EXIF Photo by Sam Sweeney, Blog Editor

• Didn’t go to any events during Jesuit Heritage Week? You missed one hell of a volleyball game, but no worries: In our cover this week, Molly Redden takes us inside the world of Georgetown’s Jesuits as they explore what it means for Georgetown to be a Jesuit university. The Voice Editorial Board tells us why Georgetown’s Jesuit identity matters.
• GUSA, the Corp and GUFASCU get behind the Hoya’s push for independence, Juliana Brint reports, but the Ed Board has some reservations.
• How many lawyers does it take to make up a basketball team? Phil Perry has the answer in his feature on the Lady Lawyers Basketball League, founded by a GU Law School alum.
• Over the Voices section, José Canto speaks up in favor of the role played by faith-based organizations in the fight against poverty.
• In her column, “Culottes for you lots,”Katie Norton answers a Freakonomics-esque question: what do children’s books and fashion have in common?
• Sports editor Liz Kuebler tries her hand at fantasy football. Hilarity (in the form of a 3-11 season) ensues.
• High quality singing and acting do not a musical make, Shira Hecht writes in her review of Wisconsin Death Trip, currently playing at the Gonda Theater.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy Superbowl Sunday, Patriots and Giants fans. Me? I’m rooting for Tom Petty.

This is the first edition of Walk-on Watch, the regular feature in which Vox Populi chronicles the endeavors of unsung Hoya walk-on Bryon Jansen.

Bryon Jansen, A government major with minors in economics and theology who serves on the College Academic Council, raised the stakes even higher last year when he walked on to one of the best basketball teams in the country. But by the time he into the game against St. John’s tonight, there wasn’t much work left to be done. The Hoyas were leading by 28 points, St. John’s was shooting a pitiful 21% and only 2:11 remained in the second half.

That didn’t hinder the six-foot six junior from Kent, Wa. Jansen squeezed in an offensive rebound and an unlikely 3-point field goal in the final two minutes for the highest scoring game of his career. Of course, that doesn’t mean Jansen got the credit he deserved. After he came down with the offensive rebound with 1:27 remaining on the clock, the announcer on ESPN mistook him for Nikita Mescheriakov, the Belarus native likely red-shirting this year, only to correct himself seconds later.

And before Jeremiah Rivers passed Jansen the ball with seconds left, the announcer had declared the Hoyas’ margin of victory to be 29. But then Jansen squared up outside the arc and let loose the first three-pointer of his college career to put the cherry on top of Georgetown’s 74-42 win, St. John’s worst Big East loss in school history.

Photo by Nicole Bush, Staff Photographer

I’m not trying to kick up an alarmist sandstorm here, but if you’re one of the 6,137 undergrads who were notified that their social security numbers and/or other personal information may have been stolen as part of the heist of an external hard drive from the Office of Student Affairs, it’s probably worth trying to protect yourself. Though Georgetown’s campus-wide e-mail said no credit card information was stolen, your information could be used to take out lines of credit in your name (such as loans).

The first step is to put a 90-day fraud alert out with the 3 major credit bureaus; this will prevent new lines of credit from being taken out in your name without your first confirming them by phone. Call Equifax at 1-800-525-6285 to begin the alert; they’ll contact Experian and TransUnion (the other 2 bureaus) to make it universal.

Second, Visa’s fraud center told me that identity thieves and other bad guys will use your information to pose as you, call in, and find out your credit card info. Call your credit card company to place a password on your account, which is more secure than the typical “mother’s maiden name” question used to verify by default. Credit card companies are already diligent fraud monitors, so they’ll probably call anyway if a strange-looking charge appears on your account.

I don’t know the chances of your info being used to nefarious ends (who’s to say what they really are, anyway?), but there’s no harm in protecting yourself. It should only take 20 minutes or so (based on past experience), and will be a lot less painful than trying to deal with the repercussions should your info actually be used.

Senator Ted Kennedy announced his endorsement for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama at a packed arena at American University on Monday, saying he sensed a “kind of yearning today…[a] kind of hunger to move on and move America forward.” Over 100 journalists were turned away, the American Prospect reports, but intrepid Voice reporter/photographer Yamini Kalidindi was able to find her way inside. By the looks of their (excellent) photo slideshow, it seems the GW Hatchet was among the publications turned away. An update with Yamini’s full report of the event will follow.

Update: Here’s Yamini’s report:

Following his significant victory in South Carolina, Senator Barack Obama received the endorsement of Senator Edward Kennedy, his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, and niece Caroline Kennedy at a rally held today at American University. Sen. Kennedy voiced his commitment to Obama, saying he supports “a president who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal.”

Thousands waited on line to attend this event, some arriving at Bender Arena as early as eight in the morning for an event set to begin at 12:30. While the crowd consisted of a significant number of college students, people of all ages were present. Parents arrived with children 3, 4 years of age riding on their shoulders, while elderly people joined the throngs of youth waiting in the cold.

