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(10/08/08 6:37am)
CURRENTLY, the University’s financial situation seems as tenuous as ever given the state of the nation’s economy. As of August 31, fundraising for the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences is lagging behind fundraising for The Virginia Athletics Foundation, and not even the Barber twins seem to be the University’s best hope to spur the momentum of The Campaign for the University of Virginia during this period of fiscal uncertainty.So how is the University going to weather this severe economic storm? Surely we must be shifting our attention towards funding the most important resources and programs at the University, ignoring — at least temporarily — the superfluous and unnecessary projects that students, faculty and administrators can live without. So what does the Board of Visitors count as superfluous? According to recent decisions made in the wake of potential state budget cuts, superfluity characterizes such programs as salary increases for University faculty and staff and funding for new educational and scientific research equipment. And what doesn’t count as superfluous? New window sashes.That’s right. Despite the threat of state budget cuts ranging anywhere from $7.6 million to $22.8 million, the University is continuing with plans to renovate all 104 Lawn and Range rooms to make them appear more historically accurate, according to a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article by staff writer Carlos Santos. Changes include replacing the mantels on the fireplace as well as the sashes on the windows “with more historically accurate designs,” writes Santos. Damaged pine floorboards are also being replaced at a cost of $245 per floorboard. That means that when the University’s academic program crumbles due to a lack of economic resources, at least an intentionally antiquated Academical Village will make it look like students are actually still learning something.According to University Senior Historic Preservation Planner Brian Hogg, the Lawn room renovations have already been completed, and the Range rooms are currently the target of the same revisions. He explained in an e-mail, “The work is more than cosmetic,” citing the need to reinforce the bearing capacity of the joists as an example. This kind of renovation is obviously a necessary one, and the money spent to complete it is therefore a justifiable expense. However, Hogg also cited the need to return “the delicate profiles and proportions of Jefferson’s windows” by replacing the window sashes as an example of another necessary renovation to maintain the “historic character” of the buildings.Among the goals of the renovation project, then, are both maintaining the integrity of the buildings —an acceptable undertaking worth the cost — and “the goal of having any recreated elements match as closely as possible the original features which they replicated,” according to Hogg. Hogg also explained that the money used to complete these changes was raised explicitly for this purpose.The problem with restoring these rooms to supposedly seem more historically accurate has to do with more than just cost. This blind commitment to the idea of authenticity, this willingness to spend money to buy new materials to make these rooms appear older is almost laughable. Casey Raymond, a Lawn resident and a fourth-year in the College, said, “It does not matter that much to me if the floorboard and curtains are authentic.”Why is it so important to paint an artificially historic veneer over Lawn rooms that students continue to live in today? It is as if new, intentionally unwaxed pine flooring will somehow transport visitors and residents back almost two hundred years, making them feel as if they were truly standing in the original Academical Village, the Village that existed when segregation and gender discrimination were openly endorsed. What a feeling.The University’s ridiculous obsession with tradition and authenticity, not to mention its worship of Thomas Jefferson, is all too evident in its endorsement of Lawn and Range renovations. Those who make these decisions and those who donate money to such a cause are sending a clear message that what matters most at an institution of higher education is not the abundance of resources available to students or the support offered to its faculty and staff. Instead, what matters most is an adherence to some ambiguous concept of tradition and to the belief that appearance says it all.Spending so much money to make the Academical Village seem more authentic is superficiality at its best. “The idea of preservation in itself can be problematic,” Raymond said. “By preventing the room from changing, the authenticity that we boast about is compromised.”Given access to more academic resources, students have the potential to accomplish anything. What can possibly be accomplished by pinewood flooring and window sashes?Amelia Meyer’s column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
(10/01/08 9:54am)
STUDENT self-governance often appears to be nothing more than the University’s marketing pitch, a promise more than a practice. Though students take pride in this oft-invoked but rarely realized tradition, our shining examples of student self-governance — Honor, class councils — also tend to create our most contentious issues. Yet this year, Student Council has launched one of the most hopeful programs in support of student self-governance the student body has seen in recent years: Student-Initiated Courses.It’s a program that makes sense. Why not allow students, this supposedly self-governing lot of young minds with a multitude of ideas and perspectives, to take it upon themselves to engineer their own class, complete with credits and all? While not entirely student-run (the program requires a professor to sponsor the class), student-initiated courses are a giant leap forward and away from the University’s administration-heavy status quo.Student Council first announced this initiative last spring, posting on their blog, “For the first time, Student Council will offer a process by which students will be able to propose a course with a professor and receive funding for it to appear on the COD as a for-credit course.” The organization recently circulated an e-mail stating that the program would, as originally hoped, continue into this coming spring semester. Now is the perfect time for students to begin taking the academic reins in an effort to navigate a path to true self-governance. Marisa Roman, Student Council Academic Affairs Committee chair, said, “[The program] gives students the freedom to apply themselves in a way only faculty or administrative members have been able to do in the past. By giving students this ability to express themselves through academia, they are supporting their rights to self-govern themselves as teachers and as learners.”Student-initiated courses also accomplish a number of other ends. They support the creation of strong ties between students and their professors, requiring that both parties work together in the creation and carrying out of a student-generated idea. Not only do students now have an additional reason to get to know their favorite professors, but professors have the opportunity to help their students take ownership of an idea or a study in an entirely new way.Secondly, student-initiated courses have the potential to address the most relevant and meaningful issues on Grounds and throughout the larger community. Students have the ability to tap into the cultural movements and attitudes among their peers. By creating a student-initiated course, they can now address these attitudes first-hand on a peer-to-peer level. This fall’s first student-initiated course, Global Development in Practice, addresses an issue that has become more and more palpable in recent years, especially among the country’s young adult population. With a stated goal of creating “collaborative projects” addressing issues in global development, the course allows both its student creators as well as those enrolled to work together on student-led initiatives in an extremely meaningful and relevant subject area.Student-initiated courses also have the potential to give students the opportunity to create classes and opportunities lacking in other areas on Grounds. Recent demands for increased attention to courses relating to globalization and development were addressed directly by the creation of this fall’s student-initiated course. Other student demands, such as those for more courses addressing poverty both in the community and worldwide, or for more courses addressing global climate change, for example, can be realized by Student Council’s student-initiated classes.This program possesses great potential for improvement in coming years. According to Roman, Student Council currently has enough funding for the creation of two or three courses in the Spring. “The ultimate goal is to have the Student-Initiated Courses program branched out of the College strictly and into all of the undergraduate schools,” Roman said. In the future, it would be an even greater accomplishment to list these classes under specific departments rather than lump them all together as Interdisciplinary courses, as they are now, or to make them legitimate enough in the eyes of the administration to be worth more than a maximum of two credits. Perhaps certain extremely successful courses could become a yearly tradition, adopted and adapted by incoming students each year to remain current and relevant to the student body.It is important now to realize the potential of this program. All too often, student self-governance is a phrase that lacks meaning on Grounds. It is supposedly valued, but it is rarely defined, and it seems to be realized only when students collectively react to a specific and particularly frustrating policy put in place by the University’s administrators.The expression of our potential and our power as students and the recognition of our various interests and passions can be accomplished in part by embracing these student-initiated courses. So sign up for a class, or better yet, create one yourself. These courses are more than an advertising pitch; they are an attempt to capture the true spirit of student self-governance.Amelia Meyer’s column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
(09/17/08 7:14am)
THINK back to the agonizing months you spent as a high school senior anxiously awaiting those college acceptance letters, constantly evaluating in your head whether your grade point average was high enough, whether your extracurricular activities were versatile enough, whether your admissions essay was interesting enough. Remember how much of a crapshoot applying to college seemed to be?For a select group of high school students today, the gamble of college admissions has become much less about chance and much more about money. In other words, wealth has once again come to the rescue. According to The New York Times, an increasing number of high school students and their parents are soliciting the help of educational consultants, individuals hired for the sole purpose of helping high school students successfully apply to collegeThese consultants, Times reporter Julie Bick writes, “take up where overburdened high school guidance counselors leave off,” helping students with everything from determining the right colleges to apply for to reviewing their admissions essays and preparing them for interviews. They either charge by the hour or work for a fixed fee, and many begin working with students when they enter tenth grade.Though private educational consultants may provide a valid and valuable service to children who truly need specialized attention, such as those with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders, they are often hired by wealthy parents in affluent areas to aid children who neither need nor warrant such specialized attention.This is yet another example of how large a role wealth plays in the education sector. It is the key that opens the doors of the nation’s most prestigious universities, it is the guarantor of academic opportunities that would likely never become available were it not for the financial power of one’s parents. Money may not buy happiness, but it will certainly buy a one-way ticket to Harvard.This relatively recent trend in private education consulting suggests that the achievement gap between students from wealthy backgrounds and those from low-income backgrounds will remain and will perhaps become even more pronounced. According to the Brookings Institution, in 2005, only 11 percent of children with parents in the lowest family income quintile had a college degree, versus 53 percent of students with parents in the top quintile. It is much easier to conquer the often overwhelming admissions process when aided by professionals who are paid to guide students along the way. Guidance counselors can only be of so much help at overcrowded public schools, where a student is lucky if a counselor even knows her name.Colleges and universities around the country should do more to recognize the inequalities educational consulting inevitably brings to the academic arena. As long as schools take no interest in whether or not a student has been given an advantage over others because he or she could afford a personal consultant, they are complicit in the maintenance of this unequal system.Because these consulting programs have been so successful of late, the number of people in the profession “has doubled in the last five years ... and is expected to double again in the next three to five years,” according to Bick’s article. More and more people are drawn to this lucrative profession instead of working in the public school system, where all students theoretically have access to a counselor. Therefore, instead of improving an existing and much more open system of academic support for students, many in the education profession and private sector are aiding in its demise.Education consulting does have a place in the academic arena, but it does not involve wealthy families and students who do not warrant extra help meeting their admissions requirements. Consulting can be extremely beneficial to students with learning disabilities such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia. The Independent Educational Consultants Association, among other private consultant associations, already recognizes the benefits they offer to such students. Additionally, programs for students from high-crime areas or from abusive families can also benefit tremendously from such a strong system of support. Yet in both of these situations, student need — and not student wealth — should justify the use of a private consultant.Worrying about getting into college is a rite of passage for many students whether they like it or not. It is a difficult and painful process that money should not, but unfortunately does, alleviate. Any guidance available should become available to all, not simply to the wealthy few. Yet once again, money, not merit, has given select students an undeserved advantage.Amelia Meyer’s column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
(09/12/08 9:41am)
TODAY’S generation of college students has been called many names: Generation Me, Generation Y, Generation Google. One particularly biting name that has been used to characterize our supposed penchant for complaining is Generation Whine, a term defined by Urban Dictionary as expressing “the tendency for members of this group to answer the slightest challenge or restriction imposed thereupon with belligerent griping and their general lack of appreciation for the unprecedented quality of life they enjoy.” Pretty harsh.Yet if the recent upset caused by two football-related events is any indication of the nature of our generation, then Generation Whine seems an accurate enough characterization after all. The willingness that a number of students showed to complain about the virtual ban on Lawn tailgating, as well as