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



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Students demonstrate against economic sanctions

As students walked to and from class yesterday afternoon, they were forced to detour around the ten or so bodies of their fellow students lying “dead” in Red Square. Every 15 minutes, another student would “fall dead,” clutching a sign proclaiming: “I am not Saddam Hussein” or “Lift the economic sanction NOW.

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Fiber connection break causes Internet outage

The Verizon fiber connection that provides the University with Internet activity was accidentally cut early Tuesday morning, according to University Information Services. Students, faculty and staff on main campus, the Medical Center, Hospital and Law School, as well as University locations on Wisconsin Avenue could not access the Internet from 5 a.

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Latvian president advocates trans-Atlantic alliance

Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the president of Latvia, advocated the necessity for a stronger trans-Atlantic partnership in a speech on Tuesday.

“The shattering terrorist attacks have put partnership in a new perspective,” Vike-Freiberga said. She noted that any country’s security can be threatened at any time, so it is no longer possible for any one country to be self-sufficient.

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Bars to phase out drink specials

The Advisory Neighborhood Commission has reached agreements with two local Georgetown bars to gradually phase out promotional drink specials. The ANC could not reach an agreement with Champions to ban its admission of under-21 individuals into its establishment.

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Scalia: GU Catholic identity strong

Georgetown’s moral Catholic environment is as present and as strong as ever, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (CAS ‘57) said Monday in his speech as Jesuit Heritage Week’s Georgetown Alumnus Spotlight speaker.

After describing the degradation of morality in the United States over the past two centuries, Scalia said that Georgetown is “not losing its moral soul.

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Saudi prince denounces bin Laden

Osama bin Laden is “one of the most vicious and one of the most cruel killers of our time,” said Prince Turki Al-Faisal bin Abd Al-Aziz Al-Saud (SFS ‘68), former head of intelligence in Saudi Arabia.

By speaking on Sunday in ICC Auditorium about his experiences as Saudi chief of intelligence, Turki said that he was breaking “a social taboo of the Kingdom [Saudi Arabia].

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‘Bar’red from Drinking

As a way of keeping their liquor licenses, two local Georgetown bars told the Advisory Neighborhood Commission on Tuesday that they would forgo all-you-can-drink nights as well as other promotional drink specials.

ANC Commissioners feel these measures will reduce levels of underage drinking in the community.

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DeGioia gives State of the School address

University President John J. DeGioia praised Georgetown’s rich traditions and sense of community in the State of the School address Tuesday evening.

DeGioia spoke of changes on campus since the events of September. “After Sept. 11, what had the most meaning for me was the sense of community.

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President responds to medical faculty concerns

The appointment of Dr. Sam Wiesel to the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of the Medical Center and Dean of Clinical Affairs is critical to the fluorishing of the Georgetown-MedStar partnership, University President John J. DeGioia said in his response to a petition submitted by Medical Center faculty.

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Deadline for GLBT center response missed

The deadline that Vice President of Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez set earlier this year to provide his written response to students supporting a resource center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students has passed, say supporters of the center.

Gonzalez has twice proposed a date to provide the response.

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Afghan ruler promises democracy

Afghanistan’s new ruler promised to establish a strong democratic government responsive to each citizen and capable of bringing stability to a country that has suffered from more than two decades of political turmoil. Speaking in front of over 3,000 people who packed into McDonough Gymnasium on Sunday, Afghanistan’s Interim Authority Chairman Hamid Karzai said that the Afghan people are ready to rebuild their country.

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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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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.