Trying to personally grapple with issues of race relations on this campus has been an emotionally exhausting experience. Trying to articulate my thoughts in a coherent, rational, and well-balanced argument? Seemingly impossible.

As a senior psychology major, I am no longer surprised by the lack of male students in my classes. There seems to be an evident divide in genders in the social science majors in comparison with majors characterized as hard sciences, along with business and mathematics.

President Dahl's campus wide presentation, a "Call to Action" that took place last Wednesday left me feeling frustrated and impatient. In my experience, many of the assorted exchanges on diversity and community focus on racial and ethnic diversity and tend to leave out more subtle, but no less significant, ways in which students can differ from one another.

As classes begin and the flow of school starts, it's easy to re-establish a pattern of traditional learning. In such a framework, the professor is the dictator and the students are assumed to be absentmindedly absorbing knowledge in the classroom.

In the past week we have all been completely inundated with information regarding the Virginia Tech occurrence. I am sure each student here has been affected in varying ways. Personally, I have been affected by the tragedy at many different levels.

Recently, several of the multicultural and special interest student groups that are a part of Accent's Council for Enrichment (ACE) have had their budgets cut. ACE, which is funded by the Student Association, contains the multicultural and special interest groups on campus.

Recently, I was informed of a photo shoot that the contestants of America's Next Top Model (ANTM) participated in. The theme of the shoot seemed to sexualize violence and have a distinct necrophilic-pornographic take.

Walking to class everyday, an overwhelming amount of students (often including myself) are chatting away on cell phones. If we're not actually talking on the phone, we're at least clutching it in our hands, waiting for the next incoming call. All across campus, we're clicking away on our laptops with Facebook, MySpace, e-mail, and AOL Instant Messanger open and ready on the screens.

Some people are lucky enough to rarely have to spend time being concerned over money issues. They can buy whatever they want without considering the consequences. Most of us, however, are not that fortunate.

The goal of a college education probably differs by individual student. However it doesn't seem too much to assume that most attend college to increase their academic knowledge base and to acquire to specialized skills within a major while preparing themselves for the careers they wish to pursue after graduation.

At this point in our lives as college students, most of us believe that we are fairly confident in knowing who we are. We know what our personalities are like, what our friends and family think we are like, and what makes us happy and annoyed and sad.