Hazing a result of social, evolutionary mechanisms

Cara O'Connor did a nice job on the article about hazing last week.

As she mentioned, hazing is rooted in millions of years of human evolution. Its function is to turn on social reorienting brain mechanisms. The extreme form is called Stockholm Syndrome or "capture-bonding." It was the way captured members from other tribes were socially reoriented to the tribe that had captured them. Capture-bonding is what happened to Elizabeth Smart when she was kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City. [Read article]

We're not in New York, Chicago or San Francisco.

This is Tucson. People come here to hike the mountains, ride horseback and find unlimited elbowroom. The desert southwest's charm is vested in the sprawling, horizontal nature of our lifestyle.

So it might seem strange that just a mile or two from campus, our city officials, with a helping hand from the UA, are in the midst of trying to turn downtown Tucson into a metropolitan fortress through a sophisticated plan called Rio Nuevo. [Read article]

When you were 16 years old, how many times did you ditch school to hang out with your friends at the mall? My cousin, 17, is more worried about whether he is going to make the mile trek to school every morning. A trip that once took him five to 10 minutes by car now takes him two or three hours because he has to walk through several checkpoints.

He doesn't mind the walk; he is more concerned about how he is going to make it through without being harassed, arrested or shot by an Israeli soldier. These are all legitimate concerns, because they've all happened to him before. He has never done anything to deserve this treatment; his only fault is being a Palestinian under Israeli occupation. [Read article]

Question: What should the search committee be looking for in a new UA football head coach?

"A man with experience in coaching this sport, who is willing to work hard to better the team. A person with dedication in building team unity. One who can foresee potential in recruiting future players."

Aishling McCullagh
communications
junior