The Weather Vane is EMU’s student-led newspaper. Our paper is independent and uncensored by EMU faculty and staff. The opinions and thoughts expressed are directly from students and not from the university and its affiliates. We have both an online and a print edition weekly. Physical copies can be picked up at several places around campus by the afternoon on Thursdays and can be found online at www.theweathervane.org.
Our Co-Editors in Chief for Spring of 2021 are Anna Cahill and Jessica Chisolm. Cahill is a senior psychology and writing studies double major with an english minor from Staunton, Virginia. Chisolm is an EMU sophomore who grew up in Collinsville, Miss. She is a peacebuilding and writing major with a minor in art. Representation is a priority of the Weather Vane staff, and we feel that it is important to acknowledge that both of our editors are white Christian women. They are also both commuters. Jessica identifies with the Mennonite denomination as do many of our other staff members.
With this in mind, we encourage students who feel that the Weather Vane is not accurately portraying the opinions of the whole student body to write in. We welcome critiques as well as suggestions. We also appreciate the efforts of students who write and send us opinion pieces. While we want the Weather Vane to display as many student voices as possible, we retain the right to not publish submitted pieces. We will not publish hate speech.
It’s also important to remember we are still in a pandemic. We are still facing massive political divisiveness, and Black lives still matter. The Weather Vane aims to share these stories along with others. COVID-19 has impacted everyone differently. Some week’s classes and our paper may look different.
The internet has found ways to maintain connection while also fueling divisions. The Pew Research Foundation found that 53% of Americans reported the internet has been essential during the pandemic Yet, there’s ongoing debate about whether or not social media websites fuel political division with their algorithms. The challenge then is how to present alternative viewpoints in a respectable manner.
We want you! We want your thoughts, complaints, and news-worthy stories. We would love to hear from everyone and anyone. Our goals remain the same as past semesters: “To inform the student body of campus happenings and news, serve as a critique of campus life, facilitate the sharing of stories and ideas among students, faculty, staff and administration, act as the student voice, representing the opinion and conscience of the student body and amplifying the voices of those who have been historically underrepresented on EMU’s campus, provide an arena for students to develop their writing and editing skills, and preserve a historical record for the campus from a student perspective.”
We can be contacted at wvane@emu.edu or our editors’ respective EMU email addresses.
