Opinion's page of The Delta Statement

1. A2 Thursday, September 18, 2014 Opinion The Delta Statement
The Delta Statement
Fall 2014 Staff
Elisabetta Zengaro
Editor-in-Chief
Tiago Doneux
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News Editor
Caroline Bickley
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Najawon Wilson
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Staff Writer
Jessica Woods
Staff Writer
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readership by reporting on
news involving the campus
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Knowledge without limits
The importance of a GSA organization
Whitney Carter
News Editor
Every student deserves a
place to feel comfortable.
Delta State University
h o s t s
c o n f e r e n c e s
about diversity
seasonally, but
we rarely cover
the subject of
LGBT (lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender)
which is a part of what diversity
is.
Some students are a part
of the LGBT community, and
they do not have a place to call
their own. A GSA (Gay Straight
Alliance) is a much-needed
organization for this campus.
This type of organization
will allow students who are gay
or straight to feel accepted as
well as respected. Also, Delta
State could always use another
organization to spice up the
campus.
A GSA is not meant to be
an in-your-face kind of group. It
is apparent that all students have
their own sexual orientation. We
don’t have to shout it to the roof
top. This organization is meant
to educate and accommodate
students and faculty/staff who are
not aware of the battle that others
face just trying to be themselves.
I know that if Delta State
got a GSA as a permanent
organization, it would make
this school even more unique.
Students want to hear that the
school that they attend is not
judgmental and liberal. Having
this group on campus could bring
about so many positive changes
on campus.
It is time for tradition to
be set aside for a while and
allow some transformations to
come about. Establishing this
organization could be the next
big thing here. Everyone should
keep their eyes and ears open
because I smell change.
DSU minus 10 equals fewer transfers
Conor Bell
Copy Editor
Eliminating $1 million is
the goal, and eliminating
10 academic programs is
what the
administration
has proposed.
Well, here’s
the problem with
that, student
retention.
Last Thursday at a faculty
forum, Provost Dr. Charles
McAdams told a packed room
full of faculty members that the
transfer retention rate is “worse
than the freshmen [retention
rate].”
Being a community college
transfer, I know that exciting
feeling a transfer has when
transitioning to a university.
We look forward to the
university giving us more
opportunities than our two-year
colleges could give us. Whether
it is more organizations, more
degree program options or
interaction with many more
students, it is more that we as
transfers yearn for.
Cutting degree programs
makes us see less. Therefore,
transfers will begin to question:
“Did I make the right decision
coming to Delta State?”
If academic opportunities
and programs are cut, Delta
State will not be as marketable
to transfers that are here or future
transfers
One faculty member
reiterated this at the forum.
“The hesitancy of cutting
programs is that you may or may
not increase revenue because
students will walk away from
here saying ‘I really wanted to
major in X, and I’m going to
another school that has X as a
major,’” she said. “It’s not going
to be ‘I’m going to stay Delta
State no matter, and I’m going to
take what they can give me.’”
This professor is correct.
Transfers will not settle for less
because we want more.
Delta State is a small
school with friendly people,
knowledgeable professors and
an everybody-knows-everybody
ambience. This within itself is
marketable to transfers.
Typically, we adore a small
setting with numerous academic
opportunities, and DSU offers
this, easing our decision to come
here.
The budget cuts are
inevitable, and the $1 million
gap must be closed. Cutting
academic programs, at least I
feel, is not the answer.
There must be another way.
To President LaForge and
his Cabinet, I ask of you not
to get caught in the snare of
reducing the budget that you in
turn reduce our opportunities.
Let’s reevaluate this.
Please, do not do anything
that will jeopardize our
educational experience.
Please, do not cause DSU to
offer less.
Please, do not force us to
leave this college to gain what
we long for which is more.
Thought of the week:
Education
“Education is the most powerful weapon which
you can use to change the world.”
—Nelson Mandela
“Education is not preparation for life; educa-tion
is life itself.”—John Dewey
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door
of freedom.”—George Washington Carver
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be
sought for with ardor and diligence.”
—Abigail Adams
“I am a part of everything that I have read.”—
Theodore Roosevelt
“Education is what survives when what has
been learned has been forgotten.”—B. F. Skin-ner
“It is what you read when you don’t have to
that determines what you will be when you
can’t help it.”—Oscar Wilde
“The function of education is to teach one to
think intensively and to think critically. Intel-ligence
plus character - that is the goal of true
education.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Education begins the gentleman, but read-ing,
good company and refl ection must fi nish
Domestic Violence in the NFL
Elisabetta Zengaro
Editor-in-Chief
Imagine sitting inside your
advisor’s offi ce and asking
to sign up for college algebra
because, like most students,
you want to get
math out of the
way your fi rst
semester. You’re
i m m e d i a t e l y
scoffed at and
told to take a
college placement test at the
local community college before
you could even be considered
for the class. To no surprise,
you ace the test and hand your
scores back to your advisor the
following day, yet she still asks
you, “Why do you want to sign
up for this class?”
