Two more Georgetown parents pleaded guilty for using bribes to facilitate their children’s acceptance to the university. Peter Dameris and Robert Repella were the 54th and 55th individuals to be charged by federal prosecutors as part of the nationwide college admissions scandal known as “Operation Varsity Blues,” which was uncovered last year. Dameris pleaded guilty…
The Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees (GAGE) reached a tentative labor deal with the university on May 1. The three-year agreement, which secures pay raises, additional protections for victims of sexual assault, and new health benefits for 1,000 GAGE members, will be the first-ever union contract for graduate students at Georgetown. The agreement was ratified…
Students chalked Red Square on March 5 with messages denouncing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and anti-Muslim violence in India. Violent riots unfolded in Delhi, India’s second-largest city, from Feb. 23 to March 1 as Hindu mobs attacked Muslim-populated neighborhoods and set four mosques ablaze, leaving at least 53 people dead. The riots were triggered…
The GUSA Senate passed legislation to reform the structure of the Ethics and Oversight Committee and approved a resolution urging the university to enact paper-free academic practices at their Oct. 27 meeting. Ethics and Oversight Committee Chair Zev Burton (SFS ’22) introduced legislation to amend the GUSA bylaws in order to reform the structure of…
The U.S. Department of Education published a letter on Sept. 22 threatening to revoke funding for the Duke University and University of North Carolina (UNC) Consortium for Middle East Studies. The letter criticized the program for sponsoring an outdoor concert by rapper Marco Pavé, described as “a Millennial Muslim from Memphis” who conducts hip-hop and…
The university announced its intent to rescind the admissions of two current students after they were discovered to have submitted falsified applications. The decision comes as one of the students, Adam Semprevivo (COL ’20), announced he was suing the university to block disciplinary action against him on May 15. The U.S. Department of Justice indicted…
Massachusetts federal prosecutors announced that Georgetown parent Stephen Semprevivo, along with 12 other wealthy parents of students at other universities, pleaded guilty for their roles in the college admissions scandal on April 8. Semprevivo admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud for paying a $400,000 bribe to former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon…
The lawn of the Capitol Building was crowded with approximately 1,000 protestors, including a dozen Georgetown students, protesting government inaction on climate change on Mar. 15. Among the Georgetown students attending the protest were Madison Pravecek (SFS ’19) and Samantha Panchèvre (SFS ’19), who helped organize protesters from the university. Before joining the larger strike…
A grassroots coalition called “For Us, Not Amazon” held a forum attended by approximately 100 community members at Café Sazón in Arlington on Feb. 19. The organizers called for Northern Virginia’s politicians to reject Amazon’s planned second headquarters amid concerns about corporate power, lack of transparency, and displacement of low-income and minority residents in the…
WETA, the District’s PBS-affiliate, hosted a screening and discussion of the fifth season of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Feb. 8 in George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. A primary focus of the discussion was the revelation that actress S. Epatha Merkerson is a direct descendant of nine of the 272 enslaved…