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.

Students should be kept informed

May 2, 2013

Director of Student Activities Rob Turning released the Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Board election results yesterday. This announcement comes nearly a month after the elections were held, due to a lengthy appeals process concerning treasury candidate Schaefer Whiteaker’s disqualification. During that time, Hopkins students were not informed about the reason for this delay, much less the details of the appeals process. The SGA Committee on Student Elections (CSE) told The News-Letter two weeks ago that students weren’t informed about the process to “avoid confusion and clogging up students’ inboxes.”

Five things I’ve learned during my freshman year

By AISHWARYA RAJE | April 25, 2013

My very first article for The News-Letter was about the things I had learned after my first week of college. It feels like just yesterday that I still needed my campus map to locate Mergenthaler Hall, or I enthusiastically headed over to the FFC thinking the food was actually adequate. I have become a more experienced Blue Jay since then, and the ins and outs of Hopkins life are finally starting to settle with me. It would be a stretch to say I have had life-changing revelations since this past September, but I have definitely learned quite a bit. As freshman year comes to a close, I would like to think I’ve become a little wiser and perhaps able to impart some knowledge to the incoming class of 2017. Here are five things I’ve learned during my freshman year at Hopkins:

Keystone XL is not the key to healthy economic progress

By KAUSHIK RAO | April 25, 2013

Last year, oil companies such as TransCanada, Valero and others pushed for the completion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline would carry heavy crude oil from the Alberta tar sands in Canada, through several Midwestern U.S. states, and down into the refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. A decision on the approval of the permit is expected by July. One of the main reasons for the pressure to approve the pipeline is the oil lobby’s marketing campaign that tries to convince Americans that increasing domestic oil production will decrease gas prices here in the U.S.

Misunderstood disease in dire need of funding and research

By MEGAN CRANTS | April 25, 2013

When I was in high school, I had a friend who was often mistakenly accused of being drunk. He stumbled around campus, hanging on to walls for support, and talked with a slow slur that was difficult to understand at times. The other students didn’t understood why he acted this way, and they shunned him for his abnormal behavior.

GOP generation: Can Millennials rebuild the party?

By BEN SCHWARTZ | April 25, 2013

We are the Millennials, the generation born from 1980 through 2000 — born in the last century, come of age in the new millennium. Millennials voted for Obama 60 percent to 36 percent over former Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. The president captured an even larger share, 66 percent to 31 percent, in his 2008 win over Senator John McCain. What, in that case, does the Millennial generation have to do with the rebirth of the Grand Old Party, the party of Lincoln?

Debate promotes necessary dialogue

April 25, 2013

Students and faculty came together on Monday to debate the merits of fossil fuel divestment. Refuel Our Future, a student group spearheading efforts to convince the University to divest its endowment in fossil fuels, and Alpha Kappa Psi, the business fraternity, co-hosted the debate. Divestment would entail the University getting rid of any stocks in fossil fuel companies. Professors Bruce Hamilton and Cindy Parker partnered with two members of the Woodrow Wilson Debate Council to argue their sides of the case.

Polls present opportunity for SGA

April 25, 2013

This year, when students logged on to vote in the SGA executive elections, they were also asked to voice their opinion on the proposed smoking ban on the Homewood campus. A total of 2,860 students participated, which was the “highest voter turnout in recent SGA memory,” according to Rob Turning, Director of Student Activities.

Tweeting after terror: The new role of social media

By ELIZABETH SIEGAL | April 18, 2013

I was in second grade on September 11, 2001. It was only a couple of days into the new school year as we began to practice reading skills and math tables, finding relief within a classroom amidst the humid Washington, D.C. weather. I don’t remember much about the beginning of the day, only that I was getting more and more anxious as the day progressed. My 25 classmates were getting picked up one by one. Three left at recess, two during P.E. This cyclical shrinking even seemed strange to the fleeting attention span of a seven-year-old.

Why Hopkins shouldn’t ban smoking on campus

By ISAAC BROOKS | April 18, 2013

Some personal facts: I do not smoke, nor have I ever smoked. I do not condone smoking in the slightest. The odor disgusts me, the littering upsets me, the financial burden and the vast amount of wasted time it imposes on addicts troubles me. I can without hesitation declare that I am ideologically opposed to smoking, at Hopkins or anywhere else.

Let students advise on speaker

April 18, 2013

Hopkins senior Ben Wasser started an online petition last week to provide students with greater control over the selection of commencement speakers. The aim of the petition is to make the selection process more transparent and democratic and to perhaps even fund future commencement speakers.

Drone program invaluable, but in need of reform

By MATT PARMAN | April 11, 2013

Debate over the use of drones in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen has been raging over the past couple of years and both sides tend to make well-formulated arguments. Is there a middle ground between continuing our current strategy and halting it altogether?

Filibustering the imperial presidency

By ALEX DRAGONE | April 11, 2013

On March 6, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky took to the Senate floor to begin a filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He ended his filibuster 13 hours later on March 7. Following the filibuster, Mr. Brennan was easily nominated.

Letter: Hopkins’s involvement with drones is wrong

By ROBERT D. DAY | April 11, 2013

Jacob Grunberger is right. JHU’s involvement in drone warfare is wrong, and we must do something about it. His proposal for compensating the victims of American drone attacks is worthwhile. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration tries to shield drone warfare from scrutiny or criticism, treats the communities under attack with astonishing disregard and would likely embargo aid under the pretenses of the “War on Terror.” But, as Mr. Grunberger suggests, we have a unique opportunity to promote peace, transparency and the rule of law.

Letter: Why was Santorum invited to Hopkins?

By NANCY HOFFMAN and KATIE BOYCE-JACINO | April 11, 2013

Santorum has made a career out of his hateful ideas, especially toward the LGBT community. As a (former) Senator, he has been privileged to put his thought into policy on a national level, and the anti-LGBT policies of Santorum and his fellows have been measurably destructive for the lives of LGBT Americans.

Give the floor to both viewpoints

April 11, 2013

The Judiciary Committee of the Student Government Association (SGA) decided Wednesday to grant official group status to the pro-life organization Voice for Life (VFL). The Committee’s ruling overturns a March decision by the SGA Senate, which denied VFL’s application for approval as a student group. As an official advocacy and awareness group, VFL now enjoys all Student Activity Commission (SAC) privileges. The group can freely use the Hopkins logo and name, has the opportunity to rent official Hopkins vans and can apply to receive monthly SAC grants and other funds from the University.

What Obama's controversial comment means and why it matters

By KIDIST KETEMA | April 11, 2013

This past week, President Obama received a lot of criticism for commenting on the attractiveness of California Attorney General Kamala Harris. “She’s brilliant and she’s dedicated, she’s tough,” Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. “She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country,” he then added.

Too much pollution? Raise gas prices

By DAVIS EINOLF | April 4, 2013

One of the greatest contributing factors to pollution in America today is the persistent struggle of multiple parties to keep gas prices as low as possible. The United States and its citizens will not change until their hands are forced, until the struggle is to raise gas prices.

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