Daily Bruin
UCLA

“UC should be allowed to consider race in admissions process”

The future of affirmative action in the college admissions process is hanging by a thread in the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by a white student who claims her rejection from the University of Texas was because of an attempt by the school to increase racial diversity.

Affirmative action was struck down in California with the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, which as of last week is being challenged by a group of 46 minority University of California students in a San Francisco appellate court.

Factors of race, socioeconomic advantage and educational background are still closely related in present-day society. Modern poverty rates for black and Hispanic Americans are still well over twice that of whites.

Proposition 209, which was hailed as a piece of equal rights legislation by its proponents, prohibits colleges from using race as a bonus in the admissions process. The results, especially at UCLA and UC Berkeley, have been considerable, with the universities’ black and Latino populations decreasing by about half in the few years following the decision.

Proposition 209 should be repealed, allowing the UC to include race in its admissions process, just as it considers students’ other non-academic and often arbitrary qualities.

— Mary Clark, Feb. 23 issue

Daily Trojan
USC

In 2009, the American College Health Association reported that 40.6 percent of USC students have tried marijuana.

Medicinal marijuana has been legal in California since 1996.

Marijuana is a California government-approved medicine, but it is illegal to take any measures toward safeguarding patients who use it.

To make up for this conundrum, thousands of private entrepreneurs have sprouted up, offering to test for THC levels. The vast majority of these entrepreneurs have little scientific background. But the legitimate scientists among them are risking their reputations and careers to provide a safe system of testing to those who need it.

Three major labs — one located in Los Angeles — have grown in prominence and created the Association of California Cannabis Laboratories in an attempt to make the process more credible. But the labs need to be run in secret, lest the DEA shuts them down.
Legislators need to understand that they are endorsing marijuana as a viable medical product while crippling its use with their restrictive measures.

Legalization will allow well-run labs to stay running and prevent less-than-legitimate testers from running amok.

It’s painfuly obvious that this law is illogical. Legislators are the only ones who can fix it.

— Daniel Grzywacz, Feb. 14 issue

Daily Emerald
University of Oregon

“Similarities exist at University between the ’70s and the 2010s”

Is it just me, or does the University seem a little bit stuck in the ’70s?

Think about three of the things the regular American would most associate with our fine institution: Nike, Steve Prefontaine and “Animal House.” All from the 1970s.

Then there are the hippies. And the weed. And the obsession with that hipster favorite, PBR. Very Vietnam-era-esque, wouldn’t you say?

My mom said her first thought when she moved to Eugene from Colorado back in the ’80s was, “Wow! Hippies still exist!” And so they do, keeping the tie-dye fresh and the dreadlocks in style well past their expiration date.

In the ’70s, there was Vietnam, Watergate, turmoil in the ASUO and Bruce Springsteen.

In the 2000s, we had Iraq, economic meltdown, turmoil in the ASUO/OSPIRG and Bruce Springsteen. Seriously, the guy is amazing.

What I’m saying is, we’re seeing a revolution of sorts these last few years at the University. We are (or, more truthfully, Nike is) crafting this new image of the forward-thinking, fresh, fierce University and attempting to leave behind the image of
the past.

The 2010s are the new 1970s at the University of Oregon. Let’s just hope we’re not stuck with this version for the next forty years.

— McKenna Brown, Feb. 23 issue