The Knight will be saying goodbye to four extraordinary people, who have been the cornerstone of this year’s hard work.

As The Gannon Knight bids its seniors farewell, it also welcomes the new members of its staff for 2013-2014.

The Knight will be led by Editor-in-Chief, Hiba Almasri, who currently serves as Assistant News Editor.

Her position will be filled by Michael Haas, who has served as a staff writer for the section. Meanwhile, Colleen Langham, who currently serves as the Roundtable Editor, will be serving as The Knight’s News Editor.

Khadjia Djellouli will continue working as Arts & Leisure Editor for another artistic year of theater, concerts and arts. Sammie Janik will be joining our staff as the Arts & Leisure Assistant– replacing April Shernisky.

Shernisky will be moving up the ladder to become the Features Editor for The Knight.

Meanwhile, the Sports Editor position will be filled by Connor Sondel, who has served as a staff writer for the section.

If any one of you readers is interested in joining our staff and writing entertaining stories as Assistant Features Editor or Assistant Sports Editor, please contact Almasri.

We are also happy to introduce Zak Westfall as next year’s Photo Coordinator and Roundtable Editor. Finally, Josh Taylor will remain The Knight’s Business Manager for another year.

We wish all of the 2013 graduates success, fully confident that they will excel in whatever they pursue, and we look forward to a successful new school year.

The changes are part of a plan that began with the opening of North Hall. When it came time to decide which modernization would come next – Nash Library or the rec – administrators evidently pushed the rec to the head of the line.

The new and improved CAP will feature an 80-yard indoor field to accommodate year-round sports practices, among other improvements.

The crown jewel of the plan, however, is a new human performance center, which will include a motion analysis lab and a human performance and testing lab. According to gannonsports.com, it should “serve as a space for collaboration between faculty and students in the physical therapy, sport and exercise science, human performance, occupational therapy and biomedical engineering programs.”

This is exciting news for athletes and students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Health Professions and Sciences. Director of Recreation Don Henry spoke with The Knight in February 2012, saying the CAP hasn’t been structurally updated since the building first opened nearly 30 years ago.

The new CAP will undoubtedly be cutting edge, but it isn’t a priority for most students. A comfortable, functional place to study is. And when was Nash last updated? Judging by the stained orange carpeting, not since Ronald Reagan was in office.

As the great philosopher Spock said, “logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

That’s not to say that the aforementioned programs are the minority. But why wouldn’t a project that benefits everyone – all majors, all faculty members – take precedence?

This year will be no different.

Families from all over the world will gather to share in the joy of watching family members mark such a momentous accomplishment.

Flash bulbs will undoubtedly go off, handshakes will be exchanged and tears shed.

However, we are somewhat disappointed that the presence of a recognizable name as the commencement speaker will be absent from the ceremony on May 11.

We’re confident this year’s speaker, Mary Ann Dillon, R.S.M., Ph.D., a Mercy Sister who serves as Senior Vice-President of Mission and Sponsorship at Mercy Health System, will knock her speech out of the newly renovated Erie Insurance Arena.

Providing quality and compassionate healthcare for the vulnerable among us—something Mercy Health Systems prides itself on— is of utmost importance in our society today, and we should be grateful to have such an accomplished administrator share in this special moment with us.

We realize that we should not expect to see leaders in politics, media and academia every year.

However, we had been hoping that Gannon would be able to produce a larger name, especially considering that Gannon searched internally for the speaker for the past two years: in 2011, outgoing president Antoine Garibaldi gave the commencement speech before Bishop Donald Trautman was honored last year.

We are all very excited for this year’s graduation and look forward to seeing our classmates and friends take a monumental step into the world. And our enthusiasm is not diminished in the least.

Here’s to this year’s and many more successful graduations.

For those unfamiliar, the account would publish “secret admirer” posts it had received anonymously. Posts about Gannon students from Gannon students.

In other words, it was just another business day at an institution whose main clients are 20-year-olds, who, on occasion, behave like gaumless 20-year-olds.

