Student Life will continue to cover issues that affect University and St. Louis community members’ daily lives, while recognizing the importance of reevaluating how we cover sensitive topics. After my story was published, I heard concerns directly from several community members that the piece needed additional context about the importance of gender-affirming care and the often politicized climate of anti-transgender legislation in the country. I worked with our managing team to update the article online to address that feedback. I apologize for the harm caused by my original article to any transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming members of our community. 

Another concern raised about the article was the absence of voices from members of the transgender community. Before publishing my original article, I reached out to affinity groups — the Transcending Gender group and the Pride Alliance — to avoid singling out any individuals with marginalized identities, and no representatives from either group responded to me for comment. If there are ways that members of the transgender community would feel more comfortable sharing their perspectives, please reach out to me or other editors. 

I, along with the staff of Student Life, understand that this issue is particularly sensitive and we want to treat it responsibly. This past week, the managing team, myself included, met several times to discuss tangible ways to improve our coverage of sensitive topics going forward. As a result of these conversations, the managing team implemented a process for additional reads of articles that writers or editors view as grappling with particularly sensitive themes — any individual on Student Life who interacts with the article pre-publication can flag it as such. Prior to this week, there was no process in place for editing sensitive pieces differently than other pieces. Each article typically gets edited by a section, managing, and copy editor. My original piece was only read by a copy editor in addition to myself, which was a common practice, though not an intended one, for articles written by managing editors. Our new process will ensure that all sensitive pieces are read over by a majority of the managing team before publication and that any given article is read by at least a senior, managing, and copy editor before publication.

We are also planning to meet with the Center on Diversity and Inclusion to hear their perspectives on covering sensitive issues. And we are planning to discuss journalistic practices on identity-based issues with the Student Life board in the coming weeks. Additionally, the managing team is taking steps to pass down institutional knowledge so future generations of Student Life staff can learn from past challenges and mistakes. If any groups or individuals would like to speak with me or the managing team about more ways to improve our coverage of sensitive issues, please contact [email protected] to set up a time to talk.