Opinion

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OPINION: The Fight's Not Over

June of this year was a groundbreaking month. Same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide and talks to remove the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern pride spread across the country. Although this should be seen as a huge victory for same-sex couples nationwide, with all the excitement many may have forgotten that the fight to gain federal, state and local legal protections in employment, housing and commerce for LGBT people is ongoing.

OPINION: Trumping Bigotry

The 2016 presidential elections are drawing closer, which means the crazies are coming out once again to announce their candidacy to potentially become the leader of the free world. This year the main attention-grabbing candidate is none other than, “The Donald,” also known as Donald Trump.

OPINION: The Confederacy is dying, and it's about time

OPINION: How will we remember Shepard?

OPINION: fin.

OPINION: Don't teach me through Canvas

We live in a very strange era of education. Tuition is higher than ever, but how much of our education is actually coming from classroom experience with a professor?

OPINION: Think before you selfie

We’ve all done it. How can we not? With a front facing camera that has decent photo-taking abilities, why not capture a quick image of what you’re up to?

Letter to the Editor: Response to Protesting for cost-of-living raise

The recent article titled “Protesting for cost-of-living raise” talks about members of the Washington Federation of State Employees union protesting in Red Square to send a message that they need a pay increase. I understand that the cost of living has been increasing, yet their wages are not. It makes sense that they want their incomes to increase. I would too, but where would the money come from to fund these increases? Money would have to be taken from somewhere else to allow for the increase in pay and I worry what the source would be. I also do not see this protest as being efficient. It was on Western’s campus where students do not really have a say what these workers get paid. I believe it is important to their cause to get more people, but I do not think that was the best way to go about it. I am interested to hear if the message had any effect and how many Western students actually paid attention to what was happening. These workers need that extra money just to live, which is very important. Many people in the United States are in the same boat and I believe some kind of larger change is necessary in order for the wealth to be properly distributed so that everyone in this country can at least live, meaning they get what they need to take care of themselves and their family.

Letter to the Editor: Response to "Divestment demonstration embarrassment"

I thought the last letter to the editor disparaging the actions taken by students at the Back2Bellingham event trying to raise awareness for the divestment campaign was rife with contradiction. The author did not agree with the Students for Renewable Energy and their president’s take on Western's support of the fossil fuel industry and he challenged them to "check their privilege." I think the author needs to as well. Living in the region least impacted by the effects of climate change and the results of the continued use of fossil fuels makes it awfully easy to criticize students who are taking brave stances against institutions that pose such threats to the future of our planet. The arguments provided seemed to assume that the easiest means of investment equated to the proper means of investing. When the president of a university is evaluated by how they maintain the status quo and not by the vision they have for the future, it means that easy, short-sighted economic decisions will continue. Multiple banks around the world have divested now, and it is becoming increasingly clear that it is an outdated and dangerous industry to trust our money and our future in.

Letter to the Editor: Divestment demonstration embarrassment

The divestment demonstration during Back2Bellingham was an embarrassment for everyone associated with Western. Portraying President Shepard as a caricature receiving money from Shell is not only juvenile, it's also incredibly ignorant. If I were President Shepard, I would not be upset that students were insulting me, even after I stopped their tuition from raising by refusing budget cuts, but that students were so short-sighted and selfish.

OPINION: Make money or die trying

Everyone gets burnt out eating top ramen. Fast food is only interesting for so long ,and seeing all of those expensive organic vegetables at Haggen gets pretty tempting after a while. Many of us work during college making minimum wage, but shouldn’t our college education provide us with more once we graduate? In our classes, we work hard with hopes of attaining a full-time, well-paying job so we can live a comfortable life.

Guest Column: Faculty support for divestment

San Francisco recently divested from fossil fuels, as did Oslo, Norway. These two international cities stand alongside hundreds of other cities, institutions and universities as testaments to making a bold choice to stop funding the primary cause of climate change.

OPINION: The importance of freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is a necessary part of what makes our country free. But this type of freedom involves outcomes that can be both good and bad.

OPINION: Racism is present in Baltimore, Bellingham and beyond

OPINION: Adventure beyond campus

OPINION: Athlete hits women, makes millions?

If there’s one thing we love in America more than most places in the world it’s masculine athletes. Athletes, more specifically male athletes, are idolized even from young ages. We put them up on a pedestal because they are the epitome of what it is to be a man: strong and powerful.

OPINION: Money on my mind

How many of us want to be employed when we graduate? Hopefully all of us. That’s why we’re all in college and why we’re paying thousands of dollars to be here. By being at Western, we are investing in our future. But where along the road of education have we been educated about how to actually invest monetarily?

OPINION: Transparency could increase student involvment in the AS

At last night’s Associated Students Presidential Forum, candidate Belina Seare opened by stating that the fact that she is running unopposed is indicative of a huge issue with a lack of involvement with the AS by Western students.

OPINION: Weed Education 101 – In a world where marijuana is becoming legal, how will we educate future youth?

It’s the year 2015, and we college students have grown up in a very peculiar period. We were raised in a world where marijuana was illegal and now that’s changing – and it’s changing fast. Washington’s liberal politics push progressive movements forward faster than most, so we see change more rapidly than most other states. But what role will kush play in our society in the future?

OPINION: Don't attack me for my ignorance

In the upper-left corner of the nation, we are blessed with a progressive community that supports progressive language and cultural diversity. At Western specifically, we live in a liberal bubble, and we are expected by many of our peers to keep up with the wide variety of constantly evolving social phrasing. While it is a natural understanding that inclusive language should be embraced, it shouldn’t be taken as an insult if someone doesn’t utilize the proper language. These changes aren’t basic knowledge to everyone, and it’s hard to keep up.