Editorial Board

Since the beginning of the fall 2025 semester, several students at La Salle have voiced concerns about how their financial aid packages have been poorly handled–specifically regarding the treatment of scholarships. According to the students affected, allegedly, some scholarships awarded from department donors or La Salle affiliated scholarships with external donors are being substituted for existing aid rather than added on top of it. This non-stacking practice results in students stating that they are not receiving the full financial benefit that they have expected.

While the university’s financial aid policies are designed to comply with federal and institutional guidelines, students are asking for more transparency and clearer communication. Students express that they are not often able to get a speedy explanation from financial aid office personnel, and/or come to find a solution to solve the issues outlined on their tuition bill. Some have expressed confusion over why merit-based awards are offsetting need-based aid, especially when both were earned independently.

In a conversation with Greg Nayor, La Salle’s Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing, Nayor clarified what it means when a scholarship is stacked or swapped. Nayor stated, “Scholarships are applied to a student’s overall financial package by either adding it on top (“stacking”) of all applied financial aid (federal and state, institutional, outside scholarships, etc), or where appropriate, replacing previously awarded institutional financial aid (“swapping”) with an endowed scholarship. It is important to note that students cannot receive more financial aid than the overall cost of attendance.”

Students who received scholarships at the end of the spring 2025 semester have been particularly affected by this issue. It has affected students across different departments, including accounting, athletics and political science. Specifically, political science recipients of the Robert J. Courtney, Ph.D., ’41 Scholarship and Byrne Scholarship have dealt with this issue firsthand.

The Courtney Scholarship, according to an article on La Salle’s website, states, “The endowed scholarship is in honor of long-time professor Robert J. Courtney, Ph.D., ’41, and goes to political science students who have shown academic excellence, dedication to public service, and demonstrated unmet financial need.”

Past recipients, per the political science department, who have received this scholarship have had it stacked on top of their other merit-based scholarships. Recipients as of last year, including the subject of the above article, Lindsay Wagner ’25, have had their scholarships stacked. As of this year, students are no longer receiving this scholarship stacked. Instead, it is getting swapped for their other merit-based scholarships, essentially not giving any additional aid to the students–even those who still have a sum of money owed for tuition each semester.

Senior Allie Ringsdorf is one student who received the Courtney Scholarship for this academic year and has dealt with the repercussions of these changes without prior notice.

“I received my fall billing statement over the summer, and I noticed that I owed more for the fall semester than I did in the Spring,” explained Ringsdorf. “I had grown to expect tuition hikes or additional fees each semester, but I received a scholarship a few months prior. So why did my situation get worse? The previous aid that I received was reduced and the Courtney Scholarship filled the hole, making my total aid package the same amount of money. When I received the scholarship in the spring, I was given the impression that I would be receiving additional aid of up to $4,000 over the next academic year. I did not feel the financial relief that I was anticipating for the last few months. My elation quickly turned to confusion and helplessness. I reached out to friends, fellow recipients, faculty, and financial aid for answers, but I received competing responses as to why I was not receiving additional aid. After what felt like a tornado ripping through my mind, I felt helpless as my situation remained unchanged.”

Similar to Ringsdorf, students across campus have expressed frustration over the lack of clarity and consistency in how scholarship and financial aid policies have been applied this term, given that they hadn’t received a formal announcement regarding scholarship changes or eligibility to receive them.

Another student wishing to remain anonymous added, “It feels like we’re being penalized for earning scholarships. That’s not how it should work.”

Additionally, students receiving the Byrne Scholarship have been dealing with the same issue. As per another article about a past recipient on La Salle’s website, “The Byrne Scholarship recognizes an outstanding junior and/or rising senior political science major who emphasizes the study of United States Government and politics while exemplifying their commitment to their academic achievement and learning.”

Like the Courtney Scholarship, past recipients from last year including Intizorhon Fataeva ’24 and students before Fataeva have received the Byrne Scholarship stacked atop their other merit scholarships. Students are wondering why this change occurred, when it was enacted, and why there have been no formal announcements made to both them and their department heads.

