Just like last year, Vox is helping you get on top of “news you can use” with an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. Today, we cover the off-campus issues that made headlines; noise, cronyism, and cannabis come after the jump.

We’ve got the campus plan blues

Every ten years, Georgetown must submit a campus plan to the D.C. Zoning Commission detailing proposed construction and land-use on its property.

Before the Zoning Commission approves the plan, it must hold hearings where civic associations in nearby Burleith, West Georgetown, and Foxhall Village can air their many grievances.

Neighborhood associations are irate [PDF] because some Georgetown students are loud and drunken. If the Zoning Commission doesn’t force us on-campus, they say, the neighborhood will become a “student ghetto.” To support this cause, which has gained the endorsement of several D.C. councilmembers, they are putting up yard signs, forming coalitions, and speaking out in public forums.

These activists also have recourse to a unique form of hyper-local government called the advisory neighborhood commission. There are 38 ANC’s throughout the city that provide official community input on everything from liquor licenses to traffic and land-use planning. In keeping with its history, Georgetown and Burleith’s ANC 2E opposes the 2010 Campus Plan. Because of clever gerrymandering of the dorms, there is only one student commissioner, Jake Sticka (COL ’13), on that commission.

The University, for its part, has tried reaching out to neighbors and stumping for support across the city. Georgetown has also ceded to several neighborhood demands, from scrapping graduate housing just off-campus to turning the Leavey Center Hotel into a dorm, in hopes of winning the endorsement of city agencies.

The D.C. Office of Planning didn’t return the love; they recommended a hard cap on undergraduate admissions and 100-percent on-campus residency. The Zoning Commission is due to issue its ruling in November. Depending on the verdict, neighborhood groups or the University will petition the D.C. Court of Appeals to reverse the directive.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just like last year, Vox has compiled a guide to “news you can use”, or in other words, an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. Today, we cover the crime issues that made headlines.

Sexual assaults

The past three years, there have been a series of sexual assaults following a similar formula: a man enters a home, gets in bed with a female resident, attempts to sexually assault her, and leaves before the woman is able identify the perpetrator. Some students call the assailant the “Georgetown Cuddler”—an unfortunate nickname that we won’t be using anymore—though it very well may be multiple perpetrators.

While no connection has yet been made, the recent sexual assault in Burleith bears similarities to other crimes, including an assault in Copley, an assault at gunpoint on Prospect Street, and an assault on the 3800 block of Calvert Street. In April, student groups held a vigil for victims.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just like last year, Vox has compiled a guide to “news you can use”, or in other words, an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. Today, we cover the on-campus issues that made headlines. Check in later this week for the year’s biggest crime stories.

Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice

In March, the United Feminists and H*yas for Choice created Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice. The campaign pushed the University to provide contraceptives, sex education, rape kits, the HPV vaccine, and informational resources on reproductive health. Plan A Hoyas also campaigned for less restrictive freedom of speech and expression policies.

After a series of escalating protests failed to get the University’s attention, protesters chained themselves to the John Carroll statue during GAAP weekend. The protesters unchained themselves after campus administrators sent them a letter, but it’s unclear what the letter said. The campaign organizers claimed victories, but not all of them could be substantiated. The campaign sparked debate about University funding and free speech policies, as well as what it means to be a Jesuit school.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just like last year, Vox has compiled a guide to “news you can use”, or in other words, an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. Today, we cover the off-campus issues that made headlines.

Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan

Every ten years, the University has to submit a campus plan to the D.C. Zoning Commission, detailing its construction plans for the next decade. University administrators hosted a series of meetings to present the plan to the neighborhood and ask for feedback, but Georgetown residents have been unsupportive, to say the least.

Their main complaint: the University has no plans to add new undergraduate housing on campus, which means upperclassmen will continue to live in West Georgetown (the neighborhood east of the front gates) and Burleith (the neighborhood northwest of the hospital). The neighborhood associations have launched fundraising campaigns, circulated a petition, and put up lawn signs to oppose the 2010 Campus Plan.

While the plan has some initiatives to benefit undergraduates, such as a New South student center, Voice writers have expressed concern about circuitous free shuttle bus routes and overcrowding from increased graduate student enrollment.

But, you still might ask—why should you care?

Read the rest of this entry »