In this week’s Feature, Isabel Echarte unpacks the results of the Voice’s political survey.

The schools vary widely in terms of their political beliefs, with the McDonough School of Business and the School of Nursing and Health Studies reporting more conservative responses than the College and the School of Foreign Service. Each school varies on which political party dominates its population. About half of the respondents from the College and NHS are Democrats, while more of the MSB respondents identify as Republicans than any other party. While Democrats are the majority in the SFS, the school has the highest percentage of independents, at about 35 percent.

In News, Jeffrey Lin reports that the Sexual Assault Working Group hasn’t met in over a year and takes a look at the different ways in which the issue of sexual assault is being addressed on campus.

On the Sports page, Chris Almeida analyzes Georgetown men’s basketball’s recent winning streak and the players who have been major parts of it.

In Leisure, John Sapunor reviews Side Effects, which “imagines the consequences that follow a psychological medication snafu.”

And in Voices, Claire McDaniel discusses her personal struggle with anorexia and asserts that it is necessary that people start talking about eating disorders and the parts of our culture that create them.

On the Editorial page, the Ed Board discusses the qualities they hope to see in the newest GUSA executives, which includes a willingness to listen to the many voices on campus and support for social justice and change.

This week’s Feature highlights the Voice staff’s picks for the best albums and movies of 2012. The list includes Moonrise Kingdom and Argo among the best movies and Kendrick Lamar’s  good kid, m.A.A.d. city and Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE in the best albums list.

On the Editorial page, the Ed Board argues that DPS should invest more energy into preventing laptop theft as well as investigating cases of stolen laptops.

In News, Lucia He reports on the D.C. community’s reaction to the announcement that 20 D.C. public schools will be shut down next year.

Mary Boroweic reviews the new romantic comedy Playing for Keeps in the Leisure section.

On the Sports page, Brendan Crowley analyzes the women’s basketball team’s past two wins on the road and looks ahead to their game against Penn State on Sunday.

Page 13 this week speculates about what would happen during the fated 2012 apocalypse at Georgetown.

And in Voices, John Sapunor discusses how he enjoys celebrating Christmas even as an atheist and that the holiday’s charm does not revolve around its religious origins.

Finally, don’t forget to check out the final installment of 50 Shades of Blue and Gray on the back page to discover Tony’s fate.

In this week’s Feature, Lindsay Leasor investigates how study drugs affect the brain, their prevalence amongst Georgetown students, and whether they are infringements of the Honor Code.

The prevalence of recreational use of cognitive enhancers is staggering. In 2010, 60 Minutes reported that 50 to 60 percent of college juniors and seniors have abused psychostimulants, either by stealing them, falsely reporting symptoms to obtain a prescription, buying them from another student, or trading them for other drugs. Students increasingly view these drugs as a means to academic success, raising the question of whether the illegal use of an enhancer without demonstrated medical need is academically dishonest.

On the Editorial page, the Editorial Board argues that the District should implement a needed worker-protection program for employees at the Wal-Marts that will be opening in D.C. soon.

In News, Connor Jones reports on the Math Department’s plans to propose a new PhD program.

On the Sports page, Chris Castano analyzes Georgetown’s men’s soccer team’s win against the Syracuse Orange in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.

In Leisure, Julia Lloyd-George reviews the film adaptation of Tolstoy’s masterpiece Anna Karenina.

And in Voices, Sadaf Qureshi reflects on her Thanksgiving break trip to Tennessee with eight other Muslim students and their Imam, and how the trip helped her realize the importance of trying to understand things foreign to her.

Georgetown announced Smokey Robinson as the performer for this year’s Let Freedom Ring Celebration at the Kennedy Center on January 20, 2012. Mary Brown, who has worked with African American youth in the district, will receive the John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award.

Robinson is best known for his songs “My Girl” and “Tracks of My Tears.” He will perform in conjunction with the Let Freedom Ring choir and conductor Rev. Nolan Williams Jr.

Vox is just disappointed we couldn’t get Clarence Carter to perform, but Smokey will do.

