The Daily Reveille held a town hall forum Tuesday night in the Journalism Building. The meeting was held to give students an opportunity to engage the Editorial Board of The Daily Reveille in a variety of topics. As a townhall-style format dictates, the board sat as a panel and fielded suggestions, comments and criticisms from the audience through the help of a moderator. Jeff Jeffrey, editor-in-chief, said he was happy with the outcome. “I felt that it was a good chance to achieve an open dialogue between students and our staff,” he said. Although there were multiple issues addressed throughout the night, the topic of the paper’s editorial section took center stage. Students were most concerned with the new format of the opinion section. One student asked how the paper decides what to write in the “Our View” column included in the editorial section. “We try to make sure everyone’s opinion is heard,” Jeffrey said. “We do encourage disagreement among our opinion staff so that we can get as many perspectives on the issue as possible.” The Editorial Board was questioned about an “Our View” column that was published during the week leading up to the LSU and Auburn game. A few students said they disapproved of the “unprofessionalism” of the column, claiming that it was offensive on some levels. Mathew Sanders, opinion editor, spoke about the decision to write the column. “Although we may have offended some people with the Auburn column, we do not regret our decision to publish it,” Sanders said. Jeffrey said the column was intended to be fun for students. “We have to remind ourselves that this is a college newspaper,” he said. “College newspapers should be fun.” Perhaps the most discussed issue of the night involved the “Letters to the Editor” section. Some students voiced concern about the number of letters being published. Sanders said the process of how letters to the editor are selected involves several steps including the requirement of having the student’s year and major. “I want to get as many letters in the paper as possible,” he said. “Sometimes there are space issues. It’s not uncommon for me to hold letters until space becomes available.” Many at the forum said they were happy with the discussions. Brad Richard, accounting senior, said he thinks progress was made. “It was a good opportunity for students to voice their concerns,” he said. “The Reveille accomplished its goal of receiving positive and negative feedback.” Ryan Cooney, management junior, thought all the “hot-button” topics were addressed. “I think some important issues were covered [Tuesday night],” Cooney said. “Students had the opportunity to offer suggestions in an open forum, which I think is very important.”
—–Contact James Rees at [email protected]