FILE PHOTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Onlookers gather outside the College of Nursing on Oct. 28 after failing student Robert S. Flores Jr. entered the building and killed three professors before taking his own life. The college was shut down for a week.

1. College of Nursing shootings

A failing student shot and killed three professors and then himself in the College of Nursing on Oct. 28, closing the college for a week and shocking the UA community.

The student, Robert S. Flores Jr., who killed professors Cheryl McGaffic, Barbara Monroe and Robin Rogers, had a history of emotional problems and was reportedly upset over a failing grade in one of the professor's classes.

Flores listed his grievances with the college in a 22-page letter explaining his motives that he sent to the Arizona Daily Star before murdering his professors.

President Pete Likins addressed the grieving UA community after the shootings and said, "The entire campus community is going to be traumatized for some time."

A memorial service and procession across campus were held for the three slain professors Nov. 4.

It has recently been discovered that various personnel in the College of Nursing, including the targeted professors, reported having problems with Flores on multiple occasions in the years before the shootings.

2. Focused Excellence unveiled

In response to shrinking state funding, Likins and the Arizona Board of Regents have proposed a plan to eliminate some programs at UA and redirect the funding to strengthen other programs.

The plan, called Focused Excellence, is a proposal for stiffer admissions standards, higher tuition, more investment in research and the elimination of some departments that do not meet certain prioritized criteria.

Likins has not named which specific programs would be improved or cut, but has said he would release his plans in the spring.

Administrators are hoping that Focused Excellence will help the university recover from impending budget cuts.

3. UA budget cut, again

The university is facing a 5.4 percent budget cut next year, as outgoing Gov. Jane Dee Hull continues to try to resolve the state's sprawling deficit.

The latest cut, on Nov. 25, totaled $18 million. The UA received a cut of $16.8 million in general funding last year.

Officials have said there's more to come, and that the cuts will result in the loss of jobs and reduced university services.

"The other shoe will hit the deck in early January. This story is not going away," budget director Dick Roberts said.

FILE PHOTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat An unidentified student crowdsurfs at the Oct. 28 basketball ticket sale melee.

4. Basketball ticket fiasco

A riot team of 16 police officers broke up an uncontrolled crowd of more than 2,000 people who were pushing and shoving from all directions to get to the McKale Center ticket booth for basketball tickets Oct. 28.

Some students were pushed down in the crowd as others surged forward to buy tickets.

The event halted basketball ticket sales. Students who were successful at getting "colored line numbers" specifying the day they could purchase their actual tickets were able to receive their tickets the following week.

Extra tickets were sold in early November on a first come, first served basis to students who called the ticket office in a rush that jammed athletics department phone lines on Oct. 31.

file photo/Arizona Daily Wildcat John Mackovic at a press conference earlier this semester.

5. Mackovic apologizes

Head football coach John Mackovic apologized in a Nov. 12 press conference for his "inappropriate" behavior after several players complained to President Pete Likins about comments Mackovic directed toward them.

"I have failed to live up to my own standards," Mackovic said.

The comments that led players to complain about their coach were directed at tight end Justin Levasseur following UA's loss to Wisconsin, when Mackovic told the player he was "a disgrace to his family."

Mackovic, who will earn $800,000 next season in the third year of a five-year contract, will be back next year, athletics director Jim Livengood said following the apology.

6. Nobel goes to former prof

Vernon Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics on Oct. 9, one year after he left the university because the UA could not afford to keep him.

Smith worked for the UA for 25 years conducting groundbreaking economics studies that could have applications in water use and rights in the Southwest.

Smith said he and the six UA colleagues he took with him to George Mason University in Virginia left because GMU could pay them more and give them the opportunity to "grow and change and do new things."

7. Lute named Hall of Famer

Lute Olson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 28 for his achievements that span a 19-year career as a head coach of the UA men's basketball team.

Olson came to the university 19 years ago, adopted the hapless Arizona program and turned it into a national powerhouse, leading it to the 1997 national championship.

8. Campus recalls Sept. 11

On the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the UA community gathered together for a mid-day address by President Likins and an evening religious vigil, among other activities.

A ceremony held in front of the Student Union Memorial Center began with the tolling of the bell from the USS Arizona ÷ one ring for each of the five UA alumni killed in the attack.

On the UA Mall, students made a paper chain against hate, and a new Wall of Expression outside the Flandrau Science Center welcomed visitors to write down their feelings. At the University Medical Center, medical experts talked to healthcare providers about bioterrorism.

At the end of the day, community members participated in a religious vigil on the Mall.

9. Accused rapist arrested

James Allen Selby, the man charged with four rapes near campus last year, was arrested Sept. 24 after he tried to check into a veteran's hospital in Colorado.

Hospital officials reportedly recognized Selby from police photographs that were released earlier in September.

Selby was wanted in three states other than Arizona in connection with 15 sex crimes committed over a four-year period.

10. Levasseur jailed

Justin Levasseur ÷ the football player head coach John Mackovic called a "disgrace to his family" for his performance on the field ÷ was arrested Dec. 3 in Illinois for possessing 87 pounds of marijuana, valued at up to $150,000.

Mackovic had commented little about the incident as of yesterday, and Levasseur was still in jail in lieu of bail, set at $300,000.