Opinion
Changes need to be made in fraternities
The fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) has made headlines because of its recent video showing members singing a racist chant at an SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma. The fraternity has been suspended from campus and two members have been expelled. While it is still yet to be determined if expelling the members was […]
Financial support for higher education lacking statewide
South Dakota lawmakers approved Senate Bill 91 which grants South Dakota Board of Regents an additional $150,000 to support of needs-based financial aid. Although this is may seem like a big number on paper, in relation to how many students are at USD, this will do almost nothing to help students afford tuition. The South Dakota Needs Based […]
First Amendment should not excuse racism
The University of Oklahoma has closed its chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after a video was leaked of some members singing a racist chant. An OU black student alliance group called Unheard OU leaked the videos, and was happy about the response it evoked from the public. Even the national president of SAE was […]
Interstate speed change dangerous to drivers
It was April 2. I was driving home for my Easter break to Sioux Falls. What was usually a quick, painless drive quickly turned to a dangerous route full of confused drivers. But why all the confusion? Not 24 hours earlier South Dakota had officially changed the speed limits from 75 miles per hour to 80 […]
Police need to be held more accountable
Every eight hours, a cop kills someone. Two hundred ninety people have been killed by cops this year, and in many instances, the circumstances of a given incident do not add up to what officers claim in their reports. Recently in New Jersey, a man named Phillip White was killed while in police custody. At […]
Blocking documentary viewing amounts to censorship
“The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living. … Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same.” Thus wrote George Orwell in his novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” which […]
Women need to be respected as equal members of Army, society
One of the most prominent societal issues at hand today is the constant battle for gender fairness and equality. An example of this has been gender inequality in the military, not only in status but in respect. In World War I women were hired only as nurses and support staff. It wasn’t until 2013 that […]
Vermillion lacks certain culinary college necessities
The first time I drove through Vermillion — my junior year of high school, the days of yore — I was not particularly impressed with the apparent selection of services. There was a Burger King. There were a lot of gas stations — a disproportionate number of gas stations. Why do we never discuss this? […]
“Big Break” conference changes lives
There is an endless list of things to do over spring break: take a road trip with friends, visit family, pick up extra hours at work, travel somewhere exotic, get your tan on at a beach down south — the list goes on and on. I chose to go on a nine-day trip to Panama City […]
Symbolic tattoos should celebrate culture
I have a tattoo in Chinese hanzi, or characters. I studied Chinese for four years, and one year my class learned about idioms. One of the phrases we learned meant “seeing is believing.” I adopted this saying as a personal motto, and since learning Chinese was important to me, I decided to get a tattoo of it. There […]