The Hoya: April 21, 2017

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

Georgetown University • Washington, D.C. Vol. 98, No. 44, © 2017

FRIday, April 21, 2017

YEAR IN REVIEW

Take a look back at the stories that made our headlines in the 2016-17 year.

GU CLINCHES BIG EAST BID The women’s lacrosse team solidified its spot in the Big East Tournament.

EDITORIAL Adjuncts are valuable to our community and must be treated as such.

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SPORTS, A10

OPINION, A2

Task Force Seeks More Education On Sexual Assault Yasmine Salam Hoya Staff Writer

Members of the Sexual Assault and Misconduct Task Force recommended increased mandatory sexual assault education to change campus culture in a panel Wednesday night in the Healey Family Student Center.

The task force, composed of over 70 members of the Georgetown community, presented 11 recommendations developed in response to results from the 2016 Sexual Assault and Misconduct climate survey last February. The event precedes the planned release of the

group’s report later this year.

The recommendations include mandatory education for all graduate students as well as undergraduates, greater student involvement in fostering an inclusive social culture, greater cultural competency training for faculty and the establishment of a coordinated community response team on sexual assault.

“There is a need to make [sexual misconduct] education more extensive, more regular and, frankly, more required for all our undergraduates,” Vice President for Student Affairs and task See TASK FORCE, A6

KARLA LEYJA/THE HOYA

Rev. Tim Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, delivered a speech to attendees of Tuesday’s “Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope” in Gaston Hall.

University Apologizes for Sale of 272 Descendants, Jesuit representatives attend liturgy service Hannah Urtz And Lily Steinberg Hoya Staff Writers

JEFF CIRILLO/THE HOYA

The Sexual Assault and Misconduct Task Force presented its recommendations Wednesday night.

In one of the most active attempts by a U.S. university to address a tie to slavery, Georgetown community members convened with descendants of the 272 slaves sold in 1838 to formally apologize for the university’s role in slavery.

University officials formally apologized to the descendants in the “Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope” in Gaston

Hall, the construction of which in 1877 was made possible by the sale of 272 slaves that saved the university from the threat of financial collapse.

The liturgy service included speakers from the university, the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States and descendants of individuals sold

by Georgetown as slaves.

After the liturgy, attendees convened in Dahlgren Quad for the rededication ceremony of two buildings. The halls were renamed Isaac Hawkins Hall

and Anne Marie Becraft Hall, after the first slave sold and the founder of a school for black girls in Washington, D.C. The university relied financially on profits from a Maryland plantation until 1838, when it sold 272 slaves to raise funds necessary to keep the school open. Tuesday’s event constitutes a landmark development in the university’s efforts over the last several years to contend with this troubling past and the university’s participation in the institution of slavery.

Sandra Green Thomas, president of the GU272 Descendants Association, an advocacy organization of over 500 descendants, and a descendant of the Harris and Ware family lines, said the history of slavery is uniquely painful and pervasive.

“There is no comparison to be made between the enslaved of the Americas and any other group today or in history,” Thomas said. “Their pain was unparalleled. That pain is See LITURGY, A6

Ossoff Narrowly Misses Victory in Georgia 6th Tait Ryssdal Hoya Staff Writer

Jon Ossoff (SFS ’09), a Democratic candidate running for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, is set to face Republican Karen Handel in a June 20 runoff for a seat that has been held by a Republican for nearly four decades.

Ossoff earned 48.1 percent of the vote to Handel’s 19.8 percent, narrowly missing outright victory Tuesday. The field of 11 Republican and five Democratic candidates, including Ossoff, were vying to fill the seat vacated by Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price when he assumed that position in President Donald Trump’s cabinet.

The election reflects a larger partisan standoff in national politics. The Democratic Party is looking to rebuke Trump’s election through early special elections around the country, while congressional Republicans are trying to maintain their 237 to 193 majority in the House of Representatives.

featured

Most recently, Democrats failed to secure a win in Kansas’ 4th congressional district in a special election April 11 to fill CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s seat.

“It’s remarkable to have this level of turnout on the left in an off-year, and especially in a special election.”

HANNAH HOPE Chief of Staff, GU Politics

In an address to supporters Tuesday night while votes were still being tallied, Ossoff offered a message of hope and resilience.

“We have defied the odds.

We have shattered expectations. We are changing the world and your voices are going to ring out across this state and across this country. We will be ready to fight on and win in June if it is necessary,” Ossoff said.

Ossoff campaigned on a platform of grassroots

strength and emphasized the idea of inclusion Wednesday night.

“Let’s show what people power is all about. Let’s show what it means when we say that we have more in common than we have apart; that we reject fear, scapegoating and division; that we choose to love one another and to make things happen,” Ossoff said Tuesday night.

Hanna Hope, chief of staff for the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, predicted Ossoff would not win outright Tuesday night and that the race would go to a runoff in a Washington Post opinion piece published Tuesday.

“In any other year, this district is an easy win for Republicans,” Hope wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“The fact that Ossoff has captured national attention says a lot about the state of the Republican Party. It’s remarkable to have this level of turnout on the left in an off-year, and especially in a special election.”

Hope also led a three-day See OSSOFF, A6

JON OSSOFF WEBSITE

Jon Ossoff (SFS ’09), a Democratic candidate running for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, earned 48.1 percent of the vote, enough to place him in the June 20 runoff.

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

An Unsung Hero Sings Larry Colloway, a GUTS bus driver, performed for a large audience for the first time at the Spring Kickoff Concert.

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Tracing the Family Tree By examining our own lineage and ancestry, we can find new value in our day-to-day lives.

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Hoyas End Skid The men’s lacrosse team halted its six-game losing streak, downing Mount St. Mary’s 11-9 on Tuesday.

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NEWS Correspondents Dine

opinion Eliminating Erasure

SPORTS Offense Explodes

White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason spoke at an event last night.

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The university has made laudable progress, but bestowing descendants with legacy status sugarcoats history.

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The Georgetown baseball team’s offensive outburst led it to a 13-2 victory over Mount St. Mary’s.

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Send story ideas and tips to news@thehoya.com

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OPINION

THE HOYA

Friday, april 21, 2017

THE VERDICT

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Rotten Resort — The kitchen at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Fla., has been given 13 health violations by the Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants. Out of his 13 weeks as president, Trump has spent seven weekends at Mar-a-Lago.

Value Faculty, Protect Union C

Dope Creation — Los Angeles entrepreneur Yoni Ofir invented a refrigerator-sized device that grows marijuana, intended for people who do not know how to grow it otherwise. Though, at $3,000, the device is quite expensive, it is also simple: “plug and plant,” as Ofir says.

EDITORIALS

Georgetown’s original collective bargaining agreement with the Service Employees International Union Local 500 is set to expire June 30. Since the contract was first ratified in October 2014, adjunct professors — who are more professionally and economically vulnerable than full-time tenured faculty — have seen improvements in compensation and new protections from termination.

The current contract between the adjunct union and Georgetown, while imperfect, serves as a laudable model for other universities. As the contract expires, the university should ensure its part-time faculty retains the rights to collectively bargain with a new contract, effectively ensuring its members receive the dignity their profession deserves.

In a school that abounds with policymakers, thought leaders and practicing experts in virtually every field, part-time faculty is an indispensable part of a Georgetown education.

At the time the contract was ratified, adjuncts accounted for 43 percent of Georgetown’s faculty on the main campus and taught more than 1,200 courses per academic year. Despite their importance, adjunct professors on and off campus are not afforded the same job security and opportunities as are their full-time counterparts.

Nationwide, universities have addressed mounting operational costs by hiring more part-time adjunct professors and fewer fulltime professors since the 1970s. These positions typically do not include retirement packages or health insurance, nor do they offer many opportunities for career advancement to full-time employment.

Despite boasting high levels of education, adjuncts earn a paltry national average of $27,843 per year according to Glassdoor, a leading job recruitment site. Full-time professors earn a national average of $114,134. By comparison, the average cost of living for a family of three in Washington, D.C., is $67,867, according to a 2016 report released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Through the stipulations of Georgetown’s contract with the SEIU Local 500, adjuncts saw a hike in their minimum salary from $4,300

per standard three or four-credit course in spring 2015 to $4,700, which greatly bolstered the compensation of Georgetown’s lowestpaid adjuncts. However, although the contract has raised Georgetown’s wages above the national average, most are still not paid a living wage, nor provided with essential health care benefits in case of a medical emergency.

Beyond financial compensation, adjuncts must confront additional hurdles their fulltime counterparts do not face. Without permanent office space, adjuncts face limited options for meeting students for office hours and must cycle through the borrowed rooms of their peers.

Even more jarring, adjuncts are not afforded the same research opportunities as are full-time faculty, work that increasingly serves as a metric to gauge job performance as a professor. Unlike tenured professors who normally receive a research budget, adjuncts must conduct their research with minimal university support. The agreement with the university created a $35,000 fund to compensate adjuncts for up to $600 for professional development related to teaching, but this stops short of providing professors with the resources necessary for research projects.

In addition, adjunct staff are constrained by their need to teach multiple classes to support themselves, further limiting their ability to conduct research to move up the academic ladder.

As the university renegotiates the contract, it should continue to provide its adjuncts with the ability to collectively bargain for fair compensation and dignity. But both the university and the union should prioritize bolstering conditions for its adjuncts beyond salaries, assuring they have the opportunities for space and resources to flourish like full-time faculty.

The past three years of unionization have permitted Georgetown adjuncts to fight for their rights. For a university beholden to Jesuit values, which dictate that everybody is imbued with an innate humanity and right to dignity, Georgetown must sustain negotiations and cooperation to ensure its faculty makes strides toward greater equality.

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Founded January 14, 1920

The Drug Deception — According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 95 percent of 20,000 drug convictions in the state have been dismissed due to the falsification of drug test results. A former chemist pleaded guilty to intentionally changing the results, resulting in an unknown amount of those guilty of drug convictions being dismissed.

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Soil Your Underwear — As part of National Soil Conservation Week, the Soil Conservation Council of Canada is suggesting that people bury their 100 percent cotton underwear in their gardens to test the organic matter in the soil. The group cites a test that says that, if there is a high quality of organic matter, then only the waistband should be left after two months.

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Will Work for Wendy’s — The fast food chain Wendy’s told a Nevada teen that he could get a year of free chicken nuggets if he got 18 million retweets. Since then, #NuggsForCarter has gained popularity, with even Google, Amazon and Ellen DeGeneres supporting his lofty goal.

EDITORIAL CARTOON by Elinor Walker

Support Hammock Initiative Georgetown Students for More Hammocks, a student-led movement for more hammocks on campus, began last semester with an ethics project in professor Jason Brennan’s “Moral Foundations of Market Society” class in the McDonough School of Business. With the assignment to, “do something good with $1,000,” a group of eight students worked to install three hammocks on campus, a way to create a small but wellmeaning change in the lives of Georgetown students. As students sought to continue the efforts begun with this project, Georgetown Students for More Hammocks was born earlier this year.

Seeking to build on the progress of a recent class project, the initiative represents the potential real-world impact of students’ academic work and is a welcome respite from the daily stresses of life at Georgetown.

The work thus far — and continued efforts — of this group clearly demonstrates the potential impact of a group of motivated, engaged students. In collaboration with the Office of Design and Construction, the students have already examined the oftenoverlooked consequences of hammock installation. For example, as the group noticed, the installation of new hammocks by the university is designed reduce the risk of damaging the trees on campus, as often happens when students try to hang their own hammocks.

A petition launched earlier this month on the group’s Facebook page, which has already amassed more than 200 likes, signifying broad-based student support for the initiative. Regardless of whether one is interested in the hammocks, the community should rally behind these students who are striving to better our campus and promote a simple manner of combatting stress culture.

Moreover, this student-led initiative for campus improvement is laudable, particu-

larly given its philanthropic nature. This project exemplifies the potential of students’ academic work to benefit the community outside of the classroom. Both the initial concept for the project and the ongoing push for more hammocks demonstrate a desire to improve the lives of Georgetown students in a meaningful and thoughtful, if modest, way.

