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Dear Reader,
It has come to my attention that I have not actually introduced myself to the Lawrence comunity since taking on the role of editor-in-chief; I also recently realized that this was something that my predecessors did. So, my apologies for not writing this sooner!
To briefly introduce myself then — my name is Molly Ruffing, and I hail from Kaukauna, Wisc. I am a currrent junior, majoring in English and psychology and minoring in education studies and creative writing — and, yes, I know that’s excessive. When I’m not in The Lawrentian office, you can find me drinking copious amounts of coffee and working in the Center for Community Engagement and Social Change.
I came into the role of editor-in-chief at the beginning of this term, and I will be in this position until the end of Winter Term 2022. This past term, I have worked with members of the Executive Team as well as the Editorial Board to continue to reevaluate how The Lawrentian operates. This included refining our editorial policies, investigating how to increase the pay of our staff and creating new opportunities for people to become involved with The Lawrentian. You may have noticed that the Creative Writing Club was featured in each edition this term, and we also had some guest illustrations included; these were all paid opportunities for students to get involved, regardless of whether they were able to commit to an entire term or just one edition.
I am looking forward to spending this summer digging into other newspapers’ hiring practices and seeing how we can implement them to ensure that we are making positions accessible and hiring appropriately. I am hopeful that time spent dedicated specifically to this issue will allow us to begin in the fall with legitimate policies and procedures related to hiring.
Lastly, I would like to address something that I was questioned about earlier in the term. As you will see in this edition, there is an anonymous letter to the editor, and this is not the first one of the term that we have published. The Lawrentian publishes anonymous letters to the editor to maintain a platform for vulnerable members of our community. We do not endorse the opinions published, but it is our responsibility to ensure that people are provided with a space to advocate for themselves or others or to simply voice their opinions.
That said, while we do publish anonymous letters, we are unable to publish submissions in which we, as the editors, are unaware of the author. This is because we work with the author to verify the claims in their letter and edit as needed to remain in line with our editorial policies. If you would like to read more about our editorial policies, please visit: https://www.lawrentian.com/about.
Our Public Advocate recently created a survey for community members to provide The Lawrentian with feedback on the paper as a whole as well as specific sections. Our readers’ feedback is invaluable and greatly appreciated. To fill out the survey, please visit: https://forms.gle/H6wfXeBWbAAySe2t5.
Thank you so much for a wonderful term. I look forward to growing through this role and working to accurately and appropraitely represent and inform the Lawrence community.
— Molly Ruffing, Editor-in-Chief