Welcome back. You know, sometimes we wonder why we have
introductory letters at the beginning of every semester. We usually justify
their continuation as keeping a tradition, and we Opinion editors joke that we
have them mostly in order to satisfy our massive egos (at least we think we?re
joking).

But this semester is decidedly different. At the beginning
of this new year we want to communicate a very clear and important message to
anyone who is willing to listen: Your input and your involvement are vital to
this community, and we want you to join us in engaging the issues that are
important to you.

In the coming semester, University of Wisconsin students
will have the potential to shape and influence a number of consequential
events. With the announcement of Chancellor Wiley?s pending departure,
students, faculty and administrators will begin the difficult task of searching
and recruiting candidates for the next leader of our university. He or she will
have a profound influence on the future of UW and the future of our collective
educations; we hope you will use this page as a forum to express your desires
and concerns during the selection process.

This country is also in the process of nominating and
electing its next president, and with the Wisconsin primaries having the
potential to greatly affect the race, we hope you will find this page both a
resource and an outlet for discussing the merits of the candidates.

In addition, The Badger Herald will be hosting a debate
between the College Republicans and College Democrats in order to shed light on
some of the viewpoints that most directly affect state and national issues of
importance during this election year. The debate is Monday, Feb. 11 in the
Great Hall of Memorial Union.

The questions asked of the debaters will address these 10
issues: The Iraq war, health care for Wisconsin, national energy/environmental
policy, state taxes/economy, UW budgetary funding, foreign policy, the
Wisconsin Marriage Protection Amendment, Wisconsin public school funding, immigration
and abortion. Of the 10 or so questions asked, two will be student-submitted
questions, which should be sent to [email protected] before Feb. 8.

There will also be elections in April to decide, among other
things, the next Dane County supervisor for District 5 ? a district heavily
populated by students. On page 5, outgoing District 5 supervisor Ashok Kumar
and District 5 candidates Wyndham Manning and Conor O?Hagan discuss the past
and future of the position in question. We expect their editorials to serve as
a launching pad for further inquiry into their plans for the position.

And of course, we will keep this page entirely open and
entirely yours this semester. We invite you to submit letters to the editor, to
contact us if you are interested in writing for the page and to visit the
Herald editorial blog, ?Muckrakers.? 

Finally, we are very excited to announce that we will be
launching a series of online video episodes that will address issues and people
of importance to UW students. These episodes will be released on our website,
with the aim of educating students and encouraging activism in local politics.
Look for more updates on the Opinion page in the coming weeks.

Buckle up. It?s going to be a great semester.