Opinion

Opinion

The data deluge

By Managing Board | March 25, 2013

Ever since the Sloan Digital Sky Survey began amassing astronomical data in 2000 and gathered more data in its first weeks than had been collected in the history of astronomy, the term “big data” began its ascendancy. In many academic circles the possibilities big data offers seem brighter than the stars the Sloan telescope observes. If one were to tally how many times people reference “big data” in current higher-education discourse — in publications, at board meetings, by the coffee machine in the faculty lounge — that collection would itself constitute a data set of dizzying size.

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Opinion

The cat’s meow

By Managing Board | March 24, 2013

The University’s use of live cats to train graduate physicians on how to insert breathing tubes into critically ill newborns has drawn ire from animal-rights groups around the country. But the Medical Center last week quietly abandoned the practice.

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Opinion

Where the fault lies

By Ashley Spinks | March 24, 2013

While writing my column this week I struggled to find the right words to articulate what I was feeling, which was offended, shocked and saddened. This week, two football players from the athletically prominent Steubenville High School were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl. The arguments against rape and sexual assault don’t need to be made — most everyone realizes that both are heinous and unacceptable crimes. If this is true, though, how can we explain the disappointing and skewed news coverage of the trial? The Steubenville controversy disturbs me because it points to the larger societal problem of perpetuated rape culture. Society as a whole needs to work on changing attitudes towards rape and its victims.

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Opinion

Probing the Profs

By Ashley Stevenson | March 24, 2013

Like plant stems eagerly soaking up water, we absorb their wisdom every day. Like young children to their mothers, we listen with rapt — or not so rapt — attention to the lectures that may determine our futures.

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Opinion

The politics of research

By Managing Board | March 21, 2013

Why single out political science? Coburn’s amendment left funding for other social sciences, such as sociology or anthropology, untouched. The tremendous irony of the matter is that Coburn tacked his measure on a bill that attempted to mitigate the damage of sequestration cuts, which resulted from egregious political deadlock and negligence of the public good. Considering the Capitol’s recent dysfunction, maybe we should be studying political science more, not less.

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Opinion

Words rarely spoken

By Managing Board | March 20, 2013

The news might seem minor: it’s unlikely that more than a handful of students from each school will take advantage of this opportunity. But judging from the information the University has released so far—the two schools are still finalizing the program’s details—the language-class exchange is an excellent example of how universities should approach three important areas: rare language education, partnerships with other schools, and technology as a means of enhancing learning.

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Opinion

Other voices, other people

By Russell Bogue | March 20, 2013

One afternoon, weary from construction and feeling baked in the sun, our team decided to traipse down the river to cool off. We had been there for barely two minutes before we noticed thick smoke billowing from the fields across the river: our neighbors, it appeared, had decided to clear their land by burning it. It did not take long for the strong wind to carry the smoke across the field to where we were, deteriorating the air quality to a point where we had to flee the falling ashes into a nearby bamboo forest. All afternoon the fire burned, keeping us from finishing the tasks we had set for ourselves and stranding us farther away from the farm. We later learned that the fire had been started by fishermen who wanted to clear a path to the river.

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Opinion

Word of the wise

By Andrew Kouri | March 20, 2013

Allow me to divulge a secret about my past three spring breaks. I have not been going to crazy college island parties in the Caribbean as I may claim to friends. Instead, I have been sneaking down to Florida to spend a few days with my grandparents.

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Opinion

In with the old

By Forrest Brown | March 20, 2013

Dragas’ term as rector ends this June. She has made it clear that she is unwilling to step away from a university that largely dislikes her. But what Dragas must realize is that she cannot continue to act as if she has absolute power, like she did last summer, and expect positive outcomes. Dragas is both unwilling to admit she lost the battle of wills last summer and unable to shelve her pride and trust the woman who defeated her. But to salvage her legacy, she must do both.

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Opinion

On the razor’s edge

By Managing Board | March 20, 2013

If you were to camp out by Minor Hall, a few times a semester you would see professors and students file in for lectures on liberal arts and the future of the university. Each time the group would look much the same: literary critics and classicists, historians and philosophers, eager students in square-rimmed glasses. Would they gather so frequently to discuss the state of higher education if there weren’t a danger that their world could collapse?

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Opinion

Turning the wrong page

By Fariha Kabir | March 19, 2013

Approximately 75 percent of public universities grant their librarians faculty status, according to a 2008 study by a scholar at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2009 Wake Forest University transitioned librarians from staff to faculty. The University, however, has chosen to move in the opposite direction. In this academic climate, this decision seems out of place.

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Opinion

A 'Path' worth exploring

By Sam Novack | March 19, 2013

The Path to Prosperity walks a difficult line between idealism and realism, but in all fairness, there is no easy path.

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Opinion

Work hard, work hard

By Adam Beirne | March 18, 2013

The University of Virginia is the number-one party school in the country, according to a ranking that Playboy Magazine published in September 2012. But regardless of who published it, Playboy was just confirming what we already knew, right? I am not so sure.

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Opinion

Toward a medicine that cares

By George Knaysi | March 18, 2013

Human understanding of neuroscience has grown exponentially in the past few decades, particularly when it comes to the connection between our emotions and physical health. Such findings have widespread applications, especially in the field of medicine. Chronically negative emotions slow patient recovery from illness, make us susceptible to new diseases and even shorter our life span.

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Opinion

The past isn’t dead

By Managing Board | March 18, 2013

Like adults speaking with hushed voices at the dinner table, some University leaders have moved to bar what they euphemistically call “the summer’s unpleasantness” — the Board of Visitors’ attempted ouster of University President Teresa Sullivan — from polite conversation.

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Opinion

Letting your own flag fly

By Walter Keady | March 18, 2013

Recently, I walked past a gathering of hundreds of motorcyclists with American flags in Washington, D.C.

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Opinion

Trust and tragedy

By Jess Hrebinka | March 18, 2013

Crime in Charlottesville should serve to remind us that the community we live in is not always a safe one.

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Opinion

The catch-22 of rapid reporting

By Ashley Stevenson | March 18, 2013

Informed retraction. Wait, I’m not talking about the honor system. Surprised? I know; it’s a phrase you’re tired of hearing.

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Opinion

Unfit to outfit

By Ashley Spinks | March 18, 2013

College students are often looking to make a statement. Sometimes, such statements are political and manifest themselves through a boycott of a company or product.

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Opinion

Not a firing range

By Managing Board | March 17, 2013

Gun violence in Charlottesville is not a new phenomenon. If shootings occur far enough from the University’s bubble, students may never hear about them.