The Hesperian hot takes
The Hesperian Hot Takes gives students a chance to share an unpopular opinion in exactly five sentences. Click here to find out how to submit a hot take for future issues. Hot Take: Bud light and its parent company deserve to be boycotted and serve as a warning to others. Bud light – the staple…
Conservatives missed the mark in bank crisis response
By Maggie Stalnecker Throughout the past week, we have seen the shutdown of several large banks and their subsequent takeover by the federal government. At the time this article was written, both Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank have been taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and this has created a…
Both sides to blame for rising antisemitism
By Ethan Oppenheim Antisemitism is once again on the rise in the United States. Since it began tracking incidents of hostility toward Jewish people in 1979, the Anti-Defamation League reported that 2021 saw the highest number of incidents on record. This includes 853 counts of vandalism (a 14% increase from 2020), 1,776 instances of harassment…
Republicans shouldn’t be so quick to dump Trump
By Kate Robinson I have turned into a very skeptical person the last couple of years. I question our perceived reality on the daily and wonder if what we believe to be the truth is, indeed, factual. Some people might call me a conspiracy theorist, but I call myself a critical thinker. Like everyone in…
After terrible midterm performance, Republicans should dump Trump
By Ethan Oppenheim Republicans performed far below expectations in the 2022 midterms. The GOP not only failed to retake the Senate majority, but gained only a slim numerical advantage in the House. These results should have been different, and if not for former President Donald Trump, they would have been. According to a poll conducted…
What Happened to the Red Wave?
By Maggie Stalnecker The political “Red Wave” the country expected ahead of the midterm elections last week turned out to be nothing more than a small tide, even with the highest inflation rates the country has seen in nearly 40 years, unscientific Covid lockdowns, and skyrocketing crime. It turns out that many of the major,…
The Rise of Socialism in Gen Z America
By Charlie Sisk To any young conservative, it should come as no surprise that there is a larger push from the political left to switch America’s economic system to that of a “democratic socialist” one. This mentality was almost unheard of a few decades ago, even when there was a prominence of communists living within…
The Erroneous Solutions of Tateism
Photo Credit: Andrew Tate’s Instagram By Guillermo Orozco Emory Andrew Tate III, known to his fans as “Top G,” is a 35-five-year-old British-American former kickboxer who has become well-known for his Internet personality. His messages resonate with younger men and often revolve around wealth, careers, women, and dating. His advice, which often encourages men to…
President Biden’s Foreign Policy Failures
By Ethan Oppenheim President Joe Biden’s incompetence is obvious. While some of his daily slip-ups and missteps might be funny, they’re also embarrassing and a sign of weakness, lack of awareness, and ineptitude. They demonstrate Mr. Biden’s inability to lead not just the United States, but the entire free world. Below are just some instances…
Letter to the Editor: Martha’s Vineyard Stunt Shows Republican Party’s Decline
On Oct. 3, The Hesperian published an abysmal op-ed titled “Martha’s Vineyard Deserved It,” by Jordan Rosenberg, which perfectly characterizes the cognitive and philosophical decline of the political right. There are a myriad of interesting quotes in Mr. Rosenberg’s article. First, he credits illegal immigration as a root cause of “drug overdoses, rape, and murder.”…
Martha’s Vineyard Deserved It
By Jordan Rosenberg The residents of Martha’s Vineyard, the liberal establishment, coastal enclave of Massachusetts, recently woke up to a sweet taste of karma. Under direction from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), dozens of South American migrants were dropped off from jets and buses at one of the wealthiest places in the United States. Surely, the…
Biden is to Blame for America’s Decline
By Maggie Stalnecker As an American, perhaps the most disheartening occurrence at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral last week was watching President Joe Biden seated in the 14th row of the Westminster Abbey and his refusal to offer any public condolences to her family ahead of the event. His actions in the past two weeks are a…
An Objective View of the Mar-a-Lago Raid
By Ethan Oppenheim Both sides of the political aisle are exploding over the ongoing investigation into former President Donald Trump’s possession of confidential documents that the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago residence last month. Democrats and those on the left claim that Mr. Trump’s actions are a violation of several laws, including the Espionage Act,…
Women’s Sports In Deep Water After NCAA Transgender Ruling
By Kate Robinson I will never forget the feeling of joy that my 16-year-old self felt as I stepped on to the podium with my 200-yard medley relay team after finishing third at one of the biggest high school swim invitationals of the season. I will also never forget the excitement that coursed through my…
Joe Biden won Virginia by over 10 percentage points in 2020. So how did Republican Glenn Youngkin win the governorship one year later?
