This weekend, The Polytechnic will elect its editors for the Spring semester. Some of our new people will step up to take the place of some of our retiring veterans. Some of us will still be around. Most importantly—to me, anyway—these elections will mark the end of my term as editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
My year at the helm of The Poly has been one of my best experiences at RPI, or anywhere else for that matter. But rather than getting all mushy in my last column—there will be plenty of time for that later—I want to leave our new leadership with a charge.
In the last year, there were many things we’ve done well, but also many things we could’ve done better. We’ve made mistakes—a few really big mistakes. But through it all we learn, we grow, we strive to improve ourselves to put out the best newspaper we can.
Everyone who works on this newspaper invests themselves as much as they see fit. A lot of people put incredible efforts into it—I’m amazed at the amount of dedication I see. But there’s no point in expending all that energy if you’re not going put out the best publication possible, and that means change is always necessary.
Don’t be afraid to break the paradigm. If something doesn’t work, find a way to fix it. Failing that, don’t hesitate to consider razing it all and starting from scratch.
At the same time, if you feel things are going too fast and a change warrants further consideration, don’t sit quietly and allow things to proceed in ways that make you uncomfortable.
Most importantly, I want everyone—from the new editors to the occasional writer—to speak up for the things that are important to them. If there’s something that’s completely broken or just needs to be tweaked, it should be done. Failing to act is the only way to ensure we never improve ourselves.
I know this staff and its new leaders will always do their best. I’m proud to have been a part of this organization, and I’m sure I’ll be even more proud in the coming semesters.
Best of luck to you all!
