannot hold any events that are not on their Programming Arc,” the letter reads. “This inhibits creativity, undermines the authority of newly elected boards, and makes it more difficult for clubs to adapt programming to club members’ wants.”

Nonetheless, SAC officials believe that its funding guidelines are an effective means to meet clubs’ needs.

“The allocation amounts are based on three years of hard data, which we feel accurately reflects programming needs, not wants,” SAC Commissioner Ruiyong Chen (SFS ‘13) wrote in an email.

“Student group feedback, formal and informal, is certainly very important in that revision process, but we also have to consider how those needs fit within the existing framework of University policies and processes.”

SAC Chair Andrew Koenig (COL ‘12) plans to release an open letter of on behalf of SAC on Thursday, in response to a letter signed last week by club leaders, Georgetown University Student Association representatives, and

Late-night Metro is a must The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is in tough straits. It is facing a projected $72 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2012—and that’s without the House Republicans’ proposal to strip an additional $150 million in federal funding from WMATA over the next eight months. It’s hard to envy the Metro Board of Directors, the group in charge of closing that gap, but one of the proposals they have floated— eliminating late-night rail service on Fridays and Saturdays—would have a major adverse effect on the local economy and public safety and needs to be scrapped.

With a projected annual savings of $5 million, it’s easy to see why ending weekend rail service at midnight as opposed to 3 a.m. is appealing to the board. In fact, this isn’t the first time such a plan has been suggested—cuts to latenight weekend service were also proposed during Metro’s past two budget cycles. In the past, D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) vociferously opposed such cuts, but Graham was recent-

ly replaced on the Metro Board by Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), a D.C. councilmember with solid urbanist bona fides but a less vocal stance on late-night rail service.

In addition to the financial incentives, cutting late night service is attractive from a maintenance perspective. Metro’s Deputy General Manager Dave Kubicek says cutting the weekend shift from midnight to 3 a.m. could provide Metro with an additional 45 days worth of repair and maintenance time each year. In light of the fatal 2009 Red Line crash and the myriad other safety issues plaguing Metro, these additional maintenance opportunities are attractive—but it’s unclear whether they are necessary. In an analysis of 13 major American metrorail systems, the blog Track TwentyNine found that only Baltimore’s system required more daily downtime than WMATA. There is plenty of maintenance work to be done to improve Metro safety, but there’s no compelling reason why the system needs to shut down early every Friday and Saturday

former SAC commissioners. Although SAC officials declined to comment about the letter, they plan to vote on an amendment next Monday that will allow for mid-semester amendments to funding guidelines. “[The amendment] was brought up in response to some of the concerns that were raised by the open letter and during the bulk allocation information sessions going on this week,” Chen wrote.

While some students, such as College Democrats Vice President Jake Sticka (COL ’13) believe mid-semester amendments are “a small step in the right direction,” others believe SAC needs to offer more opportunities for feedback from clubs.

“Under the funding guidelines created last semester, the Philodemic lost a significant portion of our requested budget,” Emma Green (COL ’12), Philodemic treasurer, wrote in an email. “After reaching out to our commissioner and the Chair of SAC to request a formal feedback session, our concerns were still not addressed and no formal

feedback session was held.”

Green’s opinion was echoed

by Eitan Paul (SFS ’12), chair of the International Relations Club. “[E]ven after communicating individually with SAC Commissioners throughout last semester and this semester, we are still unable to participate in or even observe the process of improving Funding Guidelines,” Paul wrote in an email. “Moreover, we had no way of determining whether our suggestions were actually considered or why they were ultimately ignored.”

Despite the complaints, Chen argued that clubs have the opportunity to offer feedback.

“While there were no formal ways such as town halls to share their thoughts specifically about the funding guidelines, student groups and their leaders are and have always been encouraged to communicate with their SAC commissioner and their [Center for Student Programs] adviser about any concerns they may have, some of which were then brought to the table for discussion and consideration,” she wrote.

to do that work.

While cutting late-night service would offer short-term fiscal benefits for WMATA, it would also have a negative financial impact on local businesses and, by extension, the overall economic health of the region. Although there’s no neat figure to counterbalance the $5 million price tag, making it harder to travel to and from D.C. on weekend nights would definitely put a significant damper on the city’s nightlife industry—so

cause of shortsighted decisions by WMATA. Beyond that negative economic impact, early closures are also a bad idea from a public safety standpoint. While late-night weekend service is essential for many service workers, it is also extremely important for local residents who spent the night out on the town, are potentially intoxicated, and want to go home in an affordable and safe way. Late-night weekend rail service allows these people to patronize D.C.’s nightlife destinations without having to choose between the unattractive options of driving drunk, taking an exorbitantly expensive taxi ride, or depending on highly unreliable nighttime buses.

These people contribute to the region’s economy and should be applauded for choosing a safe and environmentally friendly transportation option. But instead, as one of the least vocal and least appreciated Metro-riding constituencies, they’re picked on.

Metro General Manager Richard Sarles declared on the Feb. 17 Kojo Nnamdi Show that he “would hope that anyone even getting on our train should not be drunk.”

City on a Hill

by Juliana Brint

A bi-weekly column on D.C. news and politics much so that the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington told the Washington Examiner that the change would “seriously harm, if not kill, established and emerging entertainment districts.”

The city has done a great job over the past decade of reviving underdeveloped neighborhoods, such as U Street and Columbia Heights, and has reaped the benefits by collecting taxes from more lucrative businesses—it would be a pity to see that progress squandered be-

NEWS HIT

Vandal burns lawn signs Last weekend, lawn signs that voice opposition to Georgetown’s Campus Plan were found burned in front of a Burlieth home.

“Burning of signs in front of someone’s house is not only dangerous but sends a message of intimidation and fear,” Burleith Citizens Association Preisdent Lenore Rubino wrote in an email.

“Why else do it?”

The three burned red-andwhite signs, which display mottos like “Oppose GU’s Campus Plan” and “Our Homes, Not GU’s Dorms,” were discovered on Monday morning on the front porch of a resident’s home on the 3700 block of T Street.

According to Metropolitan Police Department Director of Communications Gwendolyn Crump, an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

—Ryan Bellmore

While it’s reasonable to ask that riders not be disorderly or disrespectful of WMATA property, ignoring the fact that many area residents use the Metro while intoxicated is naïve and unrealistic.

By maligning those who benefit from weekend late-night service, Sarles distracts from the more important point that the proposed cuts would constitute a major step back for the region’s overall development into a vibrant urban center. Since instituting late-night weekend service in 1999, the Metro system has become less exclusively geared toward commuters and more of a holistic transportation network. Because of this shift, the city has been able to encourage very successful development near Metro stations. It’s understandable if the system needs to tweak late-night service by charging slightly higher fares or reducing train frequency to offset the cost.

But taking a sledgehammer to the progress that has been made toward creating a safe, fun and profitable urban environment is the wrong way to go.

Help Juliana figure out how to spend Metro-less nights at jbrint@ georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

Baseball’s four-game split is right on track

by Rob Sapunor Despite posting a disappointing 24-31 overall record and a 5-9 record in the Big East last year, the Georgetown baseball team enters this season with some minimalist goals, but a mild sense of confidence. Georgetown has struggled in Big East play in recent years, often finishing last. This season, head coach Pete Wilk expressed that his two goals for the season were to make the Big East playoffs and finish over .500.

The team kicked off the season last Friday in North Carolina. The weather may have been a good omen—the team got off to a smooth start and won their opening game against Davidson 9-5. The next day, however, they lost to Davidson 2-1 but salvaged the weekend with a 7-4 win over Army.

The opening weekend provided a good preview of the team’s starting rotation, which has more depth than in previous years. Senior Alex Meyer started the first game against Davidson, and only gave up one unearned run in five innings. The next game against the Wildcats featured a similarly strong performance. Junior Will Harris allowed one unearned run in six innings. The team was only able to score one run, however, and went on to lose the game when Davidson scored a run in the seventh. The final game against Army was not as kind to the Hoyas’ starter, with junior Bobby Kirby quickly getting knocked out of the game after giving up two runs in two innings.

Luckily, redshirt junior Tommy Isaacs provided 4.2 innings of solid work before surrendering the lead, which Georgetown quickly

regained with some eighth inning heroics. Isaacs, the team’s leader in starts last season, will be a key part of the rotation.

On Wednesday the Hoyas lost 9-4 to Norfolk State, following a rocky start by Alex Baker.

