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Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

All content by Guest Column

Summer work key to successful career

Guest Column June 10, 2014

Ah, summer. What comes to mind when you hear that term? The first things I think of are beaches, no school, sleeping all day and staying up all night. Many enjoy the time away from school, but this is...

Empathy the most important trait

Guest Column April 22, 2014

As a child, history was easily my least favorite subject in school. Anything before my Nickelodeon/Britney Spears-filled world was irrelevant and therefore boring, in my selfish opinion. It wasn’t until...

Stop painting by the number

Guest Column April 22, 2014

Mom, I have a weird confession to make. I enjoyed being sick as a child. It wasn’t the physical pain or emotional exhaustion that I found pleasurable. It wasn’t missing school or rewatching the same...

An optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty

Guest Column April 22, 2014

When I first sat down to write this article, a thousand different ideas ran through my head. This was my final opportunity to voice my opinion on a plethora of things that I have seen as major issues or...

Alabama is not just OK

Guest Column April 21, 2014

Since the fifth grade, I had attended a small private school in Birmingham that cultivated and groomed students to go off to the Ivy Leagues. Many students never even considered any school in the state...

It’s more than just grades

Guest Column April 20, 2014

Imagine an 8-year-old boy. Imagine that he was recently pulled away from his home and moved 8,500 miles away to a new home in the United States. His 3rd grade teacher walks into the classroom and he immediately...

Sweet Home Alabama

Guest Column April 20, 2014

Alabama has been my home my whole life. I lived in Gadsden until I was 18 years old, and then I moved to Tuscaloosa. For 22 years, I have walked on this ground and eaten this food and loved these people....

UA changed me and I didn’t even know it

Guest Column April 20, 2014

This is what I thought I knew four years ago: I would hate UA, but it would be better than not leaving my hometown. I would never willingly go to a football game. I would never know the answer to the often-asked...

Yik Yak and how a campus deals with Internet anonymity

Guest Column April 15, 2014

Anyone can be anonymous on the Internet. This statement needs some qualifiers, sure, but its implications ring through our generation’s culture. Our high schools lectured us against cyberbullying, our...

What if the Machine can’t learn?

Guest Column April 1, 2014

The past year has provided an extraordinary opportunity for The University of Alabama community to learn some valuable lessons – or so I thought. It began with the school board elections. There, local...

Continuing to produce positive results for the UA student body

Continuing to produce positive results for the UA student body

Guest Column March 9, 2014

The University of Alabama stands at a crossroad. With the massive amount of expansion taking place at the University during the past 10 years, there has been an influx of new thoughts and ideas to the...

Uniting, engaging, sustaining UA to repair broken, stagnant SGA

Uniting, engaging, sustaining UA to repair broken, stagnant SGA

Guest Column March 9, 2014

My name is Justin Thompson, and I’m a junior from Frankfort, Ky., majoring in public relations here at The University of Alabama. I knew the moment I opened my acceptance letter in October 2010 (wow,...

Executive secretary should act as a conduit for the student body

Guest Column March 6, 2014

From the beginning of my experience at the Capstone, I knew the Student Government Association was the perfect fit for me. Last year, I had the honor of serving as the Secretary of First Year Council,...

Building on successes and improving failures to better serve campus

Guest Column March 6, 2014

I have had the privilege and honor to serve in the Student Government Association for three years, serving as a First Year Councilor, as a senator from the College of Commerce and Business Administration...

If elected, transparency, diversity will be a high priority in the SGA

Guest Column March 6, 2014

My name is Khortlan Patterson, and I am running for the position of Executive Secretary within the Student Government Association. I am a sophomore student currently serving as Vice President of Internal...

Civic engagement, connecting students will help unify university

Guest Column March 5, 2014

My name is Elliot Spillers, and I will be your next Vice President of Student Affairs. Currently, I’m a sophomore at the University majoring in business management and serving as Deputy Director of Engagement...

Scholarships, registration, study incentives will better UA campus

Guest Column March 5, 2014

Fellow students, I would like to start off by thanking you for giving me the opportunity to serve this community and its students for the past year and a half. It has been an experience that I have greatly...

SGA should give students voice in Tuscaloosa City Council politics

Guest Column March 5, 2014

My name is Drew Bridges, and I am running for Vice President for External Affairs. Since my freshman year, I have had the opportunity to participate in student government. My freshman year, I served as...

Learning from past challenges to serve students in the present

Guest Column March 4, 2014

When I came to UA, I knew I was lucky to be here. I was able to enjoy making friends and winning a National Championship. I noticed a problem though. There weren’t a lot of students involved, and there...

SGA needs to grow scholarship endowment, expand outreach

Guest Column March 4, 2014

My name is Andrew Gross, and I am running for Vice President for Financial Affairs. I am currently a junior here at the Capstone, majoring in finance and real estate with a minor in political science....

