Archive

  • By Month

All posts


Leisure

Critical Voices: Anti-Flag, The General Strike

As its name suggests, Anti-Flag is notorious for its leftist brand of political punk. And, perhaps because of a recent trend of distaste with the government and capitalist institutions, the band has found friendly ears for its latest album, The General Strike. While by no means for everyone, the LP is a must-hear for those who find themselves identifying with people who spent some part of the past six months camping out in parks.

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Shins, Port of Morrow

“You gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life, I swear.” Back in 2004, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the Shins still consisted of its original members, the band was forever immortalized in the words of Natalie Portman’s character in Garden State, as “New Slang” catapulted the group to indie stardom and exposed them to a wider audience. But since then, James Mercer, the frontman and beating heart of the band, has dismantled the original line-up to introduce an entirely different cast of characters. Their new LP, Port of Morrow, consequently sounds more like Mercer’s side project, Broken Bells, than traditional Shins, which might alienate some fans who preferred the more charming sound of Oh, Inverted World.

News

Students advocate for University Office of Sustainability

Last week, a group of students and faculty planted flowers and removed trash along O Street between 35th and 36th Streets in an effort to improve neighborhood relations and demonstrate environmental commitment.

News

GUSA executive appoints diverse cabinet and staff

Last weekend, newly inaugurated GUSA President and Vice-President Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) and Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13) announced their selections for their executive cabinet. Out of a record 80 applicants, the executive appointed six women and five men, including former GUSA senators Colton Malkerson (COL ’13) and Yupang Chang (MSB ’15), forming a staff that will be one of the most diverse cabinets in recent memory.

News

University to implement anti-sweatshop regulations

As early as this summer, Georgetown is likely to implement the Designated Suppliers Program, a system in which all suppliers of University apparel must verify that they pay their workers a living wage and allow their workers to unionize and collectively bargain, according to Associate Vice President for Federal Relations Scott Fleming.

News

City on a Hill: Troubled by preemptive arrests

Back in October, Metropolitan Police raided two Capitol Hemp locations in Adams Morgan and two in Chinatown, confiscating water pipes that they claimed were up for sale expressly for the consumption of marijuana. While offering these pipes (most people call them bongs) at head shops is perfectly legal, the police justified their actions by pointing to other items for sale in the store that expressly referenced cannabis use and evasion of law enforcement, such as the book Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use, and the DVD 10 Rules for Dealing with Police.

Sports

Sports Sermon: Hoyas, meet D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera

“He’s better than advertised, and most kids that come out of high school are not,” Smith said. “D’Vauntes, he doesn’t really have any weaknesses.”

Sports

Hoyas follow UNC win with Penn victory

The Hoyas went out and upset the Quakers, 11-9, in Philadelphia. Junior Sophia Thomas scored six goals and freshman Caroline Tarzian chipped in one goal to go with three assists.

Sports

Double Teamed: Goodell sets NFL standard

Justice has been served, and while Saints fans might not be happy, this is an important step toward making the NFL a more safe and honorable league.

Sports

Hoyas falter, seniors bow out

A year after putting Georgetown on the national radar with a near upset against Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament, the Georgetown women’s basketball team failed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The Hoyas, a five-seed, were undone in the Round of 32 by Georgia Tech, 76-64.

Editorials

Georgetown should encourage neurodiversity

Gender equality, respect for the LGBTQ community, and racial diversity are all common topics of discussion at Georgetown. But most students remain unaware of another movement on campus—neurodiversity, a philosophy that acknowledges neurodevelopmental differences, such as developmental, cognitive, learning, or behavioral disabilities, as a normal part of the human experience. Although this mindset is beginning to take hold on campus, students and the administration alike can do more to ensure that those with mental abilities different from the stereotypical norm are comfortable and welcome on campus. The admissions office should also actively recruit these individuals to encourage a wide range of perspectives and experiences in the Georgetown community.

