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Opinion Columns

01/18/11 4:59am

The Gray Area | Better course evaluations

A new evaluation system will enable professors to send out feedback forms to their classes by e-mail at any time — not just at the end of the semester.
01/14/11 5:46am

Hassall-Free Fridays | Athletically apathetic, and proud of it

The conventional explanation for Penn students' non-attendance at sports games is that we lack school spirit or pride. But we show our pride in diverse fashions.
01/13/11 5:09am

Scientifically Blonde | Beer goggles demystified

Beer goggles are the illusion that people are more attractive when you’re under the influence of alcohol. Their existence has been scientifically proven and explained.
01/13/11 4:58am

Smart Alec | A free market for booze

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's monopoly should end. State Rep. Mike Turzai’s bill to privatize the liquor business in Pennsylvania is as good a way as any to do it.
01/12/11 4:01am

A Likely Story | Finding multiculturalism within myself

Coming from a country with a fairly homogenous population, I had never been confronted with questions about my cultural identity in any sort of significant way before my time at Penn.
01/12/11 3:55am

Say Anything | Must be the money

Stop asking seniors to donate to Seniors for the Penn Fund. We already give money to Penn: $40,000 a year. Seniors and our barely-there bank accounts should be left alone.
12/13/10 4:24am

The Sooner, The Better | A tale of two cities

Unlike our counterparts stuck in college towns, we can learn more from Philadelphia than from any book or lecture given at Penn. The experience has the potential to change our lives.
12/09/10 5:32am

Scientifically Blonde | Lose weight with the Twinkie Diet

Kansas State University Nutrition professor Mark Haub lost 27 pounds over the 10 weeks of his Twinkie diet. If you’re like many college students, his diet sounds all too familiar.
12/09/10 5:12am

Smart Alec | Abolish final examinations

The current examination system is both unhealthy and unnecessary. Professors should eliminate finals altogether and replace them with continuous assessment.
12/08/10 5:49am

Ad-Libs | Assess teaching quality in intro lectures

There need to be more avenues of communication between professors, TAs and students about the (often shoddy) quality of teaching in introductory lectures.
12/08/10 5:41am

Say Anything | Touched by an agent

Bring on your pat-downs, Transportation Security Administration agents. I’d rather let an agent get to second base with me than let a terrorist get a bomb on my plane.
12/07/10 6:50am

Ryu's Clues | A necessary nest for night owls

Increasing the number of study spaces or extending the hours of those already available would provide productive environments for night owls.
12/07/10 6:46am

Berry Nice | Cure environmental apathy

In a lot of ways, Penn is sustainably hypocritical. We have notable resources in place to become a more green campus but not the student motivation to do so.
12/06/10 6:18am

Cosmopoli-Tanvi | Log on for some holiday cheer

The online Secret Santa program started by users of the social-news website Reddit in anticipation of the holidays reminds us of the power of interpersonal connections.
12/06/10 6:15am

The Sooner, The Better | In your DREAMs, UA

Supporting the spirit of the DREAM Act is a noble cause. But the UA has been blinded by delusions of its own grandeur and efficacy if it thinks its actions will have any real influence.
12/03/10 6:47am

Hassall-Free Fridays | Home for the holidays?

Start anew and pick your own traditions. Odds are, you don’t really enjoy at least a few of your family’s typical holiday activities, and there’s no reason to keep them up.
12/03/10 6:42am

Penn Name | Tech that doesn’t click

Clickers are used in hundreds of universities across the country to help professors take attendance and gauge whether students are doing their homework and paying attention. They certainly have downsides.
12/02/10 6:39am

Truth Be Told | Prejudice doesn’t discriminate

The amount of attention given to an incident involving the black Harvard and Yale university graduate students and alumni at Cure Lounge highlights just how little attention racial profiling really gets.
12/02/10 6:32am

Smart Alec | The trouble was trust

DPS had the ability to send an alert if there were an active danger and it didn’t because it wasn’t necessary. We were safe. And as helpless as it may make us feel, we should trust our police.
11/30/10 5:55am

Berry Nice | Slang is like Shakespeare

Though there are certain cases in which slang is unacceptable, generally, I’m in favor of its use. Slang, like Shakespeare, can offer new shades of meaning to our increasingly digital society.

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