Recently in the news, there has been lots of media covering sorority and fraternity life and it's rather large stereotypes that typically end up to be true. While usually the big media coverage goes to the issues of race inequality that sororities and fraternities have, the most recent story has to do with a rather disturbing thing. The Sigma Nu house at Old Dominion had three large painted sheets hung up on their house reading things like "Freshman girl drop off" and "Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time". While these are both offensive and disrespectful to women, it puts a harsh light on the frat/sorority scene. How far is too far? What has been able to get by the rules that is now common and goes unnoticed? It's moments like this where we question how many incidents of rape and excessive drinking (including underage) happen in the Greek life. It not only becomes questionable to people's safety but it is slowly starting to become more and more out of control. Should the police interfere? Should school regulation be stricter? It's pretty hard to think about because some sororities and frats do very good things like community service and providing housing and links to job opportunities. However stories like this make me wonder if having a big Greek life is a good thing at all because at a certain point it is just rude and promotes very bad character. The Sigma Nu house was suspended, but everyone knows that isn't the only frat like this. Is it a bigger problem than people are making it out to be? I think it needs to get under control.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Sigma Nu Frat Supended
Recently in the news, there has been lots of media covering sorority and fraternity life and it's rather large stereotypes that typically end up to be true. While usually the big media coverage goes to the issues of race inequality that sororities and fraternities have, the most recent story has to do with a rather disturbing thing. The Sigma Nu house at Old Dominion had three large painted sheets hung up on their house reading things like "Freshman girl drop off" and "Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time". While these are both offensive and disrespectful to women, it puts a harsh light on the frat/sorority scene. How far is too far? What has been able to get by the rules that is now common and goes unnoticed? It's moments like this where we question how many incidents of rape and excessive drinking (including underage) happen in the Greek life. It not only becomes questionable to people's safety but it is slowly starting to become more and more out of control. Should the police interfere? Should school regulation be stricter? It's pretty hard to think about because some sororities and frats do very good things like community service and providing housing and links to job opportunities. However stories like this make me wonder if having a big Greek life is a good thing at all because at a certain point it is just rude and promotes very bad character. The Sigma Nu house was suspended, but everyone knows that isn't the only frat like this. Is it a bigger problem than people are making it out to be? I think it needs to get under control.
ISIS blows up 2,000 year old Temple in Palmyra, Syria
Pictured above is a photo of the temple in Palmyra pre-explosions. ISIS seized the Palmyra ruins in early may, causing concern for many Syrians and historians everywhere. On August 25th, ISIS supporters posted photos to show the destruction that happened to the Baalshamin temple. The pictures show the men rolling barrels of explosives into the temple and strapped them to columns. They used IEDs to level the site. Recently, they also destroyed two Islamic shrines nearby. UNESCO has declared this act a "new war crime". Honestly, I don't think that the US should get involved with ISIS, but someone has to do something. I don't know who it is going to be, but right now there is no plan of action as far as I know, and ISIS is not only growing in size but they threaten thousands of people and rape countless numbers of women daily. It is out of control and unacceptable.
Armed Teenager in West Virginia High School
On Tuesday August 25, a teenager at Philip Barbour High School in West Virginia held multiple classmates and a teacher hostage at gunpoint beginning around 1:30 PM. After the police showed up and long negotiations occurred, he allowed the hostages to go and then proceeded to put down his gun and surrender to the police at the scene. There were no injuries and no reports of the student ever pulling the trigger. The student was taken to the hospital to try to sort out what prompted him to do this. He has not been pressed with any charges yet, if they even will. Guns are not allowed in schools in the first place, along with any other weapon of any sort, however, i believe that just having this rule isn't enough. I think that police need to do a better job of protecting students. Lately it seems that there are more and more incidents in public gathering places: schools, movie theaters, etc. I think that it is somewhat on the police's shoulders. I think that every school should have metal detectors. The reason most don't is because they don't want the school to appear "unsafe", but the reality is that before they know it, their school can become "unsafe" in an instant.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Topless Pride Parade
Today, August 23rd, a group of women formed a parade and marched around Times Square topless in support of women's ability to be shirtless in public.This was a part of the nationwide GoTopless Day. While it is legal in New York state for women to be topless in public, Mayor de Blasio took a stance against them saying that is was "unacceptable". Many women there held signs that read "women's breast are family friendly" and said that women's boobs should be desexualized. Personally, I don't understand why this is legal. I consider being topless public nudity and while some may disagree, there is a reason that people wear bikini tops and that is because it is private and should be kept that way. The criticizing of the mayor's words were unnecessary, I think that was his opinion. While I believe that people have the right to stand up for what they believe in, I just don't see how public nudity is something worth fighting for.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Northwestern Football Team Declined in Ability to Form Union
On January 28, 2014 the Northwestern football team petitioned to be represented in the National Labor Relations Board by the College Athletes Players Association so that they could partake in collective bargaining.Over the past year and a half, the Board found them employees and granted them representation which, two months later, was back under review. On August 17, 2015, the Board decided to decline to assert jurisdiction over Northwestern University grant-in-aid scholarship football players and dismissed the petition. I think that this is rather unfair. I believe that even though Northwestern is not a state school, because they are getting paid, they should be able to unionize. Even if they weren't getting any money, I think they should still be able to unionize.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)