Capitol Steps Leave No Politician Behind

By Alex Carrion

The political satire group Capitol Steps performed in front of a packed crowd at the Pryzbyla Great Room last Monday. Politics is usually something that is hotly debated, especially among politics majors at the University. But when the show began, it was soon clear that Republican or Democrat, no topic would be too serious to laugh at.

Capitol Steps began performing in 1981, when several Senate staffers got together to make a small show for then Congressman Charles Percy. First designed to be a legitimate nativity song, performer Brad VanGrack explained that the original concept design was abandoned when “we couldn’t find three wise men or any virgins” on Capitol Hill.

The result was a free-for-all parody of songs that made fun of every well known political figure in the 80’s, sparing no one, including their own employers.

Since then, the group has performed for over 27 years, and every show since has had one thing in common: these comedians take no prisoners. Starting with a nice parody of a well known Broadway show, the group was quick to trumpet how excited the leftist media was for a new black president by singing “Obama Mia! Here we go again!” From start to finish, songs from Dancing Queen to Stayin’ Alive and even The Sound of Music were parodied to show how ridiculous Washington can be at times.

When songs weren’t being copied, words were being twisted into hilarious nonsense. The finale, called Dirty Lies, had VanGrack appear onstage doing little more than replacing the first letters of some words. Seeming harmless enough, VanGrack showed how dangerous a jumbled vocabulary can be, discussing the Road to the Election, or as he liked to call it, “The Load to the Erection”, as well as “Spelliot Itzer”, and how he was “Hanging Bores with bot hotties!”

While one could ask such comedians where they get their material from or how long they can keep up their work, it seems obvious that so long as politicians don’t stop having scandals or holding radical positions, there will always be work for Capitol Steps. As VanGrack put it, “The songs [we write] tend to just write themselves because Politicians are so messed up that sometimes the stuff just comes pretty naturally!”

Center Stage’s “Looking Up” Spreads a Message of Hope from One Tragic Loss

by Christina Wolfgram

Center Stage Theater Company’s “Looking Up” is a testament to the strength, friendship, and most importantly, the hope that can grow from loss.

Kaitlin Hitchings, a senior musical theatre major, got the idea for the cabaret after a fellow student and close friend, Lauren Alcantar, died of Ewing’s Sarcoma, a malignant round-cell cancerous tumor, during both their sophomore years. “Things happen in your life that you can’t control, but you have to incorporate them in a positive way – that was Lauren’s life,” said Hitchings.

Alcantar was a musical theater major who lived in Portland, OR for most of her life. Alcantar is known for her beautiful voice and spirit. She died at the age of 20 on May 20, 2007.

Though Lauren’s moving story inspired the show, Hitchings made sure that the content was relateable to any audience. Read more

Most Gay Students Say They Feel Welcome at Catholic U.

In the shadow of the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, gay students face a campus that most say is as accepting as any other community.

Catholic University’s history of accommodating minorities is spotty, including a failed attempt attempt to sustain an organization which catered to gay and bisexual students.

Despite having no official club to join, Junior Robby Diesu said that gays “tend to self-ghettoize. We just run with each other.”

For Michele Jacobsen, a bisexual and practicing Catholic, the religious aspect of the University has a positive impact on her life. “I went on the freshman retreat and didn’t really hold back,” said Jacobsen. “I generally got positive feedback from the priests here.” Read more

Students From Other Colleges Say Gays are Accepted as Equals

College Democrats, College Republicans, Spanish Club, Ultimate Frisbee Club – there is such a wide variety of clubs on campus, but it feels like something is missing. It has been rumored that the university has a 30 percent homosexual population.  This means that there is a significant portion of the school’s population unrepresented.  Why don’t we have a Gay/Straight Alliance Club?  Many feel that it wouldn’t survive.

“[The Catholic University of America] does not feel like a safe environment to come out,” said sophomore Kim Clark, who was co-founder and president of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at her old high school.  “It’s a ‘don’t ask, don’t talk about it’ situation.” Read more

A Deep Look into the Creation of the Pryz

Sitting here in Starbucks, looking around the Pryz, students can be seen walking together about to enjoy the traditional Pryz cuisine and rushing to grab a quick coffee before a meeting in one of the offices. There are students on their phones planning to meet friends for dinner and professors meeting students to talk about class earlier that morning.
Let’s face it; we the students, faculty and administration of the University, need the Edward J. Pryzbyla Center.

