Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Editorials

Appalachia Rising to stop surface coal mining

This weekend, more than 700 Appalachian residents, retired coal miners, and students held a three-day conference at Georgetown to protest the practice of mountaintop coal removal. The group, Appalachia Rising, unites residents from West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, states whose streams and mountains have been negatively affected by this harmful mining practice.

By the September 30, 2010

Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor – 9.23.2010

In the Voice’s Sept. 16 article “On the Record: Álvaro Uribe,” the former President of Colombia said that I am “completely wrong” for suggesting that he has shown contempt for... Read more

By September 23, 2010

Voices

Fellow Hoyas, you have the right to remain silent

It’s been a long week and you’re at a friend’s townhouse, apartment, or dorm room. Music is playing loudly, conversation is even louder, and people are imbibing. Suddenly, three loud bangs on the door. Then, silence. Someone rushes to turn off the music.

By September 23, 2010

Voices

ESPN’s bias boosts Northeast, bullies the rest

With the San Diego Padres vying for the lead in baseball’s tightest division contest, every game is a big deal. And since I’m away from home, I have to rely on national broadcasting, largely ESPN, for any coverage of the team that I’ve loved since childhood. But there’s a problem.

By September 23, 2010

Voices

Logophile gives cruciverbialism a try, and she likes it

Crosswords are a dying art. There are some word puzzle enthusiasts at schools like Georgetown, but the truth is, this classic time-waster simply doesn’t get the kind of attention it used to, thanks to the vast catalog of computer and video games we can procrastinate with instead.

By September 23, 2010

Voices

Carrying On: GU should prioritize poverty studies

In 1919, Georgetown recognized the United States’s rapidly expanding role in global affairs and established the SFS to train young diplomats. Predating the establishment of the U.S. Foreign Service by six years, the SFS has arguably become Georgetown’s most prestigious institution, and its alumni have affected the course of history.

By September 23, 2010

Editorials

Leo’s changes, like its food, are hard to swallow

Complaining about Leo’s is a Georgetown tradition, and not without good reason. The management of the University’s dining hall and meal system needs change. Unfortunately, the changes that have been made to Leo’s this fall were a step in the wrong direction. Over the summer, the dining hall was rearranged and restructured. The upstairs salad and fruit bar as well as the “weekly wrap” disappeared, and bagels and muffins vanished from Late Night.

By the September 23, 2010

Editorials

Gray skies ahead for D.C. public schools?

As candidates for mayor, incumbent Adrian Fenty and victor Vincent Gray, who will almost certainly replace Fenty as mayor in November, agreed on many issues. Gray, however, has been clear that he does not want to duplicate the uncommunicative atmosphere in which Fenty and D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee carried out their biggest reforms of the District’s flailing public schools. But, as he undertakes his own education plan, it is important that Gray does not let a more open process interfere with progress.

By the September 23, 2010

Editorials

A DREAM deferred for immigrant students

Six weeks before the general elections, it seems that more often than not politics takes precendence over the common good. Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to filibuster a comprehensive defense authorization bill that would have vastly improved higher educational opportunities for children of illegal immigrants. The “Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors” Act, attached to the same bill that included legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” fell victim to a partisan Congress playing politics in an election year.

By the September 23, 2010

Voices

The nation of Puerto Rico, an unrealized dream

“But you don’t look Puerto Rican...” I get that a lot. I’m light-skinned and somewhat blonde, have a German last name, and speak English without a heavy Latino accent. But yes, I am Puerto Rican, born and raised.

By September 16, 2010

Voices

Affirmative action neglects real disparity: Wealth

In the heat of the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama said something important about the role of affirmative action in college admissions that should give pause to those who favor the status quo.

By September 16, 2010

Voices

A lifelong world traveler unpacks her global identity

“Can you pass the rubber?” Yes, I am now aware that in the U.S., I should use the word “eraser.” A rubber, I have realized, is a condom. But so goes my cultural adaptation to life in the U.S. I also spell “humour” with a “u,” I can’t pronounce “literally,” and I get annoyed when I can’t use the passive voice.

By September 16, 2010

Voices

Carrying On: The unsexy reality of an ad agency

This summer I found myself interning for two months at an advertising agency. I know what most of my fellow TV buffs out there are already thinking: Mad Men. I was curious to see if the fictional world of Don Draper’s 1960s Madison Avenue philandering had any resemblance to the modern world of marketing.

By September 16, 2010

Editorials

GU must improve sexual assault education

At Georgetown, we often hear a deeply troubling statistic, that one in four to one in five women on this campus will be the victim of sexual assault before they graduate from Georgetown. Although many high-profile cases involve strangers, the vast majority of sexual assaults and rapes are perpetrated by acquaintances or friends. Given the prevalence of this horrible crime, it is essential that Georgetown improve its efforts to educate students about sexual assault.

By the September 15, 2010

Editorials

ANC candidate needs to get off the fence

Single Member District 3 of the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission, which includes Copley and Harbin Halls, as well as dozens of student townhouses, also hosts the strongest opposition to Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan. The winner of the November’s ANC election will be an important voice in ongoing debates over the plan as the community pushes the University for more concessions. Unfortunately, the only candidate on the ballot has explicitly avoided voicing his position on the campus plan.

By the September 15, 2010

Editorials

Free Newspapers Apparently Too Expensive

Print journalism just lost another audience: Georgetown students. As the Hoya reported last week, students will no longer be receiving free copies of three national newspapers, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today due to lack of funding. The second demise of the College Readership program in two years should have both faculty and administration concerned about the deterioration of Georgetown’s intellectual environment.

By the September 15, 2010

Editorials

Where in the world is Jack DeGioia?

Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman holds regular, open office hours with undergraduates. When he walks around campus, DePaul University President Brian Casey greets most of the students he passes by first name. But at Georgetown, it is extremely rare to see President John DeGioia unless he is giving a guest speaker on campus a brief and formulaic introduction.

By the September 9, 2010

Editorials

Pushing campus toward green roofing

An environmentally friendly roofing method that is catching on across the nation should have Georgetown University thinking about using its many flat-topped roofs for more than parties and gravel. Green roofing, which retrofits existing roofs to support the growth of grasses and shrubs grown in sod over a waterproof membrane, carries with it serious environmental and financial benefits, making it well worth the University’s consideration.

By the September 9, 2010

Editorials

D.C. schools recieve much-needed cash

In late August, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that the District, along with nine states, had won the second round of the Race to the Top grant competition, earning $75 million to invest in D.C.’s dismal public school system. This is a huge victory for the District’s struggling public school system, which badly needs the funds, and more proof that Fenty has capably managed education reform over the last four years.

By the September 9, 2010

Voices

Prevent sexual assault by blaming the perpetrator

When we make jokes about “The Cuddler” or suggest that girls who wear “slutty” clothing should expect sexual assault, we are telling any rapists or would-be rapists in our midst that we don’t take these crimes seriously. When we imply that victims are responsible for preventing their own assaults, we give perpetrators the green light to keep assaulting.

By September 9, 2010