Apology letter
Dear readers, Central Michigan Life recently published an article by the name of "Skirt and fire" that contained significant inaccuracies.
The article misidentified the main source of information in both gender identity and nationality. Those errors inhibited the efficacy of the article at showing the community what it means to be "two spirit" and an Indigenous person in 2024.
While those errors were not made with malice or spite, they are still completely unacceptable. On behalf of our newsroom, we sincerely apologize to our readers, the individuals who should have been listened to and represented in the article and the individual who was misidentified.
We understand if these transgressions have affected how you view our organization and the content we provide. It is not lost on me that I recently published an editorial detailing our commitment to accuracy, transparency and accountability.
While perhaps small consolation, this letter is a commitment to that transparency and accountability. We could have taken the social media posts for the article down, but that would only be an attempt at erasing the mistake, rather than acknowledging it and doing better in the future.
The article itself has been taken down to avoid further misinformation.
In processing how these significant falsehoods made it to publication, we have made revisions to our editing and publishing process. I am ensuring that all staff members are trained on these changes to minimize the possibility of anything similar happening in the future.
We can and will do better.
The Central Michigan Life editorial board comprises of Editor in Chief Lauren Rice, Managing Editor Masha Smahliuk, News Editor Courtney Boyd, Visual Editor Jo Kenoshmeg, Assistant Visual Editor Ella Miller, Sports Editor Sydney Neal and Podcast Editor Christian Valk.
