The Hoya: Oct. 18, 2011

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 93, No. 13, © 2011

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

GRAY UNDER INVESTIGATION New FBI evidence implicates D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray in various charges of campaign tampering.

CROSSTOWN BEATDOWN

The Georgetown defense held Howard to three points as GU reclaimed the Mayor’s Cup.

NEWS, A5

SPORTS, A10

SFS May Require Science

School of Foreign Service could start trial classes in the sciences next year ANNIE CHEN PHOTO CREDITS (LEFT TO RIGHT): HANNAH HILL; CHRISTIE SHELY; WEB LESLIE; SARAH RYAN/THE HOYA

Karl Rove, Hayden Panettierre, Bradley Cooper and Jane Goodall (left to right) are just some of the famous faces Lecture Fund has brought to campus.

Behind the Podium: Scoring the Big Names SHILPA CHANDRAN Special to The Hoya

Former Libyan leader Muammar alGaddafi and heartthrob Bradley Cooper (COL ’97) have at least one thing in common: The Georgetown University Lecture Fund has sponsored both of them to speak on campus.

“Georgetown is internationally

Occupy DC Movement Swells

renowned for our high caliber of speakers, and the Lecture Fund works tirelessly to maintain this reputation,” Lecture Fund’s Vice Chair for Internal Affairs Tommy Evans (COL ’12) said.

Last year, Lecture Fund helped organize over 50 speakers to share their views on politics, current events, life experiences and more.

But locking down these figures takes much more than a few phone calls.

From picking up a Hollywood celebrity at the airport to striking just the right amount of conversation with a prominent world leader, the responsibilities of the 14 Lecture Fund associate members vary across the board.

And associate membership in an

organization with such a high-profile mission comes with stiff competition. This semester, 35 students applied for five available positions.

The personal interaction between the Fund’s associate members and the speakers allows the students to explore interests that they may not See LECTURE, A5

BASKETBALL LEGENDS RETURN TO SUPPORT TODAY’S BLUE AND GRAY

RITA PEARSON

Special to The Hoya

As the Occupy DC movement gains steam more than two weeks after the first protesters headed to McPherson Square, Georgetown students and faculty are being drawn to the movement.

Hundreds of people, including at least 30 Georgetown students organized by the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, marched downtown Saturday to rally on the National Mall and protest in front of the White House and the Treasury Department.

These local demonstrations stemmed from Occupy Wall Street, a larger movement that began in

“Right now people are expressing their dissatisfaction and sometimes their anger ... ” VAIL KOHNERT-YOUNT (SFS ’13) Two-time participant in the movement

New York City in mid-September.

Though the protesters do not have a concrete platform, participants claim to give voice and numbers to the world’s frustration with the sour economic climate.

Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13), who has attended the D.C. protests twice, said that the movement’s value lies in its expression of the bottom 99 percent’s disappointment with the status quo.

“The way that I view the movement is as an expression and not necessarily a declaration of demands. Right now people are expressing their dissatisfaction and sometimes their anger with a system that’s failed 99 percent of them,” she said.

Katerina Downward (SFS ’14), who has participated in both Occupy DC and Occupy Wall Street, said that while her father is an investment banker, she believes it’s important to support the protesters.

See PROTESTS, A5

CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA

Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85) attended Midnight Madness Friday. For more photos, visit thehoya.com.

Special to The Hoya

School of Foreign Service students may no longer be “safe from science,” as pilot classes in the sciences could begin as early as next year for students in the undergraduate school.

According to David Edelstein, chair of faculty for the SFS, implementing a science requirement has long been a topic of discussion. He said that he and Dean of the SFS Carol Lancaster both thought it was an issue worth looking into again this year, and they hope to develop pilot classes in time for the 2012-2013 school year.

“The most concerning issues such as global health, climate change and nuclear proliferation all have a scientific dimension in them,” Edelstein said. “If we want to continue to make SFS the nation’s best foreign service school, we cannot ignore the role of science in the current world.”

While pilot classes could begin next year, Edelstein emphasized that the school has not yet made final decisions about the requirement.

“Though we do hope to enhance the current curriculum, no concrete decisions have been made yet,” he said.

“There are many logistics that we still need to work out.”

Edelstein said that three models of the pilot classes have been proposed so far.

The first is an introductory science course consisting of lectures on broad concepts about science experimentation, measurement and the scientific method. The lectures would be supplemented with small discussion sessions that connect science with global issues.

The second model would utilize faculty who are teaching existing science courses for non-majors in the College and those interested in the connection with international affairs.

The third would use a team teaching model with courses co-taught by professors from the SFS and the science departments.

“A course on nuclear proliferation can be co-taught by a professor from the physics department and a political science professor, See SCIENCE, A7

Coulter Lecture Spurs Campus Controversy ESTEBAN GARCIA Special to The Hoya

A heated dialogue is mounting on campus as students gear up for conservative commentator Ann Coulter’s speech in Lohrfink Auditorium Thursday.

While students opposed to the event first expressed concern that the university would be paying $20,000 — Coulter’s standard asking price — to secure the visit of the outspoken figure, Lecture Fund clarified that $1,000 will be allocated.

The Georgetown University College Republicans will pay the remainder of Coulter’s negotiated $5,000 cost out of their gift fund, which does not include student fees.

Onni Irish (SFS ’12), Lecture Fund’s vice chair for external affairs, emphasized that the organization strives to remain objective in choosing speakers.

“We promote free exchange, and we are nonpartisan and that is ex-

Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-8350

tremely important to us,” Irish said.

Still, some students have taken a stand, sayng the invitation to Coulter is at odds with Georgetown’s ideals.

“I don’t understand why, if we’re a private religious institution, why we’re supporting the visit of a woman who alienates a part of our student population,” said Marissa Brogger (SFS ’13), referring to Coulter’s past comments that some have considered anti-Semitic. To protest Coulter’s visit, Brogger created a Facebook page that had 176 attendees as of press time. She has previously contributed articles to The Hoya and wrote a viewpoint in today’s issue, titled “Coulter’s Words Defy Georgetown Values.”

Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13), president of the College Democrats, echoed Brogger’s disapproval of the public figure. “While we respect Ms. Coulter’s right to free speech, we See COULTER, A7 Published Tuesdays and Fridays

COURTESY JOYCE XI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER OF YDN

Ann Coulter, shown speaking last Tuesday at Yale University, is booked to appear Thursday at Georgetown, sparking debate over the proper use of student funds.

Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com

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EDITORIAL

THE HOYA

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Upgrading SAC’s Status Quo

Founded January 14, 1920

To the Editor:

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter won’t take the stage in Lohrfink Auditorium until Thursday evening, but her impending visit already has tensions running high.

But even if some students can’t stand the persona of certain political speakers, they should appreciate the opportunity to learn from them.

Coulter is hardly the first controversial guest the university has had. Georgetown has never backed away from inviting figures that have spurred an outcry, including Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez and Gen. David Petraeus. This year, overtly liberal filmmaker Michael Moore was the Lecture Fund’s first speaker of the season.

In the classroom, students are expected to learn by engaging in scholarly discussion and debate. The same should go for talks given by prominent public figures that students choose to hear outside of

class. By listening to controversial theories, students on either side of the political spectrum can broaden their minds and strengthen their own viewpoints.

Naturally, such guests bring a certain amount of baggage and possible notoriety — it’s what makes them high profile to begin with. And while students have a right to oppose these guests’ opinions, they should also be respectful and listen intently. The outburst from war protesters during Petraeus’ speech last year was an embarrassment to the university. Immature reactions endanger Georgetown’s reputation as a home for high-level dialogue.

Our campus community shouldn’t agree on every issue. We all gain when different backgrounds come to campus to share their views; when the ones attracting the most discourse hit campus, go — sit back, absorb and learn — whether or not you agree.

Taking Back Tradition It has been six years since the Healy clock hands were last stolen as part of a harmless student prank, and it’s high time that the hands find their way to the Vatican once more — without the threat of a hefty punishment hanging over students’ heads.

The taking of the clock hands has been a long-time tradition at Georgetown, but recently the university has implemented several security measures that prevent this famed swiping. Throughout the 1960s, the time keepers were stolen so often that the university eventually sealed off the clock tower. The 2005 grab was only accomplished because of timing — construction on the side of Healy facing Dalhgren allowed the culprits to climb into the clock tower via additional scaffolding.

Granted, stealing the clock hands is a dangerous feat. Aside from the damage that past attempts have caused the university — most notably the hole punched in Riggs Library — students’ past efforts to scale the building seriously jeopardize their safety. The university also considers it a violation of the Student Code of Conduct — stealing property valued less than

$500 — and, as such, students are subject to academic probation for up to a year.

However, as Homecoming approaches, Georgetown is reminded of its traditions.

Healy Hall is the iconic symbol of Georgetown, with the clock hands right at the heart of campus — so stealing those hands provides students with a sense of mystery and humor. Gaining entrance to the university’s oldest and most revered space, picking locks and traversing wooden staircases and being able to look out from the second-highest point in Washington, D.C.: What more can generate camaraderie among Georgetown students past and present?

Ultimately, stealing the clock hands is tradition, not a serious offense — especially when students have every intention of making sure they wind up back where they belong. The university should not consider reducing its security measures in Healy Hall — the more there are, the bigger the challenge — yet it should not enforce such a weighty penalty. This year, we ought to replant some of our campus’s cultural roots and see if our enterprising peers can pull off the heist of a lifetime.

We need to get SAC back on track! For far too long, SAC’s operations have failed to meet the standards of the student organizations.

As the economy worsens, student groups are even further from getting the funding they need, and SAC is no help to the cause.

We need to make immediate changes to the funding system by adopting a comprehensive budget system and creating the SAC Funding guidelines for fiscal year 2013 that fulfill the needs of student organizations. The funding guidelines are critical. They are the backbone of the funding system and essentially dictate how SAC operates with respect to allocating funds.

C

Valuing Healthy Discourse

C C C C

the line. The Georgetown Heckler, an online humor circulation active since 2003, came under scrutiny in 2009 for publishing racially insensitive stories; as a result, its production has been radically reduced. Likewise, The Hoya’s 2009 April Fools’ issue was followed by outcry from students on campus who found it offensive, prompting major sanctions to be levied against the publication.

Yet tactfully executed humor can only bring students closer together by broaching topics of seriousness in an unassuming and lighthearted manner.

Georgetown needs some outlet for selfmockery. Whether mired in midterm doldrums, job-searching stress or winter blues, students need publications to help them lighten their load and laugh every once in a while.

fore, we need to install an ad hoc budget system that is broad in every sense of the word when it comes to funding unexpected events and activities.

Far too often, student organizations receive requests haphazardly from dignitaries all over the world; yet, they must turn them down because the groups did not include those events in their programming arcs. We must have a flexible system when it comes to planning and funding.

We need action today. Every day we wait we continue to do business as usual. We need to get SAC back on track!

