The Georgetown Voice, 8/27/2021

A U G U ST 2 7, 2 0 2 1

THESE STUDENTS ARE STRIVING TO MAKE GEORGETOWN MORE ACCESSIBLE

By Nora Scully

THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR VOTING RIGHTS CONFRONTS D.C.’S SHADOW OF DEMOCRACY

By Sarah Watson

WELCOME

BACK GEORGETOWN

THE VOICE’S GUIDE TO D.C.: WHERE TO EAT

Contents

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editorials

Dear Hoyas...

Letter from the Editor: Committing to journalism for our community ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

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August 27, 2021 Volume 54 | Issue 1

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Editor-In-Chief Annemarie Cuccia Managing Editor Sarah Watson

feature

news

The March on Washington for Voting Rights confronts D.C.’s shadow of democracy

Executive Editor Features Editor News Editor Assistant News Editors

opinion

Executive Editor Annette Hasnas Voices Editor Sarina Dev Assistant Voices Editor Sarah Craig, James Garrow, Kulsum Gulamhusein Editorial Board Chair Darren Jian Editorial Board Annemarie Cuccia, William Hammond, Annabella Hoge, Paul James, Darren Jian, Allison O’Donnell, Sarah Watson, John Woolley, Max Zhang

SARAH WATSON

sports

It’s been so long since last we met ROMAN PEREGRINO

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Reform Title IX now

Georgetown Explained: Mutual aid

These students are striving to make Georgetown more accessible

editorials

news

voices

MAYA KOMINSKY AND MEGAN O’MALLEY

College, Interrupted: A reflection on my pandemic gap year SARAH CRAIG

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voices

A Third Start: Reflections from pandemic transfer students KULSUM GULAMHUSEIN, MELANIE CRUZMORALES, KATHRYN YANG

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leisure

The Voice’s guide to D.C.: Where to eat

features

NORA SCULLY

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leisure

Executive Editor Leisure Editor Assistant Editors Halftime Editor Assistant Halftime Editors

Abby Webster Olivia Martin Orly Salik, Anna Savo Lucy Cook Chetan Dokku, Gokul Sivakumar, Abby Smith

sports

Executive Editor Sports Editor Assistant Editors Halftime Editor Assistant Halftime Editors

Jacob Levin Roman Peregrino Hayley Salvatore, Tim Tan Alex Brady Langston Lee, Natalia Porras, Carlos Rueda

design

“While being properly supported in a Title IX action is essential, it is the bare minimum of what survivors need to heal, especially considering many survivors choose not to report their experiences.”

Executive Editor Spread Editors Cover Editor Assistant Design Editors

copy

multimedia

Executive Editor Podcast Editor Assistant Podcast Editor Photo Editor

contact us

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editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University 3700 O St. NW Washington, DC 20057

John Woolley Jillian Seitz Alexes Merritt Nathan Posner

online

Website Editor Anna Pogrebivsky Social Media Editor Emma Chuck Assistant Social Media Editor Margaret Hartigan

on the cover

business

General Manager Alice Gao Assistant Manager of Megan O’Malley Accounts & Sales Assistant Manager of Abigail Keating Alumni Outreach

support

LEISURE STAFF 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. 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. All materials copyright The Georgetown Voice, unless otherwise indicated.

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Copy Chief Maya Knepp Assistant Copy Editors Maya Kominsky, Kenny Boggess, Julia Rahimzadeh Editors Christopher Boose, Alene Hanson, Jennifer Kret, Stephanie Leow

PG. 12

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Paul James Caroline Hamilton Annabella Hoge Ethan Greer, Sophia Tafazzoli, Nora Scully

“Welcome Back Georgetown” INSHA MOMIN

Associate Editors Samantha Tritt, Sky Coffey, Amanda Chu Staff Writers Nathan Barber, Maya Cassady, Natalie Chaudhuri, Erin Ducharme, Blythe Dujardin, Arshan Goudarzi, Andrea Ho, Abigail Keating, Julia Kelly, Steven Kingkiner, Lily Kissinger, Bella McGlone, Anna Sofia Neil, Adam Pack, John Picker, Hayley Salvatore, Amelia Wanamaker, Sarah Weber, Alec Weiker, Katie Woodhouse

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AUGUST 27, 2021

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EDITORIALS

Dear Hoyas,

W

elcome back. We’ve been apart for a while.

Loss defined much of last year—loss of opportunities, loved ones, and time. Trauma, unevenly distributed and ongoing, sits with much of our community.

We at the Voice won’t pretend we can restore what COVID-19 took away, but we can offer a few hopes we have for the year to come.

Our first ask is to be generous to each other. Approach each other with grace and understanding, and take the time to help one another wherever the opportunity should arise.

To all students that have never truly experienced campus life—freshmen, sophomores, and transfers— welcome, and congratulations! You are finally here, and you belong. There may be moments when you doubt whether you fit—that’s normal. Imposter syndrome is a natural response to what is often an exclusive and overlycompetitive environment, but remember that you hold power and can triumph over those barriers.

To all those incoming, do not let hierarchies dominate the social scene. Lingering notions of popularity carried over from high school should not matter here. Be good to each other, and surround yourself with people you can learn from. You have so much time to wonder and challenge your preconceived notions.

Most importantly, care for yourself. The last year has made us all more acutely aware of our limited time.

Go out and do the things you love, but remember to rest as well. Don’t try to do everything; experiment and find those endeavors which bring you joy, but never forget that stretching yourself too thin will not bring as much satisfaction as it initially appears. Choose your passions, and don’t hesitate to take some time for yourself.

To upperclassmen, you are coming back with newfound power. It is incumbent upon you to cultivate a culture at Georgetown that is genuinely inclusive—you set the standards for your organizations and the tone for what Georgetown should be. We face a new responsibility to make this university stronger, kinder, more equitable, and more self-reflective than when we left.

Nostalgia is sure to pull us back towards pre-COVID practices, but make sure to use this time to interrogate the spaces you inhabit. If you find yourself staring at a picture of exclusivity and stasis, change it. Be bold and confront the missteps of whatever institution you partake in—a club, a team, a tradition. How do its prerequisites limit inclusivity? What about its application requirements? Its financial constraints? You’re in charge now, and if you don’t critique those old structures, then you’re allowing an enormous opportunity to slip away.

It is also up to upperclassmen to pass on our history.

Georgetown University is deeply flawed, historically and presently. The school was built on land stolen from the Nacotchtank and Piscataway tribal nations, and its Jesuit identity inextricably links it with the Catholic genocide and forced education of Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, Georgetown only exists because it sold at least 272 enslaved Black people in 1838 to remain financially stable.

In a 2019 student referendum with record turnout, 66 percent of students voted to establish a reparations fund sourced from a tuition contribution for the descendants of the GU272—yet the university has failed to follow through. No campus memorial exists to remember either Indigenous tribes or the GU272, and many monuments

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

to enslavement remain intact. As students who benefit from those atrocities, we have a responsibility to their descendants to keep that fight alive.

These are crucial interpersonal efforts, but do not forget about our responsibility towards community health. The pandemic has not ended, and to avoid another shutdown, we need to stay vigilant and protect one another. Wear your mask indoors, and so long as the university provides them freely, test yourself often to mitigate undetected community spread. Your decisions will shape the fall semester.

Our return to campus demands that we take up the responsibility of stewarding its community. Wherever the fall takes us—whatever new opportunities we discover and loved ones we meet for the very first time—it is up to us to change Georgetown for the better. Now and always, make good on the time we have together by shaping our community into a more loving one. G With love, The Voice Editorial Board

Letter from the Editor: Committing to journalism for our community

D

ear readers, We here at the Voice have spent much of the last year saying, “We cannot return to campus the same as we left.”

This statement is fundamentally true. Two classes of writers, editors, designers, photographers, and podcasters have graduated. We’ve said goodbye to three of our former editors-in-chief. The newsroom I walked into in 2018 has entirely disappeared, replaced by equally talented—but unmistakably different—reporters.

But these are the changes we were forced into.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, we have come together as a board to decide to alter who we are, who we serve, and what our role in the Georgetown and D.C. community is, and I want to share that with our readers.

The Voice believes that all journalism should be community journalism. Our decision to take on the moniker of journalist—even on a college campus—brings about responsibility: One to tell the truth, yes, but also to not harm our community, to uplift our readers, to question power structures, to continue to educate ourselves, and to serve not our desires or professional aspirations, but our readers’ needs. While we do take advantage of our platform to inform and entertain, we believe the bulk of what we do must aid our community.

To that end, we have implemented several internal changes over the last year. First, we recognize both the racism of the industry we operate in and our own past and very recent failures to cover communities of color in a compassionate and non-tokenizing manner. We remain a heavily white and non-Black organization, and this both limits us and deeply concerns me. Our demographics make addressing the intersection of race and journalism all the more important.

To facilitate this, we added a board position dedicated to this effort, the Executive Editor for Resources, Diversity,

and Inclusion. This individual has the latitude and capacity to make both system-level and micro-level changes to how the Voice operates so that it might be a more inclusive and antiracist organization.

