We never thought this day would come.
This is the last paper of the semester. The last paper of 2012. The last paper for all of those thousands of graduates that will never take another class at Ohio State. After we produced and you read 66 papers, we’re done.
Of course we’re not done. We’re never done. News never stops. We know that as well as any. We’ll continue to put out content online over break and, come Jan. 7, The Lantern will fill newspaper racks across campus once again, as reliably and inevitably as our current looming finals.
But for a brief time in December, we’ll rest. The entire campus will rest from schoolwork, and it’s much deserved.
Coming into OSU’s first semester in decades, we all knew it would be a long and arduous term. The longest of many of our lives. But we did it. And although it seemed like a struggle at times, maybe even most of the time, we got to witness history.
President Barack Obama was re-elected for another four years as the leader of the free world. Some people were annoyed with a bombardment of political ads in the months leading up to the race and felt the barrage of persuasion of people on the Oval telling you to go out and vote. But where some saw annoyance, we saw history in the making. OSU’s campus became a political battleground. Obama visited campus twice this fall. Both he and former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney swarmed Columbus throughout Fall Semester, culminating their races in the city. All eyes were on Ohio and, with an important youth vote, the world focused in on Ohio State.
While the political junkies on campus focused on their campaign efforts, many others had their gaze on Ohio Stadium. With coach Urban Meyer at the helm of a football team that couldn’t seem to be beaten, each Saturday brought different tales of triumph and success. The Mirror Lake jump might have meant a little more this year as The Game was all that stood between OSU and a perfect season. Then, on Nov. 26, the Buckeyes did something only five other teams have ever done in the history of the university – by beating Michigan they completed a perfect 12-0 season.
But the successes that came with this semester don’t outshine the sorrows. With increased traffic on campus because of the class change times on semesters, we saw plenty of strife at the beginning of the year, as students were struck by cars on what seemed like a regular basis in August and September. Some students walked away practically unscathed from these run-ins, but others – such as James Hughes, who lost a leg, or Rachel Stump, who lost her freshman year – are still recuperating and will never be the same. We saw the university’s seemingly weak attempts at creating a task force to help lessen these accidents, and finally we saw them die down.
We saw Park-Stradley, a new building on South Campus, rise and fall. A water-main break caused the residents – residents that we have since seen plagued with three reported rapes – to be evacuated for three days.
And efforts that began last year were finally concluded. The Columbus Division of Police and the OSU Police finally reached joint jurisdiction agreements, allowing University Police to patrol off-campus areas.
Through it all, some of you – we hope most of you – turned to us for your news, and for that we are grateful. Sometimes you don’t realize the history you’re experiencing while you’re living it, but that’s where we come in. The Lantern will always be here to help you remember the things you might forget, the things you might not have had time to fully take in.
This semester was hard, probably one of the hardest, but you are all lucky. You got to experience history like no one ever has before. We got to write that history and, for us, that was incredible.
We thank you for reading, and hope you don’t stop.