Letter: ‘Learn to look at the world through Catholic eyes’

I remember in the spring of 2005, when I was a high school senior walking around on the St. Thomas campus. One of the first things that caught my eye was the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. I remember being in awe of the great beauty I found when I stepped into the narthex, and thinking to myself “This must be a school that takes its Catholic identity seriously. What else could have inspired such a beautiful chapel?”

Hawaii study abroad course too important to cut

Normally when people think of Hawaii they think of grass skirts, hula and relaxing on the beach.

But this January I was fortunate enough to study in Hawaii with the Multicultural Communication in Diverse Organizations course. It was a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. But even after 12 successful years as a class, it is one of the study abroad courses being cut next year.

Aid shouldn’t require earthquake’s initiation

Ever since the earthquake hit Haiti, I’ve been proud of America’s reaction. From the very first day, astonishing amounts of food, money and aid have poured into Haiti from all parts of the nation.

Text message campaigns have raised millions of dollars for the relief fund. Many doctors, including one from St. Thomas, have gone to Haiti to perform surgeries and treat diseases such as dysentery.

Letter: Civil discourse event a step in the right direction

Pick your favorite: mine is “Tutugate.”

For at least five years, our university has been marred by frequent controversies pertaining to speakers sharing their views on campus. In such cases, the inability of opposing parties to effectively communicate and receive information with their intellectual opponents has brought the issue to a fever pitch.

Students should feel grateful for campus construction

Construction clangs away on the Lower Quad, reminding pedestrians how different the campus landscape will look in just two years.

With six-figure salaries for university administrators, obscenely high on-campus housing prices and numerous examples of wasteful administrative spending, it’s understandable that some students feel gouged out of money by the university.

On the road to close the School of the Americas

I had the opportunity to travel on a packed charter bus last weekend with 40 other activists to Fort Benning near Columbus, Ga., to stand outside the fort’s gates with thousands of others, practicing a nonviolent protest of U.S. foreign policy in solidarity with the millions of Latin American people it has abused.