3 3 2011

VOICE the georgetown

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MAYOR TO TALK NOISE LAW WITH STUDENTS PAGE 4

LIKE SHOOTING STARKS PAGE 6

SPRINKLED WITH LOVE PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w March 3, 2011 w Volume 44, Issue 8 w georgetownvoice.com

Squashing the enemy

2 the georgetown voice

march 3, 2011

comments of the week “What does this tell us? Winning GUSA requires a strong ground game.

Mike and Greg not only worked as hard as the competition, but they had more people, in more places, working just as hard to spur vote turnout.

Having an awesome name (Ace), newspaper endorsements (Charlie), or Basketball player (Jed) doesn’t mean all that much when your competition does the best job mobilizing voters. ” — The Truth “Mike Meaney and Greg Laverriere win GUSA presidential election”

MANY spring break destinations. but only ONE hilltop.

Big East, we’re ready.

“Granite curbs? Really? Can DC think of nothing better to do with its money?”

—Doug “Streets in Georgetown area to undergo renewal project”

“How are we supposed to plan events 6-8 months in advance when our treasure hunting expeditions usually start with anonymous phone calls in the night and my unexpected needs to fuel my limitless spending habits? “ —Ben Gates“Student groups send another open letter to SAC”

“Heard batman was also secretly running for the election this year as a write-in candidate. I wonder if he got more votes this year than last year.”

Find live coverage on Vox Populi: blog.georgetownvoice.com

—Hoya “Mike Meaney and Greg Laverriere win GUSA

presidential election”

Talk Back

blog.georgetownvoice.com || georgetownvoice.com

Voice Crossword “Spring Break” by Scott Fligor

Across 1. Rush-___ Treaty of 1818 6. Abominable snowman 10. Overlook 14. ___-Turkish War, 1911-1912

15. Author Steinhauer 16. Cartoon pooch 17. Sycophant 18. Presidential protectors: abbr.

19. Dock 20. Physician known for his oath

we are georgetown answers at georgetownvoice.com

23. I 24. 2002 Olympics location 25. British Commonwealth member 27. Its flag displays a trident 31. Imaging machine 32. Green prefix 33. Racing gas 35. Nirvana chart topper “In ___” 39. Depressed 40. Shingles 41. Blue Jays, on a scorecard 42. 5th largest web browser 44. Old Japanese currency 45. Supped 46. Emissions monitoring org.

48. Mexican destination 52. Patrick Ewing’s birthplace 56. Coup d’___ 57. Christmas preceder 58. Gulf War 63. Unload 65. Location 66. Skater Sonja 67. Genealogy chart 68. “American ___” 69. The way things are going 70. Plant part 71. Broadway award 72. Meter statistic

Down 1. Star Wars species 2. Yours, in Paris 3. Georgetown admitted students grp.

4. Long time hangout?

5. Japanese car 6. Courtly title 7. “Born Free” lioness 8. Exam notation 9. Pants’ measurement 10. Unruly hair 11. Colloquialism 12. Italian cathedral city 13. Asiatic peoples, to Pliny 21. Scoundrel 22. Indifferent act 26. River islet 27. 1996 Nobel recipient 28. Rent-___ 29. T. ___ Price

30. Bulgarian capital 34. Without wax 36. Bibliographic notation 37. Campus mil. grp.

38. It can be double-stuffed 40. Swift 43. Stephen of “V For Vendetta” 47. Performs perfectly (on a test) 49. Verizon competitor 50. Afghani language 51. Speaks 52. Kids 53. Turn away 54. Brawl 55. “Do as I say, not ___” 59. Princely prep school 60. Draft eligible 61. Graduation jewelry 62. Old Iranian 64. “Solaris” novelist Stanislaw ___

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

Volume 44.8 March 3, 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:

Sam Brothers, Helen Burton, Jackson Perry, Audrey Wilson

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, Ishita Kohli, Tim Shine, Cole Stangler

Head of Business: Kara Brandeisky The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

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.

Mailing Address: Georgetown University The Georgetown Voice Box 571066 Washington, D.C. 20057

Office: Leavey Center Room 413 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. 20057

Email: editor@georgetownvoice.com Advertising: business@georgetownvoice.com Web Site: georgetownvoice.com The opinions expressed in the Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the Editorial Board.

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 ... Women’s Squash Cover Illustration: Holly Ormseth

the georgetown voice 3

SAC THE COMMISSIONERS

SAC makes changes, but more are needed This past Monday the Student Activities Commission passed a constitutional amendment allowing it to amend funding guidelines partway through the semester.

This change and another reform meant to improve the appeals process were in response to vocal discontent with SAC’s new funding process. After numerous complaints, including two open letters signed by most major clubs and student leaders, SAC has finally taken the first step toward making its rules more student friendly. But this was a small step, and true reform will require SAC to scrap its new programming arc approach, while increasing its transparency and feedback to clubs.

Under the programming arc, clubs need to submit their funding proposal for next year to SAC by Mar. 2, with every event they are planning listed. Clubs are only allowed one fundraising event

that is not listed on the programming arc.

It is unreasonable to expect clubs to be able to anticipate every event they plan on holding for the next year in the beginning of March. A better system would require clubs to submit one umbrella budget with most expected expenses for the next year, but allow individual requests for additional funding at any point during the semester. Such a process may take more time, but this could be addressed by increasing the number of SAC commissioners to lighten the workload.

Clubs and student leaders have openly called for a formal feedback system through which organizations can express their suggestions for revising the programming arc funding process. SAC’s hesitancy to allow formal club input before ultimately agreeing to hold a town hall reflects the organization’s insularity and aloofness. SAC needs to allow clubs’

concerns to have official weight in any final decision. After all, SAC exists in order to meet these clubs’ funding needs.

Some clubs have suggested that SAC allow student leaders to vote on a set of revisions to the current funding process.

This is a possibility, but one that could lead to an imperfect result. A better approach would be to create a small committee consisting of several club leaders, SAC commissioners, and Erika Cohen-Derr, Georgetown’s director of student programs, to draft and vote on a new process.

This would prevent the implementation of a funding process that, while attractive to club leaders, may be infeasible for SAC. SAC has resisted change for years, but is now showing signs that it may finally be willing to adapt. If the commission doesn’t closely consult clubs as it makes these important decisions, however, the changes that do come may only be for the worse.

DON’T KILL THE PILL BILL

Support bill to make birth control more accessible Georgetown students may complain about the inability to buy any form of birth control on campus, but for some D.C. residents contraceptive medicine is even less accessible. Currently, women seeking birth control pills must get a prescription from a doctor, requiring a potentially expensive visit to an OB-GYN. However, a bill before the D.C. City Council would enable women to obtain the pill directly from a pharmacist. The D.C. Council should pass the bill, ensuring that as many of the District’s women as possible are able to take control of their reproductive health.

The bill, proposed by Councilman David Catania (SFS ’90, LAW ‘94), does not aim to move the pill to the same class of “over-the-counter” medicine as Tylenol and Advil. Instead, the new legislation would require potential buyers to be screened by a trained pharmacist, improv-

ing access to the drug but safeguarding against misuse or medical complications.

There is good reason to believe pharmacist-prescribed birth control would not only be safe, but effective. A smallscale study carried out by University of Washington researchers from 2003 to 2005 showed that women used the pill for longer when they could get their prescription from a pharmacist. A more recent report showed that women in El Paso, Texas were more likely to discontinue use of the pills if they were prescribed from a local doctor rather than purchased over-thecounter in Mexico.

The proposed bill is just the first step toward implementing the program, however, and Catania himself admitted that pharmacist-prescribed birth control is “not imminent” in an interview with The Examiner. Even if the bill is passed, the

city’s Board of Pharmacy and Board of Medicine would have to jointly develop the regulations and procedures for a program. Such a process would not have to be lengthy. If the legislation passes, there are similar programs in Oregon and Washington state that officials should use as guiding examples.

Fifty years ago, the pill revolutionized reproductive health and signaled vast improvements to women’s quality of life, including increased college graduation rates. If Catania’s legislation passes and pushes through the necessary red tape, it would bring those benefits to the many underprivileged women in the District who currently lack access to the pill.

Someday soon, a District woman’s life could be changed by the same trip that Georgetown students consider a burden— a walk to CVS to buy birth control.

GRAY AREA

Gray’s patronage, spending, raises questions Vincent Gray swept into the D.C. mayor’s office partly on his promise to weed out corruption and restore legitimacy to the city’s government. Two months into his term, Gray has failed to uphold that promise. The unscrupulous behavior of his administration may not be criminal, but it has seriously eroded what little trust D.C. residents still have in their government.

One of the most troubling reports concerns the political patronage provided to Sulaimon Brown, a small-time mayoral candidate who ran against Gray and incumbent Adrian Fenty in last November’s election. Brown was a quasi-cheerleader for Gray throughout the primaries, frequently taking the future mayor’s side at candidate forums and telling voters repeatedly “If you don’t vote Brown, vote Gray.” After Gray was elected, Brown was rewarded with a “special assistant” position within the Gray administration that paid $110,000 a year. Brown was fired last week after the mayor’s office caught wind of allegations

made in 2007 that Brown had stalked a 13 year-old. This is political patronage at its worst, as an administration filled with sycophants will surely struggle to confront the very real problems the District faces.

Despite the weak economy and impending D.C. budget shortfall, Gray seems to have few qualms about spending taxpayer money irresponsibly. According to The Washington Post, Gray is paying his staffers substantially more than previous administrations, many of these salaries extending above the legal caps for their respective positions. Gray has told D.C. residents that next year’s budget will require sacrifices. Clearly he feels that burden of sacrifice should be borne by others.

The preferred mode of transportation for Gray and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown also reveals how woefully detached the administration is: until recently, both made use of late-model Lincoln Navigators. The mayor’s 2010 version costs almost $2,000 dollars a month to lease. Brown ac-

tually rejected one 2011 Navigator earlier this year and requested another because he disliked the color of the original’s interior, handing the cancellation fees down to taxpayers. The mayoral office announced last week that both SUVs will be returned and their leases terminated, but this response is too little, too late. Gray and members of his administration should be tightening their belts this year, not spending at unprecedented levels.

These unnecessary expenses are small in comparison to the million dollar budget shortfall D.C. is facing for this year, but they send a powerful symbolic message to D.C. residents. Voters deserve better than the same old cronyism and extravagant personal spending they have come to expect in their elected officials.

Gray needs to clean up his image and become the mayor he promised to be. It’s going to take a lot more than simply dismissing Brown and grudgingly giving up his glamorous vehicle.

news

4 the georgetown voice

march 3, 2011

Gray, students to talk noise Thefts down as DPS ups patrols

by Ryan Bellmore

Mayor Vincent Gray has agreed to meet with students to discuss D.C. Council’s “nighttime noise prohibition” Disorderly Conduct Law, among other issues, the DC Student Alliance, a student advocacy group of elected representatives from 15 Washingtonarea universities, announced yesterday in a press release.

