Number eight in the room draw used to guarantee a great choice of rooms on campus. Now it doesn’t even guarantee a room. In the current sophomore class, only numbers one through seven were able to get a place on campus, leaving the majority of sophomores scrambling for limited off campus housing.

Macalester is suffering from a housing crunch-too many students and too little housing. {more}

While many students and faculty at Macalester invest time and energy addressing social and environmental problems on a national and worldwide level, most are unaware of what is increasingly becoming a concern on our own campus: the enormous and unchecked use of paper. {more}

A new flag policy will allow the Palestinian flag to fly at graduation, though it will not satisfy all of Macalester College Student Government’s recommendations.

An ad hoc committee met on March 7 to rewrite the policy regarding which flags may fly at commencement. The committee formed in response to controversy over the school’s decision not to fly the Palestinian flag, despite the appeals of a Palestinian student, Isra’ Muzaffar ’02. {more}

Macalester students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to participate in a cost-free, intensive anti-racism training the weekend after spring break.

The three-day long training, which will run Friday, April 5 through Sunday, April 7, aims to provide participants with a common language and understanding of institutional racism. {more}

Miyagi University of Education and Macalester College are two very different institutions. One is Japanese, public, teaching vocational, and the other American, private, liberal arts. At surface level, these two appear to have nothing in common, but their thirty-year relationship has brought invaluable experiences to students and faculty from both countries.

Three professors from Japan visited Macalester this week as part of the annual Macalester-Miyagi faculty exchange program. There is also a student exchange program. {more}

Macalester should invest more in campus housing

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that there’s a housing crisis on campus. Just ask Res. Life Czar Sarah Griesse what she thinks-when she comes out of hiding. It says a lot about the lack of accountability in the room draw process, that the director of residential life feels it necessary to leave town the day after room draw. Let Laurie Hamre clean up the mess.

But not to be too harsh on Ms. Griesse. There are only so many rooms to divvy up. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Her job is to at least make the process appear to be fair, even if it leaves dozens of current sophomores out in the cold. {more}

Repent

By ERIK MORALES

It’s funny how I can never see fog move. It floats there just trying to annoy everyone. Doesn’t give water nor conceal the sun like other clouds … only drifting above ... watching … containing forgotten remorse. Is it trying to heal us by taking the thoughts of our crimson deeds away for a while? Giving us time to accept our sins and find penance … but no one has. Why does it even bother with such a task? How … {more}

We write to express our grave concerns about the actions taken by five students to interfere in Professor Terry Boychuk’s tenure process and the tabling of his tenure decision by the college trustees. This is a shameful episode at Macalester that may negatively affect relationships between students and teachers for years to come. It should strike terror in the hearts of every faculty member because, by refusing to follow due process, this sort of vigilante justice could happen to any one of us. We are especially concerned about the effect of this case on our untenured colleagues, men and women at the beginning of their academic careers who have the most to fear because they have the most to lose. {more}

Descartes was such a man. Insinuating that one has to be cerebral to exist. If a woman had coined the phrase, perhaps the cliché would be, “ I feel therefore I am.” Or better yet, “I taste, smell, touch, cry, laugh therefore I am.”

I am so frustrated with the male elevation of reason to mythic status-a la Descartes. Last summer I quit my job. I went out for drinks with three of my colleagues on my last day of work. They all happened to be male. I found out that I don’t like drinking with guys-at least these three guys-very much at all. {more}