Opinion

Opinion

​ZIFF: Snapchat as a small step toward cultural understanding

By Tamar Ziff | July 29, 2015

The Live Story feature contributes to the changing relationship between the individual and the hyperconnected world, wherein our immediate circle of contacts, and by extension our awareness of the lives and situation of others, has exponentially expanded due to the ubiquity of the internet. Snapchat’s Live Story is the ultimate manifestation of an ersatz citizen journalism, democratizing “reportage” — brief and banal as it may be — such that we can now see various places and cultures around the world with jarring authenticity.

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Opinion

​RUSSO: The full rights of U.S. citizenship should apply to territories

By Mary Russo | July 10, 2015

Americans born in any of these territories are not granted the right to vote for president or representation by a voting member in the House of Representatives. For them, the American flag serves as a reminder that they are not first class citizens and are not equal to other Americans under the law. To address this disparity between principle and practice, all people born on American soil should be granted the full rights of citizenship, which includes the right to vote. In other words, the Constitution should most certainly follow the flag.

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Opinion

​ALJASSAR: Opt-out organ donation saves lives

By Nazar Aljassar | June 5, 2015

There currently exists a disjuncture between the proportion of Americans who are willing to donate their organs and those who actively register to become organ donors. Many polls and surveys demonstrate that the majority of Americans would be willing to donate their organs upon death, yet only about 45 percent of American adults are registered donors.

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Opinion

​RUDGLEY: Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and media bias

By Ben Rudgley | June 1, 2015

This litany of appalling media biases has corrupted journalism to the point where fair coverage of presidential elections is a luxury among mainstream media outlets. The political union of the Washington establishment, corporate interests and the media has created an environment in which it is political suicide for a candidate to so much as question the status quo in foreign policy or income inequality. As both Pauls have learned, criticizing disastrous Middle East policy will place you squarely in the crosshairs of the kingmaker of American elections — the mainstream media.

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Opinion

LETTER: Black graduates, take pride

By Black Alumni Association | May 21, 2015

You now wear the honors of Honor and with the turn of a tassle you progress forward from students to alumni. As alumni we ask that you don’t forget your experiences at the University.

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Opinion

​RUSSO: A unique responsibility for the class of 2015

By Mary Russo | May 13, 2015

The Class of 2015, however, will not have the opportunity to see even the short-term impacts of this year — at least not as students. They will not have the opportunity to forget this school year, as it is their final memory of the University. Rather, they are entering the outside world having experienced large-scale national issues in their own backyard.

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Opinion

​BROOM: A digital-first paper

By Christopher Broom | May 13, 2015

I have paid particular attention to the digital elements of the paper including the mobile applications, Twitter feeds, multimedia efforts including video and the website among others. They have all changed over time, seemingly growing in fits and starts.

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Opinion

KWON AND FRYAR: Student self-governance trumps entitlement

By Andrew Kwon and Donald Fryar | April 30, 2015

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.

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Opinion

​PATEL: Decrease merit-based aid

By Sawan Patel | April 28, 2015

America is a meritocracy in principle and perhaps somewhat in practice, so it makes sense that some sort of merit-based aid remains in the university system. However, merit-based aid often relies on GPA and standardized test scores, two measures of academic performance that highly correlate with income. The results are that students of relatively high socioeconomic status don’t have to pay for college — when they can afford to more easily than others — because they have high socioeconomic status.

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Opinion

​By the numbers

By Managing Board | April 28, 2015

As the academic year comes to an end, the Managing Board recounts some notable numbers.

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Opinion

​CHIU, MARKWOOD & RUSSELL: The Class of 2016 has a crisis of leadership

By Jasmine Chiu , Meredith Markwood and Lauren Russell | April 28, 2015

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?

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Opinion

​OLSON: Making meetings meaningful

By Jake Olson | April 28, 2015

In a research project done by the Harvard Business Review, the team found that for one large corporation, over 300,000 person hours were spent on a single weekly excom meeting over the course of the entire year (this figure doesn’t include time spent preparing for the meetings). Parkinson’s law explains another way meetings waste time.

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Opinion

​ZIFF: Transcending the human complexities of Jefferson

By Tamar Ziff | April 28, 2015

Can we internalize the ideas forwarded by Jefferson — considered notions of religious liberty and equality of opportunity — while acknowledging his dire callousness? We can — but we must be careful not to conflate the value of his ideas with that of his person. He was an intelligent man, but not a wholly good one, and his refusal to free his slaves seems particularly egregious when juxtaposed with his views on the fundamental rights of those he saw as truly human (read: not everyone).

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Opinion

Yes to gender-neutral bathrooms

By Managing Board | April 27, 2015

Issues facing LGBTQ students can be complex, but one issue that almost uniquely plagues transgender and gender non-conforming students is the issue of invisibility. When spaces demarcate between just two genders — male and female — and force all students into one of these two categories, transgender and gender non-conforming students are rendered invisible to existing structures.

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Opinion

​DOYLE: Rand Paul’s whirlwind of dangerous ideas

By Bobby Doyle | April 27, 2015

An argument could be made that any dubious ideas Paul might have could be checked by the other powers in government if he became president. However, the duties of a president go far past the position he holds; presidents are constantly making judgement calls. In light of Paul’s views, I find it hard to trust his judgment.

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Opinion

​MENNINGER: The printing divide

By Nate Menninger | April 27, 2015

I propose a system in which all students are granted the same set number of free pages per year. This number should be calculated based upon average professorial needs. For example, the University of Pittsburgh allocates students 900 “print units” per semester — a number based on a student’s average need.

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Opinion

​MINK: The misguided bureaucratization of higher education

By Alex Mink | April 27, 2015

The danger of an increased administrative presence on Grounds is greater than just the additional cost. Administrators might become disconnected from the faculty and students they are meant to serve. Though many administrators such as guidance and Counseling and Psychological Services counselors see students on a daily basis, others lack direct communication with students.

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Opinion

​BROOM: Braving the storm

By Christopher Broom | April 27, 2015

I have written frequently about what The Cavalier Daily, and any collegiate paper, should be. The students who create The Cavalier Daily have worked to be a source of information, a place for our community to learn what it needs to begin a conversation and a place to have that conversation. Again, I have criticisms about some of the specifics. The website still needs to be cleaned up: the search tool is ineffective, and it’s difficult to find articles or columns more than about 10 days or two weeks old.

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Opinion

​RUDGLEY: Clinton should move a little left

By Ben Rudgley | April 24, 2015

There is cause for hope among progressives as they look to 2016. It is very possible that if Clinton’s competitors for the nomination all level concerted, persistent policy criticisms her way then she could be forced to adopt a more liberal, populist platform in several key areas. Clinton’s challengers can successfully push her to the left if they focus on issues that play well with the Democratic base, like income inequality, a cautious foreign policy and climate change.

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Opinion

Reevaluating structures in higher education

By Managing Board | April 24, 2015

If it is not conscious decisions, but rather subconscious biases as a result of existing structures, that push administrators toward unethical tendencies, addressing ethical issues in higher education is that much more complicated. But this case-study provides some clear solutions: one could be that administrators be required to review their decisions in one consistent platform; another could be that outsiders come into college campuses over certain periods of time to discuss current ethical dilemmas.