Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.



Voices

An afternoon with the Scientologists

We passed the Church of Scientology, and, luckily, they were offering free personality tests and guided tours. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal. Who doesn’t like free things from an organization that’s well known for being controversial? We approached the ornate wooden doors and entered without knowing it would be another three hours until we would manage to escape.

Voices

Carrying On

The most surreal part of becoming a United States citizen, and there are many, is the citizenship exam. In a few months, I will have the privilege of standing before some bored INS official and answering ten randomly selected questions, needing six correct answers to get that elusive right to vote.

Letters to the Editor

October 10, 2007

I know some Georgetown graduates look down on Holy Cross (which does not say a lot to me about their character) but to refer to HC as “J.V. Georgetown” and then to call it a “regional school” [Sports Sermon, Sports, 10/4] (HC has always been considered a national liberal arts college in U.S. News and World Report and such organizations) is just a display of conceit and/or ignorance.

Editorials

Administrators should have acted, not reacted

Why didn’t the University tell students about the hate crime that took place just off campus until after the Metropolitan Police Department arrested a Georgetown student in connection with the assault three weeks later? And after the crime was made public, why was the University’s response so minimal until students demanded more?

Editorials

Law Center must stand its ground

In the face of recent opposition from religious groups, the Law Center must stand its ground and continue to fund students’ academic pursuits, even when they contradict Catholic doctrine.

Editorials

A student hangout, with a twist

Georgetown may be short on campus hangouts—not including Leo’s or the second floor of Lauinger—but there is good news on the horizon.

Voices

Burmese monks give peace a chance

For this supreme act of peaceful courage, I submit that the spiritual force behind Burma’s democracy movement should receive the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Voices

Keep it movin’, Hoyas

Every time I eat at Leo’s, I encounter groups clustered at the top and bottom of the stairs. What causes this? Why can otherwise intelligent and competent Georgetown students not handle something as simple as stairs?

Voices

D.C. schools changing for a better future

There may now be fewer Catholic elementary schools from which to choose from if the Archdiocese goes through with its plan to change eight schools that have until now participated in the D.C. voucher program into charter schools. The proposal has sent up a predictable storm of protest among parents, which is unfortunate, since such protest obscures the brightest prospect for education in D.C. in many years.

Voices

Carrying On

My mother thinks of herself as a modest hippie. After years of being a single parent in a very traditional town, she feels “out of the rat race” and free from the country-club concerns of our neighbors. She lives relatively uninhibitedly, even while affectionately inhibiting my brother’s and my lives. So I was only mildly surprised when I learned that she had decided to pick the drums.

Editorials

Batons are for relay races, not DPS

University President John DeGioia’s plan to arm officers with batons and mace will put both students and officers at risk.

Editorials

A victory for free speech at Columbia

The decision to host Ahmadinejad was remarkable not just because he is, in the words of Columbia President Lee Bollinger, “a petty and cruel dictator,” but because of the widespread criticism it provoked.

Editorials

Keep Catholic education alive in D.C.

Turning these schools into charter schools will be an enormous disservice to families who want Catholic faith—or intellectual rigor—to be a part of their kids’ schooling.

Voices

No soapbox for Ahmadinejad

Free speech is an important right we have as Americans, and as human beings. When Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke on Monday at Columbia University, I hope he learned a few lessons about the value of free speech. I hope he takes those lessons to heart as he returns to a country where his government exercises complete control over the press.

Voices

Carrying On

My father hates goodbyes almost as much as he hates paying for parking.

The day of my flight to Georgetown, he pulled into the drop-off lane at the airport and pressed a twenty into my hand. “Well,” he said. “Good luck.”

Voices

No justice, no peace in Jena, La.

The much-reported Jena 6 incident serves as a reminder that the fight for civil rights is still a relevant social movement. The case is today’s most notable example of social and racial inequality.

Voices

Practicing humility

When I need to get away, I go to a crypt. No, I don’t frequent tombs for kicks (Save a certain bar on 36th St.). It’s more chapel than crypt, but the solemnity remains the same. It was once the Crypt of the North American Martyrs; today it’s the Copley Chapel. Small as it is, it serves a very special function, for me anyway.

Editorials

Let students speak out on party rules

If the University expects students to abide by a suddenly strict alcohol policy, there should be good reasons for it, and students deserve to hear what these reasons are.

Editorials

Petraeus falls into the quagmire of lies

General David H. Petraeus’ testimony on the Iraq War last week couldn’t have been better. Unless, of course, he had announced that the surge had actually done what it was supposed to do—or rather, what he was supposed to do.

Voices

Spreading our moment

Many of us at Georgetown wish to help these billions of people by committing our undergraduate studies to understanding the complex dimensions of global poverty and development, evaluating the mistakes and successes of the past and exploring innovative ways to effectively and responsibly address them in the future. The International Development Certificate provides a broad framework of study for student wishing to work in this field. Unfortunately, only students in the School of Foreign Service are allowed to pursue it. Students in other schools at Georgetown University should also have access to the certificate and its benefits.