The Spectator - Opinion - Hamilton College

Opinion

Showing articles tagged with opinion [show all]

Learn laws and vote

April 21, 2016

As a New York City expat and first time presidential election voter, my Facebook feed has been filled with posts about specific political candidates and the political system as a whole. As expected for a college student, posts have included mostly pro-Bernie and anti-Trump tirades. More recently, however, posts have decried New York’s voting system as undemocratic and biased against young people and minorities. More specifically, my feed has been filled with posts claiming that New York’s closed primary and its deadlines for registration are ridiculous and evil. There is no doubt that New York’s voting laws are exclusive and unwelcoming — but not knowing them and thereby failing to vote is your fault and not some conspiracy against young people or minorities. More ...

Reflecting on Accepted Students’ Day

April 21, 2016

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Hamilton College. I would also like to congratulate you on making the applicant class of 2020 the most diverse and selective class in the history of the College…yada yada yada… More ...

Tyson makes push for science literacy

April 14, 2016

“You have to be young to think like no one has before.” More ...

Let’s talk about the weird area in Commons

April 14, 2016

Everyone has seen that table in Commons by the drinks. It has a few desserts or muffins, some cereals, a toaster, two refrigerators and a panini press. There are a lot of people who question the purpose of this table, despite the signs, or who know the purpose of the table but ignore it anyways, using the toaster or the press with bread that is not gluten free. (Hint: this table is for people with with gluten allergies.) More ...

What is the deal with keeping kosher?

April 14, 2016

Hillel has been meeting with members of the Hamilton administration for over a decade to talk about implementing kosher facilities on campus. Recently, however, we concentrated our efforts to push for these facilities, partly in response to an incident last week, as well as in response to the general lack of progress over the past several years. We do not expect to have these facilities overnight, but we do think it is reasonable for the administration to give us a concrete timeline on the project to improve kosher facilities at Hamilton. Our newly public efforts have prompted a lot of questions, which we hope to address in this article More ...

Mann talks “scientization of politics”

April 7, 2016

Dr. Michael Mann, a professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, spoke on campus this week about his research in climatology and his role as a scientific communicator. As a lead contributor to climate science, an author of two books and 160 peer-reviewed scientific papers and a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Third Assessment Report in 2001, Dr. Mann became a “reluctant and accidental public figure” for climate change science and a target for the climate denying politicians. Mann was unjustly thrown into public scrutiny after he released his “hockey stick” curve, a graph displaying 900 years of relatively consistent global temperatures followed by a sharp spike upwards after the industrial era. This curve was created using tree-ring data in the northern hemisphere and was included in the 2001 report by the IPCC. Once in the spotlight, Dr. Mann was threatened by American Republicans and accused of misinforming the public with faulty proxy data and hiding the real data. More ...

How the administration ruined nightlife

April 7, 2016

There is a long list of things that have changed since my first year at Hamilton—the length of my hair, the levels of my classes, the place where I live—but most noticeably what has changed over these four years has been my nightlife. Yeah, some of that can be attributed to the typical development of a college student, where freshman year you go wild and by senior year you sit around in your sweatpants. I think that most seniors at Hamilton, however, would tell you about the policies that changed as well, and how a night now is different than four years ago even when we do bring back our fun and crazy first-year selves for a night. More ...

Past, present and future of Africana Studies

April 7, 2016

When I first arrived at Hamilton College, I was so sure that I wanted to be a World Politics major, as I believed that I wanted to start traveling the world, changing governments and being the change that I wanted to see in the world. While I still hold a healthy level of respect for World Politics, it was not for me. The moment that I sat in an Africana Studies course, I knew what I wanted to major in. After I took courses such as the “Black Self” with the Sidney Wertimer Professor of Philosophy, Professor Todd Franklin, “Queers of Color Critique” with Visiting Professor of Africana Studies, Yumi Pak ,and “Blackness and American Pop Culture” with Visiting Professor of Africana Studies, Courtney Thompson, I was sold on the Africana Studies department. More ...

Why spring break Instagrams are the worst

March 31, 2016

Instagram ruined my spring break. Everyone has probably heard from rowers about how awful rowing can be, but it was not the workouts, early mornings or the torn-up hands that got to me; my happiness and athletic drive was sapped by sunset shots over Punta Cana. My ability to shoulder the workload that rowing demands has always come from a sense of solidarity with my teammates as all of us share the same burden. Within the team bubble, I have found motivation to embrace two weeks of two-a-days. Instagram, as is its insidious design, dragged my focus away from the team and onto the enviable, heavily edited spring breaks of my friends. More ...

Spring breaking point: learning to fight back against my depression

March 31, 2016

Spring break: the time for visits with friends, expensive trips to tropical places and countless Instagram pictures of smiling people having fun. While a boozy beach was not my intended vacation destination—I was looking forward to spending two weeks training with the rowing team in scenic Tennessee—I certainly did not anticipate where I actually ended up. More ...