The freshman gave up seven runs in two innings, including a grand slam to Brandon Hairston in the second inning. One bright spot was the relief performance of sophomore Charlie Steinman, who went four innings and only gave up one hit.

The team’s fielding is still one of its weak points. Last year the Hoyas made 99 errors, but when they made one error or less they were 15-10. In the first four games the Hoyas have already committed eight errors, however, showing that there is still work to be done.

Another potential problem the team could face is injuries. Last year the pitching staff was perpetually hurt, and even though Wilk thinks the team has more depth this season, an injury to any of the starters could send the season south quickly.

“If we stay healthy I feel pretty good about our rotation with Isaacs, Meyer, and Harris. There’s a lot of experience there but also a lot of injuries,” Wilk said. “So if they stay healthy I feel good. If we don’t, we’re in trouble.”

Wilk said that overall, this year’s team is deeper and more talented. The Hoyas picked up redshirt sophomore Mike Garza, who transferred from Stanford.

He will start at shortstop and bat third in the lineup. Other players to watch include senior third baseman Sean Lamont and junior right fielder Rand “Slam” Ravnaas.

Last year Ravnaas

Courtesy GU SPORTS INFORMATION

Will Harris pitched a gem against Davidson, but got no help from his offense.

led the team with 11 home runs while Lamont had seven roundtrippers. In the game against Norfolk State, Garza and Ravnaas both had two hits while Lamont went 3-for-5 at the plate.

Catcher Erick Fernandez stands out for his performance behind the plate. Last season he caught 23 of 63 batters stealing.

“He did a tremendous job behind the plate with our pitch-

ers, shut down the running game, and made several key blocks while helping out with some key hits,” Wilk said.

The Hoyas will need their best players to reach their full potential if they will be successful in the ultra competitive Big East.

“Everybody is our competition, we’ve ended up in last place most years,” Wilk said.

He added that he considered the

three big heavyweights of the Big East to be Louisville, UConn, and St. John’s.

The Hoyas have three games this weekend in Winston-Salem, N.C. against Northwestern, Delaware State, and Wake Forest before returning to D.C. next weekend to play at George Washington. Georgetown doesn’t open up conference play until May 25 against Notre Dame.

the Sports Sermon “He’s a tough kid, he would play with one hand if he could. ... He’s as tough as they come.”

—JTIII on Chris Wright the conference and secure an allimportant double bye in the Big East Tournament, which would automatically put the Hoyas in the quarterfinals. Although Chris Wright’s injury has dealt a serious blow to their chances of getting one, the Hoyas still realize the importance of it.

This year, getting two automatic wins in the Big East is like running into the lion’s den and coming out perfectly unscathed—it just doesn’t happen. And, by being guaranteed to play a maximum of three games, the Hoyas should be well-rested for the real tournament—playing four games in four days last

freefall destined for the NIT. This Saturday will be the closest fans During the Roy Hibbert and will get to postseason basketball Jeff Green era, the Hoyas played in the Verizon Center, and it’s plenty of big games. Every game been a while since anyone could in their Final Four run, of course, say that. was huge, but even for regular Besides the major postseason matchups, screaming season implications, four sefans consistently packed the Veniors will be honored before rizon Center thanks to the contipoff. Austin Freeman, Julian stant position at the top of the Vaughn, and walk-on Ryan conference standings. UnfortuDougherty will all play their nately, I was not a Georgetown final home game in a Georgefan during those days. town uniform. Sadly, Wright In the three seasons I have likely played his on Wednesbeen a fan, the Hoyas have day night. This is the first had their fair share of importime Hoya fans will get to say tant games. Last season’s game goodbye to such a large and against Duke had it all—a hatdecorated group since Hibbert ed villain, a talented Hoya team, and his classmates left. Last and Barack Obama year there was no Pete Rose Central and Joe Biden sitting senior day—there courtside. There was were no seniors.

Da bettin’ line also the SnowpocaThe previous year Dookies Margin Hoyas lypse victory over Vilguard Jessie Sapp lanova, an overtime (favorites) was honored, but (underdogs) (duh!) win against Memphis, a small student ‘Cuse and the always in- Georgetown Do it for 4 turnout thanks to tense meetings with Prokhorov Spring Break and Dolan Isiah Syracuse. And those the Hoyas late Hoyas More points season struggles Brooks are just the home games—the Hoyas had a year didn’t lead to anything dampened the celebration. thrilling win in Missouri earli- good in the Big Dance.

The fact that the arena will er this year and a beatdown of If Georgetown beats Syra- mostly be gray-clad will only Butler at Madison Square Gar- cuse, they will be on their way intensify the ceremony. It will den last season. But no game to getting a double-bye. They be even more emotional when I have seen, including these, would then have to beat Cin- Wright likely doesn’t suit up. has measured up to those in cinnati in the final game of the Fans will attempt to repay the past years. season and hope two of the seniors for all the excitement Saturday’s matchup against four following teams win out: they have provided with their Syracuse will change that. The Louisville, St. John’s, West play and hard work in the Verigame against the Orange will be Virginia, and Connecticut. But zon Center. It will be impossible the biggest game of the regular if they lose against Syracuse, for the players not to feed off season since the 2007-2008 sea- they can kiss a top four finish the love shown from the Hoya son. The meeting—between two good-bye and would be in the faithful and use it to crush the of the bitterest rivals in the Big middle of a fight just to finish Orange for a second time East—has huge playoff implica- in the top eight. this season—something they tions, marks the first meaningGeorgetown hasn’t been near haven’t done since 2002. ful Senior Day since 2008, and the top of the league this late in If there is one game to go to will be played in a Grayed-Out the season since 2008, when they in the last three years, this is cerVerizon Center. won the Big East regular season tainly it. It will be “the” event on The Hoyas are currently tied title. Last year the Hoyas were Saturday in college basketball for fifth place in the Big East clamoring to stay in the top half and in the D.C. sports scene. with Syracuse. The team is look- of the conference, and the year Don’t miss it. There may not be ing to finish in the top four of before that, the squad was in a another one like it for years.

by Nick Berti

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Hoyas lose their leader in defeat Defense halts streak, Pitt

by Adam Rosenfeld On a day when students arriving early to the Verizon Center were given “gray-out” t-shirts to wear to Saturday’s game against Syracuse, the Georgetown men’s basketball team seemed to have their sights squarely on the Orange. But, in what can only be described as a classic trap game, the No. 11 Hoyas (21-7, 10-6 Big East) came out flat, showed few signs of being a top team, and lost handily to the unranked Cincinnati Bearcats (22-6, 9-6 Big East), 58-46.

While the loss was tough in itself, the game could prove to have long lasting consequences due to the injury to Chris Wright.

Early in the second half, the senior point guard was driving down the court on a fast break when a Bearcat defender dislodged the ball from behind.

Wright lunged forward in an attempt to regain possession, but instead collided with a Cincinnati player and fell to the court.

Wright was called for the foul. As he lifted himself from the ground he stared at his left hand.

During the resultant timeout, Wright put on a small brace and returned to the floor. It was evident that the guard was in pain, however—he was unable to handle the ball with the braced hand.

“I saw him staring at his hand, but I thought he was gonna be able to play,” senior guard Austin Freeman said. “When he asked to be taken out I knew it was serious.”

Wright ran to the locker room with the training staff, and returned with a sturdier brace four minutes later. Again, Wright writhed in pain when the ball touched his off-hand, and he fell to the floor, stopping the game. The Hoya senior watched the rest of the game from the bench with tears in his eyes.

After the game, head coach John Thompson III delivered the chilling news.

“Chris’s hand is broken,” Thompson said. “As for the preliminary report, exactly what’s broken, I’m not sure, but it’s definitely a broken hand.”

While the injury certainly seemed to seal the Hoyas’ fate, it was clear from the start that Georgetown did not bring their

JULIANNE DENO

Chris Wright, the heart of the Hoyas, struggled before breaking his hand.

Pujols holds the Cards

In an era where money and fame seem to be the strongest motivations for many of the biggest names in sports, it’s encouraging to feel that some just want to be the best professionals they possibly can. St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols has long been the face of this small group. He has always been more committed to St. Louis than to the size of his paycheck, despite being baseball’s finest talent. Thus, it was painfully shocking to hear that Pujols suspended negotiations for a contract extension because the Cardinals would not meet his salary demands.

