If last week’s headlines weren’t so black and white, then this week’s biggest news was red, white and blue. Happy, albeit belated, Fourth of July. While the fireworks have faded, there’s cause for celebration this week — and indignation, too.

GW Hospital nurses voted to unionize last week, with Saturday’s results confirming a victory for the hospital staff and the patients they treat.

Across town, the Supreme Court’s vote to reject affirmative action has colleges, including GW, exploring ways to rework their admissions process. And if precedent-shredding decisions haven’t raised the temperature of our discourse, then the hottest weather in recorded history and a local heat emergency surely have.

Here’s the best and worst of this week’s headlines:

Thumbs Up

In an example of people power in action, a monthslong push to unionize nurses at the GW Hospital paid off on Saturday when hospital staff voted 310-207 to allow the District of Columbia Nurses Association to represent them.

I can’t speak to the specific conditions at GW Hospital, but it’s heartening to witness a group of people, especially in your own neighborhood, fight for something they believe in — and win. When I stumbled across a pro-union rally in Washington Circle last week, the energy and enthusiasm the nurses had was palpable. Add in support from D.C. leaders, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and union organizers, and it’s clear how the unionization effort made it over the line.

Thumbs Down

The repercussions of the Supreme Court’s rulings last week are still reverberating around the country — and right here at GW. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority rejected affirmative action, a decision that scraps race-conscious admissions policies at colleges across the country, including GW.

Putting aside my own qualms with the Court’s decision — which, in my view, required willful ignorance of this country’s history — this is a serious opportunity to reshape the University. Who gets to be a GW student? When the total cost of attendance for undergraduate students tops $80,000, the answer is, “not many.” If we’re committed to a diverse student body, officials should also consider income as their admissions policy goes back to the drawing board.

In other news, July 3 was the hottest day recorded in history — until July 4 turned out to be even hotter. With temperatures clawing upward of 95 degrees this week, D.C. officials declared a hot-weather emergency Wednesday.

“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” as the saying goes. But when a walk around the block can make it look like you just left the sauna, even the most hardened of warm-weather veterans are looking for an escape.

We’ll be back next week. Until then, stay cool and beat the heat.

Ethan Benn, a rising senior majoring in journalism and mass communication, is the opinions editor.