Op-Eds
dmv
You want better drivers? Test them
Driver’s licenses should have to be renewed every few years. The test should be repeated to ensure a driver is still safe to be on the road. Read More
Korea
New Perspective: My study abroad experience during the Korean summer program
The experience of studying in a different country and culture than your own cannot be overemphasized. As someone who rarely leaves Monroe County, let alone the state of New York, the opportunity to see another side of the world was both exhilarating and terrifying. Though I had many learning experiences during my month abroad in […]
hook up
The problem with hook-up culture
Modern society is plagued with an unnatural and confusing paradigm in romantic relationships: hook-up culture. This new relationship status is prevalent from high schools to office buildings, but is especially popular among university students. Replacing a traditional intimate relationship with one of the various forms a hook-up relationship may take has become the norm, and […]
cancel culture
Cancel culture needs to be reconsidered
In the current era of activism and awareness, we have a predilection for deciding that someone’s works are no longer valuable immediately after discovering some questionable actions. While boycotting artists, comedians, and actors after particularly reprehensible actions — Bill Cosby comes to mind — is sometimes valid, doing so without thought is not beneficial and […]
cultural relativism
Cultural relativism does not mean blind acceptance
Cultural relativism is the concept that no culture should be ranked or compared to another. Not only is cultural relativism a solid term to flex in intellectual conversation with other students, it is a highly contested concept in social, international, and interpersonal politics today. Respecting the ideas and values of cultures that differ from our […]
Diversity
Identity clubs and commitment to diversity
There are many student organizations on campus based on culture or identity like the Korean American Students’ Association, Spanish and Latino Students’ Association, Pan-African Students Association, Pride Network, and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. The members of each group usually reflect the name of the group or what the group’s mission is to serve. Do […]
classes
Not all classes are created equal
First-semester first-years are restricted in the amount of credits they can take, presumably in some sort of effort to prevent burnout. But a 16 credit schedule for a STEM major can look significantly more packed than one for a humanities or social science major. Between all the labs, lab lectures, recitations, and workshops, there seems […]
argument
I hate chocolate ice cream.
And you should tell me why I’m wrong. There is nothing more satisfying than to hear the words “I was wrong” after a long verbal sparring match against someone with whom you viscerally disagree. The value of these words comes almost entirely from their rarity. How often do you really win an argument? Maybe you’re […]
drinking
Dry frats: student responses
Colleges and universities nationwide have faced controversy surrounding fraternities and sororities for years. Drinking and hazing scandals aside, some take issue with the culture that surrounds these organizations. Recently, there has been a “crackdown” (depending on who’s asked) by national fraternities to their chapters regarding alcohol and hazing for greek life organizations. Newly created policies […]
Op-Eds
Mt. Hope cemetery review
We are outnumbered by the dead. In Mt. Hope Cemetery alone there are more dead people than living ones in the city of Rochester. Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and our city’s namesake Nathaniel Rochester are among the 350,000 interred in this cemetery. (The 2017 census puts Rochester’s living population at roughly 208,000). A historic […]
