LATE IN May I was on a train through Holland on my way to Germany when I happened upon two other American students from a nearby Virginia college.
AH YES, it's the start of another year at the University of Virginia, complete with ISIS trouble, new furniture, popped collars, first years on Rugby Road and the requisite slew of racially motivated acts of violence and discrimination (not to mention the acts of violence and discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, which certainly also occur). In the past week, five acts of racially-based hate were reported.
THE BATTLE over the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court is heating up, as interest groups and politicians step up their rhetoric with hearings set to begin Sept.
TWO YEARS and counting after the start of the war in Iraq, it seems that partisans on both sides are more concerned with tarring their political opponents than proposing constructive solutions.
THE REST of the nation is complaining about gas prices these days, but paying close to three dollars a gallon at the pump is nothing compared to what most of us have been shelling out at the bookstore in the past week.
IT WAS during the winter of 2004 that I had the chance to leave a deputy secretary of state speechless.
AS THE old saying goes, the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Pretty much everything is taxed these days, starting from before you are even born with prenatal care, and believe it or not, the government has even found a way to get you after you die.
WHILE many debate the legitimacy of the rigid and expensive mandates the No Child Left Behind Act imposes on states, the extent to which the initiative is failing at the most basic level became transparent last Monday, when Connecticut sued the federal government over provisions of NCLB.
YOU HAVE to feel for military recruiters, stuck patrolling parking lots and shopping malls in hopes of attracting America's youth to a life of discipline and early-morning exercise.
CHRISTIAN televangelist Pat Robertson has created a name for himself in the past two decades with his radical and sometimes offensive viewpoints.
HARRY Truman once said, "You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog." Well, one thing is certain, the Managing Board's Aug.24 lead editorial "Debating the Center's Mistake," showed us how President Truman must have felt and tempted us to undertake a massive rescue mission at the local pound.
"SCREW ABSTINENCE." What might seem to be a sophomoric quip was actually the theme of a party hosted this summer by one of the nation's leading abortion-rights groups, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League -- an ironic statement from an organization whose self-purported mission is to "guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices"(emphasis mine). These aren't the only headlines NARAL has been making in recent weeks; the organization came out in full force against Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts, releasing an ad falsely linking him to a violent extremist anti-abortion group, which it ultimately had to take off the air.
IN RESPONSE to the U.S. News & World Report's college rankings monopoly, The Washington Monthly responded with their own definition of "best" college.
IN 1925, Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a state law prohibiting the teaching of any theory of biological existence (namely, evolution) other than creationism.
POLITICIANS and public figures are often prone to using historical information in an irresponsible manner, twisting the facts around as a means of garnering support for their personal agendas.
AS SOON as first years come to Grounds and move into their dorms, barely after they have had a chance to unpack and meet the stranger they will be living with for the next nine months, they are swept up into a host of activities, lectures and opportunities as Fall Orientation begins.
What's new? How can I help you? Nope, not the normal opening to a column in a newspaper. But this isn't a normal opinion column.
DIVERSITY is a word much discussed at the University as a new generation of earnest egalitarians strives to correct the racist and sexist injustices of our past.
"BE CAREFUL, and here's your BAC card." Congratulations. You've just been armed with what most first years take away from the University's alcohol orientation instruction.
WHEN THE class of 2008 moved into first-year dorms just a year ago, things at the University were different.
