Movie Review: Ben Affleck's "Argo"

by Kyle Menyhert

Directed by Ben Affleck, Argo is a re-telling of the events that are now known as the “Canadian Caper”. In case you don’t know the background, here’s a bit of a fill-in.

In 1953, the American government ousted Iran’s secular, democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and installed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1979, Iranians rose up by the thousands to protest the brutal dictatorship of their Shah and drove him from power in favor of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Republic. When the Shah was ousted, Iranians vented their anger against the United States and stormed the embassy in Tehran. Most of the Americans taken became hostages in what is now known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Six diplomats, however, escaped through a back door and were taken in at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence. Unknown to the public, the CIA and the Government of Canada worked together to pass these six diplomats off as a Canadian film crew, researching a filming location. They safely returned to the United States, and the event became a bright spot in the midst of the sobering Iranian Hostage Crisis. 

Argo is a GW student’s type of movie. It’s a suspense thriller based off American-Iranian relations. This historical thriller is packed with suspense and retains its relevance in today’s political climate, and it is a very involving film. The cast is excellent-Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the CIA worker who travels to Iran and helps escort the diplomats out of Iran, and while the relationship he had with his family could have been explored more, his performance was still an excellent one.

Argo stands out in that it doesn’t matter how much you know about the Canadian Caper. I first learned about the event from a six-minute movie shown on NBC right before the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. I knew Canada had helped rescue U.S. diplomats, but I did not know much about the process of the actual operation. What makes Argo special, however, is that you don’t need to know about the operation to fully appreciate the movie. 

Argo’s script may not have been on the level of finesse Quentin Tarantino is known for, but it reminded me of the first Back to the Future film, which was almost perfect in length. The movie didn’t drag, nor did it forget to fully explain important historical background. (The movie starts with a chilling recount of events leading up to the 1979 Revolution.) In perhaps a directorial self pat on the back, Affleck shows in the credits the painstaking detail of his recreation of the beginning scenes. But in a way, Affleck deserves it; he definitely cared about the accuracy in portraying revolutionary Iran. 

I expected Argo to be a very serious, cold, reality-sucks type of film, with very little other sentiment. That was certainly true in the beginning of the movie, but the script is such that the movie knows where it can be very emotionally involving and even darkly funny at times. Alan Arkin and John Goodman do excellent work in supporting roles as the Hollywood producers who make the diplomats’ fake film a reality. 

The events that Argo portrays happened thirty years ago, but with Iran still smarting from a failed uprising three years ago, a nearly worthless currency, and nuclear ambitions, this movie is still very much relevant to what is happening in today’s world. While the role of the Canadian government wasn’t stressed much, this was very much a joint operation between the CIA and Canada. It reminds the audience that the United States has allies who will help it in extraordinary ways if need be.  

Community Rises Up Against Proposed School Closures

by John Perrino

The community has shown its support for Francis-Stevens Education Campus and Garrison Elementary School with signs like the one above.  

WASHINGTON  – A proposal by DC Public Schools to close 20 schools across the district is meeting the opposition of parents and community members from two of the schools set to close in Ward 2. 

Organizers are fighting the proposed closings of Francis-Stevens Education Campus and Garrison Elementary School with signs, petitions, letters, and meetings to advocate for the schools to remain open.

Parents cite a growing need for Francis-Stevens that houses grades kindergarten through eighth grade and was forced to turn away a classroom of about 40 students in the early childhood program last year after DCPS would not staff the room.

“There’s a baby boom in Ward 2,” said local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner-elect Jackson Carnes. Children under the age of five account for 43 percent of all children who live in Ward 2, Carnes added. 

The school also houses a unique low vision special education program for over a dozen visually impaired students. This would be the third time in three years the children in the program have had to move schools said parent Vincent Kargatis, a parent of two children in the program.

“They're simply shuffled as a bureaucratic peg to a school performing, on average, a full 14 percentage points lower than Francis-Stevens in the DC-CAS - without any consultation of the expert educators involved in the program,” he said.

The proposal would consolidate Garrison Elementary into Seaton Elementary, also in Ward 2, according to DCPS.

Francis-Stevens would consolidate lower grades into Marie Reed Elementary School, in Ward 1, and higher grades into Hardy Middle School, in Ward 2, according to DCPS.

“It would be like breaking up a family,” said Francis-Stevens PTA treasurer Erin Michener.

