The Hoya: October 10, 2014

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 96, No. 13, © 2014

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014

FEMINISM

COMMENTARY Hong Kong’s protest should demand better leadership on both sides.

What feminism means to students on the Hilltop.

GUIDE, B1

OPINION, A3

CIRCUMNAVIGATOR Harmonie Kobanghe (SFS ’15) crossed each meridian line of longitude.

DIVING Sophomore Jared CooperVespa broke the Hoyas’ 3-meter record.

NEWS, A4

SPORTS, B10

Students Campaign Required 3-Year Leo’s on Table For ANC Seats Katherine Richardson Hoya Staff Writer

Giovanna Azevedo Special to The Hoya

Alongside the upcoming Washington, D.C. mayoral election, Nov. 4 will bring elections for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, which has two open student commissioner positions to represent the area in and around the university.

Kendyl Clausen (SFS ’16) and Reed Howard (SFS ’17) will commence campaigning together this week, each vying for a position in one of the two districts that encompass the university.

Clausen is running to represent the district including New South, Southwest Quad, Village A, Village C West and the Jesuit Residence, while Howard is positioned to represent Nevils, Alumni Square, Copley Hall, Harbin Hall, Village C East and Henle Village. Although technically uncontested, neither candidate received the requisite number of signatures over the summer to be officially on the ballot, requiring voters to write in their names come Election Day. Originally from Pleasanton, Ca-

DANIEL SMITH/THE HOYA

COURTESY KENDYL CLAUSEN

Reed Howard (SFS ’17) and Kendyl Clausen (SFS ’16)

lif., Clausen is an international politics major. She said she hopes that adding her voice to the ANC would improve neighborhood relations and improve the perception of students in the community.

“One of the things that Georgetown University has the biggest problem with is its relationship with the general Georgetown neighborhood community. This is very unfortunate as we have a group of amazing people on campus, and the neighborhood pretty much only sees students during their nighttime activities,” Clausen said. “I want to help better this relationship as we have great groups of people in both sides. I think we would be able to get along better if we put more effort into it.”

Howard, also an international politics major, is a member of the Georgetown Improv Association, and he co-founded a program called the D.C. Leadership Workshop that provides leadership training to high school students in the District. He focused on the need to promote a student voice throughout the planning process of the campus construction projects.

“I decided that I wanted to run when students started to show a growing frustration over the lack of input that they were given in the process,” Howard said. “ANC plays a key role in the development and finalization of the planning process, and with the upcoming campus plan, I think that it is crucial that students are represented at every point of the negotiations.”

He also aims to address construction on campus through the role of commissioner.

“Issues, such as students not being able to take the quickest paths to class or even construction workers creating an environment where students feel unsafe, need to be addressed, as this campus will be under construction for the next few years,” he said. “We need to ensure that during this time of change, we create an environment where students will feel safe and there are as minimum impacts on student life as possible.”

Advisory Neighborhood Commissions were established in 1973 and granted citizens representation to other government bodies in the District. There are 37 ANCs around the District, each of which is designated by ward number and a separate letter. The Georgetown neighborhood, subdivided beSee ANC, A6

The university is considering implementing a third-year meal plan requirement, according to a press release issued by the Georgetown University Student Association on Wednesday. The announcement was met with dissent from many students, leading to an IdeaScale petition against the plan that had amassed over 450 student signatures by press time.

GUSA President Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) and Vice President Omika Jikaria (SFS ’15) said that administrators informed them of the proposal at the end of September.

GUSA’s press release outlined Tezel and Jikaria’s disapproval of the plan, which they said would add to pre-existing problems at O’Donovan Hall, including overcrowding, lack of accommodations for kosher and gluten-free students and problems with adhering to the Title IX non-contact directives.

“I wouldn’t view any of these particular angles to the issue in isolation,” Tezel said. “I think what it instead shows is that this is a policy change that doesn’t just hurt one aspect of student life. This is multidimensional.”

Under Title IX, universities must be able to make accommodations to prevent accused students from making contact with survivors of sexual harassment or sexual assault.

According to Tezel, the proposed plan also raises concerns about increased tuition and the effects on

FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

The university is considering requiring students to purchase a meal plan for three years, an extension of the current two-year mandate. students with demonstrated financial need. Currently, the least expensive meal plan option is the 60-meal block plan, which costs $885, including $60 in Flex dollars, per semester.

“Even if we are talking about full Flex dollar plans for juniors, that’s still a tuition increase, because you are forcing them to frequent a certain set of businesses that might be out of that student’s budget,” Tezel said.

Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services Joelle Wiese declined

HEALEY BLESSINGS

COURTESY BENJAMIN YOUNG

Independent candidate David Catania.

TINA NIU FOR THE HOYA

Tom Healey (CAS ’64) gave remarks before the blessing of the recently opened Healey Family Student Center on Wednesday.

Maureen Tabet Special to The Hoya

COURTESY COLIN KAHL

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

See LEO’S, A6

MAYORAL RACE

SFS Professor Tapped as Top Biden Aide

Security studies professor Colin Kahl will serve as Vice President Joe Biden’s top national security adviser.

to comment on why the university is considering this plan, but said that the university will engage students as it makes its future decisions.

Tezel said that he believes the university is considering a threeyear meal plan mandate in order to increase profits due to losses from construction projects and to encourage students to spend more time on campus.

“The most apparent one is the need

Vice President Joe Biden appointed security studies professor Colin Kahl as his top national security adviser on Sept. 26. The formal position title is Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Adviser to the Vice President.

The job will require him to take a two-year public service leave from the university.

Kahl, a member of the School of Foreign Service’s Security Studies Program, began teaching at Georgetown in the summer of 2007, taking a public service leave to lead the Middle East Office at the Pentagon from February 2009 through the end of 2011.

Although Kahl could not comment on his new job because of an agreement with the Office of the Vice President, he said that has enjoyed his time on campus.

“The best thing about Georgetown is that I have fantastic colleagues and amazing students,” Kahl said. “They are an incredibly diverse set of folks who come from countries all over the world, have amazing experiences and bring a lot of those experiences into the classroom.”

Published Tuesdays and Fridays

Catania Closes in On Bowser Natalie LaRue

Special to The Hoya

As Biden’s security adviser, Kahl will work with the National Secuirty Council to deliver research and briefings about national security issues to the vice president.

Kahl, 43, said that he looks forward to returning to Georgetown after his time in the government.

“I’m really grateful to Georgetown for allowing me the opportunity to serve again and I really look forward to coming back when I’m done,” Kahl said. “While I’m taking leave from Georgetown for a couple of years, I will be returning at the end of my time in government. I’m not leaving Georgetown for good.”

In a statement on the university’s website, SFS Acting Dean James Reardon-Anderson said that Kahl is deserving of the position and that the experience will make him a better teacher.

“We are enormously proud, when Colin, like several of his faculty colleagues, are tapped for service to the nation,” Reardon-Anderson wrote. “I’m sure he will make an important contribution and will return to our faculty even better equipped to teach and conduct research in the field of international security.”

Democratic candidate Muriel Bowser is losing some of her lead in the race for D.C. mayor, with independent David Catania (SFS ’90, LAW ’94) approaching Bowser as the Nov. 4 election nears, according to a poll released Oct. 1.

According to the poll by Economic Growth D.C., a pro-business advocacy group, Bowser still retains the lead with the support of 35 percent of likely voters, followed by Catania with 27 percent. Independent candidate Carol Schwartz received 11 percent, with 27 percent of likely voters remaining undecided.

The results of the poll draw a picture of a much closer race than depicted in a poll released by The Washington Post on Sept. 17 that revealed a 17-point difference between Bowser, at 43 percent, and Catania, at 26 percent.

If elected, Catania would become the District’s first white mayor, first independent mayor and first openly gay mayor.

Bowser, who has served as a D.C. councilmember for Ward 4 since 2007, defeated current Mayor Vincent Gray in the Democratic primary in April and recently received endorsement from President Barack Obama.

Catania, an at-large D.C. council-

See BIDEN, A6

See CATANIA, A6

Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com

A2

OPINION

THE HOYA

Friday, october 10, 2014

C Founded January 14, 1920

EDITORIALS

Fighting Dogma With Fact C An attempt at free speech and the exercise of gay rights at Catholic University of America was put down this week in the form of a demand by university officials to postpone a screening of “Milk,” intended to mark LGBTQ Awareness Month.

“Milk” is based on the true events of the first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk of San Francisco, and is consistently heralded as a triumphant portrayal of the genesis of the modern gay rights movement in the United States.

The event, planned by CUA College Democrats to celebrate the beginning of October’s LGBTQ Awareness Month, invited speculation by administrators that the event struck a tone of advocacy rather than the educational premises under which the event was first programmed. Because “Milk” was screened at CUA in 2011, the point of contention for this event rested with the connection to the month of awareness.

By nature, awareness is different from advocacy. Advocacy demonstrates support for a certain position or a change in policy. Awareness, on the other hand, seeks to educate, start dialogue and uncover truths and facts. Whether or not the CUA College Democrats support marriage equality, gays in the military or any number of gay rights issues, “Milk” chronicles the story of an

important historical figure. Any showing of “Milk” is in the true vein of an awareness month.

However, even if those at Catholic University have a different conception of the difference between awareness and advocacy, universities have long stood as institutions that use academia to promote informed advocacy among students and faculty. As its own mission statement claims, Catholic University wishes to create an atmosphere where “freedom is fostered and … the only constraint upon truth is truth itself.”

Surely, freedom of expression and exploration are among the most foundational aspects of this atmosphere, and dismissing any form of advocacy — for LGBTQ groups or otherwise — is a clear violation of that code.

It is this attitude that differentiates Georgetown from Catholic University.

In many aspects, Georgetown students and faculty alike have made a concerted effort to untangle such dogmatic attitudes from both their worldview and their faith.

As student activists at Georgetown have shown, LGBTQ activism and Catholicism can comfortably coexist and, in the right hands, support each other.

The Catholic University College Democrats are welcome to watch “Milk” on the Hilltop.

C C C

THE VERDICT Stop and Harass? — D.C. residents approached members of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety to discuss discriminatory and aggressive stop and frisks and “jump-outs” by Metropolitan Police Department officers against black D.C. residents.

Final Four — The Washington Metropolitan Area, according to a report from the University of Minnesota, is ranked fourth out of 46 of the busiest metropolitans in the United States for transit accessibility to jobs.

L-O-V-Echkin — Washington Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin surprised a woman from Laurel, Md., with a personalized jersey, flowers and a date.

Cop and Pimp — Linwood Barnhill Jr., 48, a Metropolitan Police officer, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to “two counts of pandering a minor and one count of possession of child pornography.” He resigned from the police department immediately upon arrest.

Tripartisanship in government? — Maryland’s gubernatorial race has shifted its focus to helping disabled employers and the equity of the disabled in Maryland’s workforce.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Michelle Xu

Show Me the Money Everyone knows — and complains — that campus is covered in construction.

Along with these physical updates, the university has more quietly instituted changes to technology — most notably, updates to the HoyaLink Finance.

Flawed implementation of these updates, run through the Georgetown Management System, has led to real consequences for student clubs during one of the busiest times of year.

Because it could not access its funds, Georgetown’s mock trial team was kicked out of a competition after failing to pay the entry fee. Similarly, Welcome Week was unable to disburse funds to student groups at the beginning of the semester.

Even clubs as large as the Georgetown University College Democrats and the Georgetown Running Club have claimed to have had minimal access to finances throughout the semester.

These lapses are regrettable and raise questions about the wisdom of expending time, money and apparently

functionality for systems that do not provide the intended improvements in service.

While administrators have claimed that these difficulties that students have faced have been mere hiccups in a transitional period, it is important to note that this is the fourth month since the university made the switch. If these transitional periods are expected to take more than a few weeks, then perhaps the university should consider phasing in this technology, in order to iron out the wrinkles in the new system as they occur. Leaving clubs unable to access finances for months on end is frustrating and counterproductive for students.

Technological improvements are of course critical to assuring that Georgetown progresses smoothly through the 21st century. But Georgetown’s clubs are just as important to student life.

Surely, there’s a way to make sure both needs are met on campus.

Let’s Opt Out of Influenza With midterm season in full swing, complaints of colds and sickness are sure to soon be a constant of life on the Hilltop. Luckily, the Georgetown community also has a simple and free step at our disposal to promote and maintain public health: Get a flu shot.

A recent study cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that flu vaccinations were associated with a 71 percent reduction in flu-related hospitalizations among adults of all ages and a 77 percent reduction among adults 50 years of age and older during the 2011-2012 flu season.

With statistics like these, and the ease of getting a free flu shot on one of

the 13 dates available across campus, there is no excuse for students to miss this annual obligation.

Despite the preponderance of information available, time constraints, fear of needles and forgetfulness will mean that this advice will go unheeded by some.

Those who are in danger of falling into this category should remember that failing to get a flu shot not only jeopardizes one’s personal health, but also risks the health of those around them.

