It feels great to be one issue away from completing this semester, especially since we made it through more than three months without making a single mistake.
Yup, you read that correctly: we've been flawless thus far.
There was one time – I think it was in October – when we almost made a mistake, but we quickly discovered our near erratum and made the necessary adjustment to maintain our errorless semester. It hasn't been an easy ride, but we can officially claim the title of "perfect."
I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. It is lonely at the top, but somebody has to be number one. This was the first time that The Spectrum made it through the fall term without screwing anything up, so if you've read our publication at all, congratulations, you're a part of history.
If you're still reading this because you believe the last four paragraphs, I feel terribly sorry for you. You either haven't read our paper with a critical eye, this is the first issue you've picked up, or you blindly believe everything you read. Either way, you're not getting your tuition's worth. You should be challenging what you read, regardless of what the source may be.
Just ask the Generation writer who criticized our paper for being sexist and implied that we place ads for other colleges in order to encourage students to leave UB.
Although we did print a sexist column, it was the sole opinion of one staff member, and we encouraged one of our female editors to respond in the following edition, which she did quite eloquently. We also printed numerous personals that criticized the piece. Oh, and student quotes are student quotes; we don't exactly have the right to change those.
And although we do run advertisements from other schools in our publication, it's ludicrous to infer that we do so to drive people away from UB. Is it possible, perhaps, that other schools have graduate programs and are interested in recruiting students who currently attend our university.
Regardless of how far off the writer's parting shots were, it's still nice to see that people are reading and thinking.
In fact, you should be challenging everything and looking to make positive changes.
The truth is that we're a student publication, and every day we learn something new. As a reader, there were hopefully points in the semester when you agreed with our coverage and commended our reporting. If you've picked up the paper enough, however, then you've (hopefully) realized that we're far from perfect and that there is a ton of room for improvement at The Spectrum.
And we're working on that, one day at a time.
Just last semester, any student was able to register to become a staff writer, regardless of his or her prior writing experience or lack thereof. With that, students signed up for ENG 394 and didn't take the paper seriously, which was reflected in their writing.
It's difficult to encourage students to write for the school newspaper when our university doesn't offer a journalism degree. Those pursuing a career in journalism simply don't apply to UB, so we're forced to field a staff from biology and business majors.
Roadblocks, however, aren't going to stop us from striving for excellence. An open Spectrum course no longer exists: if a student wants to write for our paper, he or she needs to send me a writing sample and get approved by our advisor and me.
We also realize that our newspaper has looked the same for quite some time and could use some sprucing up. We've been working on that, too. You may have seen signs around campus mentioning a "New Spectrum" coming next semester. If you haven't, here's your warning that our paper is going to look completely different come January.
Despite the mistakes we've made and the criticisms we've received, we've kept our chins up and have looked toward a better tomorrow.
If you're one of the students who have expressed a negative opinion about The Spectrum and want a better newspaper on campus, I challenge you to send me a writing sample. I challenge you to attend our class, learn about what we do, and try your hand at it.
You don't have to be an English major to work for us. In fact, we're also looking for upper level business majors in the School of Management to take part in an independent study for credit next semester. Such students will work with a professor and a graduate student doing market research for The Spectrum.
Although this column is specific to our publication, it can be read as more than that. If you see something on campus that you think needs a change, don't keep your mouth shut. On Monday night a friend of mine claimed that UB should drop the football program and use the athletic budget to fund a hockey team. Whether he was right or wrong, it'll never happen unless he speaks up and pushes for the change himself.
And who knows? Maybe a hockey team at UB would be perfect, just like we were this semester.
E-mail: andrew.wiktor@ubspectrum.com
