Oracle Online

A lot has changed in these short four years. We’ve watched our friends and former staff members and editors graduate and go on, and we've witnessed many other changes in our time here, from the construction of the Blue Garden and Klas Center to new and retiring faculty and staff members.

The biggest change, of course, was President Linda Hanson joining the Hamline community. With Hanson, the days of the unapproachable president were over. Hanson has been seen mingling with students at sporting events and all sorts of other campus events during her time here. We applaud Hanson for connecting with the students on a much higher level than her predecessor. Former administrative practices often left some of us with sour tastes in our mouths, and Hanson’s commitment to student life and her active presence on campus has diminished our distaste for the President’s office and helped us value that office much more.

While these external changes have been taking place, there have been deeper changes at work, too. The way we think, the way we perceive one another has changed in our four years here. Professors have sometimes made us angry, sometimes crushed our will to studyąbut ultimately have made us think about what we believe and start to articulate the ethics and principles by which we have started to live. A greater challenge will be to continue communicating these values in our lives after we leave the academic insulation of Hamline. We won’t be challenged in the same ways to think critically about our everyday choices and their implications in the same way; instead, it will be up to us now to keep those guiding ideas at least in the back of our minds as we make our own inroads into the world beyond collegiate life.

With all sorts of strategic planning changes afoot, campus may be on the brink of some major transformations. Such changes could be the start of things we’ve been wanting to see on campus during our time here. They could also mean things like more focus on professor scholarship (and therefore less attention to students), increasing the campus population, and getting rid of the FYSEM program. These potential changes could lead to many more options to enrich the lives of students, but some of the changes could potentially detract from the quality of student life.

Whatever comes, seniors of the future, be prepared to face them with minds that are open, inquisitive, and attentive. Act for the changes you want, and challenge things that worry you. Don’t fear change, but be aware of it, recognize it for what it is, and be ready to bring your own ideas and ideals to the situation at hand. The trick is to figure out what they are first and then have the courage, the drive, and the wherewithal to apply them. As long as you know who you are and can preserve that identity above all else, things will work out.