THE SPECTRUM | ERIK JONASSON II
Goodbye desk, too many vines have been watched here.

For those that may not know it, I will no longer be the Opinion Editor at The Spectrum after this deadline. I will be the Editor-in-Chief of our newspaper now.

Being your public commentator has been a pleasure and an honor for the past few years. From my first article to my last, I have had a blast.

In a strange way, the position has changed my mind in a lot of ways. No longer an argumentative baboon, I feel, at least, more levelheaded. I have watched as my main focus at my job transformed from telling everyone they were wrong, to allowing public discourse to occur and being a facilitator of vastly differing opinions.

That doesn’t mean that I have not grown tired of telling people when they are wrong. Tomorrow someone on this campus will most likely say, “Sioux suck shit” and make themselves look like an ignoramus. Trust me, you will look even worse in a couple decades.

North Dakota will decide to cut money again for higher education, perhaps even next year. That is the wrong move to make, Dougie.

It will be different to not be a commentator on the other important aspects of my job. Like, who is going to tell you where the best bathrooms are? Where are the best places on campus to take a dump? This is must know information.

Last year I was asked while peeing, where the best bathroom was by a guy in the first floor Memorial Union bathroom. I told him, quickly adding, “You couldn’t have waited?”

I cannot lie; I will miss this.

Or how will that guy at the Wellness Center know that I totally saw his nipple sometime between him walking from the weight rack to the drinking fountain?

Who will write satire that isn’t funny anymore? I was so good at it. Luckily, my time here hasn’t just been joking around though.

It was a pleasure to enact change and hear students’ opinions and testimonies on a vastly different array of topics as well.

While being Opinion Editor, I wrote about a dreaded engineering class, but also saw that class get restructured the next semester.

I also wrote about budget cuts and listened to often forgotten voices of international students and lab technicians who reminded me and the reader that budgets are great and financial security are nice, but people need our protection too.

I wrote about our stupid chant in the Fargodome, making it the topic of a President Dean Bresciani email, and subsequently our chant found its way on the front page of the Forum.

Recently, I wrote about the state of gun culture in our nation, offering a sensible solution both sides could agree on and a stepping-stone for possible bipartisan solutions. Just the other night I watched as student government passed a resolution to recognize the need for mandatory active shooter training here at North Dakota State — something that could save lives.

It has been a pleasure, and as I pack my box to move a stunning 40 feet into my new office, I will miss my corner but, more importantly, I will miss you all.