The DCSA requested a meeting in a Feb. 23 letter to four D.C. officials about the ambiguities and potential abuses of the new law, which outlaws “unreasonably loud noises from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.”

Besides the noise law, the students invited to the meeting plan to use the opportunity to foster a working relationship with the mayor. “[It’s] a great opportunity to open up a wider dialog about how the student community can interact with the wider D.C. community,” DCSA Executive Director Andy MacCracken, a senior at American University, said.

DCSA Chairperson Ben Markus, a senior at the University of the District of Columbia, plans to mention Gray’s proposal to end enrollment and employee caps on D.C. universities.

“I will push the Mayor to see the positives universities and students bring to a community,” Markus wrote in an email. “Enrollment caps hinder the city’s ability to use

universities to its advantage.”

Markus also plans to urge the mayor’s office to better serve D.C.’s students, who account for onesixth of the city’s population. Specifically, he will request the creation of a committee designed to discuss student-community issues.

Gray has said that he is open— albeit cautiously—to ending enrollment and employee caps on D.C. universities in order to maximize their economic input.

“I need to understand more about what these jobs would be and reasons for those caps,” Gray said in a Dec. 13 interview with the Washington Examiner.

Adam Mortillaro (COL ’12), the Georgetown University Student Association representative to DCSA and a signatory of the initial letter, said in an interview that he looks forward to developing a positive relationship with the mayor.

“We hope to get our foot in the door in case future issues arise,” he said.

MacCracken attributes the initiative to recent pan-city student organization. DCSA was founded in 1996, but only restructured in the last year to better serve its constituency.

“What we are seeing is fundamental shift in how students are collaborating with each other,” MacCracken said. “[This is the] first time there has been a joint statement from students from across D.C.”

by Jeffrey Neidermaier A wave of on-campus thefts that began last semester has slowed, thanks in part to the Department of Public Safety’s multi-faceted crime-prevention response. Thirty thefts have been reported this semester, compared to 64 between October and November.

“In general, you’re going to find that there are peaks and valleys to crimes on campus,” DPS Director Joseph Smith said. “We’ve done a number of things to combat theft in past months.”

Laptop thefts in Village A residences and Lauinger Library especially prompted DPS to act. According to Smith, a plan that involved increased lighting in Village A, a public effort to secure doors and windows, and increased guard duties are responsible for the decreased number of thefts.

DPS has also deployed plainclothes officers around campus to expand the department’s investigative capacity.

“We’ve had zero burglaries since we’ve enacted these measures,” Smith said.

Another component of the anti-crime measures includes screening cars that enter campus through the North Road

and Prospect entrances, a tactic that has already led DPS to apprehend a drug dealer and a carjacker. Smith said that screening is not meant to block people from campus; rather, it serves to ensure visitors have a “legitimate purpose” to enter.

“It’s about keeping the bad guys off campus,” said Smith.

To enact these measures, DPS officers now work more overtime hours and are supplemented by Allied-Barton security guards on certain patrols. DPS, which is close to being fully staffed, will retain the measures as long as they work.

“These changes are fairly permanent,” Smith said. “We’ll try to maintain staffing levels.”

Smith added that working with the Metropolitan Police Department and George Washington University police has also been effective. Last semester, DPS and GWU officers worked together to apprehend a thief who was suspected of stealing laptops in Lauinger Library and on GWU’s campus.

“You have criminals that are specialists in that they’ll prey upon universities,” Smith said.

An important part of the strategy, Smith explained,

was a crime-prevention policy borne “outside the traditional law enforcement box.”

“If there is crime on campus, it’s not just about catching the criminal, but thinking about why the crime was committed and trying to solve that problem,” Smith said.

Smith acknowledged that the effort to combat theft on the south side of campus was collaborative, specifically mentioning the Offices of Resident Life and Student Housing, as well as students in targeted residences.

“That’s the power of community policing,” Smith said.

“You really see the dramatic drop in crime.”

max blodgett

DPS now guards Village A.

Under pressure from clubs, SAC adopts changes

by Sam Buckley The Student Activities Commission voted Monday on a package of resolutions and changes to its constitution, several of which came in response to widespread criticism of the new funding guidelines.

Commissioners also adopted a bylaw creating an appeals process for groups whose programming arcs, a schedule of the next year’s events, or events themselves are rejected by the commission.

“This action is a symbolic gesture to student groups that we are reforming SAC operations to better serve their needs,” Commissioner Dalvin Butler (COL ’13) wrote in an email.

Clubs complained that the commission could suspend the guidelines by a majority vote.

New language adopted by the commission requires a two-thirds majority to amend funding procedures during the semester. In the past two weeks, more than 20 SAC-funded clubs signed a pair of open letters to the commission.

The letters protest a lack of club input in the guidelines. One major point of contention is the rule prohibiting clubs from holding events not accounted for in the approved programming arc.

Clubs had to submit their programming arcs to SAC by Mar. 2.

“We ask SAC not to assume what clubs need and want,” a letter released on Feb. 28 read.

“In order to make the Funding Guidelines more reflective of club programming, the process of determining club funding must be a two way process.

Clubs must be consulted.”

In response to the letters, SAC scheduled a Mar. 29 town hall to discuss new funding guidelines.

According to Commission ViceChair Ruiyong Chen (SFS ‘13), the town hall will help address the concerns raised by student groups.

“The open letters have demonstrated that student groups want to have a formal opportunity to voice their concerns,” Chen wrote in an email. “We hope that the town hall will provide such a venue to do so.”

After finalizing amendments to the SAC constitution, commissioners addressed the potential funding shortfall in the GUSA budget, which will not be finalized until Mar. 23 at the earliest.

The GUSA Budget Summit met on Feb. 27 to allocate the Student Activity Fee for the 2011-2012 school year. Every

year, the Finance and Appropriations Committee creates a budget based funding requested at the summit by SAC and other advisory boards. GUSA bylaws mandate two week-long appeal periods before the FinApp, and then GUSA, can approve the budget.

Commissioners debated whether to use SAC’s reserve money to cover a potential shortfall in the event GUSA’s budget reduces SAC funding. However, delaying the release of club budgets could make it more difficult for SAC clubs to book space for next semester’s events.

Nonetheless, some commissioners, including Chen and Butler, expressed concerns that committing SAC’s reserves would cripple its budget for the coming year in the event that GUSA funding was unexpectedly low.

According to Butler, if GUSA diminishes the FinApp committee’s appropriations to SAC, the prolonged budget process could exhaust SAC’s reserve funds before the budget is finalized.

“SAC’s reserves account should not act as our operational budget nor contingency budget to fund student organizations,” he wrote.

The commission unanimously voted to commit to using its reserves based on the budget passed

by FinApp. According to GUSA liaison Tyler Sax (COL ’13), the committee expects to vote on GUSA’s draft budget on Mar. 15.

“This is a risk not just for SAC but also for our groups ... since that would diminish the amount of funding remaining for our student groups for the Spring 2012 semester,” Chen wrote.

news

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the georgetown voice 5

On the record: GUSA President and Vice-president

by Matthew Kerwin On Monday, Georgetown University Student Association executives Mike Meaney (SFS ‘12) and Greg Laverriere (COL ‘12) sat down for separate interviews with the Voice to talk about their upcoming term. Interviews conducted and transcribed by Matt Kerwin.

You’ve talked about making big reforms to the Student Code of Conduct. What are some of the major areas you’d like to target?

Laverriere: Mike and I would like to see changes so that students have more of a say in the implementation and the interpretation of the Student Code of Conduct.

There was just recently a town hall on possibly reinstituting the [Residential] Judicial Council. We think that’s a great first step.

If not, kind of an advocacy board

where students could have other students help them out in presenting before administrators.

Right now, it’s you in a room with your hall director or your resident coordinator or whoever. We think that those settings should be open so students can see how the process works. We want make sure that if you do get hit with a violation you have some form of way of representing yourself to your hall director, whoever it is. ...

Right now, I don’t think the code of conduct is doing the job of protecting students.

Will GUSARides be an expansion of the buses GUSA runs right now?

Laverriere: GUSA currently funds the weekend GUTS bus services, which is Saturday and Sunday afternoon but it’s a practice that we don’t think GUSA should fund. … Our thinking is that students aren’t the majority users of those GUTS buses during the day.

It’s a lot of hospital employees, employees of Georgetown, grad students. So why should the student activities fee money be going to pay for that?

Whether it’s going to be the afternoon service shifted or the University taking over the afternoon and then GUSA funding

Back to the GUSA future

Georgetown University Student Association presidents only occupy their post for one or two years, making it difficult for them to leave a mark on student life or deliver on optimistic campaign promises. The incoming GUSA executive, Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) and Greg Laverriere (COL ’12), would do well to heed the words of their predecessors—eschew flashy plans for those that will leave positive impacts.

As the student body president more than 30 years ago, Michael Thornton (COL ’71) brought student representation onto the student conduct boards and, for a time, the Board of Directors. This marked a revolutionary change from a time when “the traditional Hoya candidate in the coat and tie,” as Thornton called it, oversaw a student government that was little more than a body for organizing social events.

“My candidacy was based on increasing the role of the students in governing the University that was making decisions affecting their lives,” he said.

On the other hand, Thornton’s proposal to replace the Board of Directors with a democratic “University council” composed of student and faculty representatives did not come to fruition. This failure may lie in his advocacy strategy, most notably a student strike he organized in May 1970. Almost immediately after calling the strikes, news of the Kent State shootings raced around the country, bringing in an outside element that transformed students’ strikes into antiwar demonstrations. Thornton’s public support of the outside protestors angered then University President Robert Henle and closed the door on any potential reforms.

This experience shows that a GUSA president can take on the

the nighttime, we’re not exactly sure yet. ... I think the University should recognize the fact that it’s not only students using it, so it’s not something students should pay for. And it’s a basic service that many other peer institutions have, so Georgetown should be picking up the slack there too.

And the route would be similar to SafeRides?

Laverriere: It would be similar, except it kind of cuts through a lot of them. It would start near the front gates, and it’ll go down to let’s say Wisconsin and M, and then it would come back up down Prospect, stop at Leo’s, continue through campus and go up to the Reservoir entrance of school and then back to the front gates. It hits more areas students would be interested in, and working in conjunction with the SafeRides loop, I think it would give the coverage for students on weekend nights.

Will the GUSA Summer Fellowships be kept up?

Meaney: Because it’s for this coming summer, the responsibility for finding funding for that is mostly [Calen Angert’s (MSB ‘11)], but then I’ll obviously do a good deal myself. We’re hoping to send out those applications shortly after spring break. administration, but he must focus on small, achievable goals in changing the makeup of the University.

