news
Tuesday, november 8, 2016
THE HOYA
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Metro Budget Raises Concerns May Teng
Special to The Hoya
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s proposed 2018 fiscal budget plan has raised concerns that its measures will result in increased fares, further affecting Metro’s ridership. Presented to the Metro Board of Directors by General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld on Oct. 30, the proposal calls for the downsizing of 1,000 positions — an unprecedented measure — as well as the fare hikes, cuts to certain employee healthcare expenses, slashes to services in low-ridership routes and increased subsidies from the Metro’s service areas. All these measures are in an attempt to offset an anticipated $290 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017. The $1.8 billion operating budget will require final approval by the board of directors in March; however, a series of public hearings and community outreach efforts will begin in late January. Wiedefeld said that the budget reflects the harsh realities WMATA will need to confront if it intends to fund safety improvements, improve track quality and scale services to better match demand. Currently, the Metro rail system is undergoing the largest overhaul in its 40-year history through its maintenance plan SafeTrack, which shutters parts of the track weeks at a time in phases called “surges.” Under the proposed budget, the rising fares would lift the rail boarding charge by 10 cents during peak hours and increase one-way local and express bus fares by 25 cents. However, the higher fares are expected to generate $21 million dollars more annually. Service cuts are expected to generate another $50 million from riders to balance the budget. In WMATA’s Oct. 30 press release, it cited statistics that predict that ridership is down more than 20 percent from its
2009 levels. WMATA Board of Directors Member Malcom Augustine acknowledged that the fiscal proposal’s plan to increase fares may exacerbate the downward trend in ridership, but said it is necessary due to the current low levels of riders. “I think that there will be an impact on ridership. With that said, there has already been declining ridership over the past few years, which is part of the reason we’re in the situation that we’re in,” Augustine said. In addition to personnel cuts, rail service will experience increased wait times as trains run every eight minutes in peak period compared to the current six minute waits. Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Chairman of the Metro Board of Directors, expressed opposition to increasing fares and transferring money from the capital budget to the operating budget. He instead advocated for increased jurisdictional subsidies. Evans’ Director of Communications Thomas Lipinsky said the councilmember fears increased fares might have adverse effects on the region’s economic development. “There’s been a pretty significant drop in ridership over last three months,” Lipinksky said. “The goal is just not to increase fares to a point that it dips further. The majority of development in the region, both commercial and residential, is around Metro systems.” Subsidies from jurisdictions would increase by $47 million from the District, $44 million from Maryland and $39 million from Virginia. The Metro Board of Directors, which ultimately must approve the budget, includes members from local governments. Eno Center for Transportation Senior Fellow Jeff Davis estimated that $100 million dollars of $290 million shortfall are due to declining revenue and ridership, while another $100 million stem from the fact that temporary federal funding will expire at the end
of fiscal year 2018. A further $90 million shortfall can be attributed to increased expenses. Davis said that he is skeptical that the proposed budget will improve long-term conditions and effect long-term change. He said he hopes the involved parties devise a new plan for Metro, which takes into account the 2018 expiration of the federal subsidy to the service. “A lot of this is just killing time until they can have the next great, big crisis that happens every 10 or 15 years,” Davis said. “Congress and the locals have to sit down and come up with some new plan for Metro and the impetus for that will probably be the expiration of the last ten-year funding plan in 2018.” Andrew Hanson, a senior research analyst at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, said increasing fares would mean bus commuters would have to pay an additional $10 a month for transportation while Metro riders would pay an additional $4 per month. However, Hanson stressed that the recent increase in minimum wage from $8.25 in 2014 to the current $11.50 level provides an additional $500 per month in income, which will help absorb the shock of increased transportation costs. “In the long run, decreased Metro ridership in favor of driving, ridesharing services like Uber, biking and walking, will lead to increased fares in the absence of additional direct subsidies from federal, state and local governments,” Hanson wrote in an email to The Hoya. Augustine stressed that WMATA finds itself in a difficult situation with its proposed budget because whatever choice the organization ultimately makes will face some level of opposition. “No one is going to be particularly happy with this,” Augustine said. “We’re in a really rough situation and it’s going to be hard for everybody.”
