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As the year comes to a close, the world approaches the end of a long and tumultuous decade. In the spirit of hope and progress, the Cardinal staff chose to present a collection of resolutions and suggestions for our community in the coming decade. Furthermore, we encourage you to consider your role in history and what impact you might have in the decade to come. From all members of this staff, thank you for your readership and support in the recent years, and we’ll see you on the other side of tomorrow.
–The Cardinal staff and editorial board
In the future, there are only three types of people involved: those who help make it happen, those willing to let it happen and those who are left wondering what just happened. The mantra of this institution has been, and continues to be, “It’s happening here.” But so far the only truly tangible things that have happened are tuition hikes, a mandatory meal plan and an unenforced smoking ban. These things have happened because we, as students, have been far too silent, letting them happen. In this coming decade, let us as a student body resolve to take a greater role in what is happening here. Otherwise those who come after us will be the ones wondering, “What happened here?”
–Billy S. Garland, managing editor
For the new year, the university should better advertise the numerous ways to stay safe on campus. Everyone is aware of the Department of Public Safety and the escort service, but everyone doesn’t know how to contact them. The signs posted around campus and in the Student Activities Center are so small that students pass by them, not noticing the services they advertise. We receive e-mails and text messages when a crime has been committed, followed by ways to prevent this from happening again. Instead of waiting until a crime has been committed, maybe campus safety should be talked about more in our General Studies Orientation Course. If students constantly see and hear about crime prevention tips, hopefully we can reduce the crime rates on campus.
–Amanda Osborne, columnist
According to the College Sustainability Report Card, the University of Louisville has increased its overall college sustainability grade from a C in 2006 to a B+ in 2009. The school has worked to improve its marks in administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, and green building. But over the last two years the grade it received in student involvement, a measure of how actively the student body has engaged the issue of sustainability, has remained unchanged, at an unsatisfactory C. This grade seems an accurate reflection of the current passive attitude of the majority of students, not just towards sustainability, but towards most campus issues as well. As we pass from this decade into the next, let us all make a commitment to become more involved on campus for a better community.
–Josh Ballard, columnist
The University of Louisville should resolve to remember its most important role: educating young minds. In the quest for grants, new buildings and national acclaim, U of L should not allow its gusto for research to overshadow its commitment to undergraduate education. Yes, research does educate, and many of the innovations of U of L researchers are truly amazing, but there must continue to be a balance. Sports teams are exciting and engrossing, new workout facilities would be great, and shiny new sustainable buildings would be fabulous. But U of L’s graduation rate is atrocious, and the faculty-student ratio isn’t as low as it should be. We are heading in the right direction. The last decade showed huge increases in the graduation rate. Let’s resolve to remember how we got here, and pursue a higher level of undergraduate learning in the next decade.
–Michael Kennedy, editor in chief
When the Cardinals left Conference USA to join the Big East Conference in 2005, the football team finished 5-2 in conference play, good for second place in the conference and a bid to the Gator Bowl. In 2006, Bobby Petrino’s team went 12-1 and won the Big East, earning the school’s first invitation to a Bowl Championship Series game, where the Cardinals defeated Wake Forest University 24-13 in the Orange Bowl. In the three seasons since, the Cardinals have been 15-21 overall, and won only five conference games, finishing no better than sixth place in the conference. With the expansion of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium to be completed by the beginning of the 2010 season, along with a new coaching staff, the Cardinals will have the opportunity to rekindle the enthusiasm the fans once had for the program, and make strides to return back to the top of the Big East.
–Andrew Hornback, assistant sports editor
If the university would like to improve in the next decade, perhaps a good idea would be to start engaging the students more in decision making. Volunteering us to spend $250, later reduced to $175, for the mandatory meal plan is not something that was well thought out. Let us vow not to increase the amount of the meal card, until the prices of the food from the vendors decreases. The university needs to focus on asking the students and faculty what they want and need, rather than deciding what is in their best interest without so much as questioning them. It is impossible to know what would make the student body happy if they are never even asked.
–Paige Quiggins, opinion editor
U of L should resolve to bring the excitement back to preseason basketball. When Rick Pitino arrived at the University of Louisville, the men’s basketball team hosted its first ever Midnight Madness. What happened? Fans everywhere just sit and wait patiently for the less-than-thrilling Red-White Scrimmage, while our rivals across the state are enjoying a sold-out crowd and national television appearances for the season tip-off. Louisville basketball is a pretty big deal for fans, so it’s time for the university to make it such. Midnight Madness 2010 in the new downtown arena would be the best way to start off the college basketball season and bring the excitement back to the preseason.
–Whitney Spencer, sports editor
