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.

Fraternity culture is inherently misogynistic

By EMELINE ARMITAGE | November 9, 2017

About once a year, the fraternity debate is reignited at Hopkins, and the same arguments are trotted out. Fraternities are good, look at the brotherhood; fraternities are misguided, they need Bystander Intervention Training (BIT); fraternities are neutral parties, the problem is alcohol. People avoid condemning fraternities as a whole institution. The administration does not want to anger a large portion of the student body, and non-affiliated students don’t want to face the social consequences of criticizing fraternities. I think fraternities are misogynistic and cannot be reformed.

Hop Cops inadequately protect our students

By SAMUEL SKLARIN | November 9, 2017

I’ve always believed that everyone should try their hardest at their job. Whether it is being the President of the United States or cleaning bathrooms at CVS, which is a field that I am sadly very experienced in, people should take pride in doing their jobs right and in doing them well. I don’t think the Campus Safety and Security staff subscribe to this same belief.

ELVIS BATIZ/CC By 2.0 The authors argue that Baltimore’s food ecosystem discriminates against people of color.

We must fight back against racism in our food system

By CLARISSA CHEN and DIVYA KORADA | November 9, 2017

Sometimes what’s on your plate might be difficult to swallow. Recognizing the individual’s participation in an exploitative and unjust food system is not easy, and finding constructive ways to change the system requires creativity. Common ways to address the consumer guilt of participating in a broken, conventional food system often turn into attempts to be a conscious consumer, a problematic movement led by rich white folk.

Changing the conversation is a dangerous debate tactic

By WILLIAM STANTON | November 2, 2017

The 2016 Republican candidate, voters, and platform for President of the United States was incredibly serpentine (and successful) in defending their candidate, Donald Trump, against controversy and scandal. I argue that one of the most powerful tools he and his supporters use for both debates and defense against scandal is the tactic of controlling the conversation.

GAGE SKIDMORE/CC BY-SA 2.0 Stanton argues that Trump’s supporters follow in his footsteps by changing the conversation.

It’s time to fight back against unregulated vapes

By SAM MOLLIN | November 2, 2017

Vaping has become incredibly ubiquitous over the past few years. It’s been showing up at parties, on campus and pretty much anywhere else you’d expect people to be. CDC statistics show that 38 percent of high schoolers and 13 percent of middle schoolers have already tried vaping. Vapes have been allowed to proliferate with virtually no oversight by any public health or government agency.

It’s not enough to say you’re a feminist

By GILLIAN LELCHUK | November 2, 2017

Growing up, I never felt like I was treated any differently for being born a woman. My mother and my teachers and Disney Channel taught me that I could be anything I wanted to be. I believed that so much I never even considered it might not be true.

Humanities internships, and students, deserve more credit

By MIA BERMAN | October 26, 2017

Hopkins students love to talk about their research. Admissions advertises research as one of the key reasons to come to the University, and it seems as if every student is involved — at least, every STEM student. Research is much less common among students interested in the humanities and social sciences. For these students, internships are the best way to get experience.

In light of new Fox host, consume news diligently

By JACQUI NEBER | October 26, 2017

Megyn Kelly’s struggle moving from Fox News to a morning show on NBC has been well-documented, as has her subsequent lack of personality. What made Kelly so divisive (and terrifying) at Fox has changed: In her new position, she is utterly palatable and utterly bland.

Go ahead: break the cycle, text back fast

By NICOLA SUMI KIM | October 26, 2017

Here’s a list of things I will never understand: calculus, cilantro-haters, people that think it’s okay to walk slowly down narrow pathways in large groups. And yet, among this already comprehensive list of daily grievances, there is one that sticks out far more than any others, one that happens to be quite a familiar occurrence among college students these days — the insistence of our generation to remain aloof online.

PUBLIC DOMAIN Kim argues that our tendency to act detached is ruining relationships.

Austria’s election results mark a rightward shift

By RORY MCCLAIN | October 19, 2017

The most significant news of the recent Austrian elections was the dramatic rightward and populist shift in Austrian politics. The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), a center-right party with far-right views on immigration, secured 31.5 percent of the vote, making it the largest party in the Austrian Parliament. The Social Democratic Party won exactly the same number of seats, but lost the chancellorship. Furthermore, it will likely lose its coalition partner status to the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), a blatantly far-right populist, nationalist and xenophobic party.

Criticism of articles cannot devolve into bullying

By DIVA PAREKH | October 19, 2017

In the past few weeks, there have been a lot of very controversial articles in The News-Letter. When something in this newspaper is controversial, it’s very easy to tell. The article rapidly moves to the top of our most read and recent comment lists. When it’s shared on Facebook, there are over 20 comments with even more replies. There are Twitter rants where the article is shared and talked about.

Students cannot be apathetic to the APL’s harmful actions

By EMELINE ARMITAGE | October 19, 2017

In 1993, peace activist Philip Berrigan and six other people from the Baltimore Emergency Response Network (BERN) protested the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory’s (APL) nuclear weapons program by spreading ashes on the ground to symbolize the victims of warfare, as well as handing out leaflets. Berrigan and his fellow activists were arrested. John Wilhelm, the APL spokesperson, responded to the events in The Baltimore Sun by saying, “We really don’t have a comment on today’s events. It’s a periodic occurrence.”

PUBLIC DOMAIN A proximity fuse from the APL that is displayed at the National Museum of American History.