To the Wonderful Women of Salem College,
I would like for everyone to take a moment and remember why they came to Salem. Was it the small class sizes, the personal attention, our long line of history, our community or something else?
I can guarantee you with 241 years of history, whatever brought you to Salem has also brought someone else here. When you arrived on campus, one of the first things you heard, besides “We love you first years,” was “Strong are thy walls, oh Salem.” And just like anything else in life, certain trials test our level of strength.
Unfortunately, Salem College is experiencing one of these times. Although I am not on campus, I have been keeping up with everything that is going on in the media and to say the past few days have been rough is an understatement. As the media tries to tear our family and strong heritage apart let’s remember, regardless of what stance you take on the future transgender policy, or the media implied transsexual policy, an attack on our institution should bring us together in sisterhood rather than divide us by opinion. Do not be swayed in one direction or another by what is being said on TV, in tabloids, or in newspapers. The situation being addressed by these media outlets simply is not a situation occurring on our campus so please be reminded to keep any of our sisters’ names or personal lives to ourselves.
Through this difficult time I wanted to remind everyone of the sisterhood we share. This time, more than ever, it is imperative that we stand united against the people speaking out against our college. Let us not argue about our personal views, but use this time to come together as the strong family that we are. Remember our mission statement. Salem values us as individuals, helps us develop our unique potential and prepares us to change the world. This is our chance to change the world. Let’s do it together as one united sisterhood made up of several unique individuals. Although our unique potential is different, there is one thing we can all agree on. No one messes with Salem. So as one strong united sisterhood, let us move forward with one mission and under one alma mater.
Christina Johnson, c/o 2013
Student Government Association President
thesalemite.org 