Now, before our inbox gets flooded with letters to the editor this week (which we actually encourage and look forward to, believe it or not), we want to first tell everyone that we already know.
Some

Some of Kevin Swift’s statements in his letter to the editor leave much to be desired. To claim that women’s empowerment and feminism equate to women making the first move in relationships and that a “strong independent” woman is one who asks the man on a date first is at best misinformed and offensive and at worst blatantly misogynistic. Those arguments go from sexist to ridiculous as Swift writes that women dissatisfied with their dating options on campus should transfer schools if they “don’t like the product at your local store.”

But despite all of that, we chose to print it.

Why? So that you, the reader, can poke holes in it yourself.

The editorial page of any newspaper — and, now, our Your Space page — is supposed to serve as a tool to foster communication and discussion among members of the community. If we at the Lanthorn were to limit that function by over-censoring our editorial staff or choosing not to publish letters to the editor based on the opinions presented within them, then we would not be doing our job.

There have been many items published on our editorial page that members of our staff did not necessarily agree with, such as the infamous Vagina Monologues cartoon last year, the letter to the editor ridiculing GVSU police for enforcing underage drinking laws or, for those of you who have been around for a while, the “swamp troll” Valentine’s Day guest column several years back that generated more than 100 comments on our website, the most that we have seen on any one story to date.

But while we do not necessarily agree with everything that makes it to our editorial page (besides, obviously, the institutional editorial), it is not our place to censor content based solely on that reason. We are tasked with making sure that all voices are heard at our newspaper, and that can sometimes include the questionable, the uninformed and the insensitive.

We ask that you submit your letters to the editor with the mindset of educating readers and challenging ideas, much like Eyes Wide Open did last issue, in order to further discussion among readers.