The next time you find yourself at a Georgetown basketball game in the Verizon Center, give your hands a break from clapping, pause before you scream “We Are Georgetown” and keep your ears open for a brand new chant hitting the student section—Saxa Gray.

Founded earlier this fall, Saxa Gray is an undergraduate student group open to all Hoyas whose goal is to promote school spirit and revelry at Georgetown basketball games.

“Georgetown, though a university with a renowned basketball program, is a school whose student section has never been up to par,” said co-founder Akhil Ramanadham (MSB ’14). “It’s an essential element that has been lacking at basketball games during my time here at Georgetown. That’s how I first thought up Saxa Gray.”

While Hoya Blue serves as the University-sanctioned spirit organization, Saxa Gray isn’t burdened by the rules that govern clubs. “Saxa Gray provides a previously nonexistent outlet for avid Georgetown fans to gather together as a unit,” Saxa Gray member Matt Burdumy (COL ‘15) said. “Our major advantage is that we aren’t subject to the supervision of the athletic department and thus our support for our Hoyas can be unrestricted.”

For their part, Georgetown Sports Information declined to comment on Saxa Gray.

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Not long after fellow Italian restaurant Papa Razzi closed its doors, another popular M street eatery has decided to leave Georgetown. Fino Italian Restaurant, formerly located on M Street next to Sprinkles Cupcake, recently posted a handwritten note on its doors announcing a move to 1230 9th St. near the convention center.

A Georgetown staple since 1988, Fino Italian boasted mouthwatering specials such as lobster ravioli and Gnocchi del Re, serving dishes in an Old World style. The atmosphere was described as quiet and romantic. However, with competitors including Pizza Paradiso, Il Canale, Paper Moon, Paolo’s, and Filomena all located in the heart of Georgetown, it’s no huge wonder that the restaurant has decided to move elsewhere.

The future of Fino’s spot at 3011 M Street is still up in the air, with no concrete plans for the next move. According to LoopNet, a retail brokerage site, the property if expanded to use both floors has 9,000 square feet of available space.

Even with the move of Fino and the closing of Papa Razzi, Hoyas should still find plenty of places to go for their occasional Italian fix. But for any avid patrons of Fino, worry not. The new location will be open by the New Year and is walkable from the Mt. Vernon Square metro stop.

Did you really think we were done posting about college rankings?

In recent news, this week BroBible ranked the 100 best college bars in the nation, with The Tombs at 90th place and Rhino Bar and Pumphouse going for the win in fourth place. According to BroBible, Georgetown is the place to go for “popped collars, shots, and ballers.”

The website attributes Georgetown’s poppin’ Rhino scene to the lack of Greek life.

“Despite being an undeniable Bro haven, Georgetown does not have any “official” Greek life presence. This means that Hoya nation’s finest often take their talents to the corner of 33rd and M St., a place filled with a cataclysmic combination of Northeastern Prep, Mid-Atlantic lax swag, and a constant flow of liquor mixed with maxed out credit card tabs,” the description reads. “The upstairs–which often features the finest talent from Georgetown as well as GW–is an unrelenting cave of darkness whose flair for the sloppy make-out is second to none.”

In the past, the website has documented the Hoya basketball team’s brawl in China as well as the Harbin 9 DMT lab.

The Tombs received a slightly less dazzling review.

“The bar hosts highly popular Trivia Nights, which for a school known for training future government leaders, is probably the furthest possible thing from politically correct.”

Though we have yet again been stereotyped as a lax bro-filled, preppy university with guys and gals freely swiping our parent’s credit cards, it can’t come as a huge surprise that Rhino has stolen a spot in the heart of BroBible.

This week, Homecoming and Traditions Day are featuring a series of probably fun events that will also have free food. Here’s the breakdown of the events, and which ones can provide you with your free food fix. 

Friday, September 28th – Traditions Day (hosted by The Office of Advancement and the Senior Class Committee)

9 a.m. Bagels and Coffee from The Corp (Red Square): Start your morning off the way it usually does with bagels and coffee from The Corp – except for free.

12 p.m. GUGS burgers (Copley Lawn): You know it’s Friday when the smell of GUGS burgers is in the air, you know it’s homecoming weekend when you eat them for free.

– Local food traditions (Red Square): Enjoy the best of Georgetown and M Street restaurants without the usual heavy price tag. We recommend taking a food break to dunk fellow Hoyas in the dunk tank. [Voice Sports Editor Kevin Joseph will be in the dunk tank for those of you who disagree with any of his latest Sports Sermons.]

1 p.m. Wingo’s Eating Contest (Copley Lawn): This wing joint is so well loved by Hoyas that it has become a tradition in itself. Prove that you’re a true Wingo’s fanatic by winning this eating contest.

Other Traditions Day events (sans free food, but still very awesome) include Powderpuff games, Georgetown trivia, and performances by your favorite a cappella groups and other student groups.