THE VERDICT by The Editorial Board Foul Play — Federal investigators expanded the criminal probe into Mayor Vincent Gray’s 2010 election campaign, alleging that he paid a mayoral candidate to badmouth then-Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Retail Therapy — Georgetown snapped up the best shopping neighborhood award in the District, according to Washington City Paper’s “Best of D.C. 2011” Poll.

Dedication Do-Over — President Obama and Aretha Franklin officially dedicated the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in the Tidal Basin this Sunday after the ceremony had been postponed due to inclement weather in August.

Bon Appetit — Joey Chestnut won the World Chili Eating Contest, held at A Taste of DC last weekend, by eating over 20 pounds of Ben’s Chili in six minutes.

Moving Metro Forward — The Metrorail map will soon showcase hours of operation, shortened station names, new construction of the Silver Line to Dulles and clarified rush-hour routes.

“Reflecting on College Friendship” Article posted Oct. 14, 2011 Comments posted Oct. 14, 2011 Anonymous: Absolutely brilliant. These friendships are what build our Georgetown community. Unfortunately, many people try to replace this essential building block with the concepts of globalism. The top-down approach of community building does not foster the virtues which our beloved Georgetown must seek to foster.

“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” - St. Thomas Aquinas.

Long-time reader, [not] first-time caller: Fr. Schall is on a roll. This is the best of his columns I’ve read in my several years of reading them, and his second-best one was earlier this semester. This was a very good piece.

“Scott Brown Urges Bipartisanship” Article posted Oct. 14, 2011 Comment posted Oct. 14, 2011 Karen Parchem Corbman: Picky though it is, maybe if you are really speaking of bipartisanship, you should not speak of a Democrat bill or a Republican bill — when Democrat used as an adjective is strongly disliked by Democrats. But, in a way, this symbolizes what Brown always says. He wants a bill that everyone can vote for — it has to NOT raise taxes on anyone and to reduce the deficit by cutting spending.

However, that is the Republican position. The Democrats are already compromising by agreeing to a balance of higher taxes on the ones who can most afford it and spending cuts. Brown’s voting record is very out of sync with the majority of Massachusetts voters.

“New Arrival Shows Up to Keep All of Georgetown Safe” Article posted Oct. 13, 2011 Comment posted Oct. 14, 2011 Melissa Estell Poppert: Captain America, you are our hero! Keep up the good work!

“Irish Pose Daunting Task for Hoyas” Article posted Oct. 14, 2011 Comment posted Oct. 15, 2011 Anonymous: The Big East is stacked in soccer. No. 1 UConn, No. 3 Louisville, No. 12 ND, No. 20 Georgetown ...

CORRECTION The article “Clinton Talks Indian Higher Ed” (The Hoya, Oct. 14, 2011, A7), originally stated that ManMohan Singh is the President of India. He is actually the Prime Minister of India.

Policies & Information

Eamon O’Connor, Editor-in-Chief Lauren Weber, Executive Editor Connor Gregoire, Managing Editor Glenn Russo, Campus News Editor Sarah Kaplan, City News Editor Pat Curran, Sports Editor Sarah Amos, Guide Editor Katherine Foley, Opinion Editor Meagan Kelly, Photography Editor Laura Engshuber, Online Editor Shakti Nochur, Layout Editor Suzanne Fonzi, Copy Chief Fiona Hanly, Multimedia Editor Caitlin MacNeal, Social Media Director

Editorial Board Katherine Foley, Chair

Deputy Campus News Editor Mariah Byrne Deputy Campus News Editor Upasana Kaku Deputy City News Editor Anne Skomba Jonathan Gillis Deputy News Editor for Features Deputy Sports Editor Lawson Ferguson Deputy Sports Editor Evan Hollander Deputy Guide Editor Peter Brigham Deputy Guide Editor Alex Sanchez Deputy Guide Editor Bethany Imondi Deputy Opinion Editor Martin Hussey Deputy Photography Editor Chris Bien Deputy Photography Editor Michelle Cassidy Deputy Online Editor Stephen Levy Deputy Layout Editor Remy Samuels Kavya Devarakonda Deputy Layout Editor Nikita Buley Deputy Copy Editor Sam Randazzo Deputy Copy Editor

Contributing Editors

Madeleine Colavita, Michael Clark, Kavya Devarakonda, Laura Engshuber, Eddie Fearon, Michael Palmer, Michael Palmer, Brian Shaud Mairead Reilly, Elizabeth Rowe, Jeremy Tramer

Committed and dedicated, Dalvin Butler, Jr. SAC Commissioner

Off the Web

Time to Rekindle Raillery As the drudgery of midterm season rolls on, the tired looks, caffeine jitters and unbearably crowded library continue to leave an air of misery on campus. To lighten the mood, why can’t our campus news organizations provide us with a little comic relief while still keeping us informed?

The news outlets on campus are selfstyled, pre-professional groups that attempt to mimic the organizational and content approach of national publications. While the Hilltop benefits from a wide, high-quality selection of newspapers and periodicals, this traditional focus has allowed its publications and students to take themselves far too seriously.

The few publications that traditionally printed such comical stories have suffered the consequences of crossing

If we continue to have funding guidelines that are not representative of student organizations, SAC will remain the same; it will be unable to serve students better. We must craft all funding guidelines in our working group in concert with student organizations in order to let a transparent process take place.

Furthermore, the installation of an ad hoc budget system must be adopted in order for groups to pay for unexpected events that do not currently meet the criteria for SAC funding.

There is a fundamental distinction between our contingency funds and an ad hoc budget system. It is not every day that a disaster forces students to request contingency funding. There-

Benjy Messner, General Manager Kelly Connelly, Director of Finance Caroline Boerwinkle, Director of Personnel Jonathan Rabar, Director of Sales Dan Subak, Director of Technology Web Leslie Sara Eshleman Bryn Hastings Alejandra Paredes Michael Grasso Ryan Smith

Marketing and External Relations Manager Operations Manager Local Advertisements Manager Institutional Diversity Manager Human Resources Manager Web Manager

Board of Directors

Carolyn Shanahan, Chair Margaret Delaney, Kathryn DeVincenzo, Web Leslie, Benjy Messner, Eamon O’Connor, Michael Palmer

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COMMENTARY

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

Marissa Brogger

Coulter’s Words Defy Georgetown Values Ann Coulter’s rhetoric condtradicts the principles the Hilltop is built upon.

A

fter signing up for the Lecture Fund email list my freshman year, I have been to and seen plenty of exciting and informative events and speakers.

While serving as a Georgetown University Student Association senator this past year, I admired the Lecture Fund’s ingenuity and the diverse range of guests it brought to campus.

I appreciate that the Lecture Fund sought to bring Republicans, Democrats, comedians, scientists, artists, poets and actors — all in all, an incredibly dissimilar group of people, whose only similarities were that they had been able to address Georgetown’s student body. However, I was a bit taken aback, and frankly saddened, to receive the recent email “proudly announcing” Ann Coulter’s visit to campus.

This is not an issue with Coulter being a conservative or a Republican but rather the fact that she has displayed a record of prejudice and hatred in both her written works and public appearances. I find it troubling that Georgetown is sponsoring a visit by Coulter through the Lecture Fund.

In doing so, the Lecture Fund and the university’s administration are betraying and alienating a portion of our student body.

I appreciate that the Lecture Fund has invited other controversial speakers in the past — notably Michael Moore — but these speakers have not directed the same hateful statements that Coulter has concerning various minority groups.

Coulter’s demonstration goes far beyond political passion into the territory of hateful vitriol. There is a line between political opinion and bigotry, and she has made a career of crossing that line and attempting to redraw it over and over.

Coulter has, on record, made several antiSemitic and anti-Islamic remarks over the course of her career. Isn’t Georgetown a school founded on the basis of religious understanding? Isn’t it hypocritical for

our school to welcome a speaker who believes a significant portion of our student body is religiously inferior? Coulter has also gone to great lengths to single out the widows of 9/11 victims — meaning parents of several Georgetown students — saying that they “enjoyed their husbands’ deaths.” She also devoted an entire chapter in her last book to claiming that single mothers were the reason for high rates of homicide, rape and other violent crimes.

As the Jewish child of a single mother, I am both a mistake and an imperfection to Coulter. I was under the impression that at Georgetown I was neither. Frankly, I feel betrayed. As a student from the New York area, I was in close contact with many families who lost loved ones on 9/11; none of them enjoyed those deaths.

Coulter’s views on Muslims in America are even more disturbing and hateful.

She has called the religion of Islam a “carburning cult.”

I understand the Lecture Fund’s goal is to bring to campus a wide array of individuals with diverse perspectives, and I appreciate that greatly. However, how is bringing a speaker who holds hatred for any part of our student body to campus a fulfillment of Georgetown’s most important ideals? If Coulter had made those remarks as a student here, she would be violating the Student Code of Conduct. Her hatred has no place on the Hilltop. Georgetown’s collective identity doesn’t mean that we all share one political or religious belief but rather signifies a shared understanding that every student at Georgetown is an integral part of our community.

Ms. Coulter would have us believe otherwise. Her remarks and ideals are not only offensive to me but to every student at this school who comes from a single parent family, every student at this school who celebrates the traditions of Judaism or Islam and every student at this school who lost a loved one on 9/11.

This may be a small population of our student body, and although it may be unworthy to Coulter, it is not invisible.

THE HOYA

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A Fatherly Ritual for All Sydney Schauer It’s Tradition

T

here you are, working along, minding your own business and all of the sudden it hits you: midterms. Somehow you wake up one morning and it’s the middle of October.

September has flown by in a frenzy of open houses, information sessions and hundreds of new emails from all of the clubs you absolutely had to join at the Student Activities Committee Fair.

I don’t know about you, but as soon as I came to this realization, I began doing some calculations (this is big; as a general rule I stay away from all things arithmetic): If I only have three full semesters remaining, then I only have seven half-semesters left at Georgetown (including the remainder of this one). And then I just had to go do something else because at this point I was now too sad when forced to think about the fact that I really won’t be here at Georgetown forever, and even more upset that math brought me to this conclusion.

But this realization that time stops for no man (even at Georgetown) forces me to think about the fact that my time here is finite, and that inevitably takes me to the famed bucket list of the Stall Seat Journal. It’s the catalog that compiles and chronicles the most important traditions, if you will, that all

Georgetown students absolutely must complete before they leave campus forever. It names Hilltopexclusive traditions like swimming in the fountain (which for some reason is just cooler if you do it when it’s freezing outside), eating a Chicken Madness (I don’t know who made this list; I much prefer the Hot Chick, myself) and — arguably the most popular — sitting in the lap of John Carroll.

The other day, I saw a group of brave souls trying to climb into our founder’s lap. I stopped and just watched for a while as they discussed the strategy of the undertaking. I enjoyed the

Every time you see John Carroll ... he’s welcoming you safely home. way they finally decided to go about it: The young gentleman hoisted his female companions one by one onto his shoulders so that from that height, they could all achieve their goal. I walked away then, noting their tactics of course, and decided I would honor them in another way. So thank you, Thursday night adventurers. I hope your night was a success and that you escaped without any major injuries.

