We, the editors of the Voices section, shared this note with The Georgetown Voice team this morning and have decided to publish it for transparency:
We are writing to let you know about a change coming to our section.
We will be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: legacy admissions and vague emails against new executive actions. We are open to covering other issues as well—obviously—but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
In the past, it used to be that a newsmagazine, especially one with a monopoly on empathetic and considerate campus journalism, might have thought it important to bring to students’ dorms every other Friday a diverse opinion section aiming to cover every Hoyas’ views and personal stories. Today, however, fights on Fizz and niche Hoya micro-influencers on Instagram do that job.
Us Voices editors are of Georgetown and for Georgetown, and proudly so. Our school did not become the #24 university in the U.S. by being typical. And a big part of Georgetown’s success has been from our legacy students and their parents’ loads of money. Vague emails are ethical—they allow Georgetown to brandish its Jesuit Values while expressing acceptably disgruntled feelings against our fascist president—and practical—they reduce the university’s responsibility to rally actionable support for its vulnerable students.
We offer to you, fellow Voice staffers, the opportunity to join us opinion editors as we lead this new chapter in Voice history. However, if your answer isn’t “hell freaking yes,” then you should probably give up writing opinion articles altogether. This is a big change and it won’t be easy—it’ll take everything from you guys and just about nothing from us. But we see it as an important shift in Voices coverage.
We’re confident that vague emails after highly disturbing executive policy changes and continuing legacy admissions are right for Georgetown. We are also convinced that these viewpoints are underserved in the current Georgetown market of opinion commentary and personal narratives. We are excited to fill each Hoyas’ media void.
–The Voices editors
