Opinion

Opinion

​RUDGLEY: Rand Paul and the future of the GOP

By Ben Rudgley | April 10, 2015

Paul, more than any other candidate, has tried to reach out to disaffected voting blocs that when they do vote, vote blue, like African-Americans and college-age voters. His bold ideas, like scaling back surveillance programs or criminal justice reform, represent a departure from establishment Republicans who appear intent on adding to their party’s litany of failures and embarrassments (that range from George W. Bush’s costly, disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Todd Akin’s cringe-inducing comments on rape and pregnancy).

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Opinion

​Aramark proves unethical once again

By Managing Board | April 9, 2015

The University’s contract with Aramark is a business, and not ethical, contract. And in the world of business transactions, there will often be trade-offs between low-cost solutions and efficiency and the moral character of a company. In Aramark’s case, however, the trade-offs are simply not worth it.

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Opinion

​EDEL: In praise of the thesis

By Brennan Edel | April 9, 2015

Writing a thesis is the sort of résumé padding that I can get behind. Besides the fact that spending fourth year writing 40 or more pages of deep academic discourse is not something that one does merely on a whim, writing a thesis confers, in addition to the honors, a deeper and more pointed understanding of the major than only coursework can provide. Spending months researching, writing and finally producing a unique thesis about one single topic instills and inspires the sort of hard work and creativity that is truly distinctive.

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Opinion

​GORMAN: Religious freedom isn’t a license to discriminate

By Ryan Gorman | April 9, 2015

Substantial controversy has been raised over Indiana’s recently passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which — in essence — openly allows businesses to discriminate against potential customers by citing their right to the “free exercise of religion.” This piece of legislation has caused serious uproar across the nation; pundits, celebrities and politicians alike have denounced the inhumane precedent the RFRA has established and called for its repeal.

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Opinion

​DIVEST UMW: Divestment sit-ins are on the forefront of a new social movement

By Caroline Bray , Jake Turner , Sarah Kinzer and Colleen Cosgriff | April 9, 2015

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.

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Opinion

​SPINKS: Brand Link is bad journalism

By Ashley Spinks | April 9, 2015

What does the term “Brand Link” mean to the uninitiated? Horowitz assured me that an explanation of our Brand Link policy would remain a fixture on our website, and she said that the model “is not coming from a place of ignorance” about editorial integrity concerns. She says that “much more of our energy is going into long-term solutions” than into the Brand Link model. But those long-term solutions are moot if our audience can no longer trust us.

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Opinion

​Phi Psi is right to sue

By Managing Board | April 8, 2015

For journalism, proper reporting on sexual assault and for sexual assault survivors themselves, Rolling Stone needs to see consequences beyond a comprehensive review of its mistakes. This brings us back to Phi Psi’s lawsuit. The lawsuit is appropriate for what the fraternity went through as a result of this article — but it also appears to be one of the only ways left to hold this magazine accountable.

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Opinion

​JACKSON: The power of the University’s brand

By Lauren Jackson | April 8, 2015

When Stanton’s trusted brand of Humans of New York presented a story that encapsulated the American Dream and the current myth of social mobility almost too-perfectly, it created a firestorm of media attention and galvanized potential contributors. The story, like Stanton’s blog, was innocent and well meaning enough to make it immune to critical analysis. No one dared point out the aid allocation flaws in the logistics, even if they saw them. No one wanted to be the person to question why Stanton and Nadia Lopez, the school’s principal, weren’t sending kids on more cost-conscious trips to any of New York’s excellent universities — Columbia, New York University or Juilliard to name a few.

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Opinion

AKUNDA: Language, liberalism and marginalization

By Jacqueline Akunda | April 8, 2015

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.

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Opinion

​EVANS: Natural gas kills

By Will Evans | April 7, 2015

Until we begin to question those conventional structures that leave bodies bloodied and crumpled beneath ruined homes, local environments ravaged and watersheds spoiled, we will not progress as a species whose industrial nature will forever demand some form of efficient energy supply. It is up to our generation to facilitate the delivery of a new energy model that reconciles economic productivity with greater values of social and environmental justice.

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Opinion

​In favor of “Affordable Excellence”

By Managing Board | April 7, 2015

But the dramatic nature of these numbers obscures the immense benefit they create for families struggling to afford the cost of our University. In theory, the Affordable Excellence model — the name of this new plan — will reduce the net cost of a University degree for 70 percent of Virginian families. This high tuition, high aid model truly will help — and it will help such a large number of families that this is a model we should be happy about.

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Opinion

​PATEL: A bridge too far

By Sawan Patel | April 7, 2015

While every other dorm has its advantages, CDF has none. It doesn’t have the air conditioning or singles that Gooch-Dillard has nor the air conditioning and luxury of New Dorms. CDF also lacks the convenience of being a walkable distance to class, nor does it have a convenient bus stop. To further exacerbate the situation, there are no study areas or rooms made for working, which means I regularly do have to go to the library, which is a 25-minute hike if I am going to Clemons.

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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.