The bulldog is the quintessential college mascot. He’s strong, he’s pugnacious, but he’s still cuddly and adorable enough to dress up and take for walks. But according to a recent article published by New York Times Magazine, this perfect breed of mascot is running into some serious trouble.

The story focuses on the practices of breeders of the English bulldog, the breed to which Jack, along with other famous mascots like Yale’s Handsome Dan and UGA’s creatively named Uga, belongs. According to the article, breeders have practiced so much rampant genetic manipulation on English Bulldogs, including inbreeding and targeting “extreme traits,” that English bulldogs as a whole have developed a wide array of health problems. The breed now has a high incidence of respiratory illness, neurological disorders, and difficulties in reproduction and birth, to name a few on the Bulldog’s unusually long list.

The deterioration of the English Bulldog’s health has led some to consider whether continued breeding is ethically sound. And although the article focuses mostly on Uga as its example of a college bulldog, we can’t help but think about the fate of our own poor little Jack. After all, he helps us when we’re stressing about finals, he’s inexplicably gained us street cred as a dangerous school, and he rips apart boxes adorned with opposing teams’ logos like we’ve never seen. We can only hope the poor guy’s health isn’t flailing like those of his relatives.

What the article doesn’t explain, however, is what kind of sick breeding practices led to this. Those are the ones we’d really like to see eradicated.

Photo: Richard J. de la Paz

Yesterday, Demi Moore announced that she and Ashton Kutcher are officially ending their six-year marriage. Tragedies like this make us realize the sad reality that most relationships, no matter how perfect, must eventually end. And so, it is with the deepest sadness that I tell the wonderful, trusty readership of Vox Populi that I’m breaking up with you.

But we had a good run, right? Over the past semester, we witnessed a slew of controversial speakers, a Halloween shooting in our neighborhood, Georgetown’s reception of the ever-important Bieber Bump, and the most unexpectedly controversial feature this blog has ever seen. Our months together were some of the best I’ve had, and I’ll miss waking up hours before class every morning to scour the Internet, looking for something to fill a 2:00 p.m. posting gap.

But we can still be friends, right? I won’t be going far—just getting offline, away from Twitter, and back into the print side of things. I’m sure I’ll still pop up here every once in a while, and I get the sneaking suspicion that come Monday, you’ll have moved on and found yourselves a new editor.

Photo from CNN.

If you ask just about anybody who’s been following the campus plan debacle (if you read this blog, we’re willing to bet that you’re one of them) to sum up the process in a word, you’re going to get a variety of not-so-nice answers. So when Georgetown resident and University alum Jacques Arsenault (COL ’01, GPPI ’07) posted yesterday on Greater Greater Washington saying that planning between the school and its neighbors can be more constructive, we all thought that was a pretty gross understatement.

But Arsenault’s post goes deeper than just pointing out the glaringly obvious. He takes a position about students in the area that we haven’t really heard from those neighbors who have vocalized their opinions about the campus plan—that, for the most part, having us around makes Georgetown better.

“The opponents’ position suggests that the very presence of students in the neighborhood is an insurmountable problem,” Arsenault writes. “This ignores the many positives that students bring to the community … My wife and I feel safe walking home at night knowing there are other people walking about. Without the presence of so many students in the neighborhood the streets would be emptier, and would feel darker and less safe.”

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When it comes to pricey schools in the District (or in the country, for that matter), Georgetown and George Washington usually come to mind as those that reach the furthest into their students’s pockets. But, much like we were surprised to discover that Georgetown wasn’t in the top 20 most expensive schools in the country, it turns out that even our housing costs aren’t among the nation’s highest!

Earlier this week, Campus Grotto, which seems to consist entirely of price rankings, released a list of universities with the most expensive student housing. Of the top 20 schools, the only D.C. representative landing in the top 20 is American University, which ranked 18th with an annual housing cost of $13,684. According to Georgetown University’s housing website, student housing for the 2011-2012 academic year will cost students between $9,000 and $10,000. Compare that to the $18k they charge at New York City’s The New School, the university ranked #1 on Campus Grotto‘s list, and we’re practically in the bargain bin.

After a story ran earlier this week in The Hoya about Georgetown’s conspicuous absence from the Occupy DC protest (which prompted a certain American University student to accuse us all of being 1%-ers), apparently the Occupiers have decided to take the action to us. It has been announced that later today, at about 2:30 p.m., the McPherson Square gang will be marching from their place of outdoor residence to the Key Bridge, in an event entitled “Action: Get on the Bridge!”

According to Occupy DC‘s website, the event, which is being billed as a “Labor-Community-Occupy Day of Action,” is in solidarity with OurDC, a not-for-profit organization aimed at bringing jobs into the District. The website’s description of the event cites the Key Bridge, the structural flaws of which were also the premise for a recent speech by President Obama, as “a vivid example of the many roads, schools and other infrastructure sites in need of repair.”

