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

University of Connecticut

America has been overrun by fat, but only because it has allowed itself to be through consumerism and inactivity, diseases in themselves that can be reversed. The keyword behind the medical statistics, though, is "preventable," as fast food is not addictive like nicotine.

But at the same time, the Surgeon General should consider requiring warning labels to be printed on fast-food wrappers, because if one were faced with the choice, a cigarette kills fewer people than a Big Mac.

- "Obesity worse than tobacco," from University of Connecticut's The Daily Campus

New York University

Besides trying to stop college students from knocking back a few on the weekends, the inflated American drinking age makes criminals out of thousands of NYU students whose only crime is the desire to have a little fun on the weekends. Possession or production of a fake ID is a Class D felony under New York State law and is punishable by up to seven years in prison. The drinking age makes criminals out of hundreds of thousands of people who will probably otherwise go on to become productive, law-abiding members of society, serving as powerful proof that the law is totally unnecessary.

It's ludicrous that this country imposes this extra gateway to full adulthood on its citizens who in all other ways are considered adults at age 18. The United States has the highest drinking age in the world. It's high time we caught up. Of course, until then, there's always study abroad.

- "Law makes fake ID a necessity," from New York University's Washington Square News

Syracuse University

Regardless of arguments otherwise, love of country and love of God can be completely exclusive. Therefore, those who do wish to recite the Pledge of Allegiance are unable to express their support of America without necessarily and simultaneously voicing a belief in God. The Pledge of Allegiance is one to the country and the flag; it is not a pledge to any deity.

Quite similarly, this case is completely transparent on the issue of separation of church and state. "Under God" is a definite violation of the partition the founding fathers intelligently added to the basis of our democratic government. Because of the current wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, the government is in effect dictating a belief in God to the people, endorsing monotheism (something not all Americans are), and needlessly offending atheists.

- "'Under God' not proper, must be deleted," from Syracuse University's Daily Orange

University of South Carolina

Baseball is a latecomer when it comes to testing athletes on a regular basis, and the specifics of the plan are still in their formative stage, which means it's not too late to prevent the program from becoming nothing more than a symbolic gesture. Employees all over the nation have grow accustomed to random drug tests for decades, and sports should be no different, especially when one draws a salary from the sweat of their brow. It is patently dishonest to use performance enhancing drugs when your livelihood should be based on talent, not to mention that the use of illegal drugs by athletes sends a poor message to youth players.

- "Baseball doesn't discourage steroid use," from University of South Carolina's The Gamecock

University of Michigan

The problem with "Laci and Conner's Law" is that it grants the unborn child the status of a person, thus imparting all the entitled legal protections. If passed, this bill would imply a federal definition of when life begins, a question subject to much debate since the Roe decision. The text of the bill states clearly states that "unborn child" means " ... a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb." The bill's supporters tend to ignore this change in precedent when advocating for its passage, and it is important to understand which legal loopholes could accompany such a distinction.

If the supporters of this bill succeed in circumventing the debate by denying the relevance of abortion, a woman's right to choose will be in serious jeopardy.

- "Devil in the details," from University of Michigan's Michigan Daily

Columbia College

Despite what the members of the bourgeois and intellectually stunted crusaders club argue, there is no call for the government to be zealously regulating, let alone censoring what they find offensive to their backward and antiquated sense of decency.

We've heard all the arguments, but the simple fact remains that the government is there to provide and secure the rights of the people, not alter them, despite what their mutated sense of decorum dictates.

People have a right to express themselves, regardless of how controversial or unpopular their views may be. Any trampling or restriction on these core ideals is tantamount to treason.

- "Media subject to 'indecent' regulations," from Columbia College's The Columbia Chronicle

University of Mississippi

These "buckets of blood" are being distributed to children who are not responsible for making the decision to dine at KFC. They are being used to get at the parents and create publicity. The cost of PETA's actions could emotionally scar children who are haunted by the image of Colonel Sanders with a bloody butcher knife that is monogrammed on the sides of these buckets. Given the choice between saving the humans or the chickens, save the humans. Especially the children.

Confrontations between parents and protestors will likely occur, possibly further traumatizing the children. If PETA believes that killing and eating an animal is wrong or that animals are endowed with more rights than most people give them, then they are free to express that opinion vehemently. By subjecting children in order to advance their own cause, however, they infringe on the rights of the child and the parent.

- "Save the children or the chickens?" from the University of Mississippi's Daily Mississippian

Clemson University

From all indications, when the Spanish election flip-flopped at the last minute, America lost half of its major European allies. There is still some support from the international community, but there is also no doubt about which nation is leading the way in this war.

America needs to be making allies, not enemies, if this war is to be successful for the long term. American troops need and deserve some relief, and this will require the support of other countries. Finishing completely everything that America starts is also crucial. Focus cannot be diverted to Haiti, for instance, if America is to leave Iraq or Afghanistan half finished. Solidifying the completion of what has already been started is the most important step as the nation moves forward in the War on Terror.

- "Madrid attack provides wake-up call on terror," from Clemson University's The Tiger

- Compiled from U-Wire