As we begin the new session of the Stanford Daily Editorial Board, we must recognize the continued oppression and anti-Blackness that exists in our nation and in our own Stanford community. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others have reiterated the anti-Black sentiments that are embedded in our nation’s psyche. 

The Editorial Board has been complicit in this same racism and anti-Blackness. We have failed to appropriately listen to and engage with Black, Indigenous and other students of color. As a result, we have failed to shed light on issues that impact these communities, as well as other oppressed and underrepresented communities on our campus. We did not discuss our own support for the departmentalization of African and African American Studies until this summer, and we have consistently failed to discuss issues impacting the undocumented and Indigenous communities. 

Rectifying this must be an ongoing conversation and effort on our part, but there are several concrete steps we will begin with this year: 

1. To provide individuals with more opportunities to interact with the Editorial Board, we are creating an open submissions form for reader comments. This form will be attached to the end of every published Editorial Board piece, and we will review all submissions with the intent of being more responsive to the thoughts and needs of the Stanford community. 

2. We also plan to engage in dialogues with an increasing number of student groups, particularly those that represent perspectives that our Board has traditionally failed to appropriately consider or represent. For all pieces we write that are concerned with a certain student population, we commit to engaging directly with organizations and individuals that can best represent those interests. We commit to engaging with them in a way that is sensitive to both their time and emotional labor. 

3. We commit to writing pieces this year that are more directly responsive to the communities we have historically ignored. These include the Black, Indigenous, undocumented and disability communities. 

4. Finally, we recognize that our Board has traditionally overrepresented white perspectives, not just in its articles but also in its membership. As we move forward, we commit to supporting recruitment to our editorial staff of students whose perspectives and voices have not always been sufficiently represented both in our community and our Board. 

The role of our Editorial Board is to represent the voice, not just of The Stanford Daily, but of the larger Stanford community. It is our charge to respond to the needs of our community, amplifying issues facing students, faculty and staff. 

We recognize that we have failed in this commitment. This quarter, and this volume, we hope to begin to rectify this failure. These steps represent a beginning that we hope our Board, and our paper, can continue to build upon for volumes to come. 

The Vol. 258 Editorial Board consists of Claire Dinshaw ’21, Layo Laniyan ’22, Elizabeth Lindqwister ’21, Adrian Liu ’20, Patrick Monreal ’22, Megha Parwani ’21 and Cooper Ryan Veit ’22.

If you have feedback for the Editorial Board, fill out this form or contact the Editorial Board at opinions ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The Daily is committed to publishing a diversity of op-eds and letters to the editor. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Email letters to the editor to eic ‘at’ stanforddaily.com and op-ed submissions to opinions ‘at’ stanforddaily.com.