In my four years here at LIU Post, I have been so lucky and grateful to have had such incredible experiences. In my last two years, I have been able to contribute to a fantastic publication – the Pioneer – and this year I was able to become a student leader, Editor-in-Chief. I was going to have a voice on this campus and provide fair and balanced news for my fellow students. However, I came to find, providing fair and balanced news is difficult with an uncooperative system.
Last semester, we had amazing stories because of the abundance of activity on this campus. We were there to show you the good and the bad about Post. Seeing students reading the paper over lunch in Hillwood Commons or before class in the library was one of the most rewarding sights. However, this semester, the Pioneer faced quite a backlash.
Our most controversial story this semester caused us a lot of resentment from the student body. While we understand, the story was not flattering; it was our job to report it. If we had not done so, we would not be doing our job.
There was a huge lack of support from the administration. While we understand that bad publicity is not ideal in terms of marketing and promotion, if there is a situation on campus that needs to be reported, it is our job as students training to be journalists to do so. We never wrote a story without contacting administration for their side of the issue. We would not be fair or balanced if we did not receive feedback from them. It seemed that for every story that required investigating, we were stonewalled once we asked for input from our school administrators. Staff and faculty apparently live in fear of being quoted by the Pioneer along with students.
Students, this is your soapbox. If you want your voice to be heard, this is a way to do it. So many of you are fearful of providing your major, year or even your name, that doing so will somehow affect your reputation on this campus. A college campus is nothing without its student newspaper.
Now, here I am, writing my editorial for our last issue. It feels like only yesterday, Jacqueline and I were eager and nervous to be “in charge.”
Overall, this has been an incredible experience. I am so proud of the work done here at the Pioneer by our writers, editors, photographers, and layout staff. It is because of our amazing staff that this campus is able to have a paper every week and for that I say, thank you. As I walk into the real world, I have experiences that no internship could have given me. I was able to be a leader of something that contributes so much to this campus.
Next year, Alex Parker and Olivia Wicik will become the new Editors-in-Chief of the Pioneer. Jacqueline and I are more than confident that they will continue to provide a fair and balanced newspaper to this campus. Hopefully, there will be more support than this year. Good luck girls! You’ll do great and I know you will continue to carry on the tradition.
To our readers – Have a fantastic summer! Thank you for supporting us! The Pioneer will be back in September!
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