I
like to think of myself as the anonymous one. Having worked at the Herald for
almost three years now, mostly in the news department, I know who the campus,
city, county and state leaders are; how each organization generally works; what
the issues are; and how I feel about the issues. But, since most of my work is
behind the scenes, most campus leaders and students don’t know who I am or
what I believe.

I’m
a junior from Green Bay majoring in journalism and political science. This
semester, as the Herald’s managing editor, I am in charge of the day-to-day
tasks of publishing the newspaper, and I fix any problems that invariably come
up along the way.

I
started as a campus reporter, and I quickly learned who the administrators and
student leaders were. I also quickly learned how little communication these
organizations have with the everyday student.

As
design editor, I had a hand in every department — keeping on top of all the
stories in the newspaper, where they are placed and how the paper looked each
day. When deciding where to place stories, I developed a unique understanding of
the issues. Students don’t care about ASM, but it is the only student
government we’ve got. State Street — the anchor of downtown — needs to be
revitalized in order to stay alive, but special interests have hijacked
revitalization plans since 1999. Biotechnology and stem cells have helped put UW
on the map, and should be developed further. Binge-drinking is a huge problem on
campus — but UW is going about solving it the wrong way.

I
strongly believe in the newspaper’s role of fostering discussion on these and
other issues on campus. Our editorials are what we believe — they are supposed
to make you think, and then you are supposed to let us know when you agree or
disagree.