My Goals for The Spectator
By Will Tanner ‘21
My name is Will Tanner. For those of you that don’t know me, I am currently a sophomore here at W&L and am from Atlanta, GA. Given that this is the first edition of The Spectator published with me at the helm, I thought I would take this opportunity to briefly outline my three goals for the organization. They are to boost the number of students that write for us, to improve alumni involvement through letters to the editor, and to start a bi-weekly Spectator podcast.
For the past few years The Spectator has been the work of a few dedicated and hard-working students. While they have done an excellent job at preserving it and making sure that events on campus that go against the very nature of W&L, such as removing Lee Chapel from the tour route, have been called out, the relatively limited number of students involved has meant that only certain perspectives are heard. While I will make sure that we continue to call out those events in no uncertain terms, I hope to get more people involved with doing so. Modern conservatism is a coalition of a broad swathe of different ideologies. From conservative-leaning libertarians like Rand Paul to more traditional conservatives such as Mike Pence and Ted Cruz, and everything in between, those different conservative perspectives are present in our government and student body. I hope to boost student involvement in The Spectator so that that broad swathe of conservative opinions is heard. If you consider yourself a conservative and would like to write about national political events or events on campus, reach out to me. We would love to have you be a member of our team.
Secondly, I would like to boost our alumni involvement. The Spectator is a non-profit. It receives no money from the school. Our budget to run the website, host events, and host speakers comes mainly from generous alumni donors. Additionally, I think that The Spectator is one of the last links connecting W&L alumni to the school Washington and Lee of old. One of the main things that sets W&L apart from its competitor schools is its committed alumni base, and The Spectator helps show that base that there are still students that love the school for the same reasons they did. Many of our alumni, young and old, have interesting perspectives on career advice and on how the school has changed since they were students. For those reasons I will begin publishing letters to the editor more frequently. I think that will add value to the organization.
Finally, I would like to start a bi-weekly Spectator podcast. I think that it would be an excellent way to get out perspectives on national politics, world politics, and events on campus more frequently and without the formality of a new edition of The Spectator. That podcast will hopefully debut soon.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this winter edition of The Spectator!