Sitting in someone’s lap is an interesting concept for a tradition. As small children, we participated in the act during the Christmas season, whispering to Santa Claus what it was exactly that we wanted for Christmas

so as not to be disappointed on the big day. But none of us go into this particular Georgetown tradition with the idea that John Carroll is going to bring us gifts.

Instead, sitting in someone’s lap denotes safety and security. Figuratively speaking, it is supposed to give us a feeling that here, in this home, we are somehow shielded and protected from the rest of the world.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the whole “sit on the statue’s lap” thing is not exclusive to Georgetown. Still, the idea that John Carroll, the father of Georgetown and one of its greatest representatives, protects us and prepares us for the lives ahead of us is Georgetownspecific. Within these sacred walls, we can explore anything, learn everything and teach anyone some of what we know. It is a special feeling that no one but a Hilltop student can understand or enjoy.

So the next time you get a chance, clamber on up there.

Snap a picture, tell Fr. Carroll what you want for finals week and then jump down and run, because chances are, you’ve been spotted. But it’ll have been worth it. Because now and for the rest of your life, every time you see John Carroll staring out the front gates, gazing at the rest of the world, you’ll know that he’s welcoming you safely home.

Sydney Schauer is a junior in the College. She is a board member and the tour coordinator of Blue and Gray. IT’S TRADITION appears every other Tuesday.

THE DISCONCERTED DEMAGOGUE by Daniel Yang

MARISSA BROGGER is a junior in the School of Foreign Service and a contributor to

Opening Our Minds by Unplugging Our Lives Michael Meaney and Matthew Hoyt The State of Nature

W

hen famous violinist Joshua Bell performed at a D.C. Metro station a few years ago, he received no fanfare. In fact, no one seemed to notice. For over an hour he played before a constant stream of pedestrians.

Bach’s “Caconne,” Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” Ponce’s “Estrellita” — the world’s most famous music, played by a master violinist. A thousand people passed during that hour. Not a single person stopped to listen.

Next time you venture across campus, D.C. or most any city, take a moment to listen. You’ll hear noise, sure. But rarely will you hear a single melodic note. Instead of walking in the midst of music, we walk into a medley of incoherent, ambient noise.

What’s more, often we don’t even hear the sounds. The shuffling of busy feet, rustling of trees and whirring of passing cars — we catalogue it all as extraneous and filter it from our immediate senses. Most of our environment — seemingly pedestrian and commonplace — is purified before we notice.

But if we ignore most of the world around us, can we still find natural beauty? The problem is that we live in a whitenoise world. Thus, most of the music of life is absorbed by the landscape around us. We don’t hear it simply because we choose not to.

By turning off our environment receptors, we do more than filter out noise. We eliminate the common human experience. We miss the meaning and import of our context. We purposefully make life mundane. All the while, things of a higher order fall on deaf ears.

In the meantime, we prefer to pick our own background noise. The iPod (or any other personal music player) gives us access to a precise list of personal favorites, saved and categorized. Then, by plugging those ubiquitous, thin white cords directly into our brains, we can tune in music and tune out everything else.

Almost exactly one year ago, The Atlantic columnist Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones wrote about this phenomenon in an article entitled “In an iTunes Age, the Case for Vinyl.” Hinkes-Jones argues that the modern iPod is the epitome of antisocial behavior. Through personal devices, we make music — which evolved as a communal form of expression — into a decidedly

asocial activity.

There is beauty in the fact that technology allows us to orchestrate a personalized, mobile symphony of sorts. But we have to wonder if self-defeating shallowness prevails, especially when we pick Lady Gaga, Kanye West or Taylor Swift as soundtracks of choice.

The relatively new addition of the smartphone deceives us even further.

These devices, created to cater, do that and nothing more; they serve our personal and private interests, never pushing us to experience the extra background noise as we go through our day-to-day routines. In place of the real symphonies around us, we inundate ourselves with distractions we choose for ourselves. It’s scary that we laugh at The Onion headline, “Area Man Somehow Endures Harrowing EntertainmentFree Commute.” Are we really that dependent on distractions?

The answer is probably yes, judging by the flicker of phone lights in every class, theater and Metro car. But it’s also more than just an attention-deficit problem. How much do we really absorb even when we’re actually trying to focus? With all the glassy eyes and open Facebook pages in a given class, it’s a fair question. Ultimately, we do engage — and often times in exciting, stimulating and quite beautiful ways — but the depth of our concentration has changed.

There’s a lack of active listening in almost everything we do. Popular firstperson phrases are sprinkled into every conversation: “I think,” “I feel,” “I wonder” and “I’m curious.” This form of participation features a peculiar lack of external engagement. Not every answer comes from within.

All of this describes something more than just tunnel vision — an oft-repeated, somewhat trite characterization. We’re quick to internalize, personalize and preference, but slow to realize, expand and extrapolate.

The result is a void. We’re missing out on the stuff that makes any place interesting, exciting and unique. We’re missing out on the ripples, the melodies and most importantly, the meaning of life. Did you notice?

We’re missing out on the stuff that makes any place interesting, exciting and unique.

Michael Meaney is a senior in the School of Foreign Service and Matthew Hoyt is a senior in the College. They are the president and director of communications of the Georgetown University Student Association, respectively. THE STATE OF NATURE appears every other Tuesday.

Eitan Paul & Shuo Yan Tan

SGU: Helping Clubs Work as One

O

ver 200 clubs and activities shape our Georgetown community and enrich our Georgetown experience. Whether in Red Square, Gaston Hall, Yates Field House or on Healy Lawn student organizations enable us to live the Jesuit values of educating the whole person, pursuing social justice and celebrating our diversity.

We owe it to ourselves and to one another to respect, embrace and pursue our unique gifts, insights and passions as we embody the value of cura personalis.

However, a lack of collaboration and bureaucratic constraints make it difficult for student groups to fully realize this vision of spirited student life. We need a forum to bring student groups together to speak with one voice about how we can work together to make student life easier and more vibrant for all Georgetown students.

A diverse group of student leaders representing student organizations from the Student Activities Commission, Center for Social Justice, Advisory Board for Club Sports, Performing Arts Advisory Council, the Media Board, The Corp, Georgetown University Student Association and other organizations have come together to develop the Student Group Union. The SGU will advocate for undergraduate student organizations and provide for greater communication and cooperation among groups, serving as a liaison between organizations and the university administration. Already, approximately 50 groups have signed on, and each day more join us.

The SGU executive committee — elected by all SGU organizations — will take up any and every issue raised by participating groups. From SAC funding guidelines to Yates reservations, the SGU will work with relevant advisory boards and administrators to institute needed reforms. One such reform the SGU will undertake is practice times for club sports.

Initial research by the Student Life Report 2011 Committee has revealed that club sports teams are often squeezed out of space and resources by both

The SGU will advocate on behalf of the average student group. varsity sports and intramural games. Moving forward, the SGU executive committee will collaborate with the Center for Student Programs, Yates, ABCS and club sports organization leaders to better accommodate club sports teams.

The executive committee will also facilitate increased collaboration among groups to help develop more innovative, inclusive and cross-cultural events and programs. For example, the SGU can promote cooperation among a variety of CSJ and Campus Ministry groups to take up the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Challenge. By inviting students from different religious and non-religious groups on campus to tackle community challenges together, the SGU

could join Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and CSJ student groups to build a Habitat for Humanity house, launch a new program in D.C. public schools or help our impoverished neighbors in other parts of the District.

By aggregating and voicing the concerns of all student groups, the SGU will have an unprecedented effect on Georgetown. Just as GUSA represents the issues of the average student, the SGU will advocate on behalf of the average student group. A common Chinese saying, “One chopstick breaks easily, but a bundle is impossible to break,” teaches that unity is strength.

Such cooperation is necessary for the further growth and betterment of a community. In that light, the SGU will foster collaboration among seemingly different groups, both through existing structures like 25 Days of Service and through the development of new and innovative events. By serving as a platform for communication and cooperation, the SGU will allow student group leaders to exchange event ideas and accumulate institutional knowledge, sharing best practices and learning from each other’s successes and failures.

EITAN PAUL and SHUO YAN TAN are seniors in the School of Foreign Service. Eitan is co-chair of the SGU steering committee and former Chair of the International Relations Club. Shuo is chair of the Student Life Report 2011 Committee and a student governor on the Georgetown Alumni Board of Governors.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

YOUR NEWS, IN BRIEF

SAC Set to Review FROM THE WEB Reform Proposal GALLERY MATTHEW STRAUSS Special to The Hoya

The Student Activities Commission will present a draft of a proposed new funding system to club leaders Wednesday night that features a more flexible allocation system.

If the proposal is met with approval at the forum, commissioners said that they will implement the changes in time for next semester. In the new system, groups would be required to submit a comprehensive budget to the commission but would have more leeway in deciding where to focus their spending, addressing club leaders’ past criticisms of the current system’s rigidity.

According to SAC Chairman Andy Koenig (COL ’12) and ViceChair Ruiyong Chen (SFS ’13), commissioners have worked hard to include student group feedback in the new funding system.

“Commissioners have been reaching out to student groups at a personal level,” Koenig said. “We can’t create this system in a vacuum. We definitely understand that student group input is an important part in this. This system is for student organizations.”

Under the current model, student groups submit their programming plans for the semester, listing events by types based on their categories and sizes. The organization is then allocated a set amount of funding for each event.

Koenig and Chen explained that this system’s flaws stem from variances in how much events actually cost. In the potentially revamped system, student groups will submit line-item budgets for each of their intended programs.

Groups will not be required to plan for every individual pur-

chase, but instead will budget for general categories such as food or space rental.

“There is an issue that student groups have raised, thinking that we are going to be going through these budgets with a fine-toothed comb saying, ‘You can save eight dollars here and 10 dollars there,’” Koenig said. “However, in actuality, we’re going to allow groups as much leeway as possible.”

Commissioners also said that the new system will increase flexibility when it comes to adding programming requests mid-semester, addressing another major concern that group leaders have raised about the current system.

“Groups will be able to add events midyear, assuming they can meet a certain set of requirements,” Chen said. “But you can definitely present programs midyear with this system.”

Koenig said that he hopes that Wednesday’s forum will allow students to bring up issues to further refine the proposal.

“If things come together and are working well by the beginning of November, we will be set to switch to the new system for the second semester,” Koenig said.

While the discussion about next year’s funding guidelines continues, SAC is also preparing for elections of a new chairman.

Each of the three candidates in the election, which will wrap up Thursday, expressed dissatisfaction with current policies and procedures.

The candidates — Jack Appelbaum (COL ’14), Dalvin Butler (COL ’13) and Carlos DeLaTorre (COL ’13) — all said that they will work to continue the reform process. The winner of the election will take the helm of SAC in January.