Additionally, the work of Georgetown Students for More Hammocks represents a much-needed divergence from the stress culture that strongly dominates Georgetown. Though it may seem like a trivial impact, this initiative is a breath of fresh air on our constantly bustling campus.

In a community of students often so narrowly focused on opportunities for the future, this group allows students to take advantage of the present — to lie back, admire the sky, take a breath and engage in something for the sake of relaxation rather than for advancement. The push to install more hammocks, and thus to more actively foster space for relaxation on our campus, is a sign of our community’s commitment to self-care, even amid our busy lives.

To get involved, all one has to do is sign the petition to demonstrate support.

This editorial board lauds the work of Georgetown Students for More Hammocks and supports the group in its push for a campus with more hammocks. Whether or not the group ultimately succeeds in increasing the number of on-campus hammocks, it has shown the power of student initiative and has effectively emphasized the importance of relaxation on our everbusy campus. Though the movement may have begun in jest, the impact of Georgetown Students for More Hammocks is real and tangible and benefits the whole of the Georgetown community.

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

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The Rostrum

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f parents, teachers and ministers conducted their responsibilities by following the ratings, children would have a steady diet of ice cream, school holidays and no Sunday school. What about your responsibilities? Is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children? Is there no room for programs deepening their understanding of children in other lands? Is there no room for a children’s news show explaining something to them about the world at their level of understanding? Is there no room for reading the great literature of the past, for teaching them the great traditions of freedom? There are some fine children’s shows, but they are drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. Must these be your trademarks? Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.”

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Newton N. Minow Delivered may 9, 1961, Washington, D.c.

Daniel Almeida, General Manager Emily Ko, Director of Alumni Relations Brittany Logan, Director of Financial Operations Gabriella Cerio, Director of Human Resources George Lankas, Director of Sales Karen Shi Galilea Zorola Matt Zezula Tara Halter Brian Yoffe Emily Marshall Akshat Kumar

Personnel Manager Senior Accounts and Operations Manager Treasury Manager Accounts Manager Accounts Manager Alumni Engagement Manager Local Ads Manager

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

Board of Directors

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OPINION

Friday, april 21, 2017

THE HOYA

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VIEWPOINT • WENZINGER

UNMASKED

Caitlin Karna

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Appreciating Family First

hey say you cannot choose family, but given the choice, I would choose mine.

My family is a bit like a cast of characters. The five of us, plus our two dogs, could be filmed on location in our Dallas home for a classic American sitcom. It would probably do pretty well, too, if I may say so myself.

We are the kind of family that demands developing a thick skin, as every gathering involves some sort of roast and airing of dirty laundry that no one ever forgets. I will never let my younger brother live down the time I was brainstorming ideas for a college essay — “describe one of your quirks” — and he suggested I write about my big thighs. Classic mistake, honestly. A friend came to visit me at home last weekend and aptly noted that my house is a “brave space.”

I feel lucky to be able to say that my family is my comfort zone. They have seen all of me. They dealt with my drama, my trauma and all the ups and downs in between.

Amid it all, they support me, celebrate me and stand by me no matter what, even if they are also laughing at me. Until college, I did not realize how rare a family like this could be.

Coming to Georgetown, I faced an exciting prospect.

No one knew me here, no one understood where I came from, no one could relate or compare my 18-year-old self to a previous version of me. I was thrilled — finally a new environment where I could be anyone. So, just like every other bright-eyed freshman, I set off to find myself.

I soon discovered that relationships are complicated in the sea of hook ups. I realized that hometowns can be more dimensional than simply where you went to high school. I learned that privilege

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is inherent and subconscious even when we actively avoid it.

And I found that all of us react to pressure and high stakes in varying but sometimes contagious ways.

Still, I had the means to break out of my comfort zone, to leave my old self behind: the one who dreamed of life beyond high school, of a world outside of Dallas, Texas.

I joined the mass of Georgetown students, fresh and new to the Hilltop and ready to “be different.”

I thought there was no way I was like my parents. I could choose to deviate or conform to my family identity, and I wanted to try something new.

I thought everyone did. After all, everyone’s families were like mine. We were the classic American family.

But as I get older, visit home less and less and notice how glaring my sense of displacement is, I find that I choose family. Ultimately, they contextualize me, describe where I came from and put me on the path to where I was going. Family tends to do that, whether you also choose family or you wish you could.

The identities we construct do not always define us, nor do they characterize our legacies. Frankly, if we did not explore the endless opportunities that create who we are, we would be doing college wrong. I easily get lost in the daily dramas of Georgetown life and love to feed my grandiose sense of self-worth with lengthy treatises on the right ways to construct identity. It is part of the process, one with an indefinite beginning and end.

But if I ever need a jerk back to reality? I just call my mom.

She is the one who told me to write this column anyway.

Caitlin Karna is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. This is the final installment of Unmasked.

More than anything, my research into my family has challenged me to consider what I myself leave behind here and whether or not that will fade into the background of the city that I love.

Uncovering the Stories That Bind Us

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uring my time as a Georgetown student, I walked across the trolley tracks on O Street, slipped on their smooth surface in the blizzard last year and even pointed them out in a neighborhood tour for newly admitted students and their families. But I did not understand their significance outside of the charm they seemed to add to my present-day experiences.

It was not until my grandmother visited me in Washington, D.C., that I learned that her mother, my great-grandmother, might have taken the trolley that ran on those tracks more than 50 years ago.

My great-grandmother had left her small family farm in Pennsylvania to attend nursing school at what was once Garfield Memorial Hospital in the District. According to my grandmother, she graduated sometime between 1928 and 1932, though she might have left school

for a short time when she was ill. The details were unclear, and we did not have any pictures.

Previously, I remembered my great-grandmother Elizabeth by her old, walnut-stained wooden trunk, filled with folded quilts. The trunk came with her when she started living with us, and when she was gone, I thought it was all she had left behind.

My newfound understanding of the trolley tracks led me to wonder whether she had left behind more than just a trunk. I searched through online records, not even to find her, but just to locate the hospital where she had attended nursing school. It had closed decades ago, and senior apartments were now standing where the hospital complex once spread on Florida Avenue, still surrounded by the hospital’s original wrought-iron fence.

My online search yielded a brief history of the hospital and several boxes of records kept by the Library

of Congress. I spent a long Friday afternoon sifting through the boxes, until I finally found her name, typed out but spelled incorrectly, among the 29 nursing students in the alumnae record of the class of 1931. This led me to a picture of her graduating class, where she stood, smiling, in the second row.

My grandmother, my mother, who is also a nurse, and I all saw this picture of her for the first time after uncovering the records.

My research into my family’s history was in large part a process of learning more about myself.

Before taking on this project, I had lived in the District for almost two years, travelling on Florida Avenue and studying at the Library of Congress, without know-

ing that these remaining artifacts of my great-grandmother were waiting for me to find. My research into my family’s history was in large part a process of learning more about myself, not only because of our familial relationship but because I carry her name as my own middle name: Elizabeth Beyond being able to share the related pictures and documents with my family members, my genealogical knowledge has enriched my experience in this city. It is fulfilling to know and be able to share this history, just as it is to walk through the National Mall and understand the political circumstances of the construction and location of its monuments.

More than anything, it has challenged me to consider what I myself leave behind here and whether or not that will fade into the background of the city that I love.

Wenzinger is a sophomore in the College.

Emma

VIEWPOINT • JAMES

fireside chats

The Poetry of Science

Toward Authentic Reparations

n 2000, Paul J. Crutzen, a Dutch atmospheric chemist and Nobel laureate, coined the term “Anthropocene.” The word designates the epoch in which human activity shapes ecosystems and where its presence registers in the geological record. Crutzen’s coinage comes as a response to decades of scientific data supporting anthropogenic climate change: The idea that, by polluting natural spaces and burning fossil fuels, humans are warming the planet, altering our world for the worse.

Poetry in North America has come to terms with this prospect in various ways, some of which are aesthetic. As American poet Brian Teare writes in “Transcendental Grammar Crown,”:

doubt entered the field in the form of a body always grass at edge calf-high then rising as heat midday does The poet uses both white space on the page and unconventional syntax to fracture the poem’s language for the reader. This textual fracturing mimics subjectivity in the Anthropocene: If the epoch challenges the philosophic divisions between “man” and “nature,” or “nature” and “culture,” our understanding as a species of ourselves in relation to our environment must change too.

Other responses to climate change have been more concrete. In 2012, Ahsahta Press, an independent publishing house based in Boise, Idaho and one of the foremost publishers of experimental poetry in the United States — published a 544-page anthology, “The Acadia

Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral.” The book collected poems by over 100 poets on topics ranging from “Textual Ecologies” to “Necro/Pastoral,” a literary mode that imagines the planet’s death and elegizes the world on such terms. Like the Teare poem, which is included in the anthology, these poems serve as humanist responses to the revelations of hard data, modeling a variety of possible rejoinders to the prospect of climate catastrophe.

But poetry offers more than mere aesthetics. What many people do not realize is that North America boasts a robust poetry community, one with a long history of political activism.

Georgetown’s own Carolyn Forché, university professor and director of the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice, collected what she called poems of “witness” into an influential 1993 anthology, “Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness.”

The anthology framed the act of recording extremity — surviving the Holocaust or living through Soviet era repression, for instance — as a poetic one, allowing many who had seen poetry as merely ornamental to consider its political and historical import. That poetry has a political purpose is, today, taken as a given by most humanists, in part because of Forché’s work.

The poetry community often finds itself working closely with specialists from diverse fields, from political activists to scientists, and with increasing frequency they blend the discourses common to those fields with poetic techniques.

American poet Juliana

Spahr, for instance, has imitated the vast logs of scientific data in her 2011 book “Well Then There Now,” which forges poems out of lists of extinct species. Poets often find themselves appropriating scientific language and even numerical data into their poems, pressing the boundaries of what poetic language can be and the kinds of lexicons it can encompass.

Such is the aim of a series of pop-up writing workshops being offered this Saturday, April 22, at the March for Science on the National Mall. The march itself is aimed at celebrating science as a non-partisan issue that promotes the public good, calling on the Trump administration to ground its policies in empirical knowledge rather than “alternative facts.” The workshops have been organized by Jane Hirshfield — author most recently of 2015’s “The Beauty: Poems” — and address such topics as “Writing the Storm,” “Poems on Insects,” “Poems on Global Warming” and “Writing Poems with Data and Glue Sticks”. Workshops are aimed at various ages and levels of experience.

Poetry probably cannot save the world, nor should it be tasked with such a burden. What it can do is bring people together in ways that create a confluence of knowledge and expertise.

In its ability to aesthetically mimic such confluences, perhaps it can inspire us to build a world that is greener and more conscious than the one we currently inhabit.

John James is a graduate

student in the School of Continuing Studies.

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n the last several months, Georgetown has created a new chapter of its history.

It is one that will acknowledge the university’s history of slavery and the descendants of the slaves who were sold by the school. As admirable as this new campaign is, it is not without flaws.

Over the course of this reconciliation with its past, the university has responded to the issue in a number of ways.

Most recently, the university has renamed Freedom Hall to Isaac Hawkins Hall, a rededication that commemorates the life of the first slave who appeared in the draft that sold the Georgetown slaves.

On Tuesday, the Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation convened a Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition and Hope, serving as an official apology for its complicity in the sale. Moreover, the university created an online compilation of records from the 1838 sale of 272 slaves, held vigils and town halls, invited the descendants to the campus and more. All of these events facilitate reconciliation by openly acknowledging Georgetown’s direct participation in the slave trade by buying and selling slaves.

But the most direct reconciliation effort is evident in the future relationship that descendants will have with Georgetown. For example, the university will grant the descendants legacy status in the admissions process and will offer admitted descendants a full-tuition scholarship. While this effort seems helpful, it fails to fully offer the remedies and reparations that descendants may need.

The term “legacy,” in itself, is an inappropriate label for the descendants. It sugarcoats the relationship that Georgetown has with slavery. To call these descendants legacies makes it

seem as if their relatives were enrolled at the university, and this fails to highlight that these 272 slaves were sold to benefit Georgetown, and that they did not delight in the freedoms and rights that other students at Georgetown had.

