Normally, we would applaud this move. However, we have reservations about the current system.

For one thing, the paper evaluations were required to be completed in class, meaning that every student who showed up on evaluation day would fill one out. Unless class time is given to complete the online version, what would motivate students to do them? Fewer students participating may mean less accurate evaluations.

That pales in comparison to the main reason why we are opposed to online evaluations, though.

Anonymity.

Baylor University has contracted with EvaluationKIT to perform these online evaluations. However, there is one fundamental flaw with the whole process. A student is required to log in to Blackboard to be able to access the online evaluations.

Anyone who thinks their responses at that point are anonymous are unaware of the types of logging that take place across the Internet on a daily basis.

Let’s say Joe Baylor logs in to a computer in Moody Library. Immediately in Baylor’s system there is a record of him logging in and which computer he logged in at. He browses to Blackboard, where he logs in.

Baylor has an Internet filter in place to prevent students from going to illegal or illicit sites through Baylor’s servers. This means Baylor has a log of every website that every person that uses Baylor’s computers visits.

Since Joe Baylor logged in to the computer, Baylor knows every website he visited while he was logged in at the library, and at what date and time.

Say he then completes an online evaluation. While the website used for the online evaluations uses https secure browsing, meaning that the data transmitted from the computer to server is encrypted, that does not prevent Baylor from having a log of when the user submitted an evaluation because of the time stamps. Nor can we as students be assured that they do not have access to data transmitted via Blackboard.

Furthermore, there is no way to evaluate what information gets passed to EvaluationKIT, meaning they may have your Baylor ID, which they would then attach to your response in their system. The likelihood of this occurring is high, because if Baylor decided to pursue pressing charges against a student for their responses on an evaluation (in the event of a threat), the attorneys involved would be able to subpoena the records from EvaluationKIT to find out what student submitted that evaluation.

EvaluationKIT provides the data back to Baylor. However, there are ways they can provide “anonymous” data that would still allow Baylor to determine who gave what responses.

For example, if you fill out evaluations for multiple professors, your Baylor ID, which has been encrypted in a process called hashing, will be entered multiple times and could point to your class schedule. You could then be identified by your schedule, unless there are other students in the same semester with your schedule.

It’s not likely.

Even if EvaluationKIT didn’t provide that encrypted ID, if they were to provide a date/time stamp, that would allow Baylor to compare the data with their logs and determine who provided the evaluation.

There are a couple of solutions Baylor should choose from to ensure that responses are truly anonymous.

The preferred method, and the one we strongly propose, is that Baylor needs to move back to the truly anonymous paper evaluations. We think online evaluations will never accomplish the response rate that the paper-based system achieved unless class time is given to complete them.

Barring that, online evaluations should be detached from Blackboard. If Baylor decides to continue with online evaluations, we propose that EvaluationKIT generate randomly generated access codes for each section and class being evaluated and those access codes are distributed to the appropriate professor without Baylor involvement (meaning Baylor officials never have access to the access codes). That professor would then distribute that section’s access codes randomly to the students. EvaluationKIT would need a website completely under its control where students can go. Here the student would enter the random access code and be taken to a page on EvaluationKIT’s website to do the evaluation for that course.

Baylor also needs to allow guest access on computers so a student doesn’t have to log in on the Baylor network to perform these evaluations.

The Firefighter’s Memorial Service for the 12 firefighters killed in the West Explosion is held in the Ferrell Center on Thursday, Apr. 25, 2013. Families and friends of the deceased sit behind a row of caskets each covered with an American flag in representation of their heroism.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

But we can’t be proud of our behavior at the memorial last Thursday. It is a source of shame for our community.

It was an honor to be chosen as the venue for this event. Twelve brave men were remembered here. Twelve fallen heroes, first responders who gave their lives unselfishly to try and help their community, were honored Thursday in the Ferrell Center.

Those men were the true reason for the event, although it has become abundantly clear to us that some did not attend to honor them. They paid the ultimate price, and how did we repay them?

With disrespect.

We saw students get up to leave the memorial immediately after the president’s speech, making it abundantly clear the real reason they attended.

It was not to honor those men. It was not to support their families.

