|
|
 |
May 4, 2004
The president, an actor and 2
a.m. make top list
Nick Martin
Opinions Editor
|
|
With apologies to Time Magazine, MCC has had a year worthy of listing
our most influential people. We’ve had the leader of the free world
on campus and a new chancellor chosen mixed in with all the usual entertainment
and college happenings.
It’s a brief list – only six people strong – but these
six made the 2003-2004 year memorable and surely affected nearly all of
MCC’s 25,000 students.
President Bush: The man in charge of America graced our campus one day
after his State of the Union Address to promote a proposed $250 million
program to create second-career job training in community colleges. The
goal: help an ailing economy out of a funk. Classes were canceled, parking
lots blocked and in 40 minutes his speech was over. Bush made an impact
here that MCC will probably not see again.
The MCC Soldier: Impossible to define by just one name, there are those
who would be attending class at MCC if they weren’t fighting a war
many have criticized. As the war escalates and April stands as the bloodiest
month yet, look at the empty seat next to you in class and think of the
men and women serving in the Middle East.
The legislator who introduced 2 a.m. last call: OK, it is a college student
stereotype about heavy drinking, but no one can say that it’s not
mostly true. Republican Rep. Michelle Reagan of Scottsdale pushed a bill
that would keep bars open two hours later than our library closes. Cheers!
Pinny Sheoran: She is the professor who started MCC’s Business and
Industry Institute, which is why Bush made his way to Mesa. The woman
received no on-stage acknowledgement with the president, but hopefully
got more than her 15 minutes of fame with all the newspaper interviews
and campus-wide recognition she was given for the innovative B&II.
Rufus Glasper: Maricopa Community College District’s new chancellor
was the only candidate for the top position. Some said the decision to
hire Glasper was rushed and would create controversy that could affect
the upcoming billion-dollar bond election. With the election still pending,
talk of Glasper’s hiring seems to be out of discussions. The new
hot topic: MCCD could have 400,000 in six years and the money is vital
to growing higher education in the county.
Mel Gibson: He got millions of people worldwide to watch a movie filmed
in Hebrew and Aramaic about an event that happened 2000 years ago. There
was no avoiding the buzz and there was almost no avoiding the conversations
about Jesus that surely ensued.
In all, the year had some highlights and tragedies, as most do. The list
hopefully did all justice to what we will remember.
Lastly, honorable mention goes to adviser Jack Mullins and fellow Mesa
Legend staffers. We put out a presidential visit special edition in just
24 hours, survived multiple staff changes and a website that died, uncovered
ASMCC election scandal and made it through in one piece. Hopefully the
hard work was well-read and appreciated Back to Top
| Previous Page | Home
|
|
|
