A call to digitize housing lottery
April 28, 2016Everyone on campus knows that the housing lottery is horrendous. It’s a stressful time of year that causes a lot of campus contention and drama. How can we change this process? More ...
Opinion
Anxiety on the Hill
April 28, 2016When I was younger, everyone told me “College is the greatest time of your life!” I had this picture in my mind that it was all fun—a time of no rules or responsibilities. But, as I got closer to my “amazing college years,” I came upon my own realization: college can be both the greatest and most difficult time of your life. When I received my acceptance letter from Hamilton, it all became real to me and I recognized both my excitement and dread. Fear arose within me because I knew that I would experience all the typical struggles of a college student, but also the added problem of the unwanted companion I’ve had to deal with most of my life: my mental illness More ...
Absence lets the mind wander
April 21, 2016How does student activism impact a campus? Does activism lead to change and growth? Or is this activism viewed with a level of disdain from those who feel naught but apathy? More ...
Learn laws and vote
April 21, 2016As 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, 2016I 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, 2016Everyone 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, 2016Hillel 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, 2016Dr. 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, 2016There 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 ...