Since last summer, we have hosted reflective conversations to address race and inclusion, including five organization-wide conversations and over a dozen section-specific conversations. It’s now a requirement for each section to host two events centered around race each semester and for board members to attend, and we plan to continue holding spaces Voice-wide.

It’s also become clear to us that we have lacked the tools and culture to report on experiences of trauma– most notably sexual violence–in truly compassionate and trauma-informed manners. Though we are still at the beginning of addressing this, we have crafted a traumainformed guide which stresses how to care for survivors and empower their narratives. We are working to organize trainings to further equip writers, at least one of which will occur each semester, and added a new position to the board to oversee this: the Editor for Sexual Violence Advocacy, Prevention, and Coverage.

Though we believe reporters should be wary of conflicts of interest, as an organization we choose to explicitly express our values of radical justice, anti-racism, trauma-informed reporting, and empathetic and considerate journalism, as can be seen in our revamped mission statement.

Care for community also means action, and over the last year we have tried to engage in this work through two donation matching campaigns. To make these efforts more comprehensive, and proactive rather than reactionary, we created the position of our Service Chair to engage with the community we report on and organize service days in D.C. Our greatest resource is our coverage, and we are pledging to dedicate that to our community as well. In the last year, we added a series intended to provide knowledge students need, Georgetown Explained. We also added a new tab to our site labeled “Resources,” which will feature information to help students access resources on and off campus, learn about their community, and generally make life easier.

Finally, we are committed to prioritizing people. This means writing stories that our readers want to see, and caring for our sources, who often are also our classmates and neighbors. In a new internal ethics guide, we have committed to putting the person before the story, detailed how to exhibit care for those we write about, and put forth all the above principles as a part of our core values.

I will never pretend we are an organization devoid of problems. I cannot blame anyone who is skeptical of us or our industry, and I will not try to convince anyone otherwise.

There have been days when I was skeptical myself.

But I am so glad I can announce we have made these changes, late and simple as they are. I’m so proud of my staff for embracing them, pushing for them, and spending time trying to educate and better themselves. Though we have a great deal more to grow, we are better than who we were, and that is nothing short of a relief.

So, if you’ve read us before, I hope you will see an improvement this year. If you’re new, this is who we are, and we will be upfront about it. And, if you’ve ever wanted to be part of our organization, this is who you’ll be joining.

We are a trying, sometimes failing, but committed group, and we would love to have you, if you’ll have us. G Thanks for reading, Annemarie

SPORTS VOICES

It’s been so long since last we met: (After a year, Hoya fans return to games)

BY ROMAN PEREGRINO

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hen then-junior midfielder Maya Fernandez-Powell slotted home her second goal of the game on March 28, it’s no surprise she expected to hear the roar of Hoya fans filling the stands of Shaw Field.

After all, her brace had put the finishing touches on the Georgetown women’s soccer 7-0 landslide win over Villanova, a defining victory during the squad’s romp to another Big East Championship. Instead, all that could be heard were the shouts of her teammates and tinny voices coming from a small crew of fans peering through the gates.

Beginning last March, Shaw Field went from supporting 1,625 fans to sitting vacant. No spectators were allowed at any Georgetown sporting event from March 2020 to August 2021 due to health concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some sports seasons, like volleyball and field hockey, were canceled outright. Teams that were able to return in the spring, such as women’s soccer, played for a nonexistent crowd. This fall, however, the return of a vaccinated student body to campus means that Georgetown’s athletes will once more be cheered on by their home fans.

This change will be a much-needed boost for any sports-oriented Hoya. Last season, fans had to make do with TV screens and limited opportunities to cheer on their favorite teams, separated from sports that are usually just a five-minute walk from their dorms. On the field, players had to overcome the flagging morale that was left without fan support.

“There is a huge difference,” FernandezPowell said of having loyal fans in the stands.

“The atmosphere, the energy you get from the fans. It does give you that little extra edge when you’re playing.”

That’s not to say the year was a wash. Even without the benefits of their supporters, several Georgetown athletics teams put together exemplary seasons in 2021. Both men’s and women’s soccer competed in their respective NCAA tournaments, while men’s basketball returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years after their triumph in the Big East Championship. Men’s lacrosse won their third consecutive Big East title and made the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2007, despite having no crowds on hand to see it.

“We cannot wait for everyone to return to the stands,” Declan McDermott, a thenjunior starting midfielder on that lacrosse team, wrote in an email to the Voice. “The absence of fans last year has only made us more appreciative and grateful of the support from our friends and family.”

It’s difficult to acknowledge that no fans saw then-senior attack Jake Carraway break the school record for men’s lacrosse goals. No fans saw thenfreshman guard Kelsey Ransom and the women’s basketball team race out to an early lead over National Player of the Year Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies in February. The year of not-quite-there sports, while necessary, could not come to an end soon enough.

According to a statement from Georgetown’s Athletic Department, plans for in-person sporting events are being worked out in collaboration with the D.C. government, NCAA, and Big East Conference as new information becomes available. At the moment, the expectation is that fans will have close to full access to most university athletic events, especially as many of Georgetown’s fall sports are outdoors and will likely be less vulnerable to changing COVID-19 conditions.

“In accordance with University COVID-19 guidelines, spectators will be allowed to attend both indoor and outdoors competitions with mask requirements in place at on campus, indoor venues,” the department wrote in a statement to the Voice.

“Physical distancing is not required, but recommended for unvaccinated individuals.”

This is welcome news to Rachel Cherelstein (COL ’22), the president of Hoya Blue, a club supporting Georgetown’s athletes. In a normal year, Hoya Blue members would be present at almost every Georgetown game, leading chants and carrying infamous Fatheads of Bradley Cooper, John DeGioia, and Jesus Christ.

But for the last 16 months, Cherelstein has led an organization that could not carry out its main functions.

This includes the trips that its members take to support Georgetown teams away from campus, which Cherelstein believes is Hoya Blue’s greatest bonding opportunity.

Every year, the club brings Hoya pride to either Philadelphia or New York to watch the men’s basketball team take on a Big East rival.

The most well-remembered Hoya Blue trip, according to Cherelstein, are the excursions down to Cary, N.C., to watch women’s soccer in the Final Four in 2018 and men’s soccer win their championship in 2019. Fernandez-Powell remembers appreciating that a dedicated contingent of fans had their back as they played against the hometown University of North Carolina.

“It’s always hard to play UNC but especially when they have thousands of people chanting ‘Tar Heels’ the whole game,” she said. “It meant a lot to have that group of people come down.”

The club has held out during the pandemic, continuing general body meetings, highlighting members, and experimenting with those aforementioned game watches, but nothing replaces the

photo by john picker

atmosphere that comes with cheering the Hoyas to victory in person.

“It’s definitely been difficult to center the club around Georgetown sports,” Cherelstein said. “Virtual game watches are next to impossible to do so in a way where it is also possible to speak to everyone who is there.”

Bringing fans back is about more than just the energy they provide to games. It’s also about the personal memories they help athletes build. Fernandez-Powell, now a senior, is excited that her parents and other family members will be able to once more see her play in person. They can surround her for her Senior Day, something last year’s seniors had to miss out on.

“Timing-wise, it kinda worked out in our favor that hopefully we will get our normal Senior Day and have our families here and friends and everyone here to support us,” she said.

In the coming months, fans will once more be able to catch a women’s basketball game at McDonough Arena or a football game at Cooper Field. Season ticket holders will be lining up to get on the bus to catch a men’s basketball game at Capital One Arena, and Shaw Field will be filled with the yell that wins the day. Fernandez-Powell’s message to students? Go. “Hopefully this year there is even more energy out of the student body to come to games just because we have all been deprived of it for so long,” she said.

“I certainly will be attending as many other Georgetown athletics games as I can, and I hope everyone else does too.” G AUGUST 27, 2021

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VOICES

College, Interrupted: A reflection on my pandemic gap year SARAH CRAIG

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n the first day of the fall 2020 semester, I found myself staring at an empty Google Calendar.

This blankness was a stark contrast from the visuals I had come to associate with August after two years of college: color-coordinated calendar events, syllabi scattered across university-issued desks, crowded dining halls and classrooms and libraries. There was a certain familiarity and nostalgia that always enveloped the beginning of a new school year—one I would not be experiencing for the first time in my life.

Instead, come August 2020, I was welcoming a year-long leave of absence, a drastic change that I had decided upon after months of deliberation.

Naturally, the pandemic was the initial catalyst for taking a leave. The spring 2020 semester left me feeling exhausted; between all of the changes brought upon by the pandemic itself and the lack of support I felt from the university, I was left in a state of depletion that lasted throughout the entire summer. I wasn’t sure I could endure what would likely be an entire year of virtual school.

So, for the first time in my life, I decided to prioritize my wellbeing and take a break from being a student.

It was an odd sensation, parting from the structure that had dictated most of my life.