Corp Launches Scholarship Tala Al-Rajal Hoya Staff Writer
The Hilltoss has launched a new $1,000 sustainability scholarship, which funds the recipient’s project to improve the environment and foster sustainability over the academic year. With applications due Nov. 9, the sustainability scholarship is part of Students of Georgetown, Inc.’s effort to increase its scholarship offerings and meet the financial need of more students on campus. This year, The Corp awarded five scholarships, including the Dream Big scholarship, the Uncommon Grounds Arts Scholarship and the Midnight MUG textbook scholarship. The Dream Big scholarship, sponsored by The Corp’s IT+Marketing Department, furnishes a MacBook Air equipped with AppleCare and Microsoft Office for a student who demonstrates substantial need, while the Midnight Mug textbook scholarship allocates $500 to three students to fund textbook purchases for the academic year. The MUG scholarship application, due Nov. 21, seeks to award scholarships totaling $8,000 to students who have had defining international experiences, or are international students themselves and have an international purpose or project they wish to support. This year’s recipient of the Dream Big scholarship Precious Blalock (COL ’19) said The Corp scholarships help mitigate the socioeconomic barriers students face at Georgetown. “I thought that by attending [Georgetown] I would be able to escape the poverty that befell the community, but I found myself dealing with the same pressures I encountered back home,” Blalock said. “The Corp’s IT Scholarship was something that I could do to change my own situation. Winning this scholarship gave me the confidence to know that, ‘You made it here, of course you belong.’” While the Dream Big scholarship received 30 applications, The Corp’s Philanthropy Chair Kobby Adu-Diawuo (COL ’17) said he aspires to achieve a larger volume
of applicants to ensure all students who could benefit from scholarships have the opportunity to apply. “I think one of the biggest issues that we have now is that it’s very hard to reach a wide audience in terms of getting as many applications as possible,” Adu-Diawuo said. “These are really cool opportunities and it would be nice to figure out a way to get as many people as possible. It might sound a bit lofty but I think [the Dream Big Scholarship] should be the kind of thing that receives over a hundred applications.” The Corp’s Philanthropy committee has been looking into ways to increase student engagement in the scholarship program, mainly by collaborating with The Corp’s marketing department to launch campus-wide promotional campaigns. According to The Corp’s Vice Chair for Philanthropy William Landi (COL ’17), each Corp scholarship needs greater visibility given that the scholarship program is the primary way the organization maintains its nonprofit status.
“This is what makes the Corp a nonprofit, and not enough people know about it.” WILLIAM LANDI (COL ’17) Vice Chair for Philanthropy, The Corp
“This is what makes the Corp a nonprofit, and not enough people know about it,” Landi said. “Getting more people to where they need to be with their own goals and dreams and hopes and dreams and ambitions, whatever those may be, is exactly what we want to be working on”. Midnight MUG’s scholarship will also kick off the Midnight MUG Lending Library, a plan to begin a textbook rental system with books donated by the Georgetown Community. Students who receive the textbook scholarship are encouraged to return the books supplied by the schol-
arship to Midnight MUG at the end of the semester to furnish the rental system. Both the IT+Marketing Department and Midnight MUG scholarships are specifically geared to supporting students who demonstrate significant financial need, according to Adu-Diawuo. “We’ve tried to focus on offering more need-based support,” Adu-Diawuo said. “That way we can make sure people who are receiving the Dream Big scholarship, as an example, are benefitting the most from it. We had the same goal for the textbook rental scholarship.” Adu-Diawuo said each Corp scholarship is meant to embody the character of the service sponsoring it. “The culture at the Hilltoss, for example, is very different from the culture at Midnight Mug, be it that they’re all under The Corp umbrella. We have worked a lot this year to make sure that scholarships really align with the culture of the store,” Adu-Diawuo said. The Uncommon Grounds Arts Scholarship is given to students to fund original art projects that are then displayed inside Uncommon Grounds. They work with the Uncommon Grounds leadership to complete the project by Feb. 1. Landi said that the arts scholarship provides a valuable outlet for the arts, something he believes is underrepresented at Georgetown. “I think that the arts scholarship at UG is impactful, because I personally think that us as a school we don’t really support or celebrate the arts as much as we could,” Landi said. “There are a lot of amazing and talented people here and I don’t think they get enough credit for what they do.” Landi said The Corp is looking to reach more students through its philanthropic efforts. “I would like to reach more corners of campus. I think there are still plenty of underrepresented groups and I think there’s tons of students who have all these amazing individual project ideas. I just don’t think enough people know about it, and I think we need to become more of a presence on campus, a more visible stage,” Landi said.
Italian Undersecretary for European Affairs called for Europe to develop stronger migration and security policies in a talk in the Bioethics Research Library on Wednesday.