Thornton’s successor, Roger Cochetti (SFS ’72), also pursued student sovereignty, but his model of incorporation had much more staying power than the University council. The organization that Cochetti created, the Corp, survives as

Saxa Politica

by John Flanagan

A bi-weekly column on campus news and politics a robust part of student life and promotes the independence and initiative both presidents sought to foster.

“I think it’s a good idea to set some priorities or goals and to explicitly take the time to establish one, two, or three things you want to accomplish while you are there,” Cochetti said. “You’ve only got one year—that’s not a very long time— so it’s good to have priorities when you start into it.”

Is the number of Fellows being kept the same?

Meaney: It’s not totally clear yet because we’re still in the process. … It should be.

In the GUSA Ambassadorship Program [which will pay for students to attend international conferences], how many students will be able to get spots?

Laverriere: There are still a bunch of variables to be determined. We presented our budget yesterday to the Finance and Appropriations Committee, so if we get the budget we requested that should give us $5,000 for the program. Really the number of students that we can send will depend on where the conference was and how many students want to go to that specific one. ... It also depends what the students are asking for—if the students are asking us to just help cover part of their airfare or the whole thing. ... In the end they would be forced to compile a report of what they’ve learned and how they can take what they’ve learned The importance of modest proposals lives on today. Former President Pat Dowd’s (SFS ’09) Summer Fellows program, which provides stipends and housing to students with unpaid summer internships, has doubled in size since its inception. Outgoing President Calen Angert’s (MSB ’11) legacy lies not in his unfulfilled promises of Zipcars and a cubicle reservation system in the library, but with transparency initiatives in the club funding process and in the introduction of programs like the LSAT familiarization course.

Looking back on his term, Angert cautioned against making too many promises.

“Act with integrity,” he said.

“You don’t have to cut a million and one deals. There are ways to get people excited and into the spirit of things without guaranteeing them some type of payment.”

Many of Meaney and Laverriere’s proposals are high-flying promises that will require too much

and give back to the Georgetown community.

Could you talk about the farmers’ market?

Meaney: A group of very innovative students came up with this idea for a farmers’ market and they just needed funding for it. And we think it’s a great idea.

We think Georgetown students will benefit from it. We applied for funding to kind of help that get off of the ground.

Laverriere: They’re going to run a test pilot program this spring in hopes of fully implementing every weekend earlier on in the semester when it’s warm out in the fall and maybe do it in the later weeks of the spring semester. ... [I]t’d be nice to have something right there out on the lawn. It’ll kind of help integrate us with the D.C. comm u n i t y, too.

max blodgett

thankless GUSA support to perpetuate, from an apartment cleaning service to the housing exchange and student feedback websites.

History shows that the biggest successes in student government come when leaders champion initiatives that put regular students at the helm. They would do well to take a page from Ace Factor (COL ‘11) and James Pickens’s (COL ‘11) campaign and promote a community service fund for student-run service projects.

Nonetheless, our future GUSA executive duo is on the right track, having promised to scrutinize the Student Code of Conduct and committed to advocate for students offcampus with DC Students Speak.

GUSA presidents must promote ideas that, rather than provide students with an ephemeral goody, empower and inspire initiative and exploration that will continue well beyond their term.

Let John give you a history lesson at jflanagan@georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

march 3, 2011

Starks steps up to fill Hoyas’ point guard void

by Tim Shine Markel Starks, like most of his teammates, sat on the bench in shock as he watched Georgetown’s leader break his hand against Cincinnati. As Chris Wright’s backup, however, Starks was more affected by the senior’s injury than any of his fellow Hoyas.

“It was devastating,” Starks said of watching Wright get hurt.

“Of course for me, I have a different outlook because I practice with him every day. He and I, we grew up together. We played AAU together. To see all that hard work be tarnished by one injury, it kind of hurts.”

Head coach John Thompson III made it clear that no one player would step up to fill Wright’s role or minutes, but Starks, the freshman from Georgetown Prep, is the closest thing the Hoyas have on their bench to a point guard like Wright. The connection between the senior and the freshman stretches far beyond just playing styles.

“Markel’s my boy,” Wright said. “It goes much deeper than just Georgetown. We’ve been playing together since we were nine years old.”

The two players actually share a championship pedigree—on the under-10 AAU circuit. Starks won’t have to play at a championship level while filling in for Wright, but the Hoyas will need the freshman to raise his level to avoid losing all momentum after losing two in a row.

Wright’s injury takes some of the shine off a Georgetown team that looked like it was peaking at just the right time. The Hoyas’ eight-game winning streak earlier in the season had a lot to do with Wright’s play as the team’s floor

general, distributing the ball and taking over when he needed to.

Meanwhile, Starks was usually the first guard off the bench.

In limited minutes this season his play has been inconsistent. Averaging just under nine minutes per game, the freshman has shot only 26.4 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from three-point range.

Starks has displayed flashes of the raw talent, however, that made him a highly-touted recruit.

“Markel’s a good player,” Wright said. “Sometimes I feel like he’s a little nervous out there.

I just tell him to relax. He’s as good as any player out there. Just relax and trust your instincts and let everything flow. He gets after it in practice, and it’s just a matter of time until that starts to translate on the court.”

Starks was Georgetown’s presumptive point guard of the future, but it appears his time is now. The young player will have to get up to speed quickly, with only one regular season game, a rematch against Cincinnati, remaining before the rigors of the postseason arrive.

Don’t expect Starks to try and match Wright’s output though. It would be a tall order to fully replace the Hoyas’ second leading scorer who has the third most assists in the Big East. The freshman knows his place, and he fully intends to stay in it.

“Chris is Chris Wright,” he said. “I’m Markel Starks. I’m an entirely different basketball player. [If] people are expecting me to kind of force the issue— that’s not my role. My role is to distribute, get guys the ball when need, and when shots are available, to take them.”

He performed admirably in that role in the loss against Syra-

Markel Starks has his sights set on big things in the future.

JACKSON PERRY

cuse on Saturday. Playing a careerhigh 24 minutes, Starks scored six points on 50-percent shooting and never turned the ball over. All of his points came on three-pointers—his last was the only field goal made by the Hoyas in the final 10 minutes of the game.

If Georgetown gets its usual contributions from Starks’ team-

mates, those numbers are probably enough to get the Hoyas past the Bearcats on Saturday. A win in Cincinnati will help make Starks’ real test, next week’s Big East Tournament, a little easier by securing a first-round bye for the Hoyas. No matter who Georgetown plays in New York, however, Starks will get his first taste of the high pres-

sure situations he’ll be counted on to handle for the next three years.

“I feel like this is the starting point for next year for me, because I’ll hopefully be the point guard, and this is going to be somewhat of my team,” Starks said. “Moving forward, we’re going to get a pretty good picture of how it’s going to be.”

the Sports Sermon “That’s not my entourage. That’s my waiting list.”

—Cam Newton and who knows how effective Wright will be whenever he does come back. But the simple fact that doctors are optimistic about his return is something the rest of the team can take comfort in as they continue on in his absence.

If there is anyone who would go to any length to put that blue and gray jersey back on at least one more time, it would be Wright, the heart and soul of this team.

Although it was hard to realize last Saturday, there was another encouraging indication for the squad amidst their 58-51 loss to Syracuse. The Hoyas were close to the Orange for much of the game and led midway in the second half. Doing so less than three days after losing Wright, the key to breaking Syracuse’s 2-3 zone in their earlier victory,

think about a loss—that would create a freefall in the standings.)

When I heard Chris Wright, By getting back on track at the Hoyas’ most important playCincinnati, I am confident the er, had broken his hand after colteam can have a good showliding with a Cincinnati player, I ing in the Big East Tournament. immediately thought, “This can’t They don’t need to win the whole be happening again.” But as a juthing—after all, last year they nior, I have become accustomed played in four games, and that to an annual letdown at the end may have been part of the reason of the season. for their first round loss in the I was certain this year would NCAA Tournament. be different. This Georgetown That tournament—the real team was more consistent, more tournament—is what the Hoyas experienced, and had more need to have their eyes on. They chemistry than any I had rooted shouldn’t overlook the games for before. So when Wright went right in front of them, but down, I wondered if the college they have to keep in mind the basketball gods were conspiring most important thing. This is against me in some cruel way. where the script changes from Immediately after sending in my the last two seasons. I think deposit to Georgetown during the Hoyas are well equipped my senior year of high school, I to make a run in the tourney. thought about all the Wright should be Pete Rose Central excitement and winback, and although ning I would experinot 100 percent Da bettin’ line ence with basketball healthy, he should Dookies Margin Hoyas on the Hilltop. My provide a good delusion was further (favorites) enough presence (underdogs) (duh!) fueled by the fact that at the point guard Gaddafi the Hoyas had made position.

Winning Sheen the Final Four one But the biggest UNC Tobacco Duke year earlier. Would I reason the Hoyas BYU Posting up will be successDavies see a Final Four appearance, or possibly—even bet- was impressive to say the least. ful this March will be the ter—a national championship in Although I agree that there is no intangibles of Freeman and my time at school? I have learned such a thing as a “good loss,” the Wright. Both guards have been to have more realistic hopes than Hoyas should have more con- through a lot of postseason heartbefore, but that doesn’t mean I fidence, knowing they can beat break in their Georgetown cacan’t remain positive. some great teams without Wright reers, and knowing that this will In the week since Wright’s if they play a little better. It also be their last go-around, they will injury, my views of the rest of puts the spotlight on some less- leave everything out on the floor. the season have continued to used players like Markel Starks This burning desire, coupled with change, with the Hoyas provid- and Vee Sanford. Playing a bigger their hearty experience, is a lethal ing me with reasons to believe role now will take a lot of pressure combination. They can carry this that this year will be different off of them come the postseason. team down a tough road—and than the past. I am confident With the increase in confi- we know these Hoyas are capable that the team can overcome dence and time to take a step of long winning streaks. the tough hand they have been back and adjust, this team can A week ago, I thought I’d dealt, surprising both their crit- salvage its regular season and graduate never having seen ics and supporters. get an important win at Cincin- NCAA Tournament success, The first good sign was that nati. A victory there would not and a week ago I may have Wright underwent successful only snap a two-game skid, it been right. But in the last seven surgery on his hand and is ex- would also guarantee a seventh days, the Hoyas have given me pected to be out for only about place finish in the Big East— reason to go from “this can’t three weeks. Of course, his re- good enough for a first round be happening again” to “this covery time isn’t written in stone, bye in the tournament. (Let’s not won’t happen again.”

by Nick Berti

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Lacrosse hopeful after early loss Hoyas limp into Big East

by Nick Thomas As one of the nation’s elite programs, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team needs no added motivation for success. Last year’s controversial snub by the NCAA tournament committee, however, as well as the loss of a number of AllBig East players to graduation, have left the Hoyas especially anxious to make their mark on the field.

