Despite opposition, we must fight to have our voices heard

Students, faculty, and staff—

I would again like to preface this editorial with the statement that we release as an editorial board in every issue:

“The Saint Anselm Crier encourages the free, timely and responsible discussion of all topics, issues, and concerns. The views expressed in the editorial and opinion pages of The Crier are those of the writers and not necessarily those of this student newspaper or of Saint Anselm College.”

A recent opinion piece that was published in our seventh, and last, issue of the last semester received a considerable amount of attention.

It was directed towards the members of our community who continuously, over the course of the fall semester, had been monumentally brave in expressing themselves through the placement of gay and trans pride flags around campus.

As an advocate and member of the LGBTQ community, I was more than comforted in the fact that a group of individuals had taken initiative on campus to represent a community that is otherwise overlooked the majority of the year.

Over the last semester, I myself had written two articles in support of the LGBTQ community: one regarding the ongoing attack on transgender folks and the other addressing the homophobic past of the Salvation Army.

I will continue to write and publish these articles in The Saint Anselm Crier, and I would hope that my fellow Anselmians would step forward and do the same.

As an editorial board, we give students the chance to send in their opinions because this is your student newspaper.

I admit that, in the moment, I was afraid of the backlash that I would receive in choosing to not publish the opinion piece on the removal of the pride flags.

I absolutely do not want The Saint Anselm Crier to be seen as a publication that tolerates the spread of any form of hate speech.

Our Culture editor, Meghan Schmitt, made the following statement in December that I believe still deserves notice:

“The editorial team of the Crier does not espouse any of the beliefs published in our newspaper except for the editorials which we write. The Opinion section is meant as a platform for the students of Saint Anselm College, which is a bipartisan campus.”

She continued, “This openness means that some of our editions may skew in a certain direction because students who feel strongly about their political background are taking advantage of the Crier’s policy. That is not to say that The Crier is not open to the other side of the conversation. We promote honest and free discussion.”

I am encouraging everyone on this campus who had an issue with the aforementioned opinion piece to submit their own pieces to The Crier.

This is yet another opportunity to have your voice heard. We are always in need of hearing what our students, faculty, and staff have to contribute in terms of current happenings on campus. If you were unable to write something for this issue, have no fear as we publish bi-monthly!

It is never too late to take the first step.