If anyone is to become baseball’s first $300 million man, it should be him. Considering the deals that some players have signed this offseason, you could

argue that Pujols is entitled to even more. Yet there comes a point when the salary figures discussed make you cringe. The Cardinals have already stretched their wallets to entice him to stay, committing to a seven-year, $120 million deal for outfielder Matt Holliday to give Pujols some protection in the batting order. Is he really about to leave this baseball-crazy town because they have not given him enough?

Growing up playing sports, whether in Little League or gym class, we were all taught that one player in not enough to lead an entire team. Being successful in sports comes from playing together as a collective unit—foregoing individual glory for the good of the whole. Sadly, professional sports do not reflect this;

best game against Cincinnati. The Bearcats made the first true run of the game, taking advantage of multiple Georgetown turnovers forced by an active press and zone defense.

“We’ve always played Georgetown some zone,” Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin said. “They are so good offensively that you got to get them to change it up and not let them get into a rhythm on offense.”

The plan definitely worked, as Georgetown had arguably its most woeful offensive performance of the entire season.

The lone bright spot was the play of Austin Freeman in the first half. He dropped 15 points to keep the Hoyas level with the Bearcats heading into halftime.

Unfortunately Freeman’s play did not carry into the second half.

He would only score four points in the period. The Hoyas had a horrendous shooting night, making only 25 percent of their shots from the field.

The most telling statistic was that besides Freeman, not a single Hoya converted more than one field goal.

“We were just not in sync today,” Thompson said. “I don’t know that our intensity was down, but we just weren’t in sync.”

The Hoyas off night will most definitely prove to be costly, and leaves the team some pressing questions begging to be answered.

Georgetown’s inability to perform against the Bearcats’ zone defense is a huge liability, with rival Syracuse coming to town on Saturday.

But first and foremost, the severity of Wright’s broken hand could have ramifications far beyond Saturday.

All in all, last night’s disastrous loss exposed weaknesses, and created new ones that could derail the Hoyas’ successful season. superstars are elevated to divine status and paraded around as marketing machines for the leagues, leading them to become more important than the franchises themselves.

As a result, sporting icons that emerge in smaller markets now often leave their team and city behind to join a franchise in

Backdoor Cuts

By Daniel Kellner a rotating column on sports a bigger market for an inflated paycheck while broadening their celebrity appeal. LeBron James’s “decision” last summer to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and take his talents to South Beach with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh is the most obvious example.

by Abby Sherburne In their Wednesday night match, the Georgetown women’s basketball team rallied to overcome a nine-point deficit in the first half and beat the Pittsburgh Panthers (13-14, 5-9 Big East) 67-57, ending a two-game losing streak. A buzzer-beating three at the end of the first half by junior Alexa Roche changed the momentum of the game, allowing the women to mount a 19-point turnaround.

“Even though we were losing at the half, I think that definitely sparked us,” Roche said.

That spark was just what the No. 18 Hoyas (21-7, 9-5 Big East) needed after their slow start. Roche and junior Tommacina McBride, typically two quiet players, played a big part in the win, contributing 25 of the Hoyas’ points.

In the absence of starter Adria Crawford due to an injured ankle, McBride stepped up and scored 10 points in the first half to keep the Hoyas alive. Head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy admits that they struggled in the first half, but got some much-needed help from these two players.

“Alexa Roche played tonight like she should have played [all season],” WilliamsFlournoy said. “She can’t be inconsistent like that.”

Although some new players were in the limelight, regular headliner Sugar Rodgers was still a big contributor. Despite only putting up two points in the first half, the

Like most fans, I’m accustomed to this type of sporting climate, understanding that loyalty and stability are not common priorities among modern athletes. But Pujols seemed to be a breath of fresh air—the exception to this trend. Not only is he the best baseball player on the planet, he is a remarkably generous, thoughtful individual. He shies away from the spotlight in favor of a more fulfilling life of family, charity, and perfecting his craft. When he is not terrorizing National League pitchers, he is running the Pujols Family Foundation, an organization that performs charitable work in his native Dominican Republic by providing assistance and care to children with Down syndrome.

Furthermore, he has hardly ever been the subject of controversy in the media. And in an era when talk of performance-enhancing

sophomore guard kept shooting and ended up being the high scorer for the team with 16 points. At one point in the second half, Rodgers netted four threes in four minutes and gave the Hoyas their first lead of the game. Soon after, Georgetown worked the ball to go on a 16-3 run. Thanks to a noteworthy defensive effort, they were able to extend the lead to as much as 13 points.

“We can’t live and die by the jump shot and that can’t dictate our game, because you’re not always gonna make the shot,” Williams-Flournoy said. “You know, but you can always play defense and you can always rebound.”

Although the Hoyas missed many first half opportunities, they buckled down and played solid defense, which allowed them to stay competitive against the offensive-minded Pittsburgh team. Both Roche and Rodgers as well as their support staff showcased this focus on Wednesday with their scrappy and relentless play. Georgetown had an impressive 17 steals, and forced Pittsburgh into 27 turnovers.

Next, the Hoyas will face No. 1 UConn on Saturday in McDonough. A win against the mighty Huskies would arguably be the biggest in program history. The last time the Hoyas played UConn in McDonough they lost by 19 points, but were leading late in the first half.

Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m. for the already sold-out game.

drugs toppled the legitimacy of many of baseball’s greatest players, Pujols has never been linked to any banned substances.

Pujols has always stressed his dedication to the St. Louis community for all they have given him and his family, having said many times that he would like to be a Cardinal for life. Apparently, he has changed his mind.

Just like LeBron, another future hall of famer has outgrown his small-market team. I thought Albert Pujols was different—a model for what the modern athlete should strive to be. But next winter, through his own doing, he will have the opportunity to decide between remaining loyal to the fans or banking his recordshattering check.

See why Daniel really took his talents to London at dkellner@ georgetownvoice.com

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8 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

The doctor is out Saying farewell to Porterfield

by Rachel Calvert

On Friday afternoons, Dan Porterfield’s office in Healy Hall becomes an informal salon where students stop by to discuss classwork, mull over career concerns, or simply to partake of the ice cream that constantly fills his freezer.

The tradition spans years, an emblem of the welcoming, receptive persona Porterfield’s colleagues and students consistently describe.

Johnny Solis (SFS ’11), a student of Porterfield’s, has been a frequent Friday afternoon visitor.

“The vibe was very festive,” Solis said. “His door was always open for ice cream, advice, etcetera.”

Porterfield’s knack for connecting people made his office a forum for meeting other students.

“He really fosters a sense of

community,” Senior Vice President of Federal Relations Scott Fleming said. “He prompts people to think outside the box, which leads to lots of creative and exciting things on this campus.”

Since his undergraduate days in the Georgetown College in the early 1980s, Porterfield’s career at Georgetown has been characterized by continual dedication to students and an unparalleled drive to further social justice both within and beyond the Georgetown community.

But Porterfield recently accepted a post as President of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania which will begin on Mar. 1—a departure which leaves a gap that will be difficult to fill.

As the senior vice president

Courtesy Dan Porterfield

Waiting for Superman: Porterfield attended a screening with students.

for strategic development, Porterfield’s role on campus has been just as wide-ranging as his title suggests. Tall, bespectacled, and forthcoming, Porterfield is known as a consensus-builder and bridge between the many different facets of the University.

“He is irreplaceable,” University President John DeGioia said in a January question and answer session with student press. “We will do our best to ensure that the functions he has provided can be most appropriately addressed, [but] we will not do a search to replace him.”

When Porterfield graduated from Georgetown, his initial focus was on social justice-oriented non-profits in the District.

After graduating in 1983, Porterfield founded the D.C.

Schools Project, a tutoring program for recent immigrants to the D.C. area. Having studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he returned to Georgetown to start the After School Kids program, which allows college students to tutor at-risk youth—what he calls “kids who have been given up on.”

“What I love is working with young people as they are developing their own interior freedom,” he said. “It’s the combination of seeing individual people develop that sense of freedom and of knowing the integrity of their own hearts that they form by creating meaning. That meaning involves both creating experiences of joy and learning from successfully dealing with moments of difficulty.”

Both programs facilitate

Courtesy Dan Porterfield

Cristo Rey pre-college students get to experience college life for a summer.

relationships between Georgetown students and those they tutor, and both have roots in several formative experiences from Porterfield’s time as an undergraduate. Working in the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program, combined with his experiences as a residence assistant in Darnall Hall, he said, afforded him a “grasp of the tremendous potential that every individual has, at any age, to make a big difference now.”

“What motivated me was the realization that college students could do a huge amount, could play a role that maybe no other group could play quite as well with pre-adolescents and early teens,” he said.