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Rosario Dawson charmed Gaston Hall last Friday afternoon in a talk hosted by the Lecture Fund. Dawson conversed with students about her life as a political activist as well as her experiences growing up in an abandoned building on the Lower East Side. A prominent Hollywood actress, recognized for her roles in “Men in Black”, “Seven Pounds”, “Sin City”, “Rent”, and several more, Dawson is known as one of the most politically active actresses in the Hollywood industry. During the lecture, she shared her beliefs with Georgetown students through a series of stories and favorite quotations.

“I really truly feel that the journey really is the destination. I am an artist and I am all about the journey,” Dawson said.

Dawson’s own journey has taken her through many stages, which she credits for her involvement in issues ranging from preventing domestic violence to encouraging Latinos to vote. For Rosario Dawson, her experiences were the stem of several inspirations.

“I was born to a teenage mother, she was 16 when she got pregnant with me. She raised me to have as many opportunities and things and values that I could possibly have.”

Dawson began her career in activism before she started her career in acting.

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Georgetown has been identified as the most expensive area to rent in our nation’s capital, according to the Washington Post‘s breakdown of rent in each neighborhood. D.C. already ranks in the top ten of the nation’s most expensive cities to rent an apartment, and Georgetown’s zip code has rent rates ($3,385.64) that far exceed that of the other areas including Capitol Hill ($2,157.22) and Adams Morgan ($2,312.60).

According to the article, the rent for apartment properties in Georgetown command a household income of over $75,000. Due to Georgetown’s proximity to some of DC’s best shops, bars, and restaurants, many affluent, young professionals prefer to live in the area. In other parts of the District, like Adams Morgan, Woodley Park, and Rosslyn, occupancy rates remain extremely high at roughly 96%, indicating that these areas are still in high demand.

The average monthly apartment rent of nearly $1,600 requires that households have at least $65,000 in annual income. And in the Washington region, as in most other major metropolitan areas, premier housing in the crème de la crème locations are able to command significantly more than the average apartment.

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For the second year running, Georgetown University ranks third among colleges and universities of its size in contributing graduating seniors to the non-profit organization Teach for America, just after Northwestern University and Harvard University. In the Class of 2012, 61 are now teaching in various high-need public schools across the United States, an increase from 56 from the Class of 2011.

TFA, whose mission is to ensure kids growing up in poverty receive an excellent education, recruits its teachers directly from top-ranked universities across the nation. Georgetown has shown high involvement in TFA throughout the years, with 416 Georgetown alumni having taught as corp members throughout the organization’s 22-year history. With an acceptance rate at roughly 11%, Teach for America looks for applicants with demonstrated leadership ability as well as a deep belief in the potential of all students.

President John J. DeGioia’s take reflects the Jesuit affiliation of the university. “Georgetown and Teach For America have similar goals. We share a mutual commitment to challenging injustices of educational inequality, a goal in keeping with our Jesuit tradition of women and men for others. Students taught here absorb that tradition and naturally lean toward serving in organizations such as Teach For America.”

Photo: by Georgetown University of Von’Travis Dejanaro Crawford (NHS, ’12) who plans to teach science in Dallas-Fortworth for Teach for America

Attention all Vox readers: tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. in Leavey 424, the Voice will be having its second open house of the semester. We’ll have pizza (Ledo’s… if you haven’t tried it yet, trust me, you want to), soft drinks, and all of our editors eager to talk about our various sections and give you a look into how to get involved.

Here we bring you ANC candidate Craig Cassey (COL ’15) running for Single Member District 04, which comprises Georgetown student housing. Yesterday we asked the same questions to Peter Prindiville (SFS ’14) which you can find right here.

Which aspects of the campus plan provisions do you like/dislike most?

The aspects of campus plan that I like most probably consists of the addition of the food trucks as well as the support for the New South Student Center, and then the removal of restrictions regarding parties. Those are clearly favored by most students and are essential for allowing the university to become the hub of student social life.

That being said, the movement of Magis Row is one of my least favorite aspects of the campus plan, especially because these people represent a lot of what Georgetown is; they’re a living learning community to the extreme and they embody the passion for education. Moving them is not fixing a problem. Having said that, we need to take what we can in stride and if that means giving up some ground in terms of Magis Row and using that decision to enable other things such as the New South Student Center, then I think that would be worth it.

If you could change something about the ANC as an institution, what would you change?

First off, as a potential student ANC commissioner, I would love to see more students on the board. We now have the potential of three students on the board, so over these next few years I would love for more students to get registered in that third district which is half student and half community members. So there is potential for a student to win that seat eventually.

Along with that, I think the placement of the meetings could be changed. Currently they are held off campus at the same location every time. We could take two, three months of the year and bring them on campus. I think that would show strong support from the community members and the university towards creating a more cohesive community as well as showing our desire to work together in a partnership.

I also think transparency in government is always an added benefit. Any way the ANC board could become more transparent or communicate more to the process would be beneficial for the student body.

If you could play beer pong with any ANC member, who would it be and why?

Instead of playing beer pong, I’d love to have a one-on-one basketball match on the Volta courts against Jeff Jones. I’d love to show him what a Hoya’s got… though I’m not quite as tall.

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