Today cloudy with a chance of showers, with a high of 88.

To masticate today:

• Beat this, Tony Stark: Professor Eric Burger, a researcher in the computer science and founder of the Georgetown Center for Secure Communications and the director of Georgetown’s Security and Software Engineering Research Center, has been awarded the Professional Achievement for Individuals Award by the American branch of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, for his “sustained and collaborative support of communications technology policy.” Burger will pick up the prize with the two other awardees on Aug. 13 in Portland, Ore.
• Open house for the boathouse: The National Park Service will answer questions regarding a recent study regarding the feasibility of building a  non-motorized boathouse along the waterfront. The open house will be held on Wednesday, where NPS staff will do a brief presentation and be available to answer questions. The public comment form will be open until May 24.

What to look out for:

• Charter schools: On Monday, the D.C. Public Charter School board approved two new charter schools in the District. One, Academy of Hope, is a school to help adults gain literacy, jobs skills, and earn a general equivalency diploma. The other school is a Montessori elementary school. Its proposal was drafted by teachers at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, which is meant to close in June. Both schools will open in 2014.
• Methinks they doth protest a lot: Two protests have happened in the District in the past few days. The “Good Jobs Nation” food worker strike began early this morning when workers at the Ronald Reagan Building and the International Center left or did not turn up for work. Some of them claim to be paid less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. On Monday, 17 individuals were arrested outside the Justice Department after 100 people, members of the Home Defenders League and Occupy Our Homes, stormed the steps at about 2 p.m. Their aim was to protest the statement by Attorney General Eric Holder that “banks are too big to prosecute.”

The Hispanic American Center for Economic Research recently awarded former President of Colombia and controversial Georgetown professor Alvaro Uribe its Simón Bolívar Prize.

The prize was given to Uribe for “his work on promoting liberty, security and democracy in Colombia and the Americas,” according to HACER’s website. Former U.S. Ambassadors Otto Reich and Robert Noriega attended the ceremony.

HACER commended Uribe for leading efforts against the FARC, which controlled nearly two-thirds of the country when he took office, but has now retreated to the less populated parts of the country. The murder rate also dropped significantly during Uribe’s term.

Uribe’s presidential tenure as president did not come without controversy, however. Activists accuse him of violating human rights in order to achieve these results; critics point to incidents such as the “false positives” scandal to illustrate the alleged abuses his administration carried out. Since his appointment as a Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership by the University, protesters have demonstrated outside his on-campus speaking engagements.

HACER, a non-profit organization, promotes the study of “personal and economic liberty, limited government under the rule of law, and individual responsibility” within Hispanic populations.

Photo: HACER

Georgetown, Divest! will re-emerge this semester to oppose the University investment policies, after attempting to end practices last semester that allegedly violate the University’s Catholic and Jesuit identity.

In a Facebook message sent to Divest! members, David Schwartz (SFS ’12), a leader of the group, criticized the University for failing to invest in a socially responsible manner.

“[W]e have been deceived to believe that ethics are a part of Georgetown’s investment history,” Schwartz wrote. “Now, as students, faculty, and clergy of Georgetown University, we must stand up for social responsibility in its investment policy.”

Read the rest of this entry »

A letter urging Georgetown to dismiss former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, signed by over 150 scholars, was allegedly delivered by students to President John DeGioia last Wednesday.

According to a press release published by the North American Congress on Latin America, Uribe’s connection to human rights violations have been ignored.

“Given the human rights scandals associated with Álvaro Uribe’s administration, and the ties between his administration and illegal paramilitary groups, it is disturbing that Georgetown University has chosen to host him this year,” Lesley Gill, a Vanderbilt professor, wrote in the release.

Last summer, Uribe was invited to teach courses at Georgetown as a Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership. Since his arrival on campus, however, human rights groups have organized against and protested his hiring.

Eight Georgetown faculty members, including Professor Mark Lance, Adjunct Professor Fr. Joseph Palacios, and Associate Professor Maurice Jackson, signed the letter.

Photo: Jackson Perry

h/t Chronicle of Higher Education

To Georgetown students, George Washington University is a neighboring university and an opponent on the winter battlefield.

