When walking into the HHPA, you might not expect to be stopped dead in your tracks by the upgraded Hall of Fame and Hall of Champions.
However, the Hall of Fame’s new decorum and two 55-inch touch-screen monitors have students stopping in awe and wondering where the heck the money that went into creating this spectacle came from.
Luckily, the students don’t have to worry about whether the cost came out of their tuition, as the TopCat Club funded the $45,000 renovations.
TopCat Club is an organization that raises money for athletic advancements here at Linfield.
While we thank TopCat Club for helping the athletic facilities grow and advance, we wonder why this money wasn’t put toward uses that would benefit a larger number of students rather than highlight just a few.
“I think Linfield sports have accomplished a lot, so the Hall of Fame is a huge accomplishment that should definitely be highlighted,” sophomore Riley Denson said. “However, I do not think it is worth pouring as much money as we did into it.”
“I think some of that money could have been put toward improving our athletic facilities or used to bring on more staff members in the HHPA to expand the hours that it is open,” Denson said.
This leads us to question if this renovation was made only in an attempt to recruit more students versus to help educate and improve conditions for current students.
Why wasn’t this money used for better equipment in the gym?
Or at least used for the equipment already ordered to arrive sooner?
Could this money possibly have been used just for repairs in the weight room?
These are just a few suggestions that would have benefited more students rather than just recognizing a smaller group of students and former students.
Linfield is a college filled with exceptional students, all of whom should be recognized and respected equally.
The gym should be a place where everyone feels welcome and equal in working toward a healthier lifestyle.
Ultimately, the Hall of Fame is a great chance to show school spirit, but did it really need to cost as much as it did. We think not.

-The Review Editorial Board

I don’t know what could be worse, being forever an outcast or never being free.
Why do I even worry about this, right?
I am a Mexican-American, 20-year-old female college student living in the U.S.
I am free, I’m not an outcast, I could do as I wish and I have every possible opportunity available to me.
Other young adults don’t have this freedom.
There are about 2.1 million undocumented students residing in the U.S. About 65,000 of these students are DREAMers.
They are undocumented children who are graduating at the top of their classes, yet are unable to afford college because the government refuses to fund the education of students who don’t have a signed piece of paper proving that they are citizens of the U.S.
The DREAM Act is a bill that would not only allow undocumented students to receive financial aid, but it would also eventually grant them U.S. citizenship and permission to enlist in the military.
Many undocumented students quit before they can even be told that they don’t qualify for the same opportunities as the rest of their fellow classmates.
In the early years of high school, they learn that upon graduation they will be restricted from receiving any form of government aid to attend college.
As a result, they drop out of school and their talents get lost in the labor of farming and factory work.
Critics of the DREAM Act complain that illegal immigrants are ruining the economy through welfare.
They say that each year thousands of immigrants cross the border, find haven in a small town or city, and then proceed to feed their children with welfare checks that come from taxpayers’ annual income.
However, immigrants aren’t the only group in society who benefit from welfare checks. About 61 percent of welfare recipients are Caucasian.
Congress refusing to pass the DREAM Act is not about the concerns they express.
It is about the few who still seem to have an issue with race and progress in this country.
Passing the DREAM Act would help improve dropout rates.
It would encourage students to stay in school and graduate with enough success to proceed on to a postsecondary education.
As a result, undocumented youth will one day purchase homes, cars and other goods. They will fill the job market with talent and the drive to move forward in this economy.
With a positive outlook, they won’t need the welfare that critics complain about.
Many may say that because these people are undocumented, it should not be our responsibility as a nation to pick them up.
But what does that say about us?
Are we really willing to continue on this path of ignorance because, God forbid, our egos get broken down when there are more people to compete with?
Point blank, work harder.
We should be supporting the intelligent mind and be challenging it, not belittling it.

