Browsing: Editorials

Throughout our short history, the trend for the U.S. government during times of war is to restrict constitutional freedoms while increasing the power of the government itself.

For example, the Patriot Act, signed by former President Bush in 2001, significantly loosened the restrictions on government agencies’ intelligence-gathering methods (i.e. wire tapping) as a response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Jim Crow laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 that disenfranchised the country’s black population and perpetuated legal discrimination of all minorities.

Lest it be said that all the Lariat does is complain about Baylor, today we would like to take some time to congratulate the university on what we see as an innovative and beneficial step — the registration wait-list.

Students have been complaining about stress over tests from time immemorial. The week prior to exams, sleepless students spend time cramming to pass these tests, neglecting rest, food and personal hygiene in the quest for a good — or in some cases, merely passing — grade. In most cases, this can be chalked up to laziness.

We have all heard the horror stories of an advisement gone badly: graduation postponed because of misadvisement; students getting flustered during registration because they were advised to take a course without having the proper prerequisites; simply not getting to register on time because advisers are not available, or better yet, out of the country indefinitely.

The university announced at the beginning of Baylor 2012 that it wants to reach Tier One status, which according to the Carnegie Classification system includes being classified as a Very High Research University.

The United States’ debt has been a current event for several decades now. Rumors continue to circulate about how China will own the United States or about how the government is going to collapse because of the national deficit.

But as citizens, we have a duty to look at the facts, not trust rumors on the Internet.

It’s hard enough being 16, navigating high school and dealing with the gossip of peers.

However, one young girl is dealing with more than just malicious rumors — much more. The Steubenville rape case has gained nationwide publicity due to the controversial way in which several outlets have reported it. The tone of the coverage did not include the sympathy and understanding you might expect a person in this situation to receive, or even objectivity, which is essential in news reporting.

We all wish we were a little bit different.

Be it taller, shorter, thinner, bigger, smaller or whatever, there is always something that could be changed for the better. For China, wishing you were smarter could be a thing of the past.

Think about the things you applaud: a symphony, perhaps, or a play at your community theater. You don’t applaud any old thing, and when you give a standing ovation, you save it for something really special.

Vocational tracks in high school can now be discussed in history classes — because they seem to be a thing of the past.

However, like our Founding Fathers, who took lessons from history in shaping our nation, those who are creating educational policies today should take a long look at the past and reimplement vocational classes across the country.

One of the most stressful parts of the semester is registering for classes.

Registering has several parts: first you meet with your adviser, or advisers if you’re in certain programs, then you must stalk Bearweb carefully to see what times and professors are available for the classes you need. Maybe you check out the reputation of your potential professors online at sites like ratemyprofessors.com.

Trying to stop Internet piracy is like playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.

One site may shut down, but in no time, it will be replaced — and the sites and those who frequent them just keep coming.

Founded by Baptists, funded by Baptists and for years existing almost solely to educate young Baptists, Baylor would not be many people’s first place to look when finding an example of religious diversity.

It’s easy to complain that kids don’t exercise enough these days. A common stereotype of young people is that they sit on the couch all day with an Xbox controller in hand, a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew to their right and empty boxes of Bagel Bites to their left. While many complain about this, few people do anything to actually try and get kids to go outside and play.

We’ve all seen them. We all hate them: the countless bloggers, tweeters and commenters who incessantly force their consciousness into the Internet under the faceless mask of anonymity. And let’s face it: We do it, too.

Thanks to constantly developing technology, this is inescapable and pervasive. However, a recent bill proposed by an Illinois senator suggests these commenters should be ripped free of their masks and that anonymous Internet posts should be done away with completely.

In a typical day, how many online or digital accounts does a person access?

Most of us have at least 10 profiles and accounts we use on a daily basis all with different security settings and passwords (or variations of the same password). Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, email accounts and not to mention the several Baylor accounts we need just to function in school have bogged down our lives with the constant need for connection to the cyber-world. We don’t mean to get overly morbid, but what honestly happens to all of this when you die?

When you purchase something, it becomes yours. You own it, and you should be able to do with it what you wish.

This sounds pretty simple, but the government is struggling with this concept.

