Column: Making sense of 2010-11

Ariel Cheung | The News Record
June 13, 2011

From President Gregory Williams being formally instated and introducing UC 2019 to T-Pain's painful spring concert, it's been a hell of a year at the University of Cincinnati.

First off, let's give one finally hats off to the volleyball team, which boasted a 39 home-game winning streak and Big East regular season title. Overall, the fall sports teams had a great show: men's soccer made it to the semi-finals of the Big East tournament, as well.

Sports wasn't the only area UC excelled in this year; the National Opera Association honored the College-Conservatory of Music with seven awards, including top honors for "Of Mice and Men."

Our university also received recognized from both the Princeton Review and the United States Green Building Council as on of the top green universities in the nation.

While we're mentioning awards and recognition, The News Record didn't do too shabbily when it came to the annual college newspaper award season. The Ohio Newspaper Association recognized our sports, arts & entertainment and editorial coverage and headline writing, while the Society of Professional Journalism gave a nod to our sports photography, feature writing and website. Oh, and they named us the third-best non-daily newspaper in the region.

Bragging rights aside, TNR covered a lot of news this year. Ohio received national attention as Sen. Shannon Jones introduced Senate Bill 5 in February, which could change the collective bargaining law and cut pay to many public employees.

The bill sparked protests across the state, and members of the UC community stood proud along with nearly 4,000 other protestors Feb. 22 at the Ohio Statehouse. Gov. John Kasich signed the bill in April, but petitions to get it repealed are in the works.

Then again, that wasn't the only protest that garnered national headlines that involved UC students. In December 2010, Aaron Tobey, a fifth-year architecture student, was cited for disorderly conduct when he removed his shirt and revealed the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution before a security checkpoint at the Richmond International Airport.

But if there's one thing Ohio was recognized for in 2010-11, it was for going a little loco — Four Loko, that is. The alcoholic energy drink, created by two former Ohio State University students and dubbed "blackout in a can," caused several states, including Ohio, to end distribution of alcoholic energy drinks.

Closer to home, the Best of UC awards were bigger and better than ever, with more than 22,000 votes. From 5 Guys Burgers and Fries received their second-straight Best Burger award to Woody's being named the place to go for Thirsty Thursdays, we loved every moment of the Best of UC awards, and we can't wait to do it again next year.

We welcomed the largest freshman class in UC history (again), and, June 10 and 11, said goodbye to 4,842 graduates.

We also said hello to new College of Medicine Dean Thomas Boat, Raymond Walters College dean Cady Short-Thompson and 20-year UC veteran Karen Faaborg took the reigns as the new executive vice president. Oh, and we can't forget our favorite newcomer to the Cincinnati scene: Toppers Pizza.

We had a couple other goodbyes as well: former executive vice president Fred Reynolds headed back to the City College of New York, while Neville Pinto, former vice provost of graduate affairs left UC in April.

We also want to take a final moment to remember those we've lost this year, including Andrew Lynch, Dylan Morrison, Tania Lark, Andrew Howell and Melissa Kramer.

Overall, it was a pretty amazing year at UC. We laughed, we cried; we screamed and we cheered. So enjoy your summer, Cincinnati, because come fall, it will be time to do it all over again.