BRAVO to the start of ASU’s 2001 football season Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium. We don’t expect head coach Dirk Koetter to be smelling roses at the end of this, his first season at the helm, but it’s nice to think our new leader is going to bring us out of the 6-6 doldrums we’ve been stuck in for two years.
BOO to the recall election. We’ll be so gay (it means happy, people) when the polls close on Tuesday. We’ll finally be able to stop upsetting our spell-checks with all of these awkwardly spelled G-names. A committee supporting Mayor Neil Giuliano has resorted to mailing postcards accusing supporters of Gene Ganssle, Giuliano’s sole opponent, raising hell about homophobia. We don’t really care if you’re gay or not;
It’s the issues, stupid. The stadium, Tempe Town Lake, parking on Mill Avenue … you know, all the other things we really don’t care about.
BOO to Gov. Jane Hull’s budget cut. ASU President Lattie Coor says the 4 percent cut equates to $13 million in University terms. ASU hasn’t determined which programs to cut, but we’ve heard that the Associated Students of ASU are really begging to be nixed. Could be a rumor … but come on, do we really want to take that chance?
BOO to the math department. Students in math 114, 117, 119 will have to use Casio calculators instead of Texas Instruments. Some “math officials” say the switch will save students money because Casios are cheaper. Sure, but those who already own Texas Instruments will still have to shell out another $50, and on something so incredibly useless as math! Let’s work the problem, shall we? Calculator + Calculator = Lots of Money = Bad. Who says journalism students can’t do math?
BRAVO to the ASASU, for once. (Maybe it’s twice? A rare occasion, nonetheless). The student organization has proposed a bill requesting to dismiss Oubai Shahbandar as a representative to the Arizona Students’ Association. In case you guys don’t know who he is, consider yourself lucky. He’s the ASASU senator who … eh, never mind. We don’t care anymore.
BOO to campus crimes. Statistics are a touchy subject and so is crime, especially to the police officers that deal with it every day. But as students who have late classes and leave our cars unattended for hours at time, crime and safety are a concern of ours too. It’s just hard to understand why ASU police want to boast about dropping crime rates when some crimes, such as rapes and robberies, are on the rise.
BOO to the FAA. The agency is stalling its decision on the Cardinals’ stadium for at least another 30 days. An FAA spokesman says the organization wants public comment before deciding on this “high interest” case. Why are they just doing this now? The public had voted in November — almost a year ago — to approve the tax money for this stadium. The state Sports and Tourism Authority had picked the Tempe site in February. The FAA had raised concerns that the site would be a safety hazard in July, when surface groundwork already began. And now — just now, in the month of September— they want public input? Way to delay. Sounds fishy to us. Oh, wait. That’s Oubai we hear.
BRAVO to Frank Hoy. The former ASU photojournalism professor who passed away this last week is credited with converting the photojournalism department from a wet darkroom into a digital one. A part of him is still with us: Check out his award-winning work in the Luhrs Reading Room at the Hayden Library. But we’ll remember him most for his ugly straw hats, incessant rambling and incomparable kindness.
A-Hoy, matey.
