North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Page: 6 of 8

Page 6
Josh Pherigo, Views Editor
Views
01.19.2010
ntdailyviews@gmail.com
Students should
take advantage of
counseling
Editorial
For marry students, college can be a stressful transition into
adulthood.
The responsibility of balancing the freedom of a newly-forged
independent lifestyle with the need to excel academically often
places great strain on the mental well-being of students who
have never faced such challenges.
Universities understand the negative toll which the effects of
anxiety and stress can take on the lives of students, and most
offer counseling services to assist in keeping students mentally
and physically health)'.
Funded by student sendees fees, the UNT counseling center
offers students eight free counseling sessions per year. The
editorial board supports UNT in its belief that caring for the
mental well-being of students is a crucial part of achieving the
academic mission of the university and advocates student use
of such sendees to combat the economic, social, and academic
stress of college life in 2010.
However, keeping college students mentally healthy has
become increasingly more difficult over the past few years.
The number of collegiate counseling centers nationwide that
reported having students with significant psychological prob-
lems steadily increased over the past two decades, peaking at
93.4 percent this year. Compared to the 58 percent reported in
1988, the statistic represents an alarming national trend.
Texas statistics tell a similar story.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas universities
saw a significant statewide increase in the number of students
who sought counseling at university centers last year. At UNT
alone, the number of students seeking counseling jumped 27
percent compared to the 2004 to 2005 school year.
Such a sweeping trend proves difficult to draw any implication
other than the assertion that college students today are suffer-
ing from greater anxiety and mental problems than ever before,
but hope persists in that trend as well. Universities are provid-
ing for those students in the form of counseling centers.
Regardless of its cause, it is important to recognize that anxiety
and mental instability are common afflictions among college
students. If ignored, they can lead to the derailment of an
otherwise healthy academic and personal life. Students should
take advantage of the health sendees for which they are already
paying.
The counseling center is in Chestnut Hall. Its hours of operation
are Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Wednesday
through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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GOP debate spotlights UNT
UNT hosted the Republican
Gubernatorial Primary Debate
on Thursday at the Murchison
PerformingArts Center between
sitting Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Kay
Bailey Hutchison, and business-
woman Debra Medina.
Many remarkable electedoffi-
cials, candidates, businessper-
sons and community leaders
from all overTexas were in atten-
dance. Although some students
were less than thrilled to find
out a Republican debate was
taking place on campus, it was
a good decision for the univer-
sity to provide the venue for this
debate.
I attended this event and,
regardless of what political views
you hold, what political party
you are affiliated with or even if
you hold no interest in politics,
we should all be proud of the
university for hosting this note-
worthy event.
This debate put the univer-
sity i n the spotlight of the closely
followed governor's race.
Many people are claiming
that the future of the Republican
Party is at stake with this race. It
seems that the party is divided
between the more moderate wing
generally supportingHutchison,
the conservative wing typically
with Perry and the libertarian
wing aligned toward Medina.
Whoever the victor is, there
will be longstanding political
ramifications.
Texas, a largely Republican
state, iswhere much of the heart
of the Republican Party lies, so
whoever the Republicans of
Texas choose in this primary
will be an important indicator
of where the Republican Party
¡sheading.
The debate was an enjoyable
and informative experience
for all those who attended or
watched on television or online.
The debate itself was lively, each
candidate seemed well prepared,
and all three sides are likely proud
oftheir candidate's performance.
However, as with most modern
political debates, there did not
appear to be a distinct winner.
Perry's natural confidence
seemed toslipoverinto the realm
of cockiness with some of his
remarks. Hutchison appeared
rather uncharismatic or too
scripted, and Medina seemed
to be all ideas with no clear policy
directions.
Even though each candidate
had their flaws, this debate was
an example of UNT providing
a public service and helping to
take part in the great exchange
of ideas that is the democratic
process.
By hosting this highly tele-
vised event, the university helped
bring influential people and a
great deal of attention to the
university.
One prominent business-
woman in Denton that I spoke
with was surprised by both the
beauty and quality of the venue
and even the nu mber of students
that attend UNT.
