You’ve worked your butt off for the past four or more years, and it is finally time for graduation. Your gown has been purchased, you’re finishing up finals, and you may even have a job already. But with the joys of graduation come the frustrations of the expenses associated with living on your own, paying student loans, and holding down a job.

But the most common mistake that new graduates make is not planning their finances. You’ll be making more money; so many graduates are tempted to spend their extra dough as though they are millionaires. The first time newly employed graduates touche their first professional paycheck, visions of new cars and shopping sprees at the local mall start dancing through their heads. For recent graduates, the old saying of “earn more, spend more” usually holds true. Don’t allow yourself to fall into this trap that can create greater debt and keep you from reaching your financial goals. Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way to financial independence after graduation.

1. Pay off your debt. Most college students leave with at least some amount of student loans and/or credit card debt. Make paying off this debt your first priority after getting a job. Think about consolidating your student loans so you only have to worry about one payment each month. In addition, the sooner you pay off this debt, the less money you’ll be throwing away on interest accumulations. The longer you wait to pay, the more interest you’ll have to pay down the road.

2. Manage your expectations. All throughout college we’ve been hearing about the “real world” we will be launched into upon graduation. This brave new world includes new cars, apartments, independence, lots of money, and maybe even weddings. What we sometimes forget to think about is the expenses associated with all of these great things. New car? Try $200 per month at least. Apartment? Think $500 per month minimum (not including utilities). All of these great things cost money, so try to temper your expectations from the start so you don’t set yourself up for failure. Yes, you’ll be earning a lot more money when you begin working full time, but you will also have many more expenses that you expect to go along with that newfound cash.

3. Automate your savings. Automation makes creating good saving habits easy. Odds are your new employer will have a direct deposit system for your paycheck. This allows your money to be put directly into your checking or savings account. Direct deposit systems will usually allow you to specify a certain amount of money that can be transferred into each account. For example, rather than having all of your money transferred to your checking account (where it will probably be spent), have $200 per paycheck automatically go into your savings account. Commit to spending only the money in your checking account, and leave the money in your savings account to earn interest and be used only in case of an emergency. Using direct deposit to your advantage can take the money for savings out of your paycheck before you even miss it – making saving money easy.

4. Invest in a 401(k). Once you’ve automated your savings and are in control of your bills, you may have noticed you have money left over. Rather than buying a brand new car with your saved cash, think about investing. Most employers will offer a 401(k) plan to help you save for retirement. Take advantage of this option as soon as possible. In many cases, companies will match your contributions to the plan up to a certain percentage of income or dollar amount invested. This is free money, and you should accept it without question. Invest in your 401(k) at least to the limit of your employer match. So, for example, if your employer matches 50% of contributions up to 3% of income, invest 6% of your income into your 401(k) in order to take full advantage of the matching funds.

5. Make a plan, but be flexible. It’s important to think about your future and have a vision of where you want to be financially in two, five, 10, and even 20 years. Come up with a number of goals to attain for each of those time frames. For each goal, determine what you will need for its achievement. This doesn’t have to be exact, and without much experience in the workplace, you shouldn’t expect it to be. Now that you have your plan, expect obstacles preventing you from reaching your goals, but also expect things that will require you to change your expectations, much like the first point above. It’s important to be flexible, because life has a habit of finding its own course.

6. You only live once. Of course, it’s important to think about the future and make the wisest possible financial decisions. But this is your life, and it’s the only one you get. Balance your future plans with making the most out of today’s experiences. Remember that money isn’t the most important thing in the world, but it does let you do some amazing things.

It’s official: football is making a return to Wrigley Field.

The Chicago Cubs and Northwestern U. held a press conference at Wrigley Field on Thursday to announce a football game between U. Illinois and Northwestern at the Friendly Confines on Nov. 20.

Representatives from the Cubs, Wildcats and Chicago Bears were on hand to speak in detail about the event, which has been in the works for about two years.

The contest will be the first football game at Wrigley Field since the Bears called it home from 1921 to 1970. Illinois and Northwestern played at Wrigley in 1923.