Brown is the executive director and cofounder of Life Pieces to Masterpieces, which provides disadvantaged boys and young men in the D.C. area access to opportunities for self-expression. The curriculum of the program promotes learning languages, artwork, meditation, and leadership.

According to Brown, they “want [participants] to develop so they can be a part of the human fabric.”

Her project has served more than 1500 youth in the D.C. area, mostly focusing on Wards 7 and 8, and has seen a 100 percent graduation rate from its participants. This is quite an accomplishment considering the graduation rate for black males in DC is only 40 percent.

“Mary Brown is a visionary who saw a need for an organization to empower young people in our nation’s capital,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “We are delighted to honor her in the spirit of Dr. King for her mission to transform lives and communities right here in Washington, D.C.”

Georgetown has held this concert in honor Martin Luther King’s legacy for the past 10 years. Past performers have included Bobby McFerrin and India.Arie and previous award winners include Dikembe Mutombo and Dr. Clarence Jones. Tickets are free and will be distributed beginning at 4 p.m. on January 20, 2013 on a first-come, first-served basis in line in the Hall of Nations at the Kennedy Center. A limited number of tickets will be available to Georgetown students and staff; distribution will be announced in January.

Photo by Flickr user jcrawford3505 under Creative Commons license

The newly constructed ice-skating rink on the Washington Harbor opened on Monday after construction on the project began in early October. It will be open through March, seven days a week, and will be open on Thanksgiving Day.

The grand opening for the rink will take place on December 1st during a “Winter on Water” celebration. The event will be from 4 to 7 p.m. and will occur in conjunction with the House of Sweden’s annual Christmas Bazaar. The celebration will consist of ice-skating performances, choral processions, special food provided by restaurants along the waterfront—including the new Farmers Fishers Bakers—and a St. Lucia procession.

Skate rentals are $5 and entrance fees are $9 for adults and $7 for children, seniors and the military. The rink plans to have future special events such as a Cartoon Skate, Rock-n-Skate, Skate with Santa in December, and College Night every Thursday.

Photo by: Gavin Meng

Comcast is finally in discussions with the Georgetown neighborhood and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) after residents became angry with the placement of “small refrigerator-sized green utility boxes” around the Georgetown neighborhood. Many residents were upset by this as they had not agreed to the placement of the boxes and felt that it was ruining the aesthetic of the Georgetown neighborhood.

“This business is coming into our community and is just making an aesthetic wreck of what we try to conserve in our historic district,” said Commissioner Tom Birch in an ANC meeting on November 1st. Usually, any architectural changes in the area must be approved by commissioners in order to preserve the historic feel of the neighborhood.

Other residents complained that Comcast had left “a pile of bricks and plywood” after placing the box and one resident claimed that the boxes were so unsightly, they “wouldn’t even be approved of in a tacky, suburban area.”

In the recent discussions, Comcast stated that it had obtained the appropriate permits for construction in the area. However, according to the news site TheWrap.com, Comcast is  now working with “interested parties” to find “mutually beneficial solutions as we continue to provide Georgetown customers with our innovative products and services”. Spokeswoman for Comcast Aimee Metrick said in a statement that Comcast was unaware that it had to meet any additional requirements.

Georgetown residents like Birch hope that the boxes can be removed from the street and placed in locations in which they won’t be disrupting the historical feel of the neighborhood, such as to rooftops or other alternative locations. Birch mentioned that in addition to being an eyesore, the boxes could have a negative effect on the real estate values of properties around the neighborhood.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this week’s Feature, Connor Jones delves into Georgetown’s theater program, which, despite being a relatively young and small program, has had much success.

With only seven full-time faculty and seven additional adjunct and visiting faculty members, Georgetown’s Theater Department and co-curricular student groups, combined, are planning to put on a total of 10 performances for the 2012-2013 academic year. While the Theater Department only graduates an average of 15 majors per year, hundreds of students more participate in these productions.

The Editorial Board argues that voting for a third party can help major party status and encourage broader dialogue during the next election cycle.

