Outlining changes to Chalk

By The Maroon Staff / February 4, 2003

The recent decision to invest $170,000 above costs to refit the Chalk system was sage from more than one perspective. Not only has Chalk proven to be an effective tool for organizing and disseminating class information, but it has shown potential for even more in its few years of use. Classes were taught, with varying...

Mourning space exploration

By Justin Palmer / February 4, 2003

“If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.” When astronaut Gus Grissom made this remark more than 30 years ago, he had no idea...

Bush’s uncomplicated rhetoric

By Andrew Moesel / February 4, 2003

The President’s oratory is direct, forceful, and pointed, but the last thing one can call it is shrewd. Often times it is passionate to the point of being inflammatory–as was the case when he dubbed Iraq, North Korea, and Iran the “axis of evil” in his last State of the Union Address. Perhaps these tough...

Copyright laws deny freedoms

By James Liu / January 31, 2003

It is an odd notion to think that someone owns an idea. It’s in your head, but if it’s to become anything at all, it must go out into the world, but how is it possible to hold onto it? Whatever we mean by ownership, intellectual property can only be a rough analogy to it....

On freedom and meritocracy

By Phoebe Maltz / January 31, 2003

There are two stances that you are likely to hear on affirmative action at selective universities. The first is that it is flawed but necessary. The second is that it has the right goal but is the wrong method for achieving it. When debating the two, few people think to examine why affirmative action is...

Giving Tree branches out

By The Maroon Staff / January 31, 2003

It is difficult to conceive of a situation in which the Bag Lunch program introduced by the Giving Tree RSO would not be a commendable one. Their program enables U of C students to donate unused meal points towards meals for a local soup kitchen. Its purpose is obviously laudable. Recently, the Giving Tree has...

A defense of Bush’s policies

By John Lovejoy / January 31, 2003

Perhaps Josh Steinman can tell me whether he was purposely lying or simply unaware of many key facts when he scribbled his latest diatribe against George W. Bush. As one analyzes his arguments one at a time, one finds that in his zeal to denigrate the President, accuracy was not a watchword for Steinman. First,...

Staff Editorial

By The Maroon Staff / January 28, 2003

The University of Chicago and its peer universities act remarkably like university freshmen–one expects independence, and gets instead peer pressure. We cling to early action admissions and Yale decides to join us, but other institutions balk if Harvard, Stanford and their ilk won’t join the table. Our independence on this matter has been a point...

Feminism on the left and right

By Sara Butler / January 28, 2003

Recent polls have indicated a steady decline in the number of women who feel comfortable using the feminist label to describe themselves. This decline is most marked in the 18-29 age group, where only about one woman in five calls herself a feminist. The feminist establishment attempts to explain this phenomenon: why would the women...

Bush is failing the union

By Joshua Steinman / January 28, 2003

I have a prediction to make: the State of the Union is going to be great theater. President Bush will speak eloquently yet simply. Unfortunately, he won’t stand by his accomplishments. That’s because he doesn’t have many. On education, President Bush has failed. His desire to see children tested on basic skills has led not...

Wavering Europe, think again

By Chris Meeske / January 28, 2003

The role of internationalism in a world dominated by the American “War on Terror” is an ambiguous one. International terrorism is diffuse because of its ability to ignore borders and jurisdictions. The U.S. foreign policy of “going it alone” and ignoring the views and objections of our allies in favor of unilateral actions to theoretically...

Fear and dehumanization

By Justin Ellis / January 24, 2003

“…What with the general fear of a war now being prepared by all nations and the specific fear of murderous ideologies, who can deny that we live in a state of terror? We live in terror because persuasion is no longer possible… “…To come to terms, one must understand what fear means: what it implies...