2 OPINION TechNews STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYSINCE 1928 McCormick Tribune Campus Center Room 221 3201 South State Street Chicago, Illinois 60616 E-mail: editor@technewsiit.com Website: http://www.technewsiit.com TechNews STAFF Editor-in-Chief Kori Bowns Assistant Editor Hannah Larson Opinion Editor Austin Gonzalez Campus Editor Utsav Gandhi ABE Editor Matti Scannell Sports Editor Nathan McMahon IT Manager Pranava Teja Surukuchi Copy Editors Travon Cooman Kristal Copeland Shireen Gul Anoopa Sundararajan Layout Editors Rachael Affenit Swasti Khuntia Distribution Manager Emilie Woog Financial Advisor Vickie Tolbert Faculty Advisor Gregory Pulliam MISSION STATEMENT Our mission is to promote student discussion and bolster the IIT community by providing a newspaper that is highly accessible, a stalwart of journalistic integrity, and a student forum. TechNews is a dedicated to the belief that a strong campus newspaper is essential to a strong campus community. GENERAL INFORMATION TechNews is written, managed. and edited by the students of. and funded in part by, Illinois Institute of Technology. The material herein does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Illinois Institute of Technology or the editors, staff, and advisor of TechNews. There will be no censorship of TechNews publication by the faculty or staff of IIT. Sole authority and responsibility for publication and adherence to the values set forth in this policy rests with the TechNews staff. This paper seeks to bring together the various segments of the Illinois Tech community and strives through balance and content to achieve a position of respect and excellence. TechNews strives for professionalism with due respect to the intellectual values of the university and its community.Allmaterialsubmitted becomes the property of TechNews, and is subject to any editorial decisions deemed necessary. 5 U B M I55 I O N S TechNews is published on the Tuesday of each week of the academic year. Deadline for all submissions and announcements is 11:59 pm. on the Friday prior to publication. Articles. photos, and illustrations must be submitted electronically to the TechNews website at technewsiitcom. EDITORIAL POLICY The editors reserve the right to determine if submitted material meets TechNews' policy and standards. For more information about our editorial standards. please emailassteditor@technewsiit.com. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor may be submitted by anyone, but are subject to review by the Editor-in-Chief. All letters-to-the-editor become the property of TechNews upon submission. TechNews does not accept or publish anonymous letters or stories. ADVERTISING Legitimate paid advertisements, from within or outside the IIT community, which serve to produce income for the paper, are accommodated. TechNews holds the right to deny any advertisement unsuitable for publication. Media Kits are available upon request. Ad space is limited and is taken on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact the Business Manager at business@ technewsiit.com for more information. LOCAL 8* NATIONAL ADVERTISERS To place an ad, contact us via email at business@technewsiit.com. TechNews | Tuesday, February 18, 2014 Sochi 2014 highlights Gay Rights Movement Blagovesta Dimencheva TECHNEWS WRITER The Winter Olympic Games started a few weeks ago with a glorious show—probably the most expensive one in the history of the Games that was followed by millions of people all over the world. These Olympics provoked heated debates concerning the choice of country to host the event, including the location, security, and whether the event will be properly organized. Early on in the games however, a new topic of discussion emerged—a topic other than the malfunction of the lights of the Olympic symbol—a topic that nobody saw coming, a topic of controversy—namely the issue of homosexuality in Russia; is it acceptable, is it even legal to openly mention it and to what (:0 Ac books enjoy. ‘ 4 H . on degree can this be commented on at these Olympic Games. Recently, president Putin passed a law prohibiting “the propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors” and the adoption of Russian children in countries that have legalized gay marriage. That measure received an even larger amount of attention than Putin could have ever expected. In fact, it probably turned into the most negatively commented on decision that the President has made so far. Across the world, several anti—Kremlin protests took place, and there is even a list of foreign dignities who are not attending the games. Many progressive countries intentionally chose gay athletes to represent them at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Even the top two Olympic leaders—both Sochi Olympic Organizing Committee President Dmitry Chernyshenko and the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach referred to that issue, although they didn’t mention it specifically. This was a crucial moment in the Olympic Games, proving that local politics cannot interfere in an international event at the height of the Olympic Games. This statement proved that the Games are a sports festival embracing human diversity, unity, tolerance, goodwill, and excellence. I hope that despite the controversial expectations, the Winter Olympic Games will be a display of great sports skills, beauty, grace and human power; theywill unite, make people marvel at what humanity has achieved and provide us with two unforgettable weeks! Notch had his The universe loves you Austin Gonzalez OPINION EDITOR Watching the Evolution debate last week with Ken Ham and Bill Nye, Ken said something I found interesting to think about; Ken put forth the idea that Moral relativism is on the rise due in part to a rapid adoption of naturalism. Moral relativism is the idea that different cultures have different ideas about what is right and what is wrong; therefore, no objective moral truth is possible. Naturalism is the idea that natural laws guide the progress of time and not the supernatural. I would say that this is a perfectly reasonable idea. Ethics and morality are a difficult topic to discuss because finding a reasonable definition for the two is problematic enough in its own right. Some believe the two are the same, some purport that ethics is societal and morals are personal, but I believe the best definition is that morals are about what I ought to do and ethics are the reasons I ought to do it. The role religion plays in helping people understand these two, only further complicates matters, but I’m going to stick with the nice stuff. One of the things about naturalism is that things work the way they do whether or not I am there to see them. Nature will just keep doing its thing forever. This creates a bunch of questions about why we exist. What is the point of discovery, love, or anything? Things that make sense from our frame of reference may be different for others. The way we define the importance of the existence and the validation of our lives is wholly unique from person to person because it doesn’t seem as though there is some grand scheme for morality. No matter what you do and why you do it, time keeps on keeping on. With naturalism, there is always a reason why. And if you keep asking why, you eventually get to the point where you might convince yourself that chemicals and atoms rule and you question your own free will. In the past, religion played a greater and more definite role in society. The church tells you that the reason you exist is because God made you and God loves you. God tells you to love your neighbor and to give alms and this is what will make you a good person. It feels much better and is filled with compassion and love. It played a helping hand in creating the rules you lived by and the reasons for those rules. It’s reasonable to suspect that as more people learn about a seemingly uncaring universe as opposed to one focused on loving and being loved, they would switch to a belief that allows anything. I don‘t think that an uncaring universe is what we live in though. One thought that always bounces around in my head is that we are the universe contemplating it. I care about you and so in some sense the universe cares about you too. I don’t agree with the idea that there isn’t an objective mora‘ truth and that nobody is ever right or wrong, but simply a function of nature like gravity. Iust as there are universal emotions and expressions, there has to be some universal understanding we all share. The universe isn’t something that should bring you down, but rather should fuel your search for even more amazing discovery, whether it’s hard-nosed science or squishy ethics and beliefs.