Reflect and conserve
COLLEGE years pass us by quickly. No one knows this better than the graduating Class of 2011.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Cavalier Daily's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
45 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
COLLEGE years pass us by quickly. No one knows this better than the graduating Class of 2011.
THROUGHOUT history, we have seen our once narrowly defined gender roles progressively expand. Today, women serve in the armed forces, work as surgeons and participate in the highest levels of government. Men are stay-at-home dads, have careers in nursing and are even self-defined feminists. Yet every day, women and men are typecast according to their gender in destructive ways.
ON FRIDAY, over one billion individuals in 192 countries will take part in the world's greatest civic observance - Earth Day 2011. The world celebrated its first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and since then, the modern environmental movement has worked internationally to conserve and protect the earth's vital resources.
MAHATMA Gandhi once said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." By these standards, the United States is not the great nation it claims to be, but instead a nation vested in unsound morals and barbaric agricultural practices.
THE DISCOVERY of the DNA double helix structure in 1953 was one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. In 1962, James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize for this discovery and today are renowned for their revolutionary contributions to modern science. The discovery of the molecular structure of DNA by these three men, however, would not have been possible without the efforts of a brilliant and previously unrecognized woman, Rosalind Franklin.
NUCLEAR disasters such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima often erode public support in nuclear power, and for good reason. Yet in the United States, government support for nuclear energy remains alive and well, largely thanks to the influence of nuclear power lobbyists, industry friends in Congress and a politically invested executive leadership. However, the recent disaster in Japan has provided Americans an opportunity to reevaluate the justifications for expanding the nuclear energy program in the future. Nuclear energy is one solution for the nation's energy problems, but it is hardly the only answer.
TRAVELING is defined not only by the places you see, but also by the people you meet along the way. While traveling this Spring Break, I happened to sit next to an elderly woman who quite unexpectedly taught me an invaluable life lesson.
EVERY day around the world, millions of defenseless animals suffer in silence at the hands of humans. We use animals for food, clothing, entertainment and experimentation with trifling afterthought. As justification for our cruelty and exploitation, we point to our "superior intelligence" and basic human necessity. We profess naivete and we feign indifference. Yet the animal rights movement is gaining momentum as more individuals recognize the importance of humane living. As young scholars, we too must broaden our understanding of animal rights issues and make changes to reduce widespread and needless animal suffering.
WHEN English Captain George Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca in May 1792, he did so with the hope of discovering an extensive "Mediterranean ocean" thought to exist somewhere in the northern Pacific. What he discovered was a country that "exhibited everything that bounteous nature could be expected to draw into one point of view." The Olympic Peninsula in Western Washington is home to one of the world's most diverse ecosystems and encompasses miles of alpine meadows, temperate rainforests, green river valleys and ancient coastline.
FORMER First Lady Rosalyn Carter has been quoted as saying, "There are only four kinds of people in this world - those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who need caregivers."
IN THE award-winning ABC
COMMENCEMENT is a time to celebrate and for many the time to breathe a huge sigh of relief. The all-nighters have finally paid off and we, the college graduates, are on our way to pursuing our childhood dreams. While the highlight of commencement will - no doubt - be the degree, most future graduates hold out some hope that their commencement speaker will be an unexpected coup. Last week, University President Teresa A. Sullivan and the Committee on Commencement and Convocations unanimously selected Gov. Bob McDonnell as the University's 2011 Commencement Speaker. The selection, while unanimous, comes as a huge disappointment.
Film festivals showcase socially relevant and provocative independent films that spotlight issues that do not typically pervade the national conversation but are nonetheless worthy of critical attention. At this month's Sundance Film Festival, actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom's poignant documentary, "Miss Representation," is turning heads for challenging widely held beliefs about the social status of American women. The film contends that American women continue to face a deep-rooted sexist culture - one hardly different from that of decades past. American society still consistently provides young women with a limited vision of self-worth by telling them they are valuable exclusively for their "youth, beauty and sexuality" - not for their intelligence, leadership or social contributions. Everyday, women are belittled in advertisements, magazines, television and music videos rather than recognized for their capabilities as world leaders, entrepreneurs and pioneers. As the American activist Marian Wright Edelman once said, "You can't be what you can't see." Our national misconceptions about the value of women have contributed to the fact that the United States currently ranks 90th world-wide when it comes to women's representation in politics. This year, Newsom's documentary is a must-see because it challenges all Americans to reconsider their values and confront institutions that perpetuated inferior images of female capability.
