Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.


Editorials

Don’t tell mom and dad

This week, the Pennsylvania Senate unanimously passed a bill requiring all public and private school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and/or sing “The Star Spangled Banner” every day. According to this bill, school administrators are required to notify in writing the parents of any student seen not participating in the pledge or anthem.

Editorials

Radio utopia

I figure the point of having a column is to make one’s own views available to a wider audience. Thus, shameless self-promotion is a privilege that comes with the turf. So, as a somewhat less-than-responsible music director for WGTB, Georgetown’s student run radio, I have compiled a list of the cr?me de la cr?me of student shows.

Editorials

Are we a red light district?

Is Georgetown a place for free speech? If you’re a member of The Georgetown Academy, whose most recent issue was stolen shortly after it was distributed on campus last week, you probably don’t think so. If you’re the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which just gave Georgetown a “red light” rating for free speech protection, you probably don’t, either.

Editorials

Guard-ing student opinion

At the beginning of the school year, the administration implemented a new safety policy which restricts student access to dormitories and other campus buildings. Unlike the old policy, which allowed students to enter all residence halls with a valid Georgetown ID, the new policy restricts entrance to residents of the building.

Editorials

Out and a Scout

Last week, a D.C. appellate court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America did not violate D.C. law when it did not allow two gay men to become Scout leaders. This ruling overturned the District’s Commission on Human Rights’ order that the Boy Scouts reinstate the men.

Editorials

Hope you like dorms, kids

Starting next year, there will be no more sophomore apartment lottery, no more exiled first-years will be holed up on the first floor of Darnall, and seniors will be partying it up in Village B.

Last week, the Office of Housing and Conference Services informed undergraduates that it can now guarantee four years of on-campus housing to all interested students.

Editorials

Justice for all … even snipers

The arrest of sniper suspects John Muhammed and John Malvo at first seemed to have ended the story of violence that gripped the D.C. area for over three weeks. However, the suspects have now been linked to other crimes across the nation, leading the Justice Department to debate where the two men should first be tried.

Editorials

Metrobusted

It’s dark, cold and raining, and you are in downtown D.C. All you want to do is get back to Georgetown, but there’s no way you’re walking more than 30 blocks in weather like this. The solution? Take the bus. Although this may seem like a straightforward process, a recent survey of bus service shows that riding the Metrobus isn’t all that easy, or even that safe.

Editorials

Only YOU can prevent injustice

Interested in improving community relations? Sick of fighting with your neighbors about noise? Want someone who’s not necessarily a “resident, tax-payer, or home-owner” to represent you on the Advisory Neighborhood Council? You’re in luck, but you’re going to have to vote.

Editorials

Obstacles at the polls

How many people would think twice about going to the polls if they knew that a person would be standing in the booth with them? For D.C. voters who are visually impaired or have limited hand mobility, and are thus unable to vote using standard methods, this is the reality of going to the polls, and it constitutes a clear infringement on their right to vote in private.

Editorials

On sale now: Our space

“The first sign it was a mall was when the Sunglass Hut moved into the Registrar’s Office. Or was it when Foot Locker took over Copley Formal Lounge? Wait, it was definitely when the Sbarro opened up in the ICC Food Galleria!” said Jane Hoya (SFS ‘12), when asked about the rapid development of the University Square Shopping Center.

Editorials

A long overdue change

The statistics on sexual assault, while oft repeated, somehow never lose their ability to shock. Somewhere between one in four and one in five women is a victim of rape or attempted rape during her lifetime. The majority of these incidents involve young women, making college campuses one of the most dangerous environments for women.

Editorials

Give them a refund

In 1935, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group that honors Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War, donated $50,000 to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. This contribution covered one third of the building costs for Confederate Memorial Hall, a dormitory that provided free housing for female students who were studying to become teachers and were descendants of Confederates.

Editorials

Wasting time

Last spring, Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez announced that he would hire a new part-time Special Assistant to the Vice President who would address the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. After months of discussion between the administration and the diversity working group about the creation of a resource center, both sides seemed to be content with the decision.

Editorials

Sexy Girl Scouts and bacon bits

Though some of us believe we are too old or too cool to still dress up, hot-pants Heidi and S&M Spiderwoman were already defying the norm of preppiness at the Guards last Saturday. Many more young women will freeze radiantly beneath pink wigs, feather boas, fish nets, fake eyelashes and little else Thursday through Saturday.

Editorials

Radio free Georgetown

All radio stations, whether they are broadcast over AM/FM or the Internet, pay a royalty of 3.5 percent of all revenues to songwriters and producers. But now, the implementation of new royalty fees for Internet radio stations is putting the future of small stations like Georgetown’s WGTB in danger.

Editorials

At least they don’t sell crack

The Britney concert sold out before you realized she was coming to town. Dad wouldn’t let you charge those Caps tickets on his American Express. For whatever reason, you find yourself ticketless, standing in front of the MCI Center, talking to a guy on the sidewalk who is offering you decent seats for five bucks over what you would have paid at the box office.

Editorials

Worth it for the parking alone

With a potential $323 million budget deficit on its hands, the D.C. Council is looking for new ways to increase revenue. What better way to bring the city money then by raising parking fines? Well, how about expanding the city’s free parking privileges to include even more District employees at the same time?

According to the Washington Times, more than 1,000 city employees now enjoy parking perks.

Editorials

Fair Trade, fair choice

In the past five years, coffee prices have plummeted 70 percent, plunging 25 million Third World coffee farmers into poverty. Small farmers, unable to transport their own coffee, are forced to pay exorbitant amounts to middlemen. As a result, farmers who should be receiving a fair “living wage” of $1.

Editorials

Time to ask and tell

On Oct. 4, more than 100 students and faculty members at the Georgetown University Law Center gathered to protest the presence of Judge Advocacy Group representatives at the annual Government Interview Week. The demonstrators argued that the presence of the group, which discriminates against homosexuals in the form of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, violates University anti-discrimination policy.