MAC slate will help students

By Ashley P. White-Stern / May 1, 2003

It is a great worry of mine that, amidst a flurry of campaign activity for the 2003-2004 Student Government Executive Committee, the voting population on campus will lose sight of what’s really at stake here: the opportunity to examine and address the fundamentals at the U of C. How frequently does the student body ask...

Santorum II: Don’t restrict sex

By Nick Tarasen / April 28, 2003

Senator Rick Santorum’s recent remarks involving homosexuals have brought the already festering debate over consensual sex in the homosexual bedroom to the fore yet again. “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy,...

Santorum I: Privacy violated

By William Baude / April 28, 2003

In an AP interview that has now become somewhat infamous, Senator Rick Santorum complained about the possibility of a Supreme Court decision overturning anti-sodomy laws. “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home,” he said, “then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to...

Let Iraq choose its fate

By Jasir Ghanchi / April 28, 2003

The U.S. loves to champion democracy and self-determination, especially in the Middle East. Recent articles in this publication have called for a stronger American commitment to democracy in the Middle East, and have suggested that the U.S. should force Saudi Arabia to reform its dictatorial style of governance. I’m sure that those who advocate this...

The Court and sodomy laws

By The Maroon Staff / April 28, 2003

State anti-sodomy laws have been brought up to the Supreme Court with Lawrence v. Texas for the first time since the Court last upheld them in 1986. The Court’s decision in this case will have ramifications in the states which currently now have laws prohibiting sodomy. Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s recent comments about the case...

The power of scholarship

By The Maroon Staff / April 24, 2003

The pervasive campus attitude regarding undergraduates seems to be that the college experience is merely a stepping stone, a necessary but tedious process that facilitates our entrances into graduate schools. This is a gross devaluation of the merit of an undergraduate education. Our time at the University is valuable on its own, not just as...

Sociology of caffeine consumption

By James Liu / April 24, 2003

Apparently, it’s a bad time to be in the coffee business. The Cafe Siena on 55th closed altogether. Meanwhile, the Seattle Coffee Company (Seattle’s Best and Torrefazionne) were recently acquired by Starbucks. I miss the Cafe Siena, though it’s no more than a minor personal lament. I was never more than an occasional customer, and...

A typology of U of C boys

By Persis Elavia / April 24, 2003

How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Good movie. The sequel should be How to Get a Girl in One Night. See, most guys can?t hit on girls without looking like fools. I realize the difficulty; girls are moody and unpredictable, but thankfully you only figure that out after you?ve been dating one for...

Remembering Islam’s role in Iraq

By Justin Palmer / April 24, 2003

Now that we have won the war in Iraq we have to win the peace. This week’s outbreak of anti-American protests, from both within Iraq and without, shows that we must move faster than we thought in setting up a new Iraqi government. That requires recognizing some basic facts about the situation. The first is...

Evaluating success of the war

By Sener Akturk / April 21, 2003

Was Operation Iraqi Freedom successful? The assessment of success or failure rests on the criteria for evaluation. By defining the purpose of an action in a particular way, you can attribute “success” to even the most disastrous mission, and vice versa. The three-week long Iraqi resistance notwithstanding, the operation was a military success. An established...

Empty Hyde Park storefronts

By The Maroon Staff / April 21, 2003

Hyde Park is a dynamic neighborhood, diverse and complex, combining commercial, academic and social institutions. At the Maroon, we’re growing afraid that Hyde Park might be quickly adding another adjective to its repertoire: vacant. With the recent closing of Cafe Siena, Hyde Park is faced with yet another empty storefront, adding to the already too...

Examining the Arab Street

By John Lovejoy / April 21, 2003

Americans across the political spectrum obsess over convincing the Arab Street that we only want freedom and prosperity for them. They hold that demonstrating this will reduce Middle Eastern terrorism. This optimism is unfounded. No matter what the U.S. does to curry Arab favor, even totally disengaging from the region, the extremists will continue to...