Welcome back Wabash. As we begin yet another year of study (and yet another year of the other things that happen on the weekend) we are greeted with all sorts of ‘new’ness all over campus. We got ‘new’ with the administration’s job merry-go-round that moved Raters to the Dean of Students’ office and Bambrey to the A.D.’s office and Warner from the classroom (temporarily, thankfully) to the Associate Dean of Students’ office; we got ‘new’ with five new tenure track professors and nine visiting professors; we got ‘new’ fraternity houses for the Kappa Sigs, TKEs and Delts; and we of course got ‘new’ with the 258 gentlemen who joined our band of brothers on Saturday.
The Bachelor is also rife with ‘new’ness. We’ve moved from the Tabloid style of the National Enquirer to the Broadsheet style of the Washington Post, while still maintaining the journalistic superiority of our former tabloid brethren. We have changed the putrid and incredibly ambiguous section name "Stuff" to the more appealing and descriptive "Features." We have even dropped the odd practice of courtesy titles, instituted by my sometimes-dictatorial predecessor.
In spite of their undeniable newness, to the average Wally, those changes matter little. They’re cosmetic, primarily for the edification of the few Bachelor junkies (most of whom are on the Bachelor staff) that exist.
The ‘new’ness that should matter to every Wally and every reader of the Bachelor isn’t actually new – it’s a reemphasis on what the Bachelor has always purported itself to be – the student voice of Wabash.
In the past, the Bachelor has been criticized for failing to live up to that standard. In the recent years of Independent men editing the paper, it has been routinely criticized as been too "anti-Greek," as I am sure in the years of fraternity men running the paper, it had been criticized as being too "anti-Independent."
The only thing the Bachelor is should ever be "pro" is "pro Wabash." That’s it. We should desire to see our institution strong and vibrant, so that future Wallys can enjoy their time here as much as we have. This is our thesis. The Bachelor will be making a concerted effort as a staff (you could even call it our "Strategic Plan") to move away from the ease of covering the unending string of academic lectures to true news about what is actually going on.
In that light, there are a few long-term stories we would like to look into over the next year. One is security. In my interview with President White he talks briefly about a security audit the school underwent over the summer, which highlighted some of the College’s vulnerabilities. What are those vulnerabilities? How will this affect the open nature we have all grown to love? Will these changes prevent another year of massive student theft? The Bachelor will endeavor to find out.
As the final fraternity houses are being constructed and the administration zeros in on its Master Plan and concurrently develops its Capital Campaign, one of the major areas of discourse will be the future of Independent housing. Will that discussion include a new dorm? What about the elderly Martindale, Morris and Wolcott Halls? Will the college continue to purchase vacant houses around campus to manage any growth in the number of independent men? This is another issue we intend to critically analyze.
While the Bachelor will be ardently "pro-Wabash" we hope to have vibrant discourse on the opinion page. Through regular columns, staff editorials, op-eds, letters to the editor and our wonderful cartoonists we hope to continue the Great Conversation President White and Dean Phillips articulated two years ago when they were ‘freshmen’ on campus.
‘Conversation’ does not mean the Bachelor staff talking amongst itself. The staff wants students to be active contributors to the paper. Something pissing you off? Instead of quickly vomiting up an ill conceived !everyone email, write a letter to the editor and send it to us [specifically to me (mcalistp@wabash.edu) and Opinion Editor Brent Kent (kentb@wabash.edu)]. Without continuous student interaction the paper is not living up to its thesis, and letters to the editor are primary examples of the ‘student voice’ being clearly heard.
Have a lead on a potential story ? Email me (for those of you without a short term memory, mcalistp@wabash.edu) about it. Although we have a staff representing many fraternities, ideologies and campus organizations, we are not all omnipresent. If we aren’t telling a story that needs telling…please tell us.
Although this is a year of ‘new,’ many important things are still the same. The new class of 2012 is beginning to learn the importance of Wabash culture through Freshmen Orientation, pledgeship and Chapel Sing practice; DePauw is still (and will forever be) an inferior institution in every way imaginable; and Wabash Always Fights.
Have a great year.