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(11/13/14 5:26am)
As a sophomore in high school, I spent a week over winter break volunteering at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in the Chelsea neighborhood of lower Manhattan. Everyday like clockwork, hundreds of people filed in to receive lunch. The most striking aspect of this experience was the physical diversity of the people in need. Many looked like the other smartly dressed professionals in the neighborhood, whose appearance would suggest they were in stable financial positions. I would have walked past most of them on the street without looking twice.
(11/06/14 6:25am)
On the Saturday of Homecomings weekend, students, families and alumni alike enjoyed pancakes and basked in sunlight and nostalgia. In the early afternoon, thousands filed into Scott Stadium for the UNC football game. The crowd was an overwhelming sea of orange, and the cheers were deafening. Our defeat was last minute — but not necessarily unexpected considering our recent football history. Nevertheless, it was a disappointing loss.
(10/30/14 4:26am)
For the past decade, Palestinian civil society groups have been calling for people around the world to boycott Israeli institutions and corporations, including Israeli universities and other academic institutions. The academic boycott is part of a larger movement called BDS, which stands for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. Israeli cultural and academic institutions, according to the BDS website, “directly contribute to maintaining, defending or whitewashing the oppression of Palestinians.”
(10/23/14 4:42am)
Upon arriving on Grounds, every student learns about the University’s honor system. From that moment on, the concept of honor is almost omnipresent in our lives at the University. At convocation, we are inducted into the “Community of Trust” by signing an honor scroll. On exams, we sign a pledge that we have not given or received help. At graduation, we “wear the honors of Honor.”
(10/16/14 3:35am)
There is an ongoing initiative within the faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences to reevaluate and possibly restructure the undergraduate curriculum. According to College Dean Ian Baucom, these conversations mark the first potentially significant changes to the College curriculum in 40 years. The changes will focus on general competency and area requirements, rather than department-specific requirements.
(10/02/14 1:38pm)
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been in the news for two reasons in the past week. First, his installation, @Large, opened on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Second, he has spoken out in support of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong. These two instances are characteristic of Ai’s ascendance from artist to activist. They provide support for the idea that art and free expression, in their various forms (ranging from elaborate installations to Instagram posts), can be a powerful form of political action.
(09/18/14 4:32am)
A recent column in the Richmond Times Dispatch, by Caroline Little (the president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America) refutes the popularly held belief that that journalism is a dying industry.
(09/11/14 5:04am)
At the end of the 1997 film adaptation of Carl Sagan’s science fiction novel “Contact,” the main character — played by Jodie Foster — sits overlooking a grandiose canyon and the vast expanse of the night sky. After experiencing a journey through the galaxy and an encounter with an advanced alien civilization, she is unable to relate to humanity. She is left isolated in her experience and in her knowledge.
(09/04/14 4:06am)
Most American teens would agree that high school is a stressful time. Students are expected to juggle academic challenges and extracurricular involvements while simultaneously planning for their future. All of this occurs in the midst of significant social, emotional, psychological and physical changes.
(08/28/14 4:54am)
The phrase “politically correct” has been overworked to the point that it has become almost devoid of meaning. Often abbreviated to p.c., the phrase is unique in its ability to be used as both an insult and a standard to strive towards. Accusations of being too politically correct and reprimands for being not being politically correct enough are both used as verbal weapons with which to undermine controversial conversation.
(08/06/14 4:32pm)
On July 1, the European Court of Human Rights had what may be the last word in the three-year debate surrounding the Muslim veil in France. The issue was introduced to the court by a 24 year-old French woman of Pakistani descent, who claimed that she had the right to wear a niqab “in accordance with her religious faith, culture and personal convictions.” The court denied her claim and endorsed the French Senate’s decision to make face-coverings illegal, which was passed in 2010.
(04/24/14 1:25am)
With Final Exercises approaching, fourth-years are preparing to say goodbye to the University and embark on the next stage of their lives. Some will enroll in graduate programs while others will travel or start their first full-time jobs. The future for most graduates of the University — and any university for that matter — is uncertain but promising.
(04/10/14 4:34am)
I don’t remember many particulars from the college tours I went on during the summer before my senior year of high school — after the first few they blended into a massive hodgepodge in my mind. However, the one thing that remains an active part of my memory is the question my mom would ask at the end of every tour: “Can you tell us a little about mental health services on campus?”
(04/03/14 4:29am)
Greek life is a central feature of many American colleges, our university included. Roughly 30 percent of students at the University are involved in Greek life. Those who are not Greek are still likely to interact with Greek organizations and attend Greek parties or philanthropic events during their time at the University.
(03/27/14 6:33am)
ABC Family recently canceled the pilot for its new series “Alice in Arabia”, whose title alludes to Lewis Carroll’s British classic, “Alice in Wonderland.” The premise of the show is reminiscent of Orientalist depictions of the Middle East that are typical of an imperialist and overtly outdated western framework. The fact that a public outcry led by Muslim activist groups, rather than discretion within the ABC Family network, led to the show’s cancellation highlights troubling problems with how the Middle East is portrayed by Hollywood.
(03/20/14 4:15am)
February 27th, the Managing Board published an editorial entitled “The Shortcomings of MOOCs,” in which they argued that although Massive Open Online Courses represent an aspirational ideal of public education, they are not worth the resources that must be expended to surmount the obstacles that they present.
(03/06/14 7:13am)
On February 24th, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed a bill into law that makes acts of homosexuality punishable by life in prison, and includes similarly harsh provisions for anyone who openly supports gay rights. The president signed the legislation, arguably one of the harshest anti-homosexual laws in the world, despite pressures from western diplomats and human rights groups.
(02/27/14 4:44am)
During the 2014 Super Bowl, Coca-Cola aired an advertisement that sparked significant outrage and controversy across America. The ad featured “America the Beautiful” sung in English, Spanish, Senegalese-French, Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Arabic, Hindi and Keres, a Pueblo language. The song played over a series of scenes depicting the geographic and cultural diversity of the country. In each scene, Coke is portrayed as the common link between people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.