General billing confusion has only added to the frustration. Several students have reported receiving statements throughout their time at La Salle that do not reflect their expected aid, leading to panic and last-minute calls to the financial aid office.

When asked about the frequency of billing errors, Nayor stated, “Actual billing errors are actually far less common than one would think. In fact, I would say it is relatively rare for billing errors to occur, so much so that, I cannot quantify it.”

However, many students still face issues with their billing statements and forms. “Financial aid has messed up my bill since I started freshman year, and now I’m a senior,” criminal justice major Patrick Malloy said. “They add more stress than my classes to my life.”

“Financial aid messed up my 1098 tax form, so I went to the office, and they told me that they didn’t know what to do because the person in charge of the 1098 tax form permanently left,” said senior Koh McGinn. “Then they told me to call the federal government or ask my accountant to see if they can fix it even though it was financial aid’s fault, and they never fixed it to this day.”

In fairness, the financial aid office has complex tasks: balancing limited resources, following regulatory requirements and tending to individual student needs. It would make sense that some of these billing errors may have to do with the fact that a bill may be correct at the time it is issued, yet wrong at the time it is viewed by the student due to external circumstances (promissory note left unsigned, unaccepted loans, not registered full-time, etc).

Nayor emphasized that improving the student experience remains a top priority, and there have been actions taken to improve the financial aid office operations, as he has only been working in this role at La Salle for two years.

“Since I have arrived, a focus on the vast improvement of the overall experience for students and families has been my primary responsibility with financial aid and student accounts,” Nayor said. “We merged the areas to create a Student Financial Services shop, with the idea of having everything in one place. We hired 2 frontline customer service professionals, implemented a new ticketing system, added bilingual (Spanish) financial aid counselors, and more. We still have work to do on providing a better service for students and will continue to get better and better each year.”

VP of La Salle’s Student Government Association Jya Marshall responded to the situation with a broader call to action. “It’s essential that we, as student leaders, continue to advocate for the needs and expectations of our peers. The financial aid process is incredibly complex, as each student’s package must be carefully tailored to their unique circumstances. Because of this, transparency, openness, and accuracy are crucial, especially given the financial burdens higher education can place on students and their families. Students who excel academically should receive the complete benefits of the scholarships, endowments, or funds they’ve rightfully earned, in addition to what has already been credited to them in accordance with each scholarship’s provisions. Upholding La Salle’s founding principles ensures that all students can experience the transformative, Lasallian education that prepares them to lead purposeful and meaningful lives, and of course, being known for more.”

Students seeking support with their financial aid or billing concerns should turn to La Salle’s Student Financial Services office, located in the lower level of the Lawrence Administration Building. As stated previously, the office has recently undergone improvements to streamline assistance.

For help, students can email studentfinancialservices@lasalle.edu, call 215-951-1070, or submit a request through the online portal, Starfish. These resources aim to provide clarity and timely assistance for questions about scholarships, aid packages and tuition statements. As the university continues refining its processes, students are encouraged to advocate for transparency and reach out when issues arise. Ensuring access to accurate information and equitable aid is essential to upholding La Salle’s mission of providing a transformative, Lasallian education.

Editorial Board

Disclaimer: Opinions in this article are that of the contributors of the editorial board which is composed of three different students. When we write “I” or “me” this does not reflect all of our opinions, but rather just one of our opinions. These opinions and experiences do not represent the greater Collegian Staff, the La Salle Student Body, or La Salle University as an institution. This editorial was written as a means of sharing thoughts and personal experiences as a vehicle to start a conversation about public safety at La Salle. This article is not the only opinion about public safety and its contents are not exhaustive. An editorial is simply “a newspaper article written by or on behalf of an editor that gives an opinion on a topical issue” (via Oxford Languages). 

