Author: Baylor Lariat

Imagine a teenage freshman entering high school for the first time. He attends his first football game in the hometown stadium as one who finally belongs in the student section. He snaps a few pictures with his friends and promptly uploads them to Facebook. The next morning he logs on and sees he has a set number of approvals. These are called “likes.” Now, if that same high school freshman logged on and saw he received any sort of disapproval, he’d be left to wonder what it was he did wrong. He’d wonder what about the picture is disapprove-able and…

Waco photographers and adventure-lovers met for the sixth InstaMeet Waco Saturday at the 18th and 17th Street bridges near Franklin Avenue. Now that school is back in session, meets will be held monthly.

The Testicular Cancer Foundation is hosting a weekend long event to promote awareness of testicular cancer and to raise funds. The inaugural WACKO Open Weekend will include the Curtis Grimes benefit concert at 8 p.m. on Sept. 18 in Wild West Waco and the open golf tournament will follow the next day at noon in the Lake Waco Golf Club.

Susan G. Komen Central Texas is celebrating their 15th anniversary with a special race for the cure event to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer at 8 a.m. on Sept. 19 at Heritage Square in downtown.

Moody Memorial Library has “gone down the rabbit hole” as it and other university libraries celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated PressSAN ANTONIO — The commanders of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon, company and battalion testified Thursday that his disappearance from his post in Afghanistan six years ago put a strain on their forces and put his fellow soldiers in danger. The testimony came during a hearing where an attorney for Bergdahl, Lt. Col. Franklin D. Rosenblatt, said Bergdahl had been discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard because of psychological problems and an Army psychiatric board later concluded he had a “severe mental defect.” Rosenblatt’s comments about Bergdahl’s mental health history came as the lawyer questioned a witness…

The tradition dates back to a single day in 1960. In 1970, it grew to accommodate a two-day event. It started out with the name Parent’s Weekend and then became family weekend. Now, over thirty years later, the event has become an experience where the whole family can share in the Baylor experience.

I think that it’s wonderful that Baylor is finally getting a more diverse lineup of musicians. However, I feel like this piece [‘Christian rapper Lecrae to visit Baylor’ published Sept. 15] masks the efforts of the black community at Baylor that played a significant role in making it happen. This year is not the first that we have requested an artist that appeals to an audience other than the Caucasian population of Baylor. Our requests have been turned down or overlooked in the past. It wasn’t until this semester that light was finally shed on the obvious divide between Black…

Wednesday’s Republican primary debate was the second in a series of GOP debates before a presidential nominee is chosen in 2016. Televised debates are one of the best ways for potential candidates to connect with their voter base, and Wednesday’s debate allowed a few candidates in particular to shine above the rest. Here are three things you should know about the lasting impact the debate will have leading up to the GOP convention next year. 1. Fiorina is in it to win it If you got nothing else out of Wednesday’s debate, you should know that Carly Fiorina is on…

Illustration by Asher MurphyUndoubtedly, one of the hardest duties of life is to watch a loved one pass from this earth, especially after a long battle filled with misery and suffering. For our beloved pets, euthanasia seems to be the most humane thing to do and has become a social norm of animal treatment. For humans, death is not so simple. While there are methods of comfort available to someone in his or her last months or days, there’s not much a family can do other than support the ailing and cherish the time left. As of late, however, the…

Waco city officials have developed a draft of a city plan designed to improve the physical development of Waco for 2016. The plan will focus on sustainable development, or expanding the city with minimal harm to the environment, and decreasing poverty and educational gaps. The draft was created by the City Plan commission and has been led by current Plan Commission director Clint Peters and former Plan Commission director Bill Falco. Falco said the commission placed specific emphasis on poverty reduction in the plan due to results of the study conducted in May by researchers from the W.E. Upjohn Institute…

Editor’s note: The original report of this city council meeting published Wednesday was inaccurate. The Baylor Lariat regrets this error. Below is the correct information. Waco City Council unanimously passed Ordinance 544 on Tuesday night, which will expand the college and university overlay to the area bound by University Parks and East Loop 340 Access Road. The College and University Neighborhoods District Ordinance will expand zoning restrictions to impede student housing development in that area. The new zone, called Zone Three, expands upon the housing restrictions currently in place in the areas bound by Third Street and Oakwood Avenue and…

During the first Republican presidential primary debate, Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly, one of the debate moderators, introduced one of the final portions of the show. Kelly tasked herself with asking questions almost exclusively about the candidates’ spiritual and religious principles. There were many parts in this segment of the debate that were cringeworthy, to say the least. “We want to ask [the candidates] an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: ‘I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do…

Curtis Grimes is a self-taught guitarist who turned from a life of baseball to pursue a career in country music. He will be revisiting Waco at 8 p.m. Friday, when he performs at Wild West.

