Arizona Daily Wildcat - Dec. 8 - Decade in Review

tuesday, december , 

A DECADE IN REVIEW Top 10 campus stories of the decade

Ten years in the arts COMMENTARY Justyn Dillingham

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Roxana Vasquez/Arizona Daily Wildcat

Students protest the legislature’s proposed budget cuts to higher education outside the Arizona State Capitol on Jan. 28, 2009.

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UA transformation and state budget crisis

The most pressing story of the decade is perhaps one of the most recent. The UA Transformation Plan was launched in 2008 with the goal of cutting about $20 million from the university’s budget in an effort to save money. The Transformation, which includes the consolidation of colleges and programs, restructuring of administrative organization, changes to course offerings and more, is an effort to

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streamline the UA’s operation in the face of dwindling funds. The State of Arizona faces a nearly $2 billion budget shortfall, and state lawmakers cut about $142 million to state universities’ budgets in January of this year.

As the UA struggles to pave the way forward, President Robert Shelton and Provost Meredith Hay have come under fire for some of their Transformation policies.

Particularly controversial are the

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Campus construction

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In the face of shrinking state funds, this decade’s archives of the Arizona Daily Wildcat are filled with news of tuition hikes, year after year.

According to the UA Factbook, in 2000 annual tuition and fees for in-state students cost $2,264, and for out-of state students, $9,416. Today, those figures have almost doubled. This year’s UA Factbook puts the price tag at $5,542 per year for in-state students and $18,676 for out-of-state students.

‘Phoenix’ Mission puts UA on Mars

UA research went interplanetary when NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander touched down on the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, 2008. With the successful landing, the UA had the distinction of becoming the first public university to lead a NASA mission to Mars.

Led by principal investigator Peter Smith, the $420 million Phoenix mission was to search for conditions that could support life on Mars, as well as to research the history of water on the planet. Digging into the Martian soil with its sophisticated robotic arm, Phoenix confirmed the presence of water ice on the Red Planet on July 31, 2008. The mission, which continued through November, returned a treasure trove of information about the Martian surface chemistry, climate

The UA campus saw significant changes in the last decade with the construction of many buildings that are now part of students’ everyday routines. The $60 million Student Union Memorial Center, one of the largest student unions in the country, officially opened Feb. 17, 2003. The $20 million Integrated Learning Center opened its doors Jan. 9, 2002, after construction delays postponed an earlier fall opening.

Also new to campus this decade: the Highland District, which houses the Campus Health Center, Disability Resource Center, Residence Life and four residence halls; Alumni Plaza at the center of campus; numerous expansions and renovations to facilities such as McKale Center, Park Student Union and Meinel Optical Sciences; the UA Poetry Center; and the Bio5 Institute north of campus.

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“differential cuts” that have tended to favor the hard sciences, which bring in research dollars, over the social sciences and humanities.

Shelton, for his part, has decried across-the-board cuts as the fastest way to mediocrity, saying the university must focus on excelling in targeted areas.

“It’s not a matter of doing more with less,” Shelton told the Daily Wildcat. “It’s a matter of doing less with less and doing it really well.”

Tuition hikes

cycles and weather.

In a 2008 interview with the Daily Wildcat, Smith summed up the mission’s importance to the university in one word: “Prestige.”

“The university is trying to become a world-class research

Sarah Smith/Arizona Daily Wildcat

facility,” he said.“Having a mission like this — returning some really impressive science about an unexplored region on Mars — that puts us on the map.”

—Alex Dalenberg CAMPUS STORIES, page B8

Top 10 sports stories

The Lute Olson Saga

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

After a quarter century in Arizona, the sudden retirement of Lute Olson wasn’t supposed to be leaked by ESPN’s Dick Vitale, leaving reporters in Tucson to hang around McKale Center for hours asking questions that couldn’t be met with direct answers.

UA Athletic Director Jim Livengood wasn’t supposed to hold an impromptu press conference outside

of McKale Center in October 2008 to announce Olson’s retirement. It wasn’t supposed to happen just two days after Olson met with the media to discuss his excitement of returning to coaching after missing the entire 200708 season with a sudden, unexcused leave of absence, which included marital troubles and illness from a stroke that was kept secret for a year.

The Wildcats put together an impressive 170-63 record from the 2000-01 season to the 2006-07

campaign under Olson’s reign, but when he left without originally saying goodbye, the Wildcat program was rocked. Committed recruits bailed and fans scoffed at the legitimacy of replacement interim coaches Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell.

Olson and his estranged wife, Christine Toretti, got into an indirect argument on Johnjay and Rich’s morning radio show, which is broadcast in multiple states.

Olson wasn’t supposed to watch the Wildcats’ game during the 2007-08 season on his television

at home while Toretti continued to watch in her McKale Center seat.

Olson, a Hall-of-Fame coach, was nothing more than tabloid fodder for a while. The drama was material fit for a television reality show.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

Livengood wasn’t supposed to suddenly announce that O’Neill would succeed Olson as the head coach of the Wildcats’men’s basketball team, and Olson wasn’t supposed to come back and announce on April 1, 2008, that O’Neill SPORTS, page B6

arts editor

hat a long decade it’s been.

Fortunately for those of us who eschew clichés, it feels redundant to call it a “strange” one.

It may take another decade before we can take the full measure of what this decade meant for popular arts, just as it’s easier to see now what mattered in the ’90s. But from the perspective of the last month of the ’00s, a few things are clear enough.

Rock seemed to be buzzing about frantically, like a half-drowned bee, trying to come up with new ideas. For the most part, though, it looked to the past. The Strokes’ 2001 debut album marked the beginning of the art-rock revival, charging up the prickly, nervous beats of post-punk for another runaround. In indie-rock’s other wing, The White Stripes paved the way for a retrorock revival, blending the rawness of old blues with the cosmic belch of Led Zeppelin. Jack White soon fell under the sway of his own hype, and was last seen posing imperiously next to Jimmy Page and The Edge, ready for his place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The coming of file-sharing paved the way for another noticeable trend: The slow demise of the album. The first major file-sharing system, Napster, thrived for two years before collapsing under the strain of legal problems.

The music industry, terrified by the prospect of losing millions, has never stopped trying to fight file-sharing, but it remains alive and well to this day, via programs like Limewire and Azureus.

The album — a deliberate collection of songs, arranged in a certain order — no longer seems as important now that listeners could essentially make their own albums from existing tracks.

Another staple of the pre-file-sharing age, the homemade mixtape, gave way to individualized playlists. The single, however, remained strong; from Britney Spears’s “Toxic” to OutKast’s “Hey Ya,” the decade’s most popular singles were often some of its best.

The most drastic change was in television. With a few exceptions —“Seinfeld,”the“Law and Order” dynasty — television hadn’t been taken that seriously in the ’90s.“The Sopranos,” debuting in 1999 and immediately winning ferocious critical acclaim, changed all of that. Now TV shows were, if anything, taken more seriously than movies. Some shows, like“24,”never lost their audiences; others, like“Veronica Mars,”got their audiences only to be cut dead by network doltishness. (As John Belushi’s Captain Kirk put it in an old “SNL”skit:“Except for one television network, we found intelligent life everywhere in the universe.”)

Of course, no amount of intelligent television could do anything to choke off the glut of TV’s most popular trend in the ’00s — reality television. The explosive popularity of“Survivor”and “American Idol”led to a runaway parade of shows that ranged from the sublimely ridiculous to the unwatchably ridiculous — from“The Osbournes” to “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.”