During our four years at Georgetown, we might as well take advantage of the perks available. A flu shot might not be the most exciting campus freebie, but it’s certainly one of the most important.

Emma Hinchliffe, Editor-in-Chief Mallika Sen, Executive Editor Robert DePaolo, Managing Editor Ian Tice, Online Editor Molly Simio, Campus News Editor Suzanne Monyak, City News Editor Sam Abrams, Sports Editor Jess Kelham-Hohler, Guide Editor David Chardack, Opinion Editor Michelle Xu, Photography Editor Zack Saravay, Copy Chief Emma Holland, Blog Editor

Contributing Editors

Zoe Bertrand, TM Gibbons-Neff, Penny Hung, Nicole Jarvis, Hanaa Khadraoui, Sheena Karkal, Jackie McCadden, Sean Sullivan, Laura Wagner, Emory Wellman

Katherine Richardson Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy City News Editor Kshithij Shrinath Deputy Business News Editor Kim Bussing Deputy Sports Editor Andrew May Sports Blog Editor Max Wheeler Deputy Guide Editor Allison Hillsbery Deputy Guide Edtior Hannah Kaufman Opinion Blog Editor Jinwoo Chong Deputy Opinion Editor Ben Germano Deputy Photography Editor Julia Hennrikus Deputy Photography Editor Daniel Smith Deputy Photography Editor Natasha Thomson Acting Layout Editor Zoe Bertrand Acting Layout Editor Emory Wellman Deputy Copy Editor Gabi Hasson Deputy Copy Editor Katie Haynes Deputy Copy Editor Sharanya Sriram Deputy Blog Editor Emily Min

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Outside MSB, Hoya Gateway Connects Alums To the editor: This morning, I am writing in response to your recent editorial “Expanding the Business Model” [The Hoya, A2, Oct. 7, 2014] with good news. Through the generous support of an alumnus and the ongoing investment and support of the Georgetown University Alumni Association, the Hoya Gateway program is filling the void you described.

Since officially launching 18 months ago, Hoya Gateway includes more than 900 alumni across nine industries — Entertainment and Media, Technology, Government, Nonprofit, Medicine and Health care, Human Resources and Recruiting, Law, Entrepreneurship and Financial Services. These alumni-volunteers have raised their hands to participate in this program. Hoya Gateway is not an alumni directory.

To the point you raised in the article, there are more than 700 alumni across eight industries other than Financial Services. There is a solution currently available for students outside of the McDonough School of Busi-

Michal Grabias, General Manager Jason Yoffe, Director of Accounting Brenna Muldrow, Director of Corporate Development Nicole Foggan, Director of Marketing Addie Fleron, Director of Human Resources Brian Carden, Director of Sales Janet Zhu, Director of Technology Tessa Bell Laura Tonnessen Joseph Scudiero Monika Patel Tessa Guiv Catherine Huber Christine Cha Sarah Hannigan Gregory Saydah Lena Duffield Matthew Da Silva

Senior Accounts Manager National Accounts Manager Operations Manager Local Accounts Manager Alumni Relations Manager Special Events Manager Institutional Diversity Manager Organizational Development Manager Local Advertisements Manager National Advertisements Manager Systems Manager

Editorial Board

Consultants

David Chardack, Chair

Nick DeLessio, Kevin Tian

Celeste Chisholm, Kit Clemente, Ben Germano, Johnny Verhovek, Christopher Wadibia

ness. The Hoya Gateway program is available for all students — undergraduate, graduate and professional schools.

Since the program began, more than 1,100 students have requested meetings with alumni for informational interviews, mock interviews or resume reviews. In September, Hoya Gateway announced a new feature that allows alumni-volunteers to provide job shadowing opportunities for students.

In December 2013, Hoya Gateway was recognized by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II “Gold Accolades Award for Best Practices in Alumni Relations.” CASE is the trade association for college and universities advancement and alumni relations professionals.

From experience, the alumni community understands the importance of networking and mentoring and we stand ready to help.

For more information, go to www.hoyagateway.georgetown.edu.

Jeff Chapski (GSB ’91) Founder, Hoya Gateway

Board of Directors

Sheena Karkal, Chair

Michal Grabias, Emma Hinchliffe, Hanaa Khadraoui, Hunter Main, Zach Singer, Laura Wagner Letter to the Editor & Viewpoint Policies The Hoya welcomes letters and viewpoints from our readers and will print as many as possible. To be eligible for publication, letters should specifically address a recent campus issue or Hoya story.

Letters should not exceed 300 words.

Viewpoints are always welcome from all members of the Georgetown community on any topic, but priority will be given to relevant campus issues. Viewpoint submissions should be between 600-800 words.

Send all submissions to: opinion@thehoya.com.

Letters and viewpoints are due Sunday at 5 p.m. for Tuesday’s issue and Wednesday at 5 p.m. for Friday’s issue. The Hoya reserves the right to reject letters or viewpoints and edit for length, style, clarity and accuracy. The Hoya further reserves the right to write headlines and select illustrations to accompany letters and viewpoints.

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OPINION

friDAY, october 10, 2014

THE SENSIBLE CENTRIST

THE HOYA

A3

VIEWPOINT • Lau

Practicality Can’t Be Lost in Hong Kong

N Tricia Correia

A Place for DC Among The States I

n 1970, Sam Smith wrote in the D.C. Gazette that the D.C. Statehood movement was not proceeding at the speed most thought it would.

“Instead,” Smith wrote, “we have annual piddling negotiations on the Hill that move the cause ahead with all the haste of a paraplegic turtle climbing the Washington Monument.”

This same assessment held for 44 years until very recently, when the discussion of D.C. Statehood gained fresh momentum in 2014.

I have lived in Washington, D.C., off and on for three and a half years. I pay D.C. taxes on the paychecks I receive from my two jobs in the District. I am affected by matters decided by the D.C. government. I am heavily involved in the D.C. mayoral race. But, I do not vote in D.C. College students have the option to either retain their residency and voter registration in the state where their family is located or to register in the state where they are living while in school. As a D.C. college student, I currently carry a Minnesota driver’s license and am registered to vote in Minnesota — because I want my vote to count. The majority of D.C. college students I talk to do the same because, like me, they are not ready to throw away their voting rights. Registering to vote in D.C. effectively does that.

Granting D.C. statehood would encourage tens of thousands of college students and many would-be D.C. residents to live and register in D.C. and to vote for representatives who will truly give the District the voice it needs on Capitol Hill.

Many of those who work in D.C. are fleeing to nearby suburbs in Virginia and Maryland, taking their tax revenues and economic contributions with them, in order to be treated as full U.S. citizens and given representatives in both the House and the Senate. For the future of all D.C. residents, D.C. must gain voting representation. Is D.C. statehood the answer to this problem? Perhaps. On principle, D.C. statehood makes sense.

More citizens live in the District of Columbia than in either Wyoming or Vermont — a total of 646,499 people. This alone proves that D.C. statehood is not an altogether outlandish concept. While some argue that D.C.’s land mass is too small to be considered a state, it is my opinion that land mass does not matter when debating the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens.

However, while I am all for D.C. statehood, I do not believe in the all-ornothing approach for this movement.

It is pragmatic to consider alternatives to statehood that can still increase the rights of D.C. citizens. For example, D.C. could be given two voting congressmen, as D.C. currently has no voting representatives. My only qualm with this option is that our bicameral legislature is designed for both chambers to have delegates from each state or district, not just one chamber. However, if this compromise can act as a stepping stone in the process of D.C. gaining full representation or statehood, I am all for it.

Another option includes retroceding D.C. to Maryland. This grants D.C. residents the benefits of living in a state without granting D.C. statehood. One drawback, however, is that this forces citizens of a city to become accountable to a state that they did not choose to live in. It also forces the state of Maryland to adjust to having 646,499 new residents and taxpayers with their own distinct needs. Convincing those involved to proceed with this option would be nearly impossible. Although I do not agree with this alternative, I find merit in considering all alternatives offered to solve this problem.

License plates in D.C. read “Taxation Without Representation” because that is exactly what’s happening. Just like the colonists at the Boston Tea Party, it’s time for D.C. residents to stand up and make it clear that we have had enough.

Eventually, D.C. will need to become the 51st state; however, a pragmatic approach to this movement is necessary.

Any form of representation that D.C. gains is good in my book. After all, those living in a city that is so central and vital to the national government should not be the furthest away from having involvement in that government.

Tricia Correia is a senior in the McDonough School of Business.

The Sensible Centrist appears every other Friday.

Matthew Quallen, who ordinarily writes the column Hoya Historian every other Friday, is off this week.

ational Day is supposed to be a day of celebration for most Chinese. Yet, in the small citystate of Hong Kong, this Oct. 1 holiday was the beginning of a movement.

Self-government and self-determination have been rallying cries for the thousands of students who flooded the streets for the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement, which began as a reaction to the Chinese government’s refusal to allow Hong Kong to have true democracy.

During its handover from the United Kingdom to the mainland in 1997, the agreement promised Hong Kong 50 years of exemption from the socialist system in its miniconstitution, the Hong Kong Basic Law, which encompassed its political, economic and social policies.

The promise of universal suffrage was also included.

China put forward a framework on Aug. 31 that would require chief-executive candidates to achieve a 50 percent approval rating from a nominating committee in order to ensure that a “patriot” assumes office in 2017 and beyond.

For most Hong Kong residents, their right to vote meant preserving their way of life and paving the way for effective governance to solve any of Hong Kong’s myriad social and economic issues.

Thousands surged into the streets to support the movement against this proposal. Student-run groups like Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students led the movement alongside leaders of Occupy Central, a movement that began in 2011 shortly after Occupy Wall Street.

An estimated 200,000 people took to the streets, occupying key locations in Hong Kong. The protest gathering in Admiralty spread to Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and even the workingclass area of Mong Kok. When I travelled home to participate in the protests last week, there was a part of me that wondered if I was coming back to say goodbye to

Protesters should demand accountability from both China and the movement’s leadership. the only place I call home. Instead, I found a city that was spluttering with new life. The people of Hong Kong have made an admirable stand. It was an inspirational sight — but there was something missing.

This scene was wholly unexpected given Hong Kong’s divided political scene. Occupy Central had previously alienated moderate citizens who considered civil disobedience too radical.

Several things have changed since then. The Aug. 31 proposal was extreme in its finality, angering students who decided to take to the streets of their own volition in a surge of idealism and desperation.

Being what my friend laughingly dubbed “newbie protesters,” who had just barely discovered their new-

found civic awareness, they found no outlet for their hope except through this movement, which was deemed radical just weeks ago. Groups leaped in to guide the movement.

Scholarism, led by 17-year-old Joshua Wong, came to prominence for defying the central government.

But, mobilization was not a triumph in itself; we need politically savvy representatives who are willing to compromise and negotiate for the future of Hong Kong’s rule and autonomy, not hotheaded leaders who are advocating for a neverending occupation outside government buildings. The Hong Kong government might be paralyzed, but Beijing is still unlikely to budge.

Citizens are calling for the govern-

VIEWPOINT • Musgrave

Overhaul Needed to Fund Clubs Fairly

I

n a few short weeks, the Student Activities Commission will consider budget submissions from over 105 student organizations, the largest number of groups that has ever been funded. For this current semester, SAC had $103,190 to allocate to all our groups. We received well over $200,000 in requests and had to pare those down to $161,900 that we felt were reasonable.

Dividing $103,190 by $161,900 yields a percentage of 63.73, which is the rate at which we funded reasonable requests. This is the lowest scale cut that we have ever had, and we are expecting an even lower one for next semester, as spring programming requests are usually more ambitious than fall programming. In addition, we expect to be funding upward of seven more groups than last semester, further adding to our load.

Clearly, a change needs to be made.

I propose an overhaul to the club funding system that drastically changes the way money is delivered to clubs, yet still maintains the current advisory board framework.

First, the Student Activities Fee needs to be raised. It currently sits at $153 per year, which is one of the lowest SA Fee rates among our peer institutions. I propose a modest $47 raise, to $200.

Every undergraduate pays this fee, which is allocated every year by the Finance and Appropriations Committee of the GUSA senate. FinApp allocates to the seven advisory boards (SAC is the largest of these), along with things like Georgetown Day, Georgetown Programming Board and Homecoming. Last year, the total collection from the SA Fee was $998,400. Raising the fee to $200 per person would result in over $1.3 million in collections.

After the fee is raised, the manner in which it is distributed must be modified. First, I propose that the bulk of the SA Fee be allocated by the Council of Advisory Boards, which is the body that is made up of delegates from all seven advisory boards, rather than by FinApp. FinApp would receive about $300,000 to allocate to other miscellaneous entities, such as those mentioned above.

CAB would receive slightly more than $500,000 to allocate out to the advisory boards, because the

members of said boards should be deciding how much funding they need, rather than a group of GUSA senators with less of a direct connection to actual student groups.

