[The following letter was written in response to an email from Jim Miller, the director of athletics, announcing that track and field would be officially cut from Richmond's sports roster. Right now it is 8:56 on a Saturday night.
Ah, Ring Dance. Currently one of the most hotly debated issues on the Collegian's website and surprisingly, I seem to be the centerpiece of some of the comments.
For all my past rhapsodizing about how great it is to be young and in college, the truth is, our lives aren't exempt from getting stressful.
Q: I've been seeing this guy for a few months, and I want to get more serious. We got together at the end of last year and didn't talk much over the summer, but we're back on now.
I did something this semester that I thought I would never do. I became dependent on caffeine. I realized this today, as I downed an energy shot before a class because I knew the professor enjoyed making fun of drowsy students.
Recently, a friend , whom I have known for years and always considered a kind and thoughtful person, posted a picture on Facebook. The photo was a list of "reminders," and one of them read, "Dead girls can't say no," while another said, "It's not rape if you yell 'surprise!'" I was shocked, to say the least, and wrote out a comment citing statistics of sexual violence, letting him know that "jokes" such as these have a wide, powerful, political impact.
Q: I read your opinion piece in the last Collegian, and I have seen you around campus.
Two weeks ago, I started noticing stacks of stickers sitting next to the registers in the bookstore and at Passport Cafe.
Fall semester is upon us, which brings two constants on campus: overwhelming humidity and a massive influx of wide-eyed, first-year students. When I'm not wondering why these kids somehow look older than I, I'm feeling nostalgic, and thinking back to my first days at Richmond three years ago. So, to start off this year, gather 'round and let me offer you some friendly senior-to-freshman advice. 1) College is a new start.
I must admit, when I came to University of Richmond in 2009, I was a little confused about what exactly it meant to have a coordinate college system. Growing up with brothers and close male friends, I was worried that it would limit my relationships with members of the opposite sex, and that wasn't what I wanted. I thought, "If I wanted to go to a single-sex university, I would have chosen to go to one." But, here I am, three years later, representing Westhampton College as your student body president.
Q: Between a bad breakup and the long summer, I've been out of the dating scene for a while.
I am extremely disappointed with the university's decision to stop providing academic planners to students this year. When I received an email over the summer notifying me that the student handbook would now be available only in an online format, I didn't realize that planners would not be distributed as a result. This decision is a hindrance to my academic success, and I hope my fellow students will stand with me in opposing it. I applaud the university's efforts to go green, but such environmentally conscious initiatives should not be undertaken at the expense of what has become an academic and organizational necessity for myself and so many other students. For the past three years, my academic life has revolved around my planner and its easy-to-use format--nothing offered in stores works quite as well. It has become a fixture in my college career, a small but much-appreciated reminder of the university's commitment to my academic success. If the university thinks that it can save money or appease environmental regulators by nixing planners, they have grossly overlooked the wide range of benefits that the notebooks have provided to countless students over the years. I sincerely hope that the University of Richmond will reconsider its decision and provide even rudimentary assignment books--we don't need anything fancy or glossy--to the students who want and need them. And I hope that my fellow students will not remain quiet about this decision. If you feel your academic career will suffer as a result, please make your voices heard to your professors and the deans.
To students, faculty and subscribers: welcome to the start of what we hope is an exciting semester. As we begin the school year, The Collegian staff is working toward better coverage of the news that is important to the University of Richmond community. We encourage you to send in story tips to collegianstories@gmail.com, so we can ensure that nothing that happens on campus is overlooked. This year marks another election year, and as a staff, we look forward to hearing your opinions and views as the election season unfolds. We ask you to send in your opinions about important election issues this fall and take a look at your peers' articles. We hope to launch a new and improved web site before the end of the year, and encourage you to visit The Collegian's current page, www.thecollegianur.com, for up-to-date information on campus. On our web site, we offer articles that don't appear in the print edition, extra photographs, videos and archived writing from previous issues. Also, our multimedia team will be restarting the weekly "What's Up In the Web" videos to accompany some of the most important stories covered by The Collegian each week. Our sports team is beginning its coverage of all the fall sports this semester.
As the campus tour begins, my fellow prospective students and I settle into seats in a large lecture hall on campus. The student tour guide moves to the front of the room and starts to recite her spiel.
Rhatican wrote a new article - titled "You know you're a hipster when..." It could be funny if he had any idea what a hipster was, or if there was a single hipster on this campus.
As an alumna of the University of Richmond, I am disappointed with the Commencement Committee's choice of Gov.
I walked down to the Forum on Monday to see all the hoopla about abortion. I was greeted by a forum covered in pro-choice chalk slogans and visuals of aborted fetuses.
As I write this column, I'm counting down the days until Summer Break. Probably by the start of finals week, I'll be able to give you a to-the-hour update on how much time stands between me and pure freedom.
Contact cartoonist Meg Schroeder at meg.schroeder@richmond.edu
1. You are more aware of problems in Africa than anyone else. Now, I think we all ought to feel compassion for the issues plaguing the continent.