The football field will run from right field to the third-base dugout. The biggest issue for this game was safety.

“I know (safety) was the one thing that (Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther) had mentioned was that – the safety,” Illinois head coach Ron Zook told the media Friday. “There’s a tight corner or two, but they’ll do the things that they have to do for the safety of the players and obviously they’re not gonna put the players’ safety in jeopardy.”

The football field will barely fit on the Wrigley Field surface – the fencing around the dugout will be removed and plywood, sand and dirt will extend the playing surface to be regulation length.

“The critical question really remained before we could even talk about whether we could get a deal done was could we safely, in this environment, put a regulation football field at Wrigley Field?” Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips said.

Tickets will be handled similarly to normal Northwestern home games. The Wildcats will have more than 30,000 tickets, while 8,000 will be split between the Cubs and Illini. Illinois will likely have 3,000 tickets for the game, leaving the Cubs with 5,000 tickets.

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald doesn’t buy into the theory that Illini fans will buy up all of Northwestern’s tickets and fill Wrigley Field with orange shirts.

“I believe, contrary to some popular beliefs, that this place will be purple and white,” Fitzgerald said. “I expect all 30,000 to be purple and white, otherwise people will get a personal e-mail and a knock on the door from me.”

Zook thinks Illinois fan attendance for the Wrigley game will be similar to when the Illini play Northwestern at Ryan Field, when plenty of orange can be seen in the stands.

“I hope to see a lot of orange and blue,” Zook said. “I know when we played up there before there was a lot of orange and blue, so that would hopefully be the same way.

The locker rooms were another logistical problem for officials to tackle. Baseball locker rooms are not built to accommodate the number of players on a football roster.

“There will be a staging area with their pads and uniforms, and then I’m not sure if the entire club will dress in one place or they’ll dress in some auxiliary rooms,” Cubs president Crane Kenney said.

The football game follows a recent trend of Wrigley Field hosting non-baseball events. Live music concerts and the 2009 NHL Winter Classic between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings have brought more variety to the Confines.

“We like to stretch our skin a little bit,” Kenney said. “The concerts in ’05 were the first time we tried it, and then hockey was next. There’s been a lot of different events here … there’s been ski jumping, there’s been rodeo, there’s been boxing.”

Zook and Guenther, who Kenney called two “cheerleaders” for the Wrigley game, have been on board with the plan from the start.

“I do think it’ll be an exciting venue to play in, and I think our fans will enjoy it,” Zook said.

“For most of the 20th century, people fled the ghosts of communist dictators, and now you are bringing the ghosts back into this chamber,” said Rep Devin Nunes, referring to President Obama’s health care overhaul. In response, CNN pundit Roland Martin said, “That’s just stuck-on stupid.” According to Martin, opponents of Obama’s agenda are “nutcases” who “couldn’t spell communism, socialism, much less identify it.”

My mother and father, who, unlike Roland Martin, have lived under communist despots for 27 and 26 years respectively, did not share CNN’s views on Obamacare. “It’s as if (Rep. Nunes) stole the words from my mouth,” said my father, who fled from Polish communism in 1989. CNN pundits simply cannot comprehend why people who have experienced the receiving end of “social justice” do not respond warmly to statist “solutions” to health care.

If President Obama intended to reduce health care costs, he would pass tort reform to reduce the damage done by ambulance-chasing lawyers, allow people to carry health care across state lines and remove the over 1,900 mandates causing those premiums to increase. More federal employees, more government dependency, more Democrat votes.

Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos, who recently gave the health care overhaul his approval, believes the bill will alleviate the medical center’s budgetary leakage: One in five patients who seek care at VU Medical Center are uninsured and cannot pay and, by federal law, cannot be turned down. And he will profit, at least for a while. The CBO’s trillion-dollar estimate, however, is flawed in that it does not take into account that the idea of “free health care” will lead to massive overuse. Budgetary shortfalls in Obamacare will inevitably lead the federal government to default on payments to providers. Instead of receiving 80 percent of the costs of medical procedures, Zeppos will have to settle for 75, then 55, then 15 and so on.

