You interact with us twice a week when we hand you the newspaper after Chapel. You see our faces on columns and our names under headlines. And as one of your local news sources, the Optimist staff finds it crucial to tell readers several of our expectations.

The Optimist staff’s purpose is to communicate cultural and current events to the ACU community through stories. In fact, most of our staff writers are journalism majors, studying how to become better at the craft of writing. Our goal is to be informative, objective and accurate reporters and writers.

Because the Optimist strives to be a forthright paper, our staff will write thorough and possibly controversial stories, express our opinions through editorials and columns, and occasionally make mistakes.

Last Friday, the Optimist printed a story that contained a misquote, and we want to apologize to those who were offended. We also want to inform the student body that the mistake was nothing more than an grammatical error on our part.

We in no way meant to misconstrue the words of the source or to change the message’s context.

We are a student newspaper, and though we set a standard of excellence and professionalism for our work, mistakes are inevitable. We do not justify this mistake, but want to tell you, as readers, that we are committed to factual and truthful journalism.

The staff also wants to re-emphasize the purpose of the Views Page is to express opinion through columns and editorials. With a desire to help readers think outside the box, this page will unashamedly supply different convictions about a variety of topics.

We will not shy away from sensitive subjects in fear of stirring controversy among students and faculty. Rather, we see the Views Page as a place where the voice of culture can be heard and debated.

The Optimist staff welcomes any encouragement or criticism people have about topics we address. We enjoy the letters you have written and hope you continue to speak your mind.