City on a Hill: Brothel boss-cum-mayor?

One-time brothel owner and current mayoral candidate Dennis Sobin wears an Adrian Fenty for Mayor shirt underneath a tan blazer. It’s one of two things he says he got from supporting Fenty in his 2006 campaign. The other was six months in jail.

By Will Sommer March 25, 2010

News

Health inspections yield violations

Seven popular Georgetown eating establishments received critical health code violations in 2009, according to health inspection reports obtained by the Voice. Of the violators, Epicurean and Company was the most egregious, with a total of 17 critical violations identified.

By Matt Kerwin March 18, 2010

News

Local assaulter convicted

Todd M. Thomas, 24, was sentenced to 26 years in prison last Friday after a D.C. Superior Court jury found him guilty of 11 separate crimes, including burglary and assault of Georgetown students. While some local media outlets, including the Washington Post and Saxaspeak, identified Thomas as the “Georgetown Cuddler,” the victims in Thomas’s case were male and Thomas has not been found to be connected to other cases of sexual assault on and near Georgetown’s campus.

By Holly Tao March 18, 2010

News

Catholic Charities changes benefits after gay marriage legalization

Catholic Charities in the District of Columbia has enacted two significant employment policy changes in response to the District’s recent legalization of same-sex marriage. New employees will no longer be able to receive health benefits for their spouses and will be required to pledge that they will not violate the tenets of the Catholic Church.

By Cole Stangler March 18, 2010

News

Still feuding with GUSA, SAC warns clubs of cuts

The Student Activity Commission may decrease allocations to clubs next year, SAC Chair Ethel Amponsah (NHS ‘11) warned in an e-mail sent to SAC-funded groups Tuesday. Amponsah told clubs that the Georgetown University Student Association currently plans to cut SAC’s budget by approximately 15 percent, which will affect club funding unless SAC agrees to all six of GUSA’s advisory board recommendations.

By Kara Brandeisky March 18, 2010

News

Saxa Politica: Support student loan reform

As the House nears a crucial vote this week on the controversial healthcare bill, it appears more and more likely that Democrats will bundle influential legislation on student aid reform with the healthcare amendments they are attempting to pass using reconciliation. If passed, the bill would fundamentally change federal student loan programs by ending the practice of federally subsidizing private companies that give loans to students, instead giving federal loans directly to students.

By Galen Weber March 18, 2010

News

GUSA cuts SAC budget, pushes for change

The Georgetown University Student Association’s Finance and Appropriations Committee, which now has exclusive control over allocating the Student Activity Fee, is considering cutting funding to the Student Activity Commission unless the organization agrees to the reforms outlined in the Comprehensive Funding Reform bill GUSA passed in November.

By Galen Weber March 4, 2010

News

After a year’s break, class helps to rekindle The Fire This Time

The Fire This Time, the University’s self-described “students of color news magazine,” hit the newsstands Tuesday after a year-long hiatus. Since the paper’s last issue in spring 2009, its editors have worked to revamp the paper in a University class entitled “The Fire This Time Workshop,” taught by Professor Athelia Knight. The Fire was founded in the spring of 2000 following two ethnicity-centered attacks on Georgetown student. The new publication looked to provide another outlet for voices on minority issues.

By Holly Tao March 4, 2010

News

Hoya plans for independence

Georgetown’s Media Board expects the Hoya to become financially indepedent from the University within the year, though heads of the publication and University officials said a final decision has not yet been made. “We believe the Hoya will be going independent this coming year,” Alexander Pon (COL ’12) said in his presentation of Media Board’s request at GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations Comittee budget summit last Sunday

By Galen Weber March 4, 2010

News

United Feminists keeps its funding

Amid controversy over whether United Feminists should lose its access to University benefits for partnering with H*yas for Choice in the Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice campaign, Center for Student Programs Director Erika Cohen-Derr said that the University will not stop funding the group. Plan A’s demands, which include access to material resources such as condoms and rape kits at GU Hospital, comprehensive sex education, and free speech and open dialogue, were outlined in an open letter to President John DeGioia.

