Kelly Anderson

Students lobbied to preserve the Blommer Science Library at a Georgetown University Student Association town hall Oct. 23, in response to an announcement last spring that the library would permanently close within the next year. The town hall comes after university officials announced in April that Blommer, which is located in the Reiss Science Building, would permanently close and the library’s collections would be relocated to Lauinger Library because of renovations set for Reiss due to flooding and mold concerns. After the announcement, students started an online petition to keep the library open, which had obtained 421 signatures at time of print. The library’s relocation was then put on hold over the summer pending reevaluation. To address the backlash about the closure, the university created the Blommer Library Faculty Review Committee to help decide the library’s future, according to committee member and chemistry department Co-Chair Tim Warren. Committee members include ...

Marie Yovanovitch, Georgetown senior state department fellow and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, testified Oct. 11 in a House impeachment inquiry designed to investigate the alleged misconduct of President Donald Trump. Yovanovitch, who was appointed by Barack Obama in August 2016, served as ambassador to Ukraine until May when President Trump relieved her of her duties. Yovanovitch testified at the hearing to Congress that she was targeted by Trump administration officials for removal as part of an organized effort to relieve her from her position. Yovanovitch serves as a senior state department fellow at Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, a branch of the School of Foreign Service. She is currently on personal leave from her role at the institute, according to Barbara Bodine, the director of the ISD. Bodine does not expect that Yovanovitch’s testimony or further involvement in the investigation will negatively affect her role at Georgetown. “We will continue...

Georgetown University students demonstrated in support of LGBTQ labor rights outside of the Supreme Court Oct. 8 as opening arguments on three high-profile cases were presented to the court. The Supreme Court heard two cases on whether LGBTQ rights are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, involves a man who alleges he was fired from his job in Georgia after his employer learned he was gay. Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, a similar case in which a skydiving instructor at New York’s Altitude Express was fired for sharing that he was gay with a client, was combined with Bostock v. Clayton Country, Georgia at the Supreme Court. The second case, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, centers around a Michigan woman who says she was fired from her job at a funeral home for publicly coming out as transgender.  R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment ...

New Georgetown University Student Association committee chairs, chosen at a GUSA senate meeting Sept. 29, plan to start their terms this week with a renewed emphasis on transparency in the organization and the addition of a policy and advocacy committee. The new chairs include Ethics Committee Chair Zev Burton (SFS ’22) and Vice Chair Chris Ziac (SFS ’22), Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Juliana Arias (SFS ’20) and Vice Chair Layla Weiss (MSB ’22), and Policy and Advocacy Chair Leo Arnett (SFS ’22) and Vice Chair Daniella Sanchez (COL ’22). The new chairs of these committees, which oversee other committees within the GUSA senate, were nominated and elected to their positions by fellow GUSA senators, including the new class of freshman senators sworn in on Sunday. The Policy and Advocacy Committee is a new addition to GUSA this semester. GUSA formed the committee this fall to focus the organization by assigning policy issue areas, such as facilities issues or the support ...