Expert Pushes Collaboration Italian Undersecretary calls for stronger policy Paula Hong
Special to The Hoya
Europe and the United States must work together to establish stronger migration and security policies, according to Sandro Gozi, under-secretary for European Affairs in the office of the Italian prime minister, in a talk in the Bioethics Research Library on Wednesday. “We have to sharpen our policies. If you want to win the challenge of migration, the right answer is to develop a new, common policy,” Gozi said. “We want and need to take back control. The wrong answer would be to go back to national policies.” Before assuming his current position in the Italian government, Gozi served as the leader of the Democratic Party on the European Committee of Affairs and as a member of Italy’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2013-15. Europe must also build its security resources, according to Gozi. The French Parliament found multiple intelligence failures led to the 2015 terror attacks on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead and 11 injured, and the November 2015 terror attacks on the Bataclan concert venue and other targets in Paris. “As Europeans, we need to
do more in building up intelligence because it comes from inside and outside,” Gozi said. “We need to devise new security measures and need to make stronger emphasis on defense and in our military.” Gozi said Europe and the U.S. share the similar task of creating policies surrounding migration. “We are confronted with new challenges that are more common than we think. This requires a much stronger and deeper common analysis,” Gozi said. “We have lost control on one of the biggest challenges — migration and refugees.” According to Gozi, Europe faces large challenges in generating more ideas and action on intelligence, given the internal economical turmoil and high levels of xenophobia in the region. “Instead of increasing and integrating analysis under threats and crisis, Europe does not find solutions other than to arrest each other,” Gozi said. “There are big gaps we need to fill in and I am not naive in that I know that there is nothing but a strong uphill battle ahead for preventative measures.” Gozi added that new policies should also look to address Europe’s current lack of economic growth, which has impacted many other issues
such as weak employment. “We must devise a new economical and social policy to strengthen policy and government through physical capacity and new governance,” Gozi said. “This will help control the democracy of the national policies.” Gozi highlighted the coming year as the time to act on the issues facing Europe and enact new policies. “We want to use a symbolic moment and focus on next year, March 2017, where we will propose a new vision with new political integration processes. We must rely on and use this occasion for a new process of integration and must take a new commitment,” Gozi said. Gozi said by focusing on upcoming years, positive change can be affected. “We must be very brave and focus not only on the past 60 years of hard work and accomplishments, but on the future 60 years,” Gozi said. Pietro Candia (SFS ’19), who attended the event, said Gozi presented an optimistic view of Italy. “I think Mr. Gozi gave an insightful discussion, especially on Italy and the European Union. I’ve actually heard him speak before in Italy and I think Mr. Gozi does a great job giving a positive vision of Italy’s future,” Candia said.
Abroad Tuition Gap Studied Local programs are cheaper than GU rates
Hannah Urtz
Special to The Hoya
Since the Office of Global Education required students studying abroad to pay the same tuition as those studying on-campus in 2005, students have raised concerns about the fee structure. According to Tori Costa (COL ’18), a Spanish and Portuguese double-major studying at the Complutense University of Madrid, tuition at her university in Spain costs 1,000 euros — roughly $1,096 — a semester. In comparison, Georgetown’s tuition is $49,968 for the 2016-17 academic year. Costa said she was upset when she realized the disparity between what she was paying and what the program actually costs. “I was livid,” Costa said. “It makes it inaccessible for students who can’t afford to not work for a semester, along with the endless pressure to travel and to finance local activities.” According to Director of Strategic Communications Rachel Pugh, this fee structure was implemented in order to allow students to choose their overseas programs based on academics as opposed to cost.
Pugh said the fees are used to cover a wide range of costs, including overhead expenses related to the time and resources devoted to study abroad as well as the support students continue to receive from the university throughout their time abroad.
“It makes it inaccessible for students who can’t afford to not work for a semester.” TORI COSTA (COL ’18)
“While students are abroad they continue to have access to many Georgetown services and support programs while abroad. For example, students continue to require significant amounts of advising, before, during and after on site experiences,” Pugh wrote in an email to The Hoya. Jared Ison (SFS ’17), who studied abroad in Argentina last year, said he does not view the university’s policy as reasonable. “There was not in my
mind enough of a connection to the university during my time abroad to justify the cost relative to the prices paid by other students,” Ison said. Cassidy Gasteiger (COL ’18), who is currently studying abroad at the University of Botswana, said even though financial aid continued to apply to her study abroad program, other students should not pay full Georgetown tuition for study abroad if the tuition abroad is cheaper. Under the policy, financial aid awards and other grants remain in effect while students are abroad. “I guess in principle, the financial load seems ridiculous in that tuition here is way less than at Georgetown, but I’m still expected to pay full Georgetown tuition,” Gasteiger said. “At the same time, I’m on financial aid anyway and all of that transferred effortlessly, as promised.” Costa said study abroad should be accessible to all those at Georgetown because it is a valuable experience. “Everyone at Georgetown should have the opportunity to study abroad if they are interested in it, because it is such a good experience,” Costa said.
YEON CHO/THE HOYA
Students are required to pay Georgetown tuition when abroad, which can be higher than the tuition students would have to pay at the local university.