Guilty pleasures
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is my guilty pleasure. For those of you who do not know, it is a reality television show which follows the lives of several wealthy Beverly Hills women. Generally the show is an enjoyable stress release. I have become increasingly concerned with what I have been watching, however, and my concern grew to [...]
Read moreBy the numbers
68-44: The final score of the Virginia men’s basketball team’s Wednesday night victory against Wake Forest, which moved the Cavaliers to 6-3 in the conference, keeping them in the top 25 overall 71-28: The tally of votes for House Bill 189 in the House of Delegates, which allows state-funded private adoption agencies to discriminate against [...]
Read moreAttack of the drones
Last Monday, President Obama acknowledged the CIA’s covert drone assassination program for the first time, in an online town hall of all places. The president, responding to a question which highlighted the frequency of drone attacks during his term, said that drones have been “very precise” in focusing on “a list of active terrorists.” While both of these [...]
Read moreA hard bargain
The Living Wage Campaign appears to be getting more serious. On Wednesday, the Campaign delivered a set of clear and well-researched demands to President Teresa Sullivan — the first such demands featuring an ultimatum since the historic occupation of Madison Hall in 2006 — along with a petition signed by 325 University faculty. Having left the University [...]
Read moreAfraid new world
Those dystopias imagined by Plato or Huxley wherein the beliefs of children were assigned and dictated at birth were never realized. But a similarly tyrannical proposal, having flown through the House of Delegates, will come up for a vote today in the Virginia Senate. Justified with the noble lie of adding a “conscience clause” to [...]
Read moreForcing the subject
The University recently began a pilot program to determine the feasibility of using e-books in place of traditional textbooks. Seven classes have implemented the use of e-books, following an initiative started by Indiana University, according to Jonathan Kates, the executive director of the University bookstore. In these classes, students automatically receive the e-book after enrollment. [...]
Read moreMass exodus
Recently, a friend of mine showed me a YouTube video titled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” Though many of you may have seen the video, I will nonetheless offer a recap. In the video, Jefferson Bethke recites a poem he wrote arguing against institutionalized religion and the misconceptions which it spreads. He criticizes [...]
Read moreA word to our sponsors
In a report issued Monday on domestic donations given last year, The Chronicle of Philanthropy found that approximately half of the largest U.S. donations, and 19 of the 50 highest donors, went all in on higher education. It would appear without argument that this is worth celebrating. But, interrupting the toast here, such praise is [...]
Read moreHedging our bets
If we can fund our businesses with equity why not use equity to fund our educations? That is essentially the question the student group behind FixUC has posed to the University of California Board of Regents. FixUC developed an intriguing proposal which calls for the elimination of up-front tuition in exchange for students agreeing to pay the [...]
Read moreNot forgetting about Alzheimer’s
Imagine it is the year 2030. Your parents are two of the 7.7 million Americans who have Alzheimer’s disease. You have two kids to take care of and a demanding job. You want to take care of your parents, but cannot physically be there all the time to make sure they are okay. You see your parents’ [...]
Read more