Dear readers,

Welcome to the Evergreen news section. When our editor-in-chief asked us to write this leditor, we were not sure what message we wanted to convey to our readers. The two of us have very different backgrounds in journalism, so that makes writing one cohesive piece — and running one cohesive section — a bit challenging.

If you’ve read this far and you have read previous leditors, you can probably guess which one of us is doing the writing here. It’s Emma. But that simply showcases my point. I started as a mint reporter (hence, the leditors) and now focus more on science writing. Tim, on the other hand, is a journalism major with a background in photography and crime reporting. I speak for both of us when I say we hope to let our two distinct perspectives as news editors inform our section’s content. 

We’ll cut to the chase here. We’ve gone back and forth trying to set goals for our section that capture our backgrounds and the needs we see in our community. More coverage of traditionally underrepresented groups is essential. So is more coverage of the City of Pullman, not just WSU. We are planning more in-depth and investigative pieces. 

Ultimately, we can set all the goals we want, but they mean nothing without input from our readers. What do you feel the Evergreen is lacking? What do you want to know about your community that you do not already? What do your friends, neighbors and fellow citizens need to know about this town we call home?

In these questions, the essence of our leditor is simple. We are only doing our jobs successfully if we are serving our readers with the information they need to know. We strive to achieve that, but we would love to know how we are doing.

So please, feel free to email us. Comments are welcomed, and news tips are appreciated. Ranting at and berating us are very much discouraged, but accepted. We would love to hear from you via email at [email protected].

Here’s to another great semester of bringing you the news.

Timothy Fairbanks-Clouser, Evergreen news editor

Emma Ledbetter, Evergreen deputy news editor