To the editors of The Pioneer,

I’ve a voice, but little to share it with. I find value in The Pioneer as an OCCC student. I’d like to share with you a small excerpt I wrote, upon rumination of the upcoming Scholar’s Day:

It is quite ironic that Scholar’s Day, an event with the purpose of inspiring creativity and curiosity, is branded by imagery conjured by no human nor soul. The images accompanying advertisements of this day are digestible and certainly reminiscent of the thing they echo, yet they warble and fail to say anything of significance. These images, from what I have gathered, are created by the works of undoubtedly complex algorithms of diffusion models, one of which I have not the knowledge to truly describe or understand. Yet, it bears no wonder … no creativity, no curiosity. What message does that send to students?

This is, of course, in reference to the apparent AI art being used on Scholar’s Day posters around the school.

I do not know the requirements or guidelines pertaining to student submissions, but I wish this to be shared.

Sincerely,

Kris Everett

Psychology Major

Editor’s Note: OCCC Professor of English Gena Ford issued the following statement in response.

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy our Canva-generated graphics for our marketing materials. I thought they were rather nifty! Due to circumstances beyond our control, the creation of the graphics early on fell largely on me, and I certainly am not a graphic designer, nor do I have time to create original graphics. However, if you’d like to volunteer to create original graphics for us next year, that would be amazing!