Mass protests, calls for secession from the UW System and shifts in power all made this semester one of the most politically exciting in recent memory. While for some the term is an oxymoron, for the Opinion page, it’s a boon – the more outrageous, outlandish or polarizing the debate, the more people want to talk about it. Our job is giving them a forum in which to do so.

We hope we satisfied your desire for columns with good intentions, LTEs with contrary (if not always solid) points and amusing political cartoons. We hope you enjoyed our often-sardonic Quotes of the Day and our So Sayeth the Herald Editorial Board statements, or at the very least that you were enraged enough to leave a constructive and thoughtful comment online. But most of all, we hope you recognized that the Opinion page has remained committed to doing what the News department cannot – analyze, philosophize and galvanize.

We will renew our efforts to achieve this goal next semester, but we cannot do it without a team of dedicated writers. We thank this year’s staff for their hard work and tough hides and for uniquely shaping the tone of this semester’s page. But looking forward to next semester, we are looking to represent a more varied voice of the students on this campus.

For all of you that scorn the page for being too this, not enough that or anything in between, we invite you to help change the page from within. We are looking for new writers to join our staff in the Fall, so shoot us an email at [email protected] if this is something that interests you. We can only publish what our writers submit, so if you think a viewpoint is missing, join the page and be the one to voice it. Your like-minded friends will thank you.

Along with changes in writing staff, next semester’s page will see a change in leadership. Kyle Mianulli will be graduating and leaving the Herald, and former columnist Sam Stevenson will be taking his place. I will be maintaining my post in hopes of making next semester’s Opinion page better than ever.

So for those still reading, thank you for your support and even your disdain. It’s reading those anonymous online comments that spurs me to work to continuously improve the page. Enjoy your summer and come check us out next year because you never know just what you’ll find on the Opinion page.

Allegra Dimperio is a sophomore majoring in journalism. She’s returning to the Herald this fall, remaining the editorial page editor. Catch up with her over the summer at [email protected].