They attended so they could claim to have seen a president. Normally, this would be a source of pride. However, if you bragged to your friends in the wake of the event about seeing President Obama and forgot the real reason we gathered, you have absolutely nothing to be proud of.

Yes, as a university, we are honored that important figures in our government, including the president, Sen. John Cornyn and Gov. Rick Perry, chose to come to campus, but we cannot forget the reason for their visit.

It was those 12 heroes.

Why, then, did members of the audience get up — before the memorial was concluded —and leave after the president finished speaking?

Such selfishness and disrespect astounds us. That behavior was a slap in the face to anyone who lost a friend or loved one in the disaster. It is an outrage. It is not to be tolerated. If you are one of those who left, we hope your decision shames you in the days to come.

It’s important to note that the Ferrell Center was packed to capacity that day. The stadium filled up quickly and some who wished to attend the event were turned away, instead occupying several campus locations for overflow seating. Those who couldn’t get into the Ferrell Center had to watch the memorial on screens.

Those who left took up valuable space that could have been occupied by someone who was there for the right reason.

Instead, those spaces were wasted on those who left early. You cannot imagine the pain of those families who lost their loved ones. How dare you disrespect them at a time when they need support from their community?

In fact, isn’t that what we were praised for at the service? Our support of the West community?

By leaving early, you revealed your own selfish motives. You deserve none of that praise. You have shamed our community.

You have shamed yourselves.

Imagine, for a second, how those families must have felt as they watched members of their community walk out around them. Members who, only a few days before, seemed so eager to help. Is that the message you want to send them? That when the big events are over, you’ll forget about the tragedy in West? Because that’s what your little stunt on Thursday said.

To those who left, we are ashamed that the families of the victims, residents of West and the president had to witness your bad behavior.

We would like to extend our own apologies to the families of the victims for the atrocious manners of those members of our community and assure you that the majority of us are behind you 100 percent of the way. We wish you support and healing in the days ahead.

The letter expressing this point was written by Carolyn Luby, a women’s gender and sexuality studies major and feminist, in a letter to UConn president Susan Herbst detailing how the new logo offends her as a measure designed to gloss over recent bad behavior by student athletes, including instances of violence against women.

UConn women’s head basketball coach Geno Auriemma, on the other hand, said the new husky is “looking right through you and saying, ‘Do not mess with me.’ This is a streamlined, fighting dog, and I cannot wait for it to be on our uniforms and court.”

According to UConn’s website, different athletic teams were straying away from one central design, and this new logo is intended to re-unify the themes and launch the program into a new era.

Echoing Auriemma, Luby quotes in her letter that the new logo is intended to be “powerful and aggressive” and “show what UConn and [its] student athletes convey every day: poise, confidence, competitiveness, and the determination to succeed in the classroom and on the field and the court.”

Luby then points out recent problems the UConn athletic department had.

She cites the men’s basketball team becoming the first BCS school to be penalized for having a low academic progress rate; running back Lyle McCombs’ arrest following a dispute with his girlfriend, who was also arrested; basketball player Enosch Wolf’s suspension following a domestic dispute and his arrest and basketball player Tyler Olander’s trespassing in a structure or conveyance charge.

She then argues that the university, in light of these charges, should not encourage an aggressive and powerful message through the mascot, because the program is in enough trouble.

A minor flaw in Luby’s argument is she seems to imply keeping or discarding the old logo has something to do with individual character. Having a less aggressive logo would not prevent any domestic disputes from happening in the future. The two are unrelated.

However, we do agree that changing the logo without pursuing punitive action for the student athletes responsible for the crimes is a superficial action that won’t fix any of the athletic department’s real problems.

She goes on to write, “What terrifies me about the admiration of such traits is that I know what it feels like to have a real-life Husky look straight through you and to feel powerless, and to wonder if even the administration cannot ‘mess with them.’ And I know I am not alone.”

This section seems to imply an encounter between Luby and a student athlete behaving badly, and her worries that the administration of her school would do nothing about it if something bad happened to her. This fear seems justified, as only one of the athletes was suspended for the bad actions mentioned before.

We do agree with the university’s decision to change the logo, however. Trying to re-energize the program by giving it a new face seems like an admirable goal. But punitive action for the responsible parties is a necessary step in this process. Both actions are crucial.

