Hi all,

These are your Mac Weekly editors-in-chief checking in. 

The past several days have shaken us deeply. Watching students lose their housing and their jobs, seeing the effects of this disease spread across the country — it’s been heartbreaking. We both worry for our family, our friends, and for the many thousands of people across the country who have been put in medical, financial, and physical danger by COVID-19 and the panic that surrounds it. We feel glued to the news, compelled to track every change in policy and deviation in the market. Every day feels filled with mounting anxiety.

At the same time, each passing hour has revealed the immense strength of our community and its willingness to come together and to face dark times with love and generosity. In that way, we’re also buoyed by hope. 

We want to be here for you personally and any member of the Macalester community is more than welcome to reach out to one or both of us if they need anything. We are also going to link below to a mutual aid sheet created by Conor Broderick — if any student is in need of housing, food, or other resources or if you’re able to share your own, please use this as a way to communicate that.

And while the personal health and wellbeing of you all absolutely come first, The Mac Weekly’s work will also continue.

Due to the closing of campus facilities and the risks associated with working and socializing in large groups, we are no longer able to lay out a print edition of our paper. However, we intend to continue our coverage online. We consider it our duty in times like these to keep the campus as informed and connected as possible. While students are spread out across the world, we will continue to be a bridge back to Macalester. We remain committed to cultivating our community the best way we know how — by being a center of information.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to cover the evolving response of the college to coronavirus and its effect on the students, subcontracted employees, staff and faculty at Macalester. We are also committed to pursuing other important stories that affect our community.

Our responsibility, first and foremost, is to you and it is a charge we take incredibly seriously. Times are uncertain, but our mission has never been more clear.

Be well Macalester,

Morgan Doherty and Hannah Catlin

Macalester Mutual Aid