Opinion

Opinion

A question of precedent

By Russell Bogue | March 27, 2013

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two cases pertaining to the illegality of same-sex marriage in the United States. On Tuesday and Wednesday, supporters and critics of gay marriage alike gathered together in person and on social media sites to voice their opinions on the issue of gay marriage. Red equal signs proliferated on Facebook as many U.Va. students expressed solidarity with the rights of same-sex couples. However, the expressions of disapproval and support concealed the fact that the very organ of government that should hold and resolve the debate over same-sex marriage is not the Supreme Court. Whether you long for the day when gay couples can marry or you shudder at the thought, the collective resolution of the American people should not come through the institution of the courts.

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Opinion

Justice from the justices

By Forrest Brown | March 27, 2013

On a purely legal level, there is not a single compelling reason to uphold either Prop 8 or DOMA. A common argument against same-sex marriage is that it provides a different set of rules for a select population. But any analysis of this claim shows it to be not only misleading but antithetical to the truth.

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Opinion

Grad daze

By Managing Board | March 26, 2013

GradDays seeks to accomplish several important aims. The initiative provides support for minority graduate students; it gives graduate students opportunities to socialize with peers in other departments; and, in a hostile academic climate, it offers workshops and panels that provide professional-development tips.

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Opinion

The song of the dodo

By Alex Yahanda | March 26, 2013

There will surely be much debate about which animals deserve to be recreated. Scientists have compiled a list of around 24 animals that they hope to one day bring back. Most of those are species of birds that humans overhunted. Scientists selected some of target animals, however, because they are very recognizable. Wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers are among scientists’ top priorities. What, then, determines whether a particular species will be resurrected? Although I love the idea of seeing a saber-toothed tiger in the flesh, it makes sense to initially focus on bringing back species that were the most directly eliminated by human activity. Humans, for instance, hunted the dodo bird to extinction and were thus the primary reason it vanished. The same cannot be said for the saber-toothed tiger, which is believed to have died out as a result of a climate change. Species that humans needlessly destroyed should be given priority when it comes to recreation.

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Opinion

Safety first

By Sam Novack | March 26, 2013

Opponents of the “be careful” message will say that women should be able to walk home alone at night without fear of being raped or assaulted, that it is the assaulters — statistically mostly men — who are entirely at fault. I could not agree more. But I still cannot condone people putting themselves in risky situations, based simply on the logic that they should be able to.

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Opinion

A major shift

By Fariha Kabir | March 26, 2013

For me, the fall semester will be bittersweet: my next-to-last set of courses. As I complete my foreign affairs major, I find myself having a harder time selecting classes. The politics department has a number of fantastic classes offered on the Middle East, Europe, East Asia and Latin America. Yet middle and south Asia remain rather absent beyond perhaps one, at most two, courses being offered per year. While regions such as the Middle East receive a lot of media attention, a lack of focus on nearby regions such as the Indian subcontinent presents an incomplete picture of global relations and politics. India is slowly becoming more involved in the global community and has been gaining prominence as an economic force. Countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, which are also gaining in international importance, are underrepresented in courses as well. While these countries may not have as large a role in world politics as many nations, they are still interesting to study.

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Opinion

Get off the curb

By Andrea N. Willis | March 26, 2013

Two years ago, my roommate and I decided a street curb is one of the worst places you can be caught sitting. During my second year, I jokingly referred to our room as “the workshop” because we were two overly imaginative 19-year-olds who spent our free time formulating crazy business plans in the hopes of getting rich, quitting school and escaping our accounting homework. Currently, as two graduating fourth years, my roommate and I obviously didn’t quit school to start a business, but there is a principle we created during the year that still motivates us: when opportunity knocks, don’t be a curb-sitter.

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Opinion

Amplifying a disaster

By Walter Keady | March 25, 2013

In light of the 10-year anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, proponents of “humanitarian intervention” by the United States in the Syrian civil war should think long and hard before encouraging the U.S. to step in.

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Opinion

Between schools

By George Knaysi | March 25, 2013

The value of interdisciplinary majors can be difficult to explain, and students and parents are often skeptical. Is it a real degree? Will it translate to a job? Though a hostile job climate might justify such concerns, interdisciplinary majors prepare students to tackle the challenges of an increasingly interconnected world.

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Opinion

Making time for yourself

By Nabilah Jiwani | March 25, 2013

As I walked down the aisles of CIO offerings, I started to think “Frisbee could be fun! The new reinvented ‘college’ me is super interested in recycling; but, I also should have something in student government. I mean, I never got the chance to be student body president in high school. It’s finally my chance to show what I’ve got.”

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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?