We want you!

At the Evanstonian, we believe it’s essential to incorporate as many perspectives into our paper in order to present a more accurate representation of ETHS.

In order to produce content that comes from a wide range of voices, we are expanding our guest writing policies. We will work with students to develop articles on topics they’re passionate about and eventually, publish those articles.

In the past, the Evanstonian staff has not always been representative of our student body. One major way in which the Evanstonian staff has failed on this account is with its often majority white staff– which is clearly not reflective of the school’s actual demographics. For example, out of last year’s 33 writers for the Evanstonian, only five identified as people of color. This has predictably affected what topics we’ve covered, and with what angle we’ve covered them from. The implications of this have ranged from what artists and athletes we’ve focused on to how we write about a serious issue such as gun violence, as it disproportionately affects people of color.

Allowing more students to contribute to the Evanstonian is especially important in the opinion section because that is where student voice is most prominent. However, even with more factual news pieces, reporting is always affected by implicit biases and traditionally, our news reporting has come from white perspectives– which affects everything from who the reporter interviews to the way they present the facts of the story.

Members of our staff have written pieces in recent years that acknowledge the whiteness of the Evanstonian, which were undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but this expansion of our guest writing policy serves as one of the actual actionable steps we’re taking to combat this issue. Writing about a problem does little good unless it is followed by a tangible change. Undoubtedly, the Evanstonian has historically been an exclusive institution, which has discouraged some students from even attempting to join. This new guest writing policy will hopefully open up this space as one for more than just the “traditional” Evanstonian staff member.

Giving more students an opportunity to write for the Evanstonian will make ETHS’ student newspaper actually representative of the student body.

To contact us about a potential piece, email [email protected].