There is much work to be done.

This is the sentiment I have carried since last week when the Associated Press made the call: “Donald Trump will be the President-elect of the United States.”

This is not a political column, not the musings of a millennial distressed over America’s future. This is not a think-piece, not empty words about polling and voter turnout and the feasibility of the Electoral College written from a position of white male privilege.

This is a statement of solidarity.

I sincerely hope president-elect Trump meant it when he pledged to be a “President for all Americans” in his victory speech. I hope the divisive rhetoric that was the cornerstone of his campaign will not seep into his presidency.

But as the week since the election has unfolded that rhetoric has reared its ugly head, and so we must stand up.

We at the Herald stand alongside the 22 percent of our university’s student body that identifies as minorities. We stand with Hispanic students, as a man who once accused a U.S. district judge of being biased against him due to his Hispanic heritage and a man who began his campaign calling Mexicans “criminals” and “rapists” was elected president.

We stand with the 57 percent of WKU students that are female, who have spent the last month listening to sound bites of our next president talking about “grabbing women by the pussy,” who said, “when you’re a star, they’ll let you do it.”

We stand with members of the LGBT community as a president is elected whose party platform opposes the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges to legalize same-sex marriage throughout America and whose vice president has been a supporter of conversion therapy.

We stand with WKU’s Muslim community as a man who has proposed banning all people of Muslim faith from entering our country steps into the Oval Office.

I and the rest of the Herald staff stand undeterred in the face of intolerance, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to report the truth, to hold the powerful accountable and to give a voice to the voiceless.

There are those who seek to destroy the unity of our campus behind the thin guise of anonymity. Let this be a rallying cry to all members of our community: they will not succeed.

We firmly agree with the sentiments expressed in last week’s open letter from Student Government Association President Jay Todd Richey and President Gary Ransdell. Be kind, support everyone around you and keep our campus open to all.

We’ll be doing our part to do just that. If you have a story that should be told, an opinion you’d like to express or an idea on how we can better serve the entire WKU community, please let us know. You can reach us via phone at 270-745-6011 or via email at [email protected]. We want to hear from you.

There is much work to be done, Hilltoppers. Now let us do it.

Editor-in-chief Brandon Carter can be reached at 270-745-5044 and at [email protected].