But fear not, comrades — Indiana, under conservative governance, has already pioneered the solution to Obama’s seizure of the health care industry. Health savings accounts, optional for the state’s public-sector employees, have exploded in popularity since their inception, while dramatically driving down costs. The program will save the state some $8 million dollars in 2010 and has bolstered policy-holders’ salaries by $30 million.

In Russia, where health care is “free” and hospitals are nationalized, doctors are the second-lowest paid profession (after teachers). Professor Konstantin Kustanovich of Vanderbilt remarked of Russian hospitals, “I could tell you horror stories.” Unless Indiana goes to Washington, comrade, that won’t be necessary.

—Mike Durakiwicz is a Vanderbilt U. sophmore.

U. Oklahoma made history as former Sooners were taken as three of the top four picks in the NFL Draft on Thursday night in New York City.

As expected, the St. Louis Rams selected Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford with the first pick.

After former Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was taken second by the Detroit Lions, two former Sooners were taken in the third and fourth spot.

All-American defensive tackle Gerald McCoy went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, followed by offensive tackle Trent Williams to the Washington Redskins.

With Bradford, Suh, McCoy, Williams and sixth-pick Russell Okung of Oklahoma State, the Big 12 started the evening with five of the first six selections.

OU ended the night with four first-round picks after Cincinnati selected All-American tight end Jermaine Gresham with the 21st pick.

Head football coach Bob Stoops said the night was a statement for the program.

“I am just overwhelmed and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to get to know these guys and coach them,” Stoops said. “To think that four guys who came in as members of the same recruiting class went in the first 21 picks is amazing.”

Thursday’s festivities come a year after no Sooners were selected in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

The first Sooner chosen in 2009 was offensive tackle Phil Loadholt at the 54th spot to the Minnesota Vikings in the second round.

Bradford and Gresham both opted to enter this year’s draft after injuries sidelined the players for almost the entire 2009 season.

Bradford was sidelined for all but three games as repeated injuries to his AC shoulder joint ended the possibility of a return.

Gresham missed the entire season with a knee injury, ending his collegiate career five touchdowns short of former wide receiver Mark Clayton’s career record of 31.

In 2008, Bradford led the Sooners to a 12-2 record as the team broke the NCAA record for most points scored in a single season with 702 points.

Bradford also earned the Davey O’Brien Award, the Sammy Baugh Trophy and the Heisman Trophy, becoming the fifth Sooner to win the award after Billy Vessels (1952), Steve Owens (1969), Billy Sims (1978) and Jason White (2003).

As a junior, Gresham caught 66 receptions for 950 yards and scored a team-leading 14 touchdowns in garnering All-America honors from multiple media outlets.

McCoy had a year left of collegiate eligibility, but chose to forgo his senior season and enter the draft after earning enough credits to earn his degree in human relations this spring.

Williams was named a first-team All-American as a senior, ending the year as arguably the top professional prospect at offensive tackle.

Pat Fitzgerald walked into the press room in Raymond James Stadium with a steely resolve. On fourth-and-goal with the game—and Northwestern U.’s 61-year bowl drought—hanging in the balance, the 35-year-old coach had called one of the most audacious plays in school history. The play failed, but there was not a hint of sorrow in Fitzgerald’s voice.

“I would do it again,” Fitzgerald said. “But next time I’d score and we would be celebrating.”

Speculation ensued in Evanston. Where did the play come from? What was he thinking? Why not put the ball in the hands of his star quarterback, Mike Kafka?

In a column printed in The Chicago Tribune on Jan. 3, David Haugh offered an answer to doubters.

“This was a call Fitzgerald made from the shoulders down, all guts and heart, and good for him. This may not have been the right call for every team every time, but this was the right call for Northwestern at the moment Fitz made it.”

Fitzgerald has a unique understanding of NU; it’s a comprehension only an insider could possess. One of the most accomplished players in school history, Fitzgerald is the only NU player in the past half-century elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He has played or coached on five of the seven NU teams to make bowl appearances.

Suffice it to say when he decided to call the play—about a “nanosecond” before he actually called it—Fitzgerald knew what was at stake for NU.

