OBSERVER from page 1

As for our legacy, we thought it was time for an even bigger shift: changing our name. For 54 years, we have served the CWRU campus community as “The Observer.” The name harkens back to the 1830s Hudson abolitionist newspaper, The Observer and Telegraph, which students of Western Reserve University widely read. Before the federation of the university, our predecessor papers went by “The Case Tech” and “The Reserve Tribune”—embracing their university’s names as part of their masthead. Other college-student newspapers—such as The Harvard Crimson and The Stanford Daily— typically do the same. While I cannot say for sure, part of me believes that we here at The Observer never integrated anything from “Case Western

Reserve University” into our own name; this is probably because, at the time, we did not have an attachment to our new institution. There was much tension as to what elements to take from Case and what elements to take from Reserve—our identity as a whole institution was very much an open question. My personal theory is that perhaps to remain neutral, the newspaper chose to discard both names and simply be “The Observer” for all—whether they came from Case or Reserve.

While that may have been the right choice at the time, I personally believe that our institutions have spent enough years married together for us to embrace both our Case and Reserve heritages.

Observer founder Paul

Another reason that the jury system should be reevaluated is because of the tendencies and habits of the human brain. Juries are selected from various population groups at random, and a majority of people attempt to avoid serving jury duty. Legal documents are drenched with complicated jargon, making it likely for people to cherry-pick the information that is easy for them to digest rather than going through the strenuous process of thoroughly reviewing all of the evidence and paperwork that is a part of the case. This prevents the jury from having a comprehensive view of the case as a whole. In other countries that utilize the civil law system, the judge makes the decision based on the rules written in the law. Juries are nonexistent or hold no power other than as a reference. Allowing lay people with no legal knowledge nor the ability to make complicated judgments to provide a verdict may lead to misjudgment.

Although the current U.S. jury system has its pros and cons, there are ways to make the system much more effective. For example, some countries in Europe compose the jury with people in the legal field, while others have a jury, but only use their decision as a reference rather than as definitive decision makers.

In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” two children asked their lawyer father Atticus why Mayella Ewell’s father kept threatening those involved in Robinson’s trial even though he got what he wanted. Atticus responded by saying that although the jury may have decided in his favor, Ewell was aware that the people did not believe him. As a result, Ewell was forced to try to cover his tracks and the Ewells were ostracized from their neighborhood. As illustrated by this case based on very real circumstances, people may not necessarily not care about deciding who is innocent or guilty in a court of law, but instead want to prove that their beliefs are correct. Further, it is likely that many people may make a verdict based on pathos rather than logic and facts. Having someone with zero expertise in the legal field having control of someone’s fate can lead to tragic effects, even if they are a legally selected jury.

Mead and Powell, the country’s largest reservoirs, badly depleted.

To deal with the lack of water, the state has enacted a few water conservation regulations on water suppliers and citizens while laying out future infrastructure goals. They have done little else. Hence, even after such extreme precipitation, California continues to be in severe drought.

With greenhouse gas emissions not stopping anytime soon, California must act now before the water shortage worsens. But how?

Firstly, California needs a greater storage capacity. Currently, water is contained in the snowpack, reservoirs and groundwater aquifers. However, when rain falls quickly in such large amounts, the snowpack is not formed at lower elevations, reservoirs are filled up too swiftly and water cannot enter aquifers fast enough. In the face of extreme pre- cipitation, California needs to store water more effectively. For instance, the state could construct more reservoirs, directly increasing storage capacity.

Secondly, California must improve its methods of capturing storm water. When water falls too fast and creates a hazard, the state tries to remove it from the land as quickly as possible, allowing it to drain into the Pacific Ocean. Rather than wasting so much stormwater, California should instead create floodplains and permit the stormwater to slowly accumulate in aquifers, replenishing groundwater.

Finally, more water treatment facilities must be constructed and properly maintained to keep up with the increased collection and storage of stormwater.

If California acts quickly, it might just survive the worst of climate change.

Kerson

once told me, “Case Western Reserve University is decidedly not a long, unwieldy name. It is a name steeped in American history and the ongoing solutions to its challenges. We should be justly proud of the entire name. Western Reserve means Connecticut’s effort to keep slavery out of Ohio at a time when Virginia wanted to bring that defective, cruel economic system into a then brand-new territory. Case means society’s effort to improve itself through new technology. Western Reserve’s historic effort to establish a just economy is needed to govern Case’s effort to bring us new machines. There is no other university which institutionally understands the necessary interrelationship between the two goals and to keep them in harmony for the betterment of society.”

I couldn’t agree more with Kerson. It is time to embrace our whole name and the legacy that comes with it across CWRU—including our student newspaper. Henceforth, we shall be known as “The Case Western Reserve Observer.” While we will continue referring to ourselves as “The Observer” in shorthand, our new name sets us up for the next 50 years.

Hopefully, this paper will be around for decades to come and will change accordingly with the times. I believe our new logo, design and name is the right decision for this time. I hope you think so too, and continue to patronize us with your readership as we continue documenting the story of CWRU.