Last month I participated in a Civil Rights Tour put on by Taylor University.  Various leaders from Taylor led a group of alumni, faculty, staff, students, and other friends through the South to major points of interest related to the struggles for Civil Rights in America. I am always eager to learn new things, and I was excited to get a chance to spend significant time immersing myself in the iss...

The October 18 edition of the Echo featured two op-ed pieces about Res Publica. One of these, authored by student Taylor Burns, was particularly critical of our site. We do appreciate Mr. Burns’ concerns regarding the health of the Taylor community. This is certainly a concern that we at Res Publica share, and we also appreciate his initiative in taking the time to write his piece and stimulate di...

Several years ago, a friend shared a tragic story with me.   When his sister, whom I’ll call Lisa, was young, she was abused by a family member.   As all abuse clearly is, it was a shocking and horrifying experience for Lisa.   That the abuser was a family member made it all the more difficult for everyone.  And the deleterious effects of the abuse were not limited to the young lady.  The entire f...

What are the essential views and which non-essential at TU? Are we at Res Publica blurring an important distinction here? Where do we draw the lines?

The answer to the question about what are the essential and non-essential views at Taylor must be “It depends” — specifically, it depends on what is being discussed and what process is in view — and essential and non-essential cannot be defined as con...

Well, it’s a been an eventful week or so since the publication of the first issue of Excalibur. Responses have run the gamut from enthusiastically positive to very negative, though the criticisms have mostly had to do with matters external to the newsletter itself—specifically, the anonymity of authorship and a debacle regarding distribution.  To our supporters we say thank you.  To those we have...