On April 14, 11 students tested positive for COVID-19 and were quarantined. They joined seven students who were already in quarantine for testing positive, and 26 close contacts, including myself. This led to the suspension of many college operations, including in-person classes, any group g…

Eckerd made the right call 

Despite St. Petersburg committing to 100% renewable energy in 2016, a new bill is moving quickly through the Florida state legislature that may reverse this progress, effectively banning all 100% renewable energy commitments. Essentially, this bill will prohibit the banning of fossil fuels a…

On Sunday, Feb. 28, the Residential Wi-Fi network went offline for fourteen hours, leaving students without any connection to do their online work. 

It’s 8 p.m. and you’ve just returned from a trip to Walmart. After showing your ID to campus safety, you drive around the roundabout and down Avenue of States. You reach the parking lot bordered by Omega, Nu, Iota, Epsilon and Delta. The speed bumps are not your prime concern, however. As yo…

Dear Eckerd,

Although I would love to brag about the fact that I share a Zodiac sign with Elon Musk, it really means nothing. Let’s face it, Zodiac signs are everywhere. How many times has someone asked you what your sign is, or has made snippy judgements based solely on when you were born? Can someone r…

“It’s a difficult time.” We’ve all heard this one before.  But for the Eckerd College Class of 2024, it has even more layers than just the pandemic sweeping the nation.  For us, it also refers to our adjustment of a new way of life, of living away from home for the first time, and of learnin…

Following the murder of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, the U.S. has seen a long overdue civil rights movement that has included protests across all 50 states, communications to state representatives demanding justice for racial biases, social media hashtags, mass recognition of white…

Today is National Voter Registration Day. Eckerd’s chapter of Florida PIRG Students has written four Letters to the Editor for the occasion, and to help get as many Eckerd students to register to vote as possible.

On July 29, President of Eckerd College Damian Fernandez announced the phased-return plan that has left many upperclassmen frustrated, confused and upset. Many juniors and seniors wondered why first-year students get the privilege of being back on campus in August while they continue to take…

At 5:15 a.m. one morning in June in her home in Minnesota, senior Kate Ehle woke up with intense vomiting. Her parents decided to take her to the emergency room after an hour and a half of not keeping liquids down.

While many schools take the first Monday of September off in honor of Labor Day, Eckerd students will still be attending classes, despite the closure of many campus services such as the mailroom and the health center. 

George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Micheal Brown, Trayvon Martin and so many other black Americans have been killed by the hands of systemic racism. The death of the 46-year-old father Floyd has sparked protests in all 50 states and around the world, where people are chanting black lives matter a…

As spring semester 2020 began, Eckerd’s campus buzzed with anticipation about what this year would bring as we welcomed the roaring 20s back into the world. COVID-19 took that feeling away in March.

Eckerd announced it will continue the rest of spring semester remotely on March 24, and ever since then students have been wondering how the professor that can’t even respond to their email is going to deliver months worth of class content online. 

Campus officials closed our school on March 18 to halt the spread of COVID-19, which turned our beloved home into a 188-acre storage unit. But as the raccoons and ibis take over our campus, and our academic lives are in flux, one thing remains the same: our reliance on the internet. 

At Eckerd, there is an alarming number of students who claim to be poor in their everyday conversations. But when I look around, I see BMWs and Teslas in the student parking lots, Cartier rings and Gucci merchandise in class and new iPhones chirping all around campus. 

This week, professors and students discussed the possibility of an Eckerd shutdown after the administration told faculty to plan remote classes as a likely response to COVID-19, or the 2019 coronavirus. But scattering Eckerd students across the US for a “coronacation” may hurt containment ef…

In fall 2019, Eckerd’s film studies major changed its focus from theory to production. But many students in this major still feel as if they don’t get to spend enough time on production. This leaves students taking mandatory theory courses with little to experience 

On Jan. 26, Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others died in a tragic helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif. Hours later I saw a viral TikTok video of three kids mimicking the crash.

