Opinion

Opinion

​ALJASSAR: The consequences of homogeneity

By Nazar Aljassar | April 7, 2015

The BSA makes a fair point. I do not think the Rosa Parks piece would have been published with stronger black representation in The Cavalier Daily. Somebody along the editing chain would be aware that the article is inappropriate. If I can extract anything from the publication of the April Fools’ articles, it is that the paper’s demonstrated lack of sensitivity toward issues facing minority communities is a natural consequence of homogeneity in our staff. We lack the minority representation to be able to effectively do what we do.

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Opinion

​WALLS: Talk about race in the classroom

By Nora Walls | April 7, 2015

American schools ought to teach race relations as a current event — provide the history and inform students about where we are today. Of course, kids are not equipped to handle the full complexity or intensity of the issue, but teachers could easily address the fact that racism still exists in our country without getting into some of the darker or more complicated details or bringing politics into the classroom.

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Opinion

​Rolling Stone review misses mark on U.Va. culture

By Managing Board | April 6, 2015

It is not up to the authors of this report to account for every wrong Rolling Stone committed, and the job of these researchers was made harder still by the fact that they had to gather their information from Rolling Stone first (though the magazine did provide a 405 page record of everything pertaining to the article). But as we reflect on Erdely’s article, we should not confine our analysis of it just to Jackie’s story and the editorial failures surrounding its presentation. It is a dramatic oversimplification to reduce this article — which shook our University to its core — just to that one narrative.

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Opinion

​ADAMES: Jefferson lives, with undue praise

By Alexander Adames | April 6, 2015

I think it’s important that we take note of the weight Jeffersonian enthusiasts attach to Jefferson’s actions. It seems to me that society does not praise individuals whose immoral deeds outweigh their moralistic deeds. For example, President Richard Nixon provided us with the Environmental Protection Agency, but he was also involved in the Watergate scandal and prolonging the Vietnam War. Despite this laudable feat of establishing the EPA, many Americans castigate him on account of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War outweighing any and all of his benevolent actions.

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Opinion

​DOYLE: Discussions start with professors

By Bobby Doyle | April 6, 2015

Professors can also do a better job incentivizing discussion. Participation points as part of a grade are a great start, at least in smaller classes, but leaving students to figure out how to participate can be discouraging. Students feel forced to talk in class even if they have nothing useful to say. Professors could make clear that coming to office hours with questions or going to external events that relate to the class could count as participation.

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Opinion

​KELLY: A line not worth treading

By Conor Kelly | April 3, 2015

Humor is a subtle art, satire even more so; a tricky combination of comedy and discerning commentary, it is an art form that pushes the boundaries of civility in order to grasp something insightful about the human condition.

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Opinion

​JACKSON: Language matters for Israel-Palestine

By Lauren Jackson | April 3, 2015

Reducing race to a matter of skin color is an inadequate definition of racial identity. Sachs therefore cannot conclude Israel does not racially discriminate simply because it does not reflect the “bigoted environment” of a clear segregation of skin colors. As the Convention legally outlined, the use of the term apartheid does not require any situational commonalities between the state in question and South Africa.

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Opinion

​KHAN: The right to be beautiful

By Hasan Khan | April 3, 2015

Confronted with the idea of plastic surgery, many will immediately cry vanity. Intuitively, this position is simple: one should not modify their body to conform to society's artificial idea of beauty, as “inner beauty” should theoretically outweigh the importance of the external self. Such a position has merit; women shouldn't self-objectify themselves by getting breast enlargements for the sake of wooing men. Yet the reality of plastic surgery is much more complicated, especially in Brazil.

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Opinion

​BROOM: April Fools’ is no excuse

By Christopher Broom | April 2, 2015

The Cavalier Daily staff has damaged the trust readers had in the paper. The main point of the paper is to be an independent voice at the University of Virginia. The paper can’t be that if no one trusts it and if no one is paying attention. The April Fools edition of the paper has done harm to the Cavalier Daily and to its readers.