No student wants to support an athletic program full of reprobates. Changing the logo is a way for UConn to symbolically put its athletic department’s issues in the past and allow students and university personnel to move forward. The new Husky is a very basic way of creating a new image for the university. If you ask us, it sounds like the whole department needs a makeover.

Without doubt, UConn should address the problems and punish its errant student athletes, but the logo change should still move forward.

Changing the old mascot into something that “will not appear to be mean, snarling, or capable of frightening small children” seems like an appropriate action given the circumstances. If anything, the new athletes have a better standard to live up to. We support the change and condemn the university’s lack of punitive action. The two are not mutually exclusive.

You receive your meager plate of grilled chicken and mixed vegetables and turn to leave when the question comes.

“Will this be together or separate?”

You freeze. You know you shouldn’t have to pay as much as the lobster, but how much?

All of the calculus and algebra you’ve ever learned starts to slip through your head.

You slowly pull out a $20 bill, but one last piece of paper lays in front of you. Among the lines and numbers one word leaps out.

One horrible word — gratuity. You are about to enter: The Tipping Zone.

As anyone who can work in the service industry can tell you, college students don’t tip well.

There’s a variety of reasons for this — lack of finances included — but more and more often reasonable and intelligent people are struck dumb when it comes to simple math like calculating tips.

For the record, sales tax is 8.25 percent of the total. Double that and add a dollar (generally) and you have a pretty good tip.

Unfortunately, the math that we get the most of in college and the latter part of high school is not math that we use every day.

Advanced algebra, calculus and trigonometry all have their places in academia, but they’re rarely used in day-to-day life.

There is a math that we use, or should use, every day that helps us function in society — geometry, arithmetic, percentages, fractions, compound interest, balancing a checkbook, interpreting statistics, noticing patterns. In short, practical math.

Before we go any further, it’s important to note that we don’t think math should be done away with.

We just believe that to a large segment of the population practical math will be exponentially more beneficial than advanced calculus.

Plenty of people need advanced math, but many more — history majors, English majors, pre-law — don’t need it. What they do need is math that makes them a functional member of society. Again, practical math.

In addition to basic skills like balancing a checkbook and managing a budget, practical math education should focus on using math in critical thinking situations.

One great example is overall value. True, that pair of shoes is $10, but they will last you six months to a year at best.

It’s much smarter to buy the $60 pair of shoes and keep them for four to six years with maintenance.

Or, for example, that bag of pasta is cheaper overall, but this more expensive one is cheaper per ounce.

It’s a simple concept when you think about it, but it’s often overlooked.

Another benefit to a practical knowledge of math is that Internet rumors will be a lot less pervasive.

For example, a popular Internet trend is to compare the deaths of presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy — They were elected 100 years apart, they were both killed on a Friday, etc. etc.

When you apply practical math to the situation, you realize that most of this is so stupefyingly common that there’s really no coincidence at all.

The Friday deaths coincidence, for example, breaks down to a 1 in 7 chance.

President William McKinley and Kitty Genovese were both murdered on a Friday, but nobody talks about that.

Also when you realize presidential elections happen every four years, it’s obvious that there’s no extreme coincidence that two presidents were elected 100 years apart.

George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant and George H.W. Bush were all elected 100 years apart and they all served in the military.

Ergo it must be a conspiracy.

Another benefit of practical math is the ability to discern the accuracy of statistics.

Whenever you hear “nine out of 10 dentists agree,” a citizen armed with practical math can immediately discern that 10 is a tiny sample size.

That means that as a society we can start thinking a lot harder about polls and statistics.

For example, a commonly quoted statistic is “you’re more likely to get struck by lightning than attacked by a shark.” The intent is to contextualize the likelihood of a shark attack with another unlikely event — a lightning strike.

Strictly speaking this is true — the average American is far more likely to get struck by lightning than mauled by a shark.

When we apply a little practical math, however, we realize the true ridiculousness of this statement. There can be hundreds of lightning strikes in a single storm and scores of storms each year across the country.

Sharks are still restricted to bodies of water.

Hundreds of millions of Americans are near lightning strikes every year. Significantly fewer are around sharks.

For some people, being trampled by a zebra is far more likely, but a surfer with an open wound shouldn’t be worried most about lightning.

For too long, we have just accepted numbers that anyone spat at us. The ATM tells us we have this much money and we accept it.