That leaves an amount just shy of $500,000 still to be allocated. I propose that students themselves — with the exception of freshmen — should directly allocate that money. Each upperclassman would be able to directly control half of their fee, $100.

On “Allocation Day,” they would use a web application to directly allocate their SA Fee into the account of the group or groups of their choosing.

Freshmen would not allocate under this system; rather, their full $200 would go to CAB and FinApp. I see freshman year as a trial run, a time to try many organizations to find the right fit, which is why one should be given the privilege to directly allocate beginning as a sophomore.

This model could drastically improve student life at Georgetown. The raised fee means that even if organizations were not collecting as much as they expected from their membership, their advisory boards would still be there to back them up. Funding decisions would be put more in the hands of students, and less in the hands of a small group of GUSA senators. Large organizations would continue to benefit, and small organizations with dedicated membership would have the potential to drastically raise their budgets.

Many organizations would be able to exist purely on collections from their memberships, without funding from their advisory boards. This could free up money for large conferences for SAC groups, or better-funded trips to national championships for club sports athletes. It would also encourage students to more deeply immerse themselves in the experiences offered by their organizations.

If people are allocating their money directly, they will feel more of an affinity for a group and will be encouraged to attend more events, engage with more people in their clubs and ultimately build a stronger community on the Hilltop.

If people allocate money directly, they will feel an affinity for their group.

PATRICK MUSGRAVE is a junior in the College. He is chair of the Student Activities Commision.

ment to honor the latter part of “one country, two systems,” but Beijing will never let Hong Kong forget the former part either.

But, being in the thick of the movement gave me hope. There were idealistic thinkers and earnest students.

Public lectures were being given by professors, civil servants and activists in public squares and amphitheaters, which had been renamed “the Democracy Square.” Students and workers alike held discussions about the common people’s demands as well as about how the movement could effect positive change through dialogue and negotiation.

I saw a strong thread of civic education alongside a grassroots-democracy movement; it seemed like the beginning of a robust civil society. So, why are their leaders acting like they have no sense of political strategy or knowledge of modern Chinese history?

Different groups have started jockeying for positions of leadership. Who will represent the students? Who will represent the people and the workers? What about the remaining 6 million people who have not taken to the streets to express their will?

In fact, the movement has been slowly losing the hearts of the people, who see the movement as a disruption and inconvenience in their daily lives. The common people and small businesses that were hurt by the continuous occupation had more faith in the stable and prosperous society they’d always known.

If we want to see a true democracy, we need people to demand accountability, beginning with the leaders of this movement.

“Do you hear the people sing!” proclaimed a banner hanging from a bridge in the Occupy area. The answer is a resounding yes, but whether we will hear it at the negotiating table is another story.

Cheryl Lau is a junior in the School of Foreign Service.

AS THIS JESUIT SEES IT ...

For the Only Jesuit in Qatar, Uplifting Unity

A

t the moment, I am the only Since Vatican II.” There, all the stumember of the Georgetown dents were Christian, except for two Jesuit community serving Muslims. In Qatar, I teach the same full time at the Qatar campus of the course, same material, except here all School of Foreign Service. the students but two are Muslim.

I am the only Jesuit here in Qatar, We take up the same material we but not the first. Years ago, when SFS- studied in Washington, some of it Q was just getting started, Fr. Ryan positive, some negative, which we disMaher, S.J., was here, and more re- cuss and debate animatedly, and in cently Fr. Jim Walsh, S.J., taught theol- both places I sense an underlying curogy. But for the past year and a half, I rent that this generation really does have served as the only Jesuit in Doha. not want to repeat the mistakes of Before I arrived here, I wasn’t sure the past. They live in a global culture how I would be received in this small where national, racial and religious country on the east coast of the Ara- prejudices are simply not acceptable. bian Peninsula. I knew that Qatar is an Last week, we had midterms, so this almost 100 percent Muslim country, week I am correcting and grading. In and that encouraged me; having stud- one midterm question I asked: “What ied in Lebanon and Egypt and having are the first steps to be taken to improve taught in Indonesia, Turkey and the relations between Muslims and ChrisPhilippines, I’ve lived among Muslims tians?” As I read the papers, I found for a long time and found them to be that I had tears in my eyes at the depth both welcoming hosts and challeng- of insight and commitment expressed ing partners in the dialogue of life. in those exam papers. I wanted to colI can honestly say that in the al- lect and publish those papers so others most 50 years since could read them.What I went to Indoneteacher would not find sia in the 1960s teaching in this situato teach English, tion to be a personally I’ve never encounfulfilling, rewarding extered any serious perience? prejudice or rejecIt’s not all sweetness tion when people and light here. A month learn that I am a ago, a very popular and Catholic priest and in many ways remarka Jesuit. In fact, the able Qatari student died Fr. Thomas Michel, S.J. opposite is true; I in a motorbike accident. find the people I’ve He lived in the dorm known to be easy to and had many friends love and easy to live who were devastated by with. his sudden death. For One thing I many students, it was wasn’t prepared the first time in their for in Doha was lives they had lost somethe family-like atone who was a close mosphere. Visitors friend, someone their from Washington always note what own age, with whom they had lived a close living-learning community and eaten and spent time. They faced SFS-Q is. By the second semester, we these feelings of loss in memorial serbasically all know each other; we eat vices where they shared memories of lunch together, rub shoulders in the their friend and reflected on the siglibrary and see one another at the nificance of his life. student clubs, Lunch & Learns, basShortly after that, the newborn ketball games, lectures, movie nights child of a young American couple, and debate competitions. who only shortly before had arrived There is a strong student organiza- at SFS-Q, died tragically at birth. As is tion aimed at raising consciousness the custom in the Catholic Church about the problems faced by disabled on such occasions, we held a Mass of persons; there’s a video dialogue with the Angels to commend the child to students in Gaza and there are proj- God and pray for the parents in their ects designed to promote an under- time of loss. I was gratified to see not standing of the situations of life and only the Christian staff and faculty work of the hundreds of thousands turn out for the Mass, but most of the of migrant workers in Qatar. There Muslims as well. is plenty to do together, all of which These tragedies give unspoken helps us get to know one another bet- but nevertheless tangible evidence ter. SFS-Q has little of the anonymity that we form one united family enand loneliness about which students gaged in a common effort of edusometimes complain in huge Ameri- cation, working together for God’s can universities. greater glory.

What about the sensitive subject of religion? Can we talk about that? Is it fr. Thomas Michel, S.J., is a visiting divisive, a cause of tension? I’ve had professor at the School of Foreign Seran interesting experience in this area. vice in Qatar. He is a guest author of AS On main campus, I taught a course THIS JESUIT SEES IT ... which appears in “Muslim-Christian Relations every other Friday.

I sense that this generation does not want to repeat past mistakes.

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I was now just another statistic.”

“Are You Ready” event speaker Salamishah Tillet, activist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, on being sexually assaulted.

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Nicole Ratelle (COL ’16) spread information about about the gender pay gap in Red Square during Empower Hour on Thursday. The event was aimed at raising awareness about women’s issues in the United States and around the world.

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Gay Marriage Ban Lifted Senior Travels World on SUZANNE MONYAK Hoya Staff Writer

The Supreme Court declined review on the three cases contesting same-sex marriage Monday, thus deferring to the decisions of the lower circuit courts and clearing the way for legalization of gay marriage. Now legalized in Virginia, Utah, Indiana, Wisconsin and Oklahoma, same-sex marriage is currently permitted in 30 states in the United States, with more expected to follow suit.

“This is an amazing victory for loving and committed same-sex couples in these states who now have the freedom and recognition that they deserve,” American Civil Liberties Union Director James Esseks wrote in a press release.

The ACLU acted as co-counsel in three of the five cases.

With the fourth, seventh and 10th circuits legalizing same-sex marriage, same-sex couples in other states within those circuits can expect to be able to marry within the coming month.

After the circuit courts ruled that the states’ same-sex marriage ban was discriminatory, and thus unconstitutional, the appeals went up to the Supreme Court. In the case of Virginia, in the Fourth Circuit, all of the states in Virginia’s circuit, which also includes Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia, will be subject to the law.

Gay marriage was legalized in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013, but those remaining three states in the Fourth Circuit have yet to see a ruling.

“It shouldn’t be long for someone to go to court and say, ‘Look, the Fourth Circuit has ruled this way, this state is in the Fourth Circuit, therefore you have to start allowing gay couples to marry,’” said Nan Hunter, a Georgetown University Law Center professor specializing in sexuality in the law. “So I think different states will move at different speeds, and some states may resist it very strongly, but I think that will happen in all six states, the indirectly affected states, within the next month or so.”

Campbell James (SFS ’17), media manager and historian of GU Pride, was hopeful that this ruling would spark a trend of same-sex marriage le-

galization across the country.

“We’re just really happy to see that a lot of LGBTQ people now have the opportunity to get married in a lot of states that I personally wouldn’t have imagined being in the first half of marriage equality in the country. I think it just sets a really exciting precedent for the coming months, the close future, eventually for all 50 states, to perform, recognize, allow same-sex marriage,” he said.

Esseks was also optimistic about the future.

“Ultimately, it means that we will soon see marriage in a lot more states. The Supreme Court’s action this morning sends an unmistakable signal

“It just sets a really exciting precedent for the coming months, the close future.”

CAMPBELL JAMES (SFS ’17) GU Pride Media Manager and Historian

that the nine justices are comfortable with the lower court decisions in favor of marriage, and we think that lower courts will read that loud and clear,” Esseks wrote.

Hunter said that she thought if the court had decided to rule, the right of samesex couples to marry would have been upheld, but that the court most likely declined to rule to avoid making a sweeping decision that would affect so many U.S. citizens at once.

“I think the justices who support gay marriage think that they would win if the case were decided right now, but they also believe that the country is changing, and they can let these lower court decisions change one part of the country at a time, and let more people get used to the idea, before they have to announce a rule that would control the entire country,” Hunter said.

She added that she had not expected the courts to decline to rule. Instead, she said she thought the court would either grant certiorari, meaning to take a case and make a decision, or let the case sit.

“I didn’t expect them to do this. I expected them to

either accept cert. or to deny cert., and then wait and see what happened with the next couple of circuits,” she said.

“So I was surprised that they went ahead and—because they could have just kept those cases pending. It’s quite telling to me because what they did was —the effect of what they did was to allow marriages to go forward in those initial five and, ultimately, 11 states.”

James praised the Supreme Court for deferring to the lower circuit courts to decide this issue.

“I’ve always considered marriage a state issue, so I think it makes me happy that the Supreme Court has decided to uphold these courts rulings, and I feel like that shows support for the lower courts and these lower appellate judges and their abilities to make sound constitutional decisions,” James said.

As for the remaining U.S. circuits that have yet to legalize same-sex marriage, they will have the ability to make their own rulings. Hunter explained that if one or more of those circuits were to decide that the gay marriage ban is constitutional, that will cause a circuit split and the Supreme Court will be forced to issue a ruling on the case to resolve the circuit split.

If the remaining undecided courts independently rule that the marriage exclusion law is unconstitutional, however, the Supreme Court would never need to rule specifically on this issue.

“I think that this court is very clearly ducking this issue, at least for the time being,” Hunter said. “If it turns out hat the remaining three circuits also rule that marriage exclusion laws are unconstitutional, so that the whole country, bit by bit over time, has been covered, then I think it’s quite possible that the Supreme Court will not rule specifically on this question.”

This is not the Supreme Court’s first move that would pave the way for same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage last year when it voted to strike down part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied benefits to samesex married couples who were legally allowed to marry in their states.

Circumnavigators Grant MATTHEW LARSON Special to The Hoya

Around the world in 70 days — this refrain describes Harmonie Kobanghe’s summer (SFS ’15) after winning the Raymond Dinsmore Fellowship from the Circumnavigators Foundation.

Kobanghe was awarded with a $9,000 grant to explore an international issue in 10 weeks, travelling to Peru, Brazil, Italy, Tanzania, India, Bhutan and Nepal to research women’s property rights and their relationship to food security.

“I interviewed government actors, civil society members and women farmers to see if there was any discrepancy between the law and the application of the law on the ground in terms of women’s property rights,” Kobanghe said.

The Circumnavigators Club honors those who have travelled around the world and crossed each meridian line of longitude in one direction. The Circumnavigators Foundation has sponsored over 100 students since its creation in 1964 and aims to improve international relations by creating a deeper crosscultural understanding. Grants are primarily funded by donations from universities and members of the Circumnavigators Club.

As Kobanghe could choose the countries she wished to travel to, she said she attempted to pick countries based on their relationship to their continent and to her project topic.

“Since I was required to travel to at least three continents, I tried to pick countries that were meaningful within their own continent,” Kobanghe said. “I picked Brazil, for instance, because of the huge difference between small farming activities and the export of agricultural projects. I picked Italy because the [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] and [International Fund for Agricultural Development] were there.”

After the Circumnavigators Club approved the list of countries, Kobanghe said her next challenge was to get in touch with government officials and women in each country.