Anu Osibajo & Isatou Bah To group the descendants and legacy students under one umbrella does not create an equitable boost to the admissions process. A “legacy” status should serve as a boost to a prospective student’s application. Traditionally, legacy aids students who plan to attend their relatives’ alma mater.

These students are typically already prepared for the rigors of college and the specific institution due to the longevity of their family history with the school.

Most traditional legacy recipients are already prepared to enter college and often could gain admissions without the leverage. In fact, according to the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon, about 80 to 90 percent of legacy students were accepted without consideration of legacy status.

Traditional legacy recipients have someone who can give them insight into the university’s admissions process or the campus culture. The descendants, however, are deprived of the benefits of actually having an immediate relative who attended the institution or who can give beneficial insight on how to succeed there.

This issue is compounded by the fact that the disenfranchisement caused by slavery has not allowed slave descendants to access a college education like legacy students have. Unlike traditional legacy students, it is not guaranteed that these students have had best quality of secondary school education, nor is it guaranteed that they are indeed prepared for Georgetown’s academic rigor. Though legacy status is intended to give a boost to a student’s application, it cannot make up for centuries of lingering effects that our country has had on people of color.

Furthermore, these reparations only affect descendants who apply and are admitted to Georgetown, but fails to assist those who choose not to come to Georgetown or have not gained admittance. The university has yet to propose a recommendation that adequately aids all descendants of the 272 slaves, rather than just admitted students. This creates a flaw that makes Georgetown’s effort incomplete.

Though these reparations show a continuing effort on Georgetown’s part to be an inclusive community, paying homage to the memory of these slaves will never remedy the continuing aftermath.

These efforts are a great start, but the university cannot stop there. Georgetown bought and sold slaves at some point in the past. In the future, Georgetown must consciously ensure that its participation in slavery and salience of these slaves is recognized in the university’s history books.

Anu Osibajo and Isatou Bah are freshmen in the College. This is the final installment of Fireside

chats.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Georgetown Institute for Politics and Public Service hosted its first Correspondents’ Dinner. Story on A7.

Your news — from every corner of The Hoya.

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IN FOCUS RIDE THE WAVE

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On the college campus, if you exclude anyone with per-se assumptions about who they are or what they represent, it’s dangerous.”

NAACP CEO and President Cornell Brooks on the importance of joint activism between blacks and Jews.

Story on A7.

From our blog

CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH — OR THE DARE 4E suggests a few daring endeavors and salacious truths for a Georgetown-style game with friends.

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In prepation for tomorrow’s summit raising mainstream concern for ocean pollution issues, the Sustainabile Oceans Alliance installed a wave sculpture on the White-Gravenor patio constructed from discarded recyclable bottles.

blog.thehoya.com

Q&A: Former NFL Commissioner on JTIII, Ewing LUCY PASH

Hoya Staff Writer

The university fired former men’s basketball team Head Coach John Thompson III March 23, ending his 10 years of leadership.

Ten days later, the university hired Patrick Ewing (COL ’85), who helped Georgetown win the 1984 NCAA championship, following a hiring process led by Athletic Director Lee Reed and board members Kevin Martin and Paul Tagliabue.

In an interview with THE HOYA, Tagliabue discussed the hiring process and how his past as commissioner of the NFL influenced the hiring process.

Thompson was fired March 23 and Ewing was hired only 10 or 11 days later.

Can you just describe the process that you went through to hire a new coach so quickly?

A: Basically, the process we followed was to develop a list of four or five dozen coaches who we were aware of who we thought might have an interest in the Georgetown position, and then we very quickly narrowed that down to about one dozen. The goal was to come down to about three or four at the bottom of the filtering process. And then at that point we would be in a position to do a bunch of research and then try to make a recommendation as to who would be the three or four candidates with the best qualifications and the best fit for Georgetown. From there we would get to a final decision.

How did you define what you were looking for in a Georgetown basketball coach?

First and foremost we wanted someone who would reflect and embrace the values of Georgetown — someone who believes strongly that there is a balance between academics and athletics that has to be respected and that academics are an important component of a student athlete. We also felt that it had to be someone who respected Georgetown’s values of diversity, commitment to service to others, and so the first thing was we wanted people who could lead at Georgetown and properly represent the university, not

just winning basketball games but recruiting young men who would be assets not only athletically but also academically. The next thing was that we wanted someone who had a demonstrated success and experience in coaching basketball at the collegiate or NBA level. We wanted people who clearly understood the game as it is being played today.

What was it about Coach Ewing that made him stand out to you?

He in some ways defines Georgetown basketball in terms of tradition of success on the court with athletes who came and for the most part stayed for an academic experience, not just for a oneyear experience. But the other thing is he’s got this unique personal quality of setting his goals very high and this confidence, and it’s not overconfidence and arrogance — just a confidence that when it comes to playing basketball, teaching basketball, coaching basketball, leading a program, that he can achieve at the highest level. He did that as a player, as a professional player. He’s developed those skills in coaching four different teams in over 14 years, and he just seemed to be a person who would redefine the program in terms of goals and levels of energy. And he has demonstrated over his career — when he came to Georgetown at 17 or 18 years old and now he is 64 years old, which is a 37-year interval — he has demonstrated that he is really a leader and someone who likes to be personally accountable for success and failure — is someone who embraces responsibility and leadership, not someone who shirks from that. So in the end he had all of the qualities we were looking for. There were three or four people we were still evaluating when it came to the final weekend before we announced the decision on Monday, but then Patrick emerged on the final weekend.

How did your experience as a basketball player at Georgetown influence your thinking about a coach?

My own experience was pretty irrelevant since it was 50 years ago, but what we really needed to focus on

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Former NFL commissioner and Georgetown Board of Directors Vice Chair Paul Tagliabue (COL ’62) discussed the process of hiring Patrick Ewing (COL ’85) as men’s basketball team head coach. was how the game is played today: the style of play, fastpaced game, three-point shots, mobile athletes. So it was a mixture of personal qualities, institutional and personal leadership skills and understanding of the game of basketball today — not only how it’s played but how the athletes have to be recruited in a competitive environment. I would say those are the major things [we looked for].

How did your experience in the NFL influence your thinking about a coach?

I don’t know if it influenced my thinking as much as it made me familiar with what I would say best practices and good standards that you need to apply and the kinds of processes that have been proven to be the best because we had done a lot of work in the NFL involving the processes for hiring coaches, for hiring staff — how do you reach out in a quiet phase and identify candidates, some of whom

may be obvious, or you may have to talk to other people involved with the sport, either in football or basketball. And we did that. We had a search firm working for us. They had lots of contacts at the collegiate level with coaches, lots of contacts with professional coaches in the NBA. So I’d say my experience in the NFL was mostly about the process for identifying a diverse pool of candidates, a deep pool of candidates, how do you go about vetting them, getting information about them without their name being displayed, minimizing public disclosure because most everyone that you’re considering has opposition where he’s employed. There were a few exceptions, but you want the process to respect the privacy of the candidates who may not even know you’re considering them. So my experience in the NFL was mostly about process, but we marry that experience with how President DeGioia hires the leaders of Georgetown and his processes

which involve starting with a large group and narrowing it down. I would say the NFL experience and the Georgetown experience kind of merge, compliment and blend together well in this situation.

Some people thought that Georgetown would want to move away from the Thompson legacy, but the new coach was John Thompson’s greatest player.

Did that thought enter into the hiring decision, and if so, how?

We discussed that. I had met with Coach Thompson and talked to him on his perspective on where the program was. I and the other members felt that Patrick demonstrates that he is his own man. He reaches out to people for advice. He’s got great relationships with former teammates and coaches, but he also understands that accountability and leadership is a personal matter and not something where he is going to be overly reliant on someone else. Some

people think the Thompson legacy was a burden, and contributing to some of the dissatisfaction with the most recent Coach Thompson. But when you look at it in the proper perspective, it’s not a burden; it’s an asset. It’s a tradition of excellence, which became a standard for lots of universities all over the country. We talked amongst ourselves about what kind of steps you take, what kind of things you do, to make it clear that the Coach Thompson tradition, which included breakthroughs in terms of minority employment and diversity, breakthroughs in terms of academics like Proposition 48 — I mean he was one of the giants of the evolution of college basketball in many different dimensions, not just in terms of winning and losing on the court, but in terms of the societal effects of diversity and minority employment and academic fairness and academic standards. So that’s a tradition that we thought should be respected and built upon and not just be ignored.

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Friday, april 21, 2017

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Unsung Heroes Provides Students Join Regional GUTS Bus Driver a Stage Immigration Movement Maddi Charbonneau Hoya Staff Writer

The stage was set. Hundreds of students were gathered for the April 7 Georgetown Program Board Spring Kickoff Concert in McDonough Gymnasium. Larry Calloway, a Georgetown University Transportation Service bus driver who has worked at Georgetown for about seven months, felt butterflies in his stomach as he waited to take the stage.

As soon as he stepped in front of the crowd, however, his nerves melted away.

“When I stepped on stage, it was like all that nervousness just went away. It was like, this is where I’m supposed to be,” Calloway said.

As he sang, he felt the crowd’s positive energy and joy. It was the experience of a lifetime that Calloway would love to repeat.

“To feel what they were receiving from this gift that God has given me, it made me feel like I was doing what my gift intended for me to do,” Calloway said. “It made me feel wonderful. I’ve never felt something like that before in my life. I want to do it again.”

Calloway’s performance was made possible by the student group Unsung Heroes, which seeks to recognize works at Georgetown on social media. The organization worked with GPB to add Calloway to the list of performing artists at the Spring Kickoff Concert, joining artists including Matoma and the Cheat Codes.

“I often lead devotional services at my church, but I don’t believe there are as many as there were there at the Spring Kickoff Concert,” Calloway said. “I had never performed in front of hundreds of people

before.”

Calloway first began singing at the age of five, when he prayed for God to bless him with a gift that would help others.

“While I was praying, a song came to me — ‘this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.’ And when I got up off my knees, I just started singing it with such passion and I’ve been singing ever since,” Calloway said.

Calloway said he finds himself singing almost everywhere, from the grocery store to the bus he drives on his GUTS route to DuPont Circle.

He even sometimes responds with a song in conversation.

“I sing every day. Every day.

As a matter of fact, I can’t drive unless I sing,” Calloway said.

When Calloway feels a song rising in his heart, he said, he cannot hold it in. He has to sing.

“I can’t describe it. It feels almost like an out-of-body experience. It feels like I’m no longer myself. It just feels like being in the presence of God,” Calloway said.

Calloway said he takes great joy in singing to the passengers on his bus — passengers who show their appreciation in a number of ways. One woman gave him a candy bar because she loved his singing, according to Calloway. But for Calloway, the greatest reward for his singing is seeing the smiles he brings to students’ faces.

“Singing has a power in itself,” Calloway said. “It can heal, it can uplift, it can encourage. It can bring someone from a bad state of thought to a good state of thought. It’s relaxing.”

In the same way singing brings happiness to his passengers, so it has helped Calloway

in his own life, particularly as he fights recently diagnosed colon cancer.

Calloway had troubles with his colon for about 10 years, but had never found the time to get it thoroughly checked.

Calloway said it was the spirit of God that moved him to make the appointment with his doctor last February, just as it had moved him to start singing decades earlier.

Two weeks after the appointment, a test for cancer came back positive. After discussing plans for future testing with his doctor, Calloway looked for peace through prayer.

“I found peace in my heart after the praying because the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘The reason why I gave you the dream to go get this done was so that this thing will not do what it had intended to do,’” Calloway said.

According to Calloway, it was a combination of his faith and singing that helped get him through the challenges and fear he faced after he found out that he had cancer.

“Singing with more of a zeal than I ever had,” Calloway said.

“Just meditating and singing.

That’s getting me through.

That’s gotten me through before, so why wouldn’t it get me through this?”

After his first large public performance at the spring concert, Calloway dreams of projecting his voice even further.

