The Collegian
Friday, September 05, 2025

Opinion


Opinion

Goverment thinks of raping women with its abortion bill

According to a new bill that was passed in the Virginia State Senate and that is undergoing debate in the House, a Virginia woman who wants to have an abortion would be required to have a transvaginal ultrasound test before the procedure can be performed. And since the vast majority of abortions take place in the first trimester, in which a "jelly on the belly" scan cannot produce clear images, this means a condom-covered-ultrasound-probing rod would forcibly penetrate the woman's vagina. Even worse, this bill would mandate the invasive ultrasound. This legislation has many people rightfully shocked by what appears to be a blatant violation of what Virginia law defines as "rape," thrusting an object into a woman's vagina without her consent. The Republican-sponsored bill frivolously states that the ultrasound is for the purpose of obtaining the gestation age.


Junior Kara Logan observes T-shirts designed by victims and friends of victims of domestic violence including Richmond faculty, staff and students on display at the Clothesline Project. (IVORI ZVORSKY/THE COLLEGIAN)
Opinion

My body, my choice

A montage of media clips flickers into focus in front of my armchair, and a matter-of-fact voice says: "There is a moral panic in America over young women's sexuality." The voice belongs to feminist author Jessica Valenti, and the clips flash from her 2011 documentary called "The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women." My armchair is planted in the Westhampton Living Room, where I'm one of the few attendees outside of students from the Women in Living and Learning program who are hosting the screening.


Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Study Abroad

After reading the article "Studying Abroad: The Transition to Richmond," I couldn't help but notice that the sentiments in the article were quite different from mine studying at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Maastricht University operates on a learning system called Problem-Based Learning, in which students are given cases to solve as a group during class using the day's readings and the group's collective knowledge.


Opinion

Films over football

Last weekend, instead of using the Super Bowl as an opportunity to eat crappy game food, drink beer and hang out with a bunch of overly aggressive guys who are more interested in watching grown men with bulging biceps run around in spandex than cute girls in jerseys, my apartmentmate and I opted to go see "The Woman in Black." Sure, we might not be the coolest cats in the litter box, but we decided that this was the year to accept that we will never understand football and do something that we are good at instead.


Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Risk on campus

Multiple types of media affect our perceptions and realities about all aspects of our lives. Such has been the case recently at the University of Richmond involving a social event sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. As it often happens, the use of social media provides information without full context or accuracy.


Opinion

Keys to happiness

Everyone in the world is connected by the desire to be happy. There are thousands of articles out there on how to achieve and preserve happiness, yet people are still seeking desperately that coveted secret to contentment.


Junior captain Lauren Folgosa gets ready to drive the ball during practice on Friday. The women's golf team will play against 13 other schools during next week's Spider Fall Invitational. (Eliza Morse/The Collegian)
Opinion

Response to: Guns on campus law

I would like to reply to both of your writers, Ben Panko and Elliot Walden, about this topic. As a faculty member, I may bring a perspective to the debate over guns that few students or colleagues share.


Opinion

College search for post-grad fulfillment starts

I have resigned myself to the pathetic fact that I will be living in my parents' basement for the rest of my life, hoping that they love me enough to support me for years to come while I wallow in the sad realization that I will never get a job. As a second-semester senior, I'm moderately to majorly freaking out about my life post-graduation.