The Hoya: Oct. 2, 2012

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 94, No. 10, © 2012

tuesDAY, october 2, 2012

HOME HUMBLING

Brown trounced Georgetown, 37-10, handing the Hoyas their second loss.

COMMENTARY The Supreme Court will soon make a landmark decision on gay rights.

SPORTS, A10

TICE A new YouTube video may show an alum who went missing in Syria in August. NEWS, A6

OPINION, A3

TOGETHER AGAIN: ALUMS FLOCK TO HILLTOP FOR HOMECOMING

Hoya Staff Writer

OLIVIA HEWITT FOR THE HOYA

NEWS, A5

DPS Releases Yearly Crime Data Braden McDonald

Thousands of Georgetown students and alumni gathered to watch the sold-out Homecoming game against Brown on Saturday. This year’s Homecoming weekend also attracted a record number of alumni registrants.

BREATHALYZER The District has brought back its breath alcohol testing program.

According to the Department of Public Safety’s 2012 annual crime report, overall crime has dipped at Georgetown’s main campus but tripled at the Law Center campus in downtown D.C. The report, which was released Saturday, highlights crime trends between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2011, at the two D.C. locations and three overseas campuses: the McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies in Alanya, Turkey, Villa Le Balze in Florence, Italy and the School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar. The annual crime report is published annually in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which mandates that all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs make public information about crimes committed on their campuses. According to the 2012 report, overall crime at the university’s main campus, which does not include theft or citations for possession of alcohol, drugs or weapons, has dropped by 16 percent between 2009 and 2011. In 2009, there were 54 reported crimes; that number fell to 51 in 2010 and then 43 in 2011. In particular, instances of hate crime dropped dramatically between the 13 reported in 2009 and

the two reported in 2011. However, burglary surged almost 30 percent between the 27 cases in 2009 and the 35 in 2011, peaking at 38 incidents in 2010. Non-arrests for drugs, alcohol and possession of weapons, which are handled by the university’s Office of Student Conduct, peaked at 483 in 2010 before dropping over 32 percent to 365 in 2011. Alcohol violations composed the majority of these incidents in all three years. Meanwhile, cases in which students were arrested for drugs, alcohol and possession of weapons doubled from three to six incidents between 2010 and 2011; all incidents in both years were drug-related. In addition, reported crimes spiked substantially at the Law Center, more than tripling between 2010, when there were three reported cases, and 2011, when there were 11. Theft, which is not included in the overall crime statistic because reporting thefts is not mandated by the Clery Act, increased at both D.C. campuses in 2011, jumping from 170 to 219 cases on the main campus and from 17 to 22 incidents at the Law Center. The report cites no crimes at the university’s McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies in Alanya, Turkey, at Villa Le Balze in Florence, Italy or at the Doha, Qatar, campus of the School of Foreign Service in any of the three years.

Newly Elected Senate ANC Hopeful Introduced at Meeting Includes Nine Women Laura Zhang

Special to The Hoya

Annie Chen

“[They] were elected [in] the most democratic and competitive senate session,” Chess said. The seventh session of the GUSA senOverall, 66 students competed for 27 ate, inaugurated Sunday afternoon, in- spots in the senate. Ten senators of the cludes a record number of female mem- seventh session also held seats last year. bers. Though some of the races were highly Nine female senators were elected, an competitive — 18 freshmen vied for one increase from the of three positions five women who to represent Darheld seats last year. nall and Harbin “It’s an imporHalls — four were tant change we’ve uncontested. For the final results of last been fighting for,” Only one canweek’s GUSA senate elections, Sheila Walsh (COL didate ran for the see A6. ’14), Georgetown two Henle Village University Student spots, and a speAssociation senacial election for tor for the Copley district, said. The voter the vacant position will be held in the turnout rate also increased this year, future, according to GUSA Senate Transiwith approximately 34 percent of the tion Chair Nate Tisa (SFS ’14). student body — 2,631 undergraduates — The GUSA senate redefined its districts casting ballots, an overall increase from last fall, creating three additional offlast year’s 25 percent rate. campus seats — increasing off-campus Election Commissioner Ethan Chess representation from two seats to five (COL ’14) attributed part of the high — and reducing the number of at-large turnout to the evidentiary standard ref- seats from six to four. erendum that was held concurrent with The modification aimed to address the senate election but commended the the underrepresentation of off-campus new senators for winning their seats in a students. In previous years, only three record-setting year. senators represented more than 500 offcampus students each, which is almost twice the number of constituents compared to the average on-campus representative. However, the election results showed that the at-large race was more hotly contested than the off-campus race, with 2,028 votes cast in the at-large race and only 157 votes cast in the off-campus race. Tisa explained that off-campus students were less aware of the deadlines for candidacy declaration. Only three candidates ran for five open spots in this race. Tisa acknowledged this low turnout and emphasized that it is a challenge GUSA still needs to address. “The proportion [of votes] makes DAVID WANG FOR THE HOYA sense. It’s just the challenge we have to New GUSA senators were sworn in deal with,” Tisa said. “How do we challenge these people and bring them in?” at a ceremony Sunday afternoon.

Hoya Staff Writer

A NEW TERM

Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947

The Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E introduced student commissioner hopeful Craig Cassey (COL ’15) at its monthly meeting Monday. Cassey, who is running uncontested as a write-in candidate for single-member district 2E04 in the Nov. 6 election, addressed the importance of improving communication between students and neighbors and stressed the construction of the New South Student Center at Georgetown as a tool for improving the relationship between the university and surrounding community. “There are issues that both the university and the community share, and there is no better time to address them than now,” he said. Commissioner Tom Birch echoed the idea that Georgetown commu-

EUGENE ANG FOR THE HOYA

Craig Cassey (COL ’15) spoke about town-gown cooperation Monday. nity members have the ability to work together and find common ground, citing the recent agreement on the 2010 Campus Plan as evidence of this potential for com-

promise. “The community is often criticized for not being able to come See ANC, A6

Students Aim to Bolster Tocqueville Emma Hinchliffe & Elaina Koros Hoya Staff Writers

To compensate for decreased funding after the departure of Tocqueville Forum founder Patrick Deneen last semester, students are in the process of creating an affiliated student-run organization within the Student Activities Commission. This new organization, called Tocqueville Forum Student Fellows, will be responsible for the undergraduate programming that the forum previously supported. “Our first goal was to help preserve and continue to expand the great legacy of the Tocqueville Forum,” said Chris Mooney (COL ’13), interim president of the Student Fellows. “The more we work with SAC on this, the more we realize there’s a broader and bigger opportunity to improve intelPublished Tuesdays and Fridays

lectual life on campus that we’re just beginning to tap into.” The Tocqueville Forum, which was established through the government department in 2006, has

“We’re making sure the Tocqueville forum doesn’t lose its character as a place to provide discussion.” Jon Askonas (SFS ’13) Senior Adviser for the Tocqueville Forum Student Fellows

generally included a higher proportion of government majors and students in the College. However, Mooney said he believes that this new platform will allow the pro-

gram to reach a more diverse group of students. “SAC gives us more universal access to all of campus and all four different schools as well as the ability to reach out to freshmen more easily and students involved in other groups,” he said. Jon Askonas (SFS ’13), a senior adviser for the Student Fellows group, said that the group’s mission relates to his own goals as the secretary of academic affairs in the Georgetown University Student Association. “[The group is] a nexus of intellectual life at Georgetown,” he said. “We’re making sure the Tocqueville Forum doesn’t lose its character as a place to provide discussion for students of all political backgrounds.” Askonas said that the student fellows plan to co-sponsor events with See TOCQUEVILLE, A6

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