The Vanderbilt Torch

Living Wage Never

The issue of a living wage has loomed large over campus this year. Despite all this attention, few student voices have come out in opposition to it. However, it is doubtful that this is because the vast majority of Vanderbilt students support LIVE’s anti-market policies. Rather, the lack of vocal opposition is likely partially a result of the fact that defending the status-quo generally tends to inspire less energy. Perhaps more importantly, however, is the fact that many of us who are opposed to the implementation of a living wage feel we have made our arguments time and time again over the past few years. Sometimes it seems there isn’t much left to say.

Yet, as opponents of the living wage rest content that we have made our case, LIVE continues to increase its agitation on campus. Since LIVE’s decision to storm into a Board of Trustee’s committee meeting earlier this year, it has received national coverage in the New York Times, substantial coverage in the Tennessean, and what seems like weekly coverage in campus publications. The living wage movement is not likely to go away any time soon. Thus, those who truly believe that a living wage is harmful cannot disappear either. Whether or not it feels repetitive, the arguments opposing a living wage must be made yet again.

Cara Bilotta, Perry Gragg: Take Note

As we all know, our school has recently made significant changes to its student government. What was once a rather convoluted bureaucracy, has now been streamlined to form the Vanderbilt Student Government, a merger of the former SGA and Interhall organizations.

The hope, of course, is that a single and well-defined institution like VSG will be able to better serve the student population and eliminate many of the gaps and overlaps that existed in the previous system. With this consolidation of authority and resources, however, comes a new challenge-- namely, the expectation that this new government will significantly outperform the old ones.

HPV Shot: State, Stay Out

Mandatory vaccines for children have been commonplace for many years now; why, then, is there an upheaval regarding the instigation of another one? On Friday, February 1, the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, issued an executive order mandating that all girls entering the sixth grade in Texas must get a new vaccine, Gardasil, before they can enroll. Perry is a conservative Republican, but he is coming under fire from social and political conservative for requiring a very new, very expensive vaccine to prevent a sexually transmitted disease.

Vagina Monologues Revisited

7:00- Here we are Valentine’s Day at the Vagina Monologues. Cue up the Monty Python “and there was much rejoicing.” 

7:06- It was supposed to start at seven. We all look at our phones, and then at our tickets, and then back at our phones. 

7:11- Well, we’re just sitting here, my friends and I. Yes, I have friends. We’re just a bunch of classy girls seeing the Vagina Monologues on Valentine’s Day.

7:12- No, it’s not like that! We love Valentine’s Day! Just a scheduling convenience! Lots of long-distance relationships! Boys, boys, boys!

Real ID Act Has Real Problems

There was a devious, Machiavellian air surrounding the Real ID Act, even when it was just a bill. It was furtively tacked on to an emergency appropriations bill for defense and Hurricane Katrina relief to ensure its unopposed passage through the House. It was almost universally overlooked when it was signed into law on May 11, 2005, and few have taken notice as its implementation draws near. The bill is scheduled to become effective on that date in 2008.

On the Brink: The War for Oil on the Niger Delta

Chaos reigns on the overcrowded streets. Foreign workers risk kidnapping, ransom, and death. A corrupt and fledgling government attempts to maintain control while well-armed militias gain more and more control each passing day, threatening America’s vital fossil fuel interests in the region.

The setting for this turmoil is not Baghdad or Basra or Mosul in Iraq, but Nigeria’s southern urban center of Port Harcourt and the surrounding jungle and river tributaries of the Niger Delta. As petroleum-exporting nations such as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Iran have continued on a dangerous path toward further instability, the United States and other Western nations have looked more and more toward African sources for fossil fuels. 

Advocacy Council Funding Misguided, Inefficient

Last month, plans were announced for the institution of a new group on Vanderbilt’s campus. By blending various political organizations on campus together, the existence of the Advocacy Council raises a number of questions regarding the nature of politics and culture at Vanderbilt.

Described in its constitution as a “conglomeration of…Vanderbilt Republicans, Vanderbilt Libertarians, Dores for Israel, Vanderbilt Amnesty International, Vandy Fems, Vanderbilt College Democrats, Students for Life, Free the Children Free the Slaves, Global Health Council, and Democracy Matters,” the Advocacy Council represents a group of Vanderbilt organizations that have characteristically political motives.   

State Should Tune Out

It doesn’t take a constitutional scholar to realize that the Founders did not write a single positive right into the constitution, and they most certainly did not include anything about the right to television programming. However, Congress, in its infinite wisdom (and boredom, and propensity to squander taxpayer dollars), has decided to take up a measure to ensure that older analog television sets can continue to receive broadcast signals after the Congress-mandated shift from analog to digital broadcasting in 2009. This subsidy for older televisions is estimated to cost American taxpayers some $1.5 billion—all to ensure broadcast access for people that may even already have cable.

Education & Illegal Immigrants

The recent rise of immigration as well as the “No Child Left Behind” Act has sparked controversy about whether and to what extent public education should be extended to illegal immigrants. Many argue that all children, regardless of their legal status, are entitled to a free, tax payer-funded education. In fact, the Supreme Court upheld these arguments in its 1982 ruling in Plyler v. Doe. In this case, the Court struck down a Texas law that did not require public school systems to accept illegal aliens. Using the “equal protection” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court argued that, because illegal aliens are “people” that live within American “jurisdiction” (whether legally or illegally), these aliens are guaranteed the right to a public education under the Constitution. While these sentiments may at first appear proper and fair, they do not take into account strategic problems that occur when public school systems attempt to provide the same education to illegal aliens as American citizens, nor do they acknowledge that the Constitution legally protects American citizens, not citizens of a foreign country.

Bush and Ahmadinejad: A Tale of Two Leaders

Earlier this month, U.S. officials accused top members of the Iranian government with providing Iraqi insurgents with powerful weapons - specifically, armor-piercing EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators. They blamed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds force, which reports to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for giving EFPs to Shiite resistance groups. These weapons prove particularly dangerous because they have the ability to pierce through armor. Spokesmen from Iran have insisted that these are being used for defensive purposes, while United States military officials assert that they are being used to attack American forces in Iraq.