The former operators of the account could hardly be labeled pariahs. If you need evidence, they commented on each Tweet with a dose of mordant wit.

If anything may be gleaned from this latest incident, it’s not that Gannon students created an outlet to harass other students.

It’s another instance of the university’s administration intervening in any public domain that risks dirtying Gannon’s image.

Last year, one misstep by the polarizing GUProblems and the Twitter account was shut down completely.

Currently, Gannon Crushes has remained silent since March 27. Recent history suggests the popular thread didn’t cease on its own.

Social media in itself is not malevolent. The university’s response is not just petulant, but a warning of Gannon’s future of sustained reach into the recalcitrant Internet.

How far does that reach go? Where do students feel safe to express their displeasure without trepidation of reprimand?

Students must be given the choice to act responsibly, or do things they’ll later regret. It builds maturity naturally.

By prohibiting these outlets of expression, the administration risks altering its students into reticent individuals, who won’t speak when something needs to be said.

In all seriousness, we thank all the students, in particular, who take the time to read this production week after week, and we hope you’re enjoying it, or at least finding it useful.

But in order to keep The Knight in business, we need staff members to run it.

That’s where you (students of all kinds) come in.

If you have any interest at all in getting involved, let us know. There are no requirements regarding major or experience; anyone who wants to get involved is welcome.

We are always looking for new writers and photographers, but we could also really use some new editorial board members for next year.

Getting involved is as simple as sending an email, either to The Knight’s editor-in-chief at moreland002@knights.gannon.edu, or any of the other staff members.

Or, if you’re the jump-the-gun type, go ahead and stop by one of our meetings and production nights.

We meet at 5 p.m. on Sundays in The Gannon Knight office, which is on the corner of Seventh and Peach streets, right next to the Walker building.

Production nights are usually in full swing by 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and they go on far after you’ve all gone to sleep for the night.

Because of Easter break, we’ve got two weeks off from The Knight, so take some time to think about it.

If you’re interested, we’ll be here at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 7 and all night Tuesday, April 9.

If students want a newspaper – which we really, really hope you do – the only way to keep it alive is to support it.

So before you dismiss our plea entirely, at least stop by and check us out.

All of us on The Knight’s editorial board have suffered from that sense of desperation when  sources for a story ignore our attempts to contact them.

Our complaint has nothing to do with sources who have little to no interest in being the subject of or the source in a story.

We appreciate responses, even if it’s a polite “no” instead of the “yes” we’d like to hear.

It’s decent, common courtesy, or at least it should be.

Let’s allow for one confession on our part: we at The Knight realize that communication isn’t always a smooth, two-way road.

We’re all only human after all. Sometimes that midterm takes priority over everything else vying for your attention.

And it’s also no stretch to imagine that our editors project their habits onto the rest of the campus community.

We’re plugged in, always checking our emails, smartphones, what have you, because we need to stay abreast of what’s happening on campus, as well as keep in constant communication with each other in order to make this outfit something we can be proud of.

But all we ask is a little communicative effort in return. We cannot adequately report on Gannon University’s happenings without our sources.

And if we can’t do that, then the newstand issue would be worthless to anyone seeking to be informed.

Even if The Knight drops you a message, and you have absolutely zero interest in what we have in mind, please send a reply telling us so.

That way, we can spend our time looking elsewhere, or brainstorming a new story idea, instead of hoping that you’ll acknowledge our requests before our deadlines.

It doesn’t take much to contact us.

Recent inquiries have once again led to the decision that The Knight should be denied access to the meetings, but this time a university spokesman told us that the matter would be brought up for discussion to see if another potential conclusion can be reached.

These meetings could provide us with some valuable resources for our publication, and that’s obviously the reason behind us wanting to attend.

We don’t wish to go because we want to get the dirty secrets; we want to be there because it’s essentially an information board.

If something that the Knight staff needs to know about is happening, or is  going to happen, on Gannon’s campus, a Board of Trustees meeting is the best place to get that information and to reach our sources quickly and efficiently.

