This editorial explains the official policy of the New University newspaper. We neither endorse nor distort the opinions and content published in the opinion section.
If you have ever read something in this section that offends you, we would like to explain that the very nature of the opinion section lends itself to dissent, no matter what course of action we as editors take. We welcome dissent because it maintains the purpose of an opinion section and keeps the discussion going.
For those who are unfamiliar with the standard layout of the opinion section, it goes like this: The primary story is the editorial, called as such because it is an opinion that is agreed upon by the editorial board. The editorial is the only instance in the paper where the New U editors collectively voice their opinion. Even then it does not always represent the views of every editor individually, because there are instances when an editor may not participate in the editorial discussion or has a dissenting opinion. We select the editorial topics because we feel they are important for the student body.
Our goal is to inform, not to offend. However, the editorial is only a small part of the rest of the section.
Unlike the editorial, the other stories in the section, known as Op-Eds, do not reflect the opinions of the editorial board even if one of our board members is the writer. The Op-Eds can range from responses to previous opinion pieces called “Letters to the Editor,” debate style pro-con articles or regular opinion stories. Anyone in the UCI community can submit an Op-Ed at opinion@newuniversity.org. It is our job to work with people that would like to submit an article and print it after editing. Unless, of course, the piece is slanderous and/or presents factual errors.
When the Opinion Editor and Associate Editor edit these articles it is only to correct grammatical errors and not to edit the particular arguments and content. We also often have to cut down on pieces due to the fact that our paper is very limited on space, but in the event that we have to cut down significantly to meet a word count, we will make our writers aware that this is editorial protocol. Each opinion article — as well as every other article in the New U — goes through several rounds of edits to ensure that it does not have any mistakes before printing.
There have been many articles that were submitted to this section that the editors openly disagreed with but printed regardless because it is our job to provide space for the UCI community to have their opinion published, even if we do not like what the writer has to say.
We operate this section to allow open discourse among the UCI community. The opinion section of the New U has and always will be here to allow you, the people who live, work and study here, to publish your ideas and tell the UCI community whatever you want them to know (within certain boundaries, of course). As you can imagine with over 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, there will always be people here that you disagree with.
Sometimes, as editors we forget that people outside of the New U may not understand our methods or protocol, we tend to presume how much information people know; however, it is our job to do the informing. We welcome you to critique these pieces, write responses for print, or come talk to us during tear-up meetings or via email. As an independent student newspaper that is funded in part by student fees, we want to make sure that you know that there is a place for your voice in the page of the New University.
Please send all comments to opinion@newuniversity.org. Include your name, major, and year.
