We were inundated with Letters to the Editor  this past week. We were excited to see the constructive  dialogue that has been started by these  letters, and appreciated the thoughtfulness of the  responses that we received.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough space  to accommodate all of the letters we received.  We have selected to print those letters which we  felt best represented the opinions of the ones submitted.  However, we recognize that each of the  letters we received had value in its individual  opinion, and have chosen to publish all of them  online at our Web site (whitmanpioneer.com).

The majority of the letters we received responded  to one particular piece, “Greek shirts  fittingly convey conformity culture,” which was  published as an opinion piece in last week’s issue  on Feb. 26.

Much of the criticism we heard on and around  campus regarding the greek shirt piece was similar  to: “The Pio hates the greeks.” We’d like to  emphasize that The Pio does not hate any campus  group and strives to maintain objectivity in all  of its reporting. All opinion columns are only  reflections of individuals’ opinions about their  subject matter, and not reflective of The Pioneer  as a whole. The only pieces that are reflective of  the Pioneer editorial staff are our semi-regular  Board Editorials.

It is not important nor relevant what the editors’  opinions on this column, or any column,  are. As editors, we often disagree with columns  we publish. We are proud to boast a staff who encompass  varying viewpoints––our staff members  are of all four years, of different majors; they are  both greeks and independents, and both liberals  and conservatives. The nature of our staff makes  it impossible for us to agree with all pieces that  come before us. We think it is important that  we do not pick and choose pieces for publications  based on their stances. Regardless of  what we think of their opinions, our columnists  have the right to those opinions, and the right to  publish them. We support them in this

In the same vein, as readers, you have the  right to disagree with those opinions. We want to  thank those people who took the time to compose  a response and submit a letter––especially those  who were angered by a piece. We recognize that  it is easy to be angry at something you read, and  to simply dismiss and insult it. Those of you who  took the time to respond: again, thank you. By  contributing your responses to pieces you read,  you are adding to the array of viewpoints that we  strive to represent, and opening up the avenue  for productive and respectful dialogue.

Kim Sommers and Jamie Soukup