Op-Eds
Op-Eds
Legalize it, once and for all.
Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is one of the most widely used drugs in America. Its legalization movement has spread rapidly across America as people are starting to see the benefits of the plant. Not only are people seeing the pros of medical marijuana, but they are also beginning to separate fact from fiction when […]
Op-Eds
Bundy Ranch not Ruby Ridge
Rancher Cliven Bundy’s decades-long fight with the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been garnering a lot of attention in recent weeks due to the recent involvement of militia groups who took up arms against the federal government earlier this month. The situation is fairly simple: Bundy owes the government grazing fees, but doesn’t […]
Op-Eds
You can’t rebuild Rochester with fairness
What do University of Rochester President Joel Seligman, RIT President Bill Destler, Wegmans CEO Danny Wegman, and Mayor Lovely Warren all have in common? From the looks of their recent political excursions, a divine mandate to lobby the state government. In early March, a delegation of political, business, and education leaders made its annual march […]
Op-Eds
What’s right with UR
Last week, I discussed various problems that should be fixed at UR. Now I’d like to discuss the best parts of the school. In some ways, this is the harder piece to write – it can be trickier to express gratitude and wonder than to complain. The University is a Tier 1 research institution, churning […]
Op-Eds
Death of the vegetarian lifestyle
Seven years ago, I woke up one morning and decided to become a vegetarian cold turkey. In my then-crazed obsession with the Beatles, I thought emulating Paul McCartney’s ways was a good enough reason to convert. Little did I know that switching to vegetarianism would be a decision I would stick to long-term. Since I […]
Op-Eds
Make meliora a reality: what’s wrong with UR
I love this university, but I feel a responsibility as a senior to identify some problems here, so that they might be corrected. Meliora must apply to all things,including the administration and campus life, not only academics. I’ve ranked these issues from easiest to hardest to correct. First, you can’t buy Q-tips on campus. It […]
Op-Eds
Why I’m voting Sanchez-Sands
The student government elections are upon us. Presumably, if you’re reading about this, you care about such things. If not, you should — the Students’ Association is the voice of the student body, and if the administration seems unresponsive to our student needs, it is in part because we have neglected to fully use this […]
Op-Eds
Care about the SA
In between going to workshops, studying for midterms, preparing for the night’s social event, and getting caught up in their own problems, students at the UR do not care enough about student government. Come voting day, voter outcome is lower than ideal. Campaigning for Senate, Class Council, and Student Association’s executive board elections started on […]
Op-Eds
Come to oppose the Common Core
Bill Gates has called it a “big win for education”. Its website prominently displays the noble mission of “preparing America’s students for success”. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan claims that it will “set loose the creativity and innovation of educators at the local level”. What am I talking about? That would be “Common Core”, […]
Op-Eds
Animal testing needs to go
The controversy surrounding animal testing has recently become a major international news story with the European Union, India, and Israel banning animal testing for cosmetics and the revelation that China has quietly been requiring cosmetic tests that poison, burn, and blind animals even though superior methods not requiring animal testing are now available. The debate […]
