Opinions

For the past couple of weeks, social media and news websites have been buzzing over an article posted on Slate regarding solutions to rape culture.  Slate contributor Emily Yoffe’s main point? In order to stop rape on college campuses, young women should stop drinking. Yoffe’s article, as the aforementioned “solution” suggests, focused largely on attacking the current generation’s trends of binge-drinking and hookup culture—a trend I don’t see as necessarily new. “Young women are getting a distorted message that their right to match men drink for drink is a feminist...

  Labels are very important to the queer community. Having been denied the privilege of “normality” that cis-hetero people are granted as a matter of course, marginalized groups cling to labels in order to carve out a loving niche for themselves and others like them in an otherwise hostile environment that could not care less about their sense of belonging. And so, what is normally considered to be a divisive action (labeling, finger-pointing, etc.) actually creates opportunities for building community and safer, more inclusive spaces. Last Saturday, I attended the...

The last month has to have been  difficult for the federal government. The government shutdown generated widespread anger among Americans toward Congress. With the passing of that crisis, the public has a new controversy to focus on: the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov, the website designed to serve citizens under the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly known as the ACA or “Obamacare”). Since its launch on Oct. 1, the website has been plagued with technical flaws that persist a month after launch. Although the White House...

Despite an increase in bicycle storage and the promotion of alternative methods of transportation to get to campus, some students still do not utilize bicycle transportation. The Trail is curious as to if this is a trend, or if it has something to do with how safe students feel leaving their bicycle on campus. Let us hear your opinion by voting in our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments! Do you feel safe leaving your bicycle on campus? (polls)...

For decades, the U.S. government has been waging a “War on Drugs,” a campaign to shut down the international narcotics trade. The latest major bust happened on Oct. 2, when the FBI shut down “Silk Road,” an online marketplace used primarily to sell drugs. The government has been waging this campaign since 1971, when President Nixon coined the term “War on Drugs” as part of his efforts to create a national drug policy. Today, combined state and federal spending on drug policy is an estimated $51 billion a year, according...

Many of this country’s oaths, like the military oath of enlistment and even the Pledge of Allegiance, contain references to God. Despite many legislative pushes to maintain the separation of church and state, such as in the case of marriage equality, these references have remained. Strong religious language is deeply rooted in many of the oaths and pledges recited for official and governmental purposes. The Pledge of Allegiance is one example that is particularly perplexing. The words “under God” were not even a part of the original pledge, but were...

In a country where individual efficacy is diminishing, there needs to be a change in the way democracy is executed. Through small interest groups, technical expertise and low voter turnout, the United States of America is a democracy that takes away the power of the citizen. In order to change society and democracy, the educated person needs to step away from the concept of debate to a more dialogue-driven discussion. For a democratic society, debate is not the most effective way to achieve effective legislation. In debate, statistics tend to...

The Catholic Church is one of the oldest institutions still surviving today, dominating Europe and the world at large for 1000 years. And while it retains only a fraction of the power it once held, it still exerts influence over 1.2 billion people. Institutions that old generally resist change, but when it comes to the recently elected Pope Francis, a crack in the Church’s firm traditionalism is already showing. Elected on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis of Buenos Aires, Argentina has a whole new outlook on the papacy. He believes...

  On Sept. 17, 2011, an estimated 5000 people assembled in downtown New York to protest corruption in the financial system. This movement, known as Occupy Wall Street, attracted a great deal of attention across the nation, though reactions were mixed. A Gallup poll conducted Oct. 2011 found that 63 percent of Americans did not know enough to say whether they supported the movement’s goals. This was likely due to Occupy’s lack of a clear message. The movement was characterized by individualism, but attempts to unite the protestors under a...

You are not alone if you missed the latest news from Kenya. Members of Somalian Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab laid siege to the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi for four days. 67 are reported dead; 175 injured and 71 are still missing. The attack began on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace. The group proudly claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter, citing the Kenyan military’s involvement in Somalia as their primary motivation for doing so. Most of the dead were found with horrific wounds and evidence of torture....

As our generation of third-wave feminists continues its discourse on sex-positive behaviors, the most obvious celebrity of interest has quickly become Miley Cyrus. As tracks from her new album, Bangerz, which dropped Oct. 4, climb the iTunes charts (the album itself hit the number one spot within hours of its release) the already notorious pop star has made even more headlines through her feud with 80’s pop singer Sinead O’Connor. The circumstances of their dispute involve a series of open letters penned by Sinead O’Connor, the first of which O’Connor...