First and foremost, I feel the need to comment on the issues behind the recent protesting on campus. Some of the articles in this issue of The State Stump may seem to poke fun at these protests and indeed they do, but I think it is worth marking the distinction between these articles and the seriousness of the issues that underlie the protest. During the past few weeks, some of our fellow students have been threatened. Perhaps something that is too often taken for granted is the feeling of safety we expect to have in our homes and at our school. Our fellow students have been robbed of that feeling of safety as threats have been made on some of their lives, and this is a very terrible thing. It is important that we, as an academic community, attempt to restore the safety and peace of mind of these students by making it clear that we will not tolerate such cowardly acts. For these reasons, my love and support goes out to all those who are taking a stand by remaining in the HUB for so many days. That being said, some of the articles in this issue attack the way in which such a tragic occurrence has been used to garner support for an unrelated political agenda and attempt to point out the limited amount of power the administration of this university has to combat racism. Despite the shortcomings of the protest itself, I sincerely hope some progress can be made and that all the students at this school can once again feel safe here.

             Secondly, I would like to thank everyone who has read or contributed to The State Stump throughout this past semester. To the contributors, I would like to apologize for my slowness in responding, and thank you for your patience and your contributions. I think I can speak for the entire staff when I say it has been a fun semester, and we’d like to continue. Our plans for summer are as of yet uncertain. We do not plan to shut down completely over the summer, although our pace will likely slow. We are still looking for contributions, and should we receive enough to do weekly issues over the summer, we will. If not, issues will likely be biweekly or articles may be posted individually, once every three to four days. For those of you who will be around during the summer months, check back soon. For the rest of you, we’ll see you in the fall.

Many Thanks,
Dimitri Valentino