We present our weekly review of selected student editors and news analysts. In this edition, they size up the SOPA bill now in Congress, debate the limits of church and state at a public university, denounce the GOP’s plutocratic policies and note the heavy travails of Martin Luther King in pursuit of racial equality.
1) In response to intense faculty opposition, an experimental course which would have explored the application of biblical principles to business practices has been cancelled at Iowa State University. Two columnists for the Iowa State Daily both cite the First Amendment in offering pro and con views of the decision.
2) With the Occupy LA movement over, a writer for the Daily Trojan still isn’t quite sure what it was all about, and tries to sort out its legacy on the USC campus.
3) At the same time, a regular for the U of C Maroon argues that US media for too long ignored the OWS movement, and disregarded the rough handling it received. In fact, the protests over election fraud in Russia were treated a whole lot better, she concludes.
4) With an ever-widening wealth gap inflaming social class animosities, a political observer for the Independent Florida Alligator, argues that the GOP have lined up solidly with the rich.
5) As the celebration of Martin Luther King’s life commences, a columnist for the EmoryWheel attempts to re-construct the historical context in which his legacy was forged.
6) The opinion page editor for the University Daily Kansan explains to readers why she hopes to generate some lively discussion during the coming semester: disagreement is exciting and educational.
7) Whatever the intentions of its sponsors, the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)currently being debated in Congress , is 100% bad news, says an analyst for the LSUReveille. A colleague at the USC Daily Gamecock agrees.
8) A U of P anthropology professor thinks that the university needs to sponsor a Year of Sex, and a columnist for the Daily Pennsylvanian concurs.
9) Pending legislation in the Texas statehouse leads a writer for the Daily Texan to conclude that the national “war on women” is also a local reality.
10) All beers are not equal, says a sports editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald, and she explains the contrasting social strategies associated with individual labels.
11) A guest columnist makes the case for readers of the Kentucky Kernal that coal is a viable energy source, and supports its continued use. Several commenters don’t agree.
12) Although no one seems to have noticed, there’s another economic catastrophe looming, as more and more students default on the loans through which they’ve financed their college educations. An economic correspondent for the Michigan Daily thinks it’s past time to stave off a repeat of the 2008 crash, and urges immediate bi-partisan congressional action.
