UPDATE on Shooting Near Campus

Dorms are blocked off, and MPD has swarmed campus as a suspect in a shooting that occurred near 28th and M streets. The suspect(s) were caught at 24th street. There are unconfirmed reports that dorms are being blocked off, and traffic (both foot and car) are being diverted from the scene.

At this point, almost an hour after the event, there has been no official GW Alert, Crime Alert, or Campus Alert. Stay tuned to WRGW News for more information as this story develops.

BREAKING NEWS: Suspects caught in 28th and M Shooting

BREAKING NEWS-

Unconfirmed reports that the suspects in the Georgetown shooting have been caught at 24th street in Foggy Bottom, near campus.

GW has yet to send out a Campus Alert.

Stay tuned to WRGW News for more information.

Cinematic Titanic Hits GW

Mystery Science Theater 3000 comedians reunited for a live screening and performance.

The comedian alumni of Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunited for a live performance of their famous riffs Thursday at Lisner Auditorium, taking on the notably bad 1976 film "Rattlers."

Cinematic Titanic is the new feature-length movie-riffing show from the creator and original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which earned a place on Time's list of "100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time." Like MST3K, the show was created by Joel Hodgson and features the same team that first brought the Peabody award winning cult-classic series to life: Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff, and Mary Jo Pehl. Cinematic Titanic continues the tradition of riffing on the horribly great and just plain cheesy movies from the past.

In "Rattlers," a herpetologist must team up with an attractive war photographer to uncover the mystery behind a spate of killer rattlesnake attacks.

The Show began with introductions and stand up performances by the stars. Despite several technical difficulties with the movie pausing, the comedians kept the nearly packed auditorium laughing.

Joel Hodgson and the rest of the cast met with fans after the show to sign pretty much anything with a smooth surface.

Controversial Kuwaiti Filmmaker Talks Middle East and More

An event titled “Turning Motion Picture into Emotion”, sponsored by GWU’s Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, saw award-winning Kuwaiti filmmaker, Walid Al-Awadi, discuss his documentaries on 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan Wednesday. Walid’s 1995 chronicle of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait earned him the "Best International Film" award at the Houston Film Festival and his latest film, "Tora Bora," recently premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Initially trained as engineer, one of the two jobs deemed acceptable by his parents, Walid found his true inspiration through filmmaking. Inspiration, he argued, is the most important thing in life and despite facing a “red” bank account on more than one occasion, he remained  committed to the trade.

Walid spoke about his determination to cover the events of September 11th despite voiced concerns that, as a Kuwaiti national, such an undertaking would be too controversial. Despite the success of his initial project, PR reps told Walid to expect 100 people for his screening of ‘Dreams Without Sleep’ at the Lincoln Center in New York City. However, Walid played the film to a packed audience. 

Well-received in the West, Walid nevertheless faced some criticism back in Kuwait for a perceived ‘pro-American’ approach.

For Walid filmmaking is about the characters. "Dreams Without Sleep" told the stories of five people’s different experiences during the events of 9/11. Walid’s recent film ‘Tora Bora’ followed the story of two parents searching for their son who fled to Afghanistan to join a terrorist network.

More information on Walid’s latest project, ‘Tora Bora, can be found here.

GW Alum Discusses Social Change

The Inspirational Lecture Series made its debut on Wednesday with Justin Zorn, a 2008 GW alum, current Harvard scholar and founder of Banaa.org. Zorn led a discussion about sparking social change in Funger Hall with about twenty people, including GW students and faculty.

“I came to GW without ever really being at the center of a movement before,” said Zorn. His story began in 2004, when he entered GW as a freshman and the Darfur crisis began.

Zorn started a student group on campus and spoke to people who had been in different movements and grass-roots initiatives in DC. He found out that, “U.S. citizenship is the most powerful of all tools,” he said. “You can walk into a congressman’s office and ask them to co-sponsor a piece of legislation.”

