Extra Credit

Extra Credit Debuts

By The Nation

Extra Credit will offer a variety of news gleaned from mainstream media, campus papers and the Internet, as much of it as possible written by students. We hope the space will help allow young activists and journalists to give readers an up-close and personal look at what's taking place on their campus or in their community.

Whether it's political campaigning, demonstrating for a cause, organizing a music festival or pushing for better environmental standards, young progressives deserve extra credit for their hard work and creative ideas.

In the coming weeks, we'll be using this space to post blogs by Hooman Hedayati, president of Texas Students Against the Death Penalty; Matt Cronheim, who is fighting to reform Appalachia State University's support of sweatshops and Bryan Axelrod, an Iraq war veteran and student at the University of Minnesota who thinks that the student antiwar movement has suffered from an exclusion of veterans' perspective and involvement.

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September 3, 2008

New Student Blog

By The Nation

Along with our new look, we're introducing a new blog for StudentNation.

Extra Credit will offer a variety of news gleaned from mainstream media, campus papers and the internet. It is also designed with a DIY component, allowing student activists and journalists to give readers an up-close and personal look at what's taking place on their campus.

Whether it's political campaigning, demonstrating for a cause, organizing a music festival or pushing for better environmental standards, young progressives deserve extra credit for their hard work and creative ideas.

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June 27, 2008

The Biggest Issue

By The Nation

What was the biggest issue on your campus this past semester? Privacy? Tuition hikes? The war? Academic freedom? Something else?

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December 23, 2007

Whither Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

By The Nation

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week has come and gone, having left varying impressions on college campuses throughout the country. Some, like Harvard and Princeton decided not to host events related to the awareness campaign at all.

To David Horowitz these reactions "exposed the broad scope of he alliance between radical Islam and American leftists who regard it as their political task to run interference for America's enemies: Iraq yesterday, Iran today."

With this in mind, some student groups felt that subtle, non-confrontational responses would best take the wind from the sails of Islamo Fascism Awareness. Peace Not Prejudice, a George Washington University group, chose to hold an interfaith prayer service. However, other liberal students didn't feel that indirect action went far enough in combating the aggressive stance of groups like the Young America's Foundation. They handed out satirical fliers reading "Hate Muslims? So do we." Heidi Mekawi and Leila Taha write that the controversy surrounding the fliers "proved a simple point: in order to be heard, you must speak loudly." Emory student Hillary Polchow believes that direct confrontation was especially warranted given Horowitz's "zero-tolerance" policy towards dissent: "This is the Horowitz brand of ‘academic freedom:' pre-emptive police action against protestors."

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November 1, 2007

Free Speech or Hate Speech?

By The Nation

Writing in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, Parisa Saranj poses the question: "Is there a line to separate free speech from hate speech?" She is referring to a recent remark by Debra Cagan, Robert Gates' deputy assistant secretary for coalition affairs. Cagan was quoted in the Daily Mail (London) as saying "In any case, I hate all Iranians." Saranj is careful to defend the spirit of democracy that enables Cagan to express hateful views with impunity, but also worries that "In the name of freedom, races and religious groups are addressed as hateful and brutish."

Her column is timely with the first ever Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, dubbed "the biggest conservative campus protest ever," scheduled from October 22 to 26.

This year's events aim to highlight "Islamic gynophobia," as well as what organizers decry as the homophobia and religious bigotry prevalent in the Muslim world. Supporters of Islamo-fascism awareness contend that there's been a "campus blackout" on the subject of honor killings, rampant rape and other heinous misogynist acts taking place in Islamic societies.

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October 18, 2007

What Matters?

By The Nation

What is the most important issue on your campus this semester?

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September 9, 2007

More Narcissistic Than Ever?

By The Nation

Today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to US society. Do you think the millennial generation is exceptionally narcissistic? Why or why not?

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March 29, 2007

Creative Ways to Protest

By The Nation

As Sam Graham-Felsen's account of the NYU College Republicans' "Catch the Illegal Immigrant" game demonstrates, the student right uses callous but creative games to galvanize its base. Are there more provocative ways of demonstrating that the student left can employ to bring its community together?

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February 23, 2007

A New Direction

By The Nation

Now that the Democrats control Congress, what do you think should be the first item on the party's "to-do" list?

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November 15, 2006

Did You Vote?

By The Nation

Did you vote in this election? Did all, or most, of your friends? If not, we're very interested in hearing why. Please let us know.

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November 7, 2006