As global crises like climate change and inequality grow, celebrities and billionaires compete to seem charitable. But these charities are often misrepresented by celebrities themselves, whose incomes make their donations look pitiful. In an ongoing battle for influence, celebrities should r…

The United States has historically welcomed refugees across its borders and into its communities. As students, and college faculty, we should continue that tradition by answering calls to action.

Student-faculty dynamics show the politics of college campuses. When one group makes a decision it can lead to tension from the other. These interactions fuel the learning environments we live in by creating small-scale examples of large-scale problems. Eckerd’s recent dealings with lawsuits…

Oct. 14 of this year was Columbus Day, and it saw dozens of social media posts, including several from Eckerd students, saying how unimportant, offensive and overall disrespectful the holiday is. But people treat Thanksgiving differently.

The likelihood of any Eckerd student being attacked or killed by a shark is lower than them being crushed by a vending machine. But it is our responsibility to prevent any such incident from occurring by being respectful of our role in the ecosystem just beyond Eckerd’s seawall. 

Eckerd opened its campus to pets in 1973 to manage animals kept here illegally. The school created new rules to ensure these pets got proper care, but students habitually break them. It’s time to end that pattern.

Dean of Students James Annarelli sent an email to our Editor-in-Chief Elaine Newbern Monday morning stating that President Donald Eastman requires we take down an article published in 2017.

Father Gregory Boyle came to speak to Eckerd students and the St. Petersburg community about his gang rehabilitation program, Homeboy Industries, on Oct. 30. Boyle was both inspirational and charming, but was also a prime example of people in this country who have yet to acknowledge their pr…

Entitlement is an ongoing problem among Eckerd students. And while the inherent privilege of attending a private institution is unavoidable, arrogance towards our staff and faculty is unacceptable.

Our bubble, tucked away on lush, waterfront property in South St. Petersburg, offers little incentive to go elsewhere. 

The consequence for smoking a joint on Kappa field is far less severe than if you were to smoke a joint in Maximo Park. Since law enforcement tolerates minor drug crimes at Eckerd, they should decriminalize them in all of St. Pete. 

It’s 10:30 p.m. on a Thursday evening. You are halfway through your psychology paper hoping to be able to finish it so you can get to bed before midnight. But all of a sudden the people in the room next to you start blasting music. It’s not like you can say anything; it’s not quiet hours yet…

In 1960, Kennedy beat Nixon in the first televised debate because he looked and sounded good, while Nixon appeared sweaty and disheveled. This debate ushered in a new era of politics by emphasizing appearance over content. 

Housing Office is getting creative to find everyone a place to live. Unfortunately, their solutions so far have been to offer students crowded triples and overpriced off-campus living.

For almost a decade, the Eckerd Health Promotion department has been implementing what they call the Eckerd Smoke-Free Initiative.

Social media is a large part of college students’ lives. While social media can be beneficial, often times it is overused and can weaken our social connections.

Starbucks is a treat to students before and after classes, but this popular coffee shop is host to plastic waste that students use and discard within minutes of purchase. Students can make easy changes to avoid falling prey to this plastic death trap and take a stand against single-use items.

College students often live a stressful and cluttered life. A minimalist lifestyle can take away unneeded stress and give more time to focus your energy on reaching your goals and helping your community.

Long-term benefits of long-term study abroad

Changes to the room draw process no longer allow for students to squat in rooms. With housing in high demand, the ban on squatting will bring more equal room opportunity for Eckerd’s growing student population.

Unless you have been hiding under a fairly large rock, you have seen the internet set ablaze by individuals fighting against the use of single-use plastics, particularly plastic straws. But, banning of the plastic straw will disproportionately affect the disabled community, which relies on t…

Eckerd is well-known for its pet-friendly policy. But, this privilege makes it easy for students to impulse-buy pets they are not ready to care for, endangering the animal in the process.