SFS-Q Breaks Ground on New BuildingGeorgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Qatar campus is getting a major facelift.

On Oct. 30, the school held a groundbreaking ceremony in

celebration of the construction of a new building. Qatar Foundation President Fathy Saoud hosted the event.

The building, which is expected to be completed by 2010, will measure 37,000 square feet in area and will house a library, offices, classrooms and other facilities for the 200 undergraduate and graduate students in the SFS-Q.

“The new building will house everything from classrooms to administrative offices, library, student lounge space and club rooms, as well as space for our research center, the Center for International & Regional Studies,” Charles Nailen, director of public affairs for the SFS-Q said. “There is also an auditorium and performance space.”

He added that the extra space is a needed improvement to the school.

“Thus far, we have been sharing space in the Liberal Arts and Sciences building with other programs in Education City,” Nailen said.

Education City is located just outside of the Qatar capital of Doha and hosts educational and research facilities of leading universities.

“A dedicated facility will not only strengthen our identity, but will provide us with the space we need to allow Georgetown to fulfill our academic, research and outreach mission. The building will allow us space to expand our library by about 500 percent to more than 125,000 volumes,” he said.

“This is the first building outside the oil and gas industry that is being built under the oversight of an independent safety auditor. This emphasis on safety is indicative of our commitment to protect the workers involved in constructing the building,” Nailen said.

The School of Foreign Service has been in Qatar’s Education City since 2005, when it first began offering its undergraduate bachelor of science in Foreign Service program outside the Washington, D.C., main campus. Four years later, 150 students study at the SFS-Q with the first class graduating in May.

-William Vogt

PD City Checkpoints Upheld by Federal Court

A federal judge denied a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Metropolitan Police Department from establishing checkpoints to prevent traffic into high-crime neighborhoods last Thursday.

In his Oct. 30 opinion, District Judge Richard Leon emphasized the necessity for the checkpoints.

“The public’s interest in deterring violent crime of this type through a checkpoint program this carefully crafted is overwhelming,” Leon wrote in his opinion for the case. “To take this arrow out of the MPD’s quiver on such a weak showing as to its unconstitutionality would be injurious not only to MPD’s ability to protect our citizens, but to the public’s overwhelming need to be protected from these mobile merchants of violence.”

Four D.C. residents, including a Howard University student, sued MPD in June under the umbrella of the The Partnership for Civil Justice, alleging that a checkpoint that screened vehicles entering the Trinidad neighborhood violated their constitutional rights. The Trinidad neighborhood is located in northeast D.C. in Ward 5.

The Partnership for Civil Justice handled the class action filing and argued that the department violated these residents’ privacy and their Fourth Amendment’s protections against search and seizure.

After the results were announced, the Partnership for Civil Justice filed an immediate appeal of the ruling with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“This battle for the constitutional rights of residents of D.C. has just begun,” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice, said.

Last year, violence rocked the Trinidad neighborhood, which saw 25 assaults with a deadly weapon, including five homicides and six shootings involving vehicles and drive-by shootings. After a triple homicide on May 31, the MPD enacted 11 vehicle checkpoints around the Trinidad neighborhood.

During the checkpoints’ four-day run this summer, the MPD stopped 951 vehicles temporarily and denied 48 of those from Trinidad because the drivers could not provide a legitimate reason for entry into the area. According to the Associated Press, no violent crimes occurred in the neighborhood while the checkpoints were in effect.

– Gregg Re

Reagan Airport Named Nation’s Fourth Best

Reagan National Airport ranked fourth place as a favorite U.S. airport in the 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards on SmarterTravel.com.

The contest, which recognizes airports and airlines for their performance in categories such as best value, best customer service and most reliable, tallied results from the responses of more than 10,000 travelers.

Reagan took fourth among American airports with 6.01 percent of the total vote, behind Las Vegas-McCarran International at 9.15 percent, Denver International at 9.05 percent and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International at 7.85 percent.

Travelers cited on-time arrivals and departures as their reasons for selecting Reagan, as well as ease of navigability. The aesthetically pleasing terminals, designed by Argentine architect Cesar Pelli, were also mentioned.

Earlier this year, Reagan tied for third place in overall customer satisfaction in the 2008 North America Airport Satisfaction Study by J.D. Powers and Associates, along with Tampa International and Memphis International.

The recent distinctions echoed the sentiments of Georgetown students, many of whom can be found roaming Reagan’s concourses en route to and from their homes during holidays.

“It’s a really clean airport,” Josie Perez (SFS ’11) said, who travels to see family in Quito, Ecuador, over some school breaks. “And efficient – security checks are fast, and there are rarely long lines.”

Reagan is the closer of two airports frequently used by Georgetown students. The other, Washington Dulles International, is serviced by more airlines, but some students feel the airport’s limitations outweigh the benefits.

“Dulles is a lot less convenient; it’s far away and the cab ride is expensive,” Carson Monetti (COL ’11) said, who plans to fly home to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. “Reagan is right on the Metro line.”

Reagan was ranked number two on aviation.com’s list of “Easiest Airports to Get To” last year because of its two Metro stations.

-Kevin Suyo

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