Despite a 20-8 loss to No. 3 Maryland this past weekend, which dropped the previously No. 14 Hoyas out of the national rankings, the team has shown many positive signs that offer hope for a successful season, including a 15-12 win over Jacksonville in the season opener. Behind their strong senior leadership and a wealth of returning talent, the Hoyas hope to reassert themselves as the season gets into full-swing.

“We got beat by a very good lacrosse team,” head coach Dave Urick said. “We’ve got to be able to put that behind us, and realize that the season is still very young.”

The process of improving begins with the five senior captains who set the tone both in practice and in games. The unusually high number reflects the bond among the team and the strength of the leadership.

“Our guys voted, and it was very close. It seemed to be the right thing to do,” Urick said. “I think it’s a good sign that there’s that many guys in the senior class that players look up to.”

Among the captains, the Hoyas will look to senior attackman Rickey Mirabito and senior midfielder Max Seligmann to spear their offensive attack. Mirabito has been a valuable starter and put up 24 goals and five assists last season, while Seligmann plays both sides of the field extremely well for a midfielder. Against a tough Maryland defense, Seligmann scored three goals. Their fellow captains David Shriver and Ryan Shuler help to round out the team’s offense. Urick feels that Shriver especially brings a leadership mentality to the team.

“He’s held in pretty high regard by all these guys. His approach to the game is pretty impressive,”

MATTHEW FUNK

Max Seligmann is looking to build off an impressive season last year.

Hoya legends deck the hall The Syracuse game last Saturday was a momentous occasion, and not just because of our men’s basketball rivalry with them or the stakes of the game. It was also a chance to honor a group of athletes who have contributed so much to the University simply by playing sports. I’m talking, of course, about the latest inductees to the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame.

Yes, it was Austin Freeman and Chris Wright who received the loudest ovations and emotional farewells before the game, but while 20,000 fans rushed for the bathroom or beer lines at halftime, on the court, Georgetown honored seven former student-athletes for their achievements. On an afternoon of goodbyes, the group, headlined by basketball star Alonzo Mourning (COL ’92), reminded the

Hoya faithful (at least those who remained in their seats) that players are rarely gone for good.

Georgetown has a rich athletic history, one that extends far past 1984 to a time when even Georgetown football was a powerhouse— back when the players wore leather helmets. But the Athletic Hall of Fame itself wasn’t established until 1953. This year’s inductees mark only the 19th class to enter the hall, a rarefied group.

With seven members, it also happens to be the largest class ever. Accompanying Mourning were talented, but less visible athletes like lacrosse goaltender James Kenny (MSB ’90), track and field national champion Michael Stahr (COL ’88), and former tennis player Kathryn Federici (COL ’87), to name a few.

Urick said of the attackman. “I think he’s very interested in coaching someday himself and I think he’d do a very good job at it.”

Dan Hostetler is the lone junior captain and the only one on the defensive end, but he is joined in the back field by graduate student and Preseason All-Big East defenseman Barney Ehrmann. As arguably the two best natural athletes on the team, both Hostetler and Ehrmann were chosen in the Major League Lacrosse draft this past January.

While Hostetler had a stellar year this past spring with 40 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers, Ehrmann was forced to redshirt the entire 2010 season due to injury. He’s off to a fast start this year though, with 10 ground balls already.

“You get a guy like Barney Ehrmann back, he could easily be the Big East Defensive Player of the Year,” Shriver said. “That’s definitely nice to have.”

In addition to their upperclassmen, Georgetown will also look to an extremely strong sophomore class to contribute. Preseason AllBig East selection Travis Comeau, who scored a freshman-record 25 goals, saw a significant amount of time last season, along with classmates Davey Emala, Brian Casey, Dan McKinney, and Brennan Bicknese. The sophomores have an impressive 12 goals between them in the first two games, which account for over half of the team’s total.

“We’re expecting contributions from that sophomore class who played a lot last year,” Mirabito said. “They need to step into that role and start taking leadership for this team as well.”

The Hoyas continue their season in Queens on Saturday against their first Big East foe, St. John’s.

OK, so as far as household names go, Georgetown’s hall of fame isn’t quite Canton or Cooperstown. You would be hard-pressed to find more than a few recognizable names on the Hall of Fame plaques. In fact, you would probably have difficulty finding the plaques themselves—the Hall of Fame is hidden in the southwest

Backdoor Cuts

By Tim Shine a rotating column on sports corner of the Leavey Center, between the patio to Hariri and the Marriot Conference Center.

It’s a shame that the greatest Hoyas remain so obscure, because the Hall of Fame represents a very important part of Georgetown athletics. Anyone who chanted Freeman’s and Wright’s names be-

by Melissa Sullivan After stumbling to a 21-9 (9-7 Big East) season record following a promising start, the Georgetown women’s basketball team is preparing to head up to Hartford, Conn. for the Big East Tournament. With a first-round bye, the Hoyas will look to get back on track in their first game at the XL Center on Saturday.

Last season, the then No. 12 Hoyas earned a double-bye after going 13-3 in conference play but suffered an upset loss to Rutgers in their first game, 63-56 in double overtime.

The Hoyas feel that their experience last year will only help their chances heading into the tournament.

“A lot of us were in the tournament last year, so we have a little bit more experience,” senior guard Monica McNutt said. “Hopefully the experience pays off.”

However, experience alone will not lead them to the championship. After losing four of their last five games to close out the regular season, the team realizes the importance of refocusing and doing the little things that lead to winning.

“We are going to challenge ourselves to really focus and to lock in—to execute our defense properly, to run our offense properly, and to cut down on our mistakes that we force on ourselves,” McNutt said.

Sophomore guard Sugar Rodgers is looking forward to playing in her second Big East Tournament. And although the

fore tip-off on Saturday knows the impact an individual player can have in four years on the Hilltop.

The student-athletes who wear the Georgetown name across their chests, even those who do so away from the bright lights of the basketball court, represent the University.

The reason people say “we lost to Syracuse” instead of the “the basketball team lost” is because even the average student can still be fully invested in the fate of the Hoyas.

So when an athlete excels in this role as our champion, they deserve to leave some kind of legacy. Save for transcendent stars like Mourning or Patrick Ewing (COL ’85), this is rarely the case. They go pro—as the incessant NCAA commercials during March Madness will remind you—in something other than sports, many leaving competitive sports behind for good on their own Senior Days.

But this weekend, those in-

team’s leading scorer is satisfied with just being there, she wants to make a impact.

Head coach Terri WilliamsFlournoy is entering her third straight postseason, after not making it since the Big East Tournament in 2005, her first year as head coach. While last year’s record was better than this year’s, Williams-Flournoy doesn’t match up the two seasons and teams against each other.

“I don’t think you can compare seasons to seasons,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We won some big games, we had some bad losses, but we still won 21 games.”

To prepare for the tournament, Williams-Flournoy wants her team to improve on defense.

“I think probably our biggest challenge is we haven’t been doing extremely well on the offensive end, and I think we’ve let our offensive end dictate how we play defense,” she said. “We have to change that mentality and understand that even if our offense may become stagnant at times, we still have to go out and play defense extremely tough.”

The team hopes that in the days off before the tournament starts, they can get things together and peak at the right time. In each of the last two seasons, the Hoyas’ results have improved in the postseason, and they want to continue that trend. Still, Williams-Flournoy’s post-season mentality has not changed.

“I go into every postseason feeling the same,” she said. “A new opportunity, a chance to get more wins, and a chance to continue to advance.”

ducted into the Hall of Fame got one more chance to relive their glory days. They were cheered by a record crowd at the Verizon Center, feted by former NFL Commissioner—and Hoya basketball player— Paul Tagliabue (COL ’62) at their induction ceremony, and, most of all, they officially joined the ranks of the best of student-athletes who have come through Georgetown.

Most of the next generation of Hoyas will never know their names, but the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame shows them that the hard work they put in on the Hilltop is never fully forgotten. Twenty years from now, when Freeman or Wright make this triumphant return to Georgetown to be honored, current Hoyas will be able to fully appreciate that.

Help Tim create a Charlie Sheen Hall of Fame of quotes at tshine@ georgetownvoice.com

feature

8 the georgetown voice

Georgetown’s women’s squash team wins national championship

march 3, 2011

by Rob Sapunor Harling Ross had not gotten a win at the national squash championships in Princeton, NJ. So on Feb. 20th, she stepped onto the court against her Connecticut College opponent feeling she needed a victory, not only for herself, but also for the team. “[I was] confident as I stepped onto the court that day,” Ross (COL ’14) said. “I knew I was playing for my team and they were playing for me.”

But Ross didn’t know that the team was up four games to two, meaning that if she won this match, the Hoyas would clinch the national championship.

“We all were watching Harling and she was so relaxed.

When she was up in the fourth game, she didn’t even realize that this could seal the championships,” team captain Kiran Gandhi (COL ‘11) said. “She was like, ‘Where’s the ball, let’s go.’”

Ross won the match, and the Georgetown’s women’s squash club took home the Eggs Cup—the trophy given to national squash champions—from Princeton, the only national championship won by a Georgetown team this year.

While not many schools compete in squash at a national level, Georgetown’s run was especially impressive since the coachless, student-run club team was competing against

All in together now: the teammates shares a close, friendly bond.

varsity programs. On the final day of the tournament, they even wore shirts with handdrawn “G” logos on them.

The club has a very short history, sprouting up entirely out of the dedicated work of current co-captain and founder Gandhi. Gandhi had been the only girl on the “co-ed” team her freshman year, switching between the eighth and ninth spots on the ladder. But when it came time for the national championships, she was informed that she could not compete because it was a men’s tournament. Undeterred, she contacted the College Squash Association, which informed her she could bring a five-girl

GU WOMEN”S SQUASH CLUB

team to the tournament to compete in the emerging teams division.

So Gandhi put flyers up in Yates Fieldhouse in January 2008 and was able to scrape together a team of five girls for that spring’s tournament in Princeton. Fellow co-captain Katie O’Mealia (COL ‘11) joined the team after seeing one of the flyers while playing squash with a friend. The College Squash Association subsidized the trip to New Jersey, and Georgetown’s throwntogether squad won the emerging teams bracket.

But even after this big win, the new team was still forced to compete as co-ed squash club because of the Center for Student Programs rules that dictate the process club sports must go though before being approved.

Until the spring 2009 semester, the men’s and women’s teams shared the same budget because the women’s team was considered to be the second ladder of the overall club.

CSP’s official recognition of the team as a club gave the team its own funding, which enabled the players’ search for a coach. Although the approval process was frustrating, Gandhi said she understands why CSP makes teams go through a lot to gain official recognition.

