Opinion

The Paladin’s 2013-2014 sports editor, opinions editor, and editor-in-chief each share their parting thoughts concerning the university paper, the role and future of journalism, and reaching the end of their Furman careers.

This past Friday, April 11, members of The Paladin staff attended the South Carolina Press Association’s annual collegiate conference at Clemson University.

Annually, chapters of Pi Kappa Phi are encouraged to engage in one philanthropic week that raises both funds and awareness for people with disabilities. Last week, Pi Kappa Phi brought the War of the Roses philanthropy week to Furman’s campus in order to raise money for PUSH America.

In a few short weeks, the class of 2014 will be walking across the stage at graduation, accepting their diplomas, and taking the first awkward steps into adult life.

Many people have asked me how I transitioned to life in the United States. They say that traveling halfway around the world for four years of college would be impossible for them.

This annual event showcases the best Furman has to offer, but that positive reality should not prevent us from critically analyzing what we can do to make it better and clarify a vision for the role Furman Engaged! plays in the university’s educational mission.

Diversity in higher education seems to be something everybody wants. At Furman, we are surrounded by committees, student organizations, and CLP speakers dedicated to making our school a more diverse place. But what kind of diversity do these organizations mean, exactly?

At the beginning of March, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to affirm cuts to the budgets of two state universities for assigning books with LGBT themes. This legislative decision offers an opportunity for us to reflect on the ways we approach LGBT and the language we use and the reasons we offer in such discussions.

Honey Maid, a company known for its sugary snacks, has just gotten a little sweeter. In early March, the successful business launched a TV commercial entitled “This Is Wholesome,” which features a montage of several happy households.

“Welcome Home.” Starting with the banner stretched above the main entrance to the speeches that used the phrase as a tagline during convocation, there seemed to be a silent force, warping and slowly transforming my preconceived notion of home — where it was, what it was, how I related to it.

The highly politicized and isolated image of North Korea has made the issue look more hopeless than it should be. North Korea has been almost entirely defined by its politics and the regime headed by the Kim family, leaving hardly any space to speak to the plight of the North Korean people.

Dance, in all its various forms, is culturally universal. Dance can embody emotional expression, social interaction, or religious devotion.

That climate change is an issue neatly split down the aisle in both houses of congress is the kind of absurd reality only possible in the world of politics. Unlike other hot-button issues like abortion, gay rights, or fiscal policy, the right’s systematic denial of climate change is not a matter of divergent opinions or differing interpretations. The argument against climate change is an argument against cold, hard, scientific fact.

In response to the university’s defunding of the men’s golf team, alumni and other donors have raised enough money to fund the program into the near future. The goal of the initiative is to raise enough money to endow the program, donating such a significant sum that the interest from those funds can finance the program indefinitely.

The practice of hydraulic fracturing, known colloquially as “fracking,” is too often the victim of unwarranted bad press.

On Feb. 7, Furman announced that the Board of Trustees had decided to discontinue Furman’s men’s golf program. Although the announcement itself was a surprise, this move is consistent with the university’s stated goal of reducing expenditures in many of Furman’s programs and departments.

President Obama has recently proposed that the federal minimum wage be raised to $10.10 an hour. It is unclear whether he is doing this in order to score a political victory that might overshadow the failure of Obamacare or out of a genuine concern for the working poor in America.

After graduation every year, a small number of Furman’s faculty members leave the university. Some of these professors hang their caps and gowns in the back of their closets for the last time.

Gold, silver, bronze. Different colors, different types of metal awarded to winners of a competition. Yet in the context of the Olympics, one of the world’s most significant international sporting events, these slight changes in the color of those medals can inspire an entire country’s happiness, or as in the case of South Korea, an entire country’s ire.