Once Kobanghe found responsive officials, she said that they directed her to women in the respective communities.

“I was lucky enough during my trip to have cities in mind where I wanted to go and when I was in the capital city of most of the countries, I met with government actors who led me to women … that I planned to visit,” Kobanghe said.

With many non-English speaking countries on her itinerary, she utilized Georgetown professors as resources and translators.

“I contacted Georgetown professors here and I asked them if they could help me translate my requests for interviews and they agreed to do so,” Kobanghe said. “It’s better than using Google Translate.”

Although Kobanghe said she planned to hire a translator, she found that people in each country were willing to help her with subsequent interviews.

JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA

Harmonie Kobanghe (SFS ’15) spent 10 weeks travelling the globe this summer.

“Luckily enough the people who I interviewed served as my translator for free,” Kobanghe said. “You meet good people along the way, so I didn’t have any issues there.”

Kobanghe, an international politics major pursuing a certificate in African studies, said that her trip inspired a topic for her senior thesis.

“I did some research but I also did some sightseeing,” Kobanghe said. “It’s a good grant, it’s a good opportunity to travel and research and enjoy your summer. … It’s also a good opportunity to explore new cultures, to taste new food, and meet interesting people.”

Kobanghe told the story of her summer at an information session Monday hosted by the School of Foreign Service Academic Council.

Anthony Pirrotti, a first-year student adviser and dean of international history, and culture and politics, also spoke to interested students.

“One of the goals of the Circumnavigators Club is to get [students] interacting with people,” he said. “They want you to be on the ground, doing field work, and seeing things for yourself.”

Forty-four Georgetown students have participated in the program since 1971, researching such topics as urbanization in third world countries, infrastructure development and refugee transit programs.

The grant is available to rising seniors in the SFS who did not study abroad during their junior year.

Morgan Forde (SFS ’16), a prospective applicant, said that this 10-week trip would be a suitable replacement for a semester abroad.

Forde expressed interest in going to Eastern Europe and studying development issues, such as capacities for Internet access.

“I am not able to study abroad during the year, [so] this sounded like a great opportunity to get out, see the world, and do some research,” Forde said. “It would be a great opportunity for me to just be able to get out and have a new perspective on the world I’m studying.”

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Leo’s Limits Meal Swipe Use Toby Hung

Special to The Hoya

FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

Washington, D.C., implemented a tax on yoga studios at the start of this month, upsetting many who argue that yoga is a spiritual exercise.

Yogis Critique Tax On Spiritual Practice Laura Owsiany Hoya Staff Writer

After the implementation of a 5.75 percent tax on health club businesses on Oct. 1, yoga studios in the District have continued to contest the tax, arguing that yoga is primarily a spiritual, rather than physical, exercise.

The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue has defined a health club business as “a fitness club, fitness center or gym, the purpose of which is physical exercise.” Richard Karpel, president of Yoga Alliance, a national registry and trade association for yoga studios based in Arlington, Va., has spearheaded the opposition to the tax, disagreeing with the inclusion of yoga under “physical exercise.”

“It’s really a legal argument,” he said. “When you look at the law, it says nothing about yoga, it says nothing about yoga studios. What they’re taxing are health clubs, and health clubs are defined as places ‘the purpose of which is physical exercise.’ What we told the Office of Tax and Revenue, and it’s something we believe strongly, is the purpose of yoga is not physical exercise. This is not a crazy argument.”

The state of Washington excluded yoga from paying sales taxes in 2009, and New York did the same in 2012.

Patty Ivey, founder and director of Down Dog Yoga in Georgetown, agreed with Karpel about the important element of spirituality in yoga.

“Yoga is not just a fitness practice.

It’s a fitness practice, but one mostly for fitness of the spiritual mind and the mental mind, so that it impacts people who have anxiety and depression and all sorts of avenues that it takes that other fitness programs do not offer,” Ivey said.

Ivey expressed concern that the tax would drive up prices at Down Dog and other studios committed to the core values of yoga, decreasing

the reach of yoga’s mental health benefits.

“All the college kids that come to Down Dog, there’s a huge benefit of how they handle the stresses of what’s expected in school and from their parents and performing well and dealing with all of those anxieties,” she said. “My fear is that the college group in general may not come and make it important because dollars matter.”

Taylor Bond (COL ’18), who has attended yoga classes but now practices yoga independently, disagreed, explaining that for her and many others, yoga in practice is predominantly physical.

“For someone like me, it’s just like fitness,” she said. “I think yoga at its core is obviously more about the [mind-body] connection, but I think that, in modern society, people use it a lot more for just working out.”

Karpel acknowledged this popular opinion but urged people to look to instructors and ardent practitioners to understand yoga’s true purpose.

“We have 53,000 teachers that are registered with us. If you ask any of them … what the purpose of yoga is, not one of them is going to say physical exercise,” he said.

Yoga is often tied to religious practice, primarily in Hinduism. Hindu cleric Rajan Zed criticized taxation of yoga studios with yoga as a fundamental practice of the religion.

“Yoga was one of the six systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy whose traces went back to around 2000 B.C.E.,” Zed said in a statement.

“Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche and regulating it was kind of a religious infringement.”

However, the Georgetown University Hindu Students Association remained unconcerned.

“No one on the board has a strong opinion about the tax,” HSA President Smiti Mohan (MSB ’15) wrote in an email.

Aramark, the managing group behind Georgetown’s dining services, began imposing a stricter enforcement of their policy banning students from swiping more than once into O’Donovan Hall at the start of the semester.

Joelle Wiese, the associate vice president of auxiliary business services, said that Leo’s staff have noticed students swiping other students into the eatery.

“For the past few years, we’ve been pretty lax about it, but we noticed that it was being abused,” Wiese said. “We noticed many people selling their swipes outside of Leo’s.”

Although the policy has existed for years, many students have still been able to swipe their GOCard more than once into Leo’s to gain access for other students. Aramark is now tightening its regulations.

“The meal plans have always been non-transferable, similar to a Yates membership,” Wiese said. “We are simply enforcing the policy just like any other group would do in these circumstances.”

According to Wiese, Aramark has trained its staff to enforce the policy more strictly than before.

“We have increased training with the staff and clarified the policy with the entire team,” Wiese said.

Ram Nabar, executive director of Aramark at Georgetown, said that

the policy helps ensure that older students do not force underclassmen into swiping them into Leo’s.

“It’s a matter of fairness, especially for underclassmen, who could be told by upperclassmen without meal plans to swipe them in,” Nabar said.

Students with block plans are still able to give their meal swipes to other students.

According to the Georgetown Dining website, disciplinary action may be taken if a student uses a GoCard other than his own to gain access to the dining halls. Leo’s staff will send ID information to both the GoCard Office and the university for further action, which in some cases could include suspension of dining privileges.

Two guest passes are included with the unlimited, weekly and block meal plans for use throughout the semester, intended for students to bring non-Georgetown students into Leo’s.

Additionally, meal swipes can be donated to charitable organizations for special occasions throughout the year, such as the end of the fall semester nearing the holiday season.

Meanwhile, students are still permitted to swipe in twice for themselves during the same meal period, once each at the all-you-care-to-eat facility at Leo’s and a Grab ’n’ Go location.

However, several students are critical of the policy. Some argue that

it is problematic for those who have lost or misplaced their GOCards.

Quinn Larkin (COL ’18) said that he was denied access to Leo’s after misplacing his GOCard and using his friend’s, despite repeatedly explaining his circumstances to the staff.

“I tried to get a friend to swipe me in, but they kept saying that I had to swipe in with my own card,” Larkin said. “I think they should be more lenient with this rule.”

Richard Jung (SFS ’15) said that since students have already paid for their meal plans, they should have the right to share swipes with others.

“It is paid for, and it is given to another person from the purchaser,” Jung said. “It’s a small gift given from one person to another, and not something for the Leo’s management to cry wrongdoing and ban.”

Weekly meal plans range in price from $1,958 a semester for 10 meals a week to $2,519.50 a semester for 18 meals a week.

Jung said that he was also denied access to Leo’s when using a friend’s card to swipe in.

“I think Leo’s recent decision to ban people from transferring their own meal plans as they see fit is ridiculous, and is a classical case of tyranny of market power,” Jung said. “Leo’s is guaranteed a certain level of demand because the school forces the freshmen and sophomores to buy a meal plan that they will most likely not find fully useful.”

$10M Gift Founds Policy Center Kshithij Shrinath Hoya Staff Writer

A $10 million gift from Patricia and Jon Baker Sr. (CAS ’64) established the Baker Center for Leadership and Governance within the McCourt School of Public Policy on Tuesday. A nonpartisan effort, the center will promote research and discussion on policy issues headlined by an annual Baker Forum, where leaders in business, politics and academia will come together to discuss policy.

“By providing an environment to observe and practice intelligent and respectful discourse on important global policy issues, the Baker Center will build upon our historic commitment to bringing insightful dialogue to bear on the most pressing issues of the day,” University President John J. DeGioia wrote in an email to the university.

Baker is the founder, chair and CEO of International Planning Group, a global life insurance broker. He formerly served on the university’s Board of Regents, and in 1991 received the John Carroll Award, the highest honor awarded by the Georgetown University Alumni Association. “[The idea for the center] was inspired by Frank McCourt’s $100 million gift to create the McCourt School last fall,” Lauren Mullins, director of communications for the McCourt School, wrote in an email.

The McCourt School of Public Policy, founded in September 2013 and funded by this record-breaking $100 million gift by Frank McCourt, Jr. (CAS ’75), replaced the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

Mark Rom, associate dean for academic affairs at the McCourt School, said that the Bakers have long been in conversation with administrators to figure out a way to contribute to the university. The announcement of the McCourt School offered such an opportunity. “[The McCourt School] is going to be a hub of intellectual activity regarding public policy on campus, in D.C. and broader. With those doors already opening up, the Bakers were eager to play the substantial role that they could,” Rom said.

Baker praised Georgetown as the ideal recipient of the donation.

“Georgetown is uniquely positioned to leverage its brand, values, principles and successes to transform how policy issues are debated,” Baker said in a press release.

The signature event of the center will be the Baker Forum, which will annually invite prominent academics together with government and business leaders to present research and facilitate discussion on policy issues.

“The Baker Forum is designed to attract an agenda-setting group of experts who will come up with tangible policy solutions, informed by research, to some of our world’s

most critical challenges,” McCourt School Dean Edward Montgomery said in a statement.

While the specifics of the leadership of the center and other programming are still being determined, the center will promote research in areas such as human rights, energy, the environment and economic challenges.

“Solving policy problems is really a tremendously creative exercise, and there are different ways to do that that can appeal to a common set of values that can be acceptable to both liberals and conservatives,” Rom said.

The Baker Center will fall under the new Institute of Politics and Public Service at the McCourt School. The Massive Data Institute and the Institute for Politics and Public Service are the two institutes within the McCourt School.

Rom hopes that the addition of the center to the university will further cultivate leadership in public policy.

“There are personal skills associated with leadership, which is deep knowledge of the political process, substantive expertise on particular issues, ability to create coalitions that can arrive at conclusions, so there’s a lot of those kinds of skills that are rare,” Rom said. “That doesn’t mean it can’t be taught and different elements of it can’t be thoughtfully approached through research and training.”

Sexual Assault Program Draws Standing-Room-Only Crowd Suzanne Monyak Hoya Staff Writer

Students filled a standing-roomonly Copley Formal Lounge to capacity to discuss rape culture and promote awareness of sexual assault at the “Are You Ready” event Wednesday evening.

The event was sponsored by Health Education Services, the Office of Residential Living, Counseling and Psychiatric Services and the Women’s Center, in partnership with LGBTQ Resource Center, the Office of Campus Ministry and the Division of Student Affairs.

Sexual assault survivor and activist Salamishah Tillet opened the event with a reading of her personal account and struggle with her own sexual assault. After being sexually assaulted while in college in 1992, Tillet said that she initially faced denial about her rape.

“At first, I pretended like nothing had ever happened, that I was not raped,” she said.

However, when she tried to take the case to court several years later, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office told her that her case could not be prosecuted.

“In his judgment, according to the law of 1992, I was not legally raped,” she said.

Tillet has since become a public figure speaking out against sexual assault, co-founding A Long Walk Home, Inc., a nonprofit organization that aims to use visual and performing arts to curb violence against women and girls.

Student facilitators wore shirts stating that one in five women and one in 33 men will experience sexual assault during their college careers.

Additionally, although AfricanAmerican women make up just 7

percent of the U.S. population, they make up 27 percent of the sexual assault survivor population.

“I was now just another statistic,” Tillet said.

After her speech, attendees broke into groups of around 10 and discussed their own experiences with sexual assault culture at Georgetown in dialogues led by student facilitators.

Olivia Ball (COL ’15), who attended the event, praised Tillet for stressing the importance of understanding sexual assault across both race and gender lines.

