The University of Idaho Argonaut

I lived in Moscow for two years as a University of Idaho undergrad student before returning here to hopefully earn my law degree. As an undergraduate, I made it a point to get involved with as much as I could on campus and to do as much as possible.

So I was surprised to realize in one week of law school, I did three things I’ve never done before.

On the first day of classes I grabbed my lunch box out of the law school-provided refrigerator and headed across campus to find a place to eat lunch and enjoy the sunshine.

Public displays of affection make me want to vomit. I’m not talking holding hands or a quick kiss before class. I’m talking the make-out sessions where tongues get lost in the other person’s throat, or a quick butt grab walking up to the Teaching and Learning Center. It wasn’t sneaky, we all saw it, and you just ruined our appetites for the next few hours.

But this repulsion lies deeper. When did college students, or anyone for that matter, decide it was necessary to grope at each other in public?

It has to do with the territorial instinct people all have in their subconscious. The problem is when “love” blooms, this need to let everyone know who you are with is almost caveman like. “Me man. You woman. You are mine. I show everyone by grabbing you inappropriately in public.”

In every generation, there is a defining battle for civil rights of a particular group. For several generations, African-Americans struggled for common civil rights, as did women. Many would argue that those two groups are still struggling against oppression, but they fought and earned the fundamental rights to vote, own property and have access to relatively equal opportunities.

For this generation, the quintessential civil rights battle is equality for gays. Not only have they been persecuted within areas like the military, but they have been denied basic rights such as visiting a partner in the hospital and the right to marry. 

Some students at the University of Idaho have it harder than others. For one reason or another, some students enroll in 18 or more credits, and other students opt to only take 12 or fewer credits each semester. This creates a situation where some students have more free time for their personal lives than others.

Meanwhile, UI is in one budgetary crisis after another. In the past few years the budget has been slashed apart. The administration raised student fees across the board and instituted furloughs for employees. There is an untapped resource in Moscow to fix this crisis.

Welcome new students (and future alumni) to the University of Idaho. You have chosen a great school with a long legacy of excellence. There has been a lot of discussion lately that to be a Vandal you have to hate Boise State University. What I would want new (and old) students to know is that whether you like or dislike Boise State doesn't make you a Vandal. Being a Vandal comes from within. It is a bond that you share with your peers and other generations. It is walking on the beach in Southern California and seeing a stranger with a UI shirt and shouting out, "Go Vandals" as you pass by. It is visiting a former student in Europe and seeing them light up when you visit and "restock" their Vandal apparel.

Millions of jobs have been outsourced during the last several years to cut down on budgets by hiring cheaper, higher amounts of labor in other countries. Technical jobs have taken as much as 30 percent of the hit from this trend, and Idaho workers who have been affected by outsourcing will receive federal assistance under the Trade Act, in the form of $14 million to certified companies. Those companies include significant corporations of Idaho like Hewlett-Packard and Micron Technology.

Compensation for these workers is long overdue. With the statewide unemployment rate at 8.8 percent, relief for laid-off workers is imperative to begin stabilizing the economy and easing the burden on families with unemployed providers. Unemployment benefits in Idaho alone have risen to more than $627 million, adding extra strain to Idaho's budget crisis. 

Ground zero

It saddens me to see the ongoing backlash against building a mosque two blocks from ground zero in New York City. I mean, don't we live in the globally-connected 21st century? The American public often boasts about being a nation founded on diversity, a land of opportunity for those of other cultures. So shouldn't the building of this Muslim center be a non-issue? Our forefathers faced religious oppression and founded a nation on the basis of choice and freedom. To me, this debate emphasizes the fact that many in the American public still live in ignorance and practice the very oppression our forefathers vowed to escape.  ­

­­- Tanya

Fruity combo

Summary of this last weekend: I do not want to see Fruit By the Foot or watermelon for a long while.

- Kelcie