Sam immediately noticed what’s become a pretty obvious trend since free newspapers hit the Georgetown campus a month ago: the Times is always the first to go, usually disappearing entirely while most copies of the Post still sit there, waiting for a loving home (I’m not even going to touch USA Today). I’m wondering if openly hoping that that will change after the Post deep-sixed its competition in the Pulitzers yesterday, taking home a half-dozen of the prestigious journalism awards. It’s the second-most ever by a single paper—the Post’s best-ever performance—and four more than its closest competitor, the Times.

I don’t have a problem with the Times. It’s a great paper, arguably the nation’s premiere one (despite yesterday’s verdict), and certainly an icon. But besides being a storied paper with what is probably the country’s best political staff, the Post is also our local paper here at Georgetown. To spend four years here and not take an interest in your community is something of a travesty. It’s likely symptomatic of many Hoyas’ larger allergy to getting out of the neighborhood at all (seriously—go for the coffee shops alone), combined with the multitudes that come here from the New York area. But please, give D.C. a try.

Photo courtesy washingtonpost.com.

Shortly following the announcement that Heroes star Hayden Panettiere was coming to speak at Georgetown, the GW Hatchet announced their own famous speaker: right-wing cheerleader Ann Coulter.  GW apparently hasn’t gotten the memo that, like a small cut on the inside of your mouth, the only way to make Coulter go away is to ignore her.  But at least one GW student thinks its a good idea.  From the Hatchet:

“We feel that GW is deprived from the conservative movement,” said GW YAF’s [Young American Foundation] President, Sergio Gor. “We feel that our students are lacking the substance of a pure education. We are exposed to bias and all these opinions that are very one-sided, and it really has to be our group that brings in the conservative cause and conservative movement to campus.”    

…

“We encourage all our liberal friends to come out and learn,” Gor said. “It’s a huge thing for GW to be having Ann Coulter. She’s one of the biggest stars on the speaker circuit. For us to be having her is a good thing for us.”

For those who need a refresher course on some of the more horrific things Coulter has said, check out the Stephen Colbert-Ann Coulter Challenge, from New York Magazine, in which you try to pick which quotes Colbert said and which quotes Coulter said.  (Hint: Colbert didn’t say this: ”Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of ‘Kill everyone who doesn’t smell bad and answer to the name Muhammad.’”)

I’m all for reading material in the john, but the Dec. 5 issue of the Stall Seat Journal rubs me the wrong way. Far be it from me to criticize people selflessly performing a public service, and as much as I usually enjoy the SSJ, I’ve got some (hopefully) constructive criticism.

1. The “Here’s what Hoyas are Saying about the SSJ!!” box has got to go. It contains responses from a survey about the SSJ like “The most unique publication on campus,” “Entertainment while you pee” and “It’s splendid and perfect.” While the SSJ undeniably entertains me while I pee, the SSJ’s splendor and perfection should be allowed to speak for itself.
2. The SSJ can’t let go of their favorite statistic, that “97% of Hoyas, who choose to drink, eat a meal or snack beforehand.” The underlying implication here is that this is targeting the 3% of Hoyas who don’t eat before drinking. Don’t be a perfectionist, SSJ. Let that 3% learn for themselves—it’s called tough love.
3. The 3 copies of the SSJ in the bathroom across from my room were crookedly taped with a single vertical piece of masking tape that goes from top to bottom, right over the actual content. Come on, now.

On the plus side, in the suggestions for stress management, someone changed the second “t” in “Try Meditation” to a “c.” (Full disclosure—that someone was me.)

- Sam Sweeney, Blog Editor, Flickr photo by egg.

Not that this is bash Aramark day, but I ventured into Donny’s (Leo O’Donovan Dining Hall, get it?) today and was confronted with cold, cooked, broccoli. For some reason, I love broccoli, but either have it cold and raw or cooked and hot. Nothing’s worse than something that is both cold and mushy. How are you finding the new dining hall?

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

Two weeks ago, I wrote a column about “The Graduates,” a new blog on the New York Times‘ website. At best, I gave it a mixed review—it doesn’t tell college students anything new, it really just provides our grandparents with an insight into the malaise and tedium of graduating seniors’ daily lives.

It hasn’t improved much. (more…)

The blog is in withdrawal. As you can see, we’ve gone a little quiet now that basketball season is over. Of course, we would love to move on and start looking at next year (or maybe even to discuss the plethora of other things happening on campus), but we’re going to be slow. Why? Because we’re waiting for an answer.

I went to the rally for the Hoyas in Healy Circle yesterday, and after JT III and a few of the guys spoke, President DeGioia came to the podium. I was expecting some sort of announcement, but all he did was give one of his infamous introductions (albeit, a little after the fact). If you believe the Washington Times (and many would say they had the best coverage of the team this year), JT III wants a raise, and DeGioia has been discussing this with the Athletic Director, Bernard Muir.

Thompson has one of the lowest salaries among coaches in the Big East. After the last three seasons, it has become clear that $465,000 he earns each year is a travesty (wish I could say that about myself). If you feel like I do, write President DeGioia and Athletics Director Muir. Tell them to get on top of this, and to lock up the man behind Georgetown’s renaissance for the foreseeable future.

Posted by Austin Richardson, Blog Editor

As Georgetown students prepare to enjoy the game John Thompson III brought them, someone “close to Thompson” is saying he’s looking at a move to the NBA. Terrible news if it were true. But fortunately, it probably isn’t going down for a while, if at all.

The Washington Times reported that the Charlotte Bobcats are making overtures to Thompson, but he said he’s not immediately interested. A blogger on AOL’s campus sports blog points out that it’s a bad idea, for two reasons: JTIII’s best players, Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, still have another year of playing; and Charlotte’s an awful team.

Here’s another reason for JTIII to stay: the Charlotte logo is terrible. I feel like I’m looking at a Pokemon card, not a reputable team insignia.

Posted by Will Sommer, Staff Writer

While every other U.S. newspaper has been printing feel-good pieces about all the father-son connections at G’town, leave it to the Times to be critical. Friday’s sports section has an excellent and surprising piece about GU Assistant Coach Kevin Broadus’ (recently hired to coach Binghampton) recruiting of Marc Egerson. Egerson withdrew from G’town in December, in the middle of his sophomore season. According to the piece, he got 12 ‘F’s in high school and became a father in February. Egerson’s recruitment is a glaring contradiction to what Georgetown basketball says it stands for, and makes me and my friends on the Ed Board look bad for writing that the Hoyas are all business and focused on the classroom.

However, the article is unfair to Broadus—he bears the blame while his boss, JT III comes out largely unscathed. Broadus and Thompson should have never recruited Egerson, but the article may go a bit far by questioning Broadus’ qualifications for the Binghampton job. I’m sure plenty of assistant coaches have made poor recruiting decisions.

Posted by Keenan Steiner, Editorial Board Chair

Writing this now, my throat is hoarse and my ears are ringing. If you didn’t make it to New Jersey this weekend, you missed out. Hopefully, though, you made up for it while closing down M St.

There are a ton of articles out there on last night’s game, but I’ll give you the cream of the crop: Andy Katz’s article at ESPN, Tom Knott’s at the Washington Times, and the Post’s most recent piece on Jon Wallace.

All will try and tell you why the Hoyas won, but I’ll tell you the truth right now: it was the face paint my friend Christa put on JTIV’s face (and yes, I mean 4) at the Hilton before the game. Sure, he might still be in elementary school, and he might have wiped the “III” she put on his forehead into a silver smear before he even boarded the bus, but those splotches put the spirit quotient over the top.

We Are!

Posted by Austin Richardson, Blog Editor

It’s spring, and that means no more frumpy sweaters. Not so fast, say upright Christian men. In a survey sponsored by evangelical youth site The Rebelution, repressed young men the world over answered the question “What do you think is immodest?”. The answer was, overwhelmingly, “Pretty much everything.” Some highlights:

• 57.5% of survey takers disagreed with the statement “It is okay to expose the stomach when wearing a swimsuit.” It gets better when you hit the comments, though. One boy said, “Seeing a girl’s belly makes me very uncomfortable and it is just something that you don’t need to show to anyone.” Here’s something creepy: he’s 13!
• A well-informed 60.7% thought gauchos are modest. For myself, I have no idea what gauchos are. It seems that their knowledge of women’s clothing is rivaled only by this man’s.
• 47% thought T-shirts with messages on the front “draw too much attention to the bust.” So intense!

Link via Pandagon

Posted by Will Sommer