The school year is winding down, and it has been a year to remember.

We decided to look back on the year and give thumbs up or down to major issues that surfaced time and again in university news.

Veishea, not surprisingly, is one aspect of Iowa State that caused controversy among students this year, just as it has the last three years since the celebration went dry.

To the people who gave their time and energy to put Veishea together and maintain the 77-year tradition, a thumbs up. It took a lot of dedication and hard work to make Veishea happen, and despite that effort, people still just don’t seem to care or know what Veishea is all about. To them and to the event’s inevitable demise, we give a thumbs down.

To another brave group of people, we give a big thumbs up for standing up for their beliefs even if they weren’t in the majority. The creators of the faculty petition against ISU President Martin Jischke may not have gotten enough signatures to get the review of his performance they wanted, but they made the administration realize a small group of people can make a valid point.

Those who dismissed the petition as the whining of malcontents deserve a thumbs down.

And so does the Iowa Legislature for pretty much everything it did regarding higher education this year.

Representatives, like Rosemary Thomson, may have had the students’ best interests at heart when proposing the alcohol-free dorms and parental notification bills. However, legislators managed to hurt students by trying to pass a blanket law to solve an isolated problem.

The state’s attempt to give the regent universities less money than they requested put students low on their list of priorities, threatening tuition increases in the double digits.

Students who protested these state bills and threats get a thumbs up for standing up for our best interests. However, we still have to give a thumbs down for the spelling errors.

The Government of the Student Body did a good job drawing more student interest this year, doubling the turnout in this spring’s elections. Thumbs up to that effort.

But we have to give a thumbs down for confusing the students. While GSB represented students by protesting issues such as the tuition hike, they poorly represented themselves with mockeries such as the hat-banning bill.

The Department of Residence gets a thumbs up for slowing down and further explaining the Master Plan. What the plan has already accomplished is a bit of a mixed bag.

The renovation of Maple Hall made it a much more likable and livable place, but only the people who live there reap the benefits. While it’s great for them, it’s wasteful spending for the rest of the university.

And finally, to President Jischke, we have to give a thumbs down in accordance with many of the protests raised against him this year: the faculty petition, the call.to/jischke Web site, and the refusal to let students have any real bearing on whether Veishea would be alcohol free.

Although not everything was positive this year, it’s certainly one to remember.

Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas, Carrie Tett and David Roepke.