As the editor-in-chief of the Spotlight, my job is to review and edit all of the articles, oversee the page editors, and manage the content that goes into the paper. Long story short, I see everything. I also hear everything.

I am well aware that many of our recent opinion articles have been very controversial and have sparked many mixed opinions. We love getting feedback, even if it isn’t always positive. Our mindset is that if no one talks about the paper, we aren’t doing our job right. However, whenever I, and the rest of the staff, have responded to these negative commenters by asking them to write a letter to the editor, many people have responded in surprise. We’ve even had people say that they don’t think their letters would be published because they aren’t liberal.

I would just like to make one thing clear: the Spotlight is not a liberal publication. We do not align with any sort of ideology, and we are not trying to enforce a certain way of thought. All of our news, features, our world, and sports articles are unbiased. We cannot take sides or promote our opinions in any of these types of articles. In our last issue we had a great example of this, as Sarah Trebicka’s article on gun control accurately addressed both sides of the debate.

However, these rules of objectivity exclude the opinion section. In the mission statement, located directly on the opinion page, it clearly states that all bylined editorial articles ( articles written by individual student journalists and contributors) are reflective of that student’s opinion, not the publication’s or school’s opinion. An unsigned staff editorial reflects the consensus of the Spotlight editorial staff on a particular topic of our concern.

It is because of this that we would love to hear from those that don’t agree with us. If you disagree with an article or have an opinion on something completely different that you think is worth sharing, I encourage you to write a letter to the editor. We are well aware that we are a predominantly liberal staff, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t open to new opinions. We are willing to publish everything, regardless of what the content is, or whether or not we agree personally with your stance. Our only exception is if it promotes hate or violence.

We value the fact that everyone is allowed to have their own opinions and that everyone has a voice. If you would like to write a letter to the editor, please email it to Mrs. Spritzer at [email protected] or the Spotlight at [email protected].