On the nationa scene, if you ask someone about Baylor they will probably mention one of two things: manipulating the SAT and bribing students in order to get a higher national ranking or the noose.

The story about the administration paying freshman to retake the SAT broke first in the Lariat back in early September. Updates were published almost daily for a week or more, including  editorials from both individuals and the staff until the story made it to the New York Times. That's right, the New York Times wrote a story about Baylor administrators trying to beat the system to get a higher national ranking. They did new interviews and everything for their story, it was pretty legit. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy to be a Baylor Bear, huh?

Most recently - and I do mean recently - a noose was found hanging on a tree outside of Morrison Hall. It was found Tuesday morning, possibly by someone not too happy with recent polling results election-wise. Baylor NAACP and Baylor Assocation of Black Students met to discuss the issue of racism on campus. An issue brought to the national level when CNN - yeah, CNN - covered the story. Other, more explicit confrontations between Obama and McCain supporters have been reported by the Baylor Lariat this week also.

Just when you hear that criminal acts and drug and alcohol offenses are down at Baylor, stories like these surface. Hopefully not much else can happen before the semester ends.