Even more momentous, in some ways, was the creation of YouTube in 2005. From 15-second Thomas Edison shorts to videos of cats falling off tables, YouTube covered everything television couldn’t. (Its most laudable achievement, perhaps, was giving bored office workers something to do.)

DILLINGHAM, page B4

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• tuesday, december 8, 2009 • arizona daily wildcat

Top 10 news stories of the decade

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The 9/11 terrorist attacks

Photo courtesy of Jay Clarke for the Miami Herald

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It was a nightmare almost beyond comprehension. Early in the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, millions of Americans awoke to the news that four commercial airplanes had been hijacked, probably by members of the radical Islamist terror sect alQaida. Two of the planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, the twin towers, and

one crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Nearly 3,000 died, with 6,000 sustaining injuries. As the country reeled from the news, the only source of comfort seemed the extraordinary bravery shown by countless people. Firefighters, police and ordinary New Yorkers tried to save victims from the towers. The passengers of United

Airlines Flight 93 tried to retake the plane from the hijackers, who had been headed toward Washington, D.C. to hit an unknown target, possibly the White House. The plane instead crashed in a field.

Within a month, the United States was at war with Afghanistan.

— Justyn Dillingham

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Barack Obama elected president The United States broke through the ultimate racial barrier, electing Sen. Barack Hussein Obama as the first African-American president in the country’s history. About 250,000 gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2008, to see the Illinois senator declare victory over rival Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Obama faced a grueling Democratic primary race against another trailblazer, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, initially thought to be the odds-on favorite to win the party’s presidential nomination. While McCain sewed up the Republican nomination fairly early in the primary calendar, Obama and Clinton slugged their way through state contest after contest. Obama finally secured enough elected delegates to lock up the nomination on June 3, 2008.

Along the way, Obama was dogged by questions about his association

Hurricane Katrina

On the morning of Aug. 29, 2005 the costliest hurricane in American history made landfall in southeast Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. After crossing Florida, Katrina strengthened rapidly and proceeded to devastate the Gulf Coast.

Katrina’s most notable destruction occurred in New Orleans, La., which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed hours after the storm moved inland.

Eventually 80 percent of the city flooded and approximately 1,836 people lost their lives, making Katrina the deadliest hurricane since the Okeechobee hurricane of 1928.

Preliminary damage estimates were well in excess of $100 billion.

Hurricane Katrina forced over 1 million people from the central Gulf Coast elsewhere across the United States.

By July 1, 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau calculated the state of Louisiana showed a population decline of 219,563 people.

— Will Ferguson

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with the controversial black Minister Jeremiah Wright, prompting Obama to give an address on race, “A More Perfect Union,” in Philadelphia on March 18.

In the speech Obama said that his background, son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, “hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup

Photo courtesy of Chuck Kennedy for the McClatchy Tribune

— Alex Dalenberg

— Steven Kwan and Justyn Dillingham

Nancy Pelosi

In the fall of 2002, the Bush administration went public with its charge that Iraq, a country ruled by the despotic Saddam Hussein (and which the U.S. had battled in the 1991 Persian Gulf War), was harboring “weapons of mass destruction”which it intended to use against America. The administration began a full-fledged campaign to convince the country and the world of the necessity of deposing of Hussein. The country remained violently divided on the issue, and ultimately most of the rest of the world rejected Bush’s proposal to invade Iraq, but the president and his handful of allies persisted.“The people of the United

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Memories of that strange month when the country tottered between two unknown futures might be growing dim, but the contested election of 2000 set the stage for a tumultuous decade in politics, and planted seeds of suspicion and discontent in the electorate that would bloom into moments of anger, idealism and energy unlike anything America had seen since the ’60s. With the entire election resting on the fate of 25 electoral votes in Florida, the country was riveted to the spectacle of recounts, protests and hanging chads.

When the Supreme Court awarded the election to George W. Bush, half the country breathed a sigh of relief, while the other half exploded in fury. As for Al Gore, he managed to effectively reinvent himself as the world’s foremost crusader against global warming, and he’s rarely been out of the spotlight since.

the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts — that out of many, we are truly one.”

Obama would go on to win the nomination and then a ride a wave of discontent over the economy to a resounding 365-173 general election victory over McCain in the electoral college.

Invasion of Iraq

Contested election of 2000

States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder,”President Bush told the country on March 19, 2003, as U.S. forces prepared to invade Iraq. The Hussein regime crumbled within a month, and by the end of the year the dictator was in U.S. custody, but the aftermath of the invasion was disastrous. A violent insurgency erupted against the new government and against U.S. forces, even as new revelations made it clear that the Bush administration had distorted evidence in order to justify the war.

— Justyn Dillingham

Invasion of Afghanistan

It was arguably the most popular war the United States had fought since the half-forgotten Spanish-American War, and it has lasted longer than America’s involvement in both World Wars put together.

Launched on Oct. 7, 2001, after the Taliban — Afghanistan’s extremist government — refused to surrender al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the war successfully toppled the country’s corrupt rulers, but bin Laden proved elusive. Soon the Bush administration turned its attention to Iraq, and the ongoing Afghanistan occupation slipped

Photo courtesy of Joe Fudge for the Newport News Daily Press

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to the back pages of the newspaper, continuing to sap American resources without demanding much of its attention. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected promising to refocus the country’s attention on the “necessary war,” only to find that the electorate, by and large, had grown sick of interventions. Nevertheless, on Dec. 9, 2009, Obama announced his intention to dramatically expand the war in Afghanistan. The repercussions of that fateful move remain to be seen.

— Justyn Dillingham

Virginia Tech Massacre

April 16, 2007 — The deadliest peacetime shooting by a single gunman in United States history took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in rural Blacksburg,Va. The gunman, an undergraduate student named Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people, wounded many more and finally committed suicide. Cho commenced his shootings at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-educational residence hall, and proceeded to Norris Hall, which houses classrooms. That morning, Cho killed 27 students and five faculty members, one of whom was a Holocaust survivor.

Cho had been previously diagnosed with anxiety disorder and was known to write disturbing stories in his English and creative writing courses. At least one professor had

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suggested Cho seek help.

The Virginia Tech massacre generated a worldwide response. Then-President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush attended the convocation at Virginia Tech the day after the shootings.Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine declared a“state of emergency”in Virginia. Among many other international figures and heads of state, Pope Benedict XVI, Queen Elizabeth II and UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon offered condolences and sympathy. College campuses across the country supported the Virginia Tech community with vigils, memorial services fundraisers. The shootings greatly affected the United States and led to much debate about gun control and violence.

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Photo courtesy of Chuck Kennedy for the McClatchy Tribune

Economic crisis

The current economic depression is not the first time the United States and the world have faced a series of events that led to an economic crisis. The dot-com bubble of 2000-2001 resulted from certain converging factors. It came at the end of a series of economic crises that began in 1997 in Asia and Russia. The completion of the Human Genome Project brought the promise of customized medicine, and gave rise to biotech companies that operated like their e-commerce counterparts. (Remember the term“e-commerce”?)

The Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 barred taxes on broadband and online commerce, which encouraged the spread of Internet availability.

Just as the U.S. began its first steps of economic recovery under the leadership of George W. Bush, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 occurred.

Nationwide travel and the subsequent flow of trade and commerce came to a grinding halt.

