Break UA's private prison ties; prisoners human too

In his Feb. 14 letter to the Wildcat, Anthony Nelson attacked Students Against Sweatshops on our most recent campaign to end UA's ties to the private prison industry.

I am unclear on which "system" Mr. Nelson says the private prison industry benefits, but it is certainly not a system which values the rehabilitation or education of criminals, or does anything toward addressing the problems that land so many people in jail, and absolutely not one in which universities should play a part. When incarceration becomes a profit-based industry, the concern is no longer effectiveness, it is money. It is simply incorrect to say that private prisons are safer or more efficient than federally-monitored prisons. Statistically, they have much higher occurrences of rape, riots, forced prostitution, and racial discrimination. Working conditions for prison employees are inferior to those in public prisons. [Read article]

The hip-hop culture has been a phenomenon of epic proportions. Rising from the depths of nowhere, rap pioneers such as Run-DMC honed an African-American street pastime for an infusion into mainstream pop culture and, for the first time ever, White Americana allowed minority artistry to permeate into their world. Hip-hop has since become an inspiration for all minority voices hoping to touch the world with their culture and ideas. [Read article]

This column is the second of a series of commentaries highlighting the experiences of an international exchange student in Israel.

January 28 ÷ Election night

"My father is going to kill me," my Israeli friend gasped as we ran full sprint about two miles from our dormitory complex to the convention center holding the Likud victory party. We had been watching the Israeli election coverage minutes before, when we saw Ariel Sharon's entourage on television driving near the university and decided to make a run to the victory party to catch his speech. My friend, a devout supporter of the left-wing Meretz party and no fan of Ariel Sharon, had been agonizing throughout the night over Meretz's huge loss in Knesset seats, from 10 to six, and the sudden resignation of the party's leader Yossi Sarid. We arrived mid-way through the address and entered the hall packed with television crews and decorated Likud supporters. My friend translated Sharon's speech for me as we pushed our way into the crowd. When the speech concluded, the crowd went into a frenzy. We suddenly noticed a cameraman from an Israeli news station panning in our direction. I continued to smile and look around aimlessly as my Israeli friend ducked behind me to avoid being seen as a supporter of Sharon and the Likud. [Read article]