Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.



Editorials

Whither did thou wander, Wi-Fi?

It’s the night your English final paper is due and you find yourself pacing the floors of Lauinger library searching for that one mysterious spot where wireless Internet might work. From cubicle to cubicle you hike, stop and check your connection. Nothing. It’s problems like this that make schoolwork unnecessarily difficult for Georgetown students struggling to get by on a campus that is a long way from being wireless, but which must become so to remain competitive.

Editorials

Mayor Williams should be grounded

On Aug. 30th, Mayor Anthony Williams made the disappointing decision to renew a seven-days-a-week 10 p.m. curfew for District residents 16 and under until Sept. 28th. The curfew, which is two hours earlier than under the old law, was passed as part of this summer’s crime emergency bill. While the recent spike in crime is troubling, this unneccessarily stringent curfew is an ineffective solution.

Voices

Conceal and carry

People look at me strangely sometimes and I’m never quite sure why.

Editorials

Lights, Camera, Civil Action

The camera system is a Pandora’s box that has the potential to be abused by Georgetown residents irritated by the antics of their college-aged neighbors and will surely result in the erosion of town-gown relations.

Editorials

Establishing the Jesuit Politburo

As the new academic year begins, six campus Protestant groups have been informed that their relationship with the University has been “terminated.” This intrusion into student autonomy not only blocks essential freedom of expression, but also severely cheapens the remarkable non-academic achievements of Georgetown students.

Editorials

Wrap it up: time for a new birth control policy

Last week the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales of the “morning-after” contraceptive pill to women 18 and older. The University needs to take this opportunity to reevaluate its stance on the availability of birth control on the Hilltop.

Voices

Livin’ in an Amish Paradise

Carrying On: a rotating column by Voice senior staffers

Voices

Notes from the underground

One woman’s descent into the addictive world of internet fandom

Voices

Waking up on Easter Island

On a chilly Easter Island morning, my dad and I cut through the wind toward the sunrise on a bent and broken scooter; he drove, I clung to the jump seat. As the sky filled with gold and faded into blue, I gripped onto my father’s jacket with frozen hands and hunched behind him to avoid the wind.

Voices

The Aussie Animosity

“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” The chanting sounded like the din of a sporting event. With Australian flags draped over them, the crowd could have been on its way to a rugby match. But, the shouts continued, “Lebs go home!” they roared.

Editorials

Taking a nibble out of crime

The most recent Georgetown shooting was simply a high-profile example of what the latest statistics bear out: the “crime emergency” measures have been but a flashy Day-Glo band-aid pasted over a gushing wound that requires major surgery.

Editorials

Chartered flight to nowhere

This month, D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey called on the City Council to place a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools. This proactive effort is a major change in the most extensive charter market in the country, and one that could save the faltering D.C. public school system.

Editorials

Playing hardball with the cable bill

Peter Angelos and Comcast have teamed up to combine two great American pastimes—baseball and screwing the little guy.

Voices

Carrying On: 23 is the loneliest number

For me, The Moment came in Leo’s. A few weeks after starting at Georgetown, a handful of hallmates and I were at lunch, still getting to know each other. The conversation turned to high schools. The stories of my suburban public school were uninteresting at best, but one guy, the product of an elite northern prep school, said something that stuck with me.

Voices

After hours: some things should stay at the office

My office at the Democratic Party of Georgia is smaller than a Village A bedroom and I share it with three other researchers. I drew the short straw and was stuck with the desk that blocked the doorway into the room. Everyday coworkers have to decide whether to give me the crotch or the ass as they brush the back of my head on their way in and out of the room.

Voices

Yo’ momma (and yo’ daddy too)

After dropping my oldest brother off at college, my mother proceeded to cry the entire ride home, silently sniffling as she navigated her way through Ohio cornfields in her red Suburban. Ten years later, after emptying the same, slightly beleaguered car, I stood facing my parents on Healy Lawn.

Voices

Peace in the Middle East?

Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah left the Middle East and the world less safe and derailed a Middle East peace process that had been, for once, looking more hopeful than not.

Editorials

Good men doing nothing

After three years of genocide in Darfur, the United States – once the moral leader of the world – hopes that someone, anyone, will deal with the crisis but us.

Editorials

No V.I.P. treatment in the club

As a Jesuit university dedicated to the development of the whole person, Georgetown has a duty to encourage athletic excellence at all levels and provide the resources all our teams need.