On Monday, Jan. 14, the hibernation was over.
The residual excitement of winter break was finally extinguished once and for all, and it was official: Spring semester was upon us.
Letting that happen was a mistake.
In the end, not looking into time-turning technology was a shameful oversight on our part. Sorry about that.
But, why do we hate on this semester?
Well, look at a list of stories we covered this spring. If this list doesn't depress you, well, we're not really sure what will.
- 10. The KTAR ban on campus buses. The controversy fizzled out with a simple "we bad" from Coach America, but on the plus side, we finally got a reason to care about Darrell Ankarlo's general existence for about 10 minutes. Actually, that may not be a plus.
- 9. In February, the issue was raised whether ASU could require the disclosure of students' mental-health records for campus-security purposes. The University then denied ever considering the policy — due to absolute inability to enforce it, not to mention privacy issues involved, this was a good about-face.
- 8. Men's basketball put together a sensational season, which included a two-game sweep of UA, only to be snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The bitterness was only made worse in the end when the committee stripped Kansas of its title and declared UA the champion on account of their strength of schedule.
- 7. The Sunburst Scholarship made news again as more than 200 students will be without a scholarship in the fall. Our view remains firm: If students are turned away from an education only on account of their citizenship status, it's a shame.
- 6. The national issues — the ongoing saga of Clinton versus Obama and the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq — continue to make us groan. We would complain more, but Rep. Russell Pearce might see that as promoting "anti-American ideals" — like dissent — on a taxpayer-funded campus.
- 5. Best Hall was finally shown for what it is — run-down, waste-covered, mold-ridden and full of thick brown goo. Optimistically speaking, at least Best Hall probably isn't as bad as Alpha Drive.
- 4. An unprecedented dominance of NCAA spring sports has seen both softball and baseball hit the top of national polls and poised to make noise in the postseason. Meanwhile, the track program has already done so with indoor national titles — again.
- 3. Ridiculous local figures stealing headlines. If Sheriff Joe, Andrew Thomas and Russell Pearce share any similar interest, it's seeing their own name in print. Oh, and probably discriminating against Hispanics.
- 2. The conviction and sentencing of Clarence Wayne Dixon in the 1978 rape and murder of ASU senior Deana Bowdoin. It took 30 years to bring justice, but finally — thankfully — Deana's family saw the end of a lengthy, heart breaking process. If only it could bring Deana back, too.
- 1. Guns, guns and more guns. We just wanted to say the word "gun" a few more times so we could break the world record for most mentions of one thing in an opinion section over one semester. And yes, we do accept congratulatory cards and gifts — thanks for asking.
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