She was unaware that UNT
was home to tens of thousands
of students, but now she knows
what a wonderful university it
truly is. If UNT had declined to
host the event, this woman and
hundreds of others would not
have seen this.
Whenever I travel out-of-state,
I make a point to wear a UNT
shirt and tell people about the
universityl attend.
I want UNT to continue to
become a larger and more pres-
tigious university and hosting
public service events such as this
debate is a great way to do that.
I would also suggest that if such
a debate for the other side of the
aisle were proposed, that UNT
be ready and willing to host that
event as well.
I hope you will join me in
being thankful that the univer-
sity hosted this debate and
continue to support the growth
and advancement of our univer-
sity in this way.
Trayton Oakes is a political
science and economics junior. He
can be reached at TraytonOakes®
my.unt.edu.
Troop surge won't defeat terrorism
Since the signing of the
Declaration, the U.S. has faced
a constant enemy.
The uniform, language
and tactics changed but their
form stayed the same for more
than 200 years. That enemy is
driven by the tangible purpose
of expanding and defending
boundaries. That enemy
is contained by a breaking
point that they will not cross.
That enemy is organized and
centralized.
But that enemy is gone.
Today the world sees a new
sort of enemy that doesn't
conform to the profile to which
the U.S. has become accus-
tomed. The events of Sept.
11 shotAmerica directly into
the core of combating global
terrorism, and our failure thus
far has been spectacular.
Conventional enemies seek
to expand borders or to assume
control of a certain group of
people, but al-Qaida is a rare
exception. Its stated goal is the
eradication of the U.S. This is
an important distinction to
make.
Control of power is the
conventional enemy's goal, its
chief concern is the size of its
forces and stability of its power.
In al-Qaida, we see a crazed
gunperson who is willing to
forgo his or her safety in order
to achieve that goal.
This means that the number
of people that must be killed
before surrender is extraor-
dinarily higher with al-Qaida
than with a conventional
enemy.
The conventional enemy
is centralized, making its
home a country or city where
commands are issued and
followed. Al-Qaida has no real
base of operations, and itwould
be a mistake to assume other-
wise. The nature of terrorism
makes itfrontless.
All terrorist attacks claimed
by al-Qaida have been carried
out from other countries. Most
recently we saw an African
member of al-Qaida attempt
an airplane bombing from
Amsterdam. The reach of
al-Qaida has proven to be
enormous. These masterminds
could feasibly be organizing
attacks from anywhere.
Most worrisome is the
osmosis of terrorism occur-
ring between Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
Imagine if UNT featured no
building for administrators,
and instead the deans of the
various colleges simply moved
from building to building
periodically. In such a situ-
ation, identifying the loca-
tion of the UNT administra-
tion staff would be headache-
inducing.
So, if we're fighting a
powerful decentralized enemy
who cares little for lives lost,
how can we win?
The Obama administra-
tion's decision to send more
troops to do more killing
will only play into al-Qaida's
hands. Terrorists fight for rele-
vance, and the more death we
see in Afghanistan, the more
membership we should expect
in al-Qaida.
The answer is excruciatingly
simple. Eradication of the U.S.
is not a military goal, because
it is not feasible. This makes
al-Qaidaan ideological enemy
above all else, and unless our
goal is to destroy thought in
the Middle East, we can only
combat ideas with ideas.
Al-Qaida wins if people in
the Middle East view the U.S.
negatively, and violence by
the U.S. can always be painted
to look like American antag-
onism. We must be in the
business of persuasion. Gain
the trust of the people of the
Middle East by helping devel-
opment instead of sending
troops.
An investment of time
and money in empowering
the people of Afghanistan is
necessary to combat the sort of
terrorism that feeds off of being
conventionally combated.
Morgan Booksh is a polit-
ical science and economics
freshman. He can be reached at
Morgan Booksh@my.unt.edu.
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NT Daily
Editorial Board
The Editorial Board includes:
Shaina Zucker, Josh Pherigo,
Rebecca Hoeffner, T.S. McBride,
Melissa Boughton,, Kip Mooney,
Amber Arnold, Abigail Allen,
Sydnie Summers, Bri Tolj,
Clinton Lynch, Justin Umberson,
and David Willliams
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