OCR Text |
Show tlieiSuFiim 2 OPINION Editor's column EDITOR-IN-CHIE- F Where do you get your news? JUSTINAMCCANDLESS forumeditorwestminstercollege.edu Justina McCandless PRODUCTION MANAGER Editor-in-Chi- KENDRA BLACK ef forumproductionwestminstercollege.edu Seriously. BUSINESS MANAGER Where do YOU get YOUR news? If youre like most stu- EMILIO CASILLAS forumbusinesswestminstercollege.edu dents I know, at this moment your mind is blank desperately searching for some kind of suitable answer to a question such as this. If youre like most students, you might want to respond to that question with a minimal and rather pathetic response like I get my news off Twitter or Facebook, or I get my news from my parents, or the absolute worst most of the time I dont get response any news. Ive been asked this question many times since starting college and Im sorry to admit that until recendy I never had a satisfying answer for it. Honesdy, I still dont have a satisfying answer. And Im guessing, neither do you. If there was one word to describe our generation it would be apathetic. We just dont care. Or at least, we dont do anything to show that we do. We all know theres a problem when none of us know the names of our senators and the most we do everyday to connect with our world is log on to Facebook. Well guess what? Facebook doesnt connect you to the world, it only connects you to the small group of people in the world that you already know. So thats not really connecting you to anything, at least not to anything new. We are all living in tiny, tiny bub- ADVISER KIMBERLY ZARKIN ASSISTANT EDITOR IAN COPPOCK CONTRIBUTING WRITERS MORGAN ANDERSON RANDY AUSTIN STEPHEN COOK IAN COPPOCK JOSHUA FISHER NICK KUZMACK SARAH PETTIT JONATHON S. PIERCE LAURA WARD CONTACT 1840 S. 1300 FORUMFORTNIGHTLY.COM E. SHAW L3 SLC, UTAH EDITORIAL PHONE: 801.832.2320 forumeditorwestminstercollege.edu BUSINESS & ADVERTISING PHONE: 801.832.2319 forumbusinesswestminstercollege.edu LETTERS letters to the editor and opinion pieces to forumedi-with torwestminstercollege.edu line. Only "Opinion" as the subject letters received from a valid email address signed with a first and last name will be accepted. The Forum reserves the right to edit all submissions. The views and opinions expressed are those of the writ- ers and are not to be considered those of The Forum, faculty, staff or administration of Westminster College. If published, letters become sole property of The Forum. Submit Theforum publishes 1,000 copies every other Wednesday. Initial' . copies are free of charge; addi-- r tional copies may be purchased ; for $ 1 . The Forum seeks to provide an unbiased, open media outlet for the Westminster campus and surrounding communities. Contact the editor at forumeditor westminstercollege.edu with sug- -' gestions, story ideas and feed- back. The Forum is published and printed in Salt Lake City, Utah. All rights reserved. No reproduction, f reprinting or mass redistribution of print or online material without I express written consent of the editor. Copyright 2011. ; ' bles. ; And I dont care if you have a thousand or even two thousand Facebook buddies, thats not the point. Reading the news is about stepping out of our bubbles. Really searching out and finding good news is an act of showing a commitment to something that is greater than just yourself. Can you even grasp the fact that there are nearly seven billion people on planet Earth? Seven billion. We all live here. One Earth. One home. Thats it. And we all have the responsibility to care for that home and the people on it. Dont worry, this isnt going to turn into an environmental issues column (we already have Green Scene for that), but let me just attempt to sum up what Ive been talking about. We ALL, every single one of us, no matter how busy we are and no matter how many Facebook friends we have, we all need to read the news. Why? Reading the news makes you smarter. And reading a lot of news from a variety of different sources will also make you use-fi- ll media savvy an ability to have as this world becomes more and more media obese. Reading news shows that you actually care about something other than yourself. Well, do you care about anything other than yourself? Reading the news engages and connects you with people from everywhere and anywhere. It might connect you with people youll never meet and never talk to, but it also might connect you with information about a certain person or a certain issue that will ever-increasin- gly change your life. Reading the news will help you change the world. As you read more about this world and the people in it, you will also learn how to engage with this world. How to make change happen. Change never happened by sitting back and saying why should I vote? My vote doesnt count anyway. That is honestly the stupidest thing Ive ever heard. Of course it doesnt count, how could it count if you never cast it? Reading the news helps us figure out how the world works. We cant navigate properly unless we know how the vehicle works and where were going to go in it. Are you convinced? Want to start reading now? (Say yes!) I recommend that you start small. Actually, I recommend that you start with The Forum. You need to be reading about your college community. The information in this newspaper is relevant to you. The information in this newspaper is written specifically for you. Start reading The Forum. Start visiting I dont care if you think The Forum is bad and ugly (which, I must say, its neither). Pick it up anyway. Tell us whats wrong with it. Talk to us. Even better, write for us. Did you know that any student at Westminster College can write for The Forum? Write something for us, and then well see how you like them apples. (But, no, seriously, write for us!) After you start reading The Forum, start reading from any of the dozens and dozens of free publications located right inside the front doors of Shaw. Theres Catalyst, theres City Weekly, theres daily Salt Lake Tribunes and the Deseret News. Not to mention the free New York Times. Take advantage of these magnificent news sources that are practically being placed on your doorstep for free. And, of course, theres the Internet. Each one of us uses the Internet daily. Each one of us logs on to some kind of site daily. Start logging on to at least one Internet news site a day. Maybe its watching A1 Jazeera, maybe its watchof The Daily Show with ing Jon Stewart, whatever it is, just let it be something. Am I wrong? Is every single one of I hope Im you avid wrong. But Im guessing, for the majority of you, that Im right. So students, this year, prove me wrong. Go get some news. re-ru- ns news-enthusias- ts? The president speaks , Tuition increases Jonathon S. Pierce Student Body President of ASWC Welcome i j ; f 5 j I $ back, Westminster College students! I am excited to finally have all my incredible colleagues, class- mates, and old friends back at our beautiful campus. And I would like to extend a very special welcome to our new students! May you reach your personal and academic potential with your time here. This column, which will appear fre quently in The Forum this year, will take on the issues that unite us as students at Westminster College. I will attempt to inform our community of the facts, take a stand on what is in the best interest of the students, and present alternatives to administrative proposals that will be considered in the public arena. The first and arguably most important topic that I will address is the rise in the cost of attendance at Westminster College. This problem is not unique to our community; it exists in the whole of the higher education system in the United States. The cost of attending college doubles every eight years and tuition increases consistendy at twice the rate of inflation. This is coupled with high energy and food prices and very bleak job prospects for recent college graduates. (Only 55 percent are working in jobs that require a college degree and their unemployment rate is 24 percent.) According to the academic catalog, tuition has risen SI, 202 from the 2010-1- 1 to the 2011-1- 2 academic year; the cost of attendance has increased $2,515. This includes the extra burden of a re- See PRESIDENT on Page 3 |