Joseph Graumann (SFS ‘11), left, and Carlos Leon (COL ‘10)

In this week’s issue, the Voice spoke with co-Presidents of GU Pride Joseph Graumann (SFS ‘11) and Carlos Leon (COL ‘10) about their organization, the recent hate crimes on campus and the challenges facing the LGBTQ community.  This is the extended transcript of our interview with them.

The Voice: How did you get involved in GU Pride?

Joseph: Well, I came out on campus during the Out for Change campaign. It was a lot of the issues at the time and the struggle that went on for recognition of the LGBTQ community really made me look inside myself, and, I mean as corny as it sounds, my so-called “brothers and sisters” are off fighting the good fight and I am not even secure enough to tell my friends.

Ever since then, I realized that there is work to be done. And my good friend Ellen, who was already involved with the Out for Change campaign, Ellen Greer, she really encouraged me to be involved in the community and I started out as historian, when there was an opening in the beginning of my sophomore year [2008] and then sophomore year, December, they had elections for co-chair and I ran and got elected.

The Voice: What is one thing you wish to change about GU Pride?

Joseph: I would like to see GU Pride become a more welcoming and open place for people who are in the process of coming out or who feel like they are unable to find a safe place with other aspects of the community that administers to LGBTQ people.

The Voice: The best thing about GU Pride?

Joseph: What I like about GU Pride is that although not everybody who is affiliated with the organization shows up to everything, we have a pretty good sense of comradery and we’ve developed a very good sense of community on campus, which is really important, given the nature of our identities, it’s really hard to do that, it’s hard to forge a cohesive and diverse, both racially [and] socio-economically, group on campus.

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Broken Lizard—the sketch-comedy troupe behind films such as Super Troopers, Club Dread, and Beerfest—came to DC last Thursday as part of a nationwide comedy tour. Vox spoke with Steve Lemme about the group’s upcoming film, The Slammin’ Salmon, as well as Mike Tyson’s weaknesses, the group’s early days, and the food service industry.

How did Broken Lizard meet?

We met at college. Four of us were fraternity brothers—Jay [Chandrasekhar] and Kevin [Heffernan] were older than us and Eric [Stolhanske] and I were the younger guys. At that time, Paul [Soter] wasn’t anywhere near my radar screen. Jay was given the opportunity to direct something student-run, and he and Kevin decided to do a sketch-comedy show.

I auditioned for it … and ended up becoming the guy who would play the scumbag, the dirtball, or the dick in sketches … The first night 25 people showed up, but eventually we were turning people away from the door. We realized we had a good thing going, brought it to NYC, got into movies, and now we’re back on the road doing a live sketch-comedy tour.

What’s The Slammin’ Salmon about?

We play waiters in a restaurant that is owned by a Mike Tyson type of figure. He’s a retired Heavyweight Champion of the World. He’s a teddy-bear, but he’s also prone to throwing temper tantrums. He can break you neck with one hand if he wants to. Often he slides off into these tantrums.

One night, he ends up owing the Japanese Yakuza, so he has a contest with the waiters to see who can make the most money in one night. The winner he is going to give a cash prize to, but he is simply going to beat the shit out of the loser. That’s the movie. It’s our Glengarry Glen Ross, really.

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This week, the Voice sat down to talk with Chester Gillis, who was named Dean of the College at the end of last year.  We included a portion of the interview in today’s paper, but here’s the full transcript!

The Voice: How you are adjusting to this new job as Dean of the College? Do you find it particularly challenging or interesting?

Chester Gillis: Well in terms of adjusting, fortunately I had a year as interim dean to get the lay of the land. It was just a very good introduction to the position; it was very helpful. So in some ways this year, I’m doing some things for the second time, like last year, but also now I can implement a vision for the next five years. Are there challenges? There are a range of challenges. There are always a range challenges with this job. One is simply attending to multiple constituencies: the students, of course, the faculty, the alumni, the donors and the multiple stakeholders in the University from outside so it’s a very large constituency, very large, so any waverings tend to come from that, just like today. It’s just the reality.

That said, I have a superb staff here in the office, who are very knowledgeable, very experienced, and very helpful to make everything work so the leadership does the execution is happy on may levels and that makes everything possible. It’s as simple as that.

The Voice: I’ve spoken to a few students who are very excited about the proposed creation of a business minor in the college. I was wondering if you had any plans in the future for more of these cross-disciplinary majors?

Gillis: Specific ones, there are none at present. We’ll have to see how this one goes we’re working hard on it to make it happen.

The Voice: Do you have any idea of what the time frame would be?

Gillis: I don’t want to be held to saying next year. I would love to see it next year. I’d love to take my time do it right and do it quickly, but it requires a lot of coordination with the business school and the college and the provost’s office, so it’s not something you can simply fashion overnight.