the collective dissent displayed in regards to the ban on signs at athletic events are both prime examples of our ability to bitch. Neither, however, are indications of our ability to truly fight for a worthwhile cause.This is not to say that demanding the ability to express ourselves in spite of an administrative ban on free speech is not a worthwhile undertaking. Demanding the freedom to question and critique is an essential part of any democratic society. Yet many of us seem to find it easier to assert this right at a football game, where the worst criticism we can offer is “Fire Groh,” than to assert this right in other venues.In a recent e-mail before the Richmond game on Saturday, some self-proclaimed “Supporters of UVA Athletics” referred to protesting the sign ban as taking “civic action as a student.” If this is the extent of our civic action, the University’s student body is in a very sorry state. It is easy to protest something when everyone you know agrees with you and when the consequences of your actions will likely result in nothing more than a polite request to leave the football stadium, or simply to leave your blank sheet of paper outside.It is much harder to protest the root of that policy — an authoritarian administration that only values student input when it reflects their own goals for the University — because the plan of attack is much more ambiguous, and the end result is too far off to mean much right now. Additionally, the consequences of doing this are potentially much more serious and require more sacrifice on the part of students than merely getting kicked out of Scott Stadium during a less-than-riveting football game. It is relatively easy to give up a Saturday of football; it is much harder to put your academic and extracurricular involvement in jeopardy by standing up to those in charge.Similarly, complaints arising from the recent ban on tailgating outside of Lawn rooms have echoed around Grounds. Students express a desire to take action against this policy because it represents yet another infringement on their privileges. The loss of these privileges is in part based on the public displays of drunkenness and the physical assault that took place before the first home football game. But students also see it as a belittling punishment reminscent of the days when their parents grounded them for staying out too late.Yet once again, we have found an easy way to express our rights as students by griping about being told to stay in our rooms. We fail to reflect upon what it means to live in an environment that supposedly supports student self-governance when those in the top levels of the institutional hierarchy have repeatedly demonstrated a lack of respect for that concept. Instead, we come together to fight trivial battles in the name of athletic tradition.Jamin An, the Chair of Sustained Dialogue and a fourth-year student in the College, suggests that expressing outrage over the sign ban is a safe protest, far less controversial than subjects like racism or lack of institutional access for many students and CIOs. The protests against bans on signs and tailgates are so noticeable because “the issue it is addressing can be visible safely, comfortably,” An says. It is easy to gain favor by supporting a cause in the name of fandom and the Power of Orange.Collectively, what we lose by doing this is the creation of an ongoing movement to create meaningful changes. These changes include a more open and respectful environment for all communities, an institutional structure that supports various causes and points of view and an equitable distribution of resources when it comes to CIOs and other organizations on Grounds. Our selfishness only hurts us in the end.Those who witnessed hundreds of members of the student body somberly holding signs in the air, challenging the athletic department to rethink its new policy, witnessed the potential we as students possess to exact more consequential changes. Why, then, do we find it so easy to pack our rebellious spirit away after the game clock ticks down to zero? An says, “People can band together on this, but what aren’t we trying to band together on but should be?”His question has numerous answers, and it poses a challenge to this generation, whatever it will eventually be called. There are real issues out there, beyond the thousands of cheering, signless fans and lonely Lawnies on game day. Wouldn’t it be nice to be remembered as something more than Generation Whine?Amelia Meyer’s column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
(09/05/08 8:20am)
