Friday, October 31, 2008

Photo Essay

Missed trick-or-treating on the Lawn earlier today? Be sure to check out Monday's Cavalier Daily, either online or in print, for one of our favorite annual features: a photo essay with some of the cutest — and scariest — costumes modeled by local children!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Special Contributions

Though most Opinion columnists' thoughts appear weekly on the Opinion page, The Cavalier Daily also offers biweekly columns from a few special contributors.

What makes these contributors different from our normal columnists? Like normal columnists, special contributors are selected by the Opinion editors and the executive editor; however, they are not members of The Cavalier Daily's official staff and do not have to meet the same conflict of interest guidelines other columnists must follow. While normal Opinion columnists generally may not write about other organizations in which they participate, for example, biweekly special contributors may write about the community organizations in which they are involved and issues that affect them — so long as the columns do not simply turn into advertisements for certain groups or causes.

The Cavalier Daily currently has two special contributors: Brooke Howard from the Black Student Alliance and Carlos Oronce of the Minority Rights Coalition. We are open to incorporating more special contributors, so if you are interested in this type of position, we invite you to contact our executive editor, Daniel Colbert, to learn more.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Exploring C-ville

Looking for a way to spice up your life in Charlottesville — or see how the city has changed since your days at U.Va.? If so, we encourage you to check out The Cavalier Daily Life section. Though the Life section may not be the first thing you see when you pick up the paper (literally — you have to open the B-section to find it), we recommend you check it out to find both a variety of features about student and faculty life, but also biweekly features on topics ranging from food to travel.If you're looking for a new restaurant for a post-exam celebration or for your first trip back to C'ville in a while, take a look at our our Life page every other Wednesday; it typically features not only a review of a local restaurant (check out this week's review here), but also the latest information from the city about restaurant violations.

If you've got even more free time on your hands, every other Tuesday you can read about travel destinations both near and far, ranging from Virginia Beach to Turkey or France, where two of our columnists are studying abroad this fall.

And finally, if you're interested in meeting new people, check out Life's Community page every Friday, where you can learn more about various student organizations. Or, if you're really adventurous, e-mail the Life section to be considered for Love Connection, a biweekly blind date organized by The Cavalier Daily. So far, we have a pretty good record of making sure that people enjoy themselves on these dates. You too could find love through The Cavalier Daily! Whether you're a student, faculty member, alum or parent, we hope you'll make the most of your time in Charlottesville. There are many ways to enjoy the city, and the Life section looks forward to sharing more of these ways with you in the future.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Questionable Ads

The Cavalier Daily recently received a letter to the editor questioning our organization's decision to print a particular paid advertisement advertising a controversial speaker visiting Grounds. As you may know, The Cavalier Daily receives all of its operating funds through advertising revenue; however, we still apply standards to the types of advertisements we allow to appear in print.
Advertising policies are set each year by the Managing Board of The Cavalier Daily to ensure that the advertisements we print are consistent with The Cavalier Daily's mission. While we are willing to consider any advertisement submission, potential advertisers should be aware that under our current policies, advertisements related to certain topics including modeling and egg donation will not be permitted. Similarly, advertisements that contain untrue, libelous information do not serve our readers; thus we will not print them. Even if an advertisement does not fall into such a concretely specified category, all advertisements run at the discretion of The Cavalier Daily's Managing Board; so if an ads staffer identifies a potentially controversial ad, readers can be assured that the advertisement is considered carefully before it appears in print.
If you are considering running an advertisement in The Cavalier Daily — either in our Classified section or as a display ad — please be sure to contact a member of our advertising staff, who will be happy to work with you.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Fall Break

With much of the University community heading out of town for Fall Break, The Cavalier Daily will also be taking a short break from production. We will resume production on Wednesday when classes also resume, and you can look forward to catching up on all the latest University and Charlottesville news in Thursday's edition.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Introducing our ombudsman

If you turned to the Opinion page Wednesday, you may have noticed we have a new columnist, Tim Thornton. This columnist is not like all the rest, however: He earns a paycheck, he is not a University student, and he has a professional background in journalism. As our ombudsman, Tim is charged with the task of writing columns specifically relating to The Cavalier Daily and its operations.
If you haven't read Tim's first column, we recommend you check it out here to hear in his own words how he will serve readers. We encourage you to send him your questions and concerns about The Cavalier Daily and to continue reading his weekly column on Wednesdays.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

A balancing act

When you turn to our Opinion page, one of the first things you're
likely to notice is a column on the left-hand side labeled "Our View."
The Cavalier Daily uses this space every day to express its official
viewpoint on a variety of issues ranging from Student Council
activities
to University policies.
How does The Cavalier Daily determine what to discuss in this lead
editorial column? Our goal is to make the subject of this column
relevant to our community every day — which is why we rarely write
about national social or political issues that do not directly impact
the University community. Lead editorials often relate to something
that has recently been in the news, while sometimes the column addresses
a long-standing feature of our community that The Cavalier Daily
believes is worthy of discussion. (For an example of the latter, see
today's lead editorial about the role of school councils at the
University.)
Constructing the lead editorial is a complicated task. While the other
columns on a standard opinion page represent just one person's
opinion, the lead editorial reflects the viewpoint of The Cavalier
Daily as a whole. It would be impractical — if not impossible — to
poll each of our staff members every day on various topics being
considered for the lead editorial space; instead, The Cavalier Daily's
opinion is determined by the five members of The Cavalier Daily's
Managing Board. While majority approval of the Managing Board
technically is sufficient for a lead editorial to be published, the
board strives daily for full agreement on the positions outlined in
the lead editorial.
How, then, does this nuanced column find its way to print each day? The
Cavalier Daily's executive editor plays the most significant role in
the creation of the lead editorial. From proposing lead editorial
topics to conducting interviews relating to the selected topic to
writing the column, the executive editor is involved from start to
finish. The Managing Board gathers every evening to read the executive
editor's work aloud and to discuss any adjustments that need to be
made before the column appears before readers in print.
So the next time you read the lead editorial and wonder who's really
behind it — or who is crazy enough to support the viewpoint being
expressed — we hope you will recognize the amount of collaboration and
thought that goes into the creation of this daily portion of The
Cavalier Daily.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

A local perspective

You've watched the debates on TV. You've read the national newspapers' coverage of the campaigns. But are you aware what's going on in the battleground state of Virginia this election season? This fall, The Cavalier Daily is offering readers an opportunity each week to take an in-depth look at Virginia politics.

If you haven't been reading our website daily, you may want to take a look back through a few of our recent politics-related features: we'd recommend this article about McCain and Obama's strategies for winning Virginia, this piece about Governor Tim Kaine's role in the Obama campaign and this article about the ongoing Senate race in Virginia. Finally, don't miss the opportunity to check out this CNN article about conservative student voters in Virginia written by our senior news associate editor, Shea Connelly.

In the upcoming weeks, stay tuned to The Cavalier Daily's website or print edition for a look back at Senator John Warner's concluding Senate career, an update on the General Assembly races and U.Va. professors' roles in informing the public during election season, among other topics. On the Opinion page, you can look forward to continued debate between representatives of the University Democrats and College Republicans. (Missed this week's guest columns by the two groups? Click here.) We hope to see readers remain active, as well, by submitting letters to the editor offering feedback on our coverage during this exciting political season.