Category: Opinion

What Are We Even Voting For? The Importance of Participating in Local Politics

by Sarah McLaughlin ’23 Last week, many of us (hopefully most of us) voted in the midterm elections. I don’t think I’m the only one who found myself staring at my absentee ballot in my left hand while I frantically typed names of candidates and elected positions into Ballotpedia’s search bar with my right. As […]

Sarah McLaughlin '23

Changing How We Talk about Climate Change: The Difference Between Climate and Weather

Climate and weather are two entirely different concepts. When we talk about the weather, we’re referring to short-term changes in our atmosphere, whereas when we talk about climate, we’re referring to long-term changes and atmospheric trends over time. Yet despite these important distinctions, whenever there’s an abnormal period of warm weather in November or December, […]

Kaelin Ferland '23

Ray Composting: How Much Waste Have We Diverted from Landfills?

After many years of trying to implement composting on campus, ECOPC was finally able to bring composting to Raymond Dining Hall last spring, and the program has since extended to Alumni over summer. This has had a substantial impact on decreasing our on-campus environmental impact, specifically in the area of food waste. From April 2022 […]

Kaelin Ferland '23

Summer in November: How Global Warming is Affecting Our Planet

A regular day of fall on a college campus looks like girls wearing Uggs and guys wearing the same sneakers as they did in the summer. However, this year, fall in Friartown is a bit different. One day, winter is approaching. Next, winter takes a pause and the sunshine is almost 40 degrees warmer than […]

Jezel Tracey '24

An Open Letter to President Biden

Dear President Biden, Congratulations. As I am writing this, your party has managed to hold the Senate, and still—as of Nov. 14—has a fighting chance of holding the House. Your instincts have proven correct: above and beyond political disagreements and the public’s view of your presidency, the majority of voters expressed their desire to prevent […]

David Salzillo Jr. '24

Debates and Laughs Required: Hardball and SNL Have a Place in the Current Political Climate

The term “fake news” is frequently used within the context of contemporary American politics. With heightened polarization, news programming often has an underlying bias running through an entire network’s shows. Political candidates often publicly denounce stories that portray them in a negative light. As a result, the public blindly follows charismatic figureheads instead of developing […]

Christina Charie '25

Reflections on Senior Ring Weekend: A Night for Our Wallets to Remember

Over the past week and a half, many seniors have expressed rightful discontent at having paid $100 (more if one counts the price of dresses and tux rentals) for two nights in Peterson and some spinach dip. It feels a bit cheap of the college to ask this of us when many are, ironically, working […]

Sarah McLaughlin '23

Abortion: More than a Woman’s Issue

Content warning: This article includes discussion of sexual assault and abortion. This past summer, Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, was overturned. States can now choose if abortion should be legal. States that do allow abortion can also heavily restrict access to the procedure. This is seen by many as […]

Meghan Mitchell '23

Is Throwing Cans of Soup the Solution to Climate Change?

The United Nations released a report just last week about how we are in dire need of climate action, explaining that “the world is still falling short of the Paris climate goals, with no credible pathway to 1.5 degrees C in place.” With these goals out of reach and no concrete plans to prevent our […]

Kaelin Ferland '23

What Belonging on a Predominately White Campus Means: Recapping Friars of Color Homecoming Weekend

Providence College’s 2022 Homecoming Weekend did more than add another year of celebration. It was also a mark of the first “Friars of Color” Homecoming event and, as head coordinator of the program Stephanie Mireku puts it,  “just the beginning of engagement opportunities” like it. Oftentimes, the histories of Black students at PWIs are left […]

Jezel Tracey '24