By Ethan Oppenheim Many Americans were surprised when Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin beat former Democratic governor incumbent Terry McAuliffe in the state’s gubernatorial election on November 2nd. Former President Barack Obama won the state by over six points in 2008 and around four points in 2012, Hillary Clinton won the state by five points in…
China Guilty Of More Than Just Lab Leak
By Kate Robinson A Wall Street Journal investigation recently revealed that three Wuhan, China lab workers participating in the gain of function research were hospitalized in November 2019 with COVID-19 symptoms. This occurred about a month before the “first case” – supposedly contracted from a bat at a Wuhan wet market and independent from the…
A Republican Roadmap to Taking Back California
By Ethan Nikfar Earlier in April, California’s secretary of state announced that recall petitioners gathered and submitted over 1,626,000 valid signatures to recall Governor Gavin Newsom, surpassing the required amount by over 100,000 signatures. Newsom, who just a few years ago was being touted as a future presidential nominee, has faced mounting criticism due to…
President Biden and the Nefarious ‘Newer’ Deal
By Kate Robinson As if forgiving student loan debt was not generous enough, President Joe Biden is paying Americans’ bills yet again. This time, it is through his recently enacted $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which includes such a significant level of handouts of federal unemployment benefits that businesses across the United States are struggling…
The Left’s Outrageous Attacks on Tim Scott Should Be a Wake-up Call
By Ethan Nikfar Every year, the president of the United States stands before Congress in monarchical fashion to address what the king-like figure is doing to help solve our problems. Along with it, the opposition party has a designated person with the worst job in Congress: giving a response to that speech. The out-of-power party’s…
The Scientific Establishment Has Lost Our Trust
By Ethan Nikfar Over a year ago, a deadly new virus struck the world, forcing us to entirely adapt and revamp our lifestyles to prevent its spread. In response, we embraced public health officials, particularly in the federal government, to make sense of it. But today, those same public health officials have become increasingly unreasonable,…
Biden Promised Bipartisanship, but Now He Just Bumbles and Backtracks
By Kate Robinson April 30 marks President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office. What started as a pleading call for unity and bipartisanship is shaping up to be nothing more than a far-left train wreck. Thus far, the 78-year-old commander-in-chief has proven that his administration is incapable of exhibiting competent leadership and clear articulation of…
Why Conservatives Should Care About Culture Wars
By Ethan Nikfar A few weeks ago, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg published a piece in The Dispatch on why culture wars are a distraction. Goldberg argues that while Republicans are busy focusing on petty battles such as Dr. Seuss, Democrats are ramming through spending bills using money we do not have. In Goldberg’s eyes, the…
O’Mara, Eastman, and the Threat to Intellectual Diversity
By Justin Buckner I am disappointed in Chapman University. In December and early January, President Daniele Struppa sent out five emails to students and faculty in regard to Dr. John Eastman, the former dean of Chapman’s Fowler School of Law, a Chapman professor, and lawyer of former President Donald Trump. With this came 15 articles…
Canceling Student Loan Debt Is Terrible Policy
By Ethan Nikfar Our elected officials often display too much creativity. They invent new issues to be solved by highly funded bureaucratic agencies instead of focusing on getting the already-too-large government to just do the ordinary things competently. Nevertheless, sometimes, they lack cleverness, as Democratic demands for canceling student loan debt have shown us. President…
Student Loan Forgiveness Forgets Who Actually Foots the Bill
By Kate Robinson As college seniors across the country prepare for graduation in May, the age-old debate about student loan forgiveness is once again taking center stage. And now, with a new president in office who has more than once pushed for making this a reality, it is worth noting the unendurable damage this policy…
Should Federal Student Loans Be Forgiven?