It wasn’t something that I thought I would experience for at least another few years, but after months of uncertainty and fatigue, there was a certain relief in accepting a time without any obligations.

My initial worries of boredom were quelled once I realized that I could now make time for the passion projects that were overshadowed by overloading credits and working multiple jobs: completing long reading lists, bullet journaling, watching movies and TV shows, and becoming enamored with their fictional worlds. Perhaps most importantly, though, I was able to focus on taking care of myself amid ongoing collective trauma.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, everyone has been encouraged to take care of themselves, both mentally and physically. But by the beginning of my gap year, genuine well-wishes of health and safety had dwindled into mere platitudes; somehow, we had managed to normalize the presence of a virus that killed hundreds of thousands of people, and it was no longer an excuse for failing to meet expectations of productivity.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Even from afar, it was clear that Georgetown’s stress culture remained fully intact. Many students applauded me for taking a year off, saying it was certainly the right choice and that they were jealous, while still choosing to remain enrolled in heavy credit loads and stressing over far-off internships and other pre-professional opportunities.

Hearing my peers complain about their academic and professional futures amplified a sense of confusion I’ve always felt as a first-gen student. Even before the pandemic, I never understood students’ unwavering commitment to productivity, especially when it cost them their health. I’ve always wondered how students were able to prioritize classes and homework, and this was especially true during virtual learning, when students were still pushing themselves despite experiencing the collective trauma of the pandemic. Didn’t they know they were allowed to take a break?

Or was I the one in the wrong, foolish enough to believe that not even a global health crisis warranted time off ?

Attending Georgetown provided me more cultural capital than I ever thought I would have—professional mentorship opportunities, access to renowned programs, and eventually, a degree—so I had never felt pressured to go above and beyond the way other students did.

Watching students obsess over job applications and hundred-page readings in the middle of an ongoing global health crisis made me feel sick in a way I didn’t know was possible.

Because while many Georgetown students comfortably zoomed into class from their spacious homes, my former school district struggled to supply students with necessary technology for virtual learning. Friends and family members spent months trying to find work or continued working through dangerous health conditions during the pandemic to pay the bills. So many people became burned out after working during a public health crisis without adequate resources, yet had no choice but to continue pushing forward. For many Georgetown students, however, it seemed that the pandemic was a mere inconvenience, rather than the crisis that it was for so many others.

As exhausting and frustrating as this disconnect was, it was grounding to be back in an environment where academia and professionalism weren’t the primary concerns.

It reminded me of the love that I have for the community I grew up in, where we do our

best to support each other during times of crisis. Spending this past year back among my community has allowed me to reconnect with and understand the person I want to be, which is why I can’t help but feel nervous about returning to campus this fall.

Because the truth is, despite the excitement I feel about returning to my friends and the campus I had finally become accustomed to, I have a lot of anxiety surrounding how Georgetown will handle the “new normal.”

The pre-pandemic normal encouraged students to work through burnout and prioritize arbitrary academic and professional pressures over our wellbeing. While it seems that many students are still enamored by this lifestyle, I’m not sure that I can handle a desperate cling to the old normal when it was harmful in the first place.

I’m not prepared to go back to a campus that always encouraged me to sacrifice my health for the sake of productivity, especially now, during a lingering pandemic. I’m not ready to return to a place that constantly pressures me to assimilate to its definition of success and worth, especially after I’ve spent the past year figuring out how I define those terms. I don’t want to go back to school and lose all of the grace the past year has afforded me. I don’t want to go back to the same Georgetown I left, because I know that I can’t.

Haven’t we learned anything from the past year and a half ? Haven’t we learned that we deserve to exist as people first and students second? Haven’t we learned that we deserve better than constant burnout and exhaustion?

As we return to campus and grapple with our new expectations for college life, we must do so in a way that accounts for all of the harm we previously normalized. We all deserve to prioritize our wellbeing, and we must start doing so now. G

Design by Allison DeRose

VOICES

A Third Start: Reflections from pandemic transfer students

KULSUM GULAMHUSEIN, KATHRYN YANG, AND MELANIE CRUZMORALES

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omposed of fewer than 200 students (per our acceptance letters), the fall 2020 intake of transfer students is a small yet integral community that has already experienced Georgetown for a year but is just now finding their permanent place on the Hilltop, even as some of our journeys are coming to an end.

Unlike non-transfers, each of us actively chose Georgetown over a previous institution, and coming into the fall semester of 2020, we were excited to finally begin our journeys with the school we had selected for the final years of our college educations.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 and the fall’s online start prevented our first experiences with our new school from being everything we hoped. Without impromptu conversations or planned social events, the opportunity to connect with current students was practically nonexistent, making it difficult for many transfer students to integrate into the university community. We’re not freshmen, but we are swimming in a sea of acronyms and have only just learnt the difference between upstairs and downstairs Leo’s. Our collective knowledge about the university is full of gaps, and we’re only just getting the opportunity to fill them in.

As a small group, it’s been difficult to make our voices heard by the administration. Transfers were left out entirely in the original fall semester plan to bring some students to campus, despite all being in our first year at Georgetown. Although we were invited to participate in the SHIP program, some transfers reported classes poorly accommodated

their needs as upperclassmen and there was a lack of awareness among program speakers that transfers were taking part in SHIP. As we come into the 2020-2021 academic year, it’s a strange time to be a part of the transfer class.

We’re old but new students, and unlike the rising sophomores, we’ve been to college before. We’re finally here, and we’re ready to dive in and make the most of the one or two years we have left.

Kathryn Yang (SFS ’23): I’m filled with excitement and anxiety. On one hand, I’m counting down the days until classes start and fantasizing about my ideal college life (I’ll go to the gym, I’ll meet so many new people, I’ll buy cute notebooks for myself!). Over “Zoom University,” I was proud of myself for putting in the effort to be social—I genuinely connected with my peers online. Seeing the friendships I’ve made over the past year blossom into something greater through in-person learning is something I’m irrationally optimistic about. But I’m also anxious and, simply put, tired.

This is not just a second, but a third start—the first was as a doe-eyed freshman at my previous institution, second as a cynical (and slightly grumpy) transfer starting a new school virtually during a pandemic, and now again, as a lost third-year who doesn’t feel like an upperclassman. I’m technically a junior with a year of Georgetown under my belt, but my study group buddies were appalled when I told them I didn’t know how to get to Tombs. Am I old or am I new? I’m ready to fortify connections with professors and friends, but am I ready for icebreakers, nervous sips from red Solo Cups, the “What’s your favourite color” questions? Being the extrovert that I am, I want to socialize. But part of me wants to fast forward to the part where I’m confident in my comfort with Georgetown, completely acclimated with a solid orientation of who I am and what I do on campus. As transfers, we only have one, maybe two more years left at Georgetown. The pressure of time and the expectation to operate on the same timeline as our peers makes me feel like a fish out of water.

Does anyone have a time machine I can borrow?

I write this reflection as the summer casts a sleeping spell on me; I can’t visualize college Kathryn at all. I’m stepping into the semester with uncertainty (thank you Delta variant), a changed attitude since B.U.T. (Before Unprecedented Times), and a haphazard dorm packing list. At this point, I figure there’s no point predicting the future. Whatever happens, happens, and we’ll just have to bravely confront fate.

Kulsum Gulamhusein (COL ’23): In the doldrums of the spring semester, when Georgetown felt another world away, I wondered what it meant to be a Georgetown student without any of the trappings of the quintessential Hilltop experience. It was difficult to gauge which clubs I wanted to join,

or to connect with students who weren’t transfers.

While freshmen were all entering a new environment together and looking for friends, members of my class already had the opportunity to make initial connections, in person. As an upperclassman this year, I feel pressured to build up my participation so that I have something to show for my time at Georgetown when I graduate next year. While some students, such as my NSO advisor, went out of their way to welcome me into the community, I feel nothing compares to what my life on campus could have been: picnics on Healy lawn, speakers in Gaston Hall, and experiencing an election cycle in D.C. I’m entering the new school year somehow suspended in the middle of my freshman year, familiar with some parts of being a Georgetown student, but completely clueless about others. Last year was lonely at times, but I’m grateful to have had the transfer community, from which I’ve made some of my closest friends. I hope that as we enter the new academic year, I’m able to fully embrace the time I have left as a Georgetown student and experience everything the university has to offer.

Melanie Cruz-Morales (COL ’23): Before the pandemic started, I was taking in-person classes at my community college; as we return to in-person classes this fall, I’ll finally get to sit in my first classroom at Georgetown University, as a secondyear transfer student.

During my first year at Georgetown—learning in a virtual setting, but living on campus—I endured some of my hardest days and some of my best moments yet. I found ways to create community as the GUSA Speaker of the Senate. This position allowed me to build long-lasting relationships and exposed me to invaluable lessons about the world, politics, and what it means to be a leader. I got to experience people for others by advocating for those whom this institution ignores the most, the students outside of the targeted norm of whom this institution seeks to please. It was one of the most difficult, moving, and honorable experiences, one unique to Georgetown’s political environment, which students here learn to love and loathe.

