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OPINION
THE HOYA
Friday, MARCH 24, 2017
THE VERDICT
C EDITORIAL C Examine Electoral Reform Founded January 14, 1920
majority – would remedy rather than reduce the problem. The recommendations also clearly address problems that arose following the December referendum and propose the ability of the GUSA senate to endorse a stance in referendums. If truly committed to reforming the electoral system, however, GUSA ought to expand upon these recommendations by revising its ranking system in executive elections as well. A focus of the report presented March 19 was the proposition that the senate as a body may take a stance on referendums without invalidating the results, suggesting that the GUSA senate require a five-sixths majority to officially endorse constitutional referendums. The proposal also begins to address the problems presented by the Dec. 1 club funding reform referendum, which led to allegations systemic interference at polling stations by GUSA’s proponents of the measure. Creating parity in regulations of referendums and the executive election would bind referendum partisans to the finance and endorsement guidelines that executive candidates must follow. This consistency would help ensure a more transparent, fair voting process. Referendums gauge the student body’s opinion on pertinent issues. The institution of a transparent endorsement process enables students to make more informed opinions. Senators are students, and the GUSA senate are students who should maintain their rights to have their voices heard in the referendum process, but regulations should clarify potential biases in this process. In cases like club funding reform, members of the senate are the best versed and most equipped to help students understand the merits and shortfalls of proposals, so their voices should be clearly heard as part of the electoral process so long as biases are clearly presented and recommendations are made in good faith and without corruption. All of these considerations have been made by the task force’s proposals. The editorial board acknowledges and applauds the GUSA task force’s recommendations to make elections more transparent and accessible to different communities on campus. As such, we propose that the association act on the task force’s recommendations. By examining the preferential ranking system during the executive election and acting on measures to ensure transparency in the organization’s stances during referendums, GUSA can be held more accountable to the desires of the student body.
Back from the Dead — Rowan Atkinson has been the victim of yet another death hoax, this one claiming he perished in a car crash. Mr. Bean is alive and well.
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Following a year of electoral upsets within the Georgetown University Student Association, GUSA’s much-needed Election Reform Task Force had plenty of fodder for its report presented at the GUSA senate meeting March 19. The year saw the invalidation of results from the Dec. 1 club funding reform referendum, and GUSA President Kamar Mack (COL ’19) and Vice President Jessica Andino’s (COL ’18) narrow 34-vote victory in February’s executive election. The task force’s recommendations demonstrate that the organization has engaged in a genuinely introspective approach to electoral reform and seeks to address longstanding issues of inaccessibility and insularity. Among the proposed measures in the two-page document, the task force proposed hosting executive election information sessions before winter break, in part to educate “outsider” candidates without much prior knowledge of the process. They also support releasing a voter guide with candidate statements, referendum descriptions and voting instructions, as well as improving engagement with less frequently reached communities to create a more inclusive, representative GUSA. While the task force’s proposals largely addressed fallout from the referendum in December, we propose a similar group to examine potential alternatives to the ranked voting system. The Mack-Andino ticket’s narrow victory over Garet Williams (COL ’18) and Habon Ali (SFS ’18) spotlighted how political maneuvering could clinch a winning campaign through GUSA’s preferential electoral system, which allows students to rank candidates if their first choice is eliminated in subsequent rounds. Mack and Andino, who had secured a crossendorsement from the third-place ticket of John Matthews (COL ’18) and Nick Matz (COL ’18), trailed behind Williams-Ali by more than a hundred votes through the third elimination round, only to inch ahead by 34 votes when the Matthews-Matz ticket was removed. This preferential voting system proves problematic when students are unaware of how the system works, potentially altering the results of the election. With the rankings, students may be under the false impression they must rank all candidates for their votes to be counted. While a wide-reaching public awareness campaign could explain the rationale and make the election system more reflective of student opinions, introducing a more intuitive run-off or primary system – which pits the first- and second-place tickets against each other if no one attains a simple
Sticky Shift — Two Ohio teenagers were arrested during their attempted carjacking after they realized they could not drive a stick shift car, even though the victim tried to teach them.
Casket Case — In an attempt to get elderly drivers off the road, a town in Japan is offering funeral discounts to senior citizens who gave up driving before passing away.
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Purr-fume — Demeter Fragrance Library released a new fragrance called Kitten Fur, which joins the ranks of others like Earthworm, Dirt, and
High Flying — Farmers are complaining about an increase in drugged parrots who feed on their opium fields to maintain their drug addiction. These parrots have reportedly learned not to squawk to stay inconspicuous.
