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(03/23/20 6:29pm)
Fourth years at the University are mourning the loss of both final exercises and the last few weeks of our undergraduate career on Grounds. But beyond “enjoying” our last semester of college via Zoom, we have to face the reality that our generation’s careers may permanently be stunted by an unfavorable job market. The economic fallout of the coronavirus obviously isn’t limited to college seniors scrambling to find jobs, however. Most Americans have been forced to undergo the transition to social distancing, telework and toilet paper shortages. And as the death toll continues to rise, politicians continue to close borders and industries as a band-aid solution to the pandemic.
(01/24/20 2:39am)
Liberal politicos have assumed for years that once we become a majority-minority country, or a nation in which less than half the population identifies as white, the Republican Party will fade into oblivion. Many conservatives share the same prediction. A year after Romney’s defeat in the 2012 election, the Republican National Committee released its Growth and Opportunity Project, a post-mortem scramble to fix the Republican Party’s messaging problem and diversify its voting base. But what both parties ignore are the wealth of historical, cultural and geographic considerations that may undermine this prophecy.
(07/05/19 10:50pm)
American universities have created a culture that silences controversial topics, shelters political groupthink in safe spaces and indoctrinates students with the notion that they’re the most special people on the planet. Thankfully, the University strives to be an exception to this trend in its commitment to free speech and heterogeneity of thought. Although the University strives to preserve intellectual diversity in the classroom, the rise of social media echo-chambers has created a culture in which students are afraid to stand apart from the mob in their day-to-day lives.
(06/21/19 10:05pm)
Since the election of Donald Trump, a new faction within the conservative movement has spoken out about the failure of classical liberalism in America. A Catholic journal named First Things has carried the torch for this new post-liberal crusade, publishing an article entitled “Against the Dead Consensus” in March 2019. In this manifesto, the authors proclaim that the pre-Trump conservative consensus “failed to retard, much less reverse, the eclipse of permanent truths, family stability, communal solidarity, and much else.” They continue, “It surrendered to the pornographization of daily life, to the culture of death, to the cult of competitiveness” and “too often bowed to a poisonous and censorious multiculturalism.” According to post-liberals, classical liberalism is a moral vacuum that has failed to orient society around a “higher good” that is necessary to save individuals from themselves.
(01/18/19 3:15am)
Ever since her defeat of former Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) last June, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — the youngest congresswoman to take office in American history — has made it her goal to normalize the term “democratic socialism” within American political debate. Her platform carries a Green New Deal, a Medicare-for-All proposal and a guaranteed job plan for all Americans to be paid for by her proposed 70 percent marginal tax rate, among other tax increase proposals. In defense of these radical ideas, Ocasio-Cortez has consistently referred to Nordic countries as successful democratic socialist models which the U.S. should seek to emulate. But before progressive voters jump on board with Ocasio-Cortez’ socialist utopia, it’s important for them to take a deeper look into what her so-called “democratic socialism” actually entails.
(12/03/18 5:07am)
Conspiracy is one of the most nebulous areas of American law. Rather than punishing individuals for the actual crimes they have committed, conspiracy laws incriminate individuals for the agreed upon intent to commit a crime. Not only do these laws waste taxpayer money by locking people up for decades at a time, they wrongfully incriminate innocent individuals before any crime has even taken place.
(11/20/18 6:01am)
University Law alumnus Jonathan Perkins returned to Grounds last month to speak at an event hosted by the Black Law Students Association and reflected on his personal experiences with racial profiling at the University of Virginia. In April 2011, Jonathan Perkins — a third-year law student at the time — was a victim of flagrant police misconduct when walking home from the Corner. Perkins wrote a letter to the Virginia Law Weekly three weeks later describing the incident, claiming that he was stopped, searched and harassed by two University police officers who said he ‘fit the description’ of a person they were looking for. After an investigation into the incident, the University Police Department announced that Perkins had recanted his testimony, claiming he fabricated the story to "bring attention to the topic of police misconduct.” In 2017, however, Perkins told The Cavalier Daily that he was pressured by an FBI agent to recant his testimony. As a community, we must recognize and eliminate the deeply embedded racial biases which continue to target minorities and obstruct justice.
(11/02/18 12:06am)
Only five percent of American jobs required occupational licenses in the 1950s, a figure which pales in comparison to the quarter of American professions that are currently subject to licensing requirements today. Occupational licenses — government regulated certifications for practitioners within a certain field — were initially created to protect the public interest. Medical professionals, for example, whose daily career consists of life or death situations, obviously fit under this category. However, these licensing schemes have since come to regulate many non-dangerous professions for completely arbitrary reasons. In some states, make-up artists, interior designers and even florists to are required to obtain licenses before becoming legally certified in their professions. Ultimately, many state-mandated licensing requirements do little more than protect industry insiders and prevent well-intentioned entrepreneurs from pursuing honest work that poses no serious threat to public safety.
(09/20/18 1:59am)
The University is currently experiencing a housing crisis in which students are faced with extremely overpriced housing options both on- and off-Grounds. Students are forced to compete with one another for affordable housing and are often thrown into overpriced lease agreements at the beginning of the school-year before they are able to weigh the costs and benefits of that financial decision. As a public institution dedicated to the educational, physical and financial well-being of its students, the University should seek to reduce the economic burden of student life as much as possible by lowering prices for University housing.