“It was really incredible to hear from a survivor to bring in not just the elements of what it means to be a survivor of sexual assault, but also brought in other issues and made it a very layered thing, so it’s not just gender, but it’s race, it’s class, it’s all sorts of things,” she said. “So I thought it was beautiful to hear someone speak so beautifully and so frankly about it.”

Sexual assault specialist Bridget Sherry Laizer commended the event for attracting such a large crowd.

“I am just delighted. This is one of the best crowds that we’ve had in the history of the event,” she said.

Student facilitators who led group discussions agreed, lauding the event format for encouraging a diversity of opinions.

“I thought our discussion was great. I mean everybody is coming from a different place in their background on sexual assault,” facilitator Emma Hamstra (COL ’16) said.

Facilitator Nicole Carolin (SFS ’17) agreed, adding that she noticed a strong freshman presence in the audience.

“I thought it went really well. I thought we really built up the momentum that we started this year with the new program called ‘I Am

CHARLIE LOWE/THE HOYA

Copley Formal Lounge was filled to capacity Wednesday evening during “Are You Ready,” an event aimed at combatting rape culture on campus and promoting awareness of sexual assault.

Ready’ for freshmen, and I sort of saw that in the freshman audience that we had,” she said.

This year, New Student Orientation included a training session on campus sexual assault. The program was mandatory for all new students.

The event also elicited positive responses from its attendees.

Jocelyn Kojzar (MSB ’15), said that

she found the event to be informative.

“It helped me understand a better way to address rape culture in my own life and how to talk to people that have been sexually assaulted in the past and survived now, and I think that having this kind of facilitation has really helped enrich my own life and my own approach to

these types of issues,” she said.

Ball added she thought the event’s high attendance reflected well on the Georgetown student body.

“I thought it was incredible to see that this many people on campus are willing to come out in the middle of midterms to come support an issue that I feel very passionately about,” she said.

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Goldman Sachs Chief Japan Equity Strategist Kathy Matsui gave a lecture on “Womenomics,” debunking a series of myths about women in the workplace in Japan and calling for equality.

Economist Talks Equity in Japan JACK BENNETT

Special to The Hoya

Kathy Matsui, the chief Japan equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, discussed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policy, “Abenomics,” in the Fisher Colloquium on Wednesday in an event presented by Global Women’s Leadership Initiative, the Asian Studies Program, the Georgetown Institution for Women, Peace and Security, and the McDonough School of Business.

Nobuko Sasae, wife of Japanese Ambassador to the United States Kenichiro Sasae, and GIWPS Executive Director Melanne Verveer (FLL ’66, GRD ’69) also spoke about Matsui’s idea of “Womenomics,” a continuation of Abe’s policy that engenders pragmatic feminism for the Japanese economy.

Matsui began by breaking down Abenomics into three objectives: fiscal stimulus, quantitative easing and structural reform. Womenomics is part of the third goal. She then outlined problems with the Japanese tax system.

“Our corporate tax rate is about 36 percent, our marginal individual income tax rate is still 50 percent. … Yet the tax revenue pool is very small. So there’s a problem here. What is that problem? It’s

called not everybody is paying,” she said. “Japan, to this day, does not have a tax payer identification system. So guess what? It’s kind of easy [to evade].”

According to Matsui, 70 percent of Japanese corporations do not pay taxes.

Matsui said that the Japanese tax base is too narrow and added that Abe intends to introduce a taxpayer ID system.

Matsui disproved the myths that Japanese women quit working due to pull factors, such as wanting to spend more time with their children, that most women do not want to return to work and that the number of women working has no impact on the profit or the economy.

“The more women represented in management the higher the returns on equity,” Matsui said.

She suggested that women offer alternative thinking to companies that otherwise fall victim to groupthink.

Matsui set the goals for corporations and for society on the screen.

“The number one is the top bullet which is to stress the business case for diversity,” she said.

Other goals were to give more work flexibility, use better evaluation, pay and promotion models, and set clear diversity goals. For society, she encouraged the elimi-

nation of the myths and increased gender equality at home.

After the presentation Verveer moderated a discussion between Matsui and Sasae.

“I think the role model, having a role model, is very important and because if you have a role model in your family, if you have a role model in your organization, your society overall, I think that will make your paths easier because you do not have to be a pioneer,” Sasae said.

When asked about the cultural obstacles for women to enter the Japanese workforce Matsui said that the necessity of increasing labor would overcome cultural skepticisms.

“Obviously for a country that is steeped in tradition, and history, legacy, culture, this isn’t going to happen overnight. Having said that though, the economic reality, which is called labor shortages, are very, very real and very, very widespread,” Matsui said.

Matsui’s myth-dispelling resonated with Yuki Shimizu (COL ’17) .

“Most of the speech was based on the myths that she was talking about so it was great to learn that it’s just a myth and that reality is so much different and many of the women want to go back to work after they leave,” Shimizu said.

GU Students Run for ANC2E ANC, from A1 tween eight commissioners, each serving two-year terms, belongs to ANC2E, which also includes Burleith and Hillandale.

The ANC meets twice a week. In addition to the student representatives, there are eight other ANC commissioners for Georgetown’s district.

The ANC was heavily involved in the approval of the university’s housing plans, including in the designs of the Northeast Triangle.

ANC2E Vice Chair Bill Starrels stressed the importance of including the viewpoints of the students of the university in decision making processes.

“In the past we have had dedicated, hard-working bright young men and women who have given the ANC positive insights and have been important in shaping what we do. We have had excellent men and women serve, and I hope to keep building on this fine foundation,” Starrels said.

Dennis Quinn (COL ’15), who assumed the role of commissioner this summer from the graduating Peter Prindiville (SFS ’14), said a student commissioner should act as a public face for the student body to the community and vice-versa.

“It is crucial for Georgetown that if an unfortunate incident between student and non-student residents occurs, there be student commis-

sioners available who can work between the parties to find a compromise,” Quinn said.

Outgoing student commissioner Craig Cassey (COL ’15) is confident that Howard and Clausen are prepared to take on this role.

“I hope, and am certain, that Reed Howard and Kendyl Clausen will bring an innovative mind to the commissioner role, will strive to continue fostering strong relationships with off-campus partners and will translate Georgetown University’s Jesuit values into their work for their constituents and for all D.C. residents [in Georgetown’s district] beyond the front gates,” Cassey said.

3 Years of Meal Plans Considered LEOS, from A1 need for additional revenue. I think what this says for the administration is that we are on a tight budget because we are spending a lot on projects in order to comply with our latest campus plan,” Tezel said.

“I also think, to that same end, it shows an interest in promoting the ideals of the 2010 Campus Plan, of focusing more on getting students back on campus.”

The university announced in the spring that students will be required to live in on-campus housing for three years, beginning with the Class of 2017. Previously, students were obligated to live on campus for two years.

According to Wiese, the administration is discussing a variety of options and taking student opinion into account. Wiese cited the Bulldog Tavern, Hoya Court renovations and Einstein Bros Bagels meal exchange program as examples of administrators and students working in tandem to develop meal options in the past.

“We know the dining experience is a central component of student life,” Wiese wrote in an email.

“In the coming weeks, we will be holding forums, food committee meetings and other discussions to ensure students have a role in addressing changing food needs on campus as we build a more vibrant living and learning community on

our historic campus.”

Tezel said that he has noticed an improvement in student-administrator communication, but that this situation will test the newly formed relationship.

“The relationship between Auxiliary Services and students has improved from where it was a few years ago,” Tezel said. “I don’t want to lose sight of that, but I think this is an important test to see whether or not, when push comes to shove, that feedback that those offices prioritize is really being heard.”

GUSA senator Peter Cohen (COL ’15) created an IdeaScale petition Wednesday against the proposed plan entitled “Defend Students’ Rights to Choose How to Eat.” Cohen attributes the number of student signatures to the universal disapproval of the plan.

“I hope that we stop this proposal in its tracks,” Cohen said. “This is concrete proof of already a selfevident fact that the student body doesn’t want this, that people are already pretty unsatisfied with Leo’s and loathe the idea of being forced to eat there as it is.”

Cohen said a three-year meal plan mandate will diminish the student experience on campus, devaluing Georgetown as a whole.

“It doesn’t personally affect my dining, but I think it absolutely still does affect me,” Cohen said.

“If the university keeps suggesting such incredibly unpopular changes

and if it doesn’t always seem that they’re taking the students’ best interest into account with the new campus plan and the new proposal, people are going to stop wanting to come to Georgetown.”

Matt Donovan (SFS ’17) eats at Leo’s regularly, but said that he hopes the university can find a better way to make a profit while maintaining student freedom in food choices.

“I think it’s a really lazy solution to a problem,” Donovan said. “It’s pretty obvious that Leo’s needs some sort of fix. It’s overcrowded and the food isn’t very good, but I think the administration needs to actually do their job. If Leo’s is hemorrhaging money, they need to find some sort of innovative solution rather than make the students shoulder an increased financial burden.”

Tezel said that GUSA hopes to work with Auxiliary Services in the upcoming weeks to find a solution to the potential of a third-year meal plan requirement, but also to make substantive changes to the eating experience at O’Donovan Hall.

“We see this as all part of the same conversation,” Tezel said.

“What I’m hoping is that as we start to hopefully come to a resolution on a third-year meal plan requirement, that it can be done so along with new initiatives for campus dining that would improve student life.”

Kahl’s colleague David Edelstein, an associate professor in the SFS and the government department, said that Kahl’s academic background will help him in his new position, which also includes acting as deputy assistant to the president.

“I think rigorous academic training undoubtedly serves him well,” Edelstein wrote in an email. “Academics are trained to think critically about arguments and carefully assess their validity. These are skills that will serve him well in advising the vice president on national security affairs.”

Kahl’s research has focused on U.S. defense policy in the Middle East and ethnic conflicts in developing countries.

Edelstein said that Kahl’s intelligence and passion for security studies made him an excellent candidate for the job.

“I always learn something from talking to professor Kahl,” Edelstein wrote. “He has previously served in government, and that experience generates novel insights into various world events. “ Edelstein also noted that Kahl’s experience in the government will help when he returns to George-

town as a professor, since he can bring his outside experiences into the classroom.

“One of the trademarks of an SFS education is the connections that we try to draw in our classrooms between theory and practice,” Edelstein wrote. “Having professors with this type of experience among our faculty helps us draw those connections in interesting and compelling ways.”

Daniel Byman, a professor in the security studies program in the SFS, said that Kahl’s experience will serve him well in his new position.

“Professor Kahl will bring his formidable intelligence and work ethic to his new position. His background as a professor will help the administration conceptualize issues and think about their longterm ramifications,” Byman wrote in an email. “Most important, however, he’ll bring his genial personality and easy laugh.”

Recently, Kahl has taught the “Core: International Security” and “Iran and the Bomb” courses for the master’s in security studies program. He assumes the federal role from Jake Sullivan, now a senior adviser on Iran nuclear negotiations and a lecturer at Yale Law School.

Catania Trails Closely Behind Bowser in Polls CATANIA, from A1 member since 1997, was previously a Republican, but became an independent in 2004 after growing dissatisfied with the party’s direction.

Harry Holzer, professor of public policy at the McCourt School of Public Policy, hypothesized that this surge of support for Catania may be a response to the changing demographics of the city itself.

“If he were to win, it would certainly be an indication that the affluent non-black population is growing electorally stronger,” Holzer said. “The fact that Catania is doing well reflects the growth of the non-African-American population here, especially in the most Northwest parts of the city.

In fact, blacks account for just half of the population now. Even among the black population, whites with certain kinds of strong backgrounds, like in business or education, can do well — as in the recent election of a white mayor in Detroit.”

Holzer noted that Catania also represents a changing trend in the United States toward an increased presence of LGBTQ politicians.

The 113th Congress has six openly gay members in the House, and in 2012, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin became the first openly gay U.S. senator in history.

“Having an openly gay mayor of a major city like this would be a shot in the arm to the growing perception that America is getting much more comfortable with its gay population,” Holzer said, speculating on the boost to LGBTQ politicians from D.C.’s high profile.

Eroding Bowser’s support from D.C.’s heavily Democratic electorate and black community will be a significant challenge for Catania.

As of 2013, blacks made up about 50 percent of the D.C. population.

“Catania would have to reach out to the African-American community, probably through the churches

somehow,” government professor Clyde Wilcox wrote in an email.

“In my experience these churches are very welcoming communities but they would start off with less support for LGBTQ issues than the wider D.C. community.”

Because of the recent economic growth in the District, Holzer deemed it unlikely that D.C. would shift drastically to support Catania.

“Here in D.C., I think Bowser retains a fairly strong lead, especially among blacks,” Holzer said. “The city has done well in recent years, and there is less desperation [than] in a place like Detroit. Educational improvements, starting under Fenty and continuing under Gray, have occurred.

This undercuts Catania’s argument that he is uniquely qualified on this issue.”

