Thank you

In a letter to readers last issue, The Temple News broke the type of front-page news we never like to report. Our editorially independent, student-run newspaper must revert back to publishing weekly due to budget constraints.

We asked for support in a small paragraph near the end of the editorial, urging readers to e-mail us in an attempt to show the powers that be that our publication isn’t created and read solely by news nerds. We often ask for reader response in obnoxiously large advertisements – usually to no avail – and are left with an e-mail inbox mocking us with a “quota used” meter of a measly .0001 percent.

Then things changed. In a time when The Temple News was forced to re-evaluate itself in a fundamental way, when our staff wondered if the eventual goal of daily publication would ever come to fruition or if anyone outside our office walls would support such an endeavor, a letter came. And then another, and then dozens more, offering anecdotes, appreciation and full-fledged support for The Temple News. Lesson: We should run fewer obnoxious advertisements and instead ask nicely for your letters.

What is printed next to this editorial is a testament that many people – students, alumni, students’ parents, professors and even journalism professionals – deeply care about this University and its inner workings as much as we do.

The words of everyone who wrote to The Temple News in the past week were carefully read, earnestly appreciated and fully absorbed. Every person on this staff, from our editor in chief to our newest staff writer, is grateful for every letter, including those we didn’t have space to publish. And we don’t just mean every e-mail, but every single letter of every single word. It bolstered our resolve and reminded us that our hard work is anything but an exercise in futility.

And thanks for introducing yourselves. It’s refreshing to pinpoint those in the community who are actively interested in our publication, and it has now connected us more intimately with a number of our readers.

Say hello again. Our e-mail address is TempleNews@Gmail.com, and we’d love to have this many letters every week. Don’t be afraid to say how you feel about our newspaper.

To all who have offered encouragement over the past week and to everyone who has picked up a copy of The Temple News, thank you.

Above all else, please keep reading. We’re here to serve.