GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
RAIN OR SHINE
A VOICE OF REASON
SPLIT DECISION
Picnic brings together GU and neighbors despite weekend rains.
While punishment has its value, repercussions for The Georgetown Voice must fit the crime at hand.
The women’s soccer team followed up a loss to West Virginia by crushing Pitt.
NEWS, A4
OPINION, A2
2010 CAMPUS CRIME REPORT
SPORTS, A12
Mayor Gray Slams Campus Plan BRADEN MCDONALD
600
Hoya Staff Writer
500 400
Alcohol Violations
300
Total Crimes
200 100 0
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 93, No. 10, © 2011
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2011
2007
2008
2009
2010
DATA: 2010 CRIME AWARENESS AND CAMPUS SECURITY REPORT; SHAKTI NOCHUR/THE HOYA
The number of reported alcohol violations rose from 2009 to 2010 after having declined over the previous three years. Overall on-campus crime dropped 22 percent.
Alcohol Violations Spike 30% in 2010 KELLY CHURCH Hoya Staff Writer
Reported crime on-campus began to decline in 2010, but alcohol violtions jumped 30 percent in the same period, according to the Department of Public Safety’s 2010 Crime Awareness and Campus Security Report. The report listed a total of 477 alcohol violations in the 2010 calendar year, a significant increase from the 334 incidents reported in 2009. This jump comes after the number of alcohol violations had dropped 50 percent from 2007 to 2009. At the time, the university attributed the decline to a stricter alcohol policy implemented in 2007. “This downward trend may be attributed to measures that the university has taken to curtail excessive drinking,” Joseph Smith, associate director of DPS, wrote in an email to The Hoya last year. The new policy included a requirement that students to undergo training before holding weekend parties and register them by Thursday night. Parties in townhouses and apartments were also limited to 25 and 35 people. The policy was amended in fall 2008 in response to strong student
protests and now includes a clarification of the Code of Student Conduct. The reason for the increase in 2010 is unclear, as resident assistants did not increase patrols, Director of Residence Life Stephanie Lynch said last year. Alcohol violations make up a large chunk of Category A infractions, detailed by the Student Code of Conduct, and were barely outnumbered by the 481 noise violations reported in 2010. These offenses can include the possession or consumption of alcohol in an alcohol-free location, possession of an unauthorized keg and possession or use of alcoholrelated paraphernalia. Drug violations accounted for the remaining 41 infractions in this category. These violations can be punished by housing relocation, housing probation or suspension and disciplinary probation or a suspension of up to two years, according to the Code of Student Conduct. In total, there were 220 on-campus crimes in 2010, including eight forcible sexual offences, 38 burglaries and one aggravated assault. The 2010 data marked a decrease from the 282 reported crimes in 2009. Category B violations, which are See CRIME, A8
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray spoke out against Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission District 2E’s monthly meeting Monday night. “I’ve met with all parties involved, and I support the community,” he said. “In this instance, I’m in one place and the university is in another.” Though he commended the university for taking on new initiatives to smooth relations with surrounding neighborhoods — namely daily trash pick-up, shuttle buses to M Street and the increased presence of Metropolitan Police Department details near campus — Gray stressed that his sympathies lie with neighborhood opponents to the Campus Plan. The mayor told the audience of about 100 ANC 2E residents that he would not support lifting enrollment caps on District universities as he had suggested at a job creation summit in January. According to Gray, his change in opinion is due in part to the outpouring of neighborhood concerns stemming from the See GRAY, A7
See NOISE, A7
MICHELLE CASSIDY/THE HOYA
At an Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E meeting Monday night, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said that he “supports the community” against the 2010 Campus Plan.
Navigating the Greek Alphabet KENDALL SARSON Special to The Hoya
To many a tour-taker, the strong Jesuit identity on campus seems to promise a refreshing lack of fraternity-related frivolity. “When I was looking at colleges, the last thing that I wanted was Greek life,” says Mitchel Hochberg (SFS ’15). “That’s what I liked about Georgetown.” Hochberg, like most incoming freshmen, arrived on campus in August under the impression that the only Greek he would have to know during the next four years was the first half of the phrase “Hoya Saxa.”
To his surprise, he discovered a network of fraternities and sororities that is both alive and active. Now a pledge of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, an international Jewish fraternity with over 150 chapters and 40 members at Georgetown, Hochberg stifled a laugh as he recalled his recent change of heart. “I didn’t want Greek life to be an essential part of the social life on campus, and yet I wound up joining a fraternity as an essential part of my social life.” Hochberg is not alone in his newfound appreciation of the Greek alphabet. As the fourth full week of the fall semester begins, pledging is
in full swing at the majority of the university’s nearly dozen fraternities and sororities. Many of these lettered organizations, flourishing despite a lack of formal recognition, will spend most of this month introducing curious new members to a Greek tradition that has existed at Georgetown for almost a century. From service-oriented to socially focused to pre-professional, 11 fraternities and sororities bring Georgetown brothers and sisters together. But striking today’s balance between university interests and See GREEK, A7
New South Student Space Projected to Open by 2014
IN MOORE’S TALK, A CALL FOR STUDENT ACTIVISM
SAM RODMAN
from the student center’s intended undergraduate focus, saying that New South’s location will help moderate The university unveiled plans at a graduate student presence. In order to student forum on Monday night to fin- offer the new amenities, the renovated ish the New South Student Center by space will no longer provide office August 2014. space for student organizations. Updated architectural models for According to Olson, clubs that the space include a club-like food currently work out of the Riverside venue, breakout rooms, a gathering Lounge will likely be moved to the space and a large multi-purpose room Leavey Center, which will undergo a for banquets, lectures, restoration process of musical performances its own within a few “These plans are and other events. years. Fundraising for the just a guideplate. Architect Bill Ash of renovation, estimated SmithGroup, the firm to cost $15.5 million, They are absolutely that is designing the will begin as part of a center, cautioned that not set in stone.” planned Capital camthe designs were not paign set to kick off at BILL ASH permanent. the end of the month. Architect, SmithGroup “The plans are just The center could a guideplate. They are also include space to absolutely not set in serve alcohol, according to Todd Olson, stone,” he said. vice president for student affairs. The Ash laid out a timetable for the renoproposed alcohol venue would resem- vation process that he described as ble a bar or lounge but would not be “aggressive.” The timeline detailed the solely focused on serving alcohol. fundraising campaign and the current “The administration is seriously in- feasibility stage, during which Smithterested in having a venue that serves Group will assess how its design plans alcohol in that space,” Olson said. will fit with the student space, will be Olson addressed concerns that a See CENTER, A7 venue serving alcohol would detract Special to The Hoya
WEB LESLIE/THE HOYA
Activist Michael Moore spoke to a crowded Gaston Hall Friday afternoon, emphasizing the importance of youth activism and calling upon students to pursue social justice issues. See story on A8. Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-8350
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