Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.

Editorials

School plan gets passing grade

Most people agree that Washington’s school system needs to be fixed, but they differ wildly on how to do it. Just ask Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty (D), Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, City Council members and community activists. They’ve been battling one another since November, when Fenty and Rhee proposed closing public schools.

By the February 7, 2008

Editorials

Permanent library long overdue

The D.C. government blamed a heat gun for the fire that burned down Georgetown’s public library last April. Ten months later, the neighborhood is lacking even an adequate interim branch and the reconstruction is so far behind that the project’s architect is only being announced today. In the District, slow-moving bureaucracy can be as dangerous to bibliophiles as heat guns. The District of Columbia Public Library system must open an interim library location as soon as possible and ensure that the permanent library is constructed on time.

By the February 7, 2008

Editorials

Holding on to Jesuit identity

Georgetown doesn’t have a Jesuit President, and likely won’t in the future. We don’t, in fact, have very many Jesuits—only 34 working on campus, out of some 728 full-time faculty. It’s quite possible to go through four years here without taking a class with or even, if you make an effort, meeting a Jesuit. For many students, the most prominent reminder of our Jesuit identity is how often we’re told that we have one. So, what’s the use of our Jesuit heritage today? Should we cast our religious identity aside like so many other Universities and seek to become a Potomac Harvard? After weighing the costs and benefits, we can only say no. Jesuit we began, and Jesuit we should remain.

By the January 31, 2008

Editorials

The truth will set the Hoya free

Hoya staffers have lately been flooding basketball games, Red Square and Facebook with appeals to “Save the Hoya,” without specifying who the Hoya needs to be saved from. While the Hoya deserves support, the campaign is inaccurate at best and disingenuous at worst.

By the January 31, 2008

Editorials

Bush still not keeping it real

President Bush spoke of “decisive days that lie ahead” in his final State of the Union Address Monday. Throughout the speech, though, he revealed his ignorance of the decisive days that have already passed. On matters of foreign, domestic and economic policy the president appeared dangerously out of touch with reality.

By the January 31, 2008

Editorials

New Corp leaders plan big

After a record-breaking year, the Corp announced at its first-ever shareholders meeting plans to open a coffee shop in the new McDonough School of Business building. Jesse Scharff (COL ’09), Kevin Lynch (COL ’09), and Adah Berkovich (SFS ’09) were also introduced as the new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively.

By January 31, 2008

Editorials

D.C.’s struggle for rights not over

University President Jack DeGioia went two for two on Martin Luther King Day when he presented this year’s John Thompson, Jr. “Legacy of a Dream” award.

By the January 24, 2008

Editorials

Losing liberty for better lawns

A proposed protest zone on the National Mall threatens to sanitize demonstrations and curtail freedom of assembly—all to protect some worn-down grass.

By the January 24, 2008

Editorials

More Diversity Progress Needed

Ask whether Georgetown is a diverse university and you’ll get a plethora of opinions, ranging from the University’s official stance—“a leader in promoting diversity among the most selective universities in the country,” according to the fact sheet —to the sense of self-segregation expressed by many students in a 2004 Diversity Action Council report.

By the January 24, 2008

Editorials

Obama best vote for students

Both in primaries and the general election, Georgetown students need to vote for a presidential candidate that will lead the country in a new direction in both foreign and domestic policy. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is that candidate.

By the January 17, 2008

Editorials

Keep academic discussion open

Are you partying all the time? Not working hard enough in your classes? Getting lots of inflated grades and easy A’s? You must be a Georgetown student, according to a confidential report created last year by Georgetown faculty critiquing the quality of undergraduate intellectual life on the Hilltop.

By the January 17, 2008

Editorials

Lanier disappointing on crime

Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier took office in January 2007 pledging to stem the District’s notoriously high crime rate. Unfortunately, 2007 brought just the opposite—increased crime and ineffective policing gimmicks.

By the January 17, 2008

Editorials

It takes more than two to study

Pity the members of Professor Jennifer Swift’s organic chemistry class.

By the December 6, 2007

Editorials

Student rights a primary issue

Home is where the vote is.

By the December 6, 2007

Editorials

Scholarship deal fit for a prince

Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies recently signed an agreement with Prince George’s Community College which will allow qualified Prince George’s graduates to enroll in Georgetown’s Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies Program.

By the December 6, 2007

Editorials

Colleges should not police downloads

While the Voice does not condone illegal file-sharing, Congress should not be roping universities into the fight against it, and Georgetown should not be diverting any of its limited resources into investigating students’ downloading habits.

By the November 29, 2007

Editorials

Improving D.C.’s needle exchange

Five percent of the District’s population has HIV, according to a report released by Washington’s Department of Health, which also found that 13.2 percent of new HIV infections came from injected drugs. With infection rates so high, the city’s lack of support for needle exchange programs is dangerously negligent.

By the November 29, 2007

Editorials

Make Amtrak funding a priority

The federal government should increase Amtrak’s funding in order to give train travel, one of the safest, greenest forms of public transportation, the jolt it need

By the November 29, 2007

Editorials

Every vote counts (including yours)

It’s been a couple of years since P. Diddy told us to vote or die, but even without a death threat, it’s time for another stab at the democratic process. If you haven’t already obtained an absentee ballot for the upcoming presidential primaries, pick one up while you’re home for Thanksgiving break.

By the November 15, 2007

Editorials

Let WGTB run its own concerts

GPB should not have control over concerts, especially if groups like WGTB, which has a history of putting on solid shows, go through the trouble of booking the artists.

By the November 15, 2007