OPINION & EDITORIAL
From the desk of the editor
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Also by Mac VerStandig:
- How the Pentagon won the war over Baghdad and the war over public opinion (April 25, 2003)
- Hypocrisy floats riverboats casinos (September 9, 2005)
- Hate crime debate needed on campus (January 20, 2006)
Related Stories:
- From the Desk of the Editor (August 29, 2003)
- Herald turns page (September 4, 2006)
- From the desk of the editor in chief (December 14, 2005)
- Welcome to the Herald (August 6, 2007)
- Free speech an important part of education (September 23, 2003)
by Mac VerStandig
Monday, August 8, 2005
Welcome to the University of Wisconsin and the pages of The Badger Herald.
In less than a month, you will find yourself in one of America’s most charming small cities, studying at one of the country’s finest public universities and on a campus steeped in traditions that predate the Civil War.
Over 110 years ago, UW’s Board of Regents provided the school with a mission: “Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” These words guide Madison with a light as bright today as at the time of their scribing.
Your college education will surely not be confined to homework assignments, midday lectures and weekend study groups. The true UW experience is about an environment in which learning is omnipresent, maturity grows by the day and sifting and winnowing quickly become second nature.
For almost 36 years, The Badger Herald has been honored to be a part of that experience — first as a weekly alternative campus publication, now as the largest independent student newspaper in America. And that title of “independent” is something we take quite seriously. We do not receive handouts or loans from UW, the school has no control over our content and the voting membership of both our board of directors and editorial board is comprised entirely of students. It is our firm belief that if we are to be objective and honest, we must be devoid of all ties to those on whom we report.
So you are cordially invited to peruse the pages of this publication five days a week throughout the school year. Our News section will keep you informed, our Sports page will help you follow the goings on of Bucky Badger, our ArtsEtc. section will keep you up-to-date on all things cultural, the Opinion page will prove an interactive forum to a vastly diverse panoply of viewpoints, the Comics are always good for a laugh and, yes, the crossword puzzle should provide you with something to do when your most monotone professor has lost your attention.
For your convenience, our newspaper can be found in lecture halls all over campus, throughout the downtown community and online at http://www.badgerherald.com.
On Wisconsin!
Cheers,
Mac VerStandig
Editor in Chief
Anonymous (August 10, 2005 @ 12:44pm):
Mac,
Are you seriously like 35 years old now? Its time to graduate. Come on. The game is over.
-Jon
Anonymous (August 11, 2005 @ 9:13am):
The beard is hideous.
Anonymous (August 16, 2005 @ 2:11am):
Mac, whassup?! You're beard's fine, but you might wanna trim it a little. No offense. Cheers!
Anonymous (August 16, 2005 @ 11:05am):
"...the Opinion page will prove an interactive forum to a vastly diverse panoply of viewpoints..."
Interactive forum, eh? So does that mean you'll actually publish more than one letter to the editor per month?
Anonymous (August 17, 2005 @ 5:53pm):
Well, Mac, you're in the big seat now. Just a few requests....
Please let your editorials from the top be more readable than Lars Russell used to write a few years ago when he took over EIC. Best damned sportswriter you ever had aside from Bitter, but those pretentious English thesis pieces of his were awful.
If you're gonna keep writing editorial columns of the nature you used to write, PLEASE either bring back Deters or a successor of his choosing. This is not for ideological balance, rather I just loved the contrast of you and him, staring it out, clean shaven-to-bristle brush, every other week in your point-counterpoint bits.
That said, ideological balance is appreciated on the opinion page. Last year was a very good example. Yeah, there were Dols and Baumgartner who would probably never be heard praising ANYTHING (hmmm....using colors doesn't really work with Dols. He seemed to LOVE red.) from across the spectrum, but there was also Moskowitz, Leonard, Daglas, and (to a lesser moderate extent) you and Deters. Keep up the balance, and don't let the moderate columnists slip away. That's something the Cardinal hardly ever has.
GET SOME BETTER COMICS!!! The Cardinal may struggle compared to you guys in most coverage, especially city and state affairs, but they've kicked your ASS on the comics pages. Hell, it was so bad that Jon Fischer, one of the DC's best cartoonists now, LEFT YOUR PAPER!!! (I don't know what the politics were, but that can't be a good sign.) The best that you guys can claim is a bald kid with what HAD to be the most over-worn Bucks shirt I've ever seen.
Put name-ability back into these online forums. It was far better to exchange ideas when you had some record of a common poster's past arguments so you knew where they stood, rather than twelve anonymous posters just writing "Poop" and hitting the post button. Besides, the old races to each 100x posting mark were really fun to watch.
Advise your fraternity/sorority member columnists that we've read all the arguments on behalf of their organizations a dozen times before. We don't care anymore. The poor dorm-livers will hate the wealthy Langdon dwellers, and vice-versa, until the END OF TIME. There are columns about why frat boys and sorority girls shouldn't be maligned. If you're gonna keep a balance, let's see a column on what rich drunken snobs the Greeks are.
Keep up the great work on city government reporting. The Cardinal's okay on this too, but you guys have more room for content, and thank the heavens you use it. I've read your paper since way back when Mike Staude was humiliating himself with his self-congratulatory campaign letters, and you've always won on that front.
How about a Mid-winter DC vs. BH hockey game, either at the Shell or on Lake Mendota?
On the whole, please keep your main focus on reporting, and reporting well. (McNeil & Lehrer well, not Fox News or McCNN well.) You've drawn a lot of lightning in the past for interesting advertising and editorial content, but not on reporting. When your business is much like refereeing a football game, getting no response on a certain area means you're doing well.
I know I haven't agreed with you much in the past, Mac, but you're more of a mover than past editors. You could really do something with this paper. Good luck, man.
Anonymous (August 20, 2005 @ 9:36pm):
Why were comments on news stories turned off?
Anonymous (August 24, 2005 @ 1:19pm):
What will Madison be like when you leave Mac?
Anonymous (August 27, 2005 @ 10:01pm):
Yes,Mac, I did say you were cute. But, I know someone else who thinks you are even cuter. ;)
Anonymous (August 29, 2005 @ 6:28pm):
That person, of course, is yourself, who is writing this.
