Chick-fil-a and its impact on USD Students

With the Munster University Center's expansion almost finished, most students are getting excited. They're not only excited for the extra space in lunchrooms or extra seating throughout the MUC, but they're also excited for one of their favorite restaurant chains, Chick-fil-a. However, I question if students will continue to be excited for Chick-fil-a even after they expressed their views on same sex marriage.
In June of 2012, Chick-fil-a's chief operating officer Dan Cathy publicly made comments about his opposition on same sex marriage. While LGBT activists protested and called for boycotts against the restaurant chain, students at the University of South Dakota started to sign an online petition.
After the petition started online, the Student Government Association circulated a poll throughout Facebook and email asking students if they would still like to see Chick-fil-a on campus even with this new found knowledge of its views. The majority of the students answered the poll stating that regardless of this new found knowledge, they would still like to see Chick-fil-a on campus. Most students are excited for these new restaurant options mainly because it'll add more variety to campus and Vermillion. It's this new excitement of variety that overrides Chick-fil-a's views.
Junior Megan Little at the University of South Dakota says that she's most excited for Chick-fil-a to come to campus and, regardless of its views on same sex marriage, she says that these views will not sway her decision to eat at Chick-fil-a.

Happy Veterans Day!

November 11th has always been a day of observance since the very beginning. It all started at the end of first World War. It was on this day that a treaty between the Allied Nations and Germany was signed and regarded as "the war to end all wars." It wasn't until 1919 that President Wilson declared that November 11th be regarded as Armistice Day where they celebrate soldiers who had fought in WW1. Originally, Armistice Day was supposed to only celebrate those who had fought in WW1, but at the end of WW2 in 1954, Armistice Day then started to celebrate veterans of all wars. 

However, Veterans Day wasn't always observed on November 11th. In fact, on June 28th 1968, the Uniform Holiday Bill was signed in order to ensure a three-day weekend for federal employees. With this bill, the four national holidays (Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Washington's birthday, and Columbus Day) were all celebrated on a Monday. This was to encourage travel among the federal employee's families and it was to stimulate more industrial and commercial production. However, because there was so much confusion with the dates and most states didn't agree with this bill, therefore the four holidays were celebrated on their original dates. 

Therefore, on September 20th, 1975 President Ford signed Public Law 94-97 which returned Veterans Day to its original date of November 11th. Despite the constant changing of dates and names, Veterans Day is still celebrated as a day to give thanks to the brave men and women who have fought and continue to fight for our country. Veterans Day is meant to celebrate those who selflessly gave their lives to protect our country. Therefore, Veterans Day not only is meant to honor and celebrate those soldiers but also, to thank them for protecting us and our freedoms. 

To me, Veterans Day is more than just a day off I get from school. Veterans Day is a day where I can thank friends, family members, and strangers who fight for my freedoms and our country. Whether you agree or disagree with the way our wars our country fights in, you can't disagree with the men and women who selflessly fight them. Happy Veterans Day to all who selflessly serve and have served our country. 

Federal Regulations on School Lunches

Before the 2013-2014 school year, the federal government made new regulations for school lunch programs. Some of these regulations haven't sat well with students in South Dakota schools and all for good reason. Some of the new federal lunch regulations aren't exactly appealing to K-12 grade students.
Here are some of the federal guidelines:

• It must be a whole grain product
• the first ingredient in must be a fruit, vegetable, dairy, or protein food
• Snack items have to be less than or equal to 200 calories
• Entree items have to be less than or equal to 350 calories. 

Why are students having such a negative reaction to the school lunches? Well, just take a look at those guidelines. Instead of having to eat the food, students are starting to pack their own lunches which has definitely been noticed among the lunch room staff in Tea and Baltic South Dakota. In fact, to keep students from bringing their own lunch, the staff have started to get creative by bring changing the titles of lunches to something more enticing or even giving students dressing packets to go with their veggies. 

