A sad night for the justice system

Courtesy / amnestyusa.org

I did not grow up with strong convictions about the death penalty.


To me, the whole messy topic seemed unpleasant and difficult, and I never fully formed an opinion. If I had to pick a side, I would have said that I vaguely supported it, but Troy Davis’s case, which came to an end tonight, helped plant me firmly into my newly-found anti-death penalty stance.


Tonight, the state of Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court and the justice system as a whole made an egregious error by letting a potentially innocent man be put to death.


After 20 years of legal appeals, three stays of execution and a four-hour deliberation by the Supreme Court, death row inmate Davis was executed via lethal injection and pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m. despite significant doubt of his guilt.


What happened tonight was a disgusting example of how fatally flawed our justice system can be. I was stunned and appalled tonight as, after hours of tense consideration, the Supreme Court announced that they would not grant Davis a stay of execution. I was physically ill when his time of death was announced. Listening to the stunned silence of the crowds, my heart broke as I considered Davis’s family and Davis himself, who has maintained his innocence throughout the entire botched ordeal.


Davis was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 shooting of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail based on the testimony of nine eyewitnesses, one of whom was inebriated at the time. Since the verdict, seven of those witnesses have signed affidavits recanting their testimonies, claiming that the Savannah police pressured them into providing testimony or that they did not remember the night well enough to say that Davis was without a doubt the killer. There was no forensic evidence tying Davis to the crime scene, and no murder weapon was ever discovered.


The amount of doubt present in Davis’s case was staggering, and when it comes to cases of capital punishment, any doubt is too much. When you strip the process of the legalese and the emotionless terminology such as “lethal injection” and “capital punishment,” it breaks down to murder for murder, “an eye for an eye,” and the process is just as barbaric now as it was thousands of years ago.


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Evangelist preacher on campus creates controversy

A New Decade

Courtesy Photo

Today marks a new age in the American consciousness.

It marks the end of a decade of fractured unity and the beginning of a new age. In the years following 9/11, we collectively banded together in solidarity and cast out those who didn’t fit our idea of a “real” American. Our panic and fear created divisions in our society that hadn’t existed before, and our hyped-up security measures created an us-and-them mentality. Those distinctions have relaxed as time has gone on, but they’ve never gone away.

However, on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, those divisions dissolved for a time. Americans from all races, religions and credos banded together in remembrance. We stood side-by-side in churches, synagogues and mosques; in community centers and town squares; in schools and businesses and government buildings. Yesterday, everyone from sports fans to art enthusiasts paused to remember the 2,752 people who died in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Shanksville, Penn. As a country, we came together for one single day to mourn our collective loss.

Yesterday’s unity, which existed regardless of labels, is a unity that needs to carry over into the next 10 years.

But please remember, the fight against terrorism is not over. Just because we made it through the 10th anniversary devoid of a successful al Qaeda attack does not mean that there aren’t other plans in the works. Terrorists will not attack us when our defenses are at their peak (as they were yesterday) — they want to hit us when we least expect it. In the past decade, several attempted attacks – including the so-called “underwear bomber” and the Times Square car bomb – have been foiled, but only due to our country’s security diligence.

It is important that we learn from our mistakes and take all threats seriously as we begin the next 10 years. Because while national unity and patriotism were wonderful, it still took a massive loss of life on American soil to spark it.

GVSU VP of Development to retire in December

Courtesy Photo / gvsu.edu

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- After 12 years and $200 million in raised funds for the university, Maribeth Wardrop, vice president of Development at Grand Valley State University, will leave her position at the end of the December.

“It’s been a joy,” Wardrop said. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with the donors that I’ve worked with.”

Before retiring, Wardrop will work as a consultant to the new vice president to help ease the transition for two or three years. No replacement has been found yet.

GVSU President Thomas J. Haas praised Wardrop’s contributions to the university.

“When you look around our campuses, you certainly see the generosity of our supporters, but you also see the results of Maribeth’s hard work,” Haas said in a press release. “She assembled an incredible team, and all of us will enjoy the results for many years to come.”

Under Wardrop, faculty and alumni giving has increased dramatically, reaching a gold standard. Currently, more than 51 percent of faculty and staff donate to the university, a level Wardrop described as “unheard of.”

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GVBoxCity to give students perspective on homelessness

Courtesy photo / Molly Barnard

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- Grand Valley State University’s service and advocacy groups are starting the year off with a bang with GVBoxCity, which will raise awareness of Grand Rapids’ homeless community while also raising funds.

The overnight event, which will be held Sept. 9 and 10, will give students the experience of a night spent without a roof over their heads. BoxCity will kick off at 6 p.m. in the Pere Marquette room with a meal and panel of speakers, which will include a woman who received a house from Habitat for Humanity and a representative from the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness.

Participants will move outside to the field located between the Performing Arts Center and the Murray-VanSteeland Living Centers for the night at 9 p.m.

Throughout the night, participants will be able to make donations, which will benefit Grand Rapids-area homeless shelters. In addition to monetary donations, students can bring cans that organizations can redeem for deposits or non-perishable food items.

“Experiences like this don’t happen very often at Grand Valley,” said Molly Barnard, president of the GVSU chapter of Amnesty International. “This opportunity will give students the chance to actually experience sleeping outside in a cardboard box for a night, which is better than what some of our community’s homeless has to sleep in.”

Read the full article at www.lanthorn.com.

Student debt on the rise, GV scholarships increase

GVL / Rane Martin

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- For Grand Valley State University junior Jon Garcia, money is a constant source of concern.

Garcia, an English and secondary education major, currently carries $30,000 in student loan debt with at least two years left before he graduates. Each year, he takes out the maximum amount in Stafford loans while his parents help him pay for the remainder. 

“I am poor,” Garcia said of the impact of his student loans. “I’ve never been rolling in money or anything, but now I have negative money. … I’m pretty bad.”

Even paying rent poses a monthly challenge for Garcia, 20, who sometimes gets assistance from his family when funds run low.

Garcia is just one of many students who face significant financial barriers when paying for school. The cost of college has skyrocketed across the state in recent years, leaving today’s college students struggling to make their educational ends meet.

According to data from the Project on Student Debt, Grand Valley State University graduates in 2009 left school with an average debt of more than $24,000, slightly below the state-wide average of $25,458. That year, 70 percent of GVSU graduates carried some student loan debt with them into their professional lives.

Read the full article at www.lanthorn.com.