Wilcox stated that while the gap is narrowing, Bowser still maintains a healthy lead, though he questioned whether the polling accurately measured the level of support for Catania.

“I see that there was a poll sponsored by a business group that showed an eight-point gap, which is actually still a pretty healthy lead [for Bowser]. It limited the study to frequent voters, which sometimes is a good thing, [because of] lowturnout elections, and sometimes not,” he wrote. “One thing that could do, possibly, is understate Catania’s support, since there may be some LGBTQ folks who are not frequent voters in D.C. politics who will vote this time.”

Georgetown University College Democrats Chair Chandini Jha (COL ’16) noted the significance of Catania’s candidacy and potential election.

“I think it would be very significant for D.C. to elect the first white and openly gay mayor, especially as marriage equality becomes more accepted,” Jha said. “It would be a major signal about the descriptive representation of LGBTQ individuals in urban cities.”

A recent poll put Bowser ahead of Catania by eight points.

CLASSIFIEDS INDEX FOR RENT 100 Senior couple near Georgetown University will rent furnished bedroom at reduced rate to nursing student in exchange for light housework\companionship for one of us with early-stage dementia. Private bath, shared kitchen.

One-year lease with summer sublet possible. Please email dwrankin@usgs. gov and k.rankin@utoronto.ca with expression of interest, resume, and 3 references.

Senior couple near Georgetown University seeks nursing student for companionship for one of us with earlystage dementia and light housework (preparing meals, tidying up, laundry). Arrangements to be worked out depending on student schedule. 18 hours/week, $15-20/hour. Please email dwrankin@usgs.gov and k.rankin@ utoronto.ca with expression of interest, resume, and 3 references.

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FRIDAY, october 10, 2014

THE HOYA

A7

Proposal Criminalizes Revenge Porn in DC Tom Garzillo

Special to The Hoya

D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) proposed a new bills that would criminalize “revenge porn,” the act of sharing sexually explicit content without the consent of the pictured individual, often released by ex-partners, or stolen and sold by hackers.

The Relationship Privacy Protection Act, proposed by D.C. mayoral candidate Bowser in April, would make the distribution of revenge porn a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine. Websites and other parties who knowingly publish or otherwise distribute such material would face felony charges punishable by a five-year prison sentence and fines of up to $12,500.

“Revenge porn is the kind of abhorrent behavior on the internet that we must do all we can to stop,” Bowser said in a press release. “Protecting our residents from serious harm and maintaining their privacy on the web is an important priority of mine.”

The bill’s potential five-year sentence would make the punishment for “revenge porn” harsher than the punishment for most anti-revenge porn laws.

Revenge porn is currently criminalized in 13 states. Since the beginning of this year, revenge porn bills have either been introduced or are pending in 28 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Revenge porn grew to national and international prominence through the rise and subsequent fall of the website Is Anyone Up. Founded by Hunter Moore in 2010, the site hosted anonymous user submissions of sexually explicit material, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation found to be stolen, hacked or fake. After an FBI investigation, Moore faces multiple lawsuits and was indicted in a California federal court earlier this year.

Charlotte Laws, who instigated the FBI investigation after discovering photos of her daughter on the site, now serves a board member of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, an

organization that supports victims of revenge porn and which has been involved with the District’s bill.

“This is encouraging, because a lot of the states have made revenge porn a misdemeanor,” Laws said.

“Oftentimes, they only carry six months or a year in prison. In my experience, the people who submit revenge porn and the website operators are very afraid of prison.”

According to Laws, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) will introduce this issue at the federal level in 2015.

“The issue has really taken off,” Laws said. “Both politicians and law enforcement are taking it seriously.”

Holly Jacobs, CCRI founder and president, was a victim of revenge porn herself and reached out to Laws to co-found the organization.

“We talked about the idea of forming some sort of nonprofit organization to help victims, to educate about revenge porn and also to help legislatures who need assistance with drafting,” Laws said. “You’ll know there are other victims, and there are other people out there who care and are trying to help you.”

Stephen Yaeger (SFS ’18) said he supported anti-revenge porn legislation.

“I think that punishing people for publishing private pictures of others without their consent is totally warranted,” he said. “It’s a huge breach of privacy, especially since the pictures in question were generally intended to be private.”

He said that he thought the fiveyear penalty would be a justifiable step toward ending the practice of revenge porn.

“I think that would be severe enough punishment to deter this kind of action, which would definitely be a positive change,” he said.

Lyric Gupta (SFS ’18), disagreed, saying that the upgraded sentencing would be unnecessarily harsh.

“To say that it is punishable by up to five years in prison might be a bit much,” Gupta said. “I think the D.C. council should recognize that people who committed this crime aren’t really harmful to society.”

ARIANA TAFTI FOR THE HOYA

Zia Yusuf (GRD ’93), co-founder of startup Streetline, delivered the MSFS program’s Philip Sachs Lecture on Leadership, speaking on leadership, new ventures and the path to success in Silicon Valley.

Striking Gold in Silicon Valley Sarah Smith

Special to The Hoya

Zia Yusuf (GRD ’93), a leader in the private sector and co-founder of a startup in Silicon Valley called Streetline, spoke about startup companies, leadership and steps to success in Silicon Valley at the Philip Sachs Lecture on Leadership, sponsored by the master’s of science in foreign service program.

The lecture, entitled “Leadership, Silicon Valley and a Celebration of Failure” took place in the Intercultural Center Auditorium on Thursday afternoon.

“That initial kind of conversation about creating something that nobody’s done before where you have no experience in and asking somebody for a few hundred thousand dollars initially or maybe even a million dollars to go try this — that’s a pretty unique kind of approach to starting something,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf presented several different companies including Netflix and Tesla, showing how they took a new idea and turned it into something revolutionary.

“In all of these cases — and there’s tons more — there was a different perspective, a different ability of somebody to look around the corner and see a world very different than it is today,” Yusuf said.

According to Yusuf, the revolutionary idea behind his own parking company, StreetLine, was to eliminate physical change in parking meters.

“You take something that nobody really has done much with and are still using the coins for a parking spot and you say ‘Hey, I’m going to rethink this now,’” Yusuf said.

Yusuf then went on to speak about other key components to success in Silicon Valley, and said that the team is the most important.

“It’s all about the people,” Yusuf said. “You can take a great business plan with a crappy team and end up with a crappy result. You take a crappy business plan with a great team and they will figure it out and things will work out.”

Yusuf also spoke about leadership styles, emphasizing that each leader has specific strengths and weaknesses. He utilized the metaphor of an envelope and said that each person fits into a different niche of leadership style.

“All of us have strength and weakness and the really good leader and the really good manager will spend the time and energy to understand what that kind of envelope is for you,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf presented another quality that he finds important in leaders: the ability to listen more than they

speak.

“I have two teenage daughters, which is a lot of fun at that age, and I often talk about the fact that God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason,” Yusuf said. “Listen more than you talk.”

He also said that a key component of good leadership is a sense of humor, which helps boost morale and improves the work environment.

“I think humor is such an important part of leadership and the ability to go into a room and diffuse a tense situation and that doesn’t mean you get up and start telling jokes up front, but the ability to diffuse that tense situation to take an aggressive comment and turn it around on somebody in a different way is very, very important,” Yusuf said.

A brief question-and-answer period followed Yusuf’s lecture.

“I came to this presentation because I’ve been curious for a long time about how leadership works and I wanted to gain some insights into that particularly from a former student in the same program that I’m in,” Dave Bowen (GRD ’15) said. “I thought there was some very useful advice that’s applicable to a wide variety of enterprises and both the public and private sector so I thought it was very informative.”

A8

THE HOYA

NEWS

Friday, october 10, 2014

McCourt Data Institute Awards 1st Grants Xinlan Hu

Special to The Hoya

The McCourt School of Public Policy’s Massive Data Institute awarded its first seed grants to four Georgetown University faculty research projects at the intersection of big data and public policy Sept. 30.

The $40,000 grants were given to projects exploring areas of health and health care, including population displacement, spatial dynamics of the flu, high-need Medicaid enrollees and personalized medicine. Seed grants intend to get the projects sufficiently off the ground, allowing the researchers to apply for larger grants from other organizations in the future.

“The MDI is thrilled to support this research in four critical areas of health and health care. We hope this initial support sets the foundation for the important interdisciplinary projects,” Dean of the McCourt School Edward Montgomery said in a press release.

The MDI was formed last year with the founding of the McCourt School of Public Policy in October 2013 and welcomed applications for seed grants through July 15, 2014.

Recipients were notified Aug. 15. The grants require research to be conducted through the 2014-15 school year with a progress report to be submitted at the end of the year.

Computer science professor Lisa Singh, who was part of two separate projects that each received grants, credited the project with building an interdisciplinary community.

“Having something like the MDI gives researchers a cross-discipline opportunity to come together and work on problems they wouldn’t necessarily work on by themselves,” she said.

Susan Martin, director of Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, collaborated with Singh to detect early signals of forced migration by analyzing social media data on Twitter.

Martin said that big data could pick up important indicators overlooked by traditional data sources.

“The idea behind the project is that there are many warning signs that don’t come to the surface. … It’s impossible to get at these indicators with traditional data sources because those tend to pick up what we refer to as telling indicators, indicators that only come to surface because the crisis has already happened,” Martin said. “What big data does is to understand information sources from the very local level, including from social media.”

Martin emphasized the project’s value in addressing an age-old humanitarian crisis and in upholding Georgetown’s social justice traditions.

“This gives us an opportunity to use 21stcentury technology to respond to an age-old problem, a problem that has been at the

heart of the Jesuit tradition for generations,” she said.

Singh, biology professor Shweta Bansal and law professor Lawrence Gostin also received a grant to inform public health policy for influenza with mathematical models and visual analytics of its spatial dynamics. Bansal explained the necessity for this project to cope with the ongoing influenza problem.

“With no apparent end in sight to the annual race against influenza fought in temperate regions like the U.S. (causing up to 50,000 deaths annually and an economic burden of $87 billion/year), combined with the grave risk posed by global influenza approaches, we need to model, predict and explain such events to focus surveillance and control efforts efficiently,” Bansal wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Public policy professor Thomas DeLeire collaborated with Lindsey Leininger of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Mayo Clinic’s Nilay Shah and David Home to predict high-need Medicaid enrollees, thus allowing health care administrators to intervene to improve their health.

DeLeire noted the rewards and challenges of interdisciplinary research.

“If you bring in an individual with a different perspective, different training, different set of methods and different ways of thinking about the problem, it will make additional advances in the solving of the problem,” DeLeire said. “But there are lots of opportunities for miscommunication or not understanding the perspectives of the other individual. So interdisciplinary research is almost like people from different cultures coming together.”

Subha Madhavan, director of the Innovation Center for Biomedical Informatics at the Georgetown University Medical Center, collaborated with other researchers at the Medical Center and the McCourt School’s Health Policy Institute to advance the adoption of personalized medicine in the health care system.

“What we really want to explore is to connect all these data to legal and economic data to identify barriers in the implementation of personalized medicine,” Madhavan said.

“We have partnered with the Georgetown MedStar Hospital system for access to clinical data. Through this collaboration, we have access to a number of patient electronic health records who have been profiled for selection of personalized treatment therapies,” Madhavan said. “What we really want to explore is to connect all these data to health insurance and economic data to identify barriers in the implementation of personalized medicine.”

The professors added that the grant money will also be used in part to support students in data analysis.

“The funds will be used to support students (Ph.D. and undergraduate level) as well as data acquisition and publication costs,” Bansal wrote.

FILE PHOTO: MICHELLE LUBERTO FOR THE HOYA

Claudia Fritsche, Liechtenstein’s ambassador to the United States, remarked on the changes she has noted in her 40-year career in foreign service.

Diplomat Discusses Career Giovanna Azevedo Special to The Hoya

Claudia Fritsche, Liechtenstein’s ambassador to the United States, recounted her career in foreign service in an event hosted by the International Relations Club at the Mortara Center on Wednesday evening.

Fritsche, Lichtenstein’s first female diplomat and a former ambassador to the United Nations, has worked in foreign service for over 40 years, witnessing changes in the field of diplomacy throughout her career.

“I think diplomacy has changed a great deal,” Fritsche said. “Traditional diplomacy entailed that the diplomats would interact with government officials and with whatever was going on in the world. That was pretty much how they operated.

However, I think that the demands on today’s diplomats are very different.”

Fritsche said that foreign service officers act as a conduit for effective communication among different countries by serving as a bridge between them.

“Today, CNN and others bring in news, and we don’t do that,” Fritsche said. “We analyze, we comment, we explain and I truly believe that we often, we are translators or interpreters between two

cultures.”

Because of this role, Fritsche pointed to social skills as one of the most important skills for diplomats.

“Interpersonal skills are essential,” Fritsche said. “It all comes down to convincing your counterpart and being able to translate a message from your country. You have to love interacting with people. Besides your professional skills, that is the most important thing.”