Bush encouraged the American public to spend, and then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan lowered interest rates to match. With the free availability of credit, the housing market remained untapped. Predatory lending and subprime mortgages resulted in the collapse of various national and global banks, which has led the United States and the world to their present economic situation.

— Laura Donovan

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Under the rule of Saddam Hussein, thousands of prisoners were brutally tortured and killed at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. That makes it all the more ironic that the name is now synonymous with the shocking media reports, in the summer of 2004, that U.S. soldiers had tortured, abused and sexually assaulted a number of prisoners there. In many cases, the soldiers had photographed themselves proudly grinning or giving the thumbs up as they stood next to battered, naked prisoners.

The revelations were so appalling that they seemed almost too much for the country to absorb; even now, the Obama Administration continues to be criticized for its opposition to releasing photos showing even more extensive abuse, citing the likely reaction against U.S. soldiers.

— Justyn Dillingham

Nationwide gas prices hit an all-time high by the middle of July 2008, when the national average for self-serve regular stood at $4.12 a gallon.

The pricy milestone came after a record surge in crude oil prcies, increasing by 40 percent in the first half of 2008 according to a report

by CNN.com. With gasoline prices stretching upward by the day, the issue received a lot of national media coverage and sparked debate about conserving energy, investing in environmentally friendly vehicles and turning to more publication transportation modes.

According to CNN, One study by the Department of Transportation showed that the number of drivers on the road in March fell 4.3% from 2007, marking the first time March travel on public roads fell in nearly 30 years.

— Laura Donovan

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Nov. 19, 2004 — In an NBA rematch of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, the Indiana Pacers visited the reigning champion Detroit Pistons in The Palace of Auburn Hills for an early-season game.

With less than a minute remaining in the game and the Pacers firmly in control, Pistons center Ben Wallace shoved NBA bad-boy and rap artist Ron Artest after the Pacers’ forward had fouled Wallace on a shot attempt. That set off a tussle between the two teams, and while Wallace continued to jaw at the Pacers, Artest calmly laid down on press row, seemingly avoiding confrontation.

But that was short-lived. From the stands, a Detroit fan threw and

struck Artest with a soda, sending the player into a frenzy.

Nicknamed“Tru Warier”and recently admitting to drinking Hennessey at halftimes while with the Chicago Bulls, Artest entered the stands, attacking one fan while teammates and Pistons players entered the mêlée. Artest left the stands but was confronted by two more fans on the court, one of whom he punched.

While Artest was the key figure in the altercation and was suspended for 86 total games, he was not alone — nine players from the two teams were suspended for a combined 146 games, and five of them were Rashaun Rucker/Detroit Free Press charged with assault and sentenced Ben Wallace, Derrick Coleman, Elden Campbell and Chauncey Billups were suspended after a brawl during the Pacers-Pistons game on Nov. 19, 2004. to a year’s probation.

WTF MOMENTS, page B8

— Kevin Zimmerman

Who bears the burden?

By Tim McDonnell Arizona Daily Wildcat The numbers aren’t pretty.

In the midst of a national economic crisis, when jobs for recent college graduates are scarce but having a bachelor’s degree is more important than ever, more students are looking to traditionally affordable schools like the UA for their education. However, those efforts could be complicated due to rising tuition costs necessitated by a drop in state funding, which higher education experts say reflects a value shift in American society about who should bear the financial burden of a university education.

In the past, that burden has been borne by taxpayers. These days, it is being increasingly borne by tuition payers.

In the past 10 years, the fraction of the UA’s total operating budget provided by the state has dropped 12 percent, according to statistics provided by the UA Budget Office. That loss is partially compensated for by a corresponding 5 percent increase in total operating budget provided by tuition (students read: a more than $2,000 increase in annual tuition and fees since 2000).

The result is a university that, in the words of Provost Meredith Hay, has gone from being “state-supported” to “state-assisted.” Without state funding, Hay said, the UA will need to look more towards other revenue sources for support, especially tuition. As recently as last weekend, the Arizona Board of Regents acknowledged that further tuition increases are almost certain.

“Right now, our price point is at the bottom of our peers,” Hay said.“But we might be moving towards the median.”

But why the shift? To use a phrase that has become popular on Arizona university campuses in recent years, WTF? Where’s the funding?

The answer, said former UA President Peter Likins, lies in a shift seen in many sectors of the American economy — bank bailouts aside — including higher education, away from public and toward private funding. And this is nothing new, he said. The trend has “been happening for a very long time.”

Likins recalled a time 40 years ago when he was a student in the University of California system. At that time, he said, tuition for residents was almost negligible. But in the last 25 years, state funding there, and at many

Decrease in state funding leads to increase in tuition

of UA’s peer institutions including the University of Colorado, has gradually fallen off and been supplemented by steadily rising tuition payments.

“It’s hard to see how you’re going to maintain that and keep up the quality of the degree,” President Robert Shelton said of the trend.

The university is beyond the point of doing more with less, Shelton has said frequently in recent months; instead, it must do less with less and do it extraordinarily well. Still, tuition increases are inevitable as the university tries to balance a budget with $100 million in state cuts in the last two years, he said. He added that the recent economic crisis did not originally spur the state funding decrease.

“That was the case even in the good years,” he said.

Ironically, there is a sliver lining to this cloud for Arizona’s poorest families, said Regent Fred Boice. With 17 percent of tuition revenue reserved for financial aid, increased bills for wealthier families means more help for poorer ones.

Indeed, Boice said, in the days when Arizona ranked among the least expensive universities in the nation (it is still very near the bottom) many rich families

were paying less than they could afford to pay, while many poor families were still unable to afford a degree at all.

In that situation, he said,“you’re going to exclude a lot of students who are eminently qualified but simply can’t afford it.”

As tuition rises, more financial aid will become available, making the UA more accessible to poorer students and thereby increasing enrollment, which Boice called “instrumental” to the success of the university.

Still,“the high price tag can be pretty intimidating,”Likins said, adding that many families who could benefit from increased financial aid packages may not be aware of their existence, especially if the potential college student is the family’s first.

Overall, Shelton said, the trend of decreasing state funding for universities indicates a widespread paradigm — one that is hotly disputed by educators and administrators — that a college education is a private service provided for the benefit of the individual and should therefore be paid for by that individual.

“Society benefits enormously when you have an educated population,” Shelton said. “Society seems to have forgotten that.”

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• tuesday, december 8, 2009 • arizona daily wildcat

millennial culture

Fashion trends that swept the streets: ‘00-’09 Pop-punk fashion:

Camouflage:

Shopping at Hot Topic and carrying tin lunch boxes with your beatup Converse sneakers on seemed to be the clothing choice of junior high and high school students everywhere in the early 2000s. The multicolored plastic bracelets and dark eyeliner that adorned both men and women reflected bands like Good Charlotte and Box Car Racer.

When you look back at those washed-out pop-punk faces of the early ‘00s, you tend to wonder why we made such a mistake. But then again, we were impressionable young teens taking fashion advice from girls who crashed malls with skateboards and skinny ties.

Pants, skirts, jackets, t-shirts, sweatpants — even sunglasses — got a splash of the invisible lifestyle. Nothing could stop the camouflage trend as it weaseled its way from military uniform to mainstream loungewear. Camouflage even took on a new persona this decade flashing colors of pink, blue and an occasional purple to accompany its green cousin. Luckily, by the end of the decade, camouflage crept back into its hole, where it can be found at hunting and military surplus stores only.

