This past year will certainly be one that will forever stick in the minds of ISU students.

No one will forget the day that planes flew into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. ISU faculty and students forgot about classes as they watched hours of news coverage on their television screens.

Students watched in terror as the world they live in changed forever. Terrorism and mass destruction, things usually reserved for faraway nations in political strife, hit home for the first time in a long time.

Outlooks on life were altered, and the everyday ignorance toward the rest of the world was replaced with constant news watching and a sense of more involvement in world affairs.

Next to Sept. 11, the largest shock to campus came when a sophomore in journalism and mass communication said she was abducted and raped by four black males.

What made this story so much more frightening was that she claimed it happened at a busy part of campus during a busy part of the day. The ISU community was rocked with the thought that something like this could happen here.

Only later did we find out that the entire event was a fabrication, and that the worry and concern of the ISU community was all for nothing.

It doesn’t matter that Katie Robb is no longer a student at Iowa State; students will remember the fear she caused through her actions last fall. And we still don’t know why she did what she did. She just won’t say.

But things weren’t all grim and glum for us this year.

For the first time ever, ISU football went to two bowl games in a row, making the trip along with thousands of ISU fans to Shreveport, La., for the Independence Bowl. Even though the loss was painful, the Cyclone team showed it can play with the big boys like Alabama, taking the Crimson Tide down to the wire in one of the closest games of the year.

The basketball teams floundered a bit compared to past years, with the men ending their string of winning seasons. The women, on the other hand, continued their winning ways, only to exit the NCAA tournament early.

Veishea was a success. Weezer’s coming this weekend. Entertainment options were not scarce this year.

The Jischke Honors Building debate was the talk of faculty members. Still upset with the man considered by many to be a detriment to the university environment, GSB, the Faculty Senate and IRHA all passed resolutions to reconsider the naming of the Jischke Honors Building.

Unfortunately for them, that request fell on deaf ears, as President Geoffroy failed to take the criticism to the Board of Regents.

And speaking of President Geoffroy, it was a tumultuous first year for him. Budget cuts were tough yet again, and he was forced to make a lot of difficult decisions after the Legislature failed to adequately supply the university with resources.

But many still agree, Geoffroy looks like he’s here to help the student body.

A year of budget cuts, a year of tragedy, a year of ups and downs and everything in-between. This past year truly was a year to remember.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Charlie Weaver, Omar Tesdell