Opinion

One of the most daunting tasks for a family, regardless of its income, is putting children through college. In recent years, as tuition and the number of college students has increased, the amount of private scholarships and federal aid available has grown too slowly to keep up, leaving low and middle-class income families to the wolves. However, there is hope for low and middle-income families struggling to put their children through college: new student loan reforms.

“[The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people have developed their [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land … It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: ‘We desire death like you desire life.’ ”

Every May, the Muslim Student Union, along with a coalition of various student groups, puts on a series of events about the Palestinian-Israeli issue in which the goal is to promote a better understanding of the conflict and to foster critical thinking and debate. Through dynamic talks and interactive installations, we hope to pave a path to engage the student body and faculty in exploring the potential for change. By empowering students with more knowledge, independent of western media bias and bigoted perceptions, we hope to encourage active involvement in promoting a just solution in the region. This week, we will show the tragedy in the loss of humanity when rhetoric and politics take precedence over coexistence and compassion.

Last week, the Obama administration hosted Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., for talks and friendship-building fun-tivities. Usually, the mutual failure to deal with the Taliban and its associates is a source of tension between the two countries. But on this trip, Pakistan could not deny that it was the primary architect of its latest problems. Luckily, the solution lies within as well.

On April 20, the New University published an editorial entitled, "Paying to Play: Buying the ASUCI Presidency," in which the Editorial Board argued for spending caps in ASUCI elections. We stand behind that editorial. Without spending caps, election campaigns have become caught in an arms race, with each candidate forced to spend ridiculous amounts of money in order to remain competitive. This leaves students who don't have large amounts of funding behind. ASUCI campaigns should be fueled by thoughtful proposals and ideas, not by money.

In a recent press release, United Airlines claimed to have receive over 700 complaints last year from passengers who had uncomfortable flights solely because they were seated next to an obese person. In response, the airline carrier adopted a policy regarding the problem. Under the policy, if a passenger is deemed too fat to fit into his or her seat comfortably – the criteria for this is if the passenger is unable to put down the arm rest or buckle the seatbelt with an extender – then that passenger will be charged for an additional seat on the flight for the inconvenience. This development is the latest in a series of attempts to discriminate against obese people, which is arguably the only socially acceptable form of discrimination focused on an entire group of people.

Savana Redding's life as a 13-year-old was significantly more complicated than most. When I was 13, my primary concern was what girls thought of me and how soon I could get contact lenses. Others worried about their grades or soccer teams. Unlike us, Redding was stripped searched by school officials based on the uncorroborated tip of a fellow student.

This past Monday, I opened up my copy of the New University and was unpleasantly surprised by the article, "Catch 22: Regulating Climate Change During a Recession." The article seemed like a standard opinion, yet its assumptions concerning the future of energy reform in the United States were insidious in their capability to convince the average reader of their merit, and thereby encourage complacency.

When Barack Obama first began his quest for the Democratic Party's nomination three years ago, the Dow Jones industrial average was around 14,000 and the world and national economies were in the midst of a boom. By 2008, America's financial industry was in shambles, credit markets were frozen, housing values were decreasing and the economy was in the worst shape since the Great Depression. Add Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea to the mix, and you have got yourself an astounding set of international and national challenges.

ASUCI President Responds to Criticism of Elections Code

A couple of weeks ago, sex specialist Dr. Laura Berman told millions of mothers across the nation on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to buy vibrators for their 14 to 16 year-old daughters. Vibrators? Seriously? Why are we trying to make kids grow up so fast? What happened to the days when all you had to worry about in high school was being in the house before the streetlights came on? Or who you were "going out" with that week, even though you actually didn't go anywhere and when you did, you were hopefully supervised or had strict restrictions? What is even more shocking is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Plan B, also known as the morning after pill, for 17-year-olds without parental permission or a prescription.

David Denby, the resident film critic at the New Yorker, has been, for several months now, making the rounds on National Public Radio and other media outlets to schill his book, "Snark: It's Mean, It's Personal and It's Ruining Our Conversation." The subject of Denby's book, in case it isn't clear enough, is snark.