Having the opportunity to serve in GUSA before even knowing how the acronym was pronounced gave me an advantage over other transfer students in regards to learning all about the realities of Georgetown. While that helped me connect with other students and get a taste of the real Georgetown, it also put me in a position where the school’s biggest flaws, like its consistent lack of communication, empathy, and reliance, were all revealed to me before I’d even had the chance to experience life on campus.

Now that I’m finally getting the chance to truly experience life as a Georgetown student, though it is years after my non-transfer peers, I’ll get to know the positive and incomparable elements of Georgetown that balance out those harsh realities and what makes Georgetown the dream that I fought to attain.

Though I’ve really enjoyed every minute of my time here, I’m realizing that as I enter my third semester at Georgetown, my time on the Hilltop is just getting started. The days that I have been waiting for are finally upon us, and I can’t wait to see how much growth I’ll continue to make.G AUGUST 27, 2021

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LEISURE

The Voice’s guide to D.C.: Where to eat

BY THE LEISURE STAFF

Affordable Eats The Well Dressed Burrito

Address: 1220 19th St. NW How to get there: Take the GUTS bus to Dupont Circle, walk three blocks down 19th, and peer dubiously into the alley.

Price: $10 or less for most menu items, “burrito of the day” is $6.99 This tucked-away Dupont burrito joint is the perfect place for a hearty college-student-on-a-budget lunch.

Not only are the burritos (and flautas, and empanadas, and tostadas, and quesadillas) delicious, but the portions are so massive that they can count as two full meals. All for the low price of $10 (or less!). Nothing says college munchies like a thick bean and cheese chimichanga with rice, beans, and pico. The sheer magnitude of these delicacies may kill you, but death by beefy burrito is an honorable way to go.

Voice’s choice: Bean and cheese chimichanga — LUCY COOK

Ben’s Chili Bowl

Address: 1213 U St. NW or 1001 H St. NE How to get there: To get to the original U Street location, take the GUTS bus to Dupont, then take the Metro Red line toward Glenmont and get off at Gallery Place and transfer to the Green line towards Greenbelt. Get off at the U Street stop.

Price: Less than $10 for almost all items *Black-owned Established in 1958 on the U Street Corridor, Ben’s Chili Bowl has become not only a hallmark of the District, but a celebration of this city’s vibrant Black community. A proudly Black-owned business, Ben’s has a long legacy of service in the District—donating food to the March on Washington, remaining open during the D.C. riots of 1968, and staying afloat during a devastating pandemic, all the while watching the ever-changing dimensions and demographics of its city.

Beyond its long-standing reputation in D.C., Ben’s serves up a wicked dog. From chili dogs, to half-smokes, to burgers, to the titular chili bowl, $10 will get any drooling patron a hearty meal of beans and meats. Their vegan and vegetarian chili options have even won awards from PETA and other organizations (so there’s no reason not to go, you weird veggie lovers). This D.C. staple is a complete must-try for any resident.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Voice’s choice: Original Chili Half-smoke, Ben’s Famous Chili Bowls

with a variety of dietary restrictions. And truly, their sense of humor is unbeatable.

— LUCY COOK

Voice’s choice: Lemongrass tofu banh mi with hoisin or sriracha

Falafel Inc

Address: 1210 Potomac St. NW How to get there: Walk out the front gates and take a right once you reach Potomac (around a 10 minute walk).

Price: Nothing on the menu is more than $4 Falafel Inc’s sandwiches are a great deal for only $3, and they are consequently a frequent destination for NSO groups and other student organizations. It’s not uncommon to see friend groups flocking in packs toward the small storefront. Though lines occasionally stretch down the block (the interior space is notoriously small, and capacity limits are still being enforced due to COVID-19), it’s a great place to grab a quick bite and a Georgetown student favorite. And the sandwiches are a perfect meal paired with the za’atar fries and delicious sauces. Falafel Inc also considers itself the “world’s first falafel fast casual food social enterprise,” partnering with the World Food Programme, a humanitarian organization that provides aid to refugees around the world.

Voice’s choice: Falafel sandwich with hummus — OLIVIA MARTIN

Simply Banh Mi

Address: 1624 Wisconsin Ave. NW How to get there: Walk out the front onto P, then go up 35th to Q, then turn on Wisconsin (about a 15 minute walk).

Price: $9-11 for a sandwich, pho, rice bowl, or salad For a short walk and a reasonable price, you could be holding a massive vegetable-loaded sandwich in your hand. Just up Wisconsin, Simply Banh Mi is the closest and best Vietnamese place, and you can easily order for pick-up or delivery on their admittedly and hilariously terrible site. (“If you’ve happened across this dumpster fire of a webpage then you’re probably interested in ordering food not web development services,” a disclaimer reads.) Though their dining room has been closed since COVID-19, the service is still fantastic, and the food is easy to take home or to a picnic in nearby Book Hill Park. Their fresh halal, vegan, and gluten-free options are great for a group

illustrations by anela ramos; spread by max zhang

— ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

Farmers Fishers Bakers

Address: 3000 K St. NW, The Washington How to get there: Walk out the front gates down O to Wisconsin, turn right and walk down until you hit the waterfront. Farmers is to the left, by the large fountain (about a 25 min walk).

Price: $5 for breakfast, $15 for two drinks and a snack at happy hour Most of the menu items at Farmers Fishers Bakers have no business being on a list of affordable places to eat. But twice a day on weekdays, their food is such an absolute steal it’s become a Georgetown student staple. The upscale American restaurant runs a quick sit down or grab-and-go breakfast service each morning from 8 to 10:30 a.m. called First Bake, with breakfast sandwiches for $5 and tacos and burritos for even less. For those who like sweets, there’s an array of baked goods and thick slices of bread, all for about $2. In the afternoon, they run undoubtedly the best-value happy hour in Georgetown, with all drinks—including a simply delightful frozen gin and tonic—at $7, and fries, pretzels, and a whole pizza all $5 or less. If you want to feel like you’re treating yourself but not spend a ton, this is the ticket.

Voice’s choice: Breakfast burrito, cranberry orange bread, Frozen G&T, pimento cheddar biscuits — ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

Mid-Range Restaurants 2Amys

Address: 3715 Macomb St. NW How to get there: Take the 30N bus westbound towards Friendship Heights and get off at Wisconsin Ave. & Macomb St. stop Price: $12-$18 for a pizza, $10 for most “little things” I’ve spent two summers in Italy gorging myself on the finest Italian ‘zas, and yet 2Amys remains firmly in my top

three pizzas of all time. This authentic Neapolitan-style joint in Cathedral Heights is a D.C. staple. With beautifully charred wood-fire pies, a pleasant and unpretentious ambiance, and absolutely killer side dishes, 2Amys has made itself the standard for pizza in the District. It’s the place where my Catholic family would go for every First Communion, Confirmation, and Easter Sunday lunch, because it’s that damn good, but it’s also laid back enough for a perfect postouting, sweaty lunch spot. One must-have item on the menu is the arancini (called ‘suppli al telefono’ on the menu)—these oozy mozzarella-filled risotto balls are so good that I would push babies and body-slam old people to get the last bite.

Voice’s choice: 2Amys pizza and suppli al telefono — LUCY COOK

Oki Bowl

Address: 1608 Wisconsin Ave. NW How to get there: Walk out the front gates down O, and turn up Wisconsin (about 15 min walk).

Price: $15 for a meal This is the best food in Georgetown, full stop. As a proud soup aficionado, nothing is as comforting to me as a big bowl of spicy ramen, and Oki Bowl delivers. Their food is remarkably savory, and a much needed break from the blandness of Leo’s.

It’s also a great place for vegetarian options, and they’re super open to customizations (read: sub tofu for meat in anything).

The inside is kooky in all the right ways, with a collection of multicolored hats and trinkets attached to the walls and ceiling. If conversation lags, point at something weird on the wall! And, after eating all that soup, you might discover the hidden gem of the blacklight bathroom. Pro tip: The portions are huge, so time it as a late lunch or early dinner and get two meals out of one.

Voice’s choice: Oki Curry Ramen with tofu — ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

NuVegan

Address: 2928 Georgia Ave. NW How to get there: Catch the G2 bus at the front gates and take it to P and 7th St., then take the 70 to Georgia and Gresham. Or order delivery—it’s worth it!

Price: $15 *Black-owned Vegan soul food. I truly don’t think I need to say more.

It’s like you are at a barbeque, but everything is vegan, and the options are endless. For vegetarians or vegans, the chicken will satisfy any craving for fried chicken without making you worried you’ve been tricked into eating meat. NuVegan’s meatless chicken is so good, even meat eaters crave it. You can pair this with one of over 20 sides, including vegan mac and cheese, delicious roasted vegetables, and cold salads. They deliver through their website, and with a group, it’ll only end up being about a dollar more per person. Perfect for a picnic or to satisfy your FOMO when all your friends are going to get real fried chicken (no shame).

