{"id":25362,"date":"2025-10-08T16:45:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=25362"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:50:24","slug":"letter-from-the-editor-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/letter-from-the-editor-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from the Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A photo of Editor-in-Chief of \u201cThe Western Howl,\u201d Hannah Field. | Photo by Hannah Field<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oct. 8, 2025 |<\/span>\u00a0Hannah Field | Editor-in-Chief<\/span><\/p>\n

Hey, you \u2014 yeah, you. Thanks for making it this far in \u201cThe Western Howl.\u201d I know, it\u2019s been a long first two weeks, with new classes and new people. Maybe you\u2019re new here, maybe you\u2019re not. I don\u2019t know what exactly brings you here, to us and to Western, but thanks for being here. \u201cThe Western Howl\u201d is one of Western\u2019s longstanding traditions, established in 1923 and seeing many, many different names, writers, designers and Editors-in-Chief.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have no way of knowing exactly how many Editors-in-Chief there have been, but I\u2019ve had the absolute privilege of filling that role for the last year and continuing it in this one. It has been the most eyeblinding whirlwind \u2014 hey, West Albany \u2014 schedule, and by far the most demanding work I\u2019ve ever contributed to. Producing this newspaper, running a team and trying to maximize the potential of both have been incredibly taxing and rewarding.<\/span><\/p>\n

The joy of putting pen to paper \u2014 keys to Google Docs? \u2014 and watching it print is unmatched. I watch new writers every year grow in their skills, gaining confidence and a paycheck, and sitting in a room with them every Tuesday evening is truly my favorite part. These designers, editors, managers and translators all work incredibly hard to add to \u201cThe Western Howl,\u201d and I\u2019m glad they\u2019re here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like I\u2019m glad you\u2019re here, seeing hours of work come to life, and hopefully you\u2019ll see it next week, and the week after that, and the week after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Western Howl\u201d is a great place to look into your community, your peers and academics. To know what you\u2019re missing on and off campus, written by reputable, unbiased sources you might see on the way to class. If you couldn\u2019t tell by now, our newspaper is written by students, student-led and for students, funded by the Incidental Fee Committee at Western. If you\u2019re not sure where we\u2019re located, that\u2019d be Terry House on the far side of campus next to Campus Public Safety. Student Media includes \u201cThe Western Howl,\u201d \u201cThe Northwest Passage\u201d and KWOU, Western\u2019s radio station and podcast studio available to students. I love receiving emails and news tips, which we also have a section for on <\/span>wou.edu\/westernhowl\/<\/span><\/a>. I ask that you do not hesitate to drop off a story tip, whether it\u2019s something that is affecting students or just your really cool friend and their interesting job.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also ask that you take a deep look into the importance of media. We attend a relatively small college, and when something happens here \u2014 big or small, good or bad \u2014 you\u2019re more likely to hear it through whispers in your dorm hall than by checking local news. But I want you to be able to check the campus newspaper. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening, however, if nobody tells us. So, please tell us.<\/span><\/p>\n

And maybe, we\u2019ll have news for you that you haven\u2019t heard. Do you know about Western\u2019s budget deficit? Or last year\u2019s lawsuit? Did you know that Western is the first public university in Oregon to join the Tri-Alpha Honor Society, or that Monmouth is one of the safest cities in the state? Western is the second cheapest public university in Oregon; Western is also the only place on the West Coast where you can receive a bachelor\u2019s degree in American Sign Language. And if you love to climb, Western has a very well-maintained indoor rock wall, the second tallest in Oregon.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you did know all that, that\u2019s awesome, you\u2019re well-informed about your school. If you didn\u2019t, now you are.<\/span><\/p>\n

I promise you, I knew nothing before coming here, not about Western nor any university at all. I have never experienced another college. I\u2019ll be honest, I spent my first year here commuting to class four days a week and failing to make a single friendship across all three terms. It wasn\u2019t until I became the news editor at \u201cThe Western Howl\u201d that I made my first college connections, suddenly coming to the understanding that university was supposed to be about more than just your degree. It\u2019s about your peers, the time in between classes and, most importantly to me, understanding your individuality: your goals, your plans, what you need, how you thrive.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you had asked me four years ago if I knew what I\u2019d accomplish at college, I\u2019d have answered, \u201cProbably my degree?\u201d I didn\u2019t anticipate running the newspaper; managing a local business on the side; taking six classes; waking up early, going to bed late, finding my groove in adulthood and growing discipline as a skill; finding pride and confidence in every facet of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

I walked into college with no idea who I\u2019d be at the end. And I don\u2019t think that\u2019s just my story. The injustices students suffer, the relationships that end and that are forged, waking up in your childhood room and, years later, falling asleep in a dingy apartment with no air conditioning. I\u2019m probably not the only one who felt out of options when graduating high school, that college was the next step without knowing why. If that\u2019s you right now \u2014 here out of obligation, confused, lost, lacking discipline or otherwise trying to find your footing \u2014 I was right there, and I can tell you, it changes. Find a job, join a club, keep working. Spend too much money at the grocery store because you don\u2019t know how much food you need for a week. Butcher your recipes because you didn\u2019t learn how to cook when you lived with your parents. In some way, most of us, if not all of us, are baby adults. Even the editor of the newspaper and the president of ASWOU \u2014 sorry, Morgan \u2014 and your very accomplished, working-multiple-jobs, multi-major peers.<\/span><\/p>\n

TLDR; \u201cThe Western Howl\u201d serves you. We stand for student voices above all else. We support you, encourage you to stand and speak. And if you don\u2019t know yet where you\u2019re going, maybe you\u2019ll be in my chair in three or four years \u2014 not sure how you got there, but knowing it was worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at howleditorinchief@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oct. 8, 2025 |\u00a0Hannah Field | Editor-in-Chief Hey, you \u2014 yeah, you. Thanks for making it this far in \u201cThe Western Howl.\u201d I know, it\u2019s been a long first two weeks, with new classes and new people. Maybe you\u2019re new here, maybe you\u2019re not. I don\u2019t know what exactly brings you here, to us and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Letter from the Editor","_seopress_titles_desc":"A personal hello, and, in some ways, goodbye, from your Editor-in-Chief","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1791],"tags":[3463,6011,3453,1753,1780,9780,1294,41,2128,2869,9782,289,1208,9784,3627,3624,4251,995,3621,5043,908,288,6714,143,3011,7000,1160,6836,1812,6028,9781,8567,3618,776,1271,1691,6715,3625,4275,1254,9783,4285,684,1296,1297],"class_list":["post-25362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion-special","tag-3463","tag-6011","tag-3453","tag-advice","tag-albany","tag-blog","tag-club","tag-college","tag-confidence","tag-design","tag-designer","tag-editor","tag-editor-in-chief","tag-eight","tag-field","tag-hannah","tag-high","tag-hiring","tag-howl","tag-inspiring","tag-job","tag-letter","tag-manager","tag-news","tag-newspaper","tag-oct","tag-october","tag-oregon-2","tag-pay","tag-personal","tag-positions","tag-post","tag-publication","tag-publish","tag-school","tag-stories","tag-story","tag-the","tag-uni","tag-university","tag-uplifting","tag-west","tag-western","tag-write","tag-writer"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25368,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25362\/revisions\/25368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}