“I want to sing so that it touches the world,” Calloway said. “Where the spirit of God comes upon me, whatever song that is, that it reaches the world and people feel God from that song. You know, the tears flow and the heart is uplifted. That’s my greatest wish: to sing a song that uplifts the world.”

SPENCER COOK/THE HOYA

Georgetown University Transportation Service bus driver Larry Calloway performed at the Georgetown Program Board’s Spring Kickoff Concert on April 7.

Lily Steinberg Hoya Staff Writer

Eight Georgetown students have joined the DMV Sanctuary Congregation Network, a local initiative launched March 21 led by regional religious groups, that provides spiritual support and legal resources to immigrants at risk of being detained or deported.

Sanctuary DMV consists of over 60 religious congregations who have pledged to provide aid to local immigrants through providing physical sanctuary, free legal aid and spiritual support.

Mizraim Belman Guerrero (SFS ’20), one of the students involved in outreach for Sanctuary DMV, and Austin Rose (COL ’18), who has been involved with Sanctuary DMV since it started, plan to form a team of Georgetown students and faculty to accompany immigrants attending mandatory check-ins with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to increase the range of people who qualify as priorities for deportation.

Since then, ICE arrests of immigrants around the country have increased. In the District alone, ICE reported it had arrested 82 individuals over the course of five days in the DMV area, according to Fusion, a media company owned by Univision. During the week of April 3, ICE reported it detained at least 367 individuals across the country.

ICE check-ins are meant for immigrants without documentation of which the government is aware, but who have low priority for deportation, often because they do not have criminal records or have strong involvement with their local communities.

Rose, who is also a student coordinator for the Immigration and Labor Project at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, said initiatives like Sanctuary DMV are important to protecting immigrants.

“This is a time where we really need to stand in solidarity with the undocumented community in D.C.,” Rose said.

“They’ve been persecuted for a while. It’s not necessarily anything new.”

Organizations like Many Languages One Voice are working with immigrants in the D.C. area to have their voices heard. On May 1, there will be a nation-wide immigrant strike.

Hannah Kane, a Worker Justice organizer at Many Languages One Voice, said she has high hopes for the protest next month.

“We hope that immigrants will be organizing and defending their rights themselves,” Kane said.

According to Kane, some students at Georgetown are planning on participating in the strike.

Western Presbyterian Church

Eight Georgetown students are recruiting community members to join the Sanctuary DMV initiative.

Belman Guerrero said he is personally committed to the Sanctuary DMV initiative because of his status as a student without documentation and his work as an immigration and labor justice coordinator with the Kalmanovitz Initiative.

“I personally care because I am undocumented so this is something that personally affects me every day,” Guerrero said. “I’m in it because it’s helping immigrants, but I do also come from a religious Catholic background and a lot of the churches there are Catholic, so it ties into my religious background.”

According to Rose, accompaniment involves going with people to their ICE check-ins, and explained that it is important for several reasons.

“There are three purposes for accompaniment. Emotional, so just being there for people. Logistical, so calling people, making sure their kids are ok if they have kids, making sure their stuff is ok.

And then the third is putting pressure on the ICE field office, where you report for the check-ins,” Rose said.

Rose said he hopes the organization provides an outlet for students to support immigrants.

“This is something in the works so people will have to be patient with it,” Rose said. “But I think that it’s something that can really help in a way that individual people, no matter if they have experience with this issue or not, can get involved.”

Rose said the current national political climate has motivated people to rally support for immigrants.

Since Trump’s election, thousands of demonstrators have mobilized around the country to protest the administration’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and policies advanced by the Trump White House. In Washington alone,

protestors have gathered for the Women’s March on January 21 and the Tax March on April 15. Activists will also descend on D.C. for the March for Science this weekend and the People’s Climate March on April 29.

“I think right now, there’s a lot of momentum, a lot of antiTrump sentiment,” Rose said.

“Obviously, some people support Trump and are ok with his policies, but I think after he was elected the country was really shocked, and a lot of people are concerned with his presidency and want to provide a check against what he may do and some want to openly resist what he may do.”

Guerrero said he has seen support around campus.

“I think it’s going pretty well,” Guerrero said. “There definitely is a lot of support for undocumented immigrants here on campus it seems like.

We had a meeting not too long ago where there were a couple students that came out to learn more about how to get involved with the sanctuary movement and we hope to continue those efforts in the coming weeks.”

Guerrero said people can help through accompaniment.

“It definitely doesn’t take a lot. You just have to have that initial drive to want to help out and be a part of the sanctuary movement,” Guerrero said.

Rose said anyone considering getting involved with immigrant rights should jump into it.

“If you are one of those people that wants to do something, and are looking for something to do, I really feel as though this is an ideal thing to do,” Rose said. “It’s ideal because it’s a low-bar commitment, because I know everyone is busy. It’s ideal because I really believe it can make an impact. It’s ideal because it’s needed.”

At a Crossroads: Hurdles Remain for LGBTQ Inclusion Jeanine Santucci Hoya Staff Writer

Aaron Warga (COL ’18) was tabling in Red Square for the Transgender Day of Visibility when an admitted student asked about Georgetown’s housing process for gendernonconforming students.

Warga was at a loss for what to say.

“They said ‘I am nonbinary, I identify as they/them/theirs.

What are the housing policies here?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it’s a pretty binary, gendered housing policy,’” Warga said.

“There’s no gender-neutral housing or mixed-gender housing. That was clearly something that was very important to them and I don’t know if they’re here now.”

While Georgetown remains the first Jesuit university in the United States to have an LGBTQ student resource center, leaders on campus and LGBTQidentified students have said the university does not offer enough spaces for the LGBTQ community.

The rejection of a proposed living and learning community for the 2017-18 school year called “Crossroads: Gender and Sexuality” by the Office of Residential Life symbolized the tension between Catholic identity and inclusion of queer

students, according to the Georgetown University Student Association LGBTQ Inclusivity policy team Chair Grace Smith (COL ’18).

A SPACE TO CALL HOMe Smith joined the LGBTQ Inclusivity team in the fall of 2016 within the administration of then-Georgetown University Student Association President Enushe Khan (MSB ’17) and Vice President Chris Fisk (COL ’17) with the goal of creating a community designated for students whom the current housing protocol does not accommodate.

Georgetown’s housing policy currently allows for students to live with other students who share their same gender identity, as long as those students identify as one of two binary genders — that is, as male or female.

Students currently have the option to change their names in MyAccess to reflect their chosen names. But when a student identifies as gender-nonconforming, they must choose to live with either men or women, even if they identify as neither.

“I imagine it to be very toxic to be placed in a living situation where, by being in that space, it’s implied that

you’re a gender you don’t identify with,” said Warga, who planned to be the resident assistant for Crossroads LLC. The LLC, though not explicitly proposed for gendernonconforming students, was planned as a space where those students could find the appropriate housing and a sense of community.

Additionally, the space would have been a place to “promote knowledge, critical conversation, and a deeper understanding of LGBTQ histories, cultures, and social and political movements,” according to LGBTQ Resource Center Director Shiva Subbaraman, who helped advise the students involved in the proposal, though the center itself was not involved in the initiative.

Grappling With Catholic Identity When Smith met with representatives from the Office of Residential Living, she felt the decision not to approve Crossroads was not solely in the hands of university administrators like Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson.

“I think this is a much larger fight over how Georgetown wants to live its Catho-

lic values and what those Catholic values are,” Smith said.

Olson cited the LGBTQ Resource Center, the Women’s Center and Campus Ministry as examples of Georgetown’s commitment to support students “in exploring their spiritual and personal identities and interests.” Though he also noted the LLC proposal could not be approved.

“The proposal did raise concerns about how our housing arrangements align with our Catholic and Jesuit mission,” Olson wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Georgetown has previously come under scrutiny for its alignment with Catholic values. In 2013, the late “The Exorcist” author William Peter Blatty (CAS ’50) filed a petition to the Vatican to strip Georgetown of its Catholic and Jesuit labels for not adhering to Catholic values. In January 2016, the Cardinal Newman society published a 124-page dossier that has been cited by more recent versions of Blatty’s petition. Included in the report is 18 pages on “homosexuality” on campus.

“What’s really at contention is how progressive Georgetown wants to be and how radical they want to be, but also how Catholic they want

to be,” Smith said. “And I think they’re seeing those as mutually exclusive in specific instances like this.”

LGBTQ Life on Campus in the Current Moment The LGBTQ Inclusivity policy team has made progress in the last year to implement changes on campus for LGBTQ students, however. In March, the university began the process of making single-stall restrooms in public buildings both gender-inclusive and accessible.

Additionally, according to Executive Director for Residential Services Patrick Killilee, the team and the LGBTQ Resource Center succeeded in adding a statement to the first page of housing applications with contact information for transgender and nonconforming students to request “safe, comfortable and appropriate housing.”

However, even as the resource center approaches its 10th anniversary this fall, the university is not always a welcoming space for LGBTQ students, Warga said.

“During my freshman year alone I knew a gay student whose roommate immediately switched rooms after finding out he was gay, another gay student who

was chased and called homophobic slurs outside his dorm, another whose floor mates banged on his door repeatedly calling him a faggot,” Warga said. “It should never be the case that someone feels unsafe or that they have to police the way they express themselves in their own living space, which is often their most personal and intimate environment.”

An Unwavering Effort Smith said her ultimate goal is to see the approval of Crossroads before she graduates next year. The LGBTQ Inclusivity policy team plans to resubmit the housing proposal next semester and continue collaborating with Georgetown administration to “hold the university accountable to its commitment to queer students,” according to Smith.

“The LLC would have played a huge part in creating a space that normalized queerness, affirmed gender identity, and made students feel safe,” Warga said. “Given the current political climate and rise in bias-related incidents on campus, I think there is clearly a need to create living spaces like these for LGBTQ students and other students with targeted identities.”

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Task Force Calls for Mandatory Training, Research TASK FORCE, from A1 force Co-chair Todd Olson said. “We will present in our report a case for a required first-year course that will cover not only key issues around sexual violence and bystander intervention, but we also believe should cover issues of alcohol and drugs on campus, issues of mental health and well-being.”

Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity and task force Co-chair Rosemary Kilkenny said the group concluded graduate students must also receive education after examining data from the climate survey. In the survery, 10.7% of female graduate students reported being “very” or “extremely” knowledgeable about the univeresity’s definitions of sexual assault and misconduct, about 15% less than female and male undergraduates respectively.

“What we learned from that is that graduate students are not very knowledgeable on what constitutes as sexual assault and they were also not knowledgeable on what resources are on offer,” Kilkenny said. “They also did not know how to access services. So we think it is essential to heighten their knowledge.”

University President John J. DeGioia convened the task force last year in response to the results of the climate

survey to explore the issue and recommend solutions to prevent sexual assault on campus.

Olivia Hinerfeld (SFS ’17), who co-chaired the task force, said that despite recommendations depending heavily on university support, students still play an important role in confronting sexual assault on campus.

“At the end of the day, social cuture on campus is very much intersected with sexual assault.”

OLIVIA HINERFELD Co-chair, Sexual Misconduct Task Force

“Many of these recommendations fall on the university to commit more funding to public awareness campaigns to staffing, to education and to training,” Hinerfeld said. “But this is a student problem as well and we all have an obligation to work and making our campus a safer, more respectful and inclusive place. At the end of the day, social culture on campus is very much intersected with sexual assault.”

A pilot program designed to promote student sobriety at social events will be launched in the fall, according to Hinerfeld. The

program will encourage student organizations to designate members of their groups to be sober at social events.

“These people would ideally go through the Bringing in the Bystander program so they have the knowledge to be thoughtful bystanders in these social situations,” Hinerfeld said.

Georgetown University Police Department resources should also be improved, according to the the task force. GUPD Chief Officer Jay Gruber said that increased training is crucial for officers to develop competence in sexual assault resistance.

“You need to know one of our goals as mentioned here is to increase the training of my command staff, making sure we have availability at all times to support the survivors,” Gruber said.

Olson said logistics prevented the task force from releasing the full report prior to the panel, but that the report is forthcoming.

