Op/Ed

Staff Writer

Chiara Nemati

This election season has been an interesting one. I’m not going to lie, I have been more informed than ever before and the only reason is because of the lovely republican candidate, Donald J. Trump. I have watched every debate and the contrast between the Republican Party and Democratic Parties is drastic. Instead of thinking of these candidates as possible presidents of the country, I’ve looked at them as students running for president of their school.  Each month we’ve seen candidates dropping out, lots of them voicing their support for Trump. This shocked me; they went from fighting to keep Trump low in the polls to rallying behind him. Throughout the early primaries it was clear that Trump  got most of the delegates. Now everyone besides Trump supporters are faced with a huge problem, Trump is the only Republican candidate.

For a while there was talk about a contested convention where Ted Cruz and John Kasich would run together and hopefully win the nomination. However, after Ted Cruz’s loss in Indiana he dropped out of the race, but not without a fight. He tried many things to insure that Trump would not become the nominee, but none worked. He began by making a pact with Kasich, which would allow Cruz to focus on India and Kasich to work on the later states. Cruz also gained support from former runner Carly Fiorina. This, however, was also a bust. The Republican Party’s worst fear was coming to light, an outsider would be heading their party in the fall elections.

The most memorable part of the republicans primary race has been the fire between Cruz and Trump. There has been a lot of heat and back-and-forth fighting. Now it is all over; we no longer have to listen to debates or speeches by the candidates attacking one another. Trump took a moment to acknowledge Cruz and appreciate his former running mate but quickly switched gears to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. America is left with a big problem, the man we all thought would fizzle out and be looked at as a joke is the republican nominee and there is no one that can step in his way.

Editorial;

It’s that time of year! Every Senior is awaiting a response from the college of their dreams and making their decisions, but it feels as though once you finally receive your letter and make your deposit, you get drowned in a lot of stories that cause you to rethink your college choices. Here are things you will need to know about the matter.

When applying to colleges, you should never let the stress blind you from looking deeper into a college. Although you want to look for a college that can give you a good education, you also need to look for a college you will feel safe in. Find a college you can call home, but as for scandals, you need to focus your eyes on whether the issue is actually real or whether the media is exploiting it and if they matter to you. The media tends to create a bigger problem for something that was already big enough or something that was not big at all. It is reasons like these that make a person rethink their college choices, but be careful because everything is not always what it seems.

One thing you can’t fear forever is stepping out of your comfort zone, or making a mistake.. The truth is that you are going to be in college, you are going to do something stupid,”As you go into college, doing something stupid takes you stepping out of your comfort zone. You should always try to take a step out of your comfort zone, but never go too far or you will regret it. Yes you are bound to do something stupid, but make sure that that stupid is not something that screws you up in the future. Things that are acceptable leaving campus when you are not supposed to or hanging out in the dorms of the opposite gender, but getting drunk to the point where you can’t move and wake up with no memory is unacceptable.  A lot of incidents are also caused to different racial viewpoints. In a school like SLA, where the community is diverse, racial slurs are less likely to be thrown around, unlike colleges, where they tend to be less diverse.

Sexual assaults are not a surprise on college campuses, and there are many things that influence these sexual assaults, like frat and sorority parties are a big part of when a sexual assault can take place. Of course there are many other areas on campus in which they take place, but parties can potentially play a big part.  

When it comes to reports about the safety of a school, pay close attention. Just because a school has a lower level of reported crime does not always mean they are safe places. Not all schools report every incident they have because they do not want to leave a bad impression on their school. As for those with higher reports, they do not cover up what happens in their school because they want to take action against what is going on, on their campus.

A student can fear so many things during the college process. It is only natural. There will be moments where all we tend to focus on is every single bad thing, but soon you get over it as you focus on the good things, such as making new friend and going for a career you will love. Yes, you should not be careless about what college you choose to go to, but never overthink things. Every college has their ups and downs, but there was a reason you wanted to go to the college you chose, if you didn’t let anything get in the way before, why now?

Allison Kelly Staff Writer

Something that is becoming increasingly prominent in society, especially in the college environment, are trigger warnings. A trigger warning, by definition, is a statement at the start of a piece of writing, video, etc., alerting the reader or viewer of the fact that it contains potentially distressing material. Frequently used in artistic and academic settings, these warnings generally help people to have the option to avoid a certain topic, situation, or type of content that may be extremely uncomfortable for them or have the ability to cause high risk levels of stress due to some prior experience. But, the controversy surrounding these warnings mainly deals with the ideas of whether or not it is actually society’s responsibility to provide them and even question if whether or not they may be doing more harm than good for society in general.

Trigger warnings can be extremely important for certain people under different circumstances in which they may take certain topics a little harder than others. The more popular topics that would call for a trigger warning in society are those such as suicide, depression, rape, anxiety, eating disorders, and self harm. For example, a victim of sexual assault may find a trigger warning before a movie including a rape scene to be extremely important to their mental state. Having the control to decide whether or not they can deal with the specific content in public yet is the power that these warnings provide people with. But, following this logic, the amount of topics that could call for trigger warnings is infinite, and this is really where the controversy begins.