Didn’t make it to Midnight Madness? See photos of what you missed from the pep rally kicking off the basketball season.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION Let your voice be heard. Tell the world what you think and comment on articles online at thehoya.com.

GALLERY Browse through photos from past Lecture Fund speaker events from Bradely Cooper to Hayden Panetierre.

verbatim

“

This is the only way I could pursue a master’s degree with a job and a family.

”

— Melissa Pridemore, a current student in the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ new Nursing @ Georgetown online program.

See story on A5.

GUSA Plans Site for Student Feedback SAM RODMAN

Special to The Hoya

In an effort to better align themselves with student concerns, the Georgetown University Student Association is developing a website to gather suggestions for potential projects.

President Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) and Vice President Greg Laverriere (COL ’12) campaigned last winter with the promise to launch a website that allows for student input. Secretary of Information and Technology Michael Crouch (MSB ’13) is now working to bring their pledge to fruition.

“I think this project is significant because it provides a means for the entire undergraduate student body to be able to directly converse with GUSA and for all other students to rate and comment on their suggestions,” Crouch said. “Essentially what it does is create a dialogue between

GUSA and the student body.”

Meaney said that he hopes the site will allow GUSA to act as a better advocate for student interests.

“It’s one more way, where if students have an issue and they don’t know where to go or who to turn to, they can go to this website,” he said.

“The issue will come to our attention, and we could then bring a lot of the concerns to the appropriate members of the school administration who can actually do some of these things.”

Although GUSA maintains a Twitter feed and Facebook page, Crouch said that these services have so far been one-sided, as they have been used to raise awareness of the association’s activities instead of providing platforms for suggestions from the student body. Crouch hopes to implement more feedback into GUSA’s social media pages in addition to creating the new site.

“Social media is meant to be a place

to network, a place to maintain and develop conversations,” Crouch said.

The George Washington University Student Association recently launched a similarly-aimed site using the paid web service UserVoice. The site allows users to post and then vote on suggestions for an organization to implement. The most popular ideas are then featured prominently on the site. GWUSA’s service, known as GVoice, has collected hundreds of votes for its 15 user-generated proposals.

“It’s … where a lot of student governments are going with how to keep track of the concerns of students, and that’s something that we would like to do as well,” Meaney said of GUSA’s plans.

Crouch said he is considering implementing UserVoice because it has a user-friendly interface and can be easily integrated into the existing GUSA website. The project is projected to be launched next semester.

Discounted Double-Sided Printing Debuts in UIS Labs EMMA HINCHLIFFE Special to The Hoya

Most university printing facilities will now allow users to print double-sided for a reduced rate of five cents per page, marking the culmination of a long campaign by students, faculty and campus environmental groups.

As of this weekend, University Information Services labs and print stations in the Intercultural Center, St. Mary’s Hall, Harbin Hall, LXR, Copley Hall, McCarthy Hall, Reynolds Family Hall, New South and Village C will offer discounted, blackand-white double-sided printing. Though not yet available in Lauinger Library, UIS staff members will begin discussions with library staff about reducing printing costs there next week.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for a long time, so it’s great to see our plans com-

ing to fruition,” said Claire Austin (SFS ’12), co-president of Eco-Action.

Audrey Stewart, program coordinator for sustainability at the university, said that switching to double-sided printing would have immediate effects on the Georgetown community.

“Printing double sided is a simple, easy way for students to cut down on paper waste and help create a more sustainable campus,” she wrote in an email.

Beth Ann Bergsmark, director of UIS, agreed that the initiative was an important step.

“This was a great idea and will enhance our sustainability efforts by reducing paper consumption on campus,” she wrote in an email.

Stewart added that the program would have benefits beyond the obvious ones of decreasing paper usage.

“Conservation also yields other benefits, such as carbon

reduction and energy savings,” Stewart wrote. “Lowering our consumption actually helps shrink our campus’s carbon footprint.”

Many students said they are excited about the lower cost of double-sided printing, which could cut the amount of money they spend on printing in half.

“It’ll be great not to have to mooch off my MSB friends as much,” Matt Forzano (COL ’13) said.

Austin also said that she hopes professors will begin to accept double-sided assignments.

Stewart said that until the double-sided discount is available in the library, there are other ways for students to maintain sustainable practices.

“Other simple tips for reducing paper waste include saving one-sided sheets for use as note paper, cutting down on flyering and ensuring you’re only printing what you need,” she wrote.

Gray Election Probe Heats Up BRADEN MCDONALD Hoya Staff Writer

Fresh evidence has renewed an ongoing federal investigation into alleged misconduct by the election campaign of D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray last fall.

On Oct. 15, The Washington Post reported that authorities had found new evidence regarding allegations that the Gray campaign bribed mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown and illegally accepted campaign contributions.

According to Brown, the Gray campaign paid him in installments to publicly deride then-mayor and political opponent Adrian Fenty. He also claimed that the Gray administration promised him a position at the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance with an

annual salary of $110,000.

Gray denies having offered Brown a job in exchange for his denouncement of Fenty, saying that he offered Brown only a job interview.

Sources close to the investigation told The Washington Post that the FBI has obtained the fingerprints of Brown and Howard Brooks, a consultant and friend of Gray’s campaign chairwoman, Lorraine Green.

The agency may be able to use this evidence to determine who paid Brown to criticize Fenty.

This development comes after The Washington Post discovered in July that more than 100 cash contributions higher than the municipal legal limit were documented in campaign finance reports.

Interviews with contributors have suggested that

the Gray campaign illegally turned cash into money orders, and the FBI has recently confirmed that signatures on some money orders were forged.

Scott Stirrett (SFS ’13), chair of the student advocacy group DC Students Speak, said that those accused must be considered innocent until proven guilty, but described the allegations as shocking nonetheless.

“It’s … concerning that there have been so many different corruption allegations.

Students, especially those at Georgetown who have come to D.C. and have only been here for a few years … should expect a better kind of government,” he said.

The mayor’s office could not be reached for comment at press time.

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Online Nursing Enrollment Grows GU Earns Financially ELIZABETH GARBITELLI Hoya Staff Writer

With the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ Nursing @ Georgetown program, master’s nursing students learn the profession with experts from the Hilltop community from the comfort of their own homes.

The online program, which was instituted in March, gives working nurses the opportunity to obtain their master’s without leaving their clinical posts at 26 sites in 11 states across the country. The program has expanded dramatically since its inception, swelling from an original projected enrollment of 25 students in the spring to a total of 110 this fall.

For students, the program allows nurses to take classes via video chat and submit assignments over the internet, earning a Georgetown degree without the added cost of moving to the District.

Nurses like current student and Texas resident Melissa Pridemore continue to work at clinical sites near their homes while studying through the Georgetown program, gaining firsthand experience that mimics what they would learn on campus.

“It has been a wonderful program. This is the only way I could pursue a master’s degree with a job and family,” she said.

But the model is not without its drawbacks.

Stephanie Tsacoumis, the vice president of the Office of University Counsel, said that the program is working to foster better technology to serve its students’ needs.

“As in anything new there are some

snags, but we’ve gotten good feedback from the students and faculty [regarding technology use],” Tsacoumis said.

“We were able to work out any of the issues that did arise,” Pridemore said, noting the flexibility of Georgetown’s online model in comparison to those used by other programs.

“When you really started looking at the other courses [at other universities], most of them were really correspondence-based [and less interactive],” she said.

Jeanne Matthews, the interim chair in the department of nursing, touts the program’s financial benefits for both the university and its students as the key to its dramatic success.

“Successful programs generally provide new revenue, and this new revenue contributes to a greater level of investment back into the program. Our economic model is a strong one since most of the costs associated with the program are variable costs.”

But Georgetown’s program is still more expensive than those run through other universities. The tuition rates for the degree are the same as those for on-campus students, $1,623 per credit hour. Students may also apply for and receive financial aid from the university. “[Georgetown’s] program is more expensive than the other programs I looked at but for me, it was worth it for the quality of my education,” Pridemore said.

But according to Matthews, all the costs of tuition will go back into funding NHS programs.

“The vast majority of the revenue generated through tuition, like with

Responsibile Rating

all of our programs, is invested back into the program in order to provide both current and future students with the highest quality educational experience.”

Matthews said that Georgetown’s program is utilizing an advanced media platform developed by online education software company, 2tor. Other partners with 2tor are University of Southern California and University of North Carolina.

“There have not been any unforeseen drawbacks as we were thoughtful and deliberative in our planning process. We knew that there would be significant hurdles to clear with respect to state regulatory issues … in terms of being approved by a state to operate our program there. But that has moved along quite well,” she said.

According to Matthews, the program is currently approved to operate in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.

Tsacoumis said that other departments in the university do not have currently have plans to implement similar online programs, but she hopes that Nursing @ Georgetown may someday extend overseas to serve students in developing countries who do not have access to high quality educational institutions.

For the present, she said the program is expanding to serve a practical need for aspiring nurses across the country. “[The program is] an opportunity to extend the university’s mission,” she said. “We are serving a market of nurses who want to get graduate degrees from a high quality program and high quality institutions.”

ANNE SKOMBA Hoya Staff Writer

Georgetown received a label of “financially responsible” for its performance in fiscal year 2010, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Education on Oct. 12.

One of over 3,000 schools evaluated, the university was issued a composite score of 2.1 out of 3.0 for its fiscal performance between July 2009 and June 2010.

Universities were issued scores between 3.0 and -1.0 by the Department of Education, which compiles these scores annually to evaluate which institutions are capable of participation in Title IV government programs. All federal student aid programs, including Pell grants, direct loans and work study funds, are categorized under this Title IV heading.

After the Department of Education calculated each school’s score according to its primary reserve ratio, equity ratio and net income ratio, it applied a scale of “financial responsibility” to the figures.

Institutions listed at 1.5 or higher were classified as financially responsible, while those which received lower rankings were deemed financially irresponsible with funding for federal student aid programs. Those with scores between 1.0 and 1.5 were deemed “financially responsible but requiring additional oversight,” while the 150 private non-profit colleges that were issued scores below

1.0 are now considered “not financially responsible” and must submit to cash monitoring requirements from the Department of Education.

Georgetown’s performance in this category has been consistently above the mark through the years while varying widely, as the school posted rankings of 2.6 in 2007, 2.2 in 2008 and 1.6 in 2009.

The figure put the university’s performance in 2010 on a similar level with its academic competitors.

New York University received the same ranking as the Hilltop, while Yale University posted a score of 2.2.

Boston College, the University of Notre Dame and Duke University all received the highest ranking of a 3.0.

According to the Department of Education’s website, these financial responsibility scores bear no relation to the quality of education that the school offers.

University spokeswoman Stacy Kerr said that, though Georgetown did not specifically provide these compilations to the Department of Education, it remains committed to maintaining its financial integrity in regards to Title IV. “As a university that meets the full financial need of admitted students, reaffirming our financial strength and confirming our ability to utilize federal funds is very important to us,” she said. “Federal student aid programs help us to meet the needs of our students, so financial responsibility is a core value at Georgetown.”