Porterfield’s passion for the D.C. Schools Project was born out of a Georgetown-sponsored trip he took to Nicaragua in 1984—his first trip outside the U.S. He says the experience allowed him to see the disorientation and confusion that often makes it difficult for immigrants to assimilate into a new culture.

“To be myself a newcomer, I just remember very vividly how challenging it was the first time away,” he said. “The experience made me realize that many recent immigrants in the United States were having that same disorienting feeling of cultural loss and cultural confusion, only with fewer resources than I had.”

Upon his return to the U.S., Rev. Harold Bradley invited him to develop a program to help District public schools accommodate

feature

georgetownvoice.com a recent influx of immigrants, primarily from El Salvador. He designed the D.C. Schools Project to address that problem, allowing students to be tutors and welcoming friends to recent immigrant schoolchildren and their families.

The D.C. Schools Project now features programs in elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as its One-toOne Program that sends tutors to the home of an immigrant family, where they serve as a resource for the entire family two nights a week. Maria Rocha (COL ’11) tutored for a semester in the middle school program and has since been a coordinator in the One-to-One Program.

“The kids really look up to the students in Georgetown who help them learn English, not only as tutors but as mentors,” she said. “It’s a chance to make a lasting impact.”

After his work with DCSP, Porterfield received a PhD from City University in New York and served for four years in the Clinton administration as a senior aide to the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. It was in 1996 that then President Leo O’Donovan recruited Porterfield to come back to Georgetown.

Porterfield said his current job entails helping Georgetown realize its strategic goals.

In practice, that means teaching classes in the English department that feature a community service component and a vigorous social justice theme.

But Porterfield’s involvement on campus stretches far beyond the classroom. He has been involved with projects all over the University, even serving as interim athletic director from June 2009 to April 2010.

Solis, who took Porterfield’s Those Who Teach Lead class, described him as a challenging professor, one who engaged in “differentiated learning” by creating group projects, checking on students’ service projects, and bringing in guest lecturers—including the occasional speaker who addressed the class via Porterfield’s iPhone.

“He’s always relying on students’ feedback so that he can become a better leader,” Solis said. “It speaks to how he carries himself as a leader … he was always available and honest with you.”

From immediate replies to emails sent at 3 a.m., to encouraging text messages, Porterfield is in almost constant contact with his students. Solis recalls Porterfield sending him a text at 12:30 a.m. the morn-

Courtesy Dan Porterfield

He’s no Steve Jobs, but Porterfield knows how to deliver a keynote address. ing before an interview with Teach for America, wishing him good luck.

“You’re gonna kill it. Knock ‘em down,” he wrote in a text.

Another of Porterfield’s former mentees, Steve de Man (COL ’04), who taught at a school in Roma, Texas, with TFA before taking up the recruitment role with the organization that he occupies today, praised Porterfield for his interpersonal skills.

“I can say with confidence that he is the most effective recruiter in the country,” de Man said.

Beyond general advising, Porterfield mentored interested students by providing recommendations and conducting mock interviews.

However, de Man said Porterfield never urged him into Teach for America—or onto any path, for that matter. Rather, his mentoring style allows students to arrive at conclusions independently, while he provides support and advice.

“Any caring and also objective adult brings to an emerging adult the lifetime experience, real study that may be relevant,” Porterfield said.

“In my case a great respect for who that individual is and a desire express myself through by being in a helping relationship with another.”

Raymond Cooper, senior advisor to DeGioia and a colleague of Porterfield’s, sees a connection between Porterfield’s mentoring and his commitment to the overall Georgetown experience. According to Cooper, his reception of the Dorothy Brown Award for exemplary support of students in 2003 was well earned.

“He truly deserved that award, because he’s so focused,” Cooper said.

“He believes that when students come through here, it’s not just about education, but their whole life experience.”

Besides working closely with students—advising them and keeping them happy with frozen treats—Cooper observed that Porterfield has remained unwaveringly dedicated to what he perceives as the Georgetown mission. The cornucopia of projects under his supervision included the LGBTQ Resource Center, the Cristo Rey Summer Experience, aimed at promoting higher education oppurtunites for students from low-income backgrounds, and the present reimagining of the Center for Social Justice.

“That kind of work is important because it’s helping us as individuals and communities realize what our promise is,” Porterfield said.

Porterfield’s colleagues attribute his success in realizing these goals to his uncanny understanding of the inner workings of Georgetown, coupled with his deft navigation of logistical details and a crystalized vision of the end result.

“He’s very intuitive and he has the ability to see opportunities in lots of different places and act on them.” Maggie Moore, a public affairs specialist who works with Porterfield colleague in daily operations said. “I think a lot of his projects often come from a single conversation.”

Rev. Joe Parkes, President of Cristo Rey High School in East Harlem, has served with Porterfield on the Board of Directors of the Cristo Rey Network, a group of Jesuit schools that provides educational opportunities to potential first generation college students.

To Parkes, Porterfield’s unique combination of vision and pragmatism contribute to his know-how and ability to get things done.

Last summer, Porterfield orchestrated a program for approximately 20 rising Cristo

the georgetown voice 9

MATTHEW FUNK

Porterfield’s charm keeps the mood light at his farewell dinner.

Courtesy Dan Porterfield

One of the guys: Porterfield creates close bonds with the students he mentors.

Rey seniors to spend three weeks at Georgetown; trustees funded the visits, and students received a stipend to make up for lost time at possible summer jobs. Parkes said the program gave the students confidence that they can get in to even the most selective institutions—critical for students with no family history of higher education.

“He captures what we’re doing better than anyone,” Parkes said.

He traced Porterfield’s effectiveness in large part to his eloquence.

“He thinks and speaks in paragraphs,” Parkes said. “You know where he’s going, and he comes across as an incredibly authentic human being.”

For all of these reasons, it will be difficult for any one individual to fill the many roles Porterfield has played during his time at Georgetown.

An administrator with a gift for connecting with students and faculty, Porterfield was an omnipresent figure at Georgetown, constantly interacting with students and participating in widely disparate projects on campus.

Porterfield sees his work in the LGBTQ Initiative and projects like DCSP and the ASK program as his most important achievements at Georgetown.

“I think the overriding theme is that we exist in relationships with one another,” he said. “We will find ourselves and know ourselves still better when we think creatively and act on the notion that we can strengthen those relationships.”

When he transitions to Franklin and Marshall, Porterfield will bring his signature mentoring style and attention to social justice. Meanwhile, the university and students he leaves behind will try to maintain the relationships he helped them build.

“The school is going to be missing an administrative official who has his doors open all the time … who connects with his students,” Solis said.

“It seems that there aren’t that many administrative officials who students can always go to. And Dr. Porterfield was that. He was the bridge between students, faculty, Jesuits, and the administration. He did it all.”

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

Tenn Cent Fest opens with Menagerie

by Nico Dodd

Most are familiar with Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. In honor of this prolific playwright, this March the Davis Performing Arts Center is presenting the Tenn Cent Fest, a month-long celebration and exploration of Williams’ work and legacy. The first component of this festival, The Glass Menagerie—a play that characterizes Williams’s southern-gothic tone—opens this week. It’s a big, complex undertaking, and the Department of Performing Arts manages to pull it off with impressive skill and execution.

Williams’s most autobiographical show, Menagerie is set in St. Louis during the Great Depression. It is a “memory play,” that depicts the story of Tom Wingfield, a young man who works in a warehouse to support his mother and sister but dreams of bigger things. His mother promises him that he can leave home once he finds a husband for Laura, his sensitive and painfully shy sister who spends most of her days playing with her glass animal collection. As the story moves and refocuses, each character’s disappointment with his or her situation unfolds, high-

“From this distance, if I squint, you look a little like Carrot Top.”

max blodgett

lighting the difficult era in which the play takes place.

Professor Sarah Marshall plays the overbearing, passiveaggressive Amanda Wingfield, a desperate woman clinging to her children and memories of her youth. Marshall’s southern accent is well-practiced, and perfectly complements Williams’s charming dialogue. In addition, Marshall’s skilled comedic timing adds some unexpected moments of humor to an otherwise grave show. The rest of the ensemble is similarly talented, and all of them represent their characters’ dire situations very well—each wants something more than he or she has, and the audience feels the struggle of each one. The pitting of Tom Wingfield, played by Clark Young (COL ’09), against his mother is particularly striking. The two spar against each other both jokingly and fiercely.

