In a post-Trinity days haze of midterms and copyediting, I find myself reflecting on a weekly chore that often goes overlooked: the letter from the editor (LFE) program contained on Page 2 of the Tripod. Each week, I (or another member of our editorial board) pens a letter to the student body for Page 2 of our publication.
This letter usually comments on current events, campus happenings and the contents of the relevant issue. More often than not, I begin writing this letter when I arrive in the newsroom office at 3 p.m. on Mondays. I (would like to) think this belatedness is not an act of procrastination, nor an abuse of editorial power, but rather an exercise in immediacy — a commitment to the present tense and a chance to write from the particular moment in which the Tripod comes together. There is, after all, something valuable about a letter written at the tail end of a week’s worth of reporting, editing, debating and (not so) occasionally despairing over commas (sorry, Clayton).
I understand that these letters do not serve an apparent purpose to those who tune in to just the crossword or the occasional browser of the features section. LFEs are not news — they are not immediately pressing to the daily lives of our student body. It is a quasi-opinion that isn’t on the opinion page, a direct address with no fixed call for action. Most people who read this page are professors or angry alums out for syntactic blood.
However, even for those averse to reading longer blocks of text by a student editor, Page 2 is perhaps the most important page of our publication, and the most notoriously skipped. Page 2 does have more than LFEs. It also houses letters to the editor, our masthead and our editorial and print policy, for those keen on teensy print.
Letters to the editor (LTEs) serve a different but equally necessary purpose to a letter from the editor: they give readers a voice to speak back to the student body. The Tripod is not and should not be a one-way distribution of information. To bastardize the words of Abraham Lincoln, it is of the students, by the students and for the students of Trinity College. The newspaper is an opportunity for an exchange of dialogue among the campus community and I highly encourage it to be utilized as such.
This function is particularly important at Trinity, where students bring different experiences, political beliefs, academic interests and understandings of campus life. Disagreement is inevitable, but it can also be productive. This is the very act of critical thinking and free speech that higher education was founded upon. To shirk this opportunity is not only a personal loss, but a loss for all of Trinity — it is a missed chance to challenge our own assumptions and engage with our campus on an expressive and analytical level.
The masthead is perhaps the best expression of this sentiment. A growing masthead is an indication of students taking advantage of this exact opportunity of expression and dialogue from within our publication system. This week, I am proud to announce four new staff writers (and two on the way): Aanum Khan ’30, Carlos Fonseca ’30, Julianna Williams ’30 and Cam Guendner ’30. Check them out to my left!
I am especially proud of the class of 2030, who have been contributing massively to the Tripod this semester. By this time my freshman year I had only published one article, a half-baked opinion on “BoJack Horseman” riddled with logical errors and heavily dramatized prose. The new writers continue to impress me and the rest of the editorial board with their curiosity, tenacity and willingness to learn. If these students are any indication of the future of expression on this campus, I can say confidently that Trinity — and the Tripod — are in good hands.
The masthead also matters greatly when we talk about accountability. I hold a public and hard stance on anonymity in the publication, and I view the masthead as a place for our editors and staff to take responsibility for what is in these pages. As each of these new names is added to the masthead, these writers shift from purely independent entities to individuals that support a collective enterprise that shapes the identity, credibility and values of the Tripod.
This responsibility extends to the editorial and print policy, which I wrote about in January of 2026 as essential to forming an educated opinion on the publication. If you look in the bottom left of this page, you will see our policy for letters, retractions and acknowledging mistakes. It is a constant, permanent feature of the publication, a resource for anyone who wishes to submit a letter, challenge a published claim or understand how we respond when we get something wrong. More fundamentally, its presence makes a statement about the relationship we wish to maintain with our readers: the Tripod does not ask to be trusted blindly, but offers readers the means to understand and scrutinize its practices.
Student newspapers operate in a unique environment: our staff members are both journalists and members of the community they cover. They attend the same classes, participate in campus life and experience many of the same institutional decisions as their readers. This proximity can provide valuable insight, but it also requires careful reflection about fairness, independence and responsibility. Letters from the editor offer an opportunity to make that reflection visible, to provide a concrete assertion of the values guiding the publication.
This slightly meta title (‘On Page Two’ … on Page 2) is, in essence, an expression of Page 2’s unique and particular role in the Tripod: a space within the newspaper devoted to reflecting on the newspaper itself.
If I had a request for our student body, faculty, staff and alumni, it would be to read Page 2 in its entirety (or more realistically, a cursory skim). To us at the Tripod, maintaining a meaningful Page 2 is an investment in the campus community. Students should be able to identify who is producing their news, contribute their own perspectives and understand the editorial principles shaping the publication. Ultimately, a college newspaper is strongest when its readers see themselves not merely as consumers of information but as participants in an ongoing conversation. Please, contribute to this conversation.
In peace,
TBC