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...

Ryan’s decision not admirable

By Steve Brusatte / January 24, 2003

Josh Steinman’s article on former Illinois Governor George Ryan’s decision to empty death row (“Ryan Makes the Right Decision,” January 17) is saturated with statistics and empty praise, but it fails to provide a commonsense look at Ryan’s actions. Steinman falls back on the oft-repeated claims constantly parroted by liberals opposed to the death penalty:...

Staff Editorial

By The Maroon Staff / January 24, 2003

The University of Chicago, as a student body and as an institution, has long had a charitable attitude towards progressive ideas; it has been a point of pride. As such, the Green Campus Initiative has begun a two-month contest to see which dorm can use the least electricity and has completed a proposal intended to...

Rumsfeld dishonors draftees

By Pamela Koszut / January 24, 2003

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was asked his feelings on the draft proposal made by Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York. In his reply, he recalled the draft experience of Vietnam. Rumsfeld said that conscripted troops in the Vietnam War “trained for a period of months, and then went out, adding no value, no...

The new college application

By Phoebe Maltz / January 21, 2003

At the highly selective college that I am going to found, I will work hard to create a flawless admissions process. I will grapple with how to promote diversity while avoiding punishing those who are white or non-diverse minorities. I will see to it that I promote geographic diversity while assuring that students from non-boonie...

Bush’s lip service to MLK

By Joshua Steinman / January 21, 2003

People packed the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama on December 5, 1955. It was late, but news had spread quickly throughout the community that the Montgomery Improvement Association’s newly elected leader, a young reverend named King, was to speak. There, that night, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. elucidated the founding principles...

Three easy steps to an opinion

By John Lovejoy / January 21, 2003

“I would write for Viewpoints, I just need a topic that hasn’t already been beat to death.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from the various friends, acquaintances, and derelicts I routinely pester to contribute to this section. Frankly, I can see why people would think that. Iraq, Israel, affirmative action,...

Ryan makes a Quixotic gesture

By James Liu / January 21, 2003

In the second half of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza becomes the governor of an island, and develops a reputation for being wise. One peculiar institution of the island is that whenever somebody sets foot upon it, he is asked where he is going, and what for. If he happens to be lying, he is hanged....

A more direct activism

By The Maroon Staff / January 21, 2003

A more direct activism Some 300,000 people, among them a cadre of University of Chicago students who commuted in vans and cars, arrived in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to protest the proposed war in Iraq. They drew various prominent public figures to support what has increasingly become a public cause. The event looks to be...

Edwards’s lawyer past is a plus

By Ben Walsh / January 17, 2003

It was bound to happen. As soon as John Edwards joined the ranks of Democratic presidential hopefuls, most media outlets introduced him to the American public as the junior senator from North Carolina and a former trial lawyer. Both statements are true, but in the past, Republican opponents have tried to use Edwards’s previous profession...

Staff Editorial

By The Maroon Staff / January 17, 2003

Now that President Bush has stated his intention to file an amicus curiae brief in the pending Supreme Court case dealing with affirmative action at the University of Michigan, the debate over what roles race and disability should play in college admissions has reemerged from obscurity. A recent joint study between the University of Chicago...

Ryan makes the right decision

By Joshua Steinman / January 17, 2003

Courage in politics is rare. On January 11, Governor George Ryan made a courageous decision. Against the wishes of the Republican Party, and even the incoming Democratic governor, Rod Blagojevich, he pardoned all 167 Illinois death row inmates. Taking the words of Justice Harry Blackmun on the death penalty, “The legislature couldn’t reform it. Lawmakers...