Several members of the Wabash Conservative Union will be graduating next month: former Editor-in-Chief Sean Clerget, former Event Coordinator Tyler Gibson, former Business Manager Trent Hagerty, and staff writers James Inman and John Moton. As can be deduced by the abundance of titles, this group of men has contributed greatly to the Wabash Conservative Union. They were all here from the beginning, and they helped take the organization from the ashes of the old Wabash Commentary and make it what it is today. We congratulate and thank them for all they have accomplished, and we wish them the best as they move on to greater things.

Wickens was the first person in his immediate family to attend college. He went in without a solid plan but eventually settled on pursuing law. Although he claims that law school didn’t seem to be the first thing on his mind, his mother has always disagreed. “She always used to tell me that from the earliest age on, I would sit and read the Constitution, pull out books and read about it, and say I wanted to be a lawyer some day.” Not many kids do that anyway, but for a native of Ellettsville, Indiana, an average small Hoosier town, it must have seemed especially odd. Living in Ellettsville, Wickens said, he knew very little about law when he decided to venture into the world of litigation. “When I made that decision, I didn’t know a lawyer. In fact, my family used to think that if we knew a lawyer, that was a bad thing.”

Some may still disagree with Dr. Kreeft’s assertion that this debate between relativists and absolutists is the “single most important issue of our age,” but consider the stakes. If moral absolutism became the consensus philosophy, our nation’s cherished tradition of religious and cultural tolerance would become immoral. We would also struggle to define which morality is superior and apply it. On the other hand, should moral relativism be accepted, religion would be in crisis. Relativism necessarily precludes the existence of the Judeo-Christian God who demands exclusive worship and who presents unequivocal moral teachings.

Francisco Ayala is a dream for religious individuals who want to be able to believe in both God and science, and especially evolution. He graduated from a Catholic seminary, went on to graduate from Columbia University, and now teaches biology at the University of California, Irvine. He is touted as a religious man who can champion evolution without batting an eyelash. But as one student remarked after listening to Ayala speak during his visit to campus in March, the biologist’s faith is in God but his religion is science.

There comes a time as a second semester senior when you become “tired of Wabash.” I’m there. Many of my classmates are there. However, this is not typically a negative attitude towards Wabash; it’s more a desire, or an anxiety about starting the next chapter of life. The last three years I have noticed this change in senior classes, it is normal, but this year something is different. Anger, disappointment, and frustration remain from the events of last semester. That frustration is much less vocal than it was, but still lingers beneath the surface of campus activities. That feeling has caused a different, more negative second semester feeling that is not typical of Wabash.

Mr. Dees and his organization have every right to call out whomever they please, and to be fair, they do so with considerable consistency. The Nation of Islam and Black Panthers, among other minority groups, are also targeted by the organization for their beliefs of racial superiority. The SPLC’s mission, however, can sometimes be very political, and its attacks on “hate groups” can morph into attacks on political opponents.

What should also be a cause of concern is the amount of power the Executive Branch has gained and how it uses that power to isolate itself from the oversight of the Legislative and Judicial Branches. The President and Congress were meant to work with one another. Having the Executive call the shots, so to speak, denies Congressional oversight into the actions done by the President and the members of his cabinet.

Since the Carter Administration, the average number of days that it takes the Senate to deliberate on judicial nominees has dramatically increased. According to the Committee for Justice, nominees who were confirmed by the Senate during the President Carter’s tenure took an average of 69 days, while those who went unconfirmed averaged 195 days. During the Bush administration, these numbers had risen to 348 days for confirmed nominees and an astounding 906 days for unconfirmed nominees. This obstructionism is unfortunate. But perhaps even more unfortunate is the ways that the Democrats proceeded to oppose President Bush’s nominations, specifically their use of the filibuster.

Over my nearly two years here, I do not know if I have heard any word more loosely used than “conversation.” Be it Chapel Talks, tedious Student Senate sessions, or any number of forums for belabored pleas for “conversation,” the word has been used so frequently that its uttering evokes a rolling of eyes or sarcastic laughter. However, this is Wabash, and since it is Wabash there certainly is conversation. True conversation – in the form of no-holds-barred debates in the Scarlet Inn or friendly mentoring in a professor’s office – is the lifeblood of our college.