A politician tells us a statistic that supports our views and we accept it.

There is no incentive to change this because for many, even basic math is a vast mystery.

This is unacceptable. This is something that as a society we cannot allow.

We need to be re-educated on mathematics, but not derivatives and cosines.

We need as a society to rediscover math’s everyday role in our lives, and since the public schools obviously aren’t doing that, it falls to the universities.

We need to consider a “practical math” class.

For most it will, hopefully, be a refresher course and should never take the place of the higher mathematic studies.

But we have act quickly before an entire generation of college graduates can’t do something as simple as calculate a tip.

In order to do this, one of the aims is to “continue to increase the percentage of undergraduate students who live on campus and who participate in living-learning and residential college communities.”

Compared to schools like Rice University, which is close to Rice Village; Texas A&M, which has the majority of College Station; and the University of Texas at Austin which has all of downtown Austin students can walk around in, Baylor has very limited choices for food, groceries and entertainment within walking distance.

There are the cafeterias and Baylor restaurants which have limited hours, in addition to nearby IHOP, Subway, Pizza Hut and Denny’s. But with the imminent closing of the H-E-B at 12th Street and Speight Avenue, students have nowhere to buy groceries unless you count the convenience store in the Exxon station in front of Penland Hall.

And there is only one choice for shopping on campus, Harts ‘N Crafts, geared mostly toward girls.

Many students who live on or near campus might not have cars because they don’t have to commute, but it’s getting harder for students to go off-campus for food and groceries.

Many students rely on the H-E-B on 12th and Speight Avenue for their groceries. Additionally, many members of the Waco community rely on that H-E-B for their groceries because the other stores are much farther away.

After H-E-B closes, there will be nowhere for carless students to get groceries. As it is, there are few restaurants around Baylor that students can safely get to. There is a large variety of restaurants across the interstate, but there is no way for students to get there without crossing the interstate, and it’s a long way to walk, let us tell you.

Baylor wants more students to live on campus, but in order to do so, the surrounding community must be able to sustain carless students who need easy access to essential services. No one can eat at Collins all the time.

If there isn’t shopping and entertainment close to campus, what incentives are there for students to live there in the first place? For one thing, off-campus housing rates may be cheaper and offer convenient access to these essential services, plus there are no visiting hours or pet restrictions.

If Baylor wants to attract students to living on campus, there must be incentives — but we recognize these efforts may only come about in cooperation with the surrounding community.

Some shopping and a grocery store nearby would be a great way to start.

“The Matrix” was one of those movies that was both action-packed and thought-provoking. In the movie, Neo awakens and realizes that the world that he had previously been living in was just a computer simulation. The real world was much more grim and needed his help.

This caused a lot of people to look at the world around them and question its authenticity in philosophical debate — is it real or not?

The philosopher that is given credit for the computer-simulation argument is Nick Bostrom.

He asserts that a human civilization will reach a technological level that will allow us to simulate reality in a computer program if possible.

Assuming that it is possible to simulate reality, a comparable civilization reaching such a benchmark would likely also simulate reality. Therefore, it is possible for civilizations to exist in a simulation.

In other words, there is only one true reality, but there is the possibility that there are many simulated realities.

If civilizations can exist in a simulation, then is the reality we experience even reality at all? If simulated societies can create simulated societies within simulated societies, then it is more likely that our universe is a simulation rather than the real thing just because of the sheer volume of simulations compared to the single host reality.

The question becomes are we Horton, or are we the Whos? Are we ‘it,’ all that’s out there? Or is someone else simulating the reality we perceive?

This is what led researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany to take the philosophical thought experiment and turn into an empirical experiment.

Admittedly, the Lariat editorial board is in over its head with the scientific explanation, but apparently the simulations that the University of Bonn has created, although seemingly infinitely small, are nearly indistinguishable from reality.

The problem is the power of the computers running the simulation. Once computers become much more powerful, the simulation will be able to expand and eventually hold a simulated universe.

According to the researchers at the University of Bonn and the MIT Technology Review, in the simulation, the laws of nature arose on their own without being put into the program.

The end result: If the experiment goes according to plan, then the scientists will be able to know if this world that we live in is a simulation or not.

