Goodbyes come in two-year cycles for me. Four years ago, I was hugging high school friends (my first real friends), scared to death of a future that seemed way too real and somewhat lonely. Two years afterward, I said goodbye to a whole new set of real friends as I transferred from Regis University, dreading my departure from them, yet eager to find a university experience that matched the hopes and dreams I had held since graduation 1997. Two years and a millennium later, here go the goodbyes all over again. And I have to say goodbye to a college experience that outdid any dream I could have ever imagined at the age of 17.

So here come those not so famous last words, interspersed with a few nods and thank yous.

To begin with, Saint Louis University is a great school. Please make no mistake about that. Sure, we as students get angry, frustrated or downright belligerent at times about the way things run here. Some of those concerns are warranted, while others are simply products of our own longing to take the last bit of control of our destinies and really grow up. I hate to believe it, but I am afraid that there will always be those metaphorical “Residence Life Offices” that will make our lives more difficult than necessary. The fact that some of us already have experience fighting those battles is part of what makes SLU, with its “shared governance” and vocal student representatives, so valuable.

Now you know that I couldn’t walk out of here without a few more tidbits of advice. These might seem a little out of the blue, but please, take them seriously. I do.

First, I thank facilities services for putting that sand volleyball pit down where those pesky palm trees used to be. But take it from me, please don’t use that thing. At least not in bare feet. For the last couple weeks as we have waited for the summer recreation area to open up, that pit has been used for other purposes. You might have noticed that our filled-to-capacity dumpsters have attracted numerous stray cats. That’s right, you’re thinking the same way I am. That “volleyball” pit has turned into the largest litter box this side of the Mississippi. I am not making this up. I have seen this at least five times walking to the Village. Take this advice or watch your step.

For those of you who love to sunbathe or study by the Dolphin Pond, look out. I really hate to destroy this tradition of mixing sun, books and water, but we may be witnessing the effects of having Monsanto just down the road. This Monday one of my classes met outside, and two of my classmates sat in a clover patch. When one found a four-leaf clover, we were all pretty excited. But when she found five more in the next two minutes, and two five-leaf clovers, we became a bit shaken. According to a colleague who has studied the Manhattan Project, the scientists there took such findings as signs of radioactivity. So the next time, don’t worry about the stains on the back of your shorts; just ask, “Is my butt glowing?” I WISH I were making that up.

But finally, let’s get serious for just a bit. It has usually been my intention to provide a perspective on issues that students may not receive from MTV, ESPN or even the evening news. Rarely have I written with the intent of making every single one of my readers change their minds, though I will admit that in a few columns I might have had such high hopes. I think that I achieved my purpose, and hopefully I did so in a somewhat entertaining way. But if you have read no other columns, remember this is almost always the point. Achieve justice. Sometimes social justice, sometimes legal justice, and sometimes justice even for the students. People have become confused about the definition of justice. They associate it with a political party, the “left”, hippies, tree huggers or even communists. But justice is not some abstract, incomprehensible, utopian idea. I think that if you look back through the last 57 issues, you will see examples of how justice comes to life in issues that are easy to see the right and wrong, and issues that have solutions.

But there are many who have lost sight of the goal. Last week I heard a quote that shook me to my core. A fellow Senator said, “We want an orderly society, not a just society.”

This is a prime example of someone who thinks that justice is a hippie, liberal thing. In reality, if the speaker had really looked at what justice is, he would have seen that if we want an orderly society, we want a just society. May I point out that Hitler, Stalin and Caesar all wanted an orderly society but had no concern for justice. Interesting leaders this person was aligning himself with. Aiming at order without justice is dealing with the ends of society’s problems and ignoring the means by which those problems are created. If you want peace, order, equal opportunity or prosperity for all, start by seeking justice. And that’s the point.

Before I go, thank you to all who have offered suggestions and support. It is because of you that I was able to do this every week. Thank you to Dan Kozlowski and The University News for giving me this chance in the first place. Thanks to Jay Perry and the SGA for being role models in the arena of leadership. Thank you to my parents for always being my ultimate critics and fans.

To Sigma Phi Epsilon, the most respected group of men on campus. When people ask me why I bought my friends, I smile and say, “Because God only gave me one brother for free.”

To Michelle, Chang, Cat, Jim (the student formally known as Jeff), and all of the others; you guys made the work that college dishes out more fun than a Yankee/BoSox double header, and I love you for it.

And to my sweetheart, Christine, for sharing in all the pains and joys of this job and of life.

And thank you to the SLU family, the environment and setting that has made all my dreams come true, and that makes everything seem possible. Whether I become a mayor in Louisiana, a newsman or (God forbid) a politician, I will always take you with me. God bless, and remember, may all we do be Ad Majorem Dei Glorium.