Columns
Opinions
Roberta Goldman '13: Brown students for Palestine (and Israel)
By Roberta Goldman | March 3As students, university life bombards us each day with words. We listen to professors lecture, talk with our friends and read words of great scholars. Words represent concepts through which we understand the world. They are the content of the way we think, the tenets in which we believe and the activities ...
Opinions
Andrea Matthews '11: Safer sex on a Saturday night
By Andrea Matthews | March 3A disturbing opinions column ran in the Daily Princetonian on Feb. 22 ("The real ‘Sex on a Saturday Night' " by Iulia Neagu). The thesis was that a girl becoming significantly intoxicated is "equivalent to agreeing to anything that might happen to her while in this state," and that a serious injustice ...
Opinions
Tyler Rosenbaum '11: No physicists need apply
By Tyler Rosenbaum | March 2Phi Beta Kappa is a prestigious collegiate honor society. In fact, it's the oldest one in the country. According to its Web site, Phi Beta Kappa "celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences." Its chapters invite America's "most outstanding arts and sciences students."
Opinions
William Tomasko '13: Not a people's Senate
By William Tomasko | March 2Recently, The Herald's editorials have been — appropriately — frustrated with the United States Senate.
Opinions
Adrienne Langlois '10: Life after Brown
By Adrienne Langlois | March 1It's about that time of year again. As the days until June fly off the calendar, students are rushing to find summer internships and post-graduation jobs in a still relatively weak economy. With so many possibilities and so little time, finding something to do when classes end can be a daunting, ...
Opinions
Yue Wang '12: A labyrinth for on-campus job seekers
By Yue Wang | February 28It is a typical Kafkaesque situation where one can never figure out where the chain of hierarchy ends and who is accountable for making a fateful verdict. The world is neither understandable nor escapable, indeed a boundless labyrinth.
Opinions
Mike Johnson '11: The death of democracy
By Mike Johnson | February 28Senator Evan Bayh's recent decision to retire instead of seek re-election is an indicator of a larger trend in American government today — democracy is slowly dying. It's not a pretty death; rather, it's more like the long, protracted, gruesome death of a Western movie character. Shane isn't turning ...
Opinions
Andrea Matthews '11: In which I bite the hand that feeds
By Andrea Matthews | February 25A few weeks ago, I attended a standard gathering of The Brown Daily Herald opinions writers and editors to lay down rules and explain the ways of the Herald world. Given that I seldom keep track of my fellow columnists, I was excited to see who else was writing. As I scanned the room, I couldn't help ...
Opinions
Emily Breslin '10: The hypocrisy of moral relativism
By Emily Breslin | February 25Conservative activist James O'Keefe laments that college students are "drowned in relativism." This is a fairly common criticism of academia, but it is not exactly precise. It is fair to say that American universities are generally socially liberal and that many students and professors value tolerance ...
Opinions
Hunter Fast '12: Steal this newspaper
By Hunter Fast | February 24In the past, when Brown received complaints from media conglomerates that students were using file-sharing networks for purposes of copyright infringement, the administration would react by sending a simple e-mail to the offender. The e-mail demanded that the student delete the copyrighted ...
Opinions
David Sheffield '11: What could Brown do for you?
By David Sheffield | February 24Online universities are growing. They can provide an education cheaply and from any place on the globe. Even brick-and-mortar universities are providing content, courses and degrees over the Internet. Universities like Edinburgh and Oxford are offering graduate degrees online.
Opinions
Sarah Yu '11: Clean the mess, save the world
By Sarah Yu | February 23During my shifts working as a cashier at Josiah's, my heart swells with joy every time a customer asks for a reusable green canvas bag or water bottle to be added to his or her purchase of mozzarella sticks. Each student I see getting a mug refill or drinking tap water (especially without taking the ...
Opinions
Sean Quigley '10: Muckraking in the Bayou and beyond
By Brown Daily Herald | February 23James E. O'Keefe III is an unlikely lightning rod in investigative journalism. Whereas I might draw cries of reaction and looks of astonishment for my anarchy-cum-monarchy tendencies, O'Keefe is rather conventionally conservative. He may have a biting take on the bureaucratic enclave that is the Beltway, ...
Opinions
Anthony Badami '11: I hate Glenn Beck
By Anthony Badami | February 18In an effort to squeeze out negative energy (new year, new semester, new outlook, you know the drill), I must take this conspicuous opportunity to lay open my feelings against a most conspicuous man. He is someone who absorbs more attention than he will ever deserve. He is a man capable of and culpable ...
Opinions
Ben Bastomski '10: Partying (f)or charity
By Ben Bastomski | February 18The ongoing crisis and relief efforts in Haiti have rightfully captured our close national attention. But as the acute phase of the disaster fades and relief rather than rescue becomes the order of the day, an important opportunity arises for self-examination. It may be uncomfortable, but the circumstances ...
Opinions
Michael Fitzpatrick '12: Thank you for not smoking
By Michael Fitzpatrick | February 17The first time I smelled marijuana smoke, I distinctly remember thinking what an odd odor it is. Wood smoke has a crisp, full odor. Cigarettes give off a fainter aroma, light, but sharp. Marijuana is more difficult to describe: sharp like a cigarette, but distractingly sweet-and-sour. It's an unpleasant ...
Opinions
Sarah Yu '11: Financing culture
By Sarah Yu | February 17I had been making my rounds as a responsible member of the Hong Kong Students' Association last week, attempting to get the word out about our latest event. I was surprised at the number of my friends who questioned or declined my invitation on the basis of "not being from Hong Kong." I felt a little ...
Opinions
Will Wray '10: Shame on Ruth
By Will Wray | February 16Since the 2008 economic crisis, there has been no shortage of "belt-tightening" rhetoric in our periodic e-mails from President Ruth Simmons. The administration's promise to reduce the budget deficit became incarnate in the Feb. 2 report of the Organizational Review Committee. The report is littered ...
Opinions
Adrienne Langlois '10: R.I.P. Howard Zinn
By Adrienne Langlois | February 16Admit it: regardless of how much we enjoy our academic pursuits at Brown, they can sometimes seem very distant from reality. The journal articles and academic books we read can seem too specific to be useful in "real life," and the papers we write rarely see the light of day once their due dates have ...
