The Justice staff and editors elected Abby Patkin ’18 as the next editor in chief for the 2017 to 2018 academic year in a unanimous vote on Thursday evening. 

An aspiring journalist, Patkin began news writing as a sophomore in high school and started writing for the Justice when she arrived as a first-year. Patkin made her way to co-News editor by her second semester and served four semesters as News editor of the Justice, three of which she led the section on her own. Since March, Patkin has served as deputy editor under then-Editor in Chief Carmi Rothberg ’18. 

In her electorate speech to the Justice staff, Patkin said that she will spend her time as editor in chief focusing on upholding journalistic standards and furthering recruitment and retention efforts. 

“I want to focus on recruitment and retention, because the more people we get in, the more diversity of opinions and diversity of viewpoints and writing styles we get, which will really make sure that we’re having engaging and fruitful discussions,” said Patkin in an interview with the Justice.  

In addition to potentially expanding the scope of the paper’s arts and science coverage, Patkin is interested in challenging the staff to pursue deeper and more engaged reporting, stating that she would like to make sure that “when people pick up the Justice, they know that they’re getting a quality piece.” 

“The Justice office has become like a second home to me, and it’s gotten to the point where when we have Monday nights off, it feels weird to not be here,” Patkin said. Of her staff and fellow editors, she added, “They’re some of my closest friends on campus, and I think that makes for a really awesome newspaper.” 

Amber Miles ’19 was voted up as managing editor, the newspaper’s second-in-command, on April 23. In an interview with the Justice, Miles said her goals for the upcoming year involve “staff retention and [keeping] morale high among our editors, as well as helping to make sure that we’re producing the best paper possible and serving the community as much as we can.” 

In her future work with Patkin, Miles said, “I think we make a great team, and we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses pretty well.”

—Michelle Dang