“He’s like the guru of the program,” senior linebacker Quentin Davie said. “He knows everything.”

Tragedy Strikes

On the night of June 29, 2006, Fitzgerald received a call from defensive backs coach Jerry Brown. Fitzgerald and Brown, NU’s newest and longest-tenured assistant coaches, respectively, had known each other since Fitzgerald’s playing days one decade earlier. Brown was—and still is—a mentor for Fitzgerald, often advising the young linebackers coach.

But on this night, Brown had no good news. Instead he called to say that Randy Walker, NU’s eighth-year coach, was dead.

What ensued was a whirlwind for all involved. A memorial service was held one week later for the 52-year-old Walker. That same day, Fitzgerald—Walker’s hand-picked successor—was named coach, making him the youngest in Division I.

“I’m determined to continue Coach Walk’s legacy and build upon his successes,” Fitzgerald said at his introductory press conference. “Northwestern will continue to have a football program built upon great work ethic, attitude and investment.”

NU opened its season two months later at Miami (OH)—where Walker had played and coached—with a resounding 21-3 victory. Fitzgerald’s first season didn’t go as smoothly as his first game, and the Cats went on to lose seven of their next eight contests. But NU rebounded, finishing the season on a high note with a win over Illinois.

“It has been a tough year,” Fitzgerald said after the Illinois game. “You just have to trust in the plan, but first you have to trust in yourself. I’m so proud of those guys in that locker room. I know that they trust in themselves, I know that they trust in this program. I’m just really excited in the future.”

THE TRUST FACTOR

Now, Fitzgerald is entering his fifth season as coach. After NU finished 4-8 in Fitzgerald’s first year, the Cats finished at least .500 in each of his three subsequent seasons. The landscape of the Big Ten has changed significantly since 2006, and now Fitzgerald has the fifth most conference experience of all eleven Big Ten coaches.

Fitzgerald has amassed 27 wins since 2006, 22 short of the school record. And there is no end in sight. In April, he signed an extension through the 2015 season, and he has repeatedly stated he is here to stay.

A few months shy of the distinction of “nation’s youngest coach,” Fitzgerald’s youth is on display as he flies around the field, correcting his players and demonstrating proper technique.

“He’s got a more youthful, closer-to-being a-player attitude,” defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz said.

But Fitzgerald is barely the youngest NU alumnus to coach his alma mater. Rick Venturi, a quarterback who graduated in 1968, was hired one decade later to coach the Cats. Venturi won just one game in three years before parting ways to coach in the NFL.

For offensive coordinator Mick McCall, Fitzgerald’s appeal goes further than age. Rather Fitzgerald has been able to do something in four years that other coaches haven’t done in decades at the helm.

“(The players) trust him,” McCall said. “Anytime you’ve developed that trust factor within one another and you’ve got an open line of communication, they’ll do anything for you. And that’s why our guys will play their fannies off for him.”

A Special Season

Fitzgerald was part of the last NU team to make consecutive bowl appearances, but after he left, NU had trouble maintaining a high level of play.

Gary Barnett departed when the Cats finished last in the Big Ten in 1998. It took Walker just two years to win a Big Ten championship, but NU finished 10th in the conference he next two years.

Now the Cats have a chance to do something no NU squad has done before, and the players are well aware.

“This year means everything,” senior cornerback Justan Vaughn said. “Three years in a row (making a bowl game) means we’re here to stay.”

For Fitzgerald the question is not about the 2010 season in particular.It’s about consistent success.

“I’m looking forward to when we stop answering those questions about the first time this and the first time that,” he said. “We’ve got to get over a few more of those hurdles, but our program is moving in the right direction.”

Environmental activist Jean-Michel Cousteau said there are two questions he is often asked: first, if his father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, was skinny because of water pressure (he wasn’t); and second, if he enjoys swimming in an ocean full of sea creatures’ excrement.

“Yes, sorry,” he said to an audience of Northwestern U. and Evanston community members Thursday night at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. “I love to dive in the ocean where all of the fishies are doing their poopies.”

