To the Lafayette campus,

I find myself, as editor-in-chief, faced with covering a situation that has been alien to this office since 2005: the beginning of a president’s term in office.

This is an opportunity that certainly doesn’t present itself to most collegiate editors. It’s a high priority that, during my tenure, I cover President Alison Byerly’s first academic year in office as extensively as possible. My responsibility is to act as a conduit between the campus and the new administration.

In the first issue, I did my best to convey President’s Byerly’s opinions on not only her priorities but how she planned on addressing one of the more hot-button issues.

This edition, we gave the students a mouthpiece, trying to get a sense of what our bosses want from their president. While we only gave voice to a small segment of the population in this piece, we plan on getting a more comprehensive sense of what students want President Byerly to accomplish while she occupies the President’s desk.

However, the Lafayette community isn’t just restricted to the student body. It’s important to consider the desires of alumni and faculty, two populations that carry significant weight in administrative decisions. We plan on covering both divisions and their respective visions for the College.

How President Byerly approaches the differentiating sections of this burgeoning Venn diagram will dictate how well she balances the desires of all three branches of the Lafayette community. I hope to give you as much information as possible in order to better understand the context of her actions within the upcoming years.
Let’s keep all channels open.

Excelsior,

Michael A. Kowaleski
Editor-in-chief, The Lafayette