(09/11/18 6:54pm)
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is currently undergoing the judicial hearing process, during which senators question him about his judicial philosophy to determine whether they will confirm him as a new justice. An issue of particular interest to the Senate has been Roe v. Wade, which many Democrats fear will be overturned if Kavanaugh is confirmed. Though Kavanaugh has advocated restrictions on abortion in limited cases, the judge’s explicit support for Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in former opinions and public statements, his reverence for stare decisis — meaning “let the decision stand ”— and the Court’s decades-long reliance on the precedent render it highly improbable that Roe v. Wade will be overturned if he is confirmed. Moreover, the fact that the Court has continuously upheld Roe v. Wade since 1973 despite the presence of staunchly conservative justices on the bench for decades means it is unlikely that it will be overturned now.
(09/13/18 9:59pm)
We are living in an age of growing polarization of the political right and left. As exemplified by the Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville and D.C., it is clear that tribalism, nativism and xenophobia are alive and well in the United States of America. On Aug. 11 and 12, a sizable crowd of counter-protestors comprised of University students, faculty and Charlottesville residents gathered in solidarity and in memory of those who were psychologically scarred, physically injured or in Heather Heyer’s case, killed, during the last year’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The violence and bigotry of last year’s rally continue to haunt the memories of the American people today, especially those who consider Charlottesville home. Over the past year, Americans have struggled to understand just how the white nationalist movement is psychologically capable of harboring so much hatred against other human beings. After deeply pondering the issue, however, I have realized something. The white nationalist movement would be nothing without its key ingredient: fear.
(08/08/18 12:18am)
The University has undergone many initiatives to reduce sexual assault on Grounds over the past few years, including increasing awareness regarding student reporting options and emphasizing the importance of bystander intervention. Hoos Got Your Back, One Less, Green Dot and One in Four are just a few of the myriad clubs and community organizations that focus on changing student culture surrounding these issues. Currently, the University requires first-year students to complete mandatory modules during their orientation week which explain the University’s policy on sexual assault. While these measures have undoubtedly increased awareness regarding the severity of the issue, it is unclear whether the statistics that the University publicizes accurately reflect the number of sexual assault incidents that occur on Grounds.
(06/20/18 3:15am)
Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips refused to design a specialty cake for the marriage of two gay men Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins in 2012. Though contemporary values make it easy for millennials to demonize Phillips’ refusal to bake the cake, a deeper analysis of the First Amendment highlights the importance of free speech and religious exercise considerations that are also at stake in a case like this.
(04/30/18 4:21am)
In a 22-page lawsuit, Otto Warmbier’s parents recently expressed their demand for both compensatory and punitive damages from North Korea for its “torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing” of their son. Though it is difficult under U.S. law for private citizens to sue foreign nations, President Donald Trump’s designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism this past November legitimizes the Warmbiers’ lawsuit. While it is unlikely that North Korea will recognize the legal action, it is possible for the Warmbiers to receive compensation through the Justice Department’s U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund. Despite the Warmbiers’ continuous fight for justice, Trump has failed to comment on whether he will address Warmbier’s death at all during his upcoming diplomatic summit with North Korean President Kim Jong Un. However, failing to do so would disgrace Warmbier’s memory and dishonor American values.
(04/09/18 5:26am)
The University Police Department recently announced that it will spend $18,500 a year on a new social media monitoring software (SMMS) called Social Sentinel which will scan public social media posts worldwide. The University adopted this surveillance technology in response to the “Unite the Right” rally that occurred in Charlottesville this past August, hoping that it would better equip police with the ability to respond to similar threats in the future. Social Sentinel’s surveillance technology searches for keywords such as “bomb,” “shot” or “kill” — along with a plethora of other words in its “library of harm” — in social media posts and sends them directly to University Police for further investigation.
(03/27/18 4:08am)
After declaring the opioid epidemic a “public health emergency” in 2017, President Donald Trump recently followed up on the crisis by arguing that the United States should seek the death penalty for opioid drug traffickers. This punitive approach to the crisis is deeply flawed for several reasons. Primarily, a 2008 Supreme Court ruling regarding capital punishment means that it is unlikely that the death penalty would even be constitutionally permissible in these cases. Moreover, evidence suggests that the death penalty, mandatory minimums and other harsh penalties are not even effective at deterring future crime or lowering recidivism rates. Rather than seeking punishment that will have no deterrent effect, the Trump administration should focus its efforts on expanding access to treatment, increasing awareness regarding the risks associated with opioids and taking other precautionary measures to prevent addiction in the first place.
(02/14/18 5:40am)
Hate speech has become a prominent topic on U.S. college campuses lately. In light of this past August when white nationalist protesters marched across our Grounds, the issue is particularly important for students of the University and residents of the Charlottesville community. Recently, Student Council President Sarah Kenny published a guest opinion column urging students to evaluate hate speech on grounds and consider ways of regulating it. In her article, she argues that certain speech “fails to further the truth seeking charge of our scholars and institution of higher education.” Kenny believes that the University needs to coddle students rather than expose them to different points of view, which is the exact opposite of what an esteemed college should be doing.