In Defense of NUPD

It’s been a week since Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) announced it would deploy semi-automatic rifles in campus police vehicles during “high-level threats.” Condemnations of the decision have been strong, if expected. Trevor Noah compared Northeastern to prison, which, if you lived in IV freshman year, isn’t completely inaccurate. Northeastern’s ability to make blindly controversial […]

App-tivism For Syria

We are in the depths of one of history’s largest human rights crises. Syria is hemorrhaging refugees, and its citizens inside and out are being deprived of basic living, educational, and health resources. Humanitarian assistance organizations are overloaded with need, and strong Western governments need to step up to bridge the gap. Instead of focusing […]

Let Them Eat Hierarchy

To progressives and conservatives alike, the meteoric rise of Donald Trump in the wake of the Tea Party movement has been surprising, to say the least. This is a man who was once a registered Democrat, who supported universal healthcare and access to late-term abortions, opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and who today opposes […]

The Forgotten Flaw of Global Development

“In a slum outside the grand old city of Lahore, a woman named Saima Muhammad used to dissolve into tears every evening. Saima had barely a rupee, and her deadbeat husband was unemployed and frustrated and angry. He coped by beating Saima each afternoon. Their house was falling apart, and Saima had to send her […]

Reflection on the State of the World

[slideshow_deploy id=’3739′]   I returned to Paris on the morning of November 16. I had been in Spain during the attacks, enjoying Armistice Day, a holiday in remembrance of those who died in WWI.   My bus got in at around 8 A.M., and I entered the Metro alongside multitudes of people on their way […]

Right to Life: 3 Dead, 9 Injured

A crazed intruder bearing a firearm enters a professional medical establishment one early Friday morning. While his purpose remains undeclared, he proceeds by terrorizing employees, frightening innocent bystanders, and killing as many patrons as possible. He storms the clinic’s entrance with a barrel gun in hand, opening fire on the establishment, its patients, and the […]

And Now, This: How John Oliver Is Changing the Television Landscape

An important moment happened on a recent episode of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. Let me back up a bit. The first time I saw John Oliver on television playing an obnoxious, possibly alcoholic professor in Community, I hardly thought that a few years later he would have a weekly late night show featuring […]

#WAKEUPWORLD and Showing Solidarity

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Early last week, I was lucky enough to witness and participate in #WAKEUPWORLD, a Boston march in solidarity with students of color all over the country protesting institutionalized discrimination within schools and universities. Representatives of 17 schools, including Northeastern, walked through Boston […]

Mizzou Protests and the Misguided Reactionaries of The Atlantic

Over the last four months, The Atlantic magazine has published a slew of articles lambasting college students for their political oversensitivity. Caitlin Flanagan states, “today’s college kids can’t seem to take a joke.” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt claim trigger warnings and protests against microaggressions exacerbate mental health problems. Conor Friedersdorf questions the vitriol of […]