Listen Here
Column By Victoria Hansen
Student Managing Editor
hansenv@findlay.edu
Every year that I come back to campus, one or two things have changed. A professor has left, a new dining option opens, a new professor joins. These changes are important, but, in honesty, somewhat small. If you’d ask me how much has changed in my four years at the University of Findlay, I would probably say that nothing majorly changed. A closer look would reveal that that’s not the case.
In my time at UF, Just Baked and Flip’D have opened; SubConnection closed (rest in peace); and my academic advisor, Dr. Diana Montague, retired. This year alone, three buildings have new names, findlay.edu has been entirely overhauled, and we have a new president.
One of the biggest changes in my time at campus never even happened. When the Findlay-Bluffton merger was announced, the merger was going to be completed by fall semester 2025. Then it moved to fall semester 2026. Then it was canceled.
I wonder how much longer the Bluffton merger will remain in collective Oiler memory. The class of 2028 were freshmen when the announcement email was sent out. The merger had been canceled by the time the class of 2029 set foot on campus. When the class of 2031 walks through the arch for the first time, there will be no cultural memory from students about the aborted merger.
I have a hard time remembering all the changes that have happened in my time at UF. Thankfully, I don’t have to remember. Journalists are famous for making change by exposing corruption, asking hard questions, and pointing out issues we overlook. But journalists also record changes as they happen. Sometimes they even offer a snapshot into changes that never happened.
Journalists work as both change makers and record keepers. We record what seems to be important at the time with all the knowledge that we have at the time. This means that we leave a paper trail not just of what happened, but how we thought that it happened at the time. The Pulse’s website doesn’t just show you that the Bluffton merger was canceled. It offers you a snapshot into what students, faculty, and others were thinking when they thought the merger was going to happen.
The Pulse is a way to keep up to date with what’s going on in Findlay. It’s also a way to dive into the University’s past through primary sources written by people it affected.
If you want to help keep the record of UF going strong, come and help us at the Pulse. We’ve moved to the Pulse Media Center in the AMU and we meet at 3 p.m. on Monday. We’d love to have you help record UF’s next chapter.
