Archive for the “Vox Populi” Category
May
14
2013
May
14
2013
Congradulations: Lukewarm job market, optimismPosted by: Ryan Greene in News, Vox Populi, tags: College Students, commencement 2013, Jack DeGioia
The current job market for college grads is unsurprisingly terrible. The April employment data show that, while unemployment for 18-29 year-olds is officially 11.1 percent, adjusting for young workers who have given up on looking for jobs raises this number to 16.1 percent. “It is a rough time to be a young person in America,” President of Generation Opportunity Evan Feinberg said. “The effective youth unemployment rate is 16.1 percent, and with about 2 million college students graduating this month, there is no sign of an economic recovery for my generation. Half of all graduating seniors aren’t going to find meaningful work in the coming months.” The bleak prospects for grads prompted the CFPB to launch a “Request for Information Regarding an Initiative to Promote Student Loan Affordability.” The results of their outreach, released last week, conclude that the biggest stumbling block for students is debt from private loans, which do not provide nearly the same benefits of federally-granted student loans.
May
10
2013
Morning Digest: Commencement speakers, DCPS, and free visits to EuropePosted by: Julia Tanaka in News, Vox Populi, tags: commencement 2013, DCPS
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May
09
2013
2013 graduation speakers include sitting U.S. senator, Lithuanian head of statePosted by: Connor Jones in News, Vox Populi, tags: commencement 2013, Commencement Speakers, Graduation, graduation speakers
The School of Foreign Service’s commencement speaker will be President Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania. She was inaugurated as the first female president of the The School of Nursing and Health Studies gets Dr. Lisa Simpson (not to be confused with the Simpson’s television character), the president and CEO of AcademyHealth, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research institution dedicated to advancing the field of health services research. According to her bio page, “Dr. Simpson has worked to raise the visibility of the field of health services research and its contributions to improving the quality, value and accessibility of care, reducing disparities, and improving health.” (All Vox got from that was that she likes health.) The commencement speaker for the McDonough School of Business will be Senator William Cowan, Democrat from Massachusetts. He was appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to fill the seat that John Kerry vacated when he became secretary of state. A prominent lawyer in Massachusetts, he served as Patrick’s chief legal counsel for two years from January 2011 to November 2012. Finally, Georgetown College’s speaker will be Lisa Shannon, the founder of Run for Congo Women and the Thousand Sisters Campaign. According to her bio page, she was the “first national grassroots activist in the United States working to raise awareness of the forgotten humanitarian crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Run for Congo Women has sponsored over 1,400 war-affected women from the Congo and raised over $12 million. Needless to say, this year’s crop of graduation speakers is bound to be less controversial than last year’s affair. See the rest of the commencement speakers after the jump.
May
09
2013
Morning Digest: Jeopardy, crooked cops, and transportPosted by: Julia Tanaka in News, Vox Populi, tags: Basketball, Circulator, Morning Digest, OCAF, Police
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May
08
2013
OCAF, Student Housing to move to Division of Student AffairsPosted by: Julia Tanaka in News, Vox Populi, tags: Campus Housing, OCAF
As of July 1, 2013, OCAF and Student Housing will become part of the Division of Student Affairs. Housing and the Office of Residence Life will consolidate into one office, headed by Stephanie Lynch, Director of Residence Life since 2003. OCAF will move to Student Affairs as part of Student Engagement, and will be led by Assistant Dean Erika Cohen-Derr. The entire Office of University Facilities and Student Housing will change to become Planning and Facilities Management. Jonalyn Ware Greene, who currently heads the Office, will transition to lead Financial Management and Business Operations for the new office. The role of Planning and Facilities Management is to ”focus on master planning, facility infrastructure improvements and work order management implementation to facilitate service improvements,” according to the memo. These changes will not affect summer or fall housing, late stay, or activity space scheduling. The memo, titled “Strategic Changes to Support a Vibrant Living and Learning Community,” explained that these changes came after consultation with students and faculty and took comments and questions from the Hoya Roundtables over the past two years into consideration. “We are making significant investments to bring more students on campus, and to engage students, faculty, and staff in the life of our campus, inside the classroom, in residence halls, and in the many co-curricular opportunities offered,” the memo said. ”This change comes at an exciting time and provides us the capacity to ensure students experience a premiere residential environment that supports an engaged campus community.” Photo: Tiffany Lachhonna/Georgetown Voice
May
07
2013
Breaking: Car crash near Wisey’sPosted by: Julia Tanaka in News, Vox Populi, tags: Breaking news, Car crash, Wisey'sUpdate, Tuesday, 6:00 pm: “It appears that the vehicle was left in neutral and simply rolled out of its space,” DPS Chief Jay Gruber said. “The vehicle was unoccupied when the accident occurred. There was nobody driving it. There was no foul play. It wasn’t intentional. At this point in time, we don’t anticipate anybody getting any tickets or anything like that.” The crash ended up damaging University property in the accident. “It’ll be referred to our office of risk management, which does all our insurance claims to work it out with the car insurance company,” Gruber said. Gruber did not have information at hand to say whose car it was.
Original post: At approximately 11 p.m. tonight, a car crash was reported in the parking lot behind Wisey’s. It appeared that there were no injuries, and Wisey’s continued to operate as usual until closing time. A tow truck was called to the scene, but the car remains firmly lodged in the fence.
Both DPS and MPD were present at the scene, but DPS and Wisey’s staff declined to comment. Vox will keep you posted with updates as the story develops. Reporting by Ryan Greene Photo: Joshua Raftis/Georgetown Voice
May
07
2013
Twuesday Tweetacular: Rock bottom editionPosted by: Julia Lloyd-George in Leisure, Vox Populi, tags: Things that will distract us as 3 a.m. during finals, Twuesday Tweetacular
May
07
2013
Georgetown adjunct professors vote to unionizePosted by: Julia Tanaka in News, Vox Populi, tags: Robert Groves, SEIU, Unions
The election was conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. 311 of the 650 eligible voting members participated in the election, and 72 percent voted in favor of forming a collective bargaining unit. Georgetown joins American University and George Washington as part of a larger SEIU initiative to unionize the part-time professors in the District. This vote comes after an extended campaign, launched in Oct. 2012. Provost Robert Groves wrote to the faculty about the unionization process, citing the Just Employment Policy as an important aspect of Georgetown’s partnership with its workers. As per the policy, “all working members [at Georgetown] have the right to freely associate and organize, and that the University will respect the rights of employees to vote for or against union representation without intimidation, unjust pressure, undue delay or hindrance in accordance with applicable law.” After the election, there is a seven-day period for objections to be filed, and the results cannot be certified until any objections are resolved. Once the results are certified, SEIU Local 500 will represent part-time, non-tenure line faculty on the Main Campus. Neither faculty of the the Law Center campus nor the Medical Center, which includes the NHS in this case, will take part of the union at this time. David Rodich, Executive Director of SEIU Local 500, spoke favorably of Georgetown’s administrators. “This was a respectful process between the union and Georgetown University,” he said. “The administration made a point of putting their social teaching into practice … I hope that other institutions will look at how Georgetown put its just employment policy into practice and that they will view this as a model for how universities should handle organizing campaigns.”
May
07
2013
The Morning Digest: Michelle Obama book signing and the armed march on WashingtonPosted by: Ryan Greene in News, Vox Populi, tags: Michelle Obama, Morning Digest
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