Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Editorials

Future funding reform not a SAFE bet for GUSA

The University owes its students $3 million, plus nine years’ interest. That’s the sum it promised to contribute to the Student Activity Fee Endowment in 2001. But it never did, and for the last 10 years, the Student Activities Fee Endowment has stagnated without its support. With that money, the endowment today would be much closer to maturing.

By the October 28, 2010

Voices

Ugly edifice of evil of praiseworthy beacon of learning?

We are all lucky enough to attend a school with a truly beautiful campus. And yet, tucked in the corner of our picturesque front lawn, beneath the austere and regal façade of Healy, lies the squat, angular Lauinger Library—a gloomy, gray structure that looks more like a decrepit Soviet housing project than a comfortable place to study.

By October 21, 2010

Voices

The social network: Where business is all up in my business

I think I may have told Mark Zuckerberg too much. First, on a sidebar, Facebook asked me, “Do you know this person?” and showed a picture of my father. Next Facebook started displaying “photo memories,” pictures of people I occasionally Facebook-stalk that were taken at events I didn’t attend.

By October 21, 2010

Voices

Incompetent chef craves Georgetown culinary institution

Once again, Leo’s has made me sick. But this time, it has nothing to do with undercooked chicken or unwashed forks. I’m homesick. I went abroad ready to experience everything that a foreign country has to offer: the people, the history, and especially the food.

By the October 21, 2010

Voices

Carrying On: Teaching the teacher

Not every Georgetown professor is perfect, and many Georgetown students have had serious problems with some of the teaching styles they have encountered during our college careers. I’m not talking about a complaint about the amount of homework on a particular night—I mean a fundamental problem with their professor’s teaching methods.

By October 21, 2010

Editorials

Georgetown supports a community of scholars

Every fall, over one million young Americans become the first person in their family to attend college. The first-generation college students who come to Georgetown do so through incredibly hard work, often overcoming huge obstacles on their own. Once they arrive at Georgetown, students continue to face enormous financial, social, and academic pressures.

By the October 21, 2010

Editorials

Hysteria stalls sex education at Hardy Middle

Last week, a seventh grade sex education survey at nearby Hardy Middle School caused so much hysteria that the principal put any future sexual education programs on indefinite hold. A minority of parents feel that the survey—which included questions about gender identity, sexual activity, pregnancy, drug use, and sexual orientation—was inappropriate for their 12-year-olds.

By the October 21, 2010

Editorials

GPB brings fall concert to the worst venue in D.C.

For the first time since Coolio came in 2007, the GPB will host a fall concert. GPB and the Senior Class Committee should be applauded for bringing Lupe Fiasco—students’ first choice in last year’s GPB artist survey. However, with so many concert venues in D.C., GPB and SCC should think critically about whether on-campus concerts are the most effective use of their funds.

By the October 21, 2010

Voices

The Corp responds to criticism, recognizes faults

The Corp is not perfect. That’s why feedback, like last week’s Voice op-ed by Julie Patterson entitled “Corporal punishment: My daily dose of café-au-hell” is so important to us. While I take issue with a great deal of the author’s commentary—and all of her blatant falsehoods—the article was not useless.

By October 14, 2010

Voices

Deserving of respect, legacy students enrich the Hilltop

Being upset because a friend has been accepted to a school that rejected you is understandable. But it is a little too much when a friend tells you, to your face, that you didn’t actually deserve your acceptance letter. Throughout senior year, everyone knew that my first choice was Georgetown.

By October 14, 2010

Voices

Sharing the Shabbat: Interfaith experiences at Georgetown

Transferring to Georgetown from U.C. Berkeley has been a culture shock. I have never seen so many polo shirts or boat shoes in my life, I find I miss Thursday night frat-hopping, and readjusting to dorm food has multiplied my appreciation for my George Foreman grill.

By October 14, 2010

Voices

Carrying On: School is for learning?

As I was on my way to New York City for Columbus Day weekend, the guy next to me on the bus decided to strike up a conversation. “How do you like Mill?” he asked. He was referring to On Liberty, which I was furiously marking up with my pen. I had already decided I was going to spend the weekend tackling my flood of homework.

By October 14, 2010

Editorials

Popular IDEV certificate deserves SFS support

Less than two years ago, the International Development Certificate in the School of Foreign Service was thriving. It sponsored campus events, hosted résumé reviews, and helped students connect with alumni working in development-related fields. But today, the program is a mere shadow of what it used to be—and what it could be.

By the October 14, 2010

Editorials

Do they teach resource management in Hariri?

Traditional on-campus study spaces filled up hours ago. But the Rafik B. Hariri building is lined with rows of comfortable seats, tables, and discussion rooms that would suit your study group’s needs perfectly. There’s just one problem—the doors of the McDonough School of Business’s glittering new building are locked.

By the October 14, 2010

Editorials

GU admissions picks applicants over rankings

Georgetown’s unique application sends the message to prospective students that it values their individual application more than inflated rankings. Commitment to a thorough review of the whole applicant sets Georgetown apart from its peers, and is a crucial first step in the University’s attempt to educate and value the whole person.

By the October 14, 2010

Voices

Oh Columbus Day, Columbus Day, why do you exist?

When I first saw Columbus Day on the Registrar’s calendar as a freshman last year, I was amused to find that we had the day off. For many students in this country, Columbus Day is just a novelty, and many states and school districts have never used it as an excuse to cancel school. Students, however, really shouldn’t just dismiss Columbus Day out of hand.

By October 7, 2010

Voices

Silencing a mute: RJC ends, student rights stay the same

As a second-year member of the Residential Judicial Council, I could not be happier with the Office of Residential Life’s recent decision to suspend and restructure the council during the 2010-11 academic year. Some students have complained that they have lost a voice in the University’s judicial process, but the truth is they never really had one in the first place.

By October 7, 2010

Voices

Corporal punishment, my daily dose of café-au-hell

The Corp is the single worst organization at Georgetown University. It operates in a fantasy land where bad business practices can still yield a profit, where employees face virtually no risk of being fired short of stealing from the company, where employers provide rivers of free alcohol, and where customers continue to patronize businesses that provide terrible service and sell goods at inflated prices.

By October 7, 2010

Voices

Carrying On: Some like it flat

About a month ago, in an orientation speech for my study abroad program in Copenhagen, a Danish government official explained to my fellow Americans and me how expensive it would be for us to live in Denmark. Thanks to an unfortunate exchange rate, it costs about 5.5 kroner to purchase $1 dollar. Here, a cheap cup of coffee costs about 22 kroner. Smirking, the speaker said, “Don’t blame us—blame your parents.

By October 7, 2010

Editorials

GU finds just enough rope to hang themselves

The University’s false announcement last Thursday that a noose had been found in the basement of Healy Hall was foolish and careless. Administrators were rash in announcing that a troubling crime had occurred on campus before they knew the facts of the case. But just as troubling was how the administrators responded to what they believed was yet another hate crime on campus.

By the October 6, 2010