We are not going anywhere.

By Jacob Dubé

Like most other groups on campus, The Eyeopener is in trouble.

The provincial government’s Student Choice Initiative, which allows individual students to opt out of services they don’t think they need, means that in the near future, we’re going to be losing a lot of our funding very quickly.

We’re going to get a lot smaller, and won’t be able to afford a lot of the resources that allow us to report on as many issues as we do. Everything will be much harder. It will suck. These are just some truths we’re going to have to get used to.

But The Eyeopener isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Not because we’ll still have savings, or some secret last-minute solution that will solve this impossible problem. It’s because The Eye is filled with people who care a whole fucking lot.

In my five years here, of which this week will be my last, I’ve been able to work with some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. They forced me and those around them to try and be the best versions of themselves.

Together we’ve been able to listen to the Ryerson community and tell stories that have affected real change on campus.

We broke the story when the RSU was misspending your money, and followed through to make sure they tried to fix it. We made sure you were as informed as possible about OSAP changes. If you didn’t have to worry about the bedbugs, you’re welcome.

These stories are made by editors and volunteers crazy enough to commit themselves to this beautiful mess of a paper we cobble together every week.

The Eye isn’t made by the dinners we share, the building we occasionally sleep in or the size of our paper. It’s the work of a terrific team that puts their hearts and souls into it.

The Eyeopener is going to continue to fight for all the groups affected by the cuts, and the students who won’t have anywhere to go for services they desperately need.

We will continue to keep those in power on campus accountable, and to amplify the voices of those who are traditionally unheard. No matter how hard we’re hit in the coming years, or how drastically the newspaper will have to change, those stories will still be told.

Because there will always be people who give a shit. Every student group on campus exists because someone cared enough to try and change something. They won’t just disappear when the money does. They’re going to fight like hell for what they believe in.

The new policy was made to break up student advocacy organizations, but it’s only created new ones who are angrier and more driven.

I love this place with all my heart. I’ve given it everything I have, and leaving it will be one of the hardest things I will ever do.

In the end, The Eyeopener is just an office, some broken cinder blocks and the memory of a gerbil long passed. But it’s also a space where students can get involved, learn something, make mistakes, and go fuck some shit up.

My time here is over, but for someone else, it’s just beginning.