The lighting, sound, set, and projection aspects of this production add to the show’s impressiveness. The detail of the apartment where the Wingates live is captivating, and facilitates a personal connection for the audience with the play’s setting. The set, which

Honey, get off your knees. You don’t want a husband that badly. is partially deconstructed, has projections of light and film cast upon various parts of it as well as screens above the stage during different parts of dialogue. These cues add surprising poignancy to different scenes, and makes for one of the most interesting aspects of the show. Although the physical set remains the same throughout the entire show, effective use of lighting directs the attention of the audience so that changes in scenes are clear-cut.

The sound is similarly well-engineered, with natural starts and

stops in the music. The large role that light and sound play in the show creates a dramatic, dreamlike atmosphere that effectively communicates Tom’s hazy, traumatic memories.

For a play that could easily come across as boring and dialogue-heavy, this was a compelling production that was both moving and wholeheartedly enjoyable. It would prove a successful piece on its own, but as the opening act of Tenn Cent Fest, it will also leave the Georgetown community excited for the productions that follow.

it to another level and began to fashion a scenario. We were talking about doing a documentary at first.

gist, who leaves Berkeley shortly before he gets his Ph. D. to go into the world and to study anthropology firsthand. And in

specifically wrote this part for me, but it was not really about me. He had to keep reminding me how conservative the character was. So I’d start getting friendly with the other pilgrims, or I’d start speaking a little Spanish, or acting too gregarious, and he’d have to stop me.

Estevez: I’d say, “No, no, that’s Martin, that’s not Don.” Sheen: So he would remind me, “You voted for George Bush!

Twice!”

Estevez: I actually said you voted for Nixon.

Sheen: What? Oh my god, it gets worse. I didn’t think it could get any worse.

And how was your journey from The West Wing to Santiago?

Sheen: That’s another pilgrimage. I loved doing The West Wing. That was a great time in my life, and for all of us involved it was very special. They come along once in your life.

Estevez: You’re still everybody’s favorite president.

Sheen: Well, that just shows you how messed up the country is.

max blodgett

Sheen and Estevez visit G’town, talk Nixon

On Friday, actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez visited Georgetown to discuss their upcoming film The Way, a story about a man traveling the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage in Spain. Interview transcribed

by Leigh Finnegan.

Did you decide to come to Georgetown because it’s been too long since St. Elmo’s Fire?

Estevez: I haven’t been here since then! We got in so early this morning I haven’t gotten a chance to look [around].

What interested you so much in this particular pilgrimage?

Sheen: [My father] was raised in an area near Tui, which is not far from Santiago, so I had a lifelong connection to it … When I was doing The West Wing I really decided that I would take a summer and do it. And in the summer of ‘03 I only had about six to eight weeks. It was not enough time by the time I got there and got organized. I was with [Estevez’s] son, Taylor, who was 19 at the time … [and] Taylor met his future wife at a refugio on the

Camino, and he lives there now.

And he was very instrumental in inspiring this work, but it just ignited a very energetic focus in

Not pictured: A member of the Sheen/Estevez family who deserves these disapproving looks. my life that this was an important event to do this, for me, personally. And I fell in love with the Camino, and when I came home I started telling [Eztevez] about all these miracles that had happened in a very short time, not the least of which was his son. And so gradually Emilio took up this interest and he took

Estevez: [But then] we settled on the dramatic narrative that this was a father/son story, and the father would learn about the son more so in death than he ever did in life.

Sheen: The father is very conservative. He’s a doctor, he’s an ophthalmologist, a widower.

It’s his only son, an anthropolo-

max blodgett

the process—should I tell the story? I don’t want to spoil the film. But anyway, he ends up on the Camino.

Did you feel some kind of interior transformation after the film?

Sheen: Well working with [Estevez] is an interior transformation! He’ll take you places … He

georgetownvoice.com

lez’hur ledger

by Heather Regen “We’re going to take you on a mambo-salsa cha cha cha ride!” With a voice lifted right from Vince Schlomi of ShamWow commercial fame, emcee Earl Rush of StuckonSalsa. com goaded a group of nervous, mostly thirty-or-fortysomething couples onto the dance floor, and cued the DJ. Though it may have been dark, windy, and oppressively cold outside, the bright lights of the ballroom of Rosslyn’s Artisphere bathed the auditorium in reds and yellows.

Starting this week, the urban arts center is hosting weekly Tuesday night salsa lessons,

“I need help! Speak-a de english? dickhead!” —Ferris bueller’s day off

Salsa, ¡aye caramba!

followed by a large live band that was made up of about as many musicians as there were people on the dance floor.

Looking on from the sidelines of the ballroom, the scene struck me as not just bizarre, but slightly unnatural—like an Avatar-budget set populated by D-list actors, carelessly spinning themselves silly. Clad in clunky rain boots and without a dance partner, I managed to evade the first round in favor of sitting down and watching.

Soon after this round, however, another lost soul wandered into the auditorium, looking confused. She

HeatHeR RegeN

Wow, Groove Theory really lowered their standards for that last show.

Living on a shell-tered diet

Today’s kitchen kingpins really bust their thesauruses to describe eggs. In various cookbooks and TV segments, I’ve heard eggs lauded as rich, hearty, creamy, savory, decadent, delicate, firm, tender, runny, flexible, lively, interesting, versatile, vibrant, fudgy, super-loose, zesty, fatty, buttery, brothy, foamy, piquant, nutty, inspired, and spirited. Egg descriptors have even bordered on the sexual: arousing, tantalizing, voluptuous, titillating. Self-proclaimed eggophile Wylie Dufresne once told New York Magazine that he would like to rub Hollandaise sauce all over his body.

But I have never eaten an egg—or at least, not one that I can remember. I have been deathly allergic to them since I was three years old, when my dad made me zesty, super-loose scrambled eggs and I wound up

curled in the fetal position on our family room couch, quietly moaning. Of course, I had also eaten an eraser off the end of a pencil that morning—as one does when one is three—so it took some aggressive parenting to convince me that eggs were the culprit, and not a writing utensil. But by lunchtime, my parents had properly conveyed to me that I could never eat eggs again.

The next 10 years taught me that eggs attack in many forms, whether they are hard boiled, whisked with buttermilk to coat fried chicken, or baked into cake.

I can’t eat waffles, pancakes, cupcakes—any cake—brownies, or the thousands of varieties of cookies that you can buy or bake (with the merciful exception of Oreos, because there is nothing remotely resembling organic material in an Oreo). Ice cream

turned to me and asked if I had showed up for the “Writeo: Poetry Workshop” event as well.

No, I admitted, I was actually there to dance.

Led to salsa night by the poetry class’ botched advertising, the straggling woman received a free salsa lesson (normally $15, $12 for students) and complementary drinks from the generous folks at Artisphere. I reluctantly pulled off my rain boots and took out the ballet flats I had been keeping stashed in my bag, so we could both make the most of what Artisphere had to offer. Just a moment after stepping onto the dance floor, however, that sneaky Earl decided to mix things up and switch the pairings—I lost my fellow partner in crime amid a shuffling sea of dance shoes.

Nervous, I thought I was surrounded by serious salsa aficionados until Rush chimed, “Men, you have to lead the women! Put your right hand up, flat on her back and ‘Chop!’ like a ninja!” My partner rolled his eyes and whispered, “I’ve never seen Jackie Chan do the bachata …

I can’t believe my girlfriend made me do this.”

is off-limits, except for poor to middling brands, as are most sauces and dressings. Luckily, bread rarely contains eggs, and I can have dairy, because eggs are not dairy (despite the shocking number of people who believe the contrary.)

What to make of this? Many react with pity when they learn

amuse-bouche

by Molly Redden

a bi-weekly column about food and drink that I have never eaten a slice of my own birthday cake. These people, who have Norman Rockwell-eqsue memories of gorging on the remains of Santa’s cookies on Christmas morning and raw dough from Mom’s mixing bowl, assume that my allergy made my childhood very sad.

Not so. Aside from that time I threw up at a Girl Scout meeting after eating a banana-flavored

the georgetown voice 11

Reviews, Haiku’d Never Say Never “Never say never.”

That will come in handy when Beiber’s offered drugs.

Beastly Beauty and the Beast, Rehashed, and PG-13?

Desecrates my youth.

Rango Fear and Loathing fans Will line up to see this flick. ...Or just might do lines.

Gnomeo and Juliet Leo in Shakespeare?

That was just ridiculous.

Gimme garden gnomes!