-Blanca Esquivel

YouTube is one of the top video sharing websites in the world. It has allowed millions to voice their opinions via video and share aspects of their cultures.
Recently, an anti-Islamic video was posted on the website, raising controversy about the issue of free speech online.
Following the posting, the U.S. Ambassador of Libya was assassinated, and three other Americans were killed.
The website restricted access in Egypt and Libya. Other countries blocked YouTube completely.
These incidents have caused debates about the issue of freedom of speech online.
People have the right to express their opinions and views on societal issues.
However, there should be a limit on how far a person goes with their expression.
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Bill of Rights, they included the amendment about freedom of speech so that people can have a voice, not cause violence and tension between countries.
YouTube should have better surveillance of the material that is being posted onto the website.
With this video being posted for millions to see without realizing what it was actually representing, people question the actual authority YouTube has over the material on its website.
According to the New York Times, YouTube decided to keep the video up because it did not meet the definition of hate speech.
The website is said to prohibit hate speech, which has grey areas within the definition itself.
In this new digital area, the loose arrangements of freedom of speech can cause a worldwide crisis.
There shouldn’t be extreme limitations on freedom of speech.
However, there should be a more defined definition of what is not acceptable.
Do we really want to cause more tension between countries?
In the Supreme Court case “Bradenburg v. Ohio,” it was ruled that the government couldn’t punish people for using inflammatory speech unless it will initiate “imminent lawless action.”
Even though the video did not explicitly do this, it did cause violence against the United States to break out.
This incident should cause the government to rethink the definitions that it has established and make them more distinct.
There is no distinct connection showing that the 
video posting caused the havoc in Libya and Egypt, but it is one of the main explanations that people are using.
YouTube should be more accountable for the content that is posted on its website.
All the company has to do is screen and analyze what is posted on its site to ensure that it is not going to cause millions to become offended.

Ivanna Tucker
Sports Editor
Ivanna can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com

Traveling can be far too expensive—especially for full-time college students. Tickets to desirable destinations, such as locations in Europe or Asia, can cost upwards of $ 1,000—and that’s just the airfare.
Lodging, food and other activities can make the price tag of traveling much too steep for a college student who needs to look through couch cushions just to find coffee money.
It can be done, of course. Fortunately, many schools provide opportunities for students to go outside the country.
However, for some, including myself, journeying the world will have to wait a while, but this doesn’t mean that other cultures aren’t available for exploration.
If you’re not able to travel abroad for some time, and Google Earth isn’t cutting it for you, there’s another way.
At Linfield, and most other universities, we are lucky enough to have access to vessels full of information about foreign cultures: people. They provide us with way more information and insight than a Wikipedia search or a book can.
This semester, I am fortunate to be living with an exchange student from Norway. Before meeting her, I knew very little about the country.
Every day, I ask her questions about the customs in Norway and find that she is very willing to answer all of them. I am exposed to a new language, new music, foods, clothing and customs every time we talk.
“Last year I lived with a student from Tibet and learned a lot about where he came from, as well as China’s oppression on his homeland. He also helped me with my Chinese,” sophomore Brian Hoover said. “It was a great experience.”
Interacting with students from different countries can provide us with interesting perspectives about our own culture.
In our family and groups of friends, we don’t often talk or question the culture we are all familiar with.
Dialogue with exchange students can challenge our thinking about things that we normally hardly give a second thought.
With many exchange students from all around the map on campus, there are plenty of opportunities to interact.
Linfield has work study jobs that allow you to work with international students, as well as hosts culture weeks and multicultural receptions and other events that allow you to experience a different culture.
Studying abroad is an amazing experience—everyone should be given the opportunity to do so.
However, students shouldn’t limit their ability to learn about a foreign country to studying abroad.
There are countless sources of information from around the world right on campus: your peers.

