2014 was my first full year I spent in college. It was a year I rapidly matured, and I don’t think I’m the only one. So many things happened this year and these events have affected the world for better or for worse. So the Odyssey UIUC looks back on 2014 and what this year meant to the world, to students, and to us.
This was the year of protests, and not just in far away countries, but in the United States as well. As other Thailand tried to oust its elected officials, Ukraine fought against its own government, Mexican citizens took to the streets to protest the disappearances and murders of college students. In Hong Kong protestors employed social media to organize protests against changes in the voting process deemed unfair by those taking to the streets against it. In the United States, protests erupted in the name ofMichael Brown and Eric Garner, two African American men killed by police officers in order to protest police brutality, employing the hashtag #blacklivematter.
This was the year we became Taylor Swift fans. Her album 1989 sold over a million albums in the first week and even prompted Saturday Night Live to write a skit for Swiftamine, for when you realize you love Taylor Swift.
2014 was the year Bill Nye made a reappearance in our lives. He came on news outlets like Meet the Press to discuss global warming, he published a book entitled Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation
and even debated creationist Kevin Ham at the Creation Museum in Kentucky to answer the question of, “Is creation a viable model of origins?”
It was another year of continued unrest in the Middle East, and that is putting it lightly, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict heated up once again. Syria remained in the midst of a civil war, and political change, for better or for worse, continued across the region. ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, became an even more prominent player came in the political arena as the power struggle in Syria raged on.
The Winter Olympics in Sochi took place in February, and though Russia locked in the most gold medals with a total of 33, the United States still took home the most important win, beating the Russian hockey team. This game aired early in the morning in the US and led Illinois’ own The Red Lion bar to host a 6 a.m. viewing party in honor of America.
2014 was a big year for Kardashian covers.Vogue featured its first biracial couple on the cover of the April issue - Kim and Kanye. Dressed in her wedding dress and in the rapper’s arms, the cover was an internet hit, even garnering a copycat cover by Seth Rogan and James Franco. At the same time, this April Shape Issue also featured Mindy Kaling in a black and white photo and critics proposed that the choice in coloring was to downplay the color of her skin. Later in November Kim Kardashian was featured on the cover of another magazine, Paper Magazine, in order to break the internet… with her butt.
This was another year of greek life coming under fire. In May a shooter killed several at the University of California Santa Barbra in retribution for the girls who would never date him. Two UCB Delta Delta Delta members were killed and the shooter attempted to gain entry into the UCB Alpha Phi chapter house as well. Rolling Stone magazine reported on a gang rape that allegedly happened at the Phi Kappa Psi chapter house at the University of Virginia, this claim ended up being completely fabricated by the “victim.” Despite this, it brought up the conversation of sexual assault on college campuses and particularly Greek Life into the national news.
It was a year of major Supreme Court decisions. From March to June 2014 the Supreme Court heard the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case and in the end decided in favor of the crafting company. This landmark case struck down the contraceptive mandate as part of the Affordable Care Act and made it so employers are not required to cover certain contraceptives to their female employees. This 5-4 decision particularly upset greek-affiliated Ruth Bader Ginsberg, one of the supreme court justices, who disagreed with the decision but understood the reasoning in her review of the case.
It was a year when we lost some great people.In 2014 we saw the deaths of Robin Williams, Maya Angelou and Joan Rivers amongst many other famous scientists, activists, and celebrities alike.
This was the year of #bringbackourgirls when 273 school girls were kidnapped from their dormitory in Nigeria by Boko Harem terrorists. The group believes girls should not be educated and the leader released as statement that they would be sold as slaves in the market. 2014 was the year everyone came together to donate to a cause or dump a bucket of ice water on their heads.
The Ice Bucket Challenge became a viral phenomenon of people challenging friends and family to dump a bucket of ice on their heads or donate to an ALS fund. ALS, also known as Lou Gerrig’s disease, unfortunately does not affect enough people to produce donation funds to find a cure for the disease, so with this in mind a movement was started to generate funds for research, and it went viral.
What was the year 2014 for you?