If the world is a computer simulation, then a lot of ethical questions quickly arise. In the case of the researchers, is it right to tell a world full of people that they aren’t even real?

Would Armageddon-style panic spread throughout the world upon hearing the news? Are viruses capable of entering our simulation? What kind of havoc would they wreak?

If someone told you, with certainty, that the world we perceive is just a simulation, would you continue to take out loans and go to school?

Even if there are some people out there that would continue their lives in the same way, there will inevitably be a group of people that would have some darker motives. Would everything collapse into anarchy and hedonism?

The world isn’t ready for this kind of knowledge just yet. Luckily, it will take a long time for the experiment to be completed and even longer for it to be peer-reviewed, but once it is all said and done, the scientists need to have a long discussion about whether or not releasing their findings is the right thing for the world. In the Matrix, it had a profound effect on Neo, but that’s science fiction. It won’t work like that in “reality.”

As college students we know this feeling all too well. But what if there were a cure? Say, an unlimited supply of puppies?

How about punching bags hanging from trees on campus? Maybe an endless supply of bubble wrap or chocolate, like the good kind one would eat after a breakup, not Tootsie Rolls, as they are just a measly excuse for chocolate.

Since we are working so hard to slog through to the end of the semester, we feel that it would be only natural to have such things to help wrap up finals on a good note.

Many universities throughout the country have already begun affording their students such ways to alleviate all the pent-up anxiety caused by finals.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, offers access to trained therapy dogs to its students during finals week.

The school partners with an organization called Dog B.O.N.E.S. at the end of each semester to offer study breaks throughout the day during which students can play with the dogs, complete with free food and drinks.

Southern Oregon University has created a similar program called “Paws for Relaxation.”

Now wouldn’t that be a way to keep spirits up?

We thinks so, as studies going back to the 1980s show that dogs – and other animals alike – have been shown to improve the mental, social and physiological health status in humans.

The College of Charleston has taken this idea one step further with its “Cougar Countdown.”

They not only offer a “puppy room,” in which students can interact with puppies from local shelters, they also offer a pancake breakfast served up by the university president on finals days.

Plus, they stretch out a few dozen hammocks across the university for students to swing their worries away.

As if this weren’t already sounding like a perfect finals week, to top it off, they offer unlimited cupcakes and organize flash mobs to break out to upbeat, encouraging music.

While Baylor does offer a “Pancake Break” to students for one day during finals, if they were to widen the variety of activities there is no doubt that at least some students would be able take a step back and loosen up a bit in such a stressful time.

While we don’t want to promote goofing off during what is quite possibly the most important week of the year, it must also be understood that the majority of students are going to be staying up all night somewhere cramming for their next test.

We feel that if they are going to do so anyway, they might as well be offered ways to relax, which for some people amounts to stuffing their face with chocolate.

While we know that this is a lot to ask for all at once, we encourage Baylor to consider helping us out a bit.

Start with a puppy room.

It’s simple enough and can be a win-win for both students and shelters, as it’s very likely that some students won’t be able to leave without the pups.

Bubble wrap rooms would come next, followed by punching bags and hammocks.

All in all, these suggestions should be taken seriously, as they encompass a wide array of stress relievers that all students and faculty alike could take advantage of.

We feel like this would make our campus a much more all- around relaxed environment.

Not for everyone. Currently, the business graduate school has in place a Monday through Thursday class system. Graduate students in the business school do not have classes on Friday’s, allowing them to pursue other things with their free time.

As working students, we understand not having enough time. There aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, between work, classes, homework and extracurriculars — all of which many students need to get ahead. That’s not to mention the life-affirming commodity of time with friends and family, the thing that makes all of that other stuff worth it. That has to be fit in there somewhere, too.

The obvious solution to the problem is to maximize the efficiency of our class system. One way to accomplish this is through switching from a Monday through Friday class schedule to a Monday through Thursday.

But wait, you might say, that shorts teachers time in the class room. Not so. This solution could actually ensure students spend more time in class.

Many students, professors and administrators correlate grades to attendance — hence, it’s importance. In our current system, missing one Monday/Wednesday/Friday is less damaging to a student than missing one Tuesday/Thursday class — at least, from an attendance standpoint. This can lull students into a false sense of security, tempting them to miss the Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes.

