On Friday afternoon, former President Bill Clinton (SFS ‘68) spoke at Gaston Hall, and reflected on the current economic and political state of the country. His speech was part of the “Clinton-Gore Economics: Understanding the Lessons of the 1990s” symposium, which highlighted economic successes that the speakers attributed to the Clinton administration’s policies and leadership.

The symposium consisted of two panel discussions in addition to Clinton’s keynote speech. The panelists, including top officials and political players during the Clinton administration, addressed the 1993 budget battle and how the Clinton administration treated education, technology, transportation, and other issues within the larger economic plan. They also highlighted the important role that investment played during his administration.

The panelists and the former president also spoke about the country’s balanced budget during his second term, as well as the drops in unemployment numbers and number of people on welfare during his administration, the latter of which decreased from 14.1 million to 5.6 million. They argued that the administration’s policies played a measurable role in changing the economic state in which the country had been during the previous decate.

Clinton, however, noted that the policies made during his administration were not prescriptive. “As you look at the problems that the President faces today, the members of Congress face today, I would like to first state the obvious,” he said. “The particular solution we pursued is not appropriate to this particular moment because the problem is different.”

However, he did say that some of the philosophies that shaped the policies under his administration remain relevant today.

“Abraham Lincoln said that in America, it was good to have wealthy people because it fostered innovation and creativity and effort in the rest of us,” Clinton said. “On the other hand, as an economic matter, we all need to pitch in and do what we can so that those of us who had all of the gains of the last decade [and in the 1980s], just as I did, should make a contribution. That’s a contribution we can make.”

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In effort to improve town-gown relations and to provide information for students sub-letting houses and apartments in surrounding neighborhoods, Georgetown University will be publishing two lists, naming the landlords that they would recommend students to sublet from, and the landlords they would not recommend.

“We’re promoting good landlords to [students] and provide resources to them so they know the rights they have as a tenant and the expectations they should seek,” Vice President of Communications Stacy Kerr said.

Letters are being sent to landlords around the area, encouraging them to pledge their commitment to “maintaining the quality of life in our community to your neighbors publicly.” In return, the University would promote these landlords to students by publishing the names of landlords who sign the pledge on their website.

On the other hand, landlords and properties that receive multiple and unresolved “credible complaints” would be published on the a “List of Properties of Concern.” Credible complaints would include shoveling sidewalks or trash issues, said Kerr, but would not include complaints that a house is too noisy.

The letter to the landlords and pledge are included after the jump!

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This Wednesday, Chief Operating Officer Christopher Augostini will be holding a forum with University leaders in the Department of Public Safety, auxiliary services, student housing, facilities, and University Information Services to solicit student feedback. The event, held in Sellinger Lounge from 5 p.m. will be the first of a series of discussions in an effort to increase conversation between students and University offices.

The series, called the Hoya Roundtables, was set in place by Augostini over the summer.

“I just need to know what [the] issues are. Right now at the moment, I’m not quite clear if I fully understand all the issues that students want to lay out for me that that I should understand,” said Augostini.

He used concerns with technology at Georgetown as an example. “The issue of wireless has really improved … [students say] it’s better but there is [more]. I understand the issue of technology but I want to get more granular.”

Augostini, who assumed the position of COO last summer in addition to his responsibilities overseeing the Office of Financial Affairs, said the Roundtables were a vehicle he was going to use in his new role to improve responsiveness to issues of student life.

Over the summer, Augostini first met with student leaders on campus to gauge some of the issues that were most relevant to students. He then met with the management team to come up with a structure that they believed would be most effective way to reach students.

“I don’t want it to be just me talking to the students,” Augostini said. “I want it to be a venue for them to raise issues and I wanted not just me responding, but whoever the head of that unit is.”

The structure of the Roundtables is flexible, and will be modified if they find that it is not the most effective way of reaching out to students.

Michael Wang (MSB ’07) has been working with Augostini’s office to reach out to student leaders. “[We reached out to] the Corp, GUSA, the Credit Union to the Chinese Student Alliance, LASA…. Not just what you would think as the top three student organizations, but to cover what Georgetown represents across the University. There are a lot of voices that aren’t heard but we really tried to cover [them all],” said Wang.

“Frankly if one student shows up, we’ll have the event,” said Augostini. “Every institution has lots of constraint, but to the extent we can’t respond, we have an obligation to tell you why.”

Edit: Here’s the link to the Google Moderator they are using to collect questions beforehand.

Today, at approximately 7:45 p.m., Harbin Hall was evacuated after a fire broke out. The fire was caused by students cooking (Editor’s note: Cooking food) in the third floor common room.

According to Department of Public Safety officers at the scene, the fire did not set off the building’s sprinkler system, but firefighters brought fans into the building to dissipate the smoke. Students from all floors of the building were forced to leave, and the residents subsequently received an email from Ashley Kockler, the Harbin Hall Director, telling them that they would not be able to re-enter the building until 9:15 p.m. at the earliest.

Below is the email students received from Kockler.

