Have you been reading Viewpoints lately? If you have, you've been subjected to some pretty hard to swallow articles take from U-Wire because the only Marquette students interested in writing are too busy screaming at basketball games — which, by the way, has no effect on a team's performance.
For example, because we had no student-written Viewpoints, Bob Mate (who is actually a nice guy, despite his liberal bias) had no choice but to publish this lame Viewpoint by some kid in Tennessee who thinks we should outlaw "pre-partying." I have two problems with this. First of all, pre-partying is done to either save money at the bar, or get a nice enough buzz before you go to a keg party. The second problem is obvious: This kid doesn't even go to Marquette, yet he gets published in our paper!
Students, the Viewpoints section is your forum! The stuff you write actually gets read! Believe me, I get e-mails. And this kid on a LIMO told me my column wasn't very good, so I know you're out there.
Don't have anything to write about? Allow me to give you some ideas. You can agree with me or refute my claims, but either way I want some responses. First of all, there's that 5.9 percent hike in tuition. What is this institution going to do with all that extra money? I'm sorry, but I'm already getting my haircut at beauty schools, shopping at Aldi and drinking Skol vodka. I can't afford another $1,200 for education! I've been going here for three years, and the equipment in my department seems to be getting progressively worse while tuition gets more expensive.
Here's another idea: It's black history month. We used to have a minority columnist here who seemed to love stirring up racial controversies. Every February he would write a column about how black history month was offensive to his people. I'm not going to touch that one with a 10-foot pole, but you can!
Also, I'm pretty sure there are university organizations out there that want to spread the word about how fabulous they are. We had a whiny frat boy last semester, but other than that I haven't heard much about student activities. Hey, with the election coming up you kids into political stuff should be having a field day.
Here's a shot at ITS. Next time you see a computer that still has Windows 98, don't crowd around it like it's some sort of dinosaur fossil. Rather, embrace the older technologies, because without them you wouldn't be as dorky as you are today. And if you can't laugh at yourself, you've been spending too much time in front of your PC.
So get writing those Viewpoints! And if you see me on a LIMO and you don't like my column, keep your mouth shut. Write to the Trib instead.
