Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.

Editorials

Asking to be written off

To the majority of Americans, talk of Washington, D.C. politics conjures one name?Marion Barry?and that name represents almost comical levels of corruption and mismanagement, overshadowing sometimes-great accomplishments. These days, Barry has for the most part left public life in the city he ran for nearly two decades, but events this summer proved his specter remains in the worst ways.

By the August 22, 2002

Editorials

Uproar in North Carolina

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was sued this summer for assigning 4,200 incoming first-years and transfers a book on the Koran as part of its First Year Book program, where students write an essay about a text and participate in a group discussion.

By the August 22, 2002

Editorials

Credit trouble

By unanimously passing Student Activities Comission Chairman Matt Connolly’s (CAS ‘04) resolution to abandon the current SAC funding system in favor of a new and supposedly more efficient system, GUSA has voted in a potential disaster.

Currently, clubs are supposed to keep money they receive from SAC and money they raise independently in University accounts.

By the April 25, 2002

Editorials

Le Pen is not an option

Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the xenophobic Front National party, has placed second in the the first round of the French presidential election. This was a stunning blow to Socialists and a triumphal moment for the right-wing extremist who campaigned on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union platform.

By the April 25, 2002

Editorials

It’s hotter than hell in Yates

You step inside and hand your card over to the Yates Memorial Field House staff member. Then it hits you. The sweltering air overwhelms you. It’s damp. It’s humid. It’s as hot as hell. Maybe even hotter. It continues as you take your first step down the stairs, and sweat already starts beading on your forehead before you’ve even lifted a weight.

By the April 25, 2002

Editorials

A drinking solution?

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism released a report about the alcohol culture at U.S. colleges last week. The statistics show that 1,400 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries and that 70,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date-rape each year.

By the April 18, 2002

Editorials

Not good enough

The Georgetown University Student Association has agreed to a trial run of the USA Today Readership program. Through the program, copies of USA Today, The New York Times and The Washington Post are now available to students for no charge in their Residence Hall Offices.

By the April 18, 2002

Editorials

The coup that wasn’t

Political opponents ousted Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?vez from power last Thursday. Ch?vez’ attempts to replace the executives of the state-owned oil monopoly, in conjunction with a series of labor strikes and protests, convinced an alliance of military and business leaders that he was unable to rule the country effectively.

By the April 18, 2002

Editorials

Don’t wash my square

Red Square’s “free speech zone” designation has been an easy way to foster debate on campus. Give students the freedom to voice their views, and they will usually take care of the rest. But the system does require a few controls. Otherwise, Red Square’s various capacities as message-board, canvas, stage, stump, science-fair-project-presentation area, etc.

By the April 11, 2002

Editorials

Why can’t we stay?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Although the good doctor was most certainly not referring to Georgetown students right to live in high-priced community housing, the point still stands.

The West Cloisters Homeowner’s Association voted Wednesday on a measure to prohibit more than three unrelated individuals from living in a Cloisters residence.

By the April 11, 2002

Editorials

The darker side

On March 28, D.C. Inspector General Charles Maddox released a 514-page report detailing a series of fundraising inproprieties in the office of Mayor Anthony Williams. According to the report, mayoral aides tapped the accounts of local nonprofits for events and programs that were often politically beneficial for Williams and vigorously solicited donations from organizations with a business interest in the District government.

By the April 11, 2002

Editorials

How are we doing?

As part of the reaccreditation process by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Georgetown last month released a self-study report that looks into various components of University life and offers over 100 specific recommendations for suggested improvement.

By the April 4, 2002

Editorials

Marijuana: Why not?

District of Columbia voters will have the chance to vote, perhaps as early as November, on the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes following a March 28 ruling by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan.

Sullivan overturned a federal law known as the Barr Amendment that forbade the District from placing the question on the ballot, decreeing that the Barr Amendment limited free speech and he judged that “the Constitution does not allow Congress to pre-clear acceptable viewpoints for public debate and expression.

By the April 4, 2002

Editorials

Crack kills

Show us an efficient super-criminal with civic aspirations, and we’ll show you a way to get this city running tight as a drum. Unfortunately, all anybody’s been able to show us is last week’s Metro section story in the Washington Post detailing former D.C.

By the April 4, 2002

Editorials

A black and white issue

Georgetown has a reputation as an African-American-friendly school. Surveys in Black Enterprise, movies such as Boyz N’ the Hood and Georgetown’s stories basketball program have created the popular image of an institution that is open and welcoming to black students.

By the March 21, 2002

Editorials

Too much compromise

In a letter to the campus community released Tuesday, Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez detailed his proposed compromise on the issue of a resource center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. This compromise represents an important step forward for the University, but it raises questions about the administration’s decision-making process.

By the March 21, 2002

Editorials

The season’s over?

This past Sunday, the Georgetown Hoyas Men’s basketball team decided not to play in the National Invitation Tournament, ending its streak of 27 straight postseason appearances. Head Coach Craig Esherick said that his team initially accepted an offer but eventually declined because tournament officials could not guarantee them a home game at the MCI Center?which will host part of the NCAA Tournament?or an away game close to Washington, D.

By the March 14, 2002

Editorials

Changing the Church

A scandal has erupted among Catholic parishioners that has become a national disgrace. The Boston Globe reported Jan. 6 that the archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, had sheltered a pedophiliac priest rather than reporting him to the authorities. When Cardinal Law discovered that this priest had raped several boys, he simply sent him on sabbatical to Rome, the Globe reported.

By the March 14, 2002

Editorials

Knock Tyson out of D.C.

Sadly, the D.C. Boxing and Wrestling Commission voted unanimously at Tuesday’s public hearing to grant former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson a license to fight in Washington, D.C., which may result in a June 8 bout between Tyson and current champion Lennox Lewis at the MCI Center.

By the March 14, 2002

Editorials

Equal-opportunity speech

Red Square, Georgetown’s designated free-speech zone, was the center of controversy Friday when two groups of Georgetown students staked out the area. One group chalked up Red Square and posted flyers reading, among other things, “There are Gay Hoyas, too” and “There are Lesbian Hoyas, too.

By the February 28, 2002