Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
April 8, 2025

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.

Rape prevention must focus on education

September 18, 2014

The Editorial Board engaged in a healthy discussion in regards to the incipience of a whole new industry: rape prevention technology. Young engineers around the country are throwing their hats into the ring with creative inventions like Undercover Colors’ nail polish, which changes color when directly exposed to dissolved rohypnol (“roofies”), and LifeShel’s phone case, which has a panic button that can generate an alarm at decibel levels you would never find outside of a rock concert. These inventions are undeniably arresting — and dare we say it, pretty cool. Exciting technology along these lines generates awareness and sparks conversation about this sensitive issue. Publicity is certainly not detrimental to this cause; yet, the Editorial Board believes that the newfound attention has the potential to bring along its own set of complications.

LGBT Center is step in the right direction

September 11, 2014

The University recently announced its plans to relocate the LGBT Resource Center, which will now be housed on the first floor of the Homewood Apartments. This new space will serve as the centralized hub for all the LGBT groups on campus, including the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA); Out in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (oSTEM); the Peabody Gay-Straight Alliance and Gertrude Stein Society. With such a large domain of student groups, we assume that this new space will host many events, group discussions and even simple study sessions.

Blue Jay Rewards will help school spirit

September 11, 2014

For the first time ever, enthusiastic Blue Jays will be rewarded for coming to athletic competitions with more than just an exciting sporting event; through the Blue Jay Rewards program, students have a new incentive to attend varsity athletic games. The program allows them to accrue JPoints that can earn them prizes with a simple swipe of their JCards when they go to specified home games. Blue Jay Rewards is orchestrated by the Athletics Department and launched Sept. 3 with the intent of increasing attendance at athletic events. Students accumulate points throughout the year and receive certain prizes as they reach specified point levels. Prizes consist of free admission to NCAA championship games, vouchers for Eddie’s Market, jerseys sported during games, Barnes & Noble gift cards and an autographed men’s lacrosse helmet. The student who has garnered the most JPoints by Nov. 15 will win two sideline tickets to the first Big Ten Men’s lacrosse game that Hopkins will host this season, where the Jays will be vying against Rutgers. The student that is loaded with the most points by Feb. 21 will gain two sideline tickets to the Homecoming game against the University of Maryland.

National days of prayer violate Bill of Rights

By ALEX YAHANDA | September 11, 2014

The separation of church and state was one of the most ingenious inclusions in the Bill of Rights (it was a relatively novel idea at the time). So, why, over 200 years after the ratification of the First Amendment, does our government still sometimes err in keeping its affairs distinct from religious ones? One would think that ample time has passed to eliminate the overlaps between church and state.  Nevertheless, a common overlap was exhibited this past weekend. President Obama designated three National Days of Prayer and Remembrance to honor the victims of Sept. 11, 2001. Obama’s proclamation encouraged Americans to remember 9/11 through “prayer, contemplation, memorial services, the visiting of memorials, the ringing of bells, evening candlelight remembrance vigils, and other appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

In defense of McCoy Hall

By NATHAN BICK | September 11, 2014

In the student body of Johns Hopkins University, no building is more derided, hated and scorned than McCoy Hall, the residential high-rise across from the Beach and MSE Library on Charles Street. As the latter half of the year approaches, an entire freshman class anxiously waits for a random lottery number that will decide their order in room selection for university housing the following year. There are several options: McCoy, Homewood, Rogers, Bradford and of course, the “crème-de-la-crème,” the crown jewel of university housing, Charles Commons.

Sex Signals fails to capture gravity of rape

By MORLEY MUSICK | September 11, 2014

Though I sometimes laughed with the rest of the audience and first thought the performance to be helpful and instructive, I’ve come to re-evaluate orientation week’s Sex Signals show. The aim of this performance is certainly noble; it aimed at educating college students about consent and how to recognize and prevent rape. Because of this group’s intentions, I have no desire to write anything so damaging as to impede them from speaking at other universities. However, they should reconsider the means by which they convey their “good word.” It seems an almost delirious oversight to tour nationwide performing a rape prevention talk without ever once mentioning what sort of damaging effect rape has on a victim and to go off on lengthy comedic tangents about a topic so grave as rape.

Orientation changes are appreciated

September 4, 2014

The Editorial Board would like to commend the fall 2014 Orientation staff for the new changes to this year’s program. These changes include eliminating the Peer Ambassador (PA) program and replacing it with the First Year Mentor (FYM) program, as well as building a new organizational structure to address the traditional chaos of past move-in days. These adaptations, among many others, have vastly improved the Orientation program.

Insomnia Cookies: bad for a healthy lifestyle

September 4, 2014

July 22 marked the Homewood Campus debut of Insomnia Cookies, a national bakery chain with late-night hours and delivery service. The idea for Insomnia Cookies originated at the University of Pennsylvania in the dorm room of then-student Seth Berkowitz. Since its founding in 2003, the popular chain has been selling and delivering freshly-baked cookies to individuals and companies at over 50 locations.

The necessity of student journalism

By ALEX YAHANDA | September 4, 2014

This is somewhere around the 100th opinion column I have written, though it is my first for The News-Letter.  And, in moving from one paper (The University of Virginia’s The Cavalier Daily) to another, I have been thinking about the importance of independent student journalism for a well-functioning student body. This sentiment, I hope, is a timely one, as new students are becoming acclimated to Hopkins.  With any luck, they will also come to appreciate the benefits created by a college newspaper.

