Year in review: An editor’s sendoff

Sami Rapp, Former Editor-in-Chief

Well Mercyhurst, it has been an interesting four years. I have seen a lot of changes happen—I guess that is only natural though, as different classes of students cycle in and out of this university.

During my time at Mercyhurst, I have seen two core changes, the rise and fall of J-term, the transition to a university status and even a new administration. I could just write a fluff piece about how the past four years have been the best four years of my life but I really hope they are not.

Maybe I’m just disillusioned with my senioritis but I’m pretty sure I was really naïve when I first arrived at Mercyhurst.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made great friends and memories that will last me a life time, but I’ve also had some bad ones: roommate fights, failed exams, what seems to be a never ending amount of all-nighters in preparation for my senior thesis and a campus apartment that has flooded three times, just this semester. I’ve spent my time here being involved in clubs, on this paper and within my department.

Due to all of these positions, I’ve had the chance to see a lot of good and a lot of bad. This year in particular has been rough. The entire Mercyhurst community has suffered because of the financial woes, which many private

Catholic colleges face. While I know the administration did the best they could with a bad situation, students are still losing out. Many of our favorite professors are unsure about their jobs, while others are scrambling to pick up the coursework that was left behind.

Even with the promise of transparency and a smooth transition, we are left wondering about situations as behind closed-door conversations take place and red tape is applied. This year, I’ve seen many bad situations spun into a positive light— the financial crisis, the “reorganization” of faculty and even the change of our archaeology department’s field school location—sometimes it is ok to admit that a situation is unfortunate.

By admitting that it is not ideal, everyone can work together to fix it. I’ve noticed that Mercyhurst tends to send out surveys when it comes to calendar and core changes.  Rather than just send them out, actually consider students’ opinions; we liked trimesters, we liked J-term, both are officially gone.

In the end, I think the most important thing that I’ve learned at Mercyhurst is that the Laker community is strong. We’ve survived almost 90 years, both good and bad, and we will survive another 90.