Cousteau, founder of Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society and a self-described environmentalist, educator and film producer, spoke at NU on Earth Day as part of this year’s One Book One Northwestern project. The event was the last speaker the project, coordinated by the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, brought to NU. This year’s chosen book was Thomas Friedman’s “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–And How it Can Renew America.”

University President Morton O. Schapiro opened the event and said Cousteau was an old friend.

“You’re an inspiration to me,” he said. “How the heck did we get you on Earth Day?”

Cousteau said the ocean, representing two-thirds of the planet, is an essential part of everyday life.

“You are skiing on the ocean,” he said. “You’re drinking the ocean.”

He said despite great gains in technology and understanding of the environment in recent years, humans continue to harm the ocean. Climate change and an increase in carbon dioxide emissions are causing acidification of the ocean, he said.

“If we don’t modify our behavior, the skeleton will melt away,” Cousteau said. “It will fall apart. But we can avoid that. It’s not too late.”

Major problems facing the ocean include over-fishing, the destruction of coastal habitats and the release of chemicals affecting marine and ultimately human life, he said. He proposed sustainable farming of plants and herbivore fish in the ocean, intensely protecting important coastal resources such as mangrove forests and carefully managing chemicals people wash down the drain.

Dean of students Burgwell Howard said the event was fantastic.

“I’m one of those people who thought I was going to be a marine biologist,” he said. “One Book got taken to another level this year.”

Cousteau closed with a video of humpback whales and said it was his way of wishing the audience “Happy Earth Day.” He swam with the whales for more than two hours, he said.
“It was very magical,” he said. “You know that for the rest of your life you’re going to do everything you can to make sure that these little kids will have the privilege of having the same experience.”

It’s been a big month for the sport of lacrosse. When the Big City Classic opened New Meadowlands Stadium on April 10, 26,710 people witnessed No. 1 Virginia take on No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Syracuse versus No. 4 Princeton. It was a couple of mega-matchups in a mega-venue.

Yet, with the same teams in the top-10 each year and most of the major conferences absent from the lacrosse world, it’s hard not to wonder whether lacrosse at the Division I level has stagnated.

For quite a few years lacrosse has been considered one of, if not the, fastest-growing sports in America. That growth generally stems from the youth level as lacrosse has spread to parts of the country as part of a grassroots movement. Adolescents tossing the baseball around the diamond have given way to youngsters cradling the lacrosse ball.

While this sport spent much of the 20th century confined to Long Island, upper state New York, New England prep schools and the Metro area, it has exploded at the youth level nationwide, and year by year is getting bigger at the high school level. States like Pennsylvania, which slowly adapted to lacrosse at the turn of the millennium, have seen it go from a prep school sport to one that is sponsored at the varsity level at public schools. The sport is now sanctioned by the state athletic association.

Growth has been astronomical at the youth level and has led to considerable expansion at the high school level, but there are only 56 Division I men’s lacrosse programs, some of which, like Johns Hopkins, compete at lower levels in every other sport. Big names like Duke, Syracuse, Ohio State and Virginia are there, but Michigan, Texas and even ACC schools like Wake Forest are nowhere to be found.

The reason for this lies in the faded football lines on lacrosse fields and in a 1972 federal law.

Football is one of the few sports that doesn’t have an alternative for women. Under Title IX there must be proportional equality in both programs and scholarships. So while big time college football hums along with no equivalent, schools are faced with the decision to cut men’s programs to abide by Title IX. Baseball, wrestling, even track programs are getting cut so that athletic departments can balance football and Title IX.

“In Division I with the Title IX issues and the gender equality issues, if a school is playing big time college football, which a lot do, it’s very difficult to add a sport,” men’s lacrosse Head Coach Dave Urick said. “What you do see is tremendous growth in women’s lacrosse and in women’s crew.”

This might be why Division III lacrosse has seen its number of men’s lacrosse programs double in the past 29 years while Division I has held relatively stagnant, never reaching above 60 programs. Meanwhile, women’s lacrosse has thrived at Northwestern and was just started at football-centric Florida.