“They just want to make sure that teams aren’t starting the ping pong club for one or two years during their Georgetown career and that it collapses after they graduate,” Gandhi said. “I needed to prove that the team would stick around.

They didn’t understand that

the team had just won [the emerging teams] nationals, but only cared about us showing that we had numbers.”

Even with this new recognition, the team faced issues that limited its growth. First among these was coaching. In order to get a coach, the team needed someone to make a donation to the school with specification that it would fund the squash team. They finally hired a coach at the start of this season, but he ran irregular practices which he did not take seriously.

“His intentions were good but I think he didn’t know what he was doing,” Gandhi said. “So I fired him at the end of the first semester because I didn’t want our team’s money to be wasted”.

After firing the coach, Gandhi and O’Mealia, along with Carolyn Meister (COL ‘13) began running practices. They instituted more traditional practice methods, including core training and developing specific shots by only using drop shots, or rails, the squash term for straight shots.

“At the beginning for club teams, it’s tough to ensure attendance and everyone is there because they want to be there at first, but you have to give them a reason to come back,” Gandhi said. “I don’t have as much authority as a varsity level coach would have to make the team show up.”

But this season’s practices were completely full. The team, which has grown to 13 members, even struggled to find court space for everyone to play

feature

georgetownvoice.com on. Players began to show up to all four practices each week even though they were only required to come to two.

“At the practices the girls were there for all self and team motivation,” Meister said. “By nationals, we just wanted to win it for Kiran and Katie because it was their last season.”

As the team has grown in size, competition for use of the squash courts in Yates has become an increasing problem. There are two international courts and two American courts—the international courts are wider—in Yates, but coordinating times for the team to hold practices has proven difficult, since the courts are used by both men’s and women’s squash teams, intramurals, and other Yates members. Making matters worse, official games are only held on the international courts, and normally, the team can only use one of those courts at a time.

Associate Director of Yates Charles Kennedy helps the team organize practice times and set up meets in Yates. He credits Gandhi and the team for understanding all of the functions of Yates and working within those constrictions to find practice times.

“Kiran’s very passionate and has done a spectacular job,” Kennedy said. “She took the leadership when she first got here and created a very successful and competitive team.”

Gandhi’s passion helped the team to a successful regular season from October to February. Though the most competitive teams are located in New England, the team’s meager budget makes frequent travel to the Northeast infeasible. The majority of the club’s matches are either

GU WOMEN”S SQUASH CLUB

Without much funding from Georgetown, the club holds its own bake sales. played at Yates, at George Washington University, or the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. This year, the team won all but three of its matches, dropping contests to Haverford College, Columbia University, and Franklin and Marshall College.

Despite its regular season success, the championships in Princeton started off with the team seeded seventh in the “D” division. Facing second seed St. Lawrence in the opening match, Georgetown got off to a hot start in the opening series, winning the first three games.

“It was great going up 3-0 because we realized we can actually do this,” O’Mealia said.

The team went on to win 6-3 with both O’Mealia, Gandhi, and Meister knocking down St. Lawrence’s top two players. The next day the team faced Smith College, the third seed, still feeling like an underdog but much more confident after their upset victory.

Everyone was doing their part to prepare for the matches as freshmen scouted out the oth-

GU WOMEN”S SQUASH CLUB

Though they lack a coach, the team was able to win a national campionship.

er teams and players shared tips about opponents they had faced in high school.

“With Smith we realized that we could actually [advance]. We could go in and win it,” O’Mealia said. “St. Lawrence had beat Smith 8-1 and we had just beaten St. Lawrence.”

The Hoyas ended up winning by a decisive 7-2 margin, lining them up to face Connecticut College, the first seed in the division, who Smith had lost to handily during regular season play.

When Georgetown showed up to the finals on Sunday, the Connecticut College team was already waiting on the court. There was a lull before anything happened because Connecticut was waiting for Georgetown’s coach to show up, not knowing that Gandhi and O’Mealia lead the team by themselves.

Meister and number nine player Lindsay Wiel (COL ‘13) won the first two matches in three straight games each, while Julia Caffrey (COL ‘14), Georgetown’s sixth player on the ladder, fought a strong battle but ended up losing out in five games.

With a two-game lead, Gandhi was next up.

“Kiran just rolled through her girl,” O’Mealia said.

“There was never a question with her—she didn’t drop a game all tournament.”

Gandhi said her motivation sprang from the dedication she saw in her teammates and their parents—the parents shuttled them to the matches and brought meals to the team, and the team itself showed incredible drive throughout the weekend.

“It was just a lot of love, and then when people see that everyone is there for you all you can do is freaking win,”

the georgetown voice 9

GU Women’s Squash CLUB

Getting loose: The team stretches together before playing.

Gandhi said.

O’Mealia was the next player to start a match.

“Katie walked on to the court and was in this squash Zen,” Gandhi said. “The girl she was playing had beaten me the previous year so I really wanted her to win for the team and for payback.”

O’Mealia started out on the wrong foot by dropping her first game of the entire tournament, but ended up winning the match.

“It was really intimidating,” she said. “But I thought, ‘This is everything. I have to win this for the team in my last season,’ and I somehow was able to grind it out and win the next three games.”

When Ross sealed the victory with her win, the Hoyas stormed onto the court in a tearful celebration. Five Hoyas didn’t lose a match in the entire tournament: Gandhi, O’Mealia, Meister, Weil, and Lindsay Kolowich (COL ‘13).

In Princeton, the club was lauded by all the other teams, who were amazed at Georgetown’s run to victory without a coach. But returning to Georgetown, the captains received no hero’s welcome— instead, they faced a giant pile of paperwork.

“CSP doesn’t understand that we’re not playing other club teams and that we’re at the national varsity level,” Gandhi said.

Moving forward, the control of the team is being handed over to Meister. She already has plans to schedule more games with powerful New England schools, since without playing more matches against ranked teams, Georgetown will be stuck in the “D” division.

“We’re going to tell CSP that this is so important that we make it out to play [Con-

necticut College] and other ranked teams, that we have those numbers in the bank before making it out to nationals,” Gandhi said.

The squad is also working on finding a new coach.

They hope to hire Larissa Stephenson, a New Zealander who has experience coaching squash at the collegiate level and has helped the team out in the past. The only thing that has prevented Stephenson from stepping in as the coach is that the team couldn’t pay her.

“CSP was working with a financial office in the Car Barn, and they just didn’t get the paperwork together before nationals,” Gandhi said.

The club wants to move up to the varsity level one day, but they figure at least two things need to happen before that day comes. The first priority is to set up an alumni network to allow former players to donate to the program.

Then, down the road, the team believes it will need a separate “squash barn” with five courts and storage space. That dream will be especially tough to realize because of Georgetown’s tight space limitations, but the team remains hopeful, especially after seeing Columbia’s club team move up to varsity this season.

As for the immediate future, the team will head into next year with raised expectations but without its founder.

The women’s squash club hopes to move into a higher division next year and wants to compete against better teams more often. However, they will need to continue dealing with limited funding, courts, and coaches for now.

“It was a team effort, we really needed everyone to win their match,” O’Mealia. “Every single person counts.”

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10 the georgetown voice

march 3, 2011

Pay to cook your own pizza ... and like it

by Heather Regen

If you’ve gone out looking for HomeMade Pizza Co., you very well might have walked right past. Tucked into a small, unassuming location across from Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue, this new restaurant hides an unconventional pizzeria behind its minimalist storefront. And despite the menu’s mouthwatering toppings—including chèvre, marinated artichokes, and poblano pepper—not a whiff of bubbling parmesan greets hungry customers. In fact, there is not a table in sight, nor any indication of a wood-fired pizza oven.

Though chefs in white toques spin soft, flour-dusted dough into enticing, round pies behind the counter, HomeMade advertises itself based on the very

service it does not offer. The restaurant will not cook a pizza for its customers, but instead sends them away with a freshly assembled and parchment-wrapped pizza to bake and enjoy on their own. Complete with foolproof instructions for both oven and grill-top baking, HomeMade works off of the concept that busy students and D.C. residents crave the experience of homemade pizza without the hassle of chopping up tomatoes or waiting for dough to rise.

HomeMade Pizza is new to D.C., but the company actually started in Chicago and then expanded to a few locations in New York. The chain even made Oprah’s “The Best Pizza in America” segment in 2006. For those too lazy to trek all the way down Wisconsin and then back

Cupcake warfare

by Leigh Finnegan Do you ever walk down M Street and think to yourself, “Wow, I really wish Georgetown had another high-end, overpriced, nationally-famous cupcakery?” Probably not, since the line and television crew outside Georgetown Cupcake are almost as unavoidable as those ubiquitous pink boxes you eye with envy when you see them all over campus. But despite the fact that Georgetown’s overpriced confection market has been very much tapped, today, Sprinkles Cupcakes’s flagship D.C. location will have its grand opening—just a few blocks away from Georgetown Cupcake.

So what does Sprinkles have to entice the Georgetown Cupcake line to move a little further down the road?

For one, Sprinkles has gotten on not just one, but two D.C. culinary bandwagons—they’ve got a food truck. And as part of their promotional tour of the D.C. area, the Sprinkles truck parked itself outside Georgetown’s front gates on Tuesday and offered free cupcakes—normally $3.50 a pop—to the first 500 visitors.

Although Sprinkles offered only three of its 24 varieties of cupcakes, the sample was enough to discern what kind of

quality the Georgetown crowd can expect from the company that boasts having opened “the world’s first cupcake bakery” in Los Angeles. The red velvet cupcake (which, on the regular menu, is also available in both gluten-free and vegan varieties) had an understated flavor in the cake, but the quarter-inch thick dollop of rich cream cheese frosting made it decadent and satisfying. The other varieties—a simple but delicious black-and-white, and a nice pink strawberry-onstrawberry combination whose taste was neither artificial nor overpowering—were also impressive, boding well for the rest of the menu. In fact, the smooth texture of the frosting and complimentary, moist cake base may put them slightly ahead of their Georgetown Cupcake counterparts as far as taste, but whether that difference is worth a whole extra $0.75 per cake remains up for debate.

With its fairly small cupcakes, more-than-fairly high price, and lack of menu items beyond the cupcake, Sprinkles definitely caters more to the Georgetown Cupcake crowd than the hipster Baked & Wired set. But price and market saturation aside, if there’s one thing nobody can say no to, it’s cupcakes on wheels. Sprinkles, welcome to Georgetown.

just to enjoy their food, the restaurant offers online ordering and delivers around the area for an extra fee.

At $6.75 for a “Cutie Pie,” $10.95 for a medium, and $12.95 for a large—all sans toppings, which cost from $1.30 to $2.30 each—the pizzas at HomeMade are a bit of a splurge. In part, this is because customers are paying for the “homemade” experience, rather than any old cheese-andranch-drenched slice you can pick up at 2 a.m.

