Editorial Board
The Editorial Board is the official opinion of the Georgetown Voice. Its current composition can be found on the masthead. The Board strives to publish critical analyses of events at both Georgetown and in the wider D.C. community. We welcome everyone from all backgrounds and experience levels to join us!
Leo’s protest exposes broken Hoya values
Last Thursday, the Voice’s blog, Vox Populi published an article on a lunchtime protest held by Georgetown food service workers with facilitation assistance by Georgetown Solidarity Committee. While the inspiring demonstration in Leo O’Donovan’s Dining Hall lasted about two minutes, what followed in many of the comments below the piece amounted to nothing more than a despicable display of ill-informed, amateur economics, elitism, and disregard for the interests of the working class that this campus should be looking to leave behind.
By the Editorial Board February 2, 2012
District residents need their right to choose
A new bill proposed by Arizona Republican Congressman Trent Franks, the “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” aims to prevent women in D.C. from getting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, claiming that after that point fetuses can feel pain.
By the Editorial Board February 2, 2012
Right-to-Work lowers wages with no reward
Yesterday, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed into law legislation making Indiana the first Right-to-Work state in the industrial Midwest. While Indianapolis union members protested the bill for over a month, it took a speedy route through the Indiana House of Representatives and its Republican-controlled Senate.
By the Editorial Board February 2, 2012
Obama too cautious in State of the Union
On Tuesday evening, President Barack Obama began his election year State of the Union address with a war metaphor, comparing the unified American military to the dysfunctional Congress. Unity and cooperation proved to be the big themes for Obama in this speech, and correspondingly he proposed mostly moderate policy changes in an attempt to build an electoral base and appear above the fray of squabbling legislators. It was an all-too-cautious approach from the President at a time when the nation needs dramatic and immediate change.
By the Editorial Board January 26, 2012
GUSA strategy plays to University’s hands
The passage of yet another round of Student Activity Fund Endowment reforms this week begs a question about how the Georgetown University Student Association manages its relationship with University administration. A vote for SAFE reform this time around is surely a good one, but it is also a stinging reminder of what could have been.
By the Editorial Board January 26, 2012
Private contractors poisonous in drug war
Academi, the military contracting firm formerly known as Xe and Blackwater Worldwide, was recently awarded a contract by the Pentagon to contribute to the “War on Drugs.” The company is notorious for scandals in Iraq and Afghanistan while providing auxiliary forces to the United States military, including the killing of Iraqi civilians and withholding of information regarding deaths of Blackwater’s own employees. Now, according to the BBC, it will be “providing advice, training and conducting operations in drug producing countries and those with links to so-called ‘narco-terrorism’ including Latin America.”
By the Editorial Board January 26, 2012
NDAA an inexcusable violation of civil liberties
On December 31, President Obama signed into law the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, one of the most constitutionally questionable bills in the history of the United States. The law broadens the definition of the “War on Terror” and legalizes the indefinite detention of foreign nationals and American citizens. While the President issued a signing statement promising to disregard this final provision, one ought to remain intensely skeptical of this claim—indefinite detention, while not yet officially applied to American citizens, is already regularly practiced abroad, and Obama’s rhetoric doesn’t change that it is now part of official law.
By the Editorial Board January 19, 2012
GSC holds Georgetown to its Jesuit values
As the only campus organization dedicated to the needs of workers, the Georgetown Solidarity Committee plays a uniquely vital role on Georgetown’s campus. Although the University administration is nominally committed to the Jesuit value of social justice, many of the subcontracted workers on campus, including Leo’s workers and custodial staff, work long hours for meager wages, all while receiving inadequate healthcare services.
By the Editorial Board January 19, 2012
Extra funds best applied to public schools
Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and his administrative staff rang in the new year by doling out the $42.2 million that D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Natwar Gandhi, projected as a surplus from initial predictions for fiscal year 2012’s revenue. Gray allocated over half the funds—$21.4 million—to D.C. Public Schools. The announcement stood in stark contrast to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula used in the Per Pupil Funding Analysis in the Mayor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, which established a requirement for public and public charter students to be funded equally.
By the Editorial Board January 19, 2012
Black Friday: True American capitalism
Riots, gunfire, pepper spray, police brutality: although often attributed to the Occupy protests or political revolution in the Middle East, these images actually depict scenes from 2011’s Black Friday shopping brouhaha. Assaults over two-dollar waffle makers, parking lot robberies, a woman pepper spraying a crowd vying for an Xbox 360, and police knocking a man unconscious for attempting to protect a prized video game are all among this year’s Black Friday excursions gone horribly wrong.
By the Editorial Board December 1, 2011