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GIDEON’ S PROMISE /// THE ACTIVISTS’ DILEMMA /// CURING DYSPHAGIA THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE SUMMER 2015 In Haiti with a medical team from the School of Nursing, Pulitzer Prize winner B. D. Colen, BA ’73, turns a lens on the group’s efforts and the struggle to make a difference in the beleaguered nation. WASHINGTON, DC/FOGGY BOTTOM MAKE ROOM FOR A LITTLE FUN.TM The Courtyard Washington, DC/Foggy Bottom offers an enticing location just steps from George Washington University’s campus, American Red Cross, the Lincoln Memorial, The White House, National Mall, Kennedy Center - and so many more iconic spots. Ideal for alumni events, weekend escapes and business travel alike, the hotel delivers refreshing and modern amenities at an affordable price. Guests are encouraged to take advantage of engaging technology, complimentary Wi-Fi and inviting, flexible spaces to work and relax. Enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner at The Bistro, along with a cocktail or Starbucks® beverage - or unwind with a swim in the indoor pool. Make us your home away from home the next time you’re in DC - and enjoy a brand new stay. For reservations, visit CourtyardDCFoggyBottom.com and enter promotional code GWU for the best available rates. Courtyard by Marriott® 515 20th Street NW 202.296.5700 Washington, DC/Foggy Bottom Washington, DC 20006 CourtyardDCFoggyBottom.com CONTENTS GW MAGAZINE SUMMER 2015 A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS At the launch of a sexual assault awareness campaign at the White House in September, attended by President Steven Knapp and other student and administration leaders from GW, an audience member takes in the scene. [Features] [Departments] 26 / Five Years Later in Haiti 2 / Postmarks Half a decade after a catastrophic earthquake, a Pulitzer Prize winner finds that life in the beleagured 5 / GW News nation goes on, as it always has. / Story and Photos By B. D. Colen, BA ’73 / 56 / Philanthropy Update 36 / Promise Keeper 60 / Alumni News Through his program Gideon’s Promise, MacArthur Fellow Jonathan Rapping, JD ’95, is helping the government fulfill its duty to stand up for the indigent accused. / By Tony Rehagen / 42 / ‘We’re Always Activists First’ Students on the front lines of a national movement against sexual violence find a battlefield with no boundaries. / By Ruth Steinhardt / 48 / Reuniting Babies and Their Bottles For infants with disorders that leave them unable to eat, feeding tubes and surgeries offer an imperfect On the cover: WILLIAM ATKINS fix. The issue is in the brain, and that’s where researchers are looking for a cure. / By Lauren Ingeno / Photo by B. D. Colen gwmagazine.com / 1 POSTMARKS think that my classmate wasn't conflict with our religious BALANCING ACT overly traumatized by what beliefs. he saw, and I venture to guess Mr. W explained that the time that neither the profession of that he spent with my father obstetrician nor helped him consider how to surgeon was in his teach the material and how to future, unlike the explain this new subject to other soon-to-be-born parents. My dad’s meeting with baby that caught Mr. W was a very important his attention on experience in his 40 year that steamy day. teaching career. Eileen Coppola, As my own children have BA ’72 passed from playground to school to college and our working world, I look upon With Babies, their success with wonder. I am a Recurring grateful to the coaches, trainers, ‘Boom’ neighbors, relatives and others The rewards of who shared responsibility for working with and their growth. I am especially raising children thankful for the teachers. can arrive in Today my sister is a nurse, unexpected working at a hospital that ways, sometimes specializes in obstetrics and years or decades women’s health. later. Rich Collins, Five years ago GW Associate Vice President my father passed for Law Development, parent of away. On the two GW alumni and another of afternoon of his the University of Virginia wake, I welcomed neighbors, friends and … But the Spelling Was— family. To my Wait, Never Mind surprise, my high An excellent article by Marc school health Leepson (“Death Certainly teacher arrived. Would Soon Close the Scene”)! I believe the spring 2015 I became a parent for the first I never thought Mr. W was a In the penultimate paragraph, magazine is the most time while an undergraduate friend of my dad. though, John Wilkes Booth’s student at GW. Hoping to What brought him here? Did I death would have been 12 days, interesting edition I've complete as many courses overlook a family friend over the not 17, after fleeing Ford’s read in four-plus years of as possible before the baby's past three decades? Theatre. employment. arrival, I