The world we live in has changed and continues to change drastically in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most components of our everyday lives have been shifted or put on hold for the time being. For The Daily Nebraskan, this meant a change in plans for our final magazine of the school year. We know that news continues regardless of how you receive it, so we’ve decided to solely publish the stories online instead of printing copies to distribute throughout campus.
Why? The answer is simple: There’s no one here to physically read it, and we want to do our part to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Despite the change in format, we want to reassure you that this publication is just as important as any other. Even in this unprecedented time, we will continue to shed light on issues that affect the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and campuses nationwide.
In this edition of The DN, we emphasize the importance of diversity.
Over the last couple of years, diversity has been at the forefront of conversations at UNL. In 2018, a student who was a self-proclaimed white supremacist sparked outrage and fear on campus. The incident caused the university to take action with the "Hate Will Never Win" campaign in an effort to restore peace.
This year, students spoke out against the lack of diversity efforts in faculty and student enrollment at UNL. They argued that the few faculty members representing diverse communities makes the transition into college more difficult for students in those communities.
Diversity is crucial to college campuses, and we try to reflect that in our day-to-day news coverage. But we also recognize there are groups on campus who often don’t receive the same level of coverage as others.
We aim to cover several communities, but we understand this collection of stories reflects just a portion of the students on campus.
We highlight individuals on campus who have made an impact on students and colleagues, such as Anna Shavers, the associate dean for diversity and inclusion in the Nebraska College of Law, and Kevin Reese, the OASIS program coordinator.
Through stories about the South of Downtown Art Hub and the band Mental Disturbance, the churches available to students and dining halls with cultural selections, we touch on how students can explore their identities on and off campus.
With Nebraska Athletics as an influential force in Lincoln, we knew it was important to include the stories of athletes in the LGBTQ community and teammates who openly practice their religions.
We even include a timeline of prominent additions to UNL that feature diversity from the university’s creation in 1869 to the present year.
In no way are these stories a complete representation of the diversity on UNL’s campuses, and we encourage students to reach out so that we can continue to diversify our own coverage.
The Daily Nebraskan aims to share the stories of all students on campus and their individual college experiences. Every Husker has their own story that deserves to be told, and it is our mission to tell it.
Sincerely,
Karissa Schmidt and Ally Sargus
Editor-in-chief and managing editor
