Editorial: Looking forward

By TSC editorial board

Students often forget about the bubble beyond Santa Clara. But this year, things seemed different. It was the war in Iraq. It was the economy. A student body that may have been apathetic in years past was now protesting in San Francisco. They cut their trips home from traveling abroad because of SARS. One student studying abroad, Jill Curran, unfortunately did not make it home after a bus accident while living in England.

But that doesn't mean the good won't come. Santa Clara will open a new residence hall for the da Vinci learning community, and will remodel the traditionally upper-class Sobrato to house younger students. Construction funding, especially with the launch of a multi-million dollar capital campaign, will buttress strong academics with newer facilities. But a faltering economy will force Walsh Hall to reprioritize spending -- so much that departments may lose lecturers and cut back on expenditures.

And so ends a year. We frankly don't have answers on finding Chandra Levy's killer, how to mend California's state budget or how to fix an anticipated shortfall of incoming freshmen. What do we know? That school ends in three weeks. Have a safe summer, and please -- don't let a Code Orange alert keep you from travel plans.

See you in the fall.