Before treading off too far into the new year, I felt like taking a quick walk down memory lane recently in regards to major events around Radford University. I picked out what I thought were the top four stories of the year and named a few honorable mentions as well. I hope you all enjoy this one as I had fun deciding what goes where and writing it.

4. The unofficial Quadfest: The cancellation of Radford University's annual drink-and-get-arrested festival did not stop students from creating their own Quadfest this past spring and continuing the tradition. A total of 349 charges were issued and 36 arrests were made, according to an April 19 issue of The Tartan.

The event had been sponsored in the past by RU's Campus Activities Board and Black Awareness Program before the groups withdrew support for the drinkfest this time around.

The police response was due to a higher presence by the Radford City Police Department. While the events took place, officers patrolled the city in police cars and bikes as well as on foot. Although some of those caught by the RCPD were RU students, most of those who were brought downtown or issued charges were from out of the area, RCPD Chief Gary Harmon told The Tartan in the same issue.

Despite the best attempts to keep the tradition going, the general consensus was that the quality of Quadfest was lower than it had been in previous years, and that there were fewer people participating--certainly a good sign to those looking to combat Radford's image of being a party school and student drinking in general.

3. Penelope Kyle's inauguration: Although she had been with the university in the President's office since the summer of 2005, Penelope W. Kyle was formally inaugurated in mid-October in front of a crowd that waited in front of McConnell Library. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was present at the event as a guest, as was Virginia Tech's Charles Steger.

Both delivered keynote speeches at the event.

But the highlight was not the big faces brought in by the university or even the event itself. It was the story behind the event. Kyle was RU's first female president and the university helped celebrate the significance of it by holding a symposium entitled "Women's Leadership in a Global Society." The highlighted speakers of that event were Ann Holton, Dr. Jehan Sadat and Dr. Maya Angelou. Angelou is perhaps most remembered for having a part in former President Clinton's 1993 inauguration as a featured poet. Holton is the First Lady of Virginia while Sadat has been influential in women's movements around the world, primarily in Egypt.

Although the selection of faces for the event was criticized by some as being somewhat poor because none of the three women were in specific leadership roles, the general idea behind the symposium and behind the importance of Kyle's inauguration was that society had continued to once against recognize the importance of women in leadership positions by allowing Kyle to serve as Radford University's president.

2. The graduation of Whit Holcomb-Faye: Not since the 1993 season (when Doug Day, the then-Division I career leader in three-point shots and RU's all-time scoring champion, graduated) had Radford University had a player on its men's basketball team as talented as guard Whit Holcomb-Faye. The Winston-Salem, N.C.-native had found himself in the midst of trouble during his junior season and played only 19 games as a result, but put his career back on track the following year, playing 29 games his senior season and averaging 23.1 points, four assists and 2.9 rebounds per game.

Holcomb-Faye was the unquestioned leader of the Highlander basketball team and the go-to option on Head Coach Byron Samuels' offense and left the program in second on its all-time scoring list behind Day. He had six games of 30 points or more, and in two of them scored 37, his career high.

After leaving the program, Holcomb-Faye traveled overseas to play basketball in Europe and has been seeing a reasonable amount of success playing for a team out of Germany.

1. Jesus Christ, campus and all points in between: Although the controversy over Whim Internet Magazine's cartoon series "Christ on Campus" had been raging on for more than a semester since the toon debuted in fall 2005, it never reached the level it did this spring. Sparked by email and phone contacts between various local figures, the eyes and ears of the local news media fell upon Radford University and its debate on First Amendment rights, good taste and the proper portrayal of Jesus Christ.

CBS's local affiliate was the first to pick up the story and ran a segment the evening of Feb 23. The Roanoke Times followed suit two days later, and ran it on the top of its Feb. 25 front page. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and was published in numerous newspapers the same day across the state of Virginia, including the Charlottesville Daily Progress and the Danville Register-Bee. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Washington Times published the AP reprint a day later. The story reached as far as newsstands in India and lasted until Spring Break (Mar. 11-19), when the opposition's primary spokesman, freshman Blake Fought, went down with a major illness that forced him to the sidelines for the rest of the semester and far into the summer. As a result, any further actions that could have been taken were ended.

Other highlights of the controversy were a segment by ABC's local affiliate that many charged was biased towards the side of those in opposition to the cartoon and a forum sponsored by RU's Philosophy and Religious Studies Club that was highlighted by speeches by Fought and toon creator and artist Christian Keesee.

Keesee, a sophomore at the time, argued that there was nothing wrong with the series, citing FOX's Family Guy as an example of the mainstream using Christ as a figure from which laughs could be drawn. In a speech that lasted a few seconds over the allotted time, Fought argued that while free speech is an important issue, the media should take good taste into consideration before publishing content. He also selected a handful of moments in the series that portrayed Christ in an incorrect sense according to the Bible.

Despite the best efforts of the opposition, "Christ on Campus" continued to run throughout the rest of the spring semester and into the fall, but not at the frequency that it had before. Keesee remains an active contributor to Toon section of Whim while Fought runs the Sports section of RU's published newspaper, The Tartan, and occasionally submits photography to the internet magazine to be used in the headers for its various sections. (The photography can be seen at the following links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.)

Honorable mentions: Former Insights Editor of The Tartan Brian Erskine sparks controversy by labeling homosexuality as a sinful act in a Tartan editorial; the debut of RUnderground; Blake Fought named Sports Editor of The Tartan; Men's rugby captures the state title; Noelle Selb and Michael Conner serve as Editor-in-Chiefs of The Tartan; Byron Samuels resigns as Head Coach of men's basketball; Martin Mash voted president of Student Government Association; Volleyball posts nine-win season after totaling 10 wins in the past three seasons; Escaped convict William Morva causes chaos, panic around Virginia Tech and the rest of the New River Valley.

Photo Credit: Roanoke Times (Student--lead photo, Keesee--Keesee/Fought), Roanoke Times care of Whim Internet Magazine (Christ on Campus--lead photo), Radford University (Kyle--lead photo), Blake Fought (Holcomb-Faye--lead photo, Fought--Keesee/Fought, Holcomb-Faye--team shot)