took a political After thanking him for Robert B. McClinton, geography course during the coming, I confessed that I was MSIA/1969 I like the blend of personal particularly hot D.C. summer of embarrassed that I did not Sequim, Wash. experiences, reminiscences, 1968. realize that he and my dad were university history and features. In the midst of the lecture, I close. Another astute reader noted It is very well-written and noticed a male student taking Mr. W recounted his first the misspelling of John Wilkes designed. covert glances at my hugely year teaching the health science Booth’s famous exclamation, “Sic Kudos to you and your staff! pregnant abdomen. As both course in our high school, and semper tyrannis”—“as always Nancy Muse, the lecture and my unborn the strong interest by parents to tyrants”—after jumping to Manager GW Faculty & child's movements became who were anxious about the the stage. We regret the errors. Instructional Support more animated, my classmate's segment on sex education. —Eds. complexion went from white to My dad had scheduled an a grayish green. My thin white appointment with Mr. W to Dancing in the Seats summer T-shirt did little to mask discuss the approach to this new What’s Coming Up Your “Baby Boom” stories proved the protruding heels and elbows curriculum. He was especially I enjoy reading the GW once again that becoming a of my baby’s “summer in the concerned that the class would Magazine, especially the reviews parent is as individualized as it is city” dance. not confuse his daughter (my of recent headliners and events. ubiquitous. After all these years, I hope to younger sister) and create I often find myself wishing I KIMMINHEE 2 / gw magazine / Summer 2015 had known about the events in All Write! managing editor advance, so that I might have Danny Freedman, BA ’01 We want to hear from you, too. Please write to participated or attended. If the assistant editor university maintains a calendar, us through the “Contact Us” link on our website, gwmagazine.com, or send a note to: Matthew Stoss I would like to see the magazine highlight a few events that GW Magazine Photo editor are planned well in advance Letter to the Editor William Atkins and provide a link to the most 2121 Eye Street, NW Design current information available. Suite 501 GW Marketing & Creative Services Washington, DC 20052 Rosemary Byrd, LLM ’01, art directors North Beach, Md. [email protected] Dominic N. Abbate, BA ’09, MBA ’15 John McGlasson, BA ’00, MFA ’03 Great idea, thank you. We’ll work Please include your name, degree/year, address, on finding ways to include more and a daytime phone number. contributors of that content. Meantime, the GW Today staff: Keith Harriston Letters may be edited for clarity and space. (senior managing editor), Rob Stewart full university calendar can be (managing editor for multimedia), James found at calendar.gwu.edu. Event Irwin (associate editor), Julyssa Lopez previews and coverage from GW For advertising inquiries, please send an email to: (assistant editor), Brittney Dunkins Today can be found at gwtoday. [email protected]. (writer/editor) and Lauren Ingeno gwu.edu. —Eds. (writer/editor) INTeRns Rebecca Manikkam, GWSB ’17 (editorial) Zach Marin, CCAS ’18 (photography) President of the university Steven Knapp vice President for external [online] relations Lorraine Voles, BA ’81 We love print. associate vice President for But darn it if there aren’t some cool communications things that we just can’t do on these Sarah Gegenheimer Baldassaro pages. We can’t serve up audio of Pulitzer Prize winner B. D. Colen, executive director for editorial services BA ’73, as he gives a behind- Rachel Muir the-lens perspective of his most compelling photos his recent trip GW Magazine (ISSN 2162-6464) to Haiti (Pg. 30). And we can’t show is published quarterly by the Division you video of National Poetry Slam of External Relations, the George champion Elizabeth Acevedo, Washington University, Rice Hall BA ’10, (Pg. 15) as she demonstrates Suite 501, Washington, D.C. 20052. the exquisitely honed prose, Our phone number is 202-994-5709; fax intonation and body language that 202-994-5761; email [email protected]. that are the tools of her trade. But we can give you both of PosTmasTeR Please send all those online, and now we have. change-of-address notices to GW Those web-only features—as well as Magazine, GW Alumni Records Office, 2100 M St., NW, Suite 315, Washington, a soup-to-nuts website redesign— DC 20052. Notices can also be sent to us are part of an effort to boost your at gwu.edu/~alumni/update, via email to reading experience whether you [email protected], or 202-994-3569. read GW Magazine in print, online Periodicals postage paid at Washington, or, as we hope increasingly, both.