HOLIDAYS fall into two categories: those that warrant a day off from work, and those than don’t. Obviously, one category tends to mean more to us than the other. Only as an afterthought do we actually stop and think about why these holidays exist. And so it follows that Labor Day, a day established to honor American workers, no longer stands as a symbol of America’s history of labor activism or of the struggle to gain workers’ rights. Instead, Labor Day has come to be characterized by beer, burgers and one last long weekend at the beach.According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day is a holiday “dedicated to the social and economic achievements of the American worker.” It is about celebrating the champions of the forty-hour (or more) work week who otherwise rarely receive recognition for their work. Excessively patriotic rhetoric aside, Labor Day is meant to allow us all time to contemplate what it means to work for a living in this country and to honor those who endure the nine-to-five each day.The holiday, however, has instead come to stand for comparatively superficial events. For some teenagers, it is the last weekend to party before school starts. For students at the University who were forced to trudge to class as usual, Labor Day should have been a day off. Even for American workers themselves, the holiday represents a short extension of the weekend, perhaps a last opportunity to balance the checkbook or finish up some errands. For a number of employees, including many of those at the University, Labor Day is just another work day. A holiday once filled with parades, politics and demonstrations of support for workers’ rights, Labor Day now comes and goes without much fanfare at all, save for a couple of fireworks.Labor Day is nothing but an opportunity for a cookout and a nap by the pool, despite the fact that this year, it falls right before a presidential election in a year marked by recession and unemployment, by calls for universal healthcare and a continued increase in minimum wage. It has come to represent the end of the summer season, the last farewell to the past three months of barbecues, swimsuits and travel. It is time that Labor Day is recognized as more than a day off, that students are taught the meaning and intent of the holiday, and that employers do more to recognize those who make up their workforce.According to the Department of Labor, a national Labor Day was enacted in 1894 after a number of individual states had already adopted the holiday in honor of American workers. PBS’s version of the history of Labor Day contains a few more dirty details. The PBS production Online NewsHour credits the New York City labor union strike for originating a national pro-labor movement that ultimately resulted in President Grover Cleveland enacting a national law establishing the holiday. Regardless of which historical version you choose to embrace, the overarching point is that Labor Day arose out of a necessity to recognize the importance of an underappreciated workforce.Today’s version of Labor Day is a sorry memorial to such historical efforts. For many, Labor Day no longer even means a day off. The University’s Human Resources Web site included a message to employees reading, “Most University offices will need to be open on Labor Day because classes are held on that day.” Although those employees required to work were awarded compensatory pay, the spirit and intention of Labor Day were shuffled aside in order to make sure the students, who work part-time jobs or don’t work at all, were accommodated.Labor Day should not simply be about taking a day to relax and enjoy a hotdog or going to work in order to catch up on that pile of papers sitting on your desk. It should be recognized as a legitimate holiday celebrating the nation’s most vital constituency. It should be filled with speeches and proposals recognizing laborers’ contributions to society and advocating for the interests of workers around the country. Private companies and yes, even colleges and universities, should be required to provide their employees paid leave or to at least provide them additional bonuses and benefits for working during a holiday. Secondary school students should be exposed to Labor Day’s history and purpose so they have a better understanding of exactly what they are celebrating. The Department of Labor and other federal institutions should recognize the validity of labor strikes and unions throughout American history, for too often those words are considered taboo and omitted from the national vocabulary.So next year, whether you’re reclining on the beach soaking up the last of the summer sun, walking begrudgingly to an 8:00 class, or driving into work to cram in some extra hours, stop and think. This holiday exists for a reason — in fact, it exists for millions of reasons, and it is time to recognize each and every one of them.Amelia Meyer’s column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
(09/01/08 6:19am)
THERE is a new tradition at the University, and it’s called construction. Its impact can be seen in any number of places, from what used to be the Ruffner Hall parking lot to the intrusive-looking South Lawn Project, from the new Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center being built on Jefferson Park Avenue to the slowly emerging, state-of-the-art dorms in the Alderman Road area.In all of these locations, our beloved tradition of building something new or updating something old stands as a professed beacon of progress, a supposed indication that the University is not only prospering, but also constantly growing to keep pace with its burgeoning population. It is extremely unfortunate — and also telling of where exactly the University’s priorities lie — when more parking garages and bigger sports arenas come to indicate progress.Those who embrace this tradition promise us a newer, hipper University in the years to come. Yet these promises, accompanied by the unwelcome noise of a jackhammer tearing into pavement or the creation of a ridiculously meandering detour to Old Cabell Hall, are never kept. Instead, construction