Budget cuts once again affect 'excellence' plan

The hypocrisy of the UA administration is simply inexcusable. The push for "focused excellence" in academics has resulted in another unfortunate casualty. The 2003 Summer Session Excellence in Teaching Awards were not announced in November (as usual), and now Beth Acree, senior program coordinator for Summer Session, says there are no plans to present the awards because of the reorganization of the Extended University under the current budgetary cutbacks and department mergers. Last summer, hundreds of students nominated their instructors for their perceived "excellence" in the classroom. Now it turns out that this administration will ignore them, and the passionate teachers who inspired and motivated them. This kind of negligence surely will not lead to "focused excellence," but rather to "diffuse mediocrity." [Read article]

Many critics of the war against terrorism have, from its outset, used the term "crusade" as a descriptor. Unfortunately for them, the parallel between the United States' actions in response to an attack killing thousands of its citizens and Christendom's wars with Islamic civilization over possession of sacred land is, at best, a superficial one.

In fact, as this grossly mislabeled "crusade" continues, there is an actual occurrence in the realm of international affairs that fits the spirit of the term far better than what the United States and its allies are doing - the European Union's attitude and actions in dealing with Turkish membership aspirations. [Read article]

With administrators struggling under the burden of half a decade of budget woes, the economy slumping and the state Legislature cutting, the UA is forced to find creative ways to save money - much to the chagrin of many programs and departments that have come under the axe. We asked our columnists, "If you were calling the shots, what would you shoot first?"