Beyond the Lecture, a Community With Growth, Occupy DC Draws Criticism

The Cost of Recent High-Profile Lecture Fund Events

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pursue in their academics or other extracurricular activities.

“Lecture Fund has a very dear place for me, mainly for it allows me to bring my ideas into reality and for it is a great platform to stay in touch with all speaking events that happen on campus,” said member Ceyda Erten (SFS ’13), who organized the TEDx Conference on campus last semester.

“As a fan of TED Talks, I was able to put together a team of both Lecture Fund members and other members of the Georgetown community and initiated the TEDx Georgetown project.”

In order to conceptualize the arrivals of speakers like Karl Rove and Jane Goodall, Lecture Fund takes internal suggestions and solicits a wide range of speaker ideas from an array of organizations on campus. The Lecture Fund board then reaches out personally to speakers, whether through agents or personal connections. After making contact, the potential proposals are presented to the members of the group, which then vote on whether or not to allocate money from the fund for the proposed event.

The Student Activities Commission earmarked 17 percent of its total budget for Lecture Fund, or $19,067, for this semester. With an average price tag of $647 per lecture, Lecture Fund uses the SAC funds to pay for speaker fees and venues, which range from less than $100 to over $5,000.

On top of the funding, the group must solicit co-sponsorships from other student groups in order to cover additional costs like food and reception needs. Lecture Fund Chair John Gwin (SFS ’12) said they often reach out to groups that back the content of the speech or have a stake in being affiliated with such speakers.

“I guess we’re opportunistic in the sense that we’ll partner with any other group that is interested in covering the costs,” he said.

Gwin also noted that the timeline for securing a speaker and organizing the lecture depends heavily on unpredictable factors.

“It’s wildly variable. Some happen in two to three weeks, … but it could be much, much longer,” he said.

“Usually, what takes the most time is if the speaker has a contract they need to have signed. That’s the most common factor. Other things are idiosyncratic or unpredictable. Speakers’ plans change.”

Once guests agree to speak at Georgetown, Lecture Fund focuses on the planning of the event, which can often be as complicated as the initial agreement.

“Booking these speakers is as much about logistics as ideology,” Gwin said. “Given the numerous details that go into the execution of the events, it is no wonder that any number of [things] can go wrong.”

According to Evans, the group dynamic surrounding the planning of events may even be better than the events.

“My favorite part of the Lecture Fund is, by far, working with the associate board to conceptualize, plan and execute events,” he said. “We have such an amazing group of brilliant and diverse people, and to hear

Temp le Gr andin Serge i Khru shch ev Brad ley C oope r DiabSeteven S tes re hoelso searc n her Imam Rauf Dr. R ache l Grif fin TEDx Geor getow n The O nion Alexa ndra Cous teau Adria n Fen ty Ann C oulte r Mich ael M oore

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“As a Georgetown student, I’m drawn to political causes, and I am in solidarity with workingclass people,” she said.

According to Kathleen Smith, a visiting professor in the government department who teaches a class called Social and Protest Movements in Contemporary Society, Occupy DC lacks the leadership and group cohesiveness necessary to enact change.

“The more diverse their grievances [are], the less concrete their demands,” she said. “So far, the Occupy movement has not been able to translate their anger into an effective message. That’s the problem with movements that are hyper-democratic.”

When Reverend Jesse Jack-

son made an appearance at the protest site Monday afternoon, he criticized the disorganized nature of the movement, saying that it needs to channel its energy toward creating actual change. “[Dr. Martin Luther Jr.’s] success lies in the fact that he made the oppression we faced illegal,” Jackson told the crowd that had gathered. “At some point we must turn occupation into legislation for protection.”

But Kohnert-Yount said that the movement is united by a common desire to see political and economic change.

“Every single person in McPherson square has a different reason for being there, but they all have one shared reason and that is their desire for justice,” she said.

BURST PIPE FLOODS TWO NEVILS APARTMENTS

DATA: THE LECTURE FUND; KAVYA DEVARAKONDA/THE HOYA

their ideas and share my own with them is both an honor and incredibly rewarding.”

Event organization also helps Lecture Fund members feel connected to the campus at large, according to Erten.

“Because every lecture event has to be approved by the Lecture Fund, we also get to hear about all the exciting speaking events that a variety of student organizations put together,” she said. “I learn a great deal from hearing about what happens on campus, and I have attended many events that other student groups have put on.

Helping those organizations advertise their events to a greater student audience allows me to give back.”

While Lecture Fund is often credited with bringing primarily political names to campus, the organization tries to hold events that appeal to students whose interests lie outside governmental affairs.

“When we think about the kinds of people that come to speak at Georgetown, we usually think of people from the Washington political arena, so it’s refreshing to have someone like Michael Moore come,” Andrew Markel (SFS ’15) said. “I think we have a pretty diverse range of speakers here.”

Working actively to gain student feedback on speaker choices and selection criteria, Lecture Fund conducts biannual surveys of students by placing submission boxes in strategic locations around campus.

“Often, it’s very difficult to conduct action on a specific submission because … speakers’ availability is extremely variable,” Gwin said. “The

bottom line is that those submissions are really valuable, and we think about them as kind of thematic indicators of interest.”

A variety of speakers — and controversies — is just part of the job for the group.

Lecture Fund faced some backlash this week for its co-sponsorship of an event featuring conservative commentator Ann Coulter, who will be speaking Thursday, following their sponsorship of liberal filmmaker Michael Moore’s visit to campus two weeks ago.

Yet some students said that they appreciated Lecture Fund’s choice of guests — even if they cause a stir.

“I agreed with some of what [Michael Moore] said, but I disagreed with some of it too,” Markel said. “It was still interesting to hear what he had to say because it’s not something I otherwise would have been exposed to.”

Members said they are excited that students engage with speakers whose beliefs they might not agree with.

“I look forward to the Lecture Fund continuing to bring fresh, unconventional and thought-provoking speakers to campus and to expand our presence on campus so that as many members of our community as possible can have the chance to interact with our great group of speakers,” Evans said.

For the fund, backing popular events helps maintain their reputation within the Georgetown community, Evans said.

“A speaker has the ability to reaffirm your beliefs, slightly change them or radically turn them on their heads, which is such a pivotal part of our development and education, both in college and beyond,” he said.

CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA

Residents were evacuated from two Nevils apartments late Sunday night after a burst water pipe caused extensive flood damage.

See full story online at thehoya.com.

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Pilot Science Classes in the Works SCIENCE, from A1 combining both the science and policy dimensions,” Edelstein said, as an example. “By working together, the professors can teach the issue better than either of them [could] on their own.”

Edelstein said that limited faculty resources will be the main obstacle to adding a science requirement to the SFS. “There are already many students taking science courses in the College,” he said. “Would three to four thousand students per year from the SFS make the College over-committed?”

Some SFS students said they didn’t like the idea of adding a science requirement.

“SFS already has a lot of requirements,” said Kabreya Ghaderi (SFS ’15). “Adding science requirements would probably mean decreasing the free electives I can take at the same time.”

Muaaz Maksud (SFS ’15) agreed that the requirement wasn’t needed because inter-

ested students could already incorporate science into their major through the Science, Technology and International Affairs program.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to add a science requirement,” he said. Students who are interested in science can just choose to major in [STIA].”

Edelstein added that this aversion to science on the part of many SFS students could be a problem for the pilot classes because they might appeal mostly to students who already have an interest in science, and not provide a representative sample to test the program.

“Students who already didn’t want to take those classes would not take them, but they are the people who we want reflection and feedback from,” Edelstein said.

According to Denis Peskov (SFS ’14), a sophomore representative on the SFS Academic Council, the requirement would likely not increase the number

of classes that SFS students are required to take.

“It would more possibly be either replacing or combining with the other requirements,” he said. Peskov said he thought the addition of science to the curriculum would help broaden the education that SFS students receive.

“Having an objective understanding of the world helps as much as does having a metaphysical understanding,” he said.

Kyle Zhu (SFS ’14), another sophomore representative on the council, said he agreed that SFS students needed to gain a better understanding of the physical world.

“We need to have a general idea of how things naturally interact … with quantitative reasoning,” he said.“For example, in economics, which is a heavy requirement in the SFS, externalities are often related to environmental issues.

Some basic knowledge would allow us to gain a better appreciation of the concept.”

Coulter Elicits Mixed Reactions COULTER, from A1 don’t endorse her values, and we believe it is evident that the majority of the Georgetown community doesn’t either,” she said.

In the wake of 9/11, Coulter was let go from her role as contributing editor to the National Review Online after she made anti-Muslim and anti-Arab remarks. A fierce critic of liberals and mainstream media, she has also jabbed environmentalists for alleged exaggeration of global warming. And during the 2008 presidential race, she used an anti-gay slur to describe former presidential candidate John Edwards.

Reiterating the Lecture Fund’s mission statement, Irish said that the organization approached Coulter’s visit with a commitment to promoting on-campus dialogue in mind.

Part of Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan 100 Scholars Lecture Series, a project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Ronald Reagan, Coulter’s talk aims to foster a broader dialogue, according to the organizers of the event.

Chairman of the College Republicans Joseph Knowles (COL ’12) stressed the merits of bringing a controversial figure to campus.

“I don’t agree with everything that Ann Coulter says, but that’s what it’s about. It’s about … engaging with the speakers, and maybe they’ll respect what we think,” he said.

Knowles also noted that the $10,000 speaker fee for Michael Moore, a liberal filmmaker and commentator who spoke on campus two weeks ago, came entirely from university funds.

According to Knowles, the

Reagan 100 Scholars includes speakers like Coulter from across the conservative spectrum.

“With Ann Coulter, we move outside of the actual political establishment to conservative media and punditry,” Knowles said.

Thomas Lloyd, a staff writer for The Progressive, the College Democrats’ online publication, said he didn’t see the appeal of a speaker like Coulter.

“She is generally very offensive for the sake of being offensive,” he said. “She’s not an academic.”

However, Lauren McDonald (MSB ’14) was excited about her visit.

“I think it’s nice to hear from someone who’s so honest and also someone who brings some humor to the political talk,” she said. “She just really tells it like it is, and I respect her for that.”

CHRISTINA MCGRATH FOR THE HOYA

Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata spoke at an Italian unification celebration Friday.

Italian Ties That Bind MARIAH BYRNE Hoya Staff Writer

Opening the university’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of the Italy, Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata stressed the importance of the ties between Italian and American culture Friday.

The day’s events in Lorhfink Auditorium, which focused on Italian politics, culture and identity, were organized by the Italian Department, the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in D.C. The conference, which opened to a crowd of around 50 students, was frequented by classes of Georgetown Italian students through the day.

Terzi stressed that the idea of Italian unity had been a cultural theme for several centuries before the country achieved political unification. While the country faces some regional tensions, Terzi said a sense of camaraderie remains highly valued on a societal level.