In addition to social ability, Fritsche said that a good foreign service professional must understand the rules and customs of business proceedings in other countries to avoid unintentionally coming off as rude.

“Those are just cultural differences that are small, but the ambassador has to explain them to the rest of the delegation, otherwise it may be perceived as an insult,” she said. “When I go back home, I spend half a day to go over the program, and prepare them, so there are no misunderstandings.”

As the ambassador of a small country, Fritsche said that she prioritizes teaching others about Liechtenstein through extensive travel.

“In my case, being the ambassador of a small country, that was very important.

Many people knew a little bit, but not a lot,” Fritsche said. “I

have visited 48 out of the 50 in the U.S., and that is really what makes you understand how people tick. Washington is a lovely bubble, but it is a bubble, and you have to go beyond that.”

Andreea Stanciu (COL ’18), who attended the event, said she enjoyed the conversation because she was interested in learning about Fritsche’s career.

“Ambassador Fritsche’s ability to engage us on a personal level and her warmth engaged me from the very first minutes of her speech,” Stanciu said. “I felt inspired by Ambassador Fritsche and her passion for diplomacy. Her story in advancing her profession from scratch to being an ambassador in a male-dominated field was moving, and I can confidently say that she has become a role model for me.”

Sarah Von Faber-Castell (COL ’18) said she enjoyed Fritsche’s anecdotes and high level of engagement with her audience.

“I came here tonight because I am interested in going into politics,” Von Faber-Castell said. “I thought it was great because she gave such a personal note in international relations and politics, unlike other presentations where they only talk about the country. She really got us all engaged and I thought that was fantastic.”

NEWS

Friday, October 10, 2014

THE HOYA

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Baroness Exposes Prevalence of Human Trafficking Charlotte Allen Special to The Hoya

Baroness Mary Goudie, a senior member of the House of Lords and the chair of the United Nations Women Leaders’ Council to Fight Human Trafficking, discussed the role that human trafficking plays in current society, and what sort of measures should be taken to reduce its prevalence in McGhee Library on Thursday afternoon in an event sponsored by the Georgetown Institutue for Women, Peace and Security.

“Human trafficking is not just a women’s issue; it’s not a male issue; it’s not a children’s issue. It’s a huge issue that affects governments, civil society and businesses,” Goudie said. “So the whole of society is involved in human trafficking.”

Global Politics and Security Chair of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program Mark Lagon accompanied Goudie in the half-hour lecture and question-and-answer session that followed. Lagon is an adjunct senior fellow for human rights at the Council on Foreign Relations and the former executive director and CEO of leading antihuman trafficking nonprofit Polaris Project.

Lagon emphasized a need to redefine what people think of when they hear human trafficking.

“Human trafficking is not about undocumented migrants,” he said.

“You never cross a border, and yet you are enslaved in what is the essence of human trafficking.”

Goudie described human trafficking as a highly corrupt business.

“Human trafficking is the biggest crime after weapons,” Goudie said.

“The reason that weapons and human trafficking are the two biggest black market crime issues around the world is because they can be used more than once.”

Both Lagon and Goudie stressed that human trafficking is not just about the sex trade, although that aspect receives the most publicity. Goudie elaborated on industries such as clothing, construction and agriculture that rely on bonded labor because the profit margins are minimal.

“It’s an illicit industry and it’s all cash,” Goudie said. “The most distressing thing about human trafficking is the middle management by women around the world because people trust women.”

Goudie stressed that human trafficking is a unique problem that should not be combined with other issues.

“We shouldn’t muddle up human trafficking with refugees and asylum seekers, and there are some people who want to do this because it makes it easy,” Goudie said.

According to Goudie, reform must encompass government regulation of human trafficking, the efficient distribution of funds put toward the

cause and support for victims.

“It is getting bigger, it’s not getting better,” Goudie said. “The U.N. charter on human trafficking is okay, but not very strong.”

Providing help for survivors and corporate action are key parts of managing the issue.

“Shelter and medical care have to get funding,” Lagon said. “This is slavery, and we should be able to mobilize corporations to fight this.”

The talk was primarily a call to action and a call to question the current situation.

“There are only a few thousand prosecutions in the world each year, and impunity is going to allow human trafficking to continue,” Lagon said.

Goudie spoke about the potential passing of a bill in Britain that would force companies to sign off on their supply chains, a crucial step in eliminating human trafficking. “[Human trafficking] should very much be a part of the dialogue at Georgetown. It is our moral responsibility,” Lagon added.

Mayesha Alam, assistant director of the GWIPS helped to organize the lecture.

“This was a wonderful opportunity to bring together not only Georgetown students, but experts in the field who are working either directly on human trafficking, or tangentially on larger issues,” Alam said.

NATASHA THOMSON/THE HOYA

Baroness Mary Goudie called for government regulation of human trafficking and support for its victims in McGhee Library on Thursday.

DCCouncilApprovesUberRegulations Laura Owsiany Hoya Staff Writer

DAN GANNON FOR THE HOYA

Professor Brian McCabe explained the effects of gentrification on D.C.’s demographics and neighborhoods in an event Tuesday.

Workshop Tackles DC Demographics Deirdre Collins Special to The Hoya

The Georgetown Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service held a workshop on demographics in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

The workshop, entitled “Demographics in D.C.” took place in WhiteGravenor Hall. Approximately 100 students from various Georgetown organizations attended, including members of D.C. Schools Project, D.C. Reads, the Georgetown University Program on Justice and Peace and the Center for Social Justice Advisory Board for Student Organizations.

Guest speaker professor Brian McCabe from Georgetown’s department of sociology and representatives of One D.C. Quitel Andrews and Clare Cook spoke about changing demographics in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding metropolitan area as well as the gentrification of neighborhoods in D.C. McCabe began by explaining the demographic shifts in D.C., or more specifically, how the black population is no longer a majority. The city’s population, which today is approximately 600,000 people, greatly declined in the 1980s and 1990s. This decline stemmed from the amendment of the Fair Housing Act in 1988, which granted blacks equal housing rights and allowed them to leave the city and live in the suburbs, following the exodus of the white population to the suburbs in the 1950s.

“In the time you’ve all been in college, the number of black residents in Washington, D.C., has greatly fallen,” McCabe said. “They no longer make up the majority of residents in Washington, D.C., like they once did. These are trends you see in all American cities.”

Student tutors in D.C. Reads and D.C. Schools Project who attended the event work with D.C.’s immigrant community and underprivileged students in Wards 7 and 8 in D.C. McCabe explained that these wards are still primarily black, while Wards 1 and 2 are predominantly white. “[D.C. is] very far from being a postracial city,” McCabe said. “D.C. continues to be one of the most segregated

cities in the US.” McCabe presented neighborhood gentrification to the audience by displaying an old image of a market located on 7th and O streets NW. The old supermarket, which was once anterior to an affordable apartment complex, now stands next to a luxury apartment development known as Jefferson MarketPlace. The redevelopment of this building displaced longtime residents, contributing to D.C.’s problems with an excess of high-end housing and a lack of affordable housing.

“Historically, Shaw was the pre-eminent African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C., and this gentrification raises the questions of what it means to displace the poor or the homeless for these kinds of developments,” McCabe said.

Cook and Andrews, who work with One D.C. to organize neighborhood equity, agreed that affordable housing is becoming increasingly difficult to find in Washington, D.C., as more neighborhoods gentrify. Cook explained that as policies change, demographics and neighborhood cultures change as well. Developers seek to “attract different groups” to existing neighborhoods and grant little power to current residents in these decisions. Cook expressed that although tenants are often given the right to return to live in their buildings after renovation, the new rent is often too expensive for them to afford.

Emily Brown (COL ’17) attended the event and said that she enjoyed learning more about D.C.’s racial culture.

“I attended the event because I work in the CSJ and wanted to learn about issues that impact the communities I work with through D.C. Reads,” Brown said. “It’s important to understand issues like gentrification because it’s something you see in basically every part of the city, and if you’re not aware of it you’ll be unable to understand subtle tensions in the neighborhoods undergoing that kind of change. I need to understand this kind of larger social justice issue in order to understand the Ward 7 neighborhoods we work with.”

The D.C. Council will consider legislation to regulate ridesharing services such as UberX, Sidecar and Lyft. The bill, proposed

by Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and co-sponsored by Councilmember David Gross (IAt Large) after the matter was put on hold in May, received initial approval last week and is pending a final vote.

The legislation would require UberX, Sidecar and Lyft to provide a minimum of $1 million insurance for accidents occurring from the time a driver accepts a call until the passenger exits the vehicle. The companies would also be required to submit 1 percent of their gross receipts for trips that begin in the District to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

The legislation also calls for yearly inspections of UberX, Sidecar and Lyft cars and would reduce twice-yearly inspection requirements for cabs to a matching standard of annual inspections. Drivers for ride-sharing services would also be required to agree to criminal background checks and be barred from accepting street hails.

Uber responded positively to the legislation and noted that it already complied with many of the regulations.

“The bottom line is Uber has set a new standard for safety and quality,” Uber spokesperson Taylor Bennett wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Our industry-leading background checks, $1 [million]

commercial liability insurance, and an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability built into the app, make Uber the safest and most reliable ride on the road.”

D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton said that the legislation, by legitimizing the services of Uber, did not go far enough in establishing restrictions on the ride-sharing services.

“I believe the legislation would create a situation that anyone who uses the service being established endangers their personal safety and puts themselves at risk for consumer fraud. DCTC will fulfill our responsibility to rigorously enforce against illegal street hails,” Linton wrote in an email.

Digital dispatch services have become increasingly popular in Washington, D.C., creating competition for cab drivers and the DCTC. Cab drivers, who have called for limited hours for Uber drivers, protested Wednesday by blocking traffic and honking horns between 14th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue.

“You don’t have a level playing field. You have Uber and other companies coming into this market policing themselves,” Councilmember Jim Graham (DWard 1), who opposes the legislation, said to WUSA9 reporters during the protest.

Bennett disagreed with the criticism, claiming that Uber simply provides an innovative service for D.C.’s population.

“We believe that adding an additional option like Uber to

the transportation ecosystem creates a larger pie — it doesn’t limit the slice of the pie for current players. More choice in a city’s transportation ecosystem is better for everyone, including riders and drivers,” Bennett wrote.

Cheh agreed that the rise of Uber and similar companies was not directly comparable to the existing taxi services.

“They are entirely different models and require different regimes of regulation. That’s what seems to be lost in part of this debate,” Cheh told WUSA9.

Rachel Chun (MSB ’16) frequently uses Uber and noted that for college students, convenience remains the priority when choosing between taking a taxi cab or an Uber.

“We [college students] are not paying as much and our waiting time for the Uber cars are definitely less than cabs, and they’re nicer, better quality of service. As a college student, I would like to take more advantage of it than worry about the competition,” she said.

Contrary to Linton’s concerns about safety, Jisoo Kim (COL ’16) said she feels safer using Uber rather than traditional taxicabs.

“I actually feel safer with Uber than with random [taxicab] drivers ... because it’s a company booked through online, I think Uber now has a reputation where if they do something wrong … their reputation will suffer,” she said. “There are a lot of taxi companies out there, some of them are reliable, some are not.”

Activists Fight for Gun Rights Lucy Prout

Special to The Hoya

The pro-gun coalition has geared up for a fight against the emergency legislation passed by the D.C. Council in response to the overturn of the ban on handguns.

In July, the U.S. District Court struck down the ban on conceal-and-carry weapons in Washington, D.C., in Palmer v.

District of Columbia, permitting civilians to bear arms beyond the boundaries of their homes. In response, the D.C. Council passed joint legislation called the License to Carry a Pistol Emergency Amendment Act of 2014 on Sept. 23 to prevent the carrying of firearms in government buildings, schools, alcohol vendors and public transportation. The legislation also placed stringent requirements on the licensing process, only extending the licenses to people with a justifiable reason to fear for their safety.

On Oct. 2, pro-gun advocates filed a motion before District Judge Frederick Scullin, who issued the original ruling, to stop D.C. from implementing this bill. Plaintiff attorney Alan Gura argued that the legislation does not comply with constitutional standards and is prepared for a lengthy litigation.

“It is still in act with outright prohibition. The D.C. Council doesn’t understand that this is a right the people have, and

that means when responsible, law-abiding people wish to exercise their right, they must be allowed to do so,” Gura said.

While Gura agreed that the city can regulate the carrying of handguns, he asserted that the restrictions in the bill make it virtually impossible for civilians to exercise their Second

“It treats the carrying of handguns as a special privilege that the police can decide when the mood strikes.” alan gura Plaintiff Attorney

Amendment right and actually obtain a license.

“It treats the carrying of handguns as a special privilege that the police can decide when the mood strikes, and that’s not the way we handle constitutional rights in America,” Gura said.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who collaborated with Mayor Vincent Gray and Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) to propose the legislation, agreed that the flat ban on carrying weapons was unconstitutional but believed that the new law complied with the Second Amendment and would

withstand the legal challenge.

