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Welcome back. (Or, for those of you who are new, welcome!) We hope you’ve had a relaxing summer. Apparently, life on The Hill continues even when we’re not there to live it. But we certainly do not expect you to follow every Cornell discovery, shift in C.U. administration and campus-related criminal conviction while at a distance, so we’ll sum it up for you. Over the next two days, The Sun will provide you with the Cliff’s Notes version of Summer, 2006 in Ithaca, New York:

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We have a challenge for you: wherever you are, be there. So now, for example, you are about to start at Cornell. You will be in cow country. You will be in a place unusually addicted to caffeine. You will be at a school with so much spirit, it didn’t see fit to just make its mascot an animal and call it a day — no, your future school has laid claim to an entire primary color (Go Big Red!). You are about to be at a college with as wide an array of course offerings and activities as any college has.

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So long, farewell, we'll even say goodbye. That's right, this is our last issue of this semester. Tomorrow is Slope Day, which means that this installment of Heroes and Villains will be used for little more than mopping up puke. But no matter, we give our opinion for free, anyway. So without further adieu, a VILLAINOUSLY-HEROIC year in review.

The scene was memorable and symbolic: Sports Editor J.V. Anderton '01 poring word-by-word over the pages that will appear in Friday's Football Pullout. What was so memorable and symbolic about that? He did it by candle-light (six, to be precise), with his eyes squinting and his face barely three inches away from the flats.

In this evolving world of amazing technology, it is easy to forget just how dependent we are on something as simple (or at least, what now seems to us so simple) as electricity. Last night, for those of us fortunate enough to be at The Sun, the necessity and importance of electricity was never so evident.

The life of a cigarette smoker is becoming increasingly restricted, with a federal ban on the sale of flavored tobacco, a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and more locally, a ban on all tobacco sales at Wegmans. Soon, Ithaca may take smoking matters into its own hands by making 50 percent of the Commons a smoke-free zone. Though the legislation will be met with some harsh criticism, we support the move as it will serve to protect the people of Ithaca, more so than restrict them.

As the Sep. 30 deadline for internal reviews of departments and colleges quickly approaches, the University — including administrators and faculty — must respect the interest of students and remember the positive impact students’ ideas can muster. Day Hall needs only to look at the Department of Architecture to find an example of the positive impact students can have on the future of a college.

Stop the presses! The semi-HEROIC Inter-Fraternity Council has placed a hold on open parties! No beer pong? No throngs of HEROIC freshmen earnestly seeking drinks, older dudes to make out with and, well, that’s about it? What will we ever do without HEROIC frat parties?! Oh, wait a second, what's that? The IFC has revoked the moratorium?! Hip-hip-hurray! Freshmen girls watch out — don’t drink the “Grey Goose” while on the “official house tour.”

It was with open arms that we welcomed President Barack Obama to upstate New York on Monday. Unfortunately, Obama’s powerful message to our region got lost in the absurd political melodrama that has played out in Albany in recent months.

Rather than focus on the substantive things Obama said, news coverage of Obama’s visit has fixated on his “awkward” interaction with Gov. David Paterson. Obama was not in New York to rehash what he said about Paterson a few days ago, when the White House urged Paterson to end his gubernatorial pursuit. Instead, Obama visited a community college in Troy, N.Y. to emphasize the importance of higher education and research in the effort to rebuild New York’s economy.

If this isn’t the end of the world, we don’t know what is. Between the VILLAINOUS rumors of departments merging, majors consolidating and swine taking over, we’re placing bets on what will be the last straw that makes this HEROIC University break ...

Before we get to the knitty gritty, though, we have a bone to pick with those VILLAINOUS fratstars who beheaded a pig in the name of the swine. Just because your HEROIC Keystone bro fests were canceled for a week, does not make it kosher to slaughter a pig. We are, however, somewhat amused by the HEROICALLY academic approach that was taken. It’s so totally Cornell for a VILLAINOUS frat prank to include a literary reference from our favorite novel from AP English.

As the University scrutinizes over how to minimize a $135 million deficit, we have repeatedly called for transparency on the part of the administration as it “Reimagines” Cornell. Equally pivotal to this relationship, however, is that students take a real interest in the drastic, yet inevitable, changes taking place.

Future cuts are far from set in stone. Rather, colleges and departments are currently completing extensive internal reviews, with a deadline of Sept. 30 to submit suggestions to the provost about future cuts. It is critical that students think about what they value in their university and make their voices heard.