We've come so far, but we have even farther to go...

As we usher in the bicentennial, this celebration offers us a chance to look back over the past 200 years of Miami University. To be sure, it is easy to see that as a university we have come a long way since 1809. But we must be sure that as we look ahead, the university stays focused on the student body's academic experience. When we strove to be "First in 2009," we shuffled our priorities. And as we've started focusing on a breadth of areas­-co-curricular experiences, athletics and other areas of life outside the classroom-we've diverted the focus somewhat from academics. In the upcoming years, the editorial board of The Miami Student wants to see a return to a primary focus on undergraduate education.

Miami is first and foremost a state university. Students come here to get an education. Of course, the college experience isn't just about the education one receives, but that is and should be at the center of the experience. In emphasizing a well-rounded college experience through the student as engaged learner model, the university and all levels of administration and faculty need to recognize that at the heart of this model is the student. One can push co-curricular activities all day, but they must be built upon a strong curriculum-a strong foundation of basic knowledge from which a student can draw upon. The object of extra-curricular activities is to enhance the student's education. But education, which is meant to benefit from these activities, is suffering due to the heavy focus on the activities.

Furthermore, the emphasis this university places on academics should be noticeable from the moment a prospective student receives a pamphlet or sets foot on campus. Members of the board barely, if at all, remembered discussion of academia in Oxford. The tours pause only for the shortest moment within an academic building before moving on to regale the prospective students with entertaining tales of Miami landmarks. Miami traditions are one way for the university to market itself. But our value as a university is not tied to the number of mergers who kissed underneath the Upham arch. Of course, stories like the unluckiness of stepping on the seal add charm and character to our school. But the key is that the stories only add dimension. There first must be a base from which to build. And at the heart of that base is academia. Prospective students shouldn't have to go so far out of their way to experience the academic aspects of the school. It shouldn't be something students have to organize themselves. From the very moment that prospective students first visit Miami, education needs to occupy a more prominent place than it does now. This is essential to signal the direction Miami should go.

The plan for the new student center perhaps represents the displacement of values discussed here. Although the center will benefit student life, it will not be enough to secure Miami's status in the years to come, nor should it be. Buildings comprise a university, but they don't make it. So new buildings alone won't renew the university. That responsibility will fall to the students and their success depends on the tools the university provides. Buildings are certainly a part of that, but really the value of the buildings is in the programs they house. So if academic departments are not maintained in the coming years, the university will face a much more daunting problem than a shortage of seats.

The university should focus on tangible ways to improve undergraduate education. While we recognize that it is unavoidable that every major will require one foundation class that is a big lecture, minimizing class size should be a priority. Students learn more from discussion-based classes. When class sizes balloon, student participation is sacrificed. The university, thus, must make sure to prioritize its faculty and their programs. They are the rocks in the educational foundation. It is that foundation that we have strayed from and it is to that foundation we must return if we are going to maintain our existing educational excellence and to improve it where it has weakened.

Even with the budget cuts necessitated by the tough economic times, the university should also strive to leave financial aid untouched. One of the university's most respectable goals of increasing diversity would suffer if financial aid faced cuts. In an effort to shed our negative stereotypes and battle the university's homogeneity, Miami must continue to channel funds into initiatives to bring students from diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, with the university's push to send students to study abroad, the money has to be there to support them in their ventures overseas.

Changes must be made in how the university spends its money. But improvements should also be made in how the university brings in money. To attract endowments and alumni donations, we must give people a reason to give back. Cutting programs they were attached to, such as WMUB or the Western College Program, potentially cuts ties with alumni who were personally attached to such programs. Rather, we need to build up our academics and increase our competitiveness in order to prove that Miami is worth supporting. It is a self-fueling circle that is hard to initiate, but easy to maintain once you've started. Building our programs by prioritizing the education of undergraduates by a sizeable, high-quality faculty is the way forward.

As we remember the legacy of Miami and celebrate our reputation as a public ivy, we must embark on path that will ensure the continuance of that prestige. We earned our good standing because of our excellence in undergraduate education. Academics can't be sacrificed even as we strive to churn out students who are also engaged outside the classroom. Academia must once again be made the center of this university's universe.