Celebrating sharing stories of students’ identities

In a letter to the Temple community, Intersection editors reaffirm their commitment to coverage that sparks meaningful conversations and change.

HANNA LIPSKI / THE TEMPLE NEWS INGRID SLATER / THE TEMPLE NEWS

Two years ago, The Temple News debuted a brand new section dedicated to “telling the whole story” by focusing on you — the students, staff and community residents who make up our Temple University community. It was an effort to talk about who we are as individuals and how our identities influence our interactions with each other with the goal of sparking conversations about facilitating meaningful change.

Today, Intersection is still here, working to help us understand each other better. As part of the second year of Intersection, we’re proud to say we’ve brought  stories about student identity to light through reported articles and personal essays. We’ve written stories on students who have disabilities, who are transgender, who are Asian and who are Caribbean. We’re incredibly grateful that, through our conversations with you, we have had the opportunity to meet so many fascinating, thoughtful folks. 

While our individual realities and identities shape our vision for this section, the reporting we’ve done in the past year has left an impact on us. Like you, we gained a great understanding about our peers, our professors and our university community. We’ve confronted our biases and found out how to go beyond them. And we did all this during one of the most hectic academic years in modern history, when we balanced our academics and reporting with the upheaval COVID-19 brought to all of our lives.

This is not to say that we don’t have work to do. We know there is still much reporting needed about social justice issues, our LGBTQ+ peers, those with disabilities and those from marginalized communities who don’t feel seen. 

So we’re going to get to work. We’ll be reaching out to different student organizations to build connections and let their voices be heard. We’ll be visiting classes (virtually) to talk with writers about joining our section so we can have even more perspectives in reporting. Most importantly, we’re asking you, our readers and peers, to tell us what we’re missing. What are the conversations we need to be having, and with whom? Is there something about your identity and experience that you want to share? What stories do you feel need to be told?

No matter what the following year entails, we promise to cover more of our university’s vibrant communities. We are fully committed to you and your stories because, well, we are you. This section is proudly run by two people who bring our own identities to the table, so we know exactly what it means to navigate your many identities through the world.

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