Remember when you were 4 years old and you ran to the phone every time it rang? You had no phone etiquette whatsoever and were easily the least likely person in the household to receive a call, but something about the phone ringing excited you. A ringing telephone held mystery and your youthful curiosity drove you to solve said mystery.

Well, now that I have my own office, a ringing phone still holds mystery. Now, though, it’s more the variety that fills one with dread. Will someone be calling about a misspelled name? A botched ad? A plea for free advertising? Or will this be one of the minority — a compliment?

My job gives me my own office, but that office comes with a phone, and that phone comes with a hearty country helping of fear. That line is your direct link to the top, and the number is 581-7936.

Yeah, I get nervous when that phone rings, but I’d rather have you call and chew me out than get drunk on the notion that everything is peachy.

What many people don’t know is that this isn’t my newspaper, or the publisher’s, the staff’s or the journalism department’s. This paper belongs to the readers. Yeah, you.

So welcome to your newspaper. This staff has a lot of plans in the works to make the News more reader-oriented, informative and fun.

To that end, I’d like to give you a little tour of how this operation runs. That way, if you have complaining, complimenting or suggesting to do, you know how to do it.

The News has five staff editors – activities, administration, campus, city and student government – who are responsible for daily news on that beat. They write some of their own stories, some have designated reporters that make a few bucks a day. The rest of the news is written by staff writers who work for free.

So if you’re a source for a story, that means your interviewer may be conducting the first interview of his life or the 400th. I have to believe that each person representing the News is doing his or her damnedest to get quotes right, ask questions professionally and write truthfully.

I will always come to the defense of my staff before I bend to a source or advertiser, but I still want to know if you think you’ve been misrepresented in a story. To call in a correction, you can use my direct line. If a factual error has been made, we will happily run a correction.

If you’d like to suggest a story or publicize an event, you can do this several ways. Press releases can be faxed to 581-2923, dropped off in the newsroom in 1811 Buzzard Hall, mailed to that address, campus mailed to the Daily Eastern News, or e-mailed to me. My email address appears under my head shot and in the masthead in the upper left corner of this page.

You can call in news tips to me or speak to news editor John Chambers or associate news editor Matt Meinheit. We may or may not do the story you suggest. That will depend on the relevance to the students, availability of manhours and resources and editorial policy.

If you would like to work for us, you have several options there, too. Hiring has been done for nearly all editorial positions, but we’re still looking for a few people to be regular beat reporters. The best way to get a job like that is to start writing for us and prove yourself capable.

To write for us, drop by the newsroom to talk to a staff editor or sign the staff writer list. You are welcome to come in whenever you see people in the room, but Sunday afternoons are the best time to get story assignments.

Campus Clips, classified and display ads are separate from this department, so calling the newsroom probably won’t get you an answer about those things. Campus Clips, written on the form that runs on our classifieds page, can be dropped off in the Student Publications office in Buzzard Hall, and they can answer your questions at 581-2812. For questions about classified and display advertising, call 581-2816.

I, of course, am a student. Many of you will see me in class, at parties, walking down the street, etc., and any time is a good time to stop me and say hello or tell me what you’d like to see in the paper. I won’t guarantee I’ll do it, but if you’re serious I’ll promise to listen.

Enjoy your newspaper.