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



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GUSA supports Michigan case

Georgetown University Student Association Representatives Steve Glickman (CAS ‘02) and Luis Torres (CAS ‘05) proposed a resolution Tuesday night calling for the University to write a friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court in the University of Michigan affirmative action case.

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Speechwriter assesses Bush’s style

Former President Bill Clinton’s chief speechwriter David Kusnet compared the speaking styles of Clinton and President George W. Bush last night, focusing on Bush’s State of the Union Address.

According to Kusnet, who worked during Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and the first two years of his presidency, Bush’s style of speaking is much simpler than Clinton’s.

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Remember

For 10 years or so in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the District was horribly violent, bankrupt, deserted and embarrassed. Its limited home rule status was a chimera: Home rule has always been heavily circumscribed. The advent of a financial control board in 1995 and the concession of mayoral power to that board was almost too mundane an end to the hellish decade that preceded it.

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ABC correspondant discusses political culture

“The most pressing issue in politics is the need for infusion of values into both domestic and foreign policy,” ABC News Chief Congressional Correspondant Cokie Roberts said in a speech Wednesday night.

Mrs. Roberts and husband Steve Roberts, a professor at George Washington University, analyzed the Washington political scene and offered their opinions on the future of America.

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Students to vote on alternative to GUSA

The Georgetown University Student Association voted Tuesday to set Feb. 11 as the date on which students will vote to repeal the current GUSA constitution and replace it with a new constitution proposed by The Yard.

Proponents of The Yard, an alternative student government structure to GUSA, delivered a petition to GUSA’s Constitutional Council calling for a proposed amendment to the Constitution.

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English department amends curriculum

The English Department has changed the structure of its major, raising some questions as to how the curriculum will continue balance the Western canon with literature courses that deal with diversity and minorities.

Compounding the issue was a vote against including a statement in the new curriculum guidelines mandating that all departmental courses “address the importance of diversity” in race, religion, class, sex and gender.

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Students protest at Cardinal’s mass

Frustrated with the University’s refusal to fund a resource center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students, the supporters of the center protested at a Mass Sunday presided over by the D.C. archbishop, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick. The supporters’ decision to stand throughout the hour-long Mass in Copley Hall marks the beginning of a new phase in their campaign?a phase that, supporters said, will more visibly draw attention to their cause.

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Rivers resigns as election commissioner

Eric Lamar Rivers (CAS ‘02) resigned from the joint position of election commissioner and secretary of the Senior Class Committee last Tuesday. Rivers left to assume work as presidential election campaign manager for the Trey Street (SFS ‘03)-Dan Spector (SFS ‘04) platform.

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MLK speaker: Americans need to reprioritize

The people of the United States need to rethink their standards and get their priorities straight, said Reverend Jamal-Harrison Bryant at the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration service on Tuesday. Bryant, who is from the Empowerment Temple of Baltimore, gave the keynote sermon at the celebration in Gaston Hall, which also included performances by the Georgetown Gospel Choir and Black Movements dance troupe.

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MPD uses new ID-checking machine

Police officials at the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Commission have unveiled a small, hand-held device that will validate the age and identity of bar, restaurant and club patrons across the city. The Lavinna L100 represents D.C.’s newest deterrent in an effort to reduce underage drinking in bars and nightclubs throughout D.

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Rep. Smith criticizes Roe v. Wade

Representative Chris Smith (R-N.J.) likened the legalization of abortion in the United States to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case to not recognize blacks as legal persons. Smith was a keynote speaker at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life held at the University this Monday.

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Keeling stresses need for community

“Am I safe? What can I do? Where do we go from here?” Dr. Richard P. Keeling asked an audience of students and faculty on Wednesday evening in an event for Health, Safety and Justice Week. Keeling, who is the editor of the American Journal of College Health, compared the events of Sept.

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Real World comes to campus

Julie Stoffer, cast member of MTVs The Real World New Orleans, said in a speech on Wednesday that her experiences in New Orleans challenged her to be more tolerant of others. Stoffer spoke as part of a nationwide public-speaking tour sponsored by the Bush administration to raise awareness on drug abuse, abstinence, diversity and AIDS among American youth.

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Ranking what counts

The new Princeton Review college rankings are out. As usual, the report lists Georgetown as one of the nation’s top universities. Nothing new or surprising is mentioned. As always, ours has one of the nation’s most selective admissions standards and, as always, the University’s location in Washington, D.

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Governor supports profiling

U.S. airport security should abandon random checks in favor of stricter searches of people who fit the description of terrorists, said Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating (CAS ‘66). On Wednesday, Keating shared his experience with terrorism in Oklahoma as well as his views on U.

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Turkey program suspended

Due to parental safety concerns after Sept. 11, nearly all participants withdrew from this spring semester’s Alanya study abroad program in Turkey, causing the Office of International Programs to temporarily cancel the program for the year.

According to Debbie Brown, associate director of Overseas Studies, the University did not suspend the program on its own accord, but was forced to when the number of students enrolled fell to two or three.

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DeGioia promotes unpopular administrator

A petition signed by 45 faculty members of the Georgetown University Medical Center was sent to University President John J. DeGioia’s office in December. The petition was signed in protest of DeGioia’s recent decision to appoint current Executive Vice President for Health Studies Sam Wiesel to the newly-created position of Senior Vice President and Dean of Clinical Affairs.

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Violent crime in Georgetown down

The number of violent crimes in the Georgetown area has dropped by 12 percent in the past year, according to Metropolitan Police Department Commander Peter Newsham of the 2nd district. His comments came at a meeting with the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, the Citizens Association of Georgetown and area residents, who met on Tuesday to discuss area safety concerns.

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DPS sexual harassment case filed

Former Department of Public Safety officer Wanda Wright has brought sexual harassment charges against various officials in the department. Wright has since resigned from her position at the University.

Both DPS Director William Tucker and Associate Director Darryl Harrison did not return calls to the Voice by press time.

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Lieberman: Saddam needs to go

The United States should take immediate action to remove Iraqi president Saddam Hussein from power, said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) on Monday. He described Hussein as a “sworn enemy of the United States” in a lecture delivered in Gaston Hall sponsored by the Lecture Fund.