Child obesity is no doubt a problem among children, but is it really the school's responsibility to see that they don't "gain weight?" Sure, healthy items are great for students and definitely should be available to students. But, if they don't like it, they're not going to eat it. School's are responsible for children eight hours of the day. A child could eat healthy a couple of times during those eight hours but then once their home they're going straight for the good stuff. And by good stuff I mean junk food. 

Healthy options are great for students but these new guidelines are starting to look less "child friendly" and more like a bad diet craze. 

USD's Dakota Days

From September 30th to October 5th, The University of South Dakota held their homecoming week, also known as Dakota Days. The week consisted of events sponsored by Campus Activities Board and the Dakota Days committee.

On Monday September 30th, Campus Activities Board brought in comedian Rob Little who entertained the crowd by literally using them as a part of his act. His comedic strategy of using audience participation worked wonderfully and kept the crowd thoroughly entertained. 

During the week, Seniors from different organizations were nominated for Dakota Days Royalty. Fourteen men and 14 women were then narrowed down to seven men and seven women on Tuesday October 1st. The seven men were Gavin Pochop, Taylor Moore, Erik Muck, Sean McCaan, Seth Lopur, Stephen Bollinger, and Zach Nipp. The seven women were Anna Hyronimus, Cassie Bartlett, Megan Ingebrigtson, Ellen Ingebrigtson, Kate Bauer, Wendy Nelson, and Courtney Krcil. 

On Wednesday, October 2nd, there was Vermtown Bash which was held at Prentis Park. The bash included paintball, a mechanical bull, inflatable jump houses and a dunk tank where you could dunk the members of Dakota Days Royalty. 

On Thursday October 3rd was the first 'Yotes Got Talent which allowed students to show their talents for a chance to win $300. The show featured dancers, musicians, and even a cattle auctioneer. The winner of the $300 prize was a student named Nick Burke who played guitar and a bass drum simultaneously. His rendition of Mumford and Son's song Babe, was a huge hit with the crowd and was absolutely perfect.

Saturday October 5th was the big day for Dakota Days. It started with a parade through downtown at 10 a.m. The parade was a great way for members of the community and members of the University to come together and support the university. Tailgating started for the game at 11 a.m. which was definitely chilly. This years tailgating was different, however, because instead of ending tailgating for the day 30 minutes before the game, they allowed fans to tailgate through halftime. This was an awesome opportunity for fans to go back out to their cars, eat some food, drink, and get prepared to watch the second half of the game.

The football game started off great when we scored in the first quarter, however, got rocky once again through the second and third quarter. The Coyotes managed to pull it together at the fourth quarter by scoring a touchdown and making a field goal. The final score for the game was 17 to 14. This was a huge success for the Coyotes for winning their first game in the Missouri Valley conference.
During half time, the 14 men and women royalty candidates were brought onto the field for two candidates to be crowned. Dakota Days royalty were not only voted on by the students but they also had to perfect an essay and an interview. The Dakota Days King was Gavin Pochop and the queen was Anna Hyronimus. 

All in all, Dakota Days was a week full of awesome activities and school spirit that brought both the Vermillion Community and the University Community together. 

Enough is Enough

I recently read an article on CNN.com titled Yemen minister on child marriage: Enough is enough that touched on child marriage in the country of Yemen. While this issue seems unreal to the United States, it is very real in the country of Yemen.
Recently an 8-year-old girl reportedly died of internal bleeding three days after her wedding. The young girl, named Rawan, was married to a 40-year-old man. A man five times her age! Outrageous! This incident horrified not only me but Yemenis who are now looking to human rights minister Hooria Mashhour.
Mashhour believes the selling of young girls into marriage, which is remains legal in Yemen, should stop.
"Many child marriages take place every year in Yemen. It's time to end this practice," Mashhour said. However, the locals to Yemen have stopped talking to media outlets due to fear of the repercussions from the government. However, human rights coordinator and the human rights minister believe they can make a change.
The practice of selling young girls into marriage hasn't changed. In fact, more than half of young women are married before the age of 18 and 14% of girls are married before 15. In 2008, 10-year-old Nujood Ali broke the mold when she went to court in Sanaa and asked for a divorce. After a lengthy trial, she was granted the divorce. In 2010, a 12-year-old bride died of internal bleeding just shortly after her wedding.
Yemen legislature tried to pass a bill that involved making the minimum age to marry be 17. However, because of the conservative nature of Yemen's parliament, the bill was shot down with the argument that the bill violated Islamic law, which does not specify an age to marry.
Marriage shouldn't involve children whatsoever. While this issue is controversial in Yemen, it isn't controversial here. With the age of marriage being 18 in some states and no younger than 16 in others. Here, an 8-year-old girl getting married is unheard of.
Writing about something like this was hard and definitely controversial. Putting my two sense in would be a waste of time considering I'm sure you all know how I feel about this issue by now.