“We are working on a full report that captures the context and rationale behind these recommendations. We had hoped to have that report ready very soon now. It is a complicated process; there are a lot of people weighing in on that so we are still working on that,” Olson said. “We will submit it to the president’s office soon.”

PETER SHAMAMIAN/THE HOYA

The Sexual Misconduct Task Force announced a series of recommendations Wednesday to address sexual misconduct on campus, including mandatory training for all students.

Ossoff Progressess to Runoff Election in Georgia 6th OSSOFF, from A1 student trip through GU Politics to observe the election campaign. The Hoya reported April 11 the six students attended a debate between the top five Republican contenders for the party nomination and met candidates including Ossoff and Judson Hill, a Republican.

In an interview with USA Today, Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz said the success of Ossoff’s campaign in a historically red district correlates with Trump’s low approval ratings. The latest poll places support for Trump at 43 percent, according to Gallup.

“Just the fact that Ossoff is getting this close and has

a chance tells you there’s been a significant swing,” Abramowitz said. “That tells us Trump’s unpopularity is hurting other Republican candidates and has the potential to hurt other Republicans in the midterms.”

Jack Dobkin (SFS ’19), who grew up in the 6th District, volunteered for Ossoff’s campaign and attended the GU Politics trip, said the out-

come demonstrated Republicans’ decades-long hold on the district, despite having a Democratic front-runner in this election.

“The outcome of the race simultaneously did and did not surprise me. The election results did surprise me because Ossoff over-performed what many of the polls were saying, even if just by a few points,” Dobkin said. “The

end results show just how entrenched the Republican Party’s roots in the 6th District are. Having said that, I don’t think that they’ve entirely escaped what they might view as a disaster just yet.”

Dobkin also commented on the long-standing trends that have affected the Democrats in the district, expressing that attitudes have shift-

ed in light of the current political climate.

“Democrats and people who just don’t agree with the President’s performance so far have been energized in huge ways by the President,” Dobkin said. “For decades, Democrats in the 6th District have been discouraged and disillusioned with putting in any effort or candidates with a real shot.”

Georgetown Seeks to Reconcile Slaveholding Past LITURGY, from A1 still here. It burns in the soul of every person of African descent in the United States.”

University President John J. DeGioia convened the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation in 2015, seeking recommendations on how to acknowledge and recognize the university’s past involvement in slavery.

The Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope and the dedication ceremony for Isaac Hawkins Hall and Anne Marie Becraft Hall are the result of these recommendations.

In a speech delivered at the liturgy, DeGioia said the event honored the university’s commitment to accounting for its past.

“We cannot hide from this truth, bury this truth, ignore this truth. Slavery remains the original evil of our republic. An evil our university was

complicit in,” DeGioia said.

“We do not seek to move on with this apology, but to move forward with open hearts to respond to urgent demands of justice that are still present in our time.”

Rev. Tim Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, delivered the service’s homily. He spoke to the religious motivations for the university’s atonement.

“Now, nearly 200 years later, we know we cannot heal from this tragic history alone,” Kesicki said. “Many have confessed and labored to atone for this sin, mostly within the confines of our own religious houses and apostolic works.

Because we are profoundly sorry we stand now before God and before you, the descendants of those whom we enslaved, and we apologize for what we have done and what we have failed to do.”

Marsha Prewitt, a descendent of a slave who worked on Georgetown’s plantation but was not sold, also attended the service, saying she was full of awe.

“I think the homily expressed it best, that someone actually now understands or is beginning to understand what our relatives have gone through, what it’s like to have your family separated, to be beaten, to be enslaved,” Prewitt said in an interview with The Hoya. “And now you hear people say that slavery was ok because you got to eat and you had a place to live, but no, it will never ever be ok.”

History professor Adam Rothman, a member of Georgetown’s Slavery Reconciliation Working Group, led the Georgetown Slavery Archive’s historical research to track the descendants of the university’s slaves. He said the legacy of slaveholding is a pivotal part of

Georgetown’s history.

“None of us would probably be here at Georgetown, Georgetown would not even exist, had it not been for this history of slavery and the sale in 1838,” Rothman said. “So we ought to just have a moral obligation to understand and remember that history, and to use it as an inspiration to strive toward justice today.”

Though the Slavery Reconciliation Working Group completed its report last November, the university is working toward more permanent structures to focus on responding to its history with slavery, according to Rothman.

“It’s a big step,” Prewitt said regarding the rededication of buildings in an interview with The Hoya. “And anything they do that adds on is also a step in the right direction. I don’t think there will ever be a way to repay fully but I think it’s an

effort in the right direction.”

After the liturgy, the dedication and renaming of Isaac Hawkins Hall and Anne Marie Becraft Hall was held in Dahlgren Quadrangle at noon.

Members of the Georgetown community shared the stage with descendants of the slaves sold by Georgetown.

Karran Harper Royal, a descendant of one of the 272 slaves, spoke of moving forward while also remembering and honoring the past. “[Georgetown] must be responsible for making sure that others understand what truly happened to bring this university to existence, and how we can all move forward together by continuing to educate students about the history with slavery,” Harper Royal said.

“And these buildings will be from now on, forever, be a marker of that education.”

Jessica Tilson, another

descendant, acknowledged Georgetown’s cruel legacy of slavery, but thanked the university for all it had done for her family since. Tilson, whose infant son died due to a rare disease, credits research conducted at the Georgetown University Medical Center with saving her other child’s life from the same disease.

“The same institution that sold my ancestors is the same institution that worked to save my son’s life and spared my daughter’s,” Tilson said. “I know that Isaac and my other ancestors wouldn’t want me to be angry. Because they know that what happened to them was horrible, but they know that their great-great-great-greatgranddaughter benefited from their sale. I ask that you, Georgetown University, continue extending a helping hand.”

KARLA LEYJA/THE HOYA

University President John J. DeGioia, left, formally apologized for the university’s past involvement in the institution of slavery at a ceremony that included descendants of the 272 slaves sold by Maryland Jesuits to a Louisiana plantation in 1838. The ceremony also featured performances from local choirs and musical groups, right.

News

FRIDAY, april 21, 2017

THE HOYA

A7

Student Health Center Offers Free HIV Screening Matthew Larson Hoya Staff Writer

Seventy Georgetown community members were provided free HIV testing Tuesday in an event co-hosted by the Student Health Center and the Georgetown Medical AIDS Advocacy Network to engage and educate students on the best practices regarding sexually transmitted infections.

The testing followed a similar event last semester on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, when 150 students were tested at the Student Health Center.

GMAAN, which normally works to offer free HIV tests to all patients at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowing them to offer the free testing in conjunction with the D.C. Department of Health. Using a rapid blood test method, participants received the results of their tests within 25 minutes.

Students can receive yearround STI testing from the Student Health Center by appointment, with costs varying according to students’ insurance coverage. Students without insurance can be charged up to $271 for HIV testing including lab fees.

“From my own experience, my peers, myself included, didn’t know what high risk sexual behavior was.”

Nicole Du (col ’16, MED ’20) GMAAN Representative

Assistant Vice President of Student Health Dr. Vince WinklerPrins, who helped organize the event, said its main goal, besides offering the test-

ing itself, was to help educate students on how often to get tested for STIs. WinklerPrins said the prevalence of STIs at Georgetown compared to other universities is not above average.

However, he said the Student Health Center is initiating more outreach-oriented practices to help educate students on when to get tested — ideally once a year for sexually active adults.

“I don’t think we have any bigger problem than other communities with college students have. But do we have a problem? Yes,” WinklerPrins said. “And if students are sexually active, if that’s something they feel they need to do, then they should know about the consequences of that. We should be having conversations with students about that.”

About 1.2 million people in the United States were living with HIV at the end of 2013, including 156,300 who had not been diagnosed, ac-

cording to CDC estimates.

The CDC website notes that people should receive routine testing for HIV and other STIs. WinklerPrins said he considers Tuesday’s event a success.

“I feel good about our efforts to do some education and programming during the event, during the wait between when you get tested and when you get the results,” WrinklerPrins said. “I hope some people found it useful and helpful.”

Free HIV testing events will continue next semester according to Nicole Du (COL ’16, MED ’20), who organized the event as a representative of GMAAN. However, according to Du, the group is currently constrained in the testing it is able to offer.

“We only have free HIV tests,” Du said. “We can’t offer any other STI tests at the event because they aren’t free, because to get it organized and send it to a lab, that costs money. Student

Health can do it, but it gets billed to insurance or paid out of pocket.”

Reproductive justice group H*yas for Choice Co-president Emily Stephens said the outcome of the event is promising, but it reflects the university’s failure to take action on its own.

“H*yas for Choice is extremely grateful to the medical students who volunteered their time to test students, and think these numbers demonstrate the need for continued free access to certain sexual health services on campus,” Stephens wrote. “While H*yas for Choice is proud of the progress we have made advocating for, planning, and promoting these events, Georgetown University has not done enough to prioritize student health.”

Stephens noted that other universities offer free testing for all STIs on a consistent basis. She also said the Student Health Center did not promote the HIV testing with

a campuswide email despite requests from HFC to do so.

“And yet, Georgetown sends numerous emails reminding students of free flu shot opportunities on campus. This double standard perpetuates stigma surrounding sexual health, and H*yas for Choice is disappointed in the university’s lack of action.”

Du said in the future, GMAAN hopes to expand educational opportunities surrounding other STIs, potentially including free tests. Free STI testing is critical due to the fact that many students decide not to get tested because the cost will get billed to their insurance, according to Du. “From my own experience, my peers — myself included — didn’t know what high-risk sexual behavior was and what that could lead to,” Du said.

“I think people don’t understand how often you should get tested or if you’re worried about STIs where to go. It’s cost prohibitive.”

NAACP CEO Promotes Cooperation in Activism Ben Goodman Hoya Staff Writer

Joint activism between blacks and Jews is critical to maintain a longstanding relationship, according to National Association for the Advancement of Colored People CEO and President Cornell Brooks at an event hosted by the Georgetown Center for Jewish Civilization on Wednesday.

“When we think about this relationship between blacks and Jews, it is a matter of what we do, not what we talk about,” Brooks said.

The event was co-sponsored by the Office of Community Engagement, the Justice and Peace Studies Program, the American Studies Department and the African Studies Program. Terrence Johnson, associate professor of religion and government, introduced Brooks and addressed the historic partnership between Jews and blacks in the 20th century, especially during the Civil Rights Movement.

“When we think about the 1960s, the so-called golden age of the relationship between AfricanAmericans and Jews, I think it’s important to take note that it’s a lot deeper than the folks who are the most prominent,” Brooks said.

Brooks highlighted that the propagation of racist and anti-Semitic tropes since the election season has made it more imperative than ever that blacks and Jews unite.

“We have an administration committed to taking us backward,” Brooks said.

“We have two communities who are committed as a consequence of a canon of social justice to stand in

opposition to it unapologetically.”

Brooks said that any reluctance to support the Black Lives Matter premise is empty and wrongheaded.

Black Lives Matter is the moral predicament to the ethical conclusion that all lives matter. Unless the first is true, the second can never be true,” Brooks said.

Brooks rallied against the notion that Jews and blacks only fit together tactically, instead arguing that a shared commitment to justice through faith binds the two groups together.

“This is not just a union of convenience. The movement of the 1960s was based in the churches and the synagogues — it had a moral impulse to it,” Brooks said. “To the extent, across the country, we are seeing a return to grounding our efforts in faith. I think that is a moment for hope.”

Collaborating through faith and broad ideals has more lasting power than agreeing on specific issues alone, according to Brooks.

“If we are united by what we believe in as opposed to merely what we agree on, we will be together long enough to agree on more,” Brooks said.

Brooks noted the solidarity the NAACP has shown to harassed Jewish journalists on Twitter as evidence of the benefits of solidarity between the two groups.

“When we saw alt-right anti-Semites putting echo symbols around the names of Jewish journalists, we put echo symbols around the name of the NAACP and my name,” Brooks said. “We wanted to make it abundantly clear that these are our people too.”

Brooks maintained that

absolute agreement on every problem is not necessary for a functional and productive relationship, pointing to often-differing views between members of the two groups on Israel and Zionism.