Despite the difference in age among the audience, the atmosphere remained consistent. From the time doors opened at 10:30, the arena rang with chants of “Obama! Obama! Obama!” closely followed by shouts of, “Can we do it?! Yes, we can!” Edward Kennedy summed up the feelings coursing through the crowd as they waited for Obama to take the podium, stating, he sensed a “kind of yearning today…[a] kind of hunger to move on and move America forward.”

When Obama finally took the stage, he thanked the Kennedys for their support. “If you stand with me in the days to come…if you stand for change,” he told the crowd, “we will change the course of history.”

Photos by Yamini Kalidindi

Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) paid tribute to the civil rights legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and spoke about President Bush’s final State of the Union Address in the ICC auditorium tonight.

Following an introduction by visibly nervous Hoya guard Jessie Sapp, Rangel praised the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement. He cited the diversity of the Democratic presidential front runners and the growth of the Congressional Black Caucus as evidence of America’s progress towards equality.

Rangel wasn’t as pleased with Bush’s policies, calling them antithetical to King’s vision. Drawing parallels to King’s opposition to the Vietnam War, Rangel attacked the Iraq War and the conduct of the administration as regressive and detrimental to American ideals and interests.

Rangel also addressed the current stimulus package. He claimed that the bill was a poor fix for the supply-side economic policy of the past several years. To conclude his speech, Rangel exhorted the audience to continue on the path of the Civil Rights generation and work for change, concluding that “where the country goes remains in your hands.”

Rangel took a few brief questions, including one from a man advocating a 20% value-added tax (Rangel dismissed the man, asking for a serious question) and one from an intern from his Ways and Means office (Rangel told the audience to direct all remaining questions to the intern), before hurrying out of the auditorium to attend the State of the Union address across town.

—John Cooke

Photo by Vivian Chen, Contributing Editor 

That’s what New Yorker reporter George Packer would have you think. He uses the experience of our own Barbara Feinman Todd, Associate Dean of Georgetown’s brand-new graduate journalism program and the reason Georgetown even has what anemic undergraduate offerings do exist, to explain how Senator Hillary Clinton has a “habit of undermining herself, when the worst might have been averted by a little candor and grace—a tendency that has reappeared in the past few weeks.”

Feinman Todd, before and while at Georgetown, worked as a freelance journalist and particularly as a ghostwriter, and her most famous job was working with the then-first lady to write “It Takes A Village.” Clinton didn’t thank her in the book’s acknowledgments, causing a minor scandal at the time, but Packer’s sources, apparently editors at Simon & Schuster, claim that Feinman Todd really did a bad job and didn’t deserve the credit. I e-mailed Feinman Todd, who declined to comment specifically due to a confidentiality agreement, except to say that she believed the piece to be inacccurate. I’m waiting to hear back from Packer about the story, but in the meantime you can read the relevant excerpt after the jump and judge for yourself.

(more…)

Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook and Absurdistan, is going to be speaking on campus Thursday night at 6:30 in Riggs Library. Forget the way-overrated Jonathan Safran Foer — for over-the-top self-referential Eastern European Jewish wit with just the right amount of poignancy, Shteyngart’s your guy, and he’s sure to be a hit in conversation with Georgetown’s own Jacques Berlinerblau, director of the Program for Jewish Civilization.

Update:  RSVP and further information is available here.

Photo courtesy Flickr user mezzoblue

—Anna Bank, Managing Editor

Canadian reggae band Bedouin Soundclash stopped by D.C. Sunday night, playing a solid set in spite of a slew of technical problems, featuring songs from their first two albums, their most recent album Street Gospels, and a gorgeous cover of the Clash’s Rudie Can’t Fail. British rockers Beat Union opened, followed by Westbound Train, a Boston-based ska band.

Bedouin Soundclash’s full set list:

Burn
Living in Jungles
Saint Andrew’s
Rude Boy
Criminal
Bells of 59
Jeb Rand
Nico
Gyasi
Money Worries
Rudie Can’t Fail
Walls Fall Down
Shadow of a Man
12:59 Lullaby
When the Night Feels my Song
Shelter (Encore)
Nothing to Say (Encore)

Photos by Sam Sweeney, Blog Editor

On Friday, residents of the Nevils apartment complex received the following strange e-mail from one of the Resident Assistants:

Hey Everyone,

We have been notified about a pellet gun incident, going off from a Nevils apartment balcony, in the Courtyard on Wednesday night 1/23/08. Our East Campus Hall Director Natasha Pedroza is asking for anyone who has information to come forward. This incident concerns the safety of our East Campus community. Thank you for your time and cooperation!

Best,
[REDACTED]

I have no idea if anyone talked to Ms. Pedroza, but I would encourage anyone information to e-mail the Voice about it—anonymity guaranteed, friends! I hadn’t realized that East Campus had gotten so serious that people have been reduced to packing heat, but I guess that’s what the world is coming to.

—Tim Fernholz, Contributing Editor