Well, I can't say I'm surprised.

When the words "...it appears to me like many of the greeks involved in Thon just want to make sure every one around them realizes how wonderful they are" first registered in my brain, I knew a mountain of letters berating the writer and the Collegian was sure to come next.

But I still printed Chris Mueller's Feb. 19 column "Some greeks distort real meaning of Thon," and I'll tell you why.

The Daily Collegian, just like other newspapers, has an Opinion Page for the purpose of dialogue and debate between columnists, editorial writers, readers and practically anyone else who feels the need to opine on a relevant topic.

What Chris wrote for Monday's edition was no doubt controversial, unpopular and downright insulting to some members of the greek community, particularly those involved in Thon.

It was also relevant, timely and actually a legitimate perspective according to a significant number of people. But here's the bottom line: It was his opinion.

The content of this column represented Chris's opinion and Chris's opinion alone -- not mine, not the Collegian's, not Penn State's, not Graham Spanier's, not even those who share a similar opinion.

His job, as a Daily Collegian columnist, is to articulately and clearly explain his position on a relevant and timely subject that many students at Penn State have a vested interest in.

You can argue how effectively he accomplished this task, but there's no doubt he did the job.

And you, dear readers, by responding in support or opposition, you have done your job as well.

For some reason, and I honestly don't know why, there's a sentiment about submitting letters to the editor.

Some of you may think that the Collegian purposely discards these submissions in favor of, well, other letters.

Let me quote part of the description on one Facebook group created in criticism of Chris's opinion:

"Write you letters to the Collegian editors, but also put them here so everyone can hear your well composed thoughts because we don't know what will happen to them once you submit them!"

I know what will happen to them - we'll happily print them, as many as we can.

Granted we cannot print them all (we've received more than 100 on this subject alone), but we do the best we can given space constraints.

We are also legally responsible to not print anything libelous and ethically responsible to not print anything we know to be inaccurate or unjustifiably offensive.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to clear up some of the confusion about what a columnist does versus what a journalist does.

A journalist's job is to responsibly and fairly gather and report factual information through writing, photo or other design elements.

A columnist's job is to offer an individual opinion on this newsworthy information in order to inspire societal change and public dialogue.

These are two very different functions, and both are crucial in a democracy.

But let me bring this back to the issue at hand.

I want you to know that I understand the anger, hurt and maybe even betrayal some of you felt when you read Chris's column.

A lot of Penn State students worked hard to raise $5.2 million for the Four Diamonds Fund, and it's no fun when an outsider dismisses that effort.

Seriously, I get it.

You wouldn't believe some of the criticism I deal with on a daily basis.

But no matter how harshly people criticize the work we do at the Collegian, I know our intentions are pure and we do the best we can.

I imagine Thon people feel the same way.

But that's just my opinion.