We can’t even say, “Oh, we’ll just duplicate the program we already have.”  But I think once it’s done it will have a long shelf time, and if it’s successful, then it can be a model for other kinds of programs between schools.  But this is a good start and it’s an important start. We haven’t done it before, so it sets benchmark, and that’s another reason we want to do it well and do it carefully so it is successful. If it doesn’t benefit our students, if it’s not well-designed, it’s not good. If it is well-designed and it benefits students, then I’m in favor, and it could serve as a model.

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In this week’s issue of the Voice, I had the chance to talk to quite a few former Georgetown comedians. Unfortunately, we didn’t have space for all of their quotes in the article, so here are a few of the extras:

Alison Becker (COL ‘99) on the advantages of being a comedian at Georgetown:

“Because the comedy vibe at Georgetown was so under the radar of the administration, we did whatever we wanted. It was student-run, and that’s how comedy should be: without rules. And Georgetown gave me something that few other schools could have: the chance to create with genuinely intelligent people. You can’t be an idiot and be a good comedian. You have to play to the height of your intelligence. And I am thankful that my fellow improv players challenged me intellectually and comedically. “

Mike Birbiglia (COL ‘00) on benefiting from Georgetown’s erudite culture and bureaucratic red-tape:

“The upside of Georgetown is that I was surrounded by people from all different fields. government, language, science. so in some ways, I feel like I benefited by osmosis, and it gave me a slightly more balanced view of the world.”

“When I was at Georgetown, I resented the administration and bureaucracy of the performing arts, but when I have distance from it I can see that they really have more of a long view and that yes, it was a struggle to get something up and running on campus but that actually there ought to be a struggle of some kind, because the struggle students will face when they leave Georgetown is far more arduous.”

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In this week’s issue of the paper, Chris Heller talked to Claude Jackal (also known as Chris Lowell of Private Practice and Veronica Mars fame) about his plans for Homecoming Weekend 2009.

After throwing an impromptu block party outside Tombs during last year’s Homecoming weekend, Jackal and friends have high hopes for this year (and have even set up a blog devoted to the cause). Unfortunately, we didn’t have space for all of the Jackal’s bon mots in the article, so here are some of his other entertaining declarations:

On Homecoming Weekend 2009:

“Tell everyone you know: friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends of friends. Call people in different cities and get them to come. Invite people who you know will have a good time, because I guarantee you it’s going to be something special. And if they seem indifferent, just start lying! Just make up shit. Tell them Shia LaBeouf is gonna be there or something. Who cares? All’s fair in Love and Jackal.”

“Remember that rant Christian Bale had when he was shooting the Terminator movie? It’s time to get that intense. If we play our cards right, this is gonna be like losing your virginity all over again. Except it won’t suck.”

“There’s no exclusivity—we’re like the fucking Musketeers. So just show up, if you want to dress fancy, that’s how we’ll be dressed. I can tell you this: we’ll all be dressed like Frank Sinatra’s wet dream.”

Jackal’s reflections on last year’s festivities, dancing, self-definition and more, after the jump!

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For Georgetown, late September means one thing: GUSA Senate elections!  Vox stopped by the candidate interest meetings that were held earlier this week to talk to some of the would-be Senators.

Interviews by Tommy Buller, videography and editing by Joe Mancino.

In today’s issue of the Voice, you’ll find excerpts from our Tuesday interview with University President John DeGioia. Due to space constraints, we couldn’t fit the entirety of our 40-minute conversation in the paper, but we’re happy to offer you the full transcript here on the blog!

Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson and Associate Vice President of Communication Julie Green Bataille were also at the meeting, so don’t be alarmed if you see them chiming in. For those who wish to skim, we’ve put some of the more interesting quotes in bold.

Voice: My first question is about the 2010 Campus Plan. Many students have expressed frustration about the new Dupont GUTS route that started in the spring, and they’ve said that they feel it’s an example of the University caving to pressure from residents. At the May 2010 Campus Plan meeting, some administrators expressed a desire to send almost all buses through the Canal Road entrance. Can you make a commitment to students to not further extend GUTS bus routes? And if not, what would you say to students who feel that the University is not defending their best interests?

DeGioia: Are we tweetering?

Voice: No, not right now, no…

DeGioia: Just kidding. I couldn’t make any commitment in the context of an interview with a newspaper, but I could say the issue of the 2010 plan is a very complex negotiation. We enter into it every decade and it usually take two or three years to get through the negotiation with our local neighbors and then with various regulatory authorities that we need to work with. And when we’re finished we have a document that guides the campus for the next decade.

The last one we did we felt enabled us to take some very important steps to develop the university community and we’ve been engaged in the most significant capital expansion in the University’s history over the last decade, so we feel very pleased about what we were able to do with the last plan.

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Dan Cook has a heart-to-heart with Islands frontman (and former member of the now-defunct Unicorns) Nick Thorburn, over on the main site.