A FEW MONTHS ago, a respected professor approached me and asked me to tell him the main editorial advocacy of our Managing Board. This question caught me off guard. When I first took the reins of The Cavalier Daily, my task seemed so daunting that I only focused on getting an issue on stands every day. Then our Managing Board discovered financial and organizational problems that immediately threatened the existence of The Cavalier Daily. We shifted our focus.
In our term, we concentrated on tackling these problems and rebuilding the paper's foundation. By the time I was speaking to this professor in November, the efforts were paying off. Our changes were yielding black ink. It had become clear we would leave The Cavalier Daily stronger than we found it. But this professor raised the underlying question: For what purpose? What does the community reap from a stronger Cavalier Daily?
At first, I spoke of our focus on the small things that make tangible impacts on student life. Even if we wanted a stop to the Iraq War, we could better spend our newsprint calling for a stop to the University's use of Social Security numbers. In our term, we aimed first and foremost to make a newspaper that served students.
Given another chance, I would say The Cavalier Daily tries to serve a unique role in student self-governance, and advocates for that principle. The Cavalier Daily operates by that motto -- we are completely financially independent, have no faculty or administrative advisors and we pay rent for our offices in the basement of Newcomb Hall. We feel an obligation to champion the system that we see work every day. In my case, this experience in student self-governance taught me more than any class I took here.
Too often, student self-governance reduces to rhetoric. Students here control their own affairs to a very great extent, but we still need to stand up for a system that, as I can attest, changes lives. We must work to inform students of what is around them, so that more students benefit from a functional system of self-governance.
On occasion this year, I heard that someone had read an editorial and was trying to implement our proposal. Sometimes, The Cavalier Daily's coverage of an issue clearly changed an outcome. At those moments, I knew what our main editorial advocacy was: For students. I also knew we were doing our job. I hope you thought so, too.
I have to thank some people. I am indebted to too many to mention. Parting Shots are such sweet sorrow.
To our readers: Thanks for your angry letters. Though criticism can be stinging, it stings like disinfectant. You made us think about how to better serve you. I hope you were happy with how we did.
My parents were a great source of support. Sometimes you get enough letters and only need to hear someone say they're proud of you. Other times, you need them to send you things. You did both. Thanks, Mom and Dad.
To the 117th staff: You were a joy to work with. We asked you to do more with fewer resources, and you let no one down -- not me, not our readers and not future staffers who years from now will benefit from your sacrifice. While I spent my days worried, you spent yours doing the journalism that makes people read our paper in the first place. You all produced great content, and I never felt compelled to use the golf club I carried around the office. Your hard work paid off. Thank you.
To the EIC has-been club, especially John A. Clark, Justin Bernick, Chris Wilson, Pat Harvey and Diane Krehmeyer: Your advice and guidance helped me and the staff deal with some very difficult times. Sometimes, alumni are a student group's greatest assets.
Some faculty and administrators deserve mention for their support of student self-governance. People like Larry Sabato and Wayne Cozart strengthen the University through their trust in and respect for students. The Cavalier Daily owes a lot to them, and I owe them even more for their friendship and trust. Thanks to both of you.
The members of my Managing Board deserve special recognition for not telling me to clean my office all year.
To Alex Sellinger: You were a fantastic managing editor. You were the engine behind our great coverage this year, and I could always trust you to handle any tough journalistic situation with the suave of a pants salesman. I'm glad that at the end of our term we can call each other good friends.
To Jordan Buller: Despite your acute nerdiness, you successfully form bonds with others. I benefited from this. At the moments we were the last two in the office, I would find deep clarity in very hectic times. You were
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