Uncooked, the pies closely resemble a creation from the Leo’s personalized pizza station, but the similarity disappears once they leave the oven.

The asiago variety, topped with caramelized onion, thin shiitake mushrooms, kalamata olives and thyme, is fantastically savory, and lives up to HomeMade’s decadent description.

The simple dough offsets the rich cheese and toppings, which brown and bubble after a quick 15 minutes in the oven. For the

Blinky Palermo: the first person to prove it’s hip to be square.

unadventurous, HomeMade offers preconceived creations, ranging from a B.L.T. to a classic Quattro Stagioni.

In a way, HomeMade Pizza Co. feels a bit like cheating— customers get all the credit for a delicious, hot-out-of-the-oven pizza without doing any of the real work. So if you’re in desperate need of a Leo’s detox but don’t have the time or equipment to whip up a gourmet pie, homemade goodness is only a walk or a phone call away.

hirshhorn gallery

Hirshhorn eyes Blinky

by Matthew Collins According to the Hirshhorn Gallery’s press release, Blinky Palermo was “long celebrated throughout Europe.”

He is, however, an “artist’s artist” who has “escaped America’s notice.” That is perhaps why Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964-1977, running now in the Hirshhorn until May 15, is his first retrospective in the states, despite his many active years. That is to say, the Hirshhorn is sending up smoke signals of desperation, the kind that usually tip off even the art-inclined that an exhibit isn’t really worth your time.

Which is a shame, because the usual clichés actually apply here: the little-known Palermo’s paintings and sculptures really do deserve more attention than they’ve gotten.

You’re hit with numerous reference points as soon as you peak the Hirshhorn’s first escalator. Palermo’s exhibit, receiving the museum’s highest billing, is prefaced with a summary that namedrops Malevich, Mondrian, Polke, Richter, Beuys. Indeed, Palermo

does explore themes similar to those explored by these artists; his take on austere minimalism frequently takes on an expressionist bent unique to his German heritage. Even when lacking the roughness this implies, his use of shape and color is more in line with Malevich and Mondrian’s inviting geometry than minimalism’s cold asceticism.

His early works show this divide exclusively, which is why they seem the most derivative. Works like “Composition with 8 Red Rectangles” (1964) and “Blue Bridge” (1964-65) are smartly-composed exercises in form and hue, and heavily indebted to Malevich and Mondrian (with a hint of Franz Kline’s abstract expressionism). The keen eye for both composition and color shown here, however, predicts his impressive and far more daring future.

This future takes a divergent path, as Palermo explores skills and influences on two separate routes. The first of these is his distinctly German expressionism-cum-minimalism. “Untitled (Totem)” (1964-

67) sees the artist exploring the Donald Judd-esque notion of painting versus sculpture. Instead of Judd’s cold, colored steel, however, the piece is constructed with paint and canvas wrapped around wood. The result has far more life than straight minimalism, but to no real end; it isn’t more compositionally interesting nor is it in any way emotionally stirring.

He better plays to his strengths on the second route: a crisp, fun approach to color and line that approximates a post-Color School Mondrian.

The massive “To the People of New York City” (1976) shows this best, a delightful piece consisting of 24 painted rectangles of aluminum arranged wonderfully in the gallery.

Exploring just three consistent hues—a deep black, fire-red, and smooth goldenrod – the pieces come off like modulations on an improvised idea, remarkably alive for their strict lines. At his best, as in this piece and the should-be classic “Blue Disk” and “Staff” (1968), this difficult mood is what Palermo achieves—however clichéd that may sound.

“We’ll become the McDonald’s of babies.”—superbabies: Baby geniuses 2

georgetownvoice.com

Nic Cage: Convict from Hell

by Samuel Buckley The trailer for Drive Angry 3D proudly and brazenly plugs one of the more ridiculous plots in recent cinematic history—Nicolas Cage breaks out of hell and fights with a vengeance to save his infant granddaughter from a murderous biker cult. With an almost self-parodying premise (and grammatically questionable title), you might expect a certain level of self-aware schlock.

For the first 10 minutes, it seems to have just that—you’re poised to make a two-hour descent into the guiltiest B-movie pleasure ever, as a hard-eyed Cage chases and dispatches three unknown evildoers. Cars blow up, cheesy dialogue is exchanged, and disembodied, three-dimensional limbs fly out of the screen straight at the viewer. However, despite similar moments of fun interspersed throughout the film, Drive Angry can’t sustain the promising energy of its opening.

Cage stars as Milton (get it?), a deceased felon who has broken out of hell after learning his daughter has been murdered by cult leader Jonah King (William Burke). Pursued by Satan’s “accountant” (William Fichtner), Milton teams up with unemployed waitress Piper (Amber Heard) to prevent the cult from sacrificing his granddaughter at the full moon.

It’s not Cage’s fault that the film lags. He is clearly having the time of his life playing such a ridiculous role, relying on his customary and oddly appealing mix of deadpan delivery and unexpected injections of ham. Fichtner is amusingly creepy as the accountant, and Burke’s overthe-top southern drawl and cultleader charisma steal every scene that he’s in. The only problematic deficiency in acting comes from poor Heard, who cannot overact to the same level of absurdity as her co-stars, leaving her performance buried under heaps of outlandishness.

Unfortunately, the film blows through nearly all of its most entertaining moments in the first half of its 104 minutes, falling far below its potential for entertainment. Cage guns down a half-dozen assailants in a hotel

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iMDB

“I’m going to steal the Constitution ... and underline the 2nd Amendment.”

They see me trollin’

Those who take advantage of free speech can be inspiring. They can also be really awful, and sometimes really, awfully interesting. One of the greatest enjoyments I’ve derived from editing Vox Populi is observing how commenters respond to different posts.

Many posts float by without being noticed, but others quickly erupt in an avalanche of opinions, humorous oneliners, and royal personages.

And then, of course, there are the obligatory trolls.

Trolling demonstrates the full potential of the first amendment in a domain where censorship is focused on larger problems, like covering up nipples and taking the fun out of hit singles by Cee-Lo Green.

room while remaining in coitus with a hooker (really), he fires magic bullets at his underworld pursuer, and he shoots up a church full of cult members—all good stuff, but it becomes hard to sustain that energy. The film’s second act is surprisingly devoid of such moments, replaced instead with needless exposition and a lot of boring, angry driving. The few action sequences that do occur, like a showdown with a group of pursuing policemen, aren’t enough to keep up momentum.

So while Drive Angry has plenty of individually titillating moments, they don’t make up for the points at which the film plods.

It just goes to show that anything can become boring, even an undead Nic Cage going on shooting sprees and sexcapades—at the same time.

It demonstrates how someone can be hugely disruptive and divisive with as little effort as possible. In a sense, it’s the pettiest, most perfect crime—little chance of being reprimanded, and a high success rate for getting a rise out of at least somebody. People will take anything personally.

Trolls’ anonymity is what makes them so infuriating and captivating. Reading blog comments raises various questions about why commenters say the things they do: What are they trying to achieve? What is the point? In a conversation where everyone might assume what you’re saying is your honest opinion, it’s easy to divert attention with a racist comment or red-flagging the Stewards.

So, is this behavior playing nice? Is it comedy? Pulling pranks and teasing people can be fun, and if it means well, it can teach people to not take themselves too seriously. Thanks to its infinite mutability and adaptability, trolling is like a live, public Candid Camera, where the punch line never drops.

internet irl

by Nico Dodd

a bi-weekly column about the Internet Georgetown students remember the arrest of Kelly Baltazar for possession of marijuana. On the related Vox post, comments were disabled because they were not only hateful and defamatory, but violated the blog’s comment policy.

It was a difficult decision, but

the georgetown voice 11

Paul Michael with Solar Powered Sun Destroyer Black Cat, 9 p.m., $15

a line needed to be drawn between freedom and slander. Its moderators’ and administrators’ responsibility to step in when things get out of hand.

The Internet can’t be policed, but we can try to “scalpel” the junk out.

Ethics are weird, maybe weirder when you’re dealing with something that naturally lacks a moral code. Behind the guise of an “Anonymous” name, agency and guilt can be very far removed. This problem has been around for years, and the term “cyberbullying” has entered the lexicon of middleschool guidance counselors nationwide. We all know it’s wrong, but why is it still funny?

Are CopperCab reaction videos hilarious, or voyeuristic?

But on the other hand, people’s reactions to trolling are

Rival Schools with Police & Thieves, Radar Fiction Rock N Roll Hotel, 8 p.m., $14 Monday 3/7 Heavy Cream with Xray Eyeballs, Thee Lolitas Black Cat, 8:30 p.m., $20 Yelawolf with Cyhi The Prynce, Low Budget’s Kaimbr Rock N Roll Hotel, 8 p.m., $15 Tuesday 3/8 Des Ark with Pygmy Lush, Hey Girl Black Cat, 8:30 p.m., $10 wednesday 3/9 The Pogues with Titus Andronixus 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $55 Thursday 3/10 OMG with Oh Land 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $35 Eli Paperboy Reid & the True Loves with The Electrocutions Rock N Roll Hotel, 8 p.m., $15 sunday 3/13 Streetlight Manifesto with A Loss for Words, Larry and His Flask 9:30 Club, 4:30 p.m., $20

often as emotionally immature as those who troll. Those who try to defend themselves often don’t get the joke, and are defiant to the point of self-righteousness—some people are just too naïve to understand the panoptical Internet.

So my message to trolls: keep on trollin’. At best, you’re keeping us on our toes and providing comic relief in situations when funding and neighbors are getting out of hand.

At worst, you’re not thinking about what you’re doing, hopefully, and you’ll be deleted. Otherwise, it’s creative, dirty, and often, passionate. Just leave out the Hitler references, please.

Ask Nico about his favorite voyeuristic videos that they won’t show you on YouTube at ndodd@ georgetownvoice.com

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

march 3, 2011

C r i t i c a l V o i ces

Peter Bjorn and John, Gimme Some, StarTime International In the age of iTunes, cover art is an oft-overlooked piece of an album’s appeal. This is an unfortunate casualty, because frequently cover art can offer insight about what kind of music to expect from the album’s tracks. Take, for instance, the cover of Peter Bjorn and John’s latest release, Gimme Some. It carries the image of a “funk mitten,” or a three-thumbed foam finger. This rather bizarre, colorful picture reflects the sometimes confusing pop-rock sound on the Swedish trio’s energetic but disjointed sixth album.

Gimme Some, on the whole, is intriguing—it contains an almost equal number of praiseworthy and skip-worthy tracks.

The first song, “Tomorrow Has to Wait,” with its call-and-response lyrics and catchy beat,

leaves the listener eager for a fun album to come. Likewise, in “Eyes,” the combination of lead singer and guitarist Peter Moren’s rich voice and rockand-roll guitar solo makes for one of the album’s high points.

