Don Quixote and a senator's quest

You've got to hand it to them - the Associated Students of the University of Arizona have an uncanny knack for thinking hard about the kind of issues that, well, no one's really thinking about. Take, for example, Sen. Lexie Ettinger's quest to have articles in the Arizona Daily Wildcat translated into Spanish. Aside from the fact that she somehow hoped to do this without consulting the Wildcat, the need for this particular program seems dubious at best, especially in light of tuition hikes and class shortages. Maybe it's best that members of ASUA will be attending that leadership seminar in Denver; at least they'll be preoccupied enough to keep from swinging at windmills down here in the Old Pueblo. Until Ettinger comes up with something better, the Wildcat plan gets a Fail.

Age before beauty

With plans in the works to have graduate students composing 10 percent of the student body by 2010, we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief. If class availability (or, for that matter, a solid running game for the football team) simply cannot be had, the many advantages that graduate students will bring to the UA will more than compensate. Probably by virtue of their willingness to work (a foreign concept to unruly undergraduates), graduate students lend weight to the UA as an academic institution, and the investments that they will make in both research endeavors and tuition dollars will be met with gratitude. For this forward-looking approach, the new graduate enrollment plan gets a Pass.

A nursery rhyme for lactation time

ASUA saw mothers struggling during lactation
And built two rooms, up four stories high,
So these moms could have their very own stations
On top of the union, like a pie in the sky!
There was no time to be spent on publicity,
So, many moms are not yet aware
But with new work to do, leadership conferences to see,
Hasn't ASUA already done enough to act like they care?
At least the job's done! It can be checked off the list!
And to do a job halfway is better than to totally bail.
Mothers have their own place! They've been given a gift!
A gift so incomplete in execution, it gets a Fail.

The satisfaction of the Southwest

For most college students, it's probably about that time of year to break out the fleece jackets, padded gloves and ice scrapers. Here in sunny Arizona, though, the students can look forward to prime shorts and flip-flop weather until about, oh, February or so. For spoiling us silly with steady sunshine (and the occasional butterfly around Old Main), the sun-soaked, laid-back Southwest lifestyle gets a Pass.

Opinions Board

Opinions are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Lori Foley, Ryan Johnson, Damion LeeNatali, Aaron Mackey, Mike Morefield, Katie Paulson and Tim Runestad.