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Being Bold on Valentine's Day

By Brian Desarro / ASSISTANT INTRIGUE EDITOR | February 11

I am certainly not proud of being one. My boyfriend says I should hide my face in shame. In public, I just put on a smile and act like nothing is bothering me.But I can't deny it any longer.I am a Valentine's Day hater.Embarrassing, right?Let me explain myself, though, because my reasons may not be what you were expecting.

Yes, I'm a Facebook junkie

By Sarah Phillips / STAFF REPORTER | February 11

People are fascinating to me.I love to sit on campus benches to people watch and occasionally I'll sit behind two friends on the transit to listen to what they found interesting that day.

Swallow pride: letting the last word go

By Emily Clever / ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR | February 11

There are certain songs out there that will make me cry every time, like "Puff the Magic Dragon" and Don Henley's "The End of the Innocence." But the one that gets to me like no other is Rascal Flatts's "What Hurts the Most."I don't even like this song.

Keep your crude comments to yourself

By Lindsey Davidson / Editor | February 11

The Plainsman is an open forum.This means you as students, readers and individuals have the opportunity to voice your opinions on issues and make them heard to the Auburn community.We provide the paper for you to write on.This is a large responsibility, not only for the staff of 30 students, but also for you.You have the chance to speak your mind via letter to the editor, commenting on the Web site, writing an entertainment review, drawing comics, and of course, joining the staff and being able to write personal columns.I enjoy criticism.My skin toughens daily just by the position I have chosen to take.It's with critiques and criticism that we grow and learn from our mistakes.It's not from the venom of hatred and abundance of free time that we learn from others.Recently, there have been a growing number of misplaced comments on The Plainsman's Web site.I'm not referring to the ones slamming grammatical errors, quality or quantity of articles or even really the ones criticizing the writers.It is the immoral and lewd comments attacking other readers and individuals at this University with no basis that tempt the freedom of a forum for others.Racist comments are uncalled for on any level and for any reason.Especially when they are on an article dealing with a person being hit by a car and being sent to ICU.I'm still confused how racism is relevant here.Not to mention appropriate.The people commenting on how this publication is a failure also bewilders me.If you don't like it, tell me what to do to improve it.Better yet, show me.I am constantly amused by commenters saying they don't like this story or they don't like the paper.That room is for your opinion, yes, but use it to your advantage.Instead of bashing one of the sports guy's grammar (who is Dutch, by the way, and he was called a hick), offer some advice or guidance.You don't have to help, and I realize not everyone is a 'word cop,' but crudeness isn't always necessary on articles about clothing and basketball.With that space where you can publish almost whatever you want, write things that matter and put your name to it.In the pedestrian article, discuss the issues, not misguided assumptions.On an Avatar review, write why you didn't like it instead of death threats to the writer.This is not an opportunity for you to brag on your personal life either.If you have questions on how we deal with articles, ask me.If you don't like how we do something, tell me.If you think you can do better, show me.One way is with the Readership Survey to give us feedback on your thoughts on the paper.

OUR VIEW: Give Lebo the Heave-ho

By Editorial Board | February 4

Although there are nine games left in the basketball season, we feel the need to speak out on this matter now.When we reach the end of this season, we call on Coach Jeff Lebo to step down from his position.His short tenure here has not been a great time to be an Auburn Tiger within the walls of Beard-Eaves.He has led his teams to only two overall winning seasons and only one postseason appearance.

Be Earnest: It's Good For You

By Ben Bartley / COPY EDITOR | February 4

Being a product of the Internet generation has made me realize several things about myself.(Well, many, but this is neither the time nor place for a fetish roundtable.) The main epiphany being I am all about some irony and sarcasm.And I don't know if that's the way I want to be.Sure, the guy who always has the witty comeback is great to have around now and again, but is that guy, with his pettiness and sharp jokes, worth being?I don't know.

Diversity Brings Better Life

By Jillian Clair / STAFF REPORTER | February 4

I love culture.I love diversity.Living in the South, as you might imagine, presents a few difficulties.Not that the South lacks culture (it's definitely unique), but it's just not a Petri dish full of diversity.I mean, the only Asian student at my high school had a George Bush drawl.

OUR VIEW: Let's Talk About Sex

By Editorial Board | January 28

When the book is written on Generation Y, it won't be written that we were a repressed generation.Sex is everywhere. Sex sells, quite literally, as porn is a billion dollar industry.It seems we're bombarded from every angle with messages promoting promiscuity and perversion, victims to a mass media set on destroying moral values and virtue.

OUR VIEW: State Must Draw Lines Between Crime and Illness

By Editorial Board | January 28

With House Bill #135's passage through the state senate looking like a foregone conclusion, it becomes necessary to discuss an often overlooked portion of our criminal justice system.The very term "sexual offender" carries with it an air of negativity, and rightly so.Sexual offenses are serious issues, as sexual crimes are of a deeply disturbing personal nature, rupturing ideas of safety that can often never be fully rebuilt.

