The Spectator - Opinion - Hamilton College

9/11: A day for remberance, not protest

September 15, 2016

September 11, 2001: As I was rushed out of preschool in Garden City, NY, an affluent New York City suburb a couple of towns over from my own, my father and aunt were chased in downtown Manhattan by a cloud of smoke and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center. I vividly recall my own mother, along with the rest of the mothers, in tears as we left the dated church where the preschool was located. Understandably, I questioned this unusual circumstance in which my mother replied, “get in the car.” It wasn’t until later that I fully understood that magnitude of the events that had unfolded that day. More ...

Butterflies and Orientation Trips

September 15, 2016

I fell asleep on the way back from my orientation trip. As the van made its way home passing through the corn fields on both sides of the road, I relived the many incredible moments with my newly acquainted friends in dreams. All the events manifested in the form of a slideshow as I experienced torrents of emotion all over again. It was only when the trip was near its end that I realized how much I wished it could last and how it triggered an epiphany unexpectedly. More ...

Face-off: Death Penalty fiscally and morally irresponsible

September 8, 2016

In preparation for this piece, I consulted my sister, who is both brilliant and stridently liberal on every issue I’ve ever discussed with her. I was surprised when she reported that she had mixed feelings about the death penalty. She argued that there was evil in the world and it is the role of our legal system to eradicate it. My stance on the matter didn’t evolve because I disagree that there are people who commit heinous, unforgivable crimes. I simply feel that the costs of capital punishment are astronomical in comparison to its benefits. The death penalty is expensive, ethically ambiguous, severely racially biased and proven to be ineffective. It is therefore illogical that we would continue to include it in our criminal justice system. More ...

Face-off: Death Penalty, while not perfect, is viable

September 8, 2016

Capital punishment isn’t perfect but it’s lawful and appropriate in select cases. The death penalty and its decades of ongoing debate of moral and legal implications are not without their fair share of controversy and deliberation. I cannot, and will not, stand before you and dictate that the death penalty is a perfectly executed (no pun intended) responsibility of the Justice Department. However, capital punishment is a viable, legal solution to the most egregious crimes that occur in our home country. More ...

Diversity Requirement needs to be given a chance to prove itself before we condemn it

September 8, 2016

In the Sept. 1 issue, The Spectator published an article by Charles D. Dunst ’18 titled “Diversity Requirement is antithetical to Hamilton’s promise,” in which he forcefully stated his opposition to Hamilton’s new diversity requirement—that students must take one diversity course in their chosen concentration during their college career. More ...

Wippman: the students' president

September 1, 2016

This week, our editor-in-chief interviewed David Wippman, the new President of Hamilton College. The interview reflected not only the general direction President Wippman hopes to take during his tenure but also his character. It is perhaps timely to scrutinize his comments, so that we may ponder and suggest solutions in regards to the various challenges facing the Hamilton community. More ...

The Soapbox: Media representation at the Rio Olympics

September 1, 2016

It should not come as a shock to anyone that the 2016 Rio Olympics were a mess. This year, I was too busy to watch the games as fanatically as I had in the past, so I just watched the post-midnight pro- gramming with Ryan Seacrest, instead. His program covered such titillating demonstrations of athleticism as table tennis and women’s archery. My brother kept me updated on all the big events like Simone Biles’ gymnastic perfection and Michael Phelps’ countless Gold medals. However, the unavoidable news cov- erage of the Olympics did not have anything to do with the events. Instead, it focused on how shock- ingly unprepared Rio was to host the games. Such stories were being published way before the games had even begun with the all-too-real fear of Zika and the State proclaiming a “state of public calamity” that might cause the city to collapse in funds and public security. More ...

Diversity Requirement is antithetical to Hamilton's promise

September 1, 2016

Beginning with the incoming Class of 2020, every matriculating Hamilton student will be required to take one diversity course within their chosen concentration. The announcement, made last spring, has been generally celebrated by the college community and by media sources, such as NPR, although its has been widely derided outside of progressive circles. In an attempt satisfy progressive students and teachers, Hamilton has essentially created safe spaces for these same progressives, limiting free speech and open discourse in the process. Furthermore, by failing to effectively define “diversity,” Hamilton has gifted its professors the right to radically experiment in a way which will affect the entire student body. More ...

A response to transphobia in the Enquiry

April 28, 2016

To the writer of the April 25 Enquiry article entitled “North Carolina Law Protects Women:" More ...

The gross irony of Harriet Tubman’s place on the twenty dollar bill

April 28, 2016

On Wed. April 20, Secretary Jacob J. Lew of the United States Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman, an ex-slave who returned to the South and guided over 100 other slaves to freedom, will be joining former president Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Many were pleased by the news, seeing Tubman’s inclusion as a welcome step toward fair and equal representation for women and black historical figures. Noble though the motivations behind it may have been, the decision to place Tubman on our currency demonstrates profound ignorance of the racial oppression upon which American prosperity is dependent. More ...