An end-of-year look at this blog’s top stories of 2007 shows that readers come here for genuine news as well as the frothy, piquant stories that sometimes get us in trouble with our editors. So there’s reason for both hope and dismay that the following 10 articles drew the most Chronicle readers to the News Blog, out of the roughly 2,200 posts published since January 1.

College Student’s Fashion Sense Gets Grounded on Runway (September 6) — student removed from airplane after her eye-catching attire drew unwanted attention.

Death Toll Rises to at Least 33 in Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech (April 16) — an oft-updated article on the day of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Student Was ‘Troubled,’ Says English Department Chair (April 17) — revelation of the Virginia Tech gunman’s history.

Free-Speech Group Accuses U. of Delaware of ‘Thought Reform’ (October 31) — controversy over a residence-life program that critics likened to Orwellian thought control.

New Ranking Tallies Colleges’ ‘Gay-Point Average’ (September 25) — a gauge of campuses’ “gay friendliness.”

DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid by Finkelstein and Says Dershowitz Pressure Played No Role (June 8) — one of the year’s biggest battles in the culture wars.

Berkeley Tree-Sitter Falls, Breaks 2 Limbs (November 12) — a tree-perching protester fractured an arm and a leg; the tree was apparently unharmed.

20 Professors Cite Response to Murder in Calling for President’s Ouster (June 20) — aftermath of Eastern Michigan University’s handling of a student’s death on the campus.

President Resigns After Only 4 Months on the Job (November 9) — a mysterious departure at Cedar Crest College.

High-School Grades Are Best Predictors of College Success, Study Finds (June 19) — a key paper drawing on data on 80,000 University of California students in the 1990s.

Thank you for your readership and your comments. We hope you’ll keep coming back for more. —Andrew Mytelka