Ugly sweater parties. Unpaid internships. The idea of soccer. Expensive sandwiches. “Arrested Development.” ’80s Night. Having two last names.
What do all of these have in common?
Apparently, white people like them. A lot.
According to blogger Christian Lander, creator of the blog “Stuff White People Like,” the aforementioned items are among 120 things that white people are wholeheartedly keen on. In addition to maintaining the blog, which has had more than 55 million page views in one year, Lander has released a book of the same title that has landed on The New York Times bestseller list. With the amount of places Lander has been found lately, it seems that “lists about white people” might also be deserving of a spot on the “Stuff White People Like” list.
This week, Lander was found in another place: promoting his book in Tempe.
But being a UA graduate, Lander naturally left town on a bad note — without having constructed a list of the “Stuff Sun Devils Like.”
We felt inclined to fill that void:
• UGG boots … apparently.
• President Michael Crow’s metaphors. Comparing a post-budget-cut ASU to “fighting a high-tech economic war on horseback” was a metaphor at its finest. Though it does make us fearful that some day soon there will be robots with bows and arrows traipsing about through campus.
• 100-level courses. Easy does it.
• Vandalizing statues. For some reason, it’s now cool to protest the reduction in state funding to the University by damaging a statue on University property that was donated by an ASU alumna and her husband, and that only requires school money when it needs cleaning up.
• Simultaneously labeling ourselves as a party school and as a legitimate research university. The mix is about as likely as techno music and classical music, but hey, it seems to work.
• Student discounts at any location they can be found. At the movies, at local art houses, at selected dining locations, at assorted clothing shops — wherever. It’s just nice to have a perk of attending school that isn’t doesn’t include the chance to read 100 pages a night in our textbooks.
• Large swooping fabric shade structures. The Tempe campus Memorial Union has ’em. Scottsdale’s ASU Skysong site has ’em. Even the Metro light-rail stations have ’em. Why? We wish we knew.
• Blackboard. Well, maybe it wasn’t always necessarily liked by Sun Devils, but at the very least, it’s only one letter away from being “Blackbeard.” So, if nothing else, it has some street cred.
• Vontaze Burfict. The five-star football prospect chose to attend ASU over USC, giving coach Dennis Erickson his biggest recruit yet. The top-rated linebacker also gives us a chance to deliver high-quality puns when he hits Frank Kush Field next season. Sorry, but you will inevitably get sick of hearing, “Don’t ’taze me, bro.”
• Reading The State Press. Or so we hope!