OUR VIEW: Slouching Towards Equality

January 21

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day having come and gone this week, we thought it necessary to reflect on the state of our nation, to see how far we've come as a nation and to see how far we've still got left to go.In a span of a little more than 40 years, we've gone from being a nation where black people couldn't vote to a nation with a black President.That's something at least.However, we are not yet where we should be.We still have miles to go before we reach the mountain top King spoke of.We're a nation divided, a people so obsessed with our personal identities and roles.We emphasize the personal self over all else, and fail to notice the joys and benefits to be found in reaching out and learning something new.We sequester ourselves into groups that help support our constructed identities, groups that bind us together by race, location, gender, sexual identity, religion, politics or any other value from a long laundry list.We exclude ourselves, creating comfortable cliques we may never branch out of, limiting what we can discover about the world around us.In a perfect world, we wouldn't need racial quotas, affirmative action or even our own Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.In a perfect world, we would take it upon ourselves to find out more about other people and other customs, finding a spirit of kinship and togetherness in the bonds of humanity.The world we live in still desperately needs all of those things and could do with a great deal more.The good folks at the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs can host all the forums and seminars they can think of, but they won't truly be effective until we begin to change what's in our hearts and minds.Diversity is no longer an issue of skin tone, as gender and sexual identity are also moving to the forefront as critical issues.We preach tolerance, as if tolerance were a virtue to be revered.Tolerance allows us to "be patient with or indulge the opinions of others."Tolerance is simply recognizing someone else's right to exist.

OUR VIEW: Chizik and Company Give Hope for Future

By Editorial Staff | December 3

'Midst the frozen, corn-filled wastelands of Iowa, a man was charged with a series of Herculean tasks:Bring new life to a team desperate to return to what it once was.Find an offense capable of putting points on the board.Step into a void left by a coach beloved by many.Repair a fractured, confused Auburn family and give them hope for a renewed future.

Our View: Drug Testing in Fraternity Houses Becoming Norm?

By Editorial Staff | November 19

The young men of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity could be seen as a controlled group study for a policy that could soon affect almost every Greek organization on campus.Since last month, the officers, pledges and brothers of SAE who live in the SAE house have been drug tested.No members have tested positive thus far, and the penalties for having drugs in their system are severe, ranging from housing expulsion to being removed from the fraternity.We applaud the actions being taken to try and help clean up an aspect of college life that is largely swept under the rug: drug abuse.By testing its members, SAE is taking the lead and being proactive in trying to end that problem.The fraternity has the added benefit of trying to clean up its alleged less-than-stellar reputation on such matters, so it's a win-win situation.The idea for the testing came from SAE's adviser and are mandated by the independent company that owns the fraternity's residence, not the University.We hope other Greek organizations will take note of what SAE is doing and soon follow suit.By holding members accountable for their actions, Auburn's Greek life is bound to improve, as fewer members will be out in the community at large serving as public embarrassments.After all, because of the close-knit nature of the Greek community, when one student is seen as a public embarrassment, all other Greeks tend to get painted with the same brush.In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about such things, but in the world we live in, public perception and opinion changes on a daily basis, and members seen in the community as drug users and abusers could certainly hurt recruitment numbers and organizations' pocketbooks.Since the Greek organizations seem to exist as a class of students set apart from the general population and since, as a group, those organizations receive special perks and privileges like block seating at football games, we think it is perfectly fair to demand members of those groups should be held to a higher standard.If the Greek organizations see themselves as leaders on Auburn's campus (and considering many of our campus leaders are Greeks), they should challenge themselves to be held to high standards.By raising the bar, you'll be assuring the men and women who represent your organizations are on the up and up.And that's a good thing.

Wall Street Journal Article on Auburn is Misleading and Biased

By Lindsey Davidson / Editor | November 19

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the biggest fraternity supporter, and I don't drive around with a "Go Frat" sticker on my car.But, I do know the Wall Street Journal article degrading the Auburn male Greek system and Southern school traditions was disrespectful and, on most levels, wrong.Any current or former student and any enlightened guest knows the information was skewed and slanted.

OUR VIEW: Alabama PACT Payments Must Continue to be Paid Out

By Editorial Staff | November 12

Well, we got trouble, friends, trouble right here in Alabama.If you've read a newspaper or watched the local news, you should be aware of the current $345 million deficit faced by the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) account system.

Our View: Is Auburn Failing on Sexual Health Issues?

By Editorial Staff | November 5

We always look forward to receiving our annual package in the mail from Trojan, and not just for the free condoms.Included with a sampling of the company's products is the annual Trojan Sexual Health Report Card, a ranking system comprised of 13 different categories including sections on HIV Testing and Separate Sexual Awareness Programs as well as a Student Survey Portion.Auburn's ranking on the report card was a 2.14 GPA, putting us at 119 out of 141 colleges and universities.To make matters worse, the University of Alabama was No.

Our View: Celebrate Gay Pride Week and Stop Second-Class Citizenship

By Editorial Staff | October 29

We'd like to begin by congratulating the Auburn Gay-Straight Alliance on a successful first-ever Pride Week here on The Plains.We hope this is the start of a long standing tradition to help highlight the issues and problems facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and will help to bring more knowledge and good will to this campus.

Sex Sells, So Let It Do Its Job

By Lindsey Davidson / Editor | October 22

People have sex.It doesn't matter what your beliefs, practices or daily routines consist of, individuals engage in intercourse.It is part of human nature.Now, some people like to spice it up with outside objects from the bedroom.In Alabama, some people see this is a crime.

Texting Girl Stumbles, Fingers Begin to Point

By Editorial Board | July 16

Last week, 15-year-old Alexa Longuiera took an unexpected plunge down an open manhole while walking the streets of Staten Island.The kicker is that text messaging distracted her from the ever-closer danger.The second kicker is that there were no warning signs or barricades to prevent such an accident.A thorough sanitizing and several minor injuries later, Longuiera and her mishap received much attention.The story has been linked into articles and used as a segue to the dangers of texting while driving and the debate on whether legislation should be put into action to crack down.The story also stirred up debates on who is at fault.