Chrissy Shane
Features editor

At the beginning of my freshman year I was asked multiple times if I had learned about the “Linfield hello.” At first, I had no idea what anyone was referring to, but was quickly enlightened.
The class ahead of me, and many before that, had learned about this phrase in Colloquium. It essentially stands for the idea that nearly everyone you run into on campus says hi, regardless of if they know you or not.
For whatever reason, teaching about the Linfield hello is no longer incorporated into Colloquium classes.
Now, perhaps because of this, the Linfield hello is not entirely present in the culture on campus either. I have noticed, especially at the end of last year and this year so far, that people are increasingly keeping to themselves.
Yes, Linfield is a small community and the majority of the students are friendly. No one has ever been rude to me as I walked down the sidewalk, and I appreciate that many people do seem friendly.
However, I cannot help but feel somewhat dismayed whenever I see people glancing awkwardly side to side or at the concrete or pretending to text in efforts to avoid a greeting.
The worst is when I say hello to someone, and it’s obvious they heard me, but they seem to choose not to respond. I acknowledge that some people may not hear perfectly, or are caught off guard, but it still can dampen my spirits a tad.
I do not mean to be critical or bash people who do not go out of their way to say hi to strangers. Starting college can be socially stressful, and it usually takes a long period of time to meet a lot of people.
I am a generally outgoing person but do not expect everyone to be that way. In fact, I prefer people to be different. The fact that everyone is unique and has their own traits and opinions is the reason I find communicating with others interesting.
It is refreshing to speak with people who don’t chatter like I do, because usually whatever they say is well thought out. Most of the shy or soft-spoken people I know are caring.
Every person has a right to live as they please, but it would be great to have a friendly campus.
Yet I must press on with the notion that our small college should pride itself on being tightly knit. Most people tell me they chose Linfield because they enjoy the small community feel. So it is our duty to make others feel welcome and noted.
There are only 2,664 students enrolled at Linfield, and I like to take advantage of seeing their familiar 
faces. Saying hi or smiling to fellow passersby can make their morning if not their day. Let’s create a friendly campus atmosphere. Hellos, waves, winks, even the “what’s up” nod makes a difference.
I am not sure why the Linfield hello lecture was removed from Colloquium, but I wish it would be reinstated. Perhaps we all need a friendly reminder to be more friendly.

Carrie Skuzeski
Senior reporter
Carrie Skuzeski can be reached at linfieldreviewopinion@gmail.com

Upon arriving at college, there are so many new, exciting things. There are new people, new experiences and new surroundings.
Even your living space is new, but new is not the same as exciting.
Everything about a dorm room screams boring: the white walls, the dull grey, faintly patterned carpet, the plain window coverings.
While we can cover the carpet to an extent and decorate the windows with a number of different curtains and fabrics, the walls can only be slightly hidden.
In most residence halls around campus, the walls are a dull white color with little promise, and only a small number of dorms have rooms with accent-colored walls.
Decorating walls can result in fines regardless of how we try to make the situation better.
My suggestion is to allow the students to paint and decorate the walls of their rooms as they see fit.
Of course, this couldn’t go unregulated, that would just make for pure chaos.
Now living off-campus for my junior year, this opportunity became a reality for me and I only had to follow a few rules.
The rules are simple: if you paint, don’t do anything you can’t cover up, and cover the floors and baseboards and paint over it at the end of your lease.
Where I live there are no restrictions on most other forms of decorating, allowing me to have Christmas lights in my room.
While I’ve experienced no fires caused by my Christmas lights, I have them plugged into a surge protector.
It is not actually the light bulb itself that is a fire hazard, but the wall outlet that could short because of an overload.
This brings me to the idea of regulating the use of decorative lights in dorms and the suburbs as well.
While the lights sometimes do leave lines on the walls from use, if painting your dorm was allowed, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Instead of prohibiting decorative lights, Res Life could work with students to make them safe.
There are a few colleges around the United States that allow their students to paint the walls of their dorms to make it seem more personal and feel more like home for each individual student.
Since I don’t see Linfield taking such a policy change into consideration until after at least a few more years and many meetings on the topic, don’t go painting your room just yet.
There are plenty of other ways to decorate your room without racking up fines.
One cheap alternative is to decorate with fabrics in your favorite patterns and the new trendy wall decals that are sold everywhere.
Pictures of home and friends are obviously a must-have for living in a new place, as well as postcards, posters and tapestries.
Using easy-to-remove wall stickers to attach everything will help you to avoid fines at the end of the year.
Your time in college is supposed to be an exciting one, don’t let your dorm dull it down.
You’ll be spending many hours in your room, so you might as well enjoy it.

Kaylyn Peterson
Copy chief
Kaylyn Peterson can be reached at linfieldreviewcopy@gmail.com.