Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.

Editorials

DPS needs to deliver on RAD pledge

If DPS really wants to reduce sexual assault at Georgetown, it should start offering the RAD program within the first month of next semester.

By the December 4, 2008

Editorials

Before SAC, clubs tread lightly

In the midst of controversial discussions between the Georgetown University Student Association and the Student Activities Commission over the SAC chair selection process student clubs, which receive their funding from... Read more

By December 4, 2008

Editorials

SmarTrip opens doors to the District

Georgetown students can blog, text, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and video chat with the best of them, but they seem to be largely in the dark when it comes to one... Read more

By the November 20, 2008

Editorials

For add/drop period, eight days is weak

Students registered for Professor Kathleen McNamara’s Inventing Europe seminar next semester will be faced with a dilemma about a week into spring semester: should I stay or should I go?... Read more

By the November 20, 2008

Editorials

Ensure Lauinger’s manifest destiny

Think Lauinger Library’s ugly exterior is bad? You’ve probably never been inside the library during finals, when its limited space is on full display. Students pack like sardines into every... Read more

By the November 20, 2008

Editorials

Georgetown needs more turkey time

By planes, trains, and automobiles, Hoyas from all across the country will be wending their way home for Thanksgiving in just a few short days. Too bad the University’s schedule... Read more

By the November 13, 2008

Editorials

The Corp should charge for plastic bags

New York, home of the $15 cup of coffee, the $5 chocolate chip cookie, and the $3 million studio apartment, is about to add a price tag to a convenience... Read more

By the November 13, 2008

Editorials

In pre-registration, knowledge is power

As anyone who’s preregistered for a class taught by a celebrity professor like Madeleine Albright or Donna Brazile knows, when it comes to picking your courses, you can’t always get... Read more

By the November 13, 2008

Editorials

ANC student rep needs to rep students

New student Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Aaron Golds (COL `11) must make sure that, unlike past student commissioners, he always remembers to represent students and not the wishes of other ANC commissioners.

By the November 6, 2008

Editorials

Ensure the rights of Qatari workers

Georgetown has commendably taken steps to ensure humane working conditions for workers at SFS-Q. The other American universities in Qatar, including Carnegie Mellon University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cornell University, need to follow Georgetown’s example and stand up for workers’ rights.

By the November 6, 2008

Editorials

What’s a fair housing lottery worth?

Housing Services should affirm its commitment to making a fair housing lottery and bring an end to the biannual raffle.

By the November 6, 2008

Editorials

Head over to Yates for your flu shot

The University of Minnesota has thrown down the gauntlet.  Yesterday, the U of M Boynton Health Service set the world record for number of flu shots administered in a single... Read more

By the October 30, 2008

Editorials

The day Georgetown’s fall concert died

Last year, Georgetown’s fall concert was an unequivocal disaster. Barely a quarter of the tickets were sold, the lead singer of the band, Fountains of Wayne, was so sick he... Read more

By the October 30, 2008

Editorials

Bring transparency to SAC’s spending

Ever wonder how that annoying $50 student activities fee is being spent? We do, too—and with good reason. Unfortunately, the Student Activities Commission, the group charged with distributing thousands of... Read more

By the October 30, 2008

Editorials

Representative gov’t: ever heard of it?

The Georgetown University Student Association Senate, for all of its flaws, has one thing going for it: its members are elected by the student body. Call it ineffective or irrelevant or self-important, but at least each Senator represents a constituency of students and is, in theory, held accountable by these students. That’s what makes a recently enacted modification to GUSA’s bylaws that allow a non-GUSA Senator to head a GUSA commission so troubling: it undermines the very foundation of GUSA’s credibility. Getting outside students involved in GUSA is a worthy goal, but GUSA should reverse the change so that they don’t put a non-elected student in a position of power and responsibility.

By the October 23, 2008

Editorials

Raise the bar with tougher tenure

Last year, the Main Campus Executive Faculty wagged its collective finger at Georgetown students, calling student life a “culture of functionality” and “underachievement” with too much partying and not enough academic excellence. The Intellectual Life Report, though not without its flaws, was refreshing in its willingness to unflinchingly scrutinize Georgetown’s academic environment. Today, as the MCEF brings recommendations for stricter tenure criteria before the Georgetown Faculty Senate, the Faculty Senate once again has an opportunity to prove its dedication to improving Georgetown’s academic environment. The Senate should approve the MCEF’s proposal and vote to strengthen the Faculty Handbook’s guidelines for tenure-seeking professors.

By the October 23, 2008

Editorials

GU needs a mail system makeover

If you’re obsessively checking your mailbox for an overdue absentee ballot: don’t hold your breath. At Georgetown, letters can take weeks to arrive when they should take mere days, students’ bills are placed in mailboxes from years past, and missent mail gets held up in sorting for indefinite periods of time or, worse, simply discarded by students who receive mail addressed to someone else. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution to the problem of Georgetown’s unreliable mail system: get rid of it. In its place, Georgetown should establish a centralized mail system, with everyone’s P.O. boxes in one building and each student having the same box for all four years.

By the October 23, 2008

Editorials

Employees of the Corp gotta get paid

Flexible hours, great parties, opportunities for advancement, a tight community of coworkers: what’s not to like about working for Students of Georgetown? Their wages. Entry-level Corp employees earn a meager $7.55 per hour—D.C. minimum wage. That’s fine for some students, but too low for others struggling to pay their tuition and living expenses. While the Corp embodies their mission of “Students serving students” in nearly everything they do, they should make paying their employees a decent wage a priority in addition to their outside philanthropic endeavors.

By the October 16, 2008

Editorials

Use it (a U-lock) or lose it (your bike)

Like an ill-fitting brassiere, Georgetown has had trouble keeping its racks in order—bike racks, that is. While the bike storage areas are centrally located, bike thieves have had no problem pilfering student owned transportation of late. At least 16 students have reported stolen bicycles to DPS this semester. Though this number isn’t staggering, it is significant enough to merit attention. There is good news though: it isn’t that difficult to keep your bike chained to the rack.

By the October 16, 2008

Editorials

More Flex Dollars will set you free

There’s only one thing that Dining Services fears more than the norovirus: competition. When Georgetown introduced Flex Dollars, a program intended to give students choices beyond Leo’s for their meal plans, last year, they made it too small (a maximum of $100 per term) and too limited (just a number of venues on campus) to make a real difference. Over a year later, the program hasn’t gotten any better. It’s time for Georgetown to expand the Flex Dollars program so that the initiative finally lives up to its name and gives students real meal flexibility.

By the October 16, 2008