Letter From the Editors: Beginning Again

Talia Cutler ’27 and Isabella Chirkis ’27

Editors in Chief

The last few weeks have been incredibly difficult both emotionally and technically for the Tripod staff and, of course, the entire Trinity community. Recently, we lost a fellow Bantam and this was absolutely devastating. The grief following the loss of a loved one is a heavy burden, and one that does not disappear. There is no reconciling it. Our campus is shouldering that grief now — Nicky Green ‘29 is, and forever will be missed. 

It would be easy to be pessimistic about the future at this point in time. We are aware of the massive breach of trust the Trinity Tripod has committed against its readers, as well as the perception of our practices. However, we refuse to be an environment infested with pessimism. We cannot build a functioning paper from that — instead, we are viewing this turnover as an opportunity to begin the paper again.

We have spent the last two weeks rewriting our governing policies and, of course, organizing a massive internal restructure. We have seen the loss of two senior members of the executive editorial board and four staff editors. In their absence, we have appointed new co- editors-in-chief and one managing editor. This is a new issue, a new semester, a new executive board and a new commitment to our mission as a student newspaper.

Our goal is not to obstruct or distract from what has happened, but learn from it and move forward to publish quality and timely news for the student body, faculty, administration, parents and alumni. 

In this week’s issue, we address the past — we have a multi-generational letter-to-the-editor from alums in journalism on our decision to retract, and pieces from two editors on re-defining campus news as well as editorial policy in the Opinion section. Additionally, we have pieces covering the squash team’s win streak in Sports, the library’s water issues in News and a wonderful Along The Long Walk on the front page. 

This issue was chaotic and fraught with difficulty as we navigate our new (unexpected) roles. But throughout the painful trial-and-error, it has, without question, been a worthwhile task. We love our campus community, and to us, the Tripod has always been a central part of that. Both of us have been writing for the Tripod since fall of our freshman year, watching the coverage of the St. Anthony’s Hall suspension, the shooting of a Trinity student in Vermont, institutional litigation, student protests, worker strikes and everything in between. Being in the newsroom on Monday nights, begrudgingly participating in Tuesday distribution and frantically spamming slack channels on Saturdays has been a staple of our experience at Trinity. To abandon the paper is unthinkable — to build it back up again is a privilege, and one that we are happy to do together. 

At the end of the day, the Tripod serves the principles of journalism, but it also serves the student body. With the new editorial board, we hope to deliver on this service with veracity, sincerity and poise. We have to start somewhere, and we are choosing here to begin again. 

With optimism, 

TBC and IRC

Mental Health resources are available at the Counseling and Wellness Center at 135 Allen Place, or dial 988 in an emergency.