What if our campus had a source of information it could trust? If we didn’t rely on positively-spun emails from administration, petty gossip from your friends, and detailed paragraphs on Facebook?

In my ideal world, people look to the Beacon when something happens that they don’t understand. But even I know that isn’t quite true.

Many in the Emerson community do not trust the Beacon to tell their stories. Today, I’m asking you to try.

I understand why it’s like this. The press has not always been the most inclusive institution. The Beacon is not exempt from that history. And often, seeing your story in the news section can be unpleasant. Journalistic writing, even at its most inclusive and accurate, is often unflattering in its coldness.

So I want to propose a compromise—to open up communication between this paper and our community: Let our reporters in. Let us put your voices in print. Let us work to contextualize the injustices our students face every day.

But also, let us broadcast your thoughts. Let our opinion pages be the main debate stage for real, local issues. Our opinion editor, would love to hear your ideas at [email protected].

Send us letters about your take on an article, about ideas you have for the college, about how bad we fuck up. We’ll publish them. Hit up [email protected].

Because let’s be real, we will probably fuck something up. But I want you to feel like you can call us out. We’re newspaper people; we love a harsh critique. I want you to trust that your opinion matters to us.

This campus needs a place it can turn for the truth, now more than ever. It’s just as important to get your community news from a verified source as it is your national news. And if that’s not what we’re doing in our newsroom every week, then what’s our purpose?

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be holding office hours every Thursday from 2-4 p.m. in Piano Row L145. And my inbox is always open, just email [email protected].

I believe we can be the news source you need. Tell us what we need to do to earn your trust.