Why can’t we all just get along?

It’s so cliché. But it’s the hardest question to answer right now.

This isn’t about disagreement. Disagreement is healthy, and encouraged in a democracy. This is about being unnecessarily rude, condescending and even downright hateful to someone who has a different opinion or background than your own.

This is not just a problem at Iowa State. The conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion and even how those topics are discussed using freedom of speech is one that is seeping into college and university campuses around the nation.

A university, especially a public one such as Iowa State, is a place where people from various backgrounds, differing opinions and different walks of life are all thrown together in one space.

You have freshmen from rural Iowa for whom this may be the first time they’ve been exposed to people with a different skin color or native language from their own. You have students from countries overseas for whom this may be the first time they are considered the minority race. You have people who may be from your own hometown and from whom you have completely differing viewpoints or beliefs. You come to college to learn, and that includes learning about living and interacting with a variety of people. If you leave college the way you came, you did it wrong.

But no matter where you come from or what you believe, in the United States the First Amendment grants you the right to express what you believe about a certain topic, even if it’s not the popular opinion and hurts someone’s feelings. It also grants people the right to publicly disagree with your opinion.

It also grants freedom of the press. With that freedom comes responsibility.

During the last two weeks, The Daily has published a number of letters to the editor that have received quite a bit of attention. The Daily has received numerous comments for publishing those letters, many of which state that the organization and the university are supporting their contents.

Let me clarify.

Iowa State University has no say in what content is published across any of the Iowa State Daily’s platforms. We are an independent student newspaper serving the Iowa State and Ames communities.

Letters published through the Iowa State Daily are not endorsed by the Iowa State Daily or Iowa State University. Letters to the editor are an individual’s or group’s opinion about a topic or issue they wish to express.

It does not matter if an individual staff member agrees or disagrees with the content of the letter.

It is not our job to decide what is right or wrong.

It is part of our duty as a news organization to provide a platform for those opinions to be expressed and to facilitate conversations.

However, it is also part of our responsibility to have the conversation prior to publishing about what this letter will do in terms of benefits to civil discourse or collateral damage to a number of people.

If you’re going to solve problems, you must first talk about the problem. You need to hear different perspectives to formulate a valid opinion and next steps.

On Tuesday, April 12, a letter was published about white privilege being a problem at Iowa State, advising people to get their “condition checked out.” We received comments agreeing and disagreeing with this letter. The week before, a letter on the other side of the political opinion spectrum was written by an ISU community member saying Iowa State is too politically correct, to which the ISU community responded in an uproar of anger, calling The Daily and Iowa State racist institutions. We received comments agreeing and disagreeing with this letter. As a result of both of these letters, I have personally been called a racist, oblivious, privileged white girl.

People have every right to say those things. Go right ahead. Citizens should be keeping an eye on the media, as the media plays an important role in how issues are portrayed and history is documented. And we’re not going to censor it because it sheds a negative light on us.

The letters submitted and social media comments as a result of these letters show that, clearly, we have some work to do.

But, some people’s feelings got hurt along the way. That’s the risk you take with freedom of speech. Do we allow people to say whatever they want? Or do you prefer that speech is censored and none of these issues are talked about? In an ideal world, people who wish to express their opinion would do so in a constructive, thoughtful way.

But it often doesn’t happen like that.

This country seems to have a problem with not getting along with each other, mostly because everybody seems to be yelling their opinions, blaming someone else, overgeneralizing a population and not taking the time to consider another viewpoint. Like I said earlier, differing opinions are healthy and needed to uphold our society, but how you listen, react to and respect those opinions is what we seem to have an issue with.

These conversations are nothing new. Underrepresented students have faced discrimination and/or disadvantages their entire lives. This academic year has just happened to see a series of major events that has brought the conversation and people’s actions to a louder national scale.

So, all of these events happen. People yell at administration because they want change. They are rightfully mad and hurt about things said on Yik Yak. They are upset about the classroom dynamic.

You let us know. Now what? How is the university going to change what happens on Yik Yak, a completely anonymous form of social media that essentially has zero credibility? How can we work together to make CyRide, dining center and classroom environments more welcoming? How do we educate students every year about their individual responsibility in making this campus more inclusive and welcoming?

If you have grievances or complaints, make them known, but also, come with ideas and solutions. And while doing so, keep in mind about why we are even talking about this.

It is our duty as a student newspaper to uncover not only the truth of the events that happen on our campus, but also the emotions, perceptions and motives surrounding them. We hope to provide one of the platforms to engage in conversation and give members of the ISU community a chance to use their voice.

We will continue these efforts into the next academic year, and we hope you’ll join us.

Now, I will sit at my desk with my coffee and an open mind, anxious to read all of your emails and Facebook comments about the “ISU Daily.”

But by the way, it’s actually the Iowa State Daily.