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In last weeks issue of e Pioneer Log, there was a comment made in poor taste on the Backdoor. We regret any o ense taken by community members. We apologize for the oversight and are extremely embarrassed about the incident. We are truly sorry. Darya Watnick and Zibby Pillote Editors-in-Chief

Letter from the Editors

O -campus life, a di cult transition

BY CASSIE BISHOP
Opinion Editor

The Pioneer Log OPINION

February 17, 2012

Je Feld-Gore said something interesting. We were sitting in Tamarack discussing the Bon, and he mentioned something I had never really thought about that now seems quite ridiculous: Lewis & Clark has no program for helping students transition into independent adulthood. College

THE FUTURE IS NOW

The drone surveillance over the US is rapidly becoming an invasive reality.

is the awkwardawkward in the freefor-all (kind of ), fuck authority (but set up a network), drink all day, erry day (dont become an alcoholic), learn as much as you can (dont get crazy intense, though) kind of wayphase in between dependence and adulthood and the weight of independence. What does LC do to prepare us for their sudden out-of-the-nest-good-luckOH!-and-join-the-Peace-Corps-so-wecan- aunt-that-statistic period? My experience thus far has been that it does very little. Now, mama bird, you fed menot in a vomit it back into us kind of way; this metaphor isnt going that farand my time in the nest has been some of the best, but looking at what life will be like when I live outside this comfortable on-campus bubble leaves me feeling terribly unprepared. How has LC helped me prepare? O the top of my head, Ive got four ideas: 1. Steal when you can get away with it, then encourage your friends to do it. I do not happily condone the practice of stealing the new, big red cups from the Bon. After the fuss we put up about getting bigger cups, to steal them? Sweet baby Jesus. AND the main place I have seen these red cups utilized outside of the Bon is at parties. If you need a Bon cup to feel like a rabble-rousing youth, just take a shot like a champ and get over yourself. 2. Pretty much without exception, build up a dislike for administrators. is I also disagree with, mostly. I agree, it is infuriating how LC students are talked down to and treated like children by o cials, especially when it comes to decision-making that affects the LC community as a whole. I mean, who would rather hear, ere was a lot of back-and-forth, but after long deliberations we were uncomfortable continuing without more information and student feedback, than You guys seem to be really solid on the whole beer-tap in the Bon idea and if we had an ID card swiper then we could control the potential issues with

age and amount, but we just are saying no? I mean, really. I can understand why serving alcoholic beverages in the Bon, even if it were regulated, would be a tough thing to get the administration on board with. But dont get out your smoke and mirrors, just tell us and in return, we will give you more respect. 3. Go to ANY event/gathering in your life that o ers free food. Seriously, if anyone wants LC students anywhere, just add FREE ______ (insert tasty/repulsive food item here) and every single undergrad will consider coming, if not clear her schedule to be there. Been there; done that. 4. Develop incredibly unhealthy and irregular dietary habits: dont eat for eight or so hours then hit up dinner like you just fought an entire Spartan army by yourself and won. Probably my biggest complaint. So, so, SO unhealthy especially when youre trying to balance emotional turmoil, physical changes and constant academic pressure. Just try to limit your desserts and take jogs every so often, instead of doing things like crash diets and feeling sorry for yourself. at is what I came up with in regards to LCs student-independence-preparedness plan. Maybe some people see this as the method to success, but I am not convinced. However, instead of just complaining, Im going to o er some solutions. First and foremost, help students get o campus and take care of themselves. It is so nice that the Bon literally does everything except clear our plates for us which they do if you walk away from a plate for more than several seconds except it means that dorm kitchens are lthy. LC students are helpless when it comes to doing any form of house maintenance except laundry (which we should not be charged for- tangent narrowly avoided). A liberal arts degree makes jumping into the job eld di cult enough. Please help us out by getting our feet on the edge of the nest a bit earlier so that it is not quite as bitter when we nally thrust our shaking, feathered bodies into the air.

ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA SARVET

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BY JAKE BARTMAN
Staff Writer

is week, Congress passed a bill that went largely unnoticed, but which signi es a fundamental change in the nature of American privacy. e bill demands increased research and development in the domestic unmanned aircraft sector, which is at present virtually non-existent. e bill has led many industry regulators to predict that as many as 30,000 surveillance drones will share civilian airspace by 2020 after they begin taking to the air in 2015. ese drones are to be unarmed and are intended to be primarily at the disposal of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, although private companies will be able to get permits to launch their own. When one considers the implications, it becomes more and more ba ing that the bill passed so easily through the House and Senate and is expected to be approved by the President in short order. Drones like the ones to take to the air in coming years can be as small as a toy or as large as a jet, and can hover tens of thousands of feet in the air for days at a time, watching Americans go about their lives. And beyond the obvious potential for gross privacy violations, there are other issues that seem impossible to iron out. Imagine thirty thousand unmanned aircraft journeying wherever they please amongst passenger planes carrying dozens of travelers. Consider the potential for hacking and terrorist action that is present with a eet so large that to monitor it takes

such a serious and costly e ort. ese are just a few of the very real concerns that have been voiced in opposition to the bill, but which havent done anything to a ect its inertia. And more than the problem of the bill itself being passed, the complacency exhibited by the media in this instance is disturbing. Poke around the Internet and youll nd precious little to do with the bills passage. I feel like Im taking crazy pills. When did the news media start to roll over and play dead for the government? When did political bias become so entrenched in news sources that a bill that isnt a partisan issue, but an issue that directly a ects the degree to which the government can intervene in the lives of all citizens, become so unworthy of attention? Surely Whitney Houston is partly to blame, but the frightening way in which the press has become less a critic of government and more a tool of it is clearly on display here. Even if intentions are good, the potential for abuse of this system is too great to ignore. e government, or anyone with enough motivation, can tap your phone calls and read your emails. Now both the government and private organizations will be able to legally, and easily, watch you go for your morning jog or stop for co ee with a friend. eyll observe you as you lay in a park with your sweetheart, smoke a cigarette between classes, sunbathe au natural in your backyard or get high behind supermarkets and in alleys anywhere in the country. Whats next? Drones with x-ray vision to see if you sleep naked? Id better start wearing pants at night.

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