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Opinion

​HANNA: A response to April Fools’

By Myliyah Hanna | April 2, 2015

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.

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Opinion

​REED: When liberals become illiberal

By Zeke Reed | April 2, 2015

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.

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Opinion

​EDEL: Time for a sane scheduling system

By Brennan Edel | April 2, 2015

We need a lottery system. I imagine something like the one used for scheduling basketball games, except with students listing out their intended classes in order of priority. Rather than Sabre points — which give a person more ‘names in the bucket’ come ticket-allocating time for sports games — we’d give people more names in the bucket for their preferred classes.

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Opinion

ALJASSAR: ​No UGuides in Pavilion VIII

By Nazar Aljassar | April 2, 2015

To be clear, I don’t mean to say that the Guide Service shouldn’t receive a space on Grounds to perform its functions as a tour-giving organization. I think the Guide Service is one of the most necessary organizations on Grounds particularly given its role in preserving the history of our University. Over the past few years, the Guide Service has made significant strides in addressing slavery at the University in its historical tours. Additionally, tour guides are often the first faces that prospective students see when they come to Charlottesville.

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Opinion

​FOGEL: Drawing the line at firing squads

By Jared Fogel | April 2, 2015

These alternatives should not become primary methods of execution. Hanging, though the most popular form of capital punishment for the majority of U.S. history, sometimes leads to prolonged strangulation or decapitation, and electrocution sometimes leads to inmates catching on fire or needing multiple jolts. It is the gruesome nature of these botched executions that led the majority of U.S. states to declare these alternatives unconstitutional, and the American people agree.

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Opinion

An apology to our readers

By Managing Board | April 1, 2015

The managing board of The Cavalier Daily would like to issue a sincere apology for the publication of two pieces — “ABC officers tackle Native American student outside Bodo’s Bagels” and “Zeta Psi hosts ‘Rosa Parks’ party” — in our April Fools edition which was released this morning.

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Opinion

​SPINKS: Don’t blame Longo for race problems

By Ashley Spinks | April 1, 2015

For all of the good that I know the panel achieved, I don’t believe that it is beyond reproach. The panel was not what I wanted it to be, and I realize that may be unimportant. I know it may seem condescending for me to suggest improvements to black student leaders’ protest and activism tactics, when I am so far removed from the struggles they face on a daily basis.

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Opinion

​GORMAN: In defense of Model UN

By Ryan Gorman | April 1, 2015

Driven by this desire to “win” in their committees, students engage in debates that are highly educational in nature, reinforcing information on complex world issues in a fashion that trumps traditional classroom assignments. An extensive evaluation of the Urban Debate League in New York City found that this style of learning through debate and problem solving has incredible perks for students across a variety of different personal characteristics, including academic performance, communication, creativity and self-concept.

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Opinion

​PATEL: Unorganized protests accomplish little

By Sawan Patel | April 1, 2015

There are a great number of examples of movements that failed because of a lack of effective organization. This is what I am afraid of happening for the problem of police brutality in America. If there is no effective organization in the form of lobbying groups to enact proposed policies, there can be no effective change.

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Opinion

​Ole Miss: reinstate Dr. Jones

By Managing Board | March 31, 2015

Our University is no stranger to board-driven ousters. In 2012, University President Teresa Sullivan was unexpectedly fired from her position, and, in response to widespread protests, the Board of Visitors ultimately reinstated her. We write today to urge the governing board at Ole Miss to do the same.

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Opinion

​OLSON: A low bar for democracy in Israel

By Jake Olson | March 31, 2015

Even with these shortcomings, the most reprehensible one in Sachs’ piece is her choice to deflect accusations made against Israel by pointing to the injustices and human rights violations committed by ISIS and Arab/Muslim governments in the region. By doing this, Sachs sets the bar pathetically low for the “beacon of democracy” she believes in. One moral failure by no means excuses another.