Bangkok Thai Dining

Address: 2016 P St. NW, #C1 Basement How to get there: Take the GUTS bus or G2 to Dupont. Walk a block down P, passing Second Story Books. Tucked at the end of a row of restaurants, enter a doorway door with music playing from it and follow the stairs.

Price: $15 You take steep stairs where music is playing far too loud into a basement to get into Bangkok Thai. That basement has become my second home in D.C. It’s where my mom and I discussed college options after GAAP, and I chose Georgetown. It’s where I took friends on my freshman floor during the first week of school. It’s where I go if I need an escape from campus. It’s the place that—when I took my mom there last week—our server recognized us from that GAAP weekend two years prior. And the food? It’s even better than the comforting environment I’ve found there.

Never was there a place where vegetables tasted crisper, or cellophane noodles were expertly sauteed into transparent heaven. The prices are good, the portions are perfect, and the spiciness (if you so choose) will leave you embarrassed as you ask for more water (again).

Voice’s choices: Pad Woon Sen and the Panang Curry — SARAH WATSON

El Centro

Address: 1218 Wisconsin Ave. NW How to get there: Walk out the front gates, down O, and turn right down Wisconsin.

Price: $3/taco on Tuesdays; $14-17 regularly As the saying goes, nothing beats your college town’s local Mexican restaurant. While we’re not exactly in a college town, El Centro has become a go-to spot for my friends and I on the weekends—and on Tuesdays.

The dining options can get a bit pricey, but the $3 Taco Tuesday deal is quite the steal. The chef’s rotation keeps you on your toes, allowing for a chance to try new tacos each month. Whether it’s asking about your table’s zodiac signs or offering a veteran opinion on the menu, the staff’s friendliness makes you feel right at home at El Centro. The best part of Taco Tuesday is that it lasts all day; there’s no rush to make it to happy hour after class. You can sit back, enjoy the upbeat vibe of the restaurant, frozen margarita in hand, and marvel at your top-tier tacos neatly served on colorful plates, all while pretending that Taco Tuesday is an additional day of the weekend.

Voice’s choice: Chicken Tinga tacos — ABBY SMITH

out for its simplicity, fantastic flavors, and great location.

Situated in the Atlantic Plumbing building, Haikan is directly around the corner from the 9:30 Club, and shares a wall with the Atlantic Plumbing independent movie theatre. It’s a cool spot. Owned by Daisuke Yutagawa, Katsuya Fukushima, and Yama Jewayni, who also own other premiere ramen restaurants across the city (notably Daikaya and Bantam King), Haikan is a bit more lowkey than its counterparts. Minimalistic decor and simple but delicious Sapporo-style ramen stun in this Shaw location that embraces humility in both design and execution.

Beyond the ramen, Haikan serves some of the most banging appetizers and desserts in the game—particularly the piping hot and creamy crab rangoon.

Voice’s choice: Shoyu ramen and crab rangoon — LUCY COOK

Maketto

Address: 1351 H St. NE How to get there: Take the D6 bus from the Q St./Dent Pl. stop to D St. NE & 13th St. NE, walk up 13th St. to H. This is a long journey but so worth it.

Price: $12-15 Maketto is the first business I remember going to in D.C., just minutes from where I stayed when I toured campus. The coffee shop/bar/Cambodian and Taiwanese restaurant/record shop/clothing store is still one of the coolest places I’ve been in the city, and I keep going back, despite the hour-long bus ride. Their food is innovative, and they have both the best vegetables and the best lattes in D.C. It’s a perfect destination to get off campus for a day if you still want to do work; go in the morning, get a coffee, and then grab lunch to keep you going. The interior is vibrant but surprisingly peaceful, and their mission to be a community space, bringing people together for everything from business meetings to nights out, always feels fulfilled.

Voice’s choice: Five spice honey latte, tofu and spicy basil sauce — ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

Haikan

Voice’s choice: Vegan fried chicken sandwich with mac and cheese and okra and tomatoes

Address: 805 V St. NW How to get there: Take the GUTS bus to Dupont Circle, take the Red line train towards Glenmont, transfer to the Green line at Gallery Place, get off at Shaw-Howard University; OR take the G2 bus from the front gates and get off at 4th St. & V St. and walk five blocks around Howard to the Atlantic Plumbing building.

Price: Less than $10 for a small bowl of ramen, $13-$16 for a regular bowl

— ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

In a city teeming with great ramen joints, Haikan stands AUGUST 27, 2021

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The March on Washington for Voting Rights confronts D.C.’s shadow of democracy

By Sarah Watson

F

ifty-eight years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, these demonstrators and thousands more will walk in the reverend’s footsteps. History will not just be memorialized, but paralleled.

The original 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom convened more than 250,000 demonstrators under the leadership of Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and many others, calling on Congress to end Jim Crow as well as Black soldiers’ exclusion from World War II and New Deal jobs. The day culminated in Dr. King’s oft-cited speech, “I Have a Dream.”

This August, the annual March on Washington is convening once more. Demonstrators are gathering to support legislation that would protect the voting rights of Black, brown, and Indigenous Americans against a wave of state laws designed to disenfranchise them.

The organizers for the March on Washington for Voting Rights call the gathering a “nonviolent, nonpartisan mass mobilization to demand that elected officials protect democracy, denounce voter suppression and ensure fair, easy access to the vote for all.” The march will begin at McPherson Square Park at 15th Street, NW, and H Street at 8 a.m. on the 28th and stop at various points along the National Mall, including the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

This march is especially personal to Washingtonians.

Without statehood, none of the District’s over 700,000 residents have representation in Congress—a wrong

they place in the same category as all other forms of voter suppression.

“We’re not just marching on Washington, we’re marching for Washington,” Jamal Holtz said.

Holtz is a lead organizer for 51 for 51, a campaign to make D.C. the 51st state with congressional representation using only 51 votes in the Senate. 51 for 51 sees their push for statehood as a matter of civil rights for what would be the only majority-minority state in the union. The filibuster, a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to start debate on an issue, currently blocks statehood. Advocates like Holtz see this as a continuation of the filibuster’s historical use— preventing the advancement of civil rights legislation for over a century.

The march also aims to direct public attention to numerous states’ attempts to restrict ballot access since the 2020 presidential election. This year, over 400 bills have been introduced in 49 U.S. states that limit voting access. New measures include bans on ballot drop boxes, fully ending or placing more stringent qualifications on mail-in voting, fewer early voting days and hours, the establishment of partisan election review boards, and even bans on distributing water to voters waiting in line to cast their ballots.

In addition to D.C., the Aug. 28th protest will see flagship marches in Atlanta, Miami, Houston, and Phoenix, and over 19 sister marches across the nation. Marchers like

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design by alex giorno

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Holtz, who were born and raised in the District, especially understand the need for full representation. “Not only do we need to advocate against the sweep of voting rights suppression that’s happening across the country, but the voter suppression that’s happening right here in the District of Columbia,” he said.

The achievement of D.C. statehood is an act of protection not just for Holtz's District community, but one for his family as well. In 2013, Holtz’s family lacked much-needed insurance, healthcare that could be provided if then-President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act was passed by the Senate. When he was told to contact his senator, he realized that D.C.’s shadow senators mean the city is in a democratic vacuum where tax-paying Americans aren’t represented.

“We live in the shadows of democracy,” Holtz said.

D.C. residents like Holtz see the racist legacy of voter suppression looming large over the March on Washington for Voting Rights. “It’s the disenfranchisement of Black and brown residents here in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

“Racist, anti-democratic voter suppression laws amount to rigging the game,” the March On for Voting Rights reads. “But in America, elections are not a game— and lives depend on their outcomes.”

D.C.’s demographic majority consists of historically suppressed populations, with over 45 percent Black, 9 percent Latino, 4 percent Asian, 0.3 percent Native American, 0.1 Indigenous, and 3.3 percent multiracial residents.

At Georgetown, students like Mia Young, who is the director of programming for GU Students for D.C. Statehood, will be marching against her home’s longstanding and racially-based exclusion from congressional representation. “It all really boils down to who gets to have their voice heard in democracy,” she said. “When voter suppression tries to silence voices, it’s really, really important to show up.”

Young explained that D.C.’s history as a congressionally unrepresented territory stems from racist motivations to suppress Black voters. In the 1868 D.C. mayoral election, Black men consisted of almost half of registered voters.

Congress’s establishment of a Board of Commissioners in 1874, however, ended the vote for all D.C. residents for almost 100 years. The system allowed elected congressional members to control D.C., with Democratic Sen. Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi aiming to “keep Washington a segregated city.”

The 1973 Home Rule Act also diverted power away from residents, granting Congress the ability to strike down any legislation passed by the D.C. Council. Congress has used the act to block local laws that introduced a clean needle exchange program, covered abortion services through Medicaid, pushed toward marijuana legalization, and allowed same-sex partners to receive the same health care benefits as straight, married couples.

