The recent protests across the nation exemplify frustration over a system that repeatedly fails to defend people of color. People of color may have gained civil rights on paper, but Ferguson demonstrated that those words are not enfoced. Make no joke about it: the political system is set up to fail blacks and working class communities. More ...
President Obama’s recent executive order will provide aid to many young and undocumented residents, and I personally approve this push toward change. Every President has passed an executive order dealing with immigration issues, and Reagan even gave amnesty to undocumented residents. More ...
The Clinton Courier of November 19, 2014 published a very interesting story about the “1793 house” at 60 College Hill, owned by the College, and currently the site of an archeological dig conducted by the students of our colleague Nathan Goodale. Towards the end of the story the reporter notes that the house’s fate is uncertain because the “option of demolition” is “being seriously considered.” And it suggests that “this building, while old and historically interesting” may not be worth the price of its maintenance. More ...
Around 11:00PM on Thursday, September 25th, my friend and I were walking down the hill to his dorm room. We’d enjoyed a lovely night in the Filius Events Barn with Shakey Graves, and were chatting about his music as my friend fiddled with his bike. We had just passed Couper Hall when a vehicle turned toward us off of campus road. It drove up the hill toward us, a bright LED flashlight flickering on in the passenger seat as it neared us. The flashlight worked as intended, dazzling our eyes and keeping us from identifying the vehicle’s occupants. The car slowed to a crawl as we passed. More ...
In Mexico, there have been waves of protests and citizen upheavals that it has not experienced in recent memory. The protests before the 2012 presidential elections pale in comparison to the current situation, and perhaps now more than ever it is critically important to be watchful of the development of this latest chapter in the country’s history. More ...
The midterm elections took the pulse of a nation that is losing faith in their president and the establishment currently in Congress. Seven senate seats changed parties and three senate incumbents lost their seats as Americans sent a message that they expect more from the current administration. However, it is unlikely much bipartisan legislation will result from these changes. More ...
This is the tenth opinion piece I’ve written for The Spectator. I started with the idiocy of college rankings, and have since covered everything from club sports to the FYE to YikYak. I like to think I have gotten progressively better at it, and in that vein, I would like to point out some of the biggest problems I see with other opinion pieces I have seen published in The Spec. Some are based on content, and some are based on style, but I think at a school that is renowned for its writing instruction, we should all expect more out of our student publications, especially our journalistic ones. More ...
Wouldn’t it be nice to have 100 trillion dollars? That would not just make you the wealthiest person in the world; it would let you purchase the entire world economy and have a decent amount left to maybe purchase Mars. Hold on! What if that money is in Zimbabwean dollars? Oops, but due to inflation, you can only spend your entire wealth on a Big Mac. More ...
There are several advantages to a liberal arts institution: small classes, educational freedom and an emphasis on critical thinking and resources. Here, I am referring to physical monetary resources that have easily allowed Hamilton to build an elegant new art center, or to bring a celebrity to campus for a speech each year. However, we are not the only ones who do that. More ...
Last weekend, Hamilton hosted a regional water polo tournament, giving me a chance to hang out with an old high school friend of mine who plays for Renssalear Polytechnic Institute. As we talked about our respective colleges, we began to notice that there were rather stark differences between our two institutions. Oftentimes, being isolated on the Hill can blind us to just how different Hamilton can be, compared to other colleges. More ...