Students should consider Teach for America
March 2, 2015
Dear Illini seniors:I hope this message finds you well, and I hope you’re braving the walk to class, despite the winter weather. As a University alumnus, I remember well those cold walks across the Quad. A year after graduating, I found myself in a warmer but less expected locale, teaching sixth g...
Who benefits from campus civility?
January 10, 2015
As the fall semester ended, the University Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure concluded that ‘“civility’ and all its cognates — responsible, respectful, temperate — or its antonyms — disrespectful, demeaning, intemperate — provide no objective standard of measure.” Unfortunately, the ...
Defending the small and overlooked: Books
October 9, 2014
Two weeks ago, I experienced a sad moment in my life. A friend and I were talking about books and reading, and he made a comment that almost made my jaw drop. “I just don’t understand what’s so fun about reading, you’re just sitting there doing nothing.” Doing...nothing? Since I was a little...
Changing the minority perspective
October 6, 2014
Integrity, inclusive environment, mutual support, professional excellence and trust. These are the five core values that drive the Society of Women Engineers, an international organization with over 27,000 members, 55 percent of which are students. Since it was founded in 1950, SWE has given women engineer...
Critiquing Salaita’s complaints
October 2, 2014
It would seem the capacity to confuse freedom of speech with the utterly unrealistic expectation of freedom from the consequences of that speech is a bipartisan thing. The best example of what we speak is an op-ed piece by not-quite-hired Steven Salaita in Monday’s Tribune. I say “not-quite-hired” because ...
Intolerance a persistent problem at UI campus, students
May 1, 2014
Editor’s note: The following guest column contains profane language. “Hot girl, orange shirt,” I hear behind me as I sprint through the edge of campus near some fraternities. I’m annoyed. I didn’t go on a run to be objectified by my peers. Don’t even ask about what I wore — it shouldn't...
Italian-American stereotypes still persist in film
April 24, 2014
The late and great film critic Roger Ebert, a local boy who did good (in both senses), loved Italy, Italian culture and Italian-Americans. He visited the country frequently, admired filmmaker Federico Fellini, and felt a cinematic, Catholic kinship with an American filmmaker of Italian heritage, Martin Sco...
Vision of a campus bookstore
April 21, 2014
Being an international student who studied engineering here at the University, I have come to realize a fact — though it might be my superficial observation — that not as many people go to the library to find a good read anymore. I learned a long time ago that the University has one of the large...
Investigating marketplace literacy in India
April 9, 2014
I knew I was in a very different place as soon as I stepped out of the airport. It was about 1 a.m. local time. I immediately spotted two stray dogs scavenging through trash on the ground. In the distance I saw a group of at least 20 people sleeping on a public lawn. I boarded a bus that was greeted b...
Diverge from status quo to enhance access and affordability to college
February 3, 2014
Late January, the University’s Board of Trustees approved an increase in tuition that will push the total cost of attendance into six figures for University students starting classes next fall. Christophe Pierre, the University’s vice chancellor for academic affairs, claimed that the price hike will...
Vote ‘yes’ on referendum on University divestment from the coal industry
November 13, 2013
This Wednesday and Thursday, students will have the opportunity to vote on the following question: “Do you support the UI endowment removing investments in coal by year 2017?” The University of Illinois system’s endowment, a “savings account” that it has built up over time and committed for long-term us...
Students should consider reducing meat intake with ‘Meatless Mondays’
November 11, 2013
The movement toward more plant-based meals is taking root on college campuses across the country, with more than 200 universities leading the charge with “Meatless Monday” campaigns in their dining halls. Participating in Meatless Monday is a simple change that can have a profound and positive impa...