The law of the land in the United States says that unlocking your cell phone is illegal. This means that a phone purchased from, say, Verizon cannot be unlocked and used on AT&T’s network.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

This famous quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” actually belongs to minor character Marcellus, but this small line from a small character has come to resonate with all people seeking change in their governance.

Things aren’t as bad here as they were in Hamlet’s Denmark— but the issue of the new student regent doesn’t pass the smell test.

Before we begin, it must be stated that this is not a unanimously written editorial.

The Lariat editorial board, whose voice is supposed to be represented in this space, could not come to a unanimous decision on the issue of allowing concealed handguns on campus.

That is why it is the official position of the Lariat editorial board that Baylor University, through the Office of Institutional Research and Testing, should make it a priority to survey the campus to see where we all stand on the issue. It should then make those findings public as soon as possible and send them to area lawmakers.

Students are expected to do their homework, attend class according to the attendance policy and keep ahead of their assignments and grades.

To do so and keep track of our progress, we’ve been given Blackboard, our one-stop answers website. Professors can post syllabi and document students’ attendance and grades. This wonderful tool can help keep both students and teachers organized — so why doesn’t everyone use it?

Most people don’t mean it when they say, “You don’t like it? So sue me.” But one graduate student who didn’t like her grade did just that.

A judge recently ruled against former graduate student Megan Thode, who was suing Lehigh University for $1.3 million in damages as well as to raise a C-plus grade she earned in a class that was mandatory to earn her master’s degree in counseling and human services. Thode claimed the professor of the fieldwork class discriminated against her because she agrees with same-sex marriage and the professor does not.

Attendance.

There have countless debates on this topic before, and that’s to be expected from a large student body composed of people who pay thousands of dollars to be here while pursuing a degree. From how strict policies are from one college to another, to how hard it is to keep track of several different policies a student may have for each class, attendance will always be a hot-button issue on campus.

And don’t even get us started on the seemingly pointless regulations on what is considered an excused absence and what’s not.

Grades are important to everyone. Whether they’re worried about getting into graduate school, law school or even into the work force, grades are important. The academic scholarships most students have are also contingent upon maintaining a certain grade point average.

Academic distinctions, honors and societies are all dependent on maintaining a certain GPA, a certain ratio of A’s to B’s to everything else. It’s hard enough to maintain our GPA’s without having to worry about each professor trying to redefine the grading scale.

Thanks to Facebook’s new Graph Search feature, you can run, but you can’t hide your pictures.

Graph Search, which is currently being tested, is a Facebook search engine that allows you to find information based on specific search word combinations, for example, “people who like dogs and live in Waco.”

If you go to college, you most likely have loans. It’s a glaringly obvious fact, but it bears stating.

Another glaringly obvious fact is that the cost of higher education is rising. According to CNN Money, the cost of private education has increased by 60 percent from the mid-80s and the cost of public education has doubled in that time.

Baylor makes sure to equip the football team with the best gear. The Baylor Science Building has state-of-the-art science equipment. Armstrong Browning Library has beautiful art throughout its halls.

But no bathroom on campus has quality toilet paper.

Required Human Performance classes are Baylor’s way of encouraging students to work out more, and it works.

For a very small percentage of students.

There is no one-size-fits all solutions for the way students choose majors or learn material, so why assume their is for the physical stuff? A set number of required Human Performance classes is not going to work well for most Baylor students.

A specter is haunting Baylor — the specter of unemployment.

It looms like a great shadow on the edge of every Baylor student’s thoughts.

What happens if I can’t find a job after graduation?

How will I pay my student loans off?

We understand the idea behind five-day language classes: more time in class offers more time to learn and should help students.

However, that is not the reality. Ranging from Arabic to Spanish, some low-level language classes, which are required in some cases, are offered from Monday through Friday.

There were 2,892 science majors in 2011 according to Baylor Institutional Research and Testing.

That’s about a fourth of Baylor’s 2011 total undergraduate enrollment of 12,754. That number does not include graduate students and faculty members with offices in the Baylor Sciences Building who might spend more time there than undergraduate students with classes there. That number also doesn’t include students from other majors that take classes in the BSB.