The group also wrote op-eds for small local newspapers. “We held some rallies,” said Zorn, “but after all that excitement we realized there’s only so much we can do at 19 years old.”

The group's focus then shifted to targeting GW and former President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg to not provide revenue to the government of Sudan. They were able to get 36 student organizations to have a rally on campus. Zorn and his group got the president’s attention, but it was not what they expected.

“We had a good conversation, but we felt like we lost,” said Zorn. Trachtenberg offered to provide a scholarship to students of Sudan. The group agreed and decided to expand on the idea by creating a program to bring a large number of Sudanese students who can “contemplate what they can add to peace globally,”  Zorn said.

The group created a how-to kit for other campuses to establish the same scholarship program. They were able to get eight schools to provide full scholarships. The group also created a modified Common Application. They received 170 applications, “which totally blew us away,” Zorn said.

There are currently three Banaa scholars, one at GW and two at Rochester University. Makwei Mabioor Deng is the Banaa scholar at GW. He spent 16 years at a refugee camp in Kenya and wrote the first Dinka language textbook for grades 1 to 3. The first half of the book was published in 2009 when he started at GW. The second half was published this year.

“Education is one thing that can bring change,” said Deng, “and this is why this program is very important.”

Even though the Banaa program has experienced some successes, Deng and Zorn were honest about its shortcomings.

“The purpose of this program was to bring all Sudanese together as scholars because there is nothing common among us in Sudan,” said Deng. “We haven’t done as much as we need to, but at least we’ve done as much as we wanted.”

Zorn said the group is trying to keep GW actively engaged in the program and that University has fallen behind in its commitment.

To learn more about Banaa, visit their website.

Claiming Your NetID is Not a Trap

GW students know how to spot spam. However, for the past month, many have been confused by emails from the University seemingly asking for confidential information to secure their NetID and change their password. Some students were reluctant to make the switch.

"The password they want us to make is overly complicated," said Ben Laman-Maharg, a sophomore in the Honors Program. "And the emails they sent us to make the change seemed like spam. I had to call them to be sure that it was not spam."

According to GW's Division of Information Technology, the emails are legitimate and necessary as the university is tightening web security. The emails ask students to claim their NetID Account by accessing a linked webpage and inputting their GWid, birthday and last name. Then, students are asked to change their passwords into longer and more complicated codes that must include an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number and a symbol. This complicated password is to help prevent hackers from acquiring sensitive data, and even access to GW's servers. After creating the new password, all GW related log-ins are affected, from GWmail to Internet access through the GW1X or GWireless networks.

DIT's Rachel Belvins said in an email to WRGW News that the identity and access management program is the first part of a phase to "allow for simplified account creation and deactivation, password synchronization across IT applications and improved self service user account management services such as a reset process for forgotten passwords."

Ms. Belvins said that through GWToday articles and targeted emails towards users that have not yet switched, DIT will be able to meet the December 1 goal of first switching all students over to the new system so that they can focus on switching the staff then faculty.

DIT hopes to have the entire program finished by March, and they want to remind students that for more information on account claiming, the new identity and access management program, or other IT-related questions to please contact division of IT at 202-994-4948, email them at IThelp@gwu.edu or go to their website http://ITsupport.gwu.edu.

Huntsman Brings Campaign to GW

John Huntsman, Jr. discussed his economic and foreign policy with students.

Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman spoke before a packed Jack Morton Auditorium Tuesday night, marking the first visit by a 2012 presidential candidate to the GW campus since President Obama's in April.

The former Utah governor and ambassador to China spoke on fixing an ailing economy, reducing the "heroin-like addiction to foreign oil" and strengthening diplomatic ties with allies like Israel and India.

"All I want... is a foreign policy that says we're going to lead with economics," Huntsman said.

His plan for economic recovery would include the repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act and "Obamacare," a focus on domestic natural gas production for transportation and the adoption of a flat tax like the one his "good friend Rick Perry" talked about earlier in the day. He criticized President Obama's handling of the economy, including bailing out businesses seen as too big to fail.

