Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
September 18, 2025
September 18, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Opinion

The opinions presented below are solely the views of the author and do not represent the views of The News-Letter. If you are a member of the Hopkins community looking to submit a piece or a letter to the editor, please email opinions@jhunewsletter.com.



Editorial: Why Hopkins students should care about Remington gentrification

Remington, the neighborhood just south of the Homewood Campus, was originally inhabited by Baltimore’s working class families. In recent years, however, the area has seen a spike in housing prices and experienced an influx of single, white Baltimoreans in part due to its proximity to Hopkins.


Editorial: Former convicts deserve equal access to higher education

For those with criminal records, seeking access to higher education can often seem pointless. The obligation to report any past convictions on college and graduate school applications has discouraged former prisoners who want to better themselves through education.


Beachfront Solutions/ CC BY-SA 2.0
Many students spend their spring breaks in Mexico without knowing the consequences.

Spring break in Mexico is problematic and political

Spring break is finally upon us, and for me, that means three things: Procrastination will rise to an all-time high, visits to the dog park will become essential and my newsfeed will be full of pictures of friends visiting places like Cabo and Puerto Rico.


Take time to listen, but don’t wait too long to take action

Change is the only constant. In student administration, this premise can certainly be applied broadly. Indeed, many who facilitate conversations about student leadership and involvement often preach the importance of adaptability, to be creative to avoid being stagnant, to innovate to achieve greater things, to experiment as a way toward new beginnings.


Obama (Obamacare)/CC BY-SA 4.0
Obamacare has been heavily criticized for its individual mandate.

New health care law is worse than Obamacare

Since the day the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, became law in 2010, the Republican Party has successfully attacked it to the point that the Repeal and Replace movement has appealed to many Americans.



 OFFICIAL LEWEB PHOTOS/CC BY 2.0
Milo Yiannopoulos is a controversial far-right writer who has sparked protests.

Liberals fundamentally misunderstand protests and leftism

The free speech debate is raging on campuses. Again. This time the think pieces stem from two events: the widely publicized canceled Milo Yiannopoulos event at UC Berkeley and conservative Charles Murray’s speech at Middlebury that was thrown into chaos by protesters.


 Micha Józefaciuk/CC BY-SA 3.0
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Emperor Erdogan of Turkey must be stopped

In many respects, Kemalism’s death warrant was signed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on July 20, 2016. Following an abortive coup d’état, the Turkish president predicated a state of emergency. In other words, it was a constitutional suspension of the Turkish constitution on the destabilized sociopolitical atmosphere of the country, prompting a widespread culling of dissent within Turkish society.


We need to fight the culture of college apathy

When some students hear the word “college,” they perk up and think about the fascinating classes they are taking, the lifelong friends they are making and the exciting freedoms that come with living away from home. Others might cringe and recoil upon hearing this word.


Letter to the Editor: March 9

In response to the article “Henrietta Lacks’ estate to sue Hopkins Hospital” published on March 2:


Editorial: Hopkins deserves a better sexual assault module

The University sent out an email to current juniors and seniors on Feb 28 requiring them to complete a mandatory online training course that addresses sexual assault, as well as alcohol and drug use. Freshmen and sophomores had previously completed the module, called Think About It, as part of their Orientation.


Editorial: Professors should adapt curriculum to the Trump era

In response to Donald Trump’s election, many professors at Hopkins have altered their course curricula to address the president’s rhetoric and policies. Some, like Wayne Biddle’s Writing Seminars course “Nonfiction in the Post-Factual Era,” were created this semester specifically to confront the aftermath of Trump’s win.


Editorial: Why we shouldn’t forget Henrietta Lacks

The cells of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, have led to countless medical advances both at Hopkins and around the world.  The story of her life and her HeLa cells are the subject of a 2010 book by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which has quickly become required reading at many schools and universities in the U.S.


The new sexual assault module is a disgrace

The University’s new required “Think About It” online course about sexual assault, alcohol and sex on campus is one of the most inept, incompetent and downright insulting programs I have come across. I am honestly flabbergasted as to how this program was accepted and sent out to students after years of intelligent conversations about sexual assault.


PUBLIC DOMAIN
Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American man, was murdered in Michigan in 1982.

“Model minority” myth shrouds discrimination

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like for me to be a model. I can only imagine, because the market for Asian male models is rather small, and I’m not the best looking out of all of them. But fortunately enough, society has deemed me a model minority, and that’s the closest I’ll ever get to actually being a model.


 PUBLIC DOMAIN
Two Jewish cemeteries, in Philadelphia and in Missouri, have been vandalized since Trump took office.

Rising anti-Semitism reveals closeted bigotry in America

Since Trump’s inauguration, anti-Semitism has been rising at a disturbing rate. According to CNN, 48 Jewish community centers (JCCs) in 26 states have received almost 70 bomb threats, and two Jewish cemeteries, in Philadelphia and in Missouri, were vandalized.


Editorial: FAS lineup reflects current political climate on campus

The Foreign Affairs Symposium’s (FAS) speaker series theme this semester is “Undercurrent,” which the promotional poster describes as “an underlying feeling or influence, especially one that is contrary to the prevailing atmosphere.”



 PUBLIC DOMAIN
Lelchuk is producing the Barnstormers’ Spring Awakening, in part, to protest Trump.

The National Endowment for the Arts should be protected

As the days go on, it seems more and more likely that the Trump administration will eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in order to divert the money elsewhere. Regardless of whether or not this actually happens, the fact that the Office of the President would put forth such an idea is extraordinarily alarming.


News-Letter Magazine