Rude in the MUC

How are you enjoying the new Muenster University Center? By the looks of things, you are enjoying it quite nicely. In fact, it warms the cockles of my heart to see the student body take to the building and make it theirs.

But, this does not mean that you are permitted to wildly ransack the joint, tossing the new chairs and couches hither and tither. It’s terrific that there is now a comfortable and amenable atmosphere for students to meet, converse and interact. But, put things back when you are done. The building is for all of us. Many of you are tree hugging hippies who preach daily that we should leave the earth in the same shape that we found it… this philosophy should extend to the MUC — put the comfy chairs back.

Also, the MUC being a public space, you should be considerate of those around you. Maybe that conversation about your contraction of herpes should be left to your dorm room, car, tree limb or other private space. I’m just saying.

Foolin’ with Facebook

Today I’m eating poo, tomorrow I’m swimming in it.

Welcome to just two of my most recent Facebook statuses, courtesy of my own stupidity — and juvenile Volante coworkers. Working in an office such as The Volante has it’s privileges, but when one is distracted in his job and accidentally leaves his Facebook open, the benefits disappear quickly.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a man and therefore I love to take advantage of my fellow man’s stupidity. But when it happens to you, it looses some of its appeal.

Here’s the rub, however. The first time you leave the Facebook open and your profile pic becomes that of a portrait of Eric Estrada wrapped in a gay pride flag, you chuckle at the creativity and speed to search Google for such goodness. But the second time around one would think that all the fun was had and the good natured journalist gentlemen that we are would simply logout of Facebook for ya.

But noooo. Another poop status. Thanks.

Moral of the story kids: stop using Facebook. Period. Get off. It rots your brain and turns you into a creepy stalker. Return to real life. Wait, real life sucks. Keep the Facebook, just remember to log out. Remember though, your mom could be one of your friends. Explaining the drinking photos is one thing, what you may or may not be doing with that donkey, is entirely another.

Ahead … a great awakening for USD

The new student union will be open soon. Woot! Technically, however, it’s not a student union, but a “university center.” So, we dropped the clams to build that post-modernist heap of granite and glass, shouldn’t our name be there along side the Muensters’? Sarcasm aside, the new MUC will, I repeat, will revitalize this university.

Right now, USD is dead, and the MUC is just what this campus needs.

Go ahead, Laugh. Sounds like I’ve taken a massive gulp of the U dot Kool-Aid, right? Rest assured that is far from the case; however, I am right.

We have been waiting years for this building. Some of us, anyway.

The old Coyote Student Center was razed the summer of 2006, the summer I moved to Vermillion. Actually, I was quite glad to see that building planned for replacement. Yet, having spent some time at another university with a centrally located Memorial Union, I was concerned about the campus experience. My concerns were proven. This has lacked soul–a soul that only a bustling student center can provide.

Freshmen and sophomores stay on the north end of campus. Juniors and seniors only come to campus for class, then go back to their apartments and houses. Those that do spend the day on campus for different events or happenings are only those actually participating. Currently, a student has to greatly go out of their way to partake in campus events.

With the MUC, we will be able to congregate in open spaces with our friends and fellow classmates. We will actually know where the SGA offices are and maybe who our SGA officers are. Student organizations will have a place to show off their groups and host events. Additionally, there will be a place on campus to eat.

This is just a short list, but the main point here is that the human circulation on this campus will once again return. Instead of just showing up for classes-when we show up for classes-we will stay and hang out. Maybe some of us will even stick around for the weekend, possibly taking our cloths out of the suitcase.

With students on campus, more students will be cognizant of the concerns of the student body. We might even pay more attention to what the university administration may be up to-nefarious or otherwise. Along that same line, maybe the administration officials will come out of the Slagle office and get to know the very students they are meant to serve.

The last three years have been a painful slumber. Some of you don’t mind the sleep. You’re only here for a few years and the quicker you can leave Vermillion, the better. Yet, college is supposed to be more than classes. A small percentage of the student body has rebuffed the repose. We have chugged back an extra Red Bull and tried to make our USD experience noteworthy, both for ourselves and our fellow Yotes. Now, it’s time to throw back the covers and bring the life back to this storied institution. A new age at USD is dawning. Take advantage of the MUC. It may not say student on the facade, but that building is yours. This university is yours. Reclaim it as such!

Matt Hittle and The Volante

It appears there is some concern that Matt Hittle is a columnist and blogger for The Volante, while at the same time he is the president of College Republicans.

The Volante’s policy is not to restrict any student from writing columns at The Volante. The obvious and only conflict in this respect is the prohibition of “reporters” engaging in opinion. Our “reporters” or “news editors” are not involved in the opinion/editorial process; hence, keeping a separation between opinion and news.

Matt Hittle is not a reporter. Certainly though, all opinion columnists have a journalistic responsibility in terms of what they opine on, but mostly they are relying on personal opinion of a particular issue. It is this sometimes gray area which ruffles many feathers. However, Matt is a student just like anyone else and began writing as a columnist for The Volante one year ago. Since then he has actively participated in other student organizations, namely, College Republicans, where he is now their president.

Simply because he is the president of another student organization, in this case a political organization, he should not be barred from publishing as a columnist with The Volante. This same ability would be extended equally to the president of the College Democrats as well, or any other student organization, political or otherwise.

What The Volante failed to do was provide a disclaimer stating that Matt is both a columnist for The Volante AND president of College Republicans. You will notice on all of his blog posts and comments (and future print columns) there is this disclaimer.

