"News is the first rough draft of history."

The Voice of the College at Florham

"News is the first rough draft of history." - The Voice of the College at Florham

Tag Archives: contributions

Opinion: How history will judge former President George W. Bush

JORDAN T. CHESTER
Contributor

With the opening of the Bush presidential library in Texas, the presidency of George W. Bush has been revisited by the media. According to observers of politics in the U.S., George W. Bush was one of the worst presidents in American history.

Independents disliked much of his second term agenda. Even Republicans are weary of some of Bush’s policies – mainly relating to economic issues and fiscal policy. But, how will history judge President Bush?

I think that history will remember President Bush as a good president, but not a great one.
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Opinion: Christie re-election, rally around the flag effect

JORDAN T. CHESTER
Contributor

From the outset of the 2013 campaign, GOP Governor Chris Christie has seen polling numbers showing himself well ahead of the presumptive Democratic nominee, State Senator Barbara Buono.

Some may argue that Christie’s spike in approval ratings following Hurricane Sandy have been the contributing factor to his re-election. To them, this was inevitable; however, in reality, that is not the case.
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Opinion: Tax reform crusade to promote Fair Tax Act initiative

JORDAN T. CHESTER
Contributor

On April 14, I had the opportunity to attend an event in Bergen County where Tea Party activists, Second Amendment advocates and constitutional conservatives joined together.

Personally, I am not a “Tea Party type.” I was not there as a Tea Partier, but as someone representing the Fair Tax Act.
My friend, and fellow columnist, Tom Strowe, is a board member of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Fair Taxation and invited me to join him in attending the event.

Together, Tom and I handed out brochures and spoke with people about the fair tax. Tom even gave a speech, which was well received and drew people to our table to discuss the fair tax.

This event in Bergen County was the start of my tax reform crusade.
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FDU science majors take lead at undergraduate research symposium

GOPI PATEL
Contributor

Many FDU non-science majors often wonder what biology and chemistry students do when they say, “I’m stuck at the lab.” Well, once a year, William Paterson University gives science majors an opportunity to show off their hard work done “in the lab.”

The seventh annual WPUNJ Undergraduate Research Symposium was held on April 13 in Wayne, N.J. With many other colleges from the tri-state area also participating, you can imagine the competition that we, 15 science majors from FDU, had.

This year we hit a record-high in FDU student participation.

The range of subject matter has expanded over the years and now includes the behavioral, ecological, environmental, health, as well as the original areas of biology and chemistry.
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Personal essay: Memories turn to everlasting photographs

CAROLYN RUBINFELD
Contributor

I yawn, slowly scrolling through my Facebook feed.

It’s 7:20 a.m., but I can’t sleep. A flood of my old pictures bombards me, if only to pass some time.
A bright orange wig explodes out of a photo while a brimmed sun hat with a thin black ribbon tied at its base makes just solemn whispers.

Another picture passes.

A girl is wearing a pair of blue ears. Spikes protrude from both of her hands. She is standing proudly next to another wearing a long black flowing cape and a handmade blue hat with a painted sash. My best friend. The friend I have not seen in almost three years.
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Opinion: America’s presidents should not be imperial presidents

TOM STROWE
Contributor

With debates over the budget deficit, gun control and immigration policy dominating political discussion in Washington, D.C. and across the nation, another important political issue, the Imperial Presidency, has not been receiving the attention it deserves.

The Imperial Presidency refers to the idea that the Presidency of the United States has grown too powerful and has exceeded its constitutional limits.
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Opinion: The causes of opression and intersectionality

DEVON DOUGLAS-BOWERS
Contributor

Being oppressed is a struggle that many groups in society face on a daily basis, whether it is racial discrimination because one is Latino or sexism because a woman is being paid only 70 percent of what a man makes. Yet, oppression becomes even greater and more complex when one includes intersectionality, which is how social, economic, and other categories overlap and intersect in a greater framework of oppression. Rather than discussing this matter from an objective standpoint and using examples that one can’t directly relate to, I will examine oppression and intersectionality using actual people.

A friend of mine is a gay black man. At first glance, one might think he is oppressed due to his sexuality, but he benefits from male privilege since the United States is a patriarchal society. However, this is where intersectionality comes into play.
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Opinion: The time has come to throw out current tax code

THOMAS STROWE
Contributor

The 2012 Presidential Election has ended, but the road to rebuilding America is far from over.

Many Americans remain unemployed and underemployed, and economic growth remains slow. Politicians in both parties have begun to discuss tax reform as a means to addressing some of America’s problems and the fiscal cliff.

But unfortunately, the plans coming out of the Washington establishment only tinker with the problem, not fix it.

The tax code is so broken that you can’t fix it by making little changes here and there.

Instead, we need to throw out the current tax code and replace it with something simple, fair and transparent.

Thankfully, the plan America needs has already been written. It is known as HR 23/S13, or, by its common name, the FairTax.
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WAMFEST’s fall schedule includes student performances

ANDREW RUSSO
Contributor

College is a time for experience and growth and, most importantly, learning. On campuses across the country, students learn new things about themselves every day.

This week, students at Fairleigh Dickinson’s College at Florham had the opportunity to learn about others. With the return of the annual Words and Music Festival, commonly known as WAMFEST, students learned the stories of filmmakers, writers and musicians.

WAMFEST is usually held in the spring, but this year, it started Tuesday, Oct. 23. It ends today.

WAMFEST, the collaborative brainchild of David Daniel, director of the creative writing department, and Campus Life, is a tradition that began in 2007. It is a way to have professional writers and musicians come to campus and hold performances and conversations with the university community, with a strong focus on students, in a close and intimate setting.

“Part of the focus of WAMFEST each year is to have students embrace things outside of their comfort zone,” Daniel said. “We want people to see a deeper story than people who just play music and write books.”
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‘Henry’s Law’ kicks off New Jersey tour in Hoboken

A scene from rehearsals of “Henry’s Law,” a play by
Stacie Lents that premiered Oct. 8 in Hoboken. Photo courtesy of Dan Landau.


KATIE ALIBERTI
Contributor

Bullying is a topic frequently in the news. There have been too many incidents of teens being bullied at school or on the Internet, and then resorting to taking their lives as a result.

“Henry’s Law,” written by FDU Professor Stacie Lents, is a play that deals with the issue of bullying – specifically, cyber-bullying. The play has a cast of four people, and each one embodies a different high school stereotype.

Lents has written several plays that have been performed both on and off the FDU stages.

One of Lents’ plays, “Black History, Black Voices 2: College Colors,” was written in honor of Black History Month, and received a lot of buzz in the New York/New Jersey area.

“College Colors” has since been performed at different colleges and community theaters.

Lents’ playwriting abilities span from musicals to straight plays. “Henry’s Law” is the latter.
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