Every Hoya down in Hoya-Ville liked Christmas a lot
But the Neighbors who lived just north of Hoya-Ville did NOT!

The neighbors hate the whole holiday season
And they have a whole, big, long list of reasons:
They hate the Chimes and the Phantoms’s songs
They hate the freshmen, their schmobs and their throngs.

They despise all the students that are living in houses
They even hate the cute little rats and the mouses
They hate the students who leave out their trash
They want home values to rise, they want CASH, CASH, CASH

Read the rest of lengthy poem on the Voice's site. It has a happy ending; though, one that will probably remain fiction.

Photo by randomduck via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

The Georgetown Voice offices are being downsized after three students caused damage to the ceiling of their on-campus space.

Last month, during Hurricane Irene, the students were in an area closed off due to the threat of flying debris. The students ignored "repeated, reasonable requests" from campus police officers to vacate the space, says the university's Director of Media Relations, Rachel Pugh, then fled the officers by breaking into the ceiling of the Leavey Center.

"In the process of crawling in the ceiling between offices on the fourth floor of the Leavey Center, the students caused significant damage to multiple offices, while continuing to ignore repeated requests to comply with DPS officers," Pugh wrote in an email. "MPD responded, and all three students are being charged with violations of D.C. law."

As a consequence, the paper is being evicted (they're supposed to pack up and move out by Monday, Oct. 3) and moved to what Pugh says is "a smaller office on the same floor."

Alumni far and wide signed onto a letter (which they shared with media) to the university asking that the students not be kicked out of the offices, arguing that "taking away that space cripples the paper’s ability to do the reporting that makes it an integral part of life on campus."

Shaun Tandon, editor-in-chief of the Voice during the 1997-98 school year, says his "main concern is for the long-term future of the newspaper. A tiny office inevitably implies a tiny staff, and the biggest fear would be that the newspaper, a vibrant institution for so many years, would wither away and die in a few years' time due to marginalization."

The alumni also argue that the decision unfairly punishes staffers who weren't involved in the incident. "This wasn't some grand Voice conspiracy that requires a collegiate version of creative destruction," adds Tandon.

It should be noted the alumni do believe that the Voice should pay for the damage and repairs—which total about $4,000. But that seems to be beside the point for the university.

Pugh says, "As an organization, the Georgetown Voice violated the student organization office space use agreement and as a result must give up their current location. The sanctions are commensurate with the violations." She noted that no other student organizations have broken that agreement in recent years.

I certainly understand why alumni are reaching out to support the Voice. As a former college (and high school!) newspaper staffer myself, I know that working until the wee hours until you can't see straight builds a bond and fondness for one's office and colleagues that can't be erased.

But before we get too sentimental, the facts of the case make me skeptical that the punishment is out of line. Three students did something really reckless and their affiliation with the paper actually led to them damaging their own and other organizations' offices. The Voice isn't losing its funding. It's not even going to a different building—it's being moved down the hall! Not to mention, Pugh says the paper will be able to request new or different space in April, as part of the university's budget request process.

Sure, the Voice's new digs will be smaller, and that sucks for the students who had nothing to do with the incident. But the students involved only had access to the locked office through the paper, which means that the paper as a whole didn't hold up its end of the bargain.

The two workers were removing carpet and glue from a floor in a building called New North, using lacquer thinner. Moments later, they plugged in a floor stripping machine–and things went kaboom. The machine evidently ignited the cloud of  chemical vapors that had collected in the room. The resulting blaze, which occurred at about 2:45 a.m,  burned both workers.

Piringer emails: "Initially the injuries were thought to be serious, with possible respiratory involvement, but it is no[w] expected that they will be treated and released, possibly today or tomorrow. Both were treated for minor burns to the face, hands and arms."

Officials prevously suspected the men might have severe burns and respiratory damage.

Piringer says the blaze was put out by a sprinkler system. He estimates that the building sustained about $40,000 worth of damage.

