The University announced on Friday that it would terminate its business relationship with Russell Athletics due to concerns over labor violations and anti-union practices. While we applaud the decision of the University, the decision is largely due to the efforts of student groups and recent activism. The University should have the responsible foresight to sever ties with violating companies before students rise up in protest.

During the presidential election the domestic policy of most concern to voters, other than the economy, was healthcare. President Obama ran on a campaign of implementing sweeping healthcare reform aimed at improving both efficiency and access. House Majority Whip James Clyburn has been quoted as saying it is better for reform to occur, “incrementally, than to go out and just bite something you can't chew,” to which Speaker Pelosi had to rebut. While the current financial crisis may offer an opportunity to move towards universal coverage and an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, it is more likely that Obama’s first term (at least the first fiscal year) will be witness to incremental reform.

January 20th marked a new page in American politics, as well as the equally-celebrated turning of an old one. President Obama is inheriting obstacles whose solutions well surpass the power of any one individual. If we expect a new president, new cabinet or new government to fix all of our problems and mend all of our wounds, we are simply naïve.