"Capitalism without failure is not capitalism," Huntsman said.

Huntsman vocalized his support for continued counter-terrorism initiatives, claiming, "We must remain vigilant." But he also announced that he would bring home the 100,000 troops currently serving in Afghanistan.

Looking towards the general election, Huntsman attacked President Obama's "hope" campaign as a message of style over substance.

"You can win on a mantra, that don't mean you can lead," he said.

Though critical of the current president, Huntsman made no apologies for leaving his job as Utah governor to accept President Obama's nomination for ambassador to China.

"I worked for President Reagan, I worked for President Bush, I worked for President Bush," he said. "I'm of the firm belief that when your president asks you to step up and serve in a time of war, during a time of economic hardship, you stand up and put your country first."

Jack Morton quickly reached its 260 person capacity for the College Republicans-sponsored event. CR members could RSVP for priority seating prior to the event, while coordinators granted non dues-paying members entry on a first-come, first-served basis.

Huntsman spokesman and GW alumnus Tim Miller said his candidate does well with youth voters because of the sense that he includes them in the debate on topics such as the national debt.

"He's doing a lot of college visits," Miller said. "He has a positive message that resonates with young people."

Following the speech, students swarmed to the front of the auditorium, clamoring for a picture with the presidential candidate.

"I liked how moderate he was," GW senior Veronica Brown said. "He really spoke to me as a less right-wing Republican."

Despite polling below 2 percent in most national Republican primary studies, Huntsman maintains a focus on youth voters. He appeared on the popular Colbert Report Monday and jokingly requested that Stephen Colbert join him as his vice presidential running mate.

Huntsman is the second 2012 presidential candidate to campaign at GW this year. President Obama revealed his budget deficit reduction plan in the Jack Morton Auditorium shortly after announcing his candidacy in April. Republican candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich both came to campus in February, several months prior to officially announcing their runs for the Republican presidential nomination.

"I don't think this is his year," GW sophomore Daniel Ceisler said, "but I don't think this is the last we'll see of Jon Huntsman."

- Joseph Rabinowitz

Restaurant Review: An Asian Chipotle?

When I went to visit the new Asian Chipotle restaurant in Dupont Circle, I ended up walking right past it. Like an idiot.

That's, of course, because its name isn't actually "Asian Chipotle" (although I still intend to refer to it as such). No, the restaurant's real name is "ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen," and it's a brand-new spin-off restaurant owned by Chipotle. If you're worried that a restaurant whose specialty lies in delicious, gut-busting, assembly-line burritos couldn't possibly deliver good Asian food, think again, for I have been to the top of the mountain and have experienced ShopHouse firsthand.

Now, time for a quick disclaimer: ShopHouse's menu is based on cuisines from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore. As I have never visited any of these countries nor tasted their food, I can't attest to ShopHouse's authenticity. What I can attest to, however, is the fact that they serve up some very tasty food.

If you've ever been to a Chipotle before, ShopHouse will feel instantly familiar to you. The layout is almost identical to Chipotle's signature bare-bones, functional design. Ordering should also be a familiar process. You walk up to the counter and make one fundamental decision: do you want chicken, steak, chicken-pork meatballs or tofu? Once you've made your choice, everything else falls in place. Type of rice (or, if you prefer, rice noodles), vegetables, sauce, and crunchy toppings. And with that, you have your meal.

For my first meal, I requested grilled chicken on jasmine rice, with grilled green beans and caramelized onions, spicy red curry sauce, green papaya slaw (it's okay, I had no idea what it was, either), and crushed peanuts to top it all off. While there was something distinctly Chipotle about the food, it was also a wholly new and unique taste experience, and I enjoyed it very much. Be careful, though, the spicy red curry sauce is in fact very spicy, and unfortunately, ShopHouse doesn't sell any milk to neutralize the burning (which I feel is a major oversight). I was still feeling it on the Metro ride home ten minutes later. Be warned.

