Voices

Voices is the Op-Ed and personal essay section of The Georgetown Voice. It features the real narratives of diverse students from nearly every corner on campus, seeking to tell some of the incredibly important and yet oft-unheard stories that affect life in and out of Georgetown.

Alumni Speak

22 months into the pandemic, healthcare worker burnout is real

From a moral standpoint, medical burnout is about the conditions under which healthcare staff works—and the resulting impacts on their lives. Long hours, conflicting demands between hospital executives and frontline healthcare workers, and more can make an already stressful job even more difficult.

By January 23, 2022

Voices

So we can return to campus. Now what?

If Georgetown students are to return to campus on Jan. 11 safely, here's what we believe needs to be implemented by the university and the student body.

By and January 2, 2022

Voices

The holidays aren’t always happy. That’s okay, too.

I won’t wish you the happiest of New Year’s. But I will wish you a restful and peaceful one. Have whatever kind of New Year you need. 

By December 31, 2021

Voices

Why online liberty must be preserved

Despite the toxicity of social media, a free internet is now indispensable to free discourse—and by extension, a free society.

By December 4, 2021

Voices

Georgetown needs to better embody cura personalis with potential applicants

No matter the context around applicants’ dropping grades and heightened absences, with no chance for a student to explain their circumstances, those numbers alone can be enough for colleges to toss aside someone’s application—especially schools as selective as Georgetown.

By December 3, 2021

Voices

It’s time we embrACE asexuality in our education system

While the same lack of resources that I’ve faced in researching my own sexuality will make it hard to create a full curriculum for asexuality, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. This curriculum must explore the fact that asexuality is a spectrum with no set level of sexual attraction experienced by every ace person.

By November 19, 2021

Voices

Georgetown’s dining infrastructure fails to justify the high cost of the mandatory meal plan

It is clear that the university has not given Hoya Hospitality the infrastructure to feed approximately three quarters of the undergraduate student body, and the administration should thus free upperclassmen of the meal plan requirements.

By November 19, 2021

Voices

Dear YA authors, I want my femininity back

The truth is, the traits these characters lacked, the ones treated as impediments to success, were exactly the ones associated with traditional femininity: emotionality, vulnerability, and empathy.

By November 19, 2021

Voices

What the pandemic should have taught us about attendance policies

As we continue to navigate in-person education during the pandemic, we must realize that a “return to normal” cannot mean a return to inaccessible, ableist structures.

By October 28, 2021

Voices

What the pandemic teaches us about disability and disaster

We will all benefit from a society that ensures the inclusion and security of all people—something that will only come with reforming the way we provide long-term care and the way we see disability

By October 23, 2021

On Being Green

On Being Green: How overconsumption fuels climate change

It’s time we change our vocabulary. The success of an individual or business should not be defined on growth but rather sustainability—or, even better, ‘thriveability.'

By October 22, 2021

Voices

Cartoon Apes and Digital Strippers: Craving for Community in the Pandemic Continues Through NFTs

NFTs and their associated clubs may actually provide some real benefit given our evergreen interest in socialization with other like-minded people, united through their love of cards, cats, or video games.

By October 15, 2021

Voices

The Importance of a COVID-19 Science Communication “Ground Game”

As you can see, the science communication challenge in COVID-19 is immense and involves many different stakeholders. To move past the pandemic, we must have an all-hands-on-deck approach to science communication, involving people from all walks of life.

By October 15, 2021

Voices

The anti-women meaning of “women’s lit”

by framing everything they have to say as “women’s,” the label of “women’s fiction” effectively bars female writers from participation in broader, ungendered discussion through their work.

By October 9, 2021

Voices

Contrary to Greg Abbott’s belief, cis men cannot make decisions about abortion

Yee pointed to the “bounty hunter provision” in the bill, which grants Texans the ability to sue someone aiding in an abortion for a monetary reward. Neighbors can report on anyone they know to be involved, including doctors, employees at abortion clinics, those seeking an abortion, and people transporting the patient.

By October 8, 2021

Leisure

How Shang-Chi fulfilled my childhood dream

I don’t want to be *that* Asian American raving about Shang-Chi and its nearly all-Asian cast. But as a Chinese-American woman who once flirted with the entertainment industry myself, I... Read more

By October 2, 2021

Voices

Gamer Vote: The rise of technology-driven politics

While it has largely been Democratic campaigns pursuing Gamer Vote as a political strategy, there is huge potential for campaigns to expand their base by reaching this still largely untapped voter segment

By September 16, 2021

Voices

Undergraduates have embraced social media as a platform to comment on Israel and Palestine. Should we?

I have also come to the realization that while social media activism can be problematic by lending credence to absolutist viewpoints, social media is often the only tool for activism among disenfranchised and minority opinion groups.

By September 11, 2021

Voices

College, Interrupted: A reflection on my pandemic gap year

The pre-pandemic normal encouraged students to work through burnout and prioritize arbitrary academic and professional pressures over our wellbeing. While it seems that many students are still enamored by this lifestyle, I’m not sure that I can handle a desperate cling to the old normal when it was harmful in the first place.

By August 28, 2021

Voices

A Third Start: Reflections from pandemic transfer students

The 2020 transfer class has already experienced Georgetown for a year but is just now finding their permanent place on the Hilltop.

By , and August 27, 2021