Last Friday's issue of The DePauw (Vol 162, Issue 28) published a cartoon that was misguided, foolish and representative of the newspaper's recent coverage pertaining to the Programs of Distinction and Winter Term.
The cartoon, if you did not see it, portrays President Casey and a prospective student talking about the 'Class of 2018 cake,' and a new 'recipe' the administration is supposedly trying. It begins with President Casey saying that 'the Class of 2018' will be 'without Programs of Distinction and a reduced fat Winter Term.'
I would like to start with this absurd, inaccurate claim. The Programs of Distinction are going nowhere, and Dr. Stimpert made it abundantly clear that there will be a new Management Fellows Direcor, in addition to the recently announced Media Fellows Director, Professor Nichols-Pethick. Rather, these programs are merely evolving, hopefully into something even better.
As a 'MeFe,' with a number of 'MoFo' friends, I can say that many of us have benefited from our years in the two programs. That said, there are a number of improvements that could, and should, be made to take these programs to the next level. While students at DePauw often oppose change (see: Winter Term, greek life, etc.), I trust President Brian Casey and the administration to do their jobs and make our beloved university a better place for future students to learn and grow.
This leads me to the bigger issue. The DePauw has been noticeably lopsided in its coverage of the proposed Winter Term changes and the Programs of Distinction turnover. I am all for watchdog journalism and holding the administration accountable for their choices and questioning their decisions, but you have to let them tell their side of the story and express their vision.
Highly motivated students and life experiences are not leaving Greencastle anytime soon, as the cartoon suggests. If anything, I anticipate that the revamped Hubbard Center for Student Engagement, evolving Programs of Distinction and Winter Term scholarships will only further motivate and enrich the experiences of current and future DePauw students.
The cartoon also concludes that these theoretical changes will lead students to choose 'IU, Purdue and Oberlin' over DePauw. I could not disagree more, and if the recent physical transformations are any indication (see: Admissions in Emison, Anderson St., Lilly, Blackstock, etc.) then the modifications to the programs of distinction and WT should further put DePauw at a competitive advantage in the increasingly competitive higher education landscape.
The DePauw needs to do a better job when it comes to reporting both sides of the story, and it should give students the necessary, objective information they need to make an informed decision. Furthermore, I hope The DePauw is more selective in what it publishes. I understand the Opinion section is individual students' viewpoints, but everything reflects on the paper's staff and its brand. The recent cartoon did succeed at being laughable, just not in the way it intended.