Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
May 31, 2023
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.
The polarization of the 2020 presidential election felt inescapable. The “ride or die” individuals in each party didn’t just differ in political beliefs but seemed to experience different realities. Hinting at this polarization, 56% of registered democrats stated their support for President-elect Joe Biden stemmed from their aversion to President Donald Trump.
Last week, The News-Letter published, deleted and retracted an article about a Hopkins faculty member’s presentation on COVID-19 data.
Two weeks ago, the University announced plans to demolish Charles Village rowhomes. Community members and civic organizations were frustrated that, instead of seeking community input, Hopkins left the buildings to sit vacant for years — allowing them to deteriorate to a nearly irreparable state.
You may have been surprised to see the University’s announcement regarding spring 2021 earlier this month. You were more than likely happy about it, but you were definitely still surprised. Something seemed a bit off.
We hate to beat a dead horse, but 2020 has been full of tragedy and crises. Perhaps the single thing that hasn’t gone horribly wrong this year is the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
On Tuesday, The News-Letter published an article in which seven students alleged that they had been drugged at parties held by Delta Phi (St. Elmo’s). While the fraternity denied the allegations, witnesses corroborated five of the students’ stories.
After almost two years of campaigning, followed by four long days of Americans anxiously calculating electoral vote totals, Former Vice President Joe Biden was finally declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Biden will assume the presidency as the candidate who received the most votes in history, and California Sen. Kamala Harris will be the first woman, the first Asian American and the first Black American to serve as vice president of the U.S.
As a new college student, it’s exhausting to encounter article after article with titles such as “The 10 worst college majors to choose if you want a high-paying job,” “The 15 most useless college degrees” and “The college majors that are worth it.”
This morning, former Vice President Joe Biden claimed victory over incumbent President Donald Trump. The win is historic — Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has shattered multiple glass ceilings — but our country didn’t miraculously transform overnight. Now that we can breathe a sigh of relief, it’s worth taking a closer look at the state of our democracy.
This week, University leadership announced plans to resume on-campus activities this spring. According to a broadcast email from University President Ronald J. Daniels, Provost Sunil Kumar and Interim Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Mary Miller, students are allowed but not required to come back to campus for in-person classes and research, while the gym and library will reopen with adjusted, reduced occupancy.
We don’t know for sure what direction the country is headed. Despite the uncertainty regarding the presidential election, we do know that Hopkins has a (tentative) plan for this spring.
At the end of her life, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” Less than six weeks later, Amy Coney Barrett — a hardcore conservative with only three years of judicial experience — has filled Ginsburg’s seat on the highest court in the United States.
If you’ve been online recently, there has been much discussion on the left surrounding the efficacy of voting for Joe Biden. But here is the simple truth: The future of progressivism is, in no small part, hinged on defeating Donald Trump. Now, I will be clear: Voting for Joe Biden is neither the alpha nor the omega. We should be protesting under Trump; we should be protesting under Biden.
While I appreciate and encourage your interest in safety issues around campus, I find your editorial to be based on unfounded conjecture, insulting to victims and belittling of the trauma that they have experienced.
Election Day is less than a week away. The stakes couldn’t be higher. As Democratic nominee Joe Biden has repeatedly said this year, the very character of our nation is on the ballot.
Happiness is a relatively abstract feeling. Jussi Suikkanen, a scholar of philosophy and ethics, defines happiness as “the state we are in when we feel contentment, satisfaction, euphoria and the like.” With happiness, one is so content with their status quo that they no longer feel any need to change or move toward a different state.
From the California wildfires to the Breonna Taylor verdict to a deadly pandemic that has killed over 220,000 Americans, the response to every tragic, horrible and devastating thing that has happened this year has been “vote.” Why?
Former Vice President Joe Biden is not my hero. Following the 10th Democratic primary debate, I publicly shared that I would support any of the other Democratic candidates on stage (barring Bloomberg) over him. I spent Super Tuesday holding signs for Bernie, which included getting spit on and yelled slurs by Biden supporters heading home from Boston's Financial Center. When Biden became the presumptive nominee, my first reaction was that if this were any other country, the Democratic Party — whose candidate did not represent my ideals — would not be my party. But this morning, I still voted for Biden.
Last week, the University issued a public safety advisory reporting an uptick in carjackings in the Northern Police District, which includes Homewood Campus. In the report, Campus Safety and Security advised students to be aware of their surroundings, and if they are the victim of a carjacking they should surrender any requested property and report the crime as soon as possible.
