Yesterday evening, Nirupama Menon Rao, Ambassador of India to the United States, spoke to Georgetown students, faculty, and alumni in Gaston Hall. Her visit was in anticipation of a summit on Indian and American higher education, which will be hosted at Georgetown next month, and the creation of a chair of Indian Culture and Affairs within the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Dressed in a regal pink sari, Ambassador Rao emphasized the interconnectedness of all countries in today’s global environment. She cited acts of international terror as especially important in making more developed countries realize that third-world and developing nations are equally important and deserving of attention as larger powers. She also described India’s “rapid social and economic transformation” in a mere sixty years as a quiet example for developing countries. She then, to the crowd’s chagrin, discussed how India was not in a competition with China for the role of the ideal rags to riches nation.

In this vein, Rao was especially emphatic about education as a “vessel for social change.” She discussed India’s commitment to extending higher education and technical schools, as well as extending primary education to rural areas. The bigger challenge, she said, is keeping children, especially girls, in school through their teenage years.

As much as Ambassador Rao tried to preach about the democratic and peaceful tradition of India, economic advancement was never far behind. She repeatedly stated that one of the main reasons for wanting to ensure “a safe neighborhood” in Southeast Asia was so that India could meet its economic targets for the future—the growth of the country’s gross domestic product is obviously a priority. Furthermore, she said her nation was ready to take on a greater world leadership role, especially being included on the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member, a reform supported by President Obama.

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Donald Glover prefaced his 65-minute set last night at Gaston Hall with a disclaimer: “Who’s seen my show Community?” he asked the audience. “This will be nothing like that. I talk about my dick a lot more.”

This proved to be half true—he talked about his dick a decent amount. But if you know Glover best from his role as Troy on Community, a lot about his set was familiar. Glover’s character is known for his silly, nerdy antics with best friend Abed, and above all its his child-like quality that endears him to viewers (one of the funniest scenes of the series shows him paralyzed in awe upon meeting his idol, Levar Burton of Reading Rainbow). It’s no surprise, then, that large portion of Glover’s very funny material was about childhood, kids, and growing up. Yes, there were dick jokes, but if Community weren’t a network show, I bet Troy and Abed would talk about their dicks all the time.

In front of a nearly sold-out crowd, Glover started off with a few spot-on campus observations: “Georgetown has its ‘white guys looking like white guys’ game on LOCK.” He went on to tell a few stories about show biz, like the time he was rumored to be in the running to play Spiderman. And with this material, Glover proved that although he’s better known for his TV and YouTube work, as well as his hip-hop efforts as Childish Gambino, he is a very polished stand-up comic.

About 20 minutes into the set, his wireless mic stopped working. As Georgetown Program Board members tried to get it back on, he did about 10 minutes of material without the sound system. And although I can’t speak for those in the balcony, people pretty far back on the floor level heard him just fine. And even though he had to project more, the technical difficulty actually improved his delivery, as he got a chance to showcase his talent for physical comedy.

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On Monday night in Gaston Hall, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu discussed Turkey’s diplomatic objectives and their relevance for the United States.

Sponsored by the Lecture Fund, the International Relations Club, the McDonough School of Business, the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies, and the Institute for Turkish Studies, Davutoğlu’s address focused on the restoration he believes is necessary in the region surrounding Turkey and in the mentality of Turks themselves.

Davutoğlu praised President Barack Obama’s multilateralism and strategy of international engagement, and presented Turkey’s foreign policy of “zero problems” with its neighbors.

“I know very well it is impossible to have zero problems,” he admitted, but his plan of “proactive peace diplomacy” would nevertheless “try to prevent crisis before it emerges.”

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In his first major foreign policy address in the United States since the formation of Britain’s new coalition government, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague delivered a powerfully unapologetic speech in Gaston Hall on Wednesday.

Hague spoke about a wide array of security issues, from NATO efforts in Afghanistan to the United Kingdom’s developing partnership with the United States against threats in cyberspace. The Foreign Secretary also expounded upon his long-held beliefs that core liberal values underpin national security.

“[W]e cannot protect our security or influence unless we also champion our own values,” he said. “Unless we stand up for democracy, the rule of law, political freedom and human rights and unless others perceive that we do this, we weaken our security and prosperity over the long term.”

Hague also responded to American military concerns that British budget reductions would affect the nation’s global commitments.

“The decisions we have taken are necessary beyond question and will ensure that Britain will be able to defend all its territories and meet all its commitments,” Hague said. “This should be good news for our allies, and a timely reminder to potential adversaries that Britain still packs a punch on the world stage.”

