Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Editorials

Put a DPS officer on Lauinger steps

The unreasonably high number of public safety alerts concerning crimes on the Lauinger steps, including the most recent alleged hate crime, suggests that a DPS officer should be permanently stationed on the steps at night.

By the October 25, 2007

Letters to the Editor

An Open Letter to Todd Olson, V. P. for Student Affairs

We are deeply troubled by the events of October 11 on campus. The way in which LGBT students and their supporters were treated on that day by the campus police is extremely discouraging, to say the least. For a peaceful student group to be prevented by a large number of police officers from entering the open spaces of the Healy building in order to deliver to the president’s office signatures to a widely shared campus petition is appalling.

By October 18, 2007

Letters to the Editor

Here’s to fighting fragmentation

Just wanted to compliment Samuel Sweeney on a great article in the most recent issue. (“Action, not reaction,” Voices, October 11.)

By October 18, 2007

Voices

Abandoning the nuclear family

Imagine a little boy who lives with parents who love him. At dinnertime, one parent is cooking in the kitchen and the other is at the table making a mock airplane out of a fork and some spaghetti. This picture-perfect scenario could be a reality for more children living in foster care if couples who pass the rigorous adoption standards are no longer barred due to their sexual orientation.

By October 18, 2007

Voices

He’s more fly than superfly

When my father walks into a room, he cannot help but radiate badass. Since high school, he has often reminded me how much cooler he is than I am. I usually ignore the comment and roll my eyes, but deep down, I know he’s right.

By October 18, 2007

Voices

It’s all about how you play the political game

Try this pop quiz for a second: two senators are running for president. One encounters major opposition in poll after poll, while for the other you’d be hard-pressed, as far as my experience goes, not to find an admirer. The first inspires as much divisiveness as praise, while the second is almost universally regarded as an American hero. One seems to have spent most of her life planning a way to the presidency; the other has served his country, to the point of torture and near-death in war, since his college days. Who are they?

By October 18, 2007

Voices

Carrying On

My own introduction to Siobhan consisted of a half-hour conversation wherein she pointed toward the kitchen and squawked something I couldn’t understand, and made the angry-eyebrow face. I am unsure if she was she trying to warn me that the grease build up on the gas burner was a fire hazard or was just commenting that the dinner I was cooking looked toxic.

By October 18, 2007

Editorials

DeGioia should listen before he speaks

When DeGioia publicly attaches the University’s name to a statement, he speaks for the entire Georgetown community, and he should be required to solicit input from this community before he speaks on its behalf.

By the October 18, 2007

Editorials

LGBTQ talks need dialogue, not drama

For the best chance for their demands to be met by their November 9 deadline, GU Pride should strive to maintain a reasonable and level-headed dialogue with the administration, temporarily relaxing its confrontational tactics.

By the October 18, 2007

Editorials

Slimming down the school system

Giving Rhee firing power is an important step toward creating a more efficient bureaucracy that will be better able to meet the needs of D.C.’s public school students.

By the October 18, 2007

Voices

Action, not reaction

On Tuesday night, I received an e-mail from President John DeGioia, reassuring the Georgetown community that he “will not tolerate homophobia or any other form of discrimination on our campus.” The e-mail marked exactly a month of DeGioia’s silence after a Georgetown student was assaulted for being gay, so I guess you could say it came in the nick of time, just as I was starting to wonder whose side DeGioia was on, anyway.

By October 11, 2007

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.

By October 11, 2007

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.

By October 11, 2007

Editorials

Pushing DeGioia out of the closet

Although President John J. DeGioia paid lip service to tolerance in a campus-wide email earlier this week, he made yet another mistake by deciding not to participate in a forum discussion organized by GU Pride that was scheduled for last night.

By the October 11, 2007

Editorials

Hybrid cabs: a good first step for D.C.

Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) recently introduced a proposal that would help mitigate transportation-related pollution with an environmentally-sound taxi fleet.

By the October 11, 2007

Editorials

WASA didn’t start the fire (or stop it)

The District’s residents are entitled to the basic public service of fire protection.

By the October 11, 2007

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.

By October 11, 2007

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.

By October 4, 2007

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.

By October 4, 2007

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?

By the October 4, 2007