By Evan Raymond Federal student loans should not be forgiven. Let me make one thing clear for all of you before I continue. I do not support the current federal loan system, I believe that the government is preying on the poor and taking advantage of young adults who just gained their legal independence. However,…
Teachers’ Unions Need To Go. Here’s Why:
By Ethan Nikfar Over the last few months, Democrat-controlled cities across the country, from San Francisco to Chicago, have bent to the whims of the teachers’ unions. Parents and kids across the states have longed to return to semi-normal, in-person instruction. But these parents and children are just minor incidental inconveniences to our teachers’ unions…
Educate Yourself
By Thomas, Letters From the Ruins The refusal to bend a knee is a refusal to show obedience to the current order. This is symptomatic of a general trend we have witnessed over the last decades. It is no longer enough to be neutral. Rather, we have to voice our public support for the politics…
What Chapman Republicans Don’t Understand About the Equality Act
By Jane Simonetti One of the most important jobs we have as Americans is to participate in our democracy by actively staying informed. We must build a grounded foundation through personal research before stepping into opinion-based arguments. Failing to conduct a simple Google search before publicly voicing an opinion is ignorant, and the Chapman Republicans…
President Struppa, the Time Has Come to Open Our Classrooms
By Kate Robinson It was another day of monotonous discussions in my English class last Thursday morning. We were talking about societal norms, but I could think of nothing other than clicking the red “leave this meeting” button on my computer and crawling back into bed. With a mere five minutes remaining, my professor asked…
Chapman Republicans Condemn the Authoritarian and Unfair “Equality Act”
By Justin Buckner, President of Chapman Republicans Last month, the United States House of Representatives passed the controversial Equality Act. Now the Senate is set to vote on the act soon. The Chapman Republicans wholly denounce this act and think that it should not become law. The “Equality” Act would add gender orientation to the…
Anonymous Chapman Students Attacking Their Peers is a New Low
By Nate Bernstein Envision this: You are at a college party in 2005. You spin around the room, dancing to the music, stopping at the pong table to meet some people and play a few rounds. Now picture the last college party you saw. You thought of a video on your phone, didn’t you? Social…
No, Beauty Pageants Aren’t Anti-Feminist
By Keenan Pasztor When the Miss America Organization took away the swimsuit portion of the competition in 2020, feminists around the world cheered. To many people, beauty pageants are a prime example of “how the patriarchy rules the world.” Women are put on stage and shown off like a “cattle auction.” The stereotype of a…
Trump, Biden, and America’s Newest War
By Jason Garshfield In one of his first speeches upon taking office, President Biden promised a “full-scale wartime effort” against the coronavirus pandemic. On this, at least, Biden has much in common with his predecessor, who labeled himself a “wartime president,” invoked the Defense Production Act to pressure auto manufacturers into building ventilators, and pushed…
Republican Club President: A Letter to Chapman’s Democrats and Republicans
By Justin Buckner, President of Chapman Republicans The last three months have been extremely confusing and frustrating, there is so much I want to say but don’t exactly know how to say it. First, to my fellow Republicans who are defending the lawlessness at the Capitol, my question to you is simple: Why? We had…
Biden Is Setting Himself up to Be a Divisive Leader
By Ronnie G. Wiseman Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, I was unsupportive of both major frontrunners, but I vowed to be supportive of whoever was declared the legal winner in the end. When Donald Trump was declared the victor, I upheld that vow, even though I was wary of his leadership abilities. Four…
Flashback – President Trump: A Dream (and Promise) Come True
It is ironic that a man can be universally condemned for doing what no other politician in recent memory has been able to do: deliver on his promises. Unlike any recent president, President Trump has worked relentlessly on making his vision of an emboldened America become a reality.
