This is the last time I get to write one of these. Barring something unforeseen, this is the last thing I'll ever write for The Daily Gamecock. So that's weird.
I've worked here since I first came to USC. I've served as assistant news editor, news editor, managing editor and, now, as editor-in-chief. Each job presented its own set of unique challenges and opportunities. I'm grateful for every moment and every colleague that helped along the way.
But I don't want to spend my last few column inches on my own sentimentality. That's what our staff's end of the semester dinner is for.
I want to leave you with one last note about something far more important and much bigger than me.
The First Amendment provides for a free press in this country, and it applies to student media at public institutions of higher education in this state. That's a good thing. This university has no control over my words on this page. That's a good thing.
It's not our job to make anyone look bad or make anyone look good. It's our job to tell the truth, especially when others aren't, and to hold leaders accountable. If it's fake, it isn't news.
This isn't about any one thing. It's about a million things I've seen in this country and on this campus. It's about my future, and your future and the future of this campus and the future of this country.
I'm saying this because it matters and because I'm going to use this platform to do as much as I can for as long as I can.
I don't know what I'll do with all this newfound free time now that my tenure is ending, but I know a good part of it will be spent reading a lot of news. I hope you'll make time for just as much.
Here's to comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
Forever to thee,
Mary Ramsey
Editor-in-chief, The Daily Gamecock