SPILLING INK about abortion should come easy to me. I've taken a philosophy class inbioethics, stayed abreast of the political developments within the life debate and have always cared passionately about the issue.
"I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Arab, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me." This quote is by Muhammad Ali, and obviously, I've replaced the word Black with Arab.
AS I SLIPPED my class ring on the ring finger of my right hand at the Ring Ceremony a few weeks ago, my mind wandered to that other major commitment affirmed with rings: marriage.
WHEN A discussion is entitled "Abortion: A Woman's Perspective," many would expect a talk highlighting both sides of the abortion debate to clarify a "woman's perspective." But because Hoos for Life hosted last Wednesday's discussion on this topic it was, as expected?, biased. The discussion, which featured a post-abortive woman and a practicing physician, seemed to focus on the question: "Is abortion good for women?" The flaw in choosing this focus for the discussion is that not many individuals, even abortion proponents, actually believe abortion is "good." Until pro-lifers realize the issue of abortion is a matter of choice and not a matter of good and evil, these discussions will only continue to polarize both sides of the debate. The discussion opened with a woman describing her personal experience with abortion, which she described as the "murder of [her] own baby." She had been raped while engaged to her current husband and chose to abort the pregnancy because of the unknown paternity of her child.
A STRING of off-Grounds robberies and other crimes in recent weeks prompted a student safety forum last Tuesday, where University and Charlottesville police officers addressed the crowd about the dangers that students face and what they could do to minimize the risks.
IN THE run up to last week's football game against Wake Forest, it was hard to miss the pervasive anti-"not gay" chant campaign.
AT THE University of Virginia, students and faculty have a unique appreciation and fondness of what it means to be American.
RECENTLY the Office of Admissions launched a new program to attract more low-income students to the University.
Thousands of female college students have been victims of sexual assault. According to a study by the U.S.
TRAFFIC in Charlottesville is excruciating. What's worse, these vehicular crowds affect more people than just their fellow motorists.
AS ELEMENTARY school students, many of us sang the song "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." Today, however, few among us can be found singing the praises of our bus system.
WHILE OPINION polls have consistently shown most Americans are in favor of maintaining current marriage laws, two-thirds of high school seniors and a majority of those in their twenties favor gay marriage.
RIGHT NOW, most first-years have just settled into the University. They've figured out which dining halls they like, which activities they think they'll stick with, what classes they want to take next year and -- oh yeah -- where they want to live.
THE REFRAIN of President Bush is that the United States does not torture. Sadly, he is lying. According to Human Rights First, a non-partisan human rights advocacy group, at least eight people in American custody have actually been killed during interrogations.
"Explain why George Bush is a war criminal," read an essay question in a criminology class at the University of Northern Colorado.
IT'S 4:15 p.m. I stand amazed at the doorstep of my friend Karl's room as I survey the Lawn teeming with hundreds of kids in their adorable costumes, tailing one another in an interminable line to receive pounds of sweet love.
SATURDAY, the University hosted the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and a crowd of more than 60,000 for a football game that came complete with pre-game pyrotechnics, two marching band performances and, yet again, late game heroics by the Cavaliers.
YOU WOULD think that people supposedly dedicated to honor and integrity would be more allergic to chronic deception.
THEY ARE as much a part of University culture as Greek organizations, libraries and popped collars: coffee, caffeinated beverages and energy drinks.
A WOMAN may be the next president of the United States? For a growing part of the world, news of this possibility will elicit little more than a collective, "So what?" Last week, Argentina elected its first ever democratically elected woman president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
