Be true to the Gold & Blue

On April 28, I turned 32, and on that morning, I thought about all that had transpired throughout my life, my tenure as editor in chief of the greatest collegiate newspaper and more importantly, my collegiate career at Southern University.
And one main point kept coming back to me: How much I love Southern University.
So it is because of this undying love that I won’t embarrass anyone by segregating whom I owe “thank you’s” and those I don’t. Because if it weren’t for each and every one of you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
But to each and every one of you, please remember that the Southern University System is bigger than all of us. There’s more to running a university than giving a job or allocating funds. There’s more to being a faculty or staff member than giving assignments or sitting at a desk. There’s more to being a student than doing homework or voting for your SGA president.
Now that we have a new leadership on the system level, I encourage all of you to try and work together — on all five campuses — and epitomize what Southern is really about. There is not one single reason why the lone historically black college system in the nation should suffer such apathy from within. We are the envy of many black and traditional institutions throughout the land. Instead, envy rears its ugly head throughout the infrastructure and hierarchy of our system.
During SU Day at the Capitol, Reps. Avon Honey, D-Baton Rouge and Charles Jones, D-Monroe, urged hundreds to fight for our system. I stand behind them in that charge. To those of you who didn’t attend the event — but could have — I feel sorry for you. It’s you who exemplify the dead weight in this system.
Regardless of how you may feel about your coworker, subordinate, supervisor or Southern, please remember that if you let any of them affect your love for this illustrious system, you need to leave.
I can’t comment on Southern’s problems if I am a part of them. But what I can do is comment on how to eradicate the err of my ways and help alleviate the woes of my university. You can do the same. Quit complaining and work at making things better. If you can’t do that, you need to leave.
As I leave and make way for the new editor in chief of this paper, just know that I have tried to do the best I could and display integrity in the newsroom. Also know that I will always be indebted to the readers and supporters of The DIGEST. If it weren’t for you, there wouldn’t be any newspaper or the fruits of my labor, and my love for Southern wouldn’t be so great.
 
 
Thank you,
Nikki G. Bannister
2005-06 DIGEST Editor in Chief
2006 SEJC College Journalist of the Year