Opinion

Opinion

​The Safe Campus Act won’t make campuses safer

By Managing Board | September 17, 2015

If law enforcement has a more prominent role in universities’ cases, survivors may be hesitant to pursue charges, either due to their own trauma or because they don’t wish to launch a criminal investigation or harsher sanction than a school would provide. Of course, someone who has committed a rape deserves a criminal prosecution — but if a survivor won’t come forward for fear of criminal prosecution, with this bill, her rapist will get no prosecution at all, since the school can’t pursue its own adjudicative process.

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Opinion

​YAHNIAN: End the penny

By Ben Yahnian | September 17, 2015

In 2006, the value of the zinc and copper in a U.S. penny exceeded the coin’s own one cent face value. The gap has only grown worse since then and as of 2013, the U.S. mint now spends 1.8 cents for every penny minted.

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Opinion

​KEMP: The failures of sustainability advocacy

By Jeremy Kemp | September 17, 2015

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.

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Opinion

​IMAM: The problem with affirmative consent

By Alyssa Imam | September 16, 2015

Affirmative consent fails to recognize that, while violent assault crimes are an ever-pressing issue, humans are still able to make mistakes concerning sex that (although they may regret them later) were not necessarily forced.

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Opinion

​BERMAN: Rethinking law school

By Jesse Berman | September 16, 2015

Creating an undergraduate school of law would make the decision to attain a law degree less financially risky. The average debt held by law school graduates is exorbitant, as law students graduate, on average, owing between $84,000 and $122,000 in loans, depending on the law school.

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Opinion

​MINK: An honest look at suicide

By Alex Mink | September 16, 2015

While the University has made large steps in increasing awareness about sexual assault, it has not made similar strides in the arena of suicide prevention. In some ways, this makes sense; the number of people who will suffer a sexual assault dwarfs those who will take their own lives.

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Opinion

​ZIFF: Under pressure

By Tamar Ziff | September 15, 2015

Ultimately, “hyperachievement” is counterproductive, exhausting, unfulfilling and certainly no cure for anxiety or depression.

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Opinion

​WINESETT: Improving the foreign language requirement

By Matt Winesett | September 15, 2015

Yet beyond my belief that the language requirement is unfair to students because of its relatively high opportunity cost, the requirement is also unfair to Spanish professors. The College mandate ensures that every classroom from the 1010 to the 2020 level is filled with a high percentage of students devoid of any desire to be there.

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Opinion

​Spending out-of-pocket

By Managing Board | September 15, 2015

Politicians, especially those who have access to perks like state-owned planes, often walk a difficult line between private and public use of their state-given resources.

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Opinion

​RUSSO: Protecting Alaska’s future

By Mary Russo | September 15, 2015

As we aim to address climate change in the coming years, we must more seriously consider Native American peoples to avoid the destruction of both their communities and their cultural heritage.

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Opinion

​ADAMES: A failed discussion on race

By Alexander Adames | September 14, 2015

If you expect to rid students of their biases against others by essentially telling them “Don’t do this because it’s bad and hurts people’s feelings,” then you clearly misunderstand the nature of bigotry. Grounds for Discussion’s audience does not consist of malleable toddlers.

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Opinion

​Big data could make college more accessible

By Managing Board | September 14, 2015

While there are valid criticisms of Obama’s plan, his search tool is a welcome development for struggling families and students. Student loan debt in the United States has reached $1.2 trillion, but the new data the administration has released shows whether college graduates are successfully repaying their loans, giving students insight into whether a given school’s loan program will be financially feasible for them.

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Opinion

​DOYLE: Mightier than the pen

By Bobby Doyle | September 14, 2015

Despite what some professors say, computers can be a great resource in class. Typed notes are more flexible, letting students organize them in a sensible way.

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Opinion

​FOGEL: The NFL should move on

By Jared Fogel | September 12, 2015

After nearly nine months of media attention and millions of dollars of independent investigation and court costs, the NFL’s “Deflategate” scandal has seemingly come to an end. Last week, federal Judge Richard M.

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Opinion

​KHAN: The coming climate change refugee crisis

By Hasan Khan | September 11, 2015

Few leaders have even acknowledged climate change as a possible contributor to immigration issues, and practically no leader has taken any action on climate change in relation to fixing migration issues.

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Opinion

​RUDGLEY: Christianity and the GOP in opposition

By Ben Rudgley | September 11, 2015

Christianity is less about negative morality (what we shouldn’t do) and more about what we should do: love each other, protect our natural environment and help the poor. Unfortunately, the Republican Party focuses far less on the evils of poverty than it does about the perceived dangers of gay marriage.

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Opinion

​ALJASSAR: Young, wild and free to party

By Nazar Aljassar | September 10, 2015

I am glad our police officers regard student safety with such great importance, but I am troubled by what appears to be an inequitable enforcement of laws in Charlottesville.

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Opinion

​The repercussions of rising tuition

By Managing Board | September 10, 2015

As a public school, the University of Virginia stands out amongst the elite, private institutions it competes against as more financially accessible to residents of its state. But though the University offers comparatively reasonable in-state tuition prices — subsidized by larger out-of-state tuition — this model still can’t make up for the unequal implications of education costs.

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Opinion

​GORMAN: Health care’s race issue

By Ryan Gorman | September 10, 2015

Herein lies the problem: research has proven American citizens are not treated equally by medical practitioners. The body of research on this issue is immense and covers the disparities in health treatment across a variety of different demographics, including ethnic groups that are sometimes overlooked by civil rights activists.

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Opinion

​WALLS: What’s missing from the sexual assault module

By Nora Walls | September 9, 2015

As I was completing it, I found the majority of the videos were easy to skip entirely, and most sections could be clicked through quickly without actually reading or listening to any information.