The best in last week's editorials from college campuses across the nation

California State U., Long Beach

The 2000 election holds further evidence in support of abolishing the electoral practice. All the injustice done to black Floridians aside, the two-month recount fiasco and the Supreme Court case would not have been necessary in a direct election.

A difference of 537 votes - the amount by which Bush won Florida - would have been irrelevant in the grand, national scheme.

The call for an immediate end to the Electoral College may seem impractical to some. For them, we suggest looking at another country for motivation, a country that is preparing to have direct elections in less than a year. That country is Iraq.

- "Abolish the Electoral College," State University, Long Beach's Daily Forty-Niner

University of Southern California

As America's waistline expands exponentially, the popular assaults on fast-food culture have grown increasingly vicious.

McDonald's abandonment of the monster-size fast-food meal is another loss for personal responsibility in a world increasingly set on placing the blame elsewhere.

After recent lawsuits against the fast-food industry were thrown out for being frivolous, it appeared that a modicum of sense was going to prevail in the national debate over obesity.

No one forces consumers to eat hamburgers any more than road trippers in Texas are forced to eat 72-ounce steaks. There aren't any addictive qualities to fried, sliced potatoes. And there aren't any patty-melt-smuggling cartels.

Somehow, though, the fast-food industry is vilified for providing a product that is only dangerous after a lifetime of reckless consumption.

What is next? Dreyer's only selling ice cream in pint-size quantities?

- "Supersize demise is a defeat for responsibility," from University of Southern California's Daily Trojan

Pennsylvania State University

The Constitution isn't a trivial document. It's a way of life that Americans follow. It isn't to be taken for granted, and it shouldn't be thought of as a changing list of "bylaws."

The issue here is mixing church and state.

What can be taken away from an argument about gay marriage/the sanctity of straight marriage is that it basically comes down to religion. And religion should never be mixed with government.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," says the First Amendment. That passage is a part of history that shouldn't be randomly touched, or have rights taken out of it. It's the one thing in this country that still has some sanctity.

And that's nothing that should be taken lightly.

- "Gay marriage amendment can rewrite history of United States," from Pennsylvania State University's Daily Collegian

University of South Carolina

Colorado is not alone in facing serious issues involving athletics - last year the Arizona State student newspaper ran a feature quoting a member of the female recruiting organization, the Sun Devil Recruiters, that club members often slept with recruits.

Furthermore, the plight of Kobe Bryant means that athletics on all levels will have to endure more scrutiny from now on.

The most recent news that CU will investigate recruiting irregularities comes just as Women's History Month begins.

While women have made great strides on college campuses in terms of gender equality, so long as they fear walking alone at night there will still be work to do.

Women should not live under the threat of unwanted advances from other students, be they athletes or regular coeds.

- "Sports must play by rules," from the University of South Carolina's Gamecock

Compiled from U-Wire