From April 21 through 25, the Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS) plans to hold Grills Gone Wild Week, which will include a GUGS burger eating contest, ribs and pulled pork day, a grilloff competition, a sausage extravaganza on Georgetown Day and a BYOF (bring your own food). The GUGS Grillmasters will be grilling up pizzas, lamb, kebabs and all sorts of delicacies throughout the week to celebrate yet another successful semester on the Hilltop.
Two weeks ago, GUGS was approved by the Student Activities Commission to print and sell two different t-shirts. The first has been used before: “Now you don’t have to choose between going to college and flipping burgers.” The second shirt reads, “GUGS: Grade A, Size D,” which refers to the delicious, larger-than-average sized GUGS burger (and admittedly jokes about breast size through some humorous wordplay based on the pronunciation of GUGS.)
Many students have voiced opposition to the shirt and the name of the grilling week, citing their sexist connotations. “Grade A, Size D” was not, is not and will not be the motto of Grills Gone Wild Week. The essence of both the shirt and Grills Gone Wild Week is a fun play on words, and nothing more.
We recognize that some were offended, nonetheless, by the double entendre. While we understand these concerns, we would like to stress that there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the event, both from males and females. Perhaps the t-shirts alone or Grills Gone Wild Week by itself would have generated less protest, but the combination has sparked a significant response. We have decided to withhold sales of the new t-shirts, but we are moving forward with Grills Gone Wild Week.
GUGS was created to bring the campus community together, not to push it apart. We are disappointed that our actions have offended anyone in the Georgetown community, and we certainly have no intentions of alienating anyone. GUGS is apolitical on campus and does not hold events with College Democrats, College Republicans, Right to Life, H*yas for Choice or other politically-active groups. We believe that our neutrality as an organization is vital to remaining a student group that unites the campus through good food in a friendly, laidback environment.
This mindset has allowed us to accomplish many great things in service to the Georgetown community as a whole over the last five years. Our popularity has grown and is evident at all of the events where we grill, including NSO, Graduate Student Orientation, Midnight Madness, Final Four Pregame, Run for Rigby, Relay for Life, Big Brothers, neighborhood cleanups, Hoyas for Healthcare and countless others, not to mention our weekly Friday grills in Red Square.
The t-shirt slogan and the Grills Gone Wild Week name were intended to be lighthearted plays on words in an effort to inject humor into what we do. It is so easy to get wrapped up in classes, internships and finding jobs that we lose sight of the fun factor in college. We hope GUGS has provided an enjoyable outlet from those stressful endeavors for the past five years, and we look forward to serving Georgetown in this capacity for years to come.
