Fellow students, distinguished faculty and devoted Daily Reveille readers, I have been bestowed with the great responsibility of being the opinion editor for next semester.
And while the task will indeed be arduous, I am tremendously excited to take on the inevitable turbulence ahead. Looking back through my first semester with The Daily Reveille, it’s been a wild ride. From examining and critiquing the religious doctrines of the afterlife, converting to Islam for a week, calling for the Pope’s arrest and nailing my 23 theses to the proverbial opinion section door — I haven’t held back much. And in all honesty, what made all my cries for liberating thought and immanent justice worthwhile was you, my readers.Your droves of Web comments, e-mails, letters to the editor and conversations in the Quad have continually pushed me further and forced me to improve. Without your criticisms and commentaries, my work would have no significance. And while we don’t always agree — rarely, in fact — I owe you all a big “thank you.” And I can only hope that you, Reveille readers, will continue to lend your ears and voices to our commentaries and columns in the upcoming semester.Next fall, expect to see many new faces on these pages. I will be proactively seeking out the best of the best to be your opinion columnists for next semester. Don’t expect to see a homogenous conglomerate of like-minded individuals making their collective voice heard in this section — we will be writing from diverse and polemical positions. Look for an array of students with the highest qualifications and authoritative voices from all walks of life on these pages next fall. And rest assured, we will continue to value being your voice in these tumultuous times. After all, we’re students who care, just like you. While I can promise that I will work myself and my staff hard for this paper, I will depend on you, Reveille readers, to make us better continually. We need your input — otherwise our work is in vain. Send us letters and Web comments — hold us accountable. With that said, I’ll leave you with a story. D’Artagnan, the great musketeer, observed a French soldier about to be lynched by a mob of starved and belligerent citizens outside the palace gates. Mounting his horse, he valiantly rode out into their midst — his mere presence causing a hush to fall over the crowd. He speaks with them briefly, and demands them to release the soldier, saying, “He serves France — he serves you.”Similarly, we, The Daily Reveille opinion section, serve LSU, and above all else, we serve you. Andrew Robertson is a 23-year-old religious studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_arobertson. —-Contact Andrew Robertson at [email protected]