Some of you may have heard of the recent, horrifying event at George Fox University in our neighboring town, Newberg.

A cardboard cut-out of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree with fishing wire outside a residence hall the morning of Sept. 23 by custodial workers.

The effigy was removed before many had the chance to see it. It included graffiti that read, “Act 6 reject.” Act 6 is the university’s scholarship program aimed to recruit
minority students.

The president of the Christian school, which is known for its strict standards of student conduct, addressed the entire student body at chapel and urged students to embrace love, not hate. There are no leads at the moment as to who might be responsible for the hate crime.

This incident goes to show that it takes years, sometimes hundreds, to build up a reputation but just minutes to tear it down. It may not have been a student, or anyone affiliated with the university for that matter. Nonetheless, it all reflects back on George Fox.

Linfield is also a small college, and we too have a tiny percentage of minority students. It is scary to think this type of incident could happen on our own campus. Though we have been known for having a prestigious reputation and friendly student body for 150 years, one incident could change everything.

How do we prevent problems such as this from happening? The answers are education, involvement and public forums where views can be discussed and heard.

In this issue we wrote about a Tibetan artist, a guest on campus, and the painting he is creating. In his piece, the artist portrays a sword on fire which represents the sharpness of the human mind and how gaining knowledge burns away ignorance.

ASLC Senate started up this week, beginning yet another year of giving students the opportunity to contribute their thoughts and ideas to our college and to voice
their concerns.

College is defined as an institute of higher learning. This is the place and this is the time. At Linfield, you are surrounded by educators, such as assistant professor of psychology Jesús Ilundáin, who we profile this week in the features section. Take the opportunity to absorb all you can from these great minds and prepare to spread it to
the rest of the world.

In addition to knowledge, build yourself up. Surround yourself with people you admire and will not be ashamed to be linked to later in life. Bond with people who are different from yourself and discover what they can teach you.

Finally, be careful of what you do. It is said that actions speak louder than words. We all know it can  take only one action to tear you down completely.

Septembre Russell

Lately it appears as if going to college is a popular road to take, a ritual or rite of passage in some cases.

Standard operating procedure requires you go to preschool, middle and high school, working your way through the education cycle and ultimately arriving in college.

Maybe that statement carries such validity to me because of the academic nature of my surroundings. The desire of attending college is becoming a hideous trend coupled with actual attendance.   

When I visit home, I hear my friends who are not in college habitually enter into conversations about their intent to eventually go. The topic comes up not because we are stressing about how life is dismal or the increase in gas prices.

These conversations are completely unsolicited, which makes me uncomfortable because my college acceptance seemingly makes me superior. I do not feel superior; it is well understood that a college education is not guaranteed for everyone nor is college meant for everyone. 

At home, my friends welcome me into their apartments and smile when I tell them how proud I am of them for having their lives in order, juggling full-time jobs, apartments, cars, bills and pets even; and all at 19 or 20.  I would never have imagined owning a pet at 20. I always knew I would not have one because I’d be in college. 

These are the friends who graduated from high school a year before me or dropped out and flaunted their new lives, absent of homework and tests, in my face.
   It was hard continuing under the constraints of school nights, and, even though my options were limitless, I could have gone out and had fun with the graduates without any kind of objection. Instead, I chose to be mindful of the fact that although life was peachy for them in the short term, the long term would not offer any fruit.
     Now they are all in a period of regret and hindsight. Now they are all living free from homework between the shifts of those full-time jobs, because now it is necessary to work to have                      a home. 

As if having a limited window of time to accomplish things and have the fun they had post graduation were enough, the dramatic immaturity and high school gossip comes back into play.

I always feel like I have traveled back in time once reunited with them. My entire visit turns from the eventful time I had planned for to a real life episode of “Gossip Girl.” 
   There are people who covet the benefits and allure of a college education.

“Sweetheart,” I tell them, “this vacation is comparable to a mere commercial break for me. You will still be here doing the same things day in and day out, while in a few weeks I will be           learning.”

