Often, I come across many people who want to tell me their feelings about The Daily Utah Chronicle and, more specifically, its opinion section’s content. The reviews are often mixed and usually regard what people feel is inadequate coverage or diversity of opinion on a specific topic.
In the past — that is, before the creation of the Voices section — I could sympathize with people’s frustrations. Naturally, one desires to experience a full spectrum of opinions in a college newspaper, and if we appeared to be lacking that in the past, I apologize for what was left to be desired.
Now, however, if one has trouble with lack of coverage or diversity of opinion on a topic, he or she can only look to him- or herself for blame. The space this column is filling actually belongs to the voice of the university community.
That’s right. If someone is overwrought with an opinion on a subject and can’t manage to squeeze it into the typical 200-word letter to the editor, he or she can e-mail me and arrange to have a column published on any given Monday.
You see, much like other organizations on campus, our staff turns over. At the end of Spring Semester, the paper becomes an empty canvas to be filled with the fresh ideas of a new editor in chief.
This year, our editor, Matthew Piper, had the brilliant idea of taking one page in the paper each week and giving it to you — the reader. It was done with the hopeful expectation that everyone — from janitors to students, professors to administrators and all those in between — would take advantage of this space. Although it might be available now, come Summer Semester, who knows if the new editor in chief will see its value when, thus far, it appears that few people have taken advantage of the opportunity to have their voices heard.
So, dear reader, whatever your status might be at this university, the next time you leaf through these pages and are awakened by the feeling that you have something to say about anything that is happening internationally, nationally or locally, you should contact me at [email protected]. As much as the writers in my section and I love to fill our pages with the opinions that drive us daily, I know — as my editor did when he had the idea — that it is important for the paper to truly represent the voices at the U.
Our guest-columnist spot hopes to accomplish that goal, but it cannot be done without the people here. I know through experience and many conversations that you do, in fact, have a lot to say — so say it.
Lindsey Sine is the opinion editor at The Daily Utah Chronicle.