Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Cheers and Jeers for 2007-2008

Cheers to new MSB building

 

A common theme we’ve harped on this year is Georgetown’s constant lack of adequate space for its students, but there is a beacon of hope growing next to the Leavey Center: the new home of the McDonough School of Business.

 

The building has shot up during this school year at a remarkable pace (especially when compared with the one-step-forward-two-steps-backward renovation of Epicurean and Co.) and, upon completion, will start alleviating the space crunch that plagues classroom buildings around campus. It will also, hopefully, boost the MSB in national business school rankings, a change in pace after this year’s surprising drop.

 

 

 

Cheers to Georgetown Program Board

 

 

 

This year, Georgetown has finally gained some much-needed street cred. After years of poorly attended events and general student apathy, the Georgetown Program Board made a name for itself with two landmark concerts and a slew of successful nighttime programs. GPB worked hard these past two semesters to provide Georgetown with a free Coolio concert and a Common show at $5 per ticket. The GPB also added some lower-scale – but still memorable – events to its repertoire, such as the foam party the night of Georgetown Day. The change has certainly been in the right direction, but we’re still a ways away from other schools that hold concerts by Dave Matthews Band or Guster. With this kind of momentum, the GPB will hopefully keep going next year with more big names and more impressive events.

 

 

 

Cheers to Epicurean and Co.

 

 

 

Epicurean and Co. managed to surprise everyone on campus -especially the Editorial Board – by finally opening its doors. After almost three full years, months of waking up freshman in the lower floors of Darnall Hall, Epicurean and Co.’s grand opening came just in time for students to spend their leftover Flex Dollars on hibachi and sushi. Many complaints still arise over the restaurant: the quality-price ratio is much too low, the restaurant is in an inconvenient location and students cannot use the meals on their meal plans there. Still, having any sort of restaurant in the basement of Darnall beats not having one – but only by a little.

 

 

 

Jeers to Darryl Harrison

 

 

 

Darryl Harrison has been sitting on a deteriorating security situation but did nothing constructive before jumping ship. After a nine-year stint in as director of the Department of Public Safety, he could be expected to have enacted major changes and improvements to the size, efficacy and resources of the department, but his biggest victory was his push for introducing a network of closed-circuit television cameras throughout campus. Despite this poor contribution, Harrison announced to the Georgetown community that he has “accomplished everything [he] really wanted to do” during his time as director.

 

 

 

Currently, DPS is more of an embarrassment than a deterrent. The officers do not seem equipped to ensure the security of campus, their work is ineffective and, at times, they have been accused of acting unprofessionally (witness the recent racial profiling suit against the university).

 

 

 

The fault lies with its leadership, especially Harrison, who seemed unable to create real change for the officers and for the structure of the department.

 

 

 

Jeers to identity theft

 

 

 

Social Security numbers are valuable. They are practically the keys to accessing the most personal of information, including bank accounts and credit reports.

 

 

 

So it makes sense that this valuable information should be guarded and protected by the most advanced computer software available.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, Georgetown administrators didn’t take this into consideration and acted as though SSNs would be fine if they were stored on an unencrypted hard drive – did we mention it was portable? – making it easy for a thief to make off with the personal information of roughly 38,000 students, alumni, faculty and other staffers over winter break.

 

 

 

What’s worse is that the university did little to ease fears of possible identity theft and refused to hold anyone truly accountable this disastrous blunder.

 

 

 

Jeers to false promises

 

 

 

Like the politicians that inhabit this city, Georgetown administrators make a lot of promises and conveniently forget to follow through.

 

 

 

Case in point: Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall.

 

 

 

In August, university spokesperson Julie Bataille said that the top floor would be turned into six serving locations with different themes, including a Latin station, a Mediterranean kitchen and an Asian/Mongolian grill. She claimed that equally drastic changes would come to the lower level of Leo’s. Bataille announced that these changes would begin after Hoyas left in December and continue throughout the spring semester.

 

 

 

Christmas vacation came and went, and when Hoyas returned to campus, they found Leo’s just the way they had left it – bland, boring and definitely not redesigned. All the dining hall has to show for its remodeling is a wrap station that appeared this semester.

 

 

 

Jeers to Facebook arrests

 

 

 

Facebook can be confusing. There are numerous people with the same name, pictures that have been Photoshopped to look more attractive and information that is less-than-accurate, at best.

 

 

 

But the tech-savvy Metropolitan Police Department officers and the U.S. Attorney’s Office decided that a Facebook lineup was accurate enough to charge Georgetown student Philip Cooney (MSB ’10) with committing a hate-crime against a fellow Hoya. The victim searched Facebook until he found someone he thought looked like his assailant and provided MPD with the information – information they later deemed insufficient for criminal prosecution.

Despite Cooney’s lawyer’s repeated insistence of his client’s innocence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office pressed forward for nearly seven months with seemingly no more than the testimony of the victim and a Facebook page with no concrete evidence.

 

 

 

The charges were dropped, but unfortunately, the reputation of a Georgetown student was tarnished mainly due to his resemblance to the assailant in Facebook photos.

 

 

 

If peeping bosses or those graduate school admissions officers weren’t enough to make you deactivate your Facebook account, now there’s an extra reason: over-zealous law officials who have no problem charging you with a crime based on a fuzzy picture of you at a toga party.

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