On Wednesday morning, hundreds of students listened as their peers stood in Kagin and shared pain, trauma and anger with the senior staff. The reasons for this pain — the lack of space for international and BIPOC students, the barriers to communicating with administrators, the shortcomings in resources for students in need and more— are not new. These pleas have been heard over and over, pleas that have been particularly poignant in the last year and a half. Students are not getting support despite the exhausting amount of times they have asked for it. 

As student journalists, we are committed to telling stories honestly. For us, that means we are making every effort to be true to our community — our peers are hurting while still doing everything they can to make this college a better place for each other. Over everything else, we stand with the students who are fighting and demanding more from this school. 

This editorial, and this week’s issue, are the start of our coverage of this topic and the conversations that will continue in the coming weeks. For transparency, our print deadline is late Wednesday nights; our articles this week were largely written before Nov. 3 and the sit-in at Kagin. 

To students and members of the community: our inbox is open, our newsroom is here for you and so is our editorial staff. We are completely independent of Macalester College’s administration. While it is not your responsibility to voice your own experiences and pain, your words are welcome here if you would like to do so, and we are here to fully amplify the voices of students. 

Please email us at [email protected] or contact our editors-in-chief directly: Bergen Schmidt at [email protected] or Maya Sobchuk at [email protected].