By the end of the semester, I always find myself surprised - though overcome with the exhaustion and chaos that is finals - that the 13 or so weeks went by as quickly as they did. Freshmen are reveling in one semester down and seniors are stone-faced with just one semester remaining. It seems unoriginal to attribute this feeling of surprise to the Tufts bubble and the demand students feel to do all things academic, extracurricular and community-oriented, social and - though perhaps prioritized less - personal. But before you know it, the weeks turn into months, and finals are upon us.
I have spent much of this semester in the (windowless) basement of Curtis Hall, consumed almost completely with the goings-on of all things Tufts and surrounded by peers doing just about the same. I asked at the start of the semester that you read the Daily and hold the paper accountable for what you see - or do not see - on its pages. When I have managed to escape the basement to go to class or sit in the campus center, I have overheard positive, negative and neutral reactions to our coverage. And for that, I am grateful. We are not perfect - neither as an entity, nor individually. I will be the first to admit that. We have made mistakes. Yet the pages printed each day are a product of tireless effort to do just the opposite. Every day in the office, our editors and writers discuss, debate and weigh the issues affecting members of the Tufts community. I expect you to weigh in, too.
Perhaps to you, the Tufts Daily is a faceless, flawed structure, but it takes a small army of students to make these pages, most of whom you interact with on a regular basis without even knowing it. We, like you, are impacted by the topics on which we report. And we both understand and act on the need to cover such issues, events and policies fairly and accurately.
I would like to think that, despite its flaws, the Daily is an integral entity on this campus - both by providing information and by contributing to a broader dialogue within the community. We are not simply sending out idle stories, but rather awaiting your opinions that bring these stories to life. I cannot stress enough how much we would like to hear what you have to say, and I hope that next semester, you as readers will continue contributing to the process.
With that, I extend a tremendous thank you to the members of the masthead, who each commit time and energy to the production of the Daily. Thank you to Jenna Buckle and Melissa Wang, in particular, whom I have the utmost respect for and rely on to keep me going at 1 a.m. And to you reading: Thank you for picking up the paper and not skipping straight to the Sudoku - though if you did, no hard feelings. It has been my pleasure.
Best,
Hannah Fingerhut
Editor-in-Chief
