Aspirations for the 2011-12 school year | The Triangle

Aspirations for the 2011-12 school year

The past school year has brought about much advancement for the University, including the acquisition of the Academy of Natural Sciences as a partner institution, the emergence of President John A. Fry’s strategic plan and a plethora of physical changes to the University City campus. However, as we embark on a new school year, the Editorial Board would like to take the time to address the many areas in which we believe the University can continue to advance in the coming year.

But before we critique the rest of the University, it is only fair that we start by looking within our own organization. The 2010-11 school year was a time of great development at The Triangle. We expanded on the social media front, covered major stories such as President Fry’s inauguration and Bennett S. LeBow’s record-setting $45 million gift to the University, and launched an updated version of our website. But like any strong organization, there’s plenty of room for us to improve in the coming year. Our most recent endeavor was a decrease in our print circulation. The field of journalism is shifting to focus more on digital content, and we are proud to follow suit by promoting online journalism and more environmentally conscious reporting. We have exciting plans to continue the progression of features on our website this year, and we look forward to unveiling these improvements in the coming months.

We also hope to see improvements within the University’s administration in the 2011-12 school year. With great pride, we had the opportunity to watch as the Drexel administration made fantastic improvements last year. President Fry jumped into the Drexel pool head first, setting major initiatives into motion, including a partnership between Drexel and its surrounding neighborhood. He emphasized safety with an expanded police patrol area, provided a home improvement grant for faculty and added more blue light safety phones around the Drexel community. Our hope for the administration in the coming year is simple at first glance: we want to see more of these impressive efforts. But what we’d like to emphasize is a sense of priorities. Recently, we’ve noticed a growing trend of overlooking the basics in favor of the more grandiose plans. The current chaos of freshman housing is a great example of this point. Regardless of the multitude of ongoing projects that will improve the University, these changes are only worth it if the students are happy to be on campus. Forced triples and RA/freshman dorm pairings do not promote a satisfied student body.

Of course, as students, we want to get even more of our peers involved in the Drexel community. We encourage everyone to speak up, write a letter into our Op-Ed pages, talk to your friends and go to the great open forums that President Fry has set up through the year. Make yourself heard — this is our University and we really want it to be as great as possible.

At the end of the day, remember that there are many fantastic things that happen on our campus every day. The Drexel experience is truly a unique one, and we could all take the time to appreciate that fact on a daily basis.

Good luck to students, staff and faculty alike as we head into another year as Dragons!