Brotherhood Frat pledge gone awry.

Kid can’t get medical help.

Moral: Don’t trust bros.

Unknown What if you woke up, And nobody knew your name?

Jose Canseco.

—Mary Borowiec, Leigh Finnegan, John Sapunor

Laffy Taffy—that one was a real surprise—I never felt that I was missing out.

Eggs are just a cultural and culinary blind spot to me. I never got into Friends, I have never played Farmville, and I have never had a brownie—but my life has never felt empty as a result. The deepest thought I have ever had about the absence of eggs in my life is this: people cannot tell you what food tastes like.

I mean that. There is a wellworn arsenal of codewords that foodies use to tell one another whether or not they liked what they ate, and it is ridiculous. The bread at the new bakery—is it airy, with an open crumb? Are the grains in this risotto discrete, yet part of a coherent dish? Really, it doesn’t matter. The secret language that gourmands use to describe a great meal is less about communicating taste than telling you—and remind-

ing themselves—that they loved their meal. They can talk for hundreds of words, and often they will, but you will never have eaten that meal with them.

They may as well tell you that those snow crabs were awesome.

It makes no difference.

Every once in a while, a kind soul will try to tell me what eggs taste like, but I know better. Eggs have schooled me in postmodernism. I know exactly how to tell you what a superb scrambled egg tastes like. But real scrambled eggs, the kind that my dad makes on Sunday mornings—I will never know what those taste like. No one can ever adequately recreate the experience of eating an egg for my understanding.

No matter how explicitly Wylie Dufresne describes his sexual fantasies to the press.

Bake Molly some eggless, “special” brownies at mredden@georgetownvoice.com

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

Critical Versus: Radiohead, King of Limbs

Experimental and innovative With the release of their eighth full length album, The King of Limbs, Radiohead has found itself more pigeonholed than ever.

Everybody seems to have a preformed opinion about the band’s impressive, critically-acclaimed cannon, and projecting that opinion onto Limbs. This is a standard reaction for a Radiohead release— as a result, most of what people say about Limbs will likely reflect opinions they had before album opener “Bloom” crescendoed past its initial piano loop. But these eight songs deserve to be looked at in their own right.

Despite a huge, electronic revamping since 2007’s In Rainbows, Radiohead has retained that record’s minimalist tendencies.

While Limbs might be the band’s most sonically innovative record yet, with songs like “Feral” and “Morning Mr. Magpie” delving into electronic sounds the band only dabbled in on Kid A and Amnesiac, listeners do not need to exert too much effort to understand their complexities, even for the most outlandish tracks.

This is Radiohead shedding its mystery, for the first time releasing an intimate, bare-all record. Subtlety has largely replaced the extravagance and grandiosity of albums

like Kid A and OK Computer. Limbs calls Radiohead listeners to dance along with the beats, rhythms, and melodies that churn through the better part of the record.

It is clear that the band has producers like Flying Lotus and Actress, in places where it emphasizes a beat and then relentlessly swells its ambience through each track. The drum machine has largely replaced acoustic percussion, and complimentary loops of piano and guitar appear in lieu of much more standard instrumentation. The first four tracks reveal these influences the most, with “Bloom” and “Morning Mr. Magpie” operating like smooth, free jazz, and “Little by Little” taking cues from Modern Guilt-era Beck.

The instrumental “Feral” shows an unprecedented use of electronics, situated somewhere in between Amnesiac’s “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” and more off-kilter dubstep artists like Burial.

Limbs’s second half is far less electronic, and fans of the band’s earlier work should have an easier time enjoying it. Tracks like “Codex” and “Give Up the Ghost” show that Radiohead has a keen ear for beauty in subtlety.

But even though Limbs shows Radiohead in their most listenable and most experimental form, this album feels incomplete. Conspiracy theorists all across the Internet insist, for reasons from the album’s

Cage against the machine

The glamorous world of Hollywood has always had its ups and downs. But no matter the industry’s condition, one man has managed to keep audiences and insiders on their toes. Defined by his notable voice, characteristic facial expressions, and dramatic range rivaled only by Daniel Day Lewis, Nicolas Cage has done it all. His work has earned him roles in films by the Coen Brothers and David Lynch, and even an Oscar. Yet the later works in the Cage canon—films like Bangkok Dangerous and this Friday’s Drive Angry 3D—prompt one of the most-pondered questions of our day: What the fuck is Nic Cage doing?

Cage has become the archetype of what I call Nic Cage

Syndrome. This disorder exclusively affects actors who have largely maintained critical acclaim, only to subsequently star in a string of romantic comedies, action flicks, or, in the worst cases, a hybrid of the two. While Cage has become known for his pathological career moves, recent trends show that he may not be the sole victim of this corrosive condition.

To diagnose this disorder, look at an actor’s film choices before and after an Oscar nomination or win. Take Natalie Portman. Coming off Black Swan, she is currently appearing in the trite rom-com No Strings Attached.

Even worse is her role in the upcoming Thor, a superhero movie which will only further typecast her as the young, simple, pretty

order number to a line in “Separator” proclaiming “if you think this is over then you’re wrong,” that the King of Limbs that we have is not the finished product. So keep an eye on this record—Radiohead just might have some more surprises in store for it.

Voice’s Choices: “Lotus Flower,” “Separator,” “Morning Mr. Magpie” —James McGrory

Trite and overdone “King of Limbs is boring.”

That’s a popular refrain regarding Radiohead’s briefly-anticipated LP, already a polarizing album less than a week after its release.

Lacking the band’s trademark dynamism, Limbs shows Radiohead in rare, understated form. Taking this approach now is strategic—with Arcade Fire as the new girl. But Portman is not completely to blame—as a young actress, she may not have the bank account to support more critically-acclaimed roles. And besides, a well regarded actor who never made a disappointing movie in his or her younger days is a very rare find.

Fade to black

by John Sapunor

a bi-weekly column about film Younger actors like Portman may have an excuse, but what about the veterans? Look at the great Robert De Niro—an actor whose sterling reputation has remained mostly intact despite some incomprehensibly bad roles. He appears to suffer from the same syndrome as Cage, starring in an inexcusable num-

bombastic fearmongers for the smarter-than-you set, it sets the group up to brush off accusations of dullness: “We meant for this to be a mellow record, it’s you who doesn’t get it.”

But this implication skips over a lot of things. It misses that Radiohead’s technophobic, postmodern paranoia was already outdated when they turned to sales gimmicks to remain relevant with 2007’s In Rainbows (a tactic half-heartedly replicated

by Limbs’ brief marketing cycle).

It misses that their humorless, impersonal aesthetic is at odds with contemporary trends in both popular and independent music.

And it misses that their brand of watered-down electronica for rockists does little justice to the more daring musicians they pilfer from.

It is the last point that’s most irritating. When Radiohead was the biggest rock band in the world in the late 1990s and early 2000s—a time when such a crown existed—it was exciting and unexpected to hear them draw from the style of experimental dance label Warp Records (as on Kid A and Amnesiac). In 2011, however, that same appropriating is disappointing. The group isn’t blazing new trails; they’re picking up on last year’s trends from the electronic scene—Ricardo Villalobos’s pensive microhouse, Four ber of nonsensical films. I’ll admit Meet the Parents was pretty funny, and largely because of De Niro. But its two sequels, combined with the upcoming Limitless—a lifeless-looking Bradley Cooper vehicle—have not impressed his fan base. De Niro recently hammered the final nail in his career’s coffin when he signed on for New Year’s Day, the sequel to 2010’s vapid ensemble flick Valentine’s Day. What drives these actors to make such calamitous career moves? Money may be a factor—Cage has become notorious for his financial woes.

Another reason, with which many justify Steven Spielberg’s involvement with the atrocious Transformers series, is that filmmakers and actors take profitable jobs so that they can appear in smaller movies that won’t

Tet’s stuttering minimalism, and Warp’s intelligent dance music.

Even the biggest fan of pastiche has to admit that Radiohead has been standing on the shoulders of far more interesting musicians far too long to warrant their continued reputation as a standardbearer for experimentation.

The biggest irony of all, though, is that Radiohead never ceases to sound like Radiohead.

No matter which high-brow influences the band claims on a particular release—The Beatles and post-classical composer Olivier Messiaen on Hail to the Thief; German electronic label Kompakt and krautrock act Neu on In Rainbows—the band is by and large doling out the same tactics they were on 1997’s groundbreaking OK Computer. When they seem content with merely being themselves—as on the delicate, unassuming “Separator” that closes Limbs—Radiohead can be downright delightful.

