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Davis

Davis, California

Monday, October 7, 2024

Letter from the Editor

From the 2021–22 Editor-in-Chief

Dear readers, 

Welcome — or welcome back — to the most glorious of college towns. Over the past year, my love for Davis has grown exponentially, and I am thrilled and grateful to be in the position as The California Aggie’s editor-in-chief to share that with you. 

It should not come as a surprise that Forbes ranked our university as the fourth best public university in its America’s Top Colleges List. There is a lot that Davis has to offer, including top-tier academic programs, tight-knit student organizations and hands-on undergraduate research opportunities. And that’s not even mentioning the cows on campus, the sunset from Hutchison, the Davis Greenbelt, the Farmers Market and so much more. 

As The Aggie’s editor-in-chief last year, I was lucky enough to witness the commitment of our staff during the pandemic. In a fully virtual year, we put in hours as staff writers, copy editors, layout artists, graphic designers, new media staffers, photographers and editors to keep the Davis community informed. As many of my peers at The Aggie hear me say on a regular basis, student journalism is vital and I deeply appreciate the collective effort that goes into putting together our newspaper. 

In efforts to strengthen the way in which we serve our community, we’ve made some changes to The Aggie’s operations and  I’m excited to build on them this year. To uphold our autonomy as a student-run publication, we reformed the editor-in-chief selection process; the decision of who should lead our newspaper is now in the hands of The Aggie’s Editorial Board and senior staff. Since the creation of our Outreach and Engagement Board last year, we have held multiple hiring events, published our second annual diversity report and hired an outreach director starting this year. Throughout this year, we will further develop this position and continue to evaluate avenues for growth in terms of outreach. 

My time at Davis has been shaped immensely by The Aggie — even in the few weeks before I joined as a volunteer staff writer in fall quarter of my first year. I recall the excitement of reading the paper cover-to-cover every Thursday and I invite you to do the same this year. We plan to resume our weekly print publication on Sept. 30, and as you navigate being on campus for the first time — or for the first time in over a year — you should take a moment to locate our newspaper racks.  

When you read our paper, you will come across content from our campus news, city news, features, arts and culture, sports and science and technology desks as well as the opinion desk, which operates separately from the rest. Content from the opinion desk includes disclaimers to remind readers of its separation from other sections and that it does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by The Aggie. 

Included in the opinion section are our editorials; I’d like to provide some context about them. The Editorial Board strives to provide nuanced opinions on issues that impact the student body, and these editorials reflect the board’s unanimously agreed upon opinions. Seven of this year’s members served on the board last year, and with our two new members, the 2021-22 Editorial Board’s nine members are ready to serve the community this year with grace and an understanding of our role on campus. This seems like a good place to also give a quick shoutout to Sabrina Habchi and Calvin Coffee, our 2021 Ed Board graduates who didn’t get a chance to see their names in print last year, and thank them for their many contributions to The Aggie. 

I encourage you to peruse this Orientation Issue to find out more about all things Davis — be it a preview of our football season, information about events in Sacramento or details about our Best of Davis map project, you can find it here.

In my first letter from the editor a year ago, I wrote that we must continually ask how we can do and be better. Over this past year, I’ve realized that this comes in part from introspection and conversation within our newsroom, but also from feedback from you — our readers. If you have questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach me at editor@theaggie.org.

Have a great year, and stay safe Aggies!

Anjini Venugopal

Editor-in-Chief

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