Brandon Schmuck

Class of 2017

Articles

  • Emphasizing individuals, not politics, will help America recover from violence

    Imagine a utopia free of guns or weapons of any type where mass shootings ceased to exist. As a personal believer in the Second Amendment, I can still see why the promise of such a world may be a tempting reason to ban machines capable of murder. However, the heroin epidemic currently facing this nation shows just how effective no-tolerance banning is to solving problems. Like the heroin epidemic,...

    Forum | November 13, 2017
  • Free trade trumps Protectionism

    From the start of his 2016 Election campaign, President Donald J. Trump made big promises to his voter-base to eliminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he referred to as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere.” Why then, as he planned to sign an executive order to withdraw from this agreement, did he change his stance and decide to bring it up for renegotiation? P...

    Forum | May 1, 2017
  • Outcry on Overheard: Generalizing that all white people are racist is reductive, harmful

    A few weeks ago, I took a stand on reverse racism in dating preferences and the criticism that a number of people receive when expressing alternative opinions on most college campuses. In response, my article was cited in not one but two articles in The Tartan. I am happy to open up a debate and value the opinions shared, and there were a number of topics that I think are worth addressing in this ...

    Forum | April 10, 2017
  • Outcry on Overheard: Title IX should protect the innocent, not shield the guilty

    Last week, outcry broke out on Overheard at Carnegie Mellon when a Medium post by a Carnegie Mellon graduate was shared, titled “Empowering my Rapist and Revictimizing Me." While controversy brewed about the authenticity of the events described in the article, it created a surge in atten...

    Forum | April 3, 2017
  • Outcry on Overheard: Coding on the Beach

    You’re walking to a beach with crystal clear water and white sands, when you look over to your best friend and say, “I can’t wait to sit on the beach and code.” This sounds like something straight out of a cartoon parodying the little to no work-life balance at a university like Carnegie Mellon, but sadly, this was one of many posts that involved coding, working, or anything far from a conventiona...

    Forum | March 27, 2017