Category: Opinion

President Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ginsberg; the Senate should approve his nomination swiftly and before the election. Judge Amy Barrett is a catholic, conservative, female judge who has served on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals since 2017, and…

UTD is open for business, but the continued closure of the library leaves Comets scratching their heads. Except for the Eugene McDermott Library, every building on UTD’s campus is open: Comets can study, take classes, eat and work out within the campus’ many buildings. And while the library does have measures in place for contactless…

The LGBT+ community maintains significantly higher suicide rates, especially within younger age groups. It is imperative that LGBT+ oriented healthcare be more widely available and protected. Among Americans between 10-24 years old, members of the LGBT+ community are up to three times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, resulting in their being up…

As election season approaches and the pandemic continues, mail-in voting is becoming an increasingly attractive option. Since cutbacks on funding for the Postal Service could greatly hinder the ability to vote by mail, it is incredibly essential for the agency to receive immediate funding. The United States Postal Service has provided Americans their mail for…

As midterm season approaches, students are experiencing an Orwellian nightmare. With UTD professors having the option to use remote proctoring, several students have been forced to comply with the use of Honorlock for their exams. As classes transitioned into virtual settings, the demand for remote proctoring software like Honorlock, Proctorio and ProctorU exploded to alleviate…

As a result of the pitiful COVID-19 pandemic response, incompetent national leadership all around and a polarized populace like no other, our country is amidst one of the worst bouts in history. We need directed leadership and purpose to build out of this rut. You might look to the west coast and think, “our technology…

“Hell week.” Defined by Urban Dictionary, it is the time of a college student’s month where tests, projects and papers are all due within the span of a few days – usually around midterms and finals.  But does it have to be this way? Opting for frequent quizzes can eliminate these hell weeks and improve…

For virtually enrolled Comets, a two-platform solution optimally balances functionality and convenience in online classes. UTD has no standardized platform for virtual classes. As a result, there are several options professors can (and do) choose from to host their lectures – from Blackboard Collaborate and Zoom to Microsoft Teams and Webex. Among those, Teams and…

Many older voters subscribe to the idea that young adults are politically uninformed or too lazy to vote. This misconception is merely an excuse for the older generation to avoid addressing problems that contribute to a low voter turnout. Having “coddled minds,” “an inability to understand the way the world works” or being lazy for…

If we vote for [insert candidate name here], eventually democracy will die out. This is because [insert candidate name here] will lead us into an authoritarian regime and destroy our country, and everyone knows this, so we shouldn’t vote for them. Sound familiar? The statements above are seemingly valid and commonly brought up in social…