Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Voices

Scoring a goal: African citizens beaming with pride

“When I get older, I will be stronger, they’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag! And then it goes back, and then it goes back, and then it goes back, oh!” This summer little kids ran through the streets and waved their Ghanaian flag to the rhythm of that K’naan song whenever Ghana, or any African country, was playing in the World Cup, which was unique in how successful it was in bringing people together.

By September 30, 2010

Voices

OCSL and SNAP stuck in logistical and ideological snafu

Life on the Village A rooftops last year was a good time. Every weekend, the parties made the week worth wading through. I figured it was only going to get better when my friends and I decided to move into an off-campus townhouse for our senior year. Unfortunately, that is not exactly what happened. In reality, leaving campus doesn’t actually mean you’re free from Big Brother’s scrutiny.

By September 30, 2010

Voices

Congress is our name and procrastination is our game

I love American politics. I love it because it mirrors the way I think and live as a typical college student. Congressmen and college students alike sit in large lecture rooms and ignore what the speaker is saying. Both Congressmen and college students fail to complete crucial readings, forcing themselves to bullshit their way through the relevant sessions.

By September 30, 2010

Voices

Carrying On: Stars unaligned for GU Observatory

Every time I tell people I’m the President of Georgetown’s Astronomical Society, two things happen. First, they laugh. Then, they ask me if I can give them a tour of Georgetown’s Heyden Observatory. The observatory never fails to intrigue people, but this universal fascination makes the current state of the observatory all the more pitiful.

By September 30, 2010

Editorials

Bed bugs at GU: Insects of mass destruction

It was only a matter of time before bedbugs came to Georgetown. If Georgetown wants to stop further infestations, it must communicate with students effectively and spare no expense in treating the few infested areas on campus.Otherwise a few isolated cases can quickly spread to become a campus-wide problem.

By the September 30, 2010

Editorials

Soda Tax a sweet deal for District residents

Government revenue has to come from somewhere, so it is valuable when the government can levy taxes that have societal benefits, too. So as the local government faces an increasingly dire fiscal situation, the District of Columbia’s policymakers made a sound decision in turning to an unconventional tax on sugary drinks for spare change.

By the September 30, 2010

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