Men’s basketball deserves our praise and our gratitude
Friday’s loss to Louisville shouldn’t distract us from recognizing that the men’s basketball team performed a remarkable feat when they made it to the Sweet 16. We weren’t the only ones whose Facebook news feeds were turned into running commentaries on this feat; the whole campus, after a tumultuous year both on and off the court, all but exploded with relief and delight. It was an unexpected triumph for interim head coach Russ Pennell and a team that much of the country -ÿhello, President Obama -ÿhad written off after Lute Olson’s departure. As we prepare to say goodbye to Pennell, and probably Wildcat long-timers Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill as well, it’s worth taking a moment to remember what was. The Wildcats get a grateful yea.
Stimulus forces legislators to backtrack
The Daily Wildcat reported March 27 that $160 million in cuts proposed by the state legislature could be covered by the federal stimulus package. It remains unclear how this would affect the UA’s own budget plans; as UA President Robert Shelton told the Wildcat, the state’s “”permanent cut”” to higher education was not likely to be balanced by a “”one-time”” infusion of federal dollars. But even so, Republican legislators are still scrambling to find ways to retain their vision of a state budget free of the trammels of maintaining higher education. GOP bigwig Russell Pearce wants to see Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer request a federal waiver so that the state wouldn’t have to increase education funding. The federal stimulus gets a yea for making anti-education legislators squirm.
Would UA life suck without Kelly Clarkson, Jay-Z?
The last time Arizona Stadium hosted a band, (other than the Pride of Arizona), it was 1977 and the star was Fleetwood Mac. This time, it’s a lineup designed to please a variety of tastes: Jay-Z, Kelly Clarkson, Third Eye Blind and The Veronicas. The April 29 show will cost more than $1 million, but the Associated Students of the University of Arizona – the collective brains behind the blow-out event -ÿinsist that ticket and revenue sales will more than cover it. While the lineup is solid (an improvement over last semester’s star attraction: fluff idol Katy Perry) and the funding method can’t be faulted, there’s something odd about staging such an event when the university is reeling from one economic sucker-punch after another. Shouldn’t ASUA be spending its time raising money for, well, more important things than making sure students get to hear live versions of “”Dirt Off Your Shoulder”” and “”Life Would Suck Without You””? The $1 million concert gets an OK.
Volcano, politician spew forth gas
There are days when it just doesn’t pay to open your mouth, and Bobby Jindal found that out this weekend. A month ago, the Louisiana governor gave the GOP’s rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s first address to Congress, mocking the president’s stimulus bill for including $140 million for what Jindal referred to as “”something called volcano monitoring.”” “”Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.”” What sounded like a good throwaway line then came back to haunt Jindal Sunday, when Alaska’s Mount Redoubt erupted, causing a rain of ash across Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. Volcanoes are pretty serious business if you happen to live next to one, and a lot of Americans do. Jindal didn’t just have egg on his face; he had molten rock. The governor gets a nay for spouting off.
Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat opinions staff and written by one of its members. They are Justyn Dillingham, Laura Donovan, Taylor Kessinger, Heather Price-Wright and Nickolas Seibel.
