This month, I met with several people on campus to further know the CSUN community the Daily Sundial will be serving. Talking to these people has been a great learning experience.

As much as I have gotten to know CSUN throughout my stay here, meeting numerous individuals on campus, from students to college deans, has caused me to learn more about the concerns and interests of our campus community. I state all this without an ounce of pride, not even a drop of it for that matter.

I mention this to let you know that with the start of the Spring 2006 semester, reporters and editors at the Daily Sundial will put forth their best effort to report on local stories that matter to you. That sounds clich?, but it is sincere.

Why is the Daily Sundial published? For you: the reader. Readers are the reason why we print every week – Monday through Thursday – and we take our journalistic responsibilities seriously.

Elements of our journalistic responsibilities range widely. The Sundial is a student newspaper with a hard-working staff of over 30 people working in production, editorial and advertising, and we hold ourselves accountable for our actions.

With that stated, know that the Sundial will run stories you need and want to read, including timely, diverse, relevant, interesting, accurate and thorough reading material, among other qualities.

One of the most important points I want readers to know is that most of the material in the Sundial will focus on CSUN. Reporting on local stories is a vital role for any community newspaper, and our doing so will inform you as to what is going on around campus.

There will be some stories that address state, national and international issues, as well.

One of the most important functions of the news media is to serve the watchdog function. The Sundial will do its best to be a watchdog, reporting on the actions of entities and individuals on campus. If the situation arises, our newspaper has to- and will – report on the good, the bad, and the ugly news here at CSUN. It will be done only out of duty to make sure the public knows what is going on, not out of ill-intentions.

It is also beneficial for you to know that as an independent student newspaper, the Sundial is free from being dictated to by any entity on campus.

That allows us to do campus coverage without running into a blockade of censorship or tainted news. In addition, the Sundial is not influenced by advertisers, either. This is a newspaper where you can see almost anything published (in a tasteful way, of course).

This semester, readers can count on reading these sections every week: News, Arts and Entertainment, Daily Spotlight, Opinion, Sports and Features. Be sure also to check out the cool photos and art the Sundial will have this semester, including especially in special issues such Black History Month and Women’s History Month.

In addition to publishing the print version of the Sundial, our newspaper is also online and can be viewed at https://www.sundial.csun.edu.

The Sundial online is just as important as the print version, so there will be a lot of things on our website that anyone can check out. For example, students, faculty, staff and anyone else will be able to interact on the Sundial blog. Participate in weekly polls, check local weather, view online photo exclusives, and, of course, read updated news. So please, make the Sundial your home page.

Members of the CSUN community can also notify the Sundial of any news tips, concerns, comments or corrections by calling the newsroom at 677-2915, or by e-mailing editor@csun.edu.

And if students want to contribute articles or photographs, they are welcome to do so. Just stop by the Daily Sundial office in Manzanita Hall 140. Faculty and staff can also contribute articles to the Opinion section anytime and are encouraged to do so.

So keep an eye out for the Sundial. Actually, please keep both eyes open. Copies of the Sundial can be picked up in the orange boxes located throughout the campus.

Good luck this semester and we’re looking forward to being your source for news.

Samuel Richard can be reached at editor@csun.edu.