The Record is here to help understanding and aid discussion of the academic reprioritization process, not to find fault.
Last week, the college announced its intent to reduce its academic division by 10% over the next three years in order to avoid a significant financial deficit further down the road. This news is currently raw for students and heavy for faculty and their families, and thus I am taking this space to make the position of the Record, and myself as its editor in chief, crystal clear.
We are deeply saddened by the reality that we are facing as a college community. Our thoughts are with the affected faculty and staff, their families and the entire campus community as we prepare for shifts in our academic division. These are not easy decisions to make, and we appreciate the amount of prayer and thought that went into them, as well as the administration’s obligation to plan ahead in order to save the college from more severe financial challenges in the future.
The Wheaton Record is a student newspaper, with a threefold mission in its constitution: reporting the news, highlighting the personalities and presenting the perspectives of the campus community. This story will continue to unfold and will likely affect all corners of campus, and so we feel it is our duty to gather facts, context and reactions over the coming weeks and months to give the student body and the larger community the most truthful, helpful picture of the situation that we can. Our initial news piece about the announcement was only the beginning: we are anticipating follow-up coverage related to the cuts through the rest of the academic year.
Thus, we are committed to covering these budget cuts and their results with grace: that is, we are not interested in placing blame or finding fault. Our only interest is in providing a clear, accurate, charitable, and helpful record of what is going on as it’s going on so that the present and future readers of the Record will be served by our work.
If you are concerned about something in the Record’s coverage of these or any other events, we are here to listen to your concerns. I wholeheartedly invite letters to the editor, which can be submitted for publication at www.wheatonrecord.com/contribute/ or by email to the.record@my.wheaton.edu.
Helen Huiskes
Helen Huiskes is a junior English Writing major with a minor in International Relations. A native of Portland, Ore., she enjoys learning languages, eating pasta and over-analyzing TV shows.