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After 47 years, members of the Secret Service detail tasked with protecting President John F. Kennedy broke their silence in Gaston Hall last night.

At the Georgetown University Library and Lecture Fund co-sponsored event, former Secret Service agent Gerald Blaine shared his memories of the Kennedy security detail.

Blaine, along with journalist Lisa McCubbin, wrote The Kennedy Detail to provide the agents’ story of the Kennedy administration and of the assassination. The Discovery Channel plans to air a special—produced by Kenneth Atchity (COL ’65)—based on the book.

McCubbin moderated a panel discussion of Kennedy Secret Service agents that featured Blaine, Ron Pontius, Win Lawson, Tom Wells, and Clint Hill, who is known for jumping onto the back of Kennedy’s limousine after he was shot in Dallas.

Between clips from the upcoming special, the agents offered their insight about the Secret Service, the Kennedy family, and the assassination of the president. Blaine said that none of the agents ever talked to each other about the assassination during their time with the Secret Service.

“We had a responsibility to go to work. We had to work twice as hard because we had a new president and we had just lost a president,” he said.

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Yesterday, World Bank President Robert Zoellick spoke in Gaston Hall about how development economics must adapt to meet the challenges of the modern world.

Citing a desire to democratize the field, Zoellick, who has run the Bank since 2007, advocated a policy he calls “Open Data, Open Knowledge, Open Solutions,” which encourages transparency, receptivity, and, honesty between economists and the outside world.

In the wake of the global economic crisis, Zoellick said the Bank needs to be more humble; in his opinion, economists need to recognize that they simply don’t have all the answers.

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If you’ve been lamenting the lack of singing, dancing, Speedo-wearing, joke-telling Georgetown males in your weekend plans, you’re in luck.  Tonight at 8:00 p.m. in Gaston Hall, 19 of the bravest men on campus will take the stage in the annual Mr. Georgetown Pageant to strut their stuff and compete for the honor of being chosen as Mr. Georgetown 2010.

But, the competition is fierce.  This year’s pageant has nearly doubled in size, and its contestants hail from as far apart as the verdant lawns of Ultimate Frisbee to the warm breezes of the South Asian Society.  And to make things more complicated, the contestants boast varying levels of experience.

While Mr. EcoAction, Matt Buccelli (COL ’11), was unknowingly entered as a joke by friends, Mr. Groove Theory, Sedric Nesbitt (COL ’11), brings to the stage his years as a child model and his experience on the GPB catwalk.  Both are putting in their bid to defeat Club Filipino’s Juan Ricafort (SFS ’11), the pageant’s two-time reigning champion.

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Last night, Gaston Hall saw its second full house of the semester when Duff Goldman, founder of Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes and the star of Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, crafted Jack the Bulldog’s likeness out of vanilla cake and marshmallow fondant.

Promising the captivated audience that “cake decorating is really boring,” Goldman solicited questions from students as he began painting of Jack’s blue and gray cap. Goldman opened with the dangerous question, “What is a Hoya?” to which a large contingent of the audience replied with a glib “Yes!”

After etching a “G” onto the front of the cap, Goldman moved on to an oblong gray mass on the table that turned out to be the already-sculpted face of our favorite Hoya. As he added features such as eyes, ears, and a nose to the cake, Goldman mused on his own college days and answered questions about his cakes and his show.

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They were reading textbooks intently in the stairwell of Gaston Hall before the event, and proofreading their essays as they waited to be let out of the Hall afterwards, but despite being in the heat of finals season, Georgetown students had packed Gaston Hall by 11:15 a.m. to hear Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speak about the Obama Administration’s Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century at noon.

“[It's] one of those quasi-legitimate reasons for taking a break,” Clinton told the audience of students, faculty, administrators, and press.

Before she began her remarks, Clinton praised Georgetown for the thought and research its members contribute to the subjects of human rights, interreligious dialogue, and international relations.

“Thank you for training the next generation of civil rights advocates,” she said, adding that she was grateful that all students, even those who were not focused on these issues, “leave this university with [an appreciation for them] imbued in their hearts and minds.”

Above her, the IHS symbol for Jesus, which caused a stir among some Catholics when University officials covered it up when President Barack Obama spoke in April, was uncovered. (“The State Department agreed to use our standard backdrop for this address,” Director of Media Relations Andy Pino wrote in an e-mail).

Clinton was introduced by the International Relations Club’s Jasdeep Singh (SFS ’10) (or “Jas,” if you’re the Secretary) and University President John DeGioia, who called Clinton “a champion of human dignity and human worth both here and abroad … especially of women and children.”

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