Daily Nexus Highlights
In 1986, while the paper was under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief William Diepenbrock, News Editor Steve Elzer broke the story regarding the investigation into misappropriation of UC funds by then-UCSB Chancellor Robert Huttenback. What had initially begun as a news article regarding the sudden departure of a UCSB vice chancellor eventually ended in an exposé of Huttenback's financial activities. Among other things, Huttenback had used UC funds to repair and improve his privately owned home. Huttenback resigned from his post on July 11, 1986. A review of the incident by the UC President was declared moot and never officially released. The story had been followed by newspapers throughout California, including the Los Angeles Times.
In 1995, the Daily Nexus filed suit against California Governor Pete Wilson and the UC Regents, alleging that the regents had illegally conspired during phone conferences to line up support for the cancellation of Affirmative Action. The suit claimed that the conference was a violation of the Bagely-Keane Open Meeting Act. Then-campus editor Tim Molloy and the Daily Nexus were both listed as plaintiffs. In June 1999, the California Supreme Court ruled that the paper could not continue with its suit, as any suits alleging violations of the Bagley-Keane act must be filed within thirty days of the supposed violation. The court never actually ruled whether Wilson or the regents had violated the law, however. The suit received coverage in newspapers across the country.
For a time period in the mid-to-late 1990s, the Nexus began featuring a number of op-ed columns, mostly related to the life around UCSB and Isla Vista, Goleta and Santa Barbara in general. Among these pieces included Last Call, a highly satirical (if occasionally sardonic) column co-written by Erin Vosti and Shannon Dorgan.
On April 5, 2001, staff writer Brendan Buhler interviewed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams in what turned out to be Adams' final interview before he died. After being published in the Nexus, selections from Buhler's interview were published in Douglas' final book, The Salmon of Doubt. The excerpts were noted as having come from the Daily Nexus.
In 2002, Nexus staff writers Marisa Lagos and Jennifer B. Siverts provided daily coverage of the duration of the quadruple murder trial of David Attias, who had killed four people in Isla Vista by running them down with his car on February 23, 2001. At the time of the incident, Attias had been a freshman at UCSB. In July 2002, a Santa Barbara jury ruled that Attias was guilty but insane at the time of the incident. The Attias case was also covered by newspapers such as Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. It also has been featured in multiple installments of the Dateline NBC news show.
Two long-time non-student employees, Barb MacLean and J.E. Anderson, worked at the Nexus for several decades.
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