There’s an old newsroom adage, “There is no such thing as a slow news day, only slow journalists.”

For the next 16 weeks, I promise you there will be no slow news days.

These are historic times for the UA. Along with the requisite tuition hikes, student government elections and the madness of March, this semester will also see the selection of the next university president.

As President Peter Likins passes the torch to his successor, issues such as class availability, financial aid and the fundamental direction of our institution are at stake. [Read article]

It’s a new year, a new semester and a new beginning for the Arizona Daily Wildcat’s opinions pages. Here’s your chance to meet the people charged with delighting and enraging you this semester. Several members of previous semesters’ columnist staffs return, but you’ll also find plenty of fresh faces — and voices — on this term’s opinions pages. Without further ado, meet the talented 10 (and their editor):\ [Read article]

University community should respect display of art

Sometime between Sunday and Monday, a large-scale work of art — part of the traveling exhibition “Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place,” presented by the UA Museum of Art — was vandalized. Heavily damaged, the piece must be withdrawn from the exhibition and significant, costly repairs will be necessary.

The university is honored to be one of only 10 venues on the national tour of this extraordinary exhibition, which features oversized sculptures by 11 artists on the forefront of contemporary art. The quality of the artists and the ingenuity of their projects immediately drew the museum’s attention. The fact that seven of the sculptures were to be sited on the campus grounds as public art added further to the exhibition’s attraction, for it extends the presentation of art beyond the museum walls and into the heart of the campus community. Over the months of planning that preceded the exhibition’s arrival, the museum anticipated an enthusiastic response to the exhibition. This incident of vandalism is profoundly disappointing and disrespectful to the work in question and to the presence of public art on the UA campus. [Read article]