Anytime I tell someone I go to La Salle I usually get similar responses like “Ugh the neighborhood,” “Isn’t it scary there?” “Hope you don’t leave campus at night,” etc. Perhaps you’ve heard similar responses or said these things yourself. I have come up with a pretty routine answer like “I have never had any issues with crime in the area. It exists, but violence is usually over interpersonal issues or in a struggle for someone’s property.” That being said we have all gotten the Citizen app notifications about someone being armed within a mile radius or La Salle alert Texts about crime in the area. 

I have been fortunate enough not to experience any type of crime interactions while attending La Salle, but I know that is not everyone’s experience. I believe that La Salle has a duty to protect students from any harm (crime-related or not) while they are on campus or coming to and from campus, and students have a duty to take advantage of the public safety resources that are available to them. But, I do not think La Salle is responsible for crime at large that students may hear about or be bystanders to off-campus. 

For resident assistants (RAs) and community assistants (CAs), campus safety is of utmost importance. In order to even be an RA or CA at La Salle, one has to train for two weeks before residents move in and the school year begins. Within training, the RAs and CAs work with public safety in different workshops to learn how to maintain safety on campus and help students in emergencies.

That being said, as an RA myself, I do feel safe on campus. I have a good relationship with public safety, I am educated on all of the safety features we have on campus and I know how to respond to on campus emergencies. However, I feel a big problem with safety we have on campus is that students do not know what safety features the campus has to offer and what the proper steps to take in an on campus emergency are. I myself luckily do because of the training I have as an RA. However, if I was not an RA, I cannot say that I would have access to all of the safety knowledge that I am equipped with.

I know that La Salle has offered some public safety seminars at the beginning of the school year for freshmen, however, most freshmen I have spoken to from this year and last year were not aware of these trainings or did not feel they needed to go. I believe that if La Salle somehow made the information presented in these meetings more accessible for students, then it would be more influential.

For example, one important piece of information I learned during RA training is to call public safety during an on campus emergency before calling 911. This is because when you call 911, responders do not know their way around campus, what building names are and the locations of buildings. If students call public safety first, public safety will send their own officers to the scene, call 911 from their end and personally direct first responders to the scene, so that they can get to the location of the emergency as quickly as possible. Without learning this knowledge from RA training, I would not have known to do this.

Another piece of advice I would have for students living on campus who are looking for more safety resources is to call the RA on duty number while in residence halls. The RAs and CAs are on duty every weekday from 6 p.m. until 8 a.m., and every weekend there is an RA on duty 24/7. The specific RA duty number for each building is posted on flyers throughout all of the residence halls and can be called in case of any problems. All RAs and CAs are trained to respond quickly in cases of emergencies and know what resources to use and who to call in case of these emergencies.

Having lived in St. Miguel for two years, I would encounter La Salle security at least twice a day – once leaving in the morning, and once coming home at night. On weekends, I would invite friends to come over and hang out in my townhouse, which of course is normal for a college student. For guests outside of the community of La Salle University, it makes sense to register them for a guest pass, even though it was kind of a pain to go through all of their information days before they came. For La Salle students, however, having to jump through hoops to have access to the campus that you pay for is annoying. So of course, back when there was a turnstile in townies, it became less of a hassle to double swipe, pass IDs back or use your roommate’s ID – less of a hassle until you got caught. 

La Salle would then make you write a letter of apology, make a poster on why not to do what you are being punished for and other persecutions that may or may not fit the crime. But, of course, not everyone is punished the same way. Students who have been caught passing back an ID by security have received emails from the school telling them about having to do the whole nine yards as punishment. Which, fair, the students have broken the rules, and living in an urban environment, we should understand that the rules are in place to keep us safe. But what happened to the other friend of mine who also passed back an ID? And still got caught? Nothing. La Salle was too busy to stay on her about making the poster and writing the paper. This leads me to my biggest qualm about La Salle’s persecution of breaking the rules.

If everyone were to be punished equally, there would be no true issues with how the school handles their punishments. But when different people are treated in different ways, even if there is no true bias besides the time of your crime, that is when things begin to get messy. Another issue is when the people doing the punishment handle the seriousness of the jobs differently – once, I was coming home to the townhouses when the security guards (not students, but those hired by the school) were smoking in the security booth. My guest at the time went to slide her ID to them and when they opened the little door, smoke poured out. And yet we are the ones getting in trouble for ‘sneaking’ La Salle students with valid student IDs into our homes? 

My sophomore year there was a break-in inside of the La Salle Apartments and I know a handful of people whose cars have either been broken into or stolen on La Salle’s campus throughout my four years here. The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report describes “the University’s policies and programs designed to aid in keeping the community safe; to share information on crime and disciplinary referral statistics, emergency preparedness and planning; and fire safety, fire statistics, and other fire-related information in residence facilities.”

I do understand why there are certain rules put in place. Although they may be annoying to go through, they are put in place to protect us. We don’t go to a school in a college town, we go to school in an environment within a city, in a neighborhood that belongs to people beyond La Salle’s immediate community, so of course these rules make sense. But when students aren’t allowed in certain areas of their own campus or when different security guards and administrators handle punishment differently, it becomes hard to want to follow these rules.  

Crime in Philadelphia and society in general is an issue much larger than La Salle University. Factors like poverty, social environments, and family structure all influence crime. According to the United States Department of Justice, in “ 2008–12, persons living in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households.” Another study shows an explanation for the inequality-crime association as being “compositional: individuals offend when their own absolute level of resources is desperately low, and the effect of increasing inequality is to make such desperation more prevalent.” These factors behind crime seem to me to be things La Salle University is in general not responsible for.

The zip code that hosts La Salle University encompasses Logan, Ogontz and Fern Rock. People with real lives live around La Salle – not just your favorite frat boys and women’s sports team. The median income of Logan, Ogontz, and Fern Rock is just about $34,651 according to income by zip code. For some perspective, La Salle’s tuition is $34,270. 

If poverty is truly an indicator of why crime happens, perhaps La Salle University ought to look beyond busting students for underage drinking, parking tickets and public safety officers scrolling on their phones and look to the causes behind crime and public safety around our campus to make a true effort in ensuring public safety. 

In addition, in my own personal experience, I think that among the student body, there is a mocking or disrespectful attitude toward public safety issues in the area. I think that students almost think it is funny to get Citizen notifications about someone being armed with an object like a chair, and I am sure I once joined in with this banter. But, one day we as students will move away from 20th and Olney, but crime and violence will still exist near La Salle and in the larger Philadelphia area. This issue is deeper than La Salle public safety and student jokes about going to school in *insert derogatory names for the area*. Crime is a societal issue that is beyond La Salle, Logan, Ogontz, Fern Rock and Philadelphia. 

For some, living in Philadelphia or any urban environment can be scary from time to time because of the nature of crime in a city. I can confidently say that while on campus I do feel safe. I give much of that credit to my RA training for providing me with precautionary and emergency resources that make me feel safe. So, I think the most beneficial thing we can do as a school to make sure our students are safe on and off campus is to educate everyone on campus safety knowledge.

Kylie McGovern, Managing Editor

Merriam-Webster defines a soulmate as a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament. In my time at La Salle, I had heard the term “La Soulmates” thrown around. A ‘La Soulmate’ is a person perfectly suited for another person who they met here at 20th and Olney. In hearing this term I realized that I already knew two La Soulmates: my parents.

 My parents met while working right here on campus at Germantown Hospital in the 90s. My mom was in nursing school and my dad was on the men’s rowing team and studied biology. My dad graduated in 1993 and he and my mom have created a life right outside of Philadelphia for the past thirty years. They got married in 1999 and I came along in 2001. My two sisters were born in 2003 and 2005. La Salle remained a special place for my parents as they reconnected with friends from La Salle over the years. But, in 2020 when I chose to come to my parents’ alma mater and my sister followed this past year La Salle became an even more centric part of our lives. 

In talking to friends here at La Salle, my parents’ La Soulmate story is special, but not unique. Many of my friends here have siblings or parents who are also La Soulmates. As a semester-long project here at the La Salle Collegian, I was lucky enough to connect with La Soulmates. These La Soulmates have various stories for how they met each other ranging from class to Greek life, to mutual friends, but one aspect that seems to be a player in all of these stories is the tight-knit community. Without further adieu, here are some stories from La Soulmates I connected with: 

Crista Bernardino explains that she and her husband Brad met at La Salle in 2010 when he was a freshman rushing Alpha Phi Delta and she was a junior in Gamma Phi Beta. The two were paired together at a social event and ran into one another a few months later at Finnegan’s Wake and have been together ever since. Today, the two have been married for over 6 years and have a son and daughter.

Justine Amorose and Sean Ford have a similar Greek love story. The two met in the fall of their freshman year while Justine studied nursing and was a member of Alpha Theta Alpha and Sean a member of Alpha Pi Delta. The two graduated in May 2021 and have been together for nearly five years.   

Other La Soulmates met through student organizations like Amanda Hicken and her husband Scott who met through the Masque. The two were friends for several years and then started dating Scott’s senior year. The two earned the Masque’s first ‘It’s About F*ing Time’ award at that year’s formal. Amanda and Scott have been married since 2009 and now live in Cleveland, Ohio with their daughter Amelia.

Johanna Szyszkiewicz met her fiance Joe while Joe was in the four-year MBA program and she was in the nursing program. The two met very briefly at a social for the Ambassadors but had a more official introduction at a Rugby social a few weeks later. The two love to enjoy the Eagles together today in between Johanna’s nursing shifts. 

The classroom here at La Salle brought other La Soulmates like Mary and Brad Himmelstein who met in statistics class, but also connected through peer educators and work-study. It’s a small school, right? The Himmelsteins’ got engaged their senior year and will celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary this year. 

 Kaitlyn (Petruccelli) Murphy and James Murphy met in the classroom like the Himmelstein. The two shared their classes together freshman year as biology majors in the same Honors Triple. Kaitlyn explained that “after everyone did poorly on our first history test with Dr. Stowe, Jimmy showed up at my dorm room with another classmate, looking to study with me. We subsequently formed a study group with four other bio majors in the Honors Program – we all studied together through four years at La Salle, including MCAT prep.” Jimmy and Kaitlyn stayed friends and study buddies until their junior year when they took physics when we started spending more time together. The two started dating at the end of that year. La Salle remains a role in the couple’s life recently as Br. Michael McGuinness attended their wedding last year and gave a homily at their nuptial mass. The two explained how Lasallian values shape their lives today in their careers in medicine. The two welcomed a baby boy this past summer. 

For some couples like Christina Potter and Marcus Jackson, La Salle strengthens their relationship from a pre-existing one. The two met at West Catholic High School, in senior year, a month before either told the other they were going to La Salle. They both ended up going to La Salle, where they stayed together all four years and are now married! The two said that “La Salle definitely helped us to grow and ‘explore’ our relationship!”

Chris and Melanie Idler both graduated in 1993. Melanie remembers seeing Chris in her freshman orientation in the summer before school started and was definitely hoping to run into him freshman year. But, Chris told me a story about how he remembered meeting Melanie saying “​​she was wearing two different color shoes, which I thought was a little odd, but it caught my eye.” The two disconnected for a while after school, but both were in Philly the same weekend without knowing it. Melanie ran into a friend from La Salle on the banks of the Schuylkill River that weekend who mentioned he was having a party that evening. Melanie and her friends ended up turning up at that friend’s house in Manayunk, where Chris happened to be. Today, Lasallian values play a part in the Idlers’ lives as they send their two daughters to a Christian Brothers high school in Washington, D.C. (St. John’s College High School) , one of which applied to La Salle for the class of 2027. 

Although these are just a few stories of La Soulmates, these love stories are a testament to the community and friendship that exists on campus. Personally, my life would be different without La Salle literally because my parents met here, but also emotionally because of the community this campus sows. I would like to extend my gratitude to all of the La Soulmates who reached out, even those who were not included. In addition, thank you to Cherylyn Rush and Brother Michael who helped connect me to the La Soulmates. 

Bianca Abbate, Former Editor-in-Chief

Dear Editor,

Today, I write to you as a proud La Salle alumna. With the news that La Salle University will no longer consider standardized tests for admission or merit scholarships comes the realization that the University is paving a path toward equity in education. The future looks bright. This decision means that La Salle will be following the lead of other universities who will now endeavor a more holistic application process. 

Receiving a merit scholarship to attend La Salle University opened many doors for me. Perhaps the greatest door was having graduated college debt-free. While the experience seems distant, I think back to how I earned that scholarship in the first place. I recall my final days in high school and the anxiety of applying to college. I remember thinking that my grades and involvement would not be good enough if my SAT score could not reach a certain threshold. Even as a 17-year-old kid, I knew that I had more to offer a school than the number I could achieve on a standardized test, but I also knew that I had to surrender to this necessary hurdle for college admissions.   

Ultimately, I performed well on the SAT. However, I assure you that my score had little to do with my aptitude and everything to do with the fact that I had the means to prepare for the test. I had the time to study and the money for tutoring. How many college applicants can say the same? The truth is that these standardized tests are not so standard after all. Like many other standardized tests, the SAT favors the rich and the white. The College Board’s own data reveals that wealthier, Caucasion and Asian Americans who come from more educated families tend to perform far better on the test. In a 2021 study of college admission tests, author Mark Kantrowitz presents three key findings: that male students are 42% more likely to have combined SAT test scores in the 1400 to 1600 range than female students, that white students are three times more likely than Black or African-American students and twice as likely as Hispanic or Latino students to have SAT test scores of 1400 to 1600, and that students with family income of $100,000 or more are more than twice as likely as students with a family income under $50,000 to have SAT test scores of 1400 to 1600. If these shameful results raise not even an eyebrow for those in education, what can we say about the merit of our education system?

Figure 1. Students from higher-income families tend to achieve higher SAT scores

Source. Mark Kantrowitz, Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markkantrowitz/2021/05/21/how-admissions-tests-discriminate-against-low-income-and-minority-student-admissions-at-selective-colleges/?sh=6078e49f3cc1

It would seem natural for a university to move away from these antiquated metrics for admission. Nonetheless, the news of this pilot program has been met with some criticism. In one LinkedIn post announcing the program, some rejoiced and others lamented, arguing that La Salle’s test-free policies would not prepare students for the “real world” and that it would lower the University’s standards. I cannot blame people for believing that this test might be a good measure of college preparedness and intelligence. After all, this concept has been shoved down our throats for years. Yet, I refuse to believe that La Salle is lowering its standards in this decision. Rather, La Salle is raising its standards for access to higher education. The University will not submit to the standards invented by the College Board to determine who will excel in their schools, an occasion to be celebrated.

I applaud La Salle’s decision to move past these arbitrary markers of college preparedness. Today, I am in a similar position as my 17-year-old self. I am now applying for law school and preparing to take the LSAT for the third time next week. Despite having the skills, the grades and the resume that I believe would make me a successful lawyer, I am subjected to yet another inequitable test which does not favor me as a first-generation student or a full-time employee. Even worse, this time, the test is much more costly and time-consuming, and the stakes are higher. Of course, the $200 test registration fees and thousands of dollars in decent test prep do not include the additional means it will take to submit one’s application. It saddens me to know that to even begin the pursuit of advanced education requires a hefty down payment. For many, the dream of becoming a doctor or lawyer will not be realized, not because they lack the intelligence or the tenacity, but because they lack the funds. The system must change.