By Cole Stangler March 4, 2010

News

City on a Hill: Capitol-izing on commuters

After two snow storms crippled the District, MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews had a question to pose on Hardball: “Why can’t the people who run this city deal with February?” Matthews went on to say D.C. “looked like Siberia without the Siberian discipline” and complained about—horrors!—needing an SUV to reach his studio. Matthews’s commute was especially long because he lives in Montgomery County, Md. That means that, whatever you think of his argument that the District should always be prepared for once-in-a-century snow, the tax burden of that preparation wouldn’t fall on Matthews.

By Will Sommer March 4, 2010

News

Angert wins GUSA reelection

Incumbent Georgetown University Student Association President Calen Angert (MSB ’11) and Vice President Jason Kluger (MSB ’11) won this year’s GUSA executive election with 50.1 percent of the vote, the GUSA Election Commission announced on Wednesday evening. A record-breaking 3,152 students—44 percent of the undergraduate student body—voted in the election, 543 more than last year.

By Galen Weber February 25, 2010

News

Philly P’s remains open

Philly Pizza & Grill is continuing to operate despite a notice to vacate the premises issued by the District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs on February 19. In the notice, the DCRA said that if the restaurant did not immediately cease operations, it would request that the D.C. Attorney General’s office seek emergency injunction relief on or after February 22.

By Cole Stangler February 25, 2010

News

Georgetown is still not LGBTQ friendly enough, critics charge

A prominent national figure in a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy group is pressuring Georgetown’s administration to better ensure the safety of Georgetown students following what he characterizes is a feeble response from the University to the homophobic hate crimes that occurred on campus in the past few years.

By Molly Redden February 25, 2010

News

Sex Positive Week returns without controversy

Wednesday at 1 p.m., two girls took turns reading aloud descriptive passages about the clitoris in Red Square, attracting the attention of students on their way to class. One of the passers-by included a bewildered Chris Wright (MSB ’11), who stopped to watch for a brief moment then asked his friend and teammate on the Georgetown basketball team, Jason Clark (COL ’12), “Am I hearing right?”

By Cole Stangler February 25, 2010

News

Saxa Politica: Talking racism at GU

Recent Georgetown University Student Association presidential elections have been rife with controversy, but usually the problem is voting irregularities or last-minute disqualifications. This year, however, the main issue was accusations of racism.

By Galen Weber February 25, 2010

News

On the Record with Councilmember David Catania

D.C. Councilmember and Georgetown alum David Catania (I-At Large; SFS ‘90, LAW ‘94) talked to the Voice on Wednesday about his run for re-election, his recent work on same-sex marriage and medical marijuana legalization, and his time at Georgetown. Voice: You recently introduced legislation authorizing same-sex marriage in the District, which ultimately passed the City Council in January. However, Congress has 30 legislative days to review the bill. Do you think there is any possibility that Congress will intervene in the matter?

By Claire Wheeler February 18, 2010

News

Appeal rejected, Philly P’s likely to close

Philly Pizza and Grill can be closed by the city at any moment, following Tuesday’s Board of Zoning and Adjustment hearing which rejected the restaurant’s appeal to reinstate its certificate of occupancy. In its decision, the BZA upheld the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ move to revoke Philly Pizza’s certificate of occupancy on the grounds that it is zoned as a sit-down restaurant, but in fact is operating as a fast food establishment.

By Galen Weber February 18, 2010

News

Graduate unemployment rises

Georgetown graduates looking for jobs in the midst of the recession had less luck than their recent predecessors, according to a report released by the Georgetown Career Center on Tuesday. The percentage of graduates reporting employment within six months of graduation fell from 62 percent in 2008 to 57 percent in 2009, while the number of graduates still seeking employment rose from seven to 12 percent.

By Holly Tao February 18, 2010

News

City on a Hill: Marion Barry’s ninth life?

It’s time to play “Name That D.C. Councilmember.” If you were told a current councilmember propositioned a colleague for sex 562 times, paid his girlfriend with Council money, and then tried to stop her from talking to investigators, who would you think it was? If you guessed Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), you’d be right.

By Will Sommer February 18, 2010