For more than 45 years The Badger Herald has maintained its status as one of the few student newspapers in the country that operates in full independence from its respective university. We accept the responsibility that comes with this independence, knowing it is necessary to maintain what we contend to be true freedom of the press. University of Wisconsin deserves nothing less. Nowhere is this independence more important than in the hallowed, sometimes heated, opinion section.

As the opinion editors, we will work to create a section that offers a snapshot into the lives and thoughts of all students on campus and members of the Madison community. This approach makes our section truly unique in that it provides students with a blank canvas on which they can voice their true concerns and engage in discussion.

We will also work on both sides of the print-digital coin. Open The Badger Herald’s print editions to the opinion section to find the thoughts, insights and, yes, rants by members of the Madison community on pressing issues relevant to the UW campus. Look for shorter news commentary online in our banter section.

We want to provide students with everything from interesting assessments of campus issues to snarky pieces on popular political figures to comical commentary on the college life.

In the past, our section has covered everything from Scott Walker’s consumption of ham and tales of desperate students during finals week to full-on debates between College Democrats and College Republicans and commentary on the racial disparities within the state.

In the future we want to provide you with the same kind of content, but we aspire to be better. Commenting on all of the big happenings of UW, we strive to represent a wide variety of different viewpoints and to encourage the diversity of opinions. Whether the opinions represented are common or unique, whether they praise or offer harsh criticism, you will find them here. We feel that our campus will benefit from such discussion.

No one is safe from our critique. We challenge Madisonians to get informed, get angry and write it down. We accept column submissions from regular writers and always love to hear from readers in the form of letters to the editor. Contact us at [email protected]. The section has always been a mouthpiece, at some points a megaphone, for community voices — what do you have to say?

Zach Walters ([email protected]) is junior majoring in business and Madeline Sweitzer ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and intending to major in journalism.