Guest

Opinion

​ZHENG: A false accusation off-campus

By Victor Zheng | March 30, 2015

I was accused of felony abduction with intent to defile and felony rape of my ex-girlfriend. At that moment, I faced the harrowing possibility of two life sentences for a crime I did not commit. Once in jail, I learned that, in conjunction with the criminal charges, I was also put on an interim suspension and faced charges through the University Judiciary Committee, even though the University had contact neither with the complainant — who has never been enrolled at U.Va. — nor the Fairfax County police.

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Opinion

​GOULD: Evaluate the policy

By Meg Gould | March 30, 2015

As with any financial policy, this one is not foolproof, nor was the manner in which it was communicated. I personally think the specific proposal should have been publicly available earlier than it was. If students felt unheard, I take responsibility. All of us, myself included, should constantly evaluate and reevaluate how we communicate, but we should not let that obscure the benefits of the policy itself.

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Opinion

​UNITED FOR A LIVING WAGE: In solidarity with Black Dot protests

By Workers and Students United for a Living Wage | March 25, 2015

The devaluation of black life in Charlottesville is not limited to physical violence at the hands of authorities. It is also a daily fact of life for the disproportionately black and female low-wage labor force that keeps this University functioning. As activists across the nation insist, there is a clear intersection between the fight for living wages and the realization that black lives matter.

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Opinion

​MASON: Oregon is doing its job — can Congress?

By Jahvonta Mason | March 24, 2015

Under the guise of “protecting ballot integrity,” voter ID laws in these states are disenfranchising 11 percent of the eligible voting population. The U.S Congress needs to take immediate action, following the example of Oregon, to reverse this trend of voter disenfranchisement.

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Opinion

​EASTON: Empathy is critical in reacting to Johnson’s arrest

By Molly Easton | March 24, 2015

I heard multiple black students remark that when they saw Martese’s name become part of a hashtag, they first assumed he had been shot and killed by an officer. And yet some say this isn’t connected to a larger problem?

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Opinion

On Martese Johnson's arrest: letters from the community

March 23, 2015

A compilation of community members' guest pieces and letters-to-the-editor.

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Opinion

​BROWN: The new U.Va.: building a change coalition across race, class, gender and sexuality

By Jared Brown | March 23, 2015

At face value, these separate incidents may seem unrelated. Drawing the conclusion that oppression exists at the center of University life and culture may seem exaggerated. In other words, it may be difficult for some to relate the ways in which different expressions of oppression and exploitation, such as rape, labor abuse and racial brutality, are in fact interrelated.

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Opinion

BLACK DOT: What Martese's arrest means for us

By Black Dot | March 20, 2015

In solidarity, we are wrestling with the devastating reality that our blackness is persecuted, beaten and tortured. No longer will we go unheard. No longer will we accept complacency with the status quo. We will not allow for the University to continue to operate under the erroneous presumption that race is no longer an issue.

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Opinion

WAHEED: First World ideals, Third World expectations

By Noor Waheed | March 19, 2015

The University’s lack of concern for its international community’s unique circumstances resurfaced in many other forms. I personally had to deal with a good deal of grief at the hands of the health system. Not all countries use health insurance to get treatment, and I think the University did an inadequate job informing students from foreign countries about exactly what our insurance is, what benefits it affords us, and how it works in the context of Medicare.

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Opinion

​ROY: Internationalism is a spectrum

By Nayantara Roy | March 19, 2015

More students need to make efforts to bridge the gaps between communities of nationalities or cultural groups to increase dialogue and inclusivity on Grounds. In order to begin communicating across groups openly, the first step is understanding more about the international population.

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Opinion

​GALARRETA: An endless inquiry into identity

By Diana Galarreta | March 19, 2015

I think my identity enquiry will be endless. I hope both uncomfortable and kind questions about my role as an international scholar and teacher in American institutions keep awaking my teaching and research reflections, stimulating dialogue between faculty, students and the community while touching people’s minds and spirits.

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Opinion

​SACHS: Israel isn’t an apartheid state

By Jennifer Sachs | March 19, 2015

SPJP, by going as far as calling Israel an apartheid state, is supporting a manipulation of truth, weakening the entire legitimacy of its cause and deflecting attention away from the true problems in this highly nuanced Israeli-Palestinian issue. This cause instead appeals to the emotions of the issue rather than the facts and attacks the legitimacy of Israel as a state.

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Opinion

WELLS: A culture of excess

By Stephen Wells | March 18, 2015

So the question becomes: Why isn’t the University doing more to address the substance abuse culture that exists here (as it does at most every college and university)? Are we still uncomfortable as a society to be open about it? Are we being haunted by a stigma that one would hope society has moved beyond?

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Opinion

PERLA: The history behind University living wage activism

By James Perla | March 4, 2015

In the 1960s students went as far as Waynesboro to protest a General Electric Factory over wages and employee benefits. During Vietnam War protests in the 1970s, University students stormed the Lawn, occupied buildings and made demands from the administration, among them the right for University employees to strike and bargain collectively. And now in the context of such incendiary events last semester over hate crimes and rape, the Living Wage Campaign is not simply making noise to shout.

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Opinion

HINE: Vote “no” on Referenda Two and Three

By Nicholas Hine | February 20, 2015

We all have an interest in ensuring ambiguous language stays out of the governing documents of our University’s Honor Committee. We would be poor stewards of the system if we left the Committee with crucial questions over the interpretation of its constitution, and it would be irresponsible to vote for an amendment with unclear implications for honor at our University.

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Opinion

MARTIN: Honor referendum three is a step backward

By Joe Martin | February 19, 2015

I will vote no for the third referendum for the above reasons, and because I think there is much more progress the Committee can make next year without spending the majority of their time considering a multiple sanction system. After nearly a year on the Committee, I believe we can improve the Informed Retraction.

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Opinion

LANIUS AND DOWNES: Honor referenda aren’t about self-governance

By W. Andrew Lanius and Colin M. Downes | February 18, 2015

The overall effect of the campaign’s referenda would be to fabricate a mandate for abolition of the single sanction in advance, without having a concrete policy on the table. That would wait until next year, when the proposal would come with both the imprimatur of the Honor Committee and the weight of this year’s referendum behind it.

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Opinion

RIPLEY: Sex after trauma

By Katherine Ripley | February 12, 2015

When sex is difficult because of traumas or fears, it’s probably best to do it with someone you know you can really trust. But I didn’t go that route because I wanted to return to a sense of normalcy. Taking a guy home from the party because I wanted to was part of my normal.

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Opinion

SANABIA: Grindr, gay men and the University

By Andre Sanabia | February 12, 2015

Except for those staunchly opposed to hook-up culture, Grindr has touched almost every gay man’s life at some point. It can be difficult to spontaneously meet another gay man within the same social situations that our fellow hetero Hoos meet each other. Unlike its Tinder counterpart, Grindr gives you options as to why you are on it.

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Opinion

RUIZ: Choose love over hooking up

By Joy Ruiz | February 12, 2015

Hooking up feels good, it’s exciting, it’s fun — of course it makes you feel happy. But is this a sort of happiness that can be maintained? Does it satisfy?