by Olivia Gleason '26 on September 25, 2025

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Editor's Column

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Hi Cowl readers! I hope you are settling into your fall schedules and finding some time to rest and recharge as the semester gets busier. As I settle into my senior year, I have found myself reflecting on how my habits as a student have changed from when I first set foot on Providence College’s campus three years ago. I’ve always been someone who puts their studies first. My time as a high schooler was marked by what felt like endless hours of homework and studying as I juggled AP courses, athletics, friends, and family, and more often than not would intentionally miss out on time with people I cared about and time for myself in exchange for more time for schoolwork. This came with consequences: over the years of living out this attitude, I basically developed a mindset that equated success and hard work with extreme burnout. 

I carried this mindset with me into the first semester of my freshman year at PC—it was what had given me success in the past, and most importantly at the time, it was familiar. At a point in my life where everything felt so uncertain and alien, my studies were something I could dive into headfirst with an all-or-nothing approach, and I took this opportunity at full force. While this gave me successful academic results, as it had in the past, I found myself feeling less fulfilled than I had in high school. No longer surrounded by my family or hometown friends, spending this much time on schoolwork without giving myself time to recharge or socialize was affecting me more deeply. Slowly, somewhere in between that first semester and the fall semester of my senior year, I recognized this and took small, baby steps to remedy this dilemma. 

These steps were far from monumental on their own. In fact, all of them are incredibly simple and easy for me to implement into my daily routine. Sometimes, this looks like carving out some time in my day to catch up with my roommates and ask them about their classes or life happenings; sometimes, it looks like lighting a candle and putting on quiet music while I read a chapter from a novel I’ve been meaning to start; sometimes, it looks like going out to eat with friends. When implemented altogether, such simple things as these have provided me with the ability to succeed academically while also avoiding constant burnout and unfulfillment. In fact, creating a more balanced life for myself has given me a deeper focus on my education, as I am now much more intentional about how I spend my time when I do dedicate it to schoolwork. 

All of this is to say, make sure you are taking time for yourself and unwinding once in a while this semester—even if this looks like a 20-minute chat with a friend. Burnout is real and inevitable at times, but it can be alleviated by putting yourself first in simple ways.

by Olivia Gleason '26 and Sarah McCall '26 on September 18, 2025

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Editor's Column

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Sarah McCall

Hello Cowl readers! Welcome to our first issue and welcome back to campus! I am very excited to be back on campus, even though I spent the entire summer denying that I was a senior. I am reflecting back on everything I have done over the past three years, and I cannot believe how fast it has gone. At the start of my freshman year, I was pretty much mute; I was in a new place, there were all new people, and I had never been away from my family for that long. I was scared. One of my professors noticed this and heavily encouraged me to join The Cowl. I had no idea what to expect, and I didn’t want to flat-out say no to my professor (even though I tried), so I joined as a copyeditor. I would not be exaggerating when I say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Little did I know, I had just joined the multi-year winner of “Best Section on The Cowl” and would have a crazy place to spend all of my Wednesdays.

Since my freshman year, I have grown into myself and found my voice, both literally and figuratively. My roommates actually struggle to get me to stop talking. That is also my goal with these ed columns: I have an uninterrupted platform to say whatever I want. In preparation for this year, I compiled a list of fun facts so you can get to know me. I am a history and women’s and gender studies double major and am in the Honors Program. My favorite movie is probably The Greatest Showman. I am really into podcasts. Specifically, Long Winded with Gabby Windey and Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. I just got back from studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. I have a trampoline in my off-campus house. I was born in Manhattan, moved to Brooklyn, moved to Cleveland, and now I live in New Jersey. I think my favorite animal is a frog, but I am still deciding. And finally, I love the stickers feature on iMessage.

I am so excited for what this year will bring as co-Editor-in-Chief with the best partner I could ever ask for, Olivia. I am so grateful to work with Olivia and the amazing writers, section editors, and obviously the copyeditors who will work tirelessly to make sure we publish each week. Thanks for reading and join The Cowl!

Olivia Gleason

Stepping into The Cowl office as a wide-eyed copy editor my freshman year, I could have never imagined what this newspaper would come to mean to me and my time at Providence College as I enter my senior year. What began as a simple desire to get a sense of the editorial world has grown into so much more: within The Cowl, I have found a community of individuals who share my passion for writing and journalism, a vibrant space for discussion, and an unmatched opportunity to augment the voices of students with a diverse array of interests and beliefs. The Cowl has truly become a cornerstone of my experience at PC, and I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to represent this community and promote student journalism as co-Editor-in-Chief with Sarah this year. 

To describe myself in the typical college student nutshell, I am a senior English major and political science minor, a peer mentor in the Honors and English programs, and an editor of the College’s literary magazine, The Alembic. I have lived in Ashland, MA, my entire life and am a Red Sox fan to my core. I have always had a passion for literature and writing and could talk about Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women for days on end. I love fashion, the fall, playing piano, early 2000s TV shows, and spending time with family, friends, and my Coton de Tulear named Aspen. Something I love about The Cowl is that anyone can share any number of passions and personal anecdotes such as these and feel pride in doing so. Our publication is special because it is both a mosaic of journalism rooted in fact and a platform for students to share pieces of themselves with the broader PC community in just about any form of their choosing, from photography and creative compositions to opinion-based writing.