continues indefinitely as new project after new project gets underway. If the establishment of a state-of-the-art dining hall meets the gastrointestinal needs of students, the need to attend overpriced reunion concerts calls for the construction of a new concert arena. The demand for a café closer to first-year dorms is met just in time for University administrators to refocus their attention upon building a literal hole-in-the-wall café in Clark Hall. At no point during my time at the University have I seen the entire school left alone. Construction walls have always popped up somewhere, and unexpected detours have made me late to class more than once. At what point can we all agree that enough is enough?It is true that construction and renovation are not inherently bad. Buildings that are deteriorating or failing to meet the academic mission of the University warrant a facelift — sometimes even a complete overhaul. The sweltering temperatures in Old Cabell during the spring and summer, for example, make the building a prime candidate for renovation. Similarly, the construction of buildings intended to meet a community’s needs, such as the future Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center, is often a worthwhile endeavor. The South Lawn Project even includes plans to memorialize the former site of an African-American community that once lived in an area behind Cabell Hall.Yet the downside of construction comes in the fact that despite the end goals of creating a more welcoming and accessible community, bulldozers running at five in the morning, blocked entryways and humongous mounds of dirt make the current climate far from inviting. Constant construction detracts from the very goals it purports to embrace. Katy Cordle, a fourth year in the College who used to spend a lot of time in the Music Department, notes that South Lawn construction has caused concertgoers at Old Cabell Hall a number of inconveniences. Elderly community members, for example, have to complete a longer walk to the winding ramp that leads into the building.If we keep demanding more so-called progress, we are sacrificing the appeal of our much-touted Grounds, even demolishing existing properties that stand in the way of construction, and we. are wasting money that could be better used to improve other areas such as student financial aid or employee salaries. The notion that construction is an inherent sign of progress or that we must continue to build in order to keep up with other universities around the country is flawed. We cannot make our mark on education merely by making our buildings look shiny, pretty, and new. Additionally, just because it would be nice to have another café on the way to class does not mean we should build one.It is time to define the line that separates useful renovation from needless decoration. Cordle admits that despite the inconveniences of the South Lawn Project, “If I were going to be here when it was finished, I would be pretty excited.” Building new classrooms and new study spaces is a worthwhile endeavor, especially considering the worn state of New Cabell Hall. Yet at some point, we must choose contentment over restlessness, necessity over superfluity. We have to be willing to walk a little further to grab a coffee, or to cherish the aesthetics of a cluster of trees over that of a parking garage. We must recognize the point at which construction causes more problems than it solves.Amelia Meyer’s column usually appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
(07/14/08 4:00am)
IF YOU ask five students why they decided to attend the University of Virginia, odds are that at least three of them will use the word "tradition" in their answer. Tradition is cited as an indelible part of University life, often singled out as the one factor that makes the University so distinct among the nation's leading schools. But despite the insistence on the Dean of Students' Web site that, "The University of Virginia is a special place, with a language and many long-standing traditions that are unique to Mr. Jefferson's University," the truth is that "tradition" can sometimes be a dirty word.
(04/25/08 4:00am)
ON TUESDAY mornings, in the dining halls, in the dorms, even in the bathrooms, the standard chatter revolves around a single question: "Did you watch "The Hills" last night?" Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit about the show's popularity, and maybe for some, chatter actually revolves around academics rather than reality television. But chances are that if you mention "The Hills" to a crowd of people, you are likely to spark up an interesting conversation.
(04/18/08 4:00am)
WHAT IS a syllabus without a quotation from Thomas Jefferson at the top? What is a speech without the invocation of Jefferson's ideals of freedom and democracy? What is the University without its indelible attachment to the man and his words?
(04/11/08 4:00am)
WHEN YOU were a kid, how many times did your parents remind you that money doesn't grow on trees? The phrase is about as cliché as it gets, yet it remains as true today as it ever was. But I can tell you where money does grow. If you look closely, you can see it sprouting up all over the field at Scott Stadium, its filthy rich scent permeating the air in the stadium's luxury boxes as devoted alumni await the upcoming fall football season.
