Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Presidential Speech

Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave a formal presidential speech at Murray State University on Monday, February 22. His inspiring words were spread throughout all of the attendees and his mere presence put the entire crowd in awe. Because of his great accomplishments, including a Nobel Peace Prize, this might have been the most important person to ever speak at Murray State.

Because of Tutu’s great endeavors for peace between the white South Africans and the black South Africans, he was awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize. As he fought for justice alongside Nelson Mandela, not stopping when he was tired, not quitting when he was told, he made peace to stop the discrimination against the black South Africans.

Some of Tutu’s inspiring words at his speech included, “The only intolerance is the tolerance of intolerance,” which tells us that not taking action when it is necessary is unacceptable. And when we do not take action when something is intolerable, then we are being intolerable ourselves.

Another one of his most famous quotes is, “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” Meaning that without each other, we cannot exist. And if we eliminate each other, then our humanity will seize to exist.

These were only two of the many quotes that he had said that inspired millions to become peace makers throughout the globe. Because of his peace-making efforts, the entire world has been impacted and has changed the way we as people deal with violence and hatred. And he, himself, has changed history for the rest of our lives.

Valentin LeBesnerais

Meals At Murray State

Having meals at Murray State University provided us with a sneak peek into college life. When we first arrived in the cafeteria the atmosphere of the whole campus changed. The cafeteria was always full, and there were always long lines of people waiting to get food. There were people studying b y themselves, and some groups of people having lunch with their friends. Eating with the rest of the students lets us see how people interact in college, and some of the differences between high school social life and college social life. The level of independence in college is significantly higher than that of high school, since you get to choose almost everything.

In the cafeteria at Murray State, there were abundances of choices all around us. There were vegetarian options, a salad bar, wraps, pizza, soups, and many more options to choose from. After taking it all in, all of us decided to get in line behind the college students. Once we made our choices, we found a table in the already crowded dining hall and ate our food. Looking around at all the students the college is very diverse, and caters to many different types of people. ESPN was playing on the big flatscreen TV’s, and overhearing some conversations, athletics is one of the important facets of life at Murray State.

All in all, having dinner and lunches at Murray State University was a new experience for all of us. It gave us a new insight into college life, and the independence we will all soon have.

Elizabeth Mtshali

Murray State University Campus Tour

This week our school was lucky enough to be able to stay at Murray State in Kentucky to hear a speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. While we were staying there, we were offered the privilege to tour the campus with the help of students/past students as our tour guides. The campus includes 9 different living facilities. Every other dorm building is co-ed. Springer Hall, specifically, is a hall girl’s dorm. There are community bathrooms on the campus which are cleaned very well by the staff at Murray. We were staying in Old Richmond, a suite style dorm hall. New Richmond is the most recently built dorm hall and it is apartment style living. The central building on campus consists of the office as well as a computer lab and a coffee house on the bottom floor. Their dining hall, Winslow Dining Hall, was recently redone this past summer so we had the chance to eat in their beautiful remodeled cafeteria. The wellness center at Murray opened in spring 2005. It includes an Olympic size swimming pool, basketball courts, free weights, volleyball court, cardio machines, as well as racquetball courts.

There is even an aerobics room that holds free yoga, pilates, and dance classes. If you want to play a little Dance Dance Revolution, Murray state even has that for you to enjoy. The outdoor courts are open to everyone, including the public. There are escort services available day or night on campus, but it may not be needed considering Murray State is the 11^th safest college in the United States. If you prefer a method of transportation other than walking, there are trolleys that run across campus as well. The older science building is named the Black Bird Science building. The library includes many computers and study rooms. The top level is a no talking zone for people who prefer to work in silence. If you need a book that the library does not have, they can have it shipped, for free, from another university for you. Murray is considering building a new library. If you need a job on campus, the library is the place to go. Walking from one end of the campus to the complete other side takes approximately 15 minutes, so it is easy to plan what time to leave for your classes in order to get there on time. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the campus really was. The wellness center was especially impressive and looked extremely well kept. The tour guides were friendly, and funny. They knew what they were talking about and really gave us all a look into what Murray State’s campus has to offer its students. We were very fortunate to be able to have them use some of their time to show us around.

Mackenzie Goertel