Do Not Forget the Unborn: A Letter to Christians
By Jordyn Carrido When I became a Christian at the age of twenty, I got this overwhelming feeling that I finally understood my place in the world. The God I serve is one who specifically made me just as I am, with my unique gifts and flaws, and has enough grace to forgive all my…
Not Voting is NOT a Crime
By Kate Robinson It was mid-September, and I was engaged in a political discussion with a friend. After a few minutes of casually talking about current events, I asked her which presidential candidate she planned on voting for in November. What she said next stopped me in my tracks: “Oh, I’m not voting.” She said…
How Boomers Destroyed Civility… and America
By Jason Andrew Garshfield After the acrimonious debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden two weeks and an eternity ago, Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin made a post on his Not a Blog encouraging people to watch for contrast the 1960 presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Martin…
VP Pence Thrives, Sen. Harris Deceives
By Justin Buckner The much-anticipated vice presidential debate was one in which the American people wanted civility and truth after a disastrous presidential debate. Vice President Mike Pence brought both of those things and was a standout last week by being composed, presidential, and respectful. After what some call “the worst presidential debate ever,” Vice…
The Real Loser of the Presidential Debate Was the Moderator
By Jordyn Carrido It is safe to say that nearly everyone was dissatisfied with the performances at the debate last Tuesday. Both candidates came off as petulant and immature with their incessant arguing and interrupting. Obviously, the purpose of a debate is for candidates to argue the issues. But, instead of them presenting their platforms…
Coming Out of The Conservative Closet
By Ferris Since beginning my academic career at Chapman University, I have had the privilege of coming across a diverse array of people from all ethnicities, religions, and cultures. This was one of the main reasons why I committed to attending Chapman University for my undergraduate degree. I have always admired how welcoming Chapman is…
The Republican Convention Had More Substance than the Democrats
By Diana Abyad The first night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) drew 440,000 viewers while the Democrat Convention only saw 76,000 on their first night, according to The Hill. Compared to 2016’s DNC, viewership this cycle was down as much as 42 percent on major networks including CBS, NBC, and ABC. The numbers for…
Minority Ideas Matter
By Justin Buckner As a student at Chapman University, I have come across many different types of people from a variety of backgrounds. Never have I attended a school with such a wide range of diversity. The university excels at attracting people from all over the world. Though, while concentrating so much on making their…
Let the States Take Care of Themselves in this Crisis
By Jordyn Carrido Throughout this Chinese Virus tragedy there have been continuous complaints by Chapman University students and others that our federal government is failing and that the Trump administration is not doing enough to combat COVID-19. These critics act as if states are entirely dependent upon the federal government. In reality, the reason the…
The Imprudence of Labeling Oneself a “Global Citizen”
By John Loftus A cadre of enlightened progressives – from affluent, beleaguered Western democracies – fancy themselves not as citizens of a sovereign nation but as citizens of the world (these are the kinds of people who get goosebumps when they think of pasty bureaucrats toiling in Brussels). At first, this idea strikes me as…
Why the Economy Still Matters
By, Jason Andrew Garshfield First, a quick story: In 1989, Soviet politician Boris Yeltsin visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston. On his way back, he decided that he wanted to see how ordinary Americans ate, so he took an impromptu detour to a Randall’s grocery store in Clear Lake, Texas. This was an ordinary…
Warren’s Excuse for Defeat: Blame America
By Anyte During Super Tuesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren did not even make it past the 15 percent threshold to get delegates. She came in third place in her home state, Massachusetts. For contrast, Senator Bernie Sanders won his home state by a whopping 50 percent, and Warren never finished higher than third place in any…
Morning in New York
By Pete Weitzner I graduated with a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in fall 1987. I’ve been a working journalist from Day One and became a professor of broadcast journalism at Chapman University in 1997. This fall marks 33 years essentially in two work venues: newsrooms and a college campus. There…
Intolerance Amongst the “Tolerant”
My Experiences of Prejudice in Diverse Groups at Chapman By Arete My first semester of freshman year, I participated in Gamma Phi’s philanthropy event, Airbands. If you do not know what Airbands is, each Greek chapter is paired with another chapter or dance club on campus to perform a lip-syncing dance. This was my first…
The Computational Case for a Free Society
By Christopher Moore The idea of capitalism has been criticized by more left-wing economists as being a quaint neo-classical theory. Principles like the Rational Actor Model are discarded as simplistic. The solution often advocated by the intellectual class is a technocratic, centrally planned economy to impose efficiencies upon the irrational proletariat, often in the form…