Editorials

The 2009-10 Illinois men’s basketball regular season ended in disappointment for both the team and the fans. The NCAA Tournament selection committee opted not to invite our Illini to its 65-team tournament, which many consider to be the biggest collegiate sporting event of the year.

Sunshine Week is a national project devoted to government transparency. Although it started Sunday with a rainy day, a new Web site designed to shed some light on Illinois government surfaced.

On March 3, Illinois Student Senate passed a resolution to form a committee of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members responsible for proposing an idea for a campus mascot.

It is easy to take the election systems we have in place in America for granted. Even grade-schoolers are used to voting — perhaps on what to name the class pet or which game to play during recess. At our University, all voting requires is to follow a link e-mailed right to our inboxes. State and national elections take place at various campus residence halls and other polling places where the sound of mortar attacks does not accompany voters to the ballot box. Yesterday, Iraq held elections to determine both its parliament and prime minister. In Baghdad, at least 38 people died. Dozens more were injured. Despite the violence, the Iraqi people made a strong, commendable showing.

The Supreme Court is hearing three cases that could impact one of the Bill of Right’s most controversial amendments— the right to bear arms. Two of the cases stem from Illinois court decisions, hand gun bans in Chicago and the suburb of Oak Park, that are being challenged.

The Illinois Student Senate elections are Tuesday and Wednesday, and the student trustee for our campus will also be decided this week. During this time, our peers will be elected to positions that allow them to lead our student body. With recent changes at the highest levels of the University’s administration and increasing calls for transparency, there has never been a more important year for these decisions. The elected student trustee represents our campus on the University’s Board of Trustees, and is the face of the Urbana-Champaign branch of the university system. The Daily Illini’s editorial board met with each trustee candidate to find out what motivated them to run and what they hope to do if elected.

Five countries are responsible for over 90 percent of executions in the world, according to the Anti-Death Penalty Information organization. Joining the U.S. are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. We are on a list with the very countries we protest against because of their human rights abuses. In 2007, the United Nations called for a worldwide suspension of the death penalty. Of the member nations, 104 voted in favor of the moratorium, while 54 voted against and 24 abstained from the vote.

New credit card rules are taking effect Monday, and people not yet 21 years old may now find it more challenging to get a card. The Credit Card Accountability and Disclosure Act will make several changes to protect consumers, including changing the way credit card companies can apply your payments toward interest and how your rates can be changed.

Last Wednesday, Google released Google Buzz, a social media aggregator that allows people to share text, photos and videos. It joins Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and countless others in the social media realm.

We ask a lot from those who are assigned to protect us. When crime happens on campus, we want to know what’s being done and why it happened in the first place. We expect the police to keep us safe.