While we understand that sometimes things need to be discussed privately, we also recognize that meetings of this sort are open to the public for state universities, as well as local public school boards.

Gannon is a private university and therefore exempt from the state’s open meeting laws, so maybe its meetings shouldn’t be open to the public. And for the most part we might agree.

But The Knight is a student-produced publication. We are not the public; we’re part of the university. And our job is to tell the rest of the university what’s going on around here.

We thank the Board of Trustees for being willing to discuss the matter, and we hope that a conclusion can be reached that will work well for both parties.

Lent approaches with anticipation around Gannon University every year, both because we love celebrating Mardi Gras and because Ash Wednesday is one of American Catholics’ favorite days.

(As a side note, Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation; we just tend to treat it that way.)

On one hand, Mardi Gras always proves a joyous occasion, full of bright colors and lots of food – not to mention drinks – the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

On the other, we take it with a grain of salt, knowing that what many people label as the “season of depression” is upon us.

Even though it’s easy to do, with Good Friday right around the corner, we at The Knight are urging the Gannon community to think of Lent a little differently this year.

Yes, this is when we remember that Jesus, our icon, died on the cross for us. A lot of Catholics tend to dwell on the subdued nature that a person could even be capable of doing such a thing.

Instead of thinking about that this Lent, let’s get past the hard part and think about how nice this man must have been.

It sounds cheesy when it’s said that way, but think about it. Do you know anyone who would do that? For people he or she doesn’t even know?

Of course it’s much more complicated than that, in the theological sense, but it’s not our job to think about it that way (unless we really want to).

The days of giving up chocolate and soft drinks are behind us.

This Lent, let’s focus on how we can make other people’s lives better, like was done for us on the cross.

We know that it’s partially, of course, because we’re trained to know what constitutes news.

And in case you haven’t read the news section yet, the departure of a such a short-term provost is most definitely news.

Really, the departure of any person in such a high position is news.

But we’ve also had the unveiling of a big new project – Another Bright Idea, the immediate appointment of a new provost, the unveiling of the 2013-14 budget and Student Government Association’s declaration that the student body wants a crosswalk on Eighth Street.

The other way we know for sure that this is a big week, though, is because people are actually talking to us.

Countless students, professors and other assorted faculty members have expressed to the editors of The Knight that they were looking forward to this issue.

Never before have so many of us been approached by interested readers.

It feels so good to know not only that people are trusting us to tell the story, but they’re actually reading the paper at all.

After all, that’s all we really want here.

Well, and more writers. Always more writers.

But if you don’t tell us you’re reading, we don’t necessarily know.

In all sincerity, we want to thank the people who have given us feedback this week and in previous weeks. Good or bad, it makes us feel fantastic that you’re reading at all.

And if we’re not made aware of what you think, we’re never going to do anything to change the things you don’t like.

So thank you, to those who read. And an even more special thank you to those who use the contact information we provide every week.

While many of us don’t pay much attention to sports in general, we all recognize that there’s something about the Super Bowl.

It simply can’t be missed.

But we took a step back to wonder what the world would be like if we all treated the sporting events at home like we do this annual event.

We’re not referring to the quintessential Pittsburgh-Cleveland matchups, but rather those that take place at Gannon University.

We can’t help but wonder whether it might make a difference if students were to show as much support on home turf as they do on Super Bowl Sunday.

Sure, it’s more of a commitment, but it also means a lot more to the teams at home.

When we’re all sticking together, rooting for the same team, it creates bonds among students and ties to the university that are hard to accomplish any other way.

There’s got to be some truth in the adage of power by numbers.

It’s not that we need to win more – though it would be a nice perk.

But the thrill of the game, according to those of us who have played a sport or two in our youth, means much more when you’ve got the support you need to back you up.

Though we’re not trying to say the support at Gannon is terrible, we as students could always be doing more to support our teams.

Win or lose, a family should stick together.

So whether you find yourself cheering or crying by the end of the game Sunday, remember there’s always something to cheer for at home.