Stellar test scores and even great grades can only get one so far in life. The true mark of a Lasallian is his or her character and commitment to community. These traits, not numbers, are what open doors for us and allow us to succeed in the professional world. I say that, as it does with each student it admits, La Salle took a chance on me, and I like to think that it will see a return on its investment. It is my hope as an alumna that La Salle will continue to take chances on students who will enrich the University with their unique perspectives. With La Salle’s new policy, the admissions team will find something special in young people that they may have otherwise overlooked. With the right tools and a nurturing environment, these students will undoubtedly prove the admissions team right in their decision. That’s a win for La Salle.

The Editorial Board

Header Image: La Salle University

The 2021-2022 academic year marks La Salle’s first full year back, with events, breaks and studies following the traditional cadence that was expected from an in-person Lasallian education. While the spring 2021 semester was the La Salle community’s first re-introduction to in-person learning and living, it was very much a bumpy ride and a Band-Aid solution. We were here at the end of the last academic year, but we weren’t really here. This year, we came into our own again, and for some of us, got to experience the school as it was intended for the first time.

Now, as the members of the Editorial Board are studying for their final exams, packing up, getting ready to move back home for the summer or isolating to stay safe during this last minute COVID wave, we wanted to look back on this year, and celebrate the fact that we made it a whole year, not just without being sent home, but with a great sense of community and pride that we came together to make things work in a time filled with so much uncertainty.

As the new Editorial Board found its voice, we frequently commented on the progress the university was making in terms of COVID-19 cases, behavior and understanding, and so many changes came in just two semesters.

We eventually stopped writing these pieces because a general sense of comfort fell over the university, particularly when we followed the city in lifting the mask mandate, and things have felt very uplifting since then. But, being our last editorial of this year, we wanted to look back and just discuss everything we felt and everything that happened in this whirlwind of a year.

Perhaps the biggest change to on-campus life this year was in-person learning. While some of us had in-person classes at La Salle in the spring of 2021, the fall 2021 semester opened in-person and hybrid classes to so many more people, and many more professors moved away from online only modality. Some members of our board experienced their first in-person classes during this semester despite already being sophomores at La Salle.

Relationships had to be rekindled, and for underclassmen, these people who previously occupied a small box on their computer monitor were now living, breathing members of their lives. Beyond this, heightened vaccination rates eased many students’ minds, particularly those who were not keen on in-person learning in the spring of 2021.

Even though our desks were pushed far apart, we had assigned seats, we didn’t recognize each other or couldn’t hear each other in masks, it was still great to finally get to see so many familiar faces and be sat in these places that for some of us felt like home, and for others, would become a home away from home. Stopping by Saxby’s before class, passing someone you hadn’t seen since March of 2020 in the Hayman hallways or checking the seating chart and seeing new faces you’ve never met in person, only on a Zoom screen, the feeling was incredibly powerful.

But, it wasn’t just in-person classes, it was on-campus life. People were living on campus in the spring of 2021, but for a majority of students, that meant staying in your dorm or townhouse and seeing the same three or four people every day, afraid to venture out to meet others, either because rules were unclear, COVID was coming in waves or the risk of losing that small bit of human interaction because you went to the wrong party was just so terrifying. 

This year, with the low levels of cases being reported toward the end of the year, the university trying to promote some in-person events and moving onto campus in the summer instead of the dead of winter proved to be the push that people needed to get out and be a community again. We remember meeting up with our friends again, taking our masks off and knowing that we would be safe and just ready to be college students again in every sense, not just academically.

While events like the on-campus formal dance may have pushed the limits of our comfort in terms of the COVID risk, others like the school’s annual Homecoming celebration, wine tastings and weekly Late Night La Salle events went off without a hitch. Clubs were allowed to meet in person again, in some cases, with some even hosting events to bolster their numbers in a time when most clubs are bleeding seniors and not finding any newcomers.

