The Hoya: October 18, 2013

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 95, No. 14, © 2013

friday, october 18, 2013

SLUMLORD CITY

EDITORIAL The GUSA executive has accomplished much of its platform.

Students renting local residences often receive grimy treatment. GUIDE, B1

CANON LAWSUIT? An expert asseses the validity of William Blatty’s letter to the pope.

Win Streak Snapped The women’s soccer team lost its first game to Marquette, 4-0.

NEWS, A5

OPINION, A2

SPORTS, B8

GU Law Student Slain SUSPECT JAILED ON $2M BAIL

Police say friend admitted stabbing Waugh repeatedly TM Gibbons-Neff Hoya Staff Writer ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

GUSA Vice President Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14), left, and President Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) meet in their office midway through their yearlong term.

At Midway Mark, GUSA Exec on Track Despite detours, leaders have honored campaign promises Annie Chen

Hoya Staff Writer

More than halfway through their term, Georgetown University Student Association President Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) and Vice President Adam Ramadan (SFS ’14) say they have fulfilled more than two-thirds of their campaign promises, but the pair has found difficulty in executing some key platform priorities. Since taking office in April, the executive leaders have cited the 2010 Campus Plan agreement, which mandates that the university house 90 percent of undergraduates by fall 2025, as the greatest challenge of their term. Soon after taking office in February, Tisa and Ramadan worked closely with the university on implementation of the campus plan, particularly with their appeal for student input in designing the Northeast Triangle residence hall and relaxing a variety of social policies on campus. However, collaboration with university administrators has become strained since Tisa told campus media of the university’s consideration of a satellite residence. “What we decided to do was something difficult, which was to call the administration out to hold them accountable on the promises they made after the campus plan,” Tisa said. “Our ability to do that was in-

formed by looking back into the history and talking to alumni from GUSA who have said their biggest regret is prioritizing relationships with the administrators above relationships and duties with the students. We learned from that.” Severe student backlash, channelled through a student body referendum that administrators condemned, fuelled this tension between the university and GUSA. Cause for dispute extended all the way to semantics, with university spokeswoman Stacy Kerr calling Tisa “absolutely mistaken” when he referred to the satellite residence as a satellite campus. “Standing up for students but also knowing where to draw the line and where to compromise on things has certainly been a challenge,” Tisa said. “At the end of the day, you did see some negative reactions by a select few administrators, but they weren’t sustained because they didn’t have a place in cooperating to find acceptable solutions.” Tisa gave Ramadan and himself a B-plus so far for the term, saying that there is still a lot left to do. He said that the executive staff and cabinet deserved an A for their performance. Despite a delayed start in tackling the centerpiece of Tisa and Ramadan’s campaign platform — the expansion of free speech zones on campus — Ramadan is confident that the executive’s adjusted approach of reviewing the Speech and Expression Policy and revamping the committee that oversees the policy will best serve campus life. “It will be a long-term plus for students,” Ramadan said. See MIDTERM, A6

Mark Waugh (LAW ’16), 23, was stabbed to death during the early hours of Sunday morning in a longtime friend’s apartment in Silver Spring, Md. The friend, Rahul Gupta (GRD ’13), a biomedical engineering graduate student at The George Washington University, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Waugh with a kitchen knife after a party celebrating Gupta’s 24th birthday. Gupta is being held on $2 million bail in the Montgomery County jail. He has pleaded not guilty. According to testimony from Gupta’s girlfriend, Waugh, Gupta and Gupta’s girlfriend returned to Gupta’s Silver Spring high-rise apartment and continued drinking after going out, when Gupta said he found his girlfriend with Waugh. “My girl was cheating with my buddy,” Gupta said in the charging papers. “I walked in on them cheating, and I killed my buddy.”