I cannot help but think, “My friend could be a junior right now, almost done with one of the most important accomplishments of his or her entire life instead of regretting not going to college directly after high school and realizing the benefits of that poor decision do not exist.” 

I am not implying that my friends, or yours, are less capable and their lack of postsecondary education will mar them in life.

I am simply saying my time spent in the dredges of pettiness paired with my materialistic peers makes me appreciate my decision to go to college following high school. 

They may have all the things they want right now, but what will they have later?

Jordan Jacobo

Last week, I was eating a hurried lunch in Dillin Hall with a group of my friends when one of them turned to me and said, “I don’t think I should vote.”

Of course I was appalled. Not vote?

“It’s your duty,” I told her.

She didn’t seem interested. My heart dropped. I didn’t know what else to say. I fear that she’s not the only one who feels this way.

In the midst of two campaigns increasingly concerned with mudslinging and a travelling press corps incessantly analyzing the horse-race, young voters are becoming disillusioned.

What began as messages of hope and leadership have devolved to little more than campaigns based on doublespeak and half-truths, and democracy has suffered.

College students—that means you—are apathetic when it comes to politics. With campaigns based on glamour and rhetoric, the issues have been buried, and so has the magic of the election.

My friend told me she didn’t feel qualified to vote because she wasn’t informed. So much for the 24/7 news cycle.

It is a sad day in America when our citizenry doesn’t know what this election is about. No, it is not about Paris Hilton and “lipstick on a pig.” It is about issues.

The economy. Energy. Social Security. Healthcare. Two wars in the Middle East. Do you have an opinion? Do your research.

It is not enough to look up commentary on Digg or watch parodies on YouTube or join the Facebook group. Students today are a product of a vain culture that cares more about what you broadcast then what you believe in. It is time for us to change that.

You say one vote doesn’t matter? It seems too many students have that opinion. In the 2004 presidential election, only 46 percent of the 25 million U.S. citizens age 18-24 voted. That means more than 12 million non-voters were our age. In case you need a refresher, George W. Bush defeated John Kerry by fewer than 4 million votes that year. This year’s race between Barack Obama and John McCain could be even closer.

As a citizen of this country, it is more than just your responsibility to vote; It is your lifeblood. The vote is what keeps your freedom ensured, if only for one day every four years.

In the Information Age, saying you do not know about the issues only means you have not looked yet. Take democracy and this country into your own hands and care about what happens on election day.

Do your research. Look up each candidate’s policies. Do some fact-checking (politifact.com and factcheck.org are great resources). Watch the debates and not just the post-debate analysis.

For the love of Thomas Jefferson, don’t vote with the crowd. Make up your own decision. If popular culture was a political party, this year’s ticket would be made up of Lauren Conrad and Dramatic Chipmunk.

All this country asks of you is that for one day, for one checkmark, you think for yourself to vote and make a decision that you can stand by.

Here’s a challenge to every student reading this: Register yourself and get three other friends to register to vote then get informed and then cast your ballot and make your voice heard from McMinnville all the way to Washington, D.C.

Do you think you could take the time off from watching “Friends” reruns to do that?

Kelley Hungerford

Dear Linfield students,

I love you dearly, but man alive am I tired of hearing you all complain about not getting any mail.

“I hardly check my unit box because it’s always empty and that’s too depressing for me, and whine, complain, whine,” I hear you grumble. Well Withnell-shunners, there is a reason you never get mail: You don’t send any letters.

When was the last time you sent an e-mail? This morning?  When did you last receive a text message? Five minutes ago? Are you even reading this or are you sitting in Dillin trying to look informed with the Review open in front of you but really phone in hand, texting? I am offended. Close your electronic gadget before it explodes from use and think about this: When did you last send a letter? And no, your credit card bill does not count.

Every two or three days I check my unit box and there is always something in it. My granny in Chicago sends me weekly postcards. My friend in Colorado mails me letters and CDs every few days. My mom ships me care packages a few times a semester, and my high school friends mail me triweekly. Jealous? You don’t have to be. Just pick up a pen and some paper, even a Dillin napkin will do, and get writing.

