Collegiate Press Roundup

We present our weekly review of selected student columnists and opinion writers. For today’s edition, they proffer advice on fixing the economies of the United States and Europe, react to the removal of Occupy protestors in New York and Berkeley, call for more whistle-blowing in sexual abuse cases and lament the limitations political discourse suffers due to PC sensitivities.

1. Bowdoin College has some rigor in its academic standards, apparently too much for this guest columnist in the Bowdoin Orient.
2. If there’s a lesson to be learned from the recent sexual abuse cases at Penn State and the Citadel, it’s that we need more whistleblowers. A regular for the Daily Illini concludes that you sure can’t depend on institutions to protect children, since they’re too busy protecting themselves.
3. There’s a very tough job market out there, notes a writer for the Daly Nebraskan, and if you focus exclusively on completing your college degree, you may wind up unemployed.
4. Although most Americans honor the military in Veterans Day observances, a columnist for The Dartmouth believes that they are also completely detached from the realities and sacrifices of war. Take Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance.
5. Europe is in big trouble economically, and a commentator for the Daily Pennsylvanian traces it all to the fateful decision to adopt the Euro. Stability will return only when traditional national currencies do.
6. Closer to home, a financial writer for the Notre Dame Observer outlines a plan for the Obama administration and congressional Republicans to get the economy back on track.
7. In mulling over candidates for the 2012 presidential election, a staffer for the University Daily Kansan wishes that we could talk politics without having to tip-toe around the sensitivities of race, gender, sexuality and other politically correct barriers to open discussion.
8. As law local enforcement authorities remove members of the Occupy Cal movement from the UC Berkeley campus, an editorialist for the Daily Californian views the event through the lens of satire.
9. No doubt the Obama administration’s health care reform legislation was enacted with worthy intentions, but the timing – in the middle of a national debt crisis – was disastrous, says a writer for the Amherst Student.
10. In the wake of an alleged hate crime which closed Williams College on Monday, the editors of The Record find hope in the campus community’ collective response.
11. Politicians and candidates often find themselves needing to explain “gaffes,” as the news media are quick to note. A political columnist for the Michigan Daily tries to figure out what the ubiquitous term means.
12. A cartoonist for the Minnesota Daily depicts the recent removal of Occupy Wall Street protestors from New York’s Zucotti Park by order of mayor Michael Bloomberg.