THE VOICE

    The goal was to spark discussion and help create change. The Setonian did exactly that last week, focusing on a broad range of topics important to the Seton Hall community in our first issue. The issue was jam-packed, but no story has stood out more – both in the eyes of our readers and editors – than our front-page piece on the Catholic campus’ LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community. The article highlighted the experiences of LGBTQ students at Seton Hall, controversial remarks made by Archbishop John Myers at last May’s commencement ceremony and conflicting ideas between Pope Francis and some parts – the more traditional conservative parts – of the Catholic Church. The article also talked about ALLIES, a “safe space” support club for LGBTQ students that previously had not received funding from the University. That will no longer be a problem. As you can read on this week’s front page, Seton Hall reached out to the group following our Sept. 8 issue. ALLIES president Madeleine Scheifele told The Setonian that Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Van Norman contacted the club in regards to funding. ALLIES has always had the ability to receive funding, but was unaware it could get such help from the school until Van Norman reached out. ALLIES has also seen an uptick in membership in the last week. Now, not only will they have the money and personnel needed to function, they will also have the support and welcoming that any student on this campus deserves to have; the same support they have always looked to offer others. We hope ALLIES continues to see such positive changes. We, The Setonian, hope to see positive changes throughout the Seton Hall community as the year progresses. Much of this University – its campus, people and surrounding areas – is wonderful and not to be taken for granted. With that said, there are some very real issues as well. We plan to highlight all that we can. Our goal is to keep sparking discussion and, whenever possible, paving the way for positive change. The Voice is intended to best represent the collective opinion of The Setonian’s editorial board. It is written by The Setonian’s Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor.