While none of the names on the buildings have changed, the College of Professional Studies has a completely new name — the Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies. The lengthening of the name, as our News Editor Andreina Rodriguez wrote on page two of this issue, follows a $10,000,000 donation from the eponymous couple. The Torch’s editorial board was pleased to find out that William Collins was editor-in-chief before he graduated in 1976. The Torch is proud to have a legacy of successful journalists and entrepreneurs, who take time to give back to the school. It’s even nicer to know that a former Torch EIC will have their name tethered to the school that houses the Journalism major. While the staff writers, photographers, and designers of the Torch come from each college and school at this university, the Journalism program has continuously supported the Torch by promoting to Journalism students and encouraging them to strengthen their portfolio by participating. The Torch and College of Professional Studies are intrinsically linked in this way.
It’s also important for us to note that the Torch will not benefit monetarily from this donation. The Torch is independent of financial funding from the university — that means that we do not receive money from the College of Professional Studies (CPS), nor are we a budgeted organization under Student Government Inc. (though we are an official student organization). The only money we make, comes from advertisements and donations. This keeps us free from censorship from any entities within our outside the University, which we believe is essential to our work.
President Gempesaw says the donation will provide scholarships and establish a new position in the college, and we are sure it will benefit St. John’s students for multiple generations after we graduate. Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee that the Torch will have any funding in the future. At any point, we could find ourselves unable to print. Our hope is that the improvements in media education through this donation to CPS, will bring awareness to independent journalism and student journalism; thus encouraging those who benefit from it to support in any way that they can, whether it be monetarily or by spreading awareness on the importance of student journalism.
