At the first meeting of the semester, it was brought to the attention of the Faculty Senate that the two day vacation in October was being called “Columbus Day Break”, and some faculty members were not pleased. Dr. Knowles, Chair of the Native American Studies Department, feels that calling this short vacation “Columbus Day Break” praises Christopher Columbus, even though ...

We here at the Spectator are many things: journalists, photographers, graphic designers, and editors.  But above all else, we are students.  As students of this university we want the highest quality of education that our steadily increasing tuition can buy. With this in mind, what parameters determine the quality of a college degree?  Is it the sports team or the ...

We’ve all seen the recent video of the journalist and cameraman from Virginia who were shot and killed during a live recording. Although the crime was committed by a former employee, this is not the first time within the past couple years that a journalist has lost his or her life. Some of the more recent and well-known events date ...

Is our degree at VSU worth it now? We have had this question rumbling through our mind for a while now. This question first arose after the flag controversy. VSU was front and center of the media spotlight. The bulb shining bright on that controversy eventually burned out, only to be replaced with a fresh bulb. This time, the drop ...

Fellow Blazers, it is safe to say that 2015 started off with a bang. We here at The Spectator did our very best to keep you in the know about any and everything happening on your campus. While we tried to make sure every photo was crisp and every article was detailed, we know there is still so much more ...

The temperature of racial tension in this country is reaching a boiling point.  The lid that was the civil rights movement is struggling to contain the bubbling mixing pot of race relations.  The mounting pressure of police brutality has many Americans steaming over the injustices that seem to be perpetrated on a daily basis.  Anyone with television or Internet access ...

Better late than never? Not this time. As of last Friday the campus has seen a lot of protest and demonstrations. On Tuesday many students received an email from the university stating that one of the lead protesters who has been walking on the flag had a firearm on his person while on the campus. Students received this email almost ...

Lately, crime alert emails are as routine as the weekly student activity news. Starting at the end of February, an alarming number of robberies have been reported, resulting in a series of alerts from VSU. While one was allegedly false and others were determined to occur near university property, this string of robberies has instilled fear in our campus and ...

The Faculty Senate is contemplating a no-confidence vote on our president. The chief of staff recently resigned after allegedly demonstrating drunken behavior on campus. Long-time VSU employees are being replaced at an alarming rate out of nowhere. It basically seems as though our administration is in a state of confusion. Yet, we’ve gotten little explanation as to why these things ...

Any break from the daily grind of classes and homework is always something to be appreciated, and students often mark Spring Break week on their calendars long before the new semester even begins. As we slowly limp into the weekend, classes are taking less precedence in students’ mind, replaced with the desires for warm beaches, refreshing mountains or the simple ...