By Jay Snyder-Phillippoff Macklemore performs at Alcatraz // Sergione Infuso/Corbis If you have been following the news this week you may have noticed a large uproar concerning Ed Sheeran and Macklemore. If not, don’t worry I will fill you in here. Earlier this week singer songwriter Ed Sheeran dropped his opener rapper Macklemore from his tour. Macklemore, an outspoken activist who often makes pro-Palestine remarks on stage, sat on September 4 calling for Palestinian liberation and...

By Jay Snyder-Phillippoff CASL Atrium // Jay Snyder-Phillippoff The term “majorism,” coined by a visionaries at the University of California Los Angeles, describes a dynamic many students know well: science- and math-based majors are often treated as more valuable than humanities-based majors. For many students in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, that imbalance is not abstract. It shapes everyday academic life, from the way majors are discussed by peers and parents to the way...

By Jay Snyder-Phillippoff Lake Biwa on a sunny day//Jay Snyder-Phillippoff Last summer, I had the honor of going to Japan for a study abroad. I attended JCMU, the Japan Center for Michigan Universities, where I spent two months learning Japanese and experiencing the culture. I was enrolled in the Language Intensive Program, which compresses roughly a year's worth of Japanese language study into just two months. Each day followed a routine: waking up in the morning, having breakfast with my...