Editorial Board Looks Towards Upcoming Year

Editorial Board Looks Towards Upcoming Year

At the end of last semester, we reflected on the school year. We wrote about what our goals were for 2017-2018 and what we as a student-run newspaper aim to do. Our aim is to be the voice and channel for students, to report the facts, to be the avenue for students to share what is happening on campus and to share the opinions and thoughts of our community.

What we hope to accomplish this year is to continue that aim, yet to be more interactive with the community, specifically online, through media efforts and to create dialogue amongst the community. Wake Forest students have a lot to be proud of, between many impressive accomplishments inside and outside of the classroom, and we hope to be an avenue to share that with the rest of the community and to give students the recognition they deserve.

Additionally, we envision that in the upcoming semester, we will explore more and dig deeper into the challenges students, the community and the local area face. We also plan to follow up on stories we began last year, including but not limited to assault on campus, changes to the Resident Adviser duties and programs in sustainability on campus.

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Another goal, especially for our opinion section, is to voice a wider range of student opinions. We want to be all-encompassing when it comes to the student voice. Wake Forest is filled with students from all over the country and the world, and it is our goal that our newspaper is a place where all perspectives have the chance to be heard.

Between our many sports teams, talented artists, campus activism efforts and student voices, we aim to be able to give each the attention it deserves within our pages.

For the community as a whole, we are hopeful that this upcoming semester and year serves the campus in a more positive manner.

Specifically, last semester, Wake Forest faced many tragedies and challenges. The semester began with the devastating death by firearm of a Winston-Salem State Unversity student, Najee Ali Baker. Later that weekend, a video surfaced of a freshman using racial slurs against her resident adviser. Both of these events induced heartbreak and widespread conversation on campus about safety and the vast progress needed to expunge the campus of racism and to make Wake Forest a welcoming place for all.

Since those two initial events, the campus has mourned the tragic loss of three students: freshman Maggie O’Sullivan, rising senior Alicia Gonzalez and rising junior Zachary Zhang. All three students made extraordinary contributions to the campus community both as students and as friends, and they will be missed terribly by all who knew them.

On Aug. 7, Wake Forest also lost beloved Politics & International Affairs professor David Coates. Remembered for his charisma, humor and deep investment in his students, Coates served Wake Forest students for over 20 years and will also be dearly missed.

Following six months characterized by the loss of cherished fellow Deacs, the staff of the Old Gold & Black hopes that the campus community will honor their memories by persistently embodying the spirit of “Pro Humanitate.”

We hope that over the new academic year, Wake Forest students will challenge each other to confront the toughest issues on campus in order to create an environment that is better for everyone.

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