News

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

Editorials

Hanna hits Georgetown

Tropical Storm Hanna hit the Georgetown campus late Saturday morning, bringing strong winds and rain and causing damage to student residences.

By September 11, 2008

News

Evans victorious

Incumbent Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (D) defeated challenger Cary Silverman (D) in Tuesday’s Democratic primary by 1,300 votes, garnering 65 percent of the vote.

By September 11, 2008

News

Bias charges

William Rennie (COL ‘09), the alleged victim of the bias-related incident that occurred in Burleith two weeks ago, has decided to press charges and file a lawsuit against his alleged harassers. According to Rennie, the residents of a house on the 3600 block of S Street who taunted him at the beginning of the school year also did so in July.

By September 11, 2008

News

Saxa Politica: The Kelly kerfuffle

Before James Kelly (COL ’09) became vice president of the Student Association, he ticked off a lot of people at an open forum following last fall’s bias incident when he argued that the school wouldn’t have proposed a resource center had a straight male been assaulted. While true, Kelly’s hypothetical entirely missed the point that the incident was a hate crime. So when Kelly came into office as Pat Dowd’s (SFS ‘09) VP, there was lingering resentment toward the ticket from certain campus groups, particularly GU Pride.

By September 11, 2008

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Campus mourns Davis

Georgetown students and faculty held two services yesterday for Terrance Davis (COL ‘10), who went missing on Monday after a giant wave knocked him into the ocean in Harkerville, South Africa.

By September 4, 2008

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New District website fights for student renters’ rights

For many students, the start of the school year includes the excitement of moving into off-campus housing. For the Department of Consumer Regulatory Affairs, it means just another year of going unnoticed. According to DCRA spokesperson Michael Rupert, each year his office kicks off a new campaign to encourage students who rent off-campus housing to make sure their homes are up to code, and each year, the response is lackluster. So last week, his office and the D.C. Fire Marshall tried something new: launching a “student-friendly” website, thisshouldbeillegal.com.

By September 4, 2008

News

GU profs bankroll Barack

Georgetown University employees donated the fourteenth largest amount of money to Obama for America, Inc., over the summer, based on a ranking of employee groups released by the Center for Responsive Politics.

By September 4, 2008

News

City on a Hill: Cops, not Cameras

As the Metropolitan Police Department, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D), and the D.C. City Council consider another high-tech program for MPD–this time one that would put video cameras in police cars–they should think about whether they have begun to accept technology as a substitute for real police presence in D.C. communities.

By September 4, 2008

News

Riding on rays

Waiting for the Sun: The Solar Taxi, an experimental in sustainable transportation, rolled into D.C. this week. The brainchild of Raphael Chimes, the Solar Taxi runs on renewable rather than... Read more

By September 4, 2008

News

Court to ASK: the wrong answers

After more than 20 years of tutoring and mentoring juveniles in the D.C. court system, Georgetown’s After School Kids program is on hiatus this fall. The program’s five-year contract with the D.C. Superior Court ran out in May and has yet to be renewed, forcing ASK to cancel its programs indefinitely due to a lack of funds.

By August 28, 2008

News

Bias incident in Burleith

Early Saturday night, a group of Burleith residents harassed a Georgetown student and his friend, shouting homophobic slurs at the pair from their lawn. The student they taunted, a senior in the College who wished to remain anonymous, said he was harassed by twelve to fifteen men, all of whom appeared to be drunk.

By August 28, 2008

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Curbing Traffic

Georgetown could soon see some relief from its chronic traffic problems. A study by the District Department of Transportation, to be released by the end of the month, gives suggestions for how the neighborhood can better handle vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles.

By August 28, 2008

News

Hardy: Hardly Recognizable

After three years of renovation, Rose Hardy Middle School in Georgetown reopened its new, bright blue doors on Monday. Along with the physical improvements, Hardy may be one of the schools used as a testing ground for a new program in which middle school students are rewarded for academic success.

By August 28, 2008

News

On the Record with John DeGioia

On Wednesday, University President John DeGioia held a sit-down with student reporters, who questioned him about campus news and issues. Below are excerpts from their conversation.

By August 28, 2008

News

Not so sub-prime

Georgetown and several other area colleges have agreed to a new Code of Conduct for dealing with student loan lenders. The agreement, put together by the D.C. District Attorney, prohibits universities and their employees from profiting from their dealings with student lenders.

By August 28, 2008

News

Saxa Politica: Rankled

What do the numbers 9, 23 and 76 have in common? They’re all rankings Georgetown has received recently. College counselors surveyed by U.S. News and World Report ranked Georgetown ninth, tied with seven other schools; the actual U.S. News ranking kept the University in its 23 spot; and Forbes, the newcomer in this year’s ranking bonanza, sent Georgetown crashing down to 76, behind the likes of Wabash College (12) and Kalamazoo College (57). No, I haven’t heard of them either.

By August 28, 2008

News

On the Record: Sivagami Subbaraman

Sivagami Subbaraman is the first director of Georgetown’s new LGBTQ Resource Center. Raised in India, she came to the United States to study English and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Before coming to Georgetown, she worked as the associate director of the University of Maryland’s Office of LGBT Equality.

By August 22, 2008

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City on a Hill: Performance pay for DCPS

The announcement yesterday that the Washington Teachers’ Union has filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia Public Schools for the allegedly improper dismissal of more than 70 teachers confirms that things really are getting ugly on the D.C. school scene. DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee heated things up earlier with the announcement this summer of a tiered pay proposal, which would introduce merit-based pay and extra bonuses for teachers willing to give up tenure for a year of probation.

By August 22, 2008

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New DPS head has checkered past

Controversy hounded Jeffrey Van Slyke, Georgetown’s new Director of Public Safety, while he was the head of the University of Texas’s police department. He reacted flippantly to a racial profiling accusation, was charged in a sexual assault suit settled out of court, presided over the infiltration of a campus group, and armed his police with shotguns and semi-automatic rifles. Van Slyke’s past was first covered by the Voice’s blog, Vox Populi.

By August 22, 2008

News

DPS retools for fall

In response to numerous assaults and robberies, some armed, that occurred in LXR and Henle at the end of last school year, Department of Public Safety officers are now armed with batons and pepper spray. The University has also installed louder door alarms in East Campus and replaced the doors in Henle.

By August 22, 2008