Student groups at the University have notoriously quick turnover rates. Most only have the same leadership for one year — something that promotes innovation and creativity yet diminishes institutional memory. Here at The Cavalier Daily, the 126th term is coming to a close, and the question of continuity — of preserving the progress we have made — matters deeply to us.
While college feels all-consuming, we are all only here for a short time. Leaving a discernible impact on other people, on student organizations or on the community at large can be hard to do in a short window. So for us, promoting continuity means we won’t view our tenure in the paper with a strict beginning and end. Our goals and hopes for the paper don’t leave when we do. The Cavalier Daily has changed tremendously since its founding in 1890; it has even changed tremendously this past year. Reorienting from print to digital, learning how to sustain a new business model and finding innovative ways to present information were just a few of the challenges facing us this year — challenges that will follow the paper into the next term and well after it. But the underlying mission of this organization has always been a constant: to provide the student body with the information it needs, and to offer students who work for this paper with a training ground and space for valuable mentorship.
The first part of that goal may seem obvious to our readers, but the second part may not. For the past year and for many years before that, you have seen editorials written under the author “Managing Board” and read articles that, regardless of individual bylines, you may only associate with The Cavalier Daily brand and not with the author himself. You have seen videos, photos and graphics integrated into our product but may not be familiar with the individuals behind those images. You have skimmed over an advertisement, but don’t know the student who sold that ad. Every inch of space online and in print has been carefully crafted. There are nearly 250 students behind these choices, all of us learning and growing right before your eyes.
Like any group of students, we hope we have left the next group with a stronger organization and a brighter future. Where we have erred, we know the next group can learn from our mistakes; where we have succeeded, we hope the next group can build on that success.
When we defined our vision for our term, we stressed to you, our readers, that this is your community and your paper. You own this product as much as — if not more than — we do. The membership and readership of this paper will keep changing every year, but the inherent value of student journalism remains. Whatever the next challenges may be, we are both hopeful and confident that this paper will continue to serve you in the ways you need.
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