The effect on the unaffected

What makes an issue universally relevant to a student body? Does it have to affect every student personally? Does it have to be neutral in every ethnic, gender and social category to resonate with the most amount of people? Universal appeal sometimes means the effect on the whole rather than on the individuals that compose it.

You may not be one of the women who is intimidated by entering the ruthless world of political contests, and you may not even be involved enough to know whether you are represented by a man or a woman, but the issue affects the apathetic as much as the die-hards.

Some will criticize us for taking a seemingly one-sided approach to an issue, but it’s not our aim to lay blame, at least not in this case. We aim to explore systemic issues so that the greater student body is educated enough to discuss it among their peers.

It is in your best interest to be as knowledgeable as possible on the issues that affect the people around you, because those people will be your peers for the rest of your life, not only the next few years. These are the issues that affect my sister, my editors, my fellow human beings, so it is my responsibility to ensure that every ounce of scrutiny is expended on the topic.

We’re not asking you to solve these problems, we’re asking you to become aware that there is one, so you can become involved insofar that, as childhood PSAs would tell us, “knowing is half the battle.”

We do our best to touch upon as wide a variety of issues as we can, but like any publication, time and space are limiting factors, so if there is an issue that you think we are turning a blind eye to, just tell us. You’ll find that we are pretty receptive to new ideas, if you make the effort to inform us. It is way more effective than criticizing The Sil in your social justice circlejerks.

And if we seem a bit heavy-handed at times, it’s because some issues need an incredibly strong push.