“This is a strong encouragement for all Italians in the country and worldwide to unify in their culture, if not necessarily politically,” Terzi said.

The ambassador attributed the unifying strength of the Italian culture to the fact that the vernacular has been maintained since the days of Dante.

“The language spoken seven centuries ago can still be understood by most Italians, which is an idea that few cultures can lay

claim to,” he said.

American interest in learning Italian has increased by 60 percent in less than a decade, according to Terzi. Effects of this growth can be witnessed in the creation of the Observatory of the Italian Language, the implementation of an Advanced Placement Italian program by the College Board, effective in fall 2011, and other programs that have been spearheaded by the Italian government.

“There is no doubt that learning Italian is increasingly popular in the United States,” he said.

“All of these programs are part of a large initiative which includes many inter-university programs,” Terzi said.

Learning about the social differences of the European country attracted some students.

“I most enjoyed the presentations by Professors Cicali and DelConno on theater and music during the unification of Italy,” John Collins (COL ’14) said. “Recognizing the importance of entertainment outlets such as theater and music in educating the Italian public about the Risorgimento [Italian unification] was enriching.”

Emphasizing that the Italian government stays committed to strengthening its relationship with the United States on both a federal and a public level, Terzi credited the development of American interest in Italian society and fusion of the two cultures to ItalianAmerican organizations.

“This gives the impression [that] Italy is on solid ground,” Terzi said.

A8

SPORTS

THE HOYA

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

WOMEN’S SOCCER

COMMENTARY

Hoyas Triumph Over Midwest Rivals Selfish Behavior WOMEN’S SOCCER, from A10 credit for fighting back,” Nolan said. “But we were right where we wanted to be at halftime.”

The score remained knotted up for the first 30 minutes of the second half, but another Irish own goal in the 76th minute changed that and proved to be the gamewinner for the Blue and Gray. Baker was once again directly involved in the goal, as her cross was misplayed by a Notre Dame defender and sent into the net.

The Blue and Gray were outshot 6-1 in the second half, but the Hoya defense remained stout and shut out the Irish in the half to earn the win. Nolan lauded his FILE PHOTO: CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA team’s play, specifically that of Baker and his centerback pairing of sophomore Emily Sophomore centerback Emily Menges earned the praise of her head coach after a strong performance in the Hoyas’ 3-2 victory over Notre Dame Friday.

Menges and senior Gabby Miller.

“When [Baker] is on, she can impact the game like few players [can]. She’s always tion in their performance.”

Kaitlin Brenn. a danger on long throws and in the qualHowever, the Hoyas’ offense found an“Elizabeth made a great save early in ity of delivery on her crosses,” Nolan said. other gear in the second half and domi- the game to keep the score tied. [And] on “Gabby and Emily were [also] very good on nated, firing a total of nine shots, two of a tight field where we needed a physical the night. They have been playing excep- which found the back of the net. The first presence, Kaitlin did a great job for us,” tionally well.”

Georgetown goal came in the 53rd minute Nolan said. “We put on a good second-half For the second and closing game of the when senior midfielder Kelly D’Ambrisi performance and gritted out the win.” weekend, the Hoyas traveled to Chicago to chested in a long Baker throw-in.

The team will play its final regulartake on DePaul at Wise Field on Sunday.

Just a few minutes later, freshman mid- season game against Villanova at North The Blue and Gray struggled to build on fielder Daphne Corboz knocked home the Kehoe Field on Saturday, and stands to Friday’s momentum, mustering only two rebound off a Baker shot from 18 yards capture the National Division title if it out. Georgetown was then able to shut wins and division-leader Louisville loses at shots in a lackluster first half.

Cincinnati.

“To play at DePaul is very difficult. down DePaul and get the victory.

Nolan again praised the efforts of his “We’re where we want to be [right now],” They have a tight, hostile environment and we caught them on their senior defense and noted strong efforts by Han- Nolan said. “This group is very mature and day,” Nolan said. “There was a lot of emo- na in net and by sophomore forward knows what each game means.”

FIELD HOCKEY

Georgetown Flat in 10th Straight Loss RACHAEL AUGOSTINI Hoya Staff Writer

The Georgetown field hockey team (2-13, 0-4 Big East) suffered two more losses this weekend when they traveled to upstate New York to take on No. 8 Syracuse (13-2, 4-0 Big East) and Cornell (6-7, 0-4 Ivy League). With the two defeats, the Hoyas’ losing streak hit ten games.

The Hoyas first traveled to Syracuse, N.Y., to take on the archrival Orange. They were unable to stay with the hosts and lost by 10 goals.

The Blue and Gray were down 2-0 in the first half when junior forward Catherine Shugrue, who was SYRACUSE 11 named to the Big East Weekly HonGEORGETOWN 1 or Roll after tallying five points CORNELL 4 this weekend, put the Hoyas on the GEORGETOWN 2 board. Shugrue scored after junior midfielder Claire Mittermiller’s corner, off an assist from junior midfielder Laura Thistle.

Shugrue’s goal came 18 minutes into the game and the Orange responded emphatically, scoring five times in the next 17 minutes to

make the score 7-1 at the half.

“I think we started off at Syracuse in the right mindset,” Head Coach Tiffany Marsh said. “[But] then we broke down collectively.”

Syracuse extended their lead in the second half by scoring four more goals. When the final whistle blew, the scoreline read 11-1 and the Blue and Gray had been outshot, 36-4.

Syracuse, however, is currently tied for first in the Big East and has already clinched its Big East tournament berth.

“Considering they are a Top 10 team, I think we did a lot of very good things against them,” Marsh said. “But we need to find a way to stay consistent for 70 minutes of hockey.”

Georgetown then headed to Ithaca to take on Cornell. Despite being close to .500, the Big Red have yet to win a game in the Ivy League, and Georgetown hoped to join the likes of Harvard and Yale by defeating them on Sunday.

The Blue and Gray started the game against Cornell the same way they started against Syracuse two days earlier. The Big Red grabbed an early 2-0 lead before the Hoyas responded with a goal, when junior forward Annie Wilson tipped the ball into the net after a penalty corner.

“Our offense at Cornell took a step forward

in the sense that we were getting more shots off in the circle,” Marsh said.

The Georgetown defense couldn’t stop Cornell, though, and the hosts tallied two more goals in the half, putting them up 4-1 at the intermission. The Hoyas went on to play one of their best halves of the season, holding their hosts scoreless for the second half.

Unfortunately for the Hoyas, they could only muster one more goal — another one from Shugrue.

“We had a goal of creating as many scoring opportunities as we could,” Marsh said. “We executed well on a corner, and Catherine had a nice touch on a ball from [junior forward] Charlotte [Tierney] for our second goal.”

The Hoyas have three more games to play this season, two of which are against conference opponents.

“We are in a position to end on a very good note,” Marsh said. “Two out of the three games are against Big East competitors, which gives us another opportunity to play Big East hockey. I’m looking forward to making the most out of these last three games.”

The Hoyas play Villanova Friday before taking on local rival American Sunday. Both games will be played at William I. Jacobs Recreational Complex at American University.

Doomed Boston

BARCLAY, from A10 7-20 record. On the last night of the season it looked as though all would be well, as the Sox took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning against the Orioles and the Rays found themselves in 7-0 late against the Yankees. but in a finale that was almost comedic if not so cruel, the Rays somehow managed to come back and win, while the Sox blew it against the AL East’s bottom feeder.

Naturally, questions of whom to blame were thrown around Boston, as someone had to be held accountable for the collapse. Manager Terry Francona was the initial scapegoat, and despite having brought Red Sox Nation its first title in 86 years (as well as its second just three years later), he was gone.

The parting of ways was said to be mutual, but it was evident that Francona was fed up with the situation. Word of his losing the players’ focus brought concerns about team chemistry and led to questions of how such an experienced unit could demonstrate such immaturity.

Just this past week in a disclosure by the Boston Globe, however, inside details of selfish behavior by players in the final months of the year emerged.

According to the piece, Red Sox starters would often eat fast food, play video games and drink beer during games that they weren’t pitching.

There were also concerns with Francona’s personal use of pain medication, while longtime Red Sox such as David Ortiz, Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek were either criticized for their poor performance or general lack of leadership.

Also this past week, General Manager Theo Epstein, who is largely responsible for putting the roster together, met with Chicago Cubs officials about becoming their newest GM. Epstein ultimately agreed to terms to take over the Cubs, but as of now the deal is still in limbo regarding compensation for the Red Sox, as Epstein was under contract for another year.

As further information continues to be released, it pains me that I rooted so earnestly

for this selfish band of entitled individuals. In a business where players and executives are paid ludicrous salaries for what is ultimately just a game, their arrogance and lack of professionalism is disgusting. The blame resides with the players for failing to recognize the commitment involved to winning and to the community that is so passionate about the Red Sox. In regards to Francona’s departure, I cannot help but feel bad for him. Despite personal issues involving his health and family, he remained committed to the team, and the players’ failure to recognize the brotherhood of a team had to be disappointing. Of course, not all players are responsible — second baseman Dustin Pedroia is credited with desperately trying to motivate his peers — but that was not the case with most.

In the front office, though, Epstein’s parting with the Sox is cowardly. Born and raised in a Boston suburb, Epstein is running away from a problem he created to try to become a hero in Chicago. Although he did help construct rosters that won two World Series titles, his performance deteriorated throughout his tenure. It’s hard to find a single big free agent signing that worked out for the Sox with the failures of the likes of J.D. Drew, Mike Cameron, Julio Lugo, Edgar Renteria, John Lackey and Carl Crawford, and he bears final responsibility for compiling a roster that just could not gel.

So what’s next? It appears that Epstein’s assistant, Ben Cherington, will take over as the GM, after which the search for a manager to replace Francona will begin. The Sox are still saddled with much of the same roster. The new front office will have to bring in a manager with a new attitude and better leadership on the field to begin the healing process for the Red Sox fan base in 2012.

Preston Barclay is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business. TURNING TWO IN THE 202 appears every Tuesday.

VOLLEYBALL

Hoyas Fall to .500 After Loss at ’Nova MAGGIE MAWN

Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown women’s volleyball team (10-10 2-5 Big East) headed to Pennsylvania on Saturday to compete against Villanova (13-8, 5-2 Big East). Although they put forth a good effort, the Hoyas fell short, losing in straight sets 25-23, 25-21 and 25-19.

The Blue and Gray were looking to build momentum after VILLANOVA 3 a win over archrival Syracuse, but GEORGETOWN 0 unforced errors and inconsistency got the better of them.

Despite the loss, several Hoyas stood out for their individual play. Senior setter Ashley Malone led her team with 31 assists, eight digs and two kills. Senior libero and captain Tory Rezin remained on pace to set Georgetown’s career digs record, recording 16 digs, one assist and one service ace in the loss.

Sophomore hitter Brooke Bachesta also made an impact, contributing a team-high nine kills, three digs and one assist.

