One of the duties of a newly minted Spectator editor in chief is to write a “Welcome to the semester” column encouraging you, The Spectator’s readers, to bust out of your winter doldrums and help us be the best we can be.
Well, if you have made it this far into today’s paper, you have probably noticed a few changes we have made to start off 2007, and I thought it deserved a little bit of explanation so that you understand what’s been going on inside Hibbard 108.
After listening to readers through surveys, polls, and good ol’ fashioned face-to-face interaction, we have added to the paper in the hopes of better serving the UW-Eau Claire community.
One such change is the addition of the Scene section. Scene will come out every Thursday with the goal of highlighting art and entertainment happenings on campus and in the community.
Up-and-coming bands headed to Eau Claire for the weekend? You’ll read about it here. Previews of the UAC campus films? We got it covered. Pearl Jam to include Zorn Arena on its next tour? You would find out about it here, but if I told you everything I fantasized about, I’d probably lose my job.
Anyway, Scene is more or less a supplement to the Showcase section, which previously handled Scene’s duties. Showcase will now be focused exclusively on the “other” side of things, a catch-all, feature-packed section where you can find out the story behind the story, as they say.
Probably the biggest thing we have heard over the years is the lack of news coverage on events going on elsewhere in the country and around the world.
In response to that, we have added a fifth page to the news section. The page, which will appear in every edition of The Spectator, will highlight national and international news courtesy of our wire service, MCT Direct.
While we hope this provides our readers a glimpse of what’s going on in the world, our main focus is, as always, UW-Eau Claire. We have expanded our staff in the hopes of better serving our readers and providing timely, accurate information that will be useful to students, faculty, alumni and Eau Claire community members.
Of course, you always have the opportunity to help us. If you have a story tip, would like to submit a letter to the editor or have other concerns related to The Spectator, drop us an e-mail at [email protected]. Be sure to include your name, major (if applicable) and a phone number. It’s so easy a caveman can do it.
If you want to get involved with the production of the paper, we’d love to have you. Stay tuned for information on freelance meetings or stop by our office in Hibbard 108 and find out what you can do to help.
We have even more changes in store as the year progresses, one of which is a major Web site overhaul in the upcoming summer so that spectatornews.com will be easily accessible for everyone.
In the end, we really are what you make us. We are here to serve you and hope that we can be an asset to this university.
Schaaf is a senior print journalism major and editor in chief of The Spectator.