“We cannot paper over political differences with respect to affirmative action or differences with respect to Israel or the platform for black lives, or any of the differences that may stand to separate our communities,” Brooks said. “But we must fundamentally understand that we need not have consensus to appreciate that we share a moral foundation.”

Brooks extended his wish for dialogue between blacks and Jews to the setting of college campuses, saying that students should not be excluded from advocating for social justice efforts based on their positions on other issues.

“On the college campus, if you exclude anyone with per-se assumptions about who they are or what they represent, it’s dangerous.

Not just in terms of foregone relationships and friendships, but also in us creating the very walls we are trying to dismantle,” Brooks said.

Brooks concluded by urging all attendees to incorporate the storied past of the alliance between the black and Jewish communities to create real change in the present.

“This is a moment for our history to inspire the present. This is not a moment for us to philosophize about this relationship,” Brooks said. “This relationship is best understood, appreciated, and discovered in work — a common endeavor.”

file photo: robert cortes/the hoya

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is to install new Wi-Fi services to the Red line in addition to the 30 stations on the Blue and Orange lines that already have Wi-Fi.

Metro Expands FreeWi-Fi Services to the Red Line Marina Pitofsky Hoya Staff Writer

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials announced Monday its plans to install wireless voice and data services in the first tunnel segment of the Red line, covering stops from Glenmont to Silver Spring, in addition to 30 underground stations that will have free Wi-Fi service by the end of the year.

This announcement expands a pilot Wi-Fi program, in which WMATA officers installed wireless service on segments of the Blue, Orange and Silver lines between Potomac Avenue and Stadium Armory December 2016.

Stops that will receive Wi-Fi by the end of the year include the rail system’s busiest stops, including Smithsonian, Farrugut West, Crystal City, Dupont Circle and Rosslyn.

The stops included in the plan will account for over 60 percent of current underground metro system.

According to an April 19 WMATA press release, all remaining metro stations will be equipped with Wi-Fi by mid2018. Metro is working with wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon to ensure coverage.

According to WMATA General Manager Paul J. Wie-

defeld, Metro will invest in WiFi to meet the needs of riders and improve the transit experience.

“Customers have told us that they want the ability to stay connected while on Metro, and we are pleased to have worked with the wireless carriers to deliver this service,” Wiedefeld said in the release.

The announcement comes after Metro’s March 23 announcement that it will increase fares by 10 cents during rush hours and 25 cents during non-rush hours in an effort to combat a predicted $1.1 billion budget deficit by 2020 due to declining ridership.

WMATA will also eliminate 14 low-traffic Metrobus lines, reducing service hours and cutting nearly 1,000 jobs.

At a March 23 press conference, Wiedefeld referenced various factors which have affected ridership, including increases in crime on Metro trains and delays and malfunctions caused by old tracks or train cars over the past few years. The Hoya reported Dec. 10 that a security report presented to the Metro board Dec. 1 recorded 5.4 crimes for every million riders in 2016.

Metro employees will also install a new radio system for trains and emergency responders over 100 miles of

tunnel walls. The process of installing the wireless cables and radio system will require weekend track outages, according to Wiedefeld.

Free Wi-Fi has also been offered at six Metro stations as part of a pilot program that was initiated in August 2016, including Metro Center, Gallery Place, Judiciary Square, Union Station, Archives and L’Enfant Plaza.

Wiedefeld told the Washington Post he would use the results from the program to determine how WMATA would expand Wi-Fi across the system.

At the time, Wiedefeld said the program would assess riders’ needs while using WMATA services.

“We are listening to our customers’ ideas about ways to improve their experience riding Metro,” Wiedefeld said in an Aug. 29, 2016 statement.

WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel told the Washington Post on Monday the initiative comes at minimal cost to WMATA since most installations only involve making prior networks that WMATA employees use available to the public. WMATA spent a total of $5 million “building out” its network to employees and launching its pilot program.

GU Politics Hosts Correspondents’ Dinner Hannah Urtz Hoya Staff Writer

Jeff Mason, current White House Correspondents’ Association President, and two former Georgetown Institute for Politics and Public Service fellows reflected on the role of the White House Correspondents Dinner in D.C. politics at GU Politics’ inaugural Georgetown University Correspondents’ Dinner last night.

The night, modeled after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner scheduled for April 29 and co-sponsored

by The Hoya, included a dinner in the GU Politics office, followed by a discussion between former GU Politics Fellows Michael Steel and Scott Mulhauser in the Bioethics Research Library.

Mulhauser and Steel described their experiences attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinners, as well as working with members of the press and political communities in Washington, D.C. Mulhauser said the Dinner’s outlandishness is a per-

fect fit for Washington.

“It is such a weird, odd, non-Washington thing but yet endemically Washington all at the same time,” Mulhauser said.

In the discussion, Mulhauser brought up the 2011 dinner, infamous for host Seth Meyers and President Obama’s jokes at then-attendee Donald Trump over the birther controversy, an incident some say encouraged him to run for office himself.

“It is thought by many that he was so irked at being mocked openly and not being part of this clique. It was sort of a joke about whether he’d run for president at that 2011 dinner,” Mulhauser said.

Steel remembered one interaction between former Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner and Obama that tested the his limits.

“The fourth or fifth year, President Obama did jokes about Speaker Boehner being orange. It was kind of like, ‘Ehhh... alright, we get it,’” Steel said.

Both panelists agreed on the importance of D.C. events like the Correspondents’ Dinner in advancing political ambitions. Mulhauser said these seemingly informal settings can make or break a politician’s career.

“These become sort of proving ground on whether you can take a punch and whether you can give a punch in an appropriate way, much like the State of the Union responses from the other party have determined the fates of governors and senators alike,” Mulhauser said. “These speeches and dinners show whether you’ve ‘got the shit.’”

The main event of the evening was an interview and Q&A session with Jeff Mason.

Mason, who also works as a reporter for Reuters, shared stories and insight from his time in the field.

Mason came to Washington in his quest to cover the 2008 residential campaign, after working as a foreign correspondent in Germany.

Mason said Washington is an extremely relevant city to journalists, regardless of

their field.

“Any journalist likes to be covering a big story, and the biggest story in the world was right here [in D.C.],” Mason said. “It just is, whether you’re interested in politics or not. That’s why it appealed to me.”

While the White House Correspondents Association is perhaps most famous for hosting the annual Correspondents’ Dinner, Mason highlighted the other kinds of work the Association does.

“The dinner gets a lot of attention, but that’s actually just a small part of what we do. On a daily basis, we advocate for press access at the White House on behalf of the global press,” Mason said.

Mason said this advocacy is pertinent given the Trump White House’s adversarial relationship with the press.

President Trump recently announced that he would not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He will be the first sitting president in 36 years to miss the dinner. Mason commented on this unprecedented move, explaining

how this impacts the relationship between the White House and the press.

“The president, of course, decided not to come to the correspondents’ dinner, and in my view, more egregiously, sort of banned his staff. I think it’s an unfortunate signal. We will have the dinner with or without them, and I think you will see the dinner will be very focused on the First Amendment and its principles — the importance of a free, independent press.”

Additionally, President Trump has frequently criticized news organizations like The New York Times and CNN. On Feb. 24, Press Secretary Sean Spicer prevented journalists from The Times and several other news organizations from attending his daily briefing, prompting protests from the news organizations omitted from the briefing and backlash from other groups who refused to attend the meeting.

According to Mason, the Correspondent’s Association does their best to mitigate any tensions between the White House staff and the

press corp.

“It is our job to ask questions, and [Sean Spicer] can choose not to answer, and he does make that choice a lot, but we still ask. There is significant tension, largely related to the fact that this president has called the media the enemy of the American people. We reject that characterization,” Mason said.

Mason emphasized the responsibility the news media has to cover elections and candidates accurately, addressing claims that the media was directly responsible for the outcome of the most recent presidential election.

“There are plenty of reasons to be critical of the media in its coverage of any election, and perhaps this one in particular. But if someone says to me, ‘you guys are responsible for the outcome of this election,’ the media does not vote — the citizens vote. We have a responsibility to report accurately, the citizens have the responsibility to take that information and make their decisions.”

A8

sports

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, april 21, 2017

SOFTBALL

Men’s LAcROSSE

Hoyas Drop 7th-Straight olivia callis Hoya Staff Writer

After seven innings of tight play, the Georgetown women’s softball team fell to the Virginia Cavaliers 7-6, extending its losing skid to seven games.

The Hoyas (11-29, 4-8 Big East) entered Tuesday’s match coming off three losses to conference foe Villanova (7-5, 8-2 Big East). Moving past this loss and looking towards the end of conference play, the team must refocus its mindset.

“Our whole focus this season has really been on the next 200 feet,” Georgetown Head Coach Pat Conlan said. “You want to take some things from the games that you’ve played in all season and, to me, we want to learn from our mistakes and focus on the positives and just realize that we need to be where our feet are and play in that moment.”

From the outset of the game, Virginia made its presence known, establishing a 3-0 lead as the game reached the third inning.

“We gave up too many home runs, and it’s not that we haven’t given up runs this year, but we have given up those kinds of runs with the long ball,” Conlan said on her team’s preparedness for the aggressive Cavaliers.

In the 2 1/3 innings with freshman Anna Brooks Pacha on the rubber, she managed to strike out two Cavalier batters.

Pacha’s freshman season has made an impression on the

Big East, as she entered Tuesday’s game leading the Big East with 152 strikeouts. Freshman Katie Vannicola replaced Pacha in the circle to pitch the remainder of the game.

After the Cavaliers’ strong start, the Hoyas’ offense came alive as the team attempted to chip away at Virginia’s three-run lead. At the top of the third inning, sophomore catcher Sarah Bennett walked to score freshman infielder Delaney Darden.

Freshman first baseman Noelle Holiday, who was included in the Big East Honor Roll Monday for her performance in the series against Villanova, went on to pick up an RBI and score sophomore infielder Mallory Belknap.

As the Blue and Gray shaved the Cavaliers’ lead to one point, Virginia responded with three more scores in the third inning, bringing the game to 6-2.

“Unfortunately, we worked hard to get back in the ball game, but we just couldn’t deliver the big punch. So we couldn’t keep their bats down and that really hurt us,” Conlan said.

Senior outfielder Hannah Ramsey kicked things off for Georgetown in the sixth inning, touching home after Virginia threw two wild pitches. Sophomore infielder Olivia Russ went on to grab an RBI and score freshman catcher Sera Stevens.

Finally, junior outfielder Theresa Kane picked up an

RBI to score Russ. Senior third baseman Alessandria Gargicevich-Almeida and senior catcher Gabriela Elvina wrapped up scoring for the Hoyas, as Gargicevich-Almeida grabbed an RBI to score Elvina.

Although Georgetown failed to complete the comeback, Conlan was pleased with her team’s performance late in the game.

“As far as what we could do right or wrong probably not much. I think we played well. I think we’ve been playing well this year, but there’s always just one part of our game that’s not as good as the others, and that’s what’s been our Achilles heel,” Conlan said.

On the horizon, the team enters their final Big East home series against DePaul (22-17, 7-4 Big East) this weekend.

“The great thing about our situation right now is that three of the teams that are sitting at the top of the conference are the three weekend series we have left. So DePaul, Butler and St. John’s,” Conlan said. “At this point, the rest of our season is in our own hands. We can control what we do and where we’ll finish in the conference. That’s what we’re focusing on.”

Georgetown faces DePaul Saturday, April 22 for a double-header starting at 12 p.m.

The teams will play the final game on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Guy Mason Field.

FEATURE

COURTESY GUHOYAS

Junior midfielder Craig Berge scored one goal and recorded three assists in Tuesday’s 11-9 victory over Mount St. Mary’s. Berge ranks fourth on the team with 13 goals.

GU Outlasts Mt. St. Mary’s Cameron Perales Hoya Staff Writer

Taking its last step outside Big East play, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team found an elusive victory, defeating Mount St. Mary’s 11-9 on Tuesday.

In the victory, the Hoyas (310, 0-4 Big East) took control of a close contest behind a stellar offensive performance with three Hoyas clenching hat tricks, en-route to snapping a six-game losing streak and notching their third win of the season.