Editorials

Rutgers suicide highlights persisting prejudice

On March 16, a New Jersey jury reached a verdict in the case of Dharun Ravi, a student at Rutgers University who was accused of spying on his former roommate. In September 2012, Ravi set up a webcam with which to record and broadcast his then-roommate, Tyler Clementi, having sex with another man. Three days later, Clementi, who was not out to the general public, committed suicide by jumping off of a bridge. On Friday, the jury found Ravi guilty on charges including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Editorials

Goldman won’t change until we make them

Last week, Greg Smith decided to resign from his position as an executive director at Goldman Sachs with a bang. He lashed out, via an op-ed in the New York Times, at the predatory and indecent banking culture that is the norm at Goldman Sachs, claiming that the company had detracted from its previous mission of “teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility and always doing right by our clients.”

Sports

Hoyas comeback bid falls short against North Carolina State

Georgetown finally broke out of their NCAA Tournament slump on Friday, but that win was only a mild reprieve from the Hoyas’ postseason woes. Poor shooting and foul trouble doomed the Hoyas on Sunday, who lost to a double-digit seed for the third year in a row.

Sports

Clark leads Hoyas to first NCAA Tournament victory since 2008

It took four years, but Georgetown is once again advancing in the NCAA Tournament. Jason Clark ensured that he wouldn't graduate without an NCAA victory, scoring 21 points to lead the Hoyas to a 74-59 victory over Belmont.

News

Long-delayed boathouse project moves forward

On Saturday, March 3, the National Park Service held a public workshop on the construction of a boathouse along the Potomac River waterfront near Georgetown.

News

Students support Fluke with petitions, gatherings

Over the past week, Georgetown students angered by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s verbal attack on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, have created petitions and begun planning events to protest Limbaugh’s comments, which drew national media attention and outrage.

News

Housing responds to student outcry over air conditioning

On Wednesday, after an outpouring of student complaints and online protests, the Office of Student Housing addressed concerns that buildings on East Campus would not have working air conditioning until early May.

News

Saxa Politica: Life report lacks data

Last April, the GUSA Executive commissioned the 2012 Report on Student Life, and allocated a large portion of their budget to the project. Although they call the resulting 73-page report “rigorous” and “empirical,” the report’s findings and methods are dubious at best.

Features

Justice vs. Jesuit Values: The struggle for reproductive rights

"I was in shock the first time I tried to get my prescription filled as a student, and I was told that I owed seventy-five dollars. I’ve never paid over twenty dollars for it. I was hurt and embarrassed and felt powerless.” This is the story of one of many anonymous law students, explained in a survey-based memorandum delivered two years ago to the University by the Georgetown chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice.

Voices

“Frothy mixture” definition hurts more than Santorum campaign

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has become an object of ridicule in popular culture. Santorum’s statements—including ones describing how President John Kennedy’s 1960 speech on religious liberty made him want to “throw up” and claiming that Obama wanted to send more kids to college to make them liberals—raised eyebrows even inside Republican spheres.

Voices

Carrying On: Capitalism on cable

While surfing TV channels over spring break, I noticed a show on ABC called Shark Tank. A knock-off of a British and Canadian show called Dragon’s Den, Shark Tank provides entrepreneurs and ambitious small business owners with a chance to pitch their business or product to boardroom of “sharks,” shrewd, self-made millionaire investors with a considerable talent for making money. The contestants approach the sharks requesting a specific dollar amount for a percentage of their company, make their pitch, and wait to see if the sharks care to make them an offer. Many propositions are immediately dismissed as ridiculous and hopeless, while others are so potentially lucrative that the sharks will compete with one another for the contestant’s partnership.

Voices

Hunger pains: Teens starving for better literature

March 23 is generally not a particularly memorable date. But this year, it is a day of incredible importance for a multitude of children and young adults: At 12:01a.m. on Mar. 23, 2012, the first Hunger Games movie premiers. The first book of Suzanne Collins’s trilogy appeared in print in September 2008 and has since become a critical success, having been named one of the New York Times’s “Notable Children’s Books of 2008,” translated into 26 languages, and published in 38 countries. But all this hype begs one very important question: does The Hunger Games deserve of all its acclaim?

Voices

Corp controversy shows need for more civil discourse on campus

In the past few weeks, media attention has fixed on Georgetown as a result of Rush Limbaugh’s slanderous comments against Sandra Fluke (LAW ’12). President John DeGioia came to the defense of Fluke and Georgetown women with a well-received letter to the Georgetown community.