An honor to serve

By the third week of publication, we were all seasoned veterans. By the fourth week, we were trying to catch up in classes.\nThe Fall 2000 Indiana Daily Student staff wraps up its semester today. We've tried from the beginning to write about what matters -- from coverage of our soccer team's final four run to the local music scene. But 10 years from now, what we'll remember are two stories -- basketball legend Bob Knight's firing and the still undetermined presidential election.\nThe irony is, at the beginning of the semester, I thought I missed the big basketball story. I spent my summer working at a newspaper in Frankfort, Ky. I watched the Neil Reed incident play out into Knight's agreement to abide by the zero-tolerance standard.\nBut Sept. 8, Knight gave a freshman a lesson in manners. Then all hell broke loose. The next thing I knew, sports editor Peter Newmann, basketball beat reporter Heather Dinich and I were in an Assembly Hall office, interviewing Knight about the incident. For this native Hoosier, Knight was a boyhood hero. Every kid from my area grew up shooting hoops and hoping to play for "The General."\nSept. 10, IU President Myles Brand decided to fire Knight for violating the agreement. Riots ensued on campus, including groups of students who tore the fish out of Showalter Fountain, tore down a goalpost at Memorial Stadium (the only time that happened during the four years of IU football I witnessed) and burned Brand and the freshman in effigy.\nOur reporters were running through the crowd, calling in on cell phones to report the latest vandalism target. Our photographers were warriors; one had his camera smashed, and another got hit with a nightstick by police in riot gear.\nThe newsroom resembled a train wreck, with our basketball reporters calling in from Indy, editors scrambling for copy and designers furiously working in backshop. In the end, we produced a special four-page section and an opinion page completely devoted to the day's events. I've never been more proud of this paper.\nWe've stuck with the story -- from Knight's farewell address and the lawsuit that developed out of our report about possible public access violations by the trustees in a secret meeting to new coach Mike Davis' background and season thus far.\nOur other big story hasn't been resolved yet. On election night Nov. 7, we had reporters in Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tenn. to cover the presidential race. When World Editor Sheila Lalwani developed our coverage plan, she knew it would be a close race. Our reporters covered debates in St. Louis and Danville, Ky., and localized countless stories to make the election more meaningful.\nBut this ongoing legal battle and virtual tie between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore wasn't expected by anyone. A month later, we still don't have a winner, much to Lalwani's disappointment. I can see the next generation studying this race in its history books, but unfortunately, we've run out of time, and we won't know the winner when we publish for the last time today. Check out idsnews.com; we'll update a winner as soon as one of them gives up (or exhausts every possible legal option).\nFor the 33 fall editors and myself, this is the end of the line. We've been privileged to bring events to you as they unfold, to watchdog University decisions and serve you five times a week. Managing editor Brooke Ruivivar is taking over the helm this spring. She's one of the most talented journalists I know, and here's to hoping her semester will be a little calmer.\nI'm off to actually make a class for once, and spend some time with much-neglected friends. Different faces will man our editorial desks. But our coverage of what matters to you won't change. Keep picking us up out of that box every morning, writing letters to the editor and sending press releases -- and maybe, just maybe, one day we'll have a president to report about.