The Daily Bruin
UCLA

“Passing the Dream Act is only half the battle”

Now that the controversial California Dream Act and Assembly Bills 130 and 131 have passed, it would seem undocumented students applying to the University of California will finally receive the same financial aid benefits as all other students.

As of Jan. 1, AB 130 is in effect and undocumented students are free to apply for privately funded scholarships and grants. The only thing students need to do is submit the financial aid application.

The catch? There is no application.

Many undocumented students do not have a Social Security number and are unable to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

So although the passage of these bills was a significant victory for undocumented students and supporters of immigration rights, the UC and the California Student Aid Commission have yet to devise a financial aid application they can use.

Because the UC advocated for the passage of the Dream Act, it should have been prepared for its passage with plans for an application prior to the date that aid became accessible to undocumented students. Now the UC should work quickly to ensure that students will actually receive the aid they are now eligible for.

Think applying for financial aid as an undocumented student will be easy? Think again.

— Mary Clark, Jan. 20 issue

Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon

“The digital age of activism is here”

In the wake of the widespread website blackouts in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the consequential dismissal of said act, the concept of Internet activism has come into the public eye. The Internet is fast becoming the catalyst for political and social movements across the globe, and this relatively new means of expression allows for the public and private involvement of the largest amount of people of any activist movement ever.

The key to any movement is widespread knowledge, and that’s something the internet can provide. In the age where social media and sitting in front of a lit screen for hours becomes the new norm in human communication, it becomes less difficult to get people’s attention. Last week, with various popular websites like Reddit and Wikipedia blacking out in protest, 4.5 million Internet users signed an anti-SOPA petition and 18 senators withdrew their support of the bill. The Internet is the new picket line and, if used correctly, can be the most effective tool for social progress since the written word.

— Sam Bouchat, Jan. 21 issue

State Press
ASU

“Overexposed: Sex on the brain”

You might not know it, but you’re thinking about sex right now. Don’t look so embarrassed, my collegiate constituency. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, you can’t help it.

The fact is we’re wired to think about sex subconsciously at any given moment. Watch the Discovery Channel documentary, “The Science of Sex Appeal.”

It turns out we are biologically hardwired, emotionally programmed and culturally trained to think about sex in an almost nonstop capacity.

Dr. Terri Fisher of the Ohio State University at Mansfield recently conducted an experiment in which college-aged students counted on a golf tracker the number of times they thought about sex per day. Men aged 18-25 think about sex an average of 34 times per day. Women of the same age range averaged nearly 19 times per day.

Of course we’re going to think about sex all the time. Before we can even make a conscious decision to seek it out, it’s slapping us in the face on television, in movies, comics, Internet pop-ups and schoolyard rumors.

Now let me be clear: I am not anti-sex, at all. And I’m against censorship completely. I’m just posing the questions: Have we perhaps gone too far with the in-your-face sex thing? Do I want to be thinking about sex 20 times a day? And, more to the point, do I really have a choice in the matter?

— Alesha Rimmelin, Jan. 22 issue