Opinion

It’s been five months since I arrived at the University of South Dakota as the director of the Center for Diversity & Community. We officially celebrated our opening Nov. 5, 2014, and since then have done a number of things that have been well received by students, faculty and staff. The Center exists to further the strategic […]

Spring break is nearly upon us, and many of us have already made plans. I, for one, will be working and saving money for next semester’s textbooks. Many of the people I have talked to also say they have similar agendas for their breaks. Some say they are going on mission trips, while others say they will […]

On Feb. 24, President Barack Obama vetoed a bill that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline was to be built by the TransCanada Corporation and was originally planned to run from Alberta’s tar-sand fields through Montana and South Dakota, and connect to the to the existing Keystone Pipeline System in Steele […]

Diversity in colleges — and everywhere, really — helps one appreciate how unalike everyone is. Lamont Sellers, director of the Center for Diversity & Community at the University of South Dakota,  said diversity is beginning to blossom in the college setting. “For college students, for colleges in general, we’re living in a more and more diverse world […]

The University of South Dakota is now accepting gender neutral housing contracts. This means students are able to identify themselves with whatever gender they feel connected to. This is a huge step toward gender equality in South Dakota. The non-binary issue of excluding pronouns has become relevant on campus, as it is important to students […]

As a student who recently transferred to the University of South Dakota, I must admit I am disappointed in Student Affairs for not providing any type of  spring orientation when I arrived on campus in January. Having transferred from my previous university over winter break, I was not given any orientation. Since I had previously […]

New media apps has drastically changed how we interact and view each other. It has set standards for how we view the opposite sex and has greatly distorted what is expected in romantic relationships. Specifically, I’m talking about apps like Fade and Yik Yak. On a daily basis, one will find a feed of jokes from the Internet, […]

Your editorial in the February 11 issue of The Volante on K-12 teacher pay in South Dakota toward raising awareness of the low pay of S.D. K-12 teachers was appreciated. Too frequently, the low pay of teachers is dismissed with claims that it is only a nine-month-a-year job. Too frequently, the low pay of S.D. […]

Last week, Craig Stephen Hicks was arrested for murdering three of his neighbors in Chapel Hill, N.C. — Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Deah’s wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and Yusor’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Shady Barakat was a Syrian-American who studied dentistry at the University of North Carolina. Shady Barakat was involved in his community and was dedicated to […]

Springtime welcomes the ever-so-exciting celebrity awards season, in which someone’s favorite celebrity is nominated for best actor, best singer, etc. These awards are demeaning. For one thing, awards tell celebrities that they have to work hard throughout the year so they can win a statue to represent the hard work they did in comparison to their peers. […]