Well, those of you who
know me, know I don’t take no
for answer, and after my parents
(who also taught at the university)
paid a visit to the admissions
offi ce, I fi nally got registered to
take college algebra.
It may not seem like a big
deal, but for a liberal arts major,
it’s taboo to even think about
studying courses in higher levels
of math/science. Why? Because
people don’t think you are smart
enough to handle the material.
After all, why not major in math/
science, if you really can do it?
These were the questions
I faced, and it took a lot of
convincing on my part to show
my advisor I wasn’t setting
myself up for failure. I faced
enormous skepticism from
teachers and fellow students, but
after they saw my test grades,
they knew I wasn’t a fool. In fact
they questioned why I hadn’t
decided to pursue a major in
math or science.
The surprise my
instructors displayed at my
ability to outperform the
engineering, science, and math
majors just goes to show that
people don’t really expect liberal
arts majors to have the same
thinking capacity.
But can we really say a
person who majors in math or
science really is smarter than one
who doesn’t?
Let’s face it. There are
plenty of people who major in
math/science and still struggle
with it, and there exist liberal arts
majors who can solve differential
equations in their heads. We
learn at a young age not to judge
people by what they look, talk,
act, think like, but we forget by
the time we enroll in college
that judging a person by their
major is indeed another form of
stereotyping.
Faculty wonder why
students, particularly young
women, choose not to pursue
interests in higher levels of
math/science, but if you think
about the experience I had, is it
any wonder why we liberal arts
majors shy away from math/
science? People expect us to
fail before we even try, and it
shouldn’t be that way.
Assigning a person
characteristics based on their
major is stereotyping, and
it’s stereotypical thinking
to say a person who isn’t a
math/science major can’t pass
college algebra because it will
be too hard for them. Because,
what’s the excuse for all the
people who can’t pass college
algebra that are actually math
majors? Is it just “too hard” for
them?
It was Albert Einstein who
once said, “The only thing that
interferes with my learning is
my education.” And I couldn’t
agree more. While many of us
have the desire to learn, our
efforts are often hindered by
our degree.
A degree is nothing more
than a chosen plan of study.
It shouldn’t dictate what we
can and can’t do in life. A
college degree is meant to
open the door to opportunity,
and faculty should keep that in
mind when students approach
them about wanting to learn
more about a different subject.
The worst thing we can do is
to limit a person’s capacity
for knowledge by giving them
the idea they are not capable
enough.
Caroline Bickley
Lifestyles Editor
NFL players are constantly
subjected to an unwanted
and unsolicited spotlight
in all forms of public
media. Their lives
are criticized,
m o c k e d ,
approved and
rejected by rivals
and fans alike,
and with so many
eyes watching, it
is hard to make a mistake and it
not be uncovered.
Ray Rice, running back
for the Baltimore Ravens, was
“suspended for two games over
the dispute in which Rice was
accused and then charged with
knocking his fi ancé (now wife)
unconscious … .”
The public was audibly
upset over the light punishment
as the Baltimore Ravens whole-heartedly
supported Rice who
entered a “pretrial intervention
program that would dismiss
the third-degree aggravated
assault charge against him upon
completion”; that was before this
past Monday, Sept. 8.
The Ravens announced
their “termination of Ray Rice’s
contract just hours after TMZ
posted a graphic video of the
running back punching his then
fi ancé during an argument at the
Atlantic City hotel in February,”
all according to an article posted
by usatoday.com.
Shortly after the release of
the video and Rice’s terminated
contract, NFL commissioner
Roger Goodell “indefi nitely
suspended Rice based on the
release of the video evidence,
scaring any team that might have
attempted to sign him despite the
charges.”
This is not the fi rst arrest
of a professional athlete to be
publicized (Quincy Enunwas
with the New York Jets on
Aug. 31, and Ray MacDonald
of the San Francisco 49ers that
same day at his birthday party),
but with “domestic violence
accounting for 48 percent of
arrests for violent crimes among
NFL players…,” adoring football
fans and the concerned public are
wondering what is being done to
stop violent acts like these.
The article released
on Sept. 8 by usatoday.com
stated, “Goodell’s letter to NFL
owners Aug. 28 announced
new, standardized penalties for
domestic violence and sexual
assault by any league personnel:
a six-game suspension for a
fi rst offense and an indefi nite
suspension of at least one year
for a second offense.”
Goodell admitted that
Rice’s punishment was not fi tting
to his crime in the beginning and
said, “ … we have to do better,
and we will.”
I, like many football fans,
enjoy reclining on the couch on
a Sunday afternoon to watch a
good game of NFL football.
However, when stories
of domestic violence make
national headlines, I wonder
what is going to prevent such
acts from reoccurring and just
how far the NFL is willing to go
to stop its incredible, talented
athletes from becoming
shallow faced monsters with
no conscious thought of right
or wrong in the moment of
anger.
him.”—John Locke
*Source: www.brainyquote.com