Opinion

Opinion

KEADY: Firing back

By Walter Keady | September 23, 2013

The better response to Putin’s statement, however, would have been silence. I believe few Americans read Putin’s New York Times piece and accepted his portrayal of the United States as accurate. There was no need for McCain to escalate the situation in a tit-for-tat response article, especially after a diplomatic success, and at a time when cooperation between the two countries is critical.

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Opinion

The virtues of not protesting

By Managing Board | September 23, 2013

Regardless, the fact that students didn’t protest the Santorum event is not necessarily a bad thing. Student protests have an unfortunate tendency of sacrificing free-speech principles for the sake of another favored cause.

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Opinion

BERGER: A lingering concern

By Meredith Berger | September 22, 2013

When I heard news of social segregation at Alabama, I could not believe such practices still existed. But after further contemplation, I began to see how unsurprising Alabama’s situation is. Looking at the many Greek systems in our region, and even examining the University’s own sorority and fraternity life, it is clear that a sort of segregation continues — even if it is not intentional like Alabama’s.

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Opinion

BROOM: More than a paper

By Christopher Broom | September 22, 2013

In the time between when articles are published, the Twitter feed is one of the best places to find out what’s going on at the University in real time.

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Opinion

SPINKS: Grounding yourself in art

By Ashley Spinks | September 22, 2013

Many of the arts-related events that happen on Grounds and in the surrounding Charlottesville area are conveniently located and cost little to nothing. More students should make it a priority to integrate the arts into their lives and to take advantage of the artistic opportunities that being a student at the University presents.

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Opinion

The suicide contract

By Managing Board | September 19, 2013

Dongguan’s suicide waiver reveals a wrongheaded approach toward student mental health on the part of its administration.

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Opinion

GWIN: Against objectification

By Mirenda Gwin | September 19, 2013

Off the Hook exists to draw awareness to the notion that a sole interest in sex does not respect either oneself or one’s partner. The essence of a hookup is a no-strings attached, emotionless encounter which is not a relationship at all, as neither party has respectfully taken into account the feelings of the other.

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Opinion

COHEN: Celebrating mediocrity

By Benji Cohen | September 19, 2013

On September 13, UVA Today ran a laudatory article about U.Va.’s place as a “top 10” Teach for America (TFA) corps contributor. The celebratory article gave me pause, as it continued to stoke the heroic one-dimensional narrative of TFA as the cure-all to urban public education in the United States. TFA is not a solution and U.Va. should exercise caution when trumpeting a program that has had such mediocre results.

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Opinion

Unearthing history

By Managing Board | September 18, 2013

Our school’s fascination with Jefferson, the man who laid the school’s conceptual foundations, is longstanding. Our interest in the lives of the people who laid the school’s physical cornerstones is quite recent.

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Humor

Parent-teacher conferences, as I imagined them in third grade

By Denise Taylor | September 18, 2013

TEACHER: Is Denise an only child? DAD: No. MOM: But she’s a lonely child.

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Opinion

BOGUE: Logging on to class

By Russell Bogue | September 18, 2013

Each day, I sit down in a highly equipped room across from screens that project images of a classroom at Duke, and I learn a new language in concert with students three hours away.

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Opinion

BROWN: Debts to the past

By Forrest Brown | September 18, 2013

Slavery is a critical element of our history as a school. We, as students here, are directly benefiting from the institution of slavery through its contributions to the establishment of our school. The least we can do is acknowledge that wrong and honor the lives that were stolen so the University could become the leading institution it is today.

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Opinion

Bearing the market

By Managing Board | September 18, 2013

But the University’s shortcomings when it comes to faculty recruitment (and retention) do not stem primarily from a failure of strategy. These problems arise from a failure to pay top faculty members market-rate wages. Until the University can compensate faculty more generously, this element of the strategic plan will be only a partial solution.

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Opinion

KABIR: Meriting attention

By Fariha Kabir | September 17, 2013

Originally, when I read about merit-based pay raises, I hesitated to support it. I recalled opposing this idea in high school, wherein merit pay for teachers would be based on standardized test scores, especially because test scores do not necessarily reflect student learning. By extension, basing pay solely on how college students do on their exams would also be artificial. However, because of the holistic approach that the University is taking to evaluate its faculty, I think merit pay is an effective mechanism for mitigating pay freezes.

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Opinion

Breaking away

By Managing Board | September 16, 2013

The report tells us something interesting about the University’s oft-uneasy relationship with the commonwealth. But it’s not what you might think. The proposal for the University to strike away from the state is not a realistic suggestion. It is the result of lingering resentment. This resentment comes from two sources: first, a trend of declining state appropriations (though state funding increased by roughly $8 million in fiscal year 2013); and second, the attempted ouster of University President Teresa Sullivan, instigated by state-appointed officials, that left the school reeling last June.

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Opinion

Disrespecting your roots

By Caroline Bartholomew | September 16, 2013

Cuccinelli claims on the campaign trail that he nearly witnessed an attempted sexual assault on Grounds, inspiring him to become an advocate. But then as a politician he refused to support one of the most successful prevention efforts against sexual violence in recent history.

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Opinion

'Try' again

By Sarah Buckley | September 16, 2013

Fritz Metzinger’s article, “Worth a Try,” suffers from an excess of assumption and a dearth of nuance.

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Opinion

Virginia and virginity

By Managing Board | September 16, 2013

Off the Hook is more than anti-hookup. It is also pro-abstinence. The organization’s AtUVa page reports that the group believes that “sex is good, but only in the context of marriage.” The group’s purpose, according to its blog, is to promote an “alternative to the hookup scene.” The alternative it offers is simple: don’t do it.

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Opinion

SPINKS: Talking about sex

By Ashley Spinks | September 15, 2013

We have been conditioned to believe that our sexuality is shameful: something to be hidden, something we shouldn’t mention.

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Opinion

RIPLEY: A matter of taste

By Katherine Ripley | September 15, 2013

Even in a world where casual sex is commonplace, we have not lost the ability — despite our best defenses — to fall in love.