Georgetown Voice blog Vox Populi has pics.

After a night of drunken debauchery in Georgetown, nothing tastes better than a slice of pizza–something's gotta soak up the alcohol. But Philly Pizza & Grill on Potomac Street NW has finally shuttered, after losing a hard-fought battle with the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) and the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA).

“Philly Pizza must immediately cease operations,” says the notice issued Friday by DCRA to owner Mehmet Kocak, reported the Georgetown Voice. The notice called for immediate closure, but Kocak kept selling slices through the weekend anyway. DCRA noted if Kocak's operation wasn't closed by today, a court order would be obtained.

Under fire since October–noise complaints, trash, late-night student crowds spilling into the street–the final seams fell out when the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) last week upheld DCRA’s October decision to revoke Philly P’s certificate of occupancy. The fast-food joint was operating in an area zoned only for restaurants.

Kocak says he may consider another location.

Photo by jasonlam, Creative Commons Attribution License

The student paper published one six-paragraph article—216 words—that did not mention itself or the April Fools' "humor" issue that prompted the satire ("The Hoya Holds Annual Cross-Lighting Ceremony in Dahlgren Quad") in the first place. The Hoya's story, "Online Satire Magazine Draws Criticism," focused on a community forum held on campus on Tuesday night to discuss the Heckler article, and several others that drew complaints.

From the Hoya:

Heckler Editor in Chief Jack Stuef (COL ’10) addressed concerns about the offensive nature of articles published in the most recent issue of the publication, and explained that the satirical articles are meant to draw attention to latent racism on campus.

Students and faculty raised questions about the intention of three articles in particular that dealt with self-segregation, sex crimes and racism.

And:

At the end of the forum, which lasted about two hours, the focus of the conversation shifted to broader institutional questions. Students and faculty at the forum discussed steps that could be taken to create an inclusive campus community.

Asked why the Hoya didn't mention itself in its coverage, its editor, Marissa Amendolia, told City Desk that the campus community was upset by more than just the one article in which her newspaper was "referenced." (Meaning: No context needed. The story was way bigger than the Hoya!) "Because of this," she wrote in an email, "in our initial article that is currently available online, we did not focus on any one of these articles but rather on the general student and faculty response."

Did the Heckler's cross burning article succeed as satire?

Said Amendolia: "According to Jack Stuef's definition of satire that he offered at the community forum on Tuesday evening, the primary goal of satire is to be humorous. When such a significant faction of his readership—and of the campus as a whole—did not find the articles to be humorous, I do not think it would be accurate to say that the article succeeded as satire."

Will there be any more Hoya coverage?

"We will absolutely be following this situation closely as it progresses into next semester. We will be examining it within the context of trends on campus that have been occurring for years, as well as following up with the proposals that were expressed at the community forum regarding actions toward a campus-wide solution."

The Voice, another student publication, already has published three articles (2,590 words) and an op-ed from a Heckler alum.

Quick update on other things Heckler: The magazine's staff sat down yesterday with the university's vice president of student affairs, Todd Olson, who had condemned "these attempts at humor" for being "deeply hurtful" and "potentially destructive."

Stuef, who has turned over the editor-in-chief job to Dan Thoennessen because he is graduating, and Heckler writers Ankit Goyal and Sam Sweeney met for about half an hour in Olson's office with Olson and two other university officials, according to Goyal (Thoennessen had an exam.)

Goyal said he and the others were basically told: Be careful what you write.

"They were just like, 'Consider the context of what's contentious on campus. You have to be aware of how it could be interpreted,'" Goyal said, adding that the university officials brought up the infamous New Yorker cover that depicted Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife Michelle as a militant with an AK and an ammo belt. Incendiary or satire?

