Opinion

Greek Life Stepping Up Its Community Support; Associated Students of UC Davis Election Irregularities; Marijuana Legalization Would be Beneficial

Imagine a man walks into your school, work, place of worship, community—a place you consider a home away from home. He gives you his name, origins and occupation, and assures you he is of your kind but declares he's new. So you take him under your wing, befriend him and introduce him to your world...

As a great, wise man once said, "The first step to getting yourself out of a hole is to stop digging." I'm not quite sure who first said this, but I know it wasn't a Republican.

The California Supreme Court got it exactly right last May: gays and lesbians should have the same ability to express love and commitment through marriage as heterosexuals always have had. Gays and lesbians should be able to receive all of the legal benefits that marriage provides, and they should be able to experience all the same joys and disappointments of marriage that heterosexuals possess. I realize, of course, that there are some who vehemently oppose the idea of same-sex marriage. The solution is that they should not marry someone of the same sex; however, their personal preference is not a reason to deny others this right.

"I want to begin with an apology to all of you," began former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis at a special lecture to Professor Paul Wattenberg's class "Introduction to American Government" on March 1. "If I had beaten Bush I," he continued, "you would never have had a Bush II." Laughter ensued.

We, the academic community, are faced with an enormous challenge, one that confers great responsibility. Despite innumerable breakthroughs in biomedical research, our best efforts are not reaching the world's sickest and poorest. Every year, 10 million people die needlessly, simply because they lack access to existing medicines and treatments. Even as we continue to improve the lives of patients with HIV, cancer and other ailments in developed countries, the plight of those in the developing world has not similarly improved.

A California state assemblyman took a revolutionary step when he introduced a bill to legalize and tax marijuana in California. Tom Armiano, who believes that taxing the drug would help relieve California's financial crisis, began the first steps toward legalizing the famous, or infamous depending on your perspective, plant. If the legislation passes, California will be the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Vicente Fox? Not on Our Campus! Student Group Protests Speaker; Writer Does Not Appreciate Donor Funds in Study Abroad Piece

The following is a joint editorial that the New University Editorial Board co-signed along with representatives from 43 other student newspapers in support of the editorial staff of the University of Oregon's Daily Emerald. Since the editorial was first published in several of these newspapers on March 6, 2009, the Daily Emerald has resumed publication on March 9, 2009.

Anteaters for Israel (AFI) invited Khaled Abu Toameh to speak about the Israel-Palestinian conflict at UC Irvine last Wednesday. Toameh is an internationally renowned Muslim Arab-Israeli journalist acclaimed for his moderate stance and his intimate experience with the conflict. He spent seven years writing for a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) newspaper and now works for the Jerusalem Post.

Since I arrived in Brazil to study abroad, locals have asked me about the education system in the United States and specifically the UC system. As an education reform activist and a tuition abolitionist, talking about this subject is easy. However, it has not been easy to explain the concept of student debt and the reasons our public university system is not truly public.

With every type of business feeling the pains of our struggling economy, the news industry in particular has faced difficulties making ends meet. While print media is already battling the specter of a slow death, it is the smaller, more local newspapers that are having the hardest time staying alive. Just last week, it was reported that San Francisco might lose its primary local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, if its parent company fails to find a buyer, and Denver's Rocky Mountain News published its last issue on Feb. 27.