WITH THE summer well under way, I can't help but think back to the summer before my first year. Amid all the nervousness and excitement a few things get lost, namely students' volunteer efforts.
The Supreme Court is in the midst of one of the hottest environmental debates now ongoing -- and sadly, it's only going to get hotter.
UNIVERSITY President John T. Casteen, III is upset about the Living Wage Campaign, and thinks he can lie his way out of the issue. That conduct isn't relevant to the Campaign except inasmuch as it has to do with securing the future of the University and its most neglected members, as numerous economic studies have shown a "living wage" would (theoretical economic objections notwithstanding). But a university president undermines his own position as an educator when his example teaches that deception and slander are okay as long as they serve your self-interest. That is the lesson of his recent open letter in the Alumni Association's University of Virginia Magazine, where he makes so many untrue claims that there's simply not space to fully go into them here.
FEW WORDS in poltics today are bandied about with less meaning than "fiscal responsibility." The catchphrase has been used to justify just about everything from deficit spending to drastic cuts in social services.
This past week the United States Senate came within one vote of approving the 28 amendment to the Constitution and passing it along for state ratification.
ON SEPT. 20, 2001 President Bush declared, "Afghanistan's people have been brutalized -- many are starving and many have fled.
BECAUSE of the great promise of equal opportunity, immigrants have flooded our shores and borders ever since the ink dried on the Constitution.
WHEN IT comes to scholarships, all the recent buzz has been about the need-based AccessUVA program.
PERHAPS no force in recent history has been as revolutionary as the Internet. From "Snakes on a Plane" to Chuck Norris, we can thank the Internet for many of the redeeming aspects of our culture.
Imagine a supermarket where every customer pays a different price for food. Customers who are better cooks pay less than customers who are lousy ones, and customers who earn more pay more than customers who earn less.
EDMUND Burke once commented, "The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. " Instead of worrying about the pressing issues of the state, the Virginia General Assembly wiled away the hours of session talking about the all- important marriage amendment referendum being put on the ballot in the fall.
COLUMNISTS have a tendency to end up looking like weathermen when they make big predictions: caught in the rain without an umbrella.
THE IDEA of free speech and expression is one of the most cherished and controversial freedoms we share as Americans.
TWO contradicting and intriguing phenomena came to my attention last week. The first was the dedication of a monument to the First Amendment on the Downtown Mall.
A ROOM full of estrogen. Political estrogen. Sounds like a good time, right? This was the case last week at a book discussion and signing sponsored by the Center for Politics' 2006 National Symposium Series on Women and Politics.
ONE OF the greatest benefits of attending a large university is the diversity of clubs and organizations, as well as the relative ease of creating new ones.
BEFORE last week I was a mere sympathizer of the Living Wage Campaign -- supportive but silent. Only after attending the rallies and camping outside Madison Hall did I realize the level of organization and intellect of the campaign's leaders.
WITH GAS prices soaring over three dollars gallon, the headlines "pain at the pump" have been broadcasted ad nauseam and Democrats have placed the blame for the high prices squarely on the shoulders of President Bush and former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond (who just received a $400 million retirement package). What is lacking is recognition of the complexity of the current conditions and the many sources of the conundrum, including Democrats and extreme environmentalists.
THE COLUMBINE tragedy mayseem like the distant past to many University students, but it appears some high school students have used it as inspiration to vent their own frustrations.
LAST WEEK, a student activist group made a commendable effort to address an important problem at the University.
