GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SINCE 1920 thehoya.com
Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 95, No. 7, © 2013
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
SEARCHING FOR SELF Trans* students at Georgetown build a sense of community.
EDITORIAL A Fossil Free referendum would be a proper use of the student vote.
GUIDE, B1
GUSA SENATE Seventy-seven students are running for 28 GUSA senate seats.
OPINION, A2
NEWS, A5
MEN’S SOCCER The Hoyas shut out Penn in 3-0 road win; prep for Princeton at home. SPORTS, B8
GU Receives Record $100 Million Gift McCourt New School Targets And His Massive Data Study Millions
EMMA HINCHLIFFE Hoya Staff Writer
PENNY HUNG
Hoya Staff Writer
Many at Georgetown were introduced to Frank McCourt Jr. (CAS ’75) through his record donation to the university this week, yet this staggering generosity also prompts curiosity about the man and his money. McCourt, who majored in economics at Georgetown — where he met his ex-wife Jamie McCourt (CAS ’75) — founded the McCourt Company in 1977, which specialized in real estate and construction, particularly with parking lots. McCourt’s grandfather was a part-owner of the then-Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves baseball franchise), and Frank McCourt continued that tradition. He unsuccessfully attempted to buy the Boston Red Sox, the former Anaheim Angels and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team before acquiring the Los Angeles Dodgers for $430 million in 2004. McCourt took out a $205 million loan to buy the team and used his own South Boston property as collateral to finance the acquisition. In order to balance the debt and increase the team’s viability, McCourt increased ticket and concession prices each year. By 2009, Forbes reported that the team’s See MCCOURT, A6
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Frank McCourt and John DeGioia first discussed public policy innovation in 2006. McCourt made more than $1 billion after a tumultuous ownership of the LA Dodgers.
A gift of $100 million from former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt Jr. (CAS ’75) will help create the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown’s ninth school and its first new school since the School of Business Administration in 1957, the university announced Wednesday. McCourt’s gift is the largest Georgetown has ever received, breaking a 2010 record set by Harry Toulmin Jr.’s $87 million endowment to support medical research granted through a charitable trust established in his will. The son of Rafik B. Hariri, for whom the new business school building is named, donated $20 million to the university. The McCourt School was first conceptualized during a conversation between McCourt and University President John J. DeGioia at a 2006 Board of Directors meeting. It will incorporate the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, which is currently part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, in its emphasis on a data-driven study of public policy through a Center for Politics and Policy at the McCourt School, a Massive Data Institute and the McCourt Fellows Program. “Following the first World
War, we created our Walsh School of Foreign Service to contribute to global peace by preparing young diplomatic leaders,” DeGioia told reporters Wednesday morning. “In 1957, we started what is now our McDonough School of Business as a recognition of America’s place in a growing world economy. And now, we have the ability to build on our existing strengths once again to meet the needs of the complex and evolving field of public policy and its application in solving global challenges.” The Massive Data Institute will focus on data from government agencies in its policy analysis, emphasizing the role of data in informing work on healthcare, education, poverty and other policy areas, while the fellowship program will offer full scholarships to students and five endowed faculty positions along with other faculty openings, including interdisciplinary and inter-school appointments. “It is clear that the problems facing this country and many other countries in the world don’t come packaged in little boxes that can be solved only by economists or only by political scientists with their knowledge of their discipline, but what we need really are See DONATION, A6
Fossil Free Seeks Referendum DC Council Takes Up Marijuana Legalization MADISON ASHLEY Hoya Staff Writer
Growing arrest rate, racial discrepency spur push for reform CHRISTOPHER ZAWORA Hoya Staff Writer
In response to a severe racial discrepancy among those arrested for marijuana-related offenses, D.C. Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) introduced a bill Tuesday that would legalize recreational usage of marijuana in the District. If passed, the Marijuana Legalization and Regulation Act would permit people over the age of 21 to possess and use up to two ounces of marijuana, which could be purchased from licensed distributors. All marijuana sales would carry a 10 percent excise tax, the proceeds of which would go toward substance-abuse prevention programs. An American Civil Liberties Union study released in June showed that D.C. has a higher marijuana-related arrest rate per capita than any state in the country; 846 out of 100,000 D.C. residents were arrested for marijuana-related arrests in 2010, and the Metropolitan Police Department has reported a steady rise in marijuana-related arrests from 2009 to 2013. A 2010 National Drug Use survey found that approximately 15 percent of both black and white populations in the United States use marijuana, but the ACLU found that black residents are 8.05 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than their white counterparts. Medical marijuana is already legalized in the District. Additionally, the Department of Justice announced Aug. 29 that it would not interfere with decriminalization or legalization laws proposed at the
state and local level, provided that businesses are tightly regulated. Grosso’s efforts follow a bill introduced in July by Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and councilmember and mayoral candidate Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Wells and Barry plan to re-introduce the bill this fall and are holding a public hearing in early October. The decriminalization bill, which has six co-sponsors, would reduce the punishment for possession of marijuana from a criminal offense to a civil penalty. Currently, the punishment for possessing less than one ounce of marijuana is six months in prison and a $1,000 fine; Wells and Barry’s bill would reduce the penalty to a $100 fine. But while Grosso supports the decriminalization movement, he argued that it would not do enough to solve the racial component of marijuana-related arrests. He has also introduced another bill, the Marijuana Possession Act of 2013, which would seal the records of all people whose only criminal offense is possession of marijuana. “The war on drugs has not worked,” Grosso said in a press release. “It has been a war on people of color. … I want to remove the opportunity for MPD to disproportionately arrest African Americans for non-violent drug offenses. This is a matter of justice.” ALCU organizer Seema Sadanandan agreed and said that MPD officers target black residents by using use the city’s stopand-frisk policy, which leads to marijuanarelated arrests. “We hear a lot of issues where many people are confronted by police officers and stop-and-frisk tactics. This forces them to
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GU Fossil Free — a student campaign asking Georgetown to divest from investments in fossil fuel companies — has gathered 1,400 signatures on a petition to hold a student-wide referendum on the issue later this fall. The group launched its divestment campaign last January by presenting a proposal to University President John J. DeGioia, which outlined a plan for the university to abandon its investments in fossil fuel companies. Details of the university’s
investments are not public. However, after meeting with administrators, including Chief Investment Officer Michael Barry, Chief Operating Office Chris Augostini and Vice President for Public Affairs Erik Smulson last spring, GU Fossil Free has modified its position to focus on staged divestment. “They wanted to initiate a dialogue with us to figure out how to move this conversation forward in a positive way,” Patricia Cipollitti (SFS ’15), a student involved in GU Fossil Free, said. “They basically told us divestment is very difficult logistically but that’s it feasible in the
future.” While referendums have traditionally been brought forth by Georgetown University Student Association leaders and through the GUSA senate, GU Fossil Free is pursuing a referendum independently of the student association, though it must gain GUSA senate approval. The “One Georgetown, One Campus” campaign against a satellite residence, though led mainly by GUSA members, has also emphasized its status as distinct from GUSA as a way of reinforcing its relevance to the See DIVESTMENT, A6
SMOOTHING THE SURFACE
ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
Kehoe Field, which is considered unsafe by many club sports athletes, was patched up Thursday. The university is cunducting a semester-long study on the field’s structure before fully repairing it.
See MARIJUANA, A5 Published Tuesdays and Fridays
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