This year was full of ups and downs for Tigers all over campus.LSU athletics received mixed ratings this year but was successful overall.After a 41-14 dismantling of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the BCS national championship in January, the LSU football team suffered many setbacks in a dismal season. The season ended on a sour note after an ugly loss at Arkansas last week, leaving the Tigers at 7-5 in the regular season and 3-5 in the SEC. But LSU somehow still managed to claim bowl eligibility.Both the men’s and women’s golf teams are nationally ranked. The gymnastics, soccer and volleyball teams are all coming off successful seasons.Die-hard purple and gold fans now turn to basketball coaches Van Chancellor and Trent Johnson to resurrect the spirits of the LSU faithful. And baseball fans look to coach Paul Mainieri to repeat his successes after a largely unexpected trip to the College World Series.Athletics aside, the Tiger faithful still had much to celebrate.LSU celebrated one of its most successful academic years ever as newly installed chancellor Michael Martin announced the University was ranked in the top tier as one of the nation’s best universities in the 2009 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Colleges.The Paul M. Hebert Law Center also moved into top-tier status, climbing from 91 to 88 in the 2009 U.S. News and World Report Rankings of Best Graduate Schools.The University has much more to celebrate in the pursuit of its Flagship Agenda. Freshmen ACT scores are on the rise as is diverse and intense recruiting.As the semester began, we braced ourselves for another potentially devastating hurricane — and came together as a community to protect ourselves from Gustav. Under the leadership of Gov. Bobby Jindal, University students joined other Louisianians across the state to work tirelessly and selflessly in largely successful recovery efforts — with only a few minor hiccups.We also witnessed the culmination of what seemed to be a never-ending election season. Bill Cassidy defeated incumbent Rep. Don Cazayoux — with the help of Michael Jackson — for the prized seat in the 16th congressional district. Sen. Mary Landrieu held on to her seat in the Senate after a tough battle with John Kennedy.And after nearly two years of constant campaigning by both parties, we saw a decade-long quest for the White House come to an end in November. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., watched election returns from the Barry Goldwater suite in his home state. This was the same suite where Goldwater, the man who articulated the modern conservative movement, saw his own hopes for the White House crumble.Sen. Barry Goldwater saw his hopes for the presidency dashed much the same way McCain did. Goldwater was defeated in an electoral landslide by Barack Obama’s ideological predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson, a tough-minded Democrat focused on social progress.More than two decades later Goldwater watched a more powerful figure emerge in Ronald Reagan, who united the four heads of conservatism — the neoconservatives, the libertarians, the Religious Right and traditionalists — under one coalition, according to James W. Ceasar.McCain, like Goldwater, was the torch-bearer of his party’s standard in a turbulent time. Only time will tell if history will repeat itself in a similar circumstance.One thing is certain: Sarah Palin is not the last best hope of the Republican Party. As conservatives search for the next Ronald Reagan, many top Republican thinkers are turning to Louisiana’s very own governor for answers.2008 might have been the year the Democrats finally put the final nail in the Republican coffin. But it also might be the year Republicans experience a rebirth, purging itself of incompetence and hypocrisy to restore meaning to the cause.This was the year Louisiana elected its first Indian-American governor, who is also the second non-white to hold the office since Reconstruction.Jindal’s election, itself a forerunner to the progress witnessed at the election of President-elect Barack Obama, was no small feat. He became one of only a handful of non-white governors in the nation’s history — and he did it in the South, the birthplace of segregation and the battleground of the civil rights movement.Americans of all colors and creeds continue to celebrate the peaceful transition of power as we watch the ascendancy of a minority to the highest office in the land.No matter your political party, one can’t help but wonder if we’re somehow turning the page, whether on a local or national level.—-Contact Daniel Lumetta at [email protected]