With graduation only weeks away, my term as Editor-in-Chief of the Clarion has officially ended. Before I leave, however, it feels important that I make one final request of DU:

Please, give the Clarion a dedicated work space.

We lost our office this year due to the demolition of Driscoll North, and with that, we lost our home. I’m thankful for the university staff who stepped up to accommodate us in the Hub and in the library, but this is a reminder that those were temporary solutions. As a meeting space, the basement of the Hub is hot, dark and not equipped for our needs as an organization. As a production space, the library is too public, and we often face technology issues. Running the Clarion is a full-time job, and the staff needs access to their computers and software at all hours. Overall, it’s inefficient to have us moving back and forth between shared spaces.

It may not seem like a big issue from an outsider’s perspective, but the Clarion needs a home base. This year, due to our loss of privacy, there was a vastly decreased sense of family and community within the organization. The group of coworkers and friends who used to listen to music, have personal conversations and create inside jokes was split across library computers, constantly shushed by other students working nearby. I’m saddened that as Editor-in-Chief, I could not maintain the social aspects of the Clarion that were so strong in years past. We lost one of the key factors of retaining members in our organization.

Furthermore, without a dedicated Clarion office, how is the newspaper supposed to grow in the future? We need a place for our banner to hang, a place to welcome new student contributors seeking to make a difference through media. With an ideal space, the Clarion could offer writing, photography and design workshops and more, to the rest of the DU community, expanding our outreach and the impact of student journalism.

I’ve been told by current DU staff that the new student center will have endless possibilities for student organizations, and I’m calling for the Clarion to be specifically and purposefully accomodated. Build this into the grand plans. I appreciate the school’s commitment to shared spaces and organization equity, but the Clarion is no ordinary club. It is the oldest student organization on campus, and any university “dedicated to the public good” should highly value honest journalism, especially in today’s media climate; the school should demonstrate this through the Clarion.

I am asking DU to try harder in the future.

Sincerely,

Taryn Allen

Editor-in-Chief Emeritus