The UB Post

Issue date: 8/30/06 Section: Opinion

Nedra Cruz [Click to enlarge]

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the University of Baltimore and to the first redesigned issue of The UB Post. Since April, we’ve surveyed our readers and held focus groups to find out what you want to see in your newspaper. We spent the summer implementing the results of your feedback, and we hope that you enjoy the end product—a bigger opinion section, more online content and free classifieds for students, just to name a few.

I’d like to invite you to participate in our survey to let us know what you think about us now. Be honest—tell us what you like and what you don’t like. There’s always room for improvement, and we’re open to the possibilities. Visit www.theubpost.com and click on “Take our survey” or submit your comments to The UB Post, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave., SC 303, Baltimore, MD, 21201 or ubpost@ubalt.edu.

Everyone on campus is talking about change—the new Student Center, freshmen coming next year, better university communications—but with change comes transition, from the old to the new. UB is currently in a major transitional period. So many new things, so many kinks to work out.

The new Student Center—the grand, glass building on the corner of Maryland and Mount Royal avenues—supposed to be for the students to congregate and have a place to feel comfortable and welcome. But it’s not open 24/7. It’s not even open on Sundays! When do students who work Monday through Friday nine to five, attend classes from 5:30 p.m. to as late as 10:45 p.m., then go home to their families have a chance to study? On the weekend. If we don’t open our campus to our own students, how we will grow?

The new logo launched in March, but where’s all of the merchandise in the bookstore? Our options right now are plain white coffee mugs with the blue logo or blue T-shirts with the white logo—not much to choose from. Students can’t display their campus pride properly with a coffee mug or T-shirt as their only options.

Bolton Lot—going to be transformed into a 1300-space garage. That’s great news! So what happens to all of those spaces in the meantime? Has the university said how it will deal with the already-frustrating parking situation we have now?

Change is never easy, so it’s understandable that there will be hang-ups, but it’s how you deal with those hang-ups that measures your success. So kudos to the administration for keeping an open door and hearing us out on our gripes; but if students don’t voice their opinions, the administration is never going to know what we’re unhappy about.

Your student government kicked off the semester well, with a luncheon for student leaders and key members of administration to network—an effort to open the lines of communication. The next step is a town hall meeting with administrators in October where concerns will be addressed and students will have the opportunity to ask additional questions.

So to that end, I invite you to share your thoughts, both good and bad, about any campus issues with your student newspaper so that your voice may be heard by the entire campus and the administration. It’s what we’re here for!

Sincerely,

Nedra Cruz
Editor in Chief


The UB Post welcomes submissions of any kind. They must be typed, double-spaced in electronic format and include the author's name, phone number and e-mail. Send submissions to ubpost@ubalt.edu. All submissions are the property of The UB Post.

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