Happy week three, Pioneers! As you can see, this week’s issue is a little different. We rarely run advertisements, let alone ones from the university. We want to explain a little more about the situation and give greater context to our newer readers.

The Globe is a newspaper that is funded by the university. Despite this, we are still student-run and strive to be as independent in our content and coverage as possible. We do not run stories simply because the administration tells us to. The university has been supportive of our independence, and we hope to continue that relationship.

We were notified about a month ago that the university would need to run an advertisement in the paper and were not told what this advertisement would be until this past week. We decided to run the legal notice along with a story to give full transparency on the situation and give students as much information as possible. However, we believe that more needs to be done in notifying those applicable for part of the settlement.

Most enrolled in March 2020 have already graduated and do not work for the university. It does not make sense to run an advertisement in our newspaper because it really does not apply to anyone currently here other than that the university has to pay a lot of money that essentially will be coming from our own tuition. 

Also, the checks will be mailed to the student’s last known mailing address on file. Most graduates have probably moved several times since then, and in order to request the mail to a different address, they have to see the notice in the first place, which they most likely will not since it has been posted in our newspaper. We live in such an advanced digital age, and coming from a smaller university, taking the time to track down each student is not that unreasonable. While it may not be the most fun thing to share on social media, most of our generation is chronically online and more likely to see the settlement notice through this medium. 

The university simply needs to do more than run an advertisement in our paper. It was ruled that students deserve this money, so the university should be held accountable. Honesty is the best policy, and sweeping this issue under the rug, hoping students do not find out, is not a good look. 

If you know of anyone applicable in this settlement, we encourage you to share the website ppsettlement.com with them. Here is also a great outline from the University of Pennsylvania on suggestions for universities handling class action lawsuits.