But the march’s organizers have more than just D.C. statehood on their minds when they advocate for voting rights protection; Black Washingtonians are still disproportionately impacted by other material issues directly related to their lack of congressional representation. For Eastmond, a gun violence prevention activist, equal access to the ballot is essential for ensuring communities can make their voices heard on other issues.

According to Eastmond, voter suppression is critical for any social justice issue, whether its gun violence, health care access, food disparities, transportation, or education.

“If we can’t have equal representation in our government or even for our communities, then we can’t push or drive for legislation that will prevent gun deaths,” Eastmond said. She is marching on the 28th because she believes that the fight against gun violence hinges on the ability of communities to vote.

That, too, is a distinctly personal fight. Eastmond was in the third classroom attacked by a shooter at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018. Seventeen of her peers and teachers died that day.

Years later, she serves as a national coordinator for Team ENOUGH, an organization that mobilizes youth around gun violence prevention advocacy.

Team ENOUGH’s partnership with the March on Washington organizers comes during a recent spike in gun violence in D.C. this summer. On July 16th, a 6-yearold resident was killed in an instance of gun violence, with her mother and four others injured. On the 17th, the sound of gunshots nearby plunged Nationals Park into chaos as baseball fans stampeded. Three were wounded outside the stadium. In the last three years, investigators have found 2,759 bullet casings in one square mile of Southeast D.C. Eastmond focuses her attention primarily on cities like D.C., where communities of color are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Black Americans are twice as likely to die by the use of firearms than their white counterparts, according to the CDC.

“Our Black voices are being silenced,” Eastmond said.

To secure federal gun legislation that would protect D.C.’s marginalized communities, such as universal background checks, Eastmond also contends that D.C. needs to be able to appeal to Congress more directly. “In D.C., there’s no true representation in government. They don’t have any senators, no legislators, and this impacts the gun laws that D.C. residents can talk about or vote on.”

While Team ENOUGH and the March on Washington for Voting Rights might initially seem to have separate aims, organizers describe the partnership as a common conviction for voting rights necessary for the protection of all civil rights.

Holtz calls D.C. statehood an issue for all Americans, interconnected with the suppression of voters across the country. “I am marching to ensure we are not only protecting the right to vote for millions of Americans across the country but that we are protecting the right to vote for people in our nation’s capital.”

Dozens of social justice organizations with a similar belief in the importance of voting rights are descending on the District this weekend. A coalition of partners,

“It all really boils down to who gets to have their voice heard in democracy” including Drum Major Institute, National Action Network, March On, Future Coalition, SEIU, and 51 for 51 are working to assemble marchers in states across the country and the capital. Other organizations, such as March On Washington, Douglass Commonwealth Coalition, Every Case Matters, and The Memorial Foundation, Inc. have permits to gather at different locations around the mall at the same time.

Each group has its own reason for marching, but all share the common conviction that the protection of voting rights is essential for the protection of all social justice issues, be it a fight for a green economy, ending police violence, or memorializing the 1963 march.

Protesters will first pass through the Black Lives Matter Plaza, commissioned by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser following protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.

Marchers will make their way to the iconic steps where Dr. King addressed 250,000 protesters in 1963.

That year, the March on Washington acted as a catalyst for the passage of the 1963 Civil Rights Act. In 2021, marchers hope the protest helps push through two specific pieces of legislation.

The proposed John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would require states with a history of voter discrimination to preclear any changes to their election laws with the Justice Department. Preclearance used to be required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but

was eliminated in the Supreme Court in 2013. Passing the new law would mean reinstating that requirement, likely leading to federal challenges against recent voter suppression efforts led by state Republican parties.

The second piece of legislation, the For the People Act, creates a federal standard of non-discriminatory voting rights. The act aims to reform voting laws, including modernizing and automating registration, adding checks to partisan gerrymandering, and limiting unregulated money in politics. The legislation would also promote election security by providing grant funds for states to update their voting machines in order to make ballots more traceable.

Both the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act have been passed by the House, both along strict party lines. In order to become law, however, the bills will need Senate approval—a difficult barrier to surmount given the chamber’s 50-50 split. Already, the For the People Act has been filibustered once this year.

Among the bills’ proponents is former President Barack Obama, who has rarely used his postpresidential platform to lobby for specific legislation.

“If we don’t stop these kinds of efforts now, what we are going to see is more and more contested elections, contested not in the sense of healthy competition but contested in terms of who wins, who loses,” Obama said at a fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee in June. “We are going to see a further delegitimizing of our democracy.”

In July, Democrats in the Texas state legislature fled to D.C. to prevent Republicans from reaching quorum in a special session to approve additional voting restrictions.

In response, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened the Democratic legislators with arrest when they returned to the state.

Lawmakers point to the fact that stopgap stunts to sabotage votes won’t protect voters forever, necessitating federal legislation like the For the People Act. The For the People Act faces an uphill battle in a divided Senate, and most D.C. residents have no senators to call. As a Georgetown student and lifelong D.C. resident, Young is keenly aware that knowledge of D.C.’s limited voting status is lacking in most parts of the country. Young sees the fact that many Georgetown students hail from outside the District as an advantage in D.C. statehood advocacy because they have congressional representatives at home they can call.

“The beauty of a school like Georgetown is that we have students from all over the country and all over the world, and we can start inviting them into these issues,” Young said, noting that the March on Washington is the perfect opportunity to engage with the Hilltop’s home.

Eastmond, too, sees the involvement of college students and other young people as vital to the march’s reach. Team ENOUGH, according to Eastmond, is trying to use D.C.’s role as a college town to drum up engagement in the Aug. 28th march. Students from Howard University, Trinity Washington University, Catholic University of America, American University, George Washington University, and Georgetown—including Young and GU Students for D.C. Statehood—are planning to attend.

“This is a turning point for our democracy,” Holtz said. “We have to ensure everyone, no matter your skin color, your zip code, or where you come from, you have the chance to participate in our democracy.” G

AUGUST 27, 2021

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EDITORIALS

Reform Title IX now Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence

T

itle IX reform cannot wait. The Department of Education’s (ED) decision to delay reform until 2022 deprives survivors of essential support. It is vital that improvements to current Title IX guidance occur now at both the university and federal levels.

College-aged individuals experience sexual violence at disturbing and disproportionate rates. Current Title IX guidance exacerbates the dangers survivors on campuses already face, and universities lack the appropriate resources and policies to protect a survivor’s education, safety, and well-being in the aftermath. Georgetown, along with other universities, and the federal government must be held accountable for the failures of Title IX legislation especially as campuses enter the “Red Zone,” the period at the start of the semester when the most sexual violence occurs.

Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to prohibit sex-based discrimination in schools.

It has been amended over the years, with the previous presidential administration implementing new legislation making it more difficult for survivors to come forward to report sexual violence or assualt. The new policies are traumatizing, victimizing, and dehumanizing for survivors and give respondents more rights than complainants.

The Biden administration has profoundly failed to take efficient action to undo the harm caused by the current Title IX policies. Below we’ve outlined the steps the Biden administration must take to better serve survivors of sexual assault on campus; note that we have already released an editorial with similar content months earlier, and in the interim nothing has changed to address Title IX policy.

First, redefine sexual harassment. According to current guidance, sexual harrassment refers to any form of sexual misconduct (including sexual violence). For a university to investigate a report of harassment, it must fit a narrow definition of being “so severe, pervasive, AND objectively offensive” as to eliminate access to education; prior to the current guidance, misconduct had to meet only one of these standards. This definition is also based on the reaction of the survivor, which is illogical, as a survivor’s reaction has no bearing on the unacceptability of their experience.

Countless survivors are now no longer able to seek justice because although their experiences were genuinely damaging, they do not meet such a strict and subjective standard. The Biden administration should immediately broaden the definition to include all acts of harassment.

The new definition should be based on the act, which should also be more clearly delineated, rather than grouping a broad swath of violations—including sexual violence—under the label of “harassment.”

Second, return to a “preponderance of evidence” standard. New guidelines allow universities to opt for a “clear and convincing evidence” standard, requiring a substantially higher burden of proof. This new option creates standards that are inconsistent between universities and increases the chance survivors will be required to relive experiences during proceedings.

Third, mandate that all cases be investigated when reported, regardless of location. Current guidelines dangerously make investigations into reports of offcampus harassment optional, allowing universities to ignore the experiences of some survivors. The harassment of one student by another should always be under the jurisdiction of the school, and the survivor should be able to turn to the university for support.

Fourth, reform the trial process. Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the new guidance is the pseudocourtroom trial required for sexual misconduct investigations. Specific timelines are also no longer required of university investigations, “gag-orders” are no longer allowed by law, and the jurisdiction of the Office of Civil Rights to review a university’s mishandling of a Title IX case has also been significantly diminished.

This is certainly not a “just” process, providing respondents more rights than defendants in a criminal case, according to Title IX experts. What now exists is an unequal process stacked against survivors, especially those who cannot afford well-qualified legal representation. It is unfair for survivors to be forced into this procedure, especially since one reason to opt for filing a Title IX report rather than a criminal or civil complaint is to avoid the trauma of navigating the legal system as a student.

