Collegiate Press Roundup

We present our weekly review of selected student editors and news analysts. For this edition, the commentary ranges over tax reform zealotry, hand guns on campus, the dismal state of popular culture and the need to protect free speech on campus.

1. One U of Alabama /Tuscaloosa alum tells readers of the Crimson and White of his career and life transformation, following a stint working with Teach for America. But a senior education major, while sharing TFA’s goals, isn’t happy with its impact on the teaching profession.
2. An editorialist for the Daily Californian laments the fact the UCal public higher education system is going down the tube for lack of funding, while the federal government continues to bail out big banks and overcompensated corporate CEO’s. Several commenters take issue in the discussion thread.
3. There’s a rational and reasonable case for allowing students to carry guns on campus, says a columnist for the Rocky Mountain Collegian. Unfortunately, it’s just about impossible to make that argument to emotional and uninformed opponents.
4. The 2012 election is going to be influenced in a big way by a largely unknown, but ferociously zealous tax reform advocate. You may not have heard of him, but a political analyst for the Emory Wheel notes that many members of Congress have already signed on to his radical proposals.
5. There’s no doubt that free speech comes at a price, but a writer for the University Daily Kansan thinks it’s well worth paying. A colleague thinks that the same principle applies to twitter messages as well.
6. A self-proclaimed feminist tells readers of the Oklahoma Daily she wants to be a stay-at-home mom, for which she expects to get no grief from other feminists. Isn’t it her choice?
7. In the Temple News, a regular consumer of popular culture finds that it’s getting ever more trite and vapid, and thinks that artists owe their audiences something better.
8. A regular for the Hamilton College Spectator complains that men on campus are constantly getting dissed and urges them to do something about it. His paper’s editorial board explain their policies, and numerous readers take vehement exception.
9. UNC Chapel Hill has a long history of student activism. Then why, asks a columnist in the Daily Tar Heel, has the local response to the Occupy Wall Street movement been so tame and tepid?
10. If the GOP wants to win next year’s presidential election, a political analyst for the Miami Student suggests they find a better crop of candidates with more on the ball. The current lot really doesn’t have what it takes.
11. Race relations is a touchy subject at Middlebury College, and the editors of the Campus think that there’s got to be a better way to discuss it than on Facebook.
12. At the UW/Madison, the editors of the Digital Cardinal can’t find anything good to say about the state legislature’s enactments this term, especially a new voter ID law that effectively disenfranchises college students.