It was a study in contrasts. Standing before the student body's academic and leadership elite, Arizona women's swim head coach Frank Busch was awed by the "impressive gene pool" in attendance at the UA's annual Evening of Excellence, even as students buzzed about a Sunday article in The New York Times that caricatured our university as nothing more than a springboard for anonymity, alcoholism or worse. [Read article]

Protect me while sober and drunk

This in response to Sgt. Eugene V. Mejia's comment in yesterday's paper. Sir, you speak of rape in relation to alcohol and yet you speak nothing of the fact that rape is not just a "drunken happening." It is caused by a person who violates a victim regardless of alcohol. Today, ignoring the effect of alcohol, men are still stronger than women, the exact definition of rape seems to be unclear to many, and few realize the intense amount of evidence that is necessary to convict a rapist. Sir, you are asking the students of the UA to realize that one puts themselves in increased danger of rape by drinking. So, if a student decides to stay sober but still wants to hang out with friends at a party, that person is less vulnerable to rape? On that note, since women are the most common gender of rape victims, does that mean more women should stay sober to protect themselves from rape? Give me a break, that is ridiculous. Both men and women enjoy drinking, and it is discriminatory to expect those more vulnerable to rape (women) to have to drink less than others. I mean no disrespect to men; statistically women are the more common victim and that is my only reasoning in using women in the above sentence. I expect the UAPD to protect me sober and drunk, not take away my liberty of drinking given to me by the U.S. government. I also expect UAPD to be knowledgeable about rape and to help educate the students of the UA. Education is the best way to prevent rape, especially since the TPD can't seem to convict many rapists because of the lack of evidence. Maybe the UAPD should participate in educating the campus so that conviction isn't an issue and neither would alcohol be. [Read article]