Olson did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Goyal, the Heckler staff was not asked at the meeting to remove the cross burning article (or anything else) from its Web site; the publication is not affiliated with the university. Goyal said he was asked what he would do differently if he had to do the whole thing over again. He said he might not have run the picture, which showed what appeared to be Ku Klux Klan members in white hoods burning a cross. The caption said: "Jubilant Hoya staffers taking part in the annual tradition."

Stuef has defended the article as is. He didn't respond to City Desk's request for comment yesterday, but he reported via Twitter that "Todd Olson shook my hand today and let us know he and his staff do read the Heckler."

UPDATE: The Hoya today posted online a "Viewpoint" by a former Heckler editor in chief, Jonathan Rapoport, which can be read here (678 words).

Vox Populi writes:

Heckler Editor-in-Chief Jack Stuef (COL ‘10) answered questions and tried to explain his point of view on a recent controversial Heckler issue at a forum Tuesday night, while students debated the articles and expressed why they were offended by the satirical articles.

Copies of the Heckler’s article about Hoya staff members holding a Ku Klux Klan-like crossburning were passed out before the forum, and much of the conversation centered on that article.

“The KKK isn’t funny,” Stuef said. “The article is to take the situation to the extreme, to show what is maybe buried in this campus.”

Stuef said that he was sorry for offending anyone, but added that with satire, offending people “comes with the terrain.”

The article goes on to talk about complaints about a separate piece in the Heckler:

Some students said they were offended by an article about the Black Student Alliance. In the article, the BSA asks Georgetown’s students not to do anything racist while BSA members are at Howard, because no one will be at Georgetown to notice and protest racism. Students at the forum thought the article suggested BSA protests, like last April’s against the Hoya April Fool’s Issue, were baseless. Stuef argued that, rather than making fun of BSA protests, it celebrated minority students for noticing racism that white students would miss.

“I hope you see you’re the heroes of this piece,” Stuef told one BSA member.

Vox Populi also reprinted a written response to the controversy from Todd Olson, the university's vice president for student affairs, who called some of the Heckler content "deeply hurtful" and "potentially destructive." He condemned "these attempts at humor which ridicule people based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation and which promote violence."

For those who missed Stuef's response to the matter on City Desk, read it here. He called City Paper back last night before the forum. Then he tweeted: "Leaving to go get tarred and feathered in WGR [White-Gravenor Hall]. BRB!"

Which is why one Georgetown University student – an overtaxed sophomore! – has placed an ad with the campus' student employment office seeking a personal assistant.

The Georgetown Voice's blog Vox Populi reprints the ad in full. We offer some of the highlights here:

As my PA you will receive an email once a day by 9:00 am with a task list for that day and a time estimate for each task. Important tasks will be bolded on the list and must be done that day (even though everything on the list should theoretically be finished on a daily basis). At the end of the day you will send me an email telling me what tasks are incomplete or that all tasks have been completed.

Seriously?

The pay is listed as $10-$12 an hour, which isn't bad, really, for the work Mr. Busy Student wants done. Among the tasks listed:

Organize closet – make bed -Drop off / pick up dry cleaning -Drop me off / pick me up from work -Do laundry -Fill up gas tank -bring car for servicing -schedule appointment for haircut -Pay parking tickets -manage electronic accounts -shopping and running errands -other random tasks.

Start date: immediate. Perks: occasional bonuses at employer's "discretion."

Ideas? Comments? I'm at eniedowski@washingtoncitypaper.com, and on Twitter.

Photo by sekimura, Creative Commons Attribution License

Georgetown University has two major campus newspapers, The Hoya, published twice weekly, and The Voice, published weekly. As an undergraduate some years back, I spent much of my college career, to the detriment of my college career, working at the Voice.

Like any two institutions in close competition and proximity (they occupy adjacent offices in the student center), The Hoya and The Voice have developed a relationship, rivalry even, that ranges from the insouciant to the deathly serious. Hoya staffers seethe over how their ad revenues subsidize Voice operations, while Voice staffers stew over The Hoya's massive sense of self-importance.