It’s Not Rocket Science — A 17-year-old from Sheffield, England, emailed NASA to inform it of false data collected by its radiation sensors in the International Space Station. NASA is now working with the student to correct the error. Better than Tinder — A Michigan State University student’s dating resume went viral after citing skills such as “crying during Marley & Me” and “acting like a Dad in public.” He has since received hundreds of date solicitations.
EDITORIAL CARTOON by Elinor Walker
Toward Inclusive Feminism In a stirring celebration of girl power, the fourth annual OWN IT Summit hosted more than 500 attendees and 100 speakers during a daylong event Saturday geared toward encouraging the next generation of female leaders. The summit was only one of several events celebrating female empowerment as part of Georgetown’s Women’s History Month programming. Women in the armed forces were recognized by the university Thursday in a panel discussion, and this weekend the BRAVE Summit will honor the accomplishments of black womanhood with influential speakers ranging from Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to Google analyst Aerica Banks. If there is one overarching message to extract from these events, it is the fact that there is no singular experience that defines womanhood, nor should the term “feminism” be ascribed to any one particular set of beliefs. In advocating for women, the university should continue to showcase intersectionality in race, gender, sexual identity and ability within their programming, and also recognize that success looks different to each woman. In programming events aimed at collegeage women, much of the discussion is centered on women’s professional development and mobility. These conversations broach the indispensable topics of salary negotiation and work-life balance, but a factor often neglected in these conversations is that women who opt to be stay-at-home moms are just as valid within the feminist movement. A truly inclusive feminism recognizes that women are empowered through their
choices, no matter which path they choose to pursue. Additionally, feminism is not exclusively a liberal movement. The desire for women to achieve equality and a fulfilling life on their own terms need not be considered binary, which unequivocally embraces some beliefs and roundly rejects others. Being a feminist is not irreconcilable with assuming an antiabortion rights stance, and organizations would do well to include female speakers with different political and ideological leanings in their events. The university already represents an array of different perspectives within its programming through the joint efforts of students and administration, but it can continue to empower women by providing balanced dialogues that can unify historically divided perspectives. Creating panels that bring both conservative and liberal women, pro-abortion rights and antiabortion rights activists, and CEOs and stayat-home moms can allow students to expand their understanding of feminism and advocate for a form of inclusivity that taps into a more nuanced conversation about what it means to be a woman. By exploring these nuances and helping students feel empowered about the choices they make in their lives, the Georgetown community can demonstrate that it embodies feminism in every sense of the word. Georgetown has already demonstrated it is willing to welcome all women to the conversation — now it can turn its sights toward ensuring they are all represented.
Toby Hung, Editor-in-Chief Cirillo Paolo Santamaria, Executive Editor Jeffrey Tara Subramaniam Jesus Rodriguez, Managing Editor Christian Paz
Ian Scoville, Campus News Editor Aly Pachter, City News Editor Sean Hoffman, Sports Editor Marina Tian, Guide Editor Lisa Burgoa, Opinion Editor Lauren Seibel, Photography Editor Alyssa Volivar, Design Editor Sarah Wright, Copy Chief Kelly Park, Social Media Editor Alessandra Puccio, Blog Editor Jack Martin, Multimedia Editor
Editorial Board
Lisa Burgoa, Chair CC Borzilleri, Laila Brothers, Daria Etezadi, Ellie Goonetillake, Jack Lynch, Jack Segelstein, Bennett Stehr, Annabelle Timsit
William Zhu Alfredo Carrillo Emily Dalton Dean Hampers Cynthia Karnezis Viviana De Santis Dani Guerrero Meena Raman Maya Gandhi Grace Laria Jacob Witt Elinor Walker Derrick Arthur Anna Kovacevich Karla Leyja Stephanie Yuan Michelle Kelly Esther Kim Peter Shamamian Eleanor Stork Anna Dezenzo Janine Karo Sterling Lykes Catherine Schluth Charlie Fritz Kathryn Baker Dan Baldwin Yasmine Salam
Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy Campus News Editor Deputy City News Editor Business Editor Deputy Business & News Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Guide Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Cartoonist Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Photography Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Design Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Copy Editor Deputy Blog Editor Deputy Social Media Editor Deputy Social Media Editor Deputy Social Media Editor
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The Rostrum
t is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt, University of Paris at The SOrbonne, April 23, 1910
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Contributing Editors & Consultants
Madeline Auerbach, Kara Avanceña, Chris Balthazard, Isabel Binamira, Elizabeth Cavacos, Tom Garzillo, Lauren Gros, Shannon Hou, Darius Iraj, Yuri Kim, Dan Kreytak, Andrew May, John Miller, Syed Humza Moinuddin, Tyler Park, Becca Saltzman, Sarah Santos, Jeanine Santucci, Kshithij Shrinath, Emily Tu, Emma Wenzinger
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