Poking around the St. Olaf homepage while wasting time on the Internet the other day, I discovered a hotlink that read, Presidential search updates. Ooh! I thought. Maybe there will be a list of candidates. But when I clicked on the link, all I saw was the old advertisement for applicants to the presidency.
Since 2002, the comprehensive fee for a student to attend St. Olaf has increased at an average rate of 7.2 percent a year stemming from figures like $28,500 in 2003, $30,950 in 2004, and $32,800 in 2005; the brand-new $35,600 seems like a slap in the face, and the pocketbook.
As the president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), I feel as though it is my duty to relate to the St. Olaf student body and overall community the response of the MSA on the matter of the controversy over the cartoon depiction of the last messenger of Islam, prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Remember when you were a prospective college student and you spent many coffee-filled late nights weighing the pros and cons of the 16 schools you applied to with your equally anxious parents? Neither do I.
The controversial Death with Dignity Act (DDA), an Oregon law, was upheld this January by the highest court in the land. The DDA is the first and only law of its kind in the nation. It allows terminally ill patients to ask for a lethal prescription of medication, and was passed twice by Oregonians, in 1994 and 1997.
It is highly doubtful, as College Pastor Bruce Benson said during Sunday services a few weeks ago, that anyone in todays society would look at Hurricane Katrinas devastation of New Orleans and consider it an act of God. Certainly there are some fine folks who might disagree, but the majority looks back on what happened last summer with deep remorse for a tragedy, not a cyber-age Gomorrah.
