As The Hoya reports, SAC passed an amendment to its constitution last night that officially gave its chairs a power that current SAC chair Sophia Behnia (COL `09) says they have had for years: the ability to independently a successor independent of outside (GUSA) review.

But what The Hoya doesn’t tell you is that the scene at SAC last night was utter chaos.

According to Voice reporter Alisha Crovetto, SAC carried out business-as-usual, hearing out clubs’ requests for funding and discussing the requests individually, until they brought the meeting to a vote. Members of SAC then asked everyone to leave the room (SAC members vote in privacy so their peers cannot individually call them out for their votes).

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Ruddad Abdulgader, who attacked a Georgetown medical student back in October, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to “felony assault with bias intent” and “possession of a prohibited weapon,” according to an email press release from the United States Attorney’s Office. The 19-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia will remain incarcerated until his sentencing date, slated for February 6, 2009.

The Washington Blade reports that Abdulgader faces a maximum sentence of five and a half years in prison for the two criminal charges. Adding “bias intent” to a felony assault increases the maximum punishment for assault, three years, by one and a half times, to four and a half year and the weapon carge carries a one year maximum, the press release said.

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Four more years!

228,062 people, or 53.44 percent of registered D.C. voters, flooded the polls yesterday for the Nov. 4th general elections, and the D.C. Board of Election & Ethics handled them with less difficulty than we expected. This morning, DCBOEE posted unofficial election results, complete with an At-Large surprise:

92.46 percent of D.C. voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama (D)–who won the whole thing last night, by the way.

Voters ushered Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) back to her seat as Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives with a handy 92.32 percent of votes. She’ll be joined on the Hill by Shadow Representative Mike Panetta (D) and Shadow Senator Paul Strauss (D)-because like Alaskan voters, D.C. voters think a little legal trouble ain’t no thing.

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Whoa there, Post: yesterday’s article announcing the launch of DC Police Alert got it all wrong. Not only does the article seem to confuse DC Police Alert with Alert DC, the real “citywide text messaging system [that alerts] residents about crimes soon after they occur,” that service isn’t new. It’s been around since 2002.

Sadly, the Washington Examiner followed suit and reported that “District of Columbia residents can now receive crime alerts from police via text message or e-mail.” Yes, they can. In fact, George Washington University has been urging its students to sign up for Alert DC for quite some time now.

What’s more, the alerts aren’t just limited to crimes. According to Jo’Ellen Countee of the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, HSEMA and the Metropolitan Police Department use it to keep citizens apprised of weather and traffic conditions.

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Today, MPD reported that an unknown suspect assaulted someone on the Georgetown Waterfront with a knife the night of Monday and Tuesday. Different sources place the incident, which took place at 3400 Water Street, on different dates. CapStat places it on the 28th while MPD’s CrimeReports places it on the 27th.

Trick-or-treaters beware!

If you’re registered to vote in DC, there are already way too many things you won’t be seeing on your ballot this November. That’s why Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E commissioner and local architect Bill Skelsey deserves a kick in the pants for failing to file the paperwork necessary to get his name on the ballot on time. In a message to members of the ANC’s Yahoo group “Georgetown Forum,” Skelsey wrote:

 ”Due to my work schedule, I unfortunately missed the filing dealine to officially put my name on the ballot. When you are at the polls on Nov. 2, if you live in District 03 there will be no ANC candidate listed on your voting card or electronic screen. Please know that I am running as a Write-In candidate.” (ANC 2E’s District 03 runs lies between Wisconsin and the University, and N Street and Volta place.)

Skelsey, who in his last term dabbled in off-campus keg bans, gets points for announcing his write-in candidacy with less obnoxious aplomb than Carol Schwartz, but not much else. Five other commissioners with full-time jobs (Skelsey is an architect), and one Georgetown student, all managed to file their paperwork on time–one wonders why being an architect makes that so hard.

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For some reason, norovirus outbreaks both here and at USC have scared Boston University’s BU Today into publishing its own norovirus prevention FAQ. But not only is it not as good as Vox Populi’s norovirus FAQ, the premise of the article is pretty ridiculous. Unlike pollen or nuclear fallout, norovirus isn’t carried on the wind, and so BU students can rest assured that our scary norovirus isn’t going to reach them anytime soon.

My guess? Today only ran this so they could print a picture of an earnest man in a bowtie.

Happier times

Former D.C. City Councilmember Harold Brazil (D-At Large) was arrested for simple assault Thursday night after allegedly fighting with employees at M  Jinx Proof Tattoo Parlor on M Street, according to the Washington Post (emphasis added):

“‘We are just a tattoo shop,’ said owner Tim Corun, who would not comment on last night’s incident when Brazil allegedly got into a fight with shop employees. Things got nasty allegedly after Brazil was told he could not follow one of the two women he was with into the area where she was going to get a tattoo.“

Perhaps Brazil was just mad because the evening was supposed to end in matching tattoos.

So it looks like the University won’t be helping students who were infected with the norovirus pay their medical bills. On Monday, VP of Student Affairs Todd Olson also told reporters that the university was unlikely even to reimburse students for their meal plan, which is so not cool.

But as the D.C. Department of Health has said that the source of the norovirus outbreak is yet unknown, this kind of talk out of the University is completely inappropriate. In effect, Georgetown is declaring itself free of blame before the real experts determine if that’s the case.

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The chance that college students will get student Metro passes are better than ever. In response to the news, GW’s student body Executive Vice President Kyle Boyer emailed the Georgetown University Lobbying Association’s Andrew D’Souza (SFS `11), urging a Georgetown student movement in favor of the pass:

“Think about it: If any university subsidized 65 dollars per semester for each unlimited pass, students could be left paying ONLY $55 for a semester’s worth of rides on Metro rail, saving many students over $100 per semester. 

What we need now is YOU. Write your Deans, VPs and both Student Body and University Presidents. Let them know that you are a Metro rider and that you spend too much on your internships, jobs, concerts, and other functions.”

Well-intentioned, but if Metro and the consortium of Washington-area universities do hammer out a plan, it’s hard to believe that Georgetown will cough up $65 for students who want to get their hands on a pass. Instead, the University would bury another double-digit figure in our Student Activities Fee (as with Yates, but add a digit.)

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