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.

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The publishing industry needs to stop prioritizing male writers

By JACOB TOOK | April 26, 2018

Recently, my friends and I went to a reading at which five finalists for a literary award presented some of their work. Three of these finalists read snippets of fiction, and the other two read selections of their poetry. Four of these finalists were women, with one man standing among them.

Don’t dismiss passions outside of your major

By JACQUI NEBER | April 26, 2018

In my four years as a Writing Seminars major, I was often asked if I would double with something else. The answer was always no — I reveled in my specific coursework, thought the Writing Sems requirements were broad enough and thought that nothing else was so compelling that I should devote more time to it than a few classes. 

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FlickReviewR/CC By Sa 2.0 Sophia Bush defended Hilarie Burton against EyeCon, but she shouldn’t have had to do so.

Actors shouldn’t be forced to share #MeToo experiences

By CATHERINE PALMER | April 26, 2018

Last fall, in the early days of the #MeToo movement, One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn was accused of sexual harassment in an open letter signed by 18 women in the cast and crew of the show. Among the accusers were stars Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush, who played best friends Peyton Sawyer and Brooke Davis, respectively. 

Our SGA needs real influence over University decisions

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | April 18, 2018

But when the University makes a decision — whether it is about covered grades, fossil fuel divestment or private police — it does not have to act on SGA input, let alone consult the SGA at all. The New Horizons ticket acknowledges this problem and their solution is to generate grassroots support among students and faculty. However, we urge them and the rest of us to think broader. If we want students to have a voice in what our University does, the current system must change.

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Public Domain Hopkins is one of the only hospitals in the country to still allow people to smoke on campus.

Hopkins Hospital needs to ban smoking on its premises

By RUSHABH DOSHI | April 5, 2018

Last year, as I was wheeling a patient into the Hopkins Hospital, she started coughing. Normally, that wouldn’t be in an issue. We were in a hospital after all. Having gotten into an accident, she needed a lot of help from the social service group that I work with to find her a new source of income. The coughing issue spiraled quickly, becoming unexpected and uncontrollable, so I quickly rushed her inside. After drinking some water and feeling more stable, she finally spoke up.

Let’s examine the character of writers we study

By SARAH Y. KIM | April 9, 2018

Before #MeToo, I did not take a very close look at the personal lives of artists whose work I admired. I was naive enough to think that in the 21st century, I could not possibly have been conditioned to respect sexual offenders. 

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We need a student center

By SAM MOLLIN and AJ TSANG | April 9, 2018

For decades, Hopkins students have yearned for a student center: a central space for the collective pursuit of our social and mental wellbeing. Hopkins is an outlier. A student center exists at nearly every other college and university campus in the United States (including the 33 peer institutions to which Hopkins compares itself), but not here. More schools have a student center than an armed private police force.

What the University can learn from the private police bill debacle

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | April 5, 2018

Last Friday, Maryland state legislators announced that they are withdrawing their support for the bill that would have allowed the University to create a private police force. This announcement came as a victory for the many student and community organizers who have been working tirelessly over the past couple of weeks to defeat the bill. 

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Grading on a curve promotes toxic competition

By SAM MOLLIN | April 1, 2018

It doesn’t matter if you successfully learned 95 percent of the material if 50 percent of your class successfully learned 96 percent. Rather than earning the A you deserve on a test, a bell curve could downgrade you to a C. In a scenario like this, what incentive is there to cooperate? 

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Working as an RA should not reduce one’s financial aid package

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | March 29, 2018

Residential Advisors (RAs) are some of the first people we meet upon arriving at Hopkins. They shape our first year experience and ease us through the transition from high school to college. The responsibilities of an RA go beyond just the hours they spend on duty. The job is vital to the emotional wellbeing of students and the position can often be emotionally, physically and psychologically taxing on RAs themselves.

Parkland students are using their privilege for change

By JACOB TOOK | March 29, 2018

Do those speakers accurately represent decades of people of color who have spoken out against gun violence and been silenced? No. But was it clear to me that these kids made a real effort to include a diverse range of voices and center those who often don’t get the chance to speak.

ROSA PINEDA/CC BY SA-4.0 The March in Washington, D.C. on March 24 was one of the largest gatherings in the country.

We cannot take local journalism for granted

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | March 19, 2018

At a time when local publications across the nation are facing increasing financial pressures, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to these local outlets. We are in a city that is grappling with how it is telling its own story. 

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Baltimore’s labor force must stand up to Hopkins

By JOHN HUGHES | March 21, 2018

For the majority of the 20th century, Hopkins was not the primary economic engine of Baltimore City. That title belonged to a massive steel mill whose workers were part of a strong union, operating out of Sparrows Point in southeast Baltimore — Bethlehem Steel’s Baltimore plant. Up until its decline in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the mill was the crown jewel of an industrial Baltimore, perfectly positioned in a major port and railroad hub in the middle of the eastern shore. 

A Hopkins private police force is not the answer

By STEPHANIE SAXTON | March 29, 2018

A protest on campus hosted by Students Against Private Police advertised with a now-famous picture of the University of California (UC), Davis police pepper-spraying peaceful protestors. In her book Campus Sex, Campus Security, Jennifer Doyle writes about the above incident of brutality.

Courtesy of Louis Macabitas This image from UC Davis shows the potential dangers of a private force.
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BIT training must consider sexual assault survivors

By DIVA PAREKH | March 21, 2018

I’ll start with a disclaimer: This article is going to discuss my experience with the Bystander Intervention Training (BIT) program during my freshman year. The program may have changed or evolved since my experience. I’m not criticizing the way it works today, but what happened during my BIT session was not okay.

Why we should care about the Italian elections

By MORGAN OME | March 11, 2018

This is an election year, and for most American voters the November midterm races for the House and the Senate are of paramount concern. But Americans should also pay close attention to elections happening abroad, particularly those in Italy, because they highlight important global trends which have wide-reaching ramifications. 

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Michael Vadon/CC by-SA 4.0 Trump changed his stance on gun control quickly, which has implications for all of politics.

Flip flopping in politics is more dangerous than ever

By SAMUEL FARRAR | March 8, 2018

“Flip flopping” is a very charged term in the realm of politics. However, from Reagan’s flip from liberal abortion legislation in California to anti-abortion laws in the White House; to Nixon’s promise to end Vietnam that turned into massive escalation; to Lincoln’s promise to not use federal troops within the borders of the Union (a flip we are all thankful for) — this process of changing agendas is a very normal part of a president’s career.