Additionally, the Blue and Gray received a strong performance from freshman middle blocker Danielle White, who led the team with a .312 hitting percentage off of eight kills. She also tallied one assist and one block assist.

Georgetown had known the match was going to be a tough one, though. Villanova was coming off a three-match losing streak and was desperate for a win. The offensively talented Wildcats and the Hoyas battled back and forth for the three sets without a clearly dominant team on the court.

The first set had 10 ties and five lead changes as the Hoyas rallied back from a 2217 deficit to tie the set at 23 before losing the final two points of the set to the hosts.

In the second set, Villanova was leading, 16-13, when Georgetown called a timeout in

an attempt to readjust their plan of attack.

But back-to-back errors by the Hoyas allowed the Wildcats to jump out to a 20-14 lead. A mini-rally fell short for the Blue and Gray, who found themselves in a two-set hole after dropping the set, 25-21.

Georgetown got off to a slow start in the third set — allowing Villanova to get out to a 7-1 lead — and it didn’t get much better from that point. Although the Blue and Gray forced the Wildcats to call a timeout with the score 18-13 in the hosts’ favor, they couldn’t muster any real momentum and ultimately dropped the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-0.

The Hoyas fall to .500 on the season but return home this weekend to face two more conference foes as St. John’s (9-14, 0-6 Big East) and Connecticut (11-10, 1-5 Big East) come to the Hilltop. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. on Friday against the Red Storm and Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Huskies in McDonough Arena.

FOOTBALL

Stingy Defense Holds Howard to Field Goal FOOTBALL, from A10 came to life. The key moment came on a trick play in which Burke took a pitch from Kempf, only to find senior tight end Tucker Stafford in the back of the end zone for Burke’s second touchdown pass this season.

“I was a little bit [nervous],” Stafford said. “I mean, I didn’t really think about it much, but it was a good feeling to get in the end zone and it really got the momentum going for our offense to finish the game.”

The real star of the game, however, was the Georgetown defense. It held the Bison to only 241 total yards — 126 on the ground and 115 through the air. The name of the game on both defensive sides was pressure,

as neither offense was able to make anything happen for the majority of the game.

“Since they have a young quarterback [freshman Greg McGhee], who is going to be an excellent player, we wanted to put a lot of pressure on him, especially on third downs to force quick throws,” Kelly said.

This strategy proved to be especially advantageous to the Blue and Gray, as they were able to disrupt McGhee and prevent him from getting in a groove. The young signal-caller threw two interceptions and had just 25 yards on the ground.

Senior defensive end Andrew Schaetzke and junior linebacker Robert McCabe once again led the defensive effort. McCabe recorded a team-high 13 tackles while also grabbing a key interception late in the

fourth quarter, while Schaetzke added six tackles, including a sack and one other tackle for loss.

The Hoyas finished off the scoring on a 4-yard pass from Kempf to senior running back Chance Logan, two plays after McCabe returned his interception to the Howard 4-yard line.

Kempf had a mediocre passing game, registering just 97 yards through the air, but made up for the lack of production in the passing game with 84 yards on the ground. In all, the Blue and Gray dominated the ground game, rushing for 191 yards.

For the first time since early September, the Hoyas return home on Saturday to face off against Patriot League foe Colgate on Homecoming weekend.

INDEX

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SPORTS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

THE HOYA

MEN’S SOCCER

CROSS COUNTRY

Women Run Strong in Indiana ARIK PARNASS

Special to The Hoya

In all four major North American sports, there is a preseason, which every team deals with differently. Most NFL teams choose to rest their starters for parts of games, while MLB teams often choose to send split squads to two different locations. Preparation for the major tournaments in NCAA cross country is no different.

The Georgetown women’s cross country team travelled to Terre Haute, Ind., this past weekend to compete in the Indiana State Pre-National Meet. The Hoyas finished second out of 37 schools, behind only Florida State, legitimizing their status as a national title contender.

Seven-time All-American senior Emily Infeld was the first to finish among a strong group of Hoya runners, placing fifth with a time of 20:44. Her finish was impressive not only based on the talent of the field, but because it was Infeld’s first race of the season.

As critical as Infield will likely be to her team’s success for the rest of the season, it is the depth of the Hoyas that truly shone at this particular event. Although only the top five times for each school were officially counted, it was clear that the Blue and Gray sported the most depth — all seven of its runners finished in the top 45. Georgetown’s finish of 5/17/19/26/32 for a total of 99 was bested only by Florida State’s

4/7/8/13/14 for a competition-low total of 46. The Seminoles’ final finisher, however, placed 86th. Had all of the scores been counted, the Hoyas’ 185 combined placing would have been much closer to the Seminoles’ 152.

For this particular event, the Hoyas’ team-first strategy paid big dividends, as graduate student Claire Richardson finished second among the Hoyas and 17th overall in 21:09. Following Richardson was junior All-American Emily Jones, who placed 19th, freshman Annamarie Maag, who finished 26th and freshman Katrina Coogan, who took 33rd overall. Junior Kirsten Kasper and senior Loren Borduin came in 41st and 45th, respectively.

While the women’s team was cementing its place among the national favorites, the men’s team split into two squads and went to two different sites to test their mettle against a variety of competitors. Half of the split squad was sent to Madison, Wis., to compete in the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, while the rest stayed closer to home, traveling to Charlottesville, Va., for the Panorama Farms Invitational. The Wisconsin squad finished 24th of 39 schools while at the University of Virginia, Georgetown placed sixth out of 10 teams.

While neither of the tournaments culminated in top finishes for the Blue and Gray, the split squad was used, like in professional sports, to give more

athletes the opportunity to compete and the coaches a chance to evaluate their runners.

Senior Mark Dennin led the way for the Hoyas with a time of 24:42 at the adidas Invitational — good enough for 41st place — and was followed closely by graduate student Alexander Lundy, who clocked in seven seconds slower and finished 53rd. All seven of Georgetown’s runners finished in under 26:07, with graduate student T.C. Lumbar, junior Andrew Springer, junior Ben Furcht, freshman Omar Kaddurah and freshman John Murray finishing 153rd, 175th, 187th, 208th and 230th respectively. Although the team finished in the bottom 15, the result was deceptive as the tournament contained 19 ranked teams, including the No. 2 Badgers. The Hoyas finished fifth out of the six Big East teams.

Meanwhile, in Virginia — where Georgetown finished sixth out of 10 — the first Hoya to cross the line was freshman and Charlottesville native Derek Armstrong, who clocked in at 25:28, followed by sophomore Brian King, junior Bobby Peavey, sophomore Max Darrah and freshman Miles Schoedler.

The preparatory races are now over for both teams; the men and women will next compete in the Big East championships on Oct. 29 in Louisville, Ky., before the running in the NCAA MidAtlantic Regional Championships in early November.

COMMENTARY

Midnight Madness Lacks Excitement Nick Fedyk

Double NickTwist

F

riday night was supposed to rescue us from the disappointment of the NBA lockout. ESPN praised the return of college basketball and excitedly covered “Midnight Madness” events taking place around the country.

Instead, Friday night on the Hilltop was just another disappointment. As other big-time universities opened their seasons in front of packed crowds and screaming fans, the four corners of McDonough Gymnasium were littered with empty seats.

At the University of Kentucky, students camped out in tents for hours just to get tickets to attend the “Madness.” At Georgetown, students were able to walk in even after the event started. In Chapel Hill, players scrimmaged in front of 20,000 students. In McDonough, less than 2,000 filled the bleachers.

In fact, Georgetown’s Midnight Madness was more about student dance teams than the basketball team. I do appreciate the talent of groups like GU Step Team and Groove Theory, but was Friday night really the time and place for them to perform? The doors opened at 8 p.m., but the show we really came to see — the men’s basketball team — didn’t start until a couple of hours later.

It’s ok to have a little fun — the musical chairs and shooting contest were entertaining — but whoever directed

the event essentially turned it into a talent show for our dance groups.

There’s a reason why students started leaving the bleachers.

I admit that I was one of them. Horrible Bosses was playing in the ICC Auditorium, and I can guarantee that I was more entertained by Jennifer Aniston than Midnight Madness.

I didn’t miss much at McDonough.

The word on the street was that JTIII overstayed his welcome; there were more bribes to entice us to attend the women’s basketball games, including a free pizza and a Metropass that is probably worth five bucks; the slamdunk contest and alumni introductions were apparently pretty cool, but where was Allen Iverson? I guess he really doesn’t like showing up to practice.

At the end of the day, Midnight Madness was supposed to get us all pumped up for the new season. But how excited are we? Three problems put a damper on the upcoming year.

First, we don’t have any strong personalities on our team. Last year, we were all focused on Austin Freeman and Chris Wright, two returning stars that we hoped could lead us to March glory. When Austin or Chris played well, it energized the entire team. Do we have any stars this year that can take their place? Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson are the two most experienced returnees, and there will be a lot of pressure on them to step up and become leaders. But as of today, few in the college basketball world really know who this team is, and it will be up to these players to restore respect to Hoya basketball. We’re anxiously

hoping for the best, but we’re just not fully confident that they can carry the load.

Second, our early-season home schedule is quite simply not very exciting. Our December and January games feature low-end teams like Howard and NJIT, and we won’t be on campus for our winter break matchups against Memphis, Marquette and Cincinnati. Fans will have to wait a long time before we see our three big games against UConn, Villanova and Notre Dame — all of which take place in February. While these games are without a doubt worth waiting for, they won’t be stirring up the Hilltop any time soon. And don’t forget that our rivalry game against Syracuse is hosted by our opponent this year.

And finally, Hoya basketball is in trouble. In the past three years, we have lost in the first round of the NCAA and NIT postseason tournaments, and skeptics are starting to question Georgetown’s recruiting ability and John Thompson’s leadership. Last year, Hollis Thompson almost left for the NBA, and Vee Sanford and Jerrelle Benimon ditched the program altogether. It goes without saying that the Big East is hanging on by a thread.

We live in uncertain times. We’re not pumped up or confident. Instead, we’re anxious and maybe even a little bit upset. And instead of rallying our spirits, Midnight Madness just made us even madder.

Nick Fedyk is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. DOUBLE NICKTWIST appears every Tuesday.

A9

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA

Sophomore midfielder Steve Neumann and the rest of the Hoyas were held scoreless on Saturday against No. 12 Notre Dame.

ND Shuts Out Hoyas KEITH LEVINSKY Hoya Staff Writer

On a sunny Saturday afternoon on North Kehoe Field, No. 20 Georgetown (8-3-3, 3-2 Big East) fell to No. 12 Notre Dame (6-3-4, 2-2-1 Big East) 3-0 in a clash of top Big East teams. A few defensive breakdowns proved costly for the Hoyas as the Fighting Irish capitalized on their goal chances in the 20th, 60th and 74th minutes. Despite the lopsided score line, Georgetown outshot Notre Dame 18-16 and took six corner kicks to the visitors’ three.

