Like many other newspapers, the Emerald considers public service to be its main function. Exposing facts that would otherwise be hidden, writing about issues, trends and controversies that come up in daily life, printing information about the democratic process, and telling the public about community events — these are some of the different topics we consider when deciding what to cover as news.
The first three categories are relatively easy to handle; we use our “news filters” and assign the story a priority. Unfortunately, the last category — telling people about community events — can be harder to filter, especially on a campus as active as the University’s. We simply don’t have the space in the paper or the full-time staff to cover every brown bag discussion, every student group meeting or every departmental guest lecture.
The editors here struggle daily with what parameters to use in deciding which events to cover: How many students are involved, how important is the topic, how prominent is the guest speaker, etc. But still, we can’t publish everything.
As an attempt to ease this situation, I am happy to re-introduce an event-listings feature in the paper. Beginning Monday, we will print “Campus buzz,” a daily list of what’s happening on campus. Our intention is to set aside a space where we can publish public notice of events that otherwise might not receive any coverage. In order to do this, though, we need your help: Tell us about your events!
We will accept “Campus buzz” submissions at the Emerald front desk (Suite 300, EMU), by fax (346-5821) or by e-mail ([email protected]). Here are the guidelines for submitting events for publication:
* Please include a description of the event, location, date, time, cost, phone number and contact person (tell us if you would like the phone number and contact name published).
* The Emerald will attempt to print as many event listings as possible. However, space limitations and priority will be taken into consideration. Submission does not guarantee publication.
* First priority is given to one-time, free events happening on campus that are sponsored by a student organization or University department.
* Lower priority is given to events that are not free, that are not unique or one-time occurrences, that are not happening on campus and that are not sponsored by campus organizations.
* Listings are published Monday through Friday for the following day’s events. For example, Tuesday’s event listings are published on Monday. Friday listings will include events happening on weekends as well as Mondays.
* Submissions for events will be considered only if they are received by noon two business days before the event. Example: A Tuesday event listing must be received by noon Friday.
* Listings may be run only once per submission; ongoing events must be resubmitted each time they occur.
We hope this feature will be useful to students and to groups on campus. Watch out for the “Campus buzz,” and make sure to let us know when your group is sponsoring an event.