Before the Pryz was built, students did not gather in one place like they do today. Students ate in dining halls located in three different parts of campus; the south (now Cardinal Hall, the north (now the Kane Fitness Center) and Caldwell Hall. There was no central place for student organizations to organize events or for University students simply to congregate. The Pryz provides the heartbeat for this campus.

In 1999, students began to grow more aware of a student center that would be focused on unifying the campus community and giving students a place to work on student activity that would be a place for positive student organization work to be done. Students were even able to fill out questionnaires suggesting ideas for the center to come.

From the start, the University Center Building Committee (UCBC) and the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architectural Firm, wanted to create a center that would put students first. As head of the UCBC, Margaret Higgins, also a former dean of students, saod during one of many town hall meetings, “Our dreams are finally coming true.”

Later that year, we learned that the student center was to be named after Edward J. Pryzbyla, an alumnus and the greatest benefactor to the University to this day. Pryzbyla was the first to donate specifically to the cause of a new student union.

He was known by administrators to be a man who loved this University. He was once found saying to administrators, “… respect the environment, do not litter, try not to make cow paths in the lawns, and above all, please spell my name correctly.” When “Eddie J.” passed away in November 2000, students and administrators alike recognized his work and ideals. The center needed to be completed while remembering a man who loved the University so much that he donated millions of dollars to ensure that students would have a place to gather in the center of campus. In an editorial in the Friday, December 1, 2000 edition of The Tower, the writer credited Pryzbyla for “creating centrality to a campus criticized for division.”

After the groundbreaking in April 2000, students watched the Pryzbyla Center grow from the ground and become a reality. Students began to learn the reasons for every detail about the building that we take for granted.

The Pryz was designed with the idea to appear “inside out” so that everyone walking by the building could feel as though they were a part of the student activities even before walking inside, which is portrayed in an open “L” shape. The building has glass walls to create the illusion of transparency in the front entrance and also in the back so that students can always see what is going on inside. The student restaurant is placed on the third floor so that students need to walk through most of the building, enabling them to notice other activities going on. The vaulted ceiling serves as a beacon ushering students to the center of campus.

While the rooms within the Pryz are mostly true to original plan, there are a few ideas that did not make the final cut. For example, countless students will be at ease when the truth is exposed about the “sidewalk that leads to nowhere” on CV hill. There were plans to build a bridge joining the outside of Centennial Village to the inside of the Pryz, creating a direct entrance to the building. The plan was put down after budget cuts.

The post office was also supposed to be housed in the Pryz as well but it was decided that more room should be made for student organization offices. There was also a proposal to have a take-out window and phone-in service for students in the Food Court, but was not followed up. A plan to serve alcohol had not been approved by the Alcohol Beverage Control Board (ABC Board) by the time the Pryz had opened, according to Robert Fox, general manager of Sodhexo, the former food provider for the University.

Alas, the Edward J. Pryzbyla Center finally opened about a year after the original completion date and $1.8 million over budget. While students originally clung to their loyalty towards the old dining halls, they grew to love the open space, improved food and quiet study spaces.

While flipping, through the pages of old copies of The Tower, it is striking to read about how much administration cared about student desires. I read of debates between graduate and undergraduate students about dining needs of graduate students. There were stories of students asking for peaceful places to study that would be open later than 10 pm, the closing time of the old Campus Center South. The Pryz is not just a pretty building that the University made to attract prospective students, it was made for you.

Election Poem: The Lone Democrats

By Christina Wolfgram, Class of 2012

I think we were the only Democrats in our building,
or at least in the common room,
Because every time we‘d cheer for Obama
someone else would boo.
It was a little awkward
when that one girl started to cry,
But I and my one Democrat friend
just gave each other high fives.
It had been quite the ordeal
waiting for California‘s votes.
Everyone impatient,
all of us in the same boat.
We all huddled on couches,
hollering for updates,
But the results changed everything,
dividing friends and roommates.
One boy shook his head,
another said bad words,
One girl said she‘s moving,
and I think that‘s absurd.

America loves unity
and freedom of speech too,
so now can‘t we just get along
so I can hang in the common room?

First Person Singular: Election Night 2008

The Tower collected personal accounts of election night 2008 from Catholic University of America students.

On November 4th, 2008 our nation changed forever. That night the Knights of Columbus in conjunction with the College Democrats, College Republicans, and WCUA Radio hosted an election results viewing in the Pryz Food Court.

