GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 93, No. 38, © 2012
tuesday, march 20, 2012
EARLY EXIT
No. 11 seed N.C. State upset thirdseeded Georgetown Sunday.
ADMISSIONS It’s crunch time for admissions committees in a year with a record applicant pool.
SPORTS, A10
HEALTH Students in the School of Medicine volunteer at a clinic in Southeast D.C.
NEWS, A6
NEWS, A4
SPORTS, A10
St. Mary’s Burglars Arrested
Georgetown Day to Be Scaled Back Mariah Byrne
$7,500 worth of goods stolen; late-night Burleith chase yields two arrests
Hoya Staff Writer
While the lack of a planning committee put this year’s Georgetown Day in jeopardy, students and administrators say a slightly scaled-down version of the annual event will still take place. Organization of the event traditionally begins in the fall semester, but discussions between students and the university about this year’s festivities did not begin until shortly before spring break. The delay in planning was due to a lack of student interest in the fall semester, according to Chris Butterfield (MSB ’12), leader of the informal planning efforts, and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Jeanne Lord. “The past few years have seen declining participation on the part of student organizations and individual student volunteers in the scheduled activities of Georgetown Day,” Lord wrote in an email. A group of students have begun efforts to arrange funding and logistics for the event and hope to organize an official planning committee to continue the efforts. In a broadcast email to the student body Monday, newly inaugurated GUSA President Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) and Vice President Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13) solicited applications for a formalized planning committee that are due Saturday. The majority of the students currently involved are seniors, and the group See PLANNING, A5
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Georgetown won its NCAA tournament opener over Fresno State Sunday.
Upasana Kaku Hoya Staff Writer
YE DOMESDAY BOOKE 2001
Georgetown Day, a tradition since 2000, was threatened this year by a delay in planning efforts.
Payroll System Glitch Leaves Some Unpaid Margaret Viator Hoya Staff Writer
Some student employees have not been paid this semester due to problems with the university’s transition to the Georgetown Management System, a new employee organization portal. Students who work two oncampus jobs or who receive work-study payments have particularly noticed glitches in the new system. Although GMS, which was implemented over winter break, is intended to be more user-friendly, students’
paychecks have been taking a hard hit. “It is an upgraded system. Anytime you transfer that much data there are certainly going to be kinks,” university spokeswoman Stacy Kerr said. “The important thing to note is as soon as university officials were made aware of the problems, we ... devoted [a] significant amount of resources to making sure the students’ problems are corrected.” Kirsten Harris (SFS ’14), who works for the Residence Hall See GMS, A6
Two suspects were arrested late Sunday night in Burleith for allegedly burglarizing St. Mary’s Hall. According to university spokeswoman Stacy Kerr, the search for other suspects is ongoing. Kerr said that members of the Department of Public Safety’s community action team noticed unknown persons leaving St. Mary’s late Sunday night carrying computer equipment and other items. An initial Metropolitan Police Department report on the incident stated that the goods stolen were worth about $7,500. The DPS officers, who were wearing plain clothes and in unmarked cars, were on patrol as part of efforts to boost security at the Georgetown University Medical Center. The Med Center has seen eight burglaries since late January. DPS officers contacted MPD and followed the suspects as they left campus and headed toward a vehicle on 37th Street. One of the suspects was arrested in the vicinity of the vehicle at 11:07 p.m. A second suspect was detained by DPS officers near the intersection of 38th and T Streets around 11 p.m. and arrested when MPD officers arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. MPD officers left the scene around 1:20 a.m. Working with MPD, DPS searched Burleith for other suspects. An MPD helicopter assisted in the search for about 20 minutes. Some residents said they were told to stay inside and lock their doors. MPD officers at the scene early Monday morning said that they suspected four individuals were involved in the incident, and a public safety alert emailed to the campus community at 1:53 p.m. stated that additional arrests in the case are expected. Neither the MPD report nor the DPS PSA provided a description of the suspects. It was also unclear how much of the $7,500 worth of stolen goods had been recovered by DPS and MPD. According to Kerr, DPS will continue to work closely with MPD on the ongoing investigation.
LEONEL DE VELEZ/THE HOYA
GUSA President Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) was sworn in on a copy of “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir at her inauguration Saturday afternoon.
georgetown 101: introduction to spring on the hilltop
New Exec Appoints Staff Sam Rodman Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown University Student Association President Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) and Vice President Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13) were inaugurated Saturday, ushering in a new staff and a new set of initiatives. The pair chose to maintain a similar cabinet structure to that of their predecessors but altered some staff positions to better reflect the unique goals of their campaign platform. The roles of director of strategic development and director of career services were replaced with directors of social justice, academic affairs and special initiatives. The GUSA senate approved the staff and cabinet structure unanimously Sunday.
According to Gustafson, these new positions align with specific projects she and Kohnert-Yount included in their platform, such as the creation of an academic research symposium and the implementation of a permanent director for the Center for Social Justice. Gustafson and Kohnert-Yount also appointed directors to continue many of former President Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) and Vice President Greg Laverriere’s (COL ’12) initiatives. GUSA senator Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, will resign from his senate seat to serve as director of student activities fee and endowment implementation.
Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947
See GUSA, A6
REBECCA GOLDBERG FOR THE HOYA
Ward 7 sixth graders visited campus Thursday with Georgetown’s Kids2College program. See story on A5. Published Tuesdays and Fridays
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