Dear class of 2018 and new transfer students,
Welcome to Brown!
The past few days have likely been a whirlwind of forgotten names and mad scrambles across an unfamiliar campus. During your time on College Hill, things will settle into a rhythm — but only to a point. Now is an incredibly exciting time to be at Brown: We have a new provost and dean of the College alongside a relatively new president, with a major strategic plan being set in motion and a capital campaign following shortly. It’s also, as of last year, a time of significant campus turmoil — conversations about Ray Kelly, coal divestment and sexual assault have dominated discourse.
You are here, in large part, for the academics. The New Curriculum, which turns 45 this year, is Brown’s scholastic touchstone and guiding document. Notions of “no requirements” and “take anything pass/fail” may have attracted you here, but they’re still abstract ideas, hard to make sense of fully. What you’ll find is that the curriculum’s spirit has actually seeped into the fabric of the University, creating an ethos of independence, autonomy and questioning. Seize that. Create your own course or concentration; carve out a new extracurricular niche; shake loose some personal inhibitions. Take advantage of what this school has to offer.
As you inch forward along your own path, we hope you’ll stay informed about and engaged with the campus community. That’s where The Herald can help. We print every weekday when classes are in session, covering campus and local news, sports, arts, science, culture and more. Starting next week, you can also read Post-, our weekly Thursday insert offering commentary on pop culture, food and sex. Read us online at www.browndailyherald.com, our website that also includes videos and interactive features, and stay up to date on on- and off-campus events, student spotlights and more at our blog, Blogdailyherald.com.
The Herald’s office is located at 195 Angell St. We’re independent from the University and student-run, in both editorial and business operations. And we’d love to have you join us in any number of capacities, including writing, photography, design, web and videography. If you’re interested, come to an info session (details are at browndailyherald.com/join). Even if you’re not, we hope you’ll contribute to our community by commenting online, submitting feedback and writing letters to the editor or opinion columns.
This first issue is especially for you: It’s filled mostly with the biggest news we published online over the summer, including new top administrators, investigations into an alleged sexual assault and, sadly, the obituaries of several students and faculty members who died since May. Tomorrow’s paper will include more summer articles, as well as a variety of new content. We hope these editions kick off a year of providing information and entertainment to you.
Best of luck with your time here. We can’t wait to write about it.
Editors’ notes are written by the 124th Editorial Board: Eli Okun ’15, Mathias Heller ’15, Sona Mkrttchian ’15, Maddie Berg ’15 and Kate Nussenbaum ’15.
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