I’m Madison Schill and I’m a senior in Women and Gender Studies at NDSU. I am writing in response to another letter to the editor entitled, “In Defense of Racists” which discusses the editor-in-chief’s decision not to publish a letter from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the Spectrum.

First, I would like to acknowledge that the editor clearly states that Spectrum policy does not allow any letters to the editor to be published when they do not include the writer’s name. Based on this alone, the editor-in-chief has every right to refuse the publication of the letter.

Second, and more importantly, excluding that letter from the publication sends a very clear message: We at NDSU do not support discrimination of any kind.

While I can’t say what race the writer of the “In Defense of Racists” letter is, what I can guess, being a WGS major who spends time learning about social inequity, is that he does not wake up in the morning thinking about his race and how it will impact his day.

Though we often don’t realize it — likely because we are in a rural, homogenous region — it is a privilege to go about our lives and not have to think about race (or, for that matter, other aspects of our identity such as gender identity or sexuality). It’s a privilege not to be affected by letters from the KKK or white supremacist propaganda posters on our campus and we must acknowledge that it’s a privilege that not everyone on our campus has.

So yes, while you, the writer of that letter, may not see how a letter from the KKK could be harmful to students on our campus, you must know that not everyone has that same privilege.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the editor-in-chief for his discretion. Thank you for making the statement that racism and other forms of discrimination are not welcome in our student paper or on our campus.

Everyone who attends NDSU deserves to feel safe and valued. If you have been affected by any recent events on campus, please know that you are not alone, and that you are vital to our university. You matter.

Thank you,
Madison Schill