Editorials

Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.

Editorials

Theme-based policy

President Bush’s press secretary, Ari Fleischer, told reporters last week that the President had declared an environmental “theme week,” not unlike his earlier “theme weeks” related to spirituality and the... Read more

By the April 26, 2001

Editorials

Back in the U.S.S.R.?

In the wake of the recent “incident” in the South China Sea, we are afforded the opportunity to look back upon what happened, what could have been done differently and what lessons we should take away from this regarding an overarching philosophy of foreign policy in the new Bush administration. To date, the policy of the Bush White House has been largely reactive.

By the April 19, 2001

Editorials

Water, water, everywhere

Late last month, the Environmental Protection Agency decided to reverse a drinking-water regulation imposed in the last days of the Clinton administration that would have reduced by 80 percent the permissible levels of arsenic, a known carcinogen, in drinking water supplies. The Bush administration rejected the new standards in favor of retaining archaic arsenic regulations that were established in 1942. President George Bush’s rejection of the new drinking water standards is only the latest development in the Bush administration’s assault on the environment.

By the April 19, 2001

Editorials

Adios, amigo

Let us be the latest voice to bemoan the loss of Joey Ramone, who died of cancer on Sunday at age 49. Ramone will be forever remembered as the lead singer of seminal New York City punk band, The Ramones, who could fairly be credited with introducing the sound of punk rock to the world and thereby changing the course of popular music history forever. It wasn’t that the members of The Ramones were particularly talented, but they were the catalysts that launched punk rock into the mainstream.

By the April 19, 2001

Editorials

Adding it all up

An advertisement for pizza in a campus publication is unexceptional. But an ad espousing a particular political opinion almost instantaneously provokes controversy, especially when that opinion runs counter to the oft-assumed liberal credentials of the college press corps. To censor ads that contain political content is seemingly to negate the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, but to publish such ads is seemingly to implicitly endorse the views contained therein. For a radical-turned-reactionary looking to force the hand of college newspaper editors nationwide, it has all the makings of a brilliantly spun Catch-22: Publish and perish in the court of public opinion, or cut the ad and capitulate to the pretense that the press has a moral obligation to shield its readers from potentially inflammatory material.

By the April 5, 2001

Editorials

Smoke screens

In October 1998, an amendment, called the Drug-Free Student Aid Provision, was passed as part of the Higher Education Act that prohibits any college applicant with an adult drug conviction from receiving federal financial aid. Last year, Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) pushed bills to repeal this amendment that failed, and Frank wants to reintroduce the repeal bill this spring.

By the April 5, 2001

Editorials

Fully committed

Georgetown University has made millions licensing its name to clothing manufacturers. Georgetown clothing is produced in factories around the world and under varying conditions. Clearly, Georgetown has received money for clothing produced in violation of both labor laws and ethical standards.

By the April 5, 2001

Editorials

End of the line

GUSA executives Tawan Davis (CAS ‘01) and Jacques Arsenault (CAS ‘01) have reached the end of their tenure, and it is time to take stock of the year that has passed. In the 19-page Annual Report recently published by the Student Association, the Davis-Arsenault administration reflects on its accomplishments and the issues that defined the face of student government this year.

By the March 29, 2001

Editorials

Locked out

People who have ever entered a residence hall after telling a student guard that they left their IDs at home, by waiting for someone else to come out of a building, or by simply swiftly kicking a door, know that Georgetown’s security measures are far from fool-proof. However, university officials’ current plan to lock all residence halls 24 hours a day and permit only students who live in a particular building to enter that building is misguided and based on a distorted view of the security problem.

By the March 29, 2001

Editorials

Playing the name game

$400,000 is a lot of money. $400,000 could provide a lot in the way of transportation improvements for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority. $400,000 is also the amount of money that Republic Representative Robert L. Barr, Jr. (Ga.) wants Metro to spend renaming the “National Airport” station to “Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport” station. Doing so also “honors” the former president?he would no doubt be impressed by a Metro stop bearing his name.

By the March 22, 2001

Editorials

Dippity doo ball

To participate in last Friday night’s most prominent on-campus activity, a student needed all of the following: blankets, toothbrush, CDs, textbooks, several tolerable companions, food, drink, patience, copious self-restraint, the competitive spirit necessary to eventually possess one of 1,000 tickets that sold out by Saturday morning and, most importantly, plenty of time.

By the March 22, 2001

Editorials

Crash and burn

It is no wonder that our generation used to say that we wanted to be astronauts when we grew up. They are really smart and have really high-tech plans. Look at the case of the Mir space station (even though it was built by non-capitalist pigs). The way the Russians have decided to retire the space station is pure genius.

By the March 22, 2001

Editorials

Playground Policy

The last few weeks have brought news of yet another rash of school shootings. However, the question still remains for the American public and our policymakers: What steps can we take as a nation to ensure that we are not confronted with stories of children killing children on the front page? Unfortunately, President Bush and his Education Secretary, Rod Paige, seem content to punt this issue away.

By the March 15, 2001

Editorials

Don’t leave school without it?

If the Senior Class Gift Committee is to be believed, the legacy of the roughly 1,550 members of the class of 2001 is not the dedication they’ve shown to their academics or extracurricular activities but the amount of cold hard cash they are able to plunk down for a few extra trees and shrubs to adorn a building they may never see.

By the March 15, 2001

Editorials

Dressing it up

This month marks the end of McCall’s magazine. The magazine geared towards middle-aged suburban women will reemerge as Rosie, and the editor-in-chief is none other than TV’s Rosie O’Donnell.

By the March 15, 2001

Editorials

Promise keepers

The people have spoken. Well, 36 percent of the people have spoken, to be exact. Perhaps this still-low voter turnout reflects the campus opinion of the relatively “blah” nature of this year’s GUSA candidates. Yet the people who did vote did so overwhelmingly for Ryan DuBose (CAS ‘02) and Brian Walsh (CAS ‘02), so the voters must be saying something. We have something to say, too.

By the March 1, 2001

Editorials

Scholastic, Arbitrary Test

On Friday, Feb. 16, the president of the University of California, Richard C. Atkinson, proposed an end to the UC system’s requirement of SAT scores for admission. Atkinson’s bold move is a commendable attempt to refocus the college admissions process on achievement and to eliminate part of the socio-economic bias inscribed on admissions decisions.

By the March 1, 2001

Editorials

Pacifism in the Pacific

The news was almost too unbelievable to comprehend at first: On February 9, an American submarine, practicing an emergency-surfacing maneuver off the coast of Hawaii, hit a Japanese fishing vessel on the way up, sinking the boat. The collision took the lives of nine aboard the Ehime Maru, including four Japanese high school students that were onboard.

By the March 1, 2001

Editorials

Give US A Break

Of the six tickets slated to run in the upcoming elections, we feel that the Bill Jarvis/Doug Herrema ticket comes closest to meeting our criteria for suitable executives. In relative terms, their platform is more evenly balanced between concrete proposals for improvement in student life and activities, measures for student government reform and a push for fuller representation of the student body by GUSA.

By the February 22, 2001

Editorials

Hail to the chief

The recent appointment of John J. DeGioia to the position of University President is encouraging. If Georgetown is serious about its mission to truly become one of the world’s foremost universities, it cannot simply be content with being the best Catholic school in America. DeGioia’s appointment offers a tentative sign that the Board of Directors understands that secularizing the University need not ruin its Jesuit identity.

By the February 22, 2001