The ironically titled “May Seem Macabre,” is another fun, accessibly poppy tune, but it lacks originality compared to other alternative music, and as a result is fairly unmemorable.

This unmemorable element pervades the rest of Gimme Some, as the quality soon fades, with many songs ranging from forgettable to flat-out secondrate. The album’s first single, “Second Chance,” disappoints, leaving the listener with the impression that the group has tried too hard to create a radio friendly sound, and comes off as inauthentic. “Black Book,” while only a minute-and-a-half, is similarly dishonest to PB&J’s genre, attempting to squeeze into a harder rock mold. The loud, prominent guitar overpowers the song, and the result is not a pleasant listen.

It almost seems like PB&J set out to make two albums with this single release—one characteristically good and the other irreconcilably mediocre. So despite its funky and promising cover art, the best that alterna-

Mixing up success

In 2008, Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, declared that “free has emerged as a fullfledged economy. Offering free music proved successful for Radiohead, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a swarm of other bands on MySpace that grasped the audience-building merits of zero.” Although Anderson cites artists of various styles, in no genre is “free” more prevalent than hip-hop. Mixtapes, which don’t directly generate any money for rappers, have become just as important to hip-hop stars as studio releases—if not more so.

Since the genre’s beginnings, mixtapes have been a powerful tool for unsigned artists. Rappers like Drake, Nicki Minaj, and B.o.B. all released hugely successful mixtapes on their way to signing with major labels and achieving main-

stream stardom. The same is likely to be true for 2011, with releases from last year’s mixtape stars J. Cole and Wiz Khalifa on the horizon. Despite having never released an album, J. Cole’s third official mixtape, Friday Night Lights, was reportedly downloaded more than 4,000 times per second when it first broke. Wiz Khalifa’s Kush & OJ became the number-one search on Google and trend on Twitter upon its release. For both, their Internet promotions greatly increased their visibility and exposure in an oversaturated hip-hop landscape.

One reason mixtapes have been so effective is the method by which they’re made. The typical mixtape features a rapper (or rappers) rhyming over other rappers’ beats. Their form allows artists to produce and release them cheaply, quickly, and frequently, and it

tive music fans will get out of Gimme Some is a couple of individual tracks to add to their iTunes libraries.

Voice’s Choices: “Tomorrow Has to Wait,” “Eyes,” “May Seem Macabre” —Mary Borowiec

Alex Ebert, Alexander, Community Music Alexander suggests that Alex Ebert has finally made up his mind about where he belongs in the music spectrum. Though currently fronting indie-hippie outfit Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Ebert previously spent time as lead singer of L.A. powerpop band Ima Robot, and even attempted to pursue a rap career. His solo debut, however, is clearly in the same vein of his most recent work, sounding much like he does when backed by lets up-and-coming rappers benefit from the popularity of famous beats while exhibiting a unique style and flow. Recently, everyone from Lil Wayne to Tyga to Vinny from Jersey Shore have taken turns making Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” their own.

Banger Management

by Akshay Bhatia a bi-weekly column about music While some rappers use mixtapes to attract new fans, others release tapes to distribute music that either did not make the cut for a recent album, or that the artist made for fun to keep fans engaged between albums. For instance, Interscope Records has delayed The Game’s latest album, The R.E.D. Album, for nearly two years. In the meantime, The Game spent one week and $40,000 of his

his Magnetic Zeros. And although Ebert clearly has a talent for indiefolk, listening to Alexander all the way through will make the listener think that maybe he could do with a change of genre.

After “Home” became the ubiquitous, head-bopping entity that it was, Ebert must have decided to pursue his unique mix of country rock and CCR-style hippie tunes full-time, because most of the tracks on his new solo effort sound like the sequel to the Magnetic Zeroes’ 2009 album Up From Below. But despite “Home”’s whistle-along infectiousness, the tracks on Alexander are hitor-miss. On certain songs, like “Truth,” Ebert’s grassroot techniques meet great success. A sad, whistled melody starts off the track, soon joined by a clanging guitar. The song then takes a turn for the major end of the scale, and backup singers replace the guitar to provide the song’s harmony before nicely resolving with the same melody as the beginning.

While the vocals are both interesting and expert, the lyrics are reminiscent of a lecture from a garrulous professor—cryptic, flirting the fine line between genius and gibberish.

Surprisingly, this doesn’t detract from the song— rather, it gives listeners a reason to play it again and again while trying to figure out what Ebert is own money to produce a 45-track triple mixtape, Purp & Patron. This mega-mixtape was downloaded over 200,000 times in its first day, and over 1.1 million times in the three days after its release.

The logic behind such selfpromotion and excessive production is the rapper’s need to build hype prior to an album release. Lil Wayne is the model for strategy: he released five mixtapes between Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III. They helped make Weezy’s third Carter installment his most successful release to date—it went triple platinum in an era when music sales have been tumbling. Not to be outdone, Kanye West further popularized the trend with his weekly G.O.O.D. Friday releases prior to last fall’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which also met great success even though four of the free tracks showed up on the album.

really communicating. The melodies ensure this is no chore.

Unfortunately, this continuation of themes from Up From Below can sometimes make the collection of tracks grow a little tired. Offerings like “Let’s Win” and “Let’s Make a Deal Not to Make a Deal” do little to differentiate Ebert the solo artist from Ebert the lead singer of Magnetic Zeros, and the instrumentation and themes make him seem like a one-trick hippie.

Thankfully, there are a few more refreshing, stylistically divergent tracks that suggest that Ebert could someday be a soloist in his own right.

“Old Friend,” a song about breaking off a parasitic friendship, takes cues from Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” by employing a similar structure— simple in pacing and chord selection. The use of background singers in “Awake My Body” to create harmony for Ebert’s vocal melodies is another welcome departure from his previous work. Although a few tracks play like Up From Below part deux, there is enough fresh material on Alexander for it to stand on its own, and to prove that Ebert has enough talent to succeed musically without Jade Castrinos and the rest of his Magnetic Zeros.

Voice’s Choices: “Truth,” “Awake My Body,” “Old Friend” —Sam Harman Unfortunately, Weezy, Kanye, and their successful peers may be exceptions to the rule. With mixtapes coming out every day, there is no way that every rapper who releases a tape can live up to the Internet hype on their actual albums.

Wale, for example, generated huge buzz with his mixtapes, but failed to deliver on his debut album, Attention Deficit.

Most reviews claim that Wale tried too hard to meet the Billboard-MTV standard that his irreverent, low-budget mixtapes had avoided. It just goes to show that while mixtapes, free music, and other Internet-based tactics are powerful tools for building fan bases and interest, for mainstream success, there’s no substitute for the ability to produce a solid, fulllength album.

Drink purp and Patron with Akshay at abhatia@georgetownvoice.com

page thirteen

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the georgetown voice 13

DON’T DRINK AND DRAW

NICO DODD

THE FUNNY PAGE

BRENDAN BAUMGARDNER

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a g e in er d th an e? is st ffic r hy u o W osa y n in m

J DEGACK I IS OIA DIN A

OSA UR there Why is t a s ur a a dino sk? e d y m

CHRIS HELLER

MADDIE HOWARD

R!!

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ROOOAAR!!

voices

14 the georgetown voice

march 3, 2011

ResLife reform fails to address underlying issues

by David Freenock In May 2010, when I first learned of the Office of Residence Life’s decision to suspend the Residential Judicial Council for the 2010-2011 academic year, I was disappointed.

As a newly selected Chair of the RJC, I was eager to increase its role and visibility on campus. This proposal would do just the opposite. I immediately contacted ResLife to express my dismay.

I wrote to them saying that the decision to disband the RJC—even temporarily—is symptomatic of larger issues with Residence Life’s approach to disciplinary situations. The RJC is the one mechanism through which students can actually affect the sanctioning process, which, in most cases, is at the discretion of individual Hall Directors. Admittedly, changes should be made to the RJC to make it stronger, but shutting it down for an entire academic year was a step in

the wrong direction. Decreasing membership was a direct result of lack of exposure and neglect—many RAs did not even know the RJC existed and many Hall Directors did not refer cases to it. While the RJC was understaffed, it rarely saw a full caseload. If low membership really were the reason for reassessing the program, we should have been given the chance to increase membership in the fall. If at that point there were still insufficient numbers, the decision would have been reasonable.

But the decision had already been made by the time I lodged a complaint. And now, almost nine months later, I finally learned of the substantive changes: the RJC will hold elections to fill its positions. Elections, however, do not solve the problem, because it is still unlikely that your peers will ever see a case.

I am uncertain what is more upsetting: that the only reform does not fix the root of the prob-

lem,3 or that they could have been instituted without any RJC shutdown. I am inclined to say the latter.

Unfortunately, the real problem with the RJC remains unaddressed, as it sees cases if, and only if, individual Hall Directors choose to forward them.

As long as the RJC operates at the sole discretion of ResLife, students can expect to be adjudicated without peer input.

For an actual solution to this problem, we need look no further than the Honor Council, of which I am also a member.

The Honor Council handles every instance of alleged Honor Code violations. It is an independent judicial body which thoroughly investigates suspected plagiarism and necessarily entails student involvement. Imagine, however, if the professor who accused you of plagiarism investigated his own accusation, judged the merits of the claim he himself made, and meted out punishment—that would not exactly

be an impartial process. Yet this is exactly the position in which Hall Directors routinely find themselves. They are the arresting officers, the prosecutors, and the judges. More problematically, the judicial standard they use—“more likely than not”—allows them to make judicial decisions almost indiscriminately.

Meanwhile the standard for an appeal of a judicial decision is not “more likely than not.” Instead, the appealing party must present “clear and convincing” evidence that the original decision was “substantially flawed.” Here, ResLife and Student Conduct engage in some impressive judicial legerdemain, convicting students with a loosely applied standard and then locking in the decision with a rigid appeals process. In truth, the standard in the original hearing should be at least “clear and convincing” if not a higher burden of proof, as this would actually provide a presumption of innocence.

In the end, the reason ResLife cannot operate similar to the Honor Council is obvious. The number of Category A alcohol violations in one month alone exceeds the number of Honor Code violations in a year and, sadly, due process is labor-intensive. According to the website of the Office of Student Conduct, “college campuses function as a microcosm of society; and, as in society, members of the campus community possess certain rights and responsibilities.” To ResLife and the Office of Student Conduct’s credit, many students have learned an important societal lesson: it is more bureaucratically efficient to dispense with evidence and impartiality when intuition and assumption are more readily accessible and less time-consuming.

David Freenock is a junior in the College. The ResLife decision halted his dream of becoming the next Judge Judy.

Protests must defend Planned Parenthood and women’s rights

by Sara Ainsworth When Wisconsin approved an anti–union bill, protests flared up across the state.

