Speaking out can defeat ‘rape culture’

Joy, you made several great points of how this double standard has come into existence and not to mention how our generation experiences its long-term effects (‘Big man on campus: the sexual double standard,’ Joy Johnson, April 5, 2006).

Spreading awareness about these types of situations is the first step we must take to institute a change in our rape culture. I feel it is important for you and our campus to know that it is possible for us to get involved here at N.C. State to not allow sexual assault, harassment and sexism to continue on our campus. For example, the Women’s Center carries out programming on relationship and sexual violence. Anyone can have his or her organization contact them to educate students and encourage them to speak out. If you are a male and feel strongly about changing these double standards, you can look into the Men Against Rape organization. Many may recognize them from the one-in-four flag campaign each spring, but they also lead group discussions on rape and sexual assault. Finally, there is a peer mentor course (ECD296D) being offered this fall that teaches you how to facilitate programs centered on changing these themes that do affect each and every one of us, males and females alike.

We do have the opportunities available to change these double standards, we just have to encourage one another stand up, speak out and take advantage of them collectively to make that difference we all want to see here at NCSU.

Anna Godwinjunior, textile and biomedical engineering

Summer school is the worst possible option

I do not claim to be an expert on the subject, and you may not agree with what I say. But feel free to analyze what I am saying and think about it before forming your opinion either way.

There are only two reasons students take summer school: to catch up or to get ahead.

Now let’s think about this. Who exactly are you getting ahead of? Who are you behind of? Your class? Let’s say you graduate in three years because you do summer school every summer. You are still graduating with an entire class of college students, and the only students you have “beaten” will graduate one year after you.

The only benefit to graduating early is to be able to tell future employers that you finished school in three years. Meanwhile, the students you graduated with, the ones who took four years, have an entire resume full of internships or study abroad experiences they spent their summers doing. As college students, we all go to school nine months of the year. The three months of summer is the only time we have to separate ourselves from every other college student. A resume is the tool to get us in the door for an interview, but education only takes up three lines of a resume, yet much more space is dedicated to experience.

Jeremy Locklearsophomore, business management