Ed Hardy:

Overly large sunglasses:

Nicole Richie had them, and then we all had to have them.

Sunglasses that covered the entirety of your face and paid homage to Jackie Onassis became increasingly popular in the mid2000s. Suddenly, the only way to shade your eyes from the sun was to cover up everything. The good news about these large sunglasses is that you won’t get the odd tan line around your eyes. Instead, your face will be two shades lighter than the rest of your body.

Crocs:

Try a pair on and you can see why these ugly shoes have become so popular among the vast majority of Americans who spend their workday on their feet. Although the most popular version of the Croc looks like an odd rain boot with holes on the top, Crocs has released several other versions of the plastic shoe. These shoes are mostly seen in hospitals with scrubs, but many choose to wear them out in public.

Are Crocs fashion statements or an utter disaster? That may be up to you to decide.

Ugg Boots:

I still don’t understand this fashion trend, mainly because these furry boots are usually accompanied with clothing that is less warm than the footwear. However, the boots that were once an essential way to keep toes toasty in New Zealand and Australia are now an increasingly popular fashion accessory in the United States. Non-Ugg wearers call them ugly. I call them practical, but only if they are being worn for snowhiking and not with a mini-skirt.

Skinny jeans:

Boys and girls of all ages squeezed into their pants this decade.

With girls, it was the introduction of the skinny jean, a jean which tapered from the leg all the way down the calf with no flair. For boys it was just shopping in the ladies’ department. Guys looked even more up with fashion with a bandana hanging out of their back pocket. Although some are told to never squeeze themselves into a pair of jeans too tight for their own good, skinny jeans are still a mainstay in American fashion, making their way into the new decade with gusto.

Who wouldn’t like to wear clothes inspired by tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy, one-time pupil of Sailor Jerry? However, throughout this decade, Ed Hardy clothes became more of a trend than an homage to the late tattoo artist. T-shirts and jeweled baseball caps with eagles, anchors and skulls adorned many college students’ bodies at the end of the decade. Sadly, for those who want to buy overpriced t-shirts, the trend is slowly going out of style. Perhaps Ed Hardy will have to step it up in order to stay in the American lexicon of fashion.

Vintage tees:

Thank goodness for Internet shopping this decade. Finding shirts your parents threw out a few decades ago has never been easier. You can find these vintage tees just about anywhere. Even if they aren’t actually vintage! The Internet brought about a new form of shopping, where you could purchase witty t-shirts that (you hoped) no one else would have. With sayings like “Mini-Van Mega-Fun” and “Strictly for My Ninjas,” vintage t-shirts adorned witty backs across the nation.

The faux-hawk:

Hipster fashion:

Want a Mohawk but don’t want to shave your head? Thankfully this decade solved that problem with the fauxhawk. The faux-hawk, which consisted of a small amount of hair pushed to the front of one’s head, mohawkstyle, gave gel a reason to be sold in drug stores everywhere. The pseudohardcore gesture was soon mocked by real adorners of the hairstyle. Versions of this once-trend can still be seen, but seems to have faded into a footnote of interesting fashion choices.

Get out your Ray-Bans and flannel — it’s time to dress like a hipster! With ironic t-shirts and Parliaments hanging out of their mouths, the hipsters are often described as the counterculture of this decade. Although most hipsters deny their association with the trend, you can see many of them with their tattoos, piercings and fixed gear bikes riding down to the local music venue to see a band that hasn’t hit the mainstream yet.

— Alex Gendreau

DILLINGHAM

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Decade dominated by remakes in cinema

In the movies, it was the era of the retread.

The decade was ruled by remakes of sensations from decades past. “Lord of the Rings,” based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s ’50s books, ruled the box office until it was overtaken by “The Dark Knight,” the seventh Batman movie to date.

(Yes, I’m counting the Adam West one from 1966.) “Rings” director Peter Jackson followed up his triumph with a remake of “King Kong.”

The fate of Jackson’s ape seemed to sum up the whole tendency of modern mainstream cinema: The 1933 original was a taut 100 minutes; the extended version of Jackson’s version was twice that length.

Did movies get dumber during the ’00s?

It’s hard to say; mainstream movies have been pretty solidly dumb, as a rule, since the ’70s. But this decade was the first in which movies that explicitly showed people sadistically tortured became popular hits, with the “Hostel” and “Saw” series giving us Abu Ghraib in bite-size format.

(Coincidentally, or not, it was also the decade in which the U.S. government began systematically torturing prisoners.)

More artsy — or at least, less junky ­— movies fared better. David Lynch bracketed the decade with his two inexplicable art epics,“Mulholland Drive” and “Inland Empire.” Judd Apatow, creator of the long-lost cult series “Freaks and Geeks,” re-invented himself as the new John Hughes

with a highly praised series of post-teenager comedies, including “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.” But Wes Anderson, after a magnificent start with “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” turned into a self-parody with “The Life Aquatic,” piling up obsessivecompulsive details like a half-mad packrat.

As the decade closed, there seemed to be a reaction against the bloated pretensions of Hollywood. Spike Jonze reacted against CGI with his costume-clad “Wild Things,” and Oren Peli reacted against the torture-ridden horror hits with his subtle “Paranormal Activity.” But there was no sign that the trend of overblown cinematic wrecks with garish effects sprinkled on top — like coconut sprinkled on a mediocre cake to distract you from its flavorlessness — was close to abating.

Now we’re about to enter a new decade — sure to be a better one, if only because we know what to call it. (What were we supposed to call this one? “The zeros”?) Will it mark another sweeping cultural change? Is the next revolution — in film, in music, in television — just around the corner?

Probably not. These ten-year points, as much as we like to think otherwise, are fairly arbitrary ways to mark off the passage of time. Unless, of course, Jack White finally completes his slow physical metamorphosis into Michael Jackson.

12-8-09

Arizona Daily Wildcat

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10 most valuable players of the decade 2 1 arizona daily wildcat • tuesday, december 8, 2009 •

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

Mike Thomas Football 2005-2008

Jennie Finch Softball 1999-2002

Mike Thomas isn’t a big guy — he was 5-foot-8 and 195 pounds during his senior season — but he was a big-time player during his time on the Arizona football team.

The wide receiver became the Pacific 10 Conference’s all-time leader in career receptions during the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl. His fourth grab of the contest put him in sole possession of the record with his 259th career catch.

Thomas finished his career with 3,221 yards and 22 touchdowns and helped lay the foundation for the UA program as being one on the rise. His final game for the Wildcats was the their first bowl win in a decade and he will leave his name in the record books as one of the best receivers to ever play for Arizona.

A three-time All-American spanning 2000-02, Arizona pitcher Jennie Finch soon became the face of Arizona softball. A 32-0 record in 2001, which led the team to a national title, and an ERA, when she played during the decade, of 0.77, made Finch’s career one of the most impressive for the storied Wildcat program. She ended those three seasons with a 95-8 record in the circle.

Finch not only pitched phenomenally, but could hit as well. From her sophomore to senior seasons, the soon-to-be Olympian hit at a .32 clip, accumulating 43 home runs in the process. She earned the Honda Award for softball for Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002.

— Brian Kimball Alan Walsh/Arizona Daily Wildcat

3

Alicia Hollowell Softball 2003-2006

Alicia Hollowell was a pitcher for Arizona softball from 2003-06. In 2006, Hollowell pitched every inning of the season and led Arizona softball to the national title. She broke Jennie Finch’s record for the all-time season strikeout record

— Kevin Zimmerman

Notable coaches: ‘00-‘09 Michael Ignatov/Arizona Daily Wildcat

1

Mike Candrea softball

Softball and Mike Candrea go hand in hand.