Coming into this role as co-EIC is an endeavor I am so eager to dive into. Learning from The Cowl’s past, engaging with our current staff, and charting an invigorated vision for the paper’s future are all on the agenda for the year, as Sarah and I are intent on nourishing what has made this newspaper a success in years past while also working to extend its possibilities. This is not possible without campus engagement and input—so I encourage you, if you have thoughts about or suggestions for The Cowl, send letters to the editors (editor@thecowl.com), submit pieces for guest writing (or better yet, apply to be a member of the writing staff!), and share the newspaper with others. Good journalism is always important, but it feels that much more valuable in the tensely divided socio-political world we live in today—and such campus engagement will help us to create the best possible version of The Cowl. Thank you for your readership and support. I can’t wait to help shape this year’s publication with your voices at the center of it.

by Sarah McLaughlin '23 on June 11, 2023
Editor-in-Chief

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Editor's Column

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I’ll Miss (Most of) You, PC

I think Providence College is a difficult place to feel like you fit in.

The first week of freshman year, I felt like I was drowning—not in Honors Civ homework (yet), but in a sea of unknowing. Not knowing any person or place (I asked an orientation leader to help me find all of my classrooms Sunday afternoon, and I spent half an hour trying to find Smith with my new friend Sam—how did we get so lost?), strange new terminology (what in the world was a “darty”), and a major culture shock (I was homeschooled, and it’s not like I had zero socialization before coming to college, but still).

I like to think I’ve changed a lot as a person in my four years here, but not radically so. I still don’t go out past 10 P.M. (with the exception of Thursday night bingo), and I still get way too excited about discussing poetry in my literature classes. I still have an addiction to Dunkin’ donuts. But I’ve changed, too. I don’t wear skinny jeans anymore (thank God they fell out of style), I drink coffee despite my caffeine intolerance, and I voluntarily go to therapy. I make friends (really, really good ones) and I stand up for myself. I learned patience and confidence and vulnerability. There are ways you change in college that aren’t just getting older, getting a degree, and getting alcohol poisoning (I still don’t drink; you never got me there, PC). Now that my biggest fear is out of the way (getting a job), it’s hitting me how much I’ll miss this place, for all its scariness and strangeness.

When I see groups of tours strolling around campus at the pace of a tortoise while I’m buzzing to class at the speed of a hare, I slow down for a second and consider how some of those people might be where I was, who I was, and how they might change here, too. How they might feel like they don’t fit in. How maybe, hopefully, they find a place like The Cowl, a place and a people where they feel like they can be themselves, whoever that might turn out to be.
Most of the time, I still think PC is a tough place to feel like you fit in. I mean, I’m writing this as hundreds (thousands?) of students are wearing overpriced preppy clothes they’ll never wear again, trying to look like they belong at a golf course, when instead they’re huddled together like penguins on a pavement iceberg. Some things about you I’ll never understand, PC, and I’m okay with it staying that way. You have your fair share of problems. But that’s what The Cowl’s Opinion section is for.

by Sarah McLaughlin '23 on April 20, 2023
Editor-in-Chief

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Editor's Column

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A key part of what makes a community is building a bond of trust and communication. In general, the Providence College student body would agree that these things are important for fostering a healthy “Friar Family.” Many students have expressed concerns regarding the communication we receive regarding incidents that occur on campus. When students hear about on-campus incidents from rumors and social media prior to hearing from official sources—or in place of them entirely—we foster an environment of gossip, misinformation, and mistrust.

One example of students’ lack of knowledge is when fire alarms go off in dorm buildings. Often, these are fire drills, and at the beginning of the year, public safety officers meet with students outside to inform them of the safety and evacuation protocols. However, when the fire alarm goes off later on in the year, students are seemingly never informed of whether these instances are drills, someone pulling the alarm, or actual emergencies. “The fire alarm went off at 3 a.m. one night in Davis when it was below freezing, and we all had to evacuate, and we still have yet to learn why this happened,” one student recounted. This lack of information is what causes rumors to spread.

Regarding the incident which occurred off-campus on April 1, students received the information published by the College in an email, which reflects the press release The Cowl included in this week’s issue. This email was sent at 3:58 p.m., while the incident occurred in the morning, as this is when students noticed police activity on-campus. Students were not informed of what happened on-campus, only that an off-campus incident occurred, which fostered more confusion in an already confusing situation. Prior to finding out the name of the student involved by reading news articles, students took to social media to speculate. Names were thrown around which turned out to be completely incorrect. The fact that some students had to face these random accusations and gossip is the fault of both the students for jumping to conclusions instead of waiting for information and of the College for not sending timely updates on the situation.

