December 6th, 2018

Nor’easter News readers & supporters,

On November 28th, 2018, we published an article under the title “How Assault is Handled on Campus: A Student’s Perspective.” The story quickly gained attention from both the student body and members of the faculty and staff. On December 1st, 2018, after careful consideration, we decided to take the story down from public view. The timing felt right for the piece to make its impact.  In our interest to engage the campus in the start of a meaningful conversation, however, we brought the story out before it was finished.

We want to be clear: this is temporary. We did not pull this piece because of the content, but because of the work that still needs to be done on it. We aim to provide quality content and want to ensure that we are giving the community the best article we possibly can, especially on such a sensitive topic. We are not alone in this challenge, as many professional papers also face tough decisions like this. We completely stand behind our writer, Krista Bailey, and her determination to shed light on such an important and relevant issue. Her article sparked a much-needed dialogue, and we are working to continue that with her. We are committed to continuing the discussion around a topic that, very obviously, is important to our community.

The mission of Nor’easter News is to provide the UNE community with information on current events from the perspective of students, allowing their voices to be heard. We are a small group of students who do this for one main reason: we’re passionate about it . We’re committed to bringing forward issues that are important to our peers, even if the conversation may be difficult and critical of the institution. Being able to speak truth to power is perhaps the most important responsibility we have as humans, but it also may be the most challenging.

Above all, we stand with survivors of sexual assault, on campus, within the community, and off-campus. With increasing media coverage of sexual assault and harassment, and the emergence of movements such as #MeToo, we want to make it clear that we are here to be allies and supporters to everyone who has had such an experience.

Discussing sexual assault matters. Amplifying survivor’s voices matters.

You are heard, and we stand by you.

Nor’easter News Editorial Staff