In a study by Dr. James Gussett published in Psychological Reports, students had a higher average GPA in Tuesday/Thursday morning classes versus Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning classes (2.17 versus 2.05). The students in the Tuesday/Thursday classes also missed fewer classes (1.35 versus 3.70).

Furthermore, we all know college is expensive. Many students work to support themselves. Balancing work on top of class, especially in non-work-study jobs that might not be very understanding of class demands, puts undue pressure on students. Extending the weekend by a day could eliminate scheduling problems and take some of the pressure off, allowing students to work more, if necessary. Work study jobs have a 20-hour weekly cap that, depending on individual students’ needs, may not reflect their actual cost of living.

Furthermore, it has come to our attention that some faculty do indeed commute to work in Waco during the week. It would be much more convenient for them to be able to be home for three days, instead of two probably hectic ones.

We believe the university as a whole should adopt the system of the business graduate school and switch to a Monday through Thursday system. Students and professors could both benefit, and we see no potential downsides to the equation. It’s win-win.

In this Wednesday, April 17, 2013, photo provided by Joe Berti, a plume of smoke rises from a fertilizer plant fire near Waco, Texas. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Joe Berti)

At approximately 7:50 p.m. on Wednesday, a fertilizer plant in West (19 miles north of Waco) exploded and lit up the sky for miles around.

The explosion devastated the immediate area, including houses, a school and a nursing home. According to an email from the office of President Ken Starr, 13 students, 43 faculty and staff and 262 alumni live in or are from West.

Injuries from the blast have ranged from minor to fatal. The small town, and the number of casualties reported so far has rocked the community as well as those at Baylor and in Waco who have close relatives and friends in West.

There is no way to put this tragedy in a positive light. There is no reason we should try.

There are too many unknowns about the explosion and its cause for this to be anything other than a mind-numbing time of grief. The exact number of casualties and how the devastation will affect Waco and the surrounding areas have yet to be determined. We have all taken time to pray for the living and do what we can to keep people informed of the facts.

It is admirable the way Baylor, the Waco community and West have banded together to help alleviate the pain of this tragedy. Blood drives, food drives, shelters, donations, all in the name of unity in the face of unexpected horror. Baylor students and various departments have mobilized to help in relief efforts and some have not left the scene of the explosion since it began. We commend those students, faculty and staff who have taken time out of their day to help where they can and bring a little peace to those who are in need.

There is no doubt that Diadeloso has been marred by this event, and students may find it hard to celebrate this tradition the day after such tragedy has taken place. However, we must remember that we are blessed beyond measure to be able to offer aid and our prayers.

Rather than the superficial partying and lighthearted fun that usually accompany Dia, we are tasked with being strong for our friends who are injured or without homes or who are lost in their grief. Everyone from off-duty firemen and police to students forgoing their usual Dia activities have pitched in.

It is only to provide contrast that we regretfully mention that members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., have decided to protest the funerals of those who died in the explosion. The church is known for its hateful and militant ideologies, particularly against homosexuals.

They have tried to spread their hateful message after almost every tragedy that has occurred in the past few years. Though the church’s hateful messages have no place here in the midst of our grief, we mention it to highlight the powerful contrast this brings into play.

The love that our community and the West community has exhibited has far eclipsed anything the Westboro church could think to conjure. The love of God is no more evident than in times of tragedy and crisis and there is nothing Westboro Baptist Church can do to dilute that.

Instead of Westboro’s hate and any others who may try to politicize this event, focus on loving your neighbor. Donate blood, money, food or any other service you can think of. Every cent and every ounce of blood towards relief counts in this unspeakable tragedy.

When interviewing candidates to endorse for student body president, there were a few key traits that we were looking for.

The candidate had to have both a good grasp on the Baylor community and a good understanding of the Waco community.

He or she had to have a clear and diverse platform that demonstrated knowledge of the challenges that Baylor faces and the improvements we can make through the student government.

And most importantly, the candidate needed to have concrete steps to achieve their goals.

The decision to endorse Hodges based on these characteristics was unanimous.

When Hodges came and spoke to the Lariat, we were impressed by his goals and the specific ways he proposed to achieve them.

From the ambitious — opening a ferry between downtown Waco and Baylor Stadium — to the more mundane — creating a database of available undergraduate research — Hodges laid out a range of goals and seemed ready to achieve them.

