The Vanderbilt Torch

Rites and Wrongs

This year, Rites of Spring, held on April 18 and 19, will host headliners Spoon and Lil’ Jon.  A little over a month ago, the Hustler carried the announcement.  In the weeks that followed, various publications praised the Music Group, a subsidiary of the Vanderbilt Programming Board for their choices.

Making Minority an Issue: America and the Victim

On Thursday, March 20, the Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA) hosted “Middle Eastern Night” in the Board of Trust Room and Ballroom of the Student Life Center, sharing their culture and heritage with a wide cross-section of the Vanderbilt Community. The undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty in attendance were treated to a delicious meal donated by Athens family restaurant, belly dancing from professionals and students alike, and the comedic act “Axis of Evil.” All of these events celebrated Middle Eastern culture and educated attendants through inclusion. However, one aspect of the evening ironically did just the opposite, and is indicative of a larger problem in American society.

Rear-VU Mirror: A Senior's Take

As another school year comes to an end, and as my time as an undergraduate approaches its conclusion, I would like to reflect upon my experience at Vanderbilt and share some thoughts about both its past and future.

Greed for Green?

“See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals.” Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

It’s that time of year again, when your hard-earned AcFee-payer dollars head to the coffers of nearly every sort of organization you can imagine. That Vanderbilt currently funds special interest groups through mandatory activity fees will come as a surprise to nobody. Many of these groups bring worthwhile diversity to the cultural, political, and extracurricular scenes here at Vanderbilt. When groups representing a particular political agenda or ideological viewpoint receive funding, opposite and complementary groups are likewise funded to ensure that a viable marketplace of ideas exists. Consider, for example, that AcFee both funds the Torch, our conservative and libertarian commentary magazine, as well as Orbis, our progressive counterpart. Likewise, the Advocacy Council, which includes College Libertarians, College Republicans, and College Democrats among other groups, receives AcFee funding for the promotion of the marketplace of ideas.

Seven "New" Not-so-Deadly Sins

A couple of weeks ago, several news organizations released the story that the Catholic Church had updated the Seven Deadly Sins by adding seven more. Organizations such as Fox News, the London Telegraph, and BBC News reported that damaging the environment, genetic manipulation, abortion, excessive wealth, contributing to socioeconomic gaps, pedophilia, and drug dealing were the seven “new” deadly sins. These new sins were based on an interview  with Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, where he stated that because the world is becoming increasingly global, sin takes on a new global dimension. News organizations jumped at this information and reported that the Vatican had altered its well known list and added these seven new more global sins.   

Leading the Way to Ideas

On February 27, conservatives lost an icon – arguably, the founder of the modern conservative movement, and the “scourge of liberalism.”  More importantly, however, America lost, in William F. Buckley, was a great American thinker, who, from an age not more advanced than our own, began to shape the intellectual, cultural, and political dialogue of this country.

General Advocates Realism in Middle East

General John Abizaid, perhaps IMPACT’s most distinguished guest for 2008, had a surprise for listeners during his speech.  Most listeners expected to hear a long talk justifying the war in Iraq.  Indeed, a group from the Middle Tennessee Veterans Association handed out copies of a formal letter to the General asking him to address the war and condemn it along with them.  But Abizaid had a different goal in mind. In keeping with the theme of IMPACT this year (Middle East Meets West), he barely mentioned the war at all.  Rather, he discussed military organization in the Middle East, and he pinpointed what he believes to be the four primary “problems” of the region. 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Speaks Bravely and Freely about Islam

Last month’s IMPACT Symposium brought a relatively unknown but highly influential contemporary figure to campus. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somalian-born former Dutch MP, spoke on the first night of the annual series, which had the theme this year of “Middle East vs. West.” This theme could very well have been designed with Hirsi Ali specifically in mind; the former Muslim speaks and writes about the incompatibility that exists between Western liberal society and the restrictive culture of Islam, particularly in areas that implement or attempt to implement sharia law.

Beijing: Olympic-Sized Problems

I am not one for superstition usually, but the fear of Friday the 13th may have some merit.  To be clear, I am speaking of Friday, July 13th 2001, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) met in Moscow to decide the host city of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past seven years, in the second round of voting the games were awarded to Bejing, the capital of China. Yes, Beijing, the capital of the biggest communist nation in the world and the city that is known for its orange, polluted skies.

Spitzer: Caught With His Pants Down

If I were to look up the word “hypocrite” in the dictionary, I would open up to a picture of Eliot Spitzer—possibly wearing nothing but long, black socks. Spitzer, or Client Number Nine, now joins the rest of the nation in watching his shameful career go down the drain. I, for one, am satisfied. Not that I subscribe to a belief in karma, but that does appear to be what’s going on here, and I am delighted to see it. Spitzer made a career out of attacking legal activity with illegitimate reasoning in order to further his own political career. In the process, he ruined the lives of those involved, many of whom lost everything they had worked for—everything that is deserved by a successful, lawful, hard-working American. Now, with the revelation of Eliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal, his life is essentially over. Justice is being served.