But while the interest in lacrosse is there, the money is not.

“You look at the schools that have added the sport over the last five or six years, you’re talking about St John’s, Robert Morris,” said Patrick Stevens, a former Washington Times sports writer, who now runs the blog D1scourse.com. “You’re talking Jacksonville, Presbyterian Detroit, Mercer’s adding the sport next year. You’re talking about non-football schools, private schools, which have an interest in trying to be a little bit different and provide something [that] similar schools might not.”

Take Wake Forest for instance. If Wake Forest, which is one of the eight ACC schools without lacrosse, wants to be successful at both football and lacrosse — assuming being successful means dishing out the full allotment of scholarships — they could be using roughly 97 scholarships for these two sports alone.

Good bye, Demon Deacons’ baseball.

That is not to say that college lacrosse isn’t doing better than ever, because it is.

Games are broadcast weekly on the ESPN “family” of networks. The Final Four has become a huge event over Memorial Day weekend and is broadcast nationally on ESPN. Next year, quarterfinal games will also move to big venues like Gillette Stadium. Events like the Big City Classic or the Day of Rivals at MT&T Stadium have increased the sport’s visibility and the crowds have gotten bigger.

While there may not be a true ACC conference, a big step was taken this year with the formation of the Big East lacrosse conference featuring traditional powers Syracuse and Georgetown and up-and-comer Notre Dame.

Having a true BCS conference definitely adds credibility to the sport, but only time will tell what this does for lacrosse.

One option being thrown around is to reform Title IX so that football is treated as its own beast. This would increase sports at big time football schools, many of whom have football and not much else on the men’s side. The biggest winners in such a situation would be baseball, wrestling and lacrosse, but lacrosse in particular because of its popularity at the youth level.

For the foreseeable future, lacrosse’s presence on ESPN will continue, but the lockout among major athletic departments won’t change until either lacrosse truly begins to churn a profit or Title IX is revisited and revised.

Economic growth does not have to come at the expense of the environment, said José María Figueres, the former president of Costa Rica, in a speech at Duke U. Thursday.

Figueres spoke to students about “Democracy and Environmental Sustainability” at Mi Gente’s first annual United College Conference.

Figueres, now the chief executive officer of social investment company Concordia 21, discussed opportunities in sustainable markets for economic growth in developing Latin America. He emphasized that the economic crisis demonstrated that policy and government, not financial markets, should facilitate a concrete, environmentally-friendly economy.

“During the last 20 years, the markets have been kings,” he said. “But policy is again in the driver’s seat.”

Figueres stressed that the key to creating development opportunities is to shift away from the Latin American paradigm of “banking on the growth of other countries” and profiting from exports to those countries, which are carbon dependent. Instead, developing Latin American nations should go straight to the use of energy-efficient technologies. He said the planet is now resource-constrained, which could facilitate innovation.

“In our countries we don’t need to go the same way in which the developed world has gone about putting together a carbon-intensive economy,” he said. “In our case, we can be constructive and leapfrog directly into the global economy… and that is a great opportunity.”

The former president stressed the immediacy of climate change by targeting students with questions on the environment and incorporating Spanish phrases into his talk.

“[Climate change] is here today. The numbers do not lie. Oil is the equivalent to the global economy that blood is to the human body,” he said. “Do you know the number of vehicles per 1000 people in the United States? 920.”

Despite his emphasis on Latin American development, many students who were not associated with Mi Gente came away from the speech inspired.

“I was very impressed,” said freshman Adiel Mora. “I’m a public policy major, and I never realized what a big role policy will be playing. Now I’m just excited to go reconstruct our policy system.”

Sophomore Linda Li said the speech had caused her to think harder about climate change as a global issue.

“I am interested in climate change, but I wasn’t convinced we were in a crisis,” she said. “[Figueres] gave a lot of good evidence in terms of what we can do. He was not so much pointing fingers as looking forward.”

Junior Luciano Romero, founder of UCC and co-chair of Mi Gente’s Political Affairs Committee, said Figueres was inspirational for urging students to forget the “old way” of business and develop innovative alternatives.