Lastly, eliminate religious exemptions under Title IX afforded to religious schools. Simply reversing past changes to guidance is not sufficient. Universities have for too long been allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ survivors, who are often forced to come out through reporting, subsequently facing expulsion at certain schools. LGBTQ+ survivors are not only stripped of their equal access to education, but also further victimized and silenced.

While the ED must address the above issues immediately, Georgetown must take steps to support survivors in the meantime. To the university’s credit, they adhered as much as legally possible to the previous guidance, and President John DeGioia strongly criticized the 2019 changes both at the time and this past June.

However, even prior to the implementation of the current Title IX guidance, Georgetown failed to adequately support all survivors, especially BIPOC and LGBTQ+ survivors.

The school has an obligation to advocate for reform at the federal level, especially given Georgetown’s proximity to the seat of the federal government.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

As long as the current investigation model continues, the university must provide all students who file a complaint with a qualified advocate to support them during the process. Survivors are often left to rely on friends or Health Education Services (HES) staff who, while well-meaning, are not fully equipped to prepare a case like a trained legal expert. Georgetown must provide a lawyer, free of charge, to any complainant who wants one.

Georgetown should pledge to alleviate survivor’s financial burdens to a reasonable extent, including refunding classes that survivors were unable to complete due to any element of the aftermath of sexual violence, including Title IX or legal actions and psychological distress.

In addition to legal and financial aid, Georgetown should also create a more robust support system for survivors to address the impact of sexual violence on their educations and well-beings. While being properly supported in a Title IX action is essential, it is the bare minimum of what survivors need to heal, especially considering many survivors choose not to report their experiences.

Mental health care must be easier for survivors to access on campus, regardless of their financial status.

While CAPS can be a useful resource, factors such as long wait times, one-semester limits of guaranteed individual therapy, and the discontinuation of the survivor support group make it unreliable for survivors’ long term care. If the university cannot provide this care, they should make it easier for students to seek it elsewhere.

While the university provides some sexual violence education and prevention resources, their comprehensive support for survivors is minimal. Too often cases are referred to GUPD, which many students are uncomfortable intervening in sensitive situations, especially for communities of color. Through diversifying and expanding available resources, Georgetown can better care for survivors, whether or not they choose to come forward.

This is an obligation, especially since under Title IX those accused of violence are entitled to free mental health services, while the general student body is not.

The premise of the previous administration’s Title IX reform was to make the process more “just” for respondents, despite the dire need for support on the survivors’ end. This new process, however, is fundamentally stacked against survivors. Title IX must be reformed now. G

NEWS

Georgetown Explained: Mutual aid

BY MAYA KOMINSKY AND MEGAN O’MALLEY

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OVID-19 placed unprecedented burdens on college students and their families, many of whom struggled to cover costs for basic necessities not included in financial aid packages even before the pandemic.

In response to financial disparities on campus and growing accounts of uncovered needs among Georgetown students, a group of Hoyas formed the Georgetown Mutual Aid Network to help their peers survive the pandemic. A year on, the organization seeks to continue supporting students in the upcoming school year.

Mutual aid, in addition to consolidating and providing resources for the student body, fosters communal responsibility for peers’ well-being. The student-organized system is unaffiliated with the university and relies entirely on donations from members of the Georgetown community. These donations go toward covering student needs, organized into categories of food, housing, transportation, academics, medical support, clothing, and legal aid.

“Not being able to meet basic needs is not a result of personal failing but of flaws within our current capitalist system,” one of Georgetown Mutual Aid’s Instagram posts reads, explaining the underlying philosophy of the organization and others like it.

Georgetown Mutual Aid utilizes social media to provide updates on fundraising, current levels of available funds, and ways that community members can donate. The organization celebrated its one-year anniversary at the beginning of this month and as of Aug. 20 has raised and disbursed over $120,000 to 1,731 students.

The economic effects of the pandemic have only exacerbated existing inequalities at Georgetown. The student body is notably wealthier than those at comparable universities, with the median family income of a Georgetown student hovering around $230,000. Students without intergenerational wealth—who are also more likely to be students of color—are facing disproportionate impacts related to COVID-19 and rising costs of living.

Georgetown Mutual Aid accepts monetary donations through its Venmo account, @georgetownmutualaid.

The organization also has a Google Sheet where donors

can indicate the non-monetary contributions they can make and provide their contact information so students can access the donations. Available resources include textbooks, rides to get groceries, dorm supplies, and help finding jobs or internships. Students can also fill out an anonymous request for emergency funding through the Google Sheet.

“Everyone in the community has something they need, but they also have something they can offer,” Megan Huynh (NHS ’22), a Georgetown Mutual Aid co-founder, said. “Mutual aid doesn’t have to just be funding.”

Georgetown Mutual Aid also works with The Corp, a conglomerate of seven student-run businesses on campus. The two organizations collaboratively run a program called the Flex Fund, which allows students on a Georgetown meal plan to donate their unused Flex Dollars to peers facing food insecurity. The Corp then distributes these donations to students who request them via the Flex Fund request form. Partnerships and fundraisers in collaboration with other student organizations, such as the Asian American Student Association and H*yas for Choice, have also raised thousands of dollars in donations.

The network raised $10,000 in its first month; in one year, that figure had multiplied tenfold for a total of more than $120,000.

Nevertheless, the organization constantly works to expand its reach and solicit steady funds and services to help students on a regular basis. Binqi Chen (NHS ’22), another co-founder of the network, gave insight into the learning curve that came with managing increasing amounts of money in the span of a year. “It was a lot of pressure to begin with because there was a lot of trust from everyone on us,” she said. “But as the year has gone by we’ve gotten more accustomed to handling money and just really grateful that everyone has so much trust.”

The initial influx of donations to Georgetown Mutual Aid was rapid as students caught on to a much-needed network and shared its mission across social media.

However, donations have become increasingly stagnant, and the network has been forced to close their request form at least five times due to dwindling funds. “I think

design by deborah han

people are really getting donation fatigue lately, especially because we’ve been around for a year, and during the summer people don’t actively think about school as much,” Huynh said.

To drum up more consistent support, the account shares graphics encouraging students to reflect on their contributions, reminding those with disposable income to budget mutual aid support as frequently as possible. Some of these posts are interactive, such as bingo boards that invite students to donate by assessing their own privilege and donating accordingly. The account also reinforces the need for varied forms of aid, including non-monetary contributions.

But continual peer support for the network is essential.

“To be honest, this summer has been rough and we’ve been low on funds for a good amount [of time],” Huynh added.

As the university transitions back to life on-campus, the network looks forward to introducing physical events and cementing its community action engagement by being a consistent presence. On Aug. 29, the mutual aid network plans to host a community market in the Georgetown neighborhood where Hoyas are encouraged to take what they need and donate what they can. Future events may also include bake sales, art showings and sales, student fundraiser concerts, exchanges, and more communitybuilding programming, according to organizers.

“We really just want them to feel kind of the environment at Georgetown and the community support that we have here,” Chen said. “Not to say that didn’t exist virtually because we’ve been very successful over the last year, but I think some of that needs to be in person for you to feel that.”

Speaking about the future of mutual aid at Georgetown, Huynh emphasized the need for a sustainable network.

“Community care is what’s going to get us through this COVID-19 crisis, but also any upcoming crisis. And we just want to be able to build that network and make sure that everyone is able to thrive and succeed through this year together.” G

AUGUST 27, 2021

13

FEATURES

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These students are striving to make Georgetown more accessible

BY NORA SCULLY

14

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

t may be common to see students panting as they brave the hill from Leo’s to Lau, squinting at tiny or almost illegible fonts on PowerPoint presentations, and struggling to maintain a tenuous balance between internships, work, grades, and social life. But for students with disabilities at Georgetown, these manifestations of Georgetown’s inaccessibility on campus are no mere inconvenience, but rather represent active hindrances to their daily lives.

Despite the added pressures and complications presented by a global pandemic and a virtual environment, student activists’ progress—cumulative of years of disabled activism—continues to push the university and its climate toward increased accessibility. These students know improvements to Georgetown accessibility will not happen automatically with the return to campus, but require active participation from abled students, faculty, and administrators. Activists are hoping for recognition of and solutions to the inaccessible environments and behaviors that pervade Georgetown.

“The vast majority of non-disabled students severely underestimate how inaccessible our campus is,” Dominic DeRamo (COL ’23) said in an interview with the Voice. “I encourage non-disabled students to think about our space and how our space is constructed and who feels included as a result.”

One doesn’t have to look far to see examples of inaccessibility on Georgetown’s campus. In 2018, Arrupe Hall failed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance standard for having doors that require more than five pounds of force to open, and White-Gravenor was required to undergo renovations to add more than one ramp (the original ramp led directly to the basement and was often locked) to the nearly century-old building.

illustration by max zhang

These examples don’t even begin to touch the difficulties of the rocky brick paths across the neighborhood for those in wheelchairs, or the long distances students may have to travel to find a ramp to their destination.

