Opinion

Opinion

GORMAN: No scarlet letter for sexual assault

By Ryan Gorman | February 26, 2015

If HB 1888 were to pass, the wrongly accused would fall victim to a grave violation of their personal liberty. Without any due process of law, the accused would potentially be discriminated against by universities — many of which require a transcript to enroll — and by potential employers, who often look at students’ transcripts to view their academic virtues. Branding these students with the “scarlet letter” of sexual assault would entrap them in the cruel vice of a corrupt and unjust system, revoking their natural right to social mobility.

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Opinion

​EDEL: Idris Elba for Bond — with reservations

By Brennan Edel | February 26, 2015

Casting the popular and talented Elba would actually be a monumental inconsistency. The other Bond actors were relative nobodies when they took the role or dropped out of the public eye once they left it, mostly because they weren’t any good in the first place.

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Opinion

FOGEL: Legalize sports betting

By Jared Fogel | February 26, 2015

The issues with sports gambling are evident — it can ruin people’s lives — but on the other hand, so do casinos, state lotteries and horse racing. There are significant moral qualms surrounding both sports gambling and other forms of gambling such as state lotteries; however, these moral issues are already intertwined in our society and legalizing sports betting would merely help create organization, transparency and credibility in an otherwise shady process.

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Opinion

LGBTQ individuals deserve anti-discrimination legislation

By Managing Board | February 25, 2015

It is obvious the problem of workplace discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community persists. With no current national law in place to mitigate this discrimination — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 died in Congress — addressing this issue is left to the states. SB 785 would address this problem, solidifying in law the state’s stance on issues of discrimination.

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Opinion

JACKSON: Language about sexual assault matters

By Lauren Jackson | February 25, 2015

The word “defile” appeared in Virginia legislation for the first time in 1950 with the writing of Virginia Code § 18.2-48, titled “Abduction. . . for immoral purpose.” In the law today, the word defile officially means to “corrupt the integrity of a thing” — applying to both trampled flags or to sexually assaulted people.

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Opinion

ZIFF: What we mean by “success”

By Tamar Ziff | February 25, 2015

The line between one’s professional and personal life is becoming ever finer. About one-fifth of Americans report working from home at least once a week, and that number is projected to rise. In the near future, many more Americans will be involved in so-called “flexible work” programs, where they will do what they do from a home office.

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Opinion

SPINKS: Feminism is more than leaning in

By Ashley Spinks | February 25, 2015

Women should have the ability to make career moves that they want or deserve — but not the obligation to do so. The problem with accusing Williams of suffering from "imposter syndrome" is it assumes that, as a woman, Williams is simply unaware of her own talents. This kind of woman-on-woman criticism is exactly what hurts the feminist movement, rather than propelling it forward.

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Opinion

WALLS: Support a living wage at U.Va

By Nora Walls | February 25, 2015

Worker involvement is crucial in a campaign focused on worker treatment and wages. The employees deserve to speak for themselves, rather than having students speak on their behalf. Still, it makes sense that students would be more willing and able to participate.

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Opinion

OLSON: Don’t watch Daesh’s videos

By Jake Olson | February 24, 2015

Any decision to view the murder of al-Kasasbeh that is rooted in this is simply consuming terrorist propaganda for cheap thrills while helping Daesh garner the attention they crave from their depravity. Others choose to watch the video to personally experience the atrocities Daesh commits and confirm they are a twisted, evil and morally corrupt organization. However, it shouldn’t take the graphic death of al-Kasasbeh to convince us Daesh is a group of deplorable murderers.

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Opinion

Fully honoring those who built the University

By Managing Board | February 24, 2015

Jefferson, Madison and Monroe have been commemorated around our school and in world history over and over again — their stories require little further acknowledgment. But Thrimston Hern’s story is not commemorated in any physical way at the University. He and his peers are deserving of the same recognition as these three Founding Fathers in the creation of our school.

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Opinion

ALJASSAR: There’s nothing wrong with a black Bond

By Nazar Aljassar | February 24, 2015

I am skeptical about this concern with finding an actor who most closely matches Bond’s physical characteristics as they are in Fleming’s novels. The pretense of preserving the accuracy of Fleming’s novels belies the racism that lies at the center of the objections to Elba’s candidacy for the role of Bond.

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Opinion

PATEL: Changing the SIS-tem

By Sawan Patel | February 24, 2015

Self-adjusting class sizes would improve efficiency by limiting the use of huge lecture halls that are half full or small classrooms that can barely fit the amount of people enrolled. Such a robust system would have drawbacks because of uncertainty about distance between classes. This is because classrooms would not be set while people were making their rankings, only after SIS had determined preliminary schedules.

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Opinion

​Guns won’t stop rape on campus

By Managing Board | February 23, 2015

Perhaps the most obvious flaw in the gun lobby’s argument is that allowing campus carry would not exclusively put guns in the hands of potential victims — it would also allow assaulters to legally carry guns on campus. Potential rapists would now have a new tool in their arsenal with which to attack.

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Opinion

DOYLE: Why vigils work against positive change

By Bobby Doyle | February 23, 2015

This is because vigils are an inherently passive event. They attempt to patch up the immediate pain instead of looking to address the habitual source of it. Yet while vigils are passive, they are the most active part a majority of students take in addressing tragedies on Grounds. This gives vigils a strong ability to shape the views of students.

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Opinion

BROOM: Improving election coverage

By Christopher Broom | February 23, 2015

The distinction between the print and digital formats was really highlighted with this issue. The print issue was easily navigated and the graphics showing how various parts of student government function were interesting. The problem I ran into is that I couldn’t locate most of them online.

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Opinion

MENNINGER: Re-thinking hook-up culture

By Nate Menninger | February 23, 2015

But what makes this hook-up model the correct model? Is it merely personal opinion? Isn’t it possible your monogamous favoritism is based off societal pressures which have convinced you marital monogamy is the only truly acceptable form of adult relationship? If we look at the world, out of over 1,000 societies 186 are monogamous and 453 have occasional polygyny (with others having more frequent polygyny or polyandry).

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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

Virginia needs better ethics laws

By Managing Board | February 20, 2015

Currently, the State Integrity Investigation ranks Virginia 47th among 50 states in its “Corruption Risk Report Card,” with an overall grade of “F.” Last year’s ethics reforms were largely unimpressive, seemingly little more than a gesture.

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Opinion

EDEL: Misunderstanding Modi

By Brennan Edel | February 20, 2015

I find Doyle’s portrayal of Modi as a ruthless, power-hungry fascist dictator — as evidenced by Doyle’s numerous references to fascism and his portentous warning that a “nationalistic man leading the Indian state should be very scary to us all” — decidedly exaggerated and unfounded.

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Opinion

HARRINGTON: Rethinking “slacktivism”

By Elaine Harrington | February 20, 2015

The often-competing ideals of student self-governance and tradition at the University allow for true activism, but at the expense of expediency. This creates a gap in student support of causes which so-called “slacktivism” fills nicely.