2005 has great potential. The opportunities for our country and its leaders to show compassion and global leadership abound.
I hope that the Western world stops the genocide in Sudan. Yes, it is a genocide, and no, we have not done anything about it. Visits by Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. President Kofi [...]

Although I know it’s so passe to write about Iraq, I decided to do it this week anyway. I was reading newspaper this week during Thanksgiving break and I came across an article that really disturbed me: The growing trend of children left quasi-orphaned because one or both of their parents have been deported.
In the [...]

From 2002 to 2003, the number of Americans living in poverty had increased by 1.3 million to an total of 35.9 million. That’s a lot of people — about 12.5 percent of the population. And as always seems to be the case, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
But what makes [...]

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday visiting family in rural California. I couldn’t find the place on a map for you, but I’m pretty much certain that it’s about as far from Stanford as you can travel and still be in the Golden State. Still, even though I traveled hundreds of miles, I couldn’t quite leave [...]

Lack of Competitive Cheer funding illustrative of larger problem
The Athletic Department’s refusal to fund Competitive Cheer (“Cheer team deserves funding,” Nov. 23) is just a symptom of the Department’s entirely unsatisfactory approach to non-varsity sports.
While the new fitness complex being built over the old Encima Gym is a rare, if long overdue, exception, the Athletic [...]

This is in response to Mark Slee and Evan Tana’s column (“Go Bears,” Nov. 22):
UC Berkeley is better because their students live in the real world? Ballyhoo, indeed. Stop the malarkey. What are ballyhoo and malarkey?
Tana and Slee are full of more rubbish than the streets of Berkeley.
Let’s start with the bold / ludicrous statement [...]

I am an Anne Frank idealist. I not only believe the glass is half full, but that it will be completely full soon. The world is a good place. People are generally good. Things are getting better. I see the world as one of steady inexorable improvement.
David Brooks calls it Paradise Lane. On almost every [...]

Corporate banks aggressively market their credit cards to students. Lately, however, these companies have been increasing the interest rates and late fees that are charged when applicable. To stay out of credit card debt, students should watch their spending this holiday season.
According to The New York Times and PBS, credit card companies are changing the [...]

Lahaina, HAWAII — The EA Sports Maui Invitational was a chance for the Stanford men’s basketball team—and its fans alike—to find out where the Cardinal stack up against some of the nation’s top teams.
Despite finishing 1-2 on the trip, the Cardinal showed marked improvement in each game, from an ugly (can you say rebuilding year?) [...]

The discussion at last night’s meeting of the ASSU Undergraduate Senate focused on a bill that would force student groups requesting ASSU special fees to put their plans for outreach into writing.
In addition, senators voted unanimously to make sophomore Troy Steinmetz the new ASSU Elections Commissioner.
The proposed outreach bill would require any student group requesting [...]