Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.

Editorials

Time to get serious about online textbook listings

As we begin the process of pre-registration this week, students are once again being forced to make important academic decisions based on inadequate information. Many courses on MyAccess violate federal law by not specifying the required textbooks.

By the November 11, 2010

Editorials

AU candidates should learn from mistakes

On Nov. 2, Georgetown students elected Jake Sticka (COL ’13) to be one of seven commissioners on Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Sticka will now represent students on crucial issues ranging from alcohol licenses to the University’s construction plans for the next decade.

By the November 11, 2010

Editorials

A liberal’s guide to the new Republican majority

After two years of scaling back reforms to meet the demands of Republican dissent and obstruction, Democrats find themselves once more in the minority in the U.S. House of Representatives. They now face the same choice Republicans did two years ago: either return to the core values of their party, or continue attempting bipartisanship.

By the November 4, 2010

Editorials

University keeps mum on DMT contradictions

Now that almost two weeks have passed since Charles Smith (SFS ‘14) and his friend John Perrone were caught cooking dimethyltryptamine in Smith’s dorm room, a clearer picture of the dramatic, early-morning evacuation of Harbin Hall and their arrest has emerged. Unfortunately, very few of the facts we now know have come from Georgetown itself.

By the November 4, 2010

Editorials

Searching for a Rabbi, students find their voice

eorgetown’s Rabbi Harold White has left a lasting legacy at this university. The community will be sad to see him go, but White’s departure may leave the community with one last gift. To select his replacement, the University is using a student-driven process—one that would serve as an excellent model for future hiring decisions.

By the November 4, 2010

Editorials

Aramark cooks up healthy profits, but lousy food

Aramark, Georgetown’s dining services provider, has sacrificed both quality and variety to achieve cost savings for itself, a fact that is plain from student responses to the ongoing Campus Dining Survey.For example, of the 690 students that had completed the survey as of Wednesday night, only eight percent were “happy with Leo’s.”

By the October 28, 2010

Editorials

Alarming errors in University’s DMT response

Early Saturday morning, residents of Harbin Hall woke to the sounds of Department of Public Safety and Metropolitan Police Department officers shouting and pounding on their doors. Authorities had found a dimethyltryptamine lab, which contained several highly flammable and explosive chemicals needed to produce the illegal drug, in a room on the ninth floor.

By the October 28, 2010

Editorials

Future funding reform not a SAFE bet for GUSA

The University owes its students $3 million, plus nine years’ interest. That’s the sum it promised to contribute to the Student Activity Fee Endowment in 2001. But it never did, and for the last 10 years, the Student Activities Fee Endowment has stagnated without its support. With that money, the endowment today would be much closer to maturing.

By the October 28, 2010

Editorials

Georgetown supports a community of scholars

Every fall, over one million young Americans become the first person in their family to attend college. The first-generation college students who come to Georgetown do so through incredibly hard work, often overcoming huge obstacles on their own. Once they arrive at Georgetown, students continue to face enormous financial, social, and academic pressures.

By the October 21, 2010

Editorials

Hysteria stalls sex education at Hardy Middle

Last week, a seventh grade sex education survey at nearby Hardy Middle School caused so much hysteria that the principal put any future sexual education programs on indefinite hold. A minority of parents feel that the survey—which included questions about gender identity, sexual activity, pregnancy, drug use, and sexual orientation—was inappropriate for their 12-year-olds.

By the October 21, 2010

Editorials

GPB brings fall concert to the worst venue in D.C.

For the first time since Coolio came in 2007, the GPB will host a fall concert. GPB and the Senior Class Committee should be applauded for bringing Lupe Fiasco—students’ first choice in last year’s GPB artist survey. However, with so many concert venues in D.C., GPB and SCC should think critically about whether on-campus concerts are the most effective use of their funds.

By the October 21, 2010

Editorials

Popular IDEV certificate deserves SFS support

Less than two years ago, the International Development Certificate in the School of Foreign Service was thriving. It sponsored campus events, hosted résumé reviews, and helped students connect with alumni working in development-related fields. But today, the program is a mere shadow of what it used to be—and what it could be.

By the October 14, 2010

Editorials

Do they teach resource management in Hariri?

Traditional on-campus study spaces filled up hours ago. But the Rafik B. Hariri building is lined with rows of comfortable seats, tables, and discussion rooms that would suit your study group’s needs perfectly. There’s just one problem—the doors of the McDonough School of Business’s glittering new building are locked.

By the October 14, 2010

Editorials

GU admissions picks applicants over rankings

Georgetown’s unique application sends the message to prospective students that it values their individual application more than inflated rankings. Commitment to a thorough review of the whole applicant sets Georgetown apart from its peers, and is a crucial first step in the University’s attempt to educate and value the whole person.

By the October 14, 2010

Editorials

GU finds just enough rope to hang themselves

The University’s false announcement last Thursday that a noose had been found in the basement of Healy Hall was foolish and careless. Administrators were rash in announcing that a troubling crime had occurred on campus before they knew the facts of the case. But just as troubling was how the administrators responded to what they believed was yet another hate crime on campus.

By the October 6, 2010

Editorials

Low voter turnout signals loss of faith in GUSA

Last week’s Georgetown University Student Association Senate elections were a disappointment. With just 1,006 students voting, this year’s senate elections had a 14 percent voter turnout. Only eight out of the 20 elections were contested. Three of the candidates who ran unchallenged didn’t even win with a majority of votes—more people voted for write-in candidates.

By the October 6, 2010

Editorials

RJC receives suspension, possible work hours

The Residential Judicial Council was created as a way for students encourage their peers to uphold community standards. However, for the past decade, the council has been a weak and poorly publicized disciplinary body adjudicating only the Code of Conduct violations that hall directors chose to forward to it. When it returns next year, the council should be independent of hall directors and have a broader purview.

By the October 6, 2010

Editorials

Bed bugs at GU: Insects of mass destruction

It was only a matter of time before bedbugs came to Georgetown. If Georgetown wants to stop further infestations, it must communicate with students effectively and spare no expense in treating the few infested areas on campus.Otherwise a few isolated cases can quickly spread to become a campus-wide problem.

By the September 30, 2010

Editorials

Soda Tax a sweet deal for District residents

Government revenue has to come from somewhere, so it is valuable when the government can levy taxes that have societal benefits, too. So as the local government faces an increasingly dire fiscal situation, the District of Columbia’s policymakers made a sound decision in turning to an unconventional tax on sugary drinks for spare change.

By the September 30, 2010

Editorials

Appalachia Rising to stop surface coal mining

This weekend, more than 700 Appalachian residents, retired coal miners, and students held a three-day conference at Georgetown to protest the practice of mountaintop coal removal. The group, Appalachia Rising, unites residents from West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, states whose streams and mountains have been negatively affected by this harmful mining practice.

By the September 30, 2010