Column

Graduation takes a lot of work. Some students will leave their undergraduate universities, apply to graduate schools and sign up for GREs, MCATs or LSATs — three of the most popular tests required for professions like medicine and law. Others enter the workforce directly after applying for jobs or internships. And some do neither. All […]

Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and the fight for work-life balance Not just anyone can create, produce and star in a show, be a part of the cast of Saturday Night Live and write a memoir before the age of 50. But Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, two amazing female comics, have accomplished all three. They […]

Undergraduates at fault for perpetuating a devious trend against intellectual freedom Janet Napolitano’s recent editorial on the merits of preserving free speech at universities is becoming increasingly necessary in the current political age. She observes the recent trend of college students suppressing views that even marginally sound marginalizing. Her most striking point: “If it hurts, […]

What Trump interrupting Clinton says about our culture at large During the final presidential debate last week, Hillary Clinton demonstrated yet again how difficult it is for a woman — or any marginalized group, for that matter — to have a conversation with an ignorant, white, cisgender man without being interrupted. Donald Trump managed to […]

AI without ethics could prompt the downfall of mankind Well, Aggies, we’re rapidly approaching the scariest day of the year again. (I’m of course referring to Halloween and not the 2016 presidential election, although at this point the two are nearly interchangeable). It’s only fitting, then, that we celebrate by exploring the spooky uncertainties surrounding […]

Non-profit organizations have a role in solving the public health crisis of gun violence There’s a mixed sense of eye-opening wonder and clarification when you learn about something that you’ve never been exposed to before. Coming from an ethnocentric, relatively sheltered bubble in my hometown, I was frankly stupefied when I attended a conference called […]

What the Chance the Rapper controversy says about our growing culture of victimhood If there was any question of whether UC Davis is immune from caustic division along lines of race, class and gender, it was answered when the event page for October’s Chance the Rapper concert erupted into a furious debate over the politics […]

GMO benefits greatly outweigh the fictitious costs   Have you ever walked through the grocery store, picked up a piece of food, ranging from milk and fresh vegetables to dried pasta and rice, and seen that bright green label with the nice butterfly in the corner that reads “Non GMO Verified?” Upon seeing this label, […]

Björk’s Biophilia combines music, technology to create an educational app During indie harpist Joanna Newsom’s concert at Los Angeles’s Orpheum Theater last March, I wasn’t exactly surprised to see a crowd of peculiar characters. Glancing around, my friend and I took turns pointing out the most unusually-dressed audience members. My friend nodded towards the balcony, […]

Will comedians elect the president of the United States? Satire has been perhaps the most powerful force in this year’s election build-up. With every absurd Donald Trump remark, Hillary Clinton email and Republican candidate’s endorsement (or lack thereof), every talk show and light-night comedian has reacted with gusto. Like Tina Fey’s celebrated impersonation on Saturday […]

A bad day, impulsivity, easy access to guns makes for a deadly combination Suicide, which is the 10th leading cause of death in America, has increased by 17 percent since 2010. And more than half of the 42,773 Americans who killed themselves did so with guns — a number that is far greater than the […]

Understanding who’s living in poverty is the first step to alleviating its effects Hillary Clinton released a child tax plan last week that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a progressive Washington, D.C. think tank, has estimated will help over 14.2 million families currently living in poverty. Clinton proposed a change to the […]