Feb. 4th, 2009

name change no more

Juna’uh Allgood
Editor

Two proposals affecting the name of MUW died in the Senate Monday. Senate Bill 2702, which sought to give the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board the authority to enact a name change, was moved to a vote late Monday afternoon in the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee. That motion was never seconded and the bill died. The deadline for bills to move from committee to Senate was Tuesday, so any legislation affecting the name would have to be resubmitted next year. Another bill in the House that would change the name to Mississippi University for Women and Men was never taken up by the committee.

Many area business leaders, the LINK, which is Columbus’ Chamber of Commerce, the Columbus City Council, Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, the Mississippi Economic Council and Hank Bounds, commissioner of higher education were all in attendance in support of the bill. Several spoke to the committee, most notably Bounds and the IHL Board of Trustees President Scott Ross.

LIFESTYLES

Star Trek is the perfect vessel for Western imperialism
Joshua Lee
Columnist

You know, I've been looking forward to "Star Trek Online" since I first found what massively multiplayer games were. How awesome would it be to talk about the Prime Directive and not interfere with developing cultures?

Now that "Star Trek Online" is a reality, I find myself in the somewhat amusing position of being disgusted by “Star Trek” fans. Because, for all of “Star Trek's” supposedly good qualities, it has led it's fans to be absolutely bigoted and xenophobic.

This all started when Cryptic, the developers of "Star Trek Online," had a ship-naming contest. The winning entry for the fastest ship was "Dervish," which generally refers to Islamic ascetic monks. The forums were so rocked by suburbanites complaining about the name that the servers stalled to a halt. People actually cancelled their pre-orders because an optional ship was named after a religious group.

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OPINION

"This election brought to you by Wal-Mart."
Our View

In late January of this year, the Supreme Court ruled that it is now constitutional for companies to use their own money to produce advertisements for use either in support of or against any political candidates. Also, a section of the McCain-Feingold bill, which forbade union and corporate-paid advertisements on political issues in the closing days of an election, was thrown out entirely.

What does this mean? In very general terms, it means that companies are now allowed to use their money to support or attack whatever politician or issue they choose. This undoes the previous system, which required companies to follow certain laws in donating to political action campaigns, or PACs, in order to provide financial support to candidates and issues. Obviously, as with any system, loopholes but companies were still quite limited in what they could provide. Now, since the Supreme Court's decision, large corporations are treated the same as private individuals, meaning even the regulations involving the PACs are a thing of the past.

CAMPUS

Cycling classes added at MUW
Sarah Wilson
Editorial assistant

Campus Recreation recently added cycling classes to the Spring RecFitness programming schedule.

There will be a fee charged for the classes, which will be offered multiple times a day. The cost is two dollars per class for members, which includes MUW students and faculty, and seven dollars per class for non-members. A $40 pass can be purchased that is good for 25 classes throughout the semester.

Explaining why Campus Recreation is charging for the cycling classes on top of the fees members pay out of either their tuition or pockets, Amy Swingle, executive director of Campus Recreation, says that the charging is necessary because of the large amount of money theyrecently spent on the bikes to make the class possible.