GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 93, No. 44, © 2012
friDAY, April 20, 2012
THE HIDDEN HOMELESS
COMMENTARY Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., talks hope and “The Hunger Games.”
Just steps from GU, an unconventional community carves out a life along the canal. GUIDE, G8
ATF Basic plans for the ATF were approved by the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.
OPINION, A3
MEN’S LACROSSE The Hoyas hope to avoid a losing season by beating ’Cuse Saturday.
NEWS, A5
SPORTS, A10
GSC Members Protest Labor Rights Abuses Bias Site Mariah Byrne Hoya Staff Writer
About 20 members of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee protested alleged labor rights abuses by Georgetown licensee Adidas in front of University President John J. DeGioia’s office Wednesday afternoon. According to GSC member and demonstration organizer Samuel Geaney-Moore (SFS ’12), Adidas failed to pay workers of an apparel factory in Tangerang, Indonesia that closed in March the $1.8 million they are owed in severance pay. Georgetown’s Code of Conduct for Licensees states that the university’s licensees must provide terminal compensation for all of its contractors. According to Geaney-Moore, Adidas is therefore in violation of the university’s code. The protesters presented a letter addressed to DeGioia and met with Joseph Ferrara, his chief of staff, in the Philodemic Room. “It was a very cordial, respectful meeting,” Ferrara said. “I know they’re serious, and I respected that.” According to Ferrara, the con-
cerns of the student protesters have been shared with DeGioia, who was in a meeting at the time of the demonstration, as well as Vice President for Federal Relations Scott Fleming and university spokeswoman Stacy Kerr. The issue of labor rights in Indonesia was raised at Tuesday’s meeting of the university’s Licensing Oversight Committee, which is currently chaired by Fleming and has several student members. The committee spoke with a representative of Adidas Tuesday and is investigating whether the company is violating the university’s code of conduct. “We are in the midst of those conversations,” Fleming said. He noted that terminating Georgetown’s contract with Adidas is ultimately a legal decision. He is attempting to arrange a meeting with the university’s counsel by next week. According to Geaney-Moore, the university has known about the issue for several months. GSC members chose to protest today after a week of planning in hopes of having the problem addressed by the end of the semester. “For months, we’ve been talk-
Inactive Since 2010 Annie Chen
Hoya Staff Writer
based on applicants’ goals and interests. The core program enables applicants to pursue either a full-time research program abroad or teach while conducting side research projects. Additional scholarships allow winners to teach abroad or enable foreign students to study in the United States. Last year, Georgetown nabbed
In response to public debate over a proposal by the Georgetown University Student Association executive team to include an LGBTQ-friendly checkbox on freshman housing forms, GUSA is forming a working group to evaluate that proposal and other potential means of increasing on-campus safety for LGBTQ students. The LGBTQ safety and wellness working group, which will be led by GUSA Transitional Secretary Sam Ungar (COL ’12) and Secretary of Diversity Affairs James Saucedo (MSB ’13), plans to meet twice before the end of the academic year. “We’re looking forward to having productive conversations about ensuring health, safety and wellness for LGBTQ
Georgetown’s Bias Related Incident Reporting System, intended to document and address issues of prejudice on campus, has not updated its online record of bias incident statistics since August 2010. The maintenance of the website is the responsibility of the university’s bias reporting team, which includes representatives from the Office of Student Affairs, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action and the Department of Public Safety. The system allows members of the university community to file online incident reports and then receive information about their rights and available resources. According to Dennis Williams, chair of the bias reporting team and director of the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, the team continues to receive reports and provide consultations to students but has not updated its public records. “It is inexcusable that we don’t have it updated,” Williams said. “We are working to update the numbers for the 2011 and 2012 academic year during the summer.” The group was formed based on recommendations by the Hate and Bias Reporting Working Group, which was created by University President John J. DeGioia in the spring of 2004 to address intolerance on campus. According to Sivagami Subbaraman, director of the LGBTQ Resource Center, the bias reporting team no longer has the personnel required to keep the system functioning as it was designed. “All of us are doing this on top of everything else we do,” she said. “We don’t have a person dedicated to keep [the system on] track. It was maintained for a long time, and then that person left the job. It’s a matter of finding somebody to do it.” A total of 133 reports were filed between the system’s inception in fall 2004 and spring 2010, the last semester for which records are available. The university saw an average of 11.75 incidents per semester, recording a minimum of five in fall 2008 and maximum of 25 in spring 2009. Williams was unable to pin down a concrete average for the number of recorded
See FULBRIGHT, A7
See LGBTQ, A6
See BIAS, A6
SARI FRANKEL/THE HOYA
Students demonstrated outside University President John J. DeGioia’s office Wednesday afternoon. ing about this at the university through the more quiet channels,” Geaney-Moore said. Ferrara said that the Office of the President welcomes all student concerns and plans to have the ap-
propriate members of the administration investigate the claims made by the GSC by next week. “The door’s always open, and I was happy to meet with them,” Ferrara said.
LGBTQ Checkbox Examined Sam Rodman Hoya Staff Writer CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA
From left: Cecily Raynor (GRAD ’12), Alexandra Dudzuik (SFS ’12) and Stephen Szypulski (SFS ’12) are three of the 10 Georgetown students who have received Fulbright awards so far this year.
GU Has 10 Fulbright Winners Heather Flynn Hoya Staff Writer
Ten Georgetown students have been awarded Fulbright scholarships thus far in this year’s selection process. The recipients, who include seven seniors and three graduate students or recent alumni, will use their scholarships to study in eight countries on four continents, from sites in Jordan and
Malaysia to Brazil and Kosovo. The Fulbright Program, which is run through the U.S. State Department, awards about 7,500 grants each year to recognize academic merit and leadership potential as well as to fund research initiatives. Scholarship announcements will continue through the end of June. The Fulbright Program comprises multiple grant categories
Weekend Tries to Increase Minority Enrollment Sarah Patrick Hoya Staff Writer
With universities across the country competing for top students, Hoya Saxa Weekend aims to attract minority students through a weekend of campus immersion. On Thursday, 83 accepted students joined current Georgetown students to participate in the 11th annual Hoya Saxa Weekend. Born as a pre-admission program called Minority Hosting Weekend, the program has evolved into what Dennis Williams, director of the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, calls “GAAP plus.” While attendees participate in all Georgetown Alumni Ambassadors Program events, they also arrive a day earlier, stay a day later and live in campus housing with student hosts. First-time host and past program participant Daisy Franco (SFS ’15) said that
POETIC BEATS HIT HARD AT SAXASLAM 2012
the weekend is crucial for attracting students to the university. “For me, going to Hoya Saxa Weekend was the deciding factor on whether or not I would come,” she wrote in an email. “I understand how important this weekend is, and I want to be available to other students to help them with their decision.” Events include a reception with staff and faculty, a showcase that highlights the different cultural performance groups on campus and a bus tour of the District. “[The weekend] truly shows minority students from different backgrounds that if they come to Georgetown, there is a niche for them,” Donna Hernandez (SFS ’13), Hoya Saxa Weekend co-chair, said. Though Asian Americans, blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans represent about 30 percent of admitted students,
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LEONEL DE VELEZ/THE HOYA
Nehemiah Markos (COL ’14) perfroms at an event organized by Leaders in Education About Diversity Thursday.
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