Obama's address on Syria

I have to hand it to Obama. After hearing numerous things about Syria and seeing him disagree with the Russian government, it's finally nice to see a decision be made....sort of.

In an article titled Lawmakers give mixed reactions to Syria speech found on CNN.com, it seems that there are a lot of members of congress who disagree with him. Take House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, Representative from Michigan, for example. He said that the president urgently needs to develop and execute a strategy to address all those threats. 

Along with Rogers, Republican Senators Lindsey Grahm of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona said that the president didn't speak more forcefully about the need to increase the military assistance to moderate the Syrian forces. They also say that they regret he didn't come out with a clearer plan to test the Russian and Syrian proposal to move the chemical weapons to international custody. 

However, most of the Democrat representatives and senators believe he did a good job. Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland believed he made a good moral argument. 

From what I watched of the speech Obama made, I must agree with Cummings. Obama made an awesome moral argument. Did it solve anything? Eh....not really. The Senate delayed the vote on the Syria resolution which has less support after the Russian Government offered a possible path to get Syria to hand over their weapons. 

I really don't have much of a stance on this issue because, frankly, I don't know much of the issue to make an educated decision on how the Senate should vote. Obama seems to have made his decision by saying he is not going to send any American troops to Syria. This sets my mind at ease because I would like to keep all soldiers close for as long as possible. Can the Senate sit on this decision much longer? Probably not. Let's just hope a decision is made soon. 

Pranks Gone Wrong

There's nothing I love more than a good prank. However, when do pranks go too far? On September 6th a Longmont CO teen was killed in a prank gone wrong. 18-year-old Premila Lal was shot and killed after scaring a family friend. 

The shooter, Nerrek Galley was staying at Lal's home while Lal and her family were in the process of moving. While Galley and Lal's 15-year-old brother Pranil were playing video games, Lal and her cousin snuck into the house and hid in a closet. They began to make little noises hoping to make Galley and Pranil investigate. Instead of Galley and Pranil finding an intruder like they had expected, they found Premila who jumped out of the closet. 

Premila screamed and then Galley pulled the trigger. Premila was admitted to the hospital but was pronounced dead an hour later. Now, Galley is being held on charges of reckless endangerment, child abuse, and providing a gun to a juvenile because Pranil had access to the gun. 

What happened in Longmont Colorado was a tragedy and just a horrible accident. However, are pranks starting to become too violent? 

Vine is a social media app that allows you to take a 6 second video and share it with the rest of the world. You have the ability to follow certain people, look at their accounts and see what their videos are all about. I do have a vine account and I do follow quite a few people. Lately, every time I get on Vine I see a new prank. Most are violent. A couple weeks ago there was a Vine where a young girl snuck up on her father doing dishes. After screaming and grabbing at his shoulders the father grabbed a cookie sheet and smacked her across the face with it knocking the poor girl onto the ground. 

Something that's been trending on vine lately is called Smack Cam. Its basically videos of people walking up the their friends smacking them across the face without the friend's knowledge. Some Smack Cam vines included shaving cream across the face and even the poor smackees getting a giant exercise ball thrown at their head. 

Yes, things like this are amusing and I will be the first to say that I did chuckle at quite a few of them. However, we can't forget that when we catch a person off guard, we deal with their instincts. It may not be what they intended and the outcome of the prank may not have been what you intended, but pranks like these are not to be taken likely. 

Sometimes, pranks are not so fun.