A PAINTED WALL ON DREW STREET extends greetings to one of the largest matriculating classes in Lawrence history.
This week, President Warch will extend each and every one of you a matriculation handshake. While we don’t really feel up to matching that feat, we enjoy the opportunity to duplicate the gesture through print.It is safe to say that we here at The Lawrentian always look forward to welcoming the sea of new students that engulfs the campus every September. Why? Because we depend on you. Your stories, your work, your idiosyncrasies, your opinions, your diversity, and your decisions all become the lifeblood of this campus, and by extension this newspaper.
Over the next four years, give or take, the vast majority of you will find yourselves in some way reflected back in our pages. A great number of you will add your voice to the forum printed in our editorial pages. Some of you, maybe even many of you, will find your way to the Lawrentian office with a story idea or two, a fondness for writing, a complaint to lodge, or just plain old-fashioned curiosity. All are welcome.
Erik Brubaker, a former editor of The Lawrentian, once wrote: “Part of the responsibility of a good newspaper is to be as transparent as possible.” This holds true when you consider that we always try to spread the word, not create it. The goal of any journalistic publication should remain to diminish the impedance between the current of real life and the course of words.
Reporting the facts aside, The Lawrentian holds a place in the history of Lawrence that is far from transparent. Since 1884, The Lawrentian has unselfconsciously kept a permanent record of the campus business. It’s a record written by Lawrentians, for and about Lawrentians and the world and time they inhabit. For anyone interested, just glancing through the ancient and current volumes of the Lawrentians in the library makes a fascinating read. And by the way, you’d never have believed that your Freshman Studies teacher did that.
We hope that you are excited to be a part of this community. You will learn both inside and outside of the classroom, most often when you least expect it. Remember that you never know what may change your life, and let that stew in your thoughts as you head over to Playfair! or make your way towards your mandatory Cooperative Institutional Research Program.
The next few weeks will be a wealth of new experiences, and you might even enter into a personal paradigm shift or two (since you aren’t reading Thomas Kuhn in Freshman Studies, ask someone about it. Chances are you’ll meet with an earful). As you find yourself in what will be probably be some of the most intense and provocative years of your life, take advantage of the chances to share in those experiences with others who are in the same place. College can forge relationships that will last a lifetime.
Now that introductions are over, we’re anticipating getting to know you. It’s the type of campus where you can’t miss us, especially now that we’ve moved to the glorious Mursell House behind the Conservatory. You might even think of dropping by the Activities Fair on Tuesday at 8 p.m. It’s a great place to get involved in your new home. If you stop by the Lawrentian table to see us, we’d like to meet you, and who knows? You might find just what you’re looking for. At any rate, the least you would walk away with is a handshake.