Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.

Hoya women deserve their reproductive rights

Late last month, the Obama administration rolled out a new policy announced by the Department of Health and Human Services which mandates that all employers, regardless of religious affiliation, pay for FDA-approved contraceptives through their health insurance options, effective Aug. 1. Since then, Catholic advocacy groups across the country have promised to resist implementation of the policy. The issue is especially pertinent for students at Georgetown, as the University’s commitment to its Jesuit identity is so strong that it does not allow contraceptives to be sold or provided anywhere on campus.

By the Editorial Board February 9, 2012

Study shows small schools a must for DCPS

Two weeks ago, an ongoing study tracking the performance of high school students in New York City released its results, showing students who attend smaller schools are more likely to graduate. According to the study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there is a discrepancy of more than eight percent in graduation rates between schools with fewer than 100 students per grade and larger schools. This disparity is consistent across races, socio-economic statuses, and eighth-grade reading and math scores.

By the Editorial Board February 9, 2012

Police overreact in response to Occupiers

Early in the morning on Saturday, Feb. 4, United States Park Police—some in riot gear, some in hazmat suits, some on horseback—raided the McPherson Square Occupy D.C. encampment and arrested eight protesters. Although the purported reason for the raid was to enforce a recent ruling forbidding protesters from sleeping in the park, the preparations and actions of the police were both inappropriate and unwarranted, and were obvious attempts to intimidate those protesters acting within the law into abandoning their efforts.

By the Editorial Board February 9, 2012

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

NBA misses its shot at meaningful reform

While most of the sports world was focused on football and the fallout of the Penn State scandal, National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern and Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter were secretly hashing out an agreement to end the 150-day NBA lockout. Then, last Saturday, the Commissioner’s Office announced that an agreement was in place, and that the season would tentatively begin on Christmas day.

By the Editorial Board December 1, 2011

Emulate Sweeney’s spirit, not his actions

While most Georgetown students were enjoying turkey and family time, one of our fellow students found himself incarcerated by a violent military regime. Derrik Sweeney had been studying abroad in Egypt, but was forced to bring his semester to an end after being arrested near Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the country’s most recent pro-democracy protests. Along with two other American students, Sweeney was captured after the demonstrations turned violent, and was accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at security forces

By the Editorial Board December 1, 2011

Today’s GOP has succumbed to extremism

The 2012 Republican field is a laughable parody of presidential candidates. Perry and Michelle Bachmann are under-informed extremists, and Cain is an unqualified pizza magnate dogged by sexual harassment allegations. All three have become popular because Republicans can’t stomach the idea that a nominal moderate like Mitt Romney might actually be the nominee. Meanwhile, less than half of Republicans even recognize the name of candidate Jon Huntsman, a successful two-term governor and former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore and China.

By the Editorial Board November 16, 2011

Immediate action needed to save our river

The report on the State of the Nation’s River is a frightening document, citing increases in both human and agricultural waste along with the emergence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the waterway. These chemicals, though they are linked to a wide-range of biological disruptions, remain largely unregulated. “In essence,” the report said, “we are conducting a grand chemistry experiment on the Potomac; so far, the results don’t seem encouraging.”

By the Editorial Board November 16, 2011

GU offers Zoning Commission a fair plan

Today, after years of planning and negotiating, D.C.’s Zoning Commission will officially begin considering Georgetown’s final 2010 campus plan, the decennial review of plans for expansion and growth that all District universities must submit. In looking at the University’s proposal, the Commission must remember that Georgetown, the District’s largest private employer, has gone to great lengths to consider and address the complaints of the local neighborhood organizations that have spoken out so vehemently against the plan.

By the Editorial Board November 16, 2011

Veterans’ Day reminds us of our obligations

On Veterans’ Day tomorrow, we honor those servicemen and women who were willing to sacrifice everything in the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts. But we must not lose sight of the hidden battle that veterans fight when they come home.

By the Editorial Board November 10, 2011

Common fiscal policy offers hope for Europe

Although Europe’s financial chaos shows no sign of ceasing, the events of recent days suggest that there is still hope for a unified European fiscal policy. The welcome subordination of short-sighted political debates in countries like Greece and Italy to the broader economic needs of the European continent is ultimately necessary for the stabilization of the global economy.

By the Editorial Board November 10, 2011

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