Bravo to Todd Graham for compiling a solid recruiting class in his first season as ASU football coach. With just 48 days to recruit players , Graham was able to put together a very impressive list of commitments. The class was ranked No. 9 in the Pac-12 by rivals.com, two spots ahead of Rich Rodriguez and UA.
The most impressive aspect of Graham’s class was the four-star running backs ASU was able to secure. Saguaro High School’s D.J. Foster and Blinn College’s Marion Grice will join senior Cameron Marshall and sophomore Deantre Lewis, giving the Sun Devils tremendous depth in the backfield
Boo to the overall sketchiness of ASU’s University Technology Office for keeping most of the student body in the dark about yesterday’s blocked access to change.org — a website devoted to sparking social change by using online petitions. UTO said in a statement to The State Press: “The University routinely blocks access to sites and individuals discovered to be spamming the campuses.
ASU began blocking messages from the Change.org server in December after it was discovered as the source of such a spamming action.” So why was it blocked Thursday? “ASU is also blocking outbound connections to the change.org server because computers which are the sources of spam are commonly found to have been compromised…” In “unrelated” news, a petition asking the Arizona Board of Regents to lower the amount of money that ASU students pay for tuition was being hosted on the site. Go figure.
Bravo to The Phoenix City Council for approving a measure that will change the start time of after-hours free parking near the Downtown campus from 8 p.m. to 5 p.m.
In the past, parking downtown has been scarce, expensive and inconvenient. This a well-deserved Bravo. Save your change for laundry day.
Boo to the U.S. dropping 27 places in ranking in the World Press Freedom Index. It is believed this drop was a result of arrests of reporters during the various Occupy protests around the nation that began in October 2011. The First Amendment is perhaps the most cited and revered ratification to the U.S. Constitution, however, it is indisputable how important it is to the distribution of information to the public via the press.
In an ideal world, reporters and journalists covering major events should have some sort of immunity from law enforcement, however, as we learned in Oakland, Zuccotti Park and Margaret T. Hance Park, sometimes they’re caught in the crosshairs of civil discourse as well.
Bravo to ASU alumna Nikki Lewis and marketing senior Priya Nathan for creating a social program, Partnered for Success, that would provide workshops, mentoring and community service opportunities for children in foster care in Arizona.
The program will pair teenagers in foster care with ASU students who can mentor them one-on-one. This is a great experience for both the foster care children and the ASU students who are mentoring them. This is a program that needs to last.
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