Write someone telling them they should write you back so you can give a hearty “Whoohoo!” in Withnell Commons  when you discover something in your unit box other than cobwebs. Need to break up with your boy- or girlfriend but don’t want to speak to them ever again? Write them. Send them a singing card that plays *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” Even this is better than a text message break-up, as I’m sure Jeff Primozich would agree. Well, maybe.

I write to my family, friends and even my favorite high school teachers. The content doesn’t have to be serious. It is much nicer to receive humorous post than a serious manuscript. For instance, take the solemn “I miss you” topic. Monday, I received a letter from a friend stating, “I miss you so much and when I say I love you, I don’t mean that I have sex dreams about you…No, I dream of getting really old and scaring young children with you…I love you so much it is stupid. I will write you so often it will piss off the post man.”

Trust me, this is more engaging than, “I love and miss you, bye.”

“But stamps are expensive,” you say. So what? So is my phone bill. Stop calling me. You don’t need stamps to send in-campus mail. Send me candy. I like Twix. Seriously, though, Linfield, send out mail. It is one of the simplest, most pleasant moments of. It doesn’t take much effort, and the only way you are going to get mail is to send some.

Happy letter writing.

Amber McKenna

 Editor in chief

Dominic Baez

 Managing editor

“I believe global warming is caused by man,” Amy Poehler, as Hillary Clinton, said.

“And I believe it’s just God hugging us closer,” Tina Fey, as Sarah Palin, said.

This was just one of the exchanges on the much discussed Saturday Night Live sketch, broadcast by NBC on Sept. 13. The sketch featured Poehler as Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Fey as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate.

For those who missed the show, the sketch presented Clinton and Palin discussing sexism side by side at a conference. The subject quickly turned to the differences between the women, and they could not be more transparent.

On one side there was Poehler, explaining how she supports diplomacy for foreign policy and believes global warming is caused by man. Then there was Fey, who countered Clinton’s arguments with ones that were juvenile at best. Their exchanges suggested  Palin lacks Clinton’s substance.

The best part of the sketch was how it served as a political check on Palin. True, Fey’s sketch did not precisely reflect the Republican VP nominee’s stand on the issues but then again, it was not supposed to. Satire has a disturbing way of being critical of politicians in the most delicious way.

To those who were offended, get over it. This is satire, not reality. Do you really think it is unfair for SNL, the show that ridiculed and attacked Monica Lewinsky until they had enough footage for a “best of” episode, to ridicule Palin? It’s comedy. It picks on a target’s weak points, the ones that make us laugh. That is what it is supposed to do. But it served a greater purpose too: It allowed the general public, and those of us who have not been keeping up with the election, to see some potential flaws in McCain’s running mate.

Those who have watched Palin discussing politics, especially foreign diplomacy, know it is difficult. It seems as if she is struggling to think of answers to questions she  never considered. Compare that to Sen. Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate: When he is put on the spot, he knows what he is talking about. The contrast is striking and crystal clear.

While this editorial is not meant to attack Palin, it is meant to show the differences between the candidates. We know she started at the bottom and worked her way to the top by being better, not prettier. She did her job at the top by being smarter and tougher than those who stood in her way. However, it is only fair to think the candidates should be at equal levels. Palin is not. She’s not incapable; she just doesn’t know much about the world outside Alaska. This is a significant fact if you want to be next in line to a 72-year-old president.

Also remember that SNL is not the first to comment on Palin in such a way. However, the show was one of the first to do it so robustly. The sketch was funny, but  that is what you would expect from Fey and Poehler. It was so funny it apparently caused McCain advisor Carly Fiorina to completely lose her sense of humor.

“The portrait was very dismissive of the substance of Sarah Palin,” Fiorina said to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “And so in that sense they were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive and Sarah Palin as totally superficial. I think that continues the line of argument that is disrespectful in the extreme, and, yes, I would say sexist in the sense that just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean she lacks substance.”

Obviously she wants more respectful satire. Right.

The Review, however, agrees with Poehler: “I invite the media to grow a pair, and if you can’t, I will lend you mine.”

Do not hold any punches when it comes to what is important, and that goes for everyone.