The Horizon has been known to print some scathing articles and columns.

I have written my share of harsh stories.

Recently, a fellow student mentioned to me how it seemed we want to make the school look bad and that we have no school spirit.

I can’t speak for every member of The Horizon, but for me, this could not be further from the truth.

The truth is I have a lot of school spirit. I don’t have the cheerleading, Gus-type school spirit, but I do love IU Southeast. I think it’s a great school. Our professors are knowledgeable and friendly, our campus is fairly nice to look at, and the atmosphere is great. I like that IUS is a commuter school, even though it may pretend at times to not be. I don’t go to any organized athletic events or gimmicky Campus Life get-togethers, but the fact that these are not the focus of our campus is another pro to IU Southeast.

But there is room for improvement. That’s where the critical articles come in.

Last year I wrote an article about how the school failed to provide the chemistry department with a working nuclear magnetic resonance machine. I did not want to write the article to point out how ridiculous and embarrassing it was that the chemistry department did not have one of the most important pieces of equipment for research and education. I wrote the article to bring attention to the problem so the school would stop pinching pennies and give the chemistry students and faculty what they needed.

I’ve written a couple of articles about how the buildings on campus are in various states of disrepair. My goal was not simply to make the school look bad. I was hoping more people would become aware that the campus was too dependent on state funding for building repair and rehabilitation that is drying up so alternatives could be explored. Obviously the alternative of not spending $8,000 on a mascot was not explored very thoroughly.

Several Horizon writers have been hard on the SGA, particularly on the Opinions page. But it’s nothing personal. I don’t dislike any SGA members as people. But I and some of my colleagues think they could do a better job.

The point is we expose problems so they can be addressed and, hopefully, fixed.

Some people on campus want the school to look great. I want the school to be great.

If embarrassment is what it takes to prod the administration into action, then so be it. If people would rather hide the problems than fix them, I may have more school spirit than any of them.

Zach Hester
Editor
zwhester@ius.edu