News

What’s happening on campus and in D.C.



News

City on a Hill: Clean power: a Capitol idea!

Benning Road and Chalk Point are two power plants that provide large sections of the District with power. Predictably, they are some of the most polluting structures in the city. The Capitol Power plant, however, which joins those two plants as one of D.C.’s top pollution producers, doesn’t produce any electricity at all—it’s just your congressperson’s air conditioner.

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GUSA to hold new election

Eight hours before the GUSA presidential election began early Tuesday morning, the Election Commission disqualified two tickets from the race. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, that decision was overturned by the Constitutional Council, a three-person board hastily appointed by the GUSA Senate to deal with the controversy. The Council ruled that there should be a new election including the disqualified candidates—Peter Dagher (MSB ’10) and Jeff Lamb (MSB ’10)—on the ballot.

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Hot and bothered by Sex Positive Week

On Tuesday night, 21 students gathered in a classroom in Reiss for “Torn about Porn,” a discussion about pornography’s effects on society that was one of several events that comprised Sex Positive Week. The students barely glanced at the front of the room as one of the discussion moderators changed the slide and an image of one woman fisting another was projected onto a screen—they were too engaged in their discussion to notice the actual porn.

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Virgin Mary statue defaced

As maintenance crews work to restore the statue of the Virgin Mary on Copley Lawn that was vandalized last Thursday, Georgetown’s Catholic community is working to come to grips with the defacement of a holy object on campus.

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Suspects arrested in O St. robbery

The Metropolitan Police Department announced on Sunday that they have arrested two subjects whom they believe are responsible for last week’s string of violent robberies, most of which occurred in the Second District, an area that includes Georgetown. According to MPD Second District Commander Matthew Klein, the two men are to blame for at least six robberies, including one incident that involved two Georgetown graduate students.

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Progress for voting rights

The District of Columbia’s ongoing struggle to obtain voting rights in Congress made significant progress when the motion for cloture on the D.C. Voting Rights Act passed in the Senate by a 62-34 vote on Saturday. Although this is just the first in a series of steps the bill will need to take before becoming law, it is the first time it has managed to overcome this preliminary hurdle.

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Survey says SafeRides is a safe bet

After conducting the first ever in-depth survey about the SafeRides program, the Student Safety Advisory Board was pleased to find that students are generally content with the service.

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Saxa Politica: Let SCUnity Go

The Georgetown University Student Association is supposed to be a forum for public discussion and informed action, but their relationship with the Student Commission for Unity—arguably one of the most important projects GUSA has undertaken in recent years—has been marked by impatience and apathy. Given GUSA’s dereliction of their oversight duties, SCUnity is justified in its decision to split from GUSA.

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GUSA Senators M.I.A.

After weeks of struggling to maintain quorum at its meetings, the Georgetown University Student Association Senate will have to replace eight of its chronically absent members and fill one seat that no one ran for in the fall.

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SCUnity splits from GUSA

The Student Commission for Unity announced in a press release on Sunday that it was cutting its ties with the Georgetown University Student Association. Brian Kesten (COL `10), SCUnity’s chair, cited problems collaborating with GUSA while advocating for the eight recommendations that the SCUnity board formulated based on their research.

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Magis causes row with neighbors

“I live on 35th St. ... and I’m a chronic complainer,” Eugenia Kemble, a resident of West Georgetown, announced. The other 20-or-so people in the Off-Campus Life Resource Center at the corner of 36th and N streets chuckled, and the introductions continued.

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Wireless coverage unsatisfactory

More than 80 percent of students feel “unsatisfied” or “very unsatisfied” with on-campus wireless access, according to a survey conducted by Interhall last semester. Approximately 1,696 students responded to the online survey.

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SFS-Q getting new headquarters by 2010

The Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Qatar is in the process of constructing a new building that will include academic office space, classrooms, a library, and other facilities to accommodate up to 450 students. The building will allow the University to gradually increase enrollment at SFS-Q, which now stands at approximately 150 students.

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5¢ bag fee for D.C.?

Paper and plastic bags will soon cost District consumers five cents, if legislation proposed by D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) on Tuesday passes. Most of the revenue from the fee will go the Anacostia River Clean-up Fund.

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D.C. United moving

Officials representing D.C. United announced their plans to construct a new soccer stadium in Prince George’s County, Maryland at a press conference on Monday.

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City on a Hill: Power to the peons

If your internship has you feeling like you’re not a person, that’s because legally in the District of Columbia, you aren’t. As one New Jersey college student discovered in December when she tried to bring a sexual harassment suit against her employer, unpaid interns in D.C. currently have no right to sue their boss for harassment or discrimination.

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Let the GUSA race begin

Eight students are vying for the position of Georgetown University Student Association President this year. A primary will be held February 24 with a run-off between the top two tickets two days later.

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Funding Board hints at Hoya independence

Along with allocating funds for student groups for the next school year, Wednesday night’s Student Funding Board Meeting provided a strong indication that the Hoya is moving toward independence.

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After raunchy e-mail, sorries and sanctions for IRC

After an offensive prank e-mail was sent out to the International Relations Club’s more than 350-person listserv last week, the Student Activities Commission imposed sanctions on the club at their Monday meeting. Instead of funding two or three Model United Nations conferences, as they have in the past, SAC will only be providing funding for one next semester.

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Students save Georgetown Day

When Bridget Geraghty (COL ’09) heard from some of her friends who hold high positions in campus clubs that the administration was planning to reschedule Georgetown Day from April 24, the last Friday of classes, to Thursday, April 2, she was angry. So she took her cause to Facebook.