Georgetown is just one example of how an inaccessible environment filled with “physical, attitudinal, communication and social barriers can shape interactions with people living with disabilities.” This definition of disability—known as the social model—relates to the interplay between one’s environment and disability. It was adopted by disability scholars in the 1960s and has been guiding disability activism ever since.

DeRamo is one of several activists on campus who have taken the lead on giving visibility to accessibility issues.

He is a part of the GUSA policy team for accessibility, the Georgetown Disability Alliance, the student team pioneering the HoyaLift program, and the group working for a Disability Cultural Center (DCC).

Efforts of disabled activists from a variety of groups came to fruition in June of this year when the university took the first major step, enshrining the Disability Empowerment Endowed Fund to fund initiatives that support students with disabilities in the Georgetown community, including a DCC. The fund was created following a $50,000 donation from Tiffany Yu (MSB ’10), but the university says it will need $100,000 total to officially launch the fund. The remainder is being crowdsourced from community donations. According to the Georgetown Disability Center Instagram, launched by DeRamo, Nesreen Shahrour (NHS ’23), and Gwyneth Murphy (SFS ’23), all of whom serve on the GUSA Accessibility Policy Team, students received $540 toward the initiative in Venmo payments to @georgetownDCC in the first two weeks.

To students like Murphy, disability resources on campus are essential for making students feel welcome.

“The first thing I did when I was looking for colleges was research their disability services and what the campus was going to be like for me in that specific sense,” said Murphy.

A DCC can act as a hub for students to learn about the history and lived experiences of disability culture and serve as physical proof of the university’s commitment to disability justice. Advocacy for a center at Georgetown began with the leadership of Lydia X. Z. Brown (COL ’15), whose 2015 GUSA proposal gained significant momentum while they served as the undersecretary for disability affairs.

At the time, only three other universities had a DCC, and Brown’s proposal did not lead to the creation of a Georgetown DCC. Since then, five more universities, including Duke University and Stanford University, have begun planning for their own DCCs, while Syracuse University, a longtime rival of Georgetown’s, has already established a DCC. If Georgetown were to create a DCC, it would be the first Catholic university to do so.

Libbie Rifkin, Special Advisor for Disability to the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), is hopeful the project will come to fruition. “The disabled community is highly intersectional and crosses over into every other marginalized population, so in addressing the needs of disabled students, a DCC would increase the sense of belonging felt by BIPOC, LGBTQ+, immigrant, and first generation students,” Rifkin said.

When the university went online in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were undeterred in their push to establish a DCC on Georgetown’s campus.

In January 2021, GUSA’s Accessibility Policy Team launched a petition in favor of a DCC; as of Aug. 25, the petition had 748 signatures. The public support behind the petition has underscored the necessity for a cultural center on campus as a place for students to discuss and learn about disability culture and activism.

“The fact that Georgetown, as well as other universities, consistently overlook disabled students is the reason that we need a Disability Cultural Center,” DeRamo said.

Student activists are hopeful that the creation of a DCC will be next in a line of other institutional changes that Georgetown has made to prioritize the experience of students with disabilities. In 2017, the deans of Georgetown College announced the formation of the Disability Studies program after nearly 500 students took courses and attended events and lectures as part of a three-year Disabilities Studies Course Cluster program run by Rifkin.

The announcement was preceded by a push by Danielle Zamalin (NHS ’18), then GUSA Accessibility Policy chair, who gathered widespread student support for the program.

The experience of disability is different for everyone, and the program can help students like Grace Crozier (COL ’21) parse through these aspects of her identity.

“Disability is an identity that I don’t always feel comfortable with but I know is always there. There’s a weird kind of privilege in being able to declare these things for myself as well, but it is something that I never really thought about until I entered the Disability Studies program and started thinking about it in a different way,” Crozier said.

Much of Crozier’s coursework in the Disability Studies program draws on the scholarship of the 1960s and 1970s, when disability scholars and activists made major strides in their push against ableist policies that view disability

as an individual characteristic to be cured or fixed. D.C. was a center for disabled activism at the time, including in debates around the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which for the first time prohibited discrimination against and recognized rights for people with disabilities in federal programs. Disabled activists held demonstrations for years in D.C., protesting the Act’s numerous vetoes. In the same year, the city created the first handicap parking sticker.

The district is also home to the only Deaf liberal arts university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate Deaf students, Gallaudet University. Gallaudet University acted as a fulcrum for Deaf activism for decades, like the Deaf President Now protests of the ‘70s. In the past, Georgetown has partnered with Gallaudet to form a consortium through which students can take a variety of courses, including American Sign Language I and II. Gallaudet, who hosts the program, opted to temporarily offer the course asynchronously during the pandemic.

Building on this legacy of local activism, the Georgetown administration recently expanded the scope of its disability-focused classes and programs and broadened the scope of its responsibilities to prioritize disabled students. Rifkin’s role as a special advisor was only recently created with the goal of working to strengthen the university’s commitment to disability as a dimension of diversity, an identity, and a source of community and pride, according to Rifkin.

Rifkin’s new job portfolio includes working with the Cawley Career Center to develop career resources for students with disabilities, serving on the Access and Accommodations Working Group to center the needs of disabled students in the University’s COVID-19 response, and working to ensure that Georgetown’s digital presence is accessible across a variety of domains; like launching a public awareness campaign on how to make emails and flyers and publicity more accessible.

Rifkin has been working with students from the Georgetown Disability Alliance (GDA) and the GUSA Accessibility Team to hone their message, reach out to alumni, and raise funds for a DCC. For many years, the Academic Resource Center (ARC) and other health centers have been the primary place for students with disabilities to visit to ensure their needs were met, but student dissatisfaction with that approach was high.

The current GUSA administration has supported student activism across campus. Nile Blass (COL ’22) and Nicole Sanchez (SFS ’23) won the most recent GUSA Executive election with a platform advocating for strong student leadership to buoy student activism and place pressure on the university to cooperate with student demands. While the Senate is currently abolishing itself, the senators have continually worked with disabled students to create petitions and highlight places for improvement on campus.

One of the programs that GUSA has supported is the HoyaLift, which will provide ADA shuttles for students with temporary or permanent mobility disabilities beginning in the fall. The program was created by Olivia Silveri (NHS ’21) and is currently being piloted by a team of student leaders, including DeRamo, who hope that student demand for the service will be high enough to merit the university administration adopting the program.

These campaigns and programs come on the heels of about 16 months of work trying to support students with disabilities at home. Nearly three semesters of

online learning has thrust the lack of intentional focus on accessibility resources available to students into the spotlight. Kiki Schmalfuss (NHS ’22), a cofounder and board member of the Georgetown Disability Alliance, has been working to support disabled students with accomodations in an online environment.

According to Schmalfuss, the challenges have been different for each student. “There have been some students who have said [the online environment] has been very positive. On the flip side, a lot of students are frustrated because the online format isn’t really conducive to how the online accommodations process has worked in the past.”

When students and professors were working from home, Schmalfuss explained, the ARC was less involved in ensuring students received adequate accommodations, placing more responsibility on individual professors.

Issues like accommodating longer Canvas testing times, including closed captions in recorded lectures, having certain sized text or different fonts, making a screenreader pdf, and adding image descriptions fell onto the teachers’ shoulders. If these accommodations aren’t met, according to Schmalfuss, some students are prevented from accessing the online education space.

Many of the issues surrounding compliance with accommodations existed prior to the pandemic, but were exacerbated by the transition to online learning. To mitigate the lack of compliance with students’ accomodation and its impact on disabled students, activists like Schmalfuss have been hosting town halls and sending out surveys to the student body to ask students with disabilities what improvements should be made. Schmalfuss herself has been participating in a biweekly working group composed of faculty and students to grant students with disabilities to priority to on-campus housing (prior to the campus’s complete return to full capacity education in March) and to get access to quiet and distraction-free space near campus (an endeavour which resulted in the GeorgetownWeWork partnership).

“I really hope that Georgetown shows genuine effort and interest in hearing the needs of disabled students and actually follows up with them,” Schmalfuss said.

The Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship and the Office of Assessment and Decision Support also worked with the administration to streamline the accommodations process during the spring semester, implementing a “feedback loop” wherein changes to course structures were continually based on student response. The ARC itself is becoming more proactive in making professors aware of the accommodations process and checking to ensure the accommodations are upheld, and student leaders have been working with the ARC to support them in hiring disability-focused positions and working more closely with professors in meeting students’ accommodation.

These steps are promising for activists, who hope to see changes continue over the next several years. In Murphy’s view, improving accessibility on campus would not just create temporary momentum, but lasting change that affects past, present, and prospective students.

“I can guarantee that’s true for many other students, and I’m sure a lot of them have walked away from applying to Georgetown because it’s a known fact that Georgetown is physically inaccessible,” Murphy said. “If we were going to do something to change that, it would open the door to so many other students.” G

AUGUST 27, 2021

15

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8/20/21 1:10:43 PM