VCU
Leading the way
New banners have begun appearing around campus highlighting our name change from the Academic Campus to the Monroe Park Campus. The new banners, which also appear on the medical campus, feature a picture of the historic element of each campus – the Egyptian building for MCV and the newly restored Monroe Park fountain for VCU. Both feature the new VCU logo and (finally) VCU colors.
It’s about time – the old banners, which feature the Compass logo and the phrase, “Leading the Way,” seem to have colors chosen in the early 1990s. We’ve been leading the way for a while now, apparently.
Death trap?
The problems surrounding VCU’s latest on-campus residential addition, RAMZ Hall, aren’t just limited to its 90s funk-cool retro-sounding name.
VCU is leasing the building, which burned to the ground last year, from RAMZ, LLC for five years. But one wonders if we really got our money’s worth. The building has only one elevator for 170 students, making getting to and from class a difficult affair, and the building’s only stairwells are for emergency use only.
While the stairwells and retail shops on the ground floor are made from concrete, the rest of the building is made from wood, leaving open the possibility of another disastrous fire. No drill has yet been conducted to see if everyone could get out in time.
NATION/WORLD
Double-takes
There were a lot of them going on in political circles this week as President Bush appointed ardent U.N. critic John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank.
The World Bank, an organization dedicated to helping developing nations achieve economic independence, doesn’t exactly seem suited for a man like Wolfowitz who has no economic experience. Even in his area of expertise, Wolfowitz was mistaken in his predictions regarding Iraq.
The post of U.N. Ambassador, too,doesn’t seem well suited for someone who was once quoted as saying “there is no United Nations.” But given Bush’s previous appointsments like Alberto Gonzales, architect of our torture policy in Iraq, it seems like double-takes are something we’re going to have to get used to.