Opinion

I believe “Dreamers,” or the beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, are every bit as American as myself, and deserve to be treated with dignity. Perhaps our nation’s perpetual partisanship is making me cynical, but if there’s one thing that surprises me about Dreamers, it’s the wide support felt by many citizens […]

I’m 21 years old. But last Tuesday, I felt like I was 5. On Feb. 6, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Tensions were high. For those not familiar, SpaceX is a private company that develops and launches rockets into space. Essentially it’s a private version of NASA. The Falcon […]

What if every fifth person in the room was visibly ill? Would one be worried about them? Would one want to try to help them? This is actually a reality, with a catch; you can’t see that people are ill. One in five people in the US has some sort of mental illness. To let that sink […]

The President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusiveness has selected “privilege” as the theme for the spring semester and invites everyone on campus to plan events around that concept. “Privilege” can be defined as “a special advantage or benefit not enjoyed by all.”  This sort of right, advantage or immunity often is not sought out – […]

As I sit in a classroom full of students, all I can hear is the tapping of laptop keys, not the clicking of pens or the rustling of pages being turned. What’s truly sad is that technology, including laptops and cell phones, take dominance over printed or hard copied books in the classroom. Often students […]

A bill introduced in Pierre, House Bill 1073, which aimed to protect free speech on college campuses in South Dakota, has failed in committee. I am deeply disappointed in the South Dakota State Legislature, as well as our own SGA, and their vote to oppose House Bill 1073. While I understand their concerns, I find […]

ICARE, the $300,000 grant to prevent and respond to sexual assault on campus, was introduced to students and staff last Thursday. Though long awaited, ICARE has done well in its implementation. In October of 2016, USD was awarded the grant by the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women to address sexual assault on campus. […]

As a gay book nerd, I grew up only being exposed to heteronormative romance stories. This is why Andre Aciman’s gay romance novel “Call Me By Your Name” has become my favorite romance novel. Growing up in the 1990s and 2000s, the representation of same-sex couples in media – whether in books, TV shows or […]

I believe for many college freshmen we imagine what college will be like and how college will change. What school will I go to? Who will my roommate be? What will I major in? These casual questions will cross your mind in your early teens, but before you know it, it’s the senior year of […]

The hardest and most exhausting statement I’ve had to repeat hundreds of times is “I’m gay.” Since starting at USD this past fall, I’ve realized how much I’ve taken for granted that it’s been several years since I’ve had to come out of the closet. And over winter break, I was reminded of how envious […]