Update, 1:20 p.m., February 4: According to the Department of Public Safety daily crime log for Wednesday, DPS officers “responded to a verbal altercation which escalated into physical contact between an affiliate and his spouse” at New South at approximately 11:17 p.m. The report classifies the incident as “domestic violence.”

Original post, 1:54 a.m., February 3: After an incident on Wednesday night that involved Emmanuel Kornyo and his wife and provoked a 911 call, Kornyo is no longer the Chaplain-in-Residence on the third floor of New South Hall and his biography has been removed from the University’s website. According to a resident of the floor, Kornyo left the building at approximately 6 p.m. Thursday night and his name has been removed from the door of his former apartment.

Shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday, residents of the third floor received an email (excerpted here) from hall director James Lorello, informing them that they would not have a Chaplain-in-Residence for the time being:

As you may know an incident did occur last night on your floor related to our chaplain in residence.

I wanted to reach out to inform everyone that the situation has been taken care of and that everything is fine. For the time being there will be no Chaplain on the third floor. I apologize that I can not give more details about this incident but you can trust that everything has been dealt with.

Lorello’s email concluded by providing the contact information of Assistant Director of Residence Life Katie Heather and Director of the GU Women’s Center Laura Kovach.

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The kickoff symposium luncheon for the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge took place today at 12:00 p.m. in Copley Formal Lounge, officially announcing and recognizing Georgetown as one of 278 universities nationwide that has heeded to Barack Obama’s call for American institutions of higher learning to devote their resources to promoting harmony and justice in their own communities and beyond.

The Challenge, as explained in its brochure, calls for universities to “commit to a year of interfaith and community service programming on campus.” And although its title specifically refers to tolerance and community between those with differing religious beliefs, the Georgetown community plans to focus its resources on, according to a brochure from the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, “combating domestic poverty and improving educational opportunity.”

“This issue [of education] is especially salient to us at Georgetown,” Aamir Hussain (COL ’14), a member of the Georgetown Challenge Student Task Force, said during his speech at the luncheon. “While the institutions of higher education are among the best in the nation, the public school system is one of the worst.”

The idea of education as a core component of community service as well as being closely related to interfaith understanding was one that was shared and discussed by most of the 7 guest speakers at the luncheon. Among them were two representatives from the Department of Education, Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Reverend Brenda Girton-Mitchell and Methodist Minister and Senior Advisor of FBNP Ken Bedell.

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A $17 million donation made by Arthur Calcagnini (COL ’54) and Nancy Calcagnini will fund the construction of the University’s long-planned retreat and contemplative center in Bluemont, Virginia.

The Calagninis previously donated $1.5 million towards the ESCAPE program, a nondenominational retreat offered to first-year and transfer students. When completed, the Calagnini Contemplative Center will host ESCAPE, as well as other faith-based retreats organized by the Office of Campus Ministry.

“Arthur and Nancy epitomize the core Catholic and Jesuit values at the heart of this university,” University President John DeGioia said in a statement. “Their gift to establish a contemplative center will animate the lives and deepen the faiths of generations of students to come.”

The center, which will include a dining hall, chapel, caretaker’s residence, and 28 cabins for 78 students, will be completed in 2011. The University purchased the 55-acre site in 2006 with plans to open the center in 2008, but the Clarke County Board of Supervisors did not approve construction plans until last May.

h/t University News

Photo: Flickr user “brokersaunders”

Muncheez Munchies

It’s six weeks into the semester, meaning that it would be miraculous if you aren’t tired of Leo’s yet. (Even Chicken Finger Thursdays.) Do you find yourself looking for something new to satisfy your pangs of hunger?

Luckily, there’s a new restaurant in town. This Thursday from noon to 2 p.m., Muncheez Mania will celebrate its opening day with free crepes and sandwiches! Complete with curbside crepe window, Muncheez is located at 1071 Wisconsin Avenue.

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Georgetown announced in 2006 that it was going to use a 56-acre property it had bought the year before in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Virginia to build a “Contemplative Center.” Two years later, the University hasn’t even filed for a construction permit.

The center was supposed to house programs Campus Ministry programs like ESCAPE. Its $5.3 million price tag was to be covered by a $10 million donation by Arthur Calcagnini Jr. (COL ’54).

The center would have areas for religious services, art projects, meditations, and “perhaps even a ropes course”. Most interesting for current students, “the center could be ready for guests by the end of 2008.”

Now, months away from the proposed end of 2008 deadline, it looks like very little progress has been made. Georgetown has yet to submit the necessary application, site plans, or special use permit that must be approved before construction can begin. Plus, conservation-minded locals are already up in arms about the preservation of a 19th century farmhouse located on the property.

University Spokesperson Julie Green-Bataille writes in an email:

“…[O]nce the approvals are granted, we anticipate a 12 month construction time period so opening would be after that –the time frames in the [Blue & Gray] article are obviously outdated as we still haven’t secured the approvals but the plans have been presented to the local community on several occasions and we’re moving forward through the process.”

My guess is Georgetown students will be waiting a while longer for that ropes course. We’ll be sure to update you as the project  gets further mired in Georgetown’s and Clarke’s unique morasses.

Georgetown has decided to take further steps to embrace its Catholic identity by ousting private Protestant groups outside of the office of Campus Ministry. It seems that there were “communication and coordination problems” between Georgetown’s official bastion of Protestantism in Campus Ministry and private groups like Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, spokesman Erik Smulson told The Washington Post.

According to an article by United Press International, the issue at hand is that University does not want these groups proselytizing. Controls were previously in place such as requiring the private groups to attend official Campus Ministry events as well as sign a pledge not to “proselytize nor undermine another faith community”. Is the other ‘faith community’ the University-sanctioned version of Protestantism represented by Campus Ministry?

The Post quotes Smulson as saying that there is a “desire within the Protestant chaplaincy to build the ministry from within . . . rather than rely on outside groups or fellowships.” I’m all for decorative banners and Jesuit sayings plastered all over campus, but I’m not sure I want the University to have a monopoly on non-Catholic opinion on campus.

Posted by Michael J. Bruns, Assistant News Editor