For many students, it can sometimes feel like the University of Connecticut exists within a bubble. As our campus sits in quaint Storrs, we often feel physically isolated from both the world and other parts of our own state. On a political level, the position of being the flagship university for the state of Connecticut — a veritable liberal stronghold — has allowed this community to avoid the brunt of certain current realities of the world we live in. There is a special sort of detachment that has been created in the minds of students through the years. If there is one thing this past year has revealed, however, it is that this bubble is rapidly becoming undone.
The Editorial Board has attempted to address the many instances of government overreach from the new administration of President Donald J. Trump this academic year. UConn has faced federal funding cuts and visa revocations that have made clear to students that this school is not inherently going to be the imagined safe haven we’d hope it to be.
Furthermore, this Board has attempted to show the lack of steps taken by our state government and local leaders to address this forthcoming reality. Instead of stepping up to remedy the threats to academic freedom and economic sustainability, the state has continued its draconic budget cuts and facilitating the planned deterioration of this university. UConn, for its part, has chosen the option of following this plan and has increasingly placed the university’s cost burden onto its students. In an effort to supplement state funds, the university has repeatedly accepted record-breaking freshman class sizes to take in more tuition money, all the while offering them less in terms of housing and academic offerings.
On all levels and from all sides, this quaint Storrs campus is facing threats to its mission as a university, a place of learning and community to so many students. It is clear that if students refuse to see the shifting forces influencing their lives here and fail to take action against it, then this illusory safety will come at the expense of everything that this school ought to be. The future is in grassroots organizations and to cultivate such an environment, it is essential the student body be given the information to see the need for our own action.
The Daily Campus will continue to do its due diligence as a newsroom to help students in that feat. As far as this country continues to discredit and attack the press and their freedoms, it is an increasingly dangerous time to do this job. For those seniors who will be leaving the DC to do this good work out in the world, the Editorial Board commends you. For those of us who remain, the job continues of exposing the truths and contradictions of this university. The students must see what UConn is often too keen about keeping secret. There must be those who are willing to do what it takes to reveal the truth, and there is no group in such a better position than the Daily Campus to do just that.
It is anyone’s guess what is to come in the next school year, or even in the next four years for that matter, but the mandate remains that journalists must be willing to face it no matter what and speak truth to power. As far as that goal is concerned, the Daily Campus remains committed to the task.