We have to take into consideration that literally anything can be a trigger, even something that may seem so ridiculous or irrelevant for to even cross (most of our) minds as having the potential. So, is society as a whole responsible to provide these warnings? How are we ever to tell what can and can’t be a trigger for someone?

These warnings are present to help certain people not ready to deal with specific issues in public, but we are never really going to be able to help everyone because it is not possible to know every single person’s trigger. Therefore, since we can’t help everyone, does this mean we shouldn’t try to help anyone at all? Or, should we just be helping as many as possible?

Generally, someone at the risk of behavior following a certain trigger that may be harmful to oneself or those around them are dealing with some form of a mental illness on some level. A mental illness is something in which we can really only help ourselves with besides seeking professional help. Therefore, some believe that providing trigger warnings are not, in any way, society’s responsibility because it is not possible for us to solve everyone’s specific mental illness, nor should we have to worry about it. It is their own responsibility to help themselves or seek the professional help they need to individually help their situation until they are capable of helping themselves. Not only do people believe that it is just not our responsibility as a whole to try to help everyone with something they can only help themselves with, but that by providing trigger warning they may even be only adding to someone’s problem.

Being blindsided by distressing content to someone with some degree of a mental illness can cause for them to react in a certain way in which they are not comfortable doing in public, panic attacks or mental breakdowns for examples. This would cause for them to be isolated and put on display. But some believe that providing someone the opportunity to isolate themselves in certain situations actually alienates them even more and allows for the side of them that they were trying to keep hidden in the first place to become even more evident to others because of the mere fact of them trying to avoid it. And not only allowing them to alienate themselves from society, but also allowing for them to avoid a certain situation in which it could be helpful for them to face, can just further delay their healing process or potential progress.

On the other hand, anyone actually dealing with any of the issues present may argue that trigger warning are really essential to their everyday life when dealing with their own problems. The situation of a trigger warning and whether or not it is helpful really depends on where the person is. If someone is in an environment in which they don’t have any support from others, these warnings can be the key to what keeps them sane and stable out in public. Trigger warnings don’t necessarily cause for people to avoid things that maybe they should face, but just gives them the power and the option to deal with it on their own terms.

Overall, society at large really can’t be held accountable to provide trigger warnings because of the mere fact that it is just impossible to cover all of the bases. That said, It is considerate to maybe make a trigger warning less specific in order to cover more topics and create less isolation for anyone making use of the warning. In the end, however, the general public cannot be held responsible to provide these warnings, anyone in need of this can’t depend on them to get by.

Majority of SLA’s seniors are turning eighteen–which means they’ll be focused on the real world, i.e bills, college tuition, jobs, and voting. There is a false impression that if you don’t vote, it doesn’t affect the election anyway–wrong! Every single vote matters. We play an important role in who our next president will be–every last one of us. So, you’re on board with voting, but what are the first steps? Along with taxes, how loans work–it isn’t taught in high school. But, we will teach you about voting.

Research, Research, Research!

Don’t jump on the bandwagon when it comes to picking who you want to be president. You could possibly be rooting for someone who doesn’t hold the same (or most) values as you. So, do your own research. Check their political policies, neutral fact websites which give breakdowns of how the candidates approach certain issues. Ignore their gender, race, and political party stance because you could possibly subconsciously not want someone in office because of their identity.   This link is a great resource to start with when trying to find the right candidate to vote for: https://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidential-quiz.

Voting for the Specific Candidate for the Right Reasons?

It’s a groundbreaking moment when the archetype of a president is broken. Most of us would like to see a woman in office. But, maybe Hillary isn’t our first pick. Bernie Sanders would be the first Jewish president. Donald Trump would be the first non-politician to be president. Ted Cruz would be the first Cuban president. No matter which way this election goes, they would all be the “first” in the lines of presidents before. But, we shouldn’t let that get the best of us. Choosing a president just because of certain aspect of their identity (besides their political stance) could be dangerous. For instance, James Buchanan was America’s first (alleged) gay president, yet he led America into the civil war. You also shouldn’t ignore smaller elections such as senators and congress. Having a president with good intentions and ideas is counter productive if the senate and congress blocks their policies.

Can They Accomplish Their Promises?

When running for presidency, every candidate has something they want to change about America. Whether it’s free college for everyone or a wall bordering Mexico, voters expect the candidates to keep their word. You have to ask yourself if the candidate’s promises are practical. For instance, Bernie Sanders wants to take down Wall Street and make sure every college kid is tuition-free. He has good intentions and it would be great if all of his endeavors were to happen, but we have to seriously ask what we think he could accomplish. For example, President Obama promised he would end war in Afghanistan in 2014, but it still hasn’t happened.  

Now It’s Time to Vote!
Spread the word! Tell your friends and family to vote. Check when your state’s primaries happen. Find a location where you can vote. Make sure you have fully registered and have your card. And check out Anna Sugure’s Facebook group- Students Vote Philly – which further goes into this.