Bison,
We proudly welcome the freshman class of 2028 to Howard University. The largest freshman class ever. You have made it to the Mecca, and there is much of which you should be proud.
As you begin your college careers, many of you may have already realized that you are starting this journey at a very peculiar time in history.
This year has been one threaded with chaos. In the backdrop of our classes and exams will be a historic U.S. presidential election, a war in the Middle East and civil unrest in countries where our families live.
Compounded on top of these global dilemmas are the ones we will find ourselves in on campus: housing troubles, paying for essentials, finding and maintaining our social circles. We believe that your voice, regardless of what you choose to use it for, should be heard and acknowledged by your community.
For 100 years The Hilltop has been on an award-winning run of documenting our student experiences and amplifying community voices. We publish informative and thought-provoking content that is most relevant to the Howard community, and we serve as a medium through which community members engage with different elements of the university, as well as the local and global spaces that affect us.
The Hilltop’s main ethical priorities are to report truthfully and unbiasedly. Those are two pillars that have undergirded your student newspaper since 1924, when Zora Neale Hurston set the tone, and the trajectory, of the oldest Black collegiate newspaper in the nation.
We are committed this year to reporting on subjects that are useful and important to you and exposing the community to a diverse set of perspectives and viewpoints about different topics.
The Hilltop is a resource that we all have. It is a megaphone for each one of us with a reach of millions around the world, and a luxury that many communities do not have. I encourage the Howard community to engage with us, as our goal with every assignment is to fully engage with you.
Submit an op-ed. Comment your thoughts about a published story on a social media post. Challenge us when you think we missed something. In a year when there are sure to be many different developments and surprises both locally and nationally, The Hilltop, your student newspaper, is poised to stay ahead of the most newsworthy and relevant stories.
Thank you for your continued support of our esteemed newspaper. This important pillar of the Howard community would not be standing upright today were it not for your engagement and contributions. We could not be more excited for the year ahead and the ways in which we will continue to serve as the student voice of Howard University.
In Truth and Service,
JD Jean-Jacques
