Dear Editor, contributing writers of The Other, and section editor of The Other,
I am writing to applaud your vision and to thank you for amplifying the student voice for social justice on our campus through your first edition of The Other.
I am proud to be part of a university community composed of individuals with the courage and resolve you are showing.
I deeply appreciate that you are willing to “stand alone, unpopular and sometimes reviled” as Audre Lorde says, and to try to figure out “how to make common cause with those others identified as outside the structures, in order to define and seek a world in which we can all flourish.”
Thank your for channeling your social justice commitments and efforts into our campus community.
And I want to say one more thing. Prepare for the backlash. I know that you know it is coming. But I can tell you from many, many years of experience, knowing it and not getting thrown by it are two different things.
When the backlash starts, lock your arms ever tighter – to each other and to your vision – and don’t let it rattle you.
If you can get comfortable with other people not being comfortable with what you are writing, you will maintain the strength to persevere.
– Amber E. Kinser, Ph.D., Director, Women’s Studies Associate Professor, Department of Communication

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