The Independent Collegian

Truth is often said to be the first causality of war. If truth is the first causality, then civility and honor are almost certainly the second and third. Three months after the delivery of the Second Annual Address, the honor and civility of at least a few faculty members have been compromised, unfortunate casualties of war with the UT administration.

After three months of waiting, the anticipated resignation of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Yueh-Ting Lee, may finally provide what has so far alluded administrators, faculty members and students: a chance for reconciliation and dialogue. After months of hearing Main Campus Provost Rosemary Haggett and UT President Lloyd Jacobs publicly support the dean and voice their commitment to "working" with him, the announcement of Lee's "lateral transition" caught many off guard.

For better or worse, Yueh-Ting Lee is no longer the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. This now leaves us with the challenging task of finding a new dean for the largest college at the University of Toledo. Since I have been at UT, all the searches for new administrators have been national searches.

Sometimes you have to burn something down in order to raise it back up. Such might be the case with UT's College of Arts and Sciences. In light of recent developments with the college and UT President Lloyd Jacobs's direction for the college, I've seen a lot of groups started on Facebook.

Earlier this month, our fearless leader signed the "FISA Amendments Act of 2008." The American Civil Liberties Union is up in arms, with a lawsuit already filed. They're joined in their outrage by people all over the political spectrum, from Wisconsin's left-wing Senator Russ Feingold to former Republican presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul.

I have a bit of a problem. A book buying problem. I recently took a few days to visit New York and when I left to come back to Toledo, I had an awful time repacking because I bought eight books while I was there. I've never been able to go into a book store and walk out empty-handed.

When I was back in high school and looking at colleges, the idea of playing sports at a higher-than-high-school level was pretty close to non-existent. Sure, I was a three-sport varsity letterman (hard to believe, eh?), but I was only a kicker in football, and it didn't take much to get a varsity letter in track or cross country even though we were Division I.