An open invitation

It feels as though summer just began, but already we're back on campus, getting back into the daily routine. This semester, I'll be figuring out off-campus bus routes and clipping coupons for actual grocery shopping instead of meal point sprees.\nI'm also faced with a different challenge, to serve as your opinion editor.\n It's a challenge about which I'm excited. In the next few months, look for more political opinions as we debate a close presidential election. Though it's obviously big news across the nation, we're going to bring it home to Bloomington. What are fellow students thinking and feeling about this election? What are their opinions on key election issues? That's where the opinion page of the IDS comes in; we're going to find answers to those questions.\nColumnists will focus on everything from random daily activities to pressing philosophical questions. Some of those columnists will be, in a sense, familiar faces to regular readers; others will bring a new perspective to the page. Letters to the editor and letter spotlights will express the views you as readers have about a variety of topics.\nThe IDS has long played an important role in the IU community, but it's difficult to put into words how important this newspaper is in the lives of the students who work here. It isn't about the hours we spend in the newsroom, though they are many. It's about the ownership we have in the success of the IDS this semester and into the future. \nWe're financially and editorially independent of the University, which gives us the freedom to report the news without a conflict of interest. That freedom also means that this newspaper is far from being a University public relations tool. We're here for you, the students. \nThis opinion page, then, belongs to you. It's your own community forum, a place for you to praise or protest the people and events in the news. You're free to voice your opinion on any topic, from a global issue to a concern right here in Bloomington. E-mail letters@indiana.edu or visit www.idsnews.com.\nYou can also let us, and the rest of campus, know what you think about us as a paper, and as a staff covering the news. Like any other staff, we're not perfect. We're all students here, which means we're still learning and trying to juggle many responsibilities. Despite that, we're dedicated to producing a professional-quality newspaper, so let us know if you think we've slipped or done a great job on a story. That's one way we can improve our own coverage and better serve our readers.\nI view my job as opinion editor as a sort of neutral moderator position. I'll be the first to admit that I have strong opinions on a few topics. I've gone through a long process to decide where I stand on certain issues, and my mind is made up when it comes to the November elections. But those views don't matter when I'm putting together this page; my job as a journalist is to be objective. \nOn the opinion page, that means reflecting student and community opinions fairly and accurately, and giving people and groups on all sides of an issue an equal voice to reach out to the public. I'm going to put together pages that reflect all views on an issue, regardless of my own opinions and beliefs. That's my job when I put on my editor hat, and I'm committed to doing it right.\nI won't be able to print every letter I receive; there are too many to ever fit in this amount of space, and letters still have to follow certain journalistic standards. Like my predecessor in this position, I promise to read and consider every letter to the editor I receive. I know that you as a writer feel strongly about a topic if you write a letter to the editor, that it is important to you and that it has taken time and effort to produce. I respect that. That's why I'll give each the consideration for publication that it deserves.\nThis is a large campus, and it's sometimes easy to feel as though you're a faceless number in the crowd. Consider this page as your way to reach the thousands of students, faculty, community members and alumni who open this paper or visit our Web site every day. Let this opinion page be your voice in the crowd. The invitation is open.