(04/04/08 4:00am)
COLLEGE is supposed to be an environment of enrichment and challenge, a place where students of all backgrounds can come together to learn and to interact with the community around them. Too often, however, this environment is tainted by a belief that minority groups and under-represented communities exist on Grounds for the sole purpose of educating others about their culture, whatever the term culture implies.
(03/28/08 4:00am)
WHEN I was a child, the Olympics were never about politics. They were only about athletic prowess and national pride. Now, I am old enough to know better. Today, with China assuming its controversial role as the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the games now bring to mind displays of nationalist propaganda and political misconduct more than anything else. It is time that people recognize exactly how dangerous the Olympics can be. More importantly, it is time for University students and officials to take stock of the recent outcries for Tibetan independence and to see the events as an educational opportunity rather than just a tourist attraction.
(03/21/08 4:00am)
RECENT rumors about the possibility of a CVS Pharmacy replacing three well-known Corner spots -- Plan 9 Music, Just Curry and Satellite Ballroom -- have created a small panic around Grounds and throughout the Charlottesville community. Criticism of the pervasive chain-store culture abounds, and the Corner is being painted as one of the last bastions of anti-chain consumerism. The reporters responsible for C-VILLE's "Restaurantarama" section stated, "We are more than a little bummed that the Corner may be going all corporate just so the college kids can get their condoms and toothpaste more conveniently." But is the Corner in its present state really as anti-corporate as we make it out to be?
(03/14/08 4:00am)
I AM NOT surprised that Ralph Nader has decided once again to run for president. He announced his candidacy in classic fashion, citing numerous examples of corrupt government policies, dishonest politicians and disillusioned American citizens as reasons for his decision. "Dissent is the mother of ascent, and in that context, I have decided to run for president," he told Tim Russert on Meet the Press a few weeks ago.
(02/22/08 5:00am)
IN THE United Arab Emirates, Saeed Khouri purchased a license plate reading "1" -- only "1" -- for $14.3 million on Saturday, setting a new world record for the most money ever paid for a personalized license plate, according to ABC News. While the money paid for the plate will go to helping victims of traffic accidents, its purchase nevertheless reveals something about humanity that may have been better left concealed within a randomly generated series of digits.
(02/15/08 5:00am)
THE 2008 Day of Dialogue on Race occurred two weeks ago with little fanfare, its call for increased awareness of issues of racial prejudice and discrimination on Grounds drowned out by the rallying cries of fraternity brothers welcoming new members into their midst. Its schedule overlapping with that of fraternities' Bid Day, the Day of Dialogue attracted the expected audience of the open-minded and concerned individuals already interested in discussing ways in which racial and ethnic prejudice at the University could be reduced. Programs such as the Day of Dialogue on Race continue to have difficulty attracting students who seem oblivious to the fact that discrimination even exists on Grounds -- or those who simply don't care that it does. In order to ensure the attendance of these students, the University's administration must make visible the urgency of this endeavor. Instead of merely encouraging students to become more educated about issues of diversity and multiculturalism, they must require that students engage these issues throughout their four years here. Required attendance at events like the Day of Dialogue seems the only way to ensure that every student takes seriously issues of prejudice and discrimination on Grounds. While this may initially produce a great deal of grumbling from students who would rather be elsewhere, the outcome may eventually be a truly substantial, University-wide change in the social dynamics of the University.
(10/10/05 4:00am)
Despite light rain and a bomb threat that halted the concert for 45 minutes, more than 50,000 Rolling Stones fans still got some satisfaction Thursday in Scott Stadium.
(09/12/05 4:00am)
Last night approximately 150 University students came together in the amphitheater to hold a memorial for those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks four years ago and the soldiers who have lost their lives in U.S. military endeavors overseas.