Ethics in campus journalism

By Maroon Editorial Staff / November 6, 2003

Late last month, The Justice, the Brandeis University student newspaper, printed an inflammatory column in which a student referred to Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker using a racial slur. Numerous student protests led to the resignation of two editors and the author of the article. We at the Maroon empathize with the editors of The...

Response to racist comment discouraged dialogue

By Barney Keller / November 6, 2003

A recent incident at Brandeis University has prompted an investigation about where our generation stands on race relations. A sportswriter for the Brandeis student newspaper The Justice used the “n” word in a piece published about Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, a black baseball coach. The reference was extremely inexcusable, and he was appropriately dismissed....

Racism in the Republican Party

By Gautham Rao / November 6, 2003

Leave it to President Bush to draw attention to the issue that scares his GOP handlers the most: good ol’ fashioned racist Republicans. You know who I’m talking about—the old schoolers that just won’t go away: Strom, Trent, Orrin. For some reason, the Republican establishment doesn’t like too much public attention cast on these guys—preferring...

Bush put self over country by refusing Iraq deal

By Joshua Steinman / November 6, 2003

There are two big reasons to be skeptical of yesterday’s allegations in The New York Times that “As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March…an influential advisor to the Pentagon received a secret message: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal.” First, there is the issue of credibility. Saddam Hussein is not credible;...

The Shoreland is not worth saving

By John Lovejoy / November 6, 2003

The Shoreland is a dilapidated relic, and sinking more money into this albatross would be a mistake. This dorm has to close eventually, so the administration should use the city’s call for renovation as an opportunity to shut it down now, save the money, and build new housing. A small, vocal cadre of residents have...

It’s all fun and games until someone gets syphilis

By Emily Alpert / November 6, 2003

The issue of abstinence-only sex education seems particularly surreal on this campus, where most people getting an education are busy trying anything but abstinence. Equally strange (although no more surprising) is that the same administration that claims to be cutting the government out of our lives is so intent on getting it into our pants....

Religion in our court rooms?

By Jasir Ghanchi / November 6, 2003

It all started when Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, placed a 2.6-ton monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of Alabama’s state judicial building. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the monument was unconstitutional, and ordered that it be removed from the public area. Moore refused to comply with the...

Vaccine-Autism connection suppressed

By Laura Hamilton / November 6, 2003

When doctors take the Hippocratic oath, they swear to “do no harm.” They do not swear to do on average less harm than good; they’re not supposed to be game theorists. Yet the medical establishment, cowering like a whipped dog at the feet of malpractice lawyers, has grown increasingly disillusioned with the world. The friendly...

Hacked memos on University server

By The Maroon Staff / November 4, 2003

Three University of Chicago students last week posted confidential information about Diebold, a company that manufactures voting machines, on their personal websites. The 13,000 pages of documents, consisting mainly of inter-office memos, revealed the possibilities of miscalculation of election results and unsecure software in Diebold’s machines. While the rest of the world is just now...

Khalidi’s move to Columbia raises diversity questions

By Jeff Friedman / November 3, 2003

As a fellow U of C student, I can empathize with the difficulties Tim Michaels faces trying to write a comprehensive, informative, and engaging article about the recent departure of Rashid Khalidi while coping with classes and midterms (“University Scrambles to Replace Khalidi,” 10/20/03). But I still feel his article falls far short of covering...

Neo-cons and liberals rejoice over war budget

By Patrick Burke / November 3, 2003

The approval of President Bush’s $87.5 billion war budget is a dream come true for both neo-conservative and liberal politicians alike. Neo-conservatives are overjoyed about winning this jackpot for obvious reasons. It allows them to further their ambiguously beneficial, supposedly patriotic, disturbingly crusade-like war against terror in a place that is widely accepted as a...

Solution to voting troubles found lacking

By Gregory Pesce / November 3, 2003

In the aftermath of the 2000 election, there was a rush to install direct recording electronic voting systems (DRE), sleek touch-screen voting terminals that enable voters to cast their vote with the ease of going to an ATM. Digital voting was supposed to bring elections into the digital age. Unfortunately, while remedying many of the...