Teaching excellence announcement overdue

Time is running out for the announcement of the 2003 Summer Session Excellence in Teaching Awards. In a Jan. 30 letter to the editor, Beth Acree, the summer session senior program coordinator, clearly indicated that the awards would be presented this semester. Yet no awards have materialized. Last summer hundreds of students nominated the outstanding instructors who inspired and motivated them. Now the university must recognize those instructors. [Read article]

In a couple weeks, the names of sex offenders employed at or attending the UA will be posted on a Web site so that their identities will be available to anyone who cares to know. I'd hoped that we would ultimately realize that additional punishment after sentencing and rehabilitation would be unjust and invasive. But apparently, we're willing to throw out privacy in the name of perceived public safety. [Read article]

Oh, to be back on spring break. To journey back to a land without exams, without term papers, back to a magical realm where the most difficult decision was whether to drink the blue martini or the blue-green one ·

Reality bites, especially in today's media climate.

Where do you get your news? Increasing consolidations and multimillion-dollar media mergers have left staunch conservatives, ultraliberals and everyone in between complaining about a lack of balance on the airwaves. Even more appalling is the fact that many teachers never teach media literacy to schoolchildren. [Read article]

This week's winners and losers ...

The bomb: The 1,700 UA students who successfully defeated the student activity fee referendum this week. The vote came way too soon, and the logistics of the fee weren't even discussed before it was put to a vote. It's a little worrisome that more than 1,300 students voted for it, though.

A bomb: Spring Fling during Easter. Taking the event off campus is one thing, but holding it while many students will be out of town celebrating Easter with their families doesn't seem like the brightest thing to do. Then again, hindsight's 20/20. [Read article]