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Opinion


Opinion

WERTMAN: Vote Obenshain for attorney general

With two college-aged kids, Mark Obenshain understands the needs of college students in today’s ever-changing society. He’s worked hard to make their lives safer and will continue to do so once elected as Virginia’s next attorney general.


Opinion

BERGER: A bull market

Rob Dickens and business partner Brad Scudder, the creators of the Great Bull Run, seem to not understand the religious context of San Fermin and have instead created a new, Americanized version of the running of the bulls.


Opinion

ALJASSAR: End legacy preferences in University admissions

It is especially unacceptable for a school that prides itself on the liberal philosophies of Thomas Jefferson to have a legacy admissions policy. The Jeffersonian ideal of the “natural aristocracy” rooted in “virtue and talents” lies in direct opposition to the University’s practice of conferring privileges upon legacy applicants.


Opinion

FOGEL: In it to spend it

According to the Washington Post, McAuliffe is outspending Cuccinelli on TV ads by almost double. Given that the majority of McAuliffe’s ads seek to expose Cuccinelli’s faults and given that McAuliffe is currently leading in the most recent polls, I’d say there’s a relatively strong correlation between hurtful ads and candidate success.


Opinion

By the numbers

4: Number of deans who are stepping down at the end of the academic year (Meredith Woo of the College, Harry Harding of the Batten School, Kim Tanzer of the Architecture School and Steven DeKosky of the Medical School)


Opinion

If you build it, will they come?

So CSU has devised a plan: to build an on-campus football stadium that will lure better athletes, increase sports revenue and attract more out-of-state students. Or so administrators hope. This plan seems unconventional. But it is in line with a cynical philosophy that too many mid-tier schools have bought into: that the pathway up the U.S. News & World report rankings consists of fancy buildings and bigger stadiums.


Opinion

CONNOLLY: Separate but legal

I would argue that if a state were to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples that are equivalent in everything but name to straight marriage, this would be constitutional, and would not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.


Opinion

BOGUE: Credit where credit is due

Do we risk overwhelming students who come in with many AP credits and find themselves struggling in higher-level classes? Yes, of course we do. But that is a problem that can be remedied with higher standards for scoring on the AP tests. Perhaps a “5” should be more difficult to attain, or perhaps credit should only be granted for students who receive this top score. If the problem is lax standards, then the solution is to tighten those standards, not eliminate AP credit altogether.


Opinion

WHISNANT: Public support

With real estate scarce in downtown Charlottesville, developers hope that by accessing the public housing units they will be able to demolish them and build condominiums and apartment complexes for wealthier tenants. This will result in higher profits for landlords, but it will come at the expense of displacing of existing public housing residents no longer able to afford their rent.


Humor

HUMOR: Fourth-year trustees begin ‘one-fifth compromise’ initiative

“My Wednesdays are basically a wash ‘cause I have to go out Tuesdays in order to handle all this stress,” fourth-year psychology major Ryan Molhauen pointed out. “And don’t even get me started on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays,” he added. “ I can’t get anything done four out of the seven days of the week because I have so much stress. Something is wrong here.”


Opinion

At a loss

Brown’s life differed from the lives that many students lead. He had a daughter, and had to contend with all the responsibility that comes with being a parent and holding down a job. But in other ways he was a peer as much as Schulman, Goldsmith or Gilliam was. He was a happy 22-year-old who drew smiley faces on Sbarro pizza boxes. He was like us. Our willingness to see Brown as someone alien, someone detached from our concerns, points to a failure of imagination.


Opinion

YAHANDA: Don't stop believing

Competent adults are free to make autonomous medical decisions regardless of how they justify those choices. But when children are concerned, the distinction between paternalism and autonomy becomes less clear.


Opinion

HAYS: Kick this can to the curb

So what is The Can Kicks Back? It’s an astroturf (fake grassroots) organization with close ties to an outfit called Fix The Debt. And what’s Fix The Debt? Glad you asked. It’s the pet project of a Wall Street billionaire named Pete Peterson, who’s spent recent decades pushing for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Another Peterson-funded group is called “Up To Us.” It has similar goals — and a branch at U.Va.


Opinion

A Halloween history lesson

The best colleges strive to prepare students to function in a pluralistic society, in which they will work and interact with people who are different from them. So censuring racist costumes is consistent with a college’s aim of preparing students for an increasingly globalized and multicultural world.


Opinion

KNAYSI: Work smart, play smart

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention cites several of the biggest mental health and safety challenges facing college students on a daily basis. These include “social and sexual pressures, the temptation of readily available alcohol [and] drugs,” as well as stress from managing classes, friends, athletics and leadership positions. “Work hard, play hard” as a college lifestyle not only fails to effectively combat these issues but also usually worsens them.


Opinion

BERNSTEIN: Pick one of the above

For the first time in the paper’s history, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has opted not to endorse a candidate in Virginia’s gubernatorial election. Not only is this a cop-out on the part of the paper’s editorial board, but the paper’s refusal to take a position on whom to vote for is irresponsible to its readers.

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