Increasing academic success and promoting integrity at UA

Guest Column March 4, 2014

My name is Laura Gregory, and I am seeking election to the office of Vice President for Academic Affairs. I am a junior from Nashville, Tenn., majoring in political science and public relations and minoring...

SGA stands with the Capstone in higher education funding

Guest Column February 27, 2014

By Allison Ingram | Guest Columnist When we first entered The University of Alabama, we imagined college as an invitation to the future, the first taste of adulthood’s freedom still coupled with the...

What really grinds my gears: going to a dentist’s office

Guest Column January 23, 2014

I really hate going to the dentist. Even before you get there, it’s not a fun experience. Then once you get there, there’s the dentist, lovely as they often are, poking around with their instruments....

Do we still have the right to make bad health care decisions?

Guest Column January 22, 2014

The Affordable Care Act is causing some serious head-scratching among doctors, insurance companies, lawmakers and especially the patients it’s supposed to protect. In my opinion, the most baffling aspect...

College is a time to discover who you are

Guest Column December 5, 2013

I’m a girly girl who loves to shop, go out with friends, watch football, listen to hip-hop and drink Starbucks. Looking at me, you would never know I’m different. However, when I was 3 years old,...

Championship teams deserve loyal fans

Guest Column December 5, 2013

When I came to The University of Alabama in fall 2010, my class had just broken the 30,000-student mark, Robert Witt was the UA president, and students knew what it was like to be supportive and loyal...

Hospitable nature hinders progress

Guest Column November 21, 2013

I am a Southerner, born and bred, and I love the South. I love other Southerners. I love Southern accents. I love Southern fried chicken and sweet tea. I even love Southern weather at its hottest and most...

Understanding rights key with police officers

Guest Column November 12, 2013

There are few things college students dread more than police encounters. All it takes is flashing lights in a rear-view mirror, firm knocks at a front door or figures staking a street corner to send hearts...

Plan ahead, don’t let senior year catch you unprepared

Guest Column October 9, 2013

With the arrival of October, students immerse themselves again in the biannual mania that is class registration. You can almost hear the freshmen madly dashing to advising offices and the click of DegreeWorks...

Clarification on “AIDs remains an issue for Alabama’s poor, young”

Guest Column April 28, 2013

Editor's note: Billy Kirkpatrick, the executive director of West Alabama AIDS Outreach, sent this clarification to The Crimson White on April 24 to clarify some of his quotes featured in the article "AIDs...

Dear readers: uglytusk.wordpress.com @theuglytusk

Guest Column April 21, 2013

By Uglytusk It’s time to celebrate achievement folks, so break out your best dance shoes, form up the soul train and do your best J-Bo shuffle as we take a look back at another year gone by here at...

We need to reexamine some of the SGA’s programs, advocate for students

Guest Column March 11, 2013

Over the past year, I have had the honor and privilege of serving the student body as Student Government Association vice president for student affairs and am now a candidate for executive vice president....

Communication, community should take priority for executive secretary

Guest Column March 11, 2013

If someone asked me two years ago what I would be doing my sophomore year of college, I never would have guessed that I would be running for executive secretary of the Student Government Association. I...

SGA must focus on campus, city, community to foster positive growth at UA

Guest Column March 11, 2013

Since arriving on campus at The University of Alabama, my biggest goal has been to be able to say that I made a positive difference by the time I left. SGA has always been my passion. Since my freshman...

I will fight for better communication, build more personal relationships

Guest Column March 11, 2013

I am both excited and honored to be running for the position of executive secretary. As a whole, the Student Government Association serves to best represent the ideas and concerns of the University of...

In defense of Judy Bonner: the Capstone’s selfless leader

Guest Column March 5, 2013

We all love a villain. Those that we love to hate create a sense of solidarity, but they can also allow for unproductive tantrums. This might be why students and CW staff in particular have portrayed a...

Go-to arguments lack substance as soon as ‘personal choice’ puts other students at risk

Guest Column February 21, 2013

(The following is part of a discussion of the SGA's proposed smoking ban at The University of Alabama) “It’s a personal choice” – the phrase that is so quickly adopted by the affected party whenever...

Gender-based acts of violence are the problem, not false reporting of crime

Guest Column February 18, 2013

The recently published CW article, “Consent on Campus an Issue,” subsequent backlash from the campus community, and the University’s official response has me deeply disturbed. Many of the commenters...

The NFL plays better football

Guest Column January 17, 2013

By Jack Blankenship My heart was pounding through my chest. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I could barely watch the events about to transpire, yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the field. I was...

Guest Column: Alabama has impressive tradition, but it isn’t Notre Dame

Guest Column January 2, 2013

By Andrew Owens The Observer’s Managing Editor Editor’s Note: The Crimson White teamed up with The Observer, the student newspaper at the University of Notre Dame, to discuss whether Alabama or Notre...

Wisconsin student journalist gives his take on Alabama Game Day

Guest Column November 15, 2012

By Sean Zak This past Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. — just like many other Fridays every fall — hundreds of thousands of people awoke from their work- or school-induced slumber. Not because the workweek...