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Yesterday evening, President Jack DeGioia and Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson sat down with campus media to answer any questions they have at the start of the 2011-2012 academic year. We would like to thank all of our commenters who responded to our call for suggestions. Be forewarned, they had a lot to say:

DeGioia: Let me say some key things that shape the way I think about things at the start of this year. First it’s [been] an extraordinary opening to this year. Just a week ago the walls were shaking here in Healy Hall, which was a first experience [for me]. My immediate reaction was, “Who was rehearsing upstairs in Gaston?” We recognize that we experienced something unprecedented. Then we anticipated the arrival of Hurricane Irene, and I felt so pleased with the way in which our whole university responded—from our emergency response team to the residence hall staff to the families who were all affected in one way or another. As you know we had to move our convocation from Sunday to Tuesday and make other adjustments along the way. But it was inspiring to watch the way in which everybody responded.

I have the chance to teach an Ignatius seminar in the College this fall, and had a chance to start this morning. I think we’re fully launched for the start of the year.

I’m welcoming a bunch of new leaders to the university at this time. I had a chance yesterday at the Mass of the Holy Spirit to welcome four of them. There’s Fr. Kevin O’Brien, who has served at the university for the last three years. He took over as Vice President for Mission and Ministry and I’m really pleased about that. Kevin’s an alum of ours. He came here during his undergraduate days so I feel we’re in very good hands in Campus Ministry with Kevin’s leadership. Fr. Joe Lingan joined us as the new head of the Georgetown Jesuit Community, and he came to us this past year from a high school from right across town where he was the principal. Fr. Lingan is a wonderful addition to our Georgetown community. Rachel Gartner joins us as our new rabbi, and she just came to campus in the last two weeks. And then there’s somebody who has been with us for a while but took on a new role as head of our Protestant ministry and that’s Rev. Bryant Oskvig.

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Researchers at the Georgetown University School of Medicine have recentlyuncovered a genetic irregularity that causes cancer in some individuals. David Solomon, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the group of Dr. Todd Waldman, an associate professor of oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that a mutation of the STAG2 gene causes an abnormal number of chromosomes during cell division, which in turn causes cancer, as he published in the August 19 issue of Science magazine.

Solomon explains that the STAG2 gene encodes a protein subunit of the “cohesin complex” that holds together chromosomes before they are pulled apart during mitosis, or cell division. Abnormal STAG2 genes cause problems in how chromosomes are held together, and this results in a phenomenon called aneuploidy, where some cells have too many chromosomes and others have too few. Aneuploidy is a driving factor in creating carcinogenic tumors.

Why is this significant? “This is the first gene that has ever been proven to directly cause aneuploidy when mutated or inactivated in human cancers,” Solomon said. “Aneuploidy is one hallmark of cancer, [but] researchers in the past have not known the mechanism and why this happens in cancer cells.”

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The Georgetown University Student Association Senate took a break from SAFE reform on Sunday to take aim at a different scourge—undergraduate access to the McDonough School of Business’s Hariri building.

Senator Nathaniel Tisa (SFS ’14), with the co-sponsorship of the GUSA Senate’s Academic Affairs Committee, introduced a bill that encouraged open access to Hariri’s lounges and lobbies for the general undergraduate body.

Currently, only MSB students can access the building after 10 p.m. According to Tisa, the limited accessibility was meant to secure expensive equipment that business school students use, such as Bloomberg machines.

“It doesn’t make sense that the whole building is shut down,” he said.

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At Sunday’s Georgetown University Student Association Senate meeting, senators announced that another town hall meeting concerning Student Activities Fee and Endowment reform will be held this Wednesday.

Senator Greg Laverierre (COL ’12), chairperson of the FinApp committee, said that the turnout was “less than expected” at last week’s town hall for SAFE reform. Nonetheless, suggestions made by students at the meeting may have a large impact on the new legislation for the Student Activities fee.

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The Georgetown University Student Association Senate elected senators for internal leadership positions during this week’s meeting; next week, the body will begin to debate legislation.

The new leadership includes Speaker of the Senate Adam Mortillaro (COL ’12), Vice-Speaker Ben Bold (COL ’13), Director of Technology Ben Goldhaber (SFS ’12), Parliamentarian Kolby Keo (COL ’14), and Secretary Laura West (COL ’13).

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The 2010-2011 Georgetown University Student Association Senators were sworn in on Sunday, officially beginning the year’s agenda. While the meeting was heavy on ideas and questions from the senators and light on formal votes, the discussions suggest that many of last year’s issues will rear their heads soon.

Chris Pigott (COL’12), last year’s Senate Vice-Speaker, moderated the meeting.

Student Activities Fee and Endowment Reform (SAFE Reform)

In 2001, a system was set up to allocate half of the Student Activities fee to student organizations, club sports, and the media board. The other half went to an endowment, which, according to the plan, would eventually become self-sustaining and eliminate the need to collect a student activities fee from each student on a semester basis.

At the current interest rates, however, GUSA representatives are concerned that students wouldn’t see the effect of the endowment plan until at least 2025. Let’s hope that the Finance and Appropriation Committee looks into the endowment money and creates a plan to speed up the process.

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