Time and again, we have ranted and raved about being known as Apathetic State University. Now, we are proud to announce that ASU has shed this God-awful moniker.
As a matter of fact, the actions of one ASU organization -- the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer Coalition -- has helped push ASU to the ninth-best campus for activism.
In the September/October issue of Mother Jones, a magazine that devotes itself to social justice, ASU actually beat out University of California Berkeley, a school that has been known as a hotbed for activism.
While there were other movements on campus that surely influenced the ranking, what pushed ASU ahead of Berkeley was when, in March, the LGBTQ Coalition pushed to change our nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity.
Our fine school has the undeserved reputation, well, maybe it's kind of deserved, of being lazy, tanned and a little liquored up. Thanks to Mother Jones, we have solid proof that there is more to this University than Shane's World.
Mmm, pornographic films. OK, back to task.
This is not the first time ASU has been nationally ranked. We must not forget the honor of earning the No. 1 party school tag from Playboy. We are willing to guess that our newest honor will bring more prestige to ASU than our Playboy ranking.
We should probably clarify: we said prestige, not national attention.
ASU is one of the largest schools in the nation. We have an extremely diverse student body. This honor is proof that we are a University that encourages tolerance.
The timing of this ranking could not be better. With the presidential debate coming to ASU in October, students will get a chance to show their activism in all its glory on a national stage.
One thing we are not is naive. We know that our party-school reputation is not going to diminish in light of this new prestige. There will still be jokes made at our expense -- a la "The Simpsons." We will not deny that there is probably no one who has made more fun of the fact that ASU was so apathetic than us. The important thing is that even at school of about 50,000, no matter who you are, you know you have a place at ASU.
So next time you are walking near the Memorial Union and see people trying to get petitions signed, don't tell them where they can put that petition. If you hear people protesting on Hayden Lawn about whatever is on their minds, don't shake your head in disapproval, but applaud their actions.
These are the people, voices and ideas that make us great, and could move us up in the rankings, maybe even to No. 1.
