Red and blue, in black and white

When I came to Penn as a freshman, I craved to be a part of some larger body of history and tradition. But my first walk through campus introduced me to only a brand new bookstore and a Wawa. Convocation, Hey Day and three years later, I now know that this university is full of traditions and institutions much stronger than I first perceived.

Over the next few years, you'll sit on the Green in the afternoon sun. You'll throw toast at home football games. And you'll carry yourself with the confidence of a Penn student.

To provide official recognition of that status, all of you incoming first-year students will be declared "students of the University of Pennsylvania" by Judith Rodin at Convocation next week. And with that, you'll join the rest of us in our traditions, our culture and our collective memories.

Tread carefully, however. The 248 classes before you willed for, argued against and struggled to achieve much of what you see around you today on this campus.

For 117 years of that turbulent history, The Pennsylvanian, and later, The Daily Pennsylvanian, have been the cornerstone of those cries for change.

Our reporters have covered the construction of nearly every modern campus building. In our editorials, we've called for sweeping changes -- from the removal of faculty members to the reorganization of student government. Along the way, we've kept you appraised of all the information affecting you, and we've even made you laugh from time to time.

The DP has a unique story itself that echoes the history of this campus.

Founded in 1885 by the Philomathean Society, the newspaper is Penn's third oldest student organization, after Philo and the Glee Club. We printed our first pages from an office in College Hall. And, at that time, all the editors, reporters and writers were male.

Later in its history, the DP merged with The Pennsylvania News, the all-women student publication. In 1969, the first woman was named editor-in-chief -- a notable feat, for it was only during that same year that Princeton University finally decided to admit undergraduate women. (Penn will celebrate a remarkable 125 years of women at the University this November.)

In 1984, our organization severed the last of its formal ties with the University, and we have since functioned as a editorially and financially independent corporation.

Through our history, we've covered the news about your professors, your sports teams, your neighborhood and your lives. We need you and you depend on us.

As new students, you'll see the face of the University develop during your years here, just as the DP has developed. Enjoy and celebrate our evolving campus. At the same time, don't let your voice die down.

Engage your classmates in intellectual debate. Force the administration to evaluate your needs and your desires. As you become the agents of change, allow us to continue our tradition of supplying this campus with its lifeline of information.

Penn is filled with history, traditions and institutions. Embrace them, bend them to the times and adopt new ones.

And all the while, know that one Penn institution will continue undeterred, that of your student newspaper.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.