Parents choose the downtown school in order to be close to their children, allowing them to be an “active participant in (their) child’s education,” said Michener.

The schools proposed for the consolidation of Francis-Stevens are not accessible by public transportation and are both over a mile away from Francis-Stevens.

DC State Board of Education President, Theodore Trabue, says the consolidation is, at its most basic level, a matter of economics. Closing under-enrolled schools will help reduce overhead helping to “put money back in the classroom,” he said.

The consolidation will open up more money to be spent per student and on teachers, staff, supplies, and modernized schools said Trabue.

Right now, both schools are only using about 60 percent of the building space and enroll about 225 students in each of the schools, according to DCPS.

“The Chancellor really is basing her decision solely… around enrollment and a modernized building,” said Michener. 

It is important to “understand the bigger picture,” she said, adding that modernization and enrollment should not be the only reason to close a school that is performing well.

Test scores at Francis-Stevens are in the top 30 percent of D.C. Public Schools, according to an ANC Resolution on the matter of the proposed closure.

Scores at Garrison Elementary are higher than those of Seaton Elementary in both reading and math, according to DCPS.

Making a Stand

Parents have come together in support of both schools along with community members and local representatives from Ward 2.

A petition on Change.org calling for D.C. officials to keep Francis-Stevens open has received the signatures of over 600 people as of December 12th. Another for Garrison Elementary has collected well over 500 signatures.

“The one good thing that has come out of this is that it has brought us even closer together through this process…there is a lot of parent involvement,” said Francis-Stevens parent Michener.

The Francis-Stevens PTA has held family dinners and school meetings to discuss the proposed closure of the school. Parents have also attended city council hearings and community dialogue sessions hosted by DCPS on the school closings.

About 150 people were in attendance for one PTA event at Francis-Stevens where elected officials, community members, parents, kids and vision-impaired activists gathered to speak out against the proposed closing of their school, according to those in attendance.

The Francis-Stevens PTA was set to meet with Kaya Henderson, Chancellor of DCPS, again last Wednesday after requesting a meeting to express their concerns to the Chancellor.

For Garrison Elementary, community involvement has been tremendous with signs reading “We Love Garrison” and “Save our School” popping up around the neighborhood.

Numerous community associations, neighborhood churches, and local businesses have come forward in opposition of the proposal to close Garrison Elementary School, according to a press release by the Garrison Elementary PTA.

"The bottom line is that we have to make the right decisions for our children," said Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans at a community meeting hosted by DCPS. “Both of these schools have waiting lists for their pre-school programs, and we need to listen to what that means."

Student Association Passes Student Life Resolution

By Myles Goldman

At the final meeting of the semester on Monday night, The Student Association Senate again took up the issue of Square 75A, the area on Pennsylvania Avenue the University is currently in the process of requesting approval to develop.  Currently, restaurants like Mayran and Froggy Bottom Pub reside at the location and will be forced to close once the University begins the project.  

After rejecting a similar resolution by a vote of 8 in favor 9 against and 10 abstaining, the Student Association passed a “Resolution Regarding the The George Washington University’s Current Proposed Development for Square 75A.”  The resolution passed 22-4, and says that the Student Association wants Square 75A to include affordable, local restaurant establishments in the developed property.  

According to Executive Vice President of Community Affairs, Patrick Kennedy, who worked with Senators to write the bill, the difference between the bill the Senate rejected three weeks ago and the one they approved was a small but important one. 

"We are more proactively [than in the previous version] encouraging a component of this project," Kennedy said.


There was much debate about the amendment, though.  Proponents such as the bill’s author Elizabeth Kennedy (Undergrad-At-Large) said that students had come to her and said how much they would miss the restaurants that would be going out.  She believed the bill was focused on student life. Kennedy said this was the bill she was most passionate about in her three years as a Senator. 

"This is what our jobs are about," Kennedy said. "We are here to represent the student body."

The bill was also supported by SA President Ashwin Narla.

"We really need to have something for the student experience," Narla said. "This is us as students advocating for something we've heard from the student body. We hope that a decision to find a new retailer is student friendly," he commented during his President's Report.

Opponents of the bill were concerned about the loss of revenue to the University and the tone of the resolution.  Ryan Counihan (Undergrad-SOB) was one of the Senators who voted against the bill. Counihan was concerned about the amount of money the University might lose that it could spend on areas like academics renting the newly developed property to a local, low-cost restaurant versus renting out the building to the highest-bidder.