Orientation nation: a new JHU undergrad experience

By CARISSA ZUKOWSKI | September 4, 2014

I envy the individuals who claim to have had butterflies fluttering in their stomachs before their first day of college. From what I remember about my experience a little over a year ago, my body was staging a coup against itself. I was borderline paralyzed with fear of the unknown as I was pulled from my car outside of Wolman last fall. In all honesty, I barely can remember my orientation experience; it was all a blur of confusion and disorganization. I remember wandering the back side of the Rec Center trying to find Bloomberg for my first Peer Ambassador (PA) meeting; upon finding the room, my PA that was nowhere to be found. I gave up on the orientation process after that. I guess I was on my own, along with a thousand other new kids.

iCloud hacker exposes dangers of digital age

By WILL MARCUS | September 4, 2014

The technological progression that affects our day-to-day lives is a double-edged sword. One side of it bestows us with unprecedented convenience, while the other side makes the chinks in our armor ever more apparent. In other words, technologies that simplify our lives do so at the cost of privacy. These "chinks in our armor" can best be described as all the stupid stuff we do that we'd never tell Grandma about. These are the same stupid things that our parents did. I hate to say it, but these are also probably the same stupid things that your grandma did too. Your parents didn't have Facebook profiles when they were our age; heck, they didn't even have digital cameras. Your grandma's "Instagram" is the current logo of our Instagram. The older generations were no better or worse than we are; they just didn’t have the means to document their youthful sense of adventure.

Letter to the Editor: Resources for sexual assault victims

By admin | May 2, 2014

In light of the recent Huffington Post article, we (Rebecca Grenham and Ella Rogers-Fett, co-directors of Sexual Assault Resource Unit), feel that it is necessary to alert the Hopkins community of the resources available to them. We understand that this is an upsetting and emotional time for many people, and we want to assure everyone that any emotional reaction to this incident is natural. You are not alone. Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU), runs a confidential 24/7 hotline operated by students trained in empathetic listening and crisis intervention. The hotline number is 410-516-7887. For non-emergency related questions, thoughts, or concerns, please contact us at jhusaru@gmail.com. Aside from our services, we have also listed other resources available:

President’s Reading Series excels

May 1, 2014

This Monday, former child soldier-turned-human rights activist Ishmael Beah came to Hopkins to tell the story of his remarkable journey. He was the final speaker of The President’s Reading Series, a joint effort between the Writing Seminars Department and President Daniels to invite acclaimed playwrights, novelists and journalists to bring their unique ideas and perspectives right to the doorsteps of Hopkins students. Colum McCann, Colm Tóibín, Isabel Wilkerson and Ishmael Beah all accepted that invitation this year. Each is a literary heavyweight that has won Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Critic Circle Awards and National Book Awards. 

Editorial Observer: Focus on Humanities

By DEVIN ALESSIO | May 1, 2014

 If you’re anything like me, as finals roll around, readings that you haven’t finished over the semester start to catch up with you and spots in the Brody Reading Room get harder and harder to come by, sometimes you start to ask yourself: is all the stress of a Hopkins education worth it? As a graduating Writing Seminars/Italian double major, I’m not entirely sure.

The Common Core’s war on fiction

By KATE DWYER | May 1, 2014

September: The month when the trees button up their autumn coats, when students scramble to finish their summer assignments, and when teachers dot the last i’s and cross the last t’s on their lesson plans — but four years ago, New York State had something different in mind. On July 19, 2010, the Board of Regents formally adopted the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. On Jan. 10, 2011, the Board approved New York State’s unique additions to the program.

Generation Y, please sit down and listen to yourselves

By CARISSA ZUKOWSKI | May 1, 2014

Generation Y strikes again with loud voices and confidant aims as they strive to build momentum in issues of social change. There is nothing innately wrong or distasteful with activism, but lately, it has reached a dead end. Activists are pulling a push-door, expecting to get through it somehow. Here is a list of the top five activist issues that we all should put to rest; they are overdone, overused and very much past their primes. These issues are already out in the world, and it is up to individuals to make the change for themselves; no amount of protests or info-pamphlets will change their minds. This is not to say that I disagree with their purpose, but I certainly see room for improvement in their means of creating the changes they desire.

Your career isn’t as important as you think

By JOSHUA KAYS | May 1, 2014

You’ve been asked this question since freshman year, and if you happen to be a junior or a senior, variations of this question have probably come up more and more frequently. For some of us, that question may seem infinitely far away, while for others, this question is forced upon us daily, and maybe we still don’t have an answer. Regardless of where we stand in relation to it, we have to be honest — at some point, we will enter the workforce. We will enter the ‘real world,’ as they say. So what are we to do? How do you decide, right now, what you intend on doing for the rest of your life? It’s almost insane to think about. How are you (at, say, 22 years old) supposed to make a decision of what job will satisfy you for the next 30+ years? That involves thinking about whether you’d like to travel or not, if you intend on marrying someone or not, if you plan on having kids or not. Do you really think that any of us can make such a big decision at this age with any sort of wisdom?

Sexual Assault Petition Necessary

April 24, 2014

Sexual assault is an alarming, under-reported reality among many universities and colleges. Recently, Hopkins student groups have advocated for our administration to take additional steps to combat these tragic incidents. On April 23, the College Democrats released a petition in conjunction with the Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU) and several other organizations requesting that the University take five actions: provide a website that specifies students’ legal rights, revise the freshman orientation program on rape and sexual assault prevention and make it mandatory, print SARU’s hotline number on all new J-Cards, provide honest email updates detailing the frequency and location of sexual assault incidents and introduce a compulsory anti-sexual assault component to all fraternity and sorority new-member programs.

Apathetic non-voters forfeit right to complain about the SGA

By ALI DELEN | April 24, 2014

The Student Government Association (SGA) is viewed with disdain by what seems to be a majority of the student body. People complain that their representatives don’t do enough for them while others lament that they’re not given any practical capacity to do so. Regardless of why, it seems we’re not satisfied with our SGA. And it’s our own fault.

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