One member of The Cowl’s editorial board spoke on the matter: “When it involves the safety of the Providence College community, we have the right to be informed of what’s going on. There’s not an efficient system and way of doing that—finding out hours after something happened is unacceptable.” The Cowl hopes we can speak on behalf of the student body when we say that we hope the College will consider our concerns.

by Sarah McLaughlin '23 on March 2, 2023
Editor-in-Chief

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Editor's Column

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Every member of the Class of 2023 remembers what they were doing on March 6, 2020. I remember saying goodbye to my friends and roommates before my back-to-back class and Civ seminar, in which we ironically discussed how next week’s topic would be the bubonic plague. We left campus excited for break but with an underlying air of nervousness. Some of our parents were already saying we’d be home for at least two weeks, maybe more—my mom was already stocking our cabinets with canned goods in early February—while others were more optimistic. But none of us really knew what was going on, or how lasting the effects of COVID-19 would be—in particular, its impacts on our clubs and organizations.

As the “last pre-COVID class,” as some of us have dubbed ourselves, we’ve witnessed some clubs on campus go from over one hundred active members to half their original size. Sometimes it means that, when you show up to club meetings, just executive board members and maybe a few others will be there. It means event planning and organization is much more difficult. It means we are worried about certain clubs having a future, because there’s no one to take over after we graduate. Executive positions for some clubs used to be competitive, and now it’s often a struggle to find students willing to step up. COVID-19 didn’t just make us socially isolated for a year or two; it has had a lasting impact on students’ leadership, teamwork skills, and motivation.

PC seemed to try its hardest, but the virtual programming of the 2020-21 academic year and Fall 2021 semester just didn’t interest students to nearly the same degree, and this likely dissuaded new students from joining clubs. When we were stuck in our dorm rooms with our laptops and phones as the only means of social connection, most of us were turning to means of escapism—Netflix, YouTube, TikTok—not even more Zoom meetings on top of our classes and jobs that had all turned virtual. According to OpenVault’s Broadband Insights Report, average broadband consumption increased by 47 percent from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020. In September 2021, according to Pew Research, 40 percent of US adults reported they felt worn out or fatigued from too many video calls, and 83 percent of US adults described virtual communication as not good enough compared to in-person contact.

Now that we’ve been unmasked and vaccinated for a full year, it’s saddening to see that some clubs still haven’t returned to their pre-COVID levels of functioning. Some are certainly on the rise again, and we can remain hopeful that this trend will continue, albeit slowly. We can make a plea to the Class of 2024 as well—this is your chance to become leaders. Leading a club is challenging (it’s not easy trying to plan a budget, ask for money, maybe receive all of that money, and juggle a bunch of busy students’ calendars to schedule events and meetings), but it is rewarding work and more than just “resume padding.” I know we’ve all become a little too addicted to staying in our rooms and watching our favorite shows over the past few years, but the opportunity is out there now, so students should be taking advantage of it.

by The Cowl Editor on September 9, 2022

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Editorials

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“I have no idea what I’m doing.”

How many times have you found yourself using those words? Heard friends say them? How often have you really meant it? How many times have you proceeded to do the thing anyway?

There’s an epidemic of smart, capable people—especially young people, especially introverts, especially young women—downplaying their talents and abilities. I can’t count the amount of times a classmate has turned to me and said, “I have no idea what I’m doing with this assignment,” and I’ve replied with, “Yeah, same,” even when my thoughts have already been churning, and it makes me wonder whether theirs were, too. I like to think I’m pretty confident in my own writing ability (and it’s something I enjoy doing), and yet I find myself more often expressing exactly the opposite. Take finals week as an example: tally the amount of times you’ve heard “I’m going to fail” versus “I’m going to do really well.” Statistically, most of us here at Providence College, an institution which boasts nearly a 90% graduation rate, aren’t failing. Why do we like to pretend we are?

Gen Z is criticized relentlessly for being image-obsessed. I agree that this also presents itself as a widespread issue, particularly on social media, where flexing your new car or five thousand-dollar vacation with a filtered photoshoot has become the norm. Not only does that foster envy and self-esteem issues, but it also leaves little room for expression of what’s really worth “flexing.” In Aristotle’s words, regarding self-expression, honesty is a virtue, whereas excess humility is a vice.

Those of us who’ve recently been through job interviews or created LinkedIn accounts realize the difficulty in answering the question: What are your greatest attributes? I think it’s time we stop being afraid, when appropriate, to voice them.

Maybe it’s social awkwardness we’re trying to avoid. Maybe we worry that saying, “I’m really proud of the thesis I’ve composed” will come across as conceited. But I don’t think we need to belittle ourselves in order to get along. Human connection and friendships are more often products of mutual participation and enjoyment in activities than mutual self-degradation. Owning up to our capabilities can also help foster an environment of positivity and inspire confidence in others—if even just a few people start believing in themselves, the whole group may follow. 

As a senior, and as your Editor-in-Chief this year, that is my goal.