But when they so clearly work to make enlightened rock music, becoming curators of taste and thought rather than manipulators of melody and emotion, it brings to mind something else about monarchs and body parts: the emperor has no clothes.

Voice’s Choices: “Separator” —Matthew Collins pay the rent. Thankfully, these situations do not always breed disaster—some, like Ed Norton, seem immune to Cage Syndrome, while others, like Christian Bale when he took a role in Terminator, wind up making full recoveries.

But despite the evidence, there are still conspiracy theorists convinced that Cage has taken his treacherous roles as some kind of sick joke. Although we may never know the truth, a few Wicker Man clips make it hard to dismiss this theory. Or maybe Cage is saving up to finance his own Citizen Kane—it’ll just take three more Ghost Riders and a few more National Treasures to complete.

Find out how far John will go to finance his next big project at jsapunor@georgetownvoice.com

page thirteen

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the georgetown voice 13

HOYA SENIORS As their final home game approaches, theVoice would like to take a moment to honor the seniors of the Georgetown men’s basketball team.

. Austin freeman .

Named Big East Preseason Player of the Year -- Parents named his younger sister Austina knowing how amazing he would be -- Is regularly consulted by Wilford Brimly for advice on how to kick ass despite ‘diabeetus’

.

julian vaughn

JULIAN VAUGHN

.

Fit four years of awesomeness into three years as a hoya -Three-time winner of the rhino pumphouse road house award for excellence in bouncing -bears a striking resemblance to the mysterious superhero swagman

.

julian vaughn

chris wright

.

heart of a champion starting point guard for three seasons -- wears a single arm sleeve to hide his mega man cannon -- played too well for too long for his career to End by breaking his hand against cincinnati

. ryan dougherty . julian vaughn

has played a hell of a lot more Georgetown basketball than you have -- is pyrokinetic, which unfortunately is no help on the court -- holds the NCAA record for ratio of captaincies held to number of minutes played

voices

14 the georgetown voice

february 24, 2011

Law enforcement needs to prioritize for student safety

by Troy Miller For reasons that are unclear to me, last semester I began seeing excessive numbers of law enforcement officers in the Georgetown area. Their teeming presence did not by itself bother me. Whatever the reason, I still felt a sense of security knowing there were always police nearby if needed. But at the same time, I noticed an increase in Department of Public Safety-issued write-ups for rambunctious parties and Phishy aromas, and it seriously irked me.

Admittedly, it’s asinine to complain about law enforcement officers enforcing laws. What really killed me was that while the number of stash boxes increased, DPS emails about stolen laptops increased. Between September and November 2009, DPS reported 10 incidents of drug possession. In Septmber 2010, alone, 10 were reported, with another 14 in October and November.

The problem of too much crime and too little time, money,

or human resources to do enough about it is basic economics for law enforcement officials. An increased number of crimes stopped and criminals processed is not enough, because some crimes are more serious than others. Personally, I prioritize finding the Riddler’s ever-growing cache of laptops higher than exhaustively searching a dorm room for a few grams of wacky tobacky, even if someone did draw too much attention to themselves by poorly ventilating their room while playing loud Bob Marley. I would like to make constructive suggestions as to how DPS could better allocate and prioritize its resources, but it really is not Georgetown’s most transparent department.

This semester hasn’t seemed as tense between students and DPS. But now, between the Advisory Neighborhood Council and Metropolitan Police Department, students have bigger problems to worry about. In January, “late night” shouting became unlawful and could warrant arrests, with a maximum penalty of 90

days in jail and a $500 fine. More recently, local bars received reminders regarding D.C. policies on serving underage persons, and several were raided. Friends and acquaintances of mine have been arrested at liquor stores recently, too.

Yet violent crimes and property crimes occur at much higher rates in D.C. than they do nationally. In light of this DPS and MPD’s choice to pursue underage drinkers so aggressively makes little sense. It calls into question whether the drinking age is an inherently ineffective law, and if its enforcement is counterproductive. In most cases an underage drinker with a fake ID has the opportunity to pay too much to drink in a public place, one where they must legally be refused service once they are too hammered to tell their fake IDs from their debit cards. That’s it. On-campus binge drinking is essentially unaffected—and only more likely to occur when the drinking age is strongly enforced.

That’s really all that increased enforcement accomplishes. The recent citations and arrests may seem intimidating, but they really change very little about campus drinking culture. Underage drinkers can still simply ask legal drinkers to buy alcohol for them. “Procuring alcohol for an underage person” is certainly a discouraging charge for a Hoya to face, but legal drinkers potentially face the same charge every time they host a party with underage guests—the point being that Georgetown students will always be willing to risk these charges.

In the coming weekends, if the cops were to bust a party and actually charge some poor 21-yearold for procurement, I wouldn’t be surprised. But aside from garnering some money from citations, they would accomplish nothing.

There is no real benefit when a handful of officers spend several hours of their shift documenting and processing the fact that college students were drinking with friends. And there is no clear point

when increased enforcement can declared a success or a failure.

A high volume of reported crimes doesn’t imply effective or efficient enforcement. It is the prioritization of crimes that is critical. If I’m expected to believe that corralling students is currently among D.C’s main police concerns and that resources aren’t being misappropriated, I expect that D.C.’s other crime rates are well below the national averages.

But as I discussed, the reality is that in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, D.C.’s violent crime rate was three times the national average, and its property crime rate is one-and-ahalf times the national average.

Students are easy targets, but aside from keeping police preoccupied, there is no point in seeing them as targets at all.

Troy Miller is a sophomore in the SFS. He was going to lower the volume of his Bob Marley, but then he got high.

Finding a sense of self by blogging as The College Prepster

by Carly Heitlinger Traveling is quite the ordeal for me. There I was, pacing back and forth between Dunkin Donuts and the newspaper stand in Reagan International Airport. Fellow travelers were whizzing by, only adding to my growing anxiety. Caught up in my own thoughts, I whipped around when I heard my name, “Carly?”

A girl around my age was smiling and waving. In my head, I ran through all of the places that I would know her from, but nothing came to mind. Just as my confusion set in, she eagerly said, “Hi! I read your blog!”

I started my blog in December of 2008. It amazes me that, two years later, someone recognized me for it in an airport. I don’t know how I got

THE COLLEGE PREPSTER

Blogging provides a valuable outlet for anxious students, or any students.

here, but I do know it was only because of The College Prepster.

My first semester at Georgetown University probably could not have gone any worse. By the time finals rolled around, I was failing classes, completely naïve, and hopelessly homesick; I was ready to drop out and literally work as a tollbooth operator. Taking a break from studying one day, I found myself completely exasperated. A floormate and I were considering all the reasons why I didn’t need to know accounting, and what I would rather do with my life.

As I seriously considered the tollbooth again, he suggested that I start a blog instead.

The only blogs I was familiar with were politics or sports-related, so when he suggested this, I wondered, what would I possibly write about, and who would ever want to read what I had to say.

Despite my hesitation, I decided to sign up for one. My friends thought I was crazy, and maybe I was. Nonetheless, College Prep was born.

Fourteen hundred followers, thousands of daily hits, 12,000 tweets, a Tumblr, and 500-plus posts later, I’m recognized not as Carly, but as The College Prepster.

I’m the first to admit, it’s crazy. It’s weird. It still doesn’t seem real. Thanks to my blog, I have developed relationships with the public relations departments of brands like Kate Spade, Vineyard Vines, and Lilly Pulitzer.

I get numerous emails each day from followers asking for advice, guest posts, and general support. Questions flood my Tumblr inbox.

This feels great, but when I sit down and think about what College Prep has become and see how The College Prepster has developed, I realize that blogging has changed me for the better. At the birth of College Prep, I was struggling and, frankly, depressed. My experience at Georgetown had thus far been nothing like the grand expectations I had built up as an anxious high school senior waiting for college to start. I ached to be back home, when only months before I had ached to leave. I created The College Prepster as my pseudo-alter ego; she was the epitome of who I wanted to be.

I was young and nervous about everything, but The College Prepster was mature and confident.

I was floundering in school, while The College Prepster was intelligent and a hard worker.

The College Prepster took full advantage of everything Georgetown had to offer, while I remained isolated from the larger community.

I was apprehensive about going to parties on the weekends, but The College Prepster was the life of the party.

I didn’t have many friends, but The College Prepster could talk to anyone she found interesting.

