One of the saddest legacies emerging from the Virginia Tech tragedy is that, in a frantic struggle for answers to the problem, administrators and law enforcement across the country - to whom the care of American students are entrusted - are beginning to discuss the kind of changes that will only heighten a culture of distrust and alienation. This is a culture in which people fall through the cracks, break from their community and learn to feel persecuted by it.

Open up the Sunday edition of The New York Times and you see the words "The rules have changed. Everybody's going for nuclear programs" attributed to King Abdullah II of Jordan. It's the realization of everyone's fear. It's the essence of the domino theory come to life. Yet its simple logic can be found in any elementary Intro to International Relations course.

Last week's paper was filled with evidence of partisan sentiments - polls, protests, letters to the editor and online posts, many of them making accusations about organizations' ulterior motives, Geneseo's political prejudices and limitations on the freedom of speech on campus.

As much as I've complained about the Republicans in these columns, I have to say I envy them for discovering first that you never run out of room hiding things in plain sight. The number of times they have appeared in front of the public with the cookie jar still in their hands and gotten away with it is fascinating.

We can pretty much assume that no matter what happens at this point, President Bush is not going to acknowledge the impending reality of a civil war in Iraq. He is a man who is repeatedly described as being surrounded by those who vigilantly labor to keep his ideological drive unthreatened so that he may rally his base with same bravado and pomp that has been the Republican meal ticket since 2000.

When the average Geneseo student was in grade school, there existed a delicate balance in American politics that maintained the interminable status quo. Powerful private interests would weigh their bets, balance their risks, and throw a lot of financial support into the different parties in the hopes that the figures they supported would gain seats and reciprocate in the form of political patronage.