In News, Miles Gavin Meng reports on the Department of Public Safety’s new laptop prevention program launched after a series of thefts.

On the Sports page, Keith Levinsky recaps how the Hoyas rode Greg Whittington’s best Otto Porter Jr. impression to their second victory of the year.

In Leisure, Mary Boroweic reviews the Davis Performing Arts Center’s current production, A Civil War Christmas.

Finally, in Voices, Claire McDaniel implores students to recognize the threat of killer diseases that our world faces today.

Page 13 (pictured after the jump) combines Rangila with Turquoise Jeep to create the masterpiece of “Smangila.”

And don’t forget to check out the latest installment of 50 Shades of Blue and Gray on the back page.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday, The Washington Post ran an article revealing that George Washington University has been inflating the class rank data of its incoming students, due to a flaw in its reporting system dating back more than a decade. The university claimed that 78 percent of its incoming students had been in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, when in fact it was 20 percentage points lower at 58 percent.

According to GW, the error arose since many high schools refuse to report which of their graduates were in the top 10 percent. As a result, admissions officers would instead estimate whether a student was likely to be toward the top of their class.

Class rank is  a key factor in determining college rankings such as those for U.S. News & World Report. Selectivity makes up 15 percent of the ranking and of that portion, 40 percent depends on class rank data. This year, GW ranked 50th in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Even though the discrepancy was large, U.S. News concluded that their ranking of GW was not affected by the change. Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Forrest Maltzman told the Post that the error was not intentional and that responsible people had been “held accountable.”

GW President Steven Knapp agreed in a statement to the university community. “I deeply regret this error and want to assure you that corrective action has been taken and safeguards put into place to prevent such errors from occurring in the future.”

In this week’s Feature, Kevin Joseph previews the Hoya’s 2012-2013 men’s basketball team, and Brandon Crowley previews the women’s team.

If they are to turn heads and play at an elite level, it will show early. The grind of the Big East schedule will be revealing, but these young Hoyas will have a chance to prove themselves to the nation from day one.

“Coach didn’t design the schedule for nothing,” Markel Starks said. “The schedule is designed to show that we can play some ball. As much as people don’t want to give us credit, I think we can play.”

On the Editorial page, the editorial board discusses Occupy Sandy, a combination of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the climate activism group 350.org that is working to distribute aid and resources to hard-hit areas of the city, arguing that it is a good model for disaster aid.

In News, Tom Ferry looks into how Georgetown PhD student-instructor benefits fall short of those offered at other institutions.

On the Sports page, Chris Castano gives a rundown of the other teams in the Big East.

Julia Lloyd-George reviews the newest Bond movie, Skyfall, on the Leisure page.

And in Voices, Sara Ainsworth tells of her difficulties in getting her absentee ballot for the election and argues that voting absentee should be made easier, perhaps through online voting.

Last week in his blog, Provost Robert Groves tackled the issue of diversity, pledging to work on bringing more diversity and unity to Georgetown’s campus. He mentioned the release of the Student Commission for Unity report in 2009 which launched President John J. DeGioia’s Initiative on Diversity and Inclusiveness.

Noting progress in areas such as hiring more diverse faculty, larger and more diverse applicant pools, and the creation of a Diversity Fellows program, Groves applauded Georgetown’s previous efforts in the area.

However, he stated that more could still be done and said at the end of his post: “a great university’s work is never done in this domain. We must work together and continually renew and recommit ourselves to these efforts.”

The Provost’s blog is just one way in which Groves hopes to have student input during his time at the university. Last week students received an email from the Provost’s office inviting them to apply to the Provost’s Student Advisory Committee, where students will meet with the Provost once every month or so to discuss issues facing the university.

Many students in their comments on the blog have commended this choice, and from the responses on the blog, it appears that the Provost will have many students interested in discussing issues such as diversity with him.

While commenters on the post were in favor of bringing more diversity to campus, they pointed out that the progress that the Provost mentioned was not actually very successful.

As student Antony López commented, “The recommendations from the SCU reports are far from being accomplished, much less initiated.”

Read the rest of this entry »