“It’s a NOTRE DAME 3 dif f icult game,” GEORGETOWN 0 H e a d Coach Brian Wiese said. “I’m sorely disappointed, because this is a game that, if we execute some things, we could win.”

Each team was dangerous in the first few minutes, but it was the visitors who drew first blood as a result of an impressive passing sequence.

Notre Dame junior midfielder Dillon Powers and sophomore forward Leon Brown executed a quick giveand-go on the edge of the box before Powers fed the ball to junior forward Danny O’Leary, who touched the ball to the left of Georgetown freshman goalkeeper Tomas Gomez and into the back of the net.

“That first goal was a very good goal,” Wiese said. “They moved it well, and you have to give credit for a good goal.”

In the final 20 minutes of the half, the Blue and Gray did their best to respond with a goal of their own, but were unsuccessful. In the 23rd minute, sophomore forward Steve Neumann’s headed shot was denied with a diving save by senior goalie Will Walsh.

With four minutes remaining in the half, though, the Hoyas had possibly their best chance of the game.

Sophomore defender Joey Dillon headed the ball to Neumann just inside the 18-yard box on the right side of the field. Neumann struck a low, hard shot that struck the inside of the far post before the Notre Dame defense was able to clear the ball without further incident.

After halftime, the Fighting Irish increased their lead in the 60th minute. Gomez was able to parry Notre Dame junior forward Ryan

Finley’s shot from the top of the penalty box, but Fighting Irish senior midfielder Michael Rose slotted the ball home to double the visitors’ lead to 2-0.

Georgetown had a few more decent goal-scoring opportunities, but were once again unable to convert.

In the 71st minute, sophomore forward Gabe Padilla stole the ball at the top of the box before shooting wide. A minute later Walsh denied another Neumann header to keep the Blue and Gray off the scoreboard.

The Fighting Irish scored their final goal in the 74th minute when the ball was chipped into the box in front of Gomez, but a Notre Dame player was able to head the ball back to Finley who volleyed the ball into the open net.

Four minutes later, the game went from bad to worse for the Hoyas as junior defender Jimmy Nealis fouled Finley on a near breakaway. Nealis received a red card for his foul and will miss Georgetown’s next match against Marquette (7-52, 5-0 Big East).

“Red cards are red cards, but when they are dodgy red cards it makes it tough,” Wiese said. “We have to quickly focus on how we are going to handle a road game against the top team in the division, Marquette, and do it without Jimmy Nealis. The mountain just got a little bit higher.”

The Blue and Gray kept pressing but struggled to keep possession while playing a man down and could not find a way to break through the stout Notre Dame defense.

“You want to get your points at home, but I think overall, if you look at things and how we played, there is a lot of good in it,” Wiese said. “The score really flattered Notre Dame in terms of how the game was played.”

The loss gives the Hoyas a 3-2 record in the Big East, and drops them to third place in the Blue Division.

“This conference is awfully tough.

This loss just made it that much harder,” Wiese said. “The aim has always been to finish in the top two in order to get that bye. That still is very obtainable. As far as our big picture goes, I have a team I think can beat any team on any given day.”

The Hoyas now travel to Milwaukee, Wis., to face Blue Division leader Marquette on Wednesday at 8:05 p.m.

SAILING

GU Stumbles in Two Races CHRIS JONES

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown sailing competed in two separate events this weekend, the Navy Fall Intersectional and the Captain Hurst Intersectional at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, but the Hoyas failed to meet the high expectations they had set for themselves.

While the team finished fifth out of 18 teams at the Navy Fall Intersectional, Head Coach Mike Callahan anticipated a better finish.

“We were good enough to be a top-three team, but we had a couple bad races here and there, which put us back,” Callahan said.

The Blue and Gray aimed to keep Stanford and Yale in sight in order to finish in the top three, a spot Callahan felt the team deserved. However, the Hoyas failed to keep pace, allowing teams such as the College of Charleston and Hobart and William Smith Colleges to sneak in front of them.

Despite the results, Callahan was still very impressed with the way seniors Sydney Bolger and Rebecca Evans sailed. As

the smallest person and only woman sailing in the D division, Bolger was instrumental in Georgetown’s finish. Callahan was impressed with the way she handled the strong winds.

“Sydney paddled really hard, which gives me great hopes for her future,” Callahan said.

In the C division, Georgetown’s top coed sailor, sophomore Chris Barnard, finished in fourth place despite incurring a few penalties early on.

“Realistically, he was somewhere in the top three,” Callahan said. “Chris probably didn’t sail up to what he would say was good, but I thought he sailed well.”

Freshman Alex Post continued his strong fall season and came away from the weekend exceeding personal expectations.

“He did better than we anticipated, and we were happy with that,” Callahan said. “We hadn’t seen him at his highest level until this weekend.”

But the Blue and Gray did not fare as well at the Captain Hurst Intersectional in Hanover, N.H., where they finished 14th out of 22. It was a bitter pill for Callahan to swallow.

“It was probably one of the lowest we’ve finished in my 12 years of coaching. Just didn’t have it all weekend long.”

Coming away from the weekend, Callahan knows there’s work to be done with the coed squad.

“We’re not performing as well as we could or should,” Callahan said. “We have the talent on the team, it’s just a matter of getting people out there and doing well.”

Still, Callahan is pleased with his women’s team, and his expectations reflect his optimism for the squad.

“I think this could be the year we win a women’s national championship or at least come as close as we’ve ever come.”

Georgetown was supposed to sail in the MAISA Match Race Championship next weekend, but it has been rescheduled so Callahan could give his team a week off for midterm exams.

After Callahan’s reshuffling of the schedule, the Hoyas will compete in the War Memorial Regatta at Navy in two weeks, hoping to bounce back after their underwhelming performance this past weekend.

Sports

FOOTBALL Hoyas (5-2, 1-1) vs. Colgate (4-3, 0-1) Saturday, 2 p.m.

MultiSport Facility

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011

WHAT’S INSIDE: Keith Levinsky recaps the men’s soccer team’s home loss to Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon.

RECENT SCORES: BIG EAST MEN’S SOCCER

UPCOMING GAMES: BIG EAST MEN’S SOCCER

Rutgers Depaul

UConn at West Virginia Today, 7 p.m.

1 0

Villanova Cincinnati

1 2

USF Syracuse

3 2

USF at Louisville Today, 7 p.m.

Providence at Pittsburgh Today, 7 p.m.

“As far as our big picture goes, I have a team I think can beat any team on any given day.”

Men’s Soccer Head Coach Brian Wiese

COMMENTARY

FOOTBALL

Red Sox Hoyas Smoke Bison in DC Showdown Collapse Continues ANDREW LOGERFO Special to The Hoya

In a matchup of Washington rivals, the Georgetown defense had its best game of the year, holding Howard to a solitary field goal in a 21-3 victory over the Bison.

“They are a much-improved football team,” Head Coach Kevin Kelly said. “I want to [mention that].

That was a hard-fought game up to the fourth quarter.”

In a game with only 10 points scored in the first three quarters, the Hoyas HOWARD 3 were able to put toGEORGETOWN 21 gether a strong 14-point fourth quarter to extend their slim lead and recapture the Mayor’s Cup after 2009’s loss to the Bison.

“Our defense did an excellent job of putting our offense in [a good] position, which was a big thing in this game,” junior wide receiver Jeff Burke said.

After a scoreless first quarter that included three points and an interception for each squad, the Hoyas were able to strike first in the second quarter on sophomore running back Nick Campanella’s 6-yard touchdown run with less than five minutes remaining In the half.

Two big plays by sophomore wide receiver Zack Wilke — a 20yard reception from junior quarterback Isaiah Kempf and a 37-yard run on a reverse — brought the Blue and Gray to the Bison 6-yard line, and Campanella did the rest.

Neither the Hoyas nor Bison scored again until the fourth quarter, when the Blue and Gray

Preston Barclay

Turning Two in the 202

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rofessional sports teams in Boston have love-hate relationships with their fans. Although mostly beloved in New England, failing to win is considered unacceptable, and of all New England teams, the Red Sox carry the most pressure to win year in and year out.

After a disappointing, injury-riddled 2010 season, expectations were at an all-time high after an eventful offseason that included the acquisitions of star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego and the signing of left fielder Carl Crawford from divisional rival Tampa Bay. A revamped bullpen with the additions of Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler also suggested that the 2011 version of the Red Sox would be a serious contender for the franchise’s third World Series title in less than a decade.

But fast forward several months and baseball’s dream team found itself missing out on the playoffs entirely after surrendering a ninegame wild card lead in the greatest regular-season collapse in baseball history.

Injuries and the underwhelming performances of several crucial players created a perfect storm in September, leading to a horrendous See BARCLAY, A8

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA

Junior wide receiver Jeffrey Burke threw for a touchdown pass on a trick play in the Hoyas’ 21-3 victory at Howard.

HOYAS PREPARE FOR THE BIG DANCE

See FOOTBALL, A8

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Baker Leads Way in South Bend LEONARD OLSEN Hoya Staff Writer

CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA

Senior Sydney Wilson and freshman Jasmine Jackson showed off their moves Friday night.

The Georgetown women’s soccer team (13-5, 7-3 Big East) notched two away wins this past weekend, defeating defending national champion Notre Dame (8-6-3, 5-3-2 Big East), 3-2, on Friday and DePaul (3-13-1, 1-8-1 Big East), 2-0, on Sunday.

Both wins were big for the Hoyas, as they defeated Notre Dame on the road for the first time and also secured at least a second-place finish in the National NOTRE DAME 2 Division, GEORGETOWN 3 which earns DEPAUL 0 them a firstGEORGETOWN 2 round bye in the Big East tournament and a home date with Syracuse.

“We knew that Notre Dame and DePaul would be very challenging games,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “Notre Dame has been the measuring stick for everyone in the conference.

It’s great that we are in a position to go into Notre Dame and win, and [it] proves that we are in the elite group of the conference.”

On Friday at Notre Dame’s Alumni Arena, the Blue and Gray jumped out to a very early lead when senior forward Sam Baker headed in a goal in the second minute off a cross from redshirt senior midfielder Ingrid Wells.

The Hoyas wasted little time doubling their lead: In the 10th minute, Baker launched a long

FILE PHOTO: CHRIS BIEN/THE HOYA

Senior forward Sam Baker was the only Hoya to score in Georgetown’s 3-2 win over Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had two own-goals.

throw-in into the box that took a friendly bounce off a Fighting Irish defender into the net. However, Notre Dame was quick to respond, as senior forward Melissa Henderson headed a cross from sophomore forward Adriana Leon past Georgetown senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Hanna just four minutes after their own goal had

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given the visitors a two-goal lead. Henderson turned provider in the 34th minute when senior midfielder Courtney Barg tapped in a Henderson cross to tie up the game.

“We got a little bit of a lucky break on the second goal, and you have to give Notre Dame See WOMEN’S SOCCER, A8