Starting this blog helped me mitigate the mounting anxiety I’d felt my freshman year. Knowing that there was more to my personality and responsibilities than my accounting grade furnished me with a unique sense of self-esteem.

It kept me from leaving, and more importantly, kept me from being a character in a Jules Feiffer children’s book. Most importantly, it is something I strongly recommend to other students.

Writing College Prep has helped me become The College Prepster, and allowed me to realize my Georgetown expectations. But, though I thought she was who I wanted to be, I now realize I have always been her. I am The College Prepster.

Carly Heitlinger is a junior in the MSB. Her appearances at Reagan pale in comparison to when she hops out the plane at LAX.

voices

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice

15

Pop music’s legitimacy may render Bieber fever terminal

by Keaton Hoffman He’s watching you as you walk to Lau. He’s at your Thursday evening pregame. He’s balling out in the NBA. He’s rocking the red carpet in Hollywood. He’s in the Super Bowl (albeit in a Best Buy commercial). He’s even in a body bag on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Though only 16 years old, Justin Bieber has gone from lowly Ontario preteen to international superstar in the blink of an eye.

Bieber has become a cultural phenomenon, and he has the acco-

lades to prove it. His debut album, My World 2.0, has gone double platinum in the U.S., Australia, and his native Canada, with the single “Baby” leading the way, achieving millions of downloads worldwide and topping the charts across North America and Europe. The foyer to his posh home in the suburbs of Atlanta is already graced by an assortment of awards. His face has been featured on a variety of memorabilia, from action figures to Christmas stockings.

Naturally, his celebrity has not gone unnoticed by the tabloids—

Even mass amounts of make-up cannot cover up Bieber’s talent.

FLICKR

The Wheel World: D.C. Everyone is familiar with the urban cyclist stereotype—he or she is skinny, wears spandex but not a helmet, and is usually plotting a way to slip through a red light, only to be narrowly missed by oncoming SUVs. I’ll admit I have a certain fascination with these law-defying speed demons. Because rather than zooming past them in a car or observing them from a clunky Circulator bus, I generally find myself in front of them, then blocking their path, and finally watching them zip through an intersection, barely avoiding traffic, as they rush ahead of me.

My experience more resembles the average urban bicycle

commuter—part of the sane majority of cyclists who drivers used to dealing with a minority of risk-taking extremists unfairly malign. If I can convey only one thing in this piece it would be this: don’t let the spandexclad bike messengers scare you from the road. The decision to begin cycling in an urban environment is one of the best I’ve made in college.

One of the best reasons to make the leap to city cycling is the fact the D.C. is a prime city for biking. The District of Columbia is surprisingly small and has an unusually low population density for a metropolitan area, due to its unique zoning

Let the Voice be your voice. We accept opinions, letters to the editor, personal experiences, and creative writing that are exclusive to the Voice. Submissions do not express the opinion of the board of the Voice. The Voice reserves the right to edit submissions for accuracy, length, and clarity. To submit, email voices@georgetownvoice.com or come to the Voice office in Leavey 413.

Opinions expressed in the Voices section do not necessarily reflect the views of the General Board of the Voice.

remember that cheesy smile on the cover of People last April?

But not all the news has been good, particularly in the ever critical realm of cyberspace. In the same month that Bieber’s “Baby” surpassed Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” to become the most viewed music video ever on YouTube, the very same video broke the record for the most disliked video in the site’s history. While his Twitter followers accounted for three percent of all Twitter traffic in September 2010, Bieber was in the midst of shaking off an online hate campaign aimed at sending the adolescent to the communist nation of North Korea during his next world tour and a widespread viral rumor that Bieber suffered from syphilis (Bieber is actually a strong advocate for chastity and supports abstinence education).

Bieber’s polarizing public figure has bred obsessive fans and virulent critics, whose opinions on the teenager mirror the reception of modern pop music as a whole.

Supporters admire Bieber’s—and by extension pop music’s—adoption of electronic, hip-hop, and rock influences, favoring above all else whatever’s catchy at the moment. Critics complain about the complete void of musical talent in the Top-40 and yearn for a time when music was more organic and unprocessed. While I have no qualms with anyone’s personal preferences, I do have an issue with those maligners who dismiss regulations. Buildings can only be 20 feet higher than the width of the street they line, and so downtown D.C. has one-sixth the population density of Manhattan. This primarily means wide streets—but it also results in fewer drivers to contend with.

Carrying On

by Eric Pilch A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

Most likely, your destinations in the city are probably geographically closer than you realize. My twice-a-week commute to an internship at the Treasury Department is only 2.6 miles, but I have to budget at least 45 minutes for my trip if I opt to take the Dupont GUTS bus and then the red line to Metro Center. By bike, however, the commute has taken me as little as 10 minutes, when I am lucky enough to be biking in great weather and hitting a good run of green lights.

pop artists and their music on the pretense that their efforts require no “talent.”

Take Bieber. His mother, Patricia Mallette, gave birth to Bieber at the age of 18 and raised him as a single-parent in low-income housing. In spite of his limited financial resources, he taught himself how to play piano, guitar, drums, and trumpet. And though not professionally trained, Bieber decided to participate in Stratford Idol, a hometown talent competition where he wowed audiences with his stripped-down rendition of “So Sick” by Ne-Yo. Thanks to the wonders of social media, Bieber’s name and music spread like wildfire across the internet and into the hands of talent manager Scooter Braun. At the age of 13, Bieber decided to make music his career, and, after convincing his weary mother, flew down to Florida to begin recording an album. In Atlanta, his talent caught the attention of multi-platinum artists Usher and Justin Timberlake, who fought over signing him to their respective labels. In the end, Usher won and Bieber signed with Island Records. The rest, as they say, is history.

Before he had the fancy, studiomanufactured tracks or the entourage of personal stylists and assistants, Bieber had to rely on vocal talent and internet savvy alone to gain attention and build a brand.

It’s easy to look at Bieber’s pristine haircut and his tight, red designer On top of that, the recentlydeparted Mayor Adrian Fenty more than doubled the number of bike lanes in the city, from 19 miles in 2006 to over 47 miles when he left office in January. Although few lanes are completely protected from the street, such as those on Pennsylvania Avenue near the National Mall, these small lanes are a huge improvement over the alternative, riding directly with cars. The security of having so many spaces specifically designated for bikers has the potential to substantially increase the number of D.C.’s urban cyclists—which would be a real advantage, as the safest cities for cyclists, statistically, are those with a higher proportion of bikers. Drivers become used to accommodating cyclists when they share the road with them all the time. Although D.C. has not reached the point where cars are always looking out for bikers and adjusting their driving accordingly, the city is nearing this point, especially in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights or Logan Circle.

But the top reasons to give urban cycling a try is the sheer

jeans and see a spoiled kid whose good-looks and charm propelled him to the top of charts already inundated with artists who sold their musical souls to the record company devils. However, Bieber’s rise demonstrates quite the opposite: a motivated and driven teen who surpassed all of society’s expectations thanks to hard-work, dedication, and, undeniably, talent.

Granted, not all pop artists are truly talented (Ever heard “Tardy for the Party” by Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak?). Some are spoiled, some are undeserving, and, yes, some are talentless, but this applies to a small number of pop stars. When we stop viewing Bieber, and pop artists in general, as cogs in an industry machine, we can judge him on his true merits, which history, record sales, chart performances, and even the majority of critics agree are worthy.

So even if Justin Bieber’s music doesn’t make “U Smile,” or if you’ve only listened to his music “One Time,” his past and accomplishments merit him being “Somebody to Love.” And if you think Bieber won’t ever be someone you idolize or admire, “Never Say Never,” “Baby.”

Keaton Hoffman is a sophomore in the SFS. You can find him under his covers, recording YouTube videos, crying hysterically. joy of riding and the dramatic freedom of movement cycling offers. Once you get the hang of traveling with the flow of traffic—keeping to the side where cars can safely pass and staying in the middle of a lane when they cannot—you can come to appreciate everything that is going on in a city like Washington. From a bus, you’d probably never see the street art that abounds in some neighborhoods or the wacky fashion senses of pedestrians, details of the city I’ve been able to appreciate in the last two years.

What’s more, you can make the trip to social and cultural destinations like U Street or Chinatown in 15 to 20 minutes. So the next time you’re sitting in a Dupont GUTS bus as it rattles past the Naval Observatory, consider joining the ranks of urban cyclists.

Eric Pilch is a junior in the College. The more people ride bikes, the more acceptable his spandex become.

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