The D.C. Occupiers won’t be alone in their Key Bridge protests. Occupy NOVA, the Northern Virginia contingent of the Occupy movement which has recently started hanging out in Welburn Square, are also planning on marching to the bridge tomorrow afternoon, meeting their D.C. kindred spirits for the protest.

Vox would like to point out that, while hoards of protesters parading across the District and Northern Virginia will surely make quite the statement, the Occupy Wall Street people are currently en route from the now-empty Zucotti Park all the way to the District.

Photo from Georgetown Law.

In Features, Kara Brandeiski and Rachel Calvert anticipate tonight’s final hearing for the Campus Plan with a summary of the points of disagreement between the neighbors and the University:

The plan, which was officially filed last December, has been a source of contention with neighborhood groups since discussions began in late 2008. After poring over the latest filings against the plan–one from Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E and one joint filing from the Citizens Association of Georgetown and Burleith Citizens Association—the Voice has assembled the main points of conflict and provided some history of the negotiations.

In Editorials, our Ed Board bemoans the Republican presidential candidates as a extremist, comic characters.

In News, Soo Chae discusses the GUSA’s proposed Student Bill of Rights.

In Sports, Kevin Joseph chronicles the rise of Georgetown football, and the team’s optimism despite losing the Patriot League title to Lehigh.

In Leisure, Mary Boroweic tells you why you shouldn’t eat at the Penn Quarter’s newest restaurant, Meatballs.

On Page 13, we tell the story of Jack DeGioia stepping into the Corp’s time machine and traveling into Georgetown’s distant future.

And in Voices, Evan Tarte explains why “the 99%” has got it all wrong when it comes to income equality.

By Daniel Solomon‘s logic, the whole “I’m a famous scientist” thing may have helped Einstein’s game, but poor Nikola Tesla clearly never got any action.

And once she goes out, Victoria Briody is going to use optimization theory to figure out what to drink.

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If only it were always this easy.

Venetia Orcutt, chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and an associate professor at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, resigned from her post last month after numerous students reported that she was not teaching, but rather giving all of her students automatic “A” grades. According to the Washington Post, students wrote letters to the Provost complaining that Orcutt had not taught two out of three semesters of her course on “evidence-based medicine.” The course was theoretically comprised of three one-credit courses, two of which were to be taught online and one in-person. Orcutt taught the in-person class, but not the other two.

It may seem like reporting such a thing would require shooting oneself in the foot a little, since the school would then know that the students got “A”s in a class that they never did any actual work for. However, Campus Overload reported yesterday that students would not only get to keep the credits they “earned” from the class, but would be refunded the price of the online courses and given the opportunity to take them again free of charge.

Photo from GWU Department of Medicine.

Next time you see a guy with a particularly impressive mustache, supplement your admiration/envy/judgment by handing him a $10 bill. Because that ‘stache just might not be a questionable lifestyle choice, but a fundraising tool to benefit sick children in the D.C. area.

This ploy is the strategy behind Mustaches 4 Kids, a nationwide, volunteer-run organization that began in 1999, whose D.C. chapter is kicking off their mustache marathon with a “Shaving Day” party tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at Georgetown’s Rhino Bar and Pumphouse. This event will include drink specials, wing specials, giveaways, and, of course, shaving, as the official mustache growing and money making begins tomorrow. This year, Rhino’s male bartenders are all joining in the cause, and the bar will be full of mustachioed men by the end of the month.

Although many of their events take place in bars, M4KDC strongly encourages Georgetown students to join the cause, which entails growing a mustache and collecting pledges from friends, family, and ‘stache enthusiasts. All proceeds go to the Children’s National Medical Center‘s Childrens National Kids Care Fund, which, according to M4KDC’s website, “responds to the basic needs of children’s healthcare.”

“Growing a mustache is an experience unlike any other, and we highly recommend it,” a M4KDC representative wrote in an email. “Especially for the scene it will cause at the family Thanksgiving table.”

To join the cause, visit M4KDC’s registration page.

Photo from Mustaches 4 Kids.

This week, in Features, it’s all about basketball. Kevin Joseph previews the strengths and challenges of this year’s men’s Hoyas.

This season, it’s hard to know what to expect. The Hoyas have viable scoring threats in Clark and junior guard Hollis Thompson. Unlike years past, though, no preseason accolades have been handed to the team. With 10 underclassmen on the roster, all of their respect this season will have to be earned in 60 minute increments on the hardwood.

In Editorials, our Ed Board discusses the hope that the last few days have shown for Europe’s fiscal future.

In News, Holly Tao tries to break down the economic contributions that Georgetown has made on the District, and how an enrollment cap or a satellite campus, like those the neighbors are lobbying for, would affect them.

In Sports, Kevin Joseph is back to talk about how, even though Greg Monroe may no longer be our basketball star, he’s still very much a presence at Georgetown.

In Leisure, Heather Regen reviews The Deep Blue Sea, a new collaborative production from Mask and Bauble and Nomadic Theatre.

And in Voices, Kate Stonehill discusses the significant disparity between media coverage of political sex scandals by white males as opposed to those by women and ethnic minorities.