It’s time to let go of grudges.

At the end of last school year it seemed as though most of us cared less about finals and more about the safety stealing scandal. Although that was a serious issue, it’s in the past, and we have a new school year to look forward to. It may be difficult to regain trust in our safety officers, but remember that they work very hard to help and protect us.

              For years we have come up with many reasons to complain about the safety in our school: they racially profile students, they favor their student friends, they administer too many parking tickets, and the more recent: they steal from our gym lockers. While many of these claims hold some truth, it is not okay to claim that all security guards are “bad guys”.

The day after the video of a security guard stealing from a student’s locker was posted on facebook, the halls filled with raging students screaming, “We want our money back,” wearing shirts that said “F*** Safety”. The hashtag “sticky fingers” also began trending on social media. Soon, students began ignoring the requests of safety officers.

              As students, it’s important for us to speak up against injustice, however the disrespect and insensitivity shown toward safety officers took that principle too far. While some may have intended to peacefully protest, others became violent. If we want to maintain a safe environment for everyone, outlashes against security cannot continue into this school year.

Over the summer many students came together to address a different topic: Black lives matter. Current and former ETHS students organized two protests to support this nationwide movement, promoting awareness and fighting for change.

This is an example of ETHS coming together to create change, not violence. We can all do the same by forgiving members of security and striving to get along this year.

We at the Evanstonian believe that while the “sticky fingers” incident should be remembered, it is important to enter the school year with an open mind. Understand that the school took this issue very seriously and will continue to hear our concerns. If you feel like holding grudges, don’t. We understand students were disrespected, but it’s a new year, with new staff. Disrespecting the people that work hard to serve us should not be our course of action.