Ttrading a physically qualified warrior for one who is not compromises security in the name of faux-equality. Any serviceman, male or female, will tell you that mission accomplishment is always priority number one.
The military defines general anxiety as a "neurological disorder with psychotic features," which bars entrance to the military. On the medical history questionnaire for the Marines, Prozac, my prescribed anxiety medicine, is listed in the “History of Drug Use” section, along with crack-cocaine, heroin and other illegal street drugs.
Before I step on too many toes, let me clarify that I am in no way condemning sustainable lifestyles — only advocacy. Choosing to live simply, own a small home, buy local and/or used, go veggie or bike to work is enormous.
Our Council this year is the most diverse it has ever been; it spans across all schools, races, religions, ideologies, majors, backgrounds, groups and CIOs on Grounds. Even within different ethnicities, students are diverse in and of themselves. Even the pool of applicants this year was more diverse than we have ever seen before. Diversity within the Trustees Council will allow us to gain and include perspectives and insights that have previously been excluded or not represented.
In its current capacity, student self-governance only protects the governing and not those being governed. It is a system put into place to empower all students; however, it is also exactly what is currently preventing any action and accountability that we, students, seek. If measures written in a Constitution cannot be interpreted and enforced now, what purpose do they really serve?
I remember unsuccessfully fighting back tears in a packed press conference as Hannah Graham’s parents implored an unseen audience for information that might bring back their child. In the aftermath of the Rolling Stone article, I remember piggybacking seemingly endless 4 a.m. nights with coffee-fueled all-nighters, frantically live-tweeting press conferences while typing up my final term papers and struggling to make sense of what I knew to be true and what I felt to be right amid an inundation of national media inquiries, official statements, protests, exams and every little crisis in between.
I am humbled and forever thankful for the fleeting time I was able to spend crafting the literal and figurative pages of this organization. You made me a better person, and you will always hold a special place in my heart.
A year and a half ago I was panicking about having to manage the finances of the largest student-run company at the University. Now I wish I had another year at it, because by the end I finally knew what I was doing. But that’s the way it works: you do the thing that terrifies you, and the courage comes afterwards.
The past eight semesters afforded me an incredible number of opportunities — to speak with people I never thought I would, write articles about topics that mattered, pursue stories and ideas that were interesting and that people wanted to read. But none of those are why I am so indebted to The Cavalier Daily. I am indebted to this organization because it gave me a home.
The fall semester was tumultuous to say the least, and traumatizing to say the most. We were invited to events other media outlets were excluded from. We were trusted to cover the issues that tore this community apart, because we are students first before we are the media. And throughout our production process we grieved just as much as the rest of the student body. Every word, every sentence, every story, every page, was assembled with the hope of healing.
Yes, the Gray-Carrington and Sky Alland scholarships are awarded based on merit, but the award for these scholarships should not pay a full year’s tuition if the recipients already have all of college covered. If both scholarships claim to choose their recipients at least partially based on humility, this conclusion is not difficult to reach.
University athletes are prohibited by NCAA rules from profiting from their own skills, name and likeness. Every other University student, even those on full scholarship, is afforded that fundamental civil right. So long as you have not been named a “student-athlete,” you can get paid by the University and enjoy a free meal without a guilty conscience. You could even sell your autograph or start a crowdfunding page for your personal ambitions. The University may even applaud and commend your initiative if you did so.
The Cavalier Daily has more than its share of problems. At its core, every person in the editing chain believes they are better writers, editors and reporters than those below them. To fully harness the paper’s talent, The Cavalier Daily must fight this culture and trade writing quality for writer motivation. But, throughout, I have valued the News section’s dedication to fair, unbiased coverage.
The opportunities, experiences, friendships and challenges The Cavalier Daily provided were irreplaceable, and shape both who I am today and who I strive to be tomorrow. I have learned to be more independent and self-assured, more ambitious and optimistic and more confident in my ability to handle responsibility. I have also realized that it is more important to love what you do than to love what it takes to do it.
We, the students of the University of Virginia, are the living. We are the blood that runs through the iron pipes of the University. We the picturesque, we the hideous, the marginalized, the spoiled, the idealistic, the good-hearted. We. When you walk through our Grounds, past each painful fissure that has blossomed forth like so many angry scars, remember.
The voices of these student bodies were stifled by their Boards through secrecy, literal barriers of locked and guarded doors and apathy. At this point the students, who are the most important stakeholders of our universities, have no real influence on major decisions made by their governing bodies. Divestment and affordable education are just two campaigns facing the same roadblocks of indifference and rejection that have been repeatedly experienced.
Questioning this language is not “oversensitivity” by the “illiberal liberals” but an exercise in speaking truth to power. The University has a language problem. Part of our socialization into “University culture” hinges upon control of language. Upon my acceptance into this school, I was sent a pamphlet instructing me as to how to construct myself. I become a “first year” while my peers were off being freshmen, and I would become a part of “Grounds” while others had the misfortune of attending campuses.
Regardless of your intentions, the Trail of Tears, the Civil Rights Movement, discrimination against women and any other social topic we are faced with overcoming are not your sources for April Fools’ columns. Those articles have only continued to push this institution into a dark corner. Tell me: if this was Apr. 2, a normal day, would you have published these articles anyway? If the answer is no, then April Fools’ Day is not an excuse to justify the publication of such offensive material.
If after reading all this you still think the articles shouldn’t have been published, that is your right. This does not, however, make The Cavalier Daily sexist, racist or evil as it has been portrayed. Enemies of our enemies are no longer our friends unless they conform completely to every standard of perfect political correctness, a standard that increasingly shrinks the pool of acceptable discourse.
This protocol for addressing a student who is in danger holds for any and all resources an individual would use on Grounds: Peer Health Educators, CAPS, Helpline — even professors, and this is a good thing; we are here to help resolve dire situations and to protect students to the best of our ability. Yet, for the vast majority of students who are not immediately in danger, our resources are totally confidential and designed to support the student as best as possible.
