Editor’s Desk – “It’s Alive!”

By Melanie Perez
As some of our readers may know, the 2015-16 academic year ended in turmoil and controversy for The Equinox, culminating in the loss of our funding from Student Life.  In our last issue, we reported the end of The Equinox.
After a long process of meetings and discussions over the summer, FDU administration has come to an agreement with The Equinox that allows us to resume regular publication.  We will be staying in our office, Student Union Building room 105, but as an entity, The Equinox is now part of University College.
I would like to thank some key people who participated in the discussions and made this move possible – Dean Patti Mills, Communications Department Chair Karen Buzzard, Metro Provost Bob Vodde and Vice Provost Craig Mourton.  We would like to offer special thanks to former Metro Provost Joseph Kiernan who arranged for a gift from an anonymous donor to provide funding for us for this academic year.
As an organization, we have received some negative criticism regarding the cancellation of our budget due to a management oversight.  Last semester’s budget debacle was certainly a learning experience for all concerned.
Some questions were also raised regarding content of the newspaper.  We’re familiar with the academic integrity policy and with general University policy.  We do our best to adhere to them and try our hardest to publish in good taste.
Production of The Equinox is a process.  Not everything we cover makes it in, but that doesn’t mean that we’re undervaluing what’s happening on campus.  We care and we hope to show that by covering what’s important to our audience.
One of the main goals of The Equinox is to build a bridge between the FDU community and the wider community, both local and global.  That means covering not only FDU events, but also community and world events of interest to students and faculty.
I am very excited for this semester. Our new managing editor, Theresa King, has been with The Equinox for the past year and is an award-winning news writer and editor.  We also have new people in design, business management, sports writing, a new Wroxton correspondent and a cartoonist – a truly promising lineup.  We are starting off with a small team of veterans, and have a lot of new blood, similar to last year’s men’s basketball team (which made it to the NCAA) had no starting seniors.
I’m hoping The Equinox can have a larger campus presence this year.  We’re committed to using these pages as a public forum for creating dialogue, and welcome all feedback and letters to the editor.  Please feel free to contact us at equinoxfdu@gmail.com or stop in during our office hours, which are listed on our website fduequinox.wordpress.com.