Among Hodges’ other goals were increasing the study abroad opportunities, recruiting businesses to offer more internships for Baylor students and improving lighting and security in and around campus.

Most importantly, he demonstrated a clear understanding of what he would need to do to achieve these goals.

Through his time serving in the Golden Wave Marching Band, learning in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and being a member of Phi Kappa Chi, we believe that Hodges’ experience at Baylor is easily relatable to a large group of students and that he will be more in touch with his constituents because of it.

Hodges also demonstrated a familiarity with the Waco area and an eagerness to further connect the two communities.

The Lariat also liked Raechel Adams as a candidate but felt that her platform was too narrowly limited to campus security.

However, Adams’ ideas were good and there should definitely be a place for her in the next administration.

*Lariat Editor-in-chief Caroline Brewton did not participate in the discussion, news coverage or endorsement of student body president Candidates due to a conflict of interest.

Internal Vice President: Dominic Edwards
For the position of internal vice president, The Lariat endorses candidate Dominic Edwards.

We were particularly impressed with his desire to completely break down the walls between the student body and the student government.

One of the main problems that the student government has is a general lack of availability to the average student, according to Edwards. He wants to give the average student the ability to approach the student government with ideas on an informal basis.

For example, one of the ideas that Edwards presented was giving students the ability to walk into student government offices and talk to the elected officials about ideas or concerns by instituting mandatory office hours and an open-door policy for student body officials. He also proposed to implement focus groups for specific Student Senate committees and hold a student government tailgate so that students have many opportunities to connect with the people that they elected.

A transparent government centered on serving the people is exactly what student government should be, and that is what Edwards will bring to the table. We believe that having an accessible group of elected officials will lead to an increase in student involvement and an increase in desirable legislation.

His previous leadership positions on various student government committees and involvement around campus also led us to this endorsement. Edwards has served in student government for two years so far and has experience working on the Honor Council and chairing the PR committee. We liked his overall presentation and his ability to clearly communicate his ideas. This will help him both as a leader in student government and as a servant of the student body.

Another one of Edwards’ stances that caught our eye was his view on the student government allocation fund.

He was very well informed on its uses and flaws, and we believe he uniquely qualified to fix the problems associated with it. Better management and publicity will help student organizations hurdle various financial obstacles, and increasing student feedback could offer students the ability to have input about spending any surplus left in the fund.

In our opinion, Edwards is clearly the most informed and responsible choice for the position.

External Vice President: Lexi Holt
For the position of external vice president, The Lariat endorses candidate Lexi Holt.

Not only does Holt have experience as acting external vice president from the times she has had to stand in during the current one’s absence, but Holt is currently the chief of staff to the external vice president and has had three years of experience in student government.

Oftentimes, when an office position changes hands, the officer’s work in that position stops.

Holt, on the other hand, said she believes the that previous officer’s work should not just stop when the term ends. This provides a spirit of collaboration among current and former officers that we like and that members of student government can benefit from.

In addition, Holt’s platform emphasizes the connection between Waco and Baylor, a topic we would like to see expanded and which is crucial in this position.

One major point we liked from Holt is that she said attending the Waco City Council meetings is an important part of bursting the Baylor Bubble.

Holt also said she would like the Passport Waco program, an effort increase student involvement in the community through partnerships with local businesses, to expand and improve next. She said if she’s elected to the position, she will start approaching businesses beginning in June to promote the program. This type of initiative is what we want in an EVP.

Outside of her role as a student government officer, she said she frequently visits different restaurants in Waco and tries to eat outside her comfort zone.

Holt is a holistic person who is involved with Baylor and the community. She has made the Dean’s List multiple times. She is part of Alpha Chi Omega. Community involvement is an important quality to have as a member of student government. Her community service involves working with Campus Kitchen and Urban Missions. Holt also attends Harris Creek Baptist Church.

Holt’s opponent, Thomas Damrow, did not seem to present same community involvement as Holt. Dallena Nguyen, Holt’s other opponent, did not have the same experience Holt does in working with this position.

*Lariat A&E editor Linda Nguyen did not participate in the discussion, news coverage or endorsement of external vice president candidates due to a conflict of interest.