By Dean Tan ‘18, Siddarth Tumu ‘18, and Charles Pan ‘18, Editors-in-Chief

Before we start, on behalf of the Minuteman, welcome to the new school year! To new students, we hope that your transition into the Newark Academy community has been smooth and that you have started to think about taking advantage of the plethora of opportunities available to you. To returning students, welcome back to another year. As the first month of school has come to a close, we hope to outline some of our goals for the paper this year and why we think these goals are beneficial to the school community.

As some of you may remember, last October we invited Greg Lukianoff to speak as part of the Global Speakers Series. Mr. Lukianoff, an attorney and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, engaged students with a thought-provoking discussion of the state of free speech in our country today. Mr. Lukianoff’s talk revealed some critical information about our right to open discourse – that people have the right to demonstrate, protest, speak out, and criticize so long as no direct threat of violence is made. While certainly many opinions might be out of taste with mainstream views, individuals who voice them are protected by the provisions of the First Amendment.

Though Mr. Lukianoff gave his talk last year, his message seems relevant now more than ever. During the summer, we saw the attack of mainstream media by politicians from both sides of the aisle, further fracturing an already contentious relationship between the media and government. While some friction between the two is to be expected in a healthy democracy, the underlying divisions separating Americans became painfully clear, culminating in the race riots in Charlottesville. The resulting fallout between President Trump and the media led to the President inciting a crowd to boo both CNN and MSNBC, both traditionally left-leaning news outlets. While politicians, especially the President, are not necessarily obligated to agree with and support every story released by a news outlet, they are still responsible for fostering an environment where a variety of opinions can be shared to generate robust discussion amongst the American people. The ongoing battle between the government and media has demonstrated how the fine line between supporting free speech and voicing one’s own opinion, often by criticizing or demeaning another viewpoint, can often confuse national discourse and promote personal attacks that deepen political and social divides.

Freedom of speech is inherently a double-edged sword. On one hand, we strive to build harmony and respect within our communities – yet freedom of speech guarantees the right of anyone to input harmful speech into ongoing discourse. As Mr. Lukianoff emphasized, we do not collectively have the right to deem one opinion permissible and another not. That certainly doesn’t stop us from disagreeing, arguing, and generally creating discord. On the other, a lack of open discourse can lead to insular groups who reiterate self-supporting viewpoints, creating hypersensitive audiences with little tolerance for any ideas outside their own. The culture of political correctness has jeopardized our ability to speak freely and without fear of severe repercussion; to this end, it has now become almost a necessity to preface one’s views with an acknowledgement of one’s right to speak on that topic. To pursue the ideals of free speech as a community, we must find the precarious balance between openly speaking our mind and being aware of the context in which an issue is being discussed.

So what does this mean for us at Newark Academy? Our school prides itself on its diversity – of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, interests and political views – yet apart from morning meetings and Facebook announcements, our school needs a media platform with a widespread audience including teachers, students, and staff where we as a community are able to showcase the different experiences and convictions. And that’s where the Minuteman comes in.

The Minuteman needs to be a place for you to express YOUR ideas, YOUR voice, YOUR passion, and YOUR identity. Newark Academy, we want you to show us your true self. We know that this school has so much untapped talent that goes unnoticed, with quiz bowl, tennis, jazz band, mock trial. But most importantly, we need to report articles without a filter. With free speech, we have the power to exchange and evaluate ideas. With free speech, we, the student body, have the power to have a say and make a difference in our community.

And with that, here’s to the 2017-2018 school year!