In this very issue, Anna Guerrini ’25 writes an op-ed about the role of the Scroll, suggesting a mission statement for us. While her version doesn’t entirely capture our purpose, we, as the Scroll XCVIII board, agree that we need to more clearly and precisely articulate our role, especially as we enter a new school year. So, we took the time to draft a new mission statement:
“The Scroll aims to promote civic discourse and engaged citizenship by providing responsible, fact based reporting as well as a platform for student voices, empowering Deerfield community members to become active and informed participants in discussions regarding issues of interest both on and off campus.”
In Guerrini’s article, she acknowledges that the Scroll is “of ten regarded with indifference or even slight disdain by students.” We aspire to change this attitude. We sincerely believe that the Scroll is important, because it is all too easy to uncritically walk through Deerfield with tunnel vision, unaware of the fulsome stories of our peers, neighbors, and teachers — what they are doing, how, and why. If students perceive that our coverage does not add to their understanding of the world around them, immediate and global, then we have failed our primary task: to equip our peers to be responsible, engaged citizens.
The Scroll is important not only for readers, but also for writers. We serve as an extension of a Deerfield education, teaching our writers to write clearly, precisely, and in accordance with journalistic conventions. We encourage our writers to proactively interview a variety of sources, stressing the importance of thoroughly understanding a story from multiple angles. Most importantly, our writers learn to identify stories worth telling. As Guerrini wisely put it in her suggested mission statement, the Scroll allows writers to develop “a love of inquiry” and a process of writing with “passion and compassion.”
Our new mission statement outlines our duty to the Deerfield community. One month ago, we issued staff writer guidelines, realizing our duty to our staff. These two priorities underlie all of our work. We investigate stories and accept a variety of opinions because we believe in the value of active discourse. Though a Scroll article is not a class assignment, we stand with the administration’s academic integrity policy on artificial intelligence; after all, writers join the Scroll in order to grow as journalists, thinkers, and writers in the process of interviewing, editing, and outlining their articles themselves. While we continue to allow AI to be used for rote tasks, such as transcribing interviews and spell checking, we do not allow generative AI to overtake human creativity, whether for producing graphics or first drafts. To embrace ChatGPT would be to allow technology to overtake our educational mission, robbing writers of a place to grow.
In the end, the Scroll is a publication of Deerfield, by Deerfield, and for Deerfield. We are not neutral observers cold heartedly stating facts; we are ourselves participants in this community. Guerrini describes this as a fundamental paradox of student journalism, one that distinguishes us from a professional outlet. However, we believe that student journalism can be all the more impactful, and must be all the more responsible, because we have a sense of duty to our audience. We do not limit our work for the greater good; our work is in service of the community. As we publish our first issue of the year, we sign off hoping that you will continue to read, and that you will continue to find our work relevant and a positive addition to your interactions with those around you.