For us, returning to the Collegian’s office in the union meant more than we could have imagined. It’s dingy, it’s dusty and it took us about 10 full hours to clean out after over a year of being uninhabited, but the office was shaped up, and we returned to create the paper. We met as a group, some of us for the first time ever, and were able to bounce ideas off of each other, plan future issues using white boards, use body language to describe how we felt and avoid all of the awkwardness that came with meeting over Zoom, and the paper was so much better off for it.

Just something as simple as being able to have a club meeting in person or sit in Blue and Gold or the Union and have lunch with people who weren’t our roommates made the campus feel alive and vibrant, even on days when it was dead compared to its past peak. 

The important thing to remember, is that through all of this, vaccination and proper masking were the first lines of defense to us maintaining a proper campus environment, but people being selective with their social groups, avoiding crowded parties and public places when applicable, testing and properly reporting results to quarantine with accordance to guidelines helped us truly come through to where we are now. 

The school can only give us so many freedoms before we have the chance to ruin it — but we didn’t ruin it. People knew how important it was to stay COVID safe, so even when we went out, it was with people we trust, and we maintained proper social distancing or contact tracing.

The La Salle community has shown over the course of this year that it does have the ability to help restore campus to what it was prior to COVID. Through diligence, kindness and care, the La Salle community has properly dealt with the return to campus and helped restore trust in the collective’s involvement in the school both in and outside of the classroom.

As shown in classes where polled students did ask for masks to be worn, students managed to come together with little to no issues in wearing masks for those who needed to or felt uncomfortable when they were not worn. All around, even after COVID policies were relaxed, students continued to work towards helping others feel comfortable and safe during their time at La Salle.

With the exception of one time where the campus community was forced into an online modality due to case numbers, we have had no incidents or major outbreaks of note in the whole year, and we believe that, even though mitigating COVID-19 cases requires just the bare minimum amount of care on behalf of well-minded students, that we all still deserve a pat on the back.

That includes our amazing professors, who risked their health day after day to come in and teach. Some professors were open about the fact that they were at risk, or lived with those who were, and needed students to be very strict on mask wearing and contact tracing for the safety of their academic leaders, and the La Salle community was staunchly accepting of this.

As far as checkpoints go, we made it so far that the testing center was able to downsize and move out of Treetops Cafe, as the capacity needed was reduced by so much, we were able to drop the mask requirement on campus, even in the classroom, making classes seem much more personal and familiar now, with many of us unmasking in front of each other for the first time in years.

While we are unfortunately going through a small COVID wave right now, with about 30 cases being reported this week, for most of this semester, the average weekly case count was less than 10, reporting zero cases for several weeks. In total for this whole second semester, we have only seen about 300 cases and around 75 percent of the campus community is fully vaccinated with their booster.

Get boosted if you haven’t already.

We can feel the overall spirit of La Salle rekindling. Students are on the quad and hanging with classmates in the Union. Some of us on the Board spent our first year completely online, and this year has shown us why we chose to come to La Salle in the first place: the Lasallian people and community. These people are the Christian Brothers, the professors who know your name and the students you have come to know so well. The chapel bell rings and all we can think is “we’re back.” 

Obviously, we still have many hills to climb, and the university itself has taken a significant hit financially and in terms of enrollment. Dr. Daniel Allen has been brought in to steer the ship, and the economic repercussions of the pandemic are still ravaging universities across the nation. Hopefully the search committee and board of trustees we’re correct in assuming that Allen’s fundraising skills were what La Salle needed to pull us back up as an organization.

But, as a community, we’re here, and we’re here to stay for as long as we are afforded a place in our little corner of Philadelphia.

In an understandably pessimistic piece from April of 2021, the previous Editorial Board wrote, “Zoom classrooms are full of strangers — black screens with audio. Dorms are private spaces. The campus is disconnected. The atomization and thinning of society that we have seen in our world has been mirrored in our corner of the world on Broad and Olney. The La Salle we all remember may never make a full return.” Well, to our long graduated Collegian alumni, and to anyone who may have agreed with that sentiment at that time. We are proud to announce that we are back.