DURING the past several months, America's immigration battle has focused on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The legislation, first introduced to the U.S. Senate in 2001, would provide certain undocumented students the opportunity to attend a U.S. college or enlist in the military. On Grounds, the Dare to DREAM Campaign has gained momentum and has been endorsed by Student Council, the Latino Student Alliance and the Living Wage Campaign. In light of such notable student support, University President Teresa A. Sullivan and the Board of Visitors should seriously consider endorsing the DREAM Act, as well.
The University ended its binding early decision admissions program September 2006 following national controversy that early admissions programs favor economically advantaged students. Following the example set by Harvard and Princeton Universities, this school chose to end early decision to level the playing field and extend accessibility to lower-income students. Four years later, the Board of Visitors signaled the start of a new non-binding early action program effective fall 2011. Though the new early action program is non-binding - meaning lower-income families will be able to weigh financial aid packages before making a commitment - the early action program will likely favor economically advantaged students - just as early decision did.
The national news media faces a difficult task in finding a necessary balance between impartial journalism and journalistic opinion. One journalist's statements or actions can lead to serious repercussions for an entire news station or publication. Consequently, the knee-jerk response is to terminate the said controversial figure rather than face the potential fallout. We have seen this instinctive reaction during the past year with the public terminations of Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas, Dr. Laura and Rick Sanchez. The most recent termination of NPR's Juan Williams for his comments about Muslims and brief suspension of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann for his Democratic campaign contributions call into question the national news media's marriage to impartial journalism. While some terminations are more justified than others, the national news media should reconsider current limits on journalistic expression. Professional journalists should have the right to express personal opinions they undoubtedly possess and any controversy from prejudiced statements should be a spring board for open discussion about diversity.
Where there is a will, there is a way. Conscientious research efforts and tenacious leadership have, in the past, enabled advancements in medical treatment for some of the world's most lethal diseases. Yet as Republicans and Democrats grapple for influence in an increasingly polarized political climate, the United States continues to neglect one of the most taxing medical problems to date: Alzheimer's disease - a completely lethal and neurodegenerative condition. In fact, during the next two decades beginning in January, one baby boomer will turn 65 every eight seconds, so as the United States population ages, Alzheimer's will become an increasingly destructive and expensive healthcare problem. With relatively ineffective treatments, perhaps the only solution for the widespread prevalence of Alzheimer's is a cure. The United States must show tenacious leadership in medical research like it did in the 20th century to combat other deadly diseases like smallpox and polio. The disease cannot continue to be ignored; Obama's national healthcare overhaul must directly counter the financial impact of Alzheimer's on the U.S. healthcare system by increasing funding for research.
We live in an innovative world. Everyday, someone somewhere, is developing new technology to expand the global frontier. As foreign nations widen the gap in mathematics and science, the United States is struggling to keep pace. To rival the foreign competition, primarily from China and other Asian nations, the Department of Education and the Obama administration have placed an increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Although STEM learning is becoming more important in higher education, studies in the humanities should not be disregarded.
Duke University graduate Karen Owen served up a new kind of gender bender when she wrote and circulated a 42-page PowerPoint mock sex "thesis" about her undergraduate sexual encounters. Owen may not have fully understood the can of worms she was opening when she naively e-mailed her thesis to a few friends. The thesis, first published on the websites Jezebel and Deadspin, went viral and was swiftly lampooned by the mainstream media. Hailed by some as a feminist champion and others as a disgrace to Duke University, Owen has certainly sparked an intriguing public debate, particularly on the blogosphere. Yet even as the fallout from one college graduate's published sexual exploits goes viral, the vivacious public conversation it has occasioned speaks to importance of recognizing the gender issues that still persist. Owen's thesis also raises deeper concerns in our society about the rise in the college hook-up culture and its implications on health and safety.
The College Board released an intriguing report Sept. 21 indicating that the value of an American college degree is steadily increasing. The 2010 "Education Pays: the Benefits of Higher Education for Individual and Society" report indicates that despite high unemployment, soaring tuition costs and rising student debt, workers with a college degree are financially advantaged compared to workers without a college diploma. Yet even as the benefits of a college degree rise, more Americans are finding that a bachelor's degree and the advantages it provides are often unreachable even to those with academic promise.