The Hoya: April 5, 2013

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 94, No. 41, © 2013

friday, april 5, 2013

A COUNTRY IN PHOTOS

EDITORIAL Facebook’s Georgetown Confessions has devolved into a forum of hate.

CORP GETS CLASSY The Corp has launched a new preregistration service to complement MyAccess.

GUIDE, G6

OPINION, A2

NEWS, A4

Guadalupe Fernandez’s cross-country trek won her this year’s Photo Essay.

FORGET THE OFFENSE JT III’s failure to adjust to teams’ pace is what’s doing in GU in March. SPORTS, A10

Professors Caught Amid Admit Rate Hovers at 16% admission of Town-Gown Tension Record racial minorities, first Kylie Mohr

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown professors who live near campus in West Georgetown and Burleith seem to be caught between two opposing worlds. What Mayor Vincent Gray at an Oct. 3, 2011, Advisory Neighborhood Com-

CHARLIE LOWE/THE HOYA

Faculty members residing in the areas surrounding the neighborhood must balance delicate town-gown relations.

mission 2E public meeting dubbed Georgetown’s “creeping presence” into the surrounding area has drawn scores of complaints from aggrieved neighbors. According to Anna von der Goltz, a history professor who lives in university-owned housing close to campus, faculty members who have feet in both the school and the surrounding community can feel conflicted. “They do see themselves as caught in the middle,” von der Goltz said. “I talk with and hear from my neighbors very frequently, and their observations on this subject are the same as mine,” ANC 2E Chair Ron Lewis wrote in a Nov. 8, 2011, supplemental report to the D.C. Zoning Commission. “The loud and disruptive late-night student behavior has continued this fall at the same objectionable levels as in the past.” The university’s compromise agreement with neighborhood groups on its 2010 Campus Plan last summer, including the landmark formation of the Georgetown Community Partnership, has ushered in a new phase of cooperation and detente. But tensions nonetheless remain, as confirmed by the university’s March announcement that it would redouble its efforts to enforce off-campus noise policies while launching a new shuttle service to Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan on weekend evenings. See NEIGHBORS, A7

generation students Madison Ashley Hoya Staff Writer

There was fortunately no April Fools’ prank awaiting 2,413 students who received regular decision letters of acceptance to the Georgetown Class of 2017, a record portion of whom identify as racial minorities. Of the 19,879 students that ap-

plied, 16.6 percent were admitted in the combined early and regular decision cycles, a slight bump from last year’s record low of 16.5 percent. The McDonough School of Business, with an acceptance rate of 15.7 percent, was the most selective school for the first time ever, a distinction traditionally reserved for Georgetown College. The acceptance rate for the College, at 16.3 percent, was the only one to increase from last year across the four schools. Admission to the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the Walsh School of Foreign Service, both at 17.7 percent, also grew more competitive this year.

Acceptance Rates 2017

2016

COL

16.3%

15.8%

+0.5%

SFS

17.7%

17.8%

-0.1%

MSB

15.7%

16.8%

-1.1%

NHS

17.7%

17.9%

-0.2%

Total

16.6%

16.5%

+0.1%

% change

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69) attributed the distribution to the current state of the economy and increasing pressure for students to choose “practical” majors. “Students seem very concerned with secure career choices, which is why we’re seeing this increase in MSB [and] NHS majors,” Deacon said. There was a three-point bump from last year in the number of accepted students who identify as Hispanic, now at 11 percent. Thirteen percent of admitted students identified as Asian and eight percent as black, both down two percent from last year’s accepted class. Seven percent of accepted students identified with multiple races. These combined figures have resulted in Georgetown’s most diverse admitted class ever, with 39 percent coming from minority backgrounds. In addition, a record number of first-generation college students — 12 percent — were admitted, which Deacon attributed to the Georgetown Scholarship Program. “We continue to ask ourselves, ‘How can we go about doing a better job reaching out, levelling the playing field and attracting students from all backgrounds?’” Deacon said. “Raising money [for financial aid] is a critical question for the changing character of Georgetown.” The accepted class is 55 percent female, slightly lower than the national trend of about 58 percent female, according to The New York Times.

In First Spring Agenda, NSO to Include Assault Education GUSA Plans 40 Days

See ADMISSIONS, A7

Annie Chen

“We picked the things we can do this semester and also things that we could start this semester and achieve fully later As students eye the finish line of the in the year,” Tisa said. academic year and count the days unTisa emphasized that the agenda was til summer vacation, not intended as a GUSA President Nate checklist but rather Tisa (SFS ’14) and Vice “We’re putting this as a means to actively President Adam Raengage with the stumadan (SFS ’14) are out to hold us dent body. taking an unprece- accountable and keep “We’re putting this dented step to encourout to hold us acage no such slacking us transparent.” countable and keep among their staff. us transparent,” Tisa nate tisa (sfs ’14) GUSA President The Georgetown said. “The executive University Student Asalways does a lot of sociation leaders released a spring agen- work, but there may be some students da Thursday, which outlined priorities out there working on the same thing or for each member of their executive cabi- [who] have ideas to do things in a better net for the remainder of the academic year. See GUSA, A6

Hoya Staff Writer

Coordinators stop short of adding a mandatory workshop Caroline Welch Hoya Staff Writer

After months of advocating for comprehensive, mandatory sexual assault education during New Student Orientation, the GUSA Sexual Assault Working Group has reached a temporary compromise to introduce voluntary discussions during Welcome Week. While former Georgetown University Student Association Deputy Chief of Staff Lisa Frank (COL

Egypt Summer Program Called Off

’13) had hoped to insert a mandatory hour-long group workshop on sexual assault, NSO coordinators said they saw too many conflicts with NSO’s tight schedule already determined. Instead, the less formal, voluntary ice cream social during Welcome Week will provide a forum for discussion for those interested in the topic. Additionally, an extension to the script of a play during NSO with mandatory attendance will address sexual assault on campus. AlcoholEdu will also be updated to address the issue of sexual assault more thoroughly in both the questionnaire and media portions of the online training program, which is mandatory for freshmen.

Despite the failure to incorporate a dedicated workshop into NSO, Frank said that the NSO Show’s update is an improvement. “Sexual assault will still be a more prevalent part of NSO than it has in the past,” Frank said. “The NSO Show introduces a lot of important issues in it, and this year they are looking to do a lot more student interaction. … It’s getting moved to the first day of NSO, and then there will be a discussion with your main groups right after that … so that’s a really great development.” Nora West (SFS ’15), secretary of student health and safety and See NSO, A5

BANKING ON PROGRESS

Mallika Sen

Special to The Hoya

SARAH AMOS/THE HOYA

Though the Alexandria summer program was cancelled due to ongoing unrest in Egypt, the fall program in Egypt is still normally scheduled. Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947

The Office of International Programs announced Wednesday that it has cancelled the Georgetown 2013 Summer Program in Alexandria, Egypt, citing safety risks. “While security concerns have generally been limited to a few locations in Egypt and foreigners have not been targeted, the unrest is expected to escalate in the near future due to fuel and food shortages,” Associate Director of Overseas Studies Lisa Gordinier wrote in an email to students enrolled in the program. In January 2011, Georgetown students studying abroad at the American University in Cairo were evacuated following protests against then-president Hosni Mubarak. The program resumed that summer, but Derrik Sweeney (COL ’13), who was studying abroad at AUC, was arrested later that year in November for allegedly taking part in violent See EGYPT, A5 Published Tuesdays and Fridays

LEONEL DE VELEZ/THE HOYA

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim presented a bold vision for the end of global poverty on Tuesday. See story at thehoya.com. Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com


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