The Herald will publish content on our website daily throughout the summer term.

Every year, The Herald’s Commencement Magazine collects the memories and reflections of the senior class. This year, that collection is inevitably shaped by the grief and loss COVID-19 has caused.

As vaccines become much more widespread, we’re all ready to leave the horrors of the pandemic behind us. But there have been some silver linings. Looking forward as an institution, we ought to preserve the culture of understanding and accommodation that we were forced to develop in the face of the pandemic.

It’s that time of year again: The weather’s improving, student government campaigns have begun and the student body, as usual, appears indifferent. This is not a new phenomenon.

As we approach COVID-19’s anniversary on College Hill, the University is better equipped than ever before to handle a pandemic. From the automated COVID-19 test reminders to the plexiglass dividers in the dining halls, Brown has created its own “new normal” to keep members of the campus community safe. 

Brown undergraduates have long opined on the costs associated with attending this institution, rightfully raising concerns over where tuition dollars go, how University funds are leveraged and the experience students receive in return. Perhaps never before in Brown’s recent history have such concerns been so cogent.

A year of loss that challenged everyone around the globe made no exception for the Brown community and The Herald’s own newsroom.

The Herald is proud to announce the members of its 131st Editorial Board, who will oversee the paper through its 130th year. The 131st Editorial Board will be led by Editor-in-Chief and President Kayla Guo ’22, a Public Policy concentrator from Muttontown, New York.

To incoming first-years:  As you prepare to join our campus ranks in a semester like no other, we write to share words of wisdom (we hope) that may help guide you through the months ahead.

In late June, Voices of Brown launched among a wave of similar accounts sharing anonymous submissions from sexual assault survivors. The purpose of the account is to serve as “a safe and dependable space for survivors within the Brown community to be heard and validated.”