Each April Fools' Day, The Hoya chooses to print a special issue full of mostly hamhanded and occasionally offensive parody articles. The Voice, in my day, mainly ignored them, saving things for the traditional year-end softball game in Whitehaven Park. (We did once did pile newspapers in front of the Hoya door while dozens were locked inside having a staff meeting.) Then a few years back, after some Hoya staffers were discovered infiltrating the Voice offices next door, several Voicers climbed into the Leavey Center rafters and hid a remote-controlled battery-op doorbell above the suspended ceiling, then proceeded to use it to torment the self-proclaimed "paper of record" for months.

The prank offensive continues apace: This year, Voicers wrapped pretty much every item in the Hoya office in spare copies of the Voice and tape.

Now, bragging to the world about your clever prank—not really in the spirit of the thing, you know?

But going on the Voice blog to express your righteous outrage at the prank?

That's our Hoya!

Darrow Montgomery / City Paper

College Rag Wrap-up: Your weekly roundup of what’s new(s) in D.C. college papers (and blogs). Each Monday, City Desk summarizes the most interesting stories from college oriented newspapers and blogs in the area. Links are compiled by City Paper intern Ryan J. Reilly, who is an editor at Catholic University’s student newspaper, the Tower.

American University—The Eagle

• The Eagle reports on professors and administrators who are using Facebook to communicate with faculty friends and sometimes students.
• AU continues to remain in good financial health despite difficult economic times, President Neil Kerwin said at an informal question-and-answer session.

Catholic University—The Tower, CUA Tower Blogs

• Two students mugged on "access road" by Metro station.
• Senior drama major won speech contest for her performance of President John F. Kennedy’s speech on civil rights and then-Senator Barack Obama’s May 18, 2008 speech addressing race in America.

Georgetown University—The Hoya, Vox Populi, Georgetown Voice

• Fraternity inductions are "a little creepy,” reports The Hoya in a first person account of the pledge process for Alpha Phi Omega.
• Georgetown cut ties with Russell Athletics after student protests following Russell’s decision to close Jerzees de Honduras, one of its factories in Honduras, when the workers attempted to form a union.
• Georgetown Voice follows a DPS officer on a six hour shift.

George Mason University – The Broadside, connect2mason.com

• George Mason seniors may be looking at grad school as an option because of the state of the economy.

George Washington University—The Hatchet, GW Hatchet Blogs, GWblogspot

• Students reported a bedbug infestation in GW's New Hall prompting the second series of fumigations in residence hall this semester. From the Hatchet: "More than the creatures themselves, however, students said they are bugged by the University's response to the problem." For more on bedbugs, see City Paper's Jan. 28 cover story.
• Hatchet misses photo opportunity: "After months of negotiations with University officials, a new theater company on campus has won the right to produce a show complete with full-frontal nudity."
• Student groups want protection for transgendered GW students. They want to alter the University's anti-discrimination policy to include transgender students, reports the Hatchet.
• Some professors want to limit laptop use in class.

Howard University—The Hilltop

• Howard University Dentistry School served as the location for eager children awaiting their first dentist appointment at the 7th annual “Give Kids a Smile” day held Friday.
• University working to set up recycling program, which has been pushed back multiple times.

University of Maryland—The Diamondback

• From the Diamondback: "For the first time in 11 years, all 10 chapters of the university's Pan-Hellenic Council, which oversees all minority fraternities and sororities, are present on the campus, each chapter representing a piece of history and culture for the university as well as the black community."
• UMD students sent disposable cameras to orphanages in Ukraine to connect the children with sponsors in the United States through their photos, reports the Diamondback. The pictures are posted on Shutters4Scholars.com and are linked to ways to give money to the children who took them.

Did we miss something? Think your University blog or news site should be on our radar? Leave links and tips in the comments box!

Compare photos below. I'm the one with the glasses.