This article is going to be a little bit less traditional of an opinions piece, however it still belongs in this section. My name is Jake Dabkowski, and I am the new Editor-In-Chief of The Globe, Point Park’s student run newspaper that you’re reading online right now. 

I am both honored and thrilled to be starting as Editor-In-Chief. I first got involved with The Globe in the fall of 2019, and primarily wrote for the opinions section. Starting in the spring of 2020, I began working as the news editor, a position that I held for three semesters, before becoming the Editor-Elect of the Globe in the fall of 2021.

The reason that I’ve chosen to write this piece is to lay out a few things at the start of the semester. The biggest thing that I would like to address is the opinions section.

Throughout the year, numerous people will write for the opinions section. Some of them will be Globe staff members, some of them will be students just looking for a place to have their voice heard, and sometimes it will be me.

Whenever I or a staff member make an opinion, especially a political or social opinion, public, it often times brings on criticism that we are showing bias. I disagree with this analysis completely. All journalists, regardless of political affiliation, are human beings. Should their journalistic work begin to show legitimate bias, then it is necessary to criticize them. However, I do not think that someone saying “I think it’s a good thing that Biden canceled some student loan debt” is grounds for journalistic disbarment.

I mentioned previously that I wrote a lot for the opinions section. I still will in the future. Frankly, I find any insinuation that my personal beliefs would impact my own journalistic due diligence insulting. I understand completely why some would be skeptical when seeing a reporter express their views, but I would argue that I would rather know the beliefs of a journalist than not, because then it makes decontextualizing their stories much easier.

I would like to showcase as many different perspectives and voices as possible in this section this year. While Point Park does clearly have a dominant socio-political ideology, I believe that there are plenty of dissenting opinions, and I think that it’s important to showcase them.

That being said, there are a few things that you will never see published in this section. You will never see racially charged language, homophobic and-or transphobic rhetoric, or misogyny. If you want to write for this section, please review your submission, and if it contains any of the above, then please do not bother.

There are also, very likely, a number of people who read that and feel as though those guidelines target their political affiliation. If your immediate thought after I said “no racism, homophobia, transphobia, or misogyny” was that I was targeting your political beliefs, then maybe you should get some new beliefs.

Above all else, I’m very proud of this newspaper. I’m proud of the work that the staff does. I’m proud of how everyone involved, including myself, is able to grow professionally from this organization. I’m very excited to see where this year takes this paper, and I hope that you, dear reader, are as excited as I am.