If you are interesting in becoming a “regular” columnist for The Volante, contact our editor, Lauren Hollister at Lauren.Hollister@usd.edu. With our expansion online, if you would like to write as a columnist for The Volante, we have plenty of space on the Internet. Again, talk to Lauren if you are interested in becoming a regular Online Opinion writer. Also, guest columns are accepted from time to time.

David Whitesock
Online Director
The Volante

face-to-face with the patriot act

I knew it would happen one day; I would come face-to-face with the residual (or direct) effect of the Patriot Act. On Wednesday that conspiratorial dream came true.

For a history class I have to prepare an annotated bibliography, not a difficult task, especially for a senior history major, but I was looking for a shortcut. I thought that since I had read a number of books over the summer which were relevant to my topic, I could simply have the circulation desk print a history of books I’ve checked out.

Sorry, no doing. When making said request, one of the librarians over heard and said the library does not keep records of books checked out by patrons (students). It did not take long for her to say, “The reason is because of the Patriot Act.” And then I remembered.

Under the Patriot Act, the federal government (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc.) has the authority to access certain records, such as reading lists of library patrons. Until 2001, many libraries did keep such lists, but did so for the convenience of their patrons. Libraries were very concerned with authorities seeking those records as the power of the FBI grew through the 20th century and the lists ceased to exist.

What became more important to libraries was your First Amendment right to free speech, which includes the freedom to read what you choose, from where you choose; that includes public libraries. When the Patriot Act was passed in 2001, any library which still had historical reader data was subject to secret, warrantless searches.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act says:

[The FBI may] make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things for an investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information … providing that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution.

Section 215 goes on to say:

No person shall disclose to any other person (other than those persons necessary to produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section.

The First Amendment Center writes, “This gag order would prevent a library, for example, from ever notifying its patrons that the government has requested information from it under Section 215.”

This gag order was addressed in 2005 and 2006, when in Doe v. Gonzales, the court ruled that (1) the gag rule was unconstitutional and (2) between the two Doe cases, the government passed the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act (Patriot Act II), which only perceptually accepted some constitutional violations. The federal government said that libraries could inform a patron of an FBI request for records, so the case became moot.

Nonetheless, the government wanted (wants) to know what you’re were reading without you knowing. In the last four or five months, I have checked out some rather radical books discussing our Constitution. To the layman it could look as though I was writing a research paper on the relevancy of a 221 year old political document, but to a G-man, I could be forming a manifesto which could incite aggression against the government. I know it is not the later, but you never know, right?

So there it is, irony right in my face today, of all days — Constitution Day. In the annals of legislation harmful to the Constitution, the Patriot Act is right up there with the Alien and Sedition Acts; and it probably would take the actual Thomas Jefferson to repeal Patriot Act I and II. Funny, I write a column about the Constitution on Constitution Day, and I’m confronted with a very significant constitutional issue.

Notice the accent?

Remember the movie Fargo? The Cohen brothers depicted those of us from the norther regions as a people who talk funny. Sorry, but Palin’s Alaskan accent is thicker and more pronounced. Actually, listening to her made me feel like I was back home. If anything, she was right at home dere in Minnesota! You betcha right?

Bringing sexy opinion back

I know my partisan pal Matt Hittle is geared-up for this election, so let’s get the debate going.

It will be my intention to write further about this issue in our upcoming Sept. 10 online edition, but I cannot go a moment longer keeping all this political frustration inside.

I have said to a number of friends that the thing to watch between the two conventions is the tone and overall themes. The Democratic convention offered a tone that was inclusive and bright. Their theme was simple, as it has been for the last year — the country is going in the wrong direction, and it is time for change. The Dems kept to their message but brought it to a bigger stage. Most importantly though, they showed a Democratic Party that is rooted in a sincere caring for the human condition, and to make certain that everyone is guaranteed the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, government must lead the way.

On the other hand, the Republicans have come out this week with a starkly darker message. Case in point: Last night, did you notice the background behind VP candidate Sarah Palin? IT WAS BLACK!!! She did talk about smaller government (yeah!!), but the overall theme was consistent with where the Republican Party has been going for the last 24 years — America is the world’s military power, and it is our duty to prove that might at every corner of the globe, at every moment of the day. We will spread Democracy to your land and you will like it. Everything was about war and the honor that goes with war. She painted the party with a massive patriotic brush. Saying, in essence, that you’re only an honorable American if you have served.

That, frankly, is B.S.

She stated that had John McCain not come home from Vietnam there would be war memorials all over the country with his name on it. What an insidious thought!

I could go on, but we’ll save the rest for my column next week. Hittle, your turn.

HYPERION: 13 of 13 — 58% YES, 42% NO

No 2,855 0.42 13/13
Yes 3,932 0.58 13/13

Well, this wasn’t even close — in the end. Certainly looks like those in the Dakota Dunes precinct came through for the proponents of the refinery. The big question for all interested in the refinery … What’s next?

HYPERION: 12 of 13 — 53% YES, 47% NO

Yes 2,915 0.53 12/13
No 2,618 0.47 12/13

This is as good as over. 298 votes will be too much to overcome with just one precinct remaining. All that is left now are the more than a handful of other ordinances which include environmental and water issues that need to be squared away before Hyperion is still a reality. This vote only puts the refinery one more small step closer. As they say, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.

Hyperion vote has slowed like crude oil sludge

There are two missing precincts — Dakota Dunes and one near Elk Point. With the YES vote leading by about 200, the NO’s will have to be huge near Elk Point. Those in the know are saying that it is the absentee ballots which are slowing things up.