The end of the semester is upon us, and so is the culminating edition of The Q for the fall. I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on our work so far this year.
Our name, Quindecim, is Latin for 15 and symbolizes the number of days that elapse in between each of our biweekly publications. With the help our dedicated editorial team, hard-working staff writers, and myself, we restored our namesake for the first time since Goucher went virtual in 2020 by getting back to that biweekly schedule online.
We found a new company to work with after being ghosted by our previous printer. For the first time since last fall, we were able to get back into newsstands with a revamped layout by Mich Rouse, our Head of Design.
Earlier this semester, I found out my great-grandfather, Mohini Mohan Mukherjee, was a professor of English at Asutosh College in Kolkata, India and was also Editor-in-Chief of their college magazine.
“Now that our college has got its magazine, we ought to make the best use of it: we ought to see it permanently maintained,” he wrote in a 1924 editorial, “Journalism is an art which India is still in its swaddling clothes. There is a broader consideration of an ésprit de corps, the idea of corporate life, embodied in the magazine itself, where the students and staff may meet together for an intellectual partnership.”
It is fascinating to me, and also somewhat uncanny or full circle, that I stumbled across this part of my ancestry this fall because my great-grandfather’s 98-year-old words from across the globe ring true to The Q. Goucher’s century-old, student-run newspaper is back and running, and it is my goal that it is permanently maintained to provide students with a fact-based publication, something to unite around, and perhaps most importantly, a voice.
This semester, we’ve covered various events across campus, highlighted issues students are facing through opinion pieces, provided comic relief through comics, and so much more.
In this issue you’ll find advice articles geared towards getting through finals week and gift-giving this holiday season, as well as news, feature and sports stories covering campus events such as persistent fire alarms in Heubeck, the new SGA administration, winter sports’ training schedule during break, and the controversial decision to remove the ban list from Rocky Horror.
Our publication would not be possible without the constant help and support of Dom McKinney, our treasurer and A&E Section Editor, and Mich Rouse, Head of Design. I would also like to thank our section editors Reese Finnigan (Sports) and Nia Anthony (Opinion) for their abundant contributions. And thank you to all our staff writers who contributed so far – Jaida, Rory, Luke, Sara, Alana, and Ben, as well as guest contributors who have sent work in.
Erica Gardner from the Office of Student Engagement has been very supportive in helping us access our office.
And through every bump in the road, our faculty advisor, David Zurawik, has had my back and helped us get up and running.
Moving into the spring, we hope to print at least once a month and continue to grow both our club membership and readership across campus. To my fellow students, don’t hesitate to get involved, and tell your friends to check us out. Faculty and staff, please plug the Q in your classes and keep reading our work.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far. We’ll be back with more coverage soon! In the meantime, please reach out to me with any comments or questions — I’d love to hear from you (amita.chatterjee@goucher.edu or quin@mail.goucher.edu). Good luck with finals and have a wonderful break!