WCUA broadcast live from the food court in the thick of a crowd that gathered to watch history. As the results came in state by state Colin Schmitt, Kevin Dolan, and myself commentated for those listening over the internet. It was exhilarating as we talked about the results just as we had been watching on TV for so many years. One by one from East to West the states went blue, red, some went from red to blue. There were cheers and jeers from the crowd. Behind the WCUA Banner, we sat and rattled off numbers as ABC, CNN, FOX, and dozens of other news sources put them up. We had our own map too!

But by 9 p.m. EST it was clear that John McCain would not be in for the upset victory some had hoped for. And by 11 p.m. EST, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of these United States. There were a lot of sad faces, a lot of raw emotion that night. I‘ll admit, I was sad to see the guy my friends and I hoped would make it, go down in such a large defeat.

There were tears and cheers that night, but in the end we had been on the radio for 5 hours and sleep was coming fast. We watched history as it happened, and it is something we will all never forget.

-Chris Pierno, Class of 2011

With the epic opportunity to be in D.C. during one of the most exciting moments in my modern history, there was no option for my roommates and I but to head downtown.  In typical Irish-Catholic fashion, Mary Margaret, Jenni, Meghan, Beth, Courtney, Kathryn and I wound up at Fado‘s in Chinatown.  Nestled in a back booth, we sipped on Strong Bow and Magner‘s, while the votes trickled in. With the bar cleaved in two, one side Democrat and the other Republican, the evening was filled with boos and reciprocal cheers from either side. As each state‘s projection came into CNN, the excitement heightened. Every time an Obama state was announced, high fives and cheers went around the bar. Our table went into a fit of clapping and whooping as Iowa‘s Democratic conclusion was announced–Jenni was the only Iowan in the bar!  Paying our tab and piling onto the Metro, we were sure the race would not be over until the wee hours of the morning. The Metro was eerily quiet.  It was as if no one underground realized the epic battle raging above. However, the Metro doors at Brookland opened to elated “Obama“ chants!

-Christina Shaw, Class of 2012

Read more

F.D.R. Picked Up Train at Catholic U. to Avoid Union Station Congrestion

The Tower reported in February 1942 that former United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made a quick stop at the University before departing by train to an undisclosed location. The University had a railroad station at the time. Previously, he had recieved an honorary degree from CUA in 1933.

“Mr. Roosevelt stepped from his car to the station platform, to a fast westbound train, in a few seconds,” said the article. “The obvious reason for this action was to avoid congestion at Union Station.”

Students welcomed Roosevelt’s short appearance. “We say welcome any time, Mr. President,” the article read. “Catholic University wants to serve the country in any and every capacity, and if this lowly station serves the purpose, use it.”

In March, a member of Roosevelt’s staff at the White House, known as Mr. Hassett in a message found in archives, phoned to ask the name of the Editor of The Tower, who, at the time, was Arthur Mullen of Omaha, Nebraska. In their conversation, Hassett told Mullen that, in regards to the article printed about Roosevelt, “such things are not to printed about the president.”

Ryan J. Reilly and Michael Oliva contributed to this report.

CUA Awarded Kennedy for Service to Church, Nation

Former President John F. Kennedy was presented with the Ninth Annual James Cardinal Gibbons Medal at the University in 1956 for “his great deeds as a Catholic patriot, as a civic leader, as an incomparable humanitarian and as an unflinching champion of principles we hold sacred,” as alumni president James Kenny stated at the presentation of the award.

Kennedy received the award during his time as Senator of Massachussetts. During his acceptance, he stated that splitting parties between liberals and conservatives would “lessen political tolerance, make more difficult bipartisan cooperation on basic national policies and reduce drastically the checks and balances on extreme action which our present two-party system provides.” He later explained that “it is through discussion that democracy corrects its errors.”

The James Cardinal Gibbons Medal is the highest award given by the Alumni Association. It is given to an individual who may or may not be an alumnus of the university for outstanding service to the church, the United States and the University. Kennedy is among other distinguished recipients, such as Nancy Reagan and J. Edgar Hoover.

Obama, McCain Exchange Lighthearted Jabs at Dinner Honoring Former CUA Trustee

Last week on October 18, both Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R- AZ) spoke at the 2008 Alfred E. Smith dinner. The dinner, which was organized by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, raised $3.9 million dollars for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York.

Smith who was a four term Governor of New York (1919-1920 and 1923-1928), was the first Catholic to be a nominee of a major political party. He was the Democratic Presidential Nominee in 1928 a race which he lost to Herbert Hoover. Read more

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