Junior attacks Daniel Bucaro and Peter Conley and sophomore attack Austin McDonald combined for 10 of the Hoyas’ 11 goals. Bucaro, the leading scorer of the season, found the back of the net four times, completing a hat trick in the first half. McDonald and Conley completed the trifecta with hat tricks of their own.

Not to be outdone, junior midfielder Craig Berge added a goal of his own and three assists, placing four Hoyas above the four-point mark.

Defensively, freshman Jack Stephenson notched his first career win between the pipes, tallying nine saves.

Georgetown struck first off

a Bucaro shot in the opening minutes to take a point lead.

Adding to a game of back-andforth scoring, the Mount tied it up 3-3 heading into the second quarter.

The Hoyas went on the attack in the second quarter, putting 10 shots on goal, six in a span of four minutes. Shots from Berge, McDonald and Bucaro found the net and allowed the Hoyas to take a commanding 6-3 lead by the eightminute mark of the second.

After one more goal by the Mountaineers, both defenses settled in as the game went scoreless for the final seven minutes of the half with Georgetown leading 6-4.

Georgetown’s defense held strong throughout the game, creating or taking advantage of 18 turnovers by Mount St. Mary’s, especially in the second quarter, when the Mountaineers turned the ball over six times.

As the second half of play opened up, a timely takeaway by sophomore midfielder Patrick Aslanian sprung Bucaro for his fourth goal of the game, extending the lead to three. Throughout the rest of the third quarter, Georgetown and Mount St. Mary’s traded goals shot-for-shot, allowing the Hoyas to maintain a three-

goal edge by a score of 10-7 heading into the fourth.

Back-to-back goals by McDonald and another by Conley maintained the lead for the Hoyas, who looked to weather the comeback attempt of the Mount coming in the fourth. The Mountaineers came out firing in the fourth, tallying 12 shots on goal but only finding the net early on at the 7:09 mark, making the score 10-8.

Roughly five minutes of gutsy defensive play ensued with Mount St. Mary’s retaining possession for four of those minutes and attempting nine shots in the small window.

The Hoyas eventually broke down, as the Mount made it a one-goal game with 2:14 left, 10-9. After a wide Hoya shot, a timeout was called by the Mountaineers to line up a potential game-tying possession.

The Hoyas remained strong, taking advantage of a Mountaineer turnover and icing the game with Conley’s third goal with 17 seconds remaining to bring the score to 11-9.

After earning another regular season win, the Hoyas now take a weekend off before facing St. Johns on April 29. This will be the Hoyas’ final match of the regular season at Cooper Field at 12 p.m.

The Water COOLER

Maple Leafs Expose Capitals COURTESY MATTHEW BUSEL

Matthew Busel’s book “Game Changer: How Augmented Reality Will Transform the World of Sports” explores the potential use of augmented reality in sports.

Senior Launches Venture Sophia poole Hoya Staff Writer

Not many college graduates can claim to be a published author. But at Georgetown, one professor’s class, “Launching the Venture,” has allowed students in the McDonough School of Business to be just that. Over the past year, Matthew Busel (MSB ’17) has devoted his time to learning about the world of augmented reality and its relation to sports, culminating in his book, Game Changer: How Augmented Reality Will Transform the World of Sports. “‘Game Changer’ is about the emerging technology of augmented reality and how it applies to sports,” Busel said.

“The book ... covers the Fortune 500 companies as well as the startups that are about to change the way we play sports, watch sports, practice, etc.”

Busel has always had a passion for sports and augmented reality, and, in exploring the synthesis of the two, he has tapped into a cuttingedge field that aims to optimize athletic performance through the development of technologies that enhance the real world, adding virtual features to what an athlete already sees on the court or field. Busel started by making a video that simulated how basketball players might use such technology in practices.

When he presented this video to Eric Kester, professor of “Launching the Venture,” Kester suggested that he hold off on attempting to start a

business in this area and instead tackle the challenge of writing a book on the subject.

Looking back, Busel believes this process was extremely beneficial, as he had the opportunity to interview dozens of experts on the subject and make connections to people in the field who were eager to hear about his work.

Additionally, in exploring the technology, Busel has refined his ideas for using the technology.

“I think, in the next five years or so, you’ll start to see teams use augmented reality headsets and do things kind of like what I mentioned or showed in the video,” Busel said. “Imagine showing up to practice and, instead of having a coach have to explain a play one by one to each player, having contextual information already out on the court, so they can see exactly where they should be at what time, when to pass the ball, when to ... roll off a screen etc.”

Although he cites examples of where this technology is already being used, such as in Olympic swimming to show names, times and flags on lanes in the television broadcast, Busel sees an opportunity for this industry to expand rapidly over the next few years and unseat the virtual reality technologies that few teams now employ.

“The same way that . . . 10 or 15 years ago, sports and data was super early, like teams might have had one data guy or stat guy, and now they have full staff and teams within their own organization, I expect a similar kind of growth

[for augmented reality in sports],” Busel said.

Ideally, ‘Game Changer’ would be a jumping-off point for Busel into a career in the world of augmented reality in sports with an organization like Georgetown basketball or the Washington Wizards. Alternatively, Busel would also like to delve deeper into the technology of the software before returning to the sports world with more expertise on this emerging tool.

Although this technology is not yet widespread in the professional sports world, Busel says he still sees a place for augmented reality to be incorporated here at Georgetown.

“If we’re saying that virtual reality is the now, the new ‘it’ technology that teams are trying out, I think augmented reality is the next one,” Busel said. “I think for a team like Georgetown, who has struggled the past few years and is now undergoing a lot of change, I think it’s the perfect time to just at least start experimenting with this type of stuff and maybe be able to gain some type of edge.”

Busel is excited about the buzz surrounding the technology and the door that Game Changer has opened for him, piquing the interest of major companies to work with him and be among the first to design and champion the benefits of a potentially revolutionary technology.

The publication date for ‘Game Changer:’ How Augmented Reality Will Transform the World of Sports is April 25th.

T

ax Day came and went this week and reminding tens of millions of Americans about one of life’s few certainties. For Washingtonians, however, tax season also riles up another unfortunate guarantee: a Capitals playoff choke. Though a series-tying Game 4 victory in Toronto may reassure some Caps fans, the writing is on the wall; if the Capitals manage to survive the pesky, upstart Maple Leafs, then the experience and reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will probably end Washington’s hunt for the Cup in the next round.

To be clear, the Capitals are a very good hockey team. For the second consecutive season, they won the President’s Cup, which is awarded to the team with the most points during the regular season. By comparison, the next closest team was Pittsburgh; finishing seven points, or roughly four wins, behind Washington. The Maple Leafs barely eked into the playoffs with 95 points but are halfway to an upset of monumental proportions.

After Washington blew a two-goal lead in the third period of Monday’s Game 3 — and nearly did the same in Game 4 — there is major doubt in Washington and major optimism in Toronto. Part of it has to do with age and experience.

On Toronto’s part, most of the key players are young enough to know that they are not supposed to win. Three of the top five point scorers for the Maple Leafs are 20 years old or younger and, though rookie phenom Auston Matthews is the only Maple Leaf in the league’s top 20 in total points, Toronto has five of the league’s top-40 point scorers.

The balance and depth that Toronto possesses has been on full display in this openinground series. Toronto’s 14 goals thus far have been scored by 10 different players, and the third

and fourth line contributions have been invaluable. On the other hand, Washington has had to rely on its star power.

While the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have shown up to play, the play from the third and fourth lines have been severely lacking, even enticing line shakeups for Wednesday’s game. Of the bottom six forwards for Washington, only the players occupying the third line have recorded points. If Washington is to beat Toronto and have a serious shot at the Cup, it needs increased production from its final two lines.

Michael Ippolito Further frustrating Washington has been its dependence on power plays. During the regular season, Washington scored on 23.1 percent of its power plays and, though the sample size is much smaller in the first-round series against Toronto, the Capitals have converted 36 percent of their opportunities with a man advantage. In Game 3, however, while leading 3-1, Washington failed to score, despite having a five-on-three advantage. A goal in that situation probably would have iced the game and extinguished any hopes of a Maple Leaf comeback. Four of Washington’s fourteen goals have come with a man advantage while only three of Toronto’s fourteen have; this implies the Maple Leafs are outplaying Washington at even strength.

Though many people may blame the average play of Washington goalie Braden

Holtby, such blame would be misguided. During the regular season, Holtby was third in the NHL in save percentage, but, in this series, he has played nearly two-and-a-half percentage points below his regular season average and three percentage point below his career playoff average. In essence, Holtby has gone from a topfive goalie to a mediocre goalie in the span of a few games, but save percentage alone does not tell the whole story. Toronto’s aggressive play and lightningquick speed have created defensive problems for Washington.

At other times, Washington’s defense has just been lazy. In Game 2, the Capitals ceded two goals, because they failed to clear the puck out of their defensive zone or put a body in front of a Maple Leaf who was screening Holtby in front of the net. These two rather elementary plays are just some of the basic defensive breakdowns that the Capitals have committed in this first round series. Just like any quality goalie, Holtby needs some help from his defensemen, but he has not been getting it. As a result, Toronto has been getting high-quality scoring chances and converting them.

Though the Capitals certainly are not dead, they are vulnerable.

Washington’s offensive firepower has managed to carry the Caps to a series tie, but it is unrealistic to expect four to five goals a night. There is no magic potion or solution to be had here; the answer is to simply execute better. If they do not, just as in promising years past, determining the cause of death for Washington’s Stanley Cup hopes will be easy: a choke.

Michael Ippolito is a senior in the College. THE WATER COOLER appears every other Friday.

SPORTS

FRIday, april 21, 2017

THE HOYA

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baseball

Weisenberg’s 2 Home Runs Power Hoyas to 13-2 Victory BLUEJAYS, from A10

COURTESY GUHOYAS

Sophomore infielder Ryan Wiesenberg hit two home runs and drove in six runs in Tuesday’s 13-2 victory over Mount St. Mary’s. Wiesenberg is hitting .296 this season.

Georgetown regained its winning ways behind an offensive outburst against Mount St. Mary’s. Sophomore third basemen Ryan Weisenberg powered the Hoyas’ offense, finishing 3-5 at the plate with six RBIs and two home runs, both of which came in the fourth inning.

“Hitting two homers in the same inning was a great feeling,” Weisenberg said in an email to The Hoya. “The team did a great job putting together good at-bats. Homering twice in an inning, let alone hitting twice in a game, shows a great team effort at the plate.”

Senior pitcher Nick Leonard started the game for Georgetown and lasted three innings, surrendering one run on two hits with no walks. Relief pitch-

ers freshmen Brent Killam and Jeremiah Burke, sophomore Casey Goldenberg and senior Jordan Chudacoff followed with a combined six innings and four strikeouts to secure the win for the Hoyas.

“Homering twice in an inning, let alone hitting twice in a game, shows a great team effort at the plate.”

Ryan Weisenberg Sophomore Third Basemen

“It was kind of an effort to keep Nick fresh if we need him on the weekend,” Wilk said. “It was also an opportunity to see some of the younger guys, to see if maybe they could step up [for] some weekend bullpen

roles that we haven’t been getting the job done with every guy.”

Up next, the Hoyas will return to Big East conference play as they take on the Seton Hall Pirates (1816, 2-4 Big East) for a threegame weekend series.

“We need to continue our offensive approach into the weekend, as well as good relief pitching,” Weisenberg said. “Our coaching staff has done an excellent job preparing us, now we must take care of what is in front of us this weekend and the rest of conference.”

The series opener is slated to begin Friday at 6 p.m., with Saturday’s game following at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s series finale at 12 p.m. All three games will be played at Seton Hall’s Owen T. Carroll Field, with live stats available at GUHoyas.com and Sunday’s game broadcasted by the Big East Digital Network.

tennis

the analyst

Thomas Plays Despite Grief Men Prep for Season Finale ANALYST, from A10

display of character this past week. Bulls’ forward Jimmy Butler, for example, commented specifically on the type of “player and man” Thomas is that Butler believes the nation is seeing in Thomas’ ability to play exceptionally well despite his tragic situation.

