I’ll state my argument quite simply: The recent enthusiasm over the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, which was expressed resoundingly in this publication Friday as in most other media sources worldwide, seems rather unjustified.

As alumni of Georgetown University, we must declare our profound degree of unease regarding the intellectual environment at Georgetown. We submit that our school increasingly resembles a breeding ground for mere functionaries.

TO THE EDITOR:

Like most other establishment institutions, THE HOYA’s editorial board seems eager to impress the necessity of essentially legitimizing the status quo in its demand that college students do their “duty” by voting for one of the two tickets that will emerge from the 2008 presidential campaigns (“Don’t Put Off Your Vote,” THE HOYA, Jan. 11, 2008, A2). The editorial board rather dogmatically assumes that, within the realm of politics, “whatever excites you” must be the candidacy of McCain, Obama, Clinton, Huckabee or Ron Paul. It further claims that the “choice” that college students face is “a pretty simple one”: students can continue with their apathy and solipsism in claiming either that voting isn’t worth it or that none of the candidates appeal to them, or they can “finally stand up and end politics as usual.” After all, we are told, “Democracy won’t work if people don’t vote.”

I was rather shocked, as I hope were other members of the Georgetown community, to read Alexander Sanjenis’ recent viewpoint (“GU Wouldn’t Be Too Keen To Go Green,” THE HOYA, Nov. 9, 2007, A3) discouraging action aimed at mitigating the projected consequences of global climate change.

I was rather shocked, as I hope were other members of the Georgetown community, to read Alexander Sanjenis’ recent viewpoint (“GU Wouldn’t Be Too Keen To Go Green,” THE HOYA, Nov. 9, 2007, A3) discouraging action aimed at mitigating the projected consequences of global climate change.

THE HOYA editorial board’s defense of University President John J. DeGioia’s endorsement of an advertisement in the New York Times criticizing the proposed boycott of Israeli universities is a little more than absurd. Terming it a heroic attempt to “preserve and promote a robust intellectual discourse on campus” and to “[f]ree, untrammeled debate that