Social Justice

College students still have to finish their homework on time and listen to their teachers, but are adult enough to make their own food choices, according to PepsiCo. In a new move to promote smart food choices, more than 200 countries will be affected by the company's decision to stop selling its soft drinks in elementary schools and high schools by 2012, said spokeswoman Michelle Naughton.  But students in higher education will still be able to find the company's sugary beverages on campus. Penn State senior Emily Simmons said she thinks the plan is a good idea. "I'm not really

On Mar. 18, the UC Berkeley Student Senate passed a bill to divest from companies that produce helicopters and other armaments for Israel. In so doing, UC Berkeley moves a step closer to being the first large public university to divest from companies supporting Israel. The bill, approved on Mar. 18, was a response to what students argued was an Israeli violation of international law in its dealings with Palestinians, including the siege of the Gaza strip.   The bill demands that the UC Regents and student government divest from General Electric and United Technologies, two U.S. compani

A group of 138 University of Iowa faculty signatures were featured on a full-page ad in the student newspaper the Daily Iowan last Thursday, opposing a task force that is recommending cuts to arts and humanities courses. The protesting faculty members contend that the task force lacks sufficient representation by professors from those departments. The ad said the task force’s five-category ranking system was unfairly skewed against the humanities and criticized what they consider under-representation of humanities and arts departments leading to unfair judgment of those classes. Fifty perce

After months of protests and condemnations of the Pacifica Forum, which some label a hate group, University of Oregon students have worn down the University Senate's opposition against formally rebuking the Pacifica Forum. The Pacifica Forum, known for denying the holocaust and making comments about women and rape that some deem offensive, has been called out as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Many students have rallied for its removal from campus both inside the campus government and outside of the Forum’s meetings. They say Pacifica creates a threatening environment

A dozen Whitman students marched with Ruby Ridge workers seeking to improve working conditions at the Pasco, Washington dairy. Ruby Ridge employees said in interviews with the student newspaper the Pioneer that employees at the dairy typically work 8-12 hour days, six days a week, without bathroom or lunch breaks. Employees do not receive benefits and those that have attempted to unionize have been fired by the dairy owners, Dick and Ruby Bengen. “We’re here because everyone should have basic human rights,” said sophomore Maggie Allen in an interview with the Pioneer. She attended the Ma

In honor of women's history month, the Women's Coordinating Council (WCC) at the University of Tennessee is hosting a number of events to celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness about today’s gender-based inequalities, including pay disparity and domestic violence. “Women’s HERstory Month represents the appreciation and empowerment of women,” said Jocelyn Blake, a junior, in an interview with the student newspaper the Daily Beacon. She said that the alternate spelling of "history" was meant to emphasize focus on women's stories rather than "his" story. “We [women] are sometime

Students across Virginia are clamoring after state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli advised public universities to scale back policies prohibiting sexual discrimination on Monday. Though most campuses were on spring break, students flocked to Facebook to protest his comments.  The page "We Don't Want Discrimination In Our State Universities And Colleges!" gained more than 3,000 new followers Monday, and had about 6,000 by Thursday afternoon. "I've never gotten so many e-mails from students wanting to do something," said Brandon Carroll, 21, the student government president at Virgini

Racially-charged incidents at the University of California San Diego have led administrators and the Black Student Union to team up in setting new school diversity goals. The agreement, signed by the two groups Thursday, details new initiatives designed to combat the recent hate incidents on campus and provide new avenues for tolerance. The University will diversify the student body by increasing the number of students of color, according to a joint statement issued faculty, students, and administrators involved in the talks. The University will use targeted outreach to get more students