In this decade, Arizona’s head coach has led the team to the Women’s College World Series every year — yes, that means the Wildcats have been one of the last eight teams standing in every NCAA softball tournament in the 2000s.

More importantly, Candrea has guided the team to three national championships, in 2001, 2006 and 2007, showing the ol’ ball coach’s magic hasn’t worn off after bringing half of the titles back to Tucson in the 1990s.

And from 2000-2009, Candrea has developed 33 All-Americans. Do the easy math, and that’s an average of three All-Americans per each Candrea-led squad.

— Kevin Zimmerman

Frank Busch swim

Although Frank Busch has been a tremendous coach for all of his 21 years at Arizona, in 2008, Busch finally put the“great coach without a national championship” label to rest. In 2008 Busch coached only the second team in NCAA swimming history to win both men’s and women’s NCAA Championships in the same year. Busch’s teams went on to win eight out of 10 possible relays, while setting five NCAA records along the way. Busch is a five-time NCAA Coach of the Year in this decade and was part of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic coaching staffs.

— Mike Schmitz

3

Lute Olson men’s basketball

Jake Lacey/Arizona Daily Wildcat

The way this decade ended, which included a leave of absence and a retirement debacle, may overshadow how Lute Olson began the decade. Though the handling of the retirement may have left people upset, Olson’s accomplishments as a whole are quite admirable.

Olson led the Wildcats to two Final Four appearances, a national title runner-up and a heartbreaking Elite Eight appearance in which his team blew a 15-point lead late in the second half. That’s not to mention that Olson was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Despite the tumultuous final seasons, Olson had a decade that few coaches could compete with in any sport.

4

David Rubio volleyball

Volleyball is a game of numbers, and head coach Dave Rubio is racking them up. He has accumulated more than 400 wins in his 18 years as head coach of Arizona volleyball.

In the past decade, Rubio led the Wildcats to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances stretching from 2000-2005. In the past 10 years, Rubio has led the Wildcats to some of the most successful seasons of the program’s history. With more than 200 match wins in this stretch, Rubio has taken Arizona to its first ever Final Four, four Elite Eight appearances and five Sweet 16s.

The postseason track record for Rubio has also been successful. His teams have won 16 matches in the NCAA tournament.

— Nicole Dimtsios

and was twice named to the First-Team All-American in addition to two Second-Team All-American honors.

Her four-year record at Arizona was 144-23, including 81 shutout victories. Hollowell also garnered Most Outstanding Player of the 2006 Women’s College World Series after throwing a then-NCAA-record six complete games and recording 64 strikeouts.

— Nicole Dimtsios

4

Lacey Nymeyer Swim 2004-2008

Kevin Klaus/Arizona Daily Wildcat

2

B5

5

— Vincent Balistreri

Andy Lopez baseball

Boasting an impressive record that featured a national championship upon his arrival in Tucson in 2002, Wildcat baseball head coach Andy Lopez immediately began cultivating a winning tradition. In his eight years at Arizona, the Wildcats have appeared in four NCAA postseason tournaments, including a College World Series berth in 2004.

Lopez’s ability to attract the best recruits in the southwest and develop them within the program has resulted in a total of 39 players being selected in the Major League Baseball draft under his watch.

— Michael Fitzsimmons

During her four years at Arizona and beyond, Tucson native Lacey Nymeyer dominated the sport of swimming. Nymeyer has won everything from a silver medal in the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, to 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year. After capturing an individual NCAA title in 2007, Nymeyer became a major cog in Arizona’s 2008 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship. The relay specialist was a member of all four first-place Arizona relay teams, and went on to win five national championships at the NCAAs that season.

Nymeyer ended her career at Arizona as a 26-time All-American, two-time individual NCAA Champion and two-time Pac-10 swimmer of the year.

— Mike Schmitz

5

Channing Frye Basketball 2001-2005

A product of Phoenix, Frye helped the Wildcats finish first in the Pac-10 twice, and make a Sweet 16 and two Elite Eight appearances. He only

averaged 13.5 points per game in four seasons, but he often registered 20-30 points on a hot night, developing from an unknown recruit into an NBA Draft prospect. For a player nearly seven feet tall, he used his ability to get up the floor quickly and his defensive prowess to create a unique combination that benefited the Wildcats from 2001-05.

—Lance Madden

For more of the decade’s top players, check out dailywildcat.com

B6

• tuesday, december 8, 2009 • arizona daily wildcat

TOP SPORTS STORIES Shawntinice Polk had the ability to lighten up a room with a big smile and vibrant personality.

“Polkey’s”success on the court earned her the Associated Press All-America honor, and All-Pacific 10 Conference first team honors three times, Polk’s bright future came to a sudden end on Sept. 26, 2005, when she collapsed in McKale Center from a blood clot in her lung. Polk’s death cast a shadow over the light she created in her time at UA. Her impact on the Wildcat community is forever remembered as her #00 jersey hangs from the ceiling of McKale Center.

3

— Michael Fitzsimmons

John Mackovic fired, Mike Stoops hired

— Lance Madden

In 2001, Arizona football was in

turmoil when Athletic Director Jim Livengood brought in John Mackovic to turn around a dormant Arizona offense.

Unfortunately, Mackovic failed and the 60-year-old head coach was fired midway through the 2003 season after posting a 10-18 record.

After the season, Livengood again took a gamble and brought in former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops.

The move has since proved to be a smart one, as Stoops brought the Wildcats their best two seasons since the late 1990s with back-to-back bowl appearances the past two years.

4

— Bobby Stover

Dick Tomey resigns

Tomey is widely regarded as the best football coach in Arizona history.

Tomey built UA into a football powerhouse thanks in large part to his tenacious“Desert Swarm” defense. Tomey led the Wildcats to a 12-1 record in 1998. But after a Holiday Bowl appearance, Tomey’s teams disappointed with 6-6 and 5-6 seasons in 1999-

File photo/Arizona Daily Wildcat

2000. Before the end of the 2000 season, Tomey shocked Wildcat players and fans by announcing his retirement, saying that the pressures and demands were too much for he and his family to handle.

5

—Tim Kosch

Football earns first bowl bid in a decade

After a slow start against rival ASU in the final regular season game of 2008, the Arizona football team overcame an early deficit to roll over the Sun Devils in a 31-10 win, earning a Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl bid.

The bowl bid was the program’s first since the 1998 season, when the team played in the Holiday Bowl against Nebraska. In Las Vegas, the Wildcats faced off against then-No. 17 BYU. Despite the 31-21 score, the UA defense held the highly-touted Cougar offense in check until late in the game and the Wildcats’offense moved the ball with relative ease most of the night. For a program that didn’t get much respect in the early part of the decade, the win in Las Vegas helped put Arizona

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Hoops title game loss

The 2001 tragedy struck the Arizona men’s basketball program when legendary coach Lute Olson’s wife Bobbi Olson lost her battle with cancer. A preseason favorite to win the National Championship, the Wildcats dedicated their season to Bobbi, while Olson took three weeks off on bereavement leave.

While their coach was grieving, the team dominated their competition with star players such as forward Luke Walton, center Channing Frye and point guard Jason Gardner.

The team cruised through the tournament before facing the Mike Krzyzewski-led Duke Blue Devils in the national title game.

