Politics at Wittenberg

I'm a Communication major with a Journalism minor. I am very much interested in politics. I love politics in fact. I have been following politics since 1998. But I'm often wondering why don't more students talk about politics? What is it about politics people don't like to talk about or wish to ponder about?

President Obama last night addressed the nation about his plans to move the United States of America forward. He talked about his plans to bring home troops from Afghanistan and Iraq this year, education reform, invoation, and inferstructure. But he also talked briefly about the United States' debt and deficit and how we plan to tackle this issue. My question to people: Do you not care about the future of your country? Do you not care about your fellow citizens? I follow politics and get emotional about it- because I care about my country, the poor and want the best for people. I saw the days of Bush in our country and how things went downhill.

President Obama talked about his plans to reform education- to make sure every single student has a chance to go to college- and how the United States becomes the number one country where citizens graduate from college. Does that not appeal to people? 

I think it is important to follow politics in this country. Everyone needs to understand this affect them in a very big way. For example if Bush still were in office- we could still be in Iraq for even longer. This effects students. The health care reform bill- it ends pre-exhisting conditions, but more importantly this effects everyone! You can stay on your parents health care until you are 26.

College kids follow politics- know what is happening in your country! And fight for what you believe in!!

Race at Wittenberg University

What a sad thing that happened on the campus of Wittenberg..... on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the day we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King, and his influence to our nation, a student wrote on another student's wall, "White's only, No Colored." This not only angered me, but it made me not understand how our society still is so racist. It has been over fifty years.... how is the country still judging someone on the color of someone. It is really sad that people still have such negative thoughts of African Americans. Racism is going to get worse before it gets better I believe. People are always complaining about African Americans- and always complaining about how they are all on welfare. Maybe that was the case because they were never given a chance to live the American dream- and get that education, or have a fair chance at getting a job because of their color. The U.S. government has something called, "affirmative action." They get free points on their college applications, and they have a better chance at getting into colleges. People always complain about this. But can I ask you something. Is it fair to not accept someone and give them the same equal chances because they went to a worse school that's not their fault? Why shouldn't we be giving equal chances. Do you remember the University of Michigan case that occured with affirmative action in 2003?
We have affirmative action because of the awful treatment to African Americans in our country until the 1960's. And, people are like, "Why should I be affected by this, I wasn't alive back then!" We'll, the reason you should be affected is because your society needs to be sorry for the mistakes that you did to your fellow citizens and this should be away of giving African Americans a chance to make a come back after not giving them a chance.

There was another incident in 2008, where someone lit the GSA float on fire, and there was not much of a reaction by the college campus as there was in this instance when a student wrote a horrible note on another student's. Why did this incident make it more important to address further than the float incident?

As an Indian American, I have seen people make very racist marks about my own race. Rememeber that guy who wanted to be re-elected as Senator in Virginia, but lost because he called an Indian American, a "mackacka". What about at the airports? Have you ever flown a flight and you get "randomly selected" to go through extra security? I think this is racial profiling, and this is wrong.

We need to remind ourselves, this is a country of Hindu's, Muslims, Christians, Jews and many more. This is a country of many ethnicities and diversity. If we want it to stay that way we cannot allow racism to be around.

Drinking in college

This last Friday, I was exhausted. I needed to relax, but I also wanted to go out with some of my friends to someone’s house to dance and have a good time for a few hours. However, I was on a mission. I was out to look at two different things. I wanted to know if people were drinking to black out, and if people were using illegal drug substances that are prohibited in the United States by law.

I was surprised by what I was seeing. Most people were taking shots, and by this point- you were wondering why exactly people are doing shots when they are completely intoxicated or at a stage they shouldn’t be drinking anymore. But on our college campus, alcohol is abused and used much more than you think. If you have no plans of going out anywhere, you can be rest assured that you are for the most part welcomed to any party, if you at least know of one person there. You’ll get free alcohol and you can let your worries go away- we’ll at least that’s why a lot of people do drink.

College campuses across the United States have began an effort to begin to ask the federal government to allow students to drink beginning at the age of eighteen. They want them to change the law. At The Ohio State University, you’ll be able to see the president of the university, Dr. Gorden Gee at parties on their campus which is surprising and interesting to ponder about.

But this weekend, I noticed people smoking outside one of the residence halls. I was curious at what they were smoking, but then I noticed it was a group of seven people sharing smoking marijuana. The occasional people were smoking cigarettes. My question is: If such an illegal substance of marijuana is being used by a lot of college students- why is this banned?