Last semester, Fresno State received a bomb threat as a result of outrage for something as little as a professor asking students to state their preferred pronouns for an assignment on Canvas.
The assignment prompt was made public and posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by an extremist conservative account. The post has nearly three million views now.
It should go without saying, but there are much better ways to get your message across instead of threatening dorms, the university president and a professor.
There are now more ways than ever since the emergence of the internet to get your voice heard and let people know your opinions on certain issues.
One of these ways is writing a letter to the editor.
Writing a letter to the editor allows students, faculty and community members to share their opinions to an audience that, more than likely, can relate to what the letter is about.
Prior to becoming a professor in Media, Communications and Journalism at Fresno State, Jim Boren spent 48 years on staff at The Fresno Bee. During that time, Boren spent 17 years as the editorial page editor.
He believes that letters to the editor are significant when building a community at Fresno State “by creating a space for dialogue and exchange of ideas.”
“[Letters to the editor] also hold publishers, journalists and public figures accountable for their statements and actions,” Boren told The Collegian. “Readers can use this platform to challenge inaccuracies, express concerns or demand transparency from those in positions of power. Letters also are a good barometer of overall public opinion.”
Letters to the editor also help build a sense of community morale.
In my four semesters at The Collegian, I’ve heard countless times that we as a staff need to imagine Fresno State as a neighborhood and all of the students and faculty are residents.
Fresno State needs the voices of the people who are on campus every day to be heard.
After The Collegian editorial board published an editorial opposing Measure E, we received a letter to the editor from a faculty member disagreeing with what we wrote.
Even though I voted in opposition to Measure E for the editorial, the professor who wrote the letter brought up great points and gave me a different outlook on why someone would be in favor of it.
This is how it should be. Letters to the editors are a step in the right direction as long as they are respectful and can lead to civil discussion.
ASI president-elect Faith Van Hoven wrote a letter to the editor on why students should vote for her prior to ASI elections.
Like Boren, Van Hoven believes that letters to the editor are a positive way to make change on campus and hold journalists accountable when they make mistakes or write something the public disagrees with.
“I think that it is incredibly important to have letters to the editor because the press was created for people, and with The Collegian, Fresno State students are the people,” Van Hoven said. “Students need direct access to the information in ways that are conducive to collaboration, and letters to the editor keep The Collegian available and accountable to public opinion.”
College students can often feel like their voice isn’t heard in a school of 20,000 people. Writing a letter to the editor to The Collegian allows people who feel voiceless to have a platform to share their thoughts.
