The Arizona Daily Wildcat puts the issues to the test. Do they make the grade?

Let’s do lunch with President Hart

UA President Ann Weaver Hart has some shoes to fill. Her predecessor, Robert Shelton, was a familiar face on campus, whether he was spotted having lunch with students in the Student Union Memorial Center or strolling through the ZonaZoo section during football games.

Interim President Eugene Sander, who served in between Shelton and Hart, had a reputation for being just as friendly. As Frank Santiago, assistant director of recruitment and student services at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, put it at Sander’s retirement ceremony, he was “the elder of the village.”

The UA community hopes to see Hart out and about in her first year in office. It’s too early to say just how present Hart will be outside of her office, so for now, she sits at an incomplete.

We recognize being president is a busy job, but as preceding presidents have shown, part of being a good leader is becoming a familiar face to students. Come hang out with us. We can share an order of french fries.

Grade: Incomplete

Appreciating the little things in life

We’re surprisingly glad to be able to cross the street after it became a surprising ordeal, with the closure of University Boulevard for streetcar construction.

You can admit it. You too had your doubts about whether or not University Boulevard would be open in time for the semester after a summer of staring at fences and barricades.

And we admit that, just hours before the barricades were removed, it didn’t look like the road was ready to walk on, let alone drive. But Friday night, University became barrier-free in time for the start of the semester. A solid pass goes to the construction workers and city organizers who made sure the project stuck to a timeline.

Now about the rest of that construction …

Grade: Pass

We’re suckers for the First Amendment

University of Georgia students Polina Marinova and Julia Carpenter were reinstated Monday as editor-in-chief and managing editor of the campus paper, the Red & Black. The paper, which functions as a nonprofit run by a board of directors, drew national attention when top editors and senior staff members walked out last week to protest a draft memo that would have given a nonstudent final editorial control of the student-run newspaper.

On Monday, the board relented by reinstating editors and issuing an apology that said editorial decisions would remain in the hands of the students.

Naturally, the Daily Wildcat awards a solid pass to the Red & Black staff for sticking to their guns, and the Red & Black board of directors for recognizing that, in order to be a real voice for students, the campus newspaper has to be run by students.

Grade: Pass

— Editorials are determined by the Arizona Daily Wildcat editorial board and written by one of its members. They are Bethany Barnes, Kristina Bui, Jason Krell, K.C. Libman and Alex Williams. They can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via
@WildcatOpinions.