By The Mac Weekly

For those five people who did not hear, Vice President Joe Biden made an appearance at the Leonard Center last Tuesday, Oct. 5. The Mac Weekly would like to commend the Macalester for facilitating such a big event. There is no doubt that students can find speeches by Biden on youtube.com or read about the Dayton campaign in local newspapers, but having the Vice President of the United States deliver a speech on campus provides new incentive for engagement.

The Mac Weekly Opinions section, which at times leans a little to the left, does not wish Macalester to provide a soapbox to help liberal politicians indoctrinate the Scots, but we do love events that push the conversation forward. Our professors constantly challenge us to be critical, to question where the information set before us comes from, to identify bias and to challenge accepted notions. We are the perfect campus to hold such events because we as students will not accept what we have been told without question.

Macalester students pride themselves on being, as Macalester President Brian C. Rosenberg put it, “cheap smart hotties with a conscience.” The admissions office helps ensure that the student body remains cheap, professors encourage the smart bit and our Leonard Center (and, we suppose, DeWitt Wallace library) provide centers to maintain our legendary hottness. But cultivating students’ conscience cannot be accomplished solely by attending classes or even by making appointments at the CDC.

We need political events on campus to push students into engagement beyond our community and remind us of an important way we can participate.

Political activism on campus is imperfect and we have already stated our wish for a more conservative voice on campus. Perhaps Mac Dems or Mac GOP could arrange for a Michelle Bachman appearance? The Mac Weekly is proud of Macalester College’s appearance on Huntington Post’s Top Ten Political Colleges-we hope you are too.

The opinions expressed above are those of The Mac Weekly, as determined by the staff. The perspectives are not representative of Macalester College.