LEFT: COURTESY WAUGH FAMILY, RIGHT: MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE

Mark Waugh (LAW ’16), left, was allegedly stabbed to death by Rahul Gupta. The two had celebrated Gupta’s birthday that evening. The Montgomery County Police Department reported that at approximately 3:25 a.m. on Oct. 13, local police responded to a 911 call to Gupta’s apartment for “unknown trouble,” where they found Gupta covered in blood. Waugh was unresponsive with seven or eight stab wounds and other superficial wounds. “This was a vicious attack,” Assistant State Attorney Stephen Chaikin said Tuesday during Gupta’s first day in court. According to Chaikin, Waugh sustained wounds to his jugular vein, upper chest and back, in addition to a punctured lung. Waugh also had injuries that indicated attempts of self-defense. “The victim, and it’s obvious by the forensic evidence, defended

Johnny Verhovek Special to The Hoya

MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA

GU Pride President Thomas Lloyd (SFS ’15), left, with trans* representative Celeste Chrisholm (COL ’15). See story A6.

Katherine Richardson Special to The Hoya

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

@thehoya

See STABBING, A6

For DC, Shutdown Silver Lining

COMING OUT DAY

ReImagine Georgetown Discontinued

The Georgetown Farmers Market on Healy Lawn has been a success story for RIG. Other initiatives have struggled to find their footing.

himself from a savage knife attack,” Chaikin said. The Georgetown Law community has reacted to Waugh’s death by offering counseling and chaplain services on campus. “[Waugh] was a bright young man, full of potential,” the Georgetown Law Center said in a media statement. “The Georgetown Law community is shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss.” Several aspects of the night, however, are still unclear. According to WJLA, Reginald Bours III, Gupta’s lawyer, questioned the accuracy of the police report that claimed that Gupta said, “I walked in on them cheating, and I killed my buddy.”

Five years after the founding of ReImagine Georgetown, GUASFCU, The Corp and The Hoya have agreed to discontinue the program. Created in 2007 as a way to fund student-run initiatives, RIG has encountered problems in following through on its grants. Last year, organizers cut funds to inactive projects for the first time, as five initiatives had lapsed, and awarded only $5,000, half of its $10,000 budget. This year, student leaders decided the program, which began when the university approached the three largest student organizations, was not fit to continue. Students of Georgetown Inc. CEO Lizzy MacGill (COL ’14) said that it was difficult to follow up on the successes and challenges of each initiative.

“Our predecessors in that transition told us that ReImagine Georgetown in the past had been successful in funding some great student projects,” MacGill said. “One of the limitations that they had communicated to us was that to follow through on the projects was really hard because it required the leaders from the biggest organizations on campus to be following up with the recipients of the award throughout their projects, and it’s just hard to do because your hands are full.” Evan Hollander (SFS ’14), chair of The Hoya’s Board of Directors, said that ReImagine Georgetown did not meet the organizations’ standards. “These are three organizations with great reputations,” he said. “If they’re putting their reputations on the line, it has to make a real,

Published Tuesdays and Fridays

See RIG, A6

Although Congress ended the federal government shutdown Wednesday evening, damage from lost revenue may be irreversible for the District of Columbia — a reality that influenced Congress’ decision to grant D.C. temporary budget autonomy. According to Mayor Vincent Gray’s Senior Communications Manager Doxie McCoy, the economy of Washington, D.C., whose budget is funded by local taxpayer funds but controlled by the federal government, was substantially affected. The D.C. metropolitan area, which includes D.C., Maryland and Virginia, lost $217 million, or 17.6 percent of the region’s economy, each day of the 16-day shutdown from lost or deferred federal and contractor wages. The District also lost $6 million each week in tax revenue. Hotel revenue was down by $2 million from October 2012. Because Wednesday evening’s deal only extended the debt ceiling to Feb. 7 and temporarily funded the federal government until Jan. 15, congressional leaders struck a deal with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) that granted the District government temporary budget autonomy until Sept. 30, 2014. This signifies unprecedented autonomy for D.C., allowing it to stay open and fund local services even if the federal government shuts down again in January. “A boomerang solution putting D.C. back in the federal government’s fiscal mess in January was beyond unacceptable,” Norton said in a statement. “This authority to spend our local funds for the full fiscal year, although the federal government is open only through Jan. 15, 2014, is a historic first.” Government professor Mark Rom See SHUTDOWN, A6 Send Story Ideas and Tips to news@thehoya.com


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