To the members of the Westboro Baptist Church—a Kansas-based hate mongering extremist group run by Fred Phelps—however, GW brings to mind the phrase “God-hating heathens.”

According to the group’s website, the WBC will be in Foggy Bottom on the morning of November 11th—Veteran’s Day—to “remind this nation that this next generation of young people have been raised for the devil himself.” Afterward, the group plans to protest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Read the rest of this entry »

The man arrested last Monday during Álvaro Uribe‘s lecture is a field organizer affiliated with School of Americas Watch, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Nicolas Udu-gama, who the Reporter interviewed, stood up as Uribe took questions from Professor Eric Langenbacher‘s Comparative Political Systems class, began clapping derisively, and approached the stage. He was forcibly removed by the Department of Public Safety and then arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department.

The protest aimed to criticize “social cohesion by threatening and physically eliminating any social opposition,” Udu-gama said.

The School of Americas Watch has been involved with protests against Uribe’s hiring since they began earlier this month. University officials, however, continue to support Uribe’s position at Georgetown.

“As an academic community, we are committed to fostering the transmission of knowledge and supporting the free exchange of ideas,” University spokesperson Julie Green Bataille wrote in an email to the Reporter. “Georgetown is not endorsing the political views or government policies enacted by an individual, but realizing the value in allowing a world leader’s experience to be part of campus dialogue.”

Photo: Max Blodgett

Earlier this week, Álvaro Uribe, former president of Colombia and current-Distinguished Scholar in the School of Foreign Service, sat down with the Voice‘s Cole Stangler. The full interview can be found in this week’s Voice, but we’ve got a few of the highlights below.

On the protests against his hiring:

I was surprised by the weakness of the protests. In the contrary, I am motivated and impressed by the great number of students that have approached me to express their support.

I have confronted numerous protests against my policies during my career, but over the years I have seen a decline in their number due to my consistent devotion to work with absolute transparency and my open commitment for constructive and respectful debate. Therefore, [it] didn’t surprise [me]. What has surprised me was the kind reception by the vast majority of the students.

Read the rest of this entry »

During a lecture this evening in the ICC auditorium, former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe was interrupted by two protesters.

After speaking, Uribe began to take questions from Professor Eric Langenbacher‘s Comparative Political Systems class. Then, a man in the audience approached the stage while mock applauding. Once on stage, he began to yell at Uribe; almost immediately, he was forcibly removed from the auditorium and arrested.

Shortly afterward, a woman stood up and began to protest the man’s removal, citing an infringement on freedom of speech. The woman, who was handing out flyers about future protests before the lecture, then left the auditorium.

It is unknown if either protester is affiliated with the University.

Reporting by Connor Ciesemier.

[Update, 5:15 pm: Vox just learned that Uribe has arrived on campus. Protesters are currently outside the Mortara Building, which Uribe was seen entering earlier today. MPD officers have closed are posted along the 1200 block of 36th Street.]

As reported by the Voice, a coalition of human rights activists protested the hiring of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe yesterday.

The School of the Americas Watch, a group dedicated to closing the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Operation, started planning forms of protest this summer. According to Justice and Peace Studies Program Director Mark Lance, SOA Watch joined yesterday’s protest in Red Square.

It isn’t known if Uribe, who was reelected in a 2006 election with more than 60 percent of the vote, has arrived on campus yet. Nonetheless, those who oppose with his hiring expect to continue protesting.

“As long as we have supporters and as long as he has classes, we’ll continue,” Monica Gonzalez (MSFS ’11) told the Voice.

Read the rest of this entry »

If there was ever any doubt in your mind that being chained to a statue with duct tape over your mouth for eight hours sucks, The Chronicle of Higher Education put that doubt to rest.

A new series on the Chronicle’s website called “Say Something: College Life. One Student at a Time,” features recent Georgetown graduate Julia Shindel (COL ’10) in its first episode.

Shindel’s interview revolves around her time as one of the three members of Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice that chained themselves to the John Carroll statue in March.

The two-minute, 17-second clip begins by Shindel saying that “the duct tape was absolutely disgusting … the glue just kind of tends to just melt with your skin.”

This introduction sets the tone of the rest of the edited-down clip, which seemed to focus more on how Shindel felt during and after the protest, rather than the protest itself.

Read the rest of this entry »