Columns

During President Eric Kaler’s second State of the University address, he tackled some of the ways to reform college education tuition issues. One that he rejected, however, was the recent call in Florida to charge liberal art majors more than other degrees.

There are several reasons why this is a bad idea.

First, arts majors generally make less money than their peers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. To place an even larger burden upon arts majors than they already have is
nonsensical.

"Vietnam Veteran. Need money to eat, haven’t eaten in a while,” reads the sign that a homeless man held outside Sanford Hall.

As the light turned red, I waved at him to come closer and handed him my 7-layer burrito from Taco Bell before I sped off.

On Wednesday morning, state legislators introduced a bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota. The bill would overturn a prohibitive statute.

Social media certainly has provided an abundance of positive and negative stories. I find this especially true of Facebook. The plethora of Facebook users runs the gamut from the affluent to the downtrodden. Social status isn’t important to Facebook; Facebook welcomes you no matter who you are or where you come from.

It’s no surprise how expensive getting a college education has become. Some students have found rather interesting ways to get a good bang for their buck.

Imagine a young woman in college. She is sincere about her education, but even with scholarships, parental support and/or a job or two, she is struggling to make ends meet. She finds a way to fulfill her academic aspirations without having to slug it out for countless hours or get buried under loans. She gets herself a sugar daddy.

It’s no surprise how expensive getting a college education has become. Some students have found rather interesting ways to get a good bang for their buck.

Imagine a young woman in college. She is sincere about her education, but even with scholarships, parental support and/or a job or two, she is struggling to make ends meet. She finds a way to fulfill her academic aspirations without having to slug it out for countless hours or get buried under loans. She gets herself a sugar daddy.

It has been almost two months since Texas teenager Emily Bauer became stable enough to come off of life support after suffering several seizures and strokes, allegedly caused by synthetic drugs. Bauer is now constrained to a wheelchair and has only recently regained the ability to swallow solid food.

Like many teenagers, Emily fell victim to the pressures of adolescence and made a bad decision to consume drugs. But instead of suffering from a headache or increased appetite, Bauer suffered blood clots in her brain that led to severe brain damage.

Last week during one of my classes, the person in front of me spent the entire period using Adobe Photoshop to design an event invitation. Attempting to view the professor and her PowerPoint rendered it impossible to completely block his activity from my vision, and on more than one occasion I found myself getting caught up in what he was doing. As he tested out multiple positions for one of the items in the image, I found myself inadvertently forming an opinion on where it should go. I then realized I had gone 10 minutes without taking notes.

The Internet has changed the way that we learn, including the way we learn languages. Universities across the country have added online options to their course catalogues, including the University of Minnesota. While I appreciate an occasional online course to supplement a tirelessly heavy workload, language classes should not be offered online at the University.

Seeing more than a few brave souls sporting shorts this week tells me spring fever must be setting in early. February winding down means that just over two months remain in seniors’ college careers — and it’s time to prepare.