These protests soon spread to other states, as well as Washington, D.C., as other state legislatures attempted to pass similar bills. When violence and human rights abuses began in Egypt and Libya, protests erupted in front of the respective embassies. Yet legislation in at least five states and a national bill to limit

women’s reproductive rights, have gone without widespread protests.

It seems strange that legislation that affects a woman’s right to her own body, a fundamental human right, has not been physically protested on a wide scale. Over 200,000 people came out to rally against insanity with Jon Stewart, yet few protests on the issue have drawn more than 100 people. On our own campus, dozens of professors and students protested Alva-

Comedic protests garner a larger audience than those for pressing issues.

FLICKR

ro Uribe’s short stint as a professor at Georgetown. Where is the outrage from female students or Georgetown’s International Human Rights Clinic now?

I grew up in France, where protests are a part of life. They occur often and are expected.

The proposed cuts to funding for Title X, which funds Planned Parenthood is a major piece of legislation. In France, such a large and devastatingbudget cut to an institution that provides numerous social welfare services, would be met with enormous protests throughout many French cities. Why, then, is this not occurring in the U.S.?

There may be a fear of seeming to support abortion, still a somewhat taboo subject. But in the end, this comes down to more than that—it comes down to rights. Republicans are attacking two fundamental human rights, the right to one’s body and the right to healthcare. Planned Parenthood provides prenatal care, as well as STD and cancer screenings, to thousands of women. Twenty percent of American women have used Planned Parenthood at one time or another, or more than 30 million women. This bill denies these women access to this healthcare because its

proponents are not willing to allow women to have control over their own bodies, many for moralistic reasons.

But religion needs to be taken out of the debate on Planned Parenthood. We need to look at this as a matter of health. Cutting healthcare for millions due to religious beliefs is wrong and against the American tenet of the separation of church and state.

By federal mandate, Planned Parenthood can’t use federal money for abortion services.

Therefore, the money that will be cut comes from the cancer screening and pre-natal care, which are needed for women to maintain proper health, especially those who are disadvantaged.

Completely shutting off funding due to activities that the government does not fund is not fair, especially when these activities are legal.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi recently came out in defense of Title X, saying, “It’s dangerous to women’s health, disrespects the judgment of American women—I don’t know if they even gave that a thought—and it’s the most comprehensive and radical assault on women’s health in our lifetime.” The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Dis-

crimination Against Women, a UN convention, reaffirms her words as it states that women have the right to family planning, the right to their own bodies, and the right to reproductive healthcare. But tellingly, this convention has not been ratified by the U.S.— along with Iran, Sudan, and Somalia.

As a nation, we need to step back and realize that we are infringing upon fundamental rights. And female students3 need to stand up and fight against this injustice. Our right to healthcare is just as important as our right to education and our right to freedom. The gross injustice in the Republicans’ budget directly discriminates against women. Our rights as women are being assaulted. We need to join together and fight for them. Many great leaders, like Susan B. Anthony and Ruth Ginsberg did much for women’s rights. We can’t allow our rights to slip away without protest; we can’t let their work go to waste.

Sara Ainsworth is a freshman in the SFS. She lights her French cigarettes with the flame from her burning bra.

voices

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice

15

Warm weather brings about Georgetown day dreaming

by Aodhan Beirne There are few people on campus awaiting spring break more eagerly than I am. Only halfway through my midterm minefield, I already have my blinders on, focusing all my extra energy on thinking about 10:05 a.m. on Friday when I’m finished with my last test. Making things worse, it’s getting nice out. While the temperature is still hovering only around 50 degrees in the past few

days, it’s nice enough for me to look out the Lau windows and feel especially miserable.

It really is a shame that I, and I imagine most Georgetown students, can’t wait to get off campus next week, because the spring—not chicken finger Thursday, Epicurean happy hour, or proximity to Wisey’s—is the best thing Georgetown has to offer. Though I am certainly not willing to prolong my midterms, nor do I think staying here for the

IRIS KIM

If sleeping were a lawn sport, Georgetown could assemble an Olympic-level team.

The Future M.Vee.P. Sometimes, sophomore Vee Sanford reminds us what makes him such a likeable basketball player. Against Syracuse in the Big East Tournament last year, he introduced the Hoya faithful to his beautiful teardrop floater, which he has since used to similar effect against Memphis in December and against Syracuse again on Saturday. Vee, however, does not see a lot of playing time. When point guard Chris Wright broke his hand against Cincinnati last week, most analysts believed that Sanford, along with fellow backup guard Markel Starks, would pick up the bulk of Wright’s minutes against the Orange. In the end however, Sanford played just five minutes, compared to Starks’ 24.

With Wright’s injury coming in the third-to-last game of the regular season, it seemed that the spectacular final campaign of

Wright, Austin Freeman and Julian Vaughn was about to go off the rails. The disheartening loss to Syracuse on Senior Day did nothing to assuage concerns about the Wright-less team. Against the Orange, not a single player recorded more than two assists. Starks, who usually plays eight minutes per game, dished out just one assist in 24 minutes, the same kind of uninspiring play that has largely characterized his freshman season.

If you compare the performances of Sanford and Starks, it makes little sense why Starks has received so much more playing time than his sophomore teammate. Sanford is the superior shooter of the two, connecting on 58 percent of his field goals and a spectacular 63 percent from beyond the arc.

Starks, on other hand, has shot a mere 22 percent from three-

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.

week would be fun, I know that when I look back at my experience here, I’ll be disappointed in myself for wanting to leave a great place at a great time.

I came to Georgetown because, among other reasons, I felt it had the strongest sense of community among its students of any college I saw. And while this community certainly exists in the winter, notably at basketball games, it’s during the latter months of the school year that I feel it most strongly. Every time I walk across Healy lawn on a nice day, when it seems that the whole study body is sprawled out on the grass and reading, listening to music, or enjoying themselves in any way, I know I made the right decision in coming to Georgetown. Everyone is perfectly content, and everything seems easier. Disneyland might have Donald Duck, but Healy lawn in the spring has always seemed to me the happiest place on Earth.

I even made the decision to go abroad in the fall, I enjoy Georgetown in the spring so much. I could miss the leaves falling off the trees, the need to increasingly add jacket layers, and Thanksgivpoint range and less than 26 percent overall.

Of course, it is arguably unnecessary for a point guard to be a good shooter if they can pass the ball well. Boston Celtics all-star Rajon Rondo is an excellent example. But Starks has been no better than Sanford in this area either.

They each notch an assist about every 15 minutes of playing time (by comparison, Wright has tallied an assist every 6 minutes this season), and they have roughly the same ratio of assists to turnovers.

Carrying On

by Jackson Perry A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

Next year’s basketball team will attempt to replace three of its top four scorers, two of whom are guards. The success of the Hoyas outside game will rely on getting Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson open looks. Their relatively weak inside game will need legitimate threats on the perimeter to help generate opportunities in the paint. Sanford, with his team-best statistics from beyond the arc and his ability to drive the lane and finish, fits the bill. With Starks in the game it’s a different story. As we saw against Syracuse, when

ing, but I would be devastated if I missed wearing sunglasses for the first time, my perpetually unfulfilled dream of doing things outside of the Georgetown area, and most of all, Georgetown Day. Though I concede I was not inspired by any of the options for the spring concert, I can hardly wait for it, nonetheless, as, to me, it always marks the best few weeks of the year. Classes are winding down, the weather is steadily nice, people are constantly on the lawn, Georgetown Day is just weeks away, and other staples of Georgetown spring like Relay for Life, Foxfield, and Rigby Ball ensure that there is something to look forward to every weekend before finals eventually pull everyone out of their seasonally-induced high.

Even if we didn’t have the likes of T-Pain to entertain us, the spring weather is enough to make us appreciate what is always around us. It’s hard to notice just how beautiful Healy is when it’s cold enough to make your eyes water if you keep them open long enough. Similarly, the Potomac never looks as scenic when the wind chill on the Car Barn patio is painful.

Freeman went 2-for-9 from the three-point range, an opposing defense will ignore Starks and swarm more realistic threats.

Although Wright and Freeman will (sadly) be departing after this season, Sanford’s prospects for increased minutes still do not look bright. As his rotation against Syracuse indicated, John Thompson III clearly believes that Starks is his point guard of the future.

Next season, Jason Clark and Nate Lubick will be the only returning starters. Hollis Thompson will presumably rejoin the starting line-up, and Henry Sims will likely contend with recruits Mikael Hopkins and Tyler Adams for the last spot in the frontcourt. What seemed in autumn to be an open race between Starks and Sanford for the final starting slot now appears to be, justly or not, a settled matter.

Sanford will be left to contend for minutes with redshirt freshman Aaron Bowen and recruit Jabril Trawick. In what will be a rebuilding year, JTIII may favor Bowen and Trawick over Sanford, envisioning a youthful but tested team two or three seasons from now. It would be a different story if Sanford had continued to play at the rate he did before the Big East schedule began—in that case ,he might have dethroned Starks as the future starting point guard.

When you can open the door to go outside and not brace yourself for the cold about to hit you, or when you take a deep breath without the equally deep lung burn, you’re bound to feel better and enjoy whatever it is you’re doing. Especially during midterms I appreciate how free from stress it is to study on lawn, reading through darkened lenses, concerned more about the length of the walk from the lawn to Midnight Mug for a soda than the length of the essay you’re writing.

It’s moments like these, which abound during the spring, that are remembered decades in the future. When I look back at college, I’m sure every day will seem like Georgetown Day. While I’m still excited for spring break, I’m even more excited for the weeks to come, but of course if I keep putting off studying for my midterms to daydream, I might have many more Georgetown springs to come.

Aodhan Beirne is a junior in the College. If you don’t like his piece, don’t push the blame on the guy in shades.

Instead, whether Sanford will even be on the squad next year is up in the air. Since the 2005 season, six Hoyas have transferred from Georgetown, including Vernon Macklin, Jeremiah Rivers, Omar Wattad, and most recently, Nikita Mescheriakov. It is possible that Sanford may follow the same path.

After his freshman year, a post on Sanford’s Facebook page indicated that he felt he did not play “as much as I deserved.” Although Sanford played almost nine minutes per game in the first half of the season— a sizable number considering that the three star guards are in front of him—his minutes have dried up in 2011. Since Dec. 29, Sanford has played less than four minutes per game. He certainly wouldn’t be the first player to transfer from Georgetown over playing time.

Before the Syracuse game, Jason Clark praised his younger teammate: “[Sanford] hasn’t been playing a lot lately, but he’s been playing very well in practice. I’ve always been in his ear talking to him, you know you’re time is going to come.”

His time did not come on Saturday against Syracuse. Will it ever?

Jackson Perry is a junior in the College. He will see you there or he will see you another time, Jobin.

Spring Break 2011: Vox Populi goes global.

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