By Julie Tate Reporter Instead of skipping breakfast, students can get a free meal and some coffee – as long as they bring their own mug. This Friday will be the first Union Break of the semester, held from 10 a.m to noon in the old barbershop, now the Union Break Room, on the first floor of the Bill Daniel Student Life Center. There will be free breakfast and coffee for all students, faculty and staff. The event is bring-your-own-mug. The purpose of the UBreak program is to remind students about the importance of taking time out of their day…

Dr. Heidi Bostic, chair of the modern language and cultures department and professor of French, has been named the Texas Foreign Language Association’s Higher Education Administrator of the Year. Bostic will accept the award at the association’s annual conference in Houston on Oct. 17.“The award is really an award for our department,” Bostic said. “It’s recognition of all kinds of ways in which our department has been innovative, and in which the faculty has worked to ensure student success.”Many of the programs the department offers are programs Bostic believes are on the forefront modern language education. The department has developed…

Baylor adds Kaltura to Canvas to facilitate easier media creation and sharing for all users. Kaltura is an added application which expands options and creates opportunities for faculty and students to incorporate multimedia into courses on campus and online.

This is a time for students to learn about other students’ internship experiences.

Athletic director Steve Patterson is gone, too, after less than two years — an abrupt end to his rocky tenure atop the nation’s wealthiest athletic program that remains in turmoil.

Baylor has some of the most incredible and accomplished professors in the nation. Many have graduated from elite institutions and done extensive work in academia. Others are leaders of their fields and have chosen to give back to the next generation. For the elite of these, Baylor has the ability to grant tenure. When granted, a professor receives a significant level of job security. In doing so, the university is making a significant investment. It is making a commitment. But to students, the word “tenured” quickly picks up a negative connotation. To many students, a tenured professor is one who…

In an effort to recover materials and sculptures lost in a fire earlier this month, the Art Forum of Waco is hosting a silent auction from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday.

While in high school, I was probably just like any other kid. I was worried about my future and where I would attend college. Being the proud, and sometimes arrogant, person that I am, I wanted to attend a university that people would respect. If you were to poll all the kids in my high school on which college they would want to attend, Baylor would not have been one of them. The poll would likely place Texas A&M at College Station No. 1. Back when I was in high school, A&M was the place to go. If you were…

Organs aren’t just a cheerful instrument played in church, a fact that assistant professor of keyboard studies Isabelle Demers is well aware of.

Lazy. Irresponsible. Sensitive. Entitled. These are all words employers commonly use to describe our generation as we begin to forge our way into the real world. Too many employers look at our generation and think we are too devoted to social media, too self-indulged in our own desires and are not willing to respond to constructive criticism. Some employers say millennials have lost the ability to think critically in challenging, real-world circumstances and that this generation has always been given the resources to promptly and easily find the answers. Jean Twenge, associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University,…

In a world filled with negativity, sometimes it is difficult to maintain a positive mindset. For years I have found myself struggling with this very issue, as I imagine we all have from time to time. A fact of life is that sometimes it sucks—there’s no other way to say it. Sometimes you want to say, “Peace out,” and crawl underneath your covers until the next morning when you are given a clean slate. In a perfect world, we would be able to do such a thing. However, given the fact that life doesn’t cater toward our every need, we…

Thousands of students, alumni and Waco community members crowded Fountain Mall dressed in green and gold to show their Baylor pride for Traditions Rally on Friday night.

#BU19 Runs the Baylor Line for the First Time from Baylor Lariat on Vimeo. The Baylor Class of 2019 gets their first chance at running the Baylor Line.

Brad Paisley brings Country Nation to Baylor Nation during the annual Traditions Rally from Baylor Lariat on Vimeo. For a night of food, friends, fun and music, Brad Paisley was welcomed to Baylor Nation on his third stop of his Country Nation College Tour for this year’s Traditions Rally.

By David CarusoAssociated PressNEW YORK (AP) — Fourteen years after the 9/11 attacks, a new round of uncertainty looms for people exposed to the million tons of toxic dust that fell on New York when hijacked jets toppled the World Trade Center.Two federal programs that promised billions of dollars in compensation and medical care to sick 9/11 responders and survivors are set to expire next year, five years after they were created by Congress.As Friday’s anniversary of the terror attacks approached, advocates for responders renewed their push for an extension. Bills in the House and Senate would keep the health…

By Rolando Rodriguez Soto, Reporter The North East Riverside Neighborhood Association is gathering its residents and leaders to take a stand against crime. The association is encouraging peace through the first End the Silence, Stop the Violence Rally at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at East Waco Park. The rally encourages residents to end all forms of violence in Waco communities through teamwork and awareness of the physical, psychological, emotional and financial effects of violence. “Every morning when I get up, I hear about violence. I said to myself, ‘Enough is enough,’” said NERNA president Jeanette Bell. “Violence happens to anybody and…