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Opinion Columns

01/25/11 6:19am

Peace Not Politics | Reviving bipartisanship — it could happen

Congressional Republicans face a defining choice — work with the president on major policy issues or obstruct his agenda for the next two years.
01/24/11 6:36am

The Gold Standard | From stimulus to deficit

The budget crisis staring the local school system directly in the face was driven by the federal stimulus package of 2009.
01/24/11 6:28am

Bank on It | A standard system for evaluation

More emphasis should be placed on a single standardized test, which will allow for a better comparison among students from different schools.
01/21/11 5:44am

Duly Noted | The (used book) shop around the corner

Picking up a book from one of the two-dozen used bookstores in the city instead of from a chain helps small business, the environment and your wallet.
01/21/11 5:39am

Last Call | More morning mail

In the future, the University should create and automatically add all undergraduates to an events listserv and make it opt-out rather than opt-in.
01/20/11 6:33am

Truth Be Told | Peddling hope in a placebo

Given that there is a wealth of evidence that thinking happy thoughts actually is therapeutic, I’d say this Peter Pan placebo effect isn’t that far-fetched.
01/20/11 6:18am

Smart Alec | End the over-budgeting crisis

Enacting a moratorium on new groups is exactly the one measure that will do nothing to help the current crisis. Too much money is going out to existing groups.
01/19/11 5:16am

The Half of It | An SMS alert: forget me not!

At Penn, I find myself tiring of dispensable introductions and the casual conversations that follow. The prevalence and acceptability of disposable relationships is simply unnecessary.
01/19/11 5:09am

A Likely Story | Information addiction

We addicts of information would be better off trading some status updates and messages in our inboxes for a little more time together ­— the old-fashioned, offline way.
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.

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