“We wanted to bring academic discussion to political issues in Latin America, especially directed to questions of how in a context of poverty and inequality you bring solutions to climate change,” he said. “He not only painted a picture of Latin America, but he drew from examples for solutions. He was fantastic.”

Budget cuts haven’t prevented U. California-Berkeley administrators from drinking excessively-bottled water, that is. An article in The New York Times last week revealed that the U. California has spent roughly $2 million on brand-name water that has been distributed to the Berkeley and San Francisco campuses in recent years. UC Berkeley paid Arrowhead more than half a million dollars for bottled water in three fiscal years starting in 2006.

In a time when academic programs are being cut and faculty members face furloughs, spending scarce funds on bottled water is frivolous. Not to mention environmentally harmful. We expect the administration to make the right decision and end its contract with Arrowhead-the Bay Area does have pristine tap water, after all.

But bottled water may just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the campus’s unnecessary expenses.

The freelance reporter who wrote the story for The New York Times has attested to the difficulty of tracking line-item spending for the average taxpayer or even students, staff and faculty. Though the university is good about making broad budget overviews publicly available, precise details of where the money actually goes can be extremely hard to find.

Clearly, despite its common references to transparency, the university still has a long way to go. And in a time when there isn’t much money to spare, concerns about expenses that seem small on the surface become that much more important. Small expenses really do add up.

Additionally, the revelation of this unwise expenditure calls into question the administration’s ability to make budget cuts in a logical and fair manner. It seems, in the case of bottled water, that they missed an area of significant potential savings that was right under their own noses.

And though the final report on the Operational Excellence initiative was released last week, line-item expenses like bottled water continue to fly largely under the radar. Making these line-item expenses visible and cutting the obviously unnecessary ones should be more of a priority.

U. California-Berkeley defensive end Tyson Alualu spent three years delivering blind-side hits to unsuspecting opposing quarterbacks. With the tenth overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars blind-sided the entire nation by taking Alualu.

“They told me that they were interested, but I never thought they would pick me in the top ten,” Alualu said. “I thought they would definitely trade down if they wanted me, but I’m just blessed to be here, to be a part of the Jaguars family now.”

The Cal football program had its best draft day of the last 10 years as both Alualu and 30th overall pick Jahvid Best were selected in the first round-the first time that the Bears have had two first-round picks in over a decade.

In arguably the biggest shock of the day, Alualu became the third defensive lineman selected and the highest Cal draftee since Andre Carter went to the San Francisco 49ers seventh overall in 2001. It is safe to say that nobody saw the pick coming-including Alualu himself.

“Everyone was saying I would go in the late first or the early second, so we came in thinking second round,” he said. “We were more prepared for (Friday).”

The Honolulu native’s stock soared after a dominant Senior Bowl performance (he sacked Tim Tebow on one play, forcing the quarterback to fumble) and a series of impressive workouts. But even the most generous predictions had the Dallas Cowboys selecting Alualu with the draft’s 27th overall pick.

Labeled a “mock draft buster” by CBS Sportsline, he certainly “busted” ESPN NFL draft expert Mel Kiper’s predictions. Kiper was speechless right after the pick was announced and called it a “reach.”

Asked if he had thought he would be drafted ahead of Best-who was selected by the Detroit Lions as the first round wound down Thursday night-Alualu said, “No, that’s the crazy thing.

“He was definitely a steal,” Alualu said. “He belonged in the top five.”

Best elected not to participate in a conference call with the local media.

Alualu, a defensive end at Cal, said he will likely start out playing more on the inside with the Jaguars. He will fly out late next week for Jacksonville’s mini-camp.

He also humbly acknowledged the expectations that will come with being drafted so highly-particularly as an unknown commodity.

“It definitely does put a chip on my shoulder, just wanting to work harder and show that I am worthy of the pick,” he said.

The Bears were the only Pac-10 team to have a player selected on day one of the draft.

Still hoping to have their names called when selections resume tomorrow are cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson, offensive tackle Mike Tepper and receiver Nyan Boateng, among others.