Dear Reader,
The clock is already ticking. The Hill News has been published every Friday since its founding in 1911, hold breaks, exam periods and world-altering pandemics — and we intend to maintain that tradition. This semester, we are left with just 12 issues to present you our best work.
We have even fewer issues before the most pivotal event of the semester, and maybe of our time at college. Just eight issues separate us from the 2024 presidential election. Eight chances to present you with student perspectives, reporting and insights before we face one of two new realities, both of which will be historic.
That is why I wanted to take this first issue to apologize to you all. I am deeply sorry that we do not have more time, more time for you to submit your thoughts, more time to answer your questions, and most importantly enough time to cover every meaningful topic with the care and nuance it deserves.
I would also like to extend another apology. I know that you will not agree with everything we publish this semester. I also know that some opinions held by your fellow students and even professors — whether published or not — could offend you.
And when that happens, I want you to reflect on that moment and make a critical decision. Are you going to encourage connection or perpetuate division?
In an age where disagreement more often than not prompts desires to silence one another, I am going to ask you to do the opposite. When you feel offended or you disagree with someone, use that as a chance to encourage dialogue, not shut it down.
Talk to those people. Ask them their life stories. Try to understand how they came to hold their opinions.
With that being said, The Hill News will never publish an article that we believe to be intentionally harmful, rooted in hatred or outright distasteful. Opinions and editorials must be rooted in data or experiences — and everything you see under the “news” heading will be factual.
If you read something in The Hill you do not like, write a response to it, do not attack the writer.
Today, both leading parties’ presidential candidates keep widening the chasm between the “left” and the “right.” I am asking you to build a bridge. Not as a vessel to convince one another of something. Not to “win” an argument. But to understand one another, and subsequently, one another’s opinions.
Do not let division win here, like it so often does in our time. It is our generation’s turn to about-face on the polarizing mistakes of the past. As a society, we too often forget that those we disagree with are also people. People with unique and valid experiences.
This semester, let us find the things that bring us together, even if they might be the things that usually tear us apart. Next time you disagree with someone, ask them why. We promise we at The Hill News will be there along the way — and we promise we will be fair.
Zach Jaworski
Editor-In-Chief