Opinions

The Board of Regents meetings are held three times in the academic year. Four student representatives serve on the board of regents from different organizations around campus.

For nearly all first-years, 2009 marks the first holiday season spent away from home. For those feeling the stress of homesickness, procrastinated homework and the dread of finals week, Luther is a perfect place to spend the holiday season.

If Sting can write a song about coming to the states, I can write a song about coming to the UK. If anyone is familiar with the Sting and the Police song “Englishman in New York” then you are in for a treat! Here is my own rendition of it:

I don’t write essays, I solve math problems

I like my numbers on paper

Nov. 20, 2009

“Take a Closer Look and You’ll Like What You See”

Q: What do you call a worldwid-e leader in integrity, diversity and fighting hunger?
A: Sodexo

In 29 states, it’s still legal to fire someone solely because they’re lesbian, gay or bisexual; in 38 states it is legal to fire someone solely for being transgender. Thousands of hardworking lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans have lost their livelihoods simply because of who they are. And millions more go to work every day facing that threat.

It’s an undisputed fact: staying up late is a key component of college life. Sometimes we’re up late for no good reason at all: harvesting crops on FarmVille, watching a movie with a special someone or even being kept up by noisy neighbors. Despite these unforeseen circumstances, the culprit is usually a paper or exam the next day. I’ve already had my fair share of late nights, but I’ve luckily escaped the infamous all-nighter.

Most people know that there’s a church on campus. Fewer know that the church has a council. We are that council—nine student leaders with the guidance of the three campus pastors. So what exactly does this “church council” do? Largely, we do what many church councils do in congregations outside of this church—we help direct the mission, vision and activities of the congregation throughout the year. We help budget the congregation’s finances, allocate funds to worthy causes, help support various concerts and events, etc. In other words, we find ways to keep busy.

Whenever I start thinking too hard about biology, and especially neuroscience, I become slightly anxious. When people start explaining what happens in the brain, and how this correlates to what we feel or experience, one of the first things that springs to my mind is the awareness that something valuable is in danger. It seems to me that the very meaning of human emotion is at stake, and the danger lies in its depreciation. An explanation of why or how we feel is a fundamental belittling of our experience. This should be nearly obvious: If someone says, “I love you,” and a fellow of the scientific persuasion explains that the feeling is merely a biological reaction to pheromone intoxication or an evolutionary drive to procreate, the meaning of the statement is changed in a bad way. It is lessened. How could something like happiness, anger, love or any human emotion retain its meaning when the cause is found to be so perfectly banal? If emotion is only a chemical process, what keeps it sacred? As it turns out, I think our emotions are perfectly safe from a disimpassioned death by science. Let me tell you why.

At some point, we all ask ourselves: “If I could have a super power, what would it be?” We then usually come up with some ability that sounds like it would be fun to employ for a weekend and subsequently go about the day.

You, as a member of “Generation Y” (born from the late 70s to early 90s), are probably familiar with the term “video games” and with consoles trying to win your loyalty and money, such as the Nintendo Wii, XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 – this probably isn’t anything new to you.