Thumbs up
Reinstating Blount
The athletic department acted a little too quickly and harshly in suspending LeGarrette Blount for the rest of his college career. The national television exposure — and 24 hours of replays — probably had something to do with that. Reinstating Blount was obviously the right decision.
Grading the University’s transparency
The environmental non-profit Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the University a B on its College Sustainability Report Card, mostly because the University got a D in endowment transparency and a F in shareholder engagement. We’re still unsure of how those things relate to being green, but the marks sound about right.
House passes health care bill
Regardless of how you feel about the specifics, it was good to see some work finally get done on President Obama’s top domestic priority and the biggest change in social policy in more than a generation.
Faculty organizing
University faculty seemed to make some concrete steps toward organizing a union this fall. Most other Oregon universities have faculty unions, and this University’s faculty has the lowest average salary out of the 34 public universities in the American Association of Universities.
Dr. Paul Shang
Since becoming the University’s dean of students, Paul Shang has attended every meeting of the ASUO Senate and is always willing to engage in conversations with students. He also has a booming laugh and infectious grin. We want to suspect any administrator who spends so much time around students and student government is up to no good, but Shang just seems like a nice guy.
Unemployment is slowing
The percentage of unemployed Americans actually went down last month, though 10 percent of the population is out of work and actively seeking employment. Only 11,000 jobs were lost in the month of November, the fewest since the recession began in December 2007. That means the economy may be improving, and there might be some jobs after graduation. But you probably still have time to add a major.
 
Thumbs down
Tasers
The Eugene Police Department use of a Taser on a non-English-speaking University student in his own apartment was just another example of how stun-gun happy officers can be. There’s still an investigation to be had, but don’t hold your breath about any real accountability this time around.
Smelling roses
Supwitchugirl’s “I Love My Ducks” is enough to make you never want to smell another rose. Is anyone not tired of that song by now? It gets played on the radio, small children sing it in the street, it’s been performed everywhere from Taylor’s to the Lorax. Holy Masoli, indeed.
That whole H1N1 thing
Everyone knows somebody who supposedly got the swine. It’s hard to say who actually did, since the health center did not want to test them. But anyone who got sick seems fine today. It leaves one pondering what all the hype and hand sanitizer was about. (Not to mention those helpful CDC guidelines that thought it wasn’t worth taking extra precautions in residence halls and fraternities and sororities.)
Xavier Aranda
Hey, remember that guy who was going to be a senator but the ASUO Senate wouldn’t confirm him? And then the ASUO president and the Senate went to the Constitution Court to ask them what to do (something about national exchange students plotting a student government coup)? And then the guy never showed up again? That was silly.
Stupak amendment
If you haven’t heard by now, the U.S. Congress wants to ban abortions from being covered by any future public insurance or any private insurance plan sold in a public exchange. The House passed the amendment, and some senators are hard at work to get similar language in a Senate bill.
Football tickets
It seems we couldn’t get football tickets if we pooled all of our money together and collectively spent $1.5 million for a shot at one. Wait. That is what we do. So why didn’t we get any football tickets?
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