OUR VIEW: Ah, a school year in review
Upon picking up the Utah Statesman, reading David Letterman’s Top 10 and the comics, skimming the Backburner, ripping out the sudoku puzzle, and then tossing it, you might have noticed we covered some news this year. It’s been quite a year and there were a number of events that made waves on campus, locally and nationwide.
USU received a number of large donations during the school year. Jon M. Huntsman Sr. donated $26 million to USU and the former College of Business now bears his name. The College of Education received $25 million from the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation. The College of Natural Resources received $5 million from the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation.
USU President Stan Albrecht exceeded his comprehensive campaign fundraising goal, in part because of the gifts mentioned, of $200 million after the plan had been public just one year and USU marked 120 years.
In November, an explosion in the boiler room of Rich Hall displaced students for one week.
The state legislature approved $43 million in March to build a new agricultural building on campus.
ASUSU passed a controversial tobacco policy, banning the sell of tobacco on campus.
USU’s basketball coach Stew Morrill broke a 67-year-old record, winning 226 basketball games, losing only 80, and basketball star Jaycee Carroll broke the school career scoring record.
There were also some decisions made this school year that will influence students financially. Because of a new health insurance policy for qualifying graduate students, all students will be seeing an estimated 30 to 34 percent drop in their school health insurance premiums. However, students didn’t come out on top of every decision. The ASUSU Executive Council passed Tier II tuition increases to fund the writing center and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender and Allied Services, among other things.
It has also been a big year in politics, both at USU, locally and nationally. The race for ASUSU president was close and Logan City elected new members to its city council. The city’s back and forth debate regarding winter parking gave students a headache as they attempted to resolve the confusing regulations. Nationally, the political scene has been even more perplexing. Months ago, who would have imaged Sen. John McCain would have been able to get the wheels back on his Straight Talk Express? McCain shocked many when he was able to revive his campaign and become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. And then there are the Democrats. In a mud-slinging world of endorsements, pledged delegates, superdelegates, sniper fire, change and experience, there seems to be no end in sight to the race between senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
We have localized national issues, like the presidential election, right to USU, focusing on how they have, or might, affect USU. We have also tried to enlighten readers about text messaging, the LDS community, hunting, the staff’s receding hairlines, facial hair and dates.
The year has been long and we have covered a variety of events, large and small. We just hope you’ve found the paper beneficial, whether it be for the latest headlines or entertainment. But, so goes the school year, graduating students and most of the Statesman staff. Oh, and we thank you for picking up the paper.