Our graduation rates aren’t anything to brag about. UA student-athletes who entered the UA in 1999 graduated at a 65 percent rate. Yikes. UA athlete graduation rates fall short of the NCAA averages. However, UA freshmen who entered the university at the same time graduated at a 59 percent rate, according to data recently released by the NCAA. Although programs are in place for student-athletes to succeed and the university is working to make those graduation rates more than just a disappointment, we’ve still got a way to go. The athletes’ rates were the news item, but our overall rate is nothing to be proud of. For floundering far below where they should be, graduation rates at the UA – athletic and otherwise – receive a fail.

It was a big week for Arizona senators: Sen. John McCain announced that he had formed an exploratory committee to examine the possibility of a presidential run. Sen. Jon Kyl found also himself in a new position of power. After a difficult fight to retain his seat in the Senate, Kyl has now been given the third-highest Republican position, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. He accepted the position with a promise to “”understand the lessons of the last election.”” We hope he does. Though Arizona may not get a lot of play in the national press, our politicians are certainly making names for themselves. So, for reminding the country that Arizona produces more than copper, cotton, citrus and cattle – we also produce savvy politicians – we give Kyl’s promotion a pass.

Another basketball game, another empty student section. But don’t rag on the students: The basketball ticket system is a bureaucratic and logistical nightmare. A typical UA student basketball fan must purchase a Zona Zoo pass, register the pass online, create an account on the Zona Zoo Web site and then buy a ticket. Well, isn’t that grand? All the advanced planning necessary just to attend one basketball game is a deterrent enough for students bogged down with classwork. The fundamental concept of a basketball student section is excellent, but the bureaucratic unwieldiness of its implementation receives a fail.

There are many ways in which we’re more hardcore than our counterparts at Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University – our schedule is just one. The UA has the longest academic calendar of any university in the state – and one of the longest in the country. And frankly, we’d be willing to give up just a few of our bragging rights to have another day – or even three – off for Thanksgiving week. Everyone knows that class on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is largely a joke, and the professors who assign tests on that day get a reputation for mean-spiritedness. Why keep up the charade? Let’s have the day off, and give our student body a chance to get home for the holidays. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday classes next week get a fail.

Opinions are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members.

They are Nina Conrad, Lori Foley, Ryan Johnson, Ari Lerner, Nicole Santa Cruz and Matt Stone.