Staff Editorial: An Introduction to the New Editorial Board

As the Spring Term 2018 to Winter Term 2019 cycle of Lawrentian leadership begins, we, The Lawrentian’s new Editorial Board, would like to introduce ourselves, explain the staff editorial and outline some of our goals for the coming terms.

The Editorial Board is composed of Lawrence students coming from many different backgrounds, with many different interests and passions; among us, there are scientists, athletes, musicians, artists, readers, writers and more. Short biographies of each board member will soon be available on our website at http://www.lawrentian.com/about. Together, we are committed to providing Lawrence with the best possible student newspaper.

There are many roles on the board: section editors, copy editors, distribution manager, web manager, community engagement officer and managing editor, as well as an editor-in-chief and copy chief who oversee it all. The Lawrentian also employs many staff writers, columnists, photographers and artists who generate content for each issue. Applications for these positions can be found at www.lawrentian.com/apply.

This gray box in the Op-Ed section is reserved for weekly staff editorials, written collaboratively by a rotating team of Editorial Board members serving as representatives of the entire board. These editorials provide context and opinions on current issues relevant to the Lawrence community. While we understand that covering controversial issues may spark debate, it is our hope that these editorials will put forth ideas that lead to informed and respectful conversations and ultimately bring our community together. We realize that we are in the unique position of being able to reach many members of the Lawrence community, including not only students, but faculty, alumni, and families and friends of Lawrentians. Our readers are very important to us, and we are always open to any feedback you have to offer, which can be emailed to us at lawrentian@lawrence.edu.

We are looking forward to this new cycle of the newspaper, and would like to share our goals with our readers. As a board, we aim to: faithfully represent the Lawrence community by including members from many diverse backgrounds; encourage respectful discussion of current issues by presenting fair and balanced articles that prompt readers to take their own stances; maintain higher quality standards by training staff to more closely follow The Lawrentian’s journalistic guidelines; bolster our online presence by advertising and connecting to students’ online communities; and increase readership both on and off campus.

Finally, we would like to thank you for your continued support and feedback. We hope you are as excited as we are for this new phase of the newspaper!