Flipping through the pages of the current issue of Gannon Magazine, readers may come across a comment stating that the faculty members are the heart of the university.

Respectfully, we at The Knight disagree.

Plain and simple, the heart of Gannon – of any college or university – is its students. Without them the university serves no purpose. And how can we expect prospective students to choose Gannon if the university itself doesn’t view its students in this way?

Of course the faculty are important. They teach the material students need to know and take a major role in shaping them into the people they are going to become. They are the biggest role models at the university, and they deserve credit for that.

But let’s not forget that while most students are in the classroom with their professors for less than 18 hours per week, they’re with their peers pretty much the whole 168 hours. The students are the ones who form and participate in clubs and organizations, who play the football games and who learn the material the faculty teaches.

We can’t stress it enough – the students are Gannon.

Furthermore, we wonder how many students choose Gannon because of its distinguished faculty. Gannon is too small of a university in a too-small city to have many world-renowned professors. The faculty  here are perfect for what this university is, and the students love them just the way they are. But most high school seniors don’t choose Gannon because they recognize a faculty member’s name.

Some students do choose Gannon because they know students that go or went here. They do check us out because their peers – more prospective students – told them to. They do decide to come here because they had a great experience meeting students, whether it was at open house, Knight with Scholars or another activity Gannon provides for high school seniors.

Students may come and go at a seemingly rapid pace, but they’re also the lifeblood streaming through Gannon’s veins.