“Even if the judge that ruled on our concealed carry ban handles this appeal and rules in favor of the plaintiffs, there’s a strong sense out there that we could be successful on appeal to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. We feel good about the emergency law that we have put into place in light of laws that have been upheld in other Circuit courts,” Mendelson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Georgetown University College Democrats Vice Chair Betsy Johnson (COL ’16) agreed that the restrictions were acceptable.

“I would agree that it is definitely constitutional — people are still allowed to have guns in their homes, which falls under the Second Amendment. However, D.C. is also a special situation because of its proximity to the government, so the limitations placed by the bill are reasonable,” Johnson said.

The plaintiffs, however, are preparing for a long legal battle.

“The right to speak freely, the right to vote, the right to be free of unreasonable intrusions — you don’t need to prove that you deserve these rights; they are undeniable rights. The same should be with guns,” Gura said. “This litigation will continue until the city accepts the basic reality, which is that the people must and will enjoy real, meaningful, practical rights under the Second Amendment.”

BUSINESS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014

BUSINESS BITS WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Katie Burke, executive vice president of Nielsen, encouraged women to feel empowered in navigating their career paths at the annual Georgetown University Conference for Women in Business, held on Sept. 19. Rather than focusing on the trite image of the “corporate ladder,” Burke insists women embrace the concept of a “corporate jungle gym,” and navigate their career paths based on their goals and passions rather than believing there is one set path to follow. By following your passions, sharing your perspectives and asking questions, Burke says that “you can have it all, just not all on the same day.”

FUNDING ENTREPRENEURS

Beginning next semester, graduating seniors interested in entrepreneurship will be able to apply for a new program called Startup Stipends. Through a competitive application process, the program selects graduating seniors to receive a stipend to support some of the costs associated with a startup company. While intended to be used for the creation of a new business, graduating seniors also have the option to use the stipend to help pay off student loans, which are the biggest limiting factor for recent grads. By easing the financial burdens of recent graduates or providing them the cash they need to create their dream business, the program aims to create more young entrepreneurs and stimulate long-term economic growth.

PREPARING FOR INNOVATION

This past March, 30 university leaders and administrators from across Georgetown gathered for the Shaping and Advancing Georgetown Executives program. The program, which was developed in a partnership between the Office of Executive Education and the Office of the Human Resources, works over the course of six months to develop a cohort across disciplines and allow leaders to learn from one another. A similar program may be offered in early 2015.

MSB Faculty Join Presidential Program CHARLOTTE ALLEN Special to The Hoya

Two McDonough School of Business professors will work alongside four presidential centers to make the Presidential Leadership Program a reality.

Paul Almeida, professor of strategy and international business, and Michael O’Leary, professor of management, will collaborate with the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the Clinton Foundation, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.

The PLP, which was announced in September, is a non-degree bearing, leadership-development program that arose from the George W. Bush Presidential Center and the Clinton Foundation. The goal of the program is to enhance the leadership abilities of community leaders who already have 10 to 15 years of work experience in their specific fields and are positioned to make a real impact on their communities and the greater world.

According to the program’s website, the skills participants develop over the course of the program will be applied to an issue that is relevant to each participant’s field.

“I agreed to do the program for two main reasons,” Almeida said, “Firstly to show that in this day and age, bipartisanship can work to get things done.”

Although Almeida identifies as independent, he believes that the program will provide a space for people from any political party to effect positive change.

“I see good in both sides, and this program really captures that,” Almeida said. “We are working with two very different presidents, and [the fact that] they can come together in working for the common good shows that the ideals for our country are not far apart.”

Almeida was also drawn to the program for its focus on societal improvement.

“Every single scholar that gets admitted has to come in with an idea for

COURTESY PAUL ALMEIDA

From left: former President Bill Clinton (SFS ’68), professors Paul Almeida and Michael O’Leary and former President George W. Bush. The MSB professors will participate in the Presidential Leadership Program. doing social good,” he said. “Through the program, we are going to build those skills into a plan to do social good. What better opportunity is there than to work with two presidents who are remarkable in so many ways and who can transfer their experiences in leadership to the next generation … to improve the world?”

Through his involvement, O’Leary hopes to attract similarly minded participants.

“The main goal is to attract the best possible group of young scholars,” O’Leary said. “We are looking for the best possible group of people that are interested in social change and enhancing leadership possibilities.”

Although the deadline for applications — which will be judged on a basis of diversity of experiences and recommendations — is not until Oct. 27, applications have already been received. Many were submitted by people who have already been involved

37TH & WALL STREET

Investors Win With Corporate Splitsville I

f you’ve ever heard the phrase, “It’s not were back together.

EBay’s situation is a little different. A spiyou it’s me” or “I just need time to focus on myself for a bit,” then you know noff is for the most part akin to a split-up, that sometimes breakups can be rough. In but usually there is a size differential in the world of corporate finance, however, the divestiture. In this case, PayPal’s spinoff more often than not a breakup is just what comes at a time when mobile and online payments are changing rapidly. Apple has the companies — and investors — needed.

This past week, eBay announced the spi- entered the fray with the Apple Pay sysnoff of PayPal — the e-commerce and pay- tem, partnering with Visa and MasterCard, ments company that they had acquired in pointedly leaving their smaller peer PayPal 2002 — while Hewlett-Packard announced out of the arrangement.

Commentators in the financial press the decision to separate into two new comfrom organizations from Barron’s to panies.

HP will reinvent itself as HP Inc., focus- Bloomberg have hypothesized that one or ing on personal computers and printer both of the new companies will be prime takeover targets, fitting into hardware, and Hewlettthe business strategy of larger Packard Enterprise will companies such as Google. provide business softeBay, while still having modware, servers and other est growth rates, has seen services to companies. them fall yearly since 2012 These breakups will have and has struggled as a result. profound effects for cusA spinoff or split-up is not tomers, investors and always what a struggling, competitors. or even booming, company The overarching idea Sean Sullivan needs. Back in 2011, during behind a corporate splitits rise to market share domiup (not to be confused nation, Netflix attempted to with a stock split) is that separating the business Breaking up is hard to spin off send-by-mail DVD units will unlock more do — but sometimes service as Qwikster. It received such pushback from value for the shareholdnecessary. investors and customers ers. For example, HP’s two that the board decided to new entities will be able to focus more of their corporate attention keep the company whole. A good sign and resources on their core competencies for HP and EBay is that in the hours after without having the institutional inertia their announcements, their share prices that can come when a company gets too big jumped upwards of 4 percent, indicating a positive response from investors and the and tries to do too much.

Commonly, but not always, when a market as a whole.

The question is then, how do these recent company separates, shareholders receive a share in each of the new companies breakups affect Joe Hoya? From a financial proportional to their previous degree of standpoint, if Joe held any of these stocks ownership. They will own two pieces of prior to the announcement, he received a two companies with, at the official time nice bump in the subsequent trading and of the split, an equal value to the original will see those shares divide in the coming position. Once trading commences, they months. From a consumer standpoint, are free to do what they want with those these breakups could mean changing products. shares.

If HP Inc. is able to turn its personal HP’s announcement comes after years of earnings stagnation, with net income in computer business around, it would mean the $5 to $7 billion range since the finan- that customers have access to a better, or at cial crisis. Like competitors such as Oracle, least redefined, product. PayPal, too, may IBM and Cisco, enterprise solutions are a be popping up in Joe’s Android phone as more growth-oriented area and are less the default mobile payment platform in dependent on consumer buying abilities the near future.

Like any big breakup — business or roand preferences than with personal computers. The result of the split will be deter- mantic — we just need some time. mined by whether the struggling personal hardware business can use this room to Sean Sullivan is a senior in the Mc“work on itself” or whether it will find Donough School of Business. 37TH & itself looking over at its ex, wishing they WALL STREET appears every month.

with nonprofit organizations.

“The common denominator [among the applicants] is that they are already involved in leadership efforts,” O’Leary said. “They are already doing impressive things, and we want to create a program for them that will increase their ability to lead their own organizations successfully.”

Anywhere from 40 to 60 applicants will be accepted and provided with financial support. These scholars will devote 15 days to work over a period of 6 months, from February to July.

The approximately 100 sessions will be held at the four presidential libraries and Mount Vernon, the latter of which will host the launch. Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton (SFS ’68) will participate in teaching sessions. Bush and Clinton’s rigorous involvement in the program will provide participants with an extremely unique view of what it means to be a leader of the world.

“Presidents face incredible challenges, and we see only a superficial slice of those challenges,” Almeida said.

“If we can translate these leadership qualities to the participants in the program, that’s something we can all be proud of.”

O’Leary and Almeida have both collaborated with the centers to develop a curriculum, and they will teach classes while running the academics of the program. Although the program is not specifically aimed at Georgetown students and alumni, O’Leary hopes that Georgetown graduates will apply.

“When we look back five years from now and see five or 10 or 15 new projects per year which were launched and which will make a difference to society that wouldn’t have been launched if we didn’t do this, then we know that the legacy lives,” Almeida said. “And that it lives through real people taking real actions inspired by the good of these presidents.”

MSB Tops LinkedIn Rankings CHARLOTTE ALLEN Special to The Hoya

LinkedIn released its first university rankings of projected career paths for undergraduates last week, with Georgetown topping the list in a variety of business fields.

The networking website ranked Georgetown number one for investment banking, number three for finance — following the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University — and number six for marketing.

“The rankings demonstrate that Georgetown alumni are at top companies across a number of fields,” Mike Schaub, the executive director of the Cawley Career Education Center, wrote in an email. “I expect that if LinkedIn surveyed additional industries, they would find even more Georgetown alumni at great companies.”

LinkedIn calculated these rankings by first studying the employment information of over 300 million LinkedIn members and then identifying so-called desirable jobs as well as relevant graduates and their matriculation patterns.

“We define a desirable job to be a job at a desirable company for the relevant profession. For example, we define desirable finance jobs as finance jobs at companies desirable for finance professionals,” LinkedIn Senior Data Scientist Navneet Kapur wrote in a LinkedIn blog. “The most desirable companies in a profession are those that are the best at attracting and retaining talent in that profession.”

To ensure that the statistics accurately reflect the current employ-

ment statistics, LinkedIn only includes graduates who have received degrees within the past eight years.

In the LinkedIn blog, Kapur summarizes the process of ranking universities: LinkedIn employees calculate the percentage of relevant graduates who have obtained desirable jobs. The percentages then allow them to rank universities based on career outcomes across different professional areas.

“Getting ranked like that against the best universities suggests that Georgetown graduates are doing well in those fields,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon said. “But you have to take it with a grain of salt. The value of it in today’s world is that people place such an emphasis only on outcomes and getting a good job.”

LinkedIn believes is is providing these statistics, they are providing students and parents with information about what schools will potentially give them the best chance at getting a desirable job after graduation.

“The ratings are a reflection of the times, and this is a good balancing factor for Georgetown,” Deacon said.

“The fact that we stand out is a little surprising to some people, but not really to me.”

Both Schaub and Deacon stressed the continual involvement of graduates in the community as a factor in job placement.

“Alumni are increasingly actively involved with the university,” Deacon said.

Schaub elaborated, explaining alumni involvement.

FILE PHOTO: MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

Georgetown graduates led LinkedIn’s new university rankings for business-related fields, including investment banking and finance.

Visit us online at thehoya.com/business

“The Cawley Career Education Center connects with these alumni on a regular basis as they return to campus to host information sessions, participate in networking events and conduct interviews,” Schaub wrote.

Current students expressed excitement about the publicity surrounding the rankings and the consequences for the future regarding both finance-geared programs at Georgetown and graduates’ workplace participation.

“It’s reassuring to know that the work I’ll be doing over the next four years will be worthwhile,” Gus Kerin (MSB ’18) said.

Although the exact effects that the new rankings will have on the Georgetown community are unclear, Deacon believes it will influence application numbers for the next class.

“It will have a positive, but not large impact on admissions,” Deacon said. “For certain students in the applicant pool, it will certainly be an influence on their decisions.”

The LinkedIn rankings reflect the ever-increasing prominence of financial and banking industries at Georgetown. The 2012 Senior Survey Report listed financial services and consulting as receiving the most graduates from all schools, while the Class of 2013 Final Destination Report listed financial services as the top industry for students from the McDonough School of Business and the second most popular industry for graduates of Georgetown College and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

“Recruiting for investment banking and finance occurs early in the fall and spring semesters and is highly visible to the campus community,” Schaub wrote. “These firms’ information sessions draw hundreds of students every week. Many students who are not interested in finance become a little anxious when they see their friends dressed in suits to attend information sessions and interviews, [but] the Career Center staff tries to reassure students that the recruiting process for most industries may not be as visible as finance.”

Despite the success of the university’s youngest college, Deacon hopes that people will not lose sight of the other aspects of the university.

“I hope that people that are doing well will also do good,” Deacon said. “Georgetown being associated with Wall Street is not a bad thing, but the university is so much more than just that one piece.”