Opinion

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Cardinal View: Soglin is still the right choice for Madison

In the fall of 1967, 22-year-old Paul Soglin and his UW-Madison peers were engaged in a peaceful sit-in to protest the campus presence of Dow Chemical Company, one of the leading producers of napalm during the Vietnam War. When Madison police attempted to remove the students from the building in which they were protesting, the confrontation turned violent and many students, including Soglin, were beaten by officers. Soglin was later chosen to lead the student strike that followed the incident.

Letter to the Editor: Teach for America endangers the public school system

We can provide an excellent education for kids in low-income communities.” What recent graduate of education doesn’t want to embrace and advance this statement? This is the mission statement of Teach for America. The program, though well intentioned, is a threat to public education. It replaces qualified teachers with recent college graduates in underserved classrooms and uses tax dollars to fund pro-reform, pro-privatization education operations. TFA is a menace to the success of public education everywhere and, as a college student and passionate proponent of public education, I must alert you that TFA is recruiting on your campus!

‘Living naturally’ negates millenia of natural selection

It seems I can’t go a week without hearing something about “living naturally.” While it isn’t as common in Wisconsin, this health craze of looking toward our ancestors and their lifestyle habits and choices is all but unavoidable on the West Coast. However, I do see the slow creep of this movement in UW-Madison’s student population, and it must be stopped. I see toe shoes, ketogenic Paleo diets, functional strength training a la CrossFit and all affiliated acts as a faddish response for middle-aged men tired of the weekly spin class their significant others force them to attend. This group of ideals would almost be tolerable, and even respectable, if its proponents were not some of the most annoying people you’ll meet on planet Earth, but since they are, I feel its my job to pick apart what’s driving these fads forward.

Transparency needed in course evaluations

A recent email from the Office of the Registrar reminded me of the daunting task of registering for classes. In the upcoming weeks, many UW-Madison students will begin to enroll in classes for the Fall 2015 term.

Public schools could solve homelessness

I recently met a man who is passionate about ending homelessness in the United States. His name is John McLaughlin, and he works at the U.S. Department of Education. As an education program specialist, John deals with educational issues involving homeless students.

Note-taking practices: To each their own

LaBreea Walsh’s March 10th article regarding note-taking seemed to suggest that taking notes by hand is always the best situation for every student. I’m skeptical by nature of any article that claims to know unilaterally what is best for every student on campus, and this issue in particular is one that is near and dear to me. While I respect the opinion stated in the article, Walsh seems to be writing the article primarily from a perspective of personal experience, and in doing so disregarding those of us who might have a vastly different set of circumstances.

Bus passes provide insight to city life

Mobility is a privilege that the majority of us take advantage of in every waking moment of our lives right now. Strolling the streets with pumpkin spice something, jogging in winters that seem inappropriate, even running through the six (or to catch the six) with our collective woes. 

Can’t spell bracket without racket: NCAA’s non-profit problem

With NCAA March Madness at a lull until Sweet 16 play begins Thursday, now is as good a time as ever to discuss the state of NCAA athletics.  Setting aside the human factor of student-athletes and coaches engaging in acts of misconduct, we can look toward the root of the problem lying in the broken structure of collegiate athletics today. The problem runs the entire gamut of college athletics, whether it is from the bottom in the arbitrary rules and regulations that student-athletes are subject to, all the way up to how the NCAA works as a cartel, but I see most of the controversy bubbling to the surface in student-athletes.

Utilitarian approach can be damning for the minority

Is the abuse of a few justified in the name of saving lives in the majority? My take can be described as utilitarian, which dictates the moral action is one that maximizes utility in terms of pleasure, economic well-being and the lack of suffering. It is natural that people tend to choose the path that offers them a better quality of life, and society as a whole often leans in the same direction. Because individuals tend to pursue what is best for themselves, society often follows since such pursuit generally turns out to be the most idealistic approach. It sounds like a good idea, right?

Digital detox: Step away from the phone

I am a super human. No really, I am. I did the unthinkable—the impossible—and here I am to tell the tale. I leapt off the grid into the great abyss of the pop culture irrelevant world; a world with no screenshots, no bad captions and no poking.

Wisconsin's gun laws require re-evaluation

Last week, a Wisconsin Senate committee passed a bill that would eliminate the 48-hour waiting period that is currently required to purchase a handgun. This bill will now be presented to the rest of the Wisconsin Senate and will most likely be passed again as the majority of senators are Republican and support the new measure.

Community protests serve as a necessary democratic outlet

The UW-Madison is not unfamiliar with student protests. Such protests are meant to bring attention to relevant political and social issues. I am profoundly proud of this characteristic.

Nationalism threatens global peace

Since the Charlie Hebdo shooting earlier this year, many have become more attentive to the rising nationalism among Muslims. It is thought that this nationalism is the mechanism behind the perceived uptick in international terrorism. There are bad and good versions of nationalism, but I would argue that too much of it is not wise. Voltaire once said, “So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one’s fatherland is to wish evil to one’s neighbours.” Nationalism is not absolutely evil, but to its extreme it is a risky concept.

Cardinal View: Seeing through Madison's progressive haze

Madison—whose unofficial label is “77 square miles surrounded by reality”—is hailed as a progressive haven.

Students should not be blamed for low exam averages

Is it just me or do midterms seem to be endless? It’s like the first three weeks of a semester is the grace period: the time when college is the rowdy, sparkling adventure we always thought it would be. After that, fun’s over, and exams pointlessly given the prefix “mid” seem to consume every minute of our lives until the end of the semester. Some exams are less dreadful than others, of course, but for my friends and I nothing is more daunting and horrifying than calculus.

Police killings are indeed racial issue

I’m sick to my stomach writing this. I’m sickened by the callousness with which people I grew up with are talking about the death of a human being, and sickened by the fact that Madison is now on the map for the killing of an unarmed black teenager at the hands of a white police officer. I’m in disbelief that my fellow citizens would be so ignorant as to look at the pervasive, disproportionate use of lethal force against blacks and not see that what we are dealing with is an explicitly racial issue with an entrenched historical precedent. 

Letter to the Editor: Stick to the pen and pad for fewer distractions in lecture

I have some feedback in response to Maddie Murphy’s article: Note taking should be brought into the 21st Century...

Letter to the Editor: Respect Robinson, respect the police

Last Friday night, 19-year-old Tony Robinson was fatally shot by Officer Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department, under uncertain circumstances. Robinson was unarmed. He was also African-American, while Kenny is white. The incident led immediately to protests and discussion, which are ongoing.

Women’s push for equality must begin locally on campus

Sunday, March 8 was Daylight Savings Time, which meant the day consisted of only 23 hours instead of the usual 24. This also meant that many women only had 23 hours to celebrate International Women’s Day. But the celebration occurred all over the globe.

Tony Robinson: Don't forget his name