Eight campuses. 34,000 students. 4,700 employees.

Fifteen weeks.

One hundred eighty-seven square inches of newsprint.

Think the Daily Kent Stater’s Forum page can actually accurately represent everyone that makes up Kent State?

I do — as long as we have your help.

Got something to say?

– Call us: (330) 672-2584

– E-mail us: [email protected]

– Fax us: (330) 672-4880

– Write us:

The Daily Kent Stater

P.O. Box 5190

Kent, Ohio 44242

This semester, I want the Forum page to be more representative of the Kent State community than ever before. That’s why I’m reaching out to you — the student, the teacher, the janitor, the administrator, the parent, the neighbor — whomever you may be. Kent State isn’t just made up of its student body, and it’s certainly not made up of just the students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Instead of just relying on my 10 regular columnists and five editorial board members, I want to see our readers and community members interacting on the Forum page. After all, a forum is supposed to be a place where people can assemble and discuss issues that interest and affect them.

Our editorials are going to be more local-centric and proactive, looking to raise questions and offer solutions for our community, rather than just giving our views on world issues. “Your View” will be more extensive than ever before. Once a week, we will be publishing comments from our Web site and quote students and others around campus to discover their opinions on hot issues. In addition, we’re asking student leaders to write regular columns addressing whatever they feel is important, either for their groups, the overall student body or even just themselves.

Not inclusive enough for your liking?

The Forum page will still gladly accept letters to the editor and guest columns. We also welcome more visual expressions of opinion through editorial cartoons and photos.

Don’t want to take that much time from your day, but have something to say about the 2008 presidential primaries or the lack of attendance for campus events? Quit complaining to your friends and roommates and say something in a venue that will get you noticed. The online commenting feature and message boards are there for you, the reader. Take advantage of them, and we may even publish them in the print edition as well.

A few times a month, we’ll even be hosting open forums with different student groups in an attempt to open the paths of communication between the various cliques and crowds. It’s a chance to discuss your thoughts and ask questions in a friendly, moderated environment.

This is your campus, your paper and, most importantly to me, your page. Tell us what matters.

Rachel Abbey is a senior newspaper journalism major and the Forum editor for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].