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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: What we talked about this week

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | February 8, 2018

In this week’s editorials, we would like to highlight two stories that we believe are not discussed on our campus as much as they should be. Both stories are grounded in historically rooted problems that carry very real implications today. Even though these stories may not always be in the headlines that we read, we hope that we can — at the very least — be aware of them and perhaps, do something about them.  —The Editorial Board

FILE PHOTO Leading PILOT groups helps students better understand their course material outside of class.

Hopkins cannot let PILOT become a casualty of cutbacks

By JOHN HUGHES | February 8, 2018

As they returned to campus this January, students working as leaders in the PILOT program were greeted with an email informing them that the program would be making cutbacks, including some leaders not being assigned a session for the semester. This is terrible news.

FIBONACCI BLUE / CC By 2.0 Twitter allowed for the misrepresentation of the #BLM movement.

You must support your hashtags with action

By NICOLA SUMI KIM | February 1, 2018

With the introduction of the internet, more specifically social media, activism has ceased to be the radical exercise it once was. Instead, it has become something accessible, something easy, something commonplace. Where marches and mass demonstrations used to be the main staples of activism and awareness, Twitter trends and Instagram hashtags now dominate.  

It's time for the University to reconsider tuition remission

By DING XUAN NG and SAMANTHA CARMEL | February 1, 2018

Although the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by Donald Trump on Dec. 22, 2017 does not contain the repeal of tuition remissions for graduate students employed as research assistants (RAs) and teaching assistants (TAs), the occasion of this near-crisis has brought to light a number of important issues for graduate students at Hopkins.

Hopkins should divest from all fossil fuels

By SAM MOLLIN | February 1, 2018

At the end of the fall semester, our Board of Trustees finally released their decision on fossil fuel divestment. In an email to the Hopkins community, President Daniels lauded their decision to divest from companies that make more than 35 percent of their profits from coal, rather than follow the Public Interest Investment Advisory Committee (PIIAC)’s recommendations to divest from companies that profit from all types of fossil fuels.

Editorial: Continue investing in the humanities

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | February 1, 2018

Renowned investor Bill Miller recently donated $75 million to the University’s Department of Philosophy. Not only is this donation the largest gift to any Hopkins humanities department, but it is also the largest donation to any philosophy department in the country.

Criticism of drug use in hip hop lacks empathy

By WILL KIRSCH | December 7, 2017

On November 15 of this year, 21-year-old rapper/singer Lil Peep died of an apparent overdose. Peep’s music career was inherently linked to the drugs that eventually killed him. He was at the forefront of a genre known as “emo hip hop,” a style which linked the suburban tragedy of bands like My Chemical Romance with contemporary SoundCloud rap. Lyrically, its content is steeped in drug abuse, mental illness and the intersection of the two.

In Hollywood, no one should get away with it

By ARIELLA SHUA | December 7, 2017

As the #MeToo movement spread, I began reacting in a similar way to each account of sexual assault or harassment. On social media, many people that I just barely knew began briefly explaining their stories or posting a hashtag, declaring that they were victims of some form of sexual harassment.

Trump’s Jerusalem declaration will be disastrous for all sides

By BENTLEY ADDISON | December 7, 2017

I am Jewish. It’s an identity and a status that’s immeasurably important to me, and it’s the source of my strong ties to Israel. In Jewish custom, twice each year, at the conclusion of the Passover Seder and at the conclusion of Yom Kippur Ne’ilah services, we say as a group, “le-shanah ha-ba’ah bi-Yerushalayim,” or “Next year in Jerusalem.”

BROKENCHOPSTICK/CC BY 2.0 Wong argues that the internet has created ideological bubbles.

Internet viciousness and relearning how to argue

By ELAINE WONG | December 2, 2017

People say we are living in a more divided America than ever. Objectively, however, America has seen a lot more division in the past: a border dividing it into North and South; and laws that enforced segregation or gave men more rights than women. In most schools, we now learn that these ideas aren’t okay and that the people who fought them are heroes. Though some disagree, at the very least we are united in the eyes of the law and popular ideology. Taking this into account, what makes America today appear more divided than it was back then?

COURTESY OF EDA INCEKARA AND KUNAL MAITI Hopkins students gathered in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016.

Can we use social media as a form of activism?

By SARAH Y. KIM | December 2, 2017

Two words: #MeToo. One hashtag was all that was necessary for sexual assault survivors to show that film producer Harvey Weinstein was not an anomaly, that sexual assault has been normalized for far too long. The message spread not only across the U.S. but also internationally, and Weinstein is now just the first of many public figures charged with sexual assault in the past month whose careers have been irrevocably damaged.

PUBLIC DOMAIN Ajit Pai is the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Why is net neutrality important?

By SAM FOSSUM | December 2, 2017

The internet has become a crucial gateway for accessing information. Just look around Brody Café or wherever you’re reading this piece: People are writing papers, conducting research, reading articles, buying a new pair of shoes or watching TV, all through the internet. Whether it is education, business or entertainment, the internet has become a practical necessity for us to engage in society today. For our democracy and economy to function, it is paramount that people have equal access to the internet.

PUBLIC DOMAIN “Jeff Bezos looks more and more like a super villain everyday.”

Silicon Valley’s corporations abuse their power

By WILL KIRSCH | December 2, 2017

Silicon Valley and its affiliated companies are often associated with the progressive, the cutting edge, the delightful future in which technology unites us all as a global community with ready access to the joys of borderless capitalism. Indeed, the services some of the most well-known tech giants offer have made our lives — that of an upper class with disposable income — collectively easier.

What role should safe spaces play on campus?

By TIANCHENG LYU | November 30, 2017

In recent years, the concept of “safe spaces” has become an integral part of conversations on college campuses across the U.S. Originally coined to help educational institutions resist forms of harassment and hate speech against the LGBTQ community, the term has taken on much broader connotations. Now a “safe space” generally refers to a place or a forum where marginalized individuals gather to share their experiences without having to feel uncomfortable or discriminated against.

VICTORGRIGAS/CC BY-SA 3.0 The Federal Communications Commission will vote to repeal net neutrality rules on Dec. 7.

Voting against net neutrality is not in the public’s interest

By SAMUEL FARRAR | November 30, 2017

After two years of constant debate, on the Tuesday over Thanksgiving break, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finally released its plans to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules enacted in 2015. This decision may be the most damaging to the American consumer in this nation’s history.

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