Preparing for War, Not for Safety
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a “state of emergency” through an executive order on Monday, which comes 100 days after Ferguson officer Darren Wilson killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. Since Brown’s death, his family members, their supporters and Ferguson residents have organized for months, demanding accountability for Brown’s killing.
Failing the First Priority
The UC system is reaching out to students with a handshake, but its so-called deal could cost students up to an additional $3,372 in tuition over the next five years.
#GamerGate Promotes Misogyny in the Video Game Industry
Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist cultural critic known for her online video series “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games,” was scheduled to speak at Utah State University three weeks ago — until the university administration received an anonymous email saying that if Sarkeesian didn’t cancel her…
Prop 47 More Than a Financial Boost
Advocates for this bill have focused on the financial savings, but reducing petty crimes to misdemeanors would also give two basic rights back to a historically disenfranchised population: the right to vote and the opportunity to apply for a job without being judged for having committed a nonviolent or nonserious drug or property crime.
Supreme Court Upholds Barriers to Polls
The driving force behind a democracy is the voice of the people. In Texas, that voice will be silenced an estimated 600,000 times by the Supreme Court’s upholding of State Bill 41 (SB 41) — a law requiring individuals to provide one of seven forms…
Inflation of Theory, Deflation of Individual
Many economists will claim no one saw the 2008 recession coming. The housing bubble grew and grew right before their eyes and few expected it to pop when it did. Maybe it was because their noses were too deep in their books on theory and ideal worlds to realize that if they weren’t critical of their surroundings, thousands of families would end up in bank-owned homes and would be forced out of them. Including mine.
‘Yes Means Yes’ Changes Conversation About Sex
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law on Sept. 28, making “yes” an important phrase at all colleges in the state. To receive state funding, colleges must implement policies that require sexual partners to seek explicit consent from each other — defined by the college as “affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity and in addition a lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent.”
An Injustice to Fix an ‘Injustice’
“I’ll keep being the best advocate I can for the UC,” UC President Janet Napolitano promised in her most recent newsletter on Sept. 24 — published just five days after the UC Regents awarded 20 percent pay increases for the three lowest-paid chancellors. UC Regent…
Still Separate, Still Unequal
Michelle Obama’s speech encouraging students to think critically about racism and challenge prejudice is a step in the right direction.
Affording an Unpaid Internship
With summer just around the quarter, students are in a mad rush for some sort of work experience. Unfortunately, some can’t afford it. Entry-level positions are being replaced by internships in almost every field from film production to accounting. This is more than just not ok — it’s illegal. Thousands of companies are labeling their employees as interns so they can either pay them very little, or nothing at all.