The Hoya: Nov. 16, 2012

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 94, No. 21, © 2012

FRIDAY, november 16, 2012

A CAMPUS DIVIDED

The Civil War threatened the school and turned classmates into combatants.

COMMENTARY The Hoya’s outgoing editor-in-chief reflects after a year at the helm.

GUIDE, G8

UNRANKED GW was dropped from US News & World Report’s Best College ranking.

BASKETBALL Senior Sugar Rodgers set Georgetown’s all-time scoring record Wednesday.

NEWS, A6

SPORTS, A10

OPINION, A3

Early Applications Hit Record High MSB and NHS saw largest spikes in early action numbers Michael Donnay Special to The Hoya

Olivia Hewitt/The Hoya

MICHELLE CASSIDY/THE HOYA

The Beautify Georgetown Project, which restored the shields in Copley Formal Lounge (left), and the GU Farmers Market (right) are among the eight successful ReImagine Georgetown programs.

RIG Re-Examines Impact Eitan Sayag

Hoya Staff Writer

Of the 13 initiatives that have won ReImagine Georgetown grants in the last five years, eight are still thriving. But funding for some inactive projects have been cut for the first time, and organizers are searching for ways to enhance the program’s impact. RIG, an annual contest that awards grants to student-run initiatives, traces its origins to 2007,

when the university approached Students of Georgetown, Inc., the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union and The Hoya to start a program that would fund undergraduate student life improvements. The credit union and The Corp grant approximately $10,000 each year to fund RIG winners’ proposals, while The Hoya provides marketing and advertising. “RIG is, for us, a way to pool our resources and get behind projects

that are bigger — bigger financially, bigger in scope and — we hope — bigger in impact,” said Ryan Muldoon (COL ’13), chair of The Corp Philanthropy Committee and a RIG board member. The Georgetown University Farmer’s Market, Illuminate Lauinger, Breaking the Bubble and Student Workshops at Georgetown were all established with the help of RIG grants and remain

After delaying its early action deadline by a week in the midst of Hurricane Sandy, Georgetown saw a record number of early applications this admissions cycle, with 37 more applicants than last year. This year, 6,736 students applied for early action admission to the class of 2017, marking a slight increase over the 6,699 applicants who applied last year. Most notably, the School of Nursing and Health Studies saw a 20 percent jump in applications. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon cautioned that those numbers are not final. “These numbers will change based

on some who are allowed to apply late from Sandy-affected areas,” he said. Consistent with a trend seen in past years, the largest number of early action applications was for the College, which received a total of 3,855 applicants. The Walsh School of Foreign Service and McDonough School of Business received 1,337 and 1,196 applicants, respectively. The smallest number of students applied to the School of Nursing and Health, which received 527 applications. Despite the overall increase, applications to the College were down 5 percent this year, while applications to the SFS remained about the same. The MSB, however, saw an increase in early applicants, with 12 percent more students applying early. According to Dean Deacon, these increases are consistent with national trends toward preprofessional programs. See ADMISSIONS, A7

HONORING SERVICE

See RIG, A7

Grads, Faculty Flock to Fulbright Matt Walters

Special to The Hoya

Georgetown stood among the top producers of Fulbright scholars for the 2012-2013 academic year, with 14 students, faculty and staff receiving the prestigious award, according to a ranking released by The Chronicle of Higher Education Oct. 28. Of the 61 Georgetown students who applied for Fulbright grants last year, 23 percent were accepted. This rate ranks Georgetown the 18th-highest producer of Fulbright scholars, tied with Ameri-

can University and Duke University. With 40 students receiving awards, The University of Michigan topped this year’s list, followed by Harvard University, Brown University and the University of Chicago, which sent 31, 29 and 24 students, respectively. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers merit-based grants for graduating college seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists to travel abroad and study. The grants also provide opportunities to conduct research or become an English teaching as-

RANGILA TO COLOR GASTON THIS WEEKEND

sistant for one year. The Fulbright program offers approximately 1,500 full or partial grants to Americans each year. The number of Georgetown students that received fellowships peaked during the 2007-2008 school year, with 21 students who received grants. This was a sharp increase from prior years. In 2006, 2005 and 2004, nine, three and seven students were selected, respectively. From eight years ago, the number of Georgetown students to See FULBRIGHT, A6

Hoya Staff Writer

OLIVIA HEWITT/THE HOYA

Dancers in this year’s Rangila dance showcase practiced Thursday night. Performances will be held Friday and Saturday night. Newsroom: (202) 687-3415 Business: (202) 687-3947

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

Members of the Hoya Battalion, Georgetown’s chapter of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, lowered the flag at a Veterans Day ceremony Thursday evening.

Business School Jumps in MBA Ranking Penny Hung

The McDonough School of Business moved up three spots to 30th place on the 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek list of best full-time masters of business administration programs. The biennial rankings, released Nov. 15, were based on a weighted total of the individual rankings of student surveys, employer surveys and intellectual capital measure, according to the Businessweek website. The MSB program received individual rankings in those categories of 27th, 35th and 38th, respectively. In addition, the school received an A, the highest possible ranking, in five criteria: career services, teaching quality, critical thinking, leadership skills and classmate caliber. According to Businessweek, the ranking is an indication of how well the MSB serves students and corporate recruiters. “We are very excited about this,” MSB Senior Associate Dean Elaine Romanelli said. “To be in the top 30, even at 30, means that for the next two years, we will be in the conversation. We’ve seen

that after Businessweek ranks schools, it always talks about the top 30, so the difference between 30 and 31 is huge.” This ranking is an improvement over recent years, when the MSB fell below the top 30 cutoff for the 2008 and 2010 Businessweek lists, leading to a “not ranked” designation. The school had also been listed as “not ranked” from 1988, when the ranking began, to 1998.

“To be in the top 30 ... means that for the next two years, we will be in the conversation.” ELAINE ROMANELLI, MSB senior associate dean

This the fifth time the MSB has made it into the coveted top 30 category. The school placed 26th in 2000, 30th in 2002, 25th in 2004 and 22nd in 2006. According to Businessweek, the 2012 student rankings were based on a compilation of surveys taken in 2008, 2010 and 2012. The publication employed this method in an attempt to ensure

Published Tuesdays and Fridays

that short-term issues, such as the construction of new facilities or unpopular deans, would not skew the overall results. The employer survey ranking represented the quality of graduates and companies’ past experiences with them. Romanelli said that she was encouraged by the new ranking’s implications. “The publicity from this means that we will be able to attract more prospective students of even better quality,” she said. “We’ve got top notch people running career services, we just hired a new associate dean of admissions and we have terrific people running the program office. We also introduced a new curriculum this year, and that is going incredibly well.” According to the MSB website, the revamped MBA curriculum, which was launched this fall, features more integrative teaching, greater rigor, an emphasis on quantitative and analytical skills and a global perspective. Romanelli added that the MSB administration is looking to further improve its ranking. “We’re looking at [this ranking] as the platform for a big jump in two years, so we’re working on all fronts,” she said.

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