"If we're talking millions of dollars [the University could lose], I don't think we should be trying to force the University to give that up," Counihan argued.

Elizabeth Kennedy tried to address concerns about the tone of the bill. At the prior meeting, Alicia Knight Senior Associate Vice President for the Division of Operations, had expressed her surprise that the Student Association had proposed the resolution addressing square 75A. Kennedy said on Monday night that she and the bills co-sponsors had spent three months preparing the bill.

"This was something she [Knight] knew was coming," Kennedy said. "She might have been initially taken aback by our interest in Square 75A since the SA has not proactively taken a role on projects like this in the past, but this bill itself wasn't a surprise to them [the administration]," she commented.

John Ralls, the Senior Associate Vice President for Operations Administration, representing the Division of Operations, was sitting in the audience and could be seen shaking his head when Kennedy made her comments. Senator Michael Amesquita (Grad-GSEHD) attempted to motion to give Ralls an opportunity to respond but Vice President Abby Bergren ruled the motion out of order since a Senator can only give-up their speaking time to other Senators or members of the SA President's Cabinet. Ralls could not later be reached for comment.

At the meeting the Senate also passed unanimously "A Resolution to Urge The George Washington University to Adopt the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau Shopping Sheet." The resolution calls on the University to use the college "shopping sheet" the Federal Government has created as part of the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau. The sheet includes info about cost, graduation rates, and loans and allows students to compare these statistics among different colleges according to the bill's author Omeed Firouzi (Undergrad-CCAS).

Narla also announced at the meeting the creation of an ad-hoc council that will look at the SA's student organization financial allocation process. The 12-member council will meet starting next semester and will consist of 6 SA Senators and Presidential cabinet members and 6 members made-up from the student body at-large. The council will then make recommendations on how the process can be improved to the SA Senate. The SA is now accepting applications from students who are interested in being part of the council.

News at 6: Wednesday December 5, 2012

WRGW News at 6: Wednesday December 5, 2012 by Wrgw_News on Mixcloud

WRGW News at 6: Tuesday, December 4, 2012

WRGW News at 6: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 by Wrgw_News on Mixcloud

Students Discuss and Question GW's Strategic Plan at SA Town Hall Meeting

by Emma Thomson 

GW Provost Steven Lerman and the Student Association held a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss the new strategic plan the University has drafted and is in the process of approving. About twenty students gathered in Funger Hall to discuss the new plan, which currently is in its first draft. 

Provost Lerman opened his presentation by explaining the four themes of the strategic plan.  It is comprised of “broad brushstrokes” of actions to elevate the education experience at GW. The first objective is to unify the university and make it stronger as a whole by encouraging cross-disciplinary study. Provost Lerman stressed the importance of creating an environment where students and faculty work together.  

Next, the strategic plan serves to create more globalization prospects, acknowledging that the world is getting, “smaller and flatter” for students and faculty. For example, Provost Lerman pointed out the need for more discussion of intersecting fields such as religion and politics to create a more holistic education for students. In addition, the strategic plan will increase leadership and citizenship initiatives at the University. Not only does it focus on creating constructive student leaders and citizens but also develops the University’s own identity in the city, country, and global community. 

Finally, the strategic plan aims to expand GW’s Policy and Government programs to make them the best in the field. The goal to improve already-strong programs will allow the university to become more accomplished and respected across the globe. 

GW will implement the strategic plan through creating more affinity housing to foster leadership and communication skills, expanding the study abroad and Faculty in Residence programs, striving to keep the university affordable while maintaining quality, and updating the admissions process to allow more unification. 

Some of the discussion focused on GW’s schools with smaller capacities such as The Elliot School of International Affairs, The School of Media and Public Affairs, and The School of Public Health. Students expressed concern over the new idea to admit students to the university without regard to school or major, constraining the already-full majors. Provost Lerman said that the University would follow the SMPA admissions model, which allows students to “pre-major” in their applications. Prospective students will first be admitted to GW before admission to the specific program in such unique situations.  

Provost Lerman also addressed questions from students who attended the meeting, many of whom were wary of certain aspects of the plan including student life and financial decisions. The questions included adjunct teacher salaries, more affordable housing options, better fundraising opportunities through alumni, student involvement in Board of Trustee decisions, and the ever-present tuition and school spirit debates. 

Now in its editing stages, the strategic plan will be finalized by the end of the year and presented to the Board of Trustees at its February meeting.