Despite a valiant effort, the Wildcats fell to Duke 82-72 in what ended up being one of the most memorable seasons for Arizona basketball.

— Vincent Balistreri

7

Back-to-back softball titles

Arizona softball was supposed to struggle in 2007 after losing four-time AllAmerican pitcher Alicia Hollowell to graduation. They didn’t get the memo.

Junior Taryne Mowatt jumped into the circle and rode the offense of outfielder Caitlin Lowe and senior Kristie Fox to the team’s second consecutive NCAA Championship.

Mowatt won two ESPY awards for her performance at the Women’s College World Series, where she pitched 60 innings in eight games over a seven-day tournament in 2007.

A year before, senior pitcher Hollowell defeated dominant pitcher Cat Osterman of Texas before beating Northwestern in the title series.

8

— Kevin Zimmerman

Swim win national titles in 2008

The Arizona men’s swim team added to the program’s historic 2008 season after winning the 2008 NCAA national title. The

Wildcats topped Texas, Stanford, California and five-time defending NCAA champion Auburn, as they brought a second national championship in as many weeks to Tucson after the women’s side bested Auburn in Columbus, Ohio, one week prior to the men’s title run.

Senior Lacey Nymeyer in the 100-yard freestyle and junior Lara Jackson in the 50y freestyle won individual titles for the women, and seniors Albert Subirats’ repeat win in the 100y butterfly and Darian Townsend’s 200y individual medley title gave the men two more individual championships.

9

— Brian Kimball

Volleyball Final Four

Arizona volleyball made its firstever appearance in the NCAA Tournament Final Four in 2001. The Final Four appearance was the highest that the Wildcats have ever made it in the tournament.

Arizona defeated fellow Pac-10 team and regional host USC 3-2 to move on to the Final Four in San Diego, Calif. Next, Arizona faced off against then-No. 1 Long Beach State and fell to the top seed 3-0. Arizona finished its historic season with an 25-5 overall record.

10

— Nicole Dimtsios

Sean Miller hired

Looked upon to restore one of the nation’s most storied college basketball programs, Sean Miller was introduced at the largest media gathering in school history on April 7, 2009.

The ex-Xavier coach said all the right things and in the forthcoming months made all the right moves by improving a vacant incoming freshman class into a top-15 ranked one.

His instant results felt even better after how the other potential candidates fared in the upcoming months. While UA athletic director Jim Livengood said Miller was the only coach he made an offer to, Livengood had also met with USC coach Tim Floyd, who shortly after resigned from USC due to NCAA violations.

— Bryan Roy

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Death of Shawntinice Polk

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continued from page B1 would never succeed him.

Mike Dunlap wasn’t supposed to turn down the opportunity to take over as the Wildcats’head coach during the 2008-09 season, and AAU coach and former ASU radio analyst Russ Pennell wasn’t supposed to take the job instead.

And surely, he wasn’t supposed to lead Arizona to a Sweet 16 appearance last March.

None of this was supposed to happen. But it did. And now that it has, Olson will take in future Arizona men’s basketball games in his McKale Center seat a few rows up from the Wildcats’ bench — just a spectator now after being the center of attention for so long, whether the reasons were positive or not.

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arizona daily wildcat • tuesday, december 8, 2009 •

Growing up in the new millennium

F

or most young undergrads, the past 10 years marked the first decade in which we were actively aware of the world beyond ourselves and, moreover, that we were interested in our role in that world. Being a teen in the new millennium gave our generation — called by news media and some sociologists The Millennials — a more somber view of the world and a more pragmatic, grimly ambitious perspective from which to consider our part in it.

It was a decade marked by acts of violence on a scale that American generations before had not experienced in many years on home soil .

The most calamitous event of the decade was, of course, the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. When the current undergraduates were only preteens, nearly 3,000 people died in a single day in an act of intentional violence.

It shocked everyone, but it shaped us uniquely. We came of age in a world where planes could fly into buildings, and did. The wars that resulted from that day continue to shape us in everything from gas prices to whether our young friends can be sent into active combat . From 1990 to 1999, there were fewer than 250 combat deaths suffered in the U.S. military.

Since 2001, there have been 4,500.

Terrorism around the world, from Spanish train stations the British airports to Middle Eastern car

Anna Swenson columnist

bombs so frequent we all but stop noticing them, has increased. Just as we were beginning to watch and care about world events, all we hear about is violence. In our psychology, we are more aware of loss on a large scale because of these events. We are not paralyzed by fear of violence, as an older person might have been by these events.

We are, instead, more aware of the terrible realities of hatred, greed and fundamentalism.

We are not the doe-eyed Baby Boomers our parents were. We do not run with Dick and Jane while our mom stays home wearing pearls and making Jello molds. In the last 10 years, women outnumbered men in the work place, meaning most of our mothers had more to think about than our afterschool snack. As a result, we want more than the generation before us; we want a high-powered career and a family. Multitasking is a way of life. Running multiple media applications while walking, talking and chewing gum is second nature.

The Internet has shaped the way we learn, share and interact. While purists claim texting and instant messaging have made our genera-

The best of the decade: Police Beat

tion unable to formulate a complete sentence, we are more closely connected to friends and family across large distances than ever.

The Internet makes international news available instantly, media available for free at our convenience and content-hosting sites make everyone a self-publisher.

Growing up connected has made us more bold with our opinions, more connected to our friends and family and more creative in all mediums, from writing to video-editing.

As the current student population was just learning about the world, a couple of college students made millions on a little Web site called Facebook, private blogs almost eclipsed print newspaper and Journey found a new front-man on YouTube. The last decade has taught us that, really, anything can happen.

How has growing up in a time of large natural disasters, controversial elections, recycling, file-sharing and self-made celebrities shaped up as a generation? As young people, we saw it all, and everything hit too close to home. The events of the last ten years have made us more aware of the stark realities of a poor economy, a political majority and fossil fuels. As a generation, we know anything is possible — in both positive and negative ways.

— Anna Swenson is a sophomore majoring in English. She can be reached at letters@wildcate.arizona.edu

Disappointing decade, but no Y2K. It could be worse

O

verall, this decade has been a huge and utter disappointment. A war that’s lasted over half the decade, a recession that wiped out the biggest financial gains in history and the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history are three big strikes that doom the decade’s reputation . The worst moments greatly outweigh the best, which may very well be the invention of the iPod in 2001. Here are some notable revelations about the soon-to-beover decade.

5. Child labor is back in style, but without the coal mines.

Though, if I were a Gosselin child, I would gladly trade my parents for black lung any day. Beginning with “Jon & Kate Plus 8” in 2007, TV executives and viewers teamed up to deprive countless children of their right to a normal childhood so that daddy can buy some more sparkling Ed Hardy gear. TLC paved the way in exploiting children in more creative and disturbing ways, like glorifying child beauty pageants and despicable parenting. A sad upside is that therapists will see a hefty demand for services, potentially making that psychology degree useful after all.

4. Privacy is overrated. Online profiles transformed from the archaic AIM profile, filled with quotes and smiley faces, to Myspace and Facebook pages, detailing every aspect of one’s social life. Parents have long

warned their children about talking to strangers, but strangers only need to click on a profile to learn more about someone than ever before. Online privacy warns against casual dissemination of personal information, but Americans everywhere are trading private information just to gain an edge in Farmville. The most productive aspect of Facebook and Myspace will undoubtedly be the utility in political vetting. As the future leaders of America begin to pursue political Dan aspirations, longforgotten photos Sotelo of keg stands and bong rips will recolumnist surface at all the wrong times .

