Letter from the Editor

A Note From the Opinions Editor

Dear Readers,

An issue arose after the publication of the November 18 issue of ‘The Pioneer.’ In the Opinions section, one of the Pioneer’s regular staff writers, a sophomore international student, wrote an opinion piece about the controversy that has arisen in connection with Starbucks’ new red cups. His opinion was that there are more important topics to discuss than the Starbucks holiday cups. He mentioned a subject of international concern that he felt strongly about; his, and only his opinion. The article was found online by a blogger not affiliated with our school, who also felt very strongly about the topic, and who disagreed with our columnist’s opinion, which, of course, is certainly his right. The blogger criticized our writer’s article online in harsh language, and, ultimately, his criticism made its way back to administrators at LIU.

The Pioneer’s opinion columnist, like any other student who is encouraged to write for the Pioneer, freely expressed his opinion and only his opinion. All articles in the Opinions section of ‘The Pioneer’ only reflect the opinions of the author/writer of the article, and not the collective opinions of ‘The Pioneer’ or LIU Post as an institution. I write to make this evident and clear to our readers. It is my responsibility as the Opinions editor to make sure that these things don’t go unnoticed if it’s within my grasp. However, as a fellow student and representative of the university, I also think that it’s important to allow students to voice their opinions. I understand that not all readers will agree with those opinions, but the Pioneer provides a forum for those readers to write letters to the editor with their disagreement too. Sometimes Opinions pieces may make readers feel uncomfortable. They may even possibly offend them. But, ‘The Pioneer’ and our staff does not publish articles with that aim. We try our best to provide a way for students to discuss timely topics of importance to the student body. This is what all good students newspapers should strive to do. I want to reiterate that every opinion piece that ‘The Pioneer’ publishes, only represents the opinion/thoughts of the person who writes the article, and not the rest of our staff and/or LIU Post. On behalf of ‘The Pioneer’ staff, thank you for reading this, and for your time.

Julian Wilson