Every week, The Eagle strives to provide the AU community with an objective snapshot of the world as it relates to our school. Through clear and unbiased news reports, we aim to let readers come to their own conclusions after they are first exposed to the facts.
The rules for the editorial section, however, are different. On these pages, opinion and debate run the show. With this different set of rules comes a different presentation and appearance, which can understandably cause confusion. So to start the year off right, here is a guide to both reading and contributing to The Eagle's editorial page.
Staff Editorials
At the top of the first page of every editorial section, there is an opinion article with seemingly no author. This is The Eagle’s staff editorial.
Staff editorials advocate the institutional opinion of the paper, but our goal is not to simply opine in a vacuum. We aim to offer a perspective on the news we report to provoke a discussion, to establish an agenda within the administration, to influence policy in our student government and, most importantly, to challenge our readers.
But how does The Eagle form a coherent opinion? Each issue, the editor-in-chief, managing editors and other staff choose a news story we feel deserves our editorial input. That’s the easy part. Staffers come to the table with varying perspectives, and it often takes a healthy debate before any shared attitudes are established. Once a dozen voices are synthesized into a common theme, it is the editorial page editor’s responsibility to craft the editorial.
To paraphrase the sentiments of Chicago Tribune Editorial Page Editor Jane Hurt, it may seem odd that the editorial stance appears with no byline, no individual to which that opinion may be attributed. But for us, there always is an author. It appears on the top of the front page in every issue — bold and in all caps.
What are columns and who are The Eagle’s columnists?
Starting next week, you can find opinion pieces written by Eagle columnists adjacent to the editorial. Like a staff editorial, these are opinion pieces advocating a point or argument. Yet despite the similarity in appearance and content to a staff editorial, there are key differences between the two.
Our columnists write only their own opinions. While the editor-in-chief and editorial page editor are ultimately responsible for what is published, a columnist’s arguments do not reflect the views of The Eagle or its staff. As long as the columnists adhere to The Eagle’s mandated standards of civility, clarity and factual support, their work appears as their unfiltered judgment.
The editorial page editor chose columnists from a large pool of applicants this summer, primarily by looking at their writing abilities, but also their life experiences and interests. The goal was to have a talented and diverse lineup that would stimulate healthy discussions in the AU community. To learn more about your Eagle columnists, read about each of them on the next page.
What is the Quick Take?
This semester, we expanded the editorial page with a new feature called Quick Take columnists. Essentially, these columnists get together the week they are scheduled to be published and choose a topic they want to write about. It could be a campus issue, a local event, a national news story — virtually anything.
After the columnists attend the event or research the issue, each will write their own brief column, addressing the topic from their individual slant. These will be featured on TheEagleOnline.com and teased in the print issue.
How can you contribute to the editorial page?
Even though The Eagle has staff columnists, we always encourage guest submissions and responses to the pieces we publish. Anyone — whether a member of the AU community or not — can contribute to the editorial page through letters to the editor or op-ed pieces.
Letters to the editor are opinion pieces written by readers in response to content in previous issues of the paper. When you pick up any magazine in a store, these are the notes from readers that you often see directly after the table of contents.
Op-eds are opinion pieces written by readers that take a stance on a topic unrelated to content in The Eagle.
Submit all content to edpage@theeagleonline.com at least one week before you would like to see it published. The Eagle does not edit your pieces for content, but rather structure, grammar and AP style. Please keep all submissions as short as possible to increase your chances of being published; less than 600 words is recommended.
We cannot overstate the importance of these contributions to the mission of the editorial page. The Eagle aspires to facilitate a campus wide debate, and one party alone cannot accomplish this. Each call must have a response.
