Another school year has come and gone. Many students will hang around for the summer sessions, bless their souls, but many more will head home to rest, relaxation, a career, or a summer job. So, in what we hope will become a tradition, we’d like to take this opportunity to rehash some of the raucous fun and excitement on campus during the last nine months.
We certainly had our fill of mind-numbing, complicated and sometimes discouraging events and issues. These included University 2000, the tenure debate, the John Najarian trial and acquittal, various fee increases and politics at home and abroad.
But students and staff alike were also exposed to more uplifting news. We were occasionally, and mercifully, given the chance to step back and realize that sometimes the University is not all bad.
The first annual (with many more to come, we hope) Women’s Week, with events like the Take Back the Night rally and Clothesline Project, comes to mind. And our hearts go out to victims of violence, some of whose names have not yet faded from the news — Kami Talley, Candace Rough Surface and Anne Dunlap, among others. And the broad-based activism that prevented the closing of General College, against the wishes of University administrators, will not soon be forgotten.
The end of the school year brings an end to the Matt Musel and Rebecca Mathern-led Minnesota Student Association and presents new challenges for incoming MSA President Helen Phin and vice president Eric Hanson. Gaining the trust of students through the facilitation of tangible, concrete improvements in the lives of students must be No. 1 on their to-do list. The fight for tuition and fee relief must be continued, of course, but issues like accountability and respect are of primary importance. You have to learn to walk before you can run.
When the bulk of students return in the fall, we hope they will be treated to the enjoyment of more than a few wins on the football field (Coach Wacker, don’t let them down!). Nils Hasselmo will spend his last year at the helm in Morrill Hall, and the search for a new president will begin in earnest. The fight between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole for the nation’s hearts and minds, we hope, will come to fisticuffs. The Dinkytown construction debacle should be history, and, lest we forget, another ridiculous parking rate increase will also begin in the fall. Joy.
On that note, we bid you all goodbye and good luck, and may the wind always be at your back. Around here, you may need all the help you can get.