The opinion section of The Daily Tar Heel functions as a sounding board for what the public has to say and as a platform for great student writers to freely express themselves.
This year’s editorial board is a group of 15 UNC undergraduate and graduate students who meet twice a week to discuss issues they find important to the community. In their applications, potential board members were asked to critique former opinion pieces from the DTH. This year’s newcomers were people who constructively took apart past editorials with fresh insights and better ideas.
Some of the most memorable DTH editorials have been written to hold the school’s administrators accountable, to argue that sexual assault is an issue of public health, to call for better napping locations on campus, to attack the art of a cappella, to defend endangered salamanders and to honestly examine what students love and cannot love about their University.
Tyler Fleming, the DTH’s editor-in-chief, Zaynab Nasif, the assistant opinion editor and I also serve as board members. Our jobs include facilitating the discussions, assigning editorials and editing them to fit our paper’s (justifiably) high standards without compromising the voices or values of our opinion writers. Zaynab assists me in reading every letter to the editor that we receive.
This year, we promise to prioritize topical and timely letters that best reflect the community we care so much about.
All points of view are welcome. All stories are worth a listen, or a read. All of us are human, and have valuable lived experiences and perspectives that belong in our newspaper.But the opinion page isn’t only reserved for editorials.
The roster for this year’s columnists includes some exciting new and returning personalities that I can’t wait for you to meet in print. Look forward to experiencing Derek Fulton’s sense of humor in the weekly “You Asked For It” satirical advice column, humming thoughtfully while reading Kirk Kovach’s “moderately annoyed” views on campus culture, studying manifestos on the empowering force of nature that is the pop sensation Lorde from our resident “mistress of quirk,” Evana Bodiker and seeing other hot takes from the rest of these passionate columnists.
My vision for the opinion page is to offer the University and the Chapel Hill community facts and opinions that are timely, relevant and, above all, accessible. If you want to get in touch with me, or anyone on the opinion desk, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Submit a letter to the editor online at http://www.dailytarheel.com/page/submit-letter-to-the-editor, or send us an email to opinion@dailytarheel.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible with the best that we can do moving forward.
