The Hoya: Oct. 23, 2012

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 94, No. 15, © 2012

tuesDAY, october 23, 2012

STREAK BROKEN

The volleyball team beat DePaul Sunday for its first Big East win this season.

COMMENTARY Recent ads in the Metro may be hateful, but they are still protected speech.

SECURITY A hall director has teamed up with DPS to promote crime prevention.

SPORTS, A10

OPINION, A3

NEWS, A5

DEBT The Class of 2011’s student debt was above the national average. NEWS, A6

Leavey Eateries Violate Health Code Epicurean Owner

May Be Indicted

Ted Murphy

Hoya Staff Writer

Recent food safety and hygiene inspections conducted by the D.C. Department of Health revealed health code violations at five restaurants in Leavey Center and eight combined violations at Uncommon Grounds and Vital Vittles. Cosi, Pizza Hut, Subway, KFC and Taco Bell were all inspected on Oct. 3 and were cited for a total of 12 violations. The DOH gave these locations five days to correct the violations. Cosi, which is managed by Aramark Higher Education, had three critical violations, which included cold food items being held at improper temperatures, prepared food items with no date or content labels and an out-of-order hand-washing sink in the kitchen, none of which could be corrected on site. According to the DOH, a food establishment would typically need six or more critical violations to be closed immediately. Cosi was cited for more violations than any of the other Leavey Center restaurants that were inspected on Oct. 3, but those violations were immediately See VIOLATIONS, A6

Owner faces criminal charges after allegedly threatening worker’s job Upasana Kaku Hoya Staff Writer

RICHARD OLIVEIRA SOENS/THE HOYA

Taco Bell, Subway and Pizza Hut are among the seven Leavey Center restaurants that were cited for violations.

English Requirement Reassessed Penny Hung

Hoya Staff Writer

The humanities and writing general education requirement could see changes next year if a proposal aimed at strengthening the role of writing in the curriculum is approved this December. Professors from the General Education Committee have developed a preliminary proposal recommending the introduction of a first-year writing seminar capped at 15 students, a humanities and writing

requirement integrated into majors and the transformation of the second humanities and writing requirement into a broader arts and humanities distribution requirement. The proposal will be presented to the Main Campus Executive Faculty Senate this Friday. According to English professor Randall Bass, the presentation will be an opportunity for the Faculty Senate to question and give feedback on the recommendations. If the committee addresses all concerns, the proposal will be put to

a vote in December. Currently, the humanities and writing requirement for all four schools consists of two courses: Humanities and Writing I and II. However, students who earn a four or five on the College Board Advanced Placement English Literature or English Language exam or a six or seven on the International Baccalaureate English Higher Level exam have the option of skipping the first course, while students in the School

Corp Reports No Thefts After Security Upgrade Penny Hung

Hoya Staff Writer

Increased store security and employee vigilance have helped prevent theft from Students of Georgetown, Inc. retail locations since late January, according to Chief Operating Officer

CONNOR BERNSTEIN/THE HOYA

Security cameras at Hoya Snaxa and Vital Vittles have helped alleviate theft problems at Corp locations.

See ENGLISH, A6

GU OCCUPY PROTEST INTERRUPTS SCREENING OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

and Vice President Stephanie Wolfram (MSB ’13). Last academic year, more than $6,000 in cigarettes was stolen from Vital Vittles over the course of five months in three separate thefts on Sept. 1, 2011, Dec. 6, 2011 and Jan. 23, 2012. In addition, $200 in cash was taken from the store’s office on Dec. 1, 2011. “We have not had any issues [with theft] this year so far,” Wolfram said. “There have not been any big thefts that we know of.” Wolfram attributed the decrease to The Corp’s recently installed preemptive measures. “Last year, we had some issues with theft. They were [committed by] students or people outside of the community,” Wolfram said. “So once that happened, we took a lot of security measures.” The Corp installed 24-hour security cameras in Hoya Snaxa, Vital Vittles and their offices, hallways and storage rooms. Safe combinations and locks were also changed. “[Our combinations] probably hadn’t been changed in a while,” Wolfram said. “So we wanted to make sure that we fixed those.” According to Katherine Bruce (NHS ’13), director of Hoya Snaxa, raising employee awareness has been among The Corp’s major initiatives to reduce thefts at its locations. “One of the basic things has just been awareness of theft as an issue,” she said. “There have definitely been

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

See CORP, A5

The owner of Epicurean and Co. could be facing criminal indictment for violating a court order that was issued during a civil lawsuit which began in 2010. The owner, Chang Wook Chon, was issued a show cause order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia during a hearing last week. The order mandates that he appear at a status conference next month to determine a time and place for a trial on the criminal contempt charges. The 2010 lawsuit was filed as a class action case by four employees of Epicurean and Co. who alleged that Chon had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to fully compensate them for overtime work. Chon offered settlement payments to the four plaintiffs outside of court during a meeting at which no attorneys were present, according to court documents. However, a judge ruled in 2011 that there was not sufficient evidence that these settlements were fair and reasonable and that the case should continue in court. According to Darin Dalmat, an attorney for the employees, his firm had by that time lost touch with the plaintiffs. But this May, one of the original plaintiffs contacted Dalmat to reopen the case. Dalmat said that the plaintiff had stopped communicating with attorneys because Chon said he would report the plaintiff to immigration authorities. According to the plaintiff’s testimony last week, he received a notice

from the court in December of 2011 regarding a continuation of the case and informed Chon that he would need a day off to appear in court. The plaintiff alleged that Chon told him that if he wanted to keep his job, he should ignore the notice. At a hearing last week, the court determined that this violated a 2011 court order that prohibited Chon from discussing the case with the plaintiffs. The court referred the case to the U.S. Attorneys’ Office, which must decide whether it will prosecute the case by the end of the month. According to Dalmat, criminal proceedings would effectively put the civil case on hold and could lead to a fine or prison sentence. “An order to show cause regarding criminal contempt is a matter that must be addressed with the utmost seriousness and care,” Kimberly Jandrain, an attorney for Chon, wrote in an email. “Our client and we are approaching it that way. Given that it is a criminal matter, we cannot comment on the merits, other than to say that we look forward to the matter being heard on the merits.” The show cause order comes a day after a judge approved two settlements in another lawsuit against Chon, which was filed this summer by three former employees of Epicurean and Co. also alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The defendant filed an agreement known as an offer of judgment with regard to two of the plaintiffs, which means judgment was entered in their favor. As a result of the judgment, the plaintiffs will receive a total of $18,250 in damages and attorney’s fees. The third plaintiff agreed to drop her case and release the defendant from liability for a settlement of $200.

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

Members of GU Occupy projected information about U.S. military interventions onto a wall in Lohrfink Auditorium during a screening of Monday night’s presidential debate. See story online at thehoya.com. Published Tuesdays and Fridays

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