By Carter Hanson ’23
Managing Editor, Ike’s Anvil
Ike’s Anvil gets its name from “Eisenhower,” which translates from German as “iron miner.” It is in the spirit of President Eisenhower’s moderate and bipartisan consensus-driven leadership that Ike’s Anvil acts as a forum for students to hammer out compromise, constructive politics, and policy solutions.
Polarization has increasingly become the hallmark of 21st century politics, with the gap between left and right seeming to become ever more intractable. By facilitating healthy political discourse, Ike’s Anvil seeks to act as a bridge between political tribes—as a place where students write in good faith about the most pressing political issues of the day. Though a small bridge in a large country, we hope to act as one of many other public forums healing our national divide.
But in order for this forum to be successful, we need you to engage. Ike’s Anvil accepts submissions from Gettysburg College students from all majors on a rolling basis throughout the academic year. Past participation in an Eisenhower Institute program is not required in order to submit an editorial.
In the past, students have written about voting rights, environmental justice and current events such as the State of the Union Address and the 2020 Presidential Election. All these editorials were relevant to the national political discourse, and we encourage submissions to address international and US current events and policy issues that concern Gettysburg College students.
Abortion rights, climate change, inflation, policing, gun violence, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The US faces a phalanx of challenges at this critical time in history. What solutions do you, as a Gettysburg College student, support? What issues are being left out of the dialogue that deserve more attention?
Submissions are expected to be between 400 and 800 words in length. This must be in the form of a short article, response to a recently published op-ed, reflection on an Eisenhower Institute discussion or program, journal entry, dialogue with another student or professor, etc. All submissions will be reviewed by the editorial team before being posted. If your article is accepted, you must make the recommended edits and return a final version to the editor before publication. Authors are responsible for the content of their posts and will retain ownership after publication. We will be accepting a limited number of submissions and those selected for publication will be available on Ike’s Anvil and may be shared via the Eisenhower Institute’s social media channels.
Send all submissions, including a title for your piece, your name and your class year to Carter Hanson, Managing Editor, at hansca02@gettysburg.edu. We look forward to reviewing your submissions!
