We started summer production today, and, perhaps because of that need for a fresh start (or perhaps because we were just tired of looking at them), we finally took down the front covers from the fall 2012 semester that lined two of the mysterious pipes here in the basement.
Our trip down memory lane as we removed these fluorescent-light-bleached newspapers from their dusty hangers seemed only fitting to share with readers, so here’s what fall 2012 at ASU would look like to any future historian who bases his or her research solely on old State Press covers.
Cool people visited ASU
We began the semester with a story on the annual fall welcome concert, which featured B. O. B. and the Far East Movement. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson visited ASU in late September, and former president Bill Clinton brought Jimmy Eat World to campaign for Senate candidate Richard Carmona in October (it wasn't enough for either candidate to win). NBC sportscaster Bob Costas received the annual Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. Zach Bonner, a 14-year-old advocate for homeless youth, led ASU's Changemaker Central in a backpack drive for needy families.Tempe has lots of bars...
... And The State Press is on it. In fall 2012, we saw World of Beer begin selling craft brews from around the globe. Firehouse became the latest in a string of bars to fill the "cursed corner" on Mill Avenue and University Drive. Another bar, Blondies, closed abruptly in the middle of October, leaving employees confused. Some bars, like alumni-founded Angels Trumpet Ale House, even opened in downtown Phoenix, and others, like Four Peaks, expanded.Tempe also has some businesses that aren't bars
Hayden Flour Mill reopened as an event venue after sitting vacant for years.Politics was a big deal
With 2012 as an election year, we spent the first week of the semester watching Rep. Kyrsten Sinema defeat former state Sen. David Schapira in a tight Democratic primary. Immigration was on the center stage, with DREAM Act supporters seeking school and work permits and many students debating controversial Arizona immigration law SB 1070.On the eve of election night, students covered campus in fliers urging their fellows to get out and vote, and the next night saw Democrats win nationally, while Republicans won state races (and former assistant photo editor's Murphy Bannerman's second-place breaking news photo).
On campus, students learned about the tobacco ban that will start in the fall and some groups later protested it.
ASU students (and alumni) do some pretty amazing things
Global studies junior Kamra Hakim spent the summer of 2012 touring HIV clinics and orphanages in South Africa. A group of students at Barrett, the Honors College, created a free online education site. A year after she graduated, alumna Ashley LeMieux had raised $10,000 in scholarship money for 2012 high school graduates. Sustainability graduate student Arijit Guha (who sadly passed away in the spring) took on colon cancer, insurance premiums and Delta airlines.A pair of alumni struggled to pay for their 5-year-old son's cerebral palsy treatment. Four students created a rolling water filtration device for use in developing countries. After growing frustrated at the hot temperature of the Polytechnic campus's swimming pool, a set of student workers created a pool cooling device. Another student made custom skateboard lighting, even though he had never been on a skateboard. A senior interned at NASA, where she planned to work after graduation, and a student club went scuba diving.
Nutrition students learned to run a restaurant and two brothers started a company building beds for foster children. A swim coach was reunited with the dog he'd lost seven years before and students coached a LEGO League team.