To those of you who find the idea of a simple bowl of rice and toppings boring, ShopHouse also offers sub-like sandwiches. I have yet to try one, but my roommate ordered a chicken-pork meatball sandwich and informed me that it was actually better than the bowl. I intend to order one on my next visit.

When it was all said and done, I walked away from ShopHouse with a full stomach and a very satisfied feeling, even in spite of my burning mouth. I would definitely recommend this brand new restaurant. The best part about it? The DC ShopHouse is the only one in the country (so far), so make the trip, enjoy the food and gloat about it to your friends at other schools. That's what I did, anyway.

Science and Engineering Hall Groundbreaking Ceremony

This past Thursday the University broke ground at the location for the future Science and Engineering Hall. GW President Steven Knapp, faculty, students, and neighborhood partners took part in the special ceremony that occurred in the now open lot on H and 22^nd Streets NW at the site of the old University Parking Garage.

With an expected completion date of 2015, the new building will have 400,000 square feet above grade and 290,000 square feet of space for teaching and research laboratories for faculty and students. Not only will faculty and students of the Columbian College and School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) be conducting research in the new building, but so will researchers from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The Science and Engineering Hall will be the first new building the School of Engineering and Applied Science has received in more than 50 years. One reason for building this new facility is that the current classroom space for the SEAS is spread over multiple locations around campus and includes many outdated classrooms and labs.

Despite losing the University Parking Garage, GW will still maintain a minimum of 2,800 parking spaces around campus at various lots and garages. The new building will have 380 parking spaces underground, something very important in an area already lacking in parking.

At a cost of $275 million, the new building comes at a time when the cash strapped University is already more than $1 billion in debt. Fortunately, GW will avoid slipping further into debt, as the new building will be financed by lease payments from The Avenue apartment complex, research contracts, and philanthropic gifts from the GW community.


Click here to view photos from the ground breaking ceremony.

Professor Reveals Findings on Child Development

Dr. Rochelle Newman gave a lecture this past Thursday in Funger Hall on how early perceptual abilities from infants can later affect how they process language.  Newman, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, received her bachelor's in speech pathology and now studies language processing in adults.

Dr. Newman discussed how one thing infants often recognize when they are four and a half years old is their name. This serves as a sign that their auditory system is in development.


"What happens is you use a sound that an infant knows and see if they can recognize it," Newman said.  "They may not know what it means to them, but they know it's a sound pattern they hear fairly often."

When sounds are funneled down the ear canal, they strike the same area. According to Newman, this differentiates from sight because when something hits our eyes, it reaches different sensor receptors.


However, because an infant's auditory system is not as well-developed as an adult's, an infant cannot separate different sources of sound.  This is especially noticeable when infants are in noisy environments.


"We might expect that infants would have difficulty in noisy environments," Newman said.  "We know that second language learners who have less knowledge about the language have problems in noisy environments. Infants will suffer the same problem."


Newman demonstrated this with the headturn preference procedure. A child would sit in a parent's lap, a light would flash and a voice would say the infant's name, often over noise. In cases where the infant would recognize the sound as familiar, they would pay more attention to it.


"When testing with older infants around nine months to 13 months, the amount of time they spent looking at the source saying their name increased," Newman said.


The results of this experiment, Newman explained, showed that infants younger than nine months may not be able to acquire useful speech information in real world settings. By developing perceptual skills over time, they can better develop their language skills.


One of these particular skills is segmentation, which is an infant's ability to separate streams of speech into individual words.


"This is important because parents don't just talk to babies," Newman said.  "There aren't pauses in the words when speaking the same way there are breaks when typing a sentence."


The other skill is statistical learning: an infant's ability to recognize consistent patterns in what they hear.


Newman's ongoing work includes a large, longitudinal study with infants that critically examines what skills that develop during infancy are particularly important and how they correlate with sound.