Over the past several weeks, Davis, the vice chancellor for student affairs and censor in the making, has called for the repainting of the rocks whenever students voice beliefs that run afoul to his definition of the First Amendment. In a meeting with me and three other students, Davis shared that he has overseen the removal of such statements as “Be Gay, Do Crime” and “No More Masks” from the university spirit rocks because he does not think they deserve the protection of the First Amendment. 

With the start of a new semester, both new and returning on-campus students moved into their new housing assignments excited for an in-person experience, the first for some since the pandemic’s initial outbreak. The delta variant continues to threaten that hope, but campus life has persisted in spite of it, allowing a sense of normalcy to return to the college environment. However, an unexpected beast arose in this perfect storm of returners—namely, the wildly oversaturated parking situation on campus.

If we were to normalize social interactions between neurotypical children and children with disabilities, these types of interactions would be few and far between rather than the norm. This is because the neurotypical kids will have had experience in interacting with someone with disabilities. This prior experience will undoubtedly play a positive role in the individual’s interactions with the person with the disability.

UNCW already mandates certain immunizations against certain diseases such as mumps and measles. This is done to protect the greater student body from a massive outbreak. So, mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for all students would provide a layer of protection to the student body against a massive delta variant outbreak, and a subsequent reversal to an online class setting.

Even as data show the pandemic to be largely over for the fully vaccinated, the fear-mongering ultimately won the war. On July 27, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated Americans in roughly two-thirds of U.S. counties should return to covering their faces indoors. At this time, only public places are included, and private gatherings remain unaffected. This does not sound too bad, but the move is based on circumstantial evidence that ignores the overall big picture.

This synopsis of my story is not the exception for many queer students, who are often leaving home for the very first time. With this being the case, UNCW should incorporate mandatory training for incoming and current students to both try to educate them on how to interact with and around LGBTQ people and alert them to be conscious of their fellow peers whom they do not necessarily know all that well.

The leakage of COVID-19 from Wuhan’ institute has not yet been officially confirmed. It might never be, especially as the lab’s top officials, as well as their ultimate superiors in the Chinese Communist Party, continue to suppress the truth. But numerous signs, relating to both the virus itself and the suspicious politics surrounding it, have emerged in favor of the lab-leak hypothesis.

Although the DA’s office mysteriously dropped the charges, psychologically they won their case. This is because they made him an example of what they could do to future protesters. Any protesters familiar with his case will have second thoughts about whether to protest due to the simple fact that they might end up having to deal with legal consequences. Unfortunately, in many cases, these protesters will probably not protest in the future, which means David effectively silenced future demonstrations.

Visitors have to pay $5 an hour to park just to shop, dine and enjoy the sun. Is that fee really worth it?   The jump in parking costs from 2018, when it was half this amount at $2.50 an hour, is classist and exclusionary. The costs have been rising annually and reached a new high for the summer season of 2021. This needs to be reevaluated and changed for all beachgoers to enjoy this public area. 

With the current housing crisis in Wilmington, a leader of his stature should use his power to boost the welfare of all his constituents. Rep. Rouzer should not have used one of his earmark requests to secure funds for a road expansion. He should offer an alternative that would be more efficient for everyone involved.  

While most people think of using a whole day to travel out of town, the people who rely on Wilmington public transportation have to plan their whole day around going somewhere, which is typically only...