Thumbs up, thumbs down

This semester, we're gettings handsy. Or thumbsy, to be more specific. Our new editorials will now often highlight more than one issue that's important to DePauw's campus by giving it our official thumbs up or thumbs down. We'll be able to dedicate the exact amount of words needed to get our opinion across, meaning we won't overemphasize issues that should be brief or lightly address ones that should be paid special attention to. This semester, just as in the past 160 years, you can count on our editorial board to know the facts and tell them straight.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient another winner on Ubben list

We're looking forward to the impending speech of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian activist who calls for peace and women's strength and independence. Through Gbowee, DePauw and the Ubben Lecture Series is once more serving the student body, offering unique and worldy perspectives that will break us out of our comfortable bubble nestled among cornfields in the midwest.

Gbowee is just one in a long list of people who have come to DePauw — a list filled with world leaders and thinkers. It's no small feat that the Ubben series brings an abundance of speakers from every venue: business, politics, sports and entertainment. We thank the Ubben family once again for their generosity.

Isolated case makes Greencastle seem less friendly

Another possible hate crime puts a damper on the campus climate. It hasn't been long since those discussions of acceptance and unity began and already we are facing another disheartening case, albeit one off campus.

It's disappointing that the Greencastle community did not work harder to determine a real cause of the student's broken car window. Worse,that students feel unsafe or unwelcome in an area they live in for the better part of the year.

We continue to hope for the opposite.

Injustice seems to find its way into the DePauw bubble, and it is up to us to keep our sense of strength and unity within our community. Although the circumstances are less than desirable, the fact that students are taking it upon themselves to create awareness walks for all types of harrassment is hopeful.