But does playing in these circumstances make Isaiah Thomas any more of a man than he would be if he had stayed off the court this week?

Nothing but respect can be attributed to the way Thomas channels his grief into the sport he loves.

There is no doubt Thomas is doing an incredible thing. Nothing but respect can be attributed to the way he channels his grief into the sport he loves in order to contribute to a possible Celtics championship.

Thomas has chosen to include basketball in his grieving process — a familiar method of dealing with tragedy for not only athletes, but any person

with a passion. On Sunday night, he brought his sister’s memory onto the court by not only penning her memory onto his shoes, but also making baskets with tears in his eyes.

But here is the tricky thing about sports: Sometimes, life is bigger. When tragedy strikes, sports can provide a safe haven, an escape and a solace. But they can also contribute to stress, fail to assuage pain and generate poor performances due to lack of focus.

Like any job, sometimes life gets in the way of sports. Isaiah Thomas has not allowed his grief to adversely affect his performance — but that does not mean that playing a game in the face of earth-shattering events will always be the right answer.

It is a personal choice whether playing in these tragic circumstances is an obligation, an escape or a burden. The circumstances are unique to each athlete and each human being.

But if this week has shown us anything, it is that there exists one consistency in sports that will always help in these trying times. There is always one reason a game can help when life becomes too big to leave off the court.

That reason is community.

The Celtics organization, the city of Boston, the NBA and the greater sports community — including media outlets — have all rallied around Thomas in this time of indescribable tragedy.

Isaiah Thomas has proven to be incredibly strong this week, even if he did not have to be.

VILLANOVA, from A10

then starting cramping and dropped the two remaining sets.

“Some cramping and an injury, and we lose. But with everyone going, with everyone healthy and with everyone battling, I like to say we win that match,” Ernst said.

Ernst also cited the close doubles matches as a reason for the Hoyas’ loss, noting that the team had several match points in the doubles matches.

The men’s team looks to

rebound from its loss to Emory in its final two matches before the conference tournament. Georgetown played The George Washington University (15-6, 1-1 A-10) on Thursday, losing 4-2 behind strong singles play from the Colonials’ top three players.

On Saturday, the men will travel to Villanova (13-9, 0-1 Big East) to conclude the regular season. Although the men’s team has not had the success that the women’s team has seen this season, Ernst is still optimistic about the team’s chances in the

tournament.

“We’re so excited. The Big East is wide open: There’s no real, clear front-runner. Everyone is somewhat even. We lost to St. John’s and Xavier, but even those matches were tight. This is first year in a long time where there isn’t one team that stands out,” Ernst said.

Although the Big East is rapidly approaching, Georgetown’s focus remains on the Villanova match. The Georgetown women’s team will also compete against Villanova in Philadelphia on Friday.

If nothing else, maybe that extra support system is what sports can offer to any person in the face of life’s most difficult moments; a team, a community and even a family.

Isaiah Thomas has proven to be incredibly strong this week, even if he did not have to be.

Regardless of the role the orange ball and net played in that strength, the community surrounding the sport gave their hearts to Thomas in his time of need.

And is that not what a team is all about?

Amanda Christovich is a sophomore in the College. THE ANALYST appears every Friday.

SUDOKU

COURTESY GUHOYAS

Sophomore Michael Chen bested his No. 4 George Washington opponent 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in Georgetown’s 4-2 loss to the Colonials on Thursday.

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scored against Marquette.

Fried credited his team’s improvement to the continuing development of this year’s sophomores.

“It shows that we’re improving from the beginning of the season to now. I think we had some close games, and it’s tough to lean on sophomores early in the year. But now that they are a little bit more seasoned, they are taking that leadership role, and they’re OK with

that. At every position we are pretty young, but they are able to now execute better than they were at the beginning of the year because they are more comfortable and they have more game experience,” Fried said.

Georgetown’s greatest test this season comes Saturday against Denver (12-2, 6-1 Big East). Pioneer sophomore attacks Elizabeth Behrins and Julia Feiss have scored 40 and 35 goals, ranking No. 4 and No. 7 in the conference, respectively.

Fried continues to emphasize execution on both ends of the field and believes the Hoyas and Pioneers are more evenly matched than Denver’s better record might suggest. “[The Pioneers] play a zone, where they pressure out, so us handling that pressure and being able to move the ball and finish, as I said. Offensively, they are very structured and disciplined, so maintaining our discipline is going to be really important in executing

the game plan,” Fried said.

“Really, at the end of the day, it’s going to be who executes better, as it usually is. I think we are pretty evenly matched even though our records may not indicate that. They might be a tad bit more athletic than we are, but skill set-wise, I think we have the advantage there. So we’ll kind of see which one wins out.”

Georgetown’s game against Denver is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Cooper Field.

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FILE PHOTO: SPENCER COOK/THE HOYA

Sophomore defender Josephine Zinn recoreded one ground ball and caused one turnover in Saturday’s loss to Marquette.

Zinn has started all 15 games this season, causing four turnovers and collecting 14 ground balls.

Sports

Women’s Lacrosse Georgetown (8-7) vs. Denver (12-2) Saturday, 12 p.m.

Cooper Field

FRIday, april 21, 2017

talkING POINTS

Men’s Lacrosse The men’s lacrosse team ended its six-game losing streak, defeating Mount St. Mary’s 11-9 on Tuesday.

See A8

“

NUMBERS GAME

It’s just what the doctor ordered. I was very happy to see us bounce back like that.”

HEAD COACH PETER WILK

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The number of RBIs sophomore third basemen Ryan Wiesenberg recorded in Tuesday’s win.

baseball

Sophomores Shine Offense Leads GU Past Mt. St. Mary’s In Key Victories Mitchell Taylor Special to The Hoya

Dan Crosson Hoya Staff Writer

After clinching a spot in the Big East Championship Tournament with two comfortable wins against Cincinnati and Marquette over Easter break, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team faces the No. 13 Denver Pioneers this Saturday in a game to help determine the seeding.

“Honestly, it comes down to execution,” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried said of the two wins. “Shooting, I think we were over 50 percent both games, which helps a lot. We have talented players getting in good spots, now it’s just a matter

of finishing the shots.”

Georgetown (8-7, 6-1 Big East) defeated Cincinnati (510, 1-6 Big East) 19-7 on April 12 before beating Marquette (4-11 overall, 2-5 Big East) 1911 three days later. Sophomore midfielder Francesca Whitehurst scored six goals over the two games, earning her Big East Midfielder of the Week honors for the second consecutive week.

Sophomore attack Taylor Gebhardt also scored six goals, five of which came against Cincinnati. Georgetown showcased its offensive depth, as 10 different Hoyas scored against Cincinnati, while nine Hoyas See PIONEERS, A9

FILE PHOTO: sPECNER COOK/THE HOYA

Junior midfielder Hannah Seibel scored three goals and recorded an assist in Georgetown’s victory over Marquette.

The Georgetown baseball team rebounded from a weekend series sweep by Creighton with a resounding 13-2 victory over Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday.

The Hoyas (21-14, 0-2 Big East) were plagued by poor pitching in pivotal moments against the Bluejays (15-16, 5-1 Big East). However, they shook off their start to Big East play by putting up 17 hits against the Mountaineers (4-26, 2-11 NEC).

“It’s just what the doctor ordered. I was very happy to see us bounce back like that. It went about as well as I could possibly have drawn it up, which they rarely do,” Georgetown Head Coach Pete Wilk said.

Georgetown’s dominant victory came after Creighton routed them at home, where the Blue and Gray bullpen struggled heavily with an ERA of 8.91 over the three-game stretch.

“Our bullpen blew up,” said Wilk. “We’ve done it three or four other times this year where we’ve pitched tentatively and put guys on base without them earning it, whether by walk or hit by pitch. You simply cannot do that late in games.”

Senior second baseman Eric Garza carried the Hoyas throughout the series, going a combined 4-13 with four RBIs, three runs scored and his second home run of the year.

“I wasn’t playing much

COURTESY GUHOYAS

Graduate student outfielder Zach Racusin ranks fourth on the team with .342 while driving in 25 runs, scoring 28 runs and collecting 51 hits this season. earlier in the season, I was just waiting for my opportunity and trying to be a good teammate,” Garza said. “And then I got it, and luckily took advantage of it.

It’s just cool trying to help the team, be the best player I can be, the best teammate I can be. And hopefully, that helps win games.”

In Sunday’s series finale,

Georgetown took a comfortable 9-5 lead into the ninth inning. Despite this, relief pitchers freshman Nick Morreale and graduate student Alex Deise allowed six runs to score on six hits and two walks, resulting in a 11-9 win for Creighton.

“It was pretty demoralizing, but we try to stay

tennis

together as a team and remember that it’s not the end of our season,” Garza said. “As long as no one’s pointing fingers and we’re in it together, we can try and move on to the next conference series and keep playing our brand of baseball.”

See BLUEJAYS, A9

thE analyst

Amanda Christovich

Thomas Battles Personal Tragedy

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FILE PHOTO: STEPHANIE YUAN/THE HOYAO

Sophomore Risa Nakagawa defeated her No. 3 DePaul counterpart 6-4, 6-4 in her last outing April 8. The women close out their regular season this weekend on the road at Villanova on Saturday.

Women Seek 4th-Straight Win Christopher Gay Special to The Hoya

With the Big East Championship scheduled to begin April 27, both the Georgetown men’s and women’s tennis teams have only two matches remaining. Both teams cap off the regular season with away matches against Big East rival Villanova on Saturday.

Before its match against Villanova (7-15, 1-3 Big

East), the Georgetown women’s tennis team (114, 1-1 Big East) will host Navy (17-10, 4-2 AAC) on Friday. The women have not played a match since its strong victory against DePaul (12-7, 3-2 Big East) on April 8. Georgetown’s 4-3 victory over DePaul marked the team’s third consecutive win.

The Hoyas’ victory against the Blue Demons, who have won the Big East two of the past three years,

demonstrates that the Hoyas can compete with the top teams in the conference.

“I like our chances because we’re so competitive and this has been a goal of ours, especially for the seniors, for four years. We’re just going to go down there and give it our all,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said.

In contrast to the women’s team, the Georgetown men’s tennis team (7-12,

0-2 Big East) has struggled for much of the season, but the team has improved as of late. Georgetown’s last match April 13 was a close loss to Emory University (14-4) by a score of 5-2, halting the Hoyas’ winning streak at three.

The Hoyas narrowly missed out on the doubles point. At the number one position, junior Marco Lam won the first set but See VILLANOVA, A9

Visit us online at thehoya.com/sports

xpectations for Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas’ performance in this week’s playoff series against the Chicago Bulls were high — the NBA star was expected to lead his team in an attempt to advance closer to the NBA Finals.

Though the Celtics lost the first two games of their series, Thomas met those expectations. This week, Thomas performed as well as he ever has in the most devastating of circumstances.

At the end of Celtics practice Saturday afternoon in anticipation of Sunday’s series opener, Thomas was informed that his 22-year-old sister, Chyna Thomas, had passed away earlier that morning in a car crash.

With just 24 short hours to process the heartbreaking news, Thomas suited up on Sunday evening, eyes glazed over with tears and took the court.

Thomas scored 33 points in Game 1 of the series and led his team in scoring while adding five rebounds and six assists. With a roaring crowd and an entire team behind him, Thomas did a job no one expected him to do. A day after the shocking passing of his sis-

ter, no one would have questioned Thomas for taking the game off.

But he did not.

And on Tuesday evening, he came out firing again scoring 20 points, another team high.

With just 24 short hours to process the news, Thomas suited up on Sunday evening for Game 1.

Even the rest of the members of the Celtics attributed their overall opening losses in part to the difficult atmosphere surrounding their locker room, but Thomas performed incredibly well despite his own grief.

Thomas will not miss a minute of basketball. He returned home to his family in Seattle on Wednesday, but will return to the court in the third game of this series Friday.

Teammates, coaches and other members of the NBA community have all commented on his incredible See ANALYST, A9