3. Protest like it’s 1775. This decade produced a level of citizen activism that has not been seen since the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Wall Street bailout, health care reform, war in Iraq and the Terri Schiavo case were some of the most contentious issues of the decade, leading to passionate protests on multiple sides. The political environment of the decade has been one in which Americans have gradually placed themselves in standardized categories based on specific tests, like one’s stance on health care reform or the war against terrorism. Once grouped, protesters of each side have viewed their opponents with contempt, citing a logical or moral flaw for being on the wrong side.

Increased activism and political awareness is vital to national dis-

B7

course, but contemporary debates have become too entrenched in partisan bickering. Political factions continue to threaten honest discussion by excelling in hyperbole and outright fraud to undermine opposing views.

2. The rumors are confirmed, Wall Street is full of assholes. The geniuses of the financial industry succeeded in making more money for themselves than ever before. Then, the housing bubble burst and trillions of dollars disappeared because most of the money never actually existed. Though not everyone on Wall Street deserves to be publicly flogged, the “best and brightest” were actually the most heinous and deceptive, if not malignantly ignorant. Though conservative forces will continue to advocate for a free market, it’s undeniable that the “invisible hand” is more like an invisible foot in the ass.

1. We’re alive and it’s not the dark ages. Ten years ago, Y2K hysteria led millions to believe that the “double zeroes of death” would wipe out the banking system and lead to the destruction of modern society. Fortunately, the most damage done to doomsayers was a bunch of maxed out credit cards and overabundance of dried goods. All in all, avoiding a cataclysmic crash in the world order is a delicious cherry on top of a crap sundae, but at least we can try again the next 10 years.

— Daniel Sotelo is a political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu

Driving pumpkins into traffic

Three UA students were seen hitting golf balls and pumpkin debris into oncoming traffic, police reports said.

Police were called to 1215 N. Euclid Ave. after they received reports that people were hitting golf balls into southbound traffic toward Euclid Avenue.

Officers saw two males, both 19, hitting shards of pumpkins with golf clubs.

Another UA student, 19, was with them. The pieces of vegetable were seen striking cars in the street, reports said.

While talking with the students, officers noticed that they all had a strong odor of intoxicants and had red, watery eyes. The students admitted to underage drinking and were cited and released for suspicion of minor in possession of alcohol.

There is a such thing as too zealous a fan

A UA employee intervened in a possible theft of men’s basketball junior forward Richard Jefferson’s jersey and underwear from the team’s locker room, reports stated.

The employee confronted two unidentified males inside McKale Center after seeing them enter a locker room used to house uniforms for the men’s basketball team, reports stated.

The employee noticed that one of the suspects had a jersey with the number 44-Jefferson’s on it and several undergarments, reports stated.

The employee took the items and called police after the two men left the locker room, but police were unable to find anyone matching the men’s descriptions.

The employee said she called police because the men “did not look like athletes,” reports stated.

There are no suspects at this time, but the undergarments and jersey were secured.

Watch out for flying toilet seats

University police went to a campus sorority after a flying toilet seat nearly hit a sorority worker, reports stated.

Officers arrived at the Alpha Delta Pi sorority house, 1443 E. First St., and interviewed the house mother. She told police that a sorority worker was nearly hit by a toilet seat flung from the third floor of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, 1423 E. First St., reports stated.

She also told them that sorority staff members had to remove several broken beer bottles found on the west side of the property earlier that morning.

According to reports, a sorority member told police the bottles found on the house’s property were also thrown from the Kappa Sigma house.

The woman told police that men at the fraternity yelled,“Why don’t you put on a show for us?” and then began tossing bottles at the house the previous night.

Police went to the Kappa Sigma house and interviewed two members who admitted that they had thrown soap and a license plate onto the roof of the house, but denied throwing beer bottles and the toilet seat, reports stated.

The worker nearly hit by the toilet seat said the Kappa Sigma members who were interviewed by the police were not the people who threw the projectile.

Without police knowledge, the Kappa Sigma members apparently went to speak with the house mother.

The mother, who initially told police that she wanted to pursue criminal charges, changed her mind after talking to the men. Fraternity members helped clean up remaining bottles after evidence photos were taken.

Bush removal angers homeowner

UAPD officers responded to 1125 N.Vine Ave. in reference to a belligerent man.

Upon arrival, officers met with a man matching descriptions they were given.

According to police, the man was irate and argumentative. The man told police that the university had purchased a property adjacent to his and cut down some bushes that were planted along the property line.

He further told officers he had come to the location on campus to voice his complaints because he felt he had been wronged.

Officers told the man that they had been dispatched because the employee that he had been attempting to voice his complaints to was in fear of her safety.

The man replied,“Well, fuck her.”

Police provided for the man the address and phone number of the university office that would be able to properly assist him and warned him against trespassing on campus.

‘You forgot your cheese and peppers’

UAPD officers were dispatched to the Apache-Santa Cruz Residence Hall. in reference to an assault.

Upon arrival, officers met with the man who had allegedly been assaulted and had been bleeding from his nose. A resident assistant and the man’s friend joined him.

According to the man, he and his friend had gone downstairs to check their mail on the evening. They saw a man attempting to deliver a pizza to the wrong room number.

The man and his friend took the pizza from the delivery driver, went back to their room and ate it. When they were finished, they took the empty box to the room where the delivery driver had been attempting to deliver the pizza.The men left the box in front of the door along with a note that read,“Thanks for the pizza. It was great. We should do this again some time.”The men signed the note with their first names.

Later that evening, the occupant of the room where the pizza box had been left went looking for the men to discuss the matter. The man who left the box and note was not in his room. The man came back later and knocked again.

This time the man who left the empty box and note was home. The two men began to argue until the visitor punched the other man several times in the face and back, causing the bloody nose.

Officers were able to locate the man who punched his neighbor and questioned him about what happened. According to him, after he tried to confront the men the first time, they came back and left parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper packets on his door, along with another note that read,“You forgot your cheese and peppers for your pizza.”The man admitted to punching the victim several times and then leaving. He was arrested on charges of assault and transported to Pima County Jail. While booking him, officers discovered a fake driver’s license in the man’s wallet and also cited him on charges of possession of a fake identification.

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B8

• tuesday, december 8, 2009 • arizona daily wildcat

WTF MOMENTS continued from page B3

2

Janet Jackson’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’

Feb. 1, 2004 — Justin Timberlake surely wasn’t lying when he sang,“I’m gonna have you naked by the end of this song.”In his duet with Janet Jackson during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, now more infamously known as “Nipplegate,”Timberlake ripped a piece of Jackson’s top completely off, exposing her right breast covered in a nipple shield.

This image played on live television to nearly 145 million viewers. Although both Jackson and Timberlake claim the incident was merely a“wardrobe malfunction,”many speculate the stunt was planned simply to garner publicity. The CBS Corporation, which was broadcasting the game, was fined $550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission. Timberlake and Jackson suffered nothing more than a little verbal criticism; however, MTV, which produced the Super Bowl XXXVII halftime show, was banned by the NFL from ever participating in another halftime show.

3

Cheney’s hunting mishap

Feb. 11, 2006 — A quail hunting trip taken by thenVice President Dick Cheney and Texas attorney Harry Whittington ended with both a bang and a whimper when Cheney accidentally unloaded a birdshot shell into the right side of Whittington’s body, hitting his neck and face. The shooting caused Whittington to have a minor heart attack and atrial fibrillation.

Despite these injuries, he remained conscious throughout the entire ordeal; in fact, doctors decided to leave the“less than 150 or 200”birdshot pellets inside his body. Several days later, Cheney gave an interview with Fox News, in which he claimed full responsibility for the accident. It seems Cheney’s bad aim had no effect on his friendship with Whittington, as the wounded attorney released this statement upon leaving the hospital,“My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with. We hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves.”Hopefully, Cheney and his family accepted the apology.

4C-Half Wildcat — ArtOlen 05.pdf 8/17/09 Lenets

TOP CAMPUS STORIES

5

Nursing shooting

Oct. 28, 2002 — Early that Monday morning, nursing student Robert Stewart Flores Jr., 41, walked into the College of Nursing building armed with five guns and shot to death assistant nursing professors Robin Rogers, 50, Barbara Monroe, 45, and Cheryl McGaffic, 44, the latter two in a crowded classroom.

After ordering students out of the room, Flores then shot and killed himself.

Speculation on Flores’ motive ranged from the possibility that he had failed courses taught by each professor to distress from financial problems caused by child support payments Flores owed for two children from an ended marriage.

The Arizona Health Sciences Center was immediately evacuated but was reopened for classes the following day.

University Medical Center remained open throughout the incident.

In the days following the murders, family members of the victims described how Rogers and McGaffic had expressed trepidation for their personal safety around Flores as recently as the previous weekend.

“She was concerned that he might act out in some way, but she didn’t have any fear or premonition that he would do something this drastic,”Phillip Rogers said of his murdered wife.

Despite widespread fear and panic on campus, then-President Peter Likins insisted that the campus was safe and described the incident as isolated.

“We’re all vulnerable if someone takes it upon themselves to do evil things,” Likins said.

6

Murder in the dorms

Sept. 5, 2007 — The UA was shocked by the on-campus fatal stabbing of 18-year-old biology freshman Mia J. Henderson.

Henderson’s roommate, then18-year-old public administration freshman Galareka Harrison, was charged with first-degree murder for the stabbing, which took place on the second floor of the GrahamGreenlee Residence Hall.

According to police, Henderson and Harrison had a history of conflict stemming from theft allegations against Harrison. Henderson had 4:32:21 PM said she would no longer share a room with Harrison, but it was

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unclear at the time of the murder whether she had indeed moved out or was still living in the dorm room with Harrison. Court documents stated Harrison had bought a knife following the theft allegations and written a fake suicide note ostensibly from Henderson, both legal indications of premeditation.

At least one student moved out of the residence hall immediately following the incident, and a four-hour sacred Navajo cleansing ceremony was held outside the building two days later. The incident called into question both the dorm roommate selection process and campus safety in general.

Fourteen months later, Pima County Superior Court convicted Harrison of one count of first-degree murder as well as three counts of forgery and one count of identity theft and sentenced her to life in prison without parole.

“I just want everybody to know that — that we all suffer,” Harrison said in court after the sentencing.

7

Shelton selected as president

Jan. 30, 2006 — With the appointment of Robert N. Shelton as the UA’s 19th president, the decade saw its only transfer of power in the highest office on campus — literally. The president’s office sits aloft on the top floor of the Administration building.

Shelton, then-executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was unanimously chosen by the Arizona Board of Regents to succeed Peter Likins, who had held the post since 1997. The then-57year-old Phoenix native described the appointment as a“homecoming,”and cited increasing undergraduate retention rates as a top priority.

A few days earlier, Shelton had received the endorsement of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona over his three rivals, including Arizona Daily Wildcatendorsed Yash Gupta, then-dean of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

As he took the helm, the new president faced widespread unrest over tuition increases and decreases in state funding, problems that continue to plague the university today.

Asked about this problem by the Daily Wildcat, Shelton responded with characteristic brevity: “Great topic, but there’s no one answer.”

8

Concert loses bank

May 5, 2009 — Initially dubbed a raging success, ASUA’s “Last Smash Platinum Bash,” featuring rap artist Jay-Z, lost the student government more than $900,000.

The $1.4 million show sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona generated just more than $500,000 in revenue, leaving the Arizona student government in a financial bind that it will continue to pay off over the next several years.

Last year’s ASUA President Tommy Bruce blamed the crashing economy as being a primary factor for the concert’s low attendance.

“Nobody predicted the economy would be the way it is now last May,” Bruce said.“The economy was getting worse, but we had already committed to doing a show.”

In order to make up for the financial loss, ASUA was forced to empty out the $350,000 from its emergency reserve and made an agreement with the UofA Bookstore to pay off the remaining $567,000 over the next five years.

ASUA’s original goal was to sell 30,000 tickets for the concert. The final tally amounted to a 6,100 tickets, with approximately 5,000 more given away from promotions.

“We exhausted every avenue,” Bruce said.“At the end of the day, the revenue did not meet the expenses.”

9

Tucson Riots

April 3, 2001: Shortly after the conclusion of the 2001 NCAA men’s basketball championship game, Arizona basketball fans voiced their disappointment with the 82-72 loss to Duke by rioting in the streets.

Nearly two hours after the game around 10 p.m., rioters tipped cars, torched a street vendor’s motor home, and damaged and looted several businesses in the North Fourth Avenue area.

Five hundred Tucson police officers marched down the street to quell the approximately 1,500 rioters who had taken to the street after the defeat.

By midnight, police officers had silenced the majority of rioters; however, a great deal of damage had already been done.

Tucson police officers fired more than 450 rounds of non-lethal ammunition and arrested 17 people, including seven UA students.

UA freshman Jeff Knepper’s left eye had to be surgically removed after he

was shot with a police projectile.

Then-UA President Peter Likins offered $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals who engaged in acts of violence that night.

10

Reactions to Sept. 11, 2001

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, approximately 1,000 UA students, faculty, staff and members of the community gathered on the UA Mall in an attempt to begin making sense of the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history.

Representatives from the UA administration and religious leaders from the community voiced their feelings of sorrow and condemned the attack as a crime against humanity on Sept. 12, 2001.

Then-UA President Peter Likins stressed the need to avoid placing blame on specific ethnic and religious groups.

“There are people of all nations on this campus that come to us from every corner of the world,”he said.“There are no nations responsible for these crimes, which are crimes against humanity, not just crimes against America.”

Omar Shahin, the Imam and director of the Islamic Center in Tucson, condemned the terrorists as being outcasts in the Muslim community.

“On behalf of the Muslim community, we are extremely sad,” he said.“Whoever did this does not belong to the religious community. He does not belong to the believers. He does not belong to humanity.”

Counseling and Psychological Services at the UA suspended regular services and offered open-door counseling for several weeks after the attack.

“It is important for students to not be startled if they go from overwhelming sadness to anger to nothing,”said Ken Marsh, Counseling and Psychological Services director at the time.

University of Arizona Police Department commander Brian Seastone said the usual nine to 10 officers on duty during the day was increased to 30 after off-duty officers were called in to help.

Approximately 450 students and community members donated blood on Sept. 12, 2001 at a Tucson blood bank in response to the attacks.

“We have had an unprecedented turnout,” said Richard White, executive director of the Southern Arizona chapter of the American Red Cross.

“This is a wonderful display of caring and humanity. Because the disaster is so fresh, people are coming in waves.”