March 2007
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

On Second Thought

The judgment descended from the heavens like a bolt from the Oracle of Delphi. 

What verdict did the sagacious Foreign Policy magazine decree?

Second Place. 

SAIS is now officially only the second best foreign policy master’s program in the country, according to the first best foreign policy publication (Yes, Foreign Affairs may be a premier journal of international studies, but Foreign Policy has pictures!) 

As a show of solidarity, the editors of the SAIS Observer have decided to accept the rank of second best monthly publication on campus.

We can only conclude that this descent is the result of the judges’ attempts to appease Georgetown University in its plans to restart its secret underground nuclear reactors.

Although Georgetown may have beaten us in the rankings, we thought of a number of advantages to a SAIS education.

1) Who needs office hours when we can read our professors’ editorials in the Wall Street Journal?

2) Georgetonians can’t pick up Korean food with their hoagies at the Galley Café in the Airline Pilot’s lounge.

3) Try walking to Big Hunt from Georgetown on a moment’s notice

4) Campus Shmampus!

5) Finding anything on our website is an intellectual challenge. What do the Georgetonians have to keep their brains sharp?

6) No Undergrads – except those damn BA/MAs

And on second thought, attending the runner-up school isn’t so bad. Being out of the spotlight means that pesky Mohamed ElBaradei will finally leave us alone so we can get on with our own rival, and certainly first best, atomic research (ElBaradei spoke at commencement last year, but this year we get Sir David Manning – coincidence?).

This fall from being number one is really just an opportunity for us to get a second wind. So why did we ever want to be in first place? You’ll have to give us a second on that.