Free Republic

This Easter Sunday in Ukraine was unlike any other in the history of this nation in crisis. As Ukrainian Christians gathered together at Kiev’s Central Baptist Church to worship and celebrate the resurrection, they heard a special message delivered in person by Alexander Turchynov, the country’s acting president. SGA’s Sergei Omelchenko wrote to tell us about the extraordinary day . . . Turchinov 4-21-14 Acting Ukrainian president Alexander Turchynov proclaims the Gospel at the pulpit of Central Baptist Church in Kiev—a truly historic moment! Pastor Vyacheslav Nesteruk, president of the Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB), preached the main message...

Although a plan to close Campus Drive this summer has drawn sharp criticism from on- and off-campus groups, administrators have said changing the plan could conflict with the spirit of the trial. The experiment, which calls for Campus Drive to be closed to traffic except emergency vehicles and two internal bus routes from June 19 to Aug. 13, was formed to allow the university to test the goals of its Facilities Master Plan as it prepares an updated version, Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie wrote in an e-mail. Although Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Frank Brewer said...

Race-Based Student Government by: Alana Goodman, September 24, 2009 Racism is alive and well at the University of Massachusetts. And I’m not talking about the hysterical, trumped-up allegations of racism made by people like Henry Louis Gates and Jimmy Carter at the mere mention of legitimate criticism about Barack Obama’s policies. I mean clear-cut, systematic, institutionalized racism. Just look at our Student Government Association (SGA) By-Laws. As we prepare to swear in our elected representatives to the SGA Senate next week, UMass students should be aware that 13 percent of our SGA Senators will not have even competed in Tuesday’s...

Mass Equality, a militant gay organization pushing for national gay marriage, has announced that it plans to do a petition drive in South Boston during the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Petitioners will approach individuals and families watching the parade, urging people to sign their petition which demands national gay marriage rights. As you might expect, Catholics and parents who plan to be at the parade with their kids are angry at this latest assault and are calling-in to the show to protest. The Mass Equality rep is countering that her organization has the right to do this and that anyone...

Recently, an atheist student organization at The University of Texas at San Antonio set up a “Smut for Smut” booth allowing students to exchange their religious scriptures (mostly the Holy Bible) for pornography. Unsurprisingly, they got the idea from another group at The University of Texas at Austin. It almost gets depressing when you look at schools like Auburn University – a school that is preparing for the lighting of a Holiday Tree, instead of the lighting of a Christmas Tree – a term deemed too offensive and “under-inclusive” in the postmodern era of higher education. And this kind of...

The Student Government Association of the University of Massachusetts was challenged to organize an effort to stop the war in Iraq during last night?s Senate meeting. Marvin Daehler, a member of the UMass Faculty Senate and Associate Chair of the Psychology department, informed the Senate of the war?s impact on students and made a plea to SGA members to organize a voice against the war. According to Daehler, in President?s George Bush?s five years in office, America has accumulated a higher debt than any of the debts of previous president?s combined. ?This war impacts all of us, especially the college...

Dispute fuels Tech activism By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Molding a student voting bloc to take on City Hall over a housing issue may have ramifications that go beyond purple houses and numbers of roommates, organizers say. Will students registered to vote in Lubbock begin to take more interest in local issues? Will they become a factor in local elections? That's entirely possible, says Colton Batchelor, Texas Tech Student Government Association external vice president. Historically, college students here show little inclination to vote in local elections, Batchelor says, noting that he, too, has been guilty of apathy. "I think, in general,...

BY LAWRENCE MESSINA Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.VA.--A Federal Reserve official told Southern governors Tuesday to expect economic growth paired with lagging employment in the region over the next year. "The economy is recovering, but as you know, it's a jobless recovery," said Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President J. Alfred Broaddus Jr. Addressing a panel session at the 69th annual meeting of the Southern Governors' Association, Broaddus outlined his and other forecasts that predict the region's economy will grow by 4.5 percent over the next year. He called the consensus forecast "quite plausible" and "sensible." But even if true, Broaddus...

School Election Results Being Questioned (5/14/03 - Mentor, Ohio) — The election of the first black senior class president at Ohio's largest public high school has been put on hold until alleged voting irregularities are reviewed. Ollie Thomas Jr., 17, who was declared the winner of last week's election involving current juniors, said bigotry was behind the dispute. "I wanted to make history and I did," he said. The 10,000-student Mentor district in suburban Cleveland is about 1 percent black, according to a 1999-2000 state report. School officials said several students claimed the next day that the election was rigged...

Students at Piper High are getting a crash course in politics after student government elections problems erupted amid complaints of racism, election rigging, physical threats and improper campaigning. The controversy started when administrators changed election criteria to encourage more students to get involved with student government. Although almost half of